March 3, 1881] 



NA TURE 



427 



sole ground of the value of their contents ; but these are far from 

 representing the whole of the results of his incessant activity in 

 the pursuit of science. His " Acadian Geoloj^y," " Post-pliocene 

 Geology of Canada," and " Fosiil Plants of the Devonian and 

 Upper Silurian of Canada," are most valuable contributions to 

 our knowledge of North American geology ; whilst in his 

 "Archaia," "The Dawn of Life," and oi her more or less popular 

 writings he has appealed, and worthily, to a wider public. We 

 areinde'ited to his researches for nearly all our knowledge of 

 the fossil tkira of the Devonian and other Precarboniferous rocks 

 of America, and of the structure and flora of the Nova- 

 Scotian coal-field ; and finally I must refer especially to 

 his original investigation of the history, nature, and affinities 

 of Eoioon. These researches are so well known that they have 

 gained for Dr. Dawson a world-wide reputation. The President 

 then 4ianded the Bigsby Medal to Prof. M irris, F.G.S., for trans- 

 mission to Dr. Charles Barrois, and addressed him as follows : 

 — Professor Morris, Dr. Barrois's chief or most important work 

 (wTitten in the year 1876, and publi-hed at Lille) is " Recheiches 

 sur le terrain cretace superieur de I'Angleterre et de I'Irlande," 

 a production almost exhaus'ive in its description of the cretaceous 

 rocks of England and Ireland, and of the utmost value to English 

 students of geology. Dr. Barrois in this work has been the first 

 to attempt to arrange the English Cretaceous rocks in paljeonto- 

 logical zones, and eminently has he succeeded in defining and 

 correlating tlie horizons of France and Britain. In handing to 

 Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., Sec.G.S., the balance of the Wollastoa 

 Donation Fund for transmission to Dr. Ramsay H. Traquair, 

 F.G.S., the President said : — Professor Judd, in handing to you, 

 to be forwarded to Dr. Traquair, the balance of the proceeds of 

 the Wollaston Donation Fund, I have to request that you uill 

 inform aim of the feeling of the Council, that it is rarely that 

 they can have the opportunity of awarding this fund to a more 

 able and accomplished naturalist than himself. His long-con- 

 tinued researches upon the ganoid fishes of the Carboniferous 

 formation have rendered his name eminent in this department of 

 palaeontology. The President next presented the balance of the 

 proceeds of the Murchison Donation Fund to Mr. Frank Kutley, 

 F.G.S. ; one moiety of the balance of the proceeds of the Lyell 

 Donation Fund to Mr. G. R. Vine ; the second moiety of the 

 Lyell Donation Fund to Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., F.G.S. , for 

 transmission to Dr. Anton Fritsch, of Prague. The ballot 

 for the council and officers was taken, and the following w ere 

 duly elected for the ensuing year : President, K. htheridge, 

 F.R.S. ; Vice-Presidents: John Evans, F.R.S., J. AT. Hulke, 

 F.R.S., Prof. J. MoiTis, M.A., and H. C. Sorby, F.R.S. ; 

 Secretaries: Prof. T. ,G. Bonney, F.R.S., Prof. J. W. Judd, 

 F.R.S. Foreign Secretary, Warington W. Smyth, F. K.S. ; 

 Treasurer, J. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S. Council: H. Bauerman, 

 Rev. T. F. Blake, M.A., Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., W. 

 Carruthers, F.R.S., Prof. P. M. Duncan, F.R.S., Sir P. de M. 

 Grey-Egerton, Bart., M.P., F.R.S., R. Etheridge, F.R.S., 

 John Evans, F.R.S., Lieut.-Col. H. H. Godwin-Austen, F. K.S. , 

 J. Clarke Hawkshaw, M.A., Rev. Edwin Hill, M.A., W. H. 

 Hudlestone, M.A., J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., J. Gwyn Jeffreys, 

 F.R.S., Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., Prof. N. S. Maskelyne. 

 M.P., F.R.S., J. Morris, M.A., J. A. Phillips, F. W. Rudler, 

 Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., Warington W. Smyth, F.R.S., 

 H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., H. Woodward, F.R.S. 



Zoological Society, February 15. — Prof. W. H. Flower, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The Secretary read a report 

 on the' additions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie 

 during the month of January, an I called special attention 

 to a White-nosed Saki {Piihccia albinasa), purchased January 11 ; 

 an American Monkey of th» genus Calliihrix — probably refer- 

 able to C. britnnea^ purchased along with the preceding ; and 

 an example of an Insectivore of the genus Ttifaia (probably 

 T. tana), obtained by purchase on the same day. — Mr. Stlater 

 exliibited and made remarks on some eggs of Opisthoconius 

 cristatus, obtained at Obydos on the Amazons. — Mr. Howard 

 Saunders exhibited on behalf of Capt. E. A. Butler, and made 

 remarks on specimens of the eggs of Dt-omas ardcola. — The Rev. 

