572 



NATURE 



[February 22, 19 



(ircat .-itttntion has been j^ivcn to the development of the 

 botanical departments, the work of wtiich is direet.-d 

 largely towards the specific demands of the vegetable indus- 

 tries, whether at home or abroad. Great progress has 

 b»'<'n made and a demand has arisen for a new building 

 to house two new departments, one dealing with the tech- 

 nology of woods and fibres, the other with physiology and 

 pathology, and the governors have authorised its erection 

 and .quipment. Similarly, the School of Zoology has been 

 extended and developed in many new ways, and has become 

 the resort of many advanced students.' Soon, too, it is 

 hoped to call into being a great department of chemical 

 technology. In fact, Sir .Alfred Keogh has to record a 

 gratifying account of strenuous endeavour on the part of 

 the authorities, succeeded bv an immediate and remarkable 

 success. 



Prof. VV. C. Unwin, F.R.S., president of the Institute 

 of Civil Engineers, was the guest of the evening at the 

 fourteenth annual dinner of the Old Students' Association 

 of the Central Technical College, held on Saturdav, Feb- 

 ruary 10. Mr. W. Duddell, F.R.S., occupied the chair, and 

 was supported by a very representative gathering of about 

 180 old Centralians and their friends. The guests included 

 •Sir John Wolfe Barry, K.C.B., F.R.S. ; Sir VVm. White, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S. ; Profs .Armstrong, Dalbv, Klugh. and 

 Mather, from the City and Guilds College; Prof. S. P. 

 Ihompson, of Finsbury Technical College; and Prof. H. 

 .McLeod, a former colleague of Prof. Unwin 's at Coopers 

 Hill. The toast of Prof. Lnwin was proposed by the 

 chairnian, who emphasised his services to the Central 

 lechnical College, to education, and to engineering, and 

 read letters and telegrams of congratulation received from 

 old students in all parts of the world. Mr. H. .\. 

 Humphrey, one of the first and most distinguished of 

 Prof. Lnwin's students, seconded the toast, after which a 

 p-esentation was made to Prof. Unwin. In replying. 

 Prof. Unwin gave some account of his career, and "more 

 particularly of the early days of the Central. He laid 

 stress on the high standard of knowledge at entrv re- 

 quired for their matriculation examination, and the value 

 of the training given by the complete course ; he regretted 

 the interference with this course which the submission to 

 the London University examinations had entailed. Sir 

 John Wolfe Barry, who is to be the next president, pro- 

 posed the association in appropriate terms, emphasising 

 the value of such organisations. In reply. Dr. E. F. 

 -Armstrong referred to the fact that the membership was 

 approximately looo, and stated that thev were there that 

 evening, not only to do homage to their former professors, 

 but also to honour those members of the City and Guilds 

 Institute who by great expenditure in time and money had 

 founded and maintained the college of which they were 

 all so proud. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Zoological Society, Fehmary 6. — Mr. E. G. B. Meade- 

 Waldo, vice-president, in the chair.— .Mrs. Rose Haig 

 Thomas : .A breeding experiment with pheasants. The 

 experiment was undertaken to confirm a previous one, in 

 which it had been observed that a male pheasant had 

 transmitted to his F 2 9 offspring the female plumage of 

 his species. The following cross produced the same 

 result : — 



Phasianuf fermosus ? x Phasiitius vfrskolo* i. 



F I 9 y. p. versicolor f,. 



^ I M II I I 

 F2 99999 tJ i. 



The five hens hatched in F 2 had grown up, and were all 

 versicolor in pattern, colour, dimensions, and moral 

 character. One of these hens had been kept to breed with 

 to test her purity, and the skins of the other four were 

 exhibited, together with the skins of a Ph. formosus O 

 and a P. versicolor 9 for comparison. The results of 



NO. 2208, VOL. 88] 



these two e.xp«.-riment« did not appear to conform 

 lh»-ory that the cock was homozygous for sex cf cJ. 

 <',\p«.Timents had also shown that the male had not irm 

 milled to his female F2 offspring such constant purity 

 male olumage. In the first experiment, Silver xSwinh 

 out of four m.'.les three were " Si. Sw.," one only pi 

 " Sw.," and the only two males that lived in the sees 

 experiment, formosus xversicolor, were both " Fo. V'e.' 

