456 



NATURE 



Oct. 3, 1872 



streamlet in the wide wide world \\ hich is not at this moment a 

 boulder-factoiy. Take Kurope ; in Scotland, Switzerland, and 

 Norway you may see the whole of the hill-side streaked with 

 streams of boulders. They arc hurled into Romsdal now by 

 every cascading river and rivulet or dry gullet which scores its 

 ma<mificent mountain sides when flooded by rain or its equivalent 

 mefted snow. ICvery cascade of water above forms a cascade of 

 boulders lielow ending in a somewhat vertical tiiangle or delta of 

 boulder talus. That is, these triangles or deltas of boulders are 

 horizontal where there is room, while they approach the vertical 

 directly as the narrowness of the valley and the consequent 

 steepness of its sides. 



Distinct from the clays resulting from atmospheric disintegra- 

 tion, this inland grinding of rock into boulders and pebbles is the 

 main source of the sand which is found mingled with boulders in 

 the parallel terraces into wdiich raised mania alluvial plains are j 

 cut, and of the inland parallel terraces on the opposite sides of 

 each soft valley above each hard gorge. It is the source of the 

 sand of the Scottish Karnes and of the Irish Kskers. The so- 

 called northern drift and glacial drift are the combined result of 

 atmospheric decomposition and marine and inland grindmg of 

 rock, sized and sorted by water. 



This is all going on now, as it ever has gone on ijnalis ab 

 inct-plo and according to the/nr/m/a locorum. That is according 

 to the circumstances of the place, not •A\^ period. And nothing can 

 be more absurd than the expression a "drift period" or a 

 " boulder period" or a " pluvial period " or a "diluvial period ' 

 or a " gravel period " or a "period of invertebrates " or an "age 

 of reptiles," or other mistakes between place and period. 



George Greenwood 

 Brookwood Park, Alresford, Sept. 14, 1872 

 P.S.— Since this was written, I have had the honour to receive 

 from the Smithsonian Institution the Report of the Survey of 

 Wyoming, by Mr. Hayden, United States Geologist. 



As far as I have read, he appears to attribute the moulding of 

 the earth's surface, after upheaval, not to glacial but to atmo- 

 spheric agency and the erosion of rivers. With regard to the in- 

 land grinding of rock into boulders, pebbles, and sand, he describes, 

 page 14, the ' ' worn masses of iron ore " " in the bed of the Chug- 

 A\ater," and ends thus : " thousands of tons have been washed 

 down to the valley of the Chug and distributed among the super- 

 ficial drift. As we leave the ore lieds themselves, tliese strong 

 masses are larger and more angular, and as we pass down the 

 Chug they dwmdie to minute pebbles and disappear." 



An Entomological Query 



I FIND the subjoined note in the recently-published " 3= 

 Livraison of Fauvel's Faune Gallo-rhenane ; Coleopteres, p. 11. 

 Will some entomologist kindly say whether Fauvel's obseivation 

 has been since verified or not ? If correct, it is one of the most 

 curious of the many curious phenomena connected with beetle-life 

 in formicaries. 



" J'airemarqueailleurs (Bull. Soc. Linn. Norm. 1S61, v. 252), 

 que, sur un assez grand nombre d'individus captures dans les four- 

 millieres, 11 ne se trouvait pas un seul i. J 'engage les entomo- 

 logistes a verifier ce fait, si I'occasion s'en presente. II pent avoir 

 de I'importance an point de vue des mceurs peu connues de nos 

 especes myrmecophiles." 



The note has special reference to Micropcfhis stap/iylinoidus. 



W. W. SriCER 

 Itchen Abbas, Alresford, September 2S 



Cats' Teeth 



DOUISTI.ESS the case mentioned by Mr. LyJekker is somewhat 

 unusual ; but the mere fact of an animal possessing an extra tooth 

 can hardly upset Prof. Owens theory. It is by no means an un- 

 common thing to meet with examples of supernumerary teeth in 

 man, and these rarely disturb the arrangement of the others, 

 (mostly occurring on the palatal or lingual sides of normal teeth), 

 I do not therefore see why (judging from analogy) *t should be 

 very unusual for the lower animals to possess lilcc peculiarities, 

 although they are not often met with on account of the limited 

 number of skulls examined. Mr. L. does not tell us whether 

 the extra tooth occurs in the superior or inferior maxilla. 



