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relative positions, and the humerus with its head still within the glenoid cavity. The circumstance that in the case of these Bernissart skeletons the bones are so largely preserved in their immediate natural relations adds immensely to their importance, for the position of every bone can be determined with certainty. The nearest approach to the peculiar structure of the sternum in Iguanodon appears to M. Dollo to be that existing in some young birds, especially in Vanellus cristatus as figured by Parker. Professor Marsh regarded the supposed presence of clavicles in Iguanodon as an important point in them of resemblance to birds; the point must now drop, but there are abundance of others in the Iguanodon skeleton in which the remarkable

resemblances between the Ornithopoda and birds, pointed out by Professor Huxley with such surpassing sagacity more than twelve years ago, are borne out in a most remarkable manner. Professor Huxley had very imperfect material to guide him in his ideal restoration of the Iguanodon skeleton, and it is wonderful in how few matters of detail his results need correction now that one can stand at Brussels with a perfectly complete skeleton of Iguanodon towering over one's head, and test his results with as it were a complete solution of the puzzle at command. First of all there seems to be little doubt possible that the Iguanodons walked, as he pointed out, on their hind limbs erect like birds, in somewhat the attitude shown in the accompanying figure. Several

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Iguanodon Bernissartensis, Blgr. At the Brussels Royal Museum of Natural History. Restored and mounted by M. L. F. De Pauw. Head, a, left nostril; b, left orbit; c. left temporal fossa. Vertebral column, d. cervica! region; e, dorso-lumbar region; f, sacral region; g, caudal region; h, left scapula; i, left coracoid; k, left humerus; 7, left ulna; m, left radius; 2, sternum; o, left ilium;, left pubis; 9, left post-pubis; r, left ischium; s, left femur; t, left tibia; u, left fibula; v, third (fourth) trochanter. I, II, III, IV, V, digits. X, diagrammatic transverse section of the body between the fore and hind limbs.

different lines of evidence, as M. Dollo points out, tend to prove this. Firstly the remarkable resemblances between the structure of the pelvis and the posterior limbs of birds and the corresponding parts in the Iguanodons. The points of resemblance of the ilium and ischium, pointed out by Professor Huxley, are fully confirmed by the Bernissart specimens; with regard to the pubis Huxley only recognised a part in Iguanodon, the postpubis; and Hulke was the first to give a nearly correct figure of the whole. The actual pubis is very large in Iguanodon, as will be seen in the figure, and projects forwards and outwards, forming an obtuse angle with the post-pubis. Mr. Hulke was therefore not quite correct in his conclusions as to its attitude, and there is no symphysis pubis present; the post-pubis is long and slender, and directed backwards alongside the ischium, as

in birds, for a considerable distance beyond the ischial tuberosity. It is not incomplete, as supposed by Marsh (from the examination of drawings of Bernissart specimens in which it was imperfect). M. Dollo is inclined to follow Professor Marsh in identifying the Dinosaurian pubis with the pectineal process of the pelvis of birds, a conclusion which receives most interesting support in the valuable memoir lately published by Miss Alice Johnson of Cambridge on "The Development of the Pelvic Girdle in the Chick," in which it is shown that in the embryo fowl the cartilaginous representative of the pectineal process is at first much larger and more prominent in proportion to the dimensions of the pelvis than subsequently, and becomes gradually reduced as development proceeds. The peculiar form of the 'Quarterly Journal o Microscopical Science, July, 1883.

pelvis is no doubt directly connected with the muscular requirements concerned in the erect posture, originated probably in the Dinosauria, and transmitted to birds, in which it has been improved upon by the elimination, almost complete, of the original pubis through disuse.

M. Dollo takes the view that the post-pubis is a bone peculiar to Dinosaurians and birds. As he pointed out to me in the mounted specimen, probably a male, the aperture inclosed between the two ischiatic bones posteriorly is a very narrow slit through which, if the Iguanodon was by any chance oviparous, no egg of size proportionate to the animal could have passed, and it is, he thinks, just possible that in females he may find the ischia bowed SO as to inclose a widely open passage above the symphysis.

