426 



NA TURE 



{March 3, 1881 



be characterised throughout its compounds by particular bands. 

 Further research will probably throw much light on the internal 

 structure of chemical substances. — On absorption-bands in the 

 visible spectrum produced by certain colourless liquids, by Dr. 

 Russell and Mr. Lapraik. The authors have carefully drawn 

 the absorption-spectra of various Uquids— water, ammonia, &c. — 

 as seen through an ordinary spectroscope. — On the action of 

 hydrochloric acid on ethylene alcohol, by C. Schorlemmer. By 

 heating glycol with an excess of fuming hydrochloric acid in a 

 sealed tube to loo' the author has converted this substance into 

 ethylene dichloride, and has thus disproved the conclusion that 

 the two hydroxyl groups had different functions. — On an attempt 

 to accelerate the prod-ss of determining the soluble salts in a soil, 

 by E. W. Prevost. The author added calcium sulphate and 

 barium carbonate to the soil, but in neither case were satisfactory 

 results obtained. 



Linnean Society, February 17. — Frank Crisp, LL.B,, 

 F.L.S., in the chair. — Mr. Wickham exhibited two collections 

 of Arctic plants. Of fifty-seven species collected by Capt. 

 Markham in Novaya Zemlya (1879) thirty-seven of the most 

 interesting Phanerogams were shown. The absence of species 

 of Gentian is noteworthy, for Arctic Russia, in proximity, pos- 

 sesses six species. Leguminosce are unrepresented in Spitzbergen 

 and Arctic Greenland, hut three species of the order obtain in 

 Novaya Zemlya. Other features of the latter island's flora are 

 equally remarkable. The second collection of typically Polar 

 plants exhibited were those obtained by Mr. Grant in Mr. Leigh 

 Smith's successful voyage to Franz-Josef Land, iSSo, and wheie 

 sixty-one flowering plants were obtained ; though the facies of 

 the flora indicates the probability of more yet to be got in this 

 hich latitude. — Mr. A. Hammond drew attention to a micro- 

 scopic specimen and drawing of portion of the wall of the so- 

 called glandular sac of the larva of the Puss moth, from which 

 that insect ejects an acid liquid when alarmed or irritated. Al- 

 though doubtless the organ is the source of the excretion, it yet 

 is questionable to regard it as a true glandular stnicture, inasmuch 

 as its tissue is largely composed of chitinous matter. — Dr. Francis 

 Day read a paper, observations on some British fishes. In this he 

 pointed out : — that Pimehptaus Cornubiensis is identical with the 

 Amenca-n Pammi'las pcrcifor mis, Mitchell; that great confusion 

 exists in the works of Varrel and Couch respecting the Tunnies 

 and their allies, most, if not all, the examples of the short-finned 

 Tunnies being in reality specimens of Pdamyo sarda ; that the 

 Comber Wrasse {Labrus Donovani, Cuv. and Val.), is a peculiarly- 

 coloured variety of L. tiuiculalus, Bloch ; that Crenilabrus Batl- 

 lonii. Couch, is the C. viclofs, Cuv. and Val Adult examples 

 of Brill and Sole, coloured on both sides, but in which the eyes 

 were normal, were exhibited. Some Sprats obtained off St. 

 Ives were adverted to, which had fully-developed ova in January 

 this year. It was also proved that the specimen of Ostracwn 

 quadnccrnis figured by Couch as a British fish had been brought in 

 salt from abroad by a sailor. Observations also were made by Dr. 

 Day concerning the habits of the Thresher Shark towards ihe 

 Whale. — Mr. C. B. Clarke gave a communication on right-hand 

 and left-hand contortion of the corolla. In this he maintains that 

 I.innjBus's definition of right-hand contortion is correct, and that 

 the criticisms published by M. Alph. de CandoUe in " Phyto- 

 graphie " are founded on a misconception. Mr. Clarke holds : — 

 that everybody understands the same direction (viz. the watch- 

 hand direction) by the term right-hand contortion ; that the 

 apparent direction of the heavenly bodies is reversed if the spec- 

 tator looks north instead of south ; that the direction of rotation 

 is the same whether the observer supposes himself within or 

 without the helix, but that the apparent direction of a helix is 

 altered if the spectator reverses the direction in which he looks 

 along the axis. — Prof. P. M. Duncan read a paper on some 

 sponges obtained among a mass of fistulose coral from deep v\ater 

 off the coast of Spain during the expedition of i\\e Porcupine, 

 One kind, apparently new, is described as a species of Letoder- 

 matiiim, L. affire. Dune, and another belongs to the genus 

 Aphrocallistes. 



Geological Society, Febraary 18. — Annual General Meeting. 

