504 



NA TURE 



[March 26, 1896 



— Dr. Koehne announced that he had succeeded in obtaining an 

 electrolytic solution of carbon. Using pure carbon as anode, 

 h ot sulphuric acid as electrolyte, and platinum as kathode, he 

 o bserved that the fluid became yellow and then dark brown or 

 bl ack, while at the same time a thin layer of graphite was de- 

 po ited on the kathode. By means of carbon, hot sulphuric 

 ac d, and peroxide of lead, he obtained a galvanic cell, with 

 resistance of lOO ohms, which gave a current of one volt. 

 February 28.— Prof, du Bois Reymond, President, in the 

 chair. — Dr. Martens spoke on the magnetisation of horizontal 

 d iscs rotating in the terrestrial field, and made of various 

 samples of iron, steel, and nickel, explaining how he had 

 measured their magnetism by means of an astatic needle, and 

 giving the values he had obtained. — Mr. Goode exhibited a 

 vacuum tube for the production of Rontgen rays, on to which a 

 system of bulbs and tubes had been fused and partially filled 

 with mercury, so as to admit of the removal of any gases which 

 had collected in the tube. — Mr. H. Starke explained a simple 

 method of determining the electrical constants of solid bodies. 

 It is based on the introduction into one arm of a Wheatstone 

 bridge of a condenser between whose plates fluid mixtures of 

 various dielectrics with varying electrical constants can be 

 placed, and on the finding of a mixture such that when the 

 given solid is immersed in it the constants of the mixture are 

 not altered. — Prof. Lampe exhibited a series of Rontgen photo- 

 graphs taken by Prof. Konig in Frankfurt a-M., which were re- 

 markable for their sharpness and the shortness of the exposure 

 necessary for their production. — Prof. Rubens demonstrated 

 Hertzian vibrations whose wave-length was 4J cm., and which, 

 after being made parallel by means of a glass lens, were then 

 polarised by the use of a set of three glass discs. 



New South Wales. 

 Linnean Society, November 27, 1895. — Mr. Henry Deane, 

 President, in the chair.— On some developments of the mamma- 

 lian prenasal cartilage, by R. Broom. — On a small fossil dipro- 

 todont marsupial, with large grooved premolars, by R. Broom. 

 A more complete description from more perfect specimens of the 

 little fossil marsupial described under the name Biirramys 

 parvus at the June meeting. — On a small fossil Petauriis-X^G. 

 marsupial, by R. Broom. Under the provisional name Palao- 

 _petaurus elegans was described a small fossil marsupial from a 

 hone-breccia deposit in the neighbourhood of Taralga. — On 

 the organ of Jacobson in an Australian bat {Miniopterus), by 

 R. Broom. — Observations on a gravid echidna, by R. Broom. 

 — ^Stray notes on Papuan ethnology, by C. Hedley. An interest- 

 ing carved figure-head, of the bird and crocodile design, 

 "geroma," from a village in Bentley Bay, British New Guinea, 

 was described. It was interesting as setting at rest the identity 

 of the bird, a cassowary, which Prof. Haddon had in his mono- 

 graph been unable to determine. He also described an in- 

 genious palm-leaf basket " porha " in common use among the 

 natives of Eastern British New Guinea. — On an undescribed 

 -Structure in the leaves of certain plants, by Alex. G. Hamilton. 

 In this paper was given a detailed account, with figures, of 

 certain structures which have been found to be present in the 

 leaves of more than thirty species of plants referable to various 

 natural orders, respecting which the text-books and other 

 literature available, beyond an incidental allusion or two, seem 

 to furnish little or no satisfactory information. In their most 

 complete form the structures in question appear as hair-lined 

 cavities in the leaf substance, situated in the axils of the primary 

 or secondary veins, and opening to the exterior on the under- 

 surface of the leaf by a small opening with a thickened rim (as 

 in Pennantia Cunninghamii, Miers, and Coprosma lucida. 

 Experimental evidence was adduced against the view that they 

 are catchment hollows for water ; and the author was led to 

 think that they were structures once useful, but now no longer 

 functional, and in course of disappearing. — -Preliminary note on 

 the occurrence of a placental connection in the bandicoot 

 (Peraineles obesula) ; and on the foetal membranes of certain 

 macropids, by Jas. P. Hill. — Notes on the eucalypts of New 

 South Wales (No. i), by Henry Deane and J. H. Maiden. The 

 authors having for a considerable period made a special study of 

 the eucalypts of this colony, both in the field and from dried 

 specimens, gave the results of a series of observations in regard 

 to the botanical structure, geographical distribution, &c., of a 

 number of species belonging to the Renanthera. — Descriptions 

 of some new Australian plants, by J. H. Maiden and R. T. 

 Baker. 



NO. 1378, VOL. 53] 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books. — The Glaciers of the Alps : J. Tyndall, new edition (Longmans). 

 — Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, Vol. xxvi. (Hodgson). 

 —The Hymenoptera Aculeata of the British Islands : E. Saunders (L. 

 Reeve).— Moorland Idylls : Grant Allen (Chatto).— The Whence and 

 Whither ot Man : Prof. J. M. Tylor (New York, Scribner).— Statesman's 

 Year-Book, 1896 (Macmillan).— Single-Salt Analysis : B. P. Lascelles 

 (Sonnenschein).— Geschichte der Explosivstoffe : S. J. von Romocki. II. 