In a separate memoir M. Dollo has pointed out an additional resemblance in the femur of Iguanodon to that of birds to those already pointed out by former observers, namely that the third trochanter present in the former is represented, though feebly, in the femur of many birds. This third trochanter in birds, as he has shown by dissection in the duck serves for the origin of a small muscle first described by Meckel, which is attached to the tail, and by which the lateral movements of the tail are performed; he terms the muscle "caudo-femoral." The great development of the third trochanter in Iguanodon must, he concludes, have been in relation with very large similar caudo-femoral muscle concerned in the movement of the immense tail of the animal in the act of swimming. For reasons which he gives, he proposes to call the trochanter in future the fourth trochanter. It is not necessary to enter here into the further well known details in which the hind limb of Iguanodon shows intimate resemblance to that of birds, and especially in birds in the young condition.

The reduction of the anterior limbs in proportion to the posterior and their difference in structure are further evidence, though not conclusive, of the erect posture of the Iguanodons. In I. Mantelli the fore limbs are of about half the length of the hinder, whilst in I. Bernissartensis the difference is less, the proportion in length being twothirds to one.

The reduction in the volume of the head and thorax as compared with those of quadruped reptiles is further evidence on the same side. The head is comparatively small and very narrow in Iguanodon, the neck flexible and light as in birds.

One of the most remarkable new points discovered in the Bernissart Iguanodons, also a strongly birdlike feature, is the presence in them of a series of completely ossified ligaments stretching along the sides of the dorsal spines of the vertebræ (see figure), and binding the whole dorso-lumber region into a rigid mass as in birds, whilst the region of the neck and hinder region of the tail are free from any such ligaments. No traces of ossified tendons, such as occur in birds, have been found in connection with the limbs of the Iguanodons.

M. Dollo sums up as follows:-" In short the position of the occipital condyle, the length and the mobility of the neck, the rigid attachment of the dorso-lumbar region to the pelvis, the number of the sacral vertebræ, the massive nature of the tail, in fact, the entire structure of the vertebral column, agree in demonstrating that Iguanodon was biped in its gait. "But the most convincing proof of all, perhaps, lies in the evidence afforded by the footprints of Iguanodon in the Wealden strata. Of the eight Dinosauria known from the Wealden, Iguanodon is the only one which could leave tridactyle footprints. M. Dollo obtained a series of casts of the tridactyle Wealden footprints from Mr. Struchman from the neighbourhood of Hanover; choosing one of the right size, he introduced the three toes of the corresponding foot of one of the Bernissart I. Mantelli, and also the three metatarsals still united together, giving them a digitigrade position,

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the only one in which they would enter the impression, and an exact fit of the whole was the result. There can remain no doubt as to the complete correspondence of the two in the mind of any one who has seen the foot and impression thus fitted together. The hand of Iguanodon (see fig.) is pentadactyle, with the thumb transformed into a huge spur which must have been covered with a horny spine when the animal was living. If the animal had walked on all fours, it is impossible but that pentadactyle impressions should have occurred with the tridactyle, but such is not the case. Long series of the tridactyle prints are found without a trace of pentadactyle marks. The arrangement of the tridactyle tracks shows that Iguanodon walked on its hind feet, and did not spring like a kangaroo with the aid of its tail. This merely dragged lightly behind and has left no impression in connection with the foot tracks. The spur-like thumbs were formerly supposed to be the cores of horny appendages of the head. They are much smaller in I. Mantelli than in I. Bernissartensis, and M. Dolo thinks it will possibly turn out that they are larger in the males than the females.

M. Dollo has not yet published a preliminary account of the skull of Iguanodon, he is now at work on this subject, and a notice of it will shortly appear. In a popular account of the Iguanodons (the last cited in the list) he writes briefly as follows:

