January 27, 1898] 



NATURE 



3" 



soils, by MM. E. A. Martel.and A. Vire.— Considerations on 

 the oceanic circulation in the Bay of Biscay, by M. I. Thoulet. 

 — Observation of a double meteor, at Vannes, on January 3, 

 1898, by M. Georget. — Remarks by M. Callandreau on the 

 preceding note. 



In the abstract of the Comptes rendus of the meeting of the 

 Paris Academy of October 26, a paper by M. Gaston Seguy on 

 a new method of reducing the time of exposure in radiography 

 was referred to (November 4, 1897, p. 24). Dr. Max Levy 

 writes from Berlin to call attention to the fact that the 

 method described originated with him, and that M. Seguy 

 acknowledged such to be the case in the course of the paper 

 communicated to the Paris Academy. 



New South Wales. 



Linnean Society, November 24, 1897.— Prof. J. T, Wilson, 

 President, in the chair — The President formally announced the 

 death of Prof. T. Jeffery Parker, F.R.S., of Dunedin, a corre- 

 sponding member of the Society, on November 7. • It was 

 resolved that an expression of sympathy from the Society should 

 be tendered to Prof. Parker's family.— The President com- 

 mended to the favourable notice of the members the report of a 

 meeting held at Melbourne, for the purpose of forwarding the 

 movement to establish some permanent memorial of the late 

 Baron von Mueller. It was resolved that it was desirable that 

 steps should be taken to commemorate in some suitable way the 

 late Baron's work, and an influential committee was appointed 

 to carry out the proposal. It is hoped that a sufficient sum of 

 money will be forthcoming to provide for a bust or medallion of 

 the Baron, as well as for the endowment of a medal or prize to 

 be associated with the Baron's name, and to be awarded from 

 time to time in recognition of botanical, pharmaceutical, or 

 horticultural work in "the various Australasian Colonies. Sub- 

 scriptions in aid of this project may be sent to Prof. Baldwin 

 Spencer (The University, Melbourne), one of the hon. 

 secretaries.— Plants of New South Wales, illustrated. Part 

 ix., by R. T. Baker. The species figured and treated of 

 are Acacia gladiifortnis, A. Cunn., A. obtusata, Sieb., A. 

 riibida, A. Cunn., and A. triptera, Benth., var. nov. — On 

 some New South Wales Fungi, by D. McAlpine. Seven 

 species occurring on the leaves or bark of indigenous trees are 

 recorded. Of these four are described as new, and two are 

 recorded from this Colony for the first time.— Observations 

 on the Eucalypts of New South Wales. Part iii., by Henry 

 Deane and J. H. Maiden. In this third contribution the 

 species dealt with are Eucalyptus hcemastotna, E. Sieheriana, 

 E. stricta, E. obltisi/lora, and some allied forms. — On some 

 Australian ^/^^/r/«rr. Part ii., by J. Douglas Ogilby. Five 

 additional species of Australian eleotrins are described. — On 

 two new Australian fishes, by J. Douglas Ogilby. The two 

 species described are Harengiila stereolepis, from Torres' 

 Straits, and Decapterus leptosomus, a mackerel-scad which 

 annually visits Port Jackson but has hitherto escaped notice.— 

 A contribution to the zoology of New Caledonia, by J. 

 Douglas Ogilby. After alluding to the meagreness of our 

 knowledge of the biology of the island, the author gives 

 a list of the fresh-water fishes referable to six species 

 brought back by Mr. Hedley, with observations thereon.— 



On Australian Termitidce. Part iii., by W. W. Froggatt. 



Eleven species of Termes, of which ten are new, and seven 

 species of Eutermes, of which five are new, are described. In 

 most cases some account of the nests is also given. — On new 

 Marine Mollusca from the Solomon Islands and Australia, by 

 John Brazier. The Volute described at last meeting from an 

 imperfect specimen is redescribed from a perfect example which 

 subsequently became available. Descriptions also are given of 

 a new cone from Flinders, Victoria, of two from the Solomon 

 Islands, and of a species of Axinaa from the Gippsland Lakes 

 Entrance, Victoria. — Observations on Papuan land and fresh- 

 water shells, with descriptions of new species from New Guinea 

 and Western Australia, by C. F. Ancey. From Western 

 Australia the new species Trachia Froggatti, T. orthocheila and 

 T. monogramma are described and figured from material col- 

 lected by Mr. W. W. Froggatt. New Papuan shells from German 

 New Guinea sire Su/cobasis leptocochlea and Chloritis Mollendarffi, 

 with which is figured Pupina Beddomei, described in an earlier 

 volume of the Society's Proceedings. Critical observations on 

 sundry Australian and Papuan shells conclude the paper. — 

 Mr. R. T. Baker exhibited specimens of camphor and camphor 

 oil obtained from the leaves of Cinnamonium Oliveri, Bail. 



