Dc 



1886] 



NA rURE 



191 



n that some authors have assigned too remote an age to the 

 deposits. The new forms described were : — Mcmbi-anipoyit 

 occiiUata ; Monoporella capcnsis, var. dcntata, M. waipiikurensis : 

 Micropora variperforatu : Miicronella Irkiispis, vars. waipukiir- 

 eiisis and viinima, M. fi;-mata ; Porina t;randipi>ra ; I.epiaba 

 scmiliina, var. simplex, L. bistata ; Schizopirella cinctipora, 

 var. persoiiata, S. tuberosa, var. angiislnia ; CcV.epora dcccpta, 

 CiUcpora sjj. 



Royal Microscopical Society, Xovember 10. — Rev. Dr. 

 Dallinger, F. R.S., President, in the chair. — .\ microscope, with 

 ca e of apparatus and a cabinet of oljjects, bequeathed to the 

 Society by the late Miss Tucker, was laid on the table. — 

 Amongst the exhibits was a microscope for examining minute 

 aquatic organisms under very high pressures ; Leeuwenhoelv's 

 microscopes ; objectives made of the new glass by Zeiss and by 

 Powell, which were verj- highly spoken of by the President and 

 others ; and some gold-plated diatoms. — Mr. S. O. Ridley read 

 a paper on the classification and spiculation of the monaxonid 

 sponges of the Challenger Expedition ; drawings and specimens 

 illustrative of the various typical forms were shown. — Mr. A. 

 Dendy also read a paper on the anatomy and histology of the 

 monaxonid sponges of the Challenger Expedition, the subject 

 being illustrated by drawings and specimens. — Dr. Crookshank 

 read a paper on flagellated Protozoa in the blood of diseased 

 and apparently healthy animals. He described a disease known 

 in India as " Surra," occurring among horses, mules, and camels. 

 A parasite was discovered in the blood of thesi by Dr. Evans, 

 and was referred to Dr. Lewis for an opinion as to its nature, 

 who concluded that it was not identical with, but closely allied to, 

 the flagellated organisms which he had observed in Indian rats. 

 Five years later an outbreak of the same disease occurred in 

 British Burmah, and the report of an investigation was published 

 by Veterinary Surgeon Steel, who observed the same parasite, 

 but regarded it as closely allied to the Spirillum of relapsing 

 fever in man, and named it Spirochceta evansi. This opinion 

 was not accepted by Dr. Evans, who placed blood, stained pre- 

 parations, and material for section cutting, in Dr. Crookshank's 

 hands for further opinion. Dr. Crookshank at once dispelled 

 the idea of the parasite being a Spirillum, and gave a full account 

 of his observations. These had led him to discover an anterior 

 flagellum, a longitudinally-attached undulating membrane, and a 

 posterior, acutely-pointed, rigid filament, from which characters 

 he recognised that the parasite was a flagellated monad, probably 

 absolutely identical with the parasite discovered by Mitrophanow 

 in the blood of the carp, and named by \i\m Htemalom jnas carassii. 

 Dr. Crookshank consequently observed that the Surra parasite 

 should rather be called Hivmatomonas ez'ansi than Spiroclurla 

 as suggested by Steel. Lewis's observation with regard to the 

 flagellated organisms in Indian rats led Dr. Crookshank to in- 

 vestigate the species obtainable in England, which resulted in 

 his discovering flagellate parasites in 25 per cent, of apparently 

 healthy rats from the London sewers. These organisms proved 

 to be morphologically identical with the .Surra parasite and the 

 parasite described by Mitrophanow in the blood of the carp, and 

 were also recognised by a photo-micrograph made by Lewis to be 

 identical with the organism observed by him in Indian rats, 

 though Lewis's description and figures presented material 

 differences. 



Entomological Society, December i. — Robert McLachlan^ 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair.— Messrs. W. H. Miskin, R.E. 

 Salwey, and F. W. Biddle, M..\., were elected Fellows. — Mr. 

