1 68 



NA TURE 



[July 29, 1922 



pressure of liquids. The criterion of the association 

 of the molecules in a liquid. — B. Szilard : The direct 

 estimation of very small quantities of radium by the 

 penetrating rays. An application of the portable 

 electrometer described in a previous paper (June 19). 

 Using 500 grams of material containing io" 9 grams 

 of radium per gram, the error of estimation is within 

 2-5 per cent. — Paul Pascal : Magnetochemical 

 research on the constitution in mineral chemistry. 

 Acids containing arsenic. — G. Gire : The dissociation 

 of barium chloroplatinate. The dissociation pressures 

 ©f this salt were measured at temperatures ranging 

 between 428 C. and 665° C, and the heat of reaction 

 calculated. — A. Demolon : The accessory elements 

 in Thomas slag. Besides phosphate, basic slag 

 contains lime, magnesia and manganese. Deter- 

 minations of the solubility of the slag in various 

 solvents (water, sugar-solution, carbolic acid, etc.) 

 have been made and the results given as curves with 

 time as abscissas. — L. J. Simon : Oxidation by 

 mixtures of sulphuric acid and chroma tes. The use 

 of silver chromate with sulphuric acid gives a more 

 complete combustion of organic compounds than 

 alkali chromates and sulphuric acid. The modifica- 

 tion is especially useful in the analysis of bodies 

 containing the acetyl group. — Mile. Helene Billon : 

 The action of trimethylene chlorobromide on some 

 ketones of the fatty series. — R. Ldcquin and Sung 

 Wouseng : The transformation of the tertiary 

 ethylenic alcohols (linalool type) into primary ethy- 

 lenic alcohols (geraniol type). — F. Kerforne and L. 

 Dangeard : The palaeozoic rocks brought up by the 

 dredge of the Pourqitoi-Pas ? in 102 1 in the western 

 English Channel. — F. Ehrmann : The discovery of 

 the Silurian with graptoliths and the Devonian with 

 tentaculites at Beni-Afeur (south of Djidjelli, Algeria). 

 — Ch. Gorceix : The distribution of temperature in 

 Lake Bourget. — Pierre Nobecourt : The mechanism 

 of the parasitic action of Penicillium glaucum and of 

 Mucor slolonifer. Experiments on " the artificial 

 ripening of sterilised fruits bv inoculation with the 

 two moulds named above. The action appears to 

 be due to a secretion of enzymes, and the action takes 

 place only in acid media. — Joseph Bouget : Observa- 

 tions on the most favourable altitude for the colora- 

 tion of flowers. — Jean Dufrenoy : Tumefaction and 

 tuberisation (in plants). — W. Mestrezat, Pierre Girard, 

 and V. Morax : The elective ionic permeability of 

 the cellular elements. Experiments on the cornea 

 of the dog and rabbit prove that the permeability 

 of the cells to electrolytes is an. ionic permeability 

 and that it is elective. — M. Doyori : Comparison of the 

 effects of the nucleic acids and of the antithrombine 

 of peptone plasma on the coagulability of the blood 

 circulating in the frog. — L. Panisset and J. Verge : 

 Idiosyncrasy and anaphylaxy. — Maurice Nicloux 

 and Georges Welter : Does cyanic acid exist in the 

 blood ? Attempts to show the presence of cyanic 

 acid in the blood and lymph gave negative results. — 

 A. Weber : influence on the development of the eggs 

 "I a batrachian of a substance extracted from the 

 fertilisine of the eggs of a fish. — A. Lecaillon : Varia- 

 bility of the species and the experimental creation of 

 new races in the silk-worm of the mulberry tree. — R. 

 de La Vaulx : The appearance of intersexual forms 

 in a strain of Daphnia magna, and on the probable 

 determinism of the phenomenon. — A. Vandel : Geo- 

 graphical spanandria in a terrestrial isopod. — R. 

 Hovasse : A Peridinian, an intracellular parasite of 

 the Vellela. 