"The head is relatively small, and very much compressed from side to side" (this is a most striking feature when the mounted skeleton is viewed from in front). "The nostrils are spacious and chambered in their anterior region, the orbits are of moderate size, elongated in a vertical direction. The temporal fossa is limited above and below by a bony arch, an arrangement which occurs else only in Hatteria. The distal extremities of both upper and lower jaws are devoid of teeth. They were no doubt during life covered by a horny beak; in the hinder part of the jaws are ninety-two teeth." One of the most remarkable features of the skull is the presence at the symphysis of the lower jaw of a curious separate mass of bone shaped somewhat like a horse's hoof (see figure) which forms the distal extremity of the mandible, fitting in to an excavation on the upper surface of the symphysis. Along its upper rounded margin this bone is dentated. This is believed by M. Dollo to be a bone special to Iguanodon, but not without homologues elsewhere which he will in the future point out, and forming part of the lower jaw. Other observers have considered the bone as the inter-. maxillary, and have thus concluded that the opening of the mouth lay between the bone and the distal extremity of the lower jaw, and that thus the upper jaw was shaped something like a parrot's beak, shutting into a depression at the symphysis of the lower. A slight inspection of the complete cranium and lower jaw cleared completely of the matrix, which M. Dollo has before him, seems sufficient to carry conviction that his view as to the position of the bone and mouth aperture is the correct

one.

The roof of the mouth of Iguanodon in its anterior region is moulded into rounded, ridge-like prominences, which as M. Dollo pointed out have some curious resemblances in form to those occurring in the corresponding position in a duck. The animal was an inhabitant of marshes-as far as yet known apparently of freshwater marshes only-and fed probably largely on ferns, abundance of which were found with the Bernissart specimen. No results of importance as to this question have as yet been obtained from the examination of their coprolites.

The outline of the body shown in the present figure was roughly sketched in by M. Dollo on request, in order to give an idea of his present conjecture as to the probable shape of the living Iguanodon. It is most distinctly to be regarded as merely tentative he reserves any expression of final opinion till the whole material has passed through his hands. On examining the outline, it will be seen that the

Iguanodon probably was shaped, excepting for the long huge tail, which, as Professor Owen long ago pointed out, is shaped like that of a crocodile, being a powerful swiming organ, somewhat like a duck. In accordance with the birdlike modification of the pelvis a large mass of the viscera were post-acetabular in position, as in a greater degree in birds, thus tending to aid the long tail to erect the head and fore part of the body by depressing the hinder region of the spinal column on the acetabular axis as a fulcrum. Like the head the body was very much compressed laterally, so that its transverse section was somewhat as represented in the diagram, X. The neck of the Iguanodon was comparatively slender, and is found to be capable of very free movements. The necks of the fossilised specimens are found to be twisted without dislocation into most varied attitudes. The skin, as already mentioned, was in I. Mantelli and I. Bernissartensis smooth or covered only with epidermic scales.

Several observers have concluded from the examination of the footprints that a slight web was present between the toes. Judging from observations made on the crocodile and Amblyrhynchus of the Galapagos Islands, the animal when in the water, in which it spent a considerable part of its time, when swimming slowly, used for the purpose both its fore and hind limbs and tail, but when going fast fixed its fore limbs close beside its body and drove itself along with its hind limbs and tail only.

M. Dollo suggests that one of the principal advantages gained by the Iguanodons by their erect posture on land was their being enabled thereby to discern at great distances amongst the vegetation the large carnivorous animals of their age to which as herbivora they must have formed a prey. Possibly when attacked they seized their aggressor in their short arms and made use of their thumb spurs as daggers.

M. Dollo is in every way to be congratulated on the results of his investigations, sɔ far as they have yet gone,, and his final monograph may be looked forward to as a work of the utmost value and interest, but with the completion of the Iguanodons the working up of the Bernissart find will be anything but exhausted. With the Dinosaurians were found crocodiles and turtles, and a vast quantity of fishes, of which piles upon piles of specimens await his energies in the future. He has already discovered two most interesting new genera of crocodiles, and an equally interesting new genus of Chelonians amongst this material. Every naturalist who has an opportunity should certainly find his way to Brussels to see the skeleton here figured. It is proposed in process of time, when the Iguanodon skeletons are all prepared from the matrix and mounted as far as necessary, to build a new museum of natural history at Brussels in the Parc Leopold, formerly the zoological garden, and in this museum to construct a special gallery to contain all the Bernissart fossils, a rotunda of twenty-five metres in diameter.

