March 19, 1903 J 



NA TURE 



479 



that the family of ostriches had been developed in Southern 

 Eurasia and emigrated at a later period to Africa and 

 Southern Europe could not be sustained. The discovery of 

 5. karatheodoris in Samos showed rather that the specialisa- 

 tion took place in Africa, and that the existence of such 

 forms in India and Southern Europe was due to a secondary 

 immigration from Africa. Most probably, however, there 

 was the same relationship between the whole fauna of Samos 

 and that of the Siwalik Hills — i.e. the latter was a trans- 

 formed and later generation of the former. — Mr. F. E. 

 Beddard, F.R.S., read a paper upon some species of Oligo- 

 chasta from Africa. 



Linnean Society, March 5.— Prof. S. H. Vines, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, F.R.S., 

 exhibited a collection of spiders and wasps from Singapore, 

 made by Mr. C. J. Saunders. (1) Spiders found in eleven 

 clay cells built between the boards of a thin book standing 

 upright on a book-shelf ; the space 3 inch broad by i inch 

 high, and 45 to 5 inches long. Mr. Saunders reckoned 

 that each cell contained ten or eleven spiders and a single 

 grub. He found a small fly in one cell, and others later 

 in a different set of cells. He remarks that the Chinese 

 must have noticed the spider-trapping habit, since they say 

 of certain bees that they " adopt " spiders and bring them 

 up as young bees. (2) Contents of another set of cells, 

 built in a corner of the verandah, in two vertical rows, about 

 thirteen cells in all. The spiders were all of one kind, fifty- 

 six in number, with three half-eaten and two skins. (,) 

 Contents of a set of cells, the topmost of which was closed 

 while Mr. Saunders was examining other sets. The day 

 before had been wet, but even the topmost cell, which was 

 not yet dry, contained a grub. The exhibitor also remarked 

 that in the family Crabronidae or Sphegida?, Ammophila 

 hirsuta, a British species of sand-wasp, is said to provision 

 its nest with spiders. The same habit has long been known 

 in Pelopoeus spirifex (Linn.), belonging to the same family. 

 Also in the family Pompilids, species of Pompilus are known 

 to attack large spiders and make them a provision for their 

 young ones. Latreille, in 1802, quotes a letter from Cossigny 

 to Reaumur, describing the behaviour of Pelopoeus spirifex 

 to spiders in the Isle de France. Latreille named the genus 

 Pelopceus, the mud-worker, or potter. — On some points in 

 the visceral anatomy of the Characinida;, with an inquiry into 

 the relations of the Ductus pneumaticus in the Physostomi 

 generally, by Mr. W. S. Rowntree. The author sum- 

 marised Sagemehl's observations on the skull of the 

 Characinidae, and then described his own investigations into 

 the visceral anatomy of these fishes, derived from the ex- 

 amination of fifty-three species belonging to thirty-three 

 genera, the chief interest of the paper centring in the 

 author's observations on the position of the Ductus pneu- 

 maticus in relation to the alimentary canal, which observ- 

 ations had extended to other families of the Physostomi. — 

 On the anatomy of the pig-footed bandicoot, Chaeropus 

 castonotis, by Mr. F. G. Parsons. — Further notes on the 

 lemurs, with especial reference to the brain, by Dr. G. 

 Elliot Smith. This paper records observations supplemen- 

 tary to those recently published in the Transactions of the 

 Linnean Society, and deals with two internal casts of im- 

 perfect crania of N'esopithecus recently acquired by the 

 British Museum, two brains of young specimens of Pro- 

 pithecus diadema, and an adult brain of Lemur macao. 

 The brain of Nesopithecus (Globilemur) is shown lo present 

 a curious mixture of pithecoid and prosimian features, and 

 the author regards this genus as a specialised one, forming 

 a connecting link between the lemurs and apes. 



Entomological Society, March 4.— Prof. E. B. Poulton, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair.— Colonel C. T. Bingham 

 sent for exhibition specimens of Diptera and two Aculeates 

 from Sikhim, showing in the banding of the wings and other 

 characteristics a singularly beautiful case of mimicry. The 

 Rev. F. D. Morice drew attention to the way in which the 

 fly imitated with its tibia the tarsus of the bee. — Mr. A. J. 

