AMERICAN NATURALIST AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE NATURAL HISTORY EDITED . By A. S. PACKARD, JR. ASSOCIATE EDITORS Pror. G. L. GOODALE, DEPARTMENT oF BOTANY Dr. R. H. WARD, DEPARTMENT OF MICROSCOPY VOLUME XI Pgs . CONTENTS. —\_e— Aboriginal F 1 Cust the United States........ Edwin A. Barber 19 Aboriginal Money of California, Notes on the........ ...-- Lorenzo G. Yates ; 30 Aboriginal Shell Money. .... S eneesesesrsssoeserreseese . E. C. Stearns 344 Aboriginal Shell Ornaments and Mr. L. A. Barber’s Paper t n. R. E. C. Stearns . 473 Æstivation, Vartatioa d in W. J. Beal 257 Amblye ge Hunti ng F. H. Snow 731 American Naturalist, The — Decennary of. Editor 1 America, On the Peoplin Aug. R. 221 Animals and Plants, The C Alfred hae Wallace. . sars? Pare MIR N Bias ars Baim minia of: General Con- us Alfred Russel Wallace 157 es The American S. W. Williston doubs Barnacles JS. Ringio oo. Shen EAA 102 Biology, Qe the poeta T. H. Huxley 210 volution iirin papi EIE es eee ae Chinese span , The . D. Whitney SERPE 705 ite, Explorations made in, Under the Direction of F. V. Hayden in 1876 73 Ciel D a a a D. S. Jordan and H. E. Copeland.... 86 ar Reduction, = the Laws of. John Ryder 603 Earth, The Age o H. P. Malet . 286 mil tion bi aie Ria t 295 Fanning bit tas ke oun Account of the ame His tory of he Thomas H. Streets 65. es, Traces of a Voice in.......... Charles C. Abbott 147 ads, Edu cated W. H. Dall 7 Florida Keys, Hints on the Origin of the Flora and Fauna of the L. F. De Pourtales 187 Foot- ts, Concerni ing I. C. Russell .. 406 Fresh-Water Algæ, product Riot Pai. ces ks Ce ee tia es Halsted 513 Fishes, On the ibution ofsi ss erise .. David S. Jordan aoe peras Marks on = Pacific and Atlantic poat con pated A. S. Packard, b TUE E A L i y, The Lon W. N. Lockington....... EU OR ese ri Golden-Winged Pesta Notes on the Breeding Hab- its of David A. Lyle "47 History of the Earth, On Critical Periods in the, and their Relation to Evolution ; on the Quaternary as such a Pe- riod Joseph Leconte 540 Indians, age concerning Two caiman oe ; Arizona, New Mexico, bi = Californ .. Edward Palmer 73: nsects, A Use of the An L. Trouvelot 1938 Land Mollusks, as the Vi ae age of Certain Robert E. C. Stearns 100 ; Locust of the West, The Migrations of the Destructive. . ae S. Packard, Jr.. ve etek espe wae as at The ite Mountain V. Riley 663 tome, The Sledge : ASR Sedgwick Minot 1 204 Mind in Binds, Glimpses of. easa a ss nebaw eer CANS. C, Abbot E Moqu = Seven Towns of. E. A. Barber 728 : Mountain jeter in the ge ghborhood of maga Gap, Notes on the stis the Structure of the sev cee A pOr Eo Museum Mite, Andrew Murray 479 Z Natural Selection? ‘Is Protective Mimicry due to Alfred W. Bennett ce ae iv Contents. Nevada and cc The Distribution of Vegetation in ; z Portion W. J. Hofman 386 e New i ees and Vermont, Observations upon the Dis- : tribution of Plants in. ....... William F. Flint £9 3 New eee, The Giant Birds of... 6b. oe eae pe I. C. Russell 11l 5 orth America , The Suessonian Fauna in E. D. Cope 95 pengetiotie 5, 4 Provisional pz pothesis of. a. iciae Mo DON OEN ays sa 144 e William E. Hagen 32 Polar Colonisation Pla H. W. Hoùwgate 226 Pseudis, ‘‘ t aa rd F Frog ” S. W. Garman 587 Pueblo Tribes ific Slope of the United States, On the Ancien peg Modern Edwin P Barber 591 Saltatory Broiaen, On a Provisional Hypothesis of...... W. H. Dail 139 Scavengers, A Few Wo: about Sanborn Tenney 125 Sense Organs waa s, Experi s on A. S. Packard, Jr 418 Stone Implements and Orn AE hen ce lcs of Colo- rado, l tah, and Arizona Edwin A. Barber 964 Surface Geology of Eastern cons rm Notes on the... W. O. Crosby BIT . Surface era of the Merrim Warren Upham 524 i Turkey and its Domestication, rai Wild J. D. Caton 821 Utah Tas, Gaming among the inet A OIDI: i io soniai patie nET 851 : esa , On Changes of ont KODE 6 cies nrs amuel Calvin 47h 4 . Zoölogy CIE The Study o Charles Sedgwick Minot.......... 830, 392 is Recent LITERA > American Tt corte a Mammals, 613; America, Wild Flowers of, 40, 753 ; ages ee ogy, Macalister’s, 111; Baird’s Annual Record of Science and Industry for 1876, 483; s, Boucard’s Catalogue m Tou Bobröiky; 8 S Researches o on bors Development of Cephalopoda, Pag les An- imal Life, pe’s Vertebrate Paleontology of New Mexico, 750 ; Dolbear’ Å Art of Projecting, 301 ; Echinoids, ‘Lovén’s Studies on the, 110; Ganin’s elaniurpuonel nsects, 423 ; eara Borrar of Kentucky, on of, 165 ; Haeckel’s History of Creation, ti 167; Hyatt’s North American Sponges, 560; Insec , Glover s Jitastrations of, 110; Johnson’s ; Cyclopedia, 168; List of Se Vertebested Animals in a's don Zodlogical Garden, ais: ; Mivart’s Lessons from s 300; M a, 88; Ninth Annual Report of the U. S. Geological and Ge phical Survey of the Territories Py 681; North American aE Animals, 617; Recent p aeaa paii: rs, 615; n The Warfare of, 168; Tra pai P osmania bee Causes of, 109; United States me sion of Fish and Fihern pey g l Distribution of Animals, 232 ; Waal Ta mals f, 108. GENERAL Nor Botany. f Carbonic Acid by the Vegetable Cell Wall, 240; Acer Dasycarpum, 485; Algze, sets of, 366 ; Apine Plants, 683; iida Tables, 306; Austrian Woody Plants, The Size of the Leaves of, 684 ; Botanical Club at Providence, R. i 43 ; Botanical tgp , 6845 Papers in Recent Periodicals, 43, 115, 178, 241, 307, 366, 434, 490, 564, 621, 685 ; Catalogue o of Wis- consin Pia nia, 684; wen - occidentais, 400; Col jorophyil- Rag vag Aa; Effect of pem it pth lulosie Produc ti ana inann 118° ote al + ibe É Birds, 754; a 3 a Calycanthus, 304 ; o y ; Oak, A M: 42; Oal rope co! p by De Saporta, 240 ; Objects of the Diversities in the Mod of Arrangement of the Floral Organs, 115; Observations on Silphium laciniatum, the asa Compass Plant, 456; Onion Smut, 365; Orchis a 431; Origin of Varieties ; - Illustrations, 113; Ostrya Vir- giniea, A Remarkably Large, 683 ; Ph eee 239; Phyllotaxis of Cones, 177; Pinus mitis, 304; Plants, How a guard against Animals Bad vo 683; Plants of Brazil and Ger- Production of, 175; Three of Fern-Spo: guinaria, 431 ; Two-Flowered Arethusa, 431; ania Digestion, 900, Violets, 561. ZLoblogy. — Amphioxus in the Bermudas, 367; Animals, A New ape of, 178 ; Arkan- Contents. ` v sas, Winter Birds of, 807 ; Beaver, anodes on Say 871 ; Black Rattlesnake, 623 ; Black Squirrel, The, 249 ; Butterflies, A Flight of, 244 ; Coc he Poeseiseus of Digestion in the, 248; Criticisms of Haeckel, 368: Deer, Note on the cy Antier ofa, 242; Destruction of Birds by Telegraph Wires, 686; Dev nfertiliz us mbryo The ‘Branehie of, 491 ; “Bntomological Wor ks » 867 5 Food of the Skunk, 687; Jigger F a to the Uni 756; Hawaiian Islands 1; 492; > eye Boomer, or Showtl, 434 : Northern Range of the Bison, 624; is) t o! r Carnivorous sto of the s. 435; Serpents and Lizards, On a os 566; Spo i i 4 shown by some Marine Mollusk: fall hig phonus giganteus poisonous, 367; Titicaca, Lake, Anthropology. — Anthropol ogical Nens, 4b 118, 181, 245, a i 496, 567, 624, 690, 756; d tiquities near Naples, 119; Archæologic al Exchange oan Christening Ceremony of po Seminole Indians, 689; Cordate Ornament, t 118; Cremation Saa the Sitka Indians, 372; Examination of kayps Mounds, on k River, at Sterling, Illinois, 688 ; Man in the Pliocene in America, 689; Stone Implements, PEES eghan = Division of the Appalachian aan within ae Hudson e Sea- Geology a won Valley, On the Existence of t e, re, Or Brain of Coryphodon, 875 ; Cretaceous Perio Ser f 811 ; Discov. i er Genus Beatricea in Kentucky, On the Occurrence of the, 628; Geological Survey, 47; Geology of Ithaca, New York, and the Vicinity, 9; -n the Green| an d, 694 ; ; Merpivoroni Dinossurie of the Lignitic Period, The Dentition of th Axis of Rotation, 499; Lælaps in Montana, The a overy of, 311; Lim mestone, Tre nton, at Minneapolis, 247; Mammalian Brain, The Lowest, 812; Nature of the Legs of Trilobites, 489 ; Newberry’s Geol- ogy of Parts of New Mexico and Utah, 120 ; Paleontology of the Western ag na ko M. M. Gaudry Marks in Labrador, 568 ; Recent paid Fossil Geography and Explor ay Sc neplnation in Patagonia pedition to a North Pole, 51; Geographical News, 375, 440 5 sm, 630, 696, 7. p i 76, 249; Great Salt Lake, Recent Changes of Level of the, 121; Great Salt Lake, Rise of, 570; Heights in the Bolivian Andes, 630 ; Ludlow’s Reconnaissance in M a, 876; York, gm ic mip of, 313; t Geographical Pro; , 877; Simpson’s pnt aires Utah, 120; Rh Farther news pyi 813; S Srp Journey across Africa, 695; United ical and Geographical Survey of the Territories e Gigna Work of, 439; Warren’s ieaprovements of tha’ kok aħd Wisconsin iver Microscopy. — American Microscopy, A Foreign View of, 314; Boston Microscopal Scciety , 379 ; Cuproscheelite, 122; Detection = Senge y Hand Marks, foe pong Dinah with ay: cerine, 121; Diphtheria, 377; ake 503, 572, 684; Eye-Piece, E. Gundlach’s New Periscopic, ‘631 ; tea Light nenden, “s8; Tone, Another Mechanical, 571; Fingers, w Mechanical, 697; Fossil Diatoms fro m South Australia, 877; Keith’s Heliostat, 758; Identity of the Red ‘Blood © ned seles in ap eer Human Races, 188 ; oe Adjustment, The New Model, 501; Illumination in Connection with Polarization, 53; Laboratory Work in Microscopy, 54; Microscope, A New Students’, 379; Microscope, Naw Physician? s, 572; Microscopical Struc- ; Microscopist’s Ann at Maske icr Sections, 378; ites Francisco Microscopi ai epre 55, 252; S - lya esere Bermudas, 441 ; Tin Cells, 572; Wenham’s Reflex Tinmisaton, A Modification of, i; f animayor’a ries ‘Table, Sonhei News, 55, 122, 190, 254, 818, 380, 442, 504, 578, 634, 699, 758 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES, 87, 124, 190, 255, 382, 445, 510, 686, pe 758 Somntiric SERIALS, 64, 128, 191, 256, 320, 884, 448, 612, 576, THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. VoL. x1.— JAN UARY, 1877. — No. 1. THE SECOND DECENNARY OF THE AMERICAN NATU- RALIST. P entering upon the second decennial period of the existence of the American Naturalist, we may be pardoned for look- ing with some pride upon the success that has attended its establishment. If the reader will turn to the introductory words stating our aims in the first number, published in March, 1867, we think he will agree with us that the promises there given have been fulfilled as completely as could reasonably be expected. Our aim has been to popularize the best results of the study of natural history, and thus serve as a medium between the investi- gator on the one hand and the teacher and student on the other. Thus, while we have attempted to inform the science-teacher of the latest discoveries in biology and geology in their broadest sense, including the theories of the origin of plants and animals, and the history of the earth and man, we have endeavored to at- tract and sustain the interest of the young. We know that a number of young naturalists have made their début in the scien- tific world in our magazine, while some of the most important results of the investigations of our leading scientists have first seen the light in its pages. The progress in biology during the past ten years has been greater than is generally imagined. Text-books become super- annuated within a decennary. Teachers and even working natu- ralists need the presence and stimulus of a monthly journal reach- a ing beyond the limits of their specialties to keep them from nod- ding at their work. If we have failed to record all the new dis- _ Z : coveries, it has been due in great part to lack of space. Copyright, A. 8. PACKARD, JR. 1876. 2 Second Decennary of the Naturalist. (January, We must again return thanks to our contributors, whose zeal and generosity have made the magazine what it is. From the first our articles have been given freely, out of love for the cause of science, and a desire for its free progress. We have, in moments of discouragement and financial distress, felt sorely the want of proper material support from a people numbering upwards of forty-four millions, and of so much gen- eral intelligence and culture as ours; but so rapid has been the diffusion of, science among the masses, even since the foundation of this journal, that we feel confident of ample support in the future. That the magazine has not been fully sustained pecunia- rily may have been partly its own fault. Our critics tell us that it has not always been sufficiently “ popular.” We have endeav- ored to educate a public sentiment in behalf of the study of pure natural science for its own sake, and have sought to instruct rather than to amuse our readers. But the worst times, we trust, have been passed, and we confidently hope, with the new year we are entering upon and the encouraging auspices of the new arrange- ments begun last year with the present publishers, to excite a more decided enthusiasm among lovers of nature in the thorough success of a journal devoted to their interests. As it is, the future of our journal is in the hands of persons of scientific culture. It is to the friends of liberal education, — to those who would advance the means of diffusing a knowledge of the methods of right thinking and working in science, which has still to encounter obstacles on all sides, from the ignorant and uncultivated as well as from even the cultivated littérateur or poet, trained in all directions except one, that of scientific modes of thought (witness Carlyle’s late utterance respecting the theory of evolution), — it is to the friends of the best culture, which em- braces scientific as well as classical and technological learning, that we would appeal for aid and support. The study of science teaches us how to make nature minister ~ to our wants. We learn the lesson from the study of nature that man’s progress in intellectual grasp, and increase in moral force, have depended on the gradual improvement of his body. His mental and moral advance is in a ratio corresponding to his ob- 1877. ] Is Mimiery Due to Natural Selection? 3 servance of the laws of physiology in its broadest sense. Right conduct is based on obedience to physiological and hygienic laws ; and let us not forget that all future progress in the higher educa- tion of mankind is primarily dependent on the observance of sci- entific laws, especially those laid down by the biologist. The intellectual and moral progress of man, all that is to emancipate him from the gross and materialistic forces of igno- rance, bigotry, and prejudice — the outgrowths of the animal pro- pensities he has, with little doubt, inherited from the lower orders of animals — is codrdinated with his progress in the knowledge and application of physical laws. If his remote past is associ- ated with reminiscences of the Amphioxus and Ascidians, the one lesson derived from a study of past creations and of existing life is the hope of a glorious intellectual and moral future for his race, and of his increasing capacity for appreciating the Infinite Power which, in a way at present unknown to his philosophy, guides the material and spiritual forces of the universe, and causes them to minister to his highest intellectual and spiritual development. IS PROTECTIVE MIMICRY DUE TO NATURAL SELEC- TION? BY ALFRED W. BENNETT. | the American Naturalist for September is an abstract of an article by that able naturalist, Fritz Miiller, advocating the view that the curious phenomena of protective mimicry in Lepidoptera can be fully explained by the theory of natural selection. Notwithstanding the deference that is due to the conclusion of so eminent an observer, I have thought that the other side of the question should be heard. _ I think it will be generally admitted that when we have a series of similar facts oceurring throughout both the animal and vegetable kingdoms, an explanation should be sought that will cover the whole of these facts, while one which explains a por- tion of them only, but is obviously inapplicable to the remainder, — should at least be looked on with suspicion and accepted with hesitation. Now external resemblances of a most minute kind = between widely separated species both of animals and plants are oe 4 Is Mimicry Due to Natural Selection ? (January, of very frequent occurrence, and, in a very large number of in- stances, are obviously not “‘ mimetic” nor of any apparent ser- vice to the “‘ mimicking ” species. As a justification for this as- -sertion, I may refer to a perfectly unexceptionable authority, namely, one of the best known advocates of the theory of natural selection, Mr. A. R. Wallace. In his inaugural address to Section D at the recent meeting of the British Association at Glasgow,! Mr. Wallace adduces the following illustrations of this law: “ Our first example is from tropical Africa, where we find two unrelated species of butterflies belonging to two very different families (Mymphalide. and Papilionide) characterized by a prevailing blue-green color not found on any other conti- nent. Again, we have a group of African Pieride, which are white or pale yellow with a marginal row of bead-like black spots ; and in the same country one of the Lycenide is colored so exactly like these that it was at first described as a species of Pieris. None of these four groups are known to be in any way specially protected, a that the resemblance cannot be due to protective mimicry.” ‘*In another series of genera, all belong- ing to the Nymphalide, we have the most vivid blue ground, with broad bands of orange-crimson on a different tint of blue or purple, exactly reproduced in corresponding yet unrelated species occurring in the same locality; yet, as none of these groups are protected, this can hardly be due to mimicry. A few species of two other genera in the same country also reproduce the same colors, but with only a general resemblance in the masking. Yet again, in tropical America, we have species of Apatura which, sometimes in both sexes, sometimes in the female only, exactly imitate the peculiar markings of another genus confined to America. Here again neither genus is protected, and the sim- ilarity must be due to unknown local causes.” Mr. Wallace ad- duces several other instances of a similar character ; and even in the case of the very South American instances on which so much stress is laid by Fritz Miiller, and, before him, by Bates, admits that “this can hardly be true mimicry, because all are alike pro- tected by the nauseous secretion which renders them unpalatable to birds.” : In the abstract of Fritz Miiller’s article it is stated that ‘ Fritz Miiller insists, as all writers on the subject have done, upon the similar geographical distribution of the imitating and the imi- tated species as a necessary concomitant of mimicry.” If, there- 1 See Nature, vol. xiv. page 403, September 7, 1876. é 1877. ] Is Mimicry Due to Natural Selection ? 5 fore, it can be shown that species which would be called * imi- tating and imitated” if they occurred together are in reality found widely separated, it is obvious that this would materially weaken Miiller’s argument. Whether this is the case with Lep- idoptera, I have not sufficient knowledge to state; but that ac- complished entomologist, the late Mr. Edward Newman, assured me that in the case of some of the most remarkable instances of such resemblance known in this country, between particular species of Diptera and particular species of Hymenoptera, the resemblance is not associated with geographical contiguity. In the case of plants, at all events, I am prepared to state that re- semblances as striking, which would certainly be considered illus- trations of mimicry if they were found together and were of any apparent utility, do occur between species widely separated in space. In the number of the Popular Science Review for January, 1872, appeared an article entitled Mimicry in Plants, in which I gave a number of illustrations of plants, or parts of plants, be- longing to species widely separated according to any natural sys- tem of classification, and yet so exactly alike in their vegetative organs that they would deceive a practiced botanist. The resem- blance extends in some instances not merely to general habit and appearance, but even to the arrangement of the veins. Dr. Berthold Seemann, no mean authority, speaks of having met in the Sandwich Islands with a variety of Solanum Nelsoni, which looked for all the world like Zhomasia solanacea of New Hol- land, a well-known Buttuereaceous plant of our gardens, the re- semblance between these two widely separated plants being quite as striking as that pointed out in Bates’s Naturalist on the Amazon “ between a certain moth and a humming-bird.”? In no one instance, that I am aware of, in the vegetable kingdom has protective mimicry been suggested as an explanation of this homoplasm. In most cases, as the one recorded above, the plants in question do not grow in contiguity. But a more serious objection to the theory, that these remark- able resemblances are brought about by natural selection acting in the way indicated by Bates and Müller, lies in the difficulty of understanding how the first steps in the approach of one insect towards another could possibly be useful in deceiving an enemy. All the most cautious advocates of the theory, includ- ing Mr. Darwin himself, admit that “ natural selection acts with 1 Gardener’s Chronicle, June 27, 1868. 6 Is Mimicry Due to Natural Selection? (January, ? extreme slowness;” and again that “only those variations which are in some way profitable will be preserved or naturally selected.” By a train of reasoning founded on these two prem- ises, I attempted to show, in a paper on The Theory of Natural Selection from a Mathematical Point of View! read before the British Association at the Liverpool meeting in 1870, that the chances against the required amount of change being brought about by this agency solely, are, on a hypothesis most favorable to the theory, say ten million to one; and I am not aware that the arguments there used have been met. Again, the purpose ‘of mimicry is generally stated to be the perpetuation of the imitating insect, in consequence of deceiving its natural enemies by its resemblance to some species distasteful to them. If so, the purpose seems to have been somewhat inadequately fulfilled, even by the most perfect mimetism, as Mr. Bates and Mr. Wal- lace agree in stating, that, both in South America and the Malay Archipelago, the imitating species are always confined to a lim- ited area, and are always very scarce compared with the imitated species. Mr. Wallace, in his address to the British Association alluded to above, lays great stress on the probable influence of local conditions on the coloring and other external markings of ani- mals, dependent on laws of which we are at present almost en- tirely ignorant. ‘There can be little doubt that the instances of close resemblance in the vegetable kingdom of which I have spoken are due entirely to similarity of external conditions. When, therefore, we find similar phenomena in the animal world, it would appear more reasonable to attribute them to similar causes, rather than to refer them entirely to a hypothetical proc- ess like that of natural selection acting through protective mimicry, in which we are unable actually to follow two consecu- tive steps. Mr. Mivart, in his Genesis of Species, and Mr. J. J. Mur- phy in his Habit and Intelligence have argued, much more forcibly than I can do, against the adequacy of natural selection to account for the phenomena in question ; and, lest it may be thought that I am opposing the united view of all our best nat- uralists, I may remind my readers that so uncompromising an advocate of the theory of evolution as Professor Huxley has stated his deliberate conviction ‘after much consideration, and with assuredly no bias against Mr. Darwin’s views, that, as the 1 Nature, vol. iii, page 30, November 10, 1870. 1877.] Educated Fleas. T evidence stands, it is not absolutely proven that a group of animals having all the characters exhibited by a species in nat- ure has ever been originated by selection, whether artificial or natural.” 1 Lonpon, October 4, 1876. EDUCATED FLEAS. BY W. H. DALL. N old-fashioned “ annuals” and especially in obsolete works on instinct and intelligence among the lower animals, ac- counts of the so-called “ Educated Fleas” will doubtless be re- membered by my adult readers. The story of their marvelous performances had for my boyhood a peculiar interest not un- mixed with incredulity. In later years I had begun half-uncon- sciously to class them with the spurious marvels of the ‘ auto- matic chess player ” and the generation of Acari by the action of electricity on chemicals. So far as my mind was occupied with the subject at all, it had concluded on general principles that in- telligent action, of the kind described in the old works referred to, could be attributed to fleas with very little probability ; and that, whatever the innate mental ability possessed by them, it was in the highest degree unlikely that it was susceptible of training. Some weeks ago, when passing through Broadway, New York, not far from Union Square, an accidental glance caught the sign over a doorway, “ Exhibition of Educated Fleas.” Past memo- ries and present curiosity determined me to make an inspection at once. Half an hour later I had seen all there was to see, pur- chased a lively little pamphlet by — shall I say the inventor of the educated fleas ? and decided that the small fee exacted was well expended. As it does not appear that the modus operandi of this exhibition has ever been explained, an attempt in that direction may not be uninteresting to the readers of the Naturalist. To make the explanation intelligible it will be necessary to begin with the conclusion, or in other words to first state the es- sential part of the explanation. First, the fleas are not educated. - Second, all the performances which make up the exhibition cae may be traced directly to the desire and earnest efforts of the insects to escape. The means employed to give an appearance 1 Lay Sermons, page 323 (English edition). ae 8 Educated Fleas. [ January, of intelligent action to these struggles are sufficiently ingen- ious. In the first place, each flea is attached to some object in such a manner that it cannot free itself, while the movements of its legs and feet are not hindered or embarrassed.’ This was explained by the proprietor. The surface of the insect is so polished that no cement will adhere to it when dry, and should a soft or waxy substance be used the insect dies very soon. (A probable cause of this might be the obstruction of the stigmata.) He stated that by tying a single silk fibre around the flea and knotting it on the dorsal side, a bristle, fine wire, or what not, may be cemented to the knot. I was not able to ob- serve exactly where the fibre encircled the insect. This part of the process is the most delicate and difficult to perform. The proprietor states that female fleas are solely employed by him, since the males are ** excessively mulish and altogether dis- inclined to work.” The fact that they are much smaller and weaker than the other sex is probably another and more impor- tant reason, and they are said to die in a few days when closely confined. The first preparation for their task is stated to be as follows: the wild flea is put into a small pill-box with a glass top and bottom, revolving on an axis like a lottery wheel and forming a miniature treadmill. After a few days’ confinement herein, the flea, which in a state of nature is, as we know, excessively in- clined to jump, becomes broken of the habit. It is said that the constant raps which it receives, when attempting to jump and thereby hitting the sides of its prison, incline it to walk. If this be true, and it might readily be tested by experiment, the flea’s education is entirely comprised in it, and, so far as it goes, it is a species of training. Iam not yet convinced of the accuracy of the statement. A “ wild” flea was shown, attached by one foot to a minute ball and chain, and certainly jumped continually. If a “tame” or educated specimen had been similarly weighted, and had showed no desire to jump, it would have indicated the truth of the theory, provided its legs were found to be sound. This, however, was not done, and all the “tame” ones, having some- thing on their backs, might thereby be affected differently from one confined only by one “ foot.” The performances may be divided into two classes: first, by fleas attached to a movable object ; and second, by fleas attached to an immovable object. The former (with one exception) are 1877.] Educated Fleas. 9 employed in pulling, pushing, or carrying some object about. This portion of the exhibition is a genuine exposition of the very extraordinary strength in proportion to its size, which is pos- sessed by this little insect. Small and beautifully executed models of horse-cars, vessels, coaches, a wheelbarrow, butterfly, etc., are pulled about, each by a single flea attached firmly to a minute pole or wire, extending from or under the object. Small bits of silk, tissue paper or other light material are attached to the knot on the flea’s back, and by courtesy are termed dresses, or equestrians as the case may be. The proprietor states that the weight of a flea is about 0.05 of a grain, or, if well fed, 0.1 grain. He states that the model of the street car exhibited weighs one hundred and twenty grains or about twelve hundred times the weight of the flea which drags it. Whether these figures be precisely accurate or not, it is a very remarkable effort for so small a creature. Vigorous speci- mens are said to occur which are able to pull even a ee larger weight. The fleas from dogs are less strong than the human parasite, and require more frequent feeding. The ordinary flea will re- main four days, it is said, without injury for want of nourish- ment, and will live for weeks, though diminishing in weight. They are said to live about a year; the performers average eight months, but one is recorded by the proprietor as having lived twenty-three months in his possession, the last two of which were passed in a state of great weakness. It was noticeable that the surface over which the fleas dragged their burdens was composed of compact blotting paper on which their hooklets took good hold, and that whenever the perform- ance of any one individual was not going on, the particular ob- ject to which it was attached was laid on its side, or so that the insect was left, feet in air, where it could not exhaust itself by unnecessary efforts. I think that the absence of any proof of ed- ucation in the above cases is quite plain. In the second class of cases the efforts made by the flea to escape are precisely the same, but, being fixed itself, it must nec- essarily show its power by traction upon some movable grasa or by aimless gesticulations i in the air. Generally the insect is attached to a sort of style or wire- in a perpendicular position with the head uppermost and the limbs extended horizontally. Usually it will remain quiet, but if disturbed by the vibration of its wire, as produced by knoek- a 10 Educated Fleas. [ January, ing on the table, it will work its limbs about, seeking something to take hold of. If, then, segments of finest wire, fans of tissue paper, or other representations of objects in miniature are at- tached to its fore “ feet,” we shall have it apparently brandishing a stick or sword, fanning, performing on a musical instrument, etc., all of which is much more clearly seen with the aid of a lively imagination. Two fleas furnished with segments of finest wire on their fore « feet,” and placed with their ventral sides so near that the mimic swords can touch, but not the insects’ feet, give a repre- sentation of a duel not much worse than that usual in most theatres. In their struggles to reach the adjacent object, it would be strange if the little wires did not clash occasionally. “ Madame Lenormand,” “‘ Rebekah at the Well,” and a flea turning a miniature windmill are brought, each on its perch, so | near an endless chain of ingeniously minute workmanship, that their hooklets catch in the links, and they eagerly seize the op- portunity of pulling themselves, as they suppose, away from their bonds. The only result is that a little pointer turns to a number on a dial, a little bucket comes out of a well-curb, or the mill goes round. A similar but horizontally applied motion propels a little merry-go-round. The most amusing and, at first, most incomprehensible of the various performances, is that of the dancing fleas. The orchestra are placed above a little music-box, whose vibrations cause them to gesticulate violently for a few moments, fastened as they are to their posts. Below them several pairs of fleas (fastened by a little bar to each other in pairs, those of each couple just so far apart that they cannot touch each other) are apparently waltz- ing ; an inspection shows that the two composing each pair are ‘pointed in opposite ways; each tries to run away, the “ paral- lelogram of forces ” is produced ; the forward intention, converted to a rotary motion, ludicrously imitating the habits of certain higher vertebrates. 3 I have sketched the plan of the performance, and it will be noticed that there is nothing in it which cannot be explained on the hypothesis with which we set out, namely, that all the effects produced may be the result of the natural efforts of the insect to escape, the burden of proof being with those inclined to a con- trary opinion. Whatever the result to our opinion of the fled’s mental powers, one can hardly avoid admiring the ingenuity with which the “stage property” has been fitted to its Bey and the beauty of the models and apparatus. 1877.] The Giant Birds of New Zealand. 11 The exhibitor claims to feed his swarm on his own arm, which exhibited a sufficiency, of punctures. His whole company may . be packed into a shaving-box and put in his coat-tail pocket. He claims to have originated the exhibition forty years ago. Some of the anecdotes in his little pamphlet are amusing enough, and we find the following contributions to the Natural History of the Flea. “ The flea may be easily dissected in a drop of water, and by this means the stomach and bowels may be plainly discovered, with the veins and arteries” (!) Their “ amazing motion is per- formed by means of the great elasticity of their feet, the articu- lation of which are so many springs, in accordance with the ex- alted and lofty aspirations of the insect.” And finally, “ Take a well fed — ( Cimex) and a starved flea, and place them under a glass together, and you will be afforded an amusing spectacle. The flea as soon as he perceives the pursy condition of the bug will hop upon its back, and, in spite of the latter’s struggles to throw him off, will succeed in extracting the blood from the bug’s body, leaving it in quite a lean condition, while the flea becomes round, plump, and happy, after its beneficial ride.” THE GIANT BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. BY I. C. RUSSELL. o the many remarkable additions that New Zealand has made to the various branches of natural science, none have attracted greater attention, or called forth more exclamations of wonder, than the remains of the giant birds that at no very dis- tant day inhabited those antipodal islands. In order that we may more fully understand the bearings and relations of our subject, let us glance for a moment at the pres- ent inhabitants of New Zealand, many of which are very strange and interesting. Aside from the aborigines, who are an offshoot of the ancient Polynesian family, the first feature that attracts our attention is the total absence of land mammals. The dog and a small species of rat are sometimes spoken of as being natives of New Zealand, but they more likely accompanied the aborigines in their wanderings, or were introduced by the earlier voyagers. The reptiles are almost as great strangers in those islands as are the mammals, being only represented by a few species of harmless lizards, which are very plentiful in individ- 12 The Giant Birds of New Zealand. [ January, uals, however, in many parts of the country. The position filled by the mammals in other lands is there occupied by the feath- ered tribes, which reached a surprising development, not only in the living, but more markedly in the extinct fauna. New Zealand is geologically very old, and probably the rem- nant of a large continent that has now mostly disappeared be- neath the sea; its connection with other lands seems to have been severed before the appearance of mammals on the earth. The birds being the highest form of life on the ancient continent, became concentrated on the remaining islands, which retained many unique and peculiar forms unknown in other portions of the globe. Like all the islands of the southern hemisphere, the shores of New Zealand are visited by immense numbers of the widely- spread sea-birds, including the great albatross, the largest bird that flies. On the land there are many varied and beautiful forms, including, as in other countries, hawks, owls, pigeons, ducks, ete., together with a large number of smaller birds, as thrushes, starlings, and honey-eaters ; among the last is found the beautiful tui or parson bird, as it is often called from the two tufts of white feathers on the throat. Besides these there are other remarkable birds, some of which are very poor of flight, and still others that are wingless, which are peculiar to New Zealand, and of special interest. Among the numerous parrots the most curious is the kakapo, a large green bird, that, contrary to the usual habits of its tribe, lives on the ground, and, having very poorly developed wings, seldom takes to flight ; as it is unable to escape from its enemies, or procure its food in the usual way, it remains concealed during the day in the crevices of the rocks, and is most active during the night. The rails afford a number of interesting species, among which are the weka and the pukeko, as they are called by the natives ; ‘these were both very abundant at one time, but are now becom- ing scarce. The weka, or wood hen, is about the size of a com- mon fowl, of a yellowish-brown color, and inhabits the forest and fern thickets. Its peculiarity is the almost total lack of wings, these being very rudimentary and useless for flight. The weka is the most common of the brevipennate birds of New Zealand, which approach in their habits the character of the lower mam- mals. The Notornis is another wingless rail, that is especially interesting, as but two individuals are known, which are supposed 1877.] The Giant Birds of New Zealand. 13 to be the last of their race; one of these was captured on the west coast of the South Island and is now among the treasures of the British Museum. The true wingless birds of New Zealand, however, are the kiwis, of which four species are known; all of these are totally incapable of flight, being, as their scientific name (Apteryx) im- plies, without wings ; they have, however, the merest rudiments of wings, that can be felt underneath the feathers. The kiwis, although at one time quite abundant and used by the natives for food, are now the most unique and rarest birds in New Zea- land and probably the strangest of living birds. The kiwis are small for the order to which they belong, the Cursores, which in- cludes the ostrich, emu, cassowary, etc., the smaller ones being from fifteen to twenty inches high, while the largest, the roa- roa (A. maxima), is the size of a small turkey. They all have strong, well developed legs, depending on their speed for safety ; and long bills, which they thrust among the decayed leaves and fern-roots in quest of the grubs and insects that constitute their food. Like the kakapo, they seek their food at night, as they are then exposed to fewer enemies. As is common with the cursorial birds, the kiwis have a loose, hair-like plumage of a dull brown or gray color. Being without wings or tail they have a very odd appearance, looking like a ball of feathers, to which are appended two stout legs and a long bill. We must not fail to notice the size of the kiwi’s egg, which is monstrous when compared with the size of the bird, being about five inches in length and weighing usually over thirteen ounces, or one quarter as heavy as the parent bird. Like the other short-winged birds of New Zealand, the kiwis are fast becoming exterminated, not only by the natives, but also by their new enemies, the dogs, cats, and rats, that have accompanied the white man. Wherever the country has been settled by Europeans the kiwis have dis- appeared, and are now found only in the wild and little-known region along the west coast of the South Island. : Science in her survey of the earth has shown that, as with the trees and flowers, the various orders of animal life are grouped in distinct geographical provinces, in which certain types predominate. Not only does this grouping hold good for — | the animals of to-day, but embraces, also, the later geological ages, and shows that the ancient forms frequently far surpassed their modern descendants in size. Thus, in South America, where the little armadillos and the sloths have their home, the 14 The Giant Birds of New Zealand. (January, geologist has brought to light the remains of the huge Meg- atherium, that exceeded the elephant in size, and other. giant edentates, that inhabited the same land in Tertiary times. In the same marked manner the marsupials which inhabit Australia and Tasmania, to the exclusion of higher forms of life, were pre- ceded by animals of the same structure, but greatly exceeding in size the kangaroo and the wombat of to-day. The same con- nection holds good between the living and extinct carnivores of Asia, and with the ruminants of North America. In New Zea- (Fie. 1.) APTERYX AND DINORNIS OF NEW ZEALAND.1 land we find the little wingless kiwi preceded by a host of giants ‘bearing the same general form, but whose ponderous frames ap- proached that of the elephant in their development ; huge wing- less birds, many of them being ten or twelve feet in height, and far exceeding in size and strength the African ostrich, the largest of living birds. These giant bitds, that surpass in strangeness the fabulous rocs of Arabian story, were plentiful in New Zea- land at no very distant time, and are known to the natives as the moa, and have been grouped by science in two genera, Din- ornis and Palapteryz. 1 From Tenney’s Elements of Zoology. 1877. ] The Giant Birds of New Zealand. 15 It was the writer’s good.fortune while stationed at Queenstown, N. Z., in connection with the United States Transit of Venus Expedition, to obtain some of the interesting remains of these huge birds from a cave that we discovered on one of the lower mountains overlooking Lake Wakatipu. Immediately back of Queenstown rises a hill, as At is called in that land of snowy mountains, over two thousand feet high ; separated from Mount Ben Lomond bya deep narrow valley, the sides of which are very steep, in some places forming beetling cliffs that are inaccessible even to the wild goats. It was on the side of this narrow valley, eighteen hundred feet from the base of the hill, that the Moa Cave, as we named it, was found. Soon after arriving at Queens- town we heard of the existence of a cave on that portion of the hill and, procuring a guide, we visited it. This cave extended into the side of the hill for a distance of fifty or seventy-five feet, but we found little in it of interest, except a few feathers, which we believe on good authority to be those of the extinct moa, indicating that this cave was very likely inhabited at one time by that bird. Proceeding up the hill to search for other caves, we soon came to a long crevice in the rock, from two to three feet wide, the sides of which were overgrown with ferns; upon parting these and looking down, I could see the bottom of the cave, which descended obliquely, and there to my great delight I saw a large bone projecting from the dirt, some twenty feet below. I lost no time in descending the crevice and securing the prize, which I found to be a huge metatarsal bone of Dinornis robustus, measuring 17.5 inches in length, and 6.8 inches in cir- cumference at the smallest portion of the shaft ; on further search its companion was found, also a large portion of the tibia and some of the vertebre of the same individual. Although careful search was made we were unable to find the remaining bones of the skeleton, and were at a loss to know what had become of them. These bones were all well preserved, and seemed to have lost a great part of their animal matter. On continuing our exploration, we found that the cave first discovered joined another and still deeper one; into this we de- scended with the aid of a rope, and, groping our way along for about a hundred feet, were rewarded by finding more bones of the moa. In the extreme end of this cave and mingled with — dirt, that had evidently fallen from above, we obtained a number of bones belonging to two or three individuals. As the cave at this point was quite narrow, the earth had to be carried back to — 16 The Giant Birds of New Zealand. [January, a wider portion, which, together with the small space in which to work, made the task difficult ; we were rewarded, however, by finding a well-preserved femur of a smaller species of moa, prob- ably Dinornis didiformis, and also a perfect sternum, perhaps be- longing to the same skeleton, measuring seven inches in length by five in breadth, formed of a single strong, somewhat curved plate of bone, without any indication of a keel, thus forming a striking contrast with the strongly keeled sternum of the eagle and other birds of flight. The most interesting relics that were found in the cave were fragments of the egg-shell of these same birds ; the largest piece was about five inches long by three in breadth, and but slightly changed by its long stay in the cave; these fragments were about the twentieth of an inch thick, and cov- ered irregularly with punctures. The largest piece being placed upon an ostrich egg shows it to have belonged to a very much = larger egg. A nearly perfect egg of the moa, discovered some years ago, was about ten inches long by seven in breadth, so large that “ a hat would make a good egg-cup for it.” In addition, we found in our Moa Cave some small, slim bones which are probably portions of the skeleton of a kiwi; and also an imperfectly ossified bone, about an inch long, lying with the fragments of egg-shell; this we were inclined to think belonged to the “ chick ” that was once inside of the moa’s egg, the frag- ments of which we had obtained. The cave where these bones were found was one of a series of nearly parallel rents, that followed for some distance the base of a precipice some two or three hundred feet high, and had evi- dently been formed by the falling away of a portion of the hill- side, which is composed of mica-schist. ‘That the bones were introduced from above, either by being washed in, or by the birds falling into the crevices, seems evident, for the caves were too narrow and too difficult of access to be inhabited by a bird as large as the moa. That some of the bones fell from above is clearly shown by the fact, that one huge femur had been caught between the side of the cave and a fragment of rock which had fallen in but was too large to reach the bottom ; this bone was held so firmly that it was with considerable difficulty we secured it. There is little doubt that the moa roamed over those mount- ains after they had received their present form, and the finding of their remains in such an inaccessible place, shows that huge as those birds were, they yet possessed considerable activity, for 1877. ] The Giant Birds of New Zealand. 17 it was no easy climb, even for a person accustomed to the work, to reach our moa cave. We also heard of a cave in which moa bones had been found, at a still greater elevation among the Hector Mountains, on the east shore of Lake Wakatipu. Other moa bones were obtained from a cave, but a few feet above the waters of the lake and lower than some of the lake terraces. The former existence of gigantic birds in New Zealand was first madé known in 1839, when a few fragments of their remains found their way into the hands of scientific men in England. Not long afterwards, Mr. Walter Mantell made his well-known dis- covery of moa bones on the east coast of the South Island. This extensive collection passed into the possession of the British Museum, and furnished Professor Owen with the material for his splendid study of these remains, which were grouped under two genera, Dinornis and Palapteryx, and these again subdivided into numerous species. The specific distinctions are somewhat difficult to trace, as the bones vary in size; the smallest metatar- sal bone in our collection measures 7.5 inches in length and 3 inches in least circumference, while the corresponding measure- ments of the metatarsal bone of Dinornis giganteus are 18.5 and 5.5 inches respectively, — the tibia of the same bird being three feet in length ; between these limits there is an almost complete gradation in the size of the species. In later years numerous discoveries of these remains have been made, both on the North and South Island, and from deposits along the shore that are swept by the tides, to an elevation of five thousand feet or more amid the Southern Alps. One of the most remarkable deposits yet discovered was at Hamilton, Otago, where from an area of about seven hundred square feet, three and one half tons of moa bones were obtained, for the Otago Museum. As a great number of bones were too much decayed to be collected, this amount indicates only about one half of the total quantity contained in this limited deposit. These bones were found literally packed down in bulk, entirely Separated from each other, and mixed indiscriminately through- out the deposit. The place in which they were found seems at one time to have been a lagoon surrounding a spring, to which the moas resorted in great numbers, the bones of those that died being scattered and trampled down by the living birds. To- gether with the moa bones were found the remains of an extinct goose, and also of an eagle that once lived in New Zealand. The — reason for the moas collecting and dying in such numbers at this VOL. XI.— No. 1. 2 o 18 The Giant Birds of New Zealand. (January, one locality is obscure ; it has been suggested by Mr. Booth, the - discoverer of the fossils, that it was owing to a refrigeration of climate, the birds collecting in this spring for warmth as the winters became more cold. Dr. Hochstetter also obtained, dur- ing his visit to New Zealand, valuable moa skeletons from lime- stone caves in the South Island. These skeletons were found be- neath deposits of stalagmite, and were entire, showing that these birds inhabited the caves and had retired there for refuge when death overtook them. Together with these skeletons the ossified rings of the trachea were found, and also little heaps of smoothed pebbles, ‘* moa-stones,”” which had been swallowed by the moa to assist digestion, in the same manner as the domestic fowl swal- lows sand and gravel. The remains of these gigantic birds are not only found in caves and recent river deposits, but also scattered over the sur- face of the country ; although it is somewhat uncommon to find them thus exposed at the present time, yet in the early days of the colonists they were quite abundant, and the little heaps of “ moa-stones ” were frequently found beneath the ferns. Some years since Dr. Hector observed, near Lake Wakatipu, over thirty skeletons of the moa lying at the foot of a cliff, in the shelter of which they seem to have sought refuge from the storm that destroyed them. Remains of moa bones, and also fragments of the egg-shells of the same birds have been found, showing the action of fire, and mingled with the charred bones of men and dogs in the ancient kitchen-middens of the New Zealanders. The large bones are also found broken open as if to obtain the marrow ; and the egg- shells have been found in the graves of the aborigines. Many other facts have been brought to light by the scientific men who have labored in New Zealand, proving that the moa still existed on those islands after their settlement by man, who introduced a new and higher element into the “ struggle for existence” that resulted in the extermination of the moa. There is but little doubt that the moa, which was once so abun- dant in New Zealand, furnished the principal food of the natives as they increased and occupied the land. This is the more evi- dent when we remember that those islands furnish little that is sufficiently nutritious to serve as food for man. Nothing like the delicious berries and larger fruits that abound in our own country are found in New Zealand. The food of the natives, at the time of the discovery of those islands, was confined to a kind 1877.] The Giant Birds of New Zealand. 19 of sweet potato, which they had brought with them in their em- igration, the succulent root of a fern (Pteris esculenta), which, although abundant, is exceedingly indifferent food, together with shell-fish. To these were added the flesh of birds, especially of the “ mutton bird” (Puffinus tristis), and of seal and fish ; then, too, the scanty board was filled out with human flesh. It is not without reason, therefore, that a bird so large, and furnishing so much food as the moa, should be eagerly sought after by the Maoris, and, being unable to fly, and unlike the ostrich, having no desert to flee to, soon became extinct. The suggestion of Hochstetter that it was only after the ex- termination of the moa, and the consequent scarcity of animal food, that the New Zealanders were driven to cannibalism, is full of significance. There are uncertain indications that New Zealand was inhab- ited by an older people than the present aborigines, a race of “black fellows,” as the Maori traditions state, who were exter- minated by the more warlike Polynesians. Some consider this older race as the true moa hunters, who exterminated those giant birds many hundred years ago; the active search that is now being made in the ancient cave dwellings of New Zealand, it is expected, will throw more light on this interesting subject. The adventures of the New Zealand moa hunters, armed with spears and implements of stone, to whom the use of the bow was unknown, must have equaled in wildness and danger the struggles of the Neolithic hunters of Europe with the cave bear or the fierce aurochs. What wild, weird scenes those deep valleys of the Southern Alps must have witnessed, when, after the successful hunt, the natives gathered about their camp-fires, that lit up their dark tattooed faces and shone on the strange vegetation around, to feast on the flesh of the moa, or partake of its huge eggs, roasted on the hot stones of the oven ! How long these birds have been extinct is as yet unsettled. The fact that the bones are found so plentifully, often lying ex- posed on the surface of the ground, and also the fresh condition of many of the remains, some of which still retain the dried muscles and feathers attached, show that the moa lived at a very recent date, geologically speaking. The Maoris, however, with whom we conversed while in New Zealand, although some of them were cannibals in their youth, had never heard of these birds as living, not even through the traditions of their ancestors. Some of the old legends of the natives, still extant, do contain, 20 The Giant Birds of New Zealand. [January, however, references to the moa; it is stated that their long plumes excelled in beauty the crest of the white heron, which is so highly prized by the Maoris. That the moa not only inhabited New Zealand in great num- bers, but also exhibited great variety among themselves, is shown by the differences in the size of the vast number of remains that have been collected. While the larger bones of Dinornis ele- phantopus were short and exceedingly thick and ponderous, the femur measuring nearly eight inches in circumference at the smallest portion of the shaft, the corresponding bones of D. gracilis were longer and comparatively slim, indicating a bird of more elegant proportions. The largest of the moas, D. giganteus, that stood full ten feet high in its natural position, and could reach to a much greater height, presents a great contrast to the smallest of these birds with which we are acquainted, which could not have been taller than a large turkey. We have but to greatly exaggerate in our fancy the general form of the wingless and tailless kiwi, to have an accurate idea of their ancient representative. The moa was not furnished, however, with the long, slim bill that the kiwi uses so adroitly in probing the earth in quest of worms, but possessed a much shorter and stronger bill, indicating a more strictly vegetable diet. Its principal food was, probably, the root of the Pteris esculenta, which it could easily tear up with its powerful claws. Besides the various species of Dinornis and Palapteryx, the remains of numerous other fossil birds have been found, not ap- proaching these in size, however ; they include species of Apteryx, penguin, albatross, parrot, goose, etc., showing that the feathered tribes have long been the rulers in New Zealand. During the past few years so much interest has been taken in these fossils that they have found their way into nearly every public museum in the world. Next to the colonial museums of New Zealand, the finest collection of moa skeletons is to be found at the American Museum in Central Park, which consists of a large number of mounted skeletons of different species, in- eluding the giant of them all, the Dinornis giganteus, the skeleton of which stands about ten feet high; this colossal bird, if living and striding along the muddy shore of some sheltered bay, would leave tracks in the mud as huge as those which excite the won- der of the geologist from the triassic sandstone of Connecticut and New Jersey. Other skeletons of the moa may be seen at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and in the Geological Museum of the School of Mines, Columbia College, New York. 1877.] The Giant Birds of New Zealand. 21 While considering the extinct birds of New Zealand, it may not be uninteresting to our readers to turn their attention briefly to the island of Mauritius, the home of the dodo, which is situ- ated about a thousand miles eastward of the coast of Africa, and together with its associated islands presents many features anal- ogous to the life of New Zealand. The Dutch navigators, while making their earlier voyages to the Indies by the new passage around the Cape of Good Hope, found on this uninhabited island large numbers of the clumsy, wingless birds that have received the name of the dodo. This bird which was related in structure to the pigeons, was of about fifty pounds in weight; being totally incapable of flight and very clumsy, it fell an easy victim to the sailors, who killed it in great numbers. Owing to the persecu- tion of man and also, probably, to the depredations of the ani- mals that accompanied him, the dodo soon became exterminated. The only records of its existence which remain are a few of its bones, and the rude drawings and descriptions in the books of the Dutch navigators, together with two or three pictures sup- posed to have been painted from life. The dodo furnishes the best-known example of the extermination of a species through the agency of man. : Those who would place the extinction of the moa so far in the past will do well to consider the case of the dodo, that, as we have seen, abounded on its native island scarcely two cent- uries ago, but of which we now know but little more than we do of the moa. Madagascar, also, had its huge wingless bird, the Æpyornis, that equaled or even exceeded in size the largest of the moas. On the island of Rodriguez another colossal bird, the solitaire, was found, which, like the dodo, has been exterminated by man, and the same fate has befallen other allied birds on the Isle of Bourbon. It is remarkable that all these huge wingless birds, including also the ostrich and the rhea, are confined to the southern hemi- sphere, and still more strange that so many of the largest and most interesting of them should be found only on the widely- separated islands of the Indian and Pacifie oceans. When and how they came to those isolated islands, or from what ancient forms of life derived, can only be known when the caves and recent rock formations of those islands shall have been explored, _ and the fragments of the ancient history of these beings de- ~ Giphered and translated by the gaoioi, a 22 The Destructive Locust of the West. (January, THE MIGRATIONS OF THE DESTRUCTIVE LOCUST OF THE WEST. BY A. S. PACKARD, JR. HE following remarks concerning the probable causes of the migrations of the western locust are extracted from a forth- coming report on this and other injurious insects in Prof. F. V. Hayden’s Annual Report of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories for 1875. The facts and theories were in part suggested by observations made by myself in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, in 1875, while attached for a few weeks to the Survey, and in part by the reports of Prof. C. V. Riley, State Entomologist of Missouri, and by the statements of Prof. Cyrus Thomas, State Entomologist of Illinois, and Hon. W.N. Byers of Denver, and others. In dealing with this fearfully destructive insect, which has at- tracted so much notice from the public, and in seeking for reme- dies against its devastations, it is of prime importance to have a thorough knowledge of its breeding places, the frequency and extent of its migrations, and to seek for the connection between the direction of the winds and other meteorological phenomena, and the flights of the locust. The locust is quite or nearly as destructive in Africa, Asia, and Southern Europe, as in this country, but the laws of their migra- tions and their connection with meteorological phenomena have never been studied in those regions, and it remains for the United States, with its Weather Signal Bureau, to institute in connection with the scientific surveys of the West investigations regarding the nature of the evil, and the best means to overcome it. In endeavoring to trace the connection between the migrations of the locusts and the course of the winds at different months, the writer has been led into some theoretical considerations which seem to be supported by the facts presented in the un- published report, and which may be confirmed or disproved by future investigations. History of the Migrations of the Locust. — The following table, compiled from the reports of A. S. Taylor, the late Mr. B. D. Walsh, Prof. C. V. Riley, Prof. C. Thomas, Mr. G. M. Dawson, and the observations of Mr. W. N. Byers, will show the years when the locust was excessively abundant and destructive in the different territories and states, and also serve to roughly indicate the frequency and extent of the migrations of the destructive lo- 1877.] The Destructive Locust of the West. 23 cust of the West. The dates which are starred are years when the progeny of the locusts of the preceding year abounded, and when in most cases there were no fresh incursions from the west- ward. The species referred to under the head of California, Washington, and Oregon may be some other than Caloptenus spretus. weda iine E Wad Ria eee Indian | Washington anitoba. and and K ade BET HES and Western | Dakota. | Idaho. | 7 | Tado: | Western | and `| nia. | Oregon. 1818 1818 1827 or 728 1819 1819 1834 or ’35 1820 1820 or ’21 1838 r 1845 1845 1846? 1852 1852 1849 1852 1855 1855? | 18557] 1855 | 18552 1855 1855 1855 1855 1856* 1856* 1856* | 1856 1857 1857 1864 1864 1864 1864 1865* 1866 1866 . 1867 1867 1867 | 1867 1867 1867 1868* 1868*| 1868 1868* 1869 1869* 1872 1873 1873 1873 18732) 1873 1873 1874 yen 1874 | 1874 1874 1874 1874 |South. f 1875 | 1875 | 1875 A 1875*| 1875* | 1875 Cal. 1876 1876 1876 1876 1876 1876 This table and the data on which it is based are necessarily very imperfect, owing to the vast extent of the territory over which the locust swarmed, and the fact that the greater portion is uninhabited, while the inhabited portions have been settled only within comparatively few years. The Theory of the Migrations. — (1.) The immediate cause of the migrations of the locust from its original breeding places is the unusual abundance of the species during certain years. It has been found in some cases that the exceptional years when the locust migrates are periods of unusual heat and dryness, condi- tions unusually favorable to the excessive increase of insect life. 8 may be seen in the accounts of the eastern locust, the grass army worm, the grain aphis, the chinch bug, and other less de- structive insects, when the early part of the season, the spring — and early weeks of summer, are warm and dry, without sudden changes of temperature, insects abound and enormously exceed their ordinary numbers. When two such seasons occur, one after — the other, the conditions become still more favorable for = undue oe 24 The Destructive Locust of the West. [ January, development of insect life. Now it is well known that in the Eastern States the summers of 1860 and 1874, preceding the ap- pearance of the army worm and grain aphis, were unusually warm and dry, and favorable not only for the hatching of the eggs laid the year previous, but for the growth and development of the larvæ or young. Look now at the conditions for the de- - velopment of locust life on the hot and dry plains, chiefly of Da- kota, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. We have no meteorolog- ical records from these regions at hand, but it is more than probable that the years preceding the migrations of the locusts were exceptionally warm and dry, when the soil was parched with long-sustained droughts, as we know that the corresponding species east of the Mississippi River abounds during dry sum- _mers following dry and warm springs. Given, then, the exceptional years of drought and heat and the great extent of territory, and we have as the result vast numbers of young hatched out. The year previous having perhaps been warm and dry, the locusts would abound, and more eggs than usual would be laid. These would with remarkably few excep- tions hatch, and the young soon consume the buffalo grass and other herbage, and move about from one region to another, fol- lowing often a determinate course in search of food. In this way large broods may migrate a long distance, from perhaps twenty to fifty miles. In about six or seven weeks they acquire wings. Experience shows that the western locust as soon as it is fledged rises up high in the air, sometimes a thousand feet or much higher. They have been seen to settle at night on the ground, eat during this time, and towards noon of the next day fill the air again with their glistening wings. As more and more become fledged, the vast swarm exhausts the supply of food, and when the hosts are finally marshaled, new swarms joining per- haps the original one, the whole swarm, possibly hundreds of miles in extent, begins to fly off, borne by the prevailing westerly . and northwesterly winds, in a general easterly and southeasterly course. (2.) The secondary cause of the migration is the desire for food, and possibly the reproductive instinct. The fact that in their migrations the locusts often seem to select cultivated tracts, rapidly cross the treeless, barren plains, and linger and die on the prairies and western edge of the fertile valleys of the Missouri and Mississippi, indicate that the impelling force is due primarily to the want of food, and that the guiding force is the direction 1877.] The Destructive Locust of the West. 25 of the prevailing winds, for they have no leaders, and we do not believe in the existence of a “ migratory instinct ” in the locust any more than in the grass army worm, or the cotton army worm, which it is sufficiently evident migrate from field to field, simply in search of more abundant food. Meanwhile the repro- ductive system of the locusts is maturing, the eggs ripening, and the uneasiness of the locusts during the course of their travels may be unconsciously stimulated by the sexual instincts and the desire to discover suitable places for egg-laying, a long and tedi- ous operation. It has been sufficiently shown that a swarm of locusts atinstven by Professor Robinson near the entrance to Boulder Cañon, Col- orado, traveled a distance of about six hundred miles to Eastern Kansas and Missouri. Though the swarm was first observed at some distance north of Denver, Colorado, it was then on its way from the north, and may have come from some part of Wyom- ing two or three hundred miles northwestward or northward. Though the winds may vary, and counter-currents exist, and storm-gusts from due north, such as often sweep over the plains, and local southerly breezes may retard their flight, the course is either eastward or southeasterly. We know enough of the winds in the Western States and Territories to lay down the law that the general direction of the winds in July and August, along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and on the plains, is from the west and northwest, and accords with the eastward course of the locust swarms. The relations between the average direc- tion of the winds and the migrations of the locust have, however, never been sufficiently studied, either, so far as we are aware, in Europe or in this country. And yet if we would intelligently study the causes of the excessive increase and migrations of the locust, we must examine the meteorological features of the coun- try, ascertain the periods of drought and undue rain-fall, the av- erage direction of the wind for the different months, in order to learn how far they correspond with the phenomena of insect life. That there are meteorological cycles, dry and hot seasons recur- ring at irregular intervals, while the general average may remain — nearly the same century after century, is supported, though it may be vaguely, by observed meteorological facts. The question then arises; Can meteorologists predict the com- ing of seasons of undue heat and drought ? and consequently can we predict insect years? that is, the migrations of locusts and the undue increase of the chinch bug, and ste! and cotton worm ? 26 The Destructive Locust of the West. (January, believe that we shall, after the lapse of years, be able to foretell with a good degree of certainty locust invasions, and be able to provide against the losses thus incurred. On the frontier of the Western States, in Colorado, or in the Territories of Wyoming, Montana, and Utah, where the losses from the ravages of the locust cannot easily be made up by im- portations from contiguous territories, it seems the most practica- ble mode to provide in years of plenty against years of want. We should imitate on a grand scale the usage of the ancient Egyptians under Pharaoh, who laid up in times of unusual har- vests stores of grain for times of famine. It is said that this has been done on a small scale by the Mormons. If this were done in the far West, in seasons immediately preceding insect years, which had been predicted by entomologists in conjunction with the meteorologists, we should be saved the distress, destitution, and even loss of life from starvation, which have resulted from ignorance of the laws regulating the appearance of destructive insects, especially the western locust. The Return Migration— By simultaneous observations for a number of years over the region liable to be visited by migratory hordes of locusts, added to the knowledge we already possess, it will not only be possible to predict the course of certain swarms from their breeding-places, and their probable destination, so that when a swarm starts from Montana or Wyoming, its arri- val in Colorado a week or a fortnight later may with some cer- tainty be predicted, and again, its arrival in Kansas and adjoin- ing States be announced witha certain amount of precision, as has already been done by Dr. Riley, but we shall be able to foretell the course taken in the return flight of their progeny in the suc- ceeding year. I will confess that previous to my visit to Kansas and Colorado, in 1875, I was skeptical as to Dr. Riley’s opinion that there was a general movement in a northwest course of the young of the previous year, broods from Missouri and adjoining regions northwestward. The facts and resulting theory have al- ready been stated in full by Dr. Riley and others. It remains to determine the causes of this return migration, this completion of the “ migration-cycle,” as Professor Dawson termsit. It is evi- dent that in this case the desire for food is not the cause, for food is many times more abundant in the Mississippi Valley than on the plains whither they return. The solution of the problem, I think, must be sought in the direction of the prevailing winds during the middle of June, the time when they become winged. 1877. ] The Destructive Locust of the West. 27 It may be found after a series of careful meteorological obser- vations, that the prevailing winds at this early season are south- erly and southeasterly. It has been shown by meteorologists, as I learn from Prof. C. Abbe, that during May and June the winds blow inwards towards the heart of the continent from the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. On application to Gen. A. J. Myer, Chief of the Signal Service of the United States Army, for the meteorological data necessary to confirm this hy- pothesis, I promptly received a full summary of data observed by the officers of the Weather Signal Bureau, for periods of from two to five (usually the latter) years between 1871 and 1876, which show that the prevailing winds in June, in Davenport, Dodge City, and Keokuk, Iowa; Saint Paul and Breckenridge, Minnesota ; Yankton and Fort Sully, Dakota; Omaha, Leaven- worth, and Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, — all within the locust area, — are from the southeast and south. This fact may be suf- ficient to account for the prevailing course of the return migra- tions of the locust from the eastern limits of the locust area. Let us therefore grant this setting-in of southerly and easterly winds, which may last until the locusts are winged. When they rise on the wing into the air they are known to move in a gen- eral northwest direction. It is highly probable that they are borne along by these generally southeasterly winds, and pass over on to the plains. The cause is seen, then, to be entirely inde- pendent of subsistence ; possibly the reproductive instinct causes them to become uneasy, restless, to assemble high in the air and seek the dry, hot, elevated plateau of the northwest. Should this be so the cause of their migrations is probably purely me- chanical. Abundant testimony is at hand to show that they are wholly at the mercy of the prevailing winds, and that as a rule the course of their migrations is quite dependent on the direc- tion of the winds, while the course of the winds depend more or less on the season of the year. We may expect that future re- search over sufficient territory will show that the June migrations, from the eastern limits of the locust area, will be towards the northwest, and the July, August, and early September migra- tions, from the Rocky Mountain plateau, will be in a general easterly and southeasterly direction. It is not only of great scientific interest, but of high panai importance, to collect all facts bearing on the return migrations, in order to know where the locusts go in their return migrations the second year, as we only know that they do fly a certain dis- : Placer gold, as alluvial gold is called, is well understood to be not an original condition of the metal, but a secondary one, and me which has found a new place of repose some distance from _ : 3 VOL, Xi. — no. 1 34 The Philosopher's Stone. [January, the matrix that formerly held it. All alluvial gold has been liberated from the mountain veins by the crumbling and disin- tegration of the tops of the elevations, and where erosion has taken place, the gold, which is indestructible in nature, has been set free from the original environment in the vein which held it, and by reason of its greater gravity has descended -be- neath and through the soil upon the mountain-side, along the inclining face of the rocky slope, until it has reached the lower level of the river or gulch bottom. No salts of gold being found in nature, the surface of the metal is always bright and clean, and, being so soft, ductile, and heavy, its particles adhere by con- tact to form nuggets. Sometimes an interposing shelf or ledge upon the hill-side will arrest and detain the descending particles until aggregations of a larger size are formed. Such places are ealled pockets. The breaking away of such a shelf, and the sub- sequent descent of the gold thus aggregated, by means of gravity, to the lower level of the river bed, accounts for the occasional appearance of the large masses of gold found in river bottoms. The particles of metal occurring in the lower portion of the slope will uniformly be coarser than those obtained higher up, from the effects of aggregation in their passage ; and they also begin to show the worn appearance of alluvial gold, from having been car- ried along over the rough surface of the rocky hill-side in their descent towards the river bed. Supposing some ancient seeker after the precious metal to have exhausted the supply of a locality by washing the gravels and sands of a river bottom, in following up the hill-side the traces of the descending gold, he would in removing the soil eventually reach a place where all signs of gold would have dis- appeared. Atthis point, as he exposed the surface of the mount- ain-side, he would find a vein of quartz; and this at the top would be much decomposed, having a honey-combed or cellular appearance. Adhering to the quartz, and in some of its cells, he would find particles of gold, and as he made an opening into the vein he would expose to view what we term sulphides of iron and copper, as well as cells containing oxides of these metals, and also gold. When he came to deepen the opening upon the vein, all signs of gold would disappear, and he would find nothing but the quartz and accompanying sulphides. He would hardly sup- pose the latter to be gold, but, as he found the two to be neigh- bors, he might infer that the one contained the other, and to settle the question he would call into requisition the services of 1877. ] The Philosopher's Stone. 35 his melting friend, fire. When the sulphides were heated, they would give off the fumes of sulphur, and would form oxides of iron and copper, which, though he might not recognize them by these names, he would identify as the same substances that he found in the cells of the quartz with the gold. When he came to wash the product that the fire had made from the sulphides, and found there was no gold, he would be much surprised. But his faculties of perception are very keen; he has them to depend upon, and no books or so-called schools of mines to go to for in- formation, and he has learned to study nature by looking at her square in the face. Now we will suppose him, under such con- ditions of mental capacity, to be examining a piece of quartz in which there are two features of particular interest in this connec- tion, and these features found to consist of two well-defined cubi- form cells which have been opened by the fracture of the piece, and which before its rupture were hermetically sealed, and in- closed within the quartz matrix. These cells both appear to have been shaped by the same agency, the crystalline form of the sul- phides. One of the cells is filled with the sulphides, the other contains oxides of iron and copper, which he recognizes as the substances produced from this material by the fire ; and with them, within the cell, as it appears, is a small aggregation of gold. He properly assumes that the square form of the cells has been given to them by the crystalline form of the sulphides, and that the latter was the first occupant, and made the cell. How did the sulphide get out, so that the gold could move in, when all the approaches to the cell were sealed up by the surrounding quartz matrix? He reasons that since it could not get out, or the gold move in, the former substance and occupant has been changed, and produced the new-comer, gold. When these phenomena as presented to ancient alchemy are also before us, we, who claim to be much wiser than the old al- chemists, have a way of settling the matter; and we proceed to analyze the sulphides, and from them we do get a trace of gold, though not one ten thousandth proportion of the amount existing in the other cell. We have learned that to investigate any chem- ical fact, we must take nothing for granted if we seek the truth ; and right here, when we fancy we have unraveled the whole mystery, we are met with the troublesome query whether the trace of gold that we have found may not be due to a metamor- phosis commenced in the one, and completed in the other; for the amount we have found in the one is but a trifle, compared 36 The Philosopher's Stone. [ January, with that existing in the other. Growing earnest in our per- plexity, we again select with care such portions of the sulphides as we may believe to be in a condition of repose, and make several trials more. Some of the selections do contain a trace of gold, and others do not ; but whenever we analyze a piece that shows any evidences of oxidation, and ascertain that the quan- tity of gold found increases in proportion to the progress of the oxidation very rapidly, we come to the conclusion that we are little better off than the ancient alchemist after all, and we have learned to respect his deduction though we hesitate to accept his facts. We area little too conservative and careful to jump at his conclusion, but we really feel that we do not require much more persuading to adopt his theory, and we are almost ready to believe that gold may exist in nature as the result of the meta- morphosis we have been examining and discussing. Alchemy found out one leading element which it associated with the assumed production, and that is sulphur; so for centu- ries this substance has been coaxed, wheedled, and implored to do for alchemy what it seemed todoin nature. But all of man’s efforts to harness it into the work are futile, and finally the work has been abandoned, but not until the glittering incentive had led alchemy to perform all the drudgery of elementary chemistry. Various specimens of ore, exhibited by the speaker, from all the different gold-producing areas of this country, exhibit in dif- erent degrees the suggestive phenomena described. Interestingly connected with the elucidation of the proposed hypothesis, are two specimens from the same mine in North Carolina, one of them showing the cell formed in a dense mass of the sulphides, and the other a commencement of the assumed evolution. Both of the specimens are fragments of massive sulphides of iron and cop- per, and within the cell opened by the fracture of the piece is a nugget of gold, surrounded within the cell by the oxides. Upon the other piece, and where the assumed evolution has com- menced, the vitreous and glassy surface of the sulphides has been changed, and a thin film of gold coated the crystals. On some of the faces of them, and on such surfaces of the crystals as sloped _ downwards, the gold has begun the process of aggregation, is thicker at the bottom of the slope than at the top, and when examined with a microscope distinctly exhibits the fact that the film has thickened upon the lower edge of the inclined surface, under the influence of gravity. The average value of these sul- 1877. ] The Philosopher's Stone. o oF phides in the gold, as determined by over thirty carefully made assays, was about ten dollars per ton, the selections for assay being made from such material as seemed nearest to a state of repose. Wherever decomposition had occurred in the deposit, the yield of gold increased at a large ratio. One bushel of the decom- posed sulphides, consisting of oxides and gangue, produced, as the writer was informed, over eighteen hundred dollars; this was said to have been found in a small cavity formed in the vein from the decomposition of the sulphides. An examination of the specimen containing the gold shows that the decomposition .of the sulphides to form the cell has been in proportion to about nine times the bulk of the gold and oxide occupying the cell. Careful examination was made of some twenty tons of this ore, to see if any free gold existed in the sulphides, apart from the evidence of decomposition. This ore was all broken up, and a close inspection failed to find any such appearance within it. All the quartz veins containing gold in the absence of the sul- phides, and as occurring in some parts of California and Montana, are of a more recent formation than the others, and if the gold so existing be examined with care, it will be found to contain unmistakable evidences of being water-worn, as if it had been lib- erated from an older matrix, and had been washed into the crev- ice with the silicious solution which filled it. Another fact favoring this deduction is that where such veins dip, the gold is nearly all found at the foot wall, and the quartz upon the upper inclined side of the vein is barren. Amongst other specimens shown to sustain the hypothesis is a piece of baryta or heavy spar. This contains a large nodule of oxide of iron, with a trace of its former existence as a sulphide present in it. The oxide is full of gold, yet there is none in the baryta apart from this connection with the oxide of iron. : A very interesting form of gold is taken from a vein of tough ferruginous aluminous clay existing in various parts of the South- ern States. The gold in this deposit is very singularly aggre- gated, and the metal is not at all worn by attrition, like alluvial gold, but appears in the form of threads, nodules, and cubes, some = of the threads being very delicately joined, as if made where it was found and never disassociated from the old connection of the sulphides in the way of the oxidized skeletons of a former crystallization. Masses weighing five pounds have been found in this deposit. Dr. James Crump, of Montgomery County, North 38 Recent Literature. [ January, Carolina, had in his possession many curious forms of gold taken from this clay ; one particularly so in the fact that it represented a beetle, and this similarity was not one that taxed the imagi- nation at all to see the resemblance. It looked just as though the insect had been entombed in the clay, and the fine particles of gold had insinuated themselves into the cavity, to there aggre- gate and take the shape of the insect that it displaced, the lines of the sheath upon the back being as plainly delineated as they are upon a real insect. He had also gold in the form of leaves upon the laminz of slate, where the gold had drifted in between the foliations and taken the place of the cellulose. All the gold found in this clay was of a peculiarly fine quality. To such as believe in evolution, the hypothesis seems possible, although we know in the laboratory that gold seems the most positively elementary substance of the metallic series. But many are led to believe that matter in the various forms of environ- ment which we dignify with the name of elements has all been evolved from some simple form of substance that once composed the primeval cosmos. It seems to assume no more annihilation of elementary stability to assert that gold is of a derivative origin than it does to believe, as some now do, that bog iron ore (with iron a so-called element) is evolved from the life of the Gallo- nella ferruginea. RECENT LITERATURE. GURNEY’S RAMBLES or a NATURALIST. — Although not specially interested in ornithology, we have been led on from chapter to chapter until all except the special notes, which take up a considerable portion of the book, have been conned over, and we have been led to regard the work as a very pleasant record, by an observing and evidently experi- enced ornithologist, of travels in some of the most interesting regions of the Old World. Mr. Gurney discovered but one bird absolutely new to Egypt, the lesser white-fronted goose, and this not a “new species.” We much relish a foot-note on page 110, in which it is said that “ quite seven tenths of the names which have been bestowed on ‘new birds’ within the last few years have already sunk into synonyms, and the ad- vance of science has thereby been impeded.” This evinces sound orni- thology in the author! One chapter is mostly devoted to the sacred ibis. An extract will give some idea of the author’s style. “Alas! alas! 1 Rambles of a Naturalist in Egypt and other Countries. With an Analysis of the Claims of certain Foreign Birds to be considered British, and other Ornithological Notes. By J. H. Gurney, JR., F. Z. S. London: Jarrold and Sons. 12mo, pp. 307. For sale by S. E. Cassino, Naturalists’ Agency, Salem, Mass. 1877.] Recent Literature. 39 the sacred ibis is no longer found in Egypt. What would the shaven priests say if they could live over again? My humble opinion is that they would say that in their wild state they never were anything but rarities, and confirm the theory of Dr. Adams? that they were imported from the south. I look upon them as an imported exotic, for I cannot conjecture what natural cause can have operated upon them to produce their extinction, if they ever were natives. They were domesticated, in time they became totally dependent on man, Egypt was conquered by another nation, the hand of protection was withdrawn, and the breed died out.” Savigny while in Egypt saw one sacred ibis alive. “ Its extinction, therefore, must be of comparatively recent date. Fortunately it has not been extirpated altogether, like the great auk and the Nestor productus. It is still common in more southern regions, though driven from its stronghold in Egypt.” Concerning animal life in Egypt the author thus pleasantly discourses, and with this extract our notice closes : “ While my attendant is rolling a cigarette, I pause a moment to wonder what goal all the thousands of pale Egyptian swifts which are career- ing by can have. They pass by, but there is no check; others take their place. Can they who press on with such steady purpose stop short of Europe? Their heads are all to the north; they are flying low, like birds with a settled object. Less numerous, but still innumer- able, and with the same aim, and flying in the same direction, I see a cloud of sand martins. At the rate they are now going they will soon be decimating insect life at Cairo, and banking over the pools of El Tostat, in conjunction with the rufous-breasted swallow and its distinct English congener. But all Egyptian birds are not migrants. There are the stay-at-homes, and one of these is the hooded crow, which sits in the sycamore-fig, announcing with loud caws, to all who may be inter- ested in the fact, that she has laid her eggs; and another is the parasitic greater spotted cuckoo, which chuckles at the thought of having added one to the number. These belong to a class which is divisible into flats and sharpers — birds who ‘ do’ others or are themselves ‘ done.’ “Tn the long grass the fantail builds her gem of a nest, and the Dry- meca gracilis, another minute warbler, gata to her young ones, ' praaclicra? already with little bodies and n “ Small rodents spring into the ditches, sións scuttle up the walls of _ houses, the moving snake eyes the fledgeling, and the sly fox trots away among the tobacco plants. So great is the overflow of animal — life that no one can fail to be struck by it. Only those can appreciate — the scene in its zoölogical aspect who are capable of discriminating be- tween the many species, though all can and must listen with unmixed oc feelings of pleasure to the chanting of the choristers and the hum of many insects, and all must feel the balmy air and fragrant luxuriance of foliage and blossom, and derive enjoyment from the view before ne pe 1 Ibis, 1864, page 32. 40 Recent Literature. (January, the rock-cut tombs, the tents, the camels, the Bedouins with their long guns, the lateen sails upon the river, and the mountains in the hazy distance. “T shall be pardoned if I next submit a brief companion picture of the prominent species to be met with in June at such a lake as the Faioum (Birket-el-Korn). First, the little long-tailed African cormorant goes by with straight, undeviating flight, like one who knows what place he wants to go to and is going there, leaving behind him the wanton terns, who have no object in life but lightly to sport over the water as they watch for their finny prey, assured that the warm sun will take care to incubate their eggs. In noisy conclave the buff-backed herons trim their nests, and the shyer squacco is uneasy at any disturbance the meaning of which he does not understand, while the cautious egret takes his stick away again, wisely jealous of revealing the whereabouts of his yet unfinished edifice. The Dalmatian pelican swims away with all sail set, or flaps and glides and flaps and glides over the water, his huge form mirrored on the surface, startling the basking fish, which hurry from the presence of their enemy. Marbled ducks in pairs rise from among the sedges ; agile grebes put their trust in diving; the tall reeds quiver as the green-backed porphyrio seeks their friendly shelter ; the reed warbler sounds a loud alarum. All fiy to the nearest cover and in those thick beds they find a secure haven.” Boucarpn’s CaraLoGuE or Brirps.'— This useful list gives the names and localities of all known living birds, numbering 11,030 species in 2456 genera, though in the author’s opinion “many of these genera and species must be eventually abolished.” The subgenera are placed as genera, and M. Boucard believes that it does harm to ornithological science “to multiply the genera and the subgenera, as it has been the practice to do lately.” The classification followed is a new one, begin- ning with the Struthiones, the lowest living forms, and ending with the humming-birds, which the author regards as the most recent and prob- ably the most perfectly organized birds. Four new “orders” are pro- posed, namely, Palamedee for Palamedea, Chauna, and Ischyornis ; Pterocles for the Pteroclide ; Phoenicopteri for Phaenicopterus ; and Tro- chili for the humming-birds. As a check-list for exchanges and arrang- ing museums we doubt not the book will be found to be very convenient. THe Wi_p FLOWERS or America.’ — It is a singular fact that many of our more common and beautiful wild flowers have never been figured, -— we are glad that in the present series an attempt is to be made Catalogus Avium hucusque Deseriptorum. Auctor Apotruus Boucarp. Lon- hie 1876. For sale at 35 Great Russell Street, London, W. C.; and by S. C. Cas- Salem, Mass. 2 The Wild Flowers of America. Paien by Isaac Srracur. Text by Georce L. Goopare, M. D., Assistant Professor of bb nest Brig hag and Instructor in Botany in Harvard arar aeiia Part I. Boston: H. O. Houghton & Co. ; New York: Hurd and Houghton. 1877.] Recent Literature. 41 to supply the deficiency. The present fasciculus, which forms the first part of a work of which it is intended that two parts shall be issued annually, contains colored plates of Aquilegia Canadensis L., Geranium maculatum L., Aster undulatus L., Gerardia flava L., and Gerardia tenuifolia Vahl. The artist, Mr. Isaac Sprague, is well known by his excellent outline drawings in Gray’s Genera and in the botanical re- ports of several of the western surveys. The present plates are ac- curate in drawing and brilliant in color, that of the columbine being especially striking. The two species of Gerardia are figured on the same plate, but, although this is perhaps an advantage in a botanical point of view, it must be confessed that the general effect is not pleasing. Accompanying the plates are twelve pages of text by Prof. G. L. Goodale. The task of describing plants which have a popular interest, as in the case of the species figured in the present fasciculus, is by no means easy or gracious. The writer is too apt to confine himself to vague sentimentalities. This danger Professor Goodale has successfully avoided, and instead of copious extracts from Mrs. Hemans an ords- worth he has, very much more to the purpose, given quotations from Hermann Miiller and Sprengel, writers who, although by no means un- familiar to those who have taken a botanical course at Cambridge, are probably new to the majority of those who purchase the present work. If Mr. Sprague has made the Wild Flowers of America a work which will be sought by all lovers of the beautiful, Professor Goodale has done no less for those who seek instruction, pleasingly conveyed, with regard to our common native plants. The price, $5.00 a part, seems rather high, but if, as we learn from the publisher’s announcement, the first edition is already nearly exhausted, it cannot be said to be too high. Recent Booxs anD PAmPHLETS. — Synopsis of American Wasps. By Dr. de Saussure. Solitary Wasps. ( Santieaon Miscellaneous Collections. 254.) Washington, D. ©. 1875. 8vo, pp. 385. Studien zur Descendenz-theorie. II. Ueber die letzten Ursachen vy Transmuta- tionen. Von Prof, August Weismann. Leipzig. 1876. 8vo, pp. 33 satin Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Indiana, ae during the Year 187 bie . T. Cox, State Geologist, assisted by Prof. John Collett, Prof. W. W. Bord n, n, and Dr. G. M. Levete. Indianapolis. 1876. 8vo, pp. 601. Entomologische Nachrichten. Herausgegeben von Dr. S. Katter. Jahrgang I. 1875, Heft i., ii. 1876. C.F. Vieweg in Quedlinburg. 8vo. erches sur tee Dieyemides, Survivants actuels d’un Embranchement des Mésozoaires, Par Édouard Van Beneden. Bruxelles. 1876. 8vo, pp-11l. 3 plates. Our Present Knowledge of the Nidification of the American Kinglets. By Ernest Ingersoll. (From the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. Vol. i, No. 4. November, 1876.) 8vo, pp. 80. escriptions of some Vertebrate Remains from the Fort Union Beds of Montana. By E. D. Cope. (Extracted from the. rvenedings of the Academy of Natural Sci- ences of Philadelphia, October 31, 1876.) Increase Allen en Lapham. A ‘A Memorial. me before the Wisconsin Natural His- tory Society. By Charles Mann. 8vo, pp. 2 The Land-Birds and Game-Birds of Kon. England. With Descriptions of the 42 General Notes. [January, Birds, their Nests and Eggs, their Habits and Notes. With Illustrations. By H. D. Minot. i ug Mass.: Naturalists’ Agency. Boston: Estes and Lauriat. 1877. 8vo, pp. scisielipitincay GENERAL NOTES. BOTANY.! HOMOGONE AND Heterocone (or Homogonous and Heterogonous) Fiowers. — That difference in relative length or height of stamens . and style, reciprocally, which in Torrey and Gray’s Flora of North America was very long ago designated by the term diwco-dimorphism, Mr. Darwin, who detected and has made much of the meaning of the arrangement, called simply dimorphism. Besides these dimorphic, he also brought to view trimorphic flowers. The first name is too long for use and carries with it some ambiguity, since it may imply a separation as well as a diversification of the sexes. Mr. Darwin’s term has the disadvantage of not indicating what parts of the blossom are dimorphic (hermaphrodite flowers may be dimorphous in the perigonium), and a more generic name is now required on account of trimorphic, etc. This has been supplied by Hildebrand in Germany, who has introduced the term heterostyled and the counterpart homostyled. These are not partic- ularly happy appellations; for the difference is in the stamens as well as in the pistil, and in the latter is not always restricted to the style. Well-established terms ought not to be superseded on the ground of im- provement; but those which have not yet taken root sometimes may be. Following the analogy of perigonium or perigone,I propose the more exactly expressive term of heterogone (or heterogonous), for these flowers such as those of Primula, Houstonia, Lythrum, etc. The counterpart homogone (or homogonous) would designate the absence of this kind of differentiation. These terms, either in Latin or English form, would work well in generic or specific characters, and have the advantage of etymological correctness. —Asa GRAY A MaproNa SWALLOWS AN Oak !— “ Being yesterday in the coun- try in this neighborhood, I saw what seemed to me a curious botanical phenomenon, which may be of interest. The phenomenon is this. I found in San Rafael, growing side by side, almost from the same root» a Californian oak and a madrofia, but on examining the madroña, I found that inside of it was the dead body of the oak that ought naturally to have proceeded from those roots, and the madrofia was gradually over- growing trunk and branches, laying its outside wrapper along like de- posits of fat. The trunk was overgrown all but about a foot in some places, less in others (the trunk being perhaps seven or eight feet in cir- cumference), and the branches were gradually, apparently, covered by the madrofia covering, the solid part being madrofia, and the dead limb of the oak projecting. Again, close by was another pair, oak and madrofla, _ 1 Conducted by Pror. G. L. GOODALE. 1877.] Botany. 43 _ growing in the same way, both very large trees; but in this case the madrofia trunk was perfect, the branches very flourishing, and only here and there the remnants of the oak branches projecting, which were being rapidly covered, and apparently in a few years there will be no external evidence that there was anything but a madrofia, yet it has plainly absorbed a large oak tree. Farther on, investigating other ma- drofias, I found exactly the same thing, except that the tree absorbed was a bay ( Oreodaphne).” — PeLnam W. Ames. Tue Sexuat Repropuction or Funer.— That several classes of fungi exhibit a sexual as well as a non-sexual mode of reproduction has been considered to be established by the researches of De Bary and others. In the section of Ascomycetes this was held to be effected by the union of the pollinodium or antheridium, as male organ, with the ascogonium, resulting in the production of the asci. The most recent investigations of Van Tieghem and Cornu throw the gravest doubts on this supposed sexual process. They assert that the so-called “ pollinodia ” of De Bary are in reality strings of conidia or vegetative cells which themselves germinate without any process of impregnation. Van Tieghem’s observations were chiefly made on the two Ascomycetous genera Chætonium and Sordaria, but apply also to lichens and to the alleged conjugation of male and female organs which is stated by some writers to take place on the mycelial threads of certain Basidiomycetous genera, as Coprinus. ‘The life-history and mode of reproduction of all the Fungi seem to be still involved in the greatest obscurity; and all the new systems of classification based on these characters must be re- garded as provisional only. — A. W. BENNETT. Boranicat CLius at Provipence, R. I.— It gives us pleasure to announce that a Botanical Section of the Franklin Society has been re- cently formed at Providence, and that it has already gone to work with a will. Short reports of the meetings have been published in the Prov- idence papers, and they indicate a purpose on the part of the society to thoroughly explore the remarkable flora of Rhode Island. Boranican Papers ın Recent Periopicars.— Flora, No. 28. Dr. Müller, New Brazilian Rubiaceæ. Carl Kraus, Mechanics of the Growth of Seedling Roots. De Krempelhuber, Brazilian Lichens. No. 30. J. Wiesner, A New Self-Registering Auxanometer (an instrument for measuring rate of growth). No. 31. Westermaier, Cell-Division in the Embryo of Capsella Bursa-Pastoris. Drude, On a Mixed Heath- and-Meadow Vegetation. _ Botanische Zeitung, No. 41. Eriksson, On the Point of Growth (punctum vegetationis) in the Roots of Dicotyledons. No. 42. Behrend- sen, On the Flora of the Northeast part of Zemplin (Hungary). No other foreign journals have at the present date come to hand. 44 General Notes. (January, ZOOLOGY. Notes on some Orecon Birros. — Ampelis garrulus (Linnzus). This bird was first noticed here as early as November, but at no time was it found in large flocks. The greatest number I saw at any one time did not exceed twenty. They feed on the wild rose berry almost if not exclusively during the winter, filling their crops to their utmost capacity and growing very fat. At times they were very shy, at others just the reverse. I noticed them only along the creeks, where they were feeding or resting. I believe they roost among and on the wild rose bushes, as I have found them there at twilight and early morning. I have not noticed them making any unusual noise, though in large flocks they might make plenty of i:, and very likely would. According to Degland, the female has no white or yellow on the inner webs of the secondaries. I find that each has the white or yellow extending around the point and on the inner web of the secondaries. Pipilo megalonyx (Baird). This bird appeared here in early spring ; was quite shy. Its resort is along the creek, rarely leaving it, though at times it is seen on the neighboring foot-hills. I have seen it fly several hundred yards without lighting. It feeds on the ground, scratches a great deal, and is restless. At times they fly rather high. They leave here in April, returning on their way south in September, about the 15th. Passerella Townsendii var. schistacea. This bird also is very shy, seeks the dense thicket and undergrowth, and scratches on the ground among the dead leaves, doubtless feeding on seeds and insects. I believe it breeds here, but am not positive. Goes south in September. Junco Oregonus Townsend. Winters here; migrates late in the spring, but, I think, only to the high mountains. Its habits are much the same as other snow birds. Melospiza melodia var. Found here early.in the spring. It is a great songster and sings very sweetly. I do not know the variety. Melanerpes torquatus (Wilson). Breeds here and is numerous. I know very little about them. Pelecanus trachyrhynchus (Latham). Breeds here, makes its nest on a lonely island, in the sand or loose earth, lines it with a very little grass or roots. Its eggs are white and rough, as a rule two only in a nest, though some are found with three eggs. They nest in large groups, the nests being side by side and covering acres. — GrorGEe R. Bacon, U. S. A., Camp Harney, Oregon. HABITS or THE WHISTLER. — March 7, 1874, Sidney B. Ceby, of Rowley, shot in Castle Neck a Ipswich, Mass., a female whistler or golden eye (Bucephala Americana) whose stomach contained nothing but Indian corn, Zea mays, of the variety grown in the Northern States. The kernels were whole, as if recently swallowed. 1877.] Anthropology. 45 Castle Neck River is a purely tidal estuary, the water is salt, and the place where this bird was shot was only half a mile from the open sea. At this time of the year no corn could be obtained in the fields, as the farmers all house their corn in this locality, in the fall, and it is a mys- tery where the bird could have obtained it, as it is the wildest of the ducks that visit this part of the coast. I have never found in the stomachs of this species anything but fish, shell fish, and marine plants and insects, except in this instance, which I I think is the only one on record. The bird was given to me by Mr. Ceby, and upon dissecting it I found the corn as above stated. If any one can give a like instance among the sea ducks I should like to hear of it through the columns of the Naturalist. —J. Francis LeBaron. ANTH OLOGY. CORDATE ORNAMENT. — A stone object, plowed up in Chester County, Pennsylvania, some twenty years ago, has just been brought to my attention. It is “ heart-shaped,” made of a coarse, micaceous sand- stone, and measures two and a quarter inches from the notch to the apex, two and a half inches across the broadest portion of the lobes, and aver- ages three fourths of an inch in thickness, one lobe being somewhat larger than the other. The edges have evidently been worked and rounded by aboriginal tools, and the notch may have been partially cut at the same time, as the upper portions of the lobes would indicate. This has, however, been deepened artificially by the over-zealous discov- erer, with a metal instrument, as may be seen in the sharply cut outlines, which possess a much more recent appearance than the other portions, the grains of sand, in many cases, having been severed and smoothed, The object. was, possibly, intended for a rude ornament; or it may have béen fashioned for purposes of sepulture. The former supposition seems improbable, as the material is so coarse and crumbles easily, while there is no orifice or projection by which it might have been suspended. point is somewhat truncated, which has probably been effected by pound- ing, as it has a ragged, rough appearance. The two-lobed form is but a conventional device of civilized man to represent the human heart, and it is not at all probable that the North American Indian employed such a figure before he came into contact With the Europeans, especially as he does not use it in his paintings and — etchings at the present time, but copies directly from nature. To be Sure, the symbol was used in the hieroglyphics or picture-writings of ancient man in the eastern hemisphere, but we have no proof that it occurred in the rude rock-etchings of nomadic tribes in the United States. This form of ornament is so scarce that it can hardly represent a type. I have seen but this one and have heard of but two others, one of which is figured by Dr. Rau in his Archeological Collections of the nited States National Museum. The latter was said to have been 46 General Notes. (January, found in an Ohio mound, lying on the neck of a skeleton. The three, occurring in widely separated localities and made by different races, must be considered as accidental specimens. No one of them, however, can be certainly considered as a purely aboriginal production, all having been either tampered with or manufactured for purposes of fraud. — BARBER. ANTHROPOLOGICAL News. — Number 23 of the publications of the Western Reserve and Northern Ohio Historical Society is a tract of eight pages upon Archxological Frauds, written by Colonel Charles Whittlesey. A list is given “of all the engraved stones in the United States,” nine in number, which have come under the observation of the author. They are the Grave Creek Stone; a quartz axe, sketched by Dr. G. J. Farish for Professor Wilson ;-a grooved axe or maul, repro- duced by Dr. Wilson, on page 412 in his Prehistoric Man; the Holy Stone, of David Wyrick ; an epitome of the ten commandments in He- brew, found by Mr. Wyrick; a stone similar to the Holy Stone, from a mound in Licking County, Ohio; a grooved stone axe, from Butler County, Ohio; a stone alleged to have been plowed up on the eastern shore of Grand Traverse Bay, Mich.; and a stone maul found, in 1875, in an ancient mine pit, near Lake Desor, Lake Superior. The prinicpal part of the tract is devoted to.the various copies and versions of the famous Grave Creek Stone. Six drawings are given, the last being a copy used by Monsieur Levy Bing, at the Congress of Americanists, at Nancy, in good faith, as a Canaanitish inscription. Colonel Whittlesey joins with our ablest archeologists in deprecating the credulity which attaches to these palpable frauds. The Pennsylvania Historical Society have published Heckewelder’s Indian Nations, as the twelfth volume of their series. The apology that Mr. Heckewelder had filled his book with “ the national traditions and myths of the Indians” can but provoke a smile from those who have sought for days through wearisome pages to hear the story of the red man’s faith from his own lips. This reprint of an old book has our un- qualified praise for the spirit which conceived it, and the taste and accu- racy which characterize its execution. The Smithsonian Report for 1875 is just issued and contains the fol- lowing anthropological matter: International Code of Symbols for Charts of Prehistoric Archeology (illustrated), by O. T. Mason; Cer- tain Characteristics pertaining to Ancient Man in Michigan, by Henry Gillman (illustrated) ; The Stone Age in New Jersey, by C. C. Abbott, M. D. (223 illustrations). The war in the Turkish provinces has awakened a fresh interest in the ethnological questions involved in this classic land. Perhaps there is no corner of the world where the questions of race, religion, language, and government more overlap and intermingle. To those of our readers who take an interest in these phases of the controversy we recommend the Se ee if 1877. ] Geology and Paleontology. 47 two articles in the Geographical Magazine for October, by Mr. Raven- stein, accompanied by four maps exhibiting the spread of Mohamme- danism, the political divisions, the comparative density of population, and the nationalities ; and the History of the Mongols from the Ninth to the Nineteenth Century, by Henry H. Howorth. — O. T. Mason. GEOLOGY AND PALZHONTOLOGY. THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY IN CHARGE oF Pror. F. V. HAYDEN. — The productiveness of the work pursued in America by Professor den, the greatness of the results obtained by this savant and the collaborators whom he has associated with him, the hope and expecta- tion of having science enriched by new discoveries of which those of these last times seem but a prelude, — all these considerations have deeply impressed the French savants, who attentively watch the re- searches of every kind in geography, physics, botany, zoölogy, and especially geology and palæontology, pursued through the unexplored Territories of the United States west of the Mississippi, and towards the Rocky Mountains. It would be impossible to trace out, even in a sum- mary, what is the most striking and interesting part in the undertaking of Professor Hayden, and I must merely mention some essential points which from the speciality of my studies I am prepared to appreciate to their full value. It is certain, first, that the Yellowstone or Geyser region, recently surveyed and preserved by the wisdom of the Federal government against the danger of devastation, put to the disposition of science the exposition of an assemblage of phenomena of the highest interest. Their examination will serve to explain the mode of forma- tion of the lacustrine deposits of Europe, where the geyserian action is so remarkably visible. Henceforth it will be easy to follow the proceed- ings formerly employed by nature on the European Continent, and which now are in full action in the central part of the American Union. It is also evident to the geologist who considers the general classifica- tion of the formations, as it is fixed from the order of the materials as they exist in Europe, that a great revolution is preparing in geology from the discoveries in regard to the stratigraphy of the Territories re- cently explored under the direction of Dr. Hayden. The Dakota group and the lignitic formation constitute, in fact, two systems of an enormous power, wherein the fresh-water formations of an uncommon thickness are directly superposed on the marine beds, or in alternation with them. hese two systems the one is incontestably cretaceous, the other as — incontestably tertiary, and both, equally rich in fossils, animal and vege- table, are so intimately bound together that the passage from the one to the other is by a series of degrees without interruption or gap. Now this is indeed a fact of immense importance in this, that it dis- = Proves all that was supposed to have been observed positively in ~ “arope in generalizing local and partial phenomena. In the minds of 48 General Notes. [ January, the most eminent geologists of this side of the Atlantic the gaps which distinctly separate the cretaceous from the lower tertiary were admitted as corresponding to the end of a great period, and marking its separation from the following one, abruptly beginning a new order of things. Thanks to the American discoveries due to Dr. Hayden’s perseverance we have now before us a formation composed of a union of strata of surprising extent, and these strata when they become carefully studied will teach us how the transition between the upper cretaceous and the most ancient tertiary has proceeded. The radical separation, admitted until now, of the secondary times in regard to those which follow, is therefore uncertain in such a way that if geological researches, instead of beginning in Europe, had been first made in America, the classification would have been modified according to the facts recently obtained by Dr. Hayden; and we can even assert that it would have been founded upon at least different if not opposite bases. The natural consequence of the discovery of these new forma- tions has been a rich harvest of animal and vegetable fossil remains, vertebrate and invertebrate. Here I will only speak about the plants which by their profusion and their variety form a complete herbarium, by which Mr. Lesquereux, as learned as modest, will be able to patiently reconstruct the vegetation of an epoch of which, a few years ago, even the existence was still unknown, at least contested. Nothing, indeed, was more obscure than the flora of the second half of the cretaceous until the Dakota group offered us their share of vegetable fossils. This obscurity was, and is still, a great obstacle to the study of those plants which show us the most ancient Dicotyledons, and take us back to an age when the vegetation of our globe was being completed by the ad- dition and the rapid development of the highest and most numerous ` class which composes it at our time. Before this epoch, reduced as it was to a small number of relatively inferior types, the vegetation could evidently furnish to large land animals insufficient food. It is only from the appearance of the Dicotyledons just at the epoch when the strata of the Dakota group were deposited, that both kingdoms began their completion by the rapid and successive development of what they have most perfect in land animals and plants, before the arrival of man him- self, this last complement of creation. Not only have the plants of the Dakota group presented to us types of which we could not’ formerly suppose the antiquity, but in the ter- tiary system which immediately follows the Dakota group, in the lignitic formation, the researches inaugurated by Dr. Hayden have already ex- posed to our knowledge the remains of a number of floras of various stations and of great richness. This vegetation, distinct from that of the Dakota group, is far more recent, but it has also its proper interest. Its relation with European contemporaneous floras has to be determined ; its most interesting study will demand a great deal of patience and 1877. ] Geology and Paleontology. 49 hard work. It must be completed in time, by a long series of new re- searches, and nobody is better able to continue them on the same plan than Dr. Hayden, who has directed them until now with such thought- ful zeal and clearness of plan. The magnitude of the results already obtained warrants the hope of future discoveries. —Count G. DE SAPORTA, of Aix, France. Tue GEOLOGY or ITHACA, New York, AND THE Vicinity. — The Cayuga Lake basin of Western New York extends in a general north and south direction, attaining a length of over forty miles. The land inclosing it on the north is comparatively low, and the lake is broad and shallow. Southward the land increases in elevation, the lake becomes deeper, and the head of the basin is inclosed by a high hilly region. Along the shores of the lake for its entire extent the various rocky strata from the Salina group to the Chemung are admirably exposed, Ithaca occupies the low alluvial plain at the head of the lake, about four hundred feet below the general level of the surrounding country. Many of the streams entering the valley at this point flow through deep gorges rendering the underlying Chemung rock easily accessible. From Fall Creek, which flows into the lake basin just north of the village, south- ward to the Pennsylvania line there is a continuous stretch of Chemung strata. Excepting for building-stone and flags, the economic value of this group is not great, as it is made up of shales and thin beds of sand- stone. The characteristic fossils found at Ithaca are Spirifera mesacos- talis, S. mesastrialis, and Orthis impressa. In addition to these there are a number of species of lamellibranchs, gasteropods, cephalopods, — some of which are quite large, — and brachiopods other than those men- tioned. The best, and in fact the only, exposure of the Portage group, which underlies the Chemung, is immediately below the Ithaca Fallin the Fall Creek Gorge. This has afforded well-preserved fossils, some of which are quite rare. Spirifera levis, characteristic of the strata, occurs in great numbers, and so well preserved that the spires are frequently visible where the shell has been removed. But the exposures along the lake shore offer a richer field to the collector. By reference to a geological map of New York the various rocks of the Silurian and Devonian ages will be seen to stretch in long bands from east to west, that is, the beds all dip to the south and are imposed one upon the other in their regular order. As the Cayuga Lake basin cuts them transversely, it forms the basis of an excellent section of the western part of the State. The Hamilton formations are here well deyeloped and are exposed along the lake shore for a distance of twenty-five or thirty miles. North of Ithaca the black, thinly laminated Genesee Shale is met, and, forming cliffs along the shore and precipitous walls to the small streams entering the lake, it continues exposed for two or three miles, thinning out and over- — lapping the Hamilton rocks proper. This~shale affords very few fossils, though some well-preserved plant remains have been found. Separat- p ae 4 ii 50 General Notes. ; (January, ing the Genesee Shale from the Hamilton Shales a thick band of lime- stone — the Tully Limestone — rises from the water and after an undu- lating course of several miles passes off at the surface. Directly be- neath this is the Moscow Shale, a dark, laminated mud-rock easily disintegrated by water, the Encrinal Limestone, — a very thin bed, — and the Ludlowville Shale. The Tully Limestone forms a rocky table upon which the streams often flow for a considerable distance, the dip of the bed frequently being so slight as to present nearly a level surface. As they approach the lake the water flows over the hard rocky table and cuts its way through the softer deposits. These are easily disin- tegrated by the combined action of frost and water, and are washed away, forming caverns below the limestone, which after a time breaks off, leav- ing large masses in the bed of the stream. This is particularly well exemplified in the glens about Ludlowville (eight miles north of Ithaca) and at Shurgur’s Glen, near the lake shore. Both of these localities are much frequented by collectors. Spirifera granulifera, S. medialis, S. mucronata, and Athyris spiriferoides are found there in great abundance, also Phacops bufo and other trilobites, many species of lamellibranchs, and a number of cephalopods. This formation, known to geologists as the Hamilton Group, including the Tully Limestone, the Moscow Shale, the Encrinal Limestone, and the Ludlowville Shale, continues for many miles along the lake shore. From an economic stand-point the Tully Lime- stone only is important, being valuable for lime and building purposes. The only minerals found are calcite, in small quantities, and iron pyrites. We turn now to the superficial deposits and water-courses. At Ithaca there are two distinct types of river or creek valleys —the one with rounded and well-worn sides, the other bordered by precipitous walls of rock. ‘To the latter class belong Cascadilla and Fall creeks, which flow into the Ithaca plain from the east. Their valleys are true valleys of erosion, having been formed since the withdrawal of the vast ice-sheet which swept over this portion of North America in quaternary time. With the exception of Six Mile Creek Valley and that of Cayuga Inlet, which open into the lake basin from the southeast and south respectively, all the streams of this immediate vicinity flow through deep cuts or cafions, in which they descend by numerous cascades and water-falls to the lake. As their valleys are mere chasms, they make no appreciable change in the general contour of the land. With valleys of the first type, however, the effect is of an entirely different character. They are distinctly marked. ‘Their longer slope and greater width make a prom- inent feature in the topography of Ithaca. Noting in addition the depth at which the water flows, and the small number of cascades and water- falls, the conclusion is at once reached that these valleys have been acted upon by some agency not now in operation. We can observe changes going on in Fall and Cascadilla creeks ; we can easily understand how their deep, rocky cafions could be formed and are still being formed by 1877. ] Geography and Exploration. 51 the action of water and frost upon shale, and we can readily see that the conditions which obtained in the formation of these valleys could never explain the deep, well-marked valleys of Six Mile Creek and the Cayuga Inlet, with their sloping banks and knolls and terraces. These deep, well-worn valleys are undoubtedly the result of glacial action. The mass of ice which filled the Cayuga Lake basin, dividing at its southern extremity, one part — the larger — flowed to the south, wearing down the Inlet valley, and the other traversed the Six Mile Creek valley, both of which were occupied by preglacial streams. ‘The scratches on the polished surface of the underlying rocky table, as seen at the quarry in front of the buildings of the Cornell University, on the eastern edge of the basin, indicate that the glacier followed a direction a little east of south, corresponding with that of the lake. Among the drift accumula- tions are found bowlders of Oriskany Sandstone, and masses of Hamilton shale, formations which occur to the north, together with small granitic bowlders. The valley of Six Mile Creek furnishes some special exam- ples of the drift phenomena. In several places its old channel has been completely choked up with masses of morainic débris about which the present stream has been obliged to cut its way through deep cafions. It was in this valley, at Mott’s Corners, a few miles from Ithaca, that the remains of a mastodon were discovered several years since.’ In the cafions of this creek and in the gorges of those streams of more recent origin trap dykes are not uncommon. In some cases they thin out before reaching the surface, as in the cañon of Six Mile Creek above Green Tree Falls. There is no apparent displacement of the strata, the dykes being merely cracks filled with igneous rock. Intimately related to the geology of Ithaca is the problem concerning the origin of Cayuga Lake. At present this has not been satisfactorily solved. Theories have been advanced, but as yet none are sufficiently matured. A consideration of this subject will require a careful and de- tailed study of the entire lake system of Western New York. While Ithaca does not present that field of study in structural geology to be found in a mountainous or disturbed region, it does offer many attrac- tions to the collector and student of superficial deen e W Sımoxps, Cornell University. GEOGRAPHY AND EXPLORATION. EXPLORATIONS OF THE POLARIS EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH POLE. — The reports of the scientific results of the Polaris expedition have been delayed simply, we are sorry to say, for want of means for publica- tion. Dr. Bessels, the scientist of the expedition, made valuable collec- tions of animal life at Polaris Bay, between latitudes 81° 20! and 81° 50! © N., and soon after his return placed in the writer’s hands the insects. and fresh-water crustacea. Now that the English expedition has returned i it 5 . 1 See American Naturalist, v. 314. 52 General Notes. (January, is deemed a to publish a preliminary notice in order to secure priority. The Hymenoptera were represented by Bombus Kirbyellus Curtis, which occurred at Polaris Bay, May 31st and July 10th, anda new species, apparently of an ichneumon fly, Microgaster Halli,’ found in cocoons at Polaris Bay in June and again July 4th. Of Lepidoptera Laria Rossii, a moth closely allied to our Dasychira, was obtained in all stages from the egg to the imago. The eggs are spherical, smo th, and white, 0.06 inch long, and laid in a mass of about sixty, and, as in Orggia, upon the cocoon. The larva when half grown is broad and short, the body, including the hairs, measuring 0.60 inch in length and 0.30 in breadth. The body is densely covered with long, fine reddish-brown hairs projecting in all directions and concealing the head and end of the body. There are six large, short, dense, subconical tufts, the two anterior and two posterior ones black, the middle ones yel- lowish. Head and body black. The full-fed larva is a little longer, the head broad, and large, and black, as is the rest of the body, including all the feet. In this stage the dorsal tufts are all black, with the hinder- most one acute, and more prominent than the others; two segments in- tervene between the fifth and sixth pair. It is 1.60 inch long and 0.60 inch wide. The cocoon is loose and thin, made of the long hairs of the caterpillar, held together by a thin, fine, silken web. There is an inner layer of hairs held in place by a very slight web. It is gray in color, and is an inch and a half long by one inch in diameter. The two specimens of the moth are male and female, well-preserved, and agree with Curtis’s description, except that the hind wings are uni- colorous, with no “ broad, blackish margin.” In the same bottle with the caterpillars of ZL. Rossii occurred a Tachina puparium of the usual form and 0.36 inch in length. Besides this species occurred Anarta Richardsoni (Curtis) and Glau- copteryx sabiniaria (Curtis) with its larva, already described by the writer in the Monograph of Phalenide of the United States. The following Mallophaga have been identified by Mr. S. E. Cassino: Physostomum mystax Burm., from Larus eburneus; Docophorus lari Fabr., from Larus glaucus; Goniodes colchici Denny, from Strepsilus interpres. A small, blackish Poduran, Jsotoma Besselsii,? occurred in abundance 1 Microgaster Halli, n. sp. Medium sized, black, shining a little more than usual Antenne brown-black. Fore and middle pair of legs dark brown. Hind legs a little paler, with the basal third of the hind tibie and tarsi pale brown. Venation as triangular, as in some species. Length 0.12. Twelve specimens. Cocoons of the usual cylindrical shape; white. Length 0.17 inch. Two eeu ah this genus have been recorded by Schiddte from Greenland, but not described. ag to the memory of the m Captain Hall in command of the Polaris expeditio. 2 Isotoma Besselsii, n. sp. Intermediate in form between 7. tricolor Pack., and I. nivalis Pack. Body long and slender, antenne but little longer than the head ; joints 1877.] Microscopy. 53 at Polaris Bay, July 5, 1872. The Arachnida were represented by four species, two of which have been identified by Mr. J. H. Emerton. Æri- gone psychrophila Thorell occurred at Polaris Bay June 3, 1872, and there were two unnamed species from Polaris Bay. At Foulke Fiord Lycosa glacialis Thorell was collected. All the spiders have been sent to Dr. Thorell to report upon. Upon the body of a Bombus Kirbyellus occurred several specimens of a Gamasus. Of fresh-water crustacea, besides a Copepod, Daphnia rectispina Kroyer occurred abundantly at Polaris Bay, August 1, 1872, as well as Branchinecta groenlandica Verrill. — A. S. PACKARD, JR. MICROSCOPY.! ILLUMINATION IN CONNECTION WITH POLARIZATION. — Mr. W. K. Bridgman, in a paper read before the Queckett Club, urges the impor- tance of polarization as an element of microscopical illumination. His thoughtful and suggestive paper is very interesting, though far from Gonelasivo in its demonstrations, and greatly marred by an apparent confusion in respect to the propagation, diffusion, and sensation of light. The essential point of his theory is that “it is the polarity in- ‘duced by the impact of the ray, which excites or confers upon the re- flected or refracted portion of the ray a condition enabling it to convey the impression of the object to the eye, and the desideratum is to restrict the effect as much as possible to this one action.” It is not polarized light, but the act of polarization to which he attributes the effect. The excellence, for microscopical illumination, of light from a white cloud Opposite the sun he attributes to its entire freedom from polarization, while the inferiority of light from a direction at right angles to this, or from the blue sky, is attributed to its being strongly polarized, a scat- tered polarization being said to afford the worst possible kind of illumina- tion for the microscope. The author finds the best angle at which the light can be allowed to fall upon a painted surface to be its polarizing angle of about 56°, and to an approximate coincidence between the angle most conveniently obtained and the polarizing angle he ascribes the easy and general success in obtaining a good illumination of opaque objects by means of the side reflector or the condensing lens ; though the result is at least equally well explained, in both cases, on the old theory that this is the angle at which an intense illumination is easily obtained without the view being obscured by a glare of reflected light. In the use of the Licberkuhin; the author attributes the facility with which delicate details of structure ‘are rendered visible by light from one edge, oe short and thick. Spring much longer than in Z. nivalis, but shorter than in : or, not reaching to the insertion of the hind legs, while the fork is as long as the basal joint. It is black, and 0.06 inch in length. It differs from any American or North European species, and is certainly not the Podura humicola a Fabricius. 1 Conducted by Dr. R. H. Waxp, Troy, N. Y. of General Notes. January, though quite obliterated by a reflection from its whole surface, to the availability of light at the polarizing angle as compared with vertical rays; but in fact the instrument does not furnish a vertical illumina- tion in any case, and when all light is stopped off except from its ‘ marginal portion an equally complete polarization is effected without, in common practice as well as in theory, the advantages attained by a unilateral illumination from one edge only of the reflector. In applying the same law to the use of transmitted light for transparent objects, it is advised to place the lamp in such a position that its rays shall fall upon the mirror at an angle of about 54}° in order that the reflected and refracted rays may be as perfectly separated as possible. To obtain the angle accurately in all these cases, it is advised to set the illuminating apparatus by the aid of a sector or a properly divided card. The em- ployment of the silvered side reflector below the object, as a means of transparent or of dark ground illumination, is mentioned as giving a clear soft light and excellent definition at any desired angle of incidence, no claim being made that its use should be limited to any special angle; a judgment in which all who have been accustomed to use this little in- strument as a substage accessory will be likely to cordially concur. PoLLeN Tuses ror tHe Microscope. — Mr. J. O’Brien’s remarks on this subject, quoted from the Garden by the Monthly Microscopical Journal, represent that he always failed to succeed in obtaining pollen tubes by dissecting the fertilizing stigmas, though spending much time in the effort, and that he had always seen similar failure attend the - labors of others. He therefore recommends that the tubes be obtained on a slide by means of the nectar which appears on the stigma at the time of fertilization. The centre of a common microscope slide is touched to the drop of nectar on the stigma, care having been taken to prevent previous pillage by insects, and the spot of nectar thus obtained on the slide is touched by a mature anther so as to leave a few pollen grains on it. In about half an hour a projection like a fleshy root may be seen to grow from the end of each pollen grain; and after an hour or two each tube will be long and snake-like, the grain still attached and representing the head. The rotation of the contents of the tube may now be observed, the fluid passing down one side of the tube and re- rning on the other side. Temperature and moisture should be care- fall controlled, as the growth depends on the fluid condition of the tar. When sufficiently developed the object may be immediately mounted by pressing down upon it a cover glass, the nectar soon hard- ening and forming a mounting material in which the pollen is well ` shown. Specimens prepared in this manner a year ago are still per- : fectly preserved. The author presumes that any plant which produces the nectar in sufficient quantity may be treated in this way, though he has succeeded best with bulbous plants, Lilium, Hymenocallis (Panera- tium), Crinum, ete. It would be an interesting and useful field ‘for in- a eh ee, 1877. ] Scientific News. 55 vestigation to determine what artificial preparation could be made to take the place of the natural nectar in these experiments, as a means of obtaining and mounting the pollen tubes of flowers. AN Francisco Microscopicat Sociery. — This society, one of the most prosperous in the country, having outgrown its old quarters, has just moved to new rooms in the building known as the Thurlow Block, corner of Kearney and Sutter streets. The rooms, which were first occupied on occasion of the regular meeting of November 2d, are on the fourth floor, approached by means of an elevator, and consist of a handsomely furnished meeting-room supplied with book-cases and cab- inet to contain the rapidly increasing collections of objects and books belonging to the society, and an adjoining room fitted up as a laboratory with abundant facilities for microscopical work. SCIENTIFIC NEWS. — Professor James Orton left home during the middle of October for South America, with the intention of exploring the Beni River in the interests of geographical science, natural history, and commerce, — Under the title Entomologischer Kalender fiir Deutschland, Oes- terreich und die Schweiz, Dr. F. Katter, of Putbus, Germany, has pub- lished a very useful pamphlet, containing a diary for 1876, a list of Ger- man, Austrian, and Swiss entomologists and entomological societies and journals. — J. Munsell, Albany, announces for 1877 The Indian Miscellany ; containing papers on the history, antiquities, arts, inventions, languages, religions, traditions, and superstitions of the American aborigines ; with descriptions of their domestic life, manners, customs, traits, governments, wars, treaties, amusements, exploits, etc. ; also sketches of travel and ex- ploration in the Indian country, incidents of border warfare, journals of military expeditions, narratives of captivity, anecdotes of pioneer adventure, missionary relations, etc. Collected by W. W. Beach. — The well-known London house of Macmillan & Co., publishers of The Practitioner, have undertaken the publication in England of Micro-Photographs in Histology, the monthly work conducted by Drs. Seiler, Hunt, and Richardson. A large edition is required by the To profession. . A. Curtiss, of Jacksonville, Fla., can supply the ornamental : Florida grasses and air plant (Tillandsia), so much prized for parlor = decorations, sea-weeds, wood encrusted with barnacles or burrowed by teredo, coquina rock, river shells, sea-fans, sea-willow, stag’s horn and other corals, sea beans, and anything else in the line of Florida cu- riosities, including stuffed or live alligators, alligators’ teeth and eggs, — stuffed birds, etc. ; also, views of Florida scenery. The first-mentioned _ vil be exchanged for Algæ, i: and articles of use to a naturalist. oe : 56 Scientific News. (January, — Arthur F. Gray, Danversport, Mass., is desirous of obtaining speci- mens of Purpura lapillus, Littorina litorea, L. tenebrosa, L. rudis, L. palliata, Tritia trivittata, Ilyanassa obsoleta, and Buccinum undatum from all localities where they exist. He would like fifty specimens or - more of the commoner species, if convenient, from each locality, to- gether with notes in regard to the situations where such specimens were gathered. In collecting specimens, select a fair representative of each species, both small and large specimens. His object is to study the va- riations of mollusks which are either very common or distributed over extended areas, and then produce a paper upon their variations. Due acknowledgment will be made for any aid rendered. — Lieutenant Cameron has been created a Companion of the Order of the Bath, and has been promoted to the rank of commander in the British Navy. The narrative of his travels, which will form the most interesting and important work on African geography that has appeared for many years, is now approaching completion. It will be published by Messrs. Daldy and Isbester, London. — Several sets of plants collected by Dr. Palmer in Arizona and Northeastern California, determined by Professor Gray and Mr. S. Wat- son, are for sale at ten dollars a hundred. Apply to Dr. C. C. Parry, Davenport, Iowa. ; r. William LeBaron, late State Entomologist of Illinois, author of four edna reports on the injurious insects of that State, died Octo- ber 14, 1876, at Elgin, Illinois. He was the son of Dr. Lemuel and Martha LeBaron, and was born in North Andover, Mass., October 18, 1814. He studied medicine with Dr. Joseph Kittredge in North Ando- ver, and practiced there. He married Sarah Jarvis Carr, of Ellsworth, Maine, and in 1844 removed to Geneva, Illinois, where he also practiced medicine. — The New York Aquarium was opened October 10th, under excel- lent auspices, a large number of friends of science meeting in the fine building erected for the purpose, and listening to an inaugural address by Hon. R. B. Roosevelt. Our readers will take a personal interest in this important enterprise from the liberal and scientific spirit that thus far has characterized the management. The manager and projector, Mr. W. C. Coup, directs the attention of the public to a feature of the New York Aquarium which he announces is “ specially designed to promote and encourage original scientific research, and aid in the study of natural history in all of its most important branches. This consists in the estab- lishment of a free scientific library and reading-room, as an adjunct to the Aquarium, together with a naturalist’s workshop, fitted out with all the needed modern appliances, including microscopes, experimental tanks, dissecting tables, etc. This department is under the immediate charge of Mr. W. S. Ward, at whose suggestion it was established, and we propose to admit to the privileges of this scientific quarter any and 1877. ] Proceedings of Societies. 5T all of those who, either as students or teachers, may desire to avail them- selves of the advantages of study and research here afforded.” Conducted in this spirit, and with the patronage of an intelligent pub- lic, we may hope for most excellent results. It affords the only means in the country for the study of the development of marine animals dur- | ing the winter months, and affords a rare opportunity to naturalists in the city of New York, whom we personally envy. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. Iowa ACADEMY OF Sciences, Iowa City. — June 23d. Prof. C. E. Bessey presented A Preliminary Catalogue of the Lichens of Iowa. His list of twenty-six species, collected principally in Central Iowa, in- cludes probably about one fifth of the entire lichens of the State. He presented also A Preliminary Catalogue of the Orthoptera of Iowa, in- cluding thirty-nine species found in Central and Southeastern Iowa. Mounds and Mound-Builders was the subject of a carefully prepared paper by Dr. P. J. Farnsworth, of Clinton, tending to show that the mound-builders were identical in race with the historical Indians of North America. The evidence offered was mainly based on resemblances in anatomical structure and modes of burial between the mound-builders _ and still existing Indian tribes. Prof. Samuel Calvin, of the state university, described seven New Species of paleozoic Fossils, found mainly in Howard and Floyd coun- ties, Iowa. He also presented a Notice of a Probable new Species of Elephant, from the modified drift near West Union, Iowa. The structure of the teeth differs from that of either Elephans Americanus or E. prim- Prof. F. M. Witter presented Notes on the Land and Fresh-Water Shells found near Muscatine, of which he has determined fifty-two species. The Deposits of the Chemung Group in Iowa were described by Pro- fessor Calvin as occupying a narrow area along the south side of Lime Creek for a few miles above Rockford, Floyd County, Iowa. It was shown that forty-five of the fossils of the group do not occur in other rocks in Towa, and this together with the position of the deposits renders it proper to refer the group to a period above the Hamilton or to the Chemung. The further fact that three fourths of all the fossils in the group have been found nowhere else in the world, justifies the application of some distinctive title to the epoch, and the name “ Rockford Shales ” was pro- posed. Professor Calvin also presented A Preliminary Notice of the Occur- Fence of Marcellus Shales in Iowa. This paper had reference to the discovery of a dark, somewhat bituminous shale beneath the Hamilton 58 Proceedings of Societies. (January, limestone at Independence, Iowa. One of the shells found in this shale belonged to a genus that began its existence, so far as known, in the Marcellus shales, and this fact together with the position of the shale, justified its reference to the Marcellus epoch. The discovery of this shale with its carbonized plants explains the numerous reports that have gained circulation at various times, concerning the discovery of coal in regions occupied by Devonian rocks. Professor Bessey read a note on The Colors of Iowa Wild Flowers, presenting tables prepared with a view of determining what influence the total amount of light and heat exerts on the predominant colors of the native Flora. ACADEMY or NATURAL Sciences, Philadelphia. — August 8th. Mr. Thomas Meehan referred to observations he had made this season on the nocturnal and diurnal expansion of flowers, and said that, contrary to the popular impression, it was not probable that light or its absence alone determined the opening of the blossoms. There were some plants, as for instance Wnothera biennis (the evening primrose), Anagallis arvensis (the pimpernel), and others, which remained open or other- - wise, longer when the weather was humid or clear, and were looked on in consequence as a kind of floral barometers ; but from other facts it was clear that it was not the weather merely, but some other incident _ accompanying the weather, which governed the case. Though @nothera biennis and other CEnotheras opened at evening, and if the atmosphere was moist would continue open the greater part of the next day, many species opened only in the daytime, and this they did regularly, quite regardless of meteorological conditions. @nothera serrata of Colorado was one of these. It was regular in opening about noon, and the blossoms were all closed long before sundown. In other allied families we saw similar divergences. In the cactus family Opuntia and Mammillaria opened only about midday, while most of the Cereus opened at night. The night blooming cactus was a famil- iar example. But the chief interest was in the fact that many had their special hours of day or night for the expansion. The Portulaca oleracea (common purslane) opened about eight a. m., and by nine o'clock ha performed all its functions, while a closely allied plant, the Talinum teretifolium, from the serpentine rocks of Chester County, opened at one . P. M. and was closed by three o'clock. The conditions of the weather did not seem to influence them. There was the same attention to daily periods in the growth of the parts of plants as well as in the expansion of the petals. In composite plants the floral growth was wholly in the morning, and was usually over by nine or ten o’clock a. m. The elongation and expansion of the corolla was usually completed in an hour after sunrise, but the stamens grew for an hour more, and the pistils continued for still another. There © was little if any growth in the floral parts after nine o'clock in a very 1877. ] Proceedings of Societies. 59 large portion of this order of plants. In grasses, Cyperaceæ, and some rushes also, the floral parts were very exact in their time of open- ing. In the plantains, Plantago, the pistils appeared a day or more in advance of the stamens, and these last appeared at about a regular time in each day. In Luzula campestris he had by a series of observations timed it exactly. Before nine the anthers were perfect, but by ten the pollen had been all committed to the winds and only dried matter re- mained. So far as he could ascertain, meteorological conditions did not influence the time in the least, in this case. August 15th. An interesting communication from Dr. Charles Pick- ering on photographs of Tasmanians at the Centennial Exposition was read by the president. Dr. Pickering has been enabled by means of these portraits to refer the originals to the Papuan race or large New Guinea negro. Mr. Martindale called attention to the genus Opuntia, the only genus of Cactacez found east of the Mississippi in the Northern States. Dr. Engelmann describes one species under the name Opuntia Rafinesquit, which includes two or three of the species described by Rafinesque. Mr. Martindale had collected in the neighborhood of Haddonfield, N. J,, what he believes to be Opuntia vulgaris, a species which Dr. Engelmann had not before seen from any locality north of the Falls of the Potomac. The characters of the two species were described and contrasted. A specimen from Woodbury, N. J., was decided to be Opuntia Rafinesqutt, as were also those from the neighborbood of the coast. Mr. Redfiel had heretofore doubted the existence of Opuntia Rafinesquii in this quarter, and now believes that the form so called was but a variety of Opuntia vulgaris. ~ Dr. Allen called attention to a deformation in a domestic cow similar to that described by him recently as existing in a Brahmin bull. In the case under consideration a supernumerary anterior limb grows from the shoulder, but it ends in one toe only, instead of three, as in the former case. There is, however, a rudimentary toe and a small protuberance farther up the shaft of the metacarpus. August 29th. A paper entitled Note on the Discovery of Repre- sentatives of two Orders of Fossils new to the Cretaceous Formation of North America, by Wm. M. Gabb, was presented for publication. September 6th. A paper entitled On the Lingual Dentition, Jaw, and Genitalia of Carelia, Onchidella, and other Pulmonata, by Wm. G. Bin- ney, was presented for publication. Mr. Meehan called attention to a specimen of an exceedingly curious plant, Welwitschia mirabilis, on exhibition in the Portuguese African Section of Agricultural Hall, Centennial Exhibition. He also spoke of his observations upon Mentzelia ornata. The plant blooms at night. The flowers open for four nights in succession, after which they cease to do so. One flower was covered with gauze and found to produce seed : _ 48 freely as those not so protected. | dh ec 60 Proceedings of Societies. [January, Dr. Asa Gray suggested that the capsules might be swollen without containing perfect seeds. September 20th. Dr. Leidy spoke of the structure and habits of cer- tain fresh-water rhizopods. In the genus Hyalosphenia the test or shell is homogeneous and transparent. Several species have been de- scribed, one of which had been discovered in the Sphagnum swamps of New Jersey, and from its resemblance to a butterfly, when the pseudo- pods or arms are extended, it had been named Hyalosphenia papilio. Pores were found to exist in the shell, through which the water passes in and out as the body dilates and contracts. Foreign substances ad- here to the naked Ameebas on the part of the body opposite to that from whence the pseudopods are protruded. A sluggish Ameba had been observed to swallow rhizopods with shells, and, after digesting the soft parts, the calcareous covering was ejected. Others had been observed to select specimens of diatoms having green digestible matter in their interior, from those which were not possessed of such nutritive material. At the request of Mr. Meehan, Dr. Engelmann, of St. Louis, spoke of the characters and geographical distribution of Abies Fraseri. It closely resembled the common balsam, Abies balsamea. The tree seems to be confined to the summit of a small number of mountains about six thou- sand feet in height. The most prominent distinguishing characters are found in the cones, which have protruding and recurved bracts, It has, however, been found that the microscopic structure of the leaves furnishes admirable distinctive characters. e peculiar structure of the leaves of all these trees allies them more closely to the ferns than to the higher plants. In Abies balsamea the cells under the epidermis which are devoid of chlorophyl or coloring matter are few in number, while in Abies Fraseri they are numerous and regularly distributed on the upper surface of the leaves. All the firs and many of the pines can thus be distinguished by the structure of the leaves alone. There are a great many plants in the mountains of North Carolina which are found only there. The name Black Mountains is due to the dark color of the Abies Fraseri, still more to Abies nigra. Mr. Martindale spoke of the introduction of plants from other local- ities. He had within the past week collected specimens of Leonurus sibiricus at the mouth of the Wissahickon. It appeared to be perfectly naturalized in a space four or five feet square. Mr. Redfield suggested that the seeds might have come in the foreign wool used in the mills farther up the river Mr. Canby najisi the rapidity with which Lespedeza striata had : spread over the western part of N orth Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, and all over the Alleghany range. _ Mr. Gesner spoke of the great benefit derived from the growth of Lespedeza striata on pasture lands throughout the Southern States. It grew everywhere luxuriantly, and was eagerly eaten by cattle. It is salivating when eaten by horses, but not so when used by mules. 1877.] Proceedings of Societies. 61 In continuation Dr. LeConte noticed the increase of introduced species of Coleoptera. One species of Aphodius, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, had extended downward to Massachusetts. Another had spread from Maine to Virginia. Other insects introduced into New England had remained localized. Mr. Gabb noticed the growth of an introduced plant, the Alfilarillo, Erodium cicutarium, in California. September 26th. Mr. Martindale stated that the foreign plant spoken of by him as having been found at the mouth of the Wissahickon Creek had been determined by Dr. Gray to be Leonurus glaucescens. It comes from Siberia, and was probably brought among some of the Centen- nial exhibits, most likely by way of Japan. He did not think it came in wool; as suggested at a previous meeting. Dr, Engelmann, of St. Louis, continued his remarks upon the conifers, These plants are found much earlier in geological formations than ordi- nary flowering plants, which is an additional reason for placing them below the latter. Peculiarities of wood and seed, as well as those of the leaves previously described, were dwelt upon, and the conclusion was reached that these plants stand as a connecting link between the endo- gens and the exogens. Dr. McQuillen directed attention to a human skull in which, owing to the loss of the bicuspid and molar teeth in the left side of the lower jaw, an upper molar, failing to meet with the antagonizing tooth, pro- truded from its socket twice its original length. In addition to this, and from the same cause, the left upper jaw had fallen considerably be- low the level of the right side, and had in consequence lowered the orbit to such an extent as to produce marked disfigurement during life. The condition of this skull was contrasted with that of one in which all the teeth were in good condition, symmetrical in their arrangement, and illustrating in a marked degree the harmony of antagonism. October 3d. Dr. Leidy spoke of the results of a dredging excursion on the Schuylkill River. The mud at the bottom of the river was found to be thoroughly saturated with coal-oil, and in consequence thereof all the animal and vegetable life, which the dredging party had expected to find in abundance, had been destroyed. It was believed that this ab- Sorption of the coal-oil by the river mud exemplified the formation of bituminous shale. ` - LeConte remarked that the only difference between the modern and the ancient bituminous bearing deposits was that in the case of the former the oil came from the refuse matter of the manufactories, and in the earlier formations it was absorbed immediately when exuded by the substances producing it. The origin of these oils from vegetable sources — ed to. = Was allud Rev. Mr. McCook spoke of the architecture and habits of a species of ant, Formica rufa. The mature hills formed by these ants were 62 Proceedings of Societies. (January, forty inches in height, thirty-six feet in circumference at the base, and eleven feet at the top. They had probably taken seven years to grow to this size. On account of the dryness of the season, little activity was at first observed among the builders, but a shower of rain commenc- ing to fall, they immediately began to work. The mode of formation of the hills and galleries was described and illustrated by drawings and photographs. It was believed that no liquid was used in building the arches, but the pellets of which they were constructed were dovetailed into each other, and rain seemed necessary to cement the work. The greatest regularity in the galleries seemed to be north and south, while the long slope of the hills was towards the west. ‘This did not seem to be at all dependent upon the direction of the wind, but appeared as if the ants actually build with regard to the points of the compass. The doors of the galleries were not closed at night, as described by Huber. Peculiarities of structures made by ants of the same species in Dela-. ware County and at Rockland were described. Dr. Leidy spoke of the destruction of plants by ants in the neighbor- hood of their nests, either by the action of formic acid or by eating the roots. He had observed that a species of grass, Aristida, was exempt from this destruction. Whether the ants allowed it to remain for the purpose of strengthening their structure, or because they did not find it palatable, he could not decide. Mr. McCook stated that the ants observed by him extruded formic acid very vigorously, and he had observed yellow tracks on the trees, which might be owing to this cause. _ Dr. Koenig remarked that formic acid would produce a natural cement with the calcareous particles of the mounds. r. Chapman stated that the length of the cecum given off from the rectum of an ostrich recently examined by him was thirty-five inches. It was believed that the comparative length of this part of the intestine seemed to depend upon the nature and amount of the food. r. Meehan spoke of the Akebia quinata, an indigenous plant of Japan, where it bears fruit, although it had not been known to do so in this country until recently, when the fruit had been produced by a vine cultivated by Mr. Canby, of Wilmington, Del. Mr. Meehan also exhibited a specimen of rare fungus of the genus Phallus, which he had recently found on his grounds for the first time in ` seven years. Its peculiar odor attracted meat flies in considerable numbers. The bearing of the facts spoken of upon the question of insect agency in fertilization was dwelt upon. Dr. Leidy related his observations upon a species of Phallus, and mentioned the fact that insects carried the spores from. place to place. The power of insects to convey gangrene and other poisons was spoken of in this connection. The president announced that the Biological and Microscopical Section 1877.] Proceedings of Societies. 