 Howard Vaughan exhibited a long series of Gnophos obscurata, 

 comprising specimens from various parts of Ireland, North 

 Wales, Yorkshire, Berwick-on-Tweed, the New Forest, Folke- 

 stone, Lewes, and the Surrey Hills. The object of the ex- 

 hibition was to show the variation of the species in connection 

 with the geological formations of the various localities from 

 which the specimens were obtained. — Dr. Sharp showed a series 

 of drawings of New Zealand Coleoptera, by Freiherr von 

 Schlereth, which, though executed in pencil, were remarkable 

 for their delicacy and accuracy. — Mr. R. Adkin exhibited speci- 

 mens of Cidaria reticulata, recently bred by Mr. H. Murray, of 

 Carnforth, from larvae collected near Windermere, on Impaliens 

 nt>li-me-tan.;ere. Mr. Adkin said that, as the food-plant was 

 extremely local, Mr. Murray had endeavoured to get the larvse 

 to feed on some other species of balsam, including the large 

 garden species usually known as Canadian balsam, but that he 

 had not succeeded in doing so. — Mr. Billups exhibited a number 

 of living specimens of Aleurodes vaporarioriim, obtained from a 



greenhouse at Snaresbrook, where they had caused great havoc 

 amongst tomato-planis (Lycopersiciim esculcntum). He re- 

 marked that the species had been first figured and described by 

 Prof Westwood in the Gardener's Chroniele, 1856. — Mr. Poul- 

 ton exhibited the blood of a larva ct{ S^nerinthus ti'itr, and 

 demonstrated, by means of a micro-spectroscope, the existence 

 of chlorophyll therein. — Mr. G. T. Porritt exhibited form; of 

 Cid.iria suffumata from Huddersfield, and a series of small 

 bilberry-fed H)psipetes eliifala from the Yorkshire moors, show- 

 ing green, red-brown, and bl.ack forms. — Mr. S. Stevens ex- 

 hibited forms of Camptogramma biliiteata and Emmelesia allm- 

 liila from the Shetland Isles, and a variety of Chehuia eaja 

 from Norwich. — Mr. H. Goss read a letter from the Adminis- 

 trator-General of British Guiana, on tlie subject of the urticating 

 jnoperties possessed by the larvae and pupa; of certain species of 

 Lepidoptera collected in Demerara. — Mr. McLachlan read a 

 note concerning certain Nemopterid,e. — Miss E. A. Ormerod 

 communicated a paper on the occurrence of the Hessian Fly 

 {Cecidoinyia deslrnetor) in Great Britain. It appeared from this 

 paper that there could be no longer any doubt as to the occur- 

 rence of the insect in this country, specimens obtained in Hert- 

 fordshire having been submitted to, and identified by, Prof. 

 Westwood, and by Mr. W. Saunders, of Ontario. Prof. West- 

 wood said the specimens agreed exactly with Austrian specimens 

 in his possession, sent to him some years ago by M. Lefevre, 

 who had received them from the late Dr. Hammerschmidt, of 

 Vienna. A discussion followed, in which the President, Mr. 

 C. O. Waterhouse, Mr. Theodore Wood, and others took part. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, December 6. — A 

 paper was read by the Rev. S. D. Peet on the religious beliefs 

 and traditions of the aborigines of North America, which was 

 followed by a discussion. 



Edinburgh 



Royal Society, Dece nber 6. — Mr. J. Murray, Ph.D., in 

 the chair. — The chairman gave an opening address. Among 

 other points, he referred to the almost total absence of recognition 

 by Government of scientific research in Scotland. The Ben 

 Nevis Observatory, for example, instead of receiving support 

 from Government, is, on the contrary, a source of considerable 

 revenue to it. — The Hon. Lord Maclaren communicated astro- 

 nomical tables for facilitating the computation of diffei-ential re- 

 fraction for latitudes 56° and 57' 30'. — Prof Tait communicated 

 the second part of his paper on the foundations of the kinetic 

 theory of gases. In this part he treats of gaseous viscosity, and 

 conduction and diffusion of heat in gases. In his investigations 

 he takes account of the fact that the mean free path of swift- 

 moving particles is greater than that of slow-moving particles. 

 This point has been wrongly introduced by all previous investiga- 

 tors. — Mr. R. T. Omond communicated an account of a fog-bow 

 observed on Ben Nevis, October 22, 1886. He communicated 

 also an account of experiments on the temperature at different 

 heights above ground at Ben Nevis Observatory. He hopes to 

 repeat them under more favourable atmospheric conditions, and 

 also when the ground is covered with snow. 



Mathematical Society, December 10. — Mr. George Thom, 

 President, in the chair. — Mr. R. E. AUardice read a paper on 

 the equiangular and the equilateral polygon ; and Mr. J. S. 

 Mackay communicated a solution and discussion, by M. Paul 

 Aubert, of a geometrical problem. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, December 13. — M. Jurien de la 

 Graviere, President, in the chair. — Glycose, glycogen, and 

 glycogeny in connection with the production of heat and me- 

 chanical force in the animal economy, by M. A. Chauveau. 

 In this third and last contribution on the subject, an attempt is 

 made to determine absolutely the extent to which the combustion 

 of glycose co-operates in the development of animal heat and 

 energy. The part played by the liver in these phenomena is 

 specially studied, and it is shown generally that the glycose sup- 

 plied by the liver to the blood constitutes the principal aliment 

 of organic combustions, whence are derived animal heat and 

 muscular energy. — Note on an epidemic of typhoid fever which 

 prevailed at Pierrefjnds during last August and September, by 

 M. P. Brouardel. This outbreak is clearly traced to the polluted 

 sources whence was derived the water consumed by the inhabit- 

 ants of the Pierrefonds district. — On the formation of Bilobites 

 during the present epoch, by M. Ed. Bureau. In order to 



