FOSSILIZATION OF FLESH. 625 



which exudes from its spinneret, through its other stages and up to the 

 time of its full development. In America the blister beetle was the para- 

 site of the locust. The female blister beetle selected warm sunny spots of 

 earth in which to lay her eggs, her instincts inducing her to choose a place 

 for oviposition where the locusts also deposited their ova. Immediately 

 upon re'"'eiving life the larva secures a locust egg, the contents of which it 

 sucks up. In cases where two larvse happen to strike upon the same egg a 

 fight invariably ensues whose onl}- termination was the death of one or 

 both combatants. From the reader's investigations he was able to say that 

 in all probability^ from St. Louis southwards there were two generations of 

 larvae every year. The paper, which will be published with illustrations, 

 will be a very valuable addition to American entomological discovery. 



On motion, the paper just read, and one or two others, whose titles he 

 announced, were referred to the Publication Committee. 



In answer to a question, Prof. Riley stated that, while there were no 

 blister beetles in America exactly similar to those of Southern Europe, yet 

 it had been shown that the American insect was as valuable, commercially, 

 as its transatlantic congener. 



Dr. Englemann stated that, as a result of his meteorological observa- 

 tions, he was able to announce that the first frost of the year would occur 

 last night. There had been white frosts in various parts of the State, but 

 during the night there would be a black frost, which would kill plants — a 

 thing which had not yet happened this year. This was later, on an aver- 

 age, than usual. He prophesied that this morning the castor-oil plants, 

 which were blooming during yesterday, would be killed by the frost to- 

 day. — Globe- Democrat. 



FOSSILIZATION OF FLESH. 



Prof Mudge responds to the criticism of '-M.D." in the Kansas City Times, 

 as follows : 



Newton Center, Mass., Nov. 21, 1877. 



Your paper, containing u criticism on my article in the Western Eeview 

 in relation to the fossilization of flesh, has just reached me here. If the 

 gentleman will take the trouble to study the question as much as I have 

 done he will find that I am correct; and that no fossil flesh is known in 

 science. The cases cited from Pompeii are well known. They are casts of 

 the human form, not fossilization of the human flesh. The moist ashes cov- 

 ered the bodies," the fleshy portions decayed, leaving a cavity containing 

 nothing but bones. The layer of ashes became so firm that artificial casts 

 were made of the cavity, from which the photographs were made. 



From personal acquaintance with the museum at Yale College, I can say 

 that Mr. Boyer, cited by M. D., is mistaken, and that no fossil flesh is con- 

 tained in that collection. The nearest approach is the membrane (skin) 



6 



