JULV I, 1897] 



NA TURE 



197 



window on the north-west sides of the houses and cottages was 

 destitute of glass — not merely broken, but the whole driven 

 through. Two greenhouses were completely smashed, only one 

 pane in some miraculous way having escaped on the windward 

 side. A bird-cage hanging in a window was demolished, and 

 the bird found in a chair on its back under a bit of glass. Rooks 

 and pigeons were lying about the fields dead and dying, and one 

 of my men secured enough for a rook pie next day. Also we 

 picked up next day some half-dozen small birds while turning 

 over about eight acres of hay. 



A stable roof covered by pantiles half-an-inch thick had half 

 the tiles broken into quite small pieces, and has \he appearance 

 of having been shot at by rifles. Several chimney stacks had 

 been blown on to the roofs, and in one case close by, through 

 the house to the ground. All the farm buildings and cottages 

 were unroofed more or less. 



Trees had fallen in quantity, either torn up by the roots or 

 broken off in the middle. Branches had been twisted oflF every- 

 where and hardly a leaf remained ; the neighbouring common 

 was beaten down as if an army had stampeded over it. 



The crops presented a curious and melancholy sight. The 

 grass intended for hay looked as if a steam roller had been 

 over it. The oats had also been not only beaten flat, but 

 broken off short, and reduced to a sort of long chafi"; in some 

 cases the ends of a piece of stem stuck up, while the middle had 

 been driven into the ground by a hailstone. 



The mown ground and the lawn were indented to the depth 

 of from one to two inches all over, much as if a flock of sheep 

 had passed over them. This was, of course, also seen on the 

 flowerbeds and mangold fields. This last crop has also been 

 destroyed to the extent of two-thirds, eveiy leaf broken off, and 

 often the root in two pieces. 



A hedge at right angles to the storm and some wall fruit were 

 completely stripped of leaves and twigs, and left with " bare 

 poles " nearly half denuded of bark ; not a vegetable remains in 

 the garden. Luckily the area of greatest severity was very 

 small and not in the centre of the storm. The advancing front 

 of the worst part .seems to have been only about a mile in 

 width, and to have spent its greatest energy after advancing a 

 like distance. 



The hailstones were in appearance a conglomerate of smaller 

 ones cemented together with ice, and generally the centre stone 

 was bigger than the others. They were much collected together 

 in corners, and one was measured, twenty-four hours after the 

 storm, four and a half inches round, Sheffield Neave, 



Ingatestone, June 28. 



On Mimicry. 



Dr. Jordan's suggestion (p. 153) that the result of a one-sided 

 selection involvesa physiological one-sidedness unfitting a mimetic 

 species in other respects for the struggle for existence, can hold 

 good only if the selective change in external imaginal characters 

 be correlated with an unfavourable modification of other 

 characters, perhaps in another stage of the insect's life ; inas- 

 much as destruction can modify a species solely in respect to the 

 constants for which it is selective. 



Unless such correlation can be shown to exist, the physio- 

 logical one-sidedness postulated by Dr. Jordan remains as 

 hypothetical as are still many of the axioms on which the 

 existing theories of mimicry are supported. 



His objection is precisely analogous with another which is 

 sometimes advanced : that the process of selection towards 

 mimetic resemblance of the imago is rendered nugatory by 

 means of the enormous destruction of individuals in the early 

 stages, and the consequent survival of a very small percentage 

 to hand on the greatly diluted effects of selection. But if the 

 imagos of a mimetic species are distributed about a mean in 

 respect of the degrees of likeness to a model, it is clear that no 

 amount of unselective destruction, i.e. one which reduces the 

 numbers uniformly on each side of the mean, can modify the 

 curve of distribution. 



That is, no loss of larvoe or pupce can lessen the force of 

 imaginal selection, unless there be correlation of characters. 



Dr. Jordan's suggestion, however, is complementary to one 

 at which I have arrived, but which I have hitherto put forward 

 only privately. Even if there be no correlation of characters, 

 as he assumes, a limitation upon the numbers of a mimetic 

 species may yet be due to interrelation between its abundance 

 and the natural checks upon its multiplication. 



