LONDON. Royal Society, February 15.—E. R. Speyer: Researches upon the Larch Chermes (Cnaphalodes strobilobius, Kalt.), and their bearing upon the evolution of the Chermesinae in general. Alternation of form is the normal course of biological development in all Chermesinæ, but it breaks down in Cnaphalopes strobilobius, Kalt. The Progrediens type of all Chermesinae is potentially a winged form, and is not a true dimorphism of the Sistens type. The Sexuales are different morphologically from all other generations and are probably a new production in evolution. Species which are purely parthenogenetic have ceased to develop from an evolutionary point of view, and show the probable course of evolution in the various genera. Migration from one species of conifer to another is responsible for a duplication in the series of form-alternating, parthenogenetic generations; the series upon one conifer has become morphologically different from that on the other through the action of Natural Selection in two different environments. In existing species with two host-plants, that portion of the cycle which now takes place upon the definitive host-plant has arisen through a stimulus given by a recent return to sexuality, this accounting for the linking up of the two cycles and a duplication of the series of parthenogenetic generations.—G. V. Anrep: The irradiation of conditioned reflexes. Experiments were performed with tactile conditioned reflexes, the parotid gland being taken as the effector organ. The tactile reflexes established on one side of the animal irradiate without a measurable decrement into the other side of the animal. The conditioned inhibition is in broad limits a cruder form of inhibition than the differential inhibition. The irradiation of the conditioned inhibition follows in the main the rules established for the irradiation of the differential inhibition and that of the reflex itself, The short trace reflexes take an intermediate position between the simultaneous and the long trace reflexes.—M. Dixon and H. E. Tunnicliffe: The oxidation of reduced gluta-thione and other sulphydryl compounds. The reduction of methylene blue by the sulphydryl compounds, reduced glutathione, cystein, and thiogly collie acid, is an autocatalytic reaction. The active agent producing this catalysis is the disulphide form R. S. S. R. The disulphide compounds also catalyse the oxidation of the sulphydryl compounds by atmospheric oxygen. The form of the reaction curves is not autocatalytic. The reaction velocity in the cases of glutathione and cystein shows a sharp optimum at a pH of 7·4. Thiogly collie acid does not show this. The bearing of these results on the conception of the function of glutathione and related compounds in tissue oxidation processes is discussed.—J. C. Bramwell, R. J. S. McDowall, and B. A. McSwiney: The variation of arterial elasticity with blood pressure in man. A method is described by which the extensibility of an artery in living man may be measured at all internal pressures up to the diastolic pressure. As in the case of an isolated artery, the extensibility decreases as the internal pressure is increased.—-L. J. Harris: On the existence of an unidentified sulphur grouping in the protein molecule. Pt. I.—On the denaturation of proteins. Pt. II.—On the estimation of cystine in certain proteins. The conditions under which the grouping reactive to nitroprusside is liberated from ovalbumin and other proteins, and of its survival in the proteose, peptone, and polypeptide molecule, were examined. The nitroprusside reaction, attributed by Arnold to cystein, may be due to the presence of a grouping of the thiopeptide type. Gravimetric estimation of cystine in proteins by a new method indicates that whereas in serum albumen the cystine accounts for 89 per cent. of the total sulphur content, in ovalbumin 86 per cent. of the sulphur still remains to be accounted for.—N. B. Laughton: Reflex contractions of the cruralis muscle in the decerebrate and spinal frog. In the decerebrate frog there was a prolonged tonic after-effect in the contraction of the cruralis muscle on reflex stimulation of the ipsilateral sciatic nerve. No such tonic effect was observed in the cruralis muscle of the spinal preparation. A shorter latent period and a more rapid increment of height were marked in the spinal preparations. During spinal shock the height of the reflex contraction in the spinal frog is not maximal. In half the experiments the height of the myogram was greater in the decerebrate than in the spinal preparations.