January 27, 1898] 



NATURE 



309 



trimethylene, by G. Gustavson. — Short report of a journey to 

 Novaya Zemlya in 1896, for the observation of the eclipse of 

 the sun, by Prince B. Galitzine. The eclipse observations, as is 

 known, were made under lairly favourable conditions, through a 

 light veil of cirrus clouds. After the eclipse, the expedition 

 made an excursion inland in the high mountain region which 

 covers the island in the north east of Karmakuly. The excur- 

 sion lasted only nine days. A glacier, two miles long, was dis- 

 covered at the head of Karmakulka River ; very large neves are 

 a characteristic feature of this part of the highlands. 



No. 4. — Study of the anatomy of Acanlhobdella pekdina, by 

 A. Kowalevsky (in French), with six engravings. — Report of 

 O. Backlund on his journey to Paris and Odessa, for the unification 

 of the constants accepted in astronomical ephemerides. — On the 

 testing of glycerine and the analysis of wax, by F. Beilstein and 

 R. Rinne (in German). — Note on a dry fog observed in Samara. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Entomological Society, January 19.— Annual Meeting. 

 — Mr. R. Trimen, F".R.S. , President, in the chair. — The 

 balance-sheet for the past year, showing a balance in the 

 Society's favour and an improvement in the financial position, 

 was read by Mr. A. H. Jones, one of the auditors. The Secre- 

 tary then read the Report of the Council, from which it was 

 seen that during 1897 the Society had lost 7 Fellows by death 

 and 5 by resignation, and had elected 24, the total number now 

 on the list being 398. The Transactions for the year contained 

 19 memoirs, illustrated by II plates, and extending to 434 pages. 

 As a mark of respect to the late Mr. J. W. Dunning, the Coun- 

 cil had decided 10 present his portrait as a trontispiece to the 

 volume of Transactions for 1897. It was announced that the 

 following Fellows had been elected as Officers and Council for 

 1898: — President: Mr. R. Trimen, F.R.S. Treasurer: Mr. 

 R. McLachlan, F.R.S. Secretaries: Mr. W. F. H. Bland- 

 ford and Mr. F. Merrifield. Librarian : Mr. G. C. Champion. 

 Other Members of Council : Mr. W. Bateson, F.R.S., Dr. T. 

 A. Chapman, Sir G. F. Hampson, Bart., Mr. M. Jacoby, Mr. 

 A. H. Jones, Dr. P. B. Mason, Mr. O. Salvin, F.R.S., Mr. J. 

 W. Tutt,. Mr. G. H. Verrall, and Mr. C. O. Waterhouse. The 

 President nominated as Vice-Presidents Sir George Hampson, 

 Mr. McLachlan, and Mr. Verrall, and his address was then 

 read on his behalf by the Secretary. After briefly reviewing 

 the position of the Society, and referring to the losses sustained 

 by deaths during the past year, especially those of Dr. Fritz 

 Miiller, Mr. J. W. Dunning, and Captain E. V. Watson, the 

 President proceeded to review the subject of mimicry. (An 

 abstract of his address is printed in another part of this issue of 

 Nature.) On the motion of Lord Walsingham, seconded by 

 Mr. F. D. Godman, a vote of thanks to the President for his 

 able and exhaustive summary of the subject, and for his services 

 during the past year, was carried by acclamation. 



Geological Society, January 5.— Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — On the structure of the Davos Valley, 

 by A. Vaughan Jennings. Evidence was brought forward to 

 show that the level area, about four miles in length, near Davos, 

 is occupied by superficial deposits, and that the lateral talus-fans 

 there have been cut through at a relatively recent date since 

 their accumulation ; that the northern end towards Wolfgang 

 is blocked by moraine-material of great thickness, but for which 

 the Davoser See would drain north to the Landquart, carrying 

 with it the waters of the Fluela and Dischma ; that the contour- 

 lines suggest the former existence of a far larger lake stretching 

 south towards Frauenkirch, and that in that part there is proof 

 of the previous existence of a great detrital fan sufficient to 

 account for the existence of the lake in question. — Sections along 

 the Lancashire, Derbyshire, and East Coast Railway between 

 Lincoln and Chesterfield, by C. Fox-Strangways. The portion 

 of the line considered in this paper occupies a distance of about 

 forty miles, and runs nearly at right angles to the strike of all 

 the beds from the Lias to the Coal Measures. 



Royal Meteorological Society, January 19. — Mr. E. 

