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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1892.

ANIMALS' RIGHTS.

Animals' Rights. By H. S. Salt. (London: Bell, 1892.) HIS little volume is divided into three main parts, the principle upon which the rights of animals are founded, the various ways in which they have been nfringed, and the reforms necessary to secure their full recognition. Notwithstanding, however, the logical form in which the subject is thus set forth, the book is absolutely useless both from the ethical and the practical points of view. In the first place the author nowhere attempts to define the relative value of the lower animals as compared with the human race, and although he certainly allows that they possess less "distinctive individuality," he condemns the use of the terms by which they are commonly designated (such as dumb beast, live stock, or even animal), on account of the imputation of inferiority which is involved in them.

He seems to be totally unaware that not only is the natural affection of animals far less enduring, and their intellect immeasurably weaker, but that of morality, i.e. the doing of right for right's sake alone, unswayed by personal feeling or the influence of others, they have absolutely no conception whatever.

Ignoring, however, these fundamental distinctions from which the subjection of animals inevitably follows, Mr. Salt at once proceeds to enunciate his theory of their rights.

This whole question, however, is thrown into absolute chaos by the fact that, for subsequent dealing with the practical aspects of his subject, the author has equipped himself with not merely one but two definitions of animals' rights, differing from each other so widely that while the one involves the unconditional prohibition to kill, eat, or use any harmless animal, the other would admit of all these things being done for good cause shown. Thus on page 9 we find that they have the right to live their own lives with a due measure of that restricted freedom of which Herbert Spencer speaks, ie. the freedom to do that which they will, provided they infringe not the equal liberty of any other. Except, therefore, in the case of the beasts of prey, who no doubt would "will" to eat man if a convenient opportunity offered, the liberty to sacrifice the lives of animals for human food or indeed to employ them in any way is cut off without reserve. Turn, however, to page 28 and we find that this freedom of animals is no longer restricted merely by the equal freedom of others, but is also "subject to the limitations imposed by the permanent needs and interests of the whole community." A life of dleness and a death from disease or old age and starvation are no longer secured to them, and the whole principle of the subordination of the interests of the lower race to those of the higher is conceded.

From the confusion of mind thus exhibited suggestions of practical value can scarcely be expected, nor indeed do we find them in the succeeding parts of the work. Thus we are told that "the contention that man is not morally justified in imposing any sort of subjection on

the lower animals" is one which the author "desires to keep clear of," and pronounces to be "an abstract question beyond the scope of the present enquiry," yet, as he also states "that no human being is justified in considering any animal as a meaningless automaton to be worked, tortured, or eaten for the mere object of satisfying the wants or whims of mankind," we would submit that he has not kept clear of the matter at all, as we cannot call to mind any forms of subjection which are not included in these three.

In his discussion of the treatment of domestic animals we would only draw attention to that passage wherein the degrading practice of pampering lap-dogs is rebuked as unworthy of their moral dignity! In the succeeding chapters the employment of animals in personal decoration, sport, and scientific experiment is dilated upon and condemned, and it then only remains to consider the question of the reforms which ought to be instituted.

The first remedy proposed is that of education. We are all to be taught to be humane, but seeing that this has been, for countless generations, carried into effect by almost every mother with almost every child, the suggestion can hardly be accounted novel nor need any great changes in the present condition of affairs be expected from it. Further, there must be a crusade preached against the disregard of the kinship of animals to ourselves, and the laugh must be turned from the so-called sentimentalists (ie. those agreeing with the author's views) against certain flesh eaters, sportsmen, and scientific experimentalists whom he seems to have in his mind's eye, and who, seeing that he represents them as advancing absolutely foolish reasons for practices which they could easily defend on common-sense grounds, are very properly described by him as cranks."

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The second reform is to be found in legislation, and it might naturally be supposed that this should first be applied in that case which Mr. Salt considers to be productive of the greatest bulk of suffering, namely in that of flesh eating. But this is not so; he has already said that it is no part of his present purpose to advocate vegetarianism, and he discreetly leaves it to look after itself. Then after suggesting that the worrying of tame animals might be classed as baiting, and that improvements (though what and how he does not say) might be made in the transport of animals, and by substituting public for private slaughter-houses, he demands that the full fury of the law should be turned on to scientific experiment, which must be totally abolished.

The demand thus made he bases on two grounds :(1) That nothing is necessary which is abhorrent to the general conscience of humanity, and (2) That it involves hideous injustice to innocent animals, quoting with approval Miss Cobbe's, in this case, specious axiom, that the minimum of all possible rights is to be spared the worst of all possible wrongs.

