J an. 



18; 9] 



NATURE 



283 



by ileiuida*^ijn, and under cjndilions which still exist, though 

 in a modified form. — Description of fragmentary indications of 

 a huge kind of Theriodont reptile {Titanosuchus ferox, Owen), 

 from Beaufort West, Gough Tract, Cape of Good Hope, by 

 Prof. R. Owen, C.B., F.R.S. The author stated that among 

 the fossils recently sent to the British Museum from the Cape of 

 Good Hope by Mr. T. Bain, there were two boxes containing 

 specimens of a most unpromising character, there being in them 

 no entire bones, but only numerous more or less water-worn 

 fragments. Among these was found a portion of a maxillaiy 

 showing some traces of teeth ; and sections having been made 

 of this bone, the remains of several teeth were displayed, in- 

 cluding a canine, the preserved portion of the socket of which 

 was 4^ inches long. From the number and mode of implanta- 

 tion of the teeth, the author concluded that the animal to which 

 they belonged resembled the Theriodont genera Galesaurus and 

 Galenops. The anterior portion of the left ramus of the lower 

 jaw, measuring ji inches in length, showed teeth presenting 

 close analogies with those of Theriodonts, and this alliance was 

 confirmed by the study of other fragments. Some of the 

 characters presented by these remains seem to suggest affinities 

 with the carnivorous mammalia, such as have been already indi- 

 cated by the humeri of Theriodonts and Carnivores. The 

 canine tooth of the new South- African reptile, which the author 

 proposes to name Titanosuchus ferox, was six times as long as 

 that of the allied form Lycosaurus ; and we have in Titanosuchus 

 evidence of a carnivorous reptile of more carnassial type than 

 Mcuhairodus and other felines. The author suggests that 

 Titanosuchus found its prey in the contemporary Pareiosauri, 

 Oudenodonts, and Tapinocephalans of the same locality. — Notes 

 on the consolidated beach at Pemambuco, by J. C. Hawkshaw, 

 M.A., F.G.S. The consolidated beach at Pemambuco, which has 

 already attracted considerable notice, is a ridge of sandstone 

 from 25 to 75 yards wide, and, as shown by borings made under 

 the author's direction, from 10 to 13 feet thick. The landward 

 or higher edge is nearly at the spring-tide high-water level, and 

 it slopes seaward; the river (with a depth of 28 feet at low 

 water 60 feet from the rock) flowing along the former face. The 

 rise and fall of spring tides is 7 feet. Beneath the above rock 

 is a stratum of sand with shells and stones about 8 feet thick, 

 and then a second layer of sandstone rock. The consolidated 

 lieach is cemented by carbonate of lime, which the author con- 

 siders to have been deposited by the action of water percolating 

 through the rock, probably when the level of the land differed 

 .somewhat from what it is at present. He thinks it possible that 

 this and other similar beaches on the Brazilian coast may mark 

 periods of repose in the slow vertical movements which the 

 coast has undergone. 



Zoological Society, January 14. — Prof. Newton, F.R.S. , 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Dr. Traquair, F.R.S. E., exhibited 

 a specimen of the Hackled Pigeon {Alectorcenas nitidissima) 

 recognised, last September in the Museum of Science and Art 

 in Edinburgh, by Prof. Newton, F.R.S., M.A., who made some 

 remarks on the species showing (i) that it was peculiar to Mau- 

 ritius, (2) that it is now wholly extinct, and (3) that only three 

 specimens of it are known to have been preserved. — The Secre- 

 tary read an extract from a letter received from Commander 

 Hoskins, R.N., of H.M.S. IVoherine, on the subject of the 

 range of the Mooruk, stating that no traces of the existence of 

 this bird could be found in New Ireland. — An extract was read 

 from a letter addressed to the secretary by the Rev. George 

 Brown, giving additional particulars on the same subject. — The 

 Secretary read an extract from a letter addressed to him by Mr. 

 R. Trimen, F.Z.S., of Cape Town, on the subject of the true 

 locality of the Black Spurwinged Goose {I'lectropterus niger), 

 which he had ascertained had been brought to Cape Town from 

 Zanzibar. — A communication was read from Dr. Morrison 

 Watson and Dr. Alfred H. Young, on the anatomy of the Spotted 

 Hyaena {Hyaua crocuta). — A communication was read from Mr. 

