362 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



of their membranes under a good microscope, but was not able to perceive any 

 whatever, the membrane presenting a transparent plain tissue. He also ex- 

 amined some of the entire ova, contained in both phials, with a powerful lens, 

 without detecting any cleft or orifice, the absence of which, indeed, confirms 

 Mr. Newport's careful examination of the envelops of the ovum of the frog. 

 Mr. Hogg concluded by stating that the latest discovery of this lamented 

 physiologist, which he made known on the 18th April of last year proved 

 that the spermatozoa do not reach the interior and yelk of the frog's ovum by 

 any aperture in its envelop, but that they penetrate forcibly the very substance 

 of the envelop wherever they may come accidentally into contact with it. 

 This fact will also account for the non-appearance of any special pore, or cleft, 

 or orifice, in the enveloping membrane of the ova of the salmon. 



SARDINES IN CALIFORNIA. 



Myriads of sardines abound along the whole southern coast of California. 

 The bay of Monterey has especially become famous for its abundance of this 

 small, but valuable fish. It is a matter of surprise that the taking and prep- 

 aration of this fish, which enters so largely into the commerce of the world, 

 has never been attended to as a source of revenue and profit there, to supply 

 the home demand, instead of importing, as is now done, some 8,000 or 9,000 

 cases. Journal of the Society of Arts. 



CURIOUS HABIT OF A CALIFORNIA WOODPECKER. 



Mr. John Cassin, in his beautiful work on the birds of California and Texas, 

 notices a curious habit of a species of woodpecker from California, the Melan- 

 erpes formicivorus, of storing away a supply of food for the winter in holes 

 made for the purpose in the bark of trees. He says : "In the autumn this 

 species is busily engaged in digging small holes in the bark of the pines and 

 oaks, to receive acorns, one of which is placed in each hole, and is so tightly 

 fitted or driven in as to be with difficulty extracted. Thus the bark of a large 

 pine, forty or fifty feet high, will present the appearance of being studded with 

 brass nails, the heads only being visible. The acorns are thus stored in large 

 quantities, and serve not only the woodpecker in the winter season, but are 

 trespassed on by jays, mice, and squirrels. 



ON THE BIRDS OF THE UPPER AMAZON. 



At a recent meeting of the London Zoological Society, Mr. Gould exhibited 

 to the meeting a portion of a collection of birds, formed by Mr. Hauxwell, in 

 a district lying on the eastern side of the. Peruvian Andes, in the neighbor- 

 hood of the river Ucayali, one of the tributaries of the Upper Amazon. Mr. 

 Gould observed that the exploration of this district had been one of the ear- 

 liest objects of his own ambition, but that, until within the last few years, no 

 naturalist had visited it. The splendid collection sent by Mr. Hauxwell, of 

 which the birds exhibited formed a part, fully bore out the anticipations en- 



