SB Bi foe Ns ola ase re a aed LL aa a a 
MORE Brees re mr KEY, I $ AR $ : 
382 NOTES. 
ure, and analogous to some caterpillars’ hairs which have poison i 
glands at the base. A viscid secretion from the sac fills the hair — 
and exudes from its surface. The escape of this fluid when not — 
in use is perhaps prevented by a change in shape of the — ; 
when in a state of rest. 
As announced by Blackwall in 1816, a viscid fluid, not atmos- 
pheric pressure, is the cause of adhesion in such cases. The the- 
ory of suction or atmospheric pressure, still popular, is disproved 
the facts that a Dytiscus, chloroformed to prevent a voluntary — 
relinquishment of his hold, still adheres to the surface of glass in — 
a receiver exhausted of air; that every foot-step leaves a micro- 
scopic print upon the surface of a clean glass slide; and that the — 
suckers in action are applied evenly to the surface, or are partially — 
filled with water, so that any attempt at suction would cause, and A 
would be defeated by, a flow of the viscid fluid from the sac. ; 
The tenacious fluid which is the means of adhesion, coagulates — 
readily, does not mix easily with water, and is extremely insoluble. 
It sometimes hardens so thoroughly as to glue the disks insepara- — 
bly to their object of attachment, the insect escaping only at the 
expense of mutilation, somewhat as flies in autumn often become 
so firmly adherent to the window-panes that the enfeebled insects 2 
are abla to escape.— R. H. W. 
NOTES. 
_ At a meeting of the Faculty of the Museum of Comparative } 
Zoos, held May 6, 1871, the Humboldt Scholarship was awarded — 
to J. A. Allen, in consideration of his paper upon the ‘* Mammals 
and Winter Birds of East Florida,” and the proceeds of the Hum- 
boldt Fund for one year, granted to him in aid of his anen 
of the Fauna of the Rocky Mountains. 
The Albany Institute and the Troy Scientific Association èn- 
joyed a field meeting of rare interest at North Adams on the 27th 
of May, visiting the Natural Bridge and the Hoosac Tunnel, and 
receiving throughout the day an enthusiastic reception. They 
want to go to North Adams again. 
