72 



NATURE 



[November 21, 1895 



Nkw South Wales. 



Linnean Society, September 25. — Mr. Henry Deane, Pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — Notes on Cicadas, by W. W. Froggatt. — 

 Description of a tree creeper presumably new, by C. W. De Vis, 

 Climacteris animosa, n.sp. Several examples were obtained in 

 clearings in the Mulga Scrubs, at Charleville. — On the dates of 

 publication of the early volumes of the Society's Proceedings, 

 ^y J- J- Fletcher. — The President exhibited a number of 

 botanical specimens from the Tweed River. — Mr. Froggatt ex- 

 hibited his collection of Sydney Cicadas. — Mr. Steel showed a 

 Gecko (Gehyra vorax. Gir. ) from the Rewa River, Fiji. — ^Mr. 

 Fletcher showed some English humble bees, the defunct portion 

 of a consignment from New Zealand, recently imported by the 

 Department of Agriculture in the hope of the successful ac- 

 climatisation of the insects. Of the remainder, some were 

 liberated in the Botanic Gardens, and some in the Society's 

 arden. 



Berlin. 



Meteorological Society, October 15. — Prof. Hellmann, 

 President, in the chair. — Dr Kassner spoke on the influence of 

 weather on the growth of sugar-beets. He had compared the 

 beet-root crops in the provinces of Saxony and Silesia, with the 

 temperatures, rainfall, and intensity of rain during fifteen years, 

 for the yearly period from October i to September 30. The 

 curves of temperature corresponded to those of the crops in both 

 provinces, except in 1887. On the other hand, the curves of 

 rainfall in Silesia showed no such correspondence, although they 

 were in somewhat greater harmony in Saxony. The curves of 

 intensity of rain were in somewhat closer accordance with those 

 of the crops, than were the curves of rainfall. The speaker 

 came to the conclusion that the relationship of weather to crops 

 requires a much more thorough investigation than is possible 

 with the scanty data as yet available. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



London. 



THURSDA y, November 21. 



Royal Society, at 4.30. — (i) On the Gases obtained from the Mineral 

 Eliasite. (2) On the New Gases obtained from Uraninite. Sixth Note. 

 (3) On the Variable Stars of theS Cephei Class: J. Norman Lockyer, C.B., 

 F.R.S.' — Microscopic and Systematic Study of Madreporarian Types of 

 Corals: Miss Maria M. Ogilvie — On the Calibrationof the Capillary 

 Electrometer : G. J. Burch. — An Experimental Investigation of the Laws 

 of Attrition : F. T. Trouton. — Experiments on Fluid Viscosity : A. 

 Mallock. 



Linnean Society, at 8. — Development of a Single Seed in the Fruit of the 

 Cocoanut Palm (Cocos nucifera) : D. Morris, C.M.G. — Assimilation in 

 Plants under Abnormal Conditions : A. J. Ewart. — On a New Species of 

 Pinites from Wealden (England) : A. C. Seward. 



Chemical Society, at 8. — The Evolution of Carbon Monoxide by Alkaline 

 Pyrogallol Solution during Absorption of Oxygen : Prof Clowes. — The 

 Composition of the Limiting Explosive Mixtures of various Combustible 

 Gases with Air : Prof. Clowes. — Barium Butyrate and the Estimation of 

 Butyric Acid : W. H. Willcox.— And other Papers. 



London Institution, at 6. — Relation of Ants to Plants : Prof. F. E. 

 Weiss. 



Camera Club, at 8.15 — Mechanical Carriages : J. H. Knight. 



Society of Antiquaries, at 8.30. 



Numismatic Society, at 7. 



FRIDA y, November 22. 



Physical Society, at 5.— An Exhibition of Photographs of Spectra : G. 

 Johnstone Stoney. — A Direct Reading Platinum Thermometer : R. 

 Appleyard. — Historical Note on Resistance and its Change with Tem- 

 perature : R. Appleyard. 



Clinical Society, at 8.30. 



SATURDAV, November 23. 

 Royal Botanic Society, at 3.45. 



MONDA y, November 25. 

 Royal Geographical Society, at 8.30.— The Faeroe Islands : Dr. Karl 



Grossmann. 

 Institute of Actuaries, at 7. — Address by the President, Mr. Alex. J. 



Finlaison, C.B., on the Recent Internation.al Congress of Actuaries at 



Brussels. 

 Medical Society, at 8.30. 

 Camera Club, at 8.15.— Daylight Enlarging : F. Seyton Scott. 



TUESDA y, November 26. 

