744 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



the method, which is now being pursued at various centres. As an 

 instance of results he sums up the data in regard to the movements of 

 the white stork, 'rinse data have been mainly due to the work of 

 Thienemann, at Rossitten ; Mortensen, of Viborg, in Denmark, and 

 the workers at the Hungarian Ornithological Bureau have also con- 

 tributed largely. The Natural History Department of Aberdeen Uni- 

 versity started in 1009 an enquiry on the lines of that at Rossitten, 

 and observers, willing to co-operate and desirous of further information 

 on the subject, are invited to communicate with Professor J. Arthur 

 Thomson. A few of the interesting results are the following : a widgeon, 

 marked in June 1900, at Loch Brora, Sutherlandshire, was taken in 

 Groningen, Holland, on September 3, 1909 ; a swallow, marked at a 

 farm near Tunbridge Wells in June 1909, was re-taken at the same 

 farm in June 1910 ; a song-thrush, marked in Aberdeenshire in June 

 1910, was shot in Portugal in September. 



Weighing Parts of Eggs.* — Maynie R. Curtis refers to the 

 necessity of very accurate measurements in studying biometrically the 

 size, relations, and proportion of the parts of successive eggs of the same 

 hen. To prevent loss from evaporation the egg should be sealed, as 

 soon as possible after it is laid, in a half-pint Lightning fruit jar con- 

 taining a cushion of absorbent cotton. An accurate method of 

 separating the parts of the egg is as follows : Break the egg near the 

 centre and allow the albumen to run into a receiving dish. Keep the 

 yolk in one half of the shell. Then turn it into the empty half. The 

 yolk is then dried on filter paper. The shell is also dried on a filter. 

 The yolk and shell are then weighed. The difference between the sum 

 of their weights and the original weight of the unbroken egg gives the 

 weight of albumen. 



Bite of Heloderma.t — Marie Phisalix was bitten by Heloderma 

 suspectum, the poisonous lizard of Arizona, and she describes all the 

 results, such as the violent pain, the swelling, the profuse perspiration, 

 the pallor, the vertigo, and so on. Even after a week there was fatigue, 

 giddiness, and local pain. 



Toxins and Antitoxins. J — M. Arthus and B. Stawska have experi- 

 mented with the poison of cobra, rattlesnake, and fer-de-lance (Lachesis 

 lanceolatus), and the corresponding anti-venom serums, and they call 

 attention to the instantaneous character of the neutralization. The 

 rapidity suggests not a ferment-action, but the neutralization of an acid 

 by a base. 



Corpora Adiposa of Frog.§ — P. Kennel continues his study of these 

 bodies, which he proposes to call adipo-lymphoid, since they are lympho- 

 poietic as well as reserves of fat. He finds that the adipose reserves are 

 used in all conditions of malnutrition, and particularly during the 

 hibernation. Moreover, the reserves help towards the development of 

 the germ-cells, particularly as regards the deutoplasm of the ovum. 



* Rep. Maine Agric. Exper. Stat. (1911) pp. 93-112. 

 t Comptes Rendus, clii. (1911) pp. 1790-2. 

 t Comptes Rendus, cliii. (1911) pp. 355-7. 

 § Comptes Rendus, cliii. (1911) pp. 505-7. 



