Noies. 
345 
1880.] 
but it could not be perceived that they were better nourished 
than the red. Frog-spawn illuminated from below only was 
materially retarded in its development. In tadpoles which re- 
ceived light only through a solution of potassic bichromate, 
cutting off all the rays from violet to yellow, the development of 
colouring-matter was very imperfert, and the creatures remained 
pale. In those exposed to light which had traversed an animo- 
niacal solution of copper oxide, the colouration was perfectly 
[We may remark that nothing is recorded of the intensified 
and increased growth which has been said to result from exposure 
to blue light. In our own experiments upon inserts we have not 
observed the defective colouration which is here traced to the 
yellow rays. — E d. J. S.] 
Prof. E. D. Cope, in a lerture on Evolution delivered before 
the California Academy of Sciences, remarks, concerning the 
view that consciousness is a kind of force, “ To the latter theory 
I cannot subscribe ; when it becomes possible to metamorphose 
music into potatoes, mathematics into mountains, and natural 
history into brown paper, then we can identify consciousness 
with force.” He also gives the caution that “ Lines of men 
in whom the sympathetic and generous qualities predominate 
over the self-preservative must inevitably become extinrt.” 
We learn from the “American Naturalist” that the Chinese 
starling, the turtle dove, and the European sparrow are now very 
numerous in the Sandwich Islands, whilst the native birds, even 
in the interior, are becoming scarce, and are in danger of 
extinction. 
M. Dieulafait, in a memoir recently presented to the Academy 
of Sciences, shows that copper exists in all plants growing upon 
rocks of the primary formation, and in such proportion that it 
may be detected in 1 grm. of their ash even by the ammonia- 
test. Plants flourishing upon relatively pure calcareous soils do 
not yield traces of copper. The author is still engaged with the 
question of the occurrence of this metal as a normal constituent 
of the animal system. He maintains that heat has taken no 
share in the formation of the dolomitic regions. 
F. K., writing in the “ Natur Forscher,” points out that in 
certain geometrical spiders, belonging to the group Nephelinse, 
the males are so minute as to have been overlooked or referred 
elsewhere. This is the case in the genus Ccerostris of Africa, 
and Celcenia of Australia. 
A technological contemporary informs us that “ of the slxty- 
two primary elements known in Nature, only eighteen are found 
in the human body, and of these seven are metallic. Iron is 
found in the blood, phosphorus in the brain, limestone in the 
bile, lime in the bones, dust and ashes in all.” Our chemical 
