Nov. 20, 1873 I 



NATURE 



55 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The November number of the ATonthlv Microscopual Journal 

 commences with a paper by Dr. R. L. Maddoxon an organism 

 found in Fresh-pond Water, which he tliinlis to be new. The 

 accompanying illustration, as well as the description, shows that 

 the monacis under consideration are of the simplest structure, 

 and amoeboid in character, of a violet tint, and highly refracting. 

 They vai-y in size, and contain great numbers of little granular 

 bodies embedded in the gelatinous matrix. The name Pscudo- 

 omaba violacca is proposed for the new form. — Mr. F. Kitton 

 describes some new species of Diatomacen::, including Aitlaco- 

 discus superbiis from Barbadoes, and others of the genera Sluto- 

 i/isais, Islhinia, Nitzschia, and Ti vblioiuila. — Mr. Carruthers 

 answers Dr. Dawson's comments on his interpretation of the 

 microscopic appearances of JVcmalo/'/iydis (Carruthers) or Proto- 

 hi rites (Dawson). As he remarks, the question whether the 

 plant under consideration is a sea-weed or a conifer, is entirely 

 an histological one. Dr. Dawson, in his sections of the fossil 

 found "wood cells, showing spiral fibres and obscure pores;" 

 Mr. Carruthers finds "elongated cylindrical cells of two sizes, 

 interwoven irregularly into a felted mass," and the latter ob- 

 server substantiates the correctness of his observations and his 

 drawings, which prove the accuracy of his views as to the affini- 

 ties of the plant. — Mr. J. J. Woodward explains the optical 

 principles involved in the construction of Mr. Tolles' new im- 

 mersion objective that has caused the contest between him and 

 Mr. Wenham. — Dr. Braithwaite continues his description of bog 

 mosses, treating of figuring .5///f/;,^v//^/// rii^idum- and S. motlc. — 

 This paper is followed by one on the investigation of Micro- 

 scopic Forms by means of the images which they furnish of ex- 

 ternal objects, by Prof O. N. Rood, of Troy, N. Y., which 

 gives an extremely ingenious and simple method of testing with 

 certainty, when the refractive indices of the body examined and 

 the fluid in which it is immersed, are known, of determining 

 whether markings, as of Coscinodisi'its trit-t'i'aliuiii, ai'e depressions 

 or elevations ; by regarding the object as part of the optical 

 system, and thence finding whether its influence is that of a con- 

 vex or concave lense. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Geological Society, Nov. 5. — Prof. Ramsay, F.R.S., vice- 

 president, in the chair. — The following communications were 

 read : — " On the Skull of a species of Ilalithcrium from the Red 

 Crag of Suffolk," by Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S. A descrip- 

 tion of this has been already given in Nature, at p. 13 of the 

 present volume. — " New Facts bearing on the Inquiry concern- 

 ing Forms intermediate between Birds and Reptiles," by Henry 

 Woodward, F.R.S. The author, after giving a brief sketch of 

 the Sauropsida, and referring especially to those points in which 

 the Pterosaurians approach and differ (rom birds, spoke ol the 

 fossil birds and land reptiles which he considered to link together 

 more closely the Sauropsida as a class. The most remarkable 

 recent discoveries of fossil birds are : — (I.) ArckiTopte}'yx macrura 

 (Owen), (II.) Ichthyornis dispar (Marsh), (III.) Odonto- 

 pleryx toliapica (Owen). The author then referred to the 

 Dinosauria, some of which he considered to present points of 

 structure tending towards the so-called wingless birds. (I.) Com- 

 psognathits longipes (A. Wagner), from the Oolite of Solenhofen. 

