=? 
JuLy 2; 1914] 
Tue Board of Agriculture and Fisheries proposes to 
award the following scholarships, tenable for three 
years from October 1 next. Three agricultural science 
scholarships of the value of 150/. per annum, open to 
students who have graduated with honours in science 
at a British University; two veterinary research 
scholarships of the value of 1501. per annum, open to 
students who have obtained the diploma of the Royal 
College of Veterinary. Surgeons; three veterinary 
scholarships of the value of tool, per annum, open to 
students who have graduated with honours in science 
at a British university, and tenable for three years at 
a veterinary college in the United Kingdom. Applica- 
tions for any of the foregoing scholarships must be 
made not later than July 17, on a form to be obtained 
on application from the secretary, Board of Agricul- 
ture and Fisheries, Whitehall Place, London, S.W. 
Tue Education Committee of the London County 
Council has recently had under consideration the 
recommendations of the Royal Commission on Univer- 
sity Education in London. Two questions in particu- 
lar have received careful attention : the constitution of 
the governing body of the University and its relation 
to the teaching institutions, and in particular to the 
Imperial College of Science and Technology; and the 
provision to be made for the education and examina- 
tion of persons who are unable to devote their whole 
time to study. The committee approves generally the 
proposals of the Commission with reference to the 
government of the University of London, and is of 
opinion that no scheme for the reorganisation of the 
University will be satisfactory which does not provide 
that the Senate shall have full and effective control 
over the work of the University in the constituent 
colleges. The committee considers it essential that 
the Imperial College of Science and Technology 
shall become a constituent college of the Uni- 
versity. It is also of opinion that the University 
of London should continue to confer degrees in 
honours as well as ordinary degrees on all British 
‘subjects in all faculties other ‘than the faculty of 
medicine on the results of examination only, without 
regard to the course of training the candidate has 
pursued, or in the case of the higher degrees, on the 
submission of original work. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LONDON. 
Zoological Society, June 9.—Prof. E. A. Minchin, 
vice-president, in the chair.—P. D. Montague; Report 
on the fauna of the Monte Bello Islands. The islands 
are barren limestone with a limited vegetation and 
some mangroves. The collections prove conclusively 
the entire dependence of the islands for their fauna 
on the neighbouring continent. Partial depopulations 
of the islands owing to drought are suggested, suc- 
ceeded by repopulations by means of wind-borne forms 
from the south.—Dr. W. A. Cunnington: Parasitic 
Eucopepoda collected by the third Tanganyika Expedi- 
tion in 1904-5. The collection consisted: of a very 
small number of specimens, these forms being 
evidently much rarer than the Argulide, which are 
also external parasitic Copepods infesting fish—Dr. 
F. E. Bedaard: A new species of avian Cestodes and 
a further discussion of the paruterine organ in 
Otiditaenia—R. I. Pocock: The facial vibrisse of 
mammalia. In all the principal orders of the class, 
with one or two exceptions, the following groups of 
vibrisse are present in some genera :—Mystaciale on 
the upper lip, submental on the chin and lower lip, 
superciliary over the eyes, gonal on the cheeks, and’ 
interramal on the throat behind the symphysis of the 
NGe2a31, VOI .O3 | 
NATURE 
471 
jaw. Within the limits of the orders these tufts are 
present in the primitive genera, but more or fewer of 
them may be lost in the more specialised types. This 
fact, coupled with their prevalence in widely different 
types, points to the arrangement of the vibrissee above 
indicated being exceedingly primitive.—R. 1. Pocock : 
The feet and “other external features of the Canidz 
and Urside. The paper dealt with the rhinaria, the 
facial vibrissze, and the pads and interdigital integu- 
ment of the feet in many of the genera of Canidz and 
all the admitted genera of Urside.—Dr. G. A. 
Boulenger : A second collection of batrachians and rep- 
tiles made by Dr. H. G. F. Spurrell in the Choco, 
Colombia.—D. M. S. Watson: Procolophon trigoniceps, 
a cotylosaurian reptile from South Africa.—A. W. 
Waters: Marine fauna of British East Africa and 
Zanzibar, from collections made by Cyril Crossland 
in the years 1901-2: Bryozoa—Cyclostomata, Cteno- 
stomata, and Endoprocta. Out of the twenty-four 
species from these three groups, four are new; and, 
as the species mentioned are all from to fathoms or 
under, it will not occasion surprise that the number 
of Cyclostomata is but small. 
Physical Society, June 12.—Prof. T. Mather, vice- 
president, in the chair.—Prof. C. H. Lees: Note on 
the connection between the method of least squares 
and the Fourier method of calculating the coefficients 
of a trigonometrical series to represent a given func- 
tion or series of observations. In view of the number 
of alternative methods which have been suggested for 
calculating the coefficients of the terms of a Fourier 
series to represent a number of observations of a 
variable quantity, the author points out that the 
Fourier method gives the most probable values of the 
coefficients, since it makes the sum of the squares of 
the errors at the points of observation a minimum.— 
F. E. Smith: A magnetograph for measuring varia- 
tions in the horizontal intensity of the earth’s mag- 
netic field. In the case of unifilar instruments for 
recording variations in H, if @ is the angle which the 
magnetic system makes with the magnetic meridian, 
M the moment of the magnet, and H the horizontal 
intensity of the earth’s field, equilibrium results w hen 
when MH sin @=T¢, where ¢ is the torsion on the fibre 
and T is a constant. In the instrument described 9 
may be made great or small, but high sensitiveness is 
secured by making @ gre eae = es Shrimpton : The 
atomic weight of copper by electrolysis. Four copper 
cells separating two silver cells were run in series. 
The areas of the four copper kathodes increased from 
to to 50 s.cs. By plotting the weights of the copper 
deposits against the cor responding areas of the 
kathodes, and extrapolating to zero area, the weight 
of the deposit is corrected for under experimental con- 
ditions. The atomic weight of copper 
corrected weight of Cu 
= : x 107-88 x 2. 
mean weight of Ag 
The mean atomic weight for ten determinations + 
63-503 imi, aa. mean) error (ols, +0.003——-W../ 7H; 
Apthorpe : Note on an improvement in the Einthoven 
string galvanometer. 
Mineralogical Society, June 16.—Dr. A. E. H. Tutton, 
president, in the chair.—Dr. J. Drugman: Childrenite 
from Crinnis mine, Cornwall, and eosphorite from 
Poland, Maine. Analyses of childrenite from Crinnis 
mine showed it to contain even less manganese than 
the specimens from George and Charlotte mine. 
Eosphorite from Poland is ‘ticher ‘in manganese than 
that from Branchville, the only occurrence previously 
known. It is well crystallised, unlike the Crinnis 
mine childrenite.—R. H. Solly: Sartorite. From a 
goniometrical examination of two hundred crystals it is 
concluded that Dr. Trechmann’s crystals, Nos 1 
