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To the number for June, 1870, M. P. P. Dehérain con- 
tributes an extremely interesting paper “On the Evaporation 
of Water and the Decomposition of Carbonic Acid by the 
Leaves of Vegetables.” After mentioning the works of pre- 
vious investigators, he describes the process adopted and the 
results obtained in his experiments. The leaves were sur- 
rounded by a very light flask with a wide and short neck, or by 
an ordinary test tube in the case of long and narrow leaves, like 
those of graminiferous plants. The difference between the 
weight of the globe or tube before and after the experiment 
gave the quantity of water which was condensed from the 
leaves. The author finds that the evaporation takes place 
quite readily, even when the atmosphere surrounding the 
leaves is saturated with moisture. Different species cf plants 
evolve very different quantities of water under similar condi- 
‘tions, and the proportion of water seems to increase as the 
size of the leaf diminishes, ‘Vhus large leaves of colza evolved 
between 1 and 2 per cent. of their weight of water in an hour; 
smaller leaves II or 12 per cent., leaves of wheat between 70 
and 90 per cent., and of rye between 90 and 100 per cent. In 
direct sunlight the water evaporated very much exceeds that 
emitted in diffuse light and in perfect darkness. Thus barley 
evolved 74°2 per cent. indirect sunlight, 18-0 per cent. in diffuse 
light, and only 2°3 per cent. in the dark. Numerous experi- 
ments are cited to show that this is not caused by heat alone, 
for when the tube was surrounded with cold water, or even 
with melting ice, the quantity of water collected was increased, 
doubtless owing to the more complete condensation of the water. 
- Another series of experiments was made to determine if light 
of different colours had any influence on the amount of water 
excreted; and it was observed that yellow light, which also 
produces more rapid decomposition of carbonic anhydride 
under the influence of green leaves, is the most favourable to 
the evolution of water, It has recently been asserted by M. 
Prillieux that the variations observed when experimenting on 
the decomposition of carbonic anhydride by green leaves under 
the influence of light are influenced more by the intensity of 
the light tlan by its colour. M. Dehérain has performed nume- 
rous experiments with liquids of different colours, but of the 
same transparency, and shows that the yellow light is the most 
energetic, then follow red, blue, and finally green.—‘‘ On the 
Determination of Graphite in Cast Iron and Steel.” By M. 
Boussingault. The author treats the iron with corrosive subli- 
mate mixed with water, and heats the residue to volatilise the 
mercurous chloride. The black substance which is left consists 
of graphite, amorphous carbon, and silica. This is then heated 
in the air, the amorphous carbon burns off, and the loss of 
weight indicates the quantity of carbon in combination with the 
iron ; the residve is next heated in oxygen, so as to cause the 
combustion of the graphite, which is likewise determined by loss. 
When the metal is dissolved in hydrochloric acid, the combined 
carbon is evolved in combination with hydrogen, and part of the 
silicon present passes into solution, 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
Geological Society, June 22,—Mr. Joseph Prestwich, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair, Mr, Horace Pearce, 21, Hagley 
Road, Stourbridge, and Mr. Samuel Spruce, of Tamworth, 
were elected Fellows of the Society. 
1. ‘‘Notes on the Lower portion of the Green-slates and 
Porphyries of the Lake District between Ulleswater and Kes- 
wick.” By Dr. H. Alleyne Nicholson, F.R.S.E., F.G.S., 
lecturer on Natural History in the Medical School of Edinburgh. 
The author describes the characters presented by the lower part 
of that series of rocks, named by Professor Sedgwick the 
“Green-slates and Porphyries,” which oyerlie the Skiddaw 
Slates in the Lake District. He notices the sections of this 
series in Borrowdale, on the east side of Derwentwater, between 
Keswick and the Vale of St. John, in the Vale of St. John, in 
Matterdale, in Eycott Hill, between Ulleswater and Haweswater, 
and in the neighbourhood of Shap. In the Borrowdale section 
the sequence of the rocks is given by the author as follows :— 
Resting on the Skiddaw slates there are (1) a felspathic trap ; 
(2) a great series of ashes, breccias, and amygdaloids, often 
showing slaty cleavage and worked as slates, but with several 
intercalated bands of trap ; and (3)a second trap. This appears 
to be a normal section, and is repeated, but diversified by the 
results of folding and faults in the other localities described by 
NATURE 
245 
the author, except that in the Vale of St, John the true slafy 
series seems to be entirely wanting. 
