526 



NA TURE 



[March 29, 1906 



results of the third Tanganyika expedition conducted by Mr. 

 \V. A. Cunnington in 1904-5 was read. Report on the fishes : 

 G. A. Boulenger, The collection consisted of 300 speci- 

 mens referable to eighty-four species, twenty-eight of which 

 were new.— Crustacea : Dr. W. T. Caiman. In addition to 

 the two species already known from Lake Tanganyika, no 

 fewer than ten specimens of new species belonging to the 

 familj Atyidse, including the representatives of two new 

 genera, were obtained. From lakes Nyasa and Victoria 

 Nyanza only a single species was obtained, the widely dis- 

 tributed Caridina nilotica (C. wyckii). The absence of this 

 common species from the gatherings made in Tanganyika 

 emphasised the isolated character of the Macruran fauna of 

 that lake. All the species found in Tanganyika, and all 

 but one of the genera, were peculiar to the lake. There 

 was no ground for regarding the Macrura of Tanganyika 

 a- having any specially " marine " affinities. The other 

 members of the groups to which they belonged, the genus 

 Palaemon and the family Atyidse, were characteristically, 

 and all but exclusively, fresh-water animals. — Mollusca : 

 E. A. Smith. This collection contained examples of thirty- 

 three species, one of which was new. —Fresh-water sponges 

 obtained from lakes Victoria Nyanza, Tanganyika, and 

 Nyasa: R. Kirkpatrick. The collection comprised eleven 

 specimens representing five species, one from Tanganyika 

 being new to science, two others from Tanganyika 

 (Spongilla moorei, Evans, and S. tanganyikae, Evans) 

 having already been recorded from that locality. Small 

 specimens of a" fourth species, viz. Spongilla carteri, Bower- 

 bank, were obtained from the Victoria Nyanza, and a fairly 

 large' specimen of a fifth, viz. Spongilla biseriata, Weltner, 

 was collected in a swamp bordering Lake Nyasa. Included 

 in Mr. Kirkpatrick's report were descriptions of two new 

 species and a new variety of fresh-water sponges, based on 

 material obtained from the White Nile.— Oligochaete 

 worms : F. E. Bedda'rd. They comprised examples of 

 four new species. — The medusae of the genus Limnocnida 

 obtained during the expedition : R. T. Giinther. 



Geological Society, March 7.— Sir Archibald Geikie, 

 Sec.R.S., president, in the chair.— The occurrence of lime- 

 stone of the Lower Carboniferous series in the Cannock- 

 Chase portion of the South Staffordshire Coalfield : G. M. 

 Cockin. Silurian limestone underlies the Coal-measures 

 in the southern part of the South Staffordshire Coalfield, 

 and a rock, probably similar, was found in a borehole at 

 Cannock-Chase Colliery. A shaft was sunk some thirty 

 years ago north of the latter locality, but was abandoned. 

 In the waste-heaps, which have remained undisturbed since 

 1875, a number of fossils belonging to the Lower Carbon- 

 iferous Limestone have been found. A fault must be pre- 

 sumed to bring Carboniferous Limestone into the position 

 indicated. An account of the strata pierced by boring is 

 appended. — Liassic Dentaliidae : L. Richardson. Among 

 the fossils collected in the cuttings on the new Honeybourne 

 and Cheltenham Railway were many belonging to the 

 family Dentaliidae, and, as the majority are new, the 

 author has investigated the Liassic members of the family 

 contained in several collections. The growth of the 

 scaphopod-shell is effected by additions at the anterior end, 

 while the posterior end suffers by wear and absorption. 

 The members of this class are essentially marine, inhabit- 

 ing deep water, and feeding principally on Foraminifera. 

 Ei^ht niw species are described, and eight species already 

 known are discussed. 



Entomological Society, March 7. — Mr. F. Merrifield, 

 president, in the chair. — Two specimens of Microdon 

 latifrons, Lw., a rare dipteron taken in the New Forest 

 in June, 1905 : H. W. Andrews. — Examples of Nonagria 

 neurica, Hb., and N. dissoluta, var. arundineta, Schmidt, 

 from Germany, with (?) var. arundineta from Central 

 Vsia, for comparison with N. dissoluta and A', var. 

 arundineta from Kent, Cambridge, and Norfolk : H. M. 

 Edelsten. — A variable series of Gynopteryx gladiaria, 

 Guen., and its varieties: L. B. Prout. — Combs of the 

 honey bee formed on a branch of nut tree, the bees having 

 swarmed late in the year : A. J. Chitty. After July the 

 bees deserted the combs, and, having consumed all the 

 honey contained in them, again swarmed on a neighbour- 

 ing tree. — A specimen of Prodenia littoralis, Boisd., which 



NO. 19OO, VOL. 73] 



had emerged in a breeding-cage kept, with many others, 

 by Major R. B. Robertson at Boscombe, Hants, for 

 the reception of caterpillars found in that district : Prof. 

