526 



NA TURE 



[March 31, 1892 



crystalline schists. Throughout the drifts of the coastal plain 

 he has found a greater or less proportion of granite erratics, as 

 well as, in many cases, minute rolled-shell fragments. He 

 maintains that these drifts are the result of two opposing forces, 

 one radiating from Snowdonia, and the other acting from the 

 sea to the southwards, and their characteristics change as the 

 one or the other force preponderated. The other divisions of 

 the paper are taken up with a description of the Merionethshire 

 drift and that of Mid- Wales, numerous sections being given. 

 Attention is called to a remarkable glaciation of the rocks at 

 Barmouth. In a concluding part, giving inferences and sugges- 

 tions, the author discusses the land-ice and submergence 

 hypotheses, and concludes that his observations distinctly 

 strengthen the grounds for believing in a submergence of the 

 land to an extent of not less than 1400 feet. An appendix 

 contains details of nineteen mechanical analyses of tills, sands, 

 and gravels, and a bibliography of papers, observations, and 

 theories of the high-level drifts of Moel Tryfaen. The reading 

 of this paper was followed by a discussion, in which Mr. Lamp- 

 lugh, Mr. J. W, Gregory, Mr. H. W. Burrows, the President, 

 and others took part.T 



Zoological Society, March 15.— Prof. W. H. Flower, 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Mr. Sclater exhibited and 

 made remarks on the skin of a Wild Ass obtained by Mr. J. D. 

 Inverarity in Somali-land. — A report was read, drawn up by 

 Mr. A. Thomson, the Society's Head Keeper, on the insects 

 bred in the Insect-house during the past season. — Mr. Seebohm 

 exhibited and made remarks on two pairs of Picus richardsi 

 from the island of Tsusima in the Japanese Sea. — Mr. Oldfield 

 Thomas exhibited and described a head (placed at his disposal 

 by Messrs. Rowland Ward and Co.) of the East African Oryx. 

 This Antelope, commonly supposed to be O. beisa, was shown 

 to differ from that species in possessing long black tufts on the 

 tips of its ears. It was proposed to be called O. callotis. — Dr. 

 H. Gadow read a paper on the classification of Birds, in which 

 the results arrived at, after a long study of the structure of Birds 

 for the purpose of completing the part "Aves"of Bronn's 

 "Thierreich," were set forth. — A communication was read from 

 Mr. C. Brunner v. Wattenwyl and Prof. J. Redtenbacher, 

 containing a report on the Orthoptera of the island of St. 

 Vincent, West Indies, collected by Mr. H. H. Smith, the 

 naturalist sent to that island by Mr. Godman, in connection 

 with the operations of the Committee appointed by the British 

 Association and Royal Society for the investigation of the fauna 

 and flora of the Lesser Antilles.— Mr. Oldfield Thomas read a 

 paper on a collection of Mammals from Mount Dulit, in North 

 Borneo, obtained by Mr. Charles Hose, Fourteen species were 

 represented in the collection, of which four were stated to be new 

 to science. Amongst these was a new Carnivore of the genus 

 Hemigale, proposed to be called Hemigale hosei. — Dr. R. 

 Bowdler Sharpe gave the description of some new species of 

 Timeliine Birds from West Africa. 



Entomological Society, March 9. — Mr. Frederick Du- 

 Cane Godman, F.R.S., President, in the chair.— Prof. C. 

 Stewart exhibited and made remarks on specimens of Cystocalia 

 imniactdata, an Orthopterous insect from Namaqualand, in 

 which the female is far more conspicuously coloured than the 

 male, and the stridulating apparatus of the male differs in certain 

 important details from that of other species. A long discus- 

 sion ensued, in which Dr. Sharp, F.R.S., Mr. Poulton, F.R.S. 

 Mr. Distajit, Mr. H. J. Elwes, Colonel Swinhoe, and Mr. 

 Hampson took part. — Mr. Elwes exhibited specimens of Ribes 

 aureum which were covered with galls, as to the nature of which 

 the Scientific Committee of the Horticultural Society desired to 

 have the opinion of the Entomological Society. Mr. Fenn, 

 Mr. Tutt, and Mr. Barrett made some remarks on these galls. — 

 Mr. Elwes also exhibited a large number of species of Hetero- 

 cera recently collected by Mr. Doherty in South-East Borneo 

 and Sambawa. Colonel Swinhoe, Mr. Hampson, and Mr. 

 Distant took part in the discussion which ensued. — Mr. Barrett 

 exhibited a series of specimens of Nodua festiva, bred by Mr. 

