7uly%, 1875] 



NATURE 



199 



on the effects of trichina; on white rats, by C. Rodig. — On a 

 method of preparing slugs for dry keeping in collections, by F. 

 Hiibner. — Geological recollections of a few weeks at Weymouth, 

 by Dr. Filby.— Some remarks on CypraeiT, by Dr. Aug. Sutor. 

 On the honioptera of Schlcswig, by Dr. H. Benthln. —Finally, 

 there are a number of papers relating to the fauna of the Lower 

 Elbe, some of which are highly interesting. 



The March number of the Bulletin de la SocietS d'Acclimata- 

 Hon de Paris contains, among other papers, one by M. E. 

 Renard, on a new kind of bamboo, and the articles made from 

 the canes of this species of plant. This particular variety is 

 square, and is found in the Chinese provinces of Ilonan and 

 Se-tchuen. — M. le Comte Pouget, in a note on the Kagou, 

 describes a new bird known by that name in New Caledonia, of 

 which it is a native, and called Rhynochetos jubatus by ornitholo- 

 gists. The bird is entirely insectivorous, feeding on almost every 

 kind of insects and worms, and appears to thrive in the climate 

 of France. — M. Gildas, a priest in the monastery of Notre 

 Dame de la Trappe des Trois Fontaines, near Rome, gives a 

 description of the growth of Eucalyptus trees in the Roman 

 Campngna ; the salubrity of the locality has, partly in conse- 

 quence of sanitary works, and partly probably in consequence 

 of the effect of these trees, been greatly increased of late years. 

 — The Colorado potato beetle {Doryphora decemlineatd) is being 

 made the object of special research by members of the Society. 

 M. Maurice Girard states that as this insect does not exist always 

 in close contact with the plant on which it lives, it will probably 

 suffer from the change of climate to which it is subjected by 

 transportation from America to Europe, and will consequently 

 die off. Had it been, like the Phylloxera, an insect living 

 always closely fixed to the tree on which it preys, there would 

 have been greater danger of its permanent introduction into 

 other coimtries. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 

 Anthropological Institute, June 22.— Col. A. Lane-Fox, 

 president, in the chair. — A paper by Mr. Herbert Spencer was 

 read on the comparative psychology of man. The author com- 

 menced by showing the necessity for division of labour in a sys- 

 tematic study of psychology, and proceeded to map out the sub- 

 ject into divisions and subdivisions, and to indicate the manner 

 in which its various branches might be investigated. The main 

 divisions were — mental mass and complexity, the rate of deve- 

 lopment, plasticity, variability, impulsiveness, difference of sex, 

 the sexual sentiment, imitation, quality of thought, peculiar 

 aptitudes, with their many subdivisions. Mental effects of mix- 

 ture, and the inquiry how far the conquest of race by race has 

 been instrumental in advancing civilisation, would also come 

 within the scope of comparative psychology. — Mr. John Forrest 

 read an account of the natives of Central and Western Australia, 

 whom he had observed during two journeys he had made across 

 the country from Western to South Australia. Among their 

 customs might be mentioned that of tattooing on the shoulders, 

 back, and breast, and the practice of boring noses, which is 

 raised to the importance of a ceremony, when hundreds of indi- 

 viduals gather together for that object. Circumcision he found 

 to be universal. The use of the boomerang was described, and 

 the exaggerated statements concerning the manipulation of the 

 weapon were corrected. Cannibalism was common among the 

 natives of the interior. Many other descriptive details of their 

 faith, manners, and customs were given. — A paper by Capt. 

 John A. Lawson was read on the Papuans of New Guinea. 

 The only part of the coast that the author examined was Houl- 

 tree, and there, as in the interior, he met with a race of people 

 dissimilar to those described by other travellers who have visited 

 various parts of the coast. There was a marked diversity in 

 stature ; in the south of the island the people were shorter than 

 those inhabiting the north. They were possessed of enormous 

 muscular power, and showed a large thoracic development. 

 Their complexion was a dark tawny, but not black, and their 

 fcatiues were of Negroid type. 



Royal Horticultural Society, June 2. — Scientific Com- 

 mittee.— J. D. Hooker, M.D., C.B., P.R.S., in the chair.— 

 Prof. Thiselton Dyer made some further remarks on letranychus 

 Taxi, A.Murr., which he thought did not attack the ordinary buds 

 of the Yew, but, as far as he had observed, those containing the 

 female flowers. The acarus appeared to feed on the nucleus of 



the ovule and the adjoining scales, the external scales became 

 brown and withered.— The Rev. M. J. Berkeley showed speci- 

 mens of /y^'/^^^'/^w octraceum, which was figured by Bulliard, tab. 

