4o6 



NATURE 



[February 22, 1900 



and titrate the nitrite with permanganate in acid solution. —On 

 the action of aluminium chloride on camphoric anhydride, iii., 

 by F. H. Lees and W. H. Perkin, junr. 



Linnean Society, February i.— Dr. A. Giinther, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair.— The President announced that on the 

 occasion of the forthcoming International Exhibition in Paris, 

 an International Congress of Botany will be held there 

 from October i-io, both dates inclusive.— Mr. George 

 Massee exhibited lantern-slides in illustration of his paper on 

 the origin of the Basidiomycetes, the substance of which had 

 been communicated at the last meeting, and recapitulated the 

 conclusions at which he had arrived.— Mr. Cecil R. P. 

 Andrews exhibited two non-British grasses which he had 

 found last year in the Channel Islands — Phalaris minor, Retz., 

 from sandy shores and fields in Guernsey and Alderney, and 

 Miliiun scabitim, Merl., from the cliffs of Guernsey. — Mr. J. 

 E. Harting exhibited a specimen in the flesh of the Rufous 

 Tinamu {Rhynchotus rufescens) which had been shot near 

 Petersfield, Hants, on January 29, and gave some account of 

 the experiments which had been made to acclimatise this 

 South American gamebird since its first introduction by Mr. 

 John Bateman at Brightlingsea, Essex. No difificuliy had been 

 experienced in regard to climate or food, but inasmuch as these 

 birds do not perch in trees like pheasants, but roost on the 

 ground, they are more liable to destruction by foxes, a circum- 

 stance which has materially affected their increase. — A report 

 was read on the zoological results of an expedition to Mt. 

 Roraima in British Guiana, undertaken by Messrs. F. V. 

 McConnell and J. J. Quelch in 1898; communicated to the 

 Society by Prof. Lankester, F.R.S., on behalf of the members 

 of the British Museum staff who had prepared it. A previous 

 journey, occupying sixty days, had been made by the same 

 travellers in 1894, their route then being by the rivers Essequibo 

 and Rupanuni. The route selected in 1898, by the Mazaruni 

 river, to the Falls of Macrobah, occupied forty days only, 

 twenty of which were spent in boats. With the exception of 

 the last twebty miles, the entire journey lay through thick forest. 

 Mt. Roraima (8700 feel) was found to have a sloping base clothed 

 with dense vegetation, surmounted by a rectangular mass fifty- 

 four square miles in area with perpendicular walls 2000 feet in 

 height. On the south-west, part of the wall has slipped, and 

 lies diagonally across the face of the upper portion of the 

 mountain. By following the ledge so formed, the summit can 

 be reached without serious difficulty. Amongst the Mammalia 

 collected, a new mouse, described by Mr. De Winton as 

 Rhipidoniys Alacconnelli {t^%txn\)\\x\^ R. microtis irom Columbia, 

 but darker in colour and with larger ears) was found near the 

 summit. Amongst birds a new Zonotrichia, allied to Z. pileata, 

 which is found throughout the greater part of Central and 

 South America, is described by Dr. Bowdler Sharpe. Mr. G. 

 A. Boulenger furnishes descriptions of some new reptiles 

 {Neuslicurus rudis and Prionodactyhis leucostictus) and 

 Batrachians {Oreophrynella M.icconnelli, Hylodes viarmorata, 

 and Olophryne robusla), the last named being assigned to a 

 new genus Amongst Crustacea, of which a number were col- 

 lected in the Upper Mazaruni river at an altitude of 2500 feet, 

 Dr. De Man detected a new species of Palaemon, which he has 

 named after Mr. Quelch. The collection of Myriopoda was 

 found to contain new species of Odontopellis and Ettyuriis, of 

 which descriptions are given by Mr. Pocock, who had already 

 described two new spiders (^Ann. M. N. H. ser. 6, xvi. p. 140) 

 collected on this expedition. Two scorpions {Broteochactus 

 granosus and B. porosus) are likewise characterised as new. A 

 new Hemipteron {Acrocoris perarmata) and a new beetle 

 [Exagotitus denticollis) are described respectively by Mr. Kirby 

 and Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, the latter insect being referred to a 

 new genus. 



Zoological Society, February 6.— Mr. Howard Saunders, 

 Vice-President, in the chair.— The Secretary called attention to 

 the breeding of a pair of black-headed buntings {Embei-iza vielano- 

 cephald) in the western aviary, about the middle of the month. — 

 Mr. Oldfield Thomas exhibited and made remarks on some 

 mounted heads of antelopes obtained on the Upper Nile by 

 Captain H. G. Majendie. Amongst these were specimens of 

 Cobus maria, C. lencotis, Damaliscus tiang, and Gazella 

 rufifrons. — Mr. G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton exhibited skins of 

 the continental and British dormice, which he characterised as 

 distinct, and proposed the subspecific name of atiglica for the 

 British form. — Mr. Barrett- Hamilton also exhibited skins of the 

 variable hare (Lepus iimidus, Linn.) from Scotland and Ireland, 



to show their subspecific characters ; and gave a short synopsis ( 

 of paltearctic variable hares, describing as subspecifically new, 

 under the name of Lepus tiinidus ainu, the representative form 

 of the island of Yezo. — Mr. R. Trimen, F.R.S., communicated 

 a paper by Lieut. -Colonel J. Malcolm Fawcett, entitled "Notes 

 on the Transformations of some South- African Lepidoptera." 

