February 13, 1913] 



NATURE 



665 



New South Wales. 



Linnean Society, November 27, 1912. — Mr. W. W. 

 Froggatt, president, in the chair. — Dr. H. L. 

 Kesteven : A new endoparasitic Copepod : morphology 

 and development. — D. McAlpine : The fibro-vascular 

 system of the quince fruit, compared with that of the 

 apple. — Dr. R. Greig Smith : Contributions to our 

 knowledge of soil-fertility. No. 6j the inactivity of soil- 

 protozoa. When suspensions of soil-protozoa con- 

 taining Colpoda cucidlus were added to soils pre- 

 viously treated with chloroform, &'c., it was found 

 that the numbers of bacteria were not decreased, and 

 further examination showed that the cysts of Colpoda 

 were not destroyed by the volatile disinfectant. Sus- 

 pensions of amoebEe did not induce a diminution of 

 the bacterial increase, and the great augmentation of 

 the bacteria that occurs during the first few days 

 was shown to occur also when pure cultures of rapidly 

 growing bacteria, such as Bad. putidum, which 

 accompany the amoebae, were added. Experiments 

 with unfiltered and cotton-wool-filtered suspensions of 

 soil did not show any indication of the activity of the 

 soil-protozoa, from which it is to be inferred that the 

 toxins and nutrients of the soil are alone concerned in 

 the changes that occur in the numbers of bacteria in 

 soils which have been heated or treated with volatile 

 disinfectants. — A. A. Hamilton : A new species of 

 Eriochloa (Gramineae) from the Hawkesbury River. — 

 R. J. Tillyard : Description and life-history of a new 

 species of Nannophlebia (Neuroptera : Odonata). The 

 larva and imago were discovered on the Bellinger 

 River, N.S.W., in November last. The discovery is 

 important, because no other larva belonging to Ris's 

 group i. of the Libellulinas has so far been found. 

 As this group contains all the supposedly archaic 

 remnants of the subfamily, it was expected that the 

 larva would throw some light on the phylogeny of the 

 groups of the Libellullnae in general. — L. A. Cotton 

 and A. B. Walkom : Note on the relation of the 

 Devonian and Carboniferous formations west of Tam- 

 worth, N.S.W. — G. A. Waterhouse : Notes on Austra- 

 lian Lycaenidse. Part v. — Dr. S. J. Johnston : Some 

 trematode parasites of marsupials, and of a mono- 

 treme. Two species of Harmostomum, parasites from 

 the marsupial "cat" Dasyurus viverrinus, and the 

 bandicoot, Perameles obesula, respectively, are de- 

 scribed as new. 



Calcutta. 



Asiatic Society of Bengal, January 8. — Rasik Lai 

 Datta and Haridas Sen : A new series of double sul- 

 phates of barium and hetero-cyclic ammonium bases. 

 Part i. — J. Coggin Brown : The A-ch'ang (Maingtha) 

 tribe of Hohsa-Lahsa, Yunnan. The A-ch'angs are 

 one of the smaller groups of the lesser-known tribes 

 of the Burma-China frontier. Their headquarters are 

 in the twin States of Ho-hsa and "La-hsa in the 

 western part of the province of Yunnan, China. The 

 exact position of the A-ch'angs in the generally 

 accepted scheme of racial classification is a matter 

 of controversy amongst Indo-Chinese anthropologists, 

 and the whole question is reviewed in this paper in 

 the light of further evidence obtained by the author 

 during a short residence in their country. It is con- 

 cluded that the grouping of the A-ch'ang with the 

 Maru, Zi, Lashi, and Hpon tribes is correct. — 

 E. Brunetti : House-flies and blood-sucking Diptera 

 taken in Galilee in October, 1912, by Dr. N. Annan- 

 dale. — Dr. N. Annandale : Papers on the biology of the 

 Lake of Tiberias. No. II., Notes on the fish, 

 batrachia, and reptiles. The fish fall into four geo- 

 graphical groups as follows: — (r) Palestinian species; 

 (2) African species; (t,) Asiatic species; and (4) Medi- 

 terranean species. The first group is the largest and 



NO. 2259, VOL. go] 



the last the smallest; the African group forms an 

 important element in the fauna. The Palestinian race 

 (riifus, HeckelJ of Discognathus lainta (H.B.) differs 

 in minor characters from the typiial race from Bihar. 

