Dec. 14, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



597 



and this year again I shall 



to my 

 rest of 



are stouter, better filled, 

 select this wheat for seed 



" But further, the ears in the fields nearest 

 apiary are finer and heavier than those in the 

 the district." 



As to the fecundation of fruit trees, the question is 

 proved by an assortment of facts which leave no room 

 for doubt. For instance, the clergyman of Ninville 

 (Haute Marne) introduced some hives in 1883 in his 

 garden, where, during twenty years, some thirty fruit 

 trees, in spite of his intelligent care, had borne no fruit. 

 But after the introduction ot the bees, pears and apples 

 abounded on the trees which had hitherto been re- 

 garded as barren. 



Mr. Jobard cites an observation made by Darwin, which 

 will doubtless be familiar to many of our readers. He 

 made very remarkable observations on the fecundation 

 of plants by bees, which he repeated yearly, and always 

 with the same results. Near his bee-hive he sowed 

 colza and white clover, and when the plants were about 

 to flower he covered some of the heads with light gauze, 

 and thus protected them from the action of bees. When 

 the seeds were ripe, he took both from the plants thus 

 protected and from those which had been visited by the 

 bees the same number of seed-heads and counted the 

 seeds. The balance in favour of the plants fecundated 

 by bees was on the average 50 to 60 per cent., and 

 moreover the individual seeds were much finer than 

 those of the covered plants. 



In clover there occurred, besides, a remarkable phe- 

 nomenon. The clover fecundated by the intervention of 

 bees always grows larger than that sheltered from them. 

 Hence Darwin drew the conclusion that this remarkable 

 development of the plant was due to the constant suc- 

 tion effected by the bees in the corollas, in which the 

 honey is incessantly renewed. If the plant is not suffi- 

 ciently emptied there occurs a congestion and an arrest 

 of development. What confirms this observation is that 

 of two tufts of clover flourishing together, one covered 

 and the other open, the latter continued to grow, whilst 

 that excluded from contact with the bees became sta- 

 tionary as soon as its flowers were expanded. 



The neglect ot apiculture, says M. Jobard, is one of 

 the greatest errors committed by farmers, and this 

 neglect is most general in France. 



In Austria, Germany, Italy, Hungary, in Russia and 

 the United States apiculture is encouraged in an 

 especial manner. In Alsace-Lorraine the German 

 Government subsidises very liberally two apicultural 

 papers, which have been established since the annexation 

 of the provinces. 



At Vienna there is even an Apicultural Academy, 

 under the presidency of the Emperor. 



If we talk about bees to one of our great agriculturists 

 he will reply that his time is too precious to be spent on 

 such trifles. The eminent agriculturist who allows him- 

 self to be beaten on his own ground by foreign nations 

 is not aware that there exist in America at least thirty 

 financial companies, each possessing a capital of five to 

 six millions (dollars or francs ?) which they employ in — 

 what ? In spreading hives over the American territory. 

 The Americans have been the first to act upon the dis- 

 covery that bees are essential to the successful fecunda- 

 tion of plants. They are aware that from them alone 

 may be obtained thousands of tons of sugar which nature 

 has distributed so freely. 



M. Jobard further informs us that with honey the 



strength ot wines may be raised, and that wines thus 

 treated acquire a delicacy not otherwise to be obtained. 

 (To be continued.) 



SOME RECENTLY DISCOVERED FORMS 

 OF MICROSCOPIC CRUSTACEA. 



{Part I., continued from p. 574.) 

 Cymbasotna herdmani, I.C.T., plate iii. One specimen 

 only of this very remarkable species was -ecently taken 

 between Anglesea and Puffin Island, and it has since 

 been recorded from Jersey. 



Length i-ioth inch, the cephalothorax is nearly the 

 same width throughout, is truncated at each end and five- 

 jointed, the first joint being nearly equal in length to the 

 remaining four. The anterior antennas of male (fig. a) 



Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 



Cymbasoma Herdmani, I.C.T., figs. 1-3. 



Fig. I. Cymbasoma herdmani, I.C.T., male, 150 



Fig. 2. Anterior antenria of do. 250 



Fig. 3. One of swimming feet of do. 250 



are five-jointed, strong and muscular, the fourth joint 

 being nearly equal in length to the preceding three ; 

 there is a hinged joint between the fourth and terminal. 

 There are several spines and setse throughout the an- 

 tennae, the apex bearing a terminal claw. The first four 

 pairs of swimming feet are alike in structure (fig. 3), 

 the basal joint being very large. Both branches are 

 three-jointed, and clothed with strong spinose setae. 

 The abdomen ol the male is five-jointed, gradually 

 getting smaller, the fifth being wedge-shaped laterally. 

 The caudal segments are divergent and stumpy, a little 

 longer than broad, each terminated by six spinose setae. 



The only hitherto known species of this genus, C. 

 rigidum, Thompson,* was taken by tow-net off Teneriffe. 



The total number of species of free-swimming Cope- 



* Described in a paper read before Linnsean Soc, London, Lin. 

 J], 'ol. xx., 119. 



