March 2, 1893] 



NA TURE 



431 



on in many places by the frost in June. Oats, beans, and peas 

 were much under the average, while barley was the chief crop 

 of the year. Potatoes, turnips, and mangolds were above the 

 average. During August butterflies were very numerous, the 

 clouded yellow butterfly being exceptionally abundant. — 

 Rel ition between the duration of sunshine, the amount of cloud, 

 and the height of the barometer, by Mr. W. Ellis. This is a 

 discussion of the observations male at the Royal Observatory, 

 Greenwich, during the fifteen years 1877-91, from which it 

 appears that in the months from February to October there is, 

 on the wh )Ie, a distinct probability of increased sunshine and 

 correspondingly less cloud with increase of barometer reading. 

 The winter in ail conditions of the barometer is uniformly dull. 

 Mr. Ellis says that it is evident that high barometer in summer 

 presages increased sunshine, that the effect is less pronounced in 

 early spring and late autumn, and that it becomes slightly re- 

 versed in winter. — Winter temperatures on mountain summits, 

 by Mr. W. Piff"e Brown. In this paper the author gives the 

 lowest winter temperature on the summit of Y Glyder fach, four 

 miles E.N.E. from Snowdon, and 3262 feet above sea level, 

 as recorded by a minimum thermometer during the last twenty- 

 five years. The lowest temperature registered was 9° during the 

 winter 1891-2. 



Zoological Society, February 14. — Osbert Salvin, F.R.S., 

 Vice- President, in the chair. — The secretary read a report on the 

 additions that had been made to the Society's menagerie during 

 the month of January 1893. — Prof G. B. Howes exhibited and 

 made remarks on an abnormal sternum of a Marmoset {Hapale 

 iacchiis) in which the mesosternal elements of the opposite sides 

 were distinct, and alternately disposed, and discussed its 

 probable bearings upon the sternum of the Anthropomorpba, 

 particularly as represented by the orang. — Prof T. Jeff'rey 

 Parker, F. R S., read a paper on the cranial ostelogy, classific- 

 ation, and phylogeny of the DinorttithidLg. The author gave a 

 detailed description of the skull in various genera and species of 

 Moa, founded upon the exanination of more than 120 speci- 

 mens. A detailed comparison with the skulls of the other 

 Ratitse followed, as well as an extensive series of measurements. 

 — The bearing of the facts ascertained upon the classification of 

 the family was discussed. The author recognised five genera 

 ol JHnornithidce, arranged in three subfamilies as follows : Sub- 

 family DlNORNlTHlN.^2, genus Dinornis ; subfamily Anoma- 

 LOPTERYGIN^E, genera Pachyornis, Mesopteryx, and Anoina- 

 lopteryx ; subfamily Emein/E, genus v5"wfMj. The phylogeny 

 of the group was then discussed. Mesopteryx was considered 

 to be the most generalised form, while Dinornis and Emeus 

 were both highly specialised, but in different directions. Of the 

 other Ratitffi, y^/i/^/jj; came nearest to the Moas in the structure 

 of its skull, and strong affinities were shown to the New Zealand 

 genera by Dromaics and Casuarius. Struthio and Rhea, on the 

 other hand, showed no special affinities, so far as the skull is con- 

 cerned, either to the Australasian forms or to one another. — Mr. 

 R. Lydekker read a paper on the presence of a distinct coracoidal 

 element in adult sloths, and made remarks on its homology. It 

 was shown that in two skeletons of sloths in the British Museum 

 the shoulder-girdle exhibited a distinct coracoidal element. 

 This element, like the coracoid process of the human scapula, 

 was correlated with the precoracoid of the lower vertebrates ; 

 and the question was then discussed as to the name by which it 

 should properly be called. — A communication was read from 

 Dr. G. Radde, containing an account of the present range 

 of the European bison in the Caucasus. 



Oxford. 



Junior Scientific Club, Feb. 17.— In the Morphological 

 Laboratory. — The President in the chair. — Mr. A. L. Still gave 

 an exhibit of a variety of a common pheasant, which was shot 

 near Croydon. This proved to be an extremely light-coloured 

 young cock. — Mr. H. Balfour gave an exhibit of some modern 

 Klepsydrae. such as are now used in guard rooms in many parts 

 of Northern India and Burmah. He also showed some water 

 clocks from Burmah, one of which vv-as of interest as having 

 come from the Imperial Palace of Mandalay, where it was the 

 public standard of time. — Dr. Leonard Hill read an account of 

 his researches on the gas evolved from muscles. — Mr. H. V. 

