November io, 1892" 



NATURE 



47 



and the interest in its holy places lost for more than a generation. 

 This ima^e became jungle-grown ani hidden from view, and 

 was accidentally discovered by a railway contractor searching 

 for ballast for the line in the neighbourhood. General and 

 detailed views of the Kawgun Cave were shown, exhibiting the 

 wonderful extent of its decoration by avast number of terra-cotta 

 tablets and images in wood, marble, alabaster, and other 

 materials, and the extraordinary variety and multitude of the 

 objects connected with Buddhistic worship, both ancient and 

 modern, to be found in it. The Kawgun .Cave is the richest 

 of those visited by Major Temple, but he explained that he had 

 examined about half a dozen others in the district, and had since 

 gathered positive information from local native sources of the 

 existence of about forty altogether. Many of these are hardly 

 inferior to Kawgun in richness of Buddhistic remains, and 

 several are said to contain in addition ancient MSS., which must 

 now be of inestimable value. A few such MSS. have actually been 

 found. It will thus be seen how great and valuable is the field, 

 and how well worth systematic study by competent students. 



Royal Microscopical Society, October 19. — Mr. G. C. 

 Karop, Vice-president, in the chair. — The chairman exhibited 

 and described Messrs. Swift's aluminium microscope, which he 

 believed to be the first microscope made of that metal. The 

 chief point in the instrument was its extreme lightness, the whole 

 when complete, and including the condenser and eyepiece, weigh- 

 ing only 2lb. io\oz. as against the weight ylb. 130Z. of a pre- 

 cisely similar stand made in the usual way of brass. It was 

 perhaps not entirely correct to say that every portion was of 

 aluminium, because there were certain mechanical difficulties met 

 with which prevented some portions from being made of that 

 metal ; for instance, he believed it was almost impossible to cut 

 a fine screw upon it without the thread "stripping," and it was 

 also found extremely difficult to solder, so that the necessary 

 screws in the instrument were made of brass, the Campbell fine 

 adjustment of steel ; the rack and pinion coarse adjustment was 

 also not made of aluminiam, and the nose-piece was of German 

 silver. — Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell read a letter received from Mr. H. 

 G. A. Wright, of Sydney, stating that a scale of Podura in his 

 possession was deeply notched, and that an exclamation mark 

 had become detached and projected from the edge. Mr. 

 Wright also sent photomicrographs to sunport his statement. 

 The chairman said he could not be sure, from the cursory ex- 

 amination he had been able to make, that the exclamation mark 

 referred to was to be seen. — Dr. C. E. Beevor read a paper on 

 methods of staining medullated nerve-fibres, illustrating the sub- 

 ject by photomicrographs, and by a number of preparations 

 under microscopes. The chairman said they were very much 

 indebted to Dr. Beevor for his interesting paper. It was a good 

 thing to be able to differentiate nerve fibres in the ways de- 

 scribed, but it was a pity that they could not also so differentiate 

 them as to show from which part of the nervous system they 

 came. If this could be done he need hardly say it would be of 

 great value. — Prof. Bell read a paper by Dr. H. G. Piffard on 

 the use of monochromatic yellow light in photomicrography. 

 Mr. T. Charters White said that he had himself tried a similar 

 process with monochromatic light obtained by using screens and 

 solutions, but the chief difference he found was that it very much 

 prolonged the time necessary for exposure. Mr. T. Haughton 

 Gill said that he had used the copper light filter for the same 

 purpose, and had found that by its aid any good ordinary lens 

 would give as good results as were otherwise obtained by using 

 an expensive apochromatic, because it filtered off all the rays 

 except those which were visually strong. He had not found, in 

 the course of his work, that the use of this light prolonged the 

 exposure, that was to say, that with a magnifying power of 

 X300 and an exposure of ten minutes, he could get a good 

 strong printing image with the isochromatic plates. — Mr. G. 

 Massee's paper on Heterosporium asperatum, a parasitic fungus, 

 was, in the absence of the author, taken as read. 



Entomological Society, November 2, Frederick DuCane- 

 Godman, F.R. S., president, in the chair. — Mr. S. Stevens 

 exhibited, for Mr. J. Harrison, a beautiful series of Arctia 

 lubricipeda var. radiata, which had been bred by Mr. Harrison 

 this year. — Mr. G. T. Bethune- Baker exhibited specimens of 

 Polyommatus dispar var. rutilus, taken in England by his father 

 about sixty years ago. He stated that it was generally believed 

 that this form of the species was confined to the Continent, but 

 his specimens proved that it formerly occurred in England. — 

 Mr. C. G. Barrett exhibited dark varieties of Acronycta leporina, 



NO. 1202, VOL. 47] 



bred by Mr. J. Collins : also a white variety of Tripkaita 

 pronuba, taken at Swansea. — Mr. M. Jacoby exhibited a 

 specimen of Sagra femorata, from India, with differently 

 sculptured elytra, one being rough and the other smooth. — Mr. 

