Jtme lo, 1 8 75 J 



NATURE 



il9 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Chemical Society, June 3.— Prof. Abel, F.R.S., &c., in 

 the chair.— The following papers were read :— On the effects ot 

 pressure and cold upon the gaseous products of the distillation 

 of carbonaceous shales, by Mr. J. T. Coleman. He finds that 

 I oco cubic feet of the gas produced in such large quantities at 

 shale oil works when submitted to pressure will give about one 

 gallon of volatile hydrocarbons fit for improving the illuminating 

 power of ordinary coal-gas.— On the agricultural chemistry of the 

 tea plantations of India, by Dr. C. Brown, giving analyses of 

 the ashes of tea and the effect of fertilisers on the growth of 

 the plant— On the structure and composition of certain pseudo- 

 morphic crvstals having the form of orthoclase, by Mr. J. A. 



rhiliips. Note on the sulphates of narceine and other narceine 



derivatives, and On the action of organic acids and their anhy- 

 drides on the natural alkaloids, Part V., both by Mr. G. 11. 

 Beckett and Dr. C. R. A. Wright.— On the action of chlorine 

 on pyrogallol, by Dr. J. Stenhouse and Mr. C. E. Groves ; with 

 an appendix by Mr. Lewis, on the crystalline forms of maito- 

 oallol, one of the products.— On nitro-alizarin, by Mr. W. H. 

 Perkin, F.R.S. This compound, obtained by the action of nitric 

 acid o'n acetyl-alizarin, dyes fabrics mordanted with alumina 

 of an orange colour, whilst the amido-alizarin obtained from it 

 by reduction gives a fine purple. — On some metallic derivatives 

 of coumarin, by Mr. R. Williamson.— On the action of dilute 

 mineral acids on bleaching powder, by F. Kopfer. 



Geological Society, May 26.— Mr. John Evans, V.P.R.S., 

 president, in the chair.— The following communications were 



read : On some peculiarities in the microscopic structure of 



felspars, by Mr. Frank Rutley. The observations recorded in 

 this paper related mainly to some exceptional features in the 

 striation of felspars from various localities, involving a considera- 

 tion of the extent to which dependence may be placed on the 

 discrimination of monoclinic and triclinic felspars by the methods 

 usually recognised in ordinary microscopic research. Some other 

 peculiar structural features were likewise noticed, and the effects 

 which might be produced on polarised light by the overiap of 

 twin lamellee in thin sections of felspars, when cut obliquely to 

 the planes of twinning, were also considered. The paper termi- 

 nated with a list of conclusions deduced from the observations 

 recorded. These conclusions mostly related to matters of detail ; 

 but the general inference drawn by the author was that the pre- 

 sent method of discriminating between monoclinic and tnclinic 

 felspars by ordinary microscopic examination answers sufficiently 

 well for general purposes, ahhough it is often inadequate for the 

 determination of doubtful examples, and that such examples are 

 of more frequent occurrence than one would at first be led to 

 suspect.— On the Lias about Radstock, by Mr. Ralph Tate, 

 A.L. S. In this paper the author described several sections m 

 the Lias of the neighbourhood of Radstock, in Somersetshire, 

 with special reference to their palseontological contents and to 

 the question of the division of the Lias into zones in accord- 

 ance with the species d Ammonites occurring in different parts 

 of the series. He maintained that although the Lower Lias in 

 this district only attains a thickness of twenty-four feet, this is 

 due to poverty of sediment ; and that whilst by this means the 

 zones are compressed, and the species of Ammonites brought 

 almost into juxtaposition, the succession of Ammonite-life is as 

 regular in the Radstock Lias as in the most typical districts. 

 Much of the opposition to the doctrine of zoological zones he 

 ascribed to erroneous discrimination of species. The paper 

 included tables of sections and lists of fossils, with the argu- 

 ments founded upon them, in support of the above opinion. A 

 few new species were described under the names of Trochus soli- 

 tarius, Cryptana affinis, Cardita consintilis, and Cardinia 

 ruotdosa.—On the axis of a Dinosaur from the Wealden of 

 Brook, in the Isle of Wight ; probably referable to Iguanodon, 

 by Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.L.S. This perfect specimen, preserved 

 in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of Cambridge, 

 is 3^ inches long and 3J inches high. The odontoid process is 

 anchylosed to the axis, and projects forward as in the axis of 

 birds, so as to articulate with the occipital condyle of the skull. 

