HARDWICKE'S SCI E N C E-GO S SIP. 



69 



numerous experiments with anemones, but could 

 never find that they possessed any powers eitlier of 

 stinging the liunian subject or of benumbhig their 

 T^rey.—Jok/i Ha)-vie. 



" Beecii-tkees and Lightning."— I have seen 

 several beech-trees that have been split and injiued 

 by electricity. A few days since (in January, 1873), 

 I'found a large beech-tree in Wiltshire, with all its 

 leaves on; they were yellow, shrivelled-looking 

 things ; they crumbled under the flnger ; the tree 

 was not dead, but the woodman who was with me 

 said that it had been struck by lightning in 

 August last, while in full leaf, with this extraordi- 

 nary result, that the foliage had not fallen in 

 midwinter. As the tree was not expected to survive, 

 it was marked for felling. No other tree near was 

 affected.— if. P. M. 



"Honey Dew." — In reference to this subject, in 

 February number — Is not this substance deposited 

 by the aphides ? Within a few hours after its ap- 

 pearance on a leaf, thousands of young aphides can 

 be seen on it, and in the course of a day several 

 generations seem to come and go, leaving their little 

 carcasses clinging to the glutinous moisture. If it 

 is not the egg-containing matter, what is it? — 

 H. P. M. 



Stings of Wasps.— E. T. Scott, remarking on 

 this subject in the February number of Science- 

 Gossip, asks, if the tube in a wasp's sting is for 

 the purpose of conveying poison ? Will you allow 

 me to inform him, that it does convey a liquid, 

 which I presume to be the cause of irritation in the 

 sting-wound. On examining a sting, cut off with 

 its bag attached, through a globular magnifying 

 glass, made by the curator of the Chester Museum, 

 I found that, under strong sun-iight, the sting 

 became transparent, with a bright scarlet line run- 

 ning through the centre. This line was caused by 

 a liquid, which discharged through one or more 

 orifices, on or about the point of the sting. On 

 pressing the bag, the supply in the tube of the 

 sting was replenished : the pressure on the sting 

 can be made with the back of a knife, and the bag 

 can be manipulated with tweezers. The colours of 

 the sting, and of the liquid, are very beautiful, quite 

 repaying examination. — H. P. Malet. 



Tntekeekence of Light.— Your correspondent 

 Horace Wilson will find an elucidation of the 

 phenomenon, so clearly and interestingly described, 

 in a paper by Sir George Hervey on the " Colour 

 of the Aerial Blue," published in Good Words for 

 August, \^1Q— George S. Gibbs, F.S.S. 



Skeletons of Animals. — I wish to make a col- 

 lection of the skeletons of different animals, &c., and 

 wish to know if you could inform me of the way in 

 which this could best be done in order to obtain a 

 perfect skeleton.— 7'. A. B. 



The Queen Bee. — Having very often handled 

 the queen bees, I can speak from experience that 

 there is nothing to fear from their stings ; I never 

 knew her majesty make any attempt to vindicate 

 her outraged dignity ; but if an experimentalist has 

 acquired sufiicient skill to find and capture a queen, 

 he must be sufficiently hardened to have but little 

 fear of a bee-sting. The late Mr. Woodbury, of 

 Exeter, who wrote under the nom de plume of " A 

 Devonshire Beekeeper," has often described the 

 combats of queens, and how one queen stung the 

 other ; Mr. Woodbury was a most accurate and 



painstaking observer, and his observations have 

 beeii confirmed by others, so that I cannot now 

 receive the new opinion tliat the queen cannot do 

 what has been so often described as done, unless 

 the observations of Major Munn should be con- 

 firmed by others. The queen bee, when handled, 

 makes no attempt to fly; she runs about pretty 

 quickly, and probably would eventually take wing, 

 but certainly shows an indisposition to do so, 

 although, we all know^, she has no inability.— /o/^/i 

 Hunter. 



Rare Plants.— For the information of Mr. F. 

 Arnold Lees, I write to say that I have a note of 

 having seen Spiranthes (Pstivalis at its station near 

 Lyndhurst in 1S57. On the 22nd of June, 

 1872, I saw Simethis hicolor at its station near 

 Branksome Tower, Dorset, in flower, and in toler- 

 able abundance. No care seems to be taken to 

 preserve the plant undisturbed, and I fear that 

 planting, of which I saw indications, will before 

 very long "improve" it away. On the 18th o 

 June, 1S72, I saw Phalaris paradoxa growing 

 abundantly amongst wheat and oats in the same 

 spot in which I noticed it for the first time in Eng- 

 land in 1S4;7. In the extreme south-east of Dorset- 

 shire five plants, all of a southern type, are to be 

 met with ; namely, Phalaris paradoxa, Briza minor, 

 Cynodon dadylon, Cyperus longus, and Simethis 

 bicolor. — James Htcssey, Salisbury. 



Diatoms. — Can any reader inform me how the 

 slides of diatoms arranged in patterns are prepared ? 

 If arranged all right, they always wash away when 

 the balsam is applied in my hands. I suppose the 

 same process would also do for Foramiuifera. — C. L. 

 Jackson. 



Luminous Fungi.— Tlie following account of this 

 phenomenon may perhaps be interesting to some 

 readers of Science-Gossip. "I noticed a very 

 singular luminous appearance a little while back. 

 Passing through the cemetery, I saw a light on a post, 

 which at first I took for a glow-worm ; but on near- 

 ing it, found that it was of a peculiar zigzag shape. 

 From what it proceeded I could not make out ; and 

 having heard that putrefying substances emit a 

 light, I did not care to handle it. Ou examining 

 the post in the morning, I discovered a fungus, the 

 upper edge of which was about the same figure as 

 the light I saw. Whether this gave out the light 

 or not I do not know, as it has never appeared 

 since." — Joseph Anderson, Jan. 



Courage and S.^gacity of Swallows.— Some 

 months since, when in the yard of a brewery belong- 

 ing to a friend, my notice was attracted by the 

 screaming of a pair of swallows which had built a 

 nest and had young ones under an archway. I 

 observed them making rapid swoopings at a cat in 

 the yard, which for some little time struck at them 

 with her paws; but finding this of no avail she 

 became frightened, and at every swoop made by 

 the swallows, bobbed her head in a most ludicrous 

 manner. I took her up, and placed her immediately 

 under the nest, which she could not possibly get at. 

 Tiie birds then became very daring, and were rein- 

 forced by another couple. The quartette then so 

 persecuted pussy that she was fain to take refuge 

 between my feet, crouching tliere in fright. There 

 the swallows actually attacked her, coming within 

 half a foot of my legs.— G^. J. L. Lahiarqne, Dover. 



The Gold-tail Moth. — 1 have never expe- 

 rienced the irritating effects attributed to the 



