96 



NATURE 



[November 24, 1898 



vertebrate layer of the asphalte mines of I'yrimont (Savoy), by 

 M. Cli. Depcret. — On the green ray, by M. L. Libert. Notice 

 of the appearance of this phenomena at Sainte-Adrcsse. 



Nkw South Wales. 

 Linnean Society, September 28. — Prof. I. T. Wilson, 

 President, in the chair.— On the mountain ash of Southern New 

 South Wales, by Henry Deane and J. H. Maiden. — On two new 

 species of Eticalypltis from New South Wales, by R. T. Baker. 

 Two well-defined species, remarkable for the chemical con- 

 stituents of their oils, belonging to the group Renantherae, and 

 known vernacularly as " Silver Top Stringybark " and " Mess- 

 mate " respectively, are recorded in this paper. For the first 

 of the two the name E. laevopinea is suggested because the oil 

 obtained from the leaves consists largely of pinene which is 

 lacvo-rolatory, and the name E. dexlropitiea is proposed for the 

 second species owing to the oil consisting largely of pinene, which 

 in this case is dexlro-rolatory. In both the specific rotation is 

 greater than in the well-known pinenes obtained from the 

 Coniferae, although chemically identical. — A description of 

 certain objects of unknown significance, formerly used by some 

 New South Wales tribes, by Walter R. Harper.— Mr. W. W. 

 Kroggatt exhibited a twig from a fruit-tree obtained near 

 Sydney, which had 150 eggs of an undetermined grasshopper 

 attached to it in a doul)le row ; also a number of the newly- 

 hatched young insects. These were of interest because of their 

 remarkable resemblance to a common ant (Iridomyrmex piir- 

 piireiis, Sm.), which is plentiful in the orchards and bush about 

 Sydney, hunting over the trees for food. It seems probable that 

 this may be a case of protective mimicry, the grasshoppers 

 perhaps being protected against the attacks of insectivorous 

 birds, and the ants also deceived. — Mr. J. .Mitchell, of New- 

 castle, forwarded a brief note announcing "his discovery of the 

 print of an insect's wing in the shale overlying the Yard Seam of 

 coal at the base of Flagstaff Hill, Newcastle. There was, he 

 believed, no previous record of the presence of insect remains 

 in rocks of the Permo-Carboniferous Age in New South Wales. 

 He hoped to be able to exhibit the specimen at a future meeting. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, Nove.miier :-4. 



RovAi. SociETV, at 4.30 — Pr<;limin.-iry Note on the Spectrum o( the 

 Corona : Sir J. Norm.in Lockyer, K.C.B.. F.R .S -On the Condensation 

 Nuclei llroduced in Gases by the .\clion of ROnlgen Rays, Uranian Rays. 

 Ullra-Violel l.ighl, and other .-Xgenls : C. T. R. Wilson.— The Origin of 

 the Gases evolved on Heating .Mineral Substances, Meteorites, &c. ; Dr, 

 VI. W. Travers.— Memoir on the Theory of the Partitions of Numbers : 

 Part 2 : Major .Mac.Mahon, F.R.S. 



Institution Of Electrical Engineers, at 8.— Rotatory Converters: 

 Pruf. S. P. Thompson, F.R S. 



FRIDA V, November 25. 

 Phvsical Society, at 5.— On the Properties of Liquid Mixtures : R. .\. 

 Lehfeldt.— On certain Ditrr.lclion Fringes as applied to Micromelric 

 Observations : L. N. f.. Filon. 



MONDAY, November 28. 

 RovAL Geographical Society, at 8.30.— A Vear on Christmas Island : 



Chas. W. Andrews. 

 Imperial Institute, al 8.30.— Gold-Mining in Victoria: Ernest 



Lidgey. 

 Society op Arts, at 8.— .\cetylene ; Prof. Vivian B. Lewes. 

 Institute op Actuaries, at 5.30— Inaugural Address l)y the President, 



H. W. Manly. 



TUESDA Y, November 29. 

 Zoological Society, at 8.30.— Further Notes on the Amazonian Lepi- 



dositen: Dr. E. A. Gocldi.— On the Anatomy of Adult and Foetal 



.Specimens of I'edrtti caff,r as compared with that of the Difodidae : F. 



G. Parsons.— On a New .Species of Spiders fromiTrinidad, West Indies : 



F. O. Pickar>',-Cambridge. 

 nstitution op Civil Engineers, at 8.— The Effect of Subsidence due 



to Coal-Workings upon I'.ridges and other Structures : Stanley Robert 



Kay. 



WEDNESDA V. November 30. 

 Society op Arts, at 8,— Photographic Developers and Development : C. 



H. Bothamley, F'.R.S. 



THURSDA Y, December 1, 

 Linnean Society, at 8.— On the Biology of Agaricus vclulifts. Curt. : 



R. H. Biffen.— On the Gastric Glands of the Marsupialia : ja.s. 



Johnstone. 

 Chemical Socibtv, at 8. — Ballot for the Election of Fellows.— The 



Oxidation of Polyhydric .Alcohols in presence of Iron : H. J. H. Fenton 



ami H. Jackson. 



