Jan. I, 1880] 



NATURE 



219 



nitrogen, by W. II. Perkin. The author proposes to sub- 

 stitute for the freshly reduced metallic copper, which has 

 disadvantages (such as being hydroscopic, occluding 

 iron, &c), roughly powdered or granulated potassic chromate. 

 About 4 to 7 inches of this substance are placed in the front of 

 the combustion tube and maintained at a low red heat. All 

 nitrous fumes are completely absorbed, whilst no effect is 

 produced on the carbonic acid determination. The salt can be 

 readily dried. It also absorbs sulphurous acid completely. 



Linnean Society, » December 18, 1879. — Prof. Allman, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. B. Daydon Jackson ex- 

 hibited series of the various editions of Dillenius's " Historia 

 Muscorum," Oxford, 1741, and its reprint, Edinburgh, 181 1, in 

 illustration of the following communication. — The Rev. J. M. 

 Crombic read a paper on the lichens of Dillenius's "Historia 

 Muscorum," as illustrated by his herbarium. This latter collec- 

 tion is preserved in the Botanic Gardens at Oxford, and the 

 specimens, though well nigh 150 years old, are still in a fair 

 state of preservation. The intrinsic value of Dillenius's material 

 rests in the fact of the earlier writers on cryptogamic botany 

 referring constantly, in their synonomy and nomenclature, to 

 his description, ; hence the importance of an accurate knowledge 

 of the collection, to judge from a present standard, in how far 

 his descriptions and figures agree with the specimens themselves. 

 No systematic examination has hitherto been made, though some 

 old writers have compared certain of the forms. While the 

 Dillenian lichens identified are, as a whole, now found to bear 

 considerable accuracy with his descriptions and figures, yet 

 serious mistakes have crept in. Mr. Crombie gives technical 

 data and details of the series, and adds a conspectus for refer- 

 ence to workers on lichens who have not Dillenius's volumes 

 and figures at hand. — Prof. Allman then gave a description of 

 what appears to be true sense-organs in the hydroids. In one 

 form the organ in question is a bulb, with rod-like structures 

 and a series of radiating filaments. These latter terminate in 

 conical bodies containing filaments which resemble thread-cells, 

 though differing physiologically. Another form is met with in 

 a Medusa (Gemmetlaria), where free, club-topped filaments con- 

 stantly in motion are attached to the tentacles, and possess 

 sacs with thread-cells, but incapable of being exserted. Prof. 

 Allman suggests the term Podocysts for these, and says, from his 

 observations in Myriothela and other genera, they have a wide 

 extension among the bydroids. — Mr. H. Seebohm was elected a 

 Fellow of the Society, and Messrs. A. D. Bartlett (Zool. Gard.), 

 N. E. Brown (Kew Herb.), and F. H. Waterhouse (Librarian, 

 Z.S.) were balloted for and elected Associates. 



Entomological Society, December 3, 1S79. — J. W. Dunning, 

 F.L.S., vice-president, in the chair. — Mr. Howard Vaughan 

 exhibited a series of extreme varieties of Lye,ata corydon 

 which had been taken at Dover. — Mr. W. L. Distant exhibited a 

 hitherto unrecorded variety of Sanctis plexippns (commonly 

 known as D. archippus) received from Antigua. — Mr. T. R. 

 Billaps exhibited some rare British beetles, and a specimen of 

 Caiabus auratus taken in the Borough Market. — Mr. C. O. 

 Waterhouse communicated some interesting details as to tenacity 

 cf life in Curculio dconus. — The Rev. H. S. Gorham read a 

 paper entitled " Materials for a Revision of the Lampyrida:." 

 Mr. Bates, in connection with the light-emitting power of this 

 family, remarked that certain species of Longicoms mimicked 

 Lampyrids with great exactness, the light-giving segments of the 

 latter being perfectly represented in the Longicorns, although 

 destitute of phosphorescent power. — Mr. J. W. Slater com- 

 municated a paper on certain minute characters of insects with 

 reference to the theory of evolution. — A communication was 

 received from Mr. P. H. Gosse, on Papilia humerus, its ovum 

 and larva, and a paper from Mr. Roland Trimen, on some 

 hitherto undetermined butterflies inhabiting Southern Africa. 



Geological Society, December 17, 1879. — Henry Clifton 

 Sorby, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — James Booth, Edgar S. 

