448 



Prof. A. Wurtz. 



[Mar. 30, 



II. " Description of the Fossil Tusk of an extinct Proboscidian 

 Mammal (Noteleplxas australis, Ow.), from Queensland, 

 Australia." By Professor Owen, C.B., F.R.S., &c. Received 

 March 21, 1882. 



(Abstract.) 



The author, after referring to the notice of the finding of a molar 

 tooth of a mastodon, in Australia, by Count Strzelecki, in his 

 " Physical Description of New South Wales," p. 312, proceeds to the 

 details of the first evidence of a proboscidian mammal which has 

 reached him from that continent since the date (1845) of the Count's 

 work. This evidence consists of portions of a tusk indicative of an 

 elephantine animal, somewhat less than the existing ones of Asia and 

 Africa. The evidences of the ivory nature of the tusk are given in 

 detail, including the minute characters of that variety of dentine. 

 Figures of the fossil and of the microscopical sections accompany the 

 paper. 



The specimen was discovered by Mr. Fred. H*. Isaac, in a " drift- 

 deposit of a ravine in a district of Darling Downs, sixty miles to the 

 eastward of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia." 



III. " Action of Ethylene Chlorhydrin upon the Bases of the 

 Pyridine Series and on Quinoline/' By Professor Adolph 

 Wurtz, For. Mem. R.S. Received March 17, 1882. 



According to the constitution which is generally attributed to the 

 bases of the pyridine series, they must be considered as tertiary bases, 

 their nitrogen being united to the carbon by three atomicities. The 

 action which alcoholic iodides exert upon these bases, as shown 

 by Hofmann, confirms this idea, which is equally applicable to 

 quinoline. I thought that the reaction of glycol chlorhydrin and 

 similar compounds upon the pyridine bases and upon quinoline should 

 produce oxygenated quaternary bases. It is known, in fact, that such 

 a base, neurine, results from the action of ethylene chlorhydrin upon 

 trimethylamine. The beautiful results which Ladenburg obtained 

 recently by the reaction of chlorhydrin upon secondary bases are 

 well known. He is still continuing these researches to the great 

 profit of science. I myself, entering again on a line of researches 

 which I had formally traced, will describe the results obtained by in- 

 vestigations undertaken in the direction indicated, with the pyridine 

 bases and quinoline. 



I had two specimens of collidine at my disposal, presenting the 



