The pupa of Cymatophora fluctuosa is enclosed in a slight cocoon among the fallen leaves at the foot of birch-trees. Notodonta dictaoides and Notodonta dromedarius are other species we may look out for in the same locality. They both attach their slightly made cocoons to the under side of leaves; of the two last named, dictaeoides is somewhat the largest. Notodonta Camelina and Amphydasis betularia are also pupa we may expect to turn up under birchtrees. Camelina also occurs at the foot of maple and oak, and betularia beneath lime and oak trees; I have also dug it up under willow.

Other pup the trowel may be expected to turn up in October are the following :

Smerinthus Populi. Rough; muddy brown. Near poplar-trees, also sometimes in gardens under laurel bushes.

Smerinthus Tilie. Rough; dull red. At foot of lime and elm.

Sphinx Convolvuli. Smooth, with beak in front. Sphinx Ligustri. Smooth dark brown, with curved beak-like proboscis in front. Under lilac-trees and privet hedges.

Deilephila Euphorbia.-Pale brown, delicately reticulated with black lines and dots. In loose sand on the sea coast.

D. Galii.-Brown. In sand on sea coast near Deal.

Biston hirtaria.-Blackish; somewhat dumpy. At roots of lime-trees; also pear and plum.

The following are among the non-subterranean species:

Arctia mendica.-Brown, smooth. In a darkcoloured cocoon among rubbish where dock abounds. A. lubricipeda and A. menthastri.-Dark brown. In cocoons under rubbish.

A. urtice.-Dark coloured. In a slight cocoon among water mint and other plants by the side of wet ditches.

Orgyia pudibunda.-In a cocoon among oak, lime, hazel, maple, and other trees.

Demas coryli.-In a slight web under moss at the foot of beech-trees.

Pacilocampa Populi.-Brown. In a black, oval very compact cocoon, under bark, or ash, or poplar. Sometimes among dead leaves at the foot.

Eriogaster lacustris.-In a small oval compact cocoon under hawthorn.

Bombyx Rubi.-Smooth, dark brown; in a leng loose cocoon with intermingled hairs. Among bramble and heath.

Saturnia carpini.-In a curious pear-shaped cocoon, open at one end, among heath, blackthorn, &c. Ellopia fasciaria.-Among the dead needles at roots of Scotch fir. End of October.

Eurymene dolobraria.-Under moss on beech or

oak.

Odontopera bidentata.-Under moss on oak and other trees. End of October.

In a very slight

Ephyra omicronaria.-Green. cocoon in moss on maple-trees. Platypteryx falcula.-In a slight web inside a doubled up birch leaf.

P. unguicula.-Brown, with greenish wing cases. Among beech leaves in a slight web.

Dicranura bicuspis.-In a compact gummy cocoon on the bark of alder-trees, generally in the crevices half-way down the tree on the north side.

D. furcula. In a glutinous cocoon on the bark of sallow; generally very low down.

D. bifida.—In a very tough and strong cocoon on aspen bark. It gnaws a cavity in the bark, and fills the depression up with the cocoon, so that it is very difficult to find it.

Clostera curtula.-Dark brown, rounded at end. Between united aspen leaves.

Clostera reclusa.-In a slight cocoon uniting sallow leaves.

Gonophora derasa.-Conical, terminating in a hornlike point. Within united bramble leaves.

Thyatira batis.-Blackish; with stout thorax and sharp pointed extremity. In a slight cocoon among bramble leaves.

Cymatophora fluctuosa.--In a slight cocoon among birch leaves.

C. Or.-Red brown. Between united poplar leaves.

Cambridge.

ARTISTIC GEOLOGY.

FFESTINIOG AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. By T. MELLARD READE, F.G.S., &c.

[Continued from p. 123.]

LLYN MORWYNION AND LLYNIAU GAMALT.

EVERAL excursions and wanderings over the

SEVERAL excursions andll well repay the labour.

