Feb. 2 2, 1872] 



NATURE 



335 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Linnean Society, February 15. — Mr. G. Bentham, F.R.S., 

 president, in the caair. — Prof. Wyville Thomson, F.R. S., Prof. 

 AUman, F.R.S., and Prof W. T. Thiselton- Dyer were elected 

 Fellows. — ''On the Habits, Structure, and Relations of the 

 Three-banded Armadillo," by Dr. J. Murie. This animal is 

 distinguished from the other members of the order Edentata by 

 its habit of rolling itself into a ball like a hedgehog. The three 

 bands act a? liinges, by means of which this roUing-up is 

 effected. It is also peculiar in walking on the points of its toes, 

 instead of, like other armadillos, on the whole foot. It may be 

 considered as a connecting link from the armadillo to the extinct 

 glyptodon, and thence to the megatherium, and so on to the 

 pachyderms. — "On a Chinese Artichoke-Gall," by A. Miiller. 

 — "Comparative Geographical Distribution of Butterflies and 

 Birds," by \V. F. Kirby. The total number of species of birds 

 is stated by Dr. Sclater as 7,500, and that of butterflies is about 

 7, 70O1 showing a remarkable closeness. If the surface of the 

 globe is marked off into the divisions proposed by Dr. .Sclater, 

 we find in the Palnearctic region (Northern Europe and Asia), 

 including about 14,000,000 square miles, 630 species of butter- 

 flies and 630 of birds ; in the Indian region, includmg Asia south 

 of the Himalayas, about 1,200 butterflies .and 1,500 birds ; in the 

 Australian region 725 butterflies and 1,000 birds ; in the Nearctic 

 or North American region, 4S0 butterflies and 660 birds ; in the 

 Neotropical or South American region, 4,200 butterflies and 

 2,250 birds; thus, in five divisions there is a preponderance of 

 birds, which is balanced by a very large excess of butterflies in 

 the sixth region. — An interesting discussion followed, in which 

 Mr. A. R. Wallace, Mr. Sharpe, Mr. Stainton, and others took 

 part, and it was shown that if Dr. Gray's estimate of the number 

 of species of birds is taken, viz., 10,000, which is no doubt more 

 correct than Dr. Sclater's, the apparent parallelism vanishes ; 

 that in limited districts, as the British Isles, there is no resem- 

 blance between the number of butterflies and of birds ; that in 

 Mr. Kirby 's paper no reference is made to the number of birds 

 in each region that are migratory, a most important consideration ; 

 and that the conditions of the natural features of the country, as 

 the prevalence of forests, may be favourable to the abundance of 

 insects, and unfavourable to that of birds. 



Chemical Society, February 15. — Dr. Frankland, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Prof Roscoe, F.R. S. , gave an account 

 of some of his recent researches on the element tungsten, under 

 the title " C)n the study of some tungsten compounds." The 

 author, after giving a short resume of the labours of other 

 chemists on those compounds of tungsten which he had been 

 investigating, proceeded to describe their properties, and the 

 methods of preparation he had employed to obtain them. As 

 the result of his labours he has definitely settled that the metal 

 tungsten is a monad element with the atomic weight 184, and 

 has also showed the cause of the error of the French chemist 

 Persoz, who assigned 153 as the atomic weight. A collection of 

 very fine specimens of tungsten compounds was exhibited by the 

 Professor. 



Royal Geographical Society, February 12. — Sir H. C. 

 Rawlinson, K.C. B., president, m the chair. The President an- 

 nounced that the expedition for the search and relief of Dr. 

 Livingstone left England on Friday last, and was at that moment 

 probably crossing the Bay of Biscay en route for Zanzibar. The 

 subscriptions from all sources, includmg the balance of the 

 Government grant lying at Zanzibar, amounted to nearly 5,000/. 

 Of this sum about 2,800/. will have been expended by the time 

 the expedition leaves Zanzibar for the interior ; the remainder 

 would be 'held in reserve for contingencies very likely to occur. 

 He read also to the meeting a letter from Earl Granville to the 

 Sultan of Zanzibar, stating the great interest the Government and 

 people of England took in Dr. Livingstone, and recommending 

 the expedition organised by the Royal Geogiaphical Society of 

 England to his Highness's good offices ; and another to Dr. 

