142 



NA TURE 



[December 9, 1897 



The comparison serves to connect the standard instruments at 

 Kew Observatory with the standard French instruments at Pare 

 Saint-Maur, the latter, as M. Moureaux has had the goodness to 

 inform the author, being in excellent agreement with his travelling 

 instruments. Pare Saint-Maur may be regarded as the base 

 station for M. Moureaux's great survey of France and Algeria. M. 

 Moureaux's observations occupied the afternoon of July 26, and 

 the forenoons of July 27, 28 and 29. On the afternoons of the 

 last three days, observations were made with the Kew standard 

 instruments by Mr. T. W, Baker, chief assistant at the Ob- 

 servatory. The observations, being made at different hours 

 of the day, had to be connected through the intermediary of the 

 curves from the self-recording magnetic instruments. 



The means of the declination and inclination readings from 

 the Kew instruments exceeded the means from M. Moureaux's 

 instruments by o''5 and 2''0 respectively, but the mean 

 horizontal force reading from the Kew instrument was lower 

 than M. Moureaux's by •00012 C.G.S. unit. In calculating the 

 last-mentioned element, M. Moureaux made use of new values 

 of the constants of the French instruments, to be put into 

 general use after January i, 1898. 



The comparison is utilised to extend a table ("Brit. Assoc. 

 Report for 1896," p. 97) in which Prof. Riicker and Mr. W. 

 Watson embodied the results of their comparison of the 

 standard instruments at various English and Irish observatories, 

 made by means of travelling instruments in 1895. 



The results may be summarised as follows : — 



" On Spencerites, a new Genus of Lycopodiaceous Cones from 

 the Coal-measures, founded on the Lepidodendron Spenceri of 

 Williamson." By D. H. Scott, F.R.S. 



The fossils which form the subject of the present paper are 

 Cryptogamic strobili, showing evident Lycopodiaceous affinities, 

 but differing in important points from other fructifications of that 

 family, so that it appears necessary to establish a new genus for 

 their reception. 



Two species are described, one of which {Spencerites insigitis) 

 is already known to us from the investigations of Williamson, 

 who named it first Lepidostrobus insignts, and afterwards Lepi- 

 dodendron Spenceri, while the other (Spencerites majusculus) is 

 new. 



In one of his latest publications, Williamson pointed out that 

 it might ultimately be necessary to make his Lepidodendron 

 Spenceri the type of a new genus. The separation thus suggested 

 is now carried out, on the basis of a renewed investigation of the 

 structure of this fossil. 



Spencerites insignis is a pedunculate strobilus ; the vegetative 

 organs are not as yet identified. The specimens are calcified, 

 and their structure admirably preserved. 



The anatomy of the axis is of a simple Lycopodiaceous type, 

 but differs in details (such as the course of the leaf-trace bundles) 

 from that of the axis of Lepidostrobus. The peduncle bears 

 sterile bracts, similar to the sporophylls of the cone itself ; the 

 latter are arranged spirally, or in some cases in alternating 

 verticils. 



The individual sporophylls are of peltate form, consisting of a 

 short cylindrical pedicel, expanding into a relatively large 

 lamina. The sporangia are approximately spherical bodies ; 

 unlike those of Lepidostrobus, they are quite free from the 

 pedicel, and are attached by a narrow base to the upper surface 

 of the lamina, where it begins to expand. 



The details of the sporangial wall are quite different from those 

 of Lepidostrobus, and the spores are also characteristic. In size 

 they are intermediate between the microspores and macrospores 

 of Lepidostrobus. They are of tetrahedral form, becoming 

 spheroidal when mature, and each spore has a hollow, annular 

 wing running round its equator. The wing is no doubt formed 



NO. 1467, VOL. 57] 



by a dilation of the cuticle, and not, as Williamson supposed, 

 from the abortive sister-cells. 



Spencerites majusculus, the new species, is much larger than 

 the former, the axis of the cone being twice as thick. The 

 anatomy is similar, but the sporophylls, and consequently the 

 leaf-traces, are more numerous. The sporophylls, which are 

 arranged in alternating verticils, are relatively short, and of 

 peculiar form ; the lamina is very thick, and of great tangential 

 width. The sporangia are like those of the former species, and 

 similarly inserted, but the spores are quite different. They are 

 smaller than those of 6". insignis, and have the form of quad- 

 rants of a sphere, with narrow wings along their three angles. 



