that they were drawn up by Mr. Pengelly and Sir Charles Lyell. By the time this is in the hands of our readers, the work will perhaps have been begun, and we may confidently expect before long to hear of some discoveries of the greatest interest.

2. SILKWORM BREEDING.

At a Meeting of the Entomological Society in May last, Capt. Thomas Hutton, F.G.S., of Mussoorie, N.W. India, read an interesting paper" On the Reversion and Restoration of the Silkworm." It is well known that the European breed of silkworms is, and has for some time been, in a very unhealthy condition. Capt. Hutton assures us that it is useless to seek for a healthier variety elsewhere, as the breed in Persia, India, and China, is as unhealthy, or even more so, than the European insect. There are, however, in most broods of silkworms, some few specimens of a dark grey or blackish brindled colour, the verts tigrés or verts zebrés, of the French,--which must have been noticed by all silkworm breeders. Capt. Hutton has paid particular attention to these specimens, under the impression that they represent the normal or original colour of the insects, and afford in fact an instance of atavism, or of an effort being made to revert from a sickly condition to the original healthy starting point. Accordingly, he separated these dark-coloured worms, and reared them apart. The eggs which they laid produced in the next spring a very large proportion of dark brindled worms, which alone were preserved. In the third year the worms were darker, larger, and more vigorous than the ordinary pale ones, and the cocoons they produced were also larger and better stuffed. The eggs of this brood were unfortunately destroyed by an accident; but in the spring of 1862, the author began again, and went through the same process. The few dark worms which he obtained escaped all disease altogether, although they were reared in the same manner, in the same room, and the same temperature, on the same quality of food as, and in close contiguity to the others. Next year there was a marked improvement in the breed, the worms were on an average inch larger, and produced better cocoons; there were, however, still a good many of the ordinary white specimens. The eggs obtained from this batch of females began to hatch again for a second crop on the 7th of August, and continued to the 23rd of September, when the eggs were removed to a temperature below 70 Fahr. in order to check

their development. The worms were all dark, and of unusual size; the moths are stated to have been fully twice as large as those in the spring. Capt. Hutton concludes that these dark specimens represent the original and natural form of the species. He urges further, that the markings on them show a strong similarity, both in disposition and arrangement, to those of the existing wild races in India, and relies also on the general fading of the original colour in domestic stocks to give place to piebald, and finally to white. Finally, the author strongly recommends "the seri-culturist to separate his dark worms from his general stock, to set them apart for breeding from, and to annually weed out all the pale coloured worms. In the course of three or four years he will be able to cast aside his present sickly stock, and will have a stock far healthier than had ever before been seen in Europe." We quote from a careful abstract of Capt. Hutton's paper, prepared, if we mistake not, by Mr. Dunning, the energetic Secretary of the Entomological Society; and it is unnecessary to point out the importance of the observations made by Capt. Hutton, whether we regard them from a scientific or an economical aspect. J. L.

3. GLACIAL DEPOSITS IN NEW ZEALAND.

The following communication, from Mr. Haast the Government Geologist of Canterbury, has just reached us. Its bearing on the history of the Glacial epoch, and on glacial geology generally, is very important, more especially, when it is remembered that Mount Cook is in lat. 43} S., which is that of the Pyrenees and the Balkan in the northern hemisphere. It shows especially how immense is the influence of climate, and especially of the relation of sea to land, in determining the position and extent of glacial phenomena, and is in so far favourable to Lyell's hypothesis, which accounts for the former southern extension in Europe of an Arctic climate, mainly by the change of these relations. This hypothesis has been lately much discussed, and the prevalent impression is, that the results of such inquiries as have been made have been unfavourable to it. It is to be remembered however, that in most of these discussions the now existing glacial conditions in the Southern hemisphere have been overlooked, and attention and modern conclusions drawn almost exclusively from those comparatively insignificant and inland glacial phenomena, which the Alps, Andes, and Himalayas present.-J. D. HOOKER.

"Mr. Arthur Dobson, a Surveyor, who accompanied me sometime as Assistant Surveyor, took a contract from the Provincial Government of Canterbury, to survey the western part of the province. He has just returned for a few weeks, having finished the survey of the coast, as far as the rivers coming from Mount Cook. He reports the interesting fact, that the coast for 50 miles from the Totara river is formed by enormous moraines-that Cliffy Head, Bold Head, Abut Head, &c. &c., are in fact only the terminal moraines of former glaciers, descending to the sea, and that the waves of the ocean now break furiously against them. But the most surprising fact is, that the largest glacier, of equal size to the Tasman glacier, coming from Mount Cook, and which gives rise to the Wairau river, descends as low as 500 feet above the sea level, and is only eight miles distant from the coast; and that on both sides of it luxuriant forests of fern-trees, Cordylines, Myrtacea, and other temperate and subtropical types are found. Now, as in the same latitude on the East Coast, we find Areca palms, let us assume that these also grow here, and that in these moraine-deposits close to the sea the bones of the existing Kivi, and Kakapo, are imbedded, together with the large Helix that lives on the pine trees, and trunks of pines, tree-ferns, myrtles, &c., what would be the conclusions of the Geologist of the future respecting such an association? Would it not be that these animals and plants inhabited New Zealand during a glacial epoch? This shows how dangerous it often is to draw general conclusions from isolated facts that may be due to anomalous . conditions, and that Darwin is right in insisting so strongly on the imperfection of the geological record. It proves at any rate, that some of the extensive glacial phenomena of postpliocene times may have been due to a rise of land, or to a more humid atmosphere, and not to a lower temperature. I came to the same conclusion, on finding great quantities of Dinornis bones in a cutting made by a mountain torrent through an old moraine. It occurred to me at once, that the same luxuriant vegetation which now exists on the west coast, must have existed above and about the glaciers that formed the moraine, and provided the seeds and leaves that served for food to those gigantic birds, as well as the shelter they required.

