372 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 768 



points are applicable to any camper-out, to 

 any one who has to do with mining or civil 

 engineering, and it should be brought to the 

 attention of a wide circle. 



Alfred C. Lane 

 Tufts College, Mass. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL 

 The Journal of Experimental Zoology, Vol. 

 VI., No. 4 (July, 1909), contains the follow- 

 ing contributions : " Factors of Form Eegula- 

 tion in Harenactis attenuata," by C. M. Child. 

 The contraction of tissues following a wound 

 does not appear to be an adaptive reaction to 

 accomplish wound closure, but merely a phys- 

 iological result of the injury to the tissues. 

 The rapidity of oral restitution and to some 

 extent the size of the parts decrease with in- 

 creasing distance of the level of restitution 

 from the original oral end, until in short 

 proximal pieces restitution usually ceases with 

 wound closure. " The Effects of Centrifugal 

 Force upon the Eggs of some Chrysomelid 

 Beetles," by E. W. Hegner. Eggs of five spe- 

 cies of three genera of chrysomelid beetles 

 were centrifuged at ages ranging from those 

 freshly laid to those with well-developed blas- 

 toderms. Three strata were induced regard- 

 less of the orientation of the eggs in the cen- 

 trifugal machine. In some cases eggs with 

 their contents redistributed produced normal 

 embryos or larvae; in other cases a dwarf 

 embryo resulted at the inner (light) end of 

 the egg, not having grown around the yolk as 

 in eggs developed normally. Female beetles 



after centrifuging laid eggs as usual; these 

 with two exceptions produced normal larvae. 

 " Contributions to Experimental Entomology, 

 I., Junonia cwnia Hiibner; II., Two Cases of 

 Anabiosis in Actras selene Hiibner," by Will- 

 iam Reiff. " Adaptation and Immunity of 

 the Lower Organisms to Ethyl Alcohol," by 

 J. Frank Daniel. The author studied the 

 acclimatization of certain infusoria (Stentor 

 and Spirostomum) to alcohol. Some strains 

 of these animals showed a considerably in- 

 creased resistance to alcohol after being kept 

 for a few days in weak solutions of this sub- 

 stance. In other strains, having a high resist- 

 ance to begin with, scarcely any increase of 

 resistance could be caused by this means. The 

 increase of resistance was limited to the sub- 

 stance used in acclimatizing the animals; 

 when acclimatized to ethyl alcohol, they 

 showed a decreased resistance to other chem- 

 icals. 



HISTORICAL GRAPEWS 

 Some time ago, while preparing a paper on 

 the history of physics, I adopted the plan of 

 inserting the life interval of the great masters 

 in metric cross-section paper, to the year. My 

 only excuse for referring to the matter here 

 is this method of reference, which proved 

 itself surprisingly useful, both at that time 

 and since. It consists in plotting straight line 

 life periods chronologically, from left to right 

 and the corresponding names alphabetically 

 from top to bottom. Authors are thus easily 

 found and the chronological comparison is im- 



U50 



1S50 



1900 



