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of nature? John Locke had furnished them with the solution true civitas Dei-in which every man's faculty was such as to allow him to control all those desires which ran counter to the good of mankind, and cherish those only which would benefit the welfare of the whole of society, and which every man felt as sufficiently true to enable him to know what he ought to do. Society as now constituted consisted of a considerable number of the foolish and the ignorant-a small proportion of good genuine knaves and a sprinkling of capable and honest men, by whose efforts the former were kept in a reasonable restraint. Such being the case, he could not see how the limit could be laid down as to the question which, under some circumstances, the action of Government might be rightfully carried on, The question was where they ought to draw the line between those things which a State ought to do, and which they ought not to do. The difficulty which met the statesmen was the same as that which met all of them in individual life. Moore and Owen, and all the great modern Socialists, bear witness that Government might attain its end for the good of the people by some more effectual process than the very simple and easy one of letting all matters of enterprise alone. He thought that the science of politics was but imperfectly known; and that perhaps they would be able to get clearer notions of what a State might or might not do, if they estimated the truth of the proposition, that the end of government is the good of mankind. It was necessary to consider a little what the good of mankind really was. The good of mankind meant the admission of every man to all the happiness which he could enjoy without diminishing the happiness of his fellow men. Having dwelt at some length on this point, Mr. Huxley went on to say that it was universally agreed that it would be useless to admit the freedom of sympathy between man and man directly; but he could see no reason why the State might not do many things towards that end indirectly. He was not going to argue that there should be a State science, or a State organisation, such as they had seen in France, by which all scientific teaching was to be properly regulated. On the contrary, the State had left local enterprise to work out its own ends as soon as local intelligence and energy proved itself equal to the task. These local efforts not only benefited the localities; but every means of teaching, every stimulus given to intellectual life was so much positively added to the wealth and welfare of the nation, and as such deserved some equivalent modicum of support from the general purse. But if the positive advancement of the peace, wealth, and intellectual and moral development of its members were the objects which the representative of the corporate authority of society, the Government, might justly strive after in the fulfilment of its end, which was the good of mankind, then it was clear that the Government might undertake the education of the people, for education promoted peace by teaching men the realities of life, and the obligations which were involved in the very existence of society; and promoted the intellectual development, not only by training the individual intellect, but by sifting out from the mass of ordinary or inferior capacities those which were competent to increase the general welfare by occupying higher positions; and lastly, it promoted morality and refinement by teaching men to discipline themselves, and leading them to see that the highest, as it was the only permanent, content was to be attained not by groveling in the rank stream of the foulest sense, but by continually striving towards those higher peaks where, resting in eternal calm, reason discerned the undefined but bright ideal of the highest good, "a cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night."

ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE PALEOZOIC CRINOIDS*

THE best known living representatives of the Echinoderm

class Crinoidea are the genera Antedon and Pentacrinusthe former the feather stars, tolerably common in all seas; the latter the stalked sea-lilies, whose only ascertained habitat, until lately, was the deeper portion of the sea of the Antilles, whence they were rarely recovered by being accidentally entangled on fishing-lines. Within the last few years Mr. Robert Damon, the well-known dealer in natural history objects in Weymouth, has procured a considerable number of specimens of the two West Indian Pentacrini, and Dr. Carpenter and the author had an opportunity of making very detailed observations both on the

* Abstract of a paper read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, by Prof. Wyville Thomson, April 3, 1871.

hard and the soft parts. These observations will shortly be published.

The genera Antedon and Pentacrinus resemble one another in all essential particulars of internal structure. The great distinction between them is, that while Antedon swims freely in the water, and anchors itself at will by means of a set of "dorsal cirri," Pentacrinus is attached to a jointed stem, which is either permanently fixed to some foreign body, or, as in the case of a fine species procured off the coast of Portugal during the cruise of the Porcupine in the summer of 1870, loosely rooted by a whorl of terminal cirri in soft mud. Setting aside the stalk, in Antedon and Pentacrinus the body consists of a rounded central disc and ten or more pinnated arms. A ciliated groove runs along the "oral" or "ventral" surface of the pinnules and arms, and these tributary brachial grooves gradually coalescing, terminate in five radial grooves, which end in an oral opening, usually subcentral, sometimes very excentric. The oesophagus, stomach, and intestine coil round a central axis, formed of dense connective tissue, apparently continuous with the stroma of the ovary, and of involutions of the perivisceral membrane; and the intestine ends in an anal tube, which opens excentrically in one of the inter-radial spaces, and usually projects considerably above the surface of the disc. The contents of the stomach are found uniformly to consist of a pulp composed of particles of organic matter, the shields of diatoms, and the shells of minute foraminifera. The mode of nutrition may be readily observed in Antedon, which will live for months in a tank. The animal rests attached by its dorsal c'rri. with its arms expanded like the petals of a full-blown flower. A current of sea water, bearing organic particles, is carried by the cilia along the brachial grooves into the mouth, the water is exhausted of its assimilable matter in the alimentary canal, and is finally ejected at the anal orifice. The length and direction of the anal tube prevent the exhausted water and the focal matter from returning at once into the ciliated passages.

