334 



NA TURE 



[Febkuaky 2, 1899 



types in former ages, such as fialanoglossiis, Aiii/>htoxiis, and 

 Peripaliis These creatures were of great interest in respect of 

 their geographical distribution, a subject which was dealt with 

 in the paper. The paper was illustrated by lantern slides por- 

 traying some of the author's captures and the methods employed 

 in procuring his material. — Prof. D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, 

 C.I5., read a communication on characteristic points in the 

 cranial osteology of the parrots. The orbital ring, the 

 auditory region, the quadrate bone, and other minor characters 

 were described in about forty genera. Slriiigops, in regard 

 especially to its quadrate bone, seemed to be the most primitive 

 form. Neslor was in several respects still more divergent from 

 the rest, though its divergent characters were not necessarily 

 primitive. — A communication was read from Miss Isa L. Hiles, 

 containing a report on the Gorgonacean corals collected by Mr. 

 J. Stanley (lardiner on Funafuti. The collection contained 

 specimens of two new species, viz. Aiantptogori^ia spinosa and 

 Villegorgia rubra, and of other species, some of which were of 

 interest as having been described previously only from localities 

 far removed geographically from Funafuti. — A communication 

 was read from ^Ir. Arthur E. Shipley, containing notes on a 

 collection of Gephyrean worms obtained on Christmas Island 

 by Mr. C. W. Andrews. One species of Echluroid and five of 

 Sipunculold worms were treated of in this paper. — A communi- 

 cation was read from Mr. James Vate Johnson, containing notes 

 on the Coralliidae of Madeira, and descriptions of two new 

 species, viz. PUtirocorallium triiolcr and P. iiiadereiise. 



Royal Meteorological Society, January 18. — Mr. F. C. 

 Bayard, President, in the chair. — The Council in their report 

 stated that, owing to the premises now occupied by the Society 

 at 22 Great George Street, being required by the Government, 

 they had been obliged to seek accommodation elsewhere, but 

 not being able to secure ofificcs in the immediate neighbourhood, 

 they had taken a suite of rooms at 70 Victoria Street. — Mr. 

 Bayard, in his presidential address, gave an account of the 

 government meteorological organisations in various parts of the 

 world. He first briefly described the founding of each system, 

 and mentioned the names of the various directors, and then 

 enumerated the number of observing stations associated with 

 each organisation. In most countries forecasts of the weather 

 are issued, and Mr. Bayard gave some Interesting particulars as 

 to the success attained by each office. The amount of money 

 voted by the various governments for the support of meteorology 

 showed what a very small portion of the revenue of the different 

 countries goes towards the promotion of this science. In the 

 British Isles it is two shillings and sixpence per square mile, 

 but only about onethird of a farthing per head. The address 

 was illustrated by a large number of lantern slides showing 

 views of the various observatories and portraits of the directors. 

 Mr. Bayard w.as re elected president for the ensuing year. 



Royal Microscopical Society, January iS. — Annual 

 Meeting. — Mr. K. M. Nelson, President, In the chair. — .-Kfier 

 the report of the Council for the past year and the Treasurer's 

 statement of accounts had been read and adopted, the Presl(!ent 

 announced that the following were elected as oflicers and 

 Council for the ensuing year : — President : K. M. Nelson. 

 \'lce- Presidents : A. W. Bennett, G. C. Karop, the lion. 

 Sir Kord North, J. J. Vezey. Treasurer: VV. T. Suffolk. 

 Secretaries: Kcv. Dr. W. H. Dallinger, Dr. R. G. Ilebb. 

 Ordinary Members of Council: J. M. Allen, C. Beck, Dr. K. 

 Braithwalte, Rev. E. Carr, W. Carruthers, T. Comber, E. 

 Dadswell, A. D. Michael, T. H. Powell, C, F. Rousselet, Dr. 

 J. Tatham, Kcv. A. G. Warner. Curator: C. F. R.iusselet. — 

 The President then delivered the annual address ; the first 

 portion was a review of the work of the i)ast year, in the course 

 of which he congratulated the Society on its improved position, 

 the second portion was a paper on dispersion, in which he 

 discussed some formuke necessary in constructing achromatic 

 lenses ; diagrams and tables In Illustration of the subject being 

 Ihrown upon the screen. 



Chemical Society, January 19. — ProC Dewar, President, 

 in the chair. — The following papers were read : — Researches on 

 ■moorland waters (1), by W. Ackroyd. The author distinguishes 

 between organic and inorganic acidity In moorland waters ; 

 their amounts are determined by (i ) lltratum with N/ioo alkali, 

 and (2) titration in a sample freed frnm carbon dioxide by 

 aspiration of air.— Esterlfication constants of substituted acetic 

 acids, by J. J. Sudborough and \. L. Lloyd. From the authors' 

 experiments it appears that the rate of esterlfication of an acid 



NO. 1527. VOL. 59] 



depends on the constitution of the acid rather than its strength. 

