94 



NATURE 



[November 22, 1894 



of Ihiogs may be illustrated by a system (which the authors 

 realised) consisting of two porous pots connected by a tube and 

 all filled with water ; one, the " leaf," exposed to the air gives 

 out vapour, the other, the "root," buried in damp earth sup- 

 plies the demand of the "leaf," and an upward current in the 

 connecting tube is established. 



"Further Obseivations on the Organisation of the Fossil 

 Plants of (he Coal-Measures. Part ii. The Roots of Ca/<i»/;V«." 

 By Dr. W. C. Williamson, F.R.S., and Dr. D. H. Scott, 

 F.R.S. 



The conclosioDS at which the authors arrive are the follow- 

 ing :— 



(1) The fossils hitherto described under the name of 

 Aittomyilon WUIiamsonis are the adventitious roots of 

 CalarniUs. 



(2) Their structure is in all respects that characteristic of 

 roots, as is proved by the centripetal primary wood, the alter- 

 naling strands of primary wood and phloem, the endogenous 

 mode of branching, and the absence of nodes. 



(3) The smallest specimens, with little or no medulla, 

 represent the finest branches of the same roots, of which the 

 large medullate forms are the relatively main axes. 



Linnean Society, November i. — Mr. C. B. Clarke, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — Mr. .\lexancler Whyle was admitted. 

 — Messrs. H. and J. Groves exhibited an undescribed C/;a/afrom 

 Wesimcilh, and made remarks upon its peculiar mode of 

 growth. — Mr. J. O. Tepper exhibited photographs of a new and 

 remarkable fungus from .South Australia, Laccocephalum liasi- 

 lafiloides, which explained the formation of the peculiar stone- 

 like nodules occasionally found when clearing scrub-land. 

 These were found to be due to the agglutinating nature of the 

 mycelium of this fungus, the grains being permanently cemented 

 by lime and ferruginous oxides. — The Rev. G. llensiow made 

 some remarks on a peculiar mode of propa;;ation of Oxalis 

 ceriitiat observed in Malta, and exhibited some views taken 

 during his sojourn here. — Mr. Miller Christy exhibited a long 



f)iece of leaden pipe which had been gnawed through its entire 

 ength by rats, in a manner which showed that the object was 

 not, as generally supposed, to get access to water. — Mr. II. M. 

 Bernard exhibited some photographs of corals taken with the 

 "Kodak "camera. — Aseriesof that remarkable beetle Golinthus 

 giganteus, from West Africa, was shown by Dr. Ileath, and 

 Mr, E. M. Holmes exhibited son:e plants from Japan. — 

 On behalf of Mr. A. W. Waters, a paper was then read on 

 Mediterranean and New Zealand Retipora and on a fenestrate 

 bryozoan ; and on behalf of Dr. J. .Miillcr, a paper on certain 

 lichens in the Kew Herbarium. 



Zoological Society, November 6. — Sir W. H. Flower, 

 K.C.B.,, F.R.S., President, in the chair. — The President read 

 a letter addressed to him by the late Emin P.aslia, containing a 

 diary of ornithological ob.scrvations made during the last part 

 of his journey towards the Congo. This letter and journal had 

 been taken from the Arabs on the Upper Congo by the officers 

 of the Congo F"rce State, and forwarded to the President. — A 

 communication from Mr. F. E. Blaauw, contained some re- 

 marks on the colour of the bill in a living specimen of Cygniis 

 aiiieridipiui. — A communication was read from Mr. K. Trimen, 

 containing a reply to .-ome remarks of Dr. A. G. Butler on his 

 paper on the Manica Butleidies collected by Mr. .Selous. — A 

 communication «a read from Dr. R. W. .Shufeldl, containing a 

 correclion to his paper on the affinities of the SUganopodes, 

 recently published in the SocKiy'i Proceedings. — Mr. <). Salvin, 

 F. R.S., exhibited a pair of the newly described butterfly 

 Ontitlwflera faroilisea, from the Finistcrre Mountains, Ger- 

 man New Guinea. — Mr. C. Davies Sherbotn exhibited a copy 

 of, and made remarks on the recently issued reprint of George 

 Ord's "American Zoology." — Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., 

 exhibitc I a Gecko, forwarded to him by Mr. R. T. Lewis, 

 which had been captured in winter (July), fully active, on the 

 snow U|>on the highest portion of the Drakcnsberg Range, 

 Natal. It lielongcd to a genus believed until 1888 to be 

 characteristic of the Australian fauna, and differed from its 

 nearest ally, (Eiiiira it/riaina, in the smaller and convex 

 f^nules covering the head and in the rostral shield not enter- 

 ing the nostril. Mr. Boulenger proposed for it the name 

 ir.iiutii utvaria. — Mr. M.irlin jacoby read descriptions of some 

 new species of the genus (liiiioiiyiliis and allied genera of 

 Coleoplera. — Mr. W. G. Kidcwoid read a paper on the hyoid 

 arch of Ceralodui. The author instituted a comparison between 



NU, 1308, VOL. 51] 



the ventral elements of the hyoid arch of Ceratodus and the 

 basi- and hypo-hyal cartilages of the Elasmobranchii. The 

 relations of the hyomandibular cartilage were dealt with in 

 detail, and attention was called to the wide range of variation 

 which this vestigial cartilage exhibits. Arguments were also 

 adduced to show that there is no connection between the re- 

 duction of the hyomandibular in the Dipnoi and its adaptation 

 as a secondary suspensorium in the hyostyllc fishes. — Mr. G. 

