192 



NA TURE 



[June 23, 1898 



Atmospheric situation at the time of ascent of experimental 

 balloons, by M. H. Tarry. — The registration of atmospheric 

 electric discharges, by M. Ducretet. The registration was 

 effected by the Hertzian waves set up ; the recording instrument 

 was a Branly radio-conductor. — International balloon ascent of 

 June 8, by M. W. de Fonvielle. The ascents were made on 

 the same day at Paris, Brussels, Strassburg, Vienna, Berlin, St. 

 Petersburg, and Munich.— Short account of the results of the 

 ascents of three captive balloons at Trappes, by M. L. Teis- 

 serenc de Bort. 



New South Wales, 

 Linnean Society, April 27.— Mr. P. N. Trebeck in the 

 chair. — Some new genera and species of fishes, by J. Douglas 

 Ogilby. — On the affinities and habits of Thylacoleo, by Dr. R. 

 Broom. The author reopens a much-debated question in the 

 light afforded by the interesting little fossil marsupial recently 

 described by him under the name Btirrainys parvus 

 [P.L.S.N.S.W., 1895, p. 563]. This little form, which is 

 evidently the representative of a sub-family of the Phalangerida, 

 in most of its characters agrees with the phalangers, but it 

 possesses the greatly enlarged and grooved premolars of the 

 rat-kangaroos ; and not only does it show evidence of a group 

 which fills the only remaining gap between the kangaroos and 

 the phalangers, but as a phalanger with the posterior premolars 

 enormously enlarged, it comes nearer to Thylacoleo than does 

 any extinct or living form hitherto discovered. The conclusions 

 arrived at are — That Thylacoleo is descended from a phalan- 

 geroid form not very dissimilar from Burrainys, and that it was 

 almost certainly a purely carnivorous animal. — Descriptions of 

 new Australian lepidoptera : with a note on the occurrence of 

 Deilephila livoriiica, Esp., at Broken Hill, N.S.W., by Oswald 

 Lower. The beautiful sphingid, Deilephila livornica, Esp., 

 was noticed by the author to be common during the early part 

 of March last, at the electric lights at Broken Hill. On one 

 occasion individuals were literally swarming. The species occurs 

 in Europe, Africa, and S. Asia. It was first recorded from 

 Australia by Mr. Miskin from a Queensland specimen. It is 

 also known from Adelaide, but has not yet been reported from 

 Victoria, Tasmania, or West Australia ; nor has it been recorded 

 previously from New South Wales. — Descriptions of a new 

 Australian grass, by Fred. Turner. The species of Panicum 

 described is a capital forage plant from the Liverpool Plains, 

 N.S.W., its nearest allies being P. se?nitonsuvi, F.v.M., and 

 P. auHdotale, Retz, from North Australia.— Mr. Hedley ex- 

 hibited a specimen of fully developed Gundlachia recently taken 

 by Mr. H. Leighton Kesteven from a pool in the Botanical 

 Gardens, Sydney. This is the second instance of its occurrence 

 in Australia, and the first in New South Wales. The genus has 

 been treated of at some length in vol. viii. (2nd series) of the 

 Society's Proceedings. Possibly no real Avcylus exists in 

 Australia, and all those hitherto reported will ultimately be 

 shown to assume occasionally and at rare intervals the Gundlachia 

 form. — Mr. Ogilby exhibited the type of the new bathybial fish 

 from Lord Howe Island, described in his paper as Aithoprora 

 perspicilla/a, and remarked that it may be distinguished from 

 the three Atlantic species by the presence of a pair of super- 

 numerary photophores between the upper angle of the eye and 

 the ante-orbital. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



FRIDA y, June 24. 

 Physical Society, at 5. — Exhibition of an Apparatus illustrating the 

 Action of Two Coupled Electric Motors : Prof. Carus- Wilson. —Exhibi- 

 tion of Weedon's Expansion of Solids Apparatus : J. Quick. — On the 

 Theory of the Hall Effect in a. Binary Electrolyte : Dr. F. G. Donnan. 



SA TURD A y, June 25. 



Geologists' Association (Liverpool Street Station, G.E R.), at 9.30 a.m. 

 — Excursion to Sudbury. Director: Dr. J. W. Gregory. 



MONO Ay, June 27. 

 Royal Geographical Society, at 4.30. — Plans for the Construction and 

 Erection of a Terrestrial Globe on the Scale of i : 500,000 : Prof. Elis^e 

 Reclus. 



THURSDAY, Jv^^ Zo. 



Linnean Society, at 8. — A Revision of the Genus Eleeocarpus, Linn.; Sir 



D. Brandis, K.C.LE., F.R.S.— Observations on the Membraniporida, a 



FamilY '^^ Marine Bryozoa : A. W. Waters. — On the Fruit of Chnoospora 



fysiigtata, J. Agardh : Ethel .S. Barton. 



