282 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



these organisms must be such as, unlike those of animals, and like 

 alcohol, resist extremes of cold. 



Silk from Fishes' 1 Eggs. M. Joly, as we learn from the 

 " Chemical News," has discovered in the eggs of fishes of the 

 family of the Selachians (the ray), that their external envelope is 

 formed of a very close tissue, composed of an infinite number of 

 delicate filaments, which are easily removed and separated. 

 Once drawn out, they possess the appearance, color, and finish of 

 cocoon silk, serving without trouble for tissue of ordinary silk or 

 silk wad. The interior of the egg contains an albuminous, white 

 substance, which can serve usefully in competition with the white 

 of hens' eggs for printing on tissues. They contain a consider- 

 able quantity, as each one weighs on an average 240 grams, 

 about 7k ounces. 



Antiquity of Organic Life, Mr. Nordenskiold, the distinguished 

 Swedish geologist, announces a discovery of bituminous gneiss, a 

 real organic substance formed of the remains of plants or ani- 

 mals, imbedded in layers of gneiss and mica schist. He consid- 

 ered infiltration impossible in the case, and the inference is that 

 organic life existed on the earth far back in what has hitherto been 

 considered the azoic age. 



Bos Longifrons. According to Mr. Boyd Dawkins, the exist- 

 ence of this species, though found abundantly in the bone caves 

 and alluvia of the pre-historic age, has not yet been proved in 

 earlier epochs. He considers it the progenitor of the small High- 

 land and Welsh cattle, and of more interest to the archasologist 

 than the geologist. 



Mesotherium. According to M. Serres, this fossil animal, from 

 the pampas in the neighborhood of Buenos Ayres, is intermediate 

 between the rodents and the pachyderms. It was a little larger 

 than the cabiai, and forms one of the connecting links between 

 these two orders. It was called Typotherium by Bravard, who gave 

 the first positive information concerning it. 



Silica in Grain Stalks. Pierri, the French chemist, has re-ex- 

 amined the grasses, and has apparently thrown some further light 

 on the agency of silica, which was once erroneously supposed to 

 give the stalk its rigidity. He finds, on the contrary, that in the 

 wheat plant the silica accumulates chiefly in the leaves, and least 

 of all in the hard knobs or joints of the stalk ; the latter containing 

 less than one-seventh as much as the leaves, and the stalk between 

 the joints less than one-fourth. Hence, the more silica the more 

 leaf, the more shade, the less hardness in the stalk, and the 

 greater liability to break down or " lodge." 



Colocasia. This is the name given to a plant which is now 

 attracting notice, from the curious observations which M. Lecoq 

 has communicated to the Paris Academy concerning it. Without 

 any apparent cause, the plant often exhibits a trembling motion, 

 sometimes as many as 100 to 120 vibrations being noticed per 

 minute. These undulations are strong enough to effect the neigh- 

 boring plants, and even, it is asserted, have caused a similar mo- 

 tion in the flower-pots. The only explanation offered, is that this 



