June 17, 1S80] 



NATURE 



16- 



especial attention to the differences in the size of the generation 

 pores in Amblypneustcs fonnosus, and discussed the specific 

 characters of Salmacis globator. — A communication was read 

 from Dr. A GUnther, F.K.S., containing notes on a collection of 

 mammals from Japan. — Mr. G. E. Dobson read a description of 

 a new species of bat, of the genus A'atalus^ from Jamaica, 

 which he proposed to name N. microptis. — Mr. A. W. E. 

 O'Shaughnessy read the description of a new species of lizard of 

 the genus Uromaslix, from Zanzibar, which he proposed to call 

 U. piinccps. 



Geological Society, May 26.— Robert Etheridge, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Prof. Frederick Guthrie, F.R.S., 

 Rudolf H.x'nsler, Ph.D., James Ilulme, William Jolly, Charles 

 Myhill, and Alfred George Savile, were elected Fellows of the 

 Society. — The following communications were read : — The pre- 

 carboniferous rocks of Charnwood Forest (Part III. ; conclu- 

 sion), by Rev. E. Hill, M.A., F.G.S., and Prof. T. G. Bonney, 

 F.R.S. — In their former communications the authors had paid 

 less attention (from want of time) to the northern part of the 

 forest than to the rest. This district has during the last two 

 years engaged their special attention. They had provisionally 

 retained the name quartzite for the rocks exposed about Black- 

 brook, &c., probably the lowest visible on the forest. This 

 name proves to be inappropriate, and they propose to call the 

 group, which contains much fine detrital volcanic material, the 

 Blackbrook Series. They have also reason to believe that tlie 

 anticlinal fault is less than was supposed, and that we have here 

 a fairly unbroken base for the forest rock already described. In 

 this case there ought to be representatives of the great agglome- 

 ratic masses on the western side of the anticlinal (High Towers, 

 &c.). The authors believe that they have found these, though 

 as much finer and more water-worn detritus, in the greenish 

 grits above Longclifl" and Buckhill. The authors also believe 

 that they have succeeded in tr.icing a coarse agglomerate with 

 slate fragments round about three-fourths of the circumference 

 of the forest. Further notes upon the district of Bardon Hill, 

 Peldar Tor, and Sharpley are given, and the origin of the re- 

 markable rock of the last, so like some of the Ardennes por- 

 phyroids, is discussed ; the authors believe it to be a volcanic 

 tuff, altered by the passage of water or of acid gases. Descrip- 

 tions of the microscopic structure of some of the rock fragments 

 included in the coarse agglomerate and of some of the slates are 

 given. Also a notice of two small outbursts of igneous rock of 

 the northern syenite type, previously unnoticed, are mentioned. 

 — On the geological age of Central and West Cornwall, by J. 

 H. Collins, F.G.S. The author divided the stratified rocks of 

 this district into four groups, as follows : — I. T/ie Fowcy Beds, 

 mostly soft shales or fissile sandstone-, with some beds of roofing- 

 slate ; no limestones or conglomerates. These beds cover an 

 area of not le^s than eighty square mile', and contain numerous 

 fragmentary fish-remains and other fossils, many as yet undeter- 

 mined, the whole, however, indicating that the beds are either 

 Lower Devonian or Upper Silurian. The strike of the beds is 

 north-west to south ea-t, and they are estimated to be not less 

 than 10,000 feet thick. 2. The Ladock Beds, consisting of slaty 

 beds, sandy shales, sandstones, and conglomerates ; no lime- 

 stones and no fossils. They cover an area of more than 100 

 square miles to the west and south of St. Austell, strike from 

 east to west, and overlie Lower Silurian rocks unconformably. 

 They are estimated at from 1,000 to 2,000 feet thick. 3. The 

 Lower Silurians consist largely of slates and shales, with some 

 very thick conglomerates (one being at least 2,000 feet thick), 

 some quartzites, and a few thin beds of black limestone. The 

 quartzites and limestones have yielded fossils (chiefly Orthid^e) 

 which are pronounced to be of Bala or Caradocageby Davidson 

 and others. The total thickness of these beds is estimated at 

 23,000 feet, and the fossils are found in the upper beds only. 

 Instead of occupying only about twelve square miles, as shown 

 on the Survey maps, they extend over nearly 200 square miles, 

 and reach southward beyond the Helford River, and westward 

 to Marazion. The strike of these rocks is from north east to 

 south-west. 4. The Ponsanooth Beds occur beneath the Lower 

 Silurians, and unconformable with them (strike northwest to 

 south-east) ; they are often crystalline, and are estimated at 

 10,000 feet thick. Each of these formations has its own set of 

 intrusive rocks ; each has been contorted and in part denuded 

 away before the deposition of its successor. The various granitic 

 bosses have been pushed through this already complex mass of 

 stratified rocks without materially altering their strike, which 

 does not in general coincide with the line of junction. The 



chemical effects of the igneous intrusions are generally consider- 

 able, and somewhat proportioned to their relative bulk.— On 

 a second pre-Cambrian group in the Malvern Hills, by C 

 Callaway, D.Sc. F.G.S. 



