IV. GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, ETC.--Petroleum and Coal in Venezuela. Geographical Society of the Pacific. The Behring's Straits Currents.--Proofs of their existence. Experimental Geology.--Artificial production of calcareous pisolites and oolites.--On crystals of anhydrous lime.--4 figures. V. NATURAL HISTORY, ETC.--Coccidæ. By Dr. H. BEHR.--An important paper read before the California Academy of Sciences.--The marvelous fecundity of scale bugs.--Their uses.--Their ravages.--Methods of destroying them. Agricultural Items. Timber Trees. Blood Rains. VI. MEDICINE AND HYGIENE.--Medical Uses of Figs. Topical Medication in Phthisis. VII. ARCHITECTURE, ETC.--Suggestions in Architecture.--Large illustration.--The New High School for Girls, Oxford, England. * * * * * PETROLEUM AND COAL IN VENEZUELA. MR. E. H. PLUMACHER, U. S. Consul at Maracaibo, sends to the State Department the following information touching the wealth of coal and petroleum probable in Venezuela: The asphalt mines and petroleum fountains are most abundant in that part of the country lying between the River Zulia and the River Catatumbo, and the Cordilleras. The wonderful sand-bank is about seven kilometers from the confluence of the Rivers Tara and Sardinarte. It is ten meters high and thirty meters long. On its surface can be seen several round holes, out of which rises the petroleum and water with a noise like that made by steam vessels when blowing off steam, and above there ascends a column of vapor. There is a dense forest around this sand-bank, and the place has been called "El Inferno." Dr. Edward McGregor visited the sand-bank, and reported to the Government that by experiment he had ascertained that one of the fountains spurted petroleum and water at the rate of 240 gallons per hour. Mr. Plumacher says that the petroleum is of very good quality, its density being that which the British market requires in petroleum imported from the United States. The river, up to the junction of the Tara and Sardinarte, is navigable during the entire year for flat-bottomed craft of forty or fifty tons.