The strata are very much broken up by faults in the immediate neighbourhood, which is well displayed on the survey map. At Llyniau Gamalt is to be seen a volcanic conglomerate, forming precipitous cliffs on the eastern side. These lakes from the boggy nature of the surrounding ground are not easily got at. The rock is full of large boulders of felstone; some of them in shape like kidney potatoes. Thin bedded ashes are interbedded with the conglomerate, and a true plane surface I noticed of these showed such regular jointing as to look like masonry. Following the outlet stream we came upon a very pretty series of falls which quite enchanted my boys. The remainder of the distance was mostly bog-trotting before we reached the main road.

Waterfalls.-These are very numerous and beautiful in the neighbourhood. The falls of the Cynfael within a half-mile walk are lovely in their variety. For a

mile the stream may be followed through a series of glens, gullies and gorges, overhung and festooned with trees. The geological interest as an example of denudation is also great. I sketched a view of Hugh Lloyd's pulpit, a pillar of rock left standing in the middle of the stream. Further up are some very large boulders wedged in the walls of the stream in quite a remarkable manner. These I have described

in a paper to the Geological Society, so I will not repeat it here.

About three miles from Ffestiniog, on the road to Bala, we get fine views of the Rhaidr Cwm, a series of splendid falls on the same stream but quite different in character to those just described. It is a mountain torrent springing from rock to rock and cutting deep gorges in the hillside. It is above the level at which trees flourish.

A good walker may cross the moors at a point further on the road and get to Bettws-y-Coed by Penmachno. Nothing is more delightful than the air of these moors some thousand feet above sea level, and the gradual change in the long descent to the vale of Conway, from bare mountain sides to the luxuriant foliage of the vale is very agreeable. The falls of the Conway may be visited, and the return to Ffestiniog made by train to Blaenau.

Other Excursions.-I fear I have exhausted my reader's patience in these descriptions in which it is difficult to reproduce the feelings which take possession of the mind open to the influences and ever-changing moods of nature. It is impossible to walk anywhere about Ffestiniog without being gratified with the scenery. Many a walk did we take to Blaenau Ffestiniog, yet one may safely say that such is the variety of effect produced by the atmosphere and cloud, that the picture was never the same. The mountains at times seem to be pervaded with an impenetrable and mysterious gloom which excites the curiosity and we strive vainly to picture what is behind, while, at others, every detail lighted up is so distinct, and yet so tender, that one feels the depths of despair in trying to reproduce the effects on paper. I have said little about the vale. It is very beautiful but its beauty is not of that mysterious nature which constantly keeps the imagination on the stretch as the mountains do. At the same time some prefer the soothing effect of a combination of trees rocks and water making up such a landscape; so I leave it to them.

Excursions that will repay the geologist may be made down the valley of Dolwyddelan, past the Castle, and across the mountains to Capel Curig, and thence back to Bettws-y-Coed. We pass the foot of the grand cone of Moel Siabod, a landmark among the mountains. Again, a trip to Harlech may be made, noting the remarkable anticlinal hills on the left (at the bottom of map LXXV., north-east), the surface contours of which are formed by the curved bedding planes which, wrapping over the hills,

terminate successively to the southward in welldefined scarps. This is perhaps as curious and instructive an example of denudation as may be seen. At Harlech Castle we note how remarkably the Cambrian grits, of which the walls are built, have stood the weather, while the sandstone dressings of the openings have crumbled away. The architecture of the front to the interior quadrangle is massive and grand. Beyond Harlech we saw quarries in which the grit and interlaminations of slate may be studied; and still further on, a great bank of drift, lying on the mountain side, and skirted by the Cambrian railway, may be investigated; that is, if the explorer is not afraid of thorns and torn clothes.

A trip down the narrow gauge railway to Port Madoc, and a visit to Borth, is both pleasant and instructive. At the latter place geology may be combined with sea bathing. It is a very pretty little bay, hewn by the sea out of the Lingula beds. Nor must we omit a visit to the grand volcanic mass of the Arenigs, or fail to notice the enormous blocks and boulders in the railway cutting near Arenig station here, 1200 feet above the sea level. It were impossible to do justice to all the details of interest, geologic and artistic, within reach of the sojourner at Ffestiniog; in the space at my command I can do little more than outline them. Nor is the district devoid of interest to the antiquary. A good pair of legs and lungs, guided by scientific ardour, will do wonders. I have avoided all references to fossil collections. My object was, firstly, to gain health; secondly, to find a pleasing occupation for the mind. Without the latter Ffestiniog would be voted slow; with it, and the great inducement presented for rambles and long walks, I found it health-giving, exhilarating, and ennobling to the mind. What is beauty? has been a question debated by artists, philosophers, and poets. We know by feeling what it means, but the metaphysical analysis which attempts an explanation of the conditions of mind under which it is perceived is usually unsatisfactory in its answers. Of this, however, I am sure: given the constitutional temperament which rejoices in the harmonies of nature, the wider the knowledge the keener will be the perception of natural beauty.

