NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
197 
Barton” as the name of a place in Norfolk. I should be very glad to hear if 
any of your readers can kindly tell me of a common small field name found in 
North Cheshire, and in the bordering county of Flint, beginning with a letter 
“Q.” I used to hear the word twenty years ago when staying in that district, 
but it has quite slipped my memory. 
Tipton, Staffordshire. Ed. A. Spurgin. 
Insects and. Plant Fertilisation. — It seems to me that careful obser- 
vations upon the visits of insects, and especially of bees and moths, to flowers, 
might form a useful and interesting occupation for those Selbornians who have 
leisure hours ; whilst the result of these observations would add to the interest of 
Nature Notes. My observations, which (owing to lack of leisure) have been 
only partial and fragmentary, seem to point to the conclusion that bees are 
largely influenced in their selection of plants for visiting by their sense of smell. 
I have on several occasions noticed bees choose such inconspicuous and sober 
coloured flowers as those of wood sage (Teucriu 7 u Scorodonia) in preference to 
the gaily coloured flowers which were growing around. Last year, during a 
visit to Lakeland, I watched for about two hours the movements of bees among 
a group of wild flowers consisting of harebell {Campanula rotundifolia), wood 
betony {Stachys Betonica), golden rod {Solidago Virgaurea), and wood sage. 
The very large majority of these bees (quite three out of four) took no notice of 
the gaily decked plants, but alighted on the flowers of the wood sage, and 
seemed to be extracting nectar from them. The bees which visited other plants 
first, soon left them for the wood sage. As the observations of botanists have 
shown that blue, yellow, and red are favourite colours w'ith bees, the only con- 
clusion I could draw from my observations on this occasion was that these 
Westmorland bees were guided by scent rather than by sight in their choice of 
this inconspicuous flower, and that the nectaries of the wood sage at the time 
were secreting nectar. I think it has been pretty clearly proved that the period 
of the most copious secretion of nectar coincides with the maturity of the anthers 
or of the stigma. The wood sage flowers in question, or, more correctly, a large 
number of them, had all the appearances of maturity. Observations made by 
me during the month of August last in North Devon tended to confirm the view 
above stated. I mention my observations with a view of inviting attention in 
an indicated direction, and of asking others to assist in collecting such a body 
of facts as may lead to the forming of a correct opinion. I am fully aware that 
my few and imperfect observations are totally inadequate for the formation of a 
decided opinion, and I only ask that they may be taken for what they are worth 
— not much. 
Bath. W. G. Wheatcrofi'. 
Insects and Colour. — How much insects are attracted by colour was 
vividly impressed upon me on the evening of June 19, when I noticed the rare 
humming-bird hawk-moth visiting the geranium flowers, darting with lightning 
speed from blossom to blossom, and inserting its proboscis into the nectaries, 
as is its habit while still on the wing. I called my wife, who was at the time 
wearing a black dress with heliotrope ruching at the edge of the skirt, to see the 
pretty creature. Immediately upon catching sight of the heliotrope trimming it 
left the geraniums and time after time inserted its proboscis into the folds of the 
ruching, and only after frequent attempts and a failure to find nectar, it desisted. 
J. H. 
A Tame Tortoise. — We kept a tortoise in our garden in an enclosed space 
on the lawn for many years. It was provided with a little wooden house lined 
with hay where it would retire for the night. It used to eat lettuce, dandelions 
and hawksweed, but what it delighted in most of all were buttercups, which we 
put before it in heaps and which it greedily devoured. It used also to eat bread 
cut up in small pieces, preferring the crust, we thought, and it would swallow 
small stones sometimes. It was very lively, and when we let it out for a run it 
was astonishing to see the pace at which it would go ; it generally made for the 
borders, where it sometimes got lost amongst the shrubs and flowers, and once it 
was found in the road some distance away outside the grounds. Sometimes, if 
frightened, it would hiss like a serpent, and draw its head very quickly into its 
