24 



PSrCHE. 



(January — February iSSd. 



catcher, causing some amount ot' amusement 

 to all except the contractor, who was com- 

 pelled to pumice-stone their corpses off to 

 make the place presentable. 



Fungi parasitic on insects. — The Jour, 

 nal of mycology for March iS86 contains a 

 brief sketch of the life of Lewis David von 

 Schweinitz, based on a sketch read before 

 the Academy of natural sciences of Phila- 

 delphia, 12 May 1835, by R. Walter Johnson. 

 Schweinitz was a Pennsylvanian botanist, 

 who was born in 1780 and died in 1834. 

 Amongst other systematic work on crypto- 

 gams he published descriptions of the fimgi 

 parasitic on insects, his being the first 

 described species of these fungi from America. 

 The same numero of the your nal contains 

 the beginning of a "Synopsis of the North 

 American kypocreaceae. with descriptions of 

 the species," by J. B. Ellis and B. M. Ever- 

 hart. This family of fungi includes the 

 genus Cordyce.jbs^ some of the species of 

 which are parasitic on insects, causing the 

 phenomena known as "vegetating larvae." 



Insects as authors of epidemics. — Dr. 

 R. L. Maddox, in a paper read before the 

 Royal microscopical society, details the 

 results of further experiments in feeding 

 insects, especially the common blow-fly, on 

 the comma bacillus. His observations 

 include a large number of microscopical 

 determinations. The results of all his inves- 

 tigations lead him to believe that the comma 

 bacillus from cultures can pass in a living 

 state through the digestive tubes of some 

 insects, and, through this fact, that such 

 insects are likely to become an important 

 means of distributing disease, especially to 

 animals that feed upon them. This is in 

 accordance with the views of Dr. Grossi, that 

 "insects, especially flies, may be considered 

 as veritable authors of epidemics and agents 

 in infectious maladies." — Set. afiiert'can, 

 rSDec, 1886. 



Migration of insects. — A proposition 

 has been made in Ceiyon for the systematic 

 observation of the singular migration of 

 butterflies in that island. Despite occasional 

 references in the local press, nothing has yet 

 been done towards compiling and editing a 

 scientific and compi-ehensive record of annual 

 observations. It is proposed, therefore, that 

 volunteers should watch for the migration, 

 and send a post-card bulletin to the editor of 

 records, noticing date, direction of flight, 

 direction of wind, the weather, and the 

 species. For the last purpose, amateur ob- 

 servers are to send one specimen of each 

 species noticed, in order to ensure scientific 

 accuracy. A competent naturalist is stated 

 to have ofliered to revise, assort, and edit all 

 such notices once or twice a 3'ear, and publish 

 a periodical report of progress. The annual 

 summary will appear in the 'Taprobanian 

 magazine.' — E>itoinoloffist,Mzi.\ 1886, v. 19 

 p. 140. 



Another nuisance. — A copy of T/ie 

 uisecf jvorld, a popular paper published b\' 

 its editoi-. Noble M. Eberhart, at Chicago 

 Lawn. 111., has come to our notice. Like a 

 number of journals purporting to deal popu- 

 larly with scientific subjects, this one abounds 

 with tj'pographical errors and careless state- 

 ments, but, as if to atone for other short- 

 comings, it has departments devoted to 

 geology and mineralogy, ornithology, and 

 archaeology. The journal is a monthly, of 

 inconvenient form (31X22 cm.), and fills no 

 want in scientific literature. The following 

 quotation from a paper by the editor, entitled, 

 "Among the insects" will sufficiently show 

 the scientific and literary value of this new 

 entomological journal. 



"FoRFicuLiDAE. — This family contains the 

 Earwigs. Common superstition is that they 

 enter the human ears ; but this is absurd, as 

 the excretions of the ear would kill the insect." 



How long since was the ear discovered to 

 be an excretory organ .'' G: D. 



