554 



NA TURE 



[April 4, 190T 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Royal Society, March 7. — *' Some Physical Properties of 

 Nitric Acid Solutions." By V. H. Veley, F.R.S., and J. J. 

 Manley, Daubeny Curator, Magdalen College, Oxford. 



In continuation of their former investigations, the authors have 

 studied the densities with especial reference to the contractions per 

 unit mass, and also the refractive indices. The various experimental 

 and instrumental errors are fully discussed, as also the several 

 effects likely to be produced by the various substances with which 

 the acid solutions of necessity came into contact. The results 

 obtained for the physical properties are given in series of tables 

 and compared with those calculated from various equations for 

 straight lines ; these show that the physical properties are dis- 

 continuous at points corresponding very approximately to the 

 concentrations required for simple molecular combinations only 

 of nitric acid and water. In the case of the contractions the best 

 defined points of discontinuity correspond to the composition of 

 the hydrates with 14, 7, 4, 3, i "5 and I molecular proportions 

 of water ; in the case of the refractive indices, the most marked 

 points correspond to the 14, 7 and i"5 hydrates ; a remarkable 

 discontinuity at 95-100 per cent, concentration was also observed. 

 These points of discontinuity, though to some degree, yet to 

 another degree are ideal in that within the limits of i to 2 per 

 cent, in the vicinity of such points there is a transition stage. 



The values for ju are further expressed in terms both of Glad- 

 stone and Dale's and of Lorentz's formula, and it is shown that 

 the values in neither case are constant, but decrease with increase 

 of concentrations. 



Anthropological Institute, March 12. — Prof. Haddon, 

 F.R.S., in the chair. — Prof. Victor Ilorsley exhibited some 

 trephined skulls from New Britain, and read a communication 

 by Rev. J. A. Crump describing the methods employed by the 

 natives and the objects aimed at. The operator is the medicine- 

 man of the tribe, and he employs a flake of obsidian or piece of 

 shell ; with this he scrapes the exposed bone until a piece the 

 size of half-a-crown is removed. As a rule the operation is 

 resorted to in cases of fracture, and the mortality is about 80 per 

 cent. In New Ireland, however, some forms of insanity, and even 

 headache, are treated in the same way, and there are cases in 

 which people have undergone the operation five times at various 

 periods. — Mr. J. Gray read a paper on cephalometric in- 

 struments and cephalograms. An instrument was shown for 

 taking head measurements, which was devised for field work 

 and required no delicate adjustments. Two other instruments 

 for obtaining diagrams of the contour of the head were also 

 described, and head contours taken by them shown on the 

 screen. — Prof. H. Louis described the "kingfisher" type of 

 Malay kris, the handle of which resembles a kingfisher's head 

 and beak ; according to the Malay legend they were made in 

 memory of a chief named Kingfisher, who invaded the penin- 

 sula from the Bugis Islands many centuries ago. 



