July 13, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



39 



applicable to such cases when they occur on land — have 

 been recorded in Yorkshire (Scientific News, page 5S3). 

 These spouts Mr. Hayden considers as special cases of 

 whirlwinds and tornadoes, but on a much smaller scale. 

 The general underlying principles he considers to be as 

 follows : — A layer of warm moist air at the surface of 

 the ocean happens to have above it a layer of cooler, 

 drier air. This condition of things is one of unstable 

 equilibrium, and sooner or later the warm light air at 

 the surface rises through the cooler air above. This 

 process sometimes takes place gradually and over a large 

 area, but at other times it is more local, and there seems 

 to be formed in the upper layer a break or opening 

 through which the air of the lower stratum drains 

 upwards, as through a funnel. When the differences of 

 temperature and moisture, and the supply of warm 

 moist air at the surface are very great, this action 

 becomes intense, and this intensity is increased by the 

 fact that as the air rises its moisture is condensed, the 

 latent heat thus liberated adding to the energy of the 

 rising column of air. As this surface air rushes in and 

 escapes upwards through the opening thus formed in the 

 upper layer, it takes up a whirling motion, the velocity 

 of which is greatest towards the centre of the funnel, 

 and a suction or partial vacuum is created, as indicated 

 by the low reading of the barometer towards the centre 

 of a cyclone. 



When a whirlwind is thus formed over the ocean, 

 water is often drawn up the centre of the whirl some 

 distance, owing to the suction created, and at the same 

 time the moisture in the air is condensed as it rises, so 

 that the name " water-spout " is very applicable. Indeed, 

 sometimes a spout will burst over a vessel and flood her 

 decks with water, as a cloud burst does on a mountain 

 side. The damage done, however, may exceed flooding. 

 Captain Strandt, of the American bark Reindeer, as here 

 stated, reports that on February nth a heavy water- 

 spout passed over his vessel, when under full sail, and 

 dismasted her to below the heads of the three lower 

 masts. This catastrophe happened near the " still vexed 

 Bermoothes." But how would the ship have fared had 

 the spout been like the one at Langtoft, which bored 

 through the soil down to the solid rock ? 



During the two months of January and February, and 

 within a comparatively short distance of the American 

 coast, spouts are here recorded as having been seen on 

 fourteen occasions, in one instance nine being observed 

 within half an hour. In other cases four or six were 

 seen at once. Capt. O'Leary, of the British steamer 

 River Avon, on February 28th saw, in latitude 39 30' N. 

 and longitude 57° 20' W., " What he took to be a heavy 

 squall to the south-east. Upon looking at it with his 

 glass, he saw that it was a whirlind raising the water to 

 a great height. It must have been over a mile in diameter, 

 but he hesitates to even estimate the height to which the 

 water was raised, or the size of the spout." 



Mr. Hayden asks for sketches, or, if possible, photo- 

 graphs of these phenomena, together with notes of the 

 temperature of air and water, barometric readings, direc- 

 tion and force of wind, and changes in each, if any, while 

 the spout lasts. 



Land and Fresh Water Mollusca of Leicestershire. 

 — We have received from Mr. H. E. Quilter, M.C.S., a 

 list of the mollusca of Leicestershire, indicating their 

 habitat; the list contains sixty-three species and twenty- 

 seven varieties. 



of papers, Eecturcs, tXu 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 

 At the meeting held on June 20th, W. T. Blan- 

 ford, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the chair, the following 

 communications were read : — 



" On the Occurrence of Marine Fossils in the Coal- 

 Measures of Fife." By James W. Kirkby, Esq. Com- 

 municated by Professor T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



This paper recorded the discovery of fossils of good 

 marine types in the Fifeshire coal-measures. This coal- 

 field is of limited extent, the coal-measures dipping under 

 the sea towards the east and south. The prevailing 

 fossils are those characteristic of the coal-measures in 

 other districts, Anthracosia, Anthracomya, Antliracoptcra, 

 Spirorbis, many fishes, and some few Amphibian remains. 

 Lately a sinking was commenced in the Upper Red beds, 

 below which, and just above a thin .band of poor coal, a 

 thick bed of dark shale was passed through, which proved 

 to be tolerably fossiliferous. Lingula, Murchisonia, and 

 two species of Bcllerophon occurred. This horizon was 

 subsequently proved elsewhere in the district, and fur- 

 nished the following fossils from three localities, namely, 

 Strephodus sauroides {?), Ag. (teeth and scales) ; Rhizo- 

 dopsis, sp. (scales) ; Palaeoniscid scales; Diplodus gibbosus, 

 Ag. ; Mcsodomodus, sp. n. ; Pctalodus Hastingsicc; Diseites 

 rotifer (?), Salt.; Diseites, sp. (with longitudinal ribs) • 

 Diseites, sp. (smooth); Orthoccras attenuatum (?), Flem.; 

 Bellerophon Urii, Flem. ; Murchisonia (Aclisma) striatula, 

 De Kon. ; Sanguinolilcs, sp. ; Productus semircticulatus, 

 var. Martini, Sow. ; Discina nitida, Phill. Lingula 

 myliloidcs, Sow.; Lingula squamiformis ; crinoid stems 

 (Actinocrinus ?) ; plant-remains (obscure). 



Reference was then made to the occurrence of similar 

 fossils in the same formation elsewhere, and particularly 

 in the West of Scotland, North of England, and Lanca- 

 shire. The author concluded, from the frequency of the 

 beds containing true marine remains, that the coal-mea- 

 sures were formed in low-lying areas ; and that, when 

 the land was slightly depressed, at times the waters of 

 the sea had access to such spots, bringing back species of 

 shells and crinoids that had existed in the carboniferous- 

 limestone ocean of an earlier period. 



In conclusion, the author observed that no marine de- 

 posits have been observed as yet in the upper red beds 

 of the Fife or other Scotch coal-measures. 



"Directions of Ice-flow in the North of Ireland, as 

 determined by the observations of the Geological Survey." 

 By J. R. Kilroe, Esq. Communicated by Prof. E. Hull, 

 F.R.S., F.G.S. 



While the striae S.E. of a line drawn from Strangford 

 Lough to Galway Bay all trend in one direction, two sets 

 of slrias occur N.W. of that line, which are generally at 

 right angles to each other, and are frequently seen upon 

 the same rock-surface. The direction of these is N. by 

 W. in Antrim and Londonderry; N.W. over the high- 

 lands of Fermanagh ; and N.E., N,, and N. by W. in 

 Donegal, etc. That of the second set is W. 25? S., 

 swinging round to W. in Donegal and S.W. towards 

 Galway Bay, and is strikingly persistent throughout. 

 Besides these, a very few striations occur which do not 

 conform to these directions, and are attributable to local 

 ice-flows. 



