Dec. 25, 1879] 



NATURE 



193 



become unreliable and almost worthless when they enter upon 

 weka-hunling. It is a well-known fact that wekas usually 

 abound in districts infested with wild pigs ; they probably find 

 their advantage in feeding on the varied forms of insect fife 

 disclosed in the soil upturned by the swine in rooting up ferns, 

 spear-grass, &c. 



The Kea (Nestor notabilis). — In Nature, vol. iv. p. 489, I 

 called attention to certain destructive habits developed in the 

 Kea. Since the date when that notice was written the bird has 

 become very much better known to sheep-farmers in the alpine 

 districts. During the past winter sheep were attacked by the 

 kea as far north as the Rangitata River ; it is probable these 

 birds came from the district known as the Mackenzie country, 

 as they have been troublesome about Lake Ohou. 



A A r ew Zealand Gamekeeper 's Return. — Naturalists may read 

 with some interest perhaps the following return of animals killed 

 by gun or trap, on a large estate in the Middle Island ; the 

 numbers given do not include animals that have been destroyed 

 by means of poison, or " the bill of mortality " would have been 

 very much heavier. 



From January 12, 1879, to August 24, 1 879 



Wild pigs 108 



,, cats 18 



Rats 1,054 



Falcons ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 



Harriers (Circus assimilis) ... ... ... 7go 



Wekas (Ocydromus) ... ... 893 



Pukekos (Porphyrio melanotus) 5,074 



Paradise ducks (Casarca iwrifgata) 175 



Shags 9 



Ohinitahi, October 7 



8,131 



T. H. Potts 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 48, Part 2, No. 

 II, 1S79, contains: — S. E. Peal, note on the old Burmese route 

 over Patkai via Nongyang (viewed as the most feasible and direct 

 route from India to China), with two maps and two plates. — 

 Louis Schwendler, n a new standard of light, with a plate. — 

 W. T. Klanford, a second note on mammalia collected by Major 

 Biddulph in Gilgit.— Dr. J. Armstrong, Marine Survey Depart- 

 ment, on some new species of hydroid zoophytes from the seas 

 and coasts of India, with four plates. — Lieut. R. C. Temple, 

 note on the formation of the country passed through by the 2nd 

 column Tal Chotiali field force during its march from Kala 

 Abdullah Khan, in the Khojak Pass to Lugari Barkhan, in the 

 spring of l S7 9 , with a map.— W. T. Blanford, notes on a col- 

 lection of frogs and reptiles from the neighbourhood of Ellore 

 and Dumagudem.— J. Wood-Mason, preliminary notice of a new- 

 genus (Parectatosoma) of Phasnuda;, from Madagascar, with 

 descriptions of its two species, 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, December 11.— "On the Reversal of the 

 Metallic Vapours," No. VII. By G. D. Liveino-, 

 M.A.. F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry, and J. Dewar, M.A.. 

 F.R.S., Jacksonian Professor, University of Cambridge. 



The experiments of which the results are here given were all 

 made with the powerful electric current from the Siemens 

 dynamo-electric machine in limestone crucible-. 



With sodium carbonate the green pair wave-lengths 4983 

 49S2 were reversed, showing dark lines in the middle of the 

 bright ones, the less refrangible of the two giving the stron^r 

 dark line. The sodium line given by Lecoq de Boisbaudran°at 

 wave-length 4670 showed a- a diffuse blue band with a pair of 

 fine dark lines in it, of which the stronger and more lasting was 

 the less refrangible. The diffuse biue band resolved itself into 

 two diffuse lines as the sodium carbonate evaporated, and the 

 measurement of their positions in comparison with a conspicuous 

 titanium line, which lies between them, and was made to show 

 at the same time by introducing a fragment of titanic oxide into 

 the crucible, gave for this sodium pair the wave-lengths 4667, 

 4664. The red pair, wavelengths 6160, 6154, were also seen 



reversed in like manner, but the authors failed to detect any 

 difference in the strength or continuance of the dark lines in this 

 case. The reversals of the red pair first ceased to be visible, 

 next those of the diffuse blue pair, then the dark lines in the 

 green pair, and then those in the yellowish green (5687, 5681). 

