404 



NA TURE 



\_AugUSt 2 1, li 



Sydney 



Linnean Society of New South Wales, June 25. — The 

 vice-president, Dr. James C. Cox, F.L.S., &c, in the chair. — 

 The following papers were read : — Occasional notes on plants 

 indigenous in the immediate neighbourhood of Sydney, No. 7, 

 by E. Haviland. — On the new Australian fishes in the Queens- 

 land Museum, Tart II., by Charles W. De Vis, M. A.— Sixteen 

 species are here described, viz. : — Seven of the family 

 Squamipinnes, two of the Mullidae, one of the Sparidse, four of 

 Scorpaenidse, and two of the Teuthididae. — On a marine species 

 if Philongria, by Charles Chilton, M.A. The Isopod described 

 in this paper was obtained at Coogee Bay last December. The 

 specific name "marina" is given to it, as it is the only marine 

 species of the genus known to the author. — The Australian 

 Hydromedusae (continued), Part iv. , by R. von Lendenfeld, 

 Ph.D. In this paper the numerous Australian species of Grap- 

 tolithes, described by Prof. McCoy, of Plumularidae described by 

 Allman, Bale, Kirchenpauer and Busk, and of the Dicoryuidse, 

 are sifted and catalogued with references, and a large number of 

 new and interesting species, and one new genus discovered by 

 the author are described and figured. The Australian Plumu- 

 laridae exceed in the number of species the Plumularidae of all 

 the rest of the world put together. — On the flesh 

 certain sponges, by R. von Lendenfeld, Ph.D. In a former 

 paper tire author expressed his opinion that flesh-spicules in 

 sponges do not, as it was hitherto supposed, only occur in such 

 species as possess a fibreous siliceous skeleton, but that they may 

 make their appearance in any species, so that their existence cannot 

 be considered of sufficient import to allow of a separate family 

 being formed, comprising such sponges only which possess flesh- 

 spicules. The author had based this hypothesis partly on gene- 

 ral conclusions and partly on the observation of a true horn- 

 sponge, a Hircinia, with flesh-spicules. Now the author is 

 enabled to prove his hypothesis by further discoveries, which he 

 madeduringthe investigation of the numerous and valuable sponges 

 ■of Port Jackson. He found, namely, three species possessing 

 flesh-spicules, which, according to the structure of their fibrous 

 skeleton, should be placed in the families of the horn >p 

 Note on the slimy coating of certain Boltenias in Port Jackson, 

 by R. von Lendenfeld, Ph.D. Some solitary Ascidians, similar 

 to the ordinary Boltenia nnstra/ls, which grows close to low tide 

 mark, but which are found in deep water exclusively, are covered 

 with a very slippery slime, an occurrence without precedence in 

 Ascidians. This slime was investigated by the author, and 

 found to consist of a thick layer of ova in their follicula-cap- 

 sules. The slime is supposed to be formed by the cylindrical 

 cells of the Follicular. — Report on the Australian Echinoder- 

 mata exhibited at the Fisheries Exhibition, London, by F. 

 feffery Bell, M.A., &c. This paper was communicated and read 

 byE. P. Ramsay, F.L.S., &c. It contains a list of all the named 

 species in the collection sent to London, viz. 10 species of the 

 class Crinoidea, 12 of the Asteroidea, 19 of the Ophiurioidea, and 

 30 of the Echinioidra, with critical notes, &c. — Mr. Macleay 

 exhibited for Mr. Wilkinson a very peculiar conical stone imple- 

 ment, found by Mr. A. G. Brook of Gondoblui Station, embedded 

 in the soil on the plains near the Queensland border, between 

 the Narran and Barwon Rivers. The note accompanying the 

 exhibit states that there are no rocks near that locality, and that 

 the old aboriginals of the district know nothing about it. The 

 stone is composed of a soft, fine, white sandstone, is of conical 

 form, nineteen inches in length and four inches in diameter in 

 the middle : the surface presents a smooth, worn appearance. 

 Dr. Cox suggested that it had probably been used for grinding 

 ■nd that view seemed to receive most favour, though a 

 number of different opinions were expressed. Mr. Macleay 

 also exhibited for Mr. Wilkinson a number of helix-like shells, 

 wound spirally round the leaf-stalks of a species of Eucalyptus, 

 at Branxton on the Hunter. These shells, though calcareous, 

 were pronounced not to be the production of any molluscous 

 animal, and the general opinion was that they must be egg 

 cases of some insect. — A large collection of shells and echino- 

 dermata from Cossack, Western Australia, sent by Mr. J. F. 

