March 27, 1913] 



NATURE 



91 



southern counties in the afternoon, and this was fol- 

 lowed by a brisk freshening of the wind, which 

 developed during the evening to a violent gale. At 

 6 p.m. the centre of the storm was over Cornwall, 

 and by 7 a.m. on Sunday morning it had reached 

 Berwick, the disturbance progressing at the rate of 

 more than forty miles an hour. A velocity of sixty- 

 three miles an hour was attained by the wind at Kew 

 at 8.50 p.m., and at 10.35 P m - tne hourly velocity 

 was sixty-five miles an hour. On the south coast of 

 England, where the greatest force of the gale was 

 experienced, the wind attained the velocity of seventy 

 to seventy-five miles an hour. The storm is probably 

 the worst experienced for about the last eight years. 

 Shortly before midnight the wind and sea carried 

 away about 200 yards of the pier at Worthing. Much 

 damage was wrought at Bungalow Town, near 

 Shoreham, and also at Hythe, in Kent. 



A severe and destructive tornado occurred in the 

 United States on the evening of Sunday, March 23. 

 The greatest damage was done at Omaha, Nebraska, 

 where about 150 people are said to have been killed 

 and many more injured. The tornado swept the 

 central States, and damage is reported from many 

 places. Blocks of buildings were wrecked, and trains 

 are reported to have been torn from the rails. Fire 

 occurred in the wake of the tornado, and the torrential 

 rain which followed the storm helped materially in 

 extinguishing numerous conflagrations. The path 

 traversed by the tornado is said to have been between 

 200 and 350 yards wide. At Omaha the storm is 

 reported to have demolished one hundred and fifty 

 houses and eleven churches. A report from Indiana- 

 polis states that owing to heavy rains following the 

 tornado, the rivers in the State have overflowed their 

 banks, and it is feared that there will be the worst 

 floods for years. Several towns are reported as sub- 

 merged. 



On Tuesday next, April 1, Dr. A. Smith Wood- 

 ward will begin a course of two lectures at the 

 Royal Institution on recent discoveries of early man, 

 and on Thursday, April 3, Dr. E. Frankland Arm- 

 strong will begin a course of two lectures on (1) the 

 bridge into life, (2) colour in flowers. The Friday 

 evening discourse on April 4 will be delivered by Dr. 

 J. J. Dobbie on the spectroscope in organic chem- 

 istry, and on April 11 by Mr. C. J. P. Cave, on the 

 winds in the free air. 



The second circular of the International Geological 

 Congress, 1913, has recently been issued. A change 

 in the date of the sessions is notified : the meetings 

 of the congress will begin at Toronto on Thursday, 

 August 7, instead of August 21, as previously an- 

 nounced, and will terminate on August 14. The 

 principal subject selected for discussion is "The Coal 

 Resources of the World," and following the excellent 

 precedent of the Stockholm congress, a large mono- 

 graph on this subject will be prepared. The response 

 from all over the world has been so cordial that the 

 committee hopes to have the two quarto volumes and 

 folio atlas ready in time for the meetings. The price 

 will be twenty dollars the set. Other topics to be 

 discussed are : — (2) Differentiation in igneous mag- 

 NO. 2265, VOL. 91] 



mas ; (3) the influence of depth on the character of 

 metalliferous deposits; (4) the origin and extent of the 

 pre-Cambrian sedimentaries ; (5) the subdivisions, cor- 

 relation, and terminology of the pre-Cambrian ; (6) 

 to what extent was the Ice age broken by interglacial 

 periods ? ; (7) the physical and faunal characteristics 

 of the Palaeozoic seas, with reference to the value of 

 the recurrence of seas in establishing geological 

 systems. Authors of papers are specially invited to 

 bring specimens to illustrate them, for which ample 

 space will be provided, and the Department of Cus- 

 toms will give facilities for their entry into Canada 

 duty free. A magnificent series of excursions has been 

 planned, which will give an insight into the general 

 geology, and particularly the glacial, pre-Cambrian, 

 and economic geology of Canada. Twelve of these 

 will take place before the congress ; ten short excur- 

 sions will be held during the congress and nine after. 

 The first excursion starts from Montreal on July 13, 

 and the longest of the post-congress excursions will 

 reach Vancouver on September 22. Particulars may 

 be obtained from the secretary of the congress, Vic- 

 toria Museum, Ottawa, or from any geological society 

 or survey. 



Much attention is now being paid to the archaeo- 

 logical remains in Jersey. In Bulletin No. 3 for 1912 

 of the Soci6t6 d 'Anthropologic de Paris, Dr. Deyrolle 

 and Capt. Mauger describe the excavation of the 

 tumulus and dolmen known as Teste-du-fief, in the 

 northern part of the island. The owner has wisely 

 decided that, after being opened, the monument is to 

 be, so far as possible, preserved for examination by 

 visitors, in its original condition. Within the dolmen 

 the remains of a man buried beside his horse were 

 discovered. Close to the right hand of the corpse was 

 a small clay vessel, and close by a collection of horse 

 teeth. Further information regarding this important 

 discovery will be awaited with interest. 



We have received a copy of the first number of Der 

 Fischerbote (Hamburg) for 19 13, which contains much 

 interesting information with regard to German 

 fisheries, both in Europe and East Africa. 



A very interesting new generic type of side-necked 

 (pleurodiran) tortoise from the Keuper, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Stuttgart, is described by Prof. O. Fraas 

 in Jahresheft Ver. vat. Naturk. Wiirtt., 1913, No. 8o, 

 under the name of Proterochersis robusta. Its pecu- 

 liarity consists in the presence of two complete pairs 

 of mesoplastral elements in the lower shell, which is 

 believed to be a unique feature in the order. As a 

 mesoplastron seems to be a primitive feature, its 

 duplication appears to represent a still more archaic 

 type. In vol. lx. of the " Palasontographica " (pp. 275- 

 294) the same writer describes several new large 

 labyrinthodonts from the Swabian Trias, one of which 

 is referred to Cyclotosaurus, based on Meyer's Capito- 

 saurus robustus, the genus also including the so-called 

 Capitosaurus stantonensis, of the Warwickshire 

 Keuper. 



The American Naturalist for February contains four 

 addresses on organic and inorganic adaptation in 

 nature, delivered at the Symposium on this subject, at 



