June 29, 1882] 



NATURE 



215 



Ha, Nic. The former differs from the latter in possessing 

 four, and not sixteen eyes, in the absence of the long abdominal 

 hairs, and in the different construction of the claws and mucrones. 

 — Mr. McLachlan made a communication on a Marine caddis-fly 

 from New Zealand. Material for examination of this curious 

 discovery having been received by the author from Prof. Hutton 

 of Canterbury, New Zealand, who found larva;, &c, in rock 

 pools between high and low water-mark in Lyttleton Harbour. 

 The small pupa case is surrounded with and strengthened by 

 portions of a coralline. Mr. McLachlan finds that the caddis- 

 ily in question has been referred to as a new genus, Philanisus, 

 by Walker, and apparently the same form described by Brauer 

 under the name of Anomalostoma, but neither of these ento- 

 mologists seem to have known anything regarding the de- 

 velopment or habits of the insect. — Prof. P. M. Duncan, 

 in a paper on the genus PUurochinus, L. Agass., now 

 -hows that the linking it with the fossil forms from Gand, 

 as described by D'Archiac and Haime, is erroneous. The 

 minute anatomy of its test corresponds closely with that of 

 Temnopleurus, with which he places it as a sub-genus ; it being 

 distinct from Temnochinus, and the Nnmmulitic so-called Tem- 

 nopleuridae of D'Archiac and Haime. — Mr. F. M. Campbell 

 gave his observations on a probable case of parthenogenesis in the 

 house spider (Tegeneria). He submits that the fertility of one 

 of the spiders he kept in confinement for 1 1 months, during which 

 time she twice moulted and atte. wards laid eggs, which were duly 

 hatched, can only be explained by one of the two alternatives — 



(1) either impregnation must have occurred prior to the casting 

 of the two exuviae, and therefore in an immature stage ; or (2) 

 parthenogenesis takes place in the Aracnidea, of which no case 

 (virgin reproduction) has hitherto been recorded in the true spiders. 

 — A paper was read, on the indication of the sense of smell in 

 Actiniae, by Messrs. W. H. Pollock and G. J. Romanes. From 

 their experiments, it appears probable that a kind of diffused 

 olfactory sense is possessed by these lowly organised creatures. 

 — -Thereafter the following papers were read : — On the fungi of 

 Queensland, Australia, by Messrs. M. J. Berkley and C. E. 

 Broome ; on a new Infusorian allied to Plcuronema, by F. W. 

 Phillips ; on Teredo ntriculus, Gin., and other ship-worms, by 

 S. Hanley ; on a collection of ferns from the Solomon Islands, 

 by J. G. Baker ; and the fifteenth contribution to the Mollusca 

 of the Challenger expedition, by the Rev. R. Boog Watson. — 

 With a few remarks from the President, concluding the session, 

 the meeting adjourned till November 2. 



Meteorological Society, June 21. — Mr. J. K. Laughton, 

 F.K.A.S., president, in the chair. — The following papers were 

 read : — A new metal screen for thermometers, by the Rev. F. 

 W. Stow, M.A., F.M.S. This screen differs from the ordinary 

 Stevenson in the following respects : — (1) It is somewhat larger. 



(2) It has a single set of double zinc louvres. (3) It is partially 

 closed at the bottom to cut off radiation from the ground. The 

 advantages claimed for the use of zinc louvres are : — (1) The 

 conductivity of metal causes the heat derived from the sun's 

 rays to be distributed over every part of the louvres. (2) The 

 louvres being much thinner than those of wood, the circulation 

 of air through the screen is not only much greater absolutely, 

 but much greater also in proportion to the bulk of the louvres. 



(3) The zinc louvres, therefore, are much more sensitive to 

 changes of temperature than wooden ones. Comparative read- 

 ings of thermometers in this screen, along with those in an 

 ordinary Stevenson screen, were made during the summer of 

 1881. From these, the author is of opinion that the Stevenson 

 becomes unduly heated when the sun shines, but this may be as 

 much due to its small size as to the material of which the louvres 

 are made. The thermometers in it are only three to five inches 

 from the louvres at the back of the screen, against seven to eight 

 inches in the zinc screen. The roof, too, is single, and the box 

 is open at the bottom. The author also says that there is no 

 need to condemn all wooden screens, but there does seem to be 

 some reason to think that screens with metal louvres might be 

 better. — On the effect of different kinds of thermometer cribs, 

 and of different exposures in estimating the diurnal range of 

 temperature at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, by 

 David Gill, LL.D., F.R.A.S. Meteorological observations 

 were commenced at the Cape Observatory in 1841, when the 

 thermometers were placed in a well-ventilated crib, before a 

 >outh window, through which they could be read. The build- 

 ings were, unfortunately, burnt in 1852. A small wooden house 

 with double roof, and affording a free passage of air, was then 

 erected on the site of the old meteorological observatory. The 



instruments were placed in the middle of this building, and 

 observations were recommenced on the same plan as before, and 

 continued until the end of August, 185S. On September 1 the 

 thermometers were transferred to a crib erected in front of the 

 south west window of the transit-circle room. This crib is well 

 ventilated, except on the side next the transit-room window, but 

 the great mass of solid masonry in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of the thermometers appears seriously to affect the range of 