In the probably extinct family Cyathocrinidae, and notably in the genus Cyathocrinus, which the author took as the type of the Paleozoic group, the so-called Crinoidea Tessellata, the arrangement, up to a certain point, is much the same. There is a widely-expanded crown of branching arms, deeply grooved, which doubtless performed the same functions as the grooved arms of Pentacrinus; but the grooves stop short at the edge of the disc, and there is no central opening, the only visible apertures being a tube, sometimes of extreme length, rising from the surface of the disc in one of the inter-radial spaces, which is usually greatly enlarged for its accommodation by the intercalation of additional perisomatic plates, and a small tunnel-like opening through the perisom of the edge of the disc opposite the base of each of the arms, in continuation of the groove of the arm. The functions of these openings, and the mode of nutrition of the crinoid having this structure, have been the subject of much controversy.

The author had lately had an opportunity of examining some very remarkable specimens of Cyathocrinus arthriticus, procured by Mr. Charles Ketley from the upper Silurians of Wenlock, and a number of wonderfully perfect examples of species of the genera Actinocrinus, Platycrinus, and others, for which he was indebted to the liberality of Mr. Charles Wachsmuth, of Burlington, Ohio, and Mr. Sidney Lyon, of Jeffersonville, Indiana; and he had also had the advantage of studying photographs of plates, showing the internal structure of fossil crinoids, about to be published by Messrs. Meek and Worthen, State Geologists for Illinois. A careful examination of all these, taken in connection with the description by Prof. Lovén, of Hyponome Sarsii, a recent crinoid lately procured from Torres Strait, had led him to the following general conclusions.

In accordance with the views of Dr. Schultze, Dr. Lütken, and Messrs. Meek and Worthen, he regarded the proboscis of the tesselated crinoids as the anal tube, corresponding in every respect with the anal tube in Antedon and Pentacrinus, and he maintained the opinion which he formerly published (Edin. New Phil. Jour. Jan. 1861), that the valvular "pyramid" of the Cystideans is also the anus. The true mouth in the tesselated crinoids is an internal opening vaulted over by the plates of the perisom, and situated in the axis of the radial system more or less in advance of the anal tube, in the position assigned by Mr. Billings to his "ambulacral opening," Five, ten, or more openings round the edge of the disc lead into channels continuous with the grooves on the ventral surface of the arms, either covered over like the mouth by perisomatic plates, the inner surface of which they more or less impress, and supported beneath by chains

of ossicles; or, in rare cases (Amphoracrinus), tunnelled in the substance of the greatly thickened walls of the vault. These internal passages, usually reduced in number to five by uniting with one another, pass into the internal mouth, into which they doubtless lead the current from the ciliated brachial grooves.

In connection with different species of Platyceras with various crinoids, over whose anal openings they fix themselves, moulding the edges of their shells to the form of shell of the crinoid, is a case of "commensalism," in which the mollusc takes advantage for nutrition and respiration of the current passing through the alimentary canal of the echinoderm. Hyponome Sarsii appears, from Prof. Loven's description, to be a true crinoid, closely allied to Antedon, and does not seem in any way to resemble the Cystideans. It has, however, precisely the same arrangement as to its internal radial vessels and mouth which we find in the older crinoids. It bears the same structural relation to Antedon which Extracrinus bears to Pentacrinus.

Some examples of different tesselated crinoids from the Burlington limestone, most of them procured by Mr. Wachsmuth, and described by Messrs. Meek and Worthen, show a very remarkable convoluted plate, somewhat in form like the shell of a Scaphander, placed vertically in the centre of the cup, in the position occupied by the fibrous axis or columella in Pentacrinus and Antedon. Mr. Billings, the distinguished palæontologist to the Survey of Canada, in a very valuable paper on the structure of the Crinoidea, Cystidea, and Blastoidea (Silliman's Journal, January 1870), advocates the view that the plate is connected with the apparatus of respiration, and that it is homologous with the pectinated rhombs of Cystideans, the tube apparatus of Pen. tremites, and the sand-canal of Asterids. Messrs. Meek and Worthen and Dr. Lütken, on the other hand, regard it as associated in some way with the alimentary canal and the function of nutrition.

