ii8 



NA TURE 



[December i, if 



detail, were illustrated by reference to subjects connected with 

 the Theory of Functions, and with Lie's Theory of Continuous 

 Groups. Greater attention to historical and liibliographical 

 work, in order to disseminate interest in mathematical advance- 

 ment, was also advocated. It was noticed with satisfaction that 

 a great stimulus to the production of specialist literature of this 

 kind in our own tongue had been given by the American 

 Mathematical Society. In conclusion, thankful acknowledg- 

 ment was made of the great debt owed by the Society to Mr. 

 Jenkins and Mr. Tucker, who from the days of its infancy had 

 been its honorary secretaries, and of whom the former found it 

 necessary three years ago to claim rest from his arduous duties, 

 and now has had further to ask to be relieved from service on 

 the Council. — On the motion of the chairman, ratified by the 

 members present, I'rof. Elliott consented to the publication of 

 the address in the Praeedings. — The following papers were 

 formally communicated : — The structure of certain linear groups 

 with quadratic invariants. Dr. L. E. Dickson ; multiform solu- 

 tions of certain difi'erential equations of physical mathematics 

 and their applications, Mr. II. S. Carslaw ; on the null spaces 

 of a one system and its associated comple.ves, Mr. W. H. Voung ; 

 and on the functions Y and Z which satisfy the identity 

 4 {xf - i)/(.v- i) - Y= ± / '/.-, Prof. L. J. Rogers. 



Zoological Society, November 15. — W. T. Blanford, 

 F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair. — Prof. G. B. Howes, 

 F. R.S., exhibited a series of embryos and five living eggs of 

 the Tuatera Lizard (Sfiheiiodoit pinHlatiis), which had been 

 sent to him by Dr. \, Dendy, of Christchurch, New Zealand. 

 — Messrs. E. W. L. Holt and L. W. Byrne exhibited 

 specimens and drawings of a small Sucker-fibh of the genus 

 Lepadogasler, taken at Plymouth, and considered to represent 

 an undescrit>ed species, for which they propose the name L. 

 sticlopliryx. — Sir G. F. Hamp.son read a paper giving an 

 account of the classification of the Moths of the subfamily 

 Pyrausliiiae of the family Pyralidac, which contained 161 

 genera. — Mr. \V. K. de Winton gave an account of the Mam- 

 mals obtained by Mr. R. McD. Hawker during a recent visit to 

 Somaliland. — Mr. Oldfield Thomas read a paper on the .Mam- 

 mals collected by Mr. [. D, D. La Touche near Kuatun, N.W. 

 Fokien, China, which contained notes on twenty-seven species, 

 two of which, viz., Vesferlilio discolor stifirans and Mus harti, 

 were described as new. — Mr. G. h. Boulenger, F. R.S. , read a 

 memoir entitled "A Revision of the Genera and Species of 

 Fishes of the Family Mormyridae." and illustrated it by the 

 exhibition of a fine series of specimens of the family which had 

 been entrusted to him for examination by the authorities of the 

 Congo Free State, .^ccording to the author's views the family 

 of Moniiyridae, as at present known, consisted of eleven genera 

 and seventy-three species, all of which were defined in the 

 paper. — A communication was read from Dr. A G. Butler, con- 

 taining a list of the liutlerflies obtained in the Harar Highlands 

 by Captain H. G. C. .Swayne, R.E., one of which (Mylothris 

 swayin) was described as new. — A second communication 

 from Dr. Butler contained an account of a small collection of 

 butlci flies made in the Chikala District, British Central Africa, 

 by Mr. George Iloare. — A third paper by Dr. Butler contained 

 a list of twenty-one species of butterflies obtained by Mr. R. 

 Crawshay in British East Africa at the end of 1897 and the 

 beginning of 1898. — A communication from Prof. Sydney J. 

 Hickson, F. R. S. , contained some notes on the collection of speci- 

 mens of the genus iMillepora made by Mr. Stanley J. Gardiner 

 at Funafuti and Rotuma. — Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell communicated 

 a report by Mr. F. P. Bedford on the Ilolothurians collected by 

 Mr. Gardiner at Funafuti and Rotuma. Eighteen species 

 were enumerated and remarked upon, of which one (Chiridola 

 inleniiedia) was described as new. — Prof. Bell also reatl a report 

 on the Actinogonidiate Echinoderms brought home by Mr. 

 Gardiner from the same localities. The collection comprised 

 examples of twenty-one siiecies, which were enumerated. — A 

 communication was read from Ilcrr Oscar Neumann containing 

 the description of a new species of Antelope of the genus 

 Uippoliagtis from East .\frica, which he proposed to name 

 H. riifopallidus. 



Royal Meteorological Society, November 16.— Mr. F. C. 