 This memoir was accompanied by a series of careful and 

 characteristic coloured drawings from life of larvse and pupae 

 collected by the author during a residence in Natal, chiefly at 

 Ladysmith and Maritzburg. The early stages of seventeen 

 Rhopalocera and thirty-one Heterocera were described and 

 figured. Nearly all of these appeared to have been previously 

 unpublished, and in the few instances where previous publication 

 had occurred, tlie illustrations had been inexact or insufficient. 

 In several species, not only the variations of the full-grown 

 larvse, but the changes exhibited at successive moults were well 

 shown, especially in the Natalian species of Papilio. Among 

 the Heterocera was specially noticeable the striking series of 

 Saturniid larva;, and still more the huge and extraordinary 

 caterpillar of Lophoslethus dumolinii, one of the largest of the 

 Smerinthine hawk-moths, which, in addition to the usual caudal 

 horn, bears many strong branched spines distributed over nearly 

 the whole of the body. Colonel Fawcett's descriptions and 

 drawings were accompanied by notes of value on the distribution, 

 food plants, &c., of the species concerned. Mr. Trimen expressed 

 his deep regret (which he felt the Fellows of the Society would 

 share) that the talented writer of this memoir, who had rejoined 

 his regiment in Natal, was among those officers who were known 

 to have been severely wounded during ihe siege of Ladysmith. — 

 Mr. L. A. Borradaile read a paper on a small collection of 

 decapod crustaceans from freshwaters in North Borneo. The 

 specimens were referred to four species, of which one was a 

 prawn and three were crabs. Of the latter one was considered 

 to be new, and was described under the name of Potamon 

 kadamatanum. — Mr. Oldfield Thomas read a paper on the 

 mammals obtained in South-western Arabia by Messrs. Percival 

 and Dodson during the autumn of last year. Twenty-eight 

 species were enumerated, and the collectors' field-notes upon 

 them were given. — A communication was read from Dr. R. W. 

 Shufeldt on the feigning of death in fishes, based principally on 

 observations made on specimens of Psetidopriacanthus alius and 

 Epinephelus niveatusm the Aquarium of the United States Fish 

 Commission at Washington. — A communication was read from 

 Dr. A. G. Butler containing a revision of the butterflies of the 

 genus Zizera (Fam. Lycaeiiidae) in the collection of the British 

 Museum. According to the author's views the genus Zizera, 

 so far as was at present known, comprised sixteen species. 

 These were enumerated and their specific differences were 

 pointed out. 



Entomological Society, February 7. — Mr. G. H. Verrall, 

 President, in the chair. — The President announced that he had 

 appointed Dr. T. A. Chapman, Mr. W. L. Distant, and Mr. 

 C. O. Waterhouse as Vice-Presidents.— Mr. O. E. Janson ex- 

 hibited examples of Achias longividens. Walk., a remarkable 

 fly from New Guinea, in which the eyes are set at the end of 

 very long stalk-like processes. The specimens showed great 

 variation in the length of the eye-stalks, which in the most fully 

 developed males considerably exceeded the length of the wings. 

 — Mr. J. W. Tult exhibited a series of specimens of Epunda 

 Intulenta, including several remarkable variations. — Mr. Cham- 

 pion exhibited a large number of Coleoptera collected in Switzer- 

 land. He called attention to the great variation in colour of one 

 or two common species of the Chrysomelid genus Orina, and 

 said he believed that the forms known as O. cacaliae, Schrank, 

 O. speciosissima. Scop., and under other names, all belonged to 

 one extremely variable species. — Prof T. Hudson Beare showed 

 specimens of Dinoderus minulus, Fab. , obtained from a bamboo- 

 basket in his house at Richmond. — Mr. H. Donisthorpe ex- 

 hibited a larva-case of Clythra quadripunctata taken from a nest 

 of the red-wood ant — Formica riifa. He commented upon the 

 unsatisfactory state of our knowledge as to the food-habits of the 

 larvae of Clythra, and said he believed the larvse fed upon the 

 eggs of the ant. — Mr. Gahan mentioned, in connection with the 

 genus Clythra, that these beetles possess a stridulating organ on 

 the meso-notom, not along the middle as in Longicorns and 

 Megalopidae, but towards the lateral edges, and consisting of 

 two widely separated striated areas over which the edge of the 

 pronotum moves. The stridulating areas were present, he said, 

 in nearly all the genera of Clythridae, and might almost be 

 regarded as a characteristic of the family. The fact that these 



NO. 1582, VOL. 61] 



