followed  their  example,  formed  up 
settled  on  a  branch  of  a  tree  over  th 
the  bandsmen, 
oners  by 
hived  in  the  barrack-yard, 
which  the  bees  followed  the  band  'TOb 
a  mile.  W«  have  hoard  of  a}>elling 
these  are  musical  bees  with  a  vengeairce.  It  is 
a  oommoti  practice  in  the  country  to  collect  bees 
by  means  of  rattUng  a  wanning  pan  with  a  piece 
of  iron,  or  shaking  a  stone  in  a  tin  kettle,  and 
tuof  UfAB  tt-ill  follow  somids  is  as  old  as 
_i.  They  were  at  once  taaen  pns- 
the  corporal  of  the  guard,  and  are  now 
The  distance  over 
more  than 
bees,  but 
SHEEP  AND  WOOL 
We  are  indebted  to  J.  K.  Dodge.  Statistician 
to  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  for  a  copy  of 
the  “  Ihiport  on  Shccji  and  Wool  at  the  Vienna 
Inteniational  F-xhibition  in  187.3.”  Although  it 
has  taken  three  yeans  for  this  reimrt  U>  pass  over 
the  line  of  “  red  tape  ”  and  roach  the  jiublio,  it 
is,  uevorthcleKW,  a  valuable  compilation,  and  wo 
thank  the  author  just  as  earnestly  as  wo  would 
have  done  had  it  appeared  more  i>roinptly,  be¬ 
cause  wo  presiuno  the  delay  in  publication  has 
been  through  no  fault  of  his.  In  speaking  of 
the  different  breeds  of  sheep  exhibited,  Mr. 
Dodge  says : 
The  merino  families  of  sheep  greatly  predomi¬ 
nated,  as  they  do  in  all  countries  in  which  wool 
rather  than  mutton  is  the  aim  of  the  l»rceder. 
England,  with  a  dense  population  to  feed  and 
lands  of  high  price,  sent  only  long  and  middle 
wools.  Germany  oonti-ibuted  mainly  Merinos, 
thorough-bred  and  cross-bred,  pure  bloods  and 
the  ameliorated  *■  land  sheep"  of  the  eoontiT, 
with  a  full-  proportion  of  the  various  breeds  of 
English  mutton  Hhoep.  France  sent  only  the 
liamhouiJlot  Merino,  which  is  the  nearest  aiv 
proach  to  the  meat-produeing  typos  of  Great 
Britain  yet  attiUued  by  the  wool-yielding  race  of 
Spain.  Italy  was  represented  only  by  tlie  Ber- 
garaask  sho’op,  an  ungainly  race,  bearing  a  me¬ 
dium  wool,  and  characterized  by  long  legs,  long 
and  pcndnlouH  ears,  and  white  face  and  fleece. 
There  were  no  living  representatives  of  South 
America.  Africa  or  Austraha,  but  the  wool  from 
those  coimtiies  in  the  Exposition  was  nearly  aU 
of  the  Merino  type. 
The  predominance  of  Merinoes  of  the  various 
famiUes  was  very  roai'ked  among  continental  ex¬ 
hibitors.  Of  Uie  .377  animals  from  Gonuany, 
291  were  of  this  blood ;  27  were  Soutlrdowiis ;  26 
Oxfordshires  ;  8  Shropshires :  and  the  remainder 
Suabiau.  Ji'rankeu,  and  “  Haidosnucke.”  A  still 
larger  number  of  Merinoes,  though  not  averag¬ 
ing  so  high  in  purity  of  blood  and  other  points 
HONEY,  HONEYCOMB  AND  WAX.  < 
It  is  a  mystery  to  many  why  honeycomb  is 
worth  from  '^2  to  $4  per  pound ;  and  yet  it  is 
true  when  we  take  into  account  that  it  is  maile 
from  honey,  of  which  it  requires  twenty-five 
iwunds  for  a  swarm  of  bees  to  make  a  pound  and 
a  quarter  of  nice  honeycomb. 
The  Cincinnati  Gazette  explains  the  matter  as 
follows:— The  bee  fills  Itself  with  honey,  and 
when  combs  are  to  be  made,  the  larger  part  of 
the  Hwanu  wlU  form  or  clnster  themselves  into 
a  festoon  or  bunch  in  the  hive,  and  by  so  doing 
they  get  up  a  projier  temperature  of  heat,  which 
causes  the  houev  already  in  the  bees  to  secrete 
into  wax,  and  pass  through  the  little  flaps,  or 
poi’kets,  on  the  under  side  of  the  alMlomen,  in  | 
the  shape  of  smaU,  white  scales,  which  we  can 
ofhm  see  quite  plentiful  on  the  alighting  hoard. 
These  scales  are  taken  off  of  each  other  by  the 
bees  themselves,  and  while  it  is  in  a  soft,  phaut 
oonsistoncy.  they  make  their  combs,  first  forming 
the  very  thin  sVieet  which  serves  as  ii  partition 
between  the  two  sets  of  cells. 
