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NATURE [une 4, 1885 
is reproduced from chlorophyllan by reduction. It is probable, 
however, that what they obtained was in reality a zinc compound 
of phyllocyanin, and would have been formed just as well by 
using zinc oxide. Chlorophyllan is probably an impure substance 
containing some fatty acid along with phyllocyanin, so,-that by 
the action of zinc oxide it may yield a compound similar to those 
above mentioned. The experiment was tried with the crude 
product obtained by passing hydrochloric acid gas into a solution 
of chlorophyll. Some of this was dissolved in alcohol, and the 
solution was boiled with zinc oxide, when it gradually became of 
a bright green like a solution of chlorophyll, but its spectrum 
differed, being identical with that of the zinc compounds obtained 
directly from phyllocyanin. 
May 21.—‘‘ Contributions to the History of the Pleiocene and 
Pleistocene Deer. Part I. Cervus werticornis, Cervus savini.” 
By W. Boyd Dawkins, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., Professor of 
Geology and Palzontology in the Victoria University. 
The numerous cervine remains which occur in the various col- 
lections in Britain and on the Continent have been studied by 
the author for the last twenty-five years, and in this communica- 
tion two species, the one hitherto ill-defined, and the other new 
to science, have been described. 
The first, or Ceruus verticornis, Dawkins, remarkable for the 
singular forward and downward curvature of the first tine, is 
represented by a large series of skulls and antlers, which enable 
the author to define the changes in antler-form from youth to 
old age, as well as to relegate it to the division of deer with 
palmated antlers, and to establish its geological age to be Pleio- 
cene and early Pleistocene in Norfolk and Suffolk. 
The second, or C-17vus sawini, is represented by several skulls 
and many antlers, which present considerable modifications in 
form at varying ages. It also belongs to the section of deer 
with palmated antlers, and is probably the ancestral form of 
the extinct (Cervus drown, Dawkins) and living (C. dama) types 
of fallow deer. It has hitherto only been met with in the early 
Pleistocene forest-bed series of Norfolix and Suffolk. 
Mathematical Society, May 14.—J. W. L. Glaisher, 
F.R.S., President, in the chair.—B. Hanumanta Rau, Madras, 
was elected a member. —Papers were read by Rev. T. C. Simmons, 
on an application of determinants to the solution of certain types 
of simultaneous equations ; and by H. M. Jeffery, F.R.S., on 
binodal quartics, on the latter of which the President, S. 
Roberts, F.R.S., and the author made further remarks.—Mr, 
Tucker read part of a paper by Prof. J. Larmon on the flow of 
electricity in a system of linear conductors. 
Zoological Society, May 19.—F. Du Cane Godman, 
F.R.S., inthe chair.—A letter was read from the Rev. G. H. R. 
Fisk, C.M.Z.S., respecting the capture of a Sea-snake among 
the rocks at the entrance to Table Bay, which he believed to be 
referable to Pelamis bicolor.—A letter was read from Mr, B. 
Crowther, stating that he was about to send the Society a pair 
of Duckbills (Orithorhynchus paradoxus), and giving some 
instructions as to the treatment of these animals in captivity.— 
Mr. F. Day exhibited and made remarks on a curious specimen 
illustrative of an extensive injury to the intestines of a Trout and 
its subsequent recovery therefrom. Mr. Day also exhibited a 
piece of the sifting-apparatus of the Basking-Shark, together 
with specimens of the food upon which it lives ; and an example 
of the Vendace taken in Derwentwater Lake,—Mr. Osbert H. 
Howarth exhibited a specimen of coral of the genus Dendro- 
phylliz attached to a brown stoneware bottle, which had been 
dredged up in the Atlantic, off Madeira, at a depth of about 
fifteen fathoms.—A communication was read from Prof. J. von 
Tfaast, C.M.Z.S., on Dinornis owent, in which the author gave 
a detailed description of the bones of this recently-discovered 
new species of the extinct wingless birds of New Zealand, which 
was remarkable for its small size.—A communication was read 
from Dr. St. George Mivart, F.R.S., containing notes on the 
genetic affinities of the group of Pinnipeds.—Dr. F. H. H. 
