46 NATURE 
[May 8, 1902 
Osborne Reynolds, who proposed an investigation of ** repeated 
stress”’ on the following lines: —The stress should be direct 
tension, and compression of approximately equal amounts, such 
tension and compression being obtained by means of the inertia 
force of an oscillatory weight. The rapidity of repetitions should 
be much higher than in the experiments of Wohler, Spangen- 
berg, Bauschinger and Baker—in fact, ranging as high as 2000 
reversals per minute. 
The conclusions arrived at are : — 
(1) The reversals for rupture with a given range of stress 
diminish as the periodicity of the reversals increases. 
(2) The hard steels will not withstand a greater number of 
reversals of the same range of stress than the mild steels if the 
periodicity of the reversals is great. 
Zoological Society, April 15.—Prof. G. B. Howes, F.R.S., 
vice-president, in the chair.—On behalf of Prof. F. Jefirey Bell 
were exhibited two arms of an injured starfish of the genus Luidia 
from the west coast of Ireland, which had undergone repair at 
their ends. These regenerated parts were unlike the rest of the 
arm and had a striking, though not exact, resemblance to the 
free ends of the arms of an Astropecten.—Dr. Forsyth Major 
exhibited some selected specimens from a collection of fossil bones 
recently received by the Natural History Museum from Cyprus, 
where they had been discovered in caves by Miss Dorothy M. A. 
Bate. The remains proved to be those of a pigmy hippopotamus, 
about half the size of Azpfopotamus amphibius, and could not 
be distinguished from Cuvier’s “ Petit Hippopotame fossile” 
(@. ménuties, Blainv.), which was smaller than the so called 
‘© H. minutus” from Malta, and otherwise different. The fossils 
exhibited showed affinities on the one hand with the pigmy 
hippopotamus of Western Africa, ‘‘ Chocropsis léberiensis,” on the 
other with some remains from the Lower Pliocene of Casino 
(Italy) ; they were considered by the exhibitor as a further 
iMustration of the assumption that many of the Pleistocene 
mammals of the Mediterranean islands were the little-modified 
survivors of Tertiary forms from the adjoining continents, from 
which the islands had been severed during the Tertiary period. — 
Mr. W. P. Pycraft read the fifth part of his ‘‘ Contributions to 
the Osteology of Birds,” which dealt with the Falconiformes.— 
Mr. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S., read a paper dealing with the sexual 
differences observed in the windpipe of the condor. It also 
treated of a rudimentary equivalent of the septal flap of the right 
auriculo-ventricular valve met with in the hearts of that bird and 
of a form of cuckoo (Scythrops).—A paper by Mr. Hesketh 
Prichard, on the larger mammals of Patagonia, contained field- 
notes on the huemul (Xenelaphus bisulcus), the puma (Felis 
concolor), Pearson’s puma ( Fe/2s concolor pearsonz), the Patagonian 
cavy (Cavza fatagonica), and the guanaco. The extraordinary 
tameness of the huemul was dwelt upon. The habits of the 
grey puma (/e/7s concolor) were described, a contrast being 
pointed out between their method of killing their prey and that 
of the jaguar (/e//s onca). Pearson’s puma, a new subspecies of 
puma, was alluded to as being much rarer than the grey puma, 
smaller, fiercer, and in colour reddish at the extremities. 
The fact of the distribution of the cavy (Cavia patagonica) being 
arbitrarily limited in the neighbourhood of the 45th parallel of 
latitude was commented upon as being strange, inasmuch as 
there was no change either in the vegetation or in the nature of 
the ground to account for it.—Mr. F. Pickard Cambridge read 
a paper on the spiders of the genus Latrodectus, which had a 
universally bad reputation of being extremely venomous in various 
parts of the world, although more exact evidence was required 
on this question, A list of the recognised species and subspecies 
was given.—A paper by Mr, Frank Finn contained some notes 
on the painted snipe (Aostra/ula capensis) and the pheasant-tailed 
jacana {Aydrophasianus chirurgus), of which birds he had 
recently presented some specimens to the Society’s Gardens, —A 
paper by Mr. G, A. Boulenger, F.R.S., contained descriptions 
of eight new species of fishes from the Congo, forming part of a 
collection entrusted to him for study by the Director of the 
Royal Museum of Natural History in Brussels. The paper also 
contained a list of forty-one species of fishes from the Lindi River, 
Upper Congo, collected by M. Maurice Storms for the Brussels 
Museum. 
Entomological Society, April 16.—The Rev. Canon 
Fowler, president, in the chair.—Mr. O. E. Jansen exhibited 
specimens of both sexes of Ornéthoplera victoriae from Ysabel, 
Solomon Islands, recently taken by Mr. Albert Meek, and 
NO. 1697, VOL. 66] —~a 
symmetrical in outline. 
remarked on the variation in the colour and markings in the 
males.—Mr. H. W. Shepheard-Walwyn exhibited a series of 
Luchelia jacobaeae taken by him at Winchester in July 1889, 
showing considerable variations of size and colouring.—Mr. 
