248 



NA TURE 



{yan. lo, li 



which extracled the thermometers from their tube for the sake 

 of the fur in which it has been found necessary to envelop 

 them, and brolte them all ; other thermometers were, Iiow- 

 ever, substituted, and the observatims continued. It was 

 found impossible to obtain the temperature of the soil at a 

 greater depth than four feet, on account of the rocky nature of 

 the ground. 



A series of observations of terrestrial radiation was made by 

 means of a thermometer placed on the surface of the snow, but 

 the almost continual wind detracts much from the value of these 

 readings. 



I was told by the residents of the country that the year was an 

 unusually dry one, and cercainly the rainfall is remarkably small ; 

 they also said that the winter was particularly mild and free 

 from storms, which, from all account--, and from the journals 

 kept at the fort, seem to be both frequent and severe ; as it wa=, 

 we only experienced one, in P'ehruary. 



Ailronomieal Obseiialiotis. — My first determination of the 

 longitude was made by means of lunar distances, and time was 

 found by the meth d of equal altitudes, but after the observatory 

 was finished both these points were determined by transits, and 

 the first value of the longitude found to be more than a minute 

 in error. The latitude was determined by transit observations 

 in the prime vei tical, ar d is probably within a few seconds of 

 the truth. The longitude may be ten seconds in error. The 

 time was generally correct to within three or four seconds. 



A more solidly constructed transit instrument would have been 

 desirable, as it was found that in the cold weather it required so 

 much force to move the telescope of the tran-it thecdolite on its 

 axis that there v\ as great ri k of disturbing the adjustinents of 

 this instrument, composed as it is of so many part^. 



Food, £r'c-. — Our supply of provi-ions proved quite sufficient. I 

 had brou:ht enou;^h flour to admit of my issuing the usual ration 

 of J lb. per diem, and tobacco i lb. per month to each man. 

 We also had a supply of Chollet's preserved vegetables, and a 

 reserve stock of bicon, besides tea and sugar. Of the latter we 

 were somewhat short, owing to the loss sustained on the journey 

 up. We usually had fresh meat throughout the winter ; in the 

 summer we were occasionally reduced to dried meat. During 

 the journey there and back «e chiefly lived on pemmican. The 

 Rev. Pere R(jure, of the Roman Catholic Mission, most kindly 

 furnished us witii fresh vegetables and potatoes throughout the 

 summer. 



The c induct of the men under my command was everything 

 that could be desired. They took great intere-t in the observa- 

 tions, and (jij their best to carry them out with accuracy and 

 punctuality, and were always contented and cheerful, in spite of 

 the inevitable dicomforts of their winter quarters and the 

 occasional hardships of the journey. 



Re/iirn Journey. — We were rnnning great risks of being 

 overtaken by the winter, and therefore lost no time in our 

 departure. 



The last hourly observation was made at midnight on 

 August 31, 1883, after which the ii struments were dismounted 

 and packed, their cases having been previously arranged in 

 readiness outside the observatory. The remainder of the 

 l'^gg'''gs "'^5 already in the boat, so that by 2.30 a.m. on 

 .September I we were en route, and reached P'ort Chipeuyan on 

 .September 17, and Portage la Loche on October 4, having 

 experienced some delay in surmounting the rapids of the Clear- 

 water, the hard frosts having frozen all the small tributary 

 streams, thus considerably lowering the water in the river. 



The boat awaiting us on the south side of the portage was 

 fr zen in, but fortunately the wind changed and the ice broke 

 up before our arrival. Had it been otherwise, we mast ha\e 

 wailed until the rivers were thoroughly frozen and travelling 

 with dog-trains possible. In that case we should have been 

 compelled to abandon our instruments and baggige. 



On the 2ist we reached Carlton on the Saskatchewan, where 

 we were detained a day, the man engaged to transport our 

 baggage across the prairie having refu ed to proceed. Am' her 

 man was engaged, and on October 31 we reached the railway at 

 Qu'Appelle, arriving at Winnipeg the following day. We were 

 fortunate in crossing the prairie with so little dilliculty, as at the 

 same time last year it was covered with three feet of snow. 

