38 



NATURE 



\May II, 1876 



The paper contains the results of an exact series of measure- 

 ments of the absorption-spectra of the vapours of the element 

 bromine and of the compound iodine monochloride, made with 

 the object of ascertaining whether the molecules of these two 

 gases vibrate identically or similarly, their molecular weights and 

 colour of the vapours being almost identical, 



A careful comparison of these Tables and of the map shows 

 that, although both spectra contain a large number of lines which 

 are nearly coincident, the spectra as a whole are not identical, 

 either when the vapours are examined at high or low tempe- 

 ratures, or when the length of the columns of absorbing gas are 

 varied. » 



Linnean Society, April 20. — G.Bentham,F,R.S., •Wcfe-presi- 

 dentjin the chair. — Mr. Hudson, Dr. Prior, Mr. Stainton, and Mr. 

 C. Stewart Were appointed auditors for the current year. — Dr. 

 Hooker, P.R.S., exhibited some specimens illustrating a com- 

 munication from Dr. J. Kirk, which was read. This latter 

 referred to the identification of the modem copal tree, Trachy- 

 lobium Hornemannianum, with that which yielded the Zanzibar 

 Copal or Gum Animi, now found in the earth on the east coast 

 of Africa, and often where no copal yielding tree now exists. 

 Little doubt now rests as to the identity of the semi-fossil with 

 the living tree, inasmuch as bijugate leaf, flower-bud, flower, 

 ovary and stamens, characteristic of the latter have been dis- 

 covered in the so-called Animi. Dr. Kirk is inclined to account 

 for their difference in quality by a molecular or chemical change 

 in the buried material ; improving it thereby, and as a conse- 

 quence increasing its market value. —Mr. W. P. Hiern read a 

 paper " On the African species of the genus Coffea, Linn." As 

 at present understood this genus belongs to the Old World, and 

 the numerous American species that have previously been re- 

 ferred to it, now find places in other genera. All the species 

 most valuable for economic or commercial purposes are confined 

 to Africa or are of African origin. Of the seven Indian species, 

 one formerly was cultivated, but from its inferiority has since 

 been discarded in favour of the African plants. The so-called 

 wild coffee of Sierra Leone and Fernando Po, and other berries, 

 are occasionally used by the inhabitants of those places as coffee ; 

 but they do not belong to the genus in question. The author 

 distinguishes and technically characterises some fifteen species of 

 coffee plant as indigenous to Africa and its adjacent islands. 

 They are : — I. C. arabica, 2. C. liberica, 3. C. stenophylla, 4. 

 C. zanguebaricr, 5. C. brevipes, 6. C. melanocarpa, 7. C, mauri- 

 tiana, 8. C. Macrocarpa, 9. C. hypoglauca, 10. C. microcarpa, 

 II. C. afzelii, 12. C. subcordata, 13. C. rupestris, 14. C. jasmin- 

 oides, 15. C. racemosa. He rejects some six supposed species of 

 African Coffees, showing these belong to other groups. Of the 

 15 species, 13 inhabit the African Continent, and 2 pertain to 

 Mauritius and Bourbon ; so far as yet explored, West Africa 

 furnishes 1 1 species, and but two are found in East and Central 

 Africa. Mr. Hiern describes numbers 2, 5, 11, 12, and 13, viz., 

 five in all as new species, and three others are MS. names of 

 specimens in the herbarium of the late distinguished botanist, 

 Mr. Welwitsch. He alludes to a pale-berried variety of the 

 C, arabica found by Vogel in Sierra Leone. By far the most 

 interesting new plant commercially and otherwise is the Liberian 

 Coffee introduced into this country in 1874, by Mr. W. Bull, the 

 horticulturist. This is said to be far superior to the ordinary 

 coffee of commerce, C. arabica having larger berries, a finer 

 flavour, and being at the same time more robust and productive. 

 — A paper " On the Classification oi Narcissus," by Mr. Shirley 

 Hibberd, was announced. — Mr. ThLselton Dyer read a note 

 " On the Plant yielding Lattakia Tobacco," and exhibited spe- 

 cimens corroborating the conclusions arrived at by him. These 

 latter are that Lattakia tobacco is produced by a different species 

 I0 the Turkish, and that as imported into this country it consists 

 of the flowering twigs made up into buhdles which have been 

 smoked with pine wood. — Prof. Dickie had a summary read of 

 a further contribution of his to the botany of the Challenger 

 expedition, viz., a List with Remarks of the Polynesian Algse 

 collected by Mr. Mosley. Only a very few species appear to be 

 new to science. — Dr. Hooker communicated a paper of P. F. 

 Reinsch's, on New Freshwater Algse obtained by the Venus 

 Transit Expedition in the Island of Kerguelen. This being 

 technical in character, was taken as read. 



Chemical Society, May 4. — Dr. Gilbert, vice-president, in 

 the chair. — Eight communications were made to the Society, 

 namely : — On glycero-phosphoric acid and its salts as obtained 

 from the phosphorised constituents of the brain, by Dr. J. L. W. 

