I 20 



NATURE 



[November 26, 1908 



finding of an old land surface, with a mangrove fauna 

 and fresh-water flora, at a depth of about 52 feet below 

 high water, at Narrabeen, on the Manly-Pittwater Road. 

 Details of this bore, put down by the authors, assisted by 

 university students, in 1904, are given, and the conclusion 

 arrived at that in this bore we have direct and positive 

 evidence of a submergence of the coast-line, in the vicinity 

 of Sydney, within very recent geological time. 



Linnean Society, Septt-mber 30. — Mr. T. S'e'l, vire-pre.ii- 

 dent, in the chair. — Some remarkable Australian Libellu- 

 lina;, part ii., descriptions of new species; R. J. Tillyard. 

 The tendency of the Libellulinee found in tropical Australia 

 appears to be gradual simplification along the following 

 lines : — abolition of superfluous nervures, loss of pruin- 

 escence, decrease in size, simplification of colour-pattern, 

 and contraction and intensification of dark pigmentation 

 of the wings. Eight species are added to the Australian 

 list, of which six are proposed as new. — The life-history 

 of Loranthus exocarpi, Behr. : C. C. Brittlebank Geo- 

 logical notes on Kosciusko, with special reference to 

 glacial action : Prof. T. \V. Edgeworth David. The 

 gneissic granites of Cooma have been proved to pass in 

 places into coarse mica-schists, and the series is classed 

 provisionally as pre-Cambrian. Fossiliferous Ordovician 

 rocks have been found to occur near Berridale. The origin 

 of Lake Coolamatong is attributed to a downthrow fault. 

 The total area covered by the ice calotte of Kosciusko was 

 probably from 80 to 100 square miles. The ice-cap was 

 fully twelve times as large, and at least double the thick- 

 ness, formerly estimated, while the snow-line was quite 

 300 feet lower than at present, involving a lowering of 

 the mean temperature by about 10° F. In more recent 

 geological time there \Yas another period of glaciation, 

 during which Lakes Cootapatamba and Albina, the Blue 

 Lake, &c., were formed. — Opsonisation from a bacterial 

 point of view, and opsonic technique : Dr. R. Greig- 

 Smith. It was found that a two days' culture of Staphylo- 

 coccus aureus is more completely opsonised than younger 

 or older cultures ; the intraphagocytic digestion is the 

 greater the older the culture; there is no auto-opsonic 

 action manifest in moderately old cultures ; races of 

 different ages are opsonised to' the same extent ; bacteria 

 erown upon agar are more easily opsonised than bacteria 

 from bouillon-cultures. — Revision of the Australian Curcu- 

 Honid,-E belonging to the suhfamilv Crvptorhvnchides, 

 part ix. ; A. M. Lea. The ninth instalment of the revision 

 deals with the genus Chstectetorus and some of its allies, 

 of which eleven genera, including four proposed as new, 

 and twenty species, including eight proposed as new, are 

 described. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, November j6. 



Royal Societv, at 4. 10. —Some Experiments marie to test the Action cf 

 Extract of Adrenal Cortex : S. G. Shattock and C. G. Seligmann.— 

 Further Results of the Experimental Treatment of Trypanosomiases ; 

 )ieing a Progress Report to a Committee of the Royal Society: H. G.' 

 I'l.mmer and Cap'am H. R. Bateman, R.A.M.C.-A Trypanosome 

 from Zanzibar : Colonel Sir David Bruce, C.B , F.R S., and Captains 

 A. E. Hamerton. D.S O., and H. R. Bateman.— The Proportion of the 

 Sexes produced by Whites and Coloured Peoples in Cuba : W. Heape. 

 F. R..S.— Further Researches on the Etiology of Endemic Goitre : Captain 

 R. McCarrison, I-M.S. 



iNSTiTlJTinN OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.— Domestic Electricity 

 Supply (including Healing and Cooking) as afTected by Tariffs: W. R. 



Society of Dyers axp Colourists, at 8. Reaction between Picric Acid 

 and Fibre Colloid : W. P. Dreaper and W. Stckes.— Colouring Matters 

 in Sole Leather ; H. G. Crockett. ^ 



FRIDAY, NnvEwBER 27. 



Physical Society, at 5.— A Graphic Method of dealing with Refracting 

 Surfaces: H. S. Allen.— A Method of Determining Moments of Inertia' 

 The late Prof. W. Cassie.— An Experiment.-il E.vamination of Willard 

 Gibbs's Theory of Surface Condensation regarded as the Basis of .Adsorp- 

 tion : W. C. M. Lewis.— On the Diffusion of Actinium .and Thorium 

 Emanations : S. Russ.— On the Elliptic Polarization produced hy tlie 

 Hired Transmission of a Plane Polarised Sireini thrmgh a Plate of 

 < >iiartz cut m a Direction Oblique to the Optic .Vxis, with a Meth<.d of 

 Determining the Error of a Plate supposed to be Perpendicular to the 

 .Axis ; James Walker. 



SA TURDA Y, November 28. 



