500 



NATUl 



'icpt. 1 8, 1879 



ferous roclts in South-Easfern Ohio, and the Laramie group of 

 Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. 



Journal of the Franklin Institute, August. — The following 

 may here be noted : — Committee Report on the Fairbank's test- 

 ing machine. — A new method of constructing index plates for 

 gear cutters, by Prof. Sweet. — A new genus in telephones, by 

 Prof. Dolbear. — On the use of determining slag densities in 

 smelting, by Mr. MacFarlane. 



Bulletin de VAcademie Royale des Sciences (de Belgique), 

 No. 6, 1879. — Besides the paper of M. Montigny on the colour 

 in scintillation of stars (elsewhere noticed), we note here an 

 account of a new method, by M. Bruylants, for preparing hydriodic 

 and hydrobromic acids, viz., adding iodine and bromine to the 

 terpene contained abundantly in balsam of copaiba, and then 

 detaching them under the influence of heat in the state of the 

 corresponding acids. — The physiology of the muscles and nerves 

 of the lobster is elucidated by MM. Fredericq and Vandevelde, 

 who show that the only difference from superior animals is in the 

 velocity of the nervous influence, this being, in- the lobster, only 

 6 metres per second. Further, it is diminished considerably in 

 the termination of the motor-nerves. — Mr. Macleod communi- 

 c.-ites a histological paper on the Harder gland in the domestic 

 duck ; and M. Schleicher writes on the living cartilaginous 

 cell, the protoplasm of which he finds to consist of two different 

 substances, one nearly liquid and homogeneous, the other, solid 

 elements endowed with contractility (the nucleus is similarly 

 formed). — M. Dubois describes some new birds. 



No. 7. — M. Montigny here brings forward evidence that 

 the principal star 7 of Andromedes is subject to changes of 

 colour, which are very probably periodic. — M. Plateau finds, in 

 two notes by Brewster, confirmation of his views on the nature of 

 irradiation. — A paper by MM. Masquelin and Swaen treats of 

 the first phases of development of the maternal placenta in the 

 r.ibbit, and M. Folic writes on some theorems relative to 

 surfaces of superior order. 



yournal de Physique, August. — On the temperature of the 

 polar extremities of carbons producing the electric light, by M. 

 Kossetti. — On Ampere's formula, by M. Jamin. — Researches on 

 the compressibility of gases, by M. Cailletet. — M. Faber's 

 speaking machine, by M. Gariel. 



Reale Istituto Lomhardo di Scienze e Lettere, Rendiconti, 

 vol. xii. fasc. xiv. — On the problem of subdivision of the 

 electric light, by Prof. Ferrini. — Observations of Swift's comet 

 at the Observatory of Brera, by Prof. Schiaparelli. — Study on 

 some crania of Araucanians and Pampas in the National Museum 

 of Anthropology of Florence, by Dr. Riccardi. — Results of 

 observations on the diurnal period of magnetic declination during 

 1872-77, at the observatory of Brera in Milan, by Dr. Rajna. — 

 On the Mascart electrometer, by Dr. Maggi and S. Ascoli. — 

 Experiments on the capillarity of water, by Dr. Poloni. 



Fasc. XV. — On the transformation of the nth order of elliptic 

 functions, by S. Klein. — On special corpuscles (psorosperms) of 

 man, by Dr. Grassi. — On the application of the dynamometer in 

 operations of lithotrity, by Prof. Scarenzio. — Meteorological 

 observations at the Observatory of Brera, in Milan, in 1878, by 

 S. Frisiani. — Contributions to a study of the lias fauna of 

 Lombardy, by Dr. Parona. 



The yahrbuch der k.k, geologischen Reichsanstalt (Vienna, 

 ii., April to June) contains an elaborate treatise by C. M. Paul 

 and Dr. E. Tietze, entitled "New Studies on the Sandstone- 

 zone of the Carpathian Mountains." The remainder of the 

 part is taken up by a petrographical study on the granite of 

 Predazzo, by A. Sigmund, followed by some geological and 

 petrographical notes on the older eruptive and stratified rocks of 

 the Middle and Eastern Alps, by Dr. Guido Stache and Conrad 

 von John. The latter paper is the second communication these 

 gentlemen have made on the subject, and treats specially of the 

 Cevedale district as the distribution district of older dioritic 

 porphyrites. It is accompanied by four well-drawn plates. — 

 The Abhandlungen of the same Society (vol. xii. Heft i) con- 

 tain the first part of an excellent treatise by R. Hoemes and M. 

 Auinger on the Gasteropoda of the marine deposits of the first 

 and second miocene Mediterranean stages in the Austro-Hun- 

 garian Empire. The species here described belong all to the 

 genus Conus, and are well reproduced on six magnificent plates. 