 (II.) The huge carnivorous Mcgahsiiiirns, ranging from the Lias 

 to the Wealden. The author next drew attention to the Frilled 

 Lizard of Australia, ChlamYdosaiiius Kiitgii (Gray), which has 

 its fore limbs very much smaller than the hind limbs, and has 

 been observed not only to sit up occasionally, but to run habitu- 

 ally upon the ground on its hind legs, its fore paws not touching 

 the earth, which upright carriage necessitates special modifica- 

 tions of the sacrum and pelvis bones. The Solenhofen Lime- 

 stone, in which Pterosauria are frequent, and which has yielded 

 the remains of Arclutoptcryx and of Couipsogiiat/iiis, has also 

 furnished a slab bearing a bipedal track, resembling what might 

 be produced by Chlamydosaurits or Compsogiial/iits. It shows 

 a median track formed by the tail in being drawn along the 

 ground ; on each side of this the hind feet with outspread toes 

 leave their mark, while the fore feet just touch the ground, 

 leaving dot-like impressions nearer the median line. Hence the 

 author thought that while some of the bipedal tracks which are 

 met with from the Trias upwards may be the "spoor " of stru- 



thious birds, most of them are due to the bipedal progression of 

 the Secondary Reptdes.— " Note on the Astragalus of I^itanodon 

 Mantelli, '■ hy ]. W. Hulke, F.R.S. The author exhibited and 

 described an astragalus of Igaaiiodoii from the collection of 

 E. P. Wilkins. Tlie bone was believed to be previously 

 unknown. The upper surface presents a form exactly adapted 

 to that of the distal end of the tibia, so that the applied surfaces 

 of the astragalus and tibia must have interlocked in such a 

 manner as to have precluded all motion between them. The 

 author remarked upon the interest attaching to this fact in con- 

 nection with the question of the relationship between the Dino- 

 sauria and Birds.^"Note on a very large Saurian Limb-bone, 

 adapted for progression upon land, from the Kimmeridge Clay 

 of Weymouth, Dorset," by J. W. Hulke, F.R.S. The bone 

 described by the author presents a closer resemblance to the 

 Crocodilian type of humerus than to any other bone, and he re- 

 garded it as the left humerus of the animal to which it be- 

 longed. The author refers it provisionally to a species of Ceteo- 

 saiinis, which he proposes to name C. hiinuro-cyistatus. — A 

 despatch from Mr. Alfred Biliotti, British Vice-Consul at Rhodes 

 (dated June 16, 1873), communicated by H.M. Secretary of 

 State for Foreign Affairs, and relating to a volcanic outburst 

 in the island of Nissiros, one of the Sporades, in which there 

 existed a volcano supposed to be extinct. Shortly before June 10 

 new craters opened in this volcano, and from them ashes, 

 stones, and lava were ejected ; many fissures, from which hot 

 water flowed, were produced in the mountain, and the island 

 was daily shaken by violent earthquakes. 



Royal Astronomical Society, Nov. 14. — Prof. Cayley, 

 president, in the chair. Sir Geo. |B. Airy, the Astronomer- 

 Royal, explained the general state of the preparations for the 

 transit of Venus. First, as to the selection of stations. He had 

 originally selected five observing-stations, and in making his 

 choice he had endeavoured to keep in mind what other Govern- 

 ments were likely to do. He had been induced to recommend 

 another station in Northern India for the purpose of taking a 

 series of photographic observations to be used in conjunction 

 with the photographic records to be obtained at the southern 

 stations. As the French would not support the station 

 which he had selected in the Sandwich Islands, by an expe- 

 dition to the Marquesas Islands, he had found it necessary 

 to recommend to our own Government that there should 

 be two subsidiary observing stations in the Sandwich Islands. 

 The station which had originally been chosen was Hono- 

 looloo, at about the middle of the islands; the new sta- 

 tions were to be Ha-wai-i to the east and an island at 

 the western extremity of the group. The three stations would 

 thus be distributed over a distance of some 300 miles — a fact 

 which would greatly add to their chances of fine weather. He 

 had also been considering the propriety of establishing stations 

 at Christmas Island, at Hurd Island, and in Whisky Bay, but 

 at present they knew little of the chances of anchor.age or fine 

 weather at these places. The ChaUengev was, liowever, about 

 to visit and survey them. It would then proceed to Australia, 

 whence the results of their investigations would no doubt be 

 telegraphed to England. As to the selection of stations in the 

 extreme south, the Admiralty would have nothing to do with any 

 station where there was no anchorage, and where there were no 

 human beings. Any station which laboured under both disqualifi- 

 cations must undoubtedly be rejected as unsuitable. He felt him- 

 self borne out in this determination by the fact that other nations 

 had adopted the same practical view in their selection of stations. 

 The Astronomer Royal then enumerated and pointed out upon 

 a globe the stations which had been selected : 8 American, 5 

 French, 4 German, 19 Russian, and 8 English, besides the private 

 enterprise of Lord Lindsay. He then proceeded to give a descrip- 

 tion of the now well-known "black drop," which was sometimes 

 described as being so large as to make Venus appear "pear- 

 shaped," at other times the illegitimate connection between Venus 

 and tlie limb consisted only of a narrow black strap or band. 

 The Astronomer-Royal had had a working model prepared at 

 Greenwich with a black disc moved by clock-work. The black 

 ligament, or drop, came out as a very marked feature of the 

 contact with the artificial hmb. And he hoped that Capt. 

 Tupman would be able, from a discussion of the observations of 

 different observers witji different telescopes, to determine in 

 what proportion the plienomenon was due to the aperture of the 

 telescope used, and to what he might call the personal equation 

 of the observer. He then proceeded to explain how when 

 Venus was upon the sun's limb measures are to be made of the 



