December 22, 1904] 



NA TURE 



191 



Rothschild. The gorilla from South Cameroon and the 

 white-faced chimpanzee of the Gaboon were characterised 

 as new. — The cranial osteology of the clupeoid fishes : Dr. 

 W. G. Ridewood. — Characters and synonymy of the British 

 species of sponges of the genus Leucosolenia ; Prof. E. A. 

 Minchin. — Descriptions of eighteen species of land-shells 

 belonging to the genus Macrochlamys and its allies : Dr. 

 W. T. Blanford, F.R..S. — Descriptions of a new genus and 

 thirty-two new species of phytophagous Coleoptera of the 

 family Halticid.i.- from South and Central America : M. 

 Jacoby. 



CAMBR115GE 



Philosophical Society, November 28. — Prof. Marshall 

 Ward, president, in the chair. — Remarks on Piroplasmosis 

 with exhibition of specimens : G. H. F. Nuttall. — Note on 

 some peculiar features in seedlings of Peperomia : A. W. 

 Hill. The seedlings of Peperomia iimbilicata were found in 

 the Andes of Bolivia at about 13,500 feet above sea-level. 

 The species is a geophilous one with small bulbs and peltate 

 leaves. The peculiarity of the seedlings lies in the fact that, 

 though they are dicotyledonous in structure, only one of 

 the two cotyledons leaves the seed to function as an assimil- 

 ating organ ; the other remains permanently in the seed as 

 .an absorbent organ. The other bulbous species from the 

 .\ndes apparently show the same features of germination, 

 and several other species from Central America, preserved 

 in the herbaria of Kew and South Kensington, whilst differ- 

 ing in their vegetative habits, show a similar type of germin- 

 ation. — Exhibition of new and rare Arachnids taken near 

 Cambridge : C. Warburton and N. D. F. Pearce. — The 

 inheritance of tortoiseshell and related colours in cats : L. 

 Doncaster. Tortoiseshell cats are heterozygotes, contain- 

 ing the two colours black and orange. They can be pro- 

 duced by mating orange with black, but a tortoiseshell 

 paired with either orange or black may throw all three 

 colours. Male tortoiseshells are exceedingly rare, and the 

 normal colour of the black-orange heterozygote in the male 

 is orange, the black in this case being completely recessive. 

 When a male tortoiseshell is paired with a female, all three 

 colours may be produced in the kittens. Cream and blue 

 are dilute forms of orange and black, and behave similarly 

 when crossed, the females being '* blue tortoiseshells," the 

 males creams. Creams may be obtained by pairing blue 

 with orange, the dilution being transferred from one colour 

 to the other. Blue is recessive to black, and so probably 

 is cream to orange ; it appears also that blue may be com- 

 pletely recessive to orange in the female, although black 

 by orange in the feiuale gives tortoiseshell. 



M.'\NCHESTER. 



Literary and Philosophical Society. November 29. — 

 Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., president, in the chair. 

 — Determination of wave-lengths in the extreme ultra-violet 

 part of the spectrum : H. Morris-Airey. .\fter a brief 

 historical sketch of the work of earlier investigators, the 

 classical experiments of .Schumann were described. Schu- 

 mann was not able to measure the wave-lengths of the new 

 lines beyond jH^fi/j., which he photographed, on account of 

 our defective knowledge of the dispersion of the material 

 of which his prism was constructed. The author attempted 

 to do this by producing the spectra by means of a concave 

 grating in vacuo, but without success. However, using a 

 plane transmission grating ruled on a plate of white fluor- 

 spar, to resolve the light from a powerful induction coil 

 discharge between aluminium electrodes four new standard 

 wave-lengths were measured extending to the wave-length 

 i6giifi. The experiments were carried out, after Schumann, 

 ill vacuo, and the spectra recorded on photographic plates 

 specially designed for the work. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, December 12. — M. Mascart in the 



chair. — Remarks on some thermochemical rules relating to 

 the possibility and the prediction of chemical reactions : M. 

 Berthelot. The author discusses the statement that a 

 chemical reaction must always be accompanied with an 

 evolution of heat, and refers to his earlier works to show 

 the exact meaning to be attributed to the words chemical 



NO. 1834, VOL. 71] 



reaction. — The determination of the difference in longitude 

 between Greenwich and Paris made in 1902 : M. Loeiwy. 

