matter of leaves, has lately rendered a similar service in reference to the coloring matter of the egg of the bird, in a paper presented to the Zoological Society of London. He remarks that, although the eggs of the bird appear to be of almost unlimited variety, all this apparent confusion is due simply to a variation in the relative and total amount of a limited number of definite and well-marked substances.

Previous to his inquiry, the only suggestions made in regard to this matter of color were that the redder tints were due to altered blood, passing through the swollen vessels of the oviduct, and that both the redder and greener tints are due to bile pigments, and perhaps derived from the fæces in the cloaca. Mr. Sorby, indeed, finds good physical evidence to prove that the characteristic coloring matters in eggs are closely connected either with hæmoglobin or bile pigments, but not in the manner suggested by previous writers. He thinks that the coloring of the eggs is due to definite physiological products, and not to accidental contamination with substances whose function is altogether different.

So far Mr. Sorby has found seven well-marked substances, one identical with a coloring matter met with in nearly all groups of plants, from the lowest to the highest; the rest he has not been able to identify with any found elsewhere. All these seven substances are insoluble in water, but soluble in absolute alcohol, and sometimes in chloroform or carbon bisulphide. Some are extremely permanent, and resist the action of powerful reagents; others are so unstable that they are not only rapidly changed by acids and other agents, but are even partially decomposed by evaporating their solutions to dryness at a gentle heat.

The method adopted by Mr. Sorby in his inquiries was to actually separate the coloring matter from the shell, by various processes detailed by him, as they were subjected to various critical chemical examinations. The substances found by him are as follows:

First, Oorhodeine. This he considers as the most important. and interesting of all the coloring matters, a very small quantity being recognized without any difficulty even when mixed with a large amount of colored impurities. It also occurs, in a larger or smaller amount, in the shells of so great a number

of eggs that its entire absence is exceptional. In a free solid form, as in the shell, it is generally of a peculiar brownish red.

Second, Oocyan. This when dissolved in alcohol is of a fine blue color. It is readily soluble in neutral alcohol, and thus can be separated from oorhodeine. It is, however, often associated with yellow substances that can not be easily removed.

Third, Banded oocyan. This is also of a fine blue color, but differing very decidedly in its spectrum from oocyan. Fourth, Yellow oöxanthine. This may best be obtained from moderately fresh emu-eggs.

Fifth, Rufous oöxanthine. This, so far, has only been found in the different species of Tinamon.

Sixth, Substance giving narrow absorption bands in the red. This Mr. Sorby has not been able to separate in sufficient quantity to determine whether its real color is blue, green, or brown.

Seventh, Lichnoxanthine. This occurs in greater or less amount in almost all classes of plants, and is most especially abundant in the lichens and fungi. Mr. Sorby thinks this may possibly have been derived, to a certain degree, from the decayed vegetable matter of the nest, or, in cases of eggs which have been kept long, may be partly due to the growth of minute fungi; but, at the same time, a very closely allied, if not identical substance, does really appear to be a normal constituent of the shell of eggs having a peculiar brick-red color.

In reference to the colors of eggs, Mr. Sorby remarks that the varying tints are due to the presence of either of these primary coloring matters, and this in a separate condition, or mixed to a greater or less degree with others. Thus the various shades of green, passing from blue-green to a fine malachite-green and to a yellow-green, are due to a variable mixture of oocyan with yellow oöxanthine. It is well known that many green eggs turn blue on long keeping. This is explained by the fact that yellow oöxanthine is much more easily destroyed by oxidation resulting from exposure to light than oocyan, the oocyan or the blue color remaining unchanged.

Mr. Sorby thinks that it will be very difficult to make use

of the spectroscopic character of the coloring matter of eggs in determining their species, or even their genera, especially in view of the fact that in some eggs, as in the Guillemot, the variation in the series is so great, sometimes one tint prevailing exclusively, and in others several, or possibly all of them, combined. He concludes by stating, as a summary of his inquiries, that he considers the chief points to be that all the varied tints of birds' eggs are due to mixtures of a limited number of coloring matters having well-marked specific characters. Except in one particular case there is apparently no intimate connection between the organization of the birds and the coloring matters secreted; but if further inquiry should prove that on the whole these substances are formed naturally only during the development of the eggs of birds, it would be an important fact in relation to comparative physiology and chromatology, as showing that special colored substances are secreted under special anatomical and physiological conditions, as does indeed occur in the case of many other normal and abnormal secretions.-Proceedings of the Zoological Society, London, 1875, 351.

ON THE MANAGEMENT OF AQUARIA.

