615 



A'.ivrA'/-: 



[,-//;77 J4 1884 



nature. Two fatal objections he said might be taken to tli'^ 

 theory: '(l) the one having reference to the very peculiar 

 nature of the parasitism it assumed, and the other (2) to the 

 fact that notwithstanding a similarity of appearance there 

 were in reality no true fungal-mycelia nor true algal-colonics in 

 lichens. As to any direct genetic or any indirect parasitical 

 connection between the gonidia of lichens and the hyphal 

 filament, it was further pointed out that none such e.\istc(I, but 

 that on tracing the evolution of the thallus from the germinating 

 spore, it is seen that the gonidia originate in the cellules of the 

 first parenchymatous tissue formed upon the hypothallus, and 

 til at subsequently through the resorption of the lower portion of 

 th c cortical stratum they became free, and constituted the thin 

 t/ionidial stratum. Where seen lying amongst the medullary 

 hypha: they are often attached to these, not as the result of any 

 copulation, but by means of the lichenin which permeates the 

 whole thallus. The origin of the gonidia and their relation lo 

 the rest of the lichen thallus, the author stated in conclusion, 

 thus belonged to the very elements of morphological botany. — 

 There followed a note on a remarkable variation in the leaf of 

 Bituksia marginn/a observed by Mr. J. G. Otto Tepper in South 

 Australia ; and he questions whether this might not be regarded 

 as the spontaneous production of a new variety or species or the 

 remnant of an extinct form. — Mr. R. A. Rolfe then discoursed 

 on Hyaloralyx, a new genus of Turneracefe from Madagascar. 

 According to Dr. J. Urban (the latest authority) the order con- 

 sists of five genera and eighty-three species distributed in America 

 from North Carolina and Mexico to the Argentine Republic, and 

 in Africa from Abyssinia to Mozambique and the Cape of Good 

 Hope, while outliers are found in the islands of Zanzibar and 

 Rodriguez. The unique example now added was obtained by 

 Dr. C. Rutenberg on Nossi-be, a small island on the north-west 

 of Madagascar. Its peculiarities incline Mr. Rolfe to regard it 

 as the type of a new genus with a position between Maihiirina 

 and Tmnera ; its most lemarkable character being its' glassy 

 transparent calyx totally destitute of chlorophyll. 



Chemical Society, April 17. — Dr. Perkin, F.R.S., pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — A ballot was held, and the following 

 gentlemen were elected Fellows : — W. D. Borland, J. C. Bose, 

 W. D. Crumbie, A. F. Dimmock, H. G. Greenish, W. J. Grey, 

 J. Gaskell, J. W. Pratt, A. G. Perkin, W. H. Perkin (jun.), 

 G. H. Wainwright. — The following papers were read : — On tlie 

 influence of incombustible diluents on the illuminating power of 

 ethylene, by P. F. Frankland. Mixture of ethylene with car- 

 bonic anhydride, nitrogen, aqueous vapour, and air, have a lower 

 illuminating power than pure ethylene. Mixtures with ox5'gen 

 have a greater illuminating power than pure ethylene ; carbonic 

 anhydride is the most and air the least prejudicial to the illumi- 

 nating power. — On trichloropyrogallol, by C. .S. .S. Webster. 

 Tlie author has prepared mairogallol by the method of Stenhouse 

 and Groves. He finds that the reaction can be separated into 

 two stages, in the first of which trichloropyrogallol is formed. 

 Its reactions are identical with tribromopyrogallol. The aullior 

 confirms the statements of Stenhouse and Groves in almost every 

 particular. — The synthesis of galena by means of thiocarbamide, 

 by J. Emerson Reynolds. The author has succeeded in coating 

 glass vessels, brass tubes, &c., with a nitrous galenoid coating, 

 by the decomposition of an alkaline solution of lead tartrate with 

 sulphur urea. — On the analysis of Woodall Spa, by W. T. 

 Wright. This spring contains a large amount of bromine (497 

 parts per million) and iodine (5 "2i per million) ; it is much richer 

 in these elements than any other spring in this country. — On the 

 critical temperature of heiitane, by T. E. Thorpe and A. W. 

 Riicker. By calculation it is found to be about 281°. 



