1884.] Notes. 629 
Dr. Gressin and M. Bottard, of Havre, have discovered the 
poison-glands and emissive durts of the fishes Trachinus draco 
and T. vipera. The venom, extracted and injected by means of 
a Pravez syringe into frogs, fishes, birds, and small mammals, 
quickly brought on clonic convulsions, collapse, and death. 
The opercular spines serve for the introduction of the poison ; 
the mechanism is exartly the same as in the viper, only the 
spines, instead of having merely one channel like the fang of a 
death-snake, have each two. 
According to “ Ciel et Terre ” the vibrations caused by the 
passing of a railway train, even at distances of 1300 to 1500 
metres, make the use of delicate astronomical instruments im- 
po.; able for the time being. 
M. Pierre Picard considers the sun-spots as aerolites which 
have fallen into the sun, and which preserve on its incandescent 
surface the spheroidal state during the entire duration of the 
spot. 
M. C. Fievez, of the Royal Observatory of Brussels, contends 
that the temperature of sun-spots is higher than that of the sun s 
disc, since the spertral rays of the former are broader than those 
of the latter. 
M. G. Rafin, in a communication to the Academy of Sciences, 
describes a species of ant which he has observed in the island of 
St. Thomas, and which he proposes to call Formica ignivora. 
A large fire of wood having been kindled at a certain distance 
from the ant-hill, he saw the ants precipitate themselves into it 
by thousands, until it was completely extinguished. 
M. W. Vignal (“ Comptes Rendus ”) shows that there is no 
point in the embryonic development of the spinal marrow of 
vertebrate animals when it can be compared to a series of 
ganglia attached end to end, and resembling the nervous chain 
of the arthropods. 
Herr Krasan, in “ Engler’s Jahrbuch,” gives instances of the 
modification of plants by the artion of inserts, so as to produce 
new vatieties. 
A certain Dr. O’Donnell proposed to visit the principal 
American cities, taking with him a couple of Chinese lepers as 
illustrations of a popular lerture. The authorites have refused 
their sanrtion. 
We are glad to find that the “ Medical Press and Cir- 
cular ” supports the proposal of scientific assessors in Courts of 
Law. 
