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Wasps and Bees.—As your serial is devoted to the discussion of all subjects connected with natural history, all local notices connected therewith must interest your readers, and lead to comparisons with their own areas of observation, and so elucidate the various workings of Nature, and her many diversified arcana. Now I have been much struck, all the latter part of the summer especially, with the fact that in West Sussex we have scarcely any Wasps this year, despite the abundance of plums and fruit generally, whilst our wall-fruit in August, and our pears now, are infested with myriads of Bees, which make it dangerous even for children to approach the fallen fruit, and these Bees, strange to say, never go near the numerous flowers abounding in our parterres! I inquired yesterday of the Earl of Egmont's lodge keeper, at Cowdray, who keeps many hives always, why Bees thus deserted the flowers and rich clover blossoms for fruit this year? Her answer was:—"The heat of the early summer evaporated the pollen of the flowers so much that the pollen was impoverished, and the Bees were so wealky generally this summer, that in place of having thirty or forty pounds of honey in each hive, as customary, I have not had this year more than twelve pounds at the utmost in a comb." She added that the stronger Bees attacked the weaker ones and killed them all, robbing their hives of all the stored honey, even in twenty-four hours' time! Can your Bee-keeping correspondents elsewhere certify to the above facts.—H. E. A.
Fuchsia and Bees.—It is well known that when the blossom of any plant is too narrow at its mouth to admit of the entrance of a bee into it, the bee will with its proboscis perforate the tube from without, and so suck the sweets from the nectary. I have, in my garden at Torquay, two large plants of the Fuchsia elegans, the blossoms of which are of this narrow construction. The trees are from five to six feet high, and of proportional circumference, and always blossom very abundantly. I carefully watched these plants in the summer of 1864, from the middle of July to November, vainly seeking one blossom that was not thus perforated. I was ill, and, therefore, not able to observe them before the afternoon, but during the whole season I never found one bell on which the little yellow mark of perforation was wanting. This year I have with equal care, watched from June to this 13th October on which I write, and have not been able to find a single blossom that had been perforated. There is not now, nor has there, so far as I have seen, been one with the yellow mark. Can any of the correspondents of Science Gossip explain the cause of this circumstance?—M. D. P.
Unicorn Hawk-moth.—Can any of your correspondents inform me if the use or purpose of the double proboscis in the Unicorn Hawk-moth (Sphinx Convolvuli) is known to naturalists; and also whether it is the only moth which possesses this peculiarity? A fine specimen of the above (which is rather a rare insect) has just been captured here (Sidmouth, South Devon).—E. M.
Saffron, an Oriental Condiment.—Dr. Riddell says that the Persians resident in India universally employ saffron as a colouring ingredient with their rice; but that in native cookery where saffron is named, turmeric is always intended.
Small Tortoise-shell Butterfly.—On the 4th of August last, while in a lodging at Southerndown, on the Glamorganshire coast, I found no less than twenty-two specimens of this butterfly, in a torpid state, pitched on the ceiling of a narrow up-stairs passage, in groups of five or six together. On bringing them into the light, they revived in the course of a few minutes, and, with two or three exceptions, were able to fly with ease. Can you explain the presence of such a number of the insects in that situation? I was much surprised at it myself.—Horace Waddington.
Cilia of Volvox.—In reply to Thomas Armstrong, allow me to observe that the question of Volvox Globator possessing cilia, never to me appeared to offer a doubt, and I am only surprised that he should have failed in observing them. Unpretending microscopist as I am I have seen them many times without anything beyond condenser and the one-inch lens, and a beautiful sight it is to see the plant in a living state, revolving on its axis, with its edge surrounded by a blueish halo produced by the cilira in excessively quick action; to see the cilia individually a quarter-inch lens must be used, when two will be seen springing from each green point on the surface of the Volvox, precisely as depicted in the "Micrographic Dictionary," and Dr. Carpenter's book. With regard to the cause of the revolution of the young plant in the interior of the parent (which is frequently to be observed) I am not quite so clear, yet, still I put it down to the same prime mover, though I have been unable to detect cilia in this instance. I may mention that I am not likely to have been deceived by a faulty instrument, as the one I have in Ross's 1 A., with every requisite for correct observation; and, moreover, I have examined hundreds of the plants referred to, and in every instance have seen the appearances described.—John G. Braden.
Ichneumons and Vanessa.—I beg to confirm the statement of E. W., in your paper respecting Ichneumons and Vanessa, as out of twenty caterpillars I got off one bunch of nettles this season, eight were infected and never came to maturity.—J. Aspdin.
Eggs of Thrush.—In reply to your correspondent J. B. Hay, Athens, I have found the eggs of the common thrush as small as those of the chaffinch. Two seasons ago I found a nest of four eggs; three were the usual size, but the other was hardly one-third the size, and the spots on it were considerably lighter.—James Aspdin.
Winged Ants.—Respecting Mr. Tate's inquiry, relative to winged ants. I also noticed numbers in the neighbourhood of Brixton, Clapham, and Vauxhall. Page 308, in the popular edition of Kirby and Spence, may afford an explanation. What is there said refers to white ants, but probably the habit referred to is common to most species of ants: the males and females having arrived at their imago state, adorned with two pairs of wings, rise in the air to seek their fortune, and effect their marriages. Afterwards the males die, and the females, deliberately cutting off their wings, turn their attention to the foundation of new colonies. Very few of them, however, effect their object, surrounded as they are by many enemies, and subjected to many casualties.—S. J. M.