Eoyal Tiistilution, — Wernerian Nat, Hist, Society, 4<)3 



niinoiis ?|)ecies, was not given to Mr. Macartney by Capt. 

 Jlorsburg, but discovered by himself. The pyrosoma at- 

 lauticiim of Pcron was called, in our account, the pyro- 

 soma allant'ica ot Perot, 



A great part of Mr. Macartney's interesting paper is 

 lakcii up with the anatomical description of the organs 

 from whence the light issues in certain species. 



ROYAL INSTITUTION. 



In the concluding lecture at the Royal Institution, the 

 large V^oltaic apparatus, consisting of 2000 double plates of 

 four inches square, was put into action for the first time. 

 I'hc effects of this combination, the largest that has ever 

 been constructed, were, as might have been expected, of a 

 very brilliant kind. 



The spark, the light of which was so intense as to re- 

 semble that of the sun, struck through some lines of air, 

 and produced a discharge through heated air of nearly 

 three inches in length, and of a dazzling splendour. Se- 

 veral bodies which had not been fused before, were 

 fused by this iiame ; the new metals discovered by Mr. 

 Tennant, iridium, and the alloy of iridium and osmium. 

 Zircon and alumine were likewise fused; — charcoal was 

 made to evaporate, and plumbago) appeared to fuse in vacuo. 

 Charcoal was ignited to intense whiteness by it in oxy- 

 nuiriatic acid gas, and volatilized in it, but without eiTcct- 

 ing its decomposition. A large Leydcn battery, conlaininfr 

 24 coated jars, was charged by a momentary contact of the 

 wires to a degree that reqiured from 20 to 30 turns of 

 Nairne's electrical machine of eight inches diameter. All 

 the electrical phienomena of the passage pf electricity to a 

 distance; the discharge through aTorricellian vacuum; the 

 attractions and repulsions of hght bodieSjWere denjonstrated 

 in a distinct way by means of this apparatus. It may be 

 hoped that the apj)iication of so powerful an instrument, 

 and such easy methods ot producing the most intense heat,, 

 will lead to some new tacts in analytical science, 



WERNERIAN NATURAI. HISTORY SOCIETV. 



At a meeting of this Society, 19th May last, the Rev. 

 .Tohn Fleming, Brcssay, read an account of several rare ani- 

 mals found by him in Shetland, particularly Plturonectes 

 punctatus,a specimen of which he exhibited to thaSociety ; 

 Luccrnaria quadricornis; Echinus miliaris, &:c. ; and some 

 nndescribed species, particularly a Flustra, which he pro- 

 posed to call flustra Rilisih in honour of Mr. Ellis, the 



illustrator 