Melbourne 

 Royal Society of Victoria, April 8. — Mr. F. Wise- 

 would, president, in the chair. — F. Chapman : New 

 or little-known Victorian fossils in the National 

 Museum. Pt. XXVI. Some Tertiary Mollusca. Four- 



NO. 2752, VOL. I io] 



teen new species of Pelecypoda and Gasteropoda 

 are described and the distribution and diagnoses of 

 eight other forms are discussed. So far back as 

 Oligocene and Miocene times there existed many 

 species of Mollusca which are so closely related to 

 living forms that they are evidently the direct 

 ancestors of present molluscan types. Others have 

 migrated from the Bassian area and are now found 

 only as varietal offshoots in warmer Australian 

 waters. Certain species dating back to the older 

 Tertiary are now found living in lower latitudes of 

 the Southern Ocean. — H. B. Williamson : An addition 

 to the flora of Victoria. A new species of Heli- 

 chrysum, H. Gatesii, has been found growing on 

 dry hillsides a few miles from Lome by the Rev. 

 A. C. F. Gates. The plant resembles a Leptorrhyn- 

 chus, but approaches very closely to Helichrysum 

 podolepideum, a Central Australian species. It is 

 probably a connecting link between sections Oxylepis 

 and Chrysocephalum of the genus. — J. Shirley and 

 C. A. Lambert : Coprosma Baueri, End. The leaf 

 pits were examined, but no acarids were found. 

 The pits are of teratological interest only, as the plant 

 no longer lives under xerophytic conditions. — G. H. 

 Hardy : Notes on some Australian Asihdae (Diptera) 

 in the collection in the National Museum. A new 

 species of Neoitamus is described, and notes and new 

 descriptions on the remaining fifty-four species and 

 one subspecies in the collection are given. — A. J. 

 Turner : Studies in Australian Lepidoptera. A 

 number of species obtained on the Claudie River in 

 the Cape York Peninsula, N. Queensland, in the 

 National Park, Queensland, and in Tasmania are 

 described. Revisions of orders previously described 

 are given, together with descriptions of some new forms. 

 Sydney 

 Royal Society of New South Wales, May 3. — Mr. 

 E. C. Andrews, president, in the chair. — E. C. 

 Andrews : Presidential Address. The coral-bearing 

 limestones of the Cainozoic within the Pacific are of 

 two types, namely, Tertiary and Pleistocene. The 

 Tertiary consist of sediments deposited unconform- 

 ably upon sinking surfaces of submarine erosion, 

 whereas the Pleistocene, although deposited uncon- 

 formably along the Cainozoic, have grown in clear 

 water away from the influence of silt-laden streams. 

 No signs of bedding occur in them, and they are 

 amorphous, massive, and homogeneous. Cliffs one 

 thousand feet in height exist, which reveal no sign of 

 structure. To understand the origin of coral reefs, 

 it must be remembered that the continents bordering 

 the Pacific have grown mainly towards that ocean 

 in the form of land waves or undulations commencing 

 at the continental nuclei, such as South - Western 

 Australia, the Canadian Shield, Brazil, and Siberia. 

 Island groups such as Japan, New Zealand, Fiji, and 

 Tonga represent extensions of earth waves of this type. 

 These earth undulations have grown as oscillatory 

 vibrations with a progressive but slow radial movement 

 of the major wave axes. Each island group forms a 

 compound earth wave. Generally, the western islands 

 and the larger individual groups, such as New Cal- 

 edonia and Fiji, have been stable during the later 

 Pleistocene, whereas the eastern satellitic islands 

 and islets have moved up and down in vibratory 

 undulations during the same period. The true 

 coral reefs of the Pacific indicate the peculiar vibra- 

 tions and undulations of movement in these relatively 

 unstable masses of the island groups and also the 

 growth of great barriers and fringing reefs, such as the 

 Great Australian Barrier, on submerged areas of 

 submarine erosion. Generally, Pleistocene coral reefs 

 are amorphous and non-bedded, and have been formed 

 on submerged surfaces of submarine erosion at 

 various stages. 



