258 Miscellaneous. 
and pains in the chest and back, then weakness in the legs, 
and dizziness in the head. After a few hours these sym- 
ptoms diminished, and in two days the patient was able to 
resume his work. The general remedy employed was to 
cup the poisoned part, and liberally wash it with cold 
water. Some cauterised the place, but this remedy was 
not so efficacious, and it created besides a fresh wound. 
The first time this spider was seen at Berdiansk, was in 
1864, but a very few persons were bitten by it. Last year, 
however, it increased to a most alarming extent. It was 
remarked that the spider was very active in killing locusts, 
on which it seemed principally to feed, and it was only 
when disturbed that it stung persons. The majority of 
the persons bitten did not know the cause of their illness, 
and it was only the same symptoms in each case that 
proved it to be the sting of the spider. This poisonous 
insect has again visited Russia this year, but we understand 
it has done but z¢¢le mischief. 
Port Natat.—The rise of Port Natal shows a very rapid pro- 
gress as regards all that Europeans look forward to, when leaving 
their native land. In Natal, will be found every convenience and 
necessary comfort which the exigencies of civilised life call for. 
In this thriving colony we see public control and authority, 
churches and colleges, railways and electric telegraphs, books 
and newspapers, music and theatres, and indeed, all that a civi- 
lized community expect to have, down even to steeple-chases and 
horse races ; when we find all these adjuncts to the enjoyment of 
life, which enable the immigrant from Europe to hardly distinguish 
the difference between his native country and the land of his adop- 
tion, we must confess that the severity of competition in all classes 
of professions and trades in Great Britain will induce a vast num- 
ber of enterprising men to make Natal the goal of their ambition 
in the colonial world. As the Editor of the ‘Natal Almanack and 
Register’ has said, in the 1865 edition, ‘‘ Now that Natal is be- 
coming vastly more satisfactory as a place to reside and enjoy 
life in, and that its pecuniary inducements are growing strong 
enough, there will be no lack of fresh faces in the colony.” And 
so say we, in fact, if the resources of Natal were more fully 
brought to the notice of the British emigrant classes, there cannot 
be any doubt but that it would be chosen by them in preference 
to the many other parts of the globe to which Englishmen now 
direct their steps. 
Srraw Papers.—The first attempts to make paper from straw 
go back to the beginning of this century, as is provd by the patent 
taken out by Sequin. The process consisted in subjecting the 
materiau to the action of a lye made of a mixture of lime and 
soda or potassa until the substance was softened enough to be 
