Hillside. 173 



determined that similar means exist between bees. A 

 celebrated observer declares that they have a number of 

 tones which they emit from the stigmata placed along the 

 sides of the thorax and abdomen, and that by these means 

 communication with each other is made. A bee that brings 

 news passes it on to a comrade, and this to another, until the 

 whole of the hive is in possession of the information. If the 

 news be satisfactory the bees go on with their work as usual, 

 but if the contrary, flutter and excitement rules the hive 

 for the time. 



Well, we must say good-bye to the ants now, or we shall be 

 tempted to go on moralising for ever. We strike into the 

 wood, and guide ourselves as best we may in the direction of 

 the railway cutting. It is tough work forcing our way 

 through the undergrowth, but we reach the cutting at last, 

 and climb down the bank, not hurriedly, but with the great- 

 est possible consideration for our safe arrival at the bottom. 

 The chalk crumbles here and there, and hardly have our feet 

 left it before a large mass tumbles into the cutting. That 

 was a near shave ! I exclaim, as I steady myself by a 

 clematis root, whilst another piece of chalk is precipitated 

 headlong. Slowly, carefully we go, and at last we are down, 

 and harking back a short distance, until we are opposite the 

 spot where we first discovered the Grayling butterfly, we 

 climb the opposite side, and sit on the edge to examine a 

 piece of the chalk we dislodged, which proves to have a fine 

 fossil Micraster in it. 



How much there is of interest in a piece of common chalk ! 

 Place a fragment under the microscope, and you will see 

 that it is composed of tiny little shells. In the Atlantic 

 Ocean at the present time live millions of minute animals, 



