April 9, 1908] 



NA TURE 



551 



(2) a larva of DasciUus cervinus from Ireland. — Presi- 

 dent : Photograph drawing of the larvae of Coniopteryx, 

 a small neuropteron common enough in its perfect state, 

 but rarely found as a larva, when it may be beaten out 

 of fir trees. — W. J. Kaye : Three Pereute species from the 

 Chanchamayo district of Peru, viz. P. leucodrosime, 

 P. callinice, and P. callitiiiira, together with specimens of 

 the Nymphaline Adclpha lara. These Pierines and 

 Nvmphaline occurred together at an elevation of from 

 2500 feet to 3000 feet. It was wrong to suppose that any 

 Jieliconius melpomcnc-Uke species entered the association, 

 as Heliconius species of this pattern did not ascend to 

 such an elevation, or if they ever did it was only as a 

 rare exception. On the under-side, if when both Pereute 

 and .\delpha are at rest they conceal the coloured portion 

 of the fore-wing, the hind-wing would then give a very 

 strong similarity of one to the other. — L. W. Newman : 

 A long and varied series of Smerinthus populi bred from 

 wild Bexley parents in June, 1907, the series ranging from 

 extreme dark specimens (about 6 per cent.) to very light 

 (about 10 per cent.), and pink shaded or tinged (about 

 20 per cent.), the remainder being intermediate forms. — 

 Paper. — The larvae of Trictenotonia childreni, Gray, and 

 Melittomtiia insulare, Fairmaire : C. J. Gahan. 



Chemical Society. March 19. — Sir William Ramsay, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S., president, in the chair. — A new form of 

 pyknometer : W. R. Bousfleld. — The action of heat on 

 a-hydroxycarboxylic acids, part iv., racemic-aa'-dihydroxy- 

 adipir acid and meso-aa'-dihydroxyadipic acid : H. R. 

 Le Sueur. aa'-Dihydroxyadipic acid, melting at 146°, has 

 been resolved into its optical antipodes by fractional 

 crystallisation of its cinchonidine salt. The acid melting 

 at 174°, when heated, forms a lactone-lactide, and must 

 be regarded as the meso- or internally compensated variety. 

 — The spontaneous crystallisation of sodium sulphate solu- 

 tions : H. Hartley, B. M. Jones, and G. A. Hutchinson. 

 The authors have examined the spontaneous crystallisation 

 of sodium sulphate solutions, and have found that if the 

 solutions are subjected to mechanical friction three of the 

 four possible solid phases, viz. ice, Na„SOj,7H.O, and 

 Na,SOj are produced spontaneously at different tempera- 

 tures. The spontaneous crystallisation of the fourth solid 

 phase, Na,SO^,ioH„0, is of rare occurrence. — Constitution 

 of iivdroxvazo-compounds. Action of diazomethane and of 

 mercuric acetate : C. Smith (and in part A. D. iVIitcheli). 

 — OrOiobromophenols and some bromonitrophenols : P. W. 

 Robertson. — The constitution of thiocyanates containing 

 an electronegative group : A. E. Dixon and J. Taylor. 

 — The quantitative conversion of aromatic hydrazines into 

 diazonium salts : F. D. Chattaway. All primary aromatic 

 hydrazines can be quantitatively converted into the corre- 

 sponding diazonium salts either by chlorine or by bromine. 

 The operation can be most easily carried out by dissolving 

 the hydrazine in glacial acetic acid, cooling the solution to 

 about —15° by the addition of crushed ice, and either 

 passing in a rapid stream of chlorine or adding the calcu- 

 lated quantity of bromine dissolved in acetic acid and 

 similarly cooled by ice. — Quantitative separation of thallium 

 from silver : J. F. Spencer and Miss M. Le Pla. A 

 quantitative separation of the salts of silver and thallium 

 is effected by a stream of chlorine, whereby the thallium is 

 oxidised to the very soluble thallic chloride and the silver 

 is precipitated as silver chloride. The thallium is eventu- 

 ally precipitated and weighed as thallous iodide. — Molecular 

 volumes of the nitrites of silver, mercury, and the alkali 

 metals : P. C^ Ray. — Lithium nitrite and its decomposition 

 by heat : P. C. Ray. — The existence in aqueous solutions 

 of a univalent cadmium ion, a subvalent thallium ion, and 

 a bivalent bismuth ion : H. G. Denham. — \ote on the 

 oxidation of phenylhydrazine by Caro's acid : J. C. Cain. 

 — Some reactions of keten : F. Chick and N. T. M. 

 Wilsmore. — Para- and nic/a-nitrosoacetanilide : J. C. 

