April 2 2, I 



NATURE 



599 



streams which flow in diverse directions to feed the rivers 

 Orinoco, Essequibo, and Amazon. Roraima is therefore a pro- 

 bable centre whence peculiar vegetable forms may have origin- 

 ated and distributed themselves over a wide area. Regarding 

 the flora of Guiana as a whole, three distinct zones of vegetation 

 may be distinguished : one, the cultivated strip of coast-land ; 

 another, the forest which clothes the upward slopes of the 

 country ; and, third, the high savannahs of the interior. Within 

 each of these zones plant species are evenly distributed, though 

 occasionally on the savannahs uniformity is interrupted by small 

 tracts of peculiar vegetation. Sometimes these tracts are 

 marked by the occurrence of only one peculiar species — "areas 

 of localised species " ; sometimes by a large number of peculiar 

 species — "areas of distinct vegetation." These latter have 

 notable representatives in the savannah above Karctem Fall and 

 Roi-aima itself; where, so to say, the more common plant 

 species are excluded. This, then, gives them quite a separate 

 and independent botanical fades. 



Entomological Society, April 7. — Mr. Robert McLachlan, 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. — The following were elected 

 Fellows -.—Dr. Capron, Dr. J. W. Ellis, Messrs. F. D. 

 Wheeler, M.A., J. B. Eridgman, F.L.S., T. D. Gibson- 

 Carmichael, F.L.S., J. Rhodes, F.R.M.S., A. C. Horner, 

 J. T. Harris, Evan John, Martin Jacoby, J. A. Clark, G. 

 Ehsha, and A. S. Olliff. — Mr. Crowley exhibited a large 

 number of Lepidoptera from Accra, West Africa, including long 

 series of Cliaraxes and Rhonialaosoma, and a number of speci- 

 mens of Satiiniia from Natal.— The Rev. W. W. Fowler 

 exhibited four beetles belonging to the family Caralndit. Three 

 of them had been taken twenty years ago on the banks of the 

 Clyde, and had lately been identified as An^homL-nus sahlliergi, 

 a species new to Europe, having hitherto been only found in 

 Siberia. Tlie remaining specimen was Anclwmenn^ anh- 

 ani^elicus, a North European species, nearly related to A. sahl- 

 hergi. — Mr. J. W. Slater exhibited a spider belonging to the 

 genus Galcodes, a Lamellicorn beetle belonging to the genus 

 Cdoiiia, and an undetermined species of Ciirculioiuda, all from 

 Port Elizabeth, South Africa. — Mr. Billups exhibited a specimen 

 of Bassiis bizonarius, an Ichneumon new to Britain, taken at 

 Peckham in 1885 ; aho a series of another parasite, Dimcris 

 miia, taken in Headley Lane, Surrey, in March last. — Mr. 

 White exhibited preserved larvte of two species of Catoca/a, for 

 the purpose of calling attention to some hitherto undetected pro- 

 cesses on the under side ; and Prof Meldola and Mr. J. J. Weir 

 made some remarks on them. — Mr. H. Goss exhibired two 

 remarka'ile varieties of the male oi Argynnis paphia, taken in 

 Sussex and Hampshire respectively. — Mr. S. Edwards exhibited 

 an unknown exotic spider found in his Orchid House at Black- 

 heath. — Mr. A. G. Butler communicated a paper entitled "De- 

 scriptions and Remarks upon Five New Noctuid Moths from 

 Japan." — The Rev. W. W. Fowler read a paper on new genera 

 and species of Laiigiiriidie, chiefly from specimens in the collec- 

 tions of the British Museum, the Cambridge Museum, Mr. G. 

 Lewis, and the Rev. H. S. Gorham ; and Dr. Sharp and Mr. 

 Champion made remarks thereon. — Dr. Sharp read a paper on 

 " Some Propo-ed Transfers of Generic Names," the subject of a 

 pamphlet recently published by M. Des Gozis, iuwhich that author 

 transposed many of the most familiar generic names. Dr. 

 Sharp pointed out the extreme confusion caused by this practice, 

 and showed that the theory on which the system was based was 

 as unsound as the practice itself was objectionable. A long 

 discussion ensued, in which Mr. Fowler, Mr. Waterhouse, Mr. 

 Pascoe, Mr. McLachlan, Dr. Sharp, and Mr. Dunning took 

 part. The last-named gentleman said that the discussion re- 

 minded him of a similar one on the application of the law of 

 priority, which took place at a meeting of the Society nearly 

 twenty years ago. The project was then condemned as unani- 

 mously as that of M. Des Gozis had been that evening, and he 

 trusted that entomologists would hear no more of it. 



