July 22, 1920] 



NATURE 



667 



is found in solution. Calcite was proved not to react 

 with manganese salts, but lime was dissolved from 

 aragonite and manganese retained. — M. Gallaud : A 

 race of wallflowers with multiple and hereditary 

 anomalies.— A. Marie and L. MacAulifle : Study of 

 344 gypsies. An anthropometrical comparison with 

 the Frei^h race.— E. Roubaud : The mode of action 

 of powdered trioxymethylene on the larvae of Ano- 

 pheles. Further details 'of the 'best method of using 

 trioxymethylene for the destruction of mosquito 

 larvae.— 7J. Dufrenoy : The excretion of vital colouring 

 matters and degenerescence in Ascidians. — E. Chatton : 

 A morphological and physiological xeno-parasitic 

 complex : • Neresheimeria catenata and FritUlatia pel- 

 liicida.~R. Combier : The purification of sewage by 

 activated sludge.— A. Mayer, L. Plantefol, and A'. 

 Tournay : The phvsiological action of symmetrical 

 dichlorodimethyl ether. 



Cape Town. 



Royal Society of Soutli Africa, May 19.— Dr. A. 

 Young in the chair.— J. Moir : Colour and chemical 

 constitution. Part xi. : A systematic study of the 

 brominated phenolphthaleins "regarding the relation 

 between position and colour. The spectra of twentv- 

 three bromine derivatives of phenolphthalein are 

 described, these being selected from the 658 possible 

 isomers so as to give clear evidence of the value of 

 each of the twelve possible positions for bromine as 

 regards change of colour. These values are tabu- 

 lated, whereby any of the uninvestigated isomers 

 should be calculable. Phenolphthalein differs from 

 benzaurine in not having a negative paraposition ; 

 hence the author concludes that the current chemical 

 formula for the former is incorrect, and suggests a 

 new formulation.— J. R. Sutton: The relationship 

 between cloud and sunshine. A brief discussion of 

 the observations of sunshine and cloud made during 

 the twenty years igoo-19 at Kimberley. In a general 

 way much sunshine postulates little cloud; but the 

 relation is not intimate, and a sunshine recorder 

 cannot be regarded as an automatic device for deter- 

 mining the cloudiness of the sky. August gets the 

 most sunshine and Februarv the most cloud. — Miss 

 Ethel M. Doidge: The haustoria of the genera 

 Meliola and Irene. The fungi belonging to the genus 

 Meliola are true parasites,' sending haustoria into 

 the cells of the host. The most common type is that 

 which has a fine filament penetrating the cuticle and 

 a small globular, thin-walled, uninucleate vesicle in 

 the epidermal cell. Certain species penetrate through 

 the epidermis, through sclerenchvma cells, if these 

 are present, into the first chlorophyll-containing cells 

 of the mesophyll. The haustoria cause a consider- 

 able disorganisation of the cells into which they 

 penetrate, and the mycelium completely blocks many 

 of the stomata. 



Sydney. 



Linnean Society of New South Wales, May 26. — Mr. 

 J. J. Fletcher, president, in the chair.— "Dr. R. J. 

 Tillyard : The Nouropteroid insects of the Hot Springs 

 Region, New Zealand, in relation to the problem of 

 trout-food. Examination of the contents of trout- 

 stomachs showed that the most abundant foods were 

 the green manuka-beetle, Pyronota f estiva, the larvas 

 of caddis-flies of the family Leptoceridae, and a small 

 mollusc, Potamopyrgus sp. Less abundant were 

 larvae of draijoniFlies, mayflies, stoneflies, other 

 families of caddis-flies, etc. Since the introduction of 

 the trout the insect fauna of the region has been verv 

 greatlv reduced, the percentage reduction being esti- 

 mated as follows: Mayflies, more than 50; stone- 

 flies, 80; and caddis-flies, qo. In the vicinitv of a few 

 streams to which the trout have no access insects are 

 NO. 2647, VOL. 105] 



still comparatively very abundant. Suggestions for 

 improving the position are made along two lines : 

 (i) Improvement of the food-supply, and (2) reduction 

 in the number of trout.— Dr. R. J. Tillyard: The 

 Panorpoid complex. Additions to part 3. .Additional 

 evidence is brought forward from the study of the 

 pupal .tracheation of Morova {Siculodes) subfasciatUf 

 Walk., to support the conclusion that it is unlikely 

 that any existing Heteroneurous type represents even 

 a close approximation to the original archetype of the 

 Rhopalocera. 



Washington, D.C. 

 National Academy of Sciences (Proceedings, vol. vi., 

 No. I, January).— ^C. Barus : An example of torsional 

 viscous retrogression. Observations interesting in 

 their bearing on Maxwell's theory of viscosity. — 

 C. M. Myers and C. Voegtlin : The chemical isolation 

 of vitamines. The method eliminates purines, hist- 

 idine, proteins, and albumoses, leaving a liquid that 

 can be crystallised, and probably contains histamine 

 or histamine-like substances. The physiological action 

 of the active fractions resembles that of extracts from 

 the mucosa of the small intestine when the intestinal 

 and yeast extracts are purified in the same manner. — 

 C. G. Abbot : A new method of determining the solar 

 constant of radiation. A method using the pyrano- 

 meter applicable on many more days than the old 

 •method, and having the advantage that several inde- 

 pendent observations of the solar constant may be 

 made on a single day.- — F. G. Benedict : The basal 

 metabolism of boys from one to thirteen years of 

 age. A formula and a curve are given, and it is 

 shown that, although age and stature as well as body- 

 weight must be considered in pfedicting heat output 

 for adults, it is not necessary to consider more than 

 the body-weight in the case of boys — a fact probably 

 due to the close correlation between the changes in 

 age, weight, and stature for boys. — R. A. Dutcher : 

 The nature and function of the antineuritic vitamine. 

 A general review of the theory, with numerous refer- 

 ences, is followed by a brief sketch of the author's 

 work, suggesting that the hormone supply is depen- 

 dent upon the vitamine-content of the food.- — H. F. 

 Osborn and C. C. Mook : Reconstruction of the 

 skeleton of the Sauropod Dinosaur Camarasaurus, 

 Cope (Morosaurus, Marsh); and W. K. Gregory: 

 Restoration of Camarasaurus and life-model. A 

 restoration both in the articulature and in the 

 musculature, with a brief statement of the essential 

 characteristics of each. — W. D. Matthew : Plato's 

 Atlantis in palaeogeography. It is suggested that the 

 present conformation of the Atlantic bottom dates 

 back, in part at least, to the Palgeozoic era. — A. A. 

 Noyes and D. A. Maclnnes : The ionisation and 

 activity of largely ionised substances. A general dis- 

 cussion, with considerable bibliography, leading to 

 the conclusion that most of the largely ionised in- 

 organic substances at moderate concentration may be 

 considered as completely ionised, and the decrease in 

 the conductance-ratio wholly attributed to the decrease 

 of ion mobility, and the change in activity-coefficient 

 entirely attributed to some unknown efi'ect of a 

 physical nature. — A. C. Lunn : The commutativity of 

 one-parameter transformations in real variables. A 

 proof previously given by Lie and Engel applicable to 

 analytic functions is supplanted by a proof assuming 

 the existence of continuous first partial d«^rivatives 

 only. — D. L. Webster : The intensities of X-ravs of 

 the L series. II. : The critical potentials of the 

 platinum lines. After a discussion of the special 

 apparatus employed, a discussion of the lines observed 

 places six lines in L,, six in L„ three in L,. The 

 faint lines of Dershem and Overn aire unassigned. 



