u 



October 25, 1894] 



NA TURE 



635 



. i annealed iron wires under this rate of alternation is about 

 J ' 85. For oscillations of the same period, the wave-length 

 long parallel copper wires varies directly with the diameter of 

 he wires, the maximum difference observed being 5 per cent, 

 filh wires of 003915 and 01201 cm. diameter respectively. — 

 The present status of high-temperature research, by Carl Barus. 

 ."o clear away the anomalies now existing in high temperature 

 ala, either the boiling point of zinc must come down from 930" 

 3 905^, or else the melting points of gold, silver, and copper 

 lUst move up 30" or 40°, or both must move towards each 

 ther by corresponding amounts. — The recent eruption in the 

 rater of Kilauea, by L. A. Thurston. This is a description 

 f the subsidence of the lava lake on July II, when its level 

 :11 250 feet. — On solutions of metallic silver, by M. Carey 

 »ea. The solutions previously described are all colloidal, and 

 t the same time absolutely transparent. 

 yVieJcmanii' s AnnaUti tier Physik and Clumie, No. 10. — On 

 ifii ure water, by F. Kohlrauschand A. Heydweiler. (See Notes. ) 

 -Magnetic experimental investigations, by Carl Fromme. This 

 aper deals with the self-induction and the electrostatic 

 • jjapacity of wire coils and their influence upon magnetic 

 henomena. Cods with bifilar winding are free from self 

 iduction, and also from electrostatic capacity as long as their 

 ssistance does not exceed 1000 ohms. At 2000 ohms their 

 apacity is already very considerable. Coils wound by 

 Chaperon's method, i.e. with the direction of winding changing 

 (ith each round, are perfectly free from capacity, and their 

 elf-induction is negligible. It is therefore quite feasible to de^ 

 ermine their resistance' by the alternate current method. — 

 examination of the Ketteler-Helmholtz dispersion formula, by 

 leinrich Rubens. The electromagnetic theory of dispersion, as 

 eveloped by Herr von Helmholiz, is in complete accordance 

 ;ith the results obtained in the case of fluorspar, quartz, rock 

 alt, sylvine, and one of the heavy Jena silicate-flint glasses, 

 'he agreement extends over the whole region of the spectrum 

 ivestigated, comprising 5^ octaves. — Bolometric . investiga 

 ions, by K. Paschen. This is a reply to Herr Angstrom's 

 riticism of his work on the absorption spectrum o( carbonic 

 nhydride. — On the infra-red dispersion of fluorspar, by F 

 ^aschen. The spectrum of the fluorspar prism employed was 

 alibrated by Langley's grating method. The be>t source of 

 adiation was found to be a small piece of platinum foil coated 

 /ith oxide of iron. The region of the spectrum examined 

 xlendcd from o'SS40 fi to 9'429I ^, and the coriespond 

 C I ng refractive indices ranged from i '42996 to I'3i6l2. — Change 

 f volume during melting, by Max Toepler. The author in 

 estigated the number of cubic cm. by which a gramme ol 

 arious elements expanded or contracted during melting. The 

 St included eleven metals and five non-metals. lie found thai 

 he coefl'icient of expansion of the elements in the solid state 

 nd their change of volume during melting, show a definite re- 

 ition to each other. — The depression of the freezing-point of a 

 jlvent by electrolyte?, by Harry C. Jones. In the case of a 

 ilution of phosphoric acid of concentrations O'oyy and o'i46 

 le numbers obtained, 2'52 and 2'3i, are in fair accordance 

 ith those obtained tiy Arrhenius, but not with those of Loomis 



hi: 

 M 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Entomological Society, October 3. — The Right Hon. 

 .ord Walsingham, F.R.S., Vice-president, in the chair. — .Mr. 

 V. V. II. Blandford exhibited specimens of a sand-tlea, chigoe 

 r nigua, received from Mr. Szigetvary, of the Imperial Mari- 

 ime Customs, China, who had found them in the eats of 

 ewer-rats trapped at Ningpo. Mr. Blandlord stated that the 

 ' pecieswas allied to, but not identical with, the American species, 

 '<arcopiyila fcnelrans, L. , one of the most troublesome pests 

 a Tropical .America and the West Indies to man and various 

 .omeslic and wild animals, the female burrowing into the skin, 

 isually of the feet, but also of any other accessible region. 

 le said that the distribution of the chigoe was recorded over 

 Tropical America and the Antilles from 30° north to 30" south, 

 nd of late years it had established itself in Angola, Loango, 

 nd the Congo. Colonel Swinhoe, Mr. McLachlan, Lord 

 Valsingham, Mr. Champion, Mr. J. J. Walker, Mr. Barrett, 

 pd others, took part in the discussion which ensued. — Mr. F. 

 p. Adams exhibited a specimen of Mallota triitaloidis, a species 



NO. 1304, VOL. 50] 



of Diptera new to Britain, taken by himself in the New Forest 

 on July 20 last. He said that the species had been identified 

 by .Mr. Austen, of the British Museum, and that he had pre- 

 sented the specimen to the National Collection. Mr. Verrall 

 made some remarks on ihe species and on the distribution of 

 several allied species in the United Kingdom. Lord Walsing- 

 ham, as a trustee of the British Museum, expressed his satis- 

 faction at the presentation of the specimen to that institution. 

