Notes. 
L 0(5tober, 
630 
Mr. F. M. Slack (“ Science ”), writing on colour associations 
with months, mentions a relative of his who connects June with 
green, Odtober with light crimson, and December with blue. 
A. Becker (“ Mineral. Mittheilungen ”) maintains, after a pro- 
longed series of experiments, that calcium carbonate in its 
various natural forms — chalk, arragonite, calcite, &c. may be 
converted by heat into a granular limestone, but (at least under 
the conditions of the experiment) cannot be liquefied, 01 even 
softened. 
The Lick Observatory, from the extraordinary clearness of the 
surrounding atmosphere, will enable instruments of the highest 
magnifying power to be successfully used. 
According to Dr. Carl Seiler some persons have a defedt of 
smell analogous to colour-blindness. One person finds that to 
him violets smell like garlic, everything else smelling normally. 
Mr. J. Starkie Gardner, F.G.S. (“ Geological Mag.”), discusses 
the possibility of utilising subterranean heat for industrial and 
domestic purposes. 
In a paper on Siberia, the late Dr. Alfred Brehm makes the 
startling assertion that “ The mean temperature is not high 
enough perfectly to ripen grapes, but oranges grow well in the 
southern parts.” This statement must be received with caution, 
considering that the orange tree requires a higher temperature 
than the vine, and is nowhere found able to live and fruit in the 
open air so far north as 50°. 
A specimen of the anaconda ( Eunectes murinus), 6 metres in 
length, is now to be seen at the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris. 
In refutation of the common opinion that parrots attach no 
meaning to the words which they utter, we give the following 
fadt : — A child in a neighbouring garden having set up a loud 
and very cat-like scream, our favourite parrot, a West Coast grey, 
at once exclaimed “ Puss, puss, puss ! ” 
“ Cosmos les Mondes ” asserts that the chief motive for cre- 
mation is hostility to Catholic tradition. 
According to C. H. Merriam (“American Naturalist”) the 
Oregon mole, Scapanus Townsendi), especially after being 
soaked in alcohol, displays iridescent colours— purple, lilac, and 
bronze. 
At Rome the proportion of the sexes is very different from 
that prevailing in England : there are 100 men to 95 women. 
In the beginning of last month an exceedingly fine and fresh 
specimen of Sphinx convolvuli 'was captured in Hornsey Road, 
by a man employed at the Brush Works. It is now in the pos- 
session of Mr. J. Mutch, chemist, of Hornsey Road. 
