742 



SGIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 48. 



tive of benzene sulphonamide as a reagent for 

 bromine and iodine, in the place of chlorine 

 water. When metallic bromides or iodides are 

 decomposed by this substance, in the presence 

 of carbon disiilphide or chloroform, the solvents 

 are colored, as they are when chlorine water is 

 used. The substance is very stable and the re- 

 action is extremely delicate. 

 , Kremers has studied the effects of solvents 

 upon the rotatory power of limonene. In some 

 cases, as the dilution increases, the rotatory 

 power of the limionene diminishes. He also 

 found that limonene monohydrochloride, when 

 in contact with water in a sealed tube, was 

 slowly charged to terpin hydrate. 



By the action of bromine on metanitraniline, 

 Wheeler obtained a substance in which the 

 bromine is in the ortho position to the amido 

 group. The nitro group influences the substitu- 

 tion in this case, for if aniline is treated with 

 halogens, para and not ortho compounds are 

 obtained. A number of derivatives of metani- 

 traniline were made and studied. A review, of 

 recent articles on the dissociation of electrolytes 

 as determined by experiments on solubility, is 

 contributed by Humphreys. 



J. Elliott Gilpin. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, BIOLOGICAL 

 SECTION, NOVEMBER 11, 1895. 



The following papers were presented: 



Prof. H. F. Osborn: 'A Memorial Tribute to 

 Prof. Thomas H. Huxley.' 



Dr. Bashford Dean : ' Notes of the Ancestral 

 Sharks. ' In this paper Cladoselachids were re- 

 viewed, and for the fir.st time the structural 

 characters of their vertebral skeleton, integu- 

 ment and suspensorium were given ; and to- 

 gether with these features was noted the lack 

 of claspers, shown in a dozen well-preserved 

 ventral fins, as significent of the fertilization 

 conditions of these early sharks. In this re- 

 gard these Lower Carbon forms would corre- 

 spond to the usual ichthyic type (as of Teleos- 

 tome or Luug-flsh). The total absence of a 

 pelvic girdle in these early forms is also signifi- 

 cant. 



Dr. Arnold Graf: 'A Peculiar Growth Char- 



acter in Crepidula.' This papem-ecorded the- 

 adjustment of the shell of the Crepidula to that 

 of a scallop, Pecten, the margin of the shell of 

 the Crepidula conforming exactly to the ridged 

 character of the shell of its host. 



Bashford Dean, 

 Recording Secretary. 



THE TORREY botanical CLUB. , 



At the regular meeting of the Club held on 

 Tuesday evening, November 12. Prof. Emily 

 L. Gregory, Ph. D., of Barnard College, pre- 

 sented an historical sketch of the Theories of the 

 Origin and Nature of the Starch Grain, the rela- 

 tions of our present views concerning the nature' 

 of growth of organized matter to these theories 

 being specially dwelt upon. 



The systematic study of the subject began 

 with Naegeli, and all subsequent contributions 

 were either based upon his conclusions or took- 

 them for the starting point. He recognized the 

 two substances, starch-cellulose and granulose' 

 as composing the starch grain, and described, 

 the phenomena of the appearance and disap- 

 pearance of the latter and the transportation 

 of its substance. He referred its origin to 

 the chlorophyll-grain. Schimper subsequently 

 pointed out the existence of the two other 

 bodies, leucoplastids and chromoplastids and. 

 traced relations between the former and the 

 starch grain. In all work up to and including 

 that of Schimper, the accepted distinctions be-, 

 tween unorganized and organized matter were 

 such that the starch grain was taken as the type 

 of the latter, and Schimper denominated it 

 as crystalloid substance ; that is, one which, ; 

 though really organized, resembles a crystal in 

 some particulars. Observations of the phe- 

 nomena of the starch grain thus became the- 

 basis for theories concerning the growth of 

 organized substances, of which the starch grain' 

 was taken as the type. Recently, however,. 

 Meyer has published a work reviewing the sub-. 

 ject, and demonstrating, apparently, that it Isi 

 not a crystalloid, but a true crystal, hence unor-. 

 ganized ; so that all theories of the growth of 

 organized substance, based on our ideas of the^ 

 starch grain fall, and we must begin to study the 

 subject de novo if Meyer's views are correct. 

 » H. H. RusBY, liec. Sec. 