The author strongly supported the latter opinion. The perivisceral membrane in Antedon and Pentacrinus already alluded to, which lines the whole calyx, and whose involutions, supporting the coils of the alimentary canal, contribute to the formation of the central columella, is crowded with miliary grains and small plates of carbonate of line; and a very slight modification would convert the whole into a delicate fenestrated calcareous plate. Some of the specimens in Mr. Wachsmuth's collection show the open reticulated tissue of the central coil continuous over the whole of the interior of the calyx, and rising on the walls of the vault, thus following almost exactly the course of the perivisceral membrane in the recent forms. In all likelihood, therefore, the internal calcareous network in the crinoids, whether rising into a convoluted plate or lining the cavity of the crinoid head, is simply a calcified condition of the perivisceral sac.

The author was inclined to agree with Mr. Rofe and Mr. Billings in attributing the functions of respiration to the pectinated rhombs of the Cystideans and the tube apparatus of the Blastoids. He did not see, however, that any equivalent arrangement was either necessary or probable in the crinoids with expanded arms, in which the provisions for respiration, in the form of tubular tentacles and respiratory films and lobes over the whole extent of the arins and pinnules, are so elaborate and complete.

ON THE RELATION OF AURORAS TO GRAVITATING CURRENTS*

PROF. LOOMIS'S observations of the number of Auroras in each month of 1869 and 1870 (American Journal of Science, 3rd S., i. 309) are specially noteworthy, both because of the careful accuracy of the observer, and because they are the first published observations which furnish satisfactory data for an approximate determination of the laws of auroral distribution.

If the auroras are, as is now generally believed, luminous manifestations of terrestrial magnetism, it seems reasonable to look to them for some additional evidence upon the question of the relation between magnetic and gravitating currents. Messrs. Baxendeli and Bloxam have already pointed out some resemblances between hyetal and magnetic curves (see Proc. A. P. S., x. 368) and if analogous resemblances can be traced between hyetal and auroral curves, they will be interesting and suggestive. I have not found the similarity between the annual distribution of rainfalls and auroras sufficiently striking to impress any

* Read before the American Philosophical Society, May 5, 1871, by Pliny Earle Chase.

one who has not made a special study of the causes of resemblance and difference. But, as I have repeatedly urged, currents are subject to an increased number of disguising disturbances, in proportion to the sluggishness of their motion, and the time which is consequently required for their formation and change. We may very reasonably look for analogies between the daily and the annual auroral or magnetic curves, of a character for which we could hope to find no parallel in wind, rain, or ocean current curves.

If we desire, therefore, to find evidence of the joint influence of solar expansion and gravitating equilibrium, we should look where it is most likely to be found, and to the best of the obser vations which may be supposed to be fairly comparable. There are similar variations of solar attitude, and consequently increasing and diminishing solar force, in the day and in the year, but the effects of these variations upon the precipitation of vapour are more likely to be shown in their greatest simplicity by the means of observations at different hours of the day than at different seasons of the year. I know of no published observations of this character at New Haven, but there are some extending over a long series of years at Philadelphia and at Greenwich, the curves at each station indicating minima of rainfall at noon and midnight, and maxima in the morning and evening. The difference of longitude between Philadelphia and New Haven being less than 24, it is not likely that there is any material difference in the daily rain-curves at the two places.

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In order to make the curves fairly comparable, both in regard to the times and the magnitudes of deviation, I treated the auroral observations in the same manner as those of rainfall (Proc. A. P. S, x. 526). Both in the magnetic and in the hyetal phenomena, the greatest effects accompany the greatest atmospheric changes. But in the magnetic disturbances the principal maxima occur in the spring of the year and the morning of the day, while the general evaporation is increasing; whereas, in the daily rains at Philadelphia, the principal maximum occurs in the afternoon, when evaporation is diminishing. I have, therefore, compared the midwinter ordinate of the auroral with the noon ordinate of the rain curve, and the midsummer auroral with the midnight hyetal ordinate.

The auroral observations and the normal ordinates of the ac

companying curves are given in the following table. I presume no one will doubt that the condensation of vapour, which is represented by the rain-curve, is occasioned by the simple operation of gravitation in blending currents of different temperatures, and I see no reason for postulating any different law for the development of electricity and magnetism in the aurora.

