70 



NA TURE 



[November 21, 1S95 



The Mathematical Gazette, No. 6, October 1895.— The 

 conies of Apollonius, by the Rev. J. J. Milne, is the paper read 

 by that gentleman at the annual meeting in January last. It 

 contains a full and careful analysis of Apollonius' treatise, put- 

 ling in evidence what the great geometer says on the subject, and 

 also stating what properties he does not touch upon. The result 

 arrived at is that the ground covered by Apollonius " is very 

 extensive, and many parts of the subject are very thoroughly 

 treated which are passed over in silence in modern text-books." 

 — Proof of Horner's method of approximation to a numerical 

 root of an equation by the properties of algebraical quotients 

 and remainders, by Mr. M. Jenkins, is supplementary to papers 

 read before the Association by Messrs. Langley and Hayward. 

 — ^Dr. J. S. Mackay gives a further short note on Greek 

 geometers before Euclid. Amongst the geometers slightly 

 noticed are Oinopides of Chios, Anaxagoras, Democritus of 

 Abdera, Hippocrates of Chios and Antiphon. — ^The .notes 

 contain some suggestions in mathematical terminology, by R. 

 F. Muirhead ; some trigonometrical identities, by the editor and 

 J. H. Hooker ; on Simpson's rule, by Prof. A. Lodge ; and on 

 division into classes and homogeneous products, by P. J. 

 Harding. — A few questions and reviews complete a number 

 which is quite up to the previous high standard of the Gazette. 

 If this journal were better, known, we feel sure it would be more 

 heartily supported than it is by mathematical teachers. 



Bulletin de F Acadhnie Royale de Belgique, No. 8. — On a 

 hydrate of arsenic trisulphide and its decomposition by pressure, 

 by W. Spring. If the specific volume of a compound is greater 

 than the sum of those of its constituents, it should be decom- 

 posed by pressure. This has already been verified with cupric- 

 calcic acetate. It is also shown by the hexahydrate of arsenic 

 trisulphide, which decomposes on compres.sion in water or 

 orpiment, and does not require very great pressure. This phe- 

 nomenon is the converse of the combination of bodies by pres- 

 sure when the resulting specific volume is smaller. — On a spot 

 recently observed on the surface of Venus, and on the period of 

 rotation of this planet, by M. Schiaparelli. This spot is near 

 the south pole of the planet, and had at the time of writing 

 remained the same for four weeks, so that the period of about 

 twenty- three hours is out of the question. — On the attraction 

 sphere in the fixed cells of the conjunctive tissue, by C. de 

 Bruyne. The author investigates the attraction sphere in the 

 conjunctive cellules fixed in position in the interstitial of the 

 liver and the genital glands of Paludina vivipara. He describes 

 its constitution, its shape, its continuity with the cytoplasmic 

 filaments, the character of the medullary zone and that of the 

 centrosomes, which vary in number, dimensions and shape. He 

 then describes the situation of the sphere and its relations to the 

 nucleus, and the constitution of the radial fibres. He concludes, 

 against the views of O. Hertwig and others, that the centrosomes 

 rest in the cytoplasm during the stage of repose of the cellule. 

 The drawings reproduced are a conclusive proof of their presence 

 in the conjunctive cellules at rest. 



The papers in the Bullettino delta Societa Botanica Italiana 

 for July belong exclusively to the departments of descriptive 

 and geographical botany, most of them having special reference 

 to the Flora of Italy. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Entomological Society, November 6. — The Right Hon. 

 Lord Walsingham, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair. — Lord 

 Walsingham announced the death of M. E. L. Ragonot, Presi- 

 dent of the Entomological Society of France, and, since 1887, 

 a Foreign Fellow of the Entomological Society of London. He 

 remarked that M. Ragonot was especially distinguished by his 

 knowledge of the Phycida:, a monograph on which group he had 

 brought out in Russia, and for his amiable personal qualities and 

 the readiness he showed to assist other workers in the identifica- 

 tion of species. He said that the loss of M. Ragonot would 

 be greatly felt not only by the Entomological Society of France, 

 but by entomologists all over the world, and that the Council 

 had that evening passed a resolution to the effect that the 

 Secretary should write a letter of condolence to the French 

 Entomological Society on the death of their distinguished Presi- 

 dent. Colonel Swinhoe also spoke as to the great lo.ss sustained 

 by the death of M. Ragonot, and of the kindness and 



NO. 1360, VOL. 53] 



generosity of the deceased, which he had personally experienced. 

