374 



NATURE 



[Mar. 7, 1872 



serrations as were always attributed to these organisms. From all 

 he had seen he was led to the conclusion that the projections on 

 the Graptolites bore the same relation to the central stem as 

 those of some of the Actinozoa. These latter also, like the 

 Graptolites, seemed to prefer a muddy sea. Professor Duncan 

 also suggested that the Graptolites were really the remains 

 of the filiform polypiferous parts of floating Ilydrozoa. 

 Prof. Morris regarded the paper as mainly suggestive. It 

 was on all hands agreed that there were in Britain two 

 principal zones in which graptolitic life was most abun- 

 dant ; and the same held good in America. Both these 

 seemed to be homotaxially related. M. Barrande had long 

 since pointed out the probable emigration of many of the 

 Bohemian species from the British area ; and there could be no 

 doubt of there being many species common to Europe, America, 

 and Australia. Tliis afforded strong evidence in favour of some 

 such theory as that of migi-ation. He cautioned observers as to 

 taking careful notice of the manner in which Graptolites are 

 presented in their matrix ; for when seen from three different 

 points of view, they exhibited such differences that three species 

 might be made from one form of organism. Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys 

 mentioned the wide distribution of marine Hydrozoa by means 

 of winds and currents, as illustrative of the history of Graptolites, 

 the dispersion of which might liave arisen from similar cause, 

 and not from migration. Mr. Prestwich commented on the un- 

 certainty of our knowledge with regard to Graptolites, and con- 

 sequently regarded speculation on the subject of their migration 

 as premature. He instanced Ciiri/iia p/aiiicostafa, which was 

 formerly regarded as having originated in the Paris basin and 

 come thence into England, but which had since been found in far 

 earlier beds in Britain ; so that the presumed course of its mi- 

 gration has been reversed. Mr. Hicks remarked that the rocks 

 referred by the author to the Ujiper Cambrian were in reality 

 the lowest of the Silurian series, and that the Graptolitid.'e were 

 exclusively a Silurian family. Mr. Hopkinson also made some 

 remarks both on the distinction of different species of Graptolites 

 and on their distribution. He regarded the Quebec area as that 

 in which these forms had originated. The Chairman commen- 

 ted on the great want of accord among those who had studied 

 Graptolites, not only with regard to their structure, but to their 

 distribution in different horizons. He thought that the sugges- 

 tion of the author, as to modification of form during migration 

 having taken place, seemed to throw some light on the sul:)ject. 

 He could not regard two districts now only separated by the 

 Solway Firth as constituting two geographical areas so distinct 

 that the occurrence of the same species in both could with pro- 

 priety be held to be due to migration. The phenomena in the 

 other cases seemed to him quite as much in accordance with dis- 

 tribution from some common centre as with migration along any 

 line connecting two spots where Graptolites are now found. He 

 thought that the recurrence of these forms on different horizons 

 in Cumberland was to be accounted for by the fact that most of 

 the rocks which intervened between the shales containing these 

 organisms were merely sub-aerial volcanic beds, on whicli, after 

 suljmergence, these muddy shales had been deposited. 



Entomological Society, February 19. — Prof. J. O. West- 

 wood, president, in the chair. — Drs. Ransome and Livett, and 

 Messrs. Rothera and Jenner, were elected subscribers to the 

 society. — Mr. F. Smith made some observations respecting the 

 occurrence of two puprc in one large common cocoon of Bombyx 

 m07-i from China. The examples had been found amongst silk- 

 waste in a London warehouse, and this waste had been attacked 

 by mice, which fed upon the dead chrysalides. He further re- 

 marked that, occasionally, two or more swarms of wasps united 

 in building a common nest, and also that broods of different 

 species of wasps could be induced to act in concert, the result 

 being that when these wasps used different building materials, a 

 parti-coloured nest was produced. — Mr. Butler exhibited draw- 

 ings of a large grub, apparently the larva of some species of 

 Ictmeumonida', which had emerged from the larva of the common 

 "buff-tip" moth {Pygtvra bi(ccphala\ which it nearly equalled 

 in size. — Dr. Buchanan White communicated extracts from his 

 note-book respecting the habits of a species of ant as observed 

 at Capri in i S66, confirming Mr. Moggridge's recent observa- 

 tions as to the grain-storing habits of these ants. Mr. Home 

 had observed a similar habit in certain Indian ants. — Prof 

 Westwood exhibited type-specimens and drawings of the animal 

 from Madagascar, upon wliich Latreille founded his genus rro- 

 sopistoma as pertaining to the Crustacea ; and made some remarks 

 thereon connected with the assertion of a French entomologist, 



Dr. Joly, that these creatures, and "le Binocle" of the neigh- 

 bourhood of Paris, described by Geoffroy, are in reality the 

 earlier stages of species of EphcmnidiC. Prof. Westwood 

 was scarcely able to believe that this association was founded 

 upon facts, though he was not disposed to express any opinion 

 as to their actual affniities. — Mr. Rluller read some remarks on 

 the habits of certain gall-producing saw-flies of the willow, which 

 are said to avoid those portions of the trees that overh.rng water, 

 and suggested a practical application of the theory to save choice 

 fruit-trees from the attacks of insects, by surrounding them with 

 glass at the base, it being well kno%vn that glass is often mistaken 

 for water by aquatic insects. 



