May 30, 1907] 



NA TURE 



119 



dog-fish and the ray on the one hand, and the angel-fish, 

 Rhina sqtiatina, on the other, for whilst in the case of 

 the former two fish the gill-covers are purely passive agents 

 in determining the respiratory current, in the case of Rhina 

 the undulation of the gill-covers seemed to be solely re- 

 sponsible for the flow of water into the spiracle and mouth. 

 — The common elements of the fauna and flora of 

 Abyssinia and West Africa : Prof. E. B. Poulton. The 

 author based his remarks on his observations of a group 

 of African butterflies. The paper was illustrated by a 

 series of lantern-slides and a large orographical map. — The 

 fauna of the Sudanese Red Sea : Prof. W. A. Herdman. 

 Four papers of a proposed series on this subject were laid 

 before the society ; they consisted of (i) an introduction, 

 by the president ; (2) a narrative of Mr. Cyril Crossland's 

 explorations; (3) Mr. Crossland's account of the formation 

 of certain shore-cliffs in Egypt ; and {4) of the Red Sea 

 coral reefs; with (5) Mr. E. R. Sykes's enumeration of 

 the Polyplacophora collected. — Pseudo-scorpions ; C. J. 

 With. The specimens described all belong to the British 

 Museum. They comprise in the Australasian group, under 

 the family Cheliferidffi, Hagen, four new species of the 

 genus Clielifer, Geoffroy. In the Asiatic group three 

 species of the same genus are re-described, one of them, 

 which Pocock in 1900 referred to C. javanus, Thorell, 

 being now named as a distinct species, C. pococki. A 

 single species of Chelifer from Africa is the subject of 

 comment, but notice is taken of the large additions to our 

 knowledge of the Chelifer fauna in that continent recently 

 made by Ellingsen. Under the family Garypids, Hansen, 

 a new species of Garypus, Koch, is described from the 

 island of Grenada ; a new species of Olpium, Koch, from 

 St. Vincent ; and another from Stewart Island, New 

 Zealand. Further, a species from Funafuti, which Pocock 

 in 189S referred to Olpium longiventer, Keyserling, is here 

 transferred to the genus Garypinus, Daday, as an in- 

 dependent species, G. oceaniciis ; and another species, from 

 Kauai in the Sandwich Archipelago, assigned by Eugene 

 Simon in igoo to Olpium longiventer , now becomes Gary- 

 pinus mirabilis, n.sp. An appendix reviews the species 

 Chiridium ferum, Simon, fam. Cheliferidas, and Ideoroncus 

 cambridgei, Koch, fam. Obisiidae, chiefly with regard to 

 peculiarities in the structure of the antennre. The paper 

 is accompanied by numerous illustrations, and contains 

 many notes on distribution. 



Zoological Society, May 7.— Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Original drawings of Spiro- 

 chaefa anodontae from the crystalline style and intestine 

 of Anodonia cygnea : H. B. Fantham. This was the 

 first record of the occurrence of this parasite in the British 

 pond-mussel, though Keysselitz recorded probably the 

 same organism from Anodonta mutahilis about a year 

 ago, without giving its dimensions. The organism was 

 found to be about 40 « long and about 07 /i broad, with 

 pointed ends and an undulating membrane. Its motion 

 was most rapid, but seemed to be both spiral and vibratory. 

 — The Cephalopoda of Zanzibar and East Africa collected 

 by Mr. Cyril Crossland in igoi-2 : Dr. W. E. Hoyle. 

 The collection was not extensive either in point of in- 

 dividuals or species, and a large proportion were young 

 individuals to which it was impossible to affix definite 

 names in the present state of our knowledge. Five were 

 identical with forms contained in a collection recently 

 made by Prof. Herdman near Ceylon, whilst others 

 occurred also in the Red Sea, thus showing a marked 

 similarity in the cephalopod fauna of the whole of this 

 region. Advantage had been taken by the presence of 

 several specimens of Sepiotculhis loliginiformis to give a 

 full description of that species. Some octopod embryos 

 showed epidermal structures very similar to, if not identical 

 with, those described by Chun as constituting a bristle 

 coat in young octopods, and an account of these, as full 

 as the material allowed, was given. — The mammals 

 collected by Mr. M. P. Anderson during the Duke of Bed- 

 ford's exploration of eastern Asia : O. Thomas. The 

 present paper (the fifth of the series) gave an account of 

 a collection from central Korea, just north and south of 

 Seoul, the capital. Seventy-three specimens were dealt 

 with, belonging to thirteen species, of which several were 

 new, additional to those already discovered by Mr. 



