440 



NATURE 



[July 31, 19 19 



necessary to know the exact amount of sodium thio- 

 sulphate to be added to destroy the free chlorine. The 

 course of the reaction is variable, depending on the 

 presence or absence of free carbon dioxide in the 

 water, and a direct laboratory experiment must be 

 made in each case.— M. Lespieau : Cryoscopy in acety- 

 lene tetrabromide. This substance, when pure, melts 

 at +013° C, and has a high cryoscopic constant, 217. 

 — M. Picon : The preparation of some true substituted 

 acetylenes by means of the monosodium derivative of 

 acetylene. A description of the preparation of heptine, 

 decine. and octodecine. — Ch. Mauguin and L. J. Simon : 

 The action of concentrated sulphuric acid upon carbon 

 tetrachloride.^ — S. Posternak : The constitution of the 

 reserve phospho-organic principle of green plants. — 

 A. Krempf : A primitive and essential stage, so far 

 unrecognised, in the development of the Anthozoa. — 

 A. Rochon-Duvigneaud : The double retinal fovea in 

 birds of prey flying by day. 



Victoria. 

 Royal Society, May 8.— Mr. J. A. Kershaw, presi- 

 dent, in the chair.— R. H. Walcott : Origin of the 

 volcanic tuff of Pejark Marsh, Victoria. The follow- 

 ing results, giving further evidence of the formation 

 in situ of the bedded volcanic tuffs, were obtained 

 during excavations at this locality to find further 

 data as to man's antiquity in Victoria. This evidence 

 consists of the continuous thinning out of the beds 

 away from the probable points of eruption, the cross- 

 bedding present, and the gas cavities in the upper 

 part not due to decomposition of vegetable remains ; 

 also in its being precisely like other tuffs which were 

 undoubtedly formed in the same way both in physical 

 and in mineralogical aspects. — F. Chapman : New or 

 little-known Victorian fossils in the National Museum. 

 Part xxiv. : A fossil tortoise in ironstone from Cara- 

 pook, near Casterton. This is a replacement of the 

 greater part of the body cavity of a tortoise, in which 

 the vertebral column is well-marked. The sutures 

 of the costal plates and the impression of the*bones 

 of the pelvic girdle are visible. The ventral surface 

 shows the impress of the bones of the plastron. This 

 cast is referred to Emydura, and with some reserve 

 to the species E. macquariae. the Murray mud- 

 tortoise. Pleistocene fossils of this species from Aus- 

 tralia already exist in the British Museum (Natural 

 History), London, as single bones. A curious point in 

 physiography is suggested by the present occurrence : 

 since the living Murray mud-tortoise is now found 

 only in rivers flowing north into the Murray, the 

 rivers of the Carapook district, which now flow into 

 the Glenelg, probably had a northerly trend in the 

 Pleistocene. This is also supported by local physio- 

 graphic evidence. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



A Synoptical List of the Accipitres (Diurnal Birds 

 of Prey). Part i. : Sarcorhamphus to Accipiter. 

 Pp. 38. (London : John Wheldon and Co., 19 19.) 4s. 



A Student's Book on Soils and Manures. By Dr. 

 E. J. Russell. Second edition, revised and enlarged. 

 (Cambridge Farm Institute Series.) Pp. xii + 240. 

 (Cambridge : At the University Press, 19 19.) 6s. 6d. 

 net. 



I'nion of South Africa : Province of the Cape of 

 Good Hope. Marine Biological Report, No. iv., for 

 the period ending June 30, 1918. Pp. v+i82M-Ji. 

 (Cape Town : Cape Times, Ltd., iqiS.) 



Planetary Rotation Periods and Group Ratios : 

 Two Essays on the Relations between the Planets in 

 Diurnal Rotation and in Mass. By F. A. Black. 

 Pp. xii+115. (Edinburgh and London: Gall and 

 Inglis, n.d.) 3s. 6d. 



NO. 2596, VOL. 103] 



Shell Shock and its Lessons. By Prof. G. Elliot 

 Smith and T. H. Pear. New impression. Pp. xv+ 

 135. (Manchester: At the University Press; London: 

 Longmans, Green, and Co., 1919.) i*. 6d, net. 



Scientific Signalling and Safety. By Prof. John Joly. 

 Pp. 36+1 plate. (London : Taylor and Francis, 1919.) 

 IS. 6d. net. 



The Statesman's Year-Book : Statistical and His- 

 torical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 

 1919. Edited by Sir John Scott Keltie and Dr. M. 

 Epstein. Fiftv-sixth annual publication. Revised 

 after ofificial returns. Pp. lii+1476. (London: Mac- 

 millan and Co., Ltd., 1919.) i8s. net. 



Volumetric Analvsis for Students of Pharmaceutical 

 and General Cheniistry. By Charles H. Hampshire. 

 Second edition. Pp.' 127. (London : J. and A. 

 Churchill, 1919.) 55. net. 



Lectures on Sex and Heredity delivered in Glasgow, 

 T017-18. Bv F. O. Bower, J. Graham Kerr, and 

 W. E. Agar.' Pp. vi+119. (London: Macmillan and 

 Co., Ltd., 19x9.) 55. net. 



Insect .'Krtisans and their Work. By Edward Step. 

 (Hutchinson's Nature Library.) Pp. x + 318. (London: 

 Hutchinson and Co., 1919-) 7s. 6d. net. 



The Seashore : Its Inhabitants and How to Know 

 Them. Bv Forster Robson. Pp. iii. (London: 

 Holden and Hardingham, Ltd., n.'d.) is. 6d. net. 



Coal Mines and Nationalisation. By Dr. Arthur 

 Shadwell. Reprinted from the Times. Pp. 32. 

 (London : Longmans, Green, and Co., iqi9-) is- 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Applied Chemistry • 42i 



The Principles of. Radio-Communication. By 



Dr. A. Russell 423 



Geographical Aspects of World Politics 423 



Our Bookshelf . . 424 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Labour and Scientific Research.— P. G. Agnew . . 425 



Behaviour of a Cuckoo.— H. Eliot Howard 426 

 Sparganophilus : A British Oligochaet — Rev. Hil- 



deric Friend .426 



The Brent Valley Bird Sanctuary.— Wilfred Mark 



Webb . .X 426 



The Structure of the Solar Atmosphere. (Illustrated.) 426 



Prof. Emil Fischer, For.Mem.R.S. By H. E. A. . 430 



Notes ... . . . . 43« 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



A World Survey • • • 434 



Solar Physics at Cambridge 434 



The Soectrum of Nova Aquils 435 



The British Association. Provisional Programmes 



of Sections 435 



Cancer Research ... • • 435 



The Metallography of Iron and Iron-Carbon- 



Alloys. By Prof. H. C. H. Carpenter, F.R.S. . 43^ 

 Sex, Reproduction, and Heredity in Pigeons and 



Fowls 43^ 



Industrial Lighting 437 



The Royal Society of Canada 437 



University and Educational Intelligence 43* 



Societies and Academies 439 



Books Received 44C» 



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