280 



HARDWICKE'S S CIE N CE-GOS SIP. 



country. This metamorpliism among the Cumbrian 

 rocks increases in amouutastiie great granitic centres 

 are approached ; and it was believed by the author 

 that it took place mainly at the commencement of 

 the Old Red period, when the rocks in question 

 must have been buried many thousands of feet deep 

 beneath the Upper Silurian strata, and when 

 probably the Eskdale granite was formed, perhaps 

 partly by tlie extreme metamorpliism of the volcanic 

 series during upheaval and contortion. The author 

 stated his belief that the Cumbrian volcanoes were 

 mainly subaerial, since some 12,000 feet of ash and 

 lava-beds had been accumulated without any 

 admixture of ordinary sedimentary material, except 

 quite at the base, containing scarcely any con- 

 glomeratic beds, and destitute of fossils. He 

 believed also that one of the chief volcanic centres 

 of the district had been the present site of Keswick, 

 the low craggy hill called Castle Head representing 

 the denuded stump or plug of an old volcano. The 

 author believed that one other truth of no slight 

 importance might be gathered from these investiga- 

 tions, viz., that neither the careful inspection of 

 hand-specimens, nor the microscopic examination of 

 thin slices, would in all cases enable truthful results 

 to be arrived at, in discriminating between trap and 

 altered ash-rocks ; but these methods and that of 

 chemical analysis must be accompanied' by often- 

 times a laborious and detailed survey of the rocks 

 in the open country, the various beds being traced 

 out one by one and their weathered surfaces par- 

 ticularly noticed. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Swarming of Bees.— A friend of mine relates a 

 purious incident in relation to a swarm of bees. 

 The queen bee having settled in a crack in the wall 

 of the house, the whole hive turned out to seek 

 her. They swarmed all around the hole wherein 

 the queen had taken up her abode, and not content 

 with the outside of the house a large number of 

 them came in at the open window of the room 

 above. When at night-time the bees had gone into 

 their usual torpid state, they were swept into a pan 

 and destroyed. The affinity of bees for the queen 

 is well known. Here is anolher instance which 

 proved to our complete satisfaction that the crea- 

 tures would prefer to starve and die rather than 

 forsake their sovereign. — W. S. Palmer. 



A Cat. — Was it Reason or Instinct?— On 

 the 19th of last month a stray black cat was found 

 to have brought forth four kittens, all of which 

 were black. They could only have been a few 

 days old when found, as they were quite blind. 

 Wanting a cat at the time, we thought, this a good 

 opportunity to secure one : so we drowned three 

 and left one. The next diiy, to all appearance, the 

 kitten was found lying dead on the floor under the 

 shelf on which stood the box the mother had used 

 for a bed. Two or three days afterwards one of 

 the servants came in to say the cat had got another 



kitten from somewhere, and that it could see. On 

 going to look at it, it was found to have moved 

 into an outhouse on the_ other side of the garden, 

 and had got the kitten in an old coal -shoot on a 

 shelf about five feet from the ground; and in- 

 quiring into the matter it was found that the boy 

 had thrown the three dead kittens into the dust- 

 bin, and I think there is no doubt the old cat had 

 brought the dead one fi'om thence, and had left it 

 where it was found, and had moved the living one 

 to its new abode. _ If this was not done by design, 

 what could have induced her to move only one of 

 the three dead ones ? It seems to me that it was 

 something more than what we are pleased to call 

 instinct. It looks very much as if she had been 

 actuated by past experiences, and had thought this 

 the best method to preserve the remaining one. — 

 /. B. B., Norwich. 



Deiopeia pulchella (cPvnisoN speckled). — 

 It may be interesting to some of the readers of 

 Science-Gossip to hear that I have been fortunate 

 enough to tiike a specimen of this insect at Dover, 

 Kent. — L. B. Vujers. 



Wasp Duel. — A young lady friend witnessed the 

 following occurrence, and I should be glad if any of 

 our readers could explain it. The other day two 

 wasps were observed furiously fighting ; they were 

 rolling over each other on a flight of steps, buzzing 

 all the while in a very angry manner. Presently 

 one gained the victory, and having killed his anta- 

 gonist, proceeded to dismember him. He bit off a 

 le? or two, and flew away with the abdomen ; after 

 about a quarter of an hour he returned, carried the 

 thorax to a leaf close by, and biting off the remain- 

 ing legs, wings, and head, flew triumphantly off 

 with it. — A. C. Hacldoii. 



Gossamer.— I have had an opportunity of witness- 

 ing the almost unaccountable extent and compara- 

 tive density of a shower of this substance. The 

 singular appearance it presented caused much ad- 

 miration ; it corresponded generally with the vivid 

 description given by Mr. White, in his Natural 

 History of Selborne, with respect to the very similar 

 appearance which he beheld in September, 1711. 

 I was called into the garden on the 26th September, 

 at Tedworth, on the borders of Hants and Wilts, 

 purposely to see the " fallin": shower of cobwebs." 

 The day was such as Mr. White describes, cloudless 

 and calm, and the time, early in the morning. 

 Around, and in every direction, from the higher 

 regions of the atmosphere, were falling flossy flakes 

 and long threads, surpassingly gracefully. They 

 were almost as buoyant as the air ; hence the long 

 threads slowly assumed curls and waving undula- 

 tions, and their tufts of snowy cottony appearance 

 sparkled and glistened in the sunshine like so many 

 stars. Illustrative of this buoyancy, I may mention 

 that one long web, which in particular I tried to 

 secure, and even did touch, rose slowly again into 

 the air and passed over the house. There was no 

 manifestation of the presence of a spider, and we 

 felt almost incredulous that the astonishing number 

 could have been produced as suggested. The more 

 intently one looked, so much the more the number 

 of {lie webs and the films seemed to increase. Later 

 in the day I had a drive to Andover, which is ten 

 miles distant, and I observed that the hedge-rows 

 by the roadside were thickly covered the whole way, 

 and I have heard from a brother, who journeyed on 

 the SI! me day to Town, from a western part of Wilts, 



