Nov, 25, 1875] 



NATURE 



79 



the view to gain more exact information as to the action of the 

 salt of vanadium upon particular functions. The methods of 

 experiment and the precautions observed are fully described. 



Chemical Society, Nov. 18. — Prof. Abel, F.R.S., presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — The Secretary read a paper by Mr. 

 T. M. Morgan, on ethyl-phenyl acetylene. — The second com- 

 munication, on narcotine, cotamine, and hydrocotamine. 

 Part 2, by Mr. G. H. Beckett and Dr. C. R. A. Wright, is a 

 inuation of their investigations of this subject. — Mr. W. 

 . Hartley then gave an account of the presence of liquid carbon 

 „. -de in mineral cavities, in which he proves, from the physical 

 properties of the liquid enclosed in a cavity of a quartz crystal in 

 his possession, that it is carbon dioxide. — The last paper, by 

 Mr. W. H. Perkins, was a preliminary notice on the formation 

 of coumarin, cinnamic and other similar acids. 



Meteorological Society, Nov. 17. — Dr. R. J. Mann, pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — Sergeant James Conroy, R.E., Morris 

 ' .s, L. R. C.P., A. H. Leycester, Sir David L. Salomons, 

 ,, and James P. H. Walker, were balloted for and duly 

 ed Fellov/s of the Society. The following papers were then 

 : — Some remarks on the reduction of barometric readings 

 - a form of table for combining the corrections for index-error, 

 temperature, and altitude, by William Marriott. Readings of 

 the barometer to be of any scientific value must be corrected for 

 index- error, tempeiature, and height above mean sea-level. 

 There is not much difficulty in applying the first two, but it is a 

 very troublesome thing to obtain the proper corrections for alti- 

 tude if the station be more than 100 leet above sea-level. The 

 author has found that a great number of observers make some 

 very extraordinary mistakes in applying this correction, and 

 gives a few as specimens. He attributes the difficulty in apply- 

 ing this correction to the unsatisfactory explanation accompanying 

 the tables as given in the different manuals on meteorology and 

 to the fact of the corrections being only given for two pressures, 

 viz., 27 inches and 30 inches. He then submits a table which 

 gives the sea-level pressure on the left hand and the reading of 

 the barometer at the station corresponding to that pressure on 

 the right hand, wnth the altitude correction between them. In 

 conclusion he submits a form of table in which is combined the 

 corrections for index-error, temperature, and height above sea- 

 level, which is the means of saving much time, besides reducing 

 the liability to error. — On a continuous self-registering thermo- 

 meter, by W. Harrison Cripps. The thermometer consists of 

 six coils of glass tubing, the first five being wound concentrically 

 tonnd an axis, each coil lying within the other, in such a manner 

 as to form a spiral glass wheel 4 inches in diameter. The sixth 

 coil is moved slightly away from the others, so that it shall form 

 the circumference of a circle 5 inches in diameter, the centre 

 being the axis around which the spiral tube is coUed. Pivots 

 are attached to either end of the axis, which rest on two parallel 

 metal uprights. The tubing is filled with spirit, and mercury 

 and a small quantity of air are enclosed in the large coU. The 

 thermometer works in the following manner : when the spirit 

 contracts on cooling, the expansion of the included air keeps the 

 column of m.ercury in contact with it ; this immediately alters 

 the centre of gravity, and the wheel begins to revolve in a direc- 

 tion opposite to that of the receding mercury. On applying 

 heat, the mercury passes forwards and the wheel moves in the 

 opposite direction- The thermometer is made to record some- 

 what in the same way as the recording aneroid barometer. — On 

 a seL -regulating atmometer, by S. H. Miller, F.R. A.S. After 

 several years' experimenting with evaporating dishes of different 

 forms under various conditions, the author has arrived at the 

 conclusion that none of the contrivances which have come under 

 his own observation are entirely satisfactory. After remarking 

 upon the conditions which a good evaporator should fulfil, he 

 proceeds to descnbe a self-regulating one which he has devised 

 and which has now worked satisfactorily for several months. 

 The apparatus consists of an open cylinder 8 inches diameter, 

 surmounted by a brass rain-gauge rim which receives the water 

 firom which the evaporation takes. This vessel is surrounded by 

 another cylinder 15 inches in diameter and closed at the top, 

 which is divided into two compartments, upper and lower. The 

 tipper one is filled with water to keep the level in the inner 

 cylinder always constant, and the lower one receives the overflow 

 rainfall. The amount of evaporation is determined by weighing 

 the apparatus. 



Zoological Society, Nov. 16.— Mr. Osbert Salvin, F.R-S. 

 in the chair. — Mr. Sclater exhibited the upper horn of a Two- 

 homed Rhmoceros that had been shot in March last by Lieut.- 



Col. C. Napier Sturt, in the valley of the Brahmapootra. Mr. 

