January 25, 1894] 



NATURE 



307 



was read from a letter received from Mr. C. B. Mitford, de- 

 scribing an invasion of locusts observed at Free Town, Sierra 

 Leone. Mr. C. O. Waterhouse had referred the specimens of 

 these insects sent home to Pachytylus migratoroides. A further 

 extract from the same letter gave an account of the occurrence 

 of the elephant in the district of Sierra Leone. — Mr. R. Lydek- 

 ker gave an account of some of the principal objects observed 

 during his recent visit to the La Plata Museum, calling special 

 attention to the splendid series of remains of Dinosaurian 

 reptiles, of Cetaceans, and of Ungulates of three different sub- 

 orders. Mr. Lydekker also made remarks on some of the 

 specimens of Edentates, and of the gigantic birds of the genus 

 Brontornis. — Mr. Lydekker also exhibited a painting of the 

 head of a wild goat {Capra agagrus) of unusual size. — On behalf 

 of Mr. J. Tenner Weir, a specimen of the Tsetse Fly {Glossina 

 THorsitatis) from the Transvaal was exhibited. — Mr Tegetmeier 

 exhibited a curiously barred variety of the common pheasant.— 

 A communication was read from Prof. W. N. Parker, contain- 

 ing remarks on some points in the structure of the young of the 

 Australian Echidna. — A communication was read from Mr. 

 Roland Trimen, F. R. S., giving an account of a collection of 

 butterflies made in Manica, Tropical South-east Africa, by Mr. 

 F. C. Selous in the year 1892. Of 166 species represented in 

 the series, 44 were stated to be of general distribution, and of 

 the remainder (amongst which were nine apparently new to 

 science) 26 were peculiar to the South-Tropical area of Africa. 

 — A communication received from Dr. A. B. Meyer contained 

 remarks on a rare African monkey {Cercopitheciis wolfi), accom- 

 panied by a coloured drawing. — Dr. A. Giiniher, F.R.S., gave 

 an account of a collection of reptiles and fishes made by Dr. J. 

 W. Gregory during his expedition to Mount Kenia. The col- 

 lection contained examples of 37 species of reptiles, 9 of Batra- 

 chians, and 13 of fishes. Several species of reptiles were new to 

 science, amongst which were two new lizards — Bunocneinis nto- 

 desta, g. et sp. n., of the family Geckotidae, with imbricate scales 

 and large scattered conical tubercles on the hinder part of the hind 

 limbs ; and Agama gregorii, allied to A. cyanogastcr, but with 

 lateral, not tubular nostrils. Six new fishes were also charac- 

 terised and named : — Chromis niger, Chromis spihmis, Alestes 

 affinis, Labeo gregorii, Barbns tanensis, and Barbtis taitensis. 



Royal Meteorological Society, January 17. — Dr. C. 

 Theodore Williams, President, in the chair. —The council in 

 their report stated that the Society had made steady and unin- 

 terrupted progress during the year, there being an increase in the 

 number of Fellows, and the balance of income over expenditure 

 being greater than in 1892. They also reported that Dr. C. 

 Theodore Williams, previous to vacating the office of President, 

 had expressed a desire for the formation of a fund for carrying 

 out experiments and observations in meteorology, and that he 

 had generously presented to the Society the sum of ;^ioo to 

 form the nucleus of a research fund. — The President, Dr. C. 

 Theodore Williams, in his valedictory address gave an account 

 of the climate of Southern California, which he made most in- 

 teresting by exhibiting a number of lantern slides. In the autumn 

 of 1892 Dr. Williams visited this favoured region, chiefly with a 

 view of investigating its present and future resources, and its 

 suitability for invalids. After describing the entrance into Cali- 

 fornia from Utah and Nevada, the general geography, and the 

 mountain ranges, he pointed out that the mountain shelter is 

 tolerably complete, and that the protected area consists of (i) 

 valleys, chiefly running into the coast range from the sea, and 

 rising to various elevations, such as the fertile San Fernando 

 and San Gabriel valleys, or else (2) more or less extensive plains, 

 as those of Santa Ana and San Jacinto. Southern California is 

 subdivided into two portions, eastern and western, by the Sierra 

 Nevada, and its spurs, the San Gabriel and San Bernadino 

 mountains. The climate of the eastern portion, which is an arid 

 region, is very dry, very hot in summer, and moderate in winter 

 The climate of the western portion has three important factors, 

 viz. (i) its southern latitude, (2) the influence of the Pacific 

 Ocean, and especially of the Kuro Suvo current, which exercises 

 a similar warming and equalising influence on the Pacific coast 

 of North America as the Gulf Stream does on the western 

 coasts of the British Isles and Norway ; and (3) the influence of 

 mountain ranges, these affording protection from northerly and 

 easterly blasts, and also condensing the moisture from the vapour- 

 laden winds blowing from the Pacific. Dr. Williams then gave 

 particulars as to the temperature and rainfall at Los Angeles, 

 San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Riverside. From these it ap- 

