500 



NA TURE 



[October 7, 1922 



long annealing is required. — R. Seligman and P. 

 Wiiliams : Cleaning aluminium utensils. Aluminium 

 is not attacked by water-glass solutions or by hot 

 soda solution containing a little sodium silicate. 

 Attack by a 5 per cent, soda solution is immediately 

 a nested by the addition of an amount of sodium 

 silicate equal to 1/100 of the soda. Satisfactory 

 detergents consisting of a mixture of soda and sodium 

 silicate are articles of commerce ; among them are 

 " Carbosil," " Pearl Dust," and " Aquamol." — W. 

 Rosenhain and J. D. Grogan : The effects of over- 

 heating and melting on aluminium. Exposure to an 

 unduly high temperature during melting, and re- 

 peated re-melting even at ordinary melting tem- 

 peratures, are thought to cause deterioration ap- 

 proximating to the condition generally described as 

 " burnt " aluminium. High-grade aluminium was 

 poured at temperatures up to 1000 C. and also at 

 the usual pouring temperature after heating for some 

 hours at iooo C. The castings rolled and tested 

 in the annealed state showed no deterioration. 

 High-grade aluminium and also aluminium containing 

 J per cent, each of iron and silicon were cast to f-in. 

 slabs and rolled to o-oi in. sheet; the sheet was 

 re-melted and the process repeated ten times. Test 

 pieces from each melt showed no systematic change. 

 Sydney. 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales, July 26. — 

 Mr. G. A. Waterhouse, president, in the chair. —A. 

 E. Shaw: Description of new Australasian Blattidae, 

 with a note on the blattid coxa. Nine cockroaches 

 are described as new, three belonging to Platyzosteria, 

 five to Cutilia, and one doubtfully to Zonioploca. — 

 H. H. Karny : A remarkable new gall-thrips from 

 Australia. These thrips infest the bran chiefs of the 

 " Belah " (Casuarina Cambagei) and cause rounded 

 galls of aborted tissue to form, in which large colonies 

 of thrips develop. — G. F. Hill : A new Australian 

 termite. The new species of Calotermes from near 

 Condon, W.A., is distinct from any described 

 Australian species and easily distinguished in the 

 soldier caste bv the long narrow head, large mandibles, 

 dentition, third joint of antenna;, and enlarged 

 femora. — E. W. Ferguson and G. F. Hill : Notes on 

 Australian Tabanidae, part ii. Eight new species, 

 including 1 species of Silvius and 7 of Tabanus, and 

 two varieties of species of Tabanus are described. — 

 J. McLuckie : Studies in symbiosis, part ii. The 

 apogeotropic roots of Macrozamia spiralis and their 

 physiological significance. Root-tubercles occur upon 

 many of the seedlings and older plants of Macrozamia 

 spiralis, particularly about the soil-level. They are 

 seldom present on the more deeply situated secondary 

 roots, but may be induced to develop by artificial 

 inoculation, the root-tubercles are due to infection 

 by soil bacteria, the presence of which stimulates the 

 development of the cortex and sheath, so that the 

 tubercles are more massive than ordinary roots. 



Official Publications Received, 



Proceedings of the Smith London Entomologi al and Natural 

 History SocietJ L921-22. Pp. xvii + 83. (London: Hibernia 

 Chambers, London Bridge.) 5s. 



Merchant Venturers' Technical College. Calendar f>r the 67th 

 Session 1922 23 I'" 54 (Bristol I t'»/. 



Mini-t' ii" la v _r 1 i ■ ultnra, lielu-tria e Commercio : Directoria de 

 Meteorologia Boletim Meteorologico : Anno de 1912. Pp 110. 

 ];,.!, tin, \b 1, ■..[■.. !..■ _-i. .. Vnnii de 11113. Pp.130. (Rn de Janeiro.) 



Papers i thi Pi ibody Museum of American Archaeology and 

 Ethnolo ! Hai ird University. Vol. 8, No. 3 : The Turner Group 

 ,,l Cartlm.ak- II leiilr.ui County. Ohio. By Charles C. Willoughby ; 

 with Notes on tie- skeletal Remains, by Earnest A. Hooton Pp. 

 viii+132+27 plate., ii ambridge, Mass.) 



Smithsonian Institution : I nit.d states National Museum. Con- 

 tributions from the United States National Herbarium. Vol. 23, 

 Part 2 : Trees and shrub, or Mexico 1 1 agaee.e -Fabaceao. By Paul C. 

 Standlev. Pp. xxxvii + 171-.">1.">. (Washington: Government Printing 

 Office.) 



Memoirs or the Department of Agriculture in India. Entomological 

 Series, Vol. 7, No. 7 : New and Rare Indian Udonata in the Pusa 

 Collection. By Major F. C. Fraser. Pp. 39-81. (Calcutta : Thacker, 

 Spink anil Co. : London: W. Thacker and Co.) 1.4 mice. ; 1«. 9d. 



