July 1 8, 1878] 



NATURE 



313 



The inert character of glycerine jelly, so well-known to 

 microscopic mounters, justifies confidence in its stability. 

 A large proportion of glycerine may render certain objects 

 too transparent. This tendency may be corrected by 

 changing the proportions as required, or by adding alum. 

 I have found even delicate colours, such as those of 

 squids, readily preserved by the jelly. No effusion of 

 mucus or colouring matter takes place, and an animal 

 may be mounted fresh if care be taken that the jelly 

 penetrates sufficiently into cavities of the body, previous 

 immersion in alcohol, or other preservatives, does not 

 prevent re-mounting in glycerine jelly. Many of the 

 ordinary reagents used by the histologist may be added 

 to obtain special results. I have not as yet succeeded 

 with large objects, but mountings with as much as a pint 

 of jelly have done well. 



The cost of the jelly is not prohibitive, and when the 

 freedom from loss by evaporation, or spoiling by turbidity 

 and discoloration is considered, this mode of preparation 

 will be found cheapest in the end. Harvey and Rey- 

 nolds, of Leeds, undertake to supply the undilute jelly at 

 a moderate price. 



Until experience suggests improvements I have nothing 

 to add. The preparations ought to be kept for years 

 before the new process can be recommended in unquali- 

 fied terms. I think, nevertheless, that I have already 

 seen enough to warrant the anticipation that mounting 

 in jelly will for certain purposes displace all the fluid 

 methods in use. L. C. Ml all 



Leeds Museum 



BEES 



A N American correspondent writes asking Mr. A. R. 

 ■^"^ Wallace, through Nature, his opinion as to the 

 genus Apis. Are dorsaia, zoimta, indica, adansoni, nigra- 

 cincta^ and yiorea, each or all distinct species ? or, our 

 correspondent asks, are some of these like ligiistica 

 and fasciata, simply varieties of niellifica ? Also as to 

 structure and habits of A. dorsata and others, which Mr. 

 Wallace has personally seen and handled. 

 The following reply has been sent us to these queries : — 

 Mr. Alfred R. Wallace having suggested that I should 

 answer the queries of your American correspondent, I do 

 so at once, having; in the year 1865 published in the 

 A tmals atid Mas^asine of Natural History, a somewhat 

 elaborate paper on the subject on which information is 

 sought for. The species that in my opinion are distinct 

 are Apis inellifica, A. adansoni, A. dorsata, A. zonata, 

 A. unicolor, A. indica, and A./lorea. I do not consider 

 the examination of worker bees only sufficient material 

 to enable any one to form a decisive opinion as to species ; 

 the examination of drones, also, I consider indispensable ; 

 it is advantageous to see queens, but those which I have 

 seen do not present any very marked peculiarities indi- 

 cative of specific distinction. I possess males and 

 workers of A. doisata, A. indica, and A.florea. That A. 

 ligustica and A. fasciata are climatal varieties of A. 

 niellifica has been apparently proved by the fact of their 

 having in England reverted to the original stock, A. 

 niellifica; there is, however, a remarkable fact to be 

 noticed that, notwithstanding the change referred to, 

 they still possess a much greater degree of irascibility 

 than A, inellifica ; ^.yaj^rt/fl; undoubtedly in the greatest 

 degree. I consider A. zonata distinct from. A. dorsata, 

 its nearest ally ; it is a larger bee, jet-black, with snow- 

 white bands on the abdomen ; I have not seen A. 

 dorsata from Celebes, where A, zonata was discovered 

 by Mr. Wallace, but he found that species in Sumatra, 

 Flores, Timor, and Gilolo. A. adansoni, and A. 

 nigro-cincta, will probably prove to be climatal varieties 

 of one species, the latter being a pale form with dark 

 bands. There is no doubt of yi. zW/^r^: being a distinct 

 species, all the sexes are known, and there is no other 



species found in India with which it could be assimilated. 

