Page 156

NA TURE
[Dec. 25, 1873
The chairman thought there could be no difficulty about it; the
Rev. Mr. Cotton had taken bees out to New Zealand by keeping
them at a low temperature, and consequently in a dormant con-
dition, by means of ice.-Mr. McLachlan further wished the
opinion of the committee with respect to another New Zealand
inquiry by Captain Hutton; Aphides were now becoming very
common in New Zealand, but were probably not indigenous.
Could the golden-winged fly (Chrysopa) be advantageously in-
troduced to check them. The chairman thought that it would
be far better to send out dormant lady-birds (Coccinella). Mr.
Wilson, F.R.S., pointed out the necessity of caution in these
introductions ; sparrows and hares were far from a boon in
Australia.-Prof. Thiselton Dyer read a letter from Mr. Scott,
F. R. S., Director of the Meteorological Office, with respect to a
change in the climate of Scotland recently insisted on by Mr.
McNab. He stated that it was an opinion too general to be
lightly disregarded that our winters are warmer and summers
cooler, on an average, than in the last century, but did not know
where to find records which could be quoted with confidence in a
discussion of the question.-Dr. Voelcker, F.R.S., mentioned
that there was no doubt that it was quite possible to make wine
from grapes ripened in this country; the often-repeated argu-
ment that our summers must be cooler because wine was not
now made was manifestly fallacious.-Mr. A. W. Bennett,
F. L.S., communicated a paper on pollen-eating flies of the group
Syrphidw. -Mr. Baker, F. L. S., sent capsules of Lilium auratum
and L. scwiosum.
   Anthropolo^-.cal Institute, Dec. 9.-Mr. F. G. H. Price,
 F.G.S., in the Lhair.-Mr. J. Park Harrison gave a detailed
 description of two incised tablets, from Easter Island in the
 South Pacific, discovered by the French missionaries in one of
 the stone houses supposed to be formerly occupied by the
 chiefs. The signs appeared to be principally iconographic and
 to represent forms of life and incidents connected with islands
 several thousand miles to the west.-Prof. T. McK. Hughes
 described the results of his exploration of the rock-shelter
 known as Cave Ha, near Giggleswick, Settle, Yorkshire. In
 the upper deposits flakes and scrapers of chert and flint and
 other ancient remains in stone and iron were mixed up with
 the most recent works of art by the operations of badgers, rab-
 bits, &c. In these beds the bones were found by Prof. Busk to
 be all of recent species, still, or till quite lately, common in
 the district.  In the older deposits, which were composed
 chiefly of angular fragments of limestone, and, therefore, were
 not disturbed by burrowing animals, the remains of bear oc-
 curred associated with ox, goat or sheep, and dog; but as yet
 no traces of men. A point to which the author called special
 attention was the explanation found here of the occurrence in
 many ossiferous caves of such immense quantities of the bones
 of mice. The floor was in places strewn with broken up pellets
 of owls with here and there a few retaining their form, which,
 when the hair had decomposed away would exactly correspond
 to the layers and little bunches of the bones of mice in the
 underlying beds.-Prof. Hughes also read a joint paper by him-
 self and Rev. D. R. Thomas, " On the occurrence of Felstone
 implements, of the Le Moustier type, in Pontnewydd Cave
 near St. Asaph, North Wales," After explaining by reference
 to sections, the position of the cave and of the deposits in it, the
 authors describe a series of implements of felstone as similar to
 the common forms of Le Moustier as would be expected, allow-
 ing for the difference of material. They exhibited also a collec-
 tion of bones from the same deposit which were referred by
 Prof. Busk to Ursus spelowus, U. ferox, Hyzena spelare, Rhi-
 noceros hemnistechus, and others, including a human molar which
 Prof Busk pointed out was remarkable for its large size. As
 the rock, of which the implements were manufactured, occurred
 in that river basin in the boulder -clay only, as the implements
 seemed to have been made from fragments such as occur in
 the drift, and are found associated with remani6 drift mixed
 with tumble from the roof of the cave, the authors in-
 ferred that the deposit was post-glacial, while the forms
 of the implements, and the animal remains found with
 them would refer the beds to the earliest cave deposit
 in which human remains have been found.-A communi-
 cation was made by Prof Busk on a human fibula of unusual
 formation discovered in Victoria Cave, Settle, Yorkshire. The
 fragment lay at a considerable depth in the cave and beneath a
 thick layer of Boulder Clay, and was associated with bones ot the
 two large species of cave Bear, Hyana, Rhinoceros lichorhinus,
Bson and Cervus. From its position, accompaniments, and
other considerations, the deposit in which the specimen was
found, had been regarded as of pre-glacial age.
  The London Anthropological Society, Dec. 2.-Dr. R.
