NOTES. 



H3 



of the two races which has been going on 

 ever since, and by which the Iberian type is 

 at the present time being slowly obliterated. 



Joseph Jastuow communicated to the 

 American Association an account of some 

 experiments with ants, from which it re- 

 sults that, having regard to the dilference 

 in size, these little insects walk from seven 

 to fourteen times as rapidly as man. Other 

 experiments indicated a sensitiveness to 

 odors. When brushes were dipped iu vari- 

 ous substances, the ants invariably took 

 notice of those which had been dipped in 

 lavender, and mostly noticed those which 

 had been dipped in cloves or mint, but 

 were indifferent to brushes which had been 

 dipped in distilled water. Lavender ap- 

 pears to be extremely disagreeable, and 

 even deadly, to them. 



Pertinently to a controversy between 

 German and Scandinavian archaeologists as 

 to priority in the classification of the pre- 

 historic ages — stone, bronze, and iron — Pro- 

 fessor Virchow contends that two Germans, 

 Lish and Danneil, discovered the three ages 

 simultaneously with the Dane Thomsen. 

 In support of his position, he quotes a 

 memoir by Lish, which was published in 

 1837, but was in large part printed in 

 1836, before Thomsen's work appeared, 

 and when it was wholly unknown to him, 

 expounding a similar theory. In 1S35, 

 Lish had actually arranged prehistoric ob- 

 jects in the museum in Mecklenburg, ac- 

 cording to the three ages. Danneil's share 

 in the discovery does not appear so pro- 

 nounced. 



It is usually believed that bats hibernate 

 at home, in a dormant condition in caves, 

 hollow trees, and other places of retreat. 

 But according to Dr. C. II. Merriman's ob- 

 servations, as he related them in the Ameri- 

 can Association, the evidence is complete 

 that the hoary bat and the silver-haired 

 bat emigrate. The hoary bat belongs to the 

 Canadian fauna, but in fall and winter oc- 

 curs at places far to the southward of its 

 breeding-range. The silver-haired bat oc- 

 curs regularly in spring and fall at a lonely 

 rock about twenty miles off the coast of 

 Maine. No bats breed at this place, and 

 the nearest island is fourteen miles distant. 



A remarkable illustration of the power 

 of lightning has been observed at Loiten, 

 Norway, where a fir-tree eighty feet in 

 height was struck, with such effect, that it 

 was cut in two, and the upper part, which 

 was about sixty feet in length, was thrown 

 to a distance of several yards. The surface 

 of the detached part is as smooth as if it 

 had been cut with a saw, while the stump 

 is jagged, charred, and split to the root. 

 The ground around the tree is furrowed in 

 all directions. • 



M. "Walther has made some observa- 

 tions in the Mediterranean Sea of the man- 

 ner in which chalk is formed by sea-weeds. 

 He particularly studied the Lithotamnia of 

 the Bay of Naples, which grow at depths of 

 from one hundred to three hundred feet, a 

 class of algae remarkably poor in organic 

 matter, but rich in mineral constituents, 

 among which carbonate of lime is prepon- 

 derant. They grow to be about as large as 

 the hand, and then die without suffering 

 change of form by decomposition. Living 

 plants attach themselves to dead ones, and 

 thu3 extensive deposits are formed. Beds 

 of pure, uncrystallized chalk remain after 

 the gradual disappearance of the organic 

 matter, the vacancies left by which are 

 gradually filled with calcareous substance. 

 Beds of chalk thus formed may, under 

 some conditions, attain great thickness. 



M. Pasteur recently reported concern- 

 ing 1,656 cases which he had treated of 

 persons bitten by rabid animals. Of 1,009 

 French cases, 3 had died ; of 182 Kussians, 

 11, 8 of whom had been bitten by wolves, 

 not by dogs ; of 20 Roumanians, 1 ; of 44."> 

 from other countries, including 18 from 

 America, none. The total number of deaths 

 was, therefore, fifteen, or less than one in 

 a hundred. 



The committee of the British Associa- 

 tion on Antarctic research has reported that, 

 in view of the great increase in facilities 

 •for prosecuting work of that kind conse- 

 quent upon the development of steam navi- 

 gation, it desires to secure a full discussion 

 of plans for the purpose of giving more defi- 

 niteness to the objects sought to be obtained, 

 and to the best means of obtaining them. 



Sea-trout have been artificially spawned 

 with great success at the South Kensington 

 aquarium, even from fish which had been 

 kept in captivity for three years and had 

 never visited the sea. The different species 

 of the Sahnonidw living in the tank are 

 found to pair quite readily with one an- 

 other. Fish in captivity yield their ova 

 much later than they do when in a wild 

 state ; but, of every thirty subjected to arti- 

 ficial existence, only one is, on the average, 

 barren. 



A committee has been formed in Paris 

 for the organization of a floating exhibition 

 for the purpose of bringing the products of 

 French industries within the view, of the 

 people of other countries. The Sarthe, a 

 vessel of 3,900 tons, has been furnished 

 to the enterprise by the Minister of Ma- 

 rine. The exhibition will fill about 1,600 cu- 

 bic metres of glass cases and counters ; and 

 400 square metres will be given to machin- 

 ery. The first voyasre of the exhibition will 

 be to the coasts of Central and South Amer- 



