Jan. 8, 1880] 



NATURE 



241 



Mr. Forsyth-Major made an expedition into this dis- 

 with the object of identifying the so-called "Chamozzo" of 



Abruzzi. 



trict with the object of identifying 



the inhabitants, and ascertained that this animal, now nearly 



extinct, v. as either the chamois of the Alps or a closely allied 



form. At Isola del Gran Sasso lie was shown the horns and 



skin of an example shot in 187S. The present existence of the 



chamois so far south in Italy, although mentioned in several 



works, has not been previously authenticated. 



Movement in the Leaves of Conifers.— Dr. Maxwell 

 Masters (Linnean Society, December 4) hai called attention to 

 the contrasts to be drawn between the leaves of the spruce Ins 

 {Pieea] and those of the silver firs (Abies) as regards their 



lent, relative position, form, relative size, ai id 

 structure, as described by Bertra id, MacNab, Chatin, and others. 

 The leaves of the silver firs are endowed with a power of motion 

 in virtue of which they are raised or depressed. On the other 

 hand, the leaves of the spruces are comparatively motionless. 

 In those car.es where the leaves have the power of movement 

 there is usually a well-marked layer of "palisade cells" which 

 are absent in the motionless leaves. This circumstance has led 

 Dr. Masters to correlate the differences before alluded to with 

 varying degrees of functional activity, and with the adaptations 

 manifested to secure as far as possible to each leaf an equally 

 favourable amount of exposure to light, &c. The very remark- 

 able movements cf revolving nutation observable in the "leader 

 shoots" of many conifers during their season of active growth 

 were mentioned as having been investigated by him and the 

 rotation duly registered on a disk. 



GEOLOGICAL NOTES 



i- Crustacea in the Ole> Red Sandstone.— The occur, 

 rence of eurypterid crustaceans of the genus Pterygotus in 

 the Tilestones of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and in 

 the Old Red Sandstone of Forfarshire, has long been well 

 known. These organisms have been regarded as characteristic 

 of that section of geological lime in the British area represented 

 by the Ludlow and Lower Old Red Sandstone formations. Mur- 

 chison used their presence in the Arbroath flagstones as an 

 argument for placing these strata in his "Lower" division of 

 the Old Red Sandstone, while on the other hand he argued 

 from their absence in the Caithness flagstones and from the dis- 

 similarity of the fishes, that these northern deposits must be of 

 later age. He therefore classed the great flagstone series of 

 Caithness and the Orkney Islands as " Middle " Old Red Sand- 

 stone, thus bringing this series of formations into correspondence 

 with his favourite threefold classification of the Devonian system. 

 Recently, however, in the first part of his memoir "On the Old 

 Red Sandstone of Western Europe," published in the Transac- 

 tions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Prof. Geikie has pointed 

 out that the contrast between the fish fauna of the Arbroath flag- 

 stones, or the ancient basin which he terms "Lake Caledonia" and 

 that of the northern basin or " Lake Orcadie, " is by no means 

 so marked as Murch'son believed, and that the characteristic 

 us, on which the author of " Siluria " laid so much stress 

 as an Upper Silurian and Lower Old Red Sandstone type, occurs 

 on several horizons and at different localities in the Caithness and 

 Orkney basin. An important discovery confirmatory of the 

 extension of these Crustacea into the northern area has recently 

 been made by Mr. James Linn in the course of the Geological 

 Survey of Elginshire, now in progress. From the valley of the 

 Spey he has obtained numerous fragments of what must have 

 been a remarkably large Pterygotus, though the specimens so 

 far found hardly admit of specific identification with the 

 :us of Forfarshire. Pterygotus has thus been discovered 

 in Orkney, Caithness, and on the Moray Firth, not only over an 

 extensive geographical area, but throughout a wide vertical 

 range of strata. These crustaceans must evidently have had a 

 consi lerable and prolonged development in the waters of the 

 northern basin of the Lower Old Red Sandstone period. 



SALSES of Mount Etna. — As the result of his recent obser- 

 vations among the mud volcanoes of Paterno on Etna, Dr. A. 

 von Lasaulx gives the following conclusions: — I. The Salses 

 arise from the association of gaseous volcanic emanations with 

 spring-water traversing easily soluble stiata in which common 

 salt, gypsum, lime, and other salts occur. 2. The carburetted 

 hydrogen escaping in connection with the salses is produced by 

 the same volcanic emanations with the co-operation of these 

 strata. 3. The so-called eruptions of the mud-volcanoes are 



merely the squeezing out under pressure of the dissolved and 

 loosened parts of strata, that are disturbed and dislocated by 

 underground movements. 