Anthropological Institute, February 19. — Sir John Lub- 

 bock, Bart., F. R.S., president, in the chair. Messrs. C. Bowley, 

 R. J. Nunn, Edward Harris, J. E. Price, and J. P. Steele, were 

 elected members. Mr. H. H. Howorth read a paper entitled 

 " Strictures on Darwinism. Part I. : Fertility and Sterility." 

 After a brief statement of the evolutionary theory of Mr. Darwin, 

 which was the old-fashioned theory of Malthus pressed to its 

 utmost limits, viz., that in the struggle for existence which is 

 always going on everywhere the weak elements go to the wall 

 and are gradually eliminated whilst the strong survive, the 

 author stated his intention in the present paper to confine 

 his examination to one case in its concrete form. He 

 criticised the argument that physical vigour, health, and 

 strength had, in the struggle for existence, a tendency to 

 prevail to the expulsion and eradication of weakness and 

 debility, and he held that the reverse was the truth as regarded 

 the large majority of cases, aud the paradox was the same in 

 substance as that maintained by Mr. Doubleday in his true Law 

 of Population. It was shown that the gardener, who was an 

 empirical philosopher, in his experience of cultivated plants, was 

 fully aware of the truth of the principle advocated by the author, 

 and a great number of instances were cited in illustration. Pass- 

 ing from the vegetable to the animal world, he showed how 

 stock-keepers and breeders had accumulated much sound ex- 

 perience, which corroborated that of the gardener in regard to 

 plants. It was a golden rule with them to keep their animals 

 weak and in a state of depletion if they wished tliem to breed 

 freely. Pure breeds were seldom very fruitful, they were 

 notoriously pampered and highly fed ; but when turned into 

 coarse and scanty pastures their rounded sides became denuded 

 of flesh and the animals bred more freely. The same principle 

 obtained with man. It was in the crowded alleys and among 

 lialf-starved or ill-fed populations that fertility was greatest. The 

 author had high authority for stating that as a general rule con- 

 valescent persons — those recovering from prostrating diseases — 

 were very fertile. On the other hand, with the rich and well-to- 

 do, especially among families whose position for some genera- 

 tions had been prosperous, comparative sterility prevailed. 

 Illustrations of that dictum were drawn [fron\ the writings of 

 physiologists, from statistics, from the genealogical histories of the 

 nobility and gentry, and were sustained by lengthened argument. 

 National and ethnic tendencies to fertility or sterility were sur- 

 veyed by the author, e.g., among the Irish, various Black and 

 savage peoples, Americans aboriginal and modem, the Slaves, 

 and various Russian tribes. In conclusion, the arguments were 

 tlms summarised : that sterility is induced by vigorous health 

 and by a plentiful supply of the necessaries of life, while fertility 

 is induced by want and debility, and that this law acts directly 

 against Mr. Darwin's theory, inasmuch as it is constantly recmit- 

 ing the weak and decrepit at the expense of tlie hearty and 

 vigorous, and is thus persistently working against the favourite 

 scheme of Mr. Darwin, that in the struggle for existence the 

 weak are always being eliminated by the strong. 

 Manchester 



Literary and Philosophical Society, February 20. — Mr. 

 E. W. Binney, F.R.S., president, in the chair. The president 

 said that at the meeting of the society on the 9th of January 

 last he alluded to the probability of the genus Zygopteris 

 being found in the limestone nodules of the Foot Mine near 

 Oldham. He had lately had an opportunity of inspecting the 

 collection of Mr. James Whitaker of Watershedding, and he 

 there recognised a specimen of the Zygopteris Lacattii of M. 

 Regnalt. There was a difference between the Autun and Old- 

 ham specimens ; for whilst the vascular bundles in the petiole of 

 the former were shaped like a double anchor, in the latter they 

 came nearly together and foimed a circle ; but he thought this 

 difference scarcely sufficient to form another species. — Dr. J. P. 

 Joule, F.R.S., described some experiments he had been making 



