;28 



NATURE 



[yan. 31, I J 



noted (hat vegetable fossils from the same formation and 

 locality presented a similar jet-black colour, and glistening 

 petrified fractin-e. The paper details a series of comparisons 

 with known recent and fossil Saurians. The size and striated 

 exierior of the teeth ^uggested, at first, crocodilian affinity. But 

 closer comparisons, aided by application of the microscopic test 

 to the tissue^ if both the bone and tooth, led to a conchision of 

 the affinities of the fossil reptile represented by the fragment of 

 mandible and attached parts of teeth. It was equal in size to 

 the extinct horned lizard Mfgalania, which had an armature 

 of the mouth like that of a tortoise. Notiosaiirus was a toothed 

 and pleurodont lizard, like the large existing Hydrosauriis of 

 Australia, but of more than twice its size. 



Linnean Society, January 17. — Sir John Lubbock, Bart., 

 president, in the chair. — Mr. A. S. Pennington was elected a 

 Fellow of the Society. — Pr. R. C. A. Prior exhibited and made 

 remarks on a series of useful timbers from British Guiana. 

 These were all hard woods, among which may be mentioned the 

 "greenheart" (Nectandra rodiei); the "ducalibolly," a rare, 

 red wood used in the colony for furniture ; "wamara," a very 

 hard wooded tree sixty feet high, used by the natives for clubs, 

 &c. ; "letterwood" {Brosiinuni aubletii), useful for inlaying 

 and making very choice walking sticks; " hyawabolly " (Ow- 

 fhalobiiim lambi^rti), a rare tree of twenty feet high, knoivn 

 commercially as zebra wood. — Mr. H. N. Ridley drew attention 

 to a fasciated branch of holly from Herefordshire, in which 

 certain of the leaf-branches were curiously interwoven. — A pre- 

 sumed portrait of Linnaeus, in oil. vas exhibited on behalf of 

 Mr. F. Piercy. — A paper was rea 1 by Mr. J. G. Baker, viz. a 

 review of the tuber-bearing species f Solannm. As they stand 

 in De CandoUe's " Prodromus " aid other botanical works, the 

 tuber-bearing Solanums are estimated as belonging to twenty 

 distinct species. Mr. Baker thinks that not more than six of 

 those are really distinct, viz. (i) Solamim tuberosum, a native of 

 the dry, high regions of the Andes from Chili northwards to 

 Venezuela, reappearing in other varieties in Mexico and the 

 Rocky Mountains ; (2) S. magiia, an inhabitant of the damp 

 coasts of Chili, as far south as Tat. 44° to 45° ; (3) 5'. commersoni, 

 a low-level plant of Uruguay, lately introduced as a novelty 

 under the name of j'. ohrcndii ; (4) 6". cardiophylliim, a little- 

 known species from the Mexican highlands; (5) S. jamesii, a 

 native of Mexico and the Rocky Mountains ; and (6) S. axycar- 

 turn, a native of Central Mexico. The two last have the tubers 

 very small. All our cultivated races of potato belong to .S. 

 tuberosum ; 1 ut the plants gathered by Darwin in the Chonos 

 Archipelago, and that experimented upon by Solme at Chiswick, 

 are both J', maglia. The author attributes the deterioratiiin of 

 the potato partly to its being cultivated in too humid climates, 

 and partly to the tuber having been unduly stimulated at the 

 expense of the other organs of the plant. There are many 

 hundred species of Solanum known which do not produce 

 any tubers, but maintain their ground in the world by 

 their seeds alone, and he urges that, in order to ex- 

 tend the power of climatic adaptation of potato species, 

 (2), (3), and (4) should be brought into cultivation and 

 tried both as pure specific types and as hybridised with 

 the numerous forms of S. tuberosum. — The next paper read 

 was by Mr. A. D. Michael, on the " Hypopus " question or 

 life history of certain Acarina. From a careful series of experi- 

 ments and observations he concludes that true " Hypopi ' are 

 not adult animals, but only a stage, or heteromorphous nymphs 

 of Tyro«lyphus and allied genera. Nor do all individuals 

 become "Hypopi," which latter .stage takes place during the 

 second nymphal ecdysis. It seems a provision of nature for the 

 distribution of the species irrespective of adverse conditions. 

