November 



■■/> 



1902] 



NA TURE 



95 



has been found in the Argentine, and has been described by 

 Geinitz as Otopteris argenlina. — On a new boring at Caythorpe 

 (Lincolnshire), by Mr. Henry Preston. This boring, after 

 piercing Northampton Sands, passed through 199 feet of Upper 

 Lias, 19 feet of Marlstone, and into the Middle Liassic Clays. 

 With the aid of other shallow wells in the Lincolnshire Lime- 

 stone, this rock is shown to have a decided dip to the west 

 down the face of the escarpment, as though it had settled down 

 upon the eroded surface of the Upper Liassic Clay. This settle- 

 ment is probably the cause of a continuous spring flowing from 

 the junction, and it has given rise to an underestimate of the 

 thickness of the Upper Lias. 



Linnean Society, November 6. — Prof. S. H. Vines, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Mr. H. J. Elwes, F.R.S., gave a 

 lecture, illustrated by a specially prepared map and lantern 

 slides, entitled " Notes of a Natural History Journey in Chile," 

 which he performed in the winter of 1901-02, spending five 

 months on the trip. The lecturer confined his remarks to the 

 country which- has oniy recently become accessible, between 

 Mulchen and Puerto Montt. From Buenos Ayres to Santiago 

 is a three days' railway journey, broken by the Andine pass 

 between Puente del Inca and Salto de Soldado, which has to be 

 performed on mules. It was evident that the forests which 

 cover the mountains and extend into the plain had never 

 clothed the outer valleys, though a six hours' ride into the 

 mountains will bring the traveller to abundant groves of the 

 Chilian "cypress,'' Libocedrus chi/ensis. The most striking 

 plant is Puya coeruha. The lecturer visited the beautiful 

 gardens of the late Madame Cousino at Lota ; on the hill-sides, 

 large plantations of the Californian Finns insignis are rapidly 

 changing the aspect of the country. Nothing is more striking 

 in the central valley of Chile tranversed by the railway than the 

 wonderful growth of introduced trees, which oust the natives. 

 Lombardy poplars form avenues along the country roads ; 

 European oaks, thistles and introduced conifers give the 

 aspect of Italy rather than of South America. This region 

 may rival California as a fruit-producing country. The Agri- 

 cultural College at Santiago is excellently found, its equipment 

 surpassing anything in England. The lecturer visited the Baths 

 of Chilian, at an elevation of about 6000 feet, where many 

 plants and insects were collected ; here the beech forests clothe 

 the mountains, and here also a considerable quantity of the 

 curious orchid Chloraea was obtained with some difficulty. 

 The long fleshy roots were deeply buried in sand and stones 

 amid the bushes and bamboo, Chusquea andina ; those plants 

 sent to Kew from Concepcion are growing fairly well. At 

 Lolco, a farm on the Bio-bio river, may alpine plants were 

 found. From Los Arcos past Lago Alumine to the Quillen 

 river, few birds were noted, and mammals were very scarce. 

 The extraordinary configuration of the rocks was mentioned. 

 Early in February, the weather broke and several wet days 

 ensued. San Martin is described as very beautifully situated, 

 and will probably hereafter be much resorted to by visitors. 

 The edge of the great Patagonian pampa was reached where the 

 river Limay issues from the Nahuel-Huapi lake ; from Puerto 

 Blest to Puerto Montt, an easy track is now available, past the 

 shores of Lago Frio, where Fitzroya patagonica was noted ; 

 from this lake, a magnificent view of Tronador volcano was 

 obtained, the glaciers of which on the west side descend to about 

 2000 feet near Casapanque ; avalanches were constantly falling 

 from the mountain's precipices, with a noise which gave rise to 

 its name. Here were beech trees, and a growth of Gunnera 

 chilensis on the debris brought by the glacier, which was found 

 to be of extreme interest. Lago Todos Santos is buried in 

 forest. 



Manchester. 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, November iS. — 

 Mr. Charles Bailey, president, in the chair. — A paper by 

 Mr. Lionel Adams on a contribution to our knowledge of the 

 mole ( Talpa Europacd) was communicated by Mr. W. E. Hoyle. 

 The writer, who has been studying the mole for the last four 

 years in the neighbourhood of Stafford, called attention to the 

 singular neglect of this interesting species by naturalists since 

 the time of Le Court (the well-known scientific mole catcher) and 

 Geoffroy Saint- Hilaire at the beginning of the last century, the 

 statements of these observers having been accepted by subse- 

 quent writers — with trifling exceptions— without any attempt 

 at verification. The mole has been credited with making its 

 •"fortress " on a uniform plan, with exactly the same number of 



NO. 1/26, VOL. 67] 



galleries and runs communicating with the nest in precisely the 

 same way, but the writer pointed out that, though he had 

 dissected more than 300 fortresses, he had never found two alike 

 or a single one corresponding to the time-honoured figure in 

 the text-books. His observations showed that the tunnels in the 

 interior of the fortress are not contrived as a means of escape 

 from enemies, but are merely formed incidentally in the process 

 of excavation and in piling up the superincumbent mound. 

