214 



NA TURE 



[June 30, 1904 



June 9. — " On the Combining Properties of Serum- 

 Complements and on Complementoids." By Prof. Robert 

 Muir and Dr. Carl H. Broiwning:. Communicated by Sir 

 J. S. Burdon-Sanderson, Bart., F.R.S. 



The following are the chief results obtained from the 

 p.xperiments described in this paper. It is, of course, to 

 be understood that they are held to apply only to the cases 

 investigated, vi?. the immune-body for ox's corpuscles 

 obtained from the rabbit, used along with rabbit's and 

 guinea-pig's complements and complementoids. Further 

 observations will be necessary to determine whether they 

 obtain general!}'. 



(i) The existence of complementoids in heated sera can 

 be shown in ordinary test-tube experiments, by their pre- 

 venting (o) the union of complement with anti-complement, 

 (fj) the union of complement with R-|-1B molecules after 

 lysis. 



(2) The amount of complementoid derived from comple- 

 ment as tested by the combining relationships varies ; in 

 the case of the rabbit it is approximately equal to the 

 original amount of complement ; in the case of the guinea- 

 pig it is considerably less than that amount. 



(3) The combining affinitv of complementoid, both for 

 anti-comolement and for R-l-IB molecules after lysis, is not 

 much inferior to that of complement. 



(4) On the other hand, complementoid has a feeble affinity 

 for R-I-IB molecules before Ivsis, i.e. for intact red cor- 

 puscles treated with immune-body : of the complementoid 

 added onlv a small quantity enters into combination ; hence 

 comolementoid does not prevent Ivsis bv comolenient. 



(5) When red corpuscles united with multiple doses of 

 imniune-bodv are Ivsed by a single dose of comolement. the 

 surplus R-I-IB molecules can be saturated with excess of 

 complementoid, so that almost no comolement can sub- 

 seouently be taken uo. This result is obtained also with 

 rabbit's romplenientoid and eruinea-oisf's complement, and 

 with guinea-pig's complementoid and rabbit's complement. 



"On the Ossiferous Cave-Deposits of Cyprus." By 

 Dorothv M. .'\. Bate. Communicated bv Dr. Henrv 

 Woodward, F.R.S. 



" Further Note on the Remains of Kletihns rvtinnti:^. 

 Bate, from a Cave-Deoosit in Cyprus." By Dorothy M. .\. 

 Bate. Communicated bv Dr. Henrv Woodward, F.R.S. 



Entomoloeical Societv, Jupp i. — Prof. E. B. ponltnn. 

 F.R..S., president, in the chair. — Mr. E. B. Green exhibited 

 various insects from Cevlon, including a " carpenter bee " 

 (Xvlocotia fctiestrata, Fab.l and a large asilid fly (Hvt'fri'cliin 

 xylocopiformis, Wlk.) which very closely mimics it ; speci- 

 mens of a Mycetophilid ftv and cocoons from which they 

 emerged, showing their beautiful structure; and examples 

 of a tineid moth with remarkable larval cases. — Mr. 

 H. St. J. Donisthorpe exhibited specimens of the rare 

 Taihvs 'parviiliis from the New Forest.— Mr. J. E. Collin 

 e>hibited specimens of Mochlonyx vclutmits, a rare 

 British Culicid which he, in company with Messrs. Verrall 

 and Wainwright. had found in numbers near Beaulieu, in 

 Hampshire, on May 22. — Mr. A. J. Chitty exhibited an 

 Ophionine ichneumon with the pollen of an orchid firmly 

 attached to the head, making the insect look as though it was 

 attacked by fungus. — Mr. C. P. Pickett exhibited long 

 series of An^crona pninarin and lA'cncnii cor\'do)i show- 

 ing the remarkable range of variation in both species. — 

 The President exhibited specimens of Paltothyreus 

 tarsatus, Fabr., an ant belonging to the family Ponerida?. 

 recently received from Dr. .S. Schonland, who mentioned 

 that about eight miles west of Palapye Road Station, Cape 

 Colony, he had noticed an awful stench, which, however, 

 passed off after a time. It turned out afterwards that it 

 emanated from these ants living in trees. — The President 

 also exhibited a cluster of the green eggs of Vanessa iirticae 

 fixed to the under-side of a small leaf towards the summit 

 of a nettle-stem. The cryptic resemblance of the eggs to 

 their environment was very remarkable. He then read a 

 note on the courtship and pairing of the species. — Dr. T. A. 

