86 



SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



in tint. The dermal glands are yellow. Some- 

 times on the white patch just mentioned may be a 

 bright patch of crimson-red. which is found in 

 different positions in different specimens. This 





Fig. 7. M. elliptiea-. Ventral surface of female. 



latter effect is no doubt owing to the partly digested 

 contents of the inside moving their position. 



LEr,>. — First pair about 0.38 mm. Fourth pair 

 about 0.6S mm. Colour a reddish-yellow. 



Epimera. — In one group : colour yellow. running 

 into green on the margins. 



Fig. 8. M. elliptiea. 



Genital area of female. 



Fig. 9. 31. elliptiea. 



Three last segments of third lee of 

 male. 



Palpi. — Second and third segments are rather 

 thick. The fourth are long and thin. 



Genital Area. — Composed of two plates, with 

 a number of discs on each (fig. 8). 



Male. — Very little difference in structure from 

 that of female, except in the third pair of legs, 

 which have the three last segments like fig. 9. 

 The genital area is also different, having the inner 

 plates of a horseshoe form ; but the colouring and 

 arrangement of the dorsal surface are the same as 

 in the female. 



Localities. — Rare. Dr. George has found this 

 species in Kirton-in-Lindsey. Lincolnshire ; Mr. 

 Scourfiekl in Epping Forest : myself on Norfolk 

 Broads. 



{To he continued.") 



Guinea-Pigs and Rats. — In answer to a ques- 

 tion in the June number {ante. p. 24) with regard 

 to rats and guinea-pigs, my sons have a small 

 pheasant aviary, and as it was visited by rats they 

 put some guinea-pigs into it with the idea that 

 they would drive the rats away. Before many 

 weeks the guinea-pigs had been killed, presumably 

 by rats, but possibly by a >toat. — E. DeaMn, Cqfttm 

 J'arsonage, Aloechvrch. 



INSTINCT IX BEES. 



By Lieut. -Colonel H. J. 0. Walker. 



T N the June number of the last volume of Sctence- 

 Gossip (p. 11) Mr. Dickson-Bryson deals with 

 bees under the heading of " Instinct." Having 

 myself made the hive-bee a particular study, I 

 should like to point out one or two inaccuracies, 

 although the paper itself as yet remains unfinished. 

 It is stated that the " entire population " of the- 

 hive "numbers no less than from eight to ten 

 thousand individuals." This is far below the mark. 

 The summer population of a thriving hive should 

 be about 40,000 bees. A good swarm even should 

 be full 20,000 of these insects. 



A little further on. p. 12, the writer states that 

 1". " ": eggs are laid by the queen in one day, and 

 it is hard to see how he reconciles these two state- 

 ments, the more so that a vigorous queen lays 

 almost continuously throughout the greater part of 

 the year, whenever suitable cells are ready for her. 

 The second statement is quite erroneous. The 

 paragraph begins : — -" In the finished hive nearly 



." :eLL? await ::.-.• ei r gs of the female," A- a 



matter of fact, the srreater portion of the combs 

 would be filled with brood and stores ; and if a 

 tenth part of the given number of cells, which 

 would be equivalent to 200 square inches of comb, 

 were ready for her it would be quite unusual. 

 Again, no matter how many cells were available. 

 she could lay nothing approaching to the number 

 of eggs stated. As many besides myself have 

 observed, it takes a queen about thirty seconds to 

 deposit her egg and get clear of the cell : so that 

 if any number of cells were ready for her and con- 

 tiguous, the eggs laid in twenty -four hours could 

 not amount to more than 2.880, even if the queen 

 were to lay all the time without stopping. She, 

 however, rests for about six hours out of the 

 twenty -four, and has to walk about to look for 

 empty cells, so that it is improbable that she ever 

 lays more than 2,000 eggs, indeed seldom so many. 



Since writing the above paragraph, I may men- 

 tion that I have at present under observation an 

 exceptionally quick laying queen, whose average is 

 eighteen seconds ; but the time it takes to deposit 

 eggs is small compared with that spent in finding 

 and examining cells. A freshly mated queen lays 

 more slowly. 



As regards the method of the hive-bee in comb- 

 building, it would seem probable that it came to 

 be adopted by the working, through natural selec- 

 tion, of the principle of economy in wax ; for its 

 secretion is not only a constitutional strain on the 

 worker-bee, but involves a large consumption of 

 the honey which it works so hard to win, and of 

 which from 10 to 21 lbs. may be taken to produce 

 1 lb. of wax. If instead of the cell-base being 

 angled out so as to form part of those of three 

 cells on the opposite side of the mid -rib it had 



