358 TRANSACTIONS OF SOCIETIES. 



Geological Society of South Africa. — Monday, April 25th : Prof. R. 

 B. Young, M.A., B.Sc, F.R.S.E., F.G.S., President, in the chair.—" Note 

 on certain widespread iiltra-acid rocks occurring along the margin of the 

 bushveld-granite in Western Secoecoeniland " : A. L. Hall. A description 

 was given of certain peculiar variations of the bushveld-granite, which are 

 so rich in quartz as to be liable to be mistaken in the lield for quartzite. This 

 occurrence is confined to the contact between the red granite and the norite. — 

 " Notes on the general geology of a little-known portion of the Waterberg 

 district " : W. Anderson. The author dealt at length with the Water- 

 berg system and compared the Waterberg sandstones and conglomerates 

 with those occurring in Natal and Zululand at the base of the Table Mountain 

 series. 



Cape Chemical Society. — Friday, May 13th : Prof. P. D. Hahn, Ph.D., 

 M.A., President, in the chair. — (Presidential address) Prof. P. D. Hahn. 

 Detailed reference was made to the manufacture of light natural wines in the 

 Western Province of Cape Colony, and a series of analyses was given illus- 

 trating local experiments in the production of a wine of sherry type. — 

 " Cayenne Pepper : Its Nature and Composition " : Dr. C. F. Juritz. A 

 discussion of the usual application of the term ' cayenne pepper ' and of the 

 presence or absence of starch in the article commonly so termed. 



Royal Society of South Africa. — Wednesday, May i8th : S. S. Hough, 

 M.A., F.R.S., President, in the chair. — " Further observations on the biology 

 of Roriditla " : Dr. R. Marloth. The leaves of Rondula dentata, which 

 grows on the Cedar ^fountains, are provided with glands which secrete a 

 viscid fluid that causes insects to adhere to it and to perish. The plant is 

 therefore usually regarded as insectivorous, but the author's experiments 

 show the fluid to possess no digestive properties, but to be merely a kind of 

 balsam, probably for the protection of the plant against creeping insects. 

 The species must therefore be excluded from the list of insectivorous plants. — 

 " The absorption-spectrum of oxygen and a new law of spectra " : Dr. J. 

 Moir. Those lines in the solar spectrum, whose presence there is due to 

 absorption by terrestrial oxygen, have each a complicated rhythmic struc- 

 ture. The author puts forward an algebraical formula for calculating the 

 position of each line. The agreement is in practically all cases within the 

 limits of observational error. 



NEW BOOKS. 

 Plant Analysis, Qualitative and Quantitative. By G. Dragendorfi. 

 Translated from the German by H. G. Greenish, pp. xvi. + 280. New 

 York : G. E. Steichert e- Co., 1909. Price S3. 5 nett. The English ver- 

 sion of this work has been out of print and greatly sought after for many 

 years past. Although 26 years have elapsed since the last English 

 edition appeared, and subsequent investigators have meanwhile further 

 developed some of Dragendorff's methods, this work still retains much 

 of the standard character which it then possessed : its reappearance 

 will be welcomed by all who have to do with the isolation and identifica- 

 tion of active plant principles, and are unable to avail themselves of the 

 original German edition. 



ADDRESSES WANTED. 



The Assistant General Secretary (P.O. Box 1497, Cape Town) would be 

 glad to receive the correct addresses of the following members, whose last 

 known addresses are given below : — 



Boulton, H. C, c/o Messrs. Pauling & Co., Ltd., Broken Hill, Rhodesia. 



Bromley, Robert, A.M.I.C.E., Public Works Department, Worcester, C.C. 



Champion, Ivor Edward, P.O. Roberts Heights, Pretoria. 



Court, S. E., High Commissioner's Office, Johannesburg. 



Dickie, A., 475, Currie Road, Durban, Natal. 



Durham, James, P.O. Box 2734, Johannesburg. 



Grundy, Miss C. M., Brebner School, Bloemfontein. 



Hannon, P. J., Superintendent Agricultural Co-operation, Cape Town. 



Hutt, Ernest W., P.O. Box 2862, Johannesburg. 



Neilson, A. M., P.O. Box 615, Durban. 



Nichol, Thomas Thompson, P.O. Box 34, Springs, Transvaal. 



Wilson, Allen, ^7 and 38, Steytler's Buildings, Johannesburg. 



