1896. NOTES AND COMMENTS. 159 



waste of animal life would continually add to the fertility of all soils, 

 the gain being ultimately at the expense of the sea and the air. 



He placed our actual modern use of sewage in strong contrast to 

 what ought to be done with it. In the first place, he regards the 

 modern system of water drains as in the wrong direction. The 

 sewage is led below the humus " to the wrong side of the natural 

 cleansing filter," and there it gradually poisons the wells and under- 

 ground water-supply, while it is wasted from the agricultural point of 

 view. He regards the elaborate drainage systems of modern 

 suburban districts as a positive danger, and as a great waste of 

 money. 



We are prepared to agree with him that in thinly populated 

 areas, the expense of elaborate water-supply and of elaborate main 

 drainage systems is by no means necessarily a financial success, or a 

 gain from the point of view of public health. But it is more difficult 

 to agree that the possibilit}' of water-drainage systems has produced 

 the modern huge blocks and crowding of population. The ordinary 

 conditions of modern life make it almost a necessity that people should 

 live as near as may be to the centre of populous areas, and modern 

 drainage is a mitigation rather than a cause of this concentration. 

 The shortening of hours of labour, the establishment of means of 

 communication between the centre and the suburbs at a cost which 

 shall not be too large a tax by land owners upon wages, are the chief 

 means which may be looked to for decreasing condensation of 

 population, and for making possible a direct return to the soil of 

 organic waste. On the other hand we cannot agree that the organic 

 matter swept down the rivers to the sea is by any means a complete 

 waste of capital. It is a well-known fact that the fisheries round the 

 coasts are more valuable than the agricultural produce of our soil. 

 The closest connection exists between sewage and fish. Where foul 

 rivers actually roll into the sea animal life is not abundant, but as 

 soon as the water laden with organic matter is diluted sufficiently by 

 sea-water, a new circulation of organic matter begins. The prolific 

 fisheries of the Dogger-bank, and of the region out from Grimsby are 

 related to the sewage of the Thames. The rich fisheries of the 

 Cornish coast return to England the organic waste discharged from 

 the Bristol Channel, while the fisheries of the west coast and its 

 lochs owe their origin to the Clyde, that " foulest sewer of Europe." 



The Courtship of Grasshoppers. 



The shrill note of the grasshopper is a familiar sound to the 

 holiday-maker in the Alpine pastures. Professor E. B. Poulton has 

 recently {Tvans. Ent. Soc. Loud. i8g6, pp. 233-252) given a most in- 

 teresting account of his observations of the habits of these creatures 

 in Switzerland, with the object of elucidating the relation between 

 stridulation and courtship. He narrates his observations in detail and 