 Bayard, President, in the chair.— .\ report on experiments upon 

 the exposure of anemometers at different elevations, was pre- 

 sented by the Wind Force Committee. The experiments have 

 lx:en carried out by Mr. W. II. Dines, and Captain Wilson- 

 Barker, on board 11. M.S. ll'orceslcr, off Greenhithe. Five 



NO. I 518, VOL. 59] 



pressure-tube anemometers were employed, the first being at the 

 miz7.en royal masthead ; the second and third at the ends of the 

 mizzen topsail yardarm, and the fourth and filth on iron stand- 

 ards IS feet above the bulwarks. The results show that the 

 ship itself affected the indications of the lower anemometers, 

 while some low hills and trees, which are a quarter of a mile 

 away from the ship, to the south, and south-west also affected 

 the wind velocity from those quarters. The Committee are of 

 opinion that the general facts deducible from these observations 

 bearing on the situation of instruments for testing wind force 

 are : ( I ) That they must have a fairly clear exposure to be of 

 much v.alue ; and would appear that for a mile at least all round 

 there .should be no hills, or anything higher than the position of 

 the instruments. (2) That on a ship the results may be con- 

 sidered fairly accurately determined by having the instrument 

 50 feet above the hull, but that on land it will generally be 

 necessary to carry the instruments somewhat higher, to be de- 

 termined entirely by the local conditions. (3) That no other 

 form of anemoipeter olTers such advantages as the pressure-tube, 

 from the fact that it can be run up ami secured easily at this 

 height above a building, and that the pipes and stays can be 

 flight so as to oti'er no resistance to the wind or cause any 

 deflecting currents. — Captain D. Wilson-Barker re.td a paper 

 giving the results of some observations which he had made on 

 board ship with several hand anemometers with the view of 

 comparing the estimated wind force with that indicated by 

 instruments. — Mr. W. Marriott exhibited some lantern slides 

 showing the damage caused by the tornado which burst over 

 Cambcrwell about 9.30 p.m. on October 29. The damage was 

 confined to an area of about half a mile in extent, and within 

 that space chimney slacks were blown down, houses unroofed, 

 trees uprooted, and windows broken. 



Geological Society, November g. — VV. Whitaker, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — On the Palaeozoic radiolarian rocks 

 of New South Wales, by Prof. T. W. Edgeworth David, and 

 E. F. Pittman. Not only in the cherts and siliceous limestones, 

 but also in the jointed claystones which form the prevalent 

 sedimentary rocks of the Tamworlh district, radiolatia are 

 found to be distributed in vast numbers. The three chief areas 

 of radiolarian rocks in New South Wales are Bingara, Barraba, 

 and Tamworth, situated in the New England district, between 

 180 and 270 miles north of Sydney. The fourth area of radio- 

 larian rocks is at the well-known Jenolan caves, about 67 miles 

 due west of Sydney and about 200 miles south-by-west of 

 Tamworth. It is at Tamworth that the radiolarian rocks are 

 developed on a grand scale ; their measured thickness amounts 

 to 9267 feel, after allowing for an immense fault, and neither 

 upward nor downward limit is shown. The rocks consist of 

 jointed claystones, bl.ick cherts, lenticular siliceous radiolarian 

 limestones, and coral-limestones. Numerous beds of sub- 

 marine tuff" also occur. The claystones are largely formed of 

 radiolaria. In certain beds of the claystones, and in some of 

 the tufls as well, impressions of Lepidodendron auslrale are not 

 uncommon ; and beds of radiolarian limestone occur in close 

 proximity to the beds with these plant-remains, and radiolaria 

 moreover abound even in the same rock with the I.,pidoiUndroii- 

 impressions. In their conclusions the authors point to the 

 remarkably fine grained character of the materials fornring the 

 base of the radiolarian cherts, jaspers, and shales, the constituent 

 particles not being more than o-05-0'025 mm. (• J, to i.tVj inch) 

 in diameter. They are of opinion that the radiolaria were 

 deposited in clear sea-water, which, though sulTrciently far from 

 land to be beyond ilie reach of any but the finest sediment, was 

 nevertheless probably not of very considerable depth. — On the 

 radiolaria in the Devonian rocks of New South Wales, by G. 

 J. Ilinde, F. R.S. Hand-specimens of the various radiolarian 

 rocks discovered by Messrs. David ar.d Piitman in New South 

 Wales were forwarded to the author, and from then> numerous 

 microscopic sections were prepared. Fifty four species belong- 

 ing to 29 genera have been determined and figured ; all the 

 species and four genera are regarded as new ; excepting a few 

 primitive types of Nas.sellaria, the forms belong to the Spumel- 

 laria. The large majority may be included in the Sphaeroidea 

 and Prunoidca with medullary tests and radial spines. They 

 do not show any near relationship to the r.idiolaiia described 

 from Devonian rocks in Europe, but in some features they 

 resemble the radiolarian faunas of Ordovician age in the south 

 of Scotland, Cornwall, and Cabriires, I-anguedoc. No other 

 fossils beyond a lew simple sponge-spicules and, on two or 

 three horizons, some fragmentary impressions of Lepidodendron 



