July 5. 1894] 



NATURIi 



2^0 



examined. — Notes on meta-azo-com pound", by R. Meldola and 

 E. S. Ilanes. The authors have prepared metanilrohenzene- 

 azo-zSnaphlho! and several allied compounds. — Conversion of 

 ortho- into para-, and of para- into ortho-quinone deriv.itives. 

 III. The hydroximes of the lapachol ^roup, by S. C. Hooker 

 and E. Wilson. The action of mineral acids on the hydrox- 

 imes of lapachol and hydroxyhydrolapachol yields the same 

 hydroxime as is obtained by the interaction of hydroxylamine 

 hydrochloride and rflapachone ; the authors are able to deduce 

 from these facts the structural formulas of the substances men- 

 tioned. — The behaviour of alloys in a voltaic circuit, by A. P. 

 Laurie. If an alloy of several metals is merely a mixture in 

 which no actual chemical combination exists between the con- 

 stituents, then the E.M. F. generated by the alloy should change 

 gradually as the composition of the alloy changes ; the 

 existence of chemical combination should be indicated by dis- 

 continuities in the curve connecting li. M.F. and compo-.ition. 

 The author has already shown that compounds exist in the 

 series of Cu : Sn, Cu : Zn and Au : Sn alloys, and is applying 

 the method indicated above to other cases. 



Zoological Society, June 19. — Dr. .\ Gunther, F. R. S., 

 Vice-President, in the chair. — Mr. Sclater exhibited the skin of 

 a monkey of the genus Cercopitheciii^ and pointed out that it 

 unquestionably belonged to the local form which he had spoken 

 of in his recent paper on the Cercopitheci as Cercopilhecus <liana 

 ignilus. Mr. Sclater also exhibited the typical specimen of 

 Cercopilhcius grayi, Fraser, formerly in the Knowslev collection, 

 and stated that it was the same as C. erxiebe/ii, Pucheran. — 

 Mr. H. Scherren exhibited a bottle in which an amphipodus 

 crustacean (Amphilhoe littorina] had built a nest and a series 

 of runs of sand and pieces of weed. — Prof Ray Lankester, 

 F.R.S., read a paper on the external characters which dis- 

 tinguish the two Dipnoid fishes I.cpidosiren and J'roloprerin, 

 and pointed out that there could be no doubt that these two 

 forms should be referred to distinct genera. — Dr. Fowler ex- 

 hibited a specimen of antlers of the fallow deer, belonging to 

 Mr. J. A. k. Wallace, of Loch Ryan, which showed the elfect 

 of the removal of one testis on the development of antlers ; and 

 made remarks on the effect of different degrees of casiration 

 upon antlers, as shown by specimens in the museum of the 

 College of .Surgeons. The continuity of variation displayed in 

 the total length, and lengths of brow- and tray-tines, in atjnor- 

 mal antlers in the Natural History Museum was also commented 

 upon. — Mr. P. Chalmers Mitcliell gave an account of his 

 observations on the perforated flexor muscles in certain birds 

 recently dissected in the laboratory in the Society's Gardens. — 

 A communication was read from Messrs. R. R. Mole and F. \V. 

 Urich containing biological notes upon some of the snakes of 

 Trinidad, li.W.L To these notes was added a preliminary list 

 of the species of Ophidians recorded from that island. — A com- 

 munication was rea(.l from .M. E. Simon containing the second 

 portion of a memoir on the spiders of the Island of St. Vincent, 

 based on specimens obtained through the agency of the Com- 

 mittee for the exploration of the Natural History of the West 

 Indies. — A communication was read fr im Mr. W. E. Collinge, 

 containing the description of a new species of slug of the genus 

 Janclla from New Zealaml, and giving a detailed account of its 

 anatomy. — A communication was lead from Mr. R. J. Lech- 

 mere Guppy, containing an account of some Foraminilera from 

 the Microzoic deposits of Trinidad.- — .Mr. Arthur 1:'.. Shipley 

 read notes on some nematode parasites obtained from animals 

 formerly living in the Society's Garden:. — Messrs. F. E 

 Beddard, F. R.S., and P. Chalmers Mitchell gave an account 

 of the anatomy of J\ilamed<:a coniuta as compared with that of 

 its allies. — .\ communication was re.id from Dr. A. G. Butler, 

 giving an account of a collection of Lepidopterous insects made 

 by Dc. J. W. Gregory during his recent expedition to Mount 

 Kenia. Tne specimens were referred to 215 Sjjecies, of which 

 ten were stated to be new to science. 



Mineralogical Society, June ly. — Prof. N. S. Maskelyne, 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. The following papers were 

 lead : — A chemical study of some native atsemates anil phos- 

 phaes, t)y Prof. A. II. Church, F.R.S. This paper dealt with the 

 composition of clinocla^e, linoconite, Ijeizeliite, lyroliie, and other 

 minerals, especially as regards the water which they coniain, 

 and the amount which is lost on drying or on heating to various 

 temperatures. The author finds calcium and carbon dioxide to 

 be an essential constituent of tyrolite, but in berzeliite to be due 

 in all probability to intermixed cilcite. — The occurrence of 

 mispickcl in the stewartry of Kiikcu Ibright, by P. Dudgeon. — 



NO. I 288, VOL. 50] 



A goniometer for demonstrating ihe relation between the faces 

 of a crystal and pr)ints representing them upon a sphere was 

 exhibited by Miss M. Walter. In this instrument the crystal 

 can be turned about two rectangular axe-', and each face is 

 adjusted in the usual way by telescope and collimator ; a brass 

 sphere turns rigidly with the crystal, and by an ingenious con- 

 trivance a small mark is stamped upon the sphere correspond- 

 ing to each face. The angles between the faces are then 

 ascertained by applying a graduated great circle to the sphere. 

