Dec. 30, 1875] 



NATURE 



179 



sulphate of this body, treated with nitrous acid, yields a new iso- 

 nitride of alizarine, called chrysazine, and not chrysophanic acid, 

 as would be the case if the former view were correct. At the 

 same meeting, therefore, two new isomerides of alizarine have 

 been announced, and thus of eight isomerides considered 

 possible according to present views, seven have actually been 

 discovered. 



Vienna 



Imperial Academy of Sciences, Oct. 14. — The following 



papers, &c., were communicated : — Description of a new air- 

 ship, by M. Codron. — The crania of the Isovara collection, by 

 M. Zuckerhandl. — Notes from the chemical laboratory of Inns- 

 bruck University, by M. Earth and others (treating of the 

 action of fuming sulphuric acid on benzo-sulpho-acid and 

 benzo-disulpho-acid, some derivatives from ellagic acid, nitro 

 derivatives of anthraflavone, new naphthaline derivatives, and 

 ferrocyanide of tetramethylammonium). — The independent for- 

 mation-law of continued fractions, by M. Giinther. — The deve- 

 lopment of the Euler Algorithmus, by M. Klug. — Researches 

 on the separation of aqueous vapour in plants, by M. Eder. 

 He first examines the external surfaces of plants as regards 

 permeability for aqueous vapour ; then the evaporation through 

 leafless branches ; and thirdly, the behaviour, as regards 

 evaporation, of those parts of plants that are richer in water. 

 He then describes experiments on transpiration of leafy branches 

 and rooted plants imder various conditions of moisture, light, 

 motion of air, &c. — On the action of glycerine on starch at high 

 temperatures, by M. Zulkowsky. — On theheat phenomena which 

 occur on solution of ammonia in water, and their utilisation in 

 employment of this salt for cold mixtures, by M. Tollinger. — On 

 hypertrophic thickening in the interior of the aorta, by M. Schnopf- 

 hagen. — On Malfatti's problem, and the construction and genera- 

 lisation by Steiner, by M. Mertens. — OnCinchonin, by M. Weidel. 

 —On the heat-equilibrium of gases acted on by external forces ; on 

 the heat-conduction of gases ; and on integration of paitial 

 differential equations of the first order, by M. Boltzmann. — 

 Observations (meteorological and magnetic) at Vienna Obser- 

 vatory, in July to September. 



Oct. 21. — An experiment towards explaining terrestrial mag- 

 netism, by M. Benedict.- — Involutions of the chords in cissoids, 

 by M. Jahradnik. — Researches on the colouring matters of 

 bile, part v.. On the action of bromine on bilirubin, by M. 

 Maly. He shows that the molecule of bilinibin is twice as large 

 as has hitherto been supposed. — On the double tangents of curves 

 of the fourth order with three double points, by M. Durege. — 

 Researches on the nature of the salmon {Salmo Schiff'trmulUri, 

 Bloch) found in the lakes of Salzkammergut, Salzburg, and 

 Berchtesgaden, by M. Fitzinger. — On occurrence and biology of 

 Laboulbeniacea?, by M. Peyritsch. 



Oct. 28. — On development of the elements of Crustacea, by 

 M. H( eber. — Report en a journey in the western part of the 

 Balkan and neighbouring regions, by M. Toula. — On a new 

 condensation-product of gallic acid, by M Oser. — On the green 

 colouring matter of Bondlia viridis, by M. Schenk. 



Geological Society, Nov. 16.— The discovery of lake 

 dwelhngs in the peat-bogs near Laibach, by Ch. Deschmann 

 These were discovered accidentally on the occasion of a road 

 ditch being opened, and were afterwards systematically explored 

 for the Laibach Museum. The extent of the lake-dweUings 

 hitherto uncovered amounts to about 6co square fathoms. They 

 cover an area of about 13 fathoms in breadth, extending parallel 

 to the border of the ancient lake. The piles, some thousands in 

 number, are rammed into the clay which forms the bottom of 

 the peat-bog, their broken ends projecting i or 2 feet above the 

 clay. Above the latter lies a deposit 5-6 inches thick, containing 

 chiefly the remains of human industry, together with bones of 

 various animals. This again is covered by the peat to a thick- 

 ness of 5-6 feet The lake-dwellings near Laibach are of special 

 interest on account of the great abundance of bones and harts- 

 horn, n ost of them shewing signs of workmanship. The remains 

 of stag alone that were found are supposed to belong to 200 

 different individuals ; and besides various remains of ox, buffalo, 

 hog, wild boar, goat, sheep, bear, badger, beaver, more rarely of 

 wolf and I>nx, &c., were discovered. — On the volcanoes of the Isle 

 of Reunion (Bourbon), by Dr. R. Drasche. The author proved that 

 the eruptive action since the first outbursts has proceeded con- 

 tinually from west to east. The oldest lava streams have an acid 

 (strachjtic) character ; thelater, up to the present day, are basaltic. 