63 of the Academy proposed giving a microscopical exhibition on the 16th inst. The following papers were presented for publication: Note on Ptiloris Wilsonii Ogden, by James A. Ogden, M. D.; On the Ex- trusion of the Seminal Products in Limpets, with some Remarks on the Phyllogeny of Docoglossa, by Wm h October 10th. Dr. LeConte spoke of some larve of beetles received from Mr. J. A. Lintner, of New York, which were said to be very destructive of carpets in Albany and the neighboring towns. They were determined to belong to the Dermestidæ, and on further investigation were decided to be the Anthrenus scrophularia, a European species which had not before been found in this country. Dr. LeConte called attention to an observation he had seen published to the effect that finely powdered corrosive sublimate scattered upon ant hills drove the inhabitants to an insane rage, when they would fall upon each other and become involved in an inextricable mass, from whence none would escape alive. ACADEMY or SCIENCE, St. Louis. — October 2d. Mr. Riley made a communication on the insect pests at the Centennial Exposition. October 16th. Professor Potter gave the results of his analysis of Peruvian lignite. vivan or Sciences, New York. — October 16th. Mr. Alexis A. Julien read some Observations on Prehistoric Remains in Western North Carolina. Prof. Thomas Egleston read a paper entitled Vein Accidents in the Lake Superior Region. Boston Socrery or NaruraL History. — October 4th. Mr. Charles S. Minot read a paper on the Relationship of the Vertebrates and Worms, and Prof. A. sues gave a description of an interesting Tubularian Hydroid. October 18th. Dr. T. Sterry Hunt made a communication on the Geological Succession of the Crystalline Rocks. APPALACHIAN Mountain Crius.— October 11th. Mr. Wm. G. Nowell gave an account of an exploration of Carter Dome, near the Wild Cat River. He gave a detailed description of the route adopted and of the observations made there. The mountain and those about it he proposes to call the Carter Dome Group, and says that two or three days’ work upon the top of the principal mountain will enable the club to obtain an uninterrupted view of all the encircling country. Mr. W. H. Pickering read a paper upon distant points visible from the White — Mountains, in which he said it was possible to obtain two hundred and eighty views from Mount Washington, one hundred and twenty-one from Moosilauk, forty-three from Passaconway, and twenty-three from Mount Lafayette. An interesting discussion took place as to whether Katahdin is visible from Mount Washington. Professor C. E. Fay also read a paper concerning Black Mountain, alias Sandwich Dome, in which he - favored an o to the old name as ee E and proper. o a 64 Scientific Serials. | [ January. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS." THE GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE. — November. The Arctic Expe- dition. On Foot through Central Japan, by E. R. Crooke. J. Bonnat’s Exploration of the Volta. Sketches of Life in Danish Greenland. The German Expedition to Northern Siberia. The Expedition to the Lena and Olenek, by A. L. Chekanooski. Tue GEOLOGICAL MAGaAzINe. — October. On the Tertiary Fish- Fauna of Sumatra, by A. Günther. On Harpactes velox, a Predaceous Fish from the Lias of Lyme Regis, by Sir P. Grey-Egerton. The Cli- mate Controversy, by S. V. Wood, Jr. Theories of the Formation of Rock-Basins, by H. Miller. Ground-Ice as a Carrier, by H. Landor. — November. On the “ Gondwana Series,” and the Probable Age of the’ Plant-Beds of India, by O. Feistmantel. On the Motion of Glaciers, by J. F. Blake. List of Described American Insects from the Carbon- iferous Formation. Orthoptera, by S. H. Scudder. MONTHLY MicroscopicaL JOURNAL. — November. On the Micro- scopical Structure of Amber, by H. C. Sorby. Diatomacez in Slides of Santa Monica Deposit, by F. Kitton. The Present Limits of Vision, by Dr. Royston-Pigott. Comparative Photographs of Blood-Dises, by G. Gulliver. On the Structure and Development of Connective Sub- stances, by T. E. Satterthwaite.— December. On a New Method of Measuring and Recording the Bands in the Spectrum, by T. Palmer. On the Measurement of the Angle of Aperture of Object-Glasses, by F. H. Wenham. Experiments with a Sterile, Putrescible Fluid, exposed alternately to an optically Pure Atmosphere and to one charged with known Organic Germs of extreme Minuteness, by W. H. Dallinger. On a New Refractometer for Measuring the Refractive Index (Mean Rays) of Thin Plates of Glass, Lenses, Wedges, and also of Fluids placed in Cavities or Tubes, by Dr. Royston-Pigott. The Gladiolus Disease, by W. G. Smith. Errata. — Vol. x., page 634, first and second lines from bottom, page 635, second line from top, for venation read vernation, Page 729, thirteenth, fifteenth, = twenty- a = for Wales’ read Wale’s. Page 729, last line, omit the comma after ‘‘ Pow Table of contents, third page, er line, for Wie read Michels. 1 The articles enumerated under this head will be for the most part selected. Siok gases THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. Vou. x1.— FEBRUARY, 1877. — No. 2. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FANNING GROUP OF ISLANDS. BY DR. THOMAS H. STREETS, U. 8. N. HE collection of islands which we have here designated by the name of Fanning’s Group consists of four coral islands situated in the Pacific Ocean, immediately north of the equator. I am not aware that they have ever been grouped on any chart, but, inasmuch as they form a natural group, and as three of them were discovered by Captain Edmund Fanning, an American sailor, I think we are justified in describing them under the above title. They stretch from latitude 1° 57’ N. to 5° 49% N., and from longitude 157° 27’ W. to 162° 11’ W., and, like most other groups in the Pacific, their general direction is northwest and southeast, thereby conforming to the general trend of the submarine range of mountains whose peaks they cap. As their formation is purely coral, their geological structure is compara- tively simple. The most westward, and evidently the last formed of the group, is Palmyra. Caldew Reef, forty miles to the northward of Pal- myra, has hardly, as- yet, assumed the distinctive features of an island. It is entirely under water at high tide, and but a few coral heads project here and there above the surface at low water. In the course of time, however, it will undoubtedly be added to the group. Palmyra represents the second stage in the formation of a coral island. The winds, waves, and currents, assisted probably by some other agents, have been at work on the surface coral, and have ground it and piled it up beyond the reach of the highest tides. It now consists of fifty-eight small islets, thickly clothed with vegetation, arranged in the form of an elongated horseshoe opened to the westward, and inclosing our lagoons. The islets are separated one from another by nar- Copyright, A. S. PACKARD, JR. 1877. * 66 Natural History of Fanning’s Group. [February, row, shallow channels, through which the water of the ocean finds free access to the lagoons. In a completed atoll the rim of land inclosing the lagoon is unbroken, but in the greater num- ber of coral ilanda a narrow lagoon-outlet is always found on the western side. A broad, interior shore platform of fine coral sand extends, in places, from one side of the island to the other, and forms dis- tinct boundaries for the lagoons, and connects together most of the islets. It also forms a barrier to the westward, approximat- ing the two extremities of the horseshoe, leaving the lagoon-out- lets so very narrow and shallow as hardly to admit of the passage of aship’s boat. The outer shore platform is about three hun- dred feet wide, and is covered with coarse coral blocks. The island is being gradually extended to the westward. From the two ends of the horseshoe the water breaks out for a mile or more, and from the northern end it shoals around ina curve to the southward for three or four miles. This, too, in years to come, will be elevated above the surface and another body of water will be inclosed, forming a lagoon where vessels now ride at anchor. Very scanty evidence of any agents having been at work in building up the land other than the coral animal and the action of the waves are observable anywhere about the island. The highest point is only seven feet above high water. In no place has the reef-rock been upheayed. But an elevation of a few inches might be supposed from the position of the rock of beach formation, which in places has been lifted up horizontally out of the reach of the tides. The eastern islets are the oldest in formation. That this is true is evident from several facts. In the first place, the vegeta- tion there is denser and ranker, and more genera are represented than on the islets to the leeward. All the plants that were found growing on the latter islets also exist on the eastern, with the addition of several species that have not yet been diffused to the westward, showing that the germs of life started into existence in the east, the direction of the prevailing wind and current. further proof of this is shown in the condition of the cocoanut- trees in the different localities. This tree when young is bulb- ous at the base, a condition which is observable in all the trees on the western islets, while on, those to the windward they are taller and the trunks have nearly the same diameter from the base to the crown. 1877.] Natural History of Fanning’s Group. 67 Washington Island, the most remarkable of the group, pre- sents several very interesting geological features. The evidences of the operation of some great disturbing agent are more plainly visible here than elsewhere. Either this force must have been extremely local in its operation, or else it was exerted upon the member of the group which we have just considered when it was in such a condition as not to show it. The latter hypothesis is the most reasonable. Washington Island is an obliterated atoll. In the place of the usual salt water lagoon there is a lake of fresh water, one mile long and half a mile wide, with a depth of four fathoms in its deepest part. No shore platform makes out from the land at low water, but the sea at all stages of the tide breaks directly on the beach, except at the angles of the island where reefs extend a certain distance into the sea. The beach shelves rather abruptly to the water’s edge. The highest: part of the land is about fifteen feet high, and over all the interior of the island there are outcroppings of the reef-rock and the rock of beach formation. All traces of the former passage from the sea into the lagoon have been obliterated. The salt water of the lagoon has either drained off through the light, porous soil, or has been freshened by the immense rain-falls which occur in these latitudes. The latter event is not improbable, consider- ing the situation of the island on the edge of the trades, in the region of variable winds, where rains are frequent and heavy. In time past, the rim of land inclosed three lagoons. One, the largest, is now the lake ; the others are about half the size of the first, and are converted into peat-bogs. The latter are thickly overgrown with rushes and contain a solid deposit of vegetable matter three or four feet deep, composed of the roots, trunks, and débris of the cocoanut and pandanus trees closely matted by the roots of the rushes. The time of our visit was just after a heavy rain, and a layer of water from six to eighteen inches deep covered the surface of the bogs. _ The island supports a dense and luxuriant growth of vegeta- tion, and a greater number of species are represented there than on any of the other islands of the group. The water of the lake is just perceptibly brackish ; and the only life it is said to contain are a species of eel and a shrimp, both of which we were told are different from anything found in the water surrounding the island. This information was derived from an intelligent Englishman, who had visited the island sev- eral times to superintend the gathering of the cocoanuts. They 68 Natural History of Fanning’s Group. (February, are the kinds of life that we should look upon as being the first _ to adapt themselves to the altered condition of things. Unfortu- nately we were not able to procure a specimen of either. Our stay was so limited (but a part of one day was spent there), that we could not make as thorough an examination of the island as its interesting nature called for. The richest results obtained in our brief visit were in the department of ornithology. The lake and peat-bogs were ten- anted by a diminutive species of duck of the genus Chaulelas- mus. ©. Couesi we have named it, in honor of Dr. Elliot Coues. (Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, vol. i. p. 46, 1876.) This is the second species of the genus known to exist. The other, as streperus, the common gadwall, is almost cosmopolitan ; the one is as restricted in its habitat as the other is wide-spread. The markings on the plumage of the two species are almost identi- cal; they differ only in size, and in some minor details of bill and feet. : By far the handsomest of all the feathered tribe of the island is a little lory, the Coriphilus kuhli. It belongs to the Poly- nesian group of parrots, which are distinguished by the predomi- nance of red in their plumage. Though not new to science, yet its discovery, or rather re-discovery, was an important event as determining its habitat. Finsch in his “ Papagien’’ has the fol- lowing concerning it: ‘* This is one of the rarest parrots existing, only to be found in few museums. It was erroneously said by Wag- ler to come from the Sandwich Islands. Latterly this rare spe- cies does not seem to come to Europe at all, which is surprising, inasmuch as the Society Islands, which thus far have been re- garded as their only home, have considerable traffic with Europe. As a special locality, Vigors mentions Tubuititiruba, near Tahiti : Lesson gives Borabora. Bourjot’s specimen in the Paris Museum is said to have come from Fanning Island, northwest of Christmas, and northeast of the Phoenix group. But although everything is diametrically opposed to this assertion, it might nevertheless not be improbable that this very island is its true home.” Fanning Island is one of this group, and is situated about seventy miles south of Washington Island. These two islands are without doubt the true habitat of this lory, and it is highly improbable that it ever came from any other locality. The following untechnical description, which is copied from Fanning’s Voyages, is sufficient to prove that C. kuhli inhabited Fanning’s Island at the time of its discovery in 1798. “ Amongst 1877.] Natural History of Fanning’s Group. 69 the birds was one species about the size of our robin, with a breast of scarlet colored feathers, the under portion of the body being finished off with bright red, the neck of a golden color, back of a lively green, with a yellow beak, except the very points, which were of a bright dun color, the wings and tail be- ing both of a jet black, and the last tipped off with white ; it was a most beautiful and lovely bird with its brilliant and richly variegated plumage.” They were reasonably abundant on Washington Island, and when I signified a desire to a native of the Kingsmill group to have some of the birds alive, he gratified me in the following manner: He took two pieces of bamboo, each about a yard long. On the end of one he perched a tame bird, and from the extrem- ity of the other suspended a running noose. The tame bird, as it was carried about among the cocoanut-trees, uttered a harsh, rasping sound, and wild birds came out of the trees and perched alongside it on the bamboo, when, by means of the other stick, they were carefully noosed. When caged aboard the ship, they exhibited as pretty a pict- ure of love as one can imagine, well meriting their name of “ love-birds.” They sat billing and smoothing each other’s feathers for hours, and as night came on two would get together, and sleep with their heads turned towards each other. They lived in confinement but a very short time, and bore it badly. Even while we stood watching their lively antics one would tum- ble off its perch and die, apparently in convulsions. The only other land bird found on Washington Island be- longed to the Passeres. It was a flycatcher-like bird. As many of these as were seen were procured, but the specimens were sent home from the Pacific, and before I arrived east to com- mence the work of identification, they were distributed through the general collection of the Smithsonian Institution and have not yet been found. ‘This is to be deplored, for they would probably be as interesting as the other species obtained from the same locality. A bird similar to these, but smaller and somewhat browner — which I think can be accounted for by the altered conditions of its surroundings —- was found on Christmas Island, where it was the only land bird. But this, like the previous Species, is mislaid in the collection at Washington. Christmas Island was discovered by the great English navi- gator, Cook, and it has been visited a number of times by ex- ploring expeditions. It is therefore not such a terra incognita as the ones we have been considering. TO Natural History of Fanning’s Group. [February, It is the largest island of the group, and is situated the fur- thest to the eastward and southward, in close proximity to the equator. It consists of a narrow rim of land, thirty miles in cir- cumference, inclosing an immense lagoon. All of our research was limited to the western side. There are unmistakable evidences of an elevation beyond the height to which land can be built up by the waves and tides. North of the lagoon entrance a distinct old beach line could be traced running parallel to an ancient shore ridge, and distant about two hundred yards from the water of the present lagoon. The shore ridge, about twelve feet high, runs north and south, and is about one hundred yards from the sea-beach. Between the ridge and the beach the surface is thickly strewn with coarse eoral blocks of the old shore platform. At the time when the sea washed over this platform it was separated from the water in the lagoon only by the breadth of the shore ridge. A tract of land, from two to three hundred yards in width, has been added to the island by upheaval. The massive reef-rock is ele- vated all along the present shore line. The highest land is from _ fifteen to twenty feet high. This island is far removed from the others in its local conditions ; there is no fresh water, it rarely or never rains, the vegetation is low and scanty, — the densest of it hardly casting a shadow, — and the white coral sand glows with the direct rays of the sun’s heat. It was interesting to note the changed habits of the birds under these altered surroundings. In December, on Palmyra, the gannet (Sula piscator) had finished the period of its incubation, and the young were large-sized; on Christmas Island, one month later, we found the same species still sitting on their eggs, and few or no young were seen. These birds were observed to have a very curious habit in the latter locality, which they were not seen to possess on Palmyra. They constructed their nests on the low shrubbery, and under each nest was a mound, two or three feet tall, composed of twigs, and solidly cemented together by their excrement. They evidently occupy the same nest for sev- eral successive seasons, — for the lean bushes would hardly fur- nish a sufficient quantity of twigs to build up the mounds in a single season — and it may be they amuse themselves, while sit- ting on their eggs, by breaking off all the small branches within reach of their beaks and dropping them under their nests. The other birds are equally backward in the performance of their marital duties. On Palmyra the Gygis alba and the noddy 1877.] Natural History of Fanning’s Group. 71 (Anous stolidus) lay their eggs ; the former on the naked branches of the trees, which in some instances are hardly greater in diam- eter than the egg itself, and the latter in well constructed nests of twigs in the forks of the branches of the tall trees. On Christmas Island the larger coral blocks answer the purpose of the first named, and a shallow concavity scooped in the bare ground that of the last. Most birds are guided by their instinct of self-preservation in selecting a site for the construction of their nests; in fact, I may say this seems to be a law. But in this case there is nothing on the one island, not found on the other, which would drive them to adopt these widely different habits. It is evident that they simply conform to their surroundings. The ground and coral blocks are both present on Palmyra, yet they choose the trees in preference, being guided probably by their taste rather than by a desire for protection. The sooty terns (Sterna fuliginosa) were breeding on Palmyra. Their chosen locality is the extreme eastern point of the island, on the bare clinker beach, almost within reach of the breakers. They make no attempt to construct a nest; nor do they so much as scoop a hole in the ground to receive their eggs, which are dropped apparently anywhere. They live as a community by themselves during the breeding season, and so great are their numbers that they form a cloud when driven from the ground, and their clamor deadens the roar of the surf. The Sula eyanops was breeding on Christmas Island. A few of the same species, all in immature plumage, were nesting on Palmyra. The old and the young were in no instance found nest- ing together on the same breeding ground ; the former were con- fined to Christmas, and the latter to Palmyra Island. Is it pos- sible that the young individuals are ostracized until they robe themselves in the fashionable dress ? The only other birds found breeding on Christmas Island were the red-tailed tropic-bird (Phethon rubricauda), the Æ- trelata parvirostris, and a new species of puffin (Puffinus), not yet described. The bristly-thigh curlew (Numenius fem- oralis), the golden-back plover (Charadrius fulvus), the Tota- nus semipalmatus, and a species of Tringa were common to both islands, but were more numerous on Palmyra. The same statement may be applied to the lesser frigate bird ( Tachypetes Palmerstoni). These birds constitute the whole avifauna, and are almost the T2 Natural History of Fanning’s Group. (February, only life of the islands. The sea-birds range away from the land, in pursuit of their finny prey, to a distance varying from sixty to eighty and sometimes even to a hundred miles ; and so unerring are they in their return to their breeding and roosting places, that we were told the captains of the small schooners, who seek the islands to harvest their crop of cocoanuts and to look about for guano, find the objects of their search by laying to, when they imagine themselves somewhere in their vicinity, until evening, when the birds wing their way homeward, and then shaping their course by the direction of the flight of the birds. The other terrestrial animals of Palmyra are a minute shell, a Tornatellina, that clings to the under surface of the fronds of the Polypodium aureum, and a land leech that fastens itself to the eyelids of the young birds. _A soldier-crab ( Cenobita Gliviert) quits the water and lives on the land at certain seasons of the year, and it may therefore be properly considered terrestrial. They are ubiquitous ; they climb the trees and bushes, dragging after them the heavy shells of the Turbo argyrostoma. Washington Island is a home of the gigantic Burgus latro. “ In the Pacific this species, or one with closely allied habits, is said to inhabit a single coral island north of the Society group.” Since this statement of Darwin’s was made, we have gained a much better knowledge of its distribution, so that now it may be said there is scarcely a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean where it is not found. The stories about this crab climbing trees after cocoanuts are entirely unfounded. It lives in bur- rows in the ground, and feeds on the cocoanuts as they fall from — the trees. It first strips off the husk, shred by shred, and then, with its strong pincers, breaks through the shell at the extremity that holds the eyes. The strength of their claws is sufficient to crush a lath in twain, and so tenaciously do they hold on:to anything when once they have obtained a grip, that I have known them to hang suspended from a tree for an hour or more, holding on by their claws. Sometimes the unwary native, in searching their burrows with his hand for the fine cocoanut husk which forms their bed, is surprised to find his fingers in the vice-like grasp of the crab; and it may be interesting to know that in such a dilemma a gentle titillation of the under soft parts of the body with any light material will cause the crab to 1oose his hold. They are said to visit the sea at night for the purpose of wetting their branchiæ. 1877.] Explorations in Colorado. 73 EXPLORATIONS MADE IN COLORADO UNDER THE DIRECTION OF PROF. F. V. HAYDEN IN 1876. OR reasons beyond the control of the geologist-in-charge, the various parties composing the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories did not commence their field work until August. Owing to the evidences of hos- tility among the northern tribes of Indians, it was deemed most prudent to confine the labors of the survey to the completion of the atlas of Colorado. Therefore the work of the season of 1876 was a continuation of the labors of the three preceding years, westward, finishing the entire mountainous portion of Colorado with a belt fifteen miles in width of Northern New Mexico and a belt twenty-five miles in breadth of Eastern Utah. Six sheets of the physical atlas are now nearly ready to be issued from the press. Each sheet embraces an area of over 11,500 square miles or a total of 70,000 square miles. The maps are con- structed on a scale of four miles to one inch with contours of two hundred feet which will form the basis on which will be repre- sented the geology, mineral, grass, and timber lands, and all lands that can be rendered available for agriculture by irrigation. The areas of exploration are located in the interior of the conti- nent, far remote from settlements, and among the hostile bands of Ute Indians that attacked two of the parties the previous year. The point of departure the past season was Cheyenne, Wyo- ming Territory. The primary triangulation party was placed in charge of A. D. Wilson, and took the field from Trinidad, the southern terminus of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, August 18th, making the first station on Fisher’s Peak. From this point the party marched up the valley of the Purgatoire, crossed the Sangre de Cristo Range by way of Costilla Pass, fol- lowed the west base of the range northward as far as Fort Gar- land, making a station on Culebra Peak. About six miles north of Fort Garland is located one of the highest and most rugged mountain peaks in the West, called Blanca Peak, the principal summit of the Sierra Blanca Group. On the morning of August 28th the party, with a pack mule to transport the large theodolite, followed up a long spur which Juts out to the south. They found no difficulty in riding to the timber line, which is here about twelve thousand feet above the sea-level. At this point they were compelled to leave the ani- mals, and, distributing the instruments among the different — T4 Explorations in Colorado. [February, members of the party, proceeded on foot up the loose rocky slope to the first outstanding point, from which a view could be ob- tained of the main peak of the range. Although this first point is only six hundred feet lower than the main summit, yet the most arduous portion of the task was yet to come. The main summit is about two miles north of the first point, in a straight line, and connected with it by a very sharp-toothed zigzag ridge over which itis most difficult to travel on account of the very loose rocks and the constant danger of being precipitated down, on either side, several hundred feet into tħe amphitheatre below. After some two hours of this difficult climbing, they came to the base of the main point, which though very steep was soon as- cended, and at eleven o’clock, A. M. they found themselves on the very summit. From this point one of the most magnificent views in all Colorado was spread out before them, The greater portion of Colorado and New Mexico was embraced in this field of vision. This point is the highest in the Sierra Blanca group and so far as is known at the present time is the highest in Col- orado. The elevation of this point was determined by Mr. Wil- son in the following manner : first, by a mean of eight baromet- ric readings taken synchronously with those at Fort Garland, which gave a difference between the two points of 6466 feet; secondly, by fore and back angles of elevation and depression, which gave a difference of 6468 feet. The elevation at the fort was determined by a series of barometric readings, which com- pared with those of the signal-service barometer at Colorado Springs gave it an elevation of 7997 feet, making the Blanca Peak 14,464 feet above sea-level. This peak may be regarded therefore as the highest or at least next to the highest yet known in the United States. A comparison with some of the first-class peaks in Colorado will show the relative height : — Above sea-level. Blanca Peak . : : = ‘ : - á i i 14,464 feet. Mt. Harvard ; : i i ‘ x i i i nie eM Gray’s Peak . ; s ‘ , : . ¿ : 5 14,841 “ Mt. Lincoln 14,296 “ Mt. Wilson 14,280 “ Long’s Peak i ; ; y š ; ; š muons Vecumpahgre Peak ° ; x R : i > 14,235- “ Pike’s Peak 14,146 “ The foregoing tabla wil se some pee as MN the difficulty encountered in determining the highest peak when there are so many that are of nearly the same elevation. About fifty peaks are found within the limits of Colorado that exceed fourteen thousand feet above sea-level. 1877. ] Explorations in Colorado. 75 From this point the party proceeded westward across the San Luis valley and up the Rio Grande to its source, making two primary stations on the way, one near the summit district and the òther on the Rio Grande Pyramid. From the head of the Rio Grande the party crossed the continental divide, striking the Animas Park, thence west by trail to Parrott City. After making a station on La Plata Peak, the party marched northwest across the broken mesa country west of the Dolores, making three stations on the route to complete a small piece of topography that had been omitted the previous year on account of the hostility of the Ute Indians. After making a primary station on the highest point of the Abajo Mountains, the party turned westward to Lone Cone, where another station was made ; thence, crossing the Gunnison and Grand rivers, they proceeded to the great volcanic plateau at the head of White River. The final station was made between the White and Yampah rivers in the northwestern corner of Colorado. During this brief season, Mr. Wilson finished about one thousand square miles of topog- raphy and made eleven geodetic stations, thus connecting to- gether by a system of primary triangles the whole of Southern and Western Colorado. In company with the triangulation party, Mr. Holmes made a hurried trip through Colorado, touching also portions of New Mexico and Utah. He was unable to pay much attention to de- tailed work, but had an excellent opportunity of taking a general view of the two great plain-belts that lie, the one along the east- ern, the other along the western base of the Rocky Mountains. For nearly two thousand miles of travel he had constantly in view the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations, with which are involved some of the most interesting geological questions. He observed among other things the great persistency of the various groups of rocks throughout the east, west, and north, and espe- cially in the west, for from Northern New Mexico to Southern Wyoming the various members of the Cretaceous formation lie in almost unbroken belts, while the Tertiaries are hardly less easily followed. Between the east and the west there is only one great incon- gtuity. Along the eastern base of the mountains the upper Cre- taceous rocks, including numbers four and five, are almost wanting, consisting at most of a few hundred feet of shales and laminated sandstones, Along the western base this group becomes a prom- : ment and important topographical as well as geological feature, T6 Explorations in Colorado. [ February, In the southwest, where it forms the “‘ mesa verde” and the cap of the Dolores plateau, it comprises upwards of two thousand feet of coal-bearing strata, chiefly sandstone, while in the north it reaches a thickness of 3500 feet and forms the gigantic hog- back of the Grand River Valley. While in the southwest he visited the Sierra Kbejos a small group of mountains which lie in Eastern Utah, and found, as he had previously surmised, that the structure was identical with that of the other four isolated groups that lie in the same region. A mass of trachyte has been forced up through fissures in the sedimentary rocks and now rests chiefly upon the sandstones and shales of the lower Cretaceous. There is a considerable amount of arching of the sedimentary rocks, probably caused by the in- trusion of wedge-like sheets of trachyte, while the broken edges of the beds are frequently bent abruptly as if by the upward or lateral pressure of the rising mass. He was able to make many additional observations on the geology of the San Juan re- — gion and secured much valuable material for the coloring of the final map. He states that the northern limit of ancient cliff builders in Colorado and Eastern Utah is hardly above latitude 37° 45’. The Grand River Division was directed by Henry Gannett, topographer, with Dr. A. C. Peale as geologist. James Steven- son, executive officer of the survey, accompanied this division for the purpose of assisting in the management of the Indians, who last year prevented the completion of the work in this local- ity by their hostility. The work assigned this division consisted in part of a small area, containing about one thousand square miles, lying south of the Sierra la Sal. The greater portion of the work of this di- vision lay north of the Grand River, limited on the north by the ae of =å 30’ and included beirom the meridians of 108° and 109° This es took the field at Cañon City, Colorado, about the middle of August. The party traveled nearly west, up the Ar- kansas River, over Marshall’s Pass and down the Pomichi and Gunnison rivers to the Uncompahgre (Ute) Indian agency. Here they secured the services of several Indians as escort in the somewhat dangerous country which they were first to survey. This area lying south of the Sierra la Sal was worked without difficulty. It is a broken plateau country and presents many curious pieces of topography. Eleven days were occupied in this work. 1877. ] Explorations in Colorado. TT The Grand River from the mouth of the Gunnison River to that of the Dolores, that is, for nearly a hundred miles, flows along the southern edge of a broad valley, much of the way being in a low cañon, one hundred to two hundred feet deep. The course of the river is first northwest for twenty-five miles, then turning abruptly it flows southwest, and then south for about seventy-five miles. This valley has an average width of twelve miles. It is limited on the north and west by the Roan or Book Cliffs and their foot-hills, which follow the general course of the river. These cliffs rise from the valley in a succession of steps to a height of about four thousand feet above it, or eight thousand to eighty-five hundred above the sea. From its crest, this plateau (for the Book Cliffs are but the southern escarpment of a plateau) slopes to the north-northeast at an angle of not more than 5°. It extends from the Wahsatch Mountains on the west, to the foot-hills of the Park Range on the east, and presents everywhere the same characteristics. The Green River crosses it, flowing in a direction exactly the reverse of the dip. It borders the Grand on the north for one hundred and fifty miles, the crest forming the divide between the Grand and the White. On the south side of the crest are broken cliffs ; on the north side, the branches of the White River immediately form cajions. This leaves the divide in many places very narrow, in some cases not more than thirty to forty feet wide, with a vertical descent on the south towards the Grand River and an extremely steep earth slope (35° in many cases) at the heads of the streams flowing north to the White River. This crest, though not over eighty-five hundred feet in height, is the highest land for a long distance in every direction. After leaving the Uncompahgre agency, the party followed Gunnison’s Salt Lake road to the Grand and down that river to the mouth of the Dolores, in latitude 38° 50’, longitude 109° 16’. At this point they turned northward and went up to the crest of the Book plateau. They followed this crest to the eastward for upwards of a hundred miles to longitude 108° 15’, then descended tothe Grand and followed it up to longitude 107° 35’, and thence went, via the White River (Ute) Indian agency, to Rawlins, where they arrived on October 23d. The whole area worked is about thirty-five hundred square miles, in surveying which about sixty stations were made. The geological work of this division by Dr. Peale connects directly with that done by him in 1874 and 1875. Sedimentary forma- tions prevail in both districts visited during the past season. 78 Explorations in Colorado. [ February, The country first examined lies between the San Miguel and Dolores rivers, extending northward and northwestward from Lone Cone Mountain. The general character of this region is, that of a plateau cut by deep gorges or cañons, some of which, especially towards the north, extend from the sandstones of the Dakota Group to the top of the red beds. The depth of the caiions, however, is no indication of their importance as stream beds, for away from the main streams they are dry the greater portion of the year. There are no great disturbances of the strata, what folds do occur, being broad and comparatively gentle. The San Miguel River, leaving the San Juan Mountains, flows towards the northwest and with its tributaries cuts through the sandstones of the Dakota Group, exposing the variegated beds ly- ing beneath, that have generally been referred to the Jurassic. About twenty-five or thirty miles north of Lone Cone, the river turns abruptly to the west and flows west and southwest for about fifteen miles, when it again turns and flows generally northwest until it joins the Dolores. Between the San Miguel and Lone Cone the sandstones of the Dakota Group or number one Cretaceous are nearly horizontal, forming a plateau which on approaching the mountains has a capping of Cretaceous shales. Beyond the bend, the San Miguel flows in a monoclinal valley in which the cañon walls are of the same description as in the upper part of its course. As the mouth is approached the red beds appear. Between this portion of the course of the San Miguel and the almost parallel course of the Dolores, which is in a similar monoclinal rift, there are two anticlinal and two syn- clinal valleys parallel to each other. They are all occupied by branches of the Dolores. Lower Cretaceous Jurassic and Trias- sic strata outcrop and present some interesting geological details which will be fully considered in the report on the district. The Dolores River comes from a high plateau in a zigzag course, flow- ing sometimes with the strike and sometimes with the dip of the strata. Its general course on the western line is about northwest, from which it turns to the northward and westward, finally chang- ing to northwest again for its junction with the Grand. It is in a cañon the greater part of its course. In the region of country north of Grand River, the geological formations extend uninterruptedly from the red beds exposed on rand River to the white Tertiary cliffs forming the summit of the “ Roan Mountains” or Book Cliffs. The Grand is generally in a cañon in the red beds. 1877. ] Explorations in Colorado. 79 On the north side, the number one Cretaceous sandstone forms a hog-back sloping towards the cliffs. Between the crest of this hog-back and the cliffs, there is a broad valley formed by the erosion of the soft Cretaceous shales which extend to the base of the cliffs and in some places form their lower portion. The cliffs are composed mainly of Cretaceous beds, rising one above another in steps, until an elevation of about eight thousand feet is reached. The summit is the edge of a plateau sloping to north-northeast. This plateau is cut by the drainage flowing into the White River from the south. These streams rarely cut through the Tertiary series. Coal of poor quality is found in the sandstones of the Dakota Group and also in the sandstones above the middle Cretaceous beds. Wherever noticed it was in thin seams and of little eco- nomic importance. The White River division was directed by G. B. Chittenden as topographer, accompanied by Dr. F. M. Endlich as geologist. The district assigned to this party as their field for exploration during -the season of 1876 commenced from the eastward at longitude 107° 30’, joining on to the work previously done, and extended westward thirty miles into Utah Territory. Its south- ern boundary was north latitude 39° 30’, while the White River formed the northern limit. In order to complete the work to the greatest possible advantage in the shortest time that could be allowed, it was determined to make the White River agency the headquarters, and in two trips from there finish the work. About thirty-eight thousand square miles comprised the area surveyed In working up the topography of the district, the party spent forty-eight days of absolute field work, made forty-one main to- pographical stations and sixteen auxiliary ones, and traveled Within the district about one thousand miles. The arty ascer- — tained the course of all the main trails, the location and quality of all the water, which is scanty throughout, and can map with considerable accuracy the topographical forms and all the water- courses. The area is almost entirely devoid of topographical “ points” and the topographer is obliged to depend to a con- siderable degree on those far to the north and south for the triangulation. The country has been heretofore almost entirely unexplored, and was described by the nearest settlers as a broken cañon country, extremely dry. It was marked on the maps as a high undulating plateau, with fresh-water lakes and timber. 80 Explorations in Colorado. [ February, The party saw no lakes of more than four hundred yards in di- ameter and only two or three of those. The country is nearly all inhabitable both winter and summer, and considerable portions of it are valuable, and though three quarters of it is within the Ute Indian Reservation, the advantage of a more accurate knowl- edge of its character can readily be seen. While working in the low broken country of Southwestern Colorado last year, Mr. Chittenden made use of a light portable plane table and found it of great value. It appeared at that time that its value was greatest in that class of country, and that in a low rolling district with few prominent points, or in a high- mountain country, it would probably be of little or no use. Altitudes were determined by the mercurial barometer with a base at the White River Indian agency and checked by a con- tinuous system of vertical angles. The altitude of the agency has been determined by a series of barometric observations ex- tending over two years and a half and referred to railroad levels, and can probably be depended on to within a few feet. The al- titude of the agency being about sixty-five hundred feet, and the altitudes in the district ranging from five thousand to eight thou- sand feet, makes its location the best possible in height for a ba- rometric survey of the region. It is the intention of the survey during the coming year to publish some tabulated results of the barometric work in Colo- rado, showing the system and its accuracy and reliability. This may be of use in future work, since the topography of the whole West must greatly depend on barometric determinations of alti- tude, while Colorado has furnished almost every possible phase of western topography. The longest dimension of the work lying east and west and the White and Grand rivers running in approximately parallel courses, the district stretched from the White River up over the divide between the Grand and White and embraced the heads of the lateral drainage of the former river. The general topography is a gentle rise from the White River towards the south, and a sudden breaking off when the divide is reached into rugged and often impassable cliffs known on the maps as the Roan or Book Mountains. The gentle plateau slope of the White River side is cut by almost numberless and often deep cañons, and in many cases the surface of the country has been eroded, leaving broken and picturesque forms, the lower benches generally covered with cedars and piñons, and the upper rich in grass. 1877. | Explorations in Colorado. 81 There are four main streams draining into the White River within the limits of our work, a distance of something over one hundred miles. The country is almost entirely destitute of timber and has but little good water. It is, however, abundantly and richly supplied with grass, and, especially in the winter season, must be well stocked with game. It seems well adapted to its present use as an Indian reservation, and is likely to remain for years to come more valuable for them than it could be for settlement. In the far western portion, and outside the limits of the reserva- tion, one large vein of asphaltum and several small ones were found, and also running springs of the same material, all of which if once reached by railroads will prove of great commercial value. These deposits have been spoken of before, but their location has not been accurately determined. The principal vein seen by this party is at present about one hundred miles from railroad com- munication, but less than half that distance from white settle- ments, and is likely in the present rapid growth of the country to be within a few years made available. According to the report of F. M. Endlich, the geology of the dis- trict is very simple, though interesting. Inasmuch as there is but one divide of importance within the district, the work was some- what simplified. This divide is formed by the Book Cliffs and sep- arates the drainages of the Grand on the south from that of the White on the north. Both of these rivers flow a little south of west into the Green River, which they join in Utah. From the junction of the Grand and Green downward, the river is called the Colorado. Orographically the region surveyed is compara- tively simple. The Book Cliffs are the summit of a plateau, about eight thousand feet above sea-level, which continues unbroken over to the Green River. Towards the south these cliffs fall off very steeply, forming deep cañons that contain tributaries of the Grand River. On the north side, with the dip of the strata the slope is more gentle, although in consequence of erosion nu- merous precipitous cliffs are found. Descending in that direction the character of the country changes. Instead of an unbroken slope, we find that the plateau has been cut parallel by the White River drainage and the long characteristic mesas of that region testify to the action of erosion. Approaching the river, | constantly descending with the slight dip of the strata, the bluffs come lower and lower. Though the creek valleys are wide > and at certain seasons no doubt well watered, the vegetation is o; — No, 2. 6 82 Explorations in Colorado. [ February, that of an arid country. Dwarf pines, piiions, and sage-brush abound, to the almost entire exclusion of. other trees or grass. Traveling down White River this character is again found to change. A new series of bluffs, occasioned by heavy superin- cumbent strata, gives rise to the formations of deep caiions. For forty-five miles the party followed the cañon of the White, which no doubt is analogous to that of the Green, and probably closely resembles that of the Colorado in its detail features. Ver- tical walls enclose the narrow river-bottoms and the slopes of the higher portions are ornamented by thousands of curiously eroded rocks. Monuments of all kinds and figures that can be readily compared to those of animated beings enliven the scenery, which otherwise would be very monotonous. Two thousand to three thousand feet may be stated as the height of the walls inclosing the White River. Geologically speaking, the district is one of singular uniformity. Traveling westward, the older formations, reaching back as far as the Triassic, were found. This is fol- lowed by Cretaceous, which in turn is covered by Tertiary. About three quarters of the region surveyed was found to contain beds belonging to this period. Owing to the lithographical character of the strata, water was a rare luxury in this region, and men and animals were frequently compelled to look for springs. Farther west still, the Green River Group sets in, form- ing those numerous cañons of which that of the White River is one. Having completed their work by October 14th, the party marched eastward through Middle Park, and after twelve days of rain and snow reached Boulder City, Colorado. The field work of the Yampah division during the past season was principally confined to a district of Northwestern Colorado lying between the Yampah and White rivers, and between Green River and the subordinate range of mountains that lies west of and parallel with the Park Range. The area is em- braced between parallels 39° 30! and 40° 30! and meridians 107° 30’ and 109° 30’. The party consisted of Mr. G. R. Bechler, topographer direct- inrig, accompanied by Dr. C. A. White, the well-known geologist. They proceeded southward from Rawlins Springs, a station on the Union Pacific Railroad, on August 6th, toward their field of labor. From Rawlins Springs to Snake River, a distance of eighty miles, table-lands form the chief feature of the topography, while from Snake River to the Yampah River the surface is 1877. | Explorations in Colorado. 83 more undulating and thickly covered with sage. Between the Yampah and White rivers, a distance of fifty miles, the country is mountainous; and on the divide between the Yampah and White rivers the elevation is eight thousand to nine thousand feet. Mr. Bechler, after having formed the geodetic connection with the work of previous years, concluded to finish the more mountainous portion of the area assigned to him, which began in the longitude of the White River agency and extended west- ward to about 108° 10’. Here the party found water and grass in abundance, with one exception. The plateau country, however, was so destitute of water and so cut up with dry gorges or cafions with scarcely any grass or timber of any kind, that traveling was rendered very difficult. The party therefore made White River its base of supply for water and grass, making side trips among the barren hill-tops or plateaus in every direction. From the Ute Agency, which is located approximately in lati- tude 88° 58’ and longitude 107° 48’, the White River takes an al- most due west course for fifteen or eighteen miles, most of the way through an open valley with here and there narrow gorges. About fifty miles from the agency, the river opens into a broad barren valley, with only here and there scanty patches of vege- tation. Soon after, the river enters a deep cañon with vertical walls one thousand feet or more in height which continue to increase in depth until the river flows into the Green River. The Yampah or Bear River occasionally deviates from a west- erly course only for a few miles. Like White River it flows through a plateau country which rises gently from the river, back for a distance of about eight miles. South of the river lie the Williams River Mountains, which have a gradual slope to the north. Williams Fork, flowing from a southeastern direction, joins the Yampah River. West of the junction, the Yampah traverses the country more or less in a cañon, occasionally emerg- ing into an open grassy valley, then enters a deep cañon, cuts through the Yampah Mountains, when it joins with the Snake River. The place of junction resembles a fine park surrounded on all sides with eroded terraces and plateau spurs, that rise by steps to the divide on either side. This park is about eight miles in length from east to west. After leaving this park the river enters a huge fissure in the mountains, where it remains until, completing its zigzag course, it joins the Green River in longitude 109° 40’ and latitude 32° 00’. 84 Explorations in Colorado. [ February, After the junction with the Yampah, the Green River continues in a cañon for fourteen miles where it passes through the pic- turesque palisades of Split Mountain into an open broad valley, longitude 109° 15’, latitude 40° 28’, from which point it takes a southeast direction through the Wamsitta Valley, where it unites with the White River. Into both White and Yampah rivers, numerous branches ex- tend from either side, forming deep cañons the greater portion of their length. We may say in brief, that the sides of the val- leys expand and contract, at one time forming the beautiful grassy valleys which in olden times were celebrated as the favor- ite wintering places for the trappers, or contracting so as to form narrow cañons or gorges with walls of varied height. The walls of Yampah Cañon average about one thousand feet, while the mountains receding back to the northward attain an elevation of forty-two hundred feet, and the highest point of the plateau on the south side is thirty-four hundred feet above the river level. Of the plateaus between White and Yampah rivers, Yampah Plateau is the largest, and occupies an area of four hundred - square miles. The surface of the summit is undulating and on the south side it presents a steep face, several hundred feet in height, covered with débris, rendering it almost inaccessible. This plateau is covered with excellent grass and gives origin to numerous springs, all of which dry up within a short distance of their source. As a whole, this district is very arid, barren, and almost entirely destitute of tree vegetation. The total number of stations made by Mr. Bechler in the dis- trict assigned to him was forty, and the entire area about three thousand square miles. Barometric observations were made whenever needed, and about two thousand angles of elevation and depression with fore and back sights, so that the material for attaining the correct altitudes is abundant. The rocks of this district embrace all the sedimentary forma- tions yet recognized by the investigators who have studied the region that lies between the Park Range and the Great Salt Lake, namely, from the Weber Quartzite (which underlies the Carbonif- _ erous) to the group or latest Tertiary, inclusive. Not only has — the geographical distribution of these formations been mapped, but all the displacements of the strata have been traced and delineated. The last-named investigations bring out some in- | teresting and important facts in relation to the orographie geology of the region, especially as regards the eastern termina- — r E is < ty Sener as a a MN Capt Sn, SE Seas FAS A 1877.] Explorations in Colorado. 85 tion of the great Uinta uplift and the blending of its vanishing primary and accessary displacements with those of the north and south range above-mentioned. Much information was also ob- tained concerning the distribution of the local drift of that region, the extent and geological date of outflows of trap, ete. The brackish water beds at the base of the Tertiary series, containing the characteristic fossils, were discovered in the valley of the Yampah. They are thus shown to be exactly equivalent with those, now so well known, in the valley of Bitter Creek, Wyoming Territory. These last-named localities were also visited at the close of the season’s work, and from the strata of this horizon at Black Butt’s Station three new species of Unio were obtained, making six clearly distinct species in all, that have been obtained, associated together in one stratum, at that locality. They are all of either distinctively American types or closely related to species now living in American fresh waters. They represent, by their affinities, the following living species: Unio clavus Lamarck ; U. securis Lea; U. gibbosus Barnes; U. metanurus Rafinesque and U. complanatus Solander. They are associated in the same stratum with species of the genera Cor- bula, Corbicula, Neritina, Viparus, etc., this stratum alternating with layers containing Ostrea and Anomia. The close affinity of these fossil Unios with species now living in the Mississippi River and its tributaries seems plainly suggest- ive of the fact that they represent the ancestry of the living ones. An interesting series of facts has also been collected, showing that some of the so-called American types of Unio were introduced in what is now the great Rocky Mountain region, as early as the Jurassic period, and that their differentiation had become great and clearly defined as early as late Cretaceous and early Tertiary times. Other observations suggest the probable lines of geographical distribution, during the late geological periods, of their evolutional descent, by one or more of which they have probably reached the Mississippi River system and cul- minated in the numerous and diverse forms that now exist there. The work of the past season shows very clearly the harmoni- ous relations of the various groups of strata dver vast areas; that although there may be a thickening or a thinning out of- 8 at different points they can all be correlated from the Mis- souri River to the Sierra Nevada Basin. The fact also that there is no physical or paleontological break in these groups over large areas from the Cretaceous to the Middle Tertiary is fully established. The transition from marine to brackish-water forms 86 The Sand Darter. [ February, of life commences at the close of the Cretaceous epoch and with- out any line of separation that can yet be detected continues on upward until only purely fresh-water forms are to be found. Dr. White, an eminent paleontologist and geologist, says that the line must be drawn somewhere between the Cretaceous and Ter- tiary epochs, but that it will be strictly arbitrary, as there is no well marked physical break to the summit of the Bridger Group. ea ae eee THE SAND DARTER. BY D. S. JORDAN AND H. E. COPELAND. E have often brought home with us a “ Johnny,” “ Speck,” or “ Crawl-a-bottom,” of a different type from any of those whose habits we already knew.! It had a very sharp nose that (Fie. 4.) THE SAND DARTER. projected over its mouth; its body was exceedingly slim and round, as transparent as jelly, but firm and wiry to the touch. Its belly and much of its back, after a fashion peculiar to itself, “ were quite bare of scales, and those along the sides were small and inconspicuous. These peculiarities seemed the more striking as the other darters are scaly, and, along the middle line of the belly especially, they are often covered with hard plates, an ar- rangement obviously adapted to their “ crawl-a-bottom ” habits. After much searching through the scattered and unsatisfac- tory descriptions which eastern naturalists have given us of the darters found in their bottles of alcohol, we decided that our little friend was the “pellucid darter,” or better, the “ sand darter ” (Pleurolepis pellucidus? Agassiz), for reasons soon to be given. 1 American Naturalist, June, 1876. Page 33 2 As this species is quite imperfectly ume te naturalists, we here ngoli its synonymy and a description taken from the average of numerous specimen “ Etheostoma pellucidum Baird MSS., ben Pleurolepis pellucidus Agassiz in Putnam’s Bulletin Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 1863, 5. Cope, Cyprinidæ of Penn., Supplement, 1866, 401. Le Vaillant, Recherches sur les Poissons, ete., 1874 Jorden; Indiana Geol. Survey, 1874, 214. Manual Verte- brates, 1876, 221. Jordan and Copeland, Check-List, Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Hist., 1876, 135. Nelson, Bull. Ills. Mus. of Nat. Hist., Dec., 1876, p. 35. Jordan and Gilbert, Fishes of Indiana, Indiana Farmer for Jan. 17, 1877. 1877. ] The Sand Darter. 87 Our. aquarium had been arranged for the convenience of,our old etheostomoid friends, and the bottom was thickly covered with stones, among which a small fish might easily hide. Several days passed after the introduction of the first Plewrolepis that sur- vived the change of water, when it was noticed that it had dis- appeared. Careful search among the stones and around the geode only made it the more certain that it had gone, and in- creased our wonder as to the way, for surely it had not been eaten, nor had it jumped out, unless like Ariel it could assume a “ shape invisible.” Finally, after retracing every inch of the ground, there was discovered under the nose of Boleosoma, which was standing as usual on its hands and tail, the upper edge of a caudal fin, and on each side of Boly’s tail appeared a little black eye set in a yellow frame. Pleurolepis was buried! Was he dead? Slowly one eye was closed in a darter’s inimitable way, for they can outwink all animals in creation except owls, and the touch of a finger on its tail showed that it had lost none of its activity. It was quite improbable that it had been accident- ally buried so completely, a small spot, therefore, was cleared of stones, leaving the hard white sand exposed, and we awaited developments. There for days we watched it closely, only to learn that it could bury itself with great celerity, for it was never caught in e act. Our patience was at last rewarded, however, for as we came out to breakfast one morning it put its nose, that we now Generic Characters. Body nearly cylindrical, very slender, the depth being con- tained six to eight times in the length of the body, to base of the caudal; the breadth of the body about the same as the depth; head long, pointed, the upper jaw longest ; lateral line very distinct, complete; scales thin, small, punctate, especially above, with fine black dots, far apart and deeply imbedded, obscure on the back, but = ally present; wanting on the belly, readily evident only along the lateral line and on the opercles ; fins rather low (as compared with other darters), the dorsal fins well separated ; anal spines two ; intermaxillaries projectile, the skin of the upper lip not continuous with that of the forehead ; teeth minute, on jaws and vomer ; mouth com- paratively wide, much as in Etheostoma ; branchiostegals six, their membrane broadly connected across isthmus. Specific Characters. Head four to four and half in length of body, without caudal ; eye large, rather high up, its diameter a trifle less than length of snout, form ng about one fourth of the length of the head; iris gilt. Body pinkish-white, or faintly olivaceous, perfectly pellucid in life; a series of small squarish olive blotches, lustrous Steel blue in life, along the back and another on each side, these connected by a gilt line. Fin rays: D. x. 9; A. ii. 8; first dorsal longer and lower than second, which 18 smaller than the anal fin. Length two to three inches. ; 3 Habitat. Ohio Valley, Youghiogheny R. (Cope), Eastern Ohio (Dr. Kirtland’s Coll.), White R., Ind. (Jordan and Copeland), frequenting sandy bottoms of clear Streams, Pcecilichthys vitreus, Cope (Proc. Am. Phil. Soc., 1870, p. 263), probably belongs to this genus, 88 The Sand Darter. [ February, know has a tip nearly as hard as horn, against the bottom, stood nearly straight on its head, and with a swift beating of its tail to the right and left was in less than five seconds completely buried. The sand had been violently stirred, of course, and just as it had nearly settled, probably in less than half a minute, its nose was pushed quietly out and, settling back, left the twinkling eyes and narrow forehead alone visible. $ Since then we have kept scores of them in an aquarium ar- ranged especially for their convenience, and have often seen them burrow into the sand. They will remain buried as long as the water is pure and cool, and indeed we now rely nearly altogether upon them to warn us when the water needs changing. They then come out and lie on the bottom, panting violently. We have been unable to discover any immediate incentive for the act. It seems to be entirely unpremeditated. A number of them in confinement lie helplessly on the bottom, motionless and slowly breathing, when one suddenly starts and buries its head and neck in the now whirling sand by a motion as quick as thought, a headless tail beats frantically about, and when the clean sand lies smoothly on the bottom again the little eyes are looking at you like two glistening beads, as if to witness your applause at so clever a trick.} We never have seen a Pleurolepis taste of food, nor do we expect to, for although its mouth bristles with teeth its small size forbids an attack on any game which we can offer. Its quiescent habits, and the character of the bottoms to which it confines itself, seem to indicate that its prey is minute if not microscopic. But speculation about what we don’t know as to its food might lead us to speculation as to the mode of evolution of its characteristic features; how, for instance, the hard snout and the burrowing habits are consequent upon the loss of scales, or how the loss of unnecessary scales are consequent on its bur- rowing habits, matters not within the defined scope of this article. Specimens of this species may be readily obtained in regions where it occurs. We have taken at one drawing of a fine-meshed minnow net, no less than twenty-four individuals over a sand- bar in White River, above Indianapolis, where the usual depth of the water is about two feet. 1 Since this article was written, a small Boleosoma (B. brevipinne no in Pro- fessor Copeland’s aquarium has been noticed to bury himself in the sa as persist- ently as the Pleurolepis does, and in similar fashion, In no other earal of this species, and in no other species excepting the “ Sand Darter,” have we noticed this habit, although during the last two years we have had hundreds of individuals under examination, — D. S. J. 1877.] Plants in New Hampshire and Vermont. 89 OBSERVATIONS UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE AND VERMONT! BY WILLIAM F. FLINT. ea one who has botanized must have observed that many of the species common in one part of the country are else- where replaced by different ones. We are often surprised to learn that our neighboring botanists find species with which we are most familiar to be only local or altogether wanting in their vicinity. I have been able to learn of but few attempts to find out the manner in which our New England flora is distributed, or to ascertain the causes which have placed our plants as we find them now. I do not claim to point out many of the latter, but hope that a few facts as to the manner in which some of the plants in the Connecticut Valley, and elsewhere in New Hampshire and Ver- mont, are found to be distributed, may not prove wholly uninter- esting. I shall not attempt to classify them in the same order as we find them arranged in the manuals, but present them, as nearly as possible, as they would be seen to occur by an observer in journeying from the sources of the rivers toward the sea. The most important, probably, of the causes which limit the range of different genera and species of plants is that of altitude, or the height of the land above the sea-level, as this serves to produce the same differences in the temperature over a small ex- tent of country, which change in latitude does over a larger one. The flora of Northern New England presents two well-marked divisions, depending mainly upon the different temperature caused by this difference in elevation, which have been termed the Alleghanian and the Canadian. The former is represented by forests composed of chestnut, oak, pitch and red pine, and the latter where spruce, fir, arbor vite, and beech predominate. It is not possible to draw a definite line for the meeting of these two floral districts, because differences of soil and the power which plants have of adapting themselves in some degree to climatic changes bring about a meeting ground of varying © width between them. Were one at the sources of the Connecticut, he could not fail to remark the very different appearance of the flora from that of h 1 A paper read before the meeting of the Connecticut Valley Botanical Society, teld at Hanover, N. H., June 6, 1876. - 90 Plants in New Hampshire and Vermont. [February, Massachusetts. Here, black spruce (Abies nigra), white spruce (A. alba), and arbor vite (Thuja oécidentalis), take the place of the oaks, hickories, and pitch pines of this river further south. These, together with the beech (Fagus ferruginea), sugar-maple (Acer saccharinum), the canoe and yellow birch (Betula papy- racea and B. lutea), constitute the greater part of the forest and present a good type of the Canadian wilderness. Here, also, Labrador tea (Ledum latifolium) and the Canada blue-berry are the representatives of the multitude of ericaceous shrubs found further south. ~The high cranberry tree ( Vibur- num Opulus) may be found throughout the valley, but in this region it finds its proper home, occurring in abundance along the streams. With it is the hoary willow (Salix candida), which, as it is common throughout Northern New Hampshire and Vermont, and extends into Maine, may be considered as a strictly Canadian species. Two or three species of Glyceria, blue-joint grass ( Calama- grostis Canadensis), timothy (Phleum pratense), and redtop (Agrostis vulgaris), represent the greater part of the grass family (Graminee) belonging to this region. The ponds and slow streams are more likely to contain the variety pumilum of the yellow water-lily (Nuphar advena) than the typical form. Going southward, we find that the white spruce (Abies alba) disappears from the New Hampshire side of the river at North Stratford ; but, singularly enough, it is still found along the Ver- mont side as far as to the mouth of the Passumpsie River. At Dalton, N. H., near the head of Fifteen Miles Falls, the . hoary willow (Salix candida) disappears. The purple meadow- rue, which seems to have a truly Canadian habitat, continues common throughout the length of this long rapid, and is last seen at the Nine Islands near the mouth of the Passumpsic. The Canadian character of the flora predominates nearly to the foot of these falls, or to within six hundred feet of the sea-level. Here are to be found maiden-hair (Adiantum pedatum), Orchis spectablis, sweet-fern ( Comptonia asplenifolia), frost grape ( Vitis cordifolia), and sheep-laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), forming the first group of strictly Alleghanian species. As these plants are found in other parts of New Hampshire to have this altitude above the sea at their northern limit, the con- tour line of six hundred feet can be taken for our purpose, as the dividing line between the two districts. But there is no disappearance of Canadian species until we 1877. ] Plants in New Hampshire and Vermont. 91 reach the mouth of the Lower Ammonoosuc and Wells rivers. There the Labrador tea (Ledum latifolium) is altogether want- ing, and the arbor vitæ and high cranberry tree become much less numerous. The forests which cover the high terraces at the mouth of these rivers are composed of pitch and red pines (Pinus rigida and P. resinosa) and white oaks ( Quercus alba). Mountain rice grasses ( Oryzopsis Canadensis and O. asperi- folia) first appear in these woods, which would indicate that they as well as the trees are Alleghanian. A few miles south of this, at Haverhill, N. H., hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) and bitter hickory ( Carya amara) are added, and below this point the Alle- ghanian type of vegetation predominates in the immediate vicin- ity of the river. Arbor vite and the mountain alder (Alnus viridis) are the only Canadian species present, and these find their southern limit at the White River Narrows between Hano- ver and White River Junction. Azalea nudiflora is the most noticeable addition before reach- ing North Charlestown, where we abruptly meet with a group of trees common throughout the valley in Massachusetts. These are chestnut ( Castanea vesca), yellow oak (Quercus coccinea, var. tinctoria), shell-bark hickory ( Carya alba), button-wood (Plata- nus occidentalis), and, growing in their shade, the huckleberry (Gaylussacia resinosa) and the rattlesnake weed (Hieracium venosum). Bellows Falls, Vt., seems to be the next place for the appear- ance of another group, apparently marking the northern limit of dwarf sumac (Rhus copallina), shrub oak ( Quercus ilicifolia), summer grape (Vitis estivalis), liberty tea (Ceanothus Ameri- canus), eranesbill (Geranium maculatum), Aster levis, Solidago gigantea, Bidens chrysanthemoides, Cassia Marilandica, butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), spice bush (Lindera Benzoin), fox- tail grass (Aleopecurus pratensis and A. geniculatus), Calyste- gia spithamea, and Vaccinium vacillans ; quite an array of species which seem to have found these falls an effectual barrier to their march northward. Along the valley between Bellows Falls and Brattleboro are the high blue-berry ( Vaccinium corymbosum) and Andromeda ligustrina, but it is not quite certain whether or not they should belong with this group. : __The cotton-wood (Populus monilifera) first appears on an island in the river near the north line of Westmoreland, N. H., 92 Plants in New Hampshire and Vermont. [February, and is seen very commonly in the immediate vicinity of the river as far south, at least, as the Massachusetts line. Spoon-wood (Kalmia latifolia) and gray birch (Betula alba, var. populifolia) find their northern limit in this town at a point opposite Dum- merston, Vt. South of Brattleboro, deer grass (Rhexia Virgin- ica), false fox-glove (Gerardia flava) and at the mouth of the Ashuelot River in Hinsdale, N. H., Cornus paniculata and Alnus serrulata, are the principal additions before reaching Massachu- setts. Beside these there are others, and they would probably make up a much larger list, which are probably never found at these northern limits growing at an altitude much above that of six — hundred feet above the sea, but for which I have not been able to gather sufficient data to warrant making the same approxima- tion. I will mention the northern limit at which I have observed a few of them: moon-seed (Menispermum Canadense), ground- nut (Apios tuberosa), near Windsor, Vt.; Desmodium Canadense and Betula lenta at South Charlestown, N. H.; Prunus pumila, islands of the river near Quechee Falls in Plainfield, N. H.; Aster undulatus and water-plantain (Alisma Plantago) at Hanover ; Viola sagittata and river beech ( Carpinus Americana) at Ha- verhill, N. H. Calystegia sepium and Virginia creeper ( Ampe- lopsis quinquefolia) occur as far north as Lancaster, N. H., but are probably Alleghanian species which have been hardy enough to extend thus far northwards in spite of the increased severity of the climate. 5 The coltsfoot (Tussilago Farfara), if an introduced plant, must have entered the Connecticut Valley by the way of Canada, and seems to find the soil and climate north of Dalton best adapted for its growth, being abundant on the high clay banks of the river and along the mountain tributaries, but occurring much more rarely below the altitude of six hundred feet. The distribution of the different species of grapes belonging to - this valley is somewhat interesting. Vitis cordifolia is the hard- iest, extending as far north as the foot of Fifteen Miles Falls. The summer grape (Vitis estivalis) has not established itself north of Bellows Falls. I have been unable to find that the fox- grape (Vitis Labrusca) is indigenous anywhere in this valley, north of Massachusetts; but it is common along Miller’s River and its tributaries in that State, which would indicate that the northern point for this species is near its mouth. - 1877.] Plants in New Hampshire and Vermont. 98 A few species seem to have found the valley of the Ashuelot River better suited to their growth than the main river valley north of its mouth. We find the flowering dogwood ( Cornus florida) at Hinsdale ; Sagina procumbens, Cyperus filiculmis, and C. strigosus, common along the plains of Keene and Swansey ; and in the swamps, Symplocarpus fetidus, which attains a greater range than the others, having established itself in the bogs around the base of Monadnock. In the Merrimack Valley andthat part of New Hampshire east of it, Canadian plants are fewer in numbers, both of species and individuals, than in the same latitude of the Connecticut Val- ley. Also, owing probably to the greater distance from the high lands, and to being much nearer the ocean, we find many Alleghanian species which do not extend in the Connecticut Val- ley farther north than Central Massachusetts. It is somewhat surprising to any one familiar with that part of New Hampshire occupied by the Connecticut and its tributa- ries, to find the district belonging to the Merrimack the richest floral region in the State, and this, too, notwithstanding that the soil is not nearly so fertile. But it only proves that the warmer temperature of Eastern New Hampshire is more than enough to compensate for any decrease in the number of species that might be brought about by a less fertile soil. We here find that the species traced throughout the former region do not seem to arrange themselves in groups with wide intervals between them, nor do their limits always appear in the same order, In the Pemigewasset valley the frost grape first appears near the mouth of the East Branch, but nothing is seen of sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia) and sweet-fern (Comptonia asplenifolia) until near Plymouth, twenty miles further south. Arbor vite (Thuja occidentalis) stops near the south line of Thornton, but its companion, Alnus viridis, continues somewhat common to where the junction of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee riv- ers forms the Merrimack. A short distance south of the mouth of the East Branch, near the south line of Campton, Pinus rigida, P. resinosa, and gray bireh (Betula alba, var. populifolia), make their appearance, and the white oak ( Quercus alba) before reaching Plymouth, but the chestnut is wholly wanting north of the mouth of Smith’s River, a short distance below Bristol. Rhus copallina is abundant at Livermore's Falls, just north of Plymouth. Vaccinium vacillans 94 Plants in New Hampshire and Vermont. [February, and Quercus ilicifolia have their northern limit at Boscawen, shell-bark hickory and huckleberry at the mouth of Winni- pesaukee River, while buttonwood (Platanus occidentalis) is found along the banks of the Pemigewasset, nearly to Plymouth. Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) extends north to Concord, and Asclepias tuberosa to Thornton’s Ferry. From Concord to Nashua, we find near the river the following species, which appear to be ‘wanting in that part of the Connecti- cut Valley belonging to New Hampshire. Commencing at Con- cord we find red ash (Fraxinus pubescens), Clethra alnifolia; Scirpus sylvatica, and S. microcarpa. The sand hills at Hook- sett are sprinkled with bird’s-foot violet ( Viola pedata). The plains opposite Amoskeag Falls support a dwarf oak ( Quercus prinus, var. humilis), which continues to be abundant, forming along with Quercus ilicifolia the shrub-oak thickets so common to these sand plains. Here, also, the bear-berry (Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi), generally supposed to be a highland species, occurs in greater abundance than elsewhere in the State. Some of the swamps in this vicinity are filled with Cupressus thyoides, the white cedar of all the coast towns of Massachusetts. Another tree common to the borders of these cedar swamps in the same localities, the swamp white oak ( Quercus bicolor), ap- pears at the mouth of the Souhegan River, and Salix tristis is the common willow of the dry plains in this vicinity. Near Nashua we have Aster patens, blazing star (Liatris scariosa), sea sand- reed ( Calamagrostis arenaria), prickly ash (Zanthoxylum Amer- tcanum), and in the adjoining town of Hudson the climbing fern (Lygodium palmatum). Struthiopteris Germanica, the ostrich fern, seems to be properly a Canadian species, not occurring south of Concord in this valley. ) We find the water-shed between the Merrimack and Connecti- cut to have a predominant Canadian flora as far south as the lat- itude of Bellows Falls. Below this point the Alleghanian plants have found the temperature such as to allow them to attain to higher elevations, and to mingle with the northern types, and the strictly Canadian forest is limited to the cold swamps and summits of the highest hills. From the data which I have been able to collect concerning Vermont, it appears that the greater portion of the State is occu- pied by the Canadian flora, and that the area occupied by white and black spruce and arbor vite is considerably greater than that occupied by the same trees in New Hampshire ; the Alleghanian 1877.] The Suessonian Fauna in North America. 95 area, aside from that of the Connecticut Valley, being included in a narrow belt extending the entire length of the State west of the Green Mountains. Throughout its extent white oak, bitter hickory, pitch and red pine, sweet-fern and frost grape are com- mon, mingling at the northern end of Lake Champlain with the Canadian arbor vitæ and white spruce. The chestnut, button- wood and mountain laurel probably do not exist much north of Burlington. . The following species which are to be met with in New York and further westward do not appear to be found east of the Connecticut Valley, and most of them are confined to the imme- diate vicinity of the river: Carya amara, Celtis occidentalis, Populus monilifera, Salix longifolia, and Salix livida, var. occi- dentalis ; the last one of these having the widest distribution being found throughout the entire valley, but apparently not passing over the water-shed into the Merrimack district. The hairy-leaved white violet ( Viola renifolia, Gray ; n. sp.) is to be met with between the mouth of the Passumpsic and Plainfield, N H. The following may be called rare, having but a single locality for each: Lobelia Kalmii, ledges at the foot of Fifteen Miles Falls ; Cypripedium pubescens, at Hanover ; Arabis Drummondii, on an island in the river just south of White River Junction ; m Astragalus Robbinsii, rocks at Quechee Falls, Plainfield, THE SUESSONIAN FAUNA IN NORTH AMERICA. BY PROF. E. D. COPE. r a paper read before the National Academy of Sciences at the spring session of 1876 in Washington, the writer announced the identification of the Wahsatch Eocene formation of New Mexico with the Suessonian or Lower Eocene of France and England. The beds, which were explored while connected with the United States Geographical and Geological Survey, west of the one hundredth meridian, in charge of Lieut. G. M. Wheeler, in 1874, were found to contain the remains of a fauna, almost identical with that of the European beds in question. This was thought to be an important accession to American geology, as furnishing a basis for an estimation of the relative ages of the ormations immediately above and below the Wahsateh horizon. The parallelism of the fauna includes the genera of reptiles, birds, 96 The Suessonian Fauna of North America. [ February, and mammals, and among the latter, of the types both of carniy- orous and of hoofed quadrupeds. Gar-fishes (Lepidosteus) ap- pear in both countries, and the predominant mammalian genera of both are Coryphodon and Hyracotherium. Gigantic birds in- habited the land; in New Mexico they belonged to the genus Diatryma, and in France to Gastornis. The New Mexican ge- nus Anbloctonus represents the carnivorous Paleonyctis gigantea of the lignites of Soissongs. The only marked difference be- . tween the faunas which the then state of discovery disclosed is the existence of the order Tæniodonta in New Mexico, a type presenting characters of the Ldentata, Rodentia, and Creodonta, which had not yet been found elsewhere.! The characters of the mammalian fauna are very peculiar, displaying inferiority in many respects. Thus, among the flesh- eaters the brain of the Oxycena is of reduced size, the hemi- spheres being especially small, while the olfactory lobes are very ` large and uncovered; and other Creodont genera present the same character. According to Gervais the genus Arctocyon, from the Suessonian, presents the same type of brain. The hoofed type, Coryphodon, shows a similar inferiority in the con- stitution of the brain. So far as these observations have gone, they coincide with those made eight years ago by Professor Edouard Lartet of Paris. He states? that it is the result of a number of investigations undertaken in different horizons of the Tertiary strata, that the more we follow Mammalia into the antiquity of geological time, the greater is the reduction of the volume of the brain in com- parison with the size of the head and the total dimensions of the body. Cuvier observed the form of the brain of the Anoplothe- rium in a cast of marl which was consolidated within the cavity of a skull of this animal, found in the gypsum of Montmartre. He says ê “it has little volume, and is flattened horizontally ; the hemispheres do not present convolutions, but we find only a shallow longitudinal impression on each. All the laws of anal- ogy authorize us to conclude that our animal was greatly defi- cient in intelligence.” In fact the skull of the Anoplotherium is six times as long as the cast of its cerebral hemispheres, and this animal, which in dimensions Cuvier compared to a medium-sized ass, had a brain smaller than that of the existing roebuck. 1 See American Naturalist, 1876, p. 379. 2 Comptes rendus, June, 1868 3 Ossements fossiles, iii., p. 44. 1877. The Suessonian Fauna of North America. 97 « I owe to the kindness of Professor Noulet, of Toulouse, the possession of a fossil cranium in which I have found the cast of a brain still more ancient than that of the Anoplotherium of Montmartre, since the fragment comes from the Eocene of the Lophiodon of Issel. In the brain of this animal (which I call provisionally Brachyodon eocenus, on account of the slight eleva- tion of the crowns of the molar teeth), there are no longer any conyolutions, but only certain folds irregularly graduated ; the olfactory lobes are much prolonged in front, and the cerebellum ‘is entirely separated from the hemispheres. This brain is smaller in all respects, and less complicated in its structure than that of the Cenotherium described by Gratiolet ; but it must not be forgotten that the latter animal is from a formation much more recent, that is, the inferior Miocene of Allier. ; “ In proportion as we approach the present period, the differ- ences between the fossil brains and those of living species be- come less marked, as has also been observed with reference to the elevation of the crowns of the molars. Thus the deer and the antelopes of the Middle Miocene of Sansan present many convolutions, while the cerebellum remains moderately un- covered, and the olfactory lobes are very prominent. In the su- perior Miocene of Pikermi the brain of the Hippotherium ( Hip- parion) shows itself a little less rich in convolutions than that of the existing horse; and in a fragment of a skull of a monkey from the same locality, which I have been permitted to examine in the museum, the cerebellum is less completely covered by the hemispheres, and the median vermis is more prominent than in the living Semnopitheci of the types most nearly related to those of Pikermi. But in order to show more clearly this dispropor- tion of the fossil brains in relation to those of living Mammalia, it is necessary that comparison should be made between species of the same family, or, better still, of the same genus. It has been possible for me to verify this point by the comparison of two carnivorous animals, the living Viverra genetta, and the ex- tinet V. antiqua of De Blainville, from the inferior Miocene of Al- lier. From this it appears, that with a cranium one third longer and one fourth wider than the living V. genetta, the fossil V. an- tiqua has not a larger brain, and that this brain, more attenuated In its frontal convolutions, does not extend so far forwards. Ac- cording to Gratiolet a great development of the olfactory lobes 18 a character of an inferior type. In fact the more we ascend ‘nto palzontological antiquity the more we find that the olfactory VOL. XI. — No, 2. 7 98 The Suessonian Fauna of North America. © [February, lobes display a great development in comparison with the cere- bral hemispheres.” : The Wahsatch horizon is lower than the oldest above referred to by Professor Lartet, and it is interesting to observe how his generalization with reference to the characters of the mammalian brain is confirmed. The Ozyena forcipata approaches more nearly to the viverrine type than to any other form of the Car- nivora, although separated by a wide interval. I have been able to obtain a cast of the superior and anterior portions of its cranial chamber, from which it appears that the brain possessed characters of a much lower type than that observed in the V. an- tiqua. The olfactory lobes are enormously developed, rising higher than the hemispheres, from which they are not only en- tirely free, but are separated by a constriction of their basal por- tions. The hemispheres are not wider at the middle than the ol- factory lobes, and have therefore elongated proportions. Their superior portion is without conyvolutions. Although not a mår- supial, the general form in Ozxyena is more like that of the opos- sum than that of any other living animal, but is still lower in character. Its inferiority is especially seen in its small size. The mandibular ramus of the O. forcipata is about the size of that of the jaguar, but the brain, even with its large olfactory lobes, is only about two thirds as long, and one third as wide. The ankle-joint presents a great simplicity of structure in most of the Wahsatch mammals, both flesh-eaters and hoofed types. The astragalus is nearly flat, and not like a segment of a pulley as in most existing Mammalia, and it therefore permitted but little flexure of the foot on the leg. The only exception to this rule is found in the species of Hyracotherium and allies of the order Perissodactyla, which number ten species out of a total of fifty-four. As regards the elbow-joint a similar peculiarity was discovered to exist. In the majority of existing mammals, a ridge or bead divides the two facets of the humerus, which receive the ulna and radius respectively ; it is called the intertrochlear ridge. In the ox and horse this ridge is very near the external border of the humerus. In the mammals of the Wahsatch beds this ridge was found to be wanting, excepting in the ten species of Peris- sodactyla above mentioned. In respect to the teeth, no species presenting the selenodont or double-crescent bearing type had been found. Of the simpler types, where tubercles are united into crests, twelve species out - 1877. ] The Suessonian Fauna of North America. 99 of fifty-four had been discovered. The teeth of the remaining forty-two species are bunodont or tubercular only, and in most cases simple forms of that type. Another marked feature of the Suessonian or Wahsatch Mam- malia is the possession by the greater number of them of five toes on both of the feet. The only probable exceptions to this rule are the ten species of Perissodactyla already mentioned, and perhaps a very few others. The genera of later and the present periods with three toes on all the feet, with two functional toes, and one toe, are wanting in this fauna. It was also asserted that nearly. all of the species were planti- grade in their mode of progression, that is, that the soles of the fore and hinder feet were applied to the ground, instead of being obliquely elevated behind, the heel thus appearing to form an an- gle of the leg, as in most living mammals. It is well known that among recent quadrupeds the Quadrumana, Plantigrade Carniv- ora, Proboscidia, and some Rodentia and Edentata, are planti- grade, while the others are digitigrade. The only species of the Wahsatch fauna possibly digitigrade are the species of Perisso- dactyla, already mentioned, although it was stated that the struc- ture in a few of the other genera is yet unknown. The agreement of clawed and hoofed (unguiculate and ungu- late) mammals of this period in the general imperfection of the structure of the brain, of the ankle and elbow-joints, and in the position and number of the toes, was dwelt on as an important fact. It did not however warrant the separation of all the Mam- malia of the Suessonian as a distinct order, on account of the ex- ceptions pointed out. The clawed types presenting these char- acters have been since! defined as an order, under the name of Bunotheria, which it was believed might embrace also the exist- ing Insectivora as a suborder. The ungulates of like character have already been erected into a distinct order, the Amblypoda, which includes two suborders, the Pantodonta and Dinocerata. The only mammalian orders of that period still existing are then the Perissodactyla and Rodentia. Proceedings Academy, Philadelphia, 1876, page 88 100 On the Vitality of certain Land Mollusks. [ February, ON THE VITALITY OF CERTAIN LAND MOLLUSKS. BY ROBERT E. C. STEARNS. At a meeting of the California Academy of Sciences I submit- ted for the inspection of the members a living specimen of Bulimus pallidior Sby., one of nine given to me by Professor George Davidson, who collected them at San José del Cabo, Lower California, in March, 1873. These snails were kept in a box undisturbed until June 23, 1875, when I took them out and, after examination, placed them in a glass jar with some chick-weed and other tender vegetable food and a small quantity of tepid water, so as to make a warm humid atmosphere. This hospitable treatment induced them to “ wake up” and move about after their long fast and sleep of two years, two months, and sixteen days. Subsequently all died but the one exhibited, which seems to be in pretty good health, though not very active. It may be remembered that I gave at a meeting of the Acad- emy in March, 1867, an instance, even more remarkable, of vital- ity in a snail (Helix Veatchii) from Cerros Island, the latter- having lived without food from 1859, the year when it was col- lected, to March, 1865, a period of six years. The famous specimen in the British Museum, which is cited in the books, Helix desertorum, had lived within a few days of four years, fastened to a tablet in one of the cases, when discovered to be alive. Helix desertorum, as the specific name implies, is found in arid and sterile areas in the continents of Africa and Asia, and has, as will be perceived, a wide distribution. From the former continent, I have specimens from Egypt, and it also ranges through Arabia in the latter. The Bulimus from the mainland of the peninsula of Lower California, and Helix Veatehit from Cerros or Cedros Island, off the coast on the ocean side of the same, come from within the same physical environment, being only a comparatively limited distance apart. The Helix belongs to an interesting and peculiar group, probably varieties of one species, which includes, at present, the following names: (1) Helix areolata Sby., (2) H. Veatchii Newe., (3) H. pandore — Fbs., and (4) H. levis Pfr. Other forms geographically ap- proximate may hereafter on further investigation be referred to the same lineage. Of the above (1) H. areolata was the first described, or I should say that this appears by the date to be — the first name bestowed upon any member of the group. This 1877.] On the Vitality of certain Land Mollusks. 101 species has been quoted from Oregon, and (4) H. levis from the Columbia River, in both cases erroneously. The figures in Land and Fresh Water Shells of North America,! page 177, are too elevated and globose for the typical areolata, but the larger fig- ures faithfully represent H. Veatchit. Elevation and rotundity are insular characteristics in this group, and areolata is somewhat depressed. It is found in comparative abundance on the uplands around Magdalena Bay, which is on the outer or ocean shore of the peninsula, in latitude about 24° 40! N. Bulimus pallidior, which is pretty generally distributed through Lower California, from Cape St. Lucas northerly, has also errone- ously been credited to San Diego in California proper. It is arboreal in its habits, at least during the winter season, being found on copaiva trees. It has been said to inhabit South America, which is probably incorrect, and the locality “ San Juan ” mentioned in Land and Fresh Water Shells, on page 195, where a good figure of this species may be seen, should be San Juanico, which is on the east or gulf side of the peninsula, in latitude about 27° N. The great importance of accuracy in habitat will be at once perceived when I state that there are no less than three other lo- ealities on the west coast of America, north of the place cited, all of which are referred to in various scientific works, which have come under my observation as San Juan, and there are per- haps as many more San Juans, south of that especially quoted herein, on the westerly coast of America, in the Central and South American States. Attention is directed to the fact that the three species here mentioned as exhibiting extraordinary vitality belong to geographical areas which receive only a mini- mum rainfall, or which are, in simple language, nearly rainless regions. ; Within such areas vegetation is exceedingly limited even in favorable seasons, and the presence and growth of the annual plants is of course dependent upon the rainfall ; this last occurring infrequently makes the food supply of land mollusks and other phytophagous or vegetable-eating animals exceedingly precari- ous, ; ; It is highly probable that a careful investigation in this direc- tion will lead us to the conclusion that the land mollusks which inhabit these arid areas have, through selection, adaptation, and evolution, become especially fitted for the contingencies of their 1 Smithsonian Misc, Coll., No. 194. 102 Barnacles. [ February, habitat, and possess a greater degree of vitality or ability to live without food than related forms in what may be considered more favorable regions, and through and by reason of their long sleep or hibernation (more properly exstivation), with its inactivity and consequent immunity from any waste or exhaustion of vital strength, are enabled to maintain their hold upon life when ani- mals more highly organized would inevitably perish ; and we are furnished with an illustration in the instances cited, how nature works compensatively, when we institute a comparison with the opposite condition of activity, and the food required to sustain it. BARNACLES. BY J. S. KINGSLEY. UAINT old Gerarde in his Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes, says, on page 1391, “ We are arrived to the end of our historie, thinking it not impertinent to the conclusion of the same, to end with one of the marvels of this land (we may say of the world)..... There are founde in the north parts of Scotland, and the islands adjacent, called Orchades, certaine trees whereon doe growe certaine shell fishes, of a white colour, tending to russet, wherein are contained little living creatures ; which shels, in time of maturitie, doe open, and out of them growe those little living things which falling into the water doe become fowles, whom we call Barnakles, in the North of En- gland Brant Geese, and in Lancashire Tree Geese : but the other that doe fall upon the land perish and come to nothing.” He then goes on to describe in detail the various transformations by which the barnacle is changed into a goose, saying, “ But what our eies have seene and hands have touched, we shall declare.” He tells us that when the bird is formed in the shell, the latter gapes, the legs hang out, the bird grows larger, until at length it hangs only by the bill and soon after drops into the water, “ where it gathereth feathers and groweth to a fowle bigger than a mallard and lesser than a goose.” A quotation in Walton’s Complete Angler repeats the same curious notion : — “ So slow Bodtes underneath him sees In th’ icy islands goslings hatched of trees, Whose fruitful leaves falling into water Are turned tis known to living fowls soon after. 1877.] Barnacles. 103 So rotten planks of broken ships do change To Barnacles. O transformation strange ! *T was first a green tree, then a broken hull Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull.” The transformations described by the above authors are, it is needless to say, founded wholly upon fancy, but the metamor- phoses observed in a study of the life-history of a barnacle are scarcely less wonderful than those so minutely related by the old botanist. The old idea is still perpetuated in the names of two animals: that of the “ Barnacle Goose” (Bernicla), and in the specific name of one species of barnacle, the Lepas anseri- fera of Linnzeus. Barnacles were at first classed among the Mollusca, on ac- count of their calcareous valves, as were at a later date the Brachiopoda ; but in 1828-29 John Thompson proved, by studies of their embryology, that they had absolutely no molluscan affin- ities, but that they were Crustacea. Later investigations of their anatomy have confirmed this and they are now aecorded a place among the lowest Crustacea, the Rhizocephala only being below them. They form the sub-class Cirripedia, and are divided into two orders : the first is the pedunculated Cirripedia, in which there is a capitulum, generally formed of caleareous valves, varying in number, and united by membranes, and a tough leathery stalk, the peduncle, by which they are attached ; in the other order, the sessile Cirripedia, the capitulum has four or more of its valves immovably united, and is directly attached without the inter- vention of a peduncle. In Figure 5 we give the anatomy of one of the peduncu- lated forms, Lepas fascicularis of Ellis and Solander. In this Species the capitulum is composed of five valves, two on each side, and one on the dorsal edge. The ventral margin is open and the two basal valves are connected by an adductor muscle (A, e), by which this opening can be closed. To dissect a specimen, it should be placed under water in a wax-bottomed pan and pinned down. In this manner the parts float out and the various organs are easily seen. The valves of one side are removed by cutting the adductor scutorum muscle and the membranes uniting them. This discloses a body with six pairs of long ciliated arms, the cirri (A, c), which represent the thoracic feet. Each cirrus con- sists of a basäf portion and two long jointed branches. They de- crease in length as we go forward (that is, toward the peduncle). In front of these cirri we find a protruding organ formed by the 104 Barnacles. [ February, mouth parts (A, m). These consist of an upper lip to which is attached a so-called palpus (B,1). Next follow the mandibles (B, 2). Then the two pairs of maxille (B, 3 and 4). The max- illipeds, which are found in the higher Crustacea, are wanting. At the base of the first cirrus arise processes, varying in number in different species, which are termed filamentary appendages (A, f). These have been supposed to be part of the respiratory apparatus, but that such is their sole function is at least doubtful. (Fra. 5.) ANATOMY OF LEPAS FASCICULARIS. Between the sixth pair of cirri are found two small processes consisting of one or more joints, called the caudal appendages, and representing the abdomen of the higher Crustacea. Beneath these arises a long slender organ, the male intromittent organ (A, p). On opening the body, starting from the mouth, we see first a slender tube, the esophagus, then comes the stomach (A, 8); which connects without any defined constriction with the intes- tine (A, 7), and terminates at the vent (A, a), between the caudal appendages. At the anterior part of the stomach are seen the hepatic openings (A, 4) which connect with the liver 1877.] Barnacles. 105 (A, 1). The circulatory system is very imperfect. There is a dorsal vessel (A, d) which I have succeeded in injecting; the blood flows between the muscles in broad currents and is not confined in closed vessels, Respiration is probably performed by the whole surface of the body. The barnacles are generally hermaphroditic. The testes (A, ¢) are found surrounding the alimentary canal and extending into the filiamentary append- ages and the bases of the cirri; they consist of branching tubes connecting with lobular ceca. The Vasa deferentia (A, v) are disposed one upon each side. They follow an undulating course and unite at the base of the penis (p) and proceed as a single tube to the end. The ovaries are found in the peduncle (A, 0) and present the same general appearance as do the testes. The nervous system is easily dissected by laying the specimen upon the dorsal surface (after removing all the valves) and cut- ting away in front of the esophagus. This will expose the supra-esophageal ganglia (C, s), which will be readily recog- nized, as they present the same shiny white appearance that al- ways characterizes nerves. From the commissure connecting these ganglia a single nerve arises and proceeds forward in the median line. The optic nerves originate on each side, have each an enlargement, the ophthalmic ganglion (C, 0) and unite in the rudimentary eye (C, e), which is imbedded in the membranes of the body. Exterior to these arise the nerves which supply the peduncle. From the posterior angles of the supra-cesophageal ganglia a nerve on each side (0, œ) passes backward around the cesophagus and unite in the infra-osophageal ganglion (C, n). From the anterior portion of this arise the nerves which go to the adductor-scutorum (C, a) muscle; on the sides the nerves which go to the first pair of cirri have their origin ; from the dorsal surface (the under surface as the specimen lies) are given off two nerves which are distributed among the viscera. The second, third, fourth, and fifth thoracic ganglia follow each other, are connected by commissures, and give rise to nerves supplying their respective cirri. The sixth ganglion is most invariably united to the fifth, and from it arise the nerves going to the sixth pair of cirri and the penis. In one specimen, however, I have found the fifth and sixth ganglia connected by distinct commissures. In the sessile Cirripedes the internal anatomy does not differ greatly from the form above described. They are best dissected by removing the animal through the base (the portion by which 106 Barnaceles. [ February, they are attached), breaking it down if it be calcareous. One curious feature of both orders remains to be noticed, namely, two glands in the peduncle which secrete a cement by which the ani- mals attach themselves. We have said above that the barnacles are generally hermaph- rodites. In the case, however, of the genera Jbla and Scalpel- lum, this is not strictly the case. In the species of these genera occur specimens of the normal her- maphroditic form, and also females in which the penis and testes are wanting; next we have curious male forms. Certain of these (complemental males they are called) are parasitic upon the herma- phrodites while others are attached to the female individuals. In both cases they live just within the — (y¢.6,) valves and are attached either to the valves or the IBLA, MALE membranes of the body. ‘These males are imper- ne fectly developed, in some cases without mouth or alimentary canal, in others there is a long and flexible peduncle, and in still others it is not differen- tiated ; the male genital organs "are developed, but with the penis short or wanting. (Fig- ure 6, male of Jbla Cumingtt, from Darwin). This great difference between the sexes has its analogues in the Ce- phalopoda, where the males of certain species were first de- scribed as parasitic worms, and in the Lernean Copepoda, which are closely allied to the Cirripedia. Recent investigators have shown that close fertilization is the exception, not the rule, among plants. and here seems to be a case in the animal Fa. /T.), SCALPELLUM REGIUM. (From W. , n.) i kingdom, where nature plainly a, Malos edged with the valves. shows her preference for cross- fertilization. In those genera which are strictly hermaphroditic, i 1877.] Barnacles. 107 the animals either occur in groups, as in the genus Balanus, or the intromittent organ is extremely long, as in Acasta, thus en- abling one individual to fertilize another. Anelasma squalicola always occurs in pairs in the skin of sharks. But in the two genera, Jóla and Scalpellum, the individuals are either solitary or, if in clus- ters, are so crowded and twisted that the aper- tures of the capitulum are distant from each iT wR MINR Pannen tr other. Pmt : . ere ean The case of a simple separation of the sexes — japon would not strike us as being peculiar; but an instance where a hermaphrodite, with fully developed testes, vasa deferentia, and intro- mittent organ, besides female organs, has with- in its shell from one to ten complemental males can, I think, be explained only on the ground of adaptation for cross-fertilization. The eggs pass from the ovaries and are borne (Fre. 8) MALE OF 8. for some time inside the capitulum. They un- eskaerea dergo a total segmentation of the yolk and hatch a Nauplius, a free swimming form with mouth, stomach, and intestine, a triangular carapace with two prominent frontal horns and a posterior spine, beneath which is seen the forked ab- domen. (Figure 9, Nauplius of Balanus balanoides? from a MS. drawing by Dr. Packard.) They have three pairs of swimming feet, the first simple, the posterior two biramose, and all three terminating in long bristles. They soon change to a pupa form (Fig- ure 10, pupa of Lepas australis; a, an tennæ ; c, cirri; m, mouth; from Dar- win), which has the triangular shield of the Nauplius folded together in a bivalve T a cso form; the six pairs of thoracic limbs are resent, and also the antennæ. After swimming about for a while the ani- mal attaches itself by its antennæ, as shown in the figure, and undergoes a metamorphosis by which the eye be- comes internal, the antennæ are con- cealed by the growth of the peduncle, the valves of the capitulum are formed, and, in a word, the animal attains its adult retrograde condition. 108 Recent Literature. [ February, Barnacles first appeared in the upper Silurian age. At the present day they are found in every sea, and the various species are widely distributed. Some are attached to piles and rocks ; Acasta is found in sponges, Lepas fascicularis forms of its cement a float by which it is supported, Coronula is found in the skin of whales; Anelasma squalicola, as its name indicates, inhabits the skin of sharks; Chelonobia is found on the backs of turtles in the tropical seas. There is an interesting specimen in the Museum of the Peabody Academy of Science at Salem, Mass., of Con- choderma aurita which had attached itself to a Lernean Crusta- cean (Penella), which in turn was parasitic upon the large sun- fish ( Orthagoriscus mola). The anatomy of the Cirripeds has been worked out by Bur- meister, St. Ange, and Darwin. The figure of the nervous system given by St. Ange is wonderfully imperfect. It has, however, been copied by Coldstream in Todd’s Cyclopzdia of Anatomy, in Owen’s Lectures on Invertebrate Anatomy, and Carus Icones Zoötomie. Their embryology has been studied by Thompson, Burmeister, Darwin, and Fritz Miiller, while a sys- tematic account of the subclass is given by Darwin in two volumes published by the Ray Society, to which the reader is referred for further particulars concerning this interesting group. RECENT LITERATURE. Tue ZoéLocy or WHEELERS Survey.' — Since the spring of 1871, Lieutenant Wheeler has been conducting an examination of the biology of the Western Territories, which his parties have traversed, in connection with his geographical and geological explorations. No connected re- ports upon the facts and material obtained by the survey have ever been published, however, and our knowledge of them has been limited, with one or two exceptions, to brief accounts of discoveries read to sci- entific societies. The publication of this splendid volume of zodlogical results is therefore an event in the history of this survey, — one which is calculated to increase its friends, —and a monument to the perseverance and skillful zeal of the field naturalists. The report contains over one thousand quarto pages, and is made in the name of Dr. H. C. Yarrow, who, until recently, was naturalist-in- charge of the survey; but he acknowledges assistance in the prepara- 1 Reports upon the Zoblogical Collections obtained from Portions of Nevada, Utah, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, during the Years 1871-74. Explora- tions and Surveys west of the One Hundredth Meridian. Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler in charge. Volume V. Washington. 1875. 4to, pp. 1020 1877.] Recent Literature. 109 tion of special features from a large corps of well-known scientific men. The opening paper treats of the geographical distribution of the animal life of the West, as shown by Lieutenant Wheeler’s explorations. ‘This is followed by the account of the mammals observed, written by Dr. Elliott Coues and Dr. Yarrow, which goes extensively into the synon- omy of the species mentioned, and gives copious notes upon habits, ete. Although the collections were large there were no novelties, and hence no plates accompany this paper. Chapter III., Ornithology, is by Mr. H. W. Henshaw, and is illustrated by fifteen plates of new species or varieties of birds. They are drawn by Robert Ridgway, and well drawn, ut the chromo-lithographic process of coloring has failed to give a worthy effect in several cases, and some of the plates look cheap. The text of the Ornithology is full of news, and great praise belongs to Mr. Henshaw for his active and careful observance of the manners and songs of the little-known birds of the Southwest. This is the most entertain- ing and the longest chapter in the volume. Dr. Yarrow himself writes the report upon the Batrachians and Reptiles, of which a large series of great value was secured, and unites with Prof. E. D. Cope in describing the fishes, which have been somewhat neglected by Western expeditions heretofore. Both of these papers are accompanied by many finely en- graved plates, partially colored; and both are preceded by-a discussion of general characteristics. The collections of Hymenoptera are reported upon by E. T. Cresson and Edward Norton; the Diurnal Lepidoptera, by Theodore L. Mead and W. H. Edwards ; new species of Zygenide and Bombycide, by Richard H. Stretch; the Diptera, by Baron Osten- Sacken ; the Coleoptera, by Henry Ulke; the Hemiptera, by Professor Uhler; the Orthoptera, by Professor Thomas; and the Neuroptera, by Dr. Hagen. Dr. Yarrow, with quite unnecessary apologies as to unfit- hess, presents the report upon the Mollusks, showing that even the more barren plains of New Mexico and Utah support many species of terres- trial and fluviatile mollusks, as well as the mountain meadows of the more Northern Territories ; and extending almost or quite across the con- tinent, the range of some of our common Eastern species. The final chapter is by Professor Verrill upon fresh-water leeches. This last half of the book, also, is adorned with a large number of plates finely drawn and exquisitely colored. Weismann’s Finat Causes or Transmutation.! — Perhaps the most remarkable biological work of the year is Prof. August Weismann’s treatise on the Final Causes of Transmutation, forming the second part of his Studies on the Theory of Descent. The first part of the work, entitled Seasonal Dimorphism, appeared in 1875. The present work is divided into four divisions, of which the first presents a striking array of _| Studien zur Descendenz-Theorie. LI. Ueber die letzten Ursachen der Transmuta- tonen. Von Prof. August Weismann. Mit fünf Farbendrucktafeln. Leipzig. 1876. &vo, pp. 336. 110 ; Recent Literature. [ February, facts on the origin of the markings of caterpillars. The author describes the nature and morphology of the markings of larvæ of the family Sphingidæ, their biological value and tribal development, concluding that the oldest Sphingid caterpillars were without markings ; that the oldest style of markings were longitudinal lines, the later ones oblique streaks, and the last to be developed, the spots. This part of the subject is illustrated by five colored plates. In the third section the transformation of the Mexican axolotl into an Amblystoma is discussed at considerable length, and with characteristic thoroughness. Professor Weismann believes that the Siredon or axolotl was originally derived from a land salamander (Amblystoma), but has reverted to an axolotl, or larval form, through the change of the climate of Mexico from a damp to an exceedingly dry one, obliging these animals, which as larve, lived in ponds, and as adults lived under fallen trees and stones or in damp places, to revert to the original larval Siredon form and remain perma- nently amphibious. In the fourth division, on the mechanical conception of nature, the author maintains that development is mechanical, and that we must reject the idea of a special life-force. Still he as strongly be- lieves in teleology, and maintains the thesis that evolutional views do not tend to materialism. GLOVER’S ILLUSTRATIONS or Insects.! — This isa large quarto vol- ume, containing ten excellent copper-plates illustrating the leading types of plant-bugs (Hemiptera not including the Homoptera), with 132 pages of text, a fac-simile of the author’s own handwriting, printed on pre- pared lithographic paper. The letterpress contains useful lists of preda- ceous or parasitic bugs (Heteroptera), of the vegetable or animal sub- stances destroyed by them, and of remedies against their attacks used or suggested by various writers. The value of the work is greatly in- creased by the aid of Mr. P. R. Uhler, “who has materially assisted in preparing the work by furnishing the specimens from which to figure, for advice and correcting the text, for the classification and valuable notes.” The edition consists of but fifty or sixty copies for private distribution, and is a storehouse of useful information for agriculturists, which we wish could be more widely published. Lovén’s Srupres on THE Ecurnorps.?— This elaborate memoir presents matter of special interest to the palaontologist as well as to the zoölogist and anatomist. Chiefly zodlogical in its character, the text and plates are mostly devoted to a discussion of the homologies of the shell of the sea-urchins, particularly those forms related to extinct gen- era of echinoids. Comparisons are also instituted with the classes of ‘anuscript Notes from my Journal, or Illustrations of Insects, Native and Foreign. Order Hemiptera, Suborder Heteroptera, or Plant-Bugs. By Townsend GLOVER. Washington, D.C. 1876. 4to, pp. 132. 2 Etudes sur les Echinotdés. Par S. Loves. (Kongl Svenska Vetenskaps-Acade- miens Handlingar. Bandet II., No. 7.) Text and Atlas of 53 Plates. Stockholm. 1875. 4to, pp. 91. 1877. ] Recent Literature. 111 Asteroids (star-fish) and Crinoids, which will, if we mistake not, be found of much use to paleontologists. Especial attention is devoted to certain organs called Spherides, grouped around the mouth of sea-urchins, for the discovery of which naturalists are indebted to Professor Lovén. But to our mind the most interesting portion of the work is the ex- quisite drawings illustrating the anatomy and distribution of the nervous system and the water system of vessels. We have here for the first time, clearly shown, the more intimate relations of these organs. The plates are abundant and beautifully executed, the lithographs rivaling in clearness and delicacy the best steel engravings. Macatister’s ANIMAL MorrHOLOGY.! — Though this book was written in 1873, it is still the most recent manual of animal morphology in the English language, and will be found by advanced teachers to be very useful. The system of classification is that of Haeckel as modified by Huxley, and is based on recent embryological studies. The sponges are regarded as belonging to a distinct subkingdom, Polystomata of Hux- ley. The Labyrinthulee of Cienkowsky are admitted as a class of Pro- tozoa. ‘The Mollusca are regarded by the author, and we think correctly, as “only an extreme of specialization ” of Vermes; in another place (page 241), “ Their structure can be easily understood by regarding them as Vermes with no articulated appendages, modified by unequal lateral development, and by a fusion of metameres.” For convenience they are regarded as a subkingdom. The Tunicates are placed among the Vermes in accordance with Gegenbaur’s classification. The Polyzoa are placed among the Vermes, while rather inconsistently (probably because Gegenbaur first did so) the Brachiopoda are retained among the Mol- usca. The volume ends with the Insects; a second volume, containing the Vertebrates, has just been issued from the press. Had we space to be critical we should feel inclined to find some fault with the author's classification of the Arthropoda, which he does not, however, claim to k original. Receyt Books AND PAMPHLETS. — Report on the Transportation Route along the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, in the State of Wisconsin, between the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan. By Gen. G. K. Warren. Washington. 1876. 8vo, pp 114. With Ten Maps. The Grotto Geyser of the Yellowstone National Park. With a Descriptive Note and Map, and an Illustration by the Albert-type Process. (U. S. Geological and Geo- graphical Survey of the Territories, F. V. Hayden, U. S. Geologist-in-Charge.) Wash- tngton, D. C. Folio olio, The History ọf Spontaneous Generation. By Edward S. Dunster, M. D. (From seston of the Ann Arbor Scientific Association. Vol. i. 1871.) Ann Arbor, ia » pD. 30. _ Uber Dimorphismus und Variation einiger Schmetterlinge Nord Amerikas. Brief- liche Mittheilung von J. Boll in Texas. 7 p- 3 1 An Introduction to Animal Morphology and Systematic Zodlogy. By ALEXANDER Macatisrer, Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Zodlogy, University of Dublin. P art I. Invertebrata, London: Longmans, Green, & Co. 1876. 12mo, pp. 461 With a few Cuts. 112 Recent Literature. [ February, New England Society of Orange, N. J. Scenery. I. October, 1876. Mesozoic Fossils, Voli. Part I. On some Invertebrates from the Coal-Bearing Rocks of the Queen Charlotte Islands, collected by Mr. James Richardson’ in 1872. By J. F. Whiteaves. Geological Survey of Canada. Montreal, 1876. 8vo, pp. 92. Ten Plates and Map. The Origin of Californian Land Shells. By J. G. Cooper, M.D. (From the Pro- ceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, February 1, 1875.) 8vo, pp. 3 On Shells of the West Slope of North America. By J. G. Cooper, M.D. (From va Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, February 1, 1875.) 8vo, pp. ee w Facts relating to Californian Ornithology. No.1. By J. G. Cooper, M. D. (From ws Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences; December 6, 1875.) 8vo, pp. On n Coal and Tertiary Strata of California. By J. G. Cooper, M. D. (From the Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, September 21, 1874.) 8vo, pp: +>. Pacific Coast ee No. 15. pc of a new Species of Catocala, from San Diego. By Henry Edwards. (Fro e Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, October 18, 1875.) 8vo, pac Pacific Coast Lepidoptera. No. 16. Notes on the in aormaione of some Species of Lepidoptera, not hitherto recorded. By Henry Edwards. ahy the Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, April 19, 1875.) 8vo Pacific Coast Lepidoptera. No. 17. On the ranibriiations iot Colias (Mega- nostoma Reak) Eurydice Bdv. By Henry Edwards. (From the Proceedings of the Darlingtonia Californica Torrey. By Henry Bi. (From the Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, September 6, 1875.) 8vo, pp. Notice of Sir William Edmond Logan. By T. Sterry Hunt, LL. D. (From the Report of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, May, 1876.) 8vo, pp. 6. On the Affinities of Hypocephalus. By John L. Leconte, M.D. (Read before the National Academy of Sciences, October 10, 1876.) 8vo, pp. 1 The Rocky Mountain Locust or Grasshopper. Being the Report of Proceedings of a Conference of the Governors of several Western States and Territories, together with several other Gentlemen, held at Omaha, Nebraska, on the 25th and 26th days of October, 1876, to consider the Locust Problem. 8vo, pp. 58. Sopra Alcuni ‘Opiliosi (Phalangidea) d’ Europa e dell’ Asia Occidentale, con un quadro die Generi- Europei, di Quest’ Ordine. By Prof. T. Thorell. Genova. 1876. 8vo, pp. 57 i Enumerazione dei Rettili rain dal Dott. O. Beccari in Amboina, alle Isole Aru, ed alle Isole Kei, durante gli Anni 1872-73. By G. Doria. Genova 1875. 8vo, pp. 33. ‘Two Plates Elenco di una Colleen di Rettili raccolti a Bintenzorg (Giara) dal Signor G. B. Ferrari, ed inviati in dono al Museo Civico di Genova. By G. Doria. 8vo, pp. 6. Diagnosi di Alcune nuove Specie di Semone be or nella regione Austro-Ma- lese dai rei Dott. O. Beccari, L. M. d’Albe e A. A. Bruijn. By R. Gestro. 8vo, pp. 1 Disecrisiond di una nuova Specie di Eupholus (Eupholus Bennettii n. sp.) By R. Gestro e L. M. d’Albertis. 8vo, Note sopra Alcuni Carabici, appartenenti al Museo Civico bs Genova, con Descri- zioni di Specie nuove. By R. Gestro. 8vo, pp. 45. Illustra Descrizione di un nuovo Genere e di Alcune nuove Spetie di Coleotteri Papuani. By R. Gestro. 8vo, pp. Descrizione di Tre nuove o Specie di Cicindelidi del Isola di Borneo. By R. Ges- tro. 8vo, pp. 4. ; 1877.] Botany. 113 . Descrizione di Tre Specie nuove del Genere Atractocerus appartenenti alle Colle- zioni Museo Civico di Genova. By R. Gestro. 8vo, pp. 4. Osservazioni sopra Alcune Specie Italiane del Genere Cychrus. By R Gestro. 8vo, pp. 7 Enumerazione dei Cetonidi, raccolti nell’ Arcipelago Malese e nella Papuasia, dai Signori G. Doria, O. Beccari, e L. M. d’Albertis. By R. Gestro. 8vo, pp. 31. pendix, pp. 28. ; Note sopra Alcuni Coleotteri appartenenti alle Collezione del Museo Civico di Genova. By Dr. R. Gestro. 8vo, pp. 13. Note sopra Alcuni Coleotteri appartenenti alle Collezione del Museo Civico di Geriova. Nuova Specie del Genere Zanthe. By Dr. R. Gestro. 8vo, pp. 8. GENERAL NOTES. BOTANY.! FERTILIZATION or Grentrana ANDREWsII. —Humble-bees are in the habit of entering bodily into the flower of this gentian, forcing open the mouth of the corolla to do so where this is closed, as it is in the absence of sunshine, and the anthers open before the stigmas separate to expose the pollen-receiving surface ; so it is evident that cross-fertili- zation is provided for. Our correspondent, Mr. M. W. Vandenberg, of Fort Edward, N. Y., communicates the result of some observations which show that this flower has likewise an arrangement for self-fertili- zation. The short tube of cohering and extrorsely opening anthers is higher than the stigma when the blossom first opens. The pistil after- wards lengthens, so that its apex protrudes; the broad and introrse stigmas now separate, at first moderately, but at length they diverge strongly and become revolute, so as to bring a portion of the broad stigmatic surface into contact with the outer face of the anther tube, Which usually is still covered with abundance of pollen. The pollen appears to retain its freshness for a long time, and in this slow move- ment of revolution of the stigmas they are seen to take up consider- able masses of the moist pollen. Those stigmas, therefore, which have ailed to receive extraneous pollen from bees during the first day or two of anthesis, will afterwards secure it from their own anthers. “ Get fertilized, cross-fertilized if you can, self-fertilized if you must, is nature’s golden rule for flowers.” — A. Gray. RIGIN OF VARIETIES; Two ILLUSTRATIONS. — Eight or ten years ago, on a plot of ground where I had grown beet seed of the early turnip variety, after the crop had been gathered from the seed that had dropped on the ground, there sprang up thousands of young plants. A large Proportion of these lived through the winter. It is my im- Pression that they had the protection of a thick growth of chick-weed. Tn the following spring, when plowing, these. plants were so forward left a portion of the piece unplowed, with the view of obtaining a > .G. DALE ee a Sd Conducted by es G. L. Goo 114 : General Notes. [ February, crop of early beets. As the plants grew quite a number pushed seed. shoots, and as the er ean ripened a small crop of seed, which I saved in a mass, and the next season planted a portion of it. Here I will note, that all the beets from which the first crop of seed grew were of one variety, and being for seed purposes were very carefully selected at that time; and that the seed that was gathered from them in the autumn when planted the next season produced a crop pure and true to name ; also, that the field in which the two crops of seed grew was in the middle of a great pasture, very isolated ; and finally, that no other beet seed was raised there. Now, as to the result, the beets raised from this second crop of seed were, to use an expressive word, “ everything,” ranging all the way from a small, very dark-fleshed variety, through a core or more of kinds of various color, form, and texture, down to a light-fleshed, medium long variety of mangel-wurzel, which, as farmers know, is a very coarse-fleshed kind raised for the feeding of stock. My other illustration is an experiment with Indian corn. With this I have had no personal experience, but a very intelligent correspondent writes me, that seeing occasionally the spindle of his corn (he was rais- ing the Dutton variety) replaced by small ears, he was led from curi- osity to save and plant the kernels of some of these. The result was, he obtained a vast number of entirely new varieties each having character- istics of its own. I wonder if other experimenters (we farmers, mind you, don’t propose to leave all the experimenting with you men of science!) may not have something to put on record about — say the short-horn variety of carrot, which probably more than any other tends to push occasional seed shoots the first season ? — J. J. H. GREGORY. IPOMŒA SETOSA. — We succeeded in growing the rare plant, Jpomea setosa, in Florida last year. The seed was found among some “Java” coffee and planted in rich soil. On the 17th of May, when we left Florida for the North, the plant was about six inches high. Upon our return, the first of November following, to our surprise the plant had completely covered a small live-oak. The main stem of the vine was about fifteen feet in length and six inches in circumference at the base, — with numerous large branches radiating in all directions. Had the sup- port been taller the plant would have climbed much higher; as it was, it clambered about in all directions, entirely covering the tree, the vari- ous subdivisions reaching the top of the tree and falling back to the ground, thus making more than thirty feet of length. The support was a living tree, but the great weight of the vine broke every branch, leav- ing the bare trunk standing. Frost came the first of December, cutting it down while stil] a mass of bloom, and great clusters of unripe seed, fully enough to have made a peck of ripe seed, if frost had kept off as late as the year before. As it was, we did not save a pint of seed. — The flowers were large and of a bright pink color; leaves large and |] lobed, and the stems and peduncles covered with soft prickles. a S : l 1877.] Botany. A.. I sent specimens of the foliage and unripesfruit,to Professor Sargent, Director of the Botanic Garden of Harvard University, for identifica- tion. His reply is as follows: “ Your morning-glory seems to be Ipomea setosa Lindl., a little-known species ; it occurs in Jamaica as an introduced plant from Brazil, while the flora of Brazil is doubtful of its nativity. At any rate you have a most interesting plant. If possi- ble send good herbarium specimens of flowers and foliage, and by all means a good supply of ripe seed. You will do well to plant several seeds in order to secure a crop of seed for next year for general distri- bution, as there is no chance that seed will ripen here, either in the garden or under glass. This plant flowered in England as long ago as 1818, but is long since lost to cultivation. So you will be conferring a great benefit on cultivators by re-introducing it.” All the seeds that we can spare this year, we shall send to Professor Sargent for him to distribute as he thinks best. The remarkable growth of the plant was in a great measure owing to the soil in which it grew. It was planted on a terrace adjoining the St. John’s River. The terrace is made mostly from muck taken from the river. Some weeds grew here to the size of small trees. One amaranth attained the height of twenty-five feet and eighteen inches in circumference, and several others approximated this. — Mary TREAT. BJECTS OF THE DIVERSITIES IN THE MODE OF ARRANGEMENT OF THE FLORAL OrGans.—In the paper by Dr. Masters, elsewhere re- ferred to, occurs the following passage which will be of interest to our readers : “The alternate position seems to be in most instances a pro- Vision for ensuring space to closely packed organs, so as to prevent undue amount of pressure on the growing tissues. In cases where the development of the stamens lags behind that of the petals, the question of space is not of so much moment as under other circumstances. It _ May often be an advantage to the plant to have the stamen concealed in the cavity of the petal, . . . . where such an arrangement may be ben- eficial either for protection’s sake, or in various manners connected with fertilization. . In other cases the existing arrangement may be a relic of some ancestral condition which has now lost its significance ; or, on the other hand, could we but read it aright, it might offer a forecast of some future development.” Borantcat Papers in Recent ‘PERIODICALS. — Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany. December 15th. T. H. Potts, Habits of Filices observed about the Malvern Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand. S. H. Vines, On the Digestive Ferment of Nepenthes. (The following facts are regarded by the author as established by his experiments: (1.) rye glands of the pitchers of Nepenthes contain a digestive ferment 18 soluble in glycerine, and which can exert its digestive action hoe y in the presence of acid. The fact of digestion was clearly made (ut by Von Gorup- Besanez, May 22, 1876; (2.) the digestive fer- „0 ment exists at first in and-cells of the pitchers, in combination with some other body, h and this zymogen is split up by the action of dilute acid, the free ferment making its appearance as the re- sult of this decomposition. The author further states, that the experi- ments run perfectly parallel with those of Ebstein and Griitzner on the stomach, and with those of Heidenhain on the pancreas.) J. M. Crom- bie, An Enumeration of Lichens from Rodriguez Island. (Twenty-five new species are described.) W. Archer, On Fresh-Water Alge from Kerguelen’s Land. (According to the author, who found nothing new in the collection, the algal flora of this remote and isolated spot is not unlike that of England. Mr. Reinsch described early in this year three new genera and thirty new species from this region.) Profes- sor Dickie, Algæ from the Coasts of Japan, and from Juan Fernan- dez. Dr. Masters, On the Superposed Arrangement of the Parts of the Flower. (An attempt to explain anteposition by referring special cases to the following causes: (1.) Superposition of whorls. (2.) Spiral arrangement of parts, the calyx forming a complete cycle, foi- lowed by the corolla in like manner. (3.) Enation, or outgrowth, and chorisis, or division. (4.) Abortion, the most common cause. (5.) Multiplication of parts. (6.) Interposition. (7.) Substitution of one organ by another. (8.) Torsion of the axis.) Flora, No. 3. Westermaier, The First Cell Division in the Embryo of Capsella Bursa-Pastoris. Nylander, On New Cuban Lichens (Spe- cies of Lecanora). Botanische Zeitung, Nos. 43 and 44 not yet at hand. No. 45. Kienitz- Gerloff, On the Genetic Connection of Mosses with Vascular Crypto- gams and Manerogams. (Continued in No. 46.) ZOOLOGY. Tue Crustacea or Laxe Titicaca. — In the Naturalist (x. 380) we have called attention to the exploration of Lake Titicaca, by Messrs. Agassiz and Garman, and alluded to the marine nature of the crustacean fauna of this lake. Since then Mr. W. Faxon has published, in the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, descriptions and figures of the crustacea of the lake. “ Excepting,” he remarks, “a spe- cies of Cypris, all the specimens collected belong to one amphipodous genus, Allorchestes, which had hitherto afforded but one or two authentic fresh-water species, ranging from Maine to Oregon and the Straits of Magellan. Seven new species are described in this paper from Lake Titicaca. Several of them are remarkable among the Orchestide for their abnormally developed epimeral and tergal spines. Some are also noteworthy as comparatively deep-water forms of a family commonly regarded as preéminently littoral. I believe that no Orchestide have heretofore been found at a depth so great as sixty-six fathoms,’ unless it be Orchestia (Talitrus) Brasiliensis Dana, and Nicea media Dana 1 The greatest depth of the lake is 154 fathoms. General Notes. [ February, pf gol j \ (Fig. 11.) ALLORCHESTES LATIMANUS. (Fie. 12.) ALLORCHESTES ARMATUS. pny] ARNE T et IY Ai Ol | È (Fie. 14.) ALLORG See! ALLORCHESTES DENTATUS. LORCHESTES ECHINUS. (Fia. 15.) e tas if dredged in the harbor g General Notes. _ [February, o Janeiro (at what depth is not specified) by “Expedition. The marine species usually inhabit the shores above low-water mark, and the previously described fresh- water species are found in the shallow water of brooks, pools, or edges of lakes.” To give some idea of the different forms of these crustacea we have inserted a portion of the figures prepared by Mr. Faxon and kindly loaned by Mr. Agassiz. ANTHROPOLOGY. More CORDATE ORNAMENTS. — Since my note on this subject in the January Naturalist has been placed in the hands of the printer, two more cordate ornaments have been brought to my notice. One is in the collection of J. H. Jenkins, having been found in a mound in Warren County, Ohio, lying on the neck of a corpse. It is made of a hard stone, flat on both sides and measures about four and a half inches in length, three and a half across the broadest portion of the lobes, and half an inch in thickness, the edges being cut squarely and the notch deeply. The second specimen is now in the possession of Mr. William S. Vaux, of Philadelphia, and is somewhat similar. A sufficient number of these objects, therefore, have been thus far discovered to establish the type, which, so far as I know, is a new one, and all doubt is removed as to its aboriginal origin. — E. A, BARBER. ANTHROPOLOGICAL News. — Nature for October 26th contains an abstract of a paper on Cave-Hunting, read before the Philosophical In- stitute of Canterbury, N. Z. The paper describes the inspection of the Moa-Bone Point Cave, on the east side of the middle island, in Banks’ Peninsula. From the results of the excavations, Dr. Haast infers that a very long time has elapsed since the extinction of the moas in that part of the island. A recent census in the schools of Prussia showed that out of 4,127,- 766 persons examined, 4,070,923 were under fourteen years of age 42.97 per cent. had blue eyes, 24.31 per cent. brown eyes; 72 per cent. had blonde hair, 26 per cent. had brown hair, and 1.21 per cent. had black hair; 6.53 per cent. were brunettes. During the coming winter, free lectures on anthropology will be given in Paris, at the Ecole libre T Anthropologie, by MM. Broca, Topinard, Dally, Mortillet, and Hovelacque. The following gentlemen in Paris have signed a paper, binding each one tọ make a will, directing that upon his decease his brain shall be sent to the Anthropological Society for inspection : MM. Hovelacque, Dally, Mortillet, Broca, and Topinard. ‘The motive of this singular pledge is to afford facilities for inspecting the brains of men whose special mental pursuits are definitely known, in order to see whether there is any connection between the structure and = aspect of that organ and its well-known operations. In the Academy for September 30th, October 21st, and 28th, is an in- — teresting discussion between the Rev. Moncure -D. Conway and Mr. phe aN eo i A ERIRE Bee a, i 1877.] Anthropology. Si 19 Frederick Poynder ; the former strenuously maintaining “ that all those pictures of Hindoos casting themselves beneath the Juggernaut car, to be crushed, were purely imaginary.” In his latest communication Mr. Conway endeavors to prove that Mr. Claudius Buchanan and the Abbé Dubois were not competent observers. In acknowledging, at the French Association, the labors of M. Tubino on the populations of the Iberian peninsula, M. Broca says there is a true anthropological similarity between the Spanish peninsula and the north of Africa, and indeed the Canary Islands. I will go further and insist upon the analogy which I have already remarked between the Cro-Magnon race and the Guanches of Teneriffe. I believe that at an epoch anterior to the rupture of the Straits of Gibraltar, a stratum of population extended from Perigord, at least, on the north, to Africa and the Canaries on the south. I have always been struck with the similar- ity between the Spanish Basque and the Berber skulls. In the caverns near Gibraltar, which date back certainly to the polished-stone age, crania were found, the similitude of which to Basque skulls struck Mr. Busk as well as myself. f In Matériaux, No. 9, L: Pigorini publishes a list of the provinces in Italy wherein bronze objects are found, and of the particular kinds which are found in each province. The presence of knives, celts, fibulæ, spear-heads, ete., show us that “the men of the bronze age in the penin- sula had the same manners and customs as those of the same age in France. — O. T. Mason. Antiquities NEAR NAPLES. — During a summer spent in the neigh- borhood of Naples, I had the pleasure of examining some objects, evi- dently prehistoric, and of visiting the locality in which they were found, the cemetery of the Piano of Sorrento, formerly called Casa Talamo. In the excavation of a long ditch, made, according to the prevailing Italian custom, for the interment of the poor, at a depth of more than six feet, was found hollowed in the tufa a cavern, cut smooth, the floor as well as the arch, more than a yard in height, two in width, and two in length. Within it were several objects of great antiquity. Among these Were three articles of the simplest form of pottery. One was a vase of terra cotta, with a handle, the largest circumference being ornamented by perpendicular lines, inclosing spaces, every other one of which was lightly and lineally punctured. The height of this vase was about twenty-nine centimetres, and its largest circumference eighty-three. Another vase was of unbaked earth, without any ornamentation or handle, and broken upon one side. Its height was about twenty-seven centimetres, and its largest circumference seventy-eight. There was also a little cup, of very primitive terra cotta, without ornament, the handle oken off. The objects in flint were six or seven small arrow-points, quite delicately cut. There was an instrument of sandstone, roughly cut, diminishing to a blunt point. Its length was twenty-one centimetres, and t 120 General Notes. [ February, its diameter three. The only entire object in metal was a poniard, the layers of the blade peeling off and broken. It measured thirty-five centi- metres in length. There was a point of another. Lastly, there was a human bone completing the contents of the cavern, which is now no longer accessible, the ditch having been filled with dead and closed. The objects, however, are carefully preserved in the munic- ipal building of the Piano. — Ciara L. WELLs, Rome, October 19, 1876. GEOLOGY AND PALHONTOLOGY. Newserry’s GEotocy or Parts or New Mexico anp Uran! — Although much of the region surveyed by Professor Newberry in 1859 has been reéxamined by later explorers, yet geologists will be interested in this account of the independent observations of so distinguished an observer, while the traveler and explorer will be attracted by the fine colored views of the more striking points in the scenery of the route sur- veyed. The report is divided into seven chapters, and is accompanied by eleven chromo-lithograph plates of views taken in Northwestern New Mexico, Southwestern Colorado, and Southeastern Utah. Eight plates accompanying the paleontological descriptions of Mr. Meek and Pro- fessor Newberry illustrate the fossil shells and plants. Archzologists will be interested in the account on page 41 of the ancient mines of turquois, or chalchuitl, situated in Los Cerillos Range in New Mexico, as well as in the views and account of the ancient ruins of the San Juan Valley, which this party was one of the first to visit. GEOGRAPHY AND EXPLORATION. Warrken’s IMPROVEMENTS OF THE Fox anp Wisconsin RIVERS.” — In a report of over one hundred pages, illustrated by ten maps and plates, Gen. G. K. Warren, who has long been connected with Western and Eastern river improvements, and in so doing has always had an eye to the scientific relations of the subject before him, gives a historical sketch of the discovery of the route of these two rivers, with plans for their improvement by a canal. By the maps and scattered observations the report is rendered one of much general geological and geographical interest. Srtmpson’s EXPLORATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT Basin or UTAH. — To those interested in Western geography this volume (which has been in MS. since 1860) will have an especial interest. Not only is it valu- 1 Report of the Exploring Expedition oh Santa Fé, New Mexico, to the Junction of the Grand and Green Rivers of the Great Colorado of the West, in 1859, under the Command of Capt. (now Col.) J. N. Macomb, U. S. Engineers. With es Re- port by Prof. J. S. Newserry. Washington, D.C. 1876. 4to, pp. 148. Wi maps and plates. 2 Report of Explorations across the Great Basin of the Territory of Utah, for a Direct Wagon Ro Route from Camp Floyd to Genoa, in Carson Valley, in 1859. By Capt. (now Col.) J. H. Stimpson, U. S. aan Washington. 1876. 4to, pp. 495. Maps and 17 plates. a aa 1877. ] Microscopy. 121 able from the large mass of unpublished faċts regarding the region trav- ersed, but from the historical résumé of explorations made in the Great Basin from 1776 until 1869, given by Colonel Simpson, and from the abstracts and quotations from Father Escalanti’s MS. journal, now said to be treasured up in the city of Mexico, and of which a copy was contained in the library of Col. Peter Force, of Washington. Besides the itiner- ary by Colonel Simpson, and several appendices giving the astronomical, meteorological, and geographical results of the expedition, there are val- uable reports on the geology, palæontology, natural history, and ethnol- ogy chiefly of Utah, including elaborate treatises on the ichthyology by Professor Gill, and on the botany of the route by Dr. Engelmann, both of which are accompanied by numerous plates. RECENT CHANGES or LEVEL OF THE Great SALT LAKE. — The party which started about seven days ago under Captain D. L. Davis to explore the western shore of the Great Salt Lake returned last evening after a successful trip. Starting from near Farmington, the party touched at Church Island and then sailed direct to Strong’s Point, where the old triangular monument, erected by Stansbury, was found intact. The lake was found to have risen so that many miles marked as lake shore on the maps is now from six to ten feet under water. The Water Witch sailed “inland ” for about twelve miles, when the occupants waded ashore and took observations, but it was found that there is a general elevation of the land, which, though slight, precludes the possible lowering of the lake in this direction. The party then beat along the shores northward as far as Kelton, landing frequently to make observations and take angles. It was found, however, that the shifting of the lake westward as an impossibility. Touching at Fremont Island, the company re- turned with the problem answered, but not satisfactorily. — Salt Lake Times, September 14, 1876. MICROSCOPY.! CLEANING DIATOMS WITH GLYCERINE. — Mr. James Neil, of Cleve- land, uses glycerine as an easy and efficacious means of separating diatom shells from the foreign matter with which they are naturally mixed. He fills a two-ounce graduated measuring glass three quarters full of glycerine and water mixed in equal parts. The diatoms after being treated with acid and thoroughly washed, are then shaken up in some pure water and poured gently over the diluted glycerine. If carefully done the water and diatoms do not at first sink into the glycerine, but stadually the diatoms sink through the water, and into the glycerine, Preceding the light flocculent matter held in the water. After a few minutes, a pipe introduced closed through the water and into the glyc- erine will bring up remarkably clean diatoms, which are to be after- ward freed from glycerine by repeated washing and decanting. Color- ing the water in which the diatoms are held is thought to aid in watching 1 Conducted by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y. 122 Scientific News. | February, the progress of the operation. This method has been tried thus far on Richmond earth, in which the diatoms are heavier than the adherent matter, but it is pene to be generally applicable. Curro SCHEELITE. — This new mineral which occurs in different parts of California, wed which resembles scheelite in which a part of the lime is replaced by oxide of copper, was first described and named by Professor Whitney. Mr. Hawks, in describing it to the San Francisco Microscopical Society, stated that when first discovered it was thought to be a mechanical mixture of scheelite with some copper mineral, but that a careful examination under the microscope showed it to be perfectly homogeneous. The decision of the microscope was subsequently con- firmed by the discovery of crystals of the mineral, which proved it to be a distinct and new species. SCIENTIFIC NEWS. — On the 28th of December, 1876, died at the Smithsonian Institu- tion, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, F. B. Meek, long connected with the Institution as a volunteer assistant in the department of palæon- tology. Mr. Meek was of Irish extraction, his parents having settled in Indiana some sixty years ago, and shortly after his birth removed to Kentucky, where young Meek received a common school education, and was known when quite young for his ability as a writer, his retiring dis- position, and for exhibiting a marked interest in geology and kindred branches of science. On arriving at his majority he entered into com- mercial pursuits in which he was not successful, and afterward for a time earned his daily bread as a painter of portraits and such other sub- jects as the necessities of his surroundings offered to him. He was also connected for a time with some local museum of curiosities of the old- hioned kind. At a later date his geological predilections were favored by a connection with some of the earlier geological surveys in the West, while his scientific career may be said to have fairly been opened by his employment as a draughtsman and assistant on the survey of the State of New York. The discovery which first brought him into prom- inence was his identification, independently, of Peruvian rocks in Amer- ica, a fact which was discovered nearly simultaneously by several better- known geologists. His undivided attention to palæontology and his almost unrivaled abilities in delineating the fossils which he studied, joined to great caution and what appeared to be an intuitive capacity for recognizing the relations of the remains he described, soon placed him in the front rank of American paleontologists. The progress of geo- logical discovery in the West, which has culminated at the present day in the great surveys of Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler, under government auspices, is in large part due to the abilities of Mr. Meek, for without 1877.] Scientifie News. 123 such able coöperation the fossils of the different strata, of which by far the greater proportion were determined by him, would have failed to - yield a moiety of the material for generalization upon which American geology has been built up. Among numerous publications on American paleontology by the deceased may be mentioned the Invertebrate Pal- eontology of Illinois, Ohio, part of California, in the Geological Survey Reports of these States; an Early Report on the Paleontology of the Upper Missouri, published by the Smithsonian Institution; on the Pal- ontology of the Explorations under Simpson, Macomb, King, and other Government Surveys and lastly the great work of his life, the Pal- wontology of the Upper Missouri, just issued by Dr. Hayden in the quarto series of the publications of the Geological Survey of the Terri- tories. In all these volumes the paleontological work was strictly his own, though his name was for sufficient reasons associated with that of the geologist to whom the collections were due or under whose direction the publications were issued. Mr. Meek left no kindred so far as is known. His habits were most simple and regular, abstinent to a remarkable degree, and he shrank from society, except that of a scientific character or of a few old and valued friends. This retiring disposition was encouraged by the in- firmity of total deafness by which he was afflicted during later years and which he bore with the utmost patience. Only a few intimates could know of his cheerful, helpful spirit, his love of children and ani- mals, his transparent honesty and probity, and the generosity which led him to render assistance to the beginner or the practiced geologist when- ever his help was requested. His death resulted from the weakness consequent on pulmonary hemorrhage from which he had suffered for Some years. His illness was painless and of short duration, and his re- mains were carried from the geological hall of the Institution he had served so long to the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, by a small but appreciative assemblage of his associates and friends. — W.H. Datu. — The Summer School of Biology at the Peabody Academy of Sci- ence, Salem, Mass., met with such a good measure of success last year that it will be a permanent feature of the work done at the Academy. Though the school was limited to fifteen, more than this number were Present. Over forty lectures were delivered. The laboratory work done Was in some cases excellent. The school is designed to give laboratory facilities to naturalists and teachers residing in inland towns who may — like to spend their summer vacations in collecting and studying marine life at the seaside. — Professor Valerien de Moeller, of the Imperial School of Mines, St. Petersburg, Russia, is preparing a monograph of the Musulerias, and de- ‘ites any information on the subject that he can obtain from American palxontologists, _ — Prof. L. de Koninck, the veteran paleontologist, of Liége, Belgium, 124 Proceedings of Societies. [ February, has commenced his great work on the Carboniferous fossils of Belgium, to contain 150 plates, 4to. After forty-five years of service the Belgian government has conferred upon him a pension, which will enable him to spend the remainder of his life in comparative independence. — The Congrés International des Américanistes will hold its second session at Luxembourg, September 10-13, 1877. The secretary, Mr. J. Schoetter, is very anxious that communications be sent at as early a date as practicable from Americans. He hopes that American savants will be induced to take as large a part as possible in this meeting, and that they will furnish matter enough for one volume of the Comptes rendus. — Karl Ernst von Baer, the eminent zodlogist and embryologist, died at St. Petersburg, November 29, 1876, aged eighty-five years. He will always be remembered for his classic work, Ueber Entwickelungsge- schichte der Thiere, 1828-37. In 1834 he resigned his chair of zodlogy at Königsberg and removed to St. Petersburg, becoming librarian of the Academy of Sciences. — Theodor von Heuglin, the traveler and zoöl- ogist, died at Stuttgart, November 5th, aged fifty-two years. — A well- known Scotch zoölogist, Dr. T. Strethill Wright, died October last, aged fifty-eight. — In order to furnish an opportunity for teachers in natural science and special students in geology to become acquainted with the methods of practical work in that science, a Summer School of Geology will be conducted by Prof. N.S. Shaler and Mr. Wm. M. Davis, Jr., assistant in geology, during six weeks in July and August, under the form of instruc- tion at Cambridge and an excursion through Massachusetts and into New York. The school will open early in July at the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, in Cambridge. A fortnight will be spent in introductory work, and in short, daily excursions. The rest of the time will be divided be- tween the Connecticut Valley, the Berkshire Hills (Western Massachu- setts), and either the Helderberg or the Catskill Mountains of New York. In each locality some central point, characteristic of the district and easily accessible by railroad, will be taken for headquarters, and short excursions on foot or by rail will be made from it. Persons wish- ing to join the school should address Wm. M. Davis, Jr., 15 Summer St., Cambridge, Mass. — Professor Henry urges the establishment of a national museum at Washington, with the government Centennial collection as a nucleus, and the repaid Centennial loan as a building and endowment fund. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. New York Acapemy or Sciences. — Biological Section, October 2d. Captain J. H. Mortimer exhibited a series of pelagic animals, suc as pteropods, Carinaria, Atlanta, Janthina, small cephalopods, crustacea, and the insect Halobatis, together with Salpa, Physalia, Porpita, Vellela, 1877.] Proceedings of Societies. | 125 < etc., collected by him in the course of a voyage from New York to San Francisco, and back by way of Liverpool. Geological Section, October 16th. A paper on Prehistoric Remains in Western North Carolina was read by Mr. A. A. Julien; who has been associated with Professor Kerr in the survey of that State. Four classes of such remains were considered, namely, tools, rude sculpturings, mounds, and excavations. A small collection of tools was exhibited, and accidental resemblances to those from St. Acheul, France, noted in them. The rude imitative carvings on rocks, which have been observed in two localities, were then referred to, as well as those, possibly of Indian origin, on beeches in the Nantehaleh Valley, resembling maps of the sur- - rounding excavations. The scarcity of mounds was explained, their general restriction to the tract covered by ancient excavations referred to, and a description given of the largest one, near Franklin, Macon County. A remarkable pitting of the mountain sides by mines is now going on; but perhaps it hardly equals that which formerly existed, as repre- sented by the extensive series of ancient excavations which extends from Mitchell County southward to the state line, and into Georgia, and which seems to have been directed to the exploitation of two minerals, muscovite and steatite. The peculiar industry of the region at present consists in mining for mica. The coarse granite veins which contain it often include a central quartz band, which has affected the character of both the prehistoric and the present styles of mining. All the mines are superficial, and their veins may be divided into hard or soft, in relation to the state of decomposition of their materials. In fourteen mines vis- ited, in which the veins are hard, no ancient workings had been found. But of twenty-one mines with soft veins visited, eight had been discov- ered through the ancient workings, whose size was proportioned to that of the veins, and generally indicated their importance for the present in- dustry. These workings are of two classes. The one consists of shafts, sometimes containing iron tools, and supposed by some to be due to the Spaniards, or to later adventurers in the early history of our country. The other class consists of open excavations, sometimes con- nected with small tunnels, and are certainly of prehistoric origin. ‘These Were severally described, namely, the Sink Hole and Buckhannon mines in Mitchell County ; the Gibbs in Yancy County; Allman’s, Ra- by’s, Hall’s, and Smith’s in Macon County ; and Smith’s in Clay County, with observations on the mode of mining, the form of the tunnels, the character of the dumps, the plans and sections of the excavations, — and the tools probably used by the ancient miners. The ashes discov- ered in certain mines may betoken the occasional use of fire in the course of mining here, as in the tunnels of the Lake Superior copper region. ; The vast quantities of mica which have been extracted in this region 126 Proceedings of Societies. [ February, in prehistoric times were then considered, and their probable destination. Lastly, a description was given of the similar, but less extensive, series of excavations for steatite in the counties of Clay, Swain, ete. e im- portance of a careful topographical survey of this portion of the State should be impressed upon its people and their legislators ; but unless it speedily takes place the progress of agriculture and the absence of pub- lic interest will soon destroy many of these interesting monuments of its ancient history. The paper of Mr. Julien was discussed with much interest. Dr. Newberry and Professor Martin referred particularly to the extensive use of mica plates in the tombs of the mound-builders in the Mississippi Valley, as described by Dr. Rau in his essay on aboriginal trade in North America. It is evident that in these mines we have the source of this mica, which had until recently been a problem with archeologists. Prof. Thomas Egleston read a paper upon Vein Accidents in the Lake Superior Region ; its character was such, however, that it is difficult to present it without the diagrams which accompanied it. The Biological Section held a special meeting on October 30th, at the library of the New York Aquarium. The chairman of the section, Prof. E. C. H. Day, gave an opening address entitled Thoughts on Evo- lution, in which he opposed a good many objections that are raised against the evolution hypothesis, and pointed out their weakness. Pres- ident, Newberry followed, in a somewhat different view, holding that many of these objections are yet unanswered. Mr. Frederick Mather, of the aquarium, then described and illustrated quite fully the operations now going on there in the hatching of the California salmon, with which it is proposed to stock the Hudson River. Section of Geology and Mineralogy, November 20th. Papers on the Smelting of Native Copper at Lake Superior, by Prof. T. Egleston ; on New American Fossil Fishes, by Prof. J. S. Newberry ; and on the Lower Helderberg Rocks at Port Jervis, N. Y., by Dr. S. T. Barrett, were read. PHILOSOPHICAL Society or WASHINGTON. — November 18, 1876. Dr. E. Bessels spoke of the English Polar Expedition, calling attention to the fact that the season they experienced was an evidently abnormal one, as compared with the experiences of all other observers ; and that while it was doubtless true that under the circumstances no great prog- ress toward the pole was possible, yet the obstacles encountered by these energetic explorers were by no means proved to be permanent, or insu- perable in more favorable seasons. He called attention to the confirmation by the English of the observa- tions made by him during the Polaris expedition, showing that the tides in the northern part of the channel come from the north; not (as he at one time supposed) from the Pacific, but from the North Atlantic around the north coast of Greenland. 1877.] Proceedings of Societies. 127 Mr. Dall remarked that the difference in character of the tides in the West Arctic basin, in Bering Sea, and in the North Pacific south of Bering Sea was such as almost to render certain the fact that the basin of the Polar Sea west of the Parry Islands has a tide of its own, which, according to Haughton (On Tides at Point Barrow), is a simple semi- diurnal wave, totally different from those observed by the United States Coast Survey in the other localities mentioned. He indorsed Dr. Bes- sels’ view that the northern tides of Polaris Bay were in all probability derived from the North Atlantic. December 2, 1876. Colonel Mallory, United States Army, exhibited a painted cloth which was obtained from a Sioux Indian, and which was a second copy from the original, said to have been prepared by Lone Dog, a Sioux, who was stated to be the official chronicler of the Sioux tribes of the Northwest. This cloth contained a series of symbols placed in sequence so as to form a spiral beginning at the middle of the cloth and extending from left to right. These symbols were seventy-one in number, and were said to forma chronology of events, one for each year, beginning with the year 1801 and including 1871. The events were not of an important character in all cases, but were such as were probably spe- cially notorious at the time of occurrence, therefore easily remembered and suitable for forming such a chronology. They did not relate solely to the chronicler’s own tribe, but to the Sioux tribes in general, The events were frequently of an apparently trivial character, such as a par- ticular murder or successful theft of horses, fight with the Crows, or building of a trading post; sometimes of more importance, such as an eclipse of the sun, the prevalence of a pestilence, the appearance of the first soldiers, etc. Colonel Mallory explained the asserted meaning of the symbols as obtained from a large number of Sioux of different tribes, independently, at different times and places, all of whom were said to recognize the chronological character of the inscription and the meaning of part of the symbols, though none were able to explain all of the lat- ter. Yet by the explanations of different persons, most of the signs Were explained. All were agreed as to the authorship and nature of the chronology, and their explanations were not paid for, hence a strong probability of the authenticity of the chronology and of its really chro- nological character. Much discussion followed on the reading of the paper. It was pointed out by Major Powell and others that while the figures were many of them unmistakably Indian in their character, yet the commencement of the record with the century, the representation of an eclipse as a black sun instead of by the mythological symbols, the representation of indi- viduals by symbols drawn from the literal meaning of their names in- — Stead of by their totemic symbols, were not aboriginal characteristics, and tended to throw a doubt on the purely Indian character of the au- thor or inspirer of the record, which nevertheless possessed great inter- 128 Scientific Serials. [ February. est. The general verdict appeared to be that further confirmation of the character and original authorship of the asserted chronology was much to be desired. : Boston Society or Narurat History.— November Ist. Prof. A. Hyatt made a communication on sponges, discussing their mode of development, based on original observations, and expressing his opinion that they formed the type of a new sub-kingdom of animals. r. J. A. Allen remarked on the American beavers, recent and fossil. November 15th. Two papers were read by C. S. Minot entitled i Classification of some of the Lower Worms; Description of a New Mi- — crotome for Cutting a Series of Sections. December 6th. Prof. W. G. Farlow gave an account of certain alge belonging to the groups Oscillatoria and Bacteria. December 20th. Prof. C. H. Hitchcock and Rev. G. F. Wright spoke on ancient glacial moraines in Andover, Mass., and vicinity. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.! PreTERMANN’s GEOGRAPHISCHER MITTHEILUNGEN. — October 28th. Die neuen administrativen Eintheilungen Japans, von L. Metschnikoff. Bilder aus dem hohen Norden, von K. Weyprecht. Lieut. Wheeler’s Expedition durch das siidliche Californien im Jahre 1875, von O. Loew. Die Temperatur-Verhiltnisse im Meere zwischen Norwegen, Schott- land, Island, und Spitzbergen, von H. Mohn. October 9th. Die Insel Hawaii und ihre Vulkane, von F. Birgham. Die geographische Ver- breitung des Hagels, von H. Fritz. Die jiingsten Forschungen im See- ‘ngebiet des iiquatorialen Ost-Afrika, von Young, Gessi, Stanley, 1874- 76. Reisen in Columbien im 1872. Arcuiv FÜR NATURGESCHICHTE. — 42. Heft ii. Ueber einige Canis- Arten des siidlichen Siidamerika’s, von H. Burmeister. Ueber die Nah- rung der Alausa vulgaris, und die Spermatophore von Temora velox Lilj., von Max Weber. Die Familie der Bdelliden, von Dr. Kramer. Die Hautdecker und Schale der Gastropoden, von F. Leydig. Heft iii. Anatomisches und histiologisches ueber Gibocellum, eine neue Arach- nide, von A. Stecker. Tue GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE. — December. Hissar and Kulab (Turkistan). The Indian Surveys, 1873-75. Tue Grotocicat Macazine — December. On the Glauconite Gran- ules of the Cambridge Green Sand, by W. J. Sollas. On Fossils from the Glacial Deposits of the Island of Lewis, by R. Etheridge. Fossil- iferous Pliocene Clays overlying Basalt in Lough Neagh, by E. T. Hardman. 1 The articles enumerated under this head will be for the most part selected. THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. VoL. x1.— MARCH, 1877. — No. 3. A FEW WORDS ABOUT SCAVENGERS. BY PROF. SANBORN TENNEY. most if not in all human societies there are classes, or at least individuals, who gain their chief subsistence by using or removing what others have ignored or discarded. That is, there are classes, or individuals, whose principal function seems to be that of scavengers. (Fre. 16.) HYENA (HYENA VULGARIS.) i But scavengers are not confined to the human race. It is well known that as a general rule animals seek for their food living organisms or organic products in a good state of preservation, But there are in many of the classes of animals some kinds whic prefer, or seem to prefer, to feed upon dead or decaying organ- sms. That is, there are animals whose chief function seems to be that of scavengers. Of some of these I will briefly speak. Prominent among the mammalian seavengers are the hyenas (Figure 16), the ugliest in their general appearance of all the Sa a ae a ERE EO Copyright, 1877, by A. S. PACKARD, JR. 130 A Few Words about Scavengers. [ March, flesh eaters. These well-known animals are at present confined to the warm regions of Africa and Asia, where they feed upon animals which they find dead, and such parts of animals as have been left from the feasts of the lion, tiger, and others of the nobler kinds of the typical carnivora. The hyenas are about five feet in length, and are admirably fitted for their work as scavengers ; for they not only devour the soft parts of animals, but their large, blunt premolar teeth and the powerful muscles (Fie. 17.) CALIFORNIAN VULTURE (CATHARTES CALIFORNIANUS). of their jaws enable them to crush and eat the bones of even very large animals; and thus these scavengers convert into their own living tissues not only parts, but the entire carcasses of ani- mals that would otherwise taint the air and cause pestilence and death. This habit of the hyenas in preying upon dead animals is probably not one recently acquired. The members of this family that lived in Post-Tertiary times had essentially the same habits as have the hyenas of to-day, judging from their remains 1877.] A Few Words about Scavengers. 131 and other evidences found in the cave deposits in England and in many other parts of Europe. If we study the birds we find among them, also, some kinds whose office is that of scavengers. Rather than pursue and capture living prey, these prefer to feed upon dead animals, and upon these they gorge themselves, often eating far more than they need; and thus they too convert noxious substances into their own tissues. Preéminent among the bird-scavengers are (Fre. 18.) ALLIGATOR (ALLIGATOR MISSISSIPPIENSIS). the vultures (Figure 17), including the condor and others, which of all the flesh-eating birds are the least adapted for capturing living prey, and which by their bare heads and bare necks are the best fitted for feeding upon carrion, which forms so large a part of their food. It should be added here, however, that while (Fie. 19.) STURGEON (ACIPENSER OXYRHYNCHUS). and other animals, but has the reputation of sometimes carrying off an infant child. Reptiles, too, furnish us with examples of scavengers. Al- though many turtles, and the alligators (Figure 18), crocodiles, and gavials, are exceedingly rapacious, they are also among the, Prominent scavengers, eagerly feeding upon the dead animals Which they find in the streams which they inhabit. N or are fishes without a representation of scavengers. Some kinds, as certain of the sharks, combine the most rapacious with Scavenger characteristics. The sturgeons (Figure 19) are gen- 132 A Few Words about Scavengers. [ March, uine scavengers. With their long noses they turn up the bot- toms of the streams and feed upon such organic materials as they chance to find, using perhaps the flexible feelers beneath the snout to search out the exact location and nature of the food. The Catostomi, or “suckers,” are essentially scavengers, al- though devouring also the weaker kinds of living animals. The same is true of the horn-pout and other species of cat-fish. If we pass from the vertebrates to the articulates, we shall here find scavengers in every class. Among the insects, we may notice first the flies, some species of which are present to lay their eggs or deposit their larvæ in every animal as soon as it is dead. And how vast is the work which these little animals accomplish in transforming noxious substances into their own tissues. A single fly by means of her progeny can probably devour an ox quicker than can a hyena! Mosquitoes in their larval state are also among the most im- portant scavengers. They feed on the decaying organic sub- stances which abound in the stagnant waters everywhere, and thus they help to remove the fruitful sources of malaria. There- fore we may put this fact down to their credit when we lie awake in the summer night, defending ourselves against the at- tacks of these pests in their adult state. How many of the eighty or one hundred thousand species of beetles are scavengers, we may perhaps never know. But that there are many beetle scavengers we well know ; and all are aware how constantly the common carrion beetles (Silpha, Figure 20) are engaged in the work so important to the higher a ae animals and to man. No sooner is a dead ani- mal thrown upon the ground and decay begins, than these beetles commence their work of render- ing it harmless. Some species of carrion beetles have the habit of burying all the small animals which they find,—and they find out with as- (Fre. 20.) tonishing quickness where such animals are. CARRION BEETLE They bury animals by constantly digging be- neath them ; and when they have sunk them into the ground, out of sight, the females lay their eggs in them, so that when the young hatch they find themselves in the midst of suitable food. Among the Myriapods there are also some species which are scavengers. This is true of the well-known galley-worm (Iulus) found under rubbish and which quickly coils up when disturbed. 1877.] A Few Words about Scavengers. 133 It is not pleasant for the epicure to learn that the lobster (Figure 21) is essentially a scavenger; but in a list of scaven- gers this and other crustaceans, notwithstanding their exhibi- tion of true predaceous habits, cannot be omitted. They eagerly feed upon the dead organic materials which they find at the bot- tom of the ocean. The lobster fishermen well understand the scavenger habits of these crustaceans, and accordingly bait their lobster traps with pieces of fishes and of other animals, and then sink them to the bottom. What a wonderful chemistry these animals must possess to enable them to convert refuse animal matter into the delicious white muscle which most of us relish so much! And here it may be remarked that crustaceans are among the few gers whose flesh is prized for food by man. (Fig. 21.) AMERICAN LOBSTER (HOMARUS AMERICANUS). Most scavengers are of benefit to man only by aiding in keeping the air and the waters pure. The mollusks have their scavengers. The strombs, whose heavy broad-lipped and deeply notched shells (Figure 22) are familiar objects in all of our museums, are prominent examples. The strombs are reckoned among the carnivorous gasteropods, but they are carnivorous in the same sense as are the vultures among birds, — they are carrion-eaters. And in this same cate- sory belong the slugs (Limax), and others. Clams, oysters, mussels, ete. (Figure 23), are to a certain ex- tent scavengers. They feed upon whatever organie particles are brought to the mouth by the vibratile cilia of the gills. It ìs thus, in part, that these mollusks remove the fine particles from turbid and impure waters and ultimately render them clear. 134 A Few Words about Scavengers. [ Mareh, I hasten to say, however, that bivalve mollusks do not feed wholly and probably not inainly on decaying organic particles. The currents of water, alluded to above, bear also all kinds of microscopic plants and animals which abound in the water where these bivalves live. To what extent radiates and protozoans are represented by scavengers I am not now prepared to state, but reasoning from (Fie. 22.) STROMB (Fra. 23.) FRESH-WATER MUSSEL (STROMBUS PUGILIS). (UNIO COMPLANATUS). what we see in the other branches of the animal kingdom, we may at least suppose that there are true scavengers in these lowest branches also; and that their structure and appearance are perhaps as remarkable as are found in the higher forms. And is there not something remarkable in the general ap- pearance of scavengers as well as in their habits? Does not the hyena present a marked appearance among mammals, and the vulture among birds ? The facts about scavengers suggest many interesting ques- tions. Why are there scavengers at all? Especially why are there scavengers in localities and regions where living animal food is apparently in great abundance? What is their origin? Have they existed from the beginning of animal life on the globe? When did the first individuals begin to appear in the various groups? Is their structure the result of their habits, or have their habits determined their structure ? The facts about scavengers are well known to all naturalists ; and they are facts, without doubt, of deep significance. But am not aware that the existence of scavengers has been explained in accordance with the modern views in biology. It may possibly be replied that there is nothing specially re- markable in the existence of scavengers, when viewed in the light of the doctrines of natural selection. There is but little 1877.]| Provisional Hypothesis of Saltatory Evolution. 135 doubt that the masters in modern biological thought have a ready answer to all or most of the questions which naturally arise in a thinking mind while considering the existence of scav- engers among animals. Is not the subject worthy of their further attention, and may we not have the pleasure of reading their views in the Naturalist ? ON A PROVISIONAL HYPOTHESIS OF SALTATORY EVOLUTION. BY W. H. DALL. is has long been brought forward, as against the Evolutionary Theory, that there were missing links in the chain of devel- opment which could not fairly be charged to the account of de- ficiencies in the palzontological record. This is the chief weapon of all opponents to the doctrines so generally received by mod- ern naturalists. The number of instances in which the objection is well founded has been much exaggerated, but that there are cases of the kind will not, I think, be denied by any impartial student, though some imprudent partisans of the new faith have rather scoffed at the idea. Having confidence that evolution when fully understood in all its modes will prove amply sufficient to account for all phases of organization, and realizing that leaps, gaps, saltations, or whatever they may be called, do occur, I have for some years made this branch of the subject a matter of reflection in the hope of arriving at some clew to the mode. _ Ihave had my attention more especially called to the matter in studying a phase of the kind of evolution I have here termed saltatory, which is especially referred to in Cope’s paper on the : rigin of Genera, where, if I recollect rightly, it finds expression m the paradox that “the same species may belong to two dif- ferent genera.” 1 That is, more explicitly, that species which are abundantly proved to be distinct from each other by generic char- acteristics may be, so far as their specific characters are concerned, hot distinguishable from one another. Such cases are mentioned by Cope in the paper alluded to, and there are other well-known instances of the paradox among birds, Crustacea, and Brachiopoda. Q.) As an illustration of how the apparent leaps, which . Not having seen Professor Cope’s paper since about the time of its publication, and a copy not being accessible to me at this time, I may not have quoted the exact Words, but the idea is the same 136 Provisional Hypothesis of Saltatory Evolution. [Mareh, nature occasionally exhibits, may still be perfectly in accordance with the view that all change is by minute differences gradually accumulated in response to the environment, I would offer the following example : — In any sloping gutter of a paved street not too cleanly swept, every one will have noticed during a sudden shower how small particles of earth and other materials will sometimes act as a dam, producing a puddle which, relieved by partial drainage, may for a time appear to remain in statu quo. A time comes, however, when the gradually accumulated pressure suddenly sweeps the dam before it for a short distance. Then another similar pool is formed, and so on indefinitely. (2.) The modern idea of a species may be stated to be a greater or lesser number of similar individual organisms in which for the time being the majority of characters are in a condition of more or less stable equilibrium ; and which have the power to trans- mit these characters to their progeny with a tendency to maintain this equilibrium. (3.) This tendency may be in some cases sufficiently strong to resist for a considerable period the changes which a gradual modification of the environment may tend to bring about. When the latter has reached a pitch which renders the resistance no longer effectual, it is conceivable that a sudden change may take place in the constitution of the organism, rapidly adapting it once more to its surroundings, upon which the tendency to equi- librium may reassert itself in the minor characteristics, and these may, as it were, crystallize once more in a manner not dissimilar in its results to the form which was recognizable in the earlier generic type. (4.) If among a certain assemblage of individuals forming a species the tendency to maintain the specific equilibrium is (as it should be, a priori) transmitted to individual offspring in dif- ferent degrees of intensity, a gradual separation may take place between those with the stronger tendency to equilibrium, and those with less. 5 (5.) Those yielding to the pressure of the environment (let us say in the manner indicated in paragraph 3) must by the law of natural selection become better adapted to it, and with their changed generic structure may be able to persist. (6.) On the other hand, those with the broader base, so to speak, with an inherited tendency to remain unshaken by the modifications of the environment, may be conceived as being and 1877.] The Flora and Fauna of the Florida Keys. 137 remaining, through this tendency, less injuriously affected by adverse circumstances and consequently might still endure. (7.) In short, natural selection in the one case might find its fulcrum in the easy adjustment of characters; and in the other case in the inherited persistency in equilibrium, by which the organism would be rendered more or less indifferent to the injurious elements of the environment as well as to its favorable . phases. (8.) The intermediate individuals, by the hypothesis, would be those least fitted to persist in any case, and therefore would be few in number and rapidly eliminated. Then we should have a parallel series of species in two or even more genera, existing simultaneously. -) The above hypothesis would account for the special class coming under the paradox quoted, and has an important bearing on the interpretation of certain embryological changes. For other forms of Saltatory Evolution attention should be directed to the inherited tendency to equilibrium which is the converse of the in- herited tendency to vary, but which has hardly been granted the place in the history of evolution to which its importance entitles it. Mr. Darwin, whom nothing escapes, has apparently recog- nized it in his testimony to the “ remarkably inflexible organiza- tion ” of the goose. Other writers seem to have been chiefly at- tracted by the converse of this tendency, as, under the circum- stances, is most natural. It seems as if the preceding reasoning might serve as a key to many puzzling facts in nature, and perhaps deprive the catastro- Phists of their most serviceable weapon. HINTS ON THE ORIGIN OF THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF THE FLORIDA KEYS. BY L. F. DE POURTALES. URING several seasons passed on or near the Florida reefs and keys, engaged in sounding and dredging in the Gulf Stream, in the service of the United States Coast Survey, I had — Occasion to make a few observations on the vegetable and ani- mal inhabitants of the islands. They were of course made with- out system, only in such places where the steamer happened to be in stormy weather, and I have been obliged to complete them as much as possible by the observations of others. Incomplete , -as they still are, they are given in the hope of drawing the atten- 138 The Flora and Fauna of the Florida Keys. — [March, tion of future visitors to this interesting region to several points in the mode of introduction of plants and animals into a new region, worthy of more extended study. e have here a curious example, on a very small scale to be sure, of land of comparatively recent origin, which has received its flora and fauna from two different and very distinct sources, the West Indies and the North American Continent, and, as it seems, the flora chiefly from the former, the fauna mostly from the latter. For a proper understanding of the subject I must refer to the description of the Florida keys and reefs, by Professor Agassiz, in the Coast Survey Report for 1851 (it was never published im extenso), and in his Methods of Study ; also to an able paper on the same subject, by the late Lieut. E. B. Hunt, of the United States Engineers, in the Coast Survey Report for 1862, and the American Journal of Science, vol. xxxv. Lieutenant Hunt expresses the opinion that the reefs and keys shoot out as it were by their western end into the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. He says, ‘“* The well-traced curve along which this grand Florida bank thrusts itself out into the deep waters of the gulf is strikingly significant of some continuous and: regular agency in its production. The adjacent flow of the Gulf Stream would most naturally be assumed to govern in some way the production of this curve. It however runs in the contrary direction to serve this explanatory use, and it is in fact rarely found to run close in upon the reef. There is, however, an eddy, countercurrent, intermitting in character and of variable rate, but on the whole a positive and prevailing current.” We have not, unfortunately, observations enough of the currents near the reef to confirm these remarks otherwise than by a few scattered and often contrary ones, but judging by the effects, the above statement 18 undoubtedly true, and theoretically we should expect to find a countercurrent in the concave side of a bend of the main current. To the effect of this eddy ought to be added the still more regu- lar westward action of the trade-wind and the flood tide. The formation of new islands and the westward extension of the reef are, however, probably of more than secular slowness, and the first discoverers of what was then called The Martyrs found them very nearly as we see them now. We may even have to record riods of retrogression as we do in glaciers, when a period of : exceptionally frequent or violent hurricanes destroys more than the growth of corals and the piling up of their débris can supply: 3 Reo 1877.] The Flora and Fauna of the Florida Keys. 139 Thus in the past forty years, Looe Key, part of Sand Key, and North Key, at the Tortugas, have been swept off and replaced by shoals. The actual western termination of the system of keys is at Loggerhead Key, one of the Tortugas, but shoal ground ex- tends some twenty miles farther west. The reef proper termi- nates opposite the Marquesas, about forty miles east of the Tor- tugas. The ancient reef which preceded the one which formed the keys did not extend as far west by more than one hundred miles, terminating about Cape Sable.1 The formation of the keys to the westward of Key West plainly shows their more recent origin. The Tortugas consist mostly of coarse coral sand, sometimes unconsolidated, sometimes, as at Loggerhead Key, forming a soft rock, quite different from the harder limestone of Key West. At Loggerhead its very recent origin is plainly seen by its containing occasionally pieces of metal from wrecks, such as bolts, nuts, nails, ete. East Key of the same group seems to be washing away at its southern end and forming anew at the north. North Key, which has been mentioned as having disappeared, is said to have had the only well of fresh water in the group. It was explained by my in- formant, probably correctly, as having been composed of very fine sand, more apt to retain the rain-water unmixed than the coarser sand of the other keys. The marine fauna of the coral region of South Florida is a West Indian colony engrafted on the more or less North Amer- ican fauna of the east and west coasts of the peninsula. From Cape Florida and from Cape Sable northward the reef corals and their commensals are not found, the calcareous is replaced by silicious sand, oyster banks fill the bays, and a great change is apparent by a mere look at the prevailing shells thrown up on the beaches. í ; The flora of the keys is very largely West Indian in its ori- gin. Mr. Frederick Brendel has given in yol. viii. No. 8, of this journal, interesting remarks on the species of plants common to fossil Corals found in them would be of interest to compare with more recent ones, Pith the coast. I take this opportunity to say that the Museum of Comparative 93y in Cambridge would be thankful for a set of the fossil corals of Tampa Bay. 140 The Flora and Fauna of the Florida Keys. [March, South Florida, the West Indies, and Mexico, to which I refer the reader. I would only state that the anomaly noticed by Mr. Brendel in the number of species common to South Florida and Mexico being so much smaller than those common to the former and the West Indies can hardly be explained by a former connection of the land as he seems to imply. The distribution of animals, as we shall see, would not bear out this theory. No botanist, as far as I can find, has made a discrimination be- tween the flora of the keys proper and that of the mainland of South Florida; it would no doubt show that some of the few plants common to Northern and Southern Florida do not extend to the islands; the pine is a conspicuous example, its growth being apparently incompatible with pure calcareous soil; the Pine Keys, back of the main range, are the only ones bearing a growth of pines, and they have silicious sand, as I was informed by Professor Agassiz. I have often regretted not having visited them. Seen from the middle of Key Biscayne Bay the differ- ence between the mainland and the keys is quite conspicuous. — The border of mangroves is of course the same on both sides, but above it on the former the horizon is closed by the pine forest 50 characteristic of the shores of the Southern States, while on the latter the larger trees are fig-trees of two or three species, the quassia (Simaruba), the torchwood (Bursera), the mahogany, and a few others, interspersed with a dense shrubbery, in which several species of Hugenia are perhaps the most common and characteristic. Near the water the Coccoloba, or sea-grape, forms conspicuous groups, and on muddy shores the mangrove and the Avicennia, called locally the black mangrove, are always ready to consolidate the new-made land, the former by its air roots a numerous floating fruits, the latter by its creeping roots. eee sandy places the palmetto seems to monopolize the ground, but — ; never rises to more than ten or fifteen feet. The tree vegetation seems to be most luxuriant, comparatively speaking, about the central part of the chain of keys, say from ` Key Largo to Key West. At Key West it has an appearance of decline, though it is hardly a fair point of comparison, as ™ of the trees suitable for fire-wood have been destroyed and many Os trees and plants introduced which have changed the aspect do the vegetation. West of this, however, the change becomes more ae marked, until finally we reach the Tortugas, where I made wa o point to try to collect every plant growing on the group. I think I nearly succeeded, and obtained only fourteen species, which my 1877. ] The Flora and Fauna of the Florida Keys. 141 friend, Mr. Lesquereux, had the kindness to determine for me. They are Suriana maritima, the largest shrub covering most of the islands, improperly called bay-cedar by the inhabitants ; Tournefortia gnaphalioides; Avicennia tomentosa, a few crippled specimens on Bush Key, and also growing on the parade ground of Fort Jefferson ; Scevola Plumieri ; Euphorbia glabella, Cordia bullata, probably introduced near the light-house ; Ambrosia erithmifolia ; Nasturtium tanacetifolium ; Battatas littoralis ; a large Opuntia, probably introduced ; an undetermined Labiate ; Cenchrus tribuloides; Cyperus microdontus and Eragrostis ma- erantha. This scarcity of plants may be attributed to various causes, but the principal one is no doubt the more recent formation of these islands, more imperfect consolidation, and the as yet insuffi- cient accumulation of vegetable soil. The distribution of seeds may also be influenced by the currents in such a way as to be’ left in greater numbers on the keys farther east, which would be first touched by the eddy currents of the Gulf Stream ; but this question I would only touch upon under great reserve. > It would be an interesting study for a resident botanist to col- lect the numerous seeds thrown on the beaches of Florida and test their germinative powers. Some kinds seem to germinate, but still not to grow up to maturity. Thus I have seen the cocoanut germinating among the rubbish thrown up by the sea, but do not recollect seeing a tree grown up under such circum- stances, although it does well under cultivation. Among the most common and conspicuous seeds found on the beaches are the large beans of Entada gigalobium, so well protected by their hard skin that they stand transportation by the Gulf Stream as far as Spitzbergen. Yet they do not germinate in Florida, so far as I know. The land animals, as has been stated, are mostly immigrants from the mainland, with some exceptions which will be noted. The few mammals are entirely North American, and it is inter- esting to note how far the different species have penetrated along the chain of islands. For much of this informatian I am indebted to Colonel Patterson, one of the oldest residents of Key West, and a keen sportsman in his younger days. The deer and the raccoon have wandered as far as Key West; beyond this no mam- mals are found. The deer is probably destroyed at present, but the raccoon is still not uncommon. There may be a small rodent m addition, and perhaps the aquatic rabbit of the Southern 142 The Flora and Fauna of the Florida Keys. [March, States. The bear does not extend so far —I think only to Mata- cumbe—and is probably only a visitor at the time when the turtles lay their eggs, of which he is said to be very fond; there would be little food for him at other times. Key Largo which is connected by a narrow isthmus with the mainland has the mammals of the latter, opossums, squirrels, ete. A burrowing rabbit, according to Colonel Patterson, is found on Rabbit Key, a very small and isolated islet in the bay or sound between the mainland and the keys. To reach Key West from Key Largo, some fifteen or more channels (some of them three or four miles wide) have to be crossed in passing from island to island. The want of fresh water is the probable inducement for the under- taking! The absence of North American mammals from Cuba and the Bahamas would seem to give a great antiquity to the present course of the Gulf Stream which has proved an impass- able barrier. Of birds little can be said on account of their wandering habits. After hurricanes, birds from Cuba are often taken here, _ which are not seen at other times. A list of the regular breed- ing birds would be interesting. For the batrachia and reptiles I can only give a list for Key West, kindly made up for me by Mr. Garman from the collec- tion in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy. The batrachia are Hyla cinerea and Scaphiopus solitarius; the snakes, Zro- pidonotus compressicaudus, Coryphodon constrictor (Tortugas), Elaphis obsoletus and guttatus, Liopeltis cestivus, Crotalus ada- manteus ; the saurians, Plestiodon quinquelineatum, Cnemido- phorus sealineatus, Anolis principalis, and Spherodactylus nota- tus. The chelonians are represented by Thyrosternum Penn- sylvanicum ; the salt-water terrapin is said to be found at the - Marquesas, between Key West and the Tortugas, but I have never seen a specimen. All of these, with the exception of Spherodactylus, from Cuba, are North American species. The batrachia are said by Wallace to be very seldom represented in insular faune, being rapidly killed by salt water. The two species mentioned above may have been transported with soil from the mainland, which has been sometimes brought to enrich the gardens. - Of the insects I cannot speak. There will be probably found : here a considerable mixture of North American, Cuban, an 1 While on the subject of- mammals I would mention that a very imperfectly known West Indian seal is found occasionally in numbers on the Dog rocks, noth: east corner of Salt Key Bank, about one hundred miles from Key West. : 1877.] The Flora and Fauna of the Florida Keys. 143 Bahamian forms, as the distances are not too great to be trav- ersed by most flying insects. It would be an interesting study for an entomologist to find out how far North American species have adapted themselves to the West Indian flora, and how far they have varied under this influence. With regard to the land shells, I am enabled by the kindness of Mr. Thomas Bland, to give more extended lists than in the other departments. Mr. Bland, not content to give me the ben- efit of his own large stock of knowledge, has spared no pains to gather all the information within reach, principally from Mr. W. G. Binney and Mr. W. W. Calkins. Mr. Binney remarks that the fauna of the keys is quite the same as that of the mainland from Tampa Bay to the Miami River, and that this fauna is about equally derived from the great “ Southern Province” of the eastern region of North Amer- ica and from the West Indies, and gives the following lists in corroboration : — Spectes CERTAINLY DERIVED FROM THE ‘‘ SOUTHERN Region”? op NORTH America, NOT FROM WEST WEST INDIAN SPECIES FOUND IN FLORIDA. INDIES. Glandina truncata, everywhere. Zonites Gundlachi, Key West. Succinea campestris Key West. Patula vortex, mainland and keys. Polygyra Carpenteriana, Key West, Key | Helix varians, Key West to Key Hiara ey iscayne. Cylindrella Poeyana, Miami River, Polygyra septemvolva, Key West. st. h cereolus Pi Macroceranus pontificus,! Miami River to r uvulifera, “ Tampa. Pupa variolosa, r Macroceranus Gossei, Little Sarasota Bay. . "Saar J ulimus marietinus, Miami River. , Tupicola, $ Strophia incana, mainland and keys Helix pulchella, > Stenogyra octonoides, Miami River. Zonites minusculus, s Stenogyra gracillima, Miami River, Key Helicina orbiculata, “ est. ; Lignus fasciatus, Miami River, Key West. Orthalicus undatus, “‘ si ndropoma dentatum, Miami River, ey West. Sa ee Cylindrella jejuna, Miami River, Key West. From Mr. Calkins’ list I add P. incana from Key West to- Key Biscayne. That some species which are common to some of the West India Islands and to South Florida have had their origin in North America and spread from there, as stated by Mr. Binney, is a fact very difficult to account for. The currents are decidedly against it, and a former connection of the land not confirmed by a study of other classes. We may recapitulate as follows from these notes, imperfect as 1 Key West (Calkins). 146 A Provisional Hypothesis of Pangenesis. { March, selves, we should expect them to conform to the same laws. Most of the cells of the body are at any given time very perfectly adapted to the conditions under which they are placed, that is, such an adjustment has been brought about during the process of evolution of the organism, as to place each cell under such relations to its environment as are most favorable to the perform- ance of its function in the body. This state of things will last until some unfavorable change takes place in the environment, either external or internal to the body. The adjustment be- tween the cell thus affected and its conditions will of course be disturbed by the change, and if this change is great enough to check the performance of its normal functions, but not sufti- ciently great to destroy life, the cell will, after the analogy of other organisms, give birth to gemmules. As these gemmules when transmitted to the next generation are supposed to give rise to variations, we have a simple and consistent explanation of what is without doubt the greatest difficulty of the theory of natural selection: how, among the countless numbers of possible variations, a given cell ever happens to vary at the time change is needed. This explanation is all the more satisfactory since it simply embraces the unicellular organisms which compose the body under laws which are well established as applied to inde- pendent organisms. We can also understand why variations do not usually make their appearance in the individuals upon which the new conditions are first brought to bear, but in succeeding generations; for the new conditions do not result in direct varia- tion, but in the production of gemmules which are transmitted to the next generation. It may perhaps be asked why a cell produced from a gemmule should be more variable than one pro- duced by division. A cell formed by division commences its existence as a fully formed cell, but a gemmule has the absorp- tion of food and the building of a body still before it, and it will therefore be more susceptible to external conditions, just as a house in process of construction is more easily altered than one which is finished. If our assumption that newly acquired characteristics are transmitted by the male and those of long standing by the fe- male is correct, the phenomena of crossing should furnish us with a test of the hypothesis. According to the theory of evolution, animals of allied species and varieties are the descendants Of & common ancestor, and those characteristics which they have 1 common are due to this community of descent and are of long 1877.] Traces of a Voice in Fishes. 147 standing, while those peculiarities which distinguish them from each other are in most cases of later origin. If, then, we make a reciprocal cross, that is, if we select two allied species or varie- ties and cross the male of one with the female of the other, and then reverse the process, using the female of the first and the male of the second, we should expect in most cases to find a dif- ference in the offspring. Where the male of species A is crossed with the female of species B, we should expect the offspring to inherit from its mother the characteristics common to both par- ents, and from the father some of the distinctive marks of the Species or variety A. In the second case we should expect it to unite some of the features of the form B to those peculiar to the genus. To take a special case; if we cross a stallion with a female ass we should expect, according to our hypothesis, to find that the offspring exhibited the characteristics of the Equide, to- gether with some of the distinctive features of the horse, while we should expect to find that the offspring of the jackass and the mare united some of the specific features of the ass to those com- mon to both parents. It is needless to say that this experiment has been tried thousands of times with a uniform result which agrees perfectly with the demands of our hypothesis. In some cases the result of reciprocal crosses seems to directly oppose our conclusions, but the difficulty is in many instances only appar- ent. A species sometimes differs from its allies, not in having acquired new characteristics, but by reversion or arrest, and such a species will transmit its distinctive features through the female rather than through the male. Thus the Niata cattle, which Seem to be a reversion to an extinct form, are more prepotent over other varieties through the female than through the male, —— TRACES OF A VOICE IN FISHES. BY CHARLES C. ABBOTT, M. D. E speech be but the means of communicating emotions or in- tentions to other beings, even invertebrate animals possess faculties of the same nature. We see insects, such as ants, which live in so-called communities, carrying out elaborately preconcerted warlike undertakings and attacks. A beetle which in rolling the ball of dung inclosing its egg has allowed it to Sip into a hole from which it is unable to extricate it, flies away, to return in a short time with a number of assistants suffi- 148 Traces of a Voice in Fishes. [ March, cient to push the ball up the sides of the declivity by codpera- tion of labor. These creatures must, therefore, unquestionably possess some means of communicating with each other concern- ing this combination. It requires no long observation of our song birds to distinguish the different tones by which they warn their young of danger, or call them to feed, or by which they attract each other to pair. These animals, therefore, have at their control a certain number of signals which are quite ade- quate to procure for them some few of the wants of their life, and these signals, as far as we can at present guess, have been acquired and inherited in the same manner as were their in- stincts.” (Peschel. Although we are all familiar with the lazy drum-fish of our sea-coast, — and some may have heard those grunting sounds that have given this species its common name, — the little fishes of our inland brooks and more pretentious denizens of our rivers are looked upon as voiceless creatures; that if indeed they have ideas, they must express them entirely by movements, not of one portion, but by their whole bodies. But, in fact, the conditions that obtain among insects and birds, as detailed in our quotation from Dr. Peschel,! are, in a measure, applicable to our fishes; at least, in the several years of my studies of the habits of our more common species, I have concluded that certain sounds made by these fishes are really vocal efforts, and that their utterance is for the purpose of expressing an idea to others of their kind; and furthermore, that these sounds are closely connected with their breeding habits, although I have heard these same sounds at other seasons. : Probably no one has failed to notice the brilliant colors of the restless red-fin, as it darts to and fro through the clear waters of a crystal brook, or the crimson fins of the silvery roach, that ere summer has passed, pale to dull yellow and lose all their glow; but while with all our fishes there is at one time of the year a deepening of every tint, this is in no wise comparable to the gorgeous hues nature has vouchsafed to a certain few. My studies of the habits of these common fishes have suggested that the bright colors of spring, which are analogous to the breeding plumage of male birds, might possibly bear the same relationship z to vocal sounds that the songs and plumage of birds bear to each a other. With some exceptions, our finest songsters are dull-col- i ored birds. Have our plainer-tinted fishes a compensation fof 3. this attraction of color in the ability to utter sounds ? ‘ 1 The Races of Man, page 101. By Oscar Peschel. D. Appleton & Co. 1876. 1877.] Traces of a Voice in Fishes. 149 After several summers spent in observing the breeding habits of these common fishes, I have been able to form two tables, re- ferring to the breeding habits and the relationship of color and supposed voice thereto, of sixteen species of fresh-water fishes. In the first of these, I have simply separated them into bright, and dull colored species; the bright coloration referring to the breeding dress or spring coloration. In the second list, I have separated them according to their supposed vocal powers, and absence of such powers; and it will be seen on comparison that a combination of voice and color does not occur. TABLE I.1 Brilliant Colors. Dull or Silvery. Yellow perch. Spineless perch. Common sunfish. Mud sunfish. Banded sunfish. Gizzard shad. -fin. Mullet. Eel. Cat-fish. Lamprey. TABLE JI. Supposed Vocal Power. Voiceless. Spineless perch. Yellow perch. Mud sunfish. Common sunfish Gizzard shad. Red-tailed sunfish. ullet. Banded sunfish. Lamprey. Chub. Cat-fish. Roach. Eel. Red-fin. Pike. Bill-fish. We have here four species enumerated that are brilliantly colored, and seven that are dull or silvery; and of the former, none are believed to have any voice proper, while of the seven of the right-hand column, all are believed to be so endowed. In the right-hand column of Table II., it will be noticed that the “voiceless” species include the four highly colored fishes and five others, all of silvery tints, which I have carefully studied, that have no habit, so far as traceable, which would separate them from the list of species without voice. We can scarcely then avoid the conclusion, that with fishes as with birds the brill- lantly colored males, as a rule, are mostly, if not wholly, de- pendent on their hues to attract the females in the amatory season. Those who may be familiar with the common chub (Semotilus 1 aegtty’ Purposely omitted the sturgeon from the list of plainly colored fishes, as ire to make a separate study of the habits of this fish. 150 Traces of a Voice in Fishes. [ March, corporalis) will doubtless urge as an exception, that the peculiar grunting sounds made by this fish when taken from the water entitle it to a place among the list of species supposed to have a voice; but I have not been able to detect this sound except at such a time, and as the fish is then out of water and struggling, it may be involuntary. On the other hand the deep bronze and golden-green tints of the fresh-water bass, or ‘‘mud sunfish” (Acantharcus pomotis), may be maintained to be a case of high coloration, and a sexual attraction ; and the same miglit be said of the land-locked gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), but the former of these has been most frequently of all fishes observed by me to voluntarily utter sounds when confined in an aqua- rium; still I doubt not there are many exceptions, and one great objection, and at first it seems a fatal one, to the suggestions I have made is that there probably are so very many exceptions to the supposed rule. But to refer again to the case of birds. Assuming the correctness of evolution, as I do, then we need go back but a very short period in geological time to see the numer- ous species of our birds reduced to single representatives of each genus, and even far fewer of so-called genera. With the avifauna thus simplified, the differences that now exist between our som- bre-hued songsters and gayly colored songless birds, were doubt- less more marked ; and might not this be held true of our fishes also? The vast influence brought to bear upon all animals by their surroundings and the increasing struggle for existence has evolved in later times and is evolving innumerable vari- ations in the forms of life of the present time; and these changes have in so great a measure obscured the conditions that once characterized both our birds and fishes, in the matter of the re- lationship of voice and color, that what I believe to have been once a well-marked feature of animal life is now traced with difficulty. Nevertheless, the many instances of apparent voice that I have noticed, and their relationship as to color, induce me _ to believe that what is now scarcely a rule, perhaps, as obtaining among fishes, was once a law that governed them. In studying these same fishes in another phase of their habits, we see that while all of the species enumerated are active through- out the day, it cannot be questioned that some of them are far more active at night, and shun, if undisturbed, the glare of mid- day sunshine. These partially, if not strictly nocturnal species are those that I have considered as having the power to give out or utter a truly vocal sound, and they are the more plainly 1877.] Traces of a Voice in Fishes. 151 colored species. The brilliant tints being of little or no use by night necessitates the diurnal habits of those fishes possessing them, while the nocturnal species, with a voice as a compensation for color, are enabled to carry on a courtship in part by its aid which would be of little or no use during the day. Having given an outline of the conclusions reached, as to the supposed relationship of voice and color among certain fishes, let us consider in detail the characteristic habits of two of the best-known and most widely differing species of the list given. As representing the voiceless but highly tinted fishes, let us take the common sunfish (Pomotis vulgaris), and on the other hand the equally familiar cat-fish (Amiurus lynx) as an instance of a fish that has the power of uttering a sound, — that has the rudi- ments of a voice. With the bursting of the leaf-buds and disappearance of the ice from the shady nooks of our quiet inland ponds, the gayly tinted sunfish that all winter long has been lazily loafing in the deeper waters of his old-time haunts dons not another scaly coat, indeed, but so renews and polishes the old that he might well pass for another of his kind; and, coming boldly to the sunny shallows, darts restlessly about, admiring himself, I doubt not, but to his greater satisfaction being admired by others, and before the flowers of May have faded has gotten himself a mate. But the courtship of this gaudy fish has been no easy matter. Hundreds of his kind, as bright as he, have, like him, striven by the hour to clear the field of every rival ; and the clear waters are often turbid with sand and grass torn from the bed of the stream, as the older males chase each other from point. to point, endeavoring by a successful snap to rob each other of a fin. No courtship battles among birds are more earnestly fought; and as the bird with bedraggled feathers is wise enough to withdraw from the contest and quietly seek a mate when his soiled plumage is in part restored, so the sunfish with mangled fins retires from the nesting grounds. But nota sound has been made by these excited fishes, except that of the rippling water when cut by their spiny fins as they chanced to teach above the surface. N ever, when for a moment quiet, have — we chanced to see the delicate chain of silvery bubbles that escape from the mouth of the bass (mud sunfish) when, shall We say, calling to its mate? At night, I believe, the sunfish rests from his labors. I have not been able to detect any con- tinuance of his spring-time vivacity after sunset, and am led to 162 Traces of a Voice in Fishes. [ March, conclude that his sole dependence in securing a mate is in his brilliant coloring. What a contrast is presented in the lazy, dull-colored cat-fish that slowly wanders over the muddy bed of the stream, if per- chance he is moving about at all, during the day! Not a motion can be detected that is not referable, without doubt, to so prosaic a matter as the search for food. If a dozen or more come together, it is but to hunt in concert, and nothing of the nature of a contest is to be seen. But after sunset, every one of their kind becomes suddenly more animated; there is a marked restlessness in their every movement, as they congregate in large numbers in some limited area. At such a time, their presence is to be detected not only by the aid of “submarine lanterns ” and all the troublesome helps that one must employ to study fishes at night; there is an opportunity given to use one’s ears as well as eyes, and by careful, patient waiting we may hear, even from the deeper waters, a gentle humming sound that, if noticed at all, by most people would be referred to the insect life teeming about them. If, knowing or suspecting the true origin of this gentle murmur, we can, without alarming the fish, float our boat carefully to a point directly above them, we will find that scores of chains of little air bubbles are rising tO the surface ; and as the sound increases or dies away, in propor- tion to the abundance or absence of the bubbles, it is safe to refer the sound to the fishes that by voluntarily expelling the air from their bodies produce the murmurs we have mentioned. But, thanks to the aquarium, by its aid we have confirmed it. I have not the space, here, to enumerate all the circumstances connected with these voluntary emissions of sounds by certain of our fishes, seven species of which I have particularly men- tioned. Brief references to the others must here suffice. Con- cerning the first mentioned of our little list, the spineless perch, or “pirate” (Aphrodederus sayanus) : my knowledge of its habits have been mostly derived from aquarial studies, but al- though the diminutive size of the very largest specimens ob- tained —-a little over four inches in length — rendered it very difficult to be certain that sound accompanied the expulsion a air from their bodies, I am almost sure I detected it, and the actions generally of the fish were such as to render it in a high degreé probable that there was a sound heard by the female — | fishes of their kind. a o Of the percoid, that I have here called the “mud sunfish” 1877.] Traces of a Voice in Fishes. 153 (Acantharcus pomotis), there is no doubt. Not only in the muddy brooks where it is mostly found, but also when confined in an aquarium, this fish will utter at times a deep grunting sound that cannot be mistaken. That it is voluntary, too, is evident from the quick, nervous movement of the whole body, and wide distention of the gill-covers that accompanies the sound. These sounds and those of the cat-fish first called my attention to the subject of voluntary production of sound or “ voice ” in fishes. Like the spineless perch, this sunfish is, I think, strictly nocturnal in its habits, and, from aquarial observations I am le to believe, chooses a mate, and accompanies her to the nest for ovipositing only at night. Of that interesting fish, the land-locked “gizzard shad ” (Dorosoma cepedianum), my observations have led to the detec- tion of a very audible, whirring sound, not unlike the deeper notes of a coarse string of an xolian harp. Those who may have noticed, at times, the vibrating thrill that arises from the wind passing over a number of telegraph wires, will have heard a sound nearly identical. I judge that both sexes utter this sound in concert; but it may be that during the early spring the Sexes separate, to come together again some few weeks later, When spawning commences, and, in such a case, that only the males were “ singing.” We find, especially in the herring tribe, that the sexes migrate separately ; but in the case of the gizzard shad, when land-locked, as there could be no migration, this separation probably does not occur. ; The chub-sucker or mullet (Moxostoma oblongum) is another example of those dull-colored, nocturnal fishes that frequent streams with muddy beds thickly overgrown with water plants, and which have the power of audibly forcing air from their bodies. In April, with a noticeable deepening of their colora- tion, there is increased activity in every movement, and, wholly unlike their actions by day, at night they swim quite near the surface, and utter a single prolonged note accompanied by a discharge of air-bubbles. They appear to project their jaws just above the water, and force the air from beneath their gill-covers immediately below the surface, as there are two parallel streams of bubbles.. When seen in the moonlight, these bubbles appear like minute silver beads. Swimming in this way, the mullet ie often proceed a hundred yards, uttering their peculiar call ” four or five times while passing over that distance. In the lamprey (Petromyzon nigricans) we have a semi-noc- | 154 : Traces of a Voice in Fishes. | March, turnal species that I have had but few opportunities of observing closely, as it frequents rapidly running water and spends much the greater portion of its time under flat stones. On two oc- casions I have had opportunities of watching them, when paired, and thought that they uttered a peculiar sound, quite dissimilar to that of any other fish note I had heard, but it was unaccom- panied so far as I could determine by a chain of air bubbles - rising to the surface, such as always are seen to accompany the notes uttered by the chub-sucker or cat-fish. This same noise, or one very similar, was made by them when captured and taken from the water, and, in both instances, may have been involun- tary. From their peculiar anatomy, they are an exceedingly interesting species with reference to the subject of voice s0- called ; and I regret that my experience when keeping them in an aquarium did not confirm my suspicions when studying them in their proper habitat. When in an aquarium, I occasionally heard a prolonged buzzing sound that had many of the charac- teristics of what I have considered voice in other species, but it was too monotonous and protracted to be considered a voluntarily produced sound or vocal effort. If the more voice-like sounds heard, as mentioned, are characteristic of their breeding season, then it probably is strictly a “ love call,” and certainly, when paired, these fishes are exceedingly amorous. In all the instances so far mentioned of voluntarily expressed sounds or utterances of fishes, they have been referred to in con- nection with their ordinary breeding habits; not that they are never heard at other times, but because these ‘ calls” or “ songs,” or whatever they should be considered, are a marked feature of that season. In our common eel (Anguilla acutiros- tris) we have an instance of a fish possessing unmistakable ev! dences of voice, yet which may be said to have no breeding sea- son, at least when found far inland. Without inquiring into the still doubtfully determined breeding habits of the eel, it is suffi- cient here to say, that in countless thousands they pass from the sea up our rivers, and so, far inland through the most insignifi- cant brooks, and certainly often reach isolated ponds. From these ponds they seldom eseape. Here they grow to a large ais and live toa great age; yet summer after summer passes with- out any indication of their breeding. No species of fresh-water fish is more strictly nocturnal in its habits, and none are so easily studied, inasmuch as at night they are not only very active but keep continually near the surface. In the matter of voice, eels as ae | 1877.] Traces of a Voice in Fishes. 155 utter a more distinctly musical sound than any other of those I have mentioned. It isa single note, frequently repeated, and has a slightly metallic resonance. I have heard this sound only at night, and never when the animal is taken from the water by day, as when captured by a hook, so that I presume it is not in- voluntary. When a large number of eels are congregated in a small space, as when feeding on some decayed animal, I have heard this note very frequently repeated, and from the volume of sound I judge that large eels utter only a note that is dis- tinctly audible. It is well known that this fish occasionally leaves the water voluntarily and wanders a considerable distance to other streams or ponds; and when through protracted droughts a pond becomes quite dry, while other fishes perish, the eels suf- fer little inconvenience, as, snake-like, they crawl at night over a considerable stretch of land, guided by some undetermined in- stinct to the nearest water. At such a time the eel will occa- sionally utter this same clear note, especially if surprised. From what Ihave been able to determine concerning these overland journeys of the eel, they are undertaken only when the grass is well moistened with dew, and a surface of any extent devoid of thick vegetation is an effectual barrier to their progress. I would add, that I have noticed when *“ bobbing ” for eels, namely, catching them without injury to their mouths, that when squirm- ing about the bottom of the boat they not unfrequently utter this Same sound, not inaptly compared, perhaps, to the faint squeak of a mouse. I have given one instance, that of the common Pomotis, of a fish that is strictly a diurnal species, of bright coloration, and that passes through the various phases of courtship and nidi- fication without uttering a sound ; and on the other hand, more or less in detail, referred to several other fishes that are all of dull coloration, are nocturnal in their habits, and, whether volun- tarily or not, certainly at times do utter sounds. They cannot be considered as simply making a noise, this arising from the un- avoidable result of certain muscular movements. The action that produces the sound, on the contrary, I have been led to be- lieve is one intentionally performed that. the sound may result, and the fish has a distinct purpose in view in the latter, it being à call to others of its kind, which is responded to by the approach of those hearing it and for whom it was intended. | ‘hen we carefully study the entire ichthyic fauna of a given locality, say of a single small stream, as I have done in this case, 156 Traces of a Voice in Fishes. [ March, we shall undoubtedly find some exceptions to this supposed rule of dissociation of coloration and voice ; but these may be less in number than appear to us, when we consider how great a num- ber of diminutive species are found in every stream, that cannot be determined in which class they should be placed ; for while many are dull colored and doubtless possess voice (the well- known mud minnow, Melanura limi, is an excellent example), this is too faint a sound for us to detect ; but from the fact that this peculiarity can be determined in some of the larger species, it is not improbable that in earlier geological eras fishes gener- ally were of sombre tints, and possessed more decided vocal pow- ers than at present ; and that in the subsequent differentiation of genera and species, color was more and more evolved asa ge- neric character, and voice became proportionately less a feature of our fishes, but was retained in some and reappears in still stronger development in those connecting links between fishes and the higher vertebrates, culminating in the batrachians, where it is perfected by the presence of a larynx. In conclusion, it is well to quote briefly from an author who has most scientifically discussed this same subject.? He writes: “ Not only is there every reason to believe that the majority of sounds produced by fishes are not casual utter- ances, but are truly voluntary, but there is among such as give vent to them a most remarkable development of the organs of hearing in all essential particulars, for example, in the semi-cir- cular canals, otoliths, and nerves, correlative with the degree of perfection of the instrument. Further than this, as the sounds generally excel in frequency and intensity at the breeding season, it will not be unreasonable to regard them, — granting, as we do, that the chirp of the ericket and the croak of the frog is each in its way an alluring serenade, — as nuptial hymns, or, to use lan- guage ascribed to Plutarch, as ‘deafening epithalamia.’ More than this; seeing that the carp, and others of the same family, have given unmistakable proofs of their aptitude to receive some rudiments of education, and in particular to perceive certain sounds, it can yet be possible that the moral admonitions of a St. Anthony of Padua — by many still regarded as a work of supererogation — may, no less than the amorous twang of the vesical zither, after all not have fallen upon totally deaf ears.” 1 Songs of Fishes. By John C. Galton. Popular Science Review, October, 1874. (Consult also Rechefches sur les Bruits et Sons expressifs que sont entendre les Pois- sons d’Europe, par M. Dufossé. (Annales des Sciences Naturelles. Tom. xiX., XX9 1874.) With many illustrations. This article doubtless inspired the excellent one — by Mr. Galton.— EDITOR American NATURALIST.) 1877.] The Geographical Distribution of Animals, - 157 THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS: GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. BY ALFRED R. WALLACE, a now closed our survey of the animal life of the whole earth, — a survey which has necessarily been encum- bered with a multiplicity of detail, — we proceed to summarize the general conclusions at which we have arrived, with regard to the past history and mutual relations of the great regions into which we have divided the land surface of the globe. All the paleontological no less than the geological and physical evidence, at present available, points to the great land masses of the northern hemisphere as being of immense antiquity and as the area in which the higher forms of life were developed. In going back through the long series of the Tertiary formations in Europe, Asia, and North America, we find a continuous suc- cession of vertebrate forms, including all the highest types now existing or that have existed on the earth. These extinct ani- mals comprise ancestors or forerunners of all the chief forms now living in the northern hemisphere ; and as we go back farther and farther into the past, we meet with ancestral forms of those types also, which are now either confined to or specially char- acteristic of the land masses of the southern hemisphere. Not only do we find that elephants and rhinoceroses and hippopot- ami were once far more abundant in Europe than they are now in the tropics, but we also find that the apes of West Africa and Malaya, the lemurs of Madagascar, the Edentata of Africa and South America, and the marsupials of America and Australia were all represented in Europe (and probably also in North America) during the earlier part of the Tertiary epoch. These facts, taken in their entirety, lead us to conclude that during the whole of the Tertiary and perhaps during much of the Sec- ondary periods, the great land masses of the earth were, as now, Situated in the northern hemisphere ; and that here alone were developed the successive types of vertebrata, from the lowest to the highest. In the southern hemisphere there appear to have en three considerable and very ancient land masses, varying in extent from time to time, but always keeping distinct from each other, and represented, more or less completely, by Australia, South Africa, and South America of our time. Into these | Chapter xvi. of The Geographical Distribution of Animals. New York : Harper and Brothers 158 The Geographical Distribution of Animals. — [March, flowed successive waves of life, as they each in turn became temporarily united with some part of the northern land. Aus- tralia appears to have had but one such union, perhaps during the middle or latter part of the Secondary epoch, when it re- ceived the ancestors of its Monotremata and marsupials, which it has since developed into a great variety of forms. The South African and South American lands, on the other hand, appear each to have had several successive unions and separations, allow- ing first of the influx of low forms only (Edentata, Insectivora, and lemurs), subsequently of rodents and small Carnivora, and latest of all of the higher types of Primates, Carnivora, and Un- gulata. During the whole of the Tertiary period, at least, the northern hemisphere appears to have been divided, as now, into an east- ern and a western continent, always approximating and some- times united towards the north, and then admitting of much in- terchange of their respective faunas, but on the whole keeping distinct, and each developing its own special family and generic types, of equally high grade, and generally belonging to the same orders. During the Eocene and Miocene periods, the distinction of the Palzarctic and Nearctic regions was better marked than it is now, as is shown by the floras no less than by the faunas of those epochs. Dr. Newberry, in his Report on the Cretaceous and Tertiary Floras of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, states, that although the Miocene flora of Central North Amer- ica corresponds generally with that of the European Miocene, yet many of the tropical, and especially the Australian types, such as Nakea and Dryandra, are absent. Owing to the recent dis- covery of a rich Cretaceous flora in North America, probably of the same age as that of Aix-la-Chapelle in Europe, we are able to continue the comparison, and it appears that at this early pe- riod the difference was still more marked. The predominant feature of the European Cretaceous flora seems to have been the abundance of Proteacex, of which seven genera now living in Australia or the Cape of Good Hope have been recognized, be- sides others which are extinct. There are also several species of Pandanus, or screw-pine, now confined to the tropics of the east- ern hemisphere, and along with these oaks, pines, and other more temperate forms. The North American Cretaceous flora, although far richer than that of Europe, contains no Proteacee or Pandani, but immense numbers of forest trees of living and extinct genera. Among the former we have oaks, beeches, — 1877.] The Geographical Distribution of Animals. 159 willows, planes, alders, dogwood, and cypress, together with such American forms as magnolias, sassafras, and liriodendrons. There are also a few not now found in America, as Araucaria and Cinnamomum, the latter still living in Japan.. This remark- able flora has been found over a wide extent of country, New Jersey, Alabama, Kansas, and near the sources of the Missouri in the latitude of Quebec, so that we can hardly impute its pe- culiarly temperate character to the great elevation of so large an area. The intervening Eocene flora approximates closely in North America to that of the Miocene period, while in Europe it seems to have been fully as tropical in character as that of the preceding Cretaceous period, fruits of Nipa, Pandanus, Anona, Acacia, and many Proteacex occurring in the London clay at the mouth of the Thames. These facts appear, at first sight, to be inconsistent, unless we suppose the climates of Europe and North America to have been widely different in those early times; but they may perhaps be harmonized on the supposition of a more uniform and a some- what milder climate then prevailing over the whole northern hemisphere, the contrast in the vegetation of these countries be- ing due to a radical difference of type, and therefore not indica- tive of climate. The early European flora seems to have been a portion of that which now exists only in the tropical and sub- tropical lands of the eastern hemisphere, and as much of this flora still survives in Australia, Tasmania, Japan, and the Cape of Good Hope, it does not necessarily imply more than a warm and equable temperate climate. The early North American flora, on the other hand, seems to have been essentially the same ìn type as that which now exists there, and which in the Mio- cene period was well represented in Europe; and it is such as now flourishes best in the warmer parts of the United States. But whatever conclusion we may arrive at on the question of cli- Mate, there can be no doubt as to the distinctness of the floras of the ancient Nearctic and Palzarctic regions; and the view de- rived from the study of their existing and extinct faunas — that these two regions have, in past times, been more clearly sepa- tated.than they are now — receives strong support from the unex- pected evidence now obtained as to the character and mutations of their vegetable forms, during so vast an epoch as is comprised ìn the whole duration of the Tertiary period. The general phenomena of the distribution of living animals, Combined with the evidence of extinct forms, lead us to conclude 160 The Geographical Distribution of Animals. [ March, that the Palearctic region of early Tertiary times was, for the most part, situated beyond the tropics, although it probably had a greater southward extension than at the present time. It cer tainly included much of North Africa, and perhaps reached far into what is now the Sahara, while a southward extension of its central mass may have included the Abyssinian highlands, where some truly Palearctic forms are still found. This is rendered probable by the fossils of Perim Island a little farther east, which show that the characteristic Miocene fauna of South Europe and North India prevailed so far within the tropics. There existed, however, at the extreme eastern and western limits of the region, two extensive equatorial land areas, our Indo-Malayan and West African sub-regions, both of which must have been united for more or less considerable periods with the northern continent. They would then have received from it such of the higher verte- brates as were best adapted for the peculiar climatal and organic conditions which everywhere prevail near the equator ; and these would be preserved, under variously modified forms, when they had ceased to exist in the less favorable and constantly deteriorat- ing climate of the north. At later epochs, both these equato- rial lands became united to some part of the great South African continent (then including Madagascar), and we thus have ex- plained many of the similarities presented by the faunas of these distant and generally very different countries. During the Miocene period, when a subtropical climate pre- vailed over much of Europe and Central Asia, there would be no such marked contrast as now prevails between temperate and - tropical zones; and at this time much of our Oriental region, perhaps, formed a hardly separable portion of the great Palæarc- tic land. But when, from unknown causes, the climate of Eu- rope became less genial, and when the elevation of the Hima- layan chain and the Mongolian plateau caused an abrupt differ- ence of climate on the northern and southern sides of that great mountain barrier, a tropical and a temperate region were neces- - sarily formed ; and many of the animals which once roamed over the greater part of the older and more extensive region now be- came restricted to its southern or northern divisions, respectively. Then came the great change we have already described (vol. 1. p. 288), opening the newly formed plains of Central Africa to the incursions of the higher forms of Europe, and following on this, a still further deterioration of climate, resulting in that marked contrast between temperate and tropical faunas, which 18 1877.] The Geographical Distribution of Animals. 161 now one of the most prominent features in the distribution of animal as well as of vegetable forms. It is not necessary to go into any further details here, as we have already, in our discussion of the origin of the fauna of the several regions, pointed out what changes most probably occurred in each case. These details are, however, to a great extent speculative, and they must remain so till we obtain as much knowledge of the extinct faunas and past geological history of the southern lands as we have those of Europe and North America. But the broad conclusions at which we have now ar- rived seem to rest on a sufficiently extensive basis of facts, and they lead us to a clearer conception of the mutual relations and comparative importance of the several regions than could be ob- tained at an earlier stage of our inquiries. If our views of the origin of the several regions are correct, it is clear that no mere binary division into north and south, or into east and west can be altogether satisfactory, since at the dawn of the Tertiary period we still find our six regions, or what may be termed the rudiments of them, already established. The north and south division truly represents the fact that the great northern continents are the seat and birthplace of all the higher forms of life, while the southern continents have derived the greater part, if not the whole of their vertebrate fauna from the north ; but it implies the erroneous conclusion that the chief southern lands, Australia and South America, are more closely related to each other than to the northern continent. The fact, however, is that the fauna of each has been derived, independ- ently, and perhaps at very different times, from the north, with which they therefore have a true genetic relation, while any in- tercommunion between themselves has been comparatively recent and superficial, and has in no way modified the great features of animal life in each. The east and west division represents — according to our views —a more fundamental diversity, since We find the northern continent itself so divided in the earliest Eocene and even in Cretaceous times, while we have the strong- est proof that South America was peopled from the Nearctic, and Australia and Africa from the Palearctic region ; hence, the eastern and western hemispheres are the two great branches of the tree of life of our globe. But this division, taken by Itself, would obscure the facts, firstly, of the close relation and Parallelism of the Nearctic and Palwaretic regions, not only now, but as far back as we can clearly trace them in the past; and VOL. XI. — xo, 3. 11 162 The Geographical Distribution of Animals. — [March, secondly, of the existing radical diversity of the Australian region from the rest of the eastern hemisphere. Owing to the much greater extent of the old Palzaretic region (including our Oriental) and the greater diversity of Mammalia it appears to have produced, we can have little doubt that here was the earliest seat of the development of the vertebrate type, and probably of the higher forms of insects and land-mollusks. Whether the Nearctic region ever formed one mass with it, or gnly received successive immigrations from it by northern land connections both in an easterly and westerly direction, we can- not decide; but the latter seems the most probable supposition. In any case, we must concede the first rank to the Palearctic and Oriental regions, as representing the most important part of what seems always to have been the great continent of the earth, and the source from which all the other regions were sup- plied with the higher forms of life.. These once formed a single great region which has been since divided into a temperate and a tropical portion, now sufficiently distinct, while the Neare- tic region has, by deterioration of climate, suffered a considera- ble diminution of productive area, and has in consequence lost a number of its more remarkable forms. The two temperate regions have thus come to resemble each other, more than they once did, while the Oriental retains more of the zodlogical aspect of the great northern regions of Miocene times. The Ethiopian form having been once an insular region, where lower types of vertebrates alone prevailed, has been so overrun with higher types from the old Palearctic and Oriental lands that it now rivals, or even surpasses, the Oriental region in its representation of the ancient fauna of the great northern continent. Both of our tropical regions of the eastern hemisphere possess faunas which are to some extent composite, being made up in different proportions of the productions of the northern and southern con- tinents, — the former prevailing largely in the Oriental, while the latter constitutes an important feature in the Ethiopian fauna. The Neotropical region has probably undergone great fluctuations in early times; but it was, undoubtedly, for long periods completely isolated, and there developed the Edentate type of mammals and the Formicaroid type of passerine birds into a variety of forms, comparable with the diversified marsu- pials of Australia, and typical Passeres of the eastern hemi- sphere. It has, however, received successive infusions of higher types from the north, which now mingle in various degrees with — i 1877.] The Geographical Distribution of Animals. 163 its lower forms. At an early period it must have received a low form of Primates, which has been developed into the two pecul- iar families of American monkeys; while its llamas, tapirs, deer, and peccaries came in at a later date, and its opossums and extinct horses probably among the latest. The Australian region alone, after having been united with the great northern conti- nent at a very early date (probably during the Secondary period), has ever since remained more or less completely isolated, and thus exhibits the development of a primeval type of mammal, almost wholly uninfluenced by any incursions of a later and higher type. In this respect it is unique among all the great regions of the earth. We see, then, that each of our six regions has had a history of its own, the main outlines of which we have been able to trace with tolerable certainty. Each of them is now characterized — as it seems to have been in all past time of which we have any tolerably full record — by well-marked zodlogical features, while all are connected and related in the complex modes we have en- deavored to unravel. To combine any two or more of these regions, on account of existing similarities which are for the most part of recent origin, would obscure some of the most im- portant and interesting features of their past history and present ‘condition. And it seems no less impracticable to combine the whole into groups of higher rank, since it has been shown that there are two opposing modes of doing this, and that each of them represents but one aspect of a problem which can only be solved by giving equal attention to all its aspects. For reasons which have been already stated and which are sufficiently obvious, we have relied almost exclusively on the dis- tribution of living and extinct Mammalia in arriving at these conclusions. But we believe they will apply equally to elucidate the phenomena presented by the distribution of all terrestrial organisms, when combined with a careful consideration of the various means of dispersal of the different groups and the com- parative longevity of their species and genera. Even insects, which are perhaps of all animals the farthest removed from Mammalia in this respect, agree in the great outlines of their distribution, with the vertebrate orders. The regions are ad- mittedly the same, or nearly the same for both, and the dis- ‘repancies that occur are of a nature which can be explained by two undoubted facts, the greater antiquity, and the greater ties for dispersal of insects 164 The Geographical Distribution of Animals. — [March, But this principle, if sound, must be carried farther and be applied to plants also. There are not wanting indications that this may be successfully done ; and it seems not improbable that ` the reason why botanists have hitherto failed to determine, with any unanimity, which are the most natural phytological regions, and to work out any connected theory of the migrations of plants is, because they have not been furnished with the clue to the past changes of the great land masses, which could only be arrived at by such an examination of the past and present dis- tribution of the higher animals as has been here attempted. The difficulties in the way of the study of the distribution of plants, from this point of view, will be undoubtedly very great, owing to the unusual facilities for distribution many of them possess and the absence of any group which might take the place of the Mammalia among animals and serve as a guide and standard for the rest. We cannot expect the regions to be so well defined in the case of plants as in that of animals, and there are sure to be many anomalies and discrepancies, which will require long study to unravel. The six great regions here adopted are, however, as a whole, very well characterized by their vegetable forms. The floras of tropical America, of Australia, of South Africa, and of Indo-Malaya stand out with as much individuality as do the faunas, while the plants of the Palearctic and Neare” tic regions exhibit resemblances and diversities of a character not unlike those found among the animals. This is not a mere question of applying to the vegetable king- dom a series of arbitrary divisions of the earth, which have been found useful to zodlogists, for it really involves a fundamental problem in the theory of evolution. The question we have to answer is, firstly, whether the distribution of plants is like that of animals, mainly and primarily dependent on the past revo- lutions of the earth’s surface, or whether other and altogether distinct causes have had a preponderating influence in determin- ing the range and limits of vegetable forms; and secondly, whether those revolutions have been in their general ouh correctly interpreted by means of a study of the distribution an affinities of the higher animals. The first question is one for botanists alone to answer, but on the second point, the author ventures to hope for an affirmative reply, from such of his K = ers as will weigh carefully the facts and arguments he has aae duced. The hypothetical view as to the more recent of the great 1877.] Recent Literature. 165 geographical changes of the earth’s surface here set forth, is not the result of any preconceived theory, but has grown out of a careful study of the facts accumulated, and has led to a consider- able modification of the author’s previous views. It may be described as an application of the general theory of evolution, to solve the problem of the distribution of animals ; but it also fur- nishes some independent support to that theory, both by show- ing what a great variety of curious facts are explained by its means, and by answering some of the objections which have been founded on supposed difficulties in the distribution of animals in space and time. It also illustrates and supports the geological doctrine of the general permanence of our great continents and oceans, by show- ing how many facts in the distribution of animals can only be explained and understood on such a supposition, and it exhibits in a striking manner the enormous influence of the Glacial epoch, in determining the existing zodlogical features of the vari- ous continents. And lastly, it furnishes a more consistent and intelligible idea than has yet been reached by any other mode of investigation of all the more important changes of the earth’s surface that have probably occurred during the entire Tertiary period, and of the influence of these changes in bringing about ' the general features, as well as many of the more interesting de- tails and puzzling anomalies of the geographical distribution of animals, RECENT LITERATURE. Memorrs or tHe Grotoaican Survey or Kentucky.’ — The first fruits of the reéstablished Geological Survey of Kentucky appear in a large and admirably illustrated volume of memoirs. Professor Shaler publishes papers on the antiquity of the caverns and on the fossil brachiopods of the Ohio Valley, and, in conjunction with Mr. Carr contributes the first of a series of papers on the prehistoric remains of Kentucky ; while Mr. Allen furnishes an elaborate memoir on the erican bisons, living and extinct. The first of Professor Shaler’s Papers has already appeared in the memoirs of the Boston Natural His- tory Society, and Mr. Allen’s monograph is published simultaneously by the Museum of Comparative Zoology. The latter paper forms the bulk of the volume (246 pp.) and is illustrated by twelve plates, half of them double, and bya map of North America. It is one of the most com- mt Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Kentucky. N.S. SHALER, Director. Vol. I. ambridge, 1876. 4to, pp- 360, 27 plates, 1 map. 166 Recent Literature. [ March, plete monographs ever published in this country, and a notable contri- bution to American science. The author recognizes two species of fossil bisons in America, B. latifrons and B. antiquus and a single living . species, B. Americanus, of which he considers B. antiquus the immedi- ate progenitor. The systematic part of the work, including a full ac- count of the variation and habits of the recent species, extends over seventy pages, and the plates are illustrative of this portion. The map accompanies the larger part of the work, which relates to the past and present geographical distribution of the American bison and presents an appalling picture of the reckless waste and rapidly diminishing numbers of this noble animal. By most painstaking research among historical works and systematic inquiry among living witnesses, he has established the boundaries of the.range of the “buffalo” as it existed when the white man first landed in America and at successive epochs to the pres- ent time, when it has become separated into a northern and a southern herd occupying comparatively restricted areas. The details extend over one hundred pages, but in the first part of his work Mr. Allen gives a general summary, as follows : — “ The habitat of the bison formerly extended from Great Slave Lake on the north, in latitude about 62°, to the northwestern provinces of Mexico, as far south as latitude 25°. Its range in British North Amer- ica extended from the Rocky Mountains on the west to the wooded highlands about six hundred miles west of Hudson’s Bay, or about to a line running southeastward from the Great Slave Lake to the Lake of the Woods. Its range in the United States formerly embraced a consid- erable area west of the Rocky Mountains, its recent remains having been found in Oregon as far west as the Blue Mountains, and farther south it occupied the Great Salt Lake Basin, extending westward even to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, while less than fifty years since it ex- isted over the head waters of the Green and Grand rivers, and other sources of the Colorado, East of the Rocky Mountains its range ex- tended southward far beyond the Rio Grande, and eastward throughout the region drained by the Ohio River and its tributaries. Its northern limit east of the Mississippi was the Great Lakes, along which it ex- tended eastward to near the eastern end of Lake Erie: It appears not to have occurred south of the Tennessee River, and only to a limited extent east of the Alleghanies, chiefly in the upper districts of North, and South Carolina.” “ Its present range embraces two distinct and comparatively small areas. The southern is chiefly limited to Western Kansas, a part of the Indian Territory, and Northwestern Texas, — in all together embracmg a region about equal in size to the present State of Kansas. The voe ern district extends from the sources of the principal southern tributa- ries of the Yellowstone northward into the British Possessions, embrac- ing an area not much greater than the present Territory of Montana 1877.] Recent Literature. 167 Over these regions, however, it is rapidly Bik a and at its pres- ent rate of decrease will certainly sys e wholly extinct during the next quarter of a century.” (Pages 54-55.) here can be no question that the present generation will see the utter extinction of the bison unless some means are speedily taken by the general government, or by the territories to which its range is now restricted, to protect it by the establishment and stringent enforcement of laws providing for close time and limited slaughter. One hundred thousand killed in four months around Fort Dodge; two hundred thou- sand in a single season in Kansas, merely for the hides; three thousand by one man in one winter, — such are the statistics to which our atten- tion is called. Mr. Allen also gives a chapter on the products of the bison, the chase, and the possibilities of domestication; and Professor Shaler adds an interesting note on its age in the Ohio Valley, where he judges that the animal made its advent very recently, principally because its bones occur at Big Bone Lick only in the more superficial strata, where they are exceedingly abundant. Professor Shaler’s paper on the. brachiopods is the first of a series, and treats of but a few species; these, however, are described with the greatest minuteness and care and very richly illustrated by heliotypes. In their joint essay on prehistoric remains, Messrs. Shaler and Carr discuss implements only, leaving other subjects for future treatment. All of the objects they describe and figure are “surface finds,” and they profess to make no attempt to assign any of the specimens that have come within their observation to any particular period of time or phase of civilization. The introductory remarks on the mode of manufactur- ing stone implements by savage races and the chapters on the source of distribution of the stone fin plemnbnth of Kentucky, and on their antiq- uity, will be found very interesting. Hancket’s Hisrory or Creation.2— Had Mr. Darwin when he first conceived the idea of natural selection, on his return from the voyage of the Beagle, had this book of Haeckel’s thrust into his hands, he might then have stood aghast at the lengths to which the audacious German author goes. Here is a petidelogtoil table of the entire or- ganie world — the work of how many coming centuries we dare not pre- dict — anticipated and set down in actual tables with all the assurance and confidence of an old-time prophet. The missing links even are all chris- tened and diagnosed, from those which he thinks connected man with the * If Colonel Dodge’s statements in his recently published work, The Hunting- Grounds of the Great West, may be trusted, the range of he bison was already much restricted j vais ry of Creation : or, the Development of the Earth and its Inhabitants by the eS soya al Causes. From the German of Erxst Hacker. The Translation revised by Prof. E. Ray Lankesrer. In 2 vols. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1876. 12mo. $5.00 168 Recent Literature. [ March, monkeys to those which bound him to the Ascidians, and so on to the “ primordial slime.” As to reducing man’s free will to that of a monad, his soul to the functional activity of the brain, his creator to the energy pervading matter, —in this Haeckel was caught napping; it is an old story. We are from first to last struck by the guileless faith of the man, a quality sometimes combined with an intensity of purpose and, we may add, an intolerance of opposing views which characterize the seer. We have here none of the halting in judgment and caution of Darwin, but rather the special pleading of the advocate of a unique theory which gives no quarter to any other. The merit of the History of Creation is that it gives a rapid, clear-cut, dogmatic sketch of the subject. And though Haeckel’s mode of settling the universe may be quite different from ours, his sketch of the origin of the animal world may be a rough approximation to what will probably be found on future research a reasonably truthful history. As an expo- sition of Darwinism as such, with its possible, not probable, consequences, it is the best in the language, now that we have such an excellent trans- lation of the Geschépfungsgeschichte which was published in 1868. The work is certainly original and striking in its many suggestions, and it has this unusual merit, that as an exposition of Darwinism by an ultri Darwinian it gives Lamarck full credit as the founder of the modern doctrine of transmutation or evolution. The work has so long been in the hands of the public that it would be superfluous for us to enter into a more detailed criticism or examination of its contents, but in closing we would say that any naturalist who has not read it has a treat before him, whether he accepts all the author’s conclusions or not. Tue WARFARE or Science.1— Though the battle of evolution has been fought, and the victory of the evolutionists complete, divines and metaphysicians falling into the lines of the victors, there are some wno do not seem to be aware that they have been vanquished. ‘Their eyes may be opened by President White’s candid and impartial review of the struggles of scientific men with the bigoted of past ages as well as of the present period. He concludes: “First. In every case, whether the war has been long or short, forcible or feeble, science has at last gained the victory. Secondly. In every case interference with science, in the sup- posed interest of religion, has brought dire evils on both. Thirdly. In every case while this interference, during its continuance, has tended to divorce religion trom the most vigorous thinking in the world and to make it odious to multitudes of the most earnest thinkers, the triumph of science has led its former conscientious enemies to make new inter- pretations and lasting adjustments, which have proved a blessing to relig- ion, ennobling its conceptions and bettering its methods.” Jounson’s CrcLoræpia.? — We have already called attention to- 1 The Warfare of Science. By Axprew D. Wate, LL. D. New York: D. Ap- pleton & Co. 12mo, pp. 151. $1.00. Johnson's New Universal Cyclopedia: a Scientific and Popular Treasury of Useful a E a 1877.] Recent Literature. : 169 this work and to the features that render it especially serviceable to nat- uralists. It is strong in the scientific articles. The present volume con- tains articles by Abbe, Barnard, T. M. Brewer, Cope, Farlow, Gray, Goodale, Gill, Guyot, Henry, Marsh, Mayer, Morgan, Newberry, Pack- ard, Pumpelly, Riley, Shaler, Verrill, and Wurtz. We regret to see no biographical notice of the late Mr. F. B. Meek, so eminent as a palæon- tologist, nor of Haeckel or Gegenbaur. The fourth volume will appear early this year. NT Books AND PAMPHLETS. — The Geographical Distribution of Animals. With : a Study of the Relations of Living and Extinct Faunas, as elucidating the Past Changes of the Earth’s Surface. By Alfred Russel Wallace. In two volumes. With Maps and Illustrations. New York : Harper & Brothers. 1876. 8vo, pp. 503, 607. :00. Climate and Time in their Geological Relations : a Theory of Secular Changes of the Earth’s Climate. By James Croll. New York; D. Appleton & Co. 1875. 12mo, pp. 577 The His story of Creation: or the Development.of the Earth and its Inhabitants by the Action of Natural Causes. A popular exposition of the Doctrine of Evolution German of Ernst Haeckel. The Translation revised by Prof. E. Ray Lankester. In 2 vols. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1876. 12mo, pp. 374, 408. With Illustra- 00. A Class-Book of Chemistry, on the Basis of the New System. By Edward L. Youmans, M.D. Rewritten and revised, Tyge pi new Illustrations. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 1876. 12mo, pp. 348. $1. Elements of Physics or Natural el Wia » Neil Arnott. Seventh edition, edited by Alexander aie and A. S. Taylor. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1877. 12mo, pp. 873. Inventional ces: a Series of Problems, intended to familiarize the Pupil with . metrical Conceptions, and to exercise his Inventive Faculty. By W. G. Spencer. With a Prefatory a by Herbert Spencer. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1877. Small 12mo, p Lessons i rnd as mieh in Mind and Matter. By St. George Mivart. New York. 1876. 12m o, pp The Warfare of ie By iden a D. White. New York :* D. Appleton & Co. 1876. 12mo, pp. 151. from the second shige edition. ef A. R. Macdonough. New York : Dà & Co. 1875. 12m pp. 363. $2.00 The Chemistry of Light and Photography. By Dr. Hermann Vogel. With 1 Miustrations laserem Scientific Series.) New York : „DÐ. Appleton & Co. mo, p $2. The Five Senses of Man, By Julius Bernstein. (The nio Scientific mat eag 91 Wood-Cuts. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1876. 12mo, pp. T k. of Light, with a General Account of Physical Opties.. By Dr. Eugene Lommel. (The International Scientific Series.) With 188 Karen AA and a Plate A get a in | Chromo-lithography. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1876. 12mo, 5 nowledge. a with Maps, Plans, and Engravings. Editors-in-chief, F. A. Barwarp and Arnotp Guyor. In 4 vols. Vol. iii, Lichfield—R. A. J. John- son & “agg New York. 1877. 4to, pp. 1760. $10.00 for each volume. 170 General Notes. [ March, Mines and Mineral Statistics of New South Wales, etc. Compiled by direction of the Hon. John Lucas, M. P., Minister for Mines. Also Remarks on the Sediment- ary Formations of New South Wales. By the Rev. W. B. Clarke, etc. Sydney. 1875. 8vo, pp. 252. The Art of Projecting. A Manual of aaa Acne, in Physics, Chemistry, and Natural History with the Porte-Lumitre and Magic Lantern. By Prof. A. E. Dol- Illustrated. Boston: Lee & Shepard. ah 12mo, pp. 158. ot Thier Leben. Von A. E. Brehm. Erste Reihe. Die Handthiere. Hefti. Leip- zig. 1877. 8vo. Profusely illustrated. For sale by B. Westermann & Co., New ork. Science Lectures at South Kensington. Photography. By Captain Abney. Sound and Music. By Dr. W. H. Stone. Kinematic Models. By Professor Kennedy. With Illustrations. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. 1876. 12mo. 20 cents each. Manchester Science Lectures for the People. Eighth Series. 1876-77. What the Earth is Composed of. Three Lectures by Professor ese? With Illustrations. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. 1876. 12mo, pp. 40. 20 cents. Scientific Results of the Exploration of Alaska. By she parties under the charge of W. H. Dall, during the Years 1865-1874. Vol. i., No.1. Introductory Note on the Marine Faunal Regions of the North Pacific, by W. H. Dall. Art I. Report on the Hydroids, by S. F. Clark, with Plates i-x. Art. II. On the Extension of the Seminal Products in Limpets, with Remarks on the Phylogeny of the Docoglossa, by W. H. Dall. December, 1876. W. H Dall, Smithsonian Institution. Wash- ington, D. C . 34. Bulletin of the Miindis Museum of Natural History. No.1. Bloomington, Ill. December, 1876. 8vo, pp. 76. Report upon New Species of Coleoptera collected by the Expeditions for SI graphical Surveys west of the 100th Meridian. Lt. G. M. Wheeler in charge. L. LeConte; being extract from Appendix JJ of the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1876. Washington, D 8vo, pp. 5 Biographical Notice of the late Archibald R. Marvine. By J. W. Powell. (From p. 8- Palæontological Bulletin, No. 23. On some epo Reptiles and Batrachia from the Judith River and Fox Hills Beds of Monta Co the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Kaisi of Philadelphia, December, 1876.) vo, pp. Half Hours with PI By A. S. Packard, Jr. Boston: Estes & Lauriat. 1877. 12mo, pp. 3 Forest Gules and Bucy Trees. By Ellwood Cooper. San Francisco. 1876 12mo, pp. 204. +$1. © a 4 gS pJ O et © for > © B GENERAL NOTES. BOTANY.! A List or THE LICHENES FOUND GROWING WITHIN Twenty MILES or YALE COLLEGE. 1. RAMALINA, Ach., De Not. 1. calicaris, Fr., var. fraxinea, Fr., on trees; and var. farinacea, Fr. on rocks; and var. canaliculata, Fr. 2. rigida, Ach. On cedars Ae Virginiana), rare ; Short Beach, Bran- ford; Alfred Barron 1 Conducted a Pror. G. L. GOODALE. 1877.] Botany. 171 2. Cerrartia, Ach., Fr. 1. Islandica, Ach. On dry ground in open woods. 2. ciliaris, Ach. On old fence rails and dead trees. 3. lacunosa, Ach., and var. Atlantica, Tuckerm. On trees,etc. Not very common. 4. aleurites (Ach.), Th., Fr. Only one specimen found, on an old fence rail ; Killingwor th; 2. W... 3. Evernta, Ach., Ma ann. prunastri (Z.), Ach. Killingworth, F. W. H.; Orange, Prof. D. C. Eaton. On rocks; not common. 4. USNEA, Ach. i l. barbata (Z.), Fr., var. florida, Fr., and var. rubiginea, Michæ., and var. dasypoga, Fr. The last var. forming long pendent gray clusters from dead limbs of our forest trees. > 2. angulata, Ach. Near Lake Saltonstall ; Prof. Eaton. Not very common. 5. To (Ach.), Nyl. bata (Z.) var. chalybeiformis, Ach. Mostly on old fence rails. 6. Paid oaii. Norm., Tuckerm. 1. parietinus (Z.), Norm., and var. lychneus, Scher. On rocks and trunks of trees. 2. chrysophthalmus (Z.), Norm., and var. flavicans, Wallr. On trunks and branches of trees: a pretty species with golden eyes. 3. concolor (Dicks.), (T. candelarius (Ach.), Nyl., var. stellata, Nyl.). On bark of trees. 7. i, (Ach.), De’ Not. l. perforata (Jacg.), Ach., and var. crinita, Tuckerm. Especially abundant on old stone walls. 2. tiliacea (Hoffm.), Floerk. On stones and bark of trees. 3. Borreri, Turn., and var. rudecta, Tuckerm. On old fence rails; Killingworth; F. W. H. 4. saxatilis (Z.), Fr. ae Alfred Barron; Killingworth, F. W. H. On ro 5. physodes (Z.), deh nee rails, ete. 6. colpodes, Ach, Wallingford; A. Barron. T. caperata (ZL. ), Ach. Old fence rails and trunks of trees. 8. conspersa (Hhrh.), Ach. Particularly abundant on exposed rocks and on old stone walls. Our most common species. 9. olivacea (Z.), Ach. On living and dead bark of trees. 8. Puyscra (Fr), Th., Fr. 1. aquila (Ach.), Nyl., var. detonsa, Tuckerm. On rocks. 2. pulverulenta (Schreb.), Nyl. Wallingford, A. Barron ; Killing- worth, F. W. H. On rocks and trunks. 3. speciosa ( Wulf., Fr.), and var. hypolenca, Ach., and var. lenco- mela (Hschw.). On rocks, ete. 172 General Notes. 3 [ March, 4. stellaris (Z.), Myl., and var. hispida, Fr. On rocks and bark of trees. 5. obscura (Hhrh.), Nyl., and var. ciliata, Tuckerm., and var. eryth- rocardia, Zuckerm., and var. adglutinata, Scher. On rocks; the latter var. abundant on currant bushes (Ribes rubrum). 9. UMBILICARIA, Hoffm. 1. pustulata (Z.), Hoffm. According to my observations, this spe- cies is most common on high rocks in river bottoms, where it is exposed to the water in times of freshets. 2. Dillenii, Tuckerm. Same habitat as above. 3. Muhlenbergii (Ach.), Tuckerm. On rocks. 10. Strora (Schreb.), Delis. 1. crocata (Z.), Ach. On trunks and rocks. 2. quercizans (Michx.), Ach. On rocks; not common. Killing- worth, F. W. H.; Orange, F. W. H. 3. pulmonaria (Z.), Ach. On trunks of trees. 4. glomerulifera (Lightf.), Delis. On rocks. 11. NEPHROMA, Ach. 1. levigatum, Ach. Killingworth and Orange; F. W. H. Not very common. 12. PeLTIGERA (Hoffm.), Fée. 1. aphthosa (L.), Hoffm. Moist, mossy banks, among woods. 2. canina (L.), Hoffm., and var. spuria, Ach. On damp ground. 3. polydactyla (Neck.), Hoffm. Damp ground in woods, ete. 4. rufescens (Neck.), Hoffm. Damp ground in woods, ete. 13. Pannarta, Delis. 1. lanuginosa (Ach), Koerb. Killingworth; F. W. H. Trunks and earth. 2. lurida (Mont.), Nyl. On the ground and rocks. 3. tryptophylla, Ach., Mass. On basalt; Hampden; Prof. Eaton. 4. microphylla (Sw.), Del. Trunks, ete. 5. leucosticta, Zuckerm. Trunks, banks, etc. Killingworth; F. W. dds 6. molybdwa (Pers.), Tuckerm., var. cronia, Nyl. Trunks, rocks, ete. Killingworth; F. W. H. 14. EPHEBE, Fr. pubescens (Ach.), Fre West Rock; Prof. Eaton. 15. Cottema (Hoffm.), Fr. 1. flaccidum, Ach. Bark, especially of the cedar (J. Virginiana). 2. nigrescens (Huds.), Ach. Same habitat as above. 16. LEPTOGIUM, Fr. 1. lacerum (Sw.), Fr. Moist rocks, ete. 2. pulchellum (Ach.), Nyl. Moist rocks, earth, etc. 3. tremelloides (Z.), Fr. Earth and rocks. 4. chloromelum (Sw.), Nyl Moist rocks. 1877.] Botany. 173 5. myochroum (Ehrh.), Scher., var. saturninum a ), Tuckerm. Moist rocks, etc. 17. Hyproruyrtia, Russell. venosa, Russell. Rivulets; Mt. Carmel and West Rock; Prof. Eaton. 18. Pracopium (D. C.) Naeg., and Hepp. 1. elegans, D. 0.) Trunks of trees, ete. 2. vitellinum (Hhrh.), Hepp. Wallingford: A. Barron. 3. cerinum (Hedw.), Naeg., and var. hematites, Fr: 4. aurantiacum (Lighif.), Naeg. ‘Trunks. . LECANORA, Ach., Tuckerm. 1. muralis (Schreb.), Scher. Wallingford; A. Barron. 2. pallescens (Z.), Fr. Rocks; Killingworth; F. W. H. 3. tartarea (L.), Ach., and var. frigida, Ach. Rocks. 4. subfusca (Z.), Ach. On trees and rocks, mostly the latter. 5. albella, Ach. (L. pallida (Schreb.), Scher.), and var. cesio-rubella (Ach.). On living bark. 6. varia (Hhrh.), Fr. On old board and rail fences. 7. cinerea (Z.), Fr. Stones, ete. 8. cervina (Pers.), Sommerf., var. discreta, Fr., and var. privigna, Ach., and var. clavus, D. ©. Killingworth; F. W. H. Rocks and stones. 20. Rinopina, Mass., Stizenb. 1. sophodes (Ach. ), var. confragosa, Wyl. Rocks and stones. Kill- ingworth, F. W. H. ; Wallingford, A. Barron. 2. constans (Nyl), Dackien: Wallingford ; A. Barron. - Pertusaria, D. C. l. pertusa (Z.), Ach. s. Por. Trunks of trees and rocks. 2. leioplaca (Ach.), Scher. Trunks and rocks. 3. velata (Zurn.), Nyl. Mostly on trunks. 4. multipuncta (Sm.), Nyl. Trunks and branches. 5. pustulata (Ach.), Nyl. Trunks and branches. 6. globularis, Ach. Rocks and trunks. - Conorrema, Tuckerm. urceolatum (Ach.), Tuckerm. Wallingford, A. Barron ; Killing worth, F. W. H. On bark of trees, especially on maples (Acer m and A. saccharinum). 23. soiin (Ach.), Flot. 1. scruposa (Z.), Ach. Wallingford; A. Barr 2. actinostoma, Pers. Sent from oui Me ull Willey. 24. STEREOCAULON, Schreb. paschale, Laur. On rocks at Mt. Carmel, etc. 25. CLADONIA, Hoffm. 1. papillaria (Æhrh.), Hoffm. On dry hills. Killingworth; F. W. H. — 2. alcicornis, Fr. Rocks and earth. — co bo pat bo bo pe -J TS 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. General Notes. [March, pyxidata (Z.), Fr. Earth. cariosa (Ach.), Spreng. Earth. fimbriata (L.), Fr., and var. adspersa, Zuckerm. Earth, ete. gracilis (Z.), Fr., and var. verticillata, Fr. Eart mitrula, Zuckerm. Wallingford; A. Barron. Earth. furcata (Huds.), Fr., and var. cristata, Fr., and var. racemosa, Fik., and var. lacunosa, Uk. Dry hills and open woods. . rangiferina (L), Hoffm., and var. sylvatica, L., and var. alpes- tris, Z. Dry hills and open woods. 10. uncialis (Z.), Frs Hilly ground among woods. 11. lacunosa, Del. Hilly ground among woods. 12. cornucopioides (Z.), Fr. Rich ground and on rotten stumps. . cristatella, Zuckerm. Mostly on decayed stumps and fence rails. Bzomyces, Pers., roseus, Pers. Sandy banks. Biatora, Fr. 1. vernalis (Z.), Th., Fr. Earth and trees. 2. russula (Ach.), Mont. Killingworth; F. W. H. Trees; exceed- ingly rare. 3. sanguineo-atra (Fr.), Tuckerm. Moist banks and trunks. 4. exigua (Chaub.), Fr. Bark of trees. 5. rubella (Hhrh.), Rabenh., and var. muscorum, Nyl. Moist banks. Lecipra (Ach.), Fr 1. albo-ceerulescens, Fr. On rocks and stones. 2. contigua, Fr., Nyl. On rocks, ete. 3. spilota, Fr. Wallingford; A. Barron. BUELLIA, De Not., Tuckerm. 1. lactea, Mass. Wallingford; A. Barr 2. lepidastra, Tuckerm. On rocks. Wallingford, A. Barron; Kill- ingworth, F. W. 3. parasema (Ach.), Kosh Trunks and branches. 4, myriocarpa (D. 0.), Mudd. Rocks, trees (?), etc. Killingworth; O PNPM w w oo F. V A 5. ims h Tuckerm. On rocks and stones. Killingworth; F. W. Orzonarns eo ), Ach., Nyl. varia (Pers.), Fr. Grapuis (Ach.), Nyl. scripta (L.), Ach., and var. limitata, Scher. Bark of trees. Kill ingworth, F. W H.; Wallingford, A. Barron. Artuonta, Ach., Nyl. i 1. astroidea, Ach., “Nyl Bark of trees. Killingworth; F. W. H. 2. punctiformis, Ach. Bark of trees. Killingworth; F. „H. 3. tædiosa, Nyl. Bark of hee and rocks (?). - Japar F. W. H 1877.] Botany. 175 33. Mycororum (Flot.), Nyl. pycnocarpum, Nyl. Killingworth; /. W. H. 34. Acotium (Fée.), De Not. tigillare (Ach.), D. N. Wallingford; A. Barron. 35. CALICIUM, Pers., Fr. subtile, Fr. On old boards and fence rails. Killingworth; F. WA. . 36. ENDOCARPON, Hedw., Fr. miniatum (L.) Scher., and var. complicatum, Scher., and var. aquaticúm, Scher. On submerged stones in rivulets; also on damp exposed rocks. 37. TRYPETHELIUM, Spreng., Nyl. virens, Zuckerm. Wallingford; A. Barron. 88. PYRENULA (Ach.), Naeg., and Hepp. 1. punctiformis (Ach.), Naeg. On trunks of trees. Killingworth ; WH. 2. nitida, Ach. On trunks of trees. Wallingford, A. Barron ; Kill- ingworth, F. W. H. — F. W. HALL. Mıxors New Exncranp BIRDS; ADDITIONS. — In my late work on New England Birds, by carelessly overlooking one of my own memo- randa, I omitted mention of the Swallow-tailed Kite (Wauclerus forfica- tus), once seen near Whately, Mass., of the melanistic Swainson’s Buz- zard (Buteo Swainsoni, insignatus), captured in Massachusetts, and of the Arkansas Flycatcher ( Tyrannus verticalis) recorded from Plympton Me, Helminthophaga pinus is a summer resident at Saybrook, Conn. (Purdie.) December 1876.— H. D. Mor. Laree Trunks or KALMIA LATIFOLIA. — It is well known that this Kalmia attains its maximum size in the southern Alleghanies. Prob- ably nothing upon record exceeds or even equals the following measure- ments of the girth of two trees which grow, along with others not very much smaller, in the bottom of a dell back of Cæsars Head, on the ex- treme western border of South Carolina. One trunk, at a foot or so from the ground,measured four feet one and a quarter inches in cir- cumference, and, rising without division, maintains a size approaching this and gradually lessening, for six or seven feet. _ Another trunk measured three feet four inches in girth above the first limb or fork ; below it, at nearly one foot from the ground, it measured four feet and four inches. The measurements were taken September 2, 1876, by Dr. George Engelmann, William M. Canby, and Asa Gray. Tue PRODUCTION or STARCH IN CHLOROPHYLL-GRANULES.— “ohm asserts that if light is sufficiently intense to induce assimilation in green leaves, it has the power to cause an immediate transfer of starch from the stem, where elaborated matters may be stored, to the chloro- Phyll-granules, For this reason he believes that many observations hith- erto made in.regard to the immediate production of starch from carbonic 176 General Notes. [ March, dioxide in chlorophyll are untrustworthy. Such experiments should be made upon plants which have no starch already stored up, or upon de- tached leaves which contain no starch. Tue Errect or Frost on CHLOROPHYLL-GRANULES. — Hab- erlandt states that the granules except in evergreens undergo changes at 4° to 6° C. The granules thus affected contain cavities (vacuoles), become rent on the outside, and aggregate into larger or smaller masses. The granules which contain starch are more easily destroyed by frost than those which contain none. ‘The chlorophyll in the palisade tissue (the denser parenchyma) is more easily injured than that in the spongy tissue, and the latter than that in the guardian cells of the stomata. DicnoGamy or Acave. — The flowering of a plant of Agave yucce- folia Red. (Bot. Mag. t. 3213), in a private collection near Boston, has given abundant opportunity to watch the development of its flowers, and to confirm in regard to this species Engelmann’s statement (Notes on Agave. Transactions of the Academy of St. Louis, vol. 3, December, ` 1875), that the flowers of this genus are “ vespertine or nocturnal, and proteranderous.” Agave yuccefolia must be referred to Engelmann’s second section, Getminiflore, although on our plant the lower flowers alone are borne in pairs. The forty uppermost flowers of the spike spring singly each from the axis of a bract, and in this approach his first section, Singuli- flore. The production-of solitary flowers on the upper portion of the spike is possibly abnormal ; but should this prove a constant character a slight modification of Engelmann’s sections of the genus will become nec- essary. In the figure in the Botanical Magazine the arrangement of the flowers is not distinct; but in the accompanying description we read, “ Flowers often two together.” The scape first made its appearance on November Ist, and continued to grow until January 6th, when it had attained a height of ten feet, the first flowers opening about five P.M. on that day. Shortly after the opening of the flower the filaments attain their full development, and are exserted 9!’ beyond the lobes of the perigone. The style at this time is barely exserted and much reflexed, the stigma bearing these pap- illose lines radiating from its centre down the middle of each of the three bes. A little before eight o’clock on the morning after the opening of the flower, the tube of the perigone is entirely filled with the honeyed sè- cretion, which is slightly odoriferous, sapid, straw-colored, and very abundant. At ten P. M. of the second day, or seventeen hours after the opening of the flower, the anthers burst. At this time the style bee elongated and partially straightened until the stigma, over which the ‘papillae have not as yet extended, is placed just above the introrse ~ ae thers, and in such a position that none of the pollen discharged from them can reach its surface. During the third day the style continues tO elongate and straighten. On the morning of the fourth day the style 18 1877 ] Botany. 177 found to be perfectly erect and exserted 16” beyond the lobes of the peri- gone, or 7” beyond the stamens at their fullest development. The pap- ille have now extended laterally over the entire surface of the stigma, from which is freely secreted a clear, colorless, sticky liquid. The stigma is now perfectly developed, and ready to receive the pol- len grains ;* but it is more than forty-eight hours since the anthers dis- charged their pollen, and for the last twelve they have hung useless and effete, and-are already beginning to drop off. It is evident, then, that flowers of our Agave must depend for fertilization either on the very un- certain chance of some of the pollen discharged from the anthers of the upper flowers, dropping just at the right moment on the developed stig- mas of the lower and older ones, or on the visits of some nocturnal in- ~ sect, on the search for the abundant and attractive secretions contained in the tube of the perigone. Fertilization of the lower flowers is probably secured by both these agencies. Those placed higher up on the scape can only be made productive by pollen brought from other plants and placed on their stigmas at the moment of their maturity. — C. S. SAR- GENT. PayLLoTAaxıs or Cones.? — I wish here to supplement an article which appeared in the American Naturalist in August, 1873. Men- tion is there made of finding cones of several species in which the phyl- lotaxis of part of them consists in opposite leaves more or less spirally arranged, The fraction expressing the arrangement for scales on such Cones falls into the series 2, 2, is, ass #2, etc. One cone of a European larch was recorded having three, six, and nine spirals, and falling Pad the series 2, 3, 1, o%, 44, ete., or having the scales in whorls of three, This summer, on examining about three pecks of cones from one tree of the European larch, three more cones were found in which the arrange- ment of scales falls into the series beginning with decussate whorls of three. I have now found a single cone on which there are four spi Whorls in one direction, and four and eight in the opposite direction. The fraction expressing its phyllotaxis is y, and falls into the series beginning with decussating verticels of four, namely, $, yy) xy» 43, $$ rv Some of these cones were exhibited with the scales marked in in ‘ In reply to some questions of Professor Morse, as to whether all the Tonos had a phyllotaxis like the examples mentioned, Professor Beal remarked that the arrangement of most cones of the European larch was k at of alternate leaves, and was expressed by the fraction 3, falling into the series 4, b 2, x, etc. The fraction for a few cones with al- I have failed to detect in A. Yucceefolia any opening between the lobes of the ito) i t Appetit as noticed by Engelmann in A, Virginica, and by Jacobi (Ag. m t . ; ppertiana. j “say in Buffalo before the American Association for 1876 by Professor W. J.. VOL. X.— No, 3, 12 178 General Notes. [ March, ternate leaves was $, falling into the series 4, }, #, Pr Fy 5, etc. In a few cones with opposite scales it was 3%, falling into a series given above. In a few others in whorls of three the fraction was 4%; in one cone the scales were in whorls of four. How many additional forms may be found on examining large numbers of specimens he did not know, but presumed we had not yet found them all. On all the trees examined, he had found the spiral whorls of the scales to vary; that certain spirals ran to the right in part of the cones, and to the left in about the same number on each tree in each year; that in all cases examined there was quite a variety in the phyllotaxis of each tree. So he had found it on many herbaceous plants. As we might expect, there was no one, fixed, undeviating plan for the arrangement of all the leaves on plants of any species; we should find exceptions to our rules if we examine specimens enough. BoranicaL Notes FROM Recent PERIODICALS. — Flora. (No new numbers have been received since our last review.) Botanische Zeitung, No. 43. O. Behrendsen, Contributions to the Flora of Hungary. No. 44. E. Stahl, On the Artificial Formation of Protonemata from the Sporogonium of Musci. (In true mosses the pro- tonema is a tubular outgrowth from the spore. This minute tube elon- ates by growth at the tip, and afterwards branches. Pringsheim has shown (1876) that protonematous threads may be produced from the severed fruit-stalk of mosses. This is now confirmed by Stahl, who also shows its bearing upon alternation of generation, and examines its rela- tions to Dr. Farlow’s interesting discovery of an asexual growth on the prothallus of ferns.) Cramer, Note claiming Priority of Discovery re- - specting Reproduction in Ulothrix. Reports of Societies. Nos. 45 and 46 previously noticed. No. 47. Fickel, On the Anatomy and Develop- ment of the Seed-Coats of some Oucurbitacee. Continued in Nos. 48, 49, and 50. No. 51. Dr. Drude, On the Separation of the Palms of America from those of the Old World. ZOOLOGY. A New Svus-Kinepom or ANIMALS. — Prof. E. Van Beneden in his elaborate “ Recherches sur les Dicyemides, Survivants actuels d'un Embranchement des Mésozoaires” proposes a new sub-kingdom of an- imals. In 1830 Krohn observed the presence in the liquid bathing the spongy bodies (perhaps renal organs) of different species of Cephalopods certain filiform bodies, covered with vibratile cilia and resembling infu- soria or ciliated worms. They were called Dicyema by Kölliker, who, with others, considered them as intestinal worms ; Van Beneden claims that they have no general body-cavity. The body is formed (1) of a large-axial cylindrical or fusiform cell, which extends from the anterior extremity of the body, enlarged into a head, to the caudal extremity ; . (2) of a single row of flat cells forming around the axial cell a sort of 1877.] Zoblogy. 179 simple pavement epithelium. All these cells are placed in juxtaposition like the constituent elements of a vegetable tissue. There is no trace of a homogeneous layer, of connective tissue, of muscular fibre, of nervous elements, nor of intercellular substance. There is only be- tween the cells a homogeneous (wnissante) substance, as between epi- thelial cells. The axial cell is regarded as homologous with the endo- derm of the higher animals (Metazoa). He designates as the ectodermic layer the cells surrounding the large, single axial cell. There exists no trace of a middle layer of cells. We discover no differentiated appa- ratus; all the animal and vegetative functions are accomplished by the activity of the ectodermic cells and of the axial cell. On account of these characteristics Van Beneden regards these organisms as forming the type of a new branch of the animal kingdom which he distinguishes as Mesozoa. Each species of Dieyema comprises two sorts of individuals differing externally, one (the MNematogene) producing vermiform embryos, the other (Rhombogene) infusoriform young. “ ematogenes produce germs which undergo total segmentation, and assume a gastrula condition. After the closure of the blastopore the body elongates, and the worm-like form of the adult is finally attained, as they pass through the body-walls of the parent. The germs of the Rhombogenes arise endogenously in special cells lodged in the axial cell and called “ germigenes.” The germ-like cells undergo segmentation, and then form small spheres which become infu- soriform embryos. The worm-like young is destined to be developed and live in the Cephalopod where it has been born, while the infusorian- like young probably performs the office of disseminating the species ; it transmits the parasite of one Cephalopod to another. This work is also an important contribution to histology, particularly to the subject of cell-division. Says Van Beneden, “the recent re- searches of Auerbach, of Biitschli, of Strasburger, of Hertwich, and those that I have published, have established the fact that the division of a cellule, that is to say, the multiplication of the cellular individuality, is the resultant of a long series of complex phenomena, accomplished in a determinate order, and having their seat as much in the nucleus as in the substance of the cell.” _ Finally, Van Beneden places in his branch of Mesozoa the hypothet- ical Gustreeades, which term he applies to (gastrula-like) organisms formed of two kinds of cellules, some ectodermic, others endodermic, in which the endoderm is formed by invagination. He calls Planulades, those hypothetical Mesozoa which are formed from a many-celled sphere _ Constituted like a Magosphera (Haeckel) and in which the two cellular layers are developed by delamination. He therefore divides the animal kingdom into three primary groups, that is, the Protozoa, the Mesozoa, and the Metazoa. 180 General Notes. [ March, Our illustration will convey some idea of these organisms. Fig. a represents ‘Dicyemella wagenert ; g, germigenes ; n, the nucleus of the axial cell; 6, the spherical germ of Dicyemella with its striated nucleus; (Fie. 24.) DICYEMELLA AND YOUNG. c, the same beginning to undergo self-division; d, final stages of self- division (morula); e and f, infusoriform embryo; A, germs of the vermi- form embryos of Dicyema typus ; i, gastrula of the same ; k, J, m, 0, dif- ferent stages of vermiform larvæ of Dicyema typus. ANTHROPOLOGY. ARCHÆOLOGICAL Exomanee Cius.— A want which American anthropologists have long felt is about to be supplied in the formation ot the “ Archæological Exchange Club.” in connection with the “ American Anthropological Association.” The conditions of membership are give? in a circular to be obtained from Stephen D. Peet, Secretary, Ashtabula, Ohio. ‘The advantages to be derived by members are twofold: first, they will have their papers laid before every prominent archeologist in the country; secondly, they will be supplied with many publications which could be obtained in no other way. It is to be hoped that eac one interested in this branch of science will assist in the establish of the club by becoming a member. The benefits occurring from s ment 1877.] Anthropology. 181 coöperation will prove great incentives to study and research. — E. A. BARBER. ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.— In the Report on Indian Affairs for 1875, Dr. Thomas Foster announces the forthcoming of a first volume of his report on all the Indian Tribes of the United States. The author has prepared an elaborate memoir on the Winnebago tribe. Pending the appearance of this volume he has commenced the issue of a sheet entitled Fosters Indian Record and Historical Data, the first number appearing under date of November 30th. The object of the Record is to submit the plan of the work to “friendly criticism ” before the more costly and elaborate production appears. Fully agreeing with the author that such a work would be a worthy memorial of the race, if properly executed, we venture to offer some observations, certainly in no unfriendly spirit. The proof-reading of the Record is miserable ; the mixing up of sundry fonts of type in the columns gives the appear- ance of a type-founder’s circular; and the absence of literary taste de- tracts from the real and solid merit in the work. These, however, are venial faults, and doubtless will be rectified. The author commences his true work with the alphabet, and lays down several canons, some of which are decidedly untenable. The chief objection lies against the alphabet itself, which not only differs from Turner and Whipple’s, hitney’s quoted by Gibbs, and Major Powell’s in substituting new vocables for theirs, but also in calling for special fonts of type and un- common logotypes which cannot be reproduced excepting at the print- ing-oflice where Mr. Fosters works are published. Foreign students accustomed to study the vocabularies collected by the Gibbs circular will have to re-write them for comparison. It is not necessary to take up each letter separately, since we object to the whole alphabet. The monographs will be noticed in a future number. _*hose who wish a rich treat in philology will do well to read Dr. Richard Morris’s presidential address before the London Philological Society, May 19,1876. After recounting the labors of the society, and reviewing the work done on English dialects, the president called to his assistance the following specialists: Dr. J. Muir and Professor Eggeling, on Sanskrit; M. Chev. E. de Ujfalvy, on the Ugro-Finnish languages ; Dr. Ad. Neubauer, on Talmudical and Rabbinical literature; the Rev. A.H. Sayce, on Etruscan; R. N. Cust, Esq., on the non-Aryan languages of India; Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, on the North American Indian : and announcing several forthcoming works, quotes from a private letter from Major J. W. Powell, in which the following classifi- “ation is recommended for the Shoshoni or Numa languages : — Wa-shak! i, Shoshoni proper. Dialect: Za-saw! -wi-hi, Shoshonis of Central Nevada. 182 General Notes. [ March. Ko-man!'-tsu, Comanches. Pan-ai'-ti, Bannacks. Pa-vi-o'-tso, Pah-Utes, or Pai Utes of Western Nevada. Dialect: Pan!-a-mint. Go-si-ute (of Nevada and Utah). U'-ta-ats, Utes. Dialects: Mu-a!-tsu (Southern California, Northern Mexico.) Kai-vav'-it (Pai-Utes of Northern Oregon.) Nu-a'-gun-tit (Pai-Utes of Southern Nevada.) Tan!-ta-waits, or Chemehuevis. Shi'-nu-mo. In six (of the seven). Pueblos in Tusayan, or Moqui, Northern Arizona. A full account of the International Congress at Buda-Pesth will be found in Nos. 10 and 11 of the Matériaux. The principal part of the discussions referred to the relation between the stone and the metal age of Hungary and of the rest of Europe. Especial notice was taken of the abundance of copper articles found in Hungary. The year just past has been rich in its gifts to classical archeology. The discoveries and published accounts of Wood at Ephesus, di Cesnola at Cyprus, Schliemann at Mycenæ, Parker at Rome, and the German explorers at Olympus are especially noticeable. Mr. Wood’s results are published in Discoveries at Ephesus; Longmans & Co., 1877. Di Ces- nola’s latest rich harvest of gems, of jewelry and ornaments of gold, silver; and bronze, and of fictile ware, found at Kourium, on the south side of Cyprus, has been purchased for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for the sum of $66,000. The Academy speaks disparagingly of our archeological students, but, no doubt, these treasures will stir up some fresh enthu- siasm. Dr. Schliemann, in his excavations at Mycene, claims to have fallen on the tomb of Agamemnon. At least the treasure-trove proves his last discovery to be the most lucky of all, and promises to add to our knowledge of a period previously illustrated only by a few specimens m the British Museum. The fruits of the excavations at Rome may be gathered from two publications by Mr. John Murray for Mr. J. p Parker, The Flavian Amphitheatre and Historical Construction of Walls in Rome and from The Catacombs of Rome, etc., by the Rev. W. H. Withrow: Hodder and Stoughton. i Abbé Ducrost and M. Arcelin have just finished the exploration of the detritus at the foot of the cliff at Solutré, and have found it to consist of five zones. The first, or lowest, rests on the lias and exhibits bones of extinct animals and flint flakes accumulated at points, forming kitchen- middings. The second zone contains bones of the horse, in such pere bers that the individuals may be counted by hundreds of RE . The third zone is nearly sterile. The fourth zone commences the e of the reindeer” proper, with the refuse of cooking, and eee? 7 dwellings, in great abundance. Here the horse and the reindeer pre- dominate. The fifth zone is made up of modern débris. The authors 1877.] Anthropology. 183 find in the results of their digging confirmation of the superposition of the Mousterian upon the Solutréan epoch, by M. G. de Mortillet. In Matériaux, 11th number, Mr. Valdemar Schmidt's paper on Com- parative Studies upon Funeral Rites in Prehistoric Times in Europe is reviewed. During the stone age inhumation was in use in nearly all these countries. Traces of cremation are observed in certain regions in the tombs of that age, but it can be proved that these sepultures belong to an epoch not far removed from the age of bronze. During the latter age, incineration predominated in the east of Central Europe, and in the north ; but in the west inhumation was more frequent. In Scandinavian countries, two periods can be distinguished; the former, where the bodies were inhumed, the latter, where they were burned. Passing to the age of iron, anterior to the Roman period, we see inhumation practiced in Greece, cremation in Italy. In the west of Europe, inhumation pre- dominated ; in the east, incineration; in the centre, the two rites co- existed. In Scandinavia, this epoch does not exist. In the Roman epoch, they burned the corpses at Rome, in the provinces, and in most other countries; but at the end of the reign of the Antonines, inhuma- tion was recommended, and this method was propagated everywhere, even beyond the Roman empire. Since then there has been no inciner- ation, excepting in Slavonic countries, and among the Saxons in the north of Germany. This rite did not disappear until the prevalence of Christianity. Dr. Schmidt thinks that the custom of cremation was brought into Europe by the Aryans. In the same number of Matériaux, P. Fischer contributes a very val- uable paper on the recent and fossil shells found in the caverns in the south of France, and in Liguria. In gathering up these results the author has been assisted by MM. Lartet, Massenat, Mortillet, Piette, and Rivière. The authorities on the subject are copiously given. The opening of the School of Anthropology, established a year ago in Paris, took place November 15th. M. Broca, director of the course, delivered the opening address, explaining the limits of anthropology and its relations to other subjects. Anthropology studies the individual, that it may know the many ; medicine studies the many that it may heal the individual ; and thus with other ancillary sciences. Anthropology is the natural history of the human race. The course, as established, is as follows : — Anatomical Anthropology, P. Broca. (1.) Comparison of man with the higher mammals. (2.) Comparative anatomy of races. (3.) Craniology. Biological Anthropology. P. Topinard. (1.) Physical and physiological characters of living men. (2.) Anthropometry. i Ethnological Anthropology. Eugene Dally. é 184 General Notes. [ March, Classification of races, divisions, and relationships. Prehistoric Anthropology. G. de Mortillet. (1.) Human paleontology. (2.) Prehistoric archeology. (3.) Determination of human remains by archeological data. Linguistic Anthropology. M. Hovelacque. eneral characteristics, classification, and division of languages. — In Archivio per P Antropologia, etc., Dr. Luigi Pagliani publishes an interesting memoir upon the influence of human environment upon the development of the individual, taking as his motto Quetelet’s sentence, “ The development of the mature man is trammeled by the special condi- tions in which the poor infants find themselves ; the laws of nature are combated by the influences of our social organization without recurring to force. It depends in some sort upon the government to have the people large or small, more or less vigorous.” M. Pagliani treats of his subject under the four following heads : — (1.) The pea of unfavorable conditions of life on the physical cert am of m 2.) Influence a the amelioration of life upon organisms at first subjected to unfortunate conditio (3.) Influence of conditions aan favorable to life upon human physical development. ( elation between the physical development of the male and the female sex. under diverse conditions. (5.) Activity of physical development in the years which precede and follow the age of puberty in the two sexes, and under special conditions. Five parts of Mr. Herbert Spencer’s Descriptive Sociology are now in print, namely: (1.) English, (2.) Ancient enh Races, (3.) Low- est Races, Negritos, Polynesians, (4.) African Races, (5.) Asiatic Races. Volume I. of The Principles of Sociology is also announced by the same author. — Or1s T. Mason. order to make the monthly anthropological notes, kindly prepared for the Midenin by Profane Masyn, as satan ome as rs — of books, pam- phiets, or newspaper articles in this country or Europe, are invited to send copies to Prof, O. T. Mason, Columbian College, Wash- ington, D. C. — EDITOR American NATURALIST. GEOLOGY AND PALÆONTOLOGY. MM. GAUDRY AND DE SAPORTA ON THE PALÆONTOLOGY OF THE WESTERN TERRITORIES. — I have readwith much interest the explana- tions in your letter relating to the explorations of the western Terri- tories. I see that the works of Mr. Lesquereux on vegetable palæon- tology appear to you to be of great importance. As to myself I we got pursue the researches made in regard to fossil vertebrates. I think li _ yourself that the results of the explorations directed by Professor Hay- 3 1 In a'letter to Count de Saporta. 1877.] Geology and Paleontology. 185 den are to be counted among the most remarkable acquisitions of modern paleontology ; naturalists are compelled to recognize gratefully the labors of that great explorer who has gathered so many new facts, and who has so well understood the art of selecting such able assistants. From my stand-point, it is not the discovery of strange and hitherto unknown forms which produces the highest interest in Dr. Leidy’s works on mam- miferous fossils, but the discovery of the neighboring forms of our Eu- ropean mammiferous fossils, for they show us the ties between the species of the Old and the New World; also they let us hope that we may be able to understand and discover more easily the connections of the be- ings of the geological ages. Dicotyles arcuatus looks very much like Cheromorus of the middle Miocene of Sausan ; Hyopsodus has molars like the Hyegulus of the superior Eocene of Débruge; MMicrosyops is related to the Adapis, a genus partly lemurian, partly pachydermatous, which under the name of Adapis, sometimes under that of Paleocolemus and also of Aphelo- tretum, has left numerous débris in the superior Eocene, and in the lowest Miocene. Merychippus looks much like Protohippus, and the latter itself seems to be a Hipparion of the Leberon, the island of the superior molars of which has been transformed into a peninsula. Archeotherium is nothing else than the Entelodon of our inferior Miocene of Bouzon. Concerning dentition, Paleosyops, Limnohyus, and Titanotherium resem- ble a good deal the Chalicotherium ; this similitude of forms has struck me the more, as it shows itself in the species, alike common in America and Europe; the Ohalicotherium is found in Europe in the inferior Miocene of phosphorites, the middle Miocene of Sausan, and the superior Miocene of Eppelsheim. Hyrachius presents us a rare example of the passage from the Lophiodon to the tapir; concerning the distinctive marks of the latter there appears a last superior pre-molar which is simplified, and provided with one single internal denticule, like the _ Lophiodon. According to my judgment, the animal lately discovered by M. Filhol in the phosphorites of Querez, under the name of Tapirus Priscus, is a genuine Hyrachius. The Hyracodon is one more link be- tween the Rhinoceros and the Paleotherium ; it is the former which has the dental formula of the Paleotherium. The Glurogale of the phos- Phorites described by M. Filhgl is the immediate ally of Dr. Leidy’s Dinictis. There are found other examples of intermediate forms in the Publications of the American savants. If we add, to judge from the p of Dr. Leidy, the discoveries in the western Territories of the phicyon, Canis, Pseudelurus, Mehacodus, Hyenodon, Hipparion, Anchitherium, Rhinoceros, Hyopotamus, Mastodon, very closely related to the species we find in France, it becomes singularly probable that the west of North America and Europe have been in connection during the Miocene period. How could such a thing have happened, if, as able geologists believe, the Atlantic Ocean has scarcely changed its place ? 186 General Notes. [ March, Did the communication take place on the side of the Pacific? There are many mysteries still to be solved. The fine researches of American savants open new horizons for our thoughts; being so distant they still appear a little misty, but doubtless they will come forward one day and inaugurate the great era of paleontology. Will you please, dear friend, accept the expression of my most sincere sentiments. — AtBert Gaupry, Professor of Paleontology in the useum of Natural History. Professor Hayden: Dear and Honored Sir,— For many months I have lived in communication of thought with you, and the happy interme- dium of our common friend, Lesquéreux, binds us to each other. Your name now is so widely known in Europe, and it is so intimately connected with the splendid discoveries which paleontologists owe to your explora- tions, that I have double pleasure in writing to you. We watch atten- tively the results of your undertaking, and, for myself, I may say that the rich harvest of Cretaceous and Tertiary fossil plants gathered under your direction have opened before me such broad horizons, that I am never tired of considering them. I have successively received the pub- lications, reports, and fine maps recently published, — thanks to your per- severance. I offer you my most sincere wishes for the continuation of your work. The richness of your deposits is incalculable, but it does not surprise me, and I believe that you will be able greatly to increase your treasure by new researches. Here in Europe, upon a cut-up continent which for a long time has rather been an archipelago than a wide region, we have small lacustrine formations, corresponding with other lakes of small extent, also, and these formations are often very rich in fossils. But this abundance is restricted, though real, for the extent of the for- mation is proportional to that of the land surface wherein they are dis- tributed. But in America all is on a very large scale: the rivers, the plains, the lakes, the mountains, the frame itself is grand ; and this aspect is the result of ancient causes which have influenced the nature and the thickness and extent of the formations. You will therefore discover in these deposits (ours are unimportant in comparison to them) an inexhaustible mine of fossil wonders, and be able to rebuild in its integrity the transition age, from the Cretaceous to the Tertiary, a serial link destroyed in Europe by a succession of blanks. Nevertheless in Provence even, and quite near Aix, we have a small agglomeration of what is known under the name of Lignitic of Felveau, which my friend Matheron has determined as the equivalent of the fresh- water upper Cretaceous formation (Santonienne) which passes by de- grees in its upper part to strata incontestably of Tertiary age. Regret- fully, however, these intermediate layers which would be most interest- ing to know well are very barren of fossils, while the lignitic themselves have a lacustrine fluviatile fauna, and also brackish deposits extremely 1877.] Microscopy. 187 rich in fossils. At a much higher level we have the gypsum of Aix, which you probably know by name at least. I beg you will accept my highest regard and sincere devotedness. — Count GASTON DE SAPORTA, Aix in Provence. MICROSCOPY.! Microscopical STRUCTURE OF AmMBER.— A paper on this subject, contributed jointly by H. C. Sorby and P. J. Butler, to the Royal Mi- croscopical Society, furnishes many interesting observations and reflec- tions. Scattered irregularly through the masses of amber are a vast number of minute cavities, usually syy to s9}p9 of an inch in diameter, though some are as large as qyp, and others probably as small as rodses Of an inch. Though very numerous in the clouded portions of the amber, these cavities are nearly wanting in the very transparent specimens, and therefore cannot be considered a necessary result of the changes which occurred during the hardening of the balsam or resin from which the amber must have been formed. They are usually round, the shape which would be naturally assumed by drops of water or bubbles of air confined in a stiff liquid, differing in this respect from the cavities in crystals which are often spaces left vacant during the formation of the crystal, and are bounded by crystalline planes having direct relation to the form and structure of the crystal itself. The cavities in amber, how- ever, are sometimes elongated or otherwise changed by internal move- ments in the resinous mass before it became hard and brittle. Some of these cavities are filled with a liquid, probably water, which differs so slightly from the amber in refractive power, that these cavities are trans- parent throughout a large portion of their area, the circumference being marked by a narrow, dark line. Other cavities contain gas, constituting true air bubbles, whose dark outline constitutes at least one third of their diameter, leaving a comparatively small bright spot in the centre. Still other cavities contain liquid with an inclosed air bubble ; while some of the fluid cavities only seem to contain one or more air bubbles from the appearance through them of images of one or more smaller cavities be- neath. Most of the cavities originally contained water, which was elim- inated during the process of change from a soft balsam to a hard resin, but subsequently the water escaped from many of the cavities leaving air cavities instead, which are not only especially abundant near the natural surface of pieces of amber, but may also be found very generally Close to the surfaces of sections which have been prepared and mounted for microscopical use. A comparatively rare form ôf cavity, and charac- teristic of amber, is balloon shaped, the portion representing the car be- ing nearly always filled with water and the upper part of the balloon with air. This may have been originally a round fluid cavity, from Which the gas was allowed to escape into the still plastic, surrounding 1 Conducted by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, Nr 188 General Notes. [ March, mass by reason of diminished pressure, shrinkage in the mass having con- tinued to occur after the external portion had become hardened into an immovable crust; a theory which is confirmed by the effects on polar- ized light, the central portions of the mass having no power to depolar- ize the light, while the marginal portions depolarize it in such manner as to indicate a strain caused by pressure in the line of the circumference and not in the line of the radius. Similarly, the black crosses seen un- der polarized light in certain portions of the amber, having as nuclei either air bubbles or minute solid angular bodies of a sand-like appear- ance, are of a character to indicate not increased but diminished pressure from within, not an expansion of the contents, or a contraction of the surrounding material upon it as is the case with minute crystals inclosed in diamonds, but a shrinkage of the contents of relatively hardened lay- ers surrounding the bubbles or granules. Farse Licur Exciuper. — E. Gundlach of Rochester, N. Y., mounts his new two-inch lenses with a brass tube $ inch long projecting below the front surface of the objective and having a perforated dia- phragm at its lower end. This cuts off much of the stray light that would otherwise enter, and still leaves 14 inch of working focus. New Ossects. — The very interesting preparations of recent and fossil diatoms, by Dr. R. S. Warren, of Waltham, Mass., can now be ob- tained from Mr. Charles Stodder, of Boston. Many of the slides, espe- cially those from Savannah and the Isles of Shoals, contain new or rare forms. Charles Zentmayer, of Philadelphia, son of the well-known Joseph Zentmayer of the same city, is preparing double-stained vegetable tis- sues with great success. The coloring is excellently distributed and the cell peculiarity well preserved. DENTITY OF THE Rep BLoop Corpuscies IN Dirrerent Hou- MAN Races. — Dr. J. G. Richardson, of Philadelphia, well known as 4 leading advocate of the possibility of distinguishing by measurement the blood corpuscles of man from those of many of the familiar domestic animals, has recently extended his researches to the blood corpuscles of the different races of mankind, with a view to determine by comparative study whether they are identical or not. Taking advantage of the P portunity afforded by the International Exhibition at Philadelphia, he obtained, in some cases with considerable difficulty, permission to secure specimens of their blood from a considerable number of the members and attachés of the foreign commissions present at the Centennial. A finger having been suddenly pricked with a cataract needle, the "e the exuding drop of blood was touched to the centre of a glass slide, an the small drop thus obtained was spread by means of the edge of another slide, after Dr. Christopher Johnson’s excellent method. In the dried film the corpuscles were measured by a cobweb micrometer whose aas ing, as actually employed in this work with a y immersion objective 0 - 1877.] Microscopy. 189 a power of 1800, was determined by comparison with a standard of known accuracy. Only the circular disks were measured, in the thinnest part of the film, where they were least distorted in drying and most nearly in a natural condition, this method being believed to give the dimensions of the normal cell-elements more satisfactorily than can be accomplished by taking the average of the different diameters of the dis- torted corpuscles. So slight a deviation from a circular form as an oval having diameters of 1-3030 and 1-2857 was easily recognized, and such individuals were discarded, but all isolated circular red disks which ap- peared in the field were measured without selection. The measurements were recorded in fractions of an inch. Of 1400 corpuscles examined, six had a measurement of 1—4000, ten a measurement of 1-2777, and the remainder were between these two extremes. EKighty-three per cent of the whole measured from 1-8448 to 1-3030, and consequently ap- peared of about the same size under a power of 200. The slightly smaller averages of the Italian, Swedish, and Norwegian specimens are believed to be too small for a decisive indication of a natural difference, and the general result is believed by the author to indicate the essential identity of the different specimens studied. We have prepared the fol- lowing table, which embodies all the data published in Dr. Richardson’s paper in the American Journal of Medical Science for January, 1877 : — ; & a alg n K] - 3 i oe ee 2 FE | S 5 f keL LA 2/86 AP ee ie E = S ‘ ge) es ag g © H 38 ES 55 NATIONALITY OF SuBszcr. : E E 3 4 Ee 53 [5] p 3| 8 È El á |$8|$3]58 2 pe = a f 8128 Ş 5 © A S g om fe Fi T mM be o fz] 3 s| 3 > E a |$8/| 98/82 © £ gr] æ i 3 a| B £ Éj 5 a} 5n| 5s Ji z 4 =] H le a ee .. | 100 | 1-3212 | 1-2777 | 1-3737 | 8 | 82 |10 DOME Sd, x5. SONI 80| 100 | 1-5226 | 1-2777 | 1-3571 | 6| 89| 5 Belgian E AR wate wx Wali hiurs 38 | 100 | 1-3 1-2777 | 1-3846 | 7} 88] 5 «SRA N 40 | 100 | 1-3203 | 1-2857 | 1-4000 | 7 | 82} 11 eb eo) 5280.) ecole 29 | 100 | 1-3197 | 1-2777 | 1-3846 | 4 | 80} 16 ENE ROR TE » | 25 | 100} 1-3257 | 1-2857 12} 82) 6 a 27 | 100 | 1-3190 | 1-2857 | 1-3571 | 2| 91} 7 Norwegian............... 