JzUy 14, 1887] 



NATURE 



263 



me of them embedded in plaster of Paris. This gave no sound 

 vhen the variable current was passed, whilst the other emitted 

 he usual note. It was also found that no sound could be got 

 rom a single turn of wire, whilst one and a quarter turns gave 

 m audible sound under the same conditions. — Oa c:)mparing 

 rapacities, by Mr. E. C. Rimington. This is an investigation 

 )f the conditions under which the integral current through a 

 ralvanometer in a balanced Wheatstone's bridge is zero, when 

 ■he battery circuit is broken ; two adjacent arms, A and D, of 

 he bridge being shunted by condensers of capacities Ki and Kg. 



It is shown that _i = _ , where C and B are the resistances of 



;he arms opposite'to A and D respectively. If A and D be 

 made infinite, the necessity of balancing for steady currents is 

 abviated ; but if either of the condensers has an appreciable 

 leakage, corrections are required. The best resistance to give 



to the galvanometer is shown to be G = -^ — ■ > and the 



conditions under which a telephone may replace the galvano- 



K C 

 meter are _i = _ . The case where all the arms have self-in- 

 K., B 



ductions is investigated. — On the effects ofchange of temperature 

 in twisting or untwisting wires which have suffered permanent 

 torsion, by Mr. Herbert Tomlinson. The author's attention 

 was re-directed to the subject by the note read by Mr. Bosanquet 

 on May 14. Some eight years ago he made experiments on such 

 wires, and upon the effects due to changes produced in the thermal 

 expansibility of the metals, by permanent elongation or compres- 

 sion. Thus if a small square be drawn on the surface of a wire, and 

 the wire subjected to permanent torsion, the square becomes a 

 rhombus, the longer diagonal of which suffers permanent exten- 

 sion, and the shorter diagonal permanent compression. If per- 

 manent extension causes an increase in thermal expansibility, 

 and compression a decrease, then a rise of temperature will 

 ause the wire to twist more, and vice versd. With annealed 

 iron wires which have suffered permanent torsion, remarkable 

 :ffects take place at about a red heat. On heating such a wire, 

 t untwists slightly until a bright red heat is attained, when a 

 iudden twist takes place. On cooling, a sudden untwist occurs 

 It about the same temperature. These effects have been previously 

 ibserved by Prof. Barrett, who believes them to be connected 

 *ith the sudden changes in the magnetic properties of iron, and 

 ;o take place at the same temperature. This latter conclusion 

 was found to be erroneous, for the author exhibited experiments 

 ;howing that the magnetic change takes place at a temperature 

 lecidedly lower than that at which the jerks above referred to, 

 )ccur. — On permanent magnet ammeters and voltmeters of 

 nvariable sensibility, by Prof. W. E. Ayrton, F. R. S., and Prof. 

 I . Perry, F. R. S. The sensibility of ordinary permanent magnet 

 unmeters and voltmeters increases as the strength of the magnet 

 !•■ leases, whereas in those of the Deprety-D'Arsonval type (in 

 h a suspended coil controlled by torsion swings between the 

 - of a permanent magnet) the reverse effect takes place. By 

 inbining the two systems, the authors have devised instru- 

 nents whose sensibility is unaltered by changes in the strength 

 ' he magnet. The torsional control of the D'Arsonval is 

 ved, and a small permanent magnet attached to the swinging 

 As the large permanent magnet changes, the controlling 

 leflecting forces change in the same proportion, and the 

 clion for a given current remains unaltered. 



Zoological Society, June 23. — Prof. W. H. Flower, 

 !<.S., President, in the chair. — Mr. Sclater exhibited the skin 

 White-nosed Monkey of the genus Cercopithecus, lately 

 4 in the Society's Gardens, which appeared to be the C. 

 '.'ills of Schlegel. It had been obtained by the Rev. W. C. 

 iiughby from the west shore of Lake Tanganyika, East 

 :a. — Mr. Sclater also exhibited and made remarks on a 

 imen of the Pheasant from Northern Afghanistan lately 

 I ibed by him as Phasianus principalis, — An extract was 

 : from a letter addressed to the Secretary by Mr. A. H. 

