December 26, 1912] 



NATURE 



481 



there had been considerable depressions in the valley 

 of the Cam since the deposition of some of the exist- 

 ing river silt. Only a small proportion of the flints 

 of which the gravels were chiefly composed were 

 likely to have been derived directly from the Chalk, 

 and very few from the London Tertiaries. They were 

 probably produced on the Miocene land surface over 

 which the Crag sea advanced rapidly, sweeping up the 

 old surface soils, and forming- the first deposits of 

 angular flints from which so much of our stained 

 gr,avel has been derived. The subsequent depression 

 of this area, while adjoining mountain regions were 

 uplifted, would account for the material of the Norfolk 

 cliffs, which might be referred to the action of an 

 Ice-laden sea on the land. — Dr. Marr : The meres of 

 Breckland. Attention was directed to the small meres 

 of the sandy heaths north of Thetford, situated in 

 chalk. The meres are probably explicable on the 

 ■view that events happened similar to those observed 

 in other limestone districts, such events occurring as 

 the result of subterranean drainage. — Dr. Arber : The 

 earlier Mesozoic floras of New Zealand. A preliminary 

 survev has been made of the specimens of fossil plants 

 collected in New Zealand by Mr. D. G. Lilley, now 

 biologist to Captain Scott's Antarctic expedition, dur- 

 ing the recent winterings of the Terra Nova in New- 

 Zealand waters. Those obtained from Mount Potts 

 in the Rangitata ^'alley (Canterbury) are particularly 

 important. For many years past it has been asserted 

 that Glossopteris and other members of the Glos- 

 sopteris flora of Gondwana-land occur in New Zealand 

 at Mount Potts. Among the specimens examined, how- 

 ever, there is no trace of Glossopteris, though another 

 somewhat similar • plant is abundantly present, and 

 this has no doubt been mistaken for Glossopteris 

 hitherto. The age of the flora is further unmistak- 

 ably either Rhsetic or Liassic, and thus much younger 

 than the Permo-Carboniferous flora of Gondwana- 

 land. — R. H. Rasfall : The mineral composition of 

 some Cambridgeshire sands and gravels. Following 

 on a previous and as yet unpublished research on the 

 Neocomian rocks, the author was led to investigate 

 the mineral composition of the Pleistocene deposits of 

 Cambridgeshire, numerous specimens being collected 

 from the Plateau Gravels, the sands of the ancient and 

 of the present river-systems, and from certain surface 

 deposits formed by wind-transport. The chief con- 

 stituents are duartz, flint, and chalk, with a notable 

 proportion of glauconite and heavy minerals, especially 

 garnet, tourmaline, kyanite, staurolite, hornblende, 

 augite, epidote, zircon, and iron ores. Muscovite was 

 not found except in the plateau sands, a very remark- 

 able fact, which cannot yet be fully explained. — Dr. 

 F. H. Hatch : A remarkable instance of complete rock- 

 disintegration by weathering. The material described 

 comes from Diamantina, in the province of Minas 

 Geraes. Brazil, where it is being worked for diamonds. 

 It occurs as a loose sandv deposit in which there are 

 a number of partially disintegrated pebbles, and is 

 sufificientlv soft to be dug out with a shovel at the 

 lowest depth yet attained in the open-working. The 

 pebbles consist of quartzite, vein-quartz, steatite, and 

 tourmaline-quartz vein-stuff. The sand is a mixture 

 of colourless guartz and of the fine powder produced 

 bv the pulverisation of the steatite fragments. The 

 heavy minerals in the residue obtained bv treatment 

 with hromoform are the following : — Zircon, zinc 

 blende, galena, iron pyrites, chalcopyrite, rutile, and 

 tourmaline. The material has evidently resulted from 

 the prolonged weathering of an ancient conglomerate 

 formation. 



Manchester. 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, November t2. — 

 Prof. F. E. Weiss, president, in the chair. — Dr. Henry 

 Wilde : Searchlights and the Titanic disaster (see p. 



