1870.] Meteorology. 545 



Lower Lias. The Middle Lias occurs as drift on cultivated fields, 

 &c. Mr. Tate suggests that this drift may have been transported 

 from the Hebrides by glacial action. In the case of Gloucestershire, 

 Mr. Tate endeavoured to apply the numerical test as to the distri- 

 bution of organic remains in order to show that the zone of Ammo- 

 nites Jamesoni belongs to the Middle Lias, and A. raricostatus 

 to the Lower Lias. For the present it is exceedingly difficult to 

 follow these minute divisions until more of their contained fossils 

 have been identified and figured. 



In addition to these, we have abstract notices of the Crag of 

 Norfolk and Associated Beds, by J. Prestwich, Esq., F.E.S. Cap- 

 tain S. Hyde on Deep-mining in S.W. Ireland. Dr. E. Bunzel on 

 a Beptilian Skull from Grunbach. Mr. E. J. Lechmere Guppy on 

 Trinidad Fossils. M. Coumbary on the Fall of an Aerolite in 

 Fezzan. Dr. A. A. Caruana on a further discovery of Fossil 

 Elephants in Malta. The Journal is a very stout one, numbering 

 468 pp. and having fourteen lithographic plates. 



8. METEOEOLOGY. 



The Meteorological Office has issued Part I. of its new publica- 

 tion, ' The Quarterly Weather Eeport,' for the first three months 

 of 1869. The chief features of novelty presented by this Eeport 

 are the facsimile representations of the curves of the self-recording 

 instruments. It should be stated that the preparation of plates 

 such as those referred to has been rendered possible by an invention 

 of Mr. Francis Galton's. This is a pantagraph which is capable of 

 effecting reductions simultaneously in different proportions along 

 two rectangular co-ordinates. The proportions selected for the 

 plates have been -J for the horizontal or time scale, and J for 

 the vertical scale. By this means all the information for five days 

 from the seven observatories is condensed into the space of two 4to 

 plates, one for the barograms and wet and dry bulb thermograms, 

 the other for the wind and rain. Scales on both the British and 

 metrical systems are given at each side, so that the readings of the 

 barometers and thermometers may be determined for any epoch. 

 For the wind the scales are in statute and geographical miles. 



The letter-press consists of (1) an introduction containing some 

 general remarks, especially on the difficulty of obtaining trustworthy 

 records of wind at land stations ; (2) the Eeport itself, which is 

 a chronicle of the weather for the three months, derived from all 

 sources which were available to the office, with tabular statistics of 

 storms ; (3) the tables for the year 1869, giving the monthly and 

 the five-day means of various elements, derived from the hourly 

 tabulated readings of the instruments. 



