96 



NA TURE 



[May 24, 1906 



crinus, and Triccelocrinus. The two specimens now re- 

 corded are different from the Queensland forms, and were 

 obtained from the Glenwilliam (permo-Carboniferous) series 

 at Clarence Town, New South Wales. They are pro- 

 visionally classed as species of Metablastus. — A collection 

 of Crustacea from the Port Curtis district, Queensland : 

 F. E. Grant and Allan R. McCulloch. The'paper deals 

 with a collection of more than 100 species of Brachyura 

 and Macrura taken in Port Curtis and at the extreme 

 south of the Great Barrier Reef, in October, 1904. Five 

 species are described as new. Twenty-one species are re- 

 corded as new for Australia. 



Calcutta. 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, .April 4. — Notes on the tank 

 fauna of India ; Dr. N. Annandale. A cockroach of the 

 genus Epilampra is recorded as being aquatic in Chota 

 Nagpur, and a peculiarity in its spiracles and in those of 

 some other members of its family is noted. \ general 

 account is given of the respiratory systein of an aquatic 

 glow-worm, probably the larva of a Luciola. Some further 

 diagnostic characters {distinction of the sexes, structure of 

 the eggs, relative proportion of body and tentacles) of 

 Hydra orientalis are put on record. Two protozoa are 

 noted as having been found associated with it, and the 

 part played in its migrations by Paludina is pointed out. 

 An account is given of a chironomid larva which binds 

 both the polyp and certain Vorticellids and rotifers to a 

 temporary protective case, and then devours them at 

 leisure. The character of the food commonly eaten in the 

 Calcutta tanks by Hydra is indicated. — Silver dioxide and 

 silver peroxynitrate : E. R. Watson, If the crystalline 

 substance formed during electrolysis at the anode from 

 aqueous solutions of silver nitrate be washed and dried 

 with sufficient care, it may be isolated pure, and proved 

 to have the formula Ag,NO„, which SCilc gave to it. On 

 heating this silver peroxynitrate, the decomposition pro- 

 ceeds in two stages ; for at first oxygen is given off, but 

 later NO, as well as O, white silver being left. This 

 behaviour suggested to Sillc the structural formula 

 AgN0,3.\g,0,.0, ; Mulder and Haringa suggested later the 

 formula AgN0,.3Ag,0,. To both suggestions there are 

 considerable objections. Alternatives still under investi- 

 gation are Ag,(N03)0, and Ag.{NOJO,.— The Hindu 

 method of manufacturing spirit from rice, and its scientific 

 explanation : J. C. Ray. The fungus used in Orissa is 

 prepared in small balls by the hill-people; it is mixed in 

 a basket with wet steamed rice in the proportion of one 

 to one hundred parts of dry rice. The mixture heats during 

 the next twenty-four hours, after which it is made into 

 circular cakes and exposed upon an earthen platform for 

 three or four days, during which the mycelium so spreads 

 as to make the grains in the cakes cohere. The cakes 

 are now piled up, and in four or five days become black. 

 Next the cakes are put with water into vats sunk in the 

 floor of a shed, and an equal quantity of fresh, well-steamed 

 rice is added. The vats before being charged are fumigated 

 by burning straw. Fermentation is allowed to go on for 

 eight to ten days, until bubbles cease to rise. Distillation 

 follows. The average yield of spirit in a good distillery 

 is 4 gallons, proof, from 82 lb. of rice. The maximum 

 yield of 4-5 gallons is obtained in January, the minimum 

 of 3-66 gallons in October. Experiments show that the 

 caking is very essential to the process. The essential 

 mould is believed to be Miicor racemosus ; other moulds 

 get mixed with it. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, May 24. 

 Royal Society, at 4.30.— Croonian Lecture : On Nerve Endings and on 



Special E.vcitable Substances in Cells : Prof. J. N. Lan^ley, F.R.S. 

 Royal Institution, at 5.— Man and the Glacial Period: Prof. W. J. 



SoUas, F.R.S. 

 University of London, at 5.— The! Atmospheric Circulation and Its 



Relation to Weather : Dr. \V. N. Shaw, F.R.S. 

