March 22, 191 7] 



NATURE 



79 



riods. This accords with the views of Continental 



ologists. — P. Lake : Glacial phenomena near Bangor, 



xorlh Wales. During the Glacial period the valley 



: the Ffryddlas was blocked at its mouth by the 



Ogwen glacier and converted into a lake. The valley 



shows three terraces, and three corresponding over- 



now channels are cut in the ridge which bounds the 



dlev on the north. One of these overflow channels 



bouches high up on the seaward slope of this ridge, 



;.d it is concluded that there was water up to this 



\el. Other evidence on the seaward slopes of the 



neighbouring hills points to a similar conclusion ; but 



there is nothing to show whether this water was the 



actual sea- or fresh-water dammed up by ice in the 



Irish Sea. — H. Woods : The Cretaceous faunas of New 



Zealand. The Cretaceous deposits of New Zealand 



rest unconformably on older deposits, and in the South 



T-land are usually succeeded by the Amuri Limestone 



Tertiary age. Two faunas have been recognised ; 



:ie of approximately Gault age, the other of Upper 



Senonian age. Both faunas are of the Indo-Pacific 



cvpe. — R. I. Lynch : Exhibition of the fruit of Chocho 



Scchium edule : remarkable in the nat. order Cucur- 



bitacese, native of the West Indies, and cultivated also 



in Madeira as a vegetable. — G. N. Watson : The limits 



of applicability of the principle of stationary phase. — 



H. C. Pocklington : The direct solution of the quadratic 



and cubic binomial congruences with prime moduli. — 



< ". E. Weatherburn : The hydrodynamics of relativity. 



— R. Hargreaves : The character of the kinetic potential 



electromagnetics.— Dr. M. J. M. Hill : The fifth 



ik of Euclid's elements. (Fourth paper.) — G. H. 



Hardy : A theorem of Mr. G. Polya. 



Dublin'. 

 Royal Dublin Society, February 27. — Mr. R. Lloyd 

 Praeger in the chair. — G. H. Pethybridge and H. A. 

 Lafferty : Further observations on the cause of the 

 •mmon drj'-rot of the potato in the British Isles. In 

 i the cases (thirteen) of dry-rot of the potato tuber 

 amined durinp- the last few years from Ireland, 

 otland, and England, Ftisarium caerultum (Lib.), 

 acc, has been found to be the causative parasite. 

 1 : attacks the tubers only and does not cause a " wilt " 

 -iisease of the growing plant. Susceptibility to in- 

 fection increases with increasing maturity of the 

 tubers. Infection usually occurs through wounds, but 

 can also occur in the absence of them. The fungus 

 also causes a rot in tomato fruits. F. arthrosporioides , 

 •erb., is to be added to the list of species of Fus- 

 ium pathogenic to the potato tuber. 



Manchester. 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, January 23. — Prof. 

 >. J. Hickson, president, in the chair. — Prof. G. 

 Elliot Smith : The endocranial cast of the Boskop 

 skull. Dr. Peringuey, director of the South African 

 Museum, has submitted for examination and report 

 an endocranial cast obtained from the fossil human 

 skull found near Boskop, in the Transvaal, in 1913. 

 .\part from the right temporal bone, the base of the 

 -kull is missing; but sufficient of the calvaria has 

 en recovered to show that the capacity of the 

 anial cavity must have been well above 1800 c.c, 

 perhaps even as much as 1900 c.c. — greater than that 

 of the philosopher Kant's skull, and almost as large 

 as Bismarck's. The flatness of the cast and certain 

 of its features suggest affinities of the Boskop man 

 ^vith the Neanderthal race. But the larger size, and 

 especially the form, of the prefrontal bulging indi- 

 cates an even closer kinship with the peoples found 

 in Europe in Aurignacian and later times. The con- 

 clusion that seems to emerge from a comparison of 

 the cranial casts of extinct varieties of mankind is 



NO. 2473, VOL. ool 



that the chief factor which above all others deter- 

 mines brain superiority is not so much mere bulk as 

 the size of the prefrontal area. — Dr. G. Hickling : The 

 skull of a Permian shark. A preliminary statement 

 was made concerning the results of a re-examination 

 of certain remains of the skull of Diacranodus texen- 

 sis, Cope, sp., now in the Manchester Museum. The 

 material is sufficient for a practically complete 

 restoration of the cranium and jaws, while there is 

 some indication of the character of the branchial 

 apparatus, not hitherto described. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, January 29. — M. A. d'Arsonval 