Zoological Society, March 19. — Dr. Henry Woodward, 

 F.R.S , vice-president, in the chair. — Mr. Sclater exhibited 

 and made remarks on some specimens of mammals from the 

 Protectorate of Uganda recently received from Sir Harry 

 Johnston, K.C.B. Amongst them were a skin and bones of a 

 chimpanzee, which, so far as was known, was the only complete 

 specimen of this ape that had reached this country from Eastern 

 Africa. Other interesting objects in the collection were flat 

 skins of two apparently new antelopes of the genera Cobus and 

 Cephalophus. Mr. Sclater also laid upon the table a small case 

 of Lepidoptera collected in St. Lucia, West Indies, by Major 

 A. H. Cowie, R.E. — Mr. Tegetmeier exhibited a very fine 

 head of the sable antelope {Hippotragus niger) from Barotse- 

 land. — A communication was read from Dr. G. Stewardson 

 Brady which contained descriptions of a collection of Ostracoda 

 belonging to the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen, most of 

 the species represented in it being new to science. The collec- 

 tion was very varied in character, embracing examples of both 

 marine and freshwater species from widely different localities. — 

 Dr. C. I. Forsyth Major read a paper on Lemur mongoz and 

 Lemur rubriventer, in which he pointed out that the species of 

 Lemur which was generally called Lemur mongoz had absolutely 

 nothing to do with the Linnean species of that name, which had 

 been based on the description and figure of Edwards in his 

 "Gleanings." The only ascertained localities in which the true 

 Lemur mongoz, L., occurred were the neighbourhood of the 

 Bembatoka Bay (N.W. coast of Madagascar) and the two 



NO. 1640, VOL. (i2i\ 



islands Anjuan and Mohilla of the Comoro group. The earliest 

 available name for the usually so-called Lemur mongoz — a very 

 variable species, spread over a great part of Madagascar — 

 seemed to be Lemur fuscus, E. Geoffr. The two species, as 

 indeed were all the species of the genus, were easily distinguish- 

 able by the characters of their skulls. — Dr. Forsyth Major also 

 showed that Lemur rubriventer, I. Geoffr. (of which Prosimia 

 rufipes. Gray, was a synonym), was not, as had been supposed, the 

 female form of L. nigerrimus, Scl., but a very well-marked 

 species. A peculiar feature of the skull was a huge pneumatic 

 cavity in the palatal, which invaded the whole bottom of the 

 orbit. — A communication was read from Mr. P. Cameron con- 

 taining an account of the Hymenoptera collected in New Britain 

 by Dr. Arthur Willey. Owing to the fact of the locality having 

 been but little explored previously, most of the specimens repre- 

 sented in the collection belonged to new species. — Mr. G. A. 

 Boulenger, F.R.S., described four new species of freshwater 

 fishes discovered by Mr. F. W. Styan, at Ningpo, China. — Mr. 

 F. E. Beddard, F.R.S., read a note upon Garnett's Galago 

 {Galago garnetti), in which he pointed out that a spiny structure, 

 nearly similar to that previously described on the wrist of 

 Hapalemur griseus, was also present on the hind foot of this 

 animal. 



Mineralogical Society, March 19. — Prof. A. H. Church, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. H. L. Bowman read a 

 paper on the micas, tourmaline and associated minerals occurring 

 in pegmatite at Haddam Neck, Connecticut. The occurrence 

 resembles that at Auburn, Maine. A peculiar pink fibrous 

 mineral surrounding prisms of lepidolite is shown to be a 

 variety of- muscovite. — Mr. G. F. Herbert Smith discussed 

 crystals of calaverite from the Cripple Creek District, Colorado^ 

 They are triclinic, but pseudo-monoclinic owing to twinning 

 about an axis parallel to the edge of the prism zone. The two 

 individuals are interpenetrant with no apparent plane of separa- 

 tion. The crystals are also twinned in the ordinary way. 

 Quantitative analyses made by Mr. G. T. Prior show that the 

 material is nearly pure telluride of gold, AuTej, with only about 

 I per cent, of silver. — Mr. W. Barlow exhibited models to show 

 arrangements for the chemical atoms of crystals in harmony ~ 

 with the symmetry. The models are composed of closely- 

 packed india-rubber balls of various sizes, each ball representing 

 a single atom. Boracite, boric acid and cassiterite were dealt 

 with. The structure assigned to boracite suggests an explana- 

 tion of the peculiar dimorphism of this substance discovered by 

 Mallard, and that representing cassiterite shows the twinning of 

 this mineral. 



Entomological Society, March 20. — Mr. G. H. Verrall, 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Mr. C. J. Watkins sent for exhibi- 

 tion a series of larch twigs illustrating the winter condition of 

 Coleophora laricella, the special feature being the manner in 

 which the cases of the larvae assimilated in colour with the bark 

 of the larch. — Mr. G. B. Routledge exhibited a specimen of 

 Hydrilla palustris taken on the wing by Mr. J. E. Thwaytes 

 near Carlisle in 1899 — the first male taken in that district. He 

 also exhibited specimens of Bembidium schuppeli, a rare beetle 

 captured on the banks of the river Irthing. — Mr. R. McLachlan 

 exhibited Trichopterous larva-cases of the form known as 

 ' ' Helicopsyche " from the Prony River, New Caledonia, sent to 

 him [by Mr. J. J. Walker, R.N. They were large and re- 

 markable for the size of the individual sand-grains of which 

 they were built up. These sand-grains, Mr. Walker informs 

 him, were water-worn particles of the heavier minerals of the 

 river bed, 'such as chrome, nickel and iron ores. It is possible 

 that similar cases were alluded to by Hagen in the Stett. Entom. 

 Zeitung, 1864, p. 129, from the Munich Museum. — Mr. G. T. 

 Porritt exhibited specimens of an almost black form of Acronycta 

 menyanthidis from Skipwith Common, near Selby, and, for com- 

 parison, specimens from the moors near Huddersfield. The 

 chief interest in the exhibit consisted in the fact that in both the 

 districts where the melanic menyanthidis occurred, melanism 

 was not a common feature : whereas in the Huddersfield district, 

 where only the pale form of menyanthidis was taken, melanism 

 was a conspicuous feature in many species, even in, and close to, 

 the grounds, where only pale menyanthidis could be found. — 

 Mr. H." W.' Andrews exhibited a female specimen of Amphidasys 

 betularia, with hind wings aborted and scarcely developed, 

 taken at Paul's Cray, Kent, in May, 1896.— In connection with 

 an announcement that the County Council had under considera- 

 tion the feasibility of stocking the London parks with butter- 

 flies, Mr. H. Rowland-Brown stated that according to the 