 Die Rauchschwachen Pulver (Berlin, Oppenheim).— Fear : A. Mosso, 

 translated by E. Lough and F. Kiesow (Longmans).— Historical and Future 

 Eclipses: Rev. S.J.Johnson, new edition (Parker).— Elements of the 

 Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable : Dr. H. Durege, translated by 

 Drs. Fisher and Schwatt (Philadelphia, Fisher).— Ostwald's Klassiker der 

 Exakten Wissenschaften, Nrs 72, 73, 74, 75 (Leipzig, Engelmann).— Lehr- 

 buch der Anatomic des Menschen : Prof. C. Gegenbaur, 2 Vols. Sechste 

 Verbesserte Auflage (Leipzig, Engelmann). — From the North Pole to 

 Equator : A. E. Brehm, translated (Blackie).— Elementary Practical 

 Chemistry : G. S. Newth (Longmans). — Researches on Mimicry on a Basis of 

 a Natural Cl.assification of the Papilionidae : Dr. E. Haase, translated by Dr. 

 C. M. Child, Part 2 (Stuttgart, Nagele).— Atlas of Nerve Cells : Drs. Starr, 

 Strong, and Leaming (Macmillan).— Handbook of Jamaica for 1896 (Stan- 

 ford).— Calcul du Temps de Pose en Photographie : H. Boursault (Paris, 

 Gauthier-Villars). — G6om6trie Descriptive : A. Gouilly (Paris, Gauthier- 

 Villars). — A Fauna of the Moray Basin : J. A. Harvie-Brown and T. E. 

 Buckley (Edinburgh, Douglas). 



Pamphlets. — Report for 1895 on the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Labora- 

 tory at University College, Liverpool (Liverpool). — Demonstration de 

 I'Axiome XI. d'Euclide : M. Frolov (Paris, Michelet).— Royal G.ardens, 

 Kew. Hand-list of Conifera grown in the Royal Gardens (Eyre). — Typhoon 

 Highways in the Far East. No. i. Across the South End of Formosa 

 Strait (Zi-Ka-Wei). — On the Application of the Law of Similarity to Marine 

 Propellers : J. D. Young (Newcastle-on-Tyne). — The San Jose Scale : L. O. 

 Howard and C. L. Marlatt (Washington).— Observations Me't^orologiques, 

 Magnetiques et Hydrometriques de I'ile de Danemark dans le Scoresby 

 Sound, 1891-92 (Copenhague). 



Serials.— Zeitschrift fiir Wissenschaftliche Zoologie, Ixi. Band, 2 Heft 

 (Williams). — Acadimie des Sciences de I'Empereur Francois Joseph I. 

 Bulletin International Classe des Sciences Math^matiques et Naturelles, 

 II. (Prague).— American Journal of Science, March (New Haven).— Journ.nl 

 of the Western Society of Engineers, January, and Supplement (Chicago). — 

 Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, March (Spon). — Journal 

 of the Franklin Institute, March (Philadelphia). — Psychological Review, 

 March (Macmillan). — Transactions of the Astronomical and Physical Society 

 of Toronto, 1895 (Toronto). — Bulletin de I'Acad^mie Royale des Sciences, 

 &c., de Belgique, 1896, No. 2 (Bruxelles). — Memoirs and Proceedings of the 

 Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, Vol. x. No. i (Manchester). 

 — Astrophysical Journal, March (Wesley). — Royal Natural History, Part 

 29 (Warne). — L'Anthropologie, tome vii. No. 1 (Paris, Masson). — Economic 

 Journal, March (Macmillan). — Timehri, December (Stanford). — Imperial 

 University, College of Agriculture Bulletin, Vol. ii. No. 5 (TSkyo).— 

 Himmel und Erde, March (Berlin, Paetel).— Trans. R. S. Edin., Vol. 

 xxxviii. Part 2 (No. 9) : Specific Gravities and Oceanic Circulation : Dr. A. 

 Buchan (Williams). — American Naturalist, March (Philadelphia). — Journal 

 of the Anthropological Institute, February (Paul). — Das Tierreich, Probe- 

 Liefg., Heliozoa : Dr. F. Schaudinn (Berlin, Friedlander). — Physical Review, 

 Vol. iii. No. 5 (Macmillan). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Scientific Correspondence of George Romanes. 



By Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S 481 



Early Legends and Prehistoric Folk-lore 483 



Fishes, Living and Fossil. By W. A. H 485 



Our Book Shelf: — 



Tutt: "British Moths."— W. F. H. B 486 



Allen :" Moorland Idylls " 486 



Briggs : " By Tangled Paths " 486 



Letters to the Editor:— 



Sun Columns at Night.— Prof. Bohuslav Brauner . 486 

 Kathode Rays or X-Rays ?— James H. Gardiner . . 486 

 A Remarkable Meteor.— W. F. Denning ... . 486 



Barisal Guns. — Chas. H. Robinson 487 



Ostwald's Energetics.— E. M. C. ; Prof. Geo. Fras. 



Fitzgerald, F.R.S 487 



Classifying Crushed Ore by Trommels. — Henry 



Rosales; Dr. T. K. Rose 487 



Crush-Conglomerates in Ireland.— S. H. Reynolds 



and C. I. Gardiner , 488 



Claudius Ptolemy and his Works. By W. T. Lynn 488 



A View of Kilauea. {Illustrated.) 49° 



Notes 491 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



The Fifth Satellite of Jupiter 495 



The Yerkes Observatory 495 



The Proper Motion of t Tauri 495 



Two Remarkable Solar Prominences 495 



The Measurement of Double-Stars by Interference. 



By D 496 



Flora of Zerafshan 496 



University and Educational Intelligence ..... 496 



Scientific Serials 497 



Societies and Academies 498 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 504 



