their electrical sparks, and yet the summit of Mont Blanc as well as the sky were perfectly serene. 2. Electricity on the Breven.-In 1767, during very stormy weather, De Saussure, Jalabert, and Pictet were on the Breven (altitude 2500 mètres). There they had only to raise a hand and to extend a finger to feel a kind of pricking at the extremity. This remark, first made by Pictet, was soon followed by another, that as the sensation became more apparent it was accompanied with a kind of whistling. Jalabert, whose hat was trimmed with gold lace, heard a fearful buzzing round his head. They drew the sparks from the button of his hat as well as from the ferrule of his cane. At last the storm was so violent in the cloud which was in the same plane with their heads, that they were obliged to descend from the summit to 20 or 24 mètres lower, where they no longer felt the electrical influences. 3. Electricity of the snow lying on the soil of the Jungfrau. -Snow lying on the ground, does not prevent these manifestations; this fact results from the following details. On the 10th of July, 1863, Mr. Watson, accompanied by several other tourists and guides visited the summit of the Jungfrau. The morning was very fine, but on approaching the summit they perceived large clouds piled upon it, and when they had almost reached it, they were assailed by a tremendous puff of wind accompanied with hail. After some minutes they were obliged to make a retreat, and during their descent the snow continued to fall in such a quantity that the little troop, mistaking the direction, travelled for some time in the Latoch-Sittel. They had scarcely perceived their error when they heard a violent clap of thunder, and soon afterwards Mr. Watson heard a kind of whistling which proceeded from his stick. This noise resembled that which a kettle makes when the water boils briskly. They halted and remarked that their sticks, as well as the hatchets with which each was provided, produced a similar sound. These objects did not discontinue their singular whistling even when one end was placed in the snow. Presently one of the guides took off his hat, exclaiming that his head was burning. His hair literally stood on end like that of a person who had been electrified under the influence of a very powerful machine, and all experienced a sensation of pricking and heat in their faces and other parts of the body. Mr. Watson's hair was straight and stiff, a veil which was round another traveller's hat was lifted vertically, and they heard the electrical whistling at the end of their fingers when moved in the air. Even the snow emitted a sound analagous to that which is produced by a sharp hail-storm. There was not, however, any appearance of light, which must have been the case had it been night. Other claps of thunder suddenly stopped these phenomena, which recommenced, however, before even the grumbling of the clap had been echoed through the mountains. They all experienced an electrical shock, more or less violent, in several parts; Mr. Watson's right arm was paralysed for several minutes till one of the guides pinched it violently with his hand; but he felt a pain in his shoulder for several hours. At last, about half-past twelve o'clock, the clouds dispersed and these effects disappeared, after having been felt for about twenty-five minutes. At Lyons a brisk north wind completely neutralized these stormy manifestations. 4. Electricity of the Piz Surley.-A little more to the east are the Grisons which touch Italy, concerning which M. H. de Saussure, whose observations made in Mexico I have already mentioned, has just forwarded to me the following note : "The 22nd of June 1865, setting out from Saint Moritz (Grisons) I ascended the Piz Surley, a granitic mountain whose summit, more or less conical, rises to the height of 2300 mètres. During the preceding days the north wind had persistently prevailed; it became variable on the 22nd, and the sky was covered with wandering clouds. Towards noon, these vapours increased, reuniting above the highest, and in other directions keeping high enough not to hide the greater part of the summits of the Engadine, upon which local showers soon fell. "Their appearance of dusty vapours half transparent caused us to think that it was only a shower of hail and snow or sleet. "About one o'clock at night we were overtaken by a fine sleet, thinly scattered, while similar showers of hail enveloped the greater number of the rocky peaks, such as the Pic Ot, Pic Julier, Pic Languard, and the snowy summits of the Bernina: whilst a violent shower of rain fell in the valley of Saint Moritz. "The cold increased, and at half past one o'clock P.M., having arrived at the summit of the Piz Surley, the fall of sleet becoming heavier, we prepared to take our repast, near a pyramid of dry stones, which crown the summit. Whilst resting my cane against this construction, I experienced a violent pain in my back, at the left shoulder, which resembled that which would be produced by slowly thrusting a pin into the flesh, and in taking away my hand without finding anything, I felt a similar prick in my right shoulder. Then supposing that my linen overcoat contained some pins, I threw it of; but instead of finding any alleviation, my pains increased, stretching across my back from one shoulder to the other, accompanied by a sensation of tickling, and painful stinging, like that which might be produced by a wasp or some other insect in my clothes riddling me with pricks. Taking off a second coat I did not discover anything which could have wounded me, while the pain assumed the character of a burn. Without reflecting, I fancied my woollen shirt had taken fire and was going to undress myself completely when our attention was drawn to a noise which reminded us of the humming of wasps. It was produced by our sticks which sang loudly and resembled the noise of a kettle when the water is on the point of boiling; this lasted, perhaps, about twenty minutes. . Some moments after, I felt my hair and my beard stand on end, which produced upon me a similar sensation to that which results from a dry razor being passed over stiff hair. A young man, who accompanied me, exclaimed that he felt all the hairs of his moustache growing, and that from the top of his ears there were strong currents. .. A clap of distant thunder towards the west warned us that it was time to quit the summit, and we descended rapidly for about a hundred mètres. Our sticks vibrated less and less as we descended, and we stopped when the sound had become sufficiently weak, only to be heard by putting our ears close to them. The pain in my back had ceased with the few