NO. 2252, VOL. 90] 



471). — H. G. J. Moseley : Radium as a means of obtain- 

 ing high potentials. .\ radio-active substance which 

 emits /3 rays should, when insulated, continue to gain 

 a positive charge until a potential of the order of a 

 million volts is reached. Only the fastest ^ rays 

 should then be able to escape. Experiments have been 

 made to test this point. A small bulb containing 

 radium emanation was supported by a quartz rod in 

 the centre of an exhausted flask. A disc suspended 

 from a quartz spring in the neck of the flask formed 

 a simple attracted disc electrometer. It was found 

 that a bulb of diameter 9 mm. reached a potential of 

 160,000 volts in the course of a few minutes. A 

 sudden discharge then occurred through the residual 

 gas in the flask, although great care had been taken 

 in obtaining the vacuum. A bulb of diameter 5 cm. 

 charged up much more slowly; no discharge took 

 place, and the final potential, 140,000 volts, was 

 limited by a leak of electricity along the quartz sup- 

 port. The cause of discharge in a high vacuum 

 remains unknown.— C. G. Darwin : The interference- 

 phenomena produced by passing X-rays through 

 crystals. 



New South W.ales. 

 Linnean Society, October 30.— Mr. W. W. Froggatt, 

 president, in the chair.~T. D. A. Coclierel! : Australian 

 bees. No. L A new species of Crocisa, with a list of the 

 Australian species of the genus. A new species from 

 West Australia is described. Two species attributed 

 to Australia are excluded, .^mboina being their cor- 

 rect habitat. — T. D. A. Cockerell : A small collection 

 of bees from Tasmania. Thirty-seven species are 

 known from Tasmania, including two described as 

 new in this paper. Tasmania is much richer in bees 

 than New Zealand, and systematic collecting and 

 observation are desirable.— W. L. Distant : Synonym- 

 ical notes on some recently described Australian Cica- 



didae. A. M. Lea : Revision of the Australian Curcu- 



lionidas belonging to the subfamily Cryptorhynchides. 

 Part xi. Deals with a group of small and highly 

 polished weevils, sparsely represented in Australia, but 

 abundantly in New Guinea and the Malay Archi- 

 pelago. The abdomen and hind legs of some of the 

 species are peculiar. Five genera (one new) are 

 noted, and fourteen species (five new).— R. H. Cam- 

 bage : (i) Notes on the native flora of New South 

 Wales. Supplementary lists to part viii. Camden to 

 Burragorang and Mount Werong. (2) Notes on the 

 native flora of New South Wales. Part ix. Barraba 

 to Nandewar Mountains and Bqggabri. The Nan- 

 dewar Mountains are of botanical interest. Their 

 altitude is about 5000 ft., while they are situated 

 about ninety miles west of the Main Divide. One 

 Queensland plant, Pultenaea setidosa, \yas found 

 there which had not nreviously been recorded from 

 New South Wales; also several southern plants which 

 had not been recorded as. occurring north of the 

 Hunter Valley. Amongst the latter is a Victorian 

 species, Asterolasia correifolia, var. Muelleri. known 

 in the Buffalo Mountains and in the Kiandra district, 

 and its discovery on the summit of the Nandewara 

 extends its known range 400 miles northerly. The 

 question is discussed as to how it may have developed. 

 To show the effect of climate on plant-distribution, it 

 is pointed out that around Boggabri, at elevations 

 ranging from 800 to 1200 ft., about 36 per cent, of the 

 species noticed occur in Tasmania, while on the 

 Nandewars, at altitudes ranging from 3000 to 5000 ft., 

 in a distinctly mountain or cool climate, about 60 per 

 cent, of the plants found arc represented in Tasmania. 

 Calcutta. 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, November 6. — W. Kirk- 

 patrick : The marriage ceremony and marriage customs 

 of the Gehara Kanjars. The marriage ceremonies and 