 — Mr. Goss read a letter from Mr. Waterhouse, calling attention 

 to the prospectus of a monograph by Mr. Ernest Green o.n the 

 Coccidce of Ceylon. A copy of the prospectus and specimen 

 plates were shown, and Lord Walsingham and Mr. McLachlan 

 commented on the importance of the' proposed work and the 

 beauty of the plates. — Mr. Stevens exhibited two larvae, 

 supposed to be those of a species of Anobium, which had been 

 damaging oil paintings in his possession ; also two specimens of 

 a luminous species of Pyrophorus, which he had received alive 

 from the West Indies. — Mr. Adkin exhibited a portion of a 

 collection of Lepidoptera made in Hoy, Orkney, in 1895, 

 including the following species, viz. Agrotis vestigialis, A. 

 tritici, and A. cursoria, not previously recorded from Orkney ; 

 Nemeophila plantaginis, having the usual yellow ground-colour 

 of the hindwings replaced by red in many of the females ; 

 Hepialus humuli, males of the ordinary white form, bearing no 

 resemblance to the Unst (Shetland) form ; Triphcena comes, all 

 very dark, the forewings almost black, the yellow of the hind- 

 wings of many of the specimens much obscured by blackish 

 scales ; Noctua festiva, showing forms of variation ranging 

 between the pale southern and the dark confliia forms ; Epunda 

 Ititulenta, some almost uniformly black, others pale grey with 

 dark markings ; Hadena adusta, one almost black, others much 

 variegated ; Thera juniperata, many having the central fascia 

 and apical streak very dark brown ; and Hysipetes sordidata, 

 varying from blackish-brown to pale green. — Mr. Tutt exhibited 

 a series of Emydia cribrum, var. Candida, which he had bred 

 from eggs obtained from a specimen caught by Mr. Merrifield in 

 May 1895, i" Northern Italy. He stated that being unable to 

 obtain Calluna vulgaris, the ordinary food-plant, he had tried 

 them with Knot Grass {Polygonum aviculare), and had no diffi- 

 culty in rearing them. — The Rev. Canon Fowler exhibited, on 

 behalf of Prof Poulton, F.R.S., living Diapheromera femorata 

 bred from eggs received from Prof. E. B. Titchener, of New York. 

 He stated that the young larvae had emerged from the eggs in 

 July and August last, and fed on lime. Several pairs had arrived 

 at maturity, and were feeding in cases in the Oxford Museum. 

 — The Rev. J. H. Hocking exhibited a specimen of Xylina 

 zinckenii, taken by him at sugar on the trunk of an oak tree, 

 at Copdock, near Ipswich, on September 30 last. It was in 

 beautiful condition, and had apparently only recently emerged 

 from the chrysalis. He also exhibited two specimens of Xanthia 

 ocellaris taken at the same time. Mr. Barrett referred to the 

 few recorded chapters of X. zinckenii m this country.— Mr. 

 R. W. Lloyd exhibited male and female specimens of Amara 

 alpina from Garvell, Perthshire. — Colonel Swinhoe stated that 

 he had, during the past summer, captured four specimens of 

 Pieris daplidice at Deal. They were worn, and had probably 

 been blown over from France. Mr. Tutt remarked that he had 

 collected at Deal for many years, but had never met with Pieris 

 daplidice. — Mr. Tutt read a paper by Prof. A. Radcliffe Grote, 

 entitled " Notes on the genus Cidaria.'" — Dr. T. A. Chapman 

 read a paper entitled " Notes on Pupae ; Orneodes, Epermenia, 

 Chrysocorys, and Pterophorns." Lord Walsingham, Mr. Bland- 

 ford, and Mr. Tutt took part in the discussion which ensued. 



Geological Society, November 6. — Dr. Henry Woodward, 

 F.R.S., President in the chair. — The Serpentine, Gneissoid and 

 Hornblendic Rocks of the Lizard District, by Prof. T. G. 

 Bonney, F.R.S. The author states that in company with the 

 Rev. E. Hill, and in consequence of their work in Sark, he had 

 again investigated the question of the genesis of the hornblende- 

 schists at the Lizard, and was able to overcome the difficulties 

 which formerly withheld him from attributing an igneous origin 

 to the schists themselves, and their banded structure to fluxional 

 movements during consolidation. There also, as in Sark, he 

 found some evidence of this banding being the result, at any rate 

 in places, of a mixture of a less and a more basic material. Addi- 

 tional evidence was given as to the genesis of the granulitic 

 group and its relations to the hornblende-schist. The author 

 maintained that the relations of the serpentine to the granulitic 

 and the hornblendic groups are inexplicable on the hypothesis of 

 an igneous complex, so far as he understood the meaning of that 

 term, or of a folding in a solid condition or any other form of 

 dynamometamorphism, and he maintained his original opinion 

 that the serpentine (i.e. the original peridotite) was intrusive in 

 the other rocks. The paper also dealt with some minor points 

 in the geology of the Lizard. In the discussion that followed, 

 Mr. Teall, speaking as to the origin of hornblende-schists, 

 reaffirmed his belief in the theory that both gabbros and basic 