 444. fig- 3' It bad been referred by Fries to Lophuim inytilimim, 

 but was really, as Sowerby was aware, the, cocoon of a midge. 

 Mr. Berkeley had met with similar cocoons belonging to other 

 species, and Prof. Westwood was understood to be preparing 

 descriptions of all three.— Prof. Thiselton Dyer exhibited 

 specimens ^of the capsules of Hibiscus Rosa-simnsis, which, 

 though the'plant was so common in gardens, were quite unde- 

 scribed. According to Dr. Cleghorn, it rarely if ever /ruited in 

 India, In Barbados, on the other hand, it fruited abundantly 

 in the garden of General Munro.— Mr. Andrew Murray read a 

 paper on the packing of living plants for transport.— Prof. 

 Thiselton Dyer called attention to Willkomm's "Die mikro- 

 scopischen Fcinde des Waldes," in which the Larch-canker was 

 shown to be due to the attacks of the so-called " Corticium 

 amorphum," since described by Hartig as Feziza IVillkommii. 



General Meeting.— W. Burnley Hume in the chair.— The Rev. 

 M. T. Berkeley called attention to the more interesting objects 

 exhibited. The young shoots of apple-trees were liable 10 great 

 injury from an Oidium, which might, however, be destroyed by 

 the use of sulphur ; specimens were exhibited. 



June 16.— Scientific Committee.— A. Murray, F.L.S., in the 

 chair. — A letter was read from the Hon. Secretary of the Wilt- 

 shire Horticultural Society relating to some diseased potatoes, 

 upon which Mr. Berkeley remarked that he had recently found the 

 American varieties at Chiswick, especially the Early Rose, 

 dreadfully affected with disease, communicated from the tuber 

 to the haulm. Mr. Berkeley had hitherto been only able to make 

 a superficial examination, but he suggested that possibly the 

 disease in question was analogous to the "curl," a disease well 

 known many years ago, but since then not noticed. He had 

 found in the cells of the leaf an obscure fungoid organism — a 

 species of Protomyces. — Mr. Bateman exhibited a package of 

 the Paraguay tea. Ilex Paraguay ensis, together with the gourd 

 and strainer used by the natives in the preparation of this tea, as 

 figured in Hooker's Journal of Botany many years since. — Mr. 

 W. G. Smith exhibited a drawing of the mould {Ascomyces 

 deformans) which is associated with the Peach blister. — Dr. 

 Masters exhibited on the part of the Rev. H. N. Ellacombe a 

 portion of the main root of an apple nearly gnawn through by 

 the Water Vole. Dr. Masters also showed Cheiranthus Cheiri 

 var. gynantheriis, to show that the peculiarity was reproduced 

 from seed. — Dr. Hooker sent for exhibition the nest of a trap- 

 door spider found ^in the bark 'of a tree at Uitenhage, Port 

 EUzabeth, South Africa, where it was obtained by Mr. Bidwell, 

 a member of the Legislative Assembly of Cape Town, The 

 nest and the lid were so nearly like the bark itself that it was 

 with difficulty the lid could be seen, and it was with some diffi- 

 culty that the lid could be raised, as the insect was still within 

 the nest. Mr. Murray suggested that the spider had taken 

 possession of the empty cocoon of a moth (Bombyx), and had 

 woven a lid to it with silk and fragments of bark. 



General Meeting. — Hon. and Rev. J. T. Boscawen in the 

 chair. — The Rev. M. J. Berkeley gave an account of the new 

 potato disease, which he identified (as mentioned above) with 

 that formerly known as the "curl." 



Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, Sept. 22, 1874. — Dr. 

 Ruschenberger, president, in the chair. — Prof. Leidy remaikcd 

 that he had found several specimens of the curious rhizo- 

 pod, discovered by Cienkowski, and named by him Clathruliua 

 ele^ans. They were found among Utricularia, but though 

 retaining their stems, were unattached and apparently dead. 

 One of the specimens presented a peculiar and as yet un- 

 explained character. On one side of the latticed head the 

 orifices were capped with little inverted hemispherical cups, 

 from the top of which projected a funnel like the cup of the 

 spongozoa. Prof. Leidy was pursuing his search for the living 

 and attached Clathrulina.— Prof. Leeds made some remarl^ 

 concerning a remarkable mineral found in a bank of white sand 

 near Fayetteville, N.C. It was, in appearance, a rod of glass 

 four feet in length and two inches in diameter, wliich was nmde 

 up of a great number of irregular fragments. These fragment* 

 were highly polished on one side, the side apparently turned 

 towards the hollow axis of the rod, and excessively contorted 

 on the exterior side. They consisted almost eniirely of si lex, 

 the remainder being chiefly oxide of iron. Accurate analysis 

 showed that the percentages of the constituents in these siliceous 



