October 21, 1922] 



NA TURE 



56, 



Societies and Academies. 

 London. 

 British Mycological Society (Keswick meeting), 

 September 15-20. — F. T. Brooks : Some present-day 

 aspects of mycology (presidential address). It is 

 maintained that the fungi originated from protist 

 organisms without direct relationship with the algas, 

 and developed upon novel lines as an entirely separate 

 and characteristic group of plants. Arguments are 

 advanced against the view that the fungi are phylo- 

 genetically related to the green and red algas, or that 

 they have been evolved from transmigrant seaweeds 

 in ancient times. A monophyletic origin of the fungi 

 is favoured. Most plant diseases are caused by 

 fungi ; hence there is need for closer co-operation 

 between systematic mycologists and plant path- 

 ologists. Attention was directed to the inadequacy 

 of the diagnosis of certain genera and species of 

 pathogenic importance, and to the great influence 

 of environmental conditions upon the growth of all 

 kinds of fungal organisms. It is considered that 

 mycologists and plant pathologists must be essentially 

 botanists with the necessary fundamental training 

 in chemistry and physics. For the plant pathologist 

 a sense of crop values and of the important phases 

 in the growth of crops should be inculcated. — 

 Somerville Hastings : A uellaria separata growing in 

 the Alps. The characters of these plants are related 

 to the known conditions and compared with corre- 

 sponding characters in phanerogams. — A. H. R. 

 Buller : Luminosity in Panus stypticus. The my- 

 celium and fruit body are both luminous, ' and by 

 controlling the supply of oxygen the light can be 

 turned on and off instantaneously. The light is 

 given off even at or just below the freezing-point of 

 water. Mycelium grown on wood blocks remained 

 luminous for six months. — Miss E. M. Wakefield : 

 Fungus-hunting in the West Indies. Observations 

 were taken during six months spent in the Lesser 

 Antilles and Trinidad. The characteristics of the 

 fungus flora of these islands illustrate the distribution 

 of fungi as affected by climate and the differences 

 between tropical and temperate fungus floras in 

 general. — Carleton Rea : Edible fungi ; qualities 

 from a gastronomic point of view of a number of the 

 larger fungi. — M. C. Potter : Wart disease of potatoes. 

 Preliminary experiments appear to indicate that the 

 disease does not develop if the soil is rendered 

 sufficiently alkaline (approximately Ph 10-5). 



Manchester. 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, October 3. — 

 Mr. T. A. Coward, president, in the chair. — T. A. 

 Coward : Manchester birds, 1822-1922 (presidential 

 address). One hundred years ago, 1822, John 

 Blackwall, famous for his monograph on " British 

 Spiders," read before this society a paper on 

 " periodical " birds observed in the neighbourhood 

 of Manchester. This list was enlarged by him in his 

 " Researches in Zoology," and the dates of observa- 

 tion extended from 1814 to 1828 inclusive. Blackwall 

 also published a list of singing -birds, and of rare 

 visitors, and contributed to various journals notes 

 on the habits of birds. His works prove that the 

 local avifauna has changed but little in spite of the 

 great increase of population and the extension of the 

 city boundaries. A few species have vanished, 

 others have appeared and colonised, and though few 

 birds can now be seen in Ardwick " fields " the same 

 species which used to occur may be met with in the 

 parks or on the outskirts of the populated areas. 

 The possession of open spaces, and the protection 

 afforded by the city authorities to birds in the parks, 

 have saved many birds from local extinction. 



NO. 2764, VOL. I IO] 



Melbourne. 



Royal Society of Victoria, July 13. — Mr. Wisewould 

 in the chair. — H. B. Williamson : Revision of the 

 genus Pultensea. Pt. III. Six new species are 

 described : P. Boormanii from N.S.W., P. Kenneyi 

 (Q.), P. teretifolia (S.A.), and three from Victoria — 

 P. D'Altonii, P. prolifera, and P. Readeviana. A 

 number of new varieties are discussed. — W. M. 

 Bale : Two new species of Bryozoa. Catenicella 

 Matthewsi : nearly allied to C. alata and C. carinata, 

 differs from all known species in having the ate 

 throughout uncalcified, perfectly hyaline, and ap- 

 parently structureless. Ate wide, fenestras about 

 12-14, small, with converging fissures. Avicularia 

 minute, on long arm-like processes. According to 

 Levinsen's system a Pterocella. Claviporella Gold- 

 steini : very close to C. aurita, but without the large 

 elliptic suboral pore. Fenestras 3, minute but dis- 

 tinct, with well-marked fissures. This character 

 distinguishes it from C. imperforata and C. aunta. 

 (The same as Catenicella McCoyi Goldstein, nomen 

 nudum, Jelly's " Synonymic Catalogue"). — E. F. J. 

 Love : Gravity determinations in Australia. By 

 comparison of all existing material, very precise 

 determinations of gravity for Melbourne and Sydney 

 observatories have been obtained. Helmert's new 

 theory of the figure of the earth — according to which 

 the equator is slightly elliptical instead of truly 

 circular — reconciles in great measure the observed 

 and theoretical values of gravity at the Australian 

 stations ; there is a possible correlation between 

 gravity at a station and the geological age of the 

 neighbouring strata. 



Washington. 

 National Academy of Sciences (Proa, vol. 8, No. 9, 

 September 1922). — P. Franklin : The meaning of 

 rotation in the special theory of relativity. Newtonian 

 equations for rotation can be used to express first 

 approximations for points near the axis of rotation. 

 Making certain assumptions, it is shown that the 

 spacial geometry for the rotating system depends on 

 the time and space co-ordinates of the point con- 

 sidered, and that the curvature of the spatial cross- 

 section at any space-time point in its " natural " 

 co-ordinates is the square of the angular velocity in 

 radians per light-second. — J. A. Eldridge : Energy 

 losses accompanying ionisation and resonance in 

 mercury vapour. Electrons emitted from an oxide- 

 coated cathode traverse a region of constant potential 

 in the experimental tube, suffering collisions with 

 mercury vapour ; they pass through two diaphragms, 

 each pierced by a single hole, to the receiving electrode 

 in the lower end of the tube, which is freed from 

 mercury vapour by liquid air. A retarding potential 

 is applied to the receiving electrode. The current 

 is plotted against the retarding potential and it is 

 shown that, at voltages above the ionisation point, 

 the most important type of resonance collision 

 involves an energy loss of 6-7 volts and also that a 

 collision involving an energy loss of 5-7 volts occurs 

 in mercury. In an ionising collision, the impinging 

 electron apparently loses all its energy, and the 

 electron produced leaves the parent atom with 

 negligible energy. — L. W. McKeehan : Crystal 

 structure of beryllium and beryllium oxide. Beryl- 

 lium in the form of a loosely packed powder in a 

 pyrex glass tube was submitted to X-rays from a 

 molybdenum target. The oxide was treated similarly 

 to detect lines due to oxide present as impurity. 

 The fundamental space lattice for both element and 

 oxide was found to be hexagonal. — J. P. Minton : 

 Some cases of nerve-deafness and their bearing on 

 resonance theories of audition. Curves are plotted 



