NATURE 
4 
4 
~ (Mar. 13, 1873 
372 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
Tut American Naturalist for February, among others, con- 
tains an article by Dr. Gill on ‘*The Limits of the Class of 
Fishes,” in which he endeavours to modify their generally ac- 
cepted classification by dividing them up into two classes and 
three sub-classes, of equal significance with the reptiles and 
birds. The names he proposes are (1) Pisces; (2) Marsipo- 
branchii ; and (3) Leptocardii, which sufficiently indicate the 
genera he includes in eachclass. Such an amount of division we 
think excessive, and it would undoubtedly necessitate the re- 
moval of the crocodiles from the reptilia, among other changes. 
Mr. A. S. Packard gives an account of one of the beaks of a 
cuttle-fish, probably Architeuthis dux, which is four and a half 
inches long ; he also describes other colossal specimens. There 
is a paper by Prof. Jordan on the colours of vegetation, one by 
Dr. Abbott on the habits of certain crawfish, and another by 
Dr. Foster on the pottery of the mound-builders, which is fully 
illustrated. 
THE Munich Zeitschrift fiir Biologie, Bd. 8, Heft 4, contains 
the following papers of purely medical interest : on the occurrence 
of enteric fever in the Bavarian army, by Dr. Port, with charts 
of the mortality in the different barracks and of the amount of 
subsoil water ; On the present state of the cholera problem, by 
Prof. von Pettenkofer ; and on the processes of decomposition 
which result from venesection, by Dr. J. Bauer, 
Schriften der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Danzig, New 
Series, vol. 3, Part I. The first paper in this publication of 
the Danzig Society is a contribution to primitive German history 
by Dr. Lissaicer of Danzig, being a very careful and elaborate 
monograph on some skulls found at Meisterswalde and Krissau, 
a short distance from Danzig. The paper is accompanied by 
some capitally executed photographs of the skulls. The next 
paper is also a contribution to the history of the early inhabitants 
of Pomerania, being a description by Herr Kasiski of the nu- 
merous and varied contents of some of the ancient graves which 
abound in the district around the village of Persanzig, on the 
river Persante, a short distance west of Neustettin. The dis- 
trict abounds with material for the archzologist. The paper is 
accompanied with numerous illustrations of the contents of the 
graves. The next paper is a long one by Dr. C. J. H. Lampe, 
of Danzig, on the Movement of Water in pipes, accompanied by 
some calculations as to the pressure and speed of the water in 
the pipes by which Danzig is now supplied with water from a 
considerable distance. This paper is also illustrated, as is also 
the last one, which is the fifth part of A. Menge’s Catalogue 
of Prussian Spiders. 
Der Zoologische Garten (Frankfurt a, M.), January 1873, con- 
tains an excellent article, with maps in illustration, of the 
geographical distribution of the Birds of Paradise, with 
which are included Zfimachus and Ptiloris. There is also 
an article by Dr. H. Dorner on the tongue of the Ka-ka 
Parrot (Vestor meridionalis), in which he shows clearly that 
in structure it presents none of the characters of the 7yicho- 
glossine, and in other points his results quite agree with those 
read before the Zoological Society of London in June last, al- 
though he, following Dr. Finsch, does not feel disposed to remove 
this parrot from among those with trichoglossal tongues, because 
of a supposed similarity in their beaks, which we find it difficult 
to appreciate, the Ka-ka’s being black and ribbed, whilst 
that of Lorius is smooth and with an orange tint. There is 
not the least doubt that, now it has been doubly demonstrated 
that their tongues are not similarly constructed, there is not any 
good reason for associating the Nestors with the Lories. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LONDON 
Royal Society, March 6.—‘‘On the Vapour-density of 
potassium.”—Preliminary notice. By James Dewar and William 
Dittmar, 
The results of their observations conclusively show that the 
density of potassium-vapour, asproduced in the process described, 
cannot exceed 45 times that of hydrogen, and that therefore the 
molecule of potassium consists of ¢wo atoms (Ky). 
‘*On New Sources of Ethyl- and Methyl-Aniline.” By John 
Spiller, F.C.S, 
**Ona new genus of Amphipod Crustaceans. By Rudolph 
von Willemoes-Suhm, Ph,D., Naturalist to the Challenger ex- 
ploring expedition. 