 The pre- and postzygapophyses are situated much as in birds ; 

 as are the two ovate pedicles, on the anterior part of the side of 

 the vertebra to which the cervical rib was articulated. But pos- 

 teriorly the articular surface for the third cervical vertebra is 

 transversely ovate and slightly concave. The neural spine is com- 

 pressed from side to side, more so in front than behind. Among 



mammals, the nearest resemblance to lliis kind of ax's is reen 

 similarly in the whale ; and among reptiles the crocodile has a 

 two-headed rib ; but the other characters are more like those of 

 Hatteria, which the author regarded as a near ally of the Croco- 

 dilia and Chelonia, and as wrongly united with the Lacertilia. — 

 On an Ornithosaurian from the Purbeck Limestone of Langton, 

 near Swanage {Doratorkynchus validiis), by Prof. H. G. Seeley, 

 F.L.S. The author obtained these specimens (a lower jaw and 

 a vertebra) in 1868, and described them in the "Index to the 

 Secondary Reptilia, &c., in the Woodwardian Museum in 1869 as 

 Ptei'odaclylus macrnrtis. He now believed that the Ornitho- 

 saurian vertebrae from the Cambridge Greensand, which have 

 been regarded as caudal, are really cervical, and therefore that 

 the analogy on which this vertebra was determined to be caudal 

 cannot be sustained ; he proposed to adopt for his species Prof. 

 Owen's specific name validiis, given in 1870 to a phalange of the 

 wing finger from the same deposit The vertebra is five inches 

 long, relatively less expanded at the ends than similar vertebrne 

 from the Cambridge Greensand, has strong zygapophysial pro- 

 cesses and a minute pneumatic foramen. The lower jaw, as pre- 

 served, is \2\ inches long. The symphysis extends for five 

 inches, and is about one-eighth of an inch deep, and divided 

 into two parts by a deep median groove. Tlie teeth extended 

 for eight inches along the jaw, and about seven or eight occurred 

 in the space of an inch. They were directed outwatd in front, 

 and became vertical behind. Where the rami arc fractured 

 behind they measure 2^ inches from side to side. 



Zoological Society, June i.— Dr. Giinther, F.R.S., V.P., 

 in the chair.— Mr. Sclater made some remarks on the most 

 noticeable of the animals seen by him during a recent visit to the 

 Zoological Gardens of Rotterdam, the Hague, Amsterdam, 

 Antwerp, and Ghent.— Mr. Sclater exhibited the typical specimen 

 of his Ctntropsar mirus (P.Z.S. 1874, p. 175. I'l- xxvi.), and 

 stated that on a more careful examination of it he had come to 

 the conclusion that it was a made-up skin.— Mr. Edwin Ward 

 exhibited the two lower canine teeth of a Hippopotamus from 

 St. Lucia Bay, S. Africa, obtained by the Hon. C. Ellis, and 

 supposed to be the largest ever obtained. They measured from 

 end to end round the outer curve thirty inches.— Mr. G. E. 

 Dobson read a paper on the genus of Insectivorous Bats named 

 Chalinolobus, by Dr. Peters, and gave the descriptions of several 

 new or little known species of this group, which he proposed to 

 divide into two sections, Chalinolobus and Glauconycterts.—K 

 communication was read from Mr. Henry Adams, wherein he 

 gave the descriptions of two new land shells. These were pro- 

 posed to be named respectively Eurycratera farafanga, found 

 on a sandy plain in the S.W. of Madagascar, near the Farafanga 

 River, and Pupinopsis angasi, from the Louisiade Archipelago, 

 in the S.E. of New Guinea.— Mr. G. French Angas communi- 

 cated the descriptions of three new species of shells from Aus- 

 tralia, proposed to be called Helix forrestiana, II. broug/iami, and 

 Euryta brazieri.— Mr. A. G. Butler read a paper describing 

 several new species of Indian Heterocerous Lepidoptera. — A 

 communication was read from Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge on 

 some new species of spiders of the genus Erigone from North 

 America. — Mr. Herbert Druce communicated a list of the col- 

 lection of Diurnal Lepidoptera made by Mr. J. J. Monteiro in 

 Angola, with descriptions of some new species.— Mr. P. L. 

 Sclater read a paper on several rare or little known mammals 

 now or lately living in the Society's collection, amongst which 

 was specially noticed an apparently new species of Muntjac, pro- 

 posed to be called Cervulus micrurus.—h communication was 

 read from Mr. E. L. Layard, containing notes on the birds observed 

 by him in the Fiji Islands.— Lieut.-Col. R. H. Beddome read a 

 paper in which he gave the descriptions of some new opercu- 

 lated land shells from Southern India and Ceylon. The dis- 

 coveries of true Diploviaiitta in Southern India and of Nicida 

 in Ceylon were alluded to as being of special interest.— -Sir 

 Victor Brooke, Bart., read some supplementary notes on African 

 Buffaloes, in the course of which he stated that he had come to 

 the conclusion that the West African Buffalo {Bos pumtlus) was 

 distinct from the East African form {Bos ,rqmnociialis).—UT. C. 

 G. Danford exhibited specimens of the Wild Goat {Capro aega- 

 orus, Gm.), from Asia Minor, and read some notes on the distri. 

 bution, habits, &c, of that species. 



Royal Microscopical Society, June 2. — Mr. Charles 

 Brooke, F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair.— Mr. J, W. 

 Stephenson exhibited and explained a simple method which he 

 had devised for enabling any person to measure the angle of 

 aperture of an objectiy, and a number of copies of the engraved 



