sun between the tropics, which rarifies the air, and causes it to ascend into the higher regions; producing below a current from the pole towards the equator, and above a current in the opposite direction. The resulting motions to and from the equator are not in a north and south direction along the meridians, but are modified by the rotation of the earth: at the surface they deviate towards the west, and in the return current above towards the east. If the point mentioned by Prof. Coffin as the centre of the winds of the polar zone really exists, it is probably that of maximum cold; the air at this point would be condensed, and flow from it in radial lines in every direction along the surface of the earth. The paper is an important addition to meteorology, and has cost the author years of labor. The publication of it has also been very expensive, particularly on account of the maps and tables.

3. Another memoir accepted for publication is, "An Account of a Tornado that passed near New Harmony, Indiana, April 30, 1852, by John Chappelsmith."

The eastern portion of the North American continent is almost every year visited at different points by one or more tornadoes of frightful energy, but of exceedingly circumscribed limits; and it is almost an opprobrium to the science of this country that more reliable data have not been collected towards settling definitely the conditions of these remarkable phenomena, and for ascertaining their cause. For this purpose however, mere verbal descriptions of the effects are alone insufficient, there must be added to these accurate instrumental surveys, and, if possible, the indications of the barometer, thermometer, and hygrometer. The first accurate report of this kind was that by Prof. A. D. Bache, relative to a tornado which passed over the city of New Bruns wick, in New Jersey, in 1834. A similar survey was made by Professor Eustis, of Harvard University, of the tornado of August 21, 1851, which passed near Cambridge.

We consider the present memoir as an exceedingly valuable addition to the stock of our knowledge on this subject. It gives not only all the collateral phenomena as far as they could be obtained, but presents a map of one square mile of the track on which are ela borately plotted the relative position and bearings of the prostrated trees. Some idea may be obtained of the enormous energy of this tornado from the statement of the author that "on a single square of the track, thousands of trees, many of them having a stem fifteen feet in circumference, were prostrated by a force acting simultaneously in opposite directions, and moving onward at the rate of a mile in a

minute."

mile

The author critically analyses the force at work, and arrives at the conclusion that the proximate cause of the phenomenon is an inward. upward, and onward moving column of air. Besides the map, the memoir is accompanied by diagrams and sketches to illustrate the cha racter and effects of the tornado.

4. Another memoir is entitled "The Antiquities of Wisconsin, examined and surveyed by I. A. Lapham."

In the Report for 1851, it was mentioned that Mr. Lapham, an expe rienced engineer, had undertaken, under the direction of the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Massachusetts, to make explorations,

surveys and drawings of the aboriginal antiquities of Wisconsin, and, to insure harmony of action in the cultivation of the wide field of research offered by the ancient monuments of this country, that the Antiquarian Society had agreed to present to the Smithsonian Institution the results of the labors of Mr. Lapham for publication, and to reserve its own funds for further explorations. Mr. Lapham's memoir has been completed, and, after having been examined and reported upon by a committee of the Antiquarian Society, has been presented to this Institution for publication. It consists of several hundred pages of manuscript, illustrated by sixty-three large drawings or plates adapted to the size of the Smithsonian Contributions, a map of the country, and ninetyseven figures or smaller designs, intended to be engraved on wood and interspersed with the text.

Elaborate works of defence, and such as are apparently designed for religious or sacrificial ceremonies, so numerous in other sections of the country, are seldom found in Wisconsin. In place of these, less elevated structures, though often on a scale of considerable horizontal extent, representing a variety of fanciful forms, abound along the sides. of the streams and borders of the lakes. The figures are principally those of lizards, turtles, birds, bears, foxes, and men, and they appear to be confined within a limited territory between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan. It is very remarkable, says the committee, that none of the earlier travellers appear to have noticed the animal shape of the embankments; but this is accounted for by the extent and flatness of the works, and the difficulty of recognising them while covered with trees or a dense growth of other vegetation. Indeed, the surveyors who first attempted to plot them were sometimes surprised at the figures developed under their hands, and which could not have been perceived on the ground, unless from an elevated point of view.