If  we  would  take  the  proper  calculation  of  the  j 
value  of  bonoy,  and  the  amount  that  a  good 
busy  swarm  can  gather  daily,  we  wUl  find  it 
takes  about  twenty  days  for  bees  to  fill  their 
hives  with  the  necessary  amount  of  corah,  which 
if  clean  will  weigh  one  and  one-quarter  pounds. 
We  have  found,  in  some  instances,  when  tlie 
honey  harvest  was  good,  that  bees  will  collect 
and  bring  into  their  hives  five  to  twenty  pounds 
per  day.  I  have  often  known  a  good  strong 
stock  to  gather  fifty  isiunds  In  the  long  days  of 
August,  when  the  white  and  Alsike  olover  were 
in  full  bloom.  .  .  ,  i 
Now,  dear  readers,  let  us  make  a  fair  caloula- 
ttiis  matter,  and  we  will  find  that  at  five 
lliitiiualist 
Ik  a  caustic  article,  on  rue 
of  mankind,  the  London  Spectator  says  :-l  hero 
is  not  the  sUghtest  evidence  anywhere  tliat  man 
was  ever  bigger,  stronger,  swifter,  or  morn  en¬ 
during,  under  the  same  condiUons  of  food  and 
climate,  than  he  ia  now. 
As  to  bigness,  the  evidence  is  posiUvo.  Modern 
EgyiitiauB  are  as  big  aa  the  mummies  who  were 
conqoerors  in  their  day,  aud  modern  Englishmen 
are  stlU  hu-ger.  There  are  not  ui  existence  a 
thousand  coats  of  armor  wluch  an  English  legi- 
ment  could  put  on.  Very  few  moderns  can  use 
ancient  swords,  because  the  hiUs  arc  too  small 
for  their  hamis.  Endless  wealth  and  skill  were 
expended  in  picking  gladiahirs;  and  is  no 
1  firideiioe  that  a  man  among  them  was  as  big  or 
indicates 
name  of  the  HateUile  ispnuix 
Moth  (^PhUdinpelus  SatfUUia, 
Liuk).  Wo  may,  however, 
say  right  here,  that  this  moth 
is.  without  doubt,  Uie  P-J’wv- 
dora  of  Hubkkk,  as  the  for¬ 
mer  is  a  native  of  South  Amer¬ 
ica,  the  confounding  of  the 
two  siiecioK  by  IIakrib  in  liis 
“  Insects  Injurious  to  Vegeta¬ 
tion"  iiaving  lioeii  iierpetua- 
ted  by  most  of  onr  late  au¬ 
thors.*  But  the  fruit  grower  Is 
seldom  interested  further  than 
to  know  tlie  common  names  of 
insects  and  how  to  check  their 
ravages. 
Tlio  apecimons  you  sent 
were  only  about  one  -  third 
growTi,  or  a  little  over  an  inch 
long,  and  upon  the  caudal  ex¬ 
tremity  there  was  *a  long  pink 
horn  which  would  have  grown 
shorter  at  each  suceessm' 
moult  until  at  last  disappear¬ 
ing  entirely,  the  full-grown  pounds  per 
\  caterpillar  aiipearing  as  shown  one  bundre 
portrait  of  a  medium-  twenty-five 
As  we  have  already  slated  in  five  dollars 
no  statue,  no  picture 
eneral  were  ever  bigger.  The 
7  are  as  large  as  they  were  in 
r.  The  people  of  the  Romagna 
Hiring  and  more  than  the  size  of 
Idlery.  No  feat  is  recorded  as 
,ek  athletes  which  English  acro- 
low  iierforni. 
naked  Hav^lgG  tribe  which  naked 
Gornishinen  or  Yorkshiremen  could  not  strangle. 
No  race  exists  of  which  a  Uiousand  men  smularlj 
armed  woiUd  defeat  an  Englisli  or  Oermaii  or 
Russian  regiment  of  equal  numbers.  Nothing  is 
recorded  of  our  forefathers  hero  in  England 
which  Englishmen  could  not  do,  unless  it  o 
.ome  feats  of  archery,  which  were  the  result  of 
long  training  of  the  eye,  continued  for  geneia- 
The  most  civiUzed  and  luxurious  family  that 
ever  existed-tbe  European  niyal  casto-is  ph^- 
ioally  as  big,  as  healthy,  and  as 
that  might  people  of  whom  we  is 
enty-fi ve  to  qS  in  all*’ ^>odily  couditious,  with  an  in- 
ald  that  can  preaswl  power  of  keeping 
d  comb  is  a  pai-tly  owing  to  improved  conditions 
s'S  ar,  totrx 
difference  feebler  thiui  they  becamo  aftei 
their  first  accliraitizatiou.  ,  . 
