131 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[June ], 1869. 



to the plant oue of the vagaries of Puck, whose 

 delight it is to 



" Mislead night wanderers, laughing at their harm." 



Midsummer Night's Dream. 



It may he observed that, although usually written 

 Herb Robert, the word Robin occurs in more than 

 one local name of the plant ; in the eastern 

 counties it is " Red Robin ; " one of its Bucking- 

 hamshire names is "Ragged Robin;" and in 

 Devonshire it is " Robin-flower." The attempt to 

 connect the name with a Professor Roberts, of the 

 Oxford Botanic Garden, is absurd, as, according to 

 Dr. Prior, it "occurs, in a MS. vocabulary of the 

 thirteenth century." Perhaps Mr. Grindon's deri- 

 vation is more reasonable than any ; he writes : — 

 " Robert is probably a corruption of rob, or rub- 

 wort, the red plant, the branches and leaves, to- 

 wards autumn, being remarkable for vivid redness : 

 herb would subsequently be prefixed, when the 

 original idea was lost in that of a fancied dedica- 

 tion." {British and Garden Botany, p. 119.) This 

 notion is somewhat borne out by the fact that 

 Sir John Hill, in his "Herbal" (1789), refers to its 

 redness as a prominent feature. "It is to be 

 observed," says he, "that Nature seems to have set 

 her stamp upon several herbs which have the virtue 

 to stop bleeding ; this and the Tutsan, the two best 

 remedies the fields afford for outward and inward 

 bleedings, become all over as red as blood at a 

 certain season." This idea of Nature having " set 

 her stamp upon several herbs " originated what is 

 called " the doctrine of signatures." I have lately 

 seen G. Robertiamm called "the Robert-leaved 

 Cranesbill," but am at a loss to discover the 

 meaning of the prefix. James Bmtten. 



Hiyh Wycombe. 



HYBERNATION OF THE HUMBLE BEE. 



TN answer to the questions of Mr. Hall, in 

 •*• reference to my paper on the " Winter Home 

 of the Humble Bee," I wish to state that the facts 

 which I have given in my papers are strictly true, 

 and that the engraved illustration is an elegant and 

 faithful representation of the drawing which I sent 

 to the publisher of Science-Gossip. The friend to 

 whom I referred in my paper is Samuel Brown, 

 L.L.D., formerly of Armagh, now of Parsonstown — 

 a distinguished scholar, a naturalist, and a micro- 

 scopist. As to the interpretation of the facts, I may 

 say I did not mean to convey the impression that 

 " no passage to the cell ever existed," as one of the 

 questions of Mr. Hall would seem to imply ; I 

 merely stated the fact that neither Dr. Brown nor 

 I could discern any marks of the passage by which 

 the bee had found access to its place. If I had 

 given any opinion as to the mode of access, I should 

 have said that in all probability the bee had 

 burrowed a passage to the cell, and that as she 



advanced she filled up the passage behind with the 

 earth removed from the front, the earth from the cell 

 filling up the inner and last portion of the passage. 



Neither did I mean to give any suggestion to the 

 idea that " all air was excluded ; " some air must 

 certainly have found access to the cell, or the bee 

 could not have been alive when found ; yet it is an 

 interesting question whether much air be required 

 for an insect in the state of semi-torpor usual during 

 hybernation. I should think that there is not so 

 much required as is necessary during the period of 

 activity and vigour. Whether late in August be not 

 in general too early for the commencement of the 

 hybernation of the humble bee I would not 

 express an opinion further than this, that the facts 

 I have given, if I have interpreted them correctly, 

 go some length to favour the hypothesis that in 

 some instances late in August may be a usual time 

 for such commencement. 



Eor the full history of the hybernation of the 

 humble bee there must be an induction from the 

 facts supplied by numerous cases, of which I can 

 only hope to have afforded, through the medium of 

 Science-Gossip, those connected with a single 

 reliable instance. 



I am pleased that *my paper has provoked 

 inquiry and given some interest. 



Armagh. Lewis G. Mills, A.B., LL.B. 



Interested as I have been in remarks made on 

 this subject by several correspondents to Science- 

 Gossip, I was agreeably surprised a few days 

 since by meeting with an ocular demonstration 

 of the facts stated by them. It was on one of the 

 coldest days of the last week in March, when, in 

 company with a young friend, I was busily ransack- 

 ing the old ruins of a castle, in search of objects of 

 interest for my microscope. It was my good fortune 

 to turn a stone over where a humble bee had located 

 itself during the winter. As soon as I had removed 

 the roof Jwm the snug dwelling, its lowly denizen 

 shuffled out of the hollow in a half dormant state, 

 and crawled awkwardly a short distance, halting 

 every now and then as though to recover fromlthe 

 surprise which his sudden introduction to daylight 

 had caused. After securing my new-made acquaint- 

 ance in a bottle, I proceeded to examine his late 

 abode. No architectural beauty, no aims at comfort 

 were here displayed, beyond those afforded by a 

 rough excavation in the chalky soil corresponding 

 to a similar depression in the stone above ; this was 

 all, for after the closest scrutiny I felt perfectly 

 satisfied that no aperture for entrance or exit could 

 be discovered. The hollow was just sufficient to 

 allow my humble friend to be curled up comfortably, 

 and, as far as warmth goes, I feel sure he did not 

 lack. Mr. Mills states in Science-Gossip for 

 Eebruary that he discovered his bee late in August. 

 If this be the time at which they take to their 