4, Finsbury Square W. G. Ranger 



PHOSPHORESCENCE IN FISH 



WHILE off the Land's EntJ, Cent wall, or between the 

 " Wolf Rock " and " Longships " Lighthouses, in the 

 screw steani-ship Cninbrae {ex Plymouth for Belfast and 

 Glasgow), on the night of Thursday, August 27, my atten- 

 tion was directed to one of the most beautiful marine 

 piienomena that could well be imagined. At some distance 

 ahead of the vessel the sea appeared quite luminous over 

 large portions of its surface. This luminosity, observed at 

 intervals, on a nearer approach proved to be nothing more 

 nor less than the phosphorescence of immense shoals of 

 fish — mackerel or pilchards, probably both — which could 

 be distinctly seen near the surface ; they of course appeared 

 somewhat large, owing to the light which they emitted. 



It was a dark, rough night, a strong breeze blowing off 

 the Atlantic at the time ; and as a consequence, the vessel, 

 as may be supposed from her description, was lurching 

 and pitching considerably — in fact more so than I had 

 ever experienced in any other vessel, or on any previous 

 occasion. 



Having taken up a position on the forecastle, and 

 secured myself by a tight hold on the stanchions immedi- 

 ately over the bow, I watched these fish with intense in- 

 terest—so much so that at times I could scarcely restrain 

 myself from a loud burst of laughter, so exceedingly 

 interesting were their movements. As the vessel rolled 

 and dipped, these lish, evidently startled by her move- 

 ments, could be seen near the surface, ahead and on the 

 starboard and port bow, darting forward in quantities as 

 close as I should think it was possible they could well 

 swim together. It was a sight long to be remembered. 



I may add, that as the sea broke over the fore part of 

 the vessel, the spray rested on me in drops or globules of, 

 as it were, fatty m?.ttcr, and much resembled in its lumi- 

 nosity, which lasted fur some time, the appearance of so 

 many glow-worms ; doubtless this was given off by the 

 lish theinselves. 



Some interesting particulars of the nature of phospho- 

 rescence in fish appeared in Nature (Notes) vol. iv. p. 

 287 (Aug. 10, 1871), as presented in a memoir to the 

 Association of Naturalists and Physicians at Turin, by Sig. 

 Panceri of Naples, from which I extract the following : — ■ 

 " The phosphorescent substance in fishes, in whatever 

 part of the body it may be situated, is always fat " (this 

 bears out my former remarks) " and the phenomenon is 

 due to its slow oxidation in contact with air." 



Further particulars appeared in Nature, vol. v. p. 

 132 (Notes), December 14, 1 871, as derived from the same 

 author, of which the following is also an e.xtract : — 



" In all cases the phosphorescence is due to matter cast 

 off by the animal — it is a property of dead separated 

 matter, not of the living tissues. 



"He" (Sig. Panceri) "also finds that this matter is 

 secreted by ^'/rtWf/j-, possibly special for this purpose, but 

 more probably the phosphorescence is a secondary pro- 

 perty of the secretion. Further, the secretion contains 

 epithelial cells in a state of fatty degeneration, and it is 

 these fatty cells and the fat which they give rise to which 

 are phosphorescent. It is due to the lormation in de- 

 composition of a phosphoric hydro-carbon, or possibly of 

 phosphuretted hydrogen itself" 



Are there any special conditions of weather, or season, 

 during which this phenomenon of phosphorescence is 

 more readily observed than at others.' Although by no 

 means a stranger to the sea, I have never, on any occa- 

 sion, seen anything approaching to it. 



I made a trip from Plymouth to the Eddystone 

 Lighthouse and back on the previous night, and although 

 nets were out (as known by their lloats) at some distance 

 from land for the purpose of securing the fish that I have 

 mentioned, no phosphorescence of the kind was to be 

 seen ; the sea on this occasion was comparatively smooth. 

 John Ja.mes Hai<l 



