;oS 



NA TURE 



[July 26, 1906 



the photograph and coloured geological map included in 

 the guide will give a clear impression of its features. 



Signor Luigi de iVIarchi has published, through the Reale 

 Istituto Veneto (1905), a folio memoir on " L'Idrografia 

 dei Colli Euganei," in which much attention is paid to 

 the question of the change of slope in the bed of a stream 

 according to the grouping of the roclvs successively 

 encountered by it. .\n interesting result (p. 46), borne out 

 by other evidence, is that the trachytic masses round the 

 central tuff-cone of the V'enda are found, not to lie, as 

 Sucss and Reyer have supposed, upon fragmental deposits 

 as relics of great viscid lava-flows, but represent indepen- 

 dent volcanic necks rising through a mantle of softer 

 rocks. Observations are added on the limitation of human 

 activity on the mountain-sides by the progress of denuda- 

 tion. 



In the V erhand\ungen der k.k geologischen Rcichsanstalt 

 for 1905 Dr. Kerner (p. 127) gives the results of five 

 weeks' study of the Neogene deposits of Sinj, in central 

 Dalmatia, and (p. 593) describes the fossil plants collected. 

 Dr. Kranz I^aron Nopcsa (Jahrbuch, ibid., 1905, p. 85) 

 leads us farther south, having been able, with the aid of 

 the Turkish authorities, to study the geology of Albania. 

 He gives a pleasant account of the country that should 

 attract other travellers. Not every geologist can be an 

 artist, and we feel that some of the drawings, made by 

 the author from his photographs, might have been well 

 intrusted to other hands. The author believes that the 

 so-called Flysch of Albania and Bosnia is at latest of 

 Middle Mesozoic age, and has nothing to do with the 

 Flysch of the Dalmatian coast-ranges and of the Wiener 

 Wald. Baron Nopcsa writes very modestly of his results ; 

 but he has clearly felt the fascination of working, within the 

 bounds of Europe, in a virgin field. The bibliography 

 provided should help explorers of various tastes. 



In the same Jahrbticli (p. 349) Mr. W. A. Humphrey, 

 " aus York, England," reports on the ore-deposits of the 

 Stangalp. His remarks on the so-called Urgebirge of 

 Styria and Carinthia are of general interest, since he finds 

 that the gneiss and the mica-schist vary inversely in 

 importance on the margin of a mass of alpine granite. 

 This granite has affected even the interstitial material of 

 the Carboniferous conglomerate, while tourmaline has been 

 formed among the sediments far beyond the zone where 

 they are injected with actual granite-veins. Mr. Humphrey 

 therefore (pp. 363-5) regards the whole sedimentary and 

 schistose mass as a continuous series, which became highly 

 metamorphosed in its lower portions. Here we once more 

 recognise the change of opinion, forced upon field-observers 

 in very diverse areas, with regard to the alleged antiquity 

 of schists in mountain-cores. 



Dr. .^mpfcrer's extensive paper (ibid., pp. 451—562) on 

 the Wettersteingebirge, among his favourite limestone 

 .\lps, introduces questions of torsional movement combined 

 with thrust-planes. In Spclunca, Nos. 42 and 43 (1905), 

 M. Martel deals with the subterranean aspects of lime- 

 stones, in continuing his immensely valuable abstracts of 

 recent papers upon caves. These two numbers, which are 

 issued as one, cover the whole area outside France, and 

 even contain references to Kerguelen Island and the Fijis. 



G. A. J. C. 



METEOROLOGICAL REPORr.S. 



TN the Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan 

 for February, Mr. H. Mukasa gives a summary of the 

 temperature conditions at Chemulpo (Korea) for the years 

 1S93-1903, from four observations daily. The mean of the 

 daily maxima in summer is 8o°.6, in winter 37°-9, and 

 the mean of the minima 67°-3 and 22°.8 respectively. The 

 absolute maximum was 99°-5, in August, iqoi, and the 

 minimum — 1°.3, in February, 1895; the greatest daily 

 range, 40°.3, also occurred in the latter month. The 

 Journal for .April contains an interesting contribution on 

 the management of the wet-bulb thermometer, by Mr. T. 

 Okada. It was pointed out by Dr. Edelmann in the 

 .Mctcorologische Zcitschyift for 1896, p. 334, that the kind 

 of covering used for conveying moisture to the bulb had 

 cnnsiderable influence on the readings of the thermometer. 



