mesial 
May 22, 1902] 
NATURE 
95 
(Dasyurus viverrinus), the cartilaginous coracoid reaches the 
sternum, as he has previously proved to be the case in the fcetal 
Trichosurus. Ata later stage, an elongation of the spine and 
clavicle is all conspicuous, with accompanying withdrawal of the 
coracoid. In the mammary foetus of the bandicoot (Pevameles 
obesuda) described, the coracoid is found to exhibit no connection 
with the sternum, and the scapula to be essentially similar to that 
of the adult, the clavicle reduced. 
Geological Society, April 30.—Prof. Charles Lapworth, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Mr, J. E. Marr exhibited some 
specimens from a metamorphosed metalliferous vein several 
inches wide, which he had discovered in the basic andesites near 
the Shap Granite, in a quarry close to the high road, north 
of the spot where it crosses Longfell Gill.—Mr. H. W. 
Monckton exhibited a flint implement which he had himself found 
on a heap of gravel, in a pit 278 feet above Ordnance-datum, 
at Englefield (Berkshire), The gravel is part of an elongated 
patch mapped ‘ Plateau-Gravel.” Mr. O. A. Shrubsole 
remarked that the implement was of Paleolithic type, and of an 
advanced form of that type, as it had a cutting-edge all round. 
It had not been greatly rolled, and was probably made not 
far from the spot where it was found. Its patination showed 
that it belonged to the gravel in which it was found.—The origin 
and associations of the jaspers of south-eastern Anglesey, by 
Mr. Edward Greenly. Red jasper and jaspery phyllite are 
widely distributed in the southern and south-eastern parts of 
Anglesey, in the districts of Newborough, Pentraeth and 
Beaumaris. They are associated with limestones, diabases, 
serpentines, and with grits and shales. They have been much 
modified by earth-movements, which have produced brecciated 
and schistose structures ; but where original structures have sur- 
vived, the true relations of the rocks can often be seen. The 
diabases have the same characters as the pillowy and variolitic 
rocks so often associated with radiolarian cherts and jaspers 
in many parts of the world, and at several different geological 
horizons ; and the relationships of the jaspers and igneous rocks 
resemble those seen in the radiolarian cherts of southern 
Scotland. It isinferred that the jaspers are altered radiolarian 
cherts.—The mineralogical constitution of the finer material of 
the Bunter pebble-bed in the west of England, by Mr. H. H. 
Thomas. Specimens were collected at intervals, from Budleigh 
Salterton, in Devon, to Fitzhead, near Milverton, in Somerset, 
and other sands, for comparison, were taken from the red rocks 
above and below. The sands, on the whole, contain a very 
small percentage of minerals with a specific gravity of more than 
2°8; while the proportion of material over, to that under, 
2°58 is about 70 or 80 to 30 or 20 percent. A list and description 
of twenty minerals found in the sands is given, with, in some 
instances, the chief characters by which they were identified. 
The gradual decrease in the percentage of heavy minerals from 
Budleigh Salterton to Uffculm indicates the carriage of sediment 
by a southerly current, and this view is strengthened by the 
decrease in staurolite and a gradual diminution in the size of the 
tourmaline-grains. The increase in proportion of heavy grains 
from Uffculm to Milverton, and the further decline northward, 
together with the incoming of an assemblage of minerals markedly 
different from the normal southerly type, indicates an additional 
source of supply, perhaps a westerly current. The mass of 
material seems to have been furnished by a highly metamorphosed 
area, differing widely in its character from any now exposed in 
the south-west of England. The most probable source of much 
of the material is the Armorican massif of Triassic times.— 
Revision of the Phyllocarida from the Chemung and Waverly 
groups of Pennsylvania, by Prof. C. E. Beecher. The spe¢imens 
described in the paper, as well as those on which the original 
descriptions were based, weré all obtained in the vicinity of 
Warren, Philadelphia. The chief horizon is in the shale-beds 
of the Upper Chemung group, about 50 feet above mean water- 
level in the Allegheny River. The deposits are called by the 
writer the ‘‘ Phyllocarid-Beds.” Additions and emendations 
to the original diagnoses of several genera and species are 
given. ‘ 
MANCHESTER, 
Literary and Philosophical Society, May 13.—Mr. 
Charles Bailey, president, in the chair.—A paper on the luminous 
organs in /terygroleuthis margaritifera, a Mediterranean 
cephalopod, by Mr. W. E. Hoyle, was laid upon-the table.— 
Prof.. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., brought before the Society the 
collection of specimens discovered in 1901 in Crete by Mr. 