 1 ett, of Labuan, reporting the return of Mr. John Whitehead 

 his expedition to Kina-Balu Mountain, in Northern Borneo, 

 ! specimens of some fine new '^birds, mammals, and other 

 ots of natural history. — Dr. Giinther, F.R.S., exhibited and 

 c remarks on a hybrid Pheasant, between a male Golden 

 Asant ( Thauntalea picta) and a female Reeves's Pheasant 

 isiamis reevesi). Dr. Giinther also exhibited a living hybrid 

 (jn, produced by a male white Fantail Pigeon and a female 

 lared Dovt {Turtur risorius). — Dr. Giinther, F.R. S. , read a 



report on the zoological collections made by Capt. Maclear and 

 the other officers of 11. M.S. Flying-Fish during a short visit to 

 Christmas Island. This island is situated in the middle of the 

 Indian Ocean, south of Java, and had never been before visited 

 by naturalists. The collection, which had been worked out by 

 the staff of the British Museum, consisted of ninety-five speci- 

 mens, amongst which were examples of two mammals, two 

 birds, two reptiles, two moUusks, two Coleoptera, two Lepido- 

 ptera, and a Sponge, new to science. — Mr. F. E. Beddard read 

 a paper on Myrmecobitts fasciatus, in which he described a 

 remarkable glandular structure stretched across the anterior 

 region of the thorax of this marsupial, — Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell 

 read the sixth of a series of studies on the Holothuridea. The 

 present paper contained descriptions of several new species 

 beljnging to the genera Cuctimaria, Bohadschia, and Holo- 

 thuria. — Mr. A. Smith- Woodward read a paper on the fossil 

 teleostean genus Rhacolepis. The author gave a detailed descrip- 

 tion of this Brazilian fossil fish, which had been named and 

 briefly noticed by Agassiz. Three species were defined, and the 

 author showed that the genus had hitherto been erroneously 

 associated with the Percoids and Berycoids. He considered 

 it an Elopine Clupeoid. — A communication was read from Mr. 

 James W. Davis containing a note on a fossil species of 

 Chlamydoselachus. The author pointed out that some teeth 

 from the Pliocene of Orciano, Tuscany, figured and described 

 by R. Law ley in 1876, were referable to this newly-discovered 

 genus of Sharks. He named the fossil species C. lawleyi. — 

 Mr. Frank E. Beddard read the fourth of a series of notes oh 

 the anatomy of Earthworms. The present communication 

 treated of the structure of Cryptodrilus fletcheri, a new 

 species from Queensland. — A communication was read from 

 Mr. Roland Trimen, containing observations on Bipalium 

 kewense, of which worm he had obtained many specimens from 

 gardens at the Cape. — Dr. Giinther gave the description of two 

 new species of fishes from the Mauritius, proposed to be named 

 Platycephalus sub/asciatus and Latilus fronticinctus. — Mr. 

 Sclater read a note on the W^ild Goats of the Caucasus, in which 

 he pointed out the distinctions between Capra caucasica and 

 C. pallasi, which had been until recently confounded together. 

 — Mr. G. Boulenger made remarks on the skull and cervical 

 vertebrae of Meiolania, Owen {Ceratochelys, Huxley), and 

 expressed the opinion that these remains indicated a Pleuro- 

 diran Chelonian of terrestrial and herbivorous habits. The 

 peculiar structure of the tail pointed to a distinct family {Meio- 

 laniidw). — A second paper by Mr. Boulenger contained remarks 

 on a rare American fresh-water Tortoise, Emys blandingii, 

 Holbrook, which was shown to be a close ally of Emys 

 orbicularis of European fresh waters, but to present distinct 

 differential characters. — Mr. A. Dendy read a paper on the 

 West Indian Sponges of the family Chelininse, and gave descrip- 

 tions of some new species. — Mr. H. Seebohm gave the descrip- 

 tion of a new species of Thrush, from Southern Brazil, proposed 

 to be called Merula subalaris. — A communication was read 

 from Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, containing the description of a 

 new species of the genus Calyptoviena, lately discovered by Mr. 

 John Whitehead on the mountain of Kina-Balu, in Borneo, 

 which he proposed to name C. whiteheadi. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, July 4. — M. Janssen in the chair. — 

 Inauguration of the statue to Nicolas Leblanc, by M. Eug. 

 Peligot. It was stated that this bronze statue, erected to the 

 memory of the illustrious chemist, inventor of artificial soda, 

 was unveiled on June 28 in the court of the Conservatoire des 

 Arts et Metiers. — Note accompanying the presentation of the 

 Report of the English Commission appointed to inquire into 

 M. Pasteur's treatment of rabies, by M. Pasteur, While ex- 

 pressing his great satisfaction at the general tenor [and con- 

 clusions of this Report, the author referred in feeling terms to 

 the premature death of his distinguished fellow-worker, M. 

 Vulpian, who had not lived to receive this high testimony to the 

 efficacy of the method of cure in which he had taken so much 

 interest. — Note on the first labours of the Observatory of Nice, 

 by M. Faye. After passing in rapid review the services already 

 rendered to science during the construction of the works at this 

 important astronomical station, the author stated that these 

 works are now completed by the erection of the great 076 m. 

 telescope, constructed by the brothers Henry, and mounted in 

 Eiffel's wonderful revolving dome, whose diameter exceeds that 

 of the Pantheon at Rome. He added that the International 



