THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
431 
rapidly follows in the path of the fungus. 
In many eases wounds occur on approxima- 
tely opposite points of the stem. Where 
infection takes place in both of these the 
decay and falling away of the tissues pro- 
gresses from both to the centre, resulting 
eventually in the formation of an irregular 
opening through the trunk with sound 
wood on either side of it. 
Egypt has 3,450,000 date palms, produ- 
cing 300,000 tons of fruit. 
The Maltese Islands have not a very ex- 
tensive reptilian fauna. Land tortoises, 
turtles, lizards, frogs, and snakes are the 
principal representatives. 
Of the snakes there are but two species 
Coluber v iridiflavu? and Callopeltls leopar- 
dinus which are indigenous to the islands, 
and both of these are harmless. They attain j 
a length of two feet; and are so timid that 
it is difficult to approach them. “According 
to native tradition St. Paul banished all 
venemous snakes from Malta, as St Patrick 
is said to have done from Ireland, and the 
saliva of persons born on the festival of the 
Conversion of St. Paul is said to be effica- 
cious in the cure of snake bites, as are also 
St. Paul’s earth, and the Ferra Sigillata 
MelituceC 
The Fata Morgana, or sea mirage, is most 
perfect at the Straits of Messina, between 
Italy and Sicily. 
Jn view of the great prevalence of the di- 
sease known as tapeworm, in the Maltese 
Islands, the following statistics will not be 
without some interest for our readers. An ! 
inquiry by Bereanger Ferand shows that 
in 87 out of 100 cases of tapeworm in man 
only one parasite was present. In 52 out the 
100 cases, the tape worm was at least five 
yards long and in six instances it was from 12 
to 16 yards. In the remarkable case of a ma- 
«/ 
rine engineer who became infected at Mada- 
gascar, three tapeworms of enormous size 
were removed, their total length being 
170 yards, and their weight nearly 30 
ounces. 
"^HE last issue of Natural Science contains 
among other interesting matter the follow- 
ing contributions. “The effect of the 
Glacial Period on the Fauna and Flora of 
the British Isles” by G. W. Bulman, M. A., 
B. Sc. “Some Recent Researches on the 
Habits of Ants, Wasps, and Bees,” by G.H. 
Carpenter B. Sc., “The recent plague of 
Wasps” by O. H. Latter, M. A. “Biological 
Theories” by C. H. Hurst Ph. D. 
“The Problem of Variation” by J, T. 
Cunningham M. A. “The British Associa- 
tion addresses 1893.” etc. etc. 
IT estimated in the last Census report of the 
Maltese Islands that 250,000 loads of clover 
Iledysarium coronarium are grown an- 
nually in the Maltese Islands. It is on 
this plant that the bees of the islands prin- 
cipally feed, and most of the beehives have 
therefore been erected in proximity to the 
clover fields. Some idea of the amount of 
work which the little creatures do in their 
collection of the juices of the plant may 
be gleaned from the fact that every head 
of clover consists of about sixty flower 
tubes, each of which contains an infinite- 
simal quantity of sugar. Bees will often 
visit a hundred different heads of clover 
before retiring to the hive, and in order to 
obtain the sugar necessary for a load they 
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