Guillemard read the third part of his report on the collection of 
birds formed during the voyage of the yacht A/archesa. The 
paper dealt with the birds obtained on the island of Sumbawa, 
a locality hitherto almost unknown to ornithologists. During 
the A/archesa’s short visit examples of thirty-nine species were 
collected. Of these, two (Zurnix powelli and Zosterops sumba- 
wensts) were new to science. The remaining species had been 
previously recorded from islands to the eastward or westward in 
the same group.—A communication was read from Dr. Hubrecht, 
C.M.Z.S., containing a description of a Pennatulid obtained by 
Capt. St. John in the Japanese Sea at a depth of seventy-one 
fathoms. A careful examination of the specimen in question 
induced the author to assign it to a new genus and species, 
which he proposed to name Echinoptilum mackintoshit.—Mr, 
Herbert Druce, F.Z.S., read a paper on some new species of 
Lepidoptera-Heterocera, founded on specimens obtained by t 
late Mr. C. Buckley in Ecuador, to which were added descrip 
tions of some recent acquisitions of the same group from various 
other localities. —Mr. F. D. Godman, F.R.S., read descriptions 
of the Lepidoptera collected by Mr. H. H. Johnstone on 
Kilimanjaro. The collection contained examples of twenty-one 
species of the Rhopalocera and six of Heterocera. Of the 
Rhopalocera the author described three species as new. 
Geological Society, May 13.—Prof. T. G. Bonney, D.Se., 
LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the chair.—William Horton Ellis 
and Prof. J. Hoyes Panton, M.A., were elected Fellows; and 
Prof. J. Gosselet, of Lille, a Foregn Member of the Society.— 
The following communications were read :—On the Ostracoda 
of the Purbeck formation, with notes on the Wealden species, 
by Prof. T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S., F.G.S.—Evidence of the 
action of land-ice at Great Crosby, Lancashire, by T. Mellard. 
Reade, F.R.S.—The North Wales and Shrewsbury coal-fields 
by D. C. Davies, F.G.S. After discussing the origin of coal- 
beds, and the causes of their variation in structure and quality, 
the author proceeded to describe the North Wales and Shrews- 
bury coal-field, which consists of three parts: (1) The Shrews- 
bury field south of the Severn, exclusively composed of Upper 
Coal-measures ; (2) the tracts north of the Severn, extending 
from near Oswestry to north of Wrexham ; and (3) the Flintshire 
coal-field. The first and second are separated from each other 
by the alluvial plain of the Severn and Vyrmoy, and the second 
and third by the Great Bala and Yule faults. Some remarks on 
the scenery of the Welsh border-land followed, and then a 
general section of the Carboniferous system, as developed in the 
country described, was given, the Permian beds being included, 
as the author considered them the upper portion of one great 
division of Palzozoic time. The section was as follows, with 
the maximum thickness of each subdivision :— 
Thickness in yards 
1. Dark red Sandstone rp one. co 2S 
2. Tfton or St. Martin’s Coal-measures 75 { Permian, 590 
3. Red marls with calcareous matter .. 180 yards. 
4. Green rocks and Conglomerates ... 125 
5. Upper Coal-measures ... ... 80) 
6. Cefn rock to Cefn coal ... ...  ... 100 
7. Cefn coal to Lower yard-coal... . 270 Cone 
8. Lower yard-coal to Chwarcle coal... 80 yarape 
g. Chwarcle coal to Millstone Grit ... 135 
1255 yards 
A detailed lescription of the strata was next given, beginning 
with the lowest, together with details of each coal-seam as 
worked in various parts of the field. After describing the beds 
from the Millstone Grit to the Cefn rock in the North Wales 
coal-field, the author proceeded to notice the Upper Coal- 
measures and Permian strata in the Shrewsbury area, and showed 
that no break exists between the two, the former passing gradu- 
ally into the latter. He then discussed the probability of Lower 
Coal-measures existing beneath the upper beds near Shrewsbury, — 
and showed from sections that the existence of the lower measures 
might be anticipated. A similar inguiry as to the presence of 
the Coal-measures beneath the New Red Sandstone of the Vale 
of Clwyd should also, in the author’s opinion, be answered in ~ 
the affirmative. The organic remains found in the different beds 
were briefly noticed, and then the faults of the district were dis- 
cussed at some length. The principal faults run north and south, 
with an upthrow to the east, but are crossed by lines of fracture 
running east and west. In conclusion, the correlation of the 
strata in the North Wales and Shrewsbury coal-nelds, and 
especially of the coal-seams, with the beds found in other parts 
of Great Britain, was discussed, and a section was given to show 
the representation of the different measures in various coal-basins. 
The author was disposed to adopt four subdivisions rather than 
three only, as usually accepted, and ,pointed out some of the 
characteristics of each subdivision. 
Royal Meteorological Society, May 20.—Mr. R. H. 
Scott, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Dr. H. Dobell and 
Mr. J. N. Longden were elected Fellows of the Society.—The 
following papers were read :—The temperature zones of the 
earth considered in relation to the duration of the hot, temperate, 
