Feb. 17. 1887] 



NA TURE 



381 



George V. Becker. Krom his researches the author infers that 

 porpliyries may form at any depth and no matter how slowly the 

 temperature of the magma may sink, while granular rocks can 

 scarcely ever have been thoroughly fluid or homogeneous, but 

 have often consolidated at pressures extremely moderate com- 

 pared with those at which it is certain that porphyries would 

 form. — .\ fifth mass of meteoric iron from .Vugusta County, 

 Vii^inia, by George F. Kunr. This specimen, which comes from 

 the same place where was found the largest of the three masses 

 first described by Prof. Mallet, yielded, on analysis : iron 90293 ; 

 nickel, 8-848 ; cobalt, 0486 ; phosphorus, 0243 ; carbon, 0177 ; 

 with traces of copper, tin, sulphur, silica, manganese, chromium, 

 and chlorine. — Note on the origin of comets, by Daniel 

 Kirkwood. It is argued that, although most comets are of inter- 

 stellar origin, some of short period may have had their rise 

 within the solar system. — The bichromate of soda cell, by 

 Selwyn Lewis Harding. The experiments here described tend 

 to show that this is a most efficient cell, whose effectiveness, as 

 far as its constancy is concerned, might be materially increased 

 by interchanging the positions of the electrodes with their 

 surrounding liquids, after the fashion of the Fuller cell. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, January 13. — " Supplementary Note on the 

 Values of the Napierian Logarithms of 2, 3, S> 7, and 10, and 

 of the Modulus of Common Logarithms." By Prof. J. C. 

 Adams, F. R.S. 



In vol. xxvii. of the Proceedings of the Royal Society, 

 pp. 88-94, the author has given the values of the logarithms 

 referred to, and the value of the modulus, all carried to 260 

 places of decimals. 



The calculations in that paper were carried to several more 

 decimal places, but the application of an equation of condition 

 which supplied the means of testing the accuracy of the whole 

 work, showed that erroi^ had crept into the work which vitiated 

 the results beyond 263 places of decimals. 



Through inadvertence, hoivever, the results were printed in 

 the above paper exactly as they were given by the calculations, 

 although several of the later decimals, especially in the value 

 found for the modulus, were known to be wrong. 



The author has now succeeded in tracing and correcting 

 the errors which occurred in the former calculations, and the 

 equation of condition which tests the accuracy of the work is 

 now satisfied to 274 places of decimals. 



The present paper gives the parts of the several logarithms 

 concerned which immediately follow the first 260 decimal places 

 .as already given in the former paper, and likewise the corrected 

 value of the modulus, which is found to be — 



M = '43429 44819 03251 S2765 11289 i5)t6 60508 22943 97005 80366 



6s66i 14453 78316 5B646 49208 87077 47292 24949 33843 17483 



18706 10674 47663 03733 64167 92871 58963 90656 92210 64662 



81226- 58521 270S6 56867 03295 93370 86965 88266 88331 16360 



77384 90514 28443 48666 76864 65860 85135 56148 21234 87653 



43543 43573 17=53 83562 21868 25 



which is true to 272 or 273 places of decimals. 



February 10. — "Contributions to the Metallurgy of Bismuth." 

 By Kdward Matthey. 



" An Inquiry into the Cause and Extent of a Special Colour- 

 Relation between certain Exposed L?pidopterous Pupae and the 

 Surfaces which immediately surround them." By Edward B. 

 Poulton. 



f^^Linnean Society, February 3.— W. Carruthers, F.R.S., 

 Presi<lent, in the chair. — Dr. M. C. Grabham and Capt. G. 

 Wingate were elected Fellows ol the Society. — Mr. G. Maw 

 exhibited a Narcissus cyclamineus grown by him from bulbs 

 sent by Mr. A. \V. Tail, of Oporto. The plant in question 

 was known to Parkinson (1640), afterwards was lost of, and re- 

 discovered by Mr. Johnston, near Oporto, in 1885. — Mr. Maw 

 showed a drawing of Crocus Kardiicharum, and another, for 

 comparison, of C. zonatus, from the Taurus, to which it is allied. 

 — Brigade-Surgeon J. E. T. Aitchison read a paper on the 

 fauna and flora of the Afghan boundary. The zoological c )1- 

 lection obtained comprised, in round numbers, 20 species of 

 mammals, 130 species of birds, 35 species of reptiles, 7 species 

 of fish, and over 100 species of insects. Among these, many 

 were new to science. Of special inte.est is the mole-like rat, 

 Ellobius fuscicapUtus,\M\tx\.o only known from the type ob- 



tained forty years ago at Quetta. In certain places the ground 

 is riddled with the burrows of this and other rodents. The 

 geographical range of the tiger goes east and north to Bala 

 Murghab ; that of the cheetah to the valley of the Heri-rud. 

