Mar. 2 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NE^A^S. 



209 



of ^aper0, %utmt$, etc* 



LONDON INSTITUTION. 

 On the 2nd inst. Mr. Robert H. Scott, delivered a lecture 

 on "British and Atlantic Weather." After some pre- 

 liminary remarks he said that, " Over the Atlantic Ocean 

 atmospheric pressure was intimately related to tempera- 

 ture, while the direction of the wind is subject to a 

 deviating force depending upon the latitude, the earth's 

 rotation causing a deflection of the air currents, while the 

 difference between the heating of land and water pro- 

 duces a real difference of pressure. Taking two moun- 

 tain stations of about equal height, 14,000 ft. Antisana 

 near the Equator, and Pike's Peak in latitude 39 deg. N., 

 it was shown by the barometer at the top and at sea 

 level how the lower atmosphere moves towards the 

 Equator, and at high elevations away from it. The winds 

 of the Atlantic and neighbouring countries are influenced 

 by the permanent area of high barometer readings exist- 

 ing on the northern edge of the tropics, being northerly 

 and north-easterly from the coast of Portugal southwards, 

 easterly in the tropics, south-easterly and southerly by 

 Florida and the American coast, and westerly north of 

 latitude 40 deg. N. In the tropics the weather is pretty 

 constant, but the trade region is not a ramless district as 

 many suppose, a great deal of rain falling in the belt of 

 calms, which is the birth-place of West India hurricanes. 

 These travel to the westward as far as the West Indies, 

 then curve to north-west, north, and north-east round 

 the edge of the permanent anticyclone. In all oceans, 

 both north and south of the Equator, the movement of 

 cyclones is similar, towards the west in the tropics, then 

 curving to higher latitudes, and finally moving to the 

 eastward. On the ground of expense it is impossible for 

 us to know the conditions existing off our western coasts ; 

 the suggestion having been made, and a question asked 

 Parliament last session, it has been ascertained that the 

 initial cost of laying a buoy at its end 500 miles west of 

 the Irish coast would be ;^6o,ooo. This precludes the 

 possibility of making the attempt, a trial some years ago 

 with a ship moored in seventy fathoms having proved a 

 failure. Various countries have from time to time under- 

 taken the discussion of the weather of the Atlantic, but 

 the most important was that taken in hand by our own 

 Meteorological office for every day during the thirteen 

 months from August, 1882, to August, 1883, correspond- 

 ing with the months during which an international series 

 of scientific observations were being made in the Polar 

 regions. By this means the charts have been rendered 

 more complete than was possible otherwise, while the 

 appeal of the meteorological council to English and foreign 

 merchant captains resulted in an average of 400 observa- 

 tions a day over the sea, the number of land stations on 

 both sides of the ocean reaching a considerably higher 

 total, so that this great work has been based upon about 

 1,000 observations a day, probably ten times as many as 

 had ever been used in previous works of the same 

 nature, and yet, from the experience gained, this mass of 

 data is now considered too small to follow all the varia- 

 tions which are constantly in progress. Entering into 

 details of the storms shown on the charts, the neighbour- 

 hoods of greatest storm frequency are found over Nova 

 Scotia, a little further north in mid-Atlantic, between Ice- 

 land and Greenland, and in Davis Strait, with regions of 



less frequency to the south-west of the British Isles, and 

 one or two other localities. Many storms originate as 

 far west as the Rocky Mountains, if not over the Pacific 

 Ocean, Mr. Harris having traced one from the Philippine 

 Islands and the Pacific and America to Europe, taking a 

 little over a month to do the journey. Some of the 

 cyclonic systems from the Rockies travel by the American 

 lakes and curve to the north towards Davis Strait, where 

 they remain several days ; some cross Greenland to Ice- 

 land, and perhaps visit us. Many systems appear to 

 become almost stationary, oscillating backward and for- 

 ward for days. Instances are very common of the 

 coalescing of two storm areas, and the breaking up of 

 one area into two parts, each distinct from the other. It 

 was shown that it is not necessary for us to have a storm 

 centre pass over us to account for a gale, as the centres 

 are often hundreds of miles out at sea, but the high and 

 increasing barometer over Germany and Russia causing 

 steepness of the gradient, brings stormy weather to our 

 coasts. For some time past the United States Weather 

 Department has been sending daily information of the 

 conditions over America and any reports made by ships 

 of disturbed weather on the western side of the ocean. 

 The results so far have been small, Mr. Scott, thinking 

 that the ship reports are not full enough. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 

 At the meeting held on February 8, 1888, Prof J. W. 

 Judd, F.R.S., President, in the chair, the following com- 

 munications were read : — 



" On some Remains ot Sqtiatina Cranei, sp. nov., 

 and the Mandible of Belonostomiis cindus, from the Chalk 

 of Sussex, preserved in the Collection of Henry Willett, 

 Esq., F.G.S., Brighton Museum." By A. Smith Wood- 

 ward, Esq., F.G.S. 



The remains referable to sqtiatina consist of a crushed 

 skull, with the mandibular and hyoid arches, and an 

 associated fragment of the pectoral fin with dermal 

 tubercles. The fish was probably about 30 inches long. 

 The form and relative proportions of the cranium, etc., 

 appear to be similar to those of the living representative 

 of the genus. The dentition is not completely preserved ; 

 the teeth near the sj'mphysis of the mandible are rela- 

 tively high and slender, while the opposing teeth are 

 small. The great relative size of the spinous dermal 

 tubercles serves to distinguish it from species of squatina 

 already known. 



No specimen of belottostomus has hitherto revealed the 

 precise characters of the dentition or the relations of the 

 hindermost bones. This deficiency is now supplied. 

 The two rami occupy only one half the entire length ot 

 the jaw, the anterior half being formed by the elongated 

 presymphysial bone, which is provided with a powerful 

 prehensile dentition. The large median teeth end 

 abruptly at the posterior extremity of the presymphysial 

 element, but the small lateral teeth are continued back 

 wards upon the rami of the jaw, increasing in size and 

 becoming relatively shorter. 



2. "On the History and Characters of the Genus 

 Septastrcea, D'Orbigny (1849), and the Identity of its 

 Type Species with that of Glyphastraa, Duncan (1887)." 

 By George Jennings Hinde, Ph.D., F.G.S. 



In the type form of Septastrcea, now in the British 

 Natural History Museum, the walls of the corallites, 

 though closely opposed, are quite distinct ; the theca is 

 formed by the extension of the septal laminae ; the walls 