 Institution of Electrical Engineers, at S.— Annual General Meeting. 



—Report of Council and Election of the New Council. 

 Society op Arts, at 4.30.— The Parsis of Persia : Major P. M. Sykes 



C.M.G. 

 LlNNEAN Society, at 3.— Anniversary Meeti 



NO. 1908, VOL. 74] 



FRIDAY, May 25. 



Royal Institution, at 9.— Compressed Air and its Physiological Effects: 

 Leonard Hill, F.R.S. 



Physical Society, at 5. — Colour Phenomena in Photometry: J. S. Dow. 

 —Exhibition of an Automatic Arc Lamp : H. Tomlinson and Rev. 

 G. T. Johnston. — The Theory of Moving Coil and other Kinds of 

 Ballistic Galvanometers : Prof. H. A. Wilson, F.R.S —E.xhibition of a 

 Bifilar Galvanometer free from Zero Creep : A. Campbell. 



SA TURD A y, May 26. 



TUESDA Y, May 29. 



Royal Institution, at 5.— Northern Winter Sports: Colonel V. Bulck. 

 Zoological Society, at 8.3a. 



Society op Arts, at 8.— Glass Cutting : Harry Powell. (Paper to be read 

 at the Whitefriars Glassworks.) 



THURSDAY, May 31. 



Royal Society, at s,.^o. — Probnbie Papers: On the Main Source of 

 " Precipitable " Substances and on the Ri'ic of the Homologous Proleid 

 in Precipitin Reactions: D. A. Welsh and H. G. Chapman.— The 

 Viscosity of the Blood: A. du Pre Denning and J. H. Watson.— 

 The Affinity Constants of Amphoteric Electrolytes, part i.. Methyl 

 Derivatives of Para-Aminobenzoic Acid and of Glycine : J. Johnston. — 

 Part ii.. Methyl Derivatives of Ortho- and Meta-Aminobenzoic Acids: 

 Dr. A. C. Gumming.— Part iii.. Methylated Amino-Acids : Prof. James 

 Walker, F.R.S. 



Royal Institution, at 5. — Man and the Glacial Period : Prof. W, J. 



Sollas, F.R.S. 



FRIDAY, JvKE 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Adolf von Baeyer's Collected Works. By Prof. 



W. H. Perkin, jun., F.R.S 73 



A Standard Treatise on Elasticity. By G. B. M. . , 74 



Proteid Chemistry. By W. D. H 75 



Statistical Seismology 76 



Our Book Shelf: — 



Magnusson : " Notes on Shipbuildini; and Natitical 



Terms of Old in the North."— W. H. W 77 



Fiedler and Sandbach : "A First German Course for 



Science Students" 78 



Woodhall : " Personal Hygiene Designed for Under- 

 graduates" 78 



Lodge: " Life and Matter " 78 



Dale: "The Fox."— R. L 79 



Kause : " Oologia universalis palafarctica " 79 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Osmotic Pressure. — Prof. Henry E. Armstrong, 



F.R.S.; Norman R. Campbell 79 



The Oscillation of Flame Cones. — Prof. Arthur 



Smithells, F.R.S So 



Ancient Fire Festivals. — Thereza Story-Maskelyne 80 



Carbon Dioxide in the Breath. — F. Southerden . . Si 

 American Palaeobotany. {UlustratLd.) By A. C. 



Seward, F.R.S Si 



Recreations of a Naturalist. {Illustrated.) By F. . . S2 

 Forthcoming Visit of Representatives of University 



Education in France 83 



Notes S3 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Spectrum of Nova Aquite No. 2 87 



Stereo-comparator Discoveries of Proper Motions ... 87 



Measures of Double and Multiple Stars 88 



Observations of Comet 1905c 88 



A Lunar Tide on Lake Huron 88 



The Haunts of the Okapi 88 



The Tarawera Volcanic Rift, New Zealand, (ll/iis- 



tratcd.) SS 



Hydrology in the United States 89 



Greenwich Observations. By W. E. P 90 



Anti-Typhoid Vaccine. By Prof. R. T. Hewlett . . 91 



University and Educational Intelligence 91 



Societies and Academies 93 



Diary of Societies 96 



