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NATURAL HISTORY JOTTINGS.

ON WASPS, CHIEFLY.

[Continued from p. 17.]

AUGUST 6th.-In another stone-faced earthen

dyke there are two wasps' nests, one of which belongs to the Vespa sylvestris and the other to the V. rufa. In the former there are males and large females or queens present, as well as the workers. In the burning-out of the latter no queen was obtained, and only one male; but both may have been present in numbers exceeding one, and been destroyed in the destruction of the nest.

In a small meadow of barely four acres, the hay of which has shortly been cut, there are no fewer than six nests of wasps, three of which are built in one of the dykes and three in the ground. Of the three nests in the ground two belong to the Vespa vulgaris and one belongs to the V. rufa; and two of them, one pertaining to each of the species, are well out into the field, the third being much nearer the hedge. Of the three in the north dyke of the field, on its southern side, one pertains to the V. rufa, one to the V. sylvestris, and one to the V. vulgaris; the first-mentioned being the westernmost, the second within twenty paces of it to the east, whilst the third will not be much more than the same distance from the second nest. On the western side of the first nest, that of the V. rufa, and only nine paces from it is a small nest of the common humble-bee (Bombus terrestris) situated behind the facing stones of the dyke, as are also the nests of the V. sylvestris and V. vulgaris, that of the V. rufa being at a point where there are no stones; and nearly in the middle of the field, in the level ground, is a nest of the orange-tailed humble-bee (B. lapidaria). The meadow is a moist one, and is overrun with the waterrat or vole (Arvicola amphibius) and the field vole (A. agrestis), being in many parts literally riddled and furrowed with the burrows and runs of the former quadruped; the abundance of these two species of vole, not only in this particular meadow, but also in other of the meadows and pastures around, will probably account for the apparent ease with which the various colonies of the four species of wasp and the two species of humble-bee enumerated have been established, and consequently in part for their abundance there.

Standing by two of the nests that are built in the ground, one of which belongs to the Vespa vulgaris, and the other to the V. rufa, both nests being large and strong ones, I observed that at both the worker wasps were very busily engaged in bringing up out of the nest-cavity pellets of earth and small stones, and flying away out of sight carrying them in their mandibles. These pellets were frequently of the size of a small pea, and then were with difficulty borne away, the wasp not seldom striving vainly for

a longer or shorter period being able to take wing with its burden. Sometimes the pellet proved altogether too large or heavy to be thus carried off, when the vulgaris would carry it down again into the nest-cavity, possibly to store it in some recess to be there found, the entrance to the nest being small and direct from the surface, not recessed at all; and once I observed a wasp of this species bring up out of the cavity a large thin wedge-shaped piece of stone or brick which was too heavy to be borne away, and which was also again carried down into the burrow. In the case of the V. rufa, the pellet when too large or heavy was deposited on the sides of the rather large recess at the entrance or mouth of the burrow; this nest being only a little distance underground. The nest of this latter species contained many of the large females, or queens, as well as males; and its shell or case was composed of thin, fine in texture and moderately tough paper laid on in large sheets, not in small convex, coarse, brittle, shell-like pieces, as was the nest of the former, which contained neither queens nor males, or drones.

August 9th.-This forenoon, as the wind blew a gale from the west, and there were alternations of sunshine and cloud and scuds of rain, the nest of the Vespa sylvestris was successfully taken from the north dyke of the little meadow. It lay in a cavity immediately behind two of the facing stones, and much resembled another of the rounded grey stones, such as are much used in dyking, the entrance to the nest-cavity being a small hole between two of the stones lying in front of it. This nest was of the usual form, turnip-shaped; and it contained three tiers of comb, the second of which contained many large cells occupied by the large females, and, adjoining them, a few smaller ones occupied by males, all of which were about ready for emerging. There were also many of these large females or queens, as well as a few males or drones, in the nest when taken. In the comb there were also larvæ of all sizes from shortly hatched to about full-grown, as well as pupa or nymphs in all stages of evolution; but I only observed one ovum. Such was the force of the wind, that, standing on the windward side of the nest, there was little danger of getting stung, as the wasps could not cope with the gale blowing; and the occupants of the nest, after it had been dislodged and removed out into the open field, were easily knocked down and secured.