How far either of these arguments is applicable here we propose to briefly touch upon.

In the first place no proof whatever exists that scientific experiment is abhorrent to the general conscience, seeing that England is the only country where it is even under legislative supervision, that there, after the most careful deliberation, it is freely allowed on good cause shown, and that the whole body of those qualified to

judge strongly advocate it. Supported, therefore, as we have shown it to be, by the legal and moral sanction of the civilized and scientific world, it follows that the "general conscience" of which Mr. Salt speaks must find its local habitation in the minds of a class of persons about as enlightened as those who fomented the riots against the study of anatomy, a noisy and violent agitation, which has died the natural death of ignorant prejudice.

For the refutation of the second proposition, viz. that of the cruel wrong done to an innocent animal by sacrificing it for the good of others, we must refer Mr. Salt to his own principle of animals' rights, in which the freedom conceded to them to live their own lives is very properly made" subject to the limitations imposed by the permanent needs and interests of the community," and we fail to see how the logical application of an acknowledged right can be supposed to involve the infliction of a "cruel wrong."

The contention of the scientific experimentalist is exactly that which is here conceded by Mr. Salt, viz. that the interests of individuals of the lower race must morally be treated as subordinate to those of the higher, and that while men are bound to benevolently regard all harmless animals, and never to inflict pain upon them wantonly, they not only may but ought to do so when the suffering thus caused is but one-tenth in intensity and one-millionth in quantity of that which it is designed to avert from both mankind and the lower animals. The whole matter is in truth a rule of three sum, and unless the anti-vivisectionist can successfully demonstrate that the scientific statement of accounts is false, his outcry is but the confession of the immoral fact that, rather than inflict an infinitely less amount of physical suffering upon some individuals of a lower race, he wilfully prefers to perpetuate a far greater amount of both physical and psychical agony among the whole community of animals and men. When such an avowal of callousness can be seriously advanced in the name of humanity we are tempted to believe that chaos is come again.

We should not omit to mention that Mr. Salt appears to be an ardent republican, and that he looks for the advent of his animal millenniun upon the establishment of an "enlightened sense of equality," but whether of men with animals, of both with insects, or all three with bacteria, he does not say, nor are we concerned to enquire.

ELEMENTARY PHYSIOGRAPHY.

A Description of the Laws and Wonders of Nature. By Richard A. Gregory, F.R.A.S. (London: Jos. Hughes and Co.)

NOTWITHSTANDING the numerous text-books

that have been issued from time to time on this subject, it seems to Mr. Gregory that there is still room for another, for whose appearance, however, he apologizes and offers an explanation.

A work on physiography is not, as some people, who ought to know better, seem to think, limited to the study of physical geography. At least that is not the view, the author emphatically asserts, of Profs. Judd and Lockyer,

whose opinion in this matter is final for the students interested. Neither is it a work on astronomy, nor chemistry, nor geology, nor any specialized science, whose aim and scope are recognized and defined, though doubtless it is allied to all. As soon as an author treats of any of these subjects in detail, he is travelling beyond the record. To this fact Mr. Gregory is fully alive. His object, if we have understood him correctly, consists rather in showing that some knowledge of all branches of physical science is necessary for the pursuit of one, and this kind of general knowledge he considers comprised under the generic term, physiography. It is the kind of information which every so-called educated person ought to possess, and without which he is not educated.

It may not seem a very ambitious task to write a book to meet the requirements of a syllabus, and our author thinks it necessary to defend himself against the charge of producing a cram book, addressed to the few ambitious of possessing a South Kensington certificate. But the task need not be the less useful or the less necessary on that account. Indeed, there is one circumstance connected with the appearance of this book which is very satisfactory, and should be a subject for congratulation. The author asserts that the book is rendered essentia! from the fact that the examiners have found it necessary or desirable to raise their standard for examination This means that the Department has proved, that the general character of the education given to those classes from which the candidates for examination are drawn has so improved that a greater amount of information can be demanded than was formerly the case.

