December 9, 1909] 



NATURE 



179 



X-rays do not sensibly modify the colour of the diamond, 

 but considerable change is brought about by the action 

 of the kathode rays, the diamond developing a yellow tint. 

 This tint is permanent at the ordinary temperature, but an 

 exposure to a temperature of 300° to 400° C. rapidly 

 restores the original tint. — KnAvk Meyere : The influence 

 of radium, the X-rays, and the kathode rays on various 

 precious stones. The stones examined in these experiments 

 were the diamond, and white, blue, and rose corundums. 

 One effect only was produced by all three radiations — the 

 stone became more or less tinted yellow. — J. B. 

 Senderens : The catalytic preparation of unsymmetrical 

 fatty ketones. Thoria is the most suitable catalyser for 

 the purpose of these experiments, and is employed at a 

 temperature of 400° to 430° C. A mixture of fatty acids 

 passed over this reagent gives the ketone according to 

 the equation 



R.CO.OH-l-R'.CO.OH=R.CO.R' + CO, + H,0. 



Small quantities of the two symmetrical ketones are formed 

 simultaneously, but the three ketones are readily separated 

 by fractional distillation. — G. Vavon : Hydrogenations in 

 the torpene series. Pinene rapidly absorbs hydrogen in the 

 presence of platinum black, giving a nearly quantitative 

 yield of the hydrocarbon C,„H,,. Camphene and limonene 

 behave similarly. In alcoholic solution hydrogen can be 

 added in this way to maleic, fumaric, and cinnamic acids, 

 and to erucic acid in ethereal solution. — T. Klobb : The 

 phytosterfils from the flowers of Tussilago farfara. Two 

 new alcohols are described, one being a monovalent phyto- 

 sterol, the other divalent and resembling arnidiol in its 

 behaviour. — Georges Darzens : The catalytic hydrogenation 

 of the quinoline and aromatic bases. The exact tempera- 

 ture at which the nickel oxide is reduced, and the tempera- 

 ture at which the catalysis is carried out, are the two 

 essential factors in the successful reduction of quinoline 

 and aromatic bases. The preparation of tetrahydro- 

 quinoline is described. — Paul Gaubert : The polychroism 

 of artificially coloured crystals. — H. .'\. Brouwer : Certain 

 lujaurites from Pilandsberg, Transvaal. — Lucien Daniel : 

 A new graft hybrid. — F. Bordas and M. Touplain : .'\n 

 anaeroxydase and a calalase in milk. Repeating some 

 work of M. Sarthou, the authors come to the conclusion 

 that the existence of an anaeroxydase and a catalase in 

 cow's milk has not been demonstrated; the colour reactions 

 produced in milk on treatment with hydrogen peroxide are 

 due to casein or its compound with lime. — L. Cuenot and 

 I.. Mercier : Studies on the cancer of mice. Relation 

 between the grafting of the tumour, gestation, and lacta- 

 tion. — C. Levaditi and K. Landsteiner : The trans- 

 mission of infantile paralysis to the chimpanzee. — Jacques 

 Pellegrrin : A new parasitic fish of the genus Vandellia. 

 — A. Gruvel : The dispersion of some species belonging 

 to the marine fauna of the coasts of Mauritania. — Paul 

 Lemoine : The subterranean folds of the Gault in the 

 Paris basin. — Andr^ Delebecque : The origin of the plain 

 of Rocailles (Haute Savoicl. — M. Repelin : The rSle of 

 the most recent dislocations (post-Miocene) in the earth- 

 quake of June II, T009. 



Dublin. 

 Royal Irish Academy, November S. — Dr. F. A. 

 Tarleton, president, in the chair. — Dr. R. F. Scharff : 



The evidences of a former land-bridge between northern 

 Europe and North America. The author explained that 

 he was only dealing with the most recent land-bridge of 

 which we had any evidence between the two continents. 

 The testimony in favour of this theory is of a two-fold 

 character. It is based on an investigation of the sea-floor 

 and on a study of the plants and animals of the countries 

 supposed to have been joined to one another by land. The 

 author alluded principally to the continental shelves and 

 to the researches of Prof. Hull, Dr. Spencer, and Dr. 

 Nansen. He also brought forward botanical and zoological 

 evidence pointing to the existence of a former continuous 

 land surface between north-western Europe and eastern 

 North America. The theory of accidental transport of 

 species across the ocean was especially commented upon 

 and discussed, but the author was inclined to adopt the 



NO. 2093, VOL. 82] 



view that the similarity between the fauna and flora of the 

 two continents was mainly due to a pre-Glacial land-bridge 

 connecting Scotland with the Faeroes, Iceland, Greenland, 

 and Labrador. 



