industrious habits than bees, performing a larger number of journeys in the same time. Ants appear to possess a distinct power of communicating with one another, but different individuals vary greatly in this respect.

OCCURRENCE OF A COCHINEAL INSECT IN NEBRASKA.

Mr. Austin, in Psyche, calls attention to the occurrence of a cochineal insect, in great abundance, on several species of the cactus growing in the northwest of Nebraska and adjacent portions of Dakota. He can find no evidence that the Indians were acquainted with the existence of this substance in its practical applications as a paint; and, indeed, the fact of its occurrence there at all was unexpected by him, although he has since learned that it is not uncommon in Kansas and Southern California.-Psyche, Dec., 1874, 30.

MINERAL SUBSTANCES IN THE ARTICULATA.

E. Häckel gives the result of a series of experiments upon the localization, or heaping up, so to speak, of various mineral substances in the articulata, and its physiological results, referring more particularly to the administration to various species, especially cockroaches and crabs, of a diet consisting of metallic arsenic and flour. After feeding with this substance for forty days the animals were dissected, and arsenic found in the cœca of the stomach, as also in the Malpighian tubes, in the latter the indication being most decided.—6 B, August 24, 1874, 513.

CAPTURE OF INSECTS BY FLY-CATCHING" PLANTS.

Much attention has lately been attracted to the so-called fly-catching plants, and the object of the various provisions by which the capture of insects is rendered possible, whether, as in the Venus fly-trap (Dionaea muscipula), by the bringing together of two laminae of a leaf, with a row of spines around the margin, or by attracting them into a cup-shaped receptacle, as in Nepenthes and Sarracenia, or by the pres ence of organs secreting a viscid juice, as in Drosera, or sundew, which holds an insect whenever it alights upon the surface. Professor Bailey, of Providence, has lately called attention to a similar function of the latter nature in the Azalea viscosa, or swamp honeysuckle, which has its corolla

covered with innumerable clammy and glandulous hairs. In the bud these hairs appear to cover the whole surface of the flower, but when the corolla expands they seem to occupy the midrib of the petals as well as the tube of the corolla. These glandular hairs are efficacious fly-catchers, but what is their precise object, or the method of application, Professor Bailey is at present unable to indicate.-5 D, September, 1874, 517.

GIANT CUTTLE-FISH FOUND ON THE GRAND BANK, DECEMBER, 1874.

Some time since the discovery was announced by the Rev. Mr. Harvey, of St. Johns, Newfoundland, of a giant cuttlefish off the coast of that island. We now learn from him that a still larger one was cast ashore on the Grand Bank, near Fortune Bay, in December last. The larger arms measured twenty-six feet each, with a circumference of sixteen inches, the short arms being about one third that length with the same circumference. The total length of the body was fourteen feet. No portion was preserved excepting the beak and one sucker, which is an inch in diameter. The fishermen carried it off as food for their dogs. The specimens preserved will probably be sent to Professor Verrill, of Yale College, for comparison with what he has of the first one.

FAUNA OF THE CASPIAN.

Professor Oskar Grimm has lately published an account of the investigations made, under the direction of the Society of Natural History of St. Petersburg, upon the fauna of the Caspian Sea. The results of these had been extremely interesting and rich, no less than eighty new species having been discovered, and the total number known raised to 150.

According to Professor Grimm, the Caspian appears as a large, half-salt sea, possessing partly its own animal forms. and partly such as occur in other seas, the former being descended from species still living or already extinct, or slightly changed from foreign related species in other waters. The species which occur in other seas are forms which possess great tenacity of life, as they still manage to sustain existence, their former associates of less hardiness having died out. The faunal affinities of the Caspian are with the Sea of

Aral, the Black Sea, and the Northern Ocean, but those with the Arctic Ocean are more recent than with the Black Sea, in which the seal, the coregonus, and other species common to the Caspian and the Arctic Ocean do not exist. It has been inferred from the phenomena observed that in the tertiary period there was a large but closed fresh-water basin in Europe and Western Asia, which, by volcanic elevation of the earth's crust, was divided into several smaller basins, such as the Black Sea and Aral-Caspian. At that time the water of the Arctic Ocean broke into the Caspian, and having still a connection with the Black Sea, though a slight one, a few animals, and only a few, reached the sea from the latter.

