4oS 



NA TURE 



[August 22. 1895 



explaioed. Thus, the right ascensions on plate i. are on the 

 average by o-o4"s. greater than the values deduced from plate 

 ii. — The Arachnides collecteii by Ci. I'otanin in Mongolia in 

 1876-1879, by E. Simon (in Latin). Part i. Aran.i; and 

 Opiliones ; forty-one species are mentioneti and described, 

 nineteen being new species. — Do the spurs of the C.iriiathians 

 penetrate into European Rvissia? by (.leneral A. Tillo (in 

 Russian). The question is answered in the negative. Supan 

 and Lehman, in Kirchhoff s " Landerkunde von Eurojia," trace 

 the limits of the Carjiathians outside the boundaries of Russia ; 

 so also the Russian geologists, Barbot-de-Marnyand Karpinskiy, 

 did not sec continuations of these mountains either in Poland or 

 in Russia. The new hypsomctrical map, now compiled by the 

 author on a larger scale (27 miles to the inch), confirms this view. 

 — New or little known Ixodid.i; in the museum of the St. 

 Petersburg Academy, by A. Birula (in Latin). Eight new- 

 species are described and figured on two plates. 



Memoirs ( Trudy') of the Kharkoff Society of Xatiiralists, vol. 

 xx\ni., 1892-93. — Obituary of L Th. Levakovsky, by .\. Guroflf, 

 with a portrait. — Researches into the crj-stals of kermesite and 

 uranotil, by P. P. Piatniuky. — The .4lgu.-e of the bays and 

 peatbogs of the Dnieper, in the government of Poltava, by M. 

 Alexenko. This Hora is poor, the Cladophora, Confinu. 

 Enteromorpha, and Ulolrix prevail, while Desmidiace.x and 

 Protococcoidea; are very rare ; 371 species are mentioned. — 

 The flora of the Central Caucasus, by \. Akinfieflf, part i. 

 (see Notes, vol. lii. p. 304). — On the part played by hydro- 

 carbons in the inter-molecular respiration of higher plants, by 

 \V. Palladin. It had been shown by Diakonoff {Ber. d. dent, 

 hot. Ges., 1866) that certain fungi give up carbonic dioxide 

 during their inter-molecular breathing, only when the surrounding 

 feetling medium contains a substance cajiable of fermenting. It 

 was desirable to verifj- whether the same is true with higher 

 plants, but the difficulty was in the fact that the cellular sap 

 always contains glucose, which itself is capable of fermenting. 

 By a scries of experiments on etiolated leaves, the author 

 now confirms I)iakonofi"s conclusions for higher plants as 

 well. — Short preliminary notes in the .\ddenda. Vol. xxviii. , 

 1893-1894. — Geological description of Kharkoff town, with 

 map and profiles, by P. Poustovitov.— On the (art played 

 by the secondary jiarallel chains in the grouping of forests and 

 steppes in West Caucasus, by .\. Krasnoff. An answer to O. 

 Akinfiefl^s criticisms. — Materials for the .-Mg.v flora of the 

 government of Kharkoft', by M. Alexenko ; 407 species are 

 descriljed. — Preliininar)' report on a geological excursion in the 

 government of Kherson, by P. Piatnitzky. — Biological observa- 

 tions, by W, Taliev. .\ scries of various observations of facts 

 relative to the life of plants, which have hitherto attracted but 

 little or no attention, chiefly relative to fertilisation, colouration, 

 movements of plants, and heliotropism in connection with the 

 artlucncc of sap. —On the flora of the basin of the Chakva, by 

 .\. Krasnoff, lx;ing a preliminary report of a botanic excursion 

 into the province of liatum, containing an excellent general 

 description of the vegetation, poor in species, but attaining a 

 luxurious development of the individuals. — On the lichens of the 

 neighltourhoods of Kharkov, by W. Tschcrnov ; fifty-five species 

 are described. — Chemical studies on the seeds of Afyristita 

 fragratis, by \V. Palladin, being a note on a s|xrcial substance 

 which is found in several sce<Is, but neither in the leaves or in 

 the twigs, and which is now stmlicd in I'mf Schult/e's laboratory 

 at Zurich. — Preliminary report on lx>lanical researches in the 

 Verkhncdnieprovsk district of Ekaterinoslav, by I. Akinfieff; 

 twenty-six .species, new for South Russia, have been discovered. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, .August 12. — M. Marey in the 

 chair. — Observations of planets made al Marseilles Observatory, 

 by .M. Cfiggia. The observations were made with the 0'26 m. 

