;82 



NA TV RE 



\^Aiigust 18, 1887 



coat of the Pitta to attend a wedding, and did not return it. The 

 disconsolate Pitta wanders through the jungle calling on the 

 peacock to restore its dress — hence the cry, ayittain, ayittam 

 (my dress, my dress). The cry of the hornbill {Kandetta) is 

 inauspicious and a sure sign of drought. The bird is doomed to 

 suffer intolerable thirst ; not being able to drink from any stream 

 or rill, it has the power only to catch the rain-drops in its bill 

 to quench its thirst, and keeps continually crying for rain. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The following is the list of candidates successful in the com- 

 petition for the Whitworth Scholarships, 1887 ; — James Whitaker, 



21, engineer student, Burnley, ^^200 ; John Calder, 20, mechan- 

 ical engineer, Glasgow, ;i^iSo ; John Smith, 22, carpenter, 

 Belfast, ;^I50; Nicholas K. Turnbull, 21, mechanical engineer, 

 Glasgow, ;i^i5o ; James C. Talbot, 23, engineer, Southampton, 

 ;^i5o; Arthur F. Home, 25, mechanical engineer, Moreton-in- 

 Marsh (formerly of Glasgow), ;r^l5o ; Edward J. DufF, 23, 

 engineer, Glasgow, ;i^i50; Robert N. Blackburn, 20, engineer 

 apprentice, Liverpool, £i'^o; William Thomson, 20, engineer 

 apprentice, Glasgow, ^^150; William W. F. Pullen, 20, engineer 

 apprentice, Cardiff, ;^ioo ; Edwin Griffith, 20, engineer ap- 

 prentice, Glasgow, ;i^ioo ; Frederick C. Tipler, 23, assistant 

 chemist, Crewe, ^100 ; Thomas H. M. Bonell, 24, analytical 

 chemist, Swindon, ^ico ; Richard J. Redding, 22, metallurgist, 

 Plumstead (Woolwich), and Arthur W. Sisson, 25, mechanical 

 draughtsman, Lincoln (equal), ^100 each ; Arthur H. Abbott, 



22, engineer. Great Yarmouth, ^100 ; George Hough, 23, 

 engineer, Wolverton, ;^"ioo ; Harry G. Christ, 19, engineer 

 apprentice, London, ;^ioo ; Harry D. Griffiths, 21, engineer 

 apprentice, Cardiff, ;^ioo ; Denholm Young, 24, engineer ap- 

 prentice, Edinburgh, ;^ioo ; Benjamin G. Oxford, 20, engineer 

 apprentice, Liverpool, ;^ioo ; Bernard H. Crookes, 21, engineer 

 student, Liverpool, ;i^loo ; George J. Wells, 23, engineer, 

 London, ;!^ioo ; John Eustice, 23, engine fitter, Camborne, 

 ^ico; Augustus H. H. Bratt, 24, engineer, Plumstead (Wool- 

 wich), ^100. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Entomological Society, August 3. — Dr. D, Sharp, Presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — Mr. J. W. Peers and Mr, R. G. Lynam 

 were elected Fellows. — Jonkeer May, the Dutch Consul- 

 General, exhibited a pupa and two imagos of Cecidomyia 

 destructor (Hessian fly) which had been submitted to him by 

 the Agricultural Department. — Mr. W. White exhibited, and 

 made remarks on, a specimen of Philampelus satellitia, Linn., 

 from Florida, with supposed fungoid excrescences from the eyes. 

 Mr. Stainton said he was of opinion that the supposed fungoid 

 growth might be the pollinia of an Orchis. Mr. Poulton ex- 

 pressed a similar opinion, and the discussion was continued by 

 Mr. Pascoe and Dr. Sharp. — Mr. White also exhibited a speci- 

 men of Catefhia alchymista, bred from a pupa collected last 

 autumn on the south coast. — Mr. McLachlan sent for exhi- 

 bition a number of oak-leaves infested by Phylloxera punc- 

 tata, Lichtenstein, which he had received from Dr. Maxwell 

 Masters, F.R. S. — Mr. Champion exhibited two rare species 

 of Curculionidce from the Isle of Wight — viz. one specimen 

 of Baridius analis, and a series of Cathormiocerus socitis. 

 He remarked that C. maritivius, Rye, had been placed in recent 

 European Catalogues as a synonym of the last-named species, 

 but that this was an error. He also exhibited a series of Cicin- 

 dela gertnanica, from Blackgang. — M. A. Wailly exhibited, and 

 made remarks on, a number of living larvae of Anthercea pernyi, 

 A. mylitta, Telea polyphemtis, Platysamia cccropia, Attacus 

 cynthia, Callosafnia promethea, and other silk-producing species. 