 Robert Etheridge, F.R.S., President, in the chair.^The Secre- 

 taries read the Reports of the Council and of the Library and 

 Museum Committee for the year 1880, the Council announcing 

 with much satisfaction that the financial depression under which 

 the Society had been suffering during 1878 and 1879 had 

 proved, as was anticipated, only temporary, and that the Society 

 is now in a very prosperous condition. The Council's Report 



also announced the publication of the new Catalogue of thfe 

 Library, which, although consideralily larger than was at first 

 expected, will be issued to the Fellows at the price originally 

 fixed for it. The Report further announced the awards of the 

 various medals and of the proceeds of the donation: funds in the 

 gift of the Society. In presenting the Wollaston Gold Medal 

 to Prof. P. Martin Duncan, M.B., F.R.S., F.G.S., the Presi- 

 dent addressed him as follows : — Professor Duncin, — It is with 

 no ordinai-y.pleasure that the Council have awarded to you the 

 Wollaston Medal, the highest honour that it is in their power to 

 bestow, in recognition of the valuable service, which you have 

 rendered during so many years to the advancement of geology, 

 and especially of palaeontology ; and I may add thai it is equally 

 productive of gratification to me that this honour is to be for- 

 mally conferred upon you by my hands. Since the year 1863 

 paIa;ontologist3 have been indebted to you for no fewer than 

 t« enty-six memoirs relating to the history, structure, and distri- 

 bution of the fossil Actinozoa, a group which you have made 

 peculiarly your own by long-continued and most careful re- 

 searches. Further, you have enriched the publications of the 

 Pateontographical Society with several most important treatises 

 on the British fossil corals, supplementary, or rather perhap.-. 

 complementary, to the classical monograph of MM. Milne- 

 Edwards and Haime. These labours alone, and the value of 

 their results, might have justified the Council in awarding you 

 the Wollaston Medal ; but besides your researches upon the 

 Actinozoa, we have to point to several important papers upon 

 the fossil Echiaodermata, to others relating to subjects of physi- 

 cal geology (also freely touched upon in your more special 

 memoirs), and particularly to your exceedingly important work 

 in connection with the Geological Survey of India, in describing 

 the fos-il corals of that peninsula, and discussing the questions 

 of both zoological and geological interest which n;iturally arise 

 out of the study of those organisms. Patiently and unobtru- 

 sively for nearly twenty years >ou have followed out the line of 

 research necessary for the fulfilment of your self-imposed task ; 

 you have sacrificed the advantages of professional life to devote 

 your energies to the advancement of science. On all accounts 

 it is with much pleasure that I hnnd to you the Wollaston 

 Medal. The President then presented the Murchison Medal 

 to Prof. Archibald Geikie, F.K.S., F.G.S., and addressed 

 him as follows : — Prof. Geikie, — If any one Fellow of 

 our Society more than another could be selected to 

 receive the Murchi-on Medal for his valuable contribubutions 

 to geology, it Mould be yourself; since no man living has 

 contributed more to the advancement of that science which it is 

 the special object of our Society to cultivate and difluse. Your 

 labours in the field connected with your duties as Director of the 

 Geological Survey of Scotland, yiur learned and valualJe contri- 

 butions to the youvnal of our Society, the Ti-ansactions of the 

 Royal .^ociety of Edinburgh and the Glasgow Geological Society, 

 and other publications too numerous to mention, eminently 

 qualify you to be the recipient of the medal founded by y.jur late 

 chiel and friend Sir Roderick Murchison. To enumerate your 

 contributions to the literature of the geology of Scotland, or your 

 many important writings connected with our science, would lead 

 me too far — some thirty papers, besides educational worl<s, have 

 resulted from your industry and knowledge. Your able paper 

 alone, on the "Old Red Sandstone of Scotland," published in 

 the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, would 

 entitle you to the highest consideration of the Suciety. Able 

 indeed are other contributions, especially those "On the Chrono- 

 logy of the Trap Rocks of Scotland," " On the Date of the Last 

 Elevation of Central Scotland" (in vol. xviii. of onr Journal), 

 " On the Phenomena of Succession amongst the Silurian Rocks 

 of Scotland" (7>a«.r. Glasgow Geol. Soc. vol. iii.), and "On 

 Earth Sculpture." The President next handed the Lyell Medal 

 to Mr. V\ ariiigton W. Smyth, F.K.S., for transmission to Dr. 

 J. W. Dawson, F.R.S., of Montreal, and addressed him as 

 fidlows:— Mr. Warington Smyth, I need hardly say that the 

 Council, in awarding the Lyell Medal to Principal I lawson, have 

 done so with a sincere appreciation of the high value of his truly 

 great labours in the cause of pala-outology and geology. When 

 1 refer to his published papers 1 find that they number nearly 

 120, and that they give the results of most extensive and valuable 

 researches in various departments of geology, but more especially 

 u|)on the pala:onlology of the Devonian and Carboniferous 

 formations of Northern America. Considering the nature of 

 these numerous contributions, the Council would have been fully 

 justified in awarding to Dr. Dawson one of its medals, upon the 



