FRESH FACTS. 



A Strange Dish. K. Kishinouye. " Edible Medusae," Zool. Jahrb. xii. 

 1899, pp. 205-210, 1 pi. 1 fig. Mr. Kishinouye of the Imperial Fisheries 

 Bureau, Tokyo, has described two rhizostomatous medusae (Hhopilema esculenta 

 and Rh. verrucosa) which are used for food in Japan. The animal is preserved 

 with a mixture of alum and salt or between steamed leaves of Kashiwa, a kind 

 of oak, with the application of slight pressure. To prepare the preserved 

 medusa for the table, it is soaked in water about half an hour, then taken out 

 and well washed, cut into small pieces and flavoured. It is easily masticable 

 and furnishes an agreeable food. It is also used as a bait for the capture of 

 file-fish (Monacanthus) and sea-breams {Pagrus). The latter are said to accom- 

 pany shoals of the medusae. 



An Early Cry. K. Fischer Sigwart. " Biologische Beobachtungen an 

 unsern Amphibien. ii. Der Laubfrosch, Hyla arborea, L." Vierteljahrssclirift 

 Nat. Ges. Zurich, xliii. 1899, pp. 279-316, 1 pi. From this entertaining 

 account of observations on the " tree-frog " we select one note which is probably 

 fresh. The observer has detected, quite apart from the breeding calls and the 

 ordinary summer voice, a special strong cry of distress (" Angstschrei ") uttered 

 on an occasion of peculiar anxiety. As amphibians were probably the first 

 vertebrate animals to find a voice, this observation of a cry of distress or alarm 

 has peculiar interest. 



What is the Difference between a Lake and a Pond 1 Otto Zacharias. 

 "Ueber einige biologische Unterschiede zwischen Teichen und Seen," Biol. 

 Centralbl. xix. 1899, pp. 313-318. The difference has hitherto been defined 

 physically in terms of depth, etc. Thus R. Chodat, in his " Etudes de biologie 

 lacustre," says that the minimum average depth for a true lake is 20-30 metres. 

 But Zacharias shows that there are also distinct bionomical differences in the 

 plankton, various algae, rotifers, etc., being dominant in ponds and sparse in 

 lakes, and vice versa ; and he substantiates this in some detail. 



Artificial Production of Alpine Characters in Plants. Gaston 

 Bonnier. " Caracteres anatomiques et physiologiques des plantes rendues 

 artificiellement alpines par l'alternances des temperatures extremes," Comptes 

 Rendus Ac. Sci. Paris, cxxviii. 1899, pp. 1143-1146. Continuing his experi- 

 ments on this interesting subject, Bonnier finds that plants subjected to a daily 

 alternation of extremes of temperature, tend to have more marked development 

 of protective tissues, smaller and thicker leaves with a greater development of 

 palisade tissue, frequent redness due to anthocyan, more assimilation per unit 

 of surface, and relatively large flowers slightly less coloured than the normal. 



Anal Glands of Dytiscidae. Fr. Dierckz. " Sur la structure des 

 Dytiscides et le pretendu role defensif de ces glandes," Comptes Rendus Ac. 

 Sci. Paris, cxxviii. 1899, pp. 1126-1127. According to this investigator the 

 anal gland of Dytiscus is a unicellular gland facilitating the respiratory function 



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