 — A fossil land-turtle from the Vienna basin, by G. Haberlandt. 

 It was found in the later Tertiary, in a quarry near Kalksburg, 



and is the first land-turtle ever discovered in Austrian Niogene 

 deposits, whilst sea and riv^r turtles occur frequently therein. 

 The fossil was named Trionix precedcns. — M. Zugmaier showed 

 an Inoceramus found in the Vienna sardstore near Kl stemeu- 

 burg, a very important discovery in reference to the geology of 

 the Alps, regarded as forming snother proof of the justness of 

 the views always maintained by the Austrian geologists, that the 

 sandstone-strata bordering the northern part of the Alps belong 

 chiefly to the Cretaceous period. — M. Paul gave a report of the 

 results obtained by him in the course of last summer concerning 

 the Karpathian Sandstone in Silesia, Hungary, and the Buko- 

 vina, that forms a direct continuation of the Alpine Vienna 

 Sandstone just mentioned. He is convinced that the so-called 

 Ropianka group of these sandstones, which contains the pe- 

 troleum, belongs also to the Cretaceous formation. — M. Vacek 

 exhibited an interesting fragment of a jaw-bone from a very small 

 and probably '^oung Mastodon longirostris, found in the Belvedere 

 strata near Vienna. It had been presented to the Geological 

 Institution by Lieut. Tihu. 



Wellington, N.Z. 

 Philosophical Society, Aug. 7. — Address by the President. 

 — Dr. W. Z. Buller, C.M.G., gives a narrative of the progress 

 of the scientific societies in New Zealand, and the various works 

 which have been written on the natural history of the colony, 

 and reviews the work done by the Society during the past year, 

 as published in vol. vii. of the "Transactions" of the New 

 Zealand Institute : — " From year to year the scientific work of 

 the New Zealand Institute has kept pace with the rapid progress 

 of the colony, and the last volume of 'Transactions' (No. vii.) 

 is in every way worthy of its predecessors, both as to bulk and 

 quality. On a cursory perusal it is evident that our Society has 

 done its fair share of work during the year, no less than twenty- 

 four of the papers selected by the governors as worthy of publica- 

 tion having emanated from our members. As most of you are 

 aware, our vice-president, Mr. Travers, is one of the most in- 

 dustrious of our working members, and the present volume con- 

 tains a lengthy contribution from him, entitled ' Notes on Dr. 

 Haast's supposed Pleistocene Glaciation of New Zealand.' The 

 author dissents entirely from the learned doctor's views, as pro- 

 pounded in his report to the Provincial Government of Canter- 

 bury in 1864, and since repeated ; and following up his former 

 article on 'The Extinct Glaciers of the South Island,' he has 

 now placed before us an able exposition of his own views on 

 this subject. Another important paper read before the So- 

 ciety during the past year is that by Dr. Hector, on Whales ; 

 and the excellent plates which accompany it, from photc^raphs 

 by Mr. Travers, add much to the interest of the article. It 

 contains a full description of Neobalana marginata, founded on 

 a specimen which was captured among a lar^e school of black- 

 fish at Stewart's Island, and forwarded to the Colonial Museum 

 by Mr. Charles Traill ; also of the * sulphur-bottom ' (Physalus 

 australis), the skeleton of which is now in the Wellington 

 Botanic Gardens ; and of that interesting form of zyphoid whale 

 known as Berardius hectori from a specimen cast ashore in Lyall 

 Bay in January last. It is to be hoped that Dr. Hector will be 

 able to carry out his intention of publishing while in England a 

 monograph of the Cetacea inhabiting the Southern seas, for 

 which, as he informs me, he has collected and taken home ample 

 material. There is probably no other section of Zoology in 

 which a contribution of this sort would be more acceptable to 

 the savans of Europe, owing to the present neglected state of its 

 literature and the confusion of nomenclature in which many of 

 the species are involved. There is another article from the same 

 pen, on New Zealand Ichthyologj', which contains descriptions 

 of no less than sixteen new species of fishes, all taken recently 

 on our coast, thus proving that this field of investigation is far 

 from being exhausted. In the section Botany, the first article is 

 a paper read by Mr. Buchanan in November last, on the flower- 

 ing plants and ferns of the Chatham Islands, the materials being 

 drawn from the collection in the herbarium of the Colonial 

 Museum, nearly the whole of which was made by Mr. Henry 

 Travers during his two expeditions to those islands in 1866 and 

 1871. The article throughout bears testimony to Mr. Bucha- 

 nan's usual care and accuracy, and the illustrations, five in 

 number, are very beautifully executed. That of the so-called 

 Chatham Island Lily {Myoiotidium nobile), a handsome plant, 

 with large glossy leaves and clusters of blue flowers, which I 

 was fortunate enough to discover durirg a visit to the Chathams 

 just twenty years ago, is especially noticeable. Our late presi- 

 dent, Dr. Knight, resuming a subject m which he has already 



