Miscellaneous Intelligence. 505 
Several of the stations occupied during the transit of 1874 will 
be available for ie transit of 1882, Kerguelen’s Land in particu- 
lar, where at Ingress the sun wil ‘be at an elevation of 12°, the 
and 
smallest altitude of the sun 12° for observing the reta rded Ingress ; 
and for observing the Egress as ae ated by = x, the fac- 
tors are about 0°85, the sun’s elevation varying from 
to 32° at New Orleans, or Jamaica. Australian and New Zealand 
Stations are important for retarded Egress. 
s is well known, the transit of Venus on December 6, 1882, 
will be partly visible in this count 
V. MISCELLANEOUS SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 
1. Notes on the Rocky: ee ; by Sir Joseps — 
(From Nature of Oct. 25.)— apeey: with Dr. = 
rth American flora. In order to comprehend the at ae of 
Colorado and Utah as the basis for such investigations, I should 
state that they occupy a very central position in the continent, 
i i Rock ou 
long and about as seen namely, from N. lat. 37° to 41°, and 
from — = _— 105° to 11 
vated 4,000 to 5,000 feet abov sabe sea, called “g idea in local 
to opography, which are iatarpon between innumerable iii 
mountain ridges of very various geological age form 
which often reach 12,000 feet, “sg enpestaRt 14,000 feet sieve 
tion, the maximum bein under 14 
Those of the so-called parks shies are watered by rivers that 
flow to the east are continuous with the prairies that lie along the 
eastern flanks of the Rocky Mountains; those watered by rivers 
that flow to the west are continuous with the sehen desert or 
Way are sometimes low, and the a features of the east and 
bens may hence meet and mix in one 
ich a section of the Rocky Meaniedia must hence contain rep- 
rohedtetiv es of three very distinct American floras, each charac- 
