March lo, 1898] 



NA rURE 



455 



hibited a pair of ihe singular weevil, Apoderus tenuissimus, Pasc, 

 from the Philippines. — Mr. Burr exhibited species of Orthoptera, 

 of the family Eumastacidae, resembling dead leaves. This was 

 the only family of Acrydiidae in which such resemblances were 

 found. — Dr. Chapman exhibited a specimen of Zygana exulans 

 with six wings, the supernumerary pair arising between the 

 normal left forewing, and the corresponding leg on the same side. 

 The upjjermost wing appeared normal in every respect, the 

 second was a reduced copy of the basal half of a forewing, and 

 the third a portion of crumpled wing-structure. — Mr. O. E. 

 Janson exhibited a pale variety of the rare Papilio tnikado taken in 

 South Japan. — Mr. Tutt showed a variety ol Enodia hyperanthus, 

 taken by Mr. F. H. Day near Carlisle, and banded on the under- 

 side like a Cixnonympha ; also two moths from the same neigh- 

 bourhood, which, after careful comparison, he regarded as females 

 of Hydrilla paltistris. This sex was almost, or quite, undis- 

 covered in Great Britain, and the occurrence of the species so 

 far from the fen-di.strict was remarkable. — Mr. H.J. Elwes read 

 a paper, entitled "A Further Revision of the Genus Erebia" 

 which was illustrated by the exhibition of examples of every 

 known species. Tracing the geographical distribution, he stated 

 that the principal European centres of the genus were the 

 Pyrenees, and especially the Alps, only a few forms occurring in 

 Scandinavia, while the Ural Mountains and Caucasus were al- 

 most destitute of species. The genus became abundant in East 

 Siberia, from which region the few North American forms 

 appeared to have been derived. — Dr. Chapman also read a paper 

 on the species of the genus Erebia, a. revision based on the male 

 appendages, illustrated with drawings of these organs in about 

 sixty species. — In connection with the above papers Mr. Tutt 

 exhibited and made remarks on long series of Erebia nerine, E. 

 glacialis, E. euryale, E. ligea, Sec, chiefly from the Alps. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, February 28. — M. Wolf in the 

 chair. — Chemical action of the silent discharge : oxides of carbon 

 and nitrogen, by M. Berthelot. A continuation of a previous 

 paper. Mixtures of carbon monoxide and nitrogen, submitted 

 to the prolonged action of the silent discharge, give only the 

 sub-oxide C4O3, the nitrogen being unchanged. With excess of 

 hydrogen, a condensation product of the empirical formula 

 (CH»0)„ is produced. For carbon dioxide, six hours' action 

 with hydrogen in excess caused the almost complete absorption 

 of the oxide. With nitrogen in addition an amido-compound 

 and some ammonium nitrite were formed.— Chemical action of 

 the silent discharge : alcohols and etherial derivatives in 

 presence of nitro);en, by M. Berthelot. The systems studied 

 were mixtures of nitrogen with methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, 

 normal propyl, isopropyl and allyl alcohols, phenol, pyro- 

 catechol, resorcinol, hydroquinone, pyrogallol, glycol, and 

 methyl and ethyl ethers. — Fuchsian functions and the equation 

 Au ^ e", by M. H. Poincare. — On a particular case of the 

 motion of liquids, by M. E. Fontaneau. — On the Euler trans- 

 formation and the determination of singular points of a definite 

 function by Taylor's development, by M. Ernst Lindelof. — On 

 an extension of Gauss's method of quadrature, by M. Henry 

 Bourget. — On autocoUimating telescopes, and an optical verifier 

 of the lines and surfaces of machines, by M. Ch. Deve. The 

 arrangement described, which is illustrated by three diagrams, 

 permits of the exact verification of the accuracy of plane surfaces, 

 or of the parallelism of two surfaces. — Lines of force and equi- 

 potential surfaces in nature, by M. G. M. Stanoievitch. The paper 

 is illustrated by three plates showing the analogy between the 

 lines of growth in plants and equipotential surfaces. The nodes 

 in the wood play the part and produce the same disturbances in 

 the cellular field as magnetic or electric poles in their respective 

 fields. — On the properties and crystallisation of anhydrous barium 

 sulphide, by M. A. Mourlot. The crystallised sulphide was ob- 

 tained in two ways : by submitting amorphous barium sulphide, 

 previously prepared by the action of hydrogen sulphide upon 

 barium carbonate at a red heat, to the temperature of the 

 electric furnace, and by heating directly in the electric furnace 

 a mixture of barium sulphate and carbon in the exact propor- 

 tions necessary to form the sulphide. In this way white crystals 

 belonging to the cubic system were obtained, which behave to- 

 ward chemical reagents like the amorphous form, except that the 

 action is somewhat slower in the case of the crystals. The be- 

 haviour of the sulphide towards fluorine, oxygen, and oxidising 

 agents, phosphorus oxychloride, and carbon was studied. — 

 Action of carbon monoxide upon palladious chloride, by M. E. 