The genus is separated from Lepidostrobus, mainly on account 

 of the very different mode of insertion of the sporangia, a 

 character which is accompanied by differences in the form of the 

 sporophylls and sporangia, the structure of the sporangial wall 

 and of the spores, and the whole habit of the strobilus. 



Spencerites, and especially 6*. insignis, bears a considerable 

 resemblance to the Sigillariostrobus Crepini, of Zeiller, but 

 cannot be united with the genus Sigillariostrobus, for the insertion 

 of the sporangia in the latter, as shown in the Sigillariostrobus 

 ciliatus, of Kidston, is totally different. The author is much 

 indebted both to M. Zeiller and Mr. Kidston, for the loan of 

 their specimens for examination. 



Zoological Society, November 30. — Mr. E. T. Newton, 

 F.R.S., in the chair. — Mr. Oldfield Thomas exhibited specimens 

 of a remarkable partially white Antelope of the genus Cervi- 

 capra, which had been obtained by Mr. F. V. Kirby in the 

 mountains of the Lydenburg district of the Transvaal, and read 

 an account of them contributed by Mr. Kirby himself. Mr. 

 Oldfield Thomas also exhibited a skin of a new Skunk of the 

 genus Spilogale from Sinaloa, Mexico, proposed to be termed 

 Spilogale pyginaa. It was interesting as being of barely half the 

 size of any previously known species, and also differed from all 

 its congeners in the median dorsal stripes being uninterrupted 

 posteriorly, and in having while hands and feet. — Mr. Thomas 

 likewise exhibited a Badger from Lower California, proposed 

 to be termed Taxidea taxus infusca, which differed from the 

 described forms of T. taxus in its dark coloration and broad 

 nuchal stripe. — Mr. Sclater exhibited the head of a Caprairom 

 Arabia, which had been recently described as Ccipra me7igesi. 

 Mr. Sclater was inclined to believe that the specimen was refer- 

 able to Capra sinaitica, in which opinion Mr. O. Thomas agreed 

 with him. — Mr. R. E. Holding exhibited a pair of curiously 

 deformed horns of the Fallow Deer, and made remarks on the 

 associations between organic disease and defective horn-growth. 

 — On behalf of Mr. R. Lydekker was exhibited a skin and 

 antlers of a small form of the Mule Deer from Lower California, 

 for which he suggested the name Mazavia heiniomis peninsuia. 

 It differed from M. h. californicus in its small size, black dorsal 

 line, and in the reduction of white on the tail. — Mr. G. A. 

 Boulenger, F.R. S., exhibited some specimens of a South- 

 American Siluroid Fish [Vandellia cirrhosa), and made remarks 

 upon its curious habits. — A communication from Mr. H. H. 

 Brindley, on regeneration of the legs in BlattidcE, was read. It 

 consisted of an account of the statistical and experimental 

 evidence of the reproduction of lost or injured legs in the 

 i9/a/'/?ate, obtained since the publication of Mr. W. Bateson's book, 

 " Materials for the Study of Variation," in 1894, and of some 

 points in the post-embryonic development of the Cockroach 

 [Periplaneta orientalis). — Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F. R.S., read a 

 paper on a gigantic Sea-perch, Stereolepis gigas. This fish was 

 described both externally and internally, and the author pointed 

 out that Megaperca ischinagi, Hilgendorf, was specifically 

 identical with it. Mr. G. A. Boulenger also described a new 

 Tortoise of the African genus Sternothcerus, a specimen of which 

 had lately been received at, and was still living in, the Society's 

 Gardens. It was proposed to name it Sternothcerus oxyrhinus. — 

 A communication from Mr. W. E. Collinge, on the structure 

 and affinities of some further new species of slugs from Borneo, 

 was read. Three new species, namely, Parmarion fultoni, 

 P.flavescens, and Micropartnarion constrictus, were described, 

 and the author intimated that Simroth's genus Microparmarion 

 would, on examination of more material, probably be found to 

 be of only sectional value. 



Edinburgh. 

 Mathematical Society, November 12. — Mr. J. B. Clark, 

 Vice-President, in the chair.— Prof. George A. Gibson contri- 

 buted a paper on the " Treatment of Arithmetical Progres- 



