Nov. 9, 1 871] 



NATURE 



39 



obtained boiled at 137°, which is somewhat higher than that of 

 the ordinary alc^.hol. The normal amylic chloride, bromide, 

 iodide, and acetate have been prcpaied, all of which possess 

 boiling points higher than those of the compounds obtained from 

 the fermentation alcohol. Normal caproic acid was prepared 

 from amyl cyanide in the same manner as the valeric acid previously 

 described. — A translation of Rossi's paper " On the .synthesis 

 of normal propyl alcohol from ethyl alcohol," and also of T. 

 Smith's paper "On the estim.ation of the alkalies in silicates" 

 follow. — Tollens continues with the seventh contribution on the 

 allyl group, the subject of which is the conversion of allyl alcohol 

 into propyl alcohol ; this is accomplished by treating allyl alcohol 

 with solid potash, the temperature being gradually raised to 155°, 

 hydrogen being evolved in the reaction ; it was found extremely 

 difficult to purify the propyl alcohol ; to obtain conclusive evidence 

 it was converted into propionic acid ; some six or eight other 

 bodies are formed in this reaction, such as formic acid, propionic 

 acid, and other higher compounds. — Rinne and Tollens have 

 succeeded in preiaring allyl cyanide from the bromide by the 

 repeated action of potassic cyanide, and have converted it into 

 crotonic acid by the action of alcoholic potash ; the crotonic acid 

 obtained fu^ed at 72°, and possessed all the properties of crotonic 

 acid as made from allyl cyanide prepared from mustard-oil. By 

 the oxidation of allyl alcohol by chromic acid the authors have 

 obtained formic acid, and small quantities of acrylic acid, no 

 acetic acidbing piodiiced.— Fittig contributes a paper " On the 

 alleged dibasic nature of gluconic and lactic acids, '' being a reply to 

 Hlasiwetz's paper on this subject, Fittig himself considering them 

 monobasic. — The continuation of a paper "On the action of 

 Sulphurous Acid on Platinic Chloride," by K. Birnb.aura, follows, 

 several new and complicated salts of this series have been ob- 

 tained ; the reactions seem to proceed in two stages, first a 

 reduction to platinous chloride takes place, and then the substi- 

 tution of CI by HSO.| ; thus by the action of hydric amnionic 

 sulphite on ammonic chloroplatinate a body of the composition 



Pt. jjcQ J J "* S03 -I- 4 H.,0 is obtained. — This number con- 

 cludes with two'short papers by J. Myers. The first is "On the 

 temperature of decomposition of sulphuretted hydrogen," this is 

 placed between 350° and 400°, probably nearer the lower tempe- 

 rature ; the second paper is "On sulphuretted hydrogen con- 

 taining arsenic." Sulphuretted hydrogen, as usually prepared 

 from impure sulphuric acid and ferrous sulphide, contains a 

 gaseous arsenic compound, probably arsenetted hydrogen ; the 

 two gases do not react on each other at ordinary temperatures, 

 but when they are heated to the boiling point of mercury, a deposit 

 of arsenious sulphide takes place. The arsenetted hydrogen is 

 probably produced by the action of nascent hydrogen on the 

 arsenic compound existing in the sulphuric acid. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Royal Microscopical Society, November i. — ■ W. 

 Kitchen Parker, F.R. S., president, in the chair. Dr. Braith- 

 waite, F.L.S., contiibutcd further remarks on the structure o( the 

 SphagnacecE or bog-mosses. Confining hims^■lf principally to 

 the characters for grouping the numerous species into sub-genera, 

 he advocated the system adopted by Ur. Lindbeigof Stockholm, 

 based upon those yielded by the form of the leaves investing 

 certain portions of the stem and divergent br.anches.— Mr. W. 

 Saville Kent, British Museum, read a paper on Prof. James 

 Clark's Flagellate Infusoria with description of new species. In 

 his communication, Mr. Kent announced the discovery among 

 others of Prof. Clark's minute "collared" types (Cndosiga, Bi- 

 cosaca, &c.), first made known to the scientific w-orld through the 

 Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History for 1S66, but 

 not since corroborated by any European naturalist. Of the 

 eleven species noticed by Mr. Kent, five were identified by him 

 with American forms; the remaining six, while referable to cor- 

 responding grnera, offering well marked specific distinctions. 