S. Charnock, president, in the chair.-Causes which determine
the Rise and Fall of Nations, by T. Inman, M. D. The paper em-
braced the whole historical range. -Western Anthropologists and
Extra Western Communities, by J. Kaines, D.Sc. The paper
shows what should be the moral attitude of the more civilised to
the less civilised-what the latter has to teach the former-and
the evils of western contact with the backward races.
  Photographic Society, Dec. 9.-J. Spiller, F.C.S., V.P., in
the chair.-On photo-collotype printing, by Capt. J. Waterhouse.
The author recommended the use of citric acid as a clearing
agent. -Lieut. Chermside, R. E., read a paper on photography in
the Arctic Regions. Mr. Chermside accompanied Mr. Leigh Smith
in his Arctic expedition last summer. The temperature at which
pictures were actually taken was rarely less than 320 Fahr., but
much difficulty was experienced in maintaining the solutions in
proper order during excessive cold. The author gave some prac-
tical advice oh the subject of overcoming actual difficulties inhe-
rent to photographic manipulations in high latitudes.
                           PARIS
  Academy of Sciences, Dec. 15.-M. de Quatrefages,
president, in the chair.-The following papers were read :-On
the laws 'of the magnetisation of steel by currents, by M.
Jamin.-An answer to a note read by M. Trecul at the meeting
of the Dec. 8, by M. Pasteur. This was a reply to M. Trecul's
criticism on the author's note on beer and displayed considerable
acrimony, M. Pasteur of course sustained his well-known views
of the nature of ferments.-M. Berthelot presented some new
remarks on the nature of the chemical elements, -which however
could not be read on account of want of time. The author, it
may be stated, admits the possibility of the elements being modifi-
cations of a fundamental substance, and stated that nothing
renders it improbable that a discovery like that of the voltaic
current might not give us power to still further simplify matter.
His paper concluded thus:-We shall only be too happy if Mr.
Lockyer, guided by stellar spectral analysis, can shed a new light
upon these questions, and continue to investigate problems raised
now forty years ago by M. Dumas in a work (Lefons de Philo-
sophie Chimique) which has contributed so much to our scientific
education.-Researches on new butyl derivatives by M. A.
Cahours. The author dealt with the aluminium. silicon tin and
mercury compounds of butyl.-On the propagation of the
PIhyioxera, by M. H. Mares.-Report on Mr. Douglas Galton's
paper " On the Construction of Hospitals," by M. Larrey, and
General Morin:-Valuation in mechanical units of the quantity
of electricity produced by an element in a battery, by M.
Branly.-Hybernation of the Phylioxera on the branches and
leaves of the vine, by M. Max. Cornu.-Action of the volcanic
earth of the solfatara of Pouzzoles on the diseases of the vine, by
M. S. De Luca.-On certain morphological changes observed in
the genus Cypripedium, by M. R. Guerin.
                  BOOKS RECEIVED
 AMERICAN.-Catalogue ot Stars observed in the United States Observa-
 tory, 1845-71: Rear-Admiral Sands (Washington).-Daily Bulletin of Weather
 Reports f or September 1872: War Department (Washington).-Annual Record
 of Science and Industry: Dr. Spencer F. Baird (Harper, New York).-
 Elements of Logarithms: Pierce (Ginn Bros.).
 FOREIGN.-Annalen der Sternwarte in Leiden: Dr. F. Kaiser (Nijkoff).
-Somario delle Lezioni di Fisica: Prof. Mombello (Foligno).-Zoologische
Studien auf Capri: Dr. Theodore Eimer (Engelmann, Leipzig).
CONTENTS
QUATERNIONS . . . . . . .
MARKHAM'S "UNKNOWN REGION
OUR BOOK SHELF . . . .
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:-
   Proposed Alterations in the Medical Curriculum.-Prof. JOHN
     STRUTHERS.    . .. .     . . . . ..
   The Distribution of Volcanoes.-H. H. HOWORTH
   Spectra of ShootinE Stars.-A. S. HERSCHEL, F.R.A.S.
   Meteor Shower.-, E. CLARK.
THE LATE PROFESSOR DEC LA RIVE .
VIVISECTION. By G. H. LEWES and E.R.L.
THE THIRTY-TON STEAM HAMMER AT THE ROYAL ARSENAL, WOOL-
WICH (With kiluseratiom).
THE COMMON FROG, VII. By ST. GEORGE MIVART, F.R.S. (WzM
Illustrations) .
SOUNDINGS IN THE NORTH PACIFIC
NOTES        .
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
BooKs RICEIVED
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'AGE            Z
137    i
    1388
 141
 14     I
    142
 143  :I
 143
 '4 5
    1454
147
150
151
153
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