420 
NATURE 
| Sept. 3. 1885 
birds. Hesperornis lived in a shallow tropical sea sur- 
rounding the present Rocky Mountains, then a group of 
islands. The modern penguins show some remarkable 
points of affinity to reptiles in the structure of their feet, 
and probably their embryonic development, when worked 
out, may throw much light on the past history of birds. 
Some of the extinct Dinosauria which show remark- 
able affinities with birds were at least aquatic in 
habits. 
The fauna of the coast has not only given origin to the 
terrestrial and freshwater faunas, it has throughout all 
time since life originated given additions to the pelagic 
fauna in return for having received from it its starting 
points. It has also received some of these pelagic forms 
back again to assume a fresh littoral existence. The ter- 
restrial fauna has returned some forms to the shores, such 
as certain shore birds, seals, and the Polar bear; and 
some of these, such as the whales and a small oceanic 
insect, Halobates, have returned thence to pelagic life. 
The deep-sea fauna has probably been formed almost 
entirely from the littoral, not in most remote antiquity, 
but only after food derived from the déérzs of the littoral 
and terrestrial faunas and floras became abundant in deep 
water. It was in the littoral region that all the primary 
branches of the zoological family tree were formed ; all 
terrestrial and deep-sea forms have passed through a 
littoral phase, and amongst the representatives of the 
littoral fauna the recapitulative history, in the form of 
series of larval conditions, is most completely retained. 
It is for this reason that the researches carried on at 
marine laboratories on the coasts have yielded in the last 
few years such brilliant results. 
BALLOON PHOTOGRAPHY’ 
Ress experiments in photographic aérostation, car- 
ried out by M. Gaston Tissandier, with the assistance 
of M. Ducom, have been attended with very complete and 
satisfactory results. The photograph reproduced by helio- 
gravure in Figs. 1 and 2 was taken at an altitude of 605 
metres over Paris ; others which were taken did not give 
such perfect results ; nevertheless, some of them surpass 
| in distinctness any yet taken by the same method. The 
ascent took place at Auteuil on June 19, M. Ducom 
attending specially to the photography, while M. Tis- 
sandier looked after the balloon. The photographic 
apparatus arranged in the car is shown in Fig. 3. The 
ascent took place at 1.40 p.m. with a south-west wind. 
Ten minutes after starting a first photograph was taken 
at 670 metres; soon afterwards another was taken at 
about the same height, in which a bridge, quay, public 
Fic. 1.—Reproduction by heliogravure of a plate taken at a height of 605 metres above Paris, showing the Seine, with two boats, Pont Louis-Philippe, 
gate of the Hotel de Ville, &c. 
office, fifteen cabs, a tramway, and the people in the 
streets were clearly reproduced. At 605 metres the 
photograph here reproduced was obtained, but unfortun- 
ately heliogravure does not produce an exact /ac-szmz/e in 
the fineness of the details. The smaller plan (No. 2) 
shows the exact topography of the place. When the 
photograph itself is examined through a magnifying glass 
1 Abstract from La Nature. 
\ 
| a number of small black spots on the roofs. 
many details are discovered, such as the coils of a rope 
mooring a boat to the shore, the passers-by, &c. On the 
photograph, too, the chimneys may be counted forming 
A picture of 
great clearness, but rather greyish, was taken a few 
minutes later at an altitude of 800 metres above the prison 
of La Roquette; and another at the moment of leaving 
Paris at 820 metres. Beyond the city two more 
