264 



NATURE 



[July i6, 1903 



of germination as carried out on the industrial scale, by 

 M. L. Lindet. — Researches on the constitution and struc- 

 ture of the cardiac fibres in the lower vertebrates, by M. F. 

 Marceau. — On the suprarenal capsule in amphibia, by 

 M. Ed. Grynfeltt.— Experimental pathogenetic segment- 

 ation in the eggs of Petromyzon Planeri, by M. E. 

 Bataillon.— The meriphyte in the Cycadaceae, by M. H. 

 Matte.— On two Cephalppod layers of the Upper Devonian 

 in the Sahara, by M. Emile HauK- These fossil-bearing 

 layers present remarkable palaeontological affinities with 

 the layers of the same age in central Germany. — On the 

 variations of the Meuse at the quaternary epoch, by M. 

 Paul Bois. — On the retrogradation of starch, by M. L. 

 Maquenne. — On an oxidising bacterium, its action on 

 alcohol and glycerol, by M. R. Sazerac. There exists in 

 qertain wine vinegars an oxidising bacterium which differs 

 both in its appearance and cultures from the sorbose 

 bacterium, and which is capable of rapidly oxidising 

 glycerol to dioxyacetone. Its acetifying power is very 

 small. — On the production of glucose under the influence 

 of asphyxia by the tissues of Bomhyx mori, at various 

 phases of its evolution, by M. F. Maignon.— On the pro- 

 duction of hydrogen sulphide by extracts of organs and 

 albumenoid materials in general, by MM. J. E. Abelous 

 and H. Ribaut. — Study of the marine circulation, by M. J. 

 Thoulet. 



New South Wales. 



Royal Society, May 6. — Prof. Warren, president, in the 

 chair. — The president delivered an address on the de- 

 velopment and progress of engineering during the last 

 twenty-one years. In the course of his address he remarked 

 that the wonderful progress during that time, and the 

 great activity to-day in all branches of science and engineer- 

 ing, suggests great possibilities in the future. All future 

 progress in engineering must depend upon exact knowledge 

 and scientific thought and work. Our systems of primary, 

 secondary, technical, and professional education must be 

 carefully reconsidered in order to bring them up to the 

 needs and requirements of modern civilisation. The 

 engineer of the future must be a still more widely trained 

 and better educated man than his predecessor of to-day, 

 so that he may be better able to solve the many problems 

 which lie before him in the future. 



Linnean Society, April 29. — Dr. T. Storie Dixson, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — Australian fungi, new or unrecorded. 

 Decades iii.-iv., by Mr. D. McAlpine. Of the fungi here 

 recorded, fifteen are described as new species, fourteen 

 genera being represented. The orchids, which are gener- 

 ally comparatively free from fungi, contribute two, one 

 of the genera (Amerosporium) being new to Australia. — 

 Notes on Australian Rhopalocera : LycEenidae. Part iii., by 

 Mr. G. A. Waterhouse. This part deals fully with the 

 descriptive portion of the subject and with the nomencla- 

 ture. — The bacterial origin of the gums of the Arabin 

 group, by Dr. R. Greig Smith. — On some new or un- 

 recorded species of West Australian plants, by Mr. W. V. 

 Fitzg^erald. The following are described as new : — (i) 

 Hensmania, gen. nov., founded upon Xerotes turbinata, 

 Endl., of which perfect flowers were previously unknown, 

 and of which Mr. Bentham did not see specimens in fruit. 

 (2) Six species referable to the genera Leucopogon, Cono- 

 stylis, Centrolepis, Restio, Hypolaena and Cyathochaste, 

 and four to Schoenus. Two species, Anisacantha (Bassia) 

 longicuspis, F.v.M., and Stipa Tuckeri, F.v.M., are now 

 recorded from West Australia for the first time.— The 

 vegetation of New England, N.S.W., by Fred. Turner. 

 The New England district lies between 29° and 31° south 

 lat., and 151° 20' and 152° 20' east long., and has an 

 average elevation of about 3500 feet. Its flora may be 

 described as intermediate in character between the sub- 

 tropical and in places very dense and luxuriant vegetation 

 of the coastal strip between its eastern boundary and the 

 sea and that of the plains to the west, consisting of trees 

 and shrubs of a more dwarf habit, and generally with less 

 luxuriant foliage, except near water-courses. The census 

 of the phanerogams and vascular cryptogams now brought 

 forward yields a total of 369 genera and 708 species. 



NO. 1759, VOL. 68] 



May 27. — Dr. T. Storie Dixson, president, in the 

 chair. — Australian Psyllidae, part iii., by Mr. W. W. 

 Fi'ogTKatt. Sixteen species are described as new, 

 including three fine gall-making species of Trioza — two 

 from Tasmania, and the third from Queensland, which is 

 remarkable for its curious, open, saucer-like galls, in form 

 approaching those of some of the gall-making Coccids. — 

 On a revision of the Eucalypts of the Rylstone District, 

 N.S.W., by Mr. R. T. Baker. In a previous paper twenty- 

 two species of Eucalypts were enumerated. As the result 

 of further collecting and study in the interval, the number 

 of species now recognised has been increased by ten, while 

 some of the earlier determinations have been reconsidered 

 and amended. — A slime bacterium from the peach, almond 

 and cedar (Bad. persicae, n.sp.), by Dr. R. Greig Smith. 

 The organism produces a slime, the essential carbohydrate 

 of which readily becomes converted to an insoluble modifi- 

 cation. The carbohydrate is easily hydrolysed to arabinose 

 and galactose, the latter sugar preponderating. The in- 

 solubility of the gummy constituent when heated under 

 pressure shows that it does not belong to the arabin group. 

 The soluble gum is coagulated by the acetates of lead, 

 barium hydrate, milk of lime, and aluminium hydrate. 

 The insoluble modification is easily dissolved by dilute acids, 

 but not by dilute alkali. A small quantity of gum behaving 

 to reagents like the bacterial gum was separated from the 

 natural gum of the almond. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The University in the Modern State. IV 241 



Formosa 243 



The Basis of Plant-surgery 244 



Comets and their Tails 245 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Cohen: "Physical Chemistry for Physicians and 



Biologists" 245 



Sandys: "Trapper 'Jim.'" — R. L 245 



Christen : " Das Gesetz der Translation des Wassers " 246 

 Anstie : " Colloquies of Common People." — A. E. T. 246 



Buchanan :" A Country Reader. II." 246 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Gases Occluded by Radium Bromide. — Sir 

 William Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S., and 



Frederick Soddy 246 



The Extirpation of Culex at Ismailia. — Major 



Ronald Ross, F.R.S .246 



Another White Spot on Saturn. — W. F. Denning . 247 

 The Thunderstorm of May 31.— Dr. W. N. Shaw, 



F.R.S 247 



The Lodge-Muirhead System of Wireless Tele- 

 graphy. {Illustrated.) By Maurice Solomon . . 247 

 The Allied Colonial Universities Conference. By 



R. T 250 



Notes 252 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comet 1903^ 255 



Search-ephemeris for Comet 1896 V. (Giacobini) . . 256 



The Limits of Unaided Vision 256 



An Ethnographical Expedition to British Nevjr 



Guinea 256 



On a Probable Relationship between the Solar 

 Prominences and Corona. {With Diagrams.) By 



Dr. William J. S. Lockyer 257 



Some Present Aims and Prospects of Mathematical 



Research. By E. T. Whittaker 259 



University and Educational Intelligence ... 260 

 Societies and Academies 261 



