WHY  DO  BEES  WORK  IN  THE  DARK  ? 
239 
In  this  table,  the  constituents  are  necessarily  calculated  as 
anhydrous  salts ;  the  biborate  of  soda,  however,  contains  about 
47  per  cent,  of  water  when  crystallized,  and  the  103*29  grains 
given  above  correspond  to  195-35  of  crystallized  borax.  The 
most  extraordinary  feature  in  the  above  analysis  is  the  very 
large  amount  of  ammoniacal  salts  shown  to  be  present  in  this 
water,  in  this  respect  exceeding  any  natural  spring  water  which 
has  ever  been  analyzed.  Mr.  Moore  thinks  that,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  boracic  acid  waters  of  Tuscany,  this  ammoniacal  salt  may 
be  separated  and  made  available  for  economical  purposes.  This 
locality  is  worthy  of  a  most  careful  examination  to  ascertain 
how  considerable  a  flow  of  water  can  be  depended  on. — From 
Prof.  J.  D.  Whitney  s  G-eological  Survey  of  California,  vol.  i., 
p.  96. 
Additional  note. — The  San  Francisco  papers  received  last 
Saturday  state,  in  regard  to  the  California  borax :  During  the 
year,  they  have  supplied  the  local  demand  of  thirty  to  forty 
tons  and  shipped  two  hundred  tons  to  New  York.  The  borax  is 
collected  from  the  mud  at  the  bottom  of  the  lake,  during  the 
dry  season,  the  yield  last  season  averaging  about  two  and  a  half 
tons  per  day.  The  "crude  borax"  thus  obtained  is  "so  pure 
that  the  Mint  and  assayers  of  the  city  use  the  crude  article  in 
preference  to  the  refined  brought  from  abroad." — Sillimans 
Journal,  March,  1866,  from  Weekly  Bulletin,  Jan.  \§th. 
WHY  DO  BEES  WORK  IN  THE  DARK. 
By  Charles  Tomlinson,  F.C.S. 
About  two  years  ago  a  paragraph  appeared  in  the  Chemical 
News  (April  30,  1864,)  and  went  the  round  of  the  papers,  under 
the  title  of  "Why  Bees  Work  in  the  Dark,"  in  which  it  was 
stated  (1)  "  that  the  change  of  honey  from  a  clear  yellow  syrup 
to  a  solid  mass  is  a  photographic  action  ;  that  the  same  agent 
which  alters  the  molecular  arrangement  of  the  iodide  of  silver  on 
the  excited  collodion  plate,  and  determines  the  formation  of 
camphor  and  iodine  crystals  in  a  bottle  causes  the  syrupy  honey 
to  assume  a  crystalline  form."  In  proof  of  this,  M.  Scheibler 
enclosed  honey  in  stoppered  flasks,  some  of  which  were  kept  in 