35 | 100 | 1-3252 | 1-2857 | 1-4 86] 4 a SE Sa 33 | 100 | 1-3254 | 1-2777 | 1-3737 | 13 5 ee 35 | 100 | 1-3272 | 1-2777 10 7 agree Oe aE ee 67 | 100 | 1-32 2777 | 1-3737 | 12 | 80 | 8 we mulatto, boris id U.S. | 52 | 100 | 1-3229 | 1-2857 | 1-3856 | 11 | 83 6 rokee Indian, born in S a oe 48 | 100 | 1-3215 | 1-2857 | 1-4000 | 10 | 8 | 7 nglish we born in Wad E ok ce 40 | 100 | 1-3191 | 1-2777 | 1-3846 | 6| 85 | 9 ee .. | 1400 | 1-3224 | 1-2777 | 1-4000 | 8| 83/| 9 eee ST" 190 Proceedings of Societies. L March, SCIENTIFIC NEWS. — Dr. Juan Gundlach, of Cuba, and Herr Leopold Krug, of Porto Rico recently spent a year in exploring the fauna of the latter island, and obtained as the result of their exertions 4 species of bats, 3 of mice, 152 birds, 22 or 23 reptiles, many fresh-water fishes, 188 marine gas- teropods, 62 marine bivalves, 72 land or fresh-water Mollusca, 52 Crus- tacea, more than 800 Lepidoptera, including micros, 483 Coleoptera, 75 Orthoptera, 189 Hemiptera, 43 Neuroptera, 166 Hymenoptera, and 162 Diptera. They also secured some arachnids and many myriapods, as well as radiates. Herr Krug is now in Berlin with the whole collection, which will be worked up by specialists, and a general report of the whole will eventually be published. — Among the recent publications or reprints of Messrs. D. Appleton & Co., which will be of value to naturalists as well as physicists, are the following: Arnott’s Elements of Physics or Natural Philosophy. Sev- enth edition, edited by Alexander Bain and A. S. Taylor. New York, 1877. Prof. E. L. Youman’s Class Book of Chemistry on the Basis of the New System, rewritten and revised, with many new illustrations. New York, 1876. W. G. Spencer’s Inventional Geometry gives “a series of problems intended to familiarize the pupil with geometrical conceptions, and to exercise his inventive faculty.” It is written by the father of Herbert Spencer. Helmholtz’s Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects have been read with the greatest interest by scientists whether biological, geological, or physical in their leanings. , One's education as a naturalist will be scarcely complete until he has read the lecture On the Relation of Natural Science to Science in General, and that On the Aim and Progress of Physical Science. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. Campripce Entomotocican CLuB. — December 8, 1876. Mr. Dimmock said that in consideration of the assertion sometimes made, that female canker-moths [Anisopteryx] are occasionally carried up into trees by the males flying while in connection with them, he had made some measurements of the relative weight of the males and females, and had found that the females weigh on the average about thirty times as much as the males. These being weak-winged and slow-flying insects, it seems very improbable that the males would be able to support the weight of the females in flying through the air. Mr. S. H. Scudder exhibited a specimen of Myrmecophila, found by Mr. H. K. Morrison in Georgia this year, this being the first specimen the capture of which in this country was authenticated. Mr. Morrison had been unable to recollect under what circumstances the specimen was : collected. Dr. T. W. Harris had stated that on one occasion he fo 1877.] Seientifie Serials. 191 certain soft-bodied crickets upon cucumber vines and had conjectured that they were specimens of a Myrmecophila, but there had been no confirmation of his supposition. Mr. Scudder made some further state- ments in regard to the Monoplistide, the family to which this genus belongs, and exhibited a specimen of the European species of Myrme- cophila, which is found in ants’ nests. Mr. S. H. Scudder said that he was working upon a collection of fos- sil ants from South Park, Colorado. Heer, in his work on the fossil in- sects of GEningen and Radoboj, had found that most of the fossil ants dis- covered were winged females. It seemed reasonable that this should be s0, as the winged insects were the most likely to fall into the water and be drowned, and especially the females who are much more heavy- bodied than the males. Mr. Scudder had found about forty species of ants in this collection, mostly belonging to the Formicidae, but also to the Myrmicide and Poneridæ. Most of the specimens were winged females. In amber fossils most of the specimens of ants are workers. ACADEMY or Natura Sciences, Philadelphia. — December 19th. Mr. Meehan detailed some experiments of his own on the growth of wood, by disbarking cherry-trees in June, and watching the process. The outer series of wood cells of last year formed generating tissue from which the new season’s wood was formed, the outermost layer of the new growth forming the new bark, which had no generative power. A few of these bark cells, in some instances, remained imperfect wood cells, with generative power, and from these nuclei the future protuber- ance was formed, the tissue continuing to reproduce and form a new layer annually as in ordinary wood growth. Instances of various kinds of growth of this character were described. The varying vital power of cells in different parts of the structure, as detailed in his remarks, were then taken to illustrate the various forms of eccentricity often noted in wood growth, as also the occasional appearance of bark within the Structure and between the annual layers of wood. a ns SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.* THE GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE. — January, 1877. The Arctic Ex- pedition, the Results, the Outbreak of Scurvy, the Welcome Home. In- ternational Exploration of Africa; the Share of Portugal. The Abbé Desgodius on Tibet. | ANNALS anD MaGazine or Natura History. — December, 1876- New and Peculiar Mollusca of the Kellia, Lucina, Cyprina, and Corbula Families procured in the “ Valorous” Expedition, by J. E. Jeffreys. List of Mollusca collected by the Rev. A. E. Eaton, at Spitzbergen, etc., de- termined by J. G. Jeffreys. Anatomical and Morphological Researches * The articles enumerated under this head will be for the most part selected. 192 Seientifie Serials. [ March. on the Nervous System of Hymenopterous Insects, by E. Brandt (ab- stract by the editors). APPALACHIAN Mountain CLUB. — January 10th. A paper on the Flowering Plants of the White Mountains was read by Mr. J. H. Hunt- ington. ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. — New York, January 22d. The following papers were read: The Occurrence of Microlite in Massachusetts and North Carolina, by A. A. Julien; The Fossil Fishes of the Connecticut Valley, New Jersey, and Virginia, by Dr. J. S. Newberry; The Quartz- es, Micas, and Feldspars of New York City and Vicinity. Boston Society or Naturat History. — January 3d. Mr. J. H. Emerton made a comparison of the spiders of North America and Europe. January 17th. — Papers were read by Dr. D. Hunt on The Closure of the first Branchial Cleft in the Mammalia; by Dr. T: M. Brewer On the Peculiar Parasitic Habits of Molothrus Bonariensis of South America; and by Mr. J. H. Huntington on a New Machine for making Rock-Sections. MONTHLY Microscoricat JOURNAL. — January, 1877. On Navic- ula crassinervis, Frustulia Saxionica, and Navicula rhomboides, as Test- Objects, by W. H. Dallinger. A Stage Incubator, by H. A. Reeves. Notes on Pollen, by W. G. Smith. QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF MICROSCOPICAL Science. — January 1877. On the Coloring Matters of Various Animals, and especially of Deep-Sea Forms dredged by H. M. S. Challenger, by H. N. Moseley. On Stylo- chus Pelagicus, a New Species of Pelagic Planarian, with Notes on other Pelagic Species, on the Larval Forms of Thysanzoon, and of a Gymno- somatous Pteropod, by H. N. Moseley. Note on a Method of preparing the Cornea, by Dr. E. Klein. Schiefferdecker’s Microtome, by P. Kidd. The Minute Structure of the Gills of Lamellibranch Mollusca, by R- H. Peck. Résumé of Recent Contributions to our Knowledge of Fresh- water Rhizopoda. Part III. Heliozoa and Monothalamia, compiled by William Archer. E. Schultze and Herting’s Discovery of Nuclei in Foraminifera, by the Editors. : Tue GeoLocIcat MAGAZINE. — January, 1877. On Evolution in Geology, by W. J. Sollas. The Supposed Glacial Origin of Carbonifer- ous Terraces, by J. R. Dakyns. : Tue Porurar Science Review. — January, 1877. Nursing Echin- oderms. (Describing Viviparous forms.) an Sa Erratum. — Page 122, tenth line from bottom, for Peruvian read Permian. fa THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. Vou. x1.—APRIL, 1877. — No. 4. THE USE OF THE ANTENN IN INSECTS. BY L. TROUVELOT. has been a question among naturalists whether the antennæ of insects were organs of touch, hearing, or smell. Notwith- standing the progress of science, our knowledge of this subject does not seem to have much advanced. While some naturalists, such as Blainville and Latreille, place the sense of smell in the antennæ, others, such as Hentz, Baster, Lehrmann, Dumeril, and Cuvier, refer it to the spiracles, Huber to te mouth, and Humboldt to different parts of the body. In a recent publica- tion I see it stated that the antennæ are a great deal more com- plex than formerly supposed, and probably unite the functions of touch, hearing, and taste. In view of this great divergence of opinion it occurred to me many years ago that experimentation would throw some light upon this subject, and I therefore began a series of experiments which I will here record. I procured fifty or sixty living butterflies of Limenitis Disip- pus Godt. I had seen it stated that “ Dr. Clemens having de- prived butterflies of their antenne, and having thrown them up, had observed that they could not fly, and fell heavily down with- out opening their wings.” 1. I first repeated this experiment with about a dozen individuals, all of whom, without exception, took flight, but I could observe a certain hesitation in the flight Which gave less boldness and accuracy to their movements. 2. I then prepared some very thick Indian ink, and with a brush I covered carefully the eyes of several individuals, and waited until the opaque body was perfectly dried before experimenting. I let one and then another go free; they could fly, and strange as It might seem, though perfectly blind, in no case did one go blindly-atid hurt itself by flying against anything hard, but on the contrary they seemed to have a knowledge of the proximity Of these objects, and in some cases would turn away and rest upon Copyright, 1877, by A. S. PACKARD, JR. 194 The Use of the Antennæ in Insects. [April, some other thing. But it was noticeable that before resting, the insect acted exactly the same as uninjured individuals out-of- doors, by moving its wings, poising itself for a moment in the air in front of the object on which it had chosen to rest. A proof. that the insect was perfectly blind and could not see is the fact that none of those which had their eyes covered with Indian ink were observed to fly to the single window giving light to the room where the experiments were made; if they had seen but slightly, they would have flown to the light, as all insects do in similar cases. 3. With one of these insects deprived of light I made, with a pair of scissors, and close to the head, a section of both antennæ. This insect when thrown up fell heavily down, sometimes not opening its wings at all, and was entirely unable to direct its flight. 4. I made another butterfly blind, and removed the antenne, as in Experiment 3, and placed it at liberty upon a table, allow- ing it to rest a few minutes. I prepared a solution of sugar and ‘water, and with a small brash I took up a drop of the sweet liq- uid, and then slowly and carefully I moved the brush very near the mouth, the head, and the spiracles, in fact all around the body. The poor blind butterfly remained perfectly still ; no em- anations whatever seemed to reach it from so sweet a substance. Then, guided by induction, I touched the stumps of the cut an- tenn ; no sooner was this done than it received the impression, unrolled its proboscis, and with great activity searched for the sweet object, in order to realize the impression it had received. For two or three minutes it was actively employed in the search, when I put before it a drop of the sweet beverage which it soon found and drank. : 5. Taking another butterfly, prepared like the above, I placed on each stump of the antennz a very small drop of thick gum arabic, and waited until it dried. This insect, thus prepared, when thrown up seemed to be without sensation, falling down like a stone, without any motion of the wings. As with the pre- ceding butterfly, I placed it upon a table, and held the brush with the drop of sugar-water and let it touch the sealed antennal stump, but no impression was received. I also pressed the brash on the proboscis, but it was not until I had pressed so hard as to wet it through that it felt the impression and unrolled its tongue The following summer I made some fresh experiments pees this interesting subject. Of all the Lepidoptera with whic 1877.] The Use of the Antenne in Insects. 195 am familiar in this country, the Promethea silk-worm moth is the one which in confinement will most readily accomplish the act of copulation. I have not yet found that a virgin pair on being put together did not unite the following afternoon. 6. I took several virgin pairs of this species ( Callosamia Pro- methea), put each pair in a separate box, and let them remain to- gether until they died. Each male had been deprived of its an- tenne. I collected the eggs carefully ; without an exception they were unfertilized, sexual union not having taken place. Since making these experiments, it occurred to my mind that it might be objected that by cutting off the antenne of an insect the pain resulting from such a wound would sufficiently explain the failure of a congress of the sexes. I have many times ob- served the sexual union of insects with one or two legs wanting, with wings half broken, etc. So, last summer, in order to test the value of this objection, I procured a certain number of virgin Promethea just out of the cocoon, and mutilated the males in different ways, some by cutting off a piece of the wings, others by the removal of a leg. These mutilated males were put with the virgin females, but notwithstanding their wounds union took place, and I raised young worms from the eggs laid by the fe- males, T. One afternoon I was sitting upon a rock under the shade of a tree, when my attention was attracted to a procession of a large species of ant, going from the nest to a considerable dis- tance to gather, I think, some article of food. I contemplated in silence for some time the efforts of these industrious little labor- ers, when an idea crossed my mind that I had an opportunity to make one more experiment upon the use of the antenne. I caught two or three of them, and with a small pair of scissors cut off the antennæ, and then I let them go free by the side of their busy comrades. But it was of no use ; they did not seem to rec- ognize their brothers, and did not follow the same path, but Would trace a circle and turn about in every direction as if to find the route they were following before, not seeing that they had crossed it hundreds of times, and that their friends were fol- lowing that same route ; their eyesight was not sufficient to ena- ble them to discover their way. After observing them for more than an hour, I found that they had not gone out of this circle when I left them. From the second experiment I infer that when deprived of Sight, insects fly with less boldness and accuracy, but they do not 196 The Use of the Antenne in Insects. [ April, blindly fly against objects, being apparently aware of their prox- imity. Here the faculty of sight is only an adjunct to the sense which resides in the antenne. In insects subjected to the first experiment, though having the power of sight, flight is deficient, the antennal sense is wanting to help the sight, and when the eyes and antennz are rendered useless the insect is totally unable to direct its flight or to find its food. The compound eyes of insects do not seem to enable the insect to see objects at a distance, so vision is aided by an- other sense which has the antennz as its organ. In the sixth experiment the male Promethea had his sight ; he could see near him another insect like himself, but his eyes alone could not tell him whether the insect was of the same species and of another sex, so he died near the object he would have desired with so much ardor if the sense organs which would have enabled him to detect the presence of the object had not been removed. So it was in the seventh experiment ; the ant could see the oth- ers going on their way so intelligently, but with its eyes alone it could not recognize its friends ; all were mute to him, and in the midst of friends he seemed to be in a desert. Were I to draw any conclusion from these experiments I would say that the sense localized in the antennae cannot be re- garded only as that of touch, hearing, or taste, nor can it be re- garded as uniting their complex functions. In no case have I observed insects using the antenne as feelers; it is true they move them very rapidly when they want to recognize an object, but very seldom do the antennz come in contact with the object ; if they are feelers, they feel at a distance. With more reason they should be regarded as organs of smell, but if their functions have some analogy with the sense of smell, I think they must be very different from the sense of smell in the human species, and I would venture to say that it might have some analogy with the sense so little known though so common among animals, — wit the horse, for instance, — which enables it if removed not to retrace, but find a straight line to its home, from a considerable distance, and with as much accuracy as if it could see ite Som my opinion this sense, being different from the senses common to the human species, needs a new name so as to be distinguished from and not confounded with the sense of smell, It is a kind of feeling or smelling at a great distance, by some process pow totally unknown. re 1877.] Aboriginal Funereal Customs in the United States. 197 ABORIGINAL FUNEREAL CUSTOMS IN THE UNITED STATES. BY EDWIN A. BARBER. ee for the dead, evinced by ceremonies, rites, or sol- emn decorations, has been universal in all ages and all coun- tries. Much information can be gleaned, as to the practices of prehistoric man, from the construction of graves! and the relics obtained therefrom. The paleolithic and neolithic stone tools, and the later copper and bronze instruments, remain intact for centuries ; but iron rusts and rapidly crumbles away, while wood decays, and all other remains of the iron age vanish in a few years, often before the particles of the human frame-work have become disintegrated. More, therefore, can be learned relative to the modes of sepulture of the ancients than the methods of burial of much more recent tribes, and we are frequently com- pelled to draw conclusions in regard to the customs employed by the Indians of a century or so ago from the usages of their an- cestry, since it is a well-established fact that these are handed ‘down from generation to generation, with but few, if any, im- provements or modifications. Comparatively little is known of the funereal rites of our modern savages, when we consider the great number of tribes; a fact explained by their distant removal from the centre of civilization, the secrecy of their ceremonies, and the superstition of the savage mind in regard to death. Strangers are seldom permitted to witness the disposition of In- dian bodies, and nearly all such information has been obtained from subsequent grave-desecration. So far as our present knowl- edge extends, as regards aboriginal burial in the United States, there were four methods, namely : — I. By inhumation (subterrene). II. By cremation (subterrene). II. By embalmment (subterenne). IV. By aerial sepulture (superterrene). — The first was the one usually employed. Bodies were interred either in ordinary graves, in mounds, or m caves. The ancient Pueblos of the Pacific slope generally Practiced grave-burial. The corpse was placed three or four feet beneath the surface of the earth, and at its head were ar- ranged food vases, ornaments, and implements of the chase. The * The word graves in this paper is used in its broadest acceptation, including all places of deposit for dead bodies. 198 Aboriginal Funereal Customs in the United States. {[ April, surface of the grave was level with the surrounding ground, and its dimensions were defined by stones set on edge in the soil, forming a parallelogram five or six feet in length and from two to four in breadth. The ragged edges of the slabs projected above the surface from six inches to eighteen, and occasionally a head-stone reached to the height of two feet. On none of the latter, however, has an inscription of any kind ever been observed differing in this respect from the wooden adjedatigs of the Da- kotas. | Many interesting graves have been discovered and examined throughout the Cañon of the Rio-Mancos, in Southwestern Colo- rado. Captain John Moss, of that State, unearthed from one of these a perfect skull and some fragments of other bones of a hu- man skeleton. From another he took several entire and curi- ously shaped vessels of pottery,! now in possession of Hayden's United States Geological Survey of the Territories, at Washing- ton. It would appear from this that the deceased were supplied with vessels of food and drink to assist them on their journey to the mysterious hereafter. In addition to this custom, great quantities of pottery were strewn or broken over the surfaces of + graves, in honor of the departed. Occasionally large vases or other vessels are found in a state of tolerable preservation, OF, indeed, entire ; these had been placed there by the friends of the deceased ; but whether they were originally full of food, it is dif- ficult to determine. In the neighborhood of Aztec Springs are long series of graves extending for miles along the valley west of the great Mesa Verde. Ina particular spot, an arroyo has cut through one of these graves, showing a vertical section of it. About four feet from the level of the valley a quantity of broken pottery and charred wood may yet be seen, — the former proba- bly at one time constituting perfect food vessels, — arranged at the head of the corpse; but the skeleton had disappeared after the exposure of many years. Near the beginning of the Cañon of the Hovenweep, 4 skele- ton was seen partially protruding from the eastern bank of this arroyo. It was lying about three feet below the surface, the face pointing eastward, the back of the skull only being visible. On removing it from the bank the skull fell to pieces, and me two or three of the long bones could be found, the rest oe skeleton having crumbled to dust. Sage-brush (Artemisia), page growing over the grave, indicating a growth of at least a hund 1 See Figure 12, Pl. ix., American Naturalist for August, 1876. . 1877.] Aboriginal Funereal Customs in the United States. 199 years, and the skeleton must have been placed there long before the vegetation commenced. Several ancient skeletons were exhumed in the Cafion of the Montezuma in Southeastern Utah, where great numbers of graves were found. In one tomb was a portion of a skeleton, including the long bones and some of the phalanges. The skull had entirely disappeared. From another grave we took a well- preserved skull and other portions of the skeleton, all of which have been removed to Washington. This latter skull, however, is probably that of a modern Navajo. Along the valley of the Rio San Juan lies one of the most extensive aboriginal cemeter- ies. The graves continue uninterruptedly for several miles, and thousands of subjects were evidently here buried. The only traces of buildings are some low, circular mounds, about fifty feet in diameter, indicating the former existence of adobe structures, over which oceur great quantities of broken pottery and a num- ber of arrow-points. Several tribes were accustomed to incase their dead in stone boxes or tombs. Among these were the Lenni Lenape, or Del- awares, of Pennsylvania, although the graves already opened show an antiquity of probably not more than one hundred and fifty or two hundred years, because the native contents, consisting of fragments of rude pottery and ornaments, are associated usually with articles of European manufacture, such as glass beads, iron or copper implements, and portions of fire-arms. A number of graves have been examined in the vicinity of the Delaware Water Gap. The tumuli were scarcely distinguishable, but were Surrounded by traces of shallow trenches. The skeletons lay at adepth of about three feet, and were in almost every instance Inclosed in rude stone coffins. In one case the body had been placed in a slight excavation, facing the east, and above it a low mound had been built. The second variety of inhumation was tumulus burial. This prevailed to agreat extent among the mound builders of the Mis- Sissippi Valley. In some instances a mound contained but one — Y, while in others it constituted a general burial ground. The were generally near the original level of the surface and the mounds heaped over them. No particular posture of the body was assumed ; sometimes it reclined; occasionally it was sitting, but most frequently it was extended on the back. The face was often pointed eastward, though no general rule was observed in respect to orientation. i 200 Aboriginal Funereal Customs in the United States. [April, A third method of inhumation was cave burial, such as was employed by the troglodytes of the Vézére, in Southern France. This was not common in the United States, though isolated in- stances are recorded, such as the remains found in the deposits of a cave in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, and also in caverns through the cajions of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Cremation was of two kinds: in graves and in urns. The former was practiced, to some extent, by the ancient Pueblos of Arizona and Utah. The body was burned and the ashes depos- ited in shallow tombs, marked in the ordinary way by slabs of stone set on edge around the spot. Several tribes of the Rio Gila? in Southern Arizona and some in Texas were in the habit of burying the bones of their departed in urns. Sometimes the skull was placed face downwards in the mouth of the vase, and served as a sort of cover or lid. In the immense cave town on the Rio de Chelly (examined by a portion of Hayden’s United States Geological Survey), seven burial urns were unearthed, which had been placed in a group, their edges touching. They had been hidden just below the surface soil, on a mound of earth at the foot of the walls of the pueblo. Removing them carefully from their positions, it was found that they were about fifteen inches in height, six or seven across the mouth, made of coarse, sandy clay, and burned to a sooty blackness. The vessels were filled to the mouth with some substance, which, on examination, proved to be a white adobe cement, below which appeared frag- ments of charcoal, burned corn cobs, and small pieces of highly glazed pottery. No indications of charred bones were found in them, however, and it could not be determined satisfactorily whether they had originally contained sacrificial offerings merely, > or whether they held human remains. At the foot of the village an extensive grave-yard was discovered, marked off into square and circular tombs by the usual upright stones. A few hundred yards beyond this, up the stream, was another extensive place of interment; so that while the latter was the usual mode of burial, it would seem as though cremation had been resorted to by the people, while the enemy was attacking the town; for it is evident that there had been a great and bloody fight here, which can be proved by the quantity of arrow points and numerous other indi _ cations. 1 The Spaniards, as late as the sixteenth century, found some tribes in this portion of the West, which cremated their dead. Captain Fernando Alarcon, in an account of his expedition in 1540, mentions a people near the Colorado River which lived 1m great houses of stone and burned their corpses. . 1877.] Aboriginal Funereal Customs in the United States. 201 It is a matter of certainty that cremation was performed with- out urns; that is, bodies were burned in graves or stone tombs. At the junction of the two dry arroyos, the McElmo and the Hovenweep, a considerable community once existed. On the point of a high mesa, overlooking the water-courses for many miles to the north and south, a large burial ground was dis- covered, marked off by upright stones, the longest being always at the head of the grave. On opening several of these with pick and shovel, it was found that the solid bed-rock appeared at a depth of six inches to a foot and a half, so that it was impossible to have here buried any natural human bodies. It was found, on further investigation, that in each one was a quantity of black dust and some fine white powder. The majority of these graves were rectangular, but among the rest were two or three large cir- cular mounds, about twenty feet each in diameter, where had probably been laid the ashes of persons of note or greater wealth. In Southwestern Colorado, the valley northeast of Ute Mountain was covered with these square inclosures, among which could be traced the foundation mounds of very ancient abodes, which had been constructed, for the most part, of clay. Among these graves we spent an entire morning, but were rewarded by the discovery of nothing except layers of fine white dust and some small frag- ments of burnt wood. The graves were very old, and it seemed not strange that a thousand or more years had destroyed nearly all traces of their former contents. And so in the immediate neighborhood of every considerable pueblo, we found graves more or less numerous. From the Alta California I extract the following account as given by Mr. J. A. Parker, Superintendent of the Montezuma Canal Company of Southwestern Arizona. In speaking of the ancient ruins and human remains of Pueblo Viejo Valley, he Says, “ The human bones show unmistakable evidence of having been burned, and crumbled to pieces upon being handled. Sev- eral ollas (pronounced é-yahs) — jug-shaped, earthern vessels, now used by the Indians for holding water — were found, which contained ashes, small pieces of human bones, and fragments of charcoal, which would indicate that cremation was practiced by that extinct people.” : Prof. John L. LeConte describes the ceremony of cremation as performed by the Cocopa Indians of the Rio Gila, and wit- nessed by him in the year 1850: “ A short distance from the collection of thatched huts which composed the village a shallow 202 Aboriginal Funereal Customs in the United States. [April, trench had been dug in the desert, in which were laid logs of the mesquite (Prosopis and Strombocarpus), hard and dense wood, which makes, as all western campaigners know, a very hot fire with little flame or smoke. After a short time the body was brought from the village, surrounded by the family and other inhabitants, and laid on the logs in the trench ‘The relatives, as is usual with Indians, had their faces disfigured with black paint, and the females, as is the custom with other savages, made very loud exclamations of grief mingled with what might be supposed to be funeral songs. Some smaller fagots were then placed on top, a few of the personal effects of the dead man added, and fire applied. After a time a dense mass of dark- colored smoke arose, and the burning of the body, which was much emaciated, proceeded rapidly. I began to be rather tired of the spectacle and was about to go away, when one of the Indians, in a few words of Spanish, told me to remain, that there was yet something to be seen. *¢ An old man then advanced from the assemblage with a long, pointed stick in his hand. Going near to the burning body he removed the eyes, holding them successively on the point of the stick, in the direction of the sun, with his face turned towards that luminary, repeating at the same time some words which I understood from our guide was a prayer for the happiness of the soul of the deceased. After this more fagots were heaped on the fire, which was kept up for perhaps three or four hours longer. I did not remain, as there was nothing more of interest, but I learned on inquiry that after the fire was burnt out it was the custom to collect the fragments of bone which remained, and put them in a terra-cotta vase, which was kept under the care of the family.” 1 : But few cases of embalming are known to have occurred m the limits of the United States. As examples of this mode of preparing the corpse may be mentioned the Mammoth Cave and Salt Cave mummies of Kentucky. These bodies had been pre- served by a rude species of embalmment and by exsiccation. Aerial sepulture included all burial which was performed above the surface, and consisted of two kinds: the first by suspen- sion on scaffolds or in trees, the second by sepulture in canoes. Several tribes still employ the former mode of burial. The Sioux elevate the bodies of their friends into trees, or stretch them. 1 Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1874, 41, page 1877.] Aboriginal Funereal Customs in the United States, 208 _ out on raised platforms, wrapping them in blankets and leaving them to the mercies of the elements and carnivorous birds. Lieut. J. W. Abert tells us, in his Notes of a Military Recon- noissance in 1846, that he saw in the Arkansas bottom “ several Indian bodies wrapped in blankets and skins, exposed on plat- forms of lodge poles, high up in cotton-wood trees, where they are safe from wolves and the sacrilegious touch of men. The ` air of the prairie produces rapid desiccation, and in this respect resembles Egypt and the islands of the ancient Guanches.” Ca- noe burial is resorted to by several tribes of the Northwest. Mr. John K. Townsend, in his narrative of a journey across the Rocky Mountains, describes several such burial grounds. One, at Mount Coffin, consisted of a great number of canoes containing bodies of Indians, each being carefully wrapped in blankets, and supplied with many of his personal effects in the form of weap- ons and implements. Near the Columbia River was found an- other cemetery of this sort. The bodies were lying in canoes which had been elevated five or six feet into trees or placed on stakes. In some instances the corpses ‘+ were nailed in boxes or covered by a small canoe, which was turned bottom upwards and placed in a larger one, and the whole covered by strips of bark carefully arranged over them. “ The corpses of the several different tribes which are buried here are known by the difference in the structure of their canoes, and the sarcophagi of the chiefs from those of the common peo- ple by the greater care which has been manifested in the ar- rangement of the tomb.” Mr. Townsend also mentions another method which some of these tribes occasionally employed: “ We observed to-day sev- eral high, conical stacks of drift-wood near the river. These are the graves of the Indians. Some of the cemeteries are of consid- erable extent, and probably contain a great number of bodies.” These tombs should in all likelihood be classed with tumuli or burial mounds. i _ Washington Irving describes some of the same burial grounds in his Astoria, but his descriptions do not differ materially from those of Mr. Townsend. In the Sandwich Islands, Mr. Townsend informs us, the natives practiced another mode of burial which was partially aquatic. Similar to a sacrificial altar, they construct what is called a morai. “It was the place to which the bodies of the dead chiefs were carried previous to interment. After lying here in state for a 204 The Sledge Microtome. [ April, longer or shorter time, according to the grade of rank held by _ the deceased, the flesh was stripped from the bones and buried in the sea; the bones were then taken and deposited in caves or subterranean vaults, which concluded the ceremony.” Aquatic burial, so far as we yet know, was not resorted to in the United States save in exceptional instances. In regard to the Indians previously alluded to, who disposed of their dead on Mount Coffin, Mr. Irving remarks: “ The same provident care for the deceased that prevails among the hunting tribes of the prairies is observable among the piscatory tribes of the rivers and sea-coast. Among the former the favorite horse - of the hunter is buried with him in the same funereal mound, and ¢ his bow and arrows are laid by his side that he may be perfectly equipped for the “ happy hunting grounds’ of the land of spirits. Among the latter the Indian is wrapped in his mantle of skins, laid in his canoe with his paddle, his fishing-spear, and other implements beside him, and placed aloft on some rock or emi- nence overlooking the river, or bay, or lake that he has fre- quented. He is fitted out to launch away upon those placid streams and sunny lakes stocked with all kinds of fish and water- fowl, which are prepared in the next world for those who have acquitted themselves as good sons, good fathers, good husbands, and, above all, good fishermen during their mortal sojourn.” In conclusion I would state that I have simply aimed in this paper to briefly review the different forms of sepulture of the past and present aboriginal inhabitants of the United States. The article is not intended to be exhaustive, as the subject 18 one which would fill several volumes were it properly treated. The examples I have selected are mostly such as are compara- tively new or have not as yet attracted general attention. The graves of the ancient Pueblos of the western slope have never, I believe, been accurately described. THE SLEDGE MICROTOME. BY CHARLES SEDGWICK MINOT. j ken preparation of microscopical sections by free-hand cutting, or even with the assistance of the microtomes now in use, 18 accompanied by great difficulty in producing sections of even thickness. In all cases the chief trouble is caused by the irregu- lar motion of the knife or razor which is held in the hand, and 1877.] | The Sledge Microtome. 205 microscopists acquire skill in cutting only by tedious practice, in- volving a vexatious loss of time. The instrument it is proposed to describe was invented by a French botanist to avoid this difficulty by making the guidance of the knife entirely depend- ent upon a mechanical construction. The instrument is so sim- ple that two or three days suffice for learning to make sections of any desired thickness with it, while it may be used with such rapidity that hundreds of sections, all equally good, may be made in a single morning. The instrument is made of brass, and consists of a flat, oblong ; base and a vertical partition (Figures 25 and 26, B) rising from it and running length- wise. On each side of this partition there is a platform, that on the right-hand side (C) runs horizontally along the partition, and (Fie. 25.) there is a sledge made to slide on it. The End view, }, without the sledges. ylatform on the left-hand side (D) begins at one end of the partition, quite low down (Figure 25), and rises slightly but continuously as it runs along to \ the other end of the partition, Fig- N ure 26 (B'). This platform carries a sledge furnished with a clamp to ol iz hold the object to be cut. Both the Cc platforms are oblique, as may be seen in Figure 25, so as to form together with the partition a sort of groove which is sufficient to guide the mo- tion of the sledges perfectly. The principle of the instrument is, that the object is shoved up an inclined B A plane on the left-hand side, and is Bs: thereby raised. Then the knife, fast- : ened to the sledge on the right-hand platform, is drawn back, and cuts \ through the object, which is then es shoved a little further up the inclined plane, and the knife when drawn actoss cuts again in a plane parallel to that of the first cut, and thus a (Fie. 28.) slice with two parallel surfaces is re- T cores Moved. Of course the thickness of the section is determined by 206 The Sledge Microtome. . [ April, the distance the object is moved up the inclined platform be- tween the first and second cuts. Figure 26 represents the microtome as seen from above, one half the natural size. A, which is shaded, represents the base; BB is the top of the partition, and is marked off into millimeters, though only the centimeters are represented in the cut; on the right is the horizontal platform C, while the sledge (S7) is rep- resented lying on it; the sledge is provided with a screw pin (P) for fastening the knife, the handle of which is provided with a slot into which the pin may be slipped; the knife (An) is placed obliquely, as seen in the figure, so as to project over the other side of the partition. The sledge is made so high that the knife lies above the top of the partition. On the left-hand side of the partition is the inclined platform D, carrying the sledge or object holder OH. This carries a clamp shaped very much like one of the patent clothes-pins now so much in vogue for hanging up maps and diagrams. The object to be cut must be imbedded in paraffine or soap; it is then placed between the front arms of the clamp, where it is held tightly by the action of a spiral spring between the hind arms (compare Figure 26), so arranged as to press the front arms together. The object holder must be slid down and the knife sledge pushed forward, and the first cut may be made by pulling the knife back. After making the cut the object is again shoved up the inclined platform a little way ; the exact distance may be de- termined by means of the scale on the top of the partition BB . The inclination of the platform is such that the slice cut off is m thickness one twentieth of the distance which the object has been shoved forward, that is, the rise is one in twenty, so that if the object be moved forward 1 m.m, the section will be 3y m.m., and so on. No sooner has one section been cut off than another may be made, which will be exactly parallel to the first. In this way a long object can be cut into very thin sections, all equally good, and exhibiting every part of the body cut. Now, suppose asma worm to be cut in this way into transverse sections, we could ex- amine first the head and then the successive portions of the body. I have frequently made long series of such sections, and ons found them to afford a surer means of studying the anatomy vg minute opaque animals than any other I know of, for m this way every portion of the animal may be subjected to minute exami- nation, and, further, the sections once made and mounted they 1877.] The Sledge Microtome. 207 may be stowed away and investigated at any leisure moment. For example, during a few weeks at the seaside, material for a winter’s occupation may be very easily procured. Neither is there so much hurry in drawing, as when an animal is living we are afraid it may die. For the sake of controlling the observations made on the sections, sketches of the general structure may be made, thus enabling the student to remember where each partic- ular section must have come from. There, is however, one other consideration to be noted, namely, that every cut destroys a certain amount of tissue. Thus suppose that a worms as in Figure 27, be cut transversely, a good deal will be destroyed ; but if longitudinal sections be made of another specimen, then one will see parts that the cut destroyed before, and only those spots where the two sets of cuts would have crossed had they been on the same animal will be wanting in both series. But even if you merely , make a second series of cuts they will not destroy t exactly the same place as in the first series. t When only a few preparations of some tissue are wanted, this instrument permits a rapidity of work combined with a degree of nicety unattainable by any other means, and I do not hesitate to recommend it most highly both to those who are carrying on microscopical investigations and those who are forming amateur collections, for only a little care is requisite to enable even per- sons with unskillful or unpracticed hands to make preparations equal to the very best that have ever been produced. . To succeed in doing this, however, very great care must be ‘paid to the way of preparing the object. The following method 18 applicable in a great many cases, in all, in fact, except where there is any fat to be preserved, or where, as is not unfrequently the case in histology, a special method of hardening or staining has to be employed: If the object is some small animal it may be killed by putting it in an 0.1% osmic-acid solution or in picric acid, and then in alcohol for twenty-four hours or less, according to the size of the object, and finally in absolute alcohol in suffi- cient quantity to entirely remove all the water from the object. For this purpose thirty or forty times the volume of the object — 18 necessary. If the object is a bit of tissue or some organ it — may be hardened in alcohol without any preliminary treatment. When the object is composed of loose tissue, and is not more than 3 m.m. in diameter, it may be colored in toto, thereby sav- 208 The Sledge Microtome. [ April, ing a great deal of labor. This is done by putting it after it has been in absolute alcohol in a very weak carmine or hematoxy- line solution. Either of these may be prepared by diluting the ordinary tinctures (Beale’s carmine or Boehmer’s hematoxyline) with about six times their volume of distilled water. Carmine usually gives the best results. The object must be left from twelve to twenty-four hours in the coloring solution, according to its size and nature, and then replaced in absolute alcohol for twenty-four hours. It is sometimes convenient to use chromic acid for hardening tissues a little before putting them in the alcohol. In this case they cannot be easily colored in toto unless every trace of the chromic acid has been removed by frequently renewing the abso- lute alcohol, a troublesome process requiring a long time and large quantities of spirit. The object once hardened, or colored and hardened, as the case may be, can be imbedded in paraffine by the following method: Place it in pure turpentine for half an hour, then five or ten minutes in a mixture of equal parts of paraffine and turpentine by weight, warmed so as to be liquid, and afterwards in pure, melted paraffine for five minutes. Great care must be taken not to have the paraffine warmer than is necessary to keep it liquid, otherwise the tissues will be ruined. The object should be moved about gently in the paraffine to free it from the turpen- tine adherent to its surface. By these processes the paraffine penetrates the whole object, giving it the best consistency possi- ble for cutting. The next step is to pour some paraffine into a little paper tray, then lay the object in it, and pour in enough paraffine to cover it over entirely, and leave it for half an hour or more to cool, The mass of paraffine, when solid, may be taken out, and trimmed down with a penknife to such a size and shape as will let it fit into the clamp of the object holder of the microtome ; the part containing the object must project enough above the clamp to be struck by the knife as it is drawn along, in the way above de- scribed. When the object contains fatty tissue which it is wished to examine more closely, it may be imbedded in the so-called trans- parent glycerine soap in the way that has already been in us several years. The sections when made are surrounded by paraffine, and usu- ally curl up. They must be taken up with a fine-pointed brush, e for — 1877.] The Sledge Microtome. | 209 . barely moistened with spirits of turpentine, and then put on a slide and covered with a drop of turpentine, which dissolves in a few seconds all the paraffine. The sections can then be un- rolled with the brush. If the object is colored in toto, the sec- tions are all ready for mounting, which may be done by wiping off the superfluous turpentine with a bit of cambric. The addi- tion of a drop of balsam (or better still of a mixture of one part Canada balsam and two parts white Dammar varnish) and put- ting on a cover slip complete the preparation. If, however, the object has not been colored beforehand, the sections must be stained singly; to do this, when they have been imbedded in paraffine they must be left half an hour in a few cubic centimeters of spirits of turpentine, then one fourth of an hour in absolute alcohol, after which the alcohol should be re- newed and the sections left for another quarter of an hour, where- upon they can be at once stained and mounted either in balsam or glycerine in the usual manner described in all hand-books of microscopy or histology. This method of imbedding in paraffine has the great advan- tage that objects once prepared in this way may be kept indefi- nitely and be cut at any time, or even be partially cut, and then be stowed away to be cut again by and by, it being only neces- sary to cover up the exposed surface of the object by dropping a little melted paraffine upon it. I have a small collection of such objects, each one bearing a number referring to a catalogue, so that there are several things of which I can make a first-rate prepara- tion in ten minutes at any time. I have found it convenient in making long series of sections to designate each series by a letter of the alphabet, and after having been once through to begin anew AA, AB, AC, and then again BA, BB, BO, and so on, I am accustomed to put several sections on each slide, which are numbered. My catalogue shows what each series is, and also anything about any section I choose to note, thus: “& W., Planaria tora, transverse sections, 2 (slide num- ber) through the brain, III. (number of section) through the eyes. In this way any particular section out of many thousands can be quickly found. The sledge microtome can be obtained of Thomas A. Upham, mechanician, 17 Harvard Place, Boston, Mass., for $25. The knives have, at present, to be imported from Windler, Dorotheen- Strasse 3, Berlin C, where they cost 6 marks (2 thalers) apiece. ut Mr. Upham hopes soon to be able to supply knives himself. VOL, XI. — No, 4, 14 210 On the Study of Biology. [ April, ON THE STUDY OF BIOLOGY? BY PROF. T. H. HUXLEY. HE sense in which “ natural history ” was used at the time I am now speaking of has, to a certain extent, endured to the present day. There are now in existence, in some of our north- ern universities, chairs of civil and natural history, in which the term natural history is used to indicate exactly what Hobbes and Bacon meant by that term. There are others in which the unhappy incumbent of the chair of natural history is, or was, still supposed to cover the whole ground of geology and mineralogy, zodlogy, perhaps even botany, in his lectures. But as science made the marvelous progress which it did make at the end of the last and the beginning of the present century, think- ing men began to discern that under this title of natural his- tory there were included very heterogeneous constituents, — that, for example, geology and mineralogy were, in many re- spects, very different from botany and zodlogy ; that a man might obtain an extensive knowledge of the structure and functions of plants and animals without having need to enter upon the study of geology and mineralogy, and vice versa; and further, as knowl- edge advanced, it became clear that there was a great analogy, 4 very close alliance, between those two sciences of botany and zo- ology which deal with living beings, while they are much more widely separated from all other studies. It is due to Buffon to remark that he clearly recognized this great fact. He says: “ Ces deux genres d’étres organisés (les animaux et les végétaux) ont beaucoup plus de propriétés communes que de différences réelles.” Therefore it is not wonderful that at the beginning of the pres- ent century, and oddly enough in two different countries, and, 50 far as I know, without any intercommunication between the re- spective writers, two famous men clearly conceived the notion of uniting the whole of the sciences which deal with living matter into one whole, and of dealing with them as one discipline. In fact, I may say there were three men to whom this idea oceurre contemporaneously, although there were but two who carried 1t into effect, and only one who worked it out completely. m persons to whom I refer were the eminent physiologist Bichat, the great naturalist Lamarck, in France, and a distinguish 1 Extracts from a lecture by Professor Huxley, delivered at the South Kensington Museum, on Saturday, December 16, 1876. M 2 See the distinction between the “ sciences physiques ” and the ‘‘ sciences physio- logiques ” in the Anatomie Générale, 1801. i 1877.] On the Study of Biology. 211 German, Treviranus. Bichat assumed the existence of a special group of ‘ physiological” sciences. Lamarck, in a work pub- lished in 1801,! for the-first time made use of the name “ biolo- gie,” from the two Greek words which signify a discourse upon life and living things. About the same time it occurred to Trevira- nus that all those sciences which deal with living matter are es- sentially and fundamentally one, and ought to be treated as a whole, and in the year 1802 he published the first volume of what he also called Biologie. Treviranus’s great merit con- sists in this, that he worked out his idea, and that he published the very remarkable book to which I refer, which consists of six volumes, and which occupied him for twenty years, — from 1802 to 1822. That is the origin of the term “ biology,” and that is how it has come about that all clear thinkers and lovers of consistent nomenclature have substituted for the old confusing name of natural history, which has conveyed so many meanings, the term biology, to denote the whole of the sciences which deal with living things, whether they be animals or whether they be plants, Having now defined the meaning of the word biology, and having indicated the general scope of biological science, I turn to my second question, which is, Why should we study biology ? Possibly the time may come when that will seem a very odd ` question. That we, living creatures, should not feel a certain amount of interest in what it is that constitutes our life will eventually, under altered ideas of the fittest objects of human in- quiry, seem to be a singular phenomenon ; but at present, judg- ing by the practice of teachers and educators, this would seem to be a matter that does not concern us at all. I propose to put be- fore you a few considerations which I dare say many of you will be familiar with already, but which will suffice to show — not fully, because to demonstrate this point fully would take a great many lectures — that there are some very good and substantial reasons why it may be advisable that we should know something about this branch of human learning. I myself entirely agree with another sentiment of the philosopher of Malmesbury, that “the scope of all speculation is the performance of some action — or thing to be done,” and I have not any very great respect for Or interest in mere knowing as such. I judge of the value of hu- man pursuits by their bearing upon human interests, — in other 1 Hydrogéologie, an. x., 1801. 212 On the Study of Biology. [ April, words, by their utility ; but I should like that we should quite clearly understand what it is that we mean by this word “ util- ity.” Now, in an Englishman’s mouth, it generally means that by which we get pudding or praise, or both. I have no doubt that is one meaning of the word utility, but it by no means in- cludes all I mean by utility. I think that knowledge of every kind is useful in proportion as it tends to give people right ideas, which are essential to the foundation of right practice, and to re- move wrong ideas, which are the no less essential foundations and fertile mothers of every description of error in practice. And, upon the whole, inasmuch as this world is, after all, what- ` ever practical people may say, absolutely governed by ideas, and very often by the wildest and most hypothetical ideas, it is a matter of the very greatest importance that our theories of things, and even of things that seem a long way apart from our daily lives, should be as far as possible true, and as far as possible re- moved from error. It is not only in the coarser practical sense of the word utility, but in this higher and broader sense, that I measure the value of the study of biology by its utility, and I shall try to point out to you that you will feel the need of some knowledge of biology at a great many turns of this present nine- teenth-century life of ours. For example, most of us lay great and very just stress upon the conception which is entertained of the position of man in this universe, and his relation to the rest of nature. We have almost all of us been told, and most of us — hold by the tradition, that man occupies an isolated and peculiar position in nature ; that though he is in the world he is not of the world ; that his relations to things about him are of a remote character, that his origin is recent, his duration likely to be short, and that he is the great central figure round which other things in this world revolve. But this is not what the biologists tell us. At the present moment you will be kind enough to separate me from them, because it is in no way essential to my argument Just now that I should advocate their views. Don’t suppose that I am saying this for the purpose of escaping the responsibility of their beliefs, because at other times and in other places I do not think that point has been left doubtful ; but I want clearly to point out to you that for my present argument they may all be wrong; never- theless, my argument will hold good. The biologists tell us that all this is an entire mistake. They turn to the physical organiza- tion of man. They examine his whole structure, his bony frame, and all that clothes it. They resolve him into the finest particles 1877.] On the Study of Biology. 213 into which the microscope will enable them to break him up. They consider the performance of his various functions and ac- tivities, and they look at the manner in which he occurs on the surface of the world. Then they turn to other animals, and, tak- ing the first handy domestic animal, — say a dog, — they profess to be able to demonstrate that the analysis of the dog leads them in gross to precisely the same results as the analysis of the man ; that they find almost identically the same bones, having the same relations; that they can name the muscles of the dog by the names of the muscles of the man, and the nerves of the dog by those of the nerves of the man, and that such structures and or- gans of sense as we find in the man, such also we find in the dog; they analyze the brain and spinal cord, and find the nomenclat- ure which does for the one answer for the other. They carry their microscopic inquiries in the case of the dog as far as they can, and they find that his body is resolvable into the same ele- ments as those of the man. Moreover, they trace back the dog’s and the man’s development, and they find that at a certain stage of their existence the two creatures are not distinguishable the one from the other ; they find that the dog and his kind have a certain distribution over the surface of the world comparable in its way to the distribution of the human species. What is true of the dog they tell us is true of all the higher animals ; and they find that for the whole of these creatures they can lay down a common plan, and regard the man and the dog, the horse and the ox, as minor modifications of one great fundamental unity. Moreover, the investigations of the last three quarters of a cent- ury have proved, they tell us, that similar inquiries carried out through all the different kinds of animals which are met with in nature will lead us, not in one straight series, but by many roads, step by step, gradation by gradation, from man at the summit to Specks of animated jelly at the bottom of the series; so that the idea of Leibnitz and of Bonnet, that animals form a great scale of being in which there is a series of gradations from the most complicated form to the lowest and simplest, —that idea, though hot exactly in the form in which it was propounded by those phi- losophers, turns out to be substantially correct. More than this, When biologists pursue their investigations into the vegetable world, they find that they can in the same way follow out the Structure of the plant from the most gigantic and complicated trees through a similar series of gradations until they arrive at Similar specks of animated jelly, which they are puzzled to dis- tinguish from those which they reached by the animal road. 214 On the Study of Biology. [ April, Thus they have arrived at the conclusion that a fundamental uniformity of structure pervades the animal and vegetable worlds, and that plants and animals differ from one another simply as modifications of the same great general plan. Again, they tell us the same story in regard to the study of function. They admit the large and important interval which, at the present time, separates the manifestations of the mental faculties observable in the higher forms of mankind, and even in the lower forms, such as we know them, mentally from those ex- hibited by other animals; but, at the same time, they tell us that the foundations or rudiments of almost all the faculties of man are to be met with in the lower animals; that there is a unity of mental faculty as well as of bodily structure, and that here also the difference is a difference of degree and not of kind. I said “almost all ” for a’reason. Among the many distinctions which have been drawn between the lower creatures and ourselves, there is one which is hardly ever insisted on,! but which may be fitly spoken of in a place so largely devoted to art as that in which we are assembled. It is this, that while among various kinds of animals it is possible to discover traces of all the other faculties of man, especially the faculty of mimicry, yet that par- ticular form of mimicry which shows itself in the imitation of form, either by modeling or by drawing, is not to be met with. As far as I know, there is no sculpture or modeling, and decid- edly no painting or drawing of animal origin. I mention the fact in order that such comfort may be derived therefrom as art- ists may feel inclined to take. If what the biologists tell us is true, it will be needful for us to get rid of our erroneous conceptions of man and of his place m nature, and substitute for them right ones. Granted that biology is something worth studying, what is the best way of studying it? Here I must point out that, since biol- ogy is a physical science, the method of studying it must needs be analogous to that which is followed in the other physical scl- ences. It has now long been recognized that if a man wishes to be a chemist it is not only necessary that he should read chemi- cal books and attend chemical lectures, but that he should actu- ally himself perform the fundamental experiments in the labora- tory, and know exactly what the words which he finds im his books and hears from his teachers mean. If he does not do that, he may read till the crack of doom, but he will never know 1 I think that Professor Allman was the first to draw attention to it. 1877. ] On the Study of Biology. 215 much about chemistry. That is what every chemist will tell you, and the physicist will do the same for his branch of science. The great changes and improvements in physical and chemical scientific education which have taken place of late have all re- sulted from the combination of practical teaching with the read- ing of books and with the hearing of lectures. The same thing is true in biology. Nobody will ever know anything about biol- ogy, except in a dilettant ‘‘ paper-philosopher ” way, who con- tents himself with reading books on botany, zodlogy, and the like ; and the reason of this is simple and easy to understand. It is, that all language is merely symbolical of the things of which it treats ; the more complicated the things, the more bare is the symbol, and the more its verbal definition requires to be supple- mented by the information derived directly from the handling, and the seeing, and the touching of the thing symbolized: that is really what is at the bottom of the whole matter. It is plain common sense, as all truth in the long run is, only common sense clarified. If you want a man to be a tea-merchant, you don’t tell him to read books about China or about tea, but you put him into a tea-merchant’s office, where he has the handling, the smell- ing, and the tasting of tea. Without the sort of knowledge which can be gained only in this practical way, his exploits as a tea-merchant will soon come to a bankrupt termination. The paper-philosophers are under the delusion that physical sci- ence can be mastered as literary accomplishments are acquired, but unfortunately it is not so. You may read any quantity of books, and you may be almost as ignorant as you were at start- ing if you don’t have, at the back of your minds, the change for words in definite images which can only be acquired through the operation of your observing faculties on the phenomena of nature, It may be said: “ That is all very well, but you told us just now that there are probably something like a quarter of a million different kinds of living and extinct animals and plants, and a human life could not suffice for the examination of one fiftieth part of all this.” That is true, but then comes the great con- venience of the way things are arranged ; which is, that, although there are these immense numbers of different kinds of living things in existence, yet they are built up, after all, upon marvel- ously few plans, There are, I suppose, about 100,000 species of insects, if not more, and yet anybody who knows one insect — if a properly 216 On the Study of Biology. [ April, chosen one — will be able to have a very fair conception of the structure of the whole. Ido not mean to say he will know that structure thoroughly, or as well as it is desirable he should know it, but he will have enough real knowledge to enable him to un- . derstand what he reads, to have genuine images in his mind of those structures which become so variously modified in all the forms of insects he has not seen. In fact, there are such things as types of form among animals and vegetables, and for the pur- pose of getting a definite knowledge of what constitutes the leading modifications of animal and plant life it is not needful to examine more than a comparatively small number of animals and plants. Let me tell you what we do in the biological laboratory in the building adjacent to this. There I lecture to a class of students daily for about four and a half months, and my class have, of course, their text-books; but the essential part of the whole teaching, and that which I regard as really the most important part of it, is a laboratory for practical work, which is simply a room with all the materials arranged for ordinary dissection. We have tables properly arranged in regard to light, microscopes, and dissecting instruments, and we work through the structure of a certain number of animals and plants. As, for example, among the plants we take a yeast plant, a Protococcus, a common mould, a Chara, a fern, and some flowering plant; among the animals, we examine such things as an ameeba, a Vorticella, and a fresh-water polyp. We dissect a star-fish, an earth-worm, a snail, a squid, and a fresh-water mussel. e examine a lobster and a eraw-fish and a black beetle. We go on to a common skate, a cod-fish; a frog, a tortoise, a pigeon, and a rabbit, and that takes us about all the time we have to give. The purpose of this course is not to make skilled dissectors, but to give every student a clear and definite conception, by means of sense-images, of the characteristic structure of each of the leading modifications of the animal kingdom; and that is perfectly possible, by going no fur- ther than the length of that list of forms which I have enumerated. If a man knows the structure 6f the animals I have mentioned, he has a clear and exact, however limited, apprehension of the essen- tial features of the organization of all those great divisions of the animal and vegetable kingdoms to which the forms I have men- tioned severally belong. And it then becomes possible for him to read with profit, because, every time he meets with the name of a structure, he has a definite image in his mind of what the 1877.] On the Study of Biology. 217 name means in the particular creature he is reading about, and therefore the reading is not mere reading. It is not mere repeti- tion of words ; but every term employed in the description, we will say, of a horse or of an elephant, will call up the image of _the things he had seen in the rabbit, and he is able to form a dis- tinct conception of that which he has not seen as a modification of that which he has seen. I find this system to yield excellent results, and I have no hes- itation whatever in saying that any one who has gone through such a course attentively is in a better position to form a concep- tion of the great truths of biology, especially of morphology (which is what we chiefly deal with), than if he had merely read all the books on that topic put together. The connection of this discourse with the Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus arises out of the exhibition in that collection of aids to our laboratory work. Such of you as have visited that very interesting collection may have noticed a series of diagrams and of preparations illustrating the structure of a frog. Those diagrams and preparations have been made for the use of the students in the biological laboratory. Similar diagrams and preparations, illustrating the structure of all the other forms of life we examine, are either made or in course of preparation. Thus the student has before him, first, a picture of the structure he ought to see ; secondly, the structure itself worked out ; and if, with these aids, and such needful explanations and practical hints as a demonstrator can supply, he cannot make out the facts for himself in the materials supplied to him, he had better take to Some other pursuit than that of biological science. I should have been glad to have said a few words about the use of museums in the study of biology, but I see that my time 1s becoming short, and I have yet another question to answer. Nevertheless, I must, at the risk of wearying you, say a word or two upon that important subject of museums. Without doubt, there are no helps to the study of biology, or rather to some branches of it, which are or may be more important than natu- ral-history museums ; but, in order to take this place in regard to biology, they must be museums of the future. The museums of the present do not do by any means so much for us as they might do. I do not wish to particularize, but I dare say many of you seeking knowledge, or in the laudable desire to employ a holiday usefully, have visited some great natural-history museum. ou have walked through a quarter of a mile of animals well t 218 On the Study of Biology. [April, .stuffed, with their long names written out underneath them ; and, unless your experience is very different from that of most people, the upshot of it all is that you leave that splendid pile with sore feet, a bad headache, and a general idea that the animal kingdom is a mighty maze without a plan. Ido not think that a museum which brings about this result has done all that may reasonably be expected of such an institution. What is needed in a collec- tion of natural history is, that it should be made as accessible and as useful as possible on the one hand to the general public, and on the other to scientific workers. That need is not met by constructing a sort of happy hunting ground of miles of glass cases, and, under the pretense of exhibiting everything, putting the maximum amount of obstacles in the way of those who wish properly to see anything. ; What the public want is easy and unhindered access to such a collection as they can understand and appreciate; and what the men of science want is similar access to the materials of science. To this end the vast mass of objects of natural history should be divided into two parts, — one open tothe public, the other to men of science, every day, and all day long. The former divis- ion should exemplify all the more important and interesting forms of life. Explanatory tablets should be attached to them, and catalogues, containing clearly written expositions of the gen- eral significance of the objects exhibited, should be provided. The latter division should contain, packed into a comparatively small space, the objects of purely scientific interest. For exam- ple, we will say I am an ornithologist. I go to see a collection of birds. It is a positive nuisance to have them stuffed. It is not only sheer waste, but I have to reckon with the ideas of the bird stuffer, while if I have the skin and nobody has interfered with it, I can form my own judgment as to what the bird was like. For ornithological purposes, what is needed ‘is not glass cases full of stuffed birds on perches, but convenient drawers, into each of which a great quantity of skins will go. They occupy no great space, and do not require any expenditure beyond their original cost. But, for the purpose of the public, who want to learn, m- deed, but do not seek for minute and technical knowledge, the case is different. What one of the general public, walking into a collection of birds, desires to see, is not all the birds that can be got together; he does not want to compare a hundred species of the sparrow tribe side by side ; but he wishes to know what a bird is, and what are the great modifications of bird structure, 1877.] On the Study of Biology. 219 and to be able to get at that knowledge easily. What will best serve his purpose is a comparatively small number of birds, care- fully selected, and artistically as well as accurately set up, with their different ages, their nests, their young, their eggs, and their skeletons side by side, and, in accordance with the admirable plan which is pursued in this museum, a tablet, telling the spec- tator, in legible characters, what they are and what they mean. For the instruction and recreation of the public, such a typical collection would be of far greater value than any many-acred imitation of Noah’s ark. | Lastly comes the question as to when biological study may best be pursued. I do not see any valid reason why it should not be made, to a certain extent, a part of ordinary school train- ing. I have long advocated this view, and I am perfectly cer- tain that it can be carried out with ease, and not only with ease, but with very considerable profit to those who are taught; but then such instruction must be adapted to the minds and needs of the scholars. They used to have a very odd way of teaching the classical languages when I was a boy. The first task set you was to learn the rules of the Latin grammar in the Latin lan- guage, — that being the language you were going to learn. I thought then that this was an odd way of learning a language, but did not venture to rebel against the judgment of my supe- rors. Now, perhaps, I am not so modest’ as I was then, and I allow myself to think it was a very absurd fashion. But it would be no less absurd if we were to set about teaching biol- ogy by putting into the hands of boys a series of definitions of the classes and orders of the animal kingdom, and making them repeat them by heart. That is a very favorite method of teach- ing, so that I sometimes fancy the spirit of the old classical system has entered into the new scientific system, in which case I would much rather that any pretense at scientific teaching were abolished altogether. What really has to be done is to get into the young mind some notion of what animal and vegetable life is. You have to consider in this matter practical conven- tence as well as other things. There are difficulties in the way of a lot of boys making messes with slugs and snails; it might hot work in practice. But there is a very convenient and handy animal which everybody has at hand, and that is himself; and It is a very easy and simple matter to obtain common plants. Hence, the broader facts of anatomy and physiology can be taught to young people in a very real fashion by dealing with 220 On the Study of Biology. [ April, the broad facts of human structure, such as hearts, lungs, and livers. Such viscera as they cannot very well examine in them- selves may be obtained from the nearest butcher’s shop. In re- spect to teaching them something about the biology of plants, there is no practical difficulty, because almost any of the common plants will do, and plants do not make a mess, — at least they do not make an unpleasant mess; so that, in my judgment, the best form of biology for teaching to very young people is elementary human physiology on the one hand, and the elements of botany on the other; beyond that I do not think it will be feasible to advance for some time to come. But then I see no reason why in secondary schools, and in the science classes, which are under the control of the science and art department — and which, I may say, in passing, have, in my judgment, done so very much for the diffusion of a knowledge over the country —I think that, in those cases, we may go further, and we may hope to see instruc- tion in the elements of biology carried out, not, perhaps, to the same extent, but still upon somewhat the same principle, as we do here. There is no difficulty, when you have to deal with stu- dents of the ages of fifteen or sixteen, in practicing a little dissec- tion and getting a notion, at any rate, of the four or five great modifications of the animal form, and the like is true in regard to plants. While, lastly, to all those who are studying biological science with a view to their own edification, or with the intention of be- coming zoélogists or botanists ; to all those who intend to pursue physiology — and especially to those who propose to employ the working years of their lives in the practice of medicine — I ei that there is no training so fitted, or which may be of such 1m- portant service to them, as the thorough discipline in practical biological work which I have sketched out as being pursued in the laboratory hard by. ` I may add that, beyond all these different classes of persons who may profit by the study of biology, there is yet one other. I remember, a number of years ago, that a gentleman who was a vehement opponent of Mr. Darwin’s views, and had written some terrible articles against them, applied to me to know what was the best way in which he could acquaint himself with the strong- est arguments in favor of evolution. I wrote back in all good faith and simplicity, recommending him to go through a course of comparative anatomy and physiology, and then to study de- velopment. I am sorry to say he was very much displeased, as ` 1877.] On the Peopling of America. 221 people often are with good advice. Notwithstanding this dis- couraging result, I venture, as a parting word, to repeat the sug- gestion, and to say to all the more or less acute lay and clerical paper-philosophers! who venture into the regions of biological controversy : Get a little sound, thorough, practical, elementary instruction in biology. ON THE PEOPLING OF AMERICA. BY AUG. R. GROTE.? Te conclusion was first reached by myself in a paper è read before the American Association, August, 1875 (since re- printed in several journals), that we should find colonies of Arctic man upon mountains in the temperate zone of North America, had all the conditions for his survival on these elevations been fulfilled in his case as they have been in that of certain plants and animals. That the Eskimos are the existing representatives of the man of the American Glacial epoch, just as the White Mountain butterfly ( Oeneis semidea) is the living representative of a colony of the genus planted on the retiring of the ice from the valley of the White Mountains, seemed to me at that time a natural conclusion. In a subsequent paper,t Dr. C. C. Abbott, basing his remarks on paleolithic implements discovered by him- self in New Jersey, says: “It is fair to presume that the first human beings that dwelt along the shores of the Delaware were really the same people as the present inhabitants of Arctic Amer- ica.” The title of Dr. Abbott’s paper is Traces of an Amer- ican Autochthon, and in it he institutes a comparison of the pal- eolithic implements of New J ersey with those of Southern France. According to a foot-note of Dr. Abbott’s it appears that in 1875 Dr. Rink® was “ strongly of opinion that the Eskimo are an 1 Writers of this stamp are fond of talking about the Baconian method. I beg them, on to lay to heart these two weighty sayings of the herald of Modern ien i aSa ex propositionibus constat, propositiones ex verbis, verba notionum tesseræ sunt. Itaque si notiones ipsæ (id quod basis rei est) confuse sint et temere a rebus > nies nihil in iis que superstruuntur est firmitudinis.” — Novu m Or- ganon ii, a mrna aBa vanitati nonnulli ex modernis summa levitate ita indulserunt, ut in primo capitulo Geneseos et in a libro Job et aliis Sari sacris, piece natu- em fundare conati sint ; id. 6 Read before the Büffalo pober of Natural petent vara 2, 1877. * Effect of the Glacial Epoch upon the Distribution of Insects in North America, Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. a bean Meeting, B. Natural History, 225. 3 * Am. Nat. ., June, Tales and reada a pet Eskimo, London, 1875. ` 222 On the Peopling of America. [ April, indigenous American people who have been pushed northwards by the intrusive Indian tribes.” A note of mine in objection to the idea that paleolithic man in North America is an “ autoch- thon” will be found in The American Naturalist for July, 1876, p. 432. It will be seen that, independently of each other and from dif- ferent stand-points, the fact that we have in the Eskimo a sur- vival of paleolithic man in North America has been arrived at by Dr. Abbott and, previously, by myself. The subsequent dis- covery by Professor Dana! of remains of the reindeer in glacial deposits in the valley of the Connecticut, and the determination of the beds in which the rough stone implements were found as ancient moraines, help to assign a geological age to the presence of man in North America, as well as to give a picture of his sur- roundings. I have endeavored to carry out the original idea which I entertained, that glacial man would be found to have suffered an equal fate with the fauna of the Ice period, by a study of migrations. In a lecture delivered in the course of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences? January 6, 1877, I published the conclusions arrived at, already briefly sketched in my note in The American Naturalist for July of the preceding year. I proposed to distin- guish: * A primitive migration, one influenced solely by phys- ical causes affecting man’s existence, and which must have been in more extensive operation in early times when he was unpro- vided with means of his own invention against unfriendly changes in his surroundings. Such migrations, or a modified survival of them, are operative now among our Indians, who move from place to place with the game upon which they subsist and with the season. A culture migration, one arising out of a certain stage of intellectual advancement when the movements of my are determined by ultimate and not immediate considerations. The movements of the Indo-European races fall within this cate- gory. Besides these is to be distinguished an accidental migra- tion, which man has submitted to against his will. The ac cidental migrations of man may be considered as belonging ne the epochs of culture migration, since they must more usua y have occurred with races advanced in the art of navigation. > separation of individuals from communities under the pressure a storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc., may have happened, however, in the earliest times.” 1 Am. Jour. Sci. Arts, 353, November, 1875. 2 Buffalo Courier, January 7, 1877. 1877.] On the Peopling of America. 223 It will be seen that I differ from Dr. Abbott by considering the presence of the progenitors of the Eskimo over the main belt - of this continent during the Ice period as due to ‘‘a primitive and unconscious migration determined by the shifting of their conge- nial surroundings.” It does not appear that Dr. Rink couples the migration of the Eskimo with the movement of the ice over this continent. Indeed, his idea seems opposed to this, and does not imply any relation between the Eskimo and the Ice period. These discoveries and considerations open up the question of Tertiary man. It is certain, as I have elsewhere suggested, that man could not have originated at the foot of the glacier. The ice must have met him, towards the close of the Tertiary, in the northern parts of Asia and America and forced him southward ; or, at a later time, it must have found him on the main belt of this continent. The Tertiary origin of man is presupposed from the fact that he had submitted to a race modification fitting him to endure the cold. Some support for these ideas may be found in examining northern strata; it must be borne in mind, how- ever, that the north has never been free from ice since the close of the Pliocene to this day. It would appear more sensible, in view of the present ascer- tained facts of science, that for the original Tertiary form of man we should search a territory iihabitéd at that time by an- imals the nearest related to him. Considerations of this kind will prevent us from entertaining the belief that man originated in America. We must still believe that America has always been for man the New World If we turn to the detached Antarctic lands, covered by glaciers descending to form an ice wall along their coasts, to be fretted away by the beating of the ocean waves, we see that other sciences may be advanced by their exploration, but anthropology only indirectly. In February, 1842, Ross reached the most southern point yet attained, lat. 78° 11’, long. 161° 27’W., and it is strange that both he and Weddell! report an open sea before them to the south, as Kane did to the north. So soon as Arctic America is explored by means of the estab- lishment of permanent stations of observation, akin to that in Operation on Mount Washington, a system recently recom- mended in this country as well as in Europe, important data as to the introduction of man on this continent cannot fail to be brought to light. The establishment of an international scien- 1 Neumayer, Zeits. Ges. Erdk., 1872. 224 On the Peopling of America. [ April, tific service for the observation of astronomical, meteorological, geological, and zodlogical phenomena commends itself at the present time to the more civilized powers. The different gov- ernments established by the white races should contribute their quota of the expenses for the establishment and maintenance of posts of observation in different localities over the globe, to be decided upon by commissions of specialists. In time of war such posts should be held neutral, as well as their service, under a flag and protected by the operation of international law. In the case of the Arctic regions, Great Britain, the United States, Russia, and Scandinavia are the more interested from their geo- graphical position ; yet other powers are directly interested in the solution of the different problems which will be offered though the knowledge of those parts of the earth’s surface. In Madagascar we must also expect some evidence to be forthcom- ing with reference to the origin of man. A definite settlement of the latter question can be arrived at if evolution be true. Is not this a question to call for the active interest of the cultivated races? Its settlement would greatly advance our material in- terests as a species by giving us a mental habit in accordance with the facts in the case. I think that the prospect alone of arriving at a solution of this question should prompt concerted action, either by a scientific service or such other means as ex- perience may prefer. When we examine into the question of the stone implements, which prove the fact of the presence of man, we must see that the earlier man must have first used a stone as he found it. “There must have been a time when men picked up such stones as came in their way at the moment with which to throw at animals, to break their food, to injure their fellow men. Such stones, unaltered by use, can no longer be identified.” There will be an imperfection here in the record from implements. The difficulty of supposing man to have been first introduced into America during the Quarternary period lies in the fact that he must have been in the Stone age when the migration was made. This difficulty vanishes if, as I suppose, man entered upon poS- session of this continent during the Pliocene and before the Ice period had interfered with a warm climate in the north. This will leave us free to consider American civilizations indigenous. The idea is here suggested that the Ice period acted as a barrier to inter-communication between Asia and North America. The part allowed hitherto by anthropologists to accidental migration 1877.] On the Peopling of America. 225 in the peopling of North America will be found, I think, exag- gerated. We may conceive that this peopling was effected dur- ing the Tertiary ; that the ice modified races of Pliocene man, existing in the north of Asia and America, forced them south- ward, and then drew them back to the locality where they had undergone their original modification. Also, we may suggest that other than Arctic man may have existed across the main belt of this continent during the Pliocene, and that his subse- quent intellectual development, as we find it recorded in the West, Mexico, and South America, etc., is the result of his envi- ronment acting upon his isolated condition. The object of the present paper is to call attention to this hy- pothesis, which must be studied from the point of view that man’s earlier migrations were not distinguishable in kind from those of lower animals. It seems to me quite evident that, at a time when instinct was developing into reason, the migrations of man must have had a motive which was not far removed from that influencing certain lower animals under the same circum- stances. If we concede this, it follows that the objects of man’s primitive migrations were more immediate, and of his culture migrations more remote. This one fact, that the distribution of man over the surface of the globe is more general than that of any other animal, will support the view that, through the fertil- ity of his resources, he has been able to outgrow the limitations originally imposed upon him. But these resources must have been brought into play by experience ; and their cost was surely the premature perishment of many of the kind.1 During the process, then, which resulted in the race modification of the Es- kimos, their original numbers must have been decreased by the slowly but ever increasing cold of the northern regions, until ex- perience and physical adaptation combined brought them to a State of comparative stability as a race. i We must also consider that the farther back we go the nearer _ We must come to a common race of man, supposing the theory of the essential unity of his origin to be true, while I think the Probable effect of the Ice period upon climate and the present development of man has not been hitherto sufficiently consid- ered. The entire environment must be taken into consideration, VOL. XI. — xo. 4, 15 226 The Polar Colonization Plan. [ April, however complex it is and at whatsoever cost to us the knowledge of it is to be attained, before we can grasp the true picture of the succession of events which have resulted in man as we now find him on the different lands of the globe. With the thinking minds of our race, the question of the origin of man is the ques- tion of the century. The hypotheses as to the manner in which the early peoplings of America were effected, developed in the present and previous papers of mine, are as follows: — i (1.) That during the Tertiary period man had spread from Equatorial lands on the eastern hemisphere to Northern Asia, and had then crossed into America from the North. (2.) That in at least as early as Pliocene time man had mi- grated down the high lands adjacent to the mountainous back- bone running along the western side of the two Americas. (3.) That the Ice-period produced a race modification of the man living in the extreme north, and that the advance of the ice prevented further communication between the Old and the New Worlds until comparatively recent times. : (4.) That this race accompanied the great glacier on its ad- vance and retirement over North American territory, and that the existing representatives of this race are the Eskimos. ——— THE POLAR COLONIZATION PLAN. BY CAPT. H. W. HOWGATE, U. 8. N. "DHE expeditions of Captain Hall in the Polaris, in 1871, and of Captain Nares in the Alert and Discovery, in 1875, have shown that by the use of steam it is a comparatively easy matter to reach the entrance to Robeson’s Channel in latitude 81° north, and that the serious difficulties to be overcome in reach- ing the Pole lie beyond that point. Parties from the two expe ditions have made fair sutveys one hundred and forty miles north of this, leaving only about four hundred miles of unex- plored region between that and the goal of modern geographers, — the Pole. l When Captain Hall reached the upper extremity of Robeson $ Channel the lookout of the Polaris reported open water in sight and just beyond the pack which surrounded the vessel and pre- vented further progress. This open water was afterwards seen from the cape at the northern opening of Newman’s Bay, ao 1877.] The Polar Colonization Plan. 227 was the opinion of the crew of that ill-fated vessel that if she had been but the fraction of an hour earlier in reaching the channel they could have steamed unobstructed over a veritable ‘ open sea ” to the Pole itself. We know that they did not succeed, but were forced to winter almost within sight of this sea, and subse- quently, disheartened by the loss of their gallant commander, abandoned the enterprise. Where this open water was found, Captain Nares in 1875 and 1876 found solid, impenetrable ice, through which no vessel could force its way, and over which it was equally impossible for sledge parties to work. These facts appear to show that within the Arctic circle the seasons vary as markedly as in more temperate southern lati- tudes, and that the icy barriers to the. Pole are sometimes broken up by favoring winds and temperature. To reach the Pole prompt advantage must be taken of such favoring circumstances, and to do this with the greatest certainty and with the least ex- penditure of time, money, and human life, it is essential that the exploring party be on the ground at the very time the ice breaks up and opens the gate-way to the long-sought prize. This can be done only by colonizing a few hardy, resolute, and experienced men at some point near the borders of the Polar Sea, and the most favorable one for the purpose appears to be that where the Discovery wintered last year. : Such a party should consist of at least fifty men, and should be provided with provisions and other necessary supplies for three years, at the end of which period they should be visited, and if still unsuccessful in accomplishing the object, revictualled and again left to their work. Captain Hall spent eight years among the Esquimaux, and each year found himself better fitted to withstand the severity of the Arctic circle, and the party of which I speak would in like manner become acclimated, and eventually succeed in accomplishing the long-desired end. With -a strong, substantial building, such as could easily be carried on shipboard, the party could be made as comfortable and as safe from atmospheric dangers as are the men of the signal service sta- tioned on the summits of Pike’s Peak and Mount Washington, or the employés of the Hudson’s Bay Company stationed at Fort ork, where a temperature of —60° is not uncommon. A good Supply of medicine, a skillful surgeon, and such fresh provision as could be found by hunting parties would enable them to keep off Scurvy and to maintain as good a sanitary condition as the 228 The Polar Colonization Plan. [ April, inhabitants of Godhaven, in Greenland. Game was found in fair quantities by the Polaris party on the Greenland coast, and by those from the Alert and Discovery on the mainland to the west, especially in the vicinity of the last-named vessel, where fifty-four musk-oxen were killed during the season, with quanti- ties of other and smaller game. A seam of good coal was also found by the Discovery’s party, which would render the question of fuel a light one, and thus remove one of the greatest difficul- ties hitherto found by Arctic voyagers. The principal depot or post should be located upon Lady Franklin Bay, between latitude 81° and 82°, and there is no ques- tion that this can be reached with a steam vessel, as Captain Hall went as high as Cape Union, between latitude 82° and 83°, with the Polaris, and Captain Nares still higher with the Alert. It is probable that the last-named point may be reached with the vessel, in which case coal and provisions could be depos- ited there to form a secondary base of operations for the explor- ing party. If this latter can be done, the road to the Pole will be shortened by about ninety miles in distance and three weeks or more in time, two very important items. It should be clearly understood that the only use to be made of the vessel, which it is hoped will be obtained from the Navy Department, is in the transportation of the men and supplies to the location of the colony. When this is done the vessel will return to the United States and await further instructions. An annual visit might be made to the colony, to carry fresh food and supplies, to keep its members informed of events occurring in the outside world, and bear them news and letters from anxious relatives; to bring back news of progress made and of a private character to friends; also, if necessary, to bring back invalided members of the expe- dition, and carry out fresh colonists to take their places. The permanent colony should consist of fifty chosen men, mustered into the service of the United States, three commissioned officers, and two surgeons; all to be selected with a view to their especial fitness for work, the young, able-bodied, resolute men, who can be depended upon to carry out instructions to the extreme limit of human endurance. An astronomer and two or more naturalists, to be selected by the National Academy of Sciences, and to work under instructions from that body, but subject to such general supervision and direction from the head of the expedition pi customary at all posts in charge of an officer of the United = States, should accompany the expedition. One or more mem- 1877.] The Polar Colonization Plan. 229 bers of the regular force should be competent to make meteoro- logical observations, and to communicate by telegraph and signals whenever such communication becomes necessary. To the expeditionary corps brought from the United States should be added a number of Esquimaux to serve as hunters, guides, etc., and who can be taken over with their families from Disco or Upernavik, in Greenland, and also an ample number of the Esquimaux dogs, so indispensable for sledging and so useful as food when their capacity for work is gone. The outfit of the expedition should include some two hundred miles or more of copper wire, to connect the colony at Lady Frank- lin Bay with the subsidiary depot at Cape Union, and thence northward as far as practicable. Copper wire is strong, light, flex- ible, and a good conductor, and can be worked while lying upon the dry snow or ice without support. The necessary battery, material, and instruments should be taken to equip the amount of line, and the battery could be kept permanently at the Bay station, where, fuel being abundant, it could be kept from freez- ing. A few sets of signal equipments, such as are used in the army signal service, would also form an indispensable part of the outfit, and all of the men should be instructed in their use and in the signal code. Thus provided with means of communication the sledging parties could move forward with confidence, as they would be able, when necessary, to call upon their comrades who remained behind for advice or assistance. Instead of discourag- ing further effort, the failure of Nares’s expedition from the causes named should stimulate fresh endeavors, and hold out a fair pros- pect of success. At any rate, the little colony on Lady Franklin Bay, during their three years’ residence, besides having the oppor- tunity of selecting an open season and becoming thoroughly hard- ened and acclimated, would have their work narrowed down to a common focus, — the pathway due north. The work of the Nares expedition clears the way for a direct movement upon the Pole. the explorations westward along the coast by Lieutnant Ald- rich, and eastward by Lieutenant Beaumont, obviate the neces- sity for similar work now. Upon landing and unloading, the Stores and provisions quarters should be erected, and the vessel, returning to the United States, would leave behind her a thor- oughly equipped, self-supporting, and self-reliant colony which would push, ever northward, the limits of discovery. The attempt to draw the loaded sledges by means of mere manual labor should not be made unless it should become in any 230 The Polar Colonization Plan. [ April, particular instance a matter of absolute necessity, as it is sure to result disastrously, and seems to have been one of the causes of failure of the Nares expedition. The expedition from the colony to the Pole may consist of eight sledges, with six men to each sledge, the distance to be traveled being some four hundred miles, divided into eight stages of fifty miles each. At the end of the first stage one sledge could be sent back. A portion of the provisions which it originally carried would have been con- sumed, and the rest would have been deposited in a cache in the ice secure from Arctic animals. At the end of the second stage the second sledge would be’sent back ; at the close of the third stage the third sledge would take up its homeward journey, and following out this plan only a single sledge would remain. The returning sledges being but lightly freighted, and traveling, moreover, a route already pioneered, several of their hands could be retained’so as to man the eighth sledge with ten or more ex- plorers. This last sledge with its full complement would perform the most important work of all. It would press forward, reach the Pole, make the necessary observations, and then return. Upon its homeward journey it would follow the route already made in the forward journey, and would find provisions at each successive cache. During the summer there are probably long lanes of water free of ice from the upper end of Smith’s Sound, and following these, against the downward-flowing current, a pathway will surely be found, practicable for boats, during some favoring sea- son. Such favoring season and such a practicable pathway can be found only by men colonized as proposed at a point where —half the journey already safely completed — they will be ready, healthy, vigorous, acclimated, and unwearied by a long and perilous voyage; they will be ready and eager to seize the proffered opportunity. Failing such an opportunity, a chance barely possible, the alternating of sledge journeys still remains, and sledge journeys undertaken under better and more favorable auspices than any which have been as yet attempted. ; The severity of the climate on Lady Franklin Bay and in the neighboring regions has been much exaggerated. To pe he summits of Colorado, as stated by a former member of one of Dr. ‘Haye. expeditions, who has since served a year upon the summit last-named mountain. The report on the Polaris expedition 1877.] The Polar Colonization Plan. 231 shows that during the summer all the lowlands and elevations at Thank God Harbor (opposite Discovery Harbor on Lady Franklin Bay) were bare of snow and ice, excepting patches here and there in the shade of the rocks. The soil at that pe- riod was covered with a vegetation of moss interspersed with small plants and willows. The country abounds with life: seals, game, ducks, musk oxen, rabbits, wolves, foxes, bears, partridges, ete. Two seals were shot in the open water. Again, there are several towns in Northern Asia inside the Arctic circle, and a flourishing city of Russia (Archangel) is not far from it. At Yakutsk, on the river Lena, the ground is frozen solid all the year round, and only thaws a few inches in depth during the hottest summer. Yet this is a town possessing a population of four thousand hardy, prosperous, and contented human beings. Nostalgia, that dreaded foe of isolated men, found in the mem- bers of former exploring parties an easy prey through the long, sunless, Arctic night, and drove some to mutiny and others to sui- cide, while when the hour of deadly peril came — the supreme mo- ment of despair — the stoutest heart was appalled by the knowl- edge that succor, if sent at all, must be guided by the merest chance, and that the rude cairn which covered his last resting-place or his frozen effigy upon some drifting ice floe might never meet the gaze of human eye. The new enterprise will go forth under far different auspices to seek a definite rendezvous from which every forward step will be duly chronicled, and the members of the expedition, well knowing that communication will be kept up for their aid, comfort, and supply, will strive with a keener endeavor for the long-coveted prize. Speaking of his expedi- tion in 1861, Dr. Hayes says that the crew were always, and had been, in perfect health; that he was his own ship’s doc- tor, and a doctor without a patient, and that, “ believing in Democritus rather than Heraclitus, they had laughed the scurvy and all other sources of ill health to shame.” Nor is the danger of Arctic exploration so great as it at first thought appears to be. A distinguished naval officer who has served in those regions States that “ of all the seas visited by men-of-war the Arctic have proved the most healthy ;” and Mr. Posthumus states, further, that since 1841 England and America have sent out thirty-two expeditions, the total number of deaths from which has been only thirty-eight men, or 1.7 per cent., a percentage which would appear much more favorable if the expeditions of the Germans, Swedes, and N orwegians were included. 232 Recent Literature. [ April, To sum up, then, in brief: It is proposed to ascend a well- known and practicable channel to an equally well-known point where exploring parties have previously wintered, and there form a colony. From the post so formed no time will be spent in needless quests along the shore either east or west, as surveys there have already been completed; but starting afresh, the point of our beginning being the closing point of former expedi- tions, with all the information of our forerunners to commence with, better provisioned, equipped, and disciplined, with better means of intercommunication, thoroughly acclimated, and with- out the refuge of the ship to paralyze energy and sow the seeds of discontent and slothfulness. In other words: to use alike the partial successes and the partial failures of others, added to the utmost foresight, experience, and scientific aids to form the ful- crum of the Archimedean lever which shall move the Arctic world. RECENT LITERATURE. WALLACE’S GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION or ANIMALS — Ål- though a complete work on this subject by a single writer — and the one under consideration applies, as the author intended it should, almost ex- clusively to land animals of a comparatively few orders — would in the present state of our knowledge be an impossibility, we know of no one, next to Mr. Darwin, who is better fitted for the task, by training both in the field and in the study, than Mr. Wallace. The work is comprehensive in scope and apparently accurate in details, while the subject is pre- sented in the attractive, clear style of the distinguished author of the Malay Archipelago and the Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection. It is written, as it should mainly be, in the light of the recent uniformitarian views in geology and the theory of evolution, though with occasional disregard of zoégeographical laws laid down by Humboldt, Brown, Schouw, Schmarda, Decandolle, Agassiz, Dana, and others whose names are not even mentioned in the work before us, no historical sketch of the subject being presented, an omission of considerable 1m- rtance. The work is divided into four parts: I. The Principles and General Phenomena of Distribution. II. On the Distribution of Extinct Ani- mals. III. Zoölogical Geography ; a Review of the Chief Forms of Hr in the Several Regions and Sub-Regions, with the Indications they afford 1 The Geographical Distribution of Animals. -With a Study of the Relations of Livwg and Extinct Faunas as elucidating the Past Changes of the Earth's Surface. BY oes FRED Russet WaLiace. In two vols. With Maps and Illustrations. New York : Harper & Brothers. 1876. 8vo, pp. 503, 607. $10.00. 1877.] Recent Literature. 233 of Geographical Mutations. IV. Geographical Zoölogy; a Systematic Sketch of the Chief Families of Land Animals in their Geographical Relations. - The grand merit of the work, and one which will give a substantial foundation to the author’s fame as a biologist, aside from his authorship, simultaneous with Darwin, of the doctrine of natural selection, is the endeavor to account, from a more extended range of study than any pre- vious author, for the present diversity of life on the different continents, by a study of the fossil forms and of past geological changes. He discards the older notions of certain authors, as Humboldt, Schouw, and others, that the distribution of life over the globe is due primarily to differences in tem- perature and to physical barriers. In how broad a way our author has treated this subject may be seen by the chapter entitled Summary of the Past Changes and General Relations of the Several Regions, reprinted in the last number of this journal. As long ago as 1847 Agassiz stated in his Introduction to the Study of Natural History that “ modification of types [on different continents was] not caused by climate,” though he proposed no scientific explanation as to how they did originate. Mr. Wallace supposes that all land animals originated in the northern portion of the Europe-Asiatic continent, and thence migrated south into India, Australasia, Africa, and to North America by means of a supposed for- mer polar continent of which Arctic America, Greenland, Iceland, Spitz- bergen, and Nova Zembla are the remnants. South America, he suggests, was peopled from North America. This view we suppose to be original with the author, and the hypothesis seems to be supported by known palæ- ontological facts, and may serve as a working theory until a better one 1s offered. Mr. Wallace’s view that the primitive centre of distribution was in the Old World is based on the fact that life is more abundant and the continental mass larger than that of North America. Mr. Wallace quite thoroughly disposes of the notion, advanced by Heer, Murray, and others, of continental bridges, and fully recognizes the facts strenuously main- tained for years by Dana and others, and proven by the late deep sea explorations, that the present ocean beds have always been such," oscil- lations of the original continental masses and the evident former exist- ence of an arctic Americo-European continent being sufficient to account for the regular and normal interchange of life, which paleontology shows Must actually have occurred. _ The limits of the six primary regions into which the earth’s surface 1s divided by our author have been marked out by geological agencies 1 “ The preliminary studies above enumerated will, it is believed, enable us to see the bearing of many facts in the distribution of animals, that would otherwise be in- ae continents and oceans, probably the most permanent features of our globe.” ol. i., p- 9.) 234 Recent Literature. [ April, almost wholly. When, however, we come to the zodlogical subregions, temperature and mountain barriers, rivers and deserts are factors for the most part, though not always duly recognized in this work, for climatic causes are, we think, not given sufficient prominence, and the corre- spondence between zones of temperatures, and the distribution of faune are too lightly discussed. For example, he rejects the idea of an arctic region with a circumpolar fauna, contrary to the well-founded views of Agassiz, Dana, Huxley, and others, though he gives some good reason for his own opinion. Mr. Wallace’s six regions are those originally pro- posed by Sclater, namely, the Palearctic, Ethiopian, Indian, Australian, Neotropical, and Nearctic. Mr. Wallace disbelieves in the existence of an antarctic region, and we should be inclined to agree with him, but we see no good reason, if we are to confine ourselves to existing facts of distribution, for ignoring a seventh arctic region embracing all of America, Europe, and Asia north of the isothermal of 32°. We should follow Agassiz (1847) and others, as well as Huxley (1868) and put the northern limits of the Palwaretic and Nearctic regions, or Europe, Asia, and North America, respectively, south of the isothermal of 32°. In this case, we think, Mr. Wallace treats too lightly the importance of temperature in limiting zoégeographical re- gions, and is disposed to rely too strongly on the fact that this arctic region had in former times a warm climate, and supported a flora and fauna like that of north temperate Europe, Asia, and America. But the Glacial epoch destroyed the continuity of climate, and at the present time temper- ature is the prime factor in limiting life as regards this region of the globe. When we turn to the distribution of marine invertebrate life, a subject almost wholly ignored by Mr. Wallace, the extension into the arctic zone of Mr. Sclater’s Nearctic and Palearctic regions is entirely arbitrary. All the facts brought out by deep-sea researches and Scandi- navian, British, and American marine zodlogists tend to prove most forcibly that there is a circumpolar fauna, no more European-Asiatic than American,! and that this fauna may, at great depths, where the temperature of the water is the same (as it actually is), extend to Cuba and underlie the tropical zone of life. In fact, the fauna of the sea 15 primarily polar or frigid, and tropical, and we believe that Messrs. Scla- ter and Wallace are quite wrong in ignoring the fact that even land animals share largely in this distribution. Indeed, in discussing the ~~ tribution of marine life, temperature is the main element in the limita- tion of zoölogical regions and subregions, as first shown by 2 — . D. Dana in 1853, in his essay on the geographical distribution © Crustacea, and again and again proved by marine zoologists and the results of the explorations by the United States Coast Survey, by Scan- 1 Since the publication of Mr. Wallace’s work, in the Reports of the Valorous Expedition to Greenland, Mr. Jeffreys argues against and Mr. Norman in favor the Greenland marine fauna being American rather than European. 1877.] Recent Literature. (Fie. 28.) A SCENE IN CUBA, WITH CHARACTERISTIC ANIMALS, 236 Recent Literature. [ April, dinavian, and the Porcupine and Challenger, and other English expedi- tions. We are disposed to find some fault with the present work in not considering the subject from a stand-point so important as this. To return to the theory as to the origin of the present distribution of life on the great continents by means of a migration from lands to the north. While the idea is evidently original with Mr. Wallace, he seems to have overlooked some suggestions made by writers in the United States previous to the publication of his work. More than twenty years ago Professor Asa Gray! proposed the hypothesis that the present vegetation of North America “or its proximate ancestry must have occupied the arctic and subarctic regions in Pliocene times, and that it had been gradually pushed southward as the temperature lowered and the glaciation advanced even beyond its present habitation.” He also at- tempted to show that certain forms might survive in Japan and the Atlantic United States, “ but’ not in intermediate regions of different distribution of heat and moisture.” . . . . And it was thought that the occurrence of peculiarly North American genera in Europe in the Ter- tiary period (such as Taxodium, Carya, Liquidamber, Sassafras, Negundo, ete.) might be best explained on the assumption of early interchange and diffusion through North Asia rather than by that of the fabled Atlantis.” These views were confirmed by Lesquereux. In 1873 the reviewer applied this hypothesis to the origin of the distribution of animals, particularly in- sects.” We then, in dircussing the origin of our North American fauna, drew the inference that “cospecific or congeneric forms occurring in California and Europe and Asia are the remnants of a southward migra- tion from polar Tertiary lands during Tertiary and even perhaps Creta- ceous times, and in proportion to the high antiquity of the migrations there have been changes and extinctions causing the present anomalies in the distribution of organized beings, which are now so difficult to account for on any other hypothesis.” As Mr. Wallace could not in such a work enter into details of distri- bution beyond briefly describing his subregions, in which temperature and natural barriers need to be studied with care, he may have been led into the error of underestimating the influence of zones or temperature 1m determining the limits of distribution within the subregions. Much excellent work that has been done in this direction by American natu- ralists, who have had much better opportunities than European students, has been too hastily discussed either from want of space or from lack of information, since the great extent of North America as compared with that of Europe is exceedingly favorable to the formation of correct op!- ions regarding the influence of climate on species, an influence of greater 1 Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Boston. Vol. 6. See Sequoia and its History, American Naturalist, October, 1872, pp- 589, 590. . 2 On the Distribution of Californian Moths. By A. S. Packard, Jr. American Naturalist, August, 1873, and Proceedings of the Boston Society for May, 1873. I- - CÈ = SSS rae 8 EE. SS S ` = ~~ Š + N b +o k r Y Whe Pan iy) S MANIS X F \ \ j ; I | € Ai í } y ee x a I~ J == - = Sa a a - SE SOS (Fie, 29.) THE NORTH AMERICAN PLAINS, WITH CHARACTERISTIC MAMMALIA, 238 Recent Literature. [April, importance in the origin of species than Darwinians as such seem willing to admit. The errors of detail in the chapters we have read seem very few, and the wonder is that there should not be more. We notice that Phryno- some, or horned toads, are stated on one page to exist in New York and on another in Florida. We are not aware that the genus occurs east of the Mississippi River. Siredon is referred to the family Proteide, when it has been shown by Dumeril and Marsh to be simply a larval Amblystoma. An attractive feature of the work are the twenty full- page illustrations, showing the chief forms of land vertebrates character- izing the subregions. They are drawn with skill and evident fidelity, though the skunk on Plate XX. is not well sketched. Through the courtesy of the American publishers our readers can judge of the excel- lence of the plates by a glance at the two accompanying illustrations (Figs. 28 and 29). The colored hypsometrical maps add greatly to the value of the work. In that of North America the author colors yellow supposed desert tracts east of the Rocky Mountains, which farmers in Wyoming and Colorado would consider as reflecting on their possessions, and over which herds of buffalo a few years ago must have grazed with satisfaction. In conclusion it may be said that while our author has shown that life has probably originated in northern lands, the question still remains to be answered, and the problem will probably not be solved for genera- tions. What caused the radical differences in the life of the several continents? The united efforts of future paleontologists and biologists will be concentrated on this task, and centuries hence, if we mistake not, Alfred R. Wallace will be regarded as the pioneer in the work. Recent Books AND Pampnverts. — The Naturalist’s Guide in collecting and pre- serving Objects of Natural History, with a Complete Catalogue of the Birds of East- ern Massachusetts. By C. J. Maynard. With ee by E. L. Weeks. Sa- lem: The Naturalists’ Agency. 1877. 12mo, pp. l $2.00. he Naturalist’s Directory, containing the Names a Naturalists, Chemists, Physi- cists, and Meteorologists, arranged alphabetically, with an Index arranged acco ording to iE By Samuel E. Cassino. Salem, Mass; The Naturalists’ Agency. 1877. o, pp. 20. Interleav Mih towards a Knowledge of the meo i Development of Insects. By Prof. M. Ganin. Warsa 1876. 4to, with p _ Biologische Studien. You Prof. Ernst eat dudes Heft : Studien zur Gas- trea-Theorie. Mit 14 tafeln. Jena. 1877. 8vo, pp. 99. Beitrage zur Naturgeschichte der ee Von Prof. August Weismann. Parts II.-IV. Leipzig. 1877. 8vo, pp. 161. On the Serneture and Relations of the Aleyonarian Heliopora coerulea, W eme Account of the Anatomy of a Species of Sarcophyton, Notes on the abe sf Spe- cies of the Genera Millepora, Pocillopora, and Stylaster, and Remarks on the Affini- ties of Certain Paleozoic Corals. By H. N. Mosely. (From the Philosophical Trans- actions of the Royal Society.) London. 1876. 38. i F dings and Transactions of the Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science of Halifax, Nova Scotia. IV. part 2. 1875-76. 8vo. 1877.] Botany. 239 The Valorous Expedition! Reports by Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys and Dr. Carpen (From the Proceedings of the Royal Beciasrs Vol. xxv. No. 173.) With chart a Sections. London. 1876. 8vo, pp Check List of the Fishes of the Pat Waters of North America. By David S. Jordan and Herbert E. pice (From the Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Nat- The Fourth Annual rites ie the Board of Directors of the Zodlogical Society of Philadelphia. 1876. p. 3 Catalogue of the publications $ the U. S. Geological and Geographical Surv y of the Territories. F. V. Hayden, Geologist-in-Charge. Second Edition. (Revised to December 31, 1876.) Washington, D. C. 1877. 8vo, pp. 38. Remarks on some Algæ found on the Water Supplies of the City of Boston. By W. G. Farlow. (Extracted from the Bulletin of the Bussey Institution. January, 1877.) 8yo, pp. 8 Geological Survey of New Jersey. Annual Report of the State Geologist, for the year 1876. Trenton, New Jersey. 1876. 8vo, pp. 56. _ New York Aquarium Journal and Guide. Illustrated. New York. GENERAL NOTES. BOTANY.! On THE PASSAGE or PLASMA THROUGH LivING UNPERFORATED Membranes, sy M. Cornu.—The transfer of elaborated matters in cells presents many difficulties ; in many cases osmosis alone is an inad- equate explanation; it has been thought necessary to assume solution and recomposition of the substance, as in the case of starch. t the transfer of starch takes place in this way has been apparently admitted as the result of Mer’s researches. Does plasma pass in the same way through the cell wall, having become first dissolved? Cornu thinks that it is transferred without solution, and bases his conclusion on his study of the germination of the spores of one of the Mucedineæ. In this case the plasma passes directly through the wall without rupturing it. The details of this most interesting observation are given in Comptes Rendus, January 15, 1877. HELLODENDRON. — The list of exotic trees capable of withstanding the severities of the New England climate is not a long one, and any addition to it is a cause for congratulation, especially when, as in the case of Phellodendron Amurense,’ the new-comer is extremely orna- mental, and of rapid growth. Two plants of this Phellodendron, raised om seed in the Harvard Botanic Garden many years ago, are now some fifteen feet high, and have flowered the past summer for the first time; and as they have been fully exposed during ten or fifteen years, hardiness in our climate would seem to be beyond doubt. The flowers of Phellodendron are dicecious, but by a piece of remarkable good fortune the two plants bore flowers of the two sexes, and an 1 Conducted by Pror. G. L. GOODALE. 2 Rupurt and Maxim., Fl. Amus. t. 4. S 240 General Notes. [ April, abundant supply of seed has been secured. Phellodendron Amurense is a native of Manchuria, where, according to Maximonicz, it becomes a handsome, thick-leaved tree, fifty feet high, and with a trunk a foot in diameter. It occurs also in Japan, where a second species has been de- tected. Phellodendron can be characterized by its corky bark; opposite, un- equally pinnate leaves; oblong, lanceolate, acuminate, sharply serrate leaflets ; small, green, dicecious flowers, borne at the extremity of the branches in loose corymbs; and by its five seeders, black, odoriferous, pea-shaped drupes, with flattened seeds, which in our species are two lines long, and covered with a shining black testa. Its nearest North American allies are Ptelea and Xanthoxylum. — C. S. SARGENT. MODIFICATION OF THE GLUMES OF GRASSES DEPENDING ON THE Sex or THE FLOWERS. — Fournier gives as the result of his study of the grasses of Mexico the following statement: Among grasses with separated sexes, the female flowers differ very little, if at all, as re- gards the situation or form of the floral envelopes, when the sexes are borne on different plants ; but when the plant is moneecious the glumes of the two sexes are widely different. These differences are most marked in certain genera of Chloride, normally dicecious and acci- dentally moncecious. The grass described by Engelmann under the name Buchlée dactyloides is a curious example in point. Beside this is now placed Opizia stolonifera, of which Presl had seen only the female plant. Although the female flowers of these plants differ very widely, their male plants resemble each other so much that they have been put in the same genus. Casiostega humilis is the male form of Buchlée, and ©. anomala is the male form of Opizia. A Liviné AND FossıL OAKS or EUROPE COMPARED BY De SAPORTA. — Before the end of the Miocene, Europe possessed oaks which closely resembled Quercus Cerris. They had cupules of the same kind as the one now living, and the fruit matured in the second year. Three species in Auvergne belonged to the type of Quercus Robur, and “ did not differ from the forms of this group more than these forms differ from one an- other.” Quercus pedunculata, sessiliflora, and pubescens are relatively recent. In the middle of France, at least, these races have been pre- ceded by other oaks, which have since partly disappeared and partly - have been confined to a region farther south. On the other hand, species which now occupy only limited stations where they are threat- ened with extinction, like Quercus Cerris in France, appear to have had direct representatives there at an epoch relatively remote. ABSORPTION or CARBONIC ACID BY THE VEGETABLE CELL Walt BY Proressor Boum, or Vienna. — Carbonic acid is atmospheric alr, absorbed not only by the contents of green cells but by the cell walls _ themselyes. Branches dried at 100° C. absorb more carbonic acid than e 1877.] Zoölogy. 241 fresh twigs. But while in the latter the absorbed gas can be driven off tolerably rapidly by oxygen, hydrogen, or nitrogen, this happens in the first just as in the case of carbon, only more slowly.” ; BOTANICAL NOTES FROM RECENT PERIODICALS. — Flora. Batalin, Mechanism of the Movements in Insect-Eating Plants (not yet finished). Dr. Celakovsky, On the Morphological Structure of Vincetoxicum and Asclepias. A. Poulsen, The Occurrence of Crystals surrounded by Cellulose (Rosanoff’s crystals detected in the leaf stalks of many Le- guminosz). Botanische Zeitung. 1877, No. 1. Dr. DeVries, On the Extension of Growing Vegetable Cells by Turgescence. V. Waldheim, A Fun- gus on Rumex. Nos. 2 and 3, Beyerinck, On Galls. No. 4, Jack, On European Hepatice. Continued in No. 5. Dingler, On Lathrea rhodopea. ZOOLOGY. Tue Common Cras (Carcinus Ma@NAS) AT THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. —I desire to direct attention to the crustacean genus Carcinus, of which there is but a single species, menas. In 1873 the writer obtained a specimen from the Hawaiian Islands. This is the first well-authenti- cated instance, to his knowledge, where the species is recorded as com- ing from Pacific regions. In.the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia there is a specimen labeled from Australia, with an interrogation mark. It is found along the whole coast of Europe, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean; it is equally common and as widely distributed along our Atlantic coast. Heller reports hav- ing found the species on the eastern coast of South America, and it has likewise been obtained from the Red Sea; and now the Pacific Islands are added as a habitat. In.the latter region, however, it cannot be very common, as it has eluded research up to the time mentioned, notwith- standing the fact that these islands have been pretty thoroughly ran- sacked for this kind of life. It may, however, be considered as cosmo- politan, as having a wider range than any other known species of crab. ! What is particularly interesting in connection with its wide distribu- tion is the identity of the species wherever found. Very slight differ- ences can be observed in the specimens coming from these widely sep- arated localities. ‘The differences are not sufficient to constitute distinct species ; at the most they would only form varieties. Carcinologists have agreed, however, to ignore the slight geographical variations and to designate them all by the same name. The difference consists principally in the extent of the granulations on the surface of the carapace, and in the prominence of the front. Our Atlantic-coast crab differs from the European in having the surface 2 granular, and the teeth of the front somewhat more prominent ; in the Pacific specimen the granulations are larger, and the front more Projecting when compared with the former. It will be observed that VOL. X1.—wo. 4, 16 242 General Notes. [ April, the changes increase in intensity as we travel westward. I do not know how these facts would hold through a large series of specimens; I have had an opportunity of comparison only with a limited number of speci- mens. The wide distribution of the crab, as is the case with all other forms of life similarly diffused, has had a tendency to preserve the species intact and to prevent a wide divergence from the primitive type. Those natural climatic laws which operate with the greatest intensity on those forms which are confined to restricted habitats are in this case inoperative. — Tuos. H. Streets, M. D., U. S. N NOTE ON THE DEFORMED ANTLER OF A Deer, — Dr. W. J. Hoff- man, of Reading, Pa., sends me the accompanying figure and description of a malformation of the antler of a deer, probably a variety of Cariacus Virginianus. The specimen is said to have been obtained in California some years ago, and is now in the possession of a gunsmith in Reading. (Fig. 30.) DEFORMED ANTLER OF A DEER. The figure is taken from the right antler, viewed in position to occasion the least foreshortening of the supernumerary tine. It is drawn on & scale of one-tenth. The tips of the extra prongs are about twenty-six inches apart ; distance between their bases, twenty-two inches. Although the various malformations of antlers are almost endless, yet each one has 1ts own interest as an item in the history of the subject; and the facility of pictorial illustration of this class of objects renders extended ney tion unnecessary. — ELLIOTT Cours. i : Ture BLACK SQUIRREL. — A female specimen of this species sit rus niger) of the exact color of the mink, the tail hairs light ochreish a the ends, was shot at Rodney, C. W., October 20th, by Mr. James Dela- ney, of Buffalo. The specimen is in the collection of the Buffalo Soci- ety of Natural Sciences, and it is remarkable for its extraordinary page which is precisely that of the mink instead of the usual black of the species. — A. R. GROTE. : 1877. ] Zodlogy. 243 Tue RAVEN AND THE Sooty TeRN IN WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Some time since I secured here a fine specimen of the American raven (Corvus carnivorus Bartram), the first of its species, so far as I know, that has been captured in this region. Also last September I secured here a good specimen of the sooty tern (Sterna fuliginosa Gmelin) which, according to Lawrence, has its habitat in the latitude of Florida and Texas. It was killed near the Hoosac River. — SANBORN TENNEY. PARTIALITY oF Warre BUTTERFLIES FOR Waite FLOWERS. — On a September afternoon I observed in a field where a low white aster and a common golden-rod (Solidago) were abundant, twelve European cabbage butterflies (Pieris rapæ) fly directly to the less conspicuous but white aster, and invariably pass by the yellow flowers of the golden-rod. On a following day, however, the white cabbage butterflies on_the same spot were seen occasionally to visit the golden-rod, but with an evident partiality for the white asters. On the other hand, the yellow sulphur butterfly ( Colias philodice) visited the flowers of the golden-rod much oftener than those of the aster. — A. S. PACKARD, JR. Tue PHENOMENA or DIGESTION IN THE CocKRoAacH. — In a late paper on this subject Prof. Felix Plateau concludes that the food after being swallowed accumulates in the crop, where it is acted upon by the salivary fluid, which is usually alkaline. There the starchy substances 'are transformed into glucose ; this first product of digestion is here ab- sorbed, and is not met with in the rest of the digestive canal. The valv- ular apparatus, which does not play the rôle of a triturating organ, al- lows small quantities of the matter in process of digestion to pass into the middle intestine of limited capacity. This median intestine, or stomach, as it is usually called, receives’ the Sugar secreted by light glandular caca, the sugar being ordinarily alka- line, never acid, neutralizing the acidity as the contents of the crop grad- ually increase, transforming the albuminoids into bodies soluble and as- similable, analogous to peptones, and emulsionizing the fatty portions. Finally, in the terminal part of the intestine are reunited the residues of the work of digestion, and the secretions of the Malpighian tubes, which are purely urinary in their nature. These researches complete and confirm throughout the results of Plateau’s former investigations on the digestion of insects, published in 1874. Tae Parer Argonaut capturep aT Lone Brancu, N. J. — Some little while ago a fisherman caught a strange object, and brought it on shore. It was the paper nautilus, the first time, probably, this animal has ever come so far north. Dr. Chattle made proposals to have it sent to Dr. Lockwood, which elicited a promise to that effect. But an enter- prising genius got hold of the fisherman, and the nondescript was put in à tub of water and shown up at twenty-five cents a head. The animal Was at last thrown away. — Monmouth Democrat. i The above occurred in August last, while I was out of the State. On 244 General Notes. [ April, my return, to my great grief, I learned that the specimen had been wan- tonly lost. My informant in the matter is Dr. T. G. Chattle, of Long Branch, a gentleman of generous culture, and good observing ability. From his description I am satisfied it was an Argonauta, and very likely, though we may not be positive, the species was A. gondola. The animal was kept alive eight or nine days. Sometimes it displayed its arms in a feeble attempt to swim in its narrow confinement. Is not this the first instance of a capture so far north? Query, did this ancient mariner of the poets take it into its head to get into the Gulf Stream, and make us from its old-time seclusion, as some other folks have done, a centennial visit ? — S. Lock woop. A Fuicut or BUTTERFLIES. — About the first of October, while seated with a friend on the top of “ Pegan Hill,” an elevation of some four hundred feet, our attention was attracted to a continuous line of passing butterflies flying in a direct course towards the south, and at the height of thirty or forty feet above our heads. ‘The day was warm and summer-like, with no wind to disturb the flight of the butterflies, which was remarkably steady and even, like the flight of migrating birds, and very unlike the usual zigzag movement of butterflies. We watched them for nearly an hour as they appeared in view from the north and moved steadily onward towards the south. Sometimes they appeared singly, sometimes in groups of three or four, but oftener in pairs, and flying six or eight feet apart. Being anxious to obtain a specimen, that the species might be determined, we made several vain attempts to bring one down by send- ing our walking-sticks after them. This put them in great confusion, entirely breaking up their line of march, and causing them to dodge rapidly to the right and left, and frequently to drop down several feet ; although they continued on at the same rate of speed, they seemed un- able to regain their former even flight, but kept up this zigzag motion the flight did not extend over the surrounding country. Having never seen any notice of the migration of butterflies or their movement #% masse, it occurred to me that the phenomenon might happen ionia but at such a height as to pass unobserved. The butterflies were © large size and of a dark-brown color, but too distant to enable us to de- termine their markings. — Wa. Epwarps, South Natick, Mass. : The preceding sketch, received from a correspondent, describes OP 1877.] Anthropology. 245 more instance of the rarely observed migrations of butterflies, and is printed in the hope of drawing forth accounts of similar observations. It is of course impossible to identify the butterfly seen by Mr. Edwards, but the swarming habits and lofty, sailing flight of Danaida Plexippus very naturally suggest this common insect. There are only two other common dark-colored butterflies which would be suspected of moving in such migratory swarms, Vanessa cardui and Eugonia j-album, and their flight would be different from that described by Mr. Edwards. In- stances of the pseudo-migration of Vanessa cardui have been recorded in Europe,’ and of a species of Eugonia (Æ. Californica) closely allied to E. j-album,in America (by Dr. Behr; Proc. Calif. Acad. Sciences, iii. 124). It has been suggested that these occasional movements among butterflies, which have been observed, especially in the tropics, in several genera of the larger forms, might be explained by a scarcity of the food- plant of the caterpillar, upon which the female lays its eggs; but this would scarcely be applicable to Vanessa cardui, since thistles and mal- lows — the food-plant of the larva — are abundant and wide-spread weeds. It would be well in observing such moving swarms to collect as large a number of butterflies as possible and determine the sex of each individual and the comparative maturity of the eggs. Tt may be added, that when these observations of Mr. Edwards were read before a meeting of the Natural History Society of Boston, Mr. B. P. Mann stated that he once observed in Brazil a similar flight of a species of Coea or an allied genus. — SAMUEL H. SCUDDER. ANTHROPOLOGY. ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.—The most thorough and successful archeological work done on American soil in the last two years is that of Mr. Paul Schumacher in the Kjékkenméddings and graves of the ex- tinct races of the Santa Barbara Islands and the mainland. The islands examined were San Miguel, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, Santa Barbara, and Santa Catalina. The mainland examined was the coast region of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, most especially that por- ton in the vicinity of Point Sal. The Kjékkenméddings are found Wherever sandy ground exists. The deposits in these heaps are so much exposed to the driving winds that many of the objects of interest have been laid bare and carried off by casual visitors. The same winds which denude the shell heaps also expose the large whale’s bones which were used by the former inhabitants to separate the bodies in the well-filled graves, and in this way serve as veritable tombstones to mark their sites. Mr. Schumacher opened several of these ancient sepulchres and took therefrom over a thousand skeletons, and with them many articles of ornament or use. ‘Che bodies were buried from three to six feet under ground, and sometimes from three to five deep; but it is evident from 1 See American Naturalist, x. 610. ~ 246 General Notes. [ April, the disturbed condition of many skeletons that the burials were not all made at the same time. Most of these cemeteries are in the Kjokken- méddings themselves, because the soil of these heaps is the only place which is not too hard for the aboriginal wooden spade, and is yet suffi- ciently firm to allow the digging of a pit. In connection with these dig- ging sticks, Mr. Schumacher makes a very ingenious observation con- cerning the great quantities of stone rings, or “ doughnuts,” which are found here. From the testimony of an old vaquero he was led to be- lieve them to have been designed to give weight to the spading stick. Among the many interesting objects of industry found, the mortars and pestles hold the first place. The fishing tackle comes next. Mr. Schu- macher was so fortunate as to secure a full set of shell fish-hooks, and tools for making them, so as to illustrate the whole process. The shell ornaments and other burial deposits form a collection which must be seen in order to be appreciated. Mr. Moses Strong, Assistant State Geologist of Wisconsin, has made a very extensive survey of the prehistoric mounds of Grant County in that State. These mounds are similar in all respects to those reported by Mr. I. A. Lapham in the seventh volume of the Smithsonian Con- tributions. i Quite a lively discussion has sprung up in the Academy for September 23d, et seq., around the assertion of Professor Mahaffy that cats were domestic animals among the Greeks, basing his belief upon the occur- rence of the word yaAj in Aristophanes and other Greek writers. The question of the existence of domestic cats in Greece is discussed by Sir G. Cornwall Lewis (Notes and Queries, 1859, page 261). The subject is also treated by Professor Rolleston in a paper entitled, On the Domestic Cats, Felis domesticus and Mustela Foina, of Ancient and Modern Times, in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, November, 1867. The yaAéy, or yaA7n, then, was one of the Mustelide, or martens, and the domestic cat was not known outside of Egypt before the Christian era. Mr. Mahaffy gracefully acknowledges the correction. : In the Geographical Magazine for October, Mr. E. G. Ravenstemm publishes a series of maps of the part of Eastern Europe occupied by the Turks, showing (1) Political Divisions; (2) Density of the hd lation ; (3) Mohammedans; (4) Nationalities. The author also reviews the history of that part of Europe overrun by the Turks. t Mr. A. H. Sayce reviews very favorably, with some slight criticisms, in Academy for October 14th, four very important works on qie Archæology : An Archaic Dictionary, W. R. Cooper (London : Bay . and Sons, 1876) ; Cory’s Ancient Fragments. New and enlarged edition, E. R. Hodges (London: Reeves and Turner, 1876); Dates and veges relating to Religious Anthropology and Biblical Archeology rene : Triibner & Co., 1876); and Histoire ancienne des Peuples ape 2nde Edition. Par G. Maspero (Paris: Hachette et Cie., 1876). 1877.] Geology and Paleontology. 247 first of these works is an attempt to do for Egypt and Assyria what Lempriére has done for Greece and Rome. The second work mentioned is an improved reprint of Cory’s magnificent design of bringing together all the scraps of classical literature that bear upon the history and an- tiquity of the ancient East. In the third work, the anonymous author “arranges in consecutive order, under specific dates, some of the results of recent researches on prehistorical and Biblical archaeology and comparative mythology, with the view of attempting to furnish trustworthy materials for the study of religious anthropology.” Of the last-mentioned work Mr. Sayce says, “The work is simply indispensable for all who wish to have some ac- quaintance with the subject.” In the Contemporary Review of April, Mr. Sayce discusses the jelly- fish theory of language. The principal feature in this theory is the belief that the sentence is the fundamental unit, and that words, espe- cially “abstract and general terms, are only short-hand notes, in whic we sum up the results of our analytical processes.” — O. T. Mason. GEOLOGY AND PALMONTOLOGY. Tae Trenton Livestone at Minneaporis. — The Trenton lime- stone in the vicinity of Minneapolis presents many features of interest both to the student of science and the simply commercial observer. The value which it possesses as the support of our magnificent water-power is sufficiently well known and appreciated. But to the student it is of interest on account of its accessibility and the varied forms of life which are preserved in it. Below are given a few notes upon some of the many fossils which have been broken from the massive escarpments that overlook the Mississippi below the fall. Two important divisions may be seen in the rock which are nearly equal in thickness. The upper being crystalline, the lower more firm, and better adapted for building purposes. Both are surmounted by a thin layer of shale of varying thickness. The total height of these in a vertical section is forty feet in round numbers, but it lies an equal distance above the river-bed, being Supported by the St. Peter sandstone. It is interesting to notice that the lower or building rock is not as de- void of fossils as has been somewhat generally supposed. There seems to be good reason to believe that life was at least as abundant at the period when these rocks were deposited as in the succeeding one. The reason the fossils in the lower rock have been overlooked is obvious on a careful study of the rocks. The upper is quite crystalline and the fossils preserved are almost entirely in the form of casts; these are loose eN easily broken from the rock ; they are also generally colored by iron, Which is seldom the case in the lower layers. Though it is true that they have been to a great extent destroyed, yet _ by a careful manipulation of the building rock many curious forms are 248 General Notes. [ April, brought to light and they will be found much more perfect than those of the crystalline rock. In one locality Cyrtolites compressus (Con.) seems almost to form the basis of the stone. So abundant is it that a fragment could not be broken out without bringing to light some portion of a shell. Chetetes lycoperdon H. is also abundant, universally ap- pearing on weathered surfaces in connection with Hscharopora recta H., Stictopora acuta H., and other corals of a like nature, and crinoidal stems. Chetetes is detected in the body of the rock only by the diverging canals seen in a longitudinal section. The curious glabelle of /sotelus Jowensis, or a related trilobite, is often seen in connection with fragment- ary remains of other crustaceans. The textile markings of Strophomena Jfilotexta H. and the rays upon the shell of S. alternata H. are well pre- served, while in the upper layers only casts of a very imperfect kind were seen. Many other brachiopods are quite abundant, as Rhynconella capax Con., Orthis testudinaria Dal., Strophomena deltoidea H., ete. Orthis subquadrata H., is not uncommon, I think, in both layers. Lin- gulæ have been found throughout the series, Lingula quadrata and forms which may prove to be juvenal and distorted specimens of the same. Among gasteropods the Trenton limestone here is found to contain Pleurotomaria lenticularis H., P. subconica H., P. subtilistriata H., common to both divisions. With regard to the last, a specimen of this species which Professor Hall mentions as having been found only in the concretionary beds of Trenton at Watertown, N. Y., was found in the upper layers at Minneapolis, the size corresponding with that of the largest seen by Professor Hall. Pleurotomaria umbilicata H. is exceed- ingly abundant in the upper rock and a supposed cast of Murchisonia gracilis was broken from the same horizon as Cyrtolites compressus. e shale on weathering leaves well-preserved shells and corals which appear almost as perfect as though collected from their native waters, particularly Chetetes, Rhynconella, and sections of crinoid stems in great variet Lamellibranchs are not wanting in all portions, the following having been noticed: Hdmondia subangulata H. (one specimen). Æ. sub- truncata H. (very abundant but quite variable in form. Casts alone have been found.) Nucula levata H., as well as several as yet not determined. — C. L. Herrick. Warreaves’ Mesozoic Fossits or Bririsu CoLumsia. — The fossils described and figured in this report of Mr. J. F. Whiteaves, palæ- ontologist to the Geological Survey of Canada, are mostly cephalopods, particularly Ammonites from the coal-bearing rocks of the Queen Char: lotte Islands. The author states that “what little direct and positive evidence is at present afforded by the fossils from the Queen Charlotte Islands is in favor o’ their being referred to the Cretaceous period. Again he says more explicitly on page 91, “ While, on the one hand, the fossils described in these pages show that the probable geological posi- 5 1877.] Geography and Exploration. 249 tion of the beds which contained them is near the base of the lower Cretaceous formation, or top of the upper Jurassic, they are insufficient to mark the definite horizon to which the series should be referred. It is sufficiently obvious that they exhibit a blending of the life of the Cretaceous period with that of the Jurassic.” x RoĮmIıxnGER’s Foss, Corars or Micniean. — This is a treatise on the indigenous fossil corals of Michigan, forming the palæontology of the Reports on the Geology of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The- value of the work is greatly enhanced by the large number of excellent photographie figures, printed by the Albertotype process. There are fifty-five plates, each usually containing four figures. A good many new species are described, and the work bears evidence of care in its prepa- ration. GEOGRAPHY AND EXPLORATION. GEOGRAPHICAL ProGress IN 1876.1— The geographical feature of the past year has been the increased interest shown in the enlargement of geographical knowledge, not only by the investigations and explora- tions which have taken place and the discoveries which have been made, but by the establishment of geographical societies in Denmark, Spain, and Portugal, by a large increase of members in the leading societies of England, France, and Italy, and in the inauguration by the king of Belgium of an international organization, composed of prominent geog- raphers, African explorers, and the heads of the leading geographical societies of the world, to carry on the work of exploring and civilizing the interior of Africa upon a systematic plan,—a movement of great interest, and which in all probability will lead to very important results. The Challenger returned May 24, 1876, after an absence of nearly four ears. Archzeological researches have during the past year been active and attended with interesting results. E.'T. Wood, who spent eleven years in exploring the site of the City of Ephesus, contending with marauding brigands, and working in pits and trenches almost constantly under Water, has during the year published the account of his labors. The German archeologists, Drs. Hirschfeld and Weil, and Mr. Béotticher, have been engaged during the year in making excavations at Olympia, in Greece, which, beside clearing the ruins of the temple and laying bare its marble pavement, have led to the discovery of numerous inscriptions, sculptures, and other objects of interest. The site of the celebrated temple, which for centuries was a dreary waste, has now, in consequence of these discoveries, become a resort for tourists. Mr. L. P. di Cesnola, who has been absent for three years continuing his researches in Cyprus, ended his labors last autumn, and is now upon his return to this city. He has discovered the site of Kurium, mentioned by Strabo, of which — : Abstract of Judge Daly’s Address at the Annual Meeting of the American Geo- Braphical Society, New York, January 23, 1877. 250 General Notes. [ April, no trace existed, identified the great temple of Apollo, and discovered the treasure chambers of another unknown temple, filled with innumer- able votive offerings. He says that his last three years’ excavations have surpassed those of the seven preceding years. Dr. Schliemann has followed up his excayations upon what he supposed to be the site of ancient Troy, by excavations upon the site of Mykene. Mykenz is the most ancient city in Greece. It is identified with the poems of Homer, and Dr. Schliemann supposes that he has found the tombs of Agamem- non, Clytemnestra, and other Homeric personages. But whether he has or not, he has found and opened tombs which, from their cyclopean struct- ure, belong to a very early period of Greek civilization. His excava- tions, which have been extensive, disclose the general topography of this very ancient and wealthy city, the monumental and other remains of which he carries back to 1200 8. c., the period to which the Homeric poems are usually ascribed. In the United States the Coast Survey has made careful soundings in the Gulf of Mexico ; the Hydrographic Bureau has assisted in correcting the charts of the West India Islands; the survey of the lakes has been car- ried on by the United States Engineer Corps; Colonel Ludlow’s report of his reconnaissance from Carrol in Montana to the Yellowstone National Park has been published; the explorations of Lieutenant Wheeler west of the one hundredth meridian have been continued; Lieutenant Berg- land has completed the examination of the Colorado River; Professor Hayden’s explorations and other work have been carried on; Major Powell’s expedition organized six field parties which surveyed much of Utah and Nevada. Under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution Judge J. G. Swan, of Portland, Oregon, has made a very interesting col- lection, illustrating the arts and industries of the Indian tribes, both o Western Oregon and Washington Territory. The Signal Service Corps, under the able direction of General Albert J. Meyer, is making rapid advances toward a complete knowledge of the conditions and causes of the American climate. It has nearly completed the most ex- tensive collection of altitudes of places in North America which has ever been gathered. The list includes several thousand profiles, repre- senting almost every railroad and canal. From this and other data 1t 18 making a relief model of North America on a large scale. The Arctic event of the year has been the return of the English expe- dition, the Alert and the Discovery, under Sir George Nares, from the attempt to penetrate the Pole by the way of Smith’s Sound. Regarded from a geographical and scientific point of view, the expedition was 4 success. I said in my annual address several years ago that to reach the Pole was not the main object in an Arctic expedition ; that that was 4 mere geographical feat, to which necessarily great éclat would be at- tached; but that the real object of such an expedition was to explore the Arctic region in every direction, as far as possible, to obtain scientific 1n- 1877.] Geography and Exploration. 251 formation in a quarter of the globe where it was of the highest interest not only as respects the past physical history of the earth, but to enable us to unravel phenomena and obtain a knowledge of physical laws affect- ing its present condition which are of high scientific value, or, to express it in a popular form, of the greatest practical importance. This object has been to a considerable degree advanced by this English expedition. The Alert not only attained the highest latitude — 82° 24' — ever reached by a vessel, and the sledge expedition, under Commander Mark- ham, the furthest northern point reached by man, — 83° 20' 26" N. lat., but the expedition, in an unknown region, discovered and traced a line of coast extending over nearly fifty degrees of longitude, ascertained to a considerable extent the nature of the Polar Sea bordering this newly discovered coast, and collected a large amount of scientific information in the examination of both land and sea. The rivers, coast, and interior of Western Africa have been explored by Beaumier, Tissot, Bonnat, Brazza, Marche, Duparquet, Lux, and others. The most important event in Africa of the year has been the circumnavigation of the Mwutan Nizige (Albert Nyanza), by M. P. Gessi, a member of Colonel Gordon’s organization, who estimated the lake to be one hundred and forty miles in length by fifty in breadth. Its banks were clothed with a dense forest, the western side was mountain- ous, and the southern end shallow. This exploration establishes the con- nection between this lake and the Nile. From united statements of Gessi and Colonel Gordon, very recently received, it appears that the White Nile is navigable the whole way from Dufli to the lake, a distance of one hundred and sixty-four miles. About twenty miles south of Dufli the river widens, the current is less rapid, and from there to Magungo (on the lake) the river is nothing more than a part of the Mwutan Nizige. This river or expansion of the lake is broad, deep, and filled with islands of papyrus which make the banks difficult of approach, About one hundred miles from Dufli there is a large branch of the river extending north-northwest in the direction of the Nyam-Nyams. Mr. Stanley, after exploring the west and southwestern shores of Lake Ukerewe (Victoria Nyanza), started from Dumo on its western shore and crossed the country of Unyora to the Mwutan Nizige (Albert Nyanza), and reached that lake at a point where a deep gulf (Beatrice Gulf), formed by a promontory colled Unsongora, runs out for thirty miles in a southwesterly direction. In his journey Stanley saw a mountain southeast of the Mwutan Nizige, which was reported to be from thirteen thousand to fifteen thousand feet high, called Gambora- garè, on the peak of which snow is frequently found. The exact posi- tion of this camp on the lake, as given by him, is 31° 24' 30” E. long., and 0° 25! 