NO. 1699, VOL. 66] 
Hogarth in the course of the exploration of the Mycenzan 
remains of that island. The skulls exhibited belong to the 
oval-headed, well-developed type termed Mediterranean by 
Sergi and closely allied to the Iberic type of Spain and of 
Britain, They bear unmistakable marks of Civilisation in the 
thinness of their walls and the extent to which the sutures are 
drawn out by the growth of the brain, as well as by the badness 
of their grinders and the small size of their canines. They 
probably represent a small, dark race, and were in the Bronze 
stage of civilisation. Among the remains from the Dictzean 
cave are the skulls of a goat and a hog, portions of those of the 
fallow-deer, and the forehead with two horn-cores of a domestic 
ox, for which Prof. Dawkins proposes the provisional name of 
Bos buticus, as it cannot be identified with any species on 
record. 
PARIS. 
Academy of Sciences, May 12.—M. Bouquet de la Grye 
in the chair.—Notice on the works of M. Lazare Fuchs, by M. 
Camille Jordan.—A study of lithium silicide, by M. Henri 
Moissan. The discovery of a silicon hydride of the constitution 
Si,H, suggested the possibility of the existence of a series of 
corresponding metallic silicides, and in the present paper the 
preparation and properties of the lithium silicide, Si,Lig, are 
described. A mixture of silicon with lithium in slight excess is 
heated in a vacuum at a low red heat for two or three hours and 
the excess of lithium distilled off between 400° and 500° C. The 
silicide formed, the analysis of which gave figures corresponding 
to the formula Si,Li;, forms deep blue crystals. With a small 
quantity of water, this silicide reacts very violently, a spon- 
taneously inflammable mixture of hydrogen and hydrogen 
silicide being given off. The slow decomposition with water 
furnishes only pure hydrogen. It was noted that although a 
solution of hydrochloric acid gas in dry ether was without 
action on the compound, the addition of a _ small 
quantity of water caused a _ rapid decomposition.— 
On the earthquake of May 6, 1902, by M. Michel Lévy. Two 
records from seismographs show earthquakes on May 6, one 
at Grenoble at 3h. 4m. 4os., and the other at Floirac at 
3h. 5m. 30s. On the supposition of a velocity of trans- 
mission of 3 kilometres per second, the epicentre should be in 
the Mediterranean, east of Murcie and south of Minorca.—On 
viscous compressible fluids, by M. P. Duhem.—The black 
coloration of the rocks forming the cataracts of the Nile, by 
MM. Lortet and Hugouneng. The specimens of granite and 
porphyry at the cataracts of Ouadi-Halfa and Assouan present 
a uniformly black and highly polished surface, facts difficult to 
explain from the composition of these rocks. The polish is 
attributed to the scouring action of the sand brought down by 
the water, the black colour to black oxide of manganese. The 
latter does not exist in the rock mass and must have 
been formed from the manganese silicates present.—On 
a project for the organisation of a service of scientific 
exploration in Indo-China. The committee appointed to 
consider this question recommend the appointment of 
a permanent commission under the control of the 
Academy, the subjects of geology (with mineralogy), botany, 
zoology and anthropology being represented.—Remarks by 
M. Janssen on presenting to the Academy photographs of the 
solar corona taken at the Isle of Reunion during the total eclipse 
of May 17, 1901, by M. Jean Binot. The photographs from this 
station were of especial importance on account of the want of 
success due to climatic conditions at the other places of observa- 
tion. A whole-page reproduction of this photograph accompanies 
the note.—The influence of instrumental errors on the rectilineal 
coordinates of star photographs, by M. Ch. Trépied.—On some 
orthogonal systems and their application to the problem of the 
deformation of the paraboloid of revolution, by M. de Tannen- 
berg.—On a class of transformations of partial differential 
equations of the second order, by M. J. Clairin.—On the 
prediction of the minimum yield of the sources of the 
Vanne, by M. Edmond Maillet. If the rainfall of a 
given winter season is plotte@ as an abscissa against 
the yield of the springs for the second quarter following, 
the results for a number of years fall on regular curves, 
which can thus be applied to the prediction of the 
supply for the coming season.—On the continuous spectrum of 
electric sparks, by M. B. Eginitis. The spectrum of ordinary 
electric sparks between metallic electrodes is usually accom- 
panied by a continuous spectrum, the intensity of which is 
usually very small compared with the. intensity of the ine 