 Reade read a paper on consciousness, and the unconscious, 

 citing several cases of dual personality, and showing that 

 memory could be explained by purely physiological reasoning. 



NO. 1218, VOL. 47] 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, February 6.— Sir Arthur Mitchell, Iv.C.B., 

 Vice-president, in the chair. — Mr. John Aitken read a paper on 

 the particles in fogs and clouds. In a paper read some time 

 since on tbe water particles in clouds, Mr. Aitken came to the 

 conclusion that there was a relation between the density of the 

 clouds and the number of water particles present. In May last 

 year he made further observations, and got results opposite to 

 the former. Instead of the density being nearly proportional to 

 the number of water particles present, it was much short of jiropor- 

 tionality, and the particles were small in size. Mr. Aitken points 

 out that the size of the particles of water changes with the 

 age of the clouds, and concludes that his first observations were 

 made upon old clouds, while the latter series were made upon 

 newly-formed clouds. He also considered the question of the 

 persistence of fog-particles. There are two kinds of fog. In 

 one the particles tend to persist, in the other they do not. That 

 is, in one case, change of size of the particles takes place 

 rapidly ; in the other it does not. In town fogs it is not so 

 much the number of dust particles that is of importance as their 

 composition. If town dust were composed of particles having 

 an affinity for water the fogs would have shorter duration. — Sir 

 Douglas Maclagan described and explained an apparatus de- 

 signed by Mr. J. Buchanan Young, Public Health Laboratory, 

 Edinburgh University, for counting bacterial colonies in roll cul- 

 tures. — A note, by Prof Anglin, on properties of the parabola, 

 was read. — Mr. A. J. Ilerberison read a preliminary note on 

 the hygrometry of the atmosphere at Ben Nevis. He finds that 

 the observations already made agree well with the formula 

 y ~ a X ■\- b 7u -f c ; where y is the difference between the 

 readings of the dry and wet bulbs, x is the temperature of the 

 dry bulb, lu is the weight of moisture per litre, and a b c zxt. 

 constants. 



DUBLI.V. 



Royal Dublin Society, January 18.— Prof W. J. Sollas, 

 F. R.S., in the chair. — Dr. J. Joly, F.R.S. , read a paper on the 

 cause of the bright colours of Alpine flowers. The conditions 

 of insect life upon the higher Alps are referred to in this paper 

 as bearing upon the question. Observations made by the 

 author show that many thousands of bees and butterflies fre- 

 quently perish in the cold of night-time on Swiss glaciers and 

 firns. The author advocates the view that the scarcity of 

 lertilising agents promotes a struggle for existence in the 

 form of a rivalry to attract the attention of the fewer fertilisers 

 by vivid colouring. — Prof. G. A. J. Cole read a paper on 

 hemilrypa hibertiica, M'Coy. — A paper was read on a sugges- 

 tion as to a possible source of the energy required for the 

 life of bacilli, and as to the cause of their small size, by 

 Dr. G. Johnstone Stoney, F.R.S., Vice-President.— Prof. W. 

 J. Sollas, F.R.S. , read a paper on the law of Gladstone 

 as an optical probe. 



February 22.— Prof W, J. Sollas, F.R.S., in the chair.— 

 Mr. Ihomas Preston read a lecture note on the principle of 

 work, showing that since the virtual work of a force is equal to 

 the movement of an equal force at right angles to it, the principle 

 of virtual work follows immediately as a corollary to the theorem 

 of movements. — Prof. D. J. Cunningham, F.R.S., communi- 

 cated a paper by Prof. A. M. Paterson on the human sacrum. — 

 Prof. A. C. Haddon communicated a paper by Miss Florence 

 Buchanan on Eunice phylocorallia, n. sp., commensal with 

 Lophohelia prolifera. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, February 20. — M. de Lacaze- 

 Duthiers in the chair. — Description of an instrument to show the 

 small variations in the intensity of gravitation, by M. Bouquet 

 de la Grye. The instrument, which has been set up in a cellar 

 of the Depot de la Marine, consists of an iron tank containing 

 hydrogen confined over mercury, with three tubes leading out 

 through the bottom. Twoof these tubes are bent upwards to 

 about 40 cm. above the ground. One of them is used for filling 

 the tank with mercury, the other for letting in the hydrogen, 

 which is accomplished by letting mercury run out through the 

 third pipe at the bottom. The second pipe ends in a horizontal tube 

 made of glass, through the walls of which the fluctuations of the 

 column of mercury sustained by the elastic force of the hydrogen 

 can be observed. By means of an alcohol thermometer im- 

 mersed in the mercury on the top of the lank, changes of tem- 

 perature of one-thousandth of a degree are indicated by a move- 



