April 17, 1884] 



NA TURE 



591 



certificate of membership and the certificate of proficiency in 

 l)ractical agriculture were granted to Mr. R. A. Benson, 

 F.H.A.S., tl, Caledonia Place, Clifton ; Mr. W. de Hoghton 

 Birch, I, Bathwick Street, Bath ; and Mr. C. W. Lincoln 

 Hardy, F. H.A.S., Gittisham, Honiton, Devon; and the certi- 

 ficate of proficiency alone to Mr. B. S. Dunning, 2, Warwick 

 Square, S.W. 



The authorities of University College, Liverpool, have asked 

 that that institution be incorporated with \'ictoria University. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Linnean Society, April 3. — Sir J. Lubliock, Bart., presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — Mr. W. Brockbank exhibited a series of 

 double daffodils, wild forms of Narcissus pseudo Narcissus, which 

 were gathered in a Welsh meadow from among many of both 

 the single and double forms occurring there in every stage of 

 growth. .Sections invariably revealed stamens and pistils, and 

 in two of the most double forms ovaries filled with seeds were 

 present. With this evidence he therefore contended against the 

 current notion of cultivation and root-growths having produced 

 a heterogeneous multiplication of the perianth segments, split-up 

 crown, and conversion of stamens into petal-growths, his belief 

 being that the plants in question were propagated in the ordinary 

 seed-bearing manner. — Mr. R. JL Middleton showed a jackdaw 

 with albinism of the wing feathers, causing considerable resem- 

 blance in the bird to a magpie. — Prof. P. M. Duncan gave a 

 revision of the families and genera of the Sclerodermic Zooan- 

 tharia, the Rugosa excepted. Since MM. Milne-Edwards and 

 Haimes' work, 1857-60, no systematic revision of the Madrepo- 

 raria has appeared, while since then a great number of new 

 genera have been founded ; hence the necessity for a revision 

 iias arisen, and more especially in consequence of the morpho- 

 logical researches of Dana, Agassiz, Verrill, and Moseley. Prof. 

 Duncan explained that the old sections of the Zooanthari£e re- 

 quired modification and addition. In his present revision the 

 sections Aporosa and Perforata remain shorn of some genera, 

 the old family Fungidas becomes a section with three families, 

 two of which are transitional between the sections just men- 

 tioned. The section Tabulata disappears, some genera being 

 placed in the Aporosa, and the others are relegated to the 

 Hydrozoa according to Moseley. The Tubulosa cease to be 

 Madreporarian. Hence the sections treated are Madreporia- 

 .\porosa, JL-Fungida, and INL -Perforata. The nature of the 

 hard and soft parts of these forms is considered in relation to 

 classification, and an appeal is made to naturalists to agree to 

 the abolition of many genera, the author having sacrificed many 

 of his own founding. The criticism of 467 genera permits 336 

 to remain good, and as a moderate number (36) of sub-genera 

 are allowed to continue, the diminution is altogether about 100. 

 The genera are gi^ouped in alliances, the numbers in families 

 being unequal. .Simplicity is aimed at, and old artificial divi- 

 sions dispensed with. There is a great destruction of genera 

 amongst the simple forms of Aporosa, and a most important 

 addition to the Fungida. The genera Siderastrot and Tlinvmas- 

 trcE are tyj^es of the family Plesiofungidce, as are Alicrosolenia 

 and Cyclolites of the family Plesioporitida;. The families Fun- 

 gida; and Lophoseridas add many genera to the great section 

 Fungida. There is not much alteration in respect of the 

 Madrcporaria-Perforata, but the sub-family Eusamminas are 

 promoted to a family position as the Eusammidje. — Mr. Chas. 

 F. White thereafter read a note on some pollen from funereal 

 garlands found in an Egyptian tomb circa B.C. 1000. It appears 

 that from among the dried flowers of PapOTcr R/iaas the pollen 

 obtained freely absorbed water, became swollen, and in other 

 respects the grains were barely able to be differentiated by the 

 microscope from the pollen grains of the recent poppy. — A paper 

 was read by Mr. F. J. Briant, on the anatomy and functions of 

 the tongue of the honey bee. Authorities, it seems, are yet 

 divided in opinion as to how the organ in question acts. Kirby 

 and Spence, Newport and Huxley, aver the bee laps its food ; 

 while Hermann Miiller and others attribute a full share to the 

 terminal whorl of hairs to which the honey adheres, and there- 

 from is withdrawn. Mr. Briant, on the other hand, from ex- 

 periment and study of tlie structures, is inclined to the view that 

 the honey is drawn into the mouth through the inside of the 

 tongue by means of a complicated pumping action of the organ, 

 aided by the closely contiguous parts. 



Chemical Society, April 3. — Dr. W. H. Perkin, president, 

 in the chair. — The following papers were read : — On the influ- 

 ence of certain phosphates upon vinous fermentation, by A. G. 

