5'4 



NATURE 



\Oct. 2 2, 1874 



The Bulletin de la Sociki d' Acdiinatation de Paris for July 

 devotes a considerable portion of its space to the description 

 of an ostricli farm at the Cape of Good Hope. This industry 

 is largely extending in that colony, and yields excellent results. 

 — M. Maumenet gives ,a valuable contribution in the shape of 

 a paper on the various plants acclimatised by him at Nimcs, in 

 the province of the Gard. Bamboos, Eucalyptus, palms, and 

 several new and useful Chinese plants and vegetables, are among 

 his successful attempts at acclimatisation. — M. Martinet gives 

 details of the mode of cultivating the Erytliroxylon civa in Peru, 

 a vegetable which the French are desirous of introducing into 

 Algeria and French Guiana. — M. Collcnot suggests, as a means 

 of staying the ravages of the Phylloxera, that insteid of intro- 

 ducing American vines, the wild vines abundant in many parts of 

 France should be carefully cultivated ; they produce, in a wild 

 state, excellent fruit, and as they are very hardy, he thinks that they 

 ■would withstand the attacks of this pest. — A Japanese tree, the 

 Sophora (Styphnololnum japonici(m), is recommended for culti- 

 vation as rivalling the Eucalyptus in many respects. The wood 

 is very hard, and a tree planted in France thirty-five years ago 

 is now 21 ft. in circumference. It resists cold and drought with 

 equal facility. — The silkworm is being acclimatised in the Baltic 

 provinces, and some species of this caterpillar seem able to 

 withstand the cold with case. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Royal Microscopical Society, Oct. 7. — Charles Biooke, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — A paper, by Mr. Alfred Sanders, 

 entitled " Supplementary Remarks on the Appendicularia," was 

 read to the meeting by the secretary, in which the author cor- 

 rected several observations made in the course of a previous 

 paper, and gave an exhaustive description of a species which he 

 believed to be different from any hitherto described, although he 

 refrained at present from naming it as new. — A paper by Mr. 

 Kitton, of Norwich, was also read by the secretary, upon some 

 new species of diatoms found in deposits sent from New Zealand 

 by Mr. II. R. Webb and by Capt. Perry from Colon. — Mr. Slack 

 made some observations on silica films prepared from a solution 

 containing four parts glycerine to one part water, and pointed 

 out the difficulty of obtaining clear definition of the forms pre- 

 sented when high-power objectives of large angle were employed, 

 whereas those with small angular aperture gave good results. — 

 Mr. Stewart drew the attention of the Fellows to a remark.able 

 living organism exhibited in the room by Mr. J . Badcock, of the 

 nature of which very considerable doubt was entertained, the 

 prevailing opinion being that it was either an entozoon or the 

 laiTal form of some unrecognised animal. 



Leeds 

 Naturalists' Field Club and Scientific Association, 

 Oct. 13. — Mr. Edwd. Thompson, vice-president, in the chair. — 

 A lecture was delivered by Air. Samuel Jefferson, F.C.S. , upon 

 "Volcanic Phenomena." After giving the more familiar facts 

 with regard to the shape and formation of volcanic cones, the 

 nature ol the ejected materials, the periods and frequency of 

 eruptions, and the distribution of volcanic energy, and after an 

 exposition of the chief hypotheses which have been framed with 

 regard to the internal condition of our earth, Mr. Jefferson 

 pointed out a coincidence which had not to his knowledge been 

 previously noticed, that the equatorial diameter between the two 

 centres of intensity of volcanic energy, Java and Quito, is shorter 

 by two miles than that drawn at right angles through Africa. 

 ^Ir. Jefferson explained his views at some length. 



Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, June 2. — Dr. Ruschen- 



berger, president, in the chair. — " Poisonous character of the 

 flowers of Wistaria sinensis." — Mr. Meehan remarked that 

 there was a popular belief that the flowers of the Wistaria 

 sinensis were destructive to bees. Me had himself seen hun- 

 dreds of dead bees under large flowering plants. He was 

 struck with the fact this season that none wett dead under 

 similar circumstances. The flowers were continually visited 

 by the honey Lee and others, without, so far as he could 

 see, any fatal results following. It was clear, therefore, that 

 whatever might be the cause of the death of these insects under 



some circumstances, it could not be from the honey alone. — 

 "Growth of the Cuicus arvensis, Iloff" In regard to the 

 rapidity with which plants sometimes grew, Mr. Thomas Mee- 

 han observed that, though it was well known that the Canada 

 thistle spread surprisingly, there had been no figures giving its 

 exact growth placed on record. From experiments he found 

 that it spread at an average rate of about three-fourths of an 

 inch of growth per day, equal to maize or other rapid-growing 

 vegetation above ground. 



