9° 



HARD J VI CKE 'S S CI EN CE-GO SSI P. 



difficulty in taking out dormant fertile female humble 

 bees to New Zealand, if they were dug up in the 

 early spring, and packed in moss, and put into an 

 ice-chest and kept cool until their arrival at their 

 destination. If, however, the common species, Bomlnts 

 terrestris, were sent out, it might do a great deal of 

 harm, and very little good. It obtains the nectar 

 from the red clover and other flowers with narrow 

 corolla-tubes, or otherwise difficult of access, by boring 

 holes from the outside, as has been shown by Darwin. 

 The red-tailed humble bee, Bombus lapidarias, on the 

 contrary, always, so far as my experience serves, 

 goes to the natural opening of the flowers, and is the 

 great agent in fertilizing the narrow-tubed ones. I 

 once watched a small patch of red clover for upwards 

 of an hour. Both of the above species came to it ; 

 Bombus tcrrestris, without exception, buried its head 

 amongst the flowers, and made holes at their base, or 

 sucked the nectar from those already made. Bombus 

 lapidarius just as invariably went to the opening of 

 the flowers, although the most of them had holes 

 made by the other species. Bombus lapidarius has 

 a longer proboscis than B. tcrrestris, and this is pro- 

 bably the reason for the different way in which they 

 go to work. Early in the summer I have seen young 

 individuals of B. tcrrestris sucking the nectar from 

 the flowers of the scarlet runners in a legitimate 

 manner, but they soon learn to make by preference 

 the holes at the base. The successive steps in their 

 education may be watched from their first hesitation, 

 awkwaixl attempts to do this to the instinctive-like 

 facility they attain later on in the season. I know 

 nothing more interesting to a naturalist when he 

 wishes to rest from more serious study than to devote 

 a few hours on a summer's day to watching the hum- 

 ble bees at work amongst the flowers. They have 

 been favourites of mine from early childhood, one of 

 my first experiments being the determination of the 

 stinging powers of the three species, and the time 

 they might be kept between the hollow of the two 

 hands before they got sufficiently angry to sting. 

 Aly recollection is that Bombus lapidarius, although 

 it has the longest proboscis, has also the shortest 

 temper and most virulent venom, and if it be not set 

 free as soon as its first angry note is heard, it will 

 not fail to punish severely. Notwithstanding this 

 trait in its character, I have no hesitation in recom- 

 mending that it is the one that should be sent out to 

 New Zealand, and that Bombus tcrrestris should not 

 be. — Thomas Belt, the Cedars, Ealing. 



Development of Frogs' Spawn. — For the last 

 two years I have carefully watched the development 

 of frogs' spawn, and my observations give much 

 quicker results than those noted by Mr. McAldowie. 

 In 1876 frogs spawned on April 4th, and my note of 

 April 8th says, "Observed tadpoles associated 

 together in twos and threes, gills visible with Cod- 

 dington lens." Thus in four days my tadpoles were 



as far advanced as those of your correspondent in 

 twelve. In 1877 frogs spawned in the afternoon of 

 March 30th ; at 9 a.m. on the 5th April one tadpole 

 was free, and at 5 p.m. several were clear of the 

 albumen. If possible I will again collect and watch 

 the spawn this year. If others do the same, and we all 

 send our notes to the editor of Science-Gossip, 

 perhaps he may make some use of them. While ex- 

 amining tadpoles under the microscope in 1876, I 

 fancied that the whole of the exterior cuticle was 

 covered with very minute vibratile cilia. I could find 

 no mention of such a fact in any work, and concluded 

 I must have been mistaken ; last year, however, 

 rather confirmed my idea, and as many readers of 

 this journal will doubtless keep and examine tadpoles 

 this year, may, I ask them whether my suspicion is 

 correct or not. — J?. B. C, Fauhams Hall, Ware. 



The Human Eye. — A well-written and attract- 

 ively got-up book on this subject has just been 

 published by Messrs. Hardwicke & Bogue, from the 

 pen of Dr. R. E. Dudgeon. It deals with the optical 

 construction of the human eye, and has some novel 

 views concerning subaqueous vision, air lenses, &c. 

 The optics of human vision are clearly and scientifi- 

 cally discussed, and yet with a popular and even 

 attractive style of description. The book is well 

 illustrated. 



Practical Taxidermy. — We have been fre- 

 quently applied to to recommend a good book on 

 Taxidermy, and are now glad to be able to do so. 

 Mr. Montague Brown has just completed a work en- 

 titled " Practical Taxidermy : a Manual of Instruc- 

 tion to the Amateur, &c." It is the completest 

 little hand-book of the subject we have, giving 

 figures of tools, modes of stuffing and setting up 

 bads and animals of all kinds, preparing skins, &c. 

 It is published at the Bazaar office, 32, Wellington- 

 street. 



The Freedom of Modern Science. — Mr. 

 John Murray, of Albemarle-street, has issued, in a 

 cheap and well-got-up form, the address on this 

 subject by Dr. Rudolf Virchow, given before the 

 Conference of German Naturalists at Munich last 

 September. The high authority of the speaker and 

 the fact that he has not often expressed his opinions 

 on the evolution theory, although he may be said to 

 be the founder of embryological research, gave his 

 remarks much prominence. The address is a search- 

 ing criticism into the views of Darwin, Haeckel, 

 Naegeli, and others, and a protest against modern 

 science being led captive by any theory, no matter 

 how fascinating. 



New Species of British Insects. — In the last 

 number of the Entomologists'' Monthly Magazine Mr. 

 P. Cameron describes two new species of lYcmatus 

 under the names of A r . hibcrnieus and X. plaeidus. 



