572 



NA TURE 



[April 16, 1885 



others, who believe that the genus Chrossochorda represents 

 some fucoidal form of Palaeozoic life, the author regards the 

 various modifications of it as consisting of tracks of marine 

 animals, probably crustaceans. He assigns the name of Chrosso- 

 chorda tuberculoid to that now described. A second form of 

 track, of a different type, was found by Mr. J. W. Davis, 

 F.G.S., of Chevinedge, near Halifax. It consists of a line of 

 curved footprints in groups of eight — four on each side — the suc- 

 cessive groups varying from five-eighths of an inch to two inches 

 apart from each other. The specimen described was found in a 

 quarry of Yoredale beds, near Hawes. The author assigns to it 

 the name of Protichnites Davisi, after its discoverer. Casts of 

 two series of markings, produced by water, were exhibited and 

 described. One of these series represented branching forms 

 easily mistaken for fucoidal remains. They were in reality 

 casts, made in plaster of Paris, of remarkable drainage lines 

 left by the retiring tide, on the sandbanks at Llanfairfechan, in 

 North Wales. The second series consisted of allied objects, 

 but in this case drainage lines had combined with ripple marks 

 to produce an effect easily mistaken for the geometrically 

 arranged scale-leaves of some cycadean stem. These casts were 

 obtained from sandbanks to the north of Barmouth. The author 

 called attention to the controversy bearing on these subjects still 

 in progress, especially between Prof. Nathorst and the Marquis 

 of Saporta, and renewed an objection, recorded in more than 

 one of his previous publications, to such anomalous objects as 

 those in dispute being made use of, when attempting to frame, 

 from Palaeontological evidences, a pedigree of the vegetable 

 world. 



Cambridge 

 f§' Philosophical Society, March 16. — Prof. Foster, President, 

 in' the chair. — The following communications were made : — 

 Further remarks on the urea-ferment, by Mr. Lea. — On some 

 points in the anatomy of Nebilia, by Mr. Weldon. — Obs:rva- 

 tions on the constitution of callus, by Mr. Walter Gardiner. — 

 Observations on vegetable proteids, by Mr. J. R. Green. — On 

 the development of A", £', /', C in piwers of the modulus 

 (Part II.), by Mr. J. W. L. Glaisher. 

 Sydney 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales, January 28.— 

 Annual General Meeting. — The President, C. S. Wilkinson, 

 F.L. S., in the chair. — The President delivered an address upon 

 the Pleistocene period, and its influences upon the present dis- 

 tribution of the fauna and flora of Australia. He gave also a 

 short review of the work of the Society during the past year. — 

 It was resolved that ladies may be admitted upon election as 

 associates of the Society, with all the privileges of ordinary 

 members except the right to attend the monthly meetings, at 

 the reduced subscription of one guinea, without entrance fee.— 

 The following papers were read :— A monograph of the Austra- 

 lian sponges : Part iv., the Myxospongise, by R. von Lenden- 

 feld, Ph.D. In this paper the Australian species are described. 

 (The author partly adopts the view of Sollas regarding the 

 separation of the Halisarcidae and Gurnminse.) The structure 

 of Uajalus, a new genus of Halisarcidae, is described. The 

 subderi lal cavities are remarkably developed. Amoeboid wan- 

 dering cells were found in a dense layer beneath the outer skin. 

 Gland cells are described. Sexual products mature only in the 

 innermost part. The gastral cavity serves as a marsupium. 

 The anatomy of Chondrosia Ramsayi, n.sp., Chondrilla papil- 

 lala, n.sp., and corHcata, n.sp., shows some points of interest. 

