ibS 



NA TURE 



[June 13, 189; 



Nkw SoiTii Wales. 



Linnean Society, April 24. — The President, Mr. Henry 

 Ucane, in the chair. — Description of a fly-catcher, presumably 

 new, by C. W. <lc \"is. The name Arsis hreah's was projiosed for 

 a fly-catcher from Cape \'ork, with the lower surface entirely 

 while in the male, ochreous in a band on the lower throat in the 

 female, and with white lores in lioth sexes. — On the specific 

 identity of the rerijxitus. hitherto sup|X>se<l to l>e P. Utt^karti^ 

 Sanger, by J. J. Fletcher. It was shown by a translation of 

 Sanger's pajM;r( in Russian ) descriptive of the. \ustralian i*eri|>atus, 

 that P. iiisignii, Dendy, is a synonym of P. Uiukarli. \arious 

 considerations \*mi\\ to the following classification of Australian 

 I'erifMlus : Pciipaliis kiiiAart:', .Sang, -\ustralian I'eripatus 

 with 14 or 15 jMirs of walking legs; without or with an 

 accessory tooth at the liase of the fang of the outer jaw blade, 

 or with several (three in one case, indications of even more in 

 another*. Males with a pair of (accessory genital) pores between 

 the gcnilal |xipilla and the anus ; with a while tubercle on each 

 leg of the first jiair only, or of the last pair only, or of all or 

 only some of the pairs with the exception of the first, (l) P. 

 leitikarti, Siing. , var. typica (P. Uuckarii, Siing. ; P. iti- 

 signis, Dendy). With 14 jxiirs of walking legs ; no accessory 

 tooth ; New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania. (2) P. Uiiikarii, 

 .Sang., var. odidiiilalis. With 15 pairs of walking legs; no 

 accessory bHilh ; We.si .\ustr.ilia (.Mr. .V. .M. Lea). (3) 

 /'. lemkarli, Siing. , var. oiicii talis (P. Uuckarli, Sang.) 

 With 15 jiairs of walking legs ; with one or more acces- 

 .sory teeth ; viviixirous : t,)ueensland. New South Wales. 

 (4) The Victorian l'eri)»Uis described by Dr. Dendy as P. 

 oviparus. Victoria and Tasmania (probably — for a specimen in 

 the .Macleay Museum). — Description of Pcripaliis mipariis, by 

 Dr. \. Dendy. In the light of knowledge gained from the 

 translati'in of Sanger's description of P. Uiukarli. already re- 

 ferred to, and the consequent necessary revision of the nomen- 

 clature at present in use, ihe author dealt at length with ihe 

 larger Victorian Teripatus, which he proposed to call /'. n-iparus. 

 — Notes on the sidj-family Prmhysceliiiu-, with descriptions of 

 new s|)ecies, by W. W. Kroggatt. This [japer comprised notes 

 nixjn the classification anil systematic position of Ihe gall- 

 making Coccids, s<mie corrections in the earliiT descriptions of 

 Brachysulh Thornloni, together with descriptions of three new 

 species pro|X>sed to l>e called />. dipsaiiforntis^ />'. St'ssi/is^ and 

 A rosi/ormis. — On a Fiddler Kay ( Trygonorhiiia fasciata) with 

 abnormal pectoral fins, by J . 1'. Hill. The six-cimen observeil. 

 a young male 26*9 cm. long, ]iresented a striking appearance by 

 reasfin of the anterior |M)rtion of each perioral fin being 

 .separated from the head by a wide and deep notch. The sig- 

 nificance of the abnormality was discussed at sonic length. 



\\I>rKRI>\M. 



Royal Academy of Sciences, .\pril 18. I'rof. \'an de 

 Sande IJakhuyzen in the chair. —I'rof. Mactlillavry gave a sketch 

 of two melhmls employed by him to detect ihe adulteration of 

 butler with less than one |K'rcent. of ole<j- margarine or with oils. — 

 Prof. I'ekelharing read a |>a|x;r on the objections raised agiiinst 

 his view .xs to the nature of the fibrine ferment, viz. Ihal it is a 

 compound of nudeoproteiil and lime, more |>;irlicularly on the 

 objections brought forward by Halliburton, who, by his important 

 an<l extensive mvesligalions, has contribulefl sc» much to our 

 knowle<lge in this deiJartmenl. The author had found (I) that 

 artificial fibrine ferment, prep.»red by treating nucleoproteid first 

 with lime-water and then with carl)onic acid, became only partly 

 .soluble by lieing kept under alcohol for a long lime, whereas 

 when treated in the same manner as Schmidt's ferment, it yielded 

 a powerful fibrino-plastic solution ; (2) that in.ignesium sulphate- 

 phvsma remained liijuiil, not for want of nucle<iprolei<l, but be- 

 r.ius*- it di,l not contain enough calcium salts. The magnesium 

 Milphaie prevented Ihe ccmibination of nucleoproteirl anil lime ; 

