March 13, 1884] 



NA TURE 



461 



Prof. Karpinsky points out, in the Memoirs of the St. Peters- 

 burg Society of Naturalists (vol. xiii.), the following interesting 

 feature of the geological structure of Russia. The unmeta- 

 morphosed rocks in Russia appear mostly quite, or nearly quite, 

 undisturbed and horizontal. There is, however, besides the 

 Crimea, a regioa where some dislocation and disturbance of these 

 deposits are apparent. This disturbed region runs from north- 

 west to south-east, through the Sandomir ridge in Poland 

 to Kaneff in Kiev, Isakchi in Poltava, the coal-basin of the 

 Don, the Bogdo Mountains of the Astrakhan Steppe, and 

 finally to the Kara-tan and Ak-tan Mountains to the east of the 

 Caspian. Beyond this region even the older deposits (Silurian 

 and Devonian) remain undisturbed, while within it the older 

 gneisses and crystalline schists are disturbed, not only by the 

 Silurian upheaval which has had a direction from north-east 

 to south-west, but also by the more recent one just referred to, 

 which has a direction perpendicular to it. It is worthy of notice 

 that this line of upheaval would join that line of ridges which 

 runs in Western Europe through the mountains of the Weser 

 and the Teutoburger Wald, while in Asia it would join the 

 Sheikh-jeli and Uiz-Dagh Mountains. 



We notice in the same serial some very valuable observa- 

 tions of Prof. Beketoff about Dr. Sachs' theory as to the rela- 

 tions between the increase and segmentation of cells in the 

 embryonal parts of plants. While he warns one against the ap- 

 plication of geometrical theories to botany, he points out how 

 some of the conclusions arrived at by Dr. Sachs could be more 

 easily explained by the principles established by Wilhehn Hof- 

 meister. Prof. Borodin's researches into the anatoiuy of the 

 leaves of Chrysospleniuni were made on very rich material col- 

 lected by Prof. C. Maximowicz for his "Adumbratio Generis 

 Chrysosplenii," and Prof. Borodin was enabled not only to 

 thoroughly study the subject, but also to arrive at some most 

 valuable conclusions as to the relations between the anatomical 

 features of different species of this genus and the features on 

 which the classification of these species has been made. 



Traces of glaciation in Siberia, so boldly denied a few 

 years ago, have been discovered in different parts of the country. 

 While failing to detect them on the outer parts of the Altai 

 Mountains, M. Sokoloff h.as found unmistakable traces of au 

 incomparably wider extension of glaciers in the central parts 

 of the ridge, and especially in the Katun Mountains. Numerous 

 traces have also been found, pointing to a greater extension of 

 lakes during the post-Glacial period, and to the gradual drying 

 up of the existing ones. 



In a paper recently published in the Memoires dc V Academic 

 des Sciences de St. Petirsl/ourg for 1883, Prof. Fr. Schmidt, while 

 fully agreeing with the remarkable results of Mr. W<a]coti's 

 researches as to ihe feet and respiratory organs of Trilobites 

 (published in 1S81 in the Bulletin of the Harvard College 

 Museum), proposes to include in Mr. Walcott's second group 

 of Paleadie his own family of Hemiaspidcc . It consists of the 

 genera. I/e?niasf is, Woodw., Bunodes, Kichw., and Pseudoniscus, 

 Nieszk., which are much like Trilobites, but differ from them in 

 the separate and freely-moving posterior parls of the body ; 

 formerly it was included in the group of Eurypterides. 



Prof. Tarkhanoff contributes to the last volume of the 

 Mimoirs {JFrudy) of the Society of Naturalists of St. Petersburg a 

 very interesting inquiry into the structure of the eggs of birds. 

