676 General Notes. [September, 
tinge is acquired by the membranes of the umbilical vesicles of 
the porgy on the third day, which is not due to the presence of 
blood globules. 
_ To whichever of these structural causes, the phenomenon of or- 
ganic phosphorescence is attributable in this special case, there 
seems to me to be little doubt that the prime element in the pro- 
duction of phosphorescence in the animal world in general, is some 
kind of sudden molecular disturbance or impulse, disturbing the 
equilibrium of the molecules of the living protoplasm involved, so 
as to produce a kind of motion which makes itself apparent as mo- 
mentary emissions of light. I have no doubt that the phenomenon 
in Lampyris or the fire-fly, is connected with expiration and inspira- 
tion, and possibly in the Medusz with the rhythmical contraction 
of the umbrella. The application of experimental methods to 
verify the above suggestions would be very easy.—¥. A. Ryder. 
ZooLucicaL Nores.—Mr. M. M. Hartog shows that the larva or 
zoe of cancer have, like the adult entomostraca, an anal respira- 
tion, the terminal part of the rectum being slightly dilated, and 
with a rhythmic contraction and expansion associated with the 
opening and closing of the vent. Hybrids between males of 
Reeves’s pheasant and hens of the common pheasant were 
exhibited at a recent meeting of the Zodlogical Society of 
London. A honey ant with an immensely distended abdomen, 
like Myrmecocystus, has been discovered in Australia. Rein- 
fleisch claims to have demonstrated the origin of the red corpuscles 
of mammals; 7. e., the nucleus of the red-colored cell escapes 
and atrophies, while the body of the cell contracts and becomes 
the red corpuscle The influence of light on animals has been | 
studied, according to the Journal of the Royal Microscopical 
Society, by Moleschott and Fubini. It increases the excretion 0 
carbonic acid and the ingestion of oxygen; but this influence 1$ 
not only effected through the eyes, but by the skin, for it i#seen 
in eyeless animals. Weismann has found that several ostracode 
_ Crustacea, especially Cypris, reproduce parthenogenetically. At 
_ the meeting of the Linnzean Society of London, held June 17. Sir 
John Lubbock presented additional observations on the habits of 
ants, especially concerning their powers of communicating their 
ideas to each other; he confirms the prevalent notion that ants 
possess “something approaching language.” . 
ANTHROPOLOGY.! 
! Edited by Prof. Orts T. Mason, Columbian College, Washington, D. C. 
