292 



SCIB]!fC:EJ. 



[Vol. IX., No. 2ie 



tract the attention from the outlines of those 

 districts. However, the additional information 

 contained in the profiles fully makes up for this 

 disadvantage, particularly as the map is on a large 

 scale, and intended for a special study of the hy- 

 drography of the Mississippi. 



An advance copy of a geological map of the 

 northern part of the Dominion of Canada, by 

 George M. Dawson, has been received. It embraces 

 arctic America from latitude 60° north, and the 

 adjoining parts of British Columbia and Labrador. 

 The geological coloring is based on the explora- 

 tions of the geological survey of Canada and on 

 other authorities. The geological structure of the 

 district west of the Mackenzie is still unknown. 

 The most interesting parts of the map are the car- 

 boniferous area of the Parry Archipelago, which 

 stretches from the outlet of Eobeson Channel into 

 the Arctic Ocean to Banks Land ; and the ad- 

 joining Devonian and Silurian belt, which stretches 

 in a continuous line from the east coast of Kane 

 Basin to Hayes Sound, North Devon, and the 

 Mackenzie River. The close connection between 

 the geological structure of GrinneE Land and 

 Parry Archipelago is very interesting. Its exist- 

 ence makes the exploration of the unknown area 

 between those islands very desirable. Every thing 

 tends' to show that it is probably occupied by a 

 group of islands, and therefore it is probable that 

 an exploration might be accomplished without 

 great difficulty or danger. The field for arctic 

 explorers is not to be looked for only in the ex- 

 treme north : the unknown districts which are 

 comparatively easily reached deserve as much at- 

 tention. Another interesting point of the map is 

 the Devonian or Silurian basin of Fox Channel and 

 Baffin Land, and that of Hudson Bay. It would 

 have been desirable to have what little there is 

 known of the orography of arctic America in this 

 map, as it would help to give a clearer idea of the 

 geological character of those districts. 



The boundary between Venezuela and Brazil 

 was surveyed in the years 1880 to 1883. The re- 

 port of the work of the joint commissions has 

 been prepared by the chief of the Brazilian com- 

 mission, Lieut.-Col. Francisco Xavier Lopez de 

 Araujo, and is printed in the Brazilian parlia- 

 mentary papers (Rio de Janeiro, 1884). The map 

 which accompanies this report contains much 

 new information. The exploration of the Ma- 

 turaca revealed the fact that the Orinoco and Rio 

 Negro are not connected by the Cassiquiare alone, 

 but that a great number of bifurcations exist 

 which form a large island that has been named 

 ' Ilha Pedro II.' On the subsequent journeys the 

 river Padauiry and the Serra Curupica were ex- 

 plored. The expedition did not visit the district 



inhabited by the Maracanas and Kirishanas, who 

 do not allow the whites to enter their territory. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 We learn from Modern language notes that 

 the English folk-lore society has invited Prof. 

 T. F. Crane of Cornell university to edit for the 

 society the exempla, or illustrative stories of 

 Jacques de Vitry, bishop of Acre, and historian of 

 the Crusades. This compliment to American 

 scholarship is specially marked, because Professor 

 Crane was intrusted with the work with no limita- 

 tions whatsoever. The Athenaeum adds, that 

 these stories are about three hundred in number,^ 

 and are contained in the hitherto inedited manu- 

 scripts No. 17509, Bibliotheque nationale. Pans. 

 They are of great value for the question as to the' 

 diffusion of popular tales. They contain everj 

 variety of story, from the jest to the conte devot, 

 and are esi ecially rich in fables, among them th© 

 oldest European version of ' The milkmaid and 

 the pot of milk.' Professor Crane's edition will 

 consist of an introduction on the life of Jacques 

 de Vitry and the use of exempla in mediaevail ser- 

 mons, the Latin text, and a brief translation or 

 analysis in English, with comparative notes. It 

 will probably be ready by the end of the year. 



— The dome for the Lick observatory is well 

 under way at the Union iron-works in San Fran- 

 cisco. It is 70 feet in diameter, will weigh 90^ 

 tons, and is to be revolved with a pressure of 

 135 pounds;' The cost of the dome is $56,800. 



— The daily papers recently announced the 

 startling discovery that the earth had been re- 

 tarded in its daily revolution ten minutes and 

 eleven seconds between Feb. 25 and March 8, 

 1886, and anxious' inquiries were made as to the 

 causes and effects of this slowing-down. We are 

 a little surprised that this absurd story comes, not 

 from a wild theorist with unbounded faith in 

 the maxim that figures will not lie, but from a 

 practical man, "taking observations of the sun 

 in his business of regulating and adjusting chro- 

 nometers for masters of vessels arriving at Wil- 

 mington " ! 



— Dr. Peters of the Hamilton college observa- 

 tory has given the small planet, No. 264, which h& 

 discovered on the 17th of December, the name 

 Libussa. No. 256, discovered by Dr. Palisa, ha& 

 been named Walpurga. A new asteroid, 265, 

 was discovered by Palisa at Vienna on Feb. 27. 



— The lectures under the auspices of the philo- 

 sophical, anthropological, and biological societies 

 of Washington are announced as follows : March 

 12, Gen. A. W. Greely, U.S.A., Animals of the 



