Correspondence — Mr. A. J. JuJies-Broivne. 429 



1894, agrees almost exactly with the direction of the principal 

 vibration at the same place ; and, in a third, he estimates that at 

 Gifa and other places in the Mino-Owari plain the movement of the 

 ground during the earthquake of 1891. was not less than one foot. 



The study of the pulsations from distant earthquakes is as 

 fascinating to seismologists in Italy as it is to those in other 

 countries. Professor Grablovitz makes a good suggestion for the 

 organized investigation of earthquake pulsations : he proposes that 

 a series of stations should be established near the great circles 

 which approximate most closely to the main lines of volcanic action. 

 Dr. Agamennone calculates the mean velocity of the earth-waves 

 produced by the earthquake of Paramytlria (Epirus) of May 13-14, 



1895, and the earthquake of Amed (Asia Minor) of April 16, 1896 ; 

 but in both cases he is hampered by uncertain initial data. 

 Dr. Cancani estimates that the waves from the Indian earthquake 

 of June 12, 1897, as they crossed Italy, were about 30 miles in 

 length and 22 inches in height. 



Among the miscellaneous papers may be mentioned two of 

 considerable interest by the last-named author. Pheasants and 

 other birds, it is known, feel the preliminary tremors of an earth- 

 quake before man, but Dr. Cancani believes that this is only the 

 case at a distance from the epicentre, and he therefore infers (though 

 the conclusion seems to me doubtful) that these tremors travel more 

 rapidly than the main earthquake-vibrations. In the second paper 

 he collects and discusses a number of observations on the so-called 

 marina observed in tiie inland province of Umbria, and shows that 

 they are identical with the barisal-guns of India and the mist-'poeffers 

 of the North Sea coast. 



The active volcanoes of Italy are the subject of incessant 

 observation by a small, but careful, band of workers. Professor 

 Mercalli, upon wliom the mantle of Dr. Johnston-Lavis has fallen, 

 devotes himself especially to the study of Vesuvius, and describes 

 the phenomena observed from July, 1895, to December, 1896. 

 Professor A. Ricco, the Director of the Observatory of Catania, 

 communicates a few notes, chiefly relating to the central crater of 

 Etna, while his assistant, Signor Arcidiacono, summarizes the 

 principal eruptive phenomena of Sicily and the adjoining islands 

 during the years 1896 and 1897. C. Davison. 



ooi2,E,:Es:E>02NrxD:Bi<roE!. 



THE SUBMERGED PLATFORM OF WESTERN EUROPE. 



Sir, — Prof. Hull is right in thinking that there is still much to 

 be learned from a careful study of hydrographic charts. The existence 

 of the submarine platform west of our Islands and of the great 

 declivity which he calls an escarpment was of course well known, 

 but the details of the submerged surface certainly merit more 

 attention than they have received, and I do not think their interest 

 is even yet exhausted. 



But when Prof. Hull passes from observation to theory he makes 

 several assumptions which are open to question. He calls the great 