 He has discovered that the albumen of the eggs of the Jitsessores 

 (ousel, canary, pigeon, &c.) notably differs from that of the 

 Autophagous Ijjrds (hens, ducks, geese, turkeys). When boiled 

 it remains translucid ; it is fluorescent ; its rotation- power of the 

 plane of polarisation is feebler ; when diluted with much water 

 it does not give a white deposit, but only gives a feeble opalescent 



coloration to the water ; finally,- it has a stronger basic reaction 

 than the white of the eggs of the hen. It may, however, be 

 transformed so as to become like it by various means, namely : 

 the addition of neutral salts, or of bases, or of concentrated acetic 

 and lactic acids, or even of carbonic acid. The most remarkable 

 fact however is that the same result is also arrived at by incu- 

 bation, and Prof. Tarkhanoff considers that the modifying agency 

 in this case is the yolk ; when moderately heated with yolk in 

 closed vessels, during twenty-four hours or more, it is transformed 

 into albumen like that of a hen's egg. As to the manner in which 

 the yolk acts on it, it still remains unsettled ; the supposition 

 that the diffusion of salts is the cause of the change proved not 

 to be true ; and the cause must be searched for perhaps in the 

 diffusion of gases. The interesting question, as to the albu- 

 men of hen's eggs not also undergoing the same stages of deve- 

 lopment within the ovarium, cannot yet be solved satisfactorily ; 

 bat during his experiences M. Tarkhanoff observed once the 

 most interesting fact that a small ball of amber introduced into 

 the upper part of the ovarium occasioned the deposition around 

 the ball of albumen and the formation of a shell, that is, the for- 

 mation of a quite normal egg with its chalaziT, and other particu- 

 larities of structure ; this observation would thus strongly 

 support the mechanical theory of the formation of the parts of 

 an egg around its yolk. 



Dr. King, retired Professor of Mineralogy, Geology, and 

 Natural History in Queen's College, Gal way, has lately been 

 elected a Correspondiug Member of the New York Academy of 

 Sciences. 



Mr. E. L. Layard writes to us from Noumea, New Caledonia, 

 under date Jan. 6, that the sunsets there have been quite as extra- 

 ordinary as elsewhere. "As soon," he says, "as the sun's disk has 

 disappeared, a glow comes up from the west like that of white-hot 

 steel, reddening somewhat as it mounts to the zenith, but chang- 

 ing the while to blue. From the zenith it passes into the most 

 exquisite green, deepening as it loses itself in the east. As the 

 sun sinks lower and lower, the red tints overpower the white- 

 hot steel tints, and the blue of the zenitfi those of the green. At 

 7 p.m., or a little after, nearly the entire western half of the 

 horizon has changed to a fiery crimson ; as time goes on, the 

 northern and southern areas lose their glory, and the grays of 

 night contract, from the northern end first, most rapidly ; the 

 east is of the normal gray. The south now closes in, and 

 presently, about 8 p.m., there is only a glare in the sky, just 

 over the sun's path as of a distant conflagration, ' till the fire in the 

 west fades out.' 1 have been attempting to describe one of our 

 cloudless evenings, of which we have had only too many, having 

 just come through a fearful drought that has lasted all this 

 while ; but who shall paint the glory of the heavens when 

 flecked with clouds ! Burnished gold, copper, brass, silver- 

 such as Turner in his wildest dreams never saw ! and of such 

 fantastic forms ! The wonderful light from above was reflected 

 on every tree and flower ; our scarlet and crimson geraniums, 

 fuchsias, &c., blazed in the light as I never saw them before, 

 and the general efi'ect was most extraordinary." 



The Cremation Society of Berlin now numbers 365 members, 

 no less than 146 having joined the Society during 18S3. The 

 cremation movement is also progressing favourably at Hamburg, 

 Kconi-sberg, Dresden, Bresliu, and \Vie»baden. At Gotha 

 forty-six bodies were cremated during 1883, which is about 

 double the number of those burnt in any of the four preceding 

 years. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus sinicus 9 ) from 

 India, a I'jg-tailed Monkey (A/acacus nemestrittus 9 ) from Java, 

 presented by Mr. G. H. Lee; two Herring Gulls {Larus argeti- 

 talus), European, presented by Madam Fridaich ; a Kagu (Rhino- 



