612 



NATURE 



[October 20, 1898 



stated that his own experience fully confirmed Mr. Merrifield's 

 results, but was unable to see how the green coloration of the 

 pupse could be protective, at least in the winter brood. Mr. 

 G. H, Verrall read a paper on Syrphidse collected by Colonel 

 Yerbury at Aden, the specimens, together with some rare 

 British diptera, being exhibited by Colonel Yerbury. Papers 

 were communicated by Mr. G. C. Champion on the Clavi- 

 corn Coleoptera of St. Vincent, Grenada, and the Grenadines ; 

 and by the Rev, T. A. Marshall on the British Braconidae, 

 Part viii. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, October lo. — M. van Tieghem in 

 the chair. — Observations on the supposed transformation of fat 

 into glycogen, by M. Berthelot. Comments upon the paper on 

 this subject of M. Bouchard. The fact of the fixation of oxygen 

 is undoubted, but the author regards the interpretation given to 

 the facts observed as doubtful. It is probable that albuminoids 

 may play a part in this temporary increase of weight. For a 

 man to gain 40 grams of oxygen in an hour, means that nearly 

 all the oxygen respired during that time must remain in the 

 body. The respiratory coefficient under these conditions should 

 be considerably reduced, and further experiments in this direction 

 are very desirable. — Preparation and properties of calcium nitride, 

 by M. Henri Moissan. Starting with pure crystallised calcium, pre- 

 pared in the manner previously described, it is easy to prepare 

 calcium nitride by the direct combination of the two elements. 

 In the cold, nitrogen has no action upon calcium, but on gently 

 "heating a slow absorption takes place ; the white metal becom- 

 ing a bronze-yellow colour, the yellow colour attributed to cal- 

 cium by previous workers being undoubtedly due to the presence 

 of this nitride. At a low red heat the calcium catches fire and 

 burns in the nitrogen, the absorption of the gas being very 

 rapid. The reaction is best carried out in a nickel tube. At 

 the temperature of the electric furnace the nitride is completely 

 decomposed by carbon, calcium carbide remaining in the tube. 

 Water decomposes it with violence, ammonia and calcium 

 hydrate being formed. The suggestion is made that this sub- 

 stance may find a commercial application in the formation of am- 

 monia from atmospheric nitrogen. On the results of Russian 

 geodesic work in Manchuria, by M. Venukofif. — Remarks on the 

 50th volume of the " Memoires de la Section topographique de 

 I'Etat-Major general de Russie." — Observations of Perseid 

 meteors made at Athens, by M. D. Eginitis. — On the integration 

 of the problem of three bodies, limited to the first power of the 

 disturbing mass, by MM. J. Perchot and W. Ebert. — On the 

 energy of a magnetic field, by M. H. Pellat. It has been shown 

 in a previous paper that the expression for the energy of an 

 electrified system undergoes certain modifications if the quantity 

 of heat is taken into account, that the medium gives to or takes 

 from the exterior necessary to maintain its temperature constant 

 during the change. In the present paper a similar expression is 

 developed for the case of a magnetic field. — On a new iodide of 

 tungsten, by M. Ed. Defacqz. By the reaction between 

 aqueous hydrogen iodide and tungsten hexachloride a 

 tungsten tetraiodide is produced, WI4. The iodide is in- 

 fusible, cannot be volatilised without decomposition, and is 

 slowly altered by exposure to the air. — On a crystallised 

 tungsten dioxide, and on a tungsto-lithium tungstate, by M. 

 I,. A. Hallopeau. By heating lithium paratungstate with 

 hydrogen at a temperature near the fusing point of hard glass, 

 crystallised tungsten dioxide WOo is formed. — Thermal study of 

 the sub-oxide and dioxide of sodium, by M. de Forcrand. — On 

 the combinations of lithium chloride with methylamine, by M. 

 J. Bonnefoi. Pure anhydrous lithium chloride rapidly absorbs 

 methylamine, and a study of the heats of formation and dissocia- 

 tion pressures shows that three distinct compounds are formed, 

 LiCl.CHj.NHa; LiC^aCHgNHg ; and LiCLsCHgNHa. The 

 application of Clapyron's formula to the calculation of the heats 

 of dissociation gives results closely agreeing with the experimental 

 determinations. — On a diodo-quinoline, by M. C. Istrati. The 

 introduction of the iodine is affected in the warm, in the 

 presence of sulphuric acid. The iodo-quinoline isolated had 

 the composition C2NH5I9. — On phenyl-phosphoric and 

 phenylene phosphoric acids, by M. P. Genvresse. These are 

 obtained by the action of phosphorus pentoxide upon phenols. — 

 The volumetric estimation of acetaldehyde, by M. X. Rocques. 

