n8 



NATURE 



[November 30, 1905 



Islands, Loemophilus monilis, F., taken in the neighbour- 

 hood of Streatley, Berks, and Dacne fowleri, n.sp., from 

 Bradfield, with specimens of D. humeralis and D. rufifrons 

 for comparison : Norman H. Joy. — A specimen of a new 

 Agathidium discovered last year in Cumberland, and now 

 taken by the exhibitor in Durham, and a series of 

 Prionocyphon serricornis from the New Forest with a draw- 

 ing of the larva, which he had found under water in the 

 boles of trees, but appeared to emerge for pupation and 

 descend into the ground : H. St. J. Donisthorpe. — Pre- 

 parations of the scents of some African butterflies collected 

 with the assistance of Dr. G. B. Longstaff during the 

 recent visit of the British Association, together with ex- 

 amples of the species investigated : Dr. F. A. Dixey. — 

 Papers. — A contribution towards the knowledge of African 

 Rhopalocera : P. I. Lathy. — A new species of the hymeno- 

 pterous genus Megalyra, Westwood : J. Chester Bradley, 

 Ithaca, N.Y., U.S.A. 



Linnean Society, November 2. — Prof. W. A. Herdman, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Exhibition of the tails of 

 trout and grayling to show the heterocercal origin of the 

 homocercal tail, by means of the hypural bones which 

 balance the vertebra turning upward towards the upper 

 lobe : Rev. G. Henslow. — Plant oecology, interpreted by 

 direct response to the conditions of life : Rev. G. Henslow. 

 Plant geography and plant surveying — that is, phyto- 

 topography — comprise records of the fluctuating distribution 

 of species within definite areas, and associations, the result 

 of natural selection. CEcology proper, or the physiology of 

 plant geography, imply what has been defined by Prof. 

 Tansley as " the study of the vital relations of organisms 

 to their environment." These include the origin of 

 adaptive structures, as varietal, specific, and generic 

 characters, by means of the protoplasmic response to what 

 was formulated by Darwin as " the direct action of the 

 conditions of life, leading to definite results, whereby new 

 subvarieties arise without the aid of natural selection." 



Royal Microscopical Society, November 15. — Mr. G. C. 

 Karop, vice-president, in the chair. — Lucernal and solar 

 microscopes by Adams presented to the society : W. E. 

 Baxter. — Focusing magnifier made by Messrs. Taylor, 

 Taylor and Hobson : Dr. Hebb. The magnifier was a 

 small photographic auxiliary intended for focusing pur- 

 poses, being placed against the ground-glass screen of the 

 camera to magnifv the image and examine its definition. 

 — A new turntable invention : A. Flatters and W. 

 Bradley. The turntable was driven by clockwork, and 

 was designed for turning oval cells and ringing oval mounts 

 of any proportions from o" to 3"xij". By the use of the 

 instrument it was also possible to run a ring round a 

 needle point, strike a straight line, or turn cir:les. — 

 Exhibition of dissections of the tsetse-fly and its trypano- 

 somes : W. Baker. Mr. Baker said that, in addition to 

 the slides illustrating the anatomy of the tsetse-fly, there 

 was a specimen of the larva of Ochromvia, also from 

 Africa, together with the perfect insect. The larva lives 

 in the sandy earth, and attaches itself to the flesh and 

 sucks the blood of the natives, causing very troublesome 

 wounds. There was likewise a specimen of the ova of 

 Schistosoma sinensis found in the body of a Chinaman who 

 died at Singapore. 



Chemical Society, November 16. — Prof. R. Meldola, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Condensation of ketones 

 with mercury cyanide : J. E. Marsh and R. De Jersey 

 Flemingr-Struthers. Acetone added to a solution of 

 mercury cyanide in aqueous caustic soda gives a white 

 precipitate, Hg.,C 5 FLON,, which dissolves on further 

 addition of acetone. The reaction forms a good test for 

 acetone applicable in presence of alcohol. The reaction 

 appears to be confined to ketones containing the group 

 .CO.CH,. — Silicon researches, part ix., bromination of 

 silicophenylimide and -amide, and formation of a com- 

 pound including the group (SiN) : J. F. Reynolds. Silico- 

 tetraphenylamide interacts quite regularly with about six 

 atomic proportions of bromine in benzene. In the first 

 stage bromine removes one of the aniline residues, and 

 there remains a substituted guanidine in solution. This 

 is then attacked with the formation of a soluble di-substi- 



NO. 1883, VOL 73] 



tuted di-imide. The substituted di-imide finally reacts with 

 one molecular proportion of bromine, giving the compound 

 SiN.CjHjBr,. — Application of the microscopic method of 

 molecular weight determination to solvents of high boil- 

 ing point : G. Barger and A. J. Ewins. The apparatus 

 used with low boiling solvents is modified by the addition 

 of a " hot stage," whereby the tubes can be maintained at 

 about 90 C. — Green compounds of cobalt produced by 

 oxidising agents : R. G. Durrant. The conclusions 

 arrived at are that these substances most probably all 

 contain the nucleus =Co.O.Co=, on the persistence of 

 which depends the green colour. — Dunstan, Jowett and 

 Goulding's paper on "the rusting of iron": E. Divers. 

