Feb. 25, 1S75] 



NA TURE 



339 



Meteorological Society, Feb. 17. — Dr. R. J. Mann, 

 F. R.A.S., president, in the chair. — The following conimuni- 

 cations -vvete read :- -Report of the Conference on the Regis- 

 tration of rhenological Phenomena. The Council of the 

 Society resolved during last session that it was expedient that 

 observations of natural phenomena connected with the return of 

 the seasons, as well as of such branches of physical inquiry as 

 lend to establish a connection between meteorological agencies 

 and the development of vegetable life, should be organised on a 

 more systematic and scientific basis than heretofore. Appli- 

 cation was made to other societies interested in the matter to 

 nominate delegates to form a committee for the purpose of 

 drafting complete instructions and organising in an efficient 

 manner this branch of investigation. Delegates were appointed 

 by the Royal Agricultural, Royal Horticultural, Royal Uotanic, 

 Royal Dublin, Marlborough College Natural History, and the 

 Meteorological Societies ; and meetings of this joint committee 

 have been held, when the subject was fully discussed, and 

 reports, prepared by the Rev. T. A. Preston, M.A., and Prof. 

 T. Dyer, F.L. S., on plants ; Mr. McLachlan, F.L. S.,on insects, 

 and Prof. A. Newton, F.R.S., on birds, were adopted. — On the 

 we.ather of thirteen summers, by R. Strachan, K.M.S. This 

 paper is in continuation of others read before the Society on the 

 different seasons of the year. — On a universal system of meteo- 

 rography, by Prof Van Rysselberghe. This paper gave a 

 description of a recording apparatus by means of which the 

 indications of a great number of meteorological instruments of 

 any kind can be registered, whether they are placed near to or 

 far from it, so that simultaneous readings of several instruments 

 at various distant stations can be recorded at a central obser- 

 vatory. The chief feature in this, recorder is, that it engraves 

 automatically on metal the different curves, thus furnishing a 

 plate graduated by the apparatus itself, from wliich as many 

 copies as may be desired can be struck off. Another feature is, 

 that a single burin, put in motion by a simple electro-magnet, 

 can engrave successively, on the same metallic plate, the ele- 

 ments of all the curves. 



Zoological Society, Feb. 16. — Mr. George Busk, F.R.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Dr. Sclater exhibited a drawing 

 of a supposed new Rhinoceros from the Terai of Bhootan, which 

 had been forwarded to him from Calcutta, by Mr. \V. Jamrach, 

 who had tlie animal there alive, and intended bringing it to 

 England. — Mr. Sclater exhibited and made remarks on a living 

 specimen of the I'eguan Tree Shrew [Tupaia piguaiia], which 

 had been presented to the Society by the Hon. Ashley Eden, 

 Chief Commissioner at Rangoon, British Burm.ih. This was 

 believed to be the first specimen of a living Tupaia of any species 

 that had reached Europe. — Mr. A. H. Garrod read a paper on 

 a point in the mechanism of the bird's wing, which renders it so 

 specially adapted for flight. — Mr. Sclater read remarks on the 

 Cassowaries now living in the .Society's Gardens, amongst which 

 were representatives of five different species. One of them from 

 the south of New Guinea was believed to be new to science, and 

 proposed to be called C. pUticollis. Mr. Sclater also gave notice 

 of a new Cassowary obtained in the Aroo Islands by, Signer 

 Beccari, and transmitted to the Museo Civico of Genoa, which 

 he proposed to call Casuarius bcccarii. — Prof Owen, C.B., 

 communicated a note on the discovery of tlie remains of various 

 species of Diiioriiis in the province of Otago, New Zealand. — 

 Mr. Edward R. Alston read a paper on Atwmalurus, its struc- 

 ture and position, in wliich he came to the conclusion that this 

 peculiar form of Rodents should be either referred to the 

 Sciurine group of Rodents as a distinct sub-family, or placed 

 next to it as a separate family — AtiomaluridtE. — Mr. H. E. 

 Dresser read some notes on the nest and eggs of Ilypolais 

 caligata, and on the egg of Charadrius asiaticiis, and made 

 remarks on the latter species, and on Charadiitis veredtis. — Mr. 

 R. Bowdler-Sharpe communicated a paper on the birds of 

 Labuan, in which was given an account of a collection made in 

 that island by Mr. John Low. 



Entomological Socisty, Feb. I. — Sir Sidney Smith Saunder-;, 

 C.M.G., president, in the chair. — Mr. Stevens exhibited a variety 

 of Noctua glarcosa, and Mr. Champion some specimens of A ma) a 

 continua, a species recently detected in this country. — Mr. Herbert 

 Druce exhibited a fine collection of Rhopahvcra recently received 

 from Santarem. — The President exliibited a nest of PoUstcs .^ allica 

 taken on the esplanade at Coifu, of which the cells were partly 

 constructed with coloured paper taken from some playbills 

 posted in the vicinity, as alluded to in his anniversary address 

 delivered at the last meeting. — Mr. Smith remarked on Co/le/cs 



cunicuhria having feen found a few years ago in the Isle of 

 Wight and in Liverpool. In 1873 he had transported some 

 specimens from the latter locality to Shirley Common, and 

 he had reason to believe that he had .succeeded in establish'ini» a 

 colony there, as the insect had been taken near the spot in 1S74 

 by Ml. d'Arcy Power. — A paper was communicated by Mr. A. G. 

