Bibliograjjhical Notices. 303 



inflicted by certain animals, though in reality only a small minority 

 can be so explained. He points out a strong analogy between me- 

 diaeval tarantism and the dancing manias which have visited several 

 parts of Europe at different periods ; and he considers it very pro- 

 bable that a similar epidemic developed itself independently in Italy, 

 and that only superstition ascribed it to the various kinds of " ta- 

 rantola." But Dr. Bergsoe does not think that this explanation 

 exhausts the question. He is of opinion that a very large part of 

 these phenomena are to be ascribed to a kind of local fever generated 

 by the highly unhealthy exhalations from the soil of Apulia, and 

 that the subjects of this kind of taranlism (which stUl occurs not 

 unfrequently in Apulia) were simply the victims of malaria. This 

 view of the matter explains why tarantism was so rare out of Apuha, 

 although tarantidas occur in most parts of Italy, — a circumstance 

 which has not failed to puzzle the ancient writers on the subject, 

 and led them into various unreasonable hypotheses — for instance, 

 that the animals lost their venomous properties by removal from 

 their native soil. Finally, the undoubted poisonous properties of 

 the wounds inflicted by some of the various (sometimes, however, 

 quite harmless) animals comprised under the popular name of" taran- 

 tula" (particularly by theweU-known spider of that name, by scorpions, 

 pi'obably also by Scolopendras), may account for some of the lighter 

 cases of tarantism ; but it is only want of hygienic knowledge com- 

 bined with the instinctive dread, common with uneducated people, of 

 small, strangely shaped, creeping animals, which has caused so many 

 difierent phenomena of disease to be ascribed to their agency. Dr. 

 Bergsoe gives an interesting account of the habits of life of the true 

 Tarantula, which certainly does not favoiu- the idea of its coming 

 easily in contact with men ; and he mentions several hitherto over- 

 looked peculiarities of structure, of which we note the existence of 

 special provisions for facilitating the carrying of the young on the 

 back of their mother. Not only are the claws and their five teeth 

 va. the young proportionally very long and sharp, but the hairs form- 

 ing the felt-like covering on the back of the female Tarantula are 

 specially constructed for the purpose, consisting as they do of a 

 basal bulb, a short smooth stem, surmounted by a much longer part 

 covered with stiff spinules or bristles pointing upwards, and termi- 

 nating in a very minute rounded head or button. The hairs on the 

 legs present a similar structure, but are much softer and without the 

 terminal button ; but the long stiff hairs interspersed with the felt 

 on the back are quite plain ; nor is this complicated structure observed 

 in the hairy covering of the male. 



Phllichthys XipMce, Steenstr., was first discovered by the late 

 Prof. Eschricht on the head of a XipMas gladius, L., and briefly 

 described by Prof. Steenstrup, who also drew attention to the pro- 

 bability of its frequent occurrence as a parasite of that fish, in cer- 

 tain cavities connected with the muciparous canals on the head. 

 He was, however, unable to assign it a place in the zoological sys- 

 tem, on account of its extraordinarily deformed appearance, which led 

 him to suggest that it mi":ht belong to the class of Annelida. This 



