350 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 31, 1858. 
them, a half-witted priest, who was famous for his prowess 
in such matters, was sent for to perform the operation. 
This man, in addition to his priestly duties, had the charge 
Of the buffaloes which were kept on the farm attached to the 
temple. He came round in high glee, evidently considering 
his qualifications of no ordinary kind for the operation he was 
about to perform. Curious to witness his method of pro¬ 
ceeding with the business, I left some work with which I 
Was busy, and followed him and the other priests and 
servants of the establishment to the place where the hives 
were fixed. The form of the hives, in this instance, was 
cylindrical; each was about three feet in height, and rather 
wider at the bottom than the top. When we reached the 
spot where the hives were placed, our operator jumped upon 
a table placed there for the purpose, and gently lifted down 
one of the hives and placed it on its side on the table. He 
then took the moveable top off, and the honeycomb, with 
which the hive was quite full, was exposed to our view. In 
the meantime an old priest, having brought a large basin, 
and everything being ready, our friend commenced to cut 
out the honeycomb with a knife made apparantly for the 
purpose, and having the handle almost at right angles with 
the blade. Having taken out about one-tliird of the con¬ 
tents of the hive, the top was put on again, and the hive 
elevated to its former position. The same operation was 
repeated with the second hive, and in a manner quite as satis¬ 
factory. But it may be asked, “ Where were the bees all this 
time ? ” and this is the most curious part of my story. They 
had not been killed by the fumes of brimstone—for it is con¬ 
trary to the docrines of the Buddhist creed to take away 
animal life—nor had they been stupified with fungus, which 
is sometimes done at home; but they were flying about above 
our heads in great numbers, and yet, although we were not 
protected in the slightest degree, not one of us was stung, and 
this was the more remarkable, as the bodies of the operator 
and servants were completely naked from the middle up¬ 
wards. The charm was a simple one ; it lay in a few dry 
stems and leaves of a species of Artemisia (Wormwood) 
which grows wild on these hills, and which is largely used to 
drive that pest, the mosquito, out of the dwellings of the 
people. This plant is cut early in summer, sun-dried, then 
twisted into bands, and it is ready for use. At the com¬ 
mencement of the operation which I am describing, one end 
of the substance was ignited and kept burning slowly as the 
work went on. The poor bees did not seem to know what 
to make of it. They were perfectly good tempered, and kept 
hovering about our heads, hut apparently quite incapable of 
doing us the slightest injury. When the hives were property 
fixed in their places, the charm was put out, and my host and 
his servants carried off the honey in triumph.— (Fortune’s 
China .) 
ON THE SANDS. 
( Continued from page 332.) 
The habit of a true naturalist is to look at the ground on which 
he treads, just as Frenchmen say of an Englishman that he is 
always looking at his boots. Do not hurry on in any vague 
hope of meeting with a shoal of Anemones, but scrutinise, as 
you go, the cracks and fissures ; and wherever there is a thick 
fringe of Algae, or even a heap of drift, stoop down and make 
an examination. If not used to shore hunting, depend upon 
it you have already passed by many a treasure that an ex¬ 
perienced eye would have detected. When left by the tide, 
the sea flowers no longer disport themselves like radiant stars, 
but shrink up into button covers, and are often barely per¬ 
ceptible, even when immediately under the eye. Yertical 
planes are those they most prefer, and it is on the sides, rather 
than the upper surfaces of the wet rocks, that the search 
must be directed. Suppose you come to a small escarpment, 
ft ud slippery, and with numerous overhanging ledges, 
lliere you will be sure to find booty. In the chinks where the 
water still remains you will probably find the stony Coralline, 
which looks very much like a purple Lichen: the plants are 
spread in circular patches on vertical surfaces, and when full 
grown they resemble twigs of Ling. The white specimens 
will tempt you, because of their superior beauty, but the 
purple ones are those that you may expect to live. Where 
you find a fine purple patch, chip to the base of it, without 
jarring the plant from its foothold, and quickly drop it into 
a jar of water. By and bye, when you have leisure to ex¬ 
amine it with a lens, it will be found to swarm with life; for 
it is the favourite haunt of a vast variety of minute creatures, 
that are sure to disport themselves at night, if a lighted 
candle is placed beside the vessel. Higher up you are almost 
sure to find hundreds of the common Strawberry Anemone, 
looking like so many Chestnuts put to roast in the sun. Do 
not ovei’load your vessels with these,—the temptation is great, 
because of their abundance and beauty when expanded ; but, 
on the other hand, do not despise them because they are so 
common, for they are the hardiest of all their race, and pre¬ 
sent a great variety of colours—crimson, vermilion, brown, 
green, and olive. 
