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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. ' 



The Compass-plant— In your journal for De- 

 cember I notice an inquiry from a correspondent 

 respecting the Compass-flower, mentioned by Long- 

 fellow in his poem " Evangeline." There is a plant 

 in the western United States (Ohio to Kansas) 

 whicb is known as the Compass-plant, which is 

 probably the plant Longfellow intended to describe ; 

 but he seems to have strangely misapprehended its 

 character. The Compass-plant to which I refer is 

 the Silphium lacinlatum, a rank, coarse plant of the 

 nat. ord. Compositse, L. There are a number of 

 large, erect, stiff, pinnately-parted leaves, one to 

 two feet long, at the base of the stalk, which rises 

 six to eight feet high, coarse and rough, with smaller 

 leaves, without bi\inches, and with six to twelve 

 large yellow flowers in a raceme-like spike at the top. 

 The stem is often covered with drops of rosin, on 

 which account it is also called Rosin-weed. It is 

 generally conceded that the leaves have a tendency 

 to point north and south. Tlie cauise assigned for 

 this polarity by Dr. Gray is that both sides of the 

 leaf are equally provided with stomata, and are con- 

 sequently equally sensitive to the light, tlie position 

 which they assume being the one which gives both 

 surfaces an equal exposure to the rays of the sun. — 

 Geo. Vasey, Department of Agriculture, Wasltuujton, 

 U.S. 



Bees and Plants.— A short time ago I was 

 watching a humble bee {Bombus terrestris) collect- 

 ing from the blossoms of a snapdragon, in which 

 operation it became liberally coated with the pollen. 

 When it set to work to clean itself, the forelegs 

 were passed repeatedly over the thorax ; but, as 

 they were considerably too short to meet in this 

 position, a broad central stripe of pollen remained 

 untouched on the thora.\:, when the insect, ap- 

 parently satisfied with its toilet, resumed its forag- 

 ing occupation. This inability of the bee to cleanse 

 itself entirely from the adhering grains of pollen 

 must greatly assist its agency in the fertilization of 

 plants. — George Guyon. 



TussiLAGO Petastites is described by Steele 

 and Withering as flowering in April ; and as a 

 rule this is so. This year, however, owing, pro- 

 bably, to the mildness of the weather and unusual 

 quantity of rain, I found it in full flower, and 

 leaf also, at the foot of Clifton Kocks, on the 

 1st day of January. Withering states that the 

 flowers appear before the leaves, which is, generally 

 speaking, true; but in this instance they were as 

 abundant as the flowers themselves, and of luxuriant 

 growth. Neither of the authors mentioned says 

 anything about the perfume of the flowers, which is 

 exceedmgly powerful, and pleasant withal.— /S'. 

 Smith, M.R.C.S.E., ^c. 



Beech-tbees and Lightning.— Having only 

 just subscribed to Science-Gossip, my evidence on 

 lightning-struck beech-trees comes rather late. I 

 confess I was somewhat surprised by seeing it 

 statedthat beech-trees are free from the effects of 

 lightning. I am not in a position to state how many 

 beeches I have seen that have been struck, as I have 

 not thought it worth while to record instances of 

 what seemed to me common occurrences. Last 

 October one was pointed out to me at Froxfield, 

 near Petersfield, Hants, that had been struck about 

 a week previously. It was a fine, tall, straight tree, 

 but not so tall as various other trees surrounding 

 it. The trunk was split in two from a foot near the 

 top to the roots.— -i. C. Hervey. 



Eeun Spores. — Can any of your correspondents 

 inform me whether the spores of greenhouse ferns, 

 which I unsuccessfully endeavoured to raise last 

 year (I think through insufficient heat), would be 

 likely to germinate if properly treated next summer, 

 or would the fact of their having become quite dry 

 since then prevent the operation being successful ? 

 —C. H. G. 



Stings op the Queen Bee and Wouker Bee. 

 — Major Munn, at the meeting of the East Kent 

 Natural History Society, January 2nd, 1873, com- 

 municated a paper, illustrated by preparations and 

 drawings, to prove that the queen bee cannot use 

 her sting to penetrate the offending part like the 

 worker bee, and that she employs it offensively only 

 to inject the poison into the spiracles of an antago- 

 nist queen. This conclusion he adopts from many 

 experiments and observations on the combats be- 

 tween rival queens. And having had the stings 

 examined by Mr. G. Gulliver, of Pembroke College, 

 Oxford, it appears that the sting of the queen has 

 three or four blunt barbs, and is curved, larger, and 

 blunter at the point than the sting of the worker, 

 and that this last sting is quite straight, very sharp 

 at the end, and possessed of from eight to ten very 

 sharp barbs. If Major Munn's conclusion should 

 be confirmed, it will be important to practical bee- 

 masters and experimental physiologists, since the 

 queen bee may be handled, even by the most delicate 

 fingers, with perfect impunity. 



Recent Rains and Aquatic Insects. — Some 

 entomologists couQratulate themselves that water- 

 insects will be plentiful, though butterflies and moths 

 may be scarce, throughout the year 1S73. I have 

 myself observed near London that there has been a 

 scarcity of water-insects for some years past, as 

 compared with the yeai's preceding: this is due to 

 several rather dry seasons we have had since 1S68, 

 which caused many ponds to dry up, and greatly 

 lessened others. It must be acknowledged that 

 the recent ample rains have made us amends in this 

 respect, especially as viewed in conjunction with 

 the mild temperature, so favourable to the increase 

 and more rapid development of insect life. On our 

 commons newpoiids are formed in various places, and 

 these soon begin to teem with insects, and aquatic 

 plants spring up in them. Ditches, too, which have 

 had the character of being dry for a dozen years 

 or more, are in many places running like rivulets, 

 and producing animals and plants which prefer run- 

 ning water ; so that, altogether, there should be a 

 good season for those who amuse themselves with 

 fresh-water aqua-vivaria. Certainly, at present, the 

 hunt for specimens has to be carried on uuder diffi- 

 culties, since some ponds have so extended them- 

 selves as to be hardly approachable, unless the 

 explorer is stilted ; and unless the deeper water is 

 reached, as a general rule, few insects will betaken. 

 They seem to be in some way aware that when a 

 pond has overflowed its bounds the few inches' depth 

 of water beyond is no sale home for them, as a 

 change of weather will reduce it to the usual limits. 

 Also in shallow water insects are more exposed to 

 enemies, aquatic and non-aquatic. The preferences 

 shown by some species are singular and not easily 

 explicable. One pond will be found to yield larvae 

 of the common gnat in abundance, while none occur 

 in adjacent ponds. The larvae of the various caddis- 

 flies \Phryganidce) evidently dislike water which is 

 quite stagnant. The more weedy and muddy a pond 

 is, the greater attraction does it present to most 

 dragon-flies.—/. R. S. C. 



