270 



NA TURE 



\Aug. I, 1872 



poses thai, when the missing constituent is discovoreO, it should 

 be called "Tammite." Mr. Tamm's analysis of the new 

 mineral gives :— Metallic Tungsten SS05, Metallic Iron 560, 

 Metallic Manganese 0-15, Undetermined Substance 6-20. Mr. 

 Tamm ventures upon various conjectures as to this last substance, 

 and thinks it just possiljle that, after all, he may have made an 

 analytical error, and that there maybe 6-2 percent, more of 

 tungsten than appears in the analysis. He has, however, strong 

 doubts on this point. 



Rkgarding "sea-serpents," the following note Inay be 

 interesting :— The South African Museum, Cape Town, re- 

 cently received a specimen of the Ribbon fish [GymnoUnis) 

 fifieen feet long without the tail. It appears that this fish is 

 known to distant inland fishermen as being forty feet long, 

 and from its slender shape and snake-like movement is prohilily 

 the " sea serpent " of lite years so minutely described by navi- 

 gators. From its head there is erected a plume of flexible rose- 

 coloured spin's, and from head to tail along its back there is a 

 conspicuous mane-like fin. Its general colour is like burnished 

 silver. The eye is large and silvdry, and the profile of the head 

 comports well with that of the horse. The specimen could 

 not be preserved, but there are two smaller specimens in the 

 Museum. 



The Gnr.icii calls atlciition to the great v.alue of the Island 

 of Jamaica as a tropical garden. Its oranges, pine-apples, ban- 

 anas, limes, lime-juice, cocoa-nuts, and other such products, could 

 not be surpis^ed in quality, and might b» cultivated to any 

 imaginable extent. Besides all this, the soil and climate arc 

 eminently suitable to the growth of precious drugs and, plants. 

 Bark ii raised easily, the cinchona plantation being in a most 

 satisfactory state. Then there are hemp and China grass of ex- 

 cellent quality, nor would any an'owroot be superior to timt of 

 Jamaica if it were but more carefully prepared for market. Here, 

 it will be said, is a noble prospect for the colony. True, Imt it 

 is a prospect only. Not until the very last returns is there shown 

 any " tendency to the development of new industries requiring 

 little capital and no extraordinary skill." It is the old story, 

 " minor articles " are neglected, though they are the very articles 

 which are wanted, ani which the colonists could send. How- 

 ever, Jamaica is fortunate in having a Governor in Sir J. P. 

 Grant, who can discern the true capabilities of the island, and 

 the tru J place for its iaiustry in the markets of the world. 



A CORRESPONDENT of the Madras Mail, quoted by the Times 

 of India, says that on the night of June 15 last the plain to the 

 east, north, and north-east of Nandidroog was covered with 

 " many thousands " of lights, which have been observed occa- 

 sionally in former years. The correspondent compares the 

 appearance to that of a large city brilliantly illuminated, and in 

 one direction the scene, through a binocular glass, " looked like 

 a vie N of part of the starry heavens, each flame being like a 

 star." As miny of the lights were from tea to fifteen miles dis- 

 tant from the reporter's point of view, he conjectures that each 

 flame must have been five to six feet in length. An attempt is 

 being made to find out the cause of the curious phenomenon, tlie 

 most likely hypothesis being that the lights are " caused by the 

 ignition of some inflammable gas escaping in jets from the sur- 

 face of the earLh." 



We learn from the Field of July 20, that Mr. Pamaby has 

 sacceedcJ. in bringing sixty black bass fry home from America, 

 and that they are sa.i'ely deposited in the tanks at Trouidale, 

 Keswick, and are feeding heartily, so that they may now be con- 

 sidered safe. He found great difficulty in collecting the fry and 

 bringing them safely across the Atlantic on account of the intense 

 heat. Mr. Francis considers this the second greatest feat in 

 [jiscicullure, the first Iicing the conveyance of salmo.i to 

 Australia. 



PROFESSOR AGASSIZ'S SOUTH AMERICA 

 EXPEDITION* 

 HI. 

