38 



NA TURE 



\May 14, 1874 



necessary to assume for Procyon a mass eighty times as great as 

 that of our sun, and for the perturbating companion a mass at 

 least five times as great as that of our sun. He had further 

 calculated that if the minute companion were the perturbating 

 body, it should, at the beginning of this year, occupy a position- 

 angle 9° or 10° greater than that occupied by it last year, whereas 

 i( it were only a small star, situated in the neighbourhood, 

 the observed proper motion of Procyon would carry it forward 

 so as to diminish the position- angle of the companion by about 

 4" — on recently examining Procyon he had found that the 

 companion had moved forward during the year from a position- 

 angle of 874° till it now occupied a position-angle of 96^. He 

 was thereftire disposed to think that there could now no longer 

 be any doubt that the minute companion is the perturbating body, 

 which accounts for the irregularities in the motion of the primary. 

 — Mr. Glaisher gave an account of some MS. volumes of 

 twelve figure-logarithms which have recently been presented to 

 the Societybythe executors of thelateMr. Thompsonof Greenock, 

 the table of logarithms of numbers extends as far as 120,000. 

 No account has been left of the way in which Mr. Thompson ob- 

 tained the logarithms of the prime numbers, but from internal 

 evidence Mr. Glaisher was inclined to think that they had been 

 independently calculated. He attached great value to the manu- 

 .scripts. No table of twelve-figure logarithms has as yet been 

 published. Mr. Glaisher estimated that the cost of printing these 

 tables would be about 1,000/. 



Royal Microscopical Society, May 6. — Charles Brooke, 

 FR.S., president, in the chair. — A paper by Dr. Anthony, On 

 the suctorial organs of the blow-fly was read to the meeting. 

 The paper suggested that the so-called pseudo-trachene were really 

 sucking or pumping organs. — A paper ^\■as read by Mr. Slack 

 On certain silica films artificially produced, in which the results 

 of a number of interesting experiments and observations were 

 detailed ; and Mr. W. T. Read communicated to the meeting 

 the results of similar researches, in which he had recently been 

 employed. — A paper by Dr. Royston-Pigott was taken as read, 

 On the use of black shadow markings, and on a black shadow 

 illuminator. 



Entomological Society, May 4. — Sir Sidney Smith 

 Saunders, president, in the chair. — Mr. Butler exhibited 

 an example of arrested development in a Peacock butteifly 

 caused by the tail of the pupa having become detached 

 during the process of emerging, the right wings being com- 

 pletely developed, whilst those on the left side were not de- 

 veloped at all, the pupa case remaining attached to the left side 

 of the body of the butterfly.- -Mr. W. C. Boyd exhibited speci- 

 mens of Solenobia inconspiciidla, taken in St. Leonard's Forest, 

 and amongst them a specimen of a remarkably pale colour, 

 which might possibly be an Albino variety ; but it had a very 

 different appearance from the ordinary form.— Mr. Boyd also ex- 

 hibited some leaves of the common Comfrcy (Symphytum offici- 

 nale), gathered at Cheshunt, the unders-des of which were tuund 

 to be completely covertd with specimens of Brachyceulrus 

 suli-nubiltis. All weie said to be males, but on close 

 examination a single female specimen was discovered amongst 

 them. — Mr. C. O. Waterhouse read a note by Dr. Lamprey, 

 Surgeon-Major 67th Regiment, On the habits of a boring 

 beetle, one of the Bostyichida:, found in British Burma. 

 It belonged to the genus Sinoxyhvi. Dr. Lamprey did not 

 know the name of the tree on which it was found ; but he de- 

 scribed the insect as making a small hole in a stem that was 

 about \ in. in diameter ; and by devouring the wood completely 

 round, severed it with a clean cut, so that it was only kept to- 

 gether by the thin outer layer of bark, the first gust of wind 

 snapping off the weakened branch. The beetle turned on its 

 side while boring, its back being towards the bark, and in this 

 way its form appeared to adapt itself to the circumference of the 

 ;tem. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, May 4. — M. Bertrand in the chair. — 

