met with a stranger so nearly like herself, and induced it to take her own nightly place in a strange house and with a strange hen. -Was it an act of charity towards a stranger wandering in search of a night's lodging? or was the duckling tired of the hen's company, and desirous of joining the birds of her own feather, and so cajoled the stranger so nearly resembling herself to take her place, believing the cheat would not be discovered?

I commend this fact, for which I can vouch, to Mr. Darwin. A. W. BUCKLAND

Bath, March 31

Acquired Habits in Plants

ON Oct. 24 last, I found by the banks of the little river Aled, in North Wales, a dog-violet, which, in the first place, was in flower at that unusual season, and in the second place, growing in a hedge, had assumed the habit of a climbing plant. Its stem measured 2 feet in length; it bore sixteen alternate leaves, the flowers being axillary, or rather some axils had flowers in them, and others had branches of leaves with flowers axillary in these. One flower only was actually in bloom, but there were several (five or six) seed vessels. I gathered one plant and have it still. St. Asaph, N. Wales J. G.

SCIENCE AND THE PRESS IN AMERICA (FROM A NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT) THE visit of Prof. Tyndall has given an extraordinary impulse to scientific affairs in this country. It took place at a fortunate moment, just after the heat and turmoil of a presidential election had been transformed into the national sorrow over the death of the defeated candidate; just before the exposures of corruption, which have since disgraced eminent public men, had begun to absorb popular attention. It therefore happened not only that men's minds were not preoccupied, but that, in addition, newspaper columns were not specially crowded. Hence all the leading newspapers gave more space than would have otherwise been possible, to reports of Prof. Tyndall's lectures. In this particular, however, one paper surpassed the rest, giving the lectures verbatim and with illustrations, and afterwards reprinting them in a separate sheet, which, as you are probably already informed, attained a special circulation outside that of the newspaper, of more than 200,000 copies. It is not improbable that this enterprise on the part of the New York Tribune originated in a programme for the management of that paper laid down by the late Mr. Greeley. This was printed in its columns the second day after the election, when he resumed his position as editor of the paper. The card specified among other things, first, that thereafter the paper would be enabled to give " a wider and steadier regard to the progress of science, industry, and the useful arts." His successors in the management of the paper have been anxious, for obvious reasons, that it should tread the path he had marked out for it; Tyndall's coming furnished the first opportunity. Other papers have been stimulated by the popularity of scientific topics which the success of these lectures revealed, and there never was a time when such themes found such general acceptance with the newspaper press.

The first manifest benefit to science which has resulted, is an improvement in the treatment of scientific subjects, so far as they are editorially considered. It is not a year since one of the New York newspapers contained an article upon a proposition to light streets and houses by means of hydrogen and oxygen conveyed in separate systems of pipes. In that article there was displayed an ignorance of the commonest facts of chemistry that seemed almost incredible. It teemed with the most Judicrous absurdities. But even its rivals never perceived the blunders they had a fair share of their own, for the most part, whenever they handled such topics. But of late the writers in the New York newspapers have exhibited some knowledge of such subjects; at all events, special articles in some of the, papers betray the touches

of a professional hand, that come not with the surface knowledge of journalism.

The second evident benefit has to-day a signal illustration. The efforts of Prof. Tyndall were particularly directed toward impressing upon those of our citizens who have the means for such aid, the benefit that results to the community from the promotion of scientific inquiry This has been also a favourite theme with Prof. Agassiz. A few days ago a Boston correspondent of the New York Tribune sent a description to that paper of the work that Prof. Agassiz had undertaken at the Museum of Comparative Zoology; his efforts to obtain State assistance from the Massachusetts legislature; his ne、ds and difficulties, and unsparing, disinterested industry; his project for founding a school of natural history on the coast of Nantucket, where practical work with the dredge might enable the students to become acquainted with marine organisms in a condition of nature. The newspaper commented on the correspondence, pointing out the value of such services, of such researches. The letter and comment interested Mr. John Anderson of this city -a gentleman who has gained wealth as a tobacco manufacturer. Some years ago, finding his health suffering from too close application to business, he selected as a salubrious retreat an island on the New England coast. It is one of the Elizabeth Islands, between Vineyard Sound and Buzzard's Bay. You will best know just where this is, by the fact that New Bedford, the old whaling port of Massachusetts, is on Buzzard's Bay. He expended about 25,000 dols. in improving Penikese Island, and in its delicious climate he regained his health. He refused 75,000 dols. for the island, valuing it at 100,000 dols. Last week, after reading about the aims and efforts of Prof. Agassiz, Mr. Anderson wrote to him, offering him Penikese Island as a gift, and saying to him that he could there establish his Marine Naturalist's School.

