Ndvember 23. 1893] 



NA TURE 



95 



of a c )'itjriiulaory ad Iress, to Mr. F. P isc «e, the ilistingiiished 

 entom )lo^ist, and to Vir. Gi )igj Hro-.ik, who>e limiO'ed decease 

 had caused th- vacancy in the Council which they no at had to fill. 

 The ballot hiving then been taken for the elec'ion of anewcoun 

 cillor in the place of Mr. George Brook, deceased, Mr. Henry 

 Seebohm was declare<l to have been elected. — Mr. Geoige Mur- 

 ray exhibited and made remarks on a series of <ei veeds mounted 

 on lantt-rn slides, some of which were new to G eat Britain. He 

 also showed somespecially p epared tins which were recommended 

 for collecting purp xes, bat which in the opinion of some pre- 

 sent wr)ui ' l)e likely to become speedily useless from '>xi lisation. 

 ■ — Mr. Holme showed some new British marine algfe, and made 

 remarks on their affinities. — Dr. Prior exhibited the fully 

 developt-d fruit of Pytis jiponica from Rogate, Sussex, seldDm 

 seen, although the plant is common, and alluded to its use 

 as a cons-Tve if if could be o'ltained in sufficient quantity. — 

 Mr. Spencer Moore lead a paper on the phanerogamic botany 

 of an expfditi >n to Mato Grosso, upon which he acted as 

 botanist. Starling from Cuyaba, the expedition first visited 

 theChapada Pla'ean, 'o the east of tliat city, where many plants 

 were collected. Tnencf a journey was made to thenewsettlement 

 of Santa Cruz, "n th'' Paraguay, about half-way between Villa 

 Maria and Diamantino. The flora here is of mixed character, 

 nearly 37 percent, of 1 he plants being common to tropical South 

 America, upwards of 27 per cent, occurring in the N. Brazil 

 Guiana province "f F,ni;ler, with 20 '5 per cent common to that 

 province and the S. Brazilian, and only 13 per cent, of S. 

 IJrazilian ty es. From Santa Cruz a party penetrated through 

 the primeval forest lying to the north, and reached the Serra 

 de Sapirapuan. The forest flora is markedly Amazonian in 

 character, nearly 50 per cent, of the plants being natives of 

 Amazonia or of the neighbouring countries within the N. Brazil 

 Guiana province, or related th reto, while the proportion of 

 species common to tropical America falls to rather more 

 than 28 per cent, the S. Brazilian element being present 

 only to the extent of 9 "5 per cent. Returning to Santa Cruz, 

 the Rio Bracisto was partly explored, and the Paraguay as- 

 cended to the neighb lurhood of Diamentino. The party then 

 came down the Paraguay to the Ci)rumba, where many plants 

 of interest were found. The expedition was partly disbanded 

 at Asuncion. Am mg the Amazonian plants found at Siuta 

 Cruz, or in the forest, may be mentioned Randla Ruiziana, 

 Bcrtie>'a gifa>iensis, the Loranthad Orvcta'itkes ritji auli<!, 

 Calt'.eya superba, Epidendruin imatophyllum, Rodriguczia 

 sfcunda, &c. The collections comprise close upon 700 species, 

 of which rather m )re ihan 200 were considered to be new, and 

 referable to eight new genera. The southward extension of the 

 Amazonian flira to a latitude well within the Paraguay River 

 system was regarded as a noteworthy feature. — On behalf of 

 Mr. G. M. Thomson, of Dunedin, N.Z., Mr. W. Percy Sladen 

 read a paper on a new freshwater Schizopod from Tasmania, 

 illustrating his remarks with graphic sketches on the black- 

 board to indicate its affinities and diffirences. 



Entomological Society, November 8. — Henry John 

 Elwes, President, in the chair. — Mr. F. Merrifield exhibited 

 some low-temperature forms of P'anessa atalan'a, artificially 

 produced, which showed a great reduction in the area of the 

 scarlet bands on the wings, and a great increase in the area of 

 the white and bluish markings. — Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S. 

 described and illustrated, by means of a map, a s'mple method 

 for showing the geographical distribution of insec s in collec- 

 tions. Below the name label of the genus, and of each species, 

 were placed coloured slips of such a size as to be distinctly 

 visible at a distance, anl the colours, with one exception, cor- 

 responded with those made use of in the map at the beginning 

 of vol. i. of Dr. A. R. Wallace's "Geographical Distribution 

 of Animals " The exception referred to was the Paltearctic 

 region, which was coloured blue, instead ot pale brown as in 

 the original. Framed maps of the same kind, and coloured in 

 the same way as the one he exhibited, were to be placed in 

 museums, so as to be readily seen from various groups of cabi- 

 nets. In these maps the names of the regions, and numbers of 

 the sub-regi ms, were distinctly printed, so that they could be 

 read at aconside'able distance. Prof. P.iulton added that the 

 method he had described was being gradually introduced into 

 the Hope C dlections at Oxford. Mr. M-Lachlin, F.R.S., 

 stated that a somewhat similar plan to that described for show- 

 ing the geographical distribation of insects has baen adopted in 

 the Brussels Museum by M. Preudhomme de B jrre. Mr. 

 W. F. H. BUnlfo.-d, D;. D. Sharp, F.R.S., Mr. C. T. Gahan, 



NO. 1256, VOL. 49] 



Mr. C. O. Walerhoiise, Mr. Osli-n Salvin, F K.S, Prof. 

