June 25. 1903J 



NATURE 



experiments were not biased by any knowledge of drawings 

 of Mars showing " canals." — Dr. Johnstone Stoney read 

 a paper on an examination of Mr. Whittaker's " undulatory 

 explanation of gravity " from a physical standpoint. — 

 Father Cortie read a paper on the spectrum of sun-spots 

 in the region B to D. — Photographs of nebulae in Auriga, by 

 Dr. Max Wolf and Dr. Isaac RobertSi were shown on the 

 screen. — A paper by Dr. Lockyer on a probable relation- 

 ship between solar prominences and coronal streamers was 

 taken as read, as well as a paper by Dr. A. W. Roberts 

 on the relation between the light changes and orbital 

 elements of close binary systems. — The president briefly 

 noticed a paper by Mr. Bellamy on the positions of stars 

 around Nova Geminorum, and also a paper of his own on 

 the possible identity of the Nova with a small star that had 

 been previously photographed by Mr. Parkhurst and Dr. 

 Max Wolf. Prof. Turner concluded that this faint star 

 was not precisely in the place of the Nova. 



Zoological Society, May 26. — Mr. G. A. Boulenger, 

 F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — Mr. G. A. Boulenger, 

 F.R.S., read a paper on the collections of batrachians and 

 reptiles made at Chapadd, Matto Grosso, during the Percy 

 Sladen Expedition to Central Brazil. One species of reptile 

 was described as new to science under the name of Norops 

 sladeniae. — A second paper on the collections made at 

 Matto Grosso was contributed by Mr. Edgar A. Smith. 

 It contained an account of the shells of the family Buli- 

 mulidae, which was referable to three species. — A com- 

 munication from Mr. F. F. Laldlaw dealt with the collec- 

 tion of acotylean polyclads made by Mr. Cyril Crossland 

 in Zanzibar in 1901-02, Specimens of nine species were 

 contained in the collection, eight of which proved to be 

 new. — Mr. W. Bateeon, F.R.S., read a paper on the 

 inheritance of colour in fancy rats and mice, in which he 

 gave an account of the work already published relating to 

 the subject, and communicated new observations. The 

 author analysed the evidence at his disposal, showing how 

 far it conformed to Mendel's principles of heredity, and 

 stated the difficulties which were encountered in attempt- 

 ing to apply those principles to certain of the specific results 

 already witnessed. It was hoped that the chief colour- 

 types might be figured in order to promote uniformity of 

 nomenclature. 



Geological Society, May 27.— Mr. E. T. Newton, F.R.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair. — An experiment in mountain- 

 building, by the Right Hon. the Lord Avebury, P.C., 

 F.R.S. Various observers have endeavoured to throw 

 light on the origin of mountains by compressing pieces of 

 cloth, &c. In these cases, however, the pressure was only 

 in one direction. The author wished to obtain a method 

 of producing compression in two directions at right angles 

 to one another ; and, accordingly, he had an apparatus 

 constructed consisting of four beams of wood, which could 

 be approximated by means of screws. In the space, 2 feet 

 across and 9 inches in depth, were placed pieces of carpet- 

 baize and layers of sand, each about i^ inches deep. The 

 beams were then caused to approach one another until the 

 sand rose in the centre into contact with the glass cover, 

 against which it was flattened out. Casts were made of 

 the surfaces of the different baize-layers, and it was found 

 that in the lower layers the ridges were narrower, shorter, 

 more precipitous, and more broken up than in the higher 

 layers. A second series of casts was exhibited, with the 

 sand and baize having been arranged as before, but with 

 the weight placed on one side. The ridges followed the 

 edges, though not closely, leaving a central hollow. There 

 was a difference between the higher and lower layers, 

 similar to that seen in the first experiment. — The Toarcian 

 (if Bredon Hill (Worcestershire), and a comparison with 

 deposits elsewhere, by Mr. S. S. Buckman. — Two Toarcian 

 ammonites, by Mr. S. S. Buckman. Two ammonites, 

 bf^longing to the family Hildoceratidae, found by members 

 of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club, are described 

 and named. 



Linnean Society, June 4.— Mr. G. S. Saunders in the 

 chair. — Mr. F. N. Williams showed a series of 100 draw- 

 ings of British Compositae, 20 being Hieracia, drawn in 

 pen-and-ink by Mr. E. W. Hunnybun, of Huntingdon. — 

 Mr. George Massee showed a remarkable felted lining of 

 fungus mycelium of a Polyporus taken from the interior 



NO. 1756, VOL. 68] 



of the node of a bamboo ; the specimen belonged to Sir D. 

