262 



NA TURE 



[January i i, 1906 



groups with but few intermediate forms. — Two new spei ies 

 of worms, one a Pontodrilus from ihe shores of the Red 

 Sea, and ilie oilier an Enchytneid of the genus Henlea 

 from India, which was destructive to the eggs of the locust : 

 I-'. E, Eaddard. Two species of decapod Crustacea 

 crab and a prawn, collected bv Dr. R. Hanitsch, of Singa- 

 pore, from a small artificial fresh-water pool on Christmas 

 Island: Dr. J. G. de Man. The interest of lb. a occur- 

 rence lies in the fact that previous (o the construction ol 

 the reservoir, .1 lew years ago, there s:-ems t,. have been 

 110 possible habitat for these animals on the island, and 

 the; must have been introduced since tint time, perhaps 

 by'migration from the sea. The crab was referred to 

 Ptychognathus pusillus, a species described by Heller from j 

 the Nicobar Islands fori} years ago, and nol since found. 

 I be prawn was made" the type of a new variety of 

 Paid* aeoi hii , both the variety and the typical form having 

 a wide distribution in countries bordering the Indian 

 Ocean. — Results of experiments made in connection with 

 the heredity of webbed Feel in pigeons: R. Staples- 

 Browne. New and rare British Orihatida- : C. War- 

 burton and N. D. I-'. Pearce. Eleven species were re- 

 marked upon, of which seven were described as new to 

 science, and two were recorded for the first time as being 

 British. The nymph of Serrarius microccphalus was 

 described for the first lime, and it was pointed out that 

 Gustavia sol of Kramer was a nymph of an unknown 

 species iii Serrarius 



Royal Meteorological Society, December 20, 1905. — 

 Mr. R. Bentley, president, in the chair. — Attempt to fly kites 

 for meteorological purposes from the mission ship attached 

 1,, ., deep-sea fishing fleel in the North Sea: G. C. 

 Simpson. These observations, which were made in July 

 and August last, were carried oat on behalf of the joint 

 kite committee of the Royal Meteorological Society and of 

 the British Association. By the kindness of the Royal 

 National Mission to Deep-sea Fishermen, the kites were 

 flown from the deck of the mission ship Queen Uexandra 

 attached to the Red Cross Fleet. Owing to the vessel 

 being almosl continuously employed in trawling, the oppor- 

 tunities for flying kites were verv limited; nevertheless, Mr. 

 Simpson was" able to secure eight ascents during the time 

 I,,. was on board the vessel, and be now gave the results 

 obtained. The greatest height reached was 5800 feet. — 

 Method ei il\mg kites in Barbados in April and May last 

 year: C. [.P. Cave. Mr. W. II. Dines, who had ex- 

 amined thi records, said that the humidity traces show 



generally a vail I about 60 per cent, at the surface, 



rising to 80-90 per cent, at heights from 1000 feet to 



j feet, anil then falling oil again in some 1 ases to 50 per 



.em. or less as the height increases. rhese values are 

 lower than might have been expected over a tropical ocean 

 Ihe increase is of the ordinary kind, but the maximum 



value 01, or, al a 1. 11 loWd elevation lllall is tile case in 



Europe. It is probable that tin- relative humidity forms an 

 extremely accurate index to the vertical circulation, a low 

 bumiiliiv indicating a descending current of air, and so 

 ii may be inferred that there is some settling down of the 

 atmi sphere over the region of the smaller west Indian 

 islands in April and May. temperature observations during 

 the partial solar eclipse, August 30, '905 : W. II- Dines. 

 Comparison between Glaisher's factors and Ferrel's 

 psychrometric formula: ,] . R. Sutton. — A rapid method 

 of finding the elastic force of aqueous vapour, &c, from 

 dry and wet bulb thermometer readings : J. Ball. 



Chemical Society, December 21, 1905. — Prof. R. Meldola, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair.— Azo-derivatives from 

 niethvl-2-napblln.i ouiiiarin |. T. Hewitt and II. V. 

 Mitchell. Several el these derivatives an- described; the 

 most interesting is p-nitrobenzeneazomethylnaphtho- 

 coumarin, which yives an intense blue coloration in 

 alkaline solution. The preparation and reactions of benzoyl 

 nitrate: F. I-:. Francis. Benzoyl nitrate is formed bv Ihe 

 interaction oi benzoyl chloride with silver nitrate at low 

 temperatures. Ii is a light yellow oil which, if carefully 

 warmed, decomposes into benzoic anhydride and oxides of 

 nitrogen, but if healed quickh explodes. — The suppose, I 

 identity of dihvdrolaui olene and of dihydrofsolaurolene 

 with 1 : [-dimethylhexahydrobenzene : A. W. Crossley and 



N. Renouf. Zelinsky and Lepeschkin supposed that these 

 three substances were identical, but this is not the case. — 

 The diuzo-derivatives of 1:5- and 1 : 8-benzenesulphonyl- 

 n.iphihaleneiliamines : G. T. Morgan and F. M. G. 