Comparative Table of Auroras and Rainfalls

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a minute account of the structure and mode of formation of the sperm-ropes of the river Annelids.-In the July number an exceedingly valuable memoir by Dr. Van Beneden appears "On the Development of a Species of Gregarina," which he described last year (also in the Journal). It appears that the Gregarinæ exhibit a young stage when they are devoid of nuclens, and have great activity and worm-like form; to this stage Dr. Van Beneden applies the name pseudo-filarian.-In the same number Mr. Sorby gives an elaborate paper on the colouring matters of leaves, which has an appropriate place in a journal devoted to microscopy, since it is only by the micro-spectroscope that many of those colouring matters can be studied on account of their small quantity, and, further, since the application of such methods of analysis to histology as the micro-spectroscope affords is of the very highest importance.-Various points relating to the instrument itself are discussed in these three parts by Dr. Royston Pigott, who figures his aplanatic searcher and its results on the Podura scale; by Messrs. Dudgeon, Newton, aud others, who describe new apparatus.-Mr. Moseley gives accounts of how to use gold chloride and silver nitrate in histological research, and how best to prepare and cut sections of the frog's egg for embryological study. The original paper by Dr. Nitzsche, of Leipzig (illustrated), on the reproduction of the Bryozoa, and the reply to Mr. Hincks, are important, and on a very curious point. It is, however, to the chronicles and notes which we would especially call attention as of service to biological students. Long abstracts of all the important papers published in the German

cuts; thus we have Neuman on the origin of the red blood corpucles, Kranse on connective tissue, Flemming on fatty tissue, Schöbl on the bat's wing and mouse's ear, Pflüger on the method. of demonstrating nerve-endings in the liver and other glands, Exner on the Schneiderian membrane, Cienkowski on the sporogonia of Noctiluca, and many other such.

IN the Journal of Botany for October, Dr. Braithwaite continues his Recent Additions to our Moss Flora. Mr. R. Tucker gives some Notes on the now well-defined Flora of the Isle of Wight; and Dr. Moore Notes on some Irish Plants. Mr. F. Stratton contributes an article on Monotropa hypopitys, confirming the statement of other recent observers that this plant is not truly parasitic. The remainder of the number is occupied by short notes, reviews, reports, and reprints.

Jahrbuch der kaiserlich-königlichen geologischen Reichsanstalt. Vol. xvi. No. I. (Vienna.) The first paper in this part of the Jahrbuch is one by Prof. Kreuz, "Das Vihorlat-Gutin-Trachytgebirge." This is one of those painstaking lithological papers which are less commonly met with in our own scientific journals than one could wish. The author has carefully examined under the microscope the trachytic rocks of the Vihorlat-periodicals are to be found-in some cases illustrated by woodGutin mountains of North-eastern Hungary, a range which stretches from north-west to south-east in the same direction as the Carpathian Sandstones. He groups the rocks under three divisions :-(1) Augite andesite; (2) Sanidine-oligoclase-trachyte; (3) Breccias and Tuffs; and his descriptions of the two former are particularly full and interesting. The breccias and tuffs are necessarily less susceptible of clear concise description; they appear to vary as much and in as short a space as similar volcanic accumulations elsewhere.-Prof. Koch, of Ofen, contributes "Beitrag zur Kentniss der geognostischen Beschaffenheit des Urdniker Gebirges," an isolated little mountain range, which stretches between the Danube and the Save in East Sclavonia. He describes the Tertiary strata he examined in his last visit to that district as being grouped round the foot of the hills. beds are of marine, fresh, and brackish-water origin. does not determine their exact geological horizon, but gives lists of the fossils he obtained. The paper concludes with an account of a mass of sanidine-trachyte, which the author believes to be of Tertiary age. -A paper on Aulococeras Fr. V. Hauer, by Dr. Edm. von Mosjsisores, is illustrated with four lithographic plates. This and the following paper "On the Tertiary Formation of the Vienna Basin," by Theodor Fuchs and Felix Karrer we recommend to the attention of our paleontologists. Fuchs' and Karrer's paper is most elaborate, and contains copious lists of fossils which, besides being interesting in themselves, are useful for purposes of comparison. The Jahrbuch concludes with "Studien aus dem Salinargebiete Siebenbürgens," by F. Posepny; this, however, is only the second part of the paper, the first part having been published so far back as 1867. These saliferous regions are described in considerable detail, and numerous chemical analyses are given. A map, and sections. &c., accompany the paper. We should mention that the Jahrbuch includes obituary notices of two former members of the Institute, the well-known Wilhelm Haidinger, and Urban Schloenbach, an enthusiastic palæontologist and geologist who was cut off at the early age of thirty-one.

