Mar. 13, 1873| 
all the species of Uncinia, is the continuation. If the perigy- 
nium is really formed of a single scale, Kunth’s view is very 
plausible, but the two keels or principal nerves, which in most 
species end in two points or lobes, are strong evidences of its 
double nature. Kunth explains that circumstance by the sup- 
pression of the central nerve or keel owing to pressure, of which, 
however, there is no appearance in any speciesexamined. Payer 
states also positively that the two are distinct at an early stage, 
and unite asthey grow up ; but implicit reliance is not always to 
be placed upon his having always clearly seen the minute micro- 
scopic and obscure protuberances he delineates. Schleiden de- 
lineates the two parts of the perigynium and the seta as forming 
three parts of one whole ; but his drawing is not to be depended 
upon, as he places them in a wrong position with relation to the 
axis and the subtending glume. Kunth confirms his views by a 
comparison with the palea and occasional seta of Graminez, but 
here the position of the two parts in the two orders is by no 
means homologous. Independently of the relation to the other 
parts of the flower, the seta or prolonged axis in Graminez is 
_ outside the palez, in Carex inside the perigynium, A stronger 
confirmation is taken from two South African species of Schce- 
noxiphium (not generically distinct from Carex) in which the seta 
occasionally bears a spikeof maleflowers. This spikeappears to be 
sterile, and may be acase of prolification, but requires further inves- 
tigation. Ifit bea normal spike, we must conclude the perigynium 
or subtending glume to be formed of one scale ; for two opposite 
scales at the base of an alternate inflorescence is a derangement 
of the ordinary course of change from the alternative vegetative 
organs to the opposite or whorled floral organs, which is be- 
lieved to have no example at least in Monocotyledons. If the 
perigynium is formed of two scales they must belong to the floral 
whorls, They are not subtending bracts analogous to the two 
free bracts of Diplacrum, or the united ones of Hoppia, for in 
both those cases the female flowers are terminal without any other 
subtending glume, and in Carex the female flower is lateral, and 
the perigynium is within one outer subtending glume. That 
they are two out of three parts of a real perianth is rendered 
improbable by their great development in one sex in an order 
where it is in all other genera suppressed or rudimentary, and 
without any trace of it in the other sex. The only remaining 
supposition is that the perigynium and seta represent the stamens 
of the male flowers, and are therefore in fact staminodia. The 
position with relation to the axis and subtending glume is the 
same, and although they are very different in form and texture, 
that difference is much diminished in U/ncinia longifolia where 
the dilated filaments of the males assume the aspect nearly of 
_ the perigynium of the females. The lobes of the perigynium in 
Carex subulata, and occasionally in some Unciniz, have the look 
of the seta of Uncinia, and in one instance that seta bore a per- 
fect anther. Brown confirmed his view of the perianth-nature 
of the perigynium bya specimen of Carex acuta with stamens 
within the perigynium. An examination of beautiful specimens 
of this form of Carex acuta, gathered by Mr. Spruce in Yorkshire, 
shows, from the position and structure of the stamens bearing 
perigynia, that they are altered female flowers in which more or 
less imperfect stamens replace the carpellary leaves of which the 
pistil is formed. If this homology of the perigynium with the 
andreecium of the male flower is thought plausible, it is still 
doubtful, and the doubt can only be solved by a careful repetition 
_ of Payer’s observations, and a repeated study of the anomalies 
of Schoenoxiphium, and of those species of Carex in which the 
seta is variously developed, many of the forms delineated in the 
late Dr. Booth’s splendid illustrations of the genus requiring a 
special study on the specimens themselves. 
Zoological Society, March 4.—Mr. John Gould, F.R.S., 
V.P., in the chair—Mr. Edwin Ward exhibited the original 
leg-bones of Dinornis maximus, from Glenmark Swamp, near 
Christchurch, New Zealand, described by Prof. Owen in the 
Society’s ‘‘ Transactions,” belonging to Col. Michael.—A com- 
_ munication was read from the Rev. O. P. Cambridge on the 
spiders of St. Helena, founded on the collections made in. that 
island by’Mr. Melliss. The total number of known spiders of 
St. Helena was stated to be forty, of which eleven were now 
described for the first time, The species were mostly European 
in form.—A communication was read from Dr. John Anderson, 
F.Z.S., Curator of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, on the species 
and dentition of the Southern Asiatic Shrews, preliminary to a 
oo monograph of the group.—A communication was read 
rom Mr. M. R. Butler, being the description of a remarkable 
new species of butterfly, of the genus Zwnaécia, from Penang.— 
NATURE 
373 
Messrs. P. L, Sclater and O, Salvin read a paper on the birds of 
Eastern Peru, with notes on the habits of the birds by Mr. E. 
