Dec. 1 6, i886j 



NATURE 



167 



remarks on the affinities of the genus, and proposed to institute 

 a new family, " Squalorajidje," which might be placed near the 

 Pristiophoridas and Rhinobatidx. — Mr. Sclater, F.R.S., pointed 

 out the characters of an apparently new Parrot of the genus 

 Conunis, from a specimen living in the Society's Gardens. The 

 species was proposed to be called Coiiuriis ruhriturqiiis. — Mr. 

 F. Day, F.Z.S., communicated (on the part of Mr. J- Douglas 

 Ogilby, of the Australian Museum, .Sydney) a paper on an unde- 

 scribed fish of the genus Pimdoplcriis from Port Jackson, 

 N.S.W., proposed to be named P. meridionalis. — Mr. G. A. 

 Boulenger read a jiaper on the South African Tortoises allied to 

 Teshido gcomdrica, and pointed out the characters of three new 

 species of this group, which he proposed to call Tcsltido trimeni, 

 T. smithii, and T. fis/:i. — A second paper by Mr. Boulenger 

 contained some criticisms on Prof W. K. Parker's paper " On 

 the Skull of the Chameleons," read at a previous meeting of the 

 Society. — Mr. Oldlield Thomas read a paper on the Wallaby, 

 commonly known as La^oirhestes fascialiis, aad showed that the 

 dentition of this animal was entirely different in character, not 

 only from that of the typical species o{ Lagorc/tts/is, but even from 

 that of all the other members of the sub-family Macropodinse. 

 He therefore proposed to form a new genus for its reception, to 

 which he gave the name of Lai;osl:-ophus. — A communication 

 was read from Prof. R. CoUett, C.M.Z.S., containing the 

 description of a new Pouched Mouse from Northern Queensland, 

 which he propc'sed to name Antechiiius thomasi. 



Geological Society, November 17. — Prof. J. W. Judd, 

 F.R. S., President, in the chair. — The following communications 

 were read : — A letter from the Lieutenant-Governor of the Falk- 

 land Islands, communicated by PI.M. Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies, and printed in Nature, vol. xx.xiv. p. 440. — On the 

 drifts of the Vale of Clwyd, and their relation to the caves and 

 cave-deposits, by Prof T. McKenny Hughes, M.A., F.G.S. 

 The author divided his subject as follows : — I. Introductory re- 

 marks ; 11. the Drifts, viz. (i.) the Arenig Drift, (ii.) the St. 

 Asaph Drift, (iii. ) the Surface Drifts; III. the caves, viz. (i. ) 

 the caves themselves, (ii.) the cave-deposits ; IV. conclusion. 

 He exhibited a table showing the tentative classification he pro- 

 posed. II. (i. ) The Arenig Drift, he said, might be called the 

 IVeslcrn Drift, as all the material of which it was composed 

 came from the mountains of Wales ; or the Great Ice-Drift, as 

 it was the only drift in the vale which contained evidence of 

 direct ice-action. He traced its course from the Arenig and 

 Snowdon ranges by stride on the solid rock and by the included 

 fragments, a large proportion of which were glaciated. There 

 are no shells in this drift. II. (ii.) The St. Asaph Drift might, 

 he said, be called the Xorthern Drift, as it was the deposit in 

 which fragments of north-countiy rocks fir^t appeared ; or the 

 Marine Drift, as it was, excepting the recent deposits at the 

 mouth of the estuary, the only drift in the vale which showed by 

 its character and contents that it was a sea-deposit. It contained 

 north-country granites, flints, and sea-shells, of which he gave 

 lists. Most of them are common on the adjoining coast at the 

 present day ; a few are more northern forms. None of the rocks 

 are striated, except those derived from the Arenig Drift (i. ). 

 II. (iii.) The Surface-Drifts included the older and newer alluvia 

 of the rivers, the Morfa Rhuddlau Beds or estuarine silt, the 

 recent shore-deposits or Rhyl Beds, and all the various kinds of 

 deposits known as talus, trail, rain-wash, head, run-of-the-hill, 

 &c., of which, in so long a time, very thick masses have accumu- 

 lated in many places. He explained some methods of distin- 

 guishing gravels according to their origin. Turning to the sub- 

 ject of caves, he thought they should be careful not to confound 

 (III. i.) the question of the age and origin of the caves them- 

 selves with (III. ii.) that of the deposits in the caves. He then 

 described some of the more important caves of the district, ex- 

 plaining the evidence upon which he founded the opinion that 

 the deposits in Pontnewydd Cave were post-glacial paleolithic. 

