116 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 4. 



acid, especially in a dry soil, may hasten the death of 

 the organs of nutrition. — (Landw. versuchs-atationen, 

 xxviii. 123.) H. p. A. [264 



Determination of humus in the soil. — Loges 

 finds that the results obtained by oxidation with 

 chromic acid and absorption of the CO^ are too low. 

 From 64 to 96 per cent of the total amount of carbon 

 was obtained, the remainder being incompletely oxi- 

 dized, and escaping partly as volatile products. The 

 loss on ignition was hardly sufficient for even an 

 approximate estimate of the amount of organic 

 matter present. — {Landw. versuchs-stationen, xxviii. 

 229. ) H. p. A. [265 



GEOLOGY. 



The formation of coal. — This memoir by M. 

 Gaston de Saporta, written in a clear, elegant, and 

 really admirable style, reviews and eulogizes without 

 critical observations the essential point of the theory 

 of Grand'Eury, mentioned in two other places in this 

 issue. The first part of the review is a historical record 

 of the researches made on the form'ation of coal since 

 the first author who tried to ascertain its nature and 

 composition, or from Antoine Jussieu to Buffon in 

 France; then to the Germans Blumenbach, Schlot- 

 heim, Sternberg especially, and after him to Bron- 

 gn'iart, who in 1837 was the first to consider the origin 

 of coal as related to that of peat. The author of the 

 memoir sees in the lignite deposits of Fuveau, near 

 the Bouches du Rhone, analogy of formation with 

 that of the paleozoic coal-beds, as it has been ex- 

 posed by Grand'Eury. — (Rm. des deux mondes, Dec. 

 1, 1882. ) L. L. [266 



METEOROLOGY. 



Indian meteorology. — The studies of A. N. 

 Pearson, the acting meteorological reporter for west- 

 ern India, of the meteorological conditions in 1881, 

 confirm the results of previous observations, that 

 there are abnormal movements of atmospheric press- 

 ure which affect a very wide area, and which are 

 not simultaneous in all parts of that area, but travel 

 from west to east. The barometric readings made at 

 Zanzibar, when compared with those of the Bombay 

 presidency, show the possibility of predicting the gen- 

 eral nature of the seasons in western India some 

 months beforehand; but there are irregularities in 

 these abnormal movements, the cause of which must 

 be discovered before the nature of the seasons can he 

 foretold with certainty. These observations of Mr. 

 Pearson are to be welcomed, since they are in the 

 direction of a legitimate forecasting of the seasons on 

 a scientific basis. — (Brief sketch meteor. Bombay 

 pres., 1881.) w. u. [267 



ZOOLOGY. 

 Protozoa. 



Preservation of Protozoa. — Henri Blanc recom- 

 mends preserving protozoa with a mixture of 100 pts. 

 concentrated solution of picric acid, 2 pts. sulphuric 

 acid, and 600 pts. distilled water, with one drop of 1% 

 acetic acid for every five centimetres of the mixture. 

 For coloring use 5 grms. of safran dissolved in 15 

 grms. absolute alcohol, which is allowed to stand for 

 a few days, and then be filtered. — (Zool. anz.,Vi. 

 22. ) c. s. M. [268 



Criticism of Kiinstler's theory of Protozoa. — 

 Kiinstler, in a recent thesis, attempted to overthrow 

 the cell-doctrine in its application to Protozoa, and 

 reported a number of surprising discoveries. Biit- 

 sclili criticises him severely, and maintains that one 

 form which he described as new, under the name of 

 Kiinckelia gyrans, is in reality a Cercaria and not a 

 Protozoan : BUtschli suggests that so gross an error 



ought to invalidate the whole article. — (Zool. anzeig., 

 no. 128.) c. 8. M. [269 



Interesting ne-w ciliate infusorian. — "Mr. F. 

 W. Phillips describes a new genus and species (Journ. 

 Linn, soc., zool, xvi. 476. ) under the name of Calypto- 

 tricha pleuronemoides, found attached to Myriophyl- 

 lum. The animals are furnished with a remarkable 

 transparent hyaline ovate lorica, opening teat-like 

 at both ends, and a vibratory membranous hood or 

 velum almost equal to the ventral length. The an- 

 terior end of the body is protrusible from the lorica. 

 Their length is .001 inch ; and the uon-vibratile setose 

 body-cilia are about two-thirds of this length, with 

 shorter, stronger vibratile cilia at the entrance of the 

 velum." — (Journ. roy. micr. soc. Lond., ii. 799.) 

 c. s. M. [270 



Merejkowsky's Suctociliata. — Merejkowsky 

 found in the gulf of Naples an infusorian having 

 both cilia and suckers, and therefore intermediate 

 between the Ciliata and Acineta. The animal, which 

 is very common, resembles a Halteria: the anterior 

 part of the body has a conical neck, around the base 

 of which is a crown of three circles of seven or eight 

 stiff cilia; the mouth is at the front of the neck, and 

 is surrounded by four conically placed suckers, which 

 cannot, however, be observed when the neck is re- 

 tracted : hence they were overlooked by Cohn, who 

 has given a superficial description of the animal un- 

 der the name of Acarella siro. Merejkowsky regards 

 this as a new type of great phylogenetio importance. 

 — (Comptes rend., xcv. 1232. ) [271 



Maupas criticises this publication. Stein had long 

 ago described an intermediate type, Actiorobolus. 

 Merejkowsky's species has been long known as Hal- 

 teria pulex (Clap. LaCh.), H. tennicollis (Freseuius). 

 The supposed suckers have been figured by Claparfede 

 and Lachmann, and described besides by Fresenius; 

 and there is no proof that they are homologous with 

 the suckers of Acineta, but they are organs of at- 

 tachment by which the animal anchors itself. Mau- 

 pas i-eiterates his opinion, that the ancestral affinities 

 of the Adnata are to be sought with the Heliozoa, 

 rather than the Ciliata. — (Comptes rend., xcv. 1381.) 

 C. S. M. [272 



Theory of the conjugation of Infusoria. — 

 BUtschli criticises the assertions made by Balbiani, 

 in his lectures as reported in the Journal de micro- 

 graphie, concerning the reproduction of Infusoria. 

 He gives brief summaries of Balbiani's views as ad- 

 vanced in 1861, and of his own. The brief and clear 

 resumes render the article valuable for reference, but 

 the author's purpose is to correct certain misrepre- 

 sentations which Balbiani has permitted to appear in 

 his lectures. — (Zool. anz., vi. 10.) c. s. m. [273 



VERTEBRATES. 



Iiocalization of functions in the cerebral cor- 

 tex. — From the results of experiments on dogs, 

 Boclifontaine concludes that Flourens was correct in 

 ascribing vicarious functions to the cerebral convolu- 

 tions. At one time electrical stimulation of a partic- 

 ular surface area a may, for example, be followed by 

 secretion of the sub-maxillary gland or by some defi- 

 nite movement of a limb, while the same stimulus 

 applied to other regions of the cerebral surface has no 

 such consequences. In half an hour or forty-five 

 minutes the region a will, however, cease to react to 

 stimuli, while some other area b, previously inexcit- 

 able, becomes irritable, and its stimulation is followed 

 by the same phenomena as previously the stimulation 

 of a. The author suggests that the gray rind is itself 

 not capable of electrical excitation, and that the 



