166 
NATORE 
[DECEMBER 17, 1903 
appeared to be Acraea egina, round which clustered a 
number of other species of the same genus, so much alike 
as to be probably indistinguishable upon the wing.  Ex- 
amples of these were exhibited, viz. A. zelis, perenna, 
vogersi, and pharsalus. Another beautiful papilionian 
member of the group, P. ridleyanus, was also shown. The 
pattern was nearest to that of the male A. egina. In fact, 
so close was the resemblance that Godart had been entirely 
misled by it, and had described the Papilio under the name 
of sidora as the female of Acraea egina.—Mr. Edward 
Saunders, F.R.S., communicated a supplementary note to 
a paper entitled ‘‘ Hymenoptera Aculeata Collected by the 
Rev. A. E. Eaton, in Madeira and Tenerife, in the Spring 
of 1902.”’ 
Geological Society, November 18.—Sir Archibald Geikie, 
F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair.—Notes on some Upper 
Jurassic Ammonites, with special reference to specimens in 
the University Museum, Oxford, by Miss Maud Healey. 
In rearranging the Upper Jurassic fossils in this museum 
the prevailing misconception with regard to Sowerby’s 
species Ammonites plicatilis and Am. biplex came under 
notice. The type-specimen of Perisphinctes plicatilis (Sow.) 
is refigured and described. It appears to be an Upper 
Corallian form, and is usually taken as the zone-fossil of 
that horizon. Sowerby’s two figures of Perisphinctes biplex 
represent different specimens. One, probably from a 
Kimmeridge Clay nodule found in the Suffolk Drift, is re- 
figured and described. It would be wisest, the paper 
suggests, to abandon the name, or at least to restrict it 
to the abnormal specimen to which it was attached. The 
original specimen of Perisphinctes variocostatus (Buckland) 
came from the so-called Oxford Clay at Hawnes, but 
evidence that it was really derived from the Ampthill Clay 
was given. Sowerby’s Ammonites rotundus is doubtfully 
identified as a variety of Olcostephanus Pallasianus (d’Orb.). 
It was derived from the Kimmeridge Clay of Chipping- 
hurst, and is the zone-fossil of the Upper Kimmeridge Clay. 
—On the occurrence of Edestus in the Coal-measures of 
Britain, by Mr. E. T. Newton, F.R.S. This genus was 
originally described from the United States, and was after- 
wards recognised in Russia and Australia. The genus was 
placed with Helicoprion and Campyloprion in the family 
Edestide. 
Mr. Jj. Pringle from one of the marine bands between the 
“Twist Coal’’ and the ‘‘ Gin-Mine Coal,’’ in the Small- 
thorn sinking at Nettlebank (north Staffordshire). The 
specimen is a single segment of a fossil closely resembling 
Edestus minor, and consists of an elongated basal portion, 
bearing at one extremity a smoothed, enamelled, and 
serrated crown. The fossil is not to be referred to any 
existing species, and a new name is given to it. While it 
seems most in accordance with present knowledge to regard 
the “spiral saw ’’ of Helicoprion as the symphysial denti- 
tion of an Elasmobranch, possibly allied to the Cestracionts, 
it does not seem so probable that the forms referred to 
Edestus are of the same nature. The author thinks the 
latter are more likely to be dorsal defences. 
Zoological Society, November 17.—H.G. the Duke 
of Bedford, K.G., president, in the chair.—Mr. Henry 
Scherren exhibited and made some remarks on the largest 
horn of Rhinoceros simus yet obtained from the Soudan. 
He directed attention to the fact that the species appeared 
to be fairly numerous on the northern boundary of the 
Congo Free State and in the adjacent parts of the Soudan. 
—Mr. R. I. Pocock exhibited a piece of basalt, picked up 
on the coast of Victoria, Australia, which contained a web 
of the marine spider Desis kenyonae. ‘This served to illus- 
trate the habit of the spiders of the genus Desis of spinning 
a closely woven sheet of silk over a crevice in the rock as 
a protection against the rising tide.—Mr. Pocock also gave 
an exposition, illustrated by drawings, of a new suggestion 
as to the use of the white rump-patches of Ungulata, with 
special reference to the races of Burchell’s zebra.—Mr. 
