June i, 1893J 



NATURE 



119 



addressed to Prof. Newton, F.R.S., by Prof. E. C. Stirling, of 

 Adelaide, respecting the recent discovery of a large series of 

 remains of Diprolodoii, Phascoloiiiys, and other Mammals at 

 Lake Mulligan, in South Australia, about 6oo miles north of 

 Adelaide. It was anticipated that when these remains were 

 received and examined very important additions to our knowledge 

 of the extinct Mammal-fauna of Australia would follow. — Mr. 

 Beddard, F. R. S., read a paper upon the structures termed 

 "atrium" and "prostate" in the Oligochjietous worms, in which 

 reasons were given for believing that all these structures were 

 reducible to one common plan. — Mr. G. 13. Sowerby read the 

 descriptions of fifteen new species of shells of the family 

 Pleurotomidas from different localites. — .\ communication was 

 read from Mr. A. H. Everett, containing a revi.'^ed list of the 

 Mammals inhabiting the Bornean group of Islands, that is, 

 Borneo, and Palawan, which, as Mr. Everett had shown in a 

 previous paper, belongs zoologically to Borneo. — Mr. O.Thomas 

 read a paper containing an account of a second collection of 

 Mammals sent by Mr. H. II. Johnston, from Nyasaland. The 

 present series (collected, like the former, by Mr. Alexander 

 Whyte), consistedof about 75 specimens, referable to 30 species, 

 of which a large proportion were additional to the fauna of 

 Nyasaland. — Dr. P. Sonsino, of Pisa, read some notes on 

 specimens of parasitic worms of the genus Distomum, of which 

 he had lately examined specimens. 



Royal Meteorological Society, May 17.— Dr. C. Theo- 

 dore William-;, Pre>ident, in the chair.— The following papers 

 were read : — Mean daily maximum and minimum temperature 

 at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, on the average of the 

 fifty years from 1841 to 1890, by Mr. W. Ellis. The author 

 gives tables of the mean maximum and mean mimimum tem- 

 perature of the air on each day of the year, and also tables 

 showing the daily range of temperature and the mean of the 

 daily maximum and minimum values. — Suggestions, from a prac- 

 tical point of view, for a new classification of cloud forms, by Mr. 

 F. Gaster. The forms assumed by clouds at different levels and 

 under various conditions have recently received considerable 

 attention from meteorologist-s. The author, however, does not 

 approve of the nomenclatures and classifications which have 

 been proposed, as, in his opinion, they appear to be little, if 

 any, better than the older ones they were intended to replace. 

 He now proposes a somewhat different classification, arranging 

 the clouds according to altitude under the following headings : — 

 (l) Surface clouds, or those which appear commonly between 

 the earth's surface and a level of about 2000 feet ; (2) Lower 

 medium clouds, including all varieties which usually float at an 

 elevation ranging from 2000 to about 10,000 feet ; (3) Higher 

 medium cl luds, or those commonly found at altitudes varying 

 from 10,000 to about 22,000 feet ; (4) Highest (or cirriform) 

 level clouds, or those at elevations exceeding 22,000 feet. The 

 author gives the names of each variety of cloud included in the 

 clas>ification, together with an account of the principal charac- 

 teristics of each as far as appearance goes. —Notes on winter, 

 by Mr. A. B. MacDowall. In this paper the author discusses 

 the question of periodicity in winter at Greenwich and Paris, 

 and the relation of summers to winters. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, May 23— M. Lcewy in the chair.— 

 The Permanent Secretary announced the death, at Berlin, of 

 Herr Kummer, Foreign Associate, and M. Ilermite gave a 

 review of the work of the celebrated geometrician. Herr G. 

 Wieilemann was elected correspondent for the section of physics, 

 in the place of Herr \V. Weber, deceased.— On the kinetic 

 theory of gases, by M. H. Poincare. A cori'ection of Maxwell's 

 proof of the law of adiabatic expansion. — Note by M. Berthelot, 

 accompanying the presentation of his work, " On the Chemistry 

 of the Middle Ages." — On some rare or r.ew natural phosphates ; 

 brushiie, minervite, by M. Armand Gaulier. A new lime and 

 alumina phosphate was found among ihe concretionary phos- 

 phates of the <7ro//^ (/^ Minetve. .Microcrysialline like most of 

 these substances, soluble in dilute mineral acids, in weak pot- 

 ash lie, and in alkaline ammonium citrate, except a slight 

 clayey residue, it has a different composition from the other 

 natural aluminium phosphates, and ha-; been called Minervite 

 to recall its place of discovery. — Determination of the water 

 contained in soil carrying various crops after a period of great 

 drought, by M. Reiset.— Observation of the total solar eclipse 

 of April 16, 1893, made at Joal (Senegal), at the observa- 



NO. 1231, VOL. 48] 



tory of the expedition of the Bureau des Longitudes, by M. G. 

