Nov. 29, 1883] 



NA TURE 



1 19 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Cambridge. — The Public Orator (Mr. J. E. Sandys) made 

 the foUowin:^ address to the Senate in pre enting Mr. Andrew 

 Graham, First Asi^tantto Prof. Adams at the O > ervatory, f)r 

 the complete degree of M.A. honoris causa. Mr. Graham dis- 

 covered the ninth minor planet Meiis, a fact cleverly turned to 

 account by the Or.itor : — 



"Dignissime doraine, Domine Procancellarie et tota Aci- 

 demia : 



" Quam invidenda nobis illorum vita est, qui a rerum terres- 

 trium strepilu remoti, templum quoddam observando cselo' dedi- 

 catum incolunt, ubi noctibus serenis tot lucidorum orbiuu ortus 

 obitusque contemplantur, tot stellarum imniotarum stationes per- 

 petuas accuratissime definiunt, tot .siderum errantium cursus prius 

 ignotos admirabili quadam divinatione augurantur. Consenta- 

 neum niminim e~t eum, cai primo quondam Oceani fiba, Metis, 

 inter sidera affulserat, tot annos in rure ilio suburbano cum Nep- 

 tuni inventore nostro celeberrimo feliciter esse consociatum. 

 luvat certe tanti viri adiutorem fidelissimum hodie civitate nostra 

 donare, virum et lin;.;uarum recentiorum et stndiorum mathe- 

 maticorum perquam peritum, neq le in numeris tintum c impu- 

 t-andis soUertissimum, sed in sideribn; quoque ob^ervavdis 

 perspicacissimum. Ipse rerum omnium Fabricator, cetera quidem 

 animalix terram prona speclare pa=sus. 



quanto igitur honore illi digni sunt qui, qua in re ceteris animan- 

 tibus homines prjestant, in ea ho;ninibus ipsis tam prteclare 

 antecellunt. 



" Vobis pra;sento virum et de scientia astronomica et de 

 Academia no.itra optime meritum, Andream Graham." 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 

 Geological Society, November 7. — J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., 

 Dre-idcnt, in the chair. — James Diggle. Charle; Anderson 

 Ferrier, and Prof. W. Stephens \iere elected Fellows of the Society. 

 — The following communications were read : — On the geology of 

 the South Devon coast from Tor Cross to Hope Cove, by Prof. 

 T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., Sec.G.S. The author, after a brief re- 

 ference to the hterature of the subject, stated that the chief petro- 

 graphical problem presented by this district was whether it 

 afforded an example of a gradual transition from slaty to foliated 

 rocks, or whether the two groups were perfectly distinct. He 

 described the coast from Tor Cro^s round by the Start Point to 

 Prawle Point, and thence for some distance up the estuary 

 leading to King bridge. Commencing again to the north of 

 Salcombe, on the other shore of this inlet, he described the 

 coast round by the Bolt Head and Bolt Tail to Hope Cove. 

 These rocks, admittedly metamorphic, consist of a rather thick 

 mass of a dark mica-schist and of a somewhat varialile chloritic 

 schist, which also contains a good deal of epidote. In the lower 

 part of this are some bands of a mica-schist not materially 

 different from the upper mass. It is possible that there are two 

 thick masses of mica-schist, one above and one below the chloritic 

 schist ; but, for reasons given, he inclined to the view that there 

 was only one important mass, repeated liy very sharp foldin^js. 

 The junction between the admittedly metamorphic group and 

 the slaty series at Hope Cove, as well as that north of Salcombe, 

 is clearly a fault, and the rocks on either side of it differ mate- 

 rially. Between the Start and Tor Cross the author believes 

 there is also a fault, running down a valley, and so concealed. 

 On the north side of this the rocks, though greatly contorted and 

 exhibiting such alterations as are u^ual in greatly compressed 

 rocks, cannot properly be called foliated, while on the south side 

 all are foliated. This division he places near Hallsands, about 

 half a mile to the south of where it is laid down on the geo- 

 logical map. As a further proof of the distinctness of the two 

 series, the author pointed out tint there were clear indications 

 that the foliated .series had undergone great crumpling and 

 folding after the process of foliation had been completed. 

 Hence that it was long anterior to the great eartli-move- 

 ments which had affected the Palaeozoic rocks of South Devon. 

