ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 173 



Variations in Human Ribs.* — J. Dnnlop Lickley gives statistics 

 as to the relations of the seventh and eighth ribs to the sternum. He 

 concludes that the lower end of the thorax is degenerating, as shown 

 by the diminution in the number of ribs which unite with the sternum 

 in man and the higher Primates as compared with the lower monkeys. 

 The eighth rib has undergone so much degeneration that it rarely joins 

 the sternum, though when degeneration has been partly arrested it 

 reaches the middle line without becoming incorporated in or joining 

 with the sternum. Similarly the seventh rib may meet its fellow of the 

 opposite side without joining with or being incorporated in the meso- 

 sternum. A further change brings the seventh rib in a few cases into 

 the same position as the eighth normally occupies, namely, it fails to 

 reach the middle line and terminates by a secondary connection with 

 the sixth. 



Function of Iron in Metabolism and Fermentations, f — N.Sacharoff 

 has elaborated a theory according to which iron plays the essential role 

 in vital processes and fermentations, acting as the "enzyme of all 

 enzymes," and operative through an iron-containing nucleiu substance, 

 " Monuclein," with oxidising and reducing capabilities. 



Production of Glucose by Animal Tissues. J — MM. Cadeac and 

 Maignon find that all the organs or tissues of the dog and the horse 

 (except the bones) normally include a small quantity of glucose. They 

 all produce it when submitted for a suitable time to conditions of 

 asphyxia ; when these are prolonged, the sugar present or formed 

 entirely disappears. This production of glucose is a phenomenon of 

 protoplasmic metabolism, for it is not exhibited when the tissues are 

 killed by immersion in boiling water. 



Alleged Alcoholic Fermentation in Animal Tissues. § — F. Batelli 

 criticises the view of Stoklasa and others, that extracts of the tissues of 

 higher animals contain an enzyme capable of transforming glucose into 

 alcohol and carbon dioxide, and the view of Mile. Borrino that this 

 fermentation is due to nucleoproteids. Batelli's experiments lead to 

 support Cohnheim in the conclusion that the fermentation observed 

 in vitro is due to the presence of micro-organisms. 



Occurrence of an Animal Diastase at once Oxidising and Re- 

 ducing.! — J- E. Abelous and J. Aloy have satisfied themselves that in 

 extract of liver, kidney, lung, etc., there is a ferment which has the 

 power of acting both as an oxidising and as a reducing agent. This 

 double role leads the author to regard the ferment as the agent in 

 respiratory exchanges. 



!■■*- Viviparous Lizard's Prolific Multiplication. If — E. Olivier cap- 

 tured on the Cantal mountains (an col des Gardes) a gravid female of 

 the melanic variety of Lacerta vivvpara Jacq. It was entirely of a 



* Anat. Anzeig., xxiv. (1904) pp. 32G-32. 



t Das Eisen als das t'atige Prnicip der Enzyme und tier lebendigen Substanz. 

 Translated l.y M. Recbt»anier. 8vo, Jena (1902), 83 pp., 2 pis. and 15 rigs. See 

 Centralbl. Bakt. Parasitenk., 2" Abt., x. (1903) pp. 578-93. 



X Comptes Rendus, cxxxvi. (1903) pp. 1682— t. 



*j Op. cit., cxxxvii. (1903) pp. 1079-80. || Tom. cit., pp. S85-7. 



Tf Bull. Soe. Zool. France, xxviii. (1903) pp. 1S0-1. 



