July 27, 1876] 



NAtURIi 



2B3 



Psyliidae taken by himself near Lee, Kent, amongst which was 

 Aphalara renosa, Forst., new to the British fauna, now first 

 identified as living on Achillea millefoliutn. — The President 

 showed some microscopic slides containing specimens of Diptera, 

 &c., prepared with extraordinary care by Mr. Enock. He also 

 brought for exhibition twigs of horse-chestnut from Oxford, that 

 had been attacked by some kind of larva, which bad eaten away 

 the inside of portions of the stem, causing the buds to drop off. 

 He was in doubt whether the insect was Zeuze^a A^sculi, or 

 some other, but he would be glad to know if the destruction to 

 the trees had been noticed elsewhere. He also exhibited two 

 species of Coccus, one of them on Camellia leaves in his green- 

 house which he had previously described in the Gardener's 

 Chronicle under the name of C. Camellia, and which had after- 

 wards been observed by Dr. Verloren in his greenhouse in 

 Holland. The female, which is i line in length, discharges a 

 white waxy matter having the appearance of the excrement of 

 a young bird. The other species had been sent to him by the 

 Rev. T. A. Preston, of Marlborough, on a species of Euphorbia 

 obtained from Dr. Hooker, of Kew. The leaves were covered 

 with small scales, to which on close examination he observed 

 two small filaments attached ; and these proved to be the 

 caudal extremities of the males. These insects emerge from the 

 pupa backwards, and in consequence they make their appearance 

 with the wings drawn forwards over the head. — Mr. Stevens 

 exhibited varieties of some British Geometras and what appeared 

 to be a small variety of Lyccena adonis, taken near Croydon. — 

 Mr. Baly communicated descriptions of a new genus and of new 

 species of Halticinse ; and Mr. Peter Cameron communicated 

 descriptions of new genera and species of Tenthredinidse and 

 Siricidie, chiefly from the East Indies, in the collection of the 

 British Museum. — Part II. of the Transactions for 1876 was on 

 the table. 



Berlin 



German Chemical Society, June 26. — H. Vohl proved 

 that inosite by fermentation yields ordinary, and not para- 

 lactic acid. — \V. Moslinger has obtained several octyl-compounds 

 from octylic alcohol (derived from the seed of Heracleum spon- 

 dylium), viz., octylene, iodide of octyl, octylic and octyl-ethylic 

 ether, oclyl-sulphate of barium and mono-octyl phosphine. — H. 

 Brunner and R. Brandenburg have found succinic acid in sour 

 grapes. — E. Klimenko, by treating lactic acid with bromal, 

 has obtained lactid-bromal Q,^\{^x^O^ identical with the pro- 

 duct obtained by acting with bri.mine on Inctic acid. — H, 

 Wiligerot has replaced chlorine in dinicro-chlorobenzol by 

 NH2, by SH and by the residues of aniline and of benzidine. — 

 L. Barth and H. Sennhofer, by treating CgHjCN benzonitril with 

 a mixture of oil of vitriol and phosphoric anhydride and after- 

 wards with water, have transformed it into crystals of diben- 

 zamlde (C7H50).2NH, the hydrogen of which can be replaced 

 by different metals. — The same chemists have obtained the third 

 isomeric or meta-phenol-sulphurous acid by fusing benzol-disul- 

 phurous acid with potash, and interrupting the fusion before both 

 groups SO3H have been replaced by OK. The result is a 

 potash salt soluble in alcohol — CgHjOK.SOgK. — A. Fleischer, 

 in treating diphenyl sulphurea with fumingnitric acid, has obtained 

 tetranitroazoxy benzol — Ci2Hg)N02)4N20. — The same chemist 

 described springs containing free sulphuric acid which occur in 

 caverns of the Budos Mountain in Hungary. 



July 10. — A. W. Hofmann, president, in the chair. — F. 

 KrafTt has transformed iodide of hexyl CgHjsI into perchloro- 

 benzole CgClg by treating it with chloride of iodine. The same 

 chemist, conjointly with F. Becker, described the formation of 

 two isomeric dichloro-napthalenes, which, according to these 

 experiments, is always preceded by the formation of an addi- 

 tion'product C10H5CI4. — V. Merz has transformed a number of 

 aromatic substances into CgClg by treatment with ICI3. — Th. 

 Zbller communicated further researches on the preserving proper- 

 ties of bisulphuret of carbon, and its application for preserving 

 meat, fruit, and vegetables. — E. de Souza described amalgams 

 of the formulae NagHg, KjHg, Au^Hg, AugHg, Ag^Hg, 

 AgiiHg, Ag4Hg, CuigHg, Cuj^Hg, PbgHg.— H. Welde has 

 established the following reaction : — 



3(csOg.H 



Xanthogenate of 



') 



^^OCaHs _ / g /CSOC2H5 \ . 

 + 2CU(^j - 2 ^ ^XCSOCjH J 



potassium. 



Chlorocarbonic 

 ether. 



Dibulphodicarbothionate of 

 ethyl. 



C0q^«^5-H2KC1. 

 etbylcarbonate of potassium. 



Disulphodicarbonate of ethyl forms splendid yellow needles. — C. 