June 1 5. — Dr. Ruschenberger, president, in the chair. — Prof. 

 Leidy made remarks on the revivification of /rotifer vulgaris, 

 showing that when the animals are actually dried they are 

 incapable of being revivified. — Prof. Cope mentioned the 

 capture of a young Balana cisaretica, of forty-eight feet in 

 length, in the Raritaii River, near South Amboy. He was in- 

 formed that the whale was entirely black, and the dorsal line with- 

 out irregularities. — Prof. Cope explained the distinctive features of 

 the genus Symborodon, one of the gigantic homed mammalia of 

 Colorado, as compared with Titanotherium, exhibiting typical 

 specimens of the latter from the Academy's museum, showing 

 four inferior incisor teeth, while the lower jaw of Symborodon 

 does not possess any. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, Oct. 12. — M. Bertrand in the chair. — 

 The following papers were read ; — The enunciation of the prin- 

 ciple of the theory of timbre is due to Monge, by M. H. Kesal, — 

 Letter from M. Langley, director of the Alleghany Observatory, 

 United States, on cyclonic movements, by M. Faye. This 

 paper was an extension of the author's theory of sun-spots. The 

 laws of fluids in rotatory motion round a vertical axis are shown 

 to apply to these phenomena. — M. Daubrc'e made some remarks 

 ill connection with the foregoing paper concerning the indications 

 of circular motion traced in the diluvian deposits of the neigh- 

 bourhood of Paris. — Critical observations on the employment of 

 the tincture or powder of guiacum for testing the purity of 

 " tirsclienwasser," by M. Boussingault. — M. C. Sediilot com- 

 municated a surgical paper on the subject of preventive tre- 

 panning. — Presence of the genus Lepisosteus among the fossils 

 of the Paris basin, by M. P. Gervais. — External linear ex- 

 traction, simple and combined, of cataract ; a surgical memoir, 

 by M. R. Castorani. — Proportion of real to sulphated ashes in 

 the products of the sugar industry, by M. Ch. Violette. — Com- 

 munications relating to the destruclion of Phyllo.xera were 

 received from MM. Maurice Girard, Mouillefert, B.albiani, &c., 

 upon which remarks were offered by M, Dumas. — New expe- 

 riments with alkaline sulphocarbonates for the destruction of 

 Phylloxera ; method of employing them, by M. Mouillefert. — 

 Researches on the action of coal-tar in the treatment of phyl- 

 lo.xerised vines, by M. Balbiani. — On the employment of electro- 

 diapasons of variable periods as tonometers and electric contact 

 breakers, by M. E. Mercadier. — Attempted theory of the 

 formation of the secondary facets of crystals, by M. Lecoq de 

 Boisbaudran. — Microscopic study and proximate analysis of a 

 pumice from Vesuvius, by M. F. I'^ouque. Under the micro- 

 scope this stone was seen to be composed of a multitude of 

 crystals of amphigene united by an amorphous vitreous substance ; 

 of crystals of hornblende, pyroxene, peridote, oxide of iron, feld- 

 spath, and brown mica irregularly distributed through the mass. 

 An analysis of the amphigenetic crystals proved this minei-al to 

 be rich in sodium and calcium ; the amphigene from the tufa of 

 Somma is generally potassic. 



CONTENTS pagb 



The Universities Commission Reiort, II 495 



Sedle/ Tavlor's "Sound" 496 



Marev's *' Animal Mechanism," I, {IViih I liusiratio/is) .... 49S 



Our Book Shelf ', . 500 



Lbttbrs to the Editor : — 



Periodicity of Auroras.— Prof. A. S. Herschel (IF/M ////«//-«- 



tiofis) . . , 500 



Automatism of Animals.— Alfred R. Wallace 502 



Supernumerary Rainbow — Josei^h Blackburn 503 



Colour in Flowers not due to Insects. — F. T. Mott 503 



Habits of Squirrels 503 



The New Vine-Disease in the South-East of France, I. {Wiih 



llhistration) 503 



Physi:s at the Universitv of London. By Prof. G. Carey 



Foster, F.R.S 506 



The Bibliography of Science 508 



The New Reptile-House in the Jardin des 1'lantes .... 510 



Notes 511 



Scientific Serials 513 



Societies and Academies 514 



