POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



637 



verted cell-action, commonly preceding this 

 disorder. The inebriate is literally in a 

 toxic condition, in which all the organs are 

 both unduly depressed and exalted, or in a 

 state of suspended activity, bordering on 

 paralysis. The mortality of the inebriate is 

 further increased by the favoring conditions 

 which bring on inflammatory affections, as 

 pneumonia, pleurisy, gastritis, diseases of 

 the kidneys, etc. Severe bodily injuries, too, 

 have generally a fatal termination in in- 

 ebriates. The existing degenerations seem 

 to intensify the lesion and its effect, and re- 

 duce the resisting power of Nature to its 

 minimum. The fatality of inebriety is in- 

 creasing, and its complications are becom- 

 ing more profound and general. 



Uses of the Antennse of Insects. In 



working on the problem as to the use 

 of the antennae of insects, Mr. L. Trou- 

 velot, as he states in the American Natu- 

 ralist, procured a large number of but- 

 terflies of Limenitis disippus, and with 

 about a dozen of these tested the truth of 

 a statement to the effect that a butterfly 

 deprived of its antennae, on being thrown up 

 into the air, falls heavily to the ground with- 

 out spreading its wings. All these butter- 

 flies took flight, but there was a certain 

 hesitation in their movements. The author 

 next carefully covered with thick Indian-ink 

 the eyes of several individuals ; when this 

 coating was dry they were allowed to go 

 free. They could fly, and, though blind, 

 avoided hurting themselves by dashing 

 against any hard object. Both antennse hav- 

 ing been cut off from a blinded butterfly, 

 the insect when thrown up fell heavily. 

 Another butterfly, blinded and with antennae 

 removed, was set at liberty on a table. 

 Then with a small brush a drop of sweet- 

 ened water was held very near the mouth, 

 head, spiracles, etc. The insect remained per- 

 fectly still ; but, when the stumps of the au- 

 tennaj happened to be touched, it unrolled its 

 proboscis and searched for the sweet liquor. 

 The next insect was treated like the last, 

 save that a drop of thick gum-arabic was 

 allowed to dry on the stumps of the antennae. 

 The insect could not use its wings, and was 

 insensible to the touch of sugar-water on 

 the sealed stumps. Experiments showed 

 that insects deprived of their antennje do not 



copulate. The author next cut off the an- 

 tennae of ants, and then let) them go free 

 with their comrades ; these mutilated ants 

 did not seem to recognize their fellows, nor 

 did they follow the same path, but kept 

 moving in a circle. The author, in sum- 

 ming up the results of his experiments, 

 says that the sense located in the antennae 

 is not merely that of touch, hearing, or 

 taste, nor a combination of all these : it 

 appears to differ essentially from any of 

 man's senses ; it is a " kind of feeling or 

 smelling at a great distance." 



Moss-Copper. The term " moss-copper " 

 is used to designate accumulations of fila- 

 mentous copper found in cavities, in pigs of 

 certain kinds of regulus. This moss-cop- 

 per appears to be formed at a comparative- 

 ly low temperature, and it has actually been 

 produced at a temperature far below red- 

 ness, by W. M. Hutchings, who gives in the 

 Chemical News an account of his interest- 

 ing experiments. He fused a button of 

 regulus, one-quarter of a pound in weight, 

 under borax in a clay crucible, and then 

 poured the molten mass into an iron mould. 

 After it had cooled in the mould for some 

 time, so that it had been quite solidified for 

 some minutes, it was broken in two by a 

 blow with a hammer. It had now cooled 

 below redness, even in the centre. At the 

 moment of fracture the surfaces exposed 

 were perfectly clean and lustrous, but after 

 a minute or two they became slowly cov- 

 ered with a growth of minute copper fila- 

 ments, which increased till in some places 

 it resembled a coarse velvet. After three 

 or four minutes one of the halves was again 

 broken in two, and again the exposed sur- 

 face was lustrous. The piece was now just 

 cool enough to hold in the hand, yet the 

 moss-copper slowly began to appear here 

 also, though not so abundantly as before, 

 and only in patches. 



Fanna and Flora of the Florida Keys. 



L. F. de Pourtales, in Tlie Naturalist, s\^a\- 

 izes the Florida Keys as a curious example, 

 though on a very small scale, of a land of 

 comparatively modern origin, which has re- 

 ceived its fauna and flora from two differ- 

 ent and very distinct sources the West 

 Indies and the North American Continent 