 Bottinger has transformed pyroracemic acid C3H4O3 into 

 CjHgSOa thiolaciic acid. Dissolved in alcohol and treated 

 with zinc pyroracemic acid CH3.CO . CO2H, yields dlmethyl- 



CH3~C(0H)— COOH 

 tartaric acid | forming well crystallised 



CH3— C(OH)— COOH 

 salts with baryta and potassa. — W. Kelbe has treated chloride 

 of phosphorus with mercury-dinaphthyl, obtaining CioH^PClj, 

 which with chlorine yields CjoH^PCl^. The latter with water 

 yields naphthylphosphinic acid CioH7PO(OH)g.— H. Kdhler and 

 A. Michaelis have dissolved sulphur in phosphenylic chloride, 

 obtaining phosphenylic sulphochloride CgHgPSCla, an oily 

 liquid yielding diatomic ethers with alcohol and phenol. — 

 C. Liebermann showed specimens of Mr. Rosenstiehl's nitro- 

 alizarine and of cotton dyed with this new colouring- 

 matter ; its alumina lake is of a deep orange tint. — A. 

 Oppenheim and H. Precht described the following deriva- 

 tives of dehydracetic acid : a soluble silver-salt, C8H7Ag04, its 

 methylic and ethylic ethers fusing at 90°*8 and 91° '6 respec- 

 tively; its amide, CgH^OsNHg, fusing at 208° '5 ; its anilide, 

 CgHyOsNHCgHg, fusing at 115°; monobromodehydracetic and 

 monochlorodehydracetic acids fusing at 134° and 93° respectively. 

 With PCI5 dehydracetic acid forms the chloride, CgHgOjCl^, 

 which, heated with water to 180°, regenerates dehydracetic acid. 

 Hydrogen in statu nascendi does not simply unite, but replaces 

 the oxygen of the acid, forming a compound which will form the 

 subject of further investigations. — The same chemists have found 

 that aceto-acetic ether and aniline form alcohol, acetone and 

 diphenyl-urea — 



CH3— CO— CHjj— CO2C2H5 -H NH^CgHs = C0(NHCgH,)2 + 

 CaHgO + CsHgO. 



— O. Emmerling and A. Oppenheim subjected the same ether to 

 oxidation with permanganate of potassium, which divides its 

 molecule into oxalic and acetic ethers. The same chemists have 

 prepared aceto-acetate of isobutyl, CH3.CO.CH.COOC4HJ,, 

 boiling at 203°. As this substance by distillation yields dehy- 

 dracetic acid, while with sodium and chloroform it yields 

 oxyuvitic acid, it is fully proved that neither ethyl nor any other 

 alcoholic radical enters into the formation of these acids, which 

 are equally well produced by all aceto-acetic ethers. — Oxyuvitic 

 acid, CgH2(OH)(CH3)(C02H)2, has been submitted by the same 

 chemists to the action of nitric acid, which, when diluted, yields 

 hydro-oxybenzoic acid, C^HgOj ; when concentrated, and par- 

 ticularly when mixed with sulphuric acid, it yields trinitrocresol, 

 CgH(OH){CH3)(NO.^)3, fusing at 106°. With sulphuretted 

 hydrogen, its alcoholic solution yields dinitro-amido-cresol, 

 CgH(OH)(CH3)(N02)2NHo, brilliant dark yeUow needles, 

 fusing at 1 56°. With nitrous acid this substance is transformed 

 into dinitro-diazo-dinitro-amido-cresol — 



CgH{OH)(CH3)(NO)2 - N = N -NH.CgH(OH)(CH3){NOj2, 

 yellow scales, which at 160° decompose with explosive violence. 

 — H. Wichelhaus has studied the action of naphthylamine on 

 nitro-naphthaline, which may be expressed by the equation — 

 CioH^NO^+zCioH^NHo-lCjoHgjgNo -h NH3 -(- H^O. The 

 resulting diamine corresponds to violaniline. The same chemis-t 

 has tried in vain to repeat the synthesis of indigo published by 

 Emmerling and Engler, 120 experiments in test tubes yielding sub- 

 limates consisting of zinc and cadmium only. — W. Hill has pre- 

 pared methylated allantoin, and transformed methylated uric 

 acid into methylated parabanic acid. — T. Miurdoch, by heating 

 alloxantin, has transformed it into hydurylic acid. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, July 10. — Vice-Admiral Paris in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — Theorems relating to 

 couples of rectilinear segments having a constant ratio, by M. 

 Chasles. — Philosophy and teaching of mathematics ; on the re- 

 duction of demonstrations to their most simple and direct form, 

 by M. de Saint- Venant. — On a communication of M. Sacc, 

 entitled " Panification in the United States, and the Properties 

 of Hops as Ferment," by M. Pasteur. He asserts (contrary to 

 M. Sacc), that hop has no influence in raising the dough, and it 

 does not contain a soluble alcoholic ferment. The dough rises 

 because of the development of microscopic organisms ; hop may 

 favour or hinder the production of some of these. It gives 

 bread a slight bitterness, which is often liked. — On the carpeilary 

 theory according to the Amaryllidese (fourth part, Narcissus), by 



