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Here, in conclusion, I may briefly mention an instance of their correct discrimination on the contrary side, clearly showing how well and closely the ancient New-Zealander agreed in his opinion of a plant with the highly civilized scientific visitor already named above, the botanist Forster. Forster named the Coprosma genus from the fetid odour of the first species he discovered in the South Island, which signification he also continued in its specific name, C. fætidissima: this shrub also bears a similar Maori name, hupiro, highly expressive of its very disagreeable smell.

Of their Textile Manufactures.-These were formerly prominent among the great industrial achievements of the Maoris, and always elicited the admiration of their wondering visitors.

I divide them into two great classes-(1) of garments, which were woven; and (2) of threads, cords, lines, and ropes, which were spun.

Nature had given to the Maoris one of her choicest gifts in the well-known flax plant (Phormium), of which there are two ascertained and valid species (P. tenax and P. colensoi), and several varieties. These plants are pretty general throughout New Zealand, and are well known to the Maoris by the common names of harakeke, wharanui, wharariki, and tihoreexcluding those of the many varieties as known to them.1 So that what they may have lost on the one hand through not having the valuable wild edible fruits of other South Sea islands (as the cocoanut, bread-fruit, plantain, &c.) they more than merely gained in their flax plant, which is also common, and almost endemic, being only found outside New Zealand in Norfolk Island.

And here I may briefly mention an anecdote of the flax plant. On my arrival in this country the Maoris (who knew nothing, or very little, of any other land) would often inquire after the vegetable productions of England; and nothing astonished them more than to be told there was no harakeke growing there. On more than one occasion I have heard chiefs say, "How is it possible to live there without it?" also, "I would not dwell in such a land as that." This serves to show how highly they valued it. Moreover, at first and for many years the principal export from New Zealand prepared by the Maoris was the fibre of this plant-all, too, scraped with a broken shell, leaf by leaf.

1. Of their Woven Articles (or Garments).—I do not intend to say much of them in this paper. Many of them are well known, and still to be found in use among the Maoris, but their manufacture has for many years sadly deteriorated: indeed, I have not seen a newly-made first-quality clothing-mat for the last twenty to thirty years, and I very much doubt if such can now be made at all. Not that the art of weaving them has been entirely lost, but the requisite taste, skill, and patience in seeking and carefully preparing and using the several parts (including their dyes) are no longer to be found among the Maoris. I sometimes indulge in a contemplating reminiscence-an idea-a pleasing reverie of the long past-of great gatherings of Maoris, tribes and chiefs; and at such times the figures of some head men I have known, clothed in their handsome, clean, and lustrous dress-mats (kaitaka and aronui), would stand forth in pleasing high relief. The close and regular weaving of such flax dresses, having their silky threads carefully selected as to fineness and uniformity of colour, and their smooth, almost satiny appearance, as if ironed or calendered when worn new, was to me a matter of great satisfaction—a thing to be remembered-"a joy for ever.'

Those best dress-mats were always highly prized, both by Maoris and Europeans, and brought a high price. I well recollect a young lady, daughter of very respectable early English settlers in the Bay of Islands, who, when she came across the inner harbour in a boat with her parents to attend the English Church service on Sunday mornings in the Mission chapel at Paihia, often wore one of them folded as a shawl, and to me it seemed a neat and graceful article of dress.

Three things more in connection with these fine mats I will ust relate: one, the cross-threads in weaving were always of a

be found here in New Zealand, is also used on the Continent of Europe for similar purposes. In some parts of Germany it is dedicated to the Virgin Mary (hence, too, its generic name of Hierochloe sacred grass), and is strewed before the doors of the churches on festival days as the sweet sedge (Acorus calamus) is strewed on the fl or of the cathedral at Norwich for the same purpose at such seasons.

1 Sir James Hector, in his book on the Phormium plants, enumerates fifty-five named varieties; but it is doub.ful whether more than half of that number are permanent ones.

different sort of flax-the weft and the woof of these mats were not both taken from the same kind of flax ; the second, tha extremely soft lustrous appearance was given to the flax-fibre by repeated tawing done at different times-it was a pretty sight to see the various skeins of flax-fibres in their several stages of preparation neatly hung up in the weaving-shed; the third, that in the weaving of one of these garments, if 2 thread showed itself of a different shade of colour, that part of the garment was carefully unravelled to take it out, and to sub stitute another better suited in its stead. It was also from the superior knowledge and close attention to their work that the principal chiefs frequently took women who were clever at making those things to be their wives, in order to secure to themselves their valued manufactures.

They also wove very good and useful floor and bed-mats of unscraped flax-leaves, split into narrow lengths and carefully bleached in the sun-these were very strong and lasting; also baskets and kits of all sizes. Some of them were woven in regular patterns with black (dyed) and uncoloured flax ; others were skilfully and pleasingly semi-damasked (if I may so term it) by changing sides to the flax-leaves used to form the pattern the upper side of the leaf being smooth and shining, the under side not shining and of a glaucous colour. The little kit, or basket, for a first-born child was often a little gem of weaving art, and made by the mother.

