May 19, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



539 



pathways may exist which are never normally 

 traversed. 



Only one explanation of the restoration of 

 function is offered in the article under con- 

 sideration, i. e., that the subcortical arcs are 

 the more primitive and are sufficiently retained 

 in adult pigeons after decerebration to make 

 possible the carrying out of normal drinking 

 reactions. 



Another explanation is also possible. Many 

 writers have claimed that certain habits, aris- 

 ing in the fi'rst instance through activities 

 involving the cortex, later are passed on com- 

 pletely to subcortical centers. As Herriek^ 

 points out, these acquired automatisms may 

 so closely resemble inherited reflexes as to be 

 indistinguishable in the absence of the history 

 of their development. If it is here assumed 

 that the drinking reaction established during 

 the life of the pigeon is transferred in large 

 part to subcortical structures, its retention 

 after decerebration would seem to be expected, 

 while in the case of the chick, decerebrated be- 

 fore such reactions were built up, no such ap- 

 pearance could be looked for. It might also 

 be argued that the feeding reaction, being more 

 complicated, was not so completely transferred 

 from the cortical region as to be effective after 

 decerebration. 



That such an assumption may be justified is 

 indicated by the work of Franz and Lashley*, 

 who found from numerous careful experiments 

 witli white rats that extensive cortical lesions 

 did not usually affect the retention of most 

 habits due to previous training, nor did they 

 prevent the formation of new habits. The 

 authors also report that in the cat and monkey 

 where the frontal portion of the cortex is 

 normally utilized in the formation of certain 

 habits, these habits, if long practiced, are still 

 carried out in the ordinary way after the abla- 

 tion of the frontal cortex. This work as well 

 as- its continuation by Lashley^ clearly shows 

 that the classical picture of the decerebrate 

 animal is in large measure erroneous and must 

 be carefully revised and with it the entire con- 

 ception of the physiology of the central nerv- 



3 Introduction to Neurology, 2d ed., p. 336. 



•4 Psychohiology, Vol. 1, p. 71, 1917. 



= Psychobiology, Vol. 2, p. .55, 1920. 



ous system. Any contribution to this promis- 

 ing and important field is to be welcomed. 

 Frank W. Weymouth 



Stanford University, 

 California 



THE BITE OF LACTRODECTUS MACTANS 

 In Science for January 13, F. R. Welsh 

 writes on ''Poisonous Spiders." In regard to 

 the "Black Widow," Lactrodectus mactans, he 

 quotes Dr. McCook as of the opinion that the 

 bite of this spider is "in most instances of small 

 consequence." During the past two years the 

 writer has had called to his attention four eases 

 of attacks by this spider on human beings. 

 These were all reported by practising physicians 

 who sent in the spiders for identification. All 

 four cases were those of men who were bitten 

 on the penis while using outside closets. In 

 every ease the results were of a very serious 

 nature. The patients suffered intense pain ac- 

 companied by severe abdominal disturbances, 

 convulsions and delii-ium. In one case the ab- 

 dominal pain was so intense and pronounced 

 that the patient who had been sent to a hos- 

 pital in a distant city was, upon arrival, 

 promptly operated upon for appendicitis. The 

 severe symptoms lasted from twenty-four 

 hours in one man to over a week in the case of 

 another. In a third case the physician reported 

 four days after the patient had been bitten 

 that he was "not yet out of danger." However 

 all ultimately recovered. Two of these men 

 were bitten the same day in the same closet 

 and presumably by the same spider, indicating 

 that the spider does not exhaust her venom by 

 one bite. 



These experiences would indicate that the 

 Ijite of this species, at least when administered 

 in a tender, part of the body, is vei-y serious, 

 exceedingly painful, and even dangerous. 



J. E. Watson 

 University of Florida 



WATER-IMMERSION OBJECTIVES 



I WISH to call the attention of those biologists 

 who use the microscope to the value of the 

 much neglected water-immersion objective. Its 

 inferiority to the oil-immersion in the matter 

 of numerical aperture, and consequently iu 

 power of resolution, has led. many iiiicroseop- 



