405 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
The former, however, is neither so compact nor 
does it present, when broken by means of a smart 
blow with a hammer, the conchoidal fracture 
which is so characteristic of the latter. 
From the similarity which exsist besween the 
characters of these flints and cherts and those 
which occur so plentifully in other limestone for- 
mations, it seems probable that the origins of both 
are to be traced to analogous causes. 
The Maltese varietes are found only in the most 
highly calcareus portions of the strata, embedded 
among the Globigerince of which, the greater part 
of the formation is made up. 
It was probable to the action of these and other 
organisms in eliminating the silica held in solution 
in the sea-water, and afterwards to chemical action 
whereby further precipitation of silica on and 
around that which had been previously secreted 
by the organisms, that these nodular masses had 
their origin. 
Geological Mag: 
Notes and News. 
After long study of the earths political 
geography, Dr. A. Oppel has concluded that 
about 1,700,000 square miles are uninha- 
bited or ownerless, and about 5.000,000 
square miles more are without settled gov- 
ernment. The remaining 45,000,000 square 
miles are occupied by 75 definite states, 
most of them so insignificant that the 18 
largest take up 87 per cent of the whole 
area. 
m 
I, HE Phylloxera has appeared in the vine- 
yards of the province of Trapani in Sicily 
in the vicinity of Marsala. This is the only 
province of the islands which has hitherto 
been free from the visitation. The districts 
in which the disease has manifested itself 
are Aleamea and Parti nice. A commission 
has been oppointed to enquire into the sub- 
ject. 
Dr. John Murray the celebrated Challenger 
naturalist has been awarded the Humboldt 
gold medal, which is the highest honour the 
Berlin Geographical Society can confer; and 
Mr. J. W. Gregory B. Sc., of the British mu- 
seum has been promoted to the degree of D. 
Sc. by the University of London. Dr. Gre- 
gory’s most recent work on Mediterranean 
Natural History was the revision of the 
Maltese fossil echinoidea. 
J^N interesting paper on the orientation of 
Greek temples has recently been communi- 
cated to the Royal Society by Mr. F. C. Pen- 
rose. As Professor Norman Lockever has 
t/ 
lately shown, the Egyptian temples were 
built so as to allow the rays of certain rising 
or sitting stars to enter by the door and pass 
along the exis of the building. To allow 
for a change of amplitude in the star, the 
doorway, in some cases, has been altered 
and in other cases a new temple has been 
built by the side of the old one. 
Hf R, Penrose finds that on the Acropolis at 
Athens two temples dedicated toMinerva are 
oriented in this way to the Pleiades, the 
earlier temple to an earlier position of the 
stars than the later one. At Rhamnus and 
Egina there are other temples oriented to 
the stars. 
