94 



NA TURE 



[November 24, 1898 



by 0'02 mgr./nim., protiably owing to the absence of solubility 

 of the substance of the older specimens of glass. — A method for 

 determining the thermal conductivity of solids, by F. A. 

 Schulze. A rod of the material examined is at ihe temperature 

 of the room. At a short distance from one end a ihermocouple 

 is inserted. From a given instant, the end surface is exposed to 

 a stream of water at a different temperature. Knowing the 

 specific heal of the body, the author works out in detail an 

 equation for finding the thermal conductivity, and illustrates it 

 by examples which show a maximum error of 4 per cent. — 

 Specific heats of metals at low temperatures, by U. Behn. If 

 the decrease of the specific heat with the temperature is repre- 

 sented graphically, it appears probable that all the curves 

 intersect at the temperature of absolute zero. At that temper- 

 ature it is also possible that the specific heats themselves are 

 zero. In any case, Dulong and Petit's law does not hold for 

 low temperatures. — Coherers, by E. Aschkinass. The theory 

 of the coherer according to which tl>e decrease of resistance is 

 accounted for by sparks which weld the particles temporarily 

 together, does not suffice for the case of peroxide of lead, where 

 the resistance increases under the influence of electric waves. 

 The coherer action pure and simple is only observed under 

 feeble electric radiation. When the latter is strong, disturbing 

 influences supervene. — Electrical and thermal measurements 

 made on discharge tubes, by E. Wiedemann and G. C Schmidt. 

 When the appearance of discharge tubes is similar, whether 

 they are fed by an influence machine or a continuous current, it 

 is safe to assume that the potential gradients are the same. 

 The values of the potential gradient as derived from probes and 

 from calorimetric measurements respectively are the same, but 

 the latter method is more suitable when the discharge is 

 discontinuous. 



Bollellino della Sodetii Seismologita Italiana, vol. iv. , 1898, 

 Nos. 2, 3. — Echo in Europe of the Indian earthquake of June 

 12, 1897, by G. Agamennone. — Seismoscope with multiple 

 effect, by A. Cancani. — The earthquake of Grandson [February 

 22, 1898], by F. A. Forel, a paper (in ?'rench) describing a 

 series of short waves, about half a metre in height, which were 

 observed on the lake of Neuchatel at the time of this earth- 

 quake. — On the various systems of registration in seismology, 

 by A. Cancani. — On the Rieti earthquake of June 28, 1S9S, by 

 G. Brucchietti. An account of the damage caused by this 

 earthquake at Rieti and elsewhere. — Notices of earthquakes 

 recorded in Italy (July 27-September 17, 1897), by G. 

 Agamennone, the most important being the earthquakes of 

 Japan on August 4-5, Turkestan on August 15 and September 

 17, and Tuscany on September 5, and earthquakes of unknown, 

 but distant, origin on August 6, 13, 16, 20 and 26. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Entomological Society, November 2. — Mr. G. H. Verrall, 

 Vice- President, in the chair. ^Mr. Merrifield exhibited some 

 M. auritiia from Touraine forced and cooled as pupae, the latter 

 being much the darker and more strongly marked, some£. iar- 

 damincs from Sussex, those cooled having the apices of the 

 wings darker and the discal spots smaller than those which have 

 been forced, and some C. eiiiisa from eggs laiil by two normal 

 females taken in Savoy, two out of the five reared being of the 

 var. helice ; the marginal border of one male, which ha<t been 

 forced, was very pale and much suffused with long yellow scales. 

 H5 also showed four P. machaoii ; two of them, forced as pupae, 

 had their dark parts very pale and their tails long and slender, 

 the two which had been cooled having the dark parts much 

 extended in area and darkened in hue, their tails being short 

 and broad. These results, which were to be obtained with 

 winter as well as summer pupae, corresponded with those 

 previously obtained by Dr. Standfuss. — Mr. J. J. Walker 

 exhibited two winter nests of Porlhcsia chrysorrhoca from the 

 Isle of .Sheppey, where the species had lately become very 

 common. — Or. Mason exhibited a liuprestid larva found among 

 Baltic timber at Burton-on-Trent. This had been among wood 

 in a box since the beginning of July last, and there was scarcely 

 a trace of frass. Marsham had recorded the e.scape of a larva 

 of Bufrc-s/ts spUiidcns from the wood of a desk in the Guildhall, 

 which had stood there for more than twenty years. It is 

 probable that the growth is extraordinarily slow, and con- 

 sequently that the larva can maintain life for very long periods 



NO. I 5 17, VOL. 59] 



in most unfavourable conditions. — Mr. Blandford called atten- 

 tion to similar cases which he had brought before the Society. 