,e  case ;  wiU  Tfio  Bengalee  was  what  we  ro. 
reader,  and  hniidi-ed  yeais  ago;  and  before 
seeping,  and  No  r^e  ever  multipUed 
pleasant,  if  Anglo-8iixou,  wind  i  has 
;;c. 
niau  and  the  Digger  Judums.  Because 
The^wearing  of  clotlies.  if 
the  experience  of  army  excessively 
best  costume  for  marohuig  ‘“kea  exces  ^ 
doubtful,  they  d^^clarni^  mia« 
hut  Uviug  out  of  doors.  .  do  not 
The  coudiUons  of  ci'^atiou  no 
prohibit  Captain  Webb,  ",  L  ,,,  that 
walked,  outswam,  or  .  wjt  they  enable 
Tacitus  ever  rumaimed  dv^g  at 
him  to  live  to  seventv  instead  .  proba- 
five,  as  two  tLousaud  pai  e  ago, 
hly  a  slave,  bred  for  the  ^  gest  con- 
Wt  the  human  race,  even  capa- 
ditions,  advances  very  those 
cities,  is  true  ; 
condiuons  are  fatal  of  the  fittest, 
old  improving  vital  power; 
StiU  an  ailv^oo  “  XfrToredr  sirimmer  would 
and  we  inestiun  whe&er  a  Ore  ^ 
over  have  crossed  from  uover 
strongly  as  we  yyifich  would  have 
world  ever  possessed  a  horse  v^n 
achieved  a  place  at  than  horses, 
grow  feeble  in  cmhzation  any  moi 
in  the  accompanying 
sized  specimen, 
the  Rdkal  of  Aug.  T“» 
to  the  ground  in  the  ft 
the  pujia  state,  provid 
prevent.  But  in  all  tl 
the  presence  of  au  ei 
aud  not  one  of  tlie 
passed  another  moult, 
rity,  for  they  were  htc 
Those  parasites  are 
which  deposits  its  eggs  upon  Uic  nouy  oi  tue 
caterpillars,  they  hatching  very  booh  and  the 
grubs  therefrom  pass  mider  the  sUm  of  the  cat¬ 
erpillar,  eating  ont  the  fleshy  parts,  but  do  not 
penetrate  to  the  riUils.  as  in  that  case  they 
would  kill  their  victim  all  too  soon  to  serve  then- 
purpose. 
In  the  meantime  the  caterpillar  feeds  away, 
trying  to  lay  up  flesh  or  fat  for  its  own  futmo 
use,  but  all  to  no  purpose,  for  Uie  score  of  htUo 
parasitic  worms  Hidden  under  its  akin  takes  every 
particle  as  fast  as  deposited.  MatU^rs  iiroceod 
in  this  manner  for  two  or  three  -weeks ;  ^atei  pil¬ 
lars  are  eating  Uie  grape-riues  while  the  httie 
grubs,  which  ai-e  eventually  to  become  flies,  are 
eating  up  the  catei-pillars  from  within,  all  unseen 
though  they  may  he  to  hmuau  or  other  eyes. 
The  fight  is  a  despciato  and  silent  one,  but  num¬ 
bers  in  this  case  count  more  than  individual 
strength,  and  the  larvro  of  the  little  fly  is  sure 
to  conquer  the  huge  catei-pillar  of  the  Sphmx 
Moth.  When  the  htUe  grubs  within  the  moth 
are  ready  to  make  a  change,  they  come  out 
Unough  little  holes  made  in  the  skin  of  the 
caterpillar  upon  which  they  have  been  f^pding 
for  so  many  days  or  weeks,  but  instead  of  bid¬ 
ding  adieu  to  their  now  almost  helpless  victim 
aud  departing  heuoe,  they  make  him  serve  a 
still  furthei-  useful  purimso.  Each  little  grub 
as  it  comes  forth,  from  its  subterranean  labors 
stops  upon  the  hack  of  the  catorpiUar,  throws 
out  a  few  silken  lines  to  make  its  hold  seciu-e 
and  then  proceeds  to  endose  itself  in  a  neat 
little  cocoon  of  the  finest  and  softest  white  silk. 
These  litUe  cocoons  are  about  an  eighth  of  an 
inch  long  aud  one  sixteenth  in  diameter,  and 
they  are-  frequently  so  numerous  as  to  cover  the 
entire  hack  and  sides  of  the  infested  caterpillars. 
The  specimens  received  from  Orleans  Co.  were 
covered  with  the  cocoons  of  this  parasite  aud 
many  of  the  little  flies  had  hatched  out  dm-Lug 
It  has  often  been  asserted  that  insecis  uo  not 
hear,  upon  no  better  foundation  than  that  ento¬ 
mologists  have  been  somewhat  at  loss  to  find 
organs  wliich  correspond  to  ears  in  other  and 
larger  animals.  The  f oUowing  from  the  London 
News,  has  a  direct  hearing  upon  the  subject  and 
seems  to  point  to  au  aflh-mative  answer  to  the 
question :  . ,  < 
Tlie  question  whether  bees  have  the  ^wer  of 
hearing  is  a  mooted  imiat  among  naturalists.  Sir 
John  Lubbock  has  tried  experiments  with  his 
bees  in  order  to  elucidate  the  matter.  Thus  he 
has  played  the  violin  close  to  his  bees,  he  has 
tried  a  dog  whistle,  a  shi-iU  pipe,  a  tuning  fork, 
and  shouting,  but  no  noise  seemed  to  distuih 
them  in  the  least.  Nevertheless,  a  curious  oc¬ 
currence  took  place  a  few  days  since  at  Windsor. 
