1879 -] 
Notices of Books. 
755 
though still retaining its original shape. A stem is then pro- 
duced, which shoots up and bears a crop of blue flowers. The 
author admits that the origin of the plant may be a seed con- 
tained in the body of the insedt, but he evidently leans to the 
theory of diredt metamorphosis. We wish this insedt would 
have presented itself to Mr. Wallace or Mr. Bates during their 
abode in South America, so that this strange phenomenon might 
have been thoroughly examined. The discoverer does not seem 
to be either a botanist or an entomologist. 
A paper on “ New Britain and New Ireland,” by the Rev. G. 
Brown, contains some interesting fadts in animal geography. 
Thus the cuscus is found in New Guinea and New Ireland, but 
not in the intervening island of New Britain. The wallaby has 
hitherto been found in New Ireland alone. The only marsupial 
obtained in New Britain was a small flying squirrel. Strange 
reports had reached Mr. Brown of a race of men with tails said 
to live in the interior of New Britain. In consequence he ar- 
ranged an expedition to the locality. Unfortunately one of the 
party, a sailor, got access to a bottle of gin, and was the cause 
of so serious an accident that the party had to return to the ship 
with the wounded man, and circumstances did not allow of a 
second attempt. This disappointment is the more to be regretted 
as the discovery of an ape in the islands south-eastward of New 
Guinea would have been hardly less interesting than the occur- 
rence of tailed men. 
In the discussion following upon the reading of a paper by the 
Rev. W. W. Spicer, on the “ Foreign Plants which have been 
naturalised in Tasmania,” particular mention was made of the 
blackberry and sweet briar, both of which thrive in Tasmania 
with a luxuriance quite unparalleled in England. The question 
was raised whether birds ever feed upon the blackberry or rasp- 
berry. With Mr. Spicer we think that they do not in Europe, 
but we are by no means certain. 
The same author, in an interesting paper on “ Silk and Silk- 
Producers,” gives a satirical account of the medicinal uses to 
which insedts were formerly put. Thus the yellow matter which 
exudes from the joints of the bilbeetle [? oil-beetle, genera Pro- 
scarabceus and Meloe ] was held to be as efficacious in dropsy or 
rheumatism as in hydrophobia, and no doubt was so.” That 
many of the medicinal virtues ascribed to insedts were merely 
imaginary may well be admitted, but we must guard against 
supposing that if taken internally they would prove inert. The 
yellow matter above mentioned would very probably be found rich 
in cantharidin. 
Mr. Morton Allport contributes a paper on the “ Acclimatisa- 
tion of Salmon in Tasmania.” He appears to take a hopeful 
view of the results of the experiment. It may be mentioned 
that amongst the fishes found off the coasts some are absolutely 
identical with well-known inhabitants of the British seas, such 
