Sept. 3, 1885] 
NATURE 
427 
referring to the volume, says that the most important statements 
which are made in these essays are quite independent of the 
subject-title. They should be printed after the manner of cer- 
tain biblical texts, and displayed on the walls of every collegiate 
hall in the land. We append a few of these paragraphs :— 
** There is no nobler service than the life of a true teacher ; but 
the mere taskmaster has no right to the teacher’s name, and can 
never attain the teacher’s reward” (p. 85). ‘‘ The teaching 
which a professorship implies, instead of being a hindrance, 
ought to be a great stimulus to scientific investigation. Of 
course this influence is greatly impaired, if, as in many of our 
colleges, the available energies of the teacher are exhausted by 
the daily routine of instruction, or by outside work required to 
supplement his meagre salary ; but if the teaching is only 
moderate in amount, and in the direction of the professor’s own 
work, there is no stimulus so great as that which the association 
with a class of earnest students supplies” (p. 280). ‘‘ Men of 
affairs should resign the endowments intended for the main- 
tenance of scholars to those whose zeal is sufficient to induce 
them to make gladly the sacrifices which the advancement of 
knowledge usually entails ” (p. 277). 
Mr. EDWARD SAUNDERS writes as follows to the September 
number of the Axtomologist’s Monthly Magazine, under date 
August 6, on the subject of ‘‘ Dead Humble-bees under Lime 
Trees.” Dead humble bees, more or less mutilated, have often 
been observed in large numbers under lime trees, and various 
suggestions have been offered to account for their presence in 
such a position, Some observations which I was able to make 
the other day suggest the probable reason for the death and 
evisceration of such bees, and, therefore, may be worth record- 
ing. While walking on Hayes Common, Kent, on the 3rd of 
this month, I noticed, under a large spreading lime tree, in full 
flower, that the ground was strewn with bodies of humble-bees 
of several species ; I and one of my children picked up a number 
of them, and found several still moving their legs, and evidently 
only quite recently mutilated, nearly every specimen appearing 
to have been killed in the same manner, having a larze hole in 
the upper surface of the thorax, and another at the apex of the 
abdomen, the apical segments being removed ; thinking that it 
would be a good opportunity to try and find out who or what 
was the cause of their death, I sat down close to the tree and 
watched. The tree was covered with bloom, and hive-bees and 
humble-bees abounded, but I could not see any wasps, so I ‘at 
once abandoned the idea that they were the culprits, as some 
have thought probable ; everything seemed peaceable, and for 
some time I could see no possible enemy to suspect. At last, I 
saw among the higher branches a bird, and from the exact spot 
where it was fidgeting about down dropped a carcase of a bee. 
Tat once picked it up, and found the legs still twitching con- 
vulsively ; although 1 did not actually see the bird drop the bee, 
I think there can be little doubt that it did. I went back again, 
and sat down to try and discover what bird it was, and after a 
little time a bird, which was in all probability the same, although 
Thad lost sight of it while examining the bee, came out into a less 
leafy part of the tree, and I was able to identify it as a great 
tom-tit; and although I have no positive evidence whereby to 
convict Parus major, I think the probabilities of his being the 
culprit are so strong, that it is hardly necessary to seek further 
for the murderer of these humble innocents. 
ADVICES received by the last mail from Iceland state that the 
weather in the island during the summer has, in common with 
everywhere else in North Europe, been very cold and stormy. 
Even in the middle of July night-frosts occurred frequently in 
the higher-lying districts, and sometimes also by the coast. The 
grazings have suffered greatly in consequence of the weather, 
being in many places in a miserable state. During June and 
July severe storms devastated the island, killing the sheep in 
many places, notably in the Westfjord. The fishing has been 
fairly good in some places where the herring have been plentiful 
thissummer. The fish was fat and in excellent condition. 
ON the west coast of Norway, too, very unusual weather has 
been experienced this summer, snow having fallen in several 
places, whilst night-frosts have injured the crops. Tourists from 
the interior state that they never have experienced so backward 
a season in that part. The cold weather is being ascribed to 
the enormous ice-masses which have descended from the Polar 
regions into the Gulf Stream in the spring, and the large quantity 
of drift ice in motion to the north and north-east of Norway. 
INTELLIGENCE received from North and Central Sweden 
states that the migratory birds are already leaving in large 
numbers. Between August 16 and 18 thousands of wildfowl 
were seen passing over Stockholm, their progress lasting for 
hours at the time. During the night, too, their calls were 
heard. That the birds have previously left their summer haunts 
so early is unknown. 
A QUICK change of temperature arrived on the U.S. Atlantic 
coast on the afternoon of August 25, the mercury falling 40°. 
A hurricane along the Florida and Caroline coasts accompanied 
it, causing serious damage. Charleston, South Carolina, had 
one fourth of its houses unroofed ; church steeples were blown 
down and the wharves were overflowed and damaged, the wind 
blowing at the rate of seventy miles per hour. The hotels and 
summer-houses on Sullivan’s Island were partly destroyed. The 
damage is reported to amount to $1,000,000. Savannah reports 
serious losses from the overflow and the wind. Jacksonville and 
and Fernandina, Florida, report heavy losses with wrecked 
vessels. Thestorm, which extended northward with less severity, 
was general along the Atlantic coast. 
AT the last meeting of the Asiatic Society of Japan (reported 
in the fapan Mail) a paper by Mr. H. Pryer was read on the 
relation between the Lepidoptera of Great Britain and Japan. 
From the statistics given it appears that about 16 per cent. of 
the British species are found in Japan. At first sight there does 
not seem to be any strong resemblance between the Japanese 
and British specimens of certain species ; but the differences are 
demonstrably due simply to the effect of temperature. In Japan 
the temperature forms are very numerous, because of the fluctu- 
ations in temperature which are so peculiar to the country. 
When the great distance separating the countries and the striking 
climatic differences are considered, the identity of such a large 
percentage of species is a fact of the highest interest to the 
entomologist. 
THE syllabus of the day and evening classes of the Mason 
Science College, Birmingham, for the session 1885-86 has been 
published. 
THE Asiatic Society of Bengal has just issued a centenary 
review of the work accomplished by it. The first meeting of 
the Society took place during the Governor-Generalship of 
Warren Hastings, in the year 1784. 
Ir is stated that various lines of telegraphs are to be con- 
structed in Corea under the superintendence of Chinese officials. 
The preliminary surveys have already been commenced between 
Gensan and Seoul, and at various points on the Chino-Corean 
frontier. The length of the lines actually undertaken is over 
400 miles. 
THE recent earthquakes in Java appear to have extended all 
over the Eastern Archipelago. The official journal of Batavia 
contains a report from the Government resident at Amboyna 
stating that on April 30 violent shocks were felt at Amboym, in 
