

VY 
_ Dee. 22, 1870] 


NATURE 
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- the council in the room of the late Dr. Anderson. — ‘‘ On 
Sabadilla (Asagrwa officinalis Lindl.) from Caracas,” by A. 
Ernst. A large quantity of this drug is exported from Caracas and 
Venezuela, amounting to from 3,000 to 3,500 quintals annually, 
almost the whole being sent to Hamburg. The plant is a very 
- common one by the roadsides in Caracas, but the greatest part 
of the drug (obtained from the seeds of the plant) comes from 
the hilly regions in the south, where it grows at an elevation of 
from 3,500 to 4,090 feet. It was originally discovered in the 
Mexican Andes, and is not known elsewhere. Although not 
mentioned by Humboldt, it is, however, apparently indigenous 
in Venezuela, growing in places where it is most unlikely to have 
been planted, and haying been known long before the seeds were 
first exported by German druggists. The Caracasian piant 
differs slightly, but hardly specifically, from the typical form of 
Mexico. The bulbs contain numerous raphides of oxalate of 
lime.—‘‘ On the Pitcher-plant of California (Dardinglonia),” by 
W. Robinson, F,L.S. The Californian Pitcher-plants grow in 
the Sierra Nevada, at an altitude of 5,000 feet above the sea, in 
small sloping bogs along with Sp/agnuum and other true bog- 
plants. At a distance the pitchers have the appearance of 
jargonelle pears, holding their larger ends uppermost, at a dis- 
tance of from roin. to 24in, above the ground. This re- 
sulted from the pitchers being quite turned over at the top so 
as to form a full rounded dome, and the uppermost half of the 
pitcher being of a decided ripe pear-yellow. They are all 
twisted spirally, especially in their upper portion. ‘ach pitcher 
had at the bottom a layer of from two to five inches of the 
remains of insects closely packed into it; from those of minute 
beetles to large feathery moths. What it is that attracts the 
insects is byno means clear. Pass a sharp knife through a lot of 
brown pitchers withering round an old plant, and the stumps re- 
semble a number of tubes, densely packed with the remains of 
insects. Within the pitcher the surface is smooth for a li:tle way 
down; then isulated hairs appear ; and soon the chamber becomes 
densely lined with needle-like hairs, all pointing down, so decidedly 
indeed, that they almost lie against the surface from which they 
spring. ‘These hairs are very slender, transparent, and about a 
quarter of an inch long, but have a needle-like rigidity, and are 
perfectly colourless. The poor flies, moths, ladybirds, &c., seem 
to travel down these conveniently arranged stubbles, but none 
seem toturn back. The pitcher, which may be a couple of 
inches wider at the top, narrows very gradually, and at its base 
is about a line in diameter. Here, and for some little distance 
above this point, the vegetable needles, of course, all converge, 
and the unhappy fly goes on till he finds his head against the 
thick firm bottom of the cell, and his rear against myriads of 
bayonets ; and here he dies. Very small creatures fill up the 
narrow base, and above them larger ones densely pack them- 
selves to death in the hope of fighting their way out. When 
held with the top upwards ; sometimes a reddish juice, with an 
exceedingly offensive odour, drops froin them, The ylant is 
closely allied to the Sarracenia, and would no doubt be easily 
grown in this country.—‘‘On Carnivorous and Insectivorus 
Plants,” by Mrs. Barber (Cape Town), 
Norwicu 
Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, Noy. 29.—The 
Rey. J. Bates delivered a lecture on ‘‘ Sun-spots,” illustrated by 
numerous diagrams. After explaining the various and chang ng 
appearances presented by sun-spots and faculze, and the electrical 
disturbances in the earth’s atmosphere which accompanies them, 
Mr. Bates briefly reviewed the theories which have been ad- 
vanced from time to time to account for these remarkable phe- 
nomena, and concluded by explaining the wonderful light spec- | 
trum analysis has thrown, not only upon the composition of the 
sun itself, but even upon the atmosphere by which it is sur- 
rounded, and the stupendous commotions by which it is con- 
stantly agitated.—Mr. Barrett read a paper ‘‘On certain coast 
insects found near Brandon.” In June last Mr. Barrett cap- 
tured at Brandon several species of moths, whose habitat was 
essentially coast sand-hills, and which he believes were not sus- 
pected to exist at any considerable distance from the sea. 
The nearest sea-coast to this locality would be upwards of 
twenty miles distant, and delicate insects such as the tiny 
| Gelechia desertella and the weakly constructed Averastia lotella 
would not voluntarily undertake so long a flight, and it is impos- 
sible, considering their frailness and the nature of the intervening 
country, to admit of their having been ‘‘ blown across” to their 
present locality. Mr. Barrett therefore submits that as this tract 
of country was undoubtedly a range of coast san late in the post- 

