CORRESPONDENCE. 109 



largest crocodile ever brought alive to this country;' was killed by some 

 one thrusting a stick into its eye, and last week seals were poisoned by 

 fusees thrown into their pond, and one is dead. All this has happened 

 at the Westminster Aquariuin within the last three months, and it 

 makes it heartless work when one has to contend against so manj' diffi- 

 culties. Cook, who brought over the white whale, left on the 14th for 

 Labrador in quest of others, and may be expected with his treasures in 

 due time. — The Entomological exhibition was a wonderful success, as it 

 deserved to be, since it was the largest and most complete ever held in 

 this countiy. With 900 cases, repetitions wei-e a matter of coui-se, but 

 there were great rarities, including an unnamed one from the Himalayas, 

 Tory like P. Faris, but, if possible, handsomer; Lord Walsingham's 

 exhibit was the most interesting, and I commend it for imitation to all 

 true lovers of entomologj' ; not only was the perfect insect there, but the 

 caterpillar and pupse illustrated its progress ; and beautiful models of the 

 leaves on which it fed, made of wax paper so admirably as to truly 

 simulate nature, completed the life history, while all were prepared by 

 his lordship himself, who has contrived to invest the caterpillars with 

 most life-like and characteristic attitudes. These are prepared by first 

 kilUng with chloroform or ether, (not in the cyanide bottle, which 

 destroys the coloui',) then making a small perforation near the anus 

 with fine scissors, and roUing with a cedar pencil on blotting paper till 

 the contents are extruded. A blow pipe is next inserted into the slit, 

 and the animal then gently inflated to its natui'al size, when it is dried 

 on a hot plate or in forceps over a spmt lamp, and the thing is done. 

 It requires skill, and some early failures may be anticipp^ted, but the art 

 is soon acquired, and well repays the trouble. Camberwell Beaiities 

 and Piu'ple Emperors, were common enough ; and one exhibitor had 

 nearly 7,000 Coleoptera, the work of forty years' collection, at sight of 

 which, I, as a semi-scientific " flaneur," felt (and I hope many more like 

 myself did too) ashamed of my lazy life. There was, too, evidence of the 

 progressive advance of artistic taste among the people, in fifty really 

 exquisite drawings of insects and flowers by a poor working man who 

 had never had a lesson, and whose painting was done by candle light, 

 after work hours. All honoiu* to him. Your old associate, Mr. F. 

 Enock, was there with his microscopic objects, which are obtaining a 

 ■well-deserved celebi'itj' ; his latest success being entire insects mounted 

 without compression ; these seen by dark ground illumination are as 

 beautiful as they are instructive. — Let those who keep monkeys beware 

 of overfeeding. Generally the animals die of lung disease, and there- 

 fore fat-forming and heat-producing foods are most suitable, but corn 

 flour and sugared milk have just killed the most intelligent Chimpanzee 

 I ever knew, and the jwst mortem, made by Professor Seeley, showed he 

 was loaded with fat, expecially about the heart, which failed in con- 

 sequence. — W. J. S. 



^Icaiiincis. 



" On the Detection of Toxic Matter connected with T3"phoid and 

 other Enteric Diseases " is the title of a paper read at a recent meeting of 

 the Microscopical Society by Dr. Bartlett. In the course of it he gave an 

 account of his attempts to trace to its ultimate soui'ce the cause of a 

 recent outbreak of t^-phoid fever, and showed that whilst chemical 

 analysis had failed to discover any impurity either in the water or milk, 

 he had been able, by means of microscopical examination, to detect in 

 the water certain bodies, presumably of a fungoid character, which were 

 identical with those found in the bowels of persons who had succumbed 

 to the disease. 



