JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



NOTES AND QUERIES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



Read befoi e the HatnUton Association, February 2nd, i8gg. 

 BY WM. YATES, ESQ. 



Probably the old-time herbalists had some notions of modern 

 bacterealistic theories and of germicides by giving such quaint names 

 to plants as vermifuge, fleabane pedicularium and bugbane — our 

 modern pyrethrum, or insect powder, merely to come in contact 

 with which or to touch, is death to such larvael forms as the common 

 cabbage butterfly caterpillar. The name catmint indicates perhaps 

 that that labiate was eaten by domesticated felines as an anthel- 

 mintic ; and even the mammoth felines, such as the lion and tiger, 

 when caged in menageries, are known to manifest a liking for the 

 nepeta cataria and other odoriferous herbs of the mint family ; and the 

 house cat's love for catmint and for the valerian herb is easily seen 

 as they purr and Hck and nibble over a leafy sprig, and to the 

 malady of intestinal parasites the cat tribe are frequent victims, the 

 epidemic being sometimes spoken of as the cat murrain, as a remedy 

 for which ailment powdered areca nut has been recommended by 

 newspapers. 



A majority of species of the mint order of plants are inimical to 

 the insect race, as the housewife's faith in the use of lavender, rose- 

 mary, thyme, hyssop, pennyroyal, when placed in clothes drawers 

 and bureaus as a deterrent against moths, may sufficiently prove. 

 The pyrethrum insecticide is a plant said to be of the same natural 

 order, that is, the compositse, as wormwood and tansy — tanacetmii 

 vulgara, and is said to be imported from the Balkan regions. If 

 kept, that is, the dried stems and leaves sold in the drug stores as 

 insect powder, slowly burning in a censor, the mild aromatic fumes 

 immediately drive house flies and mosquitoes from a room. 



The eating at certain seasons of acrid herb substances, such as 

 the lobelia inflata and burdock, by horses and colts, may have a 

 powerful sedative effect, as these two herbs grow abundantly in 



