[HPforGrownups] Charachteristic/info on Bumblebees, Hippogryffs and Basilisks

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

No: HPFGUIDX 42465

At 3:15 AM +0000 8/11/02, tub_of_earwax wrote:
>
>Isn't this interesting? Laid during the days of Sirius. What do
>you
>think it means?

It's what we currently call the Dog Days; it runs from early July 
through sometime in the second week or so in September.  They're the 
days when Sirius, the Dog Star, travels close to the Sun in the sky 
from our point of view; early astronomer/astrologers in Egypt and 
Babylon believed that it added its heat to the Sun's during that 
time, which was why it was so hot, even though the Sun was at its 
height in late June (summer solstice is around June 21).  Presumably 
the heat would allow a cold creature such as a toad to hatch a hen's 
egg, which has to be kept warm.

Most versions of the basilisk legend don't include this, however. 
And of course JKR gets to write her beasts the way she wants to - her 
dragons don't seem to be any more intelligent than (mundane) dogs, 
for example.

>The bumblebee can fly, but scientifically, this is not possible,
>because it's mass is too large for it's wingspan and force
>etc.

This is an urban legend, BTW.  It would be true if the bumblebee were 
larger, but tiny creatures can get by with wings that *look* too 
small - the bigger the critter, the larger in proportion the area of 
the wings needs to be to provide sufficient lift.

-- 
  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles at earthlink.net
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