 — Mr. Tutt exhibited specimens of a form of Zyg^cna exulans, 

 well scaled, and with the nervures and forelegs of a decidedly 

 orange colour, collected during the last week in July by Dr. 

 Chapman in the La Grave district of the .Alps, at a consider- 

 able elevation ; also specimens of the same species taken by 

 Dr. Chapman near Cogne, and others from the Grison Valley, 

 which were less well scaled. He also exhibited .Scotch speci- 

 mens for comparison, and stated that he was of opinion 

 that the latter were probably as thickly scaled as the continental 

 ones, but that, owing to the differences in the climate of Scot- 

 landand Switzerland, collectors had fewer opportunities of getting 

 the Scotch specimens in good condition. — Mr. P. M. Bright 

 exhibited a remarkable series of varieties of Arclia menthasiri 

 from N. Scotland, also series of Liparis monacha (including 

 dark varieties) and Boat mia roboraria from the New Forest ; 

 Zyoccna e.xulans, from Braemar ; Noctua glareosa, from Mon- 

 trose and the Shetlands ; Agtolis pyrophila, from the Isle of 

 Portland, and Pitcaple, N.B. ; red varieties of Tcniccampa 

 gracilis ; and a specimen of Slcrrha sacraria, taken at li^ht, 

 at Mudeford, in October, 1893 ; also living larvae of EiiUpia 

 cribrttm. — Mr. J. J. Walker exhibited a living specimen of a 

 large species of I'ulex, which he believed to be Ilystricopsyllx 

 talpcs, Curtis, taken at Hartlip, Kent. Mr. Verrall and the 

 chairman made some remarks on this and allied species. — .Mr. 

 K. J. Morton communicated a paper, entitled '' Palasarctic 

 Nemours." — Lord Walsingham read a paper, entitled ".\ 

 Catalogue of the Pterophoridje, Tortricida;, and Tineidoe of the 

 Madeira Islands, with Notesand Descriptions of New Species." 

 In this paper sixty-six species of Lepidoptera belonging to these 

 families were recorded as occurring in the Madeiras, of which 

 thirty were noticed as peculiar to the Islands, twelve as common 

 to the Madeiras and Canaries, of which two were not known 

 as occurring elsewhere, and one extends its range only to North 

 Africa. Over thirty species were added to the list, and one 

 new genus, seven new species, and two new varieties were 

 described. Mr. Jacoby and -Mr. Bethune-Baker made some 

 remarks on the species and their geographical distribution. — 

 Mr. Blandlord read a paper, entitled " .\ Suppleinentary Note 

 on the Scolytid.-e of Japan, with a list of Species." 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, October 15. — M. Lcewy in the 

 chair.— The death of -M. N. Pringsheim, on October 6, 1894, 

 was announced to the .\caJemy, and a short account of his 

 work given by M. Bornet. — Determination, partly experimental 

 and partly theoretical, of the inferior contraction of a bending 

 fluid sheet, either depressed, submerged below, or adherent, on 

 a weir having its up-river face vertical, by .M. J. Boussinesq. — 

 Observations of Gale's comet (1S94, b) made with the great 

 equatorial at Bordeaux Observatory by MM. G. Rayet, L. 

 Picart, and F. Courty. A note by M. G. Rayet. The apparent 

 positions of the comet on twenty-seven days between May 4 and 

 July 31 are tabulated. — On the degree of incandescence of 

 lamps, by M. A. Crova. The conclusions are given : (I) That 

 the quantity of light emitted by a gas-burner per litre of gas 

 used increases with the quantity of the combustible burnt per 

 hour, whereas the degree of incandescence slightly diminishes, 

 up to a maximum yield which should not be exceeded ; (2) 

 that, for lamps with incandescent substances, the maximum 

 yield corresponds to the minimum amount of the combustible 

 which must be burnt in order to obtain the maximum degree of 

 incandescence. — Report on the memoir by .M. Stielijes, on 

 " Researches on Continued Fractions." .-Vfter a detailed coii- 

 sideralion of the memoir, the report proceeds to say: "This 

 work by M. Slieltjes is one of the most remarkable memoirs on 

 analysis which has been written in late years." — Disappearance 

 of the southein polar spot of Mars, by .M. G. Bigourdan. The 

 spot ceased to 'oe visible on October 13.— First observations of 

 the pendulum in the -Alps of Dauphiny. The values obtained 

 for the constant of gravitation are given below in column g,„ 

 for comparison the values calculated for each place at latitude <f> 

 from the formula /, = 9 78124 (' ^ 0005243 sin -'«) are ap- 



