January 13, 1910J 



NATURE 



329 



the true life-history, as traced by the author, was given. 

 Some notes on observations on the Tenby wheat midge, 

 CUiwdiplosis cqiiestris, followed. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, Januaiy 5. — M. limile I'icard 

 in the chair.— Address by the president.— A. Lacroix : 

 The existence on the Ivory Coast of a petrographic series 

 comparable with that of charnockite. All these rocks con- 

 stitute a continuous and comprehensive series passing from 

 granite to a hypersthene almost solely formed of quartz and 

 felspars. The series is interesting as being very rare, and 

 forms a parallel with that of the alkaline and alkahno- 

 calcic rocks.— G. Koenigs : Conjugate curves in the most 

 general relative displacement of two bodies. — A. Demou- 

 lin : The transformation of Ribaucour. — G. Tsitzeica : 

 A problem on triple orthogonal systems.— Arnaud 

 Denjoy : Uniform analytical functions with discontinuous 

 non-isolated singularities.— Camille Hautier : The adia- 

 batic compression of air applied to a vehicle moved by an 

 explosion motor in order to replace mechanical trans- 

 mission. — A. de Gramont : The re-partition of the ulti- 

 mate rays in the spectrum of different regions in the sun. 



E. Voisenet : The production of small quantities of 



formaldehyde in the oxidation of ethyl alcohol by chemical, 

 physical, or biological means. Formaldehyde is constantly 

 formed in the oxidation of ethyl alcohol, free from all 

 trace of methyl alcohol.— E. de Stoecklin : A new method 

 allowing of the liberation of traces of alcohols. — L. 

 MarKaillan : The separation of saccharose and lactose by 

 the " bulgare " ferment. — Pierre Berthault : The wild 

 types among cultivated potatoes.— Th. Mamello : The use 

 of potassium cyanide as a subterranean insecticide. This 

 salt injected in aqueous solution in the soil is decomposed 

 by the acidity of the latter, the hydrocyanic acid gas thus 

 permeating the whole.— Mdlle. P. Cernovodeanu and 

 Victor Henri : A study of the action of ultra-violet rays 

 upon microbes. — C. Levaditi and R. Landsteiner : 

 Experimental infantile paralysis. — ^Jean Boussac : The 

 nummulites of the zone of the flysch at the west and south- 

 west of the Mercantour. — H^ribaud Joseph : Investiga- 

 tions on the diatoms of the travertines deposited by the 

 mineral waters of Sainte Marguerite (Puy de Dflme).- 

 E. P£roux : The boring of the artesian well of the 

 Maisons-Laffitte. 



New South Wales. 

 Lmnean Society, November 24, 1909.— Mr. C. Hedley, 

 president, in the chair.— Dr. H. I. Jensen : The variable 

 character of the vegetation on basalt soils. The different 

 types of basaltic country in eastern Australia, and the 

 factors which control the vegetation thereof, may be briefly 

 summarised as : — (i) The tropical or subtropical, coastal 

 basalt scrubs Qungle), with a high rainfall; the soil is 

 very rich, and has a high water-retaining power but low 

 porosity. (2) The extra-tropical, coastal basaltic ranges of 

 southern New South Wales, with a colder climate and a 

 lower rainfall ; rapid corrosion and erosion, unhindered by 

 dense vegetation, have given rise to steep slopes, and these 

 have an excellent natural drainage and a stony soil. 

 (3) The almost treeless basaltic plains west of the Great 

 Dividing Range, the dearth of vegetation being due to a 

 low and uncertain rainfall, and sometimes to a cold climate 

 as well. (4) The isolated basaltic knolls of the western 

 interior, usually stony and bare of soil, their barrenness 

 being due to two causes ; the basalt is such a compact, 

 homogeneous, and even-grained rock, and the climate so 

 arid, that decomposition is extremely slow, and as the 

 minerals all decompose with about equal readiness, the 

 soil formed is very finely divided, and is removed by the 

 wind practically as fast as it is formed. (5) The basaltic 

 bogs of plains and tablelands, with a water-logged soil 

 due to inefficient drainage, and a soil-water charged with 

 deleterious salts. Hence it will be seen that the defect of 

 basaltic soils is never want of plant-food. The most 

 serious drawbacks are high water-capacity, which causes 

 the asphyxiation of plants in wet weather, and low 

 capillarity power, which impedes a renewal of soil-moisture 

 in droughty seasons. — Dr. W. G. Woolnougrh : The 

 geology of the Tallong-Marulan area, N.S.W. This area 

 NO. 2098, VOL. 82] 