glacial period, when the great valley of the Fens was still sub- 
merged. These little insects are probably the descendants of an 
ancient race which has survived the physical changes of ages, 
and that possibly their very weakness has preserved them ina 
locality now far removed from what is considered their natural 
habitat. The specimens exhibited were identical in appearance 
with duplicates obtained from the coast, and the only difference 
observed in their habits was their earlier appearance, about a 
fortnight before the coast specimens, doubtless due to the warmer 
and more sheltered locality. Mr. Barrett’s paper was followed 
by a discussion, in which some curious facts bearing upon his 
theory were elicited, amongst others the nesting of a coast species 
of bird (Charadrius hiaticula), in the same tract of country, 
these birds having, as it were, two distinct places of existence, 
one portion nesting on the sea beach far away, the other frequent- 
ing the ancient coast line which may have formed their breeding 
place countless ages ago. Seals found living in the Caspian Sea, 
in which the waters are only one-fifth the saltness of the open 
sea, are identical with those found in the North Sea and probably 
in the Mediterranean. Another species found in Lake Baikal, 
which is fresh water, is also found on the American coast. These, 
it was contended, were descendants of the oceanic seals, left by 
the subsidence of the water after the glacial period.—The Presi- 
dent read some notes on the birds of New Zealand, from a letter 
recently received by him from his brother at New Plymouth, 
Taranaki. Speaking of the disappearance of small birds, which 
has been attributed to injuries inflected upon them by the bees 
on which they are supposed to have fed, and which have in- 
creased enormously, his correspondent altogether discounte- 
nanced the idea, attributing th-ir disappearance to the disturbances 
of war, bush fires, and perhaps climatal changes. He adds: ‘‘I 
suspect that terrestrial commotions have altered our climate ; 
since our last great earthquake, our winds have altered in their 
intens.ty, frequency, and direction. Report states that there has 
been a great disruption of Antarctic ice, which to me explains the 
frequency of penguins, mostly young, being among the rocks 
here, and the capture of two sorts of seals, the common seal 
and seal lion, both young, quite close to the town, though they 
have never been seen here since this was a seitlement. The 
natives say they were common enough before the Europeans 
came, and they still call certain rocks on the beach by the names 
of the sort of seal that once frequented them. Some of the birds, 
however, appear to be returning to their former haunts. 
GLASGOW 
Geological Society, December 1.—Mr. John Young, vice- 
president, inthe chair. Azteszinous Striped Sandstone.—T he chair- 
man exhibited a block of carboniferous sandstone from Gilmore- 
hill quarry, about nine inches in thickness, showing in that space 
thirty-two well-defined alternate white and dark-brown stripes, 
which gave the specimen a beautifully stratified appearance. Mr, 
Young stated that the brown stripes were due to the particles of 
sand having become mixed with bituminous matter previous to 
their deposition. Carboniferous Fossils. —Mr. Thomas Naismyth 
exhibited several drawers of fish remains, principally from the 
coal-fields around Glasgow, upon which Mr, Young offered a 
few remarks illustrative of their generic characters and_ their 
range in the carboniferous strata. The collection contained a 
number of fine large teeth of Riizedus Hibbert, from the iron- 
stone pits at Possil; jaws, scales, and teeth of A/egalichthys 
Hibberti and Megalichthys rugosus, besides a number of fin-spines 
and other fragments of fishes, from the Airdrie coal-field. Among 
the specimens were also to be noticed a few fragments of reptilian 
remains, consisting of portions cf crania, verteb:ze, &c., which 
had been found near Airdrie, and at Quarter, near Hamilton. 
Oil Shale.—Mr. D. C. Glen, C.E., laid before the meeting 
several slabs of oil shale from near Collingwood, on Lake Huron, 
Canada ; and also some samples of the petroleum distilled from 
it. ‘The slabs were from the Silurian formation, which is of great 
extent in North America, and remarkable for the regular succes- 
sion of its strata. When examined, these blocks of shale were 
found to be stratified horizontally with layers of Trilobites, Ento- 
mostraca, and other marine organisms. It was from the pro- 
digious abundance of these crustaceans oyer this track of ancient 
sea-bottom that the shales now referred to had received their 
bituminous ingredients. 

PERTH 
Perthshire Society of Natural Science, December 2.— 
Dr. Buchanan White, president, in the chair. Mr. W. Herd 
exhibited two specimens (¢ and ?) of Dasyfolia templi, recently 
