Oct. 



-D> 



1877] 



NA TURE 



567 



Part 3 (September). — Prof. A. Wrzesniowski (Warsaw), Con- 

 tributions to the natural history of the infusoria, 57 pages, 3 

 plates, ccntaining descriptions of many new species, and discus- 

 sions on Oxytnclia, Efislylis JJavkans, Ofhrydhini versatile, &c. 

 — Marie von Chauvin, on the power of adaptation of the larva: 

 of Salainaiidra atrci. — Ernst Zeller, on the reproduction of 

 opalina (parasitic on batrachians), z plates. — W. Kurz, studies on 

 the lernaiopods, 3 plates. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Entomological Society, October 3. — Prof. J. O. Westwood, 

 M.A., F.L.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. W. L. Distant 

 exhibited a specimen of the ravages of Dermesks rulpinus in a 

 cargo of dried hides from China. On the arrival of the cargo in 

 this cour'ry it was found to be swarming with the insect in all 

 stages.— ." ■. McLachlan also exhibited a piece of wood which 

 had formed part of a case containing hides from Shanghai and 

 which was riddled vvith borings of the larva; of the same insect. 

 The president remarked tbat his attention had been directed 

 some years ago to the depredations of this larva in a cargo of 

 coik. — Prof. Westwood exhibited a drawing of the pupa of a 

 species of Anabolia which swam about in water like a A'otonecta 

 and was remarkable for usirg its middle legs as swimming appa- 

 ratus. Prof. Westwood also made remarks upon the homolojry 

 of the mouth organs in the pupje of Trichoptera and suggested 

 that the mandibles of the pupa: (which are aborted in imago) are 

 for the purpose of eating their way out of the cases in which they 

 undergo their transformation. — The president next exhibited a 

 small lepidopterous insect from Lake Nyassa with a pupa case 

 of a species of TacJnua from which it was supposed to have 

 been bred. — Prof. Westwood next called the attention of the 

 Society to the remarkable lepidopterous lorva attached to the 

 homopterous larva which had been handed to him by Mr. Wood- 

 Mason at the last meeting and stated his belief that the relation of 

 the Lepidopteron to the Homopteron was probably one of true para- 

 sitism, the former (Epipyrops) feeding on the wax secreted by the 

 latter. Mr. Wood-Mason stated that he was inclined to consider 

 the Epipyrops larva as a messmate of the Homopteron having 

 attached itseif to the latter for the sake of bein.; carried about to 

 its food-plant and having covered itself with the waxy secretion 

 for the purp oie of rendering itself inconspicuous to its foes. — 

 Prof. Westwood then exhibited a moth fiom Brazil which had 

 been bred from a caterpillar found among the hairs of 

 some animal. — The president finally read a note from Albert 

 Miiller announcing the formation of an entomological station at 

 Basle. — Mr. Meldola announced tliat the Longicotn beetle re- 

 ceived from Birkenhead and exhibited at the last meeting had 

 been identified by Mr. C. O. Waterhouse as Moiwhaininus titit- 

 latus. Fab., a species inhabiting the United Stales. Mr. Meldola 

 also exhibited a collection of l.epidoptera formed by him in 1S75 

 in Ceylon and the Nicobar Islands. — Mr. II. Goss exhibited a 

 series of Lycizna Arion taken in the Cotswolds which were 

 remarkable on accovmt of the small size of some of the speci- 

 mens, about one-third being below the average size. — Mr. 

 McLachlan read a paper on A'oliolhaunia Radi, a remarkable 

 new genus and species of Neuroptera Irom Chili pertaining to 

 the family I'aitorpida-. — A paper was communicated by Mr. 

 A. G. Butler on the Lepidoptera of the family LithosiidtC in the 

 collection of the British Museum. 



Welli.ngton 

 Philosophical Society, July 21. — Mr. W. T. L. Travers, 

 F.L. S., president, in the chair. — The hon. M r. Mantell read a paper 

 by Mr. J. C. Crawford, F.G.S., on gold found in the locks of 

 tire Tararua and Kimulaka ranges in the province of Wellington. 

 Mr. Crawford had forwarded a specimen to Melbourne, and 

 Mr. J. Chapnan, the assayer to the bank of Victoria, had 

 reported that the specimen was composed of sulphate of iron, 

 and gold at the rate of I cz. per ton. The hon. Mr. Mantell 

 said he would like some explanation regarding the presence of 

 sulphate of iron. Dr. Hector stated that there must have been 

 some mistake, probably iron bi-sulphide was meant. He re- 

 minded the society that a great deal had been done in prospeclirg 

 the country refened to by Mr. Crawford, and that in 1869 he 

 (Dr. Hector) had communicated to the society the results 

 obtained. Eighteen analyses had been made of quartz specimens 

 .from reefs in the district ; of these only six liad proved auiifetous, 



varying from mere traces up to 13 dwts. per ton of gold, the 

 richest being frcm Wainuiomata, the same locality from which 

 Mr. Crawford's specimen had come. In his former communica- 

 tion he had warned prospectors against the solid quartz reefs 

 which traverse the sandstones and slate, as the {.'old at Makara 

 and Terawiti appears to occur in jointed sandstone', chiefly as 

 dendritic films. — Capt. Edwin, R. N., communicated a notice by 

 Mr. J. F. Marten, of Russell, Bay of Islands, regarding the 

 occurrence of the tidal wave which took place on May 1 1 last. 