 Butler on the /iV/iJ/fz/oAvvz of Australia. — A paper was read by 

 Mr. W. Arnold Lewis on "Entomological Nomenclature and 

 the Rule of Priority." — The President nominated Messrs. Dunning, 

 Pascoe, and Weir as vice-presidents for the ensuing year. 



I'"eb. 15.— Sir Sidney Smith Saunders, C.M.G., president, in 

 the chair. — Mr. Phipson exhibited a singular variety of Strenia. 

 clathrata from Basingstoke, the wings being nearly unicolorous. 

 — Mr. F. Smith exhibited a second collection of Ilymeiioptcra 

 from Mr. Rothney, of Calcutta, containing 1,573 specimens, all 

 in the finest condition. There were probably not more than 

 twenty-five undescribed species, but from twenty to thirty species 

 (which were hitherto represented in the British Museum by a 

 single sex) were here represented by both sexes. — Mr. Verrall 

 exhibited some living lleas taken two days previously from inside 

 the ears of a rabbit near Lewes. They were gregarious in this 

 situation, and in such a position that the animal was unable to 

 dislodge them by scratching. He alluded to a communication 

 made to him by Mr. M'Lachlan regarding a species from Ceylon 

 which was gregariously collected in a very limited space on the 

 neck of a fowl, and which had been exhibited at a recent meeting 

 of tha Microscopical Society. They were affixed to the skin of 

 the fowl by the proboscis, so that only the tails were visible out- 

 wards. Mr. Cole said he had found fleas in a hedgehog, and 

 Mr. W. Arnold Lewis had observed a species in a marmot in 

 Switzerland. ^Mr. Dunning called attention to a recent extract 

 from a French paper in which it was stated that a paint could 

 be manufactured from cockchafers. — The Rev. R, P. Murray 

 stated that Mr. Edwards, of Virginia, was very desirous of ob- 

 taining pupae of Pieris napi. 



Royal Geographical Society, Feb. 22.^Sir H. Raw 

 linson presided. — A paper was read by Capt. J. Moresby, 

 giving an interesting commercial, political, and geographical 

 description of discoveries in Eastern New Guinea, made 

 by himself and the officers of her Majesty's ship Basilisk 

 during a recent voyage, undertaken to substantiate and follow 

 up a previous similar exploration. The practical outcome 

 appears to have been the establishment of the fact that the 

 D'Entrecastraux group of islands, sighted ninety-four years ago, 

 consists of three large islands, separated from each other and 

 the main land of New Guinea by narrow straits. These islands 

 the captain and his crew were the first to visit and survey, and it 

 may be said they are now politically appropriated in the British 

 interest. The captain has named the islands Normanby, Fer- 

 gusson, .and Goodenough; while he calls the straits Ward Hunt, 

 Goschen, Dawson, and Moresby. These islands, he states, 

 extend north and south about ninety miles, and afford harbour 

 and anchorage. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, Feb. 16. — Mr. Thos. E. 

 Harrison, president, in the chair. The paper read was on 

 ttie erosion of the bore in heavy guns, and the means for its 

 prevention, with suggestions for the improvement of muzzle- 

 loading projectiles, by Mr. C. W. Lancaster, Assoc. Inst. C.E. 



Cambridge 

 Philosophical Society, Feb. 8. —The following communi- 

 cation was made : — On the centre of motion of the eye, by Prof. 

 Clerk-Maxwell. The series of positions which the eye assumes 

 as it is rolled horizontally have been investigated by Donders 

 (Donders and Doijer, Dade Jaarlijksch Versla« bdi: hct Ncder- 

 landsch Gasl/iiiis voor Ooglijdcrs ; Utrecht, 1S62), and recently 

 by Mr. J. L. Tupper (Proc. R.S., June 18, 1874). The chief 

 difficulty in the investigation consists in fixing the heail while the 

 eyeball moves. The only satisfactory method of obtaining a 

 system of co-ordinates fixed with reference to the skull is that 

 adopted by Helmholtz [Ilaiidluich dcr Physioh'sischcn Opiik, p. 

 517), and described in his Croonian Lecture. A piece of wood, 

 part of the upper surface of which is covered with warm sealing- 

 wax, is placed between the teeth and bitten hard till the sealing- 

 wax sets and forms a cast of the upper teeth. By inserting the 

 teeth into their proper holes in the sealing-wax the piece of wood 

 may at any time be placed in a determinate position relatively to 

 the skull. By this device of Helmholtz the patient is relieved 

 from the pressuie of screws and clamps appli.d to the skin of 

 his head, and he tecomes free to move his head as he likes, pro- 