 A. D. Bartlett, giving an account of the habits and changes of 

 plumage of Humboldt's Penguin, as observed in a specimen 

 which had been recently living in the Society's Gardens. — A 

 communication was read from Dr. O. Finsch, C.M.Z.S., con- 

 taining an account of a collection of birds made by Mr. Huebner, 

 on Duke of York Island and New Britain. — A communication 

 was read from Mr. Edward J. Miers, F.Z.S., describing a col- 

 lection of Crustacea, made by Capt. H. C. St. John, R.N., in 

 the Corean and Japanese Seas. The present paper related to 

 the Pcdophthalmia of the collection, of which groups twenty- 

 six species vere deicribed as apparently new to science.— A 



communication was read from Count T. Salvadori, C.M.Z.S., 

 containing critical remarks on Mr. Elliot's paper on the Fruit- 

 pigeons of the genus Ptilopus, lately published in the Society's 

 Proceedings. — A communication was read from the late Marquis 

 of Tweeddale, F.R.S., containing the twelfth of a series of con- 

 tributions to the ornithology of the Philippines. The present 

 paper gave an account of the collection made by Mr. A. H. 

 Everett in the Island of Basilan. — Dr. A. Giinther, F.R.S., 

 gave an account of the mammals, reptiles, batrachians recently 

 collected by Mr. Everett in the Philippine Islands, and called 

 special attention to a new form of snakes of the family Cala- 

 mariidaj, of which one example had been obtained. Thissnale, 

 which was remarkable as possessing no external rudiments of 

 eyes, was proposed to be called Typhlogeophis brevis . 



Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 January 7. — General Meeting. — Mr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — The following papers were read or 

 taken as read : — On pilolite, an unrecognised species, by Prof. 

 M. F. Heddle, M.D. — On so-called green garnets from the 

 Urals, by Prof. A. H. Church, M.A.— On the magnetism cf 

 rocks and minerals, by J. B. Hannay, F.C.S. — On the celestinc 

 and baryto-celestine of Clifton, by J. N. Collie, communicated 

 by W. W. Stoddart, F.G.S. — On some silicates of copper, by 

 Wm. Semmons, president of the Liverpool Geological Society. — 

 Contributions towards a history of British meteorites, by T. M. 

 Hall, F.G.S. — Notes on some crystals of iron, by Amos 

 Beardsley, F.G.S. — Notes on massive and crystallised cronsted- 

 ite from Wheal Jane, by A. K. Bamett, F.G.S. — A large 

 number of Members and Associates were elected by the Council 

 previous to the m.eeting, 



Edinburgh 



Royal Society, January 6. — Prof. Kelland, president, in the 

 chair. — Mr. James Blyth gave notes on some experiments with 

 the telephone. When the ends of two wires attached to the 

 telephone were rubbed against one another and kept at a high 

 temperature a grating sound was heard in the telephone, which 

 diminished as the temperature was lowered. The sound, how- 

 ever, did not quite cease when the ends of both wires were cold. 

 In this case the sound was louder and more distinct when the 

 wires were attached to two files which were rubbed against each 

 other. The experiment was modified by attaching one wire to 

 the file and the other to a vice. Different substances — ^brass, 

 carbon, zinc, iron, steel — were then screwed into the vice and 

 rubbed by the file, but not much difference was observed be- 

 tween the effects produced. Another modification consisted in 

 attaching the second wire to the axle of the fly-wheel of a lathe. 

 In the last cas • the sound was very loud and distinct when 

 the file attached to the other wire was held hard against 

 the wheel as it revolved. A sound was also heard in the 

 telephone when a hammer was made to strike a body — the 

 hammer and the body being each connected to one of the tele- 

 phonic wires. The sound was distinct but not so loud as witli 

 the nibbing. The sound w as very loud when a large toothed 

 wheel driven fast was used, and against which a strong spring 

 struck, the one wire being attached to the wheel the other to the 

 spring. Here there is a combination of striking and fricticn. 

 Mr. Blyth suggested that these currents might be due to therrr.o- 

 electric action or might be the electricity which Sir Wm. 

 Thomson considers as the probable cause of friction.^ The 

 experiment was again varied by connecting one wire to the style 

 of a phonograph and the other with the screw ; there were two 

 Bunsen cells in the circuit, which was completed by the style 

 and cylinder. When the phonograph was spoken into, a person 

 in a distant room could hear by means of the telephone. This 

 seemed to show that the style presses unequally on the tinfoil 

 and hence that although magnified copies of the curve on the 

 tinfoil may be obtained by multiplying levers, these copies 

 do not necessarily represent the motion of the style. — Prof. 

 Tait gave a note on the measurement of beknottedness. llie 

 former measure was the smallest number of crossings wh'se 

 signs must be changed to take off all the knotting. An objec- 

 tion to this was that these seemed to have no direct connection 

 with the electro-magnetic meastu-ement. The new method con- 

 sists in drawing the knot in two parallel curvilinear Unes easily 

 distinguishable from each other by colour or formation, the one 

 knot being thus wholly within the other. A knot is cut across 

 through the symmetrical angle, and the ends joined again. — 

 Prof. Tait gave a preliminary note describing some experimenU 

 ' Baker'^an I^ecture, 1856, Phil. Trans., foot-note to second page. 



