April 1 6, 1874] 



NA TURE 



475 



paper on his beautiful HiBfraction of spectrum photographs, 

 similar to the account of the same in Nature some weelcs ago. 

 Astronomischc Nacliriclili-ii, No. 1,978. — M. M. Henry gives 

 the elements of planet (126) Velleda, epoch 1874, January, O'o 

 Greenwich M.T. 



Mo = 149' 55' 51"- 1 

 n = 347° 49' 11" -3 



Q, - 23° 10' I2''-8 

 i = 2" 56' io"-6 

 ^ = 6" 5'3i"-4 

 y. = 930" -9792 

 log. a = 0-3873777 



Leopold .Schulsliof gives the following elements of the comet 

 discovered by Winnecke in February last : — 



T = 1S74, March, 9-95342 Greenwich Time 



H = 300° 36' 42" 



a - 3'" 31' i8"'2 



i = 58° 17' i4"-5 

 log. (] ^ 8 642852 

 The star in Perseus RA 2'i 13"' 56= Dec. + 58° l' 53"-5 has been 

 observed by A. Kriiger to have varied from 8-5 mag. to 10 mag. 

 in November 1872, and to have increased to S-5 again in 

 January last. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 

 Geological Society, March 25. — John Evans, F. R.S., pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — The following communications were read : 

 — On the Upper Coal-Formation of Eastern Nova .Scolia and 

 Prince Edwarcl Island, in its relation to the Permian, by Principal 

 Dawson, F.R.S. The author described the Carboniferous dis- 

 trict of Pictou counly as showing the whole thickness of the 

 Carboniferous .system arranged in three synclinals, the eastern- 

 most consisting of the Lower series up to the Middle Coal-for- 

 mation, .and including all the known workable Coal-measures in 

 the district— the second towards the west of the middle and the 

 lower part of the Upper Coal-formation — and the third showing 

 in its centre tlie newest beds of the latter. On the north the 

 bounding anticlinal of tlie first depression brings up the New- 

 Glasgow Conglomerate, which contains boulders 3 ft. in diameter, 

 often belonging to Lower Carboniferous rocks, and represents 

 the upper part of the MiUstonc-grit or the lower part of the 

 Middle Coal-formation. The author regards this as representing 

 an immense bar or beach, which protected the swamps in which 

 the Pictou main coal was formed. The succession of the deposits 

 above the Conglomerate was described in some detail as seen in 

 natural sections. The Upper Coal-formation, as shown in the 

 section west of Carribou Harbour, consists of — (i) Red and grey 

 shales, and grey, red, and 1)rown sandstones ; and (2) Shales, 

 generally of a deep red colour, alternating with grey, red, and 

 brown sandstones, the red beds becoming more prevalent in the 

 upper part of the section. In Prince Edward Island beds appa- 

 rently corresponding to these are found, and also gradually 

 become more red in ascending. These are overlain, apparently 

 conformably, by the Trias. The author gave a tabular list of 47 

 species of plants found in the Upper Coal-formation of Nova 

 Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and stated that all but about 

 ten of these occur also in the Middle Coal-formation. The 

 number of species decreases rapidly towards the upper part of 

 the formation ; and this is especially the case in Prince Edward 

 Island, some of the beds in which are considered by the author 

 to be newer than any of those in Nova .Scotia. The plants con- 

 tained in the upper deposits were compared with those of the 

 Eui'opean Permian, and a correlation was shown to exist between 

 them, so that it becomes a question whether this series was not 

 synchronous with the lower part of the Permian of Europe, 

 although in this district there is no stratigraphical break to esta- 

 blish a boundary between Carboniferous and Permian. The 

 author therefore proposes to name these beds Permo-Carbonife- 

 rous, and regards them as to some extent bridging over the gap 

 which in Eastern America separates the Carboniferous from the 

 Trias. — Note on the Carboniferous Conglomerates of the Eastern 

 Part of the I'.asin of the Eden, by J. G. Goodchild. — An 

 Account of a Well-Section in the Chalk at the north end of 

 Driffield, East Yorkshire, by R. Mortimer. — On Slicken- 

 sides or Rock-Striations, particularly those of the Chalk, 

 by Dr. Ogier Ward. 



Royal Horticultural Society, April i.— Scientific Com- 

 mrttee.— Di-. Hooker, C.B , Pres. R.S., in the chair.— Prof. 

 Thiselton Dyer exhibited seeds of the plant called in gardens 

 Theophrasia impa-ialis, sent from Rio Janeiro by Dr. Glaziou. 

