March 15, 1894] 



NATURE 



4/5 



stones and shales. They were familiar phenomena of contact 

 in all parts of the world, and were suftijient of themselves to 

 show that the granophyre of Skye must be later than the 

 gabbro. The author then described three conspicuous dyke-, 

 from 8 feet to lo feet broad, which could be seen proceeding from 

 the main body of granophyre and cutting across the banded 

 gabbro^. One of these was traceable for more than Soo feet 

 in a nearly straight line. The material composing these dykes 

 was identical with that constituting the marginal portion of the 

 granophyre-mass. It presented the most exquisite tiow-struc- 

 lure, with abundant rows of spherulites. The author exhibited 

 a photogiaph of one of the dykes ascending vertically through 

 the gabbros. Numerous dykes and veins of the same material, 

 not visibly connected with the miin granophyre-mass, traversed 

 the gabbros of the ridje of which Druim an Eidhne formed a 

 part. Some of these were described, and it was shown that 

 the flow-structure followed the irregularities of the gabbro- 

 walls and swept round enclosed blocks of altered gabbro. The 

 " inclusions "described by Prof. Judd were portions of these 

 dykes and veins. There was not, so far as the author could 

 discover, a single granite- block enclosed in the gabbro anywhere 

 lo be seen at this locality. He therefore claimed not only that 

 his original description uf the relations of the rocks was per- 

 fectly correct, but that the evidence brought forward to con- 

 tradict it by Prof. Judd furnished the most crushing testimony 

 in its favour. The President sai I that Sir Archibald Geikie 

 had made out his case so clearly that no one, it might be sup- 

 posed, could for a m iment doubt that the inlerpretation which 

 he had given was the correct and the only one ; nevertheless, 

 he had reason to believe that Prof. Judd had, with careful 

 study, arrived at qaite a different view of these same rocks. 

 Prof. Judd criticised the paper at some length, and the author 

 replied to his remarks. — -Note on the genus NaiiidiUs, as occur- 

 ring in the coal formation of Nova Scotia., by Sir J. William 

 Dawson, K.C.M.G., F. R. S. With an appendix by Dr. Wheel- 

 ton Hind. The specimens referred to occur most abundantly in 

 calcareo-bituminous shales along the coast, at the Soutii Joggins, 

 and were described iiy the author in "Acalian Geology," 

 in iS6q. a collection of them has been submitted to Dr. Wheel- 

 ton Hind. In Quart. Journ. Geol. Sac. vol. xix. Mr. Salter 

 referred the shells described as Nuia.Ulcs (o his new genera 

 Amhracoplera and Anthracoinya. In correspondence with Mr. 

 Salter, the author held that the shells were probaldy fresh- 

 water, and objected to the name Anthracoinya as expressing an 

 incorrect view of the aftuiity of the shells ; he also stated 

 several reasons in support of his opinions. The author con- 

 tinued to use the name Naiadites, but did not object to the 

 division of the species into two genera, fjrone of which Salter's 

 name Antliracoptera should be retained. Additional reasons 

 were given for the freshwater origin of these shells. Dr. Wheel- 

 ton Hind believed that the "genus" Xaiadites contained three 

 distinct genera, for one of which the name must be retained. 

 He proposed to retain the name for the forms called Antltra- 

 comya, affirming as this word does an altogether wrong aftiriity 

 ior the genus. ( The name Naiadilcs was proposed in i860 ; 

 Anthracoinya in 1861.) Dr. Hind was not able to state that 

 any of the species submitted to him by Sir J. W. Dawson 

 were the same as British forms. The ihell originally desciibed 

 as N'aiadites caibonaiia was, he has no doub% an Antliracop- 

 tera. He gave notes on A'', arenaria, iV. ans;tilata, and iV. hvvis. 

 A discussion. followed, in which Prof. J. F. Blake, Dr. W. T. 

 Blanford, Dr. f. W. Gregory, the President, Prof. T. McKenny 

 Hughes, and Mr. Marr took part. 



Entcm dogical Society, February 28. —Colonel Charle 

 Swinhoe, Vice-President, in the chair. — Prof. August Forel, 

 M D., of the University of Ziirich, was elected an Honorary 

 Fellow of the Society, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of 

 Prof. H. A. Ilagen, M.D.— Mr. G. C. Champion called 

 attention to a supposed new Longicorn bee le, described 

 and figured by Herr A. F. Nonfried, of Rakoniiz, Bohemi?, 

 under ihe name of Callipogon friedldnderi, in the Berl. Ent. 

