March i, 1917] 



NATURE. 



19 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Royal Society, February 15. — Sir J. J. Thomson, 

 president, in the chair.— Dr. J. H. Mummery : The 

 structure and development of the tubular enamel of 

 the Sparida; and Labridae. The author endeavours to 

 show that the enamel of Sparidae and Labridae is a 

 true tubular structure. Stains can be made to enter 

 the tubes and traverse their finest branches. — 

 Harriette Chick and E. M. >L Hume : (i) The distri- 

 bution in wheat, rice, and maize grains of the sub- 

 stance the deficiency of which in a diet causes 

 polyneuritis in birds and beri-beri in man. (2) The 



ffect of exposure to temperature at or above 100° C. 

 upon the substance (vitamine) the deficiency of which 



n a diet causes polyneuritis in birds and beri-beri in 

 nan. 



Linnean Society, February i.— Sir David Prain, 

 ^resident, in the chair. — C. E. Salmon : Some plants 

 hat might occur in Britain. Some undoubtedly native 

 -pecies would seem unlikely from their European dis- 

 tribution to occur here, such as Sagina reuteri, 

 Boiss., and Lloydia alpina, Salisb., whilst it is mani- 

 festly uncertain what species may be ultimatelv found 

 in Britain. Ten species were chosen, all well-defined 

 plants, and recognised on the Continent, leaving out 

 consideration of microspecies for the present. — Prof. 

 \V. A. Herdman : An account of a paper by Prof. W. J. 

 Dakin on his exploration of the Houtrnan Abrolhos 

 Islands, especially describing the formation of these 

 coral islands. The paper is introductory to accounts 

 of the fauna and fiora. The group of islands extends 

 between 28° 15' and 29° S. lat., the archipelago being 

 about fifty miles long, all 7our groups of islets run- 

 ning approximately N.N.W.-S.S.E. ; they are only 

 about six feet above sea-level, and practically destitute 

 of water, the largest plants being mangroves on the 

 lagoon flats. A few guano workers are the sole in- 

 liabitants. — J. Charlesworth and J. Ramsbottom : The 

 structure of the leaves of hybrid orchids. An investi- 

 gation of the anatomical characters of the leaves of 

 the parents and their hybrids shows that a structure, 

 when present in both parents in different amounts, 

 appears in the hybrid intermediate in even,' way. This 

 can be well seen by observing the microscopic charac- 

 ters of hybrids which have one parent in common ; 

 Cochlioda noezUana occurs as the female parent in six 

 of the primary hybrids investigated and in the two 

 secondan,-. When a character is present in one of the 

 parents it may or may not be found in the hybrid. In 

 general, if the character of one parent does occur in 

 the hybrid, it is much less developed than in the 

 parent. Sections of the leaves of thirteen primary- 

 hybrids and their parents were exhibited. 



Zoological Society, February 6.— Prof. E. W. Mac- 

 Bride, vice-president, in the chair. — L. A. Borradaile : 

 The structure and function of the mouth-parts of the 

 Palaemonid prawns. The orimitive crustacean limb 

 is regarded as consisting of a flattened axis with a 

 fiabellum (exopodite). two or more epi{X)dites, a series 

 of eight endites, and an apical lobe, the fiabellum 

 standing opposite the third and fourth endites. The 

 relation of the several jaws to this prototype was 

 discussed. The latter part of the paper gives an 

 account of observations upon the use of the 

 mouth-parts during feeding; the second maxilli- 

 peds, maxillules, and mandibles were found to play 

 more important parts than the first maxillipeds and 

 the maxillae. — Prof. H. G. Plimmer : Report on the 

 deaths which occurred in the society's gardens during 

 19 16, and on the blood-parasites found during the 

 same period. 



Royal Meteorological Society, February* 21. — Major 

 H. G. Lyons, president, in the chair. — \V. H. Dines : 

 Heat balance of the atmosphere. ITie paper trace* 

 the historj- of the solar radiation from the time it 

 reaches the outer limit of the atmosphere until it is 

 radiated back into space, assigning from the data 

 available limits to the amounts absorbed, transmitted, 

 and reflected by the air, and to the amounts mutually 

 radiated between the earth, the air, and outer space. 

 .\ note is added showing that a "grey" body in the 

 position of the upper air should have a temperature 

 of about 300° A. — C. E. P. Brooks : Continentality 

 and temperature. The distribution of temperature 

 over the surface of the earth is complex, being related, 

 to various factors — latitude, height, distance trom the 

 sea, etc. Further, since even smoothed isotherms 

 reduced to sea-Ievel often show \-ery little relation to 

 lines of latitude, it is evident that in some cases. 

 geographical conditions must exercise a predominant 

 effect. This effect was investigated in the case of 

 the distribution of temperature over Europe and. 

 western Asia during January and July. Fift}-six re- 

 presentative stations were selected, and by the method 

 of partial correlation regression equations were con- 

 structed showing how the temperature of any place 

 in the area mav be built up from its height, its lati- 

 tude, and the percentage of land in the area sur- 

 rounding it. The function taken to represent latitude 

 was the quantity of heat which would be received oa 

 a horizontal surface with a transmission coefficient 

 of 07, on the shortest day and the longest day re- 

 spectively (the last proviso allowed a lag of about 

 three weeks in the thermal effect of the sun's radia- 

 tion). That this eives a good measure of heat re- 

 ceived is shown by the correlation coefficient of -t-o-94+ 

 found between it and the temperature in January-. 

 From these regression equations the temperatures of 

 the original stations were calculated, and over a 

 range of 50° F. in January the average error was 

 found to be about s° ; in July the error was much 

 less. Finally, the equations were applied to the 

 altered geography of the early Neolithic period, and 

 it was found that this entirely accounted for the 

 altered climate of that period, and the various astro- 

 nomical theories which have been brought in to ex- 

 plain it are quite unnecessar}-. 



Edinburgh. 

 Royal Society, January- 22. — Dr. Home, president, in 

 the chair. — Lieut. C. K. M. Douglas : Some causes of 

 the formation of anticyclonic stratus as obser\ed from 

 aeroplanes. This discussion of the problem of why 

 the weather in anticyclonic distributions is frequently 

 cloudy was suggested by observations made while fly- 

 ing in France. These stratus-clouds are of meteoro- 

 logical importance, preventing the development of 

 severe frost. The tops of the clouds are usually 4000 

 or 5000 ft. above sea-level, and above them there is a 

 well-marked rise of temperature, sometimes nearly 

 10° F. in 500 ft. This temperature increase was 

 usuallv found associated with an increase of the 

 westerly component of the wind. Along the lower 

 margin of this western wind the stratus formed. — ^\V. 

 Ritchie : The structure, bionomics, and forest import- 

 ance of Myelophilus minor. This destructive enemy 

 of Scotch pine, formerly believed to be rare, exists 

 in thousands at the tops of the trees. The damage 

 done is of two kinds : first, by the adult boring into 

 the young shoots and destroying them in hundreds ; 

 secondly, by the larvae working below the bark and 

 interfering with the passage of sap. The differences 

 between this species and M. pimperda were pointed 

 out, and new evidence was obtained of the life of the 

 adult being extended over more generations than one. 



NO. 2470, VOL. .99] 