FRIDAY, December 2. 

 Gi >i'ic;ists' Association, at 8.— Contributions to the Geology of the 



rii.imc Valley: A. M. Davies. 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8 —The Sunlight Gold-bearing 



K'.-'.-r, I.ydenberg, Transvaal : Charles Benjamin Saner. 

 QuEKETT Microscopical Club, at 8. 



NO. I 5 17, VOL. 59] 



BOOKS, PAMPHLET, SERIALS, &c., RECEIVED. 



Books.— Dculscher liotanikcr-Kalendar fur iSgg (Berlin, Borntraeger).— 

 Symbolac Anlillanae seu Fundamenta Florae Indiae Occident.ilis : edilil I. 

 Urb.in, Vol. i. Fasc. i. (Berlin, B >rnlraeger). -Society for the Promotion of 

 Engineering Education : Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Meeting (Lan- 

 caster, Pa.).— Trans,-iciions of the American Pediatric Society. Ninth 

 Session (New York). — Psychologische Untersuchungen fiber das I^sen : 

 B. Erdmann and K Dodge (Halle, Niemeyer). —Animals of To-day, their 

 Life Conversation : C. J. Cornish (Seeley).— Colour in Nature: Dr. M. I. 

 Newbigin (Murray) —Among the Celestials: Captain F. Vounghushand 

 (Murray) —The Five Windows of the Soul : E. H. Aitken (Murray).- 

 Australian Legendary Tales : collected by K. L. Parker (Nutt/— More Aus- 

 tralian Legendary Tales : collected by K. L. P.-lrker (Null).- From Sphinx 

 to Oracle: A S. White (Hurst).— Essai dune Philosophie Nouvelle : L. 

 Ribert (Paris, Alcan). — Pflanzen-Geographie auf Physiologischer Grund- 

 lage : Prof. A. F W. Schimper (Jena, Fischer).— Quick and Easy Methods 

 of Calculating: R. G. Blaine (Span) —The Story of Geographical Dis- 

 covery: J. Jacobs (Newnes).— Text-book of Algebra: Drs. Fisher and 

 Schwatt, Part i (Philadelphia, Fisher).— Monographieen Alrikanischer 

 Pflanzen Familien und Gattungen : i. A. Engler ; ii. E. Gilg (Leipzig, 

 Engelmann). 



Pamphlet.— Experiments on the Pressures and Explosive Efficiency ol 

 Mixtures of Acetylene and Air (Leeds, Jowelt). 



Serials. —Atlantic Monthly, November (Gay).— Proceedings of the 

 Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. xi. Part i (Melbourne) —Proceedings of 

 the Indiana Academy of Science. 1807 (Indianapolis). -Journal of the 

 Franklin Institute, November (Philadelphia). 



Public School Pr< 



' Scale (Macinillan). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Early Mathematics 73 



New Account of the Characeas of Europe. By H. 



and J. Groves 74 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Schoficid ; " The Uncon.scious Mind." — A. E.Taylor 75 



Beman and .Smith : " Higher Arithmetic" 75 



" The Story of Marco Polo."— H. R. M 75 



Auscher : " L'Art de Decouvrir les sources et de les 



Capter" 75 



Ormerod : " Handbook of Insects Injurious to Orchard 

 and Bush Fruits, with Means of Prevention and 



Remedy."— W. F. K 75 



"Gas and Petroleum Engines" 76 j 



Long : " The Story of the Farm, and other Essays " . 76 

 " Publications of the British Fire Prevention Com- 

 mittee " 76 



Wilkinson : " The Story of the Cotton Plant " . . . . 76 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



Asymmetrv :ind N'iialism. — Prof. Geo. Eras. Fitz- 



Gerald; F.R.S 76 



Connection between Manasarowar and Rakas-tal. — 



Lieut. -General Sir Richard Strachey, F.R.S. 76 

 .\rctic and Sub-.\rctic Bees.— Prof. T. D. A. 



Cockerell 76 



Why liirds are not Killed by Eating Poisonous Fruit. — 



Dr. John Lowe 77 



Sun-spois and .\ir Temperature. — A. B. M 77 



On Keeping Marine Organisms .-Mive in Small Aquaria. 



—Dr. Otto V. Darbishire 78 



The November Leonids of 1898. By W. F. Denning 78 



Notes 79 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Andromedes Sj 



The Planet Jupiter 83 



The Perseiils of 1S98 83 



Astronorrical Society of Wales 83 



Photographic Plates and the Spectrum 83 



The Chemical Society's Banquet to Past-Presidents 84 



Recent and Fossil Rhinoceroses. By R. L 87 



The British Association : — 



Bristol Meeting. — Section K. — Botany. — Opening 

 Address by Prof. F. O. Bower, F.R.S., Presi- 

 dent of the Secli.m. II 88 



The Teaching of Science in Elementary Schools 01 



University and Educational Intelligence 93 



Scientific Serials 93 



Societies and Academies 94 



Diary of Societies 96 



Books, Pamphlet, Serials, &c,. Received 96 



