i88o.J 
( 213 ) 
NOTES. 
Mr. E. A. Thompson writes to the ‘‘American Naturalist” 
that certain moths, Plusict precationis , having been caught by 
their tongues in the pollen-pockets of Physiciuthus albens, an 
Asclepiad plant, were stung to death and devoured by what were 
supposed to be ordinary honey-bees. Dr. Hermann Muller con- 
siders the fa< 5 t of the moths being thus entrapped new and inte- 
resting; but mentions that his brother, Fritz Muller, in South 
Brazil, has observed bees eagerly licking the juice dropping from 
pieces of flesh which had been suspended to dry in the air. Mr. 
Darwin suggests that the bees may possibly tear open the bodies 
of the moths in order to get at the nedtar contained in their 
stomachs. Both these distinguished naturalists recommend fur- 
ther observation. It is stated by Prof. A. J . Cook, of the Michigan 
Agricultural College, that bees kill the drones not by stinging, 
but by tearing with the mandibles. 
According to Prof. Church, withered leaves of the usual 
autumnal colours — yellow, red, or brown — can be rendered green 
again by steeping in water along with a little zinc-powder. 
Dr. Auerbach, writing to the “ Chemiker-Zeitung,” mentions 
as a curious fadt that during an entire summer he observed 
water-beetles— probably Gyrinus natator — living in tanks of a 
saturated solution of Glauber’s salt. When alarmed the beetles 
took shelter under the crystals, just as they do in ordinary cir- 
cumstances under water-plants. A little of the liquid so harm- 
less to insets, having found its way by leakage into an adjoining 
river, proved fatal to multitudes of fish. 
Dr. Yandell, in a letter to the “ Louisville Medical News,” 
speaks of a fertile female mule, now to be seen at the Jardin 
d’Acclimatation, Paris. She has brought forth no fewer than 
six foals— some by zebras, some by an ass, and some by a 
stallion. 
Dr. Erlenmayer, in the “ Medical and Surgical Reporter,” 
gives it as his opinion that the Semitic nations, including the 
ancient Hebrews, were left-handed, and that this peculiarity was 
the reason why they wrote from right to left. He adduces evi- 
dence in favour of his theory both from the Talmud and the Old 
Testament. We must, however, remember that in one of the 
earlier books of the latter (Judges, iii., 15) left-handedness is 
mentioned as a personal peculiarity. 
