434 



NATURE 



\Sept. 9, iS8o 



■walk ; she cannot even feed herself or care for her eggs. 

 What wonder then that she should attempt big things in 

 the way of egg-laying ? She has nothing else to do, or to 

 feel proud of.'' 



In the "ccount of the formation of the comb the " pres- 

 sure " theory is very properly rejected, but no reference is 

 made to the complete explanation of the process given by 

 Darwin, Waterhouse, and others. The mathematical 

 accuracy of the cell is however disproved by the observa- 

 tions of Prof. Wyman, who showed by actual measure- 

 ment that none of them were perfect hexagons, but that 

 they varied in size, sometimes to the amount of one cell's 

 width in ten, and commonly to half this amount. The 

 rhombic bases of the cells also vary, and as this variation 

 occurs gradually in passing from one part of the comb to 

 another, it follows that whenever this happens the cells 

 must diverge from the true hexagonal form. The sup- 

 posed mathematical instinct of the bee has therefore no 

 foundation to rest upon, and the beautiful explanation 

 given by Mr. Darwin fully meets the actual facts. 



An interesting chapter is devoted to " Honey Plants," 

 the principal species from which the bees obtain their 

 honey in America being figured. In the more northern 

 States fruit-trees, willows, and sugar-maples, with bass- 

 wood and white clover, are the most productive plants 

 while on the western prairies the thousands of acres of 

 asters, solidagos, and eupatoriums afford an inexhaustible 

 supply of honey not yet appropriated. 



The illustrations of this book are often rude, and some- 

 times inaccurate. The honey-extractor (at p. 189) is 

 described as acting by centrifugal force, but it is drawn 

 square, and the comb so placed in it that it could not 

 possibly revolve; while, at p. 128, the bottom-board 

 described as having a bevelled notch for an opening to 

 the hive, is shown with a triangular projection, owing to 

 bad perspective in the drawing. These, however, are smal 

 faults ; and the English bee-keeper will no doubt obtain 

 many useful hints from this excellent little manual of bee- 

 culture as practised by our ingenious and energetic 

 cousins across the Atlantic. A. R. W. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

 Rainfall of the East Indian Archipelago ; First Year, 

 1879. By Dr. P. A. Bergsma, Director of the Batavia 

 Observatory. (Batavia ; At the Government Printing 

 Office, 1880.) 



An extremely valuable system of rainfall observation has 

 been established in the East Indian Archipelago under 

 the superintendence of Dr. Bergsma, the well-known 

 director of the Batavia Observatory, and the results of 

 the first year's observations for 1879 are now before us in 

 this octavo volume of 257 pages. 



In the beginning of 1S79 sixty rain-gauges were in 

 operation, and by the end of the year the number had 

 increased to 125. To these it is proposed to add other 

 seventy new stations during 1S80, thus raising the number 

 of stations for the observation of the rainfall of the East 

 Indian Archipelago to 195. Towards the securing of 

 uniformity the same pattern of rain-gauge is used by all 

 the observers, and the gauges are placed at the same 

 height of 32 feet above the ground ; but greater uniformity 

 in the hour of observing, which is any hour from 6 to 9 

 a.m., is a desideratum. The stations extend from 95° 20' 

 to 129° 53' E. long., and from 5-' 53' N. lat. to 10° 10' S. 

 lat., and as regards elevation they are at heights varying 

 from the level of the sea to a height of 6,404 feet. Their 



distribution among the islands is 76 on Java, 25 on 

 Sumatra, 7 on Borneo, 4 on Celebes, and 4 on Billiton, 3 

 on Madeira, and i on each of the islands Riouw, Bangka, 

 Ternate, Amboina, Banda, and Timor. 



The daily rainfalls at each of the 125 stations during 

 1879, so far as obser\'ed, are printed in cxtenso, and a 

 table is added showing the amounts and days of rainfall 

 for each month and for the year. The largest rainfall for 

 one day was ii'8i inches at Amboina on July 13; and it 

 may be remarked that at the same place on the four days 

 ending the 15th of the same month, 29'45 inches fell. 

 The least annual rainfall at any station was 53 '27 inches 

 at Kotta Radja, and the largest 282 '33 inches at Padang 

 Pandjang. Of the 59 stations for which there arc retiirns 

 for the whole year, the amount exceeded 100 inches at 33, 

 and 200 inches at 5 of the stations. The greatest number 

 of days on which rain fell at any station was 274 at 

 Soekawana, and the least 136 at Onrust. It is evident 

 that this system of observation will by and by lay before 

 us the observational data for the determination of the 

 distribution of the important element of the rainfall, 

 horizontally and vertically, over the land surfaces of this 

 portion of the globe which excites so strongly the interest 

 of the biologist, geologist, and geographer. 



Botanische Jahrbiicherfiir Systematih, PJlaiizengeschichte 

 7ind PJlanzcngeographie. Herausgegeben von A. 

 Engler. Erster Band, Heft i. ii. (Leipzig: Yerlag 

 von Wilhelm Engelmann, 1880.) 

 It is a question whether German serials devoted in part 

 or wholly to botanical bibliography are not becoming too 

 numerous, but, be that as it inay, this new venture is so 

 circumscribed in its scope that it recommends itself to a 

 large section of botanists in this country whose labours 

 are to a great extent within its scope. Engler's " Botan- 

 ische Jahrbiicher " are to be exclusively devoted to 

 systematical, historical, and geograp'nical botany, and 

 will contain original articles in English, French, or 

 German, as well as a review of current literature. Under 

 Dr. Engler's painstaking editorship we think success 

 should attend the undertaking. The parts are not to 

 appear at fixed intervals, nor necessarily to be uniform in 

 size ; but the limit of the interval is from three to six 

 months, and of the size three to four sheets. The con- 

 tributors to the first part are : — Oswald Heer, on the 

 history of the ginkgo-like trees ; Alphonse de CandoUe, 

 on some points of botanical nomenclature; Eug. Warming, 

 on the results of recent investigations of the tlora of 

 Greenland ; O. Beccari, on the phytogeography of the 

 iSIalayan Peninsula ; A. Engler, diagnoses of some new 

 Burscraccce and Anacardiacca, and a review of the more 

 important botanical works published in 1879. It should 

 be mentioned that the contributions of -A. de CandoUe 

 and O. Beccari are abstracts of and extracts from what 

 has appeared elsewhere, though this fact docs not diminish 

 their value. On the contrary, they are thus brought to the 

 knowledge of many who would otherwise not have an 

 opportunity of reading them. W. B. HejiSLEY 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[The Editor docs not hold himself responsibte for opinions expressed 

 iy his correspondents. Neither can he undo'take to return, or 

 to concspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. No 

 notice is taken of anonymous communications. 



[The Editor urgently j-equests correspondents to keep their letters as 

 short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it 

 is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even of com- 

 munications containing interesting and navel facts. ^ 



The Conditions Necessary for the Existence of Matter 

 in the Liquid State— Existence of Ice at High 

 Temperatures 

 Numerous experiments which I have made daring the last 



few weeks on the boiling points of substances under low pres- 