:

To be a little more specific-as such a munificent gift deserves Penikese is the most northerly of the three western islands of the Elizabeth group. It is of great fertility; it contains a good summer residence; looks out upon a beautiful bay, where there is good anchorage; has a stone dock, and springs of good water. Here is everything that Prof. Agassiz wanted for his semi-nautical enterprise.-Stay! not everything. When Prof. Agassiz first recovered from his surprise, and was thanking the donor, he mentioned a little embarrassment. He had made his arrangements for Nantucket, and there was a little money expenditure involved in the change. Let not that trouble you" writes Mr. Anderson, and straightway proffers a money-gift in addition-50,000 dels. in cash, as a nucleus for a permanent endowment fund." And Prof. Agassiz, his heart as well as his coffers running over, says that now his enterprise shall not be merely a summer school, but an institution for all seasons and all time.

The correspondence between Mr. Anderson and Prof. Agassiz will, I am told, be furnished to the press within a few days; but Mr. Anderson is modest; and does not want much fuss about it. It is his first approach toward the hill of science, and he had no personal acquaintance with Agassiz whatever. The scientific sensation of today's newspapers is a story that the Natural Bridge of Virginia is burning up. It is told with great detail by eye-witnesses who testify to volcanic burnings and a sulphurous smell, to falling rocks and general danger. Prof. Campbell, of the geological department of the Washington and Lee University, evidently credits the story, and attributes the phenomenon to chemical action, induced by high water acting upon sulphurous and bituminous deposits containing metallic oxides. A New York paper decries the whole story, asserting that the fire proceeds from tar-barrels, and that the whole display is in the interest of hotel-keepers anxious to excite curiosity and attract custom,

I to 4, when not otherwise acknowledged, have been taken. He divides the insects into thirteen groups, with reference to eight of which it may be said that there is little difference of opinion among entomologists. These orders are by far the most numerous, and I have placed them in capital letters. With reference to the other five there is still much difference of opinion. It must also be observed that Prof. Westwood omits the parasitic Anoplura, as well as the Thysanura and Collembola.

Orders of Insects according to Westwood.

Of these thirteen orders, the eight which I have placed in capital letters, namely the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth, are much the most important in the number and variety of species. The other five are comparatively small groups. The Strepsiptera are minute insects, parasitic on Hymenoptera. Rossi, by whom they were discovered, regarded them as Hymenopterous; Lamarck placed them among the Diptera; by others they have been considered to be most closely allied to the Coleoptera, but they are now generally treated as an independent order.

The Euplexoptera or Earwigs are only too familiar to most of us. Linnæus classed them among the Coleoptera, from which, however, they differ in their transformations. Fabricius, Olivier, and Latreille regarded them as Orthoptera, but Dr. Leach, on account of the structure of their wings, considered them as forming the type of a distinct order, in which view he has been followed by Westwood, Kirby, and many other entomologists.

The Thysanoptera, constituted of the Linnæan genus Thrips, minute insects well known to gardeners, differ from the Coleoptera in the nature of their metamorphoses, in which they resemble the Orthoptera and Hemiptera. The structure of the wings and mouthparts, however, are considered to exclude them from these two orders.

The Trichoptera, or Caddis worms, offer many points of resemblance to the Neuroptera, while in others they approach more nearly to the Lepidoptera. According to Westwood, the genus Phryganea "forms the connecting link between the Neuroptera and Lepidoptera."

The last of these small aberrant orders is that of the Aphaniptera, constituted of the family Pulicidæ. In their transformations, as in many other respects, they closely resemble the Diptera. Strauss Durckheim indeed said that "la puce est un diptère sans ailes." Westwood, however, regards it as constituting a separate order.

Linnæan Journal, vol. xi.

7

PLATE 3

2, Meloe (after Shuckard).

3.-FIG. 1, Chloeon.
3, Calepteryx
4. Sitaris (after Shuckard). 5, Campodea (after Gervais). 6, Acilíus
7, Termes. 8, Stylops (female). 9, Thrips.

Westwood,* "or those in which there is no resemblance between the parent and the offspring and Homomorpha, or those in which the larva resembles the imago, except in the absence of wings. In the former the larva is generally worm-like and articulated in its form, of a soft and fleshy consistence, and furnished with a mouth, and often with six short legs attached in pairs to the three segments * Introduction to the modern Classification of Insects, p. 17.

But though the Homomorphic insects do not pass throug such striking changes of form as those belonging to the other series, and are active throughout life, still it was until within the last few years generally (though erroneously) considered that in them, as in the Heteromorpha, the life fell into four distinct periods; those of (1) the egg, (2) the larva characterised by the absence of wings, (3) the pupa with imperfect wings, and (4) the imago or perfect insect. I have, however, elsewhere shown that there are not, as a matter of fact, four well-marked stages, and four only, but that in many cases the process is much more gradual.