But I must not forget my geological readers. In describing my trip to the Bwlch Drws Ardudwy, I was so taken up with the outward show and semblance of things that I quite forgot to explain that we were passing over what may be considered the central dome of the Welsh system, forming originally the highest part of the mountain system of North Wales, but now stripped bare of its former covering of Silurian rocks both upper and lower, with its much altered Cambrian rocks deeply eaten into by denuding agencies, yet still presenting mountains rising 2400 feet above the sea level. These great mountains, the Rhinogs, Diphwys, &c., are entirely carved out of the Cambrian strata from base to summit after the

removal of many thousands of feet of Silurian rocks. What a vista of time does not this present to the imagination! But to read about these denudations is insufficient; it is necessary to walk about, map in hand, to thoroughly realise their meaning. It is then that geology becomes a living fact, a sublime thought before which historical ideas of time and action are mere fugitive shadows. Being brought face to face with such facts cannot fail to profoundly influence our ideas of the relation in which we stand to Nature. There are many aspects in which these relations may be viewed, they have been dwelt upon by the great minds of all ages; but not the least awe-inspiring, if bewildering, is the panorama of creation which geology only within the last fifty years has unfolded, and vaguely in broad outlines pictured to the human eye.

specially transformed. In some there is a thin inner membrane turned up to meet the proper indusium. This forms a connecting link with Lindsæa.

P. aquilina, Linn., or common brake, is the only species with the double indusium found in the island. Surely no description of the fern is necessary for English people, living as they do, and bearing with them to foreign lands the recollection of the homes of their childhood? Brake is found all over the hills and in every part of the island.

P. nemoralis, Willd. (or quadriaurita, Retz.), is still more abundant, especially in the town of Victoria. This species is twice or bi-pinnate, and easily distinguished, as the lowest pinna on each side of the rachis are in twos, and hang down, a habit common to the order, and no doubt suggesting the name from the likeness to a bird's wing (pteron-a wing).

Fig. 96.-Pteris semi-pinnata, Linn.

and

Fig. 97.-Asplenium (Dipl.) Japonicum, Thunb.

P. longifolia, Linn., or long-leaved pteris, is a large fern, fond of heat and dry dusty places, simply pinnate, except the two lowest pinnæ, but all the pinnæ narrow straggling and long. An untidy. looking fern, and one which might at first sight be mistaken for Blechnum orientale, but the sori placed at the edge, instead of down the centre of the leafsegment, at once mark a different genus. In pteris, the extreme point of the segment is always destitute of sori, a peculiarity we do not observe in ferns of other genera. Two more species are common, both smaller and more delicate in texture.

P. semi-pinnata, Linn., or half-pinnate pteris, is one of the commonest plants in the island, and very

easily known by the half-formed frond, of which the top of each segment or division appears to have been cut off.

P. serrulata, Linn., is common in gardens. The sterile and fertile leaves are different-those of the former being serrated.

Gen. VIII. CHEILANTHES, Sw.

The.

In Cheilanthes we find a very lovely little fern, almost as delicate as and not altogether unlike Lindsæa' heterophylla. Its name-C. tenuifolia, Sw., thinleaved cheilanthes, well describes its nature. stalk is slender, black and hair-like. The tiny, curled, much-cut segments of the leaf have sori running all round and just inside the edge. The frond seldom exceeds 6 in. in height; it is ovate, triangular in outline, bright green, and grows in banks along with Lindsæa and maidenhair. In some countries it is known as lip-fern, from the indusium covering the seed, as the lip covers the teeth, but it must be remembered the covering is single, not double. The very tiny, almost round pinnules the under side rough with downy hairs, and often nearly covered with the confluent sori, which has the appearance of being curled inwards, enable the botanist easily to identify the species.