Besides the flax plant they had other fibrous plants whose leaves and fibres were also used in making articles of dress: I the toii (Cordyline indivisa), of which they made black everlasting wraps or cloaks. The making of these was confined to the natives of the mountainous interior, where alone those plants grow. (2) The long orange-coloured leaves of the pingao (Desmo schanus spiralis), a prostrate spreading sea-side plant, also afforded them good materials for weaving useful folded belts, which were strong and looked and wore well, and were highly valued. (3) The climbing kiekie (Freycinetia banksii) was also used; likewise the long, slender, and soft leaves of the kahakaha (Astelia banksii, but not frequently. (4) Of the leaves of the common swamp plant raupo bulrush (Typha angustifolia), they formed large sails for their canoes. These leaves the Maoris curiously laced together. (5) I should not omit to mention their flying kites (pakaukau and manuaute), formerly in great esteem among them, and made of the manufactured bark of the aute shrub = paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), which was formerly cultivated by the ancient Maoris for its bark. Inferior ones, however, were made of the prepared leaves of some of the larger sedges. They were prettily made, requiring both time and skill in ther construction, and much more resembled a bird flying than cour English ones. They always served to remind me of those of the Chinese, as we see them in their own drawings and on their chinaware. The old chiefs would sometimes quietly spend hours amusing themselves in flying them and singing (sotto voce the kite's song, using a very long string.1 Kites being flown st any village or fort was a sure sign of peace. These, too, gave rise to proverbs, some being quaint and highly expressive. A pleasing one I give as a sample: "He manuaute e taea i whakahoro" A flying kite made of paper-mulberry bark can be made to fly fast (away, by lengthening the cord). Used by a lover, expressive of impatience at not being able to get away to see the beloved one.

2. Of their Spun Fibrous Articles.—These were very numerous in kind, size, and quality, according to the particular ust for which they were required; and, while the larger number them were composed of scraped and prepared flax-fibres there were also other fibrous-leaved plants used by the Maoris, particularly the leaves of the erect cabbage-tree=tii (Cordyline austra and of the kickie, already mentioned. Here, too, in this depar ment, the different kinds of varieties of the flax would be use for making the different sorts of threads, cords, and ropes, som of the varieties of flax enduring much greater strain when scraped and spun into lines than others; and of such their deep-s fishing-lines were made. It was ever to me an interesting sig to see an old chief diligently spinning such lines and cordsalways done by hand, and on his bare thigh. The dexterity and rapidity with which he produced his long hanks and coils a twine and cord, keeping them regular, too, as to thickness, w truly wonderful. Some of their smallest twisted cords threads were very fine. Such were used for binding on t barbs to their fishing-hooks, and for binding the long queues

See an interesting historical tradition respecting such (Trans. N Inst., vol. xiii., p. 48).

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dog's hair to their chiefs' staffs. One of those peculiar cords was a very remarkable one; it was a small cord, bound closely round throughout its whole length with a much smaller one (something like the silver or fourth string of a violin). I never saw this kind but once, and that was at the East Cape, in 1838. A specimen of it I shall now exhibit. This cord was used for a single and particular purpose, attached to the small underaprons of girls-chiefs' daughters.

Their larger cords and ropes were composed of several strands, well twisted and put together. Besides their round ropes so made, they had also flat ones of various widths, which were plaited or woven, resembling our webs and bands, and much used as shoulder-straps in carrying back-loads; also double-twisted ropes, and three-strand ones; likewise a remarkably strong one that was four-sided. This was made of the unscraped leaves of the cabbage-tree, that had been gathered, and carefully wilted in the shade, and then soaked in water to make them pliant. It was used for their anchors, and other heavy canoe and house requirements. The leaves of the flax would not be suitable for this purpose. I have had all those different kinds of cords and ropes made for me in former years, but I much fear the art of making them is lost.

There were also their nets for catching fish and for other purposes, with their meshes of various dimensions. Their smaller caes (hand nets) were made of all manner of shapes and sizes. Some of them were dexterously stretched over circular skeleton framework. And their large seine-nets, used for catching mackerel and other summer fish that swam in shoals, were very long and very strong, made of the leaves of flax, split and prepared, but not scraped, and completely fitted up with floats, and sinkers, and ropes, and other needful appurtenances. Cook, who was astonished at their length, has written much in praise of them. I make one striking quotation: "When we showed the natives our seine, which is such as the King's ships are generally furnished with, they laughed at it, and in triumph produced their own, which was indeed of an enormous size, and made of a kind of grass [Phormium] which is very strong. was five fathoms deep, and by the room it took up could not be less than three or four hundred fathoms long." (Voyages, vol. i., first voyage, pp. 369, 370.)

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In residing at Dannevirke, in the Forty-mile Bush district, during several months, I have often noticed the Maoris from neighbouring villages coming to the stores there to purchase tether and other ropes and lines (large and small) for their use with their horses, ploughs, carts, pigs, &c., while on their own lands and close to them the flax plants grew in abundance. These Maoris had very little to occupy their time, and could easily have made common lines and ropes for their own use if they knew how to spin them as their fathers did, and also possessed their forefathers' love of work.

