1134 General Notes. [November 
Chinese, who are driven onwards by the misery and excesso — 
population that exists in the southern provinces of China— 
Sir Buonfanti, in his recent expedition across North Africa, was 
compelled to desist from his attempt to penetrate the unexplored — 
region south of Adamawa, and finally, making his way to the 
Niger at Say, midway between Timbuktu and the Binue confu- 
ence, ascended the river to the former place. As this feat, before 
believed impossible, was performed in the dry season, the fact has | 
considerable commercial importance. From Timbuktu theex — 
plorer passed through Massina and Bambarra to the almost un- — 
known territory of Tombo, where the expedition was plundered 
and dispersed. After great sufferings, Sir Buonfanti reached 4 
Catholic mission in the Bussanga country north of Dahomey— 
In the western part of the Straits of Magellan glaciers exist on te 
slopes of a range of mountains the highest peaks of whichar — 
not above 4500 feet. The winds from the Pacific, eternally blow- 
ing from the west, and full of moisture, keep up a constant cote — 
densation, and the glaciers exist wherever the broken ground 
allows them a foot hold. The largest observed by Mr. W.J. 
Wharton was the Northbrook glacier, with an area of from fifty 
to seventy square miles.——The Russian government has under 
consideration a plan for an expedition to the North Pole. | a 
will be established at the Jeannette, Bennett and Henriette islands. 
From these islands the journey will be continued to Franz-) 
Land by steamer, and thence on sledges and on foot. 
GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY. 
BLANFORD ON HomoTaxis OF GEOLOGIC Penions—In his 
dress before the British Association for the Advance oi 
ence at Montreal, Mr. W. T. Blanford devoted considerable ats" 
x Re 4 of 
tion to some remarkable exceptions to the rule that sim ee 
several of them Indian, in which the syst 
age of various formations by the fauna or 
dictory results, and then showed where th 
as Miocene; but they overlie strata with well-pro Himalaya 
marine Mollusca. The Siwalik beds that flank the Oy 
north of Delhi are still classed as Miocene by most “ey, 08 
writers, but are regarded as Pliocene by the Indian 1 
evidence found by tracing them west and south into >"? 
