420 



NA TURE 



[Sept. 7, 1876 



various fertilisers offered for sale, and the withdrawal from the 

 market of several worthless articles. 



M. DuRUOK the aeronaut made an ascent at Cherbourg on 

 the occasion of a recent launch. He ascended to 12,000 feet, 

 and came down in the bay at twenty miles from Cherbourg. A 

 number of steamers had been sent out to help if needed, and 

 M. Duruof was taken on board one of them unhurt. The 

 manseuvre was most cleverly executed with the help of an appa- 

 ratus which M. Duruof had immersed in the sea to diminish the 

 velocity of the balloon, and permit the boat to board the car. 



A CORRESPONDENT, writing from Waterloo, near Liverpool, 

 asks if there are any works published on the iEolian Drift or 

 Wind Driftage, its cause and cure. 



The Institution of Civil Engineers has published its list of 

 subjects for papers and prizes for session 1876-77. A copy may 

 be obtained by applying at 25, Great George Street, West- 

 minster, S.W. 



The third number of the Bothkamper Beobachtungen, recently 

 published, contains exclusively M. Lohse's researches in the 

 years 1872 and 1873. The volume is in three parts: — I. Re- 

 searches on the physical nature of the sun's surface. 2. Photo- 

 graphic registration of the sun-spots. 3. Meteorological obser- 

 vations in the year 1873. The promised fourth volume will 

 contain M. Vogel's researches during the same period. 



We have received the second part of the second volume of the 

 "Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Glasgow," 

 which contains numerous papers by Prof. John Young, Messrs. 

 Harvie Brown, James Lumsden, Robert Gray, D. Robertson, P. 

 Cameron, jun., and others. The most important of the com- 

 munications are ornithological and entomological ; some are 

 peculiarly briefly noticed. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Entomological Society, Aug. 2. — Sir Sidney Smith Saun- 

