2I 4 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



GEOLOGY 



Geological Time. — It is needless to point out the 

 importance of finding some fixed points in the vague 

 regions of " geological time." The glacial period 

 being the most recent of the well-marked epochs of 

 the world's history, has attracted great numbers of 

 geologists to its study, and \vilL_most probably be 

 the first to have an approximate date definitely 

 assigned to it. We can hardly doubt that future 

 generations will be able to fix the age of all the 

 other great geological landmarks, but the way is 

 long, and beset with innumerable difficulties, and 

 the decision of geologists with regard to the date 

 of the glacial period will mark only the first step 

 towards the desired goal. 



Geological Map of Europe. — This Map, which 

 has been prepared in Berlin, under the auspices of 

 the International Geological Congress, will be 

 partially ready for publication at the end of this 

 year. Subscribers entering their names before the 

 ist December next will be able to obtain the 

 complete map for £^. After that date the price will 

 be raised to £5 10s. The amount may be paid in 

 instalments as the different sheets are received, the 

 cost of the first instalment being ten shillings. 

 Communications should be addressed to Deitrich 

 Reimer, Berlin. The map is divided into forty-nine 

 sheets, and the scale is about twenty-five miles to 

 the inch. No prospectus has been issued beyond a 

 key map giving the numbers of the sheets, and no 

 further particulars are forthcoming before publica- 

 tion. The map of Europe having been brought to 

 a successful issue, we shall be glad if the Congress 

 can see their way to the preparation of a Geological 

 Atlas of the World. Such a work would be of 

 inestimable value, not only as a record of our 

 present knowledge, but as an indication to amateurs 

 and others of the district to which they can most 

 usefully turn their attention. 



William Topley, F.R.S. — It is with deep regret 

 that we record the death of Mr. Topley, of the 

 Geological Survey. He was a man of simple, 

 unpretending manners, kind and good-natured, and 

 always willing to assist those who sought his 

 counsel ; indeed, it has been said of him that his 

 "one prominent fault was excessive amiability." 

 He was widely known to engineers and geologists 

 all over Europe, and though he was not what one 

 would call a genius, comparable to Lyell or 

 Prestwich, he worked steadily and well on the 

 Survey, and earned the epithet of "historian of the 

 weald." . He died at his house in Croydon on 

 Sunday, 30th September. He was born at Green- 

 wich in 1S41, and after studying at the School of 

 Mines, he joined the Survey in 1S62. His best known 

 work is, of course, his memoir on the weald ; his 

 other writings deal mostly with the applications of 

 geology to agriculture, mining, water-supply, etc. 

 He was the secretary, for no less than fifteen years, 

 of the Geological Section of the British Associa- 

 tion, and served on the Council of the Geological 

 Society, while for two years, 1885-7, he was the 

 esteemed president of the Geologists' Association. 

 His loss will be widelv felt and resrretted. 





I30SS?^3^^^- 





The South London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society. — September 27th; 

 E. Step, Esq., President, in the chair. Mr. Auld 

 exhibited a larva of Phorodesma smaragdaria, which 

 had been feeding fourteen months. Mr. Jager 

 exhibited the series of Callimorpha hera, taken by 

 him in South Devon this year, while accompanied 

 by Messrs. H. Robson and G. T. Porritt. The 

 red, yellow and terra-cotta forms were all repre- 

 sented. Mr. Winkley, two specimens of a second 

 brood of Smerinthus populi, bred this year ; also 

 iour batches of young of the mollusc, Helix 

 pomatia, which had recently hatched. Mr. Filer, 

 long series of bred Papilio machaon, from Cambridge, 

 one specimen having the marginal band of the 

 hind wing extended so as to unite with the discoidal 

 spot. Mr. H. Moore, a specimen of Vanessa urtica, 

 from Vienne, having the two spots only represented 

 by a few dark scales. Mr. Williams, a specimen 

 of the intestinal worm, Gordius aquatints, which had 

 emerged from the body of a water spider. Mr. A. 

 Hall, about twenty species of Rhopalocera, from 

 Japan, identical, or almost identical, with British 

 species, including Papilio machaon, Leucophasia 

 sinapis, Gonopteryx rhamni, etc. Mr. T. W. Hall, a 

 long series of Melanippe flitctuata, from Perth, one 

 being ochreous, many dark, and several were var. 

 neapolisata. Mr. Adkin, Zygana exulans, from 

 Braemar ; Sesia scoliiformis from Rannoch ; light 

 and dark forms of Abraxas grossulariata, and grey 

 forms of Melanippe fluctuata, from Aberdeen ; and 

 on behalf of Mr. R. A. Adkin, the following 

 mollusca from Eastbourne : — Helix aspersa, H. 

 ericetorum, an unusually large H. virgata, and 

 H. caperata, the three former species having 

 abnormally high spires. Mr. Perks, a photograph 

 of the fox shark (Alopecias vulpes), recently cap- 

 tured off the Devon coast. Mr. West (Greemvich), 

 on behalf of Mr. Tugwell, a large number of 

 Zygana exulans, taken this year at Braemar, 

 with cocoons in situ on crowberry. Mr. Tutt 

 made some very interesting remarks on the 

 different climatic conditions which the same 

 species of Lepidoptera experienced in the High 

 Alps and in our own country, and noted various 

 modifications of habits resulting therefrom. — 

 Thursday, October nth; E. Step, Esq., President, 

 in the chair. Mr. E. H. Trenerry, of Clapham 

 Park, was elected a member. Mr. Oldham ex- 

 hibited the following species from his own garden 

 at Woodford : a very varied series of Triphcena 

 pronuba, series of T. orbona, and a few Plusia gamma. 

 Mr. R. Adkin, on behalf of Mr. South, series of 

 Pcedisca sordidana, Peronia hastiana, P. comparana, 

 P. comariana, and P. schalleriana, from Macclesfield, 

 and read notes. A long discussion took place on 

 the perplexities in differentiating the last three 

 species. On behalf of Rev. J. G. Greene, a series 

 of well-executed drawings of the most striking vars. 

 of Abraxas grossulariata, bred by him during the 

 last few years, and read notes ; and on behalf of 

 himself, series of Acronycta rumicis, from many 

 localities, and a bred series of Eupithecia jasioneata, 

 from Ireland, and read notes. Mr. Mansbridge, long 



