THE GREAT ALPINE VALLEY.--A great wedge-shaped depression, cutting through the Alps W. of Plato, from W.N.W. to E.S.E. It is more than 80 miles in length, and varies in breadth from 6 miles on the S. to less than 4 miles on the N., where it approaches the S. border of the Mare Frigoris. For a greater part of its extent it is bounded on the S.W. side by a precipitous linear cliff, which, under a low evening sun, is seen to be fringed by a row of bright little hills. These are traceable up to one of the great mountain masses of the Alps, forming the S.W. side of the great oval-shaped expansion of the valley, whose shape has been appropriately compared to that of a Florence oil-flask, and which Webb terms "a grand amphitheatre." On the opposite or N.E. side, the boundary of the valley is less regular, following a more or less undulating line up to a point opposite, and a little N. of, the great mountain mass, where it abuts on a shallow _quasi_ enclosure with lofty walls, which, projecting westwards, considerably diminish the width of the valley. South of this lies another curved mountain ring, which still farther narrows it. This curtailment in width represents the neck of the flask, and is apparently about 16 or 17 miles in length, and from 3 to 4 miles in breadth, forming a gorge, bordered on the W. by nearly vertical cliffs, towering thousands of feet above the bottom of the valley; and on the E. by many peaked mountains of still greater altitude. At the entrance to the "amphitheatre," the actual distance between the colossal rocks which flank the defile is certainly not much more than 2 miles. From this standpoint the view across the level interior of the elliptical plain would be of extraordinary magnificence. Towards the S., but more than 12 miles distant, the outlook of an observer would be limited by some of the loftiest peaks of the Alps, whose flanks form the boundary of the enclosure, through which, however, by at least three narrow passes he might perchance get a glimpse of the Mare Imbrium beyond. The broadest of these aligns with the axis of the valley. It is hardly more than a mile wide at its commencement on the S. border of the "amphitheatre," but expands rapidly into a trumpet-shaped gorge, flanked on either side by the towering heights of the Alps as it opens out on to the Mare. The bottom, both of the "amphitheatre" and of the long wedge-shaped valley, appears to be perfectly level, and, as regards the central portion of the latter, without visible detail. Under morning illumination I have, however, frequently seen something resembling a ridge partially crossing "the neck," and, near sunset, a tongue of rock jutting out from the E. flank of the constriction, and extending nearly from side to side. At the base of the cliff bordering the valley on the S.W., five or six little circular pits have been noted, some of which appear to have rims. They were seen very perfectly with powers of 350 and 400 on an 8 1/2 inch