Gen. IX. ASPLENIUM, Linn.
(Spleenworts.)

The disposition of the sori, running along the veins, constitutes in this genus the principal specific distinction.

Of this very large genus we cannot say that more than two species are really common in Hong-Kong. Asplenium Schkuhrii (Mett.) (Ihbg.) reminds us at once of the pretty maiden-hair spleenwort of English heaths and hedges, only the black stalk is missing. It is usually found from 8 to 12 inches high, but sometimes attains to a greater size. The frond is simply pinnate, tapering to a point, and pinnules serrated. Like most of the spleenworts it is graceful and delicate-looking. Asplenium dilatatum, Hk., must strike many as an old friend. It grows on the Pok-fillum road and elsewhere, but in England is one of the commonest objects on the hillside. The frond is twice or thrice-pinnate, bright green and feathery in appearance. We have heard it called " parsley-fern," from its likeness to the leaf of wild parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris). A. lanceum, Th., is uncommon. The frond is undivided (entire), about 6 in. long and to I in. broad, with a slightly irregular edge and sori in streaks along the upper or both sides of the veins.

(To be continued.)

VOL. XIX. of the new edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica" (PEY-PRO) has been published. It contains illustrated articles on Polyzoa and Protozoa by Prof. E. Ray Lankester.

IN

GOSSIP ON CURRENT TOPICS.

By W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. N the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society is an account of the mosquitoes in Alaska, which to those who have not had some experience of these pests in Arctic regions, appears incredible. Shooting is described as impossible, because the clouds formed by them were so dense as to prevent aiming. Native dogs are sometimes killed by them, and Lieut. Schwatka heard accounts from reliable persons which, coupled with his own experience, he fully believes, of the great grizzly bear falling a victim. The bear having invaded the swamps where the mosquitoes breed and congregate, stands up on his hind legs and fights them with his fore paws, but as they are neither huggable nor scratchable, he fails, is blinded, and finally starved in consequence.

The popular notion that these abominable little wretches are chiefly resident in tropical and subtropical countries is quite a mistake. The home of their mightiest legions is within and about the Arctic circle. This is evident even in the course of an ordinary coasting trip round the North Cape. At every station where a halt is made, a living cloud invades the ship, and its passengers suffer accordingly, especially at the wrists, where the blood-suckers hide under the shirt cuff, and operate secretly. On proceeding out again to sea, they are blown away. On the occasion of my last trip, two of my fellow passengers landed on Magerö to ascend the North Cape cliffs. We picked them up again on our return. They were in sorry plight. One of them, a sturdy Uhlan officer, who had ridden through France during the war without mishap, was unhorsed by the mosquitoes, and crippled by the fall. Both horse and rider were so irritated that both were lost to rational control. "I did svallo mosquitoes; I did breeve mosquitoes ; I did spit zem out of my mouf," were the terms of his description.

I find that as the limits of the swallow's summer visit is reached the plague commences, and when those limits are passed, its maximum is attained. I believe that our comparative immunity in England is due to the abundance of our swallows and martins, which even the most brutal of cockney sportsmen respects, or fails to hit, and whose nests are wisely protected by common consent of all our rustics. The swallow is as loveable as the sparrow is detestable.

The healing power of living whale blubber is shown by a fact narrated to the Royal Society of Tasmania, viz., that in a whale captured in Behring's Straits in June 1883, a harpoon was found imbedded in blubber, having" Henty. L. 1838" branded upon it. In 1838 a whaling establishment belonging to an old Colonial family named Henty existed at Portland Bay, Victoria. As Behring's Straits are a long way from Victoria, an interesting question is suggested. Did

the Hentys sail nearly half-way round the globe to harpoon the whale, or did the whale travel into the other hemisphere to avoid further communications with the Hentys?

What is the range of migration of whales? Do they cross the equator? I have seen several in latitudes of considerable variation; those in lower latitudes going straight ahead as bona fide travellers, and at a speed that would soon cover a few thousand miles.

