SCIENCE-GOSSJP. 



■leser»-es particular consideralion, inasmuch as we 

 have evidence of mintl. The hypothesis that 

 pressure upon a cylindrical cell produces the hex- 

 agonal form is insufficient ; we must account for 

 the highly artificial mode of termination of (4ie cell 

 by those rhombs inclined at the precise angle 

 (rcxieg. 31 min.) that calculation requires for the 

 minimum surface, which is also the acute angle 

 of the rhomb. This circumstance points to a 

 highly intellectual operation, implied in the 

 arrangements of its organs so as mechanicallv to 

 effect it The worker bees only, are able to con- 

 struct the cell, and their functions arc obligatory, 

 because they alone possess the organ for that pur- 

 pose. The posterior pair of legs have small cavi- 

 ties into which the bee collects the pollen, while 

 the lower surface is hairy and serves the part of a 

 brush ; the mouth is so constructed as to fulfil the 

 office of several instruments ; and, lastlv, thev 

 carry in the space between the four last rings of 

 the abdomen, the organs which secrete the wax. 

 All is determined, provided, and fatal. The 

 functions are not voluntary ; they are the result of 

 adaptation. The worker bee is well named — it 

 alone works, and in order that it mav not be inter- 

 rupted in the jierformance of its duties, natural 

 celibacy is the consequence of its organisation. 

 This last negative condition cannot be explained 

 i-y natural selection. Could there be a more sin- 

 gular paradox than the conservation by heredity of 

 the unfitness for fecundation? The functions of 

 the male and female are likewise unique and pre- 

 determined. The male fecundates, the female lavs 

 eggs, and the neuters share the government and 

 the care of the colony. 



The social constitution, the diversity and number 

 of individuals, the adaptation of organs to special 

 ends, the different phases of the evolution of the 

 swarm, the perfectness and the invariability of the 

 work : all bespeak instinct. 



In the finished hive nearly 50,000 cells await 

 the eggs of the female. She, on her return from 

 her aerial journey, runs over the comb and ex- 

 amines attentively each cell, and if found satisfac- 

 tor.-. deposits in each an egg; 15,000 eggs are thus 

 laid, in a single day, and they are arranged in a 

 definite order. The ova for worker bees are first 

 laid, then the eggs for males, and finally those for 

 females. This order is never broken except when 

 Ihe period of fecundation varies. This is neither 

 foresight nor a voluntary act. While en"a^-ed in 

 these duties the mother bee is the obiect of'atten- 

 tion and solicitude— I had almost said of the vene- 

 ration of the worker bees. From this circumstance 

 Virgil likens her to a king, and we, to a queen. 



I shall not follow the swarm in all its phases 

 nor shaU I describe (he troubles that frequently 

 invade the hive, my purpose being nurdy to review 

 •he peculiar trails of the life and rhc' habits of 

 animals which are instinctive. 



(To /'t continutd.) 



A HISTORY OF CHALK. 



By Einv.vRi) [. Marti.n. F.Ct.S. 



A MOXG the typical forms of rock that constitute 

 ■'*■ the various geological divisions of the eartlvs 

 crust, the fomi of limestone knt>wn as chalk is one of 

 those most familiar to the public mind. Chalk is so 

 clearly distinguishable from every other kind of rock, 

 that even he who is in no sense a geologist, has not 

 the slightest hesitation in identifying it. It is not, 

 however, always uniform. I have collected specimens 

 of a pure snow-white tint from a pit, at Goldstone 

 Bottom, near Brighton, since filled in, which fell at 

 once into a powder on the application of the slightest 

 pressure. The chalk used for road-making will leave 

 its mark on the hands and clothes, this being due to 

 the fact that it pi'.rts with powdery fragments of 

 itself if handled. There is another kind of natural 

 chalk, so hard as to have been used as building stone. 

 This chalk-rock, as it is called, is capable of substi- 

 tution in building, for some of the harder limestones. 



Globicerjna from tkk Chalk. 



There is a well-marked zone of this hard chalk, 

 situated between the Middle Chalk and the Upper 

 Chalk, which has recei\ed the name of Chalk Rock ; 

 since, scientifically speaking, a " rock " may be any- 

 thing from an accumulation of loose material, to the 

 hardest of hard rocks. It was a similar hard chalk 

 that was used in the foundations of the old monastery, 

 which formerly stood on the site at the corner of 

 Knightrider Street and Carter Street, in the City of 

 London. I had the opportunity of examining these 

 foundations in the year 1SS5, during the excavation of 

 the site. It was remarkalile to notice how the hard 

 chalk, after the lapse of centuries, was apparently as 

 firm a.s it had ever been. 'Ihe great slabs of granite, 

 of which numerous fragments were found, were in an 

 advanced state of decomposition, the felspar crystals 

 Iseing in many cases powdered to dust, and the quartz 