Willoughby Gardner exhibited Coelioxys mandibularis, Nyl., 
from the Cheshire coast, a species new to Britain; and Osmia 
xanthome'ana, dgand?, and Osmia parietina, Curt., dand?, 
from North Wales.—Mr. A. J. Chitty exhibited a specimen of 
Aglais urtlicae taken at sallow on March 28, having a large 
portion of the hind wings cut off so that when folded they were 
From their appearance he concluded 
they had been bitten off by some animal, probably during 
hibernation.—Dr. T. A. Chapman called attention to the 
remarkable bilateral asymmetry in the male appendages of the 
Hemarid Sphinx, Cephonodus hylas, Linn. He said that bilateral 
asymmetry in insects was sufficiently rare to make it always 
notable. Inthe male apophyses of Lepidoptera he had only 
been able to find records in the case of the Hesperid genus 
Thanaos, to which Scudder and Burgess first called attention— 
though it seems highly probable that the facts can hardly have 
been unobserved in so common a species as C.iy/as. Tle also 
exhibited specimens of the appendage removed from the insect, 
and of the several parts, as well as sketches of the clasps and 
tegumen.—Mr. C. P. Pickett exhibited many varieties and forms 
of Hybernta leucophaearia taken during March at Chingford, 
Highgate and Finchley. He also showed series of Prgalia 
pedaria, Anisopteryx aescularia and Nyssia hispidaria from the 
north metropolitan district.—Mr. H. J. Turner, on behalf of 
Mr. W. West, of Greenwich, exhibited specimens, gs and ?s, of 
Sticlocoris flaveola, Bohm., a species new to the British fauna, 
found amongst long grass in damp places at Lee, Kidbrook 
and Shooter’s Hill, also several specimens of 7yphlocyba candi- 
dula, Kir., a species first discovered by Mr. West at Lewisham 
and Blackheath on Populus alba.—Dr. D. Sharp communicated 
a paper by Miss Alice L. Embleton on the economic import- 
ance of the parasites of Coccidee.—Colonel Charles Swinhoe 
read a paper entitled ‘‘Eastern and Australian Drepanulide, 
Epiplemidze, Microniidee and Geometridz in the British Museum 
collection. —Mr. W. F. Kirby contributed a paper entitled 
‘Additional Notes on Mr. Distant’s Collection of African 
Locustidze.” 
Royal Microscopical Society, April 16.—Dr. Hy. 
Woodward, F.R.S., president, in the chair.—A pocket micro- 
scope was presented on behalf of Mr. Jacob Pillischer. It was 
made by his uncle, Mr. M. Pillischer, and is describzd and 
figured in Dr. Golding Bird’s work on ‘‘ Urinary Deposits” 
(5th ed., 1857). The design is most ingenious. A small stage 
plate for carrying a 3” x 1” slide forms the base of the instru- 
ment ; attached below to a jointed arm is a plane mirror and a 
diaphragm with suitable apertures. Above the plate and at one 
corner is a pillar carrying an arm, which reaches to the centre 
of the stage, for holding the lenses, which are Coddingtons of 
4, go, as inch foci ; the pillar contains a direct acting screw fine 
adjustment. The whole packs in a small case, which can be 
carried in the waistcoat pocket. With achromatic lenses it is 
a pattern which might have its uses at the present day.—Mr. C. 
Beck exhibited and described Standing’s embedding microtome, 
an ingenious and simple hand microtome designed for cutting 
botanical sections, and extremely cheap. Mr. Beck also 
directed attention to some exceedingly fine rulings on glass, 
ruled by Mr. Grayson, of Melbourne. They had been brought 
from Australia by Mr. Wedeles, and were exhibited in the 
room. They were mounted in realgar, a medium having a re- 
fractive index of 2°5, which added considerably to the distinct- 
ness with which the lines could be seen. Three examples were 
exhibited, one being a micrometer divided into ;}jths and 
rovoths of an inch, and fourths, tenths and hundredths of a milli- 
metre, another, a test plate of ten bands varying from ro0o to 
10,000 lines to the inch, and another of twelve bands varying 
from 5000 to 60,000 lines to the inch. Mr. Wedeles stated that 
Mr. Grayson had ruled bands up to 120,009 lines to the inch. 
—Mr. J. C. Webb exhibited an old microscope by Pritchard 
the date of which he was unable to give, but thought it probably 
anterior to the advent of the engiscope which Pritchard brought 
out in 1832. The principal features of the instrument were a 
device for protecting the objective from injury when focussing— 
the first eyepiece was triple, it admitted plenty of light, and 
gave a good field with low powers. There was a fine adjust- 
ment to the nose-piece, and the body could be removed and the 
instrument used as a dissecting microscope.—Mr. Ersser ex- 