NO. 1480, VOL. 57] 



P'inck. By the interaction of these two substances three com- 

 pounds can be isolated, COPdCLj, CjO-^PdClj and C303Pd2Cl4, 

 corresponding to the analogous platinum compounds. — On hydro- 

 cinnamide, by M. Marcel Delepine. The crystallised hydro- 

 cinnamide has the composition 2Coj.H24.N2.H2O, and possesses 

 the properties of the glyoxalidines. It is a base forming stable 

 salts, and the name cinnamine is proposed as more suitable 

 than hydrocinnamide. — On an oxyptomaine, by M. CEschner de 

 Coninck. The pyridic ptomaine described in an earlier paper, 

 and which possesses the composition of a collidine, is easily 

 oxidised by hydrogen peroxide to an oxycollidine, 



C8Hio(OH).N, 



from which the original base can be regenerated by distillation 

 with zinc-dust. — On the oxidation of sorbite to sorbose, by 

 M. Gabriel Bertrand. An examination of the experiments 

 of M. Matrot upon the same subject, according to which 

 sorbose is produced whatever ferment be employed in the 

 oxidation. This result is controverted in the present paper, 

 the method of oxidation used by M. Matrot, in which the 

 cultures are exposed to contamination by air organisms, being 

 the cause of the eff^ects observed. — On the preparation of white 

 wines from red grapes, by M. V. Martinand. The fermentation 

 is interrupted by cooling, and the colour removed by aeration 

 of the liquid. After filtration from the solid deposit, the 

 fermentation is completed. — On the influences of intermittent 

 rest and work upon the mean power of a muscle, by MM. Andre 

 Broca and Charles Richet. When the load on the muscle is 

 below a certain limit, intermittent repose is harmful ; for 

 moderate loads, without any effect ; and with still greater 

 weights, favourable to the production of work. — Evolution and 

 structure of the conjunctive elements in Pahidina, by M. 

 Joannes Chatin. — The dissociation of the egg in a large number 

 of distinct individuals, and the cycle of evolution in Encyrtus 

 fuscicolliSy by M. Paul Marchal. — On optical anomalies and 

 polymorphism, by M. Fred. Wallerant. — Contribution to the 

 geology of Lower Senegal, by M. Stanislas Meunier. 



Amsterdam. 



Royal Academy of Sciences, January 29. — Prof, van de 

 Sande Bakhuyzen in the chair. — Prof. Jan de Vries, on some 

 groups of circles. Construction of a system of n lines, forming 

 («3) triangles, whose circumscribed circles pass through the 

 same point. Inversion of a quadrilateral and its four circles 

 into a spherical configuration of eight points and eight 

 circles. The analogous spherical configuration 165 in con- 

 nection with Miquel's theorem on the pentagon. — Prof. 

 Martin exhibited a new crystalline form of gold, a perfect 

 tetrahedron, found in Brazil. On the ground of the exist- 

 ence of this crystal the speaker considered hemihedrism 

 of gold possible, though not proved by this single speci- 

 men. — Prof. Kluyver presented a paper, entitled "On the 

 binominal development," dealing with the Rev. Simmons's 

 New Theorem in Probability {Proceedings of ihe London 

 Mathematical Society, 1895, p. 290). A method of investiga- 

 tion entirely different from that used by the Rev. Simmons 

 enabled the author to confirm the results arrived at by the 

 latter, concerning the "complete sets" of trials. As, for the 

 " broken sets," the same method led to a first approximation of 

 the " advantage," from which it was possible to derive the con- 

 ditions that must be satisfied, if the probability of net gain is to 

 exceed the probability of net loss. — Prof. Jan de Vries presented, 

 on behalf of Dr. G. de Vries, of Haarlem, a paper entitled 

 " Le tourbillon cyclonal." By this the author means a vortex, 

 which is at the same time both a ring vortex and a columnar 

 vortex, in which, consequently, motion takes place along spirals, 

 After deducing the equations of motion in cylindrical coordinates, 

 ia general solution is given, through which a differential equation 

 for the current function is arrived at. — Prof. Moll presented, on 

 behalf of Mr. J. H. Bonnerra, of Leeuwarden, a paper entitled 

 "Sedimentary Erratics of Kloosterholt " (Heiligerlee). The 

 erratics treated of in this paper have been gathered from 

 boulder-clay. While the sedimentary erratics from Groningen 

 bear a great resemblance to certain strata in the Russian Baltic 

 provinces, those of Kloosterholt are more like certain Swedish 

 rocks. As regards their geological age, most of them must be 

 classed with the Silurian and the Chalk formation, while Cam* 

 brian Jurassic and Tertiary formations are more sparingly 

 represented. 