NO. I 91 7, VOL. 74] 



Prof. Tanakadate has recently found that a Japanese paper 

 called " Yoshinogami," made from fibres of a species of 

 mulberry tree, was most suited for a cover for the wet- 

 bulb both for temperatures above and below freezing 

 point, and, being quite easy in manipulation, can be 

 changed even daily without the slightest trouble. Mr. 

 Okada 's experiments show that the bulb covered with 

 paper is more sensitive than one with the usual muslin 

 covering, and that in frosty weather its indications give 

 the huiTiidity more in accordance with that shown by the 

 hair-hygrometer. The paper is said to be suitable for all 

 climates. 



The Proceedings of the Rhodesia Scientific Association 

 (vol. v., part il.) contains monthly and annual means of 

 meteorological observations made at Bulawayo (altitude 

 about 4469 feet) from 1897 to 1904 by the Jesuit Fathers 

 Barthcjlemy and Nicot. As the observations mostly refer 

 to gh. a.m., the results can only be taken as approximate, 

 but the discussion by the Rev. E. Goetz, S.J., is neverthe- 

 less very useful. The absolute highest reading of the 

 barometer was 26.171 inches (in July), and the lowest 

 ^5'397 inches (in January) ; the daily range rarely exceeds 

 0.1 inch. The temperature shows one minimum, in June, 

 and two maxima, in October and January ; the means 

 of maximuin and minimum readings for these months 

 ^■'^ 57°'S. 73°'7. ^"^ 72°-6 respectively. The absolute 

 extremes were 105° in November and 33° in June (in 

 June, 1905, not included in the tables, the temperature 

 in the screen fell to 30°). The rainfall has two maxima, 

 one in the beginning of December, followed by a serious 

 break, and a second in the middle of January. Mr. Goetz 

 states that this break in the rainfall is a very disastrous 

 feature of the climate, as the crops are either destroyed 

 or stunted by the burning sun. The annual rainfall 

 averages 22.2 inches, and the rainy days seventy-four. 

 Very little rain falls between May and September ; it is 

 very heavy during thunderstorms, and for some minutes 

 falls at the rate of from 2 inches to 6 inches an hour. 



Sir Charles Todd has recently published the meteor- 

 ological observations made at the Adelaide Observatory and 

 other places in South Australia during 1902 and 1903. 

 He states that the year 1902 must be classed as one of the 

 driest on record, particularly during the winter season 

 (April to October). The returns for 1903 show a general 

 improvement ; on the average, the agricultural areas had 

 about 3 inches above the normal rainfall. A marked 

 feature of this year was that during every month, except 

 .September to November, the mean temperature at Adelaide 

 was below the average ; the lowest air temperature on 

 record at that place, 32°. 2, was observed on July 11. The 

 highest shade-temperature was io5°-6, in February. 



The report of the Government astronomer of Natal for 

 the year 1905 has been condensed ; in the case of the 

 subsidiary stations, ineteorological summaries only are 

 given, and the daily results are only published for the 

 observatory at Durban. The rainfall for the year at that 

 place was 4495 inches, which is 5.6 inches above the 

 average of the previous twenty-one years. This result was 

 owing to one of the most remarkable hurricanes that have 

 occurred in Natal during the last thirty years, which 

 swept over the entire colony with extraordinary severity 

 on May 31 and June i. The rainfall on these two days 

 amounted to nearly 11 inches at Durban and to 17 inches 

 at Umzinto. The mean temperature of the year was 

 exceptionally low; the mean of the maxima was 78°.! and 

 of the minima 61°. 4, and the extremes were 90°-7 and 

 45^.4 respectively. The only year of lower mean tempera- 

 ture was 18,87. 



Captain H. G. Lyons, director-general of the Survey 

 Department, Egypt, has published his report on the rain 

 of the Nile basin in 1905. The Egyptian and Soudan 

 stations at which rainfall is measured only number thirty- 

 one, but a good many other returns showing the days on 

 which rain fell are received, and are to some extent useful 

 in supplementing the information supplied by the recording 

 stations ; observations are also given for neighbouring 

 territories. On the whole, the rainfall is said to have 

 been everywhere deficient ; the volume of the Nile flood 

 considered as the volume passing Aswan between July ' 

 and October 3!, was only 0-65 of the average for thirty 