August 18th.-A nest of the Vespa rufa taken at dusk this evening out of a stone-faced earthen dyke, on its southern side, contained three tiers of comb, and many of the large females or queens. This species of wasp is either remarkably mild in disposition, or it is comparatively lethargic, as not one of them flew at us whilst taking out the nest from a cavity behind the stones, cutting it up and extracting the comb from prior experience in the taking of the nest of this species, in the bright and hot

sunshine, I am inclined to ascribe to it the latter characteristic. The roundish hole of entrance and exit in the case or shell of this nest was on one side down towards the bottom of it; in the small nest taken on the 3rd inst., it was immediately in the centre beneath.

In the same dyke, at no great distance from the site of the above nest and each other, are two nests of the V. vulgaris, whilst somewhat farther off is a third nest. All the three are strong and in full vigour, as are also several other nests of the V. vulgaris known of. The latter species of wasp is (the V. Germanica, perhaps, excepted) the most agressive and persistent in its attacks upon intruders. If you once disturb it at its nest, you cannot again with safety tamper with, or indeed go very near the nest ; and in its attacks upon an aggressor it hurls itself, as it were, against him, and sticks to him: it has to be struck off, and is apparently wholly fearless.

Elswick, Newcasle-upon-Tyne.

CHARLES ROBSON.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

MR. C. H. HINTON, B.A., has written a pleasant and lively, brochure, entitled, "Scientific Romances: What is the Fourth Dimension?"

IN the "English Mechanic" we are pleased to see that Dr. Van Hewick and Dr. Royston Pigott speak in the highest terms of Mr. E. Hinton's "Diatomescope" as an aid in defining the markings and striæ on diatoms, &c.

WE have received No. 2 of "The Albertian," a magazine got up by the boys of Framlingham College. The ability which we noted in the first member is equally evident in the present. The interest displayed in science is very striking. Two of the papers, "A Scene in Autumn," and "A Holiday Week in Derbyshire," show considerable natural history knowledge.

PROFESSOR MÖBIUS says that flying-fish are incapable of flying, for the simple reason that the muscles of their pectoral fins are not large enough to bear the weight of the body aloft in the air, and that what has been mistaken for a rapid muscular movement of the fins is only a vibration of the elastic membrane.

A STATEMENT is made in the "Colonial Mail" to the effect that insects avoid the ground where tomatoes grow. Have any of our readers observed this? If it is correct, the information is valuable.

THE recent appearances of the sun-glows, at precisely the same period as last year, is regarded by Professor Landerer as an argument in favour of their cosmical rather than of their volcanic origin.

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PROFESSOR RAY LANKESTER maintains that the comma bacillus " of Dr. Koch is not a bacillus at all, but merely the segments of a Spirillum, the result of the breaking of a spirillum into little pieces, each piece corresponding to a turn of the spire.

THE Trunk Telephone Line between London and Brighton was opened the day before Christmas Day, and was duly celebrated by a dinner at each end, so that the two dinner-parties enjoyed each other's speeches, songs, &c., through the mediumship of the line.

SIR LYON PLAYFIELD will be the President of the British Association Meeting, which will meet at Aberdeen on September 9th.

MR. E. B. KNOBEL, Secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society, writes from Bocking, Braintree, under date January 6: "Encke's comet readily picked up this evening, near computed place; faint, with slight condensation of light."

AT a meeting of the Superintendents of National Education, at Washington, Dr. B. Joy Jeffries read a paper on colour blindness, urging that the three primaries are red, green, and violet; that blindness to the latter is so rare that practically colour blindness means blindness to red or green; urging also the danger of persons with such deficiency being employed in many occupations, and the necessity of an experimental method of finding it out.

