6o 



NA TURE 



[May 1 6, 1907 



transformalion from the marine larva or Lcptocephalus 

 of the common eel into the fresh-walor " elver " and 

 young eel. Also a series showing the metamorphosis of 

 the conger eel. (2) Specimens of Cephalodiscus. Speci- 

 mens of Ccphalodiscus nigrescciis and Ccphalodiscus 

 hodgsoni obtained by the Discovery in the Antarctic Ocean, 

 and Ccphalodiscus gilchrisii obtained by Dr. Gilchrist in 

 the Cape Seas. Also the original Ccphalodiscus {Ccphalo- 

 discus dodecalophus) obtained by the Challenger in the 

 Straits of Magellan in iSt'G, for comparison with the above 

 newly discovered species. (3) Coloured cast of the tile- 

 fish. The tile-fish was first discovered in 1870 in about 

 100 fathoms in the North Atlantic, and was expected to 

 become a regular marketable fish. In 18S2 a vast de- 

 struction of the tile-fish took place, owing, it is supposed, 

 to a chilling of the part of the sea which it inhabited, and 

 millions of the dead fish were found floating on the surface 

 of the ocean. It was feared that the fish had become 

 e.Ktinct, but since 1892 specimens have been caught in 

 fair numbers. This cast was prepared and coloured by 

 the authorities of the National Museum at Washington. 

 (4) .Specimen of the okapi. The specimen is an immature 

 male, obtained by Major Powell Cotton in the Ituri Forest, 

 Congo .State. The bony horns have not yet penetrated the 

 skin as thev do in adult animals. Special interest attaches 

 lo this individual, in that Major Powell Cotton was able 

 to examine the recently killed body and determine the 

 sex. The specimen has been presented by Major Powell 

 Cotton to the Natural History .Museum, which already 

 possesses the complete skeleton of the same individual. 



Dr. F. .1. Dixey : Seasonal dimorphism in butterflies. 

 It has recently been established, partly by observation, but 

 mainly by the experiments of Mr. G. A. K. Marshall, that 

 in many tropical and subtropical species of butterflies 

 which produce two or more broods in the course of the 

 year, the broods differ in appearance according to the 

 season at which they emerge. In several of these cases 

 the difference is so extreme that the seasonal phases of 

 the same insect have received different specific names, and 

 have even been considered to be widely separated from 

 each other in the systematic series. In some instances it 

 has been found possible to transform one seasonal phase 

 into the other by artificial means. Similar phenomena 

 have long been recognised in certain European Lepidoptera 

 (butterflies and moths), but it is only lately that experi- 

 mental proof has been obtained in the case of tropical 

 forms such as those exhibited. — Prof. E. B. Poulton, 

 F.R.S. : The female forms of the .\frican Papilio dardanus, 

 the most remarkable example of mimicry hitherto dis- 

 covered. Mr. Roland Trimen, K.R.S., first showed (in 

 1870) that these diverse forms were the females of a single 

 species with a non-mimetic male. His evidence was not 

 confirmed by the final test of breeding until 1002, when 

 Mr. G. F. Leigh, of Durban, bred a single family con- 

 taining males and two of the female forms. After other 

 partial successes Mr. Leigh succi^cded. in the autumn of 

 1906, in breeding the single family e.xhibited. It was bred 

 from a female of the second form, and contains fourteen 

 males, and examples of all the female forms known in 

 South-East Africa : eight of the first, three of the second, 

 and three of the third. — Colonel Bingham ; Pupa of 

 Binsitta harrowi, Bingham, with photograph of moth and 

 pupa, and a coloured drawing of the head of a tree-snake 

 {Lycodon aulicus, Linn.). Binsitia harrowi, Bingh., is a 

 rare moth belonging to the family Tineida.', latelv dis- 

 covered by Colonel Waller-Barrow at Maymyo, a hill 

 station near Mandalay, Upper Burma. Colonel Barrow 

 found the moth just issuing from the chrysalis, and noticed 

 at once the curious resemblance of the latter to the head 

 of a snake. When the chrysalis is looked at from in 

 front, the likeness to the head of Lycodon aulicus, Linn., 

 a bird-eating snake, is at once perceived. — Mr. Fred 

 Knocl; : Ovivorous parasitic Hymenoptera (Mymaridne). — 

 Prof. Charles Stewart, F.K.S. : Selected specimens from 

 the Museum of the Roval College of Surgeons, England. 

 —Mr. H. St. J. Donisihorpc : The inhabitants of British 

 ants' nesis. — ^Ir. If. Woodland: Microscopic preparations 

 illustrating the development of the plate-and-anchor 

 spicules from the soft tissues of Synapta inhaercns and 

 .*;. digitala. — Mr. H. B. Fantliani : Microscopic prepar- 

 ations of Spirochaela (Trvpanos.niui) halhinnii from the 



NO. 1959, VOL. 76] 



crystalline style and intestine of the oyster. — Prof. .1. 

