L. W. Fulcher — On Vulcano and Stromboli. 351 



bombs, with the " bread crust structure," which have been described 

 by Dr. Johnston -Lavis. 1 Here and there we came across a series of 

 slight depressions in the ground, where a bomb had rebounded, and 

 which the wind had not yet had time to fill up with volcanic dust to 

 the level of the surrounding surface. In other places the bombs had 

 broken into a multitude of fragments, or had partially buried them- 

 selves in the dust. Some of the bombs contained in the outer 

 coating of obsidian, which surrounds their pumiceous interior, 

 pieces of lava (augite andesite) which had been caught up in them, 

 and also some remarkable inclusions of a milky white substance, 

 which, when collected, were supposed to be quartz. They possessed 

 somewhat the appearance of a sandstone in which the grains of 

 quartz had fused into one another, but a section cut from a specimen 

 reveals a very different tale. With the exception of various small 

 areas of quartz, with small liquid inclosures, it consists of a vesicular 

 isotropic glass, which contains here and there fragments of a felspar 

 much kaolinized, the edges of which fade gradually into the sur- 

 rounding glass. Mr. G. A. J. Cole, who has very kindly examined 

 the section which I had prepared for me, is inclined to the opinion 

 that it is the result of the fusion of some kind of granitoid rock. 



The obsidian, in which it is inclosed, contains in its glassy basis 

 crystals of sanidine and augite, which is very strongly pleochroic, 

 the colour changing from yellow-brown to green. Hence the augite 

 probably contains a large per-centage of soda. There are also 

 numerous small round crystals too small for determination under 

 the microscope only. I understand, however, that Dr. Johnston- 

 Lavis is engaged in an examination of the ejectamenta. 



In a short sketch, published in the Scottish Geographical Magazine 

 for March, 1890 (of the visit of our party to the Italian volcanoes), 

 Dr. Johnston-Lavis adduces some interesting evidence from the 

 rupture of the telegraphic cable between Lipari and Sicily of a 

 probable submarine eruption near the island of Vulcano. 



Again, a letter from Dr. Johnston-Lavis in " Nature," for May 22, 

 1890, announces a new eruption of Vulcano on March 15, when 

 a loud explosion occurred. Some windows were broken at Lipari 

 (six miles distant) and a rain of lapilli and condensed vapour fell 

 upon the town. The eruptions lasted with diminishing activity till 

 the 17th, when they ceased. The crater is somewhat deeper than 

 in September, 1889, and some new fumaroles have appeared inside 

 its walls. 



II. — Stromboli. 



This volcano, on account of its greater inaccessibility, is much less 

 visited than Vulcano, and the records of its condition from time to 

 time are very scanty. Starting from the same point as in the case 

 of Vulcano, namely, Prof. Judd's visit in April, 1874, we find that 

 the thick clouds of vapour prevented an observation of what was 

 taking place at the bottom of the crater. The eruptions succeeded 

 one another at intervals of from two to ten minutes, and consisted of 



1 Nature, vol. xxxix. p. 109. 



