220 



NATURE 



[December 27, 1900 



donta cygnea, forwarded from Claughton, Garstang, Lancashire, 

 by Mr. W. Fitzherbert Brockholes. The three largest of these 

 measured 875 inches, 8 inches and 7*5 inches in width, these 

 measurements being considerably in excess of those given in the 

 text-books, and of the examples figured as Mytilus cygneus in 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. viii. pi. 3, p. 109, and as Mytilus stag- 

 nalis (from Kew Gardens) in Sowerby's ' ' British Miscellany," 

 vol. i. pi. xvi. p. 33. It was stated that amongst other speci- 

 mens found in the pond at Claughton, when drained, there was 

 one of nine inches, twenty-eight measuring from 8 to 9 inches, 

 and about a hundred of 7 to 8 inches. — Mr. F. Chapman read a 

 paper on some new foraminifera from Funafuti, on which some 

 remarks were made by Mr. Sherborne. — Mr. H. Groves, on 

 behalf of Mr. G. C. Druce, communicated a paper entitled, A 

 revision of the British thrifts {Stalice and Armeria), in which 

 he attempted a rectification of the synonymy, and discussed the 

 value of the pubescence on the ribs of the calyx as a distinguish- 

 ing character. 



Royal Meteorological Societyj December 19. — Dr. C. 

 Theodore Williams, President, in the chair. — Mr. H. Mellish 

 read a paper on the seasonal rainfall of the British Isles, which 

 he illustrated with a number of lantern slides. He discussed 

 the rainfall returns from 210 stations for the twenty-five years 

 1866-90, and calculated the percentage of the mean annual 

 rainfall for each season. In winter the largest percentages of 

 rainfall are found, as a rule, at the wet stations, and the smallest 

 at the dry ones. Spring is everywhere the driest quarter, and 

 the percentages are very uniform over the country, rather larger 

 in the east then in the west. In summer the highest percent- 

 ages are found in the dry districts, and the lowest in the wet 

 ones. As the spring is everywhere dry, so is the autumn every- 

 where wet, and there is little difference in the proportion of the 

 annual total which falls in the different districts. As regards 

 the relation between the amount of rain which falls in the 

 wettest and driest month at any station, it seems to be generally 

 the case that the range is larger for wet stations than for diy 

 ones. In wet districts rather more than twice as much rain 

 falls, on the average, in the wettest month as in the driest, and 

 in dry districts rather less than twice. 



Edinburgh. 



Mathematical Society, December 14. — Mr. J. W. Butters, 

 President, in the chair. — Dr. Third read a paper on triangles 

 triply in perspective, and a paper on four circles touching a 

 common circle, by Prof. AUardice, was communicated to the 

 meeting by Mr. George Duthie. 



Cape Town. 



South African Philosophical Society, November 28. — 

 M. L. Peringuey, President, in the chair. — The Secretary read a 

 paper by Dr. R. Broom, of Pearston, on the leg and toe 

 bones of Ptychosiagum. Dr. Broom described a tibia and 

 fibula, together with the greater part of two toes and a couple 

 of carpal bones, found near Colesberg in association with the 

 skull of Ptychosiagum Murrayi and presented to the Eastern 

 Province Naturalists' Society by Mr. Leslie, of Port Elizabeth. 

 The structure of the leg and toes confirm the view, based on the 

 portion of the nostrils, that Ptychosiagum was an aquatic form. 

 — Dr. J. D. F. Gilchrist read a paper entitled " The History of 

 the Local Names of Cape Fishes." The object of the paper was 

 to clear up certain difficulties caused by the use of different 

 names and review their historical origin and development from 

 a philological point of view. A list of over 200 names was pro- 

 cured, many of which were synonyms. These were arranged 

 alphabetically, the synonyms grouped together and followed by 

 the scientific name where possible. Traces of East Indian, 

 French and Portuguese elements were found in the nomen- 

 clature, the most prominent being, however, Dutch and 

 English. 



New South Wales. 