In lat. 35° 47’, long. 8° 23’, off Cape St. Vincent, the traw 
was sent down toa depth of 1090 fathoms on the 28th of Januaryl 
and brought up among other very, interesting things a larg, 
transparent Amphipod with enormous facetted eyes. The animale 
evidently hitherto unknown, will be the type of a new genus, 
having the following characters :-— 
THAUMOPS, nov. gen. 
Caput oblongum, inflatum, oculis maximis superiorem capitis 
partem tegentibus. Segmenta thoracica 6, abdominalia 5. 
Antennarum in feminis par unum, maxillarum par unum, 
pedum paria duo minima maxillarum locum tenentia. 
Mandibulz nullz. Pedes thoracici 5, abdominales 3 in 
quoque latere. Appendices caudales 4. Gangliorum pecto- 
ralium paria 5, abdominalium 3. 
T. pellucida, n. sp. 
Corpus longitudine 14 mm,, latitudine 21 mm., pellucidum, 
It could not be made out whether 7: fe//ucida inhabits the 
deep sea, or whether it is, like Phronima, a pelagic animal, 
having been caught by the trawl only as the latter came up from 
the depth. 
Geological Society, February 26.—Prof. Ramsay, F.R.S., 
vice-president, in the chair.—The following communications 
were read :—‘‘ On the Jurassic Rocks of Skye and Raasay,” by — 
Dr. James Bryce. In this paper the author described numerous 
sections of Jurassic rocks exposed chiefly in the sea-cliffs of Skye 
and Raasay, indicating the presence in those islands of a com- 
plete series of beds ascending from the Lower Lias to the middle 
of the Middle Oolite. He noticed the occurrence in these sec- 
tions of fossils belonging to the zones of A mionites angulatus and 
A. Bucklandi in the Lower Lias, to the zones of A. Yamesoni, A. 
capricornus, A. margaritatus, and A, spinatus in the Middle 
Lias, of Upper Lias fossils, including Ammonites communis, 
Jalcifer, heterophyllus, and bifrons and of others indicating beds 
belonging to the Inferior Oolite and Cornbrash, and to the Ox- 
ford Clay. The Loch Staffin beds were described as an 
estuarine series, nearly approaching the Oxford Clay in geo- 
logical age, and including a bed almost entirely made up of 
shells of Ostrea hebridica, The whole series of Jurassic rocks 
in these islands reposes on the Toridon sandstone of Cam- 
brian age; and the author discussed the question whether or 
not the intervening beds have ever existed in this locality, and 
came to the conclusion that they probably existed, and have been 
swept away by denudation. He remarked further upon the 
resemblance in lithological characters of the beds described with 
the corresponding deposits elsewhere in Britain, The traprocks 
intruded between the Jurassic deposits he regarded as of 
post-oolitic date.—'* Observations on the more remarkable 
Boulders of the North-West of England and the Welsh 
Borders,” by Mr. D. Mackintosh. In this paper the author 
described the situation and indicated the probable origin of 
many of-the more striking known boulders in Westmoreland, 
Cumberland, Lancashire, Cheshire, and on the borders of Wales. 
The northern boulders seem to have orignated chiefly from Wast- 
dale Crag, Criffel, Ennerdale, and Eskdale ; those of Cheshire 
chiefly from the Lake District and South of Scotland ; and many 
of those on the Welsh borders from the mountains of Wales. 
Many of the boulders noticed by the author exhibit glacial strize. 
The author also especially referred to the occurrence of boulders 
at high levels. 
Linnean Society, March 6.—Mr. Bentham made some ob- 
servations on the homology ofthe perigynium or utricle of the 
female flowers of Carex and Uncinia, with a view to calling to 
the disputed points in question the attention of botanists used 
to microscopical investigation, who may have the opportunity of 
examining living specimens in the earliest stages of flowering. 
Two principal explanations of the homology of the perigynium 
of Carex have been given. Brown, relying upon its being com- 
posed of two squamee, considered that it represents a perianth, — 
and Payer and Schleiden have adopted the same view, after an 
examination of its appearance at a very early stage. Kunth, on 
the contrary, believed it to be formed of a single scale, and to 
be an ordinary glume subtending the female flower on a secon 
dary axis, of which the seta of many species of Carex, and of 
