388 Notes and Memoranda. 



June the lightning fell on a vineyard at Clarens, and struck 150 trees, having 

 split into so many branches. 



Hermaphrodite Bees. — At the same meeting, Professor von Siebold stated 

 that M. Engster, of Constance, had a hive of bees, now four years old, which 

 constantly produced a number of hermaphrodites, which the working bees turned 

 out by hundreds soon after they were born. These hermaphrodites did not 

 resemble each other ; sometimes one side was male and the other female ; some- 

 times the head, antennae, eyes, etc., belonged to one sex, while the posterior 

 portions belonged to another. At other times, the exterior characteristics alter- 

 nated in rings, and even in half rings. The internal organs exhibited equal 

 diversity. In some cases the hermaphrodites had the sting of the working bees, 

 in others the male organ of the drones, and there were instances of both united. 

 Moreover, the external and internal characteristics frequently faded to correspond, 

 one belonging to one sex and the other to another. Some individuals had the 

 internal arrangement of males on one side on the right and of females on the 

 left, but their exterior was arranged in an opposite manner. One characteristic 

 was constant, that the ovaries were formed like those of the workers, and con- 

 tamed no eggs ; while the testicles were completely developed, and exhibited 

 zoosperms. The professor observed that the sex of bees depended on fecunda- 

 tion, eggs into which zoosperms entered becoming females (queens or workers), 

 while unfecundated eggs become males. The eggs from which the hermaphro- 

 dites came were laid in workers' cells, and consequently were intended to pro- 

 duce working bees ; but they were incompletely fecundated, and thus the 

 development of female organs did not pass beyond a rudimentary state. 



Change oj? Habit is Species. — Professor Strobel observed, at the meeting 

 just named, that he had found in the Po a macrurous crustacean, which he con- 

 sidered to be the Palueno lucustris of Lake Garda, affording an illustration of a 

 marine species gradually habituated to fresh water. 



Dr. Wallich ox the Amcebj:. — Continuing his important researches, Dr. 

 "Wallich arrives at the conclusion that the circulation in the amoebae is a me- 

 chanical effect consequent on the contractility of the sarcode, and not a vital 

 act, " the particles simply flow along with the advancing rush of protoplasm. 

 There is no return stream, but the semblance of one is engendered by one layer 

 of particles remaining at rest while another is moving past them." Dr. Wallich 

 instances additional reasons for considering the various forms of amoebae as one 

 species, and for confirming the opinion he formerly expressed, that the appear- 

 ance of a membranous ectosarc betokens enc_\ station. This change he thinks 

 occurs when the reciprocal interchange between endosarc and ectosarc ceases 

 from diminished vitality. (See Intellectual Observer, xviii., p. 431.) Further 

 information will be found in the Annals of JSatural History, vol. xii. No. 71. 



Comet V., 1863. — M. Tempel discovered this body at Marseilles on the 4th 

 of November, AR = 173 3 15' tiD = 1CP. It had the brightness of a 4 magni- 

 tude star, and a tail more than one degree long. On the 1st of November, M. 

 Tempel found its daily movement to be -\- iy -J- 1£°, the same in right ascen- 

 sion as in declination. On the 9th, Dr. Bruhns saw it at Leipzig, and reported 

 to Astron. Nachricten, " the nucleus is very bright, and was readily visible, even 

 in the neighbourhood of Venus, with the naked eye. Of the tail we saw little j 

 in the comet finder it appeared to be one degree long." 



Vh'j.ks OB Fkanci:. — M. iSoubeyran describes three species of these venomous 

 reptiles as belonging to France and Central Europe, V. aspis, pelias, and ammo- 

 dytes. The last ha- a triangular head, separated, from the body by a narrow 

 Qeok and a prolonged muzzle. He remarks that the characters ot the two other 

 vipers vary very much with the locality, the nature of the sod, and even with 

 the season, thus giving rise to numerous sub-species. Cosmos affirms that viper- 

 hunters may find abundance in the forest of Fotitainb can, between " les Monte 

 des Fays and la Mare aux Fvees," a mile or two from the station of Boisde-Eoi. 