UGANDA.

AT a special meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on the evening of November 3, Captain F. D. Lugard gave an account of the geographical aspects of his work in Uganda. The hall of the University of London was crowded, and although the issue of extra tickets was suspended, a large number of Fellows and their friends failed to get admittance. An excellent hand-map, by Mr. Ravenstein, enabled the audience to follow Captain Lugard's route. The first part of the paper was concerned with the journey from Mombasa along the Sabakhi river, n unnavigable stream, to Machako, the furthest station of the . B. E. A. Company at that time, the district passed through being almost uninhabited, and supplies difficult to procure. The greater part of the paper related to Uganda and the other ountries surrounding he Victoria Nyanza, where Captain Lugard was in command for two years. On the Kavirondo lateau, east of the lake, there is a promising field for European olonization. The plateau is crossed by the Equator, but at eleations of from 7000 to 8000 feet the climate is cool and xhilarating. It is possible, judging from experience in other

An interesting historical tragic story of the cleverly-planned taking and leath of a large number of Maoris in one of these seine-nets, together with e fish (illustrating what Cook has written of their immense size), and of e deadly warfare that followed, is given in the Transactions N.Z. Instite vol. xiii., p. 43

places, that highlands close to the Equator are healthier for Europeans than those of similar mean climate lying nearer the tropics. Kavirondo is admirably adapted for grazing, and ranches similar to those of the west of America might be tried. From the pasture lands of this plateau the transition to the rich plantations of bananas and casava of Usoga and Uganda is very marked, and the unclothed natives of Kavirondo give place to the comfortably-dressed Waganda, a warlike people, but skilful in all the arts of peace.

Uganda is a land of low hills and valleys. The hills are of red marl, or marl-gravel, and shale, generally covered with pasture grass of a kind apparently peculiar to these countries. The valleys are generally of rich black soil, and most frequently the lowest part of the dip is a river swamp. The swamp varies from a few score of yards to a mile or more in breadth, usually being from half to three-quarters of a mile. There is a slight trickling current-but very slight; the river is choked with dense papyrus, with an undergrowth of marsh ferns, grass, reeds, &c. The water is usually the colour of coffee, and red with iron rust. Most of these swamps are of treacherous quagmire without bottom; and unless the roots of the papyrus form a sufficient foothold it is necessary to cut down reeds and boughs of trees to effect a crossing. It is a singular characteristic of these countries that, spite of their altitude and hilly character, rushing water is rarely, almost never, to be zeen. Thus Uganda has a mean elevation of some 4200 feet, and borders the trough of the Victoria Nyanza at 3700 feet only, and is a country full of hills and valleys. Kitagwenda, at about the same altitude, borders the Albert Edward Lake at 3300 feet. Unyoro, with more lofty hills and peaks of granite, with an altitude gradually increasing in the south, as you near the Albert Lake, to some 5300 feet, similarly borders the trough of the Albert, which has an elevation of only 2000 feet. Yet nowhere are these river swamps more frequent than here in South Unyoro at the highest altitudes. The origin of the water to supply the enormous Lake Victoria is an interesting problem. Throughout the British sphere, on the north and west of the lake, there is no single river, except the Nzoia, which is worthy of the name flowing into the Victoria. The Katonga-marked on the maps as a big riveris merely a broad papyrus swamp. It is by no means so important a drainage as the Marengo; and all the endless riverswamps (including the Marengo) send their sluggish streams northwards to the Kafur and the Somerset Nile. The superficial area of the Victoria being 27,000 square miles, crossed by the Equator, and at an altitude of about 3800 feet, an enormous amount of evaporation must occur, and yet spite of this evaporation, there issues from its north-western corner the magnificent Somerset Nile, a deep, broad, silent river.

The close of the year 1891 and the early part of 1892 were exceptional in the matter of rainfall. Usually in this part of Africa the lesser rains begin early in October and cease in the middle of December. From that time the heat and drought increase, and the grass dries up and is burnt, till in the beginning of March the greater rains set in, and a tropical downpour continues with few breaks till the end of May. Last October and November the lesser rains were unusually heavy, and continued with little intermission till the time of the regular rains in March. There was a little check, and then the rain continued up to the middle of June and later. The result was, that the Lake Victoria was some six feet perhaps above its ordinary level, and may probably rise still higher. Unusual floods occurred in the Nile in Egypt during September, this not being the time at which the usual high Nile due to the Atbara floods occurs.

Uganda is divided into ten provinces, and the ten chiefs who rule these districts entirely drop their personal names, and are called by the traditional title attached to those provinces. Of these the four largest and most important have separate titles. Thus, the chief of Chagwe is the Sekibobo; of Singo, the Mukwenda; of Buddu, the Pokino; and of Bulamwezi, the Kangao. The remaining six are called by the title of their province, viz. Kitunzi, Katambala, Kasuju, Mugema, Kago, and Kaima. Superior in rank to these ten governors of provinces are the Katikiro (the vizier and chief magistrate of Uganda), and the Kimbugwe. These two hold innumerable estates, scattered throughout the country.