New Jurassic Reptiles. — Prof. Marsh announces in the 

 American Journal 0/ Science the arrival at 'Vale of numerous 

 remains of reptiles from the Jurassic deposits of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. He finds that they belong to several distinct groups and throw- 

 considerable light on forms already described from the same 

 horizon. Among them he briefly describes a new genus under 

 the name of Camptonotus, most nearly allied to Laosaurus, and 

 forming with it a distinct family, the Laosaurida. The name of 

 the genus is taken from the fact that, as in Laosaurus, the sacral 

 vertebra: are not co-ossified, while some of the other vertebra; 

 even in the same specimen have their neural arches so completely 

 united to the centra that the suture is nearly or quite obliterated. 

 The known remains of C. dispar indicate, according to Prof. 

 Marsh, a herbivorous animal about eight or ten feet high. 

 Another species, about three times as large, is named ( 

 One of the largest reptiles yet known {Srorttosaurus) has recently 

 been brought to light from the same region. It probably belongs 

 to the Sauropoda, but has a sacrum composed of five thoroughly 

 co-ossified vertebrce. Fresh specimens have been obtained 

 throwing much new light on the structure of Stcgosaurns. This 

 dinosaur was covered with huge dermal plates, some of which 

 ranged from two to three feet in diameter. The remains of a 

 much smaller reptile, about the size of a wolf, apparently also a 

 Dinosaur, and probably carnivorous, are included in a new 

 genus, Ccdurus. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



News has been received of Herr Carl Boch, on his return to 

 the coast after his travels in the centre of Borneo. He has been 

 up the Klintjouw River as far as Longwai, and thirty miles 

 beyond where no European has yet penetrated. There is, how- 

 ever, but little to see, and the dead silence of an almost un- 

 inhabited forest prevails beyond Longwai. The birds of this 

 district, with five or six exceptions, are the same as those found 

 in the highlands of Sumatra. Ilerr Boch has made some very 

 interesting observations on the inhabitants of those districts, of 

 which he is preparing an account. The Dyaks of the interior 

 are far more wild and savage than those of the coast, and are 

 not, as a rule, partial to seeing strangers, but appear to offer 

 them no harm in times of peace. They are, however, veritable 

 "head hunters,'' and talk about it in a very free and easy 

 manner. The Rajah, with whom Herr Boch had dealings, had 

 a collection of six, taken from Dyaks of another tribe, not in 

 open fight, but by treachery when they were asleep. A more 

 interesting race, also head hunters, however, and still further 

 removed "from civilisation, are the Orang Poonan, or forest 

 people. With these strange border-beings, who construct no 

 houses but live in the open forest, Herr Boch seems to have 

 made himself quite friends, and regards them as good and honest 



people always excepting the little eccentricity in the matter of 



heads. They are not dark, but fair, and of a yellowish com- 

 plexion, and as they have allowed Herr Boch to take sketches of 

 both sexes, these will doubtless afford much further interesting 

 information. He proposes now to cross the island from east to 

 west, coming out at Band-jermassing. 



A correspondent supplies us with the following translation 

 of a letter from Dr. Gerhard Rohlfs, concerning his recent journey 

 in Africa, which may interest our readers. The letter addressed 

 to a German friend, is dated Benghasi, November 10 : "When 

 you receive these lines I shall no doubt be in Italy, and, there- 

 fore, back in Europe. Your last letter of July 9 I received 

 at Kufra, when I was free again, and already on my return 

 journey ... I hope that Stecker, my young companion, will 

 &ain take up the expedition. The Sueya have partly returned 

 our property, part they are still going to return, and part the 

 Turkish Government will compensate us. If Stecker proceeds 

 by way of Sella and Mursuk, he will probably not encounter 

 too many difficulties. I may communicate to you the statistical 

 fact that the distance between Battifal and Taiserbo is about 400 

 kilometres. We travelled over this distance in exactly 100 con- 

 secutive hours, certainly a great feat. Thus we cleared more 

 than 90 kilometres per day. It must be remembered that this 

 was done on foot and on camels, then it will be appreciated. 

 We hardly slept at all, only in the evenings and mornings we 