 The wh.'le serirs are of exceedingly minute size, requiring 

 a magnifying power of 800 diamrters and upwards for the 

 recognition of their structural peeuliarities, the chief interest 

 attached to them being their striking resemblance to the ultimate 

 cell particles lining the incurrent cavities of sponges, as clearly 

 shown by Prof. Clark in the calcareou;, and since demonstrated 



by Mr. Carter in the siliceous groups. Mr. Kent expressed his 

 dissent from Prof. Clark's views in regard to the nutritive func- 

 tions of Mvnas and other Flagellata, in the course of his investi- 

 gations, he having observed the former to engulf food at any 

 portion of its periphery, after the manner of Amaba, while in 

 the collar-bearing species, it was intercepted at any portion within 

 the area circumscribed by the base of that organ, there being in 

 no case a distinct mouth as assumed by Prof.'Clark. In the dis- 

 cussion that ensued, Mr. Kent assented to the President's sug- 

 gestion, that the Flagellata, in the possession of one or more 

 lash-like appendages, represented a higher tvpe of organi- 

 sation than the Foraminifera, and other Rhizopodous Protozoa; 

 and expressed his opinion that the Spongiadn:, as a class, com- 

 bined the structural characters of the ordinary Rhizopoda and 

 lower Infusoria, having superadded to this a skeletal and aggre- 

 gated type of organisation essentially their own. Mr. C.Stewart 

 affirming to having observed an appearance of three flagellate 

 appendages to certain cells of Lcucosoh-nia hotyyoidis under a mag- 

 nifying power of about 300 diameters, Mr. Kent accepted his 

 statement as further corroboration of the existence of a mem- 

 branous collar, which, under an insufficient degree of magnifica- 

 tion, presents the aspect attested to by Mr. Stewart. The entire 

 series of Infusorial forms recorded in Mr. Kent's communication 

 were obtained by him from a pond on the estate of Mr. Thos. 

 Randle Bennett, Wentworth House, Stoke Newington. 



Entomological Society, November 6 -—Prof. J. O. West- 

 wood, F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. Mr. Davis exhibited a 

 collection of larvae of Lepidopterous and other insects, beautifully 

 preserved by inflation. Mr. Bond exhibited examples of Zygccna 

 t'sailaiis, a new British moth, captured by Dr. Buchanan White in 

 Braemar, and Catocala Fraxiiii, recently captured in the Regent's 

 Park ; also a singular variety of C/ianvaiitpa elpemi; in which 

 the central portion of each fore-wing was hyaline. — The Rev. A. 

 Matthews sent for exhibition specimens of Throsciis carinifrons 

 and Ciyphalus tibia:, new, or recently discovered, British 

 Coleoptera. — Mr. M'Lachlan exhibited BiltacKs aptcrtis from 

 California, recently described by him in the Entomologists' 

 Monthly Magazine. — Mr. Howard Vaughan exhibited the 

 dark form of Tripltivna orbona, from Scotland, known as 

 T. Curtisii, and Mr. Lewis made some remarks on the 

 synonymy of this form. i\Ir. Vaughan also exhibited a nearly 

 black variety o{ Arge Galathoa, captured in Kent by Mr. Tarn. — 

 Mr. Miller exhibited an enormous oak-gall from America; also 

 impregnated and unimpregnated eggs of Lilhilnla Jlaveola. — Prof. 

 Westwood exhibited numerous examples of Formica herctihana, 

 a gigantic ant not hitherto known as British, found in the pro- 

 ventriculus of an example of Picus martins, said to have been 

 shot near Oxford ; from the perfect condition of the ants and of 

 the bird which had devoured them, he fully believed in the 

 genuineness of the bird as a British example, an opinion which 

 was not shared by some of the members present. Prof. Westwood 

 also exhibited two male examples of Papilio Crino from Ceylon, 

 in one of which some of the veins ol the wings were coated 

 with brown hairs, a usual character with the males of some 

 species of Papilio, but which had not hitherto been observed in 

 that of Crino. — Mr. F. Smith exhibited a Noctna, apparently 

 belonging to the genus Aplecla, which had been taken alive by 

 Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys at sea, 220 miles from Nova Scotia. — Baron 

 Chandots communicated notes commenting upon Mr. Wollas- 

 ton's rematks respecting Eurygnathnsparallchis, a Madeiran 

 beetle described by him, and maintaining its distinctness from 

 E. Lalrcitlci, — Mr. Briggs read a paper "On Zygirna Trifolii and 

 allied forms," detailing the result of his observations during many 

 years, and arriving at the conclusion that two distinct forms or 

 specits had hitherto been confounded in Britain under the name 

 of Trifolii. 



Linnean Society, November 2. — Mr. G. Bentham, president, 

 in the chair. Sir John Lubbock, Bart., read a paper "On the 

 Origin of Insects," an abstract of which will be found in another 

 column. An interes'ing discussion followed, in which Mr. Geoige 

 Busk, Mr. A. R. Wallace, Mr. M'Lachlan, Mr. Stainton, and 

 Mr. 13. Lowne, took part. — Captain Chimmo, "Notes on the 

 Natural History of the Flying Fish." The author considers that 

 he has estatdished that during flight there is an extra consumption 

 of oxygen by the fish, as shown by an increase of tmiptraiure. 

 He finds that life is maintained for a period of from seven to 

 nine minutes out of the water, and states that the fish possesses 

 the power of changing the direction of its course during flight, 

 using its tail as a rudder. 