In June, 1891, Captain Lugard left Uganda with the object of coming in touch with the Soudanese refugees from the Equatorial Province, who had assembled at Kavalli's, on the south

west shore of the Albert Lake. Marching from near Masaka, the capital of Buddu, he traversed Northern Ankole, a district hitherto unvisited by any European, though Mr. Stanley, in 1876, had travelled parallel to it within the boundaries of Uganda, and reaching the borders of Kitagwenda, proceeded south-west to the narrow channel or river which connects the upper lake of Rusango with the main waters of the Albert Edward Lake. Crossing this narrow channel (at most 500 yards wide) the force camped in the hostile country of the Wasura, a tribe subject to Kabarega of Unyoro, and identified with the Wanyora. Here they crossed Mr. Stanley's route at the Salt Lake; but since his book nor maps had not then reached Central Africa the journey was in the nature of entirely new exploration, though of course the discovery of the Albert Edward Lake and of Ruwenzori had been anticipated. The natives, too, being hostile, no one was met with who had seen Mr. Stanley, or could give information of his route, or tell of his exploits. On the route to the Albert Lake many deep and almost symmetrically circular depressions like the crater of a volcano, or a dried-up pond, were passed. A few of these, as shown on the map, were tiny lakes no bigger than a mill-pond, but apparently of great depth, with clear blue water, and all the charac teristics of a lake. The alligator and great fish eagle haunted their waters. Others, again, were dry, the bottoms being perhaps 100 feet or more below the level of the surrounding country, which is about 4200 feet above the sea.

The Lake Albert Edward consists of two portions, the Mwutan-zigé (Barrier to Locusts), or the Great Lake and the Rusango on the north-east. This latter is in reality a separate lake, connected with Mwutan-zigé by a river. Its general direction is north-west and south-east. There is no swamp around it except at the north-west end, where dense jungle and impenetrable marsh afford a home for great herds of elephant. It is at this point that the rivers Wami and Mpanga, into which the countless streams from Ruwenzori flow, bring their waters to the lake. The gorge through which the latter flows is picturesque in the extreme, especially in the rains. The great body of water confined between its rocky walls boils and eddies over the sunken rocks below. The gorge is some 700 feet deep, and is full of tropical forest. The orchids, ferns, and mosses which are found in such a natural forcing-house, where the damp vapours hang, are extremely luxuriant.

The

Captain Lugard followed the eastern base of the Ruwenzori Mountain, crossing the endless streams which descend from its perpetual snows, and bear their clear, sparkling, icy-cold water to the Wami and Mpanga, and so to the Albert Edward. drainage of the eastern Ruwenzori is not towards the Albert and so to the Nile, but to the southern lake, from which the only overflow is the Semliki, a river which at its exit probably conveys a lesser volume of water from the Lake than is contributed to it by the Mpanga alone. The ground rises gradually from the level of the Albert Edward 3300 feet to some 5300 feet at Kiaya. Here the route descends into the head of a narrow valley, while the plateau trends away to the right, and forms the uplands of Unyoro, its bold outline appearing from the Semliki Valley and the Albert Lake like a lofty range of hills. The valley of Kiaya is extremely fertile, intersected with streams, and studded with banana groves and cultivated land. Between the edge of the plateau on the east and the base of Ruwenzori there is a deep trough, or gorge, the hills rising steep as it were from their own foundations without connection with the plateau, which reaches to their very feet. Leaving Kiaya, they passed through a wild country of quartz and scrub jungle, cut at rightangles by gigantic ravines of rich soil, in which are villages, forest, and cultivation. This led to the edge of a lower plateau, overlooking the Semliki valley. Simultaneously the massive peaks of Ruwenzori sloped down to lesser hills, and mingled with the plain, and a new range of mountains, increasing in height from south to north, appeared opposite. Mountains they appear, but, like those left behind, they are really the escarpment of the plateaus on which the sources of the Ituri, and the other great affluents of the Congo, take their rise; which, for convenience, may be called the Kavalli plateau. From Kavalli's Captain Lugard escorted 8000 Soudanese troops, who had by their vacillation retarded the departure of Stanley with Emin for the coast. Some of these he settled in forts to protect Uganda from Kabrega's raiders, while others were sent back to Egypt by Mombasa.

SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.

