March 6, 1919J 



NATURE 



19 



ul altitude. — M. MoUiard : ,The production of citric 

 acid by SterigmatocysHs nigra. — E. Faure-Fremiet and 

 F. V148 : Are the laws of cicatrisation of wounds 

 reducible to the general laws of growth of organisms ? 



A. Lecaillon • The reproduction and development of 



accidental bivoltins and of the first generation derived 

 from them in the silkworm. 



Sydney. 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales, October 30, 

 19 18. — Prof. H. G. Chapman, president, in the 

 chair.— Dr. R. J. Tillyard : The Panorpoid com- 

 plex. Part ii. : The wing-trichiation and its relation- 

 ship to the general scheme of venation. The hairs 

 found upon the wings of all Holometabolous orders 

 are classed as (i) niicrotrichia, minute hairs developed 

 in connection with every unspecialised hypoderm cell 

 of the wing, and (2) macrotrichia, larger hairs of the 

 nature of sensillae, only developed from special 

 trichogen cells of large size. The arrangement of 

 these hairs is called the wing-trichiation. The vena- 

 tional scheme is shown to consist of (i) main veins 

 and their branches, which are preceded by tracheae in 

 the pupal wing ; (2) true cross-veins, not preceded by 

 tracheae; and (3) the archedictyon, or original Palaeo- 

 dictvopterous meshwork formed of irregular venules, 

 and only found complete in fossils. The Triassic 

 fossil Archipanorpa possesses all these elements, but 

 the archedictyon is aphantoneuric, or in process of 

 becoming absorbed into the wing-membrane. With 

 this fossil as a basis, the trichiation of the wings of all 

 the orders of the complex is studied. It is shown 

 that the most archaic forms all agree in having niicro- 

 trichia all over the wing, but macrotrichia only upon 

 the main veins and upon the ♦membrane (the latter 

 were originally carried upon the archedictyon, but 

 became seated on the membrane when the meshwork 

 disappeared), and not upon the true cross-veins. The 

 various lines of evolution are followed out, showing a 

 tendencv in some orders to suppression of both kinds 

 of hairs, and in others to the specialisation of the 

 macrotrichia as scales, as in the I^epidoptera. Con- 

 clusions are drawn as to the probable phylogenies of 

 the Orders.— Dr. H. S. H. Wardlaw : The relation 

 between the fat-content and the electrical conductivity 

 of milk. Removal of fat from milk increases the 

 electrical conductivity. In a given sample of milk the 

 inrrease of conductivity is directly proportional to the 

 volume of fat removed. The increase of conductivity 

 due to the removal of a given amount of fat is not the 

 same, however, in different samples of milk. The 

 average increase of conductivity due to the removal 

 of I per cent, by volume of fat is 1-5 per cent. — J. L. 

 Froggatt : A study of the external breathing apparatus 

 of the larvae of some Muscoid flies. It is shown that 

 the maggots of blowflies of five species pestilent to 

 sheep can be identified by the characters of the 

 anterior and posterior spiracles, especially of the latter. 

 — W. W. Froggatt : Notes on Australian sawflies 

 (Fenthredinidae). Particulars about four species are 

 given, including a record of the death of cattle in 

 Queensland from the abnormal habit of eating the 

 larvae of Ptervgophoriis annZts.— R. H. Cambage : 

 Notes on the ' native flora of New South Wales. 

 Part X. : The Federal capital territory. 



_ WAtHINCTON, D.C. 



National Academy of Sciences, December, 1918 

 (Proceedings, vol. iv.. No. 12).— W. S. Adams: 

 The absorption spectrum of the novae. A dis- 

 cussion of Nova .Aurigae of 1892, Nova Persei of 

 Toni, Nova Geminorum of 1912, and Nova Aquilse of 

 I'liS. The displacements of the lines in all these stars 



NO. 2575, VOL. 103] 



are directly proportional to wave-lengths, and divide 

 themselves into two pairs of equal amount. Of these 

 the first pair of stars has exactly twice the displace- 

 I ment of the second. In the case of Nova Aquilae there 

 I is a progressive increase in the values of the displace- 

 1 ments of the absorption lines at successive dates. 

