SCIENCE NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3197, 23 June 1915, Page 73

SCIENCE NOTES.

Fighting the Moth Plague.— The United States Bureau of Entomology reports encouraging progress in its field with the gipsy and the brown-tail moth pests. Both insects have conspicuously decreased in numbers, especially the ' brown-tail, which suffered severely from the weather of last, winter and from the work of the brown-tail moth fungous disease and imported parasites. The bureau prepared coloured posters illustrating the gipsy moth and its natu"al enemies, and these were posted in all post offices and town offices in infested 4 istricts. Post-cards bearing the same illustrations were distributed by mail and by the Boy Scouts. Remarkable Stellar Velocity.—

Recent observations at the Mount Wilson Observatory orT the star O. Arg.' S. 14,320 indicate that it has a remarkably rapid motion in space. It is a star of the 9.2 magnitude, having- a carefully determined parallax of plus 0.035 second and a proper motion of 3.76 seconds annually. Its radial motion, as, determined approximately with the spectrograph, is plus 290 'kilometres (180 miles) per second. This gives for its actual velocity in space 577 kilometres (358 miles) per second, which far exceeds even that of the famous star Groombridge (1830). Tbo average velocity of a star in space has been estimated at about 21 miles per second. Audibility of the Aurora. —

The Dawson Daily News for January 16, 1915, contains tbo following from " Los Angeles, California: —“Writers have tried to describe the beauty of the Northern Lights; but they are indescribable,” said A. B. Ferguson, a mining man of Idatorad, Alaska, who is registered at the Stowell Hotel. “ Drawing a whisk broom across silk would more closely produce the effect of the lights than anything else,” continued My Ferguson. “In all the colours of the rainbow, the lights fall like a large drapery. Usually they make a swishing sound, and sometimes when the lights are near the earth a weird, popping sound is hoard. Back in January, 1898, I had an experience while driving a dog team up in the interior. It was just before daybreak, when the lights fell so close to earth that the popping sound scared the dogs—and I guess they scared me worse.” The Magnetic Field of the Sun.—

Professor Hale and his assistants have continued their fruitful investigations of this subject, and during the past year 25 spectrum lines, all originating at comparatively low levels in the solar atmosphere, have been found to show the Zeeman effect, and hence the existence of the sun’s general magnetic field. The elements represented by these linos are iron (10 lines), chromium (fi), nickel (4), vanadium (2), unidentified (1). The displacements due to the general field appear to he confined to the lower levels of the solar atmosphere, in harmony with previous observations on this subject. The measurements show that the vortical intensity of the general field at the poles varies from a value of 55 gausses for tho weakest lines to 10 gausses for the strongest lines yet found to show the effect. A preb’minary attempt to detect the Stark effect duo to electric fields in sunspots has not thus far yielded any positive results. Stings of Jelly-fishes.—

The stinging-threads of the common jellyfish (Aurelia nurita) are not strong enough to soier/’n the 'o’so°rr hu*nr v> i-*. i . ». (says Knowledge) bathers on British ’coasts nave sometimes painful experience of the virulence of the orange or the blue species of Cyanea. In other waters there are much more formidable jelly-fishes. Thus Mr S. .F. Light, in describing Philippine medusae, notes of Chiropsalmus quadrigatus that the sting of the tentacles Is very dangerous. Swelling and Inflammation begin almost immediately, blisters form, the heart-action

