SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



69 



BOLLETTINO DEI MUSEI DI ZOOLOGIA ED 



Anatomia comparata (Turin, 1893, viii). — Dr. 

 Giglio-Tos establishes and describes a new genus of 

 Longicorn coleoptera, Badariottia, based upon a 

 very handsome beetle from S. Paolo, Brazil ; a 

 very good illustration accompanies the diagnosis. — 

 Signor A. Borrelli contributes a memoir on Planaria 

 alpina, with a catalogue of fresh-water Dcndrocccla 

 found in North Italy, to which is appended an 

 exhaustive bibliography. — Signor Achille Grifnni 

 describes and figures a new Orthoptcron from 

 Piemont, and contributes also the following papers : 

 Monograph of the Locusts of Piemont ; Description, 

 with figure, of a neiv locust from Madagascar ; 

 Monograph of the Notonectidce of Piemont; Mono- 

 graph of the Gryllidce of Piemont; Descriptions of 

 new Orthoptera. — M. Raphael Blanchard revises the 

 Hirudinea of the museum of Turin (French text). — 

 Dr. -Giglio-Tos describes several new genera and 

 species of Diptera (two articles) ; Orthoptera collected 

 by Dr. E. Festa in Palestine, with plate illustrating 

 six new species. — Dr. M. G. Peracca contributes 

 Descriptions of new species of reptiles and amphibia 

 from Madagascar. — Signor F. Sacco continues his 

 catalogue of Tertiary Mollusca of Piemont and 

 Liguria. 



Il Naturalista Siciliano (Palermo, February- 

 March, 1 894) . Herr Schilsky describes a new beetle 

 belonging to the genus Haplocnemus, from Sicily. — 

 Signor A. Fiori describes several new species and 

 varieties of Staphylinida collected in Italy.- — The 

 Hymenoptera of Sicily are enumerated by Signor T. 

 de Stefani Perez. — March. A. de Gregoria, Note on 

 some corals from the lower Tertiary of Sicily, 

 with two phototype plates. — From a biographical 

 note by Signor G. Amenta, we learn that the well- 

 known naturalist, Luigi Benoit, died at Messina on 

 the 19th December, 1890, at the ripe age of 86. — ■ 

 Tabulated results of experiments concerning the 

 influence of the humidity of the soil on transpiration 

 in terrestrial plants are continued by Signor A. 

 Aloi. 



Bulletin de la Societe Philomatique (Paris, 

 1893-94). Remarks on the muscles of the hind 

 legs of some Urodela (tailed Batrachians), by M. A. 

 Perrin. — In a previous paper, the author has 

 published the results of his investigations on the 

 muscles of the fore legs, and comparing his former 

 results with those now under consideration, he 

 arrives at the conclusion that the fourth digit is 

 absent in the fore-feet, that the last digit of the 

 fore-foot corresponds with the two last digits 

 of the hind foot ; the muscular system of the 

 hind leg has, according to the author, shown, in 

 accordance with what embryology teaches, that 

 these two digits proceed from the bifurcation of a 

 single bony axis ; this bifurcation does not occur 

 in the fore leg. — On the male genital organs in 

 Bombus, by M. Bordas, illustrated with seven 

 figures. 



COMPTE RENDU DE S&ANCE DE LA SoCIETE 



Philomatique. (Paris, February 25th, 1S94.) 

 M. F. Mocquard, Diagnosis of four new reptiles 



from Madagascar. — M. Bordas, on The salivary 

 glands of Ammophila (family Fossoria, Digging-wasps). 

 Feuilles des Jeunes Naturalistes (Paris, 

 April, 1894). Synoptical Table of Peronospora, by L. 

 Geneau de Lamarlicre (with figures). — The Rev. 

 J.J. Kieffer describes the larvae of some Cecidomya 

 (Hessian fly), illustrated with five figures. M. 

 Caziot contributes a bibliography on the fossils of 

 the lacustrine zone of the cretaceous epoch from 

 the South of France. 



Maandblad voor Natuur-Wetenschappen. 

 (Amsterdam, 1893.) An inquiry into the Constitution 

 of Calcium Chloride, by J. Mijers. The various views 

 which have been held regarding the constitution of 

 this complex compound are thoroughly discussed, 

 and the result of the author's own method of 

 analysis leads him to the conclusion that the correct 

 formula for chloride of lime is Cl 2 Ca (OH).,. — 

 Anemonine and its Occurrence, by W. K. J. Schoor, 

 an historical account of the poisonous principle of 

 Ranunculaceae, is followed by a description of 

 various methods of analysis, and the author com- 

 municates his own results, giving the formula 

 C 15 H 12 O fi , thus corroborating Merck's investiga- 

 tions. All achene-bearing Ranunculaceae appear 

 to contain Anemonine, which has been found to 

 act as a brain poison. — Reducing Processes in tin- 

 Soil, by J. E. Enklaar. The oxidation of ammonia 

 in water has been investigated, and this process 

 has been traced to the action of bacteria. — On tin- 

 Infra-red Spectrum, by W. H. Julius, with plate. 



The American Naturalist (Philadelphia, April, 

 1894). — Mr. L. H. Bailey, in a lecture given at the 

 Cornell University, discusses the question, Whence 

 came the cultivated strawberry ? He remarks on the 

 fact that the strawberry has been extensively 

 cultivated only during the last century, and that 

 the earliest attempt at methodical improvement 

 extends back little more than two hundred years. 

 Under the most liberal estimate the number of 

 wild species does not exceed a dozen, only a part 

 of which have been impressed into cultivation. 

 The strawberry is therefore a modern fruit, and its 

 history and evolution would seem to possess no 

 difficulties, and yet the botanical origin of the 

 cultivated varieties is unknown. We have there- 

 fore the remarkable fact of a common plant 

 appearing within little more than a century, the 

 origin of which is involved in darkness. The so- 

 called European types of strawberry are known 

 to belong to three or four species native of Europe, 

 and these are, therefore, eliminated from the present 

 inquiry. The class of large American and English 

 strawberries, however, are so different in all 

 respects, that there can be no question their origin 

 must he sought elsewhere. From a careful com- 

 parison of the various varieties in cultivation, such 

 as the pine-strawberry, Keen's seedling and others, 

 the conclusion is arrived at that the} - must have 

 been derived from Fragaria chiloensis, a native of 

 Chili. Mr. Bailey concludes with a remark that 

 "the strawberry is an instance of the evolution of 

 a type of plant in less than fifty years, which is so 

 distinct from all others that three species have been 

 erected upon it, which was uniformly kept distinct 

 from all other species by the botanists who 

 had occasion to know it best, and which appears 

 to have been rarely specifically associated with the 

 species from which it sprung." — The Parasitic 

 Protozoa found in Cancerous Diseases, by Alice 

 Bodington, with two plates, and illustrations in 

 the text. — The Action of Leucocytes towards foreign 

 substances, by Edith J. Claypole, with a plate. 



