l62 



NA TURE 



\j2t)ic I 7, iSSo 



is, must have aUo,?ether a totally different kind cf skull and 

 skeleton to that of an active, noisy, intelligent, more or less 

 terrestrial reptile, such as the frog becomes. 



This necesarily great change involves some very curious and 

 instructive atnchronisms, so to speak, in the appearance of 

 various parts and organs. 



A low suctorial fish would have no fenestra ovalis or stape-, 

 and in the tadpole it is some time before these appear. 



The low (urodelous) Amphibia have, in most cases, the upper 

 hyoid element suppressed, sometimes it is present, serving as a 

 rudimentary " cohimtlla iiuris." 



In most Batrachia this part does not appear until after trans- 

 formation, and in some kinds not at all. This part especially 

 shows how the iiiJividual is gradually changed, and makes it 

 clear why so many variations should occur in genera and even 

 species. 



With regard to the geographical distribution of the Batrachia, 

 there are many things of importance which I have rather hinted 

 at than expressed in this paper. 



There is a sort of fades or character about the allied types of 

 any great geographical region which makes me satisfied that 

 certain external characters repeat themselves again and again in 

 different parts of the world. 



Thus the type< of frogs that have dilated toes are evidently 

 more nearly related to those with pointed toes of the same 

 region than they are even to the broad-toed types of some distant 



Australia from the sharp toed frogs of the same region ; the 

 same with those of India, and the same with those of the nearctic 

 and neotropical territories. 



The true frogs ("Ranidce'') of India have many things in 

 common, as also have the true frogs of North America ; the 

 same may be said of the sub-typical frogs, or " Cystignathidae. " 



On the w'hole the European and Indian territories yield the 

 highest kinds ; Australia and South America the lowest and 

 most generalised. 



Mathematical Society, Jnne lo. — Mr. C. AV. Merrifield, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The following communications 

 were made : — On a binomial biordinal and the arbitrary con- 

 stants of its complete solution, by Sir J. Cockle, F.R..S. — On 

 the focal conies of a bicircular quartic, by Mr. H. Hart, M.A. 

 — Preliminary note on a generalisation of Pfaff's problem, by 

 Mr. H. W. Lloyd Tanner, M.A. — On the resultant of a cubic 

 and a quadric binary form, by Prof Cayley, F. R.S. — On the 

 theory of the focal distances of points on plane curves, by Mr. 

 W. J. Curran Sharp, M.A. — Geometrical note, by Mr. H. M. 

 Taylor, M.A. 



Linnean Society, June 3. — Prof. AUman. F.R.S , pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — The secretary read a paper on the specific 

 ilentity of Scomber piincla/in, Couch, with the S. scomber, Linn., 

 by Dr. Francis Day. The specimen on which this opinion 

 ii founded was captured on the coast of Cornwall in April 

 last. — In a note on the anal respiration in the zcea larva of 

 the decapod-;, by Marcus M. Hartog, he shows from an exami- 

 nation and study of living larva; of Cancer that the terminal part 

 of the rectum is slightly dilated, and pos esses a rhythmic con- 

 traction and expansion duly a-"soci.ited with opening and closing 

 of the anus. A clue to the ultimate transference of branchial 

 respiration may perhaps be found in the Entomostraca, where in 

 certain forms food is obtained by a current from behind forwards 

 due to the movement of the setose or flat limbs immediately 

 behind the mouth. Prof. Claus has shown that in Dafhnia the 

 said limb processes have a respiratory function, while this animal 

 also possesses a well-marked anal respiration. — Mr. G. Murray 

 made a communication on the application of the result of Prings- 

 heim's recent researches on chlorophyll to the life of the lichen. 

 Summarising Pringsheim's labours and taking into consideration 

 the views of Vines, Geddes, and Lankester, I^Ir. Murray arrives at 

 the following conclusion : — That we have in lichens fungal tissues 

 as the body of the thallus and the chlorophyll screen in the gonidial 

 layer ; that is, the chlorophyll is in one system of cells and the 

 protoplasm apparently affected by it in another, which is in contact. 

 The light which traverses the chlorophyll containing gonidial 

 layer excites in the fungal tissues the decomposition of carbonic 

 acid.— Mr. P. Herbert Carpenter, in giving the results of some 

 researches of his in the form of a paper on the genus Solanocrinus, 

 Goldfnss, and its relations to recent Comatuhr, stated that 

 Schliiter was perfectly justified in uniting Solanocrimts with 



Antedon. The latter author does the same -with Comaster, 

 though to Mr. Carpenter, Goldfuss's description of this type 

 appears to differ so mnch from all other Comatula; that he prefers 

 provisionally to regard it as distinct. Mr. Carpenter's researches 

 on the crinoids in question are based on material obtained from 

 the Challenger Expedition and a study of the fossil forms con- 

 tained in the Woodwardian (Cambridge) and British Museums ; 

 he thus finds, on comparison of the living with past Jurassic, 

 Cretaceous, and Tertiary forms, that variations in the develop- 

 ment of the basals are useless as generic distinctions. 



