the skin of the neck, which is apt to become so stiff and dry as to cause it to tear in the effort to skin the bird over the head. A few drops only will suffice for the preservation of this part of the bird, except in the case of a large crop full of decomposing food. When properly treated with this solution, and properly cooled off in the first instance, birds will keep a week even in warm weather in sufficiently good condition to make a fair skin.
Dr. Alphæus S. Packard, the well-known American entomologist, who is now in London, has ready for the press a volume entitled "Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution; his Life and Work. With Translations of his Writings on Organic Evolution." Dr. Packard has sought and obtained much original material for his publication in France, and the work will probably be published in England.
In connection with the above, it is interesting to know that Darwin's great work, 'The Origin of Species,' will be out of copyright in about a couple of years, and that the publisher has decided to issue during the coming autumn an edition in large type, well bound and well printed, at a price which will bring it within the reach of all—half-a-crown.
The monthly magazines still show by their contents that the ordinary reader is interested in the many curious details of animal life. In the June number of 'Pearson's Magazine,' René Bache writes on fish-culture in trains in the U.S.A., and describes the special railway-car used for the transportation of fry and eggs, under the direction of the national "Fish Commission."
Supposing the car is drawn up at one of the Fish Commission's central stations, and the captain of the car is to receive for transportation a cargo of 2,600,000 young Shad, and 400,000 Shad eggs; as quickly as possible the newly-hatched Government Shad will be taken aboard in about one hundred cans resembling milk-cans, each containing 20,000 fish. The eggs, in similar shipping-cans, will be rapidly loaded; the car will be attached to a train, and the journey will commence. The captain of the car and his four trained assistants must account for every one of the 3,000,000 lives entrusted to their care. This is no light responsibility, for young fishes die on slight provocation, and it is not surprising that the captain in charge of them all should be fairly overwhelmed with urgent duties. He has already sent telegrams to the traffic manager of every line over which he is to pass, making arrangements for the hauling of the car, so that there shall not be a moment's unnecessary delay. He has telegraphed in advance to various points on the route for supplies of ice and
