SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
' Scientife and Technical’ Societies. 
LINNEAN SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 
At the September meeting the following papers were read:— 5 
1. The Chemical Examination of Macrozamia spiralis, by James M. Petrie, 
D.Se., F.1.C., Linnean Macleay Fellow of the Society in Biochemistry. 
Macrozamia spiralis has been regarded asa poisonous plant from the earliest 
days of the State, and a complete summary of its poisonous record is 
given. In the leaves the following constituents were identified: —Formic, acetic, 
valerianic, and laurie acids; oleic, stearic, and higher fatty acids: a volatile 
essential oil; a phytosterol; a paraflin with the properties of triacontane and an 
olefine having the properties of octodecylene. The nuts contained 39 per cént. 
of starch and much mucilage. In feeding experiments, white rats were given, 
with their ordinary food, (1) crushed fresh leaves, (2) grated seeds, (3) the 
rich, fatty, and resinous components extracted from the leaves by ether, and 
(4) aqueous extracts of the leaves and the seeds. The animals showed no signs 
of being affected after feeding for three weeks. , 
2. Two new Hymenoptera of the superfamily Proctotrypidw from Australia, 
by Alan P. Dodd. (Communicated by W. W. Froggatt, '.L.8.) 
A new genus is proposed in the family Diapriidw, and a new species of 
Prosoxylabis (Belytidw), the former being a primary parasite of the sheep- 
maggot flies. 
3. The Geology and Petrology of the Great Serpentine Belt of New South 
Wales. Part IX. The Geology, Paleontology, and Petrography of the 
Currabubula- District, with notes on adjacent Regions. By Professor 
W. N. Benson, D.Se., F.G.S., W. 8. Dun, and W. R. Browne, B.Sc., 
Section C, Petrography (W. R. Browne). — 
The extrusive rocks comprise keratophyric tuffs of the Burindi and Kut- 
tung series, with which are interbedded soda rhyolite flows and tuffs and basalt. 
The Werrie series consists of very decomposed basalts, occasionally slagey. 
Invading these and also the underlying Kuttung and Burindi beds. is an im- 
mense series of sills and dykes comprising quartz keratophyre, quartz trachyte, 
quartz latite, andesite, lamprophyre, normal and albite dolerite, teschenite and 
basalt. Attention is drawn to the peculiar association of calcie and alkaline 
rock-types linked by intermediate types and evidently derived from a common 
stock magma. Though the dominant rocks in this area are intrusive, and those 
in the Paterson, Seaham, and Pokolbin districts are effusive, the petrographical 
similarity of the Carboniferous igneous rocks in the two districts is most 
marked. ; 
4. Descriptions of new species of Australian Coleoptera. Part XVI. By 
Arthur M. Lea, F.E.S. j 
Nineteen species and one variety of Ditropidus, 3 species of Hlaphodes, and 
3 species of Canobius are described as new. In addition, notes on synonymy, 
&e., partly the result of examination of some of Macleay’s and Ollifl’s types 
_from the Australian Museum, are given for 71 species belonging to 22 genera. 
; ROYAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
At the September meeting the following papers were read:— 
1, “ Autoelastie, Intraformational, Enterolithic, and Desiccation Brececias 
and Conglomerates,” by Professor Walter Howchin. 
; The paper dealt with the literature of the subject and the numerous terms 
that were in use relating to the phenomena. A classification was suggested 
under two main headings, based on their respective origins, viz.: I. Syngenetic. 
(Deformation contemporaneous with deposition.) II. Haogenetic. (Deforma- 
tions that occur subsequent to deposition.) Some South Australian examples — 
were exhibited and described. ; 
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