

Nov. 10, 1870] 
Tested thus broadly and philosophically, the meteoric bom- 
_ bardment hypothesis appears in its true colours as a monstrous 
physical absurdity. It assumes a perpetual flow of solid masses 
converging continuously from everywhere towards everywhere ; 
the time which these meteoric masses would occupy in travelling 
the semi-distance between the neighbouring suns. 
_ hypothesis, become a sterile vacuum, all the lights of heaven 
- must go out, eternal darkness must rest upon the face of the 
deep, and everlasting death pervade the universe. 
W. MATrigev WILLIAMS 

The Cockroach 
I HAVE only to-day noticed the Rev. C. J. Robinson’s letter on 
this subject in your issue of the 29th Sept. A friend of mine, 
whom I have known all my life, who occupied an important 
trust as Bank Manager in India last year, and who is at present 
home on sick leave, assures me that Dr. Norman Macleod is 
wrong when he denies the nail-nibbling propensities of the cock- 
roach. My friend had been in Kurachee for some time, and on 
his journey from that town to Bombay by sea he was annoyed 
one night in his berth by some insect crawling over his face ; 
half asleep and half awake he put up his hand to his face and 
sent the insect to the foot of his berth. Shortly after he was 
awoke by a pain at his great toe, and on looking at it he dis- 
covered that a cockroach had nibbled off all the nail down te 
_ the quick. JaMeEs DuRIE 
Aberystwith, Oct. 8 

> 

Were Cockroaches known to the Ancient Greeks and 
Romans ? 
Your correspondent, Rey. C. J. Robinson, drew attention in 
_ your columns (NaTuRE, Sept. 29) to the question whether these 
troublesome insects were known to the Ancient Greeks and 
Romans; he says, ‘‘ there is a good deal to lead one to suppose 
that the zvAaxpls mentioned by Aristotle, and the A/atta pistri- 
norum of Latin writers was the same as our loathsome pest.” 
I think Mr. Robinson is mistaken in supposing that the pudaxpls 
is mentioned by Aristotle, at least I can find no mention made 
of this insect in the writings of the Stagirite. The word 
_ pudapls, meaning some kind of insect, occurs in the fragments 
of Aristophanes preserved by Pollux, who amongst other mean- 
ings of the term gives the following one :— (@éy 7 ev Te wvAwML 
ywéuevov, and then quotes this couplet from Aristophanes, 
“Iva tuvaow Srep Hdecbov Blo, 
Bxowrncas écOiovres, wal wvdaxpldas. 
“where they may partake of the food of which they are fond, 
eating worms and mylocrides.” It would not be possible to say 
_ what the pvdaxpls here denotes, but from the creature being often 
produced in mills, it may possibly mean a ‘* Cockroach,” thoes 
a‘*meal-worm” (z¢., the larva of the beetle, Zezebrio mudtivor) 
would suit equally well. The Greeks, however, had a word which 
may well represent the Cockroach, thoughit is even here impossible 
_ to speak with certainty. The word, ofApy, it is probable de- 
notes this insect. Aristotle (Hist. Anim. viii. 19. § 4) uses the 
word once ; he enumerates the s#/pe amongst insects which cast 
their skins. The Scholiast in the ‘‘Peace” of Aristophanes 
_ Says the si/phe is an ill-smelling insect (Svew5yos). Aetius (8. 33.) 
" Speaks of ‘‘the fat of the stinking s/phe which inhabits houses.” 
The epigrammatist Evenus (Analect, i. p. 167) speaks of the 
silphe of the booksellers’ shops, and applies to it the epithets, 
page eating (ceA5npdyos), destructive (AwByTeIpa), black-bodied 
{peravdxpws).” Lucian speaks of the mere book collectot as 
_ providing pastime for mice and habitations for s#/pXe, and cuffs 
his slaves for not keeping the mice and si/phe away. (Advers. 
Indoct, iii. 114, Ed. Hemsterhus). The Scholiast here gives a 
- description of the si/phe which Schneider with some reason refers 
to some kind of Z:pisma. lian (H. A. i. 37) says that the 
Silphe infest swailows’ nests ; these cannot be cockroaches. Galen 
and Paulus Aegineta apply the epithet, Bdéovem, to the si/phai. 
Dioscorides (ii. 38) says that the inside of the s7//ie found in 
_ bake-houses when pounded with oil is good for pains in the ear. 
This leads me to the 4/ata of the Romans. ‘‘On pulling off,” 
Says Pliny, “the head of a d/aéa it gives forth a greasy sub- 
_ Stance, which, beaten up with oil of roses, is said to be wonder- 


t These little | 
journeys ended, the interstellar space must, according to this | 
NATURE 
or otherwise a state of things which could only endure through | 


