Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1883-02-08
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

The conccalment Of some animals is
easily affected on account of the adap-
tation Of their colors to those Of sur
rounding objects in their native wilds.
This adaptation is the, mimicry of ami
mails, and seems to be wise provision
Of Nature for the protection of some
Of her creatures. In the course Of "a
lesson in comparative zoology DR.. IL.
W. Mitchell says that the giraffe has,
perhaps, the most astonishing mimlcry
Of any animal. Its great size, which
enables it to feed upon lofty tree boughs
in its native African forests, makes it
also a most conspicuous object to its
enem es, of which the most dreaded are
the lion and man. Such is its mimicry,
however, that the most practiced eye
has failed to distinguish the giraffe
from one of the dead and blasted trees
which abound in the haunts Of this
animal. Reliable evidence assures US
that lions have been known to gaze
long and earnestly at a motionless 81
raffe, and, being unable to decide that
it was not tree, TO turn and skulk
away.
Messrs. Pasteur, Chamberlain, Roux
- L,,;,l;or haze lo,,, denomination
rabies. They find that all forms of it
come from the same virus. Death Of
Yer incubation with rabid saliva may
be either from an organism existing 10
the saliva, from form alton of much pus,
or from rabies. The investigators have
now four dogs which cannot take rab
les. Whether this is because the ami
mails have had mild form If it and
recovered or because they are naturally
refractory to The disease is not yet
known.
The migration of birds seems to be
more a question Of food than anything
else. A migration Of robbins, whose
food supply had been reduced by the
dry season, was noticed during July
and August of last year.
A bone Of contention is still found
in sun-spots and tho question Of their
influence upon our weather. 1t has
been asserted that any effect produced
upon our planet by an increase in the
activity Of the sun must extend over
the whole world and be felt in the
sans way ia all places. To this con-
elusion Mr.. J. A. Westwood Oliver,
Of GLASGOW, replies that the only way
in which the sun can affect the meteor.
illogical conditions Of our globe is by
intensifying phenomena, and so rem
deriug the unlike conditions in differ
ent parts of the world more widely
Z divergent than ever. Weather records
prove, to Mr.. divers satisf clioh, these
i've facts, viz: that in certain localities
Of the earth's surface connection be
tween the state of solar activity and
the weather lat least as regards tenn
perature, rainfall and atmospheric dis
turbapce) is apparent; that in other
localities connection is apparent, but
Of a precisely opposite character; that
in yet other localities no connection Of
any kind is traceable, which may be
due to local circumstances, upon which
the weather often largely depends; thai
the connection is most obvious in trop
ical or sub tropical attitudes; and that
~ consequence Of the foregoing, com
bined records from all parts of the
globe fail to exhibi, the connection, he
twO opposite effects cancelling each
other.
Observations Of the solar CORONA
the bright halo which encircles the syn
and extends from it to considerable
distance 10 space-have long been con
fined TO the rare and brief intervals
when the sun itself is totally eclipsed
1t IS now announced. however, by
Wa. Higgins, f. Il. s., tina, tho cor
ena has been successfully phi tograph, d
BIZ him in the full glare of the uneclips
cd SUI. Some twenty plates have thus
far been obtained. With such a means
Of observation within our reach as Mr.
Higgins has thus developed, il becom, s
possible to keep daily record Of Il q
appearance of the corona and to note
its changes rs they occur.
Cir. L. j. Stone expires scs confidence
that the British contact OBJ ervations
Of the transit Of Venus were SO sue
ccssful that they viii reduce the posi-
lie error in our estimate of the suns
distance to 800. 600 miles or less