October 14, 1915 



NATURE 



193 



region separated by an interval of twenty- 

 two years, making use of a 21eiss stereo- 

 comparator, but no movement of the stars in question 

 can be observed. — J. Comas Sold : The approximate 

 positions of a small planet, apparently new. — C. 

 Camichel : Hammering in water pipes entirely free 

 from air. Experimental determinations of the velocity 

 of wave transmission in an 80 mm. iron pipe, 154 metres 

 long, and of the pressures produced by sudden closing 

 of a tap in the main. — Alb. Colson : The heat dis- 

 engaged by a solid body passing to the state of 

 saturated or dilute solutions. Details of experimental 

 studies by a new method on the heats of solution 

 of common salt.— B. Bogitch : The reciprocal solu- 

 bility of copper and lead. Copper and lead form a 

 double layer when the amount of copper^ exceeds 

 34-5 per cent., and is below 87 per cent. This double 

 layer can only exist between the temperature of solidi- 

 fication of the upper layer (940° C.) and 975° C. — 

 Arnold Heim : The geology of the southern part of 

 lower California.— MM. Debierne and Regaud : The use 

 of the condensed radium emanation in closed tubes 

 in the place of radium compounds, and the estimation 

 (in millicuries of emanation destroyed) of the energy 

 used up in radio-active applications in general. An 

 account of the advantages, from the points of view 

 of economy and ease of application, of condensed 

 radium emanation for biological purposes. 

 New South Wales. 

 Linnean Society, August 25. — Mr. A. G. Hamilton, 

 president, in the chair.— R. J. Tilljard : The physiology 

 of the rectal gills in the larvae of anisopterid dragon- 

 flies. The minute structure of the rectal gill was 

 studied to find evidence for a solution of the 

 difficult problem of the physiology of respiration in 

 these organs. Seven separate elements are recognis- 

 able in the gills. The argument excludes four of 

 these, leaving only three, viz., the cuticle, the epithe- 

 lial syncytium of the gill, and its tracheal capillary 

 loops, as the agents of respiration. T^ese are suited 

 for respiration by diffusion of gas #om the rectal 

 water-supply through the cuticle and syncytium into 

 the capillaries. The old objection to this diffusion 

 theory, viz., that it can be understood easily when 

 once started, but that there is no explanation of how 

 it could begin in the newl^'-hatched nymph, is disposed 

 of by observations on the process of hatching, which 

 prove that the tracheal gas is not derived in the first 

 instance from the rectal water-supply, but from some 

 unknown source in the anterior end of the larval 

 body. — T. G. Sloane : Studies in Australian entomo- 

 logy. No. XVn.— New genera and species of Cara- 

 bidae. This instalment treats of the tribes Pamborini, 

 Migadopini, Broscini, Cuneipectini, Nomiini, Ptero- 

 stichini, Platynini, Oodini, Harpalini, and Lebiini. 

 Four genera and thirty-two sf)ecies are described as 

 new; among the most noteworthy being — a new- 

 species of Pamborus, a new genus of the .\ntarctic 

 tribe Migadopini, an additional species of the genus 

 Cuneipectus (the type of a tribe confined to western 

 Australia), and a species of Phorticosomus, which has 

 the submentum bearing two horn-like processes, a 

 character known only in the allied genus Dioctes from 

 the Steppes east of the Caspian Sea. — O. B. Lower : 

 Descriptions of new Australian Lepidoptera. Twenty- 

 one species, referable to the Geometridae, Mono- 

 cteniadae, Selidosemidae, Limacodidae, Ocneriadae, 

 Zeuzeridae, Pyraustidae, OEcophoridae, and Xylo- 

 ryctidae, are described as new; with one exception, all 

 are from Pinnaroo, South Australia, or from Broken 

 Hill, N.S.W'., or from both localities. 



Cape Town. 

 Royal Society of Soutii Africa, August 

 P^ringuey, president, in the chair. — J. 



W. 



-Dr. L. 

 Bews : 



The growth forms of Natal plants. The author gives 

 a detailed description of his work on the growth 

 forms of Natal plants. The investigation of the 

 growth forms of plants in relation to their environ- 

 ment is being recognised as a very important, if not 

 the most important, branch of plant ecology. The 

 study of the various plant communities and their 

 detelrmination by the environmental factors presents 

 a more general aspect of the subject, and has hitherto 

 perhaps on the whole received more attention from 

 plant ecologists, though, of course, it includes a cer- 

 tain amount of the study of the separate growth 

 forms. It is, however, in the more detailed study of 

 the " epharmony " of the species of plants that a 

 deeper insight is gained into the cause and effect re- 

 lationship existing between the environment and plant 

 life. — I. B. Pole Evans : The South African rust fungi. 

 I. The species of Puccinia on Compositae. Descrip- 

 tions and accompanying notes are given of the species 

 of Puccinia based mainly upon material which the 

 author and his colleagues have collected during the 

 past ten years in South Africa, and which is now 

 represented in the Mycological Herbarium of the 

 Union of South Africa at Pretoria. The material has 

 been collected primarily with the object of elucidating 

 the life-histories of the various rusts which are so 

 destructive to many of our economic crops, and it is 

 hoped that the descriptions of these parasites, of 

 which this is the first instalment, may promote a 

 more widespread interest in this group of plants, and 

 may be the means of adding considerably to our pre- 

 sent very imperfect knowledge of these fungi. — 

 J. Steph. V. d. Lingen : Heating and cooling apparatus 

 for Rontgen crystallographic work. The apparatus 

 described has been devised by the author in order to 

 facilitate the work of those who wish to carry on 

 research on the determination of the energy of an 

 atom at zero temperature and at very high tempera- 

 tures. The energy of atoms and its relation to 

 temperature is one of the many problems of modern 

 physics. Since the publication of de Bye's extension 

 of Laue's theory of Rontgen interference, several 

 experiments have been performed with a view to 

 determine, first, the validity of de Bye's theory, and, 

 secondly, the variation of atomic energy due to " heat 

 motion." 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Memoirs of the Geological Survey, England and 

 Wales: The Coals of South Wales, with Special 

 Reference to the Origin and Distribution of Anthra- 

 cite. By Dr. A. Strahan and Dr. W. Pollard. 

 Second edition. Pp. ♦i-fgi. (London: H.M.S.O. ; 

 E. Stanford, Ltd.) 2s. 



Stars of the Southern Skies. By M. A. Orr (Mrs. 

 J. Evershed). Pp. xii + 92. (London: Longmans and 

 Co.) 2S. net. 



An Introduction to Applied Mechanics. By E. S. 

 Andrews. Pp. ix-f3i6. (Cambridge: At the Univer- 

 sity Press.) 4s. 6d. net. 



Botany. By D. Thoday. Pp. xvi + 474. (Cam- 

 bridge : At the University Press.) 5s. 6d. net. 



In Pastures Green. By P. McArthur. Pp. xi-f 364. 

 (London : J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd.) 5s. net. 



Quantitative Law-s in Biological Chemistry. By 

 Dr. S. Arrhenius. Pp. xi 4- 164. (London G. Bell and 

 Sons, Ltd.) 65. net. 



Key to Geometry for Schools. By W. G. Borchardt 

 and Rev. A. D. Perrott. Pp. 294. (London : G. Bell 

 and Sons, Ltd.) Ss. 6d. net. 



An Untamed Territory : The Northern Territory of 

 Australia. By E. R. Masson. Pp. xii+i8i. (Lon- 

 don : Macmilian and Co., Ltd.) 6s. 



Leeds Astronomical Society. Journal and Trans- 



