I50 



NATURE 



[March 31, 1910 



insects are rare. Megachile albifrons was observed to be 

 a regular visitor to cotton-flowers in north-eastern Buldana. 

 As cotton has been asserted to be self-pollinated constantly 

 in western India, and as some of the agricultural depart- 

 ments have been endeavouring to improve the plant on the 

 assumption that races ought consequently to continue pure 

 though grown by the side of other races, the observation 

 has interest in directing attention to the necessity of rely- 

 ing on artificial pollination in breeding experiments. Apis 

 dorsata was observed to work in the dawn and dusk on 

 the flowers of Dalbergia Sissoo at Nagpur. — I. H. Burkill : 

 Note on the spreading of Croton sparsiflorus, Morung, 

 along the Assam-Bengal Railway. This introduced plant 

 has reached Lumding and Gauhati by means of the Assam- 

 Bengal Railway, along which it is to be found in several 

 places between them and Chittagong. Chittagong is the 

 port whereby, doubtless, it entered India. 



GOTTINGEN. 



Royal Society of Sciences. — The Nachrichten (physico- 

 mathematical section), part iv. for 1909, contains the 

 following memoirs communicated to the society : — 



July 3. — G. Angrenheister : Cloud observations in 

 Samoa. 



November 20. — Rudolf H. Weber : Asymmetric and 

 symmetric tensors. — ^The late K. Zoeppritz and L. 

 Geigrer : Seismic waves, iii., calculation of path and 

 velocity of procursive waves; Poisson's constant in the 

 interior of the earth. 



December 4. — Researches from the Gottingen University 

 chemical laboratory, xxii. Remarks on the terpinene 

 question. 



The " Business Communications," part ii. for 1909, 

 include the text of the address presented to the University 

 of Cambridge at the Darwin centenary, and a discourse 

 by G. Berthold on organisation, morphogenesis, and 

 metamorphosis in plants. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



FRIDAY, April i. 



Geologists' Association, at 8.— An Account of the District to be Visited 

 at Whitsuntide (the Isle of Purbeck and Bournemouth): H. W. Monckton 

 and F. Hovenden. 



MONDAY, April 4. 



Society of Enginef.rs, at 7.30.— Moulmein Waterworks : P. G. Scott. 



Aristotelian Society, at 8.— Bergson's Theory of Instinct : H. Wildon 

 Carr. 



Society of Chemical Industry, at 8.— The India Rubber Industry : 

 Dr. P. Schidrowitz. 



Victoria Institute, at 4.30. — Darwinism and Malthus : Rev. J. White. 



TUESDAY, April 5. 



Royal Institution, at 3.— The Modern Development of the Problem of 

 Alcoholic Fermentation: Dr. A. Harden, F.R.S. 



Zoological Society, at 8.30.— On the Alimentary Tract of Certain Birds, 

 and on the Mesenteric Relations of the Intestinal Loops : F. E. Beddard, 

 F.R.S. —The Caudal Fin of the Teleostomi : R. H. Whitehouse. — Some 

 Notes on Tasmanian Frogs : T. M. S. English. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8.— The New Clyde Bridge of the 

 Caledonian Railway at Glasgow : D. A. Matheson. — The Queen Alex- 

 andra Bridge over the River Wear,. Sunderland : F. C. Buscarlet and 

 A. Hunter. 



Faraday Society, at 8.— The Nature of the Action of Dyeing : W. P. 

 Dreaper.— The Electrical Theory of Dyeing : Prof. W. W. Haldane Gee 

 and VV. Harrison. 



WEDNESDAY, April 6. 



Society of Public Analysts, at 8. — A Note on the Composition of the 

 Milk yielded from Cows on a Pasture manured with Potash and Phos- 

 phates : J. Golding and S. G. Paine. — Note on the Influence of Solvents 

 on the Drying of Linseed- Oil : W. E. F. Powney. — An Improved Method 

 for the Estimation of Titanium : A. Gemmell. — Extraneous Mineral 

 Matter in Rice : F. W. Richardson. 