"The occurrence of glaciers in so low a position suggests other considerations. There is no doubt, that the climate of the western coast is warmer, but wetter, than the eastern; all the prevalent winds (S.W. and N.W.) bringing rain in summer, but snow in

winter, deposit their moisture on the western side of the dividing range, and are comparatively dry on arriving at the eastern. Hence it is not temperature alone that regulates the altitude of perpetual snow and extension of glaciers, but amount of precipitation; as Darwin has so conclusively shown to be the case on the west coast of South America, and yourself, in the Himalaya mountains."-J. HAAST.

4. RETURN OF MR. SPRUCE.

We are glad to announce the safe arrival in London of Mr. Richard Spruce, after fifteen years absence in South America, where most of the time was devoted to the scientific exploration of the Amazon and its tributaries, and of the Andes of Peru and Ecuador. Mr. Spruce devoted himself principally to Botany, and his collections of Flowering Plants and Ferns, most of which have been distributed to the principal Herbaria of Europe, comprise above 5000 species;-a larger number than had been sent home by any previous botanical explorer, and including many plants of peculiar scientific and economic importance. The value of these collections is very greatly enhanced by the notes accompanying the specimens. The arrangement of Mr. Spruce's extensive Cryptogamic collection is not yet complete. Mr. Spruce has also amassed a large amount of material bearing upon the Geography, Meteorology, and general Natural History of the countries which he has visited, - besides forming vocabularies of twenty-one languages spoken by native tribes ou the Amazon,— with notes upon their customs, food, trade, &c.

5. LIST OF PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

[Continued from p. 316.]

(23.) Histoire Naturelle des Araignées (Aranéides). Par Eugene Simon. Ouvrage contenant 207 figures intercalees dans le texte, et suivi du Catalogue synonymique des especes Européennes. Paris. 1864.

(24.) Essai d'une Flora Mycologique de la Region de Montpellier et du Gard-Observations sur les Agaricinés suivies d'une Enumeratio Méthodique. Par J. de Seynes. Paris. 1863.

(25.) A Flora of Ulster and Botanist's Guide to the North of Ireland. By G. Dickie. Belfast. 1864.

(26.) Systematisches Verzeichniss der Schmetterlinge von Europa. Von Dr. Herrich-Schäffer. Regensburg. 1862.

(27.) Correspondenz-Blatt des Zoologisch-mineralogischen Vereins in Regensburg. 16er Jahrgang. Regensburg. 1863.

(28.) Old Bones; or Notes for Young Naturalists, on Vertebrate Animals, their Fossil Predecessors and Allies. By the Rev. W. S. Symonds, F.G.S. London. 1864.

(29.) Annuaire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux Arts de Belgique. Bruxelles. 1864.

(30.) Force and Matter: Empirico-philosophical Studies, intelligibly rendered. By Dr. Louis Büchner. Edited by J. Frederick Collingwood, F.R.S.L., F.G.S. London. 1864.

(31.) On the Phenomena of Hybridity in the Genus Homo. By Dr. Paul Broca. Edited by C. Carter Blake, F.G.S., F.A.S.L. London. 1864.

(82.) Homes without Hands. Part IV-VI. By the Rey. J. G. Wood, M.A., F.L.S. London. 1864.

(33.) A Paper upon the Egg of Epyornis Maximus, the Colossal Bird of Madagascar. By George Dawson Rowley, M.A. London. 1864.

(34.) Report of the Manchester Scientific Association for the year 1863. Manchester. 1864.

(35.) Bulletin de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres, et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. No. 2. Bruxelles. 1864. (36.) Annual Report of the Cambridge University Natural Science Society. 1863.

(37.) The Transversalis Pedis in the Foot of the Gorilla. By W. Thomson. Read before the Medical Society of Victoria. (38.) The Popular Science Review. Edited by Henry Lawson,

M.D. London. 1864. No. II.

(39.) Lessons in Elementary Botany. By Daniel Oliver. London and Cambridge. 1864.

(40.) Anatomical and Physiological Observations. By John Struthers, M.D., F.R.C.S. Part II. Aberdeen. 1864.

(41.) The Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science. No. LXXIV. May, 1864. Dublin.

N.H.R-1846.

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