THE

H. N. MOSELEY

THE JAVA UPHEAVAL

'HE details which have reached us during the past week of the terrible seismical manifestation at Java prove it to be one of the most disastrous on record; probably, moreover, it is the greatest phenomenon in physical geography which has occurred during at least the historical period, in the same space of time. The accompanying sketch-map will afford some idea of the extent and nature of the change which has taken place, and the character of the sea bed and the land in the region affected. Next week we shall attempt to show what light science can shed on the occurrence; meantime we shall content ourselves with gathering together the facts that have come to hand.

The volcanic Island of Krakatoa lies about the middle of the north part of the passage between Java a d Sumatra, a passage which has formed an important commercial route. The strait is about seventy miles long and sixty broad at the south-west end, narrowing t thirteen miles at the nort-east end. The island, seven miles long by five broad, lay about thirty miles from the coast of Java, and northwards the strait contracts like a funnel, the two coasts in that direction approaching very near to each other. A few weeks ago, as we intimated at the time, the volcano on the island began to manifest renewed activity. The whole region is volcanic, Java itself having at least sixteen active volcanoes, while many others can only be regarded as quiescent, not extinct. Various parts of the island have been frequently devastated by volcanic outburts, one of the most disastrous of these having proceeded from a volcano which was regarded as having been long extinct. The present outburst in Krakatoa seems to have reached a crisis on the night of August 26. The detonations were heard as far as Soerakarta, and ashes fell at Cheribon, about 250 miles eastwards on the north coast of Java. The whole sky over western Java was darkened with ashes, and when investigation became possible it was found that the most widespread disaster had occurred. The greater part of the district of North Bantam has been destroyed, partly by the ashes which fell, and partly by an enormous wave generated by the widespread volcanic disturbance in the bed of the strait. The town of Anjer and other towns on the coast have been overwhelmed and swept away, and the loss of life is estimated at 100,000 The Island of Krakatoa itself, estimated to contain eight thousand million cubic yards of material, seems to have been shattered and sunk beneath the waters, while sixteen volcanic craters have appeared above the sea between the site of that island and Sibisi Island, where the sea is comparatively shallow. The Soengepan Volcano has split into five, and it is stated that an extensive plain of "volcanic stone" has been formed in the sea near Lampong, Sumatra, probably at a part of the coast dotted with small islands. A vessel near the site of the eruption had its deck covered with ashes 18 inches deep, and passed masses of pumice stone 7 feet in depth. The wave reached the coast of Java on the morning of the 27th, and, 30 metres high, swept the coast between Merak and Tjiringin, totally destroying Anjer, Merak, and Tjiringin. Five miles of the coast of Sumatra seem to have been swept by the wave, and many lives lost. At Taujong Priok, fifty-eight miles distant from Krakatoa, a sea seven feet and a half higher than the ordinary highest level suddenly rushed in and overwhelmed the place. Immediately afterwards it as suddenly sank ten feet and a half below the high-water mark, the effect being most destructive. We shall probably hear more of this wave, as doubtless it was a branch of it which made its way across the Pacific, and that with such rapidity that on the 27th it reached San Francisco Harbour, and continued to come in at intervals of twenty minutes, rising to a height of one foot for several days. The great wave generated on May 10, 1877, by the earthquake at Iquique, on the coast of Peru, spread over the Pacific as far north as the Sandwich Islands, and south to New Zealand and Australia; while that at Arica, on August 13-14, 1869, extended right across the Pacific to Yokohama (NATURE, vol. i. p. 54). It is misleading to speak of such waves as tidal; they are evidently due to powerful, extensive, and sudden disturbances of the ocean bed, and are frequently felt in the Pacific when no earthquake has been experienced anywhere, though doubtless due to commotions somewhere in the depths of ocean. So far these are all the facts that are known in connection with this last stupendous outburst of volcanic energy. It has altered the entire physical geography of the region and the con

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NOTES

THE next meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science will be held in Philadelphia, probably during the first week in September, 1884. At the session in Minneapolis the following persons were chosen as officers for the Philadelphia meeting :-President, Dr. J. P. Leslie, of Philadelphia; Vice-Presidents: Section A (Mathematics and Astronomy), Prof. H. T. Eddy, of Cincinnati; B (Physics), Prof. John Trowbridge, of Cambridge; C (Chemistry), Prof. J. W. Langley, of Ann Arbour; D (Mechanical Science), Prof. R. H. Thurston, of Hoboken; E (Geology and Geography), Prof. N. H. Winchell, of Minneapolis; F (Biology), Prof. E. D. Cope, of Philadelphia; G (Histology and Microscopy), Prof. T. G. Wormley, of Philadelphia; H (Anthropology), Prof. E. S. Morse, of Salem; I (Economic Science and Statistics), Hon. John Eaton, of Washington; permanent secretary, Mr. F. W. Putnam, of Cambridge; general secretary, Dr. Alfred Springer, of Cincinnati; assistant general secretary, Prof. E. S. Holden, of Madison.

