180 NOTES AND COMMENTS [mabch 



Mr. Ussber's hunting-grounds were the kitchen-middens of the 

 South of Ireland, previously visited by him. The bones which he 

 discovered on this occasion represented portions of the pectoral and 

 pelvic limbs, and a fragment of a left innominate bone. These were 

 found associated with the remains of " domestic animals and fowls (sic) 

 . . . Eed-deer, . . . burned stones, and charcoal in layers, and great 

 quantities of shells of edible species (sic)." The latter half of the 

 paper contains some extracts from a very sensational article by Lady 

 Blake which appeared in the Victoria Quarterly for August 1889. 

 The genuineness of these stories, though no doubt published by Lady 

 Blake in all good faith, is seriously open to question. So far, there 

 seems to be not a tittle of evidence in support of any of the state- 

 ments therein set down. 



Mr. Knowles's finds were made in the North of Ireland — White- 

 park Bay. These represent portions of the fore and hind limbs and 

 of the pectoral girdle. " The first remains of Great Auk " from 

 Whitepark Bay were, he tells us, " obtained during a careful excava- 

 tion of a portion of the black layer," — information of questionable 

 value, inasmuch as he omits to inform us to what period the " black 

 layer " belongs. Just as, in an earlier part of his paper, he tells us 

 that " There were also associated with these remains flint flakes, cores, 

 hammer-stones, and flint scrapers, together with edible molluscs " (sic). 



We are curious to know the nature of the " physiological pre- 

 parations " of the Great Auk, referred to in Mr. Knowles's paper. 

 These two papers are illustrated by some rough and somewhat 

 inaccurate sketches, signed by " M. Knowles." 



About Yeast. 



More than a year ago we were startled by the announcement of the 

 discovery, by Dr. Buchner, that the alcoholic fermentation set up by 

 the yeast-plant was due to an enzyme or ferment which he had suc- 

 ceeded in extracting from it. This meant that a long-cherished belief 

 that the action of yeast could not be disassociated from the living- 

 plant must be given up, and the process of fermentation be regarded 

 as simply one of a long series of ferment-actions comparable with that 

 of diastase on starch or pepsin on proteid. However, we were re- 

 assured by Prof. Eeynolds Green, who, in a paper published in the 

 Annals of Botany at the end of 1897, stated that he had been unable 

 to extract an alcohol-producing enzyme from yeast. But, alas ! for our 

 equanimity ! The latest number of the same journal (vol. xii. p. 491) 

 contains another paper by Prof. Green, who has repeated his experi- 

 ments with special precautions, and is now driven to. the conclusion 

 that actively-fermenting yeast-cells do secrete an alcohol-producing 



