October 16, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



505 



This does not change essentially the original 

 limits ascribed to Daimonelix, for outside 

 of Sioux County, where they occur in enor- 

 mous numbers, they are found sparingly. 



In its wider distribution this singular fossil 

 is thought to be represented by a specimen 

 found in Peissenberg, Germany, and described 

 by Dr. Ludwig von Ammon, ' Geognostischen 

 Jahresheften,' 1900, under the title Vorkommen 

 von ' Steinschrauben ' {Dmmonhelix) in der 

 Oligooanen Molasse Oberbayerns. 



ErWIN H. B.KRBOIR. 



The University of Nebb.\ska, 

 December. 1902. 



CVRRFAT yOTES ON METEOROLOdY. 

 R.\IXF.\LL OF INDIA. 



The latest volume of the valuable series 

 of ' Indian Meteorological Memoirs ' (XIV., 

 fol., Calcutta, 1902) is a compilation of the 

 rainfall data for 457 Indian stations through 

 the year 1900. In Volume III. of the 'Me- 

 moirs,' Appendix A, Blanford had previously 

 given the monthly rainfalls for various pe- 

 riods ending with December, 1886. The 

 present publication will for some years be 

 the authority on Indian rainfall statistics. 

 Considerable interest has always attached to 

 the rainfall at Cherra Poonjee (as the spelling 

 is in the report under consideration), in the 

 Khasi Hills, north of the head of the Bay of 

 Bengal, which has held the record for the 

 heaviest annual precipitation. According to 

 the latest average, carried through 1900, the 

 mean annual rainfall at this station is 457.80 

 inches. A new subdivision into the northeast 

 monsoon and the southwest monsoon rainfalls, 

 coming respectively in December-April and 

 May-November, will be found useful by stft- 

 dents of special problems in connection with 

 the climatology of India. 



TORNADO AT GAI.VESVILLE, GA.. .II'SE I, 190:?. 



In an account of the Gainesville tornado of 

 June 1 last, published in the Monthly Weather 

 Review for June, mention is made of two facts 

 which show clearly the effect of the sudden 

 expansion of the air in enclosed spaces. In 

 one case the walls of a mill ' fell outward, and 



the roof was lifted into the air and held sus- 

 pended for several seconds.' The other con- 

 cerned a standpipe, fifty feet off the ground, 

 and about fifty feet high. This standpipe was 

 about forty feet in diameter, and covered with 

 a sheet-iron cupola. The latter, ' weighing 

 several tons, was lifted bodily from the top 

 of the standpipe, carried high into the air, 

 and dropped about a hundred feet in front 

 of the mill, killing several persons who had 

 thus far escaped danger.' 



WEATHER REPORTS FROM VESSELS AT SEA. 



In the same number of the Review, Profess- 

 or A. G. McAdie notes that daily meteoro- 

 logical reports were received at San Fran- 

 cisco from the cable ship Silvertown, while 

 this vessel was laying the American trans- 

 Pacific cable. The first report was received 

 when the vessel was 90 miles off shore, and the 

 last when she was about 2,000 miles, away. 

 These reports proved of value in making the 

 weather forecasts at San Francisco. 



K. DeC. Ward. 



THE MOSELEY EDVCATWSIAL COMHISSION. 

 The members of Mr. Alfred Moseley's com- 

 mission have arrived in this country to study 

 our educational system. The commission is 

 informal in character, although it includes 

 official delegates from various institutions. 

 It is expected that about two months will be 

 spent in visiting the chief educational centers 

 of the country, attention being paid to the 

 public school system and to higher education. 

 The members of the eomniission, all of whom, 

 except three who are expected later, have spent 

 the past week in New York City, are as fol- 

 lows: 



Arthur Anderson, J.P., Ahlennan, anil Clinir- 

 nian of Teclinieal Instruction Committee of tlie 

 West Kiding C'oimty Council. (Nominated liy 

 the County Councils Association.) 



W. V. Ayrton. F.R.S., professor of physics in the 

 Central Technical College, ex-Prcsident Institute 

 of Electrical Engineers. 



Thomas Barclay, IJ..H., ex- ['resident Paris 

 Chamber of Commerce. 