 but when the combination h.id once Iwen brought about, MgSt ), 

 in ■ ' ' ■' ' ■'- -. in a much smaller degree. Magnesium 



MK iilate<l by artificial fibrine just as well as 



1" -enim ; (J) that inlravenous injecliim r)f 



S' nerslon's ferment had the same conseipience 



a^ i --ninll qunntitv of nucleoproteifl, viz. Wool- 



*lridgi.\ " jii . !■! ton rjf the coagulation of the 



bliHxl which ->els. On the other hand, if 



a I .1 lilirine ferment, jirepared by 



< ' ' rnt" a \'ein of a rabbit, the animal 



• i K ■ •'• I'rof. Schoule proved that the 



> of cry.stnllographic lornis of the regular system in nupace 



to. 1337. VOL. 52] 



of n dimensions is 2"-l. — Prof. Kamerlingh Onnes communi- 

 cated the results of investigations by Mr. A. Lebrel in the Lcyden 

 lahoratorj' : (i) com]>ensation method of the observation of 

 Hall's effect ; {2| on the dissymmetry- of Hall's effect in bismuth 

 when the directions of the magnetic field are opjwsite to each 

 other. In every plate there are two perpendicular directions of 

 great imiwrlance. The primar)* electrodes being attached in 

 accordance with these directions, there is no dissymmetrv. 

 When they are attached in a direction making an angle a with 

 one of theni, the HaU effect is given by H + i(K, - K,) sin 2q. 

 It is explained i>y a difference between the variations of resist- 

 ance through magnetisation Kj and K.^ in two perpendicular 

 directions. 



BOOKS AND SERIALS RECEIVED. 



RnoKS. — Dairj- Bacteriology- : Dr. E. von Freudenrcich, tr.inslated by 

 Prof. J. R. A. Davis (Methucn).— Petrology for StudcnLs : A. Harkcr 

 (Cnmbriiigc University Press). — .\ Tcxt-Iiook of Zoogeography: K. K. Bed* 

 dard (Cambridge University Pres>). — Hydrodynamics: Prof. H. Lamb 

 (Cambridge I'niversity Press).— Museums .\ssociation. Report of Proceed- 

 ings, vSic. at the Fifth .'Xnnual General Meeting, held in Dublin, June a6 to 

 29, 1894 (Sheflield).— The Horticulturist's Rule-Book : L. H. Bailey. 3rd 

 edition (Macmillan). — .'Vgricuhurc : R. H. Wallace (Chambers), — Off the 

 Mill : Bishop G. F. Browne (Smith, Elder).— Bibliotheca Gcographica, 

 Band I (Berlin, Kuhl). 



Serials. — I0urn.1l of the .-Vnthropological Institute, May (K. Paul). — 

 Bulletin of ilie American Mathematical Society, May (New York, Mac- 

 millan). — Proceedings of the Physical Society of London, June (T.iy lor). — 

 Report of the Marll»orough College Natural History Society, 1894 (Marl- 

 Ixirough). — Journal of tlie Chemical Society, June (Gurncy). — Geological 

 Magazine, June (Dulau). — Phycolosicat Memoirs, Part 3 (Dulau). — Eth- 

 nographische Heitr.'ige zur Kcnninisdes Karolinen Archipcls, 3 Hefi(I..eidcn, , 

 Trap). — Natural History of Plants, Part 1 1, ; Kcrner and Oliver (Hlackie). — ' 

 .\mcrican Journal of .Science, June (New Haven).— Maleri.-ils for a Flora of 

 the Malay.an Peninsula. No. 7 : Dr. G. King (Calcutta). — Journal of the 

 .'Vsiaiic Society of Bengal, Vol. Ixiii. Part 2, No. 4 (Calcutta). — 'Diito Vn|. 

 Ixiv. P.art 2, No. I (Cilcutta). — Science Progress, June (Scientific Press, Lid.). 

 —Strand Magazine, June (Newnes). — Picture Magazine, June (Ncwnes). — 

 Engineering Mag.-uinc. June (Tucker). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Maskelyne's Crystallography, liy H. A. Miers . . 145 



The Study of Stereochemistry 146 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Bennell : " The Telephone Systems of the Continent 



of Kurope" 147 



Parkes : " The Elements of Health " 147 



Letters to the Editor: — 



llypnniised l.i/ards. Dr. W. T. Van Dyck ... 148 

 Slridulatinj; t )rgan in a Spider. (With Diagram.)^ 



S. E. Peal 148 



The .Migrations of the Leinniinj^s. -W. Duppa- 



Crotch: 149 



Boltzmann's .Minimum Theorem. — Edwd. P. Culver 



wU 149 



The Cambridge Natural History, (/lliisl rated.) ... 149 



Notes 151 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Comet 1S92 \'. (Barnard) 155 



Measurement of Radial Velocities 155 



Two KcniarkaliK- Binary Slars 155 



The Sun's Place in Nature. VI. (Illustrated.) By 



J. Norman Lockyer, C.B., F.R.S 156 



The Management of Epping Forest 15S 



Science in the Magazines 159 



Argon. (Widi IMa-r.im.) By Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S. 15s 

 A Spectroscopic Proof of the Meteoric Constitution 

 of Saturn's Rings. {Willi Ditigntm.) By Prof. 



James E. Keclcr 164 



University and Educational Intelligence 165 



Societies and Academies '6< 



Books and Serials Received i6> 



. 