 ■Zeitschr. 1892. He said that the supposed characters of the 

 insect were due to the fact that the head had been gummed on 

 upside down ! He a'so exhibited an extensive collection of 

 Coleoptera and Hemiptera- Heteroptera made by himself in the 

 island of Corsica in May and June last.— 'The Rev. Theoloie 

 Wood exhibited a variety o{ Satitrnia carpini, with semi-trans- 

 parent wings, a large proportion of the scales being apparently 

 absent, bred with several examples of the type-form at Baldock, 

 Herts ; also a pale variety ol Smerint'ins pcpuli, which wastaid 



NO. I 272, VOL. 49] 



to have been bred, with several similar specimen*, from larvre 

 marked with rows of red spots on both sides. — .Mr. R. South 

 exhibited a variety of Argynnis ag/aia, approaching the form 

 known as var. char lot ta, and a variety of Eiichelia jacobetc, in 

 which the ciijison costal streak was continued along the outer 

 margin almost to the inner margin, taken at Ringwood, Hants, 

 in 1893 ; a variety of Ar^ynnis eufikrosyne, taken in Epping 

 P'orest in 1893 ; and a series of black and other forms of Phi- 

 galia pedaria, bred during the present year from a black female 

 captured last spring. — Mr. H. G iss exhibited, for Mr. C. B. 

 Taylor, of Jamaica, a beautifully coloured drawing of the larva 

 of I\ipilio licinerns.--)Ar. F. W. Frohawk exhibited drawings 

 showing the complete life-history of Argynii's aglaia and A. 

 adippe, every stage being figured ; also enlarged drawings of the 

 segments of the larvoe in their first and last stages, showing the 

 remarkable difference in structure. — Mr. G. C. Champion read 

 a paper entitled " 0,1 the Teneh'-ionidtE collected in Australia 

 and Tasmania by Mr. J. J. Walker, R.N., during the voyage of 

 H.M.S. Pengtiin, with desciiptions of new genera and species." 

 Mr. J. J. Walker and Colonel Swinhoe made some remarks on 

 the paper. — -Mr. Champion also read a paper entitled "An 

 Entomological Excursion to Corsica," in which he described an 

 expedition to the mountains of that island in June, 1893, 

 in company with Mr. Standen, Colonel Yerbury, R. .^., Mr. 

 Lemann, Mr. Raine, and others. Mr. Osbert Salvin, F.R. S., 

 Colonel Yerbury, and Colonel Swinhoe took part in the dis- 

 cussion which ensued. — Mr. Elward Saunders communicated a 

 paper entitled " A List of Hemiptera-IIeteroptera collected by 

 Mr. Champion in Corsica, with a description of one new 

 species." — Mr. W. F. Kirby read a paper entitled " Notes on 

 Dorydium ivestxuoodi, Buchanan- White, with observations (n 

 the use of the name Dorydium." — Mr. Charles B. Taylor com- 

 municated a paper entitled " Description of the larva and pupa 

 of Papilio hoineriis. Fab." 



Zoological Society, March 6.— Dr. .\. Giinther, F.R.S., 

 Vice-President, in the chair. — The Secretary read a report on 

 the additions that had been made to the Society's menagerie 

 during the month of February 1894.. — Mr. W. Bateson ex- 

 hibited and made remarks on a series of pilchards, the scales of 

 which presented some re narkable variations. Mr. Bateson al-o 

 gave an account of an abnormally coloured brill. — Dr. J. W. 

 Gregory. gave an account of the factors that appear to have in- 

 lluenced zoological distribution in East .\frica, and made some 

 suggestions as to how the present anomalies of animal life in 

 that part of the continent might be accounted for. Dr. Gregory 

 also exhibited and made remarks on a series of lantern-slides 

 illustrative of his recent journey to Mount Kenya. — A communi- 

 cation was real from Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, containing an 

 account of exanples of three species of river-crab of the genus 

 Thelphiisa from different districts of East Africa. — Mr. W. H. 

 Adams read some no'.es on the habits of the flying squirrels o f 

 the Gold Coast belong^ing to the genus Anonialurus. — Mr. W. 

 Bateson gave an account of two cases of colour-variation in 

 flat-fishes, illustrative of the principles of symmetry. — A com- 

 munication from Prof P. R. (Jhler, of Vienna, contained an 

 account of the Hemiptera Heteroptera of Grenada, West 

 Indies, based on specimens submitted to his examination by 

 the committee for the exploration of the West Indies. — V com- 

 munication was read from Mr. W. Schaus, containing descrip- 

 tions of a large number of new species of moths from Tropical 

 .\merica. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, March 5. — M. LreA^y in the chai'-. 

 — Account of thescientific career of .A.dmiial Mouchez, by M. O. 

 Callandreau. — On Laplace's series, by M. II. Poincare. — Pre- 

 para ion of a crystallised calcium carbide by means of the 

 electric furnace ; properties of this new body, by M. Henri 

 Moi san. Pare lime is reduced by sugar charcoal in the electric 

 furnace, CaO + 3C = CaC.j-l-CO. The caibide forms a black 

 crystalline mass, of sp. gr. 2"22. It reacts rapidly with water, 

 producing pure acetylene. The properties of this carbide are 

 given in great detail by the author. — Determination of the 

 specific gravity of melted magneda, by M. Henri Moissan. 

 With a specimen of melted oxide of about 50 grams weight, a 

 sp. gr. 3"654 has been reached. — Actinometric o'>seivations 

 made at Montpellier Observatory in 1893, by M. Crova. A 

 comparison of the average heat intensity with that at corre- 

 sponding periods for the average of the preceding ten years is- 

 given, which shows clearly the great increase in the amount oi 



