May 9, 1907] 



NA TURE 



43 



;hat a wide field of profitable research and future minin" 

 operations has been revealed by Mr. Edelstein's skilled 

 labours. 



No. iS of the reports of the Zoological and Zootomical 

 Cabinets oi St. Petersburg University forms a very 

 interesting report by Mr. K. M. Derjugin on the Murnian 

 Biological Station, a centre of activity for six years in the 

 Kola gulf and peninsula. Previously, the station was on 

 the Solovptsk Islands, and the band of naturalists came 

 into contact, not free from misunderstanding, with the 

 authorities of the famous monastery. The station consists 

 of a main building with laboratories, library, museum, and 

 aquarium; living quarters; houses for attendants ; shed 

 and dock, with ice-house ; engine-house and workshop ; 

 pavilion above a granite basin ; and small harbour, with 

 fresh- and salt-water channels. The Orca, a small sail- 

 ing vessel of Norwegian type, is used for cruising and 

 exploration. The fauna resembles that of Spitsbergen, 

 especially on its western side. The journey from .Arch- 

 angel, we learn, presents great interest and variety for the 

 naturalist. In his enumeration of species of plankton, Mr. 

 A. K. Linko remarks that a vast amount of material in 

 the northern seas has not yet been studiecf, and promises 

 future reports. The work contains tables of observations, 

 records of temperature, plans and sketches, and a library 

 catalogue. 



.Mr. \'. v. Markovllch has described a botanical ex- 

 cursion from Ossciia to Colchis, including the sources 

 of the rivers Ardon and Rion. His first chapter opens 



>. — Wood growing hori,;ontally out of permanent 



with an account of the great mountain range at different 

 seasons, and of the gaudy sun-tints. The people of Ossetia, 

 whose characteristics are respectively modified by proximity 

 to Georgians or Kabardians, are generally grouped under 

 the heads of Irontsi, Tualtsi, Digortsi, and Tagaurtsi, the 

 central point being .Alagir. As it was known that this 

 region possessed silver-lead ore, and the Tsar Nicholas I. 

 desired that the Russians should depend upon their own 

 resources for lead in time of war instead of upon imports, 

 this mining centre was established under the direction of 

 the engineer Ivanitzky. This energetic official also started 

 a nursery and fruit garden, the success of which has been 

 so marked that the terin " .Alagirsky " denotes the highest 

 type of fruit throughout the Caucasus. Passing along the 

 Ossetian military road, traces of every geological period 

 may be observed, including Palaeozoic slates, but fossils 

 are rare. Alagir itself is on the site of a huge glacier 

 from the main crest of the Caucasus. Long experience 

 convinced Mr. Markovitoh that there is no marked differ- 

 ence between the northern and southern slopes of the 

 Caucasus, but a gradual transition, and having received 

 material support from the highest botanical authorities he 

 was encouraged to study transitional forms. The most 

 convenient time of year for exploration of the Ossetian 

 mountains appears to be the end of July and the beginning 

 of August, though botanists would need to go a little 

 earlier. Throughout Ossetia sacred trees are found, into 



NO. 1958, VOL. 76] 



which pilgrims throw offerings of money and other gifts 

 This pagan survival is adapted to Christian saints' days 

 especially to the festival of the popular St. George, cele- 

 brated in November. A main conclusion of Mr. Marko- 

 vitch's survey is that the differences between people living 

 side by side on a limited area are greater than those in 

 the flora, while in Russia the contrary is the case. 

 Ossetians and Imeritians, who live together, are entirely 

 distinct, while there is much similarity in ' neighbouring 

 peoples along European frontiers. Contrary to former 

 suppositions, the flora of the Colchis region varies very 

 slightly from that of the northern Caucasus. 



THE TEMPERATURE OF THE NORTH SEA.' 

 TN a Blue book just published dealing with hydrographica! 

 work done in connection with the International Investi- 

 gation of the North Sea, I have included a paper on 

 some methods and results of hydrographical investigation, 

 or, as it might perhaps have been more correctly termed] 

 on some methods of representing hydrographical results. 



We have from the work of our own vessel, the Gold- 

 scckcr, quarterly observations at numerous stations in the 

 northern part of the North Sea, and also monthly or six- 

 weekly observations at some twenty other stations off the 

 east coast of Scotland as far to the eastward as i" east. 

 At these stations, some fifty in all, we have observ- 

 ations at all depths, both as to temperature and to 

 salinity. In addition to this work of our own, we receive 

 from a large number of passenger captains frequent 

 observations as to temperature and a smaller number of 

 samples for the determination of salinity, taken at the 



Fic. 1 



surface along many important routes crossing the North 

 Sea. In the present paper temperature-phenomena alone 

 are dealt with, and the results are based mainly upon our 

 own work with but little attempt as yet to include or 

 correlate the work of our foreign colleagues. 



From a large number of observations such as we receive, 

 from our own vessel and from the captains of liners — 

 obs'rvations made at varying dates, and, in the case of 

 the voluntary observations, at shifting points along par- 

 ticular lines — it is necessary in the first place to obtain, 

 by interpolation, approximate data for given dates and 

 localities. These data may then be diagrammatically 

 represented in various ways. 



Fig. I is a diagram of surface temperatures on the route 

 from Leith to Hamburg, from January to December, 1905. 

 It is constructed on a method devised some sixty years 

 ago by Lalanne. The coordinates are time and distance 

 along the given line, and over these coordinates are super- 

 posed contour lines, or " isopleths," representing tempera- 

 ture. It will be seen that from this diagram we can read 

 at a glance many things ; we see, for instance, that in 

 early summer and late autumn there is little or no differ- 

 ence of temperature all the way, while, on the other hand, 

 about March the sea gets gradually colder and about 

 August gradually hotter as we travel eastward towards the 



' Abstracted from the Second ReDon (Ncithern Aiea) 'n Fishery and 

 Hydrographical Investigations in the Noilh Sei and .\dj.-icent Waters, 

 1904-1905 ICd. 3358I. (1907.) 



