February 4, 1909] 



NA rURE 



419 



I-oxoncma, with descriptions of new proterozoic species : 

 Mrs. Jane LongstalT (lu'c Donald). There is some con- 

 fusion with regard to the type of the genus Loxonema. 

 The author, following Lindstrom, Koken, and Perner, takes 

 L. sinuosum, Sowerby, as the type. Then the other two 

 types mentioned by Phillips cannot remain in the genus, 

 one belonging to the genus Macrocheilina and the other to 

 Zvgopleura. The paper deals only with Ordovician and 

 Silurian species. The diagnosis of Loxonema is amended, 

 and a note given as to the range and the distribution of 

 the genus. 



Linnean Society, January 21. — Dr. D. H. Scott, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The genus Nototriche, 

 Turcz. : A. \V. Hill. The genus Nototriche (Malvacea;) 

 includes some seventy species formerly placed in the genus 

 Malvastrum, A. Gray. Two types of flower are found in 

 the genus ; in the one case the petals are almost free, and 

 are fused with the staminal column only at the base ; in 

 the other, including the majority of the species, there is 

 a definite tube formed by the fusion of the petals with 

 the staminal tube. .\t the" base of each calyx segment there 

 is a glandular nectary. The carpels are beaked and 

 dehiscent, and are often provided with long, silky stellate 

 hairs^ In the paper several new species are defined, and 

 the descriptions of those already known have been amplified 

 and re-written. — Longitudinal symmetry of Centrospcrn>;c : 

 Dr. Percy Groom. By means of measurements of many 

 stems — primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary — of 

 one species, Atriplex rosea, and of other chenopodiaceous 

 genera, namely, Salsola and Chenopodium, additional 

 evidence is given that the internode curve of alternate- 

 leaved Chenopodiaceae is always of a zigzag nature, and 

 ran be analysed into two subcurves. Of these, one repre- 

 sents the displacements of the leaves from the originally 

 opposite arrangement at the successive nodes, and the other 

 indicates the lengths of the modern representatives of the 

 original intcrnodes. 



Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, January 21. — 

 Mr. .Alfred James, president, in the chair. — A theory of 

 volcanic action and ore deposits, their nature and cause ; 

 Hiram W. Hixon. Starting with the known fact that 

 there is an increase of temperature of about 1° C. for each 

 100 feet of depth, the author claims that at about 100 

 miles below the surf.ace of the earth the temperature is 

 above the critical temperature of all known elements, from 

 which it is assumed that all matter from the commence- 

 ment of the zone of critical temperature to the centre of 

 the earth is in a gaseous condition. The conclusion 

 arrived at is that within that zone a part of each of the 

 gases present is diffused throughout the zone. Secular 

 cooling results in reducing the outer surface of the zone 

 below the critical temperature of a part of some of the 

 gases. As a result of secular cooling matter of high 

 critical temperature is added to the " zone of flowage " of 

 (he solid crust, while the gases of low critical tempera- 

 ture would saturate the zone of flowage and segregate 

 upward to the bottom of the "zone of fracture." There 

 the further upward progress of the gases would be stopped 

 until, by accumulation, they had acquired sufficient elastic 

 force to rupliu'c the zone of fracture. From this — the 

 author's theory of volcanic action — is deduced his theory 

 of ore deposition. — The Silver Islet vein, Lake Superior: 

 Waller McDermott. This paper was presented, though 

 a reprint from a technical journal published thirty-two 

 venrs previously, as it bore on the subject of the fore- 

 going paper on volcanic action and ore deposits, chiefly in 

 connection WMth the occurrence of graphite and silver. It 

 dealt with facts, however, rather than with theories. — An 

 instance of serondnrv impoverishment: H. H. Knox. This 

 paper, dealing with deposits on the private estates of 

 Ki-ihtim, in the government of Perm, Russia, had to be 

 held over for discussion at the February meeting. 

 Paris. 



Academy of Sciences. January 25. — M. Bouchard in the 

 chair. — Presentation of vols. xi. and xiii. of the Annates 

 (Ic rOhscrvatoirc dc Sice : M. Bassot. The first volume 

 contains four memoirs : — the velocity of light by the 

 toothed-wheel method, meridian observations, equatorial 

 and meridian observations concerning the planet Eros, and 

 the third catalogue of nebul^e discovered with the large 



NO. 2049, VOL. 79] 



Nice equatorial by M. Javelle. The other volume is de- 

 voted to meteorology. — Reunion of the permanent inter- 

 national committee of the map of the sky : B. Baillaud. 

