2O0 



NATURE 



April 6, 1911 



lives and eye-pieces made by R. Winkcl, ol duttingen. — 

 J. Murray : Report on the rotifers collected by the Hritish 

 Antarctic K.\{K>dition of 1909. Forty-six Hdclloids were 

 collected, bringing the Australian list up to fifty-four 

 species. There were seven new species, and eight others 

 occurred .is distimt varieties. 1 he new species were 

 Philodiua australis, Callidina armillata, lepida, longistyla, 

 serntlata, tnirabilix, and IJubrotrocha strangulata. The 

 most aberrant form was Calliditia mirabilis, which had 

 peculiar fleshy processes on the trunk. The rotifera fauna 

 of the Australian Alps resembled that of Britain. The 

 arid lowlands were very unproductive. Three-fourths of 

 the species, and all the new species, occurred in the Blue 

 •Mountains, of moderate elevation. Eight species of non- 

 Bdciloid rotifera were also noted from the water supply 

 and ponds in Sydney. 



Zoological Society, March 21.— Dr.S. F. Harmer, F.R.S., 

 vice-president, in liie chair. — Mrs. E. W. ft«xton : The 

 ainpiiipod genus l.eptocheirus. In preparing this revision 

 of the genus, the type-specimens of nearly all the species 

 had been examined. The author found that in some cases 

 different stages of growth had been described by difTerent 

 authors as distinct species, in other cases the inadequacy 

 of the original descriptions and figures had led to the 

 introduction of a number of unnecessary synonyms. The 

 specimens of Zaddach's L. pilosus and Grubbe's L. 

 guitatiis had been examined and redescribed, and the 

 number of valid* species in the genus was now seven, 

 namely, L. pilosus, L. pinguis, L. hirsutinianus, L. pectiti- 

 atus, L. guttatus, L. aberrans, and L. bispinosus. — 

 J. Lewis Donhote and F. \V. Smalley : Inheritance of 

 colour in pigeons. The paper dealt with the first results 

 of a long series of e.vperiments. .Although chiefly Men- 

 delian in character, tTie authors laid stress on the fact that 

 in several respects their results seemed to point to a 

 further law or laws, which were able to modify the ex- 

 pected Mendelian results, and in regard to which the 

 Mendelian theory offered no satisfactory solution. They 

 showed, for instance, that in chequer and blue matings 

 there was a regular tendency to an over-production of 

 chequers ; in the grizzle matings the tendency was to 

 an over-production of blues. Another point apparently in- 

 explicable on the Mendelian hypothesis was the difference 

 in shades of the same colour ; by disregarding these and 

 considering them all as gametically identical, the results 

 gave approximately the expected proportions, but, on the 

 other hand, the shades of the different birds undoubtedlv 

 affected their progeny, and hence the gametes must also 

 have been affected. The preponderance of a certain sex in 

 a particular colour was also noted, as well as an increase 

 of white in successive generations. No explanation of 

 these phenomena was put forward, as further experiments 

 were still in progress. In dealing with the purelv Men- 

 delian aspect of the resuhs, the following points were 

 clearly brought forward :— (i) silver is dilute blue ; (2) blue 

 is dominant to silver; (3) chequering and grizzling are 

 both dominant to absence of pattern ; (4) grizzling is 

 dominant to chequering; (5) a mealy is a grizzled bird 

 with the white replaced entirely or partially by red ; 

 (6) red in a mealy is dominant to white, hence a rnealy is 

 dominant to a grizzle ; (7) white and grizzling combine to 

 have a common inheritance ; (8) red combines with 

 grizzling in the same way as white. — Dr. G. Stewardson 

 Brady : Marine ostracoda from Madeira, based on speci- 

 mens collected by the Rev. Canon Norman, F.R.S., in the 

 spring of 1807. Apart from the species described as new 

 to science, the collection was interesting as extending the 

 known range of several species from the European and 

 North Atlantic areas much farther southward, though not 

 quite into the tropical zone. 



Edinburgh. 

