NATURE 
[Fume 15, 1871 

glanced at the well-known phenomena of the same kind at St. 
Acheul and Schussenried, and gave a list of articles received by 
the Museum of Dresden from the pile-buildings of Robenhausen, 
in the Pfaffikon Lake. Prof. Geinitz also noticed the contents 
of some recent anthropological publications.—M. Klemm ex- 
hibited a ring of serpentine, measuring about two inches in 
diameter, found in the year 1835, in an urn in Lower Lusatia. 
—In the mineralogical and geological section, M. C. Bley noticed 
the occurrence of roestone in the neighbourhood of Bemburg, 
and ascribed the peculiar structure of the stone to the great 
amount of salt contained in the water from which the carbonate 
of lime for its formation was precipitated.—Prof. Geinitz re- 
ferred to the discovery of a well-preserved molar of Avlefhas 
primigenius in the bed of the Elbe below Kotschenbroda, and 
also exhibiteda great number of marly concretions and transported 
blocks from the loam pits between Strehlen and Mockritz. He 
also noticed some of the localities in which fossils are to be found 
in the Loess. M. H. Engelhardt communicated notices of some 
plants from the brown coalof Saxony, namely, Anona cacaoides 
Zenk. sp., Gardenia pomaria Schl. sp. (=G. Wetzleri Heer), 
Livistona Geinitzi n. sp., Glyptostrobus europeus Brongn, sp., and 
a species of Carfolithes—Prof. Geinitz communicated a list of 
some corals from the Lower Planer of Plauen, which had been 
determined by Dr. W. Bolsche ; eleven species are enumerated 
of which six are indicated as new, namely, J/oz/livaltia (?) tourti- 
ensis, Thecosmilia (?) Geinitzt, Latimeandra, Fromenteli, Psam- 
mohelia granulata, Thamnastrea tenuissima, Dimorphastrea 
Dunkani, and Astrocenia tourtiensis.—M. Engelhardt communi- 
cated a paper on the Loess in Saxony, in which he described the 
general nature and mode of occurrence of the deposit, and the 
special peculiarities presented by it in particular localities. In 
connection with this paper and the concretions from the Loess 
exhibited by Prof. Geinitz at a previous meeting, M. Klemm 
presented a memoir on concretions and on the globular forms 
occurring in the minerals and rocks.—Dr. O. Schneider noticed 
the minerals occurring in the granite of the Konigshayner moun- 
tains, and in the Zechstein of Niederludwigsdorf near Gorlitz, 
and described some crystals of zircon received from Haddam in 
Connecticut.—Prof. Geinitz reported upon some fossils from a 
sandy deposit of Cretaceous age at Chateau de Meauene near 
Angers. The predominant form is Siphonia pyriformts Goldf. 
Three species of Pa/macites are noticed, and one of them is 
described as a new species under the name of P. Boxberge— 
In the mathematical, physical, and chemical section, the only 
paper of which particulars are given is a description by Prof. 
Klein of an apparatus invented by him to enable the magnetic 
needle to be employed on board of armour-plated ships. The 
arrangement consists of a compass placed at the mast-head and 
connected with an electro-magnetic apparatus, by which an index is 
moved.—In the Zoological Section Prof. Giinther gave a short 
exposition of the comparative anatomy of the brain in mammalia, 
—M. Engelhardt exhibited some corals and shells obtained from 
Guano.—Dr. Ebert remarked upon Huxley’s Bathybius.—M. 
C. F. Seidel described the excrescences and other deformities 
produced on the stalk of the common cabbage by a small weevil, 
Baris cuprirostris.—Dr. Ebert referred to the support afforded 
to the theory of the evolution of organic types by the discovery 
of the curious lizard, Hatteria punctata, upon the anatomy of 
which Dr. Giinther has given us such interesting information. 
