POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



839 



on a white ground ; the eye is thus in pres- 

 ence of the most absolute contrast which 

 can be imagined. The third peculiarity lies 

 in the arrangement of the characters in 

 horizontal lines, over which we run our 

 eyes. If, during reading, we maintain a per- 

 fect immobility of the book and the head, 

 the printed lines are applied successively 

 to the same part of the retina, while the 

 interspaces, more bright, also affect certain 

 regions of the retina, always the same : the 

 result is fatigue. Last and most important 

 of all, in M. Javel's estimation, is the con- 

 tinual variation of the distance of the eye 

 from the book. The accommodation of the 

 eye to the page undergoes a distinct varia- 

 tion in proportion as the eye passes from 

 the beginning to the end of each line ; and 

 this variation is all the greater in propor- 

 tion to the nearness of the book to the eye, 

 and the length of the line. In order to 

 avoid these injurious effects, M. Javel ad- 

 vises frequent intermissions during reading. 

 To reduce the contrast between the white 

 of the paper and the black of the charac- 

 ters, M. Javel recommends the adoption of a 

 slightly yellow tint of paper. His third sug- 

 gestion is to give preference to small volumes 

 which can be held in the hand, which ob- 

 viates the necessity of the book being kept 

 fixed in one place, and lessens the fatigue 

 resulting from accidental images. Lastly, 

 M. Javel advises the avoidance of too long 

 lines, and therefore he prefers small volumes, 

 and for the same reason those journals which 

 are printed in narrow columns. Of course, 

 every one knows that it is exceedingly inju- 

 rious to read with insufficient light, or to 

 use too small print. 



An Insect Ragman. — A correspondent of 

 " Hardwicke's Science Gossip " tells of a very 

 curious discovery he made last summer at 

 Bellosguardo near Florence, viz., a veritable 

 insect ragman. Having noticed what he at 

 first took to be a little nest of spiders' eggs 

 blown along a window-sill, he was led to ex- 

 amine it more closely, and found it to be a 

 rather untidy, fluffy ball, about the size of a 

 large pea ; further, that it was moving along 

 of its own accord, stopping now and then 

 for a second, and again resuming its journey. 

 It was soon discovered that the ball of fluff 

 W.1S borne on the back of a little insect 



somewhat resembling the larva of the der- 

 mesies, and that the mass was composed of 

 cobweb held on the creature's back by being 

 twisted about in and out among the long 

 hairs on the upper surface of the body. The 

 insect was about one quarter of an inch in 

 length, and bore on its head a pair of forceps 

 about the size of those borne by the common 

 earwig, but its purpose was very different, 

 " for to my amazement," says the author, " I 

 noticed that, each time the creature paused, 

 it was to pick up, with these forceps, some 

 dead ant or portion of a dead insect ; and 

 these fragments were picked up so deftly, 

 and in so droll a way did the creature turn 

 its head round and carefully arrange his 

 treasure on his pack, that I was forcibly re- 

 minded of the chiffonniers in France and 

 Italy, with their hook and their basket, and 

 of the ' ole clo' ' and his pack in England. . . . 

 For more than two days I kept it in a small 

 glass-lidded box, supplied it with ' ole clo',' 

 and watched it constantly collecting and 

 packing ; but I never saw it feed, and one 

 morning I found that a large ant I had sup- 

 posed to be dead had attacked and eaten 

 the creature, scattering the fluffy pack and 

 its contents all over the box." Some weeks 

 after this the author received a note from 

 a friend at Vevey, who from the descrip- 

 tion recognized the " chiffonnier," two of 

 which, she says, " came toward me, on the 

 table in the garden where I was seated 

 reading, collecting and packing as you have 

 described." From a friend at Bellosguardo 

 he also, on his return to England, received 

 an account of one she had found, and of 

 which she thus writes : " I had half a mind 

 to send you one of those scavenger or ' ole 

 clo' ' insects ; but could not arrange any- 

 thing that would insure its arriving alive. 

 The pack on his back is much less choice 

 than the others, consisting of parts of the 

 bodies of dead flies, spiders' cobwebs, etc., 

 while he himself is much smaller. I feel 

 quite sure it is his food he collects, because 

 the first night I put him under a tumbler he 

 ate the wings of his fly, the only ornamental 

 article in his collection. He is exceedingly 

 fond of sugar — has eaten, I am sure, twice 

 his weight — and has just added two small 

 dead ants to his load, under which he stag- 

 gers visibly. His pack is held on by long, 

 projecting hairs, and likewise secured and 

 strengthened by cobwebs." 



