October 19, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



501 



12. A Few Feet of Till— This till generally 

 occurs as a thin deposit three to ten feet in 

 thickness, but occasionally seems to be thick- 

 ened up in the form of drumlin-like deposits 

 amounting to as much as fifty feet. It is 

 generally more gravelly than the JVIontauk 

 type of till, and the oxidation does not often 

 extend over three to five feet from its surface. 

 This till can be seen resting on clays and 

 gravels throughout this part of New England, 

 but the best section is probably in the vicinity 

 of Augusta. This till is believed to be the 

 true Wisconsin till of New England. 



13. Betreatal Deposits of Sand, Gravel and 

 Local Clays. — These occur over wide areas in 

 Massachusetts, New Hampshire and southern 

 Maine. They were formed in part in glacial 

 lakes and in part as outwash deposits in the 

 sea or above water level. 



14. Deposits of Local Glaciers. — In several 

 localities in Maine: (a) In the territory di- 

 rectly east and southeast of Mt. Katahdin in 

 northern Penobscot County, (h) in the moun- 

 tainous region between Bangor and Ellsworth 

 in Hancock County, and (c) in southern Pis- 

 cataquis County, there is considerable evi- 

 dence from direction of striae, amount of ox- 

 idation, position of moraines, etc., indicating 

 probable local glaciations somewhat later than 

 the Wisconsin ice advance. 



In closing this abstract the writer wishes to 

 acknowledge his indebtedness to Mr. G. C. 

 Matson, who assisted him in the underground 

 water investigations and obtained many data 

 helping towards a solution of Pleistocene 

 problems. 



Frederick G. Clapp. 



United States Geological Survey. 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 

 THE FIRE-SHIP OF BAY CHALEUR. 



In his ' Notes on the Natural History and 

 Physiography of New Brunswick' (Bull. Nat. 

 Hist. Sac. New Brunswick, xxiv. Vol. Y., 

 1905) Professor W. F. Ganong has a short 

 paper, ' On the Fact Basis of the Fire (or 

 Phantom) Ship of Bay Chaleur.' After an 

 examination of all the evidence it appears to 

 the author plain (1) that a physical light is 



frequently seen over the waters of Bay Cha- 

 leur and its vicinity; (2) that it occurs at all 

 seasons, or at least in winter and summer; 

 (3) that it usually precedes a storm; (4) 

 " that its usual form is roughly hemispherical 

 with the flat side to the water, and that at 

 times it simply glows without much change 

 of form, but that at other times it rises into 

 slender moving columns, giving rise to an 

 appearance capable of interpretation as the 

 flaming rigging of a ship, its vibrating and 

 dancing movements increasing the illusion." 

 This is doubtless a manifestation of St. Elmo's 

 Fire, but the compiler of these notes is not 

 aware of any reports of similar phenomena, 

 of such frequency in one locality, and of such 

 considerable development. Professor Ganong 

 cites the case of some lights reported around 

 Tremadoc Bay in Wales, but notes that they 

 in all probability had only a subjective basis. 

 Lights of unexplained origin, the author notes, 

 were reported as common off the Welsh coast 

 two hundred years ago, and mention is made 

 of St. Elmo's Fire observed at Anticosti. The 

 phenomenon described by Professor Ganong is 

 an interesting one, well worthy of careful 

 study. 



MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 



The Monthly Weather Beview (No. 5, 1906) 

 contains the following papers of general inter- 

 est : ' Present-Day Climates in their Time 

 Eolation,' by F. M. Ball, of the University of 

 Minnesota, a brief review of some of the more 

 important facts regarding climatic changes, 

 with the emphasis on geological changes. 

 ' Severe Hailstorm in the Gulf of Mexico,' 

 reported by E.. G. Bindley, officer of the S. S. 

 Jamaican. This storm occurred on March 

 18 last; the hail was so heavy that the ship 

 was stopped and the officer of the watch and 

 the helmsman were compelled to seek shelter. 

 The first officer received a severe bruise caused 

 by a hailstone striking the back of his neck, 

 and the helmsman received a scalp wound. 

 The stones dented the binnacles and chipped 

 paint off rails and other painted surfaces. 

 ' Tornado in Australia,' an account based on 

 notes by H. A. Hunt, government meteorolo- 

 gist of New South Wales. This tornado was 