 A detailed account is given of the precautions necessary for 

 the accurate determination of this constant. Particular care 

 was given to the study of the personal equation of each 

 observer, and to reduce still further the errors due to this 

 source, the English and French observers changed stations. 

 The mean result obtained by the latter for the difference of 

 longitude between Paris and (Ireenwich was qiii. 20-9745. 

 — On the element Zg : Leccq tie Boisbaudran. In dis- 

 cussing the presence of a band A = 4SS, M. Urbain regards 

 the existence of a new element corresponding to this band 

 as hypothetical. The author gives reasons for his state- 

 ment that this band is really due to a new element, and 

 maintains the accuracy of his work published in 1895. — 

 Observations of the sun mjide at the Observatory of Lyons 

 with the 16 cm. Brunner ecjuatorial during the third cjuarter 

 of 1904 : L. Guillaume. The results are summarised in 

 three tables giving the numbers of spots, their distribution 

 in latitude, and the distribution of the faculai- in latitude. — . 

 On the approximation of incommensurables and of trigono- 

 metric series : M. Fatou. — On continuous space groups, 

 finite and infinite : .M. Le Vavasscur. — Remarks on a 

 method for the study of the convergence of certain con- 

 tinuous fractions : H. Pade. — The detonation of explosive 

 substances under water : M. Jacob. — .^n electricallv driven 

 nickel-steel pendulum : Jean Mascart. A preliminary 

 account of the results obtained with a pendulum of invar, 

 driven by the electrical arrangement devised bv M. Lipp- 

 mann. Its rate was about two seconds per day. The 

 author regards it as preferable to use several pendulums of 

 this kind, which can be set up with ease, to attempt an 

 absolute compensation. — On the registration of the «-rays 

 by photography : G. Weiss and L. Bull. A description of 

 the arrangement adopted is given in detail, the object being 

 to produce three sc]uares in contact with each other, the 

 centre one corresponding to the effect produced by the 

 phosphorescent surface when not exposed to the rays. The 

 two outer squares should have been darker if an increase 

 of the light intensity had been produced under the action 

 of the rays. The experiment was repeated a great number 

 of times, varying the nature of the plates, the time of ex- 

 posure, and the intensity of lighfing. The shortest ex- 

 posure was twenty seconds, and the longest five minutes. 

 In no case was a positive result obtained, there being no 

 difference between the intensity of the squares correspond- 

 ing to the time of action of the rays. — On some new deri- 

 vatives of tetrahydrobenzene : L^on Brunei. By the simul- 

 taneous action of iodine (in the presence of mercury oxide) 

 and acetic anhydride upon tetrahydrobenzene an iodoacetate 

 is formed, CH,.CO,.CjH|„I. — The synthesis and study of 

 cyclic substituted thio-hydantoins : Emm. Pozzl-Escot. 

 The method of preparation adopted consisted in acting upon 

 the a-6-disubstituted thio-ureas with a monoalkyl fatty acid. 

 — On the possibility of producing a non-brittle steel, 

 tempered blue : Ch. Fremont. It is generally supposed 

 that all irons and steels, whatever their quality, become 

 brittle under shock at temperatures between 200° C. and 

 450° C. .An example is given showing that this is not 

 necessarily the case. — On a method of decomposition of 

 coinplex statistical curves into irreducible curves : Charles 

 Henry. — On the accessory glands of the larvae of the Lepi- 

 doptera : L. Bordas. — The development of the tentacles of 

 the Campanulariida; and the Plumulariidae : .Armand 

 Billard. — The resistance to desiccation of some fungi : 

 Mme. Z. Gatin-Grurewska. It has been found that 

 certain fungi, including three species of Polyporus, are not 

 killed by a prolonged drying at 37° C, as the dried fungi, 

 when moistened, possess the same respiratory coefficient as 

 the undried plant. The amount of carbon dioxide given off 

 per hour is, however, less in the former case than in the 

 latter. — On the constitution of arable earth : A. Deiagre 

 and H. Lagatu. By the application of the methods of 

 petrography to the smallest particles of arable earth, the 

 authors come to the conclusion that instead of the earth 

 being, as is usually represented in classical works on the 

 subject, the result of a disaggregation followed by a de- 

 composition of the mineral constituents of rocks, it simply 

 consists of the various minerals of the rocks from which 

 it is derived in a very fine state of division. The mica, 

 cjuartz, felspar, calcite, tourmaline, apatite, &c., are per- 



