SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



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Royal Meteorological Society. — The Annual 

 Meeting of this Society was held on Wednesday 

 evening, January 15th, at the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, Mr. R. Inwards, F.R.A.S., President, 

 in the chair. The Report of the Council showed 

 that the Society was in a satisfactory condition, 

 thirty-four new fellows having been elected during 

 the year. Mr. Inwards devoted his Presidential 

 address to the subject of " Meteorological Observa- 

 tions," which he illustrated with numerous lantern- 

 slides. After describing some ancient observatories, 

 including the Nilometers, and the Tower of the 

 Winds at Athens, he gave an account of National 

 Observatories, of which the Royal Observatory, 

 Greenwich, may be taken as a type. High-level 

 observatories were next described, of which that on 

 Mont Blanc was taken as a type. Special reference 

 was also made to the observatory on the Sonnblick, 

 the high-level observatory at Arequipa, on the 

 Andes, and that on Ben Nevis. An account was next 

 given of Tower Observatories, together with some 

 of the results obtained from the Eifel Tower at 

 Paris. Mr. Inwards, in concluding, said : " One can 

 figure to oneself a tower piercing the air from any of 

 the elevated table-lands of this country — Salisbury 

 Plain, the Stray at Harrogate, or the downs 

 between Guildford and Dorking — and from which 

 the most interesting results could not fail to accrue. 

 It is the opinion of M. Vallot, no mean authority, 

 that a high tower is, for air-observing purposes, 

 equivalent to a mountain-station of ten times the 

 altitude ; and this is plain when one considers that 

 any mountain must act as an obstacle which 

 thrusts upward the strata of the atmosphere into 

 a form almost like its own, so that some of the 

 effects are very little different to those observed 

 below ; while a tower like the Eifel Tower thrusts 

 itself in the air without obstructing its movements. 

 It is the boast of the Royal Meteorological Society 

 that it is gradually covering the country with a 

 network of private observing stations, and is col- 

 lecting together, for the enlightenment of all 

 future time, a mass of accurate knowledge on the 

 subject of the changes in our atmosphere, its 

 varying moods, its beating pulses, its calms and its 

 convulsions, so that when the philosopher is born 

 who is destined to unravel all its mysteries, he will 

 have the tools and instruments ready to his 

 hand." Mr. E. Mawley, F.R.M.S., was elected 

 President for the ensuing year. 



The South London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society.— December 12TH, 

 1895; Mr. T. W. Hall, F.E.S., President, in the 

 chair. Mr. Barrett exhibited on behalf of Mr. 

 Brooks, of Rotherham, a long bred series of Bormia 

 repandata, including black forms and forms having 

 the dark markings intensified but not extended ; a 

 series of the grey form of Tephrosia biundularia, 

 both from Rotherham ; and a large number of 

 specimens of Lepidoptera collected near Lake 

 Tanganyika, from November, 1892, to February, 

 1893, including two recently-named species, viz. : 

 Pseudospiris paidiformis and Sapa:a trimeni. It was 

 noted that several species exhibited also occurred 



in Natal. Mr. Carpenter, Tceniocampa munda, 

 T. gothica, T. stabilis, T. incerta, T. pulverulenta, 

 Pachnobia rubricosa, and red T. gracilis, taken at 

 sallow-bloom in his own garden, at Streatham, 

 near London. Colonel Partridge a nearly pure 

 silvery-white Cuaillia absynthii, bred at Portland, 

 Mr. Barrett, on behalf of Dr. Mason, a number of 

 extreme varieties of Lepidoptera, including Agrotis 

 segetum, uniformly pale and destitute of markings, 

 a unicolourous A. corticea, a dark suffused Acronycta 

 alni, a unicolourous pale Noctua augur, extreme dark 

 and light forms of A . lucernea, A . simulans, A . 

 agathina and Ptilophora plumigera, a pair of A . 

 subgothica, and a very large Noctua subrosea. Mr. 

 Adkin, specimens of Hydrcecia micacea, from West- 

 meath, similar in depth of colour to H. petasitis, 

 and also a small Agrotis saucia, having purplish - 

 grey primaries and black-outlined stigmata. Mr. 

 Tunaley, a var. of Lycana corydon, with a wide 

 black border, and another with the black border 

 absent, both from Freshwater ; specimens of Asilus 

 crabroniformis, with L. icarus impaled on their 

 lancets ; and a series of L. corydon, remarkable for 

 the tendency to angularity in the hind wings, taken 

 at Freshwater, also specimens of L. bellargus and 

 L. icarus, showing the same tendency, and con- 

 tributed notes on the peculiarity. M. South, 

 specimens of adipocere of the horse and moth, 

 received from Dr. Knaggs, and read the results of 

 the latter gen tleman's experiments. Mr. Winkley, on 

 behalf of Mr. Montgomery, a large number of 

 bred Colias edusa, and communicated a paper on 

 the exhibit. — January 9TH, 1896; Mr. T. W. 

 Hall, F.E.S., President, in the chair. Mr. 

 Carpenter exhibited a long series of Colias edusa, 

 being a third brood, and bred from ova deposited 

 by a female captured in August, 1895. The 

 last emerged during the third week in Novem- 

 ber. Mr. Mansbridge, a series of Hybemia 

 marginaria, consisting of the typical London 

 forms, and a long series of melanic and variegated 

 forms from York. A long discussion took place 

 on the occurrence of these melanic forms. 

 Remarks were also made on the various forms 

 of Gnophos obscurata, and it was noted that it 

 invariably assimilated to the colour of its local 

 environment. Mr. Adkin, specimens of very 

 strongly marked forms of Hybemia de/oliaria, from 

 Sussex. Mr. Mera, a series of Agriopis aprilina, 

 from Elgin and Sussex. The northern forms 

 possessed very complete bands. Mr. Edwards, 

 Papilio cenea, Stoll., and the three forms of its 

 female, viz., P. cenea, Stoll., P. hippocoon, Fb., and 

 P. trophonius, Westw., with intermediate forms ; 

 the three species of Danaidas mimicked by the 

 above species, viz., Amauris echeria of Stoll., A. 

 dominicanus, Trim., and Danais chrysippus, L. ; the 

 closely allied species, P. meriones, male, from 

 Madagascar, and P. merope, Doub., male and 

 female, from West Africa, with Amauris niavius, 

 which the latter mimicked ; and also Diadema 

 misippus, L., and D. anthedon, Bdv., which mimics 

 D. chrysippus and A. dominicanus respectively. 

 Mr. Hy. J. Turner read a paper on the above 

 exhibit, entitled "Mimicry as exemplified by the 

 South African butterfly, Papilio cenea, Stoll., its 

 varieties and allied species." — Hy. J. Turner (Hon. 

 Report Sec.) 



City of London Entomological and Natural 

 History Society. — The Annual Meeting was held 

 on December 3rd, 1S95. The exhibits were— Mr. 

 Riches, a bred series of Scsia myopecformis from 

 larvae found in the bark of an old apple-tree. He 



