Notes . 
1883.J 
37i 
of a substance giving the specftrum line of “ Helium,” — an ele- 
ment hitherto recognised only in the sun. 
Doubts are thrown (“ American Journal of Science ”) by com- 
petent authorities as to the nature of the alleged “ lignified 
serpent ” of Matto Grosso. It is suggested that the specimen 
is merely the track of a wood-eating larva, which has been filled 
up by the growth of new wood. 
M. C. Dareste (“ Comptes Rendus ”) finds that eggs, if sub- 
mitted to intense and numerous vibrations, almost invariably 
produce monstrosities. This teratogenic cause is the more re- 
markable as coming into play before the development of the 
embryo. Fecundated eggs which have been carried by railway 
prove frequently barren if placed under a hen immediately after 
a journey. If they are allowed to rest for about three days before 
incubation they give rise to chickens. 
Mr. H. Spicer (“ Light ”) gives an account of the spirit of a 
Pomeranian wolf-hound having appeared to its master at the 
moment of death. 
Mr. W. F. Barrett, in the same journal, describes a clair- 
voyante as seeing with great difficulty when the wind is high 
and the air charged with electricity. When there is a snow- 
storm she cannot see at all. 
M. Herve Mangon, having observed that Mesembryanthemum 
crystallinum takes up from the soil an extraordinary quantity of 
alkaline salts, proposes to employ it for removing the excess of 
such salts from land on the sea-coast and in salty deserts, so as 
to make it gradually fit for ordinary vegetation. 
According to “ Forest and Stream ” an albino raven is now 
living in the Berlin Aquarium. 
M. J. Reiset (“ Comptes Rendus”) finds that the produces of 
respiration in animals depend more on the nature of the diet 
than on the species. A part of the nitrogen set free in the 
transformation of the albumenoid matters is eliminated as gas. 
In herbivorous animals there is a considerable escape of a hydro- 
carbide. 
M. A. Robin (“ Revue Scientifique ”), in an investigation of 
the anatomy of the Cheiroptera, shows that in different species 
the uterus varies from the simple form which it has in the higher 
Primates to a double organ with two separate openings into the 
vagina. 
According to “Wiedemann’s Beiblatter ” a shark belongingto 
the genus Scymnus is phosphorescent over its whole under sur- 
face, with the. exception of a black stripe on the neck. The 
upper surface is non-luminous. 