American Meteorological Journal, October.-A meter: logical balloon ascent at Berlin by A. L. Rotch. The asc was made on the morning of October 24, 1891, and at the sa time a captive balloon was sent up to 600 metres. The weath was hazy up to about 1000 feet, but above that the sky nearly clear. The mean decrease of temperature between ground and the captive balloon was o°6 C. per 100 metres. the stratum of air between the captive and free balloon (700 1000 metres) the decrease was much slower during the mor ing, there being at first an increase, the temperature at e metres was 10° C., and at 858 metres 10°4. In the aftern the rate of decrease in the upper stratum became nearly same as that which prevailed in the lower stratum during morning. Improvement of weather forecasts, by Prof. H. Hazen. The author recommends the study of moisture c ditions at various heights in the atmosphere, and considers th the greatest hope of improvement is in the observation of at: spheric electricity.-The storms of India, by S. M. Ballou. storms are divided into three classes: (1) the cyclones occur at the changes of the monsoons; (2) the storms of summer rains; (3) the winter rains of the northern provinc he discusses the causes of their formation, and gives a brief scription of each of these classes.-The ether and its relation the aurora, by E. A. Beals. The author gives a brief summ of some of the facts respecting our knowledge of auroras, view of their probable maximum during the coming year connection with their correlation with frequency of sunspots There are also short articles on warm and cold seasons, by E Gawthrop; facts about rain-making, by G. E. Curtis; 2: convectional whirls, by Prof. H. A. Hazen.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES.
LONDON.

Anthropological Institute, October 18.-A special mee ing was held, the president, Edward B. Tylor, D.C... F.R.S., in the chair, to receive a communication from Ma R. C. Temple, I. S.C., on "Developments in Buddhist Ar tecture and Symbolism as illustrated by the Author's Rece Exploration of Caves in Burma." Major Temple commer ced by saying that the object of the paper was chiefly to dra attention to the extraordinarily rich and for the present practica untouched field for the ethnographist and antiquary existing Burma. He exhibited some photographs of life-size figures wood, carved by a well-known artist of Maulmain, of the "f sights" shown to Buddha as Prince Siddhartha on his first visi to the outer world, viz., the old man, the sick man, the de man, and the priest; and also some admirable gilt woode representations from Rangoon of Buddha in his standing a recumbent postures, with his begging bowl, and seated as Ka Jambupati, surrounded by priests and other worshippers. H next showed a remarkable set of gilt wooden images from platform of the great Shwedagon pagoda at Rangoon, of s belus, hanuman myauks, and other spirits believed in by th Burmese, seated on the steps of a lofty tagon-dain, or post, a the top of which is always perched the figure of the heath (hansu), or sacred goose, which apparently protects pagodas a some way. From these he passed on to four representations large glazed bricks or tiles from Pegu. These curious, and far as English museums are concerned) probably unique a tiquities may be presumed to be at least 400 years old, formed at one time the ornamentation of the three process paths round a now completely ruined pagoda. They repres the march, battle, and flight of some foreign army, represe in true Indian fashion with elephant, monkey, and other ac faces. Some of the figures are clad in Siamese and Cambod fashion. The glazing is remarkably good, and Indian influ is clear in their construction. They may probably represent scene from the Ramayana, which in a mutilated form is t known to Burmese mythology. These were followed by a figure of Buddha from Pegu, in his recumbent attitude, wi may be referred to King Dhammacheti, who flourished in fifteenth century. This image is 181 feet long and 46 feet at the shoulder. It is built of brick, and is well proporti throughout. Its history is lost, and so was the image itself 1881. Pegu was utterly destroyed about 1760 by the Bure

and the interest in its holy places lost for more than a generation. This image became jungle-grown and hidden from view, and Iwas accidentally discovered by a railway contractor searching for ballast for the line in the neighbourhood. General and detailed views of the Kawgun Cave were shown, exhibiting the wonderful extent of its decoration by a vast number of terra-cotta tablets and images in wood, marble, alabaster, and other O materials, and the extraordinary variety and multitude of the objects connected with Buddhistic worship, both ancient and modern, to be found in it. The Kawgun Cave is the richest of those visited by Major Temple, but he explained that he had examined about half a dozen others in the district, and had since #gathered positive information from local native sources of the existence of about forty altogether. Many of these are hardly inferior to Kawgun in richness of Buddhistic remains, and several are said to contain in addition ancient MSS., which must now be of inestimable value. A few such MSS. have actually been found. It will thus be seen how great and valuable is the field, and how well worth systematic study by competent students.

It was

Royal Microscopical Society, October 19.-Mr. G. C. Karop, Vice-president, in the chair.-The chairman exhibited and described Messrs. Swift's aluminium microscope, which he believed to be the first microscope made of that metal. The chief point in the instrument was its extreme lightness, the whole when complete, and including the condenser and eyepiece, weighing only 2lb. 10 oz. as against the weight 71b. 130z. of a precisely similar stand made in the usual way of brass. perhaps not entirely correct to say that every portion was of aluminium, because there were certain mechanical difficulties met with which prevented some portions from being made of that metal; for instance, he believed it was almost impossible to cut a fine screw upon it without the thread "stripping," and it was also found extremely difficult to solder, so that the necessary screws in the instrument were made of brass, the Campbell fine adjustment of steel; the rack and pinion coarse adjustment was also not made of aluminiam, and the nose-piece was of German silver.-Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell read a letter received from Mr. H. G. A. Wright, of Sydney, stating that a scale of Podura in his possession was deeply notched, and that an exclamation mark had become detached and projected from the edge. Wright also sent photomicrographs to support his statement. The chairman said he could not be sure, from the cursory examination he had been able to make, that the exclamation mark referred to was to be seen.-Dr. C. E. Beevor read a paper on methods of staining medullated nerve-fibres, illustrating the subject by photomicrographs, and by a number of preparations under microscopes. The chairman said they were very much indebted to Dr. Beevor for his interesting paper. It was a good thing to be able to differentiate nerve fibres in the ways described, but it was a pity that they could not also so differentiate them as to show from which part of the nervous system they came. If this could be done he need hardly say it would be of great value.-Prof. Bell read a paper by Dr. H. G. Piffard on The use of monochromatic yellow light in photomicrography.