NO. 1495, VOL. 58] 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books. — Essai Synthtitique sur la Formation du Systeme Solaire : G. 

 Lafouge, Part i (Paris, Gauthier-Villars). — Calculations in Hydraulic 

 Engineering: Prof. T. C. Fidler, Part i (Longmans). —South American 

 Sketches: R. Crawford f^Longmans).— Twenty-first Annual Report of the 

 Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, for 1897 (New Havens- 

 Catalogue of Earthquakes on the P.icific Coast, '1769 to 1897: Dr. E. S. 

 Holden (Washington).— Report of the U.S. National Museum for the Year 



ending June 30.1895 (Washington).— Lemons El^mentaires d'Acoustique 

 et d'Optique : Prof. C. Fabry (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).— A Manual of 

 Bacteriology : Dr. R. T. Hewlett (Churchill).— Lectures on the Geometry 

 of Position : Prof. T. Reye, translated and edited by Prof. T F. Holgate. 

 Part I (Macmillan).— The First Philosophers of Greece : A. Fairbanks 

 (K. Paul).— The Siudy of Man : A. C. Haddon (Bliss).— Year-Book of the 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1897 (Washington) —Cape Photographic 

 Durchmusterung for the Equinox 1875 : Drs. Gill and Kapteyn, Part 2 

 (Darling). — Text-Book of Zoology: H. G. Wells and A. M. Davies 

 (Clive). 



Pamphlets. — Contribution iii. to the iCoastal and Plain Flora of 

 Yucatan : Dr. C. F. Millspaugh (Chicago). — Medical Missions in their 

 Relation to Oxford : Sir H. W. Acland (Frowde).— Advanced Exam. 

 Papers in Book-Keeping, with Notes by J. Thornton (Macmillan). — Boron 

 Food Preservatives, &c. (Perkins). 



Serials. — Journal of the Franklin Institute, June (Philadelphia). — 

 Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, December 1897 (Phila- 

 delphia). — Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia, 1897, October-December (Philadelphia). — Transactions of the 

 Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia, Vol. v., January 

 (Philadelphia) —Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard Col- 

 lege, Vol. xlii. Part i (Cambridge, Mass.). — Acad^mie des Sciences de 

 I'Empereur Francois Joseph I. Bulletin International (Sciences Math6- 

 matiques et Naturelles et M^decine) (Prague). — Memorie della Societa 

 Geografica Italiana, Vol. vii. Parte Seconda (Roma). — An Account of the 

 Crustacea of Norway : G. O. Sars, Vol. 2, Parts 9, 10 (Bergen). — Archives 

 of the Rontgen Ray, May (Rebman). — American Naturalist, April (Ginn). 

 Morphologisches Jahrbuch, 26 Band, i Heft (Leipzig). — Botanische Jahr- 

 bUcher, Sechsr. Band, i Heft (Leipzig). — Journal of the Scottish Meteoro- 

 logical Society, third series, Nos. 13 and 14 (Blackwood). — Zoologist, June 

 (West). — Jahrbuch der K.K. Geblogischen Reichsanstalt, Jahrg. 1897, 

 xlvii. Band, 2 Heft (Wien).— Die Gastropoden der Trias urn Hallstatt : 

 E. Koken (Wien). — Psychological Review Monographs, Vol. ii. No. 4 

 (Macmillan). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Theoretical Mechanics. By Prof. A, G. Greenhill, 



F.R.S 169 



London Birds. By R, L 172 



Optical Activity, By T, E 172 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Beard : " The Span of Gestation and the Cause of 



Birth." — Dr. Arthur Robinson 173 



Todd: " A New Astronomy" 173 



Lush: " Les-sons in Domestic Science " 173 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Liquid Hydrogen. — Dr. W. Hampson 174 



Dendritic Patterns caused by Evaporation, (Illus- 

 trated.)— Proi. G. H. Bryan, F.R.S 174 



Iridescent Surf at Cromer.— Constance F, Gordon 



Cumming 174 



Aquatic Hymenopteron. — Fred Enock 175 



" A High Rainbow." — Prof. F. J, Allen 175 



The Etiology and Prevention of Malarial Fever, 



By Dr. E, Klein, F.R.S 175 



The University of London Commission Bill ... 176 



The Science and Art Buildings at South Kensington 176 



Notes 177 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comets now Visible .,.,.., 181 



The 40-inch Yerkes Refractor 181 



Variable Stars of Short Period 181 



The Oxford University Observatory 182 



The Supposed Variable Y Aquiloe 182 



Companions of Argon. By Prof. William Ramsay, 



F.R.S., and Morris W. Travers 182 



On the Stability of the Solar System. By M. H. 



Poincare 183 



On the Use of Methylene Blue as a Means of 

 Investigating Respiration in Plants. By Prof. 



J. B. Farmer 185 



University and Educational Intelligence i86 



Scientific Serials 187 



Societies and Academies ,,.... 188 



Diary of Societies ......... 192 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 192 



