308 Notes . [May, 
Signor Giunti (“ Gazz. Chim.”) has found an average of o*8 per 
cent of copper in the excrements of bats. 
Dr. O. Biitschli (“Zoojogischer Anzeiger)” shows the non-exist- 
ence of individual death in the Protozoa. These mono-cellular 
animals cease to exist as such in the acft of propagation, and the 
individuality of each is split up into the two new individualities 
of its offspring. No organic matter is thrown out of vital 
activity, as occurs on the death of the Metazoa. A protozoon 
may perish by accident, but it does not necessarily carry, like the 
higher animals, the germs of death in itself. 
“ Picro-sulphuric acid,” for the preservation of specimens, is 
made by taking ioo parts of a saturated solution of picric acid 
in cold water, and adding 2 parts of pure sulphuric acid. For 
inseCts this mixture is used undiluted, but for mollusks, &c., it is 
let down with three times its measure of water. — Zoologist. 
Mr. Stradling, in an able paper on Snakes in the same journal, 
mentions the occurrence in the New Forest of Coronella lezvis, a 
true snake not generally known to inhabit Britain. 
At the April meeting of the Entomological Society it was 
stated that three queen wasps ( Vespa germanica) were taken on 
January 15th of the present year — the earliest appearance on 
record. 
At the same meeting Mr. Billups exhibited a new method of 
putting up small inseCts. They are gummed upon the circles of 
thin glass used for covering microscopic objeCts. These are 
again fixed at the back to a slip of card supported by a pin. In 
this manner the under side of the specimen is open to ex- 
amination. 
“ Light ” records the detection and exposure of three professed 
mediums in the United States. 
Prof. Borggreve (“ Forst. Blatter ”) denies that woods produce 
an increased quantity of rainfall. 
M. Van Hasselt laid before the Academy of Sciences of Am- 
sterdam the skin of a cobra, from Sumatra, of the unusual 
length of 3*9 metres (12^ feet). It agreed with a second speci- 
men in the author’s collection which he has already described as 
Naja ingens. 
M. Poulet (“ Comptes Rendus ”) seeks to show that the acidity 
of the gastric juice in man is hippuric acid. 
MM. E. Perrier and J. Poirier take exception to the views of 
Prof. Jourdain on the reproductive organs of the sea-stars as 
given in the “ Comptes Rendus.” They hold that the circular 
dorsal canal and the hydrophoric pouch have no connection with 
the excretory apparatus of the genital glands. 
