Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 1.djvu/526

510 R. A. Kellogg, librarian of the Academy of Natural Sciences, San Francisco. He says that Dr. Lockwood's recent articles call out again a statement of his having a young Maryland marmot or woodchuck, when a boy, that "sung like a canary-bird, but in a softer, sweeter note." His impression was, that it was a female. "I used to watch the pet very closely to see how it sang, as children are apt to do. There was a slight motion of the nostrils and lips, and consequently of the whiskers, with an air of unmistakably happy or serene enjoyment."

Is the Singing of Magical Mice labial or guttural?—In answer to this question, which has been prompted by the reading of the article on musical mice in the last number of, Dr. Lockwood says: "The sound is undoubtedly produced in the upper part of the throat, although, while singing, the lips and nostrils keep up that movement noticeable in the upper lip, so to speak, of the rabbit.

The Rising of Circumpolar Land.—Mr. H. H. Howorth, in a letter to Nature, summarizes the evidence in favor of the view that the lands about the north and south poles are undergoing general upheaval. Concerning the northern polar lands, he quotes Captain Parry to the effect that Melville Island shows unmistakable signs of elevation, in the presence of bones of whales and drift-wood buried in the sand, in some cases 15 or 20 feet above the present level of the sea. Franklin gives similar testimony concerning the coast extending from the Mackenzie River to the Rocky Mountains; while Dr. Richardson found a like state of things to the east. The narratives of Maclune and Belcher contain evidence of similar purport. Though generally spoken of as subsiding, the islands in the vicinity of Behring's Straits bear all the traces of having recently been under water. The eastern coast of Asia, including China and Japan, is also being upheaved. The rise of Spitzbergen was observed to be going on as long ago as 1646, and is again affirmed by Parry, in the account of his journey toward the pole.

Evidence of upheaval of lands adjacent to the southern pole is also abundant. In South America, Mr. Darwin found that the land from the Rio Plata to Terra del Fuego, a distance of 1,200 miles, has been raised in mass (and in Patagonia to a height of between 300 and 400 feet) within the period of now-existing shells." Unmistakable evidences of upheaval are met with at Parana, on the banks of the Uruguay, and below Buenos Ayres. On the west coast in Central and Northern Chili, Mr. Darwin also found the indications of rising land.

Speaking of Southern Africa, Griesback says, "There cannot be the slightest doubt that the upheaval of the country is still going on; for, along the whole coast of South Africa from the Cape to Durham Bluff, and still farther north, even as far as Zanzibar, modern-raised beaches, coral-reefs, and oyster-banks, may everywhere be seen. At the Gzinhluzabalungu Caves is such a point; where the rising of the coast is plainly visible, recent oyster-shells are now 12 feet and more above high-water mark. The same can be observed on the whole line of the Natal Coast."

Of Tasmania Mr. Wintle remarks: "Until a very recent period in the geological annals of this island, a great portion of what now constitutes the site of this city was under water. This is proved by the extensive deposits of comminuted shells, all of recent species, which are met with for miles along the banks of the Derwent. Some of these deposits are at an elevation of upward of 100 feet above high-water mark, and from 50 to 100 yards from the water's edge, plainly showing thereby that a very recent elevation of the land has taken place."

In New Zealand the evidence is the same. M. Reclus says the port of Lyttelton has risen three feet since it was occupied by the settlers. Mr. Forbes says that proofs of upheaving of the land are even now obvious to any intelligent traveller. Some of these changes have been witnessed by the present generation. Again, in the Middle Island upheaval of the land is observable in a marked manner through the entire length of the western coast from Cape Farewell to Dusky Bay. Some of the most extraordinary changes in these regions have taken place within the last few years.

In Australia, the proofs that elevation is now taking place are equally clear and