80 
The Queensland Naturalist January, 1938 
THE ORIGIN OF THE ELECTRIC POTENTIALS OF 
ORGANISMS IN IRON ; ELECTRO-MAGNETIC 
PHENOMENA AS THE COMMON BASIS OF THE 
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND OF THE LIFE 
SCIENCES. 
The above is the title of a paper and is the seventh 
of a series by Mr. W. D. Francis, of Brisbane, dealing 
with the functions of iron in the generation and mainten- 
ance of life. The paper, like some of the earlier ones, has 
been published privately by the author. An electric and 
magnetic interpretation of chromosome movements is put 
forward on the basis of the spiral structure of chromo- 
somes and their similarity to the short solenoids of ex- 
perimental physics. The author concludes that function 
and structure in the organic world are extensions of force 
and matter in the inorganic world. It is pleasant to note 
that this extremely important biological work linking the 
inorganic with the organic world is receiving some atten- 
tion abroad. Our best wishes go out to the author for the 
successful continuance of his experiments. 
LIFE HISTORY OF HEMIODOECUS YE ITCH I 
(Family Peloridiidae) . 
A paper of considerable interest to Australian 
naturalists was published in the “ Annals and Magazine of 
Natural History” of May, 1937, on the above subject by 
Messrs. I. W. Helmsing and \V. E. China. The insect is 
one of the small family Peloridiidae, which contains three 
genera, most of the species very imperfectly known. The 
present species was first discovered in Australia by Mr. 
H. Hacker, and named by him after Mr. R, Veitch. In 
October, 1933, Mr. I. W. Helmsing, who had illustrated 
Mr. Hacker’s description of Hemiodoecus veitch t, was 
spending his vacation in the MacPherson Range studying 
bird life. Finding himself in the neighbourhood of the 
Antarctic Beeches ( Nothofagus Moorei ), he was tempted 
to search for Hemiodoecus , and was successful in captur- 
ing 17 specimens in twenty minutes. Further specimens 
were collected later, including males and nymphs, which 
had not previously been known. The paper deals exhaust- 
ively with the life-history of the insect, and is copiously 
illustrated by excellent photographs and line and wash 
drawings. 