 It appeared likely to him, from what was known about such 

 insects as CalliJium variabiU, which was occasionally bred 

 from dry wood at long intervals, that these species were not 

 abnormally slow-growing under normal conditions, but became 

 so in dry limber, in which they probably .sustained life with 

 difficulty, especially when the outside of the wood was varnished. 

 — .Mr. Waterhouse exhibited for Mr. G. W. Kirkaldy living 

 examples in various stages of a Caryohonis in nuts of Atlalca 

 fiinifcya from Brazil. Elditt had described the attacks of an 

 allied species upon the seeds of Cassia fistula. — Mr. Tuti 

 exhibited for Dr. Chapman a series of Swiss examples of Zj';'!/!;!*! 

 e.xttlaus^ and discussed the differences between them and the 

 Scotch form. — Papers were communicated by Mr. W. F. H. 

 Blandford on some Oriental Scolytida; of economic importance 

 with descriptions of five new species, and by Mr. van der Wulp 

 (through Colonel Verbury) on Asilidae from Aden and its 

 neighbourhood. 



Linnean Society, November 3, Dr. A. Giinther, F. K.S., 

 President, in the chair. — The President exhibited an abnormal 

 twin tusk of an adult Indian elephant, and made the follow ing 

 remarks. The tusk occupied the right jaw of the animal. The 

 two teeth were developed from separate papillae and remained 

 perfectly separate, without any connecting ossification, although 

 they grew side by side from the same socket, the uneven 

 surface of one closely fitting into that of the other. He warf 

 inclined to look upon the smaller tooth as a persistent milk-' 

 tooth, which, not being shed, continued to grow from itsoriginali 

 papilla ; but Mr. Charles Tomes, F.R.S., considered it a case of 

 duplication, such as is sometimes found in man and other 

 mammals, in which the development of two separate papillae 

 gives rise to a twin tooth of the permanent dentition. No such' 

 case seems to have been previously observed in the elephant.—' 

 Prof. G. B. Howes, F.R.S., exhibited some young and si* 

 living eggs of the New Zealand lizard Spheitodon (Hatleria)^ 

 received from Prof. A. Dendy, of Christchurch, N.Z. , part of a^ 

 full series which had furnished th.at gentleman with material for 

 a monograph on the general development of the animal, now iQ 

 course of publication. Briefly referring to the previous attemplf 

 of Parker and Thomas to secure material for the study of thiy 

 subject, he said that the palaeontological discoveries of Credner* 

 justified us in regarding the Rhyncocephalia as the most central. 

 among terrestrial vertebrata. He remarked that the specimens 

 had been sent him for the express purpose of working out the 

 development of the skeleton. Recapitulating the more salient 

 discoveries recently announced by Prof. Dendy in his preliminary 

 paper in the Proc. Royal Soc. and elsewhere he said, in comment 

 upon them, that the plugging of the nostrils by cellular tissue 

 during development is a phenomenon already described by the 

 late T. J. Parker in .-Ipteryx, and that it appeared to him akia 

 to that of the occlusion of the oesophagus of the vertebrate 

 embryo first described by Balfour, which De Meuron had 

 sought to associate with the metamorphosis of the branchial 

 diverticula. He pointed out that Dendy's discovery of a third 

 pair of incisors was confirmatory for the ujjper ja* of the 

 conclusions of the late Dr. G. Baur, and remarked that he had 

 received a letter from Prof Dendy, dated September 12, slating 

 that he and his colleagues at the .\ntipodes had secured a 

 Government order protecting the eggs as well as the young of 

 llatleria. — Mr. .\. F. Grossman exhibited some photographs 

 illustrating the case of a chicken hatched and reared by a 

 common buzzard. The buzzard had laid an egg in captivity, 

 and manifesting a desire to incubate, a hen's egg was substituted, 

 which in due course was hatched and the chicken reared, the 

 foster-parent feeding it upon morsels of flesh. It thus appeared 

 that in a conflict of instinct, under altered conditions of life, the 

 maternal instinct had proved stronger than the natural impulse. 

 to kill and devour weaker prey. Mr. J. E. Ilarting remarked 

 that the case was not an isolated one, instances of buzzards 

 rearing chickens having been previously recorded {^Zool.y 1881, 

 p. 103), as well as several cases of eagles hatching goose-eggs 

 and rearing the goslings (Nature, .\pril 1879, and Field, 

 February 1896). — Messrs. II. and J. Groves exhibited speci- 

 mens of Nilella hyaiimi, Agardh, a new British plant, and' 

 made some remarks on its affinities and distribution. Mr. W. 

 Carrulhers, F. K.S. , and the President made some observations 

 by way of comment. — Prof. H. Marshall Ward, F.R.S., read a 

 joint paper by Miss Dale (i'feiffer student of Girton College) , 

 and himself on Craierostigma pumHiim (Ilochst.), a rare plant 