 Royal Society, February 6. — Dr. Burpess, vice-president, 

 in the chair. — W. Watson : The isopiestic expansibility of 

 water at high temperatures and pressures. The water 

 contained a small quantity of hydrochloric acid. The 

 apparatus employed was tho hii^h-temperature compression 

 cylinder described by Prof. Des Coudres in the Leipzig 

 Berichten of July, 1910. The volume change was 

 measured by a method modelled on the electrical methods 

 of Tait, Amagat, and Richards. The dilatometer was 

 niade of quartz glass. It was found that, soon after the 

 NO. 2162, VOL. 86] 



.r 



critical temperature was passed, water h' '■ ■■■ ' f 

 pressures investigated as an ideal gas, r. 

 i!K>piestic» became straight lines. Al 400 .> , .-s ai 



a range of temperatures from 400^ to 500' C, 

 mean coefficient of expansion of water substance was fou: 

 to be of the order 0-043. Amagat, working b< ■ 

 and 200° C, obtained 0-00099. — ^^- *>^iVK« : 

 gation into the effects of errors in surveying, 

 discussed the effects of errors in linear ai. 



measurements on the accuracy of surveys. A lu 



theorem was that concerning the sum of vector errofi 

 viz. the average error in the position of a point inf?uenr«l 

 by two or more vector errors is equal to the > 

 of the sum of the squares of the average ma, 

 the vector errors, and is independent of th- 

 clinures. Many of the results and methods 

 believed by the author to be new. .Amoiur fli. 

 mentioned the conclusion that the \r ,» 



of a triangle for triangulation is an i- n 



apical angle of 67° 30'. The angle may, ho., 

 between 50° and 90 without appreciably ati 

 well-conditioned character of the triangle, .ma o:;.er 

 reasons lead to the selection of the equilateral triangle as 

 the best for practical purposes. — Dr. W. H. Youni^ : 

 Fourier's repeated integral, and on Sommerfeld's form of 

 Fourier's repeated integral. 



February 20.— Dr. Home, F.R.S., vice-president, in the 

 chair. — Miss Dorothy Court : The determination of snmll 

 degrees of enzymatic peptolysis. Abderhalden's metlx ; 

 studying enzymatic peptolysis by allowing the enz 

 preparation to act on a solution of pepton prepared 

 silk and observing the precipitation of tyrosin, is li: 

 in its application by the impossibility in many cas- 

 using clear solutions and by the fact that insoluble pro- 

 ducts other than tyrosin may be formed as a result d 

 the action. These difficulties are overcome by the filtra- 

 tion of the products of the reaction, and treating the 

 residue on the filter, after drying, with dilute sulphuric 

 acid, and subsequent addition to this filtrate of formol 

 and concentrated sulphuric acid (Morner's reagent). In 

 the presence of tyrosin a green colour is produced, and 

 the quantity of tyrosin, and thereby the degree of pepto- 

 lysis, may be estimated by measuring the intensity of th' 

 colour by means of the tintometer. — Dr. David Ellis 

 Concerning the new genus of iron bacteria, Spiroph:' 

 ferrugineum (Ellis). In this paper, which was a con 

 tion of a former paper, the author met the critic! ~ 

 Prof. Molisch that Spirophyllum was not gencr 

 distinct from Gallionella. In addition to further d' 

 tions, the paper contained some excellent photoi 

 grams. — Principal A. P. Laurie: The temper 

 coefficient of concentration cells, in which the same ~ 

 dissolved in two different solvents. In addition t- 

 series of cxperiinents described, the paper gave a iu'.. 

 cussion of the relationship between the electromotive : 

 of water and alcohol cells, their thermal properties, 

 the precipitation of salts by alcohol. 



March 6. — Prof. Crum Brown, vice-president, in th' 

 chair. — J. P. Dalton : The accuracy attainable v.'.'^ 

 modified form of Atwood's machine. The modifi 

 consisted in making one side of the spindle of eboni:., 

 that as the wheel revolved electrical contact between th- 

 two sides of the apparatus became intermittent. By con- 

 nection with a chronograph, records of distance fallen 

 through and time taken were obtained. The frictiowal 

 retardation could be determined with great accuracy. The 

 mean of eight different determinations of g gave 980 

 cm. /sec. ^, the greatest deviation from the mean being 

 0-5 per cent. It is probable that a still greater accuracy 

 could be attained with more carefully constructed apparatus 

 than was at the disposal of the author. — J. B. Ritchi* 

 The dissipation of energy in torsionally oscillating wirfs, 

 with the effects produced on the law of torsional oscilla- 

 tions by change of temperature. Peddie's empirical 

 formula y(x-\-a) = b was applied to the case of wires of 

 brass and other materials, and found to represent the results 

 accurately over a large range of oscillation. The effects of 

 heating were studied fully for brass, aluminium, and 

 copper. In certain cases a sudden change in the valu*> of 

 the constant n was experienced, this change 

 that a different molecular arrangement was p 

 certain definite temperatures. The hardenir:^ <" 



