Dec, 26, 1889] 



NATURE 



191 



hillsides were seen to be comparatively rounded to heights of 

 2000 feet or more. The author had also formed the opinion 

 that at Baramulla the barrier of a former lake occupying the 

 Kashmir valley was partly morainic, before reading Prof. Leith 

 Adams's view of the glacial origin of some of the gravels of this 

 point. The whole valley of the Jhelam from this point to 

 Mozufferabad showed extensive glacial deposits, which had been 

 modified by denudation and by the superposition of detrital 

 fans, widely different in character from the glacial deposits. 

 Below Rampoor the valley was thickly strewn with enormous 

 granite blocks resting upon gneiss, and the author believed that 

 they had been transported by ice. In conclusion, it was noted 

 that the existing torrential stream had further excavated the 

 valley since Glacial times, and, in places, to a considerable 

 depth. Comments on this paper were offered by the President, 

 Mr. Lydekker, General MacMahon, and Prof. Hughes. 



Entomological Society, December 4. — The Right Hon. 

 Lord Walsingham, F.R. S., President, in the chair. — Prof. 

 Franz Klapalek, of Prague, was elected a Fellow. — Mr. W. L. 

 Distant exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Lionel de Niceville, a 

 branch of a walnut tree on which was a mass of eggs laid by a 

 butterfly belonging to the Lycmnidce. He also exhibited two 

 specimens of this butterfly which Mr. de Niceville had referred 

 to a new genus and described as Chmtoprocta odata. The 

 species was said to occur only in the mountainous districts of 

 North-West India, at elevations of from 5000 to 10,000 feet 

 above the sea-level. — Dr. D. Sharp exhibited the eggs of 

 Piezosternum subulatiim, Thunb., a bug from South America. 

 These eggs were taken from the interior of a specimen which 

 had been allowed to putrefy before being mounted. Although 

 the body of the parent had completely rotted away, the eggs 

 were in a perfect state of preservation, and the cellular con- 

 dition of the yelk was very conspicuous. — Mr. J. H. Leech 

 exhibited a large number of Lepidoptera recently collected for 

 him by Mr, Pratt in the neighbourhood of Ichang, Central 

 China. The collection included about fifty-four new species of 

 butterflies and thirty-five new species of moths. Captain Elwes 

 observed that he noticed only two genera in this collection 

 which did not occur at Sikkim, and that the similarity of the 

 insect fauna of the two regions was very remarkable ; about 

 fifteen years ago, in a paper "On the Birds of Asia," he had 

 called attention to the similarity of species inhabiting the 

 mountain ranges of India, China, and Java. Mr. McLachlan, 

 F. R. S., remarked that he had lately received a species of 

 dragonfly from Simla which had previously only been recorded 

 from Pekin. Mr. Distant said he had lately had a species of 

 Cicada from Hong Kong, which had hitherto been supposed to be 

 confined to Java. — Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher exhibited a preserved 

 specimen of a variety of the larva of Sphinx ligustri, taken in a 

 wood near Arundel, Sussex. Mr. W. White exhibited drawings 

 of the larvae of this species, and called especial attention to one of 

 a variety that had been exhibited at a previous meeting by Lord 

 Walsingham. — Mr. F. D. Godman, F.R.S., read a letter from 

 Mr. Herbert Smith, containing an account of the Hymenoptera, 

 Diptera, Hemiptera, and Coleoptera, he had recently collected 

 in St. Vincent, where he was employed under the direction of a 

 Committee of the Royal Society, appointed to investigate the 

 natural history of the West Indies. A discussion followed, in 

 which Dr. Sharp, Captain Elwes, Lord Walsingham, and Mr. 

 McLachlan took part. — Captain Elwes read a letter from Mr. 

 Doherty, in which the writer described his experiences in 

 collecting insects in the Naga Hills, by means of light and 

 "sugar." Colonel Swinhoe said that the attractive power of 

 light depended very much on its intensity, and on the height of 

 the light above the ground. By means of the electric light in 

 Bombay he had collected more than 300 specimens of SphingidcE 

 in one night. Mr. J. J. Walker, R.N., stated that he had 

 found the electric light very attractive to insects in Panama. 

 Dr. Sharp, Mr. Leech, Captain Elwes, the Rev. Canon Fowler, 

 and others continued the discussion. — Mr. de Niceville communi- 

 cated a paper entitled "Notes on a New Genus of LyccenidcB." 

 — Mr. F. Merrifield read a paper entitled " Systematic Tempera- 

 ture Experiments on some Lepidoptera in all their Stages," and 

 exhibited a number of specimens in illustration of his paper. 

