44G ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



Curious organs of smell have been found by Fritz Muller, 

 of Brazil, in the females of certain Ileliconid butterflies, which 

 he figures and describes in Siebold and Kulliker's Zeitschrift. 

 He has also lately described certain pencils of hairs, felt spots, 

 and similar structures on the wins^s of male butterflies. 



In a paper on the biology of insects as determined by the 

 emotions, Mr. A. II. Swinton discusses cases of simple mus- 

 cular contractions and secretions. 



The vessels attached to the end of the stomach of Myrio- 

 pods, Arac/midce, and insects, which, from being first discov- 

 ered by the Italian anatomist Malpighi, were called Mal- 

 pighian vessels, though at first regarded as corresponding to 

 the liver of the higher animals, have of late years, by the best 

 observers, especially Plateau, of Gand, Belgium, been thought 

 without doubt to be excretory in their function, and to cor- 

 respond to the kidney and ureters of the higher animals. In 

 a paper just published in Siebold and Kulliker's Zeitschrift, 

 Dr. E. Schindler reviews the whole subject, and, from a thor- 

 ough examination of insects belonging to all the orders, con- 

 cludes that the Malpighian tubes are specially urinary in their 

 function, finding in their urinary concretions leucin, uric, and 

 oxalic acids, and oxalate of lime. 



While the whip -tail scorpion (Thelyphonm giganteus) of 

 Mexico and adjoining parts of the United States has lately 

 been shown to be poisonous, by a writer in the American 

 Naturalist, Mr. E. Wilkinson, Jun., states that this animal is 

 offensively odorous, apparently emitting the smell from its 

 tail, which is long and filiform. 



In a paper on the ornamental colors of the Daphnicke, or 

 water-fleas, Professor Weismann concludes that secondary 

 sexual characters can in these animals become general spe- 

 cific characters, and illustrate the Darwinian view of the ori- 

 gin of the colors of butterflies. 



4. number of luminous beetles (fire-flies) and beetle grubs 

 are known to exist, and a caterpillar is said to be phospho- 

 rescent. Baron Ostensacken has collected some statements 

 made by various authors regarding luminous two- winged 

 flies. Brischke has observed a light-giving gnat (Chirono- 

 mus tendens), the same facts having previously been observ- 

 ed by Pallas. The head of the rare and remarkable fly 

 Thyreophora cynophila is said to be phosphorescent. This 



