128 New Process of Vinegar Malting. 



line of procession when they go forth in search of food is the 

 same in this species as in the other, every sinuosity of route 

 taken by the leader being followed by each caterpillar in the 

 line, both in going forth and in returning. 



The mass of absurd stories connected with these caterpillars, 

 which Beaumur has curiously preserved, in the letters of his 

 correspondents, appears now almost incredible. For instance, 

 it was asserted, among other things, that they never arrived at 

 a winged state, but laid eggs while in the caterpillar state ! 1 

 Another absurd conviction of the uninstructed observers of 

 that day was, that these caterpillars were the offspring of spi- 

 ders, this extraordinary idea having arisen in consequence of 

 spiders having been found in the nests. It is indeed now a 

 well known fact that spiders frequently take possession of the 

 deserted nests of the winter procession caterpillar, and this was 

 sufficient to give rise to an assertion, which in those days was 

 not put to the searching tests which such a statement would 

 now have to undergo before being admitted among the facts 

 of natural history, but was allowed to pass current, for the 

 delight of wonder-mongers, an amiable race not yet entirely 

 extinct. This ridiculous theory concerning the maternity of 

 the procession caterpillar is to be found categorically stated, at 

 considerable length, in the Journal de Verdun, for March 1 734,. 

 page 165. 



NEW PROCESS OF VINEGAR MAKING. 



The following important paper, by M. Pasteur,* has recently 

 been read before the French Academy, and it will be found to 

 present many points of industrial and scientific interest. 



" I had the honour of bringing before the Academy in the 

 month of February, the property possessed by mycoderms, 

 especially those of wine and vinegar, of acting as agents for 

 conveying the oxygen of the air to a crowd of organic sub- 

 stances, and thus lead to their combustion with a rapidity that 

 is often surprising. The study of this property of mycoderms 

 has led to a new method of manufacturing vinegar, which 

 seems destined to practical application in this branch of in- 

 dustry. I sow the mycoderma aceti, or fleur du vinaigre, on the 

 surface of a liquid formed of ordinary water containing two 

 per cent, of its volume of alcohol, and one per cent, of acetic 

 acid resulting from a previous operation. In addition to this, 

 I add some ten thousandths of alkaline and earthy phosphates. 

 The plant develops itself, and soon covers the entire surface of 



* Comptes Sendtts, 7th July, 18G2, p. 28. 



