ula in Orion and of Sirius. In the case of the nebula, it was found that the brightest of the three lines visible, still exactly corresponded with the brightest of the nitrogen lines seen in the spectrum of the light of the induction spark, taken in pure nitrogen at a tension a little less than that of the atmosphere. The line in the nebula was single, while the nitrogen line is double. When, however, the induction spark was made to pass in front of the object glass of the telescope, the nitrogen line appeared single like that in the nebula. Mr. Huggins calculates that if the line in question be due to nitrogen the nebula is not receding from us with a velocity greater than ten miles per second, as this motion added to that of the earth's orbital velocity would have caused a want of coincidence that could be observed. But if the nebula be approaching our system, its velocity may be as much as twenty or twenty-five miles per second, as part of its motion would be masked by the motion of the earth in the opposite direction. The coincidence of a second line in the spectrum of the great nebula with Fraunhofer's line E was also fully confirmed by the new spectroscope, which increases the probability that this line is due to hydrogen. The author could find no terrestrial line corresponding to the third line of the nebula.

The great intensity of the light of Sirius and the four strong lines in its spectrum, render it well suited for examination. The author selected the line F, and found in numerous comparisons the refrangibility of this line slightly lower than that of hydrogen. From the amount of this difference in refrangibility, taking into account the facts that at the time of observation, the earth was moving from the star with a velocity of about 12 miles per second, Mr. Huggins finds that there is a probable motion of recession of Sirius from the earth amounting to 294 miles per second. On examining the spectrum of a solar spot, the author found as he had previously done, that there was a distinct increase in the thickness of Fraunhofer's lines. There was no absorption line in the spectrum of the umbra, which was not present in that of the sun's normal surface, nor was any ordinary solar line wanting.

The spectrum of the comet discovered by Winnecke and by Becquet on June 13th, 1868, was also examined. With two prisms of 60° the spectrum consisted of three very broad bright bands. In two of these the light was brightest at the less refrangible end; the third was of nearly uniform brightness, perhaps somewhat brighter in the center. The bands could not be resolved into lines. The spectrum of Brorsen's comet consisted of three bright bands and a continuous spectrum. By careful comparison with the spectrum of carbon under different circumstances, Mr. Huggins believes that he has shown that the light of the comet II of 1868, is identical with that emitted by highly heated vapor of carbon.-Phil. Transactions for 1868, p. 529.

W. G.

II. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY.

1. Recherches Anatomiques et Paleontológiques pour servir à l'histoire des Oiseaux fossiles de la France; par A. MILNE EdWARDS. Tome I. Paris, 1867. Avec un Atlas en 40 Planches, 1– 96.-In 1866 the French Academy of Sciences awarded to this work the great prize of physical sciences for 1865; and from the character of the first volume, which is before us, it was a well deserved reward. The difficulties of the subject are considerable; the want of precise osteological characters applying to the class of Birds as a whole, compelled the author to investigate this subject anew. For this purpose he brought together the essential parts of the skeletons of no less than 800 species of living Birds, representing the principal ones and their types. The sternum, skull and bill, which have been mainly employed in framing present classifications are only rarely found fossil, and when found, are usually so fragmentary as to be almost valueless. The author was therefore compelled to search among the bones of the limbs, (these are often found in an admirable state of preservation,) but presenting such apparent uniformity of character, for structural details, which had escaped his predecessors. This task he has accomplished most successfully, and we now have for the class of Birds, a work which fills what had been a great gap in our paleontological literature. Milne Edwards, Jr., calls special attention to the value of the tarso-metatarsal bones, from which he has attempted in many cases a reconstruction of the bird, based upon the important part which the foot plays in our classifications of Birds; he even goes so far as to assign to this part of the skeleton a value as great for Birds as the dental system is for mammals.

The material originally at his command was not extensive, for collections of fossil birds are not found in the great museums of Europe; what there was on hand in these and several private collections in France were all carefully examined. In addition, he undertook himself extensive explorations mainly at Sansan and in the Department of l'Allier, and succeeded in the course of four years in bringing together a more extensive collection than that of any public museum, composed of over four thousand specimens, from the principal quaternary and tertiary deposits of France. It was however mainly in Auvergne, on the shores of the ancient lakes of that district, then inhabited by an immense number of birds, that the greater part of the remains were found.