is impaired, respiratory spasms and nervous twitchings of the muscles ensue, and there is intense general pain. The natives of Palawan reported that the sting may be fatal. Another dangerous form is Dactylometra quinquccirrha, which causes severe poisoning. The native remedy is s..gar solution taken internally and applications of vinegar externally. —Tune-Deafness.— Everyone lias heard of colour-blindness, but few people arc aware that there is such a malady as tune-deafness. It prevents these atfected from appreciating music, which to the melody-deaf is nothing but noise. The most intelligent people often suffer in this way. Empress Catherine of Russia used to declare that for her music was a nerve-trying din, and Napoleon 1 hated any form of melody. Victor Hugo had to be coaxed by the composer who put his famous lines to music. “Are not my verses,” ho used to say, “ sufficiently harmonious to stand without the assistance of disagreeable noises?” Doctors say that the power to appreciate music depends upon a perfect combination of the nerves and brain. Some people’s nerves readily carry musical sounds to the mind, whilst in others nerves impede their passage to the brain-cells. Good musiciajis are more often born than made. Nature has provided them with nerves which instinctively carry musical chords to the brain. That is why a. good musician can memorise a tune after hearing it played over once. Every note has been clearly recorded in their brain. Those with Jess sensitive musical nerves receive a dull impression of any music they may hear, and thus they are unable to remember it unless it is drummed into their brain by repeated playing. Extermination of Flies. — .A French journal (L’Agriculture Nouvellc) gives an account of some experiments made by M. Lang, a veterinary surgeon in the French Colonial 'Service at Noumea (Now Caledonia), for the extermination of a species of horse-fly which infested the animals under his charge. This insect, which appears to be very tenacious of life and difficult to kill, is driven away for only a short time_ by applications of cocoanut oil. oil of juniper berries, and petroleum, and quickly returns to resume its attacks Wounds or sores are very difficult to heal on this account,, as the insect is a. carrier of contagion The remedy, which is simple and is said to be effective; consists merely in anointing those parts of the body of the animal infested with those pests with codliver oil. The flies are killed immediately by contact.with the oil. No caustic effect to the_ skin of the animal is produced by this oil, as is the case with other fish oils The application of cod-liver oil is equally efficacious for the extermination of the common house fly as well as the mosquito. Ticks, which infest dogs, sheep, and other animals, can be readily destroyed by an application of cod-liver oil. The effect, of these applications Lasts from 10 to 18 hours. Spread on the surface of pools of water, this oil has the effect of killing immediately the larva of the mosquito. A Seven-ton Reptile.—

Between seven and ten million years ago, in what is known ns the Jurassic Age, there lived a group of giant reptiles called Dinosaurs, one family of which—the -Stegosaur idee, or plated lizards—is perhaps the most- fantastic and curious in all natural history. The most perfect and complete fossilised skeleton of the genus Stegosaurus, a smaller branch of this remarkable familygroup, is on exhibition in the new building of the United States National Museum, at Washington, just as it was found and dug out of the sandstone rock. Near at hand is a natural size and very life-like restoration in papier-mache, so weird and monstrous in appearance as to give one the horrors. Back in the very early days of the hvorld this armour-plated, lizard-like monster dwelt in the western part of the United States in what is now the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, although at that time the mountains did not exist. He roamed about in the marsh and swamp lands of that region, feeding on the tropical grasses and plants, the fossil remains of which are found buried with his skeleton. With the exception of the removal of some of the sandstone which surrounded it, this valuable specimen has been loft in the position in which it was discovered, so that the relation of the various bones and skin armour may bo scon and studied by scientists. In order that the lower side of the skeleton and the back plates may bo seen, two mirrors have been placed beneath it in such a manner as to reflect the exact structure and location of the various bones. 'The undisturbed position of the bones and the surrounding sandstone indicate (says the Scientific American) that this monster died in the water or on the bank of a stream, and from some natural cause. It is possible that the carcase floated down the stream, as the arrangement of the different bones and spine plates indicates a .gradual washing and tipping over, rather than the crushing action of a heavy force. The skeleton is quite complete, and lies partly on its side and hack, with nearly all the bones in their relative positions, rendering it of infinite value, to scientists for study and as a reference type. In life this _ peculiar reptile of such gigantic pro portions must have presented a forbidding appearance; it measures about 19ft in length, was- evidently over lift in height at the hips, and was covered with a verv tough and horny scale-like skin, studded here and there with bony buttons or knobs or armour. Along its back were arranged great sharp-edged plates set alternately, and projecting upward like the teeth of a huge saw. This odd ar mour-pl ate extcndod from the small wedge-shaped reptilian head all the way back and well down the tapering liza.rd-liko tail, which was tipped with four long, sharp spines. Its lees were not unlike those of a lizard or other reptile, except that the forelegs wore rather short and much weaker than the hind ones, an Indication that the groat a’nimal could sit up like a kangaroo, and perhaps descended from a bipedal ancestor. From a study of its teeth it has been determined that this historic beast was a plant-eater, ns is suggested by its habitat. Further investigation of its head, which is so smalUas to bo quite out of proportion to its massive body, reveals the fact that it had scarcely any brain. Although the body o ftho Ste'gos.vUi'ua suppose*!. to have we.gVxOu month an that of the elephant, the brain of the latter Is SO times as heavy', which fact offers an excuse for the immense amount of defensive* armour with which it was equipped, making it practically impregnable as far as Its enemies wore concerned, provided it had any. Its bones alone weigh nearly a ton, and it has been estimated that in life the Stegosaur weighed between seven and ten tons.