Feb. 1 8, 1 875 J 



NA TURE 



307 



they couW obtain a good store of honey with very little trouble, 

 and would have brought a lot back with them." 



Later on he says that he has come to the conclusion that what 

 sometimes " appeared like affection was invariably dictated by 

 selfishness." 



Now, is the example given by Sir John of the want of com- 

 municative power afforded by the bee sufficient, or, indeed, any 

 evidence of the fact?' Is it not rather an excellent instance 

 of the intense selfishness which governs the bee, in common 

 with all other creatures, in its aim to prolong the life of the indi- 

 vidual without a care for that of its fellows ? 



Again, Sir John says : — 



" It was not altogether a selfish feeling which induced bees to 

 show such eagerness to gather lioney, for what they took to the 

 hive was for the good of the whole colony." 



This act seems to me to be in no way inconsistent with abso- 

 lutely selfish motives. Bees find that there is strength in union, 

 and that the winter months, which would kill them if left alone, 

 they can survive by adopting principles of co-operation. The 

 -Stronger the individual bee the more likely is she to derive 

 benefit from the partnership, and a hive may, in fact, be re- 

 garded as a " tontine " association. 



Lastly, when Sir John Lubbock says — " With regard to 

 swarming bees by beating the warming pans, he thought there 

 was nothing in it, but that it was an idea which had got pos- 

 session of some people in the same way as many savage tribes 

 believed that by making hideous noises during the eclipse of the 

 moon they could frighten away the evil spirit which held her "— 

 he would appear to have overlooked the fact that this is a 

 practice arising from the peculiar ownership, of which, under 

 English law, bees are the subject. 



" Bees are/«vr natiira, but when hived and reclaimed a man 

 may have a qualified property in them, by the law of nature as 

 well as by the civil law" (Puff. c. iv. c. b. s. 5., Inst. 11, 1. 14.) 

 "Though a swann," says Blackstone, "lights upon my tree, I 

 have no more property in them till I have hived them than I 

 have in the birds which make their nests thereon, and therefore, 

 if another hives them he shall be the proprietor ; but a swarm 

 which flies from and out of my hive are mine so long as I can 

 keep them in sight and liave power to pursue them, and in these 

 circumstances no one else is entitled to take them." 



Hence the origin amongst villagers of pursuing a swarm with 

 the clamour of pans and fire-irons ; not for the benefit of the 

 bee,'i7?'iJ bee, but in order to inform others that the followers are 

 the possessors of the sv.'arm. 



It is easy to imagine that now some villagers may {confound- 

 ing cause and effect) assert that the sound assists the operations 

 of the bees or those of their hiver. 



Alfred George Renshaw 



Doctors' Commons, London 



On the Value of the so-called Chameleon Barometer 

 as an Hygrometer 



A PIECE of filter paper soaked in a strong solution of 

 cobaltous chloride (CoCL) is blue when dry, and red when 

 moi^t ; and I have found it very sensitive to slight changes in the 

 quantity of moisture in the atmosphere, being more delicate than 

 the thermometers I used. 



The paper was suspended in a room, on the wall facing a 

 south window, which was kept open during the day. By the 

 side of the paper was hung a wet and dry bulb thermometer, 

 reading to 2° Fahr., and observations were recorded three or four 

 times a day for nearly a year. 



I adjoin a few of the readings taken, as from their regularity 

 it is unnecessary to give them all. The scale of change of colour 

 was reckoned Irom o to 10, from red to blue. 



It will be observed that for a difference of 13* between the 

 two thermometers, the paper is quite blue, and it becomes red 

 at a difference of from l" to 3°. There is, of course, a limit to 

 the change of colour, as when blue it cannot be any more blue, 

 although the air should lose moisture. However, on the hottest 

 day last summer it stood at 10, or maximum blue, for a diffe- 

 rence of 13° between the thermometers, and when this difference 

 fell to 12° the paper showed a decided change in tint. 



It appears that the actual temperature has nothing to do with 

 the colour of the paper, as it registers the same tint for the same 

 difference between the two thermometers (with very slight varia- 

 tions) whether the d.ay be hot or cold. 



I think that such a paper is a handy addition to the thermo- 



meters, as you can see at a glance whether the air is wet or 

 dry. 



Rugby, Jan. 16 



A. Percy Smith 



Phosphorus and Carbon Disulphide 



Knowing the highly refractive power of phosphorus, and 

 also of carbon disulphide, it occurred to me that a solution of 

 the former in the latter might yield a liquid more highly refrac- 

 tive than any I had yet met with. 



I could not succeed in making a solution so saturated that 

 when another piece of phosphorus was put in it should not be 

 affected. I made, however, an exceedingly coiicentraled solu- 

 tion. This solution had to be filtered. The clear liquid had 

 the property of continually precipitating phosphorus, in what I 

 believe was the red form. The solubility of phospliorus in carbon 

 disulphide is very remarkable. Has it a definable limit ? or is 

 phosphorus, at ordinary temperatures, really a very viscous 

 fluid? 



Also I made a perfectly saturated solution of sulphur in carbon 

 disulphide. This was much more easily accomplished, and it 

 showed no tendency to change from its condition of a clear light- 

 yellow coloured fluid. 



A hollow glass prism, angle 60" was used, and kept in position 

 of minimum deviation for sodium light for each substance. 



Values of Refractive Indices are given in the following 

 table : — 



Refractive Indices. 



The hydrogen lines were obtained by a Gcissler tube. 



I do not give the measurements as more than near approxima- 

 tions, as I had no time to repeat them. They were made in the 

 Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge. 



Harrogate, Jan. 21 Ch.\s. T. Whitmell 



The Micrographical Dictionary— Pollen Grains 

 It is a pity that Mr. W. G. Smith (Nature, vol. xi. p. 2S6) 

 did not take the trouble to satisfy himself of the truth of Dr. Hugo 