 He arrived at the same conclusion with regard to the deposits 

 in the Ffynnon Beuno Caves. Combating the objections to this 

 view which had recently been urged, he pointed out that the 

 drifts associated with the deposits in those caves cannot have 

 been formed before the submergence described under II. (ii.), 

 because they contained north-country fragments and flints, and 

 that, even if they were of the age of the submergence, they 

 would not be pre-glacial ; that they cannot have been formed 

 during the submergence, as the sea would have washed away 

 the bones, &c., from the mouth of the cave, and its contents 

 must have shown some evidence of having been sorted by the 

 sea. He considered that the greater part of the material that 



blocked the upper entrance of the upper cave belonged to the 

 surface-drifts described under II. (iii.), and were, as they stood, 

 almost all sub-aerial. He further pointed out that, so far as 

 palse intologists had been able to lay before them any chrono- 

 logical divisions foimded on the Mammalia, the fauna of the 

 Ffynnon Beuno Caves agreed with the later rather fhan with 

 the earlier Pleistocene groups. 



Middlesex County Natural History Society, November 

 16. — Dr. Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., in the chair. — A paper was 

 read by Mr. Sydney T. Klein, entitled " Thirty-six Hours' 

 Hunting amongst the Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera of Middle- 

 sex, with Notes on the Methods adopted for their Capture." 

 The especial object of the paper was to show how much good 

 work could be done in a short time and within a small space — 

 the time being made up by an hour or so each evening, and the 

 space being the author's garden at Willesden. Detailed obser- 

 vations on the methods of enticement and capture — such as the 

 rearing of special food-plants, sugaring, bright lights, &c. , — 

 were entered into, and a list of the Noctua; captured was read. 

 Mr. Klein stated that he had taken over 170 species in the short 

 time at his disposal, and had noticed, on an average, 500 or 

 more moths on each occasion. With regard to the Hymeno- 

 ptera, both mason and leaf-cutter bees had established them- 

 selves in his garden, and some interesting observations on their 

 habits and economy were given. A large collection, containing 

 specimens of every insect taken, was exhibited, together with 

 the ichneumons peculiar to several of the species ; a torpid 

 mason-bee, which was restored to activity by breathing ; and 

 cells of the queen of the Ligurian honey-bee. A discussion fol- 

 lowed, in which the Chairman joined ; and, with a few remarks 

 by the other members who had brought exhibits, a vote of 

 thanks to Dr. Geikie brought the meeting to a close. Another 

 paper, "On the Flora met with on the occasion of the High- 

 gate Excursion," by Dr. Henry Wharton, was postponed till 

 the December meeting. 



Cambridge 



Philosophical Society. Oct, 25. — Annual General Meeting. 

 — Prof. Foster in the chair. — ^The following were elected Officers 

 and new Members of Council for the year : — President : Mr. 

 Trotter ; Vice-Presidents : Prof. Babington, Prof. Adams, Prof. 

 Foster ; Secretaries : Mr. Glazebrook, Mr. Vines, Mr. Larmor ; 

 new Members of Council : Prof Liveing, Mr. Forsyth, Mr. Marr, 

 Mr. Pattison Muir. — Mr. Trotter then took the chair, and the 

 following communications were made to the Society : — On 

 Lagrange's equations of motion, by Mr. J. C. McConnel. The 

 paper contains a proof of Lagrange's equations founded on that 

 in Lord Rayleigh's "Theory of Sound," with some remarks on 

 the proof given in Maxwell's " Electricity and Magnetism." — On 

 the potentials of surfaces formed by the revolution oflimacons 

 and cardioids about their axes, by Mr. A. B. Basset. The 

 potential of a spheroid can be expressed in terms of a series of 

 spheroidal harmonics. From this by inversion with respect to 

 a focus the potential of lima9on is found, while that of a cai dioid 

 is obtained from a paraboloid either in a similar manner or by 

 treating it as the limiting case of the spheroid. — An attempt to 

 explain certain geological phenomena by the application to a 

 liquid substratum of Henry's law of the absorption of gases by 

 liquids, by Rev. O. Fisher. The author supposes that a liquid 

 substratum exists beneath the earth's crust, and that this con- 

 sists] of fused rock holding gas, chiefly water above its critical 

 temperature, in solution. This water is supposed to be that 

 which is given off so largely in volcanic eruptions. If such be 

 the constitution of the substratum, the reactions between it_ and 

 the crust will largely depend on it, and also the tidal effects. 

 The problem is worked out in the piper, and numerical results, 

 which accord fairiy with observed facts, are obtained.— A new 

 method of determining specific inductive capacity, by Mr. L. R. 

 Wilberforce. The author briefly described the method, which 

 consisted in the comparison of the directive couples upon two 

 spheroids, the one made of the dielectric to be investigated, and 

 the other of some conducting material, when they were placed 

 in a uniform electric field. He farther indicated certain theo- 

 retical considerations with regard to the eccentricities of the 

 spheroids and their manner of suspension, and stated a general 

 theorem relating to the mechanical effect due to such a field 

 upon a body of any material or form. 

 Paris 



Academy of Sciences, December 6.— M. Daubree in the 

 chair. — Reply to M. de Lapparent's note of November 22, on the 