 He also exhibited imagos of the above species, imagos of 

 Antkeraa yama-mai, and a number of species of Diurni from 

 Sarawak. — Mr. Poulton exhibited crystals of formate of lead 

 obtained by collecting the secretion of the larva of Dicranura 

 vinula on 283 occasions. The secretion had been mixed with 

 distilled water in which oxide of lead was suspended. The 

 latter dissolved, and the acid of the secretion being in excess 



the normal formate was produced. Prof. Meldola promised ti 

 subject the crystals to combustion, so that their constitutio 

 would be proved by the final test. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, July 15.— Special Meeting.— Dr. J. Murray 

 Vice-President, in the chair. — Piof. Tait submitted a communi 

 cation by Sir W. Thomson on the stability of the steady motioi 

 of a viscous fluid between two parallel planes. — Sir W. Turne 

 communicated a note by Mr. George Brook on the epiblasti 

 origin of the segmental duct in teleostean fishes, and birds. - 

 Prof, T. R. Eraser read a preliminary note on the chemistry c 

 strophanthin. — Mr. J. J. Coleman described a new diffusimete 

 and other apparatus for the study of liquid diffusion. — A pape 

 by Mr. Frank E, Beddard was communicated by Prof. Si 

 W. Turner. — Dr. Murray read a paper on the mean height c 

 the land of the globe. The lower limit he gives is, in roun^ 

 numbers, 1900 feet. The higher limit, which he believes to b 

 more nearly correct, is about 2100 feet. — Mr. J. T. Cunning 

 ham, of the Scottish Marine Station, read a paper on th 

 Chcetopoda seden'aria of the Firth of Forth. 



July 18. — Sheriff Forbes Irvine, Vice-President, in the chah 

 — The Chairman intimated the foundation by Dr. Gunning c 

 the Victoria Jubilee Prize, and the conditions of award whic] 

 have been approved by the donor. The first award of th 

 prize was made to Sir W. Thomson, for a remarkable series c 

 papers on hydrokinetics which he has communicated to th- 

 Society. — Mr. W. Durham read the second part of his paper 01 

 the laws of solution. — Prof. Tait communicated a paper b 

 Prof. W. Burnside on the partition of energy between th 

 tran^latory and rotational motions of a set of non-homogeneou 

 elastic spheres. The rotational energy is equal to two time 

 the translational energy. — Dr. H. R. Mill submitted a paper oi 

 the salinity, temperature, &c., of the Firth of Forth. — Prof. Tai 

 communicated a paper by Mr. Albert Campbell on the direc 

 measurement of the Peltier effect. Mr. Campbell has experi 

 rcented with three pairs of metals. His results agree in ever' 

 case with Prof. Tait's thermo-electric diagram. The agreemen 

 in the case of iron and nickel is of special importance. — Dr 

 Alex. Scott communicated a paper on vapour densities at higl 

 temperatures. — Prof. Tait read a paper by Dr. G. Plarr on thi 

 determination of the curve, on one of the co-ordinate planes 

 which forms the outer limit of the positions of the point o 

 contact of an ellipsoid which always touches the three plane: 

 of reference. — Mr. Buchan read a paper by Mr. A. Rankin or 

 the mean temperatures of the various winds at Ben Nevi: 

 Observatory. — Prof. Crum Brown read a paper on ferric ferri 

 cyanide as a reagent for detecting traces of reducing gases. 

 This reagent gives a test depending on the production o: 

 colour, which is a more delicate test than one which depends or 

 its disappearance. — Prof. Tait communicated some results on the 

 compressibility of water, of mercury^ and of glass. The average 

 compressibility of a 20 per cent, aqueous solution of common 

 salt per atmosphere for the first loo atmospheres is 0*00003 16, 

 It diminishes rapidly with the percentage of salt in solution. 

 The compressibility of common lead glass is 0"ooooo27 at r 

 temperature of 19° C. — Prof Berry Haycraft submitted a de 

 scription of experiments to show the truth of Sir J. Lister's 

 theory of coagulation. — Dr. Murray communicated a paper hy 

 Mr. Adam Dickie on the chemical analyses of sea-water from 

 the Clyde sea-area. — The Chairman mentioned the number oi 

 papers read during the session, classifying them under variou; 

 heads. He also read the Jubilee address which had been pre 

 sented to Her Majesty by the Secretary of State on behalf of the 

 Society. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, August 8. — M. Janssen inthecl 

 — Observations of the minor planets, made with the 

 meridian instrument of the Paris Observatory during the 

 quarter of the year 1887, communicated by M. Mouchez. 

 right ascensions and polar distances are given of 

 Sophrosyne, Undine, Hebe, and nine other minor planet 

 various dates with Paris mean time, all comparisons be 

 referred to the ephemerides published by the Berlin y^;?/;-^// 

 except those of Undine, which are referred to those publishe 

 in No. 288 of the circulars of the Berlin Jahrbuch. 

 observations were made by M. O. Callandreau. — Fresh dj 

 ments on the relations existing between the chemical 

 mechanical work of the muscular tissue, by M. A. Chauvd 