NO. 1961, VOL. 76] 



Anderson during a previous visit to the southern part of 

 the peninsula. — Some new buildings in Continental zoo- 

 logical gardens, based upon recent visits to those of 

 Stellingen, Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden, Breslau, Vienna, 

 Budapest, Frankfort-am-Main, Amsterdam, Dijsseldorl, 

 Rotterdam, and Antwerp : A. Trevor-Battye. 



Physical Society, May 10. — Pro'. I. Perry, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Stereoscopy with long base-line 

 illustrated on the screen : Dr. T. C. Porter. The use of 

 a long base-line for telestereoscopy occurred to M. Selb, 

 of Brussels, and in 1903 he obtained stereoscopic mountain 

 photographs. The applications of the method for military, 

 geographical, and meteorologic.il purposes, although 

 obvious, do not seem to have been used before, and the 

 author discusses the possibilities of these applications. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, May 21. —M. A. Chauveau in tl e 

 chair.— New determination of the metre in terms of 

 lengths of luminous waves : R. Benoit, Ch. Fabry, and 

 A. Perot. The length of the standard metre in terms ot 

 wave-lengths of the red ray of the spectrum of cadmium 

 at 760 mm. pressure and 15° C. on the hydrogen scale 

 was found as a mean of four series of experiments to be 

 equal to 1,553,164-13 X, whence A=o-64384696 /i. These 

 four series were selected from seven series which 

 together gave a mean of i metre= 1,553,163-99 A and 

 \ = 0-64384702 /I, but three of these seven series are to be 

 omitted in calculating the absolute value. The authors 

 point out, however, that the mean of the seven series 

 agree in a remarkable manner with the value obtained at 

 the International Bureau of Weights and Measures by 

 Michelson, the originator of the idea, and M. Benoit in 

 1894, namely (after due correction), ^ = 0-64384700 /n. From 

 the authors' results it is easy to see that if all standard 

 metres were destroyed, a determination to within one ten- 

 millionth of the actual value could easily be made. — The 

 reduction of diketones by hydrogen in presence of reduced 

 nickel : Paul Sabatier and A. Mailhe. Typical a-, 0-, 

 and -y-ketones were studied. Diacetyl, CH3.CO.CO.CH., 

 gives 



CH3.CH(OH).CO.CH3 and CH3.CH(OH).CH(OH).CH, 

 on reduction. Three-fourths or more of the acetyl-acetone 

 tested split up according to the equation 



CH.5.CO.CH„.CO.CH3+H,, = CH,.CHO + CH:,.CO.CH3, 

 while acetonyl-acetone, CH3.CO.CHj.CHj.CO.CH3, gave 

 chiefly oxyhexane 2-5, CH3.CH.CH,.CH..CH.CH3. The 



authors are to continue similar work with the quinones. — 

 Observations of the sun made at the Observatory of Lyons 

 during the first quarter of 1907: J. Guillaume. Tables 

 are given of the distribution of spots and faculae as re- 

 gards latitude. — The variation of double integrals : M. 

 Hadamard. — Continuous, infinite, and simple groups of 

 transformations (mathematical analysis) : E. Cartan. — 

 The surfaces produced by a circular helix : M. Barre. — 

 The absolute sensibility of the ear : Henri Abraham. The 

 sensibility of the ear was determined in absolute value by 

 producing in it variations of pressure of known amplitude. 

 The variations of pressure were produced in a cylinder 

 of known volume by the vibrations of the membrane of a 

 telephone, which formed one of the bases of the cylindrical 

 cavity. The other base of the cylinder was also closed, 

 except in the centre, where an opening connected with a 

 bell-shaped orifice, which could be applied against the ear, 

 was arranged. The results obtained seem to show that the 

 limit of the sensations of the normal ear corresponds to 

 variations of pressure having a magnitude of four ten- 

 millionths of a millimetre of mercury. The author points 

 out that his results agree approximately with those of 

 Max Wien, who measured variations of pressure in Helm- 

 holtz resonators, but that they do not agree — being much 

 smaller — with the values of different authors, who have 

 used methods analogous to that indicated some time ago 

 by Lord Rayleigh. — The ultimate lines of metals in dis- 

 sociation spectra : A. de Gramont. A summary of the 

 lines which may be regarded as specially characteristic for 

 a number of common metals is given, and it is indicated 

 that the linr-s termed ultimate bv the author arc the same 



