April 13, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEW^S. 



349 



succeeded in saving the lives both of herself and her 

 young ones. 



Poisonous Fishes. — F. Day {Field) gives a formidable 

 list of poisonous fishes. Some species appear to be 

 always dangerous, some become unwholesome at certain 

 seasons of the year only, and others, again, when they 

 have been feeding on star-fishes, sea-urchins, sea- 

 cucumbers, or on putrid matter. 



Whales in the Mediterranean. — According to M.M. 

 ■Pouchet and Beauregard (Comptes Rendiis), two whales 

 {Balaetia biscayensis) have been recently seen off Algiers. 

 One of them was captured between Castilione and 

 Tipaza, and was found to measure 11 metres in length 

 and 6 6 in circumference. This is only the second occasion 

 of such whales having been seen in the Mediterranean. 



Colouring Matter of Hiiechys Sanguinea. — M. A. 

 Fumouze (Comptes Rendus), on examining this insect, 

 which belongs to the hemipterous order, and is closely 

 allied to the cicadas, finds in them a fat, a wax, an oil, 

 an odoriferous matter, a yellow substance which ap- 

 proaches the gum-resins of the vegetable world, and a 

 red colouring matter. The colour is soluble in water, 

 insoluble in alcohol, ether, and chloroform, soluble in 

 alkalis with a red colour. The watery solution, if 

 treated with acetate of lead, gives a fine red precipitate. 

 The insolubility of this colour in alcohol distinguishes it 

 from carminic acid, the pigment of cochineal. 



To Preserve Fish Alive out of Water. — La Science 

 en Famille is responsible for the following process : — ■ 

 Take a crumb of bread steeped in good brandy, knead it 

 into a paste, and fill the throat of the fish with it; pour upon 

 it a small quantity of the same brandy, and wrap up the 

 fish in a sutficient quantity of straw, taking care not to 

 injure it. It may thus be kept alive during a journey of 

 ten to twelve days. Afterwards it is merely necessary 

 to put it in cold water, when the torpidity into which it 

 was thrown by the brandy passes off, and in a few hours 

 it becomes quite lively. 



The Insect Pests of India. — Under this title the Globe 

 enlarges on the recent proposal of Mr. E. Cotes, of the 

 Indian Museum, Calcutta, that the collection of full and 

 trustworthy intelligence concerning the destructive in- 

 sects of India should be forthwith taken in hand. The 

 number and variety of these tiny enemies, and the extent 

 of their ravages, render this investigation an Imperial 

 duty, since the people are not only impoverished by the 

 ravages of these pests, but even positive famine is not 

 unfrequently produced. The success of the operations 

 carried on in this direction are at once an encouragement 

 and a guide. A thorough history of the life-history of 

 the destructive insects is necessary, so that planters and 

 farmers may learn how and when they may be attacked 

 with the greatest prospect of success. 



The Cabbage Butterfly in America. — This common 

 field-pest, Pieris rapoe, according to Mr. S. H. Scudder 

 (American Naturalist), was first introduced into America 

 about 1S60, and has now spread over a very large part of 

 the United States. In its southern extension it has appar- 

 ently found a natural limit about Jacksonville in Florida. 



ACCLIMATISATION.— II. 



{Cfftitinued from page 294.) 



THE latter part of the above proposition is merely an 

 extension of the acute observation of Dean Herbert 

 that we do not, of necessity, always find plants growing 

 in the soil best suited for their wants, but often, rather, 

 where they are most secure from the encroachments of 

 rival species. 



Our next observation may, possibly, be misconstrued 

 into an avowal of pessimism. There are very few in- 

 stances of a beautiful, a useful, or even a harmless plant 

 or animal being accidentally introduced into any country, 

 or having been purposely introduced and yet proving 

 able to dispense afterwards with man's care and protection. 

 On the contrary, the species most commonly and most 

 easily introduced are weeds and vermin. 



If a definition of " weeds " and of " vermin " be asked 

 for, we may say that both are organisms which satisfy 

 neither our aesthetic nor our economic wants, and which 

 are often actively injurious to our persons or property. 

 Decided beauty may make us overlook uselessness, and 

 manifest utility makes us condone ugliness. But the in- 

 jurious plant and the harmful animal, even if beautiful, a 

 very rare case, are invariably written down in our Index 

 expurgatorius. There is, of course, scope for some little 

 difference of opinion as to what species are ugly and 

 which are hurtful. 



A modern writer has gone so far as to sneer at the 

 " morning glory," to pronounce our taste in flowers as 

 " barbarous," and to term the Gloxinia " unlovely." But 

 such dissidences, born of sensationalism, do not affect 

 the general principle. 



We have yet to look a little further. To the very 

 essence of a weed or a vermin belong, great reproductive 

 power, tenacity of life, and adaptability to varying con- 

 ditions. But for these last attributes ugliness and 

 uselessness would escape notice and even positive hurt- 

 fulness would be practically neutralised. The misfortune 

 is that beautiful and useful organisms rarely possess these 

 features in any marked extent, whilst ugly, useless, or 

 pernicious species manifest them very strongly. Surely 

 a grim satire on the "survival of the fittest!" Is it 

 possible that the elaboration of the higher colours, reds, 

 purples, violets, and blues, is a greater strain upon the 

 resources of a plant than the production of yellows, or 

 than the total absence of a coloured corolla or calyx ? Is 

 in like manner the generation of perfumes an exhaustive 

 demand ? Every one must have noticed that none of 

 our normal weeds give out a perfume, and that the entire 

 order Cotnpositce is singularly poor in this respect, being 

 either scentless or positively malodorous. 



In short, whatsoever we would wish to destroy sur- 

 vives, sets us at defiance, and spreads round the globe 

 like a pestilence. Whatsoever we seek to preserve taxes 

 our constant efforts, and rarely, very rarely indeed, suc- 

 ceeds in spreading spontaneously into new regions. 

 There are beautiful plants, such as the lily of the valle}', 

 and the choicer ferns, which are assuredly disappearing 

 from the British flora. 



In like manner the roller, the golden oriole, the bee- 

 eater, and the wax-wing have vanished from our fauna, 

 and the kingfisher, the jay, the woodpecker, and the 

 goldfinch are surely following them. We little need ask, 

 therefore, why such species do not attend the footsteps 

 of our colonising pioneers. 



It may be said that lovely flowers, birds, and insects 