The memoir of Mr. Lapham, with a few unimportant exceptions, includes an account of every known work or assemblage of works in this region, and the whole were carefully surveyed by himself or by competent individuals under his direction. On the map are laid down the relative position of the earth-works; and from this it appears that they lie chiefly along the course of streams and the borders of the interior lakes. Nearly the same forms are repeated in different localities, but with dissimilar arrangement, and often with slight, yet evidently intentional variation in figure. The works are enumerated as follows:

a. Tumuli of a conical shape and slight elevation.

b. Oblong mounds not more than three or four feet high, of regular width, extending in a straight line from twenty feet to several hundred, and even a thousand.

c. Embankments in crescent and serpentine forms.

d. Embankments tapering uniformly in width from one extremity to the other, and terminating in a point..

e. Similar tapering embankments, with two projections on one side, near the larger end, which are called lizards, and are very numerous. f. The same general form, with projections on both sides at the larger end, and with a similar tapering tail, sometimes of exceedingly

disproportionate length. These frequently present a striking resemblance to a turtle, and are known by the name of that animal.

g. Oblong embankments, with arms or wings extended on either side. These vary from simple crosses to figures of birds and men, the head being usually omitted.

h. Representations of animals of more definite outlines and better proportions: among these are bears, foxes, otters, &c., and upon the Wisconsin river, buffaloes. It is proved by numerous excavations that the works which resemble animals are destitute of relics; they are mere relievos or embossments on the surface of the earth, seldom exceeding four feet in height, and in some cases but a few inches. Mr. Lapham disclaims all intention of indulging a disposition to theorize or speculate on the origin or design of these remains, and declares his object to be merely the faithful performance of the office of surveyor, to study the facts, and to report them in as much detail as may be neces sary, leaving to others the deductions which, in connexion with other information, may be drawn from them. In the opinion of the commission appointed by the society to examine the memoir, "Mr. Lapham has accomplished his task with great thoroughness and artistic skill; he seems to have explored the entire field, to have industriously delineated every object of interest, and to have omitted no detail of drawing or description which could conduce to a clear understanding of the matter of which he treats." The publication of this memoir, which will be alike creditable to the author, the Antiquarian Society, and this Institu tion, will furnish an interesting addition to the antiquities of this country, which cannot fail to be hailed with pleasure by the ethnologist.

5. Two botanical papers, furnished by Dr. John Torrey, of the New York Medical College, have been published during the past year. The first describes a new plant, to which the author has given the name of Darlingtonia Californica. It is a new pitcher-plant, which was first detected by Mr. W. D. Brackenridge, assistant botanist in the United States Exploring Expedition under Captain Wilkes. It has hitherto been found only near the Shasta mountain, on the Upper Sacramento. The specimens brought home by Mr. Brackenridge were without flowers or seed-vessels. so that the genus of the plant could not be determined, but it was taken for a new Sarracencia. After many years, the flowers were discovered by Dr. G. W. Hulse, and brought to Dr. Torrey, who has shown that the plant is an entirely new genus of the same small but very interesting natural order to which the Sarracencia belongs. He has bestowed upon it the name of Darlingtonia, in honor of Dr. William Darlington, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, author of several valuable botanical works. The genus formerly dedicated to this veteran botanist by De Candolle having been reduced to an older one, Dr. Torrey embraced the opportunity of restoring the name, and connecting it with one of the most remarkable plants of North America.

6. The second memoir by Dr. Torrey is an account of a new maritime shrubby plant, called "Batis Maritima," which grows on the shores of Key West, Jamaica, Cuba, and the neighboring parts of the continent. It has been known to botanists for more than one hundred and fifty years, yet, strange to say, it has not till now been correctly described, nor its place in the natural system determined with any cer

tainty. Dr. Torrey considers it as the type of a distinct order, nearly allied to the empetraceæ, or crowberries.

Both memoirs are illustrated with plates, from beautiful drawings made by Sprague, at the expense of the institution.

7. The next memoir is a "Synopsis of the Marine Invertebrata of the Grand Manan, or the region about the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick,” by William Stimpson.

The island of Grand Manan, a part of the natural history of which this paper is intended to illustrate, lies at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, and is surrounded by deep water, the bottom of which abounds in a variety of marine animals.

The memoir consists of a compend of observations made on the marine fauna of this region during a residence of three months in the summer of 1852, and also of a catalogue of the marine invertebrata found on the shores and in the adjacent waters.

