454 



NATURE 



[March 12, 1896 



appeared to prefer red and blue flowers, and more often visited the 

 complicated types of plants than the smaller Hymenoptera. He 

 also alluded to the effect of insect visitors in isolating particular 

 individuals. Prof. Meldola stated that although he was aware, 

 from the writings of Hermann Miiller and others, that Diptera 

 played an important part in the fertilisation of flowers, he was 

 unaware of the very great importance which these insects 

 possessed for the function of pollination until he heard Mr. 

 Scott-Elliot's paper. He also called attention to the urgent 

 need of a manual of British Diptera. Mr. R. Trimen, F.R.S., 

 mentioned that in South Africa some species of Orchi- 

 dacere were fertilised by Diptera. Dr. Sharp said Prof. 

 Plateau thought that neither the colour nor form of the flower 

 played any part in attracting insects. Mr. McLachlan remarked 

 that the flowers of Scrophularia possessed a great attraction for 

 wasps. Lord Walsingham, F. R.S., inquired whether any 

 observation had been made as to the Diptera which visited 

 differently coloured flowers of the same species, such as 

 Petunias. Mr. Barrett, Mr. Green, and Mr. Scott-Elliot con- 

 tinued the discussion. — Mr. Tutt read a paper, by Prof. A. 

 Radcliffe-Grote, entitled " On the Nomenclature of the Geome- 

 tridce." — A discussion on the rules of nomenclature followed, in 

 which Lord Walsingham, Prof. Meldola, Mr. Hampson, and 

 Herr Jacoby took part. 



Royal Meteorological Society, February 19. — Mr. Edward 

 Mawley, President, in the chair. — The report on the pheno- 

 logical observations for 1895 ^^^ presented by Mr. Mawley, in 

 which it was shown that, owing to the great frost at the beginning 

 of the year, all the first spring flowers made their appearance 

 very late ; and it was not until the middle of June that plants 

 began to come into blosson^ in advance of their usual time. 

 During July the dates recorded were, as a rule, exceptionally 

 early. The yield of all the farm crops, except potatoes, was 

 exceedingly poor. Pears and plums yielded badly, but there 

 was a splendid crop of apples, and also of all the small fruits. 

 As regards vegetation generally, seldom has a year ended under 

 conditions as favourable for the one succeeding it. — Mr. R. H. 

 Scott, F.R.S., read a paper on the recent unusually high baro- 

 meter readings in the British Isles, in which he stated that the 

 Daily Weather Chart for 6 p.m. on January 8, was the first in 

 these islands that ever showed 31 inches. The station was 

 Stornoway, and by the next morning all over the northern 

 portions of Great Britain and Ireland the barometers were above 

 31 inches. The highest reading of all was 31 'i 19 inches, photo- 

 graphically recorded at Glasgow at 9 a.m. on the 9th. The 

 barometric pressure then gave way, and the region of highest 

 readings moved southwards along our west coast, and finally left 

 the south of Ireland on the 15th. Weather throughout the 

 period was mild, an unusual thing with a very high barometer. 

 At the end of the month a second anticyclone spread over the 

 country, when the barometer rose to 30 '96 inches at Cork. 

 Reference was made to previous excessively high barometer read- 

 ings in England and in Siberia, and it was stated that a reading 

 of 31 "62 inches at Barnaoul in Siberia, in 1877, was probably the 

 highest ever observed. — Mr. R. Inwards read a paper on 

 Turner's representations of lightning, which he considered to be 

 true to nature, and demonstrated the same by placing an actual 

 example of Turner's work side by side with a photograph of 

 a real flash of lightning. 



Linnean Society, February 20. — Mr. C. B. Clarke, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — Mr. Clement Reid exhibited a collec- 

 tion of acorns planted by rooks, and made remarks upon the 

 agency of these and other birds in the dispersal of seeds. A dis- 

 cussion followed, in which the President and Messrs. Cole, 

 Druery, Harting, and Kirby took part. — Mr. Bernard Arnold 

 exhibited and made remarks upon an abnormal growth of Dac- 

 tylis glonterata, Linn., gathered at Shorne, near Gravesend, 

 criticisms being offered by Messrs. B. Daydon Jackson and H. 

 Groves. — Mr. W. H. Lang exhibited under the microscope some 

 prothalli of several varieties of Nephrodmm Filix-mas. These 

 illustrated the apogamous production of the sporophyte which 

 has been described in this species by De Bary and Kny. Dr. 

