December 7, 1899] 



NATURE 



143 



University, in incoherent detrital beds of Eocene age, in the 

 southern part of Victoria ; a few were picked out of some 

 washings of fragmental polyzoa from the same district and 

 horizon, by Mr. B. W. Priest. Some of the specimens are in an 

 extremely perfect condition, and their structural details are as 

 distinctly shown as in recent sponges. They are also of more 

 than local interest in that they are the first fossil forms 

 described of a group of calcisponges, the Lithonina, character- 

 ized by the peculiar aberrant forms of some of the spicules, 

 and the mode in which they are closely fitted and organically 

 fused together to form the skeletal mesh. This structure has, 

 so far, only been recognised in one recent species, Petrostrovia 

 Sckulzei, Diiderlein, from the Japanese sea. The sponges are 

 small, unattached, with a glassy, firm resistant skeleton, 

 calling to mind that of siliceous Lithistida. They are built up 

 of a great variety of spicular forms, some are simple rods, with 

 three and four-rayed spicules, similar to those in recent calci- 

 sponges ; but the majority are aberrant four-rayed forms, with 

 three of the rays curved and with obtuse or expanded ends 

 which are clasped, and fused as well, to the surfaces of adjacent 

 spicules. The connected spicules form continuous anastomosing 

 or radial fibres resembling those in the fossil Pharetrones, to 

 which they are in some other respects similar, and it is 

 probable that the spicules in the fibres of some members of this 

 family were likewise organically cemented together. The 

 common Forosphicm from the Upper Chalk, generally regarded 

 as Hydrocorallines allied to the recent Millepora, are also 

 closely related to the above sponges, and the author hopes 

 shortly to publish the evidence for their affinity to this group. 

 The Victorian sponges are placed in four new species, belonging 

 to three genera : two of these are new, the other, Bactronella, 

 Hinde, was founded on some peculiar calcisponges of Jurassic 

 Age, now known to be Lithonine in character. — In the 

 discussion which followed, Prof. Sollas referred to the import- 

 ance of these sponges from an evolutionary point of view. — 

 The Silurian Sequence of Rhayader, by Herbert Lapworth. 

 The stratigraphical relations of the Silurian formations v/hich 

 occur in the country surrounding the town of Rhayader (Radnor- 

 shire) were described in detail. Typical and confirmatory 

 sections were given, demonstrating the complete local sequence 

 of the rocks of the Rhayader district. These were illustrated by 

 lists of characteristic graptolites. These fossils were compared 

 with those of Southern Scotland, Sweden, and North Wales, 

 showing that the graptolite succession is everywhere similar, 

 and fixing the age of the Rhayader series as representing the 

 Lower Llandovery, Upper Llandovery, and Tarannon of other 

 areas. Finally, several new species of Climacograptus and 

 Diplograptits were described. Tables of fossils enabled the 

 author to establish a complete comparison of the whole of the 

 local zones of the Rhayader district with those of Southern 

 Scotland, Wales, and Sweden. In the Rhayader area there is 

 found, for the first time in Britain, the entire Valentian 

 succession developed in one general sequence of rocks, with a 

 more or less common lithological character and with a fauna 

 composed throughout of similar pal?eontological types. 



' Manchester. 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, November 28. — 

 Prof. Horace Lamb, F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Prof. 

 F. E. Weiss exhibited some specimens of Melanospora parasitica 

 found by Mr. H. Murray at Flixton. This species is now known 

 to be parasitic on another fungus, Isaria farinosa, which infests 

 the larviE and pupa; of various insects. The latter fungus {Isaria) 

 is now recognised as being another stage of growth of Cordiceps 

 militaris, which has been particularly common this autumn. — 

 Report on the Marine Mollusca obtained during the Jackson- 

 Harmsworth Expedition to Franz Josef Land 1896-97, by J. 

 Cosmo Melvill and Robert Standen. The collection was 

 formed by Mr. W. S. Bruce, naturalist to the expedition, 

 mainly at Franz Josef Land, and at Kolguev, the results from 

 the first-named locality being by far the most voluminous lx)th 

 in quantity and quality, and forming an important contribution 

 to science as being the most northerly dredgings of Mollusca 

 yet obtained in the Polar regions. Only one species — a 

 Buccinuin [B. Brtuei) of peculiar form — is considered new to 

 science, but a Thracia, of which only very imperfect valves 

 were obtained, is also probably so ; whilst a Sipko {S. togatus) 

 is particularly interesting on account of its peculiar epidermis. 