 M. Jamin presented a communication on the depth of the mag- 

 netised layer in a steel bar. The author announced as the re- 

 sult of his experiments that in a thick steel bar there ia no mag- 

 netisation in the centre, and that the elemental bars composmg 

 the magnet do not begin to appear till 3 or 4 millimetres from the 

 surface, but become more and more numerous and contracted 

 against the free surface. — Study of and experiments upon the 

 metallic sulphides, by M. Berthelot, a continuation of forn.er 

 thermo-chemical researches. — Observations on the fecundation 



of the urodelous batrachians, by M. Ch. Robin. The fecunda- 

 tion of the oviparous urodelous batracl ian (Siredon, Triton), like 

 that of the Anoiinv, is internal. — Observations concerning a 

 recent communication by M. Faye relating to a calculation by 

 Pouillet of the cooling of the solar mass, by M. A. Ledieu. The 

 author has arrived at a result not quite in accordance with that 

 obtained by M. Faye in his recent calculations. — M. Favre pre- 

 sented the continuation of his researches on hydrogen. The 

 condition of this gas when absorbed by palladium and by pla- 

 tinum black is in no way comparable in these two cases. In 

 platinum black the condensed gas is not chemically modified, 

 but in palladium it undergoes an allotropic modification before 

 combining with the metal. The author in concluding called 

 attention to the importance of thermic measurements of chemical 

 phenomena ; notably of the allotropic changes of bodies. — On 

 the action of distilled water on lead by M. Is. Pierre. Water 

 condensed in a leaden worm was found to contain about "000375 

 grms. of Pb. per litre. — Report on the apparatus intended for 

 the operation of the transfusion of blood, presented to the Aca- 

 demy by MM. Moncoq and Matthieu. — On the illumination of 

 opaque bodies by neutral or polarised light, by M. A. Lallemand. 

 — Determination of clay in arable soil, by M. T. Schlcesing. — 

 On gravitation, cohesion, and the distances of the centres of 

 molecules, by M. G. West. — M. Ad. Chatin presented a con- 

 tinuation of his researches on "organogenesis comjjared with 

 androgenesis in its relations with natural affinities." The classes 

 treated of were Polygalacere and /Esculinacea:'. — Influence of 

 vernal heat on Phylloxera vastatrix, by ^L M. Cornu. The 

 insect changes from brown to bright yellow and becomes larger. 

 — On the integrals of the difTerential equations of curves which 

 have an even polar surface, by M. I'Abbe Aoust. — Phenomena 

 observed on Jupiter's satellites, by M. C. Flammarion. The 

 author's observations lead to the hypothesis of the existence of 

 an atmosphere surrounding the second and third of the planet's 

 satellites. — On the reflecting power of flames, by M. J. L. Soret. 

 Experiments have shown that carbon preserves its reflecting 

 power at very high temperatures, thus confirming Davy's theory 

 of the luminosity of flame, since a ray of sunlight reflected from a 

 bright flame is polarised in precisely the same manner as when 

 reflected from non-luminous smoke. — Study of the properties of 

 explosive bodies, by M. F. A. Abel. Third memoir. — Note on 

 a process for determining phosphoric acid, by M. F. Jean. 

 Influence of the presence of nitrogen in the textile fibre 

 on the direct fixation of the aniline colours, by M. E. 

 Jacquemin — On the physiological phenomena observed in 

 the high regions of the atmosphere, by M. Ban-al. — On the 

 study of the fumeroles of Nisgros and of some of the products 

 of the eruption of 1873, by M. H. Gorceix — Partial resection 

 of the calcaneum ; absolute arsesthesia produced by an intra- 

 venous injection of chloral ; immediate cessa ion of anaesthesia 

 after the operation by the application of ek ciric currents, by M. 

 Ore. — On the mechanical aptitude of hoists, by M. A. Sanson. 

 — On the occurrence of a Cycada in the Miocene deposit of 

 Koumi (Eubee), byM. G. de Saporta. This insect (Encepha- 

 lartos r^orecixiamis) is the first fossil Cycada that is capable of 

 being referred without anomalies to a living genus. The discovery 

 enables the author to affirm that a Cycada belonging to a genus 

 now confined to South Alrica inhabited Miocene Europe : in the 

 same maimer this region supported at a somewhat later period 

 the African type of rhinoceros, giraffes, and antelopes, thus 

 giving greater probability to the hypothesis of a union betiween 

 Austro-oriental Europe and Africa, during the Miocene period. 



CONTENTS Pagr 



The Science Commission 21 



Our Book Shelf 23 



Letters to th e Editor : — 



Flowers of the Primrose destroyed by Birds.— Charles Darwin, 



F.R.S 24 



Mr. Spencer and <i>r!oW Axioms.— R. B. Haywakd 25 



The Glacial Period.— Thomas Belt Jj 



Lakes with two Outfalls.— W. Stanley Jevons 26 



Trees Pierced by other Trees. — G. Greenwood 2) 



The supposed Antipathy of Spiders to Chesnut Wood .... 211 



An Experimental Observation ON Hay Fever. By Prof. Binz • . if- 

 The Com ing Transit of Venus, IV. ( IVith I llvstratiotis .) By Prof. 



George Forbes =7 



LarV.1L OF MeMBRACIS SERVING AS MiLK-CaTTLE TO A BRAZILIAN 



Species OF Bee. By Hermann Muller ((fiM //Am/to.'/ww). . 31 



The Mammals of MouriN 3- 



The Transit Expeditions TO Rodriguez and Kerguelen's Land h 



Notes 33 



Scientific Serials 35 



Societies and Acacihibs Tf> 