 Mawley, President, in the chair. — The Secretary read the report 

 of the Council for the year 1897, showing that there had been an 

 increase in the number of Fellows and that the finances were 

 satisfactory. — The President, Mr, Edward Mawley, then gave 

 an address on weather influences on farm and garden crops, in 



NO. 1474, VOL. 57] 



which he pointed out the intimate connection between 

 meteorology, agriculture and horticulture. He explained the 

 special characteristics of the climate of the British Isles as regards 

 temperature, rainfall, &.c. Of all the influences brought to bear 

 on vegetable life by the atniosphere, he considered temperature 

 to be the most powerful and Jar reaching, and only second to 

 this came rainfall. The leading effects of snow, wind and sun- 

 shine, as well as of prolonged droughts, severe frosts and per- 

 sistent rains, were also described. He then dealt with the 

 influence of different important weather changes on such farm 

 crops as wheat, roots, grass, &c., as well as on fruit trees, vege- 

 tables, and flowering plants in the garden. In his concluding 

 remarks he called attention to the great want of experimental 

 farmsin conjunction with meteorological stations being established 

 in this and other countries in Europe. For it was only by the 

 examination of meteorological observations, together with weekly 

 records of the extent and character of the growth made by our 

 leading crops, that the close connection existing between weather 

 changes and their influences on such crops could be clearly 

 traced. — Mr. F. C. Bayard was elected President for the year. 



Zoological Society, January 18. — Dr. Albert (iiinther, 

 F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair. — The Secretary exhibited, 

 on behalf of Prof. Robert Collett, a specimen of a supposed 

 hybrid between the Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) and the Redwing 

 ( T iliacus). — Mr. W. E. de Winton exhibited and made remarks 

 on a skin of a zebra from British East Africa, belonging to a 

 form described by Herr P. Matschie as Equus biirchelli bbhviiy 

 obtained by Captain S. L. Hinde at Machakos. — Mr. L. W. 

 Byrne read a paper on the general anatomy of the fishes of the 

 order Holocephali. The paper contained a brief account of the 

 anatomy of the soft parts of Chivucra inonstrosa and Callo- 

 rhynchiis antarctictis, and a comparison of them with a typical 

 Elasmobranch such as Scyllium. — Dr. W. G. Ridewood read a 

 paper on the development of the hyobranchial skeleton of 

 Alytes, in which he showed that of the two axial cartilages 

 present in the larval hyobranchial skeleton of this Batrachian, 

 the anterior one disappears completely, while the posterior, 

 which is remarkable in extending back to the laryngeal sinus, 

 persists as the central part of the body of thehyoid. — Mr. F. O-^ 

 Pickard-Cambridge read a paper on the Cteniform Spiders of 

 Africa, Arabia, and Syria, which contained a list of the species 

 already described from these countries, with notes on their 

 identities, and descriptions of nine new species. — Mr. L. A. 

 Borradaile gave an account of the Crustaceans of the order 

 Stomatopoda represented in the collections made by Messrs. 

 J. S. Gardiner and Dr. A. Willey in several of the South Pacific 

 Islands. Ten species were enumerated, of which three, viz. 

 Gonodactylus espinosus, Pseudosquilla oxyrkyncha, and St/iiii/a 

 muititubercutata, were described as new. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, January 17.— Rev. Prof. Flint in the chair, 

 — Dr. Hugh Marshall read a note on the axes of symmetry 

 which are crystallographically possible. In this paper the 

 author gave a proof simpler than that of Gadolin (" Memoire 

 sur la deduction d'un seul principe de tous les systemes crystal- 

 lographique.^ avec leurs subdivisions "), namely, that if the law 

 of rational indices be assumed, only digonal, trigonal, and 

 hexagonal axes are possible with crystals. The proof rests on- 

 the assumptions, that an axis of symmetry is necessarily a 

 possible edge or zone axis, and that there are possible edges 

 perpendicular to any axis of symmetry, t.e. that the plane to 

 which it is normal is a possible face. These assumptions are 

 formally proved, and then the proposition that an axis of sym- 

 metry of the «th order is crystallographically possible only when- 

 cos 2ir/« is rational, is proved generally. The value of n is 

 limited by the laws of rational indices to those cases where 

 cos 2Tr/« is rational. Further, from the nature of an axis of 

 symmetry, n must be a whole number. It is shown by N, 

 Boudaief, in the appendix to Gadolin's paper, that the only 

 values of n which satisfy these two conditions are 2, 3, 4, and 

 6. Consequently only digonal, trigonal, and hexagonal axes 

 of symmetry are possible with crystals. — Prof. Geikie com- 

 municated a paper, by Mr. John S. Flett, on the Old Red 

 Sandstone of the Orkneys. — Dr. R. H. Traquair, F.R.S., had 

 a paper on the fossil fishes of the Orcadian series of the Old 

 Red Sandstone of Scotland. As many as fifty-eight species of 

 fossil fishes had been, up to 1888, named and described from 

 the Orcadian rocks of the Moray Firth area, of Caithness, and 