 The author stated that the darkness of colour and the markings 

 in Ennomos autumnaria resulted from the pupae being subjected 

 to a very low temperature. In the case of Selenia illustraria, 

 exposing the pupae to a low temperature had not only affected 

 the colour of the imagos, but had altered the markings in a 

 striking manner. Lord Walsingham observed that it appeared 



that exposure to cold in the pupa-state produced darker colouring 

 in the imago, and that forcing in that stage had an opposite 

 effect ; that insects subjected to glacial conditions probably 

 derive some advantage from the development of dark or suffused 

 colouring, and that this advantage was, in all probability, the 

 more rapid absorption of heat. He said he lielieved that an 

 hereditary tendency in favour of darker forms was established 

 under glacial conditions, and that this would account for the 

 prevalence of melanic forms in northern latitudes and at high 

 elevations. Captain Elwes, Mr. Jenner Weir, and Dr. Sharp 

 continued the discussion. 



Linnean Society, December 5. — Mr. J. G. Baker, Vice- 

 President, in the chair. — Mr. George Murray exhibited and 

 made some remarks upon specimens of Struvea macrophylla and 

 S. phwiosa. — Mr. A. W. Bennett communicated some observa- 

 tionsonanewanda little-known British fresh-water Algtc — Schizo- 

 thrix anglica and Sphceroplcea annulina. It was pointed out 

 that Scikizothrix oiYiaxxeys " Phycologia Britannica " is really an 

 Inactis. — Mr. E. M. Holmes exhibited, as a new British marine 

 Alga, a specimen of Gracilaria divergens, a rare native of the 

 warmer portions of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, which 

 had been recently found at Brighton by Mr. J. Myles. The 

 specimen exhibited possessed tetrasporic and cystocarpic fruits 

 not described by Agardh. — Mr. Pascoe exhibited (with a view 

 of eliciting information as to the modus operandi) a number of 

 Crustacea and certain shells of the genus Phorus having various 

 foreign substances attached to them. Commenting upon these 

 specimens. Prof. Stewart gave an interesting account from 

 personal observation of the way in which certain Crustacea 

 collect and adorn themselves with fragments of shell, seaweed, 

 &c., apparently as a protective covering. — Mr. T. Christy ex- 

 hibited and made remarks on some "liquid-amber" or resin 

 {Attingia excelsa) from Cochin China. — A paper was then read 

 by Mr. George Massee on the life-history of a stipitate fresh-water 

 Alga, illustrated by some excellent diagrams. A discussion 

 followed, in which the chairman, Mr. Murray, and Mr. Bennett 

 took part. — In the absence of the author, Mr. Harting detailed 

 the chief points of interest in a paper by Mr. George Sim on 

 the anatomy of the sand grouse {Syrrhaptes paradoxus), and the 

 habits of this bird as observed on the sand hills of the coast of 

 Aberdeenshire. A comparison was made of the sternum and 

 the alimentary organs with the same parts in the pigeon and red 

 grouse. 



Chemical Society, December 5. — Dr. W. J. Russell, 

 F.R. S., in the chair. — The following papers were read: — 

 Compounds of phenanthraquinone with metallic salts, by Prof. 

 F. R. Japp, F. R.S. , and Mr. A. E. Turner. The authors have 

 obtained several double compounds of phenanthraquinone with 

 metallic salts, viz. C14H8O2, ZnClj, crystallizing in dark, 

 reddish-brown needles ; (Ci4H802)2, HgCl2, crystallizing in red, 

 obliquely truncated prisms ; and (Ci4H802)2, Hg(CN)2, crystal- 

 lizing also in red forms. They have prepared a similar com- 

 pound from mercuric chloride and )3-naphthaquinone, but could 

 not obtain double compounds from benzoquinone, a-naphthaqui- 

 none, anthraquinone, diacetyl, or benzil. It would, therefore, 

 appear that compounds of this class are derivable only from 

 orthoquinones, and not from paraquinones or open- chain 

 a-diketones. The intense colour of the double compounds 

 indicates that in them the quinone preserves its distinctive cha- 

 racter. In this respect they differ from the colourless com- 

 pounds of the orthoquinones with sodium hydrogen sulphite, 

 which, inasmuch as their formation involves reduction, are to be 

 regarded as quinol derivatives. — Action of aldehydes and 

 ammonia on a-diketones, by Mr. G. H. Wadsworth. — Phenyl- 

 hexamethylene derivatives, by Dr. F. S. Kipping and Prof. W. H. 

 Perkin. — Diphenylfurfuran, by Prof. W. H, Perkin and Dr. A. 

 Schloesser. 



Royal Microscopical Society, November 13. — Dr. C. T. 

 Hudson, F.R.S., President, in the chair. — The Rev. Armstrong 

 Hall exhibited a Bacillus from urine, which closely resembled 

 B, tuberculosis. — Mr. Hardy exhibited and described a little 

 apparatus which he had devised for the purpose of photograph- 

 ing an object under the microscope, without having to alter the 

 position of the instrument in any way. He had originally made 

 it in metal, but had found it too heavy ; the one now before them 

 was made of wood, and weighed about one ounce, the cost being 

 nothing at all beyond the trouble of making it. — Mr. Watson 

 exhibited and described a new pattern microscope for students 

 (the "Edinburgh student's microscope"), and a student's petro- 