COLONEL BERKELEY who has lately returned from the Andaman Islands, fished up, with the assistance of sixteen men, a very large bivalve Tridacna gigantea shell, which weighed 232 lbs. The inside measurement of one side of the shell is I yard 6 inches, and of the outside I yard 8 inches. The inside is of a beautiful delicate white. The mantle of the fish, when taken out, was a beautiful blue colour, and the fish made a sufficient meal for the sixteen men and their families. The shell is now in England.

THE wing of a fossil cockroach has been found in the Silurian sandstones of Jurques, Calvados, France. MR. W. H. CHARMAN writes to say that on Christmas Day last, he found a total of no fewer than 90 species of plants in flower (of which he has sent us a list), within a radius of a quarter of a mile from Heath End nursery. On the preceding Christmas Day he found 75 species in bloom in the same locality.

A PROPOSAL to connect Sicily with the mainland by a submarine railway from Messina to Reggio has been made by the Engineering Society of Venice.

IT is a notable sign of the progress which science is making in the public mind to observe that this year the Times and other newspapers gave a long review of scientific discovery in 1884.

THE Royal Society has made arrangements to obtain a Photographic Atlas of the stars of the southern hemisphere. It will be under the supervision of Dr. Gill, Astronomer Royal at the Cape.

DR. C. CALLAWAY has shown that the views recently published by Professor A. Geikie concerning the extraordinary thrust of old rocks on to newer strata in Sutherlandshire were published by himself as far back as the “Geological Magazine” for March 1883.

MR. WM. TYLOR has brought out a simple and clean method of using balsam. It is enclosed in compressible metal tubes, like those containing moist colours, so that the smallest quantity can be expelled at will.

MICROSCOPY.

CLEARING FLUID FOR VEGETABLE TISSUES.When freshly cut, put the tissues in alcohol for a few minutes. Then transfer them to a clearing fluid consisting of absol. alcohol, and eucalyptus oil in equal parts. After remaining in this fluid for ten minutes, place them in pure eucalyptus oil, to remove the alcohol. Then mount in glycerine jelly.-Dunley Owen, B.Sc.

STAINING VEGETABLE TISSUES.-It seems from last month's SCIENCE-GOSSIP that one of your correspondents was under the impression that I was quoting the method there mentioned as my own. I therefore wish to inform him that I had no intention of the sort, but unfortunately omitted to state that it was quoted from Messrs. Cole's "Methods of Microscopical Research," part xi. for June 1884. It is also mentioned in other papers, and one good method which I thought would be of use to querists. —W. P.

CLOUDY MOUNTS.-The cloudiness alluded to at p. 18 arises from a minute quantity of moisture remaining in the tissue, which, as soon as mounted, disperses in the form of microscopical bubbles through the balsam. If W. H. L. will look at the cloudiness under in. O.G. he will see that it is so. The fault can be corrected by dehydrating the section (see Cole's "Methods of Mounting"), placing it first in methylated spirit, then for a few seconds in pure alcohol, and then in oil of cloves, when it is ready to be mounted in the balsam. I next get rid of superfluous oil of cloves by placing the object on a bit of clean note paper for half a minute. Blottingpaper (which I have heard recommended) is the worst possible for this last purpose, as it goes off its fibres.-H. W. Lett, M.A.

THE ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.-The Journal of this Society for December last, besides the ably-condensed summary of current researches relating to Zoology, Botany, Microscopy, &c., con

tains the following papers-" Description and LifeHistory of a new Fungus (Milowia nivea), illustrated by G. Massee"; Notes on the Structural Character of the Spines of Echinoidea," by Professor F. Jeffrey Bell; and "On some Photographs of Broken Diatom valves, taken by lamplight," by Dr. Jacob D. Cox.