Linnean Society, October 31. — Mr. Henry Deane, Vice- 

 President, in the chair. — Tasmanian land planarians : descrip- 

 tions of new species, &c., by Thos. Steel. — Contributions to a 

 knowledge of the Australian flora. Part iii., by R. T. Baker. A 

 number of species of phanerogams and fungi not previously 

 known to occur in New South Wales are recorded, as well as 

 additional localities for already recorded New South Wales 

 species. — Studies in Australian entomology : No. x., description 



NO. 1626, VOL. 63] 



of a new tiger-beetle from Western Australia, by Thomas G. 

 Sloane. — De.scription of a specimen of kerosene shale from 

 Megalong Valley, N.S.W., by Prof. C. E. Bertrand, Lille. A 

 detailed description of the microscopic and macroscopic cha- 

 racters of a kerosene shale from Megalong are given. The shale 

 belongs to the same type as the shales from Mount Victoria and 

 Blackheath containing the alga, Reinschia australis. It is note- 

 worthy, however, for the excellent state of preservation of the 

 remains of the minute fossil forms. Associated with the alga 

 are pollen grains and spores. The author has calculated that 

 there are 16,830 thalli oi Reinschia in a cubic millimetre of the 

 shale. — On the ' ' clouding " of white wine, by.-R. Greig Smith. A 

 variety of chablis becomes clouded and turbid soon after 

 bottling, which renders the wine commercially useless. The 

 cause has been traced to an acetic-acid-forming bacterium which 

 grows only upon wine and yeast-derived fluids. By inoculation 

 of the pure organism into sterile wine, the trouble was repro- 

 duced. The remedy consists in pasteurising the wine. — On 

 some new species of Eucalyptus, by R. T. Baker. 



St. Louis. 



Academy of Science, December 3. — Mr. William H. 

 Roever, of Washington University, read a paper on brilliant points 

 and loci of brilliant points. The paper gave the analytical condi- 

 tions which define the brilliant point of a surface, the brilliant 

 point of a space curve, the brilliant point of a plane curve and the 

 brilliant point in space of two dimensions, when the source of 

 light is such that the incident rays are normal to a given surface 

 and the recipient is such that the reflected rays are normal to 

 another given surface. Formulae were given for the important 

 special case in which the source and recipient are points. The 

 paper also contained a general method for finding the equation 

 of the locus of the brilliant points of a moving or variable sur- 

 face or curve, together with a number of applications. Such 

 loci may often be perceived when an illuminated polished surface 

 is rapidly moved, as when a wheel with a polished spoke 

 is rapidly rotated. Another interesting example in loci of 

 brilliant points is that of a circular saw which has been polished 

 with emery in a lathe and thus received a great number of con- 

 centric circular scratches. The locus of the brilliant points of 

 this family of scratches was shown in this paper to be a curve of 

 the fourth degree. In the special case when the point source of 

 light and the eye of the observer (the point recipient) are in a 

 plane through the axis of the saw, the curve degenerates into a 

 circle and two coincident straight lines. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



A Contribution to Lamarckian Evolution. By Prof. 



R. Meldola, F.R.S I97 



Optical Science 203 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Bacon: " By Land and Sky " 203 



Kroell : ^'Der Aufbau der Menschlichen Seele ; 



Eine Psychologische Skizze."— A. E. Taylor . . 204 



Morley : " Shakespeare's Greenwood." — R. L. . . . 204 

 Letters to the Editor:— 



Relative Motion of the Earth and the Ether. ( With 



Diagrams.)— William Sutherland 205 



Virgil as a Physicist.— H. G. M 205 



The Sentinel Milk Steriliser.— D. Berry ; Your 



Reviewer 205 



Tychoniana at Prague. {Illustrated.) By J. L. E. D. 206 



Physiographyand Physical Geography. By R. A. G. 207 



Notes 208 



Our Astronomical Column :— 



Astronomical Occurrences in January, 1 90 1 . . . . 211 



Ephemeris for Observations of Eros 212 



Diameter of Venus 212 



Reduction of Occultations .... 212 



Natural and Artificial Perfumes. By W. J. P. . . 212 



Prize List of the Academy of Sciences 214 



United States Geological Survey 215 



On the Relations of Radiation to Temperature. By 



Dr. J. Larmor, F.R.S. 216 



Scientific Serials 218 



Societies and Academies 218 