 J. A. Clark exhibited a long series of remarkable varieties of 

 Liparis monacha, bred from two specimens taken at Scar- 

 borough. Several of the specimens were as light in colour as 

 the typical form of the species ; others were quite black ; 

 and others intermediate between these two extremes. — The 

 Rev, Seymour St. John exhibited a monstrosity of Abraxas 

 grossulariata, and a specimen of Titniocainpa stabilis, with a 

 distinct light band bordering the hind margin of the upper 

 wings.— Mr. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., exhibited two series of 

 imagos of Gnophos obscurata, which had been subjected to dark 

 and light surroundings respectively. The results were seen to 

 be completely negative, the two series being equally light. — 

 Mr. F. Merrifield showed a number of pupae of Pieris napL 

 About eight of them, which had attached themselves to the 

 leaves of the cabbage plant on which they were fed, were of a 

 uniform bright green colour, with light yellowish edgings ; of 

 the others, those which had attached themselves to the black 

 net covering the pot, or the brownish twigs which supported it, 

 were dark coloured, with dark spots and lines. Mr. R. Adkin 

 exhibited three bred female specimens of Vanessa c-albitm, two 

 of which belonged to the first brood, and the third to thesecond 

 brood. One of the specimens of the first brood was remarkable 

 in having the under side of a very dark colour, identical with 

 typical specimens of the second brood. He thought the 

 peculiarity of colouring had been caused by a retarded emergence, 

 due to low temperature and absence of sunshine. — Mr. F. W. 

 Frohawk exhibited varieties of Satyrits hypcranthus, bred from 

 ova laid by a female taken in the New Forest in July last. — 

 Mr. F. D. Godman, F. R.S., exhibited a specimen of ^w;>//(7«yj^ 

 medon, Cr., received from Jalapa, Mexico, having a pouch-like 

 excrescence at the apex of its body. — Mr. C. J. Gahan com- 

 municated a paper entitled " Additions to the Longicornia of 

 Mexico and Central America, with notes on some previously 

 recorded species." — Mr. W. L. Distant communicated a paper 

 entitled *' Contributions to a knowledge of the Homopterous 

 family Fulgoridae"— Mr. Oswald Latter read a paper (which 

 was illustrated by the Society's new oxy-hydrogen lantern) 

 entitled "The Secretion of Potassium-hydroxide by Dicranura 

 vinula, and the emergence of the imago from the cocoon." 

 The author stated that the imago produced, probably from the 

 mouth, a solution of caustic potash for the purpose of softening 

 the cocoon. The solution was obtained for analysis by causing 

 the moths to perforate artificial cocoons made of filter-paper. 

 Prof. Meldola, F.R.S., said that the larva of D. vinula secretes 

 formic acid, and Mr. Latter had now shown that the imago 

 secretes potassium-hydroxide, a strong alkali. He stated that 

 the fact that any animal secreted a strong caustic alkali was a 

 new one. Mr. Merrifield, Mr. Hanbury, Mr. Gahan, Mr. 

 Poulton, and Prof. Meldola continued the discussion. — Mr. H. 

 J, Elwes and Mr. J. Edwards read a paper (also illustrated by the 

 oxy-hydrogen lantern) entitled "A revision of the genus 

 Yplhima, principally founded on the form of the genitalia in the 

 male sex." Mr. McLachlan, F.R.S., said he attached great 

 importance to the genitalia as structural characters in deter- 

 mining species, and he believed that he could name almost any 

 species of European Trichoptera simply from an examination 

 of the detached abdomens of the males. Mr. O. Salvin, F, R. S. , 

 said he had examined the genitalia of a large number of 

 Hesperidae, with the view of considering their value in dis- 

 tinguishing species. Mr. Bethune-Baker, Colonel Swinhoe, 

 Mr. Lewis, Dr. Sharp, F.R.S., Mr. Hampson, and Mr. 

 Champion continued the discussion. — Mr. S. H. Scudder com- 

 municated a paper entitled " New light on the formation of the 

 abdominal pouch in Parnassius." Mr. Elwes said he had based 

 his classification of the species of this genus largely on the 

 structure of this abdominal pouch in the female. Mr. Jenner- 

 Weir remarked that a similar abdominal pouch was to be found 

 in the genus Acraa, and Mr. Hampson referred to a male and 

 female of Parnassius in Mr. Leech's collection, in which the 

 pouch had come away from the female and was adhering to the 

 male organs. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, October 31. — On the geometry of 

 position, by M, H. Poincarc-. — Observations on M. Berthelot's 

 ommunication regarding the fixation of nitrogen, by M. Th. 