 pears that the climate of Southern California is warm and 



NO. 1265, VOL. 49] 



temperate, and on the whole equable, with more moisture than 

 that of Colorado, and that it is a climate which would allow of 

 much outdoor life all the year round. The President next 

 described 'he eff"ect of the climate on vegetation, and showed 

 what results had been obtained by diligent watering and gar- 

 dening in this beautiful region. Wine and brandy are made in 

 South California, but oranges and lemons are the leading crops, 

 varied with guava-, pineapples, dates, almonds, figs, olives, 

 apricots, plums and vegetables. On higher land, apples, pears 

 and cherries bear well, and our English summer small fruit is 

 also grown; while strawberries ripen all the year round, and are 

 plentiful except in July and August. Dr. Williams concluded 

 by saying that many an invalid has regained vigour and health, 

 as well as secured a competence, in the sunny atmosphere of 

 Southern California. — Mr. R. Inwards was elected President for 

 the ensuing year. 



Linnean Society,January 18. — Mr. W. Carruthers, F.R.S., 

 Vice President, in the chair. — Messrs. T. B. Cato, W. Elborne, 

 and R. E. Leuch were admitted, and the following were 

 elected : — Sir Hugh Law, Messrs. G. B. Rothera and Thomas 

 Sim. — The chairman, before proceeding to the business of the 

 evening, referred to the loss which the Society had sustained 

 by the recent death of Mr. Richard Spruce, who had travelled 

 and collected much in South America, and who was the re- 

 cognised authority on Hepatica:. It was much to be regretted 

 that, having but lately presented to the Society a valuable paper 

 on this subject, containing descriptions of a great number of 

 new species, and illustrated with careful and beautiful drawings, 

 he had not lived to see the published result of his labours. The 

 chairman also feelingly referred to the death of Mr. Algernon 

 Peckover, of Wisbech, who had been a Fellow since 1827, and 

 who by his will had bequeathed to the Society a legacy of £100. 

 — Mr. E. M. Holmes exhibited a flowering specimen of a new 

 species of Cascarilla (C. Thomsoni), and the bark of the tree 

 from New Granada ; also two new foreign seaweeds, Gelidhim 

 Beckii from South Africa, and Leptocladia Binghamitz from 

 California, and three new British marine algae, viz. Entophy- 

 salis granulosa and Symploca atlaniica from Swanage, collected 

 by himself; and Vaucheria coronata from Arbroath, collected 

 by Mr. J. Jack. — Mr. Thomas Christy exhibited and made ob- 

 servations upon some remarkably long tendrils of Landolphia 

 Kirkii, which served as an illustration to a paper subsequently 

 read by Mr. Henslow. — Mr. J. E. Harting exhibited and made 

 some remarks upon the plant debris ejected in the form of 

 "pellets" or "castings" by rooks, and stated that a number 

 of these pellets which had been examined were composed of 

 the cuticles of the succulent root of the couch grass Triticum 

 repens, commonly called "scutch," "squitch," and "twitch" 

 grass, a most troublesome weed to the farmer. ]\Ir. Harting 

 also exhibited a rare Australian duck, Stictonettancszosa (Gould), 

 which had been obtained at Gippsland Lakes, Victoria, and of 

 which very few examples were to be found in collections. — A 

 paper was then read by the Rev. G. Henslow, on the origin of 

 the structural peculiarities of climbing stems by self-adaptation 

 in response to external mechanical forces. The purport of this 

 paper was to prove, by an appeal to facts and experiments, the 

 existence of the power in living protoplasms of responding to 

 external and purely mechanical forces by enveloping supportive 

 tissues, by means of which the plant is enabled to resist the 

 eff'ects of gravity, tensions, pressures, &c. In the case of 

 climbers, not only is this principle illustrated wherever a force 

 is felt, but whenever a strain is relieved of a force atrophy, or 

 arrest of mechanical tissues lakes place, supplemented, however, 

 by an increase in the number and size of vessels. The con- 

 clusion arrived at was that while, on the one hand, the peculiar 

 structures of climbers are all the outcome of a response to the 

 external mechanical forces actirg directly upon the stems, such 

 structures are precisely those which are most admirably suited 

 to the requirements of the stems themselves. The variations 

 of structure characteristic of species, genera, and orders of 

 climbing plants have been thus acquired in a definite direction, 

 viz. of direct adaptability, this being effected, according to Mr. 

 Darwin's statement, "without the aid of natural selection." 

 The paper was criticised by Dr. D. H. Scott, Prof. Reynolds 

 Green, and Mr G. Murray, who, while testifying to the number 

 of interesting facts brought forward by Mr. Henslow to sup- 

 port his views, were yet unable to agree with him in several of 

 his conclusions. The paper was illustrated by a great variety 

 of specimens and drawings, and was listened to with consider- 

 able interest by a very full meeting. 