Anthropological Institute, May 25.— Edward B. Tylor, 

 F.R.S. , president, in the chair. — Dr. H. Woodward read ex- 

 tracts from a paper by Prof. J. Milne, F.G.S., of the Imperial 

 College of Engineering, Yedo, on the Stone Age in Japan. The 

 author described, from personal examination, many of the 

 archaeological remains in Japan. Kitchen-middens are abundant, 

 and are ascribed to the Ainos, the ornamentation on the pottery 

 resembling that still used by the Ainos of to-day. The shells 

 and bones found in the middens were enumerated and described. 

 The stone implements found in Japan include axes, arrow-heads, 

 and scrapers. Many of these occur in the middens. The axes 

 are formed generally of a greenish stone, w hich appears to be a 

 decompoed trachytic porphyry or andesite. The Ainos used 

 stone implements up to a comparatively modem date. Tumuli 

 occur in many parts of Japan, as well as caves, both natural and 

 artificial. Prof. Milne had opened one of the latter, and found 

 the interior covered with inscriptions. The Japanese themselves 

 make valuable collections of stone implements, old pottery, &c., 

 the favourite notion among them being that such things were 

 freaks of nature. Several fragments of pottery, shells, and otlier 

 remains from kitchen-middens were exhibited. — Mr. C. Pfoundes 

 read an interesting paper on the Japanese people, their origin, 

 and the race as it now exists. Passing over the fabulous period, 

 we find tlie Japanese commence their era and history about the 

 same time as that of Rome, B.C. 660 ; the first Emperor, Mikado, 

 or Ruler, established himself in the vicinity of Kiote, not very 

 far from the present treaty ports Osaka-Kiogo. For centuries 

 history teems n ith accounts of efforts to civilise the people, and 

 the wild and intractable aborigines were gradually driven north- 

 ward, until they settled in the North Island, where they [still 

 exist and form the bulk of the present inhabitants. Mr. Pfoundes 

 exhibited a valuable collection of photographs and drawings in 

 illustration of his paper, together with articles of Japanese 

 manufacture and some fine specimens of tapestry. 



Entomological Society, June 2. — Sir John Lubbock, Bart., 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Miss Georgiana Ormerod, of 

 Isleworth, and Mr. Hy. Lupton, of Chapel AUerton, Leeds, 

 were elected Ordinary Members. — Mr. M. J. Walhouse exhibited 

 a collection of moths from Mangalore, on the Malabar coast, 

 many of the species of which resembled pala;arctic forms. — Mr. 

 J. A. Finzi exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Lowrey, a bred specimen 

 of Arctia fidiginosa which possessed only one antenna. The 

 President stated that he had occasionally bred ants w ith only one 

 antenna, and on one occasion had possessed a specimen with no 

 antenna: at all. — The President also exhibited specimens of a 

 new Australian ant received from Mr. Waller, which ."greed with 

 the genus Myrmecocystus, of Wesmael, in having an immensely 

 distended abdomen, so that the insect actually serves as an 

 animated honeypot. — The Rev. H. S. Gorham communicated 

 the concluding portion of his Materials for a Revision of the 

 Lainpyriatc. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, June 8.— Annual Meet- 

 ing. — The Right Hon. the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G., in the 

 chair. — Prior to the delivery of the address by Bishop Cotterill, 

 D.D., F.R.S. E., the honorary secretary, Capt. F. Petrie, read 

 the report, from which it appeared that the total number of 

 Members was now 835. — The subject of the annual address was 

 one aspect of the relation between the scientific and the religious 

 view of the universe. 



ViE.NNA 



Imperials Academy of Sciences, February 19. — The fol- 

 lowing among other papers were read : — On the relation of the 

 muscle-current to local chemical changes of the muscle substance, 

 by Dr. Biedermann. — On orthoethylphenol, by Drs. Suida and 

 Plohn. — Theory of conic surfaces of the fourth degree with a 

 double conic section, by Herr Ameseden. — Changes of form of 

 electrical figures by magnets, by Prof. Reitlinger and Dr. 

 Wachter. — On ventilation in schoolrooms, by Herr Nachtmann. 

 — On the decomposition of nitrososulphhydantoin with bases, 'and 

 on a new acid, nitrosothioglycolic acid, by Prof. Maly and Herr 

 Andreasch. 



March 4. — On the orbit of the planet Ino (173), by Dr. 

 Becker. — Determination of the absolute velocity of current 

 electricity from Hall's phenomenon, by Prof. v. Ettingshansen. 