LANTERN ILLUSTRATIONS. -I fear E. W. will find some difficulty in obtaining what he requires, unless he is ready to pay for the oxy-hydrogen light, and to put up with all its inconveniences. But, as a step towards carrying out his desires, I may refer him to my direct vision camera, as described in the “Quekett Journal" for May last, p. 560. This might be enlarged so as to show imagos fairly well up to 2 feet, according to the object. If E. W. is in London, I shall be happy to see him at the Hackney Society's meeting on the 4th February, when I shall be repeating this demonstration.-J. D. Hardy.

ZOOLOGY.

HELIX CONCINNA.-In my list of Maidenhead shells in the December number, I forgot to mention H. concinna, of which I got one specimen. On page 19, it is stated that I found H. rotundata v. alba at Addington, in Kent, but on looking at my map I find that Addington is just on the Surrey side of the border between the two counties.-T. D. Cockerell, Bedford Park, Jan. 3.

AMALIA GAGATES.-A few days ago I found some slugs at Acton and Bedford Park, in Middlesex, which Mr. Roebuck, of Leeds, has identified as A. gagates var. plumbea. This species is, I believe, quite new to the London district, the nearest records I can find being Hastings and Christchurch. With the gagates I found Amalia marginata, type and v. nigrescens ; Limax` agrestis, type and vars. tristis and sylvatica, Limax flavus, L. maximus v. subunicolor, Arion hortensis, and others.-T. D. A. Cockerell, 51, Woodstock Road, Bedford Park. W.

NIGHT HERON IN SCOTLAND.-On the 14th November last, a fine specimen of the Night Heron, (Nycticorax griseus, L.) was presented in the flesh to the Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow. The bird, which was a female in immature plumage, was caught a few days before by Mr. W. Anderson Smith, of Ledaig, at Loch Creran, in Argyleshire, and was in a somewhat exhausted condition, having been probably blown out of its latitude by the severer storms prevalent at the time. The species may be considered rare in Scotland, where, since Jardine's time, there are only seven examples recorded as having been taken, this being the eighth and the first from the West Highlands of Scotland. It is a species having a wide distribution, being found in both the Old and New World: the latter was said to possess a species differing from that

found in Europe, but which has now been proved to be merely a climatal variety of a slightly larger size, but not differing in colour.-7. M. Campbell.

On

ROSSIA MACROSOMA (Delle Chiaje).-This interesting little squid is of rare occurrence on our shores, and has not, as far as I know, been observed in the West of Scotland. During last summer a specimen was taken in Loch Creran, Argyleshire, by Mr. W. Anderson Smith, of Ledaig, and by him presented to the Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow.-J. M. Campbell. DAUBENTON'S BAT IN RENFREWSHire. Wednesday evening, 20th August, 1884, Mr. Stewart, George Street, Paisley, when insect hunting at Cragienfeich, near Paisley, caught a bat in an insectnet out of a flock, which on examination, proved to be Daubenton's bat (Vespertilio Daubentoni). I received the bat alive from Mr. Stewart, which I kept for some time, and the following are observations on its habits. For food it got fragments of raw mice flesh, pieces of tinned salmon (of which it was very fond), and flies. Each fragment of food was seized with a sudden jerk, and often with a peculiar file-like cry. In masticating it moved its jaws very rapidlyso much so as to produce an optical illusion. It was very fond of drinking, either water or milk, which, from a teaspoon, it lapped with its tongue like a cat, but rather quicker. It generally suspended itself in its cage by the hind feet, and the head downwards; and in that position dressed its wings with its tongue, and with one of its hind feet combed its fur. After the bat was kept in the cage for some days, it was set at liberty in the house. It often crept on the floor on all fours," moving amazingly quickly from place to place with an odd hobbling motion. From the floor it often arose to wing with graceful ease. Its flight was but moderately quick. During the evening and forepart of the night, it spent much of its time on wing, hunting house flies. It was a noble hunter, only killing the flies when they were on wing. When it found the flies resting on anything, it set them to flight by bringing its wings close and suddenly past them. At first this method set the flies to flight; but latterly they were less willing to rise, as if they knew their fate. On the evening of the 27th August it took a large fly, and alighted on my shoulder, where it ate it all save the wings. It was seldom observed to eat the wings of flies. I would recommend the use of this bat for keeping down house flies, but it has somewhat of a disagreeable smell. Once or twice it hid about the top of my bed, and its whereabouts were unknown; but on the return of night it came out on wing. When thus hidden, it came forth about 3 P.M., on the 1st September, when it was nearly dark, on the approach of a heavy thunder rain. On the 28th August its weight was 2'125 drams, avoird. On the 7th September it was found dead, hanging in its cage by the hind feet, after being eighteen days in captivity.-Taylor, Sub-curator, Museum, Paisley.