 The author rejects the " hydrogen peroxide " theory of 

 rusting advanced by Dunstan and his collaborators, and 

 suggests instead that the active agents are the oxygen and 

 the hydroxvl ions present in the water, the action being 

 represented' thus, (0 2 + 2H.HO) + 4Fe+20, = 4HO.Fe : O. 

 In reply, Prof. Dunstan pointed out that the view expressed 

 by Dr. Divers is not intelligible unless it amounts to what 

 is virtually the hydrogen peroxide theory, which accounts 

 for the inhibiting effect of potassium dichromate, as well 

 as of alkalis, on the formation of iron rust in presence 

 of water and oxygen. — Researches on the freezing points 

 of binary mixtures of organic substances ; the behaviour of 

 the dihydric phenols towards />-toluidine, a-naphthylamine, 

 and picric acid : J. C. Philip and S. H. Smith. The 

 freezing-point curves indicate the existence of several new 

 compounds of the above substances. These are shortly 

 described. — Synthesis of tertiary menthol and of inactive 

 menthene : W. H. Perkin, jun. — The synthetical form- 

 ation of bridged rings, part ii., some derivatives of dicyclo- 

 butane : W. H. Perkin, jun., and J. L. Simonsen. — 

 Optically active reduced naphthoic acids, part i., dextro- 

 A2(or 3)-dihydro-i-naphthoic acid: R. II. Pickard and A. 

 Neville. — Hydrizino-halides derived from oxalic acid : 

 I). A. Bowack and A. Lapworth. — The action of nitrogen 

 sulphide on organic substances, part iii. : O. C. M. Davis. 

 The investigation of the action of nitrogen sulphide on the 

 aldehydes has been continued, and it has been found that 

 the reaction is not so general as was expected. — The action 

 of nitrogen sulphide on organic substances, part iv. : F. E. 

 Francis. Nitrogen sulphide acts on acetic and propionic 

 acids at their boiling points with the liberation of sulphur 

 dioxide and smaller quantities of nitrogen, and the form- 

 ation of the corresponding amides and di-amides. — 

 Tetrazoline, part iii. : S. Ruhemann and R. W. 

 Merriman. 



Cambridge. 

 Philosophical Society, October 30.— Prof. Marshall 

 Ward, president, in the chair. — On a well-sinking at 

 Graveley, near Huntingdon : Rev. O. Fisher. Graveley 

 is in an extreme western corner of Cambridgeshire. The 

 well is 154 feet above O.D. It was begun in the spring 

 of 1905 in Boulder-clay, which proved to be 50 feet thick. 

 The Oxford-clay was then encountered and pierced through 

 252 feet. A bed of Oolitic Limestone was next met with, 

 and punched through a foot and a half. Another foot of 

 clay brought the auger to a second bed of rock, and no 

 supply of water having been obtained, the work was 

 abandoned. — On a portable gold-leaf electrometer for low 

 or high potentials, and its application to measurements in 

 atmospheric electricity : C. T. R. Wilson. The electro- 

 meter has an outer and an inner case ; the latter is main- 

 tained by means of a quartz Leyden jar at a positive 

 potential which gives a convenient deflection when the gold 

 leaf is earthed ; about 60 volts is generally convenient. If 

 the potential of the inner case is called V, then the instru- 

 ment is suitable for measuring potentials, positive or 

 negative, in the neighbourhood of zero, and also positive 

 potentials differing by not more than a few volts from 

 2V. The displacement of the leaf for a change of potential 

 of 1 volt is the same in either case. For convenience in 

 charging the gold leaf to any desired potential, and for 

 other purposes, there is attached to the instrument a small 

 cylindrical condenser of variable capacity, consisting of a 

 sliding tube kept at a constant negative potential by means 

 of a quartz Leyden jar and a rod concentric with the tube 

 fixed to the terminal of the gold leaf. The instrument may 

 be applied to the study of the atmospheric potential 

 gradient at the earth's surface and the earth-air current. 



