204 
Notes * 
[February, 
after three days’ incubation, and exposed to the temperature of 
the atmosphere, which was then 20° C., the movement of the 
heart was not completely arrested until after the lapse of seven 
days. 
Haltica nemorum , a tiny yellow-striped beetle, proves to be an 
enemy to barley. 
Prof. Turner, of Edinburgh, in his Memoirs on the “ Compa- 
rative Anatomy of the Placenta,” points out essential differences 
between the structure of this organ in the sloth and in the lemurs, 
especially in the Protopithecus of Madagascar. 
M. Bordier considers atmospheric pressure as one of the prin- 
cipal agents in the transformation of species. 
According to M. P. Bert the periodic movements of plants 
and their heliotropism are due to variations in the quantity of 
glucose contained in the moving part, in consequence of its state 
of hydration and its consequent degree of tension. 
Prof. Haberlandt considers that the chlorophyll in the cotyle- 
dons of Phasiolus vulgaris is formed from starch. The starch- 
granules are gradually surrounded with a layer of protoplasma, 
which is at first colourless, but gradually turns green, while the 
starch grains disappear. 
M. Yung has communicated to the Academy of Sciences the 
results of his experiments on the adtion of different coloured 
light upon the development of animal ova and larvae. Their 
adtion, beginning with the most favourable, may be arranged 
thus : — Violet, blue, red, yellow, white, green. The red and 
green light appeared positively hurtful. Between yellow and 
white light there was little difference. Tadpoles kept without 
food died most quickly in the violet and blue rays. The inci- 
dental mortality appeared greater in the coloured rays than in 
white light. 
Chemistry and Technology. 
Wines on analysis often display properties not suspedted from 
their taste. Sorts rich in alcohol are often pronounced light, and 
others strongly acid seem mild, &c. These seeming contradic- 
tions are, according to Drs. Mach and Patele, due to the fadt 
that wine is a most complicated liquid, whose components are 
by no means all known. Even among the recognised and more 
prominent ingredients, it is not so much the quantity of one or 
the other as their relative proportion which determines the 
flavour. 
Some new phenomena observed in “ plastering ” wines and 
musts are recorded by Prof. E. Pollacci. He finds sulphate of 
lime readts solely upon the cream of tartar, producing acid 
sulphate of potassa, which remains in solution, while tartrate of 
lime is formed and is chiefly deposited. The readtion between 
