POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



*39 



it is described as a mighty river like the 

 others. The name, which means "having 

 running water," seems to mark it as a con- 

 stant as well as powerful stream, and is ap- 

 plied as an epithet to the Indus and other 

 great rivers. The volume of the stream 

 may have been partly affected by the changes 

 which the country in general has undergone, 

 but a considerable part of the discrepancy 

 must be attributed to the poetic character 

 of the Vedas and the imperfect knowledge 

 which the Sanskrit people may have pos- 

 sessed of the character of this river. In the 

 later writing, dating from about the sixth 

 century b. C, the Saraswati is said to sink 

 into the earth and to pass underground to 

 join the Ganges and the Jumna at their con- 

 fluence. The people had then gone farther 

 into the country, and had become better ac- 

 quainted with the Saraswati. 



Influence of Direct Solar Heat on Vege- 

 tation. Mr. M. Buysman has published a 

 paper on the " Influence of Direct Sunlight 

 on Vegetation." On account of the con- 

 stant high temperature in the tropical re- 

 gions, plants there are less dependent on 

 direct solar heat than in the temperate and 

 frigid zones, but there are some even there 

 which require thi3 condition for their luxu- 

 riant growth. Among these are the date- 

 palm and the sugar-cane. In the warm 

 temperate zone, the orange grows best in 

 the direct sunlight, and the vine requires 

 the heat of after-summer to ripen its fruits. 

 Everywhere, whether in the warm or tem- 

 perate region, corn is grown with success 

 wherever there is in summer direct sun- 

 light enough to ripen its grains. On high- 

 lands, the influence of insolation is very 

 much increased. But the solar warmth of 

 the after-summer is necessary to ripen the 

 fruits of the most important plants ; and 

 it is for lack of this, and not from any de- 

 ficiency in the mean temperature, that the 

 vine can not be cultivated successfully in 

 cloudy England. The limit of corn culti- 

 vation ascends on the continent generally 

 farther to the north than on the shores. In 

 Norway, it reaches 70 ; at Fort Norman, 

 Canada, 65 ; at Yakutsk, Siberia, 62 ; on 

 the northeast shores of Asia and the north- 

 eastern shores of America, nearly to 50 ; 

 on the western shores of America, 57. No- ! 



where else is the influence of insolation 

 more distinctly observed than in the Arctic 

 regions. Richardson remarks, of the vicin- 

 ity of Slave River, near 60 north latitude, 

 that he had never felt the heat of the trop- 

 ics so oppressive as he experienced it on 

 some occasions in those regions, though the 

 sun's rays are there always horizontal in- 

 stead of vertical, as i3 the case in the trop- 

 ical countries. This is because in summer 

 the sun rests above the horizon. In Nova 

 Zembla the vegetation is, in places exposed 

 to the sun's rays, " like an arctic flower- 

 garden," for the surface of the soil is not 

 covered with grass as in the temperate re- 

 gions ; and the flowers are of a much greater 

 size than the leaves. In the Tundra of Si- 

 beria, on the declivities of hills sheltered 

 from the winds and exposed vertically to 

 the sun's rays, the same herbaceous vegeta- 

 tion, with its large, splendidly colored flow- 

 ers, is observed, but this is not the case in 

 plains where the sunlight in its horizontal 

 direction can not have so much influence on 

 the vegetation of the frozen ground. There- 

 fore these plains are in general really des- 

 erts, covered only with moss. Insolation is 

 also the cause of the rich vegetation in 

 some parts of the mountains in the tem- 

 perate zone. Even in the most northern 

 regions there can be a rich vegetation 

 where the plants in sheltered localities are 

 exposed to the sun. Several instances are 

 mentioned by Mr. Buysman in which plants 

 have been found blooming in these regions 

 while their roots were frozen. 



A Bee Nuisance. Iff. Delpech, of the 

 Hygienic Council of the Department of the 

 Seine, has published a report on the damage 

 done by bees and the dangers resulting 

 from the existence of apiaries in the city 

 of Paris. The bees, it appears, have be- 

 come a real and formidable nuisance in 

 some parts of Paris, especially in the neigh- 

 borhood of the sugar-refineries and the rail- 

 way-stations, where hundreds of stands are 

 kept. The extent of their depredations 

 upon the Say sugar-refinery is estimated at 

 25,000 francs, or $5,000, a year. A glass 

 filled with sirup will be emptied by them 

 in less than two hours; and, if a trap is 

 set, more than a hectolitre, or nearly three 

 bushels of them, may be caught in a day. 



