iSSa.j 
Notes . 
627 
Mr. J. Jenner Weir gave a communication showing that fishes 
as well as birds refuse to devour bright-coloured and hairy cater- 
pillars. 
Miss Ormerod described observations proving that the “ rape- 
cake ” from India (mustard-cake) is destructive to wireworms. 
The Midland Union of Natural-History Societies, founded in 
1877, includes now no fewer than twenty-five local societies. It 
holds annual meetings during the summer, at which an account 
is given of work done, whilst the following day is devoted to bo- 
tanical, geological, entomological, &c., excursions. Two local 
floras, respectively of Warwickshire and Leicestershire, are being 
prepared under its auspices. Geological researches are also 
being conducted. Many Coleoptera hitherto new to the Midlands 
have been discovered, and one or two species probably new to 
Science. The organ of the Union, the “ Midland Naturalist,” 
contains a number of very interesting papers, and puts on record 
many scientific observations which might otherwise pass un- 
noticed. For such a body very much work remains to do. The 
local distribution of British birds, inseCts, plants, &c., is by no 
means mapped out. Indeed in inseCts all the orders save the 
Lepidoptera, and to a smaller extent the Coleoptera, have been 
in this respeCt neglected. 
The mysterious force named by the Hindus “ Akasa,” or 
“ Akassa,” is said (“Psychological Review ”) to be identical with 
the Od of the late Baron Reichenbach. 
The University of Wurzburg, by occasion of its tercentenary 
jubilee, conferred the degree of “ Dodtor Philosophise Honorarius ” 
upon Sir J. Lubbock and Prof. Huxley. 
M. Certes (“ Comptes Rendus ”) has observed and described 
an intestinal parasite in oysters from all localities, to which he 
has given the name Trypanosoma Balbiani. It approaches 
closely to T. sanguinis of Gruby, recently described by Prof. 
Ray Lankester under the name of Undilina ramarum . 
Following upon the celebrated Huddersfield case of lead-poi- 
soning through the public water-supply comes a somewhat similar 
affair at Keighley, which terminated fatally. A medical witness 
stated before the Coroner’s jury that he had reported sixty-four 
cases of lead-poisoning to the municipal authorities about a year 
ago. It will be very serious if the use of pure waters has to be 
discontinued on account of their adtion on lead service-pipes. 
The circumstances under which water corrodes lead, and the 
possible means of prevention, require to be more closely investi- 
gated. 
M. de Pietra-Santa (“ Comptes Rendus ”) concludes that at 
Paris typhoid fever is most severe in the months of April and 
