THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Oct. 1, 1864. 



142 SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 



increasing, and, as the author justly observes, these tables will render 

 important service to all engaged with those countries in manufacturing, 

 mechanical, or commercial transactions. The bill passed for legalising 

 the use of the metric system in England renders the issue of such 

 a work at the present time the more important. In the compilation of 

 the moneys, weights, and measures for his ' Dictionary of Trade Pro- 

 ducts, &c.,' the Editor of the Technologist much felt the want of such 

 a manual of ready reference. 



itiflttiftr JJafos. 



Blistering Flies. — The following insects are employed in various 

 countries instead of Cantliaris vesicatoria: — 1. A small variety of 

 Mijlabris cichorii, and 2. M. trimaculatus in Southern\Europe, fromjtaly 

 to the Caucasus ; 3. M. Cichorii in Bengal and China ; 4. Lytta nifisses, 

 Illiq., in Java and Sumatra, and a variety in China ; 5. L. gigas, and 

 6. L. violacea, Br. and Ratz., in India ; 7. L. vittata, in North America ; 

 8. L. atomaria, in Brazil ; and 9. Mylalris puncta et indica in Pondi- 

 cherry. 



Manifold Uses for Leather. — The old saying, that there is 

 "nothing like leather," is amply verified in the thousand and one little 

 articles of feminine decoration which Madame Fashion has recently 

 decreed for her daughters' wear. In a town stroll the other day, we 

 paused before the tastefully arranged window of a shop, wherein were 

 displayed the usual miscellaneous collection of ornaments, trimmings, 

 &c, which go to make the sum total of such an establishment, and we 

 thought, as we noted down how freely the material " leather " had been 

 used in their construction — Oh that mother Eve, as she perambulated 

 Eden in her primitive garment of figdeaves, could have foreseen how 

 skilfully her sons and daughters would convert the skins of such animals 

 as those over which she held dominion into the multitude of articles, 

 both useful and ornamental, which meet our eye on every side, and 

 supply our needs at every step. Could she have seen the girdle, formed 

 to encircle the waist of some fair damsel ; the coquettish little bow 

 which fastens the collar of the fashionable belle, the trimming of her 

 dress, the rosettes upon her hat, the buttons scattered in delightful 

 confusion over her garments, or arranged in mathematical precision, in 

 rows containing twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four, as fashion and taste 

 shall dictate ; the gauntlet, to shade the delicate wrist ; the bracelet, for 

 its adornment ; the anklet, to protect the ankle ; the page, to elevate the 

 trailing skirts from contact with muddy crossings ; the reticule, the fan, 



