1883.] Physiology. 219 
_ THE POISON oF THE ScorPion.—The poison and poisoning-ap- 
paratus of the scorpion have been recently made an object of study 
by M. Joyeux-Laffuie. The former, he finds, is very active, 
though not so powerful as some have represented. A drop of it, 
either pure or mixed with a little distilled water, rapidly kills a 
rabbit, when injected into the cellular tissue. Birds are as easily 
killed with itas mammals. One drop suffices to kill seven or 
eight frogs. Fishes, and, above all, mollusks, are much more re- 
fractory. But, on the other hand, the articulata are wonderfully 
susceptible; the hundredth part of a drop will immediately kill a 
large crab. Flies, spiders and insects on which the scorpion feeds, 
are quickly affected by its sting. The poison soon paralyzes the 
striated muscles, suppressing spontaneous and reflex movements. 
In all animals there is first excitation, then paralysis. The author 
regards the scorpion’s venom as a poison of the nervous system, 
not a poison of the blood, as M. Joussel de Bellesme asserts. 
ELECTRIC ORGANS OF GyMNotus.—In the appendices to Sachs 
and Du Bois Reymond’s work on the electric eel, G. Fritsch 
gives an account of his histological and morphological investiga- 
tions on the nervous and electric apparatus. He finds, says the 
Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, support for the doc- 
trine that the electric organs of Gymnotus have been developed 
from transversely striated muscle; a portion, the lowest lateral 
muscles, having been separated from the rest to form the so-called 
intermediate muscular layer, while a superior mass of muscle was 
converted into the great electric organ. 
_ SENSE OF SMELL IN AcTINLE.—It has been discovered by Mr. 
W. H. Pollock and Dr. G. J. Romanes, that the common sea-an- 
mone is conscious of the presence of any kind of food (pieces 
of cockle, mussel, &c.), placed near them. If the food was held 
within a span’s breadth of an anemone it opened; if it was held inthe 
centre of a circle of anemones they gradually opened in succession. 
hey were found, however, to be unable to localize the direction 
m which the food was lying. Dr. Romanes considers that the 
)Sense which is thus shown to be possessed by these animals may 
_ Most properly be called a sense of smell, and they are the lowest . 
animals in which any such sense has hitherto been noticed.— 
Feurnal of the Royal Microscopical Society. . 
n Satine ELEMENTS IN THE Broop or Marine Crusracea.—It 
has been observed by M. Fredericq (Bull. Belg. Acad.) that the 
ood of crabs and other Crustaceans at Ostend has the same 
‘Strong and bitter taste as the sea water, and proves to have the same 
Pes Constitution. Crabs in brackish water, on the other hand, 
rors a less salt blood, and the crayfish of rivers have very little of 
Soluble salts in their blood. An exchange of salts seems to take 
place in these animals between the blood and the outer medium, pro- 
ang approximate equilibrium of chemical composition. This 