Mr.

Mr. T. Charters White said that he had himself tried a similar process with monochromatic light obtained by using screens and solutions, but the chief difference he found was that it very much prolonged the time necessary for exposure. Mr. T. Haughton Gill said that he had used the copper light filter for the same purpose, and had found that by its aid any good ordinary lens would give as good results as were otherwise obtained by using an expensive apochromatic, because it filtered off all the rays except those which were visually strong. He had not found, in the course of his work, that the use of this light prolonged the exposure, that was to say, that with a magnifying power of X300 and an exposure of ten minutes, he could get a good Strong printing image with the isochromatic plates.-Mr. G. Massee's paper on Heterosporium asperatum, a parasitic fungus, was, in the absence of the author, taken as read.

bred by Mr. J. Collins: also a white variety of Triphana pronuba, taken at Swansea.-Mr. M. Jacoby exhibited a specimen of Sagra femorata, from India, with differently sculptured elytra, one being rough and the other smooth.-Mr. J. A. Clark exhibited a long series of remarkable varieties of Liparis monacha, bred from two specimens taken at Scarborough. Several of the specimens were as light in colour as the typical form of the species; others were quite black; and others intermediate between these two extremes.-The Rev. Seymour St. John exhibited a monstrosity of Abraxas grossulariata, and a specimen of Taniocampa stabilis, with a distinct light band bordering the hind margin of the upper wings. Mr. E. B. Poulton, F. R. S., exhibited two series of imagos of Gnophos obscurata, which had been subjected to dark and light surroundings respectively. The results were seen to be completely negative, the two series being equally light.— Mr. F. Merrifield showed a number of pupa of Pieris napi. About eight of them, which had attached themselves to the leaves of the cabbage plant on which they were fed, were of a uniform bright green colour, with light yellowish edgings; of the others, those which had attached themselves to the black net covering the pot, or the brownish twigs which supported it, were dark coloured, with dark spots and lines. Mr. R. Adkin exhibited three bred female specimens of Vanessa c-album, two of which belonged to the first brood, and the third to the second brood. One of the specimens of the first brood was remarkable in having the under side of a very dark colour, identical with typical specimens of the second brood. He thought the peculiarity of colouring had been caused by a retarded emergence, due to low temperature and absence of sunshine.-Mr. F. W. Frohawk exhibited varieties of Satyrus hyperanthus, bred from ova laid by a female taken in the New Forest in July last.Mr. F. D. Godman, F.R.S., exhibited a specimen of Amphonyx medon, Cr., received from Jalapa, Mexico, having a pouch-like excrescence at the apex of its body.-Mr. C. J. Gahan communicated a paper entitled "Additions to the Longicornia of Mexico and Central America, with notes on some previously recorded species."-Mr. W. L. Distant communicated a paper entitled "Contributions to a knowledge of the Homopterous family Fulgorida."-Mr. Oswald Latter read a paper (which was illustrated by the Society's new oxy-hydrogen lantern) entitled "The Secretion of Potassium-hydroxide by Dicranura ' vinula, and the emergence of the imago from the cocoon.' The author stated that the imago produced, probably from the mouth, a solution of caustic potash for the purpose of softening the cocoon. The solution was obtained for analysis by causing the moths to perforate artificial cocoons made of filter-paper. Prof. Meldola, F.R.S., said that the larva of D. vinula secretes formic acid, and Mr. Latter had now shown that the imago secretes potassium-hydroxide, a strong alkali. He stated that the fact that any animal secreted a strong caustic alkali was a new one. Mr. Merrifield, Mr. Hanbury, Mr. Gahan, Mr. Poulton, and Prof. Meldola continued the discussion.-Mr. H. J. Elwes and Mr. J. Edwards read a paper (also illustrated by the oxy-hydrogen lantern) entitled "A revision of the genus Ypthima, principally founded on the form of the genitalia in the male sex. Mr. McLachlan, F. R.S., said he attached great importance to the genitalia as structural characters in determining species, and he believed that he could name almost any species of European Trichoptera simply from an examination of the detached abdomens of the males. Mr. O. Salvin, F.R.S., said he had examined the genitalia of a large number of Hesperide, with the view of considering their value in distinguishing species. Mr. Bethune-Baker, Colonel Swinhoe, Mr. Lewis, Dr. Sharp, F.R.S., Mr. Hampson, and Mr. Champion continued the discussion. Mr. S. H. Scudder communicated a paper entitled "New light on the formation of the abdominal pouch in Parnassius," Mr. Elwes said he had based his classification of the species of this genus largely on the structure of this abdominal pouch in the female. Mr. JennerWeir remarked that a similar abdominal pouch was to be found in the genus Acræa, and Mr. Hampson referred to a male and female of Parnassius in Mr. Leech's collection, in which the pouch had come away from the female and was adhering to the male organs.

