Nov. I 2, 1874] 



NA TURE 



II 



Thymus serpyllum : — 



■: Ap, 7, Lep. 5, O.I. 17 species ; Ap. 24, Lep. 17, O.I. 58 per cent. 

 ■ .. 5. ,. 17. .> =3 ., .. ". .. 38, „ SI ,. 



, „ 2, „ 17, „ o „ „ 10, „ 8g, ,, o „ 



Taraxacitm officinale : — 



, Ap. 58, Lep. 7, O. I. 28 species ; Ap. 62, Lep. 7. O. I. 30 per cent. 



Valeriana officinalis : — 



. Ap. 3, Lep. o, O.L iq species : Ap 14, Lep. 



, O.L 86 pert 



All these species show evidently the predominant part 

 which Lepidoptera play as visitors of flowers in the Alpine 

 region. The same result is arrived at by comparing 

 sister-species or sister-genera of flowers, provided with 

 nearly the same contrivances and growing one or some 

 of them in the Alpine region, another or some others in 

 the lo-.ver mountainous region, or in the plain. 



7. Ceraiiium pratense (a, b),"and syhaticuin (c) : — 



a. Ap. 9, Lep. o, O.L 1 species; Ap. 50, Lep. o, O.L 10 per cent. 

 t- „ 13, „ I, „ 3 „ ,. 76, „ 6, „ i3 „ 



c. „ 3, ,. 8, „ - 3 „ „ 21, „ 57, „ 21 „ 



8. Veronica cliamcedrys (a), and saxatllis (c) ; — 



a. Ap, 5, Lep. i, 0. L _ 7 species ; Ap. 38, Lep. S, O.L 54 per cent. 

 c. ,, o, „ 4, „ 3 „ „ o, „ 57, ,, 43 ,, 



9. Jasione montana (a), and Phyteuma michelii (c) : — 



(I. Ap. 47, Lep. 7, O.L 47 species ; Ap. 47, Lep. 7, O.L 47 per cent. 

 c- „ 1 7. „ '3, „ 4 >. ., =9. ., 54. .. "6 „ 



10. Cardiius'crispus {a), acanthoides (b), and defloraius 



(C) :- 



a, Ap. 9. Lep. 3, O. L 3 species ; Ap. 60, Lep. 30, O. L 20 per cent. 



11. ChrysanthemiDn leucantliemuin (a), corymbosiim (b), 

 and alpinum (c) : — 



a. Ap. 12, Lep. 8, O.L 49 species ; Ap. 17, Lep. 12, O.I. 71 percent. 

 I. „ 3, .. 3, ,. 18 „ ,. I2i, „ I2i. „ 75 ,. 



c. „ o, „ 4, „ 5 „ ,. o, „ 44, ,, 55 I, 



1 2. Senecio Jacobcea (a), tietnjrensis (b), abrotanijolius, 

 Doronicujn and ncbrodensis (c) : — - 



a. Ap. 15, Lep- 2. O.L ig species ; Ap. 42, Lep. 5, O.I 53 per cent. 



b. „ 7. .. 8, „ 2 ,, ,, 41. „ 47. ,. 12 „ 

 c- „ J, „ 2o, „ 14 ,. .. 3. .. 57, ., 40 .. 



The predominant part played by Lepidoptera in the 

 Alpine region would doabtless appear considerably less 

 striking if the more southern or eastern districts of 

 Germany had been compared with the Alps ; for, accor- 

 ding to Dr. Speyer,* the number of species of Lepidoptera 

 continually increases in Germany from the north south- 

 wards, and from the west eastwards, to such an extent 

 that, for instance, the number of species of diurnal butter- 

 flies (Rhopalocera) amounts, near Hamburg, to 72, near 

 Dantzig to 89, near Freiburg (Baden) to io:>, and near 

 Vienna to 130. Hence Lippstadt, in consequence of its 

 north-west situation, ranges among the poorest localities 

 of Germany with respect to butterflies ; and the environs 

 of Vienna would possibly have afforded nearly double 

 the number of Lepidoptera as visitors of the above- 

 named flowers. But if even in a and b of the above sta- 

 tistical notes the number of Lepidoptera be doubled, in 

 all cases, with the sole exception of Senecio neinorensis, 

 the Alpine region would retain a decided preponderance 

 as regards the frequency of butterflies that visit flowers, 

 and even Senecio ne/norensis is not an exception to the 

 general rule, as my observations on this species have not 

 been made near Lippstadt, but in the " Waldstein," one 

 of the summits of the " Fichtelgebirge." 



