CHAPTER OF VARIETIES. 87 



on the rind of which a great number of a species of scale insect, 

 (Coccus), are irregularly scattered. It bears a very close resemblance to 

 the scale insect of the elm, (C. conchy formis, Gmelis), as described 

 by Reaumur, and also to the one which I have mentioned (Insect 

 Trans, p. 92,) as common on the currant bushes at Lee. The one on 

 Mr. Maund's apple is, however, much less gregarious than the currant 

 species, which are always crowded closely together, but more so than 

 Reaumur's species. But as those on the apple are at present in a 

 state of hybernation, (if T may here use this term,) consisting of the 

 dried body of the mother covering and protecting the eggs, as is 

 sh own in the figure, there are not sufficient circumstances to establish 

 the difference of the species. I am not, however, acquainted with 

 any species which is thus found on fruit, and I shall carefully watch 

 the hatching of the eggs. — Editor. 



Professor Chris iison, on cinnamon suet.— We are indebted 

 to Henry Marshall, deputy inspector general of the army hospitals, and 

 author of a valuable work on the " Medical Topography of Ceylon," 

 for a specimen of the singular substance termed cinnamon suet, 

 accompanied by a brief notice, by Professor Christison, of Edinburgh, 

 of his chemical investigation of its properties, which we shall here 

 subjoin. 



" I have now finished the the examination of the cinnamon tree suet, and the fol- 

 lowing is the general result. It contains eight per cent, of a fluid oil, not unlike olive oil, 

 retaining its fluidity at 40 degrees F, £hd not very solid even at 32 degrees. The 

 remainder is a waxy principle, fusible at 110 degrees, and capable of being sublimed 

 between the temperature of boiling water, and a red heat, — extremely soluble in 

 ether, — moderately soluble in boiling, but nearly insoluble in cold, alcohol ; crystal- 

 lising from its etherial and alcoholic solutions in microscopic, pearly crystals, capable 

 of being saponified, and, in consequence of that process, converted into a fatty acid, 

 fusible at 98, which forms soluble salts with the alkalies, insoluble salts with the 

 earths, and insoluble salts (or plasters), with the metallic oxides. 



This principle answers very exactly the description given by John, of one of the waxy 

 principles contained in the wax of the Myrica cordifolia, and which he names Cerin. 

 My observations on its saponification are new, which proves its not having been 

 particularly studied at the time John published his analysis. 



I have also made an examination of the oil of the Laurus nobilis, another species of 

 the same genus with the cinnamon ; and although its external properties are wholly 

 different from those of the cinnamon tree suet, I find it contains a considerable quan- 

 tity of cerine likewise, and of a waxy principle, identical with that of the cinnamon 

 tree." — K. Christison. 



Incident of a disabled queen bee. —The people of my village, 

 many of whom are fond of keeping bees, make use of strange 

 expedients to induce bees to stay in the hives, into which they are first 



