78 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



excellent, spore characters, chemical reactions, habitats and locali- 

 ties being given sufficient but not too great prominence, so that 

 the whole appears well proportioned. In several genera, as 

 Vsnea, forms generally classed in this country as varieties and 

 regarded as such in Nylander's Synopsis are raised to the rank of 

 species. It is to be hoped that the author will be able soon to 

 publish the second volume for, at present, we have no treatise in 

 which the species of Verrucaria and their allies are adequately 

 described, not to mention the scattered condition of the literature 

 relating to Lecideei and Graphidei. w. g. f. 



Y. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. The Condition of Kilauea March 20th, 1892; by F. S. 

 Dodge. — A paper by Mr. Dodge in vol. xlv of this Journal con- 

 tains an account of the crater of Kilauea at the time of his survey 

 in August, 1892. A recent letter, dated the 26th of March last, 

 states that since that on the 20th, he had found great changes 

 since 1892. 



The deep pit of Halemaumau or pit at the southwest end of 

 the crater of Kilauea had become completely filled up by over- 

 flows from its lake ; and the lake has thereby raised until now its 

 level is but 75 feet below the Volcano House datum ; and it is still 

 rising. [The Volcano House is on the northeast border of the 

 crater of Kilauea; and in 1887, the highest part of the margin of 

 Halemaumau was 320 to 330 feet below the Volcano House 

 datum.] The lake has increased in size by the addition of a cir- 

 cular portion — on the S. W. or Kau side — the total area being 

 now about 15 acres, and the newer portion is the scene of the 

 greatest activity. Seven overflows were counted at one time last 

 Tuesday evening. The largest was fully 50 feet in width at the 

 outlet, and extended to the foot of Kau bluff near Uwekahuna, 

 the west side of Kilauea. The rise in the lake has been 447 feet 

 since Aug. 1892, and now a flat cone surrounds the lake, so that 

 instead of a pit with a lake in its bottom area, there is a low 

 broad cone with the lake on its summit, and it is this summit 

 which is only 75 feet below the datum point at the Volcano 

 House. 



2. On the Leicester Earthquake of August 4, 1893; by 

 Charles Davison. (Read before the Royal Society, London), 

 February 28, 1894. (Abstract.) 



On August 4, 1893, at 6.41 p.m., an earthquake of intensity 

 nearly equal to 6 (according to the Rossi-Forel scale) was felt 

 over the whole of Leicestershire and Rutland and in parts of all 

 the adjoining counties. The discurbed area was 58 miles long, 

 46 miles broad, and contained an area of about 2066 square miles. 

 The direction of the longer axis (about W. 40° N. and E. 40° S.) 

 and the relative position of the isoseismal lines show that the 

 originating fault, if the earthquake were due to fault-slipping, 

 must run in about the direction indicated, passing between Wood- 