Essex Field Club, at '6 (at the Essex Museum of Natural History, Strat- 



ford.)--Report of Club's Delegate at Corresponding Societies Committee, 



British Association, Belfast : Prof. E. G. Coker.— The Re-afforestation 



ofHainhault: Francis Dent and T. S Dymond. 



MONDAY, November -,o. 



Roval GEOfiKAi-nicAL Societv, at 8.30. -The P.anama Canal in iqoS : Or 

 \ aughan Cornish. 



NO. 2039, VOL. 79] 



s, at 8. — Twenty Years' Progress in Explosive 

 ES. at 5. — Inaugural Address by the Preside 



Royal SociiiTY of , 

 Oscar Guttmann. 



Institute of Actu 

 G. F. Hardy. 



TUESDA Y, December i. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8. — Further Discussion: Glasgow 

 Central Station Extension: D A. Matheson.— /':;w/il/<: Paper: The 

 Rotherhithe Tunnel : E. H. Tabor. 



WEDNESDAY, December 2. 



Society of Public Analysts, at 8.— The Gravimetric Estimation of 

 Antimonyand Tin : E. Cahen and Dr. G. T. Morgan. — TheOilfrom Carapa 

 Guianensis: Dr. I. Lewkowitsch.— The Detection and Estimation of 

 Formaldehyde in Milk : H. S. Shrewsbury and A. W. Knapp. —The Deter- 

 mination of Aldehydes in Oil of Lemon : A. H. Bennett.— Some Analyses 

 of Cream Cheese : C. H. Cribb. 



Geological Society, at 8. — 'I he Geological Interpretation of the Earth- 

 movements Associated with the Californian Earthquake of April 18, 1906 : 

 R. D. Oldham. 



Royal Society of Arts, at 8.— Mechanical Flight ; E. S. Bruce. 



Entomological Society, at 8. 



THURSDA Y, December 3. 



Linnean Society, at 8.— Biscayan Plankton, ihe O-stracoda : Dr. G. 

 Herbert Fowler.— Note on Juniferus taxi/olia. Hook. and. Arm. : Bunzo 

 Hayata. — Mimicry in Spiders; R. 1. Pocock. 



Rontgen Society, at 8.15. — Phenomena observed in Electrical Currents of 

 Continuous Oscillation : Dr. H. Manders. 



Civil and Mechanical Engineers' Society, at 8.— The Influence of 

 Track upon Railway and Tramway Carriages ; J. S. Warner. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Extinct French Birds and American Tortoises. By 



R. L 91 



Applied Geography 92 



Quain's Anatomy. By A. K 93 



Natural and Synthetic Camphor. By W. G. 



Freeman 94 



Popular Gardening 95 



Floreat Canada! l',y Prof. G. A. J. Cole 95 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Harris: "The Functional Inertia of Living Matter. 

 A Contribution to the Physiological Theory of 



Life."— F. ■W. T 96 



Leathern : " The Elementary Theory of the Symmet- 

 rical Optical Instrument '' . . 96 



Reeks ; " Hints for Crystal Diawing " 97 



Sabin ; " House painting, Glazing, Paper-hanging, 



and Whitewashing." — C. S .... 97 



Stein: "Mountain Panoramas from the Pamirs and 



Kuen Lun " 97 



Osier : " Thomas Linacre." — B. n. J ^7 



Mackinder : " Lands Beyond the Channel " .... 98 

 Letters to the Editor: — 



Earthquakes and lohn Wesley. — Sir Edward Fry, 



G.C.B., F.R.S .98 



Large I'.lue Whales. (///Ki/ra/crf.)— Edgar R. 



Waite 98 



Potato Black Scab. — Prof. F. E. 'Weiss 98 



Mercury Bubbles.— A. T. Hare; Prof. Henry H. 



Dixon 99 



An Alga growing on Fish. — Kumagusu Minakata ; 



Geo. Massee 99 



A Disclaimer. — Frederick Soddy 99 



Leonid Meteors. — W. F. Denning 99 



The Ethnography of Assam, (llluslialed.) 100 



Some Scientific Centres. No. XlV. The Hortus 



Botanicus at Amsterdam. (lUinlraUJ.) loi 



The Survey of Africa. By E. H. H 103 



Notes 104 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Astronomical Occurrences in December 108 



Morehouse's Comet, l9o8r 108 



Halley's Comet 108 



A Simple Instiiiment for finding the Correct Time . . loS 



Ephemeiis for Jupiter's Eighth Satellite loS 



Designations ol recently discovered Variable Stars . . loS 



The Enuineiation of Minor Planets 108 



The Variation of Latilude ID'S 



The Forest Region of Mount Kenia 108 



The International F ishery Congress at Washington 109 



Psychology of Pleasure and Fain 11 1 



Scientific Education of Naval Architects. By Sir 



W. H. White, K.C.B., F.K.S iii 



University and Educational Intelligence 114 



Societies and Academies 116 



Diary of Societies 120 



(Ir.dix. 



