conducted chiefly from the geological standpoint with the view of determining the age of the deposits, and of throwing light upon the much debated question of the oscillations of sea-level in recent times on the Mediterranean seaboard.

Prof. Boule's attention was directed in the first instance to the Grotte du Prince, which was almost intact when excavation was commenced. Here the deposits attain a thickness of more than 20 metres, and consist of basal beds of marine origin upon which strata of continental origin are superimposed. The latter can be subdivided into a number of layers, both by their physical characters and by their fossil contents, but the point of importance is that the upper and middle beds contain remains of reindeer (never previously recorded in this region), ibex, marmot, and woolly rhinoceros, that is, the fauna of the cold period of the Quaternary, while the lower beds contain quite a different fauna-Elephas antiquus, Rhinoceros mercki, and hippopotamus, that is, species belonging to the lower Quaternary fauna. The last named deposits lie upon an old raised beach which is also discernible outside the cavern, along the shore rocks, at a mean altitude of 7 metres. Almost all the contained fossils belong to the existing Mediterranean fauna, but Prof. Boule has found some beautiful examples of

7-metre beach, described at other parts of the Mediterranean littoral by MM. Depéret and Caizot, and regarded by them as of late Quaternary date, really belongs to a much more distant period, for it is anterior to the subaerial deposits containing fossils belonging to the older period of the Quaternary. If this conclusion be correct, it affords a means of fixing the age of the last oscillation of sea-level in this region. It should, however, be noted that in the discussion which followed the reading of the paper M. Depéret protested against the proposed homologising of the low raised beach (height 5-7 metres) studied by him on the French coast of the Mediterranean (e.g. in the Bay of Pierre-Formique) with the Strombus beach in the Mentone caves. The former type of beach contains a fauna very different from that of the Strombus layers, Strombus being absent, and all the fossils belonging to living species.

At the conclusion of his paper Prof. Boule referred to the three new human skeletons which have been recently discovered in the Grotte des Enfants. The first of these has been studied by MM. Gaudry and Verneau, and proves to be markedly Australoid in type. It was obtained in a bed containing Ursus spelaeus, Hyaena spelaea, Felis spelaea, &c., and rested upon a bed containing molars of Rhinoceros mercki.

It

This sug

The sea formerly stood at the 28-metre level, and then gradually retired until it stood at a height of 7-8 metres. At this level the shell deposit was laid down on the floor of the cavern. Subsequently the movement of elevation was continued. Its extent is difficult to determine, but the oceanographical researches of the Prince of Monaco have shown that there extends along the rochers rouges at a slight depth an extensive submarine platform. gests that the movement-whether of the land or of the sea-continued until there was laid bare between the sea and the present irregular shore line a plain sufficiently extensive to become the home of such large animals as elephants, hippopotami, and rhinoceroses, for which the present topography allows no space. It is at least certain, according to Prof. Boule, that the

The

must therefore belong to the earlier part of the Quaternary period. The second skeleton was found about 0.60 metre above the first, and was accompanied by remains of the same species of mammals. third skeleton, on the other hand, found 6 metres above the first, seems to belong to the period of the reindeer, that is, to the end of the Quaternary epoch.

THE SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION OF LAKE

THE

TANGANYIKA.

HE committee for the scientific exploration of Lake Tanganyika (consisting of Sir John Kirk, Dr. Sclater, Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer, Prof. Lankester, Dr. Boulenger, and Mr. J. E. S. Moore) has lately received news of the progress of its envoy, Mr. W. A. Cunnington, who left England in March, 1904, under directions to continue the researches carried out by Mr. J. E. S. Moore during his two expeditions to Lake Tanganyika. Proceeding by the Zambesi and Shiré route, Mr. Cunnington was most kindly received at Zomba by Sir Alfred Sharpe, who granted him the assistance of two native collectors. Cunnington had instructions to devote his special attention to the lacustrine flora and fauna of Lake

Mr.

Tanganyika, and, as he passed up Lake Nyassa, began his investigations in that lake, in order to be able to compare its products with those of Tanganyika. On Lake Nyassa Mr. Cunnington was able to get a good number of tow-nettings from different parts of the lake's surface, and obtained, on the whole, a large quantity of its characteristic phytoplankton, besides a considerable amount of zooplankton, consisting mostly of Copepoda, Cladocera, and insect-larvæ. The temperature of the water of Lake Nyassa was observed to fall seldom below 70°, while the temperature at 76 fathoms below the surface was ascertained to be about three degrees higher.

He

As re

Mr. Cunnington arrived at Karonga, at the head of Lake Nyassa, at the end of June, 1904, and travelled on to Tanganyika by the ordinary route of the Stevenson road. His last letters from Tanganyika are dated at Vua, on October 29, 1904. had obtained a dhow from Ujiji, which enabled him to make his stay at different places on the lake longer or shorter according as he found much or little to collect. A good series of fishes had been preserved, and many freshwater crustaceans. gards the vegetable life, Mr. Cunnington had been much struck by the near resemblance of all the forms obtained in Tanganyika to those which he had collected in Nyassa, though he could not, of course, say that they were specifically identical. From Vua, Mr. Cunnington had arranged to cross to the east coast of the lake, and to go some distance further north before returning to the western shore. Mr. Cunnington may be expected to return to England before the end of the year.

