April 13, 1905] 



NATURE 



575 



mammals peculiar to it included the dwarf hippopotamus, 

 the zebra antelope, Jentink's duiker, and Biittikofer's 

 monkey. The author enumerated eighteen species of 

 mammals and twenty of birds, specimens of which had been 

 obtained by various collectors in Liberia. — Abnormal re- 

 mains of the red deer {Cervus elaphns) : M. A. C. Hinton. 

 The remains consisted of three antlers which were obtained 

 from different post-Pliocene deposits in the south of 

 England. They agreed in having all the tynes suppressed 

 and in being supported upon very long pedicles, thus re- 

 sembling in form, though much exceeding in size, those 

 of the pricket. Rudimentary offsets were seen on the most 

 perfect example, which proved the antler to be the third 

 in the series. These antlers belonged to individuals who 

 had suffered testicular injury at an early period of life, 

 by which the characters of youth were retained for a 

 longer period than was usual. — On the affinities of Pro- 

 colophon : Dr. R. Broom. The author believed that 

 reptiles in Permian times became specialised along two 

 distinct lines, the one represented by the pareiasaurians, 

 anomodonts, therocephalians, and theriodonts, and termin- 

 ating in the mammals, the second giving rise to all the 

 other reptilian orders. The common ancestor was believed 

 to have been a true reptile probably belonging to the 

 order Cotylosauria. Procolophon was held to be an early 

 member of the branch which led to the rhynchocephalians, 

 and possibly fairly closely allied to the land ancestor of 

 Mesosaurus. — Skulls of the fossil reptile Procolophon from 

 Donnybrook and Fernrocks : Prof. H. G. Seeley. The 

 author concluded that the main affinities were with the 

 Anomodontia, chiefly with the Pareiasauria, and in the 

 teeth with the Theriodontia ; but that in a less degree 

 there were indications of affinity with reptiles classed as 

 labyrinthodonts. All parts of the skeleton supported the 

 separation of the Procolophonia as an order of extinct 

 Reptilia. 



Geological Society, IMarch 22.— Dr. J. E. Marr. F R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — An experiment in mountain- 

 building, part ii. : Lord Avebury, P.C., F.R.S. In this 

 paper some experiments are described, which were con- 

 ducted by an apparatus by means of which pressures could 

 be applied in two directions at right angles to one another, 

 a space of 2 feet square being reduced to one 22 inches 

 square. In the first series, plastic materials, such as cloth 

 and thin oilcloth, were used, with layers of sand between 

 them. Two main folds crossing at right angles were 

 formed, the upper one shifted over the lower. The use of 

 two layers of linoleum produced a different type of folding, 

 and the lower layers of the linoleum were broken along 

 the principal ridges. In the second series, a layer of 

 plaster was introduced ; this was found to be fractured, 

 tilted up into a " writing-desk " form, and forced irregu- 

 larly into the sandy layers. Overthrusts were thus pro- 

 duced, so that in some cases a boring would have passed 

 through two or even four layers of the rigid substance. 

 In other cases, the edges of the primary fracture broke 

 off more or less regularly, and the detached pieces were 

 pushed up, assuming gradually a very steep angle. The 

 remainder of the edges of the plate of plaster, having now 

 room, were able to approach each other. Pliable material 

 above the plaster was thrown into one or a few extensive 

 folds, while that beneath assumed a greater number of 

 •-mall folds. — The Rhjetic rocks of Monmouthshire : L. 

 Richardson. The Rhaetic rocks occur only in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Newport, and the present paper describes three 

 new sections and four new exposures. 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, February 21 — 

 Prof. H. B. Dixon, F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — 

 Electrically-heated carbon tube furnaces : R. S. Hutton 

 and W. H. Patterson. These furnaces are intended for 

 experimental work, and not only enable extremely high 

 temperatures to be attained, but with them the tempera- 

 ture, being un fer perfect control, can be kept steady at 

 any value up to the maximum. 



February 28. — Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. , presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — The early history of seed-bearing 

 plants, as recorded in the Carboniferous flora (Wilde lec- 

 ture) : Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S. (see p. 426). 



NO. 1850, VOL. 71] 



March 7.— Prof. \V. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., president, 

 in the chair. — Two new aldehyde reactions : W. B. 