 Royal Photographic Society, at 8. — Photo-ceramics. A Demonstration 



will be given by Mr. W. Ethelbert Henry. — A Method of Carbon-printing 



without Transfer : Valentine Blanchard. 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8. — Discussion on Subaqueous 



Tunnelling by Shield and Compressed Air. 

 Royal Victoria Hall, at 8.30.— The Land of the Midnight Sun : Prof. 



Clowes. 

 Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, at 8.30. 



NO. 1360, VOL. 53 J 



WEDNESDA F, November 27. 

 Society of Arts, at 8.— Locomotive Carriages for Common Roads : H. 



H. Cunynghame. 

 British Astronomical Association, at 5. 



THURSDA y, November 28. 



Royal Society, at 4.30 (Extra Meeting).— The following Papers will 

 probably be read :— Mathematical Contributions to the Theory of Evolu- 

 tion. III. Regression, Heredity, and Panmixia: Prof. Karl Pearson. — 

 The Expansion of Argon and of Helium as compared with that of Air 

 and Hydrogen : \. P. Kuenen and W. W. Randall.— On the Percentage 

 of Argon in Respired Air : A. Kellas. — Examination of Gases from certam 

 Mineral Waters : A. Kellas and Prof. Ramsay, F.R.S. —On the Granular 

 Leucocytes : G. L. Gulland. — On the Development of Lichenopora verru- 

 caria, Fabr. : S. F. Harmer. 



London Institution, at 6. — A Forest Primeval : Prof. W. Boys Dawkins, 

 F.R.S. 



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

 Question : F. Bathurst.— Concentric Wiring : Sam Mavor. 



Society of Antiquaries, at 8.30. 



SATURDAY, November 30. 

 Royal Society, at 4.— Anniversary Meeting. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books.— British Birds' Nests : R. Kearton (Cassell).— Text-Book of the 

 Embryology of Invertebrates : Drs. Korschelt and Heider, translated, 

 Part I (Sonnenschein).— Royal Natural History, Vol. 4 (Warne).— A 

 Laboratory Course in Experimental Physics : W. J. Loudon and J. C. 



McLennan (Macmillan). — Outlines of Psychology : Prof. O. Kiilpe, trans- 

 lated by Prof. E. B. Titchener (Sonnenschein).— Recettes de I'Electricien : 

 E. Hospitaller (Paris, Masson). — Evolution in Art : Prof. A. C. Haddon 

 (Scott). 



Pamphlets. — Manchester Museum, Owens College, Museum Hand- 

 books : Catalogue of the Hadfield Collection of Shells from the Loyalty 

 Islands : J. C. Melvill and R. Standen (Manchester, Cornish).— The Eth- 

 nology of Buchan (Peterhead). 



Serials. — Strand Magazine, November (Newnes). — Records of the 

 Australian Museum, Vol. 2, No. 6 (Sydney). —Psychological Review, 

 November (Macmillan). — Transactions of the Rochdale Literary and Scien- 

 tific Society, Vol. 4 (Rochdale). — Journal of Conchology, January, April, 

 July, October (Dulau). — Synoptical Flora of North America, Vol. i. Part i, 

 Fasc. I : Gray, Watson, and Robinson (Wesley).— Himmel und Erde, 

 November (Berlin).— Royal Natural History, Part 25 (Warne). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Hydrodynamics. By Prof. A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S. . 49 



Greek Tribal Society. By G. F. Hill 51' 



A Biologist as Metaphysician. By S. A 52 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Wolff: "Farm Foods: or, the Rational Feeding of 



Farm Animals " 53 



" Dog Stories from the >S)>er^a/or" 54 



Murche : " Science Readers " . 54 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The November Meteors. — W. F. Denning 54 



A Remarkable Daylight Meteor.— J. Lloyd Bozward 54 

 The Feeding-Ground of the Herring. — W. L. Calder- 



wood 54 



MacCullagh's Theory of Double Refraction. — A. B. 



Basset, F.R.S ., 55 



The Nomenclature of Colours. — Prof. J. H. Pillsbury; 



Louis Prang 55 



Recent Improvements in Lighthouse Illumination. 



{Illustrated.) 56 



The Department of Entomology in the U. S. National 



Museum 58 



Notes 58 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



A New Comet 62 



The New Merope Nebula 62 



Number of Nebulae . . 62 



A New Star in the Constellation Carina 63 



Cholera in Germany in 1894. By Mrs. Percy Frank- 

 land 63 



A Jamaica Drift-Fruit. {Illustrated.) By Dr, D. 



Morris, C.M.G 64 



The Perception of Light. By Sir G. G. Stokes, 



F.R.S 66 



University and Educational Intelligence 68 



Scientific Serials 69 



Societies and Academies 70 



Diary of Societies 72 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 72 



