586 
Notes. 
[August 
malies. Dr. Bordier gives the history of some of their owners, 
in all of whom appears atavism, morbid activity, and a want of 
equilibrium between the frontal and the parietal faculties. 
Heredity is manifest in most cases. 
M. Decharme describes in the “ Comptes Rendus ” a remark- 
able flight of butterflies ( Cynthia cardui) observed at Angers on 
the ioth of June. It is calculated that 40,000 to 50,000 of these 
insecfts traversed the Rue du Mail, leading to the river, within 
an hour. They passed swiftly in a general direction from east 
to west, flying at the height of from 1 to 2 metres above the 
ground. A violent storm took place to the east and south of the 
town during the following night. On June 3rd M. Genevay- 
Montez observed a similar migration of the same species in the 
valley of the Rhone. 
Dr. P. Mayer has laid before the Lyncean Academy his re- 
searches on the antennae of certain Diptera, such as Syrphus 
balteatus, Eristalis tenax , Musca vomitoria, &c. He finds in the 
terminal joint certain cavities lined with a sensitive membrane, 
and serving as organs of smell or hearing. 
Most naturalists who have had occasion to walk much about 
grass and stubble during August have been annoyed by the irri- 
tation caused by the harvest bug ( Trombidium autumnale ), an 
Arachnoid which buries itself in the skin and dies there, causing 
in most instances troublesome sores and much pain. In most 
cases the nature of the irritation is misunderstood, and the parts 
affedted wrongly treated. Upon application to a country chemist 
some ammoniacal preparation is usually supplied, which fails to 
give relief as it would do to the sting of a gnat or wasp. The 
wound of the harvest bug should be treated as a sore containing 
putrid animal matter. The following lotion answers well : — 
Vinegar, 40 parts ; Calvert’s carbolic acid, 1 part : mix with an 
equal proportion of water before use, and apply to the parts 
affected : it not only heals speedily, but, from its strong and per- 
sistent odour, in a great measure prevents further attacks from 
the very annoying insedt. 
Chemistry and Technology. 
Attention has been drawn to the presence of arsenic in dark 
water colours by the sudden death of a mechanical draughtsman. 
In the “ Chemiker Zeitung” Dr. H. Fleck states that on a post 
mortem examination the cause of death was first supposed to be 
an oxalate, and then a narcotic poison. Chemical investigation, 
however, showed that the liver, kidneys, lungs, heart, and brain 
were impregnated with arsenic, though the oesophagus contained 
not a trace, and the stomach with its contents gave a barely 
perceptible arsenical mirror. The general circumstances of the 
case excluding the suspicions of suicide and of malicious 