Bartlett. The total number of species hitherto recorded as met 
with in the district was stated to be 473, of which 108 were un- 
known elsewhere.—A communication was read from Surgeon- 
Major Francis Day on some new or imperfectly known fishes of 
India.—A communication was read from Mr. G. E. Dobson, 
M.B., on secondary sexual characters in the [Chiroptera. Mr. 
Dobson pointed out that, contrary to what Mr. Darwin had 
believed to be the case, special structural characters existed in 
the males of species of the genera Phyllorhina Taphozous, and 
other genera of bats. 
Anthropological Institute, Feb. 18.—Prof. Busk, F. R.S., 
president, in the chair, Sir John Lubbock, Bart. exhibited two 
heads of Macas Indians, and contributed a note of the mode of 
their preparation. Mr. W. Topley read a paper ‘‘On the 
Relation of Parish Boundaries in the south-east of England to 
Great Physical Features, particularly to the Chalk Escarpment.” 
March [4,—Prof. Busk, F.R.S., president, in the chair.—A 
paper was read by Dr. A. Campbell ‘* On the Looshais,” a people 
inhabiting the hill district of Chittagong. They are fairer in com- 
plexion than the people of the plains, and their features resemble 
those of the Malays rather than the Tartar-like people of Mum- 
pore. They have no distinction of caste; marriage is a civil 
contract, dissolvable at the will of both husband and wife. The 
men live by hunting, whilst the women are engaged in household 
work.—Sir Duncan Gibb read a paper on “ Stone Implements 
and Pottery from Canada.” After describing a collection of 
arrow and spear heads, some hatchets, and pottery collected by 
himself in various parts of Canada, he considered the first two as 
the most ancient implements found in that country, for reasons 
which he gave, and placed the period of their use at about 200 
B.C., although he saw no reason why they might not have been 
employed 4,000 years ago.—Mr. Hodder M. Westropp con- 
tributed a short paper on ‘‘ The Ventnor Flints,” descriptive of 
fragments of flint and other stone, bearing resemblances to the 
true arrow-heads and implements of ancient manufacture ; and it 
was shown that the specimens exhibited were wanting in the bulb 
of percussion and the chipping at the edge which characterised 
the genuine articles—The President described an Australian 
skeleton from the Murray River, which had been sent to the 
museum of the institute by Dr. Robert Peel, of Adelaide. It 
was announced that further committees had been appointed for 
Physical Characters of Mankind; Priscan Archeology; and 
Descriptive Ethnography. 
Chemical Society, March 6.—Dr. Gladstone, F.R.S., vice- 
president, in the chair. The following communications were 
read: ‘*On the action of hydrochloric acid on codeine,” by 
Dr. C. R. A. Wright, being a continuation in the codeine series 
of the author’s former researches on morphine, ‘‘ On new pro- 
cesses for mercury estimation with some observations on mercury 
salts,” by J. B. Hannay. ‘‘On a method of estimating nitric 
acid,” by T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S.E., the process depending on 
the ease with which nitric acid is converted into ammonia by 
the copper-zinc couple of Messrs. Gladstone and Tribe. ‘* Note 
on a reaction of the acetates upon lead salts with remarks on 
the solubility of lead chloride,” by F. Field, F.R.S. ‘‘ Ob- 
servations on the nature of the black deposit in the copper-zinc 
couple,” by J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S. and A. Tribe, F.C.S. 
**On an air-bath of constant temperature between 100° and 
200° C.,” by Dr. H. Sprengel. This consists of a bath similar 
to the ordinary chemical hot-water oven but made of sheet-lead 
and filled with dilute sulphuric acid of such a strength as to boil 
at the desired temperature. 
Entomological Society, Feb. 17.—Prof. Westwood, 
president, in the chair.—Mr. Bond exhibited bred specimens of 
Acronycta tridens and A. Psi, showing the differences between 
the two species. —Mr. Miiller exhibited some spiral cases of a 
species of Psyche, and also the egg-case of a species of Mantis, 
both sent from Calcutta by Mr. James Rothney.—Prof. West- 
wood exhibited two dipterous larvee preserved in spirits, dis- 
charged by a woman in a clot of phlegm, which were probably 
larvae of Psi/a ros@, swallowed with raw carrots. After they had 
been immersed in spirits for three or four days he took them out 
for examination, and was surprised to find that they were still 
alive. He also showed drawings of vine-stems, with ex- 
crescences caused by a beetle (Oszorhynchus).—Mr. H. W 
Bates read a paper on the geodephagous beetles of Japan, col- 