 He stated that the nature of these disturbances suggested that 

 tbi< district of .South Devon had formed the flank of a moun- 

 tain-range of some elevation, which had lain to the south. Of 

 the foundations of this we may see traces in the crystalline 



gneisses of the Eddystone and of the Channel I-lands, besides 

 pos-ibly the older rocks of South Cornwall and of Brittany. He 

 also called attention to some very remarkable structures in the 

 slaty series near Tor Cross, which appeared to him to throw 

 light upon some of the structures observed at times in gneisses 

 and other foliated rocks, — Notes on Brocchi's collection of Sub- 

 apennine shells, by J. Gwyn Jeffreys F.K.S. In this paper the 

 author gave the results of an examinatioa of the collection of 

 fossil shells from the Subapennine Pliocene described by Brocchi 

 in his " Conchiologia fossile Subapenniua," and now preserved 

 in the Museo Civico at Milan. The author cited fifty-five of 

 Brocchi's specie-, upon moit of which the collection furnished 

 more or less interesting information. In concluion he remarked 

 upon the importance of identifying Brocchi's specie> with forms 

 still living in the neighbouring seas, and also upon the difficulty 

 of distinguishing between the Upper, Middle, and Lower Plio- 

 cene in Italy. From his examination of Italian Pliocene shells 

 he concluded that the deposits containing them were for the 

 most part formed in comparatively shallow water, probably not 

 more than fifty fathom; in depth, a remark which alo applies 

 to the Italian .Miocene ; and that in the 'case of species still 

 existing no difference can be recognised between Pliocene and 

 recent specimens. — British Cretace jus Nuculidse, by John Starkie 

 Gardner, F.G.S. The author co.nmencel by discussing the 

 que~tion whether theNuculida; should be separated as a family 

 from the Arcida;, and stated that species of Lfda and Nticula 

 exist and sometimes abound in the marine Cretaceous deposits, 

 with the exception of the White and the Red Chalk, from which, 

 however, he thought that the shells may have been dissolved 

 out. He also referred to the probable derivation of the species 

 from preexisting forms, and discussed the question of how far the 

 relationships thus established could be expr^-s-ed in the nomen- 

 clature of the species, his researches upon the Nuculida; Ifading 

 him in some cases to suggest a trinomial nomenclature. The 

 probable lines of descent of the shells described in the present 

 paper were also discussed at some length. 



Anthropological Institute, November 13. — Prof. Flower, 

 F.K.S., president, in the chair. — The election of the follo.\ing 

 new members was announced : — Dr. G. B. Barron, Prof. D. J. 

 Cunningham, H. O. Forbes, J. S. Hunt, Capt. E. C. Johnson, 

 R. Morton Middleton, jun., Capt. C. A. Moloney, S. B. J. 

 Skertchley Jo-eph Smith, jun., and Dr. Johnson Symington. — 

 Mr. J. E. Price exhibited a selecti hi of objects from ancient 

 grave mounds in Peru. — Dr. Garson e.xhibited two iron lamps 

 that he had procured from the Orkney Islands for the Oxford 

 University Museum. They were veiy similar to the limps of the 

 Esquiuaux described by Dr. E. B. Tylor in hi ^ paper read before 

 the Institute at the end of last session, and each consists of two 

 flat receptacles prolonged int > a spiutdike depresion on the 

 anterior portion. — Prof. Flower exhibited the skull of a young 

 chimpanzee (Iroglodyles nigcr] which had been sent to him 

 from Lado ia the Sou Ian, by Dr. Emin Bey. It was the subject 

 of acrocephalic deformity, associated with coaii'lete synostosis of 

 the coronal suture, and partixl obU'e/ation of the sagittal suture, 

 both of which are normally open long after the age to which 

 this individual had attained. — The director rea 1 a paper by Mr. 

 Edward Palmer on some Australian tribes. 



Zoological Society, November 20. — Prof. W. H. Flower, 



F. R.S., president, in the chair. — A letter was read from Mr. 



G. B. Soweiby, jun., in which he proposed to change the name 

 of TItracia jacksoin-nsis, given in his paper " On New Shells," 

 read in January, 1SS3, to Thracia brazieri. — A letter was read 

 from Mr. W. H. Ravenscroft, of Coloaibo, Ceylon, describing 

 the effectual mode in which a female Axis Deer in confinement 

 concealed its young one from observation. — The Secretary ex- 

 hibited, on the part of Major C. H. T. Marshall, F.Z.S., a 

 .specimen of a new Impeyan Pheasant from Chumba, N.W. 

 India, which Major Marshall proposed to name Lophophonis 

 chumbanus, and some other birds from the same district. — Mr. 

 H. Seebohm, F.Z.S., exhibited and made remarks on a new 

 Owl from Japan, which he proposed to call Bub} hlakistoni, 

 after Capt. Blakiston, its discoverer. — Mr. H. E. Dresser, 

 F.Z.S., exhibitei and made remarks on some Ringed Pheasants 

 from Corea. — Prof. Bell, F.Z.S., exhibited and made remarks 

 upon some Australian Crinoids infested by a large number of 

 Myzostomata. — Prof. Flower read a paper on the characters and 

 divisions of the family Delphinidse, in which the following 

 generic divisions were admitted and defined -.—Moiiodon, Dil- 

 phinapteius, PhociEiia, Neomeris, Cepha'.oi-hynchui, Ona, Or- 