NOTES.

SIR JAMES DEWAR has presented the proceeds of the Gunning prize, amounting to one hundred guineas, recently awarded to him by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, as a contribution to the fund for the encouragement of research, now being founded in the University of Edinburgh in memory of the late Prof. Tait.

We regret to learn from the London branch of the Zeiss optical firm that Prof. Abbe, of Jena, died a few .days ago. We also announce with regret the death of M. Paul Henry, astronomer at the Paris Observatory. His brother, M. Prosper Henry, with whom he was associated for many years in celestial photography, died about eighteen months ago.

THE Paris Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie nationale has awarded the grand prize of the Marquis d'Argenteuil to MM. Auguste and Louis Lumière for their photographic discoveries. M. Héroult has been awarded a grand gold medal for his works on electro-metallurgy.

THE two Antarctic ships Terra Nova and Morning were sold at Portsmouth on January 11. Messrs. W. Ziegler and Co., New York, bought the Terra Nova for 9600l., and she will probably be used for North Polar exploration. The Morning was sold for 1600l. The Discovery has been sold privately to the Hudson's Bay Company for 10,000l. M. L. BONNAMÈRE has been elected president for 1905 of the Prehistoric Society of France.

THE death is announced of Dr. Anton Müttrich, professor of physics and mathematics in the Academy of Forestry at Eberswald.

SIR WILLIAM THISELTON-DYER, K.C.M.G., will take the chair at a lecture to be delivered at the West India

Committee Rooms, Seething Lane, on Wednesday, January 25, by Mr. W. G. Freeman, superintendent of the colonial economic collections at the Imperial Institute, on "The West Indian Fruit Industry."

THE next competition for the Howard medal of the Royal Statistical Society will take place in the ensuing session. The essays must be sent in on or before June 30. In addition to the medal, a grant of 20l. will be awarded to the successful competitor. The subject is :-" A Critical Inquiry into the Comparative Prevalence of Lunacy and other Mental Defects in the United Kingdom during the Last Fifty Years."

THE death is announced of Mr. T. W. Shore, author of a number of papers on geological and archæological subjects. Mr. Shore was for a long time resident at Southampton, where he acted as curator of the Hartley Institution and secretary of the Hampshire Field Club. At the Southampton meeting of the British Association in 1882 he was one of the secretaries of the section of geology. On removing to London, he founded the Balham Antiquarian Society, and became its secretary; he was also secretary of the London and Middlesex Archæological Society.

WE have received a letter from Mr. C. E. Stromeyer, of Manchester, in which he suggests that irregularities of the earth's surface might be detected by special observ ations for determining the position of the northern and southern limits of totality during the coming total solar eclipse of August next. Unfortunately there are many practical difficulties in the way which the author has not discussed, but he makes one suggestion which might be carried out. He proposes to place soldiers at short distances along the northern and southern borders of the shadow's path, who, by marking the positions where the eclipse was total, might determine with greater accuracy than is known the breadth of the moon's shadow,

A CORRESPONDENT writes:-The death of Dr. Thomas Woods occurred on January 5 in Birr (or Parsonstown). Dr. Woods was born in February, 1815, and graduated as doctor of medicine in Glasgow in 1838. He spent all his long life as a medical practitioner and as medical officer of the union and dispensary in Birr. So it is, perhaps, not to be wondered at that his scientific work belonged largely to a former generation. He was a chemist, and as such took part in the early development of photography, originating in the 'forties a new wet plate process, the catalysotype," a detailed description of which may be found in Hunt's "History of Photography.' In 1852 and 1853 he published in the Philosophical Magazine some original observations on the heat developed by chemical combination, and defended with considerable success his claim of priority against Andrews and Joule. He was a man of remarkable ability and astoundingly general scientific interest, and it is much to be regretted that circumstances kept him in a small country town, and that his professional duties prevented him from adding further to scientific knowledge. He continued mentally and bodily fresh to the very end, ever eager to hear of the latest scientific discoveries, and Birr feels distinctly the poorer for his loss.

A REUTER message from Christiania states that at Nesdal, north of Bergen, on Sunday, a mass of rock slipped into the Loenvand Lake. A wave of water twenty feet high, which resulted from the fall, swept the neighbourhood, carrying away houses, people, and cattle.

author proceeds to point out how much we know with regard to the nature of the soft-parts and the life-history of the fish-lizards. We are aware, for instance, that they had a dorsal and a caudal fin, a naked scaleless skin, and a spiral valve to the intestine, similar to that of sharks; while, from the inclusion of skeletons of foetuses within the ribs of full-grown individuals, we also know that they produced living young. This viviparous condition is, of course, an adaptive modification, similar to that which occurs in the sea-snakes of to-day, rendered necessary by the pelagic habits of these reptiles. The similarity in bodily form existing between sharks, dolphins, and fishlizards is referred to as another instance of such an adaptive modification. Excellent illustrations-one showing a female ichthyosaur and her progeny-accompany the paper. Apparently the author is unaware that the name Shastasaurus, proposed for a Triassic American ichthyosaur, has been changed, on account of pre-occupation, to Merriamia.