 — At the invitation of the President, Dr. J. E. Talmage, of 

 .Salt Lake City, gave an account of the occurrence of gigantic 

 crystals of selenite in W.iyne County, Utah, and also described 

 a phosphate of aluminium, so-called turquoise, recently found 

 in Utah. 



Linnean Society, June 21.— Mr. C. B. Clarke, F.R.S. , 

 President, in the chair. Mr. G. Brebner exhibited and made 

 remarks upon specimens of Scat'hosp.'ra speciosa, Kjellm. 

 describing with the aid of lantern-slides the structure and mode 

 of fructification in this and other allied algce. — Mr. J. R. 

 Jackson exhibited ihe cone of a stone pine, Pintis Pinea, 

 Linn., picked up by the Comte de Paris in the Coto 

 del Rey, Seville, which had sprouted and continued to 

 grow for a month af'erwards. This peculiarity, which had been 

 often noticed in the larch, was said to be of rare occurrence in 

 the pine. — Mr. Thomas Christy exhibited and made remarks 

 on a small-berried coHfee-pIant from Inhambane, East .\frica, 

 somewhat similar to a variety from Sierra Leone and other 

 parts of the West Coa.st. It was said to be valued for its fine 

 aromatic bitter taste, which made it useful for flavouring beans 

 and other material ground up and sold as coffee. — Mr. A. li. 

 Rendle gave an abstract of a paper upon a collection of plants 

 from East Equatorial Africa, brought home by Dr. J. W. 

 Gregory and Rev. W. Taylor, amongst which were several new 

 species. — A paper by the President followed, on " Tabulation 

 Areas," in which the views of Dr. .\.. R. Wallace and others on 

 geographical distribution were discussed, and the best mode of 

 tabulating results considered. The Society adjourned 10 

 November I. 



New South Wales. 



Linnean Society, April 25. — The President, Prof. 

 David, in the chair.— A contribution to a further know- 

 ledge of the cystic cestodes, by James P. Hill. — Notes on 

 Australian Coleoptera, with descriptions of new species, part 

 XV. , by the Rev. T. Blackburn. One genus and twenty-nine 

 species from various parts of .Australia and Tasmania are de- 

 scribed as new.— On an aboriginal implement believed to t)e 

 undcscribed, supposed to be a hoe, by R. Etheridge. The 

 implement described was obtained from an aboriginal tribe 

 living on the headwaters of the Endeavour River, N.iJ., about 

 150 miles from the coast. It consists of the columellar portion 

 01 the body-whorl of the large melon shell ground to a cutting- 

 edge and wedged into a hole in a stick fashioned by an iron 

 tool. The implement is probably not of local manufacture, but 

 was obtained by barter from one of the Torres Straits Islands. 

 — On the life-history of Australian coleoptera, part ii., by W. 

 W. Froggatt. .'^n account of the life-histories of beetles bred 

 during the season 1892-3, with a notice of their food-plants. — 

 On some naked .Australian marine mollusca, part i., by C. 

 lledley. Under this heading a description and drawings were 

 presented of the external appearance of Oscanius hilli^ n.sp., a 

 huge sea slug from Sydney llarbour and Broken Bay, of a genus 

 not known before from the .South Seas. — Observations upon the 

 anatomy and relations of the "dumb-bell-shaped bone" in 

 Ornithorhynchiti^ with a new theory of its homology ; and upon 

 a hitherto undescribeil character of the nasal septum in the 

 genera (h-nit'iorhync/ins and Echidna, by Prof. J. T. Wilson, 

 The full text of ihe paper, a preliminary note to which was 

 communicated at last meeting [vide .Abstract, March 28, 1S94, 

 p. vii.). — Description of a new liopogon of New South Wales, 

 by Biron Ferd. von Mueller, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. A rare plant 

 with always entiie leaves, from the margin of the Grose Valley 

 in the more elevated part of the Blue Mountains. With the 

 aspect of the S.W. .Australian /. loiigijolius, it is moit nearly 

 allied to /. anemoitifoliiii, K.Br., which occasionally produce ■ 

 undivided leaves (Kragmmta, vi. 23S). — Oecription of some 

 new species of AraneiJii from New South Wales, No. iv. , Ly 

 W. J. Rainbow. — Two new Sydney spiders are described ant 

 figured — Drasstis perelegaiis and Cyrlarachne caligiiiosa, 

 g et sp.n. — -Australian plants illustrated, No. vii. — Genu. 

 Nololhixos, by R. T. Baker. Two forms of Xo'.othixos wei-- 