 TN Mayne Harbour, on the western side of Owen's Islands, I 

 ■*• h.ad an opportunity of investigating two very interesting ne v 

 genera of naked-eyed Acalephs. The locality naturally sug- 

 gested appropriate names, ami 1 called one afier Captain Mayne, 

 Crossotoca Maynei, from the festooned dispisilion of the ovaries, 

 and the other after my old friend Owen, Staiii-otoca Owenii, from 

 the cross-like figure of the ovaries. While I was collecting on 

 board, Pourtales and Steindachner ascended the adjoining hill; 

 in search of glacial marks and land animals. The result of their 

 excursion was most satisfactory. Pourtales found very well pre- 

 served glacial scratches and furrows upon w'de greenstone dykes, 

 which here intersected the rocks in every direction. Upon one 

 such ledge the marks were divided into two[distinct series, one run- 

 ning S.W. by W., the other crossing these S.S.W. Higher up on 

 other dykes of the same character, the first series of marks 

 occurred again, being perfectly rectilinear, in the same direction, 

 and though in one instance interrupted, were renewed on the 

 other side of the break on the same level with the same bearing. 

 Still higher up on the same hillside he found also very distinct 

 glacial furrows upon granite ridges, the furrows bearing .S.W. by 

 S., and finer lines again on greenstone dykes. The highest marks 

 in the locality were some 500 or 600 feet above tlie sea level. 

 Steindachner collected frogs and their tadpoles, and some insects 

 and earthworms. 



On approaching the Quia Narrows, the hills on Chatham Island 

 are plainly furrowed in a north-westerly direction, and large boul- 

 ders are seen all along upon the ridge of the range, while Esper- 

 anza Island appears in the south like a large rounded dome be- 

 tween two channels running N. and S. In wide channels we saw 

 many whales and also small icebergs. The hills to the height of 

 about 2,000 feet were everywhere distinctly iiioutonnics. Sau- 

 marez Island, opposite the mouth of Eyre Sound, and the island 

 to the west of it, were particularly instructive. We followed the 

 western channel, which is also the narrowest, and it soon became 

 plain that wherever opposite shores with high walls approached 

 near one another the glacial scratches and furrows, alike distinct, 

 assumed an ascending direction, as is the case whenever a moving 

 glacier meets an obstacle. That the south side was here also 

 everywhere the strike side, was equally apparent from the facts 

 that all these marks were either wanting or less distinct on the 

 north side of the islands. Had any abrading agent advanced 

 from the North, all appearances must have been reversed in these 

 narrow channels ; or they must have crossed them at right angles 

 had the action come from East or West. Floating ice is out of 

 the question where the furrows are not horizontal, and here in 

 the narrov/est part of the channel, west of Saumarez Island, there 

 is a track where the scratches and furrows are distinctly ascend- 

 ing on the west side of the channel, and horizontally on the 

 eastern side opposite, showing that the pressure of tlie ice-sheet 

 must have been from S. E. to N.W. 



Looking south, after passmg Saumarez Island, the scenery 

 appears totally different, from tlie fact that this is the lee side of 

 the glacier action ; and yet the channels have about the same 

 width and bear the same relations to one another. In the nar- 

 rowest channels the polished surfaces, witli their scratches and fur- 

 rows, are as well preserved and as distinct as in those of the Helle 

 Plattea at the Handeck in the valley of the Hassli in Switzer- 

 land. About Iceberg Sound all the mountains are beautifully 

 rounded and numtonnces. That local glaciers, however, existed, 

 and extended much beyond their present range, may be plainly 

 seen in many of the inlets crossing the main channels in an east- 

 westerly and west-easterly direction. It is true that general and 

 local glacial phenomena are so interwoven throughout this region 

 that it is at times difficult to appreciate their true connection ; 

 but there are also many localities where the difference is quite 

 obvious. The most interesting of the places here have been 

 well photographed by Dr. White, and may serve at some future 

 time a. illustrations of the fact described in this report. 



In some places the various kinds of glacial marks were as 

 plain as in the valleys of Switzerland, and I am surprised 

 that travellers who have visited this region since the glacial 

 phenomena have been so much discussed, have failed to 

 notice them here. As in Switzerland, there seems to be a level 

 above which the ice-sheet has never risen ; at least there is a line 

 above which the mountain ridges remain jagged and abrupt, while 



KcpriiUeil from the A'""" York Tribu 



, concliKlcJ fro 