 Sclater remarked that this seemed to prove conclusively the 

 existence of a iwo-horned species of Rhinoceros in Assam, 

 which would probably turn out to be the same as that from 

 Chitlagong, now living in the Society's Gardens. — Mr. Sclater 

 read an extract from a letter addressed to him by Dr. N. Funck, 

 director of the Zoological Gardens, Cologne, staling that the 

 bird figured in Mr. Sclater's recent article on the Curassows as 

 Pauxi galeati V3X . rubra, was the true female of Pauxi galiata. 

 — Mr. H. Seebohm exhibited and made remarks on a series of 

 rare and interesting birds and eges from the tundras and deltas 

 of the Petchora River, North-eastern Russia, collected there by 

 Mr. J. A. Harvie Brown and himself durinii the present year. — 

 Mr. A. H. Garrod read some notes on the Manatee {Manafus 

 amerkanus) recently living in the Society's Gardens. — Dr. 

 Giinther, F. R.S., read a third report on the collections of 

 Indian reptiles obtained by the British Museum, and gave 

 descriptions of several species new to science. — A communica- 

 tion was read from Mr. E. Pierson Ramsay, con'aining a li.-t of 

 birds met with in North-eastern Queensland, chiefly at Rocking- 

 ham Bay. — A second communication from Mr. Ram<ay give 

 a description of the eggs and young of Ralhna tricolor, from 

 Rockingham Bay, Queensland. — A third communication from 

 Mr. Ramsay contained the description of a new species of 

 Psecilodryas, and a new genus and specie- of Bower Bird, pro- 

 posed to be called Scenopceus deniirostris, from Quetnsland. — 

 — A communication was read from Mr. Syl'vanus Hanley, con- 

 taining the description of a new Cyclophorus and a new Ampul- 

 laria. from Burmah. — A commimication was read from Dr. J. 

 S. Bowerbauk, F.R.S., containing further observations on 

 Alcyotuellum speciosum, Quoy et G., and Hyalonema mirabilcy 

 Gray. — Mr. Arthur G. Butler read a paper on a colkctioil of 

 butterflies from the New Hebrides and Loyalty I-lands, and 

 gave dsscriptions of some new species. — A second paper by Mr. 

 Butler contained particulars of a small collection of butterflies 

 from Fiji. Mr. Butler also read the descriptions of several new 

 species of Sphingidae. — A communication was read from Mr, 

 W. H. Hudson, containing remarks on Herons, with a notice 

 of a curious instinct of Ardetta involucris. — A communication 

 was read from Dr. Otto Finsch, in which he gave the description 

 of a new species of Crowned Pigeon from the southern end of 

 New Guinea, opposite Yule Island. Dr. Finsch proposed to 

 call this bird Goura scheepmakeri, after Mr. C. Scheepmaker, of 

 Soerabaya, who had transmitted a living specimen of it to the 

 Zoological Gardens, Amsterdam. 



Entomological Society, Nov. 3. — Sir Sidney Smith 

 Saunders, C.M.G., president, in the chair. — This being the 

 first meeting of the session in the new rooms of the Society at 

 II, Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, the President delivered 

 an inaugural address, pointing out the advantages which might 

 be expected from the library and meeting-room being brought 

 into juxtaposition on a more central site ; and also from the 

 library being open to members during three days in each week 

 instead of one day only. — ^L Oscar Lamarche, of Liege, was 

 elected a foreign member. — Mr. W. C. B«yd exhibited mines of 

 Hdiozela sericiella in oak. He had succeeded in rearing the in- 

 sects by confining them with a young oak plant, and thus was 

 enabled to discover their habits, which had hitherto been un- 

 known. The mines were situated in the footstalks of the 

 leaves. — Mr. M'Lacfilan exhibited a living apterous female of a 

 terrestrial Trichopterous insect, Enoicyla (probably E. pusiila, 

 Burm.) He had recently bred it, with others, from cases for- 

 warded to him by Mr. Fletcher, of Worcester, the discoverer 

 of the insect in this country. Mr. M'Lachlan gave an accour.t 

 of its structure and singular habits. The perfect insects emerge 

 in November, and the males are furnished with ample wings. — 

 Mr. Champion exhibited several rare Coleoptera captured by 

 him in Kent and Surrey. — Mr. Phipson exhibited a Catocala 

 nupta, with several Acari on a portion of one of the anterior 

 wings, instead of on the body, as is usually the case. — The Rev. 

 H. S. Gorham read descriptions of some new species and a new 

 genus of EndomycUi. — Mr. Arthur G. Butler communicated " a 

 list of the Lepidoptera referable to the genvis Hypsa of Walker's 

 list, with descriptions of new genera and species. ' — Mr. Edward 

 Saunders communicated a second part of his Synopsis of the 

 British Hemiptera Heteroptera. — Mr. Charles O. Waterhouse 

 read descriptions of some new genera and species of Hetero- 

 merous Coleoptera {He.opidce), chiefly from Terra del Fuego. 

 The specimens had been brought to this country by Mr. Charles 

 Darwin, and had been descril^ many years ago by Mr. Water- 