New South Wales. 



Linnean Society, September 29. — M.. C. Hrrlley, president, 

 in the chair. — E. W. Ferguson : Revision of the 

 Amycterida; (Coleoptera), part i., the genus Psalidura. 

 The family .'Vmycteridae comprises several groups of hard- 

 shelled, apterous, and solely terrestrial weevils. The genus 

 Psalidura comprises the group the distinguishing character 

 of which is that the males possess anal forceps. The 

 previously described species, numbering 37 in Masters's 

 Catalogue, have been revised, and reduced to 24, to which 

 number 22 new species are added, making a total of 46 

 species. Of these, it has not been possible to examine any 

 specimens of four species, of which three— P. D'urvillei. 

 P. mirabunda, and P. squalida— were described originally 

 from female specimens onlv (and the descriptions are, there- 

 fore, almost valueless).— t. H. Johnston : The Entozoa 

 of monotremes and Australian marsupials.— T. H. 

 Johnston and Dr. J. B. Cleland : Notes on some para- 

 sitic Protozoa.— J. H. Maiden and E. Betche; Notes 

 from the Botanic Gardens, No. 15, on a plant, m fruit, 

 doubtfully referred to Cymodocea. 



October 27.— Mr. C. Hedley, president, in the chair.— 

 \ M tea • Revision of Australian Curculionida:, subfam. 

 Cryptorhynchides, part x. The tenth instalment of the 

 revision continues the consideration of the genera allied to 

 Chaetectetorus, all of them belonging to the " Crypto- 

 rhynchides vrais " of Lacordaire. Twelve genera, and 

 thirty-eight species, including fifteen proposed as new are 

 described.— A. F. B. Hull : The birds of Norfolk and Lord 

 Howe Islands. The number of species actually known to 

 breed at the present time amounts to twenty-nme for 

 Norfolk and twenty-one for Lord Howe Island.— R. J. 

 Tillyard : Studies in the life-histories of Odonata. No. 3. 

 Notes on a new species of Phyllopetalia, with descriptions 

 of nymph and imago. The species here named Phyllo- 

 petalia Patricia, n.sp., was described by the author in 1906 

 under the name of P. apoUo, Selys. Further investigation 

 has shown it to be possessed of a number of important 

 peculiarities, marking it out as a distinct species. Ihe 

 discovery of the nymph by Mr. Keith Brown at Leura, 

 Blue Mountains, is of the greatest importance to onto- 

 genists, as the specimen is the only known form of the 

 Petalia' group of dragon-flies. Evidence is brought for- 

 ward mainly on tlie form of the labium, strongly support- 

 ing the view advocated by Dr. F. Ris, that the Petalia 

 group is not referable to the Cordulegasterina; at all 

 (though at present placed in that subfamily), but is an 

 archaic remnant of the true ^schnina?.— Dr. H. L 

 Jensen : Notes on some recent work on the rocks of 

 Samoa. Prof. M. Weber, of Munich, recently pub- 

 lished an exhaustive report on the petrography of the 

 Samoan Islands, based upon the examination of a very 

 complete series of rocks collected by Herr J. Friedlander 

 in 1907. Additional light is thrown upon two problems 

 discussed in the author's two papers on the geology of 

 Samoa, &c., in the Proceedings for iqo6 (p. 164) and 1907 

 (p. 706), namely, the significance of the case of a recently 

 erupted basalt which, on analysis, showed a higher soda 

 content than was to be expected from the results of the 

 petrological examination ; and the bearing of the sub- 

 alkaline composition of the Samoan lavas now established 

 by Weber, upon the hypothesis that the eruptions along the 

 Samoa-Tonga-Taupo line depend upon an earth-folding 

 movement (loc. cit., 1906, pp. 661-2). 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, Df.cembek g. 

 RnVAL .Society, at 4.110.— The Hexosephnsnhate formed by Yeastiuice 

 from Hexo5e and Phosphale : W. T. Younc.-On the Presence of 

 Ha:m.aeelutinins Hsem-opsonins, and Haimolysins in ihe Blood obtained 

 from Infectious and Non-infectious Diseases in Man (Thi-d R-port) : 

 L. S. Dudgeon and H. A. F. Wilson. -Gametogenes.s of the Gall-fly 

 Ncurtilcrus lentkularis(S/>athc^nster bnicanivt). Pa't I.t L. Doncaster. 

 —Preliminary Note upon the Cell Lamination of the Cerebral Cortex of 