As you get towards the lowest ebb of the tide, your gather¬ 
ings will increase in value. You may even meet with the 
grand Dianthus , and the curious Anguicoma , cast up into a 
hollow, and there blooming in their full lustre like coronals of 
true ocean flowers. The Daisy is another sometimes so found, 
and the best of it is, that in such positions, having been re¬ 
cently deposited in such sites, they are generally attached to 
small stones and shells ; sometimes a large parent, surrounded 
by a dozen little ones, all removable without injury, on 
the shell to which they have affixed themselves. Here, too, 
you may expect to find some useful mollusc and Crustacea. 
Get a dozen of the common winkle, for there is not a more 
interesting creature anywhere about the shore. When feeding 
on the front glass of your tank, it will afford you many an 
hour’s amusement, to see how his rasp-like tongue scrapes off 
the conferva; and with a lens you can detect the rows of teeth 
and spiral action of the lingual organ passing to and fro 
between the sheathing lips. Besides this, they are wonder¬ 
fully hardy. I have some now that have endured the heats 
of two summers in the hottest room in the house, and are 
as hearty as when first captured. Then there is the little 
yellow winkle, which resembles the banded snail of the hedges,— 
not so plentiful as the common sort, nor yet so hardy, but 
still worth capture to the extent of half a dozen. Another 
useful and elegant mollusc is the Trochus, which may be de¬ 
scribed as a winkle with a conical shell, regidarly marked with 
spiral lines and dots— Trochus siziphyruss being the most 
common. More crabs will turn up, and if you catch sight of 
any apparently empty winkle and whelk shells, take them out, 
and see if they are not inhabited by hermits, a few of which 
are most acceptable, as contributing to the variety of the 
gathering. You are scarcely to expect to find Serpula, but 
after a storm they are to be found at low-water mark; 
the sign of their presence is a large whelk or oyster-shell, 
covered with their convolved tubes. Though the footfall may 
cause the creatures to ensconce themselves closely, you have 
only to look inside the tubes for a scarlet disc, and you may 
be sure you have a living specimen. Terebellas are plentiful 
in rough blocks of soft sandstone, and among fragments of 
chalk and limestone the wonderful Pholas may be found 
lurking. Here, too, you may meet with that curious example 
of marine life called “ Dead Man’s Fingers,” Alcyonium 
digitatum , a soft, fleshy mass of Polypes, by no means tempt¬ 
ing to the fingers, when found exposed to air and sun, but 
which, when placed in a vessel of sea-water, reveals its true 
character, as a community of creatures adhering ^together to 
one common base. 
It is well to know what to avoid, as well as what to secure. 
Barnacles are of little use—muscles and limpets must not be J 
gathered in quantity; most univalve molluscs are apt to die, 
and cause a black, putrescence, especially when under the care 
of beginners. Crassicornis is a tender creature, and can 
only be kept for any length of time by adepts. I do, how¬ 
ever, know of many aquarians who deny the difficulty, and 
could name instances of its living in the same tank for more ; 
than two years, and producing young. I had a birth myself 
this spring, but the parent died a few days afterwards. That 
it is not the best Actinia for beginners is evidenced by the 
fact, that Mr. Llord refuses to sell it, in order that its death 
may bring no blame upon him. A specimen measuring five 
inches across the disc, which I brought from Bournemouth 
last autumn, lived four months ; but it had a vessel to itself, 
and was plentifully fed. Avoid all the coarse tangle and sea j 
drift, such as Fucus , Laminaria digitata, &c., except for pur¬ 
poses of packing • for this they are acceptable. 