 There is, however, one exception to this, viz. the " boltrun," 

 which is a tunnel leading out of the bottom of the nest. The 

 conclusion was also arrived at that, though the mole is not 

 actually blind, its power of vision is extremely limited and it 

 finds its prey by scent alone. Instances were given of the mole 

 eating the eggs of pheasants and partridges, after having under- 

 mined the nests, a fact which had hitherto escaped notice. — ■ 

 Mr. F. F. Laidlaw read a paper on some new species of marine 

 planarians from Torres Strait and the Pacific. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, November 17. — M. Albert Gaudry 

 in the chair. — On the impurities in compressed oxygen, and on 

 their effect on combustions carried out in the calorimetric bomb, 

 by M. Berthelot. Commercial compressed oxygen appears to 

 be made in three ways, from barium peroxide, peroxide of 

 manganese together with an alkaline hydrate and by the electro- 

 lysis of water. Samples of gas prepared in these three ways 

 were examined for oxides of carbon, hydrogen and hydrocarbons, 

 with the result that the amounts of these impurities were found 

 to be too small to have any effect on the use of the gas for 

 calorimetric determinations, and even when used for the estima- 

 tion of carbon and hydrogen no error is introduced except in the 

 case of the oxygen prepared electrolytically, when an appreciable 

 amount of hydrogen may be present for which a correction is 

 necessary. — On the recent publications of the Observatory of 

 Paris: "Stellar Catalogue," part iv. ; "Photographic Cata- 

 logue," vol. i. ; Annates, Observations of 189S ; Memoires (23) ; 

 and Bulletin of the International Committee (3), by M. Lcewy. 

 — On the determination of the exact position of a mercury 

 meniscus illuminated by a bundle of horizontal rays, by M. G. 

 Lippmann. The difficulties of determining the exact position 

 of a mercury surface are well known, and various devices have 

 been suggested for overcoming them. The method suggested 

 by the author is to illuminate the surface of the mercury by a 

 bundle of horizontal light rays, formed by a collimator placed 

 approximately in a line with the reading telescope. The outline 

 of the mercury meniscus is then seen as a perfectly sharp line, 

 and good observations can be made with a microscope 

 furnished with a micrometer eyepiece. The extreme variation 

 of a set of ten observations carried out in this way was 0*005 mm., 

 with a mean error of about 0*0025 mrn - — ^ simplification of 

 Foucault's pendulum, by M. d'Arsonval. The form described 

 was designed by M. Cannivel, and is noteworthy for its sim- 

 plicity and cheapness. — The localisation of normal arsenic in 

 some organs of animals and plants, by M. Armand Gautier. The 

 author has applied the methods previously described by him to 

 the examination of the feathers of birds, some marine and fresh- 

 water alga;, coal, sea-water and rocks. The conclusion is drawn 

 that arsenic appears to be as widely spread as nitrogen and 

 phosphorus. It is invariably found, although in small pro- 

 portion, in primitive rocks, soil, sea-water, plants, especially in 

 algae, and in terrestrial and marine animals. In the latter, it is 

 especially localised in those organs of ectodermic origin which 

 are concerned with sensation and reproduction. — On the specific 

 differences between the two diseases Nagano, and Malde Caderas, 

 by MM. A. Laveran and F. Mesnil. These two diseases have 

 many points of resemblance, but on close examination prove to 

 be two specifically distinct diseases. — Effect of the excision of 

 the madreporite in starfish, by M. V. Delage. — On the law of 

 pressures in cannon, by M. E. Vallier. — On the analogy between 

 the X-rays and the Hertzian oscillations, by M. P. Duhem. — 

 On the recent sunset glows at Bordeaux, by M. E. Esclangon. 

 The facts observed do not fit in with the hypothesis of cosmic 

 dust either of terrestrial or extra-terrestrial origin. The effects 

 produced can be better explained by the assumption of the 

 production of finely divided ice particles in the upper regions of 

 the atmosphere ; the sudden disappearance of the phenomenon 

 was found to correspond with a sudden rise of temperature. — 

 On the approximate representation of functions, by M. W. 

 Stekloff. — On the structure of finite groups, by M. E. Cartan. — 

 On bipolar electrodes, by MM. Andre Brochet and C. L. 