Anthropological Institute, April 13. — Prof. A. H. Keane, 

 Vice-President, in the chair. — Mr. H. Ling Roth read a paper 

 on tire origin of agriculture. He commenced by briefly review- 

 ing the ideas entertained by savages as to the origin of agricul- 

 ture among them ; then, criticising the views held by scientific 

 men of the present day on the subject, he discussed the con- 

 ditions generally accepted as necessary to be fulfilled wherever 

 agriculture is to flourish. He laid special stress on the fact that 

 with savages the want of food could not possibly be an induce- 

 ment to cultivate the soil, but considered that, from the social 

 condition of women in barbarous life and their connection with 



the soil, they probably originated the first steps which ultimately 

 led whole nations to become agriculturists. He then described 

 what he thought might have been the first step, the rotation in 

 which plants became domesticated, the three homes of agricul- 

 ture and its spiead amongst the uncivilised, and wound up 

 with a few words on the development of agricultural imple- 

 ments. — A paper on the Sengirese, by Dr. Hickson, was read. 

 — The election of Mr. Abraham Hale was announced. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, April 12. — M. Jurien de la Graviere, 

 President, in the chair. — Complementary note on the results of 

 the application of the prophylactic method against rabies after 

 the bite, by M. L. Pasteur. As many as 726 patients from 

 every part of Europe, and even from North America and Brazil, 

 have now been treated, of whom 688 were for dog-bite and 38 

 for wolf-bite. Of the first class all are doing well except the 

 already-reported case of the girl Pelletier, and over half of the 

 number have passed the critical period. Of the second class — 

 all Russians — three have succumbed, the others, 30 far, pro- 

 gressing favourably. An essential difference is pointed out 

 between the nature of bites by wolves and dogs, the former 

 being regarded in Russia as always absolutely fatal. Hence the 

 proportion of victims under the new process must be considered 

 extremely low, more especially cinsidering the severity of the 

 wounds and the long time that elapsed before the treatment 

 could be applied. — On the origin of the electric discharge in 

 thunderstorms, by M. Daniel Colladon. The paper coniains a 

 more detailed statement of the author's views, already reported 

 in previous numbers of the Comphs rendus, supplemented with 

 remarks suggested by two violent thunderstorms observed by 

 him in the Swiss Alp.s during the summer of 1885. In the 

 latter an important feature was the stationary character of the 

 thunder-clouds, inexplicable according to M. Faye's well-known 

 theory. — Remarks on the second volume of the "Cours de 

 Machines " presented to the Academy by M. Haton de la 

 Goupilliere. This volume treats of hydraulics and all kinds of 

 hydraulic machinery, w ith a special chapter on accumulators and 

 their various applications.— Note on a photographic map of the 

 Pleiades group, by MM. Paul and Prosper Henry. This 

 chart is an engraved reproduction of a proof on paper of the 

 impression obtained on November 16, 1S85, by means of the 

 o-33m. photographic equatorial twice enlarged. It shows, 

 besides the interesting nebula near Maia, another near Electra, 

 of which a very faint impression was obtained. It also indicates 

 the existence of several new companions to Merope, Alcyon, 

 and some other brilliant stars. The discrepancies between 

 this map and Wolf's tables are most pronounced in the case of 

 the small stars in the vicinity of brighter constellations. One of I he 

 loth magnitude in Wolf's list is resolved in the photographic 

 into two of the 13th magnitude. It is also pointed out that 

 where direct observation gives only 625, the photographic pro- 

 cess reveals 1421 stars in a somewhat smaller space. — On some 

 remarkable spectroscopic phenomena, by M. A. Ricco.^ While 

 recently observing on a very bright protuberance the inversion 

 of the sodium rays D and D^, the author was surprised to notice 

 that the very vivid chromosp'heric ray D, seemed double, being 

 divided by a very fine black line. The same effect was ai^ter- 

 wards observed on the chromospheric rays C and F, and it is 

 suggested that these and other double inversions noticed from 

 time to time on the .■■odium and magnesium rays may be con- 

 nected with the phenomenon of diffraction. — On the origin of 

 M. Janssen's "solar photospheric network," by M. G. M. 

 Stanoiewitch. From his studies of the photosphere the author 

 concludes that, whatever be the origin of the solar granules, the 

 "photospheric network," as presenied by the photographic 

 plates, does not exist on the surface of the sun. It is produced 

 by the irregular refraction of a transparent body with irregular 

 molecular constitution interposed between the granular solar 

 surface and the photographic objective. This irregular refrac- 

 tion is caused by the gaseous envelope of the sun, which, being 

 agitated by currents in all directions, presents as a whole a body 

 of extremely irregular molecular constitution. This view was 

 not accepted by M. Janssen, who made some remarks after the 

 paper was read.— On the equilibrium of a fluid mass in rotation, 

 by M. Matthiessens. The author claims priority of discovery of 

 the annular figures which M. Poincare lately stated had first 

 been observed by the English geometricians Tait and Thomson. 

 He refers to a series of papers ranging from 1845 to 1883, in 

 w hich he describes the two rings and discusses the whole theory of 

 these forms and of the ellipsoidal figures.— On a general theorem 



