138 

metals by the heating or cooling effects of a current of measured 
strength. The junction formed of each pair to be examined 
was enclosed in the bulb of an air thermometer, and the 
difference between the expansions produced, when the current 
passed in opposite directions, was measured. The electromotive 
order of the metals deduced from the results did not agree with the 
order given by electroscopic observations (¢ektrische Spannungs- 
rethe), but it agreed with the thermo-electric order, though the 
electromotive forces were not found to be proportional in all 
cases to the thermo-electromotive forces between the same pairs 
of metals. (9.) ‘‘On the Properties of Pictures formed by Photo- 
graphic Lenses,” by Dr. Hermann Vogel. The author calls 
attention to certain inherent defects of pictures formed by per- 
fect photographic lenses, that is to say, defects not due to dis- 
tortion or aberration in the lenses. (10.) ‘‘On the Velocity of 
Light in Quartz,” by Victor von Lang, contains very careful 
measurements of the deviations produced by a quartz prism in 
the ordinary and extraordinary rays for various angles of inci- 
dence. Incidentally, a measurement of the ratio of the two co- 
efficients of expansion of quartz is also given, deduced from the 
change produced by alterations of temperature in the refracting 
angle of the prism. (11.) ‘‘ On the Specific Heat of Saline Solu- 
tions and Mixtures of Liquids,” by A. Wiillner. The author 
disputes, on the authority of the experiments made in his labora- 
tory by Dr. Schiiller, Jamin’s conclusion that when two liquids 
are mixed together, and therefore each of them is uniformly 
diffused through the whole of the space occupied by the mixture, 
the specific heat of each increases in proportion to increased 
space occupied by it. (12.) ‘On the Fusion of Leaden Bullets 
by striking against an Iron Plate,” by Edward Hagenbach. 
This paper describes the melting of leaden bullets fired against 
an iron target, and contains a calculation showing that the 
kinetic energy due to the velocity assigned by ‘‘a competent 
mil'tary authority” is sufficient to accgunt for the result. (13.) 
‘*An Experiment on boiling together two liquids which do not 
mix,” by August Kundt. If steam is passed into liquid sul- 
phide of carbon, or if sulphide of carhon vapour is passed into 
water, the resulting mixture of water and sulphide of carbon 
boils at 42°6° C., that is to say, at a temperature four degrees 
lower than the boiling point of sulphide of carbon alone. Also, 
if water and sulphide of carbon, which have been heated 
separately to between 43° and 46°6°, be mixed together, the 
mixture boils until its temperature has fallen to about 43°. 
These facts are in accordance with the observation of Magnus 
and Regnault that the vapour-tension of a mixture of two mutually 
insoluble liquids is equal to the sum of the vapour-tensions of 
the separate liquids. (14.) ‘‘On Microscopic Tridymite,” by 
Ferdinand Zirkel. The author describes the characters of this 
mineral as seen under the microscope, and shows that it is of 
frequent occurrence in microscopic crystals. (15) ‘‘On Acous- 
tical Attraction and Repulsion,” by K. H. Schellbach, contains 
experimental proofs of the statement that “‘the sonorous vibra- 
tions of an elastic medium urge specifically heavier bodies to- 
wards the centre of disturbance, and specifically lighter bodies 
away from it.” 
Paleontographica. Beitrage zur Naturgeschichte der Vorwelt. 
Herausgegeben von Dr. W. Dunker and Dr. K. A. Zittel. Band 
xvii., Lief. 6, 1870. This new part of the well-known 
“* Paleontographica” contains an interesting contribution to 
fossil entomology in the description of the species of diptera 
obtained from the brown coal of Rott in the Siebengebirge. It 
is from the pen of the distinguished entomologist, L. von Heyden. 
The species, which are figured, are forty-one innumber, belonging 
to sixteen genera, and all but nine of them belong to the 
moisture-loving families of the monocerous group (7ulide, 
Culicide, &c.). Of Chironomus there are five well-marked 
species, and no less than six different forms of larvae and pup, 
and there is also the larva almost certainly of a species of 
Stratiomys. 
The most important article in the Journal of Botany for De- 
cember is a continuation of Dr. Braithwaite’s Recent Additions to 
our Moss Flora, accompanied by two plates. Dr. Seemann con- 
tinues his Revision of the Natural Order Biyvoniacee, and Mr. 
Ernst gives Jottings from a Botanical Note-book, velating chiefly 
to Caracas plants. The other articles belong exclusively to specific 
British botany. With the new year it is intended to increase the 
amount of type in the journal by about one-third, without any 
corresponding increase in price. 
NATURE 

