238 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



except the few whom I took to the trees 

 and showed the philosophy of it, and even 

 they seemed to regret that I had spoiled a 

 pet delusion." 



In his " Origin of Species," page 97, Mr. 

 Darwin, in speaking of the inability of the 

 hive-bee to suck nectar from the red-clover 

 flowers, says : " I have been assured that 

 when red clover has been mown, the flowers 

 of the second crop are somewhat smaller, 

 and that these are visited by many hive- 

 bees. I do not know whether this state- 

 ment is accurate, nor whether another pub- 

 lished statement can be trusted, namely, 

 that the Ligurian bee, which is generally 

 considered a mere variety, and which freely 

 crosses with the common hive-bee, is able 



to reach and suck the nectar of the common 

 red clover." 



Both of these statements Mr. Morgan con- 

 firms, and, acting on the fact that the Ligu- 

 rian or Italian bee can procure honey not 

 only from the red clover but other flowers 

 of his section, in which the nectar is inac- 

 cessible to the common or black bee, he has 

 Italianized his whole apiary by crossing the 

 black and Ligurian bees, and finds the cross 

 stronger and better honey-gatherers than 

 the common bee. These facts, as coming 

 from a practical apiarian, may be interest- 

 ing to the readers of Thk Popular Science 

 Monthly, and therefore I have ventured to 

 send them to you. M. B. C. 



New Bebne, Nokth Cakolina. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE SUPPLEMENTS. 



TWO grecit tendencies of modern 

 thouglit are every year more and 

 more marked : one relating to its char- 

 acter, and the other to the form of its 

 expression. The thinking of the age 

 is taking a scientific direction, and be- 

 coming more profoundly imbaed with 

 the scientific spirit, while the leading 

 minds of all nations are contributing 

 their choicest work for periodical pub- 

 lication. Not only are old sciences 

 perfecting and new ones arising with 

 a rapid development of positive knowl- 

 edge, but the method of the movement 

 is steadily extendiiig to all spheres of 

 opinion, and influencing important ques- 

 tions with which it was long supposed 

 that science had nothing to do. It is 

 one of the marked efli"ects of the recent 

 growth and diffusion of the scientific 

 spirit that it is giving a new earnest- 

 ness and seriousness to literary effort, 

 bringing forward questions of univer- 

 sal interest into greater prominence, 

 and inducing in the most eminent 

 minds a desire to communicate more 

 directly and immediately with the peo- 

 ple, by the readiest modes of pub- 

 lication. Hence, in England, France, 

 and Germany, as well as in this coun- 

 try, the best thought appears in the 



popular magazines. A further result 

 of this tendency to earnestness, in re- 

 cent periodical writing, is that authors 

 are taking the responsibility of their 

 work before the public, by attaching 

 their names to their magazine contribu- 

 tions. The old and vicious system of 

 anonymous writing in the reviews is 

 declining, and giving place to the open, 

 manly, and honest expression of the 

 writer's convictions. Through the op- 

 eration of such causes, periodical litera- 

 ture is acquiring a weight and influence 

 in our time much greater than it has 

 ever had before. 



The Popular Science Monthly was 

 established in recognition of these ten- 

 dencies, and to make the vigorous, valu- 

 able, and independent intellectual work 

 of the age, wherever done, more ac- 

 cessible to American readers. "We have 

 drawn, for our articles, from foreign 

 sources, because science is of no na- 

 tionality, and it is an obvious dictate 

 of common-sense to get the best things 

 wherever they are to be had. This 

 policy has been approved by the public, 

 and now, after ten volumes have ap- 

 peared, we find our limits so inade- 

 quate that an increase of facilities be- 

 comes necessary to secure the object 

 for which the magazine was started. 