Hence, though further observations may be necessary, 

 I cannot doubt that the increasmg proportion of Lepi- 

 doptera which visit flowers in the higher Alpine region 

 will hold good, even afier the most extensive and thorough 

 examination of the whole of Germany. Some peculiarities 

 of the Alpine flora to be discussed in my next article, will, 

 I hope, confirm this opinion. 



Hermann Muller 



* Die gcographische Verbreitimg der Schmetterlinge Deiilschlands und 

 der Schweitz. Von Dr. Adolph Speyer und August Spcyer. Leipzig, 1858, 



THE CHEMISTRY OF CREMATION 

 T N a paper recently published in a German periodical,* 

 -'■ on the chemical bearings of cremation, Prof. Mohr 

 calls attention to a point which, so far as we know, has 

 not yet been considered. 



He remarks that, in the first place, it is necessary that 

 the combustion of the body should be complete. Any- 

 thing of the nature of distillation gives rise to the pro- 

 duction of fetid oils, such as were produced when in 

 early times dead horses were distilled for the manu- 

 facture of sal-ammoniac. Such a revolting process is 

 surely not compensated by the small commercial value 

 of the products obtained. To effect complete combustion 

 we must have a temperature such that the destruction is 

 final, nothing remaining but c,\rbonic acid, water, nitrogen, 

 and ash ; for which purpose a complicated apparatus con- 

 suming large quantities of fuel will be necessary. The 

 gases produced can only be destroyed by being passed 

 through red-hot tubes to which excess of atmospheric air 

 can gain access. 



On comparing the substances produced by such a 

 total decomposition of the body with those produced in 

 the ordinary course of subterranean decay, it will be 

 seen that one com.pound is totally lost by burning 

 — the ammonia which results from the decomposi- 

 tion of the nitrogenous tissues. This ammonia, es- 

 caping into the air or being washed into the soil, is 

 ultimately assimilated by plants — goes to the formation of 

 nitrogenous materials, and thus again becomes available 

 for animals. In the ordinary course of nature a con- 

 tinuous circulation of ammonia between the animal and 

 vegetable kingdoms is thus kept up : if we stop one 

 source of supply of this substance, we destroy the equili- 

 brium — we draw upon the ammoniacal capital of the globe, 

 and in the course of time this loss cannot but react upon 

 animal life, a sinaller amount of which will then be possible. 

 There is no compensating process going on in nature as 

 is the case with the removal of atmospheric oxygen by 

 breathing animals — we deduct from a finite quantity, and 

 the descendants of present races will, in time to come, 

 have to bear the sin of our shortsightedness, just as 

 we have had to suffer through the shortsightedness of 

 our .-incestors, who destroyed ruthlessly vast tracts of 

 forests, thereby incurring drought in some regions and 

 causing destructive inundations in others. 



Another loss of anmronia is entailed by civilisation in 

 the use of gunpowder. Nitre results from the oxidation of 

 ammonia, and is a source of nitrogenous compounds to 

 plants, which again reduce the ni;rogcn to a form avail- 

 able for ammonia. The nitrogen liberated by the explo- 

 sion of gunpowder adds to the immense capital of the 

 atmosphere, but is no more available for the formation of 

 plants. Every waste charge of powder fired represents a 

 certain loss of life-sustaining material against which the 

 economy of nature protests. The same is to be said of 

 nitro-glyccrinc, gun-cotton, &c., which contain nitrogen 

 introduced by the action of nitric acid. 



Wood and coal are other illustrations of finite capital. 

 Ever)' pound of these substances burnt in wa^te — con- 

 sumed, that is, without being made to do its equivalent of 

 work — is a dead loss of force-producing material, for 

 which oar descendants will in the far-distant future have 

 to suffer. The changes brought abwt by the cessation 

 of one large supply of ammonia may be compared with 

 geological changes which, though of extreme slowness, 

 produce vast changes in tie lapse of ages. R. M. 



A NEW MATERIAL FOR PAPER 



THE grass known as Canada Rice {Zizania aquatica, 

 Lin., Hydropyrurn esculentmn, LinkJ is well known 

 to American botanists as a cereal. Linnreus names it, as 

 long ago as 1730, in his"Philosophia Rotanica," under the 



• Dak ;,.• Xn 4j 



L 



