is very small, and is, when eating, quite covered with a fleshy mantle, formed by the first segments of the body. When walking, the head is protruded a little.

Feeling certain that this was an exceedingly venomous caterpillar, I determined to sting myself with it, and observe the results.

At 11 a.m. I applied the back of the caterpillar to the back of my left hand with sufficient pressure to feel the pricking of the spines. In ten minutes I had violent pain in the hand, and, the place of contact had swelled up into a white lump, surrounded by a dark red inflamed patch. A few minutes later violent pain set in under the armpit. I applied strong ammonia to the hand, but the only result was to remove the white lump, the pain and the red patch remaining the same. I next tried vinegar, but with no effect. 11.30 a red rash appeared on the inside of the elbow, and this gradually extended up to the shoulder, along the biceps, and down the arm to the place of injection on the hand. The rash was slight, excepting just at the elbow. At 12 o'clock the pain was still violent and burning, but not quite so bad as it was.

At

I have been informed by Brazilians that the mere crawling of the caterpillars over the skin caused this rash and burning pain, but such is not my experience, for I have allowed several species to crawl over me without any ill effects at all. It appears that pressure must be brought directly on to the ends of the spines to make them eject the poison, the caterpillar being merely passive, and incapable of ejecting the fluid itself.

Soon after 12 o'clock I noticed a sensible weakness in the hand and arm, but was not able to say for certain whether it was merely an effect of the extreme pain or was a distinct effect of the poison; but, from later symptoms when the pain had lessened, I lean to the latter opinion.

At 12.15 the rash down the arm began to disappear, and the pain under the arm was sensibly diminished, though still considerable. The affected area on the hand began to perspire considerably, though the rest of the body had no visible perspiration. The pain in the injected spot was as violent as ever, burning horribly. The effect was more like a scald than anything else I can compare it with. The pain increasing, I applied, at 12.30 p.m., a wet bandage to the hand. At 1 p.m. the pain in the armpit had nearly ceased, and the rash on the arm had disappeared, but the pain in the hand had increased greatly, and was so bad that I could hardly bear it.

Boring a hole with a red-hot iron comes nearest to the effect, in my imagination.

At 2.30 p.m. the pain in the hand was still violent, extending through to the palm and the ball of the thumb and base of first finger. The weakness was so great that I could not grasp anything with any force.

At 5 p.m. the burning pain was much diminished, but there was a dull aching pain all over the hand.

At 6 o'clock the burning had quite given place to the dull pain, but the place of contact was still very much inflamed and sore to the touch. There was a dull red patch, about an inch in diameter, round the spot, and the soreness reached some distance beyond this, even as much as three inches in the direction of the arm. The weakness of the hand was

still considerable.

The

At 8,30 the aching pain was still there, though much reduced. The red patch and soreness much the same. immediate neighbourhood of the affected part still perspiring visibly. The wet bandage did not seem to do any good, so I removed it after it had been on about an hour. I afterwards tried olive oil on the place, but it had no effect. At 10 o'clock I went to bed, the aching in the hand still being pretty bad. At 1.30 a.m. I awoke with the pain still considerable, and

the soreness very great. Next day the pain had quite gone, but the soreness continued till the day after.

The marks of the points of the spines, thirty-six in number, are still visible (March 16th).

The plate gives a sketch of the caterpillar and the cocoon, which is remarkable on account of the little holes left at each end in the weaving.

The Honorary Secretary read the following Note:DUNKIRK AND GIBRALTAR. - A HISTORICAL NOTE ON BRITISH INTERESTS ABROAD.

BY JAMES BIRCHALL.

I. DUNKIRK.

1. It has been well observed that institutions which have proved themselves to be of essential service in one age very often work perniciously in another, and that their value depends not so much upon their principles as upon the circumstances of the period in which they exist.

This remark will apply with equal aptness to what are called national interests, since it might easily be shown that those things for which a nation has at one time persistently contended, as essential to its honour or contributory to the public welfare, have at another time been regarded with indifference. So patent indeed is this fact on the page of history, that we frequently find the sons, in a later age, puzzled to know what it was that their sires really fought about.

2. The object of this Note is to prove or exemplify this statement-first, in the case of Dunkirk, a British interest