6 3 6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cipal inorganic constituents to be present 

 in both in about the same proportions. 

 There was a marked difference, however, 

 between the two in the development of the 

 starch- granules. In the potatoes grown 

 under soot there was 22.5 per cent, of 

 starch, but in the others only 17.5 per cent. 

 a difference of 5 per cent. Then, as for 

 the size of the starch-granules in the good 

 potatoes, the average was 0.175 millimetre ; 

 but in the diseased tubers it was only 0.155 

 millimetre. Thus it is seen that not only 

 were the granules smaller, but their number 

 was less. The inference is, that increase 

 of temperature gives a great impetus to 

 the growth of starch-granules both in size 

 and number. 



Asymmetry of the Eyes in Flounders. 



The American Naturalist for December con- 

 tains a singularly interesting paper by Prof. 

 Alexander Agassiz on flounders, in which the 

 author recounts his observations upon the 

 manner in which the eyes, in that family of 

 fishes, become placed on one side of the 

 body. In five species of flounders he found 

 that the eye on the blind side travels from 

 its original place (symmetrical with the eye 

 of the opposite side) frontward and upward 

 on the blind side, resorbing the tissues in 

 its way, and new tissues forming behind. 

 This movement of translation is followed by 

 a certain amount of torsion of the whole 

 frontal part of the head, which, however, 

 commences only after the eye of the blind 

 side has nearly reached the upper edge of 

 that side, quite a distance in advance of its 

 original position. So far, Agassiz's observa- 

 tions concur, in the main, with the received 

 theory. Further research, however, showed 

 that the process of translation of the eye is 

 not the same in all species of flounders. 

 Having captured specimens about one inch 

 in length, symmetrical and perfectly trans- 

 parent, of the species Bascania, the author 

 noticed after a few days that " one eye, the 

 right, moved its place somewhat toward the 

 upper part of the body, so that when the 

 young fish was laid on its side the upper 

 half of the right eye could be plainly seen, 

 through the perfectly transparent body, to 

 project above the left eve The right eye (as 

 is the case with the eyes of all flounders), be- 

 ing capable of very extensive vertical move- 



ments through an arc of 180, could thus 

 readily turn to look through the body, 

 above the left eye, and see what was pass- 

 ing on the left side, the right eye being, of 

 course, useless on its own side as long as 

 the fish lay on its side. This slight upward 

 tendency of the right eye was continued in 

 connection with a motion of translation 

 toward the anterior part of the head till the 

 eye, when seen through the body from the 

 left side, was entirely clear of the left eye, 

 and was thus placed somewhat in advance 

 and above it, but still entirely in the rear 

 of the base of the dorsal fin, extending to 

 the end of the snout. 



" What was my astonishment on the 

 following day," continues Prof. Agassiz, 

 " on turning over the young flounder on its 

 left side, to find that the right eye had 

 actually sunk into the tissues of the head, 

 penetrating into the space between the base 

 of the dorsal fin and the frontal bone to 

 such an extent that the tissues adjoining 

 the orbit had slowly closed over a part of 

 the eye, leaving only a small elliptical open- 

 ing smaller than the pupil, through which 

 the right eye could look when the fish was 

 swimming vertically ! On the following day 

 the eye had pushed its way still farther 

 through, so that a small opening now ap- 

 peared opposite it on the left side, through 

 which the right eye could now see directly, 

 the original opening on the right side be- 

 ing almost entirely closed. Soon after, this 

 new opening on the left increased gradually 

 in size, the right eye pushing its way more 

 and more to the surface, and finally looking 

 outward on the left side with as much free- 

 dom as the eye originally on the left, the 

 opening of the right side having perma- 

 nently closed." 



Destruction of Birds in the Tutted States. 



In the course of an article in the Perm 

 Monthly on the decrease of birds in the 

 United States, Mr. J. A. Allen says of the 

 heron that, though nearly useless as food, 

 it has been enormously diminished in num- 

 bers, mostly through natural causes, but in 

 part by the wanton act of man. " Many," 

 he writes, " have of late been destroyed for 

 their feathers in Florida especially ; the 

 havoc made with these poor defenseless 

 birds is a subject of painful contemplation 