Chemical Society, June 3. — Prof. H. E. Roscoe, president, 

 in the chair. — It was announced that a ballot for the election of 

 Fellows would take place on Jnne 17. The following papers 

 were read : — On some products of the oxidation of paratoluidine, 

 by W. H. Perkin. The present paper contains a study of the 

 action of chromic acid on the above substance. Some beautifully 

 crystallised products were obtained ; one having the composition 

 CjjHojNj, melting at 216 — 220°, and giving a magnificent blue 

 colour with sulphuric acid ; it has the characters of a base ; a 

 second base, rather less soluble, melting at 175° was also separated ; 

 it has the formula Co3H„,N3. By using glacial acetic as a 

 solvent for the chromic acid in the above reaction parazotoluene 

 was formed. — On the detection of foreign colouring matters in 

 wine, by Dr. A. Dupre. The true colouring matter does not 

 dialyse ; all the artificial colouring matters except alkanet dialyse 

 freely, so that cubes of gelatine jelly soaked in the wine for 

 forty-eight hours become scarcely tinged below the surface if the 

 wine ii pure, bnt if coloured with magenta, &c., the cube is 

 stained to the middle. Alkanet is easily recognised by its 

 absorption spectrum. — On the action of organozinc compounds 

 upon nitrites and their analogues. I. — Action of zinc ethyl on 

 azobenzene, by E. Frankland and D. A, Louis. In this reaction 

 anilin is formed, much gas being evolved, consisting of 3 vols, 

 of ethylene to I vol. of ethylic hydride. 70 grin, of anilin were 

 obtained from So grm. of azobenzene. — II. On the action of zinc 

 ethyl upon benzonitrile, by E. Frankland and J. C. Evans. 

 Cyaphenine was the principal product of this reaction ; this 

 substance, by the action of strong hydrochloric acid in a sealed 

 tube at 250°, is converted into benzoic'acid and ammonia. — On 

 the relation between the molecular structure of carbon com- 

 pounds and their absorption spectra, by Prof. W. N. Hartley. 

 The author has photographed the sfectra of various substances ; 

 he concludes that no molecular arrangement of carbon atoms 

 causes selective absorption, i.e., gives absorption bands, unless 

 three pairs of carbon atoms are doubly linked together in a closed 

 chain. The most remarkable substance in this respect is anthra- 

 cene, which, when diluted one in 50,000,000, gives a considerable 

 and distinct absorption. — On a simple method of determining 

 vapour densities in the barometric vacuum, by C. A. Bell and 

 F. L. Teed. It consists of a modification of Hofmann's 

 apparatus. — Mr. C. T. Kingzett made a verbal communication 

 to the effect that he had recently investigated the question of the 

 slow oxidation of moist phosphorus in air, and had obtained 

 evidence that both ozone and hydroxyl were formed. 



Zoological Society, June i.— Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S. , 

 president, in the chair. — Mr. Sclater made some remarks on the 

 principal objects he had noticed during a recent inspection of the 

 Zoological Gardens of Berlin, Hamburgh, Amsterdam, the 

 Hague, and Antwerp. — The Secretary exhibited a spider of the 

 genus Tegenarla, which had been forwarded to him from Cape 

 Town by Mr. J. H. Payne, of that place. It had been taken 

 within three miles of Cape Town, on the back of a horse, which 

 had subsequently died, as it was said from the effects of the bite. 

 — Mr. G. E. Dobson exhibited some new and rare species of 

 bats, amongst which was an example of a new species of the 

 genus Alegadei'ma, from Australia, proposed to be called Mega- 

 derma gigas, and remarkable for its large size. — Mr. Dobson made 

 some further remarks as to the date of the receipt of the Dodo 

 bones fxhibited by him at a former meeting. — Lord Lilford 

 exhibited and made remarks on some nests and eggs of the 

 Flamingo, which had been taken in the marshes of the Guadal- 

 quivir, below Seville, in April, 1879. — Lord Lilford also exhi- 

 bited some fine hybrid pheasants, between males of Reeves's 

 pheasant and hens of the common pheasant. — Mr. E. W. H. 

 Iloldsworth read a note on the distribution of the crayfish (As- 

 /<;c;m) in Spain —Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell read a paper on some 

 species and genera of the Temnopleuridce, in course of which he 

 described the method he had adopted in comparing different 

 species, and species at different stages in growth ; he also directed 



