20 



HARD WI CKE'S S CIE NCE-GOSS IP. 



tacle, but still abnormal ; and, lastly, as a generality, 

 a normality, as a categorical and specific distinction. 

 What Mr. Sutton's theory is worth integrally I know 

 not, but it is worth hearing, if even only for its 

 ingenuity. — J. W. Williams, D.Sc. 



Dancing Bears.— I wish to call attention to the 

 spectacle generally known — but known, I had thought, 

 only as a remembrance of the degraded past — by the 

 name of " dancing bears," a feature again becoming 

 revived as a money-mongering pursuit among some 

 brutish, travelling— shall we call them human? — 

 men, who exhibit in our country towns. The other 

 week I rode through Kidderminster on my way to a 

 hamlet, in its environs, called Churchill. There in 

 Worcester Street 1 saw two of these bears, each 

 dragged by a rope attached to an iron ring of quite a 

 couple of inches in diameter, and which ran through 

 the upper lip on the right side. Is this torture to be 

 permitted in humane England? I hope not. There 

 was an inhuman, a cruel meaning attached to those 

 iron rings ; there was enough in them to make the 

 heartstrings of any fond lover of the creation shiver 

 in pitying sadness. What a cruel torture, too, must 

 these poor brutes have suffered in order to bring 

 them to teaching ; and what they do suffer now from 

 the hands of their savage tamers ! Dumb they are, 

 else their voices would be re-echoed against Chris- 

 tendom from the very stones. There is no piece of 

 visionary badinerie here. My nature cannot, and I 

 do not know what human nature could, stand such 

 cruelties as these. " Hinc ilia: lachrymcz." — J. W. 

 Williams, D.Sc. 



Tussilago Petasites. — At Buxton, in the month 

 of June, I noticed the flower stems of what I took to 

 be this plant quite two to three feet high, and 

 appearing well above the foliage, whilst in this 

 county (Cumberland) I have never seen it more than 

 a foot high. Can this be the same plant, or is the 

 difference due to the climates ? Mimulus luteus is 

 found on the banks of many of our mountain streams 

 and rivers. I have found it growing by the roadside 

 on Hartside Fell in the Pennine Range, nearly 2000 

 feet above the sea level. — J. C. S., Penrith. 



Mole's Eyes.— I think Miss Layard ought to give 

 special allowance to such men as Carlyle and Mat- 

 thew Arnold, who no doubt had hardly handled a 

 scalpel in their lifetime ; at any rate, for a scientific 

 purpose. As for Aristotle, we must think, excuse, and 

 say little of the scientific imperfections of his day ; 

 but, as again for Drummond, we must remember that 

 his "Natural Law" is a popular treatise, and, as such, 

 worthy its place on our bookshelves and our study 

 table. But Talpa Europcca has a little jet black eye, 

 and a pretty dear organ it is, set into a miniature 

 orbit. Cuvier knew this, and he mentions it in his 

 ' ' Regne Animal, " and all naturalists know it. Talpa 

 cceca, Sav., which Mr. Layard mentions, in effect as 

 blind, Cuvier says is not blind, "for the eyelids 

 have an opening, though smaller than in the common 

 mole," and the illustrious Baron also mentions, that 

 he can demonstrate its optic nerve throughout its 

 course ("Regne Animal"). But it may be noted 

 that in the mole-rat (Spalax) the eyes are covered by 

 a skin (Bell, " Comp. Anat." p. 456). There is one 

 thing certain, Mr. Layard, and that is, that we must 

 take and taste the scientific wanderings of literary men, 

 as a whole, cum grano sails. — J. W. Williams, D.Sc. 



Bitter-sweet.— It may interest the several cor- 

 respondents who have written to Science-Gossip 

 concerning the poisonous character of Solatium dul- 



camara to know, that Duval gave 1S0 berries and four 

 ounces of the extract to dogs without any ensuing 

 effect, and that he also records a case in the human 

 subject where four ounces of the extract were taken 

 in two doses without any bad consequences. On the 

 other hand, Chevallier tells us of a case where sleep 

 was produced in a man who carried a bundle of it on 

 his head (Diet, des Drog. t. ii. p. 228). Frank 

 has given the decoction (Handb. d. Toxicol. S. 61, 

 1S03), and Fages the extract and fruit in large doses 

 (Orfila, Toxicol. En.) to human beings without 

 any effects. Most evidently, then, these conflicting 

 facts must be explicable on the ground of the 

 varying activities of the plant, in its production of the 

 solanine and picroglycion at varying seasons of the 

 year.— J. IF. Williams, D.Sc. 



Dumeledores. — With reference to my note on 

 " Dumbledores " in the issue for July, I saw, a few 

 days after writing, a humble-bee, a little larger and 

 stouter than a honey-bee, force its way into the 

 mouth of an Antirrhinum corolla, which, entirely 

 closing after it, effectually resisted all efforts of the 

 insect to regain its liberty. It was curious to watch 

 the continuous opening and closing of the lower 

 division of the flower, consequent on the struggle 

 going on within, now a mere working of the 'Tips, 

 now an opening and snapping together again of the 

 jaws, just affording a glimpse of the labouring insect 

 within. After endeavouring in vain to escape until 

 its strength was well-nigh exhausted, I set the little 

 captive free. After this I observed other humble- 

 bees similarly enter, and quit without difficulty 

 certain of these flowers ; but into some the insects 

 were unable to gain admittance, the mouth being too 

 firmly closed. No disposition to attack the corolla 

 base was observed at this time. Watching, soon 

 after this, by some broad beans, I noted the mode of 

 procedure of several honey-bees, which was to go at 

 once to the base of the bean-flower and pierce both 

 calyx and corolla to reach the underlying sweets. 

 Examining the flowers, I saw that, in many, large 

 orifices existed on their bases as though eaten or 

 worn away ; in others, smaller and more recent 

 punctures were discernible. A smaller dumble- 

 dore presenting itself, I directed my attention to 

 it, and found that, unlike the honey-bee, it invariably 

 addressed itself to the mouth of the flower ; even 

 unopened blossoms did not escape, for skilfully and 

 quickly separating the wedge-like junction of the 

 upper petal edges, this workmanlike dumbledore 

 entered, trod down the lower petals, and reached, 

 the coveted prize. I offer my observations with 

 much diffidence, for, being but a mere tyro in the 

 science of natural history, albeit an ardent lover 

 of nature, I fear my remarks may appear but crude 

 beside the more enlightened notes ot others. — G. A. 

 Newman, M.S.C. 



Bees and Flowers. — Flowers bitten through by 



bees were by no means uncommon last summer. 



The earliest examples were the common yellow 



crocus and the Arctic poppy (Papaver nudicaulf), 



whose flowers have been frequently found bitten 



through early in the day. In the case of the poppy 



there seems to have been a lack of patience exhibited, 



as the corolla so soon expands after the sepals have 



fallen off. The pollen was evidently the object of 



the bees' visits, as both plants are destitute of honey. 



The columbines (Aquilegia) received a large share of 



attention from humble-bees. In this genus, which is 



melliferous, the honey is secreted in spurs, differing in 



shape and length in the different species ; in the 



varieties of A. vulgaris the spur is rather short, 



