102 



scwisrcE. 



LVoL. VIII , No. 182 



initial pressure. The use of a fan-wheel may be ap- 

 plicable. , . .1 -J 

 Although here, in and about this circle in tlie said 

 map, no paying oil-well has been stnack, nor does 

 any great ' gas-gusher ' ' blow,' yet good oil-sands, 

 saturated with petroleum, are found, and a gas-belt 

 is developed of most remarkable persistency and 

 continuance; and the separated and scattered wells 

 demonstrate a territory in which good paying oil and 

 gas wells are liable anywhere to be struck. This terri- 

 tory embraces about the highest lands above Lake 

 Erie, in the state of Ohio. This region gives proof of 

 an abundance of gas for ages to come, for the supply 

 of the surrounding manufacturing towns for light 

 and heat. 



The location of ' NefE's gas-wells ' is in the eastern 

 part of Knox and the western part of Coshocton 

 counties, 0. Peter Neff. 



Gambler, Knox county, O., July 15. 



A remarkable swarm of Sciara. 



In Psyche for September, 1880, Dr. Hagen, in dis- 

 cussing a swarming species of Sciara from South 

 Carolina, made the statement, based upon Weyen- 

 bergh's list of swarms of Diptera (Tijdskrift v. 

 entom. 1861), that the swarming of Sciara is new. 

 In the American naturalist for February, 1881, 

 Professor Riley states that he has frequently ob- 

 served them in swarms so dense as to appear at a 

 short distance like smoke, and quotes a letter from 

 Dr. S. S. Rathvon concerning the swarming of a 

 species of this genus in the upper room of a building 

 in Bethlehem, Penn., where they were observed to 

 issue between the floor-boards. These records in- 

 dicate that some interest will attach to the following 

 facts : — 



Tuesday evening. July 20, I was sitting in my 

 library of the second floor, when I became conscious 

 of a humming noise, as of a distant army of flies. 

 The noise gradually increased for nearly half an 

 hour, when I went to the window to investigate. 

 Outside I heard only the customary night noises ; 

 but, as I drew my head in, I saw that the ceiling of 

 the library was covered with tens of thousands of 

 minute midges of the genus Sciara. Except immedi- 

 ately above the lamp, the white ceiling was tinted 

 brown with them. They made no attempt to reach 

 the light, but clung to the ceiling around the edges 

 of the room, extending down on the walls for sev- 

 eral inches, and massed a dozen or more deep in the 

 angles. All were in constant motion, and the noise 

 was loud enough to drown the sounds of the crickets 

 and tree-toads outside. The sound, as a whole, was 

 a distinct musical note, varying but a fraction of a 

 whole tone, and corresponded, as nearly as I could 

 place it, with E flat above middle C. The number 

 was beyond compute I at once closed the windows, 

 and in ten minutes they became almost opaque from 

 the numbers which settled upon them. On going 

 below stairs, I found, that although doors and 

 windows were open, and a bright light was burning, 

 very few of the midges had entered. I easily rid 

 the library of those which had entered, by lighting 

 a spoonful of pyrethrum in my ash-receiver. They 

 fell as fast as snowflakes, and in the morning were 

 swept up by the dustpanful. 



The house is a new one, finished iu April last, and 

 is situated on a level, nearly clear plateau on Wash- 

 ington Heights. The gnats entered only at the second- 



story windows. The night was clear and not sultry, 

 and the wind was north east. Later in the evening a 

 heavy shower fell. The midges were not noticed on 

 previous or succeeding nights. From these facts it 

 seems quite plain that the enats were flying in an 

 immense swarm at some distance from the ground, 

 and either met the house in the direct course of their 

 flight, or were attracted from their regular route by 

 the light. L 0. How abb. 



Washington, July 23. 



Another carnivorous rodent. 



Over a year ago I recorded in this journal the 

 carnivorous habits of several of the Rodentia 

 {Science, v. No. 114). In that communication I 

 called attention to the meat-eating propensities of 

 the muskrat (Fiber zibethicus), and a species of field- 

 mouse, that I then had in captivity. Since writing 

 that, I have described the field-mouse, for it proved 

 to be a new species, and it is now known as True's 

 Pinon mouse (Hesperomys truei). No doubt others 

 of the same genus will be found given to a similar 

 diet when the opportunity offers. But here comes 

 another rodent that strongly asserts his taste in that 

 direction, and will consume raw meat even in prefer- 

 ence to his regular diet list, as we have always con- 

 ceived it to be. This is no less an animal than the 

 ' prairie dog ' (Cynomys ludovicianus). I have at the 

 present writing a pair, half-grown, of these enga- 

 ging little pets ; and for the last two days they have 

 been fed on raw meat, refusing their ordinary food 

 served to them at the same time. They tell me that 

 the Navajo Indians, when they keep them in cap- 

 tivity, feed them with raw meat half the time, and 

 the little marmots eat it with avidity. 



As I have noticed elsewhere, rats will devour raw 

 meat whenever they can get it, and usually in prefer 

 ence to other things. 



In time, no doubt, it will be proved that it is a 

 universal habit of the order Glires. 



R. W. Shufeldt. 

 Fort Wingate, N. Mex., July 16. 



Germ of hydrophobia. 



I see in your issue of July 9, p. 23, that the credit 

 of having at last discovered the germ of hydrophobia 

 is claimed by the London Lancet for Dr. Dowdeswell, 

 who finds it in a micrococcus in the medulla and 

 spinal cord of animals affected with this disease. 



I do not remember that the attention of your readers 

 has been drawn to the fact that this discovery had 

 been previously claimed, with much show of reason, 

 by Professor H. Fol of Geneva (Archives des sciences, 

 vol. xiv. p. 449, 1885, and vol. xv. p. 4l4, 1886). 

 According to Fol, also, it is a micrococcus found only 

 in this disease, and so minute that it requires a good 

 y^2 objective to see it at all. Of this micrococcus he 

 has made pure cultures, which by inoculation com- 

 municate the disease with certainty. 



Joseph LeConte. 



Berkeley, Cal., July 19. 



A bright meteor. 



The meteor recorded by Mr. Brackett as having 

 been seen at St. Johnsbury,Vt., on the night of Aug. 

 11, agrees as to size and direction, as well as date 

 and time, with one seen at Salem, Mass. 



E. S. M. 



