Notes . 
436 
[July. 
Mr. A. E. Verrill (“ Science”) calls attention to parental in- 
stinct as an important faCtor in the evolution of species. The 
absence of this feeling may have greatly contributed to the extir- 
pation of many powerful forms. 
The Bestiarians have had a field day. Lord Shaftesbury and 
the Bishop of Oxford made themselves conspicuous, and Lord 
Coleridge “ attended to take his share of the scorn and contempt 
which men of Science were ready to bestow,” — and which he 
has certainly done his best to merit. The gathering was of a 
very aristocratic character. 
The “ Stock-keeper ” (which, by the way, lies under some sus- 
picion of Bestiarianism) has a discussion on Prof. Thury’s theory 
of alternate predominance of the sexes in successive generations. 
The editor seems to think that the ova are arranged in the ovaries 
in alternate order. “ Ixion ” and M. Dewsland show the baseless 
character of this supposition. 
Mr. W. L. Carpenter, in a paper on “ Science Demonstration 
in Board Schools,” read before the Physical Society, denounced 
the present system of cramming for examinations. 
“ Vera,” writing in “ Light,” pronounces Spiritualism “ a field 
bristling with the most diabolical dangers to the human race.” 
M. Kanellis (“ Comptes Rendus”) establishes the distinction 
of the two functions of the liver; the epithelium of the inter- 
lobular tissue secretes the bile, and the cellules of the liver form 
the glycogenous matter. 
M. Barthelemy (“ Comptes Rendus ”) has studied the deve- 
lopment of some eggs laid by a hen suffering from poultry-, 
cholera. None of them came to perfection, and the blood of the 
chicks swarmed with baCteria. 
Messrs. Powell and Lealand have recently produced a i-i2th 
oil-immersion objective having a numerical aperture of 1*47, 
1-52 being the extreme theoretical limit : this is the largest aper- 
ture hitherto attained. The glass has, considering its short focal 
length, a large amount of working distance ; the front is set in 
the usual way, instead of being mounted on a thin plate of 
glass, as has been hitherto the custom with oil-immersion ob- 
jectives. 
A rare slug which appears peculiar to Hampstead, Highgate, 
and Hanley Road, is said to give a slight eleCtric shock when 
touched, occasioning a momentary numbness in the finger 
affeCted. 
It has been noticed that in the neighbourhood of Epping 
Forest the starlings have taken to line their nests with the flower 
of the red garden daisy. 
