92 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
In the ‘Strand Magazine’ for January, Mr. James Scott has written 
and illustrated a paper on some experiments he has made to test ‘ Insect 
Strength.” The house-fly and the earwig were selected as the most suitable 
for the purpose. Mr. Scott appears to rather mix up the Coleoptera and 
Orthoptera, but his experiments with the earwig cannot be misunderstood, 
and one of these insects was ingeniously harnessed to a cart 1 in. long and 
$ in. wide, formed with a piece of cardboard, having its sides bent down, 
between which two pieces of lead-pencil (after the lead had been removed 
therefrom) were pivoted by means of a couple of needles. To this con- 
veyance was attached the farther end of the cotton connected to the earwig, 
and then the service of the insect was patiently awaited. After having 
fully investigated the peculiar ‘‘ snake ” which encircled it, it showed signs 
of vigour, and made off at what ‘I suppose must be called a trot, dragging 
the cart quite easily behind it. Then a match was loaded upon the waggon, 
making apparently but little difference to the earwig. Matches were suc- 
cessively added until the load comprised an accumulation of eight. At this 
point the insect showed signs of a faint struggle, such as a horse does when 
slipping about the roadway with a somewhat heavy burden. Although he 
managed to propel a heavier load than this, it would be equivalent to over- 
work if he dragged more than eight. I placed the eight matches upon the 
scales, and found that their combined weight was twenty-four times that of 
the insect. Each piece of timber was four times longer than the carrier, 
making in all a load of wood thirty-two times longer than the earwig. A 
horse is thicker in depth than breadth; whereas an earwig’s breadth 
exceeds that of its depth. In length (proportionately) there exists little 
noticeable difference; so that, for the purpose of description, it may be 
assumed that, except for the difference in the number of legs, a horse 
corresponds in proportion to an earwig.” Mr. Scott has pictorially repre- 
sented a front view of a horse laden with pieces of timber each of the 
comparative length of a match. There would be eight of these huge 
beams, and it ‘‘ may be fairly doubted whether an ordinary horse (or even a 
pair of horses) would be endowed with sufficient strength to enable it to 
shift the load, without expecting the animal to drag it with tolerable ease.” 
Tue ‘ Revue Scientifique,’ in its first number for this year, contains an 
interesting note on ‘‘ La mémoire des poissons.” It is copied from ‘ Le 
Chasseur frangais,’ and the incident was related by M. Mebius. He 
placed a Pike in an aquarium with some small fish, which he afterwards 
separated from the “ fresh-water shark” by a plate of glass. The Pike at 
first made desperate efforts to reach his prey, knocking himself furiously 
against the invisible obstacle till he was frequently giddy and apparently 
half-killed by the violence of the shock. Little by little, however, his 