 Cobbold, D. M. Ford Gaskin, John Farran Penrose, Stephen 

 Seal, Thomas Tate, and Richard Taylor were elected Fellows 

 of the Society. — The following communications were read: — A 

 contribution to the physical history of the cretaceous flints, by 

 Surgeon-Major G. C. Wallich, M.D. The author described the 

 origin, the mode of formation, and the cause of the stratification 

 of the chalk flints. Taking as the basis of his conclusions the 

 fact brought to notice by him in i860, namely, that the whole 

 of the protozoan life at the sea-bed is strictly limited to the im- 

 mediate surface-layer of the muddy deposits, he pointed out in 



detail the successive stages of the flint-formation, from the period 

 when the chief portion of the silica of which they are composed, 

 was eliminated from the ocean-water by the deep-sea sponges 

 to the period when it became consolidated in layers or sheets 

 conforming to the stratification of the chalk. In relation to this 

 subject the author claimed to have su;taincd the following con- 

 clusions : — 1. That the silica of the flints is derived mainly from 

 the sponge-beds and sponge-fields, which exist in immense pro- 

 fusion over the areas occupied by the globigerine or calcareous 

 "ooze." 2. That the deep-sea sponges, with their environment 

 of protoplasmic matter, constitute by far the most important and 

 essential factors in the production and stratification of the flints. 

 3. That whereas nearly the whole of the carbonate of lime, 

 derived partly from foraininifera and other organisms that have 

 lived and died at the bottom, and partly from such as have sub- 

 sided to the bottom only after death, goes to build up the cal- 

 careous stratum, nearly the whole of the silica, whether derived 

 from the deep sea sponges or from surface protozoa, goes ta 

 form the flints. 4. That the sponges are the only really im- 

 portant contributors to the flint-formation that live and die at the 

 sea-bed. 5. That the flints are just as much an organic product 

 as the chalk itself. 6. That the stratification of the flint is 

 the immedia'e result of all sessile protozoan life being confined 

 to the superficial layer of the muddy deposits. 7. That the sub- 

 stance which received the name of " Fathybitts," and was de- 

 clared to be an independent living Moneron, is, in reality, 

 sponge-protoplasm. S. That no valid tithobgical distinction 

 exists between the chalk and the calcareous mud of the Atlantic, 

 and/;v lanto, therefore, the calcareous mud may be, and in all 

 probabilityas, "a continuation of the chalk-formation." — Unde- 

 scribed fossil carnivora from the Sivalik Hills, in the collection 

 of the British Museum, by P. N. Bose. This communication 

 contained descriptions of nine species of carnivora from the 

 ossiferous Sivahks, together with an introduction, in wliich the 

 age of the Sivalik fauna, and several matters of general interest, 

 were briefly discussed. The species described were : Mai 

 sivalensis, M. palsindictts, Felisgrandieristata, Hyasna sivalmsit, 

 H. feliua, Viverra baherii, Luira paheindiea, Cains ettrvi- 

 palattts, and C. catttleyi. Cams cttrvipalattts is so named on 

 account of the curvation of the palate. C. cautleyi is closely 

 allied to the wolf, as is Viverra bakerii to the civet. The form 

 of the forehead is peculiar m'Ztilra pahcindica. In the form of 

 the skull, the dimensions of the upper tubercular, &c., Flyccna 

 sivalensis approximates to the living Indian hyaena (H. striata) ; 

 but, in the absence or extremely rudimentary character of the 

 postero-internal cusp in the lower carnassial, as well as in the 

 entire absence of the anterior accessory cusps in the upper and 

 the first two lower premolars, the Sivalik species comes closer to 

 H. crocuta. U. felina differs from all other species of hyaena, 

 living or extinct, in the absence of the upper premolar I. Felt's 

 grandUristata, which was of about the same size as some of the 

 larger varieties of the Royal Tiger, had the sagittal crest 

 even more prominent than the F. cristata of Falconer and 

 Cautley. Machesrodus sivalensis was of about the same size as 

 the jaguar. One of the specimens, on which this species is 

 based, shows two molars in the deciduous dentition instead of 

 three (as in the genus Felts). M. palrindieits was considerably 

 larger than It. sivalensis. Both differ from all other known 

 species of Machsrodus in the form of the lower jaw, &c. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, December 15, 1S79.— M. Daubre'e 

 in the chair. — The following papers were read : — On ?ome 

 applications of elliptic functions, by M. Hermite.— Re 

 on the substance designated hydride of copper, by M, I 

 The amorphous substance precipitated in the reaction 

 phosphorous acid with sulphate of copper is not a true hydriJe ; it 

 contains constitutional water, oxygen, and phosphorus in con- 

 siderable quantity. — On the cold of December and its influence 

 on the temperature of the snow-covered ground, by MM. Bec- 

 querel. Snow alone does not preserve the bodies it covers from 

 frost. It acts, indeed, as a screen, preventing radiation, and 

 gives water at 0°, which filters through the ground; but under 

 o° it undergoes, like other bodies, by its conductivity, variations 

 of temperature, and may transmit them, attenuated much, how- 

 ever, by reason of its thickness. But the presence of straw or 

 the like under the snow may preserve organic bodies in the 

 ground.— M. Pasteur stated that the bacteridium of anthrax, 

 and the organism which produces the cholera of fowls, could 

 both resist a temperature of 40° below zero.— On the variations of 



