February 7, 19 18] 



NATURE 



459 



to S.S.W., and attains a height of about 135 ft. 

 The height is maintained for about two-thirds of its 

 length and dies away at the valley of Chabi. The 

 ]);:per contains an account of the genera and species 

 of Foraminifera found by Mr. Halkvard in this blue 

 inarl, and is illustrated by eight plates of figures. 



Dublin. 



Royal Dublin Society, January 22. — Dr. G. H. Pethy- 

 hiidge in the chair. — Dr. A. G. G. Leonard and P. 

 Whelan : The quantitative spectra of lithium, rubidium, 

 caesium, and gold. The utility of spectrum analysis 

 has been greatly enhanced by a knowledge of the per- 

 sistency of the -spectrum lines in the spark spectra of 

 dilute solutions of the metals. The present paper is a 

 continuation of the quantitative study of these spectra, 

 and includes the results obtained for the metals lithium, 

 rubidium, caesium, and gold. — Capt. E. G. Fenton : 

 Studies in the physiography and glacial geology of 

 southern Patagonia. This paper, which is the result of 

 several years of fKjrsonal observation on the pampas 

 from the coast region at the mouth of the Gallegos 

 River to the Andes, describes the way in which the 

 generally level country has been cut into by the i^treams, 

 and the formation of successive terraces by repeated 

 flooding and erosion. The distribution of large ice- 

 borne boulders enables the limits of a large ice-sheet of 

 Glacial times to be determined, and the author shows 

 that there were at least two epochs of ice-extension 

 from the Andes. An epoch of dry south-westerlv winds 

 gave rise to a remarkable series of sand-cut grooves 

 in the lava-blocks and lava-surfaces of the plateaus. 

 The bajos, which are spoon-shaped excavations in the 

 pampas, with a steep cliff at their heads, are attributed 

 to waterfall action during the melting of the margin 

 of the ice-sheet. The succession of events is pointed 

 out, and the corresponding climatic changes are dis- 

 cussed. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, January 14. — M. Paul Painleve 

 in the chair. — E. Aries : The co-volumes considered as 

 functions of the temperature in the Clausius equation 

 of state. — G. Julia : The repetition of rational frac- 

 tions. — M. d'Ocagne : Skew surfaces circumscribed to 

 a given surface along a given curve. — R. Soreau : The 

 origin and the meaning of the word " abaque." — MM. 

 Lubrano and Maitre : The determination of the latitude 

 of the Observatory of Marseilles by observations made 

 with the prism astrolabe. The mean of the determina- 

 tions, reduced to the latitude of the meridian circle, is 

 43° 18' 16-35'', ^ value identical within ooi* with the 

 mean figure obtained with the meridian circle. — A. . 

 Colson : The cause of the anomalies presented by the 

 dissociation of amylene bromohydrate, and its conse- 

 sequences. The reaction between amylene and hydro- 

 bromic acid at 184° C. was found by Lemoine not to 

 obey the law of mass action, and this has been con- 

 firmed by the author. It is shown that this anomaly 

 is due to the partial change of the bromopentane 

 originally formed into an isomer. — P. Chevenard : An 

 anomaly in the elasticity of carbon steel correlative to 

 the reversible transformation of cementite. The elastic 

 anomaly of steel, due to transformation of the 

 cementite, is proportional to the percentage of carbon. 

 — E. Leger : The action of hydrobromic acid upon 

 cinchonine and its isomers : cinchoniline, cinchpnigine, 

 and apocinchonine. Hydrobromic acid produces pheno- 

 mena of isomerisation with these alkaloids. — C. R. 

