188 General Notes. [ February, | 
where reindeer bones and driftwood were found. Lignite,amethysts 
and opals were obtained, and fossils collected, but afterwards lost 7 
The tides were regular, but very small—about two or three feet | 
The sea was free of ice to the west and south, and in the north 
west a water-way was seen. The fauna and flora of the New 
Siberian islands, which were never before explored in the sum- 
mer, promises interesting results. The observations made by the | 
search expeditions may also be expected to furnish important | 
corrections of the maps of the Siberian coast between the Olenek : 
and Yana rivers. - E 
GEOGRAPHICAL Nores.—The well-known French explorer ot 
South America, Dr. Jules Crevaux, who was recently killed by 
Indians in the Gran Chico, had just begun the exploration of the 
Pilcomayo, that great tributary of the Paraguay, which, it is hoped, 
will afford an important means of communication between Bolivia 
and La Plata. Mr. Colquhoun, of whose proposed journey 
from Canton to the Irawadi mention has previously been made, 
reached Bhamo, by way of Western Yunnan, but was unable to : 
carry out his original plan of crossing the southern part of me 
nan and the Shau States to Rangoon. He has, howevth 
explored a long and heretofore unknown route in Sou 
China. 
cano called. Api, has been recently ascended by two 
naturalists, and ascertained to be 10,824 feet above the Seale" 
From operations with the spirit-level, in connection Wit} © | — 
Indian tidal observations, it has been deduced that the ocean | oad 
at Madras is three feet higher than at Bombay, an anomaly WP” 
has been found to be caused by an accumulation of minute ¢ 
due to the fact that, when the general direction of the lines 
levels is towards the sun, or opposite to it, the observer %7 
side view of the bubble refracted obliquely through the t 
o me 
ness of the glass tube, and is thus inclined to regard the om 
the inner edge of the rim at the other end, as the bubble 1 
Thus the instrument is assumed to be level, when in reality 
end towards the light is depressed. This error, when meas 
from its source to its mouth, is 336 feet; for the Kama, 
feet; for the Duna, 25.2 feet, and for the Don, 23.1 feet _ 
at Astrakhan the Volga has a range of 12 feet, and the Dow 
merly, and recent investigations of the superficial drift ha 