6" N. lat. Stanley, when last heard from in July, was on his way to Unamyembi, his intention being to proceed to Ujiji to explore Lake Tanganyka, and then endeavor to strike north toward the 252 General Notes. [ April, Mwutan Nizige. An object of geographical interest at present is the great island of New Guinea, which, notwithstanding its magnitude, its fruitfulness, and position in the great ocean highway in which it is placed, was thirty years ago put down in the geographies as a terra incognita, or, as the geographer Murray expressed it, “ viewed only by navigators at a distance.” During the last five years it has been the scene of active explorations by Beccaria, D’Albertis, Moresby, Rosen- berg, Maclay, the Russian explorer, Macleay, the ae explorer, Macfarlane, Stone, and others. MICROSCOPY.! _ San Francisco Microscopicat Society. — At the annual meet- ing of this society, held February Ist, the President, Prof. Wm. Ash- burner, gave the usual annual address, in which he summed up with more than usual directness and precision the last year’s progress and present standing of the society. The excellent financial condition was mentioned as a cause of increasing gratification and encouragement. The society comprises at present thirty resident, ten life, five honorary, and forty-one corresponding members; the resident membership being one less than last year, while the active membership, including resident, life, and those of the honorary members who reside in San Francisco, now aggregates forty-four, or three more than at the date of the last report. This very satisfactory condition has been attained without any effort to increase the membership. The only honorary member elected during the year was Mr. H. G. Hanks, one of the founders of the society and its president during the first three years. During the year twenty-three meetings were held without one failure for want of a quorum, with an average attendance of between eleven and twelve, or the same as the previous year, while the attendance of visitors was less than before. At the annual reception nineteen members participated and two hundred and eighty visitors were in attendance. The exhibi- tion was notably successful, but the effort to present a somewhat orderly arrangement of objects representing in a proper series the different kingdoms of nature was, owing to want of time for maturing the plan, less fully satisfactory than it is expected to be in future after further labor and study. The library contains two hundred and thirty-seven volumes, an increase of one hundred and three over last year. e cabinet now contains five hundred and twenty-three slides, an increase of ninety-four, the set of animal parasites being especially full and num- bering seventy slides. Some interesting apparatus has been acquired by purchase and donation; and the occupation of new and pleasant rooms has made the past year conspicuous in the history of the society- Alluding to the previously reported failure to attain a fully satisfactory result in the way of resolving difficult diatoms, and especially the last 1 Conducted by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y. 1877.] Microscopy. 258 three numbers of the Möller Probe Platte, with the new Tolles object- ives, the president states that further experience, and intercourse with experts in this special branch of work, has rendered such resolution so simple and easy as to cause wonder how it ever appeared difficult; and he adds the following very interesting remarks on apparatus and test objects : — P “In justice to Mr. Tolles it should be stated that the fault did not lie with the objective, but rather in our own inexperience, for, in proper hands, by its means, the No. 20, or Amphipleura pellucida was immediately resolved, after having procured the finest definition of the two preceding ones. While what I now say relates particularly to the jth, which has accomplished most satisfactorily all that was claimed for it, I cannot pass over in silence our new 3th immersion, by the same maker. With this objective I have by lamp light frequently resolved the last three diatoms on our balsam plate, which has been pronounced a more than ordinarily difficult one, with an ease and clearness of definition that is wonderful, and far surpasses anything I have before had an opportunity of witnessing. Not only does this glass possess in a superior degree the qualities heretofore claimed only for those having the highest angu- lar aperture, but such is its ample working distance and great penetra- tion, that it answers admirably for investigations upon animal and vege- table tissues, where those attributes are so necessary. “In speaking as I do with regard to resolving difficult diatoms, I would not have you think that I attach more importance to this matter than it really deserves, nor would I for a moment propose it as an end for any- thing more than to exercise the student in the manipulation of the microscope. In fact, as problems in mathematics teach the use of figures and quantities while they improve the mental faculties, so this resolution of diatoms, which has been so much decried as being a sad waste of time and energy, gives to the manipulator a skill in the use of his instrument without which no success can be obtained. If our effort were to end after having resolved a few diatoms, I should say our society was anything but a success, and although it might have afforded enter- tainment to its members for the last five years, it had failed to produce any good or lasting effect. To know how to use the microscope with skill is one thing, but to know what you see with it is another and a far more difficult subject ; but it is also one which we have by no means Completely neglected. That we have a realizing sense of the impor- tance of this branch, and that our progress has not been entirely in the way of material prosperity, I would present as an evidence the recent for- mation of a class in microscopy, under the instruction of our librarian, Mr. X. yY. Clark, which, I consider would have been an impossibility a few years ago, when so many of our members were interested in the microscope as a novelty, and, perhaps, without speaking offensively, more as a toy than as an instrument with which to acquire real knowledge and instruction.” 254 Scientific News. [ April, LaBoratory Worx 1N Microscopy. — Two of the summer courses of instruction in science at Harvard University, this summer, will in- clude laboratory work with the microscope, and special instruction in its use in botanical study, the preparation and preservation of objects, etc. No higher guarantee of the excellence of this instruction can be given than is implied in the fact that the course on Phænogamic Botany is to _be given by Prof. Geo. L. Goodale, and that on Cryptogamic Botany by Prof. W. G. Farlow. Each course is of six weeks’ extent, and is open to applicants, at a fee of $25. PriIntED Lasers. — Mr. F. F. Stanley of 40 Pearl Street, Boston, Mass., having made arrangements for the printing of his labels of proper size and style for the usual 3x1 slides, will supply the labels for the ac- commodation of any microscopist, at the cost of twenty-five cents per one hundred labels of any desired subjects. Labels to match, giving name of preparer, can be furnished at the same price in quantities of not less than one hundred of a kind. Seconp-Hanp Microscopes. — Any microscopist desirous of ob- taining a first-class Zentmayer binocular or a Beck Popular binocular, at a very low price, can hear of an opportunity by addressing the Editor of this Department. SCIENTIFIC NEWS. — The Harvard Natural History Society, an association of teachers and students at Harvard University, has offered prizes for essays on subjects connected with the natural sciences, by pupils in high schools, or schools of that grade, public or private. The first prize will be a sum of $25.00 and a collection of geological specimens and models. The second prize will be a sum of $20.00 and a collection of insects. For farther information apply to the secretary, George Dimmock, Cambridge, ass. — We have received a Preliminary Announcement of a Scientific Ex- pedition around the World, organized on rather an unique plan, to be conducted by a faculty of ten. There will be accommodations for sixty to eighty students. For farther information we would refer our readers to James O. Woodruff, Indianapolis, Ind., or Prof. W. L. B. Jenney; Chicago, Ill., or Prof. J. B. Steere, Ann Arbor, Mich. — At its last session Congress made an appropriation of $18,000 for a commission of three skilled entomologists to investigate and report on the ravages of the Rocky Mountain locust and to suggest means for their prevention ; to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior. The commissioners have been appointed, and the board organized under the name of the United States Entomological Commission, with C. V- Riley president, A. S. Packard, Jr., secretary, and Cyrus Thomas treasurer. 1877.] Proceedings of Societies. 255 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. Iowa ACADEMY OF Scrences.— October 6th. Professor Bessey read a paper on Some Observations upon the Growth of Plants, made by Means of Arc-Indicators. Professor Macomber read a paper on The Barometer as an Indicator of the Weather. A List of the Odonata of Central Iowa, prepared by Herbert Osborne, was communicated by the ` chairman. Professor Bessey read a paper entitled A Case of Selection, pointing out how the relative number of individual plants of blue-grass (Poa pratensis), white clover ( Trifolium repens), and Panicum glabrum changed under certain conditions, the first decreasing and the last two increas- ing under more frequent close cutting. Also, by the same, Observations on Silphium laciniatum, the so- called compass plant. About thirty per cent. of all the leaves of this plant do not deviate more than five degrees from due north; forty-two per cent. deviate less than ten degrees, and ninety per cent. deviate less than forty-five degrees, so that it fully deserves the common name of compass plant. ACADEMY or NATURAL Sciences, Philadelphia. — December 12th. Professor Cope exhibited a jaw-bone of a Dinosaurian reptile of the genus Lelaps, from the Judith River beds, and described its characters. It was said to be the most perfect specimen of the kind yet found, al- though the whole jaw was at least a foot longer than the specimen. He added three species of Lelaps to those already described from the Judith River beds, making six in all from that locality. Ten species of herbivo- Tous dinosaurs have been described from the same formation. He at first thought the specimen exhibited might be the Aublysodon horridus of Leidy, but the anterior teeth differ materially from those of the species , named. The name Lelaps incrassatus had been proposed by Professor Cope for the form some time since, on the evidence of a few teeth. A number of specimens of teeth of the other species of Lelaps and Aublysodon were shown and described. The Lelaps incrassatus is the gest species as yet found in the Western beds. A new genus, which was stated to be between the genera Paronychodon and Lelaps, was de- scribed under the name Zapsilus. Professor Cope also exhibited a cast of the interior of the cranium of ena forcipita. The anatomical peculiarities of the Creodonta ea dwelt upon in this connection. The form of the brain resembled mos nearly that of the opossum. - December 19th. Professor Cope exhibited a specimen of the cranium and some other bones of a fossil reptile of the genus Olidastes, in a single slab of the Cretaceous chalk which composes Cretaceous number three of the West. The specimen consists, in addition to the cranium, of the atlas And two of the cervical vertebra, the former exhibiting the four elements of which it is composed. 256 Scientific Serials. [ April. New York Acapemy or Sciences. — February 5th. Mr. Henry S. Munroe remarked on prehistoric bronze or copper bells, lately exhumed in Japan, and exhibited specimens. . Boston Society or Naturat History. — February 7th. Prof. W. G. Farlow made some remarks on cedar apples ( Gymnosporangium) and Restelia. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.? Monruty MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. — February. On the Re- lation between the Development, Reproduction, and Markings of the Diatomacex, by G. C. Wallich. Observations on Professor Abbé’s Ex- ~ periments illustrating his Theory of Microscopic Vision, by J..W. Ste- venson. THE GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE. — February. The South African Republics, by E. G. Ravenstein (with a map). The Abbé Armand Da- vid’s Travels in China, by A. E. Hippisley. The North Siberian Expe- ditions. The Temperature of the Atlantic Ocean, by J. E. Davis. The Age of this Earth, by H. P. Malet. Tue GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE.— February. On Two New Paleozoic Crustaceans from Nova Scotia (Anthrapalemon Hilliana and Homalono- tus Dawsoni Hall), by J. W. Dawson. A Question for Silurian Geolo- gists, by J. R. Dakyns. Considerations on the Flotation of Icebergs, by J. Milne. Notes on Coral-Reefs, by H. Hoskyns. High Level Terraces in Norway, by J. R. Dakyns. ANNALS AND MAGAZINE Or NATURAL History. — February. List of the Species of Crustacea collected by the Rev. A. E. Eaton at Spitz- bergen in the Summer of 1873, with their Localities and Notes, by E. J. Miers. On the Fundamental Error of eee Gromia the Type of Foraminiferal Structure, by G. C. Wallich. ANNALES DES SCIENCES NATURELLES. — December 15, 1876. Re- cherches sur Appareil Respiratoire et le Mode de Respiration de Certains Crustacés Brachyures (Crabes Terrestres), par G. Duchamp. Mémoire sur les Métamorphoses des Acariens en général, et en particulier sur celle des Trombidions, par P. Mégnin. Note sur les Oiseaux de la Nouvelle . Zemble, par M. Theel. Recherches Expérimentales sur les Functions de la Vessie Natatoire, par A. Moreau. Histoire des Clausilies de France Vivantes et Fossiles, par J. R. Bourguignat. BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society, New YORE. _—No.2. Addresses by Col. T. B. Myers and Rey. Dr. Bellows at the opening of the Society’s building, November 28 and 29, 1876. Spitz- bergen Seas and a Boat Journey in Lapland, by A. H. van der Horck. The Republics of South Africa, by Miss Russell. Philosophy of the North American Indians, by J. W. Powell. No.3. Address of Chief Justice Daly on Geographical Progress in 1876. 1 The articles enumerated under this head will be for the most part selected. THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. Vou. x1.— MAY, 1877. — No. 5. VARIATION IN ÆSTIVATION. BY PROF. W. J. wakes (THE great variety of ways in which the sepals and petals of each species meet or overlap each other in the bud is often quite wonderful. In some cases, after examining many flowers, this is found to be true, even in certain species which have been described by some of our best authors as having the parts con- stantly arranged in a certain definite manner. Take, for exam- ple, the diagrams found in Hooker’s Le Maout and Decaisne. It would seem as though the artist or the writers of the text, or both, had the idea that sepals and petals were arranged only in a few certain ways, as valvate, convolute, and imbricate in three modes, namely, spiral, opposite in twos, and quincuncial. It would ap- pear by their diagrams that they had been remarkably success- ful in finding no other forms, or that they had kept throwing away all others as accidental or spurious until those only were found and used which corresponded to their ideal. These re- ae will apply with equal force to several other botanical orks, ; ‘ In our best authors on botany, the diagrams showing the æs- tivation of the sepals of Crucifere all appear to be made as they look after the end of the flower-bud is cut off. This shows the Sepal next to the axis and the one opposite to it overlapping each edge of the two lateral sepals. There is nothing in such a dia- gram to indicate that the tip of the anterior sepal overlaps the tip of the posterior. This is the case in all the buds of the sev- eral species which I have examined. In the diagrams of all works accessible to me, there is nothing to show that the tip of - one of the side sepals overlaps the tip of the other. This over- lapping of one lateral sepal was found in all cases examined Where the tips were large enough for such purpose. ` Of fifteen buds of black mustard (Brassica nigra) examined, the sepals of ee RA or . Copyright, 1877, by A. S. Packarp, JR. 258 Variation in Æstivation. [May, ten, at their tips, showed the left lateral sepal overlapping the right; in the other five the right lateral sepal was outside the left one. In speaking of the right and left sepals of these flow- ers, I refer to them as they appear when holding the flower be- fore us with the axis of inflorescence away from or beyond the flower. In the hedge-mustard (Si isymbrium officinale) the lateral sepals barely meet, making it impossible to tell which would overlap if they were longer. Of ten buds of Nasturtium palus- tre, seven had the right lateral sepal covering the left; and in three, the reverse was true. The estivation of the petals of the three preceding species was not easy to determine with certainty, as the tips overlapped but very slightly or not at all. In Chinese mustard, the æstivation of the sepals was variable, much the same as in the other species above noticed. Fifty flow- ers were carefully examined. I observed the position of each petal with reference to each other petal, and also its position with reference to the axis. Each of the four petals, or a correspond- ing petal in different flowers, was found outside; each was found inside. Bearing in mind, as I think we ought, the position of each petal with reference to the axis, I found that the petals of fifty flowers were placed in twelve different ways. In the first twelve examined, the petals were arranged in eight different ways, as follows. The dot indicates the position of the axis : — DIO Hie ~S as 38. ~ 89. ~ ss © s O He JEA 1877. ] Variation in Æstivation. 259 Thirteen were represented by Figure 33, six by Figure 34, five by Figure 35, four by Fig- ure 86, three by Figure 87, three by Figure 38, \ three by Figure 39, three by Figure 40, three by Figure 41, two by Figure 42, two by Figure Met j 43, two by Figure 44, and one by Figure 45. : With reference to the Cruciferæ, we find in volume i. of Gray’s Genera of North America this sentence: “In æstiva- tion, the petals are imbricated with usually one exterior, two half exterior and half interior, and the fourth wholly interior, or else they are regularly convolute.” Le Maout and Decaisne say, “Petals variously imbricate in bud.” Bentham and Hooker’s Genera Plantarum says, “ Petals convolute or imbricated with one exterior and the fourth interior.” Neither of the above quotations expresses the arrangement for the order. The first comes the nearest because it is the most general of all. Instead of twelve modes of arrangement for the petals of the fifty flowers mentioned, no doubt the variations would be consid- erably increased if the position of each petal were observed in its relation to each sepal. Cleome integrifolia has four small sepals early open in the bud, variously imbricated. The four petals of one hundred flow- ers were arranged as follows : — Fig. 46. Fig. 47. Fig. 48. Fig. 49. e (3 E e Two species of Rosacez belonging to two dif- Hs, ai erent tribes were examined, namely, Spiræa urtici- folia and Agrimonia Eupatoria. The Spiræa noticed has valvate sepals. The pedicels are too f - long to make it easy to discover which sepal is next to the axis. The tips of the petals overlap each other in the bud, making it quite easy to determine their relative position. Thirty-three buds were exam- ined, showing fifteen different combinations or sorts of æstiva- tion for the petals, without taking into consideration the posi- tion of each with reference to the axis. None were valvate nor regularly conyolute, yet, I doubt not, they may be found. 260 Variation in Aistivation. [May, Calling the outer petal number one, the next outside number two, and so on, I can show their position as follows by numbers which are here shown as we come to them passing around the flower to the right : — In 2 flowers the petals formed a spiral to the right.............-. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. irae“ i A ota dette meki ga 1, 5, 4, 3, 2. In 5 & ** stood thus 1, 4,.5,; 3,2. Bt ee Soa “ were quincuncial to right 1, 4, 2, 5, 3. In 3 "s TRN e T rere 1, 3, 5, 2, 4. In 3 af at EUG £U0 FER « dave eel E 1, 2, 4, 5, 3. In 3 zy = R bts TE E Cheeta ds Been 1, 3, 5, 4, 2. : Re EE DROOL PEERS 1, 5, 4, 2, 3. In 2 iy A E A AA E a 1, 3, 2, 5, 4. In 1 flower n TEENS aT AT 1, 2, 5, 4, 3. In 1 4 Tears TE EEN E viv E N pede 1, 4, 3, 5, 2. Se ee a, Se a 1, 2, 3, 5, 4 In 1 . miea e E 1, 3, 4, 5, 2. nro “ a EAE JE Severe 1, 5, 4, 3, 2. mr E pi petals. wenua aka oao RRN 1, 4, 3, 2. In 1 s “ “ “ce 1, 3, 4, 2 In Agrimonia it was very easy to determine the relative posi- tion of each sepal and petal, and also the same with reference to the axis. Taking all these things into consideration, of sixteen buds examined closely only two were alike. Undoubtedly there were still many other variations. The five sepals in each case were quincuncial ; in eight the spiral went to the right ; in eight the spiral went to the left. In all cases observed the second sepal was next to the axis. Of the petals two were arranged in quincunx: with one of these the spiral turned to the right; with the other to the left. The petals of one: were convolute; one spirally imbricated to the right, thus, 1, 2, 8, 4, 5. The rest were imbricated in various other ways. Dr. Gray, Bentham and Hooker, and others speak of the petals of the Onagracee as convolute (contorta) in the bud. The ma- jority of cultivated fuchsias are not conyolute in æstivation.? Of five hundred and seventy-nine buds of Epilobium angustifo- lium the petals of two hundred and eighty-five are conyolute, turning to the left, and one hundred and fifty-four to the right. Fifty-three had a single spiral turning to the left, and fifty-three to the right. In twenty-three, two opposite petals covered both edges of the other two. In eight flowers one petal was exterior, one interior, and the other two petals of course were alike half- covered: and half-covering. In three flowers one petal was out- side and the other three were convolute. ; 1 See note in American Naturalist, page 110, 1876. 1877. ] Variation in Aistivation, 261 Of thirty-eight buds of @nothera biennis thirty were convolute to the right ; three buds had one petal outside and the rest spi- rally turned to the right ; two buds had one petal outside and the rest spirally turned to the left; two buds had one petal outside and its opposite one inside; one bud had one petal outside, the numbers running thus, 1, 3, 4, 2, to the right. Of the order Asclepiadacee with reference to xstivation Dr. Lindley in Vegetable Kingdom says, “ Estivation of corolla im- bricated, very seldom valvular.” Dr. Gray in his Manual of Bot- any, last edition, says, ‘‘ This order has commonly a valvate co- rolla which separates it from Apocynacew which has a convolute corolla.” In the American Journal of Science, November, 1875, Dr. Gray says, “ The type of the latter [ Asclepias], and the com- mon disposition when the parts are five, is with two pieces exte- rior, the third exterior by one edge and interior by the other, and two wholly interior.” In other words, the petals are quincuncially arranged, the same as alternate leaves on the stem of a cherry- tree. Le Maout and Decaisne say, “ Corolla usually contorted.” Robert Brown, who gave especial attention to this order, says, “ Astivation of corolla imbricated, rarely valvate.” My first supposition was that I had examined a lot of excep- tions to the general rule as stated by such good authority as Gray, especially as it is given as a distinctive mark to separate two related orders. On examining the other authors, I venture to give the results of the number of buds and the name of the Species examined. At the first glance, the corolla of Asclepias and Acerates seem to be valvate in the bud, but on looking eloser, all I have seen are unmistakably convolute. The petals of thirty buds of-Aselepias incarnata were convolute to right. x ke e O74 ; «“ “ “ variegata bi five ti Pia 3 tuberosa f t “ “ id five “ see purpurascens t “ “ Teil five i“ ee phytolaccoides “ . "= five c = 66 Cornuti “ “ + ad seven “ = é verticillata He ie sg 7 five “ = Acerates viridiflora 5 y t The results, it will be seen, correspond with the account of Le Maout and Decaisne. Probably, Dr. Gray bases his descrip- tion on other species than those to which I have referred. ; In the order A pocynaceæ, of forty-three buds of Apocynum an- drosæmifolium, I found the petals all convolute to the right. Five buds of A. cannabinum were the same. In nine buds of the former, the sepals were quincuncial to the right, in five buds ` 262 Variation in Aistivation. [ May, quincuncial to the left. The other buds of that species were not observed. In the latter (A. cannabinum) four buds showed the sepals quincuncial to the left, and one to the right. It will be observed that the zstivation of Asclepias and Apoey- num are the same, at least so far as the specimens examined are concerned. In the Rubiaceæœ, of one hundred and fifty buds of Coph halan- thus I found that eighteen were convolute, thirteen to the right, three to the left. In Genera Plantarum of Bentham and Hooker, in the tribe containing this species the text says, “ Petals never contorted ” Keeping in mind the position of all the petals as they stand with reference to each other and to the axis, and no- ticing the direction of the spirals, I found the petals of thirty- seven buds arranged in twenty-three different modes. Each of the four petals was found to be outside, each inside, and each occupying either of the intermediate positions. If we disregard the direction of the spiral and the position of the axis, these twenty-three modes are reduced to six modes. In the same order, one hundred buds of Galium asprellum were all valvate. Malvacee: In four hundred and thirty-three buds of Mglva rotundifolia, two hundred and one petals were convolute to the right, two hundred and four to the left, fifteen quincuncial, and thirteen as in Figure 31. Lindley and Gray speak of the petals of this genus as convolute. Fig. 31. 2 Š Tiliaceæ. In one hundred and seven buds of Tilia San fifty-nine were quincuncial, turning to the left, twenty-four to the right, thirteen as in Figure 32; eighi had one outside, and then the rest turned spirally to the right. Three were convolute to the left. Oxalis stricta. Of nineteen buds, ten had the sepals quincuń- cial to the right, nine to the left. In twelve of these buds the petals were convolute to the right, in five to the left, in one spi- rally to the right, in one a still different mode. In Serophularia nodosa, the — are imbricated in various 1877.] Variation in Aistivation. : 263 modes and some are convolute. In buds of the irregular corolla, the two upper lobes cover the others. In twelve out of nineteen buds, the left lobe of the two outer lobes was outside; in seven the right lobe was outside. It is not easy to determine which is number three and which number four, both covering number five. Of over one hundred flowers of Phlox Drummondii, all had the lobes of the corolla convolute to the right. By cultiva- tion and selection for some years, we have numerous permanent varieties or races showing a great variety in color, size, ete., but the xstivation shows no signs of change. I found in one hun- dred buds of perennial phlox the lobes of the corolla were all convoluge to the right. Of over one hundred flower-buds of Lobelia cardinalis the lobes of the corolla were all valvate. From the foregoing examples, I judge that enough attention has not heretofore been given to some of the forms of xstivation which have been thought uncommon. Each sepal and petal should be observed with reference to eack other sepal and petal and the axis or bract ; also the direction of the whorls or spirals, whether to the right or to the left. The tips of the flower-buds should not be cut off before observing them for diagram or description. Some species are quite constant as to mode, but vary in direction of spirals ; others are constant in mode and in direction; others vary as to which sepal or petal is outside the rest. I have intro- duced no new names to express some of these modes of æstiva- tion, nor have I used all those which others have proposed. In some cases I have preferred to number the outer sepal or petal one, the next within two, and so on till all are numbered. Then begin with number one and place the numbers in a horizontal row as they occur, passing always to the right as the flower is held before the observer. This mode would be of much greater value if we could always tell with ease which sepal or petal was next to the axis or opposite to it. Many authors have copied errors from each other. ‘These errors have, doubtless, many of them been made, authors giving general or definite rules after examining only a few specimens. As estivation varies so much where it has been thought so Constant, often even in the flowers on the same plant, it seems to me there has been too much stress placed upon certain modes ; that it renders of less value the efforts of Jussieu and others to explain or harmonize the quincuncial with other kinds of æstiva- tion, Perhaps we have placed too little stress upon some trivial Umstance or accident in deciding the mode of æstivation in `- any particular flower. 264 Stone Implements and Ornaments. [May, STONE IMPLEMENTS AND ORNAMENTS FROM THE RUINS OF COLORADO, UTAH, AND ARIZONA. BY EDWIN A. BARBER. P my two preceding papers relative to the Ancient Pueblos of the Pacific slope of the United States, the first in the August number of The Naturalist and the second in the De- cember issue for 1876, I have described some of the pottery and rock etchings of an exceedingly old American race. I shall strive to convey some idea, in this paper, of the tools which were em- ployed by the same people in the manufacture of articles and in the erection of their stone houses. Some of the specimens herein figured I believe to be unique, but this cannot be ascertained to a certainty without examining every collection of western antiq- uities. Stone implements and utensils are so numerous throughout the section of country formerly occupied by the Ancient Pueblos, that for the sake of convenience in describing them I will sepa- rate them into two divisions, calling them objects of warlike or peaceful vocations. Thus we have — eapons : Arrowheads (of war! and the chase). Spear or lance heads and darts. Battle-axes or tomahawks. Arrow polishers or Sich ses Implements : Hammers and Mauls. xes. Knives. Saws and chisels. Awls, ‘trimmers ” or borers. Skin scrapers, or ‘ fleshers.”’ Mortars and pestles. Millstones (metates) and grinders. Pierced pottery and stones for Auning: out sinew (gauges). Meat pounders. Because it is an indisputable fact that great battles have been 1 The greater number of the war arrows, I think, are undoubtedly of Ute origin, having been projected into the midst of the ancient towns, but some, at least, are the productions of the besieged, although they were eminently a peaceful people. We would not expect to discover these weapons of the Pueblo race, however, immediately under the walls of their own buildings, but rather further out on the plains. The majority of our specimens were found in the close neighborhood of the mn remains. 1877.] Stone Implements and Ornaments. 265 fought here, we would expect to discover large quantities of the utensils of war, and indeed we find this to be the case, as they abound in the vicinity of all of the greater ruins and many of the lesser. The arrowheads are particularly noticeable on ac- count of their delicacy, perfection, symmetry, diminu- ¢ tiveness (see Figure 51), and exquisite coloring. a hey surpass anything of the kind ever discovered in any other portion of the United States. In a single (Natura locality is frequently found the greatest variety of forms, and two are seldom picked up of the same material. Figures 10 a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and h, Plate I., show some striking forms. We find them varying from less than half an inch in length to three inches. Sometimes we find a beautiful, transparent, amber- colored chalcedony specimen, while our next discovery may be a delicately fashioned point of obsidian. Here we discover a flesh- colored arrowhead made of agatized wood, while there we see another of a light pea-green tint. Red-jasper specimens seem to predominate, however, or are at least as numerous as those of flint, of which we find every shade of color. According to form, the arrowheads of this country may be classified into nine divis- ions, as follows: — (1.) Those which are leaf-shaped ; (2), those which are tri- angular ; (3), those which are indented at the base; (4), those which are stemmed ; (5), those which are barbed; (6), those which are beveled ; (7), those which are diamond-shaped ; (8), those which are awl-shaped ; and (9), those having the shape of a serpent’s head. Of course these forms are subject to modifica- tion, and often one runs into another. The materials are agate, jasper, chalcedony, flint, carnelian, quartz, sandstone, obsidian, or silicified and agatized wood. Among the relics of battles the barbed heads are the most com- mon, while the leaf-shaped varieties occur more numerously at a distance from the ruins on the plains, where they have been employed in the slaying of game. t will be immediately seen why this distinction in the selec- tion of missiles was made. The leaf-shaped or diamond heads could be readily withdrawn from the bodies of animals and used again, while the shaft of the barbed varieties could not be ex- tracted from the body of a human victim without leaving the point in the flesh to produce inflammation and probably death. The larger sizes may have been used on the points of lances or 266 Stone Implements and Ornaments. [ May, spears, as they are too clumsy and heavy to have been employed in conjunction with the bow. ; The smaller varieties of axes may have been used as toma- hawks in war. Under the head of weapons I have placed the arrow-straighteners or polishers, although they may more prop- erly be classed with the second division, as they were not used either for offense or defense, but only for polishing or straighten- ing the wooden shafts of arrows.! We found but one specimen, or rather the half of one. This instrument originally consisted of two flat stones about three inches long, two inches wide, and half or three quarters of an inch thick. These were ground smooth on the faces so as to fit accurately together, and through one end of the united halves was bored a circular hole, penetrat- ing to the other end. Half of this orifice lay in each stone. The wooden shaft was laid horizontally in one stone and the other fitted over, and by drawing the stick in and out it was polished and straightened. (See Figure 52.) This specimen is made of a coarse, pink sandstone. (Fic. 52.) ARROW-STRAIGHTENER. (Natural Size.) The latter class, or household implements, though not so numer- ous, we found more widely distributed than the former. These were scattered through all of the ruins, the majority crudely made, but some of them smoothly polished and ground to a cutting edge. The edges of the latter class of stone axes were kept in order by abrasion or by rubbing them down on stone whenever a notch was accidentally made. Sometimes this laborious process occu- pied days, and a single careless blow with the axe might destroy the results of many hours of labor. I noticed along the sloping” surface of the narrow ledge of sandstone on which was built the Casa del Eco, a ruin on the San Juan, several rounded depres- 1 For an illustration of a similar tool refer to Evans’s Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain, page 241. : 1877.] Stone Implements. and Ornaments. 267 sions, a couple of inches deep in the centre, about four inches wide throughout, and perhaps six or eight in length, which were undoubtedly the results of this artificial process of attrition. Here, I am satisfied, beneath the walls of the houses the ancient laborers stepped out to sharpen their awkward stone tools. In Plate I. may be seen a peculiar form of axe (Figure 5). It has seen much service, and is furnished with a groove for the attachment of a handle. This specimen was found at a ruin near Abiquiu, N. M., and is made of a light-colored chloritic schist. It is three inches in length. A num- ber of forms of hammers and mauls were discovered, varying in weight from a few ounces to twenty -five pounds, F igure 53 shows an unusual form of a stone hammer obtained in the Moqui towns of Arizona. The (1. 58.) HAMMER OF PORPHYRY. man from whom I purchased it informed me that it had been handed down from generation to generation, and had been used by the old fathers of the tribe long before iron was introduced among them by the whites. It is made of a hard, greenish porphyritic rock containing iron, which is seen streaking the sides of the implement. The stone is similar to the verde an- tique of the ancients. Great mauls weighing twenty pounds and over were used by the Ancient Pueblos, though for what purpose it is difficult to imagine ; they must have required more than one pair of hands to wield them. These were usually made of compact sandstone, and were cylindrical, with the groove for the handle extending around the circumference near one end. The striking end was frequently terminated conically. There was also the flat, water- washed cobble of the river, which was similar to many of the axes, excepting that it had not been ground to an edge, but was used in a blunt state for pounding. Some of the hammers were ovoid, with the groove extending around the centre, so that either side could be used at will. Several beautifully shaped and pol- ished fleshers, or skin scrapers, were picked up by the party along the San Juan River. These are about six or eight inches in length, with the broader end sharpened. They are made of smooth, fine-grained stones, such as jasper or silicified wood, al- though I found a portion of one which was a chbdcolate-colored slate. Mr. Holmes, in the Mancos Cañon, observed the end of ne protruding from the floor of a ruin, and upon drawing it 268 Stone Implements and Ornaments. [ May, from the soil found it to be a very perfect specimen, but stained black over the portion which had been buried.! The only use to which such tools could have been devoted was the tanning, cut- ting, or scraping of hides and skins. Another curious form of the same may be seen in Figure 54, whch is probably unique. a ` ‘ ‘ - Nowe eee ewer (Fie 54.) FLESHER OF JASPER. (Fie. 55.) smooth on each side, and is scarcely a third of an inch thick. The end of the handle is wanting. I can conceive of no use for which this spatulate instrument could have been intended except skin-dressing. The edges are blunt and rounded, and it may have been employed in culinary operations as a spoon or ladle. Numerous serrated implements were picked up among the débris of the ruins, of different sizes and forms, which were evi- dently intended for sawing. The fragments of some indicated that the entire instrument had been several inches in length and an inch or so broad. One, however (Figure 55), was a circular stone of a bright-green color, in which the entire circumference (with the exception of a small arc) had been toothed or chipped. This was probably used in the same manner as the straight saws, being held between the finger and thumb. Chisels, awls, borers and rimmers occur in abundance. The chisels or pointed tools were probably used in chipping out hiero- glyphics. The awls, borers, and rimmers were employed in per- _ forating skins; wood, stone, etc. Among the pottery and pendants may be seen holes made by 1 See Figure 3, Plate I. 1877.] Stone Implements and Ornaments. 269 these instruments. One opening of the orifice is small, while the other is larger and funnel-shaped, revealing concentric rings, showing that the tool with which they had been bored ta- gz pered gradually to a point. On account of the delicate \Ų nature of these, it is seldom that a perfect one can be found, but Figure 56 represents an unusually delicate spec- imen picked up on the Rio de Chelly. It is shaped like a horseshoe nail and chipped from a perfectly white stone. Stone, mortars are rare in a state of entirety, yet we found many fragments scattered over the plains and through the cafions. The prevailing material seems to have been sandstone ; pestles are very rarely seen. However, in the Moqui village, I observed several stone mortars, some eight or ten inches in diameter, with their accompanying pestles, which had been placed on the house tops, and I was told that they had not been in use for many years, having descended with many old stone implements from the forefathers of the tribe. One of the most common objects to be found in and about the crumbling buildings is the millstone, or metate, and with it the corn grinder. Lieutenant Emory says of the ancient remains along the Gila River: “ The implement for grinding corn and the broken pottery were the only vestiges of the mechanical arts which we saw amongst the ruins, with the exception.of a few ornaments, principally immense well-turned beads, the size of a hen’s egg.” A good specimen of a grinder may be seen in Figure 4, Plate I.: it is made of black as cellular basalt, found near Ojo Caliente, N. M. The great numbers of pieces of perforated pottery and small stones were used in two ways: Some were intended for or- hamenting the person, while others were doubtless used for drawing out sinew for bow- strings and thread. t Other implements were discovered whose uses have not - been determined, such as Fig- f ure 57. I picked up several) Polished stones of a pink color, ` ground down flat on each side. These were a couple of inches (Fie. 56.) r t ' i ' t + ' ' ' ' 5 + ' i ' ' ' ' ' I i ' ' one ae na Klean oe = > alata F| F Vary- & AAE F (Fia 57.) STONE IMPLEMENT WITH SHARP EDGE. ; 270 Stone Implements and Ornaments. [ May, in length and an inch in width, but whether designed for some ornamental purpose or whether used as implements of some kind, Iam unable to say. Figure 1, Plate I., is a specimen of basket weaving found in one of the ruins of the Mancos, but I am inclined to think that it is not of very ancient workmanship, but was most probably carried there by some roving Indian who belonged to a more recent tribe. Yet it is not improbable that this had been woven centuries ago, for it is made of a species of rush (Scirpus validus) which occurs abundantly on the banks of the stream, and this kind of vegetable’ matter, containing, as it does, a considerable amount of silica, might remain perfect in sheltered locations for an indefinite period. f Figure 2, Plate I., illustrates a bundle of sticks which was found buried beneath a pile of rubbish in a cliff house of the same cañon. These sticks may have been used in some game. Such objects are employed at the present day by several Indian tribes. The Utes use them in gambling, each one counting a unit. As they are won théy are stuck in the ground in front of the player, and he who succeeds in winning all the sticks gains the stakes. These pieces of wood have been sharpened at one end by rubbing on stones. Mr. Holmes, who discovered them, says, ‘ The bit of cord with which they are tied is made of a flax-like fibre carefully twisted and wrapped with coarse strips of Yucca bark; beside this a number of short pieces of rope of different sizes were found, that for beauty and strength would do credit to any people. The fibre is a little coarser and lighter than flax, and was probably obtained from a species of Yucca which grows everywhere in the Southwest.” Among the personal adornments of most aboriginal tribes of men are found many varieties of beads which have been. cut or ground from wood, bone, horn, stone, claws, and teeth of animals, or shells. Those made of various species of the latter predomi- nate, the marine shells, such as the Busycon, Marginella, Oliva, Fasciolaria, and many other genera (usually univalves) being the most common. The prehistoric people of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado employed, in the decoration of their persons, at least two genera, of which several species were dis- covered by the photographic division of Hayden’s United States Geological Survey. All the bead ornaments found in this section of the West may be classed under four heads : — I. Shells. 1877.] Stone Implements and Ornaments. 271 II. Earthen-ware beads. IHI. Turquoises. IV. Pendants. (A, of stone; B, of pottery.) The marine shells which were converted into beads by the an- cient tribes, so far as has been ascertained by the investigations of the United States Geological Survey, during the summer of 1875, were the Oliva and (possibly) the Busycon, or Murex. Of the former genus we were so fortunate as to discover at least one species. Figure 7, Plate I., represents a specimen of the Oliva biplicata (probably), although the shell! is so weather worn that the specific characteristics are almost entirely obliterated. Still, it strongly resembles this species of the Pacific coast, and is very likely the same. This size, however, was not so common as a larger variety which is, in all likelihood, a more fully developed representative of the same species. The first samples of these shell beads were taken from the site of an old ruin where they had been lying for many centuries, until they had become entirely decomposed. Through Eastern Utah and south into Arizona many Olivas were found scattered through the débris of crum- bling walls and broken pottery. The perforation has been ef- fected by grinding down the apex so that a thong would pass through the shell lengthwise. Of the genus Busycon, or Murez, was found but one doubtful example. The beads made from this were of two sizes and usually white. The smaller variety was flat on both sides, or slightly convex on one side and concave on the other (Figure 58), as thin as a wafer, and the circumference of an ordinary pea. In the centre a neatly bored hole © enabled the owner to string them together in the © form of a necklace. The larger variety was about the circumference of an average buck shot. Such beads were evidently held in great esteem by the wearers, and among the ruins they are extremely rare, only a few specimens having been found. Captain John Moss, of Parrott City, Col., says that these beads are valued highly by the present Navajo Indians to the south, a small string, when such can be found, bringing in exchange a good horse. 'The Navajoes are constantly grubbing about the old buildings and adjacent graves in search of these- trinkets; this accounts in some measure for their great scarcity among the ruins to-day. They were undoubtedly obtained by the ancients from other tribes who brought them, or at least the 1 It may be Olivella gracilis. (Fia. 58.) 272 Stone Implements and Ornaments. [ May, shells from which they were fashioned, from the Pacific coast. We know that these ruins extend as far west as the junction of the San Juan and Colorado rivers, so that communication between the tribe in question and others situated along the Pacific Ocean or Gulf of California was rendered easy. Don Jose Cortez, writing of the tribes near the Colorado, in 1799, speaks of * the white beads they get on the shores of the Gulf of California.” Of the second class of bead ornaments, many are found among the heaps of ancient pottery which surround the majority of the old ruined buildings. A small piece of pottery, generally of the best glazed and painted ware, is selected, and the edges ground down into a circular or rectangular form varying in size from a third of an inch to two inches in diameter, or from a half inch to an inch and a half in length. The circular specimens have per- forations in the centre, while the square or rectangular varieties have holes near one end.- These latter may be classed with No. IV. Some forms of No. II. may be seen in Figure 59.1 es a me ri See - - eee ~~ Gib, pS et (Fia. 69.) ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY. (Natural Size.) The third division is represented by but a single specimen, which was picked up during the month of August, 1875, in the Cañon of the Montezuma, in Utah. It is simply a piece of tur- quoise flattened and polished on both sides, and is undoubtedly half of a small plate or bead, as is demonstrated by the orifice, at which place it has been divided. The hole was evidently bored by a stone rimmer, as the opening on the upper surface is much greater in diameter than that on the under. This interesting relic measures about a third of an inch across its greatest diameter. Turquoises, the “ chalchihuitls ” of the Aztecs, were obtained from ~ the Los Cerillos Mountains, in New Mexico, southeast of Santa Fé. Here is a quarry which was worked before the arrival of the 1 The largest of these may have been designed for spindle whorls. 273 Stone Implements and Ornaments. 1877.] HHNICHOLS $e. PLATE I. 18 . VOL, ak — NO. 5 274 Stone Implements and Ornaments. [ May, Spaniards in the country, and it was here, undoubtedly, that the ancient ‘‘cliff-dwellers” obtained their turquoise. Here, prob- ably, their descendants, the Moquis, Pueblos, and Zuiiis, procured the turquoises mentioned by the Reverend Father Friar Marco de Niça in 1539, and by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in his account of his visit to these people in 1540. Marco de Niga wrote: “ They have emeralds! and other jewels, although they esteem none so much as turquoises, wherewith they adorn the walls of the porches of their houses and their apparel and ves- sels, and they use them instead of money through all the coun- try, The fourth and last class of bead ornaments consists of all those trinkets made usually of stone or silicified wood, but occa- sionally of pieces of pottery which were employed in decorating ear-rings or necklaces. These are usually flat, neatly polished, rectangular pieces, with the aperture in one end. They vary from half an inch to two inches in length, the width being usu- ally about two thirds of the length, and from one sixteenth to one eighth of an inch in thickness. The form graduates from the rectangular to the elliptical, as the corners are more or less rounded. Figures 6 and 6a, Plate I., represent two of these or- naments, an inch and a quarter in length. These were suspended either from circular ear-drops, made mostly of shells, or from the front centre of necklaces, and in some cases may have been worn at the nose. Some such ornaments as these are still employed among the Yampais, Pimas, Mojaves, Moquis, Pueblos, and Zuiiis of Arizona and New Mexico. This style of perforated ornament was the commonest, and the specimens are the most abundant of all the varieties which may be classed among the bead work of the ancient people of the West. They include all such objects as pendants, * gorgets,” ear-drops, and nose ornaments, usually made from silicified wood, though occasionally from a white, fine- grained limestone. The shell ear-rings were manufactured with much labor, and used by the same people. One single fragmentary specimen was discovered by the party, but it is sufficient to show its use, and was probably a representative of an ordinary form. (See Fig- ure 60.) The circlet was cut from a whorl of a marine shell, most likely the Murex. As shown by the are of the circumference of the specimen, itwas originally about one and five eighths inches in its outer diameter. To such attachments as this the pendants 1 Chrysolite, probably. 1877.] Stone Implements and Ornaments. 275 of Class IV. were suspended. Another, similar to this but larger, which was found at the Casa Grande (Chichilticale), on Rio Gila, is figured by Lieut. A. W. gr Whipple in his report. One speci- a men of a finger ornament was found by Mr. Holmes’s party. It repre- sents a stone ring about five eighths of an inch in diameter, made of hard, gray slate. This may be seen in Fig- ure 9, Plate I. The perforations in the pendants are drilled, some of them from each side, meeting at the centre, while in others the boring has been done en- (Fre. 60.) INDIAN SHELL EAR-RING. tirely from one side. In the majority of cases the orifice is funnel-shaped, but occasionally we meet with a piece of pot- tery in which the perforation is of the sanie diameter through- out. This neat puncturing must have. been accomplished with superior stone awls or borers. In some specimens of pendants the hole has been started and sunk half way, but not com- pleted. Figure 61 illustrates a very pretty charm or chain orna- ment (possibly a totem) made of a white stone. It represents an animal of some kind, is cylindrical, and was probably worn at the neck ; it may have been a sinker, This is the only object of this kind found throughout this country, with the exception of a carved figure (Plate I., Figure 8). Several pieces of white wampum were also picked up near the mouth of the Rio de Chelly, but they were not drilled hollow. They resembled pieces of solid pipe- stem about an inch in length, and had either been (re. 61.) Aamo- cut from a thick shell or were fashioned froma white inr.” "™*”” stone. We see, then, that the ancient Pueblos devoted much time and labor to the production of objects for the decoration of the person, and in this respect they displayed much ingenuity, and their surviving ornaments reveal to us some degree of the vanity with which they were endowed. 276 Glimpses of Mind in Birds. [May, GLIMPSES OF MIND IN BIRDS. BY DR. CHARLES C. ABBOTT. o5 the morning of the 20th of December, 1876, a large flock of small sparrows was seen to pass over my house and settle down in the old oaks immediately beyond. There they remained and chattered for fully an hour, when with one accord they all took flight and sped on their way southward. There was no need of destroying the lives of any of these joyous songsters, for they were so very tame that they were easily recognized while busily flitting through the then ice-covered twigs of the oaks. They were the common tree-sparrows (Spizella monticola). I was so much struck with the peculiarity of their movements, in the dual circumstance of migrating in company and in their close proximity while on the wing, — two conditions I had never before noticed with reference to this sparrow, — that I started out for a day in the field, to see if other birds were to be found migrating by day, as though endeavoring to escape the severity of the weather, which was unusual. I-wandered along a wooded hill-side having a southern out- look, and from thence to a narrow strip of marshy meadow be- yond. An occasional meadow-lark, a single song-sparrow, and the grass-finch (Podcetes gramineus), ever at home, were the only birds to be seen. After a three hours’ ramble I turned my steps homeward. It was scarcely two hours before sunset, and while I lingered under the grand old oaks and listened to the oc- casional chirp of some unseen and distant sparrow, a loud, whir- ring sound and constant chirping caused me to look up. In the same oaks was another flock, but of very different birds. They, too, were recognized ata glance. They were the purple finch (Carpodacus purpureus). They lingered for many minutes, when with one accord, though I could not determine upon what signal, they, too, took flight, but in a westerly direction and in the face of a bitterly cold wind that was just freshening into 4 gale. The particular actions of these two flocks of widely differing species of finches were of much interest to me, and have sug- gested some thoughts as to the purport of their evidently migra- tory movements. It is not an unusual occurrence for any one species of our birds geen: to quit a neighborhood where they may have been in 1877.] Glimpses of Mind in Birds. 277 numbers for many weeks, and after a longer or shorter absence as suddenly to return to their accustomed haunts. More partic- ularly is this the case with our winter residents. It is generally supposed that these semi-migratory movements are in conse- quence of meteorological conditions, the birds having the power to foretell a change by recognizing it through alterations in in- animate nature, not appreciable by man, or more probably by electric conditions acting directly upon them, on the same princi- ple that a gouty big toe is an excellent barometer. Granting that these sudden departures from a given neighborhood by any spe- cies of birds or by the birds generally are caused by a meteoro- logical influence, operating on each individual alike, would they not then go as individuals from the locality where the influence is felt to one better suited to them, during the prevalence of the obnoxious conditions? Every bird would then become a mere automaton, wafted to and fro at the mercy of the winds and clouds. While I do admit that the weather is the determining cause of the birds’ movements, I am convinced that the influence is exerted in a somewhat different way. These temporary mi- grations are not made individually, but collectively, the birds maintaining a close association, their numbers not varying be- tween the times of their departure and arrival. No meteorolog- ical influence could produce a flocking of any species, as repre- sented in a given area, previous to forcing or at least inducing them to quit the neighborhood. Now, if we allow to birds exact. geographical knowledge of a considerable extent of territory, then experience will have taught them, without doubt, that a ravine extending at right angles to the track of a storm is a proper shel- ter while the storm or “ spell of severe weather ” lasts ; and the atmospheric conditions pending the change admonishing them, the scattered birds would depart thereto and arrive singly from every quarter, congregating for the first time when safely in the protecting ravine; but this is not found to be the case at all. ey congregate wherever they may happen to be, and this ne- cessitates an uttered signal, understood by them. Once collected they determine their route and depart in company. In Decem- ber last, as I have related, I met with two such flocks of migrat- ing birds. In thus associating they must derive either benefit or Pleasure, if not both. If benefit, it must be that a mutual un- derstanding exists among them; if pleasure, there must be an Mterchange of the impressions made upon one to the other. at it is an audible interchange we all know, for flocks of 278 Glimpses of Mind in Birds. [May, mutes do not occur ; that it is a varied expression of notes, pecul- iar to each species, is as well known ; and so, judging these same birds from a human stand-point, they assuredly know themselves and understand each other, have đefinite expressions for certain conditions, have, in fact, the gift of language as the natural out- come of that power of thought which their methodical lives show they duly exercise. The presence or absence of food in any given locality is also rightly supposed largely to influence the stay or departure of all birds, either resident or migratory ; but let us take the instance of the roving purple finches I have referred to. In this case there was doubtless an abundance of food available for weeks in the little wood in which they tarried for so short a time. They certainly did not remain long enough to determine that point, and so gave evidence of a predetermined journey to some partic- ular point, towards which they were moving when I chanced upon them. On these same. oaks and about the hill-side gener- ally, scores of times I have seen these finches often for days to- gether, and consequently finding sufficient food. When I last saw them they were not seeking out better feeding grounds than those they had left, bút a locality otherwise more suitable. If, then, there is in the character of these migratory movements even a trace of predetermination, does it not bear directly upon the question of the conveyance of impressions from one to the other? and if the sounds they utter are closely related to their movements, can we conceive of these as having any other signifi- cance than that of being the means: by which they express their thoughts, —that their utterances are strictly a language? One can easily believe that an elaborate song is a pleasure to the lit- tle musician himself as well as all his hearers, and may be given, . perhaps, with a wholly selfish intent; but not so can we explain away the endless chirps and twitters expressed during the ordi- nary routine of each day’s existence. Again, as bearing upon the subject of birds’ flocking, together with their various “ notes” or language, it is to be borne in mind that widely different species do not migrate together, but on the other hand, allied species and genera are thus associated, and there is a marked similarity in very many of the “ calls ” of these allied species, as well as identity in habits and preference for the same localities. And are not these facts, by the by, suggestive of the great probability that in the distant past the variations now existing in our widely different birds were far less in num- 1877.] | Glimpses of Mind in Birds. 279 ber, and that the influences exerted by endless external conditions have been in part the origin of the so-called species of ‘to-day ? But possibly speculation as to the origin of the specific variation in bird life is in vain ; and coming back to the present, to see it as it is, we find far more that suggests laborious study than a life-time can accomplish; and that, too, without seeking for marked exhibitions of ingenuity on the part of the birds. Inter- esting as these are to the field naturalist, whenever met with, it is doubtful if such chance occurrences are really as instructive in one’s endeavor to appreciate the mental endowments of birds as are their ordinary daily and seasonal acts. And again, as indicative, I think, of the existence of a mind es- sentially the same as our own, is that love of company of their own kind, which is so marked a feature of bird life. Birds may be associated and influenced pleasantly by each other’s presence without being “ flocked,” as we say of gregarious species. After nearly a score of years of out-door study in the woods and about the fields, through the marshes and over mountains, I am well satisfied that the bird is eminently a social creature. One need but watch the busy warblers as they wander from twig to twig of our elm-trees to note how humanly they act when two chance to meet face to face while passing around the large branches: a moment’s halting, a cheery twitter, a still more emphatic adieu, perhaps their parting note, and they separate to continue their untiring search for insects. Capture, if you have the heart to do so, a nest-building bird, and place it in a cage, near the site of its unfinished home. See with what painful curiosity its puzzled mate endeavors to com- .Prehend the mishap, and fearless of the cage itself, with what close serutiny it is examined, in hopes of finding some available crevice through which the captured bird may escape. Note with what care an abundance of food is brought to the prisoner, show- ing that the bird realizes some of the difficulties into which its mate has fallen. The utterances of both, too, are at this time worthy of the closest attention. They are not simply the sharp chirp of fear on the part of the captured bird, but a varied into- nation, characteristically responded to by the bird at large; and one cannot fail to interpret it as an appeal for assistance. I have experimented in this cruel manner many times ; and while the Caged victim was confined, its mate proved faithful, and the char- acter of every act under these peculiar circumstances, in connec- tion with their utterances, confirmed my belief that their vocal 280 Glimpses of Mind in Birds. [May, power has been evolved for the same ends and largely meets the same requirements that the power of language accomplishes for man. Let us now view bird life from another stand-point. There are not a few indications to show that birds are not victims of pre- destination, such as some worthy people are unhappily deluded into supposing themselves to be, but, being quite free to choose, exercise not a little forethought, especially in spring, in prede- termining their movements, in part, during the coming season. How else, for instance, can we explain such a fact as the aban- donment of a partly constructed nest and rebuilding elsewhere, usually on the same tree? I have so closely watched orioles while building, that I am confident that a nest nearly finished was aban- doned not from experience of its being of too easy access to ene- mies, but because subsequent thought suggested the possibility of such an occurrence, and therefore the change of position was de- cided upon. Such instances are quite common; and strangely enough these abandoned nests are not utilized in the manufact- ure of another, but are left, I believe, as a blind to the ene- mies, which now are happily but few, of this particular bird. In one case the delicate branches of a weeping-willow being found too slight for the weight of the nest when- occupied, another branch some few inches distant — as nearly as I could determine, about a foot — was brought into use, as an additional support, by carefully interweaving a long string with the body of the nest, and then carrying it up and attaching it by a number of turns and a knot to the branch above. Thus secured, the nest sus- tained the weight of the young when fully grown and both the parent birds. The little warbling fly-catchers that build a semi- pensile nest in the fork of delicate twigs have been known to do precisely the same thing, especially when the cow-pen bird (Molothrus pecoris) burdens them with an egg that when hatched taxes severely the strength of their slightly built nest. Here we have forethought, for while the nest, in the case of the orioles, was sufficiently secure for the proper care of the eggs, and would sustain the additional weight of one bird, they knew that when the young were well grown and required the care of both parents in feeding them, then the nest must needs be stronger than they had originally made it. Can we consider 1t probable that the same idea of future insecurity occurred to both parent birds simultaneously? Yet they worked together in the addition made to it. Rather the idea, occurring to one, was come 1877. ] Glimpses of Mind in Birds. 281 municated to the other, and the chirps and twitters of a whole afternoon were their sole means of communication. Here, have we not, without overstraining our imagination or at all taxing our credulity, a veritable glimpse of mind in birds? Further, is it not an indication of a high order of mental power? These birds were not simply pursuing the ordinary routine of nest-build- ing, but actually carefully considered the future and its possible mishaps, and guarded intelligently against them. The senseless persecution to which our common crow has been subjected by short-sighted farmers —for it is in reality a most valuable bird to the agriculturist —has rendered it exceedingly shy and cunning. This is well known to every one who has ever seen a crow, at least in our Middle States. While timidity has doubtless become hereditary in all our birds, and is increased in every individual through imitation of the parent birds, which themselves act not only from hereditary impulses, but from ex- perience, on the other hand cunning is not necessarily an inher- ited trait, as it differs so greatly in individuals, but is an acquired one ; and can we be mistaken in considering that this same cun- ning on the part of some is recognized by the masses, and being constantly associated, they naturally learn to defer to the better judgment of the superior birds. On the other hand, crows, as men, soon learn to realize their superiority over their fellows, if they possess any, and quickly assume the position of leaders. In Some very similar way, I believe that crows have developed through their experience as persecuted creatures that power of organization — executive ability we call itin mankind — through which they are able to maintain their numbers and escape de- struction, It may be urged that superior cunning ought likewise to have been evolved among our game birds, inasmuch as they have been far more persecuted, so that they too might have suc- cessfully baffled their tormentors and maintained their ground. I can but say that to some extent it probably has, but that they may have less active intellects, and their being so unintermit- tingly pursued has had a depressing effect ; while on the part of ‘rows, persecution has resulted in acceleration of the develop- ment of mental powers. Contact with man, it is easily seen, has Sharpened the wits of many of the lower animals, to such an ex- tent in some, that like the crow they can resist him ; while others» van the great auk, perhaps through want of energy, have per- Shed, Birds are not naturally given to excesses in eating or drink- 282 Glimpses of Mind in Birds. [May, ing, but now and then it happens among the berry and seed- eating species that they do not discriminate between wholesome and unhealthy food, and the result, very naturally, is sickness. I have known robins to be poisoned by eating belladonna berries, and sparrows to become “bewildered” by pecking at trash thrown from an apple-whisky distillery. These occurrences sug- gested a simple experiment with alcohol, and my victims were crows. While the ground was well covered with snow and the crows quite tame in consequence of the scarcity of food, I soaked some corn with alcohol and placed it where the birds readily found it. In a few minutes it was all devoured by four crows who, like Oliver Twist, were clamorous for more; but their clamor soon ceased. The ordinary intoxicating effects of alcohol soon began to show themselves, and stranger antics no silly par- rot ever yet performed. They gave way at first to loud and rapid talking, loud even for a crow; then, after vain endeavors to fly away and subsequent ones to rest upon the topmost rail of a neighboring fence, they gave themselves up to the most ludi- — crous, subdued mutterings, and finally turned gracefully over, fell from the fence, and lying in uneasy positions upon the snow soon became entirely*motionless, as profound slumber overcame them. The facts I desired I believe were obtained. The phys- iological effects of the alcohol proved to be the same as in man ; and I am convinced that we have an indication here of what is in all probability the case, that their brains are at least so far like our own that the normal operations of the organ are, too, of. identical character. Crotvs see with their eyes, they hear with their ears, and why deny that also they talk with their tongues and throats, and think with their brains? When we realize the full extent of the mental capabilities of birds, the mighty distance that ignorance has imagined lies between the brute creation and mankind becomes narrowed to a little space indeed. So, when we study mankind precisely as he is, and recall the semi-brutal state of prehistoric times, it is doing no violence to truth to see more of humanity in the less favored forms of life, and to admit that our own progress is still clogged by the traces of our former brute-like condition. Allied to the subject of intoxication 16 that of permanent insanity. Does a functional or organic Gs ease of the brain ever occur in birds? Of course all reference 1 to birds in a state of nature. We are all familiar with instances of birds in confinement that have apparently died of grief from the loss of their mates. * We have here a case of cerebral action 1877.] Glimpses of Mind in Birds. 288 ~ that cannot be explained, if to a bird’s brain we only accord the operations of instinct. Grief has no more to do with instinct, pure and simple, than ordinary emotions have to do with the heart ; and yet birds certainly do experience all the pains occa- sioned by grief, and when this becomes excessive, so as to cause death, then it has at least reached the border lands of insanity. I now ask, Do birds ever in their feral state pass quite beyond it? If not wrong in considering intoxication temporary insan- ity, then certainly birds are at times permanently insane. It not unfrequently happens that birds are forced to take flight at night, when darkness only is visiblé, and are wounded or stunned by coming in violent contact with some resisting object. While such an accident usually proves fatal, it not always does so, although permanent cerebral injuries are received. I recall now an instance of a male quail coming with tremendous velocity against a window, literally cutting a passage for itself through the pane, and falling on the floor on the opposite side of the toom. The bird was picked up for dead ; but while being exam- ined it revived, and the ill effects of the concussion partially passed away ; but assuming that the bird was as mentally strong as its fellows before the accident, it was ever after not subject to occasional fits, as a cause of the mishap, but in fact permanently insane. While none of its movements were what one might ex- pect of a quail in confinement, this one had a number of very crazy notions. The most noticeable peculiarity was that of whistling its ordinary call-note backwards, thus, “* White’-bob,” for Bob-white’. The intonation and accent were exactly reversed, and were at once noticed by every one who had ever heard a quail whistle. While very tame and gentle with the family, it readily recognized strangers as such, and if approached by them would strike at them with its claws, lying flat on its back, reminding one forcibly of a wounded hawk. Another very marked pecul- larity of habit was that of chasing or appearing to chase its food, the bird evidently laboring under the impression that its food was alive and endeavoring to escape. It may be claimed that the passage through the pane of glass may have injured its i eet sight, and so the apparent chase of its food was caused by disor- . dered vision. This is met by the fact that in no other way did Its vision appear to’ be affected, and it was tested in several Ways; and again, the effects of the concussion would scarcely have caused also am alteration of its vocal organs, as though its arynx by the blow had been turned wrong end foremost. 284 Glimpses of Mind in Birds. [May, Somewhat similar instances have occurred, where birds have been slightly wounded with fine shot. The wounds have en- tirely healed, the locomotive powers are all restored, and yet the bird is quite another creature, not only in its manner in con- finement, but its desire for liberty, so strong in birds, has totally disappeared. The effects of the wounds have been to radically change the mental characteristics; yet, so far as determinable, every function of the body is in proper working order. If, then, it is unnatural in its ways, endeavoring to do many things to which it is not adapted, and which its wild associates never do, it is simply insane; and if insane, then there must be the essen- tial elements of a mind, to become either wholly or in part de- ranged. Setting aside these extreme cases of wounded birds, and look- ing closely at birds at large, we will find a vast difference in the relative vivacity and agility of our feathered friends. This dif- ference, of itself, is interesting ; but become familiar through gen- tleness with the robins and cat-birds that are building their nests near your homes, and make the acquaintance of the bluebirds, sparrows, and wrens, and every creature of the avi-fauna of your neighborhood, and you will surely find among them, here and there, some melancholy individual that has no home, if we limit birds’ homes to their nests, and certainly with no visible means of support, if it depends upon its mate to take care of him or her, as the case may be. These birds, unmated, moping, and almost voiceless, are, to say the least, eccentric. One instance in partic- ular is vividly recalled, that of a meadow-lark (Stwrnella magna) which for hours would sit upon a certain limb of a dead tree, and - only leave it voluntarily for a short time to feed. It never sang, and when on the ground did not associate with its kind, but trotted about with chipping sparrows, along the garden fence. Its one peculiarity, marked above all others, was the resentment with which it met the advances of its fellows. If one perchanced to alight on this crazy lark’s adopted home, it would be vigor- ously attacked, and the intruder invariably was driven off. At such a time it would utter a vigorous chirp, but at no other time did I hear any note uttered. It remained thus, in the one limited spot, for three weeks, and was then found lying-dead at the foot of the tree. Dissection showed no peculiarity in the anatomy of its brain or viscera, and there was no indication that it died either of grief or starvation. -I believe it simply a case of insanity. Another such case was that of a cat-bird. 1877.] Glimpses of Mind in Birds. 285 This poor fellow for the greater part of one summer haunted a row of currant bushes, in a very melancholy mood the while, and when seen by other cat-birds, they would immediately give it chase. The persecuted bird was readily recognized by hav- ing a single snow-white feather in its tail, which was otherwise of normal size and color. It is not to be supposed that albinism which extended only to one feather could have been the cause of this ostracism, and we refer the cause to the mental state of the bird, and that being recognized as weaker and perhaps otherwise unnatural, they would have killed it had it not been able to es- cape their attacks by taking refuge in dense foliage close to the ground. Its movements indicated physical health, its loneliness and inability — shall we say ? — to please its fellows, indicated mental ill health, that is, insanity. It is scarcely necessary, and space forbids our going further into details in the elaboration of such phases of bird life as, to human comprehension, are apparently identical with the allied acts in man ; and, indeed, if it can be shown that under any one circumstance a bird thinks, it as satisfactorily determines that the creature has a thought-producing brain, as though we trace his mental powers from the nest to the close of adult life. Have we not more than one such circumstance here narrated, as a “proof that birds possess a faculty indistinguishable, so far as it goes, from human reason” ? When noting the circumstances of limited migrations, we saw that it was not a blind movement on the part of each individual, but the influence being alike recog- nized by all, they congregated and departed with a full knowl- edge of whither they were going, this predetermination being shown by the character of their movements while journeying. The validity of the opinion that birds fully comprehend and at- tach definite meanings to their range of utterances we endeav- ored to show in the flocking of allied species and genera, in- stead of the promiscuous assembling of birds of widely differing types. Their love of company was pointed out as bearing, too, upon the subject of language as man understands it, being also an attribute of birds, this association extending beyond the du- ration of nidification, and not limited to single pairs, but the in- dividuals of each species residing in considerable areas. ‘This love of the company of their own kind is not a mute associa- tion, but marked by an extensive range of vocal powers other than their songs proper, which bear the relation to language that “nging does to conversation in ourselves, and bear every indi- ` 286 ` The Age of this Earth. [ May, cation of being expressed for the purpose of conveying to others thought on the part of the utterer. When birds are nest-build- ing I have shown that the subject of future requirements is duly considered, when the thought occurs to the busy birds, and is acted upon by both, after its necessary communication by one to the other, in an intelligent manner, thereby demonstrating a cer- ebral action identical with that of man when analogously circum- stanced. I have endeavored to show that cunning on the part of crows was largely acquired, and differed in individuals, show- ing a variation in brain power, and also that their association was too well organized to be looked upon as other than one where there were some superior intellects to guard the interests of their masses. Finally, we have seen that the ordinary physio- logical effects of alcohol, such as obtain in man, render birds lia- ble to drunkenness when they unwittingly indulge too freely ; and just as their brains, as do human brains, respond to its effects, so there is also abundance of reason for believing that insanity, too, may arise from just such causes as produce this malady in an. Thus, rapidly glancing over the range of bird-life, in its feral state and in confinement, in health and in disease, we may see that much that is often thought peculiar to mankind is partially, also, an attribute of birds. We must, if disposed to see all ani- mate nature with unbiassed minds, grant to these lower forms a higher grade of intelligence ; and if, as yet, we cannot bridge the chasm that separates us from them, it is not so much that the chasm is too broad as that our pride and ignorance vainly sup- poses it to be wider than it is. ; y Eanan aaa THE AGE OF THIS EARTH. BY H. P. MALET. N able article in the Quarterly Review for July, 1876, gives the calculations of several sciences, differing from one an- other by tens and hundreds of millions of years, on the age of our cosmical system. Physical geography was not represented; we claim for it not only as great a knowledge of facts in reference to the main point as any other science possesses, but the means of enabling us to point out where other sciences seem to be in error as to time, tO ' data, and consequently in their complex calculations. 1877.] The Age of this Earth. 287 Mathematicians are so correct in their figures that when they start from one point to reach one end, their ends ought to be the same; when these ends vary and we find no fault in the calcula- tion, we must look into the data for the cause of variation and error. The article alluded to gives us an outline of cosmical begin- nings from the theory of Laplace, published in 1796 (Maunder). Astronomers had been aware that many nebule floated in space ; these became ‘‘ specimens of worlds in making,” under the pow- erful telescope of the French astronomer. As the nebulæ became denser, they came under ‘the action of gravity ;” consequently ‘ a succession of rings, concentric with and revolving round the centre of gravity,” were formed. ‘Each ring would break up into masses, which would be endued with motions of rotation, and would in consequence assume a spheroidal form. These masses formed the planets, and gathering with energy round its centre formed the sun.” It is then explained “ that the earth could not have had an independent existence till long after that time . . . for before then the earth must have formed part of the fiery mass of the sun;” the Quarterly observing, ‘ Thus, probably, was the world we live in and the solar system of which we form a part evolved out of chaos.” Science has proved that motion causes heat, and therefore the sun was provided with a supply by the action of the nebula. If they were cold when they came together, — the only condition they could have been in, —the supply of heat was calculated to last for 20,250,000 years at the present rate of consumption. Thus “the dynamical theory of the sun’s heat renders it almost impossible that the earth’s surface has been illuminated by the sun’s rays many times ten millions of years; and when we consider under- ground temperature, we find ourselves driven to the conclusion that the existing state of things on the earth, life on the earth, and all geological history showing continuity of life must be limited within some such period of time as 100,000,000 years.” ’ This authority, Sir William Thomson, is reported to have told the British Association at Glasgow that ‘50,000,000 years is an even estimate ” for the age of this earth. i A comfortable thargin of fifty per cent. seems convenient to the precise sciences. Professor Tait is reported to have said in a Mie lecture at Glasgow, in alluding to differences on this subject, So much the worse for geology. as at present understood by its 1 The Mail, September 8, 1876. : 288 The Age of this Earth. [May, chief authorities, for physical considerations render it impossible that more than 10,000,000 or 15,000,000 of years can be granted.” Before entering on physical details it will be as well to point out a curious question between mathematicians and geologists in ref- erence to “ under-ground temperature.” Some geologists assign all igneous action on this earth to local chemical causes ; but the fashionable school allows its ignorance on this subject in the Text-Book of Geology, by Mr. Page, seventh edition, page 51: “ The occurrence of volcanoes, earthquakes, escapes of heated vapors, and thermal springs are by far too numerous and gen- eral to be accounted for on any principle of chemical union with which we are acquainted.” In other words, the expenditure of heat from the earth is supposed to be more than local chemical causes could supply. Mathematicians give * 20,250,000” years of heat to the sun; as this earth is supposed to have been an off- shoot from its “ fiery mass,” we may infer that when the earth was detached it must have been in the same hot condition as the parent mass. Mr. Proctor gives us the diameter of the sun at 850,000 miles, and Guyot’s geography gives the diameter of this earth at eight thousand miles. If, then, the diameter of the sun contains heat for 20,250,000 years, the diameter of this earth can hold heat only for 190,588 years. We know nothing of fresh supplies of fuel to earth or sun, in reference to the the- ory of Laplace; we give the sun the credit for greater expendi- ture of heat than the earth; but if geologists are right in suppos- ing that local chemical causes have been unequal to the earth’s expenditure, and that this has been going on for ten, twelve, fifty, or one hundred millions of years, according to the calcula- tions of physical science, we may wonder why the internal fire did not become bankrupt long ago. We may also remark, in passing, that if igneous action is of any advantage to this earth, it is lucky that neither science had any hand in its origin. It was pointed out by the German metaphysician, Kant, and ' has been accepted by others, that there has been a retardation of the earth’s revolution from the tidal wave. The conclusion, as given in the Quarterly, is, “She was rotating at about the same rapidity as now when she became solid, and as the rate 0 rotation is certainly diminishing, the epoch of consolidation can- not be more than ten or twelve millions of years.” This calcula- tion cannot be of much consequence to the cosmical system ; bat as no one knows how the tidal wave acted before there was lan for it to flow and ebb upon, we put the theory down as useless, 1877.] The Age of this Earth. 289 and accept the tidal action as a part of the dynamical action, that helps to keep the whole sphere in equilibrium. We now come to a mixture of mathematics and geology. The late Sir Charles Lyell, calculating from the present growth of the dry land, put the age of this earth at 300,000,000 years, the fossiliferous strata at 240,000,000, and the Glacial epoch at 1,000,000 years ago. The earnest and accurate mathematician, Croll, endeavors to modify the geological epochs by a calculation “ at once benefi- cial, simple, and complete. . . . The land has been many times under the sea, and the most violent changes of climate have suc- ceeded one another.” Causes are produced to show “ that every ten thousand years, or thereabouts, the winter of the northern hemisphere will occur, . . . whenever any records are left of the Glacial epoch, a general subsidence of the land followed closely on the appearance of the ice, . .. the extent of submergence will be in proportion to the weight of ice, . . . glaciation would be transferred from one hemisphere to another every ten thou- sand years. There would be elevation of the land during the warm period, and subsidence during the cold.” The article goes on to tell us that “ the discovery of Mr. Croll upsets the whole scale of geological time.” Croll gives four periods of glaciation, the last of which was 200,000 years ago; so that the Glacial period is reduced to that age, the date of the fossiliferous rocks to 48,000,000, and the age of the earth to 60,000,000 of years. _All glacial epochs are supposed to have left their marks be- hind them. Croll says they oceur every ten thousand years, but the writer of the article has left out twenty of these periods, and Selected one of Mr. Croll’s without knowing whether Sir Charles Lyell referred to that particular period or to another which Croll tells us took place 850,000 years ago. As figures go in this matter, Sir Charles would have a very small margin of 150,000 years if he worked on the traces of this period. The Writer of the article seems to have had an object in his figures by reducing them as nearly as possible to his own. € must now consider two more facts brought forward by Croll in support of his calculations : — First : « The land has been many times under the sea.” . . ‘ The submergence will be ‘in proportion to the weight of ice. he latter quotation cannot be proved ; ice vanishes, and its pa cannot be known. Submergence of land takes place all 5. OL. XI — xo, 19 . ” ¢ 290 The Age of this Earth. [May, round the world. The causes are soft foundations and growin superstructures, pressures, sinkings below water, sedimental gath- erings, gradual risings, and the repetition of the same actions till a solid foundation is secured. When foundations are undermined by subterranean water action, submergences of surface areas oc- cur suddenly, and the rising again is uncertain. Second: “ Violent changes of climate have succeeded one an- other.” Opinions vary as to the cause of this in the arctic regions. Some follow Mr. Croll in his see-saw theory, or the oscillation of the poles. If it takes place, changes of climate must ensue; but a very material point seems to have been for- gotten, —if the oscillation is cosmical the water would go down with the land, there would be no submergence. There would be ten thousand years of ice and ten thousand years of warmer climate. These changes would be general, but the fossils of warmer regions do not prove a general growth, neither do the warm-region drifts of the present prove a general action through the arctic regions. In the late arctic expedition it was colder on one shore of Smith Sound than on the other; and Captain Sir George Nares gave this experience of the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans to the Royal Geographical Society. In the Atlantic Ocean there is “an enormous reservoir of heat.” This warm water is forced “ gradually towards the north- ward and eastward, modifying the climate of all parts lying in its course. There is also a warm current ever running to the north- ward through Behring’s Straits.” These warm supplies run at present through certain channels, while in other channels “an icy cold current” runs to the southward. The polar basin has a “warm stream of water constantly pouring into it between Spitzbergen and Norway, and a cold icy one as constantly run- ning out between Spitzbergen and Greenland, also . . . between Greenland and America; . . . so great is the difference of cli- mate caused by these powerful distributors of heat and cold that the temperature of the sea . . . twenty-two hundred miles from the equator is precisely the same as that nearly double the dis- tance from the equator.” ` | _ As we have these cosmical actions, guided by fixed cosmical laws, perpetually circulating the heat and the cold, — not always in the same channels, but distributing both according to the - direction of either current, — we find a certain cause for the “ v10- lent changes of climate” alluded to, instead of the more than uncertain oscillation with the doubtful results of Mr. Croll. We 1877.] The Age of this Earth. 291 cannot agree with the author of the article in the Quarterly, or allow that this Glacial theory in any way interferes with geolog- ical time as laid down by the late Sir Charles Lyell. Having thus disposed of certain details as to the age of this earth, we must now briefly consider the position of our geological science on this point. Properly speaking, geology is a discourse of things on or in the earth, of things tangible and visible. Geologists in accept- ing the theory of Laplace, make the foundation of their science neither tangible nor visible. It suited geology to adopt it be- cause, in the prevailing ignorance of natural laws, it seemed to explain the causes of certain phenomena. Now that a more ac- curate knowledge of cosmical law is creeping up, there is no ex- cuse for adhering longer to a theory which is incapable of explain- ing the cause of igneous phenomena on or in the earth, while it is made ridiculous by the little figures of the mathematicians. We cannot meet the dogmas of science on this subject because we think with a finite mind on an infinite beginning ; but we ask geologists and mathematicians to follow us through a brief trac- ing of the cosmical laws and their actions from that beginning, as far as that has been revealed to us till now. There was a void chaos of waters without form, and dark ; how long this earth remained in this condition we do not know. A water-bed was formed, light was given, motion, day and night ensued, revolution of the earth on its axis had commenced and continued to this sphere its hours of labor and of rest. Another result followed the presence of light: water was attracted by it, as it is to-day ; the water clouds were collected in the firmament, and were divided from the waters under the firmament ; all this law is in force now, but no one can say how long a time elapsed before the action became perfect and complete. As the light caused a movement in the waters, so the waters acted on their bed. No one can say where the general level of that early bed was. But as it deepened from the ever-acting erosion of the waters, they were of necessity gathered unto one place, and the bed which they had rested on became dry land. No science can tell when this happened; we do not know where the first water-level was, the level of the dry land or its lity; no one knows when light first shone upon earth, or When it first divided the waters; we cannot say how long the atmosphere and the water were occupied in forming the silicious nucleus of our earth, but we know that it gives silicious matter 292 The Age of this Earth. [ May, now. We cannot tell when the water was separated from the atmosphere, or how long the atmosphere retained in itself the elemental constituents of water and of earth. The mathemati- cian and geologist have nothing to do with the subject before this event took place; there is nothing visible or tangible, no data for a single figure. The moment dry land is created the physical geographer begins his labors. They are not difficult ; he knows the uncertain forces that work under cosmical laws on forever changing materials; by knowing the results at present, he can tell those of the past. Far be it from us to suggest in- fallible action ; we can but give a faint outline of the whole, but we give nothing that cannot be verified by the law and its actions at the present moment. The geographer looks through time upon the face of the first dry land; he sees the water-sheds giving out their, little trickles all running down the slopes, all wearing away something in their course, all depositing some atoms on their way, and all carrying on to their little estuaries or deltas a constant succession of mi- nute atoms. He sees the deltas constantly extending by the addition of atoms, and constantly rising in consequence of the retiring of the waters. He sees constant additions to the dry land made by the water in one place, and constant abstractions in another; he knows that every atom taken from the water-bed makes that bed deeper, and every atom taken from dry land helps eventually to extend its shores. Under these actions he comprehends that the dry land must have gone on growing, and that the undulating ocean bed must have grown deeper where its currents ran, and shallower where they did not; he traces the gradual growth of these shallow places, not by any forcible elevation of the mass, but by the slow departure of the water, by the sediments left upon them, by the eventual growth of vegetation, by the creation of life, by the elemental forces forever returning to their dusts, in some regions or another, to the extending deltas and the growing dry land. He looks upon the mud and sand-banks of to-day and sees the same forces at work under the same laws; he knows that these forces acted under the same laws at the beginning, and he knows that they acted on the materials then available as they act on the materials of to-day. He marks through legends, history, and his own experience the denudations and the additions of the sea- shores ; he finds that in thousands of years the general contour of the dry land has remained the same; he finds that localities have à 1877.] The Age of this Earth. 293 been added to and taken away. In these subtractions he sees the fossil remains of prehistoric organic structure torn from their resting-places in the calcareous rocks, he handles the flint nodule formed from the silicious dusts of diatoms and foraminifera, and finds the same dusts in course of deposit in the deepest parts of the ocean, telling him, not only that these organisms have contin- ued their races for millions of years, but that they have, for all those ages, left their dusts to subside upon the ocean bed, certain evidence that the site on which we find the stratified caleareous rocks, with their lines of flint nodules, was once the ocean bed.. He may look on the sand collections now on our surf-beaten shores, on the wind-drifts of the great deserts, and on the sand- dunes in many regions; he does not know when they began to grow, but he sees on mountain sides sandstone rocks several hun- dred feet in thickness, many miles in length and breadth. He knows that they were formed and gathered by the same forces that now occupy hundreds of years in adding a few inches to the shores, and he is lost in thinking of the vast amount of silicious matter broken up, triturated into sand, and deposited by the water on its bed, and that bed hundreds of feet above his head. He finds the hard silicious rock in stratified form on the tops of our highest mountains, in their interior, and in the deepest seas, where it still wears away and contributes atoms for deposit in other places. He is lost in the time oceupied by the deepening of the sea, by the vastness of the deposits formed by it, far above its present surface level, and by the extent of deposit now in progress in its depths. The geographer knows that every river is always bringing something to its estuary, yet its growth of dry land is very slow; he measures it, but he cannot tell by that measurement when the estuary of the Nile was four thousand miles from its present site. He may trace the Mississippi from its present watery delta back to its tributaries in the Rocky Mountains, but it does not tell him when these, now great, waters trickled as little rills from the first dry land of those regions. He looks upon the water-worn chasms of the Himalayas and the Alps, on the vast gorges of great rivers; he cannot say when those rivers began to run, or how long it took them to wear away the hard obstruction to their course, any easier than Sir Charles Lyell could tell the age of the Niagara Gorge. e may see the vast structure of the coral insect [sic] now growing over thousands of miles in the Red Sea, but he does not know when those structures were commenced. He sees the stu- 294 The Age of this Earth. [ May, pendous mass of the dolomite mountains: he knows that these were all lodged as sedimental matter where they now stand by the same water forces which had previously built up the silicious Alps; that all the materials of which they are formed were brought atom by atom, just as atoms are lodged on our sea-coasts to-day, by the waters, which were then deeper than the mount- ains are high, from places on the sea-bed which were shallower, places that were washed away, and deepened by the very force that broke up the coral banks, carried them away, and lodged .them where they are. He can form no idea where or when the insects lived that gathered all this calcareous matter from their water, how long it occupied them in constructing their palaces, how long they existed, when they were pulled to pieces, how long they were triturated by current and by wave, or when the atoms were permitted to become deposits. He may look on the calcareous matter of the Jura Mountains and know that they are formed from bones and shells of a fauna that once lived on land or in the water; he knows that these masses were lodged in water as deep as the mountains are high, in minute fragments, with an occasional entire shell or an un- broken bone, but he knows nothing of the land or water in or on which the fauna lived. He cannot count the time occupied in the formation of these mountains, or tell for how many ages the fauna lived that left their dusts to form them. Wherever the physical geographer turns he is lost in the lapse of ages. The waters have left their old beds, the land has acquired new dimen- sions. All dry lands have their high places, from which their water-sheds convey their atoms away; every atom helps to ex- tend dry land; the water-sheds are the agents for the work, and the great waters are the agents for the separation of matter, and for its deposit in its proper place. All this is done now under — certain laws by the cosmical agents, air and water. No one knows better than the physical geographer the truth of the words used by the writer in the Quarterly Review: “ In all the operations of nature . . . God worked by law, . . . by the process of slow development, by means beautifully simple, involv- ing no violence, no haste, yet irresistible.” No one sees more clearly the error, ascribed to Professor P. G. Tait, in The Mail, 8th January, 1877: “ The present state of things has not been evolved through infinite past time by the agency of laws now at work, but must have had a distinct beginning.” “ When was 1t, and what was it ?”’ : 1877.] Evolution in the Netherlands. 295 It is the slow, the certain, the beautiful, and the unchanging process of cosmical law, which gives the character of infinite to the universe. Finite man has not as yet read the pages of the law, and cannot therefore calculate the age of this earth. He has tried over and over again to do so, but Professor Tait is not so near to the truth as Solomon was; other “ guesses” (Quarterly) may be nearer, but the men who guess are at present without chart, compass, or sounding-line on the fathomless and boundless ocean of eternity. — The Geographical Magazine. EVOLUTION IN THE NETHERLANDS: TESTIMONIAL TO MR. DARWIN. W E have great pleasure in printing the following correspond- ence : — UTRECHT, February 20, 1877. To THE EDITOR or NATURE, — On the sixty-ninth birthday of your great countryman, Mr. Charles Darwin, an album with two hundred and seventeen photographs of his admirers in the Netherlands, among whom are eighty-one doctors and twenty- one university professors, was presented to him. ‘To the album was joined a letter, of which you will find a copy here inclosed, with the answer of Mr. Darwin. I suppose you will like to give to both letters a place in your very estimable journal, and therefore I have the honor to for- ward them to you. P. HARTING, - Professor, University, Utrecht. ROTTERDAM, February 6, 1877. _ SiR, — In the early part of the present century there resided in Amsterdam a physician, Dr. J. E. Doornik, who, in 1816, took his departure for Java, and passed the remainder of his life for the greater part in India. His name, though little known elsewhere than in the Netherlands, yet well deserves to be held in remembrance, since he occupies an honorable place among the Pioneers of the theory of development. Among his numerous publications on natural philosophy, with a view to this, are worthy of mention his “ Wijsgeerig-natuurkundig onderzoek aan gaande den vorspronkelijken mensch en de vorspronkelijke stam- men van deszelfs geslacht” (Philosophie Researches concerning Original Man and the Origin of his Species), and his treatise, 1 From Nature, London. 296 Evolution in the Netherlands. [ May, “ Over het begrip van levenskracht uit een geologisch oogpunt be- schouwd ” (On the Idea of Vitality considered from a Geolog- ical Point of View). The first appeared in 1808; the latter, though written about the same time, was published in 1816, to- gether with other papers more or less similar in tendency, under the title of “© Wijsgeerig-natuurkundige verhandelingen ” ( Trea- tises on the Philosophy of Natural History). In these publica- tions we recognize Doornik as a decided advocate of the theory that the various modifications in which life was revealed in consec- utive times originated each from the other. He already occupies the point of vantage on which, shortly afterwards, Lamarck, with reference to the animal kingdom, and, in his wake, Prévost and Lyell, with respect to the geological history of our globe, have taken their stand. Yet the seeds scattered by Dr. Doornik did not take root in fertile soil. It is true that a Groningen professor, G. Bakker, combated at great length some of his arguments regarding the origin of man ; they attracted but little publie attention, and soon passed into oblivion. A generation had passed away ere the theory of evolution be- gan to attract more attention in the Netherlands. The impulse was given by the appearance of the well-known work, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, of which a Dutch translation was published in 1849 by Dr. T. H. van den Broek, professor of chemistry at the military medical college in Utrecht, with an introductory preface by the celebrated chemist, Prof. G. T. Mul- der, as well known in England as elsewhere. This work excited a lively controversy, but its opponents were more numerous than its partisans. Remarkably enough, it found more favor with the general public, and especially with some theologians of liberal principles, than with the representatives of the natural sciences. The majority of zoölogists and botanists of any celebrity in the Netherlands looked upon the writer’s opinions as a chimera, and speculated on the weaker points rather than on the merits of the work. Notwithstanding, this presented no obstacle to a compat- ative success, and in 1854 even a third edition of the translation was published, enriched by the translator with numerous annota- tions. Among the few Dutch savants to recognize the light which the theory of development spreads over creation must be mentioned two Utrecht professors, namely, F. C. Donders and P. Harting- The former, in his inaugural address pronounced in 1848, “ De 1877. ] Evolution in the Netherlands. 297 Harmonie van het. dierlijk leven, de Openbaring van Wetten ” (The Harmony of Animal Life, the Revelation of Laws), expressed his opinion that in the gradual change of form consequent upon change of circumstances, may lie the cause of the origin of differ- ences which we are now wont to designate as specific. The lat- ter, in the winter of 1856, delivered a series of lectures, before a mixed audience, on The History of Creation, which he published the following year under the title of ‘* Voorwereldlijke Scheppin- gen” (Antemundane Creations), with a diffuse supplement de- voted to a critical consideration of the theory of development. Though herein he came to a stand-still with a “ non liquet,” yet it cannot be denied that there gleamed through it his preposses- sion in favor of a theory which several years later his famed and - learned colleague, J. van der Hoeven, professor at Leyden, mak- ing a well-known French writer’s words his own, was accustomed to signalize as an explanation, “ De l’inconnu par l’impossible.” In 1858 your illustrious countryman, Sir Charles Lyell, was staying for a few days in Utrecht. In the course of conversa- tions with this distinguished savant on the theory of develop- ment, for which Lyell himself, at least in his writings, had shown himself no pleader, the learned of this country were first made observant of what had been and what was being done in that di- rection in England. He attracted attention to the treatise of Wallace in the Journal of the Linnean Society, and related how his friend Darwin had been occupied for years in an earnest study of this subject, and that ere long a work would appear from his pen, which, in his opinion, would make a considerable impression. From these conversations it was evident that Lyell himself was wavering. In the following edition of his Principles of Geology, he declared himself, as we know, a partisan of the hypothesis of development, and Professor Harting speedily fol- lowed in the same track. In his “ Algemeene Dierkunde ” (Gen- eral Zodlogy), published in 1862, he was able to declare himself _With full conviction a partisan of this hypothesis. Also another famous savant, Miquel, professor of botany at Utrecht, who had previously declared himself an opponent of the theory of devel- opment, became a convert to it in his later years, for although this is not expressed in his published writings, it was clearly manifest in his private conversation and in his lectures. To what must this conversion be attributed? With Harting and Miquel, as well as with Lyell and so many others in every country of Eu- rope, this was the fruit produced by the study of your Origin of 298 - Evolution in the Netherlands. [ May, Species, published in 1859, which first furnished one vast basis for the theory of development. That work, translated into Dutch by Dr. F. C. Winkler, now conservator of the geological, mineralogical, and paleontological collections in ** Teyler’s Foun- dation” at Haarlem, excited great and general interest. It is true that a theory striking so keenly and so deep at the roots of existing opinions and prejudices could not be expected at once to meet with general approbation. Many even amongst naturalists offered vehement opposition. Prof, J. van der Hoeven, bred up as he was in the school of Cuvier, endeavored to administer an antidote for what he regarded as a baneful poison by translating into our tongue Hopkins’ well-known article in Fraser’s Maga- * zine. However, neither this production nor the professor’s influ- ence over his students could withstand the current, especially when, after his death, the German zodlogist, Prof. Emil Selenka, now professor of zodlogy at Erlangen, was appointed at Leyden. A decided advocate of your theory, he awakened in the younger zodlogists a lively enthusiasm, and founded a school in which the conviction survives that the theory of development is the key to the explanation of the history of creation. In Utrecht, Professor Harting, with convictions more and more decided, was busy in the same direction ; and Selenka’s successor in Leyden, Prof. C. K. Hoffmann, did not remain in the rear. Other names, among which are Groningen and Amsterdam pro- fessors, might here be cited. By the translation of your “ Descent of Man” and “ The Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Ani- mals,” with copious explanatory notes, and by various original pa- pers and translations treating on your theory, Dr. Hartogh Heys van Zouteveen has also largely contributed to the more general spread of your opinions in the Netherlands. To testify how generally they are held in esteem among the younger zodlogists and botanists, and more and more obtain among professors of analogous branches in this country, we might refer to a multitude of less important papers and articles in the. periodicals. This, however, we deem superfluous, since by offering for your acceptance an album, containing the portraits of a number of professional and amateur naturalists in the Netherlands, we offer a convincing proof of our estimation of your indefatigable en- deavors in the promotion of science and our admiration of you, sir, as the cynosure in this untrodden path. We recognize with pleasure Dr. Hartogh Heys van Zouteveen as the primary mover 1877.] Evolution in the Netherlands. 299 of such a demonstration of our homage. The execution, how- -ever, devolved upon the directors of the “ Netherland Zodlogical Society,” who reasoned that, with the presentation of this unpre- tending mark of esteem, a few words on the history of the the- ory of development in the Netherlands would not be entirely un- acceptable, the more so, since this historic sketch clearly shows that, albeit some ideas in that direction had already bedn sug- gested here, yet to you alone reverts the honor of having formed by your writings a school of zealous and convinced partisans of the theory of development. Among the names in the accompanying list you will observe several professors of natural history, anatomy, and physiology at the three Dutch universities, the “ Atheneum Illustre” of Am- sterdam, and the Polytechnical Academy of Delft, the conserva- tors of the zodlogical museums, the directors of the zoélogical gardens, and several lecturers on zodlogy and botany at the high burghal schools. Accept, then, sir, on your sixty-ninth birthday, this testimony of regard and esteem, not for any value it can have for you, but as a proof, which we are persuaded cannot but afford you some satisfaction, that the seeds by you so liberally strewn have also fallen on fertile soil in the Netherlands. We are, sir, etc., the directors of the Netherlands Zodlogical Society, (Signed) President, A. A. VAN BEMMELEN, Secretary, H. T. VETH. The following is Mr. Darwin’s reply : — Down, BECKENHAM, February 12. . Str, — I received yesterday the magnificent present of the album, together with your letter. I hope that you will endeavor to find some means to express to the two hundred and seventeen distinguished observers and lovers of natural science who have sent me their photographs, my gratitude for their extreme kind- ness. I feel deeply gratified by this gift, and I do not think that any testimonial more honorable to me could have been imagined. I am well aware that my books could never have been written, and would not have made any impression on the publie mind, had not an immense amount of material been collected by a long se- = of admirable observers, and it is to them that honor is chiefly ue, I suppose that every worker at science occasionally feels de- pressed, and doubts whether what he has published has been worth the labor which it has cost him; but for the remaining 300 ©" Recent Literature. [May, years of my life, whenever I want cheering, I will look at the portraits of my distinguished co-workers in the field of science, and remember their generous sympathy. When I die the album will be a most precious bequest to my children. I must further express my obligation for the very interesting history contained in your letter of the progress of opinion in the Netherlands, with respect to evolution, the whole of which is quite new to me. must again thank all my kind friends from my heart for their ever-memorable testimonial, and I remain, sir, your obliged and grateful servant, (Signed) CHARLES R. DARWIN. RECENT LITERATURE. Mrivart’s Lessons FROM Nature.’ — Any one who expects to find in this book a series of mild and temperate homilies on the lessons to be derived from a study of nature will be disappointed. There is rather more said about the works of certain of Professor Mivart’s fellow natu- ralists and philosophers than of the works of nature, and the book is more polemical than prosy. Herbert Spencer and Professor Huxley are criticised, often with good effect, and their weak points — for they have them — exposed. But the author in his criticisms of the agnostic school of philosophers is a little one-sided. In the present state of phi- losophy and science, the attitude of nescience may be a healthy and nat- ural one. The author, while in his anatomical workshop using the tools of the agnostic, seems when wearing his philosopher's spectacles to look at creation in quite a different mood. In his fears of the ultimate prev- alence of a purely scientific mode of thinking, he does not take into ac- count the low specific gravity and enormous density of the mass of super- stition in the world, the wrong thinking, sometimes even amounting to insanity, resulting from crude and mistaken pseudo-religious conceptions, which have done and will tend to do infinitely more harm to the race than the class of conceptions denominated by some writers as agnostic, and which must for centuries to come be held by the few. While one may not agree with the extreme views of. Spencer, Huxley, and particu- larly Haeckel and others who ‘have, as some believe, established a sort of “scientific priesthood” with a more or less one-sided, bigoted follow- ing, yet the criticisms coming from that quarter will do most efficient Service in making men think and feel more rationally. It will be gathered from the foregoing remarks that Professor Mivart’s Lessons is really a criticism of the evolution school of naturalists by one who from being an extreme Darwinian has become a moderate evo- lutionist sans any taint of what is known as materialism, and who con- 1 Lessons from Nature, as manifested in Mind and Matter. By Sr. GEORGE Mi- VART. New York: D. Appleton & Son. 1876. 12mo, $2,00. 1877. | Recent Literature. 301 sequently entertains views which enable him to acknowledge the pope, — and perhaps Lamarck as well, as his master. Mr. Mivart believes that man forms a kingdom-by himself, and that “he differs absolutely, and therefore differs in origin also ;” least of all does he — and he thus agrées with Mr. Wallace — believe that he orig- inated “from speechless, irrational, non-moral brutes.” Our author’s opinions on the nature of instinct strike us as very old-fashioned and irrational. He thinks there is “no need whatever to credit brutes with intellect: first, because all the phenomena they do exhibit can be ac- counted for without it, while they do not exhibit phenomena character- istic of a rational nature.” The chapter on mimicry is an excellent criticism on this phase of Darwinism, which with sexual selection is one of the weak buttresses of the theory of natural selection. In considering the last-named theory of Mr. Darwin, Professor Mivart brings forward the objections made to it in his former work, Genesis of Species. He shows that Mr. Darwin has modified his own view of his own theory, until he is led to regard it as “the most important, but not the exclusive means of modification.” Mr. Mivart’s own views coincide with those of Professor Parsons, of Cambridge, Mass., and Professor Owen, of London. We are not so sure that the theory of natural selection will not in the future hold a subordi- nate place and form but a single phase of a many-sided theory, of which the corner-stone has possibly not yet been discovered. Meanwhile we must say that such hearty, trenchant criticism as that of Mr. Mivart is a healthy sign in a country like England, where personal authority exer- cises such sway over the minds even of agnostics. It should be remem- bered, however, that Mr. Darwin, if he has not proposed a theory which will be universally satisfactory as a working hypothesis, has sown the seeds from which will arise a plenteous harvest of new facts and sugges- tions which may lead to the discovery of a true and comprehensive the- ory of evolution. His methods are legitimate and truly scientific. We miss in the Lessons from Nature any proper appreciation of Mr. Dar- win’s labors, and regret that in this, as well as in criticisms by other au- thors, a truer appreciation is not shown for Mr. Darwin’s methods and his personal genius. Professor Mivart is one of the foremost anatomists in England. His literary and philosophical ability, as well as polemical skill, shine in these Lessons; and we confess that when a good Catholic heartily indorses a theory of evolution, though quite opposed to a mechanical theory, as pure Darwinism perhaps is, we feel quite satisfied that the world is progressing. Dorsear’s Art or Prosectine.! — So frequently is the magic lan- The Art of Projecting. A Manual of Experimentation in | Physics, Chemistry, and Natural History with the Porte Lumière and Magie Lantern. By Pror. A. E. LBEAR. Illustrated. Boston: Lee and Shepard. ; 1877. snd pp. 158. $1.50. 502 Recent Literature. [ May, tern used in lectures upon natural history that a manual of the use of the lantern and of the art of projecting in general is a timely publication. Pro- fessor Dolbear’s manual is in all respects excellent, being simple, practi- cal, and fully illustrated. Besides the porte lumière and magic lantern, other apparatus is described and figured, so that the beginner in the art of projecting can enen acquire the knowladgo. which with practice will enable him to succe Recent Books anp PAMPHLETS. — Median and Paired Fins; a Contribution to the History of Vertebrate Limbs. By James K.‘Thatcher. (From the Transactions of the Connecticut Academy. iii. 1877. i 8vo, pp. 29. 12 Plates Paleontological Bulletin. No. 24. Mok ol of Katiba among the Ba- trachia of the Coal Measures of Ohio. By E. D. Cope. (From the Proceedings of the oe oo Society, February 3, 1877.) 8vo, pp. 12. Notes on the Appearance and Migrations of the Locust in Manitoba and the North west SFE aA Summer of 1875. By G. M. Dawson. (From the Canadian Natu- On the Genus ye (Family Oreodontidx), with Descriptions of Two New Species. By G. T. Bettany. Tm the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Soci- ety for August, 1876.) 8vo, pp. 2 Plates. Onion Smut; an Essay ed to the Massachusetts Seale for promoting Agri- culture. By W. G. Farlow. Boston. 1877. 8vo, pp Geographical Surveys in the United States. Remarks Spon Professor J. D. Whit- ney’s Article in the North American Review, July, 1875, concluding with an Account of the Origination of the Pacific Railroad. By Gen. G. K. War rren. Washington. 1877. 8vo, pp. 28. Science Lectures at South Kensington. Outlines of Field Geology. By Professor Geikie. With Illustrations. 12mo, pp. 61. 25 cents. The Absorption of Light and the Colors of Natural Bodies. By Professor Stokes. With Illustrations, 12mo, pp. 43. 20 cents. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. 1877. On the Classification of some of the Lower Worms. By C. S. SER (From the PE of the Boston Society of Natural History.) 8vo, pp. tes on the Ancient Glaciers of New Zealand. By Israel C. Ren (From the ia. of the Lyceum of Natural History.) 8vo, pp. 14. Witha M Geological Survey of rer penn of Progress for 1876. By a. A. Smith. Brehms Thierleben. A iis Fret des Thierreichs. Grosse Ausgabe. Zweite umgearbeitete und vermehrte Auflage. Erste Abtheilung. Saugethiere. Erster Band. Leipzig. 1876. New York: B. Westermann & Co. Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the United States Geological and Geograph- ical Survey of the “T F. V. Hayden, United States Geologist-in-Charge. Washington. 8vo, pp. Hypsometric Map of ve United States. By vagy Gannett. 1877. Drainage Map of Colorado. Primary Triangulation. By J. T Gardner fe A. D. Wilson. Topography. By A. D. Wilson, G. R. Bechler, Henry Gannett, G. B. Chittenden, and S. B. Ladd. Department of the Interior. 1877. United Starks Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, F. V. Hayden in charge. Annual Report upon the Geographical Surveys west of the One Hundredth Merid- jan, in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, and ana, by George M. Wheeler, Ist Lieut. of Engineers, U. S. A being Appendix JJ of the Annual Report of the Chief of repo eth for 1876. With Topographical Atlas Sheets. Washington, 1876. 8vo, pp. 3 nnual Report of the Board of Regents of ras Smithsonian Institution for 1875. Waduinaton, 1876. 8vo, pp. 422. 1877.] Goneri dots. 803 GENERAL NOTES. BOTANY:.! ' CRoss-FERTILIZATION OF ARISTOLOCHIA. — Mr. H. G. Hubbard, now traveling in Jamaica, has communicated to a Western paper some interesting notes on the natural history of the island. His observa- tions on Aristolochia are fully confirmatory of the studies of others in the case of Aristolochia clematitis. “I have had an opportunity of ex- amining the flowers of Aristolochia grandiflora, the ‘ Dutchman’s pipe,’ called here the ‘John Crow, or ‘ carrion flower, from the putrid stench which it exhales. This flower is one of the largest known. ‘The tube or bowl, about a foot long as it hangs from the vines, makes a very good imitation of the Dutchman’s china pipe, but the mouth of the bowl turns forward and expands eight or ten inches in diameter, and from the lower edge of this dangles a slender tail, about a foot long. The whole flower is spotted green and purple, like a diseased liver. Notwithstanding its vile odor and uncanny look, it is the most interesting of flowers. The tube is divided into three chambers by constrictions and valves furnished with backward-pointing bristles, the whole forming a trebly guarded fly- trap. The outer chamber alone gives out the carrion odor, attracted by which, insects enter, and finding themselves deceived try to escape, but the long, recurved bristles which line the walls entangle them when they turn back, but favor their progress through the second trap and into the second chamber beyond. Finally they find their way through the third and last trap, into the third chamber. And here you will find small flies and beetles by dozens, if you open the blooming flowers. Now what is the object of this evident contrivance? The flower is not in- sectivorous. The entrapped insects are always found alive and in good condition, no dead ones in any of the chambers. In fact, the last one, which they must eventually reach, and which also contains the floral organs, seems to have been especially contrived for their comfort and convenience. It is spacious, unencumbered with bristles, except just about the entrance, where a perfect forest of them renders escape into the preceding chamber impossible, and moreover about the floral organs an abundance of nectar supplies them with food. There is a fine stum- bling-block in the way of the believer in the laws of cross-fertilization. As Professor Gray would say, this plant seems to be formed on the „Plan of ‘how not to do it? Skeptics have pointed triumphantly to the Aristolochia as a plant which, with the utmost ingenuity, has provided for inString self or close fertilization. They had opened flowers in full bloom, found the anthers pouring forth pollen, and the imprisoned in- — sects skipping about the inner chamber completely dusting themselves and its walls with the yellow grains. The stigmatic surface, too, had long been fertilized, its lobes had closed, and having performed its office s 1 Conducted by Pror. G. L. GOODALE. ; 304 Botany. ; [ May, the pistil was withering away. The fact of self-fertilization in this plant seemed proved. Nature, however, does not disclose all her secrets on the first inspection, and a more careful study of this flower in all its stages will show that its wonderful machinery is contrived solely for securing cross-fertilization through the agency of insects, and that it cannot fertilize itself. In fact the anthers and stigma in any flower are never open at the same time. The mystery is explained when we ex- amine the flowers that have blossomed and are withering: the trap is open and the insects all flown. Each of the three constrictions, which were at first so narrow as only to admit of a small insect pushing its way between the hairs, is now gaping widely open, and all the bristles so wilted and flaccid as to offer no impediment to their escape. Now turning to a bud just bursting into flower, we find the bristles rigid and the trap set. The stigma is now widely open and ready to receive pol- len, but the anthers tightly closed and their pollen quite green. Each flower has then a double duty to perform: first, to catch insects which have been liberated by some flower previously in bloom, and to effect its fertilization with the pollen which they bring; second, to feed and hold - them there until its stigma has closed and its anthers burst. And, finally, it opens its trap and sends them forth with unimpaired vigor and a fresh load of pollen for the next. flower that blooms.” — (Kingston, Jamaica, February 28, 1877.) Pinus iris. — The attention of botanists living in the Middle States is directed to this tree, which has become rare in the North. As one of the most valuable of North American timber trees, attention has been drawn to this species as suitable for forest culture in many parts of the United States, and it is desirable to procure seed for this purpose from as far North as possible. According to the younger Michaux, Pinus mitis was found in his time in New York, Connecticut, and Western Massachusetts, and Mr. Lapham includes it in his catalogue of Wisconsin plants, but there is no evidence that this tree grows so far north at the present time. Botanists finding P. mitis*in the States above mentioned, or in Penn- sylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, or Michigan, are requested to communicate with the director of the Botanic Garden of Harvard University, Cam- bridge, Mass. — C. S. SARGENT. FLUORESCENCE OF CALYCANTHUS. — A decoction of the bark of the Calycanthus floridus, also known as “ sweet shrub,” is strongly fluorescent. My attention was recently drawn to this fact in examining a mixture of the bark in glycerine, which I had prepared in order to extract the pleasant odor of its essential oil. The vial containing the bark and glye- erine when looked at askance emits a rich, bluish shimmer. On com- paring a decoction of the bark of this shrub with that of the Æsculus, or buckeye, by concentrating the sun’s rays with a lens into a cone of light passing through the liquids, I discovered that the Calycanthus decoction 1877.] Botany. 305 is strikingly superior in intensity and purity of blue color in the fluores- cing cone to the Æsculus decoction. — Ropert Toomss, M. D., Wash- ington, Georgia. i On THE TRANSFORMATION OF CRYSTALLIZABLE SUGAR INTO CEL- LULOSIC Propucts. — M. Durin gives in Annales des Sciences Naturelles (iii. No. 4-6) a detailed account of a peculiar fermentation observed by im. Under certain conditions, a solution of crystallizable sugar is con- verted into cellulose either firm and organized, or swollen, and into inverted sugar. He has never noticed the formation of cellulose from glucose. Resriration or Roots. — Two different functions have been con- founded under the term respiration, namely, assimilation and true respi- ration. The first of these takes place only through the agency ot chlorophyll or its equivalent, and under the influence of light; the latter . is common to all plant organs when growing or working. Assimilation is a process characterized by the production of carbhydrates from car- bonic dioxide and water, with disengagement of oxygen; respiration involves the oxidation of assimilated matter and is accompanied by the formation of carbonic dioxide. Dehérain and Vesque have lately reéx- amined the subject of root respiration, and they have published the fol- lowing results ; — First : oxygen is necessary for all plant organs. It is not enough fora living plant to have its upper part in the air ; it is requisite that the roots themselves should find oxygen in the atmosphere of the soil. Second: absorption of oxygen by the roots is attended by only a slight evo- lution of carbonic acid ; thus roots produce a partial vacuum in the receptacles in which they are confined. Third: the disengagement of carbonic acid takes places as well in an atmosphere deprived of oxygen as in an atmosphere containing it; whence we may conclude that the carbonic acid evolved does not come from a superficial oxidation of organs in a state of decomposition, but as a consequence of the circula- tion of gases in the plant. Taree Ferr or Fern-Srores.— Bureau ånd Poisson have examined a substance found in large quantities in a cave at Reunion Island. The cave is ten metres in depth by six metres square, and is covered toa depth of more than a metre by a yellow, soft, insipid, inodorous sub- stance, which crumbles under the fingers to an impalpable powder. The ty powder burns without flame or odor, but when moistened gives off during combustion much smoke and odor of a burning plant. By exclu- sion they have decided that this matter consists of the spores of species of ferns, probably Polypodiaceæ. The spores are not those of Lycopodi- acer, according to the writers, but they have the shape, markings, and color of the spores of the Polypodiace with large fronds now occurring on the island. _ Hearner mw Nova Scotta.— Professor Lawson adds to the locali- VOL. XI.— No, 5. 20 306 General Notes. [ May, ties of Calluna vulgaris on this continent six other stations, and in an interesting paper on the subject gives the following as his conclusions: Calluna vulgaris is an indigenous plant, and still exists as such in very small quantity on the peninsula of Halifax. In Point Pleasant Park, at Dartmouth, and possibly in other places, the stations for the plant are artificial, but the plants are probably native. “ The various traditions as to the foreign origin of the heather are not unlikely to have been sug- gested by the desire to account for the presence of what was regarded as necessarily a foreign plant rather than by actual historical facts.” Broom in Cape Breton, and Rhododendron maximum at Sheet Harbor, Nova Scotia, are discoveries reported by Professor Lawson. ANALYTICAL TABLES. — Professor Ordway, of the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology, has sent us copies of analytical tables of the orders of Phzenogamia, and of the suborders of Cryptogamia. These are careful synopses of the-classifications of Lindley, Hooker and Baker, Schimper, Debat, Miiller, Rabenhorst, Harvey, Tuckerman, and Cooke. In view of the present lack of any hand-book on Cryptogams, for the needs of general students, the second table may be found convenient. The author has been most painstaking in his work. On THE Porosity or Woop. — Professor Sachs has published a pre- liminary communication on this subject in which he gives the results of his recent observations and experiments. The present treatment of the matter is new in some respects, and the conclusions are interesting. An abstract of these will be given in the next number of the NATURALIST. Ir1s.— Our eastern species of this genus need a thorough revision. | The manuals give but two tall species in the Northern States, a broad- leaved and a narrow-leaved one, that is, J. versicolor and I. Virginica of Linnzus, considering the latter as identical with the J prismatica of Pursh. Now Mr. J. G. Baker, of Kew, in a recent revision of the ge- nus, recognizes two broad-leaved species under the two Linnæan names, and restores Pursh’s name for the narrow-leaved plant. Two broad- leaved forms have certainly been cultivated in the European gardens even from the time of Linnus, and have always been known there by his names and considered distinct. As described by Mr. Baker, and as shown by figures, the most obvious difference appears to be one of size, I. Virginica being the taller and stouter, with larger and deeper-colored owers. Can we find in our wild plants any differences upon which this distinction can be maintained? s Mr. Baker says also that Z. tenax (a narrow-leaved Oregon species similar to Z. prismatica) is found in New Brunswick and Canada, and if so it should be looked for within our limits. Moreover the range of all these species is uncertain, especially toward the south, and the southern species generally need revision fully as much as the northern ones. It is probable that careful comparison will reveal new forms from there. The attention of all our botanists is requested to this matter during the © 1877.] Zoölogy. 307 coming season, and specimens of flowers, fruit, and roots, fresh or dried, from any part of the country, may be sent to the Botanic Garden, Cam- bridge, and will be of service. — S—ERENO WATSON. BOoTANICAL Notes FROM Recent PERIODICALS. — Flora, No. 4. ‘Schulzer, Notes on Fungi. Batalin, Mechanism of the Movements in Tnsect-Eating Plants (not yet finished). . Botanische Zeitung, 1877, No. 6. J. B. Jack, On European Hepaticæ (continued in No. 7). No. 8. Pancic, A new Conifer in Servia. Report of Scientific Societies. No. 9. Celakovsky, On the Greenish Ovules of Trifolium repens. (These are often distinctly foliaceous, and are re- garded by the author as metamorphosed leaflets of the carpel.) This paper is continued in No. 10. ZOOLOGY.! Winter BIRDS or Arkansas. — Perhaps it will interest the readers of the Naruraxist to know of some birds which make Central Arkansas their winter quarters. The past winter has been the coldest known for many years, with considerable snow. The following list is certainly far from complete, as we have only been observing birds for a single season. Among the thrushes we have occasionally seen our familiar friend, the robin ( Turdus migratorius), and the hermit thrush (T. pallasi), but usu- ally they desire somewhat warmer weather than we have had this winter. The mocking-bird (Mimus polyglottus) is very plenty around old plantation houses, and exhibits the peculiar markings of the Arkansas Specimen spoken of by Baird in his Review of American Birds, page 49. It has an unusual amount of white upon its plumage, and the outer tail feathers clear white. Perhaps the most abundant bird of the past winter has been the blue- bird (Stalia sialis); its food consists largely of the berries of the black gum (Nyssa multiflora). i : The diminutive golden-crowned kinglet (Regulus satrapa) has been observed, as have the tufted titmouse (Lophophanes bicolor), the southern black-capped chickadees (Parus atricapillus var. Carolinensis), the nut- hatch (Sitta Carolinensis), and the house wren (Troglodytes aëdon), The gay tanager ( Pyranga estiva) in his bright red plumage and the female with her more subdued hue have enlivened the landscape all winter. The snow-bird (Junco hyemalis), following the snow-storm southward, Was with us in great numbers for about three weeks. The meadow- lark (Sturnella magna) is common, so is the noisy blue jay ( Cyanurus cristatus), proclaiming with harsh notes his close relationship to the crows. The kingfisher (Oeryle aleyon) was occasionally seen hovering Over the waters of the Little Red River in quest of food. ? The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT Covers, Uz S. À. ” 308 General Notes. [May, _ The woodpecker family has attracted our attention all winter by its many representatives, as follows : — Logcock (Hylotomus pileatus), downy woodpecker (Picus pubescens) yellow-bellied woodpecker (Sphyrapicus varius), red-bellied woodpecker (Centurus Carolinus), golden-winged woodpecker ( Colaptes auratus). . Among the birds of prey we have observed the barn owl (Strix flammea var. pratincola), barred owl (Syrnium nebulosum), and screech- owl (Scops asio), and the red-shoudered buzzard (Buteo lineatus). The latter feeds in confinement upon dead animals furnished it, but we found by experiment upon a specimen we had procured that it did not do well upon such food, for it died in a week from the time of its capture. Here we find the turkey-buzzard (Cathartes aura) very plentiful. Mourning doves (Zenaidura Carolinensis), wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo), quails ( Ortyx Virginianus), pigeons (Hetopistes migratorius), and mallard ducks (Anas boschas) are our winter game birds. The first of February finds the farmer in this region sowing oats and planting early garden seeds. At this time, we may say, our winter is over, aud our summer birds will soon be with us again. — H. S. Rexnops, Jud- sonia, White Co., Arkansas. Tue Rep-Heapep WOODPECKER CARNIVOROUS. — A friend who resides in Humboldt County, this State, gives me the following particu- lars of an unusual occurrence: During the summer of 1876 he raised a large number of black Cayuga ducks. It was noticed that while the birds were still very young, many of them disappeared, one after the other, and the bodies of several were found with the brains picked out. On watching carefully to ascertain the cause, a red-headed woodpecker (Melaneopes erythrocephalus) was caught in the act. He killed the ten- der duckling with a single blow on the head, and then pecked out and ate the brains. Though my friend was an enthusiast in protecting the birds and squirrels that came about his premises, this provocation was too much; the shot gun was brought into use, and his ducks were saved from further molestation by a process by which the woodpeckers were “thinned out some.” — CHARLES ALDRICH, Webster City, Iowa. ANTHROPOLOGY. ANTHROPOLOGICAL News. — The course of lectures on anthropology, commenced in November last at the Anthropological Institute of Paris, has succeeded beyond the expectation of its founders. In the institute are united three organizations of separate origin: the Society of An- thropology; the Laboratory of Anthropology, founded by M. Broca in 1867, and which has since been attached to L'École des Hautes udes; and the School of Anthropology, founded by private subserip- tion, and sustained by an annual appropriation of twelve thousand francs. n the recommendation of the faculty of medicine, the’ minister of public instruction has placed at the disposal of the Institute the upper 1877.] Anthropology. 309 portion of the Church of the Gray Friars, leaving to them the expense of fitting up the rooms, etc., which has amountéd to about fifty thousand nes. In this structure are united the library, the laboratory, the lectures, and the museum, all of which are public. There is nothing wanting to make the course complete. The museum, which results from the union of that of the Society of Anthropology (twelve hundred skulls) and that of the laboratory (twenty-three hundred skulls, skeletons of individuals belonging to different races and of primates, skulls of mam- mals, prehistoric remains, and anthropological instruments), furnishes to the student the richest material for study, and to the professor all the means of demonstration necessary. We have already mentioned the opening address of M. Broca and the programme. The following table is M. Mortillet’s scheme of prehistoric anthropology : — TIMES., AGES. PERIODS. Epocss. : Merovingian. Waberian, Merovingian, Burgundian, Germanic. E = Roman. Champdolian, Roman decadence. rae sen Lugdunian, Roman flourishing. s 3 m i É Galatian, Marnian, Gallic, 8d Lacustrian. 2 E Hallstattian, Epoch of Tumuli, 1st Epoch of Iron. a Ee of Bohemian. Larnaudian, Epoch of the Forge, Upper 2d Lacustrian. Bronze. Morgian. Enoch of the F. y T JAT trt: Peek Stone, | Robenliausian, Ist Lacustrian, Epoch of Dolmens. - o Magdalenian, nearly all in Caverns, Epoch of the Reindeer E Paleolithic. almost exclusively. 3 ; F of Flaked Stone Solstréan, Epoch of the Reind: d M th partl 4 a, | Stone. y mn, HE 5 F $ Moustérian, Epoch of the Cave-bear. — Acheuléan, Epoch of the Mammoth. Eolithic. Fire-flaked Stone.| Tbensisian, Tertiary. Attention has previously been called to an original paper in the Smithsonian Report for 1875, by C. C. Abbott, M. D., on the Stone Age in New Jersey. The first thing that strikes one in reading the paper is the result that may be obtained in an uninviting field by perseverance. Dr. Abbott has found over ten thousand stone implements in New Jersey, embracing rude objects of unknown use, grooved axes, celts, hatchets, “ lance-heads,” “ hunting-spear heads,” “ fishing-spear : 310 General Notes. [ May, arrow-points, knives, “skinning-knives,” scrapers, hammers, “chisels and gouges,” drilling stones, “ breastplates,’ “ gorgets,” “ banner-stones,” “sculptures,” pipes, pottery, paint-cups, hoes and shovels, “corn mills,” mortars and pestles, “poggamoggons” and net-sinkers, “ flaking-ham- mers,” and polishing tools. There is manifested throughout the article a commendable zeal for North American archeology, though, perhaps, too great a fondness for classification and inventing new names, an un- due confidence in the ascertained use of certain doubtful forms, and, above all, a too hasty adoption of the generalizations of some English and French archeologists, with reference to the order of culture on our continent. But as we need some adventurous spirits to peer into dark places, these venial faults must not deter us from commending the zeal of Dr. Abbott, and bidding all such “to go up and possess the land.” The next meeting of the Congrés International des Americanistes will be held at Luxemburg, September 10-13, 1877. The following is the programme in full: — History. The civil legislation of Mexico under the Aztecs and of Peru under the Incas compared. Critical examination of the sources of the history of Central America. Discovery and colonization of Brazil. When and why the New World was called America. Archeology. General characteristics of the Maya architecture in Yucatan. Of the use of copper in ante-Columbian America. The mound-builders, their origin, antiquity, civilization, and history. Linguistics. Peculiar characteristics of the Tapi-Guarani family. The grammar of American languages compared with that of the Uralo- Altaic languages. Eskimo dialects compared with other languages of America and with those of Asia. i Paleography. Decipherment of Maya inscriptions and manuscripts. Of the phonetic element in Mexican writing. To what period of Amer- ican history do the paintings called Mexican hieroglyphics belong ? To indicate, as far as possible, the date of the most ancient documents known in that writing. To show what influence was exerted on ‘the development and use of the Mexican figurative paintings by the arrival of the Spaniards. : ‘ Anthropology and Ethnography. Of the antiquity of man in America. Of the tradition of the deluge in America, and particularly in Mexico. Ethnographic classification of the inhabitants of Guiana. : M. Bertrand contributes to the Bulletin de la Société d’ Anthropologre, 1876, pages 100 and 173, papers upon the first Celtic tribes known to the Greeks, who are the only people to mention the Celts previously to 200 B. c. Following up the theme, on page 128 of the same volume, M. Gustave Lagneau has a paper upon the Ethnic Distinction between the Celts and the Gaels, and their Migrations to the South of the Alps. Whatever comes from the pen of this distinguished ‘author is worthy of the highest commendation. The copious references to authorities are a 1877.] Geology and Paleontology. 311 praiseworthy feature of this treatise. In the Bulletin, page 113, is a communication from E. T. Hamy, on The Negritos of Borneo, which also refers to authorities, and is accompanied by two tables, one of cranial and the other of facial measurements. A paper in the Bulletin, page 145, upon excavations in the dolmen of l Aumède (Lozere), is in- teresting on account of a discussion which grew out of it with reference to cremation in dolmens of this description, and evidences of syphilis. — O. T. Mason. GEOLOGY AND PALÆONTOLOGY. Tae Discovery or LæLArs IN Montana. — The carnivorous Di- nosauria were the largest and most formidable flesh-eating animals that ever lived on the earth, the Oarnivora of the present day being com- paratively insignificant. In the Triassic period the gigantic Bathygna- thus reduced the numbers of the reptilian life; and in the Jurassic the equally huge Megalosaurus devoured the herbivorous Iguanodon, ete. In North America the last of these saurian faune is abundantly repre- sented in the lignitic beds of the West. Professor Cope has discovered during the past season numerous species of Lelaps, some of which were of gigantic size. One of these (Z. incrassatus) is represented in his col- lections by a large part of an under-jaw, which is rarely preserved in this class of animals, but three or four others having been heretofore discovered. This animal was about the same size as the New Jersey Lelaps, but more robust. Several smaller species were obtained. HE Sea SERPENTS OF THE CRETACEOUS PERIOD. — At one of the recent lectures of the course of the Philadelphia Zodlogical society, Pro- fessor Cope exhibited the greater part of the skeleton of a new species of Elasmosaurus. The length of the vertebral column is about forty feet, and several feet of vertebra are wanting. e neck constitutes about half of the total length. The paddles of both pairs are preserved, which is not the case with any other specimen known. They prove to be rela- tively short, agreeing in this point and in the superior size of the front pair with a restoration he had published some years ago. The speci- men was found in Nebraska, and the species was named Elasmosaurus serpentinus. Professor Cope also stated that he had obtained on the Upper Missouri, during his expedition of the past year, a large part of the vertebral col- umn of the Elasmosaurus orientalis, from beds corresponding with those m which he had originally found it in New Jersey. This species also has an enormous neck, and was of more robust proportions than the E. serpentinus. ) Tue DENTITION or THE HERBIVOROUS DINOSAURIA br THE LIGNIT- IO PERIOD. — Afa pécetit meeting of the American Philosophical So- ciety, Professor Cope exhibited portions of the skulls of several herbiv- Orous Dinosauria, the huge land reptiles that during the lignitic period in North America took the place of the mastodons and elephants of later 312 General Notes. [ May, ages. He adduced Bartram’s articles in proof of the relationship of these animals to the birds which he had originally pointed out from the structure of the feet. He also showed that they possess an extraordi- nary dentition, much more complex than that known to belong to the same class of animals heretofore described in Europe. The teeth are ar- ranged in vertical columns which constantly grow at the base, and which are kept in place by grooves in the jaw-bones. In one genus, Diclonius Cope, each tooth of a column overlaps the ends of those above and below it; while in another, Cionodon, nearly every horizontal section of the jaw cuts three teeth. It was estimated that there were seven hundred teeth in the mouth of the former genus at one time, and two thousand in the mouth of the latter. Tue Lowest MAMMALIAN Brain. — At a recent meeting of the American Philosophical Society, Professor Cope exhibited a cast of the brain cavity of a species of Coryphodon from New Mexico, and described its peculiarities. He stated that it is the lowest and most reptilian type of mammalian brain known, for the following reasons: the diameter of the hemispheres does not exceed that of the medulla, which is as wide as the cerebellum. The latter is small and flat. The middle brain is the largest division, much exceeding the hemispheres in size, being especially _ protuberant laterally. The hemispheres contract anteriorly into the very stout peduncles of the olfactory lobes. These continue undivided to an unusual length, and terminate in a large bulbus, which is at first grooved above, and then bifurcate at the extremity, The length of the hemi- spheres is one fifteenth that of the cranium, and their united bulk one twenty-seventh that of the hemispheres of a tapir of the same size. Their surface is not convoluted, and there is no trace of sylvian fissure. The region of the pons varolii is very wide, and exhibits a continuation of the anterior pyramids. The large size of the middle brain and olfac- tory lobes gives the brain as much the appearance of that of a lizard as of a mammal. ; Professor Cope stated that three, and perhaps four, other examples of this type of brain are known. The first, described by Professor Gervais, is that of the flesh-eater, Arctocyon, from the same lower Eocene horizon as the Ooryphodon. The next is that of the Uintatherium, of the Bridger Eocene, described by Marsh, who states that the hemispheres present 4 sylvian fissure, in which he is most probably in error, and whose figures do not exhibit the convolutions which he claims to have found. e third is that of the Oxyena, described by Professor Cope, of which the middle brain is unknown, but which is probably like that of Arctocyon, in view of the close similarity in other respects. In reviewing the evidence derived from the preceding sources, the opinion was expressed that the type of brain shown to exist in the Am- blypoda and Creodonta is as distinct from that characterizing the pri- mary divisions of the Mammalia as they are from each other, and that 1877.] Geography and Exploration. 318 it necessitates the establishment of a special subclass for its reception, of equal rank with the groups Gyrencephala and Lyencephala. This was called the Protencephala, with the following definition: cerebral hemispheres smooth, small, leaving not only the cerebellum but the mid- dle brain exposed behind, and contracting into the very large olfactory lobes in front. Cerebellum very small and flat; middle brain large. This character is sustained by that of the ankle joint, which, existing in two such distinct divisions as the Amblypoda and Creodonta, may be found to characterize the entire subclass, but this is not yet certain; it is as follows: tibio-astragalar articulation flat and without groove or seg- ment of pulley. This subclass stands below the Lyencephala in its position, approximat- ing the reptiles in the points above-mentioned more nearly than the latter do. It includes two orders: one ungulate, the Amblypoda; the other ungui- culate, the Bunotheria. To the former belong the suborders Pantodonta and Dinocerata ; to the latter the Creodonta and probably the Tillo- donta and Teniodonta, Whether the Mesodonta belong to it is not cer- tainly ascertained, while the Jnsectivora do not belong to it, as they are rightly placed in the subclass Lissencephala. GEOGRAPHY AND EXPLORATION. FARTHER News FROM STANLEY. — Three letters written in August, 1876, have been received from Stanley. At that time he had reached his old quarters at Ujiji. He had circumnavigated Lake Tangan- yika, which is about as large as Lake Michigan. He has apparently added little to what Cameron discovered. He describes a section of the Lukuga River, about eight miles in length, in order to prove that Cap- tain Cameron was incorrect in regarding it as the outlet of Lake Tanganyika, though such, adds Stanley, it is destined to become. He explored Lukuga to a point three miles beyond that reached by Cam- eron, discovered that the outward current gradually ceased, and that the river-bed finally changed into a marsh thickly covered with papyrus. Following the borders of this marsh for two miles further, he again reached a stream, the waters of which flowed distinctly westward, passing by an abrupt gorge through a mountain range one thousand two hun- dred feet high. It is called the Luindi, and is a tributary of the-Lualaba of Livingstone. Mr. Stanley asserts that the level of Tanganyika Lake _ is rising so rapidly that in a few years the waters of the Lukuga and the — Luindi will unite, the intervening marsh disappear, and a permanent outlet thus be created. i Tue ToroerarnicaL Survey or New Yorx. — The governor of 7 New York having opposed the passage of a bill in the legislature of that ' State making appropriations for continuing the state geographical survey, begun so well by Mr. James T. Gardner, resolutions urging the pas- sage of the bill have been sent in by the leading universities and colleges 314 _ General Notes. [May, of the State, and it will be a great pity if the public sentiment of the State is disregarded by its executive. A topographical survey of New York by one of the leading geographers of the country would be a model for other states to follow. . MICROSCOPY.! A Foreten View or American Microscopy. — Mr. Henry Crouch, the well and favorably known London optician of that name, who spent a considerable part of last summer at Philadelphia in the double capacity of a British commissioner and an exhibitor, improved the opportunity to become acquainted with many of our microscopists, and to study the various styles of instruments exhibited at the Centennial. His contribu- tion on the subject, addressed to the Queckett Club after his return home, is of more than ordinary interest on account of his special and technical knowledge of the subject, his position as a fellow exhibitor, to which he candidly alludes as a peculiar feature in the case though not a motive to control his statements, his comparative independence. of local sympathies and prejudices, and his evident feeling of good will and cor- diality towards those whom he met while here. He heartily acknowl- edges the hospitable treatment received in this country, and intimates that a vacation spent here is a rare pleasure, a statement which elicited from the president of the club a hearty assurance of reciprocation in case any of our microscopists should visit London. Mr. Crouch mentions with pleasure and surprise the interest and promptness with which the progress of microscopy in England is fol- lowed up in this country. He notices the large number of students of diatoms, due, he suggests, to the great abundance of the fossil deposits here, and the comparative unfamiliarity with other forms of pond life. He regrets, as we do, the absence from the circle of exhibitors of some eminent competitors for success in the same department of manufacture.” The very general adoption of the Jackson form of stand in this coun- try, which has always been a fact, Mr. Crouch regards as an encourag- ing confirmation of his uniform belief and practice ; the continental model being used, as far as he noticed, only by those who employ the micro- scope in some narrow specialty, and for the most part without accesso- ries. The same remarks would apply to the binocular, and they are certainly correct if the specialties be understood to include histology and pathology, for which many of the English and American accessories are not needed, or at least not popular. As further peculiarities of the 1 Conducted by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y. 2 The opinion having b din the Naruratist, December, 1876, page 730, that the insinuation. that Tolles’ lenses were not exhibited at Philadelphia because they would not be properly examined there, must have been authorized without siders it justifiable and proper. 1877.] Microscopy. 