January 21, 1892] 



NATURE 



287 



'\ntpottcMicnt of FnH Term. — K meeting of the heads of 

 Colleges and Halls was held under the authority of the 

 V ice-Chancellor at the re-iidence of the Regius Professor of 

 Medicine, Sir lienry Acl.ml. A report having been presented 

 by the medical officer of h::aUh as to the great prevalence of 

 influenza in Oxford, and the difficulty of procuring nursing and 

 medical attenriance for the patients, it was unanimously 

 resolved to recommend the Colleges and Halls, and the delegates 

 of the non-collegiate students, to postpone the attendance of 

 the undergraduates to the end of the first week in February, 

 being a fonnight later than the time originally fixed. 



Cambridge. — The University Reporter oi January 19 contains 

 an official notification by Prof. Liveing, F. R.S., Chairman of 

 the Council of Cavendish College, that the College ceased on 

 January 15 to be a recognized Public Hostel of the University. 



Mr. Buchanan, University Lecturer in Geography, announces 

 for ttie present term a course of lectures on the development of 

 land surfaces under climatic and other agencies. 



The Special Board for Physics and Chemistry propose to 

 establish two new special examinations for the ordinary B. A. 

 degree, one in chemistry, including certain papers in heat, elec- 

 tricity, and magnetism, and another in physics, including papers 

 in dynamics, elementary chemistry, and more advanced electricity 

 and magnetism. The examinations will include practical work 

 in some of these subjects. 



Mr. \V. N. Shaw, F. R.S., has been elected a member of 

 this Board, and Mr. S. F. Harmer a member of the Board for 

 Biology and Geology. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



In (he Journal of Botany for December 1891, Mr. W. West 

 describes a collection of Freshwater Algas from Maine, including 

 several new species and varieties ; and we have also Mr. W. 

 Carruthers's Report of the Department of Botany in the British 

 Museum for 1890, recording important additions to the her- 

 bariuui and collections, by purchase, exchange, and gift ; 

 among the more interesting being the late Mr. J. Ralfs's type- 

 specimens for his "British Desmidieae." — Dr. D. H. Scott gives 

 a detailed account of the life and writings of the late Prof. Carl 

 V. Nageli. 



In the Rotanieal Gazette for November 1891, Mr. E. J. 

 Hill describes the remarkable propulsive power possessed by 

 the "sling-fruit" of Cryptotania canadensis, belonging to 

 the Umbellifera;, by which the seeds are thrown out to a dis- 

 tance of at least 5 feet ; and Prof. Byron D. Halsted, a bacterial 

 disease which is exceedingly destructive to the melon crops and 



other Cucurbitaceje in America. The most important article in 



the number for December is by Prof. Douglas H. Campbell, on 

 the relationships of the Archegoniatoe, under which term he 

 includes the Gymnosperms, as well as the Muscineae and 

 Vascular Cryptogams. As in previous essays. Prof. Campbell 

 traces the phylogeny of all the higher forms of vegetable life to 

 the Hepaticse ; both Gymnosperms and Angiosperms having 

 probably been derived through the Ophioglossaceoe, Marattiacese, 

 and Isoetese. — Prof. C. V. Riley describes the new insect- pest 

 which is committing great ravages on dried plants in herbaria — 

 the larva of Carphoxera ptelearia, belonging to the Geometridie. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Zoological Society, January 5.— Prof. A. Newton, 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 months of November and December 1891. Amongst 

 these attention was called to four Spotted-billed Pelicans {Pele- 

 canus tnanillensis), received from Calcutta, and to a second 

 specimen of the Formosan Fruit- Bat— a species originally 

 described from an example received alive by the Society in 

 1873. — Dr. E. C. Stirling exhibited some specimens of the new 

 Australian Marsupial (Notoryctes lyphlops), and gave a short 

 account of the habits of this remarkable animal, as observed in 

 a specimen recently kept in captivity by one of his corre- 

 spondents. — An extract was read from a letter received from Dr. 

 F. A. Jentink, calling attention to the recent acquisition by 

 one of his correspondents in Java of additional specimens of the 



NO. T. 160, VOL. 45] 



rare Bush-Rat (Pithechir me/anuriis).— Mr. Ernst Hartert 

 exhibited a series of eggs of the Common and other Cuckoos, 

 mostly collected by himself and trustworthy friends, and made 

 remarks on the question of the similarity of the eggs of the 

 Cuckoos to those of the owners of the nest in which they are 

 deposited. — A communication was read from Dr. J. Anderson, 

 F.R.S., containing notes on a small collection of Mammals, 

 Reptiles, and Batrachians made during a recent visit to Algeria 

 and Tunisia. — Mr. F. E. Beddard read a paper upon the Earth- 

 worms collected by Dr. Anderson during the same expedition. 