M. JANSSEN, who has returned from Caroline Island, was present at the meeting of the Academy of Sciences of September 3. He read the first part of the documents he brings with

lected they will form valuable material for the study of the physical geographer.

him, viz. the reports drawn up by Palisa, Tacchini, and himself, while Trouvelot read his own account. The reading was long and interesting, and will be continued next week. M. Janssen stated that he believed the region around the sun was full of material almost corpuscular, and reflecting the light from the sun. He was received enthusiastically, and M. Blanchard, the president, spoke in praise of his merits and efforts for the promotion of science. M. Janssen returned thanks, acknowledging that great efforts must be made by him to be worthy of such a reception.

WE regret to announce the death of Mr. Cromwell Fleetwood Varley, F.R.S., M.I.C. E., &c., on Sunday night last, at his residence at Bexley Heath, Kent. He was born in Kentish Town, April 6, 1828. He devoted himself to the engineering branch of telegraphy, and devised a method of locating distant faults in land wires which attracted the special attention of engineers and electricians. Distinguishing himself by one discovery after another, Mr. Varley finally became chief engineer and electrician to the Electric and International Telegraph Company, and held this office until the taking over of the telegraphs by the Government. His inventions were very numerous. Prominent among his early inventions was an apparatus for transmitting electrical signals, which so much increased the

sensitiveness and trustworthiness of the relay that it became practicable for the first time to work from London to Edinburgh direct-a feat impossible in the conditions of insulation previously existing. Mr. Varley was associated with Robert Stephenson, Sir William Fairbairn, and others in devising the first Atlantic cable which may be said to have achieved success. By means of a working model apparatus he demonstrated approximately the speed of electricity when on its travels.

MR. V. T. CHAMBERS, an entomologist well known for his studies on Tineina, died at his residence in Covington, Ky., U.S., on August 7.

DURING the past year, we learn from Science, original investigations in the following subjects, among others, have been carried on in the physical laboratory of Johns Hopkins University under the direction of Prof. Rowland and Dr. Hastings: on the photography of the spectrum by means of the concave grating; on the determination of the B. A. unit of electrical resistance in absolute measure; the determination of the specific resistance of mercury; the variation of the specific heat of water with the temperature; the relative wave-lengths of the lines of the spectrum by means of the concave grating; the effect of difference of phase in the harmonics on the timbre of sound; and on the variation of the magnetic permeability of nickel by change of temperature.

MR. THOMAS PLANT, the well-known meteorologist of Birmingham, died suddenly last week. Mr. Plant was sixty-four years of age, and was a native of Lowmoor, Yorkshire. From early manhood he had a passion for the study of the wind and the weather. This passion took a very systematic shape in the compilation of regular records of rainfall, windage, and temperature; and, to the student of meteorology, these records, the result of Mr. Plant's life-long study, will doubtless prove valuable. They are said to be complete for upwards of forty-six years. In 1862 he read a paper before the British Association at Cambridge on "Osler's Anemometer at the Birmingham and Midland Institute," and described the working of the instrument by means of lithographed drawings which he had himself prepared. Three years later he read another paper before the same Association at Birmingham on the "Anomalies of our Climate." A paper on the "Health of the Borough of Birmingham" was read in 1868 by Mr. Plant before the Social Science Congress at Birmingham. He frequently lectured on meteorology, and was a constant contributor to the local press on the same subject.

