Jan. 1 8, 1877] 



NATURE 



267 



of sound. In one experiment, by means of a fall-apparatus with 

 double hammers, two percussion caps were exploded (at a de- 

 terminate interval) at the (wo ends of a tube. From the dis- 

 placement of the interference-band on the inner smoked surface 

 of the tube, the velocities were found to be more than 700 

 metres over a stretch of 50 centimetres. With weaker explo- 

 sions or longer stretches, the velocities were less. Again, a 

 pistol-ball, whose velocity was determined, liberated at two 

 stations, at a measurable interval of time, two electric discharges. 

 From the displacement of the interference-band, the velocity 

 appeared to be about 400 metres. Several other experiments 

 are described in Prof. Mach's paper. 



Mr. Frederick A. Ober has recently sailed from America 

 for Martinique to commence an exploration of the West India 

 Islands, under the patronage of the Smithsonian Institution. Mr. 

 Ober proposes to begin at Martinique, and to collect the verte- 

 brates on all the Leeward Islands, visiting each one in succes- 

 sion, and proceeding east and south by the Windward Islands 

 to the Spanish Main. The work will probably occupy several 

 years, and with it will be combined the taking of photographic 

 views of the scenery and inhabitants. It is believed that, should 

 Mr. Ober be as successful as he anticipates, a critical investiga* 

 tion of his collections by specialists will not only bring to light 

 species long ago described and not met with for many years, but 

 will include some new to science, and at the same time elucidate 

 many interesting problems in physical and zoological geography. 



Mr. John Murray has the following new works in the 

 press: — "Scepticism in Geology, and the Reasons for it," by 

 Verifier; "The Cradle of the Blue Nile," an account of a 

 journey through the mountains of Abyssinia and the plains of 

 Soudan, and a residence at the court of King John of Ethiopia, 

 by E. A. De Cosson, F.R.G.S. ; " Pioneering in South Brazil," 

 a narrative of three years of forest and prairie life in Parana, by 

 Th. P. Bigg Wither, These two last books will both be accom- 

 panied by maps and illustrations. 



We have the following books on our table : — "Winds of 

 Doctrine," by Ch. Elam (Smith, Elder, and Co.); "Thebes 

 and its Five Greater Temples," by Capt. Abney, F.R. S. (Samp- 

 son Low and Co.) ; " Animal Physiology," by Prof. McKendrick 

 (Chambers) ; "The Two Americas," by Sir R. Lambart Price 

 (Sampson Low and Co.); " The Discoveries of Prince Henry 

 the Navigator," by R. H. Major (Sampson Low and Co.) ; 

 " Darwiniana," by Prof. Asa Gray (Triibner) ; "Across the 

 Vatna Jokull," by W. L. Watts (Longmans); Dr. Dobell's 

 "Reports on Diseases of the Chest," vol. ii., 1876 (Smith, 

 Elder, and Co.). 



The additions to the Zoologicil Society's Gardens during the 

 pastweekinclude two Secretary Vultures {Serpentarius reptilivorus) 

 from South Africa, presented by Capt. Larmer, ofs.s. African; two 

 Crowned Partridges {Rolluhcs cristatus) from Malacca, presented 

 by Mr. Barclay Field ; three Chukar YsxixxAgQ^^Caccabis chukar) 

 from North-West India, presented by Capt. Newton Pauli ; two 

 Caroline Conures {Conurus carolinensis) from North America, 

 presented by Mr. L. Delves Broughton ; a Wood Owl {Syrmui?i 

 aluco), European, presented by Mrs. A. O. Faulkner. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 

 The American Journal of Science and Arts, December, 1876. 

 — lixperiments on the nature of the force involved in Crookes's 

 radiometer, by O. N. Rood. — Experiments on the sympathetic 

 resonance of tuning-forks, by Robert Spice. — Types of orogra- 

 phic structure, by J. W. Powell.— On the ethers of uric acid, 

 by H. B. Hill.— Notice of a meteorite from Madison Cc, 

 N.C., by B. S. Burton. — On a recent discovery of carboniferous 

 Batrachians in Nova Scotia, by J. W. Dawson. — On the asso- 

 ciation of crystals of quartz and calcite in parallel position, as 

 observed on a specimen from the Yellowstone Park, by Edward 

 S. Dana.— Principal characters of the American Pterodactyls, 

 by O. C. Marsh. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Mathematical Society, January 11. — Mr, S. Roberts, 

 treasurer, in the chair. — Mr. G. W. von Tunzelmann was 

 elected a member. — The following communications were made 

 to the Society : — Determinant conditions for curves, or surfaces, 

 of the same order, having all their intersections common, by 

 Mr. J, Hammond. — Numerical values of the first twelve powers 

 of TT, of their reciprocals, and of certain other related quanti- 

 ties, by Mr. J, W. L. Glaisher, F.R. S.— On some general 

 classes of multiple definite integrals, by Mr. E. B. Elliott. — -On 

 the partial differential s + Pp -\- Qq + Z = o,hy Prof. H, W. 