 Chitty exhibited specimens of the rare Atomaria rhenana, 

 taken by him out of some food rubbish found near Lancing, 

 probably the same locality where the beetle was discovered 

 formerly by Dr. Sharp. He also exhibited a Ptinus, found 

 in a granary in Holborn in 1893, apparently new to Britain 

 and probably introduced.— Mr. W. J. Kaye exhibited species 



of Lepidoptera from British Guiana, forming a Miillerian 

 association in which all but one were day-flying molhs, 

 the exception being an Erycinid butterfly, Esthemopsis 

 secina. The particular interest of the exhibit consisted in 

 the association being one of moths, a butterfly being the 

 exception, and not one of butterflies with perhaps a single 

 moth, which latter is so frequently the case in South 

 America. The butterfly most closely resembled Agyrta 

 micilia, one of the most abundant of the Syntomid group. — 

 Mr. C. O. Waterhouse read notes on the nests of bees of 

 the genus Trigona ; Mr. G. A. Rothney communicated a 

 paper on the Aculeate Hymenoptera of Barrackpore, Bengal, 

 and descriptions of eighteen new species of Larridse and 

 Apida:, from Barrackpore, by Peter Cameron ; Colonel 

 Charles Swinhoe communicated a paper on the Aganiida; 

 in the British Museum, with descriptions of some new 

 species. 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, B'ebruary 17. — Mr. 

 Charles Bailey, president, in the chair. — Mr. T. Thorp 

 showed a copy of a Japanese magic mirror he had cast. 

 He had had it ground and polished with a partial vacuum 

 behind it, with the result that the reflection showed the 

 design on the back of the mirror very distinctly. Mr. 

 Thorp believed this to be the first mirror to be made in that 

 way, and he afterwards presented the mirror to the Society. 

 Mr. Thorp also exhibited a small apparatus for attaching to 

 a gun to facilitate sighting. — Mr. W. E. Hoyle showed on 

 the lantern screen a number of microscopic sections illus- 

 trating the structure of the luminous organs of a cuttle- 

 fish which he had described to the Society during the 

 previous session. Mr. Hoyle also read a paper entitled 

 " Notes on the Type Specimen of Loligo eblanae, Ball," 

 in which was demonstrated the identity of a squid from 

 Dublin Bay, described by the late Dr. Robert Ball, with 

 one recorded by M. Girard from the coast of Portugal and 

 also found in the Mediterranean. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, March 9. — M. Albert Gaudry in 

 the chair. — The general theory of translucency, by M. J. 

 Boussinesq. A generalisation of the theory of gradual 

 extinction of plane waves with pendular motions, given in 

 a preceding note. — The preparation and properties of the 

 hydrides of rubidium and caesium, by M. Henri Moissan. 

 The hydrides of these metals were obtained by heating the 

 metal in hydrogen at about 300° O, the general method 

 adopted being that described in a previous note on the 

 preparation of the hydrides of potassium and sodium. In 

 both cases crystalline compounds possessing the composi- 

 tion RbH and CsH were obtained. These are energetic 

 reducing agents decomposing water, hydrogen sulphide and 

 hydrochloric acid at the ordinary temperature. With sulphur 

 dioxide at low temperatures, and under reduced pressure, 

 hydrosulphites are obtained ; carbon dioxide is added on 

 directly with the formation of formates, and amides are pro- 

 duced by the reaction with ammonia.— On the non-conduc- 

 tivity of the metallic hydrides, by M. Henri Moissan. An 

 attempt to measure the electric conductivity of the hydrides 

 of sodium, potassium, caesium and rubidium showed that 

 all these substances act as insulators. These experiments 

 lead to the conclusion that hydrogen is not comparable to 

 the metals, since the metallic hydrides have neither the 

 properties nor the appearance of metallic alloys. — On the 

 motion of vitreous media, affected by viscosity and very 

 slightly deformed, by M. P. Duhem. — M. Th. Schlcesing, 

 jun., was elected a member of the section of rural economy 

 in the place of the late M. DeheVain. — The comet 1902 b, 

 by M. A. Senonque. The results of photographic observ- 

 ations at the Observatory of Meudon. The comparison of 

 the photographs taken on October 6 and 7 shows large 

 variations in the size of the tail of the comet. — On a trans- 

 formation of a particular class of triple orthogonal systems, 

 by M. C. Guichard. — On the deformation of surfaces, by 

 M. W. de Tannenbergr. — On the hypohermitian, by M. 

 L£on Autonne. — The rigidity of liquids, by M. G. de Metz. 

 From the equation given by Maxwell connecting the vis- 

 cosity coefficient, the modulus of rigidity, and the time of 

 relaxation of the elastic force, and from some measurements 

 of the rate of relaxation of accidental double refraction in 



NO. 1742, VOL. 67] 