NO. 1474. VOL. 57] 



The yield of camphor is about \ per cent. It resembles in 

 odour and appearance the ordinary camphor of commerce. Its 

 melting point was between 173*5 and I7S> the melting point of 

 ordinary camphor being given as 175° C. Its specific rotation 

 is also alniost identical with that of common camphor. The 

 camphor oil was obtained with the camphor, both floating on 

 the surface of the water, and was separated by pressure. The 

 amount of oil was equal to -364 per cent., but still retained 

 some camphor in solution.— Mr. R. Etheridge, jun., exhibited 

 some drawings of undetermined leaves, presumably of Tertiary 

 age, from Rollo's Shaft, Coolgardie, forwarded by the Govern- 

 ment Geologist of West Australia to Mr. H. Deane. Also 

 specimens of leaves, at present undetermined, from a quarry on 

 the Diamantina River, near Birdsville, a little over the 

 Queensland and S. Australian border, in the former Colony, 

 lat. 25° 55' S., and long. 138° 25' lE. approximately. Mr. R. 

 L. Jack states that Birdsville is "a Lower Cretaceous 

 locality, but it is quite possible that there are desert 

 sandstone tablelands in the neighbourhood, and the plants 

 rnay com.e from one of these." — Mr. Edgar R. Waite ex- 

 hibited (i) examples of Typhlops aluensis, Blgr. , from 

 Wai Obi, Vuna Pi, Fiji, where they are known to the 

 natives as "Naota." This species was previously known 

 only from the Solomon Islands, and the new record sup- 

 plies further evidence of the similarity of the faunas of the 

 two Archipelagoes. (2) A New Zealand fish {Neptotichthys 

 7'iolaceus, Hutton) recently caught in Port Jackson, and the 

 first recorded occurrence in Australian waters. (3) Two photo- 

 graphs taken at Layson Island (Hawaiian Islands) ; one exhibits 

 an immense concourse of albatrosses (identified by Mr. A. J. 

 North as Dtovtedea immutabilis, Rothschild) incubating their 

 eggs, and the other the method of collecting and transporting 

 the eggs. This photograph shows, in addition to wheelbarrows 

 and boxes, two railway trains, the wagons of which are literally 

 piled up with eggs. (4) A block of limestone from the Jenolan 

 Caves polished by Rock Wallabies (Petrogale penicillatd. Gray). 

 — Mr. Fred. Turner sent for exhibition a series of specimens of 

 the grass Danthonia pilosa, R. Br. , from near Finley, Riverina, 

 with the infloresence affected with a parasitic fungus. Fifteen 

 other species of Australian grasses were known to him as subject to 

 similar attacks. The subject of the effects produced upon stock by 

 feeding on diseased grasses was one well worth investigation. — 

 Mr. Palmer showed a specimen illustrating what he thought 

 might be considered an undoubted case of root-grafting. Also 

 a clump of the galls of Brachyscelis duplex, Schrader, from the 

 Blue Mountains ; and a quartz crystal or sacred stone presented 

 to his father by an aboriginal of the Port Stephens tribe, fifty 

 years ago. — Mr. North exhibited the sexes of the rare White- 

 vented Wood Swallow, Artavius albiventris, which he had 

 shot on Tyreel Station on the Gwydir River ; also the 

 nest and eggs of these birds found at the same time in the 

 top of a hollow stump by Mr. E. Stirton, of Moree. Also some 

 siliceous stones, land-shells, berries, pieces of coloured glass, 

 and a galvanised iron screw procured from a playhouse of the 

 Spotted Bower-bird {Chlamydodera maculata, Gould) on 

 Weebollabolla Station ; the parallel walls of the bower were 

 wholly constructed of dried " spear or corkscrew-grass {Stipa 

 setacea) set upright in a slight foundation of fine twigs. Like- 

 wise, two sets of the eggs of the Pied Honey-eater ( CertJiionyx 

 leucovielas, Cuvier), procured in Western New South Wales near 

 the South Australian border ; and the eggs of another Honey- 

 eater, presumably an undescribed species. 



Amsterdam. 



Royal Academy of Sciences, December 24, 1897.— Prof, 

 van de Sande Bakhuyzen in the chair. — Prof, van Wijhe, on an 

 automatic injector for Teichmann's substance, and presented a 

 paper on it for publication in the Proceedings. — Prof, van de 

 Sande Bakhuyzen presented, for publication in the Proceedings, 

 {a) a paper by J. Stein, of Katwijk, on elements of the planet 

 424= 1896 DF, and ephemeride for 1898 ; (3) on behalf of C. 

 Easton, a paper on the grouping of the stars in the Milky Way ; 

 and {c) made some remarks on the distribution of stars in space, 

 which will be inserted in the Proceedings. — Prof. Schoute con- 

 tinued a communication, presented on his behalf by Prof. 

 Darboux to the Academy of Sciences of Paris, extending his 

 theory, given there, of the determination of focal curves of jjlane 

 curves in possession of an axis of symmetry to that of the focal 

 surfaces of surfaces, that admit of a plane of symmetry.— Prof, 

 van der Waals presented, on behalf of Dr. P. Zeeman, 



