November 2, 1905] 



NA TURE 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Entomological Society, October iS. — Dr. T. A. Chapman. 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Mr. H. Rowland-Brown 

 exhibited series of Erebias taken this year in the Pyrenees, 

 including Erebia lefebiirei, with the varieties pyrenaea, 

 Obth., "from Mt. Canigou, E. Pyrenees, and var. 

 intermedia, Obth., from Gavarnie. He also showed for 

 comparison E. glacialis var. nicholli, from Campiglio, 

 which at one time was supposed to be identical with 

 lefebiirei, then considered to be the Pyrenean form of 

 E. melas; specimens of E. gorgone and E. gorge from 

 the Lac de Gaube, Cauterets, and from Gavarnie; and a 

 short series of Lycaena orbitulus from the Central Alps, 

 /.. orbitulus var. oberthuri, Stgr., L. pyrenaica, and 

 /.. pheretes from the Brenner and Cortina districts. It 

 was remarked that there seemed to be a greater superficial 

 affinity between pyrenaica and pheretes (not reported from 

 the Pyrenees) than between pyrenaica and orbitulus. — Mr. 

 E. C. Bedwell exhibited eight specimens of Apion 

 laevigatum, Kirby, one of the rarest indigenous Apions, 

 found on August 31, sheltering under plants of Echium 

 vulgare in the Lowestoft district. — Mr. R. Shelford 

 showed a Liga-id bug, the fore-limbs of which were re- 

 markably well adapted to fossorial habits and comparable 

 with those of tin- mole cricket; a Brenthid beetle with 

 a deep channel running along the dorsal part of the pro- 

 thorax and occupied by aehari ; and an Anthribid beetle 

 with a crescentic sulcus on the prothorax. All the speci- 

 mens were from British North Borneo. — Mr. C. J. Gahan, 

 on behalf of Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, exhibited a living 

 example of Phaneroptera quadripunctata, which species 

 had been found in some numbers in a vinery near Chester. 



— Mr. W. J. Kayo brought for exhibition a long variable 

 series of Heliconius numata from the Potaro River, 

 British Guiana, clearly proving that these very variable 

 forms were only aberrations, and not a subspecies, at 

 least in this locality. — Mr. A. H. Jones exhibited a collec- 

 tion of Lepidoptera made by him in Majorca during the 

 first half of last June, and remarked upon the great 

 scarcity of lepidopterous life in the island. Only thirteen 

 species of butterflies were observed, all of the commonest 

 kinds and without any indication of variation, with about 

 six species of moths (all occurring in Britain), including 

 Agrotis saucia, Acidalia ochrata, and .1. degeneraria, the 

 latter, interesting in point of colour, being much redder. Mr. 

 Jones also exhibited M-elanargia lachesis var. canigulensis 

 from Le Yernet, showing on the under side in the males 

 a strong resemblance to .1/. galathea, and Melitaea aurinia 

 var. iberica, Obth., from Montserrat, neai Barcelona, and 

 a melanic specimen of Erebia stygne, taken by Mr. R. S. 

 Standen last June at St. Martin du Canigou, Le Vernet. 



— Mr. F. P. Dodd communicated a paper on a parasitic 

 Lepidopteron from Queensland, Australia. — Commander 

 J. J. Walker read a paper by Mr. E. G. R. Meade- 

 Waldo on a collection of butterflies and moths made in 

 Morocco, 190c— 01-02. The species enumerated included a 

 Coenonympha and a Satyrus new to science. But for so 

 luxuriant a country as that visited it was remarkable how 

 few butterflies and moths were observed. 



Royal Microscopical Society, October 18 — Dr. Dukin- 

 field H. Scott, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — An old 

 Wilson screw-barrel simple microscope, date about 1750, 

 presented by Majoi Meade J. C. Dennis. The secretary 

 traced the history of microscopes' focusing by means 

 1 a screw cut on the body-tube from Campani in 

 1686, Grindl in 1687, Bonanni in 1691, Hartsoeker in 

 1694, t0 Wilson in 1702, who was followed by Culpeper 

 somewhere before 1738 and Adams in 1746. — A simple 

 portable camera for use with the microscope : E. Moffat. 

 I he arrangement comprised a vertical telescopic standard, 

 drawing out to 28 inches, having a clamp at the lower end 

 for securing it to the edge of a table. At the upper end 

 was fixed a mahogany board i inch thick by 4 inches by 

 5 inches, hinged at the pillar so as to close up, and having a 

 hole in the centre about 3 inches in diameter. There were 

 two spring clip-~ For securing the dry plate while making 

 the exposure, and guides for keeping it in position hori- 

 zontally. The back of the dry plate was covered by a 

 piece of cardboard painted dead black, the spring clips 

 NO. 1879, VOL. 73] 



referred to pressing upon this card. Depending front 

 the board was a tapered bag of black Italian cloth about 

 17 inches in length, with a rubber ring at the lower end 

 to secure the covering to the eye-piece of the microscope. 