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Entomological Society, November 2, Frederick DuCaneGolman, F.R.S., president, in the chair.-Mr. S. Stevens xhibited, for Mr. J. Harrison, a beautiful series of Arctia sabricipeda var. radiata, which had been bred by Mr. Harrison his year.-Mr. G. T. Bethune-Baker exhibited specimens of lyommatus dispar var, rutilus, taken in England by his father bout sixty years ago. He stated that it was generally believed at this form of the species was confined to the Continent, but is specimens proved that it formerly occurred in England.Ir. C. G. Barrett exhibited dark varieties of Acronycta leporina,ommunication regarding the fixation of nitrogen, by M. Th.

PARIS.

Academy of Sciences, October 31.-On the geometry of position, by M. H. Poincaré.-Observations on M. Berthelot's

μ Δι

At

Schloesing. Reply, by M. Berthelot.-On the laws of compressibility of liquids, by M. E. H. Amagat. Deformations of the piezometers were investigated and allowed for in these experiments, and the pressures carried as far as 3000 atmo. spheres. The liquids operated upon were ether, alcohol, carbon bisulphide, acetone, the ethyl halides, and chloride of phosphorus. In every case the coefficient of compressibility was found to decrease regularly as the pressure increased. At 3000 atmospheres that of water was reduced by nearly one-half its ordinary value, that of ether by two-thirds. This diminution again is greater the higher the temperature. The ratio of the difference of the coefficient to the corresponding difference of Δμ temperature, increases rapidly with the temperature, and decreases rapidly as the pressure increases. The value of Ι Δμ also diminishes rapidly as the pressure increases; but whilst for alcohol it grows decidedly with the temperature, for ether it seems sensibly independent of it. It is probable that the ratio passes through a maximum at a certain temperature. -Observation of the comet Barnard (October 12), made at the Algiers observatory with the equatorial coudé, by M. F. Sy.-Elliptic elements of the comet Barnard, by M. Schulhof. Discussing the probabilities of the new comet being identical with, or a part of, the comet Wolf, which was subjected to considerable perturbations by Jupiter in 1875.-On the equations of dynamics, by M. R. Liouville.-On the solution of the ballistic problem, by M. E. Vallier.-Displacements of a magnet on mercury under the action of an electric current, by M. C. Decharme. If a light magnetic needle be floated on a bath of perfectly pure mercury, and conductors carrying a current be dipped into the mercury at different places, the needle will, before assuming the position of equilibrium according to Ampère's law, go through a series of excursions, rendered necessary by the difficulty of its motion, perpendicular to its length. If the current crosses the mercury in a direction perpendicular to the length of the needle for instance, with the negative pole of the current on the left of the south-seeking pole, the needle will move away parallel to itself, will turn round, and return to take up the normal position.-On the temperature of maximum density of mixtures of alcohol and water, by M. L. de Coppet. The lowering of the freezingpoint in solutions of alcohol is sensibly proportional to the quantity of alcohol, in confirmation of Blagden's law. But the lowering of the temperature of maximum density is not proportional to the percentage of alcohol. For weak solutions there is no lowering, but rather an elevation of the temperature of the maximum.-On the dissociation of barium dioxide, by M. H. Le Chatelier.-On a limited reaction, by M. Albert Colson. On the fixation of free nitrogen by plants, by MM. Th. Schloesing, jun., and Em. Laurent.-Purification of drain waters by ferric sulphate, by MM. A. and P. Buisine.-Experiments on bread and biscuit, by M. Balland.-Ptomaïnes extracted from urines in erysipelas and puerperal fever, by M. A. B. Griffiths.-Hermerythrine, a respiratory pigment contained in the blood of certain worms, by M. A.-B. Griffiths.— Morphology of the skeleton of the star fish, by M. Edm. Perrier. -The secreting apparatus of the Copaifera, by M. Léon Guignard.-New observations on sexuality and parasitic castration, by M. Ant. Magnin.—A possible cause of the doubling of the canals of Mars experimental imitation of the phenomenon, by M. Stanislas Meunier.-Devonian and permio-carboniferous of the Aspe valley, by M. J. Seunes. -A short account of the voyage of the La Manche to Iceland, Jan Mayen, and Spitzbergen during the summer of 1892, by M. Bienaimé. The maps of Jan Mayen were found to be very accurate, those of Spitzbergen much less so. The barometric changes in Iceland, Jan Mayen, and the Faroes agreed strikingly with those of Great Britain and Scandinavia, while those of Spitzbergen were of a particular order. Pendulum observations gave g=9.82345 for Jan Mayen, and 9 82866 for Spitzbergen.-Eruption of Etna of 1892, by M. A. Ricco.-The analysis of complex odours, by M. Jacques Passy. Proceeding from very small doses, say of amyl alcohol, two different perfumes will be perceived to increase and then diminish in succession, finally giving way to an odour which soon becomes disagreeable as it increases in strength. The transition from perfume to unpleasant odour is very general in volatile substances.-Immunity against cholera conferred by milk, by M. N. Ketscher.-A new apparatus for hypodermic injections, by M. G. Bay.

BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED BOOKS.-A Text-book of Magnetism and Electricity: R. W. Stewar (Clive).-Public Health Problems: J. F. J. Sykes (Scott).-An Elementar Manual on Applied Mechanics: Prof. A. Jamieson (Griffin) — Mind i Matter, 3rd edition: Rev. J. Tait (Griffin).—Arthur Young's Tour in In land, 2 vols. edited by A. W. Hutton (Bell).- Text-book of Elementary Biology: Dr. H. J. Campbell (Sonnenschein) -The Volcanoes of Japa Part 1, Fujisan: J. Milne and W. K. Burton (Low)-Strange Survival S. Baring Gould (Methuen).-Finger Prints: F. Galton (Macmillan)Modern Mechanism: edited by P. Benjamin (Macmillan) -Catalogue d Ea tern and Australian Lepidoptera Heterocera in the Collection of the Oxford University Museum: Part 1, Sphinges and Bombyces: Col. C Swinhoe (Oxford, Clarendon Press)-An Introduction to the Study Botany: A. Dendy and A. H. S. Lucas (Melville).-Hydrostatics and Ele mentary Hydrokinetics: Prof. G. M. Minchin (Oxford, Clarendon Press)New Vegetarian Dishes: Mrs. Bowdich (Bell).-British New Guinea:] P. Thomson (Philip).-Autres Mondes: A Guillemin (Paris, Carre)Stéréochimie J. H. Van't Hoff (Paris, Carré).-Théorie Mathématique de la Lumière, II.: H. Poincaré (Paris, Carré).—Traité de Mécanique: V Jamet (Paris. Carré) - In Savage Isles and Settled Lands: F. S. Bade Powell (Bentley).-Sanford's Contoured Map of the County of Londre (Stanford).-Naked-Eye Botany F. E. Kitchener (Percival) -Geometrice. Drawing: A. J. Pressland (Percival).-Practical Physics, Part 1, Physical Processes and Measurements; the Properties of Matter: Prof. Barrett and W Brown (Percival). -Beetles, Butterflies, Moths, and other Insects: A W. Kappel and W. E. Kirby (Cassell).-The Principal Starches used a Food: W. Griffiths (Cirencester, Baily).-Charles Darwin: F. Darwin (Murray).-University College, Nottingham, Calendar. 1892-93 (Notting ham. Sands) -Proceedings a d Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 1891 (Montreal, Dawson).

PAMPHLETS.-Report on the Operations of the Department of Land Records and Agriculture, Madras Presidency, 1890-91 (Madras) -Entwar einer Neuen Integralrechnung: Dr. J. Bergbohm (Leipzig, TeubnerLeaves from the Book of Nature: L. Piers (Ridgway).-Fossil Mammals of the Wahsatch and Wind River Beds, Collection of 1891: H. F. Osborn and J. L. Wortman.-Present Problems in Evolution and Heredity: H. F. Osborn.-Revision of the Species of Coryphodon: C. Earle.

SERIALS.-Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, November (Longmans).- Festschrift zur Feier des 150 Jaehrigen Bestehens der Naturforsch enden Gesellschaft in Danzig am 2 Jan. 1893 (Danzig).-Schriften der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Danzig, Neue Folge, Achten Bande Erstes Heft (Danzig).-Notes from the Leyden Museum, vol. xv. Na (Leyden, Bril).-Journal of the Chemical Society. November (Gurney and Jackson).-Mitteilungen des Vereins für Erdkunde zu Halle a/s 1892 (Halk a/s).-Medical Magazine, November (Southwood).

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The Geology of the Asiatic Loess.-Thos, W. Kings.
mill; Prof. G. H. Darwin, F. R. S.
Optical Illusions. (With Diagram.)-R. T. Lewis.
A Remarkable Rainfall. -Alfred O. Walker
On a "Supposed New Species of Earthworm and on the
Nomenclature of Earthworms."-Dr. C. Herbert
Hurst

Ice Crystals.-C. M. Irvine

Lunar Craters.-M. H. Maw

A Fork-tailed Petrel.-Newman Neave

The Origin of the Year. III. (Illustrated.)
Norman Lockyer, F R. S.
Technological Examinations
Robert Grant. By R. C..
Notes.

Our Astronomical Column:-
A Bright Comet

Comet Barnard (October 12)
Comet Brooks (Augus' 28)

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Occultation of Mars and Jupiter by the Moon Motion of the Solar System

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By J.

Some Reminiscences of the Maoris. By Rev. Colenso, F.R.S.

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