538 
the normal temperatures at Blue Hill Observa- 
tory from October, 1898, to February, 1899, are 
plotted, it appears that the minimum tempera- 
tures of October, December, January and Feb- 
ruary occurred very near the times of new 
moon, the intervals between the minima thus 
approximating the length of a synodic period 
of the moon. This paper presents also a sum- 
mary of a few of the important results reached 
by European investigators along this same line. 
LAKE LEVELS AND PRECIPITATION. 
UNDER the title Variations in Lake Levels and 
Atmospheric Precipitation, there has been issued 
by the Weather Bureau, a report by A. J. 
Henry, upon the results of a study made by him 
in connection with the work of the Weather 
Bureau on the Great Lakes. The conclusions 
reached are that it seems possible to indicate 
the level of the Lakes approximately by closely 
observing the precipitation in the various water- 
sheds, especially the amount of snow and the 
manner of itsdisappearance. All inferences as 
to the probable effect of precipitation on the 
Lake levels must, however, be contingent upon 
the maintenance of a constant cross-section and 
slope in the present connecting channels. 
SALT BUSHES IN CALIFORNIA. 
Some interesting experiments have been car- 
ried on during the past 18 years at the Cali- 
fornia Agricultural Experiment Station, in con- 
nection with the adaptability of the Australian 
salt bush to the climate and soils of California. 
It appears (Univ’y of Cal., Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 
No. 125) that the atriplex semibaccata grows on 
strong alkali soil, furnishing a very large amount 
of satisfactory pasturage and fodder, and that 
it also thrives on arid non-alkaline uplands, 
even where wells have to be sunk 200 feet to 
water, and where,the annual rainfall has been 
less than five inches. This salt bush cannot 
endure too heavy summer rains, nor the moist 
atmosphere of many warm countries, and seems 
thus singularly well adapted to growing on the 
deserts and alkaline wastes which are some- 
what too common in the southwestern portion 
of the United States. 
Rk. DEC. WARD. 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Von. X. No. 250. 
RECENT ZOOPALEONTOLOGY. 2. 
These notes upon recent papers in zoloogy and. 
paleontology will be continued serially. 
Triassic Life in Germany.—Under the title, 
Die Bildung der germanischen Trias, eine petro- 
genetische Studie,* Professor Fraas of Stuttgart, 
contributes an extremely readable and valuable 
paper upon the relation between the geography 
and the fauna during the Triassic period of 
Germany. This is a model of the best modern 
mode of treatment in which the geology, geo- 
graphy, zoology and botany of a newly dis- 
covered region, are all considered together. It 
is well shown, that the Trias was preéminently 
a period in which prominent characters of the 
great orders of reptiles were fixed. The trans- 
ition from fresh water to marine conditions by 
the inyasion of the sea, and the corresponding 
transformation of land and coast forms into free 
living marine forms is clearly correlated. The 
changes in the marine and fresh water forms. 
are not only traced in a sketch of the evolution 
of the invertebrates, but of the vertebrates as 
well. One suggestion which catches the eye 
has_long been in the mind of the reviewer, 
namely, that the so-called Placodontia, an order 
of extremely doubtful relations and affinities, 
known only from the skull, are not at all re- 
lated to the group of Theriodonts with which 
they have been placed, but that they represent 
a branch of the turtles living along the sea 
coasts, and retaining both in the upper and 
lower jaw large teeth for the purpose of crush- 
ing the shells of small mollusks. 
A Triassic Chelonian.—Another very impor- 
tant paper by the same author is upon Pro- 
ganochelys Quenstedtii Baur, a recently discov- 
ered example of this Chelonian from the Keuper, 
or upper triassic rocks of Germany. This is by 
far the oldest known type of the order. The 
first remains were apparently discovered in 
1868, but not clearly defined until 1887, by 
Baur. This specimen which was received in 
the Stuttgart museum in 1897, is far more com- 
plete, and enables Professor Fraas to give a. 
description of the dorsal and ventral shields. 
These show that Proganochelys was a true land 
and swamp dweller, related to the modern 
*Separat-Abdruck aus Jahreshefte D. Ver. F- 
Vaterl. Naturkunde in Wiirttemberg, 1899. 