THE Earl of Crawford and Balcarres has been elected an honorary member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

The

DR. HICKS is reported to have made an interesting discovery in a cave at the back of the Ffynnon Beuno, Flintshire. cave is a waterworn cave in the limestone rock, similar, though on a smaller scale, to the celebrated Cefn bone caves on the other side of the Vale. Dr. Hicks, after a general inspection of the interior, determined to examine beneath the floor of the cave at the entrance. The removal of a few inches of surface debris disclosed a virgin floor of stalagmite, so well known to cave explorers. Below this were found pieces of bone belonging most evidently to the mammoth or rhinoceros. One piece was embedded in the stalagmite floor. The largest piece-nearly six inches by four-must have formed part of a bone some eighteen inches in circumference. Below was another floor of stalagmite covering a quantity of drift gravel which rested on the bottom of the cave.

MR. FLOYD DELAFIELD of Noroton, Conn., has brought ou new dynamo, the novel feature being that the armature is a tube of copper. One of the field magnets is terminated at either

end by a tubular pole piece; within this pole piece rotates a

tubular armature. On either side of the central magnet runs an auxiliary magnet, which is attached to the axle of the armature. Thus the tubular armature has one pole as its axle, whilst the other pole completely surrounds it. The current is drawn off at either end of the cylinder by brushes. The machine is so arranged that one armature can be used to excite the magnets, whilst the other is used for the main circuit, which gives a good current for plating purposes, or, when required for incandescent lighting, the magnets may be excited by a small high tension dynamo, and then the two armatures may be used for main circuit purposes.

SCIENTIFIC authorities are not at rest with giving Philipp Reiss the merit of inventing the telephone. The latest claimant put forth is Charles Bourseul, a Frenchman, who is said to have invented the telephone in 1854. This invention is said to have been communicated in 1854 to the French Academy, and to have appeared in the Didaskalia, a supplementary paper to the Frankfurter Journal, for September 28th, 1854. M. le Comte du Moncel is advocating the claims of Bourseul.

M. BERTHELOT has been investigating the speed of gaseous explosions. For this purpose he used an iron tube 16 inches long and inch bore. The gases were exploded by a spark, and the explosion registered at the centre and end of the tube. The gases he used were carbonic oxide and oxygen, their rate of explosion he observed to be 2500 metres per second. This is a far greater speed than was expected.

IN the experiments which have been made at Grenoble for the transmission of electric force from a distance of 14 kilometres, the wire was of silicated bronze 2 mm. diameter, instead of iron as on former occasions. According to L'Électricité the results have been very poor, a motive power of 45 horses having been required to convey 7 horse-power.

THE observatory at Montmartre, Paris, which belongs to Dr. Gruby, has been reorganised, and M. Cassé has been appointed director. It is a private establishment devoted to meteorology, the results being published in a number of the Paris daily papers' It is built in the vicinity of the Moulin de la Golette, and is now, except the latter establishment, the most elevated point in Paris.

MM. TISSANDIER have completed the construction of their apparatus for preparing hydrogen by a continuous process for filling large balloons. It was tried with a balloon of 300 cubic metres, which conveyed the two brothers to some distance from Paris. This system is a simplification of the apparatus which was used by M. Giffard in his large captive balloon. It will be used for filling the electric balloon now being built by MM. Tissandier.

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DR. LIEBSCHER of Jena University sends us some remarks in reply to Mr. B. Kotô's article on Agriculture in Japan" in NATURE, vol. xxviii. p. 231. With regard to Mr. Kotô's statement that in describing the climate of Japan Dr. Liebscher en irely disregarded the fact that the empire "is surrounded on all sides by a large body of water," he refers to his map of Japan and to p. 8 of his work, where he says: "The summer or south-west monsoon, which on its way from the tropics sweeps over the warm Pacific and is saturated with steam . . ." With regard to what Mr. Kotô says concerning Lake Hakone, Dr. Liebscher maintains that the Hakone Pass is situated not at the

foot of the Fuji San, but at a distance of thirty-three miles from its foot, or about fifty miles from the summit, on quite a differen range of mountains. Moreover, Dr. Liebscher points out that Fuji San is not an active volcano "which sends out an enormous quantity of scoria" like Vesuvius; nobody, Dr. Liebscher states, has ever seen any trace of scoria or smoke about it since the year 1707. As to Mr. Kotô's statement that "the climate of Japan is not so ineffective as Dr. Liebscher has depicted in his

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