 Dendy : (i) I he "pineal eye" in the New Zealand 

 lamprey (^Geotria) and in the tuatara (Sphenodon). 

 (2) Reissner's fibre in the brain and spinal cord of Geotrla. 

 — Mr. R. I. Pocock : Example of the skins of English 

 domestic cats. English domestic cats, whatever their 

 colour may be, and whether they belong to " Manx," 

 " Persian," or " ordinary " breeds, are shown by their 

 pattern of stripes to be referable to two distinct kinds, 

 known as the " striped " and " blotched " tabbies. Thi 

 striped tabby appears to be the scarcely modified de- 

 scendant of the European and North .\frican wild cats. 

 The origin of the blouhed tabbv is unknown. 



Mr. R. H. Biffen : Hybrids of wheat and barley.— Pro/. 

 W. B. Bottomley : Klx.itlon of nitrogen by leguminous and 

 other plants. — The Director, Royal Botanic Gardens 

 Kew : (i| Welwitschia mirabilis. Hook. f. (Gnetacea 1 

 south-west tropical .\frica. (2) Acanthosicyos horridn, 

 Welw. (Cucurbitacea), western tropical .Africa. (3) 

 Labrador lichens. .\ striking feature of the Labrador 

 lichens is their similarity to those of northern Europe. 

 Platysma nivale, Cetraria islandica, Bryopogon jubattiin, 

 and species of Stereocaulon so abundant in Norway and 

 Sweden, flourish equally well in Labrador, whilst, just 

 as in Lapland, Cladonia rangiferina, the " reindeer 

 moss," covers vast areas. (4) Figures of remarkable new 

 or rare plants (exhibited by Mr. W. Botting Hemsley, 

 F.R.S.). (5) Figures of African terrestrial Utricularlte 

 (exhibited by Dr. Otto Stapf). 



Prof. John Milne, F.R.S. : Records of recent large earth- 

 quakes, (i) Jamaica earthquake; (2) San Francisco earth- 

 quake; (3) the so-called Valparaiso seismogram (sec Naturk, 

 February 21, p. 403). — Rev. R. .ishington Bullen : Cabb- 

 broken by the Jamaica earthquake of January 14. 1907. 

 The cable had remained intact for twenty years. It 

 rested on a muddy bottom in a depth of 700 fathoms, 

 about seventeen miles south of Kingston. The probability 

 is that here it crossed the line of a geological fault. — 

 The Director of the Imperial Institute: (i) Igneous and 

 metamorphic rocks of northern Nigeria. Typical specimen- 

 collected during the course of the mineral survey n 

 northern Nigeria now in progress in connection with tli' 

 Imperial Institute. (2) Tinstone from Bauchi, northern 

 Nigeria, and tin smelted from it. (3) New or exceptional 

 minerals from Ceylon. (4) New vegetable products of 

 hitherto unknown composition. — Mr. C. Carus-Wilson : 

 (i) Crystallised granite. A remarkably fine mass of 

 Cocnish granite in which the mineral constituents had 

 crystallised out around the walls of a large cavity. 

 (2) Musical flint nodule from the cha'k near Favershani. 

 The specimen is 21 inches long, and emits a loud metallic 

 ring when struck at the thin end. 



^Ir. F. J. Lewis : The succession of plant remains 

 in British peat mosses. All the Scottish and north 

 of England peat mosses show a definite succession 

 of plant remains. Detailed investigations have been 

 carried on in twenly-four districts, from Westmorland 

 to the .Shetland Inlands, and the geographical dis- 

 tribution of the successive strata ascertained. Thr 

 evidence so far shows that two distinct arctic beds an.i 

 two distinct forest beds occur in the peat, and thesi 

 features are so regular and spread over so wide an area 

 that the alternation must be due to climatic changes during 

 early posl-Glacial times. — Mr. H. F. Standing : Recently 

 discovered sub-fossil Primates from Madagascar. Thr 

 chief interest of these relates to the light which they throw 

 on the origin of the extant Malagasy lemurs. They show 

 these latter to be descended from ape-like ancestors, and 

 that many of their so-called " lemuroid " characters have 

 been secondarily acquired. Some of the recently discovered 

 species are of gigantic size, showing evidence of various 

 retrogressive changes, notably in the frontal region of th-- 

 brain. One of these gigantic extinct Proslmijo (Pala^o- 

 propithecus) was probably aquatic. Its brain indicate- 

 certain affinities with the aye-aye, that curious aberrant 

 rodent-like " lemur " from the Malagasy forests. — Tli< 

 Director, British Museum (Natural History) : Mandible of 

 Tetrabelodon from the Loup Fork formation (Lower 

 Pliocene), Nebraska, U.S.A. This specimen shows that 

 Ihe primitive mastodons, with a long chin and lower tusks, 

 reached North .Amei ica before their final extinction. 



