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dendion), for long a puzzle b)- tlic peculiar sa'.ldle sliape of the 

 leaves, after testing various oilier suggestions which had proved 

 untenable, Sir John describcil the structure of the bud and the 

 manner in which the young leaves were packed in it, and 

 liowed that the peculiar manner in which the young leaves are 

 iiranged, satisfactorily accounts for the well-l;nown and very- 

 remarkable form of the leaf. — A paper was read on Duhelaspis 

 pclliiciifa, by Dr. Mock, of Leydcn. The cirripede in (question 

 was got from the scales of a water-snake in the Mergui Archi- 

 pelago by Dr. J. Anderson, and this is believed to be the first 

 record of the species since Charles Darwin wrote his classic 

 monograph on the group thirty-five years ago. 



Zoological Society, February 15. — Prof. W. IT. Flower, 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. — The Secretary read a report on 

 the additions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie 

 during the month of January 1887, and called special attention to 

 two Blakiston's Owls {l>ubo blackistoni) from Japan, presented by 

 Mr. J. H. Leech : three Hooker's Sea- Lions {Olaria hookcri), 

 presented by the lion. \V. J. M. Larnach, Minister of Marine 

 of New Zealand ; and a Blue Penguin {Etidyptii'a miner) from 

 Cook's Straits, New Zealand, presented by Mr. Bernard Law- 

 sou. — Prof. F. JeftVey Bell read a report on a collection of 

 Echinodermata made in the Andaman Islands by Colonel 

 Cadcll. The collection was stated to contain 100 examples 

 referable to 50 species. — Mr. G. A. Boulenger read a paper on 

 a collection of Reptiles and Batrachians mide by Mr. H. Pryer 

 in the Loo Choo Islands. The author observed that exceptional 

 interest attached to this collection, seeing that it was the first 

 herpetological collection that had reached Europe from that 

 group of islands. Two new species were described, viz. Tachy- 

 dronnis smara;^dinu! and Tropidimotiis pryeri. — Mr. Oldfield 

 Thomas read a paper on the small Mammals collected in British 

 Guiana by Mr. W. L. Sclaler. The collection contained 

 thirteen specimens belonging to eight species, of which one was 

 new ; this the author proposed to describe as Hcspiromys 

 (K/iipidomys) sclateri. — Mr. G. A. Boulenger pointed out the 

 characters of a new Geckoid Lizard from British Guiana. 

 The specimen in question was contained in a small collec- 

 tion of Reptiles made by Mr. W. L. Scla'er on the Pomeroon 

 River. The author described it as Gmitodes annularis. — 

 A communication was read from Mr. Charles O. Waterhouse, 

 containing an account of a new parasitic Dipterous Insect of the 

 family Hipposcida;. The author slated that this insect had been 

 found on a species of Swift {Cypselus melanoleucus), by Dr. R. 

 \V. Shufeldt, at Fort Wingate, New Mexico. It was closely 

 allied to Anapera pallid t, a European dipterous parasite found 

 on C. apiis, and was proposed to be named Anaptra fimbricita. 

 — Mr. John H. Ponsonby communicated, on behalf of Mr. 

 Andrew Garrett, the first part of <. paper on the Terrestrial 

 Mollusks of the Viti or Fiji Isl.ands. — Mr. F. E. Beddard read 

 a paper on the structure of a new genus of Lumbricida; 

 (7 hannwdrilus) discovered by Mr. W. L. Sclater in British 

 Guiana, which he proposed to characterise as Thamnod'itns 

 giilielmi. 



Anthropological Institute, Feb. 8. — Mr. Francis Gallon, 

 F. K.S., President, in the chair. — .A paper was read by Sir 

 Charles Wilson on the tribes of the Nile Valley north of Khar- 

 toum. Sir Charles Wilson opened his paper by remarking on 

 V^ the extraordinary way in which the various races inhabiting the 

 Nile Valley —with many of whom he had come in contact in the 

 course of the Nile Expedition — had become mixed up, and how 

 completely the indigenous population had in certain cas-s list its 

 nationality while absorbing its Arab conquerors. The tribes of 

 the Nile Valley north of Khartoum might be divided into 

 three groups, the Ilamitic, the Semitic, and the Nuba, all alike 

 claiming descent from the Koreish of Mecca. Sir C. Wilson 

 then proceeded to give briefly a history of the different tribes 

 from the earliest tinier, describing in detail the peculiarities and 

 physical characteristics of each race. A number of Soudanese 

 wopors, lent by Sir Allen Voung, were exhibited. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, February2l. — M. Gosselin, President, 

 in the chair. — Determination of the constant of aberration : first 

 method of observation, by M. I.cewy. In this paper the author 

 proceeds to explain successively the geometrical properties on 

 which depend the various methods of estimating the constant of 

 aberration. The first of the two processes is here dealt with, 

 which, although somewhat less rigorous than the gener.al method. 



practically yield results of the greatest precision, while also 

 enabling the observer to determine two other physical constants 

 — the variation of refraction caused by change either of tempera- 

 ture or of atmospheric pressure. — Note on M. Faye's recent 

 ommunication regarding walersp^uts, by M. Mascart. M. 