*

The Hymenoptera are among the most interesting of insects. To this order belong the gallflies, the sawflies, the ichneumons, and above all, the ants and bees. We are accustomed to class the Anthropoid apes next to man in the scale of creation, but if we are to judge animals by their works, the chimpanzee and the gorilla must certainly give place to the bee and to the ant. The larvæ of the sawflies, which live on leaves, and of the Sirecida or long-tailed wasps, which feed on wood, are very much like caterpillars, having three pairs of legs, and in the former case abdominal prolegs as well; but in the great majority of Hymenoptera the larvæ are legless, fleshy grubs (Plate 2, Figs. 7-9); and the various modes by which the females provide for or secure them a sufficient supply of appropriate nourishment, constitutes one of the most interesting pages of Natural History.

The pupa are inactive, and show distinctly all the limbs of the perfect insect, encased in distinct sheaths, and folded on the breast.

In the perfect state these insects are highly organised and very active. The working ants and some few species are wingless, but the great majority have four strong mem. branous wings, a character distinguishing them at once from the true flies, which have only one pair of wings. The species of Hymenoptera are very numerous; in this country alone there are about 3,000 kinds, most of which are very small.

The sawflies are so called because they possess at the end of the body a curious organ, corresponding to the sting of a wasp, but which is in the form of a finetoothed saw. With this instrument the female sawfly cuts a slit in the stem or leaf of a plant, into which she introduces her egg.

The larva much resembles a caterpillar, both in form and habits. To this group belongs the nigger, or black caterpillar of the turnip, which is often in sufficient numbers to do much mischief. Some species of this group make galls, but the greater number of galls are formed by insects of another family, the Cynipida (Plate 1, Fig. 7). In this family the female is provided with an organ corresponding to the saw of the sawfly, but resembling a needle. With this she stings or punctures the surface of leaves, buds, stalks, or even roots of various plants. In the wound thus produced she lays one or more eggs. The effects of this proceeding, and particularly of the irritating fluid which she injects into the

* Linnæan Transactions, 1863-"On the Development of Chloeon."

wound, is to produce a tumour or gall, within which the egg hatches, and on which the larva, a thick fleshy grub, (Plate 2, Fig. 7) feeds. In some species each gall contains a single larva; in others, several live together. The oak supports several kinds of gallflies; one forms the wellknown oakapple, one forms a small swelling on the leaf resembling a currant, another produces a gall somewhat resembling an acorn, another attacks the root; the species making those bullet-like galls, which are now so common, has only existed for a few years in this country; the beautiful little spangles so common in autumn on the under side of oak-leaves are the work of another species, the Cynips longipennis. When the larva is full grown, it eats through the gall, falls to the earth, and turns into a chrysalis. One curious point about this group is, that in some of the commonest species the females alone are known, no one yet having ever succeeded in finding a male.

Another great group of the Hymenoptera is that of the ichneumons; the females lay their eggs either in or on other insects, within the bodies of which the larva live. They are thick, fleshy, legless grubs, and feed on the fatty tissues of their hosts, but do not attack the vital organs. When full grown, they eat their way through the skin of the insect, and turn into chrysalides. Almost every kind of insect is subject to the attacks of these horrid little creatures, which, however, are no doubt useful in preventing the too great multiplication of insects, and especially of caterpillars. Some species are so minute that they even lay their eggs within those of other insects. The larvæ of these genera assume very curious forms.

But of all Hymenoptera, the group containing the ant, the bee, and the wasp is the most interesting. This is especially the case with the social species, though the solitary ones also are extremely remarkable. The solitary bee or wasp, for instance, forms a cell generally in the ground, places in it a sufficient amount of food, lays an egg, and closes it up. In the case of bees, the food consists of honey; in that of wasps, the larva requires animal food, and the mother therefore places a certain number of insects in the cell, each species having its own special prey, some selecting small caterpillars, some beetles, some spiders. Cerceris bupresticida, as its name denotes, attacks beetles belonging to the genus Buprestis. Now if the Cerceris were to kill the beetle before placing it in the cell, it would decay, and the young larva when hatched would find only a mass of corruption. On the other hand, if the beetle were buried uninjured, in its struggles to escape it would be almost certain to destroy the egg. The wasp has, however, the curious instinct of stinging its prey just in the centre of the nervous system, thus depriving it of motion, and let us hope of suffering, but not killing it; when, therefore, the young larva leaves the egg, it finds ready a sufficient store of wholesome food. Other wasps, like the bees and ants, are social, and dwell together in communities. They live for one season, dying in autumn, except some of the females, which hybernate, awaking in the spring and forming new colonies. Even these, however, under ordinary circumstances, never live through a second winter. One specimen which I kept tame through last spring and summer, lived until the end of February, but then died. The larvae of wasps are fat, fleshy, legless grubs. When they are full grown they spin for themselves a silken covering, within which they turn into chrysales. The oval bodies which are so numerous in ants' nests, and which are generally called ants' eggs, are really cocoons, not eggs. Ants are very fond of the honey-dew which is formed by the Aphides, and have been seen to tap the Aphides with their antennæ, as if to induce them to emit some of the sweet secretion. There is a species of Aphis, which lives on the roots of grass, and some ants collect these into their nests, keeping them, in fact, just