36 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



Qan. 13, iS 



the brightest imaginable cobalt blue. The bizarre effect 

 thus produced is still further heightened by two fine lines of 

 feathers which, running lengthways and from side to side, 

 form a dark cross upon the brilliant azure background. 

 The plumage of the hen bird is of a sober brown, as is the 

 case Vifith the females of all the Paradeisidw, but, like the 

 male, the bare head is blue, although not nearly of so 

 bright a colour. This bird is a native of Batanta and 

 Waigiou Islands, frequenting trees of no great height 

 at an altitude of seven to eight hundred feet above the 

 sea. The paradise birds attract attention less by the 

 brilliancy of their plumage than by its extraordinary 

 development. From the Arfak range there are several 

 species, which at a little distance look like a uniform 

 black. Two of these, Lophorliina and Parotia, are fur- 

 nished with appendages which are, perhaps, as striking 

 ;as any with which long ages of selection have provided 

 ■the birds of this group, but until the specimen is taken 

 'up in the hand they will pass unnoticed. In the former 

 an immense plume of feathers springs from the occipital 

 region, and reaches to the end of the tail. It is of the 

 deepest velvety black, shot in some lights with steely-green 

 reflections, and with the outermost feathers slightly re- 

 curved toward the tip. The top of the head is covered 

 with scale-like feathers of metallic green, and a shield of 

 the same colour and nature, but of a still brighter shade, 

 adorns the breast. The rest of the body is dull black. 

 Any further ornament or colour would be out of place, 

 and one feels that this splendid creature fully deserves its 

 appellation of the " superb " bird of paradise. Almost 

 more beautiful still is Parotia sexpennis, the six-shafced 

 bird of paradise, which Signor D'Albertis was the first 

 European to observe in its native jungle. The curious 

 plumes which give the bird its specific name lie so close 

 to the neck in the dried skin as to be almost invisible. 

 They consist of three slender filaments (shown in Fig. 2), 

 springing from each side of the head, and terminated by 

 a spatulate expansion. A bar of vivid steely green across 

 the vertex, and a peculiar puft" of metallic silver at the 

 •base of the beak — a colour which is believed to be unique 

 in the bird world — completes the head decoration. Like 

 Lophorhina, the rest of the plumage is almost entirely 

 black, except at the upper part of the breast, which is 

 furnished with a collar of green and bronze feathers. 

 The tuft of silvery feathers on the forehead can be either 

 erected, as represented in the engraving, or depressed 

 flat against the skull, where it forms a triangle of regular 

 shape, with the apex forward. — The Cruise of the 

 " Marchesa." Dr. F. H. H. Gttillemard. 



Feeding Grounds of the Herring and Salmon. — 

 At the Granton Literary Society, Dr. John Murray 

 recently lectured on the above subject, and said that Loch 

 Fyne had been studied with some detail during the last 

 two or three years, and an abundance of crustaceous 

 animals had been found living on the bottom and three 

 or four fathoms above it. Previous to this investigation, 

 some of these creatures were unknown in British waters 

 or were very rare. Such, for instance, was a copepod 

 {Euchaeta) and a shrimp-like animal (Nydiphanes). The 

 adult forms of these animals had been found in great 

 numbers at the bottom of the loch throughout the year. 

 Their young were frequently carried by currents to the 

 surface, and had been frequently thrown upon the shore 

 in immense quantities, but the adults were unknown, 

 though it is now known that they exist in large quantities. 

 In addition to these animals, enormous numbers of 



shrimps and prawns of ordinary kinds, but of a brilliant 

 red colour, v^ere also found. At similar depths in Loch 

 Etive, Lochiel, Loch Duich, and Loch Carron, animals of 

 the same kind were found, although the species varied in 

 different lochs. A genus {Conchcecia) never known pre- 

 viously to inhabit the waters of these coasts, abounded 

 in Loch Etive. The predominant form in Lochiel was a 

 beautiful pellucid shrimp-like animal (Phasiphce), while 

 another form of the same creature (Borophausia) pre- 

 dominated in Loch Duich. Towards the coasts of 

 Norway and in the Faroe channel they found the same 

 kinds of animals living near the bottom in depths from 

 TOO to 600 fathoms, and at these depths the common 

 ling, sand ells, thorsk, cod, dog-fish, and skate had been 

 found, some of them descending as deep as 500 fathoms, 

 while at depths of two miles species of the cod, salmon, 

 and eel families were discovered. All these fishes, ex- 

 cept the thorsk, were also found at the bottom of Loch 

 Fyne, and in some instances the remains of herrings had 

 been found in their stomachs. 



Mice as Butter-Testers. — Mr. L. W. M'Coy, of 

 Princeton, New Jersey, tells a curious story, from which 

 it would seem that the mice in his laboratory possess the 

 valuable power of distinguishing between oleomargarine 

 and butter, and show a very decided preference for the 

 latter article. He states that some time ago he received 

 for analysis several samples of butters whose genuine- 

 ness was questioned. The dishes in which the butters, 

 preparatory to analysis, were melted, were, after the fat 

 had been roughly poured ofl', permitted to remain over- 

 night on one of his working tables. The next morning 

 he was surprised to find that ten of the twelve dishes 

 had been licked clean by mice, while two had been left 

 untouched. His analyses finished, it turned out that all 

 the suspected samples were pure Ijutter with the excep- 

 tion of two, and, upon inspection, he discovered that 

 these two were the very fats the mice refused to eat. 

 It seemed hardly possible that this could be due to mere 

 chance, so Mr. M'Coy spread out in a clock-glass some 

 butter, and in another and similar glass some oleomar- 

 garine. The glasses were placed alongside each other 

 on his table, and allowed to remain over-night. Next 

 day he found the glass which had contained the butter 

 polished as clean as though it had been well washed, 

 whereas the one charged with oleomargarine was to all 

 intents and purposes intact. The mice had merely 

 nibbled at it. He next set out four glasses, two containing 

 butter and two oleomargarine. The result in this case 

 was also conclusive. The mice dined on the two butters 

 and complete!}' ignored the oleos. The oleo in one glass 

 was untouched, and that in the other merely bore the 

 footprints of a mouse. When no butter, but simply a 

 glass of oleo was left on the table, the mice partook 

 thereof, but only in small quantities. There is no 

 doubt that a hungry mouse will eat oleo, but it seems 

 that it will do so only on condition that there is no butter 

 to be had. 



Elephants at Work in Rangoon. — Lazy and clumsy- 

 looking as the elephant appears in our menageries, 

 where it is merely an object of curiosity, in Asia it is as 

 useful an animal as the horse, and is, indeed, employed 

 in a greater variety of ways. There are few, if any 

 tasks which a horse can be trusted to perform without 

 careful and constant guidance, whereas the elephant is 

 frequently given as much independence of action as a 