has already formed the subject of a communication to the 

 society by Mr. T. G. Taylor and the author. In that 

 paper' the physiography was dealt with, and a fine case of 

 river-capture on a large scale described. The district is 

 very remarkable for the great variety of its geological 

 formations. Ordovician, Silurian, Permo-Carbomferous, 

 and Tertiary fossiUferous strata are developed, while 

 eruptive rocks are represented by a great boss of grano- 

 diorite, grading into granite-porphyry and dacite, inter- 

 sected by complementary dykes of aplitic and lamprophyric 

 character, and by extensive basalts and basalt tuffs. Ihe 

 Ordovician rocks are the nearest to Sydney at present 

 known and contain abundant beautifully preserved grapto- 

 lites series of which have been exhibited at the meetings 

 of the society. The Silurian rocks include two thick belts 

 of fossilifero'us limestone in which extensive caves occur. 

 The Permo-Carboniferous rocks are somewhat abnormal in 

 character, lying as they do at the extreme _ south-western 

 corner of the basin. The formation consists chiefly of 

 coarse conglomerates and breccias. A seam of inferior 

 coal is developed. The grano-diorite mass presents some 

 very interesting problems in magmatic intrusion. It is 

 suggested that it is a laccolitic mass only just laid bare 

 by denudation. The very important problems of magmatic 

 differentiation presented by this mass are not dealt with 

 in this paper. Extensive contact-metamorphism is niet 

 with in the district, and a preliminary description of this 

 is given— E. J. Goddard : Contribution to our knowledge 

 of Australian Hirudinea, part iv., with a note on a para- 

 sitic endoproctous polyzoon. The paper comprises a de- 

 tailed account of a leech found in the Brisbane River, 

 which is regarded as indistinguishable from the Jamaican 

 Pontobdella macrothela, Schmarda, and descriptions of 

 a species of Pontobdella from the Hawkesbury Estuary, 

 and one of Geobdella from British New Guinea. Certain 

 incomplete but abundant structures adherent to examples 

 of the second of these are pronounced to be the stalks ot 

 an endoproctous polyzoon, possibly allied to Loxosoma. 

 Similar structures were erroneously supposed to be the 

 spermatophores of a leech by Macdonald -L. A. Cotton . 

 The tin deposits of New England, N.S.W., part .., the 

 Elsmore-Tingha district. There are three geological units 

 within the tinfield :-(i) a series of s'=»tf\^"'J,^claystones ; 

 (2) a series of granites ; (3) a series of basalts ; while a 

 fourth flanks its eastern side. The slates are Palaeozoic 

 and are probably of Silurian age. The basalts are the 

 youngest of the 'formations, and their age has been deter- 

 mined as Tertiary. The granites are intrusive > ." o *e 

 Palsozoic slates, and their age has been provisionally 

 stated as Permian. There are two chief granite types :-^ 

 (1) the "acid granite" of Mr. E. C. Andrews, which is 

 chiefly a quartz-felspar rock ; (2) an older and more basic 

 rock, the Tingha granite. The tin-ore deposits have been 

 found always closely associated with the ' acid granite, 

 though post-dating the solidification of that rock. On 

 examining the fracture-systems of Elsmore, Emmav-ille 

 and Tingha, it was concluded that the force causing these 

 was a thrust from the east, or a torsional stress having 

 the axis of torsion approximately east and west. It was 

 noted that the system of fractures corresponds cToseTy witn 

 the general tren'd of the tin-bearing belt, both being best 

 developed in a direction about N.E. by E. The tin-ore 

 deposits are discussed under several heads, the chief among 

 them being (a) the quartz-quartzose type; (6) the quartz- 

 felspar type ; (c) the pipes ; (d) the chlorite deposits. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, January 13. 



RoVAL Society, at i.30.— On the Atomic Weight of Strontium: Sir 

 Edward Thorpe, C.B., F.R S.. and A. G. Francis.--pn the Approxi- 

 mate Arithmetical Solution by Finite Differences of Physical Problenris 

 involving Differential Equations, with an Application to the Stresses in 

 a Masonry Dam: L. F. Richardson.-On a Method of Determm.ng 

 the Viscosity of Gases, especially those Available only in Small guantities : 

 A. O. Rankine.-Recombination of Ions at Different Temperatures: 

 Dr. P. Phillips— On the Electricity of Rain and Snovv : Dr. G. t-. 

 Simpson— On the Polarisation of X-Rays compared with their Power of 

 Exciting High Velocity Kathode Rays : L. Vegard. 



Mathematical Society, at 5.30.— The Transformations of Coordinates 

 which can be used to transform One Physical Problem into Another : 