The principal modifications of the representatives of the class of Birds which our author notices, he considers as plainly showing that we cannot account for the disappearance of the species living at the time of the quaternary period, by any other causes than those which have extirpated the Dodo from Mauritius, the Pezophaps from Rodriguez, the Dinornis from New Zealand, and the Alca from our own coasts. He finds in the caverns of the quaternary period no generic type not still represented in the

fauna of our day, most of the species even being identical with those now living, though many of the species inhabiting France at that period are only found now in the Arctic regions. This he considers a strong argument in favor of the prevalence of a colder climate than at present during the quaternary period.

Among the tertiary Birds no species is identical with those of the present period; several special generic types occur, all of which belong to families now existing; many of the specific types of that time, forming groups which are scantily represented in our day, play a more important part, such as the small family of Flamingoes. Pelicans, Ibis, Flamingoes and gallinaceous birds of large size, analogous to the East India species, lived during the breeding season along the shores of the ancient lakes of Auvergne, as is proved by their eggs, which are found well preserved side by side with the bones of newly hatched young. This and the general character of the avifauna, furnish fresh arguments in favor of the opinion of those who consider the climate of Europe to have been much warmer during the tertiary period than at the present time.

The present volume contains the osteological studies on living birds, which the author proposes to apply in turn to each of the great families of which he has found fossil representatives; he has thus far treated of the "Palmipedes, Colymbides, Longipennes, Totanides and Ceronides; with these the first volume closes. The plates, ninety-six in number, are remarkably well drawn and printed; the iconographic part of the work will prove of great value to Paleontologists, furnishing a starting point for the determination of osteological characters, with an abundance of detail, which cannot fail to be of the greatest service for future discoverers, giving us a complete work on ornithological paleontology, to which the earlier memoirs of Brandt and Owen make such a fitting introduction.

A. A.

2. Report on recent Explorations in the Gibraltar Caves; by Capt. FRED. BROME.-The explorations recorded in this communication were conducted principally in "Martin's" and St. Michael's Caverns.

Martin's Cave opens on the eastern face of the rock, below O'Hara's Tower. It is an ancient sea-cave, though now upwards of 700 feet above the level of the Mediterranean. The excavations in this cavern were commenced on the 23d of June, and continued till the 22d of July. There were no traces whatever of any previous attempts at exploration. The first operation was to excavate the dark earth all along, close to the south side, which is from six to three feet in depth. At this depth the diggers came upon a stalagmite floor of varying thickness. Here, after a few hours' work, were found deposited two portions of a lower jaw, supposed to be human; about two bushels of bones of ox, goat, sheep, rabbit, &c.; several bones of birds and fish; two bushels of broken pottery of the rudest or unmarked kind, 57 pieces ornamented; 61 handles and pots; 6 stone axes and 70 flint knives; 1 excellent

flint core; 20 lbs. of flint chips; 12 pieces of worked bone; a portion of an armlet and anklet; 10 lbs. of sea shells, and a few land shells, together with three rounded pebbles. On the north side the same class of objects were met with, and in a small chamber on this side, under five or six feet of earth, Captain Brome's son came upon a small chamber containing two ancient swords, one partly imbedded in stalagmite, and both much injured; and on a subsequent occasion, a small enamelled copper plate was found, which appears to have had a design upon it of a bird with its bill open, in the coils of a serpent. The colors are bright, and the object is beautifully made. These interesting relics have been referred by Mr. Franks to the eleventh or twelfth centuries. Excavations were then made in a cavern, situated on the same face of the rock, but a little to the south, and at a higher level than "Martin's" Cave, and named by Capt. Brome the "Fig-Tree Cave," in which similar rude works of art, consisting of fragments of pottery, flint and stone implements, &c., were found.

Captain Brome's greatest interest, however, was centered in "St. Michael's Cave," in which, day after day, numerous human remains were found, some imbedded in the stalagmite, others loose, associated with stone axes, flint chips, and flint knives of the smallest size hitherto met with in the Gibraltar caverns.

