594 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Oct. 12, I £ 



&fojs;tract$ 

 of ^aperg, ilecture*, etc* 



SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS. 

 At a meeting held on October ist, Mr. A. T. Walmisley, 

 president, in the chair, a paper was read on " Light 

 Railways," by Mr. William Lawford, M. Inst. C.E. 



The paper first drew attention to the fact that the sub- 

 ject was not a new one, having been brought before 

 other scientific bodies about twenty years ago, and also 

 that since that period very little appeared to have been 

 done with Light Railways, in this country at least, and 

 that amongst those that had been constructed, few, if 

 any, had proved commercially successful. The author 

 endeavoured to show the reasons for this, and contended 

 that up to the present time they had scarcely had fair 

 play shown them, and that greater facilities for construc- 

 tion should be granted by Act of Parliament. He then 

 showed that, comparatively speaking, the so-called 

 " Railways Construction Facilities Act " was not made 

 much use of; the ordinary Act of Parliament, notwith- 

 standing its additional cost, being evidently preferred. 



The development of steam tramways and road rail- 

 ways was then brought forward, and the term " Light 

 Railways" properly defined, and the latter was exem- 

 plified by a description of the Wotton Tramway con- 

 structed for the Duke of Buckingham and opened for 

 traffic in 187 1. 



The author next introduced the subject of break of 

 gauge, as many light railways have been made on a less 

 than the normal gauge of this country, which necessarily 

 involved a break of gauge ; this was exemplified in the 

 case of the Festiniog Railway, which has a two feet 

 gauge; and the opinions of some engineers of eminence 

 were given on the gauge question. 



The suggestions of the Report of the Commission on 

 the Depression of Trade was shown to have some bear- 

 ing on this question, from the fact that Light Railways 

 or steam tramways would be the means of greatly 

 assisting the transport of agricultural produce generally, 

 so as to bring it rapidly and cheaply to market, the 

 assumption being that such districts as those alluded to 

 might bear the expense of making and working a Light 

 Railway, whilst the population was too sparse and too 

 widely scattered to support a railway of heavy or ordi- 

 nary construction. 



Certain light railways in Russia, known as the 

 "Maltzeff" railways, were alluded to, but all that is 

 known of them is that their cost is barely one-fifth per 

 mile of the ordinary heavy lines in that country, and 

 that they pay an annual surplus profit of 3J per cent, on 

 the cost of construction. 



The conclusions arrived at were that if light railways 

 can be made to pay their promoters in other countries, 

 why should they not do so in this ? And the author 

 gave it as his decided opinion they had not yet had fair 

 play accorded to them. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

 At the meeting held October 3rd, Mr. Poulton exhi- 

 bited a larva of Smerinthns ocelatus feeding on nut- 

 leaves. He finds that if the larva of this species has 

 lived for some time upon willow leaves it will starve 

 rather than eat nut leaves. But if it finds itself upon 

 nut leaves, on emerging from the egg it accepts the 



strange food. Mr. Poulton showed the importance of 

 this principle in accounting for the spread of moths and 

 butterflies in new countries. 



Major Elwes exhibited an interesting collection of 

 butterflies captured this summer on a journey from 

 Mexico to California. Many of the specimens were 

 rare, and some probably new to science. He discussed 

 the phenomena of seasonal and climatic di- or poly- 

 morphism. In the very difficult genus Colias (" clouded 

 yellows ") he gave an instance of two apparently distinct 

 forms obtained from the same brood of eggs, both being 

 unlike the parents. The speaker recommended the 

 eastern side of the Rocky Mountains up as far as the 

 60th parallel of latitude as a happy hunting ground for 

 entomologists, which is by no means thoroughly ex- 

 plored. 



Among the exhibits were a damaged specimen of 

 Daphnis Merit (the oleander hawk-moth) found in a street 

 of • Burton-on-Trent, a collection of Longicornes from 

 New Guinea, and a huge moth sent by Mr. Oliffe, of the 

 Sydney Museum. This species has the fore-wings re- 

 sembling those of a Satumia, whilst the hind wings 

 approach those of Hepiolus. The female of the species 

 measures 10 in. across the wings. 



Mr. Poulton read a very suggestive page on the onto- 

 geny of the larvae of Sphinx convolvuli and Aglia tail, 

 which have never before been closely examined in their 

 earlier stages. The most important point established was 

 that Aglia tail has very remarkable affinities with the 

 Sphingidce, and connects the latter family through the 

 Satumia group to the Bombyces. 



Falmouth Naturalist Society. — The annual meeting 

 of this Society was held on Tuesday, 2nd Oct., the pre- 

 sident, Mr. Howard Fox, occupied the chair. The 

 hon. secretary, in the annual report, said that there was 

 much cause for gratification, on the completion of this 

 the first year of the society's existence, although little 

 practical work had been done, yet there was every 

 reason to believe that what had been done would prove 

 of value and be productive, of good results. During the 

 session ten papers had been read before the society, includ- 

 ing " Some Notes on British Plants," by Rev. A. R. Eagar, 

 B.D. ; " Cragside, Northumberland," by Mr. Howard Fox, 

 F.G. ; " Conchology," by Rev. C. Crawshaw ; " Sun 

 Spots," by Rev. Wm. Rogers, M.A. ; " Seven Days in 

 the Bermudas," by Mr. F. J. Stephens ; " Persecuted 

 Birds.— I. The Owl," by Mr. H. C. Oakshott ; " Bees, 

 and Bee Keeping," by Mr. John Gedge, jun. ; "Dragon 

 Fies," by Mr. W. H. Bath, of Birmingham. During the 

 session twelve ordinary and six field meetings had been 

 held, all of which had proved very successful, and were 

 well attended. The financial state of the Society was 

 very satisfactory, a balance of several pounds being in 

 hand. The Rev. A. R. Eagar, B.D., was elected President 

 for the next session ; Messrs. A. Pendarves Vivian, 

 F.G.S., W. L. Fox, F.R. Met. Soc, and Howard Fox, 

 F.G.S., were elected vice-presidents. A long discussion 

 followed as to the best means of increasing the useful- 

 ness of the society, and many valuable suggestions were 

 made. It was resolved that a conversazione should be 

 held in the Town Hall on Tuesday 23rd inst. A large 

 number of microscopes, collections of specimens, curio- 

 sities, etc., had been lent, and the meeting hoped that it 

 would prove successful. The first ordinary meeting for 

 the session will be held on Monday 15th inst., when the 

 Rev. A. R. Eagar will read an opening address. 



