Notes. 
669 
1880.] 
The “ Comptes Rendus ” contains an account of deforming 
pilosism in plants. The author distinguishes physiological pi- 
losism, the increase of hairs upon plants produced when they are 
removed from a humid to a dry medium ; teratological pilosism, 
which extends so far as to create suspicions of a new species, 
and due to disarrangement of the process of nutrition ; and vul- 
nerary pilosism, produced by the stings of inserts, as in galls. 
It is quite localised, and does not mark the physiognomy of the 
species. 
M. E. Spee, in a memoir communicated to the Belgian 
Academy of Sciences, proposes that the so-called “ helium ” line, 
in the solar speftrum, D 3 , is a hydrogen line. 
P. Kaiser (“ Botanische Zeitung ”) shows that the trunks of 
trees are subjea to a daily-recurring, regular change of diameter, 
which decreases from the early morning, and reaches its mini- 
mum in the early hours of the afternoon. Then a gradual 
increase begins, till a first or smaller maximum is reached at the 
approach of darkness. After a short decrease the diameter rises 
again, and reaches its larger maximum about dawn. The author 
considers that temperature is not the only faCtor concerned. 
The maximum temperature in the shade registered at Mel- 
bourne Observatory has been 111*2° F., and the lowest 27 0 . 
Mr. W. G. Lapham (“American Journal of Microscopy”) 
points out as a serious evil that many biological terms are inca- 
pable of definition. 
Prof. H. L. Smith, in an article inserted in “ Science,” admits 
that the wax-cell is a failure. 
The experiments of Prof. Prentiss (“American Naturalist”), 
of Mr. W. Trelease, and Prof. J. H. Comstock, on the use of 
yeast for the destruction of noxious inseCts, have had a negative 
result. On the other hand, Dr. Hagen and Mr. J. H. Burns 
have been to a certain extent successful. 
Mr. C. O. Whitman (“American Naturalist”) maintains that 
flying-fish really flap their pectoral wings when in the air, and 
are capable of altering their direction without touching the 
water. 
Mr. T. Mellard Reade (“ Geological Magazine ”) combats the 
notion of the general permanence of the present main features 
of the continents and oceans, as asserted by Agassiz, Dr. W. B. 
Carpenter, and others. 
According to H. H. Howorth (“ Geological Magazine ”) the 
name Mammoth is a corruption of Behemoth, which the Arabs, 
who confound M and B, pronounce Mehemet. 
At the Astor Library, New York, out of a total of 56,891 
volumes given out for the year 1879, there were only 142 on 
