REYIEWS. 
183 
the prominences have no analogy to clouds, hut are mostly phenomena of 
eruption. Where there are faculse, there are also prominences, hut they 
are not identical with each other. Over sun-spots there are low jets, hut no 
high prominences. In the circumpolar regions the prominences are few, 
small, and last a short time. At the solar equator they are less active and 
frequent than in higher solar latitudes. He noticed some prominences ex- 
ceeding three minutes, or ten terrestrial diameters in altitude, and one pro- 
minence had an elevation of no less than 160,000 miles. Professor Respighi 
found that the formation of a prominence is usually preceded hy the appear- 
ance of a rectilinear jet, either vertical or oblique, and very bright and 
well defined. It rises to a great height, then bends hack again, and ends 
hy falling into the sun, sometimes forming a cloud in doing so. It is in the 
upper part of such prominences that the most remarkable and rapid trans- 
formations are seen, hut a great difference is observed in the rate with 
which prominences change figure. Their duration, too, is variable— some are 
minutes, some even days in existence. The Professor thinks, says Mr. 
Proctor, that “ the sharply-defined bases of the eruptive jets prove that 
the eruption takes place through some compact substance forming a species 
of solar crust. He agrees with Zollner in considering that the enormous 
velocity with which these gaseous matters rush through the solar atmosphere 
implies that the latter is of exceeding tenuity.” 
It is out of our power to go further into the substance of this book. 
The quotation we have given shows the character of the volume, and we 
can only say that it abounds in novelties to the general reader as striking 
as the foregoing. It is elaborately illustrated, the coloured lithographs of 
' the spectroscopic observations being especially good, and being valuable to 
the general student because of their absence from all works with which he 
comes in contact. In point of style the work is everything that could be 
desired. In conclusion, we must say a word of praise for the publishers 
and printers — the book is admirably got up, both as to paper, print, and 
illustration. 
THE HONEY-BEE.* 
T HE first edition of this work was published, we believe, in 1838, and 
was dedicated to Her Majesty. The present edition has been carried 
out by a dear friend of the author, whom he had arranged with to complete 
the work after his death. Yet we confess our inability to see any great 
advances which have been made. We do not mean that the present work 
is not a larger and more important volume than its parent ; but what seems to 
us is this— that, so far as recent work is concerned, it really is most defective. 
There is an endless amount of quotation from Aristotle and Huber and the 
several old anatomists who did so much good work. But we do not find 
any account of recent researches, at least anything worth speaking of. The 
editor says he has been abroad, a*nd it surprises us that he has not heard of 
* 11 The Honey-bee : Its Natural History, Physiology, and Management.” 
By Edward Bevan, M.D. Revised, enlarged, and illustrated by William 
Augustus Munn, F.R.H.S. London : Van Yoorst, 1870. 