THE three numbers of the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science of the present year contain a number of valuable original contributions to science, besides transactions, chronicles of the progress of histology and micro-zoology, and various reviews and short notes and memoranda. In the January number Prof. Allman describes a new mode of reproduction by fission in a new hydroid polyp, which he figures in a plate.-Haeckel's researches on the nature of Coccoliths and Bathybius are noticed at length, and the remarkable Radiolarian Myxobrachia is figured in a tinted plate.-Mr. Archer, of Dublin, to whose researches published in the same journal in 1869 we owe our knowledge of a most beautiful and interesting group of fresh water Protista-the Heliozoa-contributes to the April number a further account of new fresh water rhizopods, illustrated with two coloured plates.—In the same number Mr. Moseley figures and describes the nerves of the cornea, and Mr. Lankester gives

THE Scottish Naturalist for October opens with a timely reprint of an extract from Mr. Patrick Matthew's work on Naval Timber, published in 1831, and referred to in Darwin's "Origin of Species," in which he distinctly enunciates the theory that "circumstance and species have grown up together," or that new species have arisen from old species adapting themselves to altered circumstances. The most important original articles in the number are: The Baleens, or Whalebone Whales of the North-east of Scotland, by Mr. R. Walker; Notes on the Tetraonide of Perthshire, by Mr. R. Paton; On the Altitudes attained by Certain Plants (varying from those already recorded), by Dr. F. Buchanan White; and On Scottish Galls, by Mr. J. W. H. Traill.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
PARIS

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Academy of Sciences, October 2.--M. C. Jorden read a mathematical paper "On the Classification of Primary Groups.' Two papers on subjects connected with physics were read, one by M. A. Cornu, "On the Determination of the Velocity of Light," in which he suggests an improvement in the method proposed by Fizeau for this purpose, and a note by M. G. Salet on the Spectra of Tin and its components, which he describes as the most singular he has ever seen.— -On astronomical subjects several communications were made.-M. Chasles replied to a statement made by M. Bertrand at a previous meeting with regard to Aboul Wéfa's method of calculating the position of the moon. M. Yvon Villareau communicated a long paper, full of mathemati cal formulæ, "On the Determination of the true Figure of the Earth, without the necessity of actual levellings."-M. D. launay read a note on the two recently discovered planets, Nos. 116 and 117, in which he indicated that the planet discovered at Versailles by M. Borelly, and named Lomia, must be numbered 117, as the planet discovered by M. Luther two days afterwards had been previously detected in America by Mr. C. H. F. Peters.—

Letters on these planets by MM. Luther and Peters were also communicated by M. Leverrier, and M. Delaunay presented a determination of the orbit of Lomia by M. Tis erand.-The same gentleman a note on the nebule discovered by M. Stephan at Marseilles, and a note by M. Loewy on a new equatorial instrument. The latter is mounted like a transit instrument, but its body is bent at a right angle, and the images are carried to the eye of the observer by means of prisms or mirrors. The advantage, according to the author, is that the observer can carry on his investigations without changing his place, and that the necessity for an expensive revolving dome is done away with. -A fourth letter from Father Secchi, on the protuberances and other remarkable portions of the surface of the sun, was read. It contains a classification of the phenomena in question, and notices the chromosphere, protuberances, and clouds. Of the second several kinds are described.-M. de Fonvielle presented the programme of an intended balloon-ascent for the purpose of noticing the meteors of November 1871, and MM. Regnault and Elie de Beaumont made some remarks upon the same subject. A letter was read from M. A. Poey on the law of similar evolution of meteorological phenomena, in which he indicates the existence of a connection between the periodicity of meteorological phenomena and the diurnal and annual movements of the earth.M. G. Lemoine presented a second part of his investigation of the reciprocal transformation of the two allotropic states of phosphorus, and M. Berthelot a second part of his researches upon ammoniacal salts. In the latter the author treats of the compounds of ammonia with boracic and carbonic acids. A paper was read by M. C. Mène, giving numerous analyses of clays belonging to the carboniferous formation.-The tables of meteorological observations made at the Paris Observatory during the month of September was also communicated to the meeting.