 A pheasant {Phasiautis principalis) and woodpecker [Geciniis 

 gotii) are new. With some exceptions, the birds are chiefly 

 migratory, their arrival in spring following each other in quick 

 succession. The Brahmini duck {Casarca rutila), unlike its 

 congeners, nests and remains throughout the year. The most 

 abundant species of birds are, among the genera Saxicola, 

 Lanitis, Sylvia, Motacilla, and Emberiza. An adult fine ex- 

 ample of Naia oxiana is a museum acquisition, as the species 

 heretofore has only been recognised from young undeveloped 

 specimens. Regarding the insects, 20 are new, though, taken 

 as a whole, the insect fauna resembles that of Arabia and North 

 Africa, rather than that of India proper. The botanical collec- 

 tions amount to 800 species, and probably 10,000 specimens of 

 plants. Over 100 are new to science. The author gave some 

 account of the physical features of the districts traversed, and of 

 the climate. Taking these into consideration, he states that the 

 plants do not represent what is generally recognised as an 

 Oriental flora, being chiefly composed of northern Persian and 

 Arabian forms, augmented by Central Asian and Siberian types, 

 with a few West Himalayan or Tibetan, and still fewer repre- 

 senting the Punjab or Scind. Beside these are a fairly repre- 

 sentative local flora ; say, one-sixth of the collection, yuniperus 

 exccisa is the only indigenous conifer ; neither oaks nor species 

 of .-Esculus, Olea, or Myrlus were met with. Populits Euphra- 

 tica forms forests in the river-beds, but as long as the tree is 

 situated near water it is indift'erent to altitude. Out of 75 natu- 

 ral orders, Compositae and Leguminosa; greatly preponderate 

 over the others, containing 81 and 80 species respectively. In 

 Composite, Cousinia heads the genera with 18 species; Cen- 

 tatirea has 10 species. Of So species of Leguminosa;, 39 belong 

 to the genus Astragalus, 14 of these being new. Of 61 species 

 of Gramineae, all are well known. The Crucifera; collected 

 number 56 species ; several are new. Chenopodiaceas follow 

 with 39 species, Labiatae with 35, Boraginaceae 32, Umbellifera; 

 30, Caryophyllacea; 30, RosaceiU 27, LilliaceEe 26, Euphorbi- 

 acea; 16, Polygonaceas 15, Ranunculacea: 14, Rubiaceae and 

 Cyperacea; each 13, Scrophularine^e and Plantagine* 10 and 11 

 respectively. The orchards at some of the villages are surrounded 

 with high walls, inside which is a row of mulberry-trees grown 

 for the breeding of silkworms. In the Afghan gardens, beet- 

 root, carrots, turnips, cabbages, radishes, and tomatoes are 

 raised, and these are of excellent quality. In the fields, besides 

 wheat, rye, and barley, opium, tobacco, melons, and certain 

 oil-seeds are cultivated. Cotton is grown, but the quality of 

 the fibre is poor. Several plants of pharmaceutical value 

 flourish — Galbanum, Ammoniacum, &c., and of these the author 

 gave a full account. 



Zoological Society, February l. — Dr. St. George Mivart, 

 F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair. — Mr. F, Day ex- 

 hibited and made remarks on a hybrid fish supposed to be 

 between the pilchard and the herring, and a specimen of Salmo 

 piirptiralus reared in this country. — Mr. W. L. Sclatef ex- 

 hibited and made remarks upon some specimens of a species 

 of Pcripatus which he had obtained in British Guiana during a 

 recent visit to that country, and added some general observations 

 on the distribution and affinities of this singular form of arthro- 

 pods. — Mr. A. Thomson read a report on the insects bred in the 

 Society's Insect House during the past season, and exhibited the 

 insects referred to. — A communication was read from Dr. B. C. A. 

 Windle, containing an account of the anatomy of Hydromys 

 chrysogaslcr. — Mr. Martin Jacoby read a paper containing an 

 account of the Phytophagous Coleoptera obtained by Mr. G. 

 Lewis in Ceylon during the years 1 88 1, 1882. About 150 new 

 species were described and many new generic forms. — Mr. F. E. 

 Beddard read some notes on a specimen of a rare American 

 monkey, Brachyurus calvtts, which had died in the Society's 

 Gardens. — Mr. Oldfield Thomas read a note on the mammals 

 obtained by Mr. H. II. Johnston on the Camaroons Mountain. 

 — A paper was read by Capt. Shelley, containing an account of 

 the birds collected by Mr. H. H. Johnston on the Camaroons 

 Mountain. The collection contained thirty-six specimens refer- 

 able to eighteen species, and of these four were new to science. 

 — Mr. G. A. Boulenger read a list of the reptiles collected by 

 Mr. H. H. Johnston during his recent visit to the Camaroons 

 Mountain. — Mr. Edgar A. Smith read a paper on the MoUusca 

 collected at the Camaroons Mountain by Mr. H. H. Johnston, 



