?40 



NATURE 



[July 9, 1896 



Philadelphia. 



Academy of Natural Sciences, June 9. — Papers under 

 ihe following titles were presented for publication : — "Contri- 

 butions to a knowledge of the Hynienoptera of Brazil," by 

 Win. J. Fox ; " The Correct Position of the Aperture of 

 Planorbis," by Frank C. Baker: "The Mesenteries of the 

 Lacerti ia," by K. I). Cope ; " Revision of the Slugs of North 

 America — Ariolimax and Aphallarion," by Ilenry A. Pilsbry 

 and E. C. Vanatta. — Dr. Harrison Allen made a coinmunica- 

 tion on forms considered specific, but which were merely in- 

 stances of arrested development. Tie referred in illustration 

 to certain species of Vesperlilio, claiming that I.uiiftigtts'xs, merely 

 an arrested form of Grypluis, the species Albescens also being 

 based on similar characters. He had applied the term pa;do- 

 morphism to the condition which had been worked out, he 

 believed, only among the bats, and by himself. He held that 

 the specific names of such forms were not valid, and should be 

 dropped. Dr. George H. Horn stated that many such in- 

 stances of arrested development were found among insects. He 

 referred to the dimorphic males of Eupsalis luiiiida, a rhyn- 

 cophorous beetle on which a French writer had founded three 

 species. The egg-depositing habits of the female, and the assist- 

 ance rendered when necessary by the male, were commented on. 



June 8 (Botanical -Section). — A paper was read from Mr. 

 Thomas Meehan on Erigeron strigosus. A tendency of the 

 ray florets to become discoidal, together with an acceleration 

 from the Ungulate to the discoid condition, was noted. The 

 hermaphrodite state of the flower is not established until the 

 tubular condition becomes permanent. — Dr. Ida A. Keller re- 

 corded the fact that if a cold alcoholic solution of chlorophyl 

 be treated with benzol, the chlorophyl will be extracted and 

 float as a green film on the surface of the liquid. 



New outh Wales. 

 Linnean Society, May 27.— Mr. Henry Deane, President, 

 in the chair. — Observations on Peripatus, by Thomas Steel. In 

 this paper was embodied an extended series of observations on 

 the habits and characteristics, food supply and life-history, with 

 remarks on the individual range of colours, and relative propor- 

 tions of the sexes, based on the examination of numerous living 

 siwcimens of various ages kept under continuous observation for 

 more than a year. — Descriptions of new Australian Fungi, 

 (No. i), by D. McAlpine. — Description of a new species of 

 Astralinm from New Britain, by C. Hedley and Dr. Arthur 

 Willey. A. moniliferum (n. sp.), allied to the Japanese A. 

 tnuiiiphans ; dredged in 30 to 40 fathoms on a shelly bottom. — 

 On a rare variation in the shell of Pterocera lambis (Linn.), by 

 Dr. Arthur Willey. A series of sixty-seven specimens of this 

 common tropical species from New Britain and the Eastern 

 Archipelago of New Guinea has been examined. Numerous 

 instances of substantive variation were met with, the more 

 striking of which relate to the curvature of the digitations, their 

 length, the intervals between them, and the extent to which the 

 apical whorls of the shell are involved in, concealed by, or fused 

 with the posterior digitation. There is also much variation as 

 to the stage of growth at which the deposition of callus on the 

 outer lip of the shell takes place. 



.Vmsterdam. 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, May 30.— Prof van de 

 Sande Bakhuyzen in the chair.— Prof. Hubrecht gave a descrip- 

 tion of the embryonic vesicle of Tarsius spectrum, and pointed 

 out its close resemblance to that of man and monkeys. From 

 this and from the placentation the author concluded that the 

 order of Primates should henceforth embrace only the Hominida;, 

 the Sini.-e, Tarsius, and the fossil Anaptomorphus. He was, 

 moreover, disinclined to admit the possibility of deriving the 

 placental arrangements, and the peculiarities of the clastocyst 

 of the Primates from what is presented by the Lemures. The 

 Primates should be derived from certain unknown insectivorous 

 mammals of the Mesozoic period, of which the recent Erinaceus 

 and Gymnura might perhaps prove to be the least distant 

 relatives. — Prof. Pekelharing described a new method of pre- 

 paring pepsin. — Prof Schoute read a paper on the area of 

 parabohr? of higher order, and, on behalf of Prof. Holleman, a 

 communication to the effect that already some months ago 

 he obtained the isophenylnitromethane recently described ijy 

 Hantzsch and Schulze, and that his results were identical with 

 those arrived at by these chemist.s. Mr. Holleman has also studied 

 the reaction between benzoylchloride and the sodium com[)ound 



NO. 1393, VOL. 54] 