October 9.-M. Bertrand presented a note by M. Painvin on the determination of the rays of a curve at any point of a surface defined by its tangential equation. -M. P. A. Favre read a continuation of his thermic investigations upon voltaic energy, in which he gives the results obtained by him in experiments with batteries containing fuming nitric acid, permanganic and sulphuric acids mixed, and hypochlorous acid. In connection with this subject, M. F. Le Blanc also presented a note on the energy of piles with two liquids. In a note on the most economical arrangements of voltaic batteries with regard to their polar electrodes, M. T. Du Moncel discusses the question of the desirability of reducing the size of the positive electrode.M. Ruhmkorff described an arrangement for obtaining an exceedingly intense induced magneto-electric current. Several astronomical papers were read, and among them a notice by M. Faye of the history and present state of the theory of comets, in which he contends for the existence of a repulsive force (solar repulsion) manifested in the phenomena of comets.-M. Delaunay announced that M. Stephan had observed Encke's comet at Marseilles on the night of the 8-9th October. In searching for this comet M. Stephan had discovered some new nebula.-M. Bertrand presented a reply to the remarks made by M. Chasles at the last meeting of the Academy on the determination of the position of the moon by Aboul Wéfa, and MM. Leverrier and Chasles remarked upon the desirability of searching the Oriental libraries for the astronomical writings of that author.-M. Delaunay communicated a note by M. Tisserand containing the determination of the orbit of the planet No. 116 (discovered by Mr. C. H. F. Peters) -M. Laugier presented a paper by M. Pagel, containing observations of the determination of the magnetic needle made at the Observatory of Toulon since the year 1866.-M. Roux presented an investigation of the artesian water of Rochefort, which comes up from a depth of nearly 857 metres. He gave a detailed analysis of the mineral contents of this water, and noticed the temperatures observed at various depths during the boring, which were considerably in excess of those recorded at Grenelle.-M. Billebault forwarded a note on the employment of gas-tar in the treatment of diseases of the vine, and especially against Phylloxera vastatrix. The destruction of this insect was also the subject of notes by MM. Peyrat and Deleuze.-M. E. Duclaux presented a note on a means of causing at will the hatching of silkworm eggs, which consists in exposing the eggs for a certain time to the action of cold.-In a note on the time which elapses between the excitation of the electric nerve of the torpedo and the discharge of its apparatus, M. Marey described some experiments made by him, from which it would appear that the nervous action is transmitted rather more slowly in the electric

nerve than in the motor nerve of a muscle.-M. H. Sainte-Claire Deville communicated a note by M. A. Sanson on the theory of the early completion of the bones, in which the author replied to an objection to his theory made by a German writer. PHILADELPHIA

Academy of Natural Sciences, February 6.-The Presi dent, Dr. Ruschenberger, in the chair. Prof. Leidy stated that he had recently received a small collection of fossils for examination from Prof. J. D. Whitney, who obtained them from California.

canus.

The specimens are as follows:- A fragment of an inferior molar, apparently of Mastodon ameriOf this specimen Prof. Whitney remarks that it was obtained from a depth of 80 feet beneath the basaltic lava of Table Mountain, Tuolumne County, Cal., where it was found in association with remains of human art. A much worn lower molar of a large horse, probably the Equus pacificus, from 16 feet on Gorden Gulch. The triturating surface of the crown measures 13 lines fore and aft, and 10 lines transversely, inclusive of the cementum. ing to the accompanying label, were obtained 350 feet below the Two equine molar teeth, which, accordsurface, at Soulsbyville, Tuolumne County, Cal. One is an unworn upper back molar, apparently of a species of Protohippus. only slightly from within outward. It is moderately curved from behind forward and downward, but It is 21 lines long in a straight line. Its greatest breadth above the middle, fore and aft, is nearly 9 lines; its thickness about 7 lines. The other tooth is a lower molar, about one-third worn, probably of the same species. The triturating surface is 10 lines fore and aft, and nearly 7 transversely. Two teeth labelled "Found ten feet below the surface at Dry Creek, near Bear Creek, Mercer County, Cal." One of the specimens appears to be the portion of a canine tooth, and the other is an incisor. They resemble in form the. corresponding teeth of the lama, and probably belong to a species of the same genus. The incisor is about 1 inch in length; the crown externally is 11 lines long and 44 lines wide.

March 7.-The President, Dr. Ruschenberger, in the chair. Mr. Thomas Meehan referred to some observations he made b fore the Academy last autumn in regard to a peculiar storing up of turpentine in the common insect, Reduvius novenarius. Since then entomologists had been investigating the use for which this turpentine was employed, without success. He was now able to report that it was for the purpose of fastening its eggs on the branches of trees, and for sticking them together; also, in probability, as a means of protection against enemies and the weather. The eggs of the Reduvius were inserted in groups, and each set upright one against another with the turpentine, like the cell in a honeycomb. It had hitherto been supposed by entomologists that the matter used for this purpose was a secretion of the insect itself; but so far as he could judge by the senses, the matter used was merely turpentine, and no doubt the turpentine he had ol served the insect storing up in the fall.-Mr. Meehan exhibited some flowers of the common Bouvardia leiantha of the greenhouses, and of the hardy Deutzia gracilis, and referred to his papers, published a few years ago in the Proceedings of the Academy, on practical diccism in the trailing Arbutus (Epigen repens) and Mitchella repens, in which he pointed out that these plants, though apparently hermaphrodite, had the stamens and pistils of different characters in separate plants, and were, therefore, subject to the laws of cross-fertilisation as indicated by Darwin. He had had his attention called to the Bouvardia by Mr. Tatnall, of Wilmington, Del, as furnishing a similar instance to that of Epigaa and Mitchella, to the same natural order as which, the Cinchoneous division of Rubiacea, the Bouvardia belonged. These had some plants with the pistils exserted, while in others only the stamens were visible at the mouth of the corolla tube. Mr. Tatnall had not had the matter suggested to him early enough to say that it was so in all cases; but he believed that these flowers, which practically might be termed pistillate and staminate, were found entirely on separate plants. This is a very important fact, as the Bouvardia is not raised from seeds in greenhouses, but from cuttings of the roots, and, therefore, all these plants with separate sexes must have been produced from one original individual, without the intervention of seed, and thus confirm the position advanced in a previous paper of the speaker on "Bud Variations," namely, that variations in form, and, by logical inference, new species, may arise without seminal intervention. In the specimens of Deutzia gracilis were two forms of flowers on the same plant. Besides the large ones with stamens and pistils appa rently perfect, there were numerous small flowers in which the