Dr. Ebert tabulates the characters of the orders of reptiles to show 
in what a singular manner //a/teria combines their peculiarities. — 
Dr. Schneider noticed the scorpions collected by him in Egypt.— 
Dr. Mehwald noticed the occurrence of a snake (Coronella levis) 
and ofa lizard (Z. agilts 7) as far north as 62° and 63° in Norway ; 
and M. Kirsch gave some account of experiments with vipers 
and the common snake. According to the latter the bite of a 
new-born viper, five inches long, killed a mouse in a short time ; 
snakes killed by decapitation exhibit irritability by galvanism 
for a very much longer time than those destroyed by poison; 
and the common snake ( 7yofidonotus matrix) is the only snake 
indigenous to Bavaria that attacks frogs.—The Botanical Section 
received from M. C. Wilhelmi an account of those Australian 
plants which may furnish nourishment to man. The abstract of 
this paper here published enumerates a considerable number of 
plants, parts of which are used as food chiefly by the natives.— 
The rest of the communications to this section require no men- 
tion, except a report by M. F. A, Weber upon Hildebrand’s 
work on the sexual relations of the Composita.—At one of the 
general meetings Prof. Hartig reported upon the applicability 
of varius kinds of wood to the manufacture of paper, 

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LonDON 
Zoological Society, June 6.—Mr. G. Busk, vice-president, 
in the chair. Prof. Owen, F.R.S., read a paper on Dinornis, 
being the seventeenth of his series of communications on these 
extinct birds. The present paper gave a description of the 
sternum and pelvis, and an attempted restoration of the whole 
skeleton of Affornis defossor.—Prof. Flower, F.R.S., gave a 
description of a specimen of the so-called Risso’s Dolphin which 
had been taken in a mackerel-net near the Eddystone Lighthouse, 
and of a second specimen of the same dolphin subsequently pur- 
chased in Billingsgate Market. After a searching investigation 
of the history of this supposed species, Prof. Flower came to the 
conclusion that the differences usually held to separate it from the 
Delphinus griseus of Cuvier were untenable, and that the species 
should be correctly designated Grampus griseus.—A second 
paper was read by Prof. Flower on a specimen of the Ringed or 
Marbled Seal, which had been obtained on the coast of Norfolk, 
being the first certain instance of the occurrence of this seal in 
the British seas, To this was added some remarks on the diffi- 
cult questions presented by the synonymy of this species, which, 
after full consideration, Prof. Flower came to the conclusion 
ought to be called Poca hispida.—A paper was read by Prof. 
W. Peters, giving a description of the Bats collected by Mr. F. 
Day, in Burmah. The collection contained a very interesting 
new form of Rhinolophi, which Dr. Peters proposed to call Phy/lo- 
rhina trifida.—A communication was read from Dr, A. Giinther, 
F.R.S., containing the description of a new species of Teius 
( Zeius rufescens) from Mendoza, founded on five specimens of 
this lizard living in the Society’s Gardens.—Mr. A. G. Butler 
communicated a Monograph of the Lepidoptera hitherto in- 
cluded in the genus 7/ynias.—A second communication was 
read from Mr. Butler, containing a revision of the species of 
Butterflies formerly included in the genus Zerias (Pierinz).—A 
paper by Dr. J. E. Gray was read, containing a reply to Mr. 
Theobald’s observations on Dr. Gray’s paper on the families 
and genera of Tortoises, printed in a recent part of the Society’s 
«* Proceedings.” 
Chemical Society, June -1.—Prof. Frankland, F.R.S., 
president, in the chair.—The following gentlemen were elected 
Fellows: H. Adrian, H. Durham, G. Martineau, E. Neison.— 
Dr. Debus, F.R.S., delivered a lecture ‘‘On Ozone.” The first 
who had observed that the passage of electric sparks through 
oxygen brings about a change in the properties of this gas was 
Van Marum. The next to take up the subject was Schonbein, 
in 1840. He ascribed the peculiar odour and the more energetic 
oxidising properties of the altered oxygen to a substance which he 
termed ozone. He also found that ozone may be prepared by 
many other methods. His experiments, however, led to no 
positive results, as regards the nature of ozone. It was through 
the researches of Marignac and De la Rive that ozone was shown 
to be nothing but an allotropic modification of oxygen. Dr. 
Debus then discussed the question whether there existed another 
modification of oxygen, called antozone, and answered the pro- 
position negatively—the substance called antozone was only 
peroxide of hydrogen. The lecturer concluded by calling special 
attention to one of the characteristic reactions of ozone, viz., the 
decomposition of potassic iodide, which reaction is differently 
explained by the various observers. Schdnbein has shown that 
potassic iodide protects free iodine against the action of potassic 
hydrate. It may be assumed that potassic hydrates and an 
jodine solution react upon one another thus : 
KHO + I, = KIO + HI, and then KHO + HI= KI + H,O; 
if now an excess of potassic iodide be added, the potassic hypo- 
iodite and potassic iodide produce again potassic oxide (which 
becomes in its turn a hydrate) and iodine, and the excess of 
iodide prevents the action of KHO on the iodine, but not that of 
the latter on starch. 
Society of Biblical Archeology, June 6.— Mr. Samuel 
Birch, LL.D., F.S.A., president, in the chair. The following 
ladies and gentlemen were proposed by the council for ballot at 
the next meeting :—Rev. A. H. Sayce, Queen’s College, Oxford, 
E. R. Hodges, late of Jerusalem, Mrs. J. W. Bosanquet, and 
Miss Dorothy Best, of Maidstone. Mr. George Smith (British 
Museum) read an elaborate and interesting paper ‘* On the Early 
History of Babylonia.” Commencing with a vésumé of facts 
already ascertained by the labours of Sir Henry Rawlinson and 
—— 
