328 



NATURE 



[May 13, 1920 



We might further expect that the crystallographic 

 symmetry would be determined in a similar way by the 

 magnetic forces due to the electrons in each atomic 

 kernel. These electrons are drawn by mutual mag- 

 netic forces into a space.pattern, characteristic for 

 each molecule, and the symmetry of this pattern is 

 reflected in the crystalline symmetry. Thus the 

 rigidity of the crystalline medium in different directions 

 and the orientations of the planes of cleavage are 

 defined in terms of the local magnetic forces (c/. 

 Science Progress, No. 56, March, 1920, p. 588; Phil. 

 Trans. Roy. Soc, vol. ccxx., A, p. 247, 1920, par- 

 ticularly conclusion xii., p. 289; vol. ccxv.. A, p. 79, 

 1915; vol. ccxiv., A, p. 109, 1914). The close con- 

 nection between the deportment of crystals in a mag- 

 netic field and the disposition of the planes of cleavage, 

 as observed by Tyndall, may then be explained. 



Possibly each of the electron orbits shown in the 

 above diagram may be identified with the ring-elec- 

 tron of A. L. Parson (Smithsonian Miscellaneous 

 Collections, vol. Ixv., p. i, 1915). The con- 

 ception of the hydrogen molecule and the line of 

 argument leading up to it, as indicated by the above 

 papers, are, however, quite distinct from those 

 described bv Parson. 



A. E. OXLEY. 



The British Cotton Industry Research Asso^ 

 ciation, 108 Deansgate, Manchester, May i. 



Wasps. 



If glory be known to insects ; if solid glory be measured among them, as 

 among ns, by the difficulties surmounted, the female wasp is a heroine to 

 whom the queen bee is in no way comparable. — Reaumur. 



Having spent some time in observing wasps during 

 the past eight years, a few notes descriptive of the 

 results may possibly have an interest at this season 

 when the queen wasps are searching for suitable 

 positions in which to found new colonies. The queens 

 usually appear in the third or fourth week of April, 

 and about a fortnight later than the humble bees. 

 They spend a few days in feeding, and then fly about 

 grassy banks and hedgerows, looking for a mouse's 

 hole or some fissure or opening in the ground likely 

 to prove desirable habitations. They are very 

 fastidious in making a selection. I have specially 

 constructed places for them, but hundreds of queens 

 have declined the invitation. In twenty-seven cases, 

 however, the queens took up residence, and the 

 average date was May 6. The young wasps begin to 

 show themselves in twenty-nine or thirty days, and 

 then a few days later the queen remains at home. 

 During the month elapsing before the small worldng 

 wasps appear the queen works hard, and performs 

 about 1 136 completed journeys to procure material for 

 constructing cells and obtaining food for herself and 

 young. The number given is the mean derived from 

 eight nests. 



When a queen finds herself a proper site in which 

 to build, it by no means follows that she will succeed 

 in rearing a colony. Only one in three have overcome 

 the difficulties {i.e. nine out of twenty-seven) in my 

 garden, for trouble was occasioned by marauding 

 intruders such as ants, earwigs, beetles, woodlice, 

 etc. Besides, every man's hand is turned against the 

 wasp, and numbers of queens are destroyed every 

 spring before the embryo nests have developed. 



As to the number of wasps composing a nest, this 

 varies greatly. The strength is pretty fairly indicated 

 by the number flying to and fro, and I have generally 

 kept a record of the horary rate. In regard to three 

 strong nests, the following were the figures on different 

 dates, a wasp flying out being counted as one, and 

 one going in as one, so that completed journeys would 

 be half the figures given : 



NO. 2637, VOL. 105] 



June 25 

 July 5 



15 



25 . 

 Aug. 4 



14 



^'^ 



Sept. 3 



13 



^3 

 Oct. 3 



13 

 23 



In September, 1918, I recorded an abnormal rainfall 

 of 10-47 i"-, and this occasioned the virtual swamping 

 of the nest I kept under observation in that year. 



With regard to young queens, they begin to leave 

 the nests at different times. In 1913 I noticed them 

 first on August 21, in 1916 on August 19, and in 1918 

 on September 22. Two nests not at all abundant 

 yielded in one case 990 queens and drones, and in the 

 other 1400. A strong nest in 19 15 yielded in all 

 1 118 queens and 995 drones. There were ten tiers of 

 cells in another nest, and six of the largest measured 

 10x8 in. These included 12,900 cells at least, and if 

 each cell produced three generations this means an 

 agg''€gate of nearly 40,000 wasps. 



The most prevalent species of wasp in this locality 

 is Vespa germanica, in the proportion of 3 to i of 

 other varieties. Of twenty-seven nests, I had i F, 

 rufa, 7 V. vulgaris, and 19 V. germanica. The latest 

 colony I have seen in great activity vi^as on 

 November 5. 



Wasps kill an enormous number of flies of all kinds. 

 I found that the members of a moderatelv small nest 

 of V. gqrmanica in 19 13 brought home at least two 

 thousand flies per day. A verv strong nest would 

 account for twelve tinfies as manv. Man often mis- 

 apprehends the benefits derived from certain forms of 

 animate Nature. Birds are destroyed and noxious 

 insects enabled to multiply. Efforts are ever being 

 made to exterminate the wasp, and hordes of 

 pestiferous flies naturally become the bane of our 

 summers. 



In spite of the. popular belief, wasps are not nearly 

 so bad-tempered and dangerous as they are sup- 

 posed to be. If not obstructed or attacked they are 

 quiet and harmless enough, and may be watched 

 with entertainment. They are most industrious. 

 Sir John Lubbock (later the first Lord Avebury) said : 

 " I have been much struck by the industry of wasps"; 

 and "On the whole, wasps seem to be rnore clever in 

 finding their way than bees." Mr. T. A. Preston 

 in the Phenological Report for 1887 (Royal Met. Soc. 

 Journal, vol. xiv., p. 56), speaking of the wasp, 

 stated : "It seems far superior in intelligence to the 

 b^^-" W. F. Denning. 



Dr. J. G. Bartholomew and the Layer System of 

 Contour Colouring. 



To prevent misapprehension, it would have been 

 better if, in the sixteenth line of the obituary notice 

 which appears on p. 238 of Nature for April 22, the 

 word "introduced," used by Dr. Bartholomew him- 

 self in "Who's Who," had been employed instead of 

 "devised." Dr. Bartholomew made no claim to be 

 the originator of the idea of indicating differences of 

 altitude by differences of colour, but he was the first to 

 apply this method to topographical maps. 



Geo. G. Chisholm. 



