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SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Feb. 3, 1888. 



it holds quite motionless, as though it was taking an 

 observation. 



It seems to be quite harmless, and has never at- 

 tempted to bite when endeavours have been made to 

 catch it. 



It is of a dark colour, pale brown on the back, lighter 

 underneath, with irregular darker patches upon the back 

 and limbs, and with nearly black rings round the tail. 

 The teeth of the collarette are white at the edges, and 

 seen from a distance appear like two rows of pearls. 



The Chlamydosaurus belongs to the family of the 

 Agamidse, which possesses a few representatives in 

 Europe and none in America. This is the only known 

 species of the genus, and has only been found in Aus- 

 tralia and some adjacent islands to the north. 



The Senses of Animals. — Sir John Lubbock lectured 

 on the 19th ult. at the Catford Hill Literary Society on 

 the Senses of Animals. He gave reasons for thinking 

 that in other animals the range of sound was different 

 from that of man, and that they could hear higher notes. 

 He had proved that the limits of vision in animals 

 extended beyond ours. He then showed that animals 

 possessed sense organs, of the use of which we were as 

 yet entirely ignorant, and he suggested that these might 

 be the seats of unknown senses. At any rate they 

 could certainly hear sounds which were inaudible to us, 

 and see light which was beyond the range of our eyes. 

 These considerations raised the reflection how different 

 the world must appear to other animals from what it 

 did to us. Sound was the sensation produced on us 

 when the vibrations of the air struck on the drum of our 

 ear ; when they were few the sound was deep ; as they 

 increased in number it became shriller, but when they 

 approached 40,000 in a second they ceased to be audible. 

 Light was the effect produced on us when waves of 

 light struck on the eye. When 400 millions of millions 

 of vibrations struck the retina in a second they produced 

 the sensation of red, and as the number increased the 

 colour passed into orange, then yellow, green, blue, and 

 violet. But between 40,000 vibrations in a second and 

 400 millions of millions we had no organ of sense capable 

 of receiving the impression. Yet between these limits 

 any number of sensations might exist. We had five 

 senses and sometimes fancied that no others were 

 possible. But it was obvious that we could not measure 

 the infinite by our own narrow limitations. Moreover, 

 looking at the question from another side, we found in 

 other animals complex organs of sense richly supplied 

 with nerves, the functions of which organs we were as 

 yet powerless to explain. There might be several other 

 senses as different from ours as sound was from sight ; 

 and even within the boundaries of our own senses there 

 might be endless sounds which we could not hear, and 

 colours as different as red from green of which we had 

 no conception. These and a thousand other questions 

 remained for solution. The familiar world which sur- 

 rounds us might be a totally different place to other 

 animals; to them it might be full of music which we 

 could not hear, of colour which we could not see, of 

 sensations which we could not conceive. Here was a 

 wide and as yet almost untrodden field of study. To place 

 stuffed birds and beasts in glass cases, to arrange insects in 

 cabinets, and dried plants in drawers, though most im- 

 portant, was merely the drudgery and preliminary of 

 study ; on the other hand to watch their habits, to under- 

 stand their relations to one another, to study their 



instincts and intelligence, to ascertain their adaptations 

 and their relations to the forces of nature, to realise 

 what the world appeared to them, was the true interest 

 of natural history, and might even give us the clue to 

 senses and perceptions of which at present we had no 

 conceptions. 



Trebizonde Honey. — Mr. H. J. Ross, in the Gardener's 

 Chronicle, thus speaks of the poisonous nature of Trebi- 

 zonde honey : " Having resided at Trebizonde, the scene 

 of the poisoning by honey of Xenophon's soldiers, I can 

 say that the chief undergrowth of that part of the 

 southern shore of the Euxine, or Black Sea, consists 

 now of Rhododendron ponticiiin and Asalea pontica, 

 whereas no oleander grows on any part of that coast. 

 The rhododendron has little or no scent, whereas the 

 azalea has a powerful and sweet odour. The flowers 

 precede the leaves, and in spring whole hill-sides pre- 

 sent sheets of golden yellow, and the country is per- 

 fumed for miles round. The opinion of the natives is 

 that the poisonous honey called in Turkish ' Delli kal^ 

 or mad honey, is derived from those highly-scented 

 flowers of the azalea. The honey has a very peculiar, 

 and to most people disagreeable, taste in its crude state, 

 and when eaten produces vertigo, sickness, purging, and 

 great prostration. After many hours the effects pass off, 

 and the sufferers gradually recover. The honey, never- 

 theless, is much used in cookery, confectionery, and for 

 preserving fruits, being much cheaper than sugar; but 

 previous to use, it is cooked on the fire, and the heat 

 volttilises the poisonous principle, when it can be eaten 

 in safety. Whether the rhododendron is also poisonous, 

 I do not know ; many think it is, and such was evidently 

 the opinion of Xenophon." 



Larv/E Dangerous to Men and Cattle. — M. Portchin- 

 ski has recognised Sarcophila wohlfahrti as a dangerous 

 enemy of man and other animals, which it destroys by 

 introducing its eggs into their nostrils in the same manner 

 as the "screw-worm '' of America, Liicilia humanivora. 



Insects and Dead Animals. — According to M. P. 

 Megnin the worms which devour buried animals are not 

 earth-worms, but the larvse of four dipterous species 

 and one coleopterous insect. The latter seems to feed 

 on the fat of the inhumed body. 



Thames Otters. — On Sunday the 22nd ult. Charles 

 Hone, fisherman, Staines, succeeded in capturing alive a 

 fine male otter weighing about 27 lbs. It was taken in a 

 trap on the Surrey side of the Thames, and the work of 

 transferring the animal from the trap to a box was 

 attended with considerable difficulty. Hone recently 

 lost two others, one of which got away minus portions ot 

 its fore feet. An effort is being made to secure these and 

 also others known to exist at Penton Hook and Sunbury. 



An Open Aviary. — The Rev. C. S. Millard, writing 

 in the Selbome Magazine, gives a pleasing account of 

 his " open aviary," the inmates of which, as soon as they 

 can be trusted, are allowed to fly out and return at 

 pleasure. The colony consists at present of four bull- 

 finches, two of them hatched in the aviary, two black- 

 headed buntings, a yellow-hammer, and two redpoles. 

 The yellow-hammer is particularly useful to farmers, as 

 it feeds by preference upon the destructive crane-fly. 



