Dec. 20, 1883] 



NATURE 



191 



C. Sliarp. — On a deduction from the elliptic-iutegral formula 

 y = .-.in (A -^ B -^ C . . .), by Mr. ]. Griffiths. 



Linnean Society, December 6. — Sir John Lubbock, Bart., 

 pie-ident, in the chair.— H.H. Maharajah of Travancore, and 

 Messrs. C. A. B.arber, E. Bostock, H. Friend, J. Hannington, 

 ;. S. Hicks, J. Richardson, R. Tate, and H. Tisdall were 

 elected Fellows of the Society. — Mr. B. Daydon Jackson ex- 

 hibited a specimen of "Mexican whisks," known also in the 

 London market as " chien-dent," which are now imported in con- 

 siderable quantity from the vicinity of La Puebla in Mexico. It 

 is believed to be derived from a species of Aiidropogon, but is 

 in bulk coarser than the similar material from Southern Europe 

 from Andropogon gryllus, and finer than the species oi Pamcum 

 used in India for brushes. — Mr. Arthur Bennett exhibited a 

 specimen of Carvx ligeyka gathered by Mr. Cunnack on the 

 Scilly Isles (Cornwall), and lielieved by him to be a sterile form 

 of C. armaria, but identifitd as C. ligcriia by Prof, liabington, 

 and therefore new to science. Mr. Bennett also drew attention 

 to locally so-called "vegetable hedgehogs," these being agglo- 

 merated larch leaves (having some resemblance to a rolled 

 hedgehog) found in the Shropshire meres. — A large number of 

 Lepidoptera from the district of Georgetown, Colorado, and a 

 few from Missouri were exhibited by Mr. Ernest Jacob, who 

 had collected them while engaged in the U.S.A. Geological 

 Survey in the above districts, 18S0-81. —A series of dried plants 

 from Australia were shown on behalf of Mr. James Robertson. 

 — Mr. Charles Darwin's paper on instinct (noticed in our last 

 week's issue) was then read by the Zoological Secretary, and an 

 important discussion followed, in which Mr. Wallace, Profs. 

 Huxley, Allman, Mivart, Foster, Lankester, Mr. McLachlan, 

 Mr. Seebohm, and others took part, '"'"'i 



Zoological Society, December 4. — Prof. W. H. Flower, 

 F. K.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. Philip Crowley, F. Z. S., 

 exhibited and made remarks on an egg of a Bower-bird from 

 Southern New Guinea, supposed to be that of Chlamydodcra 

 ceniniventris . — .Sir Joseph Fayrer, F.Z.S., exhibited a shed 

 deer-horn, apparently gnawed by other deer, and made remarks 

 on this subject. — Mr. Sclater exhibited, on the part of Dr. 

 George Bennett, F. Z.S., four skins of a species of Paradise-bird 

 of the genus Dnpanornis, obtained in the vicinity of Port 

 Moresby in Southern New Guinea. Mr. Sclater considered this 

 form to be only subspecifically different from D. albertisi of 

 North-eastern New Guinea. — Mr. W. Burton, F.Z.S., exhibited 

 a supposed hybrid between a male blackcock and a hen pheasant. 

 — Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe gave descriptions of some new species 

 of Flower-peckers, viz. : — Diciruni szilacnse, from the Sula 

 Isl inds ; D. pulchrius, from South-eastern New Guinea ; and D. 

 tristrami, from the Solomon Islands. The author added some 

 critical notes on other species of Dic(VU7)t and Prio7iockiliis. — Mr. 

 J. B. Sutton read a paper on the diseases of monkeys dying in 

 the Society's Gardens, on which he gave many interesting details. 

 Mr. .Sutton called special attention to the prevalence of the 

 belief that monkeys in confinement generally die of tuberculosis, 

 and showed that such is not really the case. — Mr. H. O. Forbes, 

 F.Z.S., read a paper describing the 1 eculiar habits of a spider 

 {Thoinisus decipkns) as observed by him i 1 Sumatra. — A second 

 paper by Mr. Forbes gave an account of s:>me rare birds from 

 the Moluccas and from Timor Laut. To this the author added 

 the description of a new species of Ground-Thrush from Timor 

 Laut, which he proposed to call Geocichla machiki, in acknow- 

 ledgment of services rendered to him by Dr. Julius Machik in 

 Sumatra. — A communication was read from Prof. J. von 

 Haast, F. R.S., containing notes on Zipkius {Epiodo7i) noz'a- 

 zealanduc, in continuation of a former paper read before the 

 Society on the same subject. — A second communication from 

 Prof. Haast gave a description of a large Southern Rorqual 

 (P/iysalus (BalcciiopUra) australis) which had been washed ashore 

 dead on the New Brighton beach about five miles from Christ- 

 church, New Zealand. Prof Haast was doubtful as to the 

 distinctness of this animal from Balanoptcra mtisculiis .o( the 

 Northern Atlantic. — Mr. G. French Angas, C.M.Z.S., read 

 some notes on the terrestrial MoUusca of Dominica collected 

 during 3 recent visit to that island. 