 Chapman exhibited two very interesting Erebias caught 

 by the president on the Guadarrama (near Madrid, Spain) 

 on July 25, igo2, at an elevation of about booo feet. Though 

 taken together and very much alike, they proved to be of 

 two species, viz. E. evias and E. stygiie, both males. Hi> 



NO. 1809, VOL 70] 



remarked that the same two species which he found last 

 year in Spain associated together and closely resembled 

 each other, which is not their habit in Switzerland. He 

 also exhibited the ova, larval work, pupae, and imagines 

 of Anthomyiina, sp., a dipteron that lays its eggs on a 

 fungus, Epichloe typhina, Buk., common in June on grass 

 stems. He had often wondered at the curious way of life 

 of this larva, living under a case and burrowing out on the 

 surface of the fungus, making labyrinthine tracks when it 

 ate the incipient spore-bearing layer. — Mr. H. J. Turner 

 exhibited several species of the lepidopterous genus 

 Coleophora, and contributed notes on them. — Colonel 

 Charles Swinhoe read a paper on tropical African 

 Geometrida.' in the national collection. — Mr. W. L. 

 Distant communicated a paper entitled " .Additions to a 

 Knowledge of the Family Cicadida;." — The president com- 

 municated a paper by Mr. G. F. Leigh entitled " Syne- 

 pigonic Series of Papilio cciiea (1902-3) and of Hypolimnas 

 misippus (1904), together with Observations on the Life- 

 history of the Former," and exhibited specimens to illustrate 

 the same. — Mr. I'^dward £aundersi F.R.S.. communicated 

 a paper on Hymenoptera .Aculeata from Majorca (1901I and 

 Spain (1901-2). 



Zoological Society, June 7. — Dr. F. DuCane Godman, 

 F.R..'*., vice-president, in the chair. — A communication from 

 Lieut. -Colonel J. Malcolm Faw#cett contained descriptions 

 of ten species of butterflies, mainly from high elevations in 

 the north-easter]] Himalayas. Eight of them were new 

 species or varieties. — Dr. A. G. Butler contributed a paper 

 on seasonal phases in butterflies. — Captain Richard Craw- 

 shay read some notes on the prey of the lion, and exhibited 

 .some tips of porcupine quills that had been found buried 

 in a lion's fore paws, together with the skull and skin of 

 the lion. — Mr. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S., read the following 

 papers, based on observations he had made in the society's 

 prosectorium : — (i) Note on an apparently abnormal posi- 

 tion of the " brephos " within the body of a skink ; (2) con- 

 tributions to the knowledge of the visceral anatomy of the 

 pelagic serpents Hydrus platyurus and Platyiirus colubritms ; 

 and (j) on the presence of a parasternum in the lacertilian 

 genus Tiliqua, and on the poststernal ribs in that genus. — 

 .\ communication from Dr. E. A. Goeldi contained a de- 

 scription and an account of the habits of the rare rodent 

 Dinomys hratiickii. Peters, specimens of which had recently 

 been received at the Goeldi Museum, Para. — .\ communi- 

 cation from Dr. C. Satunin contained a description of the 

 black wild cat of Transcaucasia. — A paper was read from 

 Mr. R. Lydekker containing the description of a new race 

 of buffalo from Last Central .\frica. .\ second paper by 

 -Mr. Lydekker contained the description of a new species 

 of deer from Ichang. — Dr. .\. Smith Woodward, F.R.S., 

 read a paper on two new labyrinthodont skulls which had 

 recently been acquired by the British Museum. One was 

 from the Triassic sandstone of Staffordshire, and the other 

 from a formation of apparently the same geological age in. 

 Spitsbergen. 



Geological Society, June 8.— Dr. J. E. Marr, F R.S., 



president, in the chair. — The paliEontological sequence In 

 the Carboniferous Limestone of the Bristol area : .A. 

 Vaughan. The zonary divisions established are given in a 

 table in the form In which they are finally set out. The 

 corals and brachiopods are chosen as zone and subzone 

 fossils, and genera are selected for zone-indices and circuli 

 (or species-groups) for subzonal indices. To secure definlte- 

 ness photographic figures are introduced. The relative 

 acceleration of the two groups employed is not Identical 

 In different localities, and there is a small relative displace- 

 ment of one group upon the other. The stratigraphy of 

 all the important sections and Isolated e.xposures In the 

 Bristol area is dealt with. In each case is given a descrip- 

 tion of the position at which each zone or subzone is ex- 

 posed and of its lithology, a list of the corals and brachio- 

 pods found, and a comparison with the same horizon in 

 other parts of the Bristol area. The author claims that 

 in the area with which he deals, his table of ranges is 

 sufficient to enable any worker to zone any exposure with 

 a considerable degree of accuracy. — On a small Pleslosaurus- 

 skeleton from the White Lias of Westbury-on-Severn : 

 W. F. Gwinncll. The matrix nf the specimen corresponds 



