102 



HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



Notice the superb symmetry of its proportion, 

 Notice particularly the viscid disc, and the way the 

 caudicte is attached to it. Now, whether the viscid 

 disc as a whole dries or not, seems to me a little 

 beside the question. Perhaps it does, and perhaps it 

 does not. I am not evading the question, but I 

 prefer to ask how it would be possible to maintain 

 such a structure as this pollinium perfectly rigid and 

 in a perfectly upright position for 30 seconds even, 

 without some depression taking place ? How would 

 it be possible even on an immovable basis ? How 

 would it be possible in architecture ? Let us take an 

 instance. A Greek column, the ideal of simplicity 

 and strength, tapers towards the capital and thickens 

 towards the base. The thickening occurs at one- 

 third of the distance from the base, as being the 

 weakest point. Experiment with a roll of moist clay. 

 The construction, therefore, of this pollinium must 

 evidently induce rather than prevent a subsidence, 

 and the drying of the viscid disc can only assist 

 in a secondary degree. What actually does occur 

 during the operation of fertilisation is this. The 

 humble-bee alights on the labellum and cranes his 

 serviceable head well forward, in order to sweep the 

 base of the nectary in a horizontal manner with his 

 proboscis, so that when he withdraws his head, with 

 a pollinium attached, the pollinium projects from his 

 forehead, not at all in an upright position, but nearly 

 at right angles. Why a forward movement of 

 depression is bound to occur ! and even without the 

 depression, the pollen-mass would strike on the 

 stigma, only there would not be the same chance of 

 leaving so much pollen. I trust this is plain now, 

 but I trust also that G. M. will observe and consider 

 for himself. 



While touching on this subject, I wish to draw 

 attention to another delightful piece of intentional 

 adaptation. If, as I have just supposed, the thong 

 retains the pouch in its proper position, then a mere 

 forward thrusting movement on the part of the bee 

 will not be sufficient to disengage the pollinia, a fact 

 which I have often proved with the pencil ; but a 

 horizontal movement from side to side will be 

 necessary, or a rotatory movement of the pencil, which 

 amounts to the same thing. Now do please notice 

 the shape of the nectary (Science-Gossip, April 

 18S3, p. 76), widened as it is towards its end, like 

 the mandibles of a spoonbill's beak, and do please 

 tell me what it is for, if it is not to allow of the 

 horizontal movement of the bee's proboscis ? Perhaps 

 you will object that the nectary is not widened 

 throughout. I anticipated that objection on Aug. 22, 

 1884, by securing the proboscis of a dead bumble- 

 bee, and I found that it resembled a spear, with the 

 shaft thickened at the base and tapering till it joined 

 the head. The head was nearly l inch long, and the 

 shaft \ inch long (i.e. the head was \ of the whole 

 length), and when compared with the length and 

 shape of the nectary, the adaptation was so remark- 



able as to compel outspoken admiration. The nectary 

 formed a case for the proboscis as if made to measure ! 

 Then, to assure myself of my theory, I took a fly-rod, 

 and removing the top-joint, and holding the thicker 

 end so as to give the remaining 9 ft. a gentle free 

 horizontal motion, I observed the airy delineations 

 and peculiar shape the rod took. Well, it was, of 

 course, something like a flat paint-brush, the 

 minimum of the sweep being at about 2 ft. 6 in. from 

 the tip (i.e. \ of the whole, nearly). This was a 

 most singularly faithful representation of the bee's 

 proboscis, and the reason of the spear-like shape at 

 once became apparent. Really this is worth close 

 observance. 



( 7b be continued.) 



GOSSIP ON CURRENT TOPICS. 

 By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. 



THE Editor of "The Popular Science Monthly" 

 (New York) says " Harvard University is to be 

 congratulated on its leadership in the important work 

 of liberalising the traditional college education.'' 

 This refers to a reform of the practice of forcing 

 modern students, whatever their ultimate aim may be, 

 to waste their time and degrade their intellects by 

 the tedious and shallow cramming of memory with 

 those dead languages which constitute the sole 

 attainments of the dominating pedagogues, whose 

 vested interests and monkish inheritance our universi- 

 ties are still constructed to uphold. The University 

 of Harvard is a great and growing university, its 

 degrees are justly honoured everywhere. What then 

 will follow ? 



Simply the natural operation of the laws of supply 

 and demand. A trip across the ocean is a trifling 

 exploit now-a-days, and in itself an almost necessary 

 element of a truly liberal education. Therefore, if 

 Harvard continues moving in this direction faster than 

 our universities the practical British parent, who is 

 now groaning with disgust at the intolerable impedi- 

 ments that are placed on the threshold of our 

 academies, will simply send his son where he can 

 obtain what he requires ; the useful and truly 

 elevating culture of scientific education, without the 

 preliminary penalty of learning what every sensible 

 man contemptuously forgets, as soon as he enters 

 upon the practical business of life. This competition 

 will tell most powerfully on the non-clerical uni- 

 versities. Oxford and Cambridge will not for a long 

 time be sensibly affected by it, but the London 

 University and others which, like it, were intended 

 by their founders to supply modern and secular 

 requirements, may suffer seriously and soon. They 

 will lose the students they can least afford to spare, 

 viz. those endowed with the higher intellectual 

 powers demanded by science, and who consequently 