 " Hypopi" are not tiuly parasitic, nor confine themselves to any 

 particular insect. A new adult form described is called Ijy the 

 author Disparipes bombi, and he believes there are other species 

 of the genus. Donnadieu's bee parasites are admitted to be 

 adults, though it is uncertain if they are identical with Dufour's 

 Trkliodactylus. — Dr. M. C. Cooke made a communication on 

 the structure and affinity of Spharia pocula. Its position has 

 hitherto been unquestioned, since originally described by 

 Schweinitz in 1S25. Dr. Cooke, however, shows from micro- 

 scopical examination that structurally it is Hymenomycetal, and 

 not Ascomycetal, being allied to the genus Polyporus or Poro- 

 thelhtm. He designates it as Polyporus (Mesopus) poeuliis, 

 Schwein., allied perhaps in habit to P.ptndulus, but in substance 

 to P. rhipidium. — A paper by Mr. W. Joshua was read, viz. 

 notes on some Burmese Desmidieo:, in which he figures and 



describes new and interesting species. — Novitates Capensis \\as 

 the title of a paper by Mr. Henry Bolus, and mainly confined to 

 diagnoses of new or rare orchids from South Africa. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, January 22.— Sir Frederick 

 Bram^vell, F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — The paper read 

 was on the adoption of standard forms of test-pieces for bars 

 and plates, by Mr. William Hackney, 13. Sc, .'\ssoc.M.Inst.C.K. 



Edinburgh 

 Royal Society, January 7.— T. Stevenson, C.E., vice 

 president, in the chair. — Papers were read on the approximation 

 to the ro.ts ot cubic equations by recurring chain fractions, by 

 Mr. E. Sang, and on the researches of M. E. de Jonquieres on 

 periodic continued fractions, by Thomas Muir, M..\. The 

 author showed that the results which M. de Jonquieres is from 

 time to lime communicating to the French Academy are merely 

 particular casts of a more general result which he communicated 

 to the Society some years ago. — A paper was also read on new- 

 forms of nerve-terminations in the skin of mammals, by S. 

 Hoggan, M.l!., the latter being communicated by Prof. Turner. 

 — A second paper was laid on the table on a diagnosis of the 

 phanerogamous plants of Socotra, by Prof. Bayley Balfour. — A 

 communication \^■as read on the Tunicata of the Porcupine Ex- 

 pedition by Prof. Herdman. — An arrangement of the metals in 

 an electro-frictional series was submitted by A. Macfarlane, 

 M.A., D.Sc. As the result of a large number of quantitative 

 experiments, he found that the arrangement of the metals 

 according to the amount of negative electricity produced upon 

 them by a constant amount of friction (without abrasion) is as 

 follows: — Gold, 181; platinum, 136; tin, 126; silver, 102; 

 copper, ICO ; lead, 62 ; nickel, 59 ; brass, 59 ; iron, 56 ; 

 aluminium, 50 ; zinc, 45 ; magnesium, 43 ; antimony, 38 ; 

 German silver, 32 ; bismuth, 22. 



I CONTENTS Page 



The Indians of Guiana. By Dr. E. B. Tylor, 



F.R.S 305 



The Collection of Deers' Horns at the Royal 



Castle of Moritzburg 307 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Miss Ormerod's "Guide to Methods of Insect Life, 

 and Prevention and Remedy of Insect Ravage " 308 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Remarkable Sunsets.— Dr. M. W. Beyerinck 

 ( IVilk Diagrams) ; William Ellis ; Prof. W. G. 



Brown ; Prof. D. H. Marshall 308 



Circular Rainbow seen from a Hill-top. — ^J. A. 



Fleming 310 



Unconscious Bias in Walking. — Dr. J. G. Garson ; 

 Dr. John Rae, F.R.S. ; R. McLachlan, 

 F.R.S. ; F. M. Campbell; Stephen A. Mar- 

 shall 310 



Diffusion of Scientific Memoirs. — Prof. P. G. Tait 311 



Water in Australia.— F. T. Mott 311 



Deafness in White Cats.— Samuel Sexton .... 312 

 Further Discoveries in the Flora of Ancient Egypt. 



By Dr. G. Schweinfurth 312 



Metamorphism among Devonian Rocks 315 



The Recent Storm 316 



Notes 3'6 



Geographical Notes 318 



The Aims and Prospects of the Study of Anthro- 

 pology. By Prof. Flower, F.R.S 319 



The Formation of Small Clear Spaces in Dusty 



Air. By John Aitken 322 



A Vast Dust Envelope 324 



The Origin of the Scenery of the British Islands. 

 By Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., Director-General of 



the Geological Survey 325 



Societies and Academies ( With Diagram) 325 