 A. Boulenger, F.R.S., read a third report on additions to the 

 Batrachian Collection in the Natural History Museum, con- 

 taining a list of the species, new or previously unrepresented, of 

 which specimens had been added to the collection since 1S90, 

 and descriptions of some new species. — A communication was 

 read from Mr. R. J. I.echmere Guppy. containing an account of 

 some Foraminifera from the microzoic deposits of Trinidad. — 

 A communication was read from Sir W.alter L. Buller, contain- 

 ing remarks on a petrel lately described as new by Captain 

 Hulton, under the name of (F.slrela/a tcucophrys. 



Geological Society, November 7. — Dr. Henry Woodward, 

 F.R.S. , President, in the chair. — Sir John I.ubbock exhibited 

 some interesting specimens from the valley of Lauterbrunnen at 

 Murren. The rock forms part of the calcareous strata which 

 stretch to the southwest to Leuk, and to the north-east to the 

 celebrated gorges of the Aar. It has also a great thickness, 

 and is coloured in the geological map of Switzerland as 

 Malm, though some Swiss geologists have recently attributed 

 it to the Trias. Notwithstanding the careful researches of the 

 Swiss geologists no fossils, however, had yet been found in it. 

 During one of the recent excursions of the International 

 Geological Congress, Sir John Lubbock found a Layer which is 

 rich in fossils — amongst others Nummnlilcs Ramondi, Orl'itoides 

 disfaresus ?nd OrHloides tapyiaieus. The rock therefore is 

 not Malm, but Eocene. The species have been verified by Prof 

 Rupert Jones. Sir John Lubbock showed the spot to Prof. 

 Etheridge, who also exhibited some fossils from the same layer. 

 The find will necessitate a substantial correction of the 

 geological map, and is perhaps the more intcre-ting because 

 the specimens were found in a quarry by the roadside in the 

 village of Murren, and actually between the two principal 

 hotels. — Notes on some recent sections in the Malvern Hills, 

 by Prof. A. H. Green, F.R.S. The sections described occur 

 on the east side of the Herefordshire Beacon, and for con- 

 venience are named the Warren House Rocks. They are 

 bedded, and have a general north-andsouth strike. The great 

 bulk of the rocks are hard, close-grained, and spilinlety, and 

 are largely altered, and in many cases thickly veined with 

 calcite. Details of their structure were given ; and the author 

 stated that he is inclined to regard them as a group of bedded 

 acid lavas and tuffs, crossed by three bands of dolerite. What 

 little balance of evidence there is seems to be in favour of the 

 intrusive character of the dolerites. No true limestones have 

 been found, and the only very calcareous rock seen is regarded 

 as a rock belonging to the volcanic group which h.as been 

 largely calcified. A discussion followed, in which Mr. Watts, 

 Dr. Hicks, Mr. Rutley, and Mr. Harker took part. — The 

 Denbighshire series of South Denbii;bshire, by Philip Lake. 

 The area to which this paper chiefly referred is the south 

 western quarter of the Llangollen basin of Silurian rocks. 

 The t>eds are there very little disturbed, and the sequence was 

 readily made out. On comparison with other aieas it was 

 found that the .succession is almost identical with that in the 

 Long Mountain, in North Denbighshire, and in the Lake 

 di-tiict. Prof. Hughes, Mr. Ilopkinson, Dr. Hicks, Mr. 

 Marr, and Mr. Walts ni.i<le a few remarks upon the subject of 

 the paper. — On some points in the geology of the Harlech 

 area, by the Rev. J. F. Blake. 



Entomological Society, November 7.— Colonel Charles 

 Swiidioe, Vice-1'residenl, in the chair —Colonel Swinhoe ex- 

 hibited a female of Pafilio leteaichus, Hewitson, which he had 

 leceived by the last mail from Cherra Punji. He said that this 

 was the only known specimen of the female of this species, with 

 the exception of one in Mr. L. de Nici'ville's collection, which 

 he had described in the ^oh'ho/ of the Bombay Natural History 

 Society in 1893. He also exhibited a male of the same species 

 for comparison. — Mr. C. G. Barrett cxiiiliitcd abnormal forms 

 tif Paran;e mtgitra, P. <rgeiia, Melilea alhalia, Chrysophanus 

 fhlaai, Chaiirasgraminis, l.ophoplery.xeanutina, i'lusia gamma, 

 CxKullia chamomilliT, Poarmia iepaiid,ila, var. coiiversaria, and 

 other specie.', all collected by Major J. N. Still on Dartmoor, 