 Of the specific distinction of A. florea, the remarkable 

 structural formation found in the drone, that of a lobe on 

 the metatarsus, is conclusive; it is also much the smallest 

 species known of the genus Apis. A. unicolor inhabits 

 Madagascar, Mauritius, and the Island of Rodriguez ; a 

 considerable portion of a swarm was obtained from the 

 latter island, an examination of which inclines me to con- 

 sider the insect much more than a climatal variety of any 

 other species ; it remains that the drones and queens 

 should be obtained in order to decide the question ; until 

 this can be effected I shall consider A. nnicolor a good 

 species. 



Of the habits of the species of the genus Apis, Mr. 

 Wallace, Sir John Hearsey, Dr. Jerdon, and Mr. Chas. 

 Home have given some interesting particulars. A. dorsata 

 suspends its mass of combs on the branches of trees, quite 

 exposed, having no covering whatever ; Sir John Hearsey 

 succeeded in obtaining a swarm which he secured in a 

 box-hive, thus domesticating the species, and obtaining 

 from time to time quantities of delicious honey. Dr. 

 Jerdon gave me combs oi A. indica, which had taken up 

 its abode in the rafters of an outhouse. Mr. Home gave 

 me the comb oi A, florea; it is attached to a twig of some 

 bushy plant. Dr. Welwitsch brought combs oiA. adansoni 

 from Angola ; they were found inside a hollow tree ; the 

 cells are considerably smaller than those of any of the 

 honey-bees of Europe. Frederick Smith 



British Museum 



THE ORION NEBULA 



A SHORT time ago we gave an abstract of d' Arrest's 

 ■^~*- " spectroscopical researches." The Danish paper 

 contains also the conclusions at which he arrived after 

 many years contemplation of the nebula in the sword- 

 handle of Orion. The spectrum is now easily visible, with 

 open slit, even without a telescope. Then we see three 

 images of the nebula corresponding to the three lines, 

 whose relative intensity d' Arrest found to be 100, 24, and 

 71. To see the fourth line is of course very difficult. If 

 the spectrum of the stars is looked at together with that 

 of the nebula, we find the nebular lines continue abso- 

 lutely unimpaired through the inner trapeze. Conse- 

 quently it cannot be considered as proved that the stars 

 are in connection with the nebula. It has not, of course, 

 yet been possible to ascertain spectroscopically whether 

 the stars are nearer to us than the nebula, or farther away 

 in space. The question of resolvability has lost a good 

 deal in interest since Huggins showed its gaseous nature. 

 However, d' Arrest would not believe that it had ever been 

 resolved into stars in any of the large telescopes of his 

 day. All the more startling was the Rev. Dr. Robin- 

 son's letter (Nature, vol. xv. p. 292), that he as early as 

 1848 had resolved this nebula with the Earl of Rosse's 

 telescopes. It would be worth while for Mr. EUery, who, 

 according to our astronomical column, is investigating 

 the southern nebulae, to ascertain whether actual re- 

 solvability is referred to here, or the circumstance that, 

 as might be expected in so enormous a reflector, a good 

 many small stars become visible by glimpses. Liapounov 

 describes the appearance of Regio Hugeniana as follows : 

 " Ces masses m'avaient presenti k plusieurs occasions des 

 ressemblances frappantes avec des amas d'dtoiles. Le 

 caract^re stellaire s'est prononcd d'abord dans la masse 

 la plus lumineuse, dont I'apparence me conduisait depuis 

 constamment a I'idde d'une agglomeration de petites 

 etoiles condensdes." We are hardly right in concluding 

 that the nebula could be resolved in the nine-inch 

 refractor of the Cazan observatory-. 



The Orion nebula was first pictured together with the 

 four stars of the trapeze by Huyghens, who discovered it in 

 1656, though Cysat referred to it already in 1618. It was 

 afterwards examined by Derham, Godin, Fouchy, Mairan 



