Muy 15, 1873] 
NATURE 
59 
rus unicinctus), which was new to the Society’s collection ; also 
to a pair of White-necked Cranes (Grus wipio) from Japan. 
No example of this fine species, so far as was known, had pre- 
viously been brought alive to Europe.—Mr. Sclater exhibited 
some photographs of, and made some remarks on, a young spe- 
cimen of the Liberian Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus liberiensis) 
which had recently been received alive by the Zoological 
Society of Ireland, but had died shortly after its arrival.—A 
communication was read from the Rev. 0. P. Cambridge on 
some new species of Araneidea, chiefly from Oriental Siberia.— 
A communication was read from Mr. G. B. Sowerby, jun., on 
three species of land shells from Madagascar, which he proposed 
to call Cyclostoma suffusum, C. vexillum, and C. perspectivum, 
sps. nov.—A communication by Messrs. P. L. Sclater and O. 
Salvin contained notes on the range of certain species of Ameri- 
can Limiocole in the southern part of the New World. Two 
distinct species of Stilts (imantopus) were shown to occur in 
the Neotropical region—namely, ZH. nigricollis Viell., and 1. 
brasiliensis Brehm.—Mr. A. H. Garrod read a memoir on the 
variations of the carotid arteries of birds, in continuation of the 
labours of Bauer, Meckel, and Nitzsch upon this subject. Mr. 
Garrod’s observations were based principally npon specimens 
that had died in the Society’s gardens. 
Entomological Society, May 5.—Mr, H. T. Staunton, 
vice-president, in the chair.—Mr. Higgins exhibited a speci- 
men of Langia zeuzercides (one of the Sphingidz), from the 
Himalaya, bred by Major Buckley.’ He also exhibited a female 
specimen (the first that he had ever seen) of Goliathus albosig- 
nata, from Limpopo.—Mr. McLachian exhibited a coloured 
plate of butterflies as a sample of a work on the “ Natural 
History of Turkestan,” about to be published at the expense of 
the Government of that place, and founded on the entomological 
collections made by M. Alexis Fedtscheuko during the years 
1869-71. The work is to be published in the Russian language, 
with Latin diagnoses of the new species.—Mr. Bates pointed out 
a figure in the plate of Cocandica, a variety of Colias nastes, an 
insect belonging to Lapland, and remarked that it was an in- 
teresting fact that many species of insects belonging to Arctic 
regions were also found in mountainous districts much farther 
south, though not in the intervening plains. He mentioned also 
Colias paleno, which was found near the snow-line, in the Alps, 
and in Lapland.—Mr, Miiller also remarked on the close con- 
nection between the Arctic and Alpine insect faunas, referring 
particularly to Parnassius apol/o, which occurred in the north 
of Europe, but in Switzerland was confined to the Alps and the 
opposite Jurassian range, carefully avoiding the intervening 
alluvial plains, which in the glacial period had been covered with 
the glaciers of the Rhone, the Reuss, the Rhine, and minor tri- 
butaries. He added that if the actual stations of the species were 
mapped, they would all be found to exist outside, but along the 
moraines left by the ancient glaciers. —Dr. Sharp communicated 
a paper on the Staphylinidze of Japan,” principally from the 
collections formed by Mr. George Lewis.—A paper was read, 
entitled ‘‘ Notes on the Ephemeride,” by Dr. H. A. Hagen, 
compiled by the Rev. A. E. Eaton. 
Royal Horticultural Society, May 7.—General Meeting. 
—Viscount Bury, M.P., having been nominated by the Council, 
pending the Queen’s approval, to the office of president, took 
the chair.—The Rey. M. J. Berkeley commented upon the show. 
Prof. Thiselton Dyer called attention to the first appearance at 
the meetings of Odontoglossum vexillarium, a lovely orchid, with 
flat rose-coloured flowers, four inches across. It had flowered 
for the first time in the old world on April 19.* The late Mr. 
Bowman discovered it in New Grenada, on the western slopes 
of the Andes. It was more nearly allied to O. phalenopsis than 
to the type generally prevailing in the genus, 
Scientific Committee—Dr. J. D. Hooker, C.B., F.R.S., 
in the chair.—The Rev. M. J. Berkeley exhibited a shoot of 
Araucaria imbricata, illustrating the injury suffered by this plant 
from the punctures of the young leaves by the prickly points of 
those on the other branches.—Dr. Masters exhibited a drawing 
of a flower of Mr. Ware’s Primula veris var. chlorantha. It 
consisted of a mass of small leafy scales, the innermost of which 
were prolonged into styles and had ovules upon the edges. 
