474 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Nov. 9, 1 888. 



The juice from ioo queen-bee cells yelded 3'6o28 

 grammes of dry substance, that from ioo drones' cells 

 0*2612 gramme, from ioo workers' cells 0-0474 gramme. 

 Reviewing these results, some approach to a theory 

 may be framed. We may, I think, venture to conclude 

 that the fundamental character of the royal food which 

 effects the development of the queen is that it is supplied 

 in a partially digested condition, thus permitting the 

 infant maggot to devote more of its vital energies to the 

 business of assimilation and growth. The other maggots 

 are supplied with food in this condition at first, but 

 afterwards they have the pollen in semi-digested condi- 

 tion, and finally when fully grown they get it directly in 

 its crude state from the plant. 



This nearly corresponds to the proceedings of the 

 mammalian vegetarians. The cow supplies the young 

 calf with digested grass in the form of milk during the 

 period of most rapid growth, and those who are behind 

 the scenes at cart-horse shows know that the prize speci- 

 mens are fed upon milk ; they commonly have a couple 

 of cows in attendance upon each. Bulk is thus attained, 

 if nothing else. 



The above table shows that the greatest difference 

 between the food supplied to the queen and the other 

 young bees is in the fat, the quantity of which is about 

 twice as great as that provided for the ordinary worker 

 maggots that are not to be developed into queens. 

 This is curiously analogous to the difference between 

 the milk of the herbivora and graminivora and the 

 grass or grains of the food of the adult. Even in 

 the carnivora, which obtain more fat in their ordi- 

 nary food, there is still an excess in the milk. Thus, 

 according to Dr. Miller's analyses, cow's milk contains 

 an average of 4 per cent., goat's 4J, sheep's 4g, 

 while the milk of the bitch contains i4'8, about 3! times 

 as much. The milk of the porpoise contains 45-8 per 

 cent, of fat. 



Analogy justifies us in supposing that the fatty matter 

 supplied to the cells is obtained by the adult bees from 

 starch, glucose, or other vegetable sugar ; and here it is 

 that the greatest change occurs in the course of digestion 

 of vegetable food ; the conversion of carbo-hydrates into 

 hydro-carbon?; the splitting or dissociation of the water 

 of the carbo-hydrate, the disposal of the oxygen, and 

 leaving the carbon with the hydrogen only. Much work is 

 demanded for effecting this change, and a corresponding 

 exhaustion of energy is saved for the work of larval 

 growth. 



These microscopic and chemical investigations, how- 

 ever interesting in themselves, contribute nothing 

 towards a solution of the mystery of the balancing of 

 the sexes which occurs spontaneously in most species, 

 notably so in man. If variations of food had any in- 

 fluence here, it would surely show itself now that we 

 have so many sectarians in the matter of food ; some 

 that abjure alcohol, others abstaining from flesh food ; 

 sorre denouncing tea, coffee, tobacco, etc., and even cases 

 of total abstinence from all liquids ; men and women who 

 use neither cups nor glasses, nor even the oyster-shell 

 of Diogenes, but depend upon fruit and green food for all 

 the liquid they require. Then we have whole tribes, 

 like the coast Lapps, that feed only on fish; others, like 

 the Fjeld Lapp, v. ho depend almost exclusively on the 

 reindeer, gathering only a few pot-herbs in the summer; 

 others feeding on raw flesh, on roots, etc., etc. 



In none of these have we any special preponderance 

 of either male or female infants when any considerable 



number of families is counted. Neither climate nor 

 seasons, nor sedentary or active habits, have any visible 

 effect. 



It is true that certain families consist mostly of boys, 

 others of girls; but, somehow, they balance each other 

 in the mass, just as the proportion of mere accidents 

 remains the same when we take large averages ; like the 

 constant percentage of undirected letters containing valu- 

 ables that are annually deposited in the boxes of the 

 Post Office, or the number of people annually killed in 

 the streets of London. 



We have no record of any race, of any place or 

 period, that has been specially distinguished by its pre- 

 ponderating production of either male or female infants. 



THE LATE ERUPTION OF VULCANO. 



THIS formed the subject of a paper in the Geological 

 Section ofthe British Association, at the late meet- 

 ing at Bath, by Dr. Johnston-Lavis and Dr. Tempest 

 Anderson. It was illustrated by photographs thrown on 

 the screen by a lantern, some of which we now reproduce. 

 They were taken by Dr. Anderson in May of this year, 

 and consequently represent the island as it was before 

 the eruption. 



Identified in the older mythologies with the forge of 

 Vulcan and the workshop of the Cyclops, where, accord- 

 ing to Virgil, the armour of jEneas was forged, this 

 island has always been an object of awe and superstitious 

 dread to the dwellers in the two Sicilies. 



In later times, when fear and fancy had begun to give 

 way to curiosity, the historians, geographers, and philo- 

 sophers of Rome gave more sober and accurate accounts 

 of its phenomena ; and its later name of Vulcano, or 

 Volcano, has gradually come to be applied to all moun- 

 tains of similar character. Numerous eruptions are 

 recorded from it, by Thucydides, Aristotle, and in the 

 second century before Christ by Diodorus. It is probable 

 that the small island of Vulcanello, now connected with 

 Vulcano by later eruptions, was formed at this period. 



In the middle ages it was regarded as the place of 

 torture of Theodoric, an Arian emperor. 



From the end of the fifteenth century a long series of 

 eruptions are recorded, which have frequently driven 

 away the inhabitants and devastated the island. 



Vulcano is an island about five or six miles in greatest 

 length, and is situated to the south-west of Lipari, from 

 which it is separated by a narrow strait. The southern 

 part of the island consists of several semi-circular crater 

 rings, which have been formed at successive periods, as 

 the point of eruption has shifted along the line of the 

 great fissure which, no doubt, underlies the island. 

 Towards the north-west end is the large active cone and 

 crater, surrounded by a deep valley (Atrio) which 

 separates it from the old crater rings. 



Its summit is truncated, and shows vestiges of several 

 craters, which have been successively formed and 

 destroyed. One of these, the Forgio Vecchio, is well- 

 shown in the centre of fig. 2. Above the Forgio Vecchio 

 is the great fumarole referred to in Mr. Narlian's 

 letter. In the irregular summit of the mountain 

 are many fumaroles, and towards the south part is 

 the large crater the bottom of which is shown in 

 fig. 3. Its floor contains many large and active fuma- 

 roles, from which vapours constantly escape, with often 

 much noise. These vapours consist of steam containing 

 boric acid, arsenic, and other substances. Some years 



