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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Royal Institution. — A general monthly meet- 

 ing of the Members of the Royal Institution was 

 held on the 3rd December. Sir James Critchton- 

 Browne presiding. The following gentlemen were 

 elected members. The Rev. J. O. Bevan, Messrs. 

 H. T. Brown, F.R.S., H. S. Keating, G. Lindo, 

 S. Morse, E. Steinkopff, G. J. Stoney, F.R.S., 

 C. L. Tuckey, M.D.. A. E. Western, C. Wightman, 

 and G. W. Wolff, M. P. The special thanks of the 

 members were returned to Mr. Ludwig Mond and 

 Dr. William S. Playfair for donations towards the 

 fund for the Promotion of Experimental Research 

 at Low Temperatures. The following lecture 

 arrangements were announced: Professor J. A. 

 Fleming, F.R.S., six lectures (adapted to a juvenile 

 auditory] on " The Work of an Electric Current " ; 

 Professor Charles Stewart, twelve lectures on 

 " The Internal Framework of Plants and Animals " ; 

 Mr. William Samuel Lilly, four lectures on "The 

 English Humourists of the Nineteenth Century " ; 

 Mr. L. Fletcher, F.R.S., three lectures on 

 "Meteorites"; Dr. Samuel Rawson Gardiner, 

 three lectures on " Three Periods of Seventeenth 

 Century History" — (1) The Monarch} 7 ; (2) The 

 Commonwealth ; (3) The Restoration. Dr. E. B. 

 Tyler, F.R.S., two lectures on "Animism"; Mr. 

 Lewis F. Day, three lectures on " Stained Glass 

 Windows and Painted Glass from the point of view 

 of Art and Craftmanship " ; Dr. A. C. Mackenzie, 

 three lectures on " Music, " with musical illustrations ; 

 The Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, six lectures. The 

 Friday evening meetings will commence on January 

 18th, when Professor Dewar will deliver a discourse 

 on "Phosphorescence and Photographic Action of 

 the Temperature of Boiling Liquid Air." Succeed- 

 ing discourses will probably be given by Sir Colin 

 Scott-Moncrieff, Mr. Henry Irving, Dr. G. Sims 

 Woodhead, Mr. Clinton T. Dent, Professor A. 

 Schuster, Professor A. W. Riicker, Professor 

 Roberts- Austen, Professor H. E. Armstrong, The 

 Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, and other gentlemen. 



Royal Meteorological Society. — The monthly 

 meeting of this Society w : as held on Wednesday 

 evening, the 19th inst., at the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, Great George Street, Westminster, Mr 

 R. Inwards, F.R.A.S., President, in the chair. 

 Twenty-six new Fellows were elected. Mr. H. 

 Southall, F.R. Met. Soc, read a paper on " Floods 

 in the West Midlands," in which he gave an 

 interesting account of the great floods which have 

 occurred in the rivers Severn, Wye, Usk and Avon. 

 He has collected a valuable record of the floods on 

 the Wye, at Ross, which he arranges in three 

 classes, viz. : — (1) primary or highest of all, those 

 of 14 feet 6 inches, and above ; (2) secondary, those 

 with a height of 12 to 14^ feet ; and (3) tertiary, 

 those with a height of 10 to 12 feet. The dates of 

 the floods above 14 feet 6 inches are as follows : — 

 1770, November 16th and 18th ; 1795, February 

 11th and 12th ; 1809, January 27th ; 1824, Novem- 

 ber 24th; 1831, February 10th ; 1852, February 

 8th and November 12th. The height of the recent 

 flood on November 15th, 1894, was 14 feet 3 inches, 



which was higher than any flood since November, 

 1852. The flood on the Avon, at Bath, on 

 November 15th, 1894, is believed to have been 

 the highest on record. Mr. R. H. Scott, F.R.S., 

 gave an account of the proceedings of the Inter- 

 national Meteorological Committee, at Upsala in 

 August last, with special reference to their recom- 

 mendations on the classification of clouds and the 

 issue of a cloud atlas. A paper by Mr. S. C. Knott 

 was also read, giving the results of meteorological 

 observations made at Mojanga, Madagascar, during 

 1892 to 1894. 



The South London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society.— 22nd November, 

 Mr. E. Step, President, in the chair. Mr. Barrett 

 exhibited on behalf of Mr. Sydney Webb, of Dover, 

 a grand series of varieties of Arctia villica, varying 

 from one with very few black markings to one 

 almost wholly suffused with black. Also, on behalf 

 of Major Still, specimens of Lepidoptera taken on 

 Dartmoor this year to show the apparent influence 

 of the extreme humidity, among them being a black 

 example of Plusia gamma, a deep-toned Cidana 

 siterata, with a green marginal border on the hind 

 wong, a much suffused black form of Polyommatus 

 phlceas, and dark vars. of Pararge megcera, and 

 P. egeria. Mr. R. Adkin, on behalf of "Mr. R. E. 

 Dillon, a number of Irish lepidoptera, including 

 Taniocampa gothica, var. gothicina, a red var. of 

 T. gracilis, a dark specimen of Aphcta nebulosa, and 

 an almost black Boarmia repandata. Mr. Tutt, a 

 large number of Rhopalocera captured near 

 Aix-les-Bains on August 22nd, including Lencophasia 

 sinapis, Colias edusa, C. hyale, Saiyvus arethusa, and 

 vars. S. briscis, with a very fine var., Erebia cethiops, 

 and several of the genera Argynnis, Lycana, and 

 Melitcea, and he read notes on them ; also specimens 

 of Lyccena agon, and L. argus, asking if anyone 

 could point out satisfactory differentiating charac- 

 ters. A discussion ensued. Mr. Fremlin, a fine 

 specimen of Chcerocampa celerio, captured at the 

 S. Foreland lighthouse on August 12th, 1894. 

 Mr. Mansbridge, two bred series of Selenia bilunaria, 

 from Horsforth and York, including a few juliaria, 

 Haw. One female had only the central band 

 developed. Mr. Moore, Pieris daplidice, from Blois. 

 Mr. Tutt read a paper entitled, " Zygcena transal- 

 pina, Esp., and its varieties," and exhibited a large 

 number of specimens, one being set to show the 

 curious tufts of feather scales, said to be scent 

 glands, which exist at the anal cavity. Mr. Adkin 

 read a paper entitled " Reflections upon odd 

 Rambles upon the Sussex Downs," and exhibited 

 a number of specimens captured near Eastbourne 

 during his holiday there. A discussion ensued 

 on the various habits Rhopalocera have for 

 effectually concealing themselves. Mr. Tutt re- 

 ferred to Erebia tyndarus, Esp., which drops down, 

 falls over sidways and so wriggles on the cow- 

 paths of the High Alps until it reaches some 

 overhanging tuft of grass under which it rests. — 



Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. 

 — A meeting was held at the Library, on 27th 

 November, the President (Dr. Plowright) in the 

 chair. Mr. W. G. Clarke, of Thetford, read a 

 paper on "Norfolk Flint Implements.' After 

 referring to the great antiquity of man, and the 

 comparatively recent dawn of civilisation when 

 compared with the great pre-historic period which 

 embraces the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, and 

 part of the Iron ages, the different divisions were 

 reviewed separately. When primeval man roamed 

 the land, he found the necessity for weapons and 



