Oct. 1, 1870.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



237 



Bees and Flowers. — I see a query in number 

 fiS of your interesting journal ; and having kept bees 

 for some time, and closely observed them at work, 1 

 think you may consider my opinion as of some little 

 value. The question is, 1 think, "Do bees, when 

 collecting honey and pollen, confine themselves to 

 one description of flower each trip?" As regards 

 honey, my opinion is they do not, as I have seen 

 them go from one sort of flower to the other in 

 search of it ; the case is different, when pollen is 

 collecting, for here I have never observed a bee to 

 leave the one description of plant, nor did I ever see 

 the least shade of difference between any particle of 

 the pollen carried into the hive by a single bee; 

 thus one will be loaded with bright oranse, while 

 another has light yellow, or deal-colour. This may 

 or may not be worth much in settling the question, 

 but such as it is you are welcome to it. — E. Walpole, 

 Ashford, co. Wicklow. 



Dragon-fly in Town. — On Wednesday, 31st 

 August, at 1 15 p.m., I saw a large black and 

 yellow Dragon-fly on the Holborn Yiaduct, near St. 

 Andrew's Church. Is not this a very curious locality 

 for them, being some considerable distance from 

 water to which they would resort ? — /. D. Groces. 



Loose-strife. — What is the origin of this name 

 as applied to the Lysimachiaj ? Macgillivray, in 

 Withering's "British Botany," says, "named from 

 lysis, dissolving, and mache, battle. How does the 

 Loose-strife obtain its name ? — /. R. 



Valisneria spiralis. — Your correspondents, 

 " T. M. A." (August 1st,) and Edward Banks (Sep- 

 tember 1st), may most probably find the solution of 

 the mystery with regard to the above plant "having 

 abundance of female, but never male flowers," in 

 the fact that it is a dicecious plant, and they have 

 only the female in cultivation. — H. 



Bees and Elowers.— Since writing my note in 

 last Science-Gossip, 1 have met with the following 

 note by Dean Wren to book iii., chap. 27, of Sir 

 Thomas Browne's "Vulgar Errors," p. 365, Bohn's 

 edition. " That [bees] never gather of more then 

 one and the same flower in kinde, is manifest, ad 

 oculum, that by only flying swift by over many they 

 discerne that one kinde, are arguments of their ex- 

 quisite smell." — /. B. 



Traveller's Delight (pp. 18S, 215). — I am 

 unacquainted with Wraxall's "Backwoodsman," 

 and therefore do not know in what region the work 

 is localized. But if by the Clematis "G. H. H." 

 means our British C. vitalba, that species is not 

 American, and would not be referred to by a local 

 name. Another species may be intended; but I 

 suspect some Bignoniaceous plant is more probably 

 the one referred to. — James Britten. 



Pygidium. — In the last number of the Quarterly 

 Journal of Microscopical Science, a'' pages 313 and 

 316, mention is made of the discovery by Mr. Peake 

 of the Pygidium of the Lace-wing fly (Chrysopa 

 perla). Whoever possesses a specimen of this 

 beautiful and delicate insect will easily see, not one, 

 but two of these curious appendages— very similar 

 to that on the flea. Has the use of this peculiar 

 structure been ascertained ? If so, I should be glad 

 of information on the subject. The eggs of the 

 Chrysopa perla are worth notice for the long and very 

 strong stems by which they are attached to the leaf 

 of the tree or plaut on which they are deposited. — 

 J. Bramhall. 



Clifton College Museum. — I shall feel very 

 grateful to any oik; who will kindly contribute a 

 few good specimens in any department of British 

 natural history to the Museum of Clifton College. 

 We are trying to form a really good school museum, 

 and any one who has a few shells, fossils, minerals, 

 Crustacea, insects, dried plants, &c., to spare would 

 materially assist the cause of scientific education by 

 giving us a donation. — M. J. Barrinyton-Ward, 

 B.A., F.L.S., Clifton Colleye, Bristol. 



The Flying Spider. — I witnessed the flight of 

 a spider a few days ago under circumstances that 

 were novel to me, and probably may be so to some 

 of your readers. AVhile sitting near a window in 

 my study engaged with a book which lay before me 

 on the table, one of those little creatures of that 

 species with whose feats of aerostation I was long 

 familiar, appeared running across the leaf. I had 

 never seen any of them except in the open air 

 before, and I was always under the impression that 

 their so-called flight was nothing more than their 

 floating away on a line of web borne by the wind 

 horizontally. A perpendicular ascent, or an ascent 

 in a perfectly calm atmosphere seemed out of the 

 question. It now occurred to me to ascertain 

 whether they arc capable of accomplishing their 

 method of journeying in the confined and unmoving 

 air of a room. I placed my finger in its path, and in 

 a moment it had crept upon it, and as I held it close 

 before me it ran, as they always do, to the highest 

 point, assumed the attitude usual with them before 

 their flight, and rose slowly in a straight line 

 towards the ceiling. As the sun shone through the 

 window the long thread at the end of which it hung 

 was quite visible. The dark little insect at the end 

 of the flashing line of brightness, ascending without 

 an effort into the air, was a marvellous object. The 

 flight must be exactly like a balloon ascent. The 

 thread which the insect emits is lighter than the 

 atmosphere, and floats upwards, bearing its tiny 

 aeronaut with it. I should think the first part of 

 this thread must be lighter than that to which the 

 spider is attached, as I could see the line extending 

 upwards quite perpendicularly.— W. A. O'Connor. 



Spiral Twist in Chestnut-trees. — Very early 

 yesterday morning, about 7 o'clock (Sept. 11), I 

 passed by an avenue of young horse-chestnut trees, 

 of some 20 years' growth, and observed, owing per- 

 haps to the unusual light, what I had not noticed 

 before, though I have passed the same avenue many- 

 times. The trunk of nearly every tree — and there 

 are about a hundred of them — is more or less ribbed 

 and furrowed longitudinally. These ribs and 

 furrows extend from the root to the primary 

 branches, a distance of six or seven feet, but not 

 vertically. In every case they show a spiral twist 

 in the stem amounting to about half a turn, and 

 always in that direction which is called "contrary to 

 the sun," that is E.N.W.S. Is this a common 

 habit with horse-chestnut trees? — F. T. Mott. 



Animated Oats. — I am afraid that Mrs. Watney's 

 inquiry about the above plant has elicited infor- 

 mation that may tend rather to perplex than en- 

 lighten her, seeing three plants are described as 

 being the one in question ; two by Mr. Gerard 

 Smith, A.fatua aud Pennsylcanica, aud one by Mr. 

 J. Britten as A. sterilis. Perhaps all the above 

 three plants may have the peculiarities alluded to; 

 but no doubt the one described by Mr. Britten is 

 the true animated, or as it is sometimes called, the 

 sensitive oat. 1 quite agree with Mr. Smith that 