 R. Meldola. The moth emerged on July 16, 1905. 

 The species, which is figured in Hampson's " Moths of 

 India," is said to have a distribution, extending from the 

 Mediterranean subregion throughout the tropical and sub- 

 tropical zones of the Old World. — A Mantis on a portion 

 of the bark of a tree found by Mr. F. Birch in Trinidad, 

 who stated that its close resemblance to a withered leaf 

 was evidently a protection for aggressive purposes : O. E. 

 Janson. — A series of Callimenidae ; a small family of 

 Orthoptera, consisting of two genera, Dinarchus, with the 

 single species D. dasypus, Illig., and Callimenus, of which 

 all the known species were included, with the exception of 

 C. inflates, Br., from Asia Minor: M. Burr.— Specimens 

 uf Argynnis niobe, var. eris, 2, from the Pyrenees, 

 Cevennes, and south Tyrolese mountains : H. Rowland- 

 Brown. Attention was directed to the remarkable form 

 of the example taken at Gavarnie, in July, 1905, of which 

 the coloration of the upper side of all the wings was ruddy 

 copper-red shot with blue upon the nervures. Whereas 

 specimens of en's and other Argynnids from the moun- 

 tainous regions of central France showed a tendency to 

 maintain constant pale forms, those from the Pyrenees are 

 generallv more highly coloured, while the high Alpine forms 

 of Central Europe inclined to melanism. — An original note- 

 book of Burchell's taken t.> South Afrit a in 1812 : Prof. E. B. 

 Poulton. The note-book established the date of the 

 authi r's birthday, hitherto unknown, to be July 12, while 

 it also recorded," for the first time, the superstitious dread 

 oi the native Hottentots for thi ' death's head moth," 

 known locallv as the "devil bee." — Specimens of Pierine 

 butterflies from South Africa, India, and Asia Minor: Dr. 

 F. A. Dixey. The specimens illustrated how the under 

 sides of the dry-season forms in the group are apt to take 

 a red tinge, and it was especially interesting to note that 

 the same tendency was manifest in all species collected 

 from such widely separate regions. — Note on the 

 migration of Lepidoptera against the wind, extracted 

 from a report on " The Pearl Oyster of the Gulf of 

 Manaar, Avicula {meleagrina) fucata," by Henry Sullivan 

 Thomas, in the Madras Journal of Literature ami 

 Science : C. O. Waterhouse.— A plague of ants in the 

 Observatory district, Cape Town, South Africa: Colonel 

 C. T. Bingham. — Some rest attitudes in butterflies : Dr. 

 1.. B. Longstaff. The paper was illustrated by numerous 

 specimens arranged upon backgrounds of specially prepared 

 sand-paper approximating to the natural surroundings of 

 the insects in their various habitats. — Observations on the 

 life-history of Trichoptilus pallidum, Zell. : Dr. T. A. 

 Chapman. — Some parasitic hymenopterous insects of 

 North Queensland : F. P. Dodd. 



Physical Society. March 9.— Dr. C. Chree, vice- 

 president, in the chair. — The velocities of the ions of alkali 

 salt vapours at high temperatures : Prof. H. A. Wilson. 

 I lii-. paper contains a summary of previous work. It is 

 shown that all results so far obtained are consistent with 

 the view that any salt of caesium, rubidium, potassium, 

 sodium, or lithium gives in a Bunsen flame negative ions 

 having a velocity of 1000 cm. per sec. for one volt per cm., 

 and positive ions having a velocity of about So cm. per sec. 

 This result can be explained by supposing that each salt 

 molecule emits a negative corpuscle which forms the 

 negative ion, and that the rest of the molecule forms the 

 positive ion. — Some experiments on earth-currents at Kew 

 Observatory : Dr. J. A. Harker. An account of experi- 

 ments made some years ago at Kew Observatory on the 

 earth-currents produced by electric traction schemes, and 

 on the disturbances they cause on the self-recording mag- 

 netic instruments kept continuously running to register the 

 variations in the declination and the horizontal and vertical 

 forces. Two large earth-plates were buried about 4 feet 

 deep and 200 yards apart, and connected through a photo- 

 graphic recording voltmeter of high resistance. On the 

 traces given, the "effect of the trains on the Central London 

 Railway was strikingly shown. The nearest point to Kew 

 is about six miles distant. The same disturbances, and 

 also these due to special traction experiments carried out 

 on the svstem of the London United Electric Tramway 