 Thudicum and Mr. C. T. Kingsett, — On some reactions of 



biliverdin, by Dr. Thudicum. — On the relation between chemi- 

 cal constitution and colouring power in aromatic substances, by 

 Dr. O. Witt. — On certain bismuth compounds, by Mr. M. M. 

 P. Muir. — A new method for preparing the hydrocarbons 

 diphenyl and isodinaphthyl and on the action at a high tem- 

 perature of metallic chlorides on certain hydrocarbons, and a 

 note on the occurrence of benzene in rosin light oils, both by 

 Mr. W. Smyth. — On the action of water and of various salins 

 solutions on copper, by Mr. T. Carnelly, and notes on some expe- 

 riments made to ascertain the value of a proposed method of 

 determining the mineral strength of soils by means of water 

 culture, by Mr. G. W. Hight. 



Zoological Society, May 2. — Robert Hudson, F.R.S.,vic^- 

 president, in the chair. — Mr. G. Dawson Rowley exhibited and 

 made remarks on a specimen of Macha:rirhynchus nigripectus, 

 from New Guinea, believed to be the first example of this rare 

 bird which had reached this country. — Extracts were read from 

 several letters received from Dr. George Bennett, F.Z.S., giving 

 some account of the proceedings of Mr. L. M. D'Albertis, and 

 of his recent expedition up the Fly River in December, 1875. — 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., exhibited and made remarks on an 

 example of the Lesser White-fronted Goose, from Egypt, being 

 the first record of the occurrence of this species in Africa. — Mr. 

 Osbert Salvin, F.R.S., exhibited and made remarks on a piece 

 of a trunk of a pine from Guatemala, which had been perforated 

 by a Woodpecker {Melanerpes formicivorus), for the purpose of 

 storing acorns. — Mr. A. Grote exhibited and made remarks on 

 Col. Gordon's drawing of Ovis polii, which was the original of 

 the figure given in the Society's Proceedings for 1874. — Mr. 

 George Busk, F R.S., read a memoir on the Ancient or Quater- 

 nary Fauna of Gibraltar, as exemplified in the Mammalian 

 remains of the ossiferous breccia, which occurs in the caves and 

 fissures recently explored in different parts of the rock. — Mr. 

 Busk, after a preliminary description of the geological features 

 of the rock and its fossiliferous caverns and fissures, treated 

 specially of the various bones of the bear, cat, horse, rhinoceros, 

 stag, ibex, and other animals, of which the remains occur there, 

 and proceeded to refer them to the species to which they seemed 

 to belong. — Prof. A. H. Garrod read a paper on the anatomy 

 of the Colics {Colius), which he regarded as belonging to the Pici- 

 form group of the division of Anomalogonatous birds according 

 to his arrangement, but constituting an independent family. — 

 A communication was read from Mr. E. L. Layard, containing 

 the description of a new Blackbird [Tiirdus), from Taviuni, one 

 of the Fiji Islands. — The Rev. Canon Tristram read a note on 

 the occurrence of the Roebuck in Palestine. 



Geological Society, April 26. — Prof. P. Martin Duncan, 

 F.R.S., president, in t tie chair. — The Rev. Edwin Hill, M.A., 

 was elected a Fellow, and Prof. Beyrich, of Berlin, a Foreign 

 member of the society. The following communications were 

 read : A translation of the notice by Capt. Miaulis of the Greek 

 royal navy, of the occurrence of a submarine crater within the 

 Harbour of Karavossera, in the Gulf of Arta. Communicated 

 by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. — "The physical 

 history of the Dee, Wale-," by Prof. A. C. Ramsay, F.RS. 

 The author stated that he regarded the valley of the Dee as 

 mainly preglacial throughout, and sketched the physical history 

 of the region through which it runs. The Silurian rocks were 

 much disturbed and denuded before and during the Carboniferous 

 period, and the carboniferous limestone was deposited very un- 

 conformably on the upturned edges of both lower and upper 

 Silurian strata, and once spread all over the region, probably over- 

 laid by the millstone grit and?coal-measures, as now in the east of 

 Denbighshire and Flintshire. The region was again disturbed and 

 elevated during the formation of the Permian deposits, and then by 

 sub-aerial denudation a great part of the carboniferous series was 

 removed down to the old plain of denudation of the Silurian 

 rocks, the surface of which thus probably stood higher than it 

 does at present, being in the midst of a broad continental area. 

 From a consideration of the conditions of deposition of the 

 Mesozoic and Tertiary formations the author concluded that, 

 from the beginning of the Permian to that of the Glacial epoch, 

 the higher ground of Wales was land well raised above the sea, 

 except perhaps during the deposition of the chalk, and that 

 during all this period it was exposed to the influence of sub- 

 aerial agents of denudation. He indicated the conditions of 

 elevation of the old table-land of carboniferous rocks, and 

 showe I that it had probably a slope towards the east and north- 

 east tb the extent of about 23 feet in a mile. The drainage of 

 this land then flowed in an easterly and north-easterly direction 