 O. P. Cambridge, C.M.Z.S., exhibiteii and made remarks on a 

 Hymenopterous parasite, hatched from larvae found on tuo 

 spiders — Linyphia obscura, Blackw. ? and Z. zebrina, Menge 

 ^ . The larvce were stated to be apndous, and to adht-re to the 

 abdomen of the spider, which, when full-grown, they fully 

 equalled in size. — Mr. E. W. H. Holdsworth exhibited a speci- 

 men of White's Thrush ( 2"«ra'2M Z'anV«), killed m South Devon- 

 shire in January last. — Mr. C. O. Waterhouse read a paper on 



the Coleopterous Insects belonging to the family Ilisfida, col- 

 lected by Mr. Buckley in Ecuador. Seventeen species of 

 Hispidiv had hitherto been recorded as inhabiting that country ; 

 of these Mr. Buckley had met with fifteen, which, together with 

 nineteen new species, made a total of thirty-six species in the 

 series now described — Mr. W. L. Distant read a paper on some 

 additions which had been lately made to the Rhynchotal F.auna 

 of the Ethiopian Region, nine new species belonging to the 

 families PeiUatotnida:, Coreida, and Pyrrhocorida were pointed 

 out, and in the Coreidiz two new genera, allied to Pdillia and 

 Pelascclis, were descril)ed. The specimens had been obtained 

 from Western, Southern, and Eastern Africa. — A communica- 

 tion was read from Mr. Edgar A. Smith on some shells from 

 Lakes Tan-j-anyika and Nyassa and from other localities in East 

 Africa, lately received by the British Museum. Great interest 

 attached to some of the shells from Lake Tanganyil-a, from the 

 fact that they had all the appearance of being modified marine 

 types. — Lord Walsin^iham read a paper on some new and little 

 known species of North American Tineidje, amongst which were 

 three new generic forms. 



Meteorological Society, February 16.— Mr. G. J. Symons, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair.— I. L. Bell, F.R.S., [. Bernays, 

 A. W. Blyth, I. Church, F. W. Cory, S. Cutler, "T. L. K. 

 Edge, C. Horsley, W. D. Howard, C. Kelly, M.D., G. Ling- 

 wood, W. Macgeorge, Capt. J. P. Maclear, R.N., A. Rigg, 

 and H. C. Stephens were elected Fellows of this Society. — The 

 following papers were read : — Relative humidity, by Charles 

 Greaves, M. Inst. C.E., F.G.S. The object of this paper was to 

 show that the term "relative humidity" was frequently the cause 

 of misunderstanding, and that it was desirable that some other 

 tables with a -nore correct denomination should be used in order 

 that reliable values of this factor in our climate should be 

 recorded. — On the frost of January, i88r, over the British Isles, 

 by William Marriott, F.M.S. The author pointed out that the 

 severe frost of the 7th to the 26th was remarkable for its unex- 

 pected appearance, its long continuance, and its sudden breaking 

 up. The weather during the first w'eek of January was com- 

 paratively mild, but frost set in over the north of .Scotland on 

 the 5th. The author then gave the lowest thermometrical 

 readings from about 300 stations in the United Kingdom for 

 each day of the frost, w hich were plotted upon diagrams, clearly 

 showing the relative severity of the weather experienced in each 

 district. The lowest readings were - 15° at Garstang on the 

 l6lh, and - 22° at Blackadder, - 16° at Kelso, - 15° at Stobo, 

 - 1 1° at Thirlestane Castle, and - 10° at Melrose, on the 1 7th. 

 Reference was also made in detail to the rivers and lakes which 

 had been frozen over, and to other incidents proving the remark- 

 ably low temperatures which had occurred. Some idea of the 

 intensity of the frost may be gathered by the fact that in the 

 south of Scotland the temperature fell below 10° on more than 

 eleven occa-ions, below 20° on nineteen occasions, and was 

 below 32° on twenty-five to twenty-nine occasions. In the 

 London di-trict readings below 10° occurred on two or three 

 days, below 20° on ten days, and below 32° on twenty days. 

 In Ireland temperatures below 10° were registered on six or 

 seven occasions, below 20° on twelve or fourteen occasions, and 

 below 32° on twenty-two to twenty-four occasions. No place 

 in the British Isles was exempt from the frost, even at Scilly the 

 tem erature was below 32° on three days, the lowest being 

 29° on two occasions. The winter sea-side health resorts 

 afforded no protection from the frost ; at Penzance the tempe- 

 rature foil below 32° on ten occasions, at Torquay on eleven 

 occa-ions, and was bel >w 20° on six occasions. At Ventnor it was 

 below 32° on nineteen occasions, and below 20° on three occa- 

 sions, and at Bournemouth it was below 32° on twenty-three, and 

 below 20° on ten occasions. The heavy falls of sno«- prevented 

 the frost from penetrating far into the ground, but where the 

 snow was cleared away th temperature of the soil fell consider- 

 ably. A diagram was exhibited showing the mean temperature 

 of January, in the neighbourhood of London, for each year, from 

 177410 1881, fr im which it appeared that the low mean tempera- 

 ture of 3i°'6 fir last month had only .been surpassed on five 

 occasions, and that the three years, 1879-81, have been very 

 cold, the mean for this period being only 32°'2 ; there is no 

 in-tance ouring the past 100 yeai-s of any three consecutive 

 Januarys having so low a mean temperature. 



Royal Microscopical Society, February 9 (Anniversary 

 Meeting). — Dr. Beale, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The 

 Report^of the Council showed an addition of forty-nine Fellows 



