HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCE- GOSSIP. 



237 



full and effective, and students intending examination 

 by tlie South Kensington system will find it exceed- 

 ingly useful. It is not au courant, however, with 

 many of the leading views, and some old ones are re- 

 narrated with charming simplicity. Thus, at p. 112, 

 we have more of theology than ethnology, where the 

 author adopts the literal account of the dispersal of 

 nations after the Deluge, and the part which the sons 

 of Noah took in the several migrations of the human 

 race. A new edition (the seventh) of the late Mrs. 

 Somerville's " Physical Geography," well and ably 

 revised, and bi^ought up to the knowledge of the 

 present day, is a more acceptable recent publication 

 by John Murray, Albemarle-street. Those who never 

 studied Mrs. Somerville's most charming book will 

 now have the opportunity of doing so with even 

 greater advantage than when that important work was 

 first published. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Bees in a Shower. — It has been asserted that 

 bees are never caught in a sudden shower, unless it 

 be at a very great distance from the hive ; that by 

 " instinct," or by due attention to the signs of the 

 A\-eather they know Avhen to return to shelter. This 

 statement is endorsed by Mr. John Hunter in his 

 excellent " Manual of Bee-keeping." On the 5th July 

 I witnessed a curious exception to this rule, which I 

 nevertheless believe to hold good in almost every 

 instance. It was a mile or so from St. Ives, in 

 Huntingdonshire, the sun shining brightly at the 

 time, but an innocent-looking cloud had crept up 

 from the north. It thus cast no shadow, and its 

 presence was unnoticed until asserted by the sudden 

 pattering down of large drops of rain. I ran to the 

 nearest hedge, and from its friendly shelter observed 

 a stream of bees, rising apparently from the field of 

 white clover, passing over the fence, and making a 

 regular "bee-line " for a farm half a mile away. Each 

 insect was about a yard from those on either side, 

 and the same distance from those in front and rear. 

 The stampede continued for two or three minutes, 

 during which time some hundreds of bees must have 

 passed over the hedge. A few wheeled round above 

 my head, but generally they rose a little at the fence, 

 and continued their course. The rain ceased, and the 

 number of homeward-bound insects immediately de- 

 creased, while those which could not in the time have 

 reached home began to return, looking, one might 

 almost fancy, ashamed of their false alarm. A few 

 still made for home, so that for a minute or two there 

 were lines going in each direction ; but the sun again 

 shone as brightly as ever, and the insects went skim- 

 ming here, there, and everywhere in their usual man- 

 ner. This occurrence seems to show that it is not 

 through "instinct" that the bee seeks its home on 

 the approach of rain, but through close observation. 

 In this particular case it was at fault, owing to the 

 rather unusual circumstance of the rain beginning to 

 fall in the midst of bright sunshine. Another point 

 which struck me at the time was that the bees seemed 

 to rise from the clover, a plant, the flowers of which 

 are robbed and fertilized by the humble bee, and 

 there were many of these insects so employed on this 

 occasion. The clover was poor and the flowers were 

 small, so that it is perhaps possible for the bees to 



have profitably expended their time thereon, Init I 

 failed to verify this by actual observation. — IV. Henry 

 Penning. 



Rats and Roses. — I reside in a house which once 

 formed part of a great abbey, and is now included in 

 the precincts or close of a renowned cathedral. Its 

 venerable walls are clothed, and greatly adorned, by 

 a luxuriant growth of clustering roses, of ivy, and of 

 white jasmine and clematis, the two latter now in 

 charming perfection, the admiration of all beholders. 

 The clematis, especially, regales our eyes by its 

 wealth of blossoms immediately beneath the sill of our 

 drawing-room window, on the first floor of the house, 

 some fifteen feet above the level of the garden below. 

 That birds, bees, and butterflies should hover around 

 the creepers, and share our enjoyment of their beauty, 

 is quite according to the best precedents, and has our 

 full acquiescence and approval. If a few earwigs 

 extend their walks beyond the leafy shelter, we know 

 how to pardon such indiscretions. But we are not 

 superior to old-fashioned prejudices against mis- 

 chievous vermin of a much more formidable kind ; 

 and you may imagine our surprise, when quaffing our 

 tea yesterday evening, to have ocular proof that rats 

 avail themselves of our climbing plants for the purpose 

 of invading our upper decks, and that they use them 

 as sailors use the shrouds of their ships; in short, 

 that the boughs and tendrils of our creepers are con- 

 verted into rat-lines ! The tranquillity of tea-time 

 might well be interrupted when a whiskered Rodent 

 appeared at the window, tried it with his clever paws, 

 and, finding it closed, retired with a discomfited air ! 

 You and your readers will feel for us in our serious 

 dilemma, threatened, perhaps, with the fate of Bishop 

 Hatta in the Mause-thurm. What is to be done ? 

 We cannot trice up boarding-nettings ! Must we 

 really cut away our charming clematis? Can we by 

 no sacrifice less harrowing to our best affections place 

 ourselves beyond the reach of renewed attacks by 

 unscrupulous and crafty invaders ? — IV. E. D. 



Plants for Reptile Vivaria. — Will some cor- 

 respondent oblige me M'ith a few hints as to the most 

 likely plants to succeed in a reptile vivarium ? Our 

 case is large and oblong, as for ferns, with free venti- 

 lation by means of a sheet of perforated zinc at top. 

 Lizards, salamanders, blindworm, and frogs, are the 

 present occupants, and appear to do very well ; but 

 the plants are mostly a failure. Ferns wither up and 

 die off, — I think because the atmosphere is not suffi- 

 ciently humid ; and I doubt if ferns and reptiles 

 would, under any circumstances, thrive under similar 

 artificial conditions. But there are surely some plants 

 of moderate size which might be cultivated in the 

 case with success ? Any practical suggestion on this 

 point, as also information on the best food for reptilia 

 not hybernating during the winter months, would be 

 thankfully received, — W. H. Groser, B. Sc. 



Is the Lemming found in England? — If the 

 holes seen in the Lake district by your correspondent 

 (Science-Gossip, p. 189) were made by the Lemming, 

 it would be a most interesting discovery. But it is 

 more likely that they would be the work of the field 

 vole [Arvicola agrestis). Although usually frequenting 

 lower grounds than that mentioned ("2,500 feet"), 

 this destructive little animal sometimes does a great 

 amount of damage on the higher grounds, as, for 

 instance, in the upper parts of Teviotdale in the 

 spring of 1876. Perhaps some one living in the 

 district may be able to say what animal made the 

 holes. — A. B., Kelso. 



The Gorilla at the Westminster Aquarium. 

 — Possibly a few brief notes on the Gorilla now 



