crinus, and Tricolocrinus. The two specimens now recorded are different from the Queensland forms, and were obtained from the Glenwilliam (permo-Carboniferous) series at Clarence Town, New South Wales. They are provisionally classed as species of Metablastus.-A collection of Crustacea from the Port Curtis district, Queensland: F. E. Grant and Allan R. McCulloch. The paper deals with a collection of more than 100 species of Brachyura and Macrura taken in Port Curtis and at the extreme south of the Great Barrier Reef, in October, 1904. Five species are described as new. Twenty-one species are rccorded as new for Australia. CALCUTTA. On Asiatic Society of Bengal, April 4.-Notes on the tank fauna of India: Dr. N. Annandale. A cockroach of the genus Epilampra is recorded as being aquatic in Chota Nagpur, and a peculiarity in its spiracles and in those of some other members of its family is noted. A general account is given of the respiratory system of an aquatic glow-worm, probably the larva of a Luciola. Some further diagnostic characters (distinction of the sexes, structure of the eggs, relative proportion of body and tentacles) of Hydra orientalis are put on record. Two protozoa are noted as having been found associated with it, and the part played in its migrations by Paludina is pointed out. An account is given of a chironomid larva which binds both the polyp and certain Vorticellids and rotifers to a temporary protective case, and then devours them at leisure. The character of the food commonly eaten in the Calcutta tanks by Hydra is indicated.-Silver dioxide and silver peroxynitrate: E. R. Watson. If the crystalline substance formed during electrolysis at the anode from aqueous solutions of silver nitrate be washed and dried with sufficient care, it may be isolated pure, and proved to have the formula Ag.NO,,, which Sûle gave to it. heating this silver peroxynitrate, the decomposition proceeds in two stages; for at first oxygen is given off, but later NO, as well as O, white silver being left. This behaviour suggested to Sûle the structural formula AgNO,3Ag2O,.O.; Mulder and Haringa suggested later the formula AgNO.3Ag ̧O2. To both suggestions there are considerable objections. Alternatives still under investigation are Ag(NO)O, and Ag.(NO)O,.-The Hindu method of manufacturing spirit from rice, and its scientific explanation: J. C. Ray. The fungus used in Orissa is prepared in small balls by the hill-people; it is mixed in a basket with wet steamed rice in the proportion of one to one hundred parts of dry rice. The mixture heats during the next twenty-four hours, after which it is made into circular cakes and exposed upon an earthen platform for three or four days, during which the mycelium so spreads as to make the grains in the cakes cohere. The cakes are now piled up, and in four or five days become black. Next the cakes are put with water into vats sunk in the floor of a shed, and an equal quantity of fresh, well-steamed rice is added. The vats before being charged are fumigated by burning straw. Fermentation is allowed to go on for eight to ten days, until bubbles cease to rise. Distillation follows. The average yield of spirit in a good distillery is 4 gallons, proof, from 82 lb. of rice. The maximum yield of 45 gallons is obtained in January, the minimum of 3.66 gallons in October. Experiments show that the caking is very essential to the process. The essential mould is believed to be Mucor racemosus; other moulds get mixed with it. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. THURSDAY, MAY 24. ROYAL SOCIETY, at 4.30.-Croonian Lecture: On Nerve Endings and on Special Excitable Substances in Cells: Prof. J. N. Langley, F.R.S. ROVAL INSTITUTION, at 5.-Man and the Glacial Period: Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S. UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, at 5.-The Atmospheric Circulation and its Relation to Weather: Dr. W N. Shaw, F. R.S. INSTITUTION OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.-Annual General Meeting. -Report of Council and Election of the New Council. SOCIETY OF ARTS, at 4.30.-The Parsis of Persia: Major P. M. Sykes C.M.G. LINNEAN SOCIETY, at 3.-Anniversary Meeti FRIDAY, MAY 25. ROYAL INSTITUTION, at 9.-Compressed Air and its Physiological Effects Leonard Hill, F.R.S. PHYSICAL SOCIETY, at 5.-Colour Phenomena in Photometry: J. S. D -Exhibition of an Automatic Arc Lamp: H. Tomlinson and Res G. T. Johnston.-The Theory of Moving Coil and other Kinds Ballistic Galvanometers: Prof. H. A. Wilson, F.R.S-Exhibition of a Bifilar Galvanometer free from Zero Creep: A. Campbell. SATURDAY, MAY 26. ROVAL INSTITUTION, at 3.-The Old and the New Chemistry: Sir James ROYAL INSTITUTION, at 5.-Northern Winter Sports: Colonel V. Bulck THURSDAY, MAY 31. ROYAL SOCIETY, at 4.30.-Probable Papers: On the Main Source ef FRIDAY, JUNE 1. No. 2" SPECTROMETER. (Diameter of Circle = 8") The Rotation of the Prism Table and of the Telescope are both read by Vernier on a Platinoid Circle to 30 seconds. ADAM HILGER, Ltd., 75a Camden Road, London, N.W. Telegraphic Address :-" Sphericity, London." AWARDED GOLD MEDAL ST. LOUIS EXHIBITION, 1904. ILLUSTRATED LIST ("A") OF SPECTROSCOPES AND SPECTROSCOPIC ACCESSORIES CRATIS ON APPLICATION. CATALYTIC WHOLESALE MANUFACTURER ACTION Particulars post free on application. Sole Makers: JOHN J. CRIFFIN & SONS, LTD., KINGSWAY, Meteorological and Scientific Instruments OF EVERY DESCRIPTION, INCLUDING STANDARD MERCURIAL BAROMETERS, Air Meters, Anemometers, Boiling Point Apparatus, Catalogues Post Free. (State which required.) 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(Established 1837) Ondoscopes, with revolving mirror for viewing the wave form of alternating and oscillating currents. Radium Clocks. A. C. COSSOR, 54 FARRINGDON ROAD, LONDON, E.C. Gold and Silver Medals Awarded St. Louis Exhibition, 1904. Telephone: Printed by RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, at 7 & 8 Bread Street Hill, Queen Victoria Street, in the City of London, and paonshed by MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED, at St. Marun's Street, London, W.C., and THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 66 Fifth Avenue, New York.-THURSDAY, May 24, 196 |