124< Bibliographical Notices. 



Now the suggestion I would venture to make is, that the phae- 

 nomenon may be attributed to all and each of the forces above 

 mentioned ; and that the discrepancy of opinion between so 

 many experienced and trustworthy observers may arise from 

 their researches having been conducted at different seasons of 

 the year, in different states of temperature, on different soils or 

 kinds of rock (some of which retain or impart more heat than 

 others), at different heights above the sea-level, after the fall of 

 a greater or less quantity of glacier snow, at different degrees of 

 solar heat or radiation, or under many other different conditions. 

 Some of the theories are self-evident, and have been admitted to 

 a certain extent by their opponents. Perhaps the structure of 

 the material in various climates and at different heights may be 

 better known when the science of photography has been further 

 applied to it, as I cannot help thinking that the interesting and 

 kaleidoscopic forms of snow (taken by Mrs. Glaisher), which were 

 exhibited at the last soiree given by the Assistant Secretary of 

 the Royal Society, may throw some light on this vexed and diffi- 

 cult question. 



It seems to me that the modi operandi of nature for the same 

 purpose are various, and that the inanimate and animated crea- 

 tion are governed by similar or analogous laws. An illustration 

 of this occurs to me in the case of certain marine mollusks and 

 annelids which perforate limestone and other rocks. This ope- 

 ration has been attributed by naturalists to many and different 

 causes : viz. to mechanical action, to a solvent power, to con- 

 tinual maceration of the material, as well as to the action of 

 siliceous bodies which are occasionally found in some of these 

 mollusks. The modern and better opinion, however, seems to 

 be, that all or more than one of these various methods are used 

 by the same species, and perhaps by the same animal, in effect- 

 ing its object, according to the nature of the material acted on, 

 the age of the individual, and other circumstances. 



London, 13th July 1855. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Catalogue of British Hymenoptera in the Collection of the British 

 Museum. Parti. Apidce — Bees. By Frederick Smith, M.E.S. 

 London : Printed by Order of the Trustees, 1855. 12mo. 



Amongst the many anomalies presented by the state of Entomology 

 in this country, the little attention paid to the interesting family of 

 the Bees is certainly none of the least. It is indeed singular that the 

 majority of our entomologists should confine themselves so rehgiously 

 to the study of Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, the habits of which are 