 Thus we have illustrations of Chelyconus, Rhizoconus, Lithoco- 

 nus, Dendroconus, Liptoconus, and Stephanoconus, representing 

 some fifty-two different varieties. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Entomological Society, September 3.— J. Jenner Weir, 

 F.L.S., F.Z.S., treasurer, in the chair. — Mr. Philip B. Mason 

 exhibited specimens of Ifarpalus oOlongiusculus, Dej., taken at 

 Portland, and also, on behalf of Mr. Gameys, specimens of 

 Euplectus ambiguus, Reich., found in flood refuse at Repton. — 

 Miss E. A. Ormerod read "Notes on the Prevention of Cane- 

 borers." — Mr. Jenner Weir exhibited a pair, male and female, of 

 Cicada motttana, Scop., taken at the New Forest, Hampshire. — 

 M. Ch. Oberthur communicated the following paper : " Obser- 

 servations sur les Lepidopteres des lies Sangiret Descriptions de 

 quelques Especes nouvelles." 



Paris j 



Academy of Sciences, September 8. — M. Daubree in the 1 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — On the mean value of 

 numerical coefficients in a skew determinant of order infinitely 

 great, by Prof. Sylvester. — Pathological predisposition and im- 

 munity ; influence of origin or of race on the aptitude of animals 

 of ovine species to contract splenic disease, by M. Chauveau. 

 Algerian sheep seem to enjoy immunity from this disorder. RL 

 Chauveau selected nine from diflerent lots of authentic origin in 

 the Lyons market (to which large numbers are imported). Not- 

 withstanding repeated inoculation (three and five times), none cf 

 them showed multiplication of the Bacillus anthracis, charac- 

 teristic of the disease. On the other hand, French sheep and 

 rabbits all succumbed after the first inoculation. M. Chauveau 

 urges the importance of this question of special immunity. — The 

 President expressed the lively satisfaction of the Academy at JL 

 Nordenskjbld's return. — On the causes of reinvasion of ph)l- 

 loxerised vines, by M. de Laffitte. — On the same subject, by JI. 

 Cauvy. — On the compounds of hydracids with ammonia, by JI. 

 Maumene. Some obser\'ations on the r6le of insects during tic 

 flowering of Arum crinitum, Ait., by M. Schnetzler. Of the flies 

 attracted by the fetid odour of this Arum, those most pressed to 

 lay, deposit their eggs at the bottom of the spathe ; then, prevented 

 escaping by the viscous hairs at the entrance, they die. Others, less 

 pressed to lay, are attracted by the glandular hairs on the spadix, 

 which lead them, like the degrees of a scale, to the stamens. 

 There, walking on the anthers, they liberate the pollen, and 

 remounting the spadix in the direction of the hairs, they fly off 

 to lay their eggs in another spathe, at the bottom of which they 

 deposit on the stigmata the pollen brought from the stamens of 

 another individual ; then, imprisoned in their turn, they d;e. 

 The purple red hairs covering a good deal of the interior surface 

 of the spathe probably contain an acid which, like that exudi:ig 

 from the hairs of Drosera, may contribute to. transformation of 

 the azotised matters of insects into matters absorbable by the 

 spathe. 



GOTTINGEN 



Royal Academy of Sciences, May 3. — On sums of the 

 greatest wholes in arithmetical series, by Herr Zeller, — On the 

 galvanic resistance of gas-carbon, by Herr Auerbach. 



June 4. — New relations between the class numbers of the 

 quadratic form of negative determinants, by Herr Gierster. 



June 14. — On endogenous formation of normal lateral shO':)ts 

 in the genera Rytiphlrea, Vidalia, and Amansia, by Herr 

 Falkenberg. 



CONTENTS P/GK 



Colour-Blindnhss. By Dr. William Pole, F.R.S (77 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Stone's " Element.iry Lessons on Sound " 480 



Lettbrs to the Editor : — 



Local Colour- Variation in Lizards. — Dr. J. von Bedriaga . . . 4©^ 



Insect Swarms. — J. H. A. Jenner 4S. 



Earthquakes. — Henry O. Forbes 4^1 



Leaping Power of Mantis. — Consul E. L. La yard 481 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



The Outer Satellite of Mars 481 



The First Comet of i6gg 4&- 



NOTES 4- 



The British Association: — 



Reports 4S4 



Section A — Mathematical and Physical 485 



Section B— Chemical Scicn_-j 485 



Section C — Geology 486 



Section D — Biology 487 



Section E— Geography _ ._ 49^ 



Section F — Economic Science and Statistics 49^ 



American Association for the Advancement of Science . . . 49: 

 History and Methods of Pai-bontological Discovery. By 



Prof. O. C. Marsh 45-f 



French Association for the Advancement of Science .... 499 



Scientific Serials ^W 



Societies and Academies .w 