But independently of the fact that the author addresses himself principally to those preparing for the ordeal of examination, he has produced a very readable book, a little too much like an encyclopædia perhaps for ordinary tastes, but replete with a vast deal of information, by no means ill-arranged and generally expressed with exactness; but the effort to impart and to treat lightly and discursively of many branches of information is apt to give to the book a disconnected and incoherent aspect, and this is the principal defect that can be urged against the work. As soon as a subject is introduced it is necessary to drop it, because to pursue it in detail would be to enter into the domain of some science whose limits are fixed, and to which further discussion properly belongsfor instance, we have a chapter on water (its composition and different states), which it might seem very desirable to pursue at greater length; but as soon as the student gets interested, without a word of warning the subject is dropped, and he finds himself introduced to the method of measuring angular space and time. This naturally leads on to some preliminary account of astronomy and astronomical methods, ending with the measurement of the day and year, and then, on turning the page, the reader is not allowed to continue the subject, but is invited to consider the composition and characteristics of common rocks. This incoherency is perhaps inseparable from the subject; but we think the author might have developed his introductory chapter at greater length and put his scheme and sequence of thought more fully before his reader, so as to prepare him for these sudden deviations from continuity.

It is instructive to notice that as educational treatises are improved in character and prepared by those qualified for the task, the reverent superstition which has for ages surrounded certain errors and fallacies, that have done duty for scientific reasoning, is being remorselessly swept away. The so-called proof of the sphericity of the earth, based upon the fact that ships have sailed round it, is not quoted now, even by incompetent teachers, with the same satisfactory conviction that was formerly accorded to it. Mr. Gregory gives a diagram which ought to convince the most antiquated schoolmistress, but such myths die hard. Similarly with our friend "the burning mountain," which has frequently been regarded as an adequate definition of a volcano-that too is meeting with its deserts; but this will take a still longer time to kill, let Prof. Judd and others insist as they will. Many instances will occur to every one who has compared the carefully compiled text-books of to-day with those that were popular only a few years back, and no fact marks more emphatically the improvement, or the necessity for improvement, in educational treatises. Definitions, to be accurate and adequate, will always be a source of trouble to the writers of elementary books, and the author of the present work has no doubt been exercised to combine the necessary accuracy and simplicity. We cannot think that he has always been happy, but where so much is admirable it would be ungrateful to dwell upon small blemishes, and can only be permitted with the view of securing their improvement or removal in a future edition.

The definition of meridian as given on page 105 and again at page 151 is susceptible of improvement, and it is certainly incorrect to describe a sidereal day as the interval of time that elapses between two successive transits of the same star. Such little slips must be due to the hurry of production, as that on page 382, where we are told to determine the position of the north point by observing the "shadow of the sun." We should have thought the shadow of the object would have been more convenient. And again, on page 407, what is meant by the sun's "regular diameter"? But such little slips as these do not materially detract from the merit of the book, which we heartily commend to the thoughtful study of those for whom it has been written.

SCIENCE AND BREWING.

A Handy Book for Brewers. By Herbert Edwards Wright, M A. (London: Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1892.)

ΤΗ

HE author claims that the principal aim of this book is to give the conclusions of modern research in so far as they bear upon the practice of brewing. We gathered a different opinion on first opening the volume, for facing the title-page there stands conspicuously a trade advertisement of a firm manufacturing a patented article used by brewers, stating that this article is "referred to in the work," and "for further particulars see advertisement at end of book." To any one at all familiar with the way in which quasi-scientific articles are so frequently to be met with in the literature of brewing written for the purpose of advertizing their author or some other thing, it would be only natural to conclude

that the advertisement quoted was the real clue to the origin of this volume, and wonder at the unusual clumsiness with which it was made so evident. However, we afterwards meet with the following statement in the author's preface: "Having found after the sheets had been finally passed to 'he printer, that the publishers considered it would be a useful feature in the book to insert a few advertisements of matters interesting to brewers, he wishes it to be clearly understood that he has no personal interest in the matter." A little prejudice perhaps remained in our mind even after reading this disclaimer, but in justice to the author we may say at once that a perusal of the book has removed it. We sympathize with him in having a publisher whose disinterested over-zeal for the convenience of his readers has given his book such an unpleasant first impression.