Minute surveys of the marine animals of a given district are highly interesting; it is only by a comparison of the results of such examinations made at a series of points along a coast, that an accurate knowledge can be obtained of their distribution, and of the effects of external circumstances on their growth, habits, and economy. By such surveys we can ascertain whether a species may inhabit two distant localities without occurring in the intermediate space, a fact which has an important bearing on several interesting questions relative to geological changes. The author is a pupil of Professor Agassiz, and has been appointed one of the naturalists in the North Pacific Exploring Expedition, under Captain Ringgold.

The paper occupies 66 pages, and is illustrated by 37 lithographic figures.

8. A memoir has also been presented, and is now in the press, "On some new American species and localities of Microscopic Organisms,' by Prof. J. W. Bailey, of West Point, New York.

Nearly two centuries have passed away since Leeuwenhoek, an eminent physician of Holland, discovered by means of the microscope a department of organized nature, consisting of bodies imperceptible to the unaided vision, and displaying active forms, so strange and varied in their appearance, that they excited a general curiosity. The discovery, in some of them, of organs of motion, convinced him of their animal character, and he gave to them the name of animalcules. They were afterwards called infusoria. Many opinions were entertained with regard to their character. Linnæus considered them as lifeless, oily particles, and their movements as altogether passive. We owe, however, to Prof. Ehrenberg, of Berlin, an extended series of observations on this subject, the results of which are, that the infusoria are organized bodies; the greater part, if not all, are animals; they exist in all quarters of the globe, as well on land as at the bottom of the sea, and their silicious and calcareous remains form, in this country, wide-spread fossil strata. At Andover, Massachusetts, there is a bed of these remains of fifteen feet in thickness, and underlying the city of Richmond, Virginia, one of twenty-eight feet. Professor Bailey has distinguished himself by researches in the same line, and has published on this subject a series of papers in Silliman's Journal, and in two

memoirs in the Smithsonian Contributions. In the present memoir he has described new species of diatomaceæ, limnias, auliscus, peridinium, cothurnia, and monactinus; he has given the American localities of Amphitetras antediluviana, and tetragramma, and gives an account of the organic forms found in the Croton water, New York.

One of the species described forms a material resembling white clay, which occurs in a large deposit at Suisun bay, about thirty miles above San Francisco; and should, says Prof. Bailey, this fact meet the eye of any scientific traveller in California, it may induce him to furnish further information concerning the geological relations of this interesting deposit, and to collect a good supply of specimens for a more complete study.

It has been known to the New York microscopists, but not to the public generally, that the Croton water abounds in beautiful microsco pic organisms, and particularly in diatomacea and desmidieæ. The author found in the sediment collected by means of a filter at the Astor House, more than fifty different species of these organisms. Of these the gallionella crotonensis is in the greatest abundance, and thousands of its fragments must be daily swallowed by those who use the unfiltered water. It is so abundant that Prof. Bailey suggests that it may yet prove of importance as a means of detecting the fraudulent dilution of various substances by this water.

This memoir is illustrated by a number of wood-cuts and thirty-eight elaborately drawn figures on a steel plate beautifully executed by J. E. Gavitt, an amateur naturalist and artist of Albany, New York.

9. During the past year the catalogue of Coleoptera by Frederick Ernst Melsheimer, M. D., mentioned in a previous Report, has been published and distributed. It forms an octavo volume of 174 pages

At first sight it would appear that the study of insects is the most trivial and furthest removed of that of any part of creation from useful purposes; but independently of the interest which attaches to it as an exposition of animated nature, and an exhibition of organization and life in curiously diversified forms, there is scarcely any branch of natural history more intimately connected with the pursuits of the husbandman, the naval architect, and even those of the artist and the bibliographer, than entomology. It is the duty therefore of this Institution to afford every facility for the acquisition of this branch of knowledge, and to increase the number of those who make it their special study.

The coleoptera form one of the largest and most widely distributed class of insects; and on account of their boring habits, some of the species are highly destructive to timber. In order, however, to study them properly, it is necessary that the same species which exist in this country and in Europe may be identified, and that those which are new here may be separately described. The present memoir gives the names of all those which have been described, with references to the works where the descriptions may be found. Dr. Melsheimer has spent several years in the preparation of this work. It was referred for examination to Professor S. S. Haldeman and Dr. J. L. Le Conte, who reported in favor of its publication, and offered to superintend its