746 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 204. 



that there is a serious outbreak of the plague 

 in the Sainarkand district, the Russian govern- 

 ment having sent thither 40 physicians, but no 

 details can be obtained. An isolated case has 

 occurred in Warsaw. 



The British Colonial OfHce has requested the 

 Royal College of Physicians to report to it on 

 the communicability of leprosy, and the ques- 

 tion has been referred to a committee consist- 

 ing of Sir D. Duckworth, Drs. R. Liveing, 

 Payne, Hebb, Heron and J. Anderson, with 

 power to confer with others not belonging to 

 the College. 



Natvre quotes from the Sydney Daily Tele- 

 graph of September 9th particulars as to the 

 coral-boring operations at Funafuti, news hav- 

 ing been received via New Zealand, through 

 the U. S. S. Co.'s steamer Pohenia, which coaled 

 H. M. S. Porpoise at Funafuti, as to the progress 

 of the two bores, one on land, and the other 

 in the lagoon of that coral atoll. With regard 

 to the lagoon bore, operations were commenced 

 on August 15th, Commander Sturdee having suc- 

 ceeded in mooring the warship so taut that it 

 •was possible to work the boring pipes without 

 risk of their bending or breaking from the 

 bows of the warship. Mr. G. H. Halligan, 

 who is in immediate charge of the boring plant, 

 reports that for the first twenty-four hours of 

 boring a depth of 109 feet was attained, the 

 total depth of the bore being 212 feet below the 

 water level of the lagoon, the depth of water 

 to the bottom of the lagoon being 103 feet. The 

 Poherua left at the end of the first day's boring. 

 As regards the nature of the material bored, 

 Mr. Halligan states that the tirst 80 feet below 

 the bottom of the lagoon were formed of sand, 

 composed of joints of Halimeda (a seaweed 

 which secretes a jointed stem of lime) and of 

 fragments of shells. The remaining 29 feet 

 were in similar material, but containing small 

 fragments of coral getting larger at the deeper 

 levels. The deepening of the old bore, discon- 

 tinued last year at a depth of 698 feet, on the 

 main island of Funafuti, has been proceeding 

 slowly but steadily. The party were landed there 

 by the London Missionary Society's steamer 

 John Williams, on June 20th last. As was antici- 

 pated, little difficulty was experienced in re- 



driving the lining pipes into the old bore and 

 washing out the sand and rubble which had 

 choked the bore hole. Pipes were laid from 

 the site of the old bore to some small water- 

 holes, from \v4iich a supply of fresh water was 

 obtained for the boiler. By July 25th, the re- 

 lining and cleaning of the boiler having been 

 successfully accomplished, boring was resumed, 

 and up to the time when the steamer Poherua 

 left, a depth of 810 feet had been reached. 

 The bore last year terminated in soft dolomite 

 limestone at 698 feet, but it has now been as- 

 certained that below this is a hard rock, so hard 

 that the portion of the bore-hole which pene- 

 trates it no longer needs to be lined with iron 

 pipes, a condition which must facilitate the 

 work of boring. Mr. A. E. Finckh reports 

 that this hard rock is largely composed of corals 

 and shells. The depth of 840 feet is exactly 

 the crucial depth which it was hoped the bore 

 might reach, and, if possible, exceed, as at a 

 corresponding depth on the ocean face of the 

 reef there is a strongly marked shelf, as shown 

 by the soundings by Captain A. Moysten Field, 

 of H. M. S. Penguin, and it is considered that 

 this shelf, at the 140 fathoms' level, marks the 

 downward limit of the coral formation. 



The Department of Agriculture of the Cape 

 of Good Hope has issued, according to Natural 

 Science, 'The Report of the Marine Biologist for 

 the year 1897,' by Mr. J. D. F. Gilchrist. In the 

 report for 1896 and in the present report re- 

 liable information has been published rel- 

 ative to the fishing industry and fishing centers 

 of the colony. The colonial government is 

 now in a position to appreciate the value of this 

 important industry and the possibilities of its 

 development, and to legislate on matter which 

 may arise in regard to it. In order to satisfac- 

 torily investigate the fishing grouuds one of the 

 most modern types of steam vessels was pro- 

 cured, together with a skilled crew, and they 

 set to work with long lines, nets and trawl. So 

 far it is found that there is within easy reach of 

 Cape Town an excellent trawling ground, ri- 

 valling the North Sea in productiveness, and 

 among other excellent fish, soles occur there 

 abundantlj', some of them turning the scales at 

 8 and 9 pounds, from near St. Helena Bay. 

 The future work of the Pieter Faure, as the 



