July 12, 1900] 



NATURE 



255 



the description of this group, states that the collection of Crus- 

 taceans obtained during the cruise is remarkably rich in forms 

 cither new to science or to the fauna of New South Wales. Of 

 the forty-five species recorded, twenty come under the latter 

 category and nine under the former. But the present fasciculus 

 applies only to the higher groups of the class, and when the 

 lower forms are worked out a still larger proportion of novelties 

 may be expected. The new types are figured in a well-executed 

 series of plates. 



In its Bulletin, No. i8o, the Michigan State Agricultural 

 College Experiment Station sets an excellent example by calling 

 attention to the noxious insects which have been most numerous 

 during the past year in that district, and the best means for their 

 destruction. 



The North London Natural History Society's syllabus for 

 the period July to jDecember has just reached us, and gives 

 promise of an interesting session. 



The Bibliolheca Mathematica, iii. i, contains a heliogravure 

 portrait of the late Sophus Lie, together with a descriptive list 

 of his papers by F. Engel, of Leipzig. 



Messrs. Williams and Norgate's " Book Circular " for 

 June has reached us. In it are to be found notes on new and 

 forthcoming scientific publications, and a list of works on 

 medicine, natural history, chemistry, physics, mathematics, iS:c. 



We have received Nos. 7 and 9 of Scientia. The former, by 

 Dr. Denis Courtade, is entitled " L'Irritabilite dans la Serie 

 Animale," while the latter, by Dr. Pierre Bonnier, is called 

 *' L'Orientation," and deals with the notion and perception of 

 space by animals, and the localisation of external objects. 



The conclusion of the series of articles on " South African 

 Lepidoptera," by F. Barrett, in the Entomologist' s Monthly 

 Magazine, appears in the current issue of that periodical, and in 

 it is contained the first instalment of an account of "An Excur- 

 sion to Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor, &c., in search of 

 Aculeate Hymenoptera," from the pen of Rev. T. D. Morice. 



The July issue of " Climate, a quarterly journal of Health 

 and Travel " contains several interesting articles, such as ' ' The 

 Art of Travelling " (an interview with Mrs. Bishop, the 

 traveller), and "The Malaria Question," by the editor, in 

 which a good deal of information is given in a compressed 

 form. 



. In the new number of "The Journal of the Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society of England," Mr. W. E. Bear, in an article 

 on " Fumigation for Insect Pests," passes in review the 

 methods of fumigation that are or have been in use in various 

 parts of the world, and the measure of success they have met 

 with. 



The July number of Knowledge has as its leading article an 

 account of the recent total solar eclipse, by Mr. E. W. Maunder. 

 It is accompanied by a "process" reproduction of a full-page 

 drawing of the corona, the work of Miss C. O. Stevens. Dr. 

 W. Stanley Smith has commenced in the same periodical 

 an interesting series of articles on Early Theories of Fermenta- 

 tion. 



The current number of Science Gossip contains the first of a 

 series of " Geological Notes in Orange River Colony," from the 

 pen of Mayor B. M. Skinner, which probably will appeal to a 

 wider circle of readers just now than would have been the case 

 had war not broken out. The present instalment deals with 

 (the country lying between Enslin and Bloemfontein. 

 NO. 1602, VOL. 62] 



The Agricultural Journal, published by the Department of 

 Agriculture, Cape of Good Hope, always contains many items 

 of interest and value to the student of agriculture. The issue 

 for May 10, which has just come to hand, contains, among 

 other things, a good portion of the inaugural address on " The 

 Bearings of Education and Science on Practical Agriculture." 

 which was delivered by Prof. Somerville at Cambridge in 

 November last. 



The Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies has 

 issued a handy and useful pamphlet, entitled " Hints and Sug- 

 gestions on Planting in Tobago." The greater portion deals 

 with the subject of cacao culture, and is written by Mr. E. R, 

 Smart, and revised by Mr. J. H. Hart and others. Short notes 

 on other plants are from the pen of Sir R. B. Llewelyn, formerly 

 Administrator of Tobago. 



The Yorkshire College, Leeds, on behalf of the East and 

 West Ridings Joint Agricultural Council, will provide courses 

 of instruction in the following subjects throughout the ensuing 

 year: — Results of the Garforth and other experiments in the 

 East and West Ridings ; agriculture ; veterinary hygiene ; horti- 

 culture ; and poultry keeping. A guide has been issued by the 

 two bodies to experiments at the Manor Farm, Garforth, for the 

 year 1900. 



The Zambesi Mission Record is a Well-edited quarterly 

 periodical, which contains not only reports of the religious and 

 educational work done by the Catholic Mission under the 

 auspices of which it is brought out, but also from time to time 

 notes and articles on the natural history, botany and meteorology 

 of the area traversed by the society ; thus the issue for July 

 contains notes on the weather and climate from observations 

 taken at Bulawayo during 1899, and a lengthy contribution, 

 entitled " By an African Pool," in which there is a good deal 

 of popular science, appealing for the most part to the ornitho- 

 logist. The latter article is illustrated by well-executed 

 " process " blocks of photographs of specimens from the Albany 

 Museum, Grahamstown. 



Recent successful attempts to prepare tubes and bulbs of 

 fused quartz have led to a more detailed study of the thermal 

 properties of this material. Its low coefficient of expansion 

 and absolute unalterability at high temperatures would point to 

 fused silica as an ideal material for air thermometry, and hence 

 the observation by M. P. Villard in the current number of the 

 Comptes rendus, that it resembles platinum in being permeable to 

 hydrogen at high temperatures, is a disappointing one. A mano- 

 meter connected to a pump and quartz tube, the latter being 

 heated in a Bunsen burner to about 1000° C, shows a slowly in- 

 creasing pressure, amounting in the course of a day to several 

 centimetres of mercury, and on examination the gas proved to 

 be nearly pure hydrogen. The same number contains a so a 

 note by M. Dufour on the resistance of fused silica to sudden 

 changes of temperature in which it is stated that quartz tubes, 

 even although badly made, may be heated to any temperature 

 and plunged into cold water without showing any signs 01 

 breaking. 



In the current number of the Berichte is a note by Dr. Vaubel 

 on the phenyl derivative of diimide, Nil : NH. This has been 

 isolated in a simple manner from the products of reduction of 

 diazoamidobenzene with zinc dust in alkaline solution. Phenyl- 

 diimide CgHj.N : NH is an oily liquid of a pale yellowish colour, 

 which can be distilled in steam, and possesses a strong odour of 

 almond oil. Since it cannot be distilled with steam from an 

 alkaline solution, it would appear to possess acid properties ; 

 it is very poisonous, and has no reducing action upon Fehling's 

 solution. Contrary to expectation, it explodes neither on 