NO. 



1444, VOL. 56] 



If a species, hitherto non-mimetic and persisting in small but 

 constant numbers, come under the influence of a " protected " 

 model, and the distribution of mimetic forms shows that such a 

 phenomenon has probably been common, it must escape de- 

 .struction in the imago stage in proportion to the degree of 

 resemblance thereby acquired. 



If the natural checks on its earlier stages remain constant in 

 ratio, the mimic must become increasingly numerous con- 

 comitantly with increase of likeness to the model, the eflTect on 

 which, though important, need not now be discussed. 



But it is possible that, apart from any physiological modifi- 

 cations, the greater abundance of the imago is counteracted by 

 increased destruction in other stages. While the effect of climate, 

 for example, is presumably constant in ratio whether the species 

 be few or numerous in examples, it is almost certain that within 

 limits such important checks as animal parasites (Ichneumonid?e, 

 &c.) become actually more efficient with multiplication of the 

 host. In other words the number, say, of larva^ which can exist 

 in a given area may be limited by such outside causes ; so that no 

 amount of lessened destruction of the imago can cause the 

 species to become more numerous, because it is counterbalanced 

 by greater larval destruction. And if the species has a greater 

 chance of survival in the imago stage, it may actually become 

 rarer therein as a result of the necessity that the number of larvae 

 shall remain constant. 



If this be the case, mimicry may indeed be the outcome of 

 natural selection ; but, as Dr. Jordan suggests, it may have 

 nothing to do with utility or the survival of the species. 



And (his leads to a further generalisation : it is conceivable, 

 and indeed probable, that many species can exist indefinitely in 

 small but constant numbers, as rarities, that is, which are unable 

 by the assumption of any favourable modifications to become 

 permanently common, owing to the interrelation of the factors 

 which impose a limit on their multiplication. 



June 19. Walter F. H. Blandford. 



A Bacterium living in Strong Spirit. 



It is well known that the shipments of rum from Demerara, 

 especially during the past year, have been " faulty," and very 

 great pecuniary loss has resulted to the colony. Through the 

 kindness of a friend and the courtesy of the Excise authorities, 

 we received certain samples direct from a bonded warehouse ; 

 we were informed that the spirit had been returned at 42 per 

 cent over proof, equivalent to 74 6 per cent, alcohol by weight ; 

 our determinations showed the assessment to be correct. On 

 microscopical examination of a sediment at the bottom of the 

 samples, using a magnification of 1200 diameters, we found 

 chains of small cocci ; after the spirit had been kept for some 

 days the cocci were seen to be surrounded with a gelatinous 

 envelope, and after a further interval of time the cocci were 

 found disseminated throughout the liquid, and were rapidly 

 developing and multiplying. The micro-organism, adopting the 

 classification of Zopf, belongs to the group Coccaceae, and for 

 the present, from our study of cultivations, we are inclined to 

 regard it as a new species ; we have already obtained several 

 stages of its life-history, and hope shortly to be in a position to 

 publish a fuller account of its development and the chemical 

 changes which it produces. Meanwhile, the observation of the 

 existence and multiplication pf any micro-organism in a spirit 

 of such alcoholic strength appears to be of so much scientific 

 interest, and the problem of its presence of such technical im- 

 portance, that we send this note as a preliminary communication. 



Oxford, Tune 23. V. H. Veley. 



Lilian J. Veley. 



A Well-known Text-Book of Chemistry. 

 You have thought proper to admit to your columns a long 

 and rambling notice of my " Manual of Chemistry," by Mr. M. 

 M. Pattison Muir. It is difticult to make out from this what, 

 definitely, is the charge which the writer brings against the 

 book, but the article winds up with the statement that in his 

 opinion " this book is not a success." I have the satisfaction 

 of believing that chemists will derive little except amusement 

 from this expression of Mr. Muir's opinion ; but, as presumably 

 Nature is read by a portion of the general public and by some 

 scientific persons who may not be acquainted with Mr. Muir's 

 chemical idiosyncrasy, I desire to say, more in the interests of 



