244 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
conditions are favourable. Although Gilbert White and Darwin 
pointed out years ago that worms left their burrows, it has been 
maintained by some authorities that healthy worms never or 
rarely do so. Worms not only leave their burrows, but climb 
trees in search of food. I have seen them in considerable num- 
bers, as late as half-past seven on a warm, wet morning in June, 
gliding with the greatest ease about the trunks of gum trees 
(Eucalyptus), vigorously searching for animal matter. 
As the habits of our northern worms differ slightly from 
those of Europe, it would be of considerable interest if some ot 
your subscribers in the colder portions of Otago would give the 
average weight of dried casts, and state if worms in their 
districts habitually plug the mouth of their burrows ; whether 
the burrows and chambers are lined with other materials be- 
sides the usual viscid earth ; depth of them; and whether they 
branch, forming two chambers, in solid ground. The branching 
in solid eround has not been observed by Darwin, but I have 
met with several instances. 
Trusting that I have not trespassed too much on your 
valuable space—I am, &c., A, I. UROWsART. 
Karaka, Auckland. 
AoREPILY. 
S1R,—I notice in your review of the “ Trans. N.Z. Institute,” 
published in the last issue of the N.Z. JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, 
that you take exception to the system of notation I have adopted 
in my, paper on the mineralogy of New Zealand. The notation 
employed has a conventional meaning amongst mineralogists, 
to whom my paper is addressed, as may be seen by reference to 
any standard work on mineralogy, such as Dana’s, Nicol’s, or 
Bristow’s. The instance you cite will be found on page 255 of 
the second edition of Nicol’s “ Mineralogy,” printed in the form 
I adopted and giving the equivalent in chemical notation, thus— 
2Fe + 3H = [2 Fe.0,'3 H,O)-—T am, &e, 
eS HERBERT Cox. 
[We must apologise to Mr. Cox for what may appear to him 
unjust fault-finding in our last number. We are aware that the 
notation alluded to is that conventionally used among mineralo- 
gists, and in that sense Mr. Cox is perfectly justified in using it. 
What we do object to is, however, that mineralogists should 
employ such a notation in place of the expressive notation 
adopted by chemists. For one person who can at sight under- 
stand the former, fifty can read the latter. The very printers 
cannot set up mineralogical notation for want of special type, 
which is itself a Beet argument for its abolition ED. | 
THE WEKA PASS ROCK-PAINTINGS. 
S1R,—I believe that I am responsible for Mr. Maskell’s 
remark that the paintings in the Weka Pass cave “rest on a coat- 