315 American stands, he notices the greater prevalence than in England of stands having the limb supported by one pillar instead of two, though what happened to come before his notice gave a greatly exaggerated idea of the proportion of single-pillar instruments used here, the more general use of the [Zentmayer] glass stage, the general absence of a concentric stage rotation, except in the larger stands, the hinging of the mirror-stem for better managing oblique light, and the new plan of swing- ing mirror and substage together as now made by both Zentmayer and Gundlach. He mentions Zentmayer’s new portable microscope very favorably, along with one by Ross, and claims the centring adjustment now used on the best stands as his own, though contested by two claim- ants here. Of objectives he with very good taste hesitates to speak comparatively, adding a good-natured allusion to the well-known sensitiveness on this subject of makers, and the peculiar weakness of each for considering his own unquestionably the best in some important particulars. Subsequent discussion, however, drew out the opinion that the work of some Ameri- can opticians was very good, and differed from others (abroad) only in some few peculiarities. He had seen some of Mr. Tolles’ objectives which he had not found equaled elsewhere, though his impression was that he pushed the angle of aperture too far, and sometimes to the posi- tive detriment of his lenses. Microscopes of the better class he believed were produced in America fully as good as in England, though at far higher prices. Micro-photography he finds more extensively cultivated here than at home, with an evident influence on the construction of objectives, especially in regard to the angular aperture of the higher powers, the advantage of which he thinks is at least questionable, and from his own recent observations he is inclined to believe that “there are other and important directions in which the energies of those engaged in the manufacture of objectives can be more profitably employed.” He finds the accessories exhibited of the usual character, and not call- ing for special remark, though he states that he has had “ the pleasure of receiving many valuable hints respecting the improvement and modifica- tion of some of the accessories from Dr. Woodward, of Washington, Dr. J.G. Hunt and Mr. Holman, of Philadelphia, Dr. Ward, of Troy, and other microscopists,’”’ which he hopes to have an opportunity of carrying Out and submitting to further notice. The mounted objects by Mr. Walmsley, of Philadelphia, Dr. Beattie, of Baltimore, and Dr. J. G. Hunt, of Philadelphia are mentioned with praise; the vegetable preparations, transparent and double stained, by the latter person are regarded with evident enthusiasm as remarkable illustrations of vegetable structure mounted in an unsu manner. - Hunt's exquisite transparent vegetable preparations can hardly be better appreciated anywhere than here, but that they should now be re- garded as novelties is almost incredible. When first produced many years 316 General Notes. [May, ago. they were believed to be a large and important contribution to the progress of microscopy, but the methods worked out by Dr. Hunt were so unselfishly communicated, and the objects so liberally distributed and so largely studied and imitated, that they have long since become com- mon property. Even the addition of double (vegetable) staining, sys- tematized and rendered practically successful through the talented labors of Dr. Hunt and Dr. Beattie, is no longer spoken of as a novelty here. In comparison, if not in contrast, with these criticisms by a practical foreign artisan may be noticed a critical paper on the same subject by a leading American botanist and philosophical microscopist, Dr. J. G, Hunt, just published in the Cincinnati Medical News. Dr. Hunt dis- cusses American as compared with foreign microscopes at the Centennial. The new Ross stands he considers superior to the old form in im- proved appearance, greater accuracy of motion, more steadiness with less clumsiness, and a binocular prism not moved by focusing, but the stage is considered still too thick, the change of power during fine ad- justment a perceptible fault, and the finish only moderately good. Beck’s large stand is considered the best of foreign make in form and finish, though defective in lacking centring adjustments to the rotating stage (which we think were added to some of the stands exhibited at the Centennial), and in want of durability in the stage movements. The stands by Mr. Crouch are considered excellent and durable, and success- fully cheapened without sacrificing commercial good work. His claim of the adjustable concentric stage is denied in favor of Zentmayer who introduced it sixteen years ago. [Mr. Zentmayer undoubtedly intro- duced this adjustment long ago with a screw-driver movement, which he still prefers, while Mr. Crouch has more recently added milled heads so that it can be moved without tools. ] The Nachet stands are considered neither elegant, convenient, nor durable, and the Hartnack instruments, not exhibited, are rated as clever working instruments in a restricted way, but inferior to the English and American, German instruments are not esteemed, and are scarcely considered instruments of precision at all. 1 Of American stands only Zentmayer’s are specially discussed, and these are judged to be preéminent, being the best microscopical work on ex- "hibition, and having no superiors anywhere. His“ American Centennial ” stand is considered superior in workmanship and design to any others in the exhibition or elsewhere. The hinging of the bar which carries all the illuminating apparatus, including the mirror, at the level of the object on the stage so as to revolve around that object, is credited exclu- sively to Zentmayer, and stated to’ have been wanting in the Rochester 1 The principal novelties introduced in the construction of this stand have been already specified in the Naruraist. We heartily concur with Dr. Hunt that this is the best first-class stand yet produced in the world. 1877.] Microscopy. 317 instruments exhibited at the opening of the exhibition. [It was cer- tainly present in the Rochester instruments exhibited during the sum- mer.]. This would give the priority in this important improvement clearly to Mr. Zentmayer. The so-called student’s stands are mentioned with the intimation that too many of them are unfit for use, and with an earnest appeal for better workmanship in their construction. Objectives are discussed without restriction to those exhibited at Phil- adelphia. Indeed it would be hardly possible to say anything compre- hensive about them otherwise, since Mr. Tolles’ work could not be over- looked in such a discussion. Mr. Wenham’s patent lenses, in which corrections are obtained by a single flint lens, were considered to give great promise, but to be so un- successfully mounted as to compel a suspension of judgment in regard to them. Mr. Crouch’s lenses were considered excellent and exceed- ingly fine for their cost, though without extraordinary optical qualities, strikingly resembling in corrections the Wenham lenses. Beck’s lenses Tetain their character for excellent optical properties, being as nearly achromatic as possible without aiming at maximum angle. Their mount- ing, however, is poor in design and execution. The new Powell and Lealand one-eighth ranks highest of all foreign objectives yet seen, and marks a new era in English microscopy. It gives a bluish-green light, with sharp and accurate definition, and a good image to the edge of the field. The mounting is superb, and the American [Tolles’] plan of trav- ersing the back combination is adopted. The German objectives are not commended, the lower powers being judged unfit for use, and the high ones to fail in comparison with our lower powers. The brass work is considered inferior, and the lenses show a want of finger skill. American lenses he speaks chiefly of those by Mr. Tolles, because those of other makers have disappointed him. He considers that there are greater optical possibilities in Mr. Tolles, in the construction of lenses for the microscope, than in any other maker. His lenses are often thought faulty because not understood. - No two of them are alike, but this is due, he is satisfied, not to unequal execution, but to a special change in each case to obtain a higher degree of some particularly desired quality. Neither are penetration and resolution incompatible to the extent claimed by the theorists. Some of Mr. Tolles’ lenses of ex- treme angle have a penetration so extraordinary that they form the best lenses known for histological work by central light, showing details with a brilliancy not otherwise seen. A recent Tolles one-tenth has the same power as the new Powell and Lealand one-eighth, but with clearer and more brilliant definition and greater penetration. It adopts the [Wales’] method of adjusting for wet and dry by the screw-collar, while the one-eighth has a separate front, a less convenient plan. 318 Scientific News. [ May, Dr. Hunt fears that micro-photography, especially that whose best results ‘are obtained by oblique light, may temporarily retard the best construction of lenses for histological work which is not proven to be best accomplished by lenses specially corrected for obliquity. He thinks that our best lenses have optical capacities not yet fully developed, and that improvement in illuminating apparatus, particularly that for ob- taining accurate’ central illumination, modified or concentrated at will, is more needed at present than further improvement in lenses. Of microscopical objects he believes that the best work is always kept at home, and that with few exceptions we receive from Europe only what is unsalable there. The finest pathological work he has seen, at least that retaining the most structural details if not the most neatly mounted, was produced at the Army Medical Museum at Washington. In demonstrating and mounting botanical subjects, he considers this country immeasurably in advance of all others. He does not state (what should be stated) that this advance is very largely due to his own distinguished labors. Biological science, however, is not satisfied with microscopical slides, but turns to the living objects for a knowledge of structural details, and even the mounted preparations of the present and the future must show the whole structure of the cell, and not its empty shell, however beautifully displayed. ~ Oxituary.— Died at Boston, Mass., on Monday, March 19th, Ed- win Bicknell, one of the most genial of men and one of the most skillful of workers with the microscope. Outside the circle of his personal friends, among whom he was conspicuous for his cordiality and hearty good will, he was best known and will be longest remembered for his highly successful work in the preparation of microscopic objects. His slides, especially those of hard sections, have scarcely been equaled by any other maker. The exquisite slides which he sent out some years ago, by an arrangement with the Essex Institute of Salem, Mass., under the name of the Essex Institute Microscopical Works, have been fol- lowed ever since by an unbroken succession of excellent work. SCIENTIFIC NEWS. — From a recent letter from Dr. L. de Koninck, of Liége, Belgium, to - Professor Hayden, we learn that the king of Belgium last year proposed a prize of twenty-five thousand francs to be awarded annually to the best memoir on the history of the country, its relations to foreign coun- tries, sciences, etc., which prize even foreigners are allowed to compete for at certain periods on specific subjects. The king has also initiated an important movement toward the exploration of Africa. The sub- scriptions for this purpose are already quite large, and inspire the hope that strong aid can be given to the brave men who desire to devote 1877.] Scientific News. 319 themselves to the emancipation of the negroes in their own country and thus destroy the last vestiges of slavery. The Geographical Society, which has just been established under the presidency of General Liagre, perpetual secretary of the Academy of Brussels, is progressing finely. The Belgian government has ordered the issue of a new edition of Dumont’s Geological Maps. The House has appropriated 9700 francs for the purpose of collecting the necessary materials for a map ona large scale, +49,,, the entire cost of which will be 1,300,000 francs; it is to be completed in fifteen years. The House has made an additional appropriation of 10,000 francs for the publication of the manuscripts left by Dumont, which will be printed the coming year. A still more important movement for the advancement of science has just taken place in the creation of the Annals of Natural History of the Museum of Brussels. These Annals will be published in large quarto volumes containing many plates in quarto or folio, according to the ‘subjects, and are especially intended to inform the learned public of the scientific wealth of the galleries of the museum. The first vol- ume will be devoted to the description of the rich collections of the fossil remains of the cetaceans and other sea mammals, gathered at Antwerp during the work on the fortifications. This volume, of which eighteen plates folio are already finished, will be written by the learned zoologist, J. van Beneden. The second volume will be prepared by Dr. de Koninck, one of the most learned paleontologists in Europe, and will embrace the Carboniferous fossils of Belgium, forming a series of 1000 to 1200 species, all of which will be described and figured within three or four years, provided the health and vigor of the distinguished savant does not fail him. The third volume, by Dr. H. Nyst, will treat of the Tertiary fossils of Belgium, beginning with the most recent ones, as the Crag. of Antwerp. Several plates for this volume are already finished. Other volumes of no less importance are in a state of preparation and will occupy their proper places in the series. These publications will be prepared at the expense of the government and under the direction of M. E. Dupont, director of the museum, their authors, however, being entirely independ- ent as to their opinions and work. In closing his letter Dr. de Koninck remarks with commendable pride: “On glancing at the preceding you will be satisfied that our country, after remaining almost stationary, for a period of twenty years, has taken a decidedly fresh start in scien- tific matters, aided and favored by our government, our Chambers, and especially by our king. Let it be well understood that besides all this We possess not only the Academy, but also a certain number of scientific Societies, namely, the Royal Society of Sciences, Liége; the Entomo- logical and Malacological societies, of Brussels; the Society of Science, of Hainault ; the Association of Engineers, of Liége, and many other 320 Scientific Serials. . [May. less important ones, which, however, have a legitimate existence. You see we have not much reason to complain of the sacrifices of our govern- ent, which though considerable, cannot equal those we impose on our- selves with regard to the resources we dispose of. Therefore, please send us, to facilitate our researches and to lend us strength and courage, all the publications you can spare. Help by keeping us constantly ad- vised of the scientific progress of your country, and we promise to recip- rocate. You will receive very soon the products of our scientific activity. This will be a fair exchange of thought no fiscal law can preyent and which surely will benefit both progress and humanity.” — F. V. H. — The council of the Geological Society of London have awarded the Bigsby medal to Prof. O. C. Marsh, of Yale College, in recognition of the great services which he has rendered to the paleontology of the ver- tebrata. — We are glad to announce that Dr. Elliott Coues has kindly con- sented to edit the department of Vertebrate Zodlogy of the AMERICAN NatuRaList, with especial reference to ornithology. Our readers may expect from this talented and genial naturalist occasional papers as well as items of ornithological news. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.? Montuty MicroscoricaL JOURNAL. — March. Address of the President, H. C. Sorby (Application of the Microscope to Geology). Measurements of Rulings on Glass, by E. W. Morley. Tur GeoLoGIcaL Magazine. — March. Evidence afforded by the Planet Mars on the Subject of Glacial Periods, by Edward Carpenter. A Permian Fauna associated with a Carboniferous Flora in the Upper- most Portion of the Coal-Formation of Bohemia, by O. Feistmantel. Tue GrograruicaAL Macazine.— March. Communication with Siberia by Sea, by J. Wiggins (with map of Kara Sea). The Works on the Tiber. Topographical Surveys in Asiatic Russia during 1875 by M. Venyukof. Champa. The Nile from Mruli to Dufli (with a map of the Upper Nile from surveys made by General Gordon Pasha, by E. G. Ravenstein). CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. — January and February. History of Phyciodes Tharos, a Polymorphic Butterfly. (Marcia, winter form of Tharos.) : Psycur.—No. 32. Bibliographical Record of Papers on American Entomology (continued in each number). 1 The articles enumerated under this head will be for the most part selected. THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. VoL. x1.— JUNE, 1877. — No. 6. THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS DOMESTICATION. h BY HON. J. D. CATON. I HAVE been well acquainted with the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) of this country for over forty years, and have ha good opportunities of studying it in its wild state, and for more than ten years past I have raised it in domestication, having had sometimes over ninety in my grounds at one time, and having raised more than sixty in a single year. Some observations on their habits and domestication may not be uninteresting. My original stock was procured from eggs taken from the nest of the wild hen, in the woods, and raised under the common hen, and it has been twice replenished in the same way, on one occa- sion with seven individuals. The purity of the stock, therefore, cannot be questioned; but still more conclusive evidence was ` in the markings, so fully and accurately described by Audubon, Baird, and others. I know of no bird or animal where the markings are more constant or reliable than on the wild turkey ; even to the number of bars on a given quill of the wing, for in- stance, which may be relied upon to identify it. The young bird from the egg of the wild turkey, when brought up in close intimacy with the human family, becomes very tame, and when grown the males become vicious and attack children and even grown persons. I once had eight hatched out bya hen, and gave them in charge to the wife of a tenant, with stimulating promises if she raised them, and she did it nicely. They were allowed to go into the house, to fly upon the table, and to eat with the children. Until they were grown, any member of the family could go up to one and pick it up at any time, but they were afraid of strangers, and if anything excited = suspicion they would take wing and be off like a flock of * quails, At first I procured but a single pair of wild turkeys. The sea- inina Copyright, 1877, by A. 8. PACKARD, JR. 322 The Wild Turkey and its Domestication. [June, son they were a year old neither showed the least inclination to ` breed. The male was not heard to gobble, the wattles upon the neck did not turn red, and he was not observed to strut, as is usual with the male turkey in the breeding season. The next year he made up for all this, and the female also well repaid me for waiting. All the others I have had have bred freely when a year old. Iam now wintering the eleventh generation of the domesti- eated wild turkey, though the progenitors of a portion of my flock were introduced more recently. They generally occupy the South Park, about forty acres in extent, mostly covered with sec- ond-growth trees of about twenty-five years’ standing, with a considerable number of old oak trees interspersed. In the park are ravines with good hiding-places. It is heavily set with blue- grass and some white clover, The effect of domestication has been very marked. They have not deteriorated in size or in reproductive powers. They have always been healthy excepting in'the summer of 1869, when they were afflicted with some disease from which about three quarters of the flock died. They have changed in form and in the length of the legs. The body is shorter and more robust, and its posi- tion is more horizontal; but most especially have they varied in color. These changes I have constantly watched. In the first and even the second generation but little change was observed. After that the tips of the tail feathers and of the tail coverts be- gan to lose the soft, rich chestnut brown so conspicuous on the wild turkey of the woods, and to degenerate to a lighter shade ; the beautiful, changeable purple tints on the neck and breast be- came marked with a greenish shade; the bristles on the naked portions about the head became more sparse or altogether disap- peared; the blue about the head and the purple of the wattles were replaced by the bright red observed on the tame turkey-cock 3 the beautiful pinkish-red of the legs became dull or changed to brown. The next year, or when the bird was in its second year's growth, say in the third generation, these marks of degereration would on most of the specimens, especially of the cocks, disap- pear,-and the plumage would show the thorough-bred wild tur- key. Each succeeding generation shows these changes to be more pronounced, but each year as the bird gets older the shades of color of the wild parent become more distinct. The change of form keeps pace with the change of color, which is much more manifest on the hen than on the cock. I haye hens now three oF 1877.] The Wild Turkey and its Domestication. 323 four years old with brown legs, though still showing the pink shade, and on whose feathers the white has very considerably re- placed the cinnamon shades. In fact I have many specimens that would readily pass for the bronze domestic turkey, even in the view of an expert. Iam satisfied that without a fresh infusion ' of wild blood, in the course of fifteen or twenty years more but few individuals would show the distinctive marks of the wild tur- key to any considerable extent, and the whole would be pro- nounced the bronze domestic turkey. This change is much more manifest in some individuals than in others, still it is very marked in all. I have met with several farmers in the West who have domesticated the wild turkey and whose experiences correspond with my own, but they are not writing men, though frequently pretty good observers. The truth is that those having the most facts on this particular subject do not appreciate their importance, and the observations they have made are never known to the sci- entists who are most capable of weighing and comparing them, and it is possible that these have fallen into errors for the want of full data. The habits of the wild turkey are not as rapidly changed by domestication as its form and coloring ; still they undergo a change as well. The wild cock-turkey by the time he is five months old seeks a perch well up in the largest trees in his range, and as he grows older he is constantly inclined to seek a higher perch, till he is frequently found at the very apex of the tallest tree. The largest turkey I ever killed sat at the extreme top of avery tall tree, which enabled me to see him against the back- ground of the clear eastern sky as the day was breaking, while all below was profound darkness, and so I had plenty of time to approach behind another large tree with the most deliberate cau- tion to within range, and there I had to wait a considerable time before I could see the sights of the rifle. He was already alarmed and stood as straight as a penguin, which is the constant habit of the bird when his suspicions are awakened. Fearing he Would leave I fired before I could tell whether his back or his reast was towards me. When a twenty-four pound turkey falls from so great a height, and thrashing through the branches of the tree strikes the ground with a great crash, it is music to the ear of him who can claim the prize. A companion once killed à very large cock on the top of a very large tree, under which we had made our camp fire, where he had sat for hours undisturbed the noise and bustle of our camp. As we had approached 324 The Wild Turkey and its Domestication. [June, the place without caution, — laughing, talking, and perhaps sing- ing, — he knew he was undiscovered and not likely to be looked for there, and so felt no apprehension, and it was only by an acci- dent that his presence was found out. These incidents tell us of the habits of the bird. This disposition, especially of the cock, to seek a high perch is scarcely impaired by domestication in the second and third gen- erations, but after that they seem less ambitious for high places, and it appears to grow less and less in succeeding generations, till they come down to about the level of the domestic turkey. The wild and suspicious timidity so characteristic of the wild turkey is eradicated very slowly. When back in the park forag- ing they seem suspicious even of the one who daily feeds them, and make off when they see him approaching; but upon their feeding grounds most of them come to pick up the corn even within a few feet of strangers. Let any cause of alarm, how- ever, occur there and they take fright at once. Those only two or three generations from the,woods will take wing, while the others will run like race-horses. This wildness, however, dimin- ishes with each succeeding generation. The eggs of the wild turkey vary much in coloring and some- what in form, but in general are so like those of the tame turkey, that no one can select one from the other. The ground color is white, over which are scattered reddish-brown specks. These differ in shades of color but much more in numbers. I have seen some on which scarcely any specks could be detected, while others were profusely covered with specks, all laid by the same hen in the same nest. The turkey eggs are more pointed than those of the goose or the barn-yard fowl, and are much smaller in proportion to the size of the bird. When the wild turkey in the forest voluntarily leaves her. nest, she always covers it with leaves sufficient to hide the eggs and all evidence of the nest. This is less carefully done by the first descendants of the wild hen, and each succeeding generation be- comes more careless in this regard, till now more than half the nests we find are not covered at all, and none are covered with the care always manifest in the wild state. This wildness seems the most constant with the hen in the breeding season. When the hens are about to commence laying; they seem to relapse to their native wildness and seek the seclu- sion of the North and East parks, or if their wings are not clipped they may escape from the park to the neighboring forest and 1877.] The Wild Turkey and its Domestication. 325 there rear their young. After these get as large as quails, or perhaps larger, they generally bring them home, or with a little care they may be driven home. Although the young birds are as wild.as possible at first, after they have tasted corn a few times and find it is furnished by a man on foot or from a buggy, they lose all fear and become importunate, while the mother hen may still hang back suspiciously. I have often, when driving through the park, had the half-grown birds fly into the covered rock- away for corn, for they soon learned there was always corn there for them. The cocks after a few generations never get as wild as the hens do at the breeding season, but stay contentedly in the South Park, and nearly always keep together. They may amount to fifteen or twenty in number. If the nest of a hen is broken up she im- mediately seeks the cocks and then returns to seclusion, and gen- — erally she will even make a third nest if the second is destroyed. I have never seen the cocks fight for the hens, although there may be a dozen of them of equal age and size. These seem to have no leader and to have no master, and rarely have disputes except when being fed. Then one is very apt to make a pass at another, which is most likely returned, when two or three others will join in the fray, appearing quite indifferent as to which they hit. After a fracas of two or three minutes they all seem to remember that it is supper time, but on looking about they discover that the hens and the youngsters have taken it all. Whenever the new broods are brought home in the fall, they must be attacked by the home flock, — the old cocks, the barren hens, and the young ones, which have been initiated through sim- ilar tribulations. The mother hen is treated as a stranger just as much as if she had never been there before. A single day, how- ever, is sufficient to establish friendly relations, when the new- comers are admitted to the family circle on cordial terms. _Thave never noticed any disposition of the old cocks to inter- fere with a setting hen, or her nest, or her young brood, only when a half-grown flock comes home they are simply treated as Strangers, as already stated. The pinion of a wing has been removed from many of the old hens, and if the latter are kept in the South Park where the cocks run, and which is really the home of all, they nest there, fre- quently making the nest by a slight excavation in the open grass- plot, away from any protecting object, and one is astonished at the difficulty of finding the hen setting there, although the place 326 The Wild Turkey and its Domestication. [June, be described where to look. Experience has proved that I do not get nearly as many young from those which are obliged to nest in the South Park as from those which retire to complete seclu- sion and are never seen or heard of, except by chance, till their chicks are as large as quails. My observations accord with those of Audubon as to the riendly relations existing between the brood hen-turkeys. It s not uncommon for two or three hens to lay in the same nest, and then set upon the eggs and raise the young together, though this I always look upon as a misfortune, for most likely they will not commence laying: together, so that after one commences setting the other will keep on laying for a week or two before she commences setting. As neither will remain a day after the first chick is hatched, of course all the late-laid eggs are lost, unless they are taken out and put under a hen, when they gen- erally hatch out, although they may have lain a day in the nest after they were deserted, if the weather is warm. The hen is often a very pertinacious setter, remaining upon the nest a week or more after all the eggs have been removed. I once found a hen setting upon an empty nest on a declivity of a ravine, and found the eggs scattered about, some very near the foot of the hill, and quite cold, — the mischief of a peacock. Those not broken were returned to the nest. When approached the hen ran away, but soon returned to the nest and hatched out every one of the eggs and raised the birds. The hen, so far as I have observed, never remains upon the nest longer than the morning after the first bird is hatched, though there may be no more than one bird out, leaving all the remaining eggs to their fate. When a day old the chick can follow the hen, though it may tumble down on every foot of the ground it runs over. When two or three days old it will follow the hen with astonishing vigor, and will trail through the grass in a cold rain storm without in- jury, when similar exposure would have been fatal to the domes- tic turkey. I have had repeated opportunities to test this, and I do not believe that I ever lost a young bird by reason of its get- ting wet. Even the hybrids! are capable of enduring exposure, when but a few days old, from which we should despair of the domestic bird. : When two young broods meet in the woods neither hen will show hostility to the young of the other, and they will generally separate after a little social intercourse; but sometimes they will 1 I use this term not in its strict sense, but for convenience. 1877.] The Wild Turkey and its Domestication. 327 amalgamate and ever after range together, when each hen will take the same care of all as she did of her own. I have often seen three hens thus together leading around a large flock of young birds, the three broods being manifestly of unequal ages as they were of sizes. The flesh of the young wild turkey is as white as that of the tame turkey till mid winter. After that it begins to show a darker shade, and when a year old the change of color is very appreciable, and this darker shade deepens till the bird is several years old. All of this is entirely lost by domestication. I have never killed a bird from an egg taken from the wild hen’s nest in the woods, for I could not afford to do this, but I have had on my table many of the next generation, all the way from eight months to two or three years old, raised in my grounds. In every instance the flesh was as white as that of the domestic turkey. The change of food and the less active habits produce this change of color of the flesh of the wild turkey. Turkeys consume more herbaceous food than is generally sup- posed. In the spring, when fresh vegetation shoots forth, they subsist almost entirely upon it, showing less anxiety for corn than at any other season. Blue-grass and clover they seem to prefer, and on these they graze almost as freely as the geese. Later, when insects appear, they manifest their carnivorous ap- petite and become constant and diligent foragers for them. They are not scavengers like the barn-yard fowl, but much prefer, if they do not confine themselves to, living animals. Still they by no means limit their selection to insects. I once saw a half- grown turkey acting very strangely, and stopped a little way off to notice his actions. I soon observed that he was in a contest with a snake about ten inches long. He would pick it up and throw it and again seize it as soon as it struck the ground. At length, after the snake seemed pretty well disabled he seized it by the head and began to swallow it. The part of the snake yet in sight thrashed vigorously around, sometimes winding itself around the head and neck of the bird. This was too much for the turkey, and he threw it up and went at it again to make it more quiet, and then another attempt was made to swallow it; but it was not till the third effort was made that success was achieved, and then the process occupied several minutes, the tail of the snake being all the time active till it finally disappeared. this magnificent game bird was never a native of the Pacific coast. I have at various times sent in all about forty to Califor- e 328 The Wild Turkey and its Domestication. [June, nia, in the hope that it may be acclimatized in the forests. Their numerous enemies have thus far prevented success in this direc- tion, but they have done reasonably well in domestication, and Captain Rodgers, of the United States Coast Survey, has met with remarkable success in hybridizing them with the domestic bronze turkey. Last spring I sent some which were placed on Santa Clara Island, off Santa Barbara. They remained content- edly about the ranch building and, as I am informed, raised three broods of young which are doing well. As there is nothing on the island more dangerous to them than a very small species of fox, we may well hope that they will in a few years stock the whole island, which is many miles in extent. As the island is uninhabited except by the shepherds who tend the immense flocks of sheep there, they will soon revert to the wild state, when I have no doubt they will resume markings as constant as is ob- served in the wild bird here, but I shall be disappointed if the changed condition of life does not produce a change of color or in the shades of color, which would induce one unacquainted with their history to pronounce them specifically different from their wild ancestors here. Results will be watched with interest. My experiments in crossing the wild with the tame have been eminently successful. These have been conducted at my farm in the country. I first sent up a cock and turned him out with a few domestic hens. They all raised good broods. The hybrids grew larger than either parent. The next year the hybrid hens, as the breeding time approached, manifested the wild disposition of their wild ancestor, but they had an artificial grove of ten acres a little distance from the buildings, which was set with a thick undergrowth, and here they nested. When they brought off the young broods, instead of keeping about the barns as-their tame mothers did, they wandered off through the fields where they found an abundance of insects. There was no forest nearer than two miles, so I think none of them found their way to that. Some of them returned to the grove to roost at night, while others remained away. Pains were taken when they were met with in the fields to drive them to the barn and feed them with corn. This rarely had to be repeated, for they would come up them- selves for their suppers. Some wandered away and never re- turned, but were afterwards recognized about the yards of neigh- bors perhaps miles away; in subsequent years they were much more easily kept in hand and probably few were lost, till now after seven years there is little trouble to keep them about the 1877.] The Wild Turkey and its Domestication. 329 place at night, although they wander off through the fields for a mile or more during the day, but they always get a ration of corn about sunset. Last fall the flock counted one hundred and ten, and was the finest I ever saw together. I have had turkeys on my table the past winter not eight months old that weighed seventeen pounds dressed, though some of the young hens did not exceed nine pounds. I have sent to the farm several thor- ough-bred cocks at different times, but as they were from my domesticated stock they did not seem to add much to the wild- ness of the birds. My experiments establish, first, that the wild turkey may be — domesticated and that each succeeding generation bred in domes- tication loses something of the wild disposition of its ancestors. Second, that the wild turkey bred in domestication changes its form and the color of its plumage and of its legs, each succeed- ing generation degenerating more and more from those brilliant colors which are so constant on the wild turkey of the forest, so that it is simply a question of time— and indeed a very short time — when they will lose all of their native wildness and be- come clothed in all the varied colors of the common domestic tur- key ; in fact be like our domestic turkey, — yes, be our domes- tic turkey. Third, that the wild turkey and the domestic turkey as freely interbreed as either does with its own variety, showing not the least sexual aversion always observed between animals of differ- ent species of the same genus, and that the hybrid progeny is as vigorous, as robust, and fertile as was either parent. It must be already apparent that I, at least, have no doubt that our common domestic turkey is a direct descendant of the wild turkey of our forests, and that therefore there is no specific differ- ence between them. If such marked changes in the wild turkey occur by only ten years of domestication, all directly tending to the form, habits, and colorings of the domestic turkey, — in all things which distinguish the domestic from the wild turkey, — what might we not expect from fifty or a hundred years of domes- tication? I know that the best ornithological authority at the present time declares them to be of a different species, but I submit that this is a question which should be reconsidered in the light of indisputable facts which were not admitted or established at the time such decision was made. There has always been diffused among the domestic turkeys of the frontiers more or less of the blood of the wild turkey of the 330 The Study of Zoélogy in Germany. [June, neighboring forests, and as the wild turkey has been driven back by the settlement of the country, the domestic turkey has gradu- ally lost the markings which told of the presence of the.wild, though judicious breeding has preserved and rendered more or less constant some of this evidence in what is called the domestic bronze turkey; and the more these evidences are preserved in the bronze turkey, as the red leg and the tawny shade dashed upon the white terminals of the tail feathers and the tail coverts, the better should the stock be considered, because it is the more like its wild ancestor. That the domestic turkey in its neighborhood may be de- scended from or largely interbred with the wild turkey of New Mexico, which in its wild state more resembles the common do- mestic turkey than our wild turkey does, may unquestionably be true, and it may be also true that the wild turkey there has a large infusion of the tame blood, for it is well known that not only our domestic turkey, but even our barn-yard fowls relapse to the wild state in a single generation when they are reared in the woods and entirely away from the influence of man, gradually assuming uniform and constant colorings. But I will not discuss the question whether the Mexican wild turkey is of a different species from ours or merely a variety of the same species, only with differences in color which have arisen from accidental causes, and certainly I will not question that the Mexican turkey is the parent of many domestic turkeys, but I cannot resist the conclu- sion that our wild turkey is the progenitor of our domestic turkey. Indeed, we know that this is so to a very large extent, from their constant interbreeding along our frontiers, and I never heard of any one who had wild blood in his flock who did not think he had as good domestic turkeys as any one else. THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY IN GERMANY. BY CHARLES SEDGWICK MINOT. I. THE LABORATORIES. AVING had somewhat extended opportunities for seeing vari- ous laboratories in Germany, and for working in some of them, the writer became much impressed by the great advantages they offer; and as they are at once training-schools and the scene of active original research, it seems appropriate to begin by somè account of them. 1877.] The Study of Zoélogy in Germany. 331 All the laboratories with which the author is acquainted are connected with universities which, unlike many of our colleges, are not mere high-schools, but are the centres of intellectual activity and the seats of the highest teaching. The distinguishing feature of them is their organization, which gives to original research the highest rewards, and makes everything else subordinate to inves- tigation. Thus, when a student tries for his degree, he passes merely an oral examination, for though he may appear deficient as regards positive knowledge,*yet if his thesis contains the re- sults of original work and is judged good, the imperfections of his knowledge are disregarded, and the degree is duly conferred. Again, upon becoming a teacher he is obliged to present another original research, and the professors are, as a rule, selected accordmg to their abilities and success as investigators. The consequence of this system, the same at all the twenty-one Ger- man universities, is that both instructors and students regard investigation as the proper scope of their industry. This gen- eral spirit makes itself felt in the zodlogical department as well as in every other. The rigid adherence to this system has made the German universities the home of the highest science. Thus, while inter- course between savants is restricted in America and England mainly to accidental meetings and the gatherings of learned soci- eties, the scientists of Germany come together to work for a common end, the maintenance of the university with which they are connected. In every respect science is furthered by the organization and spirit maintained in every German university. There are, of course, grave defects connected with the system, but these the author cannot enter into, not being qualified. These general remarks have been prefixed to indicate that which usually makes the deepest impression on the American student. The zodlogical department belongs to the philosophical faculty, but the union of the various faculties is very close, and students belonging to one can and habitually do attend the lectures of other departments. Among the zodlogical students it is usual to go through a course of human anatomy and physiology along with the medical students ; they are obliged to study two natural Sciences besides zodlogy, and to be examined in all three in order to obtain their degrees. In some instances botany is one of the required studies, or when otherwise is usually chosen, and the ird subject is commonly chemistry, physics, geology, or miner- alogy. Thus it will be seen the students receive a broad scien- 332 The Study of Zodlogy in Germany. [June, tific training, rendered still more effectual because they volun- tarily attend several extra courses. The quality of the education in each branch depends mainly upon the character and the ability of the professor, and therefore we find the students passing from one university to another in order to attend the courses of some particular professor. This they can do the more readily because immatriculation at one university gives them the right to enter another upon merely presenting their certificates from the first. All the universities are so much alike that it is quite possible to break off from a course at the end of the semester and go elsewhere to complete it. In this way various masters of the same science influence the learn- ers, and the one-sidedness of one teacher is counteracted by an- other. This seems to the writer an advantage which can ‘hardly be overestimated. After these brief general remarks we pass to the consideration of the zodlogical work, strictly speaking. First of all we notice the advantage of the secure basis upon which is built up the superstructure of special zodlogical knowledge, thus giving every student an initial advantage which we regret to say is rare in this country. The professor of zodlogy delivers two regular courses of lectures every year, one semester on general zodlogy or comparative anat- omy, and during the second another on special zodlogy, including classification. In the first course he expounds the fundamental characters of animals, their microscopic and comparative anatomy, embryology, physiology, and so forth. This, it will be seen at once, is a different plan from that usually followed in this coun- try, where zoélogical instruction subordinates everything to clas- sification. There can, we think, be no doubt which is the bet- ter way. Fortunately, the old system is slowly disappearing in America as well. Besides the professor there are usually one or two privat- docents who, just beginning as instructors, take up some special branch of zoélogy and offer more detailed information than the professor can crowd into his general lectures. But the main activity of the student is not found in the lecture room but in the laboratory: there he spends most of his time, and there he acquires his most valuable knowledge, learn- ing to dissect and to use the microscope, and making the ac- quaintance of the principal forms of animal life. The professor and his assistants are constantly at hand to guide and suggest, 1877.] The Study of Zoélogy in Germany. 333, and from the very beginning the student is introduced to special memoirs and directed to the best general works. The laboratory is usually provided with a small collection of books, among which never fail to be Gegenbaur’s Vergleichende Anatomie, Claus’s Handbuch der Zoölogie, Kélliker’s Histology and Embryology, and Bronn’s Klassen und Ordnungen des Thierreichs. Besides these there are always a number of miscellaneous and more special works — perhaps two or three hundred — whose appear- ance is that of veterans in service. The university library, usually very rich in old publications, but apt to lack many of the newer ones, is accessible to the students, though getting out a book involves usually great and, as the experience of our American libraries prove, unnecessary annoy- ance. There is generally no catalogue to which the students are allowed free access. Altogether, Americans sometimes justly feel provoked by the clumsiness of the arrangements in the libra- ries, — the usefulness of which certainly does not correspond to the number of volumes they contain, — but after all the books are there and can be got at. The writer has always found his professors exceedingly kind in lending books, and that is of great advantage, because, thanks to the admirable practice of inter- changing scientific publications so extensively, all the leading men own separate reprints (separat-abdriicke) of a great many papers. The laboratory is always connected with a museum, which, except at Berlin, Munich, or Leipzig, is small, having been created mainly to bring together an instructive collection, suffi- cient to exhibit the principal varieties of animal forms, and to supply the necessary anatomical preparations for illustrating the lectures and aiding the students. Besides this it is often at- tempted to keep up an abundant supply of specimens for dissec- tion. The students are encouraged to collect living specimens for themselves, and to learn to recognize the typical forms of animals, The writer has often seen a professor bring in some Strange creature and make the learners examine it, and try to determine its relationship for themselves., Having looked at the conditions under which the learner is Placed, we proceed to examine his work. We notice above all _ a want of system: each person is launched out by the instructor, but has afterward to guide himself as best he may, with occa- sional help or warning from his teachers. It strikes one as a rather slipshod manner of learning, but it is pretty sure to weed 334 The Study of Zodlogy in Germany. [June, out the inferior pupils, for only industrious and energetic ones can struggle on to the end. The woful lack of method would be more injurious than it is, were it-not counteracted in every laboratory by the spirit of truth-seeking, which should always guide every original investigation, and by the rivalry among the. students, and the high respect for zodlogical science constantly inculeated. The first thing learnt is the distinction between physiology and morphology as the two great branches of zodlogy, and then most of the time is taken up with morphological work ; conse- quently morphology comes to be viewed as the principal field of work for a scientific zodlogist. Classification, comparative anat- omy, histology, and embryology are combined as one depart- ment, and the aim of the student becomes finally to make him- self acquainted with the general principles of morphology, with the intention of ultimately taking up some special investigation. In America a class or an order are made a specialty, and we have carcinologists, herpetologists, ornithologists, etc., who at- tempt to study everything connected with the group they have chosen. In Germany some branch of morphology is taken up, thus the eye, or the nervous system, or the comparative anatomy of some division. In one country all the characters of one group are made a specialty ; in the other more frequently a few charac- ters are studied in many groups. When the student has advanced far enough, he is encouraged to take up some special investigation with a view to writing his thesis to get his degree. The foundation having been broadly and well laid, he narrows his attention to a particular question and begins his original work. It is then that the professor be- comes most ready to assist, and it is generally considered his most important function to teach how to make a research by carefully controlling and guiding the learner in his first research, examining his preparations and discussing his conclusions with him. This is admirably done by some professors, poorly by others, but all are interested in its being well done, because a fault in a thesis by a pupil from à laboratory discredits the professor who ought to have cared for its avoidance. Many graduating theses are valuable papers, often quoted as scientific authorities upon the subjects of which they treat. Their char- acter generally shows the ability of the student pretty fairly ’ whether he be equal to difficult problems or only to simpler ones, 1877. ] The Study of Zodlogy in Germany. 335 In Germany special knowledge is required on the part of the — teachers; it is only in the United States that a professor has to teach zodlogy, botany, paleontology, and geology all at once. Accordingly there are often persons in the zodlogical laboratories who intend to become school-teachers, while the more brilliantly endowed aspire to university chairs. There are then, two sorts of students, but though the aim of one is humbler, yet they too prize the degree of Doctor and work eagerly at their theses to secure the desired title. The opportunity is thus offered to each student to follow the course of several investigations. The research is usually upon some point in comparative anat- omy or in embryology, less frequently in histology, but it sel- dom has much to do with species, which are our greatest bugbear. New species are seldom discovered in Europe now, unless among the worms and protozoa, but anybody can find new species in the United States in almost any group of invertebrates. An industrious collector could probably easily obtain in one year in New England alone more than one thousand undescribed spe- cies of hexapod insects. In fact the trouble in Europe comes not from the species having no name, but from their having half a dozen different names. However, the forms are almost all known, and the work of zodlogists is much eased by it. It is to be hoped that we shall soon be equally well off. In every laboratory microscopes are in continual use. The in- struments are always simple and small, being intended to be kept on the work-table, and take up little room. The complicated machines, the delight of amateurs and the abhorrence of histolo- gists, so much in vogue among us are never met with there. It is common enough to find Americans and Englishmen giving up their big home-made instruments and taking to the smaller and more convenient Continental microscopes, but the writer never knew any one to do the reverse. Simplicity, efficiency, and in- €xpensiveness make the German and French microscopes so Superior to ours that it becomes a waste of money to purchase an American instrument. Not only does the student keep his microscope constantly in use, but he is also continually making histological preparations of whatever good material he gets. He therefore becomes skilled and experienced, sees a great many different tissues, and is enabled afterwards to examine the cellular structure of any organ he wishes to study and control his results by comparisons with the tissues which he has already studied. Our next article will be 336 Vegetation in Nevada and Arizona. [June, on the methods used for making histological and embryological preparations. The account here given applies, of course, to the best laboratories, but they do not all offer the same great ad- vantages. : —— ee THE DISTRIBUTION OF VEGETATION IN PORTIONS OF NEVADA AND ARIZONA. - BY W. J. HOFFMAN, M. D. j a flora of Nevada may be divided into four distinct classes, namely : — I. The flora of the mountains. II. The flora of the foot-hills. III. The flora of the plains. IV. The flora of the salt marshes. In the lower two thirds of Nevada and the northwestern por- tion of Arizona, from latitude 41° 40’ N., at Bull Run Mountain, southward to latitude 35° 20’ N., we have a country composed of a series of plains and deserts surrounded by a net-work of mount- ain chains. The more northern valleys are composed of tolera- bly good soil, but as we proceed southward they become more and more sandy, and contain a greater amount of saline ingre- dients. There is every evidence that many of these basins were at one time inland seas, but owing to the rapid evaporation and absence of aqueous precipitation, they have in the greater num- ber of instances become dry, leaving their solid ingredients as the soil of the deserts, as in Diamond Valley, Death Valley, etc., oF there may still remain sufficient moisture to cause salt marshes, as Armagosa Desert and that at Silver Peak which covers an area of only about eight or nine hundred square miles of mud and salt. A great deal of the alkalinity of some regions is de- rived from the mountains. During the disintegration of feld- spathic rocks, the soluble salts are slowly carried down to add to the sterility of the valleys. Rain seldom falls on the plains, but the more prominent peaks are subject to showers nearly every afternoon. Peaks whose altitude exceeds that of the timber-line are most frequently visited. The causes are, the air om heated on the deserts (as in Death Valley we recorded 120° in the shade at from two to half past three o’clock) rises towards the cooler summits'‘of the mountains, when condensation of vapor terminates in precipitation, the heavy clouds charged with elec- tricity hanging over the mountains for an hour or two, usually 1877.] Vegetation in Nevada and Arizona. 337 disappearing before sunset. The rain seldom reaches the base, as the parched sandy soil absorbs it before it descends half-way down to the foot-hills, except in case of cloud-bursts when the water tears up a new channel and rushes out over the desert to sink at once in the soil. These storms do not affect the at- mosphere of the plains perceptibly. Differences of wet and dry bulb readings show variations ranging from 5° to 45° F. The flora of that portion of Arizona under consideration may likewise be classed under the same divisions, excepting that the fourth class gradually diminishes, giving place to that of the dry sandy deserts — which we will include with the third class — of the plains in Nevada. The following table is arranged according to the latitudes, commencing at the northernmost point (Bull Run Mountain) and running south : — Name, above Sea Level.| ‘Timber Line. | Latitudo. | Wearest Plains, Bull Run Mountain....... 8,450 8,300 41° 40/ 5,800 Prospect Hill... ... trees Pas 9,650 9,400 39° 30 6,000 Belmont pies 12,000 9,700 38° 407 ` ,000 Mt. Nagle i 11,000 11,000 1 37° 46/ 200 Mt. Macgruder........... 11,500 11,150 37° 40/ ,200 San Francisco Mountain.. 13,500 { 12,500 35° 19/ i 6,500 4 13 2 6,800 Bill Williams Mountain. .. 10,030 3 35° 13/ 6,500 Mr. J. M. Coulter,‘ in his report upon the flora of Colorado, ete., says “ that there is a very regular increase in the elevation of the timber-line as the latitude decreases, subject, of course, to variations when in the neighborhood of high table-lands or seas.” This not only holds true in that region between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas, but, in taking a view of the section from Bull Run to Mt. Macgruder in Nevada, and as far as Bill Williams Mountain in Arizona, we have a barometric profile upon which not only the timber-line follows that law, but likewise different genera of plants and trees. The level of the prairie at Bull Run is 5800 feet above the sea, while at Mt. Macgruder — the southernmost point of observation in Nevada —it has risen to 7200 feet. At Bull Run the timber-line, at an : altitude of 8300 feet, terminates with the upper line of the belt 1 The altitude of Mt. Nagle does not reach that of the timber-line. * The timber-line on this mountain is irregular, approaching to within one thou- Sand feet on the eastern side and five hundred feet on the western. . Williams Mountain does not reach the elevation of the timber-line. r F. V. Hayden’s Report, 1872, page 751. VOL. XI. — No. 6. 22 338 fegetation in Nevada and Arizona. [June, of Conifere, while the lower line rests upon a belt (400 feet of the vertical section) of mountain mahogany ( Cerocarpus ledifo- lius), which in turn gives place at 7000 feet to the belt of Sali- cacee. This group terminates irregularly at the beginning of the foot-hills, at an elevation of about 6200 feet. The foot-hills are chiefly covered with Phlox, Lupinus, and Rosacee, and the plain with “ grease-wood ” (Sarcobatus vermiculatus) and “ sage- brush ” (Artemisia tridentata), the former being greatly in ex- cess, but is gradually replaced by the latter going southward. The lines of demarcation are frequently indistinct, owing to the mingling of species of one belt with the adjoining ones, but they are plain enough to obtain an average elevation which I shall adopt in these descriptions. At Prospect Hill, the timber-line has risen to 9400 feet in alti- tude ; the belt of mountain mahogany becomes narrower, giving place at 8000 feet to the Salicacee, which belt becomes broader and terminates below at an elevation of 7000 feet. As the level of the plain is 6000 above the sea, there are 1000 feet to be ac- counted for. The plain contains more Artemisia tridentata, and A. filifolia in place of Sarcobatus vermiculatus to a very great extent, the latter being found on the lower foot-hills, above which we find but little Phlox, some Lupinus, and more Rosacee and Composite. There is here a great increase in elevation of similar species over those at Bull Run. Again, at Belmont the Conifere end with the timber-line at 9700 feet, and where the belt of the Salicacee begins but a seam of scattering mahoganies is found, the place having been taken up by a wider belt of Conifere above and of Salicacee below. On the plains south of Belmont more saline matter is found in the soil, giving rise gradually to a more desert-like vegetation. Artemisie are less numerous, and are replaced by Algarobia glandulosa, the former occurring abundantly on the foot-hills, upon the upper slopes of which Cactacew now make their ap- pearance. At Mt. Nagle and, just south of it, at Mt. Macgruder, there is little variation of elevation of the flora, so that at the latter the timber ceases to grow at 11,150 feet (covering the summit of Mt. Nagle at an altitude of 11,000 feet), the belt of Conifer running down to 8500 feet; when the belt of Salicacew occupies the space down to an elevation of 8100 feet above the sea. The belt of the Composite now rests upon one of Yucca buccata and F. angustifolia, which, farther down on the foot-hills, a, oe placed by Cactacee, and on the desert by the Artemisia triden- 1877. ] Vegetation in Nevada and Arizona. 339 tata and Algarobia glandulosa in excess. The plains and salt marshes in this vicinity are at an elevation of 7200 feet above the sea, and gradually slope towards the Colorado River, until we reach the deserts just north of that valley, where the average elevation is 1400 feet. This descent is so rapid, comparatively, that as we proceed southward, zones or belts of vegetation are passed through — underlying that upon the salt deserts at Mac- gruder— not encountered heretofore, and which partake of a sub-tropical nature in predominating species, that is, Cactacea, such as Hehinocactus, Mamillaria, Agava, and Larrea Mexicana. Southward and eastward of the Colorado River, in following this elevated portion of the country, we encounter the Colorado Plateau, having an elevation of from 6000 to 6700 feet. Upon this we have San Francisco Mountain and Mt. Bill Williams. Upon the former, the timber-line rises to within one thousand feet of the summit upon the eastern side (12,500 feet) and to within five hundred on the western (13,000 feet). The belt of Conifere extends down to the base of this mount- ain as well as on Mt. Bill Williams,! and is subdivided into two divisions, the upper being composed chiefly of Pinus brachyptera and P. edulis Engelm., and the lower of Abies Douglasii and Juniperus occidentalis. Throughout the ravines and moist de- pressions we now find Frazinus velutinus common, and searcely any Populus monilifera. Around the base of both mountains we find Quercus Gambelii extending up the eastern slopes but not upon the western. : After leaving the plateau, going southward, and again descend- ing to an elevation of 3500 feet, we meet the belts of sub-tropical Species which occur above the plateau (in Southern Nevada) at a corresponding place, allowing the increase of elevation which it gains in this distance proportionately. As we descend toward the valley of the Rio Gila, Cactaceæ predominate, nine species having been identified, not embracing varieties which are undoubtedly present and which could have been detected upon closer examination. Farther west, including the Mojave Desert, and northward as far as Vegas Valley, we find this thorny vegetation to a great extent ; and in various de- pressions and ravines occur Eriodiction, Algarobia, and Prosopis. There is a gradual elevation, as we proceed southward, of all these zones or belts of vegetation, which may at times consist 1 For information regarding San Francisco Mountain I am indebted to Mr. G. E. Gilbert (Geologist Geolog. and Geograph. Exp. for Explor. Nevada and Arizona, 1871-2, Lt. G. M. Wheeler, Corps of Engineers, commanding). 340 Vegetation in Nevada and Arizona. [June, only of a single species (Cerocarpus ledifolius), at others of a genus (Pinus), but more frequently of a variety of genera or even of families. In the northern portion of Nevada a single genus of plants is often found occupying a large extent of rolling country, when, as we reach the limit of distribution, a few yards farther on will find us in another and a distinct group. At some points, again, the line of demarcation between the desert flora (Artemisia tridentata) and that of the foot-hills (Sarcobatus ver- miculatus) is so sharply drawn as to be visible from any elevated point of observation, this being apparent on account of the differ- ence of the color of foliage. Again, we find areas over which the vegetation is as yet an indiscriminate mingling of genera and families, but over which the Composite appear to have the ** balance of power.” This peculiar distribution is apparent over all that portion of Nevada and Arizona before named, but as we go southward we find each genus or family of plants or trees gradually rising in élevation, and if we do not discover all the preceding individuals, we find representatives belonging to the same genera or families replacing them at those altitudes, which in turn give rise to other forms, to other types, or a- new belt, occupying that space caused by the elevation of the belt above. This succession is visible in following the elevated mountain regions of the American conti- nent, but is modified in the vicinity of seas, as at Panama. As the vegetation is thickest and most luxuriant in the tropics, it forms a covering which decreases in quantity and growth to wards either pole. The equatorial zone is the home of ferns and palms, which gradually lose predominance in advancing to- wards the temperate zones as they do in ascending the moun- tains situated in the equatorial regions. - That'at great altitudes the belts of vegetation and timber are again met with, which as cend from both the northern and southern parallels of latitude, 18 verified by Von Humboldt,! who says, ‘* The great elevation at- tained in several tropical countries, not only by single mountains but even extensive districts, enables the inhabitants of the torrid zone to behold also those vegetable forms which, demanding @ cooler temperature, would seem to belong to other zones. Ele- vation above the level of the sea gives this cooler temperature even in the hottest parts of the earth, and cypresses, pines, oaks, berberries, and alders nearly allied to our own cover the mount- 1 Aspects of Nature, ete., Alex. von Humboldt. ‘Trans. by Mrs. Sabine, Philadel- phia, 1849, pages 245, 246 4 1877.] Vegetation in Nevada and Arizona. 341 ainous districts and elevated plains of Southern Mexico and the chain of the Andes at the equator.” _ This rule is also followed by representative species of birds, taking, for example, the ruby-throated humming-bird ( Zrochilus colubris Linn.), which is found from latitude 61° N. to Terra del Fuego, the southern remnant of the American continent, while it has been observed in the tropics at an altitude of 14,600 feet. I have observed it in Nevada, latitude 38° N., at an eleva- tion of 9700 feet (timber-line), and it appears thus to be found nearly everywhere within that line, at which phenogamous veg- etation ceases to exist. — Species found in Mexico are also found at an altitude in the tropics at which the same temperature and the same belt of veg- etation occurs, which would place an outside limit of altitude at about 10,000 feet. M. Becquerel 1 says, “In the equatorial zone no change is observed in the vegetation from the level of the sea to the height of 600 metres (1969 feet), and beyond this even to an altitude of 1200 metres (3937 feet) we still rec- ognize the flora of the tropical zone.” It is apparent, then, that in the distribution of a flora from north to south, or in equal directions (or nearly so) from the equator, there is a downward tendency as the latitude increases. This zone of vegetation being divided into successive layers, ver- tically at the torrid zone, which, as they rise in altitude, spread their termini over a section of country where they descend, give rise to a succession of changes from a torrid to an arctic flora. This zone forms an arch, when viewed in a barometric profile, from the northern to the southern hemisphere, having the great- est depression over the equatorial region. hat the regularity in location of these various belts is gov- erned by climatic or meteorological laws, modified to some ex- tent by geological causes, is apparent and undoubtedly true, but regarding the local distribution throughout any one of these belts there are slow changes, as on some of the deserts in Arizona or in the salt marshes of Nevada. On the Gila Desert, as elsewhere, we observed the remains of an undergrowth of acacias (Algarobia glandulosa) which were destroyed by the encroaching Cereus giganteus, and here the law Of mutual repulsion is forcibly illustrated. Dr. J. M. Bigelow ? Noticed the same fact in the valley of Bill Williams Fork, and 1 In Smithsonian Report, 1869, page 401. (Translation.) 2 Pacific R. R. Report, vol. iv., page 21. (No. 2 Botany.) 342 ě ` Vegetation in Nevada and Arizona. [June, says “that it [Acacia] forms a shelter for the propagation of the Cereus giganteus of that region. Every young Cereus is pro- tected and fostered by this tree until the cactus attains the size and hardihood that enables it to withstand the war of elements waged against it, when it ungraciously spurns its protector, ulti- mately destroying it, as we saw in numerous instances on our journey. That geological and climatie influences and effects modify and in time alter the flora of a district is perceptible in the salt marshes. Here the lower forms of vegetation flourish in luxuri- ance, especially the Chenopodiacee, in which the higher type» seem unable to exist on account of the strongly alkaline soil, and even in waters strongly impregnated with salt, forms exist which retain these places in spite of the force brought to bear upon them from the invading species which perish not from a ‘* mutual repulsion and subjection,’ but from the alkalinity of the soil itself. Mr. Lester F. Ward proposes “ what might be called the law of mutual repulsion, by which every individual, to the extent of its influence, repels the approach of every other and seeks the sole possession and enjoyment of the inorganic conditions sur- rounding it; this mutual repulsion results at length in a stati- eal condition which is always brought about through the action of the vital forces themselves, and which, as soon as reached, de- termines absolutely the exact place and degree of development of each species and each individual.” This is at present not the case in the salt marshes, but, when an accumulation of organic and silicious matter is the result, through the decomposition of the plants and the dust from sur- rounding sources, these lower types lose their predominance, and higher types replace them. This will ultimately be the re- sult, as there is no aqueous precipitation, and the constant evap- oration from the marshes will leave them nothing but alkaline deserts. Upon the foot-hills in the upper portion of Nevada different species of plants occupy distinct patches, but it is apparent that there are changes going on, and that in time some will be de- stroyed, giving place for hardier varieties. Mr. Ward further says, “ Each species is the perpetual and inexorable antagonist of every other. The ‘struggle’ is not alone ‘for existence,’ it 1s also for space. ... . But the first principle, as in the rest of nature, is force. Each one encroaches with all the power of 1877.] Vegetation in Nevada and Arizona. 343 vegetal growth upon its neighbors.” Where an area of vegeta- tion has not been disturbed by mechanical or agricultural causes, the species and genera growing thereon are to all appearances occupying their limit of growth and local distribution, as over various valleys and low elevations in Northern Nevada. “ But let these statical conditions be once changed, . . . . and this equi- librium is immediately disturbed. The chained forces are set free ; a general swarming begins ; some individuals are destroyed, others are liberated; each pushes its advantage to the utmost, and all move forward in the direction of least resistance, till at length they again mutually neutralize each other, and again come under new conditions and modified forms, into the former state of quiescence.” 1 There has been great difficulty experienced in some of the fer- tile valleys of Nevada and California in attempting to prevent the rapid encroachment of native plants upon partially cultivated and irrigated patches of soil. They are stronger in vegetal power, and in a short time depauperate and stunt the introduced cereals and garden vegetables. These vegetal “ struggles for space and existence” are stronger and the results more perceptible in the tropics than elsewhere ; rising in altitude with the superlying belts of vegetation, they decrease until the region beyond the timber-line is reached, in a similar manner as when we proceed towards either pole in al- most a fixed proportion to the latitude. This is caused by a variety of influences, prominent amongst which are (1.) The presence of saline matter to such an extent as to cause the destruction of any but the lower types of vegetable life, — Chenopodiacee. (2.) In the sub-alpine belt or latitudes, where the Conifere predominate and where there is a corresponding temperature un- favorable to other types generally, and (3.) Beyond the timber-line or at extremely high latitudes, Where the superincumbent mass of snow in winter and the ex- tremely short temperate season prevent the growth of almost anything save lichens and mosses. 1 Mr. L. F. Ward, Popular Science Monthly, October, 1876. 844 Aboriginal Shell Money. [June, ABORIGINAL SHELL MONEY. : BY ROBERT E. C. STEARNS. F several articles heretofore published,! I have written on the use of various species of shells for the purposes of money by the aborigines of North America, and have also briefly referred to the use of the same class of material for similar purposes in Africa and India, and the antiquity of shell money in the latter country. Since the date of my last paper additional data have been ac- quired, which are worthy of note as they relate to certain West American species of mollusks not before enumerated, the shells of which have been and to some extent are still used for money by some of the Indian tribes in California. The discovery of a species of Olivella (0. bipli- cata Sby.) in ancient graves on San Miguel Island \ (one of a cluster of islands thirty miles westerly) off ‘\ the southerly coast of this State was referred to in a 4 ia previous paper. I have since examined specimens J f: | of the same species, found by Mr. C. D. Voy in a “} burial mound near Vallejo, in Solano County, in the year 1872, now in the museum of the University of California, which also contains much rare and inter- esting prehistoric material collected by the same person in various parts of the State. Of this species about two hundred specimens were obtained from the Vallejo mound, as well as human remains and numerous aboriginal relics, such as stone pipes, bone whistles, and arrowheads, also another form of shell money and ornament described further on. In all of the Olivellas from the Vallejo mound, the upper part of the spire or the apex of each shell has been ground off in the same manner as in the San Miguel Island specimens,” and it 1s presumed that they were formerly strung and worn as a necklace, an ornament for which these shells are still used by some of the interior Indians of Central California, as I have been informed by Mr. Stephen Powers, a most excellent authority. He says that this form is now used for personal adornment by the Bear River Indians, and is by them called “ colco a” Referring to the shells he writes, “ They are strung double, that is, two strings of them 1 American Naturalist, March, 1869; Overland Monthly, April, 1873 ; Pr oceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, July, 1873. 2 Collected by Mr. W. G. W. Harford. (Fie. 62.) OLI- VELLA BIPLI- 1877.] Aboriginal Shell Money. 345 are tied together between each two shells, so that the shells are mouth to mouth. But even this double string is lightly esteemed, being worth only one dollar a yard. It is little used for money, being rarely seen at all, and is worn chiefly by the women in dances as a cheap jewelry.” The specimens kindly sent to me by Mr. Powers are of the white variety, which are much less abundant than those of the usual bluish tinge ; neither are these nor any of the grave specimens above a medium size, ; for this species frequently attains a length of an inch i W; and a quarter, as may be seen in Figure 62. The Vallejo ™' mound specimens average only half an inch, which fact suggests that the smaller size may have been more highly valued. It will be observed that the Olivellas, or colcol, have been found in ancient graves on San Miguel Island associated with human remains and prehistoric implements, also by Mr. Voy in Solano County, and Mr. Yates in a recent article reports their occurrence in the mounds of Contra Costa and Alameda counties. By reference to a map of California it will be seen that these last localities are widely separated from the first named, and it implies not only the general use of this species of shell by the maritime tribes, but also a line of intercourse and a system of traffic between the coast tribes and those of the interior, as sug- gested in a previous paper, and through which the colcol finally came to be used by the Indians of the central part of the State. In my first paper, alluding to the use of Saxidomus gracilis, a common bivalve on the coast of Sonoma County, I exp surprise that the equally common and far more beautiful shells of Haliotis rufescens had not attracted the attention of the ab- origines, and been utilized by them for money and personal decoration. It will be seen, however, that the beauty of these has not escaped the eye of the savage, but that they have been used both for money and for personal decoration, and been fash- ioned into a variety of shapes for the latter purpose, the proto- types of the “abalone jewelry ” so popular with the “ pale-faces”’ of to-day. From the Vallejo mound Mr. Voy obtained various pieces of Haliotis, or abalone, as the Californians call it, which is the aulon or aulone of the Spanish, and the whilo of the Indians. In refer- ence to the Indian name Mr. Powers writes: ‘ Your conjecture 1 American Naturalist, March, 1869. 346 Aboriginal Sheil Money. [June, that the word uAllo is corrupted from the Spanish aulon is prob- able, although the Indians accent the first syllable, giving it a sound difficult for us to imitate, some- where between wh and the German @. The accompanying illustrations represent the specimens taken from the Vallejo mound in the year 1872, with which, as before stated, were found human remains and numerous aboriginal relics. x; They form a part of the Voy collection presented (Me. 64.) HALIOTIS to the University of California by Mr. D. O. Mills, BALONE. of San Francisco. These ornaments and this money, if we may consider the circu- lar pieces as the latter, are all made from the same species of Ha- liotis (H. rufescens Swainson), the common red-backed abalone of the coast, which has a range of nearly the entire shore line of the State; and a large species which sometimes attains a length of eleven inches. In Figure 2 of Plate II. we have an approximately circular disk ; Figure 1 in the same plate may have been nearly the shape of 2, and have become partially disintegrated and scaled or flaked off, since it was buried, through oxidation and decay. The dark patches on these figures represent the red exterior of the shell from which they were made, and which still remains on the specimens. Figure 3 is well worked out, a nearly perfect circle with the edges neatly serrated or toothed, as if done with a sharp piece of obsidian, while Figure 4, though without appar- ent design, has been rubbed or rounded so as to make the edges _ smooth, as have also the pieces figured in 1 and 2, and the holes have been carefully perforated. Figure 4 shows the mark where a hole was started and not completed, probably from its being too near the edge. Over a dozen of these disk-shaped pieces, including those figured, were found by Mr. Voy, and Mr. Yates also records approximately similar forms of smaller size, though he does not state the species of Haliotis from which his specimens were made. Mr. Henry Ed- wards, the entomologist, has also obtained this abalone money from the kitchen-middens of Marin County, near Saucelito. Mr. Powers, referring to the use of Haliotis, says, “ The uhllo pieces : are of a uniform size on the same string; they do not mix them. The dollar pieces (Plate II., Figure 5) are generally - about one and one quarter inches thing and an inch wide; the smaller about as long but narrower; . . . a couple of fragments 1877.] Aboriginal Shell Money. 347 I picked up in an old Indian camp (Plate II., Figures 6 and T) are worth twenty-five cents each. The Indians are very ingeni- ous and economical in working up the aulones: wherever there is a broad, flat space they take out a dollar piece; where the curve is sharper, smaller ones. They especially value the outer edge ! of the whorl or lip, where the color is brilliant, and these they are obliged to cut into twenty-five cent pieces. You will see that the uhllo is cut into pieces of different sizes, and even pieces of the same size vary in value according to their brilliancy. ... All the money that I have seen was strung on grocery twine, but they often use sinew of various kinds, also the outer bark of a weed called milkweed 2 about here.” The uhllo necklace has three or four strings of very small glass beads above the shells, forming a band about one quarter of an inch wide, which encircles the neck. . . . A common deep conical basket, of about a bushel and a half capacity, such as the Squaws use for carrying their household effects, is worth one and one half or two strings of uhllo, that is, fifteen or twenty dollars. Another form of money is made from the heavy shells of a bivalve, a ponderous clam (Pachydesma crassatelloides) peculiar to the southern coast of California. This is cut into circular pieces of the diameter as shown in the annexed figure (65), the thickness of the pieces varying with the thickness of the shells from which they are made. The larger pieces (Figure 65, 1 and 1 a), of the value of twenty-five cents, are cut from the thicker parts of the valves, and the smaller (Figure 65, 2, 2 a), of the value of four cents each, from the thinner portions. This money, of which the smaller pieces closely E resemble the disk-shaped beads of Fie the natives of the Paumotu Islands Us in the South Pacific,t except in be- ing of twice the diameter and thick- 1 Columella. 2 Asclepias. 3 Placer County, Cal. * The Paumotus are in about longitude 130° W. and latitude 23° S. The pieces made by these islanders are of about one half the diameter and one half the thickness of Figure 5; they are made of Oliva carneola, and it must require great labor, as these transverse sections are formed by grinding off the small upper whorls of the apex, and also nearly the entire body whorl, until a disk is obtained of an average thick- ness of only one twelfth of an inch; these are strung alternately with thinner disks ed the same diameter, made of the inner hard shell of the cocoanut, forming a neat necklace, with a pleasing contrast of black and white. : 1-a. 2 (Fic. 65.) HAWOCK. 348 Aboriginal Shell Money. [June. ness, is strung upon strings the same as beads in a necklace, for which purpose it is also used. Figure 5 is the same in form and of about the size of the pieces made from Sazidomus gracilis CS. aratus), according to Yates, and in use “among the Indians of Lake County. Eighty of these disks are valued at one dollar.” : | This money, which is called hawock, according to Mr. Powers, is universal throughout Middle and Southern California, though different tribes call it by different names and attach different values to it. “ Sometimes disks of hawock are made two inches in diameter - and half an inch thick, which are rated at one dollar a piece, but such large pieces are seldom seen.” “ The Bear River Indians (Neeshenams) are the only ones I have seen who count it by the single piece, the others rate it by the foot or yard. . . . It is sometimes strung upon a string many yards long, in hundreds of pieces, and doubled into lengths of about a yard. The Wi-Lackees make the buttons thin, then every tenth one thicker, so that it looks like a Catholic rosary, and their name for it is tocalli.” In a photograph of a young woman of the Bear River Indians, named VAlputteh, received from Mr. Powers, her person is adorned with a necklace of hawock which, it is stated, is ten yards long, requiring to be wound several times about her neck, and consisting of about 1160 pieces, valued at $232. Another of the same tribe, Pedah or Captain Tom, has an inventory of money and ornaments made of the uhllo (Haliotis), hawock (Pachydesma), and colcol (Olivella), of the total value of $479. The uhllo, however, seems to be the most highly prized, and in -various ways is wrought into gorgets, girdles, and head-dresses, as the hawock and coleol is principally used for necklaces. Gor- gets of Haliotis are especially valued, as they require a large and fine shell for this purpose. Upon reviewing the present and my previous papers, it will be observed that the species of shells named in the following table have been or are now used as money by barbarous tribes on this continent and in other parts of the world. ZINCOTYPE, Prats II. ABORIGINAL SHELL MONEY, [ June, l Shell Money. rigina Abo 850 “proamyN Jo supna oy up ‘prvkey £q punog $ əvuıs puv ‘ ymy} q7 pue qyxrs aqy ur VIPUT up əsn up ospy ‘opesy uwpyy oy} 10% ‘ Aq peqodwy 4 “YON on Jo saəpvaz-anz oy} Aq SoYsey uerpuy oy} 103 edosng woaz PayrodUIT w **** sleds unouyun (awa papuyq) “ry wod BILAN Aqg wseqo vuoz try ‘snjnuue sadip `eumougun SYVpooA, 10 segpno | aepnog ut peasy | a “amouyay usouyun u{ļsounyun | “aMouyay usouyun |tt usouyun | ‘umouyag |tt asouyay | simo podury | “umouyuy usouyun | uqg dorg pur ouow veutny | 4I vuo eeads ‘SNOIDUY NVOINAV ANV OLAIOVd-OdNI *yooquryong 10o undue M IYA | eee yooyuvyoyy | Ba de Sie f HUM ry umgepun wnupong “yooquvyang 10 wndue m INYA yooyurzəa jy | a TEE a AA ete gent: t wngenoyeuaro (aoofsng) emasda "yooyuryong 10 undue, IMAM |tt HOUN | JPAM 'T Sap ge (uoafsng) epnsdg ‘edeodurvdure y 10 wndwr m yout ees yooysnbog 10 səFneyenbog | Suvyend 10 wero IS PIH | qog [OTA BHBUDII = “J VlABUedJEW MUIA ISvoy) Isva—'VOINANV HLUON “HIWOOT, pae yoomep [++ ****** 'saerpur euog £q pos : wep ueo p PID StR ‘S = ‘P19 sngere snuopxeg qodurty ejoy soy sag wyejnuars (vuidvon'y) vTjainssty ‘OTA |**** +t suerpag wrazosTTeD £q pasn sro teeesscoaotny 10 ‘uopny ‘auojeqy ttrt ertt UOSUBAR suasana SJO LH "109-100 |"*" ‘8UBIpUI vpuIogeo Aq Pasy) Iqum p19 *' £q vynortdiq sato *saqity ueysery Jo enb-vg-Aj 10 wnb- prre sees? 'SUBIPUT BPUAIOJ siS WOOT, io ysng, irriteer +I seua wmnipezuacg “1180 jo "ye0u19-00-M117 10 YOrYo-09-TTV SIIOYS 43007, 10 ysny, |***** "e Aqg wnsonead q = ‘ado unsouvpuy wnipezuaq *AINOW 40 SWYN ‘IVNIDIUOTY le “TISHG 40 AWYN ‘TYNIDINOTY “AWVN uviIndog ‘INVN OLLNaIDg ‘ISVOD ISIM —'VOINANV HLUON 1877.] Gaming among the Utah Indians. 851 GAMING AMONG THE UTAH INDIANS. BY EDWIN A. BARBER, p their indolent hours, gaming and horse-racing are extensively resorted to by the nomadic tribes of America. Having much unoccupied time on their hands, they turn to these exciting amuse- ments as a relief from the consuming ennui of idleness. During the summer of 1874, I had some opportunities for studying the habits of the Yampa branch of the Utah nation, located in the northwestern corner of Colorado. In strolling through their encampment, one was always attracted to several of the more prominent wick-e-ups, or canvas lodges, by the sound of subdued music, and on entering either of the tents, the visitor was rewarded for his trouble by the sight of several war- riors engaged in gambling. So great, indeed, is their earnest- ness when engaged in ‘this pastime that they do not observe the arrival of strangers, and as they progress they become so . deeply absorbed in the exciting reverses of the game that they can only be awakened to a consciousness of surrounding objects by the greatest exertion. They may commence by putting up small articles of apparel or ornament, such as moccasins, neck- laces, or strings of beads. Should these be lost, blankets, powder, ‘lead, caps, flour, the highly prized wampum, and other miscel- laneous articles will be staked, and the unfortunate loser not infrequently comes out of the play-room without an object in the world that he can call his own or his wife’s. All is lost, inelud- = horses, his house, and even the very,rags he jhas on his k The manner of procedure is as follows: A row of players, consisting of five or six or a dozen men, is arranged on either side of the tent, facing each other. Before each man is placed a - bundle of small twigs or sticks, each six to eight inches in length and pointed at one end. Every tête-à-tête couple is provided with two cylindrical bone dice, carefully fashioned and highly pol- ished, which measure about two inches in length and half an inch in diameter, one being white and the other black, or sometimes ornamented with a black band. At the rear end of the apart- ment, opposite the entrance, several musicians beat time on tude parchment-covered drums. The whole assembly, sitting “ Turk fashion ” on the ground, then commence operations. The pledges are heaped up near the players, and each couple soon mes oblivious of all the rest. One of the gamblers incloses 352 Gaming among the Utah Indians. [ June, a die in each hand, and, placing one above the other, allows the upper bone to pass into the lower hand with the other die. This process is reversed again and again, while all the time the ‘ hands are shaken up and down in order to mystify the partner in the passing of the dice. The other man, during the perform- ance, hugs himself tightly by crossing his arms and placing either hand under the opposite arm, and, with a dancing motion of the body, swaying to and fro, watches the shuffling of the dice with the closest attention. When this has gone on for a few minutes, the latter suddenly points with one arm at the opposite arm of his partner, and strikes himself under that arm with the other hand. Whichever hand of his rival he chooses is to be opened, and if the dice are in it, the guesser takes them and pro- ceeds in the same manner. If, however, he misses, and the dice are not there, he forfeits one counter, and this is taken from his bundle and stuck into the ground in front of the other. Thus the game continues until one or the other has gained every stick, when he is proclaimed the winner and carries off the stakes. During the entire game, the players, as well as the musicians, keep time to the accompaniment in their movements, and chant the while a weird, monotonous tune (?) which runs in this wise: rey oe tas N rebar Des ot \e Ne No i’ o. Fa ee ee Le el z ~ Àh ah, ab, ab, ah, ah ab, ah, ah, ab, ab, IF: : s Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,” ah, ah, ah, DE! BER BENG ORETTE TS Į So ae === = | ry Se ae a IE” ae Ah, ah, ah, ah, ` ah, ah, ab. No words are sung, but the syllable ah is pronounced in a whin- ing, nasal tone for every note. The entire party keep excellent time, and are always together, rising and falling in the scale with wonderful precision, since the tune itself is so devoid of melody that it is often difficult for a white man to acquire it. This monotonous chant is kept up for hours and even days, and the competitors seem never to grow weary. The war and dance 1877.] Gaming among the Utah Indians. 353 songs of the Utes are different from this, yet they are somewhat similar. Gaming is not confined to the male sex of the tribe, but is in- dulged in to some extent by the squaws. During the palmy November days of Indian summer, when the whole tribe throw off care and give themselves up in a measure to enjoyment, the old crones will often gather for a game of chance, on a more limited scale. All their trinkets and gewgaws are brought out and their ornaments stripped from their persons, and the game of chance proceeds. I have frequently seen these toothless old hags quarreling over some paltry toy, with a pack of filthy play- ing-cards in their hands. But assuredly they do not play any standard game with them; they have methods of their own, of which I could make nothing. These cards are obtained from traders and explorers, but when they cannot be had, the squaws will simulate the American cards in their own rude manufact-_ ures: the spots are represented by fanciful devices, and the face- _ cards by grotesque paintings. The men usually disdain these feminine methods of gaming, and practice the more exciting mode as I have described it above. In this connection it might be well to say a few words relat- ing to the negligence of ethnologists in omitting to collect the Songs and chants of the American tribes, when it has been in ` their power. This branch of the science seems to have been entirely overlooked (excepting in a few instances), though it is almost as important as many others which are studied so assidu- ously. That the tunes or dirges of unallied families differ to a great extent there can be no doubt, and frequently these are of as much importance in seeking to determine affinity or re- lationship as the study of philology. It is desirable, therefore, that every chance be seized for jotting down these native chants, as in a very few years more such opportunities will have passed away forever, N. B. Since this paper was placed in the hands of the editor, a Bulletin has been issued by Hayden’s United States Geological Survey, containing an interesting article on the Twana Indians of Washington Territory, by the Rey. M. Eells, in which their Modes of gambling are mentioned. The second game played by this tribe bears a singularly striking resemblance to the above- described method, differing principally in the musical accompani- Ment. It is probable that the two-bone game was, and is still, common among many of the western tribes. VOL. XI, — xo, 6. 23 354 Recent Literature. [June, RECENT LITERATURE. Caron’s Deer or America.1— We notice this important work from advance sheets kindly farnishad by the publishers. The author is well known to have devoted much time and care to the study of the Cervide, and'has already published many articles on the subject which have shown him to be a close and accurate observer, and have made him the highest authority in this country respecting all that relates to the natural history proper of these valuable and interesting quadrupeds. Male Moose, (Fic. 66.) n the present work we have the final outcome and thorough digest of his long studies, in the form of an exhaustive monograph which will at once become the standard authority. He is to be congratulated upon this consummation, which will redound so largely to his reputation as an 1 The Antelope and Deer of America A Comprehensive Scientific Treatise upon the Le Natural History, including the —— Habits, Affinities, and Capacity for Do- E paanga of the A Antilocapra and Cervidæ of North America. By JOHN N DEAN , LL. D. New York: Published a “Hurd and Houghton; Boston: H. O. SARE and Seamer ; Cambridge: The Riverside Press. 1877.] Recent Literature. ` 355 observer of nature, and we congratulate ourselves upon the acquisition of so careful, so thorough, and so reliable a treatise. We do not take the present occasion for any elaborate review of the work, in which to track after statements with the view of verifying or criticising particulars; we wish rather simply to point out the general character of the work, and bring its high average of merit and reliabil- ity prominently into view. The work is open to serious criticism in the matter of the classification which the author has seen fit to adopt, Scandinavian Elk. : (Fre. 67.) and we doubt that his views on this portion of the subject are sound, from a purely scientific stand-point, or that they will receive the coun- tenance of professed therologists. But we do not think that this criti- sm will in the least disturb the author, who seems to have aimed at Some convenient arrangement of the ruminants, by which the relations 5 of the species he treats may be readily recognized, rather than any form- al Presentation of the technics of the case. And we would immedi- ately add that his elaborate, minute, and faithful descriptions of the spe- cles put us in possession of exactly the facts that we should most wish for 358 Recent Literature. [June, illustrates the honorable capacity of the amateur naturalist (we use the term in its best sense, implying high credit, without a shade of the re- verse) to supplement museum-acquired learning with other information of equal scientific importance, of greater practical utility, and much more general interest. This is exactly what the present work very conspicu- ously accomplishes. It will, we make no doubt, meet with a hearty wel- gaged as we are upon a general history of North American Mammals, we would thank the author personally for a contribution so timely and so exactly to our hand; we are selfishly pleased to find so generous a slice of the work already cut and dried for our own use. As already intimated, we do not here propose any elaborate review of the work in detail, and we close with allusion to a few leading points: the prongbuck is very fully treated in the first sixty-five pages; then follow the eight “distinct and well-defined ” North American species of Cervide, namely, the moose, the wapiti or American elk, the two spe- cies of reindeer, woodland and barren-ground, the common or Vir- ginian deer, the mule deer (commonly called black-tail in the West), ' the Columbian or true black-tailed deer of the Pacific slopes, and a cu- rious little species, lately described by the Judge as new, under the name of Cervus Acapulcensis. We are not opisi with the latter; the recognition of the other seven agrees with our previous impressions on the subject, and with the now generally accepted views of the best au- thorities. These species occupy pp. 66-322. The work very properly continues with a comparison of the several European species. Sroa are frequently puzzled by the reverse use of the terms “moose” and “elk.” The author makes it perfectly aen that the American moose is the analogue of the palmate-horned animal called “ elk” in Europe; and that the American elk is the tous of the stag or red deer of Europe. From among the many characteristic wood-cuts which illus- trate the volume, we have selected as most useful to reproduce for our readers the four pictures which show up this — E. Coves. Brehm’s Thierleben. Band 9, Heft 1-7. Lipie 1877. For sale by Wester- mann & Co., 524 Broadway, New York. 40 cents a Heft. Revisio critica Capsinarum, eaii il et Fenniæ. Ab Odo M: Reuter. Helsingfors. 1875. 8vo, South Kensington faiva fela Handbooks. Branch Museum, Bethnal Ciroen. _ Economic Entomology. By Andrew Murray, F. L. S. Aptera. Chapman and Hall, 193 Picadilly, London. 12mo, pp- 433, with numerous cuts. Capsinæ ex America boreali in Museo Holmiensi asservatæ, descriptæ ab O. M. Reuter. Stockholm. 1875. 8vo, pp. 33 . 1877.] . Recent Literature. 359 Bidrag till Kännedomen om nagra Hemipterers Dimorphism. Ab O. M. Reuter. esa 1875. 8vo, U.S. Pandoj Commisiot. Circular 1, 2. Bulletin 1. Destruction of the Young or Unfledged Locusts. Washington, D. C. Department of the Interior. . S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories. F. V. Hayden in charge. 8vo, pp. The Insects of the Tertiary Beds at Quesnel, British Columbia. By S. H. Scud- der. From the Report of Progress 1875-6. Geological Survey of Canada. 8vo. Variations in the Colors of Animals. By S. W. Garman. (Reprinted from vol. xxv. of the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Sci- ence.) Salem. 1877. 8vo, pp. 17. n the Brain of Coryphodon. By E. D. Cope. (Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, March, 1877.) Svo. pp. 5, two plates. Studien an Turbellarien. Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Plathelminthen. Von Charles Sedgwick Minot aus Boston. (Arbeiten aus dem PE ETER chen Institut in Würzburg.) Hamburg. 1877. 8vò, pp. 83, 5 p Die Verwandtschaftsbeziehungen der gegliederten Thiere pin “Swobilation und Segmentation. Ein Versuch zur ao specieller Homologien zwischen Ver- tebraten, Anneliden und Arthropo Von C, Semper. (Arbeiten aus dem Zoolo- pares. -Zootomischen Institut in Acie Bd. iii. Heft 2, 3.) 8vo, pp. 289, 11 pia tes, urs prononcé par J. J. A. Worsae, ee R devant la Société Royale des Agnes du Nord, à Poccasion du 50me Anniversaire de la Fondation, dans la Séance du 28 Janvier, 1875. 8vo, pp. 39 wpe portrait of Rafn Descrizioni di alcune Specie di Opilioni. dell’ SIAE Ai Malese appartenenti al useo Civico di Genova, pel Dott. T. Thorell. 8vo, pp. 28. 1876. Due Bag xotici descritti dal Dott. T. Thorell. Gerora 1877. * 8vo, pp. 10. (Estratto dagli meal del Museo Civico di H. Nat. di Genova.) eber Helicopsyche als eine der pole Ppa a es bagshonnde Phryganide erkannt. Von C, von Siebold. 8vo, pp. 7 Beitrage zur Schmetterlings-Fauna von E EEN Von H B. Möschler. 8vo, pp. 60, two Estheria Californica Pack. Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Phil. Doct. on H. Lenz. 8vo, pp. Die Stammväter unserer Hunde-Rassen. Von L. H. Jeitteles. Wien. 1877, 12mo, pp. 68. Indices d’au nouveau Genre de ife dits de Saint Ouen. Par Paul Gervais. 4to, pp. 5 Observations relatives & un Squale Pèlerin eiteibidliantt t pêché à Concarneau. Par MM. Paul Gervais et Henri Gervais. p ve (Extrait des Comptes rendus des KA +, T. Ea P af. 1 Tyres. P © 76.) Round the World in 320 days. Six Months of Inland Excursions. Programme of the First Voyage. Organized by La Société des Voyages d’Etudes autour du Monde. London; Trübner & Co. 1877. With pa and chart. 12mo, pp. 54. 360- General Notes. [June, GENERAL NOTES. BOTANY.! VEGETABLE Digestion.” The following note is an abstract of Pro- fessor Morren’s communication : — There is no doubt that certain plants have the power to allure, retain, kill, dissolve, and absorb insects and even larger animals. There is nothing astonishing in this, for to my mind the facts observed among the carnivorous n are in perfect harmony with the general theory of the nutrition of plan Digestion is i ‘the exclusive characteristic of carnivorous plants, but is common to all living beings, animal as well as vegetable. In animals, digestion in its essence is considered by chemists to be an indirect fer- mentation, consisting of an hydration, followed by a splitting up into new and more simple forms of the digestible materials. ‘These marvel- ous and necessary transformations are accomplished by the action of mysterious and powerful substances called ferments. The ferments are derived, according to all appearances, from the albuminous matters, and seem to be a part of the protoplasm itself. They are more or less distributed throughout all the animal organism, but particularly abundant in the juices which are secreted especially in view of digestion, such as the saliva, gastric, pancreatic, and intestinal juices. They may be ex- tracted in a separate form and their activity still be preserved. The food, as it is taken in by the animal, is not usually in a state fitted to pass into the system, and these ferments act upon it and produce the necessary changes, the albuminoids pass into “ peptones,” starch into sugar, fats into an emulsion, each class of foods being transformed by its own appropriate ferment. Plants also take in their food in a crude state, and digestion is as essential with them as with animals. The ferments form an integral part of the vegetable organism, and are even more numerous in the vegetable than the animal kingdom Diastase or glycosic Simei. This is the digestive ferment of amyla- ceous substances. By its influence starch is hydrated and divided into the readily soluble products, dextrine and glucose — 2(CgH,,0;) + H,O = C,H,,0; + all Starch -+ water = dextrine + gluco In animals these changes are brought about by on ir and pancere- atic juice. A fine illustration of this action among vegetables is seen in the germination of masses of barley, or malting as it is commonly termed. 1 Conducted by Pror. G. L. Goopa 2 La Digestion Vegetale, note sur le rôle des ferments dans la nutrition des plantes, communiquée a Académie Royal de Belgique dans sa séance du 21 Octobre, 1876. Par M. spies Morren, Professor a l'Université de Liége. 1877.] Botany. 361 This action of diastase probably takes place when any reservoir of starch is used by a plant for purposes of growth. “We are not to occupy ourselves here with the nature and origin of diastase, still less with its action. .... Suffice it to state for the present that chemists establish no distinction between the animal and vegetable diastase, of which the power is the same and the rôle identical.” “Ferment inversif.” Saccharose, like starch, is a ternary compound accumulating in certain tissues in view for its need in nutrition, as in the stem of the sugar-cane, or root of the sugar beet. Though soluble it is not assimilated as such by animals, but is split up by this transpos- ing ferment into glucose and levulose or transposed sugar. Ci HOn -+ H,O = CH 20O; + CH0. Saccharose + water = glucose + levulose. These changes are seen on a grand scale in the beet root during the flowering of that plant. , Emulsive and saponaceous ferment. The fat bodies are digested in the intestines of animals by means of pancreatic ‘juice by first making them into a fine mechanical mixture followed by a somewhat compli- cated chemical change called saponification, or hydration and division into glycerine and fatty acids. For example : — C;H;(C,;H3,0.0) + 3H,O = C;H,0; + 3(C,;H,0.HO) Trioleine + water = glycerine + oleic acid. This same ferment exists in vegetables. Oleaginous seeds when ground up in water form an emulsion, and if allowed to stand for a time glycer- ine and fatty acid are produced. There is no doubt that the oils and fats in vegetables constitute a nutritive provision, as the grains of Cruci- fers, Linum, and bulbs of the Onion will show. Albuminous ferment ; pepsine. We come now to the digestion of ni- trogenous substances under the influence of the pepsine of the gastric juice. Mr. Darwin, as his work on Insectivorous Plants will show, believes there is no doubt but that plants have this same power, and quotes M. Frankland’s experiments, in which he found pepsine in the glands of the Drosera. More recently MM. Max Rees and H. Will (Bot. Zeit. 29 Oct., 1875), have extracted this ferment by the usual process, and with it they have caused artificial digestion of fibrine. It 's in the grains that there is most frequently found a considerable quan- tity of albuminoids stored up as gluten, legumin, and aleurone to serve the requirements of the germinating plantlet. These substances are y in an insoluble state, but are dissolved as required. The fer- ment doing this valuable work of solution is not thoroughly understood. A. Gorup-Besanez and H. Will (Bericht der Deutsch. Chem. Gesells., Berlin, 1874, p. 1478) state that the seeds of Vicia sativa contain with ‘Starch a notable proportion of legumin, and when these seeds germi- hate the legumin disappears, and leucine and asparagine are produced ; 4nd they presume these bodies result from a division produced by a 362 General Notes. [ June, ferment residing in the seed. The grains of Vicia were treated first for forty-eight hours with alcohol and afterwards with glycerine. Drops of such solutions were placed on starch of which notable quantities were changed into sugar, while similar liquids in which seeds had not been digested produced no change. It is safe to conclude that the existence of a pepsine ferment is established in the vegetable kingdom. Thus we have established among plants the digestion of starch, sugar, oils, and albuminoids, precisely the four normal kinds of digestion in man and animals. But we find still other and often very complicated vege- table ferments, such as the myrosine causing the mustard fermentation, and pectose of the pectic fermentation. The similarity of composition of milk and endosperm, or in other words the food of the young animal, and young plant, has long been noticed. As an illustration we give the following : — WHEAT FLOUR (DRY). ©OW’sS MILK (DRY). Stare z 80 Sugar of milk . 7 l 605 Fatty matters 20 } 206 MR ge, 258 { Pa Gluten 3 : < T9 190 Caseine : ; . 242 } 339 Albumen j à 20 Albumen . Š i 95 Salt š i ý 10 Salt ý z s i 56 1000 1000 Both contain two ternary and two nitrogenous ingredients. During germination the endosperm undergoes nearly the same changes as the milk in the digestive system of the animal. The digestive power of vegetation appears very evident if we consider those plants destitute of chlorophyll. Thus the Bactaria and similar plants are representatives of fermentation. But the majority of plants have chlorophyll, and their activity differs from those without it, by their absorbing carbonic dioxide and elaborating their own food. To consider only the phenomena which interests us at this moment, one recognizes three very distinct and consecutive functions, namely, elaboration, digestion, and assimilation. Elaboration has for its part the production of carbohydrates out of — carbon dioxide and water. It is characteristic of chlorophyll, and takes place in sunlight, the type of its products being starch (CgH,)05)- Digestion takes place in protoplasm in the presence of oxygen with a _ production of carbonic dioxide. It consists in a hydration not accompa- nied by a molecular change, by which the elaborated matter is dissolved and diffused, starch passing into glucose (C,H,,O,). Assimilation is the fixing of these digested materials into the texture of the plant, the glucose passes into permanent cellulose (C,H9;)- All these processes may be confined to a single cell, as in many cellular plants, while in the higher forms the labor is much divided. Protoplasm includes the sum total of vegetable activity. The cells re- ‘main active during a definite time, that is to say, while their protoplasm continues to live in the shelter of the protecting membrane which it it- uni- 1877.] Botany. 363 self has made; finally it abandons the cell to pass to others ‚towards the new centres of activity, but the tissues, organs, members, the organ- isms thus constructed remain to attest that life has passed that way, that they are the works of the activity of an organism, like the shell abandoned by the mollusk. Much wrong has been done in contrasting the nutrition of animals with vegetables. They are the same and ought to be studied in a paral- lel manner. The only difference, to the advantage of vegetables, consists in this, that plants when they have utilized and applied the supplies which they possessed, have the power of taking up inorganic materials and elaborating them into new organic food, but after such elaboration, nutrition accompanied by respiration, circulation, transformation, and assimilation take place as in animals. In effect the plant, wheat, for example, accumulates a supply of nourishment in the grain near the embryo. If this accumulation feeds an animal or nourishes the plant itself, it behaves in the same manner. In the one case it is reduced to a pulp, submitted to the influence of the pancreatic, gastric, and other juices, and is finally absorbed. If the grain is placed under conditions for germination like reduction and transformations are undergone, and the plant is nourished instead of an animal. The truth of these assertions has been demonstrated by the interest- ing experiments of M. Ph. Van Tieghem, upon the germination of the Belle de Nuit (Recherches Phys. sur la Germination. Ann. des Sc. Nat. 1873.) This able observer has nourished the embryos extracted from the grains and separated from their endosperm by means of paste of the starch of either potato or buckwheat. The grains of starch in contact with the embryo were dissolved, which proves that the necessary ferment resides in the embryo. Many peculiar organic compounds are common to both forms of life. Formic acid, for example, found among ants, corresponds to that found n many nettles; butyric acid in perspiration to the pulp of tamarinds ; palmetic acid in animal fats to the fruit of palm; oxalic acid is quite com- mon to both; and there are numerous other like examples. * P rotoplasm of both forms of life are alike, or at least, give the same reactions and have the same movements. The only thing living in a plant is its protoplasm, as it makes the cells and constructs the organism. e same may be said of the animal structure. Thus we are able to infer identity of effect from identity of cause. The unity of structure is the corollary of the unity of nutrition. o return to carnivorous plants, we are able to recognize that abstrac- tion made on account of their singular structure, enters as a particular case in the general theory. The most interesting thing which they present is the presence of pepsine ferment at their surface in a secreted liquid. It is well to notice that the facts ascertained among the Droseracew, 80 strange that they have been styled idle stories, have had this happy 364 General Notes. [June, result, that they have opened a new horizon upon a simple and general eory. é, Professor Morren closes his paper by stating his hope and desire to go still further in this difficult and interesting line of research. — BY- RON D. Hatstep, Bussey Institution, March 14, 1877. On THE Porosity or Woop. — Professor Sachs has published a — preliminary communication in regard to the porosity of wood, which contains notes of many interesting experiments. Two of these will be _ how briefly noticed. 1. The best grade of artist’s vermilion was treated with a large quantity of distilled water and repeatedly filtered through filter-paper. The pigment was now left in so fine a state that it exhib- ited the well-known Brownian movement. Fresh cylinders of wood three to four em. long, cut from a living stem of a conifer, were fastened to the lower end of a glass tube which at the upper part communicated with a broad vessel ; tube and vessel were filled with the pigment emul- sion so that the wood was under a constant hydrostatic pressure of 160 em. Even at the end of three days the water which filtered through was perfectly clear and contained no trace of the vermilion. The upper trans- verse sections of the cylinders showed that all the layers of the spring- wood were bright red, the autumn layers were not red at all, or at most only in radial stripes, the heart-wood was wholly uncolored. On split- ting the cylinder of wood, the vermilion was seen to have penetrated no- where deeper than two to three millimeters, corresponding to the length of the cells in the wood employed; the rest of the wood was colorless. The microscope shows that the majority of the spring-wood cells are wholly filled with vermilion even to their lower tips; also that the bor- dered pits of these cells are thickly filled with vermilion, and sometimes this did not pass through into the neighboring cells which seemed to be in communication with them; there was obviously an obstruction in the bordered pits themselves. This is interpreted as showing that there still remains in the discoid markings, a thin membrane as claimed by Hartig. The autumn wood cells appeared to take up very little vermil- ion, and the medullary rays none. “These results confirma Hartig’s and Sanio’s views, that the bordered pits of the spring and a part of the autumn wood are closed. Nevertheless there exist at the dividing line between the autumn and spring wood passages which allow air to pen- etrate.” ‘The latter is shown by fastening a three to four em. cylinder of wood from a living stem, to a bent tube holding mercury and by this means exerting a pressure of fifteen to twenty ct. If the whole is placed under water, the line between the autumnal and the spring wood will be seen to emit a circle of bubbles; but no air bubbles will escape from the first autumnal cells or the last spring cells. This experiment has been tried with the wood of the fir in January, and with Pinus Laricio, Pinus Brutia, and Pinus pinsapo in February. Both fresh and air-dry fir gave 1877.] : Botany. 365 this result; but if the wood is artificially charged with water, no air can be forced through it. Another portion of the paper refers to the resistance which the walls of wood cells offer to filtration. If distilled water and fresh wood be used, filtration can be conducted with great rapidity. The rate diminishes after a very short time. Professor Sachs has also examined the amount of air in cell-cavities. This amount he has endeavored to determine by a series of calculations, and he gives the following results : — Fir-stem, 100 cubic centimeters 25 ce. of cell-wall, 58.6 ce. water (in the cell cavities and imbibed by the walls), 16.4 cc. air-space. Geleznow had obtained different results, namely: 100 cc. fresh Betula alba wood contain 32.4 ec. cell-wall, 33.2 cc. water, 34.4 cc. air-space. It may be said in conclusion that Professor Sachs has found reason for emphasizing the statement in his text-book that a distinction must be made between the passage of water through wood by means of capillar- ity acting in the capillary cells, and by adhesion to the cell wall. The communication will lead botanists to look with interest for the memoir of which the present short paper is only a forerunner. Onton Smurt.1— Dr. Farlow’s essay on this subject is of great value as well to the agriculturist as to botanical science. The smut plant ( Urocystis Cepule) makes its appearance upon t onion leaves while they are still quite young. often changing the ania portion iuto a mass of black, dusty spores, previous to the formation of which the threads of the fungus have penetrated like a network among the cells of the leaf tissue. It is peculiar to America, and has probably come from some of our Wild species of onion. As a means of checking its ravages, which are Row limited to only a few localities, the author suggests as a wise precaution, the destruction of all wild and useless species of onion. Ground on which the smut has appeared should be burned over, and the earlier in the season the better. A knowledge of allied species, sup- ported by a limited experience of the disease in hand, tends to show - that the smut spores do not retain their vitality for more than four years; therefore by growing some other crop for a few seasons a partial eradication at least might be expec It remains for the suffering onion, growers to profit by this excellent instruction, and do all in their power to prevent the spread of the dis- ease into new localities With the aid of the plate, in which are figured the plant under con- sideration, rye smut, and spores of the corn smut, the relations which the onion smut bears tp some of the other members of the order Usti- ginee are pointed out. In a note at the close of the paper the new fungus is botanically described. — B. D. H. 1 Onion : nted by Dr. W. G. Farrow, of Harvard University, to the anor Bocleey ir rostit Agriculture, and published with a plate in their Twenty-fourth Annual Report 366 General Notes. [ June, Sets or Atca.— We have received the first fasciculus of Algæ Exsiceate Americe Borealis, published by W. G. Farlow, C. L. Ander- son, and D. C. Eaton. The present number comprises fifty species, principally from Key West and California, and is to be followed by other fasciculi, including the greater part of the marine species of the United States and some of the more interesting fresh-water alge. The fasciculi will be of two different sizes: one of the size of Sullivant’s Musci Cu- benses, containing Floridez and Chlorosporex, and the other of the size of ordinary herbarium sheets containing the larger Fuci, Laminaria, etc. The price of the smaller sized fasciculus is $8.00, and of the larger, $12.00. In order to be able to include some of the rarer species in the series only a limited number of sets have been prepared, of which a few are offered for sale, and may be obtained by addressing Prof. W. G. Far- low, 6 Park Square, Boston. SAXIFRAGA VirGINIENSIS, flore pleno. — A prettier plant in its way than this double-flowered wild Saxifrage we have never seen. It was discovered by Mr. Joseph S. Adam, in Canaan, Connecticut, and is a perfectly spontaneous production, first noticed as a single plant, but is now multiplied into two or three, one of which is given to the Cam- bridge Botanic Garden. It is a tall specimen for the species; the stalk bearing seventy or eighty flowers; and each one bears as many petals, in a full rosette, a quarter inch in diameter, pure white. The inflores- cence has the look of double-flowered Spiræa filipendula, or of a variety of Cardamine pratensis, which used to be in the gardens. The calyx is unchanged, an imperfect pistil is occasionally found in the centre ; but the rest of the flower consists of petals only, in many ranks. We trust it may be preserved in cultivation. — A. Gray. BoranicaL Papers in Recent Perioprcays. — Flora, ‘No. 5. Batalin. Mechanism of the Movements of Insect-Eating Plants (con- tinued in numbers 7 and 9, but not yet finished). Dr. E. Duby, New Mosses. Dr. J. Müller, Lichens from Texas. No. 6. Dr. Scriba, A _ Notice of the Life of Dr. F. W. Schultz. F. Buchenau, The Cross- Section of the Capsule in the German Junci (with a plate giving the transverse sections of 18 species). No.7. Dr. E. Stahl, An Explana- tion of Hymenialgonidia. No. 8. H. G. Holle, On the Activity of Assimilation in Strelitzia regine. (Not finished in 8 or 9.) Botanische Zeitung. No. 11. Notice of Agardhi’s Species, Genera, et Ordines Algarum. No.12. R. Caspary. Remarks in regard to the Protective Sheath of Vascular Bundles. (Noticing objections to his usé of the word protective-sheath (Schutzscheide.) No. 13. R. Cas- pary, On Nymphea Zanzibariensis, n. sp. No. 44 Dr. Nowakowski, On Conjugation in some Entomophthore. No.15. Otto Kuntze, Pre- ; liminary Report in regard to Cinchona. (Continued in No. 16.) . t 1877.] : Zoölogy. 36T ZOOLOGY. ÅMPHIOXUS IN THE BermMupAs. — It may interest the readers of The Naturalist to hear that Amphioxus has been discovered in the Bermudas. Mr. J. Matthew Jones and I have dredged it in the swift tide-way near the bridge at Flatts Village. The animals vary in length from three quarters of an inch to an inch and a half, and appear to be quite abun- dant in a belt of coarse sand in two to three fathoms of water. — G. Brown Goopr, Hamilton, Bermuda, April 4, 1877. THELYPHONUS GIGANTEUS POISONOUS. — Dr. H. C. Yarrow for- warded us in February, 1875, a specimen of this arachnid, with a letter from Dr. J. F. Broughter, of Fort Craig, New Mexico, in which he states his belief that this animal is poisonous, and adds, “ I know the Mexicans here regard it as extremely poisonous.” He incloses the fol- lowing extract from a letter of Dr. Lewis C. Kennan, of Santa Fé, N. M “In regard to the Thelyphonus giganteus, I have no doubt of its ven- omousness; I can demonstrate the poison apparatus. While stationed at Fort Buchanan, on the border of Sonora, in'1855, I knew an Indian boy bitten on the temple who never recovered. Several horses were bitten on the lip, champing the insect in their hay, and the tumefaction and general distress were as great as from the bite of a rattlesnake. The insect is so extremely sluggish that great violence is necessary to make them bite. I had a French servant who frequently brought them to me in his hands and pocket, and I even suspected the omnivorous Gaul of cooking and eating them as a sort of land lobster, but they never troubled him in any way. The belief in their venomousness is universal in Mexico. To my mind the fact is beyond question. If not, what is the teleology of the fangs?” New Enromortogicat Works. ~ Bulletin, No. 2, vol. iii., of Hay- den’s United States Geological Survey of the Territories is a bul pamphlet of 340 pages, containing three papers with the following titles : Western Diptera: Descriptions of New Genera and Species of Diptera from the Region West of the Mississippi, and especially from California. By C. R. Osten Sacken. Report upon the Insects collected by P. R. Uhler during the Explorations of 1875, including Monographs of the Families Oydnide and Falde, and the Hemiptera collected by A. S. Pack- — ard, Jr., M. D. By P. R. Uhler. Descriptions of the Araneæ collected in Colorado in 1875 by A. S. Packard, Jr., M. D. By T. Thorell, with an appendix by J? H. Emerton. ; We may state what is not mentioned in Professor Thorell’s paper, that he found several species of spiders-in Colorado, closely allied to North- eastern Asiatic forms. This is confirmatory of our statement in the Monograph of the United States Geometrid Moths, that we found sev- eral Colorado moths of this family closely allied to those found on the : 368 General Notes. [June,. plateau of the Altai Mountains. Within a few days we have received a letter from Dr. Standinger, who writes, in acknowledging the receipt of a copy of the monograph, “ By the excellent pictures I recognized differ- ent North American species as identical with some from Europe or North Asia, described a long time since.” Criticisms or HAECKEL. — There has recently appeared a third edi- tion of Haeckel’s Anthropogenie, in which he attempts to explain man’s origin in accordance with the principles of evolution. He enters into the subject in detail. He has also written a work on the General His- tory of Creation. His agreeable style and polemical skill have secured for these books large sales, so that Haeckel’s influence over the public in Germany is very great and has now extended to other countries. He has likewise propounded various theories which have demanded the attention of zodlogists. Under these circumstances it becomes a matter of especial interest to learn the opinions of competent critics. All the published criticisms by zodlogists of acknowledged high standing with which I am acquainted are unfavorable, while the praises, which the writer personally has heard, were Bestowog for the most part by young persons. Professor Haeckel’s book is AE with numerous illustrations. Professor His’ states that on page 242 of the first edition of the Schöp- fungsgeschichte there are three figures, one of the egg of man, the egg an ape, and the egg of the dog, which are referred to in the text as showing the identity of the primordial egg in mammals, but Professor His calls attention to the fact that they are electrotypes of one and the same wood-cut. On page 170 Professor His calls attention to the fact that Haeckel gives figures of an embryo dog and human foetus, the for- mer of which is supposed to present a copy from Bischoff, the latter from Ecker. The forehead in the dog is three and one half mm. longer than in Bischoff’s figure, while that of the human embryo is two mm. shorter than the original, and made still smaller by the eye being drawn five mm. further forward, while the tail is twice as long as in the orig- inal. Professor Haeckel’s figures present the closest similarity with one another. Professor Bischoff? directly contradicts Haeckel’s assertion that we cannot discover, even with the aid of the best microscope with the bigh- ` est power, any essential difference between the egg of man and those most of the higher mammals, and states that the pictures showing the identity of mammalian embryos in Plate V. of Haeckel’s Anthropogenie differ essentially from the reality, and, finally, that the figures of apes’ faces given by Haeckel on his title-page show a great agreement existing between the features of apes and of the lower human races, but that this resemblance does not appear in photographs. KGrperform. Leipzie 1875. Page 1 1 Flis 7 aea ae math. phys Classe der k. b. Akad der wins München. 1876. Heft c 7 a | iy $ 1877.] Zoölogy. 369 Mr. Balfour * also cites Haeckel as having refigured one of his sections, employing a coloration to distinguish the layers, not founded upon Bal- four’s statements, but on the contrary in direct opposition to them. Professor Hensen in his article on the Development of the Rabbit, in His and Braune’s Zeitschrift fiir Anatomie und Entwickelungsgeschichte, volume i., calls attention to Haeckel’s picture of spermatozoa within the yolk of a mammalian egg, a thing which no man had ever seen up to that time. Professor Semper has openly attacked Haeckel, first in a lecture en- titled Der Haeckelismus in der Zoölogie, published in Hamburg, in 1876, and again in Offener Brief an Herrn Professor Haeckel in Jena, which has just come out. In the latter especially, numerous points are noted, all telling against Haeckel: thus on page 20 he says that Haeckel’s fig- ure of a section through an annelid’s head is incorrect, because it con- tains a cardinal vein, genital glands, liver sacks, and segmental organs, and none of these organs exist in the head ; the sexual glands are drawn, too, on the dorsal side of the body, whereas they always lie on the ven- tral side. 5 Professor Haeckel further makes statements of fact: one of these is that Goethe was an evolutionist. Kossmann, in a pamphlet which I have not at hand, has reviewed the citations from Goethe, and concludes that Haeckel’s assertion is false. Oscar Schmidt? draws the same con- clusion. Semper in his Offener Brief, page 11, affirms that Haeckel’s view that the Echinoderms are formed by worm colonies is belied by the facts of anatomy and embryology. Mecznikow, F. E. Schulze, Oscar Schmidt, and Barrois in their re- cent investigations on the sponges have questioned the accuracy of Haeckel’s observations on the embryology of these animals. But this subject is not thoroughly worked up yet, and Haeckel may be right r all ; but we pass to other criticisms. Mr. Alexander Agassiz condemns the “startling hypothesis of the genetic connection between the Geryonide and Aginide, . . . called b; Haeckel allzogenesis,” and propounded in his memoir on the Riisselqual- en. Agassiz adds that two short papers, recently published by Schulze and Ulianin, prove conclusively that “ Haeckel’s theory, like so many - other of his vagaries, had no foundation in truth. It was based not merely on an incorrect interpretation of facts, but the facts themselves — existed only in his imagination. As perhaps, with the exception of his moñograph of the Radiòlaria, no other memoir has contributed more _ than the one above quoted to give Haeckel the position he holds among zoölogists, we may be allowed to remind the Haeckelian school of nat- 1 Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, vol. x , page 521, note, 2 Deutsche Kundschau. O. Schmidt. April, 1876, page 95. 8 Silliman’s Journal. May, 1876, page 420. VOL. XI.— No. 6. 24 370 General Notes. [ June, uralists that this same genetic connection has furnished the text for many a sermon from their high priest. Infallible himself, he has been unsparing in his condemnation of the ignorance and shallowness of his opponents. Proved now to be in the wrong, we expect, therefore, jus- the next number of the Jenaische Zeitschrift for a thorough castigation of Haeckel by Haeckel, showing up the absurdity of allaogenesis and all that hangs thereby.” Finally, Professor Haeckel has proposed various theories. The most widely known of these is his Gastræa-Theorie. The inspiration of this was the theory of the germinal layers being homologous in all classes of animals. Do not let us confuse matters, but remember that this theory was suggested by Von Baer ! in 1828, and by Rathke half a century ago. It was brought prominently forward by Kleinenberg in his memoir on Hydra, and then further established by Mecznikow and Kowalewsky, and since by numerous observers. e Gastrea-Theorie is an attempt to explain these homologies. Claus ? proves that this is unsuccessfully tried, because it disagrees with the facts in many cases. He further points out that Haeckel has con- tradicted himself several times flatly in his system of classification. Haeckel has proposed a biogenetical fundamental law (biogenetisches Grundgesetz), namely, that embryology is the repetition of phylogeny. This is merely a misshapen repetition of the principle taught by Agassiz, that the embryos of higher animals resemble the adults of lower forms. Kölliker è demonstrates the falsity of Haeckel’s mode of stating the case by noticing some of the conclusions he draws, but which are disproved by facts. It does not seem to me desirable to continue these quotations and references, for I think that the inaccuracy of Haeckel’s pictures, of his statements of facts, and finally of his theories, has been sufficiently indi- cated. I close with a quotation from Professor His’s Unsere Körper- form, page 171 : — “ I myself have grown up in the faith that among all the qualifications of a naturalist, the only one which cannot be spared is accuracy and an unconditional respect for the truth. At present, also, I still hold the view that the absence of this one qualification tarnishes all others, may they be never so brilliant. Others may, therefore, admire Mr. Haeckel as an active and relentless party leader; in my judgment he has, by his very manner of attack, resigned his right to be reckoned an equal in Abe - circle of serious investigators.” — CHARLES SEDGWICK Minot. : [We should not lose sight of the fact that Haeckel stands as an orig- inal investigator far above some of his critics. He has established a dis- 1 Uber Entwickelungsgeschichte der Thiere. Theil I., page 245. 2 Die Typenlehre und E. Haeckel’s sog. Gastrwa-Theorie. Vienna, 1874. ? Entwickelungsgeschichte. 2te Aufl, page 392. 1877.] Zodlogy. 371 tinct school in biology. His works on the Monera, the Rhizopoda, the Sponges, Infusoria, Acalephs, etc., besides his masterly drawings and ele- gant literary style, should be taken into account in judging of his influ- ence on the progress of zodlogy. — Ep. NATURALIST. Notes on THE Beaver.— Along the banks of the Grand River, Northwestern Colorado, in the year 1874, I had an opportunity of ex- amining the work of a colony of beavers. I was first apprised of the vicinity of these animals by noticing a timber-shoot or clearing scooped out from the willow-brake to the edge of the water. It had the appear- ance of having been recently used, and the dragging of the logs had hollowed out the channel down to the brink of the stream. Through this slide I passed into a grove composed of slender willows which formed an almost impenetrable thicket. About fifty feet from the river was a circular clearing where the animals had been at work. Here the trees were larger, and many of them had been cut off obliquely within six inches of the ground, almost as nicely as though done with a steel axe. The logs had been hauled away, leaving an opening in the dense thicket. Farther on, larger trees had been felled which were still re- maining, the majority of them measuring six and eight inches in diam- eter, and one tree, which had been completely severed, measured at least fourteen inches. The wood had been gnawed around the circumfer- ence, a few inches from the base, the deepest cutting having been done on the side next the water, so that the tree might fall in that direc- tion. A few, however, had been felled so as to fall away from the river, which fact serves to show that these animals are endowed with an in- stinctive sagacity nearly approaching reason; for if they were guided merely by ordinary animal instinct, no mistakes would be made. Does not the bird build her nest as perfectly the first time as after years of practice? On the contrary, the beaver seems to be benefited by ex- perience, and just as man arrives at proficiency through his mistakes the beaver profits by his errors. I noticed that wherever there were trees which had been felled some time past and fallen in the wrong direction, the newer work had been accomplished, without exception, in a sys- tematic manner, all of the logs being cut so as to fall toward the dam. As I passed along the bank of the stream, I observed about ten timber- oots, running parallel, at right angles to the course of the current, and Separated by about fifteen feet. The larger trees had been cut near the water and above the dam for the purpose of floating them down, to Save the labor of dragging from the interior. I must have interrupted them at their work, as some of the cutting was perfectly fresh, and large, damp chips lay profusely around trees which had not been entirely severed. In one place where a tree had been cut almost through, water was dripping from the notch, showing where a beaver had just been at work. I picked up several chunks of wood, six or eight inches in di- ameter and about as much in length, the ends being obliquely parallel. 372 General Notes. [June, These had probably been prepared to fill up chinks in the walls of the dam. The trees had been, for the most part, cut into sections averaging ten feet in length, and the branches and twigs had been trimmed off as cleanly as a wood-chopper could have cut them, Along the banks of the White River, some weeks before, I noticed several artificial canals which had been dug out in the absence of natural side- channels in the river. These were designed for floating down logs. One canal was four’ feet in width, seven in length, and several feet deep. — E. A. BARBER. ANTHROPOLOGY. CREMATION AMONG THE SITKA Inp1Ans. — During the writer’s resi- dence at Sitka, the capital of Alaska Territory, he had the opportunity of witnessing the interesting ceremony of cremation as performed by the Sitka Indians. ; The subject of this solemn rite was the dead body of an old squaw, who was the mother of a numerous progeny. The day fixed for its con- summation was the one immediately succeeding her death. About nine o'clock on the morning in question, four of us filed through the wooden stockade that separates the town of Sitka from the Indian village. After threading our way for some distance among the rocks along the beach, and through the filth which invariably surrounds an Indian habitation, we at length reached the dwelling-place of the deceased. As we ap- proached we were greeted by the barking of a dozen or more wolfish- looking dogs. The hut was a substantial one, built of logs so carefully hewn that one could scarcely believe that their smooth surface was not due to the plane of a carpenter. ‘The roof was formed of long, thin slabs, split from spruce or cedar trees, and had but a slight pitch. Im- mediately over the centre of the house a large rectangular hole was cut in the roof to give egress to the smoke arising from the fire within. To prevent the snow and rain from descending through this opening, a short ridge-pole, held up by two small forks which were fastened, one at each eud of the hole, to the main ridge-pole, supported a covering of long slabs whose lower ends rested upon the main roof, while the upper ones projected far enough to screen the interior in a great measure from the uncomfortable effects of the driving storms. : , The only entrance was through a circular hole about two feet ın diameter, placed about six feet above the ground, and reached by half a dozen steps. Through this hole we had to crawl on our hands and knees, and by a corresponding descent on the inside we reached the floor, which was also made of slabs laid upon the ground, except a place about eight feet cut in the middle where the fire is built. At the end opposite the door was erected a kind of closet, arranged with shelves, upon which were stored the winter supplies of smoked salmon, seal oil, and dried berries, together with the usual stock of blank- ets and peltries. 1877.] Anthropology. 373 In one corner of the room we found the corpse, completely incased in blankets, which in turn were enveloped by a large, woven sea-grass mat, and tied up in such a manner as to bring the knees nearly to the chin, and thus enshrouded it was placed in a sitting posture. The house was about half-filled with Indians, — men, women, and children. On one side of the room a young brave was busily engaged with a pair of scissors in cutting off the long black hair of all the near relatives, both male and female. This seems to be one of the usual mourning customs among these Indians. After he had completed this tonsorial duty, during which he had been frequently interrupted by their sudden outbursts of grief, a procession of about twenty Indian warriors, headed by old An-a-hoots, the war chief of the tribe, filed slowly through the small portal. Each carried in his hand a long slender staff made of hard wood and carved all over with fantastic figures, while bright- colored Hudson Bay blankets fell in not ungraceful folds from their broad, square shoulders. These staves bore evidence of their great age by the high polish they possessed, as well as by their smoky color and pungent odor. The warriors ranged themselves in line along one side of the house, facing the centre, and immediately began a lugubrious death chant, keeping time by raising their staves about three inches from the floor, and letting them fall together. This doleful air was much more monotonous than musical. All this time the relatives of the deceased were rending the air with their lamentations. Every Indian present had his face thickly smeared with a fresh coat of seal oil and black paint, thus rendering himself almost inconceivably hideous. At the close of the death song two stalwart young braves mounted to the roof and lowered bark ropes through the aperture, which were made fast to the matting that enveloped the corpse. An-a-hoots made a Sign to the young men, and they began raising the body toward the Opening in the roof. They always remove their dead from their houses insthis manner instead of through the door, on account of a superstition they have that the spirit of the defunct made its exit in this way. But Just as it arrived at the roof one of the ropes broke, precipitating the lifeless bundle upon the fire below, scattering the burning coals in every direction. For a moment all was terror, confusion, and dismay. The shrieks and yells of superstitious horror that went up from the women and children baftle description. The body was hastily spatched from the fire and hurriedly carried out through the door to the funeral pile, which Was about forty yards in the rear of the house. No second attempt was made to take it through the hole in the roof, as they thought the old Woman’s spirit was angry and did not desire it. All the coals and ashes Upon which the body had fallen were then hastily scraped up with pieces of bark by the young squaws, carried out and thrown into the sea, for fear they might bring down unheard-of evils upon the heads of the liv- ing inmates of the house. 374 General Notes. [June, The pyre was built of cedar logs. The foundation consisted of two logs about five feet long and ten inches in diameter, laid parallel to each other, and about two feet apart. Upon these was placed transversely a layer of shorter logs of a less diameter, with interstices between them through which the flames could penetrate from below. ‘This base was surmounted by a small superstructure of cedar crib-work, large enough to contain the corpse and its mortuary habiliments. Into this the remains were placed and covered with small sticks of wood. Near the wind- ward side of this pile were laid two boards, along which were ranged the singing warriors; the only office of these boards appeared to be that of furnishing a hard, resonant surface ‘upon which the staves they used to indicate the measure of their chant could fall. Close by the crib was a pile of spruce and cedar, finely split, in order that it might burn more rapidly. The mourning relatives were seated on the ground with their backs turned toward the pyre, and about thirty feet distant. At last the torch was applied to the resinous tinder, the warriors began anew their melancholy dirge, the mourners, whose loud lamentations had be- fore sunk to a low sobbing, now broke forth afresh into heart-rending wails. Several hours were occupied in the entire consumption of the pile, during which the chanting never ceased, but after a time the out- ward grief of the bereaved was confined to weeping and subdued sobs. When the fire had died out the remaining ashes and cinders were care- fully collected and laid in their final resting-place. The cinerary urn consisted of a small house built after the model of their huts, being about three feet long by two feet wide, and two high, and placed about ten or twelve feet above the ground on four posts. These dead houses are often carved and painted on the exterior in the most cabalistic manner. It was formerly the custom among these In- dians to kill a number of slaves upon the occasion of the death of one of their tribe, but the military authorities of the United States have suppressed the barbarous practice since their occupation of the territory- These slaves are prisoners of war, taken from other tribes, and their bondage is hereditary. The number of slaves sacrificed depended upon the rank of the deceased. GEOLOGY AND PALZHONTOLOGY. Scupper on Fossu Insects FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA. — À small number of fossil insects obtained by Prof. G. M. Dawson in British Columbia, from tertiary beds, have been described by Mr. Scudder in the Report of Progress for 1875-76 of the Geological Survey of Cangas: The specimens are better preserved, as a general rule, than any that have been obtained from other American localities. Besides fragmentary indeterminate remains not mentioned, there are twenty-four species OF more which can at least be referred to families. Beetles were, with but _ one exception, absent from the collection, which consisted of Hymenop- 1877.] Geography and Exploration. 375 tera (ants and ichneumons) and two-winged flies, a nitidulid beetle, a plant-louse, and a dragon fly. Brain or Corypnopon. — In the last NATURALIST, page 312, is an abstract sent by Professor Cope, which purports to announce important discoveries recently made by himself in regard to the brain of Corypho- dı eference is made to the brain of Dinoceras (or Uintatherium), and a new classification is proposed based on these discoveries. It may interest the readers of the NATURALIST to know, first, that the brain- case of Coryphodon was described and figured by the writer a year ago (American Journal of Science, vol. xi., page 426, May, 1876), and that this fact was well known to Professor Cope, although he makes no refer- ence toit. Second, the account of the OCoryphodon brain, given by Pro- fessor Cope, so far as it differs from my description, is not correct, and shows that he has made a most serious mistake in his observations. Third, his statements in regard to the brain of Dinoceras are directly refuted by a series of well-preserved specimens. Fourth, the classifica- tion based on these alleged discoveries is untenable, as the known facts are against it. I deem it especially necessary to make these corrections, since Pro- fessor Cope has recently sent to the NATURALIST several other com- munications quite as incorrect as the present abstract. — O. C. Marsu. GEOGRAPHY AND EXPLORATION. GrocrapnicaLt News. — Herr Barth, the German explorer, survey- ing possessions in Africa for the government of Portugal, committ suicide in Loando while delirious with fever. Herr Mohr, another German explorer of the expedition, searching for the sources of the Congo River, is dead. After an absence of two years in the interior of Africa, Colonel Gordon reached Cairo on his way back to England on the Ist of last December. The task assigned him was the opening of a practicable commercial highway from that city to the Albert and Victoria lakes. Sir Samuel Baker, who preceded him, had been compelled to fight his way back from the extreme point reached in the interior of Gondokoro, and had left the newly explored country in a disturbed state. Colonel Gordon has succeeded in pacifying the hostile tribes, and has established a line of posts, fifty to one hundred miles apart, from Khartoum to Gondokoro, and thence to the Albert Lake. The communication was so far perfected that English papers were received with tolerable regularity m seven weeks from their date of publication, Four maps of the Nile from sketch surveys of General Gordon have been published in the third number of the Bulletin of the Egyptian Geographical Society. These are reproduced on a reduced scale and on a single sheet in Markham’s Geographical Magazine for March, Mr. - G. Ravenstein announces in the same magazine that he has received 376 General Notes. [June, from General Stone, the chief of the Egyptian staff, a map of the Nile between Dafli and the Albert Nyanza, based upon a reconnaissance made by Gordon Pasha in July, 1876. The map differs from that pub- lished previously in several respects. There is no indication now of an arm of the river flowing towards the northwest. The Portuguese appear to exhibit an unwonted activity in connection with their African settlement. On the west coast they claim the ex- clusive navigation of the Congo and are charged with the design of desiring to appropriate Ambrizette, Landama, and Bandana. At a late meeting of the Geographical Society of Paris, Mr. D. H. T. Mosse, of San Francisco, in criticising Captain Rondaire’s scheme of creating an inland lake to the south of Algeria, said that the displace- ment of the water required to fill this lake of 6250 square miles would result in a shifting of the earth’s axis! Captain Cameron gave in French at the meeting of the same society January 26th an account of his ex- plorations. He was frequently interrupted by applause, and before sep- arating the president announced that the gold medal of the society had been awarded to the intrepid explorer. On the 27th he was entertained at a dinner, where the bill of fare included fillet of venison à la Kas- songo, and lobsters à l Africaine. ta recent meeting of the Geographical Society of Lyons, M. Dufonchel explained his scheme of a Saharan railway, which was to connect Algeria with Timbuktu. The Sudan had no less than fifty millions of inhabitants and a climate equal to that of Bengal or Brazil. The sands of the Sahara, it was said, would overwhelm the proposed rail- way, but the same thing had been said about the Suez canal, and this difficulty could be overcome by engineers. Artesian wells would furnish an ample supply of water. At the meeting of the Geographical Society of Paris, M. Violet d’Aoust read a paper on the mountain systems of Central America and the dust whirlwinds observed by him on the plains of Mexico. A resolution has been adopted by Congress requesting the Secretary of the Navy to transmit to the Senate the narrative of the second expe- dition of Captain Hall to the Arctic regions, to be compiled from notes of the expedition made by Captain Hall and purchased from his widow. Luptow’s Reconnaissance IN Monrana— The route traveled by Captain Ludlow’s party was an interesting one, and the account of the brief trip through the Yellowstone National Park, accompanied as it is by a map, will be valuable and authoritative to intending tourists. Mr. George B. Grinnell contributes a report on the mammals and birds, while a geological report by Edward S. Dana and Mr. Grinnell includes 1 Report of a Reconnaissance from Carroll, Montana Territory, on the Upper Missouri, to the Yellowstone National Park and Return, made in the Summer of 1875. By Wittram Luprow, Capt. Engineers U. $. A! Washington, 1876. 4to, pp- With three maps and two plates. 155. 1877.] Microscopy. BTT some account of the Little Rocky Mountains, a region lying north of the main route of the party. The description of new fossils, by R. P. Whitfield, is accompanied by two plates. Recent GEOGRAPHICAL Procress. — First and foremost we have to mention the numerous scientific congresses: the periodical sessions of the International Congress of Geographical Sciences inaugurated at Antwerp, in 1871, and continued at Paris, in 1875; the periodical ses- sions of the International Geodetic Association, the last session of which was held at Bruxelles, in October, 1876; the Statistical and Prehistori- cal Congresses at Buda-Pesth, the Congress of Orientalists at St. Peters- burg, and that of Anthropologists at Jena; and, further, the creation, since 1870, of numerous geographical societies, to wit: in 1870, at Bremen; 1872, at Buda-Pesth; 1873, at Halle, Kiew, Hamburg, Bern, Amsterdam, Lyons, and Paris (Society of Commercial Geog- raphy); in 1874, at Bordeaux (Society of Commercial Geography); in 1875, at Cairo, Bukarest, and Lisbon; in 1876, at Madrid, Marseilles, at Paris (Topographical Society), at Bruxelles and at Antwerp; finally, the International Association for the purpose of suppressing the slave trade and exploring Central Africa, due to the high initiative taken by H. M. King Leopold II., and constituted at Bruxelles, September, 1876. — Bulletin No. 1, Geographical Society of Belgium. MICROSCOPY. Fossir Draroms rrom Sours AvustRALIA. — Mr.: Galloway C. Morris, of East Tulpehocken Street, Germantown, Philadelphia, ob- tained from the commissioner in charge of the South Australian exhibit at the Centennial a small supply of a most interesting diatomaceous mineral called coorongite, from the Coorong District, in South Australia, where it is found. It is a mineral of a dark-gray or ash color, a light specific gravity, and a fine spongy texture, occurring in great quantities, and consisting of about twenty per cent. of a hydrocarbon which can be Separated by distillation for economical purposes as an illuminating and lubricating oil, and a residue consisting mainly of fresh-water diatoms. t burns when heated on platinum foil, is permanent in the air, and is unaffected by moisture. It is not disintegrated in ether or chloroform, though most of the oily hydrocarbon is removed. Mr. Morris has suc- ceeded best in preparing it for the microscope by boiling it in sulphuric acid with the addition of a small quantity of bichromate of potash to make chromic acid and give off the hydrocarbon as carbonic-acid gas. He has a few slides to spare, which he is willing to exchange for other mounted specimens. Annvat Reception. — The American Microscopical Society of the city of New York held a very successful invitation exhibition at Kurtz’s art gallery, Madison Square, on Tuesday evening, March 6th. , Dirwrueria. — This subject has been discussed at recent meetings 378 General Notes. [ June, of the San Francisco Microscopical Society. Dr. A. M. Edwards, who was present as a visitor, introduced the subject, describing the growth and development of the fungoid growth which is observed in connection with the disease. He confidently believed that diphtheria is at first a local disease, caused and spread by the growth of these organisms, and that salicylic acid applied in the form of spray is capable of positively arresting the disease by destroying the organisms which caused it. believed the microscope, especially by its moderately high powers, to be the only instrument able to decide this question, and that its revelations fully sustained the theory of fungoid growths as a cause of the malady. Dr. S. M. Mouser, a member of the society, contended that the membrane was an exudation consisting of epithelial cells in various stages of forma- tion and disintegration, mucous and pus corpuscles, and spindle-shaped bodies distributed with some regularity, indicating organization of some kind, and regarded as fibre cells or smooth muscular fibres. He had not been able to detect anything that was certainly of a fungoid charac- ter. Dr. S. Laycock, of Edinburgh, had conceived the idea in 1858 that this disease was caused by a parasitic fungus, and the theory had been revived in Germany a few years ago, and salicylic acid used to destroy the fungus, but that treatment had now been abandoned, and the lo application of warm water and steam substituted for it. Aitkin, Beale, and others have considered the fungoid growths to be only accidentally present, and not a cause of the disease. The speaker believed it to be the generally received opinion of the medical profession at present that the disease is constitutional in its character, and that this theory is not disproved by microscopical observation. PrersonaL.— Wm. H. Walmsley, one of the best-known cultivators of microscopy in this country, retired on the first of April from the firm of Jas. W. Queen & Co., of Philadelphia. After the completion of his present European trip he expects to be able to open an American branch of “ R. & J. Beck,” with such a stock and at such prices as were never before seen in this country. In his new enterprise he will at least have the good will of all who have had previous dealings with him, which probably includes nearly all our microscopists. Rock Sections. — Alexis A. Julien, of the School of Mines, Co- lumbia College, 50th Street and 4th Avenue, New York City, is prepar- ing to order microscopic sections of rocks, minerals, and other hard substances, and intends shortly to keep on hand series of sections of American rocks and minerals. The sections are prepared with care and judgment, and at a cost of sixty cents each except for specially large _ or difficult objects. If so ordered they will be mounted on the standard plate glass slides 3x1 inch, but this size is not advised on account of their thickness, y% inch, preventing proper illumination under high powers by achromatic condenser, inconvenient length preventing ready rotation on small stages, liability to fracture, etc. Thinner plate glass slides (q's tO 1877.] Microsvopy. 