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BOTANY.

NEPETA GLECHOMA.-The variegation is caused by an insect which burrows underneath the epidermis, and feeds on the soft cellular tissue of the plant, leaving the epidermis intact, and producing beneath it cavities; thus giving to those portions lighter colour than the rest of the leaf. I do not know of any work on the subject, and can therefore only speak from my own observations. I have seen it in other plants, but have noticed that it especially affects the Nepeta glechoma.-Dunley Owen, B.Sc.

A "GLASTONBURY THORN."-On the 20th of November last, near Ipswich, I gathered a sprig of hawthorn in full bloom giving out its characteristic odour. The same branch bore both flowers and fruit. Being so near Christmas, I thought this was not an unapt illustration of how the "Glastonbury thorn" might have been developed, without the aid of any other miracle than those which are taking place every day around us.—J. E. Taylor.

THE BOTANICAL RECORD CLUB has published its Report for 1883, which will be gladly welcomed by all practical botanists, and prove invaluable to all practical botanists. It contains, in a compact and tabulated form, all the most recent "finds" in phanerogamic and cryptogamic botany.

"THE SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS."I am not alone in holding this view, or in advocating it; nor is the subject so far-fetched as some at first thought suppose. Thus at a recent meeting of the Linnean Society, Mr. Alfred Tylor read a paper "On the Growth of Trees and Protoplasmic Continuity," his chief object being to show the principles that underlie the individuality of plants, and to prove that plants have a certain sort of intelligence, and are not merely an aggregation of tissues responsive to the direct influence of light. Not only this, but that the tree as a whole knows more than its branches, just as the species knows more than the individual, and the community than the unit. The result of Mr. Tylor's experiments, which have extended over many years, has been to show that many plants and trees can adapt themselves to unfamiliar circumstances, such as avoiding obstacles artificially placed in their way, by bending aside before touching, or by altering the leaf arrangement so that, at least, as much voluntary power must be accorded to such plants as to certain lowly-organised animals. Finally, Mr. Tylor contends that a connecting system, by means of which combined movements take place, is to be found in the threads of protoplasm which unite the various cells, and that this connecting system is found even in the new wood of trees. He has observed that most new wood points upwards, but year after year it changes its position, showing great mobility even in old wood.-7. E. Taylor.

BOTANICAL INGRATITUDE.-Mr. J. M. Macfarlane, of Edinburgh, has just given in "Nature" the result of his study of the pitcher plant (Nepenthes bicalcarata). Its flowers are dioecious, so that the services of insects are necessary to carry the pollen from one flower to the other. Mr. Macfarlane says that the same structures which by their secretions attract insects for aiding in fertilisation, also lure them to the fatal "pitcher," so that their dead bodies may help in the nutrition of the plant.

ABNORMITY OF PLANTS.-In my garden last summer a few peculiar "freaks of nature" occurred. In a plant of the new tall French poppy the two peduncles, or flower stems on one plant, being united together at the top for about a foot, the stems being separate at the bottom for a few inches, the two flowers were perfect blooms, and the plant was a free growing one, unstaked or tied up in any way. The same kind of abnormality occurred to many plants in a bed of Limnanthes douglasii, one plant in particular having the peduncles united together so as to become an inch and a quarter in width, while of the usual thickness. This feature was also to be seen in the Canterbury bell. Can this be due in any way to the dry summer?-J. C. S., Penrith.