 — Diortho substituted l>enzolc acids. Part iv. Formation of 

 salts from diortho substituted benzoic acids and different organic 

 bases, by L. L. Lloyd and J. J. Sudborough. The authors are 

 attempting to determine whether the capacity to form salts is 

 dependent on (i) the strength of the acid and of the base, or (2) 

 the constitution of the acid and of the base or on both of these. 

 — o-Ketotetrahydronaphthalene, by Y. S. Kipping and A. Hill. 

 Under suitable conditions phenylbutyric chloride is converted 

 by aluminium chloride into aketotetrahydronaphthalene by 

 intermolecular condensation. — .\ new method for preparing 

 unsymmetrlcal dimethyl- and trimethyl-succinic acids, by W. A. 

 Bone. Ethyllc sodlocyanoacetate when heated with alcoholic 

 ethyllc a-bromoLsobutyrate yields unsymmetrlcal ethyllc dirae- 

 thylcyanosuccinate (C02Et)CH(CN).CMe..,.C0.,Et, which en 

 hydrolysis yields the corresponding dimethylsuccinic acid ; the 

 sodio-derivative of the dimethylcyanosuccinate yields ethylic 

 trimethylcyanosucclnate with methylic Iodide. — Production of 

 optically active mono- and di-alkyloxysuccinic acids from malic 

 and tartaric acids, by T. Purdie and \V. PItkeathly. Alkylation 

 by means of alkyllc Iodides and silver oxide Is generally ap- 

 plicable to the ethereal salts of hydroxy-acids. As racemation 

 does not occur in the process, it is specially adapted for the 

 preparation of optically active compoumU. — The action of 

 ammonia on ethereal salts of organic acids, by S. Ruhemann. 

 Ethyllc phenylpropenetrlcarbox)late when treated with ammonia 

 yields ethyllc 7-phenyl aa'-dihydroxy-iS-carboxylale and phenyl- 

 dihydroxypyrldine ; similarly ethylic phenylbenzylglutaconate 

 yields 7-phenyl-6-benzyl-oo'dlhydroxypyridlne. — The changes 

 of volume due to dilution of aqueous solutions, by E. B. H. 

 Wade. — The thermal effects of dilution, by J. H. Pollok. — 

 Halogen derivatives of acetonedicarboxyllc acid ; Part i. , by 

 F. W. Dootson. Ethylic acetonedicarboxylate Is converted by 

 dry chlorine into ethyllc tetrachloracetonedicarboxylate. — The 

 detection and determination of sucrose in the presence of lactose, 

 by E. Dowzard. The author determines sucrose In presence of 

 lactose by taking advantage of the fact that sucrose is inverted 

 by citric acid whilst lactose is not. — Note on the interaction of 

 formaldehyde with 3-naphthylamine derivatives, by G. T. 

 Morgan 



Geological Society, January 18.— W. Whitaker, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — On a small section of felsitic lavas and 

 tuffs near Conway (North Wales), by Frank Rulley. The rocks 

 described In this communication were collected in 1877, in 

 series, at short intervals, from a point at the mouth of the river 

 Conway, near Bodlondeb. They consist of felsitic lavas and 

 tuffs, sometimes nodular, and generally exhibiting some variety 

 of fluxion-structure, corrugated, or banded. A specimen showing 

 brown bands is compared with one described by Iddings from 

 the Yellowstone Park. What were once possibly red bands are 

 now represented by devitrified brown glass, and the change in 

 colour may have been due to the action of water upon the ferric 

 oxide which originally gave its colour to the glass. Some of 

 the rhyolites are tufaceous, and envelop fragments of rocks, 

 some of which were originally vitreous, others lithoidal. 

 Coarser rhyolltic tuff occurs at the northern end of the series. — 

 The geology of Southern Morocco and the Atlas Mountains, by 

 the late Joseph Thomson. This paper gives the results of 

 observations made under considerable difticulties during a 

 journey in Morocco in 1888. The tract traversed is roughly 

 triangular, the base being the Atlantic Ocean between Satfi and 

 Agadir, and the apex the district of Demnat, on the northern 

 slopes of the Atlas, some sixty miles east of the city of 

 Morocco. This district consists of three main sections : (l) 

 The coast lowlands ; (2) the plateau in two chief steps, the 

 northern rising to 2000 and the southern to 5000 feet ; (3) the 

 Atlas itself, which only begins to be a mount.aln-chain about 

 thirty miles from the coast, and which ranges first east-by-north 

 and then north-cast in its central and loftiest ixirt. (l) "The 

 lowlands arc practically conterminous with the Tertiary deposits, 

 among which apparently Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene rocks 

 are represented. The latter consist of shelly s;inds 200 to 300 

 feet thick, gradually rising to a height of 700 feet south and east 

 of Safli. Their surface is often covered with the slaggy tufaceous 

 crust described by Maw. (2) The plateau Is underlain by three 

 rock-formations : (a) Metamorphic rocks, including clayslales, 

 which probably underlie the whole Plain of Morocco, and rise 

 into a group of rugged hills called the "Jebelct," in contra- 

 distinction to the "Jebel," or Atlas proper, (b) The Lower 

 Cretaceous rocks, consisting of red shales and sandstones, the 



