808 Microscopical Society of London. 



two, before any thing new was adopted by them, however sound and good it was. 

 Might not a little be done for the cause of humanity in this way, by the contributors to 

 this magazine ? The extract from Huish, in p. 748, does not indicate that that author 

 has been veiy fortunate in some of his observations on bees. He there says, " The 

 bee will only work in complete darkness, &c," and " the actions of the apiarian 

 monarch are enshrined in almost impenetrable mystery.'' In a glass hive, constructed 

 after the plan laid down by Dr. Dunbar, in Sir W. Jardine's ' Naturalists' Library, 

 vol. vi. p. 182, I have often witnessed the operations of its inmates quite in accordance 

 with the following extracts from the same volume of the ' Naturalists' Library.' 

 " Exploring a glass hive on a soft spring morning, and following with his eye a bee 

 loaded with farina, the observer will perceive the little active forager, on her arrival 

 in the interior, hurrying over the surface of the comb, in search of a proper cell in 

 which to deposit her burden ; and, having found one, fastening herself by the two 

 fore feet on its superior border, then bending her body a little forward, that her hinder 

 feet may catch hold of the opposite edge of the cell. In this position she is next 

 seen thrusting back her second pair of feet, one on each side, and sweeping with them 

 from top to bottom along the two hinder legs, where the farina balls are fixed, and by 

 this means detaching them from the hairy linings of the cavities, and depositing them 

 in the cell." — p. 65. " In the operation of laying, the queen puts her head into a 

 cell, and remains in that position about a second or two, as if to ascertain whether it 

 is in a fit state to receive the deposit. She then withdraws her head, curves her body 

 downwards, inserts her abdomen into the cell, and turns half round on herself ; having 

 kept this position for a few seconds, she withdraws her body, having in the meantime 

 laid an egg." — p. 61. Other passages descriptive of the internal operations of the 

 hive might be quoted, to show that the note from Huish, p. 748, falls far short of the 

 insight given by Dr. Dunbar, who, it is much to be regretted, had seen l Nutt's 

 Treatise' for the first time only when his vol. of the ' Naturalists' Library' was ready 

 for the press. — G. Gordon ; November 27, 1844. 



Microscopical Society of London. 



October 16, 1844.— J. S. Bowerbank, Esq., F.R.S., &c. &c. in the 

 chair. 



A paper on the Adipose Tissue, by Alfred Smee, Esq., F.R.S., was 

 read. After briefly noticing the opinions of various anatomists and 

 physiologists upon the adipose tissue, Mr. Smee proceeded to state 

 that he was led to the examination of this subject by observing, that 

 when trying experiments with various injections, the fat was of an 

 unusually deep tinge ; and wishing to discover the cause of this ap- 

 pearance, he was induced to pursue the investigation, until he arrived 

 at the conclusions stated in the paper. The animals operated upon 

 were principally cats. Having destroyed life by means of an infusion 

 of tobacco, or of Prussic acid, the chest was instantly opened, and 

 a tube being inserted into the aorta, the vessels were injected with a 



