68 



NATURE 



[Nov. 25, 1875 



of the lava currents of Auvergne. M. Lecoq had in his museum 

 some fossil remains of the Marmot, the Mammoth, and the 

 tichorhine Rhinoceros, and he distinctly told us that these relics 

 of northern mammalia, which geologists are accustomed to 

 associate with glacial times, were mostly found in cracks and 

 fissures in the lava-streams near Clermont Ferrand. From this 

 it would appear that the latest lava streams of Auvergne had be- 

 come cold, consolidated, and fissured before the introduction of 

 the bones and teeth of the northern quadrupeds into the fissures. 

 But if this prove to be true, on further investigation, I do not 

 wish to imply that there have been no volcanic eruptions in 

 Central France since the last outpour of lava currents, or the 

 days of the Mammoth. On the contrary, I think the evidence 

 is the other way. I have just returned from a visit to the extinct 

 volcanos of the Haute Loire and the Ardeche, where I was 

 accompanied by my friends Sir William Guise, Capt. Price, and 

 Mr. Lucy ; and I believe there is evidence of a certain amount 

 of volcanic action in the Ardeche since the outpouring of the 

 later lava-streams. There are outbursts of volcanic ash and 

 scoriae which form what are termed " chimneys," and which are 

 blown right through the most recent lava-currents. Both near 

 Montpezat, so admirably depicted by Mr. Scrope, and near the 

 bridge at La Beaume, there are outbursts and eruptions through 

 the basalts, which dislocate and throw off the basaltic columns. 

 It is not improbable that some of these attempts at forming a 

 volcano happened in the Ardeche during the fifth century, when 

 the Archbishop of Vienne, Alcimus Avitus, in his homily on the 

 *' Rogation Days," speaks of " frequent shocks of earthquakes," 

 and "fires often blazing," and " piled up mounds of ashes." 

 Gregory of Tours also speaks of stags and wolves wandering 

 about Vienne. These wild animals may have been driven from 

 the forests of the Ardeche, by these last volcanic eruptions, as far 

 as Vienne. W. S. Symonds 



Communication of Information among Bees 



Some two or three years ago a swarm of bees entered a very 

 small hole under the slates near the eaves of the roof of my 

 house in the Highlands, and established themselves for the sum- 

 mer but died out in the subsequent winter. I infer that there 

 were no survivors among the bees to remember the circumstance 

 (see Appendix to Kirby and Spence's "Entomology") and to 

 account in any degree for what occurred this summer. 



The house is of four stories, and stands in the garden, in which, 

 about fiity yards from the house, on the other side of a hedge, are 

 my beehives. For a few days, during which there were the usual 

 indications of swarming being imminent in one of the hives, a great 

 many bees found their way into the lower rooms of the house ; there 

 was a constant hum of bees in one of the chimneys, at the top of 

 which there was always a group flying about. The top of this 

 chimney is about thirty feet horizontally from the settlement of 

 the old swarm, and fifteen feet above it ; there was also occa- 

 sionally a cluster of bees on the roof of a "semi-detached" 

 lower building (the kitchen) on the other side of the house from 

 the old settlement, but as far as we saw no bees visited the old 

 settlement, and nothing indicated any intention of the swarm to 

 go there, though we expected it to make for the house and pro- 

 bably for the chimney I have mentioned. In due time the 

 swarm came off and rose unusually high, and I immediately 

 made some smoke in the chimney to prevent their entering it. 

 Presently the swarm settled on a low apple-tree and was snugly 

 hived in the usual way in a straw "skep" about noon. Next 

 day, however, about 10 A.M., the swarm left its "skep" and 

 made for the old settlement without any hesitation, and there 

 they established themselves in spite of all we could do. 



Of course the whole proceedings may have been disconnected, 

 but the impression left on my mind was that the queen, or her 

 counsellors, had previously "prospected," and resolved to go to 

 the old settlement as an eligible " location," and that the common 

 bees learned somehow that " the house" was to be their destina- 

 tion, but that some of them fancied the chimney, others the roof 

 of the kitchen, and others wandered vaguely in at various open 

 windows, while the queen knew exactly where she wanted to go, 

 but got confused the first day. 