379 giz inch) are preferred, of the size adopted by Fuess ot Berlin (134 by 15 inch), and these, with covers of medium thinness and { inch square, will be used unless otherwise ordered. A New Stupents’ Microscorr. — The increasing importance of cheap and portable microscopes, and the increasing demand for good in- struments specially adapted to work in histology and pathology, has lately led all our prominent makers to introduce so-called students’ mi- croscopes of excellent quality and remarkable cheapness. The latest work of this kind is the new students’ microscope of Mr. Joseph Zent- mayer, of 147 South Fourth St., Philadelphia. This stand is a truly American model, in which the standard English and continental styles which have served as models so long, are nearly lost sight of, and the recent very important contrivances of Mr. Zentmayer are introduced almost as effectively as in his superb first class stand. The base and hollow upright column are cast in one piece, giving great lightness and firmness combined. The mirrors and substage, together, swing around the object, so that it can be readily kept in focus of the illuminating apparatus at any desired angle; and the bar can be swung so as to carry the whole illuminating apparatus above the stage for opaque objects. There is a good substage which can easily be removed entirely when de- sired. The stage is thin and beveled, so that extreme obliquity of illumination can be obtained by simply turning the stand or swinging the mirror. The diaphragms are mounted on the substage, and can be brought up close to the object-slide if desired. The coarse adjustment is by a sliding tube, and the fine adjustment by a screw and lever mov- ing the whole body on a long sliding support exactly like that of the rack movement in the common Jackson stands. The stage is only three inches from the table, and the tube is correspondingly short, though capable of lengthening by draw-tube to the standard length. The whole stand is a marvel of neatness, compactness, stability, and con- venience. At the request of the writer, a stand has been made with a Specially adapted achromatic condenser and with a thin concentrically revolving stage like the diatom stage of the maker’s “\centennial” stand, which is worthy of being furnished with the highest class objectives and ` is capable of doing almost anything that the most elaborate stands can do. Practica Mrcroscory. — Rey. E. C. Bolles, an unsurpassed lect- urer on the subject, has consented to give instruction in microscopy at the second session of the summer school of biology, which will be ` Opened at the Museum of the Peabody Academy of Science, at Salem, Mass., on the 7th of July next. The term lasts seven weeks. A course of lectures and demonstrations on Animal Histology, will also be given by Mr. C. S. Minot. The admission fee is $15.00. Boston Microscoricat Socrety.— This society held its second annual reception on Friday evening, April 27, with a programme of re- _ 380 Scientific News. [June, marks by Prof. Oliver Wendell Holmes, a screen exhibition of Polari- scope objects, by Rey. E. C. Bolles, and an exhibition of objects under about sixty microscopes by members of the society. The society has recently rented and furnished rooms at 29 Pemberton Square, and is working with perseverance and increasing success to unite and assist those, within its reach, who are interested in microscopical study. SCIENTIFIC NEWS. — The interest in geographical research continues to increase in France from year to year. The Société de Geographie of Lyons has published six numbers of its Bulletin, all full of interesting matter. A handsome volume has just been printed by this society entitled A Geo- graphical and Statistical Study of the Production and Commerce of Cocoon Silk, by Leon Clugnet. This memoir was crowned by the Geo- graphical Society. The president of the society is desirous of codperat- ing with geographers of foreign countries in popularizing the study of geography. He proposes a place for exhibiting in public places the most important geographical statistics of any desired region so that the people may read them at all times, and thus become familiar with them. The first number of the Bulletin of the Société Belgée de Geographie, published at Brussels, has just appeared. The leading article by the president, General Liagre, on Geographical Science, is one of great in- terest. There are seven articles with maps in this number, and a long list of members actual, honorary, and corresponding. The objects of the society, as laid down in the Bulletin, are exceedingly comprehensive, embracing every possible form of geographical information. — The first number of the third volume of Hayden’s Bulletin of the United States Geological Surveys of the Territories is rich in articles _ relating to the anthropology and archeology of the West, as may be seen by the following table of contents: A Calendar of the Dakota Nation, by Bvt. Lt. Col. Garrick Mallery, U. S. A. (Plate 1.) Researches in the Kjikkenméddings and Graves of a Former Population of the Coast of Oregon, by Paul Schumacher. (Plates 2-8.) Researches in the Kjok- kenméddings of a Former Population of the Santa Barbara Islands and Adjacent Mainland, by Paul Schumacher. (Plates 9-22.) The Twana Indians of the Skokomish Reservation in Washington Territory, by Rev. M. Eells. (Plates 23-25.) Notes on a Collection of Noctuid Moths made in Colorado, in 1875, by Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., by Aug. R. Grote. The Tineina of Colorado, by V. T. Chambers. Notes on a Collection of Tineid Moths made in Colorado, in 1875, by A. S. Packard, Jr., by V. T. Chambers. On the Distribution of Tineina in Colorado, by V- T. Chambers. New Entomostraca from Colorado, by V. T. Chambers. On a New Cave Fauna in Utah, by A. S. Packard, Jr., M. D. Descrip- tion of New Phyllopod Crustacea from the West, by A. S. Packard, 1877.] Scientific News. 381 Jr. M. D. On some Artesian Borings along the Line of the Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming Territory, by F. V. Hayden. (Plate 26.) — One of the best:organized and probably the most active geological surveys in Europe is the Imperial Geological Institute at Vienna. From recent letters received from Count Marschall by Professor F. V. Hayden we glean the following items of interest: During 1876 great progress was made in the field operations in Austria and Bohemia, as well as in Southern Tyrol, Eastern Galicia, the southernmost region of the Carpathian Mountains of Galicia, and in the Triassic and Jurassic regions of the eastern Alps. Different members of the survey have made excursions to Denmark, Sweden, Northern Italy, Southern Russia (Odessa), Sicily, European Turkey, and Greece and Egypt, aided by subsidies from the government, which has most liberally encouraged the comparative study of the geology of its own empire by researches in other lands. — The Army Signal Office has for some time past been publishing a ‘Monthly Weather Review, in which are collected together many facts relating to the climate of the United States, which have a direct bearing upon the distribution of animal and vegetable life. We purpose from month to month to extract some of the interesting items given in this review, but must refer our readers for full information to the original which is published about the middle of each month, and quite freely dis- tributed by the Weather Bureau at Washington. During March, twelve areas of high pressure and twelve of low have passed over the country ; all of the latter were accompanied by rain, and most of them by high winds; the most severe storm of the month was that which began on the 21st, west of the Missouri River, and disap- peared on the 31st, east of Newfoundland. The month has been warmer than usual throughout the Atlantic and Pacific States, but was slightly cooler in the St. Lawrence Valley, the Lake region, Ohio, and the north west. A large excess of rain and snow fell in the lower Lake region, the St. Lawrence Valley and New England, as compared with the aver- age for many years; a deficiency was reported from the western Gulf States, and the northwest. The temperature of the water is observed in numerous rivers and harbors, and appears to have been quite generally lower than in March of last year for the Mississippi and its tributaries, but higher along the middle and east Atlantic coasts. The chapter on Miscellaneous Phenomena contains a large number of zoological and botanical notes relating to the advent of spring and the birds and insects of the season. The migrations of birds are carefully reported ; hoppers are reported as destructive in Texas, hatching in Florida, and — beginning to hatch in Ohio and Kansas. — Brehm’s well-known Thierleben, a large, beautifully illustrated Popular work on animals, which for many years has been the leading Work of the kind in Germany, is now passing through a new edition, 382 Proceedings of Societies. [June, enlarged, with numerous full-page illustrations and exquisite wood-cuts drawn by Kretschmer, Miitzel, and Schmidt. The work is to be pub- lished in from forty to forty-five parts, of which ten have been received in this country, a part being issued every week or fortnight. The work has received the notice and praise of Darwin, Carus, Dr. Petermann, Von Tschudi, and Dr. Rohlfs. The subscription price in Germany is one mark (or about twenty-five cents). The agents for the United States are B. Westermann & Co., 524 Broadway, New York. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. NATIONAL Acapremy or Scrences. Washington, April 17—20. — The following new members were elected: Elliott Coues, U. S. A., Washington, D. C.; J. W. Draper, New York; Henry Draper, New York ; S. H. Scudder, Cambridge, Mass. ; C. S. Peirce, Cambridge, Mass. Following are the titles of the papers on natural science: On the Young Stages of some Osseous Fishes, the Results of Deep-Sea Dredg- ings, by Alexander Agassiz; On Critical Periods in the History of the Earth, and their Relations to Evolution, and on the Quarternary at such a Period; On the Structure of the Crystalline Lens and its Rela- tive Periscopism, by Joseph Le Conte; On the Structure of the Henry Mountains, by G. K. Gilbert; On the Public Domain, by J. W. Pow- ell; Remarks on some Artesian Wells along the Line of the Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming Territory, by F. V. Hayden AMERICAN Puitosopnrcat Society. Philadelphia, January 5, 1877. — Mr. Britton exhibited specimens of artificial fuel manufactured from the peat-bogs near Syracuse, New York, and remarked its resem- blance to the lignite of southwest Arkansas. Professor Lesley read char- acteristic portions of a paper by Mr. Lesquereux, introductory to the Flora of the Carboniferous of North America, now in preparation for the Report of Progress of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. January 19, 1877. — Professor Lesley presented a paper on the first systematic collection and discussion of the Venango Company Oil Wells of Western Pensylvania, by E. S. Nettleton, C. E. General Kane read a description of his recent explorations in Coahuila, exhibiting photo- graphs of Mexicans and describing the migrations of Indians. February 2, 1877. — Professor Cope exhibited some fragmentary cra- nia of Dinosauria from the Judith River beds of Montana, and described their structural and systematic characters. He also read a paper en- titled A Continuation of Researches among the Batrachia of the Measures of Ohio. February 10, 1877. — The secretary read a paper by Alexander E. Outerbridge, Jr., on the Wonderful Divisibility of Metallic Gold. Pro- fessor Lesley read a communication entitled, A Measured Section of the Paleozoic Rocks of Central Pennsylvania from the Top of the Alle- 1877.] Proceedings of Societies. 583 ghany River Coal Series (on the Broad Top) down to the Trenton Lime- stone in the Lower or Cambro-Silurian System, by Chas. A. Ashburner. General Kane resumed the reading of his paper on the ethnological movements taking place in Northern Mexico. Professor Cope exhibited and described fragments of the fossilized skeleton of a gigantic Dino- saurian, found by Prof. J. S. Newberry, in Painted Cañon in southeastern tah, when acting as geologist to the expedition across New Mexico to the Junction of the Green and Grand rivers under Captain McComb, U.S. This fossil was derived from supposed Triassic beds, and was named Dystropheus viemale. Professor Cope exhibited drawings of supposed Indian sculptures in the form of a dial or zodiac, said to have been recently discovered near Davenport, Iowa, in an Indian mound. March 2, 1877. — Professor Cope exhibited the fossil skeletons of two species of Hlasmosaurus from the cretaceous formations of the West. ne of these measuring thirty-five feet in length, from the Niobrara Cretaceous of Nebraska, was regarded as representing a new species and was called Æ. serpentinus. The other, represented by seventy-six ver- tebra from the Fort Pierre group of Montana, was identified with the E. orientalis, of New Jersey. Professor Cope read a description of a new form of Proboscidian allied to Dinotherium and Mastodon, which he called Cenobasileus tremontigerus. March 10, 1877.— Professor Lesley communicated a paper entitled Notes on the Results of the Survey of the Iron Ore Beds of the Juniata District of the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, by J. W. Dewees. Professor Cope exhibited the cast of the brain cavity of the Coryphodon elephantopus from the Wasatch Eocene of New Mexico, derived from the collections made by Lieut. G. M. Wheeler, U. S. A., and described its characters, which led him to the conclusion that the Amblypoda should be referred with the Bunotheria to a distinct sub-class of the Mammalia, which he called the Protencephala. He stated that the brains of the following genera conformed to this type: Coryphodon, Uintatherium, Oxyena, Aretocyon. April 6, 1877. — The secretary communicated for Dr. D. G. Brinton a paper on the Timucua Language, by Albert S. Gatschet. The sec- retary read a communication from Mr. C. E. Hall describing the late discoveries of Eurypterus in northwestern Pennsylvania by Messrs. arll and Mansfield. April 20, 1877. — Mr. Britton read a paper on the value of pressed peat as an article of fuel. Professor Frazer presented a paper on the cause of the northwest dip of the Mesozoic rocks in Eastern Pennsyl- vania, and on the origin of the magnetic and specular iron ore banks in the Mesozoic and Azoic rocks of the same region. May 4, 1877. — Professor Cope read a paper on the structure of the in in Procamelus as derived from a cast of the cavity of a skull ob- tained by himself near Santa Fé, while on Lieut. G. M. Wheeler's 384 Scientific Serials. [ June. surveying expedition. He also read a paper entitled A Synopsis of the cold blooded Vertebrata obtained by Prof. Jas. Orton in Peru, during the explorations of 1876-77. A number of species were de- scribed from the high valleys of the Andes, from 10,000 to 14,500 feet altitude. iaia SCIENTIFIC SERIALS? MONTHLY MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. — April. Additional Note on the Identity of Navicula crassinervis, Frustulia saxonica, and N. rhom- boides, by W. H. Dallinger. The Exhibitor; a novel Apparatus for showing Diatoms, etc., by S. G. Osborne. On the Phytoptus of the Vine, by G. Briosi. A Mode of altering the Focus of a Microscope without altering the Position of either the Objective or the Object, by ori. Tue GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. — April. What is a Brachiopod? by T. Davidson. Notes on the Geology of the Lebanon, by E. R. Lewis. Ettinshausen’s Theory of Development of Vegetation on the Earth. ANNALES DES SCIENCES NATURELLES. — February 15th. Anatomie de la Moule commune (Mytilus edulis), par A. Sabatier. (Nine Plates.) ANNALS AND Magazine or Narurat HisrtorY. — April. On the Distribution of Birds in North Russia, by J. A. H. Brown. Descrip- tion of some Sponges obtained during a Cruise of the Steam Yacht “ Argo” in the Caribbean and Neighboring Seas, by T. Higgin. Her- maphroditism in the parasitic Isopoda, Further Remarks on Mr. Bullar’s Papers on the above subject, by H. N. Moseley. ARCHIV FÜR NATURGESCHICHTE. — Jahrgang 43, Heft 1. Ueber den Bau des Bojanus’ schen Organes der Teichmuschel, von H. A. Griesbach. Ueber das Eierlegen einiger Locustiden, von Dr. Bertkau. Porutar Scrence Review. — London, April. Evidences of the Age of Ice, by H. Woodward. On the Desmids and Diatoms simple Cells, by G. C. Wallich. The Norwegian Lemming and its Migrations, by W. D. Crotch. The Alkaline and Boracic Lakes of California, by J. A. Phillips. APPALACHIA. — March. Geology of the White Mountains (with Map of the White Mountain District, showing Locations of specimens and contour Lines for each 500 feet above the sea), by C. H. Hitch- cock. Carter Dome and Vicinity, by W. G. Nowell. Distant Points visible from Mount Washington, by W. H. Pickering. Application of Photography to Mountain Surveys, by J. B. Henck, Jr. The Flower- ing Plants of the White Mountains, by J. H. Huntington. ‘Tae GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE. — April. The Arctic Sledge Jour- nals (Map). Chile. The River Puris in its Commercial and Geograph- ical Relations to the Valley of the Madeira (with Map of Purds and Madeira Rivers), by E. G. Ravenstein. Indian Marine Surveys. l The articles enumerated under this head will be for the most part selected. THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. VoL. x1.— JULY, 1877. — No. 7. NOTES ON THE AGE AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE SEVERAL MOUNTAIN AXES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF CUMBERLAND GAP. BY N. S. SHALER. THE dogma of De Beaumont as to the parallelism of mountain chains of the same age has not lost its effect on the minds of geologists. The exceeding ability and untiring persistency with which its fallacies were urged has made it necessary to do more than refute them. Every instance of distinct contradiction should be well attended to and brought to the attention of natu- ralists. Having been trained in the theory of De Beaumont, I confess to having held to some remnant of faith in his views until I began my studies on the Appalachian system of mountains. aving examined this system in a preliminary way, throughout its extension from Gaspé to Georgia, I am convinced that as far as we can base our conclusions on the structure of, one mountain system, it would be nearer the truth to say that mountain sys- ems are more likely to be the product of parallel upheavals occurring in successive geological periods than of single epochs of elevation. Some years ago I called attention to the fact that the Cincin- hati axis was an outlier of the Appalachian system, and that it was formed, in part at least, as far back as the calciform sand rock of the Upper Cambrian period; also that the syenite axis on which Richmond, Virginia, now stands was uplifted after the general elevation of the Alleghanies had taken place,' since the formation of the Richmond coal-basin, and therefore must be referred to a time subsequent to the Trias if not to the Lias. The Blue Ridge was certainly elevated, at least in part, before have since found that the parallelism of the Cincinnati axis with the Appa- 1 lachian system had been previously noticed by Prof. J. M. Safford, State Geologist of Tennessee, : (Been eee EREET E ASEEN Copyright, 1877, by A. S. PACKARD, JR. 386 The Mountain Axes near Cumberland Gap. [July, the formation of the Appalachian coal-field, so that the east and west section, from the Mississippi River to the sea across the Appalachian mountain system, gives us evidence of four distinet periods of elevation, the separation of which is recognizable on even a cursory inspection. I was not prepared, however, to find the additional evidence of the succession of elevations which has been given me by the study of the region lying between the Unaka Mountains of North Carolina and Central Kentucky. The work of the Kentucky Geological Survey in connection with the Harvard Summer School of Geology ranged during the last two summers over this area. As the results of this exploration must wait, it may be, some years before publication, I shall sum- marize some of the most important points that bear on this ques- tion. The geologist who is accustomed to the aspect of the Alle- ghanies in Pennsylvania will be struck with the change in the appearance of their continuation in East Tennessee. In place of the long-drawn symmetrical arches of the Pennsylvania section, we have here in East Tennessee a great irregular table-land crossed from north to south by narrow wall-like ridges, which have, in some cases, a length of over one hundred miles. A close study of the country shows that these ridges are in most cases the more or less retreated walls of fault lines, which have a sin- gular directness in their course and uniformity in the depth of their throw. The increase in the amount of faulting that took place in the formation of the Alleghany Mountains south of Pennsylvania becomes perceptible as we pass the Potomac River. In the mountainous regions of Virginia, along the waters of the south fork of that river, it begins to mark itself on the topography, and the change continually increases as we pass toward East Ten- nessee. Although still much in doubt as to the nature of the influences which have brought about this change, I venture to suggest the following explanation, which seems in a measure to satisfy the conditions of the problem. oes On looking at the sections exposed in Southwestern Virginia and Eastern Tennessee, it will be seen that there are two classes ` of ridges found in this district: one formed by faults and the other by escarpments of the retreating crest of the anticlinals. It will be seen that the fault ridges have been formed on ti side of the anticlinal ridges, though there is but one considerab . ridge formed in this manner on the western side, while there 1877.] The Mountain Axes near Cumberland Gap. 387 are three or more on the eastern side. After a good deal of consideration of these peculiar features, I have come to the con- clusion that this change of the structure on the southward ex- tension of the Alleghanies can best be accounted for by assuming the following conditions: First. That in place of the relatively narrow ridges of the Pennsylvania district, the uplifts which occurred here took the shape of one or more very broad anti- clinals having a transverse width of sixty miles or more. Second. That each of these anticlinal axes was fractured by faults along several lines for its whole length, the result being to tumble the fissured strata over each other, leaving only the central part of the anticlinal still complete. Third. That the more massive the Blue Ridge to the eastward becomes, the more intense do we find this faulting action, on the east showing some relation between this faulting and the mass of the old mountains. I have long been of the opinion that the faulting in any mountain region be- Comes greater as the anticlinals widen or tend to take on some of the characters of the Alpine “ massifs.” It is not difficult to imagine a reason for this general occurrence of faults in broad folds of mountain masses ; a small fold may have some sustaining power to its arch, and can await the gradual movement of strata to fill up its suddenly formed cavities. A broad fold will neces- sarily be weaker ; the creeping of the strata into positions fitted to sustain the uplifted ridge may not be quick enough to keep furrows from forming, as they have formed in this Tennessee district. ; It is not so easy to perceive a reason for the greater width of the anticlinals in this part of the Appalachian chain. There are, however, good mechanical reasons why the width of the ridges and furrows which make up a mountain range should have a width proportionate to the depth of the strata involved in the Movement. An illustrative experiment showing the principle that determines this is easily made by taking a number of sheets of eavy paper and compressing them from the sides. The more sheets we affect by the pressure, the broader the resulting folds will be. In any region where successive mountain upheavals have taken Place, as in the Alps, there is often evidence going to show that. the lateral force operated at first to disturb the more superficial beds, and then in succession the deeper ones became affected. It is this, I believe, that gives us the Swiss massife plan of Mountain-building. I conceive that in the Alpine region there Was first a set of folds after the essential plan of the Jura Mount- 388 The Mountain Axes near Cumberland Gap. [ July, ains, then at a succeeding time there was an upheaval that affected a deeper set of beds and formed far wider folds, on which the earlier uplifts were upborne as the lesser waves of the sea upon the greater ridges. At the same time the broader folds were much faulted, so that the whole mass became exceedingly compli- cated in its structure. The Appalachian system, in its ex- tremely varied yet comparatively simple conditions, presents us with a number of peculiar connections and separations of these two classes of folds. The Cincinnati axis, for instance, is a sam- ple of the broad fold of the simplest character. This fold seems to have been lifted with extreme slowness, and has a height of only a few hundred feet, being certainly not over fifteen hundred feet in height at any part measured from the bottom of the synclinal to the top of the ridge. But notwithstanding the slow formation and moderate elevation of this fold it has been somewhat affected by faulting in a direction transverse to its axis; these faults are, however, relatively very small. It seems to me that the East Ten- nessee region has had its form given by an effort to produce very broad and long anticlinals somewhat on the Cincinnati model, but of far greater height. One of these ridges, the Cumberland anticlinal, if it had retained its form, would have had a length ex- ceeding one hundred and fifty miles, a width of sixty miles, and a height exceeding twelve thousand feet. The parallel faults re- duced its height to less than half this height, and left an indistinct central anticlinal and a set of parallel fault mountains, one on the west, and four or more on its eastern side. According to the theory of De Beaumont these several mountain ridges, the central an- ticlinal and its several parallel monoclinal or fault-mountains, should have been of the same age, the product of a single cat- aclysm. The evidence, however, has led myself and my assist- ants of the Summer School of Geology and the Kentucky Survey, who have studied this country, to a very different conclusion. We have been forced to the conviction that the central anticlinal is of relatively ancient age, dating back primarily to a tıme soon after the expiration of the carboniferous time, while the other monoclinal mountains have been more or less gradually formed, some having been uplifted at a geologically very recent date. This succession has been determined by the only means we have of fixing the age of neighboring parallel faults in a région of this description, namely, by comparing the rate of the escarp- ments formed by the several fractures. The central esearpments as will be seen from the accompanying figure, there covering the 1877. ] The Mountain Axes near Cumberland Gap. 389 anticlinal, have gone back as much as six or eight miles from the top of the arch, while the lateral escarpment of Pine Mountain has not retreated more than half a mile from its original place. After making all due allowance for possible differences in ero- sion rate of the two forces, it will be impossible to believe that erosion has acted on these two faces for equal lengths of time. There can be no doubt left in the mind of any one who studies these escarpments and satisfies himself of their relation to the geology of the neighboring districts, that their outcrops were made at periods widely remote from each other. If there should be any need of accumulating proofs on this Š 8 a X ER E Ag x 8 BY} R È S Sh Š S N ž i á 8 EKN E . Ga to = : ee š . . . Md : s Medina Series $ PRASE E = s Oe ES (Fie 70.) DIAGRAMMATIC SECTION ACROSS THE CUMBERLAND SYN-ANTICLINAL. connected with them. The Pine Mountain fault, for instance, is characterized by a wonderfully rectilinear front, being hardly swerved from a straight line in fifty miles of its length. Through- out this distance the fault that made the escarpment is hardly half a mile from the summit of the crest. The Cumberland Mountain, which is an anticlinal escarpment, is an exceedingly irregular line, often departing as much as a mile from a direct course, and cut through and through at many points by streams. These irregularities in the one case and the regularity in the other attest the difference in the age of the two escarpments. There is still other evidence, the nature of which, however, it is not easy to make plain in a few words. This evidence may be briefly stated as follows: The streams on the west which head against the Pine Mountain are generally characterized by a 390 The Mountain Axes near Cumberland Gap. [July, singularly low rate of fall; in several cases they run for miles without the least contact with their bed rocks, in fact with many feet of alluvial strata between their beds and the rock in which their troughs are excayated. I have been unable to explain this peculiarity save on the supposition that the district through which these streams course has been somewhat lowered by the movements which formed the Pine Mountain fault. If this be really the case, then we are compelled to suppose that the later movements of this dislocation — if the dislocation has indeed been, as I am disposed to believe, the product of a series of movements, — must have taken place after the drainage of this country had been entirely established, when each crest ran on its present line. - I am led to the opinion, all the evidence being taken into ac- count, only a part of which I can discuss here, that the escarp- ment of the Pine Mountain fault is now retreating from the line of breakage at the rate of not less than one foot in one hundred years. The rocks comprising the abrupt declivity are of a gen- erally perishable nature and wear out readily under the action of frost and rain. This rate of retreat would give an age of not. over five hundred thousand to one million and a half of years as the time that has elapsed since the formation of this fault. I am quite well satisfied that this estimate for the an- tiquity of the Pine Mountain fault is far within the truth, that it is in fact the result of disturbances which came in the time of the later Tertiaries. 3 I hope to elaborate these observations on the conditions of the Alleghany system in the Memoirs of the Kentucky Geological Survey ; at present it is only possible to set forth the evidence 1n the briefest manner, with the special aim of calling the-attention of students of physical geology to the evidences of recent action in the mountain-building forces in this part of the Appalachian district. Iam confident that, more than any other mountain ac tion known to me, they tend to show that the strains which are re- lieved by mountain folds and faults are, in certain cases at least, continuous actions leading from time to time to movements that afford relief thereto. No one can study the structure of the section between the eastern face of the North Carolina mountains and the western side of the Cincinnati axis without being driven to the hypothesis that in a geological sense the mountains contained therein have been in a process of continuous formation since the beginning of the lowermost Cambrian deposits. Perhaps less distinctly shown, but it seems to me quite clear, is the evidence | 1877.] The Mountain Axes near Cumberland Gap. 391 that the relief of these mountain-building barriers has been found in two ways: First, by the folding of the earth into ridges and valleys, or synclinals and anticlinals ; second, by the forming of faults which are the product of the rupturing of the folds, and must be regarded as resulting from the failure of the lower lying rocks to follow and support the more superficial beds in their up- heaval. This failure may have been in part caused by the exceed- ing width of the upthrown ridge, which could not maintain itself until the deeper beds could adjust themselves to support it. When we consider the numerous cases in this district where thedrainage crosses faults of many thousand feet of throw, we are driven to the belief that whole geological periods have been re- quired for the movements involved in their formation. J am in- clined to believe, however, that while the greater part of these dislocations have been made slowly, some of them have been formed with a great suddenness, and attended by movements of extreme violence. Besides the faults traversed by streams whose courses have not been turned or interrupted by these gigantic dis- locations there are others which exhibit unequivocal evidence of violent movement in their formation. These evidences are various in their nature, but they are most conspicuous in the shattering of the walls on either side of the fault. The best in- stance of this sort of disturbance is found about the fault which passes through Cumberland Gap, and by the weakness it has given to the rocks has brought about the formation of this mount- ain pass. This remarkable fault is marked by the presence of a belt of rock fifty feet or more in width, which has been fractured into a breccia by the violence of the, movements which have at- tended its formation. The breccia is cemented by an infiltration of iron derived from the adjacent: carboniferous series of rocks. A careful study of this breccia has convinced me that the fault is the product of many successive movements, though each of them must have been attended by a certain beating of the walls against each other. This fault, it should be noticed, is trans- Verse to the direction of the great faults in this system of moun-_ tains, and is limited to the Cumberland synclinal, extending from a little beyond Cumberland Gap on the east to the gap in the Pine Mountain at Pineville. It differs also from the great parallel. northeast and southwest faults which we find at Clinch Mount- ain, Mound Hill, and other points, in the irregularity of its throw, which differs not only in amount but in direction in a curiously irregular way. I believe that it owes its formation to the com- 392 The Study of Zodlogy in Germany. [July, pression strains which take place in the synclinal fold of the Cumberland. It is readily to be perceived that the nature of the strains developed by the synclinal folds must vary greatly from those which are formed beneath the anticlinals of a mountain district. I only propose to call attention to the great problems in struct- ural geology which this region presents to us, with a view of in- teresting our students of dynamic geology in their solution. More extended discussions of these questions will be given in the forthcoming volumes of the Memoirs of the Kentucky Geological Survey. r THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY IN GERMANY. BY CHARLES SEDGWICK MINOT. Il THE METHODS USED IN HISTOLOGY AND EMBRYOLOGY. THE use of the microscope goes hand in hand with the work of zoölogists in Germany, and it is there that we find the great- est number of means employed to render the objects suitable for examination. I have frequently heard American zoölogists ex- press a slight distrust of histological methods, — well founded, perhaps ; it ought not to lead to the rejection of the benefits to be obtained from using them, but merely to greater caution in employing them. 5 It is well known that animal tissues and organs consist of cells of various kinds, variously grouped together. The forms which these cells can assume lead to the most curious transformations, so that things as different from one another as muscular fibres, blood corpuscles, and ganglion cells can be traced as modifica- tions of the same primitive form. The work of microscopic an- atomists is to detect the changes which the simple cells of embryos undergo in the course of their transformations into the components of the tissues of the adult, and to investigate in de- tail the final results of these metamorphoses. It is much to be - desired that America should assist more in this work, and it i .with the hope of stimulating some persons to do so that this „article is written. In the tissues of the adult we find the cells arranged in a def- inite manner, and we have consequently to examine the shape and character of the single cells, and then their relation to one another. Simply placing a small piece of an organ underneath 1877.] -~ The Study of Zoclogy in Germany. 393 the microscope is not sufficient to enable us to do this, but we are obliged in every case to subject the preparation to a special treat- ment. ‘The first thing to be done is to make the object trans- parent enough to let the light pass through it to the objective, which is usually done by mounting it in glycerine or in Canada balsam, both of which substances have a high index of refraction, and therefore when they penetrate the interstices of a tissue do away with the refraction inside of it, so to speak; for in every tissue the different parts refract the light so variously that a ray passing through frequently changes its path, thus confusing the final image which reaches the observer’s eye. A layer of pow- dered glass lets the light pass through, but nothing distinct can be seen; if, however, the whole is immersed in Canada balsam, it immediately becomes beautifully transparent, because the balsam fills up the spaces between the bits of glass, and since balsam and glass refract light to about the same degree the mass becomes optically nearly uniform, and a ray of light can pass through it without being deviated from its course or destroying the image. The action on the tissues is identical, — and this should be care- fully remembered, because. balsam renders objects more trans- parent than does glycerine, so that in some cases one liquid is better than the other. It is a sign of inexperience to assert that balsam is better than glycerine, or vice versa, for they are both useful, but for different purposes. Tn order to observe the cells well it is necessary not to have too many superposed layers in the field of view, but to make the object as thin as possible. This is usually accomplished by _ Making sections. So important and so useful are such very thin Slices that probably nine tenths of every histological collection Consist of them. The first thing, therefore, is to acquire skill in making sections, and the perfection reached will mainly decide how far the progress of the student shall continue. The im- portance and benefits of making sections have led to the inven- tion of a great many mechanical contrivances for cutting them. One form of cutter or microtome well adapted to its object was described in the April number of the NATURALIST of this year. Numerous other forms have been suggested, but those with which Tam acquainted all have some defects. Free-hand cutting still — Temains absolutely indispensable. It may be acquired by pa- — : tient practice even by those who have no special manual skill, Just as we are all able to write. There are many things which | cannot be cut with a machine. The razor for cutting should be 394 The Study of Zoölogy in Germany. [July, of the best quality, and when used always drawn towards the body, while the surface, which looks downward in cutting, must be flat. The edge must be perfect, the slightest notch being suf- ficient to tear a section to pieces, and so sharp that a human hair can be split with it. The sections themselves must be as thin as possible. Since all parts of the body, with few exceptions, such as the skeleton, etc., are soft and permeated by water, besides possess- ing great elasticity, they cannot be cut in their natural condition ; it becomes necessary, therefore, to harden the organs. Now pro- toplasm is the main constituent of cells, and itself consists chiefly of albumen. This substance can be coagulated by the action of various agents, some of which can be applied to the tissues without injuring them, to produce a coagulation of the albumen _ in its natural form within the cells. Alcohol is one of the most valuable agents for this use. It produces its effect by its strong affinity for water, which it can withdraw from the tissue, thus causing the albumen, which re- ‘quires an abundance of water to maintain its semi-fluid state, to solidify. It may be employed for the majority of tissues with perfect success. The volume of alcohol should be from twenty to thirty times that of the object to be hardened; weaker alco- hol, say of eighty per cent., should be used first ; after a sojourn of an hour or two, or even longer, if large, the object may be transferred to stronger (ninety-six per cent.) spirit and there left for twenty-four hours, more or less, according to the size of the piece. The great difficulty in the use of alcohol is to prevent the shrinkage which naturally follows upon the abstraction of the water from the tissues. This may be avoided by using first weak, and then strong, and finally very strong spirit. In some cases the action is not even then sufficient, and recourse must be had to absolute alcohol, which generally produces the desired result. shies When even that does not succeed the specimens may be put m picric acid (concentrated cold aqueous solution) for twenty-four hours, then in a syrupy solution of gum arabic for twenty-four hours, and finally in strong alcohol again for the same length of time. The picric acid removes the alcohol, and allows gum to penetrate the object, within which it is finally coagulated by the last dose of spirit. The sections when made must be left in water for a day, to dissolve out the gum which they still contain, and which renders them quite opaque. A very few 1877.] The Study of Zodlogy in Germany. 395 drops of strong carbolic acid may be added to the water to pre- vent the development of bacteria, ete., which would quickly ruin the preparations. Coagulated gum renders the majority of or- gans of a pleasant consistency for cutting. Instead of gum, paraffine may be made to permeate the tissues, in the way already described in detail in the article on the sledge microtome, in the April NATURALIST. All acids produce in albumen chemical changes, which, with- out withdrawing the water, cause coagulation. There are some which are admirably suited for hardening agents. Foremost among these is chromic acid, first introduced by Hannover, in 1841, from motives of economy. It is employed in solutions of two fifth parts for one thousand parts water. Very large quan- tities must be used,— weak solutions at first to be gradually replaced by stronger and stronger ones. If its action is kept up too long the objects become brittle and are then worthless, for every section crumbles to pieces as soon as made. Chromic acid is particularly useful in studying nervous tissues, organs of sense, and other unusually delicate tissues. Its action is very slow: thus the spinal cord of a large dog or a man requires at least six weeks or two months. Chromic acid is also admirable for preparing very young and frail embryos or eggs. There are many other agents which are sometimes used for hardening, but it is not deemed appropriate to eriumerate here any but the two principal and most useful ones, alcohol and chromic acid. After the proper degree of hardness has been produced, if the piece to be cut is large enough, it may be held in one hand and cut with the other without more ado. When, however, we have to deal with something too small and delicate to be held in the hand, it is necessary to have recourse to some method of im- bedding. Paraffine will usually be found the most convenient substance for this purpose, especially when mixed with one tenth of its weight of the best hog’s lard. The most ahisfactory proc- ess of imbedding in paraffine we have elsewhere described.! On some accounts transparent soap is to be highly recom- mended. The best quality, containing no glycerine, must be chosen, then shaved into small bits, and warmed with half its vol- ume of alcohol (as compared with it before it was cut up) until it is entirely dissolved ; the specimen to be imbedded is then suspended in the warm mass by a fine thread and left for 1 April NATURALIST, 1877, page 208. - a] y be prepared by simply adding an equal volume of r 396 The Study of Zoölogy in Germany. [July, twenty-four hours. The soap does not become hard until the alcohol evaporates from it; the less alcohol, therefore, put in originally, the better. The soap ought to remain perfectly clear, enabling one to see the imbedded specimen within, so that it can easily be observed exactly in what plane every section is made, which is not possible when paraffine or wax is used. The sec- tions, when made, if cut in soap, must be put in alcohol, if from paraffine, in spirits of turpentine, to dissolve out the remains ọf the imbedding mass. If now the sections, after being thus freed from the adherent foreign matter, be mounted directly, they make poor prepara- tions; the single parts are indistinct, and the whole is very trans- parent. This can be avoided by coloring them. It may be safely asserted that the introduction of staining fluids, by Gerlach, in 1858, was the most important step in advance ever yet made in histological technic. Coloring matters, as regards their action on cells, belong to two classes : either they produce a diffuse color- ing of the whole cell, or they stain the nucleus much more deeply than the protoplasm and the membrane of the cell. The prin- cipal are dyes of the latter class, carmine, hæmatoxiline, and ani- line blue, which are esteemed in the order named. The two for- mer are invaluable, for by marking out the nuclei so distinctly they enable us to recognize so many centres of cells, and to ob- serve characters which have been made prominent by their color- ation, and are very different in the various forms of cells. In fact, přťparations for the microscope cannot be felt or dissected, but only seen; therefore, the differential coloring produced by car- mine, for example, is an assistance to the eye, comparable to the raised alphabets of the blind. In both cases, the conditions under which the special sense, whether sight or feeling, has to act are greatly exaggerated, so to speak, thus producing magni- fied or strengthened perceptions. Carmine is by far the most generally useful. It is employed in various solutions, the recipes for which may be found in va- rious hand-books, and need not, therefore, be quoted in this article. The first step in preparing it is to dissolve some of the : fine-powdered carmine in a small quantity of ammonia, and it . may be used at once in that form after allowing the superfluous ammonia almost entirely to evaporate. A very excellent — l ather ` strong acetic acid to the dissolved carmine ; the exact proportion is not of very great import. Beale’s carmine keeps a long time | 1877.] The Study of Zoölogy in Germany. 397 without alteration, and Ranvier’s picrocarmine has certain advan- tages; but on the whole, I have found the above-mentioned mix- ture of acetic acid and ammoniacal carmine to be quite sufficient for most work. Hzmatoxiline, on the other hand, has to be employed in a particular solution. Dissolve first thirty-five parts of hamatoxi- line crystals in one thousand parts of absolute alcohol, and mix it cold with a solution of ten parts alum in three thousand parts distilled water. The mixture is purple at first but turns a deep blue in the course of a few weeks; but it may be used without waiting for the change of color. For use it must always be fil- tered through porous paper to free it from sediment, and it may be advantageously diluted with 0.5 per cent. solution of alum. It acts much more quickly and produces a deeper and more exclu- sive staining of the nuclei than does carmine. It is therefore par- ticularly applicable in those cases where it is desired to study the shape and transformations of nuclei, as, for example, in tracing the development of spermatozoa. A figure is here added to show how beautifully the changes can be followed in sections of the testicle of Epicrium glutinosum, one of the Cceciliade or footless, worm-like amphibians. The testicle is divided up into numerous follicles, and the cells in each are all in one stage, while the various follicles present various degrees of development ; thus in a single section all the principal alterations may be ob- served. The. cells (Figure 71) are he b | % round at first with a very large Oz a granular nucleus (a). They then @ divide, becoming smaller‘and more j numerous (b). The next change f 7 ` is a slightly irregular elongation of È HY cell and its nucleus, slight at first (F10. TL) DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPER- (e), but gradually increasing (d). MATOZOA OF EPICRIUM GLUTINOSUM. At this point in the metamorphosis the protoplasm is gathered at one end of the cell, and the long nucleus at the other, and it at once becomes evident that the nucleus is to make the head of the spermatozotn, the protoplasm the tail. At this stage the cells lay themselves in rows (e), the nuclear ends, or as we may — now call them the heads of the young spermatozoa, all point- ing the same way. Each cell continues to elongate until it grows into a fully developed spermatozoon ( J), with a pointed front end, a long head which appears almost black when stained | With hematoxiline, and a long, fine tail. The development of the 398 The Study of Zoélogy in Germany. [ July, spermatozoa seems to be very much the same in all vertebrates ; that is to say, the primitive cells of the testicular follicles divide into smaller cells, and the nuclei of these make the heads, while. their protoplasm changes into the tails of the spermatozoa. We have spoken of these changes here because it is proposed that the next paper shall be on the development and earlystages of eggs, and there will be occasion to refer to the observations just quoted. ; It is well known that cells create certain products which ap- pear outside of the cells themselves; thus wherever there is a layer of cells having a free surface, as, for example, the outside of the body of invertebrates or the walls of tubes such as ducts of glands, the digestive canal, etc., they tend to form a structureless membrane, which stretching over them all acts as a common protective covering. The hard crust of insects is such a mem- brane or cuticula, and a corresponding one lines the trachee and the stomach, etc., of insects.and many other animals. Now the application of section-making to the study of cuticular growths reveals many interesting peculiarities ; as this study is only just entered upon, it is hoped that a reference to some of the results may prove valuable. M. Léon Dufour described curiously shaped teeth in the crop of certain crickets, especially well developed in the mole-crickets, very large also in the katydids. Herr Wilde, of Leipzig, has made a very thorough study of these teeth and their devel- opment ; he kindly showed the author many of his preparations, and explained his results. He made numerous beautiful sections se of the crops of several species, both young and adult. Figure 72 is taken ~ from one of his sections of the crop AN of Gryllus cinereus, the European gl field cricket. There are six teeth Jf] of very irregular shape, with many œ protuberances, but presenting, nev- Y] ertheless, the general outline of @ /. triangle, with the apex towar the middle. On each side of the ee (Fra. 72.) dki wiv iene secto or points, at the base of which there 1s THE CROP OF GRYLLUS CINEREUS. 4 bundle of stiff chitinous bristles. Between every two of these gigantic teeth there is a small oe (r) which also has a hard cuticula. Further, the teeth are n° 1877.] The. Study of Zodlogy in Germany. 399 attached along their whole base, but are partly drawn back, so that there is a space (sp) between the middle of the base and the muscular walls of the crop. The teeth form six regular, longitudinal rows, numbering each about twenty teeth. Their form varies according to the genera, and probably also accord- ing to the species. The walls of the crop are built up mainly of circular muscular fibres (muc) which by their contraction drive the teeth towards the centre and so grind up the food of the cricket, thus performing a function which we are wont to think of as properly belonging to the mouth. The study of the devel- opment of the teeth enabled Herr Wilde to ascertain that they are formed by underlying cells through a series of transforma- tions of the cuticula, which appears at first as a simple membrane and then develops the secondary projections, which give the teeth their ultimate form. All these interesting discoveries could hardly have been made except by means of sections. The author has himself applied section-making to the study of the trachea» of insects.1 It was found that the current descrip- tions in works on comparative anatomy and entomology were incorrect in several important particulars. The outside of the trachea is covered by a layer of flat polygonal cells, or, as it is called, a pavement epithelium. Thus in a longitudinal section of the main tracheal stem of the common water-beetle, Hydroph- ilus (Figure 73), the thin cells (ep) may be easily rec- ognized by their nuclei. The epithelium secretes the f i enormously thick and complicated cuticula (ew) which Y/U makes up the rest of the tracheal wall. The well- {|Q known spiral threads or filaments ff are part of this | WA cuticula, and not distinct structures as was generally 4)|) Supposed. These threads run around the tubes and serve as elastic supports to keep the thin walls dis- tended ; they are more or less spiral, but instead of || "7s there being but one single thread, as is usually stated, \ cd there are four or five which end, after making a few (ro. 73,) LON- turns around the tracheæ, new ones arising to replace pean a em. As the fibres run transversely, of course their THE fT s CHEA cut ends only are seen in a longitudinal section io Sa Figure 73. But these ends show that the filaments con- 1US PICEUS. ‘ sist of a lighter outside, and a darker inside portion, which latter round. The rest of the cuticula (cu) is divided into two layers, 1 Minot, Recherches histologiques sur les Trachées de sh drophilus piceus. Arch. de Physiol. normale et pathologique, sér. ii., tom. iii., page 1. 400 The Study of Zodlogy in Germany. [July, the inside or right hand one in the cut, being slightly colored by carmine, while the outside layer is hardly stained at all. This affords another excellent illustration of the ease with which val- uable discoveries may be made, when well-known histological methods are applied to the study of insects ; indeed, insects offer a rich and easily accessible field of research, promising perhaps greater rewards in proportion to the necessary labor than almos any other department of zodlogical investigation. It would be easy to add illustration after illustration to those already given, but it is not our purpose to review the progress of histology, but merely to give incentives to work in that field. We pass on, therefore, to a few additional considerations on the “ technique ” of preparing tissues for microscopical examination. Experience has shown that it is very difficult to distinguish the single cells in sections, in some case almost or quite impossible ; or it is even impossible occasionally to make any sections at all. On these accounts various means are employed either to isolate a few cells or to mark the outlines of them. + The meth- ods hitherto employed for these purposes are few in number and limited in application, but they have already led to interesting observations. Many cavities of the body, both of vertebrates and lower ani- mals, are lined by a layer of flat cells that are separated by lines of intercellular substance; by treating such a surface suita- bly with certain silver salts the intercellular lines are colored dark brown or black. A solution of one part of nitrate of silver in five hundred parts of distilled water (by weight) is very convenient. It gives beautiful preparations when applied to the mesentery of a rabbit, for example. The mesentery is the thin membrane by which the intestine is suspended from the back of the abdomen. Cut out a small piece from a freshly killed animal, a frog or rabbit or any other vertebrate, and place it in a silver solution, where the direct rays of the sun can fall upon it, and move it about with a glass rod (metal would be corroded) so that all parts may be equally acted upon ; next re- move it for a moment into distilled water to wash off the silver, and then spread it out on a glass slide and let it dry almost com- pletely, taking great pains to stretch it out by pulling it at va- rious points so that it shall dry fully extended. Before 1t 18 — quite dry put on a drop of glycerine and a thin glass cover M the usual way. If the impregnation has been successful, the lines will appear very sharply, as in Figure 74, which is from the mes- 1877.] The Study of Zodlogy in Germany. 401 entery of a turtle. If the impregnation was not sufficient the lines do not appear, but that is also the case if it has been too prolonged, for then the cells fall off alto- gether. The membrane may be colored with hematoxiline or carmine, if so de- sired, after impregnation, and then the stained nuclei appear within the dark outlines making exceedingly pretty prep- pye. 74) MESENTERY OF ‘TOR: arations. TLE. SURFACE IMPREG- Maceration gives the means of isolating repose nea Speers layers of cells. If the skin of an amphibian, a toad, for example, be pinned out on a bit of cork and then placed in a dish of water containing three or four drops of strong carbolic acid to prevent the development of germs, and then left for a day or two, the superficial layer of cells may be peeled off with a pair of pincers, and so on, successive layers from day to day until the whole skin has been removed. The bits thus peeled off usually contain but a single layer of cells, and if colored with carmine they make very beautiful preparations. But besides investigating cells in their relation to one another, the histologist endeavors to determine the form of single cells, and employs therefor means of isolation or dissociation. These may be either mechanical, such as shaking up a tissue in a fluid or teasing it out with fine needles, etc., or chemical. Usually.a combination of the two is the most effectual. In most tissues the cells are united by intercellular matter, just as above described in the epithelium of the mesentery. This substance acts as a cement binding the cells together. In Some cases it reaches an extraordinary development, so that the cells come to be quite far apart, as in cartilage, for instance. But usually it is very thin, and may be dissolved, in some cases, without altering the appearance of the neighboring cells. The cells that line the intestine and stomach are particularly adapted to illustrate this action of certain chemicals. Thus if a Small bit of the wall of the digestive canal be left in alcohol of thirty per cent. for twenty-four hours, the lining cells all become loosened so that they are easily scraped off with a needle or scalpel, and if mounted in glycerine mixed with a little picrocarmine, | they become stained in a week or so, and show the details of © Structure of the single cells very admirably. Chromic acid has a similar action, and solutions of two parts in ~ ten thousand of distilled water have a greac value from their so ene “~ RO, 7. 26 So 402 The Study of Zodlogy in Germany. (July, affecting the brain that the ganglion cells may be quite easily isolated. To effect this a very small piece of the brain — calf’s brain is perhaps the best — is placed in fifty or sixty times its volume of the solution for twenty-four hours, and then carefully teased out under a good dissecting microscope. Both weak chromic acid and alcohol may be used for isolating muscular fibres. Flies and beetles are perhaps the best for this purpose. The muscles of the wings (not those of the legs) should be torn out with fine forceps, and little bits, the smaller the better, placed in thirty per cent. spirit for twenty-four hours, and then dissociated or pulled apart on a glass slide, with fine needles. With sufficient care it is possible to separate the single fibrillæ of each fibre, and when stained with hamatoxiline the 7 ; T alternating lines, dark and light (Fig- a as ure 75), appear very sharply. These © (Fra. 75.) ISOLATED MUSCULAR lines are those that make the muscles BEETLE, ” transversely striated. The cause of this striated appearance is not yet fully determined, but it is appar- ently connected with greater perfection of the muscular fibre than is found in the unstriated form. Different as is muscle in appearance from cells yet it originates from them, and is in fact formed of metamorphosed cells, by a series of changes all as great as those which produce bone. We have still to notice a very important class of procedures, namely, injections. In the higher animals we find two dis- — tinct sets of vessels ramifying through the whole body: one of these is the system of blood-vessels, the other the lymphatic sys- tem. As is well known to all, the blood-vessels branch out into very fine tubes that form a complicated net-work in every part of the body, so fine that it can only be followed when the tubes or capillaries have been artificially filled with a colored | matter. The same is true of the lymph-vessels, but to an even greater extent. Many of the structures of the body are per- meated by connective tissue, and in this tissue there are DW merous cavities filled with fluid; they are in communication with very delicate tubes, the lymphatic capillaries, which soon unite into larger canals, and these form branches which grad- ually join together and lead to the thoracic duct or main stem, which empties into the veins just before they open into the . heart. The branches of this tubular system are provided with valves so arranged that the liquid contained in the tubes can only pass upward or towards the main stem. Now when any 1877.] The Study of Zodlogy in Germany. 403 motion takes place, some of the liquid in the cavities of the con- nective tissue is pressed into the lymphatics and so slowly driven onwards into the heart. To counterbalance this loss of intercel- lular fluid, certain constituents of the blood exude through the walls of the capillaries and keep up the supply. There is, therefore, a double circulation: one within the blood-vessels, and another from the walls of the capillaries through the lymphatics. The liquid in both circulations is ultimately returned to the heart. Different methods have to be employed for injecting the two systems. In the case of the blood-vessels a rather large syringe may be used, provided with a point small enough to pass into the artery of the part to be injected. The artery should be carefully laid bare and cut about half way through; the point of the syringe, which, must be previously filled with the injection mass, is pushed into the artery and firmly tied in place. In many cases it is quite sufficient to inject a cold saturated solution of Prussian blue in water, or when more perfect preparations are wanted, a little gelatine may be added; in this case, however, there arises the inconvenience that both the injection mass and the organ to be injected have to be kept warm while the opera- tion is going on, otherwise the gelatine solidifies. To prepare a “ warm ” injection mass, the following method is, perhaps, the best. A solution of Prussian blue is necessary ; this the histologist must make for himself. To do this take a concentrated solution of sulphate of protoxide of iron in dis- tilled water, and pour it slowly into a concentrated solution of yellow prussiate. of potassium; a precipitate of insoluble Prus- sian blue is formed. There should be a small excess of prussiate at the end of the operation, to test which take out a drop and add to it a little of the sulphate. If there is any free prussiate -still present, a blue precipitate is thrown down. Filter through a felt strainer, below which a funnel with a paper filter has been Placed. Pour water on to the strainer in small quantities at a time, and continue filtering ; this operation must be kept up for Several days, until the liquid below the second filter appears dis- tinctly blue. The matter on the felt strainer is then removed _ and dissolved in distilled water. This solution is admirable for cold injections or for filling the lymph-vessels, as will be de- scribed presently. There should always remain an excess of blue in the vessel in order to be sure that the solution is satu- fated; as the solution is removed it may be replaced by dis- 404 The Study of Zoölogy in Germany. [July, tilled water, as long as there is any blue left. To make the “ warm” injection mass take twenty-five parts of the Prussian- blue solution and one part gelatine. The latter must be of the finest quality, as otherwise it produces a granular precipitate which renders it useless for histological purposes. Put the gela- tine to soak for half an hour in distilled water, then remove and wash it; place it ina glass vessel and warm it in a water-bath, when it will melt in the water it has absorbed. The Prussian blue is put in another vessel in the same water-bath, so that: the two liquids are at the same temperature. Pour the gelatine, little by little, into the blue, stirring constantly with a glass rod. Keep on warming and stirring until the granular precipitate formed at first disappears. Upon being filtered through a piece of clean flannel, the mass is ready for use. It requires only to be slightly warmed to become liquid, and the organ to be injected does not need to be heated to so high a temperature as is necessary in using many other injection masses; there is, therefore, no danger of injuring the tissues by sub- jecting them to too high a temperature. The injection should be continued until a little while after the mass begins to come out through the veins, in order to allow all the capillaries time to fill themselves. When the injection is finished, the organ may be placed to advantage for twenty-four hours in a 2 to 1000 solution of bichromate of potassium in distilled water, and then be removed to alcohol; or it may be put at once in alcohol, and, when hardened, sections made of it. The sections should be pretty thick, and may or may not be stained as is desired. If too thin, they do not show the connections of the vessels. As an example of the clearness with which = the blood-vessels may be traced in a suc l a section rying the blood-vessels. There is a net-work of small arteries in the cutis, and from this —> there pass up from three to five fain beanii —=— into each papilla, and form by division ur => inter-communication a wide capillary n HUMAN LIP. work. One or several fine capillaries ben 1877] The Study of Zoölogy in Germany. 405 round and form the veinlet which passes down the middle of the papilla, from top to bottom, in a nearly straight line, and some- times taking up fine branches on the way until it finally con- nects with the venous net-work of the cutis. This arrangement of the vessels is very characteristic ; similar ones occur elsewhere, where there are well-developed papillæ, as, for instance, on the tongue or in the intestine. But each organ presents characteristic peculiarities in the distribution of its blood- vessels, and to an experienced histologist the veins, capillaries, and arteries of the liver and kidney, ete., are as distinctive of each organ as is its general shape and appearance. As the presence of the valves does not permit us to inject the lymphatics from a large stem in the finer branches, asin the blood- vessels, a different method of forcing in the fluid has to be adopted. A small syringe with a very fine sharp point, such as is known among instrument-makers as a hypodermic syringe, must be used. The point is made to penetrate in the connective tissue, and the colored liquid— the best is a solution of Prussian blue — is forced out slowly and gently, and fills at first the cavities of the tissue and then the small lymphatics. These injections are difficult to make and by no means always succeed well. Perhaps the best place to try first is the interdigital web of the hind-foot of a frog, or the outer half, that is, the muscular part of the walls of the small intestine ; but the easiest of all to fill are the lymphatics of the dog’s testicles. When the injection has been once made in the way indicated, the tissue or organ may be hardened for cut- . ting either in chromic acid or in alcohol. Such, then, are some of the principal means employed to in- vestigate the microscopical structure of animals. They all have this much in common, that they are endeavors to render certain characters more visible than they are naturally. This we do whether we stain the nucleus, or inject the blood-vessels, or isolate single cells. It may well be added that a good knowl- edge of optics is necessary to a good histologist. The worker should also remember that American instruments are usually much less convenient and practical than the German and French microscopes, while the lenses are no better, though enormously more expensive. The writer personally likes Zeiss’s instruments very much. As this optician manufactures his ob- Jectives upon mathematical principles, he is able to make them all nearly alike ; but it must be understood that there are many others whose objectives are also of the best quality. At present 406 Concerning Foot-Prints. [July, there is no difficulty in getting the best lenses and instruments, providing an American or English microscope of large size and complicated structure is not chosen. It will be found that those only who use a microscope for amusement utterly condemn the simple instruments, while those who make investigations and gather wide experience often assert that the greater the simplicity the better. “The European histologists I have met generally use a stand without rack and pinion for coarse adjustment, without movable stage and without movement round a horizontal axis. As to books, Frey’s Manual, of which there has been a trans- lation published in New York, is only pretty good. It came into general use because it was for a long time without rivals. There have lately appeared two little works on this subject, in England, one by Professor Rutherford, the other by Mr. Schaeffer, both of which are considered good. But by far the most im- portant work is Ranvier’s Traité Technique d’Histologie now being published in Paris,in numbers, three of which have already appeared. The moderate price of the book,— only twenty- five franes for a volume of a thousand pages, — the fullness of de- tail, and the superb illustrations alone are sufficient to recommend the work. M. Ranvier has written a treatise which will probably always be remembered as one of the most important and valuable manuals ever published, and which ought to be owned by every one who attempts to investigate the elementary structure of ani- mals. CONCERNING FOOT-PRINTS. BY I. C. RUSSELL. , TOE (foot-print lore) is the name which has been ap- plied to one of the most attractive and interesting paths of re search that geology has pointed out. This branch of palæontol- ogy} has for its object the study and interpretation of the many fossil foot-prints that have been found in the rocks, which were impressed there by the feet of animals when the material of which those rocks are composed was the shifting sands along some ancient shore. The study of foot-prints has at length been recognized as a distinct and important branch of palæontology> one which has often afforded the only means for judging of ~ character and structure of the ancient animals that have left no other records of their existence than the impressions of their teet. — 1 From palaios, ancient ; onta, beings ; logos, a discourse. 1877.] Concerning Foot-Prints. 407 The same principles of comparative anatomy that enabled Cuvier to reconstruct the skeletons of Tertiary mammals, a few bones of which were discovered near Paris, also give the ichnologist the power of calling again into being the forms of the animals which in times long passed impressed their foot-prints on the sand. Let us see, first of all, how the records of these ancient foot- _ steps have been preserved for indefinite ages, so as to appear as fresh and well defined as if made but yesterday. It is evident that if a track is left in the loose dry sand, it is poorly defined and soon becomes obliterated ; but if impressed on the wet sand at low tide, or on mud of the proper consistence, it may retain its form for a considerable time. The first and most common means by which such foot-prints are indefinitely preserved is by the rising tide filling and covering the impressions with the mud and sand borne on by the advancing waves. Each tide by de- positing a sheet of sediment over the trodden surface would not only tend to bury the foot-prints deeper and deeper and thus se- cure their preservation, but the new deposit thus spread out by the waters might receive a series of records in its turn,. made by the feet of the birds and reptiles that walked over it, and by the drops of rain that pattered down on the plastic surface, or by the retreating wavelets that rippled over the soft mud. Such in- scriptions when once entered on the day-book of nature are im- perishable until the rocky tablets that they form are again ground down to sand and dust in the great cycle of changes to which they are subjected. Such preservation of foot-prints can nowhere be better seen than on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, where, owing to the great difference between high and low tide, —in some places amounting to seventy feet, — a broad extent of smooth, shining mud is left exposed at low water. Some portion of this soft sur- face is sure to be trodden by the numerous birds that feed along the shore, or to have its surface pitted by a passing shower ; often, too, the mud is left in regular ripples by the retreating tide, and sometimes a leaf is borne out by the wind and dropped on the plastic surface, to record the character of the vegetation that fringes the shore. The red mud with all these inscriptions upon it is somewhat hardened by the warmth of the sun, so that it retains its place when the advancing tide rushes in. As the waters then sift down the fine mud which they hold in suspen- sion, it fills each foot-print and rain-drop impression, and impris- ons the leaves that are fast on the bottom; and thus is finished 408 Concerning Foot-Prints. [July, another page in the records of the ages. When the tide steals slowly out, this deposit of silt is left behind with a smooth, glossy surface as before, ready to receive another series of impressions. - This is not a rare or exceptional occurrence, but takes place nearly every summer’s day on the shores of the great bay. The constant accumulation of mud left in this manner by the retreating tides, although a single deposit may not exceed a sheet of paper in thickness, has yet formed thousands of acres of rich meadow-land, like the Tantramarsh and the broad meadows of Grand Pré, which retain, beneath their waving fields, the records made in the manner we have described, during hundreds and perhaps thousands of years before the Acadian farmers made that land their home. Sometimes upon splitting open the layers of hardened mud that form these meadows, the impressions made by the feet of animals are found; often, too, the bones of fishes - are thus discovered, showing the manner in which the remains of the fishes {hat once swam in Devonian and Carboniferous seas have been preserved to our own day. | l Another series of markings that are well displayed on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, and which are commonly associated with fossil foot-prints, are the shrinkage-cracks (or mud-cracks and sun-cracks, as they are often called) formed by the shrinking and cracking of the mud upon drying, when left exposed to the heat of the sun, — exactly as ‘may be seen in every dried-up pool by the wayside. Such a net-work of intersecting fissures fre- quently covers many acres of the mud on the shores of the Bay of Fundy; and these modern mud-cracks often intersect and distort the foot-prints that have been previously formed, in pre- cisely the same manner as the ancient foot-prints were sometimes distorted in the Triassic sandstone of the Connecticut valley. _ The discovery of the stumps of pines and beeches rooted in what was once the surface of the soil, but now buried beneath the muddy deposits of the bay, prove, as pointed out by Pro- fessor Dawson, that the land has subsided and allowed the depos- -its to reach a greater thickness than they could otherwise have done. We can learn from this submerged forest a lesson that will be of value to us in all our geological rambles. It furnishes one of the many indications that the crust of our globe is not the terra firma it has been fancied to be, but is slowly rising 1n one place and sinking in another, and is sometimes pushed up into great folds from which mountains are formed. Recent research has shown that for hundreds of miles along the coast of Chili, the 1877.] Concerning Foot-Prints. 409 land is slowly rising; a similar movement is taking place in Northern Europe; while, on the other hand, areas of equally great extent in some portions of the Indian and Pacific oceans are slowly sinking. That a gradual subsidence and an equally gradual deposition have together determined the mode in which great thicknesses of sediments have accumulated during many of the geological ages is clearly shown by the formations that con- tain from base to summit the indisputable evidences of shallow water origin. -~ The material that is continually deposited by the waters of the Bay of Fundy is furnished, for the most part, by the wearing away of the rocks along the shores of the bay. This process can nowhere be better seen than at the picturesque promontory at Hopewell, situated at the head of Shepody Bay. The Carbonif- erous conglomerate there forms a bold headland, which is being rapidly eaten away by the waves at high tide, so as to make one of the most interesting bits of coast scenery that we evey had the pleasure of seeing. ‘The waves have not only worn the hard con- glomerate into many dark caves and ragged capes, but have also cut out high archways, forming natural bridges that connect out- Standing masses of rock with the shore. In some cases these bridges are wanting or have been washed away; and what were once bold headlands are now separated from the shore, but still bear on their summits a crown of trees and shrubs that were once continuous with the vegetation on the mainland. The masses of rock thus separated from the shore — frequently calling ` to mind the outstanding “ buttes”’ along the Green River, and in other cañons of the far West — form islands at high tide, and are worn away at their base by the action of the waves, so that each is supported by a constantly diminishing column of stone, which at length gives way, and brings down the huge mass into the reach of the waves, which fast reduce it to sand and mud, to be spread out once more by the waters. The pebbles that com- pose the conglomerate, after being imprisoned in the rock for un- known ages, are again rolled up and down the beach as they Were in the Carboniferous days when they received their form. We were interested to observe the ripple-marks on. the coarse rocks, made when they were the loose sand and pebbles on the Shore of the Carboniferous ocean, only a few inches from the sim- ilar forms impressed upon the soft mud by the retreat of the Morning’s tide. So exactly alike were the ripples in each case — that a person could with difficulty appreciate the fact that one 410 Concerning Foot-Prints. [July, series was formed millions of years before the other. The system of denudation and deposition so well illustrated at Hopewell Cape also furnishes a striking example of one of the most uni- versal and far-reaching causes for the “imperfections of the geo- logical record.” : Another way in which foot-prints are preserved for long pe- riods of time is by becoming filled with the fine sand and dust borne along by the wind, which by being drifted into the tracks penetrates their finest markings, and becoming covered with more blown sand, or by silt at high tide, retain, as already ex- plained, an accurate mold and cast of the foot-prints, when the material shall have been hardened into rock. A counterpart of this second method of preservation can be seen when the newly fallen snow is drifted along by the wind and fills each cranny and crevice in the pavement; the snow gradually accumulates above, representing the sediment sifted down over the foot- prints on.the shore, and sometimes becomes frozen into a solid mass, which when removed from the walks retains on its under surface an accurate cast of every line and crack on the stones be- neath. . Still a third mode in which the impressions made by the feet of animals may be permanently preserved is seen when they are filled with fine sand and silt brought down by streams dur- ing sudden floods. The muddy waters then spread broadly out over the trodden sands, and cover them with a layer of fine mud; or, again, such a sheet of sediment may itself receive the impres- sions and be covered with sand by the incoming tide. Layers of sand and clay when once deposited not only tend to become consolidated by the pressure of the mass that goes on forming above them, but are also penetrated by water bearmg silica, lime, etc., in solution, which by being deposited around the particles of sand cement them together so as to form a com- pact sandstone ; the strata of mud and clay may form at the same time beds of slade. Sandstones and shales being exposed to a high temperature or subjected to great pressure, are further metamorphosed and form quartzite and argillite, or the common slate used in the school-room. Throughout all these changes, however, the rocks sometimes retain the forms impressed upa them when they were soft sand and mud. The oldest tracks known — excepting, perhaps, the trails left by annelid-like animals on the Taconic rocks of Vermont — Were —— discovered some twenty-five years since in the Potsdam sandstone a. 1877.] Concerning Foot-Prints. 411 at Beauharnois, Canada, situated about twenty miles westward of Montreal. These foot-prints were made a subject of study by Professor Owen, and were considered by him as having been formed by a large crustacean, resembling very closely in structure the Limulus, or “king-crab,”’ socommon along the Atlantic coast aa | ‘ f Wie ans, E (Fie. 77.) PROTICHNITES SEPTEM- ; NOTATUS, 0. Porspam. (Fie. 78) CLIMACTICHNITES. Porspam. at the present day. The tracks consist of a medial furrow, ac- companied on both sides by a large number of small indentations. The entire series of impressions is about six inches wide, and has been followed in some cases for several feet. It will be no- ticed that the tracks on each side of the medial line have a defi- nite rotation and form separate groups which regularly succeed one another, —each of these sets of impressions in the trail repre- sented above being formed by seven individual tracks on each side of the furrow. From the nature of the impressions and the regularity with which they succeed each other, we conclude that they were made by an animal having either seven individual legs on each side of the body, or else a fewer number of limbs which were divided at their extremities ; the latter theory is the one that Professor Owen considered most probable. The modern Limulus, whose trail resembles these ancient foot-prints almost exactly, has five pairs of true legs, four of which are forked at their extremities, while the hindmost pair is terminated by four lamellar appendages. The rigid tail of the Limulus leaves a fur- Tow on the sand over which the animal walks corresponding to the central furrow in the trails on the Potsdam sandstone. That this ancient furrow was also made by a rigid tail, and not by the under surface of the animal’s body, is shown by the fact that when a sharp curve was followed, the medial furrow swept to one side and sometimes obliterated the foot-prints on the convex side of the trail. : | Several series of foot-prints of the same general nature as 412 Concerning Foot-Prints. (July, those shown in Figure 77 have been discovered at Beauharnois and at other localities in Canada; to all of these the generic name of Protichnites (earliest foot-prints) has been given. These trails differ among themselves, however, principally in regard to the number of individual tracks in the successive series of impres- sions. Some of the trails have seven separate indentations in each corresponding series, and are hence designated as Protichnites sep- tem-notatus ; others with eight impressions in each group, making sixteen as formed by all of the feet of the animal at the same time, are known as P. octo-notatus ; others have received the name of P. multi-notatus. When we remember the great an- tiquity of these foot-prints, their discovery is seen to be of pecul- iar interest. The Potsdam sandstone on which they were im- pressed forms the base of the Silurian system in this country, and is almost the oldest formation in which well-defined fossils have been found. If we attempt to enumerate the centuries that have passed away since these delicate foot-prints were traced upon the sandy shore of the old Silurian ocean, we find ourselves as totally bewildered by the almost infinite lapse of time as we are when we endeavor to comprehend the distance of the fixed stars in space. Splendid specimens of Protichnites can be seen at Montreal, in the rooms of the Geological Survey of Canada, to whose former director, Sir William Logan, we owe our knowledge of these interesting fossils. No one can examine those slabs of sand- stone, with the strange trails sweeping across them, without some of that feeling of mingled wonder and awe which creeps over us when we see the inscriptions of some ancient people regarding whom tradition is silent. : y : These trails are not only interesting from their great antiquity, but also because they afford the only records ever discovere of the animals that made them. We find in the rocks that have afforded these foot-prints a few fossil sea-weeds, which mark the humble commencement of the flora of the globe, the shells of the Lingula, which are quite abundant at some localities and are the most common fossils from this formation, and also P few shells of other brachiopods, and some equally rare specimens of gasteropod shells. These lowly forms of life, together with a _ few species of trilobites, some of which, however, reached a very large size, make up the scanty fauna of those early days. None of the animals in this brief list could have left trails on the sand _ at all similar to those known as Protichnites, which owe their 1m- 1877. ] Concerning Foot-Prints. 415 pression to some unknown crustacean of a higher degree of organ- ization than ariy of the animals we have enumerated, which was literally the king-crab along the shores where it made its home. The Potsdam sandstone has also yielded another series of foot-prints fully as large as Protichnites, called Climactichnites, in reference to their striking resemblance to a rope-ladder. These impressions (Figure 78) consist of two furrows, about six inches apart, the interspace crossed by parallel curved furrows that rep- resent the rounds of the rope-ladder ; there are also indications of a medial furrow, as in Protichnites. Of the animal that formed these trails even less is known, as can be inferred, than of those whose tracks we have been considering. They are supposed by some persons to be the track left by a huge trilobite, like Para- doxides Harlani; others consider them as the trail of a large gasteropod, no other records of which“are known. Although the trail known as Climactichnites differs greatly in appearance from Protichnites, yet it is not impossible that they were formed by the same animal under different conditions: one impressed upon the sands while walking, the other, perhaps, formed by the swim- ming appendages, which are supposed to have resembled those of the Limulus. As we have seen, the crustaceans were the highest forms of life in the Silurian oceans ; their reign was terminated, however, about the close of the upper Silurian, by the introduction of fishes, which continued to be the rulers of the ocean throughout the Devonian age, which, for this reason, is often spoken of as the age of fishes. Another great advance was made in the life of the globe during the Carboniferous age, when the air-breathing reptiles first came upon the stage of being. The existence of these more highly organized animals in the Carboniferous age was first made known by the discovery of their foot-prints. The honor of first bringing these interesting relics to the notice of geologists is due also to Sir William Logan, who discovered rep- tilian foot-prints on slabs of Carboniferous sandstone in 1841, at Horton Bluff, Nova Scotia. Shortly afterwards, the well-known discovery of the foot-prints of a large amphibian, named Sauropus Primevus, was made at Pottsville, Pa. For some time the foot prints of these ancient reptiles were the only evidence known of their existence. These scanty records, however, were enough to demonstrate that lizard-like reptiles, of considerable size and of a high organization, existed during the age in which the coal de- posits of Nova Scotia and Pennsylvania were formed. 414 Concerning Foot-Prints. [July, After a time the skeletons of some of the Carboniferous reptiles were brought to light. One of the earliest and most interesting of these discoveries was made by Lyell and Dawson, while ex- amining the stump of a Sigillaria, one of the most common trees of the coal swamps, which had been buried in the sand that now forms the thick beds of sandstone at the South Joggins, Nova Scotia. The stump in question seems to have rotted away in the interior during the time when it was partially buried in the sand, so as to form a convenient retreat for the reptiles that made it their home, and in which they died as they were entrapped by the sand, which at length filled the stump and preserved the re- mains. Other skeletons of Carboniferous reptiles have since been discovered in considerable abundance at Linton, Ohio. A care- ful study of these remains has shown that there was no lack of diversity or of ornamentation and beauty among the reptiles that recorded their existence on the sands of the Carboniferous sea-shore, the authenticity | of which has been so abundantly verified. In the Triassic period, which next succeeds the Carboniferous age in geological history, another great advance was made in the progress of life on the earth by the appearance of birds, which, as a class, stand next above the reptiles in the zodlogical scale. The existence of the feathered tribes during the Triassic period was first made known by the covery of their foot-prints in the red sandstone of the Connecticut (Fic. 79.) SLAB OF TRIASSIC SANDSTONE valley. WITH TRACKS OF BIRDS AND REPTILES. The Triassic formation in which these i impressions were found fills the greater part of the Connect- icut valley, and is again largely developed in New Jersey, afford- ing in that State the red shales and sandstones so well known to travelers over the various railroads that radiate from Jersey City. It is this formation that furnishes the “ brown stone ” so largely used for architectural purposes in New York and the neighboring cities. The same formation stretches southward as far as Vir- ote - North Carolina, where it contains highly valuable beds of coa . 1877.] Concerning Foot-Prints. 415 The foot-prints found so abundantly in the Connecticut valley frequently seem to have been impressed upon a layer of soft mud, now shale, and to have been covered with a layer of sand, now hardened into a firm sandstone, which, upon being raised from its native bed, retains upon its under surface, standing out in relief, an exact cast of the foot-prints. These natural casts are often as perfect as if molded in plaster, and sometimes retain even the lines and creases of the skin which covered the feet of the animals that impressed them. These tracks have not been found in a few rare instances, but number many thousands, ob- tained from nearly forty localities in the valley of the Connecti- cut; the writer has also obtained several species from Pompton and Plainfield, N. J. We commonly hear these fossil foot-prints spoken of as “ bird tracks ;” they include, however, very many that are clearly rep- tilian in their character. Others have been referred to marsupial animals by Professor Hitchcock, to whose splendid report on the Ichnology of Massachusetts we would refer our readers for de- tailed and accurate information on this subject. No skeletons of these ancient inhabitants of Connecticut and New Jersey have been found sufficiently well preserved to sub- stantiate the conclusion of geologists that many of the tracks were made by birds, as the class is at present defined. Some persons are inclined to ascribe the bird tracks to kangaroo-like reptiles, which walked on two legs, like the gigantic Hadrosaurus that inhabited the shores of New J ersey in the next succeeding age, — the Cretaceous. Some fortunate discovery of the skele- tons of these animals will possibly show that they possessed some- thing of that strange “synthetic structure” so often met with geological history. It is not improbable that these earliest of birds possessed a combination of reptilian and avian characters, exemplified by the Archæopteryz,! the Pterodactyls,2 and the _ toothed birds from the Cretaceous formations of Nebraska. The principal reasons that have led geologists to consider many of the Connecticut foot-prints as having been made by birds are that the animals were clearly. bipeds, and left a tridactylous, or aree-toed, impression on the mud; some of them had a fourth 1A fossil bird found at Solenhofen, Bavaria, having short, rounded wings with - claws attached, and a long lizard-like tail, composed of about twenty vertebræ, each Supporting a pair of quill-feathers. genus of flying reptiles belonging to the Jurassic and Cretaceous ages, which = membraneous, bat-like wings, that sometimes measured twenty-five feet ftom tip to tip. 416 Concerning Foot-Prints. [ July, toe, connected with the metatarsal bone above the foot (as in many modern birds), which sometimes left a slight impression on the trodden surface. But the most striking analogy between the ancient tracks and the foot-prints of modern birds is to be seen in the fact that the phalanges, or joints of the toes, have the same numerical ratio in each; that is, in three-toed birds the inner toe has three, the middle one four, and the outermost one five phalanges. The force of these arguments in favor of the ornithie char- acter of the foot-prints has been somewhat impaired by the dis- covery of tracks bearing these peculiarities, but having, also, in connection with the large tridactylous impressions of the hind feet the much smaller five-toed tracks formed by the fore feet of the same animal, showing that they were made by a reptile. Sometimes a medial furrow accompanies such tracks, indicating that the animal possessed a long, strong tail. These discoveries, although proving that there have been three-toed reptiles, yet by no means prove that all the “bird tracks” were formed by such animals. We learn from the Triassic foot-prints that the strange creat- ures that impressed them not only inhabited the Eastern States in great numbers, but also that there was great variety in that ancient fauna. The accompanying figure of the foot-print known as Brontozoum giganteum, from Professor Hitch- cock’s report, represents the larg- est of the bird-like tracks found in the Connecticut valley. The foot- print represented in the figure as two and one half inches in length is in fact eighteen inches long and a foot in breadth, indicating, is only from the size of the foot-print, but from the manner in whic the trodden surface was crushed down, and also by the length of (Fre. 80.) BRONTOZOUM GIGANTEUM the stride that separates the steps, Peet: a bird of gigantic proportions, that must have far surpassed in size the largest of living birds, — al- though probably not exceeding the dimensions of the Dinorns giganteus, which at no very distant time inhabited New Zealand. ste aain e a a a aaa a aa Sana eet ee le 1877.] Concerning Foot-Prints. 417 “The giant ruler of the valley,” however, was the great Oto- -zoum, a huge biped reptile, whose foot-prints were each twenty inches in length by sixteen inches in breadth, and separated by strides three feet long; its great weight pressed down the sands as if an elephant had walked over them. ‘Together with these gigantic foot-prints are found the tracks of other and much smaller denizens of the shore. The smallest of the Triassic rep- tiles, as indicated by its track, could not have exceeded a com- mon frog in size. Associated with these are found the trails of : worms and curious markings supposed to have been made by the fins of fishes, which we know inhabited the waters in great num- bers. The smooth, glossy surfaces of the slabs bearing the foot- prints have often received other inscriptions which are scarcely less interesting than the records of animal life. Frequently the surface of the rock is pitted with impressions made by falling rain-drops, and we can even tell the direction from which the wind blew during the time that those ancient showers watered the earth. The ripple-marks plainly tell that the soft mud was covered with water, which then, as now, broke in ripples on the beach. The sun-cracks no less clearly prove that the wet mud was left exposed to the heat of the sun, which caused it to shrink and crack, and that the surface was again covered with water which filled the cracks with sand and thus secured their preserva- tion. These combined records show that the tide ebbed and flowed along those ancient shores, and that when it was at its lowest, it left exposed a broad stretch of shining mud, like that which borders the Bay of Fundy at low tide; upon this plastic surface the strange, uncouth monsters that emerged from the deep impressed the imperishable records of their existence. We will leave to our readers the pleasure of picturing th strange scenes that filled the valley of the Connecticut in those distant days, when conifers, cycads, and ferns of tropical growth ~ formed a varied and beautiful border to the valley and furnished Shelter and food for the singular creatures whose footsteps we ' have followed. To those who would drink deeper of this ‘ foot-print lore,” We recommend the writings of Hitchcock, Deane, Lea, Owen, ete. ; or, still better than all, to pry open the leaves of the an- Gent tile library of nature, and interpret for themselves ‘the cuniform impressions with which they are inscribed. VOL. XI. — No. 7. 27 418 Experiments on the Sense- Organs of Insects. [July, EXPERIMENTS ON THE SENSE-ORGANS OF INSECTS. BY A. S. PACKARD, JR. (PER interesting experiments of Mr. Trouvelot, degcribed in the April NATURALIST, which it should here be explained were in my hands eight years before their final publication, the MS. hav- ing been overlooked, led me to make similar experiments, which are offered here with the hope of stimulating some more com- petent observer to work up the subject in a more complete and scientific way. From a worker honey bee (Apis mellifica) I removed one antenna. It flew with difficulty and acted as if much hurt. On removing the other, except the first and second joints of both antennæ, it appeared to be semi-paralyzed, and on being tossed up in the air fell helpless to the floor, and did not at first walk about much, but in two or three minutes recovered sufficiently from the shock of the amputation to walk, though it had apparent- ly lost the power of coérdination and also the power of stinging ; but it soon recovered its strength enough to fly a little, and be- gan to dart out its sting, but most of the time it buzzed about on the table on its back. After four or five minutes it came to, and flew with a comparatively steady flight to the window on being thrown up in the air. It then walked up the window- pane. 2 On removing the stumps of both antennz it was partially paralyzed, and dropped repeatedly on the floor upon being thrown up in the air. It did not regain its wits as soon as be- fore, but remained on the window-sill walking about, not climb- ing up the pane. It, however, had the power of pąrtially coördi- nating its steps, and would now and then clean its feelers (palpi) by drawing them through its jaws. It would not sting me even on pressure with the finger. Fifteen minutes afterwards 1t had not recovered the power of flying, and in_essaying flight would fall on its side, buzz about on its back, and then walk stagger along. The movements of the mouth-parts were not affected. One hour after deantennization it would remain motionless, and on violently tapping thé window-sill on which it rested it would not stir, but on touching it slightly it moved a little, and soon became motionless; after this a still heavier tap would slightly startle it. Upon depositing a drop of dissolved sugar within a head it did not notice it; on daubing it over the end of the line of its a 1877.] Experiments on the Sense- Organs of Insects. 419 stump of the antennz no movement was made by the bee, but as soon as the fluid had spread and moistened the mouth-parts it un- bent its maxillz and vigorously lapped it up, the tongue (lingua) playing back and forth between the maxillz as the latter spread open a little., During this operation I held the bee between my fingers ; it did not sting me, but soon thrust the sting partly into the skin of my finger, showing that the power of stinging had partially returned. This experiment seems to show that the sense of hearing may reside in the antenne of the honey bee, while that of smell has its seat in the palpi (and perhaps the tongue) alone. It would also seem as if the antennal nerves were so continuous with the supracesophageal ganglia that they are as it were part of the brain, their removal at a little distance from their origin produc- ing such a shock to the ganglionic nervous system that the insect acts somewhat like a bird on being deprived of the cerebral hemispheres, while the special senses in the organs left untouched are not affected. The bee was more profoundly impressed by the mutilation than other insects, as will be seen by the follow- ing experiments, and this is evidence in favor of the view that the Hymenoptera and the honey bees especially, stand at the head of the insect creation. On removing the antenne from a species of Andrena, a com- mon wild bee, it immediately fell on its back as if stunned, and lay on its side curled up as though hurt, and on letting it fall would drop down and lie still on the table, not trying to use its wings. It laid several hours on its back and then died. On the other hand a smaller species, about half the size of the other, on being treated in the same manner did not seem to be much affected, as it walked about in its usual lively fashion on the table and finally flew out of doors. A small Halictus and Au- gochlora bee, after the loss of their antenna, flew with a little less directness and freedom, but showed no signs of being hurt. A humble bee (Bombus Virginica) and wasp (Vespa maculata) on being deantennized acted in much the same manner; on being thrown up in the air they would repeatedly fly to the win- dow, not being. stunned as in the honey bee, though they were _ Somewhat affected, occasionally falling over on to their backs and Temaining there several minutes. A second wasp of the same Species acted in the same manner after the same style of treat- ment. On placing dissolved sugar on the stumps of both anten- næ, no impression was made upon it, though when put to its 420 Experiments on the Sense- Organs of Insects. [July, mouth it eagerly lapped the sweet. Finally the wasp flew out of the window. I removed the palpi or feelers from a female Polistes wasp, leaving the stumps of the maxillary palpi. It did not eat the sugar with its usual heartiness, but still extended its tongue slightly. One experiment like this proves nothing, but suggests that the sense of smell or taste probably resides in the tongue and base of the maxillz of these insects as well as in the palpi. A female blue mud dauber (Pelopeus coeruleus) on removal of the antennz showed no less activity than before and flew and ran about in its ordinary manner. A large blue-black ichneumon-fly on removal of the antenne was not affected much. On placing a lump of sugar at its mouth it eagerly lapped it, but on removing both pairs of palpi, leaving short stumps, it did not lap the sugar, though I repeatedly put it close to its tongue and actually plastered the solution on the tongue. I also put the insect into a cup with a solid mass of sugar at the bottom, but it did not eat it, having apparently en- tirely lost the sense of taste. In this insect it would seem as if the sense of taste resided in the ends of the palpi. Previous to their excision they moved very briskly while the ichneumon was lapping the sugar with its tongue. In walking up the side of the glass as well as on the table it felt its way in a peculiar tentative manner with its left fore leg, the short stumps of its antennz all the while moving, showing that the antennæ rather than the eyes are used in walking, and that when deprived of its antennz and eyes it uses one leg like a blind man his stick to feel its way. An ichneumon of another species on removal of its antenn® and of the labial and the terminal half of the maxillary palpi, lapped sweetened water. : A small Microgaster, on partial removal of the palpi, leaving only the stumps, acted like the larger ichneumons. A small brown ant on losing its antennz was at first evidently much shocked, turning. round and round in a confused manner, but in a minute or two it walked off nearly as well as ever. — It found its way to the rim of a goblet and lapped the sugar solution with its tongue, the maxillary palpi being extended straight back- wards. It cleaned its fore legs, drawing them through the max- _A number of butterflies and moths were experimented upon: On removal of its antenræ a Papilio Asterias flew irregularly to Ree ae we 1877.] Experiments on the Sense- Organs of Insects. 421 the floor, remaining there; on opening the window it flew out heavily, having evidently lost some of its powers of flight and of directing the movements of its wings. It remained just where it had settled in the path from four P. M. until after nine o’clock the next morning. ‘Then on putting it in a sunny place it disap- peared five minutes after, and must have become warmed and flown away. A Colias Philodice on removal of its antennz did not fly quite so readily as one in the same room unmutilated, but the differ- ence was not marked ; two deantennized Pieris rape behaved in the same manner as the Colias. An Argynnis Idalia in losing its antenne seemed but slightly affected, but showed more of a tendency to drop to the floor than if in a natural condition, On putting sweetened water on the ends of the stumps of the antennæ, in a minute it partly but not wholly unrolled its maxilla. On moistening the ends of the la- bial palpi no effect was produced ; on moistening the base and ends of the maxillæ they at once unrolled and felt about for the sweet object with their tips, and on putting a drop of sweetened water on the window frame in front of it, it eagerly lapped it with the maxilla, and on losing the place of the drop it felt around until it found it and then again lapped it. This experiment tends to show that both the sense of taste and touch must reside in the maxillze of the Lepidoptera, and not in the palpi. On removing the antenn of a Deilephila lineata which had just come from the chrysalis, it seemed to fly more vigorously than before, and to be rendered more restless in its motions. On Snipping off the antenne of an Agrotis subgothica which came in at a lighted window, it tumbled about headlong at times, being evidently top-heavy and confused. Another owlet moth, Draste- ria erechtea, on losing its antennæ did not seem to suffer, and Soon recovered sufficiently to fly out of the window upon the grass and to start up in its usual manner and fly off at my ap- proach. A Crambus similarly treated acted in a similar manner. ` The sense of touch in the Lepidoptera does not evidently reside in the antenne alone, and all the experiments show that after the loss of the antenne if disturbed, jarred, or touched, they are _ Still sensitive and fly off. ew flies were experimented upon, the antennæ being snipped off. A Chironomus was much affected ; it flew about wildly bouncing on its head, and did not fly up the window-pane Upon partial recovery. On the other hand no effect was prc- 422 Experiments on the Sense- Organs of Insects. [July, duced on a Tipula or daddy-long-legs. A large blue-bottle fly (Musca Cesar) seemed to suffer no ill effects, and it was found flying on the window the next day, lively and apparently uncon- scious of its loss. Three Stomoxys calcitrans on losing their antennz seemed not at all affected, being as lively as ever, wiping their feet and run- ning and flying up the window, with motions identical with oth- ers of their species on the same window. On removing the antennz from a beetle (Harpalus caliginosus) no difference in its motions was observed; a Clytus robinie seemed, however, slightly discommoded, while an Ellychnia corusca, when mutilated, walked slowly and with difficulty, where before it walked with moderate rapidity touching the ground incessantly with its antenn ; it did not move in a direct line, but hesitat- ingly, and sometimes tumbling over on one side. It was evidently gravely affected, and finally remained quiet for several hours; a potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decem-lineata) acted in the same manner. On the other hand a weevil, Hylobius pales, on losing its antennæ, exhibited no signs of discomfort; it did not feign death at first, nor did it walk over the table with a less well directed gait than before. . A few Hemiptera, which, it should be observed, have no palpi, suffered the loss of their antennæ. Cicada canicularis flew about more lively than before it was operated upon. In Coreus tristis no effect was produced, while a large Arma-like bug was made more sluggish. The red-legged grasshopper ( Caloptenus femur-rubrum) was not affected, nor was Orchelimum agile, while a cricket (Nemobius vittatus) on losing its antennæ, at once stopped, not leaping more than two inches, and walked slowly, but used its palpi in walk- ing, cleaning its legs with them. On removing the labial palpi its movements were not different, though, if anything, livelier. On removing the maxillary palpi, no difference in its actions was produced. A common Gryllus, in losing its antennæ, was igi slightly affected. A large dragon-fly, Æschna heros, on the loss of its antenn®, seemed to fly freely about the room, but would butt against the wall, and on being taken out of doors, flew to the ground, where it usually flies rapidly off in the air. ; _ Spiders seemed to be affected by the loss of their maxillary _ palpi much as insects by the loss of their antenna. A female Lyeosa-like spider, after the removal of its palpi, for four or his 1877.] Recent Literature. 423 minutes moved slowly, but with a direct, well coördinated gait, then it partly recovered, and moved more briskly. Another smaller Hpeira-like spider did not seem to suffer, except that its motions were slower, and on being touched, it would gather up its legs and feign death. A species of Julus and of Polydesmus, on amputation of their antennæ, rather long stumps remaining, were at first somewhat discommoded and then seemed to walk well, but less rapidly than before. It would be premature to draw any inferences from these ex- periments, but the impression is left on the mind that in remov- ` ing the antennz in some cases, it seemed as if something more was effected than making the insect deaf or depriving it of the sense of taste or smell, and it seemed as if the ganglionic cen- tres were affected, particularly the supra-cesophageal pair, the insect being at first more or less stunned or confused, and then, in many cases, acting as if the nervous centres were permanently affected ; not so much as if one of its senses, but all or nearly all, were more or less affected. In fact, the movements somewhat resembled those of a dove from which the cerebral hemispheres had been removed, as in the case described in Dalton’s Physiology, and the fact that the insects can distinguish light from darkness, perhaps the main function of the eyes, and taste their appropriate food, does not militate against the idea that the nervous centres are seriously affected. On the other hand, no such effects are - produced when the leg, or even, in some cases, the abdomen, is removed. I do not see that my experiments enable us to prove anything as to the nature of the function of the antennæ, except to indicate that the insect’s brain is as it were projected into them, and that their nerves probably possess nucleated cells, homologous with those of the ganglia from which the sense-nerves originate. — ed RECENT LITERATURE. Ganin’s Meramorrnoses or Inszots.!— The author begins with à rapid survey of previous salon ree by Weismann, Uljanin, Chun, Paul Mayer, Auerbach, and shows the unsatisfactory condition of bod knowledge and the necessity of a verification of the statements of those 1 Materials for a Knowledge of the Post-Embryonal Development of Insects. By Prorzsson M. Ganry. Warsaw. 1876. 4to, 76 pages and 4 plates. (Extracte from the Transactions of the Fifth git y Tpssinn Naturalists in Warsaw ; “ih tion of Zoblogy and Comparative Anatomy, 424 Recent Literature. [ July, authors. “My own observations,” says he, “embrace several Diptera (Anthomyia, Sarcophaga, Musca domestica, Seatophaga, Eristalis, Stra- tiomyia) ; several species of Formica and Myrmica; one Lepidopteron, Lithocolletis ; and of Coleoptera, Tenebrio and Chrysomela. Amon the Diptera, my fullest researches were those on Anthomyia rufipes: a smaller species being ‘easier to handle in preparing cross-sections, especially in the pupa state, when most of the organs are destroyed. In Sarcophaga carnaria, I observed the structure and the development of imaginal discs, anterior to pupation. The relationship of this species, as well as of Musca vomitoria, studied by Weismann, to Anthomyia authorizes the assumption that whatever is explained here about the de- velopment of the latter genus is equally applicable to Musca vomitoria and Sarcophaga carnaria, and also to the other above-named Muscide.” “More or less complete are my observations on the development of the teguments of the head, the thorax, and the abdomen, with their ex- crescences ; also on the development of the alimentary canal. The aim of my studies was not so much to investigate the details of the develop- ment of this or that organ as to observe the mode of formation of the rudiments of organs, the material out of which they are developed, and the time of their appearance. Many facts, introduced into science by Weismann, — for instance, those which refer to the part played by the im- aginal discs in the development of the imago, — must retain their scien- tific weight, with slight emendations, with respect to the development and structure of those discs; but another category of results, elicited by Weismann, — namely, those relating to the histolytic processes, the for- mation of the tissues of the imago from the produce of the destruction of the organs of the larva, — must be considered as erroneous and replaced by others.” (Pages 4, 5.) : The main portion of the. author’s dissertation is divided into = chapters, which embody his own observations, and are entitled, Imaginal dises (Muscide); History of the development of the head ; History of the development of the abdomen of the imago; Adipose body and destructive processes; Imaginal dises of the ant (Myrmica); History of the develop- ment of the leg of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera ; History of the develop- ment of the alimentary canal (Muscidze); History of the development of the proboscis; History of the development of the alimentary canal of Myrmica, Lithocolletis, and Tenebrio. It would be impossible fairly to render the contents of these chapters without translating the whole of them; it will suffice here to give be translation of the concluding chapter (page 64), which sums up the author? results and views. “ Conclusions. In consequence of the above-statec facts, as well as of several still unfinished researches of mine organ _ ing the development of the central nervous system and of the vat vessel, we may reach the conclusion that the formation of the o of the imago, during the period of its post-embryonal deve lopment, 18 1877. ] Recent Literature. 425 accompanied by the following processes : Processes of destruction, when organs or tissues of the larva are entirely or partially disintegrated. The products of this disintegration are not used immediately in the develop- ment of new histological elements, but are assimilated by suction and play the part of nutritive materials. Processes of transformation, I eall those morphological processes, during which the formation of a new organ takes place without the participation of a newly formed morpho- logical rudiment, but when the old organ, without being destroyed, passes into the a. corresponding organ of the imago, the newly appearing organ differing more or less, morphologically and his- tologically, from the old one. Thus the central nervous system of the larve of Muscide is not destroyed, but is transformed into the central nervous system of the imago, the latter differing very much, in its shape and structure, from the former: new parts have appeared ; the first knot of the abdominal cord, not existing in the larva, is differentiated; the ganglion opticum is newly formed; the shape and structure of the ab- dominal cord are changed, etc. The histological elements of the tissues of the new organ are derived from those of the transforming larval organ.- It is very probable that the dorsal vessel of the imago of Mus- cide is only transformed from the dorsal vessel of the larva. It seems to me that in the Museide the dorsal vessel does not interrupt its functions during the period of post-embryonal development: very often the contractions of the dorsal vessel of Anthomyia rufipes were observed during the second and third day after pupation, when the greater part of the larval organs were already destroyed. The trifling differences be- tween the dorsal vessel of the imago, as compared to that of the larva, May consist in its shape, the number, shape, and position of its wing- Shaped muscles, the number and position of the venose openings, etc. “ Processes of the formation of new organs. The variety of these proc- esses depends, of course, on the morphological and physiological con- ditions of the newly forming organ. These processes consist in the building up of an organ of the imago from a special morphological Pimat. Thus from the morphologioal aie called imaginal dises, are evolved entirely new parts of the body of the imago, with their different tissues — head, thorax ay he extremities, muscles, nerves, etc.; portions of the cephalic discs are converted into the com- pound eyes of the imago; out of the thickening of the abdominal seg- ments of the larva of Anthomyia is developed the musculature of the abdominal segments of the i imago, etc. It must, however, be at the same time remembered that there are no well-marked boundaries between ~ these different processes; the terms used are intended merely to id nate the most marked phase of this or that process. The d ns given of those processes have only a relative meaning, like all our mee tions in morphological science. 426 Recent Literature. [Jaly, “ Finally, it also happens that parts or organs of the larva, during the period of the post-embryonal development, will pass into the correspond- ing parts of the imago without any change, or with very little change. Thus, for instance, a part of the adipose body of the larvæ.of the Mus- cide and of the ant pass into the adipose cells of the imago. It is worthy of notice that itis only after the last molt of the larva of Core- thra that those large bundles of colossal adipose cells make their ap- pearance, which surround the anterior tracheal bladders; but they pass without any change into the imago, without furnishing, directly or in- directly, any material for the formation of the organs of the imago. This fact, taken singly, does not weigh in favor of the importance of the adipose body as a living, plastic material for building up the organs of the imago in the period of the post-embryonal development. The so-called histolytic processes, in the sense of Weismann,! as well as the process of an independent formation of the cells from the products of the destruction of the larval organs, I have never observed. “ The comparative examination of all these processes, which take place new formation and destruction, as well as from their morphological meaning, the highest place in the series of all the insects must be granted to the Muscide. Besides the already known facts of compara- tive anatomy, may be adduced the data obtained through embryolog- ical researches, which confirm the above-mentioned statement. The position of the imaginal discs in the cavity of the body, the mode of development of the head, the chest, the proboscis with all its parts, the entire destruction of the exoderm of the first four segments of the larva, the entire destruction of all its abdominal muscles, etc., — all these cir- _ cumstances lead to the conclusion that the organism of the Muscide has undergone more modification than that of any other insect, during its phylogenetic development. The mode of development of the strata or rudiments in the imaginal discs of the Muscidæ, as compared to that in the discs of other insects, serves to confirm that conclusion. In the larve of Muscide, both strata of rudiments of the disc are formed anew from a common cellulose germ on the peritoneal envelope of the tracheal tube, or on the neurilemma of the nerve. In Corethra, Miastor, and in the Hymenoptera, strictly speaking, the mesoderm of the disc is alone a new formation, developed with the participation of the nerve and the tracheal tube; the exoderm of the disc is derived from the epithelial 1 I say in the sense of Weismann because later observers, as C. Chun, P. Mayer, esses are called by them histolyse. Weismann, on the contrary, clearly distinguishes this second histolytic process from the three other processes of formation of the gans of the imago. The histolyse, according to Weismann, takes pl l _ the organ of the larva furnishes the skeleton to the organ of the imago, etc., etc. 1877. ] Recent Literature. 427 cells of the thoracie segments of the larva. In butterflies and beetles, the part corresponding to the exoderm of the imaginal disc is derived from the epithelial sac of the leg of the larva; the mesoderm likewise is a new formation. It is very probable that a further inquiry into the processes of the post-embryonal development of other Diptera, and also of insects of other orders, principally of such groups as have so- called apodal larvæ, will disclose some transitional forms of post-embry- onal processes leading towards the extreme and well-characterized type of development of the Muscide. Thus it is now well known that Miastor} is a connecting link between Muscide and Tipulide, as re- gards the history of the development of its head. The dorsal portion of the head of Miastor is developed from the cephalic discs, the position of which is similar to that of the cephalic discs of the Muscide ; the ventral and lateral portions of the head of the imago of Miastor are developed with the participation of the teguments of the larval cephalic segment. The development of the organs of the mouth of Miastor is much nearer to that of Corethra. “The musculature of the head of the larva of Miastor, according to Zalensky, a without change into the muscles of the head of the imago. Itis to be regretted that we do not find in the work of Za- lensky any mention of destructive processes in the cephalic segment of the larva of Miastor. If the destruction of the exoderm of the cephalic segment of the larva is not recognized, at least in its dorsal region, it is difficult to understand how the newly formed part of the head can as- sume its normal relative position towards the old larval exoderm of the cephalic segment. “Some morphological importance must also be attributed to the inter- esting fact, that in the larva of Miastor, the formation which is homol- ogous to the pair of cephalic discs of the larve of Muscide appears in the shape of a single (not paired) organ, although judging by the nerves with which it is connected, it corresponds to the pair of cephalic discs of the Muscide. “The principle adopted by Weismann for the division of all insects into two sharply defined types, according to their post-embryonal develop- ment, and which depends upon the presence or absence of histolytic _ Processes, and also on the mode of formation of the histological ele- ments of the tissues of the i imago,— in one case from the Kérnchenku- geln, in the other with the participation of the elements of the tissues of the larva, — after all that has been said above, must lose its scientific value. It seems to me that the principles which must guide us in the grouping of insects with regard to their post-embryonal Lee Are the number and quality of the destructive processes, the Modes of the building up of the organs of the imago from the newly -1 Article by Mr, sped in the Proceedings of the Third Meeting of the Rus- sian Naturalists in Kie 428 Reeent Literature. [July, formed morphological rudiments, the number and the morphological im- portance of the organs transformed from the organs of the larva, and of those which pass, without change, into the organs of the imago. “I deem it proper to examine here the question of the morphological importance of the imaginal discs of insectsin general. The data respecting their embryology and comparative anatomy render it very probable that the thoracic imaginal discs, hidden in the body of Muscidae, the thoracic imaginal dises placed immediately on the skin of Corethra, Miastor, and the Hymenoptera, and the thoracic legs of the larve of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, are homological formations, replacing each other in all - those groups. In other words, and more explicitly, I believe that the thoracic imaginal discs of the Hymenoptera, Muscide, Corethra, and Miastor are nothing but reduced ambulatory legs, which in other insects (Lepidoptera and beetles) are used as organs of progression, but in the above-mentioned groups (Muscide, etc.), have lost their physiological value, and have preserved in the history of their development a mere record of that value. This view may be sustained by the following scientifically pregnant facts: (1.) All insects, the larvae of which possess, in their thoracic segments, the so-called imaginal discs, do not have any rudiments of legs on the same segments during the period of their em- bryonal development; in other words, the imaginal discs take the place of the legs, which, in other insects, appear much earlier, in the same places, during the period of the embryonal development. (2.) In insects, the larve of which possess thoracic legs, these latter are transformed into the legs of the imago, in such a manner that the final segmentation of the joints of the leg of the imago appears more or less sudden and simultaneous, in consequence of the segmentation of the corresponding leg of the larva, which has been very much drawn out in length. On the contrary, those insects, the larve of which, instead of thoracic, am- bulatory legs, have imaginal discs, show, before the appearance of the final segmentation of the leg of the imago, a stage of a provisional seg- mentation of the leg in the developing imago. Thus, the segments of the leg of the imago of Muscide, Hymenoptera, etc., do not all appear simultaneously, but gradually, first one, then two, three, etc. This pro- _Visional segmentation of the leg, growing out of the imaginal disc, must be considered, probably, as the expression of the ultimate segmentation of the leg which it formerly possessed ; or, in other words, the provisional segments of the leg, developing from the-imaginal disc, remind us of the permanent segments of the larval legs of Lepidoptera, beetles, Hie which, in these latter, are used as temporary, provisional, locomotive p a gans. (3.) I believe that great morphological importance must ke tached to the fact that during the development of the imaginal disc of the | Muscide, the H noptera, Corethra, and Miastor, the provisional cav- ity in the disc, which has no ultimate meaning, appears first of 2 — e scientific meaning of this provisional cavity, as well as of its out- 1877.] Recent Literature. 429 ward tegument, can be explained, I think, as follows: The fact that imaginal discs, formations homologous to ambulatory legs, are situated in the cavity of the larval body, in connection with the tracher and nerves, must undoubtedly be understood as a consequence of the com- pound process of the displacement of the imaginal dise from the surface towards the inner cavity along the tracheal tube or nerve. The larve of Corethra, Miastor, Chironomus, have the imaginal discs more on the surface of the skin than those of the ant (Myrmica). In the former larve, these formations are walled in by a comparatively less developed fold of the skin. In the larve of Myrmica, this deep fold is transformed into a well-developed bag, which, together with the leg of the imago, developing within it, is placed during a certain time within the cavity of the larval body, below its muscular, subcutaneous stratum. In these insects, after the leg is stretched outside, the bag enclosing it is atrophied, and has no ulterior meaning. If we represent to ourselves that the outside aperture, leading into the provisional bag, with the incipient leg of the ant, is closed, we obtain all the homological parts of the disc of an ant as compared to the disc of Muscide in the corresponding stage of development. - That is, the part of the disc of the Muscide which I described as its outside tegument, becomes the homologue of the closed fold of the skin in the disc of the ant; the provisional cavity of the disc of Muscide, between its outer and inner tegument, is homol- ogous to the cavity of the bag in the disc of the ant; the inner tegu- ment of the disc of the Muscide and the thickening of the anterior half of the disc of the ant represent the beginnings of the leg of the imago, and are homologous formations. ‘The phase of develop- ment of the imaginal disc of the ant, before it begins to project exter- nally, when the extremity consists only of three provisional segments, and the corresponding phase in the dise of Muscide, entirely con- cealed within the cavity of the body, are remarkably alike anatomically, if we do not pay attention to the external opening in the disc of the ant. It seems very probable that, when the post-embryonal develop- ment of different insects is better investigated, embryological facts will be found, which will favor the view, explained above, of the imaginal dise of Muscide being comparable to the disc of the ant (Myrmica). I mean to say, that an intermediate stage of the imaginal disc will be found, during which it occupies in the full-grown larva a position sim- ilar to its position in the larve of Muscide, and has at the same time its outer integument and provisional cavity similar to those of the ant. `“ The paired abdominal thickenings which appear on the sides of the abdominal segments in the larvæ of Muscide before the formation of the Permanent abdominal segments of the imago are, I think, morphologic- ally homologous with the thoracic imaginal discs, and may be called ab- dominal imaginal discs. : “The facts communicated by me concerning the formation of the ali- 430 _ Recent Literature. [ July, mentary canal of the imago during the post-embryonal development induce us, first of all, to reflect on the question, What transformation does the entoderm of insects which undergo the so-called complete meta- morphosis pass through from the very beginning of the life of such in- sects? For the solution of the question how many times the entoderm of such insects is changed, science unfortunately does not as yet possess sufficient data concerning the ps teen of the entoderm during their embryonal development. “If the supposition of some investigators, who look upon the shda inal depression very early visible in the blastoderm of Hydrophilus, Apis, etc., as a stomach (gastrula), proves to be correct, and if, secondly, my observations are verified, that, notwithstanding the presence of this provisional entoderm (gastrula), the final epithelium of the median intes- tine of the embryo may develop anew with the help of the epithelium of the anterior and posterior intestine, then we will be able to affirm with assurance that the imago of insects with a complete metamor- phosis has a tertiary entoderm. On the contrary, if it become estab- lished as a scientific fact, that the stomach (gastrula) of insects is trans- formed directly into the entoderm of the median intestine of the larval embryo, then the entoderm of the imago of the above-indicated insects uld be called secondary. There is a considerable array of facts in favor of both of these suppositions, but in order to obtain a final solution of this important morphological question, we must wait for more numer- ous observations on the sake apse oe of the entoderm during the em- bryonal and post-embryonal perio “ As to the anterior and Peen intestine, it seems very probable that these portions of the alimentary canal of the imago of insects whic have a complete metamorphosis are secondary formations.” Recent Booxs anD Pampuiets.—On the Fishes of Northern Indiana. By D. S. Jordan. On the Genera of North American Fresh-Water Fishes. By David S. Jordan and Charles S. Gilbert. (From Proceedings of the Academy of Natural paver Philadelphia.) 8vo, pp. 104. e Wanderhenschercke (CEdipoda migratoria Linn). Gemeinverstindliche Dar- Ai ihrer a a ne Lebensweise, Schädlichkeit, und der Mittel zu ihrer Vertilgung. Von Dr. A. Gerstäcker. Berlin. 1876. Svo, pp. 67. Two colored lates. . Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of America North of ae Part I. Diurnals. By William H. Edwards. einen rie: Pa. 1877. 8vo, pp. 6 Antigeny, or Sexual Dimorphism in Butterflies. (From ie ‘Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Seteacee, xii. 1877.) 8vọ, pp. 8. Bulletin of the United States Entomological Commission. No.2. On the Natu- ral History of the Rocky Mountain becca and on the Habits of the Young or Uñ- 1 Paul Mayer, in his Ontogeny and Phylogeny of Insects, speaks of the gastrula- stomach of the embryo of Platygaster, without noticing that this stomach is simply 4 fold of the body of the embryo, separating its cephalic and caudal haloes. The omr. bryo of Platygaster is a highly convenient object for observation, and I can say with assurance that in this case the primary entoderm is not formed through the invagina erm. 1877.] Botany. i 431 fledged Insects as they occur in the More Fertile Country in which they will hatch the oe Year. Washington, May, 1877. 8vo, pp. 15 e Westminster Review on The Recent Origin of Man. bit James C. sop ace Bites from the Methodist Seca Review for Apri 8vo, pp. 2 ' Gar-Pikes, Old and Young. By Prof. B. G. Wilder. atid from the Pijait Science Monthly, May and June, 1877. ; » pp- 2 The Growth of Children. By H. P. Howditels: ms D. kig the Eighth Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts: Bosto 1877. 8vo, pp. 51. -, Annual Report of the issos of the Museum of Ollthpiitaiive Zodlogy for 1876. Boston. 1877. 8vo, pp. 4 GENERAL NOTES. BOTANY.! ORCHIS ROTUNDIFOLIA Pursh. — This, after all, is the proper name for this rare species, which is likely to be more common, now that Mr. Pringle has found new stations in Vermont, where it abounds. From live plants sent by Mr. Pringle to our Botanic Garden, the plant is now in blossom, and an examination of the fresh flowers reveals the fact that the plant is a genuine Orchis, having the glands in a pouch. In fact, it is a true congener of O. spectabilis, but with lateral petals spreading in the manner of most European species. It was Rich- ardson who first referred this Orchis to Habenaria, and as he was aided by Robert Brown in the preparation of his Botanical Appendix to Franklin’s Journey, one felt confident that all was right. Let our young botanists note from this how much is to be done, if they will but use their eyes. — A. Gray. Taree-FLowerep SANGUINARIA. Buy er Galva, Illinois, H. W. Young sends a scape of Sanguinaria’ Canadensis which, besides the ter- minal flower, bears a pair of similar lateral flowers, one on each side, at some distance below, apparently without subtending bracts; an interest- ing and novel monstrosity. — A. GRAY. WO-FLOWERED ARETHUSA. — I found near here two days ago a re- markable specimen of Arethusa bulbosa, L. It was in a place where this Species is not uncommon, but I have never seen so fine a specimen. There were two distinct scapes from the same bulb, one bearing a single flower, and the other a pair of flowers, all perfect and unusually fine ones. he scapes were not longer than is usual, but quite stout and healthy. — H. M. DexsLow, New Haven, June 1, 1877. ; a package of several hundred fine specimens of Arethusa, just re- ceived from Plymouth, Mr. B. M. Watson has observed two interesting monstrosities. One of the specimens consists of a two-flowered scape, with the flowers complete and united at the base; the other has the oiek which are both incomplete, united through nearly the whole ength. 1 Conducted by Pror. G. L. GOODALE. 4 432 General Notes. [July, DOUBLE SAXIFRAGE, AGAIN. — At a recent meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Mr. Meehan exhibited a specimen of Saxifraga Virginiensis having double flowers. Subsequently Dr. J. G. Hunt exhibited a specimen of like character ; both were collected on the banks of the Schuylkill River near Philadelphia. The flowers on. each specimen were few in number, but of larger size than those noted by.Professor Gray in the June number of the NATURALIST. — Isaac C. MARTINDALE, Camden, N. J. SALIX CANDIDA IN Essex County.—I found this plant by accident in a swamp in Boxford, while on one of the local exploring trips last summer , in company with J. H. Sears, who is familiar with that region. I ha then the leaves only. This month we went again to the place and found male and female plants abundant in the vicinity of the Pinus resinosa grove. Salix myrtilloides grows there also, but this has been found also in North Reading, Andover, Danvers, and Hamilton. Oakes had S. myrtilloides from “ Topsfield” in 1846. I also send two varieties of Draba Caroliniana, discovered on Salem _ Neck by Dr. Charles Pickering in 1824. It grows abundantly some years, and is scarce others. There is an acre or two of it. One form is very white beneath the leaves, later flowered and lighter, and having thicker pods than the other, which is darker, with thin pods. Mr. Russell knew the place, and I have watched it every year since 1870. — JOHN ROBIN- SON, Salem. SARRACENIA VARIOLARIS. — In 1874 I prepared notes on S. variola- ris, in which it was stated, as one of the conclusions reached, that the sweet secretion at the mouth of the tubes was simply a lure to insects and not stupefying or intoxicating as had been supposed. Last year, having read an interesting article on this subject, in which the writer arrived at conclusions directly opposed to my own, I was curious to dis- cover whether I had committed any error, but it was too late at that season to repeat former experiments. On the 15th of this month, therefore, I procured about midday from & neighboring pine barren a number of leaves of this plant which were brilliantly colored and secreting freely. While still fresh, the upper POF tions of these leaves were cut off and slit open, thereby exposing the honeyed secretion on the internal surface, which was very abundant and glistening, sweet to the taste and viscid to the touch. ‘These were then flattened out on a large newspaper, the whole surface of which was Cov- ered with them. Many house flies were soon attracted and commenced to feed, and I carefully watched their motions without any interruption for the space of one hour. The result was precisely as previously stated. In no instance did I discover the slightest unsteadiness or tottering M _ any of the flies, although I watched some of them feeding at one spot ae at least ten minutes, at the expiration of which time they flew off . apparently unhurt. They continued feeding and flying off from the , 1877.] Botany. 433 leaves during the hour I watched them, and certainly not one fell, nor was there any indication at any time of either stupor or intoxication. These experiments I repeated in the same way on the 25th (but later in the day) and as carefully as on the previous occasion, and with precisely the same results; also on the next morning (26th) with plants which had been collected the day before, and these seemed to secrete still more freely. I ask, therefore, if flies and other insects are indeed intoxicated from eating the honey when they are within the tube, why should not the same intoxication result when the tubes are opened and flattened out? I conclude then (as I did before) that it is only the peculiar conformation of the leaf in its overhanging hood and internal slippery surface which entraps and finally destroys insects, and that the sweet exudation is only a lure, and not intoxicating in any way! I may remark that after flies and other insects slip and stumble, if they were indeed intoxicated or stupefied, it seems likely that they would remain at the lower portion of the leaf, and that their motions would be feeble and sluggish. On the contrary their efforts for escape are most active _ and vigorous, the flies flying and buzzing continually, and other insects incessantly climbing and falling back! It is only after being exhausted by their efforts that they eventually get slimed by the liquid at the base of the leaf, and stupor then overtakes them. ` I have seen ants, and occasionally flies also, fall immediately as they entered the leaves before they could have eaten honey. I remark further, that if this sweet internal secretion be stupefying, that outside on the wing (the “ trail”) must be equally so, and there- fore insects ought to be found at the base of the leaves on the ground 7 I have never myself seen such, nor have I ever heard of any other per- Sons observing dead or intoxicated insects outside! — J. H. MELLI- CHAMP, Bluffton, N. C. Dr. Mellichamp sent, shortly after this communication, two phials of the fluid found at the bottom of the Sarracenia tubes. The bottle marked number one contained fluid collected in 1874; it was clear and without much sediment. It was neutral in reaction. ‘The fluid in the other bot- tle (number two) was collected partly from the still unopened leaves, at a time when “no rain had fallen for near two weeks.” This fluid was turbid, had very little if any taste, and was slightly acid in reaction. Experiments by Mr. B. M. Watson and Mr. Hancox in our Botanical Lab- oratory confirmed, in the main, the following interesting statement by Dr. Mellichamp : “ Pour out a teaspoonful or two of the fluid in an ounce Measure, or a small wine-glass. Throw in a fly so that his wings will be Wet or slimed. He will in a few minutes cease to struggle and will ap- — Pear as if dead. Take him out after a while and let him dry, and in about half an hour he will revive.” Number one proved to be nearly or quite inert. Number two was very active. The detailed results of Mr. Watson’s experiments, which are still in progress, may be published in _ the August NATURALIST. VOL, XI, — No. 7. 434 General Notes. [July, BotanicaAL Papers IN Recent PERIODICALS. — Flora, No. 10, Batalin, Mechanism of the Movements of Insect-Eating Plants. H. G. Holle, On the Activity of Assimilation in Strelitzia regine (con- ' tinued in Nos. 11 and 18). No. 11. F. V. Thiimen, Notes on “ My- cotheca Universalis.” H. Leitgeb, On Bilaterality of Prothallia. No. 12. Dr. George Winter, Lichenological Notices. Botanische Zeitung, Nos. 17, 18, and 19. H. Hoffmann, Experiments on the Culture of Variable Forms of Achillea Clavenne, Aquilegia vul- garis, Avena orientalis, Hordeum trifurcatum, Papaver Rhæas, Plantago alpina, and P. maritima, Polygonum amphibium, Rumex scutatus, Silene rupestris, Triticum turgidum. Dr. J. Péyritsch, With Reference to the Ovular Theory. No. 20. Dr. H. Banke, The Development of the Ascomycetes. ZOOLOGY.! _ Tae Mountain Boomer, or Suowrt. — This name is applied in Oregon to the Aplodontia leporina, or “ Sewellel,” a rare rodent of the Pacific coast. According to Dr. F. S. Matteson, of Coquille, Coos County, Oregon, “the animal in question is found living in communities, and burrowing into the dry hills and mountain spurs in the ‘burns’ of this region. It is called ‘mountain boomer,’ and makes a kind of boom- ing noise. It is also called ‘mountain beaver,’ as in its appearance and burrowing habits it remotely resembles the beaver. It is a vegetarian, subsisting most probably on barks and roots, and is a rarity even here, being exceedingly shy and difficult to catch.” We add the following ac count by Dr. Matteson in his own words : — The showtl inhabits the western slope of the “Coast Range mountains, from Puget Sound to California, He is a digger par excel- lence and burrows into the sides of the hills, usually in the neighorhood of a spring. He is patriarchally social, and settles his progeny around him, often forming quite a community. He is of a retiring disposition, choosing the deep recesses of the mountains for his home, and appears to understand intuitively that the white man is to him an undesirable neighbor. He is herbivorous, and is supposed to subsist upon the roots and succulent stems of annual plants, chief among which is the mountain fern, which usually grows luxuriantly near the spot which he selects for his burrow. When the rainy season, which is our winter here, comes, — he retires to his under-ground domicil, first covering the entrance with the leaves and stalks of the fern, and proceeds to enjoy himself in the — bosom of his family until the return of spring. Whether he really hiber- nates or not is a disputed point with the showtl sharps of this region, but the weight of authority appears to favor the views of the hibernationists. I know that I have never been able to procure any specimens in winter, and those of early spring are remarkable for seediness, as though 4 1 The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELtIoTT Coves, U. 8. A, ” of 1877.] Zoölogy. square meal were among the dim recollections of his past. On the con- trary those caught in the autumn are fat, sleek, jolly-looking fellows, like the rest of the inhabitants of this valley This animal is called by the people here “ marmot,” and “ mountain beaver,” from his slight resemblance to the beaver; but he is more gen- erally known as mountain boomer, from his habit, as it is said, of making a kind of booming noise. And this is all the information I have in regard to his ery or voice. I am told that his flesh is excellent food, and that the Indians eat him freely, but it has never been my fortune to come into possession of a sample on which I cared to experiment in that direction. He is seldom seen abroad, being very shy, and is trapped by setting a small steel-trap in the mouth of his hole. But he is exceedingly wary about “ putting his foot in it,” and, having several entrances to his sub- terranean dwelling, prefers to go and come by another door, and thus cheat the greedy trapper of his intended victim. He is srmedited with being a fightist when captured and goes for his abc savagely, but When caught in a trap, even by a foot only, is usually found dead when the trap is visited. He appears to have no object in life except to dig holes, and eat fern roots. He does no harm, or good either, to the settler or anything else, for that matter. He is neither useful nor ornamental, and the sole purpose of his creation appears to be to furnish a rare and queer animal for curious ee to place in their collections. — F. S. Marteson, M. D., Coquille, Coos Co., Oreg., November 29, 1876. Se OF THE Eee eee of our readers have probably never met with the accompanying figures restoring the gigantic (Fic. $1.) RESTORATION OF THE SIVATHERIU ruminant of the Himalayas, which we copy from the Danish Tidsskrift. is was a Tertiary, probably Miocene, “elephantine stag, having four horns and probably a long proboscis, being in some points between the 436 General Notes. [July, stags and the Pachyderms. It is supposed to have had the bulk of an elephant and greater height.” (Dana’s Manual.) MI) AON AN | HU INS yA i= NS = ko gaer i EES ROSENSIAND > Ezy = —— = Ay! WN AYA as S -- NENN <2 SS (F.c. 82.) RESTORATION OF THE SIVATHERIUM. a i 4 SSN = J d 3 à ki el} j i ANTHROPOLOGY. ANTHROPOLOGICAL News. — The Journal of the Anthropological Institute, for January, is very largely devoted to Polynesian subjects. The following papers are published in full: Notes on a Collection Skulls from Mallicollo and Vanikoro, by Geo. Busk. Notes on the Nicobar Islands, by W. L. Distant; Signor S. M. D’Alberti’s Expedi- 1877.] Anthropology. . » 487 tion to New Guinea, by A. W. Franks; On the South Sea Islanders, by W. L. Rankin. Several papers are devoted to British archeology. M. Van der Horck contributes a paper on the Laplanders, and the Rey. W. Harper treats of The Tribes of British Guiana. An elaborate, illustrated work on the archeology of Finland has lately been published in Helsingissii, by Johann Reinhold Aspelin. The title is Suomalais Ugrilaisen Muinaistutkinnon Alkeita. Matériaux for January contains the usual amount of information con- cerning local explorations. In addition to this is a review by Montelius of the history and antiquities of Sweden, and of Pinart’s Tumuli in Van- couver’s Island. Nature of February 15th contains a letter from Mr. Gerald S. Davies on the Obsidian Cutters of Melos.- This is an interesting account of a se- ries of obsidian cores and flakes from the Island of Melos, some having a “singular wavy pattern on the back ridge.” The French Anthropological Society has been authorized to open an international exhibition in the central palace of the Trocadero. M. Qua- trefages has been appointed chairman of the commission. We take great pleasure in welcoming to our fraternity of ethnological laborers Mr. Albert S. Gatschet, of Weimar. The following of his papers have come under our notice: Twelve Idioms spoken in the Southwest of North America, Weimar, 1876, 8vo, pp. 150; Indian Languages of the Pacific States and Territories, in the Magazine of American History, March, 1877; and Analytical Report of Eleven Idi- oms spoken in Southern California, Nevada, and on the Lower Colorado . River, their Phonetic Elements, Grammatical Structure, and Mutual Affinities, in Lieut..Geo. M. Wheeler’s Annual Report, 1876. In the same report will be found the following anthropological papers in addi- tion to the one mentioned above: Report on the Operations of a Special Party for making Ethnological Researches in the Vicinity of Santa Barbara, Cal., with an Historical Account of the Region ex- plored, by H. C. Yarrow, M. D.; Notes upon the Ethnology of Southern California and the Adjacent Regions, by Dr. O. Loew; and On the Physiological Effects of a very Hot Climate, by the same author. e amount of human remains, mortars, ollas, etc., found at one lo- cality, described in Dr. Yarrow’s paper, was so immense that they named it the Big Bonanza. The American Geographical Society has recently published Major J. W. Powell’s paper, entitled Outlines of the Philosophy of the North American Indians. ‘The major divides the subject as follows: Introduc- _ tion : Savagery as Ethnic Childhood; Cosmology : System of Worlds, Heavenly Bodies, Meteorological Phenomena, Geographical Phenomena- Remarkable Facts in Nature, Important Facts in Human Society; Theo 1 98y: Beast Gods, Hero Gods, Daimon Gods, Firmament Gods, Tutelar Gods; Religion: Priestcraft, Prophets, Shamans, Witches, Ecstacism, Amuletism ; Mythology. as : 3 : > 438 General Notes. [ July, In the Western Review of Science and Industry for February are the two following articles: The Missouri Mound Builders, by Judge Bee, West; and The Functions of the Uvula and the Prominence formed by the Azygos Uvule Muscles, by Thos. F. Rumbold, M. D. The last named is reproduced from the St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal. Mr. A. R. Grote contributes to the Popular Science Monthly a paper on The Early Man of North America. In Nature, February 8th, Mr. A. W. Howitt, of Bairnsdale, Gippsland Victoria, adds something to his former notes on the boomerang. We are informed by Mr. Holmes, of Hayden’s Survey, that the Moquis use their boomerangs for killing rabbits. A party of young men are detailed each morning to go hunting. Each one carries a bunch of these weapons slung over his shoulder. They shy them with great force and precision, but, of course, have no idea of their returning. Here, then, is the primi- tive boomerang, one step lower than the Australian, excelling the ordi- nary club by its more rapid flight, and by its following more strictly a plane of revolution. In Academy, for February 24th, and March 3d, 10th, and 17th, will be found letters from Messrs. Sweet, Ellis, and Phillimore upon Spelling Reform. This subject becomes a very important one to the ethnologist at this time, when great interest is manifest in the collection of Indian vocabularies. It is a conceded fact, we believe, that, until the Amer- ican Philological Association produces its phonetic alphabet, we must endeavor to record our vocabularies in such form that they can be re- produced at any printing-office. Frequent references are made in European journals to the fact that many chipped arrowheads have a spiral form, as if to give a rotary mo- tion to the arrow in its flight. In a conversation with Mr. Frank ` Cushing, the assistant of Dr. Rau, at the National Museum, who is also an expert at making flaked and chipped implements from bottle glass, etc., I asked him why he so often gave his points a spiral twist. He replied, “ Because I cannot help it. When I hold the butt end of the arrowhead against the ball of my thumb, I have a good bearing, and — can take off long flakes; but when I reverse the object to chip the other side, I have a poor bearing, and can take off only small chips. The same is true of the opposite ease, only the long chips will come from alter- nate sides, giving the point the appearance of a twist.” Mr. Cushing has made thousands of chippéd implements, and agreed with me that the twist or spiral was a necessity over which the savage had no ee control. Subsequently this undesigned improvement may have | the alternate chisel-edge of some of Dr. Rau’s specimens at the Cen- tennial Exhibition. The anthropological map accompanying Reclus’ Nouvelle op Universelle was- prepared by M. G. de Mortillet. The pa ~ localities of France marked amount to 396. The neolithic elise -~ Comprise 26 natural caves, 144 artificial caverns, and 2314 dolmens. 1877.] Geography and Exploration. 