 temperature. For many years a Glaisher stand has been in use, 

 and at the end of 1SS0 the author caused a Stevenson screen to 

 be erected in its immediate neighbourhood. In this paper the 

 author gives results of observations made in the window, Ste- 

 venson and Glaisher screens, during the year 1881, from which 

 it is evident that the exposure of the thermometers in the window 

 crib gives a distinctly smaller, and on the Glaisher stand a largci , 

 daily range of temperature than in the Stevenson screen. — Son.e 

 account of a cyclone in the Mozambique Channel, January 14- 

 19, l8So, by C. S. Hudson.— Rainfall of Frere Town, Mom- 

 bassa, East Coast of Africa, 1875-18S1, by R. H. Twi°g, 

 M.Inst.C.E., F.M.S. 



Anthropological Institute, June 13.— General Pitt-Rivers, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair.— Mr. Mann S. Valentine, of 

 Richmond, Virginia, exhibited a series of figures carved in 

 steatite and mica schist, forming part of a large collection found 

 by him in Virginia and North Carolina. The whole collection 

 consists of some 2000 specimens, consisting of various animals 

 and household utensils, cups, &c. ; the human beings are all 

 clothed, and are represented riding on animals and sitting on 

 chairs, and indicating a remarkably advanced state of civilisa- 

 tion ; and in some instances, obvious traces of contact with 

 Europeans. Mr. A. H. Keane describ d the district in which 

 the objects had been found, and the tribes that were known to 

 have inhabited that country. — The following papers were read : 

 Nepotism in Travancore, by the Rev. S. Mateer ; the Laws of 

 Madagascar, by Dr. W. G. Parker ; and Cummer Co., Wexford, 

 by G. H. Kinahan, Esq. 



Berlin 

 Physical Society, June 9.— Prof. Roeber in the chair.— 

 Prof. Neesen described experiments on the relation between 

 specific heat and temperature ; and first, in the case of distilled 

 water. In these, he used the method of cooling, and the ice- 

 calorimeter ; the manipulation of which he indicated. Each 

 time, after filling the calorimeter, and before the heated sub- 

 stance was introduced, the mercury-column, whose displacement, 

 due to the melting ice, was to be observed, showed spontaneous 

 movements, first back and then forwards ; which source of erroi 

 could be partly avoided by using glass for the external envelope 

 of the calorimeter, instead of the zinc-vessel. It further ap- 

 peared, that the first two measurements always gave too small 

 values, and were useless, probably because the ice, which was 

 to be melted by the cooling body, was not at o" C. at the be- 

 ginning of the experiment, but at a lower temperature, and 

 therefore a part of the communicated heat was used in heating to 

 0° C. The carefully purified distilled water, whose specific heat 

 was to be ascertained, was in a platinum or glass capsule ; in the 

 former the soldering occasioned great difficulties, so that mo t 

 experiments were made with glass. The measurements already 

 made (they will be extended next winter) range in temperatuie 

 from 2' to 30° C. (by a normal air-thermometer). If the directly 

 observed changes of volume be taken as ordinates, and the tem- 

 peratures as abscissae, a curve is obtained, differing little from a 

 straight line. A close examination of the numerical values 

 shows that the mean specific heat of distilled water from 2" C. 

 slowly increases to a maximum between 20° and 21°, beyond 

 which, to 30 , it slowly decreases ; but the divergences from the 

 mean value are always very slight. According to the mercury- 

 thermometer, the maximum of the specific heat is about 12° C, 

 instead of 20°. Prof. Neesen does not regard the numerical 

 values as absolute, but merely, for the present, indicative (oricn- 

 tirende) ; and he hopes to verify them by further measurements. 

 — Dr. Hertz reported on experiments which he had made on the 

 vapour-tension of mercury, by a different method from that lately 

 described by Dr. Hagen. The vapour-tension was measured at 

 high temperatures, and values were obtained which likewise were 

 smaller than Regnault's, but greater than those found by Dr. 

 Hagen. From his values, Dr. Hertz calculated a formula, 

 according to which he produced a curve of the vapour-tension of 

 mercury with varying temperature ; its zero point being at abso- 

 lute zero ( - 273 C). For low temperatures 0° C, 10°, and 20° ' 