 I Various hypothetical explanations are discussed. — 

 I D. N. Lehmer : Jacobi's extension of the continued 

 I fraction algorithm. A closer study of Jacobi's expan- 

 i sion reveals a number of remarkable points. Six 

 j theorems are stated.- — R. L. Moore : A characterisation 

 ; of Jordan regions by properties having no reference to 

 their boundaries. The theorem is proved. In order 

 that a simply connected, limited, two-dimensional 

 domain R should have a simple closed curve as its 

 boundary, it is necessary and sufficient that R should 

 be uniformly connected im kleinen. — J. A. Harris and 

 F. G. Benedict : A biometric study of human basal 

 metabolism. An analysis of measurements on 136 

 men, 103 women, and 94 new-born infants. — A. M. 

 Banta : Sex and sex intergrades in Cladocera. The 

 presentation of facts in regard to Cladocera, with the 

 discussion of their significance with regard to sex 

 intergrades in general, leading to the tentative con- 

 clusion that sex is always relative ; and that while 

 most individuals of whatever species are prevailingly 

 male or prevailingly female, every individual may have 

 something of the other sex intermingled with its pre- 

 vailing sexual characters. — W. J. Crozier : The 

 method of progression in Polyclads. In Turbellarians 

 generally muscular operations analogous to those 

 executed bv the foot of Chitons and of Gastropods are 

 essentially concerned in creeping locomotion. — R. 

 Ruedemann : The phylogeny of the acorn barnacles. 

 The derivation of an Eobalanus from a Rhino- 

 caris-like Phyllopod is illustrated in a set of 

 diagrams. — J. M. Clarlie : Possible derivation of 

 the Lepadid barnacles from the Phyllopods. So 

 far as present knowledge extends, the metamorphoses 

 of the" Phyllopods into the two great branches of 

 the barnacles were essentially contemporaneous. — 

 T. W. Ricliards and W. C. Schumb : Refractive index 

 and solubilities of the nitrates of lead isotopes. The 

 difference in atomic weight of the lead (207-20 and 

 206-41) has no appreciable effect on the refractive 

 index or on the molal solubility of the different samples 

 of lead nitrate.— T. W. Richards, W. M. Craig, and 

 y. Sameshima : The purification by sublimation and 

 "the analysis of gallium chloride. The method rests on 

 the fact that gallium trichloride sublimes and distils at 

 a low temperature, whereas the other chlorides likelv 

 to be associated with it are much less volatile. — T. W. 

 Richards and S. Boyer : The purification of gallium by 

 electrolvsis. and the compressibilitv and densitv of 

 gallium'. The method of separating gallium from 

 i indium by means of the different solubilities of the 

 { hvdroxides in caustic alkali was tested without success ; 

 I much more promising results were obtained by the 

 i electrolvtic method. The compressibility of solid 

 gallium' was found to be 209X10-*, and of liquid 

 j gallium 3-97XIO-*, nearly twice as great, although its 

 < volume is less. The densitv of the liquid was 6081, 

 ' and of the solid 5885.- A.' G. Mayor : The growth- 

 ' rate of Samoan coral reefs. The growth-rate of 

 i .Acropora, Porites, Pocillopora, Pavona, and Psammo- 

 cora are given, and the' weight of limestone added 

 per vear to the upper surface of the Aua reef-flat is 

 j estimated as 8o<.ooo lb. Other similar estimates are 

 I given. — A. van Maanen : The distances of six planetary 

 nebulae. The nebulae N.G.C. 2302, 6720. 6804. 690.S, 

 7008, and 7662 are examined. The parallaxes range 

 I from 0-002* to 0-021". and the diameters from io,o<-)o 

 I to 1350 astronomical units. 