 Bailey of Melbourne for exhibition, were on the table. Among 

 the rarities Conns trigonus (Reeve), Conns Victoria; (Reeve), 

 Ancillaria cingulata (Sowb.), Ancillaria elongata (Gray), Oliva 

 Caldania (Duclos), Sponiylus Wrightiamis (Cross). 



Paris 

 Academy 6f Sciences, August II. — M. Rolland, President, 



in the chair. — Note on the disposition of the fcetal envelopes in 



the aye-aye (Chiromys madagascariensis), by M. Alphonse 

 Milne-Edwards. The author finds that there is nothing abnor- 

 mal in the fetal membranes of the aye-aye, and that they corre- 

 spond in every respect with those of the typical lemurians, with 

 which they must be definitely classified. — Observations in con- 

 nection with a recent communication of General Menabrea on 

 Charles Babbage's analytical calculating-machine, by M. Leon 

 Lalanne. From an interview with Mr. Babbage at London in 

 1S51 the author is led to believe that a document is still in 

 existence either among the papers of M. Binet or among those 

 of Mr. Babbage himself, in which he gives his final views on the 

 subject of calculating-machines in general. M. Lalanne here 

 publishes two original letters of Mr. Babbage referring to that 

 document, and dated June 19, 1S51. — Examination of two 

 theorems connected with the rule of Newton ; conclusions, by 

 M. E. de Jonquieres. — Remarks on the volcanic debris collected 

 on the east coast of the island of Mayotte, .it the north-west 

 end of Madagascar, by M. E. de Jonquieres. These debris, 

 which were thrown up in considerable quantities on May 16, 

 1884, consisted of fine pumice, probably from Krakatoa. 

 Amongst them was a large specimen already incrusted with 

 shells. They appear to have traversed a distance of about 3S40 

 nautical miles in 259 days at a mean velocity of 14S miles a day. 

 — Note on the phenomenon of globular electric bolts, two illus- 

 trations, by M. Gaston Plante. The author produces artificially 

 effects analogous to those of the fire-balls so often witnessed in 

 the atmosphere. — Researches on some combinations formed by 

 haloid sails with thi -alts of the same metal, by M. 



H. de Chatelier. — Note on the influence of heat on the respira- 

 tory organs, by M. Ch. Richet. — Note on the influence of 

 intellectual work on the elimination of phosphoric acid by the 

 urine, by M. A. Mairet. — Anatomy of the maxillary apparatus 

 in the locust, grasshopper, cricket, and oilier members of the 

 family of grinding insects, by M. J. Chatin. — Contributions to 

 the history of the Pliocene flora of Java, by M. L. Crie. — On 

 some peculiar luminous phenomena observed about the sun at 

 Morges, on the Lake of Geneva, by M. F. A. Forel. — Notes 

 were received from M. Ch. W. Zenger on the possible existence 

 of still undiscovered planetary bodies ; from M. L Jaubert on 

 an aerolite seen on July 10 ; and from M. L. Favre on a 

 classification of the sciences. 



CONTENTS Page 



Technical Instruction, II 3S1 



Cotterill's "Applied Mechanics." By Dr. J. F. 



Main 382 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Graham's " Graphic and Analytic Statics in Theory 



and Comparison " 383 



Letters to the Editor :— 



School Museums.— Dr. J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S. . 384 



The Red Glows.— Prof. W. N. Hartley 384 



Remarkable Raised Sea-Bed near Lattakia, Syria. — 

 Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S. ; Rev. Dr. George 



E. Post 384 



A Carnivorous Wasp.— F. N 385 



Intelligence of a Frog. — R. R 385 



Meteor. — Rev. J. Hoskyns-Abrahall 385 



Podalirius minutus. — H. C. Chadwick 3S5 



Scales 3S5 



The Fishery Board for Scotland 3S7 



The History of a Typhoon 3S8 



Healthy Schools 3SS 



Notes from the Leyden Museum 3S9 



Przevalsky's Wild Horse. (Illustrated) 391 



The Difference between the Sea and Continental 

 Climate with Regard to Vegetation. By Dr. M. 



Bergsman 392 



Notes 394 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Schmidt's Variable-Star in Virgo 397 



The New Comet 397 



Brorsen's Comet 397 



The Forests of Northern Europe 397 



The American Initiative in Methods of Deep-Sea 



Dredging. By Richard Rathbun 399 



Why Tropical Man is Black. By Surgeon-Major 



Nathaniel Alcock 401 



Scientific Serials 403 



Societies and Academies 4°3 