 Poulton, and the President contmiud the discussion. — Dr. 

 .Sharp read the following extract from Dr. Livingstone's " Nar- 

 rative of an Expidition ti the Zanibe.-i," and staged that he 

 was indebted to Mr. Gahan for cnlling lii-; attention to it : — 

 "We tried to sleep one rainy night in a native hut, but could 

 not because of attacks by the fighting battalions of a very 

 small species of Forviica, not more than one-sixteenth of an 

 inch in length. It soon became obvious that they were under 

 regular discipline, and even attempting 'o carry out the skilful 

 plans and stratagem of some emineni 1 adi-r Our hands and 

 necks were the first objects of attack. La'ge bodies of these 

 little pests were massed in silence round the iioint to be assaulted. 

 We could hear the sharp, shrill word of command two or three 

 times repeated, though until then we had not believed in the 

 vocal power of an ant ; the instan after we fel: the storming 

 hosts over head and neck." — Prof. Poulton read a paper entitled 

 " On the sexes of larvre emerging Ir m the snccfssively laid 

 eggs of Snieriiiffins populi.'" Mr. Merrifield, Dr. Sharp, and 

 the President took part in the discussi'>n whch ensued — Mr. 

 W. L. Distant communicated a paper en'itled "On the Homop- 

 terous genus Pyiops, with descriptions of tw > new species." — 

 The President read a paper, written tiy himself and Mr. J. 

 Edwards, entitled " A revision of the genus CEneis" which he 

 characterised as the most cold-loving genus of iiutterflies. He 

 also exhibited his complete collection of siecies of this genus. 

 A long discussion ensued, in which Prof. Poulton, Mr. McLach- 

 Ian, Mr. Salvin, Mr. Bethune-Baker, the Rev. Dr. A'alker, Mr. 

 Kirby, Mr. Merrifield, iMr Barrett, Mr. Blaudford, Dr. Sharp, 

 and Mr. Jac iby took part. 



Zoological Society, November 7. — Sir W. H. Fl nver, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Mr. Sclater read some 

 notes on the most interesting animals he had seen during a recent 

 visit to the Zoological Gardens of Stuttgart, Frankfort, and 

 Cologne. — An ext'act was read from a letter addressed to 

 the Secretary by Mr. J. G. Mdlais, relating his en leavours 

 to obtain specimens of the White Rnino:eros {Rhiiioccos 

 siiiius) in Mashiinaland. — .\ communication was read from 

 Babu Ram Bramha Sanyal, describing a hybrid monkey of 

 the genus Sc»iiiopithecus, born in the Z )o!ogical Garden:, Cal- 

 cutta. — Mr. Tegetmeier exhibited a specimen of a hybid grouse 

 between the blackgame (Telrao teirix) and the red grouse 

 (LagopKs scotictis). — Mr. Boulenger read a paper on a 

 Nothosaurian reptile from the Trias of Lombardy, apparently 

 referable to Lari siuriis. Plis descri|)!ion was baser! onasmall, 

 nearly perfect specimen from Mount Pcrle io, showing the ventral 

 aspect, belonging to the Senckenberg Museum in Frankf )rt-on- 

 Main, which had been entrusted to him by the directors of that 

 institution, and was exhibited before the mr-eting. The author 

 pointed out the presence of a series of minute teeth on the 

 pterygoid bones, and of an entepic mdvlar (ulnar) f)ramen in 

 the humerus. The number of phalanges was 2, 3, 4, 4, 3 in 

 the manus, and 2, 3, 4, 5, 4 in the pes ; the terminal phalanx 

 was flattened and obtusely pointed, not claw-shaped. In dis- 

 cussing the affinities of this reptile the au'hor stated that the 

 Lariosa'ivus described by Diecke did n )t appear to he generi- 

 cally distinguishable from \.\\& A'cnslicoiaiirits "f Sseley, which 

 he referred to the LarlosafiridiC, regarding tnat family as inter- 

 mediate between the Mesosaurida and the Nothosauridcr, th .ugh 

 nearer the latter. The M.sosatiridtr, in his opinion, formed one 

 sub order,the LarijsauridcE and iVl?,'/^'i■flMr/(/(^ ogether a second 

 sub-order, of the order PUsiosauria.—Dx. A. Giinther, F. R S.. 

 read a second report on specimens of reptiles, ba'rachians, 

 and fishes transmitted by Mr. H. H. Johnston, C.B., from 

 British Central Africa. Dr. Giinther also rrad descriptions of 

 some new reptiles and fishes, of which spi'cimens had been ob- 

 tained on Lake Tanganyika by Mr. E. Coode-H )re. — Mr. Edgar 

 A. Smith gave an account of a co'lection of land and 

 freshwater shells transmiited by Mr. H. H. Johnston, C. B., 

 from British Central Africa. The specimens in this collection, 

 obtained by Mr. R. Crawshay from Lake Mweru, were almost 

 all new to science. —Mr. Edgar A. Smith al-o read descriptions 

 of two new species of shells of the genus Ennea. — A communi- 

 cat'on was read from Dr. Arthur G. Butler, containing an 

 account of two collections of Lepidop'era sent by Mr. H. H. 

 Johnston, C.B., from British Central Africa.— A communi- 

 cation was read from Mr. Edwyn C. Reed, containing a 

 list of the Chilian Hymenoptera of the family OJyiieridie, with 

 descriptions of some new species. — A comiuunicati an from Prof. 

 Newton, F.R.S. contained the description of a new species of 



