March 16, 1871 | 
find the important fact added that since for every ounce 
of solid excreta we have about Io ounces of liquid, the 
total liquid excreted in a given time is worth about seven 
times as much as the total solid: so that as far as utilisa- 
tion is concerned, the question which has to be solved is, 
how to deal with the liquid and its valuable constituent 
urea, or rather carbonate of ammonia, for it is as such 
that we find it in sewage. 
The other point is the statement at the bottom ot page 
56, that “the analysis of the effluent water, after the 
sewage has been treated by the A B C process, is an 
analysis of the effluent water so/e/y, whereas in almost 
every case where analyses have been made of the effluent 
water after the irrigation process, the effluent water has 
been diluted by at least double and sometimes three and 
four times its bulk, with perfectly pure spring and subsoil 
water.” But then, how is it that the effluent water is, except 
during very wet weather, so very much less in quantity 
than the sewage sent on to the land? Mr. Justyne does 
not tell us this—we will tell him; it is because three- 
fourths, sometimes four-fifths, sometimes much more of 
the water has disappeared by evaporation from the leaves 
of the growing plants, and to a certain extent from the 
surface of the ground itself, so that to compare fairly the 
composition of the effluent water of the A B C process 
with that of an irrigated field, we must dilute the latter 
with distilled water until its bulk is equal to that of the 
sewage sent on to the land ; even without this correction, 
the purity of the effluent water from irrigated lands has 
never been approached by any other method ; with this 
correction, we think we may safely say that it is never 
likely to be approached. 
Our author suggests that irrigation with the effluent 
water should be practised, when necessary, as a secondary 
and subordinate operation to the precipitation process ; 
we submit that it has never yet been shown that it would 
not always be necessary to irrigate with this effluent water, 
both from a sanitary and an economical point of view, and 
it is plain that if to purify sewage, irrigation must be re- 
sorted to, any preliminary process which separates more 
than the offensive suspended matters, must be disadvan- 
tageous, by lessening the value of the liquid sent on to 
the land. 
That the suspended matters should be to a great extent 
separated before the sewage is sent on to the land, we 
hold to be indisputable, but this should be done by some 
simple method, which leaves the sewage as rich as possible 
in dissolved manurial constituents. 
In conclusion, from a chemical point of view, we object 
to reliance being placed on any precipitation process for 
the removal of its valuable constituents from sewage, and 
from a sanitary point of view we object to the effluent 
water from precipitation tanks being sent at pleasure into 
streams whose water is afterwards used for domestic pur- 
poses. We Ea G. 


OUR BOOK SHELF 
The Honey Bee; its Natural History, Physiology, and 
Management. By Edward Bevan, M.D. Revised, 
Enlarged, and Illustrated by William Augustus Munn, 
F.R.H.S., &c. (Van Voorst, 1870.) 
IN this new edition of Dr. Bevan’s well known work, 
Major Munn has given a full account of all the improved 
NATURE 



385 
hives and methods of management, and of the most recent 
discoveries in the economy and physiology of bees. The 
old and the new matter are, however, so interwoven, that 
it is impossible for the reader to separate them; and as 
the original author and his editor both speak in the first 
person, we find ourselves continually at a loss to know 
whether we are reading “ Bevan” or “ Munn,” except in 
those cases where some reference to dates enables us to 
decide. 
An interesting experiment is detailed, proving that the 
business of a hive may go onalong time with perfect 
regularity without the presence of a queen. On the 13th 
June a swarm was put intoa mirror hive. On July tst, 
whilst the queen was laying drone eggs, she was taken 
away, yet the bees showed no agitation, but continued 
their work as usual. They formed several royal cells, 
and examined them continually to see if eggs had been 
deposited in them. All through the summer work went 
on as usual, honey being plentifully stored ; but no attempt 
was made to raise a queen by artificial food, nor were the 
drones massacred. By the middle of November all the 
drones had died, and the working bees then began to 
diminish, and by December 31st they had also died. As 
all the workers had been born before July 25th, this gives 
about six months, or not much less, for the duration of 
their lives. 
The fortifications and barricades of the bees against the 
incursions of the Death’s Head Moth are said to be due 
to reason rather than to instinct, because it has been ob- 
served that they do not commence these fortifications on 
a first attack of the Sphinx, nor until they have been 
robbed of nearly their whole stock of honey, “This is 
a case in which the insect is taught by experience, and 
which admits, in all its particulars, of a direct comparison 
with human reason and contrivance. A colony that had 
been thus attacked one year, and was tardy in its defensive 
operations, having derived instruction from the past, con- 
structed fresh ramparts speedily on the reappearance of 
the Sphinx three years afterwards, and thus guarded itself 
from an impending danger. Since the lives of the working 
bees do not extend beyond six or seven months, it is evi- 
dent that the information of the colony above referred to 
must have been traditional, or else derived from a queen 
which had reigned over them three years previously.” 
This “tradition” through some six or seven generations 
seems highly improbable, and that the knowledge of how 
to act was derived from a queen not less so. Do not the 
facts rather indicate that bees differ considerably in intel- 
lectual capacity, and that some hives contain directing 
bees more capable of acting promptly on the defensive 
than others ? 
Much information is given on the different kinds of 
foreign bees, and their peculiar modes of building. The 
importance of bees in fertilising flowers, and the use of 
nectar and of the colours of flowers as attractions, are 
fully recognised ; but the recent discoveries of Darwin on 
this subject are not alluded to. So, in the discussion on 
the hexagonal form of the cell, the “circular” theory is 
opposed, and Mr. F. Smith is quoted against it; but the 
beautiful experiments of Mr. Darwin, as described in the 
“ Origin of Species,” with the satisfactory theory founded 
upon them, appear to be unknown to the author. “ Dar- 
win,” it is true, is very frequently quoted, but it is always 
Doctor, not Charles, Darwin. 
The book is illustrated by woodcuts of the various 
kinds of hives, and of the apparatus used by Apiarians. 
There are also some very scratchy but characteristic eich- 
ings of the different kinds of bees and of their anatomy, 
and several coarse coloured lithographs of varieties of 
comb, royal cells, &c., all executed by Major Munn him- 
self. Though with some deficiencies of style and arrange- 
ment, the work abounds with intormation useful to the 
bee-keeper, and interesting to the naturalist. 
ALFRED R, WALLACE 

