72 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1255 



taxonomist, large numbers of names present 

 little difficulty because be uses them frequently, 

 but for others it is different. Thus probably 

 not less than 90 per cent, of science workers 

 are "beginners" and the others, outside of 

 their special fields, are also. The writer be- 

 lieves in the recognition of small groups but 

 doubts the necessity of forcing them upon 

 every one. Would it not be feasible to have 

 our floras and faunas in two parts, the first 

 leading to collective groups, the second continu- 

 ing through the smaller groups? 



O. A. Stevens 

 Agkicultdeal College, 

 North Dakota 



fireflies flashing in unison 



To THE Editor of Science: I was much 

 interested in Mr. Fremont Morris's letter re- 

 garding the "Fireflies Flashing in Unison" 

 on page 418 of the last volume. 



I was empldj^ed by the Philippine Bureau 

 of Forestry during 1902 and 1903. In the 

 spring of 1902, I was stationed for some weeks 

 at Pagbilao, Tayabas Province. It is on a 

 small tidewater river about half or three 

 quarters of a mile from Lagimanoc Bay. I 

 had occasion to go across this bay on February 

 22 and did not return until after dark. As 

 the banca in which I was travelling entered 

 the mouth of the river, I was attracted to the 

 flashing of the flies which appeared in great 

 numbers a short distance above the mangroves 

 which covered both banks of the stream. 



The majority of the firefiies were flashing 

 in unison but there were some which did not 

 time their flashes with the majority. The 

 light from the fireflies with the reflection of 

 the light from the water made a very distinct 

 illumination and one never to be forgotten by 

 one who has seen it. P. T. Barnes 



Pennstlvanla. Depaetment op Agbictjltuke 



negative results from attempted queen 



BEE MATING IN A DOUBLE TENT 

 INCLOSURE 



Following out suggestions from previous 

 work of Cole and Miller, Ehode Island, and 

 from bee behavior observations in an artifi- 

 cially lighted double tent at University of Wis- 



consin, by the writer, an attempt was made the 

 past season to mate a Virgin queen bee in an 

 available double tent inclosure. 



The tent was made of double canvas, 4 feet 

 in diameter, 7 feet high at peak, with about 8 

 inches space between the canvas walls. 



A nucleus, containing workers, drones and a 

 five-day-old virgin was placed in the tent and 

 observations taken. 



No natural mating flights occurred. The 

 virgin appeared to fly naturally in the tent, 

 returning unaided to the hive, when removed 

 from the nucleus and thrown into the air. 

 The drones appeared to fly naturally, more so 

 at first than after several days confinement in 

 the tent. 



The queen failed to mate. L. V. France ;, 



University or Minnesota, /> 



tTNrvERSiTY Farm, St. Paul tt. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



SPECTRUM PHENOMENA DUE TO MOVING 

 MOTES 



In connection with my regular work I inci- 

 dentally came upon a curious phenomenon 

 which seemed to repay special investigation. 

 To describe it, it will be advantageous to first 

 indicate the disposition of apparatus used, as 

 is done in Fig. 1. Here L is a pencil of white 

 light (preferably from a collimator and wide 

 slit) impinging on the thin cylindrical glass 

 shell G, about 10 cm. in diameter and contain- 

 ing a solution of mercury-potassic iodide, about 

 half an inch deep and not quite concentrated. 

 The rays are thus both refracted and dispersed, 

 and on emerging enter the strong objective of 

 a short-range telescope (magnification above 

 15) of which PP' is the principal plane and 

 r'b' the narrow spectrum seen in the ocular of 

 the telescope. Properly focusing the latter, 

 the spectrum may be contracted to a vividly 

 colored vertical line. 



If now a strong direct-vision grating g is in- 

 serted in front of the objective, and the tele- 

 scope is focused anew, a sharp solar spectrum 

 may be obtained. This was a surprise to me, 

 as the cylinder^ G, though thin and clear, was 



1 The present use of a cylinder aa a collimator is 

 well worth noting. 



