NOTES. 



511 



the animal is unable, either from exhaus- 

 tion or other reasons, to produce that secre- 

 tion whose stench is its great defense, its 

 bite is productive of a highly-dangerous 

 rabies, often causing death with some of 

 the terrible symptoms of hydrophobia. We 

 have thus authenticated the fact that rabies, 

 capable of being given by the inoculation 

 of a bite, is communicable by the canines, 

 felines, and the mustelidae families. 



now Plants imbibe Ammonia.— From a 



series of experiments made by Adolf Mayer, 

 it appears that plants have the power of ab- 

 sorbing ammonia through their aerial parts. 

 The experiments were made on plants grow- 

 ing in such a manner that no ammonia could 

 reach their roots directly, while the leaves 

 were subject to its action, in either a gas- 

 eous or dissolved condition. It was ob- 

 served, however, that the plants did not 

 thrive when the access of ammonia to the 

 roots was entirely prevented. 



Reproduction of Organs in Fish.— Dar- 

 win, in his "Animals and Plants imder Do- 

 mestication," states, on the authority of 

 Frank Buckland, that, when portions of the 

 pectoral and tail-fins of various fresh-water 

 fish are cut off, they are perfectly repro- 

 duced in about six weeks. This phenome- 

 non of regeneration was recently observed 

 in the aquarium of the Boston Young Men's 

 Christian Union, by F. W. Clark, who com- 

 municates to the American, Naturalist an 

 interesting note on the subject. It appears 

 that, in the spring of 1873, a fish-fungiis 

 made its appearance in the tank, and several 

 fine fishes died. Among the specimens at- 

 tacked by the fungus was a young goldfish, 

 which, by some unknown means, had lost its 

 tail-fin. The fungus covered the whole stump 

 of the tail ; the fish became sick, and was 

 apparently dying. Mr. Clark's attention 

 having been called to the case, he at once 

 concluded that he had some parasite to deal 

 with, and resolved to exterminate it. He 

 applied a few drops of nitric acid to the 

 tail-stump, allowing it to remain a moment 

 or two, after which he rinsed it off in clean 

 water, and put the fish back in the tank. 

 The parasite, of course, was killed ; the 

 patches of fungus sloughed off, and the fish 

 was soon well. In the course of a few days, 



he thought he saw the fungus again appear- 

 ing on the affected part ; but, on looking 

 closely, found that the appearance was real- 

 ly due to the growth of new rays. A month 

 later, a new tail-fin, about a fourth of an 

 inch long, had appeared, and, three months 

 from the time of the experiment, the fish 

 was undistinguishable from others of the 

 same species in the aquarium. 



NOTES 



The American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science will hold its twenty- 

 third annual meeting this year at Hartford, 

 commencing at ten o'clock, on Wednesday, 

 August 12th. Members must furnish the 

 permanent secretary, F. W. Putnam, Salem, 

 Mass., with complete titles of all the papers 

 they propose to present during the meeting, 

 together with an estimate of the time re- 

 quired for reading each paper. Each title 

 must be given on a separate slip of paper, 

 with the full name of the author. The titles 

 must be furnished to the secretary before 

 the day appointed for the Association to 

 convene. The Association will at this 

 meeting accept the act of incorporation, 

 giving it a legal existence. Another matter 

 to come before it for deliberation will be the 

 new constitution. From the American 

 Naturalist w^e learn that a monograph on 

 " Fossil Butterflies," by Mr. Scudder, is soon 

 to be published by the Association, the 

 necessary funds having been voted by the 

 committee on Mrs. Thompson's gift. The 

 officers elected for the Hartford meeting 

 are the following : President, Dr. J. L. Le 

 Conte, Philadelphia; Vice President, Prof. 

 C. S. Lyman, New Haven ; Permanent 

 Secretary, F. W. Putnam, Salem, Mass, ; 

 General Secretary, Dr. A. C. Hamlin, Bangor ; 

 Treasurer, William S. Vaux, Philadelphia. 



A CORRESPONDENT of Land and Water 

 relates an instance of a brood of chickens 

 being cared for by a cat. This brood, hav- 

 ing been hatched very early in the season, 

 was taken from the hen and placed in a 

 basket near a kitchen fire. Soon the chicks 

 were missing, and, on search being made, 

 were found in an up-stairs room, kindly 

 tended by the domestic cat, being huddled 

 close to her warm fur. They were returned 

 to the kitchen, and, the cat still claiming 

 them, she was left in possession of her 

 adopted brood, which she raised to chicken- 

 hood. As they grew up the cat would 

 accompany them in their out-of-door ram- 

 bles, lying in the sun, and fondly watching 

 them. 



Good results have been obtained in the 

 utilization of sewage at Dantzic. The land 