 in the chair. — H. Le Chatelier : Some scientific 

 problems to be solved. Problems awaiting solution 

 are suggested in connection with glass, metallurgy, 

 pyrometry, heating, and agriculture. — Ch. Lallemand • 

 A French economic mission in Spain. — Remarks by 

 M. E. Perrier on the earlier mission to Spain 

 organised by the Institut de France. — G. Bigonrdan : 

 The first scientific societies of Paris in the seven- 

 teenth centur)-. The Academies of Montmor, Sourdis, 

 etc. — J. Renaud : The time on ships. At sea, it is 

 customary to reset the ship's clocks every twenty-four 

 hours to the local noon. Certain inconveniences of 

 this plan are set out, and an alternative method is 

 suggested.— V. Commont : The deposits of the historic 

 period superposed on the Neolithic tufa of the valley 

 of the Somme. The marine shells found in these 

 deposits are debris of Gallo-Roman origin and have 

 been carried to their present position by man. — 

 Mile. Yvonne Dehorae : A new species of Stromato- 

 pore from the Hippurite chalk : Actinostroma kiliani. 

 — H. Arctowski : A correlation between magnetic 

 storms and rainfall. — A. Angot : Value of the 

 magnetic elements of the Val-Joyeux Observatory on 

 January i, 19 17. The variation of the declination is 

 the greatest that has been obser\ed since the com- 

 mencement of regular observations (1883). — P. 

 See : Moulds causing alteration of paper. The 

 moulds, or their Sf>ores, are present in new paper, 

 and probably arise from the material used. In spite 

 of the diversity of the material and the experimental 

 conditions, the fungi isolated are always the same 

 and their number is limited. A list of the si>ecies is 

 given. — A. Guilliermond : Researches on the origin of 

 the chromoplasts and the mode of formation of pig- 

 ments of the xanthophyll group, and of the carotines. — 

 L. Bordas : The r6le of the Ichneumonides in the con- 

 test against the parasites of forest trees. Pimpla 

 rufata renders great service to agriculture by laying 

 its eggs in the bodies of a number of caterpillars. 

 It can be used to prevent or mitigate the ravages of 

 Tortrix viridana on oak trees. — J. Pavillard : Pela. 

 gorhynchiis marinus. — J. Am«r : Obser\-ations on 

 the prothesis of the lower limb. It is concluded that 

 the prothesis of the lower limb is irrational, and out 

 of harmony with the laws of physiology, of locomo- 

 tion, and of economy of energ}-. — G. Bourgnignon : 

 Normal chronaxy of the brachial triceps in man. — M. 

 Busqnet : The vaso-constrictive action of nucleinate 

 of soda on the kidney. — A. Bach : The non-Sf>ecificity 

 of the animal- and plant-reducing ferment. — .\. 

 Policard and B. Desplas : Tolerance of the tissue of 

 war wounds in course of cicatrisation for foreign 

 bodies of microscopic dimensions. The mechanism of 

 latent microbism of certain cutaneous scars. 



February 5. — M. Paul Appell in the chair. — G. 

 Bigourdan : Some ancient obser\-atories of the Proven- 

 cal region in the seventeenth centur)'. The obser- 

 vatory of .Avignon. Sketches of the astronomical 

 work of Bonet de Lates, Tondut de Saint-Lcgier, 

 Paven, Gallet, Bonfa and Morand. — L. Lecornu : The 