The manner in|which the bees learned that the house was to be 

 their destination may have been that the queen in her investiga- 

 tions had left strong traces of herelf at the chimney and on the 

 roof of the kitchen, which attracted the bees to these places, and 

 a general odour of royalty about the house which induced the 

 bees to come in at the windows ; but it may have been that there 

 was some "talk" in the hive about it. In connection with 



Sir John Lubbock's papers, the incidents may be worth your 

 notice. 



There has also been some question as to the distance bees go 

 in search of "pasture." It may be worth noting that at Arisaig 

 House, I am told, bees are to be found in the peach-house every 

 spring at the time of the blossom, while, so far as I can learn, 

 there are no hives within ten miles but my own, which are 

 separated from it by an arm of the sea (Loch Ailort), a mile 

 wide with islands, and a second arm of the sea (Loch-na-Nuadh), 

 two miles wide without islands, the whole distance being about 

 four miles from the hives to the peach-house. 



University of Glasgow, Nov. 13 Hugh Blackburn 



A New Palmistry 



I HAVE lately consulted two standard works upon the pro- 

 portions of the human figure to which Prof. Ecker does not 

 refer in the suggestive paper of which I gave an abstract in 

 Nature (vol. xiii. p. 8), in the hope of finding some definite 

 information as to the relative lengths of the "index" and 

 "ring" fingers. In the first of these two works, Quetelet's "An- 

 thropometrie " (Bruxelles, 1870), no mention whatever is made 

 of the proportions of the several digits, whether of hand or of 

 foot ; while from the second authority, the " Proportions- 

 lehre" of Carl Gustav Carus (Leipzig, 1854), all the infor- 

 mation that can be derived, meagre as it is, is purely inferential. 

 In the skeleton of a hand represented at Fig. 4, Taf. iii. of this 

 fine folio work, the "index" is considerably longer than the 

 " ring " finger ; and in the letter-press explanatory of this plate, 

 a table is given of the lengths of the various factors of the digits, 

 e.g. the metacarpals and the three phalanges, in " modul- 

 minutes," constant lengths, each of which is equivalent to about 

 seven millimetres. Now the length of the " index " is twenty- 

 three, while that of the "ring " finger is only twenty " modiil- 

 minutes," the former thus exceeding the latter digit by about 

 twenty-one millimetres, a difference much greater than any 

 which has been recorded by Prof. Ecker. In the extended left 

 hand of an «V/m/ (sexless) figure, at Taf. iv, [ibid.), the "ring" 

 and "index" digits are of the same length, the former being 

 perhaps a shade longer. 



Regiments and large asylums would be a fertile field for the 

 further investigation of this interesting and highly suggestive 

 subject. J. C. Galton 



In Mr. J. C. Gallon's interesting article bearing the above 

 title, in Nature, vol. xiii. p. 8, no mention is made of the 

 position of the hand at the time of making the observation as to 

 the comparative length of the fingers. Perhaps Mr. Galton 

 will kindly make it known whether Dr. Ecker has specified the 

 position which he adopted. That the position makes some dif- 

 ference may be clearly seen in the following manner : — 



Place the hand, back upwards, horizontally across the front of 

 the chest, and observe the comparative length of the "index" 

 and " ring " fingers. Then, by a motion of the wrist, moving 

 the arm as little as possible, turn the hand outwards in the same 

 plane, until the fingers stand at right angles to their first position, 

 and again observe the two fingers. Naturally the "index " will 

 appear to be longer in the first position .than in the second, on 

 account of the different condition of the muscles. Neither of 

 these positions is likely to be adopted by anyone investigating 

 the subject, but in any comparison of results otie and the same 

 position should be referred to as a standard, and this standard 

 should specify whether the hand is held with the back or the 

 face upwards. Dissimilarity between the two hands, as men- 

 tioned by Mr. Pryor, appears to be common. F, T. MoTT 



Leicester, Nov. 19 



I HAVE made a collection of over fifty outlines of the fingers 

 of European hands (right and left). At present I find that the 

 tendency in the female hand is to a proportionately longer third 

 than index, in both hands, than in the male. In all the hands i 

 I have examined, the third finger of the left hand (when longer ^ 

 than the index) is also proportionately longer than the same , 

 finger of the right. In this series I have found only one case of \ 

 an index longer than the third, and only one in which they were 

 equal (both males). These are all carefully drawn into a pocket- 

 book, care being taken that the hand is perfectly free from any j 

 muscular strain, which alters the result very appreciably ; and 

 the race, sex, and general physical characteristics are noted on the 

 sheet. The list at present includes some eminent classical 