 The apparatus can be closed up into a space 5 inches le. 

 9 inches by 15 inches, and will go into a large pocket or 

 knapsack. The weight, if made of aluminium, should not 

 exceed lh lb. It will work well up to 700 diameters, and 

 can be made in brass for 21s. Aluminium would cost 

 more. — A form of hand microtome devised and used by 

 Mr. Flatters. The microtome was made of brass, having 

 the tube 3 inches deep and 1 inch diameter inside. The 

 spindle had twenty-eight threads to the inch, and had a 

 notched disc at the lower end, acted on by a spring stop the 

 tension of which could be adjusted. Three discs were 

 supplied, permitting sections being cut of 1/2000 to 1 1200 

 inch in thickness for each notch that the disc was turned. 

 The knife-plate was made of hardened brass, the aperture 

 on the under side being of the same diameter as the tube, 

 but somewhat less on the upper side to prevent the speci- 

 men turning. — The Finlayson " comparascope " : Messrs. 

 R. and J. Beck. The president said they had the instru- 

 ment before them some time ago in a less developed form ; 

 it seemed likely to be extremely useful to microscopists, as 

 it could be applied to any microscope, and afforded a 

 ready means of comparing objects directly under conditions 

 which rendered it possible easily to detect slight differences. 

 — Notes on aragotite, a rare Californian mineral : Prof. 

 Henry ( ■. Hanks. The mineral, which is a hydro- 

 carbon, was first described by Mr. F. E. Durand "in a 

 paper read by him before the California Academy of 

 Sciences en April 1, [872. It was not until 1893 that Prof. 

 Hanks obtained specimens of the mineral. These he sub- 

 jected to various experiments, and disputes Mr. Durand 's 

 conclusion that it might be some modification of idrialite. 

 lie gives a table showing that in chemical composition, 

 colour, streak, hardness, and specific gravity aragotite 

 differs from idrialite. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, October 25. — M. Troost in the 

 chair. — Some facts concerning the history of emulsin ; the 

 general existence of this ferment in the Orchidacese : L. 

 Guignard. The examination of various parasitic plants 

 showed the constant presence of emulsin ; it would appear 

 that there is a constant relation between the presence of 

 this ferment and parasitism. On further work, however, 

 this was not found to be the , ase, since a careful examin- 

 ation of Orobanchc Galii and O. Epithymum gave no 

 emulsin. Numerous plants of the Orchidacea;, both 

 indigenous and exotic, proved to have emulsin in their 

 aerial and subterranean roots. — On the decapod Crustacea 

 collected by the yacht Princesse Alice in the course of the 

 voyage of 1905 : E. L. Bouvier. — Report on a memoir 

 of M. Bachelier on " continued probabilities " : H. 

 Poincare. — Observation of the eclipse of the sun of 

 August 30 : F. Jehl. The observations were made at the 

 Observatory of Aosta (Italy) under excellent atmospheric 

 conditions, and included the times of contacts, visual 

 observations of the spectrum, and temperature changes. — 

 On discontinuous groups: Frederic Riesx. — Researches on 

 gravitation : V. Cremjeu. The experiments described 

 show- the possibility of carrying out the Cavendish experi- 

 ment in a liquid. Full details of the arrangement of the 

 apparatus are given, but the publication of the results is 

 reserved for a later paper. — On the specific inductive power 

 of benzene and water : F. Beaulard. L. Grrctz and 

 L. Fomm have pointed out the existence of a phenomenon 

 of polarisation which is in contradiction with the funda- 

 mental hypothesis of Poisson-Mossotti, and this relation 

 has been utilised by the author as the basis of his method 

 of measurement. The specific inductive powers thus found 

 were 1-657 / or benzene and 11-04 for water. — On the specific 

 heat of solutions of copper sulphate : P. Vaillant. The 

 solutions were heated by an incandescent lamp, the current 

 and electromotive forci being measured directly. If the 

 specific heat of solution be regarded as the sum of that 

 of the solid copper sulphate and water, negative values 

 are obtained, but this is not the case if the substance in 

 solution be regarded as CuSO.^HO. Even on this 

 assumption constant values are not obtained for the specific 

 heat, and several possible explanations are put forward. — 



