OCTOBER 23, 1913] 
NATURE 2 
ag 
devoted to it in recent years, and very divergent views 
are entertained as to the significance of the various 
features of the curve without conclusive evidence 
having been adduced for them. The author gives an 
explanation arrived at from experiments on _ the 
isolated tortoise heart, and especially from cases of 
systolic alternation in auricles and ventricle.—Paul A. 
ethuen and John Hewitt ; A contribution to our know- 
ledge of the anatomy of the chameleon. After making 
a comparative examination of the. lungs, sternum, and 
skull in various members of the family the authors 
conclude that the most generalised and probably most 
primitive forms are the genera Brookesia and Rham- 
photeon (the latter not actually examined by the 
authors), whilst the viviparous small chameleons of 
the pumilus group, so characteristic of South Africa, 
are the most primitive in the genus Chameleons : for 
these latter species, pumilus and allies, the authors 
revive the old generic name Lophosaura of Gray. 
It appears probable that the family, as we know it 
to-day, has spread from a centre of origin situated 
in that portion of the Ethiopian region of which there 
now remains two separated components, Madagascar 
and the Cape province of Sclater. There is no evidence 
in favour of a northern origin for this family.—R. 
Marloth: Note on the Pollination of Encephalartos 
altensteinii (Kaffir bread tree). The insect on which 
the transport of the pollen from the male cone to the 
female cone of Encephalartos altensteinii and E. 
villosus depends is not a Phloeophagus, as stated in 
a paper recently published in the Transactions of the 
Royal Society, S.A., but Antliarrhinus zamiae, that 
means the same insect which lives in the seeds of 
these plants until the cones disintegrate and enable 
the mature insect to escape from them. The female 
insect pollinates the ovules while moving about be- 
tween them for the purpose of depositing its eggs. 
Although according to Dr. Rattray’s observations, 
some or most, or even sometimes all, the seeds of a 
cone are thus destroyed by the grubs of the insect, 
the visits of the insect are nevertheless essential to 
the plant, for without them no seeds would be formed 
at all. The case is quite parallel to that of the Yucca 
moth (Pronuba), which, while depositing its eggs 
into the pistil of the Yucca, pollinates the flower. 
GOTTINGEN, 
Royal Society of Sciences.—The Nachrichten (physico- 
mathematical section), part 3 for 1913, contains the 
following memoirs communicated to the society :— 
July 20, 1912.—A. Amsel: Seismic records at Gétt- 
ingen during 1911 (with seven figures and a table, 
illustrating the graphical solution of spherical 
triangles). 
March 8, 1913.—L. Geiger; 
Gottingen during 1909. 
May 24.—G. Polya: Approximation by means 
of polynomials, all the roots of which fall within an 
angular sector.—R. Fueter: A property of the Klassen- 
kérper of complex multiplication.—G, Tammann: The 
melting point.—O,. Miigge: Filiform crystals of green 
vitriol and silver—L. Godeaux: Cyclic involutions of 
order 24 and genus 1 on a surface of genus 1. 
July 5.—R. W. Hoffmann: The embryonic develop- 
ment of the Strepsiptera (preliminary communication, 
with figures). 
July 19.—D. Hilbert: Remarks on the foundation 
of an elementary theory of radiation.—O, Toeplitz : 
A problem, connected with Dirichlet-series, in the 
theory of series of powers of an infinite number of 
variables. 
The business communications (part 1 for 1913) 
include reports by H. Wagner on the Samoa Observa- 
tory for 1912-13, and by F. Klein on the’ progress of 
the publication of Gauss’s works. 
NO. 2295, VOL. 92] 
Seismic records at 
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