562 
NATURE 
turbid from the presence of organisms. As dilute hydrogen 
peroxide is without action upon albumen, the conclusion seems 
inevitable that albumen is practically indestructible by any atmo- 
spheric agency without previous splitting up by micro-organisus, 
and further, that whilst micro-organisms cannot develop, and 
are probably killed in an ozonised atmosphere, these spores are 
not easily destroyed by its agency. These results confirm the 
surmise of the late Dr. Angus Smith that putrefaction is a 
necessary preliminary to oxidation in all cases of watwral river 
purification. Prof. Burdon Sanderson, Dr. W. B. Carpenter 
and Capt. Douglass Galton all commented upon the practical 
value and interest of this paper, Capt. Douglas Galton 
observing that the sooner organic matter of sewage is got on to 
land the better. 
The Use of Graphic Representations of Life-Histories in the 
Teaching of Botany, by Prof. Bower.—This was a paper referr- 
ing to a series of diagrams prepared by the author to bring in 
review the chief facts in the life-history of the moss, fern, equi- 
setum, Sc/aginel/a, a conifer, and an angiosperm. Prof. Bower 
pointed out that these diagrams could be extended to include 
lower forms, and that they are only intended for use affer the 
student has mastered the facts in detail in the laboratory. 
Having described the diagrams and referred to some interesting 
processes of vegetative reproduction in the mosses and ferns, 
the author then proposed for discussion a series of questions as 
to the advisability of employing such diagrams, or of extending 
their use. The discussion which followed was taken part in by 
Sir J. Lubbock, Profs. Bailey Balfour (Oxford), M‘Nab (Dublin), 
Trail (Aberdeen), Mr. Marshall Ward (Owens College), and 
others, and several suggestions were proposed for rendering 
Prof. Bower’s graphic representations still more graphic. 
A New Theory of the Sense of Taste, by Prof. J. Berry Hay- 
craft.—The author showed that ‘‘ quality ” in this sense depends 
upon the nature of the atoms found in the sapid molecule. A 
study of the periodic law demonstrates that similar tastes are 
produced by combinations which contain elements such as 
lithium, sodium, potassium, which show a periodic recurrence 
of ordinary ,hysical properties. Among the carbon compounds 
those which produce : imilar tastes are found to contain a common 
“‘oroup” of elements. Thus organic acids contain the group 
CO.OHB, the sweet substances CH,.OH. There is no relation 
between quality of sensation and gross molecular weight, except 
that substances of either very small or very great molecular 
weight are not tasted at all. 
On the Hybridisation of Salmonide at Howieloun, by Francis 
Day.—During the last eleven years Sir J. R. Gibson-Maitland, 
at Howietoun, near Stirling, has devoted much attention to this 
subject, and gone to great expense in order to efficiently carry 
out the many experiments he has instituted, while he has like- 
wise afforded the author facilities for personally watching many 
of them, and furnished him with data as well as with specin ens. 
When we consider that the ova of teleostean or bony fishes have, 
as a rule, to be fertilised by the milk of the males diffused in the 
surrounding water, it is not difficult to believe that this fluid from 
the male of one genus might come into contact with the eggs 
from fish of another species, genus, or even family, and a hybrid 
offspring be thus occasioned. But the size «f the micropyle of 
the ovum and that of the spermatozooid of the milt must be of 
conforming capacities, or fertilisation would be a physical im- 
possibility. It would appear from the experiments made that 
the following conclusions may, with more or less probability, be 
drawn :—(t) Salmon and trout, trout and char, and different 
species of char, may interbreed and give rise to fertile hybrids. 
