58 
NATURE 

[Nov. 17, 1870 

S. Packard. The fourth paper is a continuation of Mr, A, E, 
Verrill’s Synopsis of the Polyps and Corals collected by the 
American North Facific Exploring Expedition in the years 1853 
to 1856 ; this includes descriptions of a great many new species, 
and is illustrated with two plates. This part also contains the 
« Proceedings” of the Essex Institute for the year 1868. 
The third part of the Zeitschrift of the German Geological 
Society, including its proceedings for the months of May, June, 
and July, opens with along and important memoir, by M, F, J. 
Wiirtenberger, on the Tertiary Formation of the Klettgau, a 
district situated on the northern border of the Swiss Molasse. 
The tertiary deposits, which are referred by the author to the 
Miocene and Oligocene periods, are of both freshwater and 
marine origin, and appear to be very complicated ; fossils are 
scarce in them, except in certain localities, which have furnished 
the remains of plants and animals in considerable abundance. 
Prof. Ferdinand Roemer describes and figures a new fossil Pyéhon 
from the Island of Eubcea, under the name of /. ewdoicus. The 
specimen is contained in a slab of tertiary calcareous marl slate, 
and the portion preserved indicates that the snake would have 
been about nine-and-a-half feet long when living. M. H. Las- 
peyres communicates a monographic revision of the genus Leaia 
(T. R. Jones) belonging to the Phyllopodous Crustacea. He 
discusses the systematic position of the genus, which he places 
among the Linmadiadz, and of which he describes and figures five 
species, one of them (Z. weétinensis) as new, and two others as 
having been previously described as varieties of Z. Leidyi, All 
the other papers relate to mineralogical subjects ; they include a 
continuation of Prof. G. vom Rath’s valuable geognostico- 
mineralogical Italian fragments; an analytical notice of the 
Palatinite of Norheim, by Prof A. Kenngott; and a notice of 
the occurrence of zircon in the hypersthenite of the Radauthal 
near Harzburg, by Prof. Gustav Rose. 
Tue Journal of Botany for November contains a continuation 
of Dr. Seemann’s Revision of the Bignoniaceze and several 
articles of special interest to British botanists. There is also a 
reprint of an interesting paper by Dr. Parry, of Washington, 
read at the recent meeting of the British Association, on the 
North American Desert Flora, between 32° and-42° north lati- 
tude. He calls particular attention to the contrast between the 
annual and perennial vegetation of desert tracts, the former being 
very evanescent and rapid in its growth ; the latter either storing 
up a large amount of surplus nourishment in their thick tuberous 
or tap roots, or, in the case of trees and shrubs, possessing ex- 
posed stems and foliage of the most scant and starved character ; 
spine-clad branches and green-backed stems are, in many places, 
made to supply the office of leaves, or, where these latter are 
present, they are often chiefly coated with resinous varnish, or 
clothed with tomentose hairs or scales, serving to check eyapo- 
ration, 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LONDON 
Zoological Society, Nov. 1.—-Prof. Newton, F.R.S., V.P., 
in the chair, The Secretary read a Report on the additions 
that had been made to the Society’s Menagerie during the 
months of June, July, August, and September. Amongst the 
more valuable acquisitions, particular attention was called to a 
collection of animals from Chili, purchased in the month of July 
last. Of twenty-two species obtained in this collection, no less 
than twelve were new to the Society’s series, and some of these, 
such as: Burmeister’s Cariama (Chumga dburmetstert) and the 
small Coscoroba Swan (Cygnus coscoroba) were of special 
interest. Another valuable addition was a male of the Ethio- 
pian Ant-bear (Orycteropus Ethiopicus) from Upper Nubia, 
purchased July 29. This animal had been placed in company 
with the Cape Ant-bear (Orycteropus capensis) acquired in 
June 1869, and afforded an opportunity for the comparison of 
the two species together.—A communication was read from 
Prof. W. Peters, containing an elaborate memoir on the 
structure of Pectinator speket, a peculiar Rodent of Eastern 
Africa. The specimens on which Dr. Peter’s memoir was based, 
had been obtained by Mr. William Jesse, during his travels as 
Zoologist in company with the Abyssinian Expedition, —A 
seventh letter on the Ornithology of Buenos Ayres, addressed 
to the Society by Mr. W. H. Hudson, was read.—Prof. 
Newton exhibited a chick of Anarhynchus frontalis, a rare 
wader from New Zealand, remarkable for possessing an asym- 