 Peculiar subdermal cavities are described in the former. The 

 two latter possess a special cortical skeleton. — The method of 

 section-cutting with some improvements, by R. von Lendenfeld, 

 Ph.D. — Amoeba parasitica, a new parasitic Protozoan infesting 

 sheep, by R. von Lendenfeld, Ph.D. — The meteorology of 

 Mount Kosciusko, by R. von Lendenfeld, Ph.D. — The Glacial 

 period in Australia, by R. von Lendenfeld, Ph.D. The author 

 gives the results of his recent expedition to the central part of 

 the Australian Alps in this paper, as far as they bear on the 

 above question. He ascended the two highest peaks in Australia, 

 and fi mnd on the plateau which surrounds them undoubted glacial 

 remains in the shape of roches moutonnies in many places above 

 5800 feet. He concludes that Australia was affected by a glacial 

 period at the same epoch as New Zealand, but that, owing to 

 the lowness of the mountains (only 7256 feet the highest peak), 

 the low latitude, and the warm and dry winds from the interior, 

 ihe glaciers attained but small dimensions, and only covered an 

 area of about 100 square miles. He considers it probable that 

 no other glaciers existed in Australia at the time, as even those 



on the highest elevation of the continent were so small.— On the 

 Proteacea>, by the Rev. W. Woolls, Ph.D., F.L.S. — On a new 

 snake from the Barrier Ranges, by William Macleay, F.L.S. , 

 &c. The description is here given of a species of Furina, to 

 which the specific name of Ram ayi is affixed. Some specimens 

 of it were exhibited, as well as specimens of Vermicdla, Typhlops, 

 and Delma, from the same locality. 

 Paris 



Academy of Sciences, April 6. — M. Boulay, President, in 

 the chair. —Obituary notice of M. Rolland, Member of the 

 Section for Mechanics, who died on March 31, by the President. 

 — Remarks on the agreement between geological and cosmogonic 

 epochs, by M. Faye. These r'.marks are made in connection 

 with his work, " Sur l'Origine du Monde," recently presented to 

 the Academy, in which he develops his theory on the cosmic 

 evolution of the solar system. Here this theory is supported by 

 fresh arguments drawn from thermodynamics, biology, and solar 

 physics. — On the artificial and supplementary manures proper 

 for soil of different qualities, by M. de Gasparin. It is shown 

 by numerous examples that such manures should be selected, not 

 only according to the nature of the crops to be raised, but also 

 according to the character of the lands requiring to be enriched. 

 — On the resistance offered by a fluid in repose and without 

 weight to the varied movement of a solid sphere immersed in it 

 when the velocities are continuous, but so slow that their squares 

 and products may be neglected, by M. J. Boussinesq. — On the 

 "polhodie," a curve introduced by Poinsot into his new theory 

 on the rotation of bodies, by M. A. Mannheim. — On the lique- 

 faction and solidification of formene and of the deutoxide of 

 nitrogen, by M. K. Olszewski. — On the amides of the oxalo- 

 adipose group, by M. L. Henry. — Funeral orations pronounced 

 at the obsequies of M. Rolland on April 7, by MM. Phillips and 

 Schlosing. 



Stockholm 



Royal Academy of Sciences, March II. — Prof. Gylden 

 communicated a paper by A. Shdanowon the computation of the 

 intermediate orbit of the comet of Faye-Mollerwdien it was in the 

 vicinity of Jupiter in 1841. — Prof. Mittag-Leffler presented papers 

 (1) on periodical functions with a discontinuous period-system of 

 the first kind, by himself; and (2) annotations on the mathe- 

 matician, Feti us de Dacia, and his writings, by G. Engstrom. — 

 The Secretary, Prof. Lindhagen, presented (1) the doctrine of 

 Linnaeus on the species of plants determined and permanent in 

 the nature, represented according to the works of Linnxus ard 

 compared with the corresponding views of Darwin, by Prof. T. 

 G. Agardh ; (2) Desmidiae collected during the expedition of 

 Nordenskiold to Greenland in 1870, by Prof. Berggren, and 

 described by Dr. O. Nordstedt. 



CONTENTS Page 



A Scientific University 549 



Timbuktu. By Prof. A. H. Keane 550 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Macfarlane's " Physical Arithmetic" 55 r 



D'Ocagne's " Coordonnees paralleles et axiales" . . 5S 1 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



The Colours of Arctic Animals.— Alfred R. Wal- 

 lace 552 



Civilisation and Eyesight.— Charles Roberts ... 552 



Far-sightedness.— J. Hippisley ; Rev. E. Hill . . 553 

 The Pupil of the Eyes during Emotion. — John 



Aitken 553 



Notes on the Geology of the Pescadores. — Surgeon 



H. B. Guppy 553 



A New Bhd in Natal.— Rev. James Turnbull . . 554 



C. T. E. Von Siebold 554 



The Eggs of Fishes, II. By Prof. Mcintosh, LL.D., 



F.R.S 555 



The New University of Strasburg. (Illustrated) 557 



Notes 5 62 



Geographical Notes 564 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1885, 



April 19-25 . . t 565 



On a Remarkable Phenomenon of Crystalline Re- 

 flection. By Prof. G. G. Stokes, M A., Sec. R.S. 565 

 Recent Progress in Chemistry. By W. H. Perkin, 



F.R.S 56S 



Scientific Serials 5 6 9 



Societies and Academies 57° 