A PAPER upon Mendel's discoveries in heredity, read by Mr. C. C. Hurst before the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, gives a succinct account of Mendel's experiments, and the rules which he evolved therefrom; also it contains a list of the chief experiments with different plants and animals which have been carried out subsequently. The paper is published in the Transactions of the society, vol. viii. (June, 1904), and in the same part will be found a useful summary prepared by Mr. H. St. J. Donisthorpe of additions to British Coleoptera during the last ten years.

IN the Comptes rendus, vol. xxxv., No. 6, of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of St. Petersburg, lists of new plants for the Crimea are given by Mr. K. Golde and Mr. A. Younghé. Two of the most striking mentioned by Mr. Younghé are Crambe juncea, a Persian plant, which grows to the height of a man, and Lythrum nanum, a dwarf Siberian plant. Both botanists make a special reference to the freshwater plants, which include species so familiar to us as Zannichellia pedicellata, Enanthe Phellandrium, and species of Potamogeton.

THE first appendix to the Kew Bulletin for 1905, enumerating the hardy shrubs, trees, and herbaceous plants of which seed is available, has been received.

In our issue of January 12 (p. 255) we referred to the prominent part taken by M. Leon Teisserenc de Bort in the establishment of a Scandinavian station for the exploration of the upper air by means of kites and unmanned balloons. The first results of this important enterprise have been published in a work entitled "Travaux de la Station Franco-Scandinave de Sondages aériens à Hald, 1902-1903, a large quarto volume of 160 pages. The station is situated on an extensive open domain belonging to M. Krabbe, near Viborg, in Jutland, and is due to the exertions of MM. Hildebrandsson, Paulsen, and Mascart, the official meteorological representatives of Sweden (Upsala), Denmark, and France. The necessary subscriptions for carrying out the experiments have been chiefly contributed by private persons-in Sweden, by an anonymous donor, 28,000 francs; in Denmark, 245,000 francs (including a grant of 10,000 francs by the Danish Government); in France, 66,100 francs (of which M. Teisserenc de Bort contributed 50,000 francs, and a further loan of material from Trappes valued at about 12,000 francs). The Danish Government also lent two gunboats for kite experiments; the value of kite ascents from steamers at sea has been

more than ever fully established by the results obtained, some of the kites reaching altitudes varying from 3000 to 5900 metres. The difficulty of reaching such heights is well known to persons who have undertaken similar experiments.

PROF. DR. C. UHLIG contributes some notes of a journey from Kilimandjaro to Mweru to Nos. 9 and to of the Zeitschrift of the Berlin Gesellschaft für Erdkunde. The paper is illustrated by a number of excellent photographs.

THE last issue of the Mitteilungen aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten is entirely devoted to the region of the Pacific. Dr. Born records some observations on the ethnography of the Oleaï Islands, Herr Senfft describes a visit to some of the West Caroline Islands, and there are abstracts of meteorological observations for 1903, and maps based on recent surveys.

THE last number of the Deutsche geographische Blatter contains reports of two lectures delivered to the Vereinigung für staatswissenschaftliche Fortbildung at its meeting at Bremen in November last. Dr. Tetens discussed the importance of Bremen as a centre of trade, and gave an exhaustive statistical account of its development and a comparison with other seaports; his paper is illustrated by nineteen sheets of diagrams, and should be af great value to students and teachers of commercial geography. Dr. W. Hochstetter lectured on the history of the North German Lloyd.

THE Royal Geographical Society has issued, as an extra publication, a paper on recent contributions to our knowledge of the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean, by Sir John Murray and Mr. R. E. Peake. The new material dealt with consists chiefly of soundings from the telegraph ships Minia and Faraday, but the chart accompanying the paper has been fully brought up to date, and new measurements of areas at different depths have been made. An interesting correspondence with the United States Hydrographic Office about the origin of the term "telegraphic plateau" appears in the introduction.

THE first place in the January number of the Geographical Journal is given to a striking address delivered to the International Congress of Arts and Sciences at St. Louis in September last by Dr. H. R. Mill. Dr. Mill's address is entitled "The Present Problems of Geography," by which the author means not the whole penumbra of our ignorance, but those problems the solution of which at the present time is most urgent and appears most promising." Many of his conclusions concerning the scope and methods of geography are of profound significance. It seems specially appropriate that the address should immediately precede a paper on geography and education in the same number, in which the recent articles and correspondence in the newspapers are summarised and discussed. Dr. Mill puts his finger on many points which have formed real obstacles to the development of geographical teaching in schools and elsewhere.

A CORRESPONDENT of the Physikalische Zeitschrift inquires whether any experimental or other information exists regarding the heeling over of a ship on one side caused by the turning moment on the screw shaft.

PROF. R. W. WOOD describes in the Physikalische Zeitscrift a simple experiment for showing the pressure due to sound waves. The waves are made to converge to a focus by reflection, and close to this point is placed a