 Micxlethwait. — Further experiments on a new method of 

 determining molecular weights : P. Blackman. — Studies 

 in fermentation. The chemical dynamics of alcoholic 

 fermentation by yeast : A. Slat or. The results indicate 

 thai the reaction, measured by observing the change in 

 presume due to evolution of carbon dioxide, is the slow 

 decomposition of a compound produced by the interaction 

 ol the enzyme and the sugar. — Some new platinocyanides : 

 L. A. Levy and H. A. Sisson. Hydrazine and hydroxyl- 

 amine platinocyanides are described. — An intramolecular 

 1 bang.' leading to the formation of naphthalene derivatives 

 I-.. F. J. Atkinson and J. F. Thorpe. Ethyl sodiocyano- 



neiate condenses with benzyl cyanide to form ethyl 

 a-cyanO-jS-imino-y-phenyl-n-butyrate. This, when Heated 

 with an equal weight of sulphuric acid, forms an intense 

 green solution, which yields ethyl 1 : 3-diaminonaphthalene- 

 2-carboxylate. — The relation of position isomerism to 

 optical activity, V., The rotation of the menthyl esters 

 of the isomeric dibromobenzoic acids: J. B. Cohen 

 and I. II. Zortman. An account of certain physical con- 

 sianis. an luding the molecular rotations of the six isomeric 

 menthyl dibromobenzoates. — Some derivatives of naphthoyl- 

 benzoic arid and of naphthacenequinone : J. Q. Orchard- 

 son and C. Weizmann. — Ethyl 0-naphthoylacetate : C. 

 Weizmann and E. B. Falknor. — Contributions to the 

 chemistry of the amidines. z-Aminothiazoles and 2-imino- 

 j : j-dihydrothiazoles. 2-Iminotetrathiazoles and 2-amino- 

 4 : 5-dihydrothiazoles : G. Young; and S. I. Crookes. — 



Ihe a, lion of water on diazo-salts: J. C. Cain and (■. M. 

 Norman. An extension of a method of investigation, 

 already desi ribed, to diazo-salts from 2 : 4-dibromoaniline 

 and dibromo-/>-toluidine (cp. Proc. Chem. Soc, 1905, xxi., 



...ii| Note on the atomic weight of nitrogen : A. Scott. 

 A reply to Richards (Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc, 1004, xliii., 

 11O) showing inter alia that the recent work of Richards 

 and Wells on the atomic weights of chlorine and bromine 

 has cleared up the discrepancy between the numbers 

 obtained by the author for the atomic weight of nitrogen 

 (cp. /mini. Chem. Soc. 1901, lxxix., 154). — The solubility 

 ..I zinc hydroxide in alkalis : J. Moir. When zinc 

 hydroxide dissolves in excess of caustic alkali, the pheno- 

 menon is essentially the production of an equilibrium 

 between the alkali and the zincic acid, and no definite 

 chemical compounds such as ZnO.SKOH are formed. — 



I'be s],,w combustion of carbon disulphide : V Smith. 



Ihe reddish-brown deposit formed when carbon disulphide 

 anil oxygen are passed through a heated tube consists 

 chiefh ..I an acidic compound C 16 H,0 4 S s . I'be silver and 

 ammonium salts have been prepared. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, December 26, 1905. — M. Troost in 

 Ibe chair. Researches on the insoluble potassium com- 

 pounds contained in humic materials: M. Berthelot. 

 Powdered wood charcoal, after careful extraction with 

 dilute hydrochloric acid and water, was treated with dilute 

 solutions of potassium acetate and calcium acetate, the 

 constituents of the charcoal ash being determined before 



and ali.r the treatment. The results ar npared with 



those obtained previously in which the charcoal was 

 washed with wafer only, and conclusions drawn as to the 

 nature ..I the potassium salts existing in wood charcoal. 

 —On a standard of light: J. Violle. A description of 

 some attempts to establish a standard of light by utilising 

 the constant temperature obtained by boiling silver and 

 copper. — On a new petrographic type of certain leucote- 

 phrites from Somma : A. Lacroix. — New observations on 

 the formation and the quantitative variations of the hydro- 

 cyanic principle of the black elder : L. Guigrnard. The 

 amount of the glucoside falls off very slightlv with the 

 increase ol age of the leaf. At the end of the vegetative 

 period il dees not pass into the stem, but remains in the 

 leaf when it falls off, and hence cannot be regarded as a 

 reserve subsiance. — The influence of some la. tors on ex- 



p.ri nlal parthenogenesis : Yves Delage. Numerous 



chemical reagents can firing about experimental partheno- 

 genesis, and the conditions may also be varied, but the 



no. 18S9, VOL. J3 I 