—Prof. Thiselton Dyer, adverting to some statements about the 
cultivation of fungi, stated that, according to: Thore, cited by 
Duchartre, Agaricus Palomet and Boletus edulis are sown in the 
Landes by watering the soil with water in which these species 
had been boiled. The spores of various other species will, it is 
said, endure a temperature of 212° F., and those of Pesiza repanda | 
even, according to Schmitz, 230° F.—The Rev. M. J. Berkeley 
said there was no doubt that fungus spores would bear a high 
temperature. The development of a Penicillium in the interior 
of loaves of the Zatz de munition almost immediately after they 
were drawn from the oven to the temperature of which the spores 
must have been fully exposed, was a case in point. Specimens 
of Cytinus hypocistis, the only European spécies of Raffiesiacee, 
were shown. They had been sent from Cannes by the Hon R. 
Bailie Hamilton, 
Institution of Civil Engineers, May 6.—Mr. T. Hawksley, 
president, in the chair.—The paper read was a history of the 
River Clyde, by Mr. James Deas, and gave an account of the 
various works carried out for improving it as a navigable river, 
and of the modes and cost of dredging and depositing followed 
in the deepening and widening of it. It was remarked that for 
no river in the kingdom had so much been done “‘ by art and 
man’s device” as for the Clyde above Port-Glasgow ; that the 
river from Glasgow, for twelve miles seaward, was nearly as 
much an artificial navigation as the Suez Canal. One hundred 
years ago the river was fordable even on foot twelve miles below 
Glasgow. The engineering works carried out in the Clyde, 
combined with the mineral resources of the district, had raised 
Glasgow from an insignificant provincial town, with a population 
in 1771 of only 35,000, to be the second city in the empire, 
with a population (including suburbs) of 566,150, according to 
the census of 1871. 
Royal Microscopical Society, May 7.—Dr. Millar, V.P., 
in the chair.—A paper by Dr. Maddox was read, ‘On a 
parasite (believed to be a species of Zama) found encysted in 
the neck of a sheep.” The general characteristics of the cyst 
and the appearance of sections of it under the microscope were 
fully described, as were also such portions of the parasite as 
could be separated from the general mass, and in which the 
presence of immature ova was particularly noted. The circum- 
stance of finding ova during the encysted condition of the 
creature was believed to be unique.—A paper was also read by 
Mr. W. K. Parker ‘‘ Onthe Development of the Facial Arches 
of the Sturgeon,” in which the formation and development of 
the mouth was minutely described, and the relation which it 
bore to that of the osseous fishes and to mammals pointed out. 
PHILADELPHIA 
Academy of Natural Sciences, January 14.—Dr. Ruschen- 
berger, president, in the chair.—Prof. Cope made some observa- 
tions on the structure and systematic position of the genus 
Eobasileus Cope. Uintatherium Leidy and Dinoceras Marsh 
were names applied to allied mammals, so that the same would 
probably apply tothem also. Until further evidence is presented, 
he adheres to his original position, that these animals are true 
Proboscidia, and cannot be referred to any other order.—‘‘ On 
the Forms of Artificial Oxide of Zinc,” by George A. Koenig, 
Ph. D.—‘‘On a Boiler Incrustation from New Jersey,” by George 
A. Koenig, Ph.D. 
January 21.—Dr. Bridges in the chair.—Notice of Fossil Ver- 
tebrates from the Miocene of Virginia. Prof. Leidy directed 
attention to some fossils, part of a small collection recently 
received. They were found imbedded in blue clay containing 
an abundance of fossil diatomes, among which Coscinodiscus is 
especially conspicuous. The fossil vertebrate remains consist 
mainly of vertebrze and teeth of cetaceans, vertebrze of bony 
fishes, teeth of sharks, and spines of rays. Among them also 
there is a portion of a humerus of a bird, and several worn teeth 
of apeccary. Besides these there are specimens which may be 
regarded as characteristic of the following undescribed species : 
Protocamelus virginiensis, Tautoga (Protautoga) conidens, Aci- 
penser ornatus.—Mr. Thomas Meehan offered to the Academy 
some facts in regard to the fertilisation of flowers which con- 
firmed the popular view that pollen of one variety had an 
immediate influence on the structure of the fruit of another 
variety, as well as on the progeny; and also furnished some 
entirely new facts in regard to the ability of a seed germ to receive 
impregnation from two distinct sources. Mr. Arnold of Paris, 
Canada, determined to observe the effect of cross fertilisation 
on Indian corn. He procured a very peculiar variety of which 
Mr. Meehan exhibited an ear, not known in the vicinity—a 
brown variety, with a circular dent at the apex—and raised one 
plant from it. The first set of flowers were permitted to be 
fertilised by their own pollen in order to test whether there was 
any reyersionary tendency in the plant, or the pollen of any other 
variety in the vicinity. The ear now produced was the result 