metrical bill.—Mr. C. Darwin, F.R.S., communicated a note 
on the habits of the Pampas Woodpecker (CArysoftilus cam- 
pestris), in reply to some observations on this subject made 
by Mr. W. H. Hudson, in one of his previous letters,—Six 
communications were read from Dr, J. E. Gray, F.R.S., on 
various points connected with the Natural History of the Testu- 
dinata. The first of these contained notes on three Tortoises 
living in the Society’s Gardens, one of which was believed to 
be new to science, and was proposed to be called Testudo 
chilensis, ‘The second contained descriptions of two new species 
of Indian Tortoises in the collection of Mr. T. C. Jerdon. 
The third related to the family Dermatemyda, and embraced the 
description of a species of this group living in the Society’s 
Gardens. The fourth contained notes on a West African River- 
Tortoise (Cyclanosteus senegalensis), also living in the Society’s 
Gardens. The fifth contained notes on Bartleltia, a proposed 
new genus of freshwater Tortoises, belonging to the family 
Peltocephalide, and the sixth notes on the species of ARhino- 
clemmys, in the British Museum. A communication was read 
from Mr. W. Theobald, containing critical observations on a 


a 
paper by Dr. J. E. Gray, on the families and genera of Tortoises, 
which had been recently published in the Society’s ‘* Proceed- 
ings.” Amongst other remarks, Mr. Theobald stated the skull 
upon which Dr. Gray had established his Zestudo (Scapia) 
falconeri, appeared to have originally formed part of one of 
the typical specimens of Zes/udo phayrei, in the Indian Mu- 
seum, Calcutta.—A paper was read by Mr. A. G. Butler, con- 
taining a list of Diurnal Lepidoptera, collected by Mr. Spaight 
in Northern India. —A communication was read from the Rev. — 
O. P. Cambridge, containing descriptions of some new genera 
and species of Avaneidea.—A communication was read from 
Mr. W. Vincent Legge, containing notes on a species of 
Prinia from Ceylon. A communication was read from Sur- 
geon Francis Day, containing a memoir on the Fishes of 
the Andaman Islands. Mr. Day’s list embraced no less than 
255 species, chiefly marine, which had been collected during 
the short space of a three weeks’ visit to those Islands. 
Linnean Society, Nov. 3.—Mr. G. Bentham, President, in 
the chair. A paper was read by Dr. Mansel Weale, ‘* On the 
Fertilisation of certain Orchids and Asclepiads.” 
lieves to be self-fertilisation by the agency of insects. 
the species, however, fructify comparatively seldom. At night 
some of the species emit a delicious fragrance, and these are 
chiefly visited by nocturnal moths. Dr. Weale also contri- 
buted a note on a solitary bee from South Africa, 
Entomological Society, Nov. 7.—Mr. H. W. Bates, V.P., — 
in the chair.—Mr. T. H. Briggs, of Lincoln’s Inn, was elected a 
member.— Exhibitions of British Lepidoptera were made by Mr. 
Bond, Mr. Howard Vaughan, and Mr. McLachlan ; of British — 
C rie Mr. Edward — 
Saunders exhibited VYixruthrus heros, a gigantic species of Prio- — 
Coleoptera, by Mr. F. Smith and Mr. Dunning. 
nide, from the Feejee Islands. Mr. Albert Miiller exhibited 
galls of Cyntps agama, and reniform spangles of Cynips renum, 
both on the underside of leaves of the oak.—Communications 
were read respecting swarms of Chlorops dineata which occurred — 
in houses at Cambridge and elsewhere ; and respecting the injury 
done to pear, plum, and cherry trees by the grubs of Blennocampia — 
Cerasi.—The following papers were read: ‘* On Butterflies from — 
Basuto-land,” by Mr. Roland Trimen ; ‘‘On Cevambycide from 
the Amazons, by Mr. H. W. Bates: ‘On Curculonide from 
Australia,” by Mr. F. P. Pascoe; ** Notes on the Lurytomine,” 
by Mr, F. Walker. 
Anthropological Society, Noy, 1.—Dr. Charnock, V.P., 
in the chair. Mr. Matthew Heslop, Mr. J. R. Mortimer, 
Mr. Ankithum Venkata Nursing Row, Mr. James Hope, and 
Mr. Walter M. Parker, were elected members. Mr. William 
Storey, M.D., was elected local secretary for Malta; and Mr. © 
Frank Wilson was elected local secretary for St. Paul’s de Loanda, — 
W. Africa. A verbal communication was made by Mr, Charles- 
worth, giving some details of his discovery, and the exhumation, — 
from a Tertiary formation in East Anglia, of a nearly perfect skele- 
ton of one of the gigantic Bovine animals which the Roman | 
legions met with when they first penetrated into the dense forests 
of Belgium and Gaul, and which are described by Caesar under 
the names of Uri and Bisontes. Dr, R. Charnock, V.P., F,S.A., 
read a paper on ‘‘ The People of the Isle of Marken.” 
He described — 
several species of Habenaria, some of them new, from South — 
Africa, and explained the process of fecundation, which he be- — 
Some of 