 Fayc having again raised this question in connection with M. 

 Weyher's experiments, the author returns to his original conten- 

 tion that the great body of observed phenomena are directly 

 oppised to M. Faye's theory of cyclones. — Cn the development 

 of the PennatuUe (Pcnnahila grisra), and on the favourable bio- 

 logical conditions presented by the Arago Laboratory for zoo- 

 logical studies, by M. II. de Lacaze-Dulhiers. A visit paid to 

 the -Xrago station last October suggests some remarks on the 

 flourishing condition of the Alcyonaria and Pennatulse, which 

 have become thoroughly acclimatised in this district. A general 

 description is given of the laboratory and reservoir at the 

 Fontaule headland, which has been enlarged to a cappcity of 

 130 cubic metres, offering every facility for the study of sponges, 

 star-fish, tritons, and many other lower forms of marine life. — 

 On the Alpine flora surviving in the Paris district, by 

 M. A. Chatin. The author discusses the various hypotheses 

 which trace this already described flora either to the Scandina- 

 vian or Swiss Alps or to the Pyrenees, and concludes generally 

 that the Parisian highland flora is independent of all, and truly 

 aboriginal. It is also contended that most of the present Euro- 

 pean vegetation goes no further bad; than the Quaternary 

 formations, and that for plants there has been independent suc- 

 cession and plurality of centres of creation rather than wide- 

 spread diffusion from a single centre. — On the orthobutyrate and 

 isobutyrate of lime, by MM. G. Chancel and F. Parmentier. 

 \n exhaustive study of these substances shows that M. le 

 Chatelier's approximate relation — 



dx 



k ^ dt 



giving the variation of solubility of different bodies, whh their 

 heat of solution at saturation, cannot be regarded as the expres- 

 sion of a general law from which fresh deductions maybe safely 

 drawn. — On the red fluorescence of alumina (second notice), 

 by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. Here are treated two highly 

 calcined aluminas 4- Cr„03 and -f BLPa, and a moderately 

 calcined alumina + BioC)^. — On the incubation of Phylloxera 

 during the winter season, by M. A. L. Donnadieu. In reply to 

 M. Balbiani, who holds that the Phylloxera of the oak completes 

 the entire cycle of its evolution in a single year, the fertilised 

 eggs hibernating during the ensuing winter, the author's re- 

 searches lead to the conclusion that the activity of this org.anism 

 is not in'errupted during the period of suspended vegetation of 

 the plant on which it lives. A like c inclusion is arrived at as re- 

 gards the Phylloxera of the vine, which on this plant continues 

 without interruption, but with a somewhat diminished intensity, 

 the biological evolutions of its summer life throughout the winter 

 season. — Observations of Brooks's comet made at the Obser- 

 vatory of Toulouse, by M. Baillaud. — On Gauss's quadrature 

 formula, and on Hermite's formula of interpolation, by M. P. 

 Mansion. — On the orthogonal systems formed by the B functions, 

 by M. F. Caspary. — On the movements of the air, by M. Ch. 

 Weyher. A series of experiments are described which have been 

 carried out by means of a jet of air or vapour a demi-millimetre 

 in diameter and inclined 45° to the horizon, holding in suspense 

 two spheres, one of cork with a diameter of 20 mm., the other 

 of caoutchouc inflated with air. The centre of gravity of the 

 spheres is below the axis of the jet, which thus causes them to 

 revolve round each other, while their weight is balanced by the 

 attraction produced by the series of little eddies developed along 

 the sides of the jet. — On a method of determining the induction 

 flux traversing an electro-magnetic system, by M. R. Ariioux. 

 A simple method is described, by means of which this quantity 

 may be accurately determined without the aid of the ballistic 

 galvanometer, which is not available for practical purposes.— 

 On the causes determining the phosphorescence of the 

 sulphuret of calcium, by M. A. Verneuil. From the author's 

 researches, which are still in progiess, it appears that the violet 

 sulphuret of calcium prepared from shells owes its bright phos- 

 phirescence to the salt of bismuth, the carbonate cf soda, the 

 se.i-salt, and the sulphate of lime formed during the reaction. — 

 Action of some metals on weak solutions of the nitrate of silver, 

 by M. J. B. Senderens. It is shown that by acting on such 

 solutions lead reduces the nitric acid while the silver is precipit- 

 ated ; also that analogous phenomena are presented by zinc. 