A valuable paper on the construction, management, and utility of aquaria, by Mr. W. Saville Kent, has been published in the Journal of the Society of Arts, in which the latest views in reference to the best mode of managing the water are brought forth. Here, as in previous communications, Mr. Kent insists upon the propriety of using the same. water over and over again, especially for fresh-water tanks, urging that the perfection of the water by the deposit of all its sedimentry particles, and its more thorough combination with air and its oxygen, is better effected than by allowing a continued stream of freshly pumped sea-water or fresh water from springs.-23 A, March 3, 292.

PECUNIARY SUCCESS OF THE BRIGHTON AQUARIUM.

The pecuniary success of well-managed public aquaria is shown by the report of the Brighton Aquarium Company. In this it is stated that the sum of £12,310 11s. 7d. is available on dividend account. A dividend at the rate of ten per cent. per annum was paid in July last, and a second dividend

has now been ordered from the present profits, leaving a balance of £5446 to be carried forward.

The Aquarium Company has been lately the subject of proceedings in court on account of its violation of certain enactments in keeping open on Sunday. This has now been compromised by opening on Sundays during certain hours, and as an aquarium only, the other exhibitions being omitted. -2 A, Feb. 12, 1876, 134.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE BLOOD.

Mr. G. Gulliver, F.R.S., one of the greatest living author ities on the subject of blood corpuscles, has spoken in the highest terms of the photographs of Professor T. G. Wormley and Dr. G. Richardson, exhibiting the human blood disks compared with those of the pig, cat, dog, etc.; and he ex presses the hope that American physiologists will continue these valuable representations, especially as the subject seems to be almost ignored in Europe.-Monthly Microscopical Journal, July, 1876.

CARRYING HUMBLE-BEES FROM ENGLAND TO NEW ZEALAND.

A further step in the progress of the international exchange of animals has just been made in the transmission to New Zealand, by Mr. Frank Buckland, of two nests of English humble-bees. The common English clover, which has been introduced into New Zealand and Australia, has not produced seeds in proper quantity, due, as is supposed, to the fact that, as bees perform a large portion of the labor of the fertilization of such plants, the proboscis of the common bee is not long enough to reach down to the pollen of the clover flower, which the humble-bee is enabled to do.12 A, Oct. 14, 1875, 527.

NEW AQUARIUM AT WESTMINSTER.

The new aquarium at Westminster, which probably is just ly entitled to the claim of being the largest and most magnificent establishment of the kind in existence, was opened toward the end of January for concert purposes, but the tanks were not in a condition for being filled with water. Among some special features of its construction is an ar rangement that the overflow of water from one tank will

pass down a tube so as to enter the next tank at the bottom, causing a continued displacement of the water already in the tank. The reservoir, which occupies the space under the large hall, is divided into nine compartments, so that in case of accident to any part, it can be cleared of the water and repaired while the other sections remain in operation.

The total capacity of the reservoir is 600,000 gallons, and the total amount of water in the reservoir and tanks together will be 750,000 gallons. For the circulation eight rotary vulcanite pumps are erected, which are capable of sending 56,000 gallons through the tanks in an hour if needed, though it is calculated that 15,000 to 20,000 gallons will be the average amount. The salmon will have a fifty-feet run. All the pipes, culverts, etc., are of vulcanite, but the glass fronts of the tanks are fitted in cork.-January 27, 1875, 255.

DECREASE OF BIRDS IN MASSACHUSETTS.

There are, says Mr. J. A. Allen, few data obtainable relative to the subject of the extinction of our birds. The number of indigenous species belonging to the fauna of the state is about 310. Of these, two, the Great Auk (Alca impennis) and the Wild Turkey, have become wholly extirpated, and two others (the Pinnated Grouse, Cupidonia cupido, and the American Swan, Cygnus americanus) are so nearly so that the former is found at only one or two limited localities, and the latter is but a chance visitor. The Brown or Sand-hill Crane (Grus canadensis), and perhaps a second (the White or Whooping Crane (Grus americanus), were formerly inhabitants of the state, though extirpated at so early a date that they have not as yet been recognized as belonging to its fauna. Among those which have greatly decreased in numbers are the Red-winged Blackbird (Agelæus phoeniceus), the Purple Grackle (Quiscalus purpureus), the Crow (Corvus americanus), the Raven (Corvus corax), the Pileated Woodpecker (Hylotomus pileatus), the Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), the Wild Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius), and the Snow Goose (Anser hyperboreus). To these, says Mr. Allen, might be added, as among those which have also notably decreased, most of the wading and swimming birds, and nearly all of the rapacious species. None of