May 26, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



833 



■sickness was felt more at about 15,000 to 

 16,000 feet ,than at 5,000 feet higher, and it 

 was felt in very different degrees by different 

 individuals. Most of the party suffered from 

 lassitude and fatigue after making slight ex- 

 ertion; some were wholly prostrated for a 

 time, and one coolie died. Other persons were 

 entirely free from any perceptible inconveni- 

 ence. Among the latter was a Goorkha, who 

 ran back over a 20,000-foot pass to hurry up 

 the loiterers. Another member of the party, 

 an Englishman, experienced an increased ap- 

 petite and gained in weight during the jour- 

 ney. Mr. Freshfield believes that the intense 

 glare and heat on the snow had much to do 

 with the sickness of some of the party at 

 15,000 feet. 



THE KALAHARI DESERT. 



A RECENT book on the Kalahari Desert (' Die 

 Kalahari,' by Dr. Siegfried Passarge, Berlin, 

 Eeimer, 1904) contains a discussion of many 

 interesting matters of a meteorological and 

 climatological nature. Among these topics 

 the following call for special mention: the 

 climate of South Africa and of the Kalahari, 

 with notes on the progressive desiccation of 

 the country, based on comparisons of the ob- 

 servations of earlier and later explorers (Chap. 

 V.) ; the orographic and hydrographic condi- 

 tions of the Kalahari, with the evidence for 

 the desiccation (Chap. XXXI.) ; the effects 

 of rock-weathering under different climates, 

 especially with reference to deserts (Chap. 

 XXXV.), and the geological effects of wind 

 action. Dr. Passarge's book, based on his own 

 study of the Kalahari region during the years 

 1896-98, will be found to contain much of 

 interest, especially to geologists, zoologists, 

 botanists and meteorologists. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, NEW YEAR ISLAND. 



In the March number of the Geographical 

 Journal Captain H. L. Crosthwait describes a 

 recent journey in Patagonia, and also calls 

 attention to the Argentine meteorological ob- 

 servatory, established in 1902, on New Year 

 Island, in lat. 54° 59' S., about five miles off 

 the north coast of Staten Island. Four Ar- 



gentine naval officers man the station. Since 

 the observations were begun the maximum 

 temperature recorded is 55.4° F. ; the mini- 

 mum, 16.4°; the annual mean, 41°. 



NOTES. 



The International Bureau of the South 

 American Republics has recently issued a re- 

 port upon ' Bolivia,' in which the climate of 

 that country is discussed in a general way. • 



A HIGHLY mathematical discussion, by Max 

 Margules, entitled ' Ueber die Energie der 

 Stiirme,' appears in the Jahrhuch of the Aus- 

 trian Central Meteorological Institute, volume 

 for 1903 (1905). R. DeC. Ward. 



HiOTES ON ENTOMOLOGY. 

 The varying positions in which insects rest 

 have been but little investigated by entomolo- 

 gists. It is now known that in many groups 

 the position of repose is constant, and of im- 

 portance to the insect. In the Lepidoptera it 

 often has a direct bearing on the color pattern, 

 and on the question of protective resemblance. 

 Dr. J. T. Oudemans has recently studied the 

 subject and furnishes* many interesting ob- 

 servations on positions adopted, the arrange- 

 ment of colors, the parts of the color-pattern 

 exposed or hidden, and the cryptic value of 

 the position and color. The photographs fur- 

 nish many striking examples of protective 

 resemblance, most of which are familiar to 

 the American collector. 



Mr. Pergande's revision of our phylloxeras, 

 after much delay, has at last been issued, f 

 The species affecting the hickory (being most 

 numerous) are classed by themselves, and ar- 

 ranged in four groups according to the nature 

 and position of the gall. Thirty species and 

 several varieties are recorded from this genus 

 of trees. Descriptions of the gall, stem- 

 mother and larva are given for all species, 



* ' Etude sur la position de repos chez des 

 Lepidoptferes,' Verhdl. Konink. Akad. Wetensch. 

 Amsterdam, X., no. 1, pp. 90, 11 pis., 1903 (1904). 



f ' North American Phylloxerinoe affecting 

 Eicoria (Carya) and other trees,' Proc. Daven- 

 port Acad. Sci., Vol. IX., pp. 185-273, 22 pis., 

 1904. 