 Salamon and W. de Vere Mathew. It has been suggested that 

 the addition of phosphates to beerworts stimulates the growth of 

 the yeast-plant and increases the rapidity of attenuation of the 

 wort. The authors find that ordinary English wort contains an 

 excess of phosphoric acid over that which is proA'ed by their ex- 

 periments to be most favourable to fermentation ; hence it 

 follows that the addition of phosphates to wort is not advisable. 

 — On the occurrence of rhabdophane in the United .States, by 

 W. N. Hartley. The author shows that a new mineral, scovil- 

 lite, described by Brush and Penfield in the Anier. jfourn. Sci., 

 xxv. 459, is but a variety of rhabdophane. In a subsequent 

 number of the journal, March 1884, the identity of the two 

 minerals is recognised by the above authors. 



Geological Society, April 2.— Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Frank Gotto and George Varty Smith 

 were elected Fellows, and Dr. E. Mojsisovics von Mojsvar, of 

 Vienna, a Foreign Correspondent of the Society. — The following 

 communications were read : — The rocks of Guernsey, by the 

 Rev. E. Hill, M.A. ; with an appendix on the microscopic struc- 

 ture of some of the rocks, by Prof. T. G. Bonney, F. R. S. The 

 southern part of the island is a high plateau consisting entirely 

 of gneiss. This is very coarse, and the bedding is seldom well 

 marked. The bedding, when visible, coincides with the folia- 

 tion, and the author hopes that hereafter an order of succession 

 may be established. At Rocquaine Castle occur a few slaty beds 

 intercalated in the gneiss, the origin of which is somewhat 

 difficult to tmderstand. The northern part, low ground with 

 hummocks, consists principally of a group of crystalline or sub- 

 crystalline rocks, in constitution diorites or syenites. They are 

 described by Ansted as sedimentary rocks metamorphosed into 

 syenites ; but they show no bedding either in the many quarries, 

 or, in general, in the shore outcrops, nor do their varieties occur 

 in any manner indicating an order of succession. They appear 

 at Castle Cornet to meet the gneiss intrusively, and their micro- 

 scopic structure is igneous. A remarkable appearance of bedded 

 structure at Fort Doyle is the only strong argument for a meta- 

 morphic origin, and this may be explained as a caught-up mass 

 in conjunction with crushing-planes. The author therefore 

 regards them as igneous. An oval area between St. Sampson's 

 and .St. Peter's Port is occupied by hornblendic rocks, locally 

 called "birdseye," which may be described as hornblende- 

 gabbros. These also have been called metamorphic. They too, 

 at Hogue-a-la-Perre and another point, present appearances of 

 bedding ; but on the same general grounds as for the preceding 

 group these also are regarded as igneous. Two granitic masses 

 are described : the coarse pink granite of Cobo, on the west 

 coast, and the finer-grained gray granite weathering pink of 

 Lancresse, on the north. Each is seen to intrude : the Cobo 

 granite into gneiss at Hommet Barracks, the Lancresse granite 

 into diorite at Fort Le Marchant. Besides these are some smaller 

 masses. Dykes are remarkably abundant and various. Granites 

 and elvans are plentiful everywhere ; felsites very rare. The 

 majority of the dykes are diorites, varying in coarseness and often 

 of enormous size ; there is also mica-trap. In some of these 

 dykes a cleavage has been developed, so that some resemble 

 slates. Infiltration-veins are abundant. In relative age the 

 gneiss appears to be the oldest rock, the hornblende-gabbro to 

 be next, then comes the diorite group, while the granites are 

 newer still. Of the dykes the newest are the compactest diorites. 

 As to the absolute geological age of the rocks no satisfactory 

 evidence at present is known ; it will have to be sought for in 

 the other islands and in France. — On a new specimen of Mcgal- 

 ichthys from the Yorkshire coalfield, by Prof. L. C. Miall. — 

 Studies on some Japanese rocks, by Dr. Bundjiro Koto. Com- 

 municated by Frank Rutley. The author has studied series of 

 Japanese rocks from the collection of the Tokio University and 

 the Geological Sui-vey of Japan. The microscopical investiga- 

 tion was carried on at the Mineralogical Institute at Leipzig, 

 under the direction of Prof Zirkel, and the chemical analyses 

 were made in the laboratory of Prof. Knop. The most abundant 

 rocks are the pyroxene-andesites, which are not of a glassy 

 textiire, but for the most part holocrystalline. The most abun- 

 dant mineral in these rocks is a plagioclose felspar with twinned 

 and zonal structure, which is proved, by its e.xtinction-angles and 

 by the chemical analysis of its isolated fragments, to be labra- 

 dorite. Sanadine is present in small quantities. The augites of 

 these rocks present many peculiarities ; they are all decidedly 