 equatorial, and for the planets BZ and C.\ (Charlois). — On 

 algebraical surfaces which admit a continuous group of biralional 

 tranHronii.ilions, by M. Paul I'ainlcvc. — On a special microscope 

 for the oliscrvation of o|>a(|uc ImkIIcs, by .M. Ch. Fremont. Tnc 

 novelty in the microsco|>c described, consists essentially in the 

 mclhnirl used for obtaining vertical illumination of the object, 

 api>1icablc with high pf>wers. A concave mirror is arranged 

 >>iiii(|ucly imidr the microscope tulic to reflecl dnwnwarils a 

 l>eam of light entering at a side aperture in the luljc. The light 

 poMCH through a prism which reduces the rays to parallelism 



NO. 1347, VOL. 52] 



with the axis of the microscope and then through the lenses of 

 the objective to the object. The concave mirror and the prism 

 are pierced centrally by a conical tube along which travel the 

 rays of light from the object, the image being formed and m-ig- 

 nified by the eye-piece in the usual way. NI. Marey remarked 

 on the great use the new modification would have in the chrono- 

 photographic study of the movement of microscopic beings. — On 

 some melting and boiling points, by M. 11. Le Chatelier. From 

 the experiments made, it is probable that the melting point of 

 gold determined by M. A'ioUe to be 1045°, is a little low. The 

 error is certainly not more than 20°, and the resulls so far 

 obtained would not justify the alteration of the pyrometer scales 

 in actual use. — On certain ]x>tassium derivatives of qiiinone and 

 hydroquinone, by M. Ch. .\stre. A number of potassium deri- 

 vatives are described, concerning which it is staled : the action 

 of metals on quinone, together with the existence of oxy- 

 potassium compounds yielded by quinone and hydro<iuinone (to 

 be described in a coming ]xiper) confirm the diketonic nature of 

 quinone. The formation of these compounds and the jiassage of 

 some of them from the hydnnpiinone to the quinone series, allow 

 a formula to be given to quinone cle;irly expressing its diketonic 

 character and accounting for its numerous reactions. — .\ theorem 

 concerning the scfxiration of the roots of numerical e<|uations of 

 every degree, by M. Teguor. — A while rainbow, by M. E. Kern. 

 A lunar rainbow observed at 10 p.m. August 5. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLET, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books.— Iiriti>h liirjs ; W, H. Hudson ll.onj;inans), — l.t-ouirts on l\lt- 

 menlar>' Navigation; Rev. J. II. Harbord (Poller). — Polyph.iAc Electric 

 Currents and .Allernale-Current Motors: Prof. S. P. Thompson (Spon).— 

 Transactions of the .\ustralasian Institute of Mining Engineers, Vol. 3 

 (Adelaide). 



Pami'Hlet. — The Recent Evolution of SurRcry : .\. P. Gould (K. Paul). 



Sekiaus. — Journal of the Chemical Society, August (Gurney). — Proceed- 

 ings of the Physical Society of London, .August (Taylor). — Bulletin of the 

 American Mathematical Society, July (New York. Macmillan). — Natural 

 History of Plants: Kerner and Oliver, Part 15 (Blackie). — Bulletin de 

 L'Acadimie Royale des Sciences, &c., de Belgique, 65*^ Annce, No. 6 

 (Bruxelles).— .\strophysical Journal, .-Xugust (Chicago). — Royal Natural 

 Histor>-, Part 23 (Warne). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Two Books of Arctic Travel, liv Henry Seebohm . 385 

 Another Book on Social Evolution. Hv Dr. Alfred 



R. Wallace, F.R.S ' 3S6 



Mayan Hieroglyphics 3S7 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Bonhote : " Harrow Butterflies and Moths," — W. 



F. K 3SS 



" Hand-list of Herbaceous Plants Cultivated in the 



Royal Gardens, Kew " 3S8 



Thornton: " .\ Manual of Book-keeping" ^% 



Letters to the Editor: — 



The University of London. — Right Hon. Sir John 



Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F.R.S. . 3S9 



l'lanl-.\ninial .Symbiosis. Ernest H. L. Schwarz . 389 



Definitions of Instinct. — Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan . 389 



A Scheme of Colour Suinil:ir«ls.— J. H. Pillsbury . 390 



I'.lcilmlar I.ighlning. G. M. Ryan 392 



Recent Studies on Diphtheria 393 



Report of the Committee appointed by the Smith- 

 sonian Institution to award the Hodgkins Fund 



Prizes. Ity Dr. S. P. Langley . 304 



The Perseids of 1895. Hv VV. F. Denning .... 395 



Sir John Tomes. F.R.S, ' 396 



Notes 396 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



I'lu- Cil.istal 399 



.\ilams' .Masses of Jupiter's Satellites 399 



.-\tmospheric Refraction 399 



On the Origin of European and North American 



Ants. I'.y C. Emery 309 



A New Film Holder. (/IliistraUi/.) 400 



The New Natural Science Schools at Rugby. 



{/Iliiilr,il(d.) 401 



Evidence of a Twilight Arc upon the Planet Mars. 



(ll'ilh /~>iii:,'ram.) Hv Percival Lowell ... 40I 

 The Foundations of Engineering Education. By 



Prof. G. Lanza 405 



University and Educational Intelligence 407 



Scientific Serials 407 



Societies and Academies 408 



Books, Pamphlet, and Serials Received 40S 



