NA TURB 



[Sept. 26, 1872 



that the range „. , . , . 



of the water, is much less than that of sound in a lake ; and that 

 by increasing considerably both the intensity and the gravity of 

 the sound, the range is but little increased, and may even be 

 diminished. It further appears that, with equal intensity, the 

 range of sound in a river will increase with its acuteness. If so, 

 a considerable range ought to be obtained, he thinks, with a 

 blast of compressed air for the sonorous source. A. B. M. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 

 The Geological Mag,ninc-s,%Nos. 97—99 (J"ly ^ September 



lSy2). One of the most important contributions contained in 



these three numbers is a translation of Prof. Nordenskioid's ac- 

 count of his expedition to Greenland, which runs through the 

 whole of them, and is nof yet completed. W'itli a good deal of 

 general matter, this paper includes a vast amount of interestmg 

 geological information, and it must be welcome to English 

 geologists, few of whom could make much out of it in its 

 original Swedish dress. This translation is illustrated with the 

 original plates, maps, and woodcuts.— Another highly impor- 

 tanl memoir, which appears in two parts in the July and August 

 numbers, is Dr. H. B. HoU's essay on those most puzzhng 

 objects, the fossil sponges.— In the August number Prof. All- 

 man gives us a note on a fossil HyJraclinia from the Coralline 

 Crag, the Cf/lcponi uhinata of Michelin.— Mr. S. V. Wood, 

 jun.,'has some further remarks on Mr. Geikie's correlation of 

 the glacial deposits ; and Mr. J. Lucas a paper on the Permian 

 Beds in Yorkshire, one portion of which calls forth a note by Mr. 

 J. Clifton Ward, on rock-staining, in the September number.— 

 The latter further contains a notice of the occurrence of the genus 

 C:ipn-ssihi-iiiiis ill the English Devonian, near King's Teignton, 

 the first part of a paper, by Mr. Alfred Tylor, on the formation 

 of Deltas, and some other papers, among which we may mention 

 especially Mr. Woodward's description of a new species of 

 Phalangiiform Arachnide [Architaybus suhoi'alis] from the Lan- 

 cas'.ire Coal Measures, which is especially interesting from i:s 

 generic identity with a North American form. 



The Memoirs of Ihc A'atural Hislory Society of Bremen for 

 1S72 (Abhandlungenherausgegeben vom naturwissenschaftlichen 

 Vereine zu Bremen, Band iii. Heft l) contain some exceedingly 

 valuable papers for the study of zoological and botanical geology. 

 In the former department we have Dr. O. Finsch's contribution 

 to the ornithology of North-western America, from which in- 

 hospitable region the author records about 120 species of birds, 

 many of them possessing a very wide geographical range. Singu. 

 Urly enough the author does not describe a single new species, 

 but of some variable forms detailed descriptions are given, and 

 with regard to many others we find valuable synomymic and 

 descripltve remarks.— The flora of high northern latitudes re- 

 ceives a contribution in the shape of a list of the vascular plants 

 of Spitzbergen and Bear Island, by Dr. T. M. Fries.— The 

 student of the geographical distribution of Eurojiean plants will 

 find most valuable iiifomiation in M. C. Noldeke's Flora of the 

 East Frisian Islands (including Wangeroog) which treats of the 

 vascular plants in a most exhaustive fashion, and is supjilemented 

 by a short notice of the mosses of the islands, by M. C. E. 

 Eiben.— From Drs. Buchenau and Focke we have an important 

 paper on the Saliconiia- of the Baltic coasts of Germany, which 

 includes a discussion of the views of previous authors on the 

 species of that genus.— Dr. Buchenau has also a^paper on the 

 variation of the curious bracts of the lime tree. 



anterior extremities so as to fashion objects tn meet its wants, 

 and apparently possessed of sufficient intellijjence to use lines or 

 nets for catching fish, as it wovdd seem that the e instruments 

 must have been used as sinkers. They are cut in serpentine, 

 the surface of which is slightly weathered to the d-pth of about 

 jV of an inch. One is pear-shaped, ij i". lo»J. and 5.J in. in cir- 

 cumference at its largest part ; near the smaller end is a hole 

 passing through it, and immediately above this is a notch passing 

 across the end. The other instrument is cylindrical, thicker in 

 the middle than at the ends ; it is 5.1. in. long, and 35 in. in cir- 

 cumference at its thickest part. There is a hole through it at 

 about an inch from one end, and above the hole is a_ notch 

 passing across the end. The spot where they were found is on a 

 rolling hill within a few feet of the summit of the coast range, 

 and at an elevation of about 1,700 feet. They were met with 

 in digging away the side of the hill, at about eight feet from the 

 surface, four feet being alluvium, and four feet argillaceous 

 shales, in which they were found embedded. These, and four . 

