TOG 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[July 1, 1S69. 



Hybernation of the Humble Bee. — Thanks 

 are justly due to those who have illustrated this 

 subject. The matter in Maunders's " Treasury " 

 appears to have been derived from " Kirby and 

 Spence," letter xv. ; those able writers had access 

 to all that Reaumur and Huber have produced on 

 the matter in question, and they sum up adversely 

 thereto, letter xxvi. Their conclusion seems to be 

 that sensation is preserved by artificial warmth, and 

 that the degree of cold sufficient to produce true 

 hybernation would kill them. The insect alluded to 

 is probably Bombus lapidar'ms. An amount of interest 

 has now been awakened among several observers 

 that will, lam sure, lead eventually to a full light 

 being thrown upon this very interesting circum- 

 stance. It would seem desirable in further investi- 

 gations to ascertain, by digging, whether such soli- 

 tary lurking-place is, or has been, connected with a 

 larger nest in the neighbourhood.— N. Hall. 



Orchids Wanted. — While thanking those corre- 

 spondents who so kindly sent me the orchids named 

 in my last, may I say how much obliged I should 

 be for fresh specimens of Malaxis paludosa, Slurmia 

 (Liparis) Loeselii, or any of the north-country 

 species, such as Gymnadenia albida, Listera cor- 

 data, &c. Those interested in orchids may like to 

 know that I published a list of the Buckinghamshire 

 species, with notes and localities, in the Quarterly 

 Magazine of the High Wycombe Nat. Hist. Soc. for 

 April last. — James Britten, High Wycombe. 



Tennyson as a Naturalist. — Violets under 

 Ash-trees. — Since reading a paragraph in your 

 May number 1 , headed as above, I have taken par- 

 ticular notice of the plants, &c, growing under Ash- 

 trees. In many instances I have found Violets 

 {Viola canina) growing under them and nestling 

 between the roots ; while the wild Hyacinth, I have 

 remarked, blooms in greater abundance under the 

 Ash than anywhere else. The following are a few 

 of the plants I have noticed as growing in profu- 

 sion under the Ash : .Ferns of several kinds, Wild 

 Rose, common Bramble, Woodruff, Mercurialis 

 annua, Veronica Chamsedrys, Potentilla anserina, 

 and P. reptans ; besides others too numerous to 

 mention, and all, not only beneath the trees, but 

 between the roots, and as close to the stem as 

 possible. We have also a fine clump of Rhododen- 

 drons just now in beautiful bloom, surrounding and 

 concealing the bole of a large Ash-tree; while many, 

 indeed most, of the fields hereabouts have one or 

 more of these trees in their midst or within their 

 limits, and the corn grows as near them as the 

 plough can be taken. The result of my observa- 

 tions has been that almost all vegetation is more 

 luxuriant under the Ash than any other tree. — 

 H. S. M. 



Nereis Bilineata.— I have from time to time 

 had many of these worms in my aquarium, but 

 until lately have never succeeded in keeping one 

 long, as they would not eat, however much I 

 tempted them to do so, seeming not to possess the 

 slightest sense of smell, and they consequently died 

 of starvation. At last, however, I am fortunate 

 enough to possess a specimen that entirely differs 

 from its predecessors in this particular, as it greets 

 the stick with which I feed them with delight, and 

 even follows it, and hunts about for it if I withdraw 

 it ; it lives in a tube which it made for itself during 

 the winter, from which it appears when hungry, 

 and to which it retires when it has finished its 

 meal. — E. J. Johnson. 



A Northern Note. — This morning, June 16th, 

 Kirkstone and High Street, Vale of Troutbeck, are 

 deeply covered with snow. Coniston and range are 

 also covered, but not so deeply. Wind easterly. 

 Can it be but eight days off Midsummer's Day !— 

 F. S. T. 



Parroquet Breeding. — I recommend "T. B. 

 N." to feed his Love-birds upon millet-seed. I 

 knew two ladies who kept these birds, and millet 

 was almost the only food given them at all times. — 



f. a h. 



Badger in Norfolk. — At the May meeting of 

 the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, a 

 paper by Mr. J. H. Gurney on the " Mammalia of 

 Norfolk and Suffolk," was read by the secretary. 

 Speaking of the Badger, Mr. Gurney says he " sup- 

 poses it to be nearly extinct in Norfolk ; the last he 

 heard of was captured about ten years since at Int- 

 wood," near Norwich. In a note, however, he 

 adds, " I was informed to-day (Gth May, 1869), by 

 Mr. W. B. Hume, of Bromley Hall, Norfolk, that a 

 badger was trapped last year on his estate at 

 Somerton. It was found dead in a sheep-fold, 

 having dragged the trap no less than four miles 

 from the spot where it was first caught." In the 

 discussion which followed, it was stated that where 

 fox-hounds were re-introduced into this district, 

 some badgers were turned off to make earths for 

 the foxes • it is quite possible, therefore, that the 

 badger killed on Mr. Hume's estate might have 

 been one of these, or descended from them, and 

 that Mr. Gurney's observation, applied to the old 

 race of Norfolk Badgers, is quite correct. Since 

 the above was written, Mr. Stevenson has informed 

 me that a badger was killed very recently near 

 Swaffham. — T. Southwell, Nortoich. 



Volvox Globator.— It may interest some of the 

 numerous readers of Science-Gossip to know that 

 Volvox Globator may be found in great abundance 

 in a pond at the foot of the Addington Hills, near 

 Croydon, Surrey— F. W. W. 



A Long Sleeper. — I had a caterpillar of the 

 Puss Moth brought me by a friend twelve months 

 ago last August : it formed its cocoon a few days 

 after I received it, and has been lying in that state 

 for twenty-one months. This morning the moth 

 made its appearance ; is this not an unusual thing ? 

 — H. Chalicin. 



_ The Oak.— There is, or was at least in ] 861, a 

 singular tree growing in the grounds of the Wood- 

 row Inn at Cawston, about nine miles from Nor- 

 wich. This tree was called by the landlord the 

 " Oak-leaf Hornbeam Beech," and had most distinct 

 leaves of each genus growing on the same branch. 

 It was considered a great curiosity in the neigh- 

 bourhood, and visitors were in the habit of going 

 to admire it. Can any of your readers give any 

 further account of it, or explain the phenomenon ? — 

 H. N., Oscott. 



TnE Shamrock. — With reference to this 'much- 

 vexed question,!! feel that no satisfactory conclusion 

 will ever be arrived at, as so many difficulties appa- 

 rently lie in the way. Por my part, I consider that 

 the arguments in favour of the Oxalis acetosella are 

 not without their due weight, since we know that 

 Ireland was at the time of St. Patrick very thickly 

 wooded, and, as antiquarians argue, this plant was 

 doubtless very plentiful. 1 do not deny that the 