On the north side of the upper chamber in St. Michael's Cavern, on breaking up a thick stalagmite floor, a small aperture was discovered. When this had been enlarged sufficiently to admit of Captain Brome's entrance, he found a series of passages and caverns, the extreme traveling distance of which from the entrance was exactly 200 feet. There were no means of access to it, excepting by the aperture by which Captain Brome entered. The walls were snow-white, and the pillars and stalactites of the most variable and fantastic forms. Some of the latter, with the thickness only of a goose-quill, were five feet long! The bearings of the cavern generally run N.W. At the south end of this cavern a perpendicular fissure was discovered, through which came a strong wind. The fissure was about nine inches wide, but one of the men (military prisoners) employed was found small enough to creep through it. He returned with a wonderful story of what he On the next day, accordingly, Captain Brome sent in one of his own sons, about twelve years old, who entirely corroborated the statements previously given, viz., that there were three caves, the first very small, and about twelve feet from the narrow entrance. At some distance further there was another, about twenty feet square, and still further, a cave as large as the upper St. Michael's first chamber. The distance traveled is 250 feet from the entrance, which, added to the distance (200 feet) traveled in the first discovered cabin, make a total of 450 feet of hitherto wholly unknown caverns in so familiar a locality as the often visited cave of San Migael.

had seen.

At the date of his last advices, Captain Brome was continuing the exploration of St. Michael's Cavern, with every prospect of

further interesting discoveries. But, as he says, "his surmises, that the unexplored caves would yield the same relics as the Genista Cavern, have been verified, and the fact is nearly, if not quite established, that at a former period all the Gibraltar caverns were tenanted by a race having uniform habits of living."-Brit. Assoc. Rep. for 1867, 56, 1868.

3. On Calamitea and Fossil Equisetacea; by WILLIAM CArruTHERS, F.L.S., F.G.S.-After describing the structure of the recent Equisetacea, the author gave an account of the internal structure of the various fossil stems which had been referred to this family. True Equisetaceae were rare as fossils, and the stems of Calamites were very unlike anything known among living acotyledonous plants. The most important characters were obtained by botanists from the fructification. The author had obtained, through the kindness of Dr. Hooker, sections of vegetable structures prepared by Mr. Binney, whose extensive acquaintance with coal-plants was well known. In some of these he had discovered fruits which belonged to Calamites so beautifully preserved that the most minute details could be determined, and with the help of his diagrams he described their structure, and illustrated the various points in which they agreed with, and differed from, the fruits of Equisetaceœ. He then described the foliage which had been found connected with Calamites, and which had been named Asterophyllites; and he showed that as similar fruits had been found associated with Annularia and Sphenophyllum, which differed from Asterophyllites only in the amount of cellular tissue spread out on the veins, there could be no doubt that these also were the foliage of members of this large genus or tribe of plants.-Ibid.

4. Geological Map of New Jersey; by GEORGE H. COOK, State Geologist, and JOHN C. SMOCK, Assistant Geologist.—This new Geological Map of the State of New Jersey contains the results of the recent Geological survey of the State, under the direction of Prof. Cook. It appears to have been made with care, and adds much to our previous knowledge of the distribution of the rocks of the State. Besides the general map, there are sections of the strata, and those of the associated Azoic and Paleozoic rocks are particularly interesting.

5. New Geological Map of Wisconsin; by I. A. LAPHAM. 1869. Milwaukee. This Map, which has just been issued, will prove of much service to all interested in the Geology of the region of which it treats. It is on a scale of 15 miles to an inch, and gives in detail the geological features of the State, as they have been carefully worked out by Hall and Whitney, the author, and other explorers.

6. Reliquiæ Aquitanica, being contributions to the Archæology and Palæontology of Périgord and the adjoining provinces of Southern France; by E. LARTET and H. CHRISTY, edited by THOмAS RUPERT JONES, Prof. of Geology, etc., Royal Military College, Sandhurst. (London. H. Ballière.)-Parts VI and VII of this important work have been issued.