8o 



NA TURE 



[November 28, 1907 



prised a second speciincii of pitchblende from tlie same 

 locality as the first ; carnotite from Montrose County, 

 Colorado ; gummite from North Carolina ; and pitchblende 

 from Bohemia. All the minerals, with the exception of the 

 gummite, contained both copper and lithium in easily 

 recognisable amounts. The qualitative analysis of i gram 

 of the gummite showed no copper, but did show the 

 presence of lithium in small amount. 



The discovery of lithium and copper in uranium-radium 

 minerals does not necessarily indicate the change of copper 

 into lithium, since the presence of lithium may have been 

 fortuitous; but assuming the accuracy of Prof. Ramsay's 

 observation, the presence of lithium in uranium-radium- 

 copper minerals is precisely what one should expect. The 

 presence of lithium and absence of copper in the sample 

 of gummite may be explained by the assumption that the 

 change of copper into lithium has been completed. It 

 may be added that even if further investigation should 

 reveal the absence of lithium in any uranium-radium- 

 copper mineral, the result would not constitute a valid 

 argument against Prof. Ramsay's hypothesis, since the 

 latter referred to copper in solution and not in the solid 

 state. Herbert N. McCoy. 



University of Chicago, November 6. 



A Convenient Formula in Thermodynamics. 



It is possible that many teachers of thermodynamics 

 may not have noticed that the characteristic equation for 

 I kilogram of air takes the easily rememberable form 

 /'J' = T/io, when /> is measured in standard atmospheres, 

 V in cubic feet, and T in thermodynamic centigrade 

 degrees, the accuracy of the even integer being fullv as 

 great as that of the gas law itself. These units arc, of 

 course, a curious mixture of the English and Continental 

 systems, but this seldom makes much difference in actual 

 problems, and the convenience of the formula for rough 

 mental computations is sometimes very great. 



The data upon which this compulation of the gas 

 constant is based are the statements in the third (1905) 

 edition of Landolt and Boernstein, that i litre of air 

 under standard conditions weighs 1-2928 grams, and that 

 an English yard is 0-91438 metre, and the value 

 T„ = 273°i3 given by Buckingham in the Bulletin of the 

 Bureau of Standards for May. The value R = o-i is con- 

 sistent with these assumptions within less than one-fiftieth 

 of I per cent. 



The corresponding values of Cp and C„, reduced from 

 the mean of the results of Regnault (1862), Wiedemann 

 (1876), and Witkowski (1896), are Cp = 0-3467 and 

 C„ = 0-2467 cubic-foot-atmospheres. 



Cambridge, Mass. Harvey N. Davis. 



A Miocene Wasp. 



In Nature of June 13, 1901 (vol. Ixiv., p. 158), I 

 described a curious variation in a bee (Epeolus), the second 

 transverso-cubital nervure of the wings having its lower 

 half absent. This aberration was evidently an example of 

 " discontinuous variation," and from its occurrence in 

 several specimens captured at the same place, it seemed 

 that it must be inherited. There is a genus of Scoliid 

 wasps, Paratiphia, in which the absence of the lower part 

 of the first transverso-cubital nervure is normal. The 

 species, found principally in the southern and western 

 parts of North America, are quite numerous ; and the 

 broken nervure, looking exactly like the aberration de- 

 scribed in the bee, is a good generic character. Nothing 

 has hitherto been recorded concerning the past history of 

 this genus, but I have before me a well-preserved 

 Paratiphia from the Miocene shales of Florissant, 

 Colorado, collected by Mr. S. A. Rohwer at station 14 

 in 1907. This insect, which I shall call Paratiphia 

 praejracta, is black, with the thorax large and robust 

 (about 4 mm. long and 3J mm. broad) ; the head rather 

 small (slightly more than 2 mm. diameter) ; the antennae 

 thickened ; the abdomen constricted between the first and 

 second segments, and parallel sided beyond ; the hind 



NO. 1987, VOL. 'jy'] 



tibia; dentate on the outer side ; the wings clear hyaline, 

 anterior wing about 7 mm. long, with the large stigma 

 very dark, the nervures light ferruginous. The specimen 

 is a male. The venation is perfectly normal for Paratiphia 

 in every respect, including the broken transverso-cubital 

 vein. 



It is certainly an interesting fact that a character like 

 that of an imperfect vein, which can arise suddenly as a 

 mere aberration, should persist from Miocene times (at 

 least) to the present, and characterise a whole genus. 

 From observations on bees and other Hymenoptera, it is 

 evident that this modification has occurred many thousands 

 of times without becoming permanent ; that it has become 

 so in the case of Paratiphia is therefore all the more 

 remarkable. T. D. \. Cockerell. 



University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 

 November 7. 



The Eggs of the Platypus. 



Since writing the notice of Mr. le Souef's book on 

 Australian wild life in Nature for October 24 (vol. Ixxvi., 

 p. 635), I have been making inquiries as to the existence 

 in collections of any examples of platypus egg definitely 

 known to have been taken from the nest after extrusion. 

 It has been suggested to me that Mr. Caldwell and Dr. 

 Semon might possess such specimens. The former gentle- 

 man told me, how-evcr, some years ago that he never 

 found an extruded specimen, and I learn from Dr. Semon 

 that he was equally unsuccessful in this respect. In his 

 letter he writes that " I have never found extruded eggs 

 of Ornithorhynchus, but only intra-uterine specimens. To 

 obtain the former, it would be necessary to open a very 

 large number of burrows." 



In the central hall of the British Museum is shown 

 an egg-shell of a platypus sent from Queensland by Mr. 

 G. P. Hill in 1902, but this, like Mr. le Soeuf's speci- 

 mens, was doubtless found in its present broken condition. 



Such broken shells might, apparently, be extruded from 

 the uterus with the foetus ; and, so far as I can find, there 

 still appears to be no definite evidence that the eggs are 

 really laid entire. The Reviewer. 



November 15. 



Literature relating to Australian Aborigines. 



In Nature of May 9 (vol. Ixxvi., p. 32) I observed a 

 communication from Mr. R. H. Mathews in which he 

 makes certain statements imputing to me, by insinuation, 

 what amounts to literary dishonesty. Will you kindly 

 permit me to express my views on the subject? 



Mr. Mathews says that I have " ignored " certain state- 

 ments made by him in communications to scientific socie- 

 ties, and which were published before the appearance of 

 my " Native Tribes of South-East Australia " in 1904, in 

 which I record the same facts. 



Mr. Mathews speaks of my account of the Dora cere- 

 mony, and makes the following insinuation : — " Dr. 

 Howitt ' ignores ' that I described that rite in January, 

 1900. If he did not avail himself of my work, which 

 appeared four years earlier than his, then there is a 

 wondrous agreement in our details." 



My account of the Dora ceremonv was given to me by 

 Mr. Harry E. .-\ldridge in 1882. It was from his own 

 experiences at the ceremonies on more than one occasion, 

 and he had a knowledge of the tribal language. 



Mr. Mathews also says that I " ignore " a map which 

 he published in 1900, and which is substantiallv the same 

 as one at p. 44 of my work. He adds the following 

 sentence : — " In comparing the two maps and the explan- 

 atory letterpress accompanying mine, we observe .a 

 marvellous coincidence. Many other examples could be 

 cited." 



The map showing the native tribes of South .Australia 

 at p. 44 of my work was compiled from data supplied by 

 the Rev. Otto Siebert, who obtained them by careful and 

 protracted inquiries from persons knowing the several 

 localities, as well as from personal knowledge. Practically 