 This committee will meet at the Paris Observatory from 

 April 19-24. — A resume of some observations of M. A. 

 Ricco on the earthquake in Sicily and Calabria of 

 December 28, 190S : A. Lacroix. A map is given show- 

 ing the epicentral zone at Messina, and seven other zones, 

 classified according to the severity of the effects produced. 

 — A fossil alga from the Sinemurian : P. Fliche. This 

 fossil was shown to arise from a purely cellular plant, 

 and this conclusion was derived, not only from the 

 characters of the parenchyma constituting the plant, but 

 also from the elliptic bodies borne on its surface. This is 

 the first plant of its kind found in the Lias. — The tenth 

 campaign of the Princesse Alice II. : Albert l.i Prince of 

 Monaco. — Fridtjof Nansen addressed a letter to the per- 

 petual secretary concerning the proposed Polar expedi- 

 tion of Captain R. Amundsen. — The deformation of 

 surfaces of negative curvature : E. Goursat. — Electro- 

 capillary phenomena in gases at low pressures : G. 

 Reboul. A capillary electrometer in which the dilute acid' 

 is replaced by a rarefied gas exhibits analogous pheno- 

 mena. — An arrangement for sensibly reinforcing the sound 

 perceived in a receiver with an electrolytic detector : M. 

 viegou. — A plate with a network of lines giving stereo- 

 scopic relief by direct vision : E. Estanave. — A new 

 method of preparation of the alkyl ethers : J. B. 

 Senderens. The catalytic substance employed is alumina, 

 obtained by precipitating sodium aluminate with sulphuric 

 acid. If this is maintained at a temperature between 

 240° C. and 260° C, and the vapour of ethyl alcohol 

 passed over it, ethyl ether is continuously formed. It is 

 not necessarv for the success of this experiment that the 

 alcohol should be absolute. Methyl ether and propyl ether 

 have been obtained in the same way. — The condensation 

 of the mesoxalic esters with tertiary aromatic amines : 

 .\. Guyot and E. Michel. — The regeneration of coffee- 

 plantations by the introduction of a new species : Jean 

 Dybowski. Owing to the destruction of Coffea arabica 

 by disease, manv districts have been obliged to grow 

 coffee. The substitution of Coffea liberica, a more robust 

 plant, has not been successful, owing to the inferior quality 

 of the coffee produced by this plant. The author now 

 proposes the use of a new species, Coffea congoensis, which- 

 grows wild in the neighbourhood of Oubanghi. Its resist- 

 ance to the disease of Hemileia appears to be well estab- 

 lished ; the coffee berries are of good commercial quality, 

 and it contains about 1-2 per cent, of caffeine.— The 

 unification of the number of segments in the larvre of the 

 Muscidse : J. Pantel. — Contribution to the study of the 

 constitution of the protcid materials by the hydrolysing- 

 action of hydrofluoric acid. The preparation of definite 

 natural peptides : L. Hugonenq and A. Morel. The 

 advantages of the use of a 25 per cent, solution of hvdro- 

 fluoric acid as a hydrolysing^ agent have been pointed out 

 in a previous paper. It is now shown that by varying 

 the strength of the acid employed the hydrolysis can be 

 stopped at different stages, and several well-defined natural 

 peptides have been isolated in this way (as the picrate). — 

 The ammoniacal fermentation : J. Effront.— The value of 

 the muscular striations in polarised light : Fred. Vies.— 

 The application of d'Arsonvalisation localised to certam 

 regions, principallv in the cephalic region : A. Moutier. 

 In these experiments the solenoid onlv surrounded the head 

 and shoulders. In all the cases treated the results were 

 favourable; the objective phenomena disappeared, and the 

 arterial pressure was lowered. — The extension of the 

 rhfftic sheet in the pre-Alps of Berne and Fribourg : F. 

 Rabowski.— The rha?tic sheet in the Vaudois pre-.'Mps : 

 Alphonse jeannet.— Transportation phenomena in Anjou 

 and Brittanv : E. Jourdy.— The value of the magnetic 

 clen-ients at the Observatorv of Val-Joveux on January i, 

 iqog : M. Moureaux.— The earthquake of January 23, 

 lOoq : Alfred Angot. A copy of the seismographic trace 

 from the Parr Snint-Maur Observatory is given. 



New South \V.\les. 



Royal Society, December 2, 190S.— Mr. W. M. 



Hamlet, president, in the chair.— Diagram showing the 



rainfall'of Australia: J. Barling. The chart is designed 