E. E. Austen exhibited and made remarks on specimens of 
Glossina palpalis, the species of tsetse-fly which is con- 
cerned in the transmission of “‘ sleeping sickness ”’ in the 
Uganda Protectorate. He also exhibited, for the sake of 
comparison, specimens of four other species of tsetse-flies, 
including Glossina longipennis, which occurs in Somaliland, 
NO. 1781, VOL. 69] 
The specimen here described was obtained by | 
' and “*‘ polystely, 
and may possibly prove destructive to the transport animals of 
the Somaliland Field Foree.—Mr. Oldfield Thomas, F.R.S., 
exhibited, on behalf of Mr. W. E. de Winton, a drawing 
of a skin of a female gazelle—probably Gazella muscatensis 
—from Sheik Oman, near Aden, which showed a perfect 
hair-whorl on the withers. ‘This whorl had been found to 
be absent in the male.—Mr. C. Tate Regan read a paper 
entitled ‘‘A Revision of the Fishes of the Family 
Loricariidz,’’ in which nearly 200 species were recognised 
as valid, 35 being described as new to science.—Dr. Blan- 
ford read, on behalf of Mr. V. V. Ramanan, a communi- 
cation entitled ‘‘ Early Sanskrit References to the Tiger,” 
in which it was pointed out that the tiger was frequently 
alluded to in Sanskrit literature, and that Colonel Stewart 
was in error in stating at a previous meeting that there 
was no Sanskrit name for this animal.—Mr. F. E. Beddard, 
F.R.S., read a paper on the trachea and lungs and other 
points in the anatomy of the hamadryad snake (Ophio- 
phagus bungarus).—Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., read 
a report on the fishes collected by Mr. Oscar Neumann and 
Baron Carlo von Erlanger in Gallaland and southern 
Ethiopia. Examples of 19 species, 4 of which were new, 
were contained in the collection, and these were enumerated 
and described. 
Royal Meteorological Society, November 18.—Captain D. 
Wilson-Barker, president, in the chair.—Dr. H. R. Mill 
and Mr. R. G. K. Lempfert gave an elaborate and in- 
tercsting paper on the great dustfall of February and its 
origin, From the maps exhibited it appears plain that 
the dust reported on February 21 or 22 fell over nearly all 
parts of England and Wales to the south of a line drawn 
irom Anglesey to Ipswich, except in parts of north Corn- 
wall, Somerset, Wilts, and mid-Wales. The dust usually 
attracted attention either in the form of a dense yellow 
haze, like a London fog, or as a reddish-yellow powder, 
lying thickly on trees and roofs. The fall was often accom- 
panied by temperatures considerably above the average, and 
by remarkably low relative humidities. Jn order to ascer- 
tain whether the composition of the dust threw any light 
on its origin, about fifty samples were submitted to the 
Geclogical Survey and examined by Dr. J. S. Flett. In 
addition to the coarser particles, all the samples contained 
a very fine-grained reddish clay, the particles of which were 
too minute to be determined mineralogically. This clay 
was certainly derived from some source beyond the British 
Isles, but it was not distinctive enough to afford much 
evidence as to its place of origin. Maps have been con- 
structed showing the distribution of the dust and the meteor- 
ological conditions prevailing over the period when it 
appeared. These form the basis of a discussion by Mr. 
Lempfert as to the place of origin and the direction of 
travel of the air which was passing over western 
Europe at the time in question. The trajectories of the 
air which reached the southern half of England can be 
traced backwards in a south-westerly direction to the neigh- 
bourhood of the Azores, but here it turns to the south, and 
finally to the south-east, and is carried back to the north- 
west coast of Africa on the morning of February 19. The 
authors are therefore of opinion that there is reason to 
believe that the air which reached the southern half of 
England on February 22 started from the north-west coast 
of Africa on February 19, and they consider this affords. 
strong evidence of the African origin of the dust, and of 
its having travelled to north-west Europe by a path not 
very different from that indicated by the trajectories. 
Linnean Society, December 3.—Prof. J. Bretland Farmer, 
F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair.—Dr. Eric Drabble 
gave an account of his recent researches on the anatomy 
of the roots of palms, illustrated by lantern-slides from his: 
drawings. He stated that the roots of more than sixty 
species have been examined. Essentially similar results 
have been obtained from each. It appears that the 
“medulla” in palm-roots is merely that portion of the 
common ground-parenchyma, arising at the non-stratified’ 
apex, which becomes enclosed distally by fusion of the pro- 
cambial strands, and hence differs in no respect from the 
external ‘‘ cortical’? parenchyma. An attempt was made 
to extend this idea to other vascular plants, and the 
suggestion was put forward that all ideas of ‘ monostely ’” 
” and of ‘medulla’? and ‘‘ cortex ’’ as 