The Caspian, however, according to Professor Grimm, not only received species from the Arctic Ocean, but has also furnished some to it, especially the sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus). As a general rule, in the Caspian Sea the abundance of individuals replaces the abundance of species, and many of the mollusks described by Eichwald as sub-fossil were found living, and not smaller than their extinct relatives. The deepest parts of the sea were inhabited most abundantly, and by quite different species from those at the depth of only a few fathoms. In Professor Grimm's opinion, the Oxus of the ancients at one period unquestionably flowed into the Caspian Sea.-18 A, September 3, 1875, 626.

GIGANTIC MARINE WORM.

Dr. Carl Möbius, an eminent German zoologist, of Kiel, has been engaged for some time in the exploration of the Mauritius and of the waters adjacent; and according to a letter received by Captain Nicholas Pike, of New York, from Edward Newton, Dr. Möbius has lately discovered a marine worm 300 yards in length!

DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AMONG THE ANCIENTS.

It is an interesting fact in the history of the domestication of animals among the ancients, that the Egyptians bred several species, and kept them in large numbers, which are not now employed in any part of the world. Among these are the Addax and Beisa antelopes, the gazelle, or Dorcas antelope, and the Kobe antelope. The evidence of this is found, together with much else connected with the history of the

ancient Egyptians, in the pictures on the tombs, where flocks of these animals are represented with others receiving the attentions of the farmer and herdsman. From about 1800 years before the Christian era, however, these representations were fewer and fewer in number, and after that time their occurrence in relation to domestic animals seems to have ceased.

CHANGE OF COLOR IN THE CHAMELEON.

M. Paul Bert has exhibited, at a meeting of the Biological Society of Paris, a series of experiments on the coloration of the chameleons, bearing especially upon the changes of color produced if one or both eyes be extirpated. If a single eye be removed, the animal does not exhibit any change of color on the wounded side. If the light be brought to it, a very slow change of color takes place, and subsequently in that of the uninjured side. If both eyes be cut, a change of color on the two sides occurs under the influence of fierce excitements. It has been previously ascertained by M. Bert that, on removing the right hemisphere of the brain of the chameleon, the animal only made use of the members of the left side, and after taking away the left hemisphere, then it could use the members of both sides.

This phenomenon seemed to indicate that to the chameleon is given in a measure a double being-that is to say, that the voluntary movements seem to recognize two centres, corresponding each to movement, coloration, and to sensations of the analogous side.-8 B, September 14, 168.

EXTINCT ANIMALS IN RODRIGUEZ.

It is well known that Rodriguez, the Mauritius, and other islands off the eastern coast of Africa, were at one time inhabited by various species of birds now entirely extinct, and known only by tradition, by the descriptions of several travelers, and by the occurrence of their bones in different localities.

The island of Rodriguez seems to have been much favored in this way, as mentioned by M. Leguat, who resided there from 1691 to 1693, and described species in his works that for a long time were supposed to be the figment of his own imagination, but which are now well established by osteo

logical remains. The inquiry has been frequently made as to the precise period and the actual causes of this extinction, and Professor Alphonse Milne-Edwards has lately found a document which throws much light on the subject. This is a manuscript report in the Department of Marine, entitled "Relation de l'Isle Rodriguez," and is supposed to be of about the date of 1760.

According to this document, the birds continued quite abundant until about 1730, at which time, however, the settlement of the Isle of France and the Isle of Bourbon, together with the great number of vessels visiting the adjacent regions, made such depredations upon the living animals, especially the birds and tortoises, as soon to bring about their entire extinction. The birds were all restricted to narrow spaces, and being in large part unable to fly, fell victims to the weapons of the invaders. Indeed, so far as the tortoises were concerned, numerous vessels were employed exclusively in the business of collecting and shipping them.—1 B, June 20, 165.

FLIGHT OF BUTTERFLIES.

Mr. J. Matthew Jones gives an account of a very remarkable flight of small yellow butterflies, Terias lisa, of the family Pierida, which visited the Bermuda islands on the 1st of October, 1874. Their number was so great that their first appearance was that of a cloud coming in from the northwest, and when close to the land they separated into two columns, and dispersed east and west over the islands.

Mr. Jones does not consider that this was an intentional movement on the part of these butterflies, but that probably the individuals, while swarming at some point along the coast of the United States, were caught up in a cyclone or other storm, and carried out to sea to a great distance.

INTRODUCTION OF THE AMERICAN TURKEY.

The precise date at which the American turkey was introduced (probably from Mexico) into Europe has always been a matter of some uncertainty, its arrival in France having been ascribed to the action of the Jesuits. It took a conspicuous part in the nuptial feast of Charles IX., in 1570. A much earlier mention of this bird has, however, been found