 Kirk, Acting Consul at Zanzibar, authorising him to apply 654/., 

 the balance of thej Treasury grant of 1S70, to the purposes of 

 the expedition. So far everything connected with the expedition 

 had been most satisfactorily and expeditiously carried out ; and 

 a message ordering the preparation of escort and porters at Zan- 

 zibar, sent as far as Aden by telegraph, would reach Zanzibar in 

 the uninrecedentedly quick space of fourteen days. Letters had 

 been received from Dr. Kirk of so recent a date as Dec. 16, and 



they informed us that no news whatever had been received since 

 September from the interior, but that the war between the Arabs 

 and the people of Unyamwezi would be continued. This would 

 necessitate the adoption of an entirely new route by the expedi- 

 tion now on its way. — Letters were then read concerning Sir 

 Samuel Baker's expedition. The President stated that he had 

 received from the Prince of Wales the original letters of Sir 

 Samuel, copies of which his Royal Highness had sent to the 

 Times. A letter, three days later in date, contained the news 

 that a fertile portion of the Bari territory beyond Gondokoro had 

 been acquired, and that Lieut. Baker would have charge of the 

 steamer for the navigation of Lake Albert Nyanza. — A paper 

 was then re.ad by Sir Harry Parkes {British Minister at Japan), 

 entitled " Captain Blakiston's Journey round the Island of 

 Yezo." Sir Harry explained that his office with regard to the 

 paper was that of reducing into readable bulk the voluminous 

 journals which Captain Blakiston had communicated through 

 him to the Society, and of adding some necessary explanations. 

 Yezo was the northernmost island of Japan, larger by 3,000 

 square miles than Ireland, and rising in importance from its 

 position and its great fertility and mineral wealth. Captain Bla- 

 kiston, the we!l- known explorer of the Yang-tsze-Kiang, since 

 resident in Hakodadi in the south of Yezo, had enjoyed the 

 peculiar advantage of travelling with the privileges of a Japanese 

 official. He went by sea to Akis Bay, on the south-east coast, 

 and thence by land almost entirely along the sea coast (the in- 

 terior being without roads or Japanese settlements) round the 

 island to Hakodadi. The native inhabitants are the singular 

 isolated people called Hairy-men, or " Ainos," a robust race, 

 apparently of Aryan extraction, and nearest allied to certain sec- 

 tions of Sclavonians, distinguished by the thick growUi of hair on 

 the body, as well as head and beard. 



Photographic Society, February 13. — The ofticers and 

 council for the ensuing year were elected, and the accounts of the 

 society explained by the treasurer, who reported the society free 

 from debt and with a satisfactory balance in hand. The report 

 of the council was read and adopted. — Dr. Anthony read a paper 

 "Oa various modes of Plate-cleaning." He stated that his ex- 

 perience went to show that the employment of cyanide of potas- 

 sium was better than any other agent for the purpose, the plates 

 being treated for a very brief period in the cyanide solution and 

 then washed in water. He found mechanical methods generally 

 rendered the bath unclean, and for this reason also deprecated the 

 application to the glass plate of an albumen substratum. The 

 specimens of Niepce de St. Victor were exhibited. 



Edinburgh 

 Royal Society, February 19.— Sir Alexander Grant, Bart., 

 vice-president, in the chair. — i. "Remarks on Contact-Electri- 

 city," by Sir William Thomson. 2. "On the Curves of the 

 Genital Passage as regulating the movements of the Fcetus under 

 the influence of the Resultant of the Forces of Parturition," by 

 Dr. J. Matthews Duncan. 3. " On a Method of Measuriirg the 

 Explosive Power of Gaseous Combinations," by James Dewar. 

 4. " Note on Modification of Sprengel's Mercurial Ah'-Pump," 

 by James Dewar. 5. Prof Alexander Dickson exhibited a series 

 of Abnormal Fir Cones, with remarks. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, February 12. — MM. Delaunay and 

 Serret protested against the insertion in the Comptes Reiidits of a 

 note by M. Renou relating to asserted inaccuracies in the publi- 

 cations of the Paris Observatory. — The controversy on fermenta- 

 tion and heterogeny was continued by M. Pasteur reading a reply 

 to M. Fremy, and M. Chevreul a communication on the history 

 of ferments after Van Helmont. M. Engel also presented a mor- 

 phological investigation of the various kinds of alcoholic fermerrts, 

 which he describes as forming two genera, Saceharomyces{Vi<iye.n) 

 with seven species, and Carpozyma (gen. nov. ) with one species. 

 The characters of these forms were illustrated with outline 

 figures. — M. Bertrand presented the solution of an arithmetical 

 question by M. Bougaev ; M. Serret a note by M. E, Combescure 

 on some points in the inverse differential calculus ; and a note by 

 M. A. Mannheim on the determination of the geometrical con- 

 nection which exists between the elements of the curvature of 

 the surface of the principal centres of curvature of a given 

 surface. — M. de Saint-Venant presented an elaborate report upon 

 a memoir by M. Kleitz, eniitled, " Researches upon the molecu- 

 lar forces in liquids in motion, and their application to hydro- 

 dynamics. "— M. de Pambour read a note on the theory of hydraulic 