 Bigourdan. — On the investigation of the solar corona apart from 

 total eclipses, by M. H. Deslandres. — On a highly sensitive mano- 

 metric apparatus, by M.Villard. — The heat spectrum of fluorspar, 

 by M. E. Carvallo. — Dynamical phenomena due to the residual 

 electiification of dielectrics, by M. Charles Borel. — On chloro- 

 borate of iron and on a method of preparing chloroborales 

 isomorphous with bor.acites, by MM. G. Rousseau and II. 

 Allaire. The method consists in letting a volaiilised metallic 

 chloride act at a red heat upon natural calcium borate or upon 

 borosodiocalcite. In the case of iron, the product obtained 

 corresponds sensibly to that of a boracite in which the mag- 

 nesium has been replaced by iron, according to the formula 

 6Fe0.8B,^03. FeClo. The chloroborate of iron crystallises in 

 transparent cubes i>f a greyish colour, which act upon polarised 

 light. This optical property shows that these crystals, like 

 those of natural boracite, present a pseudo-cubic symmetry. 

 They dissolve slowly in nitric acid and are rapidly dis- 

 integrated by fused alkaline carbonates. — On the heat 

 developed in Ihe combination of bromine with some 

 unsaturated substances of the fatty series, by MM. W. 

 Louguinine and Irv. Kablukov. Calorimetric determinations 

 carried out in the cases of trimethylethylene, hexylene, diallyl, 

 allyl alcohol, and allyl bromide led to the following conclusions : 

 The heat developed by their combination with bromine increases 

 as one proceeds upwards in the homologous series. The pre- 

 sence of an atom of Br replacing H in the unsaturated hydro- 

 carbons mentioned, considerably reduces the rapidity of the 

 addition reaction of the bromine. In presence of the OH 

 group the addition reaction ceases to be sharply defined and is 

 accompanied by a substitution reaction. — On licarhodol derived 

 from licareol, by M. Ch. Barbier. — Action of sc^dium sulphite 

 upon the amidophenol salts; new method of obtaining amido- 

 phenols from their salts, by MM. Aug. Lumiere and A. 

 Seyewetz. — PtomaVn extracted from urines in eczema, by M. A. 

 B. Griffiths. — On 5-achroglobine, a respiratory globuline con- 

 tained in the blood of certain Mollusca, by M. A. B. GriflSths. 

 In addition to the o-achroglobine extracted from the blood of 

 Patella, the /3 variety from the Chitons, and the 7 variety from 

 the Tunicata, a fourih variety, Sachroglobine, has been dis- 

 covered in the blood of certain species of Doris. 100 grammes 

 of this substance absorb 125 cc. of oxygen at 0° and 760 mm. 

 Its empirical formula is CosgH-gjNjiijSO,,,.- On the Plankton 

 of the northern lagoon of Jan Mayen, by M. G. Pouchel. The 

 island of Jan Mayen possesses two lagoons formed by fresh 

 water due to the melting of the glaciers, and separated from the 

 sea by narrow dykes of sand and shingle. The southern lagoon 

 is of recent date. At the time of discovery it was an open bay. 

 The northern lagoon was explored by the steamer La Maiiche 

 in July 1892. I5y means of a fine net the central portion was 

 tested for any surface life (Plankton) ihat might have escaped 

 the Austrian expedition, which had failed to discover any. As 

 the rtsult of prolonged work a few species were found, includ- 

 ing a Conferva, Infusoria allied to Paramecium and Actinophrys, 

 i a Tardigrade, a Copepod, and numerous Rotifers. — Dimorphism 

 I in the development of hemosporidia, by M. Alphonse Labbe. 

 — On the scented mists observed on the coasts of the Channel, 

 by M. S. Jourdain. These mists occur in spring under a north- 

 east wind, and usually in the morning. The appearance is 

 that of a bluish-grey vapour, and the smell that of lime-kilns. 

 The air is very dry while they last. The author thinks that 

 they are cosmic, not local phenomena. 



Berlin. 



Physiological Society, May 5.— Prof, du Bois Reymond, 

 President, in the chair. — Dr. Schmidt spoke on the colour- 

 reactions of the excreta, whereby the mucin exhibits certain 

 very characteristic and distinctive diff'erences, as compared with 

 proteids. — Prof. Fritsch exhiliiled a number of lantern slides of 

 the electric organs of Torpedo, Malapterunis, and Gymnotus, by 

 which he had determined the structure of the giant ganglia, the 

 axis cylinders which arise from these and are distributed to the 

 electric organ and the protoplasmic prolongations, which either 

 form a means of connection between neighbouring ganglia, or 

 else resolve themselves into an anastomosing network. — Dr. 

 Benda also exhibited projections of micro-photographs, in linear 

 magnification of 2000 to 3000 diameters, of the testis of Salaman- 

 ders in illustration of the formation and fate of the karyokinetic 

 nuclear rods. 