of phenylnitromethane, and in doing so obtained dibenzohydrox- 

 amic acid. — Prof. Franchimont described isomers of neutral 

 nitramincs. They were obtained by Mr. van Erp both from the 

 potassium compounds and the silver compounds of the acid 

 nitramines ; in the first ca.se as a secondary product, in the second 

 case as the principal product. Their boiling points and their 

 specific gravity are lower than those of the nitramines ; more- 

 over, they are strongly affected by .sulphuric acid, with the 

 formation of gases, which is not the case with nitramines. By 

 decomposition with alkali solutions, butylmethylnitramine 

 yielded butylamine, while the isomer produced butyl alcohol ; 

 so that it seems as if in the first case butyl is united with 

 nitrogen, in the secimd with oxygen. By the action of methyl- 

 nitramine potassium upon allylbromide. Dr. H. Umbgrove 

 obtained, besides allylmethj'lnitramine, also an isomer with a 

 lower boiling-point, and acting violently upon sulphuric acid. .'V 

 siinilar i-somer seems also to be produced, in addition to ordinary 

 dimethylnitramine, when methylnilramine is heated by itself, 

 while nitrous oxide escapes. When heated with /3-naphthol 

 nitrogen escapes, and 8-naphtholmcthyl ether is formed, besides 

 colouring matteis. — Prof. Kamerlingh Onnes presented a com- 

 munication concerning the measurement of low temperatures, 

 and (on behalf of Mr. E. van Evcrdingen, jun.) (i) remarks 

 on the method of observing Hall's efl'ect ; (2) measurements on 

 the dissymmetry of Hall's effect in bismuth, and on the average 

 Hall-effect in bismuth and antimony, carried out in the Leyden 

 physical laboratory. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books. — Skertchly*^ Physical Oeogr.iphy, revised edition (Murby). — 

 Pr.ictical Radiography : H. S. Ward (" Phologram." Ltd.).— Beginner's 

 Guide to Photography, 6th edition (Pcrken) — The Universal Law of the 

 Affinities of Atoms: J H. Loader (Chapman). 



Pamphlets.— Absolute Oder relative Bewegung ? : Dr. R. .-ind L Fried- 

 laender (Berlin, Simion). — The Position of .\rgon and Helium among the 

 Elements : Prof. W. Ramsay (Frowde). 



Serials. — Lloyd's Natural History. Butterflies: W. F. Kirby, Part 2 

 (Lloyd). — Scribner's Magazine, July (Low). — Humanitarian, July (Hutchin- 

 .son). — Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of Kngland, Vol. vii 

 Part 2, No. 26 (Murray). — .\ Monograph of the Land and Fresh-water 

 Molliisca of the British Isles : J. W. Taylor, Part 3 (Leeds, Taylor) — 

 Bulletin de la Soci^tS de Giographie, 4'= Trimestre, i8q5 (Paris).— Astro- 

 physical Journal, April and June (Chicago). — Fortnightly Review, July 

 (Chapman). — .Sitzungsberichte der Physikalisch-Medicinischen Societ.Tt in 

 Kriangen, 27 Heft. 95 (Eriangen). — Proceedings of the Society for Psychical 

 Research, June (K. P.aul).— 'Westminster Review, July (Warne).— Geo- 

 gr.-iphical Journal, July (Stanford).— Annals of Scottish Natural History, 

 July (Edinburgh, Douglas).— Mind, July (Williams). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Professor Roux's Collected Works. By E. 'W. M. . 217 



The Indian Calendar. By 'W. T. Lynn 219 



Domesticated Animals. By W. F. H. B 220 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Struben : " A Geological Sketch Map of .-Africa South 



of the Zambesi " . ... 221 



Step: " Wayside and Woodland Blossoms ■' .... 221 



Letters to the Editor: — 



\ Fine Shooting-Star ; and Heights of Meteors in 

 .-\ugust and November 1895. (With Diagram.) — 



Prof. A. S. Herschel, F R.S. . .... 221 



Purification of Sulphur. — Prof. Richard Threlfall; 



Dr. H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S . . 224 



Incre.ising the Efficiency of Riintgen Ray Tubes. 



T. G. Crump 225 



The Position of Science at Oxford 225 



Notes 228 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Brooks's Periodic Comet 231 



Magnitudes of Southern Stars 231 



Rugby Observatory 231 



Harvard College Observatory . 231 



Baku and its Oiflndustry. (/Hiis/rated.) By Dr. 'W. 



F. Hume 232 



A Seismic Survey of the 'World. Bv J. M. ... 234 

 The Specific Gravity of the 'Waters of the Sea. Bv 



H. N. Dickson ■ -!3.i 



The University of London 236 



University and Educational Intelligence 236 



Scientific Serials 237 



Societies and Academies. Ul/iistra/cd.) 237 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 240 



