July 12, 1900] 



NATURE 



261 



Haga.— The degradation of glycolHc aldehyde, by H. J. H. 

 Fenton.— Notes on the chemistry of chlorophyll, by L. March- 

 lewski and C. A. Schunck.— A new series of pentamethylene 

 derivatives, I., by W. H. Perkin, jun., J. F. Thorpe and C. 



/C(OC2H5)C02H 

 Walker. Ethoxycaronic acid,' C(Cn3)2\ | , is 



\CH.CO,H 

 obtained by treating ao'-dibromo-;8j3dimethyIglutarate with 

 alcoholic potash, and yields ajyw-dimethylsuccinic anhydride, 

 CMea.CO. 



I ^O, with sulphuric aiid. Ethyl dibromodimethyl- 



CH2-CO^ 

 olutarate and sodiomalonic ether condense, yielding the sodio- 



.C(COoEt).CNa.C02Et 

 derivative, CMeo<; | I ; numerous deriva- 



'\C(CO,,Et).CO 

 tives of this substance are described. — Experiments on the syn- 

 thesis of camphoric acid. III. The action of sodium and 

 mtthyl iodide on ethyl dimethylbutanetricarboxylate, by 

 \V. H. Perkin, jun., and J. F. Thorpe. Ethyl di- 

 methylbutanetricarboxylate is converted by sodium and methyl 

 iodide into a substance which possibly has the constitution 

 /CMe(C02Et) CO 

 CMe2< I 



\CH2(C02Et).CH2 

 which should be easily converted into a substance having the con- 

 stitution assigned by Bredt to camphoric acid ; the ester is 

 converted on reduction into an isomeride of camphanic acid. — 

 The oxyphenoxy- and phenylenoxy-acetic acids, by W. Carter 

 and W. T. Lawrence. — The condensation of ethyl a-bromoiso- 

 butyrate with ethyl malonates and ethyl cyanacetates ; omethyl 

 o'-isobutylglutaric acid, by W. T. Lawrence. The author shows 

 that the following general equations hold : — (i) CNaRX.C02Et 

 + CBrMe2.C02Et = CRX(COjEt).CMe2.C0.3Et + NaBr, when 

 the sodioderivative is solid, and (2) CNaRX.COaEt 

 -f CBrMe.,.C02Et=CRX(C02Et).CH3.CHMe.C02Et + NaBr, 

 when the sodio-compound is dissolved; R = H or an alkyl 

 group and X = .CN or .COaEt.— Methylisoamylsuccinic acid, 

 n , by W. T. Lawrence. — The estimation of furfural, by W. 

 Cormack. Furfural may be estimated by oxidising it to pyro- 

 mucic acid by standard ammoniacal silver oxide solution, filter- 

 ing off the reduced silver and titrating the silver left in solution. 

 —The constitution of hydrogen cyanide, by J. Wade.— 

 Inhibiting effect of etherification on substitution in phenols, 

 by H. E. Armstrong and E. W. Lewis. The substitution 

 of benzoyl, phenylsulphonyl, benzylsulphonyl, the radicle 

 C]oH,gO.SOo, of Reychler's camphorsulphonic acid, or picryl 

 for phenolic hydrogen in phenolparasulphonic acid renders the 

 substance inert towards bromine. — Bromination of oxyazo-com- 

 pounds, by H. E Armstrong and P. C. C. Isherwood. — Meta- 

 sulphonation of aniline, by H. E. Armstrong and W. Berry. — 

 1 Phenylacetylchloramine and analogous compounds, by H. E. 

 Armstrong. — Benzylanilinesulphonic acids, by I. Smedley. — 

 Benzeneorlhodisulphonic acid, by H. E. Armstrong and S. S. 

 iNapper.— An isomeride of furfurine, by J. P. Millington and 

 _\ H. Hibbert.— The mono- and di-acetyl and phenacetyl diethyl 

 tartrates, by J. McCrae and T. S. Patterson. 



July 5. — Prof. Thorpe, president, in the chair. — The Nilson 

 Memorial Lecture was delivered by Prof. Otto Pettersson, of 

 Stockholm. 



Entomological Society, June 6. — Mr. G. H. Verrall, 

 President, in the chair. — Mr. Hedworlh Foulkes, B.Sc, and 

 the Rev. H. C. Lang, M.D., were elected Fellows of the 

 Society. — Mr. G. H. Verrall exhibited a species of the genus 

 Ceratitis, MacLeay, apparently identical with Bigot's C. 

 freniiillattis from the Gold Coast (West Africa), and a very 

 handsome Trypetid reared from the fruit of Mtmusops caffra by 

 Mr. Claud Fuller at Durban, Natal.— Mr. C. O. Waterhouse 

 exhibited specimens of a Hemipteron, Aspongopus nepaletuis. 