Mineralogical Society, December 11. — The Rev. Prof. 

 Bonney, president, in the chair. — The following papers were 

 re.ad : — On some specimens of lava from Old Providence Ishnd, 

 by the President. — On the evidence of the occurrence of nickel 

 iron with Widmanstatten's figures in the basalt of North Green- 



land, by Prof. K. T. V. Steenstrup. — Note on a new mode of 

 occurrence of garnet, by H. Louis. — A chemical examination of 

 the Greenland telluric iron (translated from " Medelel er fra 

 Gronland," Heft 4, 1883), by Joh. Lerenzon. — At 9 p.m. 

 (pur-uant to notice) the meeting was made special, and the 

 members of the Crystallographical Society were elected members 

 of the Society, a portion of the rules relating to election being 

 for the time suspended. 



Dublin 



University Experimental Science Association, Nov. 13. 

 — Prof. V. Ball in the chair. — On the magnetophone, by Prof. 

 Fitzgerald. A new form of the instrument was exhibited by 

 W. V. Dixon. In this a diaphragm removed from a telephone 

 is placed in close proximity with one extremity of a bar magnet, 

 at the other extremity of which small masses of soft iron fixed 

 radially on an 'axle are rotated. A note is produced at the 

 diaphragm. — On the phenomena attending pressure on sensitive 

 plates, by W. Hogg. Experiments confirmatory of those de- 

 scribed by Capt. Abney were made, and enlarged photos of the 

 developed marks shown. Similar experiments on sensitive 

 albuminised paper were descril:>ed by P. M. Crosthwaite ; the 

 use of paper allowed of considerable pressiu*e being applied. — 

 On compound locomotives, by F. Trouton. — On the identifica- 

 tion of minerals by means of their specific heats, by J. Joly. — 

 On the deposition of metallic copper in cracks, by N. M'J. 

 Falkiner, — Experiments gave results similar to those obtained 

 by Becquerel . 



Manchester 



Literary and Philosophical Society, November 27. — 

 H. E. Roscoe, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — On the fungus 

 of the salmon disease — Saprolegnia ferax , by H. Marshall Ward, 

 M.A., Fellow of Christ College, Cambridge. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, December 10. — M. Blanchard, 

 president, in the chair. — Note on a new compound of rhodium, 

 by M. H. Debiay. — On the quantities forming a group of nonions 

 analogous to the quaternions of Hamilton, by M. J. Sylvester. — 

 Summary report on the geological, botanical, zoological, and 

 anthropological work accomplished by the French mission to 

 Cape Horn, by Dr. Hyades. In the southern islands of the 

 Fuegian Archipelago the prevailing rocks were found to be schists 

 and granites great ly weathered wherever unprotected by vegeta- 

 tion. The dwarf Antarctic beech is limited to an altitude of 

 400 metre-, the Fagus beluloides to 300, forming with the Drimys 

 and Berberis a forest zone with a humid soil poor in vegetable 

 humus, and covered with mosses, heaths, and a considerable 

 variety of small plants. The marine flora abounds in all kinds 

 of algae (the most common being the Macrocysiis pyrifera), 

 affording a shelter to numerous zoophytes. Annelids:, mollusks, 

 Crustaceje, and migratory fishes of eight or ten species. Of the 

 shell-fish, which abound on most of the seaboard, all the large 

 species are edible. Although poorer than the marine, the land 

 fauna include^ several species of Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Arach- 

 nidas, some forty species of birds, but no reptiles or frogs. The 

 mammals are represented only by one species of fox, two rodents, 

 and an otter, besides the domestic dog. The natives all belong 

 to the Tekeenika stock of Fitzroy, called Yahgans by the present 

 English missionaries. They speak an agglutinating language 

 current from the middle of Beagle Passage to the southernmost 

 islands about Cape Horn. About 1000 words of this language 

 were collected, including some abstract terms, such as tree, flower, 

 fish, shell. The numerals get no further than three, although the 

 natives count also on the fingers. Over a hundred anthropometric 

 observations were taken on individuals of all ages and both sexes. 

 Good photographs were also obtained of a large number of 

 Fuegians, besides numerous castings of all parts of the body, 

 some skeletons, and a great variety of ethnological materials. — 

 Note on the Phylloxera gallieola, by M. F. Henneguy. — Obser- 

 vations on the new planet 235 made at the Observatory of Paris 

 (equatorial of the west tower), by M. G. Bigourdan. — Observa- 

 tion of the spectrum of the comet Pons-Brook^-, 1812, at the 

 14 inch equatorial (o'37S m.) of the Bordeaux Observatory, by 

 M. G. Rayct. — On the form of the expressions of the mutual 

 distances in the problem of the three bodies, by M. A. Lind- 

 stedt. — On the number of the permutations of « elements pre- 

 senting s sequences, by M. D. Andre. — Note on a theorem of 

 Liouville, by M. Stieltjes. — New demonstration of two theorems 