 ■ At Winnipeg I remained a couple of days to adjust accounts 

 with the Hudson's Bay Company, and on Novemlier 4 we started 

 for Quebec, going by rail via Chicago. We reached Queliecon 

 the 8th, and Liverpool on November 20. 



In conclusion, I have to acknow ledge the .assistance received 



from the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, who spared no 

 trouble in carrying out my wishes especially Chief Commissioner 

 Grahame at Winnipeg, Chief Factors MacP'arlane and Camsell 

 in charge of the Athabasca and Macl^enzie River Districts re- 

 spectively, and Mr. King in charge at Fort Rae. To their 

 hearty cooperation the success of the expedition is in great part 

 due. 



Results 0/ Expedition. — The following is a list of the observa- 

 tions taken at Fort Rae, the re-ult of our year's work there, 

 which I have now the honour to lay before the Royal Society : — 



Mag II el ic 

 Hoiirl} — 



Declination from September 3, 1882, to August 31, 18S3. 



I lor. Force ,, 4, ,, ,, 



Vert. Force ,, 6, ,, ,, 



Term Day — 



In accordance with programme laid down by St. Petersburg 

 Conference— from September 15, 1882, to August 15, 1883. 

 Occasional — 



Absjlute observations of Hor. Force Dip and Dec'.iralion. 



Meteorological 

 Hourly — 



Barometer from Sept. i, 18S2, to Aug. 31, 1S83. 



Dry and Wet Bulb Therms. ,, ,. ,, 



Anemometer ,, ,, ,, 



Wind, Clouds, and We.ather ,, ,, ,, 



Aurora (when visible) ,, ,, ,, 



Hair Hygrometer (when in working order). 



Terrestrial Radn. (occasionally in clear weather). 

 Daily — 



Max. and Min. Solar and Terrest. Radn. Thera.s. 



Rain Gauge. 



Earth Thermometers every tw'o days. 



THE EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION IN THE 

 HISTORY OF THE EXTINCT MA.UMALIA ' 



^OMING to the vertebrae as a part of the osseous system, I 

 ^^ will mention the zygapophyses, or anter.--posterior direct 

 processes, of which the postuior looks down and the anterior looks 

 up. They move on each other, and the vertebral column bends 

 from side to side. In the lower forms of mammals they are always 

 flat, and in the hoofed mammals of the Puerco period they are all 

 flat. In the Wasatch period we get a single group in which the 

 articulation, instead of being perfectly fl t, comes to be rounded ; 

 in the later pericds we get them very much rounded ; and finally, 

 in the latest forms, we get the double curve and the locking 

 process in the vertebral column, which, as in the limb, secures 

 the greatest strength with the greatest mobility. In the first 

 stages of the growth of the spinal cord it is a notochord or a 

 cylinder of cartilage or softer material. In later stages the 1 ony 

 deposit is made in its sheath until it is perfectly segmented. 



Now all the Permian land animals, reptiles, and batrachians 

 retain this notochord w ith the beginnings of osseous vertebrie in 

 a greater or less degree of complexity. There are some in South 

 Afi'ica, I believe, in which the ossification has come clear through 

 the notochord, but they are few. This characteii tic of the Per- 

 mian appears almost alone — perhaps absolutely alone as regards 

 land animals. There is something to be said as to the condition 

 of that column from a mechanical standpoint, and it is this : 

 that the cord exists, its osseous elements di-po-ed about it ; and 

 in the batrachians related to the salan anders and the frogs, these 

 osseous elements are arranged under the sheath in the skin of 

 the cord, and they are in the form of regular concave segments, 

 very much like such segments as you will take from the skin of 

 an orange — parts of spheres, and having greater or less dimen- 

 sions according to the group or species. Now tlie point of 

 divergence of these segments is on the side of the column. 

 They are placed on the side of the column where the segments 

 separate — the upper segments rising and the lower segments 

 coming downward. To the upper segments are attached the 

 arches and their articulations ; and the lower segments are like 



1 A lecture by Prof. E. D. Cope of Philadelphia, given in gener;i 

 session before the American Association lor Advancement of Science at 

 Minneapolis, Avigust 20, i88r. Stcnographically reported for Sciertce. 

 Continued from p. 230. 



