306 Notes. [May, 
the question of over-strain in elementary education. This reso- 
lution was carried unanimously. 
M. Cholodkovsky (“ Comptes Rendus ”) has discovered that, 
in addition to certain Coccidae as previously known, Tineola 
biselliella has only two Malpighian tubes. All other Lepidoptera 
have always six Malpighian tubes, and in general the anatomy 
of species of this order is more uniform than in the other orders. 
The caterpillar of this species has, like all other Lepidopterous 
larvae, six Malpighian tubes. The researches of Rathke and 
Fritz Muller have sufficiently shown that a low number of these 
tubes is a primitive feature, and that with the progressive deve- 
lopment of the organism during its metamorphosis the number 
of its tubes increases. In the Tinea we find the very contrary. 
It is probable that its remote ancestors had merely this number. 
We have, then, before us, a case of atavism quite exceptional in 
its character as occurring regularly. This periodic atavism seems 
to be a facft quite new to Science. 
M. Dieulefait infers, from the presence of manganese in cipo- 
line marbles, that both these marbles and the gneiss which 
encases them have been formed in water. 
M. Minard has laid before the French Academy of Science a 
method for attenuating the violence of storms. He proposes to 
use a great number of lightning-rods, elevated on telegraphic 
posts and connected to the metals of railways. 
Dr. H. C. Tweedy, in a paper read before the Public Health 
Secftion of the Academy of Medicine in Ireland, commits himself 
to the following utterance : — “ Self-destrudtion is a crime in the 
eye of the law, and he who attempts it is justly liable to punish- 
ment.” We deny the justice of punishing actions which inter- 
fere neither with the personal safety nor the property of the 
public. 
MM. Soret and Sarasin (“ Comptes Rendus ”), on re-examining 
the absorption-spedtrum of water, find in the orange a very faint 
and narrow dark band, a little less refrangible than the ray D, at 
about the fifth part of the interval between C and D, nearer D, 
and corresponding approximately to the wave-length 600. 
The rejection of the motion for the Sunday opening of Mu- 
seums was to be expected. Whilst recognising the feeble 
character of the arguments used against it, we cannot help 
noticing how much the question is complicated by the establish- 
ment of Museums in, or their transfer to, remote un-central 
localities, and by the opening in these institutions of “ refresh- 
ment-rooms.” 
Mr. J. Gunn, F.G.S. (“ Geological Magazine ”) contends that 
the changes of the climate, and of the bauna and Flora, are 
most probably due to the alternate elevation and subsidence of 
mountain-ranges. 