 Brandis. — Colonel George Colomb sent for exhibition a 

 fragment of a branch of a thorn from Hyde Park. This 

 blanch shows the mischief done to thorns near London by 

 the larvae of what had been identified as belonging to the 

 wood leopard moth, Zeuzera ^sculi, Linn. The house 

 sparrow was stated to destroy numbers of the perfect in- 

 sect on their emergence. — Sir Dietrich Brandis, K.C.I.E., 

 F.R.S. , showed herbarium and museum specimens, from 

 Kew, of Gelsemium elegans, Benth., a plant possessing 

 powerfully poisonous properties. — On the anatomy and 

 development of Comys infelix, Embleton, a Hymenopterous 

 parasite of Lecanium hemisphericum, by Miss Alice L. 

 Embleton. The only paper already published on this 

 subject is that by Bugnion on the anatomy, development 

 and habits of an allied fly {Encyrtus fuscicollis) parasitic in 

 a caterpillar ; there are numerous omissions in the results 

 he records. The present paper also leaves pojnts unex- 

 plained, but the author has been able to add some valuable 

 facts to the knowledge upon the subject, the insect on 

 which she has worked being Comys infelix, a new species. 

 — Notes on the transition of opposite leaves into the alter- 

 nate arrangement : a new factor in morphologic observ- 

 ation, by Mr. Percy Groom. The author stated that his 

 observations began on Atriplex rosea, and to make a 

 graphic representation of results, he plotted the length of 

 the internodes in a given manner, which produced a regular 

 curve ; when this principle was applied to Chenopodium and 

 Salsola an entirely different result came out, and a zig- 

 zag course was plotted, due to the long and short internodes 

 alternating ; at first he suspected this might be due to its 

 nearness to salt water, but inland specimens told the same 

 tale, and neither the influence of day and night nor of 

 salinity could account for it. His belief was that the fusion 

 of branch and stem was the true solution, for axillary 

 branches are given off, but without visible traces of the 

 fusion which does exist ; in Salicornia, for instance, the 

 leaves are fused up to the next node above. Observations 

 have been made with a number of other plants as regards 

 the arrangement of leaves and inflorescence. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, June 15.— M. Albert Gaudry in 

 the chair. — On the conditions afforded for astronomical 

 observations at the observatory of the Pic du Midi, by 

 MM. B. Baillaud and H. Bourg^et. Preliminary experi- 

 ments with three telescopes showed that this observatory 

 forms an excellent station for astronomical observ- 

 ations. — On the existence of solar radiations capable 

 of traversing metals, wood, &c., by M. R. Blondlot. The 

 rays previously discovered by the author in the radiations 

 from an incandescent mantle, and named by him the n 

 rays, are now shown to be present in sunlight. Their 

 property of increasing the luminosity of feebly phosphor- 

 escent substances was utilised as a means of detection. — 

 On the problem of transformation in Taylor's series, by 

 M. L. Desaint. — On the integrals of linear partial differ- 

 ential equations, by M. J. Le Roux.— On the barometric 

 formula of Laplace, by M. L. Maillard.— On the diurnal 

 period of the aurora borealis, by M. Charles Nordmann. 

 The intensity of the aurora is regarded as due to two 

 factors, the intensity of the solar Hertzian waves, and the 

 degree of ionisation of the atmosphere. The ionisation 

 being produced by the action of the violet and ultra-violet 

 rays, and recombination occurring during the night, the 

 conclusion is drawn that the diurnal period of the aurora 

 ought to be characterised by a maximum in the early hours 

 of the morning, and this is in agreement with the observed 

 facts.— On the generalisation of a theorem of M. Bou- 

 cherot, by M. R. Swyngredauw.— The wave-length of the 

 n rays determined by diffraction, by M. G. Sagnae. The 

 refractive index for quartz for the n rays, given by M. 

 Blondlot as 2942, is confirmed; the wave-length in air is 

 about o-2mm., or about four times the wave-length of the 

 longest infra-red waves discovered by Rubens. — The 

 classification of liquids and crystals from the magnetic point 

 of view, by M. Georges Meslin. — The conditions which 

 determine the sense and magnitude of electrification by 

 contact, by M. Jean Perrin. The action of H and OH 

 ions is very great in electrical osmosis, so much so that 

 osmosis indicates their presence with a sensibility which 