 Considering how fully the Arctic mollusca have been studied, 

 especially during the past thirty years, the results of this 



NO. 157 1, VOL. 61] 



expedition are very gratifying. The total number catalogued 

 are Kolguev, 36 ; Franz Josef Land, 66. Naturally, the nearer 

 the poles are attained, life — pelagic as well as terrestrial— is 

 adversely affected ; for instance, the total number of northern 

 mollusca round the Norwegian coasis is, according to Sars, 460 

 species. ^ - • 



Dublin. 

 Royal Irish Academy, November 30.— The Lord Bishop 

 of Canea, Vice-President, in the chair. — Mr. Trouton showed 

 an apparatus with which he had determined the heat required to 

 evaporate steam from saturated salt solutions. The plan adopted 

 consisted of an inner vessel completely surrounded by a larger 

 one. The same solution is placed in both. The outer one is 

 kept boiling by the application of external heat ; the inner by an 

 electric heater. The steam from the inner vessel is collected and 

 weighed. In this way by knowing the heat supplied electrically 

 the latent heat is found. Determinations made with various 

 salts were described. The connection was also considered be- 

 tween the latent heat of evaporation from salt solutions and the 

 cooling which accompanies the solution of the salt in water. In 

 addition an apparatus was shown by means of which the cooling 

 can be observed, through bringing the salt and water together 

 at a temperature higher than the boiling point. This consisted 

 of two spherical vessels placed over each other and cohnectedby 

 a tube which passed through the upper to near the bottom of the 

 lower one. By means of a stopcock connection is closed till 

 required. The water is placed in the lower, the salt in the 

 proper proportions in the upper one. The whole is heated in a 

 thermostate to such a temperature that on mixing, the resultant 

 solution falls to the boiling point. In the case of sodiuno 

 nitrate this cooling was 40° C. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, November 27. —M. van Tieghen) 

 in the chair. — The Perpetual Secretary gave an account of the 

 present state of the fund for the Lavoisier monument. — The 

 propagation of a pencil of parallel light, limited laterally, in a 

 heterogeneous transparent medium ; integration of the equations 

 of motion, by M. J. Boussinesq. — Experiments on the destruc- 

 tion of Phylloxera, by M. Lanfrey. An aqueous i per cent, 

 solution of picric acid is applied during June, July or August. 

 The same treatment may be advantageously applied to other 

 fruit trees. — Observations on the Leonids made in 1899 at the 

 Observatory of Lyons, by ^L J. Guillaume. Fog prevented 

 observation on the nights of November 14 and 15, but on 

 November 12, 13 and 16, only twenty-six Leonids were noted. 

 —Observations of the Leonids made at the Observatory of 

 Algiers, by M. Ch. Trepied. The numbers observed were, 

 on November 13, three ; on the 14th, thirty-six ; the 

 15th, thirty. Forty per cent, of the shooting stars observed 

 did not belong to the Leonid swarm. The classification 

 of the Leonids in order of magnitude showed that 10 were of 

 the 1st magnitude, 22 of the 2nd, 19 of the 3rd, 9 of the 4th, 

 and 6 of the 5th.— Observations of the Leonids at Algiers, by 

 M. Harold Tarry. During the three nights 92 shooting stars 

 were counted.— On the definition of the area of a surface, by M. 

 H. Lebesgue.— On the number of roots of an algebraical equa- 

 tion comprised in the interior of a given circumference, by M. 

 Michel Petrovitch. — On the generalisation of Lagrange's de- 

 velopment in continued fraction of the function (i y.xY\ by M. 

 H. Pade— On the stability of equilibrium of floating bodies 

 and particularly of a ship carrying a liquid cargo, by M. P. 

 Duhem. Referring to a recent note of M. P. Appell on 

 this subject, in which a paper by the author is quoted, 

 it is here pointed out that this work was com- 

 pleted in a second paper, with results agreeing with 

 those recently published by M. Appell.— Remark on the 

 preceding communication, by M. Appell.— On the trans- 

 mission of sound by electricity, by M. Dussand. A description 

 of a microphone by which the spoken sounds can be trans- 

 mitted with very slight loss of intensity.— On the chemical 

 action of the X-rays, by M. P. Villard. The X-rays, freed 

 from kathode rays by an aluminium screen, cause a violet 

 coloration of the glass, apparently due to an oxidising action. — 

 The action of dry hydrochloric acid upon silver and the reverse 

 reaction, by M. Jouniaux. The interaction of hydrogen and 

 silver chloride in sealed tubes was studied at various tempera- 

 tures — 350°, 440°, and 600°. A limiting value for the percent- 

 age of hydrochloric acid formed was found in each case, but the 

 velocity with which this limit was attained differed greatly 



