870 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VUI. No 207. 



spent some three months upon Yap, in the 

 western Carolines. Some of the ancient plat- 

 forms and burial places — of a Japanese design 

 — and the remarkable village council lodges 

 were sketched. After putting the results of his 

 work on record through the Royal Geographical 

 Society and otherwise, Mr. Christian intends 

 to revisit the Carolines and Mariannes, taking 

 particular notice of Ruk, Tinian, Saipan, 

 Pulawat and Nuku-Oro and the Pelew Islands. 



Consul Mayee writes to the Dep.'irtment of 

 State from Buenos Ayres, under date of October 

 12, 1898 : The locust advices are not reassur- 

 ing, as, though the extinction goes on briskly, 

 the invasions are tremendous, and it is appre- 

 hended that they will soon be in the Province 

 of Buenos Ayres. Entre Kios and parts of 

 Santa F6 and Cordoba are overrun. In the 

 first three days of October 398 tons of locusts 

 were gathered in Entre Rios alone ; but the 

 sub-commis.sions complain that in some quarters 

 the inhabitants refuse to work at the extinction, 

 and that the police does not lend its authority 

 to compel them. The central commission has 

 issued a circular urging that prompt notice be 

 given of all desoves (egg despositing) and sam- 

 ples sent in, with dates and all other particulars 

 pertinent. The news from Paraguay is that 

 the locusts are thick there and doing wholesale 

 damage. In the colonies south of Santa Fe 

 there have been no invasions as yet, and the 

 farmers are of the opinion that if they escape 

 until the 15th instant both wheat and linseed 

 will be safe. The Jewish colonies in Villaguay 

 have been invaded and the crops destroyed. 

 The colonization company owns 70,000 hectars 

 there, of which 25,000 to 30,000 are under cul- 

 tivation ; so that the great loss to the farmers 

 can easily be imagined, should the crops not 

 come on again. For this, rain is absolutely 

 necessary. The farmers made no move what- 

 ever to cope with the plague, and the sub-com- 

 mission recommends the head commission to be 

 inexorable in imposing fines. The work of ex- 

 tinction is being briskly pushed in other Prov- 

 inces and is giving good results. Buenos Ayres 

 has not suffered yet, but the plague is coming 

 down apace. 



De. George F. Becker has sent to the U. 



S. Geological Survey a report on the mineral 

 resources of the Philippine Islands, in the course 

 of which he says that, so far as is definitely 

 known, the coal of the Philippine Islands is all 

 of the Tertiary age, and might better be char- 

 acterized as a highly carbonized lignite. It 

 is analogous to the Japanese coal and that 

 of Washington, but not to the Welsh or 

 Pennsylvania coals. Such lignites usually 

 contain much combined water (8 to 18 per 

 cent.) and bear transportation ill. They are 

 also apt to contain much sulphur, as iron py- 

 rites, rendering them subject to spontaneous 

 combustion and injurious to boiler plates. In 

 these islands it would appear that the native 

 coal might supplant English or Australian coal 

 for most purposes. Lignite is widely distributed 

 in the archipelago ; some of the seams are of 

 excellent width and the quality of certain of 

 them is high for fuel in this class. Coal exists 

 in various provinces of the Island of Luzon, 

 and a number of concessions for mining have 

 been granted. Many of the other islands 

 contain coal and in the great Island of Min- 

 danao it is known to occurr at eight different 

 localities. In the Island of Cebu petroleum 

 has been found associated with coal at Toledo, 

 on the west coast, where a concession has been 

 granted. It is also reported from Asturias, to 

 the north of Toledo on the same coast, and from 

 Alegria to the south. Natural gas is said to 

 exist in the Cebu coal fields. On Pauay, too, 

 oil is reported at Janinay, in the province of 

 Iloilo, and gas is reported from the same island. 

 Petroleum highly charged with paraffin is also 

 found on Leyte at a point about four miles from 

 Villaba, a town on the west coast. Gold is 

 found at a vast number of localities in the 

 archipelago, from northern Luzon to central 

 Mindanao. In most cases the gold is detrital, 

 and is found either in existing water courses or 

 in stream deposits now deserted by the current. 

 Copper ores are reported from a great number 

 of localities in the Philip|)ines. They are said 

 to occur in the following islands: Luzon (pro- 

 vinces of Lepanto, Benguet and Camarines), 

 Mindora, Capul, Masbate, Panay (province of 

 Antique) and Mindanao (province of Surigao). 

 Many of these occurrences are probably unim- 

 portant. A lead mine has been partially devel- 



