Alaska sentinel., 1907-04-25
fk,|MkScience ]
 SsGGtfventi0n

Rabbits asserts a naturalist, have white tails so that the young may dis- tinguish their mother In case of pur- suit. The natural color of the rabbit is so like the surrounding ground that this would be impossible otherwise.
 Since 1878 to the present time nearly every year has seen a continued and steady decline In the amount of rain fall In Ecuador. No exact statistics are obtalnable, but there Is said to be little reason to doubt that the decline within the period cited Is upward of 30 per cent
 According to pr. P. Marchal, some Insects are as fond of eggs for food as human beings are. He has observed that a hymenopterous insect, Tetrasti- chus xanthomelanane, makes a prac- tice of sucking the eggs of the elm beetle. It first perforates them with small hole, and then swallows the con- tents Afterward the tetrastichus util- izes the emptied egg g-shell by depositing Its own eggs within. It might be SUD- posed that the primary object of the operation was that Implied by the last statement, but pr. Marchal Is confident that the eating of the egg Is no less important motive.
 A German engineer claims to have discovered an efficient method of pre- venting the violent motion of a ship at sea. The invention consists of kind of turbine fitted vertically to the ships keel. When set In motion the turbine counteracts the ships tendency to roll from side to side. An old tor pedo boat was fitted with the appar- atus for trial trip In rough weather off the mouth of the Elbe. The ship rolled to the extent of nine degrees, but after the turbine was set in motion she only rolled one degree. The result was attained without any reduction of seaworthiness and the ships buoyancy was unaffected.
 The Kusel electric lamp, invented by Dr. Hans Kusel of Baden, and manu- factured In Austria, Is remarkable not only for its excellence in practical use. but also for the novel manner In which the filaments are made. Alloys of chromium, manganese, molybdenum, uranium, thorium, zirconium, platinum, osmium and iridium are first dissoci- ated In water by the electric spark, and being precipitated In lnfniteslmal particles, they form a colloidal mass, which, because of its plasticlty, can be nodded like wet clay. After drying, the filaments thus nodded become suff1- ciently hard and resistent to bear all the manipulations needed for their h. troduction into electric lamps. AS soon as they have been heated to redness by the passage of current they return to the metallic state, and thus form filaments of pure metal, perfectly homogeneous throughout and of unl- form caliber.
 Interesting studies have lately been made by Miss Rina Monti on the ear Hest forms of life appearing In Alpine lakes One of these, the Lake of the Seracs, has been created within human memory, and 1t seems to justify the statement that the first living forms inhabiting lakes are of a vegetable na- ture. Only five living species are found In the Lake of the Seracs, all of them plants, and four of the order of diatoms. In the older lakes of Ong and of Tignaga animal forms begin to ap- pear, feeding upon the diatoms. The first two steps in the populatlng of a lake, according to Miss Months conclu- sions, are, first, the appearance of dlatoms absorbing carbonlc acid dis solved In the water, and second, the appearance of simple animal organ isms, such as rhizopods, whose nourish- ment depends upon the pre-existing vegetable forms. Biologists have sup posed that the first living forms in the oceans were vegetable.
 The Abbe's Criticism.