2. ‘*Observations on some Vegetable Fossils from Victoria,” 
By Dr. Ferdinand von Miiller and Mr. R. Brough Smyth, 
F.G.S. Mr, Smyth stated that the fossils, of which specimens 
were forwarded by him, were obtained in one of the deep leads 
at Haddon, near Smythesdale. No leaves have been obtained 
from the bed, which consists of a greyish-black clay ; the fruits 
and seed-vessels were obtained about 180 feet from the surface, 
and represent a flora not very dissimilar to that now characterising 
some parts of Queensland. The specimens sent include the fruits 
of a supposed new genus of Conifers, described by Dr. yon 
Miiller under the name of Sfozdylostrobus. It is most nearly 
allied to Solenostrobus, Bowerbank, but its five valves are not 
keeled. The columella forms the main body of the fruit; and 
theseeds are apparently solitary. The species was named 
Spondylostrobus smythi, The remaining specimens consisted of 
a solitary fruit of a genus of Verbenacez ; an indehiscent com- 
pressed fruit, probably belonging to the Proteaceous genus 
felicia ; a nut nearly allied to the preceding ; a large, spherical, 
unilocular, 3-seeded nut with a thick pericarp, perhaps from a 
Capparideous plant ; a 5-valved capsule of an unknown genus ; 
and fruit-valves of three other plants, probably belonging to the 
Sapindaceze, and perhaps allied to Cufania. One of the last 
may belong to the Meliciaceous genus Dysoxy/on, Dr. Miiller 
considered that these remains indicate a former flora analogous 
to that of the existing forests-belt of Eastern Australia. 
. ‘*Note on some Plesiosaurian Remains obtained by Mr, 
J. C. Mansel, F.G.S., in Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset.” By Mr. 
J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., F:G.S. The remains described in this 
note represent two new species of Plesiosaurus. The dorsal 
vertebrze of the first species are distinguished by extremely short 
centra, with hollow articular faces, ‘The antero-posterior diameter 
of 4 centra ranges between 1 and 1°3 inch, the transverse hori- 
zontal diameter between 4 and 4°6, and the vertical between 3°S 
and 4 inches. For this Plesiosaur the author proposes the 
specific name of P. brachistospondylus. The other species, of 
which the greater part of the spinal column and portions of the 
breast and pelvic girdles and limbs are preserved, is a long 
slender-necked Plesiosaur exceeding 16 feet in length. Its limbs 
are much larger in proportion to the whole length than in the 
typical Liassic forms of this genus; but what particularly dis- 
tinguishes it from these are the massiveness of the humerus and 
femur, the longer size of the wing-like expansion of the postaxial 
border, a well-developed trochanter, and especially three arti- 
cular facets at the distal end of the femur, corresponding to 
which the second segment of the paddle, representing the leg, 
contains three coequal bones. The author noticed the impres- 
sion of a third bone in this segment in the matrix, in which a 
paddle of Pliosarurus portlandicius is imbedded, and the ossicle 
on the postaxial border of the fibula in Plestosaurus rugosus. 
He compared the paddle-bones of the Kimmeridge PVestosaurus 
with those of /chthyosauri and of the Liassic Plesiosaurs and of 
Pliosaurus, he drew attention to the very close resemblance ot 
the humerus and femur to type specimens of the femora of 
Pliosaurus brachydeirus and P. trochanterius-in the British 
Museum, and traced a similar resemblance between the elements 
of the cnemion and tarsus, and those of the Dorchester and 
Portland Pliosaurian paddles. For this creature, combining a 
long truly Plesiosaurian neck with Pliosaurian-like limbs, the 
author proposed the name of Plestosaurus manselii. 
4. ‘‘ Notes on the Geology of the Lofoten Islands.” By the 
Rev. T. G, Bonney, M.A., F.G.S., Tutor of St. John’s College, 
Cambridge. The author described the general appearance of 
the Lofoten islands, which have commonly been described as 
composed of granite, but which he stated really consist of gneissic 
rocks, The scenery of some of the islands, on which he did not 
land, resembled that of the Cambrian and Cambro-Silurian dis- 
tricts of Wales and Cumberland; and the interior of Hassel 
showed dark rounded fells, resembling in outline some of the 
softer Welsh slates, At Stokmarknees and at Melbo there is a 
granitoid rock of pinkish-grey colour, consisting of felspar and 
platy hornblende, with some mica and quartz, The Svolvyaer 
Fjeld in Ost Vaago shows a distinctly bedded structure in the 
cliffs near Syolvaer, the déris at the foot of which consist of a 
rock resembling syenite, and a quartzite containing a little horn- 
blende and felspar. Bedding was also observed towards the 
Oxnzs Fjord. The islets near this coast consisted chiefly of a 
granitoid rock resembling a syenite, showing traces of bedding 
to the west of Syolvaer, Seams and veins of quartz, hornblende, 
