228 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Mar. 9, iS 



being embedded instead in a soft membrane on the lower 

 side of the tail. The tail is slightly prehensile, and acts 

 as a kind of anchor, by means of which the Phyllopteryx 

 attaches itself to seaweed, drifting spars, etc. Dr. Gun- 

 ther was the first to call attention to the remarkable 

 resemblance of this fish, with its curved body and long 

 appendages, to the seaweed of the Australian seas, a 

 resemblance which not only enables it to obtain the small 

 worms, etc., which form its food more easily, but also 

 affords it a most efficient protection from its enemies. 



The Earth-worm as the Intermediate Host of 

 Syngamus Trachealis. — It is a not uncommon occurrence 

 that a parasite inhabits different animals at different 

 stages of its growth. This is the case with the small 

 thread-worm Syngaiuus trachealis which infests the wind- 

 pipe of the pheasant, peacock, turkey, duck, and other 

 fowls, and often occasions considerable damage. Mr. 

 Walker, of Franklinville, New York, has. recently made 

 some investigations on this subject. He finds that the 

 intermediate host of the embryo Syngaiuus is the common 

 earth-worm, which in places visited by birds has been 

 found to be beset with these parasites. They are swallowed 

 by the birds along with the worms, and perforating the 

 cesophagus, find their way into the respiratory organs. 

 During, or immediately after, this migration the Syngamus 

 attains sexual maturitjr, and attaches itself to the trachea. 

 This happens in six or seven days after it has been 

 swallowed. In seven days more its eggs are pro- 

 duced, which are coughed up by the bird, and reach 

 the ground, where the embryo emerges in about three 

 weeks. It is swallowed by a worm, and remains in its 

 intestinal canal until devoured by a bird. The best 

 method to check this disease is to moisten the soil with 

 brine, which kills both the worms and the embryo 

 Syngaini, which they contain. Birds which have died of 

 this disease should be destroyed by fire. 



The Poison of the Yew. — M. Marcelin, writing in 

 Cosmos, gives an account of the poison of this tree. The 

 bark and the wood, if dangerous at all, are not perceptibly 

 so ; the flowers and the berries are also innocent, since 

 the thrushes feast upon them eagerly. The poison seems 

 to be concentrated in the leaves, especially when old. A 

 horse has been killed by eating 650 grammes of the 

 leaves. The goat requires, in proportion to its weight, 

 six times as much as the horse. The ass and the mule 

 are very sensitive, and man is probably more so. 

 Death ensues suddenly in an hour or two after the poison 

 has been swallowed, occasioned by its action on the 

 nervous centres. No lesion is found on the autopsy of 

 the animal. 



The Poison of the Laburnum.— This well-known 

 and beautiful tree (Oy/isiis laburnum) contains in its 

 bark, its flowers and its pods a violent poison, which 

 ultimately disappears from the green parts and accumu- 

 lates in the seeds. According to Prevost and Binnet, the 

 laburnum is a good emetic, which acts with peculiar 

 rapidity if the watery extract is injected subcutaneously. I 

 In large doses it occasions paralysis of the central organs 

 similarly to curare, though less powerfully. According 

 to Carnevin, the internal administration of this poison is 

 not fatal to animals which can vomit, such as dogs and 

 cats, as it is quickly rejected. Horses or asses, which 

 can not vomit, readily succumb. He maintains that the 

 ruminants, though unable to vomit, resist this poison. 



Hybernation. — Two dormice {Myoxisglts), which were 

 observed by Ford (Revue de I'Hymotisme Experim.), re- 

 mained the winter through awake and very brisk. They 

 began their sleep in IVIay, and awoke early in August, 

 notwithstanding the great heat in June and July. Hence 

 the winter sleep does not depend directly on a decrease 

 of external temperature. During hybernation the tem- 

 perature of their bodies was from 68 degs. to 71 degs., 

 Fahr. The respiration was abnormally slow, and the 

 lips took a bluish colour. If the animals were disturbed, 

 there ensued some reflex movements, and a faint grunting 

 was heard. Ford regards the hybernation of dormice 

 as very similar to hypnotic sleep. 



The Muscular Sense. — In order to study this subject 

 M. Beaunis {Revue Philosophique) applied cocaine to the 

 mucous membrane of the larynx of a vocalist, whilst the 

 aperture of the glottis was rendered non-sensitive to con- 

 tact, the capacity for producing sounds correctly, was not 

 affected. It is, therefore, not the sensitiveness of the 

 mucous membrane which indicates the state ot tension ot 

 the vocal cords required for the production of any given 

 tone. He considers that this is effected by the sensitive- 

 ness of the muscles themselves. 



The Dentition of the Rodents. — Mr. E. D. Cope 

 (American Naturalist) shows that nearly all the peculiari- 

 ties of the dentition of rodents (rats, mice, rabbits, etc.) 

 are the mechanical consequences of an increase in the 

 length of the incisor teeth, and the increase in the length 

 of these teeth has been due to their continued use. 



Phosphorescent Insects. — M. H. G. de Kerville has re- 

 cently produced a monograph on this interesting subject, 

 from which it appears that the luminous tissue is of a 

 fatty nature, that its constituent cells are the seat of an 

 active exchange of matter, that it contains a substance 

 analogous to guanine, and a multitude of small crystals. 

 The nervous system intervenes only as a regulator by 

 animating special muscles, which in turn act only by re- 

 gulating the afflux of blood. We have in it, in short, a 

 physico-chemical phenomenon, more or less modified by 

 the general conditions of life. 



Odoriferous Organs in Insects. — W. MuUer, of 

 Griefswalde, has detected scent organs in the Phryga- 

 neidce, and especially in Sericostoma personatmn, similar 

 to those which are met with in male butterflies as lures 

 for the females. The organs are formed of an exaggerated 

 growth of the palpi of the under jaw (maxilla). When 

 the animal expands the spoon-shaped portion an odour 

 like that of vanilla is distinctly perceptible. 



The Luminous Matter of Pholas Dactylus. — This 

 destructive mollusc secretes from its mantel and syphons 

 a mucus which shines in the dark. R. Dubois (Comptes 

 Rendus) has discovered that its luminosity does not 

 depend on the vital activity of the animal. On drying 

 the mantel the emission of light ceases, but reappears, 

 even after a long interval, if the specimen is steeped in 

 water. All reagents which coagulate albumen at once 

 suppress the light. Dubois has isolated from the lu- 

 minous tissues two substances which emit light as soon 

 as they are mixed together in solution. They are 

 luciferine and luciferise, the latter being probably a soluble 

 ferment. 



