HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G OS SI P. 



191 



The Migration of Swallows. — I send a short 

 extract from the " Publisher's Circular " of June 15th, 

 which describes an interesting experiment with a 

 swallow : — "Last autumn a bookseller named Meyer, 

 of Ronneburg, tied a waterproof label under the wing 

 of a swallow which had occupied a nest at his house, 

 and had become comparatively familiar. On it he 

 wrote a query in German, to the effect that he wished 

 to know where the swallow would pass the winter. 

 The bird returned to its former nest bearing an ex- 

 change label similarly fastened, saying, in German 

 also, ' In Florence, at Castellan's house, and I bear 

 many salutations.'" I am not aware if it is yet 

 known whether the swallows of one locality migrate 

 and settle in a body in the same tropical neighbour- 

 hood ? It would be highly interesting if it were pos- 

 sible to ascertain, by experiments similar to that made 

 by Meyer the German bookseller, how far these birds 

 in their migrations keep together. One can almost 

 see in the future an "Annual Continental Bird Post," 

 " Philosophy in Sport made Science in Earnest." — 

 Walter T. Cooper. 



Ltassic Fish Bed. — I shall be much obliged to 

 Mr. A. S. Woodward if he will tell me where the 

 liassic fish bed, mentioned by him in his article on 

 " Fossil Sharks and Rays," is to be found at Lyme 

 Regis, and also how it can be identified. — FT. P. 

 Dodridge. 



Contest between Partridge and Weasel. — 

 An extraordinary attack by a weasel upon a partridge 

 was witnessed by a ploughman last week at Kidmore 

 End, Oxon. The man hearing a noise overhead, 

 looked up and saw a fierce struggle going on in mid 

 air between the bird and its foe. The partridge was 

 endeavouring to beat off the weasel with its wings, 

 whilst the weasel, finding itself off terra firma, had 

 evidently lost its head for fighting, and its struggles 

 seemed centred in retaining its hold upon the bird. 

 After several minutes the partridge, not succeeding 

 in dislodging the enemy, which "clung like grim 

 death," became so exhausted that the pair fell together 

 in a piece of wheat, but neither of them could be 

 found. The partridge being a hen bird was doubtless 

 surprised by the weasel when sitting on her eggs, 

 and aided by fear had struggled into the air accom- 

 panied by her relentless foe. — Frank Tufnail. 



Miss M. Jackson would like to know if it is a 

 common thing to find the bugle {Ajuga reptans) of a 

 white colour, as she has found a white specimen. 



Treatment of Canary. — I have a canary (Frin- 

 gilla canaria), which, from the peculiar motion of 

 turning his head from side to side with great rapidity, 

 is apparently suffering from a severe nervous attack, 

 brought about, I fear, by the intrusion of a mouse into 

 the cage in the early winter. The bird manifests 

 considerable uneasiness, accompanied with loss of 

 voice. In addition, although the moulting period has 

 passed, there remains a bare patch in the region of 

 the throat, which may perhaps account for the absent 

 notes. Can any of the readers of Science-Gossip 

 kindly explain the nature of the disease, and remedies 

 to be applied ? I can glean nothing in " Bechstein" 

 applicable to the case. — IV. W. Ingall. 



Bees and the Colours of Flowers. — I re- 

 men. ber spending nearly the whole of a summer 

 afternoon investigating the movements of humble 

 bees searching for honey, in a field crowded with 

 many kinds of flowers, and coming to the conclusion, 

 that they had no power to discriminate between one 

 colour and another. The field was alive with bees. 



I watched an individual from flower to flower till I 

 lost him, then followed another in the same way, and 

 so on for the rest of the afternoon. Of course, with 

 few exceptions, each bee restricted himself to tbe 

 flowers of some particular species. However, it 

 would frequently happen that a bee would make a 

 mistake and alight for a few seconds on a different 

 species from that to which he was devoting his ener- 

 gies, and then, after inserting his proboscis, would 

 find out his error and dart off at once to rectify it. 

 What struck me, in nearly all these cases, was that the 

 flower inadvertently visited was of a colour perfectly 

 unlike that of the flower sought. A bee, for instance, 

 which was gathering exclusively from knautia, made 

 no less than half-a-dozen ineffectual attacks on Hypo- 

 chceris, thus repeatedly mistaking a light yellow 

 flower for a lilac one. Another, whose legitimate 

 business was with one of the yellow composites, was 

 prone to light on the magenta heads of a plant of the 

 same order (Centaurea nigra). A third bee, occupy- 

 ing himself with white clover, was deceived by the 

 golden blossoms of the bird's-foot trefoil. The hive 

 bees as a rule made fewer mistakes than the humble. 

 I noticed a rather singular exception to the common 

 rule, in the behaviour of one red-tailed humble bee 

 which I watched for about half an hour. This bee 

 confined his attentions, in a most precise manner, 

 not indeed to one species, but to two : the common 

 centaury and bird's-foot trefoil. Here pink and yellow 

 were favoured equally (for I think the one was visited 

 as often as the other), but then the shapes of these 

 flowers were as different as their colours, and even 

 the operation of getting the honey — the point of 

 principal importance to the bee, no doubt — must 

 have considerably differed in the two cases. Indeed, 

 I could tell at any moment with eyes shut whether 

 he was occupied just then with centaury or trefoil, 

 for in extracting honey from the centaury he invari- 

 ably uttered a sharp shrill buzz, as though testifying 

 against some obstruction, whereas the trefoil was 

 always rifled in solemn silence. This apparent de- 

 parture from ordinary bee-principles was, therefore, 

 quite deliberate. Is any scientific sanction to be 

 found for it?— C. B. Moffat. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers.— As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip earlier than formerly, we cannot un- 

 dertake to insert in the following number any communications 

 which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. 



To Anonvmows Querists. — We receive so many queries 

 which do not bear the writers' names that we are forced to 

 adhere to our rule of not noticing them. 



To Dealers and others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the " exchanges " offered are fair 

 exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply 

 disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of 

 advertising, an advantage is taken of out gratuitous insertion of 

 " exchanges " which cannot be tolerated. 



We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or 

 initials) and full address at the end. 



J. W. Baylis. — Use, for drying, porous, botanical paper 

 made by Spicer Bros., New Bridge Street, Blackfriars. Dry 

 thoroughly, changing papers daily just at first, for three weeks. 

 Mounting &c. are subsequent processes. 



Miss M. Jackson. — A white variety of Ajuga reptans has 

 been noticed more than once in Science-Gossip. 



R. P. — In Mr. Darwin's " Cross- and Self-Fertilisation of 

 Plants," the making of holes in the corolla of Antirrhinum by 

 bees is mentioned. Thanks for your note upon it. 



W. G. W. — Yours is not an exchange. 



