556 



NATURE 



[August 31, 1916 



is more than double that of countries with low birth- 

 rate. — E. Esclangon : The sound of gunfire and zones 

 of silence. The detonations arising from the sudden 

 expansion of gas at the mouth of the gun and from 

 the explosion of the shell, even of the largest calibre, 

 are inaudible at about 30 kilometres, and the author 

 concludes that the sounds heard at distances of 50 to 

 200 kilometres from the front are due to the waves set 

 up in the air by projectiles moving with initial veloci- 

 ties greater than the velocity of sound. — L. Bouchet : 

 The electric expansion of solid insulators in the sense 

 normal to an electrostatic field. The changes of 

 length were observed by an interferential method for 

 glass, ebonite, and paraffin. Calculations based on 

 Maxwell's equation for the pressures normal to the 

 field agree well with the experimental figures for 

 paraffin wax, but are not in accord with the results 

 -for ebonite and glass. — R. Ledoux-Lebard and A. 

 DauTillier : Theoretical and experimental researches on 

 the bases of radiological dosimetry. — Ed. Lesne and 

 M. Phocas : The presence of living and virulent micro- 

 organisms at the surface of projectiles enclosed in 

 cicatrised tissues. Experiments with bullets extracted 

 from healed wounds demonstrate the reality of latent 

 microbism. 



New South Wales. 



G. Hamilton, 



Carabidae from 



In December, 



Linnean Society, May 31. — Mr. A. 



president, in the chair.^ — T. G. Sloane : 

 the Upper Williams River, N.S.W. 

 -1915, a party of naturalists, organised by Mr. W. J. 

 Enright, of West Maitland, visited the part of the 

 Mount Royal Range known as the Barrington Tops 

 . — a basalt-capped plateau, 5000 ft. above sea-level, 

 from which the Barrington, Allyn, Paterson, and other 

 rivers take their rise. The route followed was north- 

 west from Dungog, along the Williams River; after 

 the level of 3500 ft. is reached, the track keeps to 

 the summit of the narrow ridge dividing the valleys 

 of the Williams and Allyn Rivers, until, beyond the 

 -source of the Williams, Barrington Tops are reached, 

 distant about 37 miles from Dungog. Fagus moorei 

 is the predominant tree in the brushes at 4100 ft. and 

 upwards. In one locality, near the southern source 

 of the Barrington, at about 4800 ft.. Eucalyptus 

 coriacea was plentiful. Collecting was carried on in 

 six localities, four of them above 4000 ft., and two 

 much below. Representatives of forty-six species of 

 Carabidae were obtained, and have been identified, of 

 which nine, and two varieties, are described as new. 

 Eighteen species, all of which are known from the 

 coastal districts between Sydney and the Clarence 

 River, were found to occur below the level of 4000 ft. 

 Specimens of twenty-eight species were collected above 

 this level, mostly members of typical eastern Aus- 

 tralian genera- The most striking is a remarkable 

 species, doubtfully referred to Trichosternus. which 

 appears to be more closely allied to certain New 

 Zealand species than to any known Australian species. 

 Another notable species is Agonochila ruficollis, SI., 

 hitherto known only from the forests of south-western 

 Australia; but this is closelv allied to a Tasmanian 

 species, and to A. hinotata, White, from New Zealand. 

 — H. J. Carter : Description of a new genus and three new 

 species of Tenebrionidae from Barrington Tops, N.S.W. 

 A genus, with the facies of Cryptodus, and presenting 

 some resemblance to Asphalus, Pasc, with one species, 

 and two species of Cardiothorax, are described as 

 new. — The late Dr. A. Rutherford, with notes by E. 

 Jarvis : A new scale-insect affecting sugar-cane in 

 New Guinea. A new species of Aulacaspis. different 

 from either of the two known Australian species, is 

 described. 



97] 



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PAGE 



• 537 



CONTENTS. 



A Surgical Book from the Front 



The Worth of Chemistry. By Sir T. Edward 



Thorpe, C.B., F.R.S 538 



Economic Geography. By G. G. C 539 



Our Bookshelf 539 



Letters to the Editor: — 



On Fizeau's Experiment. —Prof. P. Zeeman ... 540 

 The Newcastle Meeting of the British Association 541 

 Scholarships and their Relation to Higher Educa- 

 tion 544 



Prof. W. Esson, F.R.S 547 



Prof. S. B. McLaren. By W. G. D 547 



Notes 547 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Bright Display of Aurora Borealis on August 27 . . . 551 



Distribution of the Poles of Planetary Orbits .... 551 



Solar Variability 55^ 



Mineral Production of Canada 552 



New Aspects in the Study of Jungle Life. By 



w. P. p • 552 



Eyesight and the War. {IVu/i Diagram.) By Dr. 



Ernest Clarke 55^ 



University and Educational Intelligence 555 



Societies and Academies 555 



Books Received 55^ 



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