 Cain. — Labile isomerism among acyl-salicylamides and 

 acyl-hydroxyamines : A. \V. Titherley. 



Royal Microscopical Society. March t8. — Lord Avebury, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — .K series of fourteen 

 mounted specimens of the rarer species of fresh-water 

 polyzoa, mostly foreign species from Lake Tanganyika, 

 Rhodesia, northern India, America, and Japan : C. F. 



NO. 2006, VOL. 'J'j'\ 



Rousselet. — .Annual address : seeds, with special refer- 

 ence to British plants : the President. Attention was 

 confined to the dicotyledons, the consideration of seeds of 

 the conifers and monocotyledons being deferred until next 

 year. The subject was treated from the point of view of 

 the dispersal of the seeds and fruits by various agencies. 



Royal Anthropological Institute, March 24. — Prof. W. 

 Ridgeway, president, in the chair. — Sinhalese magic : 

 Dr. W. L. Hildburgh. The paper dealt with a variety 

 of subjects, including charming ceremonies, astrology, and 

 devil dancing. The charms were of various kinds, pro- 

 tective, for instance, to keep off evil spirits, or to guard 

 the house, in which category amulets wore included ; love 

 charms, charms to secure the favour of anyone, for ex- 

 ample, a judge, and the like. A number of horoscopes 

 were exhibited, which almost invariably take the form of 

 a roll, as it is considered necessary to write each on a 

 single leaf, which is best preserved in the roll form. The 

 language in which horoscopes are written can only be 

 read by the initiated, and consequently they are often 

 translated, and the translations may be written in ordinary 

 books without prejudicing the results. On the subject of 

 devil dancing, Dr. Hildburgh exhibited a number of slides 

 showing the different devils represented, and also a collec- 

 tion of the masks and costumes worn. Some of the devils 

 represented are those who actually afflict the patient ; 

 others are powerful devils by whom the afflicting devils 

 are controlled, while others again are devils who are 

 afflicted as the patient is afflicted. 

 Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, March 16.— Dr. R. H. Traqiiair, F.R.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair. — The lamcllibranch fauna 

 found in the Millstone Grit of Scotland, and the lamelli- 

 branchs from the Silurian rocks of Girvan : Dr. Wheelton 

 Hind. The first of these important papers contained an 

 account of the lamellibranchs found by the staff of the 

 Geological Survey of Scotland in beds of the Millstone 

 Grit series, between the Castlecary Limestone and the 

 Coal-measures. The fauna is quite unique, containing, for 

 example, the remarkable genus Prothyris, not hitherto 

 recorded from British Carboniferous rocks. The specific 

 form seems to be identical with that found in the Upper 

 Coal-measures of Nebraska. Although a few members in 

 the newly discovered fauna of the Scottish series have been 

 found in' the Millstone Grit of Hazel Hill, Yorkshire, and 

 'in beds immediately below the Coal-measures of Bristol 

 and South Wales, ' yet the fauna as a whole bears a 

 striking reseinblance to the fauna of the American Coal- 

 measures. The second paper dealt with the fine series of 

 lamellibranchs collected by Mrs. Robert Gray from the 

 district of Girvan. Many of the shells were in remark- 

 able preservation, enabling the details of the hinge plate 

 and interior to be examined. It was interesting to note 

 such a fine development of lamellibranchs in these early 

 rocks. A great proportion of the species are probably 

 new, and many of the genera are described for the first 

 time from British specimens. Here again the resemblance 

 to certain .American fauna;, especially those from the 

 Trenton and Hudson groups of Minnesota and New York, 

 is very striking. — A test for continuity : Dr. W. H. 

 Young. — The theory of hessians in the historical order of 

 development : Dr. Thomas Muir. 



P.VRIS. 



Academy of Scieifes, March 30. — M. H. Becquerel in 

 the chair. — \"arious properties of the curves expressing 

 either bv their envelope, or directly, the coefficients of yield 

 m of a' thin-walled vertical weir,' without lateral contrac- 

 tion, as a function of the relative pressure N' exercised 

 under the sheets at the level of the sill : J. Boussinesq. 

 — The determination of the time, both on land and at 

 sea. with the aid of wireless telegraphy : Bouquet 

 de la Grye. With the present installation at the Eiffel 

 Tower, wireless signals can be sent a distance of 2000 kilo-_ 

 metres, and it has been estimated that by increasing the 

 electric energv this distance could be doubled. It is 

 suggested that a special signal should be sent exactly at 

 midnight, and it would have to be the subject of an 

 international arrangement to avoid possible confusion by 

 multiplication of such signals. Such a time signal would 



