SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



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TRANSACTIONS 



Royal Meteorological Society.— The annual 

 meeting of this Society was held on Wednesday even- 

 ing, January 17th, at the Institution of Civil Engi- 

 neers, Great George Street, Westminster, Mr. F. C. 

 Bayard, LL. M., President, in the chair. The Secre- 

 tary read the report of the Council, which showed 

 that the most noteworthy event in connection with 

 the Society had been the removal of the offices and 

 library from 22 Great George Street to new rooms at 

 70 Victoria Street. This step was rendered necessary 

 by the acquisition of the former premises by the 

 Commissioners of Her Majesty's Works and Public 

 Buildings for the erection of new Government offices. 

 Mr. F. Campbell Bayard in his presidential address 

 ■discussed the meteorological observations made at 

 the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, during the fifty- 

 one years 1848-1898, and brought out in a novel way 

 many interesting features in the variability of the 

 various observations of the barometer, maximum and 

 minimum temperatures, relative humidity, direction 

 of the wind and rainfall. These were shown in a 

 diagrammatic form on the screen by means of a 

 number of lantern slides. The address was also 

 illustrated by various views of the Royal Observatory 

 and of the instruments employed. Mr. G. J. Symons, 

 F.R.S., was elected President for the ensuing year. 



The South London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society. — Dec. 14th, Dr. 

 Chapman, F. L.S., Vice-President, in the chair. 

 Mr. Robson exhibited a bred series of unusually 

 large specimens of Dianthoecia irregularis, from 

 Luddenham. Major Ficklin, a specimen of D. 

 luteago, v. ficklini, which he presented to the 

 Society's collection. Mr. Lucas, a specimen of 

 Somatochlora metallica, a rare dragonfly taken by 

 Mr. C. A. Briggs, and presented by him to the 

 Society's collection. Mr. Adkin, examples of 

 Crambus geniculeus taken in his garden, of a much 

 less robust appearance and with very faintly indi- 

 cated markings. Mr. Edwards, long series of the 

 following species of Erebia taken by himself in the 

 neighbourhood of Firsio, the Simplon and Ma- 

 cugnaga, E. ceto, E. lappona, E. goante, E. tyndarus, 



E. eitryale, E. flavofasciata, E. mclampus, E. 

 ■epip/iron, E. mnestra, and a few specimens of E. 

 ligca, E. pronoe, E. medusa, and E. gorge. Mr. 



F. M. B. Carr, a series of insects taken at sugar, 

 including two Cosstis ligniperda, and about a dozen 

 Macrogaster ariuidinis from Wicken. Mr. J. F. 

 Carrington (the editor of Science-Gossip) then 

 gave an address on the subject, " Meteorites." 

 Jan. nth, Mr. A. Harrison, F.L.S., president, in 

 the chair. — Mr. Buckstone exhibited larvae of 

 Tripliaena fimbria, some of a light form and some 

 of a dark form, and read notes on their growth, 

 mortality, and pupation. Mr. Turner, (1) a specimen 

 of Periplaneta americaita from the Zoological Gar 

 dens ; (2) a var. of Melanippe fluctuata, with the 

 central band only represented by a narrow costal 

 fascia ; (3) a specimen of Abraxas grossulariata, 

 with a large black spot surrounded by a white ring, 



outside of which the black was nearly continuous ; 

 (4) a dried cactaceous plant, Echinocactus cornigei its. 

 Mr. Lucas, several lantern-slides of well-known 

 scenery in the neighbourhood of Esher. Mr. F. 

 Clarke exhibited a large number of very admirable 

 photomicrographic slides of insect anatomy, including 

 a long series of Orgyia antiqua, antennae of various 

 orders, a few of tongues, feet, &c, a curious water 

 hymenopteron, numerous ova of various species of 

 lepidoptera, a few desmids, and living examples of 

 Argulus foliaceus, the parasite of the stickleback. — 

 Hy. J. Turner, Hon. Report Sec. 



Geological Society. December 20th, 1899, 

 W. Whitaker, F.R.S., President, in the chair. — 

 Dr. P. L. Sclater exhibited a large diagram of a 

 new bore lately made for the Zoological Society of 

 London, in the bottom of the old well in the Society's 

 Gardens, Regent's Park. The section was a valuable 

 addition to the literature of the water-supply from 

 wells in the surrounding district. — On some effects 

 of earth-movement on the Carboniferous volcanic 

 rocks of the Isle of Man, by G. W. Lamplugh 

 (communicated by permission of the Director-General 

 of the Geological Survey). The author, since the 

 completion of his survey of the Isle of Man, has 

 studied the coast-section in the Carboniferous volcanic 

 series between Castleton Bay and Poolvash, with the 

 result that he has discovered evidence that the strata 

 have undergone much deformation in pre-Triassic 

 times. In the western part of the outcrop the 

 volcanic material consists almost wholly of tuff, in 

 places bedded and fossiliferous ; in the eastern part 

 exists a chaotic mass of coarse and fine fragmental 

 volcanic material, traversed by ridges of basaltic 

 rock and containing entangled patches of dark lime- 

 stone. The author now considers that the larger 

 lenticles and most of the smaller blocks of limestone 

 have been torn up from the underlying limestone- 

 floor during a sliding forward or overthrusting of 

 the volcanic series upon it. The phenomena de- 

 scribed may be explained as the effects of earth- 

 movement on a group of rocks consisting of lime- 

 stone passing up into tuff, interbedded with lava- 

 flows, and possibly traversed by sills or dykes of 

 basaltic rock. The results of the disturbance ap- 

 pear to be limited vertically and horizontally, 

 and to have been determined by the differential 

 resistance of the component rocks. Analogous 

 features occur in the Borrowdale volcanic series and 

 in the Silurian volcanic rocks of Portraine. The 

 President, after congratulating the author on his 

 paper, read the following extract from a letter that he 

 had received from Sir Archibald Geikie, who was 

 unable to be present : " Having been twice with Mr. 

 Lamplugh over the ground which he describes, the 

 second time quite recently, since his present views as 

 to earth-movement were formed and matured, I am 

 glad to bear my testimony to the exhaustive care 

 which he has expended on the research. I agree 

 with him on the main point — that there is conclusive 

 evidence of considerable earth-movement since the 

 deposition of the carboniferous volcanic rocks at the 

 southern end of the Isle of Man. He seems to me 

 to have established this point beyond dispute." — The 

 zonal classification of the Wenlock shales of the 

 Welsh borderland, by Miss Gertrude L. Elles. This 

 paper deals with the Wenlock rocks of Builth, the 

 Long Mountain, and the Dee Valley. The results 

 obtained by the author completely confirm the work 

 of Tullberg on the Wenlock shales of Southern 

 Sweden. In the discussion which followed, Professor 

 C. Lapworth pointed out the extreme interest of this 