 other instruments of the same form, were found in a spice of 

 about two square feet. A great deal of alluvial soil had been 

 removed whilst levelling the ground for a house, but no instru- 

 ments had been found until the shales were dug into. In com- 

 pany with Prof. Whitney I visited the spot, and we have not the 

 slightest doubt but that they were taken out at the place indi- 

 cated. As to the geological age of the rock in which they were 

 embedded, this is to a certain extent undetermined. It certainly 

 cannot be later than the Pliocene, and Prof. Whitney is of 

 opinion that it is still older. Dr. Blake then made some re- 

 marks as to the absence of anything like a rim to the Great 

 Basin, north of tlie Puebla Mountains. In going north from 

 the valley of the Humboldt near Mill City to the Puebla Valley, 

 the highest oleva'ion crossed between the Rattlesnake and 

 Vicksburg ranges did not exceed three hundred feet, w'.iilst the 

 country to the east of this, between the Rattlesnake and 

 Umsham ranges, is at a still lower level. North of the Puebla 

 Buttes nothing but some low ranges are found until we reach 

 the head waters of the Owhyee, a tributary of the Columbia, so 

 that there can be no doubt but that the larger part of the waters 

 of the Great Basin must have escaped through the valley of the 

 Columbia. The quantity that was left for evaporation did not 

 probably exceed from 100 to 150 feet, as he hal not found cDn- 

 cretionary deposits. at a greater height than too feet above the 

 present level of the Humboldt. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



IjNGtiSH.— The Veget.ible World L. Figuier, English edition (Casse'l 

 and Co.).— A Maim.il of Microscopic Memuing: J. H. Marlin (Churchill>. 



Foreign.— (Throudh Williams and Norgate;.— Thesaurus Oruuhologix, 

 I'-"' Band, 2'"= Heft : Dr. C. G. Giebel. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



San Francisco 

 Academy of Sciences, May 20. — Dr. Blake, on presenting 

 some stone implements that had been found in stratified rock, at 

 an elevation of 1,700 feet, observed there can be no doubt that 

 up to the present time the earliest traces of man's existence on 

 the earth have been found in this country. The skull found in 

 the Pliocene deposits in Table Mountain is certainly the oldest 

 human skull that has yet been discovered. Many stone mortars 

 have also been taken out from the same deposits. I have 

 examined the spot where one of these mortars was taken out ten 

 feet beneath the surface of the Pliocene gravels on the Sierrasr 

 and as this was some six hundred feet above the valley and near 

 the top of a rolling hill, there was no possibility of the strata 



CONTENTS Pagb 



Balfour's Pal.i!Ontological Botany. By W.Cakrothers, F.R.S. 429 



The British Mtseum Photographs 4)° 



Ou,^ Book Shelf 43° 



Letters to thr Editor: — 



ThePotatoUise.ise -Prof, B, Stewart, F.R.S.; M. Mogcridce 431 

 On the Substance Exhibited at the British Association. Brighton, 

 by Mr. P. L. Sclater, and stated to be the Ossified Notochord of 



a Fish.— H. N. Moselev 432 



Ocean Currents— Wm. Ferrel nVr-'o'c:' ' ' ''^^ 



Spectral Nomenclature.— Capt. J. Herschel, R.E., F.R S. . . 433 



Jeremiah Horrox— Henry Holiday 434 



Millions of Millions.- S. M. Drach 434 



Analogy of Colour and Music— W F. Barrett, F.C.S. ... 434 



The Fringes on the Lighter side of the Rainbow.— C. J. Monro 435 



A Curious Phenomenon 435 



Appeal for Skeletons of Wild Specimens of the Larger Car- 



nivora for our Museums. By H. N. Moseley 435 



Notice of a supposed New Marine Animal from Washington 

 Territory, North-west America. By P. L. Sclater, F.R.S. 



(/;-V//i Illiistration ) 43^ 



A Gigantic Pleasuring Ground: The Yellowstone National 



Park OF THE United States. IL (IVitk lUtistratioits). ... 437 



Notes 439 



Biela's Comet. By J. R. Hind, F.R.S 412 



American Association for the Advancement of Science . . 442 



The French As;ociation Meeting at Bordeaux 444 



On Pulse Frequency and the Forces which Vary it. By A. 



H. Garrod ;,*,-■■*" ■**'^ 



Phenomena of Coagulation in Frog's Blood. By i.. A. 



SCHAFER, M.B • . ;_• .* 447 



Physics.— Acoustic Experiments on the Seine during the Siege of Pans 447 



Scientific Serials 44^ 



Societies and Academies 44° 



