630 
Notes . 
[October, 
Research, speaks of them as the “ almost forgotten and already 
thoroughly refuted experiments of Reichenbach on the so- 
called Od.” 
H err H. Dewitz (“ Zoolog. Anzeiger ”) shows that in so-called 
apterous beetles ( e.g ., Niphus hololeucus) rudimentary hind wings 
appear towards the close of the larval period, but become obso- 
lete during the further development of the insedt. Hence he 
concludes that this species once possessed fully developed wings 
which have gradually become abortive from disuse, — a change 
which must have modified other parts also. 
M. H. Fol (“ Comptes Rendus ”), in a memoir on the “ Origin 
of Individuality in the Higher Animals,” comes to the conclusion 
that neither the ovum, nor the female nucleus, nor the spermato- 
zooid, taken separately, suffices to determine the individuality. 
Mr. J. D. Caton (“ American Naturalist ”) gives an account of 
a cat which when she had caught a prairie gophir always brought 
it home to exhibit before devouring it. But when she had caught 
a bird, for which she had been often reproved, she always ate it 
in secret. 
Mr. E. D. Cope, in the same journal, considers that the non- 
aggressive and over-harassed Herbivora have developed the 
higher brain-strudlure, whilst the inferiority of brain-type of the 
Carnivora is a well-known fadt of present and past time. 
It would appear that, as far as the number of members is con- 
cerned, the French Association for the Advancement of Science 
is more successful than the sister body on this side the 
Channel. 
According to H. A. Wielei* (“ Botanische Zeitung ”) plants 
grow more rapidly in rarefied air than at the ordinary atmo- 
spheric pressure. 
It is significant that official incapacity and corruption-should 
reach their maximum in China, where competitive examinations 
have prevailed for so many centuries. 
In the majority of plants the leaves, according to Haberlandt 
and Boehm, exhale more strongly than the flowers. 
Mexican meteorites, as compared with those of Europe, are 
distinguished by their greater magnitude. 
Prof. Thomas Meehan finds that trees do not, as commonly 
supposed, expand on exposure to severe cold, from the freezing 
of the sap, but contract to a considerable extent. 
Herr Munk (“ Berlin. Akad. der Wissenschaft ”) finds that if 