 Rieter's method of titrating with alcoholic sulphurous acid is 

 modified in such a manner as to increase the accuracy when 

 strong solutions of aldehyde are under examination. — Thermal 

 data relating to isoamylmaloric acid. Comparison with its 



NO. 15 12, VOL. 58] 



isomer, suberic acid, by M. G. Massol. — Embryos without a 

 maternal nucleous, by M. Yves Delage. — Air and water as 

 factors in the food of certain Batrachians, by M. S. Jourdain. 

 Under certain conditions the eggs of some frogs, during the 

 period of embryonic development, borrow the constituent ele- 

 ments of the young animal from the stock of food materials 

 which it contains, and from the air and water vapour of the sur- 

 rounding medium. — On the composition and alimentary value 

 of haricots, by M. Balland. — Remarks on an aurora borea/is, 

 observed at Guingamp, September 9, by M. V. Desjardins. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books. — La Fonderie : Prof. Le Verrier (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).— Notes 

 on Water Supply : J. T. Rodda (King). — The Structure and Classification 

 of Birds : F. E. Beddard (Longmans). — A Text-Book of Mineralogy : Prof. 



E. S. Dana, new edition (Chapman). — The Tides and Kindred Phenomena 

 in the Solar System : Prof. G. H. Darwin (Murray).— The Story of Marco 

 Polo (Murray). — Kepler's Traum vom Mond : L. Giinther (Leipzig, 

 Teubner).— The Story of the Farm : J. Long (Rural IVorld Publishing 

 Company). — Indiana, Department of Geology and Natural Resources : 

 Twenty-second Annual Report (Indianapolis). — Les Ballons-Sondes et 

 les Ascensions Internationales : W. de Fonvielle, deux Edition (Paris, 

 Gauthier-Villars). — Manual de I'Explorateur : E. Blim and M. RoUet de 

 L'Isle (Paris, Gauthier-Villars). — How to Work Arithmetic : L. Norman 

 (Rugby, Over). 



Pamphlets. — Report and Transactions of the South-Eastern Union of 

 Scientific Societies for i8q8 (Taylor). — A Chemical Laboratory Course : A. 



F. Hogg (Darlington, Dodds). — Untersuchungen iiber die Theorie des 

 Magnetismus. &c. : Prof. E. Dreher and Dr. K. F. Jordan (Berlin, 

 Springer).— The School Cookery Book : M. Harrison (Macmillan). 



Serials.— American Journal of Science, October (New Haven).— 

 American Naturalist, September (Ginn). — Notes from the Leyden Museum, 

 April and July (Leiden, Brill).— Himmel und Erde, October (Be-lin, 

 Paet.-l). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Peary's " Northward over the Great Ice." By 



Dr. Hugh Robert Mill 589 



Modern Mycological Methods. By G. Massee . . 590 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Kingdon : "Applied Magnetism : an Introduction to 



the Design of Electromagnetic Apparatus " . . 591 



Mehnert ; ' ' Biomechanik erschlossen aus dem Principe 



der Organogenese " 591 



Detmer : "Practical Plant Physiology." — H. H. D. 592 



Hogg: " A Chemical Laboratory Course " 592 



Letters to the Editor :— 



Stereo-chemistry and Vitalism.— Herbert Spencer . 592 

 Organic Variations and their Interpretation. — J. T. 

 Cunningham ; Rev. George Henslow ; Prof. 



W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S 593 



Mirage on City Pavements. {Illustrated.) — R. W. 



Wood 596 



Transference of Heat in Cooled Metal. — ^John 



Stone Stone 596 



Animals and Poisonous Plants.— J. C. ; Edward M. 



Langley 597 



An Osteometric Index-Calculator. — David Water- 



ston . . - 597 



Capture of Curious Crustaceans. — E. L. J. Ridsdale 597 

 A Short History of Scientific Instruction. II. By 



Sir Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S. ... .597 

 Fellowships for Research. By Prof. A. Gray, 



F.R.S 600 



Notes 602 



Our Astronomical Column :— 



The Andromeda Nebula 605 



Atlas of Variable Stars 606 



Reminiscences of an Astronomer 606 



Lord Lister on Experimental Medicine ...... 606 



Mechanics at the British Association 607 



Science in Relation to Trade 609 



The Development of the Tuatara Lizard 609 



University and Educational Intelligence 610 



Societies and Academies 611 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 612 