Annual Report ot tin- Meteorological Observatory ol the (liivenmient- 

 Ceneial oi chosen for the Year 1918. (Results ,,i Observations.) 

 Pp. iv i:;i For the Year 1919. (Results of Observations. Pp. 

 h 143. (Jinsen.) 



sixth Annual Report of the National Research Council. Pp. 72. 

 (Washington : Government Printing Office.) 



Diary of Societies. 



MONDAY, October 9. 

 Institute of Brewing. — S. K. Thorpe, and others : Discussion on 

 the Expenses incurred in connection with the Shipment of Foreign 

 Barleys. 



Roy.u, SiiriKTY ok Medicine (War Section) (at Royal Army Medical 

 College. Millbank). at 5. — Lt.-Gen. Sir John Goodwin : Presidential 

 Address. 



TUESDAY, October 10. 



Roy.u. Society of Mepicixe (Therapeutics and Pharmacology section) 

 at 4.30. — Dr. W. Langdon Brown: The Problems of Asthma 

 (Presidential Address). — Dr. T. Izod Bennett: The Modification 

 of Gastric Function by means of Drugs. 



Institution of Petroleum Technologists (at chemical society), 

 at 5.30. — Dr. A. E. Dunstan : The Work of the Standardization 

 Committee. 



Institute of Marine Engineers, Inc., at 0.30. — A. Keenes : Condi- 

 tions to get High Economy from Oil Fuel. 



chili ir Microscopical Club, at 7.30. — F. Martin Duncan: 



Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, at 8. — Dr. Ii. S. 



clay : The Development "f the Photographic bens from the Historical 



Point of View (the Twenty-fifth Annual Traill-Taylor Memorial 



Lecture). 

 Institution of Heating anp Ventilating Engineers, Inc. (at 



Caxton Hall), at 8.15— R. Fortune: Some Points in the Law of 



Heating Engineers' Contracts. 



WEDNESDAY, October 11. 

 Institution of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, Inc. (at 



Caxton Hall), at 3. — J. L. Musgrave : Heating and Ventilating of 



Passenger Ships. 

 Royal MICROSCOPICAL Society (at Examination Hall, 8-11 Queen 



Square, W.C.I), at 7.30. — A Conversazione. 

 Institution of Automobile Engineers (at Royal Automobile Club), 



at 8. — Lt.-Col. D. J. Smith : Presidential Address. 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12. 

 Optical Society (at Imperial College of Science and Technology), 



at 7 30.— Dr. L. C. Martin : A Physical Study of Coma. — F. W. 



Preston : The Structure of Sand-blasted and Ground Glass Surlaees. 

 Institute OF Metals (London Section) (at Institute of Marine 



Engineers), at 8. — Dr. D. Hanson : Chairman's Address. 

 Royal Society of Medicine (Neurology Section), at 8.30. — Dr. W. 



Harris : Toxic. Polyneuritis (Presidential Address). 



FRIDAY, October 13. 

 Association of Economic Biologists (in Botanical Lecture Theatre' 



imperial College of Science), at 2.30.— Dr. E. J. Butler: Virus 



Diseases in Plants. — Dr. J. A. Arkwright : Virus Diseases in Animals 



and Man. 

 Hovai. Society of Medicine (Clinical Section), at 5.30. 

 (Ophthalmology Section), at 8.30. — N. Bishop Harman : A 



Visual standard for School Teachers. 

 Junior Institution of Engineers, at 7.30. — E. C. West : Artificial 



be Making. 

 Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, at 8. — Dr. C. A. 



Swan : Carcassonne and the Pyrenees. 



PUBLIC LECTURES. 



MONDA Y, October 9. 

 University College, at 5.— Prof. G. Elliot Smith : The Beginnings 



of Science. 

 King's College, at 5.30.— Prof. G. B. JefTery : Einstein's Theory of 

 Relativity. 



TUESDAY, October 10. 



UNIVERSITY College, at 5.— Prof. C. Spearman : The Nature of 

 Intelligence. 



WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11. 



University College, at 5.30. — Miss A. S. Cooke, Col. .7. M. Mitchell, 

 and ('apt. K. Wright: Discussion on Recent Developments in 

 Rural Library Work. — Miss Lilias Armstrong : The Use of Phonetics 

 in the Class Room. (As applied to the teaching of French.) 



Bedford College for Women, at 5.30.— Prof. E. A. Gardner : 

 Delphi and Delos. 



University College, at 7. — A. H. Barker: Standard Ratings lor 

 Radiators, Boilers, and Complete Heating Installations. 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12. 

 City of LONDON V.M.C.A. (186 Aldersgate Street), at 6.— Sir Arthur E. 

 Shipley : Fleas, Flies, and Mosquitoes. 



SATURDAY, October 14. 

 Horniman Museum (Forest Hill), at 3.30.— H. Shaw : Flight in all 



NO. 2762, VOL. I IO] 