 Amongst them were examples of a new species of the genus 

 Microscolex. A second new species of the same genus, based 

 on examples collected by Mr. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., in 

 Madeira, and proposed to be called J/, poitltoni, was also de- 

 scribed. — A communication was read from Mr. R. I. Pocock on 

 some Myriopoda and Arachnida collected by Dr. Anderson 

 during the same fexpedition. — Mr. M. F. Woodward read a 

 paper on the milk dentition of Procavia (Hyrax) capensis. The 

 author showed that Lataste's canine has a counterpart in the 

 lower or mandibular series, and he described for the first time 

 two small vestigial upper incisors. He concluded that the teeth 

 named belong collectively to the first or milk set, and that the 

 formulation of the incisors of this genus as \ is probably due 

 to the occasional persistence of the second upper milk-incisor. 

 — Mr. Oldfield Thomas gave an account of the species of the 

 Hyracoidea, of which order he had lately examined a large 

 series of specimens. The author recognized fourteen species of 

 this group of Mammals, all of which he proposed to refer to one 

 ^tv\w% ^Procavia) . Besides these, four geographical sub-species 

 were recognized. A new species was described as P. latastei, 

 from Senegal. 



Geological Society, January 6.— Mr. W. H. Hudleston, 

 F.R. S., Vice-President, in the chair. — The following com- 

 munications were read : — On a r\QVi iorm oi Agelacrinites (Lepi- 

 dodiscus Milleri, n. sp. ) from the Lower Carboniferous Lime- 

 stone of Cumberland, byG. Sharmanand E. T. Newton. — The 

 geology of Barbados; Part II. The oceanic deposits, by A. 

 J. Jukes-Browne and Prof. J. B. Harrison. — Archceopneustes 

 abriipttis, a new genus and species of Echinoid from the oceanic 

 series in Barbados, by J. W. Gregory. This genus belongs to 

 a group of Echinoidea which has given some trouble to 

 systematists, owing to the union of the characters of the orders 

 Cassiduloidea and Spatangoidea ; the other genera belonging to 

 the group are Asterostoma, Pseudasterostoma, and Paheopneustes. 

 The evidence of the new Echinoid throws light upon the 

 affinities of these genera. The main points suggested by a study 

 of the new species are: (l) the abandonment of the name 

 Pseudasterostovia as a synonym of PalcEOpneustes ; and (2) the 

 inclusion of the true Asterostoma, Palceopnevstes, and Archceo- 

 pneustes in the Adete Spatangoidea, whereby the Plesio- 

 spatangidoe are left as a more homogeneous family, though 

 bereft of the chief interest assigned to it. A tabular summary 

 of the nomenclature of the group is given. The best-known 

 fossil species of Asterostoma and Palceopneustcs occur in Cuba, 

 in deposits referred to the Cretaceous owing to the resemblance 

 of these Echinoids to the common Chalk Echinocorys sctitatus. 

 The new genus includes a species from the same deposit, which 

 is probably of the same age as the Bissex Hill rock from 

 which the new species was obtained ; this is at the top of the 

 oceanic series, and belongs to the close of the great subsidence. 

 After the reading of this paper, there was a discussion in which 

 the Chairman, Dr. Blanford, Prof. SoUas, Prof. Harrison, Mr. 

 J. W. Gregory, and Mr. W. Hill took part. 



Dublin. 

 Royal Society, December 16, 1891. — Prof. A. C. Haddon, 

 President of the Scientific Section, in the chair. — Mr. E. W. 

 L. Holt read a paper on the eggs and larval and post-larval 

 stages of Teleosteans, obtained during the Society's survey of 

 fishing grounds on the west coast of Ireland. Thirty-three 

 species, chiefly food-fish, are dealt with. The eggs of Gadus 

 esmarkii, G. pollachius, and Rhombus megastoma, are described 

 for the first time ; those of Hippog'ossn platessoides (the long 

 rough dab). Scomber scomber (the mackerel), and Caranx tra- 

 churus (the scad), are also described. The development of the 

 long rough dab, turbot, brill, and several other species of flat- 

 fish, is traced upwards, to the assumption of the adult characters, 

 with more or less continuity. The paper concludes with a series 

 of tables containing an artificial classification of the pelagic eggs 

 of British marine Teleosteans for purposes of easy identification. 