 J. r. Cunningham : .Mendelian experiments on foi. 

 Ihe paper described the characters of ten individuals 

 the F 2 generation reared from a pair "of F 1 's produ< 

 by a cross between Silky 9 x Bankiva r? made by S 

 D. Seth-.Smith. The characters recognised were seven 

 number, namely, colour of plumage, character of pluir 

 (whether silky or normal), comb, pigmentation of skin 

 internal tissues, toes (i.e. presence or absence of ei 

 toe), feathering of legs, crest on head. The Silky of 

 original cross had white " silky " plumage, rose con 

 crest on head, double hallux, feathered legs, and bit 

 pigmented skin. The Bankiva had black-red plumage 

 normal structure, single comb, unfeathered shanks, nc 

 toes, and normal unpigmented skin, no crest, 

 dominant characters in the F i were coloured plumage 

 normal structure, rose comb with crest, pigmented si 

 feathered legs, and double hallux, but several of tt 

 characters showed irregular dominance or interme^ 

 condition. The most important results recorded in 

 paper were imperfect segregation in the F2 generat^-" ' 

 at least two of the characters, namely, the absei 

 pigmentation in the plumage and the absence of pign 

 tion in the skin and tissues. The recessive white <ii iii« 

 plumage occurred in four individuals, in all of which, bui 

 especially in one, some pigment was present. Onh on* 

 specimen apparently recessive with regard to the ah-' no 

 of pigmentation in the skin had been examined post 

 mortem, and in this unmistakable traces of pigmeni:.;ior 

 in the skin and peritoneum were observed. — J. L 

 Bonhote : -A further collection of mammals from Ei 

 received from Captain S. S. Flower. The communict^ 

 dealt with some twenty species, of which the folloi 

 two were described as new : — Meriones crassus pallk 

 from -Atbara, Sudan, similar to M. crassus sellysii, '' 

 which it differs in its larger size, paler coloration, 

 more pointed snout. .Acomys russatus aegyptiacus, 

 the desert near Cairo. \ race of .1. russatus, from \ 

 it differs in its smaller size and much yellower colorali 

 — H. Wallis Kewf : The pairing of pseudoscorpiones. 

 paper was based on observations made by the autho 

 living specimens of Chelifer (Chelifcr) latreillii. Leach, 

 Chelifer (Chernes) cyrneus, L. Koch. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, February 5.— M. Lipjmannj 

 chair. — C. Moureu and -Amand Valeur : The quesfc'^ 

 the symmetry of sparteine. Details of the properties 

 hydriodides and iodomethylates of sparteine. There 

 proof of the two nitrogen atoms in this alkaloid '. 

 symmetrical, and the stereoisomerism of the two spar 

 iodomethylates is proved. — -A. Lacroix : The volcano 

 central -Sladagascar. The massif of Itasy. — E. Valiier 

 The present position of the ballistic problem. — S. Pozsi 

 Some cases of ossification of the ovary. — Henri Parerty 

 -A temperature regulator of precision. The instr. 

 described by E. Esclangon in a recent number ( 

 Comptes rendus was anticipated by MM. Parent} 

 Bricard in iSq6. — -A. Perot : The wave-length of th' 

 line D|. The results of the application of the inter! 

 method to the study of the line D,. .A curve is . 

 showing the increase of the wave-length as a funct; 

 the distances from the centre along a line N.-S. — ' 

 Tikhoff : The photographic registration and reprod 

 of the twinkling of the --tsrs. .A photograph is tak 

 the spectrum of the star by means of a prism objeci 

 uniform movement perpendicular to the length t' 

 spectrum being imparted to the sensitised plate. L 

 case of Sirius, the changes of intensity of different 

 are usually independent of each other, whilst in tin 

 of the planet Venus all the rays change simultaneo^ 

 M. Tzitxdica : The Laplace equations with qua 

 solutions. — Henri Lebesgrue : The problem of Dir 

 — G. Cotty : A class of quadratic forms with four va* 