27 
fully good for affectiéns of the ears.” He speaks of the disgusting 
nature of this insect. one kind of which is known by the name of 
Myloecon, and found in mills (Nat. Hist. xxix. 39). In afiother 
place (xi. 34) Pliny says, ‘‘It is the naturé of the d/a/fa to seek 
dark corners and to avoid the light ; théy aré very often found 
in baths.” According to Virgil, ‘‘the light-avoiding diate” 
find their way into bee-hives (Geor. iv. 243). Horace (Sat. 
ii. 3, 119) ridicules an old miser for Sleeping on stra and 
leaving his bed clothes in his chest, the food of dblatte and 
tinee, ‘* Blattarum ac tinearum Epule#.” Martial (Lib. iv. 
Ep. 37.) saysunless his books aré well put together they 
become the prey of “zee and dlatte, 
Constrictos nisi das mihi libellos 
Admittam tineas trucesque blattas. 
From the above passages it will be seen that the J/a/fa was a 
destructive insect to clothes, books, &c., that it avoided the light, 
and was fond of warm places, that it frequented mills and ex- 
uded a greasy substance from its head, that it was a disgusting 
creature (probably in allusion to the smell) all of which par- 
ticulars are true of cockroaches, and as there are many species 
of the family, and are widely distributed over all parts of the 
globe and must have been known to the ancients, I think there 
is good reason for concluding that the cockroach was known to 
the Greeks by the name of cfAgy, and to the Romans by that of 
blatat. W. HoucGHTon 


The Aurora Borealis 
I sHALL be obliged if you will put on record a few scattered 
notes which I took of the splendid Aurora Borealis of October 
25, seen from Arthingworth, Northamptonshire. When I first 
observed itat half-past five P.M., a crimson glow extended in an 
irregular band from N.N.E. to W., most prominent at about 
20° to 30° above the horizon. This increased in height and 
breadth until it nearly reached a point S.W. of the zenith, and 
about 15° W.N.W. of the star Vega. At this time the northern 
part of the sky was perfectly free from aurora ; gradually that part 
and the whole dome of the heavens, with the exception of a 
section from W. to nearly S., became filled with luminous 
streamers, These, for about 20° on each side of N., were white, 
the others crimson striped with white or rather greenish light, 
but the green I believe to be an effect of contrast, as where 
similar streamers were distant from the red light they were 
white. 
The white or green steamers appeared to eclipse the red light, 
they changed their size, shape, and position, while the red con- 
tinued comparatively unchanged. There were also dark streamers 
which, at first, I believed to be mere spaces without light, and 
to be caused by the darkness beyond, but I became ultimately 
convinced (as far as one could be convinced by appearances so 
subject to illusion) that they formed a part of the phenomenon 
itself. These streamers or long brushes could be seen beyond 
and clear of the luminous portion of thé aurora, leaving the normal 
light of the sky between them and it, and hanging like long 
horse-tails, or like the fringes of rain seen on the edges of a 
distant rain cloud ; changing their shape and position just as the 
luminous streamers are seen to do, 
The most remarkable part of the phenomenon, however, was 
the circle of. sky, or what may be called the pole of the aurora, 
to which the streamers converged. It appeared to embrace 
about from 7° to 10° of space. ‘To an ordinary observer it might 
have appeared occasionally to shift its position to some extent, 
but, as far as I could judge during an hour’s observations, this 
was not really the case, flickerings at times covered portions of 
it, and at other times the whole became faintly luminous ; but 
by marking its position with reference to some small stars, this 
seemed to me to be unaltered. Most singular were the termi- 
nations of the streamers they culminated at this circle, not being 
undefined or gradually evanescent, but having angular tips fur 
brighter than the portions immediately beneath, the nearest 
illustration to which I can give is an inverted fish-tail or bats- 
wing gas burner, except that this gives a feeble light at the 
point, while the aurora tips were whitest and brightest there, 
the streamers now fading off, and now becoming brighter and 
tinged with redas they got to 40° or 50° from the horizon ; the tips 
varied constantly, but preserved the mean distance from the pole 
or focus of the aurora. The position of this was, as far as 1 
could ascertain without star maps or instruments for observation, 
about 15° W.N.W. of Veya. The convergence of the beams 
was not in appearance conical, but dome or cupola shaped s this 
was, however, in all probability an optical illusion, Whether 