 ders, vice-presdent, in the chair. — Messrs. Harold Swale and 

 T. S. Hillman were elected ordinary members. — Mr. Stevens 

 exhibited Tillns tini/asciaius and Xylotrogus brunmus taken on 

 an oak-ience at Upper Norwood ; and Mr. Champion exhibited 

 Harpubis /^-punctatus, Dendrophagus crenatus, and other rare 

 Coleoptera from Aviemore, Inverness-shire. — Mr. Forbes exhi- 

 bited a specimen of Quedius dilataius taken by him with sugar in 

 the New Forest. — From a despatch from H. M. Charge d' Af- 

 faires at Madrid, a copy of which was forwarded to the secre- 

 tary through the Foreign Office, it appeared that the damage 

 done this year by the locusts was considerably less than that of 

 last year, owing to the number of soldiers which the Government 

 had been able to employ since the war was over, in assisting the 

 inhabitants of the districts where the plague existed, in destroy- 

 ing the insects. Specimens of the locust, as well as a number 

 of earthen tubes containing the eggs, were forwarded to the 

 society, and on examiaation they were found to be the Locusta 

 albifrons. Fab. {Decticus albifrons, Savigny). — Mr. M'Lachlan 

 exhibited a series of thirteen examples of a dragon-fly (Diplax 

 meridionalis, Selys), recently taken by him in the Alpes Dau- 

 phines, remarkable for the extent to which they were infested 

 by the red parasite described by De Geer as Acarus libel- 

 lulce. They were firmly fixed on the nervures at the base of the 

 wing, almost invariably on the underside, and being arranged 

 nearly symmetrically, had a very pretty appearance, the wings 

 looking as if they were spotted with blood-red. He considered 

 that the Acari must have attained their position by climbing up 

 the legs of the dragon-fly whtn at rest — Mr. F. Smith read a 

 note on Nematus gallicola, Steph., the Gall-maker, so common 

 on the leaves of species of Salix, but of which the male had, 

 apparently, not previously been observed. From 500 or 600 

 galls collected by him in 1875, he had obtained a multitude 

 of females, but only two males ; and he thought that by per- 

 severance in this way it would be possible to obtain the males of 

 this and other allied species, of which the males were practically 

 unknown, the female being capable of continuing the species 



without immediate male influence ; and he argued from this that 

 the long-sought males of Cynips might some day be found by 

 collecting the galls early in the year. He expressed his belief 

 that Mr. Walsh had proved, beyond question, the breeding of a 

 male Cynips in America, although the precise generic rank of 

 the supposed Cynips was disputed by some of the members 

 present. — The president (Prof. Westwood), who was unable to 

 be at the meeting, forwarded some notes of the habits of a Lepi- 

 dopterous insect, parasitic on Fulqora candelaria, by J. C. Bow- 

 ring, with a description of the species and drawings of the insect in 

 its different stages, by himself. It appeared that the Coccus-like 

 larvae were found attached to the dorsal surface of the Fulgora, 

 feeding upon the waxy secretion of the latter, and covering 

 itself with a cottony substance. From its general appearance 

 the Professor was disposed to place the insect among the Arc- 

 tiidce. It was discovered many years ago by Mr. Bowring, and 

 he (Mr, Westwood) had noticed it at the meeting of the British 

 Association at Oxford, in i860, under the name of Epipytots 

 anomala. — The Rev. R. P. Murray forwarded a paper by Mr. 

 W. H. Miskin, of Brisbane, containing descriptions of new 

 species of Australian Diurnal Lepidoptera in his own collection. 

 — .Mr, Edward Saunders communicated the third and concluding 

 portion of his synopsis of British Hemiptera-Heteroptera. 



Vienna 



Imperial Academy of Sciences, June 16. — The following, 

 among other papers, were read : — On an earthquake in Canea, 

 Crete, on April 25, by M. Micksche. The waves of impulse 

 came from the north. The sea was quiet, and there was no 

 sound. The last earthquake was in January last year, and was 

 more violent. — Communications from the laboratory of Prague 

 University, by M. Linnemann. These relate to reactions with 

 propylene. — On a gas battery of convenient form, by M. Mach. 

 It consists of sixteen jars connected in pairs, by their like coat- 

 ings. By a simple commutator the pairs can be connected 

 together to an ordinary jar battery, or successively to a Franklin 

 jar battery, and this combination can be quickly changed. 

 Long and powerful sparks are had (16 ctm. e.g.). — Body- 

 measurements of various peoples, made during the Austro- 

 Hungarian expedition to Eastern Asia, by Dr. Janka, and ex- 

 tended, by personal observations, by Dr. Weisbach. Dr. 

 Weisbach distinguishes— I. Short heads ; II. Medium heads; III. 

 Long heads. Each of these divisions fall into a, prognathous, 

 and b, orthognathous, and each of these sub-divisions into i, 

 Long-armed ; 2, Equal-limbed ; 3, Short-armed. In this 

 system the short-headed prognathous human races, whose arms 

 are longer than the legs, stand lowest, i.e. , nearest to the apes ; 

 and the long-headed orthognathous and short-armed, stand 

 highest. — A contribution to knowledge of Mediterranean fauna, 

 by M. Homes. — On a constant winding in the human brain, 

 observed by M. Heschl. — On the development-history of the 

 ganglia, and the Lobus electricus, by M. Schenk. 



June 22. — On an earthquake in Canea, Crete, on May 23, by 

 M. Micksche. The disturbance may have come from Cyprus or 

 Syria, or may be an awakening of the old volcanic action of 

 Crete itself. — On the occurrence of the foraminiferal species, 

 Nubecularia, in the Sarmatian sand of Kischenew, in Bessarabia, 

 by MM. Karrer and Sinzow. 



CONTENTS Pagb 



" Scientific Worthies," IX. — Sir William Thomson (IVith 

 Steel Engraving) 385 



MttTKOROI.OGICAL RESEARCH. By Prof. BaLFOUR StKWART, F.R.S, 388 



The " ENCYCLOPiEDiA Brittanica " 390 



Litters to the Editor : — 



Visual Phenomena. — Hubert Airy 392 



Species and Varieties. — W. L. Distant ^92 



Antedated Books. — Prof. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S. ; R. Bowdler 



Sharpe • 392 



The Origin of Variations — G S. Boulger 393 



The British Association : — 



Inaugural Address of Thomas Andrews, M.D., LL D., F.R.S., 



Hon. F.R.S E, M.R. I. A., &c.. President 393 



Section C. — Geology. — Opening Address by Prof. J. Young, M.D., 



F G.S., President of the section 399 



Section D. — Biology — Opening Address by the President, Alfred 



Russel Wallace 403 



Section E. — Geography. — Opening Address by F. J. Evans, C.B., 



F.H.S., Captain R.N., President 412 



Our Astronomical 1 '.olumn : — 



Tne Cordoba " Uranometria " 417 



An Intra- Mercurial Planet (?) 418 



New Minor Planet 418 



Notes 418 



Societies anp Academies ... t • i •••••.•.. « 4^0 