From a scientific point of view, in one respect the practice of brewing compares with the practice of medicine, in that the complexity of vital processes has to be encountered in both, and through our present imperfect state of knowledge of these questions, the practice of both is based very largely on empiricism. Fortunately for the brewer, the life functions with which he has to deal so largely belong to the more simple forms of life, and the vast strides which have been made the last few years in our knowledge of the microphytes, and the physiological processes of the higher plants, have probably placed him much nearer to a sound scientific basis on which to rest his practice, than is the physician who has to deal with the vital functions of the most highly developed organism. But even yet empiricism rules many details of the brewer's practice, although research is gradually throwing true light upon them; therefore any writer who, in the present state of things, attempts to bring scientific knowledge and the practice of brewing together, has a very hard task before him in order to clearly make his readers understand the relative position in which the two stand at present. Mr. Wright has with much diligence gathered together the results of a large amount of research work bearing upon the different stages of the brewing process, but we do not think that he has been always happy in selecting only the most trustworthy of these, neither are we pleased with the way in which he sets them before his readers to explain, or at any rate throw light upon, the different stages of the manufacturing process. It is a very difficult task, as we have just intimated, and we believe that the author, who is evidently a scientific man as well as a practical brewer, could have improved upon these parts of his work; at any rate we are quite sure that with due consideration he could easily have improved upon the general arrangement of his subjects, which is badly considered, and must be very confusing to a student not well acquainted with his subject.

We also regret that space is wasted in devoting a chapter to an attempt to teach the science of chemistry to the reader. Some such mistaken attempt is frequently made in technical works treated scientifically, but a greater waste of paper can hardly be imagined. For instance, in the present case we have a chapter starting with a description of the elements and the atomic theory, which positively, in less than thirty-five pages, professes to lead the reader up to the consideration of the con

stitution of the carbo-hydrates and the amido-compounds. What can be the use of this sort of writing, however well done? No student not already well grounded in science generally can hope to get any real advantage from those parts of this book that are devoted to the scientific consideration of the details of the brewing process, and we wish the author had boldly recognized this very evident fact.

Apart, in a manner, from the more scientific portions of his book, the author gives us his views on the empirical questions of brewing, and also on the arrangement of a brewery and its plant, with the authority of much experience. Here is common ground on which all interested in brewing meet, and we recommend the author's

conclusions as worth their attention. At the end of the

volume we find a novel feature in a synoptic table of the malting and brewing processes, giving side by side the time, working memoranda, physical changes, and chemical changes of each process, an epitome which is likely to be useful to many readers. A good index also adds value to the book.

Although we do not think that the author in writing this book has been very successful in meeting the requirements of young students of brewing, yet there is a large amount of information contained in the 516 pages of the volume which will repay a careful perusal by those more advanced in the study of the scientific aspect and practice of brewing.

OUR BOOK SHELF.

A Manual of Veterinary Physiology. By Vety.-Captain F. Smith, M.R.C.V.S. (London: Baillière, Tindall, and Cox, 1892.)

upon its powers of speed or draught that a knowledge o its locomotory apparatus is obviously imperative to the veterinarians. During recent years much light has bee thrown upon the subject of animal locomotion by the elaborately devised experiments of Stillman and Muybridge, carried out, as is well known, by means of instartaneous photography. Captain Smith furnishes a capital résumé of the conclusions derived from these experiments and a number of plain, simple diagrams aid the reader considerably in comprehending the subject.

The physiology of the horse's foot is dealt with in a somewhat short chapter. The author adheres to the theory of the expansion of the foot at its posterior par when the weight of the body is imposed thereon. It is a subject which has often been hotly debated, and its discussion will probably be a gain reopened in the columns of the veterinary periodicals. The chapter concludes with some half-dozen rules on physiological shoeing, a copy of which might well be suspended and acted upon in every place where the shoeing of the horse is carried on.

The book is well printed, neatly bound, and published at a very reasonable price (10s. 6.). Horse-owners as well as veterinarians will find its perusal attended with profit as well as interest. W. F. G.

The Principal Starches used as Food. By W. Griffiths. (Cirencester Baily and Son, 1892.)

THIS little book of 62 pages will be found useful by analysts and others who are interested in the examination of foods. The author has collected together short descriptions dealing with the origin and microscopical characters of the different starches met with in commerce-the arrowroots, tapioca, sago, the starches of our common cereals, and of millet, maize, rice, the bean, the pea, the lentil, the potato, and so forth. These are classified according to the natural orders of the plants from which they are derived, and the descriptions are accompanied by remarkably good photo-micrographs, which indicate at a glance the peculiarities of the different varieties. The mode of classification serves to bring out the resemblances which often exist in starches obtained from plants of the same natural order. Since the microscope alone can be employed in attempting to trace the origin of a starch, and bearing in mind the extent to which it is now used as an adulterant, this

