Dec. 13, 1888] 



NATURE 



57 



takes up the last traces of carbon disulphide, with formation, ac- 

 cording to Hofmann, of sulpho-diphenyl-urea, CS(NH . CgHj)^ ; 

 and finally (5) through an ordinary drying tube containing pumice 

 and sulphuric acid. The gas which issues from the apparatus 

 thus arranged is found on analysis, provided the most ordinary 

 precautions are taken not to allow the passage of too rapid a 

 stream, to consist of chemically pure carbon oxysulphide. As 

 regards what happens in the kaolin tube, on allowing it to cool 

 in contact with the mixture of gases and afterwards carefully 

 breaking it, at the end from which the gas issued a quantity of 

 brilliant white needles of silicon sulphide, SiSo, are found par- 

 I tially obstructing the tube. In place of the kaolin is found a 

 graphitic mass studded with very hard tolerably large crystals of 

 a substance which evolves sulphuretted hydrogen in contact with 

 moist air, and is decomposed by water with precipitation of 

 gelatinous aluminic and silicic hydrates. This most interesting 

 substance is in reality a sulpho-silicate of alumina, or a kaolin 

 in which oxygen has been replaced by sulphur, thus opening up 

 the wide prospect of the formation of a whole series of sulpho- 

 silicates in which the oxygen of natural silicates is replaced by 

 sulphur. 



A WORK on the telephone, by Mr. W. H. Preece and Dr. 

 Julius Maier, which has long been in preparation, will be pub- 

 lished in the course of a week or two by Messrs. Whittaker and 

 Co., as a volume in their " Specialists' Series." A work on 

 manures will be published shortly in the same series. Its author 

 is Dr. A. B. Griffiths, Principal of the School of Science, Lin- 

 coln. Mr. G. R. Bodmer has in the press a practical treatise 

 on hydraulic motors, which will also form a volume of the 

 "Specialists' Series." 



The Carpathian Club in Transylvania, which was founded in 

 1880, has now about 1600 members. Its object is to investigate 

 the Transylvanian Alps, and to construct good roails and 

 refuges. The Club intends to erect at Hermannstadt a Museum 

 for its librarj', and for maps, plans, photographic views of the 

 Carpathians, and ethnological and natural history objects. 



The Liverpool Science Students' Association has issued its 

 Report for the session 1887-88. According to the Committee, 

 the condition of the Society, as regards both the number of its 

 members and the character of its work, is eminently satisfactory. 

 The papers read at the evening meetings were, we are told, " of 

 a high character, evidencing much careful observation and patient 

 investigation." 



A REPORT from Elba states that the whole of the island is 

 infected by Phylloxera. In Toscana the efforts to check the 

 plague have as yet proved unsuccessful. The insect has also 

 made its appearance at Parmi, in Calabria, at Novara, and. at 

 Cervo in Liguria. Reports from the neighbourhood of San 

 Remo and from Lombardy state that the infected areas are 

 constantly increasing. 



During the last summer, Washington and other eastern 

 cities of the United States were exceptionally free from the 

 attacks of " shade- tree pests." Elm-leaf beetles were not 

 nearly so numerous as usual. In recording this fact \n Insect 

 Life — a useful publication lately started by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture — the writer refers to " an occurrence 

 which shows how careful one must be in drawing conclusions 

 from experiments to destroy insects." "Counting," he says, 

 *' upon the ordinary appearance of the elm-leaf beetle, we 

 sprayed the trees in our garden with London purple early in the 

 summer, and as no damage was done, we were quite of the 

 opinion that the spraying had been a success until, later, we 

 noticed that unsprayed trees were qxiite free also. In the same 

 way a gentleman came to us toward the end of the season and 

 informed us that he had completely protected his trees, by 



spraying the grass under them with Paris green, his t^ees for the 

 first time in several years having retained the verdure of their 

 foliage." 



At a recent meeting of the Linnean Society of New South 

 Wales, Mr. C. W. De Wis read a paper presenting "A 

 Glimpse of the Post-Tertiary Avi-fauna of Queensland." He 

 described such bird-remains as can with confidence be referred 

 to known genera, from the Chinchilla deposits. Darling Dow^ns, 

 Queensland. The fossiliferous beds, which have been exposed 

 by floods, in the banks of the Condamine River, have yielded the 

 remains of mollusks, fresh-water fishes, alligators, turtles, and 

 terrestrial vertebrates ; whence it may be inferred that the 

 locality was once the site of a densely populated water-course or 

 basin. In keeping with this it might have been anticipated that 

 the birds whose remains have so far come to light would belong 

 for the most part to tribes which haunt the margins or explore 

 the waters of lakes and rivers. And this turns out to be the 

 case, for, with one or two more or less doubtful exceptions, the 

 nine species described are referable to birds of no higher grade 

 than the old order Grallatores, the majority of them belonging 

 chiefly to the Anseres and Rallidae. 



The last issue of the Mittheilungen of the German Asiatic- 

 Society of Japan (Heft 39, Band iv.) contains a long account 

 of the remote Chinese province of Kansu, by Herr von 

 Kreitner, who is known to many readers as a member of the 

 Szchenyi Expedition to the borders of Tibet about twelve years 

 ago, and the author of an account of the explorations then 

 made, entitled "Im Fernen Osten." The writer describes the 

 geography of the province in three sections : (i) North- Western 

 Kansu, belonging to the Gobi and Shamo deserts ; (2) the 

 central and north-eastern districts, which are drained by the 

 Hoang-ho or Yellow River ; and (3) Southern Kansu, belonging 

 to the Yang-tsze drainage area. One feature of the paper is a 

 picturesque account of the loess districts of the province. Prof. 

 Fesca describes briefly two works of his on Japanese agriculture,, 

 and the agricultural capacities of the country, which have 

 recently appeared. A third paper, also short, contains the 

 results of an investigation into the chemical changes produced 

 in tea by the process of " firing," a species of roasting which 

 the leaf undergoes after it is picked, and before shipment to. 

 Europe. 



In the signature of the letter entitled "The Pasteur Institute,"' 

 printed in Nature last week, for Parky^r read Parky«.' 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Philippine Paradoxures {Paradoxurus 

 philippensis) from the Philippine Islands, presented by Mr. G. 

 P- Ogg ; ^ Brazilian Tapir {Tapinis americanus <J ) from the 

 Province of Parana, South America, presented by Mr. Anthony 

 Taafe ; a Long-fronted Gerbille (Gerbilliis longifrotts) from 

 Western Asia, presented by Mr. Lionel Hanbury ; a Meyer's 

 Parrot {Pccocephalus vieyeri) from East Africa, presented by Dr.' 

 Hugh Eaton, F.G.S. ; two Common Quails {Coturnix com- 

 munis), European, presented by Mr. W. H. St. Quintin,. 

 F.Z.S. : a Common Guillemot (/(7wz'/a troile), British, presented 

 by Mr. E. Hart, F.Z.S. ; a Moorish Gecko (Tarentola mauri- 

 tanica) from the South of France, presented by Mr. J. C. War- 

 bury ; an Indian Crocodile {Crocodilus palustris), a Hawks-billed 

 Turtle {Chelont imbricata) from the Philippine Islands, presented 

 by Captain J. Sommes ; a Black Salamander {Salamandra atra), 

 European, presented by Mr. G. A. Boulehger, F.Z.S. ; a Bald- 

 headed Chimpanzee {Anthropopithccus calvus V ) from the 

 Gaboon, three Dwarf Chameleons {Chanuvleon pumilus) froni 

 South Africa, deposited ; a Molucca Deer (Cervus moluccensis), 

 bom in the Gardens. 