 Mr. Travers said he had observed this uccurrence in Wellington 

 harbour, and that he believed Dr. Hector had taken observa- 

 tions of the rise and fall. Some years ago a similar wave was 

 observed in New Zealand, after which we had news of an earth- 

 quake in America, and no doubt the wave on May 1 1 last was 

 due to a like cause. — Dr. Hector reported that tidal disturbance 

 on May 1 1 had been observed on every part of the New Zealand 

 coast, and also in Australia in the same manner, but not so in- 

 tensely as the waves of August, 1S6S. The origin of the waves 

 on that occasion was clearly trace 1 to a great volcanic disturb- 

 ance near the west coast of South America, and in this instance 

 a violent convulsion has also been reported from that quarter as 

 having occurred on May 10. We have not the full particulars 

 yet, but if this date is correct the wave felt on our coast must 

 have been due to a still earlier shock, perhaps in some other 

 place, as it was first noticed at 5 A.M. on the iiih, corresponding 

 to I P.M. of the loth on the South American coast. From this 

 date must be subtracted a'lout seventeen hours for the time of 

 transmission of the wave across the Pacific Ocean, which would 

 require that the shock should have taken place about 8 A.M. on 

 the 9th. This tends to confirm the belief that there is a period- 

 icity in earthquakes, and that they occur independently at 

 distant localities at nearly the same time. He observed that a 

 writer in the last received number of Nature notices this coin- 

 cidence in reporting a sharp earthquake at Comrie, in Scotland, 

 on May 11. At Napier, where the engineer of the harbour 

 works, Mr. Weber, mak s e.xact observations, the tides were 

 disturbed from the nth to the igth. The position of Napier 

 renders it peculiarly sensitive to oceanic oscillations. Thus on 

 May I the highest sea ever experienced in Napier washed over 

 the shingle spit and damaged the rails in front of the Court-house. 

 This phenomenon was only local, and attributed to a long con- 

 tinuance of south-east wind. He called attention to a recent 

 paper by Mr. Russell, the Government Astronomer at Sydney 

 (Jjitrii. Ast. Soc. N.S.W., 1S76, p. 37), which states that the 

 slightest earth shocks felt in New Zealand are nearly always 

 recorded on the tide gauges in Sydney and Newcastle, and are 

 most unaccountably coincident with abnormal readings of one of 

 the thermometers in the Observatory. If we had well-placed 

 tide-gauges on the New Zealand coasts it is probable the most 

 interesting results would be obtained. Every addition to the 

 obs:rved facts bearing on this subject would be valuable. The 

 investigation of earthquakes would be similar to that of 

 the influence of sun-spots recenily examined by Prof. Balfour 

 Stewart, in so far that the release of prodigious latent 

 energies might depend on very obscure and trivial ex- 

 citing causes. Mr. Carruthers said he did not consider 

 it necessary to suppose that seventeen hours must elapse 

 before a tidal wave due to the same cause as the South American 

 earthquake would reach New Zealand. He did not think the 

 earthquake caused wave, but that both were due to the same 

 cause. He thought earthquakes were locally intensified exhibi- 

 tions of a great deep-seated movement of the floor of the ocean, 

 and that if the floor were not in movement an earthquake, how- 

 ever violent, would be unable to propagate a wave for such 

 distances as from America to New Zealand. The intensified 

 action which so often shows itself in this part of South America 

 he thought was due largely to the great bend made in the line of 

 elevation of the Andes at this point, which had the effect of con- 

 verting a deep-seated movem:nt of the earth's crust into a violent 

 crushing of the surface. Dr. Hector explained that the petioi 

 of seventeen hours for the transmission of a wave across the 

 Pacific Ocean was derived from observation in 1S6S, when the 

 commotion of the sea extended not only to New Zealand and 

 Australia, but to Japan, Sandwich Islands, and the Cape of 

 Good Hope. He agreed that earthquakes were widespread 

 phenomena locally intensified, but it is the strong local convulsion 

 that originates the oceanic waves. Such waves could not keep 

 pace with a tremor propagated through the solid floor of the 

 ocean, which travels at six times greater speed and generates 

 what is teniicd i\\e forced va-e. The ocean wave once generated 

 would take its own time. Dr. Newman did not think we had 