(2) Hybrids raised from Lochleven trout eggs fertilised by 
salmon milt, breed in their fourth year, similar to young female 
salmon lept under the same conditions. (3) The anodromous 
instinct is not lost in these trout and salmon hybrids. (4) Judg- 
ing from the period of breeding in the foregoing hybrids, the 
male element is prepotent. (5) In hybrids raised from Loch- 
leven trout eggs fertilised by the milt of the American char, the 
male element would appear to be prepotent, if we judge simply 
by the colour of the offspring. (6) In hybrids raised from 
American char eggs fertilised by the milt of the Lochleven trout, 
the female element would appear to be prepotent, if we judge 
simply by the colour of the offspring. (7) In hybrids raised 
from American char eggs fertilised by the milt of the British 
char, the male element would appear to be prepotent, if we 
may judge simply by the colour of the offspring. (8) In all 
instances of hybridisation between different species, as between 
salmon and trout, or trout and char, numerous instances of mal- 
formation and great mortality oceur among the offsprin 
much less when two forms of char are intercrossed. (9) In 
crossing hybrids both the eggs and milt were found to be fert 
but the malformations and mortality very great. The pare 
however, at Howietoun are not yet of sufficient age to admit am 
safe deductions on this head. (10) The age of the parent ex 
cises great influence on the vitality of the offspring, for, when 
very young, we may expect a large percentage of malformations, 
as well as dropsy and other diseases of the offspring, : 
Chinese Insect White Wax, by A. Hosie.—The author beg 
with a reference to the European and Chinese writers who 
mention Chinese insect white wax, and then proceeded to say 
that, although the province of Ssu-chuan, in Western China, — 
where he has been stationed for the last three years, is the chief 
wax-insect and wax-producing country in the Empire, insects — 
and wax are found in other provinces. Mr. Hosie was called 
upon by the Foreign Office to collect for Sir Joseph Hooker 
specimens connected with, and all possible information on, the — 
subject of this industry, and he states that the present paper is a 
revision, with additions, of a Report already published in a~ 
Parliamentary paper in February last. He describes the insect- 
producing country, the tree on which the insects are propagated, 
the insects themselves, and their transit from the valley of Chien- 
chang, their breeding-ground, in the west cf Ssu-chuan, across 
the mountains to Chia-ting Fu, the habitat of the wax tree. 
This t:ee is then described, and details are given of the treat- 
ment of the insects, their suspension on the trees, the depositing 
of the wax, and of a parasite on the insects. The method of 
removing the wax from the branches of the tree and of preparing 
it for market is then explained. The author then detailed the 
result of an examination of the insects after tne wax has been 
fully deposited, finally passing to the annual quantity of insect 
white wax produced, its value, and uses. 
On the Size of the Brain in Extinct Animals, by Prof. O. C. 
Marsh.—Prof. Marsh, of Yale College, said that for fifteen 
years he had directed his attention to the subject of the size of 
the Lrain in extinct animals. In every instance he found that 
the mammals from the lower Tertiary had very small brains. He 
carried out his investigation into the upper Tertiary, and found 
that the brain was much larger in the pliocene than in the 
miocene. All the tertiary mammals had small brains; there 
was a gradual increase in the size of the brain during this period ; 
and this increase in the size was generally in the cerebral hemi- 
sphere or higher portions of the brain. In some groups the 
convolution of the brain had gradually become more complex. 
In some the cerebellum and the olfactory lobes had even dimin- — 
ished in size. There was now evidence that the same general 
law of brain growth holds good for birds and reptiles from the 
Jurassic period to the present time. The brain of an animal 
belonging to a vigor: us race fitted for a long survival was larger 
than the average brain of that period in the same group, and the 
brain cf a mammal of adeclining race was smaller than the 
average brain of its contemporaries of the same group. The 
small animals now existing had proportionally larger brains than 
the larger animals, and young animals had proportionally larger 
brains than adult animals. They found some interesting 
examples which threw light on this question, For instance in_ 
the Eocene they had an animal, the oldest known ancestor of 
the rhinoceros, ard it had an exceptionally large brain. Taking 
all the facts together it seemed as though this train growth was 
an important element in the survival of animals. If the animal 
became large and unwieldly with a small brain, it would be— 
liable to suffer from any change of climate. In other words, in — 
early times the big brain conquered as it is the big brain th 
conquers in civilisation to-day. Prof. Flower said it was satis- 
factory to find a case where the facts worked out coincided with — 
previously-formed theories, because that was not always the 
case, and sometimes the facts or the theories had to go to the ~ 
wall. In this case they had no such difficulty ; and they had to 
thank the American Government for the way in which it had 
taken up Prof. Marsh’s work and were disseminating it. : 
On the Systematic Position of the Chameleon and its 
Affinities with the Dinosauria, by D’Arcy W. Thompson, B.A. 
—The authcr belicves that the great anatomical differences which 
separate the Chameleon from all other Lacertilia are connec 
with marked resemblances to the Dinosauria, especially tl 
group Sauropoda. The shoulder-girdle is quite identical with 
that of (e.g.) Brontosaurus, but differs wholly from that of the 
Lacertilia in the simple form of the scapula and coracoid, the — 
absence of coraco-scapula fenestrations, of clavicle and inter- — 
