BY W. MAC'LEAY, F.L.S. 2C5 



the fly lives in horse dung. Tlie bite of this fly is, as stated by 

 Mr. Layard, intensely sharp and stinging, but I have never 

 known any bad effects to follow. I think it very likely that the 

 fatal cases mentioned by Mr. Layard were not due at all to tJio 

 instrumentality of this fly, but to some of the many Mmcidce, 

 who are peculiarly attracted by dead bodies. 



The case of the butcher in Noumea, is evidently one of 

 malignant pustule, caused by a fly settling on a spot where the 

 skin was slightly abraded, after feasting upon the carcase of an 

 animal, not in a putrid state, for that would Tdo comparatively 

 innocuous, but freshly dead from " Charbon," ''Anthrax'' 

 '' Splenic Fever," or " Cumberland Disease," — all names for one 

 and the same disease. Under the last name the disease is well 

 known in New South Wales, and many fatal cases of malignant 

 pustule in human beings have occurred from time to time from 

 it, and I believe in all or nearly all of them the disease was 

 traced to flies carrying the poison from dead cattle. The 

 Government of New Caledonia, in their praiseworthy efforts to 

 prevent the spread of infection as mentioned in Mr. Layard' s 

 letter, erred seriously in allowing the option of burying or 

 burning the dead cattle. There is no safety except in burning. 

 Bacillus anthracis, the organism which is the cause of the 

 disease, is most tenacious of life ; it has been known to retain its 

 vitality in dried bones and skins for years, and M. Pasteur has 

 lately proved that even where a carcase has been buried to a 

 depth of 12 feet, the Bacilli y^viW in course of years find their 

 way to the surface in the bodies of earth worms, and that they 

 are then as capable as ever of propagating the disease. 



NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



Mr. Brazier exhibited Part 4 of the French Journal of 

 Conchology for 1881, with Plate 12 showing a splendid figure of 