THE publication of this work ought to delight the heart
of the veterinary student, for hitherto in his pursuit of
physiological knowledge he has been compelled to rely
upon works which deal exclusively with the human sub-
ject. However excellent such works may be and well
adapted to the requirements of the human physiologist,
they must necessarily contain much which is only of
secondary importance to the veterinary student, and ab-handy little book will no doubt supply a want.
solutely nothing concerning many questions which to him
are of vital interest. For example, how needful to him
is a thorough knowledge of the physiology of the horse's
foot-the seat, as he is afterwards to learn, of manifold
diseases. Yet clearly the consideration of this subject
is outside the range of human physiology. Similarly the
composition, digestibility, and feeding properties of the
foods supplied to the various domestic animals are to him
matters of paramount importance. Yet here again he finds
himself left in the lurch by the standard works on human
physiology. Such considerations amply indicate the
necessity for a work of the kind now before us, and cause
us to wonder that the veterinary profession should have
had to wait so long for its publication. Though several
first-rate treatises on veterinary physiology exist in French
and German literature, Captain Smith's is the first at-
tempt, we believe, to deal with the subject in its entirety
in this country.

Three clerical errors were noted. On p. 47 "feint" should be "faint," and "not" is evidently omitted in line three from the bottom. On p. 48" character" should be "characters."

We can heartily congratulate the author on the manner in which he has performed his task. He writes in a concise but precise style. Bearing in mind how many subjects the student is supposed to take up and master in a comparatively short time, the author has omitted, and we think wisely so, the details of physiological experimental methods and descriptions of elaborate mechanical appliances employed in the laboratory.

The value or usefulness of the horse depends so largely

Les Alpes Françaises. Par Albert Falsan (Bibliothèque Scientifique Contemporaine. (Paris: J. B. Bailliere et Fils, 1893.)

WE cannot call this a successful book. A mixture of condensed statistical information and of popular descriptive writing is not much better than a stirabout of Liebig's extract and of trifle-whip. Fixity of purpose on the author's part is also wanting. Doubtless the French Alps cannot be separated from the rest of the chain, but for a book of only 286 pages all told, this contains too much about the Central, Pennine, and Eastern Alps. The geological part is sketchy, and not always very ac curate. The author repeats the old mistake about the "variolite of the Durance forming a fringe to the eupholide," though the question was settled by the elaborate paper of Messrs. Cole and Gregory, published in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for 1890 The illustrations are numerous; few, however, of them are good, and several very bad. There is no index. The work, in short, is a piece of book-making, characteristically French in style, and is not a valuable addition to the library either of the mountain-climber or of the man of science.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.]

The New Comet.

THE Comet discovered by Mr. Holmes on November 6 was observed here on November 9 at 5h. 50m., and found to consist of a very bright circular nebulosity with central condensation. The diameter of the comet was 5′ 41′′.

It was re-observed on November 16 at 10h. 45m., and its physical appearance seemed to have undergone a complete transformation. The diameter had increased to 10' 33", and the cometary material had become much fainter and more irregular. The nucleus was now in the form of a bright streak, and this was enveloped in a large faint coma. A small star was seen just N. of the W. extremity of the nucleus, and the latter seemed composed of knots of nebulosity.

W

S

N

E

Nov. 9, 5h. 50m.

Nov. 16, 10h. 45m.

On November 19, 14h. 15m., the comet was seen again. Its general aspect was much fainter, and it exhibited a further increase in dimensions. I carefully determined its diameter as 14' 30", but the outlying portions were very tenuous and indefinite.

From Berberich's elements given in Edinburgh circular No. 33, it appears that the comet is moving rapidly away from the earth. The great increase in its apparent diameter is therefore not a little remarkable. On November 9 the comet was about 203 millions of miles distant from the earth, and its real diameter must have been 333,000 miles. On the 16th this had increased to 652,000 miles. By the 19th the comet's distance had become 217 millions of miles, and its real diameter 925,000. In ten days, therefore, the cometary material expanded nearly threefold. Bristol, November 20. W. F. DENNING.

The Light of Planets.

A FEW facts relative to this subject may be interesting. At Plymouth on August 12, about 9 o'clock, favoured with a beautifully clear horizon, the brilliancy of Mars was so great that it cast a distinctly black shadow on a piece of white paper from an ordinary walking stick held at a distance of 4 inches; the outline of the hand, under the same conditions, was also easily per

ceptible. A faint, yet decided, darkening of the white cliffs of the shore was caused by a person standing upright-the slope being about 45°. The point of observation was at the extreme north-west of the Sound, and the splendour of the planet's light reflected from three or four miles of water is perhaps unrivalled.

