528 



NATURE 



{Sept. 29, 18S7 



signipennella, but directly Mr. Elisha began breeding the insect its 

 identity with Z. hepariella was established. — Mr. Tutt exhibited 

 specimens of Crambus alpinellus, C. contaminellus, Lita semi- 

 decandrella, L. marmorea, and L. blandtdella (a new species), 

 Doryphora pahistrella, and Dcpressaria yeatiana, all collected 

 at Deal during last July and August. Mr. Stainton observed 

 that Crambus alpinellus was so named from the earliest captures 

 of the species having been made on the lower parts of the Alps, 

 but that it had since been found on the low sandy ground of 

 North Germany, and its capture at Deal quite agreed with what 

 was now known of the distribution of the species in Germany. 

 It was first recorded as a British species by Dr. Knaggs in 1871. 

 Mr. Stainton further observed that he had named Mr. Tutt's 

 new species blandiilella, from its similarity to a small tiiaculea, of 

 which one of the best known synonyms was blandella. He also 

 remarked that Deal was a new locality for Doryphora palustrella, 

 which had hitherto only been recorded from Wicken Fen and 

 the Norfolk Fens in England. — Mr. Waterhouse exhibited a 

 variety of Lyccena phlceas ; also a number of Stenobothrus rujipes, 

 and three specimens of Coccinella labilis. — Mr. M.Jacoby exhibited 

 several species of Galerucidce, belonging to a genus which he pro- 

 posed to call Neobrotica, closely resembling in shape and 

 coloration certain species of Diabrotica, but differing there- 

 from in structural characters. He remarked that the late Baron 

 Von Harold had described a Galeruca from Africa, which, except 

 in generic characters, exactly resembled the South American 

 genus Dircenia. — Dr. Sharp communicated a paper, by Mr. T. 

 L. Casey, " On a new genus of African PselaphidcE." — Mr. 

 Bridgman communicated a paper entitled " Further Additions 

 to the Rev. T. A. Marshall's Catalogue of British Ichneumouidcr." 

 — Mr. Distant read a paper entitled " Contributions to a Know- 

 ledge of Oriental Rhynchota." — Mr. Enock read notes "On the 

 Parasites of the Hessian Fly," and exhibited specimens of 

 injured barley. A discussion ensued, in which Dr. Sharp, 

 Mr. Jacoby, Mr. Billups, Mr. Waterhouse, and others took 

 part. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, September 19. — M. Herve Mangon 

 in the chair. ^ — -Remarks accompanying the presentation of a 

 copy of his treatise on " Thermo-dynamics," by M. J. Bertrand. 

 Reference is made exclusively to the function long known to 

 physicists under the name of Carnot's function, and the principle 

 of which was accepted by Carnot's pupil Clapeyron. The author 

 has sought, for the general case, the form that, according to 

 their principles, Carnot and Clapeyron should have given to 

 this unknown function, which they themselves did not determine. 

 This form, as here rigorously deduced from those principles, is 

 found to be very different from that which the progress of 

 science has caused to be generally accepted. — Observations on 

 the rotation of crops, by M. P. P. Deherain. The system 

 generally adopted in the North of France lasts five years, 

 beginning with beetroot or potatoes, and followed by wheat 

 with clover sown in the spring and yielding two crops the third 

 year. The ground being then broken in the autumn, is again 

 prepared for wheat, followed in the fifth and last year by oats. 

 In this system two crops are here shown to be badly placed, the 

 first wheat succeeding badly after beetroot, and oats badly after 

 the second wheat. The author's experiments prove that the 

 four years' rotation, as practised in England, and known as the 

 Norfolk system, is in every way the best and most profitable. — 

 Provisional elements of Brooks's new comet (August 24), by 

 MM. Rambaud and Sy. These elements, based on the observa- 

 tions made at the Observatory of Algiers during the period from 

 August 29 to September 2, are as under : — 



T = 1887 October 13 '9499 



■^ = 157 54-5 

 a = 8s 39-8 



' = 45 58-1 

 log^ =005717 



Representation of the mean observation O - C 

 Ao cos i8 = -f o"'2, A& = o"*o. 