 They are much sought after by the natives, who use them 

 for food pounded up and mixed with rice. — Mr. Merrifield 

 exhibited a number of pups; of Apo'ia crataegi, and called 

 I attention to the want of correspondence between the mark- 

 ings on the pupal and those on the imaginal wing. As might 

 be expected of an insect whose larva pupates by preference 

 on stems screened by foliage, its colour is not very greatly 

 aflfected by its surroundings ; on comparing some which had 

 had yellow or orange surroundings with others which had had 

 dark ones, it was shown that the former tended to yellow 



NO. 1602, VOL 



ground colour, and the latter to grey, having also an increase 

 of the dark spots with which the thorax and abdomen are 

 thickly strewn. He'also exhibited some enlarged coloured photo- 

 graphs of the green and dark pupal forms of Papilio machaon, 

 obtained by causing the larva; to pupate on green, yellow or 

 orange surfaces, and on dark ones respectively. — Sir G. F. 

 Hampson exhibited specimens of Oligostigtna araealis, from 

 Ceylon, where his correspondent, Mr. J. Pole, had met with a 

 swarm on an i.sland in a river which he estimated at 20,000 ; 

 when disturbed the buzz made by their wings was quite audible, 

 and after three waves of the net 236 specimens were bottled 

 from round its edges, the net still appearing quite full ; as, in 

 the some thirty specimens sent, the sexes were in almost even 

 proportions, this was not a case of male assemblage. He also ex- 

 hibited cleared wings, showing the neuration oi Diacrisia russula, 

 Tyria jacobaeae, Callintorpha hera and C. dominula, and con- 

 tended that the genus Callintorpha should therefore be removed 

 from the Arctiadae and placed in the Hypiidae where it is 

 closely allied to Nyctemara, Callarctta and other genera as the 

 fully developed proboscis, the non-pectinate antennae, the 

 smoother sealing, the more diurnal habit, and the larvae being 

 scantily clothed with hair all bore out the correctness of this 

 association. — Dr. Chapman exhibited a portion of a stem of 

 Ferula communis from He St. Marguerite, near Cannes, showing 

 burrows and pupa cases of Lozopera francillonana. A number 

 of vacant holes were also visible, being the exit of an ichneumon, 

 which affects a large majority of the Tortrix, believed to be 

 Chelonns manitiis, Nees. — Mr. F. Enock exhibited living 

 specimens of male and female Kanatra linearis, Linn., from 

 Epping, together with the peculiar forked eggs, which he had 

 observed laid by the Ranalra, as it rested upon the upper 

 surface of the leaf grasping the edges with its claws. The 

 short anterior legs are hel ' well up close together, in a line 

 with the body, the head raised about an inch from the leaf, 

 while the tip of the abdomen and ovipositor is pressed against 

 the leaf — a downward and forward movement being given. 

 The ovipositor is thus forced through the leaf, then partiaHy 

 withdrawn and the egg extruded and forced into the hole as far- 

 as the forked filaments, which prevent it from going right 

 through the leaf. — Mr. H. K. Donisthorpe exhibited cases of 

 Clythra quadripiinctata, specimens of Lomechu^a strttmosa, 

 with its host Formica sanguineo, sent by Father Wasmann 

 from Holland, the insects mounted in the position assumed by 

 the guest and host when the former is being fed by the latter. 

 He also showed Cossyphodes bewickii, Woll., a l)eetle from Cape 

 Colony, with the ants with which it is found — i'heidola viega- 

 cephala, var. pu/tctnlata, Mayr. — Mr. C J. Barrett exhibited two 

 females of Spilosoma mendica reared by Mr. J. E. Robson, of 

 Hartlepool, tinged with purplish-pink, and ordinary specimens 

 of the same for contrast. — A paper was communicated on life- 

 histories of the Hepialid group of Lepidoptera by Mr. Ambrose 

 Quail, and a note on the habits and structure of Acanthopsyche 

 opacella, H. Sch., by Dr. T. A. Chapman. 



Zoological Society, June 19. — Prof. G. B. Howes, 

 F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair. — Dr. W.ilter Ki<Jd read a 

 paper on the significance of the hair-slope in certain mammals, 

 in which reference was made to previous investigations into the 

 hair-slope on the extensor surface of the human forearm, and its 

 bearing upon Weissmann's doctrine of the non inheritance of 

 acquired characters. Details were given of further o-bservations 

 as to the hair-slope on the nasal and frontal regions of certun 

 mammals. The ordinary type and the exceptional type of slope 

 were described, and lists of animals conforming to the two types 

 were given. These results were held to l>e opposed to the 

 doctrines of Weissmann, and to be attributable to the habits of 

 theammalsinquestion.— Mr. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S., readapaper 

 on the anatomy of Bassaricyon alleni, based on an examination 

 of a specimen of this mammal which had recently died in the 

 Society's gardens. The result arrived at was that this genus was 

 clearly referable to the family Procyonidie, as had been usually 

 supposed, and allied, especially in external form, to Cercoleptes, 

 but distinguished by well-marked characters. — Mr. W. F. 

 Lanchester read the first part of a paper on a collection of 

 crustaceans made at Singapore and Malacca by himself and 

 Mr. F. P. Bedford. It contained a list of the Brachyura 

 comprised in the collection, some notes on the nature of the 

 collecting area, and on the habits of certain of the species, 

 together with descriptions of twelve new forms, — A communica- 

 tion was read from Dr. Einar Lonnberg, of Upsala, on the 

 structure and anatomy of the musk-ox {Or.'ibo^ moscliatus). It 



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