JuLy 4, 1912] 
no explanation. Such pollen was originally spherical, 
and only assumed the elliptical three-ribbed form after 
leaving the anthers and losing a certain amount of 
moisture by desiccation. Composites for the most 
part have spiny pollen and are entomophilous, but 
the Edelweiss and some allied species are anemo- 
philous and smooth. The Rosacew are almost all 
entomophilous, with elliptic pollen, but Poterium is 
anemophilous with spherical pollen. The willow is 
entomophilous, with elliptic three-ribbed pollen; the 
Poplars are anemophilous with spherical pollen. 
Though the size of pollen does not depend entirely 
on the length of the pistil, and the length therefore 
which the pollen tube has to traverse, still, as a 
general rule, the longer the pistil the larger the 
pollen.—E. Heron-Allen and A. Earland: Some new 
Astrorhizide and their structure. Two new species 
of Psammosphzra and one of Marsipella were de- 
scribed from specimens dredged in the North Sea in 
connection with the work of the International North 
Sea Investigations (Scotland). In P. rustica the 
rhizopod constructs a polyhedral test of spicular frag- 
ments selected of suitable length and cemented side 
by side in a single layer, while in P. bowmani large 
flakes of mica are selected, and cemented together 
at the edges so as to form a polyhedral test. M. 
spiralis constructs a straight tube of minute spicular 
fragments of approximately equal length, which are 
imbedded, side by side, in a fine grey cement. The 
spicules are arranged in definite rows which run in 
a sinistral spiral round the tube.—Dr. J. F. Gaskell : 
A method of embedding tissues in gelatin. The tissue 
is fixed in a formalin mixture; previous to embedding 
all formalin must be removed, by washing in running 
water. The gelatin is soaked in cold water, then 
drained and melted, and the tissue is immersed in 
this in an incubator at 37° C. It is then cast in 
paper boxes in this gelatin and allowed to set at room 
temperature; when cool, it is put into a formalin 
vapour chamber to harden. Sections are cut by the 
freezing method, and can be obtained of any tissue 
tou thick and of most tissues hitherto tried 5” sec- 
tions are obtainable. 
Linnean Society, June 20.—Prof. E. B. Poulton, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—C. G. Lamb: Diptera 
of the Seychelles: Lonchzide, Sapromyzidze, Ephy- 
dridz, Chloropide, and Agromyzidze.—Dr. I. Bolivar : 
Saltatorial Orthoptera. The author enumerates fifty- 
nine species from the various islands; a number of 
the species and genera are new. He states that those 
from Aldabra consist of Asiatic and African forms, 
all of which are winged and easily dispersed. The 
fauna of the Seychelles and Amirantes is very different 
and much richer, containing a number of peculiar 
forms, eight new genera being described from the 
Seychelles. In the Chagos group was found a pecu- 
liar species of wingless cricket, the type of a new 
genus, a second species of which was found in the 
Seychelles.—Dr. A. Sicard: Coccinellida. The author 
enumerates thirteen species belonging to twelve genera, 
five of the species and two of the genera being new 
to science.—Hugh Scott: Coleoptera, Lamellicornia, 
and Adephaga. Previous to the expedition thirty-two 
species were known from the various islands; this 
number is raised to fifty-five, nine of the additional 
species and one genus being new to science. The 
faunas of the Seychelles and Amirantes on one hand, 
and of the Aldabra group on the other, are very dis- 
tinct. The Aldabra fauna consists of Madagascar and 
African forms, together with a few almost cosmo- 
politan species; such species as are peculiar are very 
closely related to African species. In the case of 
the Lamellicornia, the Seychelles fauna contains an 
NO. 2227, voL. 89] 
<--;/; 
NATURE 
467 
endemic element confined to the forests, and a non- 
endemic part found in the lower cultivated lands. 
Carabidz were not found in the forests, and it is 
doubtful whether this family has any truly endemic 
element in the Seychelles fauna; the species are all 
either Madagascar species or closely related to species 
found in Africa and elsewhere. Two endemic water- 
beetles (Dytiscidze) were found in the Seychelles, one 
of these being only found in the water between the 
bases of the leaves of endemic Pandani in the moun- 
tain-forests.—Dr. Budde-Lund: Terrestrial Isopoda of 
the Percy Sladen expedition.—S. F. Dunn: Revision 
of the genus Millettia.—Carl Christensen: Ferns of the 
Seychelles and Aldabra.—C. Warburton: Acarina of 
the Percy Sladen expedition.—Capt. C. F. U. Meek: 
Correlation of somatic characters. 
CAMBRIDGE. 
Philosophical Society, May 20.—Prof. Seward in the 
chair.—Prof. R. C. Punnett: An experiment with 
rabbits. Speaking generally, black coat-colour in 
rodents behaves as a simple recessive to agouti, and 
the work of previous investigators has shown this 
relation to hold good for rabbits. In the present set 
of experiments certain blacks from Himalayan x 
yellow or x tortoise produced when mated together 
five types of coloured offspring, viz. tortoise, 
yellow, black, agouti-black, and agoutii—H. H. 
Brindley: The proportions of the sexes in Forficula 
auricularia. In 1892 Bateson observed that male ear- 
wigs on the Farne Islands are dimorphic as regards 
their callipers (Bateson and Brindley, Proc. Zool. 
Soc., November, 1892). Since then a statistical ex- 
amination has been made of the variation of the 
callipers, especially of earwigs from islands. The 
present note is an outcome of the enumeration of 
the sexes in the collections made. It appears that 
the proportions of the sexes vary considerably with 
the locality and to a less degree in different years in 
the same locality. As a rule, females exceed the males 
by about ro per cent.—H. H. Thomas: Stachypteris 
Hallei, a new Jurassic fern. The paper describes 
some specimens recently discovered in the lower 
estuarine beds of Whitby and Marske. The fertile 
segments were composed of imbricating scales bear- 
ing single large annulate sporangia. Spores with 
peculiar reticulate walls were obtained from these. 
Fertile specimens of this genus had only been found 
previously in the Corallian of Verdun, but no 
sporangia had been observed.—G. R. Mines: Some 
observations on electrocardiograms of cold-blooded 
animals. (Preliminary note.) Simultaneous records 
were taken of the movements of auricles and 
ventricle, of the electrical variation of the ventricle, 
and also, in cases where the organ was perfused, of 
the systolic output of the frog’s heart. The main 
object of the inquiry, which is still in progress, is 
the elucidation of the point of action of electrolytes 
which affect the cardiac mechanism.—Dr. H. B. 
Fantham and Miss Annie Porter: The structure and 
homology of the microsporidian spore, as seen in 
Nosema apis. The paper contains (1) an account of 
the structure and development of the spore of N. apis, 
investigated by the authors in connection with Isle 
of Wight bee disease; (2) the homology of the spore 
structure of N. apis with respect to other Micro- 
sporidia, Myxosporidia, and Sarcosporidia is then dis- 
cussed.—R. Hargreaves: Cyclic paths for rays re- 
flected at an elliptical boundary.—G. Stead: Note on 
the spectrum of argon. In this paper a short account 
is given of an attempt to determine the conditions 
under which the red and blue spectra of argon are 
produced. 