 Lloyd Tanner. — Determination of the axes of a conic in tri -linear 

 co-ordinates, by Mr. J. J. Walker. — On some elliptic-function 

 properties, by Prof. H. J. S. Smith, F. R. S, 



Linnean Society, December 21, 1876. — Prof. AUman, 

 president, in the chair. — Mr. Thomas Christy and Mr. Robert 

 Drane were balloted for and duly elected Fellows of the Society, 

 — The butterflies of Malacca, formed the subject of a paper by 

 Mr. A. G. Butler. Of 258 species now registered from Malacca 

 thirty-six are endemic ; of the remainder sixty-five also belong 

 to Assam or Nepal, thirty-eight to Moulmein, thirty-three to 

 Ceylon, ninety- four to Penang, forty-six to Singapore, 112 to 

 Borneo, forty-one to Sumatra, eighty-seven to Java, thirty-nine 

 to Siam, twenty-six to China, two to New Hebrides, and six to 

 Australia. Thus the Malaccan butterflies preponderate towards 

 those of the Indian region. For several reasons, however, the 

 so-called Penang fauna must be accepted with considerable 

 qualifications. — A communication was read from Mr. J. R. 

 Jackson on the commercial uses of a species of cane termed 

 " Whangee." This was shown to be a species of PhyUostcuhys, 

 possibly P. nigra, and supposed to be from China. That com- 

 mon in the trade he considers not to be the stem proper but the 

 rhizome ; pale-coloured, as introduced, plants of the kind in 

 question grown in England produce a black cane, hence bleach- 

 ing must be resorted to with the commercial sort. — Cranior- 

 rhinus ivaldeni is the name of a new Hornbill from the Island 

 of Panay (Philippines), described by Mr. R. B. Sharpe. It is 

 alUed to C. cassidix. The new species was found by Prof. 

 Steere in a virgin forest in the mountainbus range of the island. 

 — An extract of a letter from Dr. J. Anderson, of Calcutta, was 

 read. It mentioned some curious facts in connection with the 

 Hornbills Hydrocissa albirostris and Aceros subruficollis. These 

 birds greedily devour, head foremost, the smaller kinds of the 

 feathered tribe, and before doing so break all the bones of the 

 bodies and toss the bird about. — The Secretary read some mor- 

 phological notes on certain species • of Thunbergia, by Mr. 

 Marcus Hartog. He states that microscopical sections of T. 

 laurifolia reveal axillary buds inside the sixth and eighth pair of 

 bracts, the basal elevations becoming pedicel and bractlets, and 

 inside these, by repetition, sister buds arise. The flowers are 

 thus axillary buds formed in succession from the axis outwards 

 and are as independent as if they had arisen side by side. — 

 Dr. Buchanan White brought forward a paper on the male 

 genital armature in the European Rhopalocera. His researches 

 yield evidence that as in some other orders of the Insecta the 

 appreciable structural variations of the organs in question afford, 

 good characters whereby to distinguish not only genera, but 

 species, of the above limited group of Lepidoptera. — Prof. 

 Flower communicated a memoir on the morphology of mam- 

 malian Ossicula audilus, by Mr. A, G. H. Doran. While 

 dealing with these diminutive bones in externa, the author more 

 particularly confined his summary to those of the Insectivora, 

 Cheiroptera, Cetacea, Sirenia, Edentata, Marsupialia, and Mo- 

 notremata. In the first of these groups the ossicula present no 

 positive or marked characteristic. Among the bats ^there is a 

 resemblance to what obtains in the shrews, except in the genus 

 Pteropus, where the malleus is of a lower type. Of whales, 

 Bahena has the most generalised type ; the dolphins have rela- 

 tively stout stapedial crura and other marked features ; Platanista 

 has slightly modified ossicula. Those of Sirenia are distin- 

 guished by weight and outline. Certain of the Edentata (arma- 

 dillos) differ among themselves, and so do the sloths and 

 ant-eaters, as far as concerns their internal ear-bones. Marsu- 

 pials possess ossicula of a low grade still descending in the 

 Monotremata. The general conclusion arrived at is that even 

 by the so-to-say subsidiary difterentiation of the auditory ossicles 

 doubtful affinities in some cases receive a certain interpretation. 

 — Actamorpha erosa is the name given to a new genus and spe- 