The light of Jupiter has often enabled me, when using the telescope at a southern window, to make drawings and such references to books, &c., as were found necessary, without any other illumination. JOHN GARSTANG.

Springwell House, Blackburn, November 21.

Rutherfurd Measures of Stars about B Cygni.
In order to prevent any possible misapprehension in connection
with your notice (NATURE, vol. xlvi. p. 619) of Mr. Rutherfurd's
measures of the stars surrounding B Cygni, may I call attention
to the following?-The two stars of Argelander, 27.3435 and
28.334, concerning which a doubt is expressed in my paper,

are certainly lacking on the Rutherfurd plates. If they were
present they would be very near the edges of the plates, and it
is for this reason that I doubted whether we should expect to
find them at all. The star numbered 28 in the Rutherfurd list,
which appeared only as a sort of elongation of No. 27 on a plate
taken at this Observatory, April 19, 1892, is one of the com-
ponents of 2539, as was pointed out by Mr. Burnham in the
Astronomical Journal, No. 268, and by myself in the same
journal, No. 266.
HAROLD JACOBY.
Columbia College Observatory, New York,
November II.

The Alleged "Aggressive Mimicry" of Volucella. MR. POULTON's letter calls for few words in reply. I invited Mr. Poulton to produce observations in support of his statement that the two varieties of Volucella bombylans lay in the nests of the bees which they respectively resemble. To this invitation Mr. Poulton has not responded. He tells us that his account represented "a very general impression"; that the same impression has been set forth in a showcase at the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons; that even if he were mistaken it was well, if through his mistake the truth shall the more abound. It is thus admitted that in making that statement Mr. Poulton relied not on original authorities, but on the general impressions of others. That these impressions are in any sense correct there is as yet no evidence to show.

Compared with this, Mr. Poulton's error as to Bombus muscorum is of course comparatively trifling and it would be useless to pursue the matter, were it not for discoveries made in the process of unravelling it.

I pointed out that V. bombylans is common in nests of B. muscorum, a bee which it does not resemble. Mr. Poulton in reply maintains the opinion that V. bombylans var. mystacea does resemble B. muscorum. In defence of this statement he refers to (1) the showcase at the Royal College of Surgeons, where the resemblance is set forth; (2) a recent book, " Animal Intelligence," by Mr. Lloyd Morgan, where the resemblance is again asserted and illustrated by figures of insects in the similar showcase at the Natural History Museum.

In following up these clues I came to unexpected results. (1) There is at the College of Surgeons a showcase, as stated, illustrating the likeness of Volucella to humble bees. The label states that "the resemblance enables them [the flies] to escape detection." Two bees are exhibited bearing a good likeness to the var. mystacea, and, as Mr. Poulton says, they are labelled "B. muscorum.' "" The one, however, is a worker of B. sylvarum L., and the other is probably a male of the same species. Neither can be mistaken for B. muscorum, which they

do not resemble.

(2) At the Natural History Museum bees of several species are shown beside the Volucelle, with a similar statement that the resemblance enables the flies "to enter the nest of the bee without molestation." Not one of these bees is B. muscorum, nor are any of them said to belong to this species, for no names are given. Nevertheless, on turning to Mr. Lloyd Morgan's book, which I had not before seen, I find the statement (p. 90) that V. bombylans "closely resembles" B. muscorum, the passage continuing in the words of the Natural History Museum label. Figures are added showing the two forms of V. bombyians and two very different bees, both marked "B. muscorum. Now the figures are from photographs of certain specimens in the showcase, and on reference to the specimens in question, it appears that one of them is a yellow-banded humble-bee (perhaps B. hortorum), while the other is one of the red-tailed humble-bees! These two are put out to match V. bombylans and the var. mystacea respectively, and of course have no likeness either to each other, or to B. muscorum, though both are referred to this species by Mr. Lloyd Morgan.

Mr. Poulton's choice of B. muscorum as a form resembled by the var. mystacea probably therefore arose from the wrong naming at the Royal College of Surgeons. How Mr. Lloyd Morgan came to call the two different bees by the name B. mus corum, which belongs to neither, I cannot tell. Perhaps this is in part an echo of Mr. Poulton's previous mistake.

Any one by reference to a collection of bees may easily satisfy himself that the common and ordinary B. muscorum, with its bright brown thorax, does not resemble V. bombylans, though this fly is common in its nests, just as V. pellucens lives in wasps' nests, though it does not resemble a wasp.

In the absence of direct evidence in its favour, and inasmuch

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