August ", 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



143 



several points. But all this, and other facts of a sim- 

 ilar nature, must not be explained by an elevation of 

 the land: for the ruins of Carthage, on a promontory 

 a few miles to the south, are still close to the sea, and 

 the remains of some of its harbor-works are yet at 

 the water's edge. A variety of ancient and modern 

 descriptions of this region arc referred to. — {Pelenn. 

 (/eoj)-. mi»A., 1883, 201, map.) w. .m. n. |155 



ZOOLOGY. 



Protozoa. 



Nevff sporozoou. — A. Schneider has discovered 

 in the Malpighian vessels of Blaps an amoeboid para- 

 site. Multiplication takes place principally by means 

 of cysts. Encystment occurs only between individ- 

 uals with a single nucleus and of spherical form. The 

 two conjugated organisms secrete around themselves 

 several envelopes, each marked with an equatorial 

 line of dehiscence. Each of the two nuclei divide 

 into three. Of the six nuclei thus formed, four, 

 together with a part of the granular mass, remain 

 unused, while the other two become the spores. The 

 species is named Ophryoeystis Biitschlii. — (Comptes 

 rendus. 1883, 1378; Ann. mag. nat. hist., xi. 459.) 

 c. s. M. [156 



Insects. 



Observations on Hymenoptera. — In part x. of 

 his Observations, Lubbock answers some of Dr. 

 SliiUer's objections to his methods in studying the 

 color-preferences of the hive-bee, believing that his 

 conclusions are not invalidated by them. To test 

 the sense of hearing in bees, telephonic communica- 

 tion was established between two sets of bees, one 

 of which was then excited, but with no effect on 

 the other. Others were accustomed to visit honey 

 placed near a music-box, the position of which was 

 several times changed. The bees did not, however, 

 appear to hear the music, though they seem to have 

 connected the presence of the instrument with that 

 of the honey, and were guided by it, even if it were 

 not playing, so long as they could see it; but if they 

 could not see it, even if it were playing, it did not 

 assist them. It is, however, uncertain but that high 

 over-tones, beyond our range of hearing, may be 

 audible to bees. 



Further experiments seem to show that the indus- 

 try of wasps has been underrated. One individual 

 visited some honey no less than a hundred and six- 

 teen times in a day, loading herself each time, and 

 carrying away more than sixty-four grains of honey. 

 Her working-hours extended from 4.13 a.m. to 7.47 

 I'.M., while a bee, working on honey the same day, 

 made but twenty-nine visits, between 5.45 a.m. and 

 7.1.5 p.m. 



A curious demonstration of the recognition of the 

 i|ueen by worker-ants was made in the following 

 way: "I was starting a new nest of Lasius llavus 

 in which were two <iueens. We allowrd the ants to 

 take one of them into their new glass house; the 

 other we kept with a small retinue in a separate bot- 

 tle. If this bottle is placed near the nest, some of 

 the retinue leave it, go into the nest, and soon the 



ants come out in large numbers to see, I had almost 

 said to pay their respects to, their queen." 



The dislike of ants for the ultra-violet rays of the 

 spectrum, indicated by earlier experiments, was fur- 

 ther shown by the use of two scneens, — one consist- 

 ing of a solution of iodine in carbon bisulphide ; the 

 other of indigo, carmine, and roseine, mixed so as to 

 produce the same tint, but not, like the bisulphide 

 solution, intercepting the ultra-violet rays. The 

 ants collected, in most instances, under the iodine 

 screen. 



The record of the occiu-rence of Ponera contracta 

 in England, and the description of a new Australiaa 

 honey-ant, Melophorus Bagoti, are of interest to the 

 systematist. — {Journ. Linn, soc, zool., xvii.) w. T. 



[157 

 {E'-Onomir entomology.) 



Insects affecting the stra'wberry. — Professor 

 S. A. Forbes summarizes what has been published 

 respecting the insects that infest the strawberry in 

 the United States, and adds original observations 

 respecting several of them. These observations refer 

 chiefly to the crown-borer, the root-worm, and the 

 crown-miner. A very useful calendar is given, indi- 

 cating in a concise form the periods of each of the 

 species discussed and the particular place in which 

 each insect occurs in each of its stages. — (Trans. 

 Miss. Valley hort. soc, 1883.) J. n. c. [158 



The hop- vine borer. — Although this pest has 

 been very destructive for many years, the life-history 

 of the species has not been known till now. Prof. 

 Comstock gives an account, with figures, of the insect 

 in each of its stages. — [Amer. agric, June, 1883.) 



[159 

 VERTEBRATES. 



Are the lungs air-tight ? — That the lungs are nor- 

 mally air-tight under the ordinary condition of life 

 has been accepted in physiology as an almost neces- 

 sary consequence of the function which they perform. 

 Ewald and Robert have lately reported some experi- 

 ments which appear to show that this belief is not 

 strictly correct. If the intra-pulmonic pressure is 

 raised above a certain limit, not higher than may 

 occur normally during life, there is an escape of air 

 from the lungs into the pleural cavity or into the 

 blood-vessels of the pulmonary circulation. When 

 a curarized dog was exposed to artificial respiration 

 at a proportionally high pressure for about an hour, 

 the dog killed, and the chest opened under water, 

 both the pleural cavity and the heart were found to 

 contain air. Experiments made upon excised lungs, 

 expanded under water by positive pressure, showed, 

 that, at a certain pressure, air esc.^ped, while, if the 

 pressure was again lowered, the lungs again became 

 air-tight. The authors satisfied themselves in all 

 cases that there was no actual gross rupture of the 

 lung-tissue or blood-vessels. The maximal expirato- 

 ry pressure which a dog can produce was found to 

 vary between .50 mnis. and iHl mms. of mercury; 

 while, to get an escape of air into the pleural cavity or 

 heart, it was only necessary to keep the intra-pulmon- 

 ic pressure at about 35 mms. of mercurj-. A similar 

 result was obtained with rabbits. The escape of air 