 G. B. Hart, of Dublin, which represented most of the known 

 forms of the species, including the Shetland type and the form 

 formerly described as a distinct species under the name oiNoctua 

 conflua. Mr. Fenn and Mr. Tutt made some remarks on the 

 specimens. — Mr. W. C. Boyd exhibited a specimen of Dian- 

 thecia Barrettii, taken at Ilfracombe last summer. It was re- 

 marked that Mr. W. F. H. Blandford had recorded the capture 

 of D. Barrettii — which had until recently been supposed to be 



NO 1 1 70, VOL. 45] 



confined to Ireland — from Pembrokeshire, and that its capture 

 had also since been recorded from Cornwall. — Mr. Tutt exhi- 

 bited specimens of Polia xanthomista from Mr. Gregson's 

 collection, which had recently been sent to him by Mr. Sydney 

 Webb. — Mr. G. A. James Rothney exhibited and read notes 

 on a large collection of Indian ants which he had made in 

 Bengal between 1872 and 1886, comprising some ninety species. 

 He stated that eighteen of these species had been described by 

 Dr. Mayr in his paper entitled "Ameisen Fauna Asiens," 

 1878 : he also said that Dr. Forel had recently identified several 

 other new species in the collection, and that there were about 

 ten species and one new genus which Dr. Forel had not yet 

 determined. — Mr. H. Goss exhibited, for Mr. T. D. A. Cock- 

 erell, of Kingston, Jamaica, several specimens of palm leaves, 

 from the garden of the Museum in Kingston, covered with 

 Aspidiolus arliculatus, Morgan. The leaves appeared to have 

 been severely attacked, the scales entirely covering the upper 

 surface in places. — Mr. F. D. Godman contributed a paper by 

 the late Mr. Plenry Walter Bates, with an introduction by him- 

 self, entitled "Additions to the Longicornia of Mexico and 

 Central America, with remarks on some previously-recorded 

 Species." — The Rev. A. E. Eaton communicated a paper 

 entitled " On new Species of Ephemeridoe from the Tenasserim 

 Valley." 



Linnean Society, March 17. — Prof. Stewart, President, in 

 the chair. — Mr. E. M. Holmes exhibited specimens of Phacelo- 

 carpus disciger, a new species of seaweed from Cape Colony, 

 collected by Dr. Becker near the mouth of the Kowie River. 

 One of the specimens exhibited bore antheridia which have not 

 previously been described in this genus. The species differs 

 from those already known in bearing the organs of reproduction 

 on the surface of the frond instead of on the margin. — Mr. 

 Buxton Shillitoe exhibited and made some remarks upon the 

 flowers oi Leucoju??i vernum and Helleborus viridis. — On behalf 

 of Mr. Allan Swan, the Secretary read a paper on the vitality 

 of the spores oi Bacillus megatherium, upon which criticism was 

 offered by Mr. G. Murray. — Mr. S. B. Carlill submitted a 

 paper entitled "Notes on Zebras," in which he discussed the 

 position assigned to the zebra in the genus Equus ; the use and 

 nature of striped coats ; the contention that the sallenders on 

 the legs of the Equidce represent the hoof of the first digit of 

 their polydactyl ancestors ; and the evidence bearing upon Prof, 

 Owen's view that the cave horse was in some respects zebrine. 

 He concluded by advocating a systematic attempt to domesticate 

 one or more species of zebra for transport work. Domestica- 

 tion, he considered, would not only render these animals 

 eminently useful, but would be the only means of preserving 

 them from extinction. 



Cambridge. 



Philosophical Society, March 7. — Prof. G. H. Darwin, Pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — The following communications were made: — 

 Some experiments on electric discharge, by Prof. Thomson. A 

 series of experiments were shown in which the electric discharge 

 took place in bulbs without electrodes. It was shown that the 

 colour of the discharge through the same gas varied very greatly 

 with the density of the gas and the intensity of the discharge. 

 This was illustrated by two bulbs, each containing air ; the 

 discharge through one was a bright blue, and through the other 

 an apple-green. Another experiment showed the gas at a very 

 low pressure could not act as an electro- magnetic screen, though 

 it did so at a higher pressure. The laws governing the absorp- 

 tion of energy by conductors placed near very rapidly alter- 

 nating currents were illustrated by experiments which showed 

 that there was much greater absorption of energy by small 

 pieces of tin-foil than large masses of brass or copper. — The 

 capture of Lexell's comet by Jupiter, by the President (Prof. 

 Darwin). The paper contains a more exact estimation of the 

 radius of the sphere of Jupiter's influence than that given by 

 Laplace. If a comet come within this sphere, its orbit will be 

 seriously transformed by the planet. The radius is estimated 

 by the principle that at its boundary the effect of the perturbing 

 force of Jupiter on an orbit round the sun is the same as the 

 effect of the perturbing force of the sun on an orbit round Jupiter. 

 The radius comes out to be '058 times the distance of Jupiter 

 from the sun, Laplace's approximation being '054 times the 

 same distance. — The change of zero of thermometers, by Mr. 

 C. T. Heycock. The author described the result of experi- 

 ments he had made in conjunction with Mr. Neville to overcome 

 the change in zero which thermometers undergo when heated 



