2S2 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Ixsects and Flowers. — In answer to E. C. 

 Lefroy, I can state that, although I have not 

 noticed _ the particular cases of predilection that 

 butterflies have for flowers of their own colour 

 which he refers to, still I have been equally sur- 

 prised at the preference that it seemed to me all 

 butterflies, and a great number of other insects, have 

 for flowers of a Blue or purple tint, excepting the 

 common Garden White, which always appeared to 

 me to appreciate the delicate pink of the moss or 

 cabbage rose, or the white candytuft, if there was 

 any in the garden. This summer, too, I captured 

 myriads of the small blue and common Burnet moth 

 while visiting Ireland, on a railway bank, within a 

 few yards of the sea, on which were growing pro- 

 fusely the common Ladies'-fingers {Anthjllis rulne- 

 raria) and the Rest-harrow (Onotiis anensis), and 

 here and there the beautiful mountain Cranesbill 

 (G. pyrenaicum). Leaving this bank, not one was 

 to be seen; but when I reached home I found an 

 extremely large lavender hedge in the garden in 

 full blossom, together with another trailing plant of 

 exactly the same tint, of which I forget the name, 

 literally covered with the small Tortoiseshell and 

 common brown butterfly. But I cau hardly fancy 

 that it is the colour alone that induces the butter- 

 flies to settle on certain flowers, but that the flavour 

 of the nectar influences the colour of the blossom, 

 and so is a kind of index to the butterflies' taste. 

 Eor instance, I never saw a butterfly, to my remem- 

 brance, settle on a red geranium or pelargonium. — 

 W. IF. H. 



Tennyson on the Habits of Certain Elies. 

 — We must criticise sometimes, even where we 

 admire; and although I consider In Memoriam, 

 taken as a whole, one of the most masterly poetical 

 performances in the English language, I decidedly 

 dislike the third stanza ot the i'Jth section. Its 

 Natural History is certainly very perplexing. Ap- 

 pealing to his departed friend, the bard cries — 



" Be near me when my faith is dry, 

 And men the flies of latter spring:, 

 That lay their eggs, and sting, and sing, 

 And weave their petty cells and die." 



Considerable liberty is_ allowed to. poets, as we 

 know, and this poetic license plays strange tricks 

 with grammar ; but in the stanza cited it is ques- 

 tionable whether the omission of a verb in the 

 second line is not going beyond the privilege con- 

 ceded to a writer of verse. Passing from that, 

 however, I cannot but think that these fliesfare 

 very remarkable creatures ! I have as yet failed to 

 find them, but that may be because 1 don't pre- 

 cisely understand what the poet means by "latter 

 spring." If it be the period when spring is merg- 

 ing into summer, then we should look for them in 

 May or June. However, a friend suggests that as 

 flies are more abundant in the autumn of the year, 

 by "latter spring" the poet may mean those occa- 

 sional fine days which we get towards the close of 

 the season, and which have at times the balminess 

 ot spring. Now, these flies are represented as 

 doing four things: they "lay eggs," which seems 

 natural enough ; and, though placed first in the 

 stanza, need not be supposed to be first in order of 

 time. But, then, they " sting and sing ;" sing, be 

 it observed — not hum or buzz. And, to crown 

 all, they "weave cells"— an extraordinary proceed- 

 ing for any iinagos of Diptefa to betake themselves 

 to. And yet the description could hardly apply to 

 bees, though stings are mentioned. 1 am afraid 

 this stanza is a proof that Tennyson is no entomo- 



logist ; or, at least, was not when he wrote thus. 

 However, we can hardly expect that a poet should 

 write like a naturalist; and I would rather he 

 should be a little erratic from science than attempt 

 anything so elaborate as Darwin's "Botanic Gar- 

 den." Still, it would be interesting to know if the 

 author of In Memoriam really intended to refer to 

 any particular species of insect, the habits of which 

 he may have partly observed and partly conjectured. 

 —J. li. S. C. 



A Great Take of Honey.— A tree was felled 

 the other day at Sandy Creek, Wagga "Wagga, for 

 the purpose of procuring honey, which it was known 

 had been collected there by a rather large swarm 

 of bees. When the tree was cut down there was 

 found in the hollow one of the most astonishing 

 collections of honey ever known, probably,, to have 

 beeu gathered by one swarm of bees. There were 

 several immense layers of comb ten feet ill length, 

 and of great density, extending along the inside of 

 the trunk, and almost clothing the hollow of the 

 tree _ entirely. After it had been carried home 

 (having been wasted considerably by the fall of 

 the tree and the primitive mode in which it was 

 collected), the comb yielded over 200 lb. of honey 

 of the purest quality. — Melbourne Argus. The 

 above extract from an Australian paper will, no 

 doubt, be of interest to bee-keeping subscribers of 

 Science-Gossip. ' 1 find the past season has beeu 

 a very bad one for honey in this part of the country, 

 though I was fortunate enough to obtain two large 

 wooden supers from my single Woodbury hive, one 

 of which was very well filled, and the other not half 

 completed. In 1S70 I had one super sealed over : 

 these supers, when full, contain 30 lb. to 32 lb. of 

 pure honey, unless we should be so unfortunate as 

 to allow the queen to ascend, when a quantity of 

 brood comb is the result.— J. Henderson, Reading. 



Snii>e. — Walking on Dartmoor on the 22nd Octo- 

 ber last, I saw a wisp of forty-three snipe. Is not this 

 an unusually large number ? They wheeled round 

 within thirty yards of me three times before start- 

 ing off northwards, presenting a lovely spectacle as 

 they glittered in the sun. Their little bodies shone 

 like silver, and quite made us all think of the simi- 

 larity the sight bore to fireworks.— F. A. F. 



Recollections of a Hen. — A pet hen which 

 was left at liberty when young, and allowed admis- 

 sion to the kitchen, was after a time put into a 

 fowl-house with others, and kept there a year and 

 a half, not being let out during that time. A to- 

 days ago, Judy — i.e. the pet— was, with the other 

 fowls, put into the garden, where, after a little time, 

 Judy was missed, and, on looking for her, she was 

 found quite at her ease by the kitchen fire. — A.E. 



Stixgs. — "J. W. W." will not, I am afraid, find 

 a detailed account of the many varieties of stings in 

 any one book. With regard to the stinging pro- 

 perties of nettles, he will find a short explanation 

 in Bentley's "Manual of Botany" (p. 51). For 

 information respecting the minute anatomy of the 

 stings of wasps and bees, " J. W. W." cannot do 

 better than refer to Dr. Mill's excellent paper in 

 SciENCE-Gossir for 1SGS (p. 148, July number). 

 On the poison-glands in spiders, there arc several 

 good articles in Science-Gossip for 1S0G. There 

 are poison-glands in the nettle ; and the poison is 

 no doubt acid, like that of most of the animal 

 poisons. — C. A'. JR., L.ll.C.P. Load. 