 The batrachian and reptilian fauna of the lake is a 

 poor one, including only five species. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Notes on Sampling and Testing. The Handbook 

 of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce Testing 

 House and Laboratory. Second edition. Revised and 

 enlarged. Pp. 96 + 4 plates. (Manchester: Marsden 

 and Co., Ltd.) Paper, is.; cloth, is. 6d. 



Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Bulletin of Miscel- 

 laneous Information, 1912. (London : H.M.S.O. ; 

 Wyman and Sons, Ltd.) 4s. 6d. 



Aus Natur und Geisteswelt : Experimentelle 

 .Abstammungs- und Vererbungslehre. By E. Leh- 

 mann. Pp. viii+104. Die Funkentelegraphie. By 

 H. Thurn. Zweite Auflage. Pp. vi+128. Grund- 

 lagen der Elektrotechnik. By A. Rotth. Pp. 126. 

 Masze und Messen. By Dr. W. Block. Pp. iii. 

 Das astronomische Weltbild im Wandel der Zeit. 

 By Prof. S. Oppenheim. Zweite Auflage. Pp. 134. 

 (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner.) Each 1.25 marks. 



Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruc- 

 tion for Ireland. Fisheries Branch. Scientific Inves- 

 tigations, 191 1. No. I, Report of a Survey of Trawl- 

 ing grounds on the Coasts of Counties Down, Louth, 

 Meath, and Dublin. Part iii., Invertebrate Fauna. 

 By A. L. Massy. Pp. 225 + ii plates. (Dublin : 

 H.M.S.O. ; E. Ponsonby, Ltd. ; London : Wyman and 

 Sons, Ltd.) 2s. 



Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 

 Vol. iii., part i, 1913. Pp. 185 + plates. (Cape 

 Town : Royal Society of South Africa.) 175. 



Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 

 Second Series. Botany. Vol. viii., part i. : A Contri- 

 bution to a Knowledge of the Mutating Oenotheras. 

 By Dr. R. R. Gates. Pp. 67 + 6 plates. (London: 

 Linnean Society; Longmans and Co.) 



\ First Book of Rural Science. By J. J. Green. 

 Pp. viii +146. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.) 

 IS. 6d. 



Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Agricultural 

 Statistics, igii. Vol. xlvi., part 5: Colonial and 

 Foreign Statistics, with Index to vol. xlvi. Pp. 379- 

 521. (London: H.M.S.O.; Wyman and Sons, Ltd.) 

 7*d. 



Experimental Mechanics and Physics. By A. H. E. 

 Norris. Pp. yiii+176. (London: Mills and Boon, 

 Ltd.) 15. 6d. 



Tamango, Jos6 Maria le Brigand. By Prosper 

 Mdrimee. Edited by R. R. N. Baron. Pp. vi + 92. 

 (London : Mills and Boon, Ltd.) is. 



The People's Books :— Atlas of the World. By J. 

 Bartholomew. Pp. viii 4- 56. The Nature of Mathe- 

 matics. By P. E. B. Jourdain. Pp. iv4-92. Fried- 

 rich Nietzsche. By M. A. Mugge. Pp. 94- Psycho- 

 logy. By Dr. H. J. Watt. Pp. 90. Zoology. By 

 Prof. E. W. MacBride. Pp. iv + 92. (London and 

 Edinburgh : T. C. and E. C. Jack.) Each 6d. net. 



Bartholomew's New Reduced Survey Maps for 

 Tourists and Cyclists. Sheet 3 : Cumberland. New 

 and revised edition. (Edinburgh : J. Bartholomew 

 and Co.) Paper, is. 6:/. net; cloth, 2S. net; cloth, 

 dissected, 2s. 6d. net. 



Elementary Biologv, -Animal and Human. By 

 T. E. Peabodv and aV E. Hunt. Pp. xiv + 212. (New 

 York : The Macmillan Co. ; London : Macmillan and 

 Co., Ltd.) 4S. 6d. net. 



The Chemical Constitution of the Proteins. By 

 Dr. R. H. .'\. Plimmer. Part 2. Second edition. 



