POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



5" 



The author describes also the behavior of 

 copper in sulphate-of-copper solution, and 

 the behavior of silver, tin, brass, zinc, pla- 

 tinum ; which metals were examined in the 

 same way. 



American Vine-Stocks and the Phyllox- 

 era. In a communication to the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, M. Boutin gives an 

 account of researches made by him to as- 

 certain the reason why some American vine- 

 stocks resist the attacks of the Phylloxera 

 vaslatrix, while others succumb. The au- 

 thor has discovered in the resistant stocks 

 a certain resinoid principle in proportion 

 about a third greater than that in which it 

 occurs in American non-resistant stocks, 

 and in about double the proportion found 

 in French stocks. M. Boutin considers it 

 essential for resistance that the resinoid 

 principle should occur in the proportion of 

 8 per cent, for the entire root, and 14 to 15 

 per cent, in the bark alone. He says that 

 the incision made by the insect, while pro- 

 ducing nodosities in the root, is cicatrized 

 by the exudation of the resinous product, 

 and this prevents the escape or loss of the 

 nutritive sap of the plant. In non-resist- 

 ant stocks, on the other hand, there is no 

 cicatrization, as the resinoid principle is not 

 in sufficient quantity to produce this effect. 



Naturalists' Report of the British Arctic 

 Expedition. The results obtained by the 

 naturalists attached to the British North- 

 Polar Expedition may be briefly summed up 

 as follows: The mammals found farthest 

 north, on the shore of the great Polar Basin, 

 were the arctic fox, wolf, ermine, polar 

 hare, lemming, and musk-ox. Bird-life was 

 present as far as the land extended, the out- 

 lying species being the snowy owl, snow- 

 bunting, and ptarmigan. Of fishes few ma- 

 rine species were procured, but an interest- 

 ing small salmonoid was found in fresh- 

 water lakes up to about latitude 82 35'. 

 Insect-life was more abundant than could 

 have been expected, and a goodly number 

 of species were obtained. Over twenty 

 species of phasnogamic plants were discov- 

 ered between latitudes 82 and 83, and the 

 cryptogamic flora was of course much 

 more varied and abundant. The whole 

 west coast, of Smith's Sound, from Cape 

 Isabella to *Cape Union, was fully surveyed 



and mapped, and large collections made 

 of both fossils and rock-specimens; while 

 .the sled-parties, which explored the shores 

 of the Polar Basin both to east and west, 

 brought back sufficient material to de- 

 termine the geological character of the 

 country. Silurian limestones, richly fossi- 

 liferous, were the prevailing rocks along 

 Smith's Sound. From the shales and sand- 

 stones of this formation a beautiful series 

 of leaf-impressions were collected, illustrat- 

 ing the characteristic flora of the epoch, 

 and presenting a remarkable demonstration 

 of the existence of a temperate climate 

 within 500 miles of the present pole, at a 

 comparatively recent geological time. Last- 

 ly, very interesting and suggestive observa- 

 tions were made on glaciation and on ice- 

 action in general. 



The Berlin Gorilla. At the recent meet- 

 ins of the German Association of Natural- 

 ists, Dr. Hermes, as we are informed by 

 Nature, described some interesting charac- 

 teristics of the young gorilla in the Berlin 

 Aquarium. He nods and claps his hands to 

 visitors ; wakes up like a man and stretches 

 himself. His keeper must always be beside" 

 him and eat with him ; he eats what his 

 keeper eats ; they share dinner and supper ; 

 the keeper must remain by him till he goes 

 to sleep, his sleep lasting eight hours. His 

 easy life has increased his weight in a few 

 months from thirty-one to thirty-seven 

 pounds. For some weeks he had inflamma- 

 tion of the lungs, when his old friend Dr. 

 Falkenstein was fetched, who treated him 

 with quinine and Ems-water, which made 

 him better. When Dr. Hermes left the 

 gorilla on the previous Sunday, the latter 

 showed the doctor his tongue, clapped his 

 hands, and squeezed the hand of the doctor 

 as an indication, the latter believed, of his 

 recovery. For Pungu, as the gorilla is 

 called, a large plate-glass palace has been 

 erected in the aquarium in connection with 

 the palm-house. 



Lightning in a Telegraph-Office. A tel- 

 egraph-operator, in an office on the Boston 

 and Providence Railroad, was lately killed by 

 lightning. This is said to be the only case 

 on record of an operator killed by lightning 

 while in the office. Remarking upon this 

 casualty, the Telegraphic Journal says that, 



