246 GEOGRArillC MISCELLANEA 



Two PRIZES, the first of $150 and the second of |75, were offered in 1899 by 

 the National Geographic Society for the best essays on Norse discoveries in 

 America. Tlie competition closed December 31, 189!). By the decision of the 

 Board of Judfjes, consisting of Henry Gannett, Geographer of the U. S. Geological 

 Snrvey ; Albert Bnshnell Hart, Professor of History in Harvard University; Dr 

 Anita Newcomb McGee, Acting Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Army; John Bach 

 McMaster, Professor of History in the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr 

 Henry S. Pritchett, Superintendent of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 

 the first prize has been awarded to Charles B. Dalton, of New York City, and 

 the second prize to Kenton Foster Murray, of Norfolk, Virginia. 



That the ant in the tropics is much more important as a geologic agent than 

 the earthworm of temperate regions is maintained by J. C. Branner, Professor 

 of Geology in Leland Stanford University. Professor Branner discovered new 

 proof in favor of his theory during several months passed in Brazil in 1899, 

 which he publishes in the last number of i\\>i Journal of Geolotjij. In the city of 

 Theophilo Ottoni the streets had been in many places cut down through rock 

 which in places was decayed, and in some of the fresh cuts he saw holes made 

 by ants penetrating the ground to a depth of ten, twelve, and even thirteen 

 feet. Naturally the ants do not bore into the hard undecayed rocks, but the 

 opening up of the ground by their long and ramifying underground passages 

 hastens decay, and the working over of the soil contributes to the same end. 



The gold-bearing area of Cape Nome and the copper fields in the vicinity of 

 Copper River and Mt Wrangell, the most important field for exploration in 

 Alaska at the present time, will be carefully surveyed by parties from the U. S. 

 Geological Survey during the coming summer. The extent of the gold belt 

 that passes through Cape Nome is unknown, but it is believed to cover an area 

 of from 3,000 to 4,000 square miles, all of which needs to be mapped and pros- 

 pected. J\lr Alfred H. Brooks, geologist, who, in company with ]\Ir F. C. 

 Sc'hrader, visited Cape Nome in 1899, and Mr E. C. Barnard, topographer, will 

 direct the geologic; and topographic i)arlies at work in this territory, and hope 

 to bring back a map of the gold area on the scale of four miles to the inch. 

 Another party, led by Messrs W. J. Peters and T. ('. Mendenhall, is to trace 

 the extension of the gold belt to the northeastward and determine how far it 

 penetrates into the interior of Alaska. 



Two billion five hundred million dollars of German capital is invested 

 in agricultural, industrial, and commercial enterprises beyond the seas; nor 

 does this enormous sum iiiclude tlie foreign securities held by Germans. In 

 Mexico German interests are estimated at $95,000,000 ; in Central America and 

 the West Indies, $60,000,000 each ; in the north of South America, $47,000,000 ; 

 on the west coast of South America, $70,000,000 ; on the east coast, $140,000,000 ; 

 in Persia, Arabia, and British India, $12,000,000 ; in southeast Asia, $60,000,000 ; 

 in east Asia, $17,000,000. In North Africa Germans possess i)lantations and 

 industrial works worth $2,500,000 ; in West Africa, $1,000,000 ; in Cape Colony, 

 $9,000,000; in the Transvaal, $240,000,000 ; in Portuguese Africa, $5,000,000 

 In Turkey Germans have invested al)Out $7,000,000 in lamled proi)erty and 

 $60,000,000 in indu.strial enterprises, mainly railways, not including $95,000,000 

 wliich the Bagdad-Busra Railway will cost. German interests in the United 

 States and Canada are estimated at from $1,000,000,000 to $1,250,000,000. 