— Observations of the same comet made with the Brunner 6-inch 

 equatorial at the Observatory of Lyons, by M. Le Cadet.— On 

 the organization of the astronomical service in the United States, 

 by M. A. Laussedat. The author's remarks, made in connexion 

 with a recent visit to the Naval Observatory of Washington, 



deal more especially with the chronometer department, and with 

 the arrangements made for transmitting the astronomical time to 

 all the chief ports on the Atlantic sea-board. The same current 

 corrects at noon the three or four hundred clocks in the public 

 offices, schools, and other establishments in Washington. Cer- 

 tain important services, such as those of the Signal Service, the 

 Coast Survey, and fire- stations, are directly connected by tele- 

 graph wires with the Naval Observatory, while private houses 

 and firms can also obtain the time by paying a yearly subscrip- 

 tion to the Telegraph Company. — On the reduction of alumina, 

 by M. G. A. Faurie. Two parts of pure and finely-powdered 

 alumina with one of petroleum or other hydrocarburet are 

 worked into a paste, which is well kneaded, and one part of 

 sulphuric acid added. When the mass becomes homogeneous, with 

 a unifjrm yellow colour, and begins to liberate sulphuric acid, it 

 is put in a paper bag, and placed in a crucible heated to a good 

 red over 830° C, so as to decompose the petroleum. After 

 cooling, the product thus obtained is carefully pulverized, mixed 

 with its weight of a powdered metal, placed in a well-closed 

 crucible in plumbago, and brought to a white heat with the 

 blow-pipe. After again cooling, more or less rich grains of 

 aluminium alloy will be found in the middle of a black metallic 

 powder. The process is eqiially applicable ti silica, lime, 

 magnesia, &c. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



The Photographer's Indispensable Hand-book. — Annals of Botany, vol. i. 

 No. I (Clarendon Press). — The Earth in Space ; E. P. Jackson (Heath, 

 Boston). — British Dogs, No. 11 : H. Dalziel (Gill). — Bees and Bee-keeping, 

 vol. ii. No. 12: F. R. Cheshire (Gill). —The State— The Rudiments of New 

 Zealand Sociology : J. H. Pope (Wellington).— The Realistic Teaching of 

 Geography : W. Jolly (Blackie). — Results of Meteorological Observations 

 made in New South Wales during 1885 : H. C. Russell (Sydney). — Morse 

 Collection of Japanese Pottery (Salem). — The Advance of Science, Three 

 Sermons (John Heywood) — Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Science 

 of Philadelphia, Part i, 1887 (Philadelphia). — Proceedings of the American 

 Philosophical Society, vol. xxiv. No. 125 (Philadelphia). — Bulletin of the 

 U.S. Geological Survey, Parts 34-39 (Washington). — Beobachtungs Ergeb- 

 nisse der Norwegischen Polarstation Bossekop in Alten, i. Theil (Christi- 

 ania). — Transactions of Vassar Brothers' Institute and its Scientific Section 

 vol. iv. Part i (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Origin of the Fittest. By Dr. George J. 



Romanes, F.R. S 505 



The Teaching of Geography. By H. J. Mackinder . 506 

 Our Book Shelf :— 



Durrant : " Chemistry and Heat " 507 



Routh : " On Overwork and Premature Mental 



Decay " 507 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Hall and Knight's " Higher Algebra."— H. S. Hall 



and S. R. Knight ; R. B. H 507 



On the Constant P in Observations of Terrestrial 



Magnetism. — Prof. Arthur W. Riicker, F.R. S. . 508 

 A Meteor's Flash and Explosion. — Dr. John William 



Moore 508 



A Monstrous Foxglove. — F. Howard Collins . . . 508 

 The Umbrid's Wave. — Capt, Henry Toynbee ; Capt. 



W. Watson 50S 



The Garden Roses of India. By Sir D. Brandis, 



F.R.S 509 



The Iron and Steel Institute 51c 



The British Association : — 



Section H. — Anthropology. — Opening Address by 

 Prof. A. H. Sayce, M.A., President of the 



Section 511 



Reports 51 ' 



Section A — Mathematical and Physical Science . . . 5- 



Notes 52 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Cordoba Observatory 52; 



New Minor Planet 52; 



Olbers' Comet, 1887 52^^ 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1887 



October 2-8 



Societies and Academies 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received \^\ 