 Lopez-Neyra : A new Cyrnea of the partridge. The 

 name Cyrnea seuratii is proposed for the new species, 

 and a detailed comparison is made of it and Cyrnea 

 ctirycerca.—C. Vaney and A. AIIemand-Martin : Contri- 

 bution to the study of the larva of Hippo.spougia equira 

 NO. 2519, VOL. 100] 



from the coasts of Tunis. — F. Di6nert, A. Guillard, and 

 Mme. A. Leguen : The search for the Eberth bacillus 

 and the B-paratvphoid bacillus in waters. A detailed 

 account of the modified method now in use, the first 

 medium being a broth containing malachite-green. The 

 two bacilli above-named can be detected by this method 

 in 50 c.c. of Seine water taken at Paris.— P. Masson : 

 Abnormal epidermisation after bathing with hypo- 

 chlorites. A warning as to possible dangers attending 

 the prolonged use of hypochlorites for disinfecting' 

 wounds. Epidermal lesions sometimes appear .which 

 are characteristic of pre-cancerous states, and which 

 it is necessarv to excise. 



Royal Society of New South Wales, December 5, 

 1917. — R. T. Baker : The occurrence of crystals 

 in some Australian woods. Crystals of calcium 

 oxalate were found to be of rather frequent 

 occurrence amongst some microscopical sections 

 of Australian timbers when being examined for 

 anatomical data. Timbers of twenty-two natural orders 

 were examined, and of these crystals were found in 

 fourteen, being the first record of such in Australian 

 timbers. The crystals were simple, being found in 

 both the wood and ray parenchyma, a single one in 

 each cell, with one exception. — J. H. Maiden : Notes on 

 Eucalyptus (with a description of a new species). No. 5. 

 The paper consists of supplementary notes on a num- 

 ber of species, many of them Western Australian. 

 Most of the species are somewhat rare, and their life- 

 history and morphology but little known. The pro- 

 posed new species is a remarkable form which throws 

 light on the affinities of Eucalyptus erythronema. — 

 Prof. J. Read and Miss M. M. Williams : A novel appli- 

 cation of bromine water in synthetic organic chemistry. 

 The method bears directly upon several processes of 

 technical importance, including the manufacture of 

 novocaine (a well-known synthetic substitute for the 

 natural drug cocaine) and other substances of physio- 

 logical interest; it may also be applied in preparing 

 phenyl acetaldehyde, a hyacinth perfume; and it is of 

 interest in connection wWh the chemistry of the Aus- 

 tralian natural essential oils. 



Linnean Society of New South Wales, Septem- 

 ber 26, 1917. — Dr. H. G. Chapman, president, 

 in the chair.— R. J. Tillyard : Some dragon- 

 flies from Australia and Tasmania. — A. A. Hamil- 

 ton : Notes on the genus Lepidium. — W. F. 

 Blakeley : A new species f f Acacia. — R. Etheridge and 

 J. Mitchell : The Silurian trilobites of New South 

 Wales, with references to those of other parts of Aus- 

 tralia. Part vi. : The Calymeneidae, Cheiruridae, 

 rfarpeidaj, Bronteidae, with an appendix. 



October 31, 1917. — Dr. H. G. Chapman in the chair. 

 — F. H. Taylor; Australian Tabanidae, part iii.— R. J. 

 Tillyard : Odonata, Planipennia, and Tnchoptera from 

 Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands.— E. Cheel : Notes on 

 the common nightshade (Soianum nigrum. Linn.) and 

 some closelv related forms or species which have been 

 confused with it. — A. M. Lea : Descriptions of new 

 species of .Australian Coleoptera, part xiii. 



November 28, 1917.— Dr. H. G. Chapman in the 

 chair.— R. J. Tillyard : The morphology of the caudal 

 gills of the larvae of Zvgopterid drae:onflies. Parts 

 iii.-iv. (Ontogenv and Phvlogeny).— G. I. Playfair : 

 Rhizopods of Sydney and Lismore.— R. J. Tillyard : 

 Mesozoic insects of Queensland. No. 2 : The fossil 

 dragonflv AeschnidoPsis (Aeschna) flindersiensis. Wood- 

 ward, from the Rolling Downs (Cretaceous) series.— 

 R. J. Tillyard : Permian and Triassic insects from New 

 South Wales in the collection of Mr. J. Mitchell.— Miss 

 V. .\. Irwin-SmLth : The Chaetosomatidae, with descrip- 