Sydney 



Linnean Society of New South Wales, February 27.- — 

 The following pajiers were read : — Monograph of the Australian 

 sponges, by R. von Lendenfeld, Ph.D., part I. This paper is 

 introductory to a monograph upon the Australian sponges, large 

 materials for which have already been accumulated by the author, 

 partly from his own collections, and partly from those in the 

 Museums of Christchurch and Dunedin, New Zealand, and of 

 Adelaide, South Australia. The real investigation of this branch 

 of the Coelenterata may be said to begin with the work of Grant, 

 1826 ; to have risen to a new and much higher level under 

 Schulze, 1875-1881, and to Imve been continued by Lollas, 

 Keller, Vosmaer, Marshall, the author, and others, with con- 

 tinually increasing success up to the present time. A sufficient 



account of the bibliography of the Spongida is presented in this 

 paper to enable those interested to find any desired information 

 upon the subject, a matter of no small difficulty at present. — The 

 ScyJ'hoiiieduut of the southern hemisphere, by R. von Lendenfeld, 

 Ph.D., part i. The Scyphoiiiedusir or "jelly-fish" appear to 

 be more numerous in the southern than in the northern hemi- 

 sphere. Of the 210 known species, 104 have already been found 

 in llie former, and as the animals of that hemisphere are not 

 nearly so well known as those of the northern, the number of 

 southern species must doubtless be much greater than that men- 

 tioned. Only twenty-six of the 104 southern species are Aus- 

 tralian, but this ai)]3arent poverty of the .Medusa; of our shores 

 is due to the limited investigation that has been made. In this 

 paper all the species of this hemisphere are described. — Notices 

 of some new fishes by William Macleay, F. L. .S. Four 

 species are here described. Two of them, Platycephahis lonri- 

 sphiis and Urohphus bncadentus were taken in the trawl in deep 

 water outside the Heads of Port Jackson. The third, Petroscirtes 

 wihon', was found by Mr. J. D. Wilson at the North Shore ; 

 and the fourth, Athirivosoma Jiuniesoni, was a small freshwater 

 fish from the Bjemer, one of the head waters of the Brisbane 

 River. — On the improvement effected by the Australian climate, 

 soil, and culture on the Merino sheep, by P. N. Trebeck. In 

 this paper Mr. Trebeck traces the changes and improvement 

 which wool has undergone in Australia since the first introduc- 

 tion of German and Silesian sheep. Samples of the wool of all 

 the periods and flocks alluded to were exhibited. Mr. Trebeck 

 concludes his paper by stating his opinion that the whole of the 

 country on our western watershed was eminently suitable for the 

 Merino sheep, and that we only required the fostering assistance 

 of an intelligent Government to keep in the front ranks of the 

 wool-producing countries of the world. 



CONTENTS pag^ 



The Edinburgh University Festival 593 



Prjevalsky's Travels in Central Asia 593 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Jung's "Deutsche Kolonien " 594 



"Catalogue de la Bibliotheque Japonaise de Norden- 



skjold " 594 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Dust of Krakatoa.— Prof. John W. Judd, 



F.R.S. ; Prof. W. L. Goodwin 595 



" Earthquakes and Buildings." — Dr. A. Ernst . . 595 

 (~)n the Transmission of Organic Germs through 

 Cosmical Space by Meteoric Stones. — J. H. 



Stewart 595 



Instinct of Magpies. — Rev. James Graves . . . 596 



Cats at Victoria Station. — Rooke Pennington . . 596 



Wild Duck laying in Rook's Nest. — ^John Ccrdeaux 596 



Science and the Public Service. — S 596 



The Hong Kong Observatory. By Dr. 'W. Doberck 596 

 The Cedar Forest of Cyprus. By Sir Robert 



Biddulph, K.C-M.G., C.B 597 



Mineral Resources of the United States 598 



The Late Dr. Engelmann. By Dr, Maxwell T. 



Masters, F.R.S 599 



Siwalik Carnivora ( IVilk Illustratiotis) 599 



An Earthquake in England. By Dr. J. E. Taylor ; 



A. Percy Smith ; Henry O. Forbes 602 



Notes 603 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Southern Comets 606 



The Observatory of Palermo 606 



Geographical Notes 606 



On the Progress of Geology. By Prof. Julius von 



Haast, Ph.D.. F.R.S 607 



Dust-free Spaces. By Dr. Oliver J. Lodge ( With 



Illustrations) 610 



University and Educational Intelligence 613 



Scientific Serials 613 



Societies and Academies 614 



'>' :4B2 7 