 Ramsden, 



March 21. — Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., president, 

 in the chair. — A new genus Nevillina, of the subfamily 

 MiliolininEe, of the Foraminifera ; H. Sidebottom. — On 

 the temperature coefficient of electrical resistivity of carbon 

 at low temperatures ; H. Morris-Airey and E. D. 

 Spencer. The method of taking observations at tempera- 

 tures between the normal temperature and that of boiling 

 oxygen was described, and the results plotted in the form 

 of curves. The shape of the curves was discussed in con- 

 nection with the theory that carbon conductors behave like 

 loose powders. 



P.ARIS. 



Academy of Sciences, April 3. — M. Troost in the chair. 

 — On the use of the hot and cold tube in the study of 

 chemical reactions : M. Berthelot (see p. 568). — Observ- 

 ations on the new Giacobini comet made at the Observ- 

 atory of Paris : G. Bigrourdan. The observations were 

 made on .March 28 and 31 ; the positions of the comparison 

 stars and apparent positions of the comet are given. On 

 March 28 the comet appeared as a nebulosity of about the 

 thirteenth magnitude, with a nucleus sensibly brighter than 

 the rest. On March 31 the size had diminished, and the 

 apparent brightness increased. — On the relation between 

 the integrals of the total differentials of the first and 

 second species of an algebraic surface : x^mile Picard. — 

 The variation of the band spectra of carbon with the 

 pressure and some new band spectra of carbon : H. 

 Deslandres and M. d'AzambuJa. The kathode spectrum 

 in air having shown peculiar variations with the pressure, 

 it was thought desirable to study the effect of pressure 

 upon the carbon spectrum. The negative spectrum of 

 carbon is a band spectrum which appears at the kathode 

 in the oxygen and hydrogen compounds of carbon, and is 

 especially intense in the case of carbon monoxide and 

 dioxide. Two spectra were photographed simultaneously 

 on the same plate, one from a Geisslcr tube containing 

 the gas at a pressure of about 0-2 mm., and the other 

 from the kathode of a tube in which the pressure was 

 capable of being varied up to nearly atmospheric. The 

 variations noted strongly resemble those already studied 

 for the negative spectrum of air. Details of a new spec- 

 trum of carbon dioxide, given by the kathode at a pressure 

 of 30 cm. of mercury, are given. — On the grains found 

 attached to Pectopteris Phickeneti : M. Grand'Eury. In 

 the search for fronds giving rise to fossil seeds, the author 

 has found fronds of the above species to which are fixed, 

 not one or two, but many hundreds of grains, proving 

 that the fossil ferns of the Coal-measures, other than the 

 Neuropteride^, are gymnosperms, and must be placed 

 among the Cycadese. Two reproductions of photographs of 

 the fossils are given. — On the new Giacobini comet : M. 

 Giacobini, The elements of the comet are given, calcu- 

 lated from observations made at Nice on March 26, 28, and 

 30. — The provisional elements of the Giacobini comet 

 (iqo5, March 26) : E. Maubant. The elements are calcu- 

 lated from observations made at Nice on March 26, and 

 bv M. Bigourdan at Paris on March 28 and 31. — Abel's 

 theorem on algebraic surfaces : Francesco Seweri. — On 

 linear differential equations of the second order with a 

 periodic solution : Maxime Bocher. — On a hyperelliptic 

 surface : E. Traynard. — On the dynamics of the point 

 and the invariable body in an energy system : 

 Eugene and Francois Cosserat. — On the properties of 

 tungstic anhydride as a colouring materia! for porcelain : 

 .Albert Granger. The vellow enamel was obtained by 

 heating with tungstic anhydride at 800° C, using lead 

 monosilicate as a flux. With the addition of bismuth 

 oxide this colour withstood firing well. The conditions 

 under which these colours tend to become opaque have not 

 been fully worked out, and work is being continued by 

 the author in this direction. — On the production of the 

 hyposulphites : M. Billy. The production of sodium hypo- 

 sulphites by the action of sulphur dioxide on sodium in 

 presence of a neutral solvent has been claimed bv a German 

 patent, but the author's experiments have led invariably 

 to a negative result. In presence of alcohol the reaction 

 would appear to take place. By the introduction of 

 sulphur dioxide into magnesium powder in suspension in 