 D. H. Scott and Mr. C. T. Druery took part in the discussion 

 which followed. — On behalf of Mr. John Young there was ex- 

 hibited an unprecedented case of hybridism between Cardiielts 

 spinns and Linota cannabina, the formerbeing the male parent. 

 Some remarks were made on the subject by Mr. Harting, who 

 took occasion to exhibit, on behalf of Captain M. Murphy, 

 another hybrid, viz. one between black grouse and pheasant, 

 which had been shot near Bunessan, Mull, in the month of 



NO. 1376, VOL. 53] 



January last.— On behalf of Mr. E. J. Lowe, F.R.S., a paper 

 was read by Mr. Druery in which details were given regarding 

 the culture of divided and redivided prothalli of Scolopeiidrium 

 vuigare. Apart from the fact that by such subdivision and the 

 consequent separation of parts bearing archegonia and antheridia, 

 the oophoric stage of fern life was maintained for a number of 

 years without the sporophoric generation appearing ; the ulti- 

 mate results, when fertilisation eventually took place, were very 

 remarkable. In numerous instances several marginal plants 

 appeared on the same prothallus of presumably the parental 

 type ; but single plants originating from the centre of each pro- 

 thallus were, though of varying character, all distinguished by 

 bearing prothalli upon their edges or terminal points, such pro- 

 thalli developing root-hairs, archegonia and antheridia;, although 

 the young plants had formed a distinct axis of growth and 

 thrown up a circle of such aposporous fronds. The paper em- 

 bodied also the observations of Mr. C. T. Druery, Prof. F. O. 

 Bower, Prof. Farmer, Dr. Scott, and Mr. Lang on material sent 

 to them, and one of the plants in question, clearly showing the 

 aposporous growths, was exhibited by Mr. Druery in illustration. 

 A discussion followed, in which Dr. Scott, Mr. Lang, and Mr. 

 Druery remarked upon the interesting nature of these and 

 similar breaches of the law of alternation of generations in the 

 Archegoniat.Te. 



Chemical Society, February 20.— Mr. A. G. Vernon Har- 

 court. President, in the chair.— The following papers were 

 read :— The origin of colour. No. XL The yellow colour of 

 2 : 3-hydroxynaphthoic acid, by H. E. Armstrong. The yellow 

 colour possessed by this naphthoic acid and its salts may be 

 readily explained by assigning to it an orthoquinonoid structure 

 of the following kind. 



fY\o 



I I L/OH 



—Note on etherification, by H. E. Armstrong. 2 : 3-hydroxy- 

 naphthoic acid is converted into its ethylic salt more readily 

 than the isomeric o-hydroxynaphthoic acid ; an acid having the 

 constitution indicated above should readily combine with alcohol 

 yielding a substance which could easily give the ethylic salt by 

 losing water, thus : — 



-f EtOH = 1 I i { OEt 

 ^/ \/ OH 



fOH 



^/OEt 

 ^ t OH • 



—The relation of pinene to citrene, by H, E. Armstrong.— The 

 conditions involved in the occurrence of inversion in the case of 

 asymmetric (optically active) compounds, by H. E. Armstrong. 

 The remarkable conversion of dextro- or laevo-malic acid into its 

 optical antipodes is possibly due to the formation of a chloro- 

 phosphonium compound, which is then acted on by hydrogen 

 chloride giving chlorosuccinic acid and phosphorus oxychloride. 

 The production of naphthalene and of isoquinoline derivatives 

 from dehydracetic acid, by J. N. Collie and N. T. M. Wils- 

 more. The yellow condensation product obtained from dia- 

 cetylacetone is a benzene derivative, and condenses with am- 

 monia, giving two isoquinoline bases. - Note on a difficulty 

 encountered in the determination of nitrogen by the absolute 

 method, by W. R. Dunstan and F. H. Carr. Very high values 

 are obtained on determining the nitrogen in aconitine by the 

 absolute method ; this is shown to be due to the formation of 

 methane during the combustion. Experiments with mixtures of 

 methane and nitrogen show that the hydrocarbon in the diluted 

 state is only burnt with great difficulty by red-hot copper oxide. 

 —Mixed diazoamides containing an orthonitro- group, by R. 

 Meldola and F. W. Streatfeild.— Allyl-p-dinitrodiazoamidoben- 

 zene : a study of the relations between melting-point and con- 

 stitution, by R. Meldola and F. W. Streatfeild. 

 Edinburgh. 

 Royal Society, February 17.— Prof. Copeland in the chair. 

 —Prof. John G. M'Kendrick made five communications. He 

 first described the case of a boy, four and a half years old, who 

 showed a remarkable appreciation of pitch, being able at once to 