If scientific mariners and ocean passengers would record the sighting of whales, with date, latitude, longitude, and direction of the monster's course and probable speed, I think we might obtain some interesting information. I have little doubt that on the largely frequented ocean tracks, certain whales might thus be identified, as seen in different parts of their journey from different ships. As there is always a lower ice-cold current in all the North and South ocean highways, the cetacean tourist may at any time take a refreshing dive when the surface is oppressively

warm.

Among the papers published in the "Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington, for 1884," is one by Mr. Washington Matthews on "Natural Naturalists." The author finds that the aboriginal Indians are students of Natural History, quite outside of the animals and plants they require for use.

He says: "I never failed to get from an Indian a good and satisfactory name for any species of mammal, bird, or reptile inhabiting his country; and I have found their knowledge of plants equally comprehensive. The Indians are, in this respect, as a class, incomparably superior to the average white man." The editor of "The Journal of Science" quotes the above, and adds: "This evidence shows how much our powers of observation have been stunted by the exclusive, or, at least mainly, literary character of our educational systems. From childhood our attention is fixed upon words, written or spoken, and except, among specialists, inobservance has followed."

It appears that my own remarks in the May number of SCIENCE-GOSSIP, on the still surviving exaltation of the Latin classics in modern education, have brought forth a remonstrance from Dr. P. Q. Keegan (see page 138 of June number). He misunderstands me. I by no means advocate the exclusion of literature, but the contrary; and would give precedence far above all to English literature, which is practically excluded from the present curriculum of grammar schools, and miserably neglected in our universities. If there really is any basis for the popular scholastic notion that ancient literature is especially elevating, why not be consistent, and commence with Greek? There is originality, subtlety, ideality and philosophy in the Greek classics, those of the Romans are at best but clumsy imitations; their poetry and philosophy standing as much below those of the Greeks as their sculpture and

architecture, and similarly second-hand. The fact is that our persistent cramming of Latin is a monkish inheritance; the reasons alleged for its continuance are mere afterthought apologies that were never imagined by its founders, who were clerics, and ignorant of everything but the language of the church. One of the most puzzling manifestations of "instinct" is that presented by the overland migration of fishes. That they should leave ponds which are gradually drying up is easily understood, as the water necessarily becomes more saline or harder as the evaporation proceeds, but that they should steer directly towards larger ponds, or towards rivers, as we are told they do, is very astonishing. My own suspicion is that they do not; that they simply wriggle blindly through the wet grass and either perish or survive as it happens; that the wonderful sense of direction exists only in the imagination of those who describe the migration. In a country that slopes towards a river it is of course probable that the majority will proceed in the direction of least resistance i.c. downwards, and thus eventually reach the river.

I have observed that pond fishes, such as eels, tench, and carp, have remarkable powers of remaining alive out of water; eels for several days; carp and tench remain alive in damp grass above twenty-four hours; in cool weather double this time. "Nature," June 4th, page III, says: "The eels of the ponds in the woods of Vincennes leave them every spring in large numbers, making their way to the Seine or the Marne, several kilometres distant. They take advantage of rainy weather, when the herbage is wet, and their instinct guides them directly to their destination."

Careful observation of the proceedings of these eels would be very interesting. Do they ever travel up a slope, or transversely to it? If they only descend from higher ground downward to the river, there is no more occasion to invoke any mystery of instinct to explain such a course than to attribute the seaward flows of the river itself to the directive instinct of the water.

The origin of the iron pyrites which exists in all our coal, and in some seams so abundantly as to render them nearly worthless (the "brassy" coal of Flintshire for example) has long remained an unsolved enigma. M. Dieulefait, in a communication to the Academy of Sciences, has shown that the ash of plants constituting the nearest surviving representatives of those of the carboniferous epoch, contain much more sulphur than ordinary recent plants. This is especially the case with the Equisetaceæ. I should add that besides the gold-like crystals of iron pyrites there are varying proportions of sulphate of calcium in coal. If this large proportion of sulphur was common to all the plants from which the coal was formed, M. Dieulefait's solution of the problem is satisfactory.