January £8, 1917| 
Cohn: The equilibrium between acids and bases in 
sea-water. The ocean, which, because of the presence 
of free carbonic acid, was originally acid, and 
has been becoming more alkaline from the accumula- 
tion of basic material, is at present in an epoch where 
the growing alkalinity is checked by the buffer action 
of acids of approximately the strength of boric acid. 
These buffers regulate the reaction of sea-water in a 
manner similar to the way in which bicarbonates and 
phosphates regulate the reaction of blood.—H, S. 
Washington ; An apparent correspondence between the 
chemistry of igneous magmas and of organic meta- 
bolism. The object is to direct attention to what 
appears to be a congruous relation of two pairs of 
elements in the organic world; it would appear that 
iron and sodium are nécessary for animal metabolism, 
while magnesium and potassium are essential to 
vegetable metabolism.—W. Trelease: The oaks of 
America. A summary of a manuscript now prepared 
for submission to the academy. for. publication as one 
of its scientific memoirs. Three hundred and fifty-four 
species of oaks, of which about one-half are new, are 
recognised. The relations to fossil oaks are pointed 
out.—E, V. Huntington: A set of independent postu- 
lates for cyclic order. Five postulates are given for 
cyclic order.—R. M. Yerkes: A new method of study- 
ing ideational and allied forms of behaviour in man 
and other animals. A description of the author’s 
method of multiple choices for the deduction of re- 
active tendencies and the study of their rdle in the 
attempted sohution of certain types of problem. The 
method involves the presentation to the subject of a 
problem, or series of problems, the rapid and 
complete solution of which depends upon _idea- 
tional processes — G. N. Lewis and T. B. 
Hine: Electrical’ conduction’ in dilute amalgams. 
The resistance of amalgams of lithium, sodium, 
and potassium is studied at constant pressure 
and shows extraordinary differences ; the resistances at 
constant average atomic volume are also calculated 
and found to differ materially from those at constant 
pressure.—R. M. Yerkes: Ideational behaviour of 
monkeys and apes. The general conclusions which 
may be deduced are that the ave exhibits various forms 
of ideational behaviour, whereas the reactive tendencies 
of monkeys are inferior in type.—W. D. Harkins, 
R. E. Hall, and W. A. Roberts: The osmotic pressure 
and lowering of the freezing point of mixtures of salts 
with one another and with non-electrolytes in aqueous 
solutions. The general result obtained with mixtures 
already investigated is that the lowering of the freez- 
ing point of the mixture is very nearly that which 
would be calculated on the basis that each salt pro- 
duces a lowering of the freezing point proportional 
to.itsown concentration and to the mol-number which 
it has when present alone in a solution of salt concen- 
tration.—H. Blumberg: Certain general properties of 
functions.—S. W, Williston: Sphenacodon, Marsh: a 
Permo-Carboniferous theromorph reptile from New 
Mexico. Reconstruction of a fossil reptile found in a 
bone bed from which some collections were made so 
early as thirtv-eight vears ago, but which seems to 
have been almost forgotten until recently.—L. J. 
Henderson : On volume in biology. When equilibrium 
has been established in a heterogeneous system (capil- 
lary and gravitational phenomena being absent) the 
volume of the phases js not relevant to the state of 
the system, but in nearly all physiological changes the 
regulation of volume is of great importance. 
Catcutta. 
_ Asiatic Society of Bengal, December 6, 1916.—Sarat 
Chandra Mitra: Secrecy and silence in North Indian 
agricultural ceremonies. The author discusses the 
taboos against speaking and the presence of outsiders 
NO. 2464, VoL. 98] 
NATURE 
403 
which are observed throughout northern India at the 
times of (a) sowing the seeds; (b) threshing the har- 
vested crops; (c) winnowing the threshed-out grain; 
(d) heaping up the cleaned grains; and (e) measuring 
the same. The popular explanation of the observance 
of this taboo against speaking is that, if any kind ot 
talking is done while the aforesaid operations are going 
on, the evil spirits would come and deprive the corn of 
its substance and nutritive properties. The author 
thinks that this explanation is not plausible enough. 
He has, therefore, broached the theory that all super- 
natural beings dislike not. only being recognised and 
spoken to, but also being seen; that the Earth-mother 
or the Earth-deity is one of these supernatural beings ; 
and that, as all the aforementioned agricultural .cere- 
monies are performed in honour of the -Earth-mother,. 
she does not wish that anybody should: speak to her. 
or profane the scene of these operations—the scene of 
her hallowed presence—by breaking the silence 
that reigns.—N. Ammandale: Zoological — results 
ofa tour in the. Far East. Batrachia and _ rep- 
tiles. No attempt was made to collect batrachia or 
reptiles indiscriminately. In the former group -speci- 
mens were collected mainly with two. objects: to 
obtain’ material (r) for a systematic study of the frogs, 
Rana tigrina, R. limnocharis, and allied forms, and 
(2) for the comparison and description of larval forms, 
more particularly of those that exhibit peculiar char- 
acters correlated with life in rapid running water. - In 
the collection of reptiles only aquatic and amphibious 
species are represented. In reference to the batrachia 
it is shown.that three species (one practically confined 
to India and Ceylon, one ‘widely © distributed 
in continental Asia east of the Bay of Bengal, 
and a third characteristic of the Malay subregion) 
have been confounded under the name R. tigrina. 
The first of these is the true R. tigrina of Daudin, 
the second must be known as R. rugulosa, Wieg- 
mann, and the third as R. cancrivora, Gravenhorst. 
Most of the reptiles are well-known forms, the most 
interesting being the lizard, Tropidophorus. sinicus, 
which lives at the edge of hill-streams in Hong-Kong. 
—C. A. Paiva: Zoological results of a tour in the Far 
East. Aquatic Hemiptera from Tale Sap, Peninsular 
Siam. The paper deals with ten’ species (of which 
one is new to science) belonging to nine’ genera and 
six families. The majority of the species are very 
widely distributed Oriental forms, but one has hitherto 
been known only from Burma, one from Laos, and 
one from the Siamese Peninsular province of Patani. 
Ail are true fresh-water forms, except the last, which 
is probably ‘estuarine. The most interesting feature 
of the collection is the fact that it includes specimens 
of a new species of the subgenus Kirkaldya (genus 
Microvelia), which has hitherto been known only fronr 
North America. om 
Cape Town. : 
Royal Society of South Africa, October 18; 1916.—Dr- 
L, Péringuey, president, in the chair.—Miss A. V. 
Duthie: African Myxomycetes. In this preliminary 
paper an attempt has been made to compile a list of 
the species of Myxomycetes previously recorded from 
Africa in various journals and monographs, and also 
to record forms which have been accessible to or col- 
lected by the author.—Miss A. V. Duthie: Hybrid 
forms in the genus. Satyrium, with descriptions of 
two new forms. The paper contains a description. of. 
two hybrids from Tulbagh, one Satyriunt erectuim 
Xcoriifolium, the other S. erectum Xbicorne. A de- 
tailed description, with illustrations, is given of the 
vegetative and floral structures in each  form.—L. 
Simons: Jonisation of gases and the absorption of 
R6ntgen rays. The independence of X-ray effects of 
molecular aggregations and the dependence only on 
the atoms present, together with the fact that it has 
