400 Miscellaneous. 



The repeated movements of the inferior region of the proboscis 

 quickl)'^ produce such a pressure in the anterior part that it is soon 

 projected. Compressed at the same moment by the muscles of the 

 canal just mentioned, the bulb becomes terminal ;.and we notice the 

 jerking-movements of the style at the same time that a granular 

 liquid flows through an aperture situated near its point. 



The movements which act in the projection of the proboscis serve 

 equally to accumulate the liquid of the glandular region at the 

 entrance of the poison-sac. The muscles which surround this sac 

 contract in such a way that the anterior region seems to approach 

 the posterior region. The same mechanism is produced in the bulb. 

 It is this combination of movements that causes the issue of the 

 point of the style at the same time as the flow of poison. As soon 

 as the poison -sac has allowed a certain quantity of liquid to escape, 

 this is immediately replaced by that contained in the glandular 

 region. 



The return of the proboscis is eff'ected by the inverse contraction 

 of the muscles of the canal and protractile region. These observa- 

 tions justify us in regarding the muscular region as the principal 

 motor of the proboscis. — Comptes Rendus, April 14, 1873, tome 

 Ixxvi. pp. 966-969. 



French Measures. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. 



French measure is being used by several scientiflc writers, being 

 chiefly introduced by translators of French elementary books, 

 who are too idle to reduce the French to the relative English measures; 

 for there can be no doubt of the greater convenience of the English 

 foot, inch, and line, being adapted to the different sizes of the things 

 wished to be measured. Few people but can tell you what is a 

 foot and what is an inch, and give a close approximation to the size 

 in feet and inches of any thing you show to them ; but I have never 

 found a person using a French measure who could tell you the size 

 of 190 millimetres, though he could tell what was the length of 7| 

 inches, which is within a very little of the same thing. 



It may be of some advantage to give such persons an idea of a 

 size mentioned to be informed that a decimetre, or 100 millimetres, 

 is about the usual length of a man's fore finger, from the tip of the 

 nail to the back of the knuckle when the finger is bent down, and 

 that the first joint of the finger when bent down is as nearly as 

 possible 25 millimetres, or a fourth part. 



I challenged a well-known physiologist who has long used 

 French measure to give me his idea of the measure of certain things 

 lying before him ; and he declined to guess, and was surprised at the 

 accuracy with which I could guess them by this simple means. The 

 decimetre is as nearly as possible 4 inches, which is the usual length 

 of the fore finger ; and the first joint, as nearly as possible a quarter 

 the length of the fore finger, an inch or 25 millimetres long. 



