6o INSECT LIFE 



IV 



some hours to several days after the murder, and 

 always with the same success ; only movement is 

 tardy in appearing in proportion as the date of the 

 victim's death is distant. The movements are 

 always from the forepart backward. First, the 

 antennae move, then the front tarsi tremble and 

 share in the oscillations ; next, the second pair do 

 the same ; and finally, the third. Once movement 

 is excited, all these members oscillate without any 

 order until all become again motionless, as they do 

 sooner or later. Unless death has been quite recent, 

 movement does not go beyond the tarsi, and the 

 legs remain motionless. 



Ten days after the murder I could not obtain the 

 least sign of irritability by the proceeding described, 

 and I had recourse to the Voltaic battery. This is 

 more effective, and provokes muscular contractions 

 where the vapour of benzine fails. One or two 

 elements of Bunsen suffice, which are armed with 

 the rheophores of slender needles. Plunging the 

 point of the one under the furthest ring of the 

 abdomen, and the point ot the other under the 

 neck, you obtain each time that the current is 

 established, not only the quivering of the tarsi, but a 

 strong flexion of the feet, which fold themselves 

 under the body, and relax when the current is in- 

 terrupted. These movements, very energetic during 

 the first days, gradually lose intensity, and after a 

 certain time appear no more. On the tenth day I 

 have still been able to obtain visible motions, but 

 on the fifteenth the pile was unable to provoke 

 them, notwithstanding the suppleness of the limbs 

 and freshness of the viscera. I have submitted also 



