w 



[ 144< ] 



XXVII. Notices respecting New Booh. 

 Curtis' s British Entomology . 



E are happy to announce the publication of the Preface, General 

 Indexes, &c. to this beautiful work, which is now completed, 

 after sixteen years of almost unremitting application on the part of the 

 author. The sixteen volumes which, if arranged systematically as 

 proposed by Mr. Curtis, will form eight, contain illustrations of all 

 the Genera of Linnseus, Fabricius, and Latreille that are recorded as 

 native groups, as well as most of the interesting discoveries that have 

 been made for many years past, comprising 770 copper-jDlates, giving 

 faithful figures of our wild flowers, as well as the insects, beautifully 

 coloured and finished with the greatest care. The letter-press, 

 amounting to nearly 1700 pages, although scientific, contains concise 

 accounts of the history and ceconomy of every group that is interest- 

 ing and familiar to us, such as the Hive-Bee, Wasps, Cockroaches, 

 Molecrickets &c. ; and there are two thick volumes of the Butterflies 

 aiad Moths. 



XXVIII. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



[Continued from vol. xv. p. 544.] 

 Nov. 6. A NOTICEof showers of ashes which fell on board the Rox- 

 1839. -^^ burgh, at sea, off" the Cape deVerd islands, February, 

 1839, by the Rev. W.B. Clarke, F.G.S., was first read. 



The object of this communication is to register an interesting oc- 

 currence, though the author possesses no direct evidence of its pro- 

 bable cause. 



On February 2, when the Roxburgh was in latitude 21° 14 N., 

 long. 25° 6' W., the wind, which had blown from the north-east 

 during the passage from Plymouth, changed to the east and south- 

 east, and was accompanied with a thick haze of a peculiar kind. The 

 same description of weather prevailed on the 3rd, when the ship was 

 off" St. Anthony, one of the Cape de Verd islands. 



On Feb. 4, the latitude at noon was 14° 31' N., long. 25° 16' W. 

 Tlie sky was overcast, and the weather was thicker than before and 

 insuff'erably oppressive, though the thermometer was only 72°. At 3 

 P.M. the wind suddenly lulled into a calm, then rose from the south- 

 west, and was accompanied with rain, and the air appeared to be 

 filled with dust, which affected the eyes of the passengers and crew. At 

 10^- P.M. the wind returned to the east and blew strongly. During 

 the continuance of the haze, wliich was as thick as a November fog, 

 and extended all around the horizon, dust was gradually dejDOsited 

 on every part of the ship that off'ered a lodgement. At noon, on the 

 5th of February, the Roxburgh was in lat. 12° 36' N., long. 24° 13' 

 W., thermometer 72°, barometer 30°, the height at which it had 

 stood during the voyage from England. The volcanic island Fogo, 