 In some cases when a large quantity of sodium carbonate was 

 put into the crucible a curious double reversal occurred. In the 

 middle of an enormous dark expansion of D a bright yellow- 

 band appeared, which in turn had a narrower dark band, or a 

 pair of dark lines, in its middle. A similar double reversal of 

 the lithium blue line occurred so far as to show a bright line in 

 the middle of the dark one. Of the two violet lines of potas- 

 sium the authors observed that the more refrangible remained 

 reversed longer than the other. 



In addition to the reversals of calcium lines before observed 

 by them, the authors have noticed the reversal of all the more 

 conspicuous calcium lines of the G group and some others. The 

 finer lines, wave lengths 4434-3, 4454"5, slightly less refrangible 

 than the strong lines 4434, 4454, were reversed, but only when 

 one of the poles was a bar of iron, instead of carbon. The 

 strong lines just mentioned were expanded so as to cover their 

 neighbours, and all four lines were seen black against the bright 

 background in the positions and of the same relative strengths 

 as when bright. 



When strontium chloride was put into the crucible twelve lines 

 besides those before noted were observed reversed. Besides 

 these, many dark bands were observed in the less refrangible 

 part of the spectrum, of which three appear to be identical with 

 bright bands ascribed to strontia, and one with a bright line given 

 by strontium chloride. 



Manganese, introduced as sulphate, gave with facility the 

 violet triplet, as dark lines on the continuous background. The 

 bright blue lines of manganese were not, however, reversed until 

 some metallic magnesium was introduced. This brought out 

 the reversal of the lines, wavelengths 4753, 4783, and 4823, 

 the last being the most easily reversed of the three. 



Lead introduced in the metallic state gave a reversal of the 

 violet line, wave-length 4058, which Cornu had previously seen 

 reversed, but this reversal was far better seen, becoming a wide 

 black band when the lead was introduced as an alloy with zinc. 

 Probably the lead vapour was not so rapidly oxidised when 

 mixed with zinc, and a thicker, if less dense, stratum interposed 

 between the arc and the spectroscope. When lead ferrocyanide 

 was u-ed, not only the line above mentioned was reversed, but 

 also, much less strongly, a line near it, wave-length 4062. 



With zinc, only the less refrangible two of the three bright 

 blue lines were seen reversed. The very bright lines, wave- 

 lengths 4924, 491 1, seen in the spark between zinc poles, were 

 not seen at all in the arc, resembling in this respect the mag- 

 nesium line, wave-length 4481, and the cadmium lines, wave- 

 lengths 5377, 5336. 



When cadmium was put into the crucible the lines, wave- 

 length 5085, 4799, and 4677 were reversed, not the line, wave- 

 length 4415. With a large dose of cadmium the red line, wave- 

 length 643S, was once seen reversed for an instant only. 



With silver, besides the reversals before observed by the 

 authors, the line, wave-length 4053, showed a dark line in the 

 middle of its expansion as noticed by Mr. Lockyer, but they 

 could see no reversal of the line, wave-length 420S. Instead of 

 the reversal of this line they observed that a second bright line 

 came out close to it, rather diffuse, and about midway between 

 the line 4208 and the calcium line 4215. This second line 

 coming out near the other silver line gave the appearance of a 

 reversal in the middle of a diffuse line, but besides the measure- 

 ments made with a micrometer the authors assured themselves of 

 the fact by watching the fading of the second line as the silver 

 evaporated. The use of an alloy of zinc with silver did not 

 alter the appearance of these two lines, or bring out a reversal of 

 either of them. The authors failed to see any line of silver either 

 bright or reversed with wave-length about 4240, as noticed by 

 Cornu. With the carbons arranged vertically and the light 

 viewed through the upper, perforated carbon, silver gave a chan- 

 nelled spectrum as described by Lockyer and Roberts. As this 

 channelled spectrum was not seen with silver in any other 

 arrangement of the crucibles, the authors are led to attribute it to 

 a comparatively cool condition of the silver vapour ascending 

 the carbon tube, a condition of near approach to a state of 

 liquefaction. 



Having observed that lines frequently came out with mixtures 

 which were not visible when the separate ingredients were used, 

 they tried a few amalagms. None of these showed any reversals 