first steps of descent, but I still retained a slight sensation of it. A second clap of thunder, ten minutes after the first was heard in the west over a considerable distance, and this was the last. There was not any lightning, and half an hour after we left the summit the sleet had ceased and the clouds dispersed. At halfpast 2 o'clock P.M. we again reached the culminating point of the Piz de Surley to look for the sun. The same day there was a violent storm in the Bernese Alps, where an English lady was struck by lightning. "After all, we considered that these phenomena must have extended to all the high rocky points of the Grisons, even to the horizon where there were several stony summits, like that on which we were, enveloped by whirlwinds of sleet, while the high snowy points of the Bernina seemed to have been exempt, notwithstanding the scattered clouds which surrounded them. . . On a previous occasion at Nevado de Toluca I had been present at scenes of the same kind, but much more severe, on account of its tropical situation and its height of 4548 mètres. "However, in bringing together different observations, many points in common can be distinguished amongst them, viz., 1st. The flow of electricity from the culminating rocks is produced under a stormy sky covered with low clouds, enveloping the summits or passing at a very little distance above them, but without there being any electrical discharges in the neighbourhood of the place where the continual flow is manifested. "2nd. In each of the cases observed the summit of the mountain was enveloped in a shower of sleet, from which it might be inferred that the continual flow of electricity from the ground towards the clouds helped in a great degree to their formation. Thus, during the observation of the 22nd of June, 1865, in particular, all the rocky points were under the same meteorological conditions, while the valleys situated between the points received violent showers of rain. "However we must take into account the higher temperature of the hollows, where sleet about to fall turns into rain. M. de Charpentier long ago pointed out the importance of this fact, and with sleet or snow, the results must be the same. "ELECTRICITY OF THE JURA. "5. Electricity of meadows near Courtavon. "An instance of meadow lightning has been observed in the neighbourhood of Porentury, at the foot of the Jura and near Courtavon. About 100 mètres above the valley, stands the ancient castle of Morimont, the restoration of which has been entrusted to the Engineer of the mines, Quiquerez de Délémont, a man well-known by his splendid mining and archæological works. Being engaged with directing his workmen, on the 26th of August, 1865, he was overtaken by two successive storms between nine and twelve o'clock. At three o'clock in the afternoon there was a third, when the clouds were very low down. Electricity was then exhibited in a frightful manner over the whole extent of the adjacent meadows; sparks succeeded each other in rapid luminous trains passing over the grass instead of through the air. The general noise was such that the individual cracklings were not distinguished. It did not rain; but the observers were almost in the clouds and were all drenched with the morning showers. "During this journey, three or four leagues east of Morimont and on the continuation of the Jura chain, but a few minutes later, lightning was remarked which ran over the fields and meadows, as if the earth was all on fire. Thus M. Quiquerez was not the only one who observed this phenomenon, and I may add that the storms extended to Lyons. "6. Electricity of the lakes near Neufchâtel. "Discharges of the same kind are manifested on lakes, and M. Arago has already noticed the fact in a pond at Parthenay (Vendée) in his Notice sur le tonnere, page 371. "The Swiss Société d'Histoire saw an example, on the 2nd of August, 1850, while sailing on the lake of Moret about eight or nine o'clock at night. They then heard thunder at Montbéliard, Châlon, and Bourg. "Also on the lake of Bienne, the boatmen of Nidau thought on one occasion that they were crossing a sheet of fire." NOTES ON THE CRUSTACEAN FAUNA OF THE ENGLISH LAKES. BY GEORGE STEWARDSON BRADY, M.R.C.S., C.M.Z.S. HAVING, during several short rambles amongst the mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland, paid considerable attention to the microscopic Crustacea which inhabit the numerous lakes and tarns of that district, I propose, in the following pages, to offer a few remarks relative chiefly to the distribution and habitat of the various species, and also to describe briefly two or three new or little-known forms. And though I take the group known as the English lakes, par excellence, for the groundwork of my remarks, I shall also include therein to some extent the lakes of Northumberland, Dumfriesshire, Selkirkshire, and Kirkcudbrightshire, amongst which I have spent many pleasant days with net and collecting bottles. The lakes included in this programme may indeed be looked upon as forming in themselves a pretty well-defined group intermediate between those of the Scottish Highlands on the one hand, and of the Southern English Lowlands on the other. Whether the Crustacea of the more northern Scottish waters differ materially from those of the south cannot now be stated, as they have yet received scarcely any attention; but from all that we know of the lacustrine Crustacea of the English Lowlands, it may confidently be asserted that the difference is here very great indeed. And it may be interesting to tourists with a love for natural history (but who begin to find the geology, botany, and mineralogy of our islands worn somewhat threadbare, so far as the discovery of new things is concerned) to know that the microscopic Crustacea of our ponds and lakes, and especially of mountain lakes, are sure to afford novelties to the diligent observer for many a year to come. Not that the discovery of new species ought to be the chief ambition of the naturalist, nor that even this may not yet be done by the hard-working botanist or geologist; but there is, nevertheless, a legitimate pleasure in discovering and describing forms of life which have been hitherto unknown; and in no branch of investigation are we, perhaps, more likely to find it, than in that of which we are here treating. The higher groups of Crustacea (Amphipoda and Isopoda), which are abundantly represented in lowland ponds and streams by such creatures as Gammarus pulex and Asellus aquaticus-animals of the sandhopper and woodlouse typeare scarcely to be found in mountain lakes, though we occasionally meet with them in very small bog-pools on the hill |