Entomological Society, at 8.— On the Behaviour of Coleoptera during 

 Floods : N. H. Joy. 



THURSDAY, April 7. 



Royal Institution, at 3.— The Himalayan Region : Dr. Tom G. 

 Longstaff. 



LiNNEAN Society, at 8.— Elm-seedlings showing Mendelian Results: 

 A. Henry. — On the Foraminifera and Ostracoda from Soundings, chiefly 

 deep-water, collected round Funafuti by H.M.S. Penguin : F. Chapman. 



NO. 2109, VOL. 83] 



ROntgen Society, at 8.15.— Some methods of using the Alternating 

 Current Mains for ROntgen Ray Work : Dr. G. B. Batten. 



Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8. — The Progress of Electric 

 Braking on the Gla.'sgow Corporation 'Iramways : A. Gerrard. 



FRIDAY, April 8. 



Royal Institution, at 9. — Lowell Observatory: Photographs of the 

 Planets : Prof. Petcival Lowell. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8. — The Reconstruction and Ex- 

 tension of Egremont Ferry Pier : G. H. Hodgson and H. M. Gell. 



Physical Society, at 8. — An Experimental Demonstration of the Loading 

 of Artificial Telephone Cables : B. S. Cohen. — Further Tests of Brittle 

 Materials : W. A. Scoble. 



Royal Astronomical Society, at 5. 



SA TURD A Y, April 9. 

 Royal Institution, at 3. — Bells, Carillons and Chimes : W. W. .Starmer. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



A French Treatise on Physical Geography. By 



J. W.J 121 



The Prehistoric Evolution of Italy. By J. G. . . 122 



Botanical Photographs 123 



Magnetic Charts. By Dr. C. Chree, F.R.S 123 



Electrical Biography 124 



Our Book Shelf:— 



" Syllabus of the Lessons on Marine Biology for 

 Fishermen, given at the Marine Laboratory, Piel, 

 Barrow-in-Furness, by the Lancashire and Western 



Sea-Fisheries Joint Committee" 125 



Dass : "The Sun a Habitable Body like the Earth" . 125 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



The "Reindeer" from the Lorthet Grotto.— Dr. 



Henry O. Forbes 125 



Centre of Gravity of Annual Rainfall.— J. Cook . . 125 

 Lycopodium Spores. — Prof. John Zeleny and 



L. W. McKeehan 126 



Dr. H. J. Hansen and the Copenhagen Museum of 



Zoology. — Dr. H.J. Hansen . 126 



Title of the Natural History Museum.— W. M. F. P. 126 



The Meaning of lonisation. — W. Deane Butcher . 126 

 Numeralised Profiles for Classification and Re- 

 cognition. [IFM Diagrams.) By Sir Francis 



Galton, F.R.S 127 



Tidal Observations in the English Channel and 



North Sea. By A. M. F 130 



Modern Aeronautics. {Illustrated.) By Prof. G. H. 



Bryan, F.R.S., and E. H. Harper 132 



Prof. K. J. Angstrom. By Prof. Arthur Schuster, 



F.R.S 134 



Notes 135 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Astronomical Occurrences in April 140 



The Spectrum of Comet 1910a 140 



Halley's Comet in Japanese Records 140 



Meteoiic Astronomy 140 



Stars with Variable Radial Velocities 140 



Precautions Necessary in Photographic Photometry . 140 



Observations of Satellites 14° 



Researches on Alloys. {Ilhistrated.) 140 



Electrical Discharges over Photog»aphic Plates. 



{.Illustrated.) By Prof. Alfred W. Porter 142 



Forestry 144 



Work of a Local Scientific Society 144 



University and Educational Intelligence 145 



Societies and Academies 146 



Diary of Societies 150 



