Selected Extracts 



SELECTED EXTRACTS. 



Variation in the Wall Lizard. — Mr. G. H. Boulenger, 

 F.R.S., in a paper recently published in the Transactions of 

 the Zoological Society, has struck a blow at the present-day 

 splitting of species and races. He writes : " Of late a 

 tendency has sprung up to multiply greatly the species, and 

 thus destroy the old conception of Lacerta muralis." . . . 

 " Characters of form and coloration are given as distinctive, 

 which on examination of even moderately large series of 

 specimens prove to be worthless, while others of greater 

 importance have been overlooked or neglected." 



Wireless Telegraphy. — According to J. S. Sachs (in the 

 Annalen dev Physik), the higher one is above the earth, the 

 better the transmission ; apparently the earth is detrimental 

 to the dissemination of electric waves. 



Tube Arrangements in Wood. — Mr. Herbert Stone, 

 F.L.S., has been carrying out experiments to ascertain if 

 the mature vessels of dicotyledonous wood are very limited 

 in length, as is, he thinks, usually supposed to be the case. 1 

 He writes : " The largest tree that I have so far been able 

 to obtain is an ash sapling, 14 feet 2 inches long. By means 

 of a rubber tube, attached to the upper end of the pole by 

 a brass cap screwed on to the wood, I am able to cause a 

 current of air to pass through the whole length of the pole 

 with no more pressure than I can exert with my lungs. The 

 experiment succeeded equally well when the tree was freshly 

 felled, or when quite dry." — (Proc. Assoc. Economic Biologists, 

 July, 1905.) 



The Sun's Corona. — It is invisible except at an eclipse (the 

 earth's atmosphere prevents us from seeing it), and then only 

 during the brief moments of totality. Photographs of the 



