Abstract
LONDON. Royal Society, March 6.—Sir Alfred Kempe, vice-president and treasurer, in the chair.—Prof. J. C. Bose: An automatic method for the investigation of the velocity of transmission of excitation in Mimosa. The research was undertaken to decide the question whether in Mimosa pudica stimulus gives rise to a mere nassage of hydro-mechanical disturbance or a transmission of true excitation. The results obtained warrant the conclusion that there is transmission of true excitation.—W. K. Spencer: The Evolution of the Cretaceous Asteroidea. An endeavour is made to trace the evolution of the starfish through the whole of the Cretaceous deposits. At the first sight the material appeared to be unpromising, for complete or even fragmentary specimens are rare. It has been found possible, however, to use the isolated marginal plates which are found fairly commonly on weathered chalk surfaces. It is shown that these marginal plates have a shape and ornament characteristic of each distinct species. The species may be arranged in lineages, and the examination of large collections made by English and Continental workers make it feasible to trace the life-history of most of the lineages.—Dr. E. A. Newell Arber: A preliminary note on the fossil plants of the Mount Potts Beds, New Zealand, collected by Mr. D. G. Lillie, biologist to Capt. Scott's Antarctic Expedition in the Terra Nova, in 1911. The communication briefly discusses the first results, which have reached this country, of the late Capt. Scott's second Antarctic Expedition. In the winter months of the last two years the Terra Nova has been at work in New Zealand waters. During these periods Mr. D. G. Lillie, one of the biologists of the expedition who has been attached throughout to the Terra Nova, has been endeavouring to clear up on the evidence of the fossil floras some of the many points which remain unsolved with regard to the stratigraphical geology of New Zealand. In particular, he has made large collections from the Mount Potts Beds, in Ashburton County, Canterbury. Whether these beds contain Glossopteris, as asserted by Hector and others, has long been a matter of dispute, for the whole question whether New Zealand formed part of the great southern Permo-Carboniferous continent of “Gondwanaland” depends entirely on the character and age of the flora of these beds. As it proves, the flora of these beds is thoroughly Mesozoic. The flora as a whole consists chiefly of Rhastic plants, though a few Jurassic types also occur, and thus the age of the beds is either Rhætic or Lower Jurassic. The Mount Potts beds are admittedly the oldest plant-bearing series, in a geological sense, as yet discovered in New Zealand. No Palæozoic plants are known from these islands, and there is thus no evidence that they formed part of “Gondwanaland” in Permo-Carboniferous times.— Sir D. Bruce, Majors D. Harvey and A. E. Hamerton, Dr. J. B. Davey, and Lady Bruce: (i) Trypanosomes found in the blood of wild animals living in the sleeping sickness area, Nyasaland. (2) Trypanosome diseases of domestic animals in Nyasaland. II., Try-panosoma Caprae (Kleine). (3) Morphology of various strains of the trypanosome causing disease in man in Nyasaland. I., The human strain.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Societies and Academies . Nature 91, 51 (1913). https://doi.org/10.1038/091051a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/091051a0