724 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 123. 



particularly fine. Narrative, rather than 

 physiography, characterizes the text ; but 

 much of the quality of our higher mountains 

 can be gleaned from it. A sad interest at- 

 taches to the later pages, in the account of 

 the death of Philip S. Abbot on Mt. Lefroy, 

 Canada. The great precipices of the moun- 

 tain are shown in a full-page plate. 



The physiography of northern Indiana is 

 described by C. E. Dryer {Inland Educator, 

 IV., 1897, 63-69) as a contribution towards 

 more rational geography in the schools. 

 The region was first explained by Gilbert 

 in 1870 ; the drainage is now shown to be 

 even more dependent on morainic ridges 

 than was at first supposed. North of the 

 Maumee- Wabash line the moraines are 

 heavier, enclosing numerous lakes and 

 forming a most picturesque contrast to the 

 flatter surface of the Erie clays around the 

 lake border. 



C. Sapper writes upon the physical geog- 

 raphy and the geology of Yucatan (Bull. 

 No. 3, Inst. geol. Mexico, 1896). A con- 

 siderable area is described as of ' very 

 strange topography ;' lacking ridges of de- 

 terminate direction, and everywhere gently 

 undulating ; the cause of this being ascribed 

 to the horizontal position and the porous 

 structure of the rocks, and to the ' sinks ' 

 consequently formed over subterranean 

 channels. The same author describes the 

 volcanoes of Salvador and southeast Guate- 

 mala (Petermann's Mitt., XLIII., 1897, 1- 

 7). The volcano Guazapa is well dissected 

 by radical valleys, while nearly all the others 

 are young enough to have smooth contours. 



John Mueeay, of the Challenger expedi- 

 tion, gives an account of ' Balfour shoal ' 

 {Scot. Geogr. Mag., XIII., 1897, 120-134, 

 two plates), probably a volcanic cone, ris- 

 ing from the Pacific bottom, east of Austra- 

 lia, in Lat. 19° S., Long. 157° E., from a 

 depth of 1,300 fathoms to 836 fathoms. 

 The side slopes are steepest on the north- 



east, where they reach 200 fathoms per 

 mile, or 1 in 4.4. Examples of other oce- 

 anic cones may be found in a paper by G. 

 W. Littlehales, entitled ' Average form of 

 isolated submarine peaks,' published by our 

 Hydrographic OfiBce in 1890. 



W. M. Davis. 

 Haevaed University. 



CUBBENT NOTES ON ANTEBOPOLOGT. 

 THE MONOLITHS OF TAFI. 



Tafi is the name of a broad valley in the 

 province of Tucuman, Argentine Kepublic. 

 The well-known scientist, Professor Am- 

 brosetti, in a recent visit there, had his at- 

 tention called to an extraordinary colloca- 

 tion of monolithic pillars and stone enclos- 

 ures, erected in remote ages by the native 

 inhabitants. He describes them in Globus, 

 Bd. LXXI., No. 11. The monoliths are from 

 six to ten feet in height above the soil, 

 some plain, others decorated with conven- 

 tional designs, others rudely chipped into 

 the likeness of faces, etc. They extend 

 over a considerable area and their purpose 

 is problematical. 



Ambrosetti is inclined to attribute them 

 to the predecessors of the Calchaqui In- 

 dians, who occupied this territory at the 

 Conquest. He suggests that they are the 

 work of the same people who erected the 

 buildings of Tiahuanuco; a suggestion 

 which I think is extremely probable, for 

 some of the decoration shown in his cuts is 

 strikingly like that on the stone pillars of 

 Hatuncolla, two leagues from Lake Titi- 

 caca, portrayed in Squier's ' Peru,' pp. 

 385-6. 



ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE MYCENEANS. 



In the excellent volume on Mycenean art 

 from the pens of Professors Tsountas and 

 Manatt there is a chapter devoted to the 

 ethnic afiiliations of the peoples who, some 

 two milleniums before the Christian era, de- 

 veloped that remarkable culture. 



Their tombs, dwellings and arts point to 