| Dee. 15, 1 870 

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LONDON 
Zoological Society, December 6.—Robert Hudson, F.R.S., 
V.P., in the ,chair. The Secretary read a report on the 
additions to the Society’s menagerie during the months of 
October and November, amongst which particular attention 
was called to an example of Geoffroy’s Cat (felis Geoffroy), 
from Paraguay, purchased Oct. 10, and a specimen of the 
Antarctic Wolf (Canis antarcticus), from the Falkland Islands, 
presented by Mr. H. Byng, Acting Colonial Secretary of that 
colony.—An extract was read from a letter received from Dr. 
R. C. Cunningham, giving particulars of the habits of a 
Manatee, as observed by him in the public gardens at Rio. 
—A ninth letter was read from Mr. W. H. Hudson, 
on the Ornithology of Buenos Ayres.—Dr. J. Murie read the 
second part of his memoir on the anatomy of the Sea Lion 
(Otaria jubata), as observed in the male of this species which 
died in the Society’s Gardens in 1867.—Mr, J. B. Perrin read a 
paper containing notes on the anatemy of the Smaller Fin- Whale 
Balenopiera rostrata), as observed on dissection of a young 
female specimen of this species captured at Weymouth in April, 
1870.—A communication was read from Dr. G. Hartlaub and 
Dr. O. Finsch, containing the description of a remarkable new 
Finch from the Navigators’ Islands, proposed to be called 
Lobiospiza notabilis.—A communication was read from the Rev. 
O. P. Cambridge, containing notes on a collection of Arachnidea 
made by Mr. J. Keast Lord in the Peninsula of Sinai and on the 
African borders of the Red Sea.—A paper was read by Mr. G, 
Gulliver, F.R.S., containing observations on certain points in 
the anatomy and economy of the Lampreys.—Dr. A. Giinther 
read a notice of the hitherto unrecorded occurrence of Zates 
calcarifrr, a fish belonging to the Perch family, in Australia.— 
A communication was read from Dr, J. E. Gray, containing the 
description of the skull of the adult Zupleres gondoti, This Mada- 
gascar mammal was previously only known from an immature 
specimen in the Paris Museum.—A second communication from 
Dr. Gray contained notes on //apalemur simus, a new Lemur, 
described from a specimen lately living in the Society’s Gardens. 
—Messrs. Sclater and Salvin communicated descriptions of five 
new species of birds from the United States of Columbia.— 
A second communication from the same authors contained an 
account of the collections of birds recently made by Mr. George 
M. Whitely on the line of the Inter-Oceanic Railway of Hon- 
duras.—Mr. Sclater read descriptions of three apparently new 
species of Tyrant Birds, of the genus £/ainea, to which were 
added remarks on other known species of the same group.—Mr. 

St. George Mivart read a paper on the myology of a species of . 
Chameleon (Chameleon parsoni).—Mr. Gould exhibited and 
pointed out the characters of two new species of Humming 
Birds recently collected by Mr. Buckley in Ecuador, which he 
proposed to call Chetocercus bombilius and Thalurania hypo- 
chlora. 
Anthropological Society, December 6.—Dr. J. Beddce, 
President, in the chair. Mr. W. R., Cooper exhibited and 
shortly described two Grzeco-Egyptian terra-cotta figures from 
the Hay Collection, showing a remarkable form of the head.— 
A paper was read by Mr. A. L. Lewis, ‘* Suggestions and Reflec- 
tions respecting the Peoples inhabiting the British Isles.” The 
author divided the inhabitants of Britain into three leading types: 
Ist, the Kymric, long-headed, dark-haired, and light-eyed; 2nd, 
the Iberian, dark-haired and dark-eyed ; 3rd, the Teutonic, 
broad-headed, light-haired, and light-eyed ; the first two types 
being included under the collective name of Celt. After touch- 
ing on some of the physical racial questions connected with the 
intermixture of these types, the paper concluded with some 
remarks tending to controvert certain popular ideas in reference 
to their mental characteristics, and their respective love of free- 
dom, honesty, and chastity. 
Entomological Society, Dec. 5.—Mr. A. R. Wallace, 
President, in the chair. Mr. Edward Saunders exhibited three 
new British //emiptera, belonging to the genera Salda, Plocio- 
merus, and //ladrodema. Mr. F. Smith exhibited Baridius scolo- 
paceus, a beetle new to Britain, also Calodera rubens, both species 
captured in Kent. Mr, Butler exhibited a dark dwarf of Vavessa 
urtic@. Mr. Pascoe exhibited two new forms of Zongicornia 
from the Himalayas. Mr. Albert Miiller exhibited photographs 
of galls caused by several species of Cvnifs, sent by Mr. Bassett, of 
Waterburg, U.S.A. Mr. S. S. Saunders exhibited a living spider, 
iow 
a 