GEOLOGY, & C.

A BURIED VALLEY.-In connection with the Mersey Tunnel, now so rapidly approaching completion, a discovery has been recently announced of considerable importance to geologists. It was expected that during the progress of the works evidence would be afforded on the question of the pre-glacial river valley which, it was predicted by Mr. T. Mellard Reade, F.G.S., so long ago as in 1872, would be found to exist below the level of the present valley of the Mersey. Mr. Reade's deductions were based upon certain borings at Widnes, and the upper reaches of the Mersey, revealing an unexpected gorge deep below the "drift," on which the town of Widnes stands, and connecting the rocky bed above Runcorn Gap with that below it by a regular gradient. The course of the pre-glacial river was presumed to be, in the main, identical with that of the existing river Mersey. It now appears that, at about 300 yards from the Liverpool side, the upper part of the tunnel intersects for a distance of about 100 yards a gorge filled with boulder clay, containing erratics. The clay is hard, and of the usual type of lower boulder clay elsewhere found resting on the triassic sandstone. Well-rounded boulders of granite, felstone, and greenstone were taken out of the clay. The rock through which the tunnel is cut belongs to the pebble beds division of the bunter sandstone, and was found to be remarkably free from faults. The tunnel is now, we believe, completely arched in under

the river, all difficulties having been surmounted with entire success. The pre-glacial valley of the Mersey is now, therefore, an admitted fact. The discovery affords a very complete proof of the truth of Mr. Reade's theory, submitted over twelve years ago.

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THE LIVERPOOL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.-The Proceedings of this Society for the last session contain the following highly interesting papers : "On a Section across the Trias recently exposed by a Railway Excavation in Liverpool," by G. H. Morton ; Experiments on the Circulation of Water in Sandstone," by T. H. Reade, "On Indented Pebbles in the Bunter-sandstone, near Prescot," by Dr. Charles Recketts; and the Address of the President (Mr. D. Mackintosh) on "The Time which has elapsed since the close of the Glacial Period."

OBITUARY.-It is with deep regret we have to chronicle the death of one of the most active contributors to field geology of modern times, Mr. S. V. Wood, of Martlesham, near Woodbridge. Mr. Wood's name is associated more particularly with Pliocene and Pleistocene geology, and only in our last number we recorded his new discovery of beds of crag age in Cornwall. In spite of his wonderful intellectual activity, Mr. Wood has for years been a great sufferer. Another geologist of note who has recently died is Mr. Alfred Tylor, brother of the distinguished ethnological writer and discoverer.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

FOOD OF TORTOISES.-In reply to an inquiry in your issue of SCIENCE-GOSSIP for November, from K. H. J. respecting the food of a land tortoise, I have found one thrive well on dandelions, grass, and buttercups, and even a few rose leaves. It sometimes took a little milk, but preferred water. Little food is required in winter.-A. U.

LATE SWALLOWs.-It may be interesting to note that on the afternoon of the 14th November, while walking in a lane near Exmouth, I saw about a dozen swallows (house martins). The day was fine and clear, and they were flying high above the tree-tops, evidently hawking for insects. On the 21st I again saw several swallows early in the day, not far from the same place. On this occasion some friends living near also observed them.-E. S., Exmouth.

MOUNTING INSECTS, &c.-I shall be glad of any and all information which will enable me to mount for the microscope the head of a spider and similar objects as an opaque preparation for reflected light preserving, without contraction, the natural colours and appearance of the head and eyes. Also, to know where the pure tin cells with caps or covers (of which I remember to have heard or read) can be procured.-7. R. Brokenshire.

A HYBERNATING CUCKOO.-One of the strangest tales about a cuckoo was recently related to me that I ever heard, and had it not been told me by a friend in whose veracity I have the most unlimited faith,

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