110 Chronicles of Science. [Jan., 



It is one of the conclusions of the author that " external forces " 

 acting on the larva produce those changes in the organization which 

 have reference to its immediate wants rather than to its final form, 

 and this, he thinks, accounts for " those cases in which animals, 

 very similar in then mature condition, are very unlike in their 

 earlier stages." In reference to " dimorphism " or " polymor- 

 phism," Sir J. Lubbock would confine the term to the cases of those 

 animals or plants which " preserve themselves at maturity under 

 two different forms," as in Ants and Bees: the "differentiating 

 action of external circumstances, not on the mature but on the 

 young individual," resulting in another series of phenomena, many 

 of which have been described under the name of alternation of 

 generations, he would distinguish by the term "dieidisru" or 

 " polyeidism." 



A discussion on the nature of Pebrine (the silk-worm disease) 

 has been recently carried on in the c Comptes Eendus ' between MM. 

 Becamp, Joly, and Pasteur. The last-named author believes the 

 " vibratory corpuscules " (one of the peculiarities of the disease) to 

 be pathological productions analogous to the globules of pus, or of 

 the blood. M. Becamp, on the contrary, considered them to be 

 of a vegetable nature. M. Joly had also observed in 1862 innu- 

 merable quantities of infusoria, which he described under the name 

 of Vibrio aglaise mixed with the vibratory corpuscules ; these cor- 

 puscules have since been stated to owe their origin to the Vibrio, 

 but M. Joly denies this and asserts the Vibrio to be the effect and 

 not the cause of the corpuscules. Of the origin of the disease 

 nothing seems to be known, but, as a remedy, M. Becamp suggests 

 the vapour of creosote, which, although it would not directly destroy 

 the disease, would prevent the formation of spores by which the 

 disease is propagated. 



The Zoological Society has recently published a paper by 

 Mr. Pascoe, on the " Coleoptera of Penang ;" the writer attempts 

 to show that " the area into which the earth's surface may be divided 

 in relation to its organic productions, will not hold good for all 

 classes, or even in some cases for all orders ;' 'and that " so far as the 

 Coleoptera are concerned, the Malayan region, with its centre in 

 Borneo, finds its South-eastern limit in New Ghiinea, Australia 

 constituting a very distinct and remarkable region of its own." 



Messrs. Lovell Beeve and Co. have issued another of their 

 cheap works on Natural History ; it is entitled, ' British Bees : an 

 Introduction, &c.,' by W. E. Shuckard. It is remarkable for its 

 " spirit of captiousness," and might have been written twenty years 

 ago so far as most of its statements are concerned; indeed the 

 author tells us that " from the length of time that has intervened," 

 the "facts recorded have become so blended in his mind," that 

 whether they are the result of his own observations, or of " diligent 