 From the evidence now forthcoming it "appears that the plant 

 belongs to a different family, Sapolace,T.~V)'c. Hooker showed a 

 photograph from Mr. Russell, of Falkirk, of a fruiting specimen 

 of Encep/ialartos vWosiis, sometimes called in gardens Zainin 

 Mackaiii. The plant is a native of Natal, and a similar species 

 has been discovered on the Niger by Barter, and a third 

 in Zanzibar, by Kirk. A plant discovered by Schweinfurth 

 in Central Africa is probably the same as that mentioned 

 by Kirk. — Dr. Masters presented a classified list with 

 notes of species of Passiflora and Tacsonia cultivated in European 

 gardens. — Mr. Renny made some ohser-vations on the drawing, 

 by Montague, of Artotrogus, exhibited at the last meeting, which 

 together with the original specimens, Mr. Berkeley had been 

 kind enough to allow him to examine leisurely. He was able to 

 clear up a mistake which De Bary seems to have fallen into in 

 his description of Pcronospora infa/ans (Ann. des Sc. Nat., 4= 

 ser-.j t. XX. p. 105, 1863). De Bary had not met with the 

 resting spore of that species, but suggested that Montague's 

 Artotrogiis hydiioiarpiis might be the desired organ ; but he had 

 doubts on the point, as Montagne had written to him that he 

 found it also on Turnip. The facts are, that Mr. Broome found 

 a mould on decaying Tur-nip, which he sent to Montagne, who 

 pronounced it to be a species of his genus Arlotyo^iis, though he 

 does not appear at any time to have supplied a specific name. 

 He doubtless announced to De Bary that Artotrogus was to be 

 n-ret with on Turnip, and it was De Bary's assumption that A. 

 hvdnocarpus, the only published species, was the one spoken of. 

 De Bary, having a confiderrt belief that the various species of 

 Pcronospora are parasitic each only on the pl.ants of one genus, 

 or at most of one family, seems to have been thus led to the 

 doubt he has expressed. 



General Meeting. — H. Little In the chair. — Prof. Thiselton 

 Dyer commented on the interesting plants exhibited. Amongst 

 these were the two forms of Primula verticillala, one from 

 .Sinjii the other from Abyssinia ; Boronia megastigma, a 

 new Australian plant with a very agreeable smell ; the stem and 

 foliage of the splendid Bamboo Dcndrocalamus gigantcus, in cul- 

 tivation at Sion House ; and cut blooms of Slcrculia nobilis from 

 the same collection. 



Entomolog,ical Society, April 6. — Sir Sidney S. Sauni^crs, 

 president, in the chair. — Mr. Frederick Smith made some inte- 

 resting observations relative to the habits of the bee-parasites 

 belonging to the genus Slylops. — Major Parry communicated a 

 paper entitled Further Descriptions of Lucanoid Coleoptera ; 

 and Mr. Smith read descriptions of the TciithrcdiniJiC and 

 IchneiimouidiV of Japan, from the coUectiorrs of Mr. George 

 Lewis. — Further notes were read from Mr. Goocb, of Natal, 

 respecting the destruction of the coftee plantations there, by 

 Longicorir Beetles. 



Royal Astronomical Society, April 10. — Prof Adams, 

 president, in the chair. — Mr. De la Rrre gave a verbal descrip- 

 tion of a piece of apparatus which he had devised for carryirrg 

 out M. Janssen's method of photographing Venus near to ingress 

 and egress upon the sun's disc. The instrument is interrded to 

 be attached to the photo-heliographs and weighs less than 1 1 lbs., 

 inclusive of a small driving clock, which carries a revolving plate 

 of about 10 in. in diameter, on which small photographs of Venus 

 and the sun's limb are to be taken in rapid succession. Lord 

 Lindsay also described the form of instrument which he had de 

 vised for the same purpose ; it appeared to be very similar to 

 that described by Mr. De la Rue, except that it is mounted on a 

 separate pillar from the telescope in order to avoid tremors. — 

 Ijord Lindsay also read a paper On a Method of Determining the 

 Solar Parallax, from observations to be made at the next opposi- 

 tion of Juno, which occurs in November of this year. He pro- 

 poses, while in the Mauritius, to make a series of heliometric 

 measures of the distance of Juno from the nearest fixed stars ; and 

 by comparisons of the measures taken soon after Juno has risen 

 above the eastern horizon with those taken before it 'sets at the 

 western to determine the terrestrial parallax. By this method 

 he will be able to make his measures during all the clear nights 

 of the month or six weeks before and after opposition. And 

 although the parallax will be considerably less than in the case 

 of Venrrs, he considered that he had reason to hope that the pro- 

 bable error of the result would, owing to the number of the 



