NOTES. 



383 



The French Government offers a prize 

 of 300,000 francs for the discovery of an 

 efficacious and economical means of de- 

 stroying the phylloxera or of preventing its 

 ravages. A commission, nominated by the 

 Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, will 

 determine the condition of compensation 

 and the award of the prize. 



Prof. Marsh is on his way back from 

 his extraordinary expedition to the Mau- 

 vaises Terres of Colorado. A Tribune tele- 

 gram, dated Fort Laramie, November 29th, 

 says that the fossil-beds explored by the ex- 

 pedition are of the Miocene age, and rich 

 beyond expectation. Nearly two tons of 

 fossil-bones were collected, all belonging to 

 tropical animals, some as large as elephants, 

 others allied to the camel, rhinoceros, and 

 horse. 



Prof. Karl Koch has shown conclu- 

 sively that China, and not Babylonia, is the 

 home of the weeping-willow (Salix Babylo- 

 nica). He describes, under the name Salix 

 elegantissima, a new species of willow from 

 Japan whose branches are even more mark- 

 edly pendulous than those of the Salix 

 Babylonica. One great advantage of this 

 willow is, that it is not injured by insects. 



In Montgomery, Alabama, according to 

 a Tribune correspondent, the negroes form 

 69 per cent, of the population, yet of the 

 63 deaths in September, 53 were from the 

 black population in other words, 69 per 

 cent, of the population furnishes 84 per 

 cent, of the deaths. In October, the blacks 

 furnished 73 per cent. 



Prof. Mater, of Stevens Institute, has 

 invented an instrument for measuring the 

 minutest possible variations of atmospheric 

 pressure. A hollow metallic vessel, with 

 unyielding walls, containing air, has adapted 

 to it an open glass tube. In this tube is a 

 short liquid column. The glass tube is in 

 an horizontal position. The vessel is sur- 

 rounded with melting ice, which keeps the 

 air inside at a constant temperature. In 

 this condition the liquid in the tube re- 

 mains stationary if the atmospheric press- 

 ure outside remains constant; but any in- 

 crease of pressure in the atmosphere will 

 cause the liquid in the horizontal glass tube 

 to move toward the vessel. The contrary 

 motion takes place when the atmospheric 

 pressure diminishes. These motions are 

 registered continuously by photography. 



Experiments made by Prof. Mayer show 

 that solid cylinders of iron elongate on be- 

 ing magnetized, but contract to a corre- 

 sponding degree in their transverse dimen- 

 sion, so that their volume remains constant. 

 In hollow cylinders, on the other hand, the 

 interior capacity is increased when they are 

 magnetized. 



No European grape-vine will thrive any- 

 where in the United States east of the 

 Rocky Mountains. Prof. Planchon has 

 written the history of the many efforts that 

 have been at different times made to intro- 

 duce into this country European vines, but 

 the result has been failure in every case. 

 Immigrants from France and Switzerland 

 have repeatedly made the experiment in 

 Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, 

 Alabama, and Ohio; but everywhere the 

 phylloxera has proved a deadly enemy. 

 West of the Rocky Mountains the phyllox- 

 era does not occur, and hence California is 

 filled with European vines. 



The barbarous cruelties and needless 

 wastefulness attending the seal-fishery, as 

 now carried on, have received a check from 

 the Newfoundland Legislature, which has 

 passed a law preventing sealing -vessels 

 from leaving port before a certain date, so 

 as to give the seals at least another month 

 after the breeding - season, in which the 

 young may increase in size and value. 

 The present practice is to kill the old seals 

 indiscriminately, leaving the helpless young 

 to perish by thousands. It is hoped that 

 the governments of other countries will fol- 

 low the example of Newfoundland. 



Prestel, a German meteorologist, has 

 observed a marked periodicity in the pres- 

 ence of ozone in the atmosphere. It is at 

 its minimum at the end of September, in- 

 creasing steadily, and reaching its maxi- 

 mum at the vernal equinox, after which it 

 again diminishes. 



A well-authenticated case of death 

 from the sting of a hornet recently oc- 

 curred in England. A woman was stand- 

 ing in the road near her house, when a 

 hornet flew out from a nest near by and 

 stung her on the right side of the neck. 

 She fainted almost immediately, and ex- 

 pired in a few minutes. 



A correspondent of the Garde?iei-'s 

 Chronicle records a curious instance of the 

 power possessed by the mycelium of mush- 

 rooms of penetrating bodies. One side of a 

 mushroom-bed was of brick, four and a 

 half inches thick, firmly set in hard lime, so 

 close in the texture that it was impossible 

 to introduce the point of a nail without con- 

 siderable force. Nevertheless the myceli- 

 um found admission, and produced mush- 

 rooms of a considerable size on the other 

 side. The wall, in several places, contained 

 porous bricks and these too the mycelium 

 found its way through. 



Tn former times it was the custom for 

 men of science, on making a discovery, and 

 previous to publishing it in full, to put it in 

 the shape of an anagram, so that in case 

 some other investigator should make the 