petals were only partially developed. The filaments were entirely wanting, but the anthers were as perfect, if not larger than in what we should call the perfect flowers. Any one could see that these small flowers were the result of deficient nutriment, and would be apt to pass the matter over with this simple reflection; but he wished to emphasise the fact that this defective nutrition rendered the female organs inoperative, while the male organs were still able to exercise their functions; thus affording another instance, if any more be needed, of the truth of his theory of sex, namely, that with defective nutrition, the female sex is the first to disappear, and that only under the highest conditions of vitality is the female sex formed. In the case of the Bouvardia a similar law was seen. The most vigorous stems, or, as they would technically be called, woody axes, produced the female flowers.-Prof. Cope made some observations on a Batrachian of the coal measures, Sauropleura remex, Cope. A specimen more perfect than the type recently obtained by Prof. Newberry exhibited posterior limbs such as has been ascribed to the S. pectinata. The vertebræ posterior to this point were perfectly preserved, and supported the remarkable processes to the end.

March 21.-Dr. Carson, vice-president, in the chair.-Prof. Leidy made the following remarks on Tania mediocanellata. Recently, one of our ablest and most respected practitioners of medicine submitted to my examination a tapeworm which had been discharged from a young man, after the use of the Aspidium filix-mas. The physician, in giving an account of the case, stated that he had previously treated the patient for another affection, in which raw-beef sandwiches had been prescribed for food.

After looking at the worm, I remarked that it appeared to be the Tania mediocanellata, a species which I had not before seen, and added that the patient had probably become infected from a larva swallowed with the raw-beef sandwiches. The specimen consisted of the greater part of the worm, broken into several pieces. Including some lost portions, it was estimated to have been upwards of thirty feet in length. Unfortunately, the head proved to be absent; but, so far as characters could be obtained from the specimen, in the form of the segments, position of the genital orifices, and the condition of the ovaries, it agreed with the description given of T. mediocanellata, rather than with T. solium. From a want of acquaintance with the former, I did not feel entirely satisfied that the specimen actually belonged to that species. Subsequently, my friend brought to me the anterior part of the body, probably, of the same individual tapeworm. He observed that his patient continuing to complain, he had administered another dose of the male-fern, which was followed by the expulsion of the portion of the worm now presented. The head of the parasite was included, and it confirmed the view that it pertained to the Tenia mediocanellata. The case serves as another caution against the use of raw flesh as food. The description of the worm, as derived from the specimen, is as follows:-The head is white, without pigment. granules, obtusely rounded, unarmed with hooks, and unprovided with a rostellum, but furnished with a minute acetabuliform fovea at the summit. The four acetabula are spherical, and opaque

white. The diameter of the head is three-fourths of a line. The neck, or unsegmented portion of the body immediately succeeding the head, is about four lines long by half a line in breadth. The most anterior indistinctly defined segments of the body, and those inmediately succeeding them, but more distinctly separated, are about one fifth of a line long by two-fifths of a line broad. In a more posterior fragment of the body, the flat and nearly square segments measure half a line long and one line broad, to one-third line long and two-and-a-half lines broad. A succeeding fragment exhibits segments three-and-a-half lines long by four lines broad, and two lines long by five lines broad. Many of the segments in this piece are irregularly separated laterally by deep, wide notches. In a succeeding long portion of the worm, the segments are wider behind than in front, and measure two, five, and three lines long by five lines broad. In a long piece of the posterior part of the worm, the segments are first four lines long and broad; and in the last four feet of the same piece, the segments are clavate in outline, from six to ten lines long, and two and three lines broad. The genital apertures are conspicuous, and are situated behind the middle of the segments. They alternate irregularly. Thus, in the last two feet of the posterior fragment of the worm, the first two segments exhibit the aperture on the left margin; the succeeding segment presents the anomaly of an aperture on both margins; then follow three apertures on the right, next two on the left, then four on the right, then eight alternating in pairs, then one on the left, and

