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desirable that we should have precise and accurate 

 records of the occurrence of the typical form of the 

 species. — IV. D. R. 



The British Testacellid-i;. — It has been 

 arranged that the new Monograph of the Mollusca of 

 the British Fauna shall begin with the Testacellae, 

 and if a sufficient amount of material can be gathered 

 together, the authors hope to be able to publish the 

 first part in about a year or eighteen months. May 

 they then ask all naturalists who are interested in the 

 detailed working out of the British fauna to give 

 their best assistance ? They wish to have specimens 

 (alive if possible, or spirit-specimens, or shells) of 

 Testacellse, from all the localities possible, whether 

 British or foreign, and to amass precise and detailed 

 information as to range and life history. Among the 

 questions which yet remain to be settled is that of the 

 occurrence of the typical form of Testacella haliotidea 

 in Britain. So far there does not appear to be any 

 direct evidence that it (as distinguished from the 

 variety scutuhim, which is apparently the prevalent, 

 probably the only British form) occurs in these 

 islands. Communications may, for the present, be 

 addressed to Mr. John IV. Taylor, Pottemewton 

 Lodge, Leeds. 



Varieties of British Slugs. — I am indebted to 

 the kindness of some of my correspondents for 

 specimens of varieties of British slugs which do not 

 appear to have hitherto been recorded as occurring in 

 these islands. Mr. Ashford sent me lately from 

 Christchurch, Hants, an example of Limax maximus, 

 which answers to the var. maculata of Moquin- 

 Tandon, having the shield and back irregularly 

 marked with black spots ; and Mr. R. Renton sent 

 me a consignment of slugs from Fans in West 

 Berwickshire, which included the var. reticulata of 

 Limax agrestis. This has the insterstices between 

 the rugce darker than the rugre themselves, thus 

 producing a netted or reticulated appearance. May 

 I supplement these notes by renewing the request for 

 consignments of living slugs (the common species 

 particularly) from as many districts as possible ? as we 

 wish to work out (for the projected new Monograph) 

 their variation and detailed geographical distribution 

 from personal examination of specimens, and for 

 obtaining the material we are dependent upon the 

 co-operation of naturalists generally. — Wm. Denison 

 Roebuck, Sunny Bank, Leeds. 



Apterous Beetles. — Mr. Dewitz has shown 

 that in such apterous beetles as Niphus Iiololeucus 

 rudimentary hind wings appear towards the close of 

 the larval period, but became obsolete during the 

 further development of the insect. He therefore 

 concludes that this species once possessed fully 

 developed wings, which have gradually become 

 aborted through disuse. 



The "Missing Links." — In the anthropological 

 section of the British Association, that strange 

 specimen of humanity formerly exhibited at the 

 Westminster Aquarium — the hairy child " Krao " — ■ 

 came up for discussion. It was shown there was 

 nothing abnormal or simian about the child but its 

 abundance of silky hair, and that it was by no means 

 a "missing link." Regarding the "missing links" 

 between humanity and the rest of the Animal 

 Kingdom, Professor Struther, of Aberdeen, very saga- 

 ciously remarked that they were only too abundant, 

 and that we could find them in any number in the 

 idiot ward of any workhouse. 



Extraordinary Abundance of Tipula 

 oleracea. — Tipula oleracea (commonly called the 

 "daddy long-legs") has been flying about here in 

 extraordinary numbers during this month. As I 

 write (13th September) several specimens are flying 

 round the gas light in the room, others are apparently 

 making frantic but ineffectual efforts to reach the 

 burner of my reading lamp, and large quantities are 

 to be found at rest outside. During my entomologi- 

 cal experience (by no means a short one) I have never 

 met with this insect so commonly before, and I 

 believe they are now to be found in like numbers 

 all over the country. Perhaps some of the readers 

 of Science-Gossip can suggest an explanation. — 

 IV. J. V. Vandenbergh. 



Bacteria and Disease. — Professor Ray Lank ester, 

 F.R.S., in the admirable address he delivered as 

 President of the biological section, spoke on this 

 subject as follows : — The amount of death, not to 

 speak of the suffering short of death, which the 

 knowledge of bacteria gained by the microscope has 

 averted is incalculable. Yet, further, the discoveries 

 of Ehrenberg, Schwann, and Pasteur are bearing 

 fruit of a singular kind in other directions. It seems 

 in the highest degree probable that the terrible 

 scourge known as tubercular consumption or phthisis 

 is due to a parasitic bacterium (bacillus), discovered 

 two years since by Koch of Berlin, as the immediate 

 result of investigations which he was commissioned 

 to carry on at the public expense in the specially 

 erected Laboratory of Public Health by the German 

 Imperial Government. The diseases known as 

 erysipelas and glanders, &c, have similarly, 

 within the past few months, in German State sup- 

 ported laboratories, been shown to be due to the 

 attacks of special kinds of bacteria. At present this 

 knowledge has not led to a successful method of 

 combating those diseases, but we can hardly doubt 

 that it will ultimately do so. We are warranted in 

 this belief by the fact that the disease, known as 

 "splenic fever " in cattle and " malignant pustule " 

 or anthrax in man, has likewise been shown to be due 

 to the action of a special kind of bacterium, and that 

 this knowledge has, in the hands of MM. Toussaint 

 and Pasteur, led to a treatment in relation to this 