so on. The ovaries are opaque white, and exhibit numerous closely crowded lateral branches. In the absence of pigmentgranules to the head, and in the less robust character of the worm, the specimen differs from T. mediocanellata as described by Küchenmeister. The minute acetabular pit or fovea at the summit of the head is not mentioned by Küchenmeister and subsequent observers as a character of that species. It is a point, however, that might be readily overlooked, especially if the parts of the head are obscured by the presence of pigment-granules.Prof. Cope exhibited a number of fishes from the Amazon above the mouth of the Rio Negro, which included some new and rare forms. Some of the latter were Doras brachiatus, Plecostomus scopularius, Roeboides rubrivertex, Myletes albiscopus, &c. He exhibited a specimen of Pariodon microps, Kner, describing the parasitic habits of Stegophilus and those ascribed to Vandellia. He thought the structure and colouration of the Pariodon indicated similar habits, and that it would be found to be an inhabitant, at times at least, of the cavity of the body of some other animal.

BOOKS RECEIVED

ENGLISH.-Contributions to the Flora of Mentone, Part 4: J. T Moggridge (L. Reeve and Co.). - Words from a Layman's Ministry at Barnard Castle.Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. viii., Parts 1, 2; Vol. ix., Parts 1, 2.

FOREIGN.-Nachtrag zum 6 u. 7 Jahresbericht des Vereins für Erdkunde zu Dresden. (Through Williams and Norgat)-Die feierliche Sitzung der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Wien, 30 Mai, 1871 -Almanach der k Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Wien.-Oefversigt af k. Vetenskaps Akademiens Förhandlingar.

PAMPHLETS RECEIVED

ENGLISH.-Darwinism: Chauncey Wright.-The Cruise of the Norna : Marshal Hall.-The University of Durham College of Medicine, Syllabus for 1871-72.-The College of Physical Science. Newcastle-on-Tyne, Syllabus for 1871-72.-Observations on the Corona: Hercules Ellis.-Flint: M. H. Johnson-The Scottish Naturalist. October-Proceedings of the Meteorological Society, No. 56-The Portfolio, No. 22.-Quarterly Weather Report of the Meteorological Office.-Journal of the Statistical Society for September. On the Faults in Ironstone Seams: R. L. Jack.-The Phoenix, Vol. ii, No. 14. Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, Vol. ii., No. 3 Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society, No. 31.-The Quarterly Journal for Microscopical Science, October.

AMERICAN AND COLONIAL.-On the Influence of the Blue Colour of the Sky in developing Animal and Vegetable Life: Philadelphia.--On the Erzöonal Limestones of Eastern Massachusetts: L. S. Burbank.-On the Caracteristics of the Primary Groups of the Class of Mammals: Dr. Th. Gill. The Canadian Naturalist, Vol. v., No. 4; Vol. vi., No. 1-Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Jan.-June.Extracts from the Proceedings of the Lyceum of Natural History, New York.-Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, No. 7.-The Canadian Entomologist.-The Rural New Yorker, Vol. xxi., Nos. 21-24.

FOREIGN.-Jahrbuch der k. k. geologischen Reichsanstalt zu Wien, 1871, April-June.-Georg Gottfried Gervinus: Emil Lehm inn.-Magazine d'Education et de Recréation, No. 162.-Sur la loi de l'Evolution similaire des Phénomènes Météorologiques: M. A. Poëy.

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Flight of Butterflies.

Velocity of Sound in Coal.-D. JOSEPH

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By Prof. W. STANLEY

LEIGHTON'S LICHEN-FLORA OF GREAT BRITAIN. By Dr. W. LAUDER LINDSAY, F.R.S. E.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

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By Prof.

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Prof. Newcomb and Mr. Stone.-R. A. PROCTOR, F.R,A.S.'
SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITIES.

AN EXPLOSION (?) ON THE SUN. By Prof. C. A. YOUNG.
THE KEA-PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT. BY THOMAS H. POTTS
ON A NEW FORM OF CLOUD. (With Illustration.) By Prof. ANDRE
POEY

EXOGENOUS STRUCTURES AMONGST THE STEMS OF THE COAL MEA-
SURES. (With Illustrations.) By Prof. W. C. WILLIAMSON, F.R.S.
NOTES
SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE FROM AMERICA

PROF. HUXLEY ON THE DUTIES OF THE STATE

ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE PALEOZOIC CRINOIDS.
WYVILLE THOMSON, F. R.S.

ON THE RELATION OF AURORAS TO GRAVITATING CURRENTS. (With
Diagram.)

SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED

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