439 GEOLOGY AND PALMONTOLOGY. Nature or THe Lecs or TRILOBITES. — Mr. C. D. Walcott has published a second paper in the Report of the New York State Museum, entitled Preliminary Notice of the Discovery of the Remains of the Natatory and Branchial Appendages of Trilobites. Over two hundred trilobites have furnished evidence of appendages, and all were found resting on their backs, so that Mr. Walcott concludes that they must have swum on their backs. (It may be noticed here that the larval Limulus nearly always swims on its back, as does the Phyllopod Apus.) He states that “ they had a double row of appendages on each side of the central axis. The central or axial series were either the attachments of swimming lobes or rudimentary ambulatory legs. The lateral series were branchial in their structure, the bars serving as points of attach- ment for their lamellæ. It is probable that they were also used in swimming. Many sections show appendages beneath the head, but nothing satisfactory can be shown from them.” He adds: “ Additional evidence, obtained from sections of Calamene senaria, proves that the central or axial appendages were articulated to the thickened arches of the ventral membrane, on a line with the outer edges of the alimentary canal. The structure of the appendages, as shown in numerous micro- scopic, transparent, and opaque sections, leads me to the conclusion that they were the support of swimming lobes. What may have been a por- tion of the swimming lobe has been seen in several sections near the end of the appendage.” These appendages terminate either in a round, blunt point, or else appear as if crushed. The form and outline of the swimming lobe could not well be preserved. Transverse sections display the ventral membrane between the axial appendages, the space occupied by the alimentary canal, and the axial and branchial appendages. The axial are but one third the length of the latter. The perfect state of preservation of the delicate branchial appendages and the ventral mem- brane precludes the idea of the destruction of anything of a stronger texture than fleshy swimming lobes attached to the axial appendages. „The axial appendages could not have reached to the surface upon which the edges of the pleure rested, which negatives the view of their being in any way ambulatory in case the non-presence of articulations in the appendages should be called in question. The axial appendages of each Series approximate each other near the posterior end of the hyportoma. What may be called oral appendages extend out between the hypor- toma and the dorsal shell, or else they were articulated to a membran Connecting the hyportoma and dorsal shell of the head. GEOGRAPHY AND EXPLORATION. Tue GEOGRAPHICAL Work or THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. — Mr. A. D. Wil- Son, chief topographer of Hayden’s Survey, gives in the Bulletin of the 440 General Notes. [July, Survey an interesting sketch of the mode of carrying on the geographical work of the Survey, showing the evidence on which the final maps prepared by the Survey rest. The primary triangulation was in charge of Mr. James T. Gardner until the autumn of 1875, when, on his resignation, the work was continued by Mr. Wilson. To give some idea of the amount of work that has been done by the topographical corps in the Survey of Colorado, it may be stated that it has established 1280 topographical stations within an area of about seventy thousand square miles, and from each station all the surrounding country was sketched. Mr. Wilson’s assistant made over one thousand pages of profile sketches during the field season of 1875, each page being six by ten inches, while he himself made some five hundred pages of drainage sketches, and took the thou- sands of angles that were necessary to locate all the points. The high order of the work done, added to the difficulties and dangers under which geographical labor is performed in the most mountainous and wild sec- tion of our country, reflects credit upon our government in authorizing and sustaining such undertakings. : GEOGRAPHICAL News. — The Geographical Magazine is publishing an account of the Official European Cartography in 1875-76, which possesses a good deal of interest. Among recent books of travel are Cameron’s Journey across Africa; Canoe and Camp life in British Guiana, by C. Barrington Brown; The Cradle of the Blue Nile, by E. A. De Cosson; Peru in the Guano Age, by A. J. Duffield. Baron von Richthofen’s new work on China is ready for publication. Au erup- tion of Mauna Loa, the great volcano of Hawaii, took place on February 14th, in a new district. The lava probably came from the summit-rent, and traveled to the coast by subterranean passages. MICROSCOPY.! ZENTMAYER’S TURN-TABLE. — Mr. Zentmayer has recently contrived a turn-table on which the slide is self-centred for width, by the absurdly simple device of bringing its two sides up to the opposite sides of a couple of brass pins equally distant from the centre of rotation. The adjustment for length is made by hand, guided by circles on the brass plate, or for slides of standard size by a pin at one end. The slide may be of any reasonable width, and can be easily and instantly decentred for refinishing old slides. The table is mounted with a clamp for attach- ing it to a table, though it can be furnished on a heavy block in the usual manner, if desired. : Microscopy ar NAsuviLLeE. — At the Nashville meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, commencing Au- gust 29th, and continuing about one week, special arrangements will be made for the care of instruments and for the convenience of thor : _ who wish to use them. The local sub-committee having charge of these -arrangements consists of Dr. T. O. Summers, Jr., and Profs. G. S. Blackie - 3 Conducted by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y. 1877. | | . Microscopy. | 441 and Alex. Winchell, who will leave nothing undone that is believed to be for the advantage of this department. As microscopy has been made a permanent sub-section, it is now, in reality, a national society of microsco- pists, with power to elect officers and continue its organization from year to year, and to avail itself of the great facilities and advantages of meet- ing with, and as members of the American Association. It was the unan- imous and earnest desire of the members present at the last meeting, at Buffalo, that all the microscopists of the country, and especially the “offi cers and members of microscopical societies, should take a hearty inter- est in the enterprise, and contribute to its usefulness by attending the meetings when possible, and sending contributions to be read if unable to attend personally. Circulars giving particulars of the arrangements for this meeting can be obtained from Dr. T. O. Summers, Jr., of Nashville, chairman of the local sub-committee, or from the editor of the micro- scopical department of the NATURALIST. HELL-SAND FROM THE BERMUDAS. — C. C. Merriman, of Rochester, N. Y., whose name we have had occasion to mention before in these pages, has just returned from a few months’ visit at the Bermuda Isl- ands, where he has gathered some quite remarkable specimens of shell- ‘sand, composed almost entirely of foraminifera. It is interesting not only as a beautiful object under the microscope, but as being the mate- rial of which the islands are formed. In favorable conditions of winds and tides it may be gathered on.the sand beaches quite fresh from the ocean, in which case the shells and corallines and sponge spicules are in great part unbroken, and many of them beautifully colored. Such con- ditions, however, occur quite rarely, as Mr. Merriman was able on two days, only, of his visit to make perfectly satisfactory collections. He has contributed a set of six exceedingly interesting and beautiful slides to the “ Postal Club.” Slides or material for the same can be obtained — from him in exchange for any really interesting or valuable slides or material. Derectrion or CRmMINALS BY Hanp Marks. — In a very instructive lecture on the uses of the microscope, delivered at Washington, on April 30th, by Mr. Thomas Taylor, Microscopist of the Department of Agri- culture, a view was presented on the screen showing the markings on the palms of the hands and tips of the fingers, and the important sug- gestion was made that the microscope might be used to effect in the detection of criminals by comparing the marks of a murderer’s hands or fingers, which are often impressed in blood stains on the weapons used, with impressions in wax taken from the hands of accused or suspected persons. OrcGanisms In Rocuester Hyprant Water. — The Hemlock Take water supply of the city of Rochester must be of extraordinary purity, if its ordinary condition is represented by the observations of Prof. S. A. : Lattimore of that city, who examined it for the sake of detecting the 442 General Notes. [July, cause of the fish-like odor which it possessed last fall. In filtering large quantities of the water he scarcely obtained more than one or two grains of residue from a thousand gallons of water. Of this a large proportion consisted of small particles of clay and sand, and the balance was mainly composed of Diatomaceæ (Cyclotella operculata, Melosira varians, Asteri- onella formosa, Fragilaria capucina, Navicula cuspidata, and Amphora ovalis), Desmidiaceæ (Closterium lunula, and Staurastrum gracile), Oscillatoriaceæ (Oscillatoria autumnalis); Palmellaccæ (Botryococcus braunii), and Entomostraca (Anurea heptodon, Cyclops quadricornis, Cypris tristriata, and Cetochilus septentrionalis). Chemical analysis equally indicated the unusual purity of the water, and gave no clew to the cause of its obnoxious odor. The experiment of placing a small quantity of the microscopic algæ from the filter in distilled water re- sulted in the production of the well-known odor, after covering the mix- ture from the air for a few hours, just as it had done in a precisely simi- lar experiment by Prof. N. T. Lupton, of Nashville, Tenn., on the _ water supply of that city. This would strongly confirm the partially ac- cepted belief that this odor, which so often annoys the residents of our cities, is due to some condition, probably the decay and decomposition of the alge in the water. No remedy is known except exposure to the air, which soon removes the odor. Powprrep SULPHUR. — Mr. H. G. Hanks presented at a recent meeting of the San Francisco Microscopical Society three slides illustrat- ing the substitution of powdered sulphur for the more costly and pure sublimed sulphur. Sublimed sulphur presents under the microscope 4 well-marked appearance of globular particles and botryoidal and stalac- titic masses, while the powdered sulphur, which appears the same to the naked eye, is shown as angular fragments of irregular size. ‘The pow- dered article when sold for the sublimed, should be regarded as adulter- ated, since it contains foreign matter. : ExcuanGes. — Diatoms from Coorongite, from South Australia, for good mounted objects. Address Gattoway C. Morris, East Tulpe- hocken Street, Germantown, Phil. —— . SCIENTIFIC NEWS. — Every one who has occasion to use collections of small animals in ` alcohol knows the inconvenience of handling a large number of little bottles that will neither stand upright. nor be still on their sides. ae they are kept in boxes a large number have to be taken out one by one to find any particular bottle, and if they are set upon shelves the front ones are sure to be upset while searching among those in the rear. In _ taking care of a collection contained in several thousand bottles of this kind, the writer has been forced to contrive some method of arranging 1877.] Scientific News. 443 them in a small space, and at the same time so that each bottle can be quickly found when wanted, and finally had a case of drawers made which has served the purpose so well that he has thought it worth while to describe it for the benefit of those having charge of similar collections. One of the drawers is shown in the cut. (Figure 83.) The front, back, bottom, and one side are made of wood one quarter of an inch thick, while the other side consists of a sin- gle wire which keeps the bot- tles in place while allowing their contents to be easily seen. The drawers are a foot long and an inch wide outside, giving a space three quarters of an inch wide for the bottles, which may be from a dram to half an ounce in size. The bottles stand loosely in a single row, and if the drawer is not full, a wedge of wood or cork placed between the wire and the opposite side keeps the end bottles from falling over. The backs and sides of the drawers are made lower than the bottles so that the latter can be more easily taken out and put in. The fronts are made as high as the high- est bottles likely to be used, so that when the drawers are placed side by side on a shelf they may close entirely the space between it and the shelf above, and cover the bottles from dust and light. If the width of the shelves is slightly less than the length of the drawers no knobs or han- dies are needed, and the fronts can be used for labels. The drawers being all of the same size can be changed from one part of the case to another, and the whole collection be rearranged and new specimens intro- duced in their proper places without changing the bottles from drawer to drawer. Drawers on the same plan might be arranged for bottles of any size not too heavy, and specimens in alcohol be stored in them much more compactly than in the ordinary closets and trays, and at the same time be more easily examined and more quickly found when needed. — J. H. EMERTON. — AÀ new publication designed to elucidate the natural history of Illi- nois is the Bulletin of the Illinois Museum of Natural History. No. I. contains the following papers: List of Illinois Crustacea, by’S. A. Forbes, with a Key; The Tree in Winter, by F. Brendel; Sodic Pinate asa Test for Lime, by J. A. Sewall; Partial Catalogue of the Fishes of Illi- nois, by E. W. Nelson ; Upon Parasitic Fungi, by T. J. Burrill; A List. of the Orthoptera of Illinois, by Cyrus Thomas. — Packard’s Half Hours with Insects, which was originally issued in twelve numbers, has lately been published in book form. We desire correct some typographical and other errors of importance. Page 187, in explanation of Fig. 187, for Bucculating read Bucculatrix. Page 1 Boston : Estes and Lauriat. 1877. 12mo, pp. 384. Illustrated. $2.50. (Fie. 88.) VIAL HOLDER. 444 Seientifie News. [July, 289, line 23, for Distppus read Archippus, and in line 25, for Archippus read. Disippus. Page 305,line 13, for sumac read cottonwood, and on page 306, in explanation of Figure 236, for sumac gall read vagabond all. r — L. Prang & Co., Art and Educational Publishers, Boston, Mass., announce the publication of The Yellowstone National Park, and the Mountain Regions of Portions of Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, and Utah. Described by Professor F. V. Hayden, Geologist-in-charge of the U. S. Government Expeditions to the Yellowstone Valley of the Years 1871 ` and 1872, and of the U. S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, and Illustrated by Chromo-Lithographic Reproductions of Water-Color Sketches taken by Thomas Moran. — It is proposed to invite governmental geological surveys, learned . societies, and private individuals, throughout the world, to send to the International Exhibition to be held at Paris in 1878 such collections as will make the geological department of that exhibition as complete as possible. In order to take advantage of the collections which may thus be brought together it is moreover proposed to convoke an International Ge- ological Congress, to be held at Paris at some time during the Exhibi- tion of 1878, and to make that congress an occasion for considering many disputed problems in geology. All American geologists interested in this project are invited to communicate with Prof. T. Sterry Hunt, Boston, Mass. — Among recent zodlogical discoveries of interest is a new species of Echidna from New Guinea; a second species of that interesting lizard, Sphenodon, in one of the New Zealand Group; a new Leptocardian fish allied to Amphioxus, from Australia, named by Dr. Peters, Epigomethys cultellus ; while the Persian deer (Cervus maral) is regarded by Dr. Se- vertzoff as identical with the Wapiti (Cervus Canadensis). — A bed of pink coral has been discovered by the captain of the U. S. steamer Gettysburg, on her passage from Fayal to Gibraltar, in latitude 36° 30! N., longitude 11° 38' W. The least depth found was 30 fath- oms, but the captain has no doubt that the coral comes to the surface at some point near the anchorage. Twenty. miles west of the bank a depth of 16,500 feet was found, between this and Cape St. Vincent, 12,000 feet. The bank is rich in valuable coral of light pink shades. Full de- tails of the discovery have been sent by the commander of the Gettys- — burg to the Navy Department, Washington, by mail. — Professor F. de Hochstetter, formerly geologist of the Novara Ex- pedition, and a distinguished investigator of the geology of New Zealand, has been appointed Superintendent of the Museum of the Imperial Geo- logical Institute of Austria, and intrusted with its reorganization a¢cor®- ing to the plan approved by his Majesty. The construction of the new — _ Museum of the Institute is in full progress. Mr. Francis Foetterle, the __ Vice-Director, has recently died, aged 53 years. He was attached to the Institute since its foundation in 1848. 1877.] Proceedings of Societies. 445 — A Lyceum of Natural History has been established at Indianapolis, with Prof. E. T. Cox as President, and Mr. H. E. Copeland as Recording Secretary. At the first meeting after organization communications were made by Profs. John Myers, H. E. Copeland, and D. T. Jordan. The latter described the habits of a grasshopper destructive to corn and cotton in the Gulf States, while Professors Jordan and Copeland reported the discovery of the food of the Menomenee, or deep-water white fish of Lakes Superior and Michigan, fresh-water snails (Physa and Limnea) having been found in the stomachs, We regret to announce that Mr. Copeland has, since the receipt of this notice, died. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. PuiLosornicaL Society, Washington. — January 14, 1877. Mr. Gilbert, of Mr. Powell’s Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, read a . paper on the Lake Bonneville basin, of which Great Salt Lake is the residue. Outlets to the north had been supposed on theoretical grounds to exist by several geologists, but he believed no one had published any actual identification of an outlet up to the present time. Such an outlet had been examined by him during the past summer, being a nar- row cut through a mountain pass, of which the lower portion was formed through part of a bed of limestone while the upper portion of the banks were of gravel, inclined about 30°. The bed of the old chan- nel now formed a continuous marsh. The old beaches which had been traced for many miles differed in level between the northern and south- ern limits as much as five hundred feet, the distance being about three hundred miles. The southern beaches were higher than those at Salt Lake and the northern ones lower, if observations by the aneroid ba- rometer could be relied on. The speaker thought that this indicated a sinking of the land toward the north since the Glacial epoch, and taken in connection with the changes of outlet at Lake Winnipeg and else- where, he considered that it might be inferred De, a general sinking of all northern land had taken place since that ae February 10, 1877. Dr. Billings kae i some details of the meth- ods employed in investigating the questions of the production of living Organisms de novo, in suitable fluids from which external germs were ex- cluded, and the “ germ theory” of disease. He described a simple and apparently effectual method for protecting the fluid in a wine glass, for instance, by covering the glass with a watch-glass of a little larger di- ameter, with the convex side upward, the downward curvature of the edges of the watch-glass preventing the lateral introduction of currents of air and germs between the glasses, while the actual access of air was hot interfered with. It is of course necessary to destroy anything which might adhere to the glasses before using, by exposing them toa miy high FETON 446 Proceedings of Societies. [July, Major Powell spoke on the philosophy of the North American In- dians. The speaker called attention to the fundamental difference in modes of thought which characterize the savage and the civilized man, and illustrated it by numerous examples. e must, if we would fully understand Indian philosophy, leave that realm of thought where the sun isa great orb swinging in circles through the heavens, where the winds drift in obedience to cosmic laws, where falling stars reveal the constitution of the heavenly spheres, and pass to a lower realm where the sun is regarded as a little beast cowed by the heroic mien of a rabbit, and in very fear compelled to travel on an appointed trail through the firmament, where the wind is but breath, foul or fair, ejected from the belly of a monster, and where the falling star is but the dung of dirty little star-gods. The savage philosopher believes in a system of worlds (not globes, but localities of existence), the world of this life and the world or region to-which he will proceed hereafter. Among the lower tribes these worlds are arranged horizontally or topographically: the world of the hereafter is beyond some river, sea, cafion, chasm, or mountain range, and there is no world of the past, the progenitors of man having come out of the sea or from burrows in the ground. Their hereafter-land is reached by a bridge, a ferry, or a dangerous mountain pass. Among the higher tribes the worlds are arranged vertically, a world or worlds below and others above. In this stage there is also a past world, that is, humanity came to existence from another land, situated sometimes above, sometimes below; but the righteous always goes in an opposite direction from that by which he came. These worlds commu- nicate by magical ladders. The sun and moon are always personages ; meteorological phenomena, acts of persons or of personified animals. Al geographic phenomena, remarkable facts of nature; and the habits and customs of savage man, — the origin of all is known, and there is noth- ing that is not explained in their philosophy. The theology or system of gods of the North American Indians is not fetichism, though there are many survivals from the fetichistic stage of thought. The gods of all the nomadic tribes are animals, for in all snr mal nature the nomad sees things too wonderful for him, and from admira- tion hé grows to superstitious reverence, and the animals become his gods. His veneration for the past, so highly developed in the savage, modifies this theology, for it is not the animals of to-day that he reveres, but their ancient prototypes, a god for every race or species of animal. Man is not sharply separated by this system from other animals, but the heroes of the past are the hero-gods of to-day, while the race of man is partly su- perior, partly inferior to the animal races. Places have their genii Or -~ daimons, and all have unlimited power of self-transformation. The g& _neric term for god in most Indian languages is ancient. Individuals, / 1877.] Proceedings of Socteties. 447 clans, and tribes have their own special tutelary deity, whose image is their badge or totem. The land of want, in their hereafter, is always open; there go the bad souls. The conditions of admission to the land of plenty are vague and variously fixed. There the few living righteous will meet the many good who have died in the past. Who are the good and who the bad? Their standards are as different from ours as their ideas of meteors. The bad man may be he who failed to sacrifice to his tutelar deity the spleen of the last elk killed ; or he who slept on his back the night before the bat- tle, when lis gods had taught him to sleep on his belly. It is certain that the Indian philosophy is a stage of progress and not a degeneration of monotheism. Nor does it proceed from classical polytheism, in which human attributes were deified, nor that earlier kind where the forces and phenomena of nature were deified. Their myths are not symbols. The Indian gods are animal gods, and the Indian religion zodlatry, a develop- a ment from fetichism. February 24th. Mr. G. K. Gilbert, of Major Powell’s Survey, read a paper on Geological Investigations in the Henry Mountains of Utah. These mountains stand in the midst of a plateau region, and form sev- eral groups or subgroups, the structure of which is exposed by erosion and denudation. They were formed by an upward flow of lava through horizontal strata, which flow did not reach the surface, but apparently severed the connection between two layers and intruded itself between them in the form of a mound or low cone, the superincumbent strata being forced up without fracture in the form of a dome which reached an angle at the sides of some sixty degrees. The superincumbent strata have been largely removed by natural causes. The facts were very re- markable and not yet fully explained. To these formations or. subter- ranean lava cones .he had applied the name of Jaculttes. Boston Sociery or Naturat History. — February 21st. Mr. C. S. Minot read a paper on the Systematic Position of the Trematodes, and Mr. Scudder made a communication on “ perfect ’’ and “ imperfect ” metamorphoses of insects. March 21st. Papers were read by Dr. T. M. Brewer, entitled Notes by Captain Bendire on the Birds of Oregon ; and by Mr. Scudder on Polymorphism of our Blue Butterflies. Appatacntan Movuntarn Crus, Boston. — February 14th.. Ọs- good’s White Mountain Guide Book was discussed and criticized. Mr. George Dimmock described a trip to Mount Mitchell, in North Carolina, and Miss M. F. Whitman a climb through Tuckerman’s Ravine. March 14th. Prof. J. H. Huntington read a paper on the Source of the Connecticut River. . ERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society, New York.— March 13th. Dr. W. J. Morton lectured on South African Diamond Fields and the Journey to the Mines. 448 Scientific Serials. [July. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.! BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPH- ICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES, vol. iii., No. 3. — Comparative Vocabulary of Utah Dialects, by E. A. Barber. Methods of making Stone Weapons, by Paul Schumacher. On a Peculiar Type of Eruptive Mountains in Colorado, by A. C. Peale. Report on the Geology of the Region of the Judith River, Montana, and on Vertebrate Fossils obtained on or near the Missouri River, by E. D. Cope. Palæontological Papers, Nos. 1-5: Descriptions of Unionidæ and Physidæ doilectöd by Prof. E. D. Cope from the Judith River Group of Montana Territory during the Summer of 1876; Descriptions of New Species of Uniones and a New Genus of Fresh-Water Gasteropoda from the Tertiary Strata of Wyoming and Utah; Catalogue of the Invertebrate Fossils hitherto published from the Fresh and Brackish Water. Deposits of the Western Portion of North America; Comparison of the North American Mesozoic and Cenozoic Unionidæ and Associated Mollusks with Living Species; Remarks on the Paleontological Characteristics of the Cænozoic and Mes- ozoic Groups as developed in the Green River Region, by C. A. White. Precursory Notes on American Insectivorous Mammals, with descrip- tions of New Species, by Elliott Coues. Notes on the Ornithology of the Region about the Source of the Red River of Texas, from Observations made during the Exploration conducted by Lieut. E. H. Ruffner, by C. A. H. McCauley. Catalogue of the Land and Fresh-Water Shells of Nebraska, by S. Aughey. Notes on the Geographical Work of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, by A. D. Wilson. Tue Canapian Naturatist, vol. viii, No. 4. — On the Preglacial Geography of the Region of the Gries: Lakes, by E. W. Claypole. Notes on the Appearance and Migrations of the Locust in Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, Summer of 1875, by G. M. Dawson. Notes on some Geological Features of the Northeastern Coast of Labra- dor, by H. Y. Hind. Note on Some Recent Changes of Level of the Coast of British Columbia and Adjacent Regions, by G. M. Dawson. Tue Montuty Microscoricat Journat.— May. The Various Changes caused on the Spectrum by Different Vegetable Coloring Mat- ters, by T. Palmer. Microscopic Aspects of kair s Silicate Cotton, by H. J. Slack. The Modifications which the Egg of the [Hooded- Eyed] Medusa undergoes before Fecundation, by A. Gi THE GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE. — May. The Himalayan System by C: R. Markham. M. Potanin’s Journey through the Altai Mount- ains. The Navigation of Smith’s Sound as a Route towards the Pole, by G. S. Nares. p siba Em Ena and of the Alexandra Nile, by T 5 ER S ASS Pan 2 this head ‘will be for the most part selected. AMERICAN NATURALIST. Vou. x1.— AUGUST, 1877. — No. 8. CATASTROPHISM AND EVOLUTION. BY CLARENCE KING. E have come together to-day to do honor to this young, strong institution. We are here that we may make the human cireuit complete, and feel the current of a common pride glow from brain to brain. In celebrating the honest, manly growth of the Sheffield Scientific School, among the feelings which animate us veneration for antiquity finds no place. It is denied us to look back into the real past, for the brief lapse of thirty years compasses the life of the school. That short period, how- ever, has amply sufficed to develop, with positive distinctness, the motive and animus of the institution. Its peculiar character is fixed. Reverence for natural truth and the deep, earnest, sci- entific methods of searching after it are what is taught here; so that we who have passed beyond these doors are gladly welcomed among that resolute band of nature-workers who both propel and ` guide the great plowshare of science on through the virgin sod of the unknown, It is centuries too late to define or establish the value of sci- ence. Its numberless applications, which find daily expression in the material appointments of life, and serve to refine, to elevate, to render more admirable the mechanism of civilization, have long since put that question at rest. Let us hope that as a means. of clearing away the endless rubbish of false ideas from the human intellect, for the lifting of man out of the dominion of ignorance, scientific method and scientific education are acknowl- edged to be adequate, if not supreme. We may congratulate our- selves, for that victory is won. At last modern society admits that a knowledge of the laws which govern the cognizable uni- verse, and the possession of the only methods which can advance * An address delivered at the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale College, New Haven, June 26, 1877. ; Fae Copyright, 1877, by A. S. PACKARD, JR. + \ 450 Catastrophism and Evolution. [ August, that sort of knowledge, presupposes, nay, even develops, an in- tellect both vital and broad. If in America Science as a mode of education has won her way to the front, it is due, in prominent measure, to the honest training of the Sheffield Scientific School, and time will render this institution its unfailing reward. Honored by the invitation to address you to-day, I have chosen to present a contribution to the theory of catastrophism and its connection with evolution, feeling that, however slight this con- tribution may be, as my own it is a direct outgrowth of this school, and that if I turn from the far greater and more attract- ive achievements of others, from the wealth of literary and phil- osophic materials which press forward for utterance, and bring here something which I have reached myself, it will afford you a more intimate interest. I have hoped, too, that other graduates might feel as I have, and that year by year men might stand here, fresh from the battle-field of life, out of the very heat of the strife, to tell us of their struggles, and hang the shields they have won along the walls of this temple of science. I ask you then to listen to a plain statement of my views of catastrophism and the evolution of environment. The earliest geological induction of primeval man is the doc- trine of terrestrial catastrophe. This ancient belief has its roots in the actual experience of man, who himself has been witness of certain terrible and destructive exhibitions of sudden, unusual telluric energy. Here in America our own species has seen the vast, massive eruptions of Pliocene basalt, the destructive inva sion of northern lands by the slow-marching ice of the glacii period, has struggled with the hardly conceivable floods which. marked the recession of the frozen age, has felt the solid earth shudder beneath its feet and the very continent change its con- figuration. Yet these phenomena are no longer repeated ; noth- ing comparable with them ever now breaks the geologic calm. Catastrophism is therefore the survival of a terrible impression burned in upon the very substance of human memory. The doc- trine was also arrived at in very early times by our modern method of reasoning from marine fossils observed to be entombed in rocky beds far removed from the present seas, — beds which compel the natural inference that they are sea bottoms upheaved. This induction is poetically touched in the Rig Vedas, is stated m scientific method with surprising frequency among the Greeks and recurs in the writings of most earth-students ever since. — Plutarch in his Morals gives a vivid account of an interview — 4 1877. ] Catastrophism and Evolution. 451 between an Egyptian priest and wise Solon, who, in the open- mindedness of a truly great man searching after immemorial knowledge, had come to sit at his feet to listen. Calmly and with the few broad touches of a master, in that simple eloquence which comes of really knowing, the priest tells him of the catas- trophes of submergence and upheaval which the earth’s surface has suffered; and his method was identically ours of to-day. What a picture! Solon the wise, inheritor of the Hellenic cult- ure, master of the polished learning of his country and his day, sitting within the shades of that hoary temple, listening devoutly to the words of one who spoke as out of the dark vault of the past and told how the solid continents were things of a time, born but lately from the womb of the sea. When complete evidence of the antiquity of man in California and the catastrophes he has survived come to be generally under- stood, there will cease to be any wonder that a theory of the destructive in nature is an early, deeply rooted archaic belief, . most powerful in its effect on the imagination. Catastrophe, speaking historically, is both an awful memory of mankind and a very early piece of pure scientific induction. After it came to be woven into the Sanskrit, Hebrew, and Mohammedan cosmog- onies, its perpetuation was a matter of course. From the believers in catastrophe there is, however, a totally different class of minds, whose dominant characteristic is a posi- tive refusal to look further than the present, or to conceive con- itions which their senses have never reported. They lack the very mechanism of* imagination. They suffer from a species of intellectual near-sightedness too lamentably common among all grades and professions of men. They are bounded — I might al- most say imprisoned — by the evident facts and ideas of their own to-day and their own environment. With that sort of detective sharpness of vision which is often characteristic of those who cannot see far beyond: their noses, these men have most ably ac- cumulated «an impressive array of geological facts relating to the existing operation of natural laws. They have saturated them- selves with the present modus operandi of geological energy, and culminating in Lyell have founded the British School of Uni- formitarianism. Men are born either catastrophists or uniformitarians. You may divide the race into imaginative people who believe in all Sorts of impending crises, — physical, social, political, — and others who anchor their very souls ¢ in statu quo. There are men 452 Catastrophism and Evolution. [ August, who build arks straight through their natural lives, ready for the first sprinkle, and there are others who do not watch Old Proba- bilities or even own an umbrella. This fundamental differentia- tion expresses itself in geology by means of the two historic sects of catastrophists and uniformitarians. Catastrophism, I doubt not, was the only school among the Pliocene Californians after their families and the familiar fauna and flora of their environ- ment had been swept out of existence by basalts and floods. As understood by archaic man, by the Orientals, the early Egyp- tians, the Greeks, the Arabs, and indeed until modified within the century by the growing belief in derivative genesis, or by the unbroken continuity of organic life from its first introduction on the planet, catastrophism was briefly this : — The pre-human history of the planet has been variously esti- mated in time, from two days—the period assigned by the Koran — to an indefinite extension of ages. The globe having cooled from a condition of igneous fluidity received upon its sur-` face of congealed primitive rock the condensed aerial waters, which formed at first a general oceanic envelope, swathing the whole earth. Out of this universal sea emerged continents; and as soon as the temperature and atmospheric conditions were suit- able, low organisms, both of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, were created, and the complex machinery of life set in successful motion. The great obvious changes in the rocky crust were referred to a few processes: the subaerial decay of continents, delivery of land-detritus by streams into the sea, the spreading out of these comminuted materials upon a pelagic floor, and lastly upheaval, by which oceanic beds were lifted up into subsequent lan masses. All these processes are held to have been more rapid in the past than now. Suddenness, world-wide destructive- ness, are the characteristics of geological changes, as believed eet by orthodox catastrophists. Periods of calm, like the present, suddenly terminated by brief catastrophic epochs, form i groundwork of this school. Successive faunas and floras were created only to be extinguished by general cataclysms. i From all these tenets the modern uniformitarian school dis- sents only so far as to hold that the processes have not neces- sarily been more rapidly accomplished than at the rate we me i : ness to-day. The facts of one school are the facts of the other. Both read the record of upheaval and subsidence, of corrugation and crumpling of the great mountain chains alike. One meas- 1877.] Catastrophism and Evolution. 453 ures the rate of past geological action by the phenomena of to- day; the other asserts that the present furnishes absolutely no ey. ‘This irreconcilable difference finds its most pronounced ex- pression when applied to the past history of life on the planet. If catastrophes extirpated all life at oft-repeated intervals from the time of its earliest introduction, then creation must neces- sarily have been as often repeated. If this is the case, it is plain that the Creator took pains each time to improve on the lately obliterated forms. If, on the other hand, the uniformitarian bi- ologists are correct in their belief of the descent of all animal life from one or a few primeval types, then catastrophes of a univer- sally destructive character cannot have occurred, and the changes which are proven to have taken place in the earth’s surface may have been as moderate and harmless as they maintain. The uni- formitarians reject the idea of a rapid and destructive rate of geo- logical revolution in the past, first, because the present course of nature offers no parallel suddenness of action; and, secondly, be- cause they conceive that nature never moves by leaps. They de- rive great comfort from quoting the well-known saying of Aris- totle, that ** Nature never does with her greater what she can do with her less.” They are especially fond of objecting to catastro- phes on account of the vast force necessitated. I confess that this Seems to me a singularly fallacious view. Absolutely identical expenditures of energy are required to elevate a continent or de- press an ocean basin given distances, whether the operation is in- stantaneous or infinitely slow. No geologist will hesitate a mo- ment to admit that the question between the schools is not one of geological result, for both read the results alike. I am sure no student of energy will object to my statement that the result re- quires identical energy, whether employed after the uniformi- tarian or the catastrophic method. If, as I assert, geological re- sult and the energy to produce it are identical, whichever school “is correct, then the only issue between the contestants reduces it- self simply and solely to the one question of rate of geological change. In that view, uniformitarianism is the harmless, unde- structive rate of to-day prolonged backward into the deep past. This is the belief hinted at by Aristotle and Pythagoras, fought for by Goethe, Lamarck, and Geoffroy St. Hilaire, held to by - Hutton, Lyell, and most British geologists, accepted with a lover’s credulity by nearly all evolutionists, and finally trumpeted about by the army of scientific fashion followers who would gladly die rather than be caught wearing an obsalete mode or be- _ lieving in any penultimate thing. 454 Catastrophism and Evolution. . [ August, On the other hand, catastrophism of the orthodox sort is the belief in recurrent, abrupt accelerations of geologic rate of crust change, so violent in their rapidity as to destroy all life on the globe. This idea, the mere survival of a prehistoric terror, backed up by breaks in the paleontological record and protected within those safe cities of refuge, the cosmogonies, was fully cred- ited by so recent a great savant as Cuvier, and still counts among its soldiers a few of the cast-iron intellects of to-day. Sweeping catastrophism is an error of the past.. Radical uni- formitarianism, however, persists, and probably controls the faith of a majority of geologists and biologists. A single extract from so late and so important a book as Croll’s Climate and Time will serve to show how strong men still believe in what may be called homeeopathic dynamics. Speaking of uniformitarianism, Croll says: “ This philosophic school teaches, and that truly, that the great changes undergone by the earth’s crust must have been produced, not by convulsions and cataclysms of nature, but by those ordinary agencies that we see at work every day around us, such as rain, snow, frost, ice, and chemical action, etc.” Having reduced the antagonism of the two schools to a ques- tion of rate of transference of energy, a single illustration will serve to render clear how, the amount of energy remaining the same, this difference of rate may make the difference between uniformity and catastrophe. Suppose two railway trains of equal weight, each traveling at the rate of fifty miles an hour. On one steam is suddenly shut from the cylinder. The train gradually lessens and lessens its speed, finally coming to rest. It has re- quired a given definite amount of resistance, a numerically ex- pressible amount of work to overcome the motion of the traim. The other train at full speed dashes against a bridge pier and 1s utterly wrecked. The weight, speed, and momentum of the trains are identical, and precisely equal resistance has been ex- pended in bringing them to a stop. In one case the rate of re- sistance was slow, and acted merely as friction, quite harmlessly to life and after the uniformitarian mode. In the other the rate of resistance was fatally rapid, and its result catastrophe. Remembering distinctly that uniformitarianism claims 00è _ dynamic rate past and present, let us turn to the broader geolog- ical features of North America and try to unravel the past enough to test the tenets of the two schools by actual fact. Be- neath our America lies buried another distinct continent, — aP archean America. Its original coast-lines we may never be 1877.] Catastrophism and Evolution. 455 able fully to survey, but its great features, the lofty chains of the mountains which made its bones,,were very nearly coextensive with our existing systems, the Appalachians and Cordilleras. The caiion-cutting rivers of the present Western mountains have dug out the peaks and flanks of those underlying, primeval up- lifts and developed an astonishing topography : peaks rising in a single sweep thirty thousand feet from their bases, precipices lifting bold, solid fronts ten thousand feet into the air, and pro- found mountain valleys. The work of erosion which has been carried on by torrents of the Quaternary age — that is to say, within the human period — brings to light buried primeval chains far loftier than any of the present heights of the globe. Man’s enthusiastic hand may clear away the shallow dust or rub- bish from an Oriental city, and lay bare the stratified graves of perished communities: it is only a mountain torrent which can dig through thousands of feet of solid rock and let in the light of day on the time-stained features of a long-buried continent. -~ Archzean America was made up of what was originally ocean beds lifted into the air and locally crumpled into vast mountain chains, which were eroded by torrents into true subaerial mount- ain peaks. This conversion of sea strata into the early conti- nent is the first record of a series of oscillations in which land and sea successively occupied the area of America. In pre-Cam- brian time the continent we are considering sank, leaving some of its mountain tops as islands, and the neighboring oceans flowed over it, their bottoms emerging and becoming continents. This is the second of the recorded oscillations of the first magnitude. After Archæ-America had began to sink and its bounding land masses to emerge, the conditions on the two ‘sides of the ocean began to show characteristic difference of behavior, — dif- ference in the rate of subsidence, — that very difference of rate which uniformitarianism denies. Palx-Pacifis and Palw-Atlantis were land areas which I con- ceive to be of continental magnitude, from the vast volumes of sediment brought down by their rivers and poured into the Palew-American Ocean. American geologists have found the rec- ord along the eastern margin of that ocean, namely, the present Appalachian region, so legible that they are agreed as to its main features. There is no plea of illegibility here. The total sedi- ment which fringed the shore of Palw-Atlantis was about forty- five thousand feet in maximum, but the original ocean, when Strata began to gather, was not forty-five thousand feet deep. 456 Catastrophism and Evolution. [ August, That depth and the full accumulation of beds were arrived at by successive subsidences of the sea bottom. The Primordial or earliest Paleozoic along the eastern shore shows evidence of shal- low water, which deepened by the occasional sinking of the sea floor. This periodic subsidence went on through the whole Pa- leozoic time, influencing the Appalachian region, and during the whole coal-bearing period affecting the sea bottom as far as Kan- sas. Shallow-water evidences are common up to the Carbonifer- ous, after which successive low-level land areas repeatedly occu- pied the east half of the present Mississippi basin. This immensely long history of periodic but general subsidence was broken in the northeast by several sudden uplifts, in which _the sea strata were so disturbed and inclined that the succeeding beds rested on them unconformably, and in one instance the Green Mountain range was upheaved. The general law on the east side of the Pala-American Ocean has been the continual in- pouring of sediment from Palæ-Atlantis, subsidence of sea bot- tom, repeated a great number of times, and only locally varied by dislocation and uplifts. A very limited but not unimportant chapter has just been added to the American rock record by the geological exploration of the fortieth parallel; it is the mode of deposition of the Paleozoic rock in the Western United States. Passing now to the western side of the ocean, we have again the same enormous thickness of thirty or forty thousand feet of Paleozoic beds, but from bottom to top no evidence of disturb- ance, only uniform proof of deep oceanic deposition. In other words, the two sides differ: one went down by gradual and suc- cessive subsidence; the other at once sank so as to form a pro found ocean; which, from beginning to end of the vast Palæozoic age, received in its quiet depth the dust of a continent and the débris of an ocean life. I do not say that the western ocean bot- tom never suffered further subsidence. I only assert that be- tween the two sides the difference of rate was simply immense. In keeping with the minor and slight movements of subsidence in the east are the changes in the materials of the gatherimg strata, which are found to vary continually. Here again the contrast between the east and west is marked. All the Palæo- zoic series in the west consist in the main of a few broad changes between quartzitic and limestone beds, both giving evidence 0 deep-sea deposition. By way of illustrating these changes © material, let us consider the condition of sedimentation at the west during the Carboniferous age. There we have seven thousand 1877.] Catastrophism and Evolution. 457 feet of limestone, for the most part quite free from land-detritus, accumulated with all the evenness and regularity which the most ardent uniformitarian could ask, suddenly followed by an equal amount of pure land-detritus almost free from lime, This sud- den change of sediment simply means a sudden physical change, either a cosmical one which recorded itself as a cycle of climate productive of great erosion, or a terrestrial change resulting in such great disturbance of distant land and sea areas as to cause new climate or new avenues of drainage, or some remote coast disturbance which brought about a revolution of oceanic currents, In either case the sudden change, both at the beginning and end of the quartzite period, and the vast scale of the deposit, means a change of rate in the current operation of nature, and an enor- mous change of rate. The abrupt passage from a period in which little or no land-detritus has entered a sea for millions of years _ to one when it pours in with relatively marvelous rapidity is cer- tainly not uniformitarian. This phenomenon of sudden change in the broad petrographical features of a composite group of Strata is equally true of each sudden break, of which the western Paleozoic has six. Recall that the bottom of all this ocean was a former continent, that along the east the continent went down gradually, by considerable steps it is true, but still by periodic and, perhaps, gradual subsidences.. If the uniformitarians can derive any comfort from Eastern America, —and I suppose they justly may, — they are welcome to it. The rate of subsidence in the east, although not unlikely to have been catastrophic as re- gards the life of the disturbed region, looked at broadly may be called uniformitarian. That on the west was distinctly catas- trophic in the widest dynamic sense. 7 Let us pass now to a remarkable chapter of events which closed the Palæozoic ages. What is now the eastern half of the Mississippi basin had through the coal period often extended itself as a land mass as far west as the Mississippi River, and had as often suffered subsidence and resubmergence. To the west, however, still stretched the open ocean, which, since the begin- ning of the Cambrian, had, with a single exception, never been invaded by land. At the close of the Paleozoic the two border- ing land areas of Atlantis and Pacifis, since the beginning of the Cambrian permanent and perhaps extended continents, began to sink. They rapidly went down, and at last completely disap- peared, their places being taken by the present Atlantic and Pa- cific oceans, while the sea floor of the American ocean, which had 458 Catastrophism and Evolution. [ August, been for the most part permanent oceanic area ever since the sub- mergence of the archwan America, emerged and became the ‘ new continent of America, which has lasted with local vicissi- tudes up to the present. The east and west were, indeed, sepa- rated by a mediterranean sea, the sole relic of the American ocean, which now occupied a narrow north and south depres- sion. : In that mediterranean sea, we may say that the conditions have been uniformitarian ; that is to say, in the great post-Palozoie catastrophe that ocean was spared. It remained a body of deep water, its bottom undisturbed by folds or dislocations, and there - is no evidence of a cessation of sediments ; yet the species which lived there throughout the vast length of the coal period were completely extinguished, and entirely new forms made their ap- pearance. Although spared from the actual physical catastrophe, the effect of the general disturbance of that whole quarter of the globe was thoroughly catastrophic, and exerted a fatal influence upon life far beyond the actual theatre of upheaval. Passing over the Mesozoic age, which in detail offers much in- structive material as to rate of change, we pause only to notice a catastrophe which marked the close of that division of time. In a quasi-uniformitarian way, 20,000 or 30,000 feet of sedi- ment had accumulated in the Pacific and 14,000 in the mediter- ranean sea, when these regions, which, during their reċeption of sediment, had been areas of subsidence, suddenly upheaved, the doming up of the middle of the continent quite obliterating the mediterranean sea and uniting the two land masses into one. The catastrophe which removed this sea resulted in the folding up of mounfain ranges 20,000 and 40,000 feet in height, thereby essentially changing the whole climate of the continent. Of the land life of the Mesozoic age we have abundant remains. Thanks to the paleontologists, the wonderful reptilian and avian fauna of the Mesozoic age is now familiar to us all. But after the ca- tastrophe and the change of climate which must necessarily have ensued, this fauna totally perished. The rate of this post-Creta- ceous change was, in other words, catastrophic. During the Tertiary, fresh-water lakes of wide extent occur pied the western half of the continent. Such was the character of the great post-Cretaceous uplift that there were left broad, deep continental basins above the level of the sea. Into these the early Tertiary rivers found their way, creating extended lakes — in which accumulated strata rivaling in importance the deposits 1877.] Catastrophism and Evolution. 459 of the great oceans. The whole history of the Tertiary is that of the accumulation of thick sedimentary series in fresh-water lakes, accompanied by gradual and periodic subsidence, carried on smoothly and uniformly up to a certain point, and then inter- rupted by a sudden, mountain-building upheaval, which drained the lakes and created new basins. The five minor catastrophes which have taken place in the western half of America during the Tertiary age have never resulted in those broader changes which mark the close of the Archean, the Paleozoic, and the Mesozoic ages. They never broke the grander outline of the con- tinent. They were, however, of such an important scale as to very greatly vary the conditions of half the continent. I may cite the latest important movement, which took place probably within the human epoch, certainly at the close of the great Plio- cene lake period of the west. The whole region of the great plains, as far north as we are acquainted with their geology, and southward to the borders of the Gulf, was occupied by a broad lake which existed through the Pliocene period, having always a subtropical climate. In that lake, beds 1000 to 1200 feet thick had accumulated, when suddenly the level floor was tilted, caus- ing a difference of height of 7000 feet between the south and west shores, making the great inclined surface of the present plains, and utterly changing the climate of the whole region. Not a species survived. I have thus hastily mentioned a few of the most important geological crust changes in America whose rates are demonstrably catastrophic. Besides surface changes involving subsidence, up- heaval, faulting, and corrugation, all of which may be executed on a scale or at a rate productive of destruction of life, catastro- phes may be brought about by sudden great changes of climate or by intense volcanic energy. In the latter field there are obviously no catastrophes of the first order. Geological maps of the globe have progressed far enough to demonstrate that con- siderable areas are, and always have been, free from actual ejec- tion of volcanic materials. On the contrary, numerous great re- gions, notably the western third of our own continent and the Shores of the Pacific, were once literally deluged with volcanic res. An examination of the ejected rock shows that modern eruptions, by which the volcanic cones of the present period are slowly built up from slight overflows piling one upon another, are not the method of the great Miocene and Pliocene volcanic peri- ods. There were then outbursts hundreds of miles in extent, in 460 Catastrophism and ” Evolution. [ August, which the crust yawned and enormous volumes of lava rolled out, overwhelming neighboring lands. Volcanoes proper are only isolated chimneys, imposing indeed, but insignificant when com- pared with the gulfs of molten matter which were thrown up in the great massive eruptions. Between the past and present vol- canic phenomena there is not only a difference of degree but of kind. It is easy to read the mild exhibition of existing volcanoes as a uniformitarian operation, namely, the growth of cones by slight accretions; but ‘such reasoning is positively forbidden in the past. ' If poor, puny little Vesuvius could immortalize itself by bury- - ing the towns at its feet, if the feeble energy of a Lisbon earth- quake could record itself on the grave-stones of thousands of men, then the volcanic period in Western America was truly catas- trophic. Modern vulcanism is but the faint, flickering survival of what was once a world-wide and immense exhibition of tellurie energy, one whose distortions and dislocations of the crust, whose deluges of molten stone, emissions of mineral dust, heated waters, and noxious gases could not have failed to exert destructive effect on the life of considerable portions of the globe. It cannot be explained away upon any theory of slow, gradual action, The simple field facts are ample proof of the intensity and sudden- ness of Tertiary vulcanism. Of climate catastrophes we have the record of at least one. When the theory of a glacial period came to be generally ac- cepted, and the destructive effects of the invasion of even middle latitudes by polar ice were realized, especially when the devas- tating effects of the floods which were characteristic of the re- cession of the ice came to be studied, uniformitarianism pure and simple received a fatal blow. I am aware that British students believe themselves justified in taking uniformitarian views of the bowlder-till, but they have yet to encounter phenomena of the scale of our Quaternary exhibitions. A most interesting comparison of the character and rate of stream erosion may be obtained by studying in the western Cor- dilleras, the river work of three distinct periods. “The geologist there finds preserved and wonderfully well exposed, first, Plio- cene Tertiary river valleys, with their bowlders, gravels, and sands still lying undisturbed in the ancient beds; secondly, the system of profound cañons, from 2000 to 5000 feet deep, which _ score the flanks of the great mountain chains, and form such a fascinating object of study, and not less of wonder, because the 1877.] Catastrophism and Evolution. 461 gorges were altogether carved out since the beginning of the glacial period ; thirdly, the modern rivers, mere echoes of their parent streams of the early Quaternary age. As between these three, the early Quaternary rivers stand out vastly the most powerful and extensive. The present rivers are utterly incapa- ble, with infinite time, to perform the work of glacial torrents. So, too, the Pliocene streams, although of very great volume, were powerless to wear their way down into solid rock thousands of feet, at the rapid rate of the early Quaternary floods. Be- tween these three systems of rivers is all the difference which separates a modern (uniformitarian) stream and a terrible catas- trophic engine, the expression of a climate in which struggle for existence must have been something absolutely inconceivable when considered from the water precipitations, floods, torrents, and erosions of to-day. Uniformitarians are fond of saying that give our present rivers time, plenty of time, and they can perform the feats of the past. It is mere nonsense in the case of the cafions of the Cordilleras. They could never have been carved by the pigmy rivers of this climate to the end of infinite time. And, as if the sections and profiles ‘of the caiions were not enough to convince the most skep- tical student, there are left hundreds of dry river-beds, within whose broad valleys, flanked by old steep banks and eloquent with proofs of once-powerful streams, there is not water enough to quench the thirst even of a uniformitarian. Those extinct rivers, dead from drought, in connection with the great cañon sys- tem, present perfectly overwhelming evidence that the general de- position of aerial water, the consequent floods and torrents, form- ing as they all do the distinct expression of asharply-defined cycle of climate, as compared either with the water phenomena of the immediately preceding Pliocene age or with our own succeeding condition, constitute an age of water catastrophe whose destruc- tive power we only now begin distantly to suspect. I have given you what in my belief are sound geological con- clusions, the want of time alone causing me to waive the slow production of proofs. I believe I am fully prepared to sustain e assertions, first, that the rate of physical change progressing to-day in all departments of terrestrial action is inadequate to produce the grander features of American geological. history ; secondly, that in the past, at intervals, the dynamic rate has been so sharply accelerated as to bring about exceptional results ; thirdly, that these results have been catastrophic in their effect 462 Catastrophism and Evolution. [ August, upon the life of America and the bounding oceans. I have called the revolutions in the American area catastrophic because any disturbances of land or sea, of the described scale, intensity, and rapidity, could not fail to have a disastrous effect on much of the organic world. The uniformitarian school would accept these crust changes with unruffled calmness ; they would read the record exactly as a catastrophist might, only they would assume unlimited time and their inch-by-inch process. The analogy of the present, they say, is against any acceleration of rate in the past, and besides, the geological record is a very imperfect docu- ment which does not disprove our view. In plain language, they start with a gratuitous assumption (vast time), fortify it by an analogy of unknown relevancy (the present rate), and serenely appeal to the absence of evidence against them as proof in their favor. The courage of opinion has rarely exceeded this speci- men of logic. If such a piece of reasoning were uttered from a pulpit against evolution, biology would at once take to her favor- ite sport of knuckle-rapping the clergy in the manner we are all of us accustomed to witness. In forbidding us to look for past rates of change differing from the present, the British uniformi- tarians have tied the hands of the science. By preaching so ototjally from the text of “ imperfection of the geological rec- ord,” they have put blinders on the profession. A few more such doctrines will reduce the science to a corpse, around which teleologists and biologists might hold any sort of funeral dance their fancy dictated. Now, because the record is not al- together made out is no proof whatever that it never will be. There was once a discovery of a very small piece of evidence; the Rosetta Stone, which served as a key to a vast amount of previously illegible material. Geology, if not strangled in its own house, will, in my belief, go on and dig up enough Rosetta Stones to translate the strata into a precise language of energy and time. As yet we have no means, beyond mere homotaxial comparison, for relating the crust movement of distant regions. I do not, however, despair of our being able to correlate the movements and revolutions. of different continents. At present, old-fash- ioned catastrophes, involving - repeated world-wide destruction of all life, such cataclysms as Cuvier believed in, and which 0¢- casioned the revolt of the biologists of his time, are justly repu- diated. On the other hand, the mild affirmations of the uni- snennis: that PEUS rates of change and indefinite time 1877.] Catastrophism and Evolution. 463 are ample to account for the past, are flatly and emphatically contradicted by American facts. With our present light, geo- logical history seems to be a dovetailing together of the two ideas. The ages have had their periods of geological serenity, when change progressed in the still, unnoticeable way, and life through vast lapses of time followed the stately flow of years, drifting on by insensible gradations through higher and higher forms, and then all at once a part of the earth suffered short, sharp, destructive revolution, as unheralded as an earthquake. or volcanic eruptions. The sciences are as independent as bodily organs; they are the vitals of human knowledge. A fallacy lodged in one produces functional disturbance of the others. It was the error of universal and extreme catastrophes which so violated the conceptions of Lamarck, Goethe, and St. Hilaire as to draw out their earnest protest, and as usual they urged the pendulum past the golden mean of truth over to the counter error of extreme uniformitarianism. This later error has been confidently built. in as one of the corner-stones of the imposing structure of evolution. I believe the crumbling, valueless nature of this foundation will yet make itself felt in the ruin of just so much as the builders have rested upon it. If the vicissitudes of our planet have been as marked by catas- trophes as I believe, how does that law affect our conceptions of the development of life and the hypothesis of evolution? Man, whatever the drift of life or philosophy, returns with rest- less eagerness, with pathetic anxiety, to the enigma of his own origin, his own nature, his own destiny. With reverence, with levity, with faith, with doubt, with courage, with cowardice, by every avenue of approach, in every age, the same old problem is confronted. We pour out our passionate questionings, and hearken lest mute nature may this time answer. But nature yields only one syllable of reply at a time. Darwin, who in his day has caught the one syllable from nature’s lips, advances always with caution, and although he practically rejects does not positively deny the existence of sudden great changes in the earth’s history. Huxley, permeated in every fibre by belief in evolution, feels that even to-day catastrophism is not yet wholly out of the possibilities. It is only lesser men who bang all the doors, shut out all doubts, and flaunt their little sign, “ Omniscience on draught here.” It must be said, how- ever, that biology, as a whole, denies catastrophism in order to Save evolution. It is the common mistake of biologists to as- 464 Catastrophism and Evolution. [ August, sume that catastrophes rest for their proof on breaks in the paleontological record, meaning by that the observed gaps of life or the absence of connecting links of fossils between older and newer sets of successive strata. There never was a more serious error. Catastrophes are far more surely proved by the observed mechanical rupture, displacement, engulfment, crump- ling, and crushing of the rocky surface of the globe. Granted that the evidence would have been slightly less perfect had there been no life till the present period, still the reading would have been amply conclusive. The paleontological record is as imper- fect as Darwin pleads, but the dynamic record is vitiated by no such ambiguity. It is the business of geology to work out the changes of the past configuration of the globe and its climate; to produce a series of maps of the successive stages of the continents and ocean basins, but it is also its business to investigate and fix the rates of change. Geology is not solely a science of ancient con- figuration. Itis also a history of the varying rates and mode 0 action of terrestrial energy. The development of inorganic envi- ronment can and must be solved regardless of biology. It must be based on sound physical principles, and established by irref- ragable proof. The evolution of environment, a distinct branch of geology which must soon take form, will, I do not hesitate to assert, be found to depend on a few broad laws, and neither the uniformitarianism of Lyell and Hutton, Darwin and Haeckel, nor the universal catastrophism of Cuvier and the majority of teleologists, will be numbered among these laws. In the domi- nant philosophy of the modern biologist there is no admission of a middle ground between these two theories, which I, for one, am led to reject. Huxley alone, among prominent evolutionists, opens the door for union of the residua of truth in the two schools, fusing them in his proposed evolutional geology. Look- ing back over a trail of thirty thousand miles of geological travel, and after as close a research as I am capable, I am im- pelled to say that his far-sighted view precisely satisfies my inter- pretation of the broad facts of the American continent. The admission of even modified catastrophe, namely, suddenly- destructive, but not all-destructive change, is, of ‘course, a down- right rejection of strict uniformitarianism. `I comprehend the importance of the position, how far-reaching and radical the logical consequences of this belief must be. If true, it is noth- ing less than an ignited bomb-shell thrown into the camp of 1877. ] Catastrophism and Evolution. 465 the biologists, who have tranquilly built upon uniformitarianism, and the supposed imperfection of the geological record. I quote afew of their characteristic utterances. Lamarck, in his Phi- _ losophie Geologique, 1809, says, “ The kinds or species of or- ganisms are of unequal age, developed one after another, and show only a relative and temporary persistence. Species arise out of varieties. ... In the first beginning only the very simplest and lowest animals and plants came into existence ; those of a more complex organization only at a later period. The course of the earth’s development and that of its organic inhabitants was continuous, not interrupted by violent revo- lutions. . . . e simplest animals and the simplest plants, which stand at the lowest point in the scale of organization, have originated and still originate by spontaneous generation.” Dar- win! says: “ We must be cautious in attempting to correlate as strictly contemporaneous two formations, which include few iden- tical species, by the general succession of their forms of life. As species are produced and exterminated by slowly acting and still acting causes, and not by miraculous acts of creation and by catastrophes. . . . And again, for my part, following out Lyell’s metaphor, I look at the natural geological record as a history of the world imperfectly, kept and written in a changing dialect; of this history we possess the last volume alone, relating only to two or three countries. Of this volume, only here and there a short chapter has been preserved; and of each page only here and there a few lines. Each word of the slowly changing lan- guage in which the history is written, being more or less differ- ent in the successive chapters, may represent the apparently abruptly changed forms of life entombed in our consecutive but widely separated formations. On this view, the difficulties above discussed are greatly diminished, or even disappear.” It is unnecessary to repeat here the well-known views of Lyell. How far biologists have learned to lean on his uniformitarian con- clusions may be seen from the following quotation from Haeckel,? “He [Lyell] demonstrated that those changes of the earth’s surface which are still taking place before our eyes are perfectly sufficient to explain everything we know of the development of e earth’s crust in general, and that it is superfluous and use- less to seek for mysterious causes in inexplicable revolutions. He Showed that we need only have recourse to the hypothesis of 1 Origin of Species, p. 522. 2 History of Creation, vol. i., pages 127-129. VOL. XI.— No. 8. 30 466 Catastrophism and Evolution. ' [August, exceedingly long periods of time, in order to explain the forma- tion of the crust of the earth in the simplest and most natural manner, by the means of the very same causes which are still active. Many geologists had previously imagined that the high- est chains of mountains which rise on the surface of the earth could owe their origin only to enormous revolutions transforming a great part of the earth’s surface, especially to colossal volcanic eruptions. Such chains of mountains as those of the Alps or the Cordilleras were believed to have arisen direct from the fiery fluid of the interior of the earth through an enormous chasm in the broken crust. Lyell, on the other hand, showed that we can explain the formation of such enormous chains of mountains quite naturally by the same slow and imperceptible risings and depres- sions of the earth’s surface which are still continually taking place, and the causes of which are by no means miraculous. Although these depressions and risings may perhaps amount only to a few inches, or at most a few feet, in the course of a century, still in the course of some millions of years they are perfectly sufficient to raise up the highest chains of mountains without the aid of mysterious and incomprehensible revolutions. ... We have long known, even from the structure of the stratified crust of the earth alone, that its origin and the formation of neptunic rocks from water must have taken at least several millions of ears. From a strictly philosophical point of view, it makes no difference whether we hypothetically assume for this process ten millions or ten thousand billions of years. Before us and behin us lies eternity.” This is even bolder than Hutton, who says: “TI take things as I find them at present; and from these I reason as regards that which must have been. .. . A theory, therefore, which is limited to the actual constitution of this earth, cannot be allowed to proceed one step beyond the present order of things.” The successive hypotheses which, linked together, form the chain of evolution are, first, the nebular hypothesis ; second, spontaneous generation; third, natural selection. It is omy with the last that geology has intimate relation. The general theory of a derivative genesis or the descent of all organisms by the various modes of reproduction from one or a few prim- itive types which came into existence by spontaneous genera- tion was believed long before the Darwinian theory was ad- vanced. Darwin’s great contribution was the modus operandi of derivative genesis. It was a mode of accounting for the m- 1877.] Catastrophism and Evolution. 467 finite branching out and differentiation of the complex forms of life from the primitive germs. His theory is natural selection, or the survival of the fittest, a doctrine which, left where Darwin leaves it, has its very roots in uniformitarianism. Analyzed into its component parts, natural selection resolves, as is well known, into two laws, hereditivity and adaptivity: first, the power on the part of organisms to transmit to offspring their own complex structure down to the minutest details ; and, secondly, the power by slight alterations on the part of all indi- viduals to vary slightly in order to bring themselves into har- mony with a changed environment. When we bring geology into contact with Darwinism, it is evident that hereditivity is out of the domain of our inquiry; it is not the engine of change, it is the conservator of the past; but the companion law of adaptivity, or the accommodation to circumstances, is one which depends half upon the organism and half upon the environment ; half upon the vital interior, half upon the pressure which the en- vironment brings to bear upon it. Now, environment, as conclu- sively shown by biologists, is a twofold thing, a series of compli- cated relationships with contemporaneous life, but, besides, with the general inorganic surrounding, involving climate and position upon the globe. Preoccupied with the strictly biological envi- ronment, namely, the intricate relation of dependence of any spe- cies upon some of its surrounding species, biologists have signally failed to study the power and influence of the inorganic or geo- ogic environment. The actual limits of the influence of physical conditions on life are practically unknown. In America more than in Europe this branch of inquiry has begun to attract no- tice, but it is yet in its swaddling-clothes. It has lain little and weak from inanition, while the favorite child, Natural Selection, has been fed into a plethoric, overgrown monster. Darwin, Wal- lace, Haeckel, and the other devoted students of natural selec- tion have brought to light the most astonishingly complex strug- gle for existence, everywhere progressing — the fiercest battle for ife and for subsistence, for standing-room, for breath. Some Species gain, others lose, some go down to annihilation. - In this battle they seea dequate cause for all the great, highly organized products of the millions of years since life began. From their ic, you and I are conquerors who have mounted to manhood by treading out the life of infinite generations. We are what We are because this brain and this body form the most effective fighting-machine the dice-box of ages has thrown. 468 Catastrophism and Evolution. [ August, From their conclusions and philosophy let us turn, but with no revolt of prejudice, no rebound of a happier intuition, for this is a question of science. Those who defend the stronghold of natural selection are impregnable to the assaults of feeling. They are dislodged only by the solid projectiles of fact, and to facts cast in the mold of nature they count it no dishonor to surrender. If, as I have said, the evolution and power of envi- ronment have been singularly neglected studies, if biologists have allowed the splendor of their achievements within the prov- ince of life to blind them to the working of that other and no less important side of the problem, what then is the general re- lation in time and space of the inorganic environment to life? Let us first acknowledge frankly that the present and later parts of the Quaternary period are uniformitarian ; that the changes going on in organic life now do obey the great law of survival of the fittest, and that if the uniformitarians were true in making of the past a mere infinite projection of the present, then the biologists would have based their theories on a solid foundation, and my protest would have no weight. Let us go further and cordially admit that in all periods of uniformity the progress of life would adjust itself to its surroundings, and the war of competitive extermination become the dominant engine of change and development. This is giving full credit to the great- ness of the biological result, and simply asserts that they who achieved it are sound as far as the analogy of present uniformity may be permitted to go. But uniformity has not been the sole law; it has, as we have seen, been often broken by catastrophes, —that is, by accelerated rate of change. Rapid physical change has been, it seems to me, the more important of the two condi- tions of the past, the one whose influence will at last prove to have been the dominant one in life change. Has environment, with all the catastrophic changes, been merely passive as regards life? It has either had no effect, oF has restrained the progress of evolution, or has advanced it, or its influence has been as varied as its own history, — now by the de- velopment of favoring conditions accelerating vital progress, NOW suddenly exterminating on a vast scale, again urging evolution forward, again leaving lapses of calm in which species took | matter into their own hands and worked out their own destiny: — It is only through rapid movements of the crusts and sudden cli- matic changes, due either to terrestrial or cosmical causes, that environment can have seriously interfered with the evolution of 1877. ] Catastrophism and Evolution. 469 life. These effects would, I conceive be, first, extermination ; secondly, destruction of the biological equilibrium, thus violating natural selection; and thirdly, rapid morphological change on the part of plastic species. When catastrophic change burst in- upon the ages of uniformity, and sounded in the ear of every liv- ing thing the words “ change or die,” plasticity became the sole principle of salvation.’ Plasticity, then, is that quality which, in suddenly enforced physical change, is the key to survival and prosperity. And the survival of the plastic, that is of the rapidly and healthily modifiable during periods when terrestrial revolu- tion offers to species the rigorous dilemma of prodigious change or certain death, is a widely different principle from the survival of the fittest in a general biological battle during terrestrial uni- formity. In one case it is an accommodation between the indi- vidual organism and inorganic environment, in which the most yielding and plastic lives. In the other it is a Malthusian death struggle, in which only the victor survives. At the end of a period of uniformitarian conditions, the Malthusian conqueror, being the fittest, would have won the prize of survival and as- cendency. Suppose now an interval of accelerated change. At the end only the most plastic would have deviated from their late forms and reached the point of successful adaptation, which is survival in health. Whatever change takes place by natural selection in uniformitarian ages, according to Darwin, advances by spontaneous, aimless sporting and the survival of those varie- ties best adapted to surrounding conditions, and of these condi- _ tions the biological relations are by far the most important of all. y that means, and by that alone, it is asserted, species came into existence, and inferentially all the other forms from first to last. This is the gospel of chance. If the out-door facts of American geology shall be admitted to r me out in my assertion of catastrophes, and if the epochs of maximum vital change do, as I hold, coincide with the epochs of catastrophes, then that coincidence should be directly determina- ble in the field. I confidently assert that no American geologist will be able to disprove the law that in the past every one of the great breaks in the column of life coincide with datum points of catastrophe. It remains to be determined how far this coinci- dence is the expression of environmental cause, responded to in terms of vital effect. | From a comparison of the list and character of geological Changes in America with those mysterious lines across which no 470 Catastrophism and Evolution. [ August, species march, I feel warranted in harboring the belief that catas- trophe was an integral part of the cause ; changed life, the effect. Biologists are accustomed to explain the cause of a great gap like that which divides the Palzozoic and Mesozoic life by an admission that the Paleozoic forms ceased to live, but that the succeeding changed forms at the beginning of the Mesozoic were not the local progeny, greatly modified by catastrophic change, but merely immigrants from some other conveniently assumed country. They succeed in rendering this highly probable, if not certain, in many instances. But they are estopped from always advancing this migration theory. Greek art was fond of decorat- ing the friezes of its sacred edifices with the spirited form of the horse. Times change; around the new temple of evolution the proudest ornament is that strange procession of fossil horse skele- tons, among whose captivating splint-bones.and general anatomy may be descried the profiles of Huxley and Marsh. Those two authorities, whose knowledge we may not dispute, assert that the American genealogy of the horse is the most perfect demonstra- tive proof of derivative genesis ever presented. Descent they consider proved, but the fossil jaws are utterly silent as to what the cause of the evolution may have been. I have studied the country from which these bones came, and am able to make this suggestive geological commentary. Be- tween each two successive forms of the horse there was a catas- trophe which seriously altered the climate and configuration of the whole region in which these animals lived. Huxley and Marsh assert that the bones prove descent. My own work proves that each new modification succeeded a catastrophe. And the almost universality of such coincidences is to my mind warrant for the anticipation that not very far in the future it may be seen that the evolution of environment has been the major cause of the evolution of life; that a mere Malthusian struggle was not the author and finisher of evolution; but that He who brought to bear that mysterious energy we call life upon primeval matter bestowed at the same time a power of development by changes _ arranging that the interaction of energy and matter which make up environment should, from time to time, burst in upon the cur- rent of life and sweep it onward and upward to ever higher and better manifestations. Moments of great catastrophe, thus trant lated into the language of life, become moments of creation, when out of plastic organisms something newer and nobler 18 called into being. 1877. ] Changes of Habit among Woodpeckers. 471 ON CHANGES OF HABIT AMONG WOODPECKERS}! BY SAMUEL CALVIN. F has long been known to naturalists that certain genera of woodpeckers have wholly or partly adopted habits quite in- consistent with those generally suggested when we think of the Within the past two or three years I have frequently had the pleasure of observing the red-headed woodpecker in the act of catching flies on the wing. Seating itself on the summit — not on the side— of some fence-stake or other elevated perch, it watches, as does the kingbird, for passing insects. Having singled out the desired victim from among many not worth catch- ing, it darts forward, catches it, and returns, usually to the same perch, to wait for the next. This any one may see repeated over and over again by the same individual, showing that it is no mere chance departure from woodpeckerian dignity into which the bird is inadvertently betrayed, but is rather one of the ordi- nary and settled practices resorted to in procuring food. The movements in the air of this woodpecker are very similar to those of the kingbird; it executes the gyrations and peculiar gymnastics necessary to follow the dodging insect with great adroitness. What is the meaning of all this? The barbed tongue, stout, straight bill, muscular neck, and structural adaptations for climb- ing, all point to.a different mode of life. None of them, cer- tainly, can be regarded, as rendering the bird any special fitness for fly-catching. It must be that the struggle for life among bark-searching birds has recently —within the past two or three geological epochs — become more severe, so much so as to drive Some of them to the adoption of other habits, quite regardless of structural fitness. The golden-winged woodpecker (Colaptes auratus), as all know, has been driven from the trees to feed largely on the ground. Its near relative (Colaptes campestris), of some parts of South America, frequents open plains, and, according to the testimony of competent observers, is never seen on trees at all. As bearing upon these changes of habit, and perhaps furnish- ing a suggestion in part of their compelling cause, it is interest- ing to note that quite a number of the perching birds have settled into the questionable habit of systematically poaching upon the special domain of the woodpecker. Among the war- 1 Read before the Iowa Academy of Science, May 3, 1877. 472 Changes of Habit among Woodpeckers. [ August, blers, even, we have in Iowa the black and white creeper (Mnio- tilta varia), that excels most woodpeckers in ability to scramble over and thoroughly search the bark of a tree. The whole family of creepers, the Certhias, — represented with us by the little brown creeper, (Certhia familiaris), — is also able to com- pete successfully with woodpeckers on their own ground. But perhaps the most expert of all the perchers that have taken to clambering over trees are the nut-hatches. A very common one is the Sitta Carolinensis, which may be seen almost any day on trees in our streets and door-yards. Its nervous and rapid move- ments, its slaty-colored back, and black crown must be familiar to all. It moves upward and downward with equal facility and — always head foremost; the upper and under side of a limb are explored with equal ease; rarely resting, it frisks up and down, round and round, over and under, in and out, finishing a tree and ready for the next long before the average woodpecker would be able to collect himself and get fairly under way. _ The habit of climbing is certainly an ancient one among wood- peckers. All the genera have the feet, tongue, bill, tail feathers, etc., modified in substantially the same way, and this would point to an ancestor that practiced their characteristic habits before the modern genera began to diverge. On the other hand, we may fairly conclude that since climbing is rather exceptional among perchers, the few groups that practice it have acquired it at a comparatively recent date, and it is quite possible that com- petition with climbing perchers may constitute a large share of the disturbing cause which has compelled certain woodpeckers of late to abandon the habits of their ancestors. It is worthy of note, too, that the species which have suffered most in this competition are among the largest of our Northern woodpeckers. With the exception of the pileated woodpecker, they are in fact the largest, and furnish another illustration of the fact that nature looks with but small favor upon mere bulk. A little nerve often outweighs a large amount of muscle. The pileated woodpecker frequents deep forests, and I have never been able to observe its habits. Its retirement, howeve?, has withdrawn it from competition with the more agile forms we have noticed, and if food is only sufficiently abundant there is no immediate necessity for giving up its ancestral habits. The red- head and flicker, preferring open glades, are brought into Con- _ stant and active competition with more sprightly and energetl¢ climbers, and find themselves obliged to adopt other habits m great measure, or perish. 1877.] Aboriginal Shell Ornaments and Mr. F. A. Barber. 473 ABORIGINAL SHELL ORNAMENTS, AND MR. F. A. BARBER’S PAPER THEREON. BY R. E. C. STEARNS. ‘ p the sen number of the AMERICAN NATURALIST (page 271) Mr. E. A. Barber, in an article on Stone Implements and “aetna from the Ruins of Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, remarks: “ The marine shells which were: converted into beads by the ancient tribes, so far as ascertained by the investigations of the United States Geological Survey, during the summer of 1875, were the Oliva and (possibly) the Busycon or Murex. . . Figure 7, Plate I., represents a specimen of the Oliva biplicata (probably), although the shell is so weather worn that the specific characteristics are almost entirely obliterated. Still it strongly resembles this species of the Pacific coast, and is very likely the same.” In a foot-note Mr. Barber says that “ it may be Olivella gracilis.” The figure referred to certainly does “not strongly resemble O. biplicata, and if reasonably accurate, the specimen from which the figure was drawn does not belong to the said species. It may be either O. gracilis or O. dama,! common Gulf of Cali- fornia forms, not found as yet north of latitude 25° N. on the Ocean side of Lower California, or it way be O. betica, which like 0. biplicata i is a northern species, not found in the Gulf. There is no species of Busycon on the Pacific Coast, and Murex,? though found in the Gulf, seldom occurs on the outer Shore north of Cape St. Lucas, and is rare at the cape. “ Murex” as used here is exceedingly vague, for the Muricide are so largely represented upon this part of the West American or more exactly West Mexican coast, and includes so many well- marked groups, that the name of the genus, subgenus, or group should be given. The importance of an accurate determination of species of shells, in connection with the “ancient tribes” of the region named in Mr. Barber’s paper, and as related under similar con- ditions to ethnological questions, ppon a brief review of the points involved, will be seen at a glance. If the beads or ornaments were made of the shells of Murex and Olivella, either O. gracilis or O. dama, Gulf forms, it in- 1 Cooper in bet: Cat., sp. 732, credits San Pedro, Cal., ‘with this form, but it has ures been verifi 2 Whether st proper or the markedly prominent group, Phyllonotus, is not Stated by Mr. Barber. 474 The Long-Jawed Goby. [ August, dicates a line of communication, intercourse, traffic, and possibly migration by the way of the Gulf of California and the Colorado River. If the Olivella is O. biplicata, and the beads, which it is said are as thin as a wafer and of the circumference of an ordi- nary pea, are what I suspect,! then we have a right to infer that these interior people were in communication directly or indirectly with the California tribes north of what is now known as Lower California. If any of the shell ornaments are made of some species of Busycon, then communication with the Gulf of Mexico is implied. If all of the shells cited by Mr. Barber, and involved in doubt by the indefiniteness of his paper, are actually represented in the — material collected, then the whole question as to the origin, dis- tribution, and characteristics of the extinct tribes of Colorado, Utah, and Arizona is still further complicated, for it indicates intercourse, traffic, and perhaps migration in three directions, and the relations of these interior people with the maritime or coast tribes of both sides of the continent, or through, or with inter- mediate tribes, become a factor which has to be duly weighed and considered, the importance of which is only equaled by its. complexity. It is highly probable that an examination of the shell orna- ments mentioned by Mr. Barber by some competent conchologist familiar with West American shells and with the ethnological material of the California mounds would authenticate the species of which Mr. Barber’s shell ornaments are made, and it is to be hoped that he will have them carefully examined, and state not only the species but the authority for their determination. By doing so he will add much to the value of his researches, and the object of this criticism will be accomplished. ; THE LONG-JAWED GOBY. BY W. N. LOCKINGTON. _ fb somewhat inelegant title I have given to this curious little fish cannot be said to be its vernacular name, since, like the greater portion of the creatures that inhabit the world, it has not as yet acquired a commonly received name in our language, and the only name it has a perfect right to is the Latin one bestowed by its first describer, Dr. J. G. Cooper, namely, Gillichthys m- rabilis. 1 Similar beads are found in the California mounds, and are simple concavo- convex disks cut out of the body whorl of O. biplicata. * — 1877.] The Long-Jawed Goby. 475 As Gillichthys is simply a compound of the name of a cele- brated American icthyologist with the Greek word for a fish, and mirabilis means nothing more than ‘ wonderful” or “ curious,” this Latin name gives no idea of the fish, so it will be as well to eall it the long-jawed goby, as its chief peculiarity consists in its tremendous length of jaw. A garpike has a long jaw, and so has an alligator, and it is not unlikely that the title will call up in the minds of some who read this the idea of a terrible mouth, armed with bristling rows of teeth. This would be a great mistake, for our little fish has no teeth worth bragging about, and does not open his mouth any . wider than a well-behaved fish should do. The great difference between his long jaws and those of a garpike is that the latter’s project forwards, while those of our goby are prolonged back- wards immensely: The long-jawed goby was discovered by Dr. Cooper-in the bay of San Diego, among seaweed growing on small stones at the wharf, and in such a position that it must have been out of water from three to six hours daily, though kept moist by the seaweed. ~ Dr. Cooper’s two specimens held their place as curiosities among the olla podrida of the Museum of the California Acad- emy of Sciences for several years, no one suspecting that the fish was a resident of the neighborhood of San Francisco, as no speci- mens were ever found in the fish-market. A few months ago two specimens were brought to the Academy by one of its members, who stated that he had obtained them from some Chinamen who lived on the marshes near the mouth of San Antonio Creek, Oakland; that they were found by dig- ging in the mud beside the brackish creeks that intersect the marshes, and that the Chinamen eat them, and find them good. These specimens were not so large as those presented by Dr. Cooper, and differed from them in the much smaller proportion- ate length and width of the singular cartilaginous expansion of the maxillary bone, which, uniting with a membrane from the lower jaw, continues backwards as a long fold or pouch as far as, or even beyond, the gill-covers, and gives to the fish its unique appearance. i On a more recent occasion a single Gillichthys, much larger than any of those before mentioned, was presented by a gentle- man, who said that the fish, which was new to him, was abun- dant upon his ranch in Richardson’s Bay, in the northern part of the bay of San Francisco ; that the Chinamen dug them up and 476 The Long-Jawed Goby. [ August, ate them, and that he had had about eleven specimens cooked, and found them good, tasting, he thought, something like eels, the twelfth specimen he had preserved in alcohol, in the interest of natural science. This gentleman had the opportunity of ob- serving something of the mode of life of these fishes, and informed us that their holes, excavated in the muddy banks of tidal creeks, increase in size as they go downwards, so that the lower portion is below the water level, or at least sufficiently low to be kept wet by the percolation from the surrounding mud. When the various specimens now acquired were placed side by side, the difference in the relative length of their jaws was very conspicuous, for while in the smallest it was about one-fifth of the total length, in the largest it exceeded one-third. As the fish had now been found in two places in the bay, I thought I would try to find it also, and to this end sallied out one morning, armed with a spade, and commenced prospecting in a marsh at Berkeley, not very far from the State University. For a long time I was unsuccessful, as I did not know by what outward signs their habitations could be distinguished, and the — extent of mud-bank left bare by the retreating tide, was, as com- pared with my powers of delving, practically limitless. At last, toward evening, while digging in the bend of a small creek, in a stratum of soft, bluish mud, and at a depth of about a foot below a small puddle, I found five small fishes, which at first I believed to belong to an undescribed species, so little did they resemble the typical G. mirabilis, but which proved, upon a closer examination, to be the young of that species. There was the de- pressed, broad head, the funnel-shaped ventral “disk” formed by the union of the two ventral fins, and the compressed tail of the long-jawed goby, but where were the long jaws? The jaws were, of course, in their usual place, but their prolongations had only just commenced to grow along the sides of the head, and were not noticeable unless looked for. A comparison of the va- rious specimens proved conclusively that the strange-looking ap- pendage is developed during the growth of the fish, as will be seen by the following measurements of four individuals : — No. 1. No 2. No. 3. No. Total length 65mm. 98mm, 132mm. 165 mm. From tip of snout to end of maxillary expansion, measured along curve to cn 1l mm. 20mm. 40mm. 56 mm. tre line of jaw. In the smallest specimen the maxillary expansion extends be- yond the orbit for a distance about equal to that which inter- — 1877.] The Long-Jawed Goby. 477 venes between the anterior margin of the orbit and the tip of the snout; in No. 2 it reaches to the posterior margin of the pre- operculum ; in No. 3 it ends level with the gill-opening; while in the largest individual it passes the origin of the pectoral and ventral fins. What can be the use of this long fold of skin and cartilage, which is not attached to the head except where it joins the mouth ; and which from its gradual development and ultimate large dimensions, must certainly serve some useful purpose ? Do not understand that I mean that every part of a creature is of use to it in its present mode of life, for as all naturalists know, there are in structural anatomy, just as in social life, cases of sur- vival ; remains of organs which were at some former time more developed, parallel in their nature to such survivals in costume, as the two buttons on the back of a man’s coat, once useful for the attachment of a sword-belt. But in this fish we have no case of survival, but one of unusual development; the family (Gobiide) to which it belongs presents no similar case, although its mem- bers have somewhat similar habits, and the conviction grows upon us, as we consider the subject, that the long jaws serve ' some useful purpose in the economy of the creature. In view of the half-terrestrial life led by this fish, I am inclined to suspect that the expansion of the upper jaw may serve for the retention of a small quantity of water, which, slowly trickling downward into the mouth and gills, keeps the latter moist when, from an unusually low tide or a dry season, the waters of its native creek fail, perhaps for several hours, to reach the holes in which the fishes dwell. It may be objected to this view that, were such an appendage necessary, or even useful, other species of Gobiidz, whose habits are similar, would show traces of a similar adaptation. This, however, by no means follows. Nature has many ways of working out the same end; and it must be re- membered that every real species when thoroughly known differs somewhat in habits from its congeners, or at least from its family friends. To take an illustration from the mammalia. The chimpanzee and the spider-monkey are both quadrumanous and both arboreal, yet the end which is attained in the former by its more perfect hands is reached in the latter by its prehensile tail. There are many fishes which can resist a tolerably long desic- cation, but the means by which they are enabled to do this vary greatly. The Ophiocephalide, a small family of fresh-water fishes found in the East Indies, have a cavity capable of contain- 478 The Lony-Jawed Goby. [ August, ing water situated inside the head, and accessory to the gill-cay- ity ; the Labyrinthici, of which the Anabas scandens, or climb- ing perch, is a well-known example, have an organ composed of thin laminæ, and well suited to contain water, situated in a cavity over the gills, and the gill-opening is narrow ; the cuchia (Amphipurus cuchia) of Bengal is provided with a sac for the re- ception of air, and has rudimentary branchiæ, while the three curious fishes forming the sub-class Dipnoi, the Protopterus of West Africa, the Lepidosiren of the Amazon and its tributaries, and the Ceratodus of the rivers of Queensland, Australia, are all provided with a lung-like air-bladder, and have narrow gill-open- ings and fewer gills than ordinary fishes. All the fishes mentioned above can bear deprivation of water for more or less time; the Ophiocephalide and the cuchia take overland journeys in search of water; the Labyrinthici take some of their prey out of water, are said to be able to ascend trees, and can live for some time in dried mud; and the Protopterus re- mains alive for many months encased in lumps of the dried mud of the river bed, awaiting only the rainy season to resume its predatory life: Why may not the extremely long channel formed by the jaw of this rather abnormal member of the goby family be another mode of provision for the requirements of respiration ? The two ordinary gobies ( Gobius lepidus and G. Newberry), which are found in San Francisco water, although they reside m cavities in the mud or sand, need no such protection as the Gillichthys, since the latter inhabits the tidal sand and mud flats of the sea beach, at such a depth below the surface that it can never be short of water while uncovered by the tide; while the former has not, within my knowledge at least, been found in localities left bare by the tides. Of the geographical range of the long-jawed goby, to the north of San Francisco, I know nothing, but it extends south- ward at least as far as the Gulf of California, since I found a single young specimen of it among miscellanea collected there by Mr. W. J. Fisher. This individual differs from those obtained in the bay of San Francisco in the decidedly reddish tint of the under surface (a slaty gray is the usual color), but this is probably at most only a local peculiarity, as I can detect no other difference. 1877.] The Museum Mite. 479 THE MUSEUM MITE. BY ANDREW MURRAY,} q Tyroglyphus entomophagus is the smallest of all the known species of this genus. It is remarkable for the parallelism of the sides, and cylindrical appearance of the body, and for its nar- rowness, especially in the female. Its legs are shorter than in the other species. It is a species only too well known to entomologists. It takes up its abode in entomological collections, in the interior of the body, or on the surface of the insects, and in the dust which gath- ers at the bottom of the drawers or boxes. Large insects, with the body full of fatty particles, those which have been brought up in captivity, and which have not paired, and those which have become greasy (to use the technical expression), are the most liable to attack. Certain families of Coleoptera, the large Scarabwide, like Oryctes and Geotrupes, the Lucanide, the Car- abide, the Dytiscide, and the Hydrophilide, the Cerambycide, the large or badly dried Blaptide, may often be seen covered on the surface with excrement and eggs, under the form of white dots, and sometimes contain a considerable number of these Ty- roglyphi in the interior of the body. The body of the large, especially the nocturnal Lepidoptera, the Cicade amongst the Hemiptera, the Earwigs, etc., have them likewise, and the quantity sometimes furnished by such insects, | where the mites have once obtained a footing, is truly enormous. The Tyroglyphus entomophagus may be found running upon the back of dead insects, and may be seen without the aid of the microscope. According to M. Perris it gnaws the down and the hairs of the insects attacked. It is, however, chiefly in the in- side of their body that it lives ; it gnaws and dilacerates all sub- stances that are soft or deprived of chitine ; hence they are spe- cially destructive to Lepidopterous insects. In handling insects that have been attacked by these Tyroglyphi, we are apt to cause the articulated pieces of which the ligaments have been de- Stroyed to fall asunder, and then there issues from the body a friable matter in which the living Acari swarm. + The friable matter which falls out, when the body of insects gnawed by the Tyroglyphus entomophagus is shaken, is composed t, of the excrement of these animals in the form of little round- oe from Economic Entomology : Aptera. By Andrew Murray. Lon- » 1877. j 480 The Museum Mite. [ August, ish grayish masses; secondly, of the eggs in course of develop- ment, and of empty shells of hatched eggs, of open and bent shells, cracked often longitudinally ; thirdly, of young larve and of nymphs, always more numerous than the’ adult animals ; fourthly, of tegumentary envelopes proceeding from the moulting of a great number of larvæ and nymphs; fifthly, of visceral or muscular remains of the body, of pieces of trachex, of striated muscular fascia, of dried fragments, sometimes of eggs which have not been laid, and which have become loose in the body of the females of the attacked insects. In the dust at the bottom of the boxes, amongst the remains of all kinds, antennz, feet, palpi, broken or fallen, one sometimes finds the envelopes of Gamasus, of Glyciphagus, and of Cheyletus Acarids, which live also in collections. Upon the insects them- selves, and devouring the excrements and the remains of the Ty- roglyphus, M. Perris has found, at Mont-de-Marsan, the larve of the Cecidomyia entomophila. The walk of the Tyroglyphus entomophagus is slow. It walks with the head bent down, in such a way as to allow the ridge of contact of the two mandibles which go beyond the hairs of the nape of the neck to be seen in front. The males are as numerous as the females, and a little more’ agile. It remains to say a few words as to the best means of keeping these mites out of collections, and of getting rid of them when they have once effected an entrance. The insects which are most liable to be attacked by the Tyroglyphus entomophagus are, as already said, those which have not been well dried, or whic have been placed in ill fitting boxes in a damp room. When the Tyroglyphus has attacked an insect, one perceives outside little whitish points on the bodies of those with smooth teguments, or on another kind a sort of grayish white powder mingled in the hairs of cottony or downy kinds, Soon under the insect invaded, or on the corresponding sides of the box, one no- tices a matter of a grayish pulverulent aspect, recalling the efflo- rescence of saline matters not deliquescent. This dast is said to be quite different from the organic pulverulent debris which re- sults from the ravages of the Anthrenus or Dermestes ; these lat- ter produce a fine sawdust, blackish or brownish, but dry and non-adherent. Collections in the south of France, exposed to damp, are very rapidly attacked by Tyroglyphus entomophagus- The mouldiness which shows itself in a collection makes one sus- _ picious of mites, for mould and mites almost always go together- 1877.] The Museum Mite. 481 When an insect is known to be attacked by Tyroglyphus it is best to isolate it in a very dry box. If the insect is glossy the mites which have got into itshould be removed with a fine camel- hair brush. If the insect is scarcely attacked, it can be replaced _ on condition of being watched. But very often one sees reap- pearing on the body of an insect which has been simply cleaned or brushed, new Tyroglyphi which come from within or from the cavities of the joints where they are apt to gather in large num- bers. This shows that the cleansing has been insufficient. One can then have recourse to the heat of the stove or oven. © This proceeding is inconvenient when the insect turns out to be what is technically called “greasy.” Besides, although the Tyro- glyphi may not resist the effect of a high temperature, the eggs often do, especially when they are situated in the a of the body, and the mites swarm again soon after. We can scarcely recommend pure water, for if the bread of the dirty insects is washed, it penetrates into the inside, leaving a humidity unfavorable to the object in view. Aleohol is good for all the insects which can stand its action without being hurt in their colors, hairs, or scales. It will not do for Lepidoptera, but we have often placed beetles that are hard and polished in a flask with a large mouth without taking the trouble of cleaning them. The pin holding the insect is stuck into the under side of the cork, and the body soaks in alco- hol without going to the bottom of the vessel. An immersion of several hours or a day is sufficient. Either simple alcohol, or alcohol containing a small solution of corrosive sublimate, will answer. After a bath of an hour in the latter, the insect should be washed in pure alcohol to carry off the sublimate, which, without this precaution, forms a whitish crust and corrodes the pins. We prefer to use alcohol with arsenic or saturated with strychnine, which, in ridding the insects from the Tyroglyphi, has the advantage of preserving them also against the Anthreni. Besides alcohol, there are liquids which seour the insects per- fectly, killing the Acarids and carrying off their favorite aliment. These very useful liquids are ether, benzine, essence of naphtha. Dr. Leconte has utilized the “atomizer” for thoroughly and imperceptibly besprinkling the insects with such liquids. . Grenier and Aubé devised an apparatus for exposing the i isesi without removal to the vapors of such chemicals. It is a large necrentôme of tin, with fastenings, made with a trench, to be filled with water, so as to submerge the edge of the cover, VOL. XI. — no. 8. 81 482 Recent Literature. [ August, and is well adapted for museums and large collections, where the labor of individual cleaning would be too great. But so far as regards mites this is not necessary if the drawers or boxes only fit moderately closely. Then it will be found sufficient to ex- pose a few crystals of pure naphthaline for an hour or two in the drawers. This is the simplest, easiest, and most effectual of all contrivances to destroy mites. here it is necessary to treat the insects in detail, another effective but more troublesome plan is to expose the infected in- sect to the vapor of liquid ammonia, by placing a morsel of sponge in a paint saucer and moistening it with a few drops of powerful liquid ammonia. The insect is placed on a bit of cork alongside of the sponge, and the whole covered by a tumbler or small bell- glass, so as to keep in the vapor ; and in ten minutes or a quarter of an hour the cure is generally complete. Sometimes it must be repeated ; but this is rarely necessary. Insects should never be put away until they have been well dried, and, if necessary, freed from fatty visceral matters. This is particularly necessary for kinds brought up in captivity or full of juice at the moment of their capture. : RECENT LITERATURE. Murray’s Economic Entomoioey.1— While this work refers at length to such myriopods, spiders and Thysanura as in any way affect man, it is mainly devoted to the mites and ticks, and as such is the only recent and complete manual treating of these important animals which is accessible to the English student. The collections forming the basis of the work are in the Bethnal Green Branch of the South Kensington Museum, and must form a curious department of the museum. This col- lection is designed for the instruction of the people, and the specimens illustrative of insects injurious to vegetation, or obnoxious to man ap the domestic animals, are openly exposed in cases along with colored figures of them, often more or less magnified according to the size of ae insect, a practice particularly useful in such minute beings as the mites: Models of injuries done to perishable objects have also been added. It is doubtful, judging by the author’s statements, whether there is any other museum either in Europe or America where such & mass of infor- mation regarding the habits of troublesome or injurious insects have been spread before the people. conomie Entomology. Aptera. By ne Murray. Prepared at the Reques' of the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, and Published for them by Chapman & Hall, 193 Piccadilly, London. 1877. 12mo, pp. 433. 1 South Kensington Museum Science Be ag Branch Museum, Bethnal ee 1877.) Recent Literature. 483 In the case of the mites, not only are European species, but a few of the more prominent North American species are described or referred to, and figures given of them copied from illustrations by American authors. Not only are the human parasites, as the itch mite, etc., figured, but those infesting our domestic mammals and birds; and the leaf and gall mites and allied forms are noticed at greater or lesser length. As an example of the author’s mode of treating his subject, we have reprinted in the preceding pages of this number, an account of a mite which in- jures dried insects in museums in Europe, and which is undoubtedly the species which occurs under similar circumstances in this country. It appears from Mr. Murray’s statements that the flour mite (Zyroglyphus siro Linn.) and Acarus farine or cheése mite, and the milk mite (Aca- rus lactis) are all different names for one and the same species, as is also the Acarus dysenterie of Linnzus, this mite having in one case caused the dysentery in Rolander, a student of Linneus. Figures and an in- teresting account is given of Cross’s famous Acarus The plan of the work is excellent and well aerial out, and we sin- cerely trust that the author will be able, as he designs doing, to furnish us with similar treatises on the “bug, locusts, grasshoppers, cockroaches, and earwigs ; the two-winged flies, the bees, wasps, etc. ; the dragon-flies and May-flies ; butterflies and moths; and lastly, the beetles.” These manuals are prepared at the request of the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, and give evidence of the liberal spirit now per- vading the minds of the public men of Great Britain. Barrp’s ANNUAL RECORD or SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY FOR 1876. — This is the sixth volume of the series, and presents a summary of the most important discoveriesin natural and physical science during the year 1876. In addition, a large portion of the book is devoted to abstracts, more or less systematically arranged, of special memoirs, while there is appended a necrology, and a list of the more important scientific publi- cations for the year. Such a book needs a detailed index, and a system- atic and analytical table of contents, and we doubt if much fault will be found with the manner in which they have been prepared. Professor Baird has been aided by a number of scientists, whose names are given with the departments which they have reported upon, so that the book carries besides the authority of the name of the editor that of the special- ists who have assisted him _ Asa handbook of scientific progress this series of annual records is not only indispensable to the general reader, but we doubt not that the specialist who would not be ignorant of what has been done in other de- partments of science than his own, will find these volumes better fitted to Satisfy his thirst for general knowledge than any other with which we are acquainted. The plan of the work leaves in its present state little Record of Science and Industry Jor 1876. Edited by SPENCER F. BAIRD, New Yo Bro! nn with the assistance of eminent men of science. New York: Harper & 1877. 12mo, pp. 609 484 Recent Literature. [ August, room for criticism, and the execution seems as a east rule quite worthy of the plan. Recent Books AND PAMPHLETS. — The Antelope and Deer of Ameri Comprehensive Scientific Treatise upon the Natural History, including the Cliarae: teristics, FASS Affinities, and Capacity for Domestication of the Antilocapra and Cervidæ of North America. By John Dean Caton, LL.D. New York: Hurd & ks T Boston: H. O. Houghton & Co. 1877. 8vo, pp. 426. Lists of Hilevations Principally in that Portion of the United States West of the Mississippi River. Fourth Edition. Collated and arranged by Henry Gannett, M Misc. Publications, No. 1, U. S. Geological Survey of = Territories. F. V. Hayden, U. S. Geologist in charge.) Washington. 8vo, pp. 1 Les Arachnides de France. Par Eugéne Simon, re siete " Contenant les Fa- milles des Urocteidæ, Agelenidx, Thomisidx, et Sparasside. Paris, Roret. 1875. 8vo, pp. 358. Four plates. Tome 3me. asst ant 7 Familles des Attide, Oxyo- pid, et Lycosidæ. Paris, Roret. 1876. 8vo, pp. 370, with 4 plates. Notes on the African Saturniide, in the MANAA of the Royal Dublin Society. By W. F. Kirby. . Transactions Entomological Society of London. 1877. Part l, K A Aik Utah. "Von Prof. C. v. Siebold. Basel. 1877. 8vo, pp. 1 Das Thierleben im Bodensee. Gemein Verstiindlicher Siig Von August isma it ei Lindau. 1877. 8vo, pp. Fragmentarische Bemerkungen über das Ovarium des Fro sches. Bemerkungen über die Eifurchung und die Betheiligung des Keimbläschens an Derselben. Von Alexander Brandt. (Zeitschrift fiir Wissenschaft. Zoölogie. Bd. XXVIIL.) Leip- zig. 1877. 8vo, pp. 31, with a plate United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Part III. Report of the Com- missioner [Prof. S. F. Baird] for 1873-4 and 1874-5. Part III. Washington. 1876. vo, pp. 777. Brehm’s Thierleben. Band 9, Heft 8-13. Leipzig: 1877. New York: B. Westermann & Co. 8vo. 40 cents a ene On the Origin of Kames or Eskers in New Hampshire. By Warren Upham. (From the Proceedings of the peper kvantin for the saan rot Science. Aug. 1876.) Salem, 1877. 8vo, p A. brief Comparison of the Butterfly Kinnas of Europe and Eastern North Amer- ica, with Hints Concerning the Derivation of the Latter. By S. H. Scudder. (Erom the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Aug., 1876.) Salem, June, 1877. 8vo, pp. 6. The Influence of Physical Conditions in the Genesis of Species. By Joel A. Aln. (From the Radical Review, Vol. 1. No. 1, May, 1877.) 8vo, pp. rell Lobre Algunos Aracnidos de la Republica Aare Por el Dr. D. T. Thorell. (Periodico Zoölogico, II., pp. 201-218.) tudes Scorpiologiques. Par T. Phased. "(Extrait du Vol. a des Actes de Sociéte Italienne de Sciences Naturelles. Milan. 1877. 8vo, pp. 1 = - 5 = g £ 5 = E g la Liste Générale des Articulés Cavernicoles de Europe. Par L. Bedel et E. Simon (Extrait du Journal de Zoölogie, IV. 1875.) 8vo, 69. nd First Annual Report of the Ohio State Fish Commission for = Years 1875 A 1876. Columbus. 1877. 8vo, pp. 96, with cu Re- On the Inhabitants of the Admiralty tiiki By H. Y. Moseley. ( printed from the Journal of the iantheppalogical tavai May, 1877.) Tavo, pP- 52, 4 plates. Man- The Early Stages of Hippa o, with a Note on the Structure of the se and Maxille in Hippa and Remipes. By S. I. Smith. (From The T Transat- ms of the Connecticut Academy, Vol. iii. 1877.) 8vo, pp. 31, 4 plates. = 1877. ] Botany. | rincipal Characters of the everpberiontidae Characters of the foe. is Notice of a New Allied Genus. Notice of a New and Gigantic Dinosaur. O. C. Marsh. oa the American oarda of Science and Arts, xiv. July, 1877. ; 8vo, pp. 8, 2 plat Zur lear OA der Dekapoden. Von Paul Mayer. (Abdruck aus der Jenaische Zeitschrift, für 1 Pally aga Bd. xi.) 8vo, pp. 81, 3 plates. n the California Species of Fusus. 8vo, pp. 5. Preliminary Descriptions of New Species of Mollusks from the Noises Coast of America. 8vo, pp. Dall. (From the Proceedings of the California Academy of Science, March 19, 1877.) n the Brain of Procamelus occidentalis. By E. D. Cope. (From the Proceedings of te Amrin Philosophical Society.) PEDE Jans 15, 1877. 8vo, pp. 52, with . am e Vertebrata of the Bone Bed in Eastern Illinois. By E. D. Cope. (From > s Proccedings of the American Philosopical Society.) Published June 20, 1877. 0, pp. 1 pie A Ursprung der Blumen. Von Dr. Hermann Müller. (Aus Kosmos.) 1877.. 8vo, pp. 14. Ueber Bau und Entwickelung des sap e der Ameisen. Von Dr. H. Dewitz. (Siebold und Kölliker’s Zeitschrift, x : The Tailed Amphibians, Hicluiting the Cecilians. A Thesis: Presented to the Faculty of Michigan University. By W.H. Smith. Detroit. 1877. 12mo, pp. 158. Tribes of the Extreme Northwest. By W. H. Dall. (Department of the Interior. History of the American Bison, Bison Americanus. By J. A. Allen. ‘(Extracted from the Ninth Annual Report of the U. S. Geological Survey. F. V. Hayden in charge.) Washington. 1877. Ethnography and Philology of the Hidatsa Indians. By Washington aaron een Publications, No. 7, U. S.: Geological and Geographical Survey. F V. Hayden in charge.) . Washington. 1877. eS GENERAL NOTES. BOTANY .! ILLUSTRATIONS or Nortn American Ferns. — It gives us sincere pleasure to learn that it is proposed by Mr. S. E. Cassino to publish an illustrated popular work on our ferns. The announcement is made that the drawings will be from sketches by Mr. J. H. Emerton, and that the text will bé furnished by Professor Eaton. The latter is a recog- nized authority thoroughly familiar with American ferns ; Mr. Emerton’s skill as a draughtsman is well known to our readers. The plates are to be in color, and the work is promised at an exceedingly low price. _ ACER pasycarpum. In 1843, Mr. Emerson measured a tree of this Species, growing in the town of Stockbridge, Mass., when at three feet the ground, it girted twelve feet. In October, 1876, the same tree was measured by Mr W. R. Robeson, who reports that its cireumference at the same height, was then fifteen feet and nine inches, showing an annual average increase of circumference during the last iain years of a little over 1.36 inches. — C. S. SARGENT. 1 Conducted by ProF. G. L. GOODALE. 486 General Notes. [August, OBSERVATIONS ON SILPHIUM LACINIATUM, THE s0-CALLED COM- Pass Praxt.!— For the past six or eight years there has been little doubt of the curious polarity of the root and stem-leaves of the large coarse plant known throughout the prairie regions by the name of the compass plant. It appears, however, that few accurate measurements of the bearings of these leaves have been made. So that while they are now considered as pointing more or Iess to the north, but little is known as to how nearly they arrange themselves upon the meridian. In order to contribute to a better knowledge of this matter, I have for several years been making observations, the results of which I herewith trans- mit : — TABLE I. Bearings of the leaves of fourteen small plants, many of which had but one leaf hs — North 1° 30 East. North 4° 30 West. ce 1° 45/ ee “ 70 80/ ce “ 1° 45! “ “ 8 30! “ sna po ao s © O°. Iy f “ce 6° Qo! “ ic 130 30' cc ae 6° 80’ “ ee 990 15/ é “ go o “ “ 25° or “ “ec 91° 30 “ee “ 29° 30/ e “ 820 $0! ét “ec 34° 0’ “ $e BAC. Oy ot" " Eo w r " epe ? o pcan arden ts Fifty per cent., it will be observed, deviated less than ten degrees, and eighty-six per cent. less than forty-five degrees from the meridian. TABLE II. Bearings of thirteen leaves, all of which grew on one large plant : — North 0° 30! East. North 0° ‘30! West. 4 0° 45! “ce “ 1° 1 5 “ “ce 8° 80! ce “ce 350 80/ “ee Las 3° 45/ “ “ee 889 of fig “ 3° 5/ “ oe eer a e 30 “c 86° 0! ég “ 899 30! itd Fifty-four per cent. of these leaves deviated less than four degrees from the meridian, and eighty-five per cent. less than forty-five degrees- TABLE III. Bearings of the leaves of a medium sized plant : — North 1° Of East. : North 0° 15! West. dante 1° 30’ ce ce 0° 30/ cg « 0° 30’ w “ 20° o e paar 4 569 o/ “ 1 See an article on this ei in Tue Amertcan Naturatist for March, 1871, posa may be found also references to other papers. An article appeared some years a in the American Agriculturist, and another recently in Nature, in which £ cnt fh compass plant wore ie, 1877.) Botany. 487 Of these seventy-one per cent. deviated less than two degrees, and eighty-five per cent. less than forty-five degrees from the meridian. TABLE IV. Bearings of the leaves of a large plant :— North 0° © East. North 17° 0’ West. “ec go 30! “ “ 32° o “ 4 30 0’ “ “ 85° 0’ “ “ 11° 0” “ é 1390 07 «& “. 16° 160. “ 40° 15’ “ce It will be observed that, with a good deal of variation in the bearings, none of the leaves diverge as far from the meridian as forty-five degrees. TABLE V. Bearings of the leaves of another large plant: — orth « East. 0 North 2° 30 West. ‘ i tig “ 30 45’ “ee “& 120 oe “ “ 4° 45’ “c “és 14° gor. S a 238° 30/ wil op or = or ggo aoe * oe ae T Thirty-three per cent. deviated less than ten degrees, and ninety-three per cent. less than forty-five degrees from the meridian. : TABLE VI. Bearings of the leaves-of ten plants, large and small: — North 1° 45/ East. North 6° 30’ West. ee ae e ney 7 “ “a 3 “ “ 129 15! “ “ 157 “ “ 13 80! “ “ 45e “ “ 21° 20 “ “ r “ a 93° “ 8° 4° 6° 70 T 129 16 18° Now the whole difficulty disappears, — we avoid the incredible imperfection of the geological record (imperfect at best); we avoid also the necessity of extending geological time to a degree which cannot be accepted by the physicist, — if we admit that the derivation of one species from another is not necessarily by innumerable imperceptible steps, but may sometimes be by a few decided steps; and that the same is true for the origin of new genera, families, orders, etc. ; in a word, that there are in the history of evolution of species genera, families, orders, etc., and of the organic kingdom periods of rapid movement. When the whole organic kingdom is involved in the movement, then we call the period critical, and the record of it is often lost. Thus, on the supposition of such rigidity or resistance to change in organic forms, varying in degree in different species and in different genera, families, orders, etc., a rigidity, also, in- creasing by accumulated heredity so long as conditions remain un- changed, it is evident that, in times of perfect tranquillity all spe- cies grow more and more rigid. In times of very gradual change the more plastic species change gradually pari passu, while the more rigid species change paroxysmally, now one, now another, as their resistance is overcome. Finally, in times of revolution nearly all forms yield to the pressure of external.conditions and change rapidly, only the very exceptionally rigid being able to pass over the interval to the next period of readjusted equilibrium. Thus, for example, the great and wide-spread changes of phys- ical geography which occurred at the end of the Carboniferous, appropriately called in this country the Appalachian revolution, were the death-sentence of the long-continuing and therefore rigid Paleozoic types. But the sentence was not immediately execut- ed. The Permian represents the time between the sentence and the execution, — the time during which the more rigid Palæ- ozoic forms continued to linger out a painful existence 1m ni of changed and still changing conditions. But the most criti time — the time of most rapid change, the time of actual m cution — was the lost interval. Only a very few most rigid forms pass over this interval into the Trias. 1877.] Critical Periods in the History of the Earth. 551 The Quaternary, a Critical Period. We have given examples of several general unconformities, the signs of wide-spread oscil- lations of the earth-crust, attended with increase and decrease of | land, and therefore with great and wide-spread changes of cli- mate and, other physical conditions, and also with great and rapid changes of organic species. These times of general oscilla- tion are therefore the natural boundaries of the Eras or pri- mary divisions of Time. We have called them critical periods, transition periods, periods of revolution, because they are times of rapid change, both in the physical and the organic world, — a change overthrowing an old and establishing a new order of things. They are also times of lost record. We have seen that these critical periods, in comparison with the preceding and suc- ceeding, are continental periods, and it is for this reason that their record is usually lost. Now, the Quaternary is such a critical or transition period, marking the boundary between two great eras. The Quarter- nary is also a period of great and wide-spread oscillations, with increase and decrease of land,—a period of upheaval, erosion, down-sinking, to rise again slowly to the present condition. The early Quaternary was, therefore, to a marked degree a continental period. Here also we have newer rocks lying un- conformably on the eroded edges of an older series — river sedi- ments in old river-valleys, marine sediments in fiords; in other ‘words, we have unconformity on a grand scale. Also, in connee- tion with these oscillations, we have great changes in physical geography, and corresponding and very wide-spread changes in climate, and consequently corresponding rapid changes in organic forms. Here, then, we have all the characteristics of one of the boundaries between the primary divisions of time. We have a transition or critical period, —a period corresponding to one of the lost intervals ; only in this instance, being so recent and being also less violent than the preceding ones, it is not lost. From this it follows that the study of the Quaternary ought to furnish the key which will unlock many of the mysteries which now trouble us. Some of the problems which have been or will be Daaa by study of the Quaternary we will now briefly men- on. I. Changes of Species not sudden. If the Quaternary were lost, and we compare the Tertiary rocks with the unconforma- bly overlying recent rocks, and the Tertiary mammals with those now living, how great and apparently sudden seems the change ! 552 Critical Periods in the History of the Earth. [September How like to a violent extermination and re-creation! But the Quaternary is fortunately not lost, and we see that there has been no such wholesale extermination and re-creation, but only gradual though comparatively rapid transition. Il. Migration One Chief Cause of Change. But what is still more important, we are able to trace with something like cer- tainty the cause of these rapid changes, and we find that in the higher animals, chief among these causes have been migrations, — migrations enforced by changes of climate, and migrations permitted by changes of physical geography opening gateways between regions previously separated by impassable barriers. This point is so important that we must dwell upon it. Only an outline, however, of some of these migrations and their effects on evolution can be given in the present condition of knowledge. During Miocene times, as is well known, evergreens, allied to those now inhabiting Southern Europe, covered the whole of Eu- rope as far north as Lapland and Spitzbergen. In America, Magnolias, Taxodiums, Libocedrus, and Sequoias very similar to, if not identical with, those now living on the Southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts and in California were abundant in Greenland. Evidently there could have been no Polar ice-cap at that time, and consequently no arctic species unless on mountain tops. Dur- ing the latter part of the Pliocene the temperature did not differ much from the present; the Polar ice-cap had therefore commenced to form, with its accompaniment of arctic species. With the coming on of the Glacial epoch, the polar ice and arctic condi- tions crept slowly southward, pushing arctic species to Middle Europe and Middle United States, and sub-aretic species to the shores of the Mediterranean and the Gulf. With the return of more genial climate, arctic conditions went slowly northward again, and with them went arctic species slowly migrating, gen- eration after generation, to their present arctic home. Similarly, molluscous shells migrated slowly southward and again northward to their present position. But plants and some terrestrial invertebrates, such as insects, had an alternative which shells had not, namely, that of seeking arctic conditions also up- ward on the tops of mountains. Many did so, and were © stranded there until now. It is in this way that we account for the otherwise inexplicable fact that Alpine species in MI ss Europe are similar or even largely identical with those m t United States, and also with those now living in arctic poses These species were wide-spread all over Europe and the Uni 1877.] Critical Periods in the History of the Earth. 553 States in Glacial times ; and while some of them afterward went northward to their present home, some in each country sought arctic conditions in Alpine isolation. This explanation, which has been long recognized for plants, has been recently applied by Mr. Grote to arctic insects found on the top of Mt. Wash- ington and the mountains of Colorado.} Undoubtedly changes of climate during this time enforced similar migrations among mammals also. But it is evident that while plants and invertebrates might endure such modifications of climate and such enforced migrations with little alteration of form, the more highly organized and sensitive mammalian spe- cies must be either destroyed or else must undergo more profound ' changes. Moreover, the opening of land connections between regions previously isolated by barriers would be far more quickly taken advantage of by mammals than by invertebrates and plants. The migrations of plants are of necessity very slow, that is, from generation to generation. The migrations of mammals, too, so far as they are enforced by changing climate, are of a sim- ilar kind ; but the voluntary migrations of mammals, permitted by removal of barriers, may take place much more rapidly, even in a few generations. This introduces another element of very rapid local change, namely, the invasion of one fauna by an- other equally well adapted to the environment, and the strug- gle for life between the invaders and the autochthones. . For example: in America during the Glacial epoch, coinci- dently with the rigorous climate, there was an elevation of the continent, greatest in regions of high latitude, but also probably great along the line of the Mississippi River; for in this re- gion it extended southward even to and beyond the shores of the Gulf. Professor Hilgard has shown that the elevation at the mouth of the Mississippi River was at least four hundred and fifty to five hundred feet above the present condition. Until the Glacial times the two Americas were certainly separated by sea in the region of the Isthmus, as shown by the Tertiary deposits there. This barrier was removed by upheaval during the Glacial epoch, and a far broader connection existed then than now. Through this open gate-way came the fauna of South America, especially the great Edentates, into North America. Similarly a broad connection then existed between America and Asia in the _ | This application, with reference to Mt. Washington and other arctic insects in America, was previously made by Prof. A. S. Packard, Jr., in the Memoirs of the Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., i. p. 256, 1867. — Eps. 554 Critical Periods in the History of the Earth. [September, regions of the shallow sea between the Aleutian Isles and Behr- ing Strait. Through this gate-way came an invasion from Asia, including probably the mammoth. With this invasion probably came also man. It seems probable, therefore, that the earliest remains of man in America will be found on the Pacific coast. Also the great Pliocene lake, which stretched from near the shores of the Gulf far into British America, and possibly into arctic regions, and formed a more or Jess complete barrier to the mammalian fauna east and west, was abolished by upheaval, and free communication was established. It is impossible that all these changes of climate and all these migrations, partly enforced by changes of climate and partly permitted by removal of bar- riers, and in this latter case especially attended with the fiercest struggle for life, should not produce rapid and profound changes in the mammalian fauna. In Europe the process has-been more accurately studied and is better known. In Quaternary times at least four different mam- malian faune struggled for mastery on European soil. (1.) The Pliocene autochthones. (2.) Invasions from Africa by opening of gate-ways through the Mediterranean: one by way of Italy, Sicily, and Malta, and one by Gibraltar, both of which have been again closed. (3.) Invasions from Asia, by removal of a great sea barrier connecting the Black and Caspian seas with the Arctic Ocean. This gate-way has remained open ever since. (4.) In- vasions from arctic regions, enforced by changes of climate. Probably more than one such invasion took place; certainly, one occurred during the second Glacial epoch. The final result of all these climatic changes and these struggles-for mastery was that the Pliocene autocthones, adapted to a more genial climate, were mostly destroyed or else driven southward with some change into Africa: the African invaders were driven back also into Af rica, and with some Pliocene autocthones isolated there by sub- sidence in the Mediterranean region closing the southern gate- ways, and still exist there under slightly modified forms; the Arctic invaders were again driven northward by return of more genial climate, and there exist to this day; while the Asiaties re- mained masters of the field, though greatly modified by the con- flict. Or perhaps, more accurately, we might say that the existing European mammalian fauna is a resultant of all these factors but the controlling factor is the Asiatic. With the Asiatic ray sion came man, and was a prime agent in determining the fina result, 1877.] Critical Periods in the History of the Earth. 555 Thus, regarding the Tertiary and the Present as consecutive eras, and the Quaternary as the transition or critical period be- tween, then, if the record of this period had been, lost, corre- sponding with the unconformity here found, we should have had here an enormous and apparently sudden change of mammalian species. Yet this change of fauna, as great as it is, is not to be compared with that which occurred between the Archean and Paleozoic, or between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic, or even that between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic; for the change during the Quaternary is mostly confined to species of the higher mammals, while the change during previous critical periods extended to species of all grades, and not only to species, but to genera, fam- ilies, and even orders. We conclude, therefore, that the previous critical periods or lost intervals were far longer than the whole Quaternary ; or else that the rate of evolution was far more rapid in these earlier times. ; To sum up, then, in a few words, the general formal laws of -eyolution-change throughout the whole history of the earth : — (1.) Gradual, very slow changes of form everywhere under the influence of all the factors of change, known and unknown: for example, pressure of changing physical conditions whether modifying the individual (certainly one factor), or selecting the fittest offspring (certainly another factor) ; improvement of organs by use and the improvement inherited (certainly a third factor), and perhaps still other factors yet unknown. This general evo- lution by itself considered would produce similar changes every- where, and therefore would produce geological faunæ, but not geographical diversity. Determination of a geological horizon would in this case be easy, because fossil species would be every- where identical. (2.) Changes in different places and under different physical conditions, taking different directions and advancing at different tates, give rise to geographical faune. This, if there were noth- ng more, would produce far greater geographical diversity and more complete localization of faune and floræ than now exists, — SO great that the determination of a geological horizon would be Impossible, (3.) The force of change resisted by heredity, in some species and genera more than in others, determines paroxysms of more rapid movement of general evolution, affecting sometimes species, Sometimes genera or families. The sudden appearance of species, ‘Senera, families, etc., in quiet times is thus accounted for. 556 Critical Periods in the History of the Earth. [September, (4.) During critical periods, oscillations of the crust, with rapid changes of physical geography and climate, determine a more rapid rate of change in all forms: first, by greater pressure of physical conditions; and, second, by migrations partly enforced by the changes of climate and partly permitted by removal of barriers, and the consequent invasion of one fauna and flora by another and severe struggle for mastery. This would tend to equalize again the extreme diversity caused by the second law; but the effect would be more marked in the case of animals than plants, because voluntary migrations are possible only in this kingdom. Hence it follows that a geological horizon is far better determined by the fauna than by the flora. Ill. Historie Value of the Present Time. Most geologists re- gard the Present as one of the minor subdivisions of the Cæno- zoic era, or even of the Quaternary period. More commonly the Quaternary and Present are united as one age —the age of man - — of the Cenozoic era. The Cenozoic is thus divided into two ages: the age of mammals commencing with the Tertiary, and the age of man commencing with the Quaternary; and the Quaternary subdivided into several epochs, the last of which is the Present or Recent. But if the views above expressed in re- gard to critical periods be correct, then the Present ought not to be connected with the Quaternary as one age, nor even with the Ceenozoic as one era, but is itself justly entitled to rank as one of the primary divisions of time, as one of the great eras separated like all the other eras by a critical period ; less distinct it may be, at least as yet, in species than the others, the inaugurating change less profound, the interval less long, but dignified by the appearance of man as the dominant agent of change, and there- fore well entitled to the name Psychozoic sometimes given it. The geological importance of the appearance of man is not due only or chiefly to his transcendent dignity, but to his importance as an agent which has already very greatly, and must hereafter still more profoundly, modify the whole fauna and flora of the earth. It is true that man first appeared in the Quaternary; but he had not yet established his supremacy ; he was still fight- ing for mastery. With the establishment of his supremacy er reign of man commenced. An age is properly characterized by the culmination, not the first appearance, of a dominant class. As fishes existed before the age of fishes, reptiles before the ag° of reptiles, and mammals before the age of mammals, so man appeared before the age of man. 1877.] Recent Literature. 557 We therefore regard the Cenozoic and Psychozoic as two consecutive eras, and the Quaternary as the critical, revolution- ary, or transitional period between. But since the record of this last critical period is not lost, and we must place it somewhere, it seems best to place it with the Cenozoic era and the mammalian age, and to commence the Psychozoic era and age of man with the completed supremacy of man, that is, with the Present epoch. BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, March 15, 1877. RECENT LITERATURE. Breum’s Anrmat Lire. — A second edition of Brehm’s well-known German work on the animal kingdom is now in course of publication, to be issued in about a hundred parts, published weekly or fortnightly, forming a series of volumes of unusual attractiveness and interest. The author tells us that it is really a new work under an old title, hav- ing been rewritten and enlarged. While the first volume of the first series | treats of the mammals from the apes down to the family of dogs, succeeding volumes will treat of the other mammals and of the reptiles and fishes. These will be written by Dr. A. E. Brehm, the well- known naturalist, while those on the articulated animals will be written by Prof. E. L. Taschenberg, of Halle, and the mollusks will be treated of by Prof. Oscar Schmidt, of Strasburg. What provision is to be made for the other invertebrate animals is not yet announced. The work is of a general nature, not designed for the special zodlog- ical student or for children, but for those who wish to gain a knowledge of the principal forms of animal life, their habits and distribution. There are no troublesome, perplexing anatomical or embryological de- tails, save wood-cuts of skeletons, in word or picture, no foot-notes, and the style is easy, sprightly, and often colloquial. It is apparently a pop- ular work in the best sense of the word, and should be well patronized in this country, if for no other reason than for the wealth of wood-cuts, both full-page and textual, which alone, to those ignorant of German, Would make it of lasting value. The illustrations are nearly all new to us, and in very many, we suppose most, cases are drawn from life by such artists as R. Kretschmer, G. Mutzel, and E. Schmidt, with the greatest apparent fidelity. The plan of the work is excellent. After an introductory chapter on life in its totality, the apes are described, — man, the type of the first sub- order of Primates, being referred to only incidentally in com parison with * Brekm’s Thierleben. Allgemeine Kund, des Thierreichs. Grosse Ausgabe, Zweite umgearbeitete und vermehrte Auflage. Erste Abtheilung, Siugethiere. Erster Band. Leipzig Verlag des bibliographischen Institute. 1876. 8vo, pp. 706. New York; B. Westermann & Co. 40 cents a part; 12 parts to a volume. 558 Recent Literature. [ September, the apes, which represent the second suborder of Primates. Then fol- lows a general “ popular” account of the forms of apes, their geograph- ical distribution, dwelling-places, food, motions, social life, language, re- production, education, rearing of young, diseases, life in confinement, and of the apes figured on the Egyptian temples; then succeeds a more spe- cial account of the gorilla, the chimpanzee, and the tschego (Anthropopi- } \ \ \ I { thecus tschego), and orang, with the lower forms. In this comprehen- sive and, we may readily believe from the high reputation of the author, thorough manner, the different groups of animals are treated. A sample of the elaborate nature of the wood-cuts is afforded in the two accompa- nying views of the head of a five-year old tschego in the Dresden Zo- ological Garden, which was brought from the Loango coast. (Fie. 59.) TSCHEGO APE. (96 '9IA) ‘aT1404d “dV ODAHOSL 1877. Recent Literature. 559 As an indication of the abundance of illustrations in the first volume it may be stated that there are nineteen full-page pictures of animals, grouped from studies after nature; fifty-two finished cuts in the text of apes and monkeys; twelve of bats; twenty-eight of cats; and thirty- eight of dogs. A volume on insects has appeared, and the second vol- ume on mammals is now in course of publication. STL WERA AUS NT eS Fish AND Fisnerties.1— From à comparatively small beginning the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries has, by its practical results in pisciculture, assumed so much importance that Congress last spring appropriated fifty thousand dollars for the work of 1877. It is understood that this appropriation = 7 be devoted solely to the raising of fish, and not for any purely sci- entific investigations, although by the excellent economical management of Professor Baird and his assistants in past years a great deal has been United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Part III, Report of the Com- missioner for 1873-74 and 1874-75. Washington. 1876. 8vo, pp. 777. es ' 569 Recent Literature. _ _ [September, done, by their gratuitous labors, to extend the knowledge of such marine and fresh-water animals of the United States as form the food of fishes. The present, report is wholly practical in its nature, comprising an in- quiry into the decrease of the food fishes, and the propagation of food fishes in the waters of the United States. Appended to the report are essays, mostly taken from foreign sources, on fisheries and fish culture in the Old World. These essays are very suggestive, and it is to be expected that the results of experiments and studies made by the present com- mission will lead to discoveries and records of equal value, should the commission be maintained by the government for a sufficient number of years. Hyatr’s NORTH AMERICAN Sponges.) — The second part of this elaborate revision of our North American sponges contains a good many novel and interesting facts regarding the influence of temperature and the nature of the sea-bottom upon the growth, variation, and distribution of our useful sponges, as well as the mode of fishing for and preparing them for the market. Professor Hyatt regards the sponges as forming “a distinct sub-kingdom or branch of animals, equivalent structurally to the Vertebrata or any of the larger divisions which are characterized by the most important structural differences.” The excellence of the plates shows how well photography may be applied to the delineation of these animals. Recent Books AND Pamputets. — Reconciliation of Science and Religion. By a Winchell, LL. D. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1877. 12mo, pp- Pauling of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences. Vol. ii., Part I January, 1876-June, 1877. Davenport, Iowa, July. 1877. 8vo, pp. 148. 3 plates. Account of the Discovery of Inscribed Tablets. By Rev. J. Gass. With a Descrip- tion by Dr. R. J. Farquharson. (Proceedings of the Davenport —- of Nat ural Sciences, vol. ii.) Davenport, Iowa, July, 1877. 8vo, pp. 23. 3 plates. List of the Vertebrated Animals now or lately living in the aane of the Zo- — Society of London. Sixth Edition. London. 1877. 8vo, pp. 519, with "Zar Morphologie des Tracheensystems. Von Dr, J. A. Palmén. Helsingfors. — ag 8vo, pp. 149. 2 plates. ual Report of ar Entomological Society of the Province of Ontario for the year "1676. Toronto. 1877. 8vo, pp. 58. On the Dispersal of gates. ais Insects by Atmospheric Agencies. feos Müller (Basileensis). (Reprinted from Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1871.) Basle ao 8vo, pp. 16. i Report of the Director of the Central Park Menagerie, Department of ee Parks, City of New York, for year 1876. New York. 1877. 8vo, pp. 34. _Bathybius und die Moneren. Von Ernst Haeckel. 8vo, pp. 12. 1877. Brehm’s Thierleben. Bd. 2. Heft i-iv. Leipzig. 1877. New vex: B. Wester- mann & Co. 40 cents a Heft. De for Ager, Eng, og Have gr Insekter og Smaakryb. Af W. M. a Kristiania, 1875. 12mo, pp. 212. 8 p 1 a of the North American Porifere. With Remarks pate ss n Sp No. Part II. (Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, Y art IV. 5. Boston, May 28, 1877. 4to, pp. 73. 3 carbon REACT 1877.] Botany. | 561 De i Husene skadeligste Insekter og Midder, der angribe og bedcerve vore Madvarer, Kleder, Bohave og svrige Eiendele under Tag. Af W. M. Schoyen. Kristiania, 1876. 12mo, pp. 102. 3 plates. Enumeratio Insectorum. Norvegicorum. Fasciculum III. Catalogum Lepidopte- rorum Continentem. Auctore H. Siebke defuncto, edidit J. Sparre Schneider. Chris- tiania, 1876. 8vo, pp. 188. Enumeratio Insectorum Norvegicorum. Fasciculum IV. Catalogum Dipterorum Continentem. Auctore H. Siebke defuncto, edidit J. Sparre Schneider. Christiania, 1877. 8vo, pp. 255. Some Remarkable Gravel Ridges in the Merrimac Valley. (Abstract.) By George F. Wright. (From the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural His- tory, vol. xix. I. On the Brains of some Fish-Like Vertebrates. II. On the Serrated Append- ages of the Throat of Amia, III. On the Tail of Amia. By Burt G. Wilder. 1876. 8vo, pp. 10, with a plate. (From the Proc. Am. Ass. Adv. Sci. Buffalo Meeting, August, 1876.) ` GENERAL NOTES. BOTANY.: b VioLeTS. — Most of our readers are aware that many species of violets have, in summer, flowers which are totally unlike the showy, attractive blossoms of early spring; for instance, the lance-leaved violet and the atrow-leaved violet bear late, inconspicuous flowers, in which the petals are reduced to the merest rudiments, and only two or three stamens with pollen are present. Flowers of this sort have long been known, but they need to be more carefully examined with reference to their specific peculiarities. It is proposed to give in this note a preliminary sketch of the literature of the subject, in the hope that some of our botanists. may collect and study the forms here referred to. Dillenius, in 1732, (Hort. Eltham, 408) observed that Viola mirabilis has flowers of two kinds: the spring flowers, with well-developed corolla and stamens seldom produce fruit, but the later flowers, in which he found stamens and no petals, always do. Linnæus (Semina Muscorum Detecta, 1732) refers to Viola mirabilis as one of the plants which had been thought to bear fruit without any antecedent blossoms; but he states that in the fase of this plant, as in others referred to, blossoms with good stamens and pistils are ‘present. It is said by Dt. Oliver that in a later work Linnzeus remarks of Viola mirabilis that “ the early flowers provided with a corolla are often barren, while others, appearing subsequently, and destitute of a corolla, are fertile.” Conrad Sprengel (1793) refers to Viola mirabilis as bearing two kinds me but states that he had not had an opportunity of examining plant. In 1823, De Gingins, in his Mémoire sur la Famille des Violacées, page U, writes that « most of the species of the section of violets properly so- have the singular property of sometimes producing incomplete 1 Conducted by Pror. G. L. GOODALE. VoL. X1. — No, 9. 36 562 General Notes. [ September, flowers more or less destitute of a corolla; their fruits are nevertheless as perfect as, or even more perfect than, those which follow complete flowers. This phenomenon is observed frequently in autumn at the second blooming of violets; and the exotic species transplanted to our gardens have, under unfavorable conditions, apetalous flowers with de- formed essential organs, which nevertheless bear perfect fruit.” From Dr. Oliver’s review, previously referred to, we take the follow- ing notice of a work to which we do not have present access. M. Mon- nier, of Nancy (Guillemin’s Archives de Botanique, 1833), says that none of the early spring flowers of Viola hirta bear fruit. “ After the first flow- ering the leaves take on a further development: they become hairy, and bear in their axils flowers destitute of a corolla and with the five stamens almost always distinct and shorter than the ovary. The peduncles bear- ing these flowers curve downwards and bury the ovaries under the sur- face of the soil, where the seeds are ripened.” In a review given at second hand in Botanische Zeitung for Novem- ber, 1854, are some quotations from a memoir by Timbal-Lagrave (On the Genus Viola, 1853): “It is the custom in botany to examine a plant when it is grown, that is, when it has completed its development or has reached the climax of its vegetation and is in flower. This usage, well enough for most cases, is faulty when it is applied to the section Nomin- tum of Viola. It has here led botanists into errors and doubts, which have rendered the study of this section a matter of great difficulty. The period of early blossoms in Viola is the youth of the plant; its old age is another epoch in its development which was unknown to the older botanists, and herein lies the ground of the difficulties. . . - - In the stemless violets the following facts can be observed: in early spring 4 few leaves appear, and these develop until April; then come the blos- soms with richly colored petals, and often with some fragrance, but these flowers, although provided with essential organs, are infertile. At first I believed that this anomaly is dependent on some modification of the stigma, or caused by some atmospheric influence, but I am now convin that it arises from the lack of pollen in the anthers ; fertilization cannot take place; the flower soon fades, dries up, or decays without any result. “In this period, which I call youth, a new growth takes place: from the cluster of persistent radical leaves accompanying the first flowers new leaves arise, which soon become large and acquire firmness, having even larger and stiffer hairs. Towards the end of May and June new nee come up, but they are very different from the first. In some species blossoms have no petals, in others only one or two, but these are always inclosed in the calyx and are frequently the merest rudiments. The whole floral apparatus is modified, and yet fertilization takes place. » + y A comparative study of the different organs of the first and second mE ers of these plants, the growth or the abortion of this or that part, position, the duration, and the funciions, afford many essential characters * ARES Fo PEE O dP PS ee Bae net oe ao : 1877.] Botany. 563 which, added to those already known, will aid in the study of this us.” i In Botanische Zeitung for October, 1857, Daniel Müller, of Upsal, gives an instructive account and a few figures of the incomplete flowers of certain violets. He states that the anthers contained only a few grains, which did not seem to him like perfect pollen, but rather like minute ovules, In spite of a whimsical theory with which he closes his paper, the account must be valued for the accurate descriptions of the incom- plete flowers of several species. A very interesting paper on this subject was read in July, 1860, before the Botanical Society of France, by M. Eugéne Michelet. The state- ments made by him agree essentially with those just given. In 1863, Von Mohl (in Botanische Zeitung) gives an abstract of the literature relating to cleistogamic flowers, and presents some instructive results of his own observations, of which the following is an abstract: “The process of fertilization in Viola elatior F. was more easily investi- gated than in the other species examined. In this species, as in all apet- alous violets, the style is short and hooked, and in immediate contact with the anthers with which it alternates. Besides these two stamens which in this plant I always found developed, I discovered in some flowers one ortwo more. Although the anther cells are only one seventh to one sixth of an inch long, they have a number of pollen grains. The greater part of these push forth pollen tubes even while they are still in the anther, and these tubes pass out of the upper end of the anther cells, in thick strings, directly to the contiguous stigma. If the stamens in a fresh flower are drawn away from the stigma, the tubes will not break, but the pollen grains will be released from the opened anther cell, so that the latter will be left empty. On tearing away the anthers, some pollen grains which have not pushed out any tubes will fall out from them. It appears to me questionable whether without such a mechanical Process pollination from these would take place; at least I have not observed any such case. With the drying of the anthers after fertiliza- Hon, the tubes in their course from the anthers to the stigma dry up also, and then break off when the anthers separate, without withdrawing the pollen grains which are there held fast. Similar appearances are Presented by the anthers in Viola canina, which touch the stigma. Besides this, it is seen that from those anthers, which in this species are always turned away from the stigma, pollen tubes start out and pass Wn ina serpentine course over the upper part of the ovary and the back and sides of the style. This observation is easily made by means of a Lieberkiihn illuminating mirror. In this species, also, I frequently pollen grains which had fallen out of the anthers, but I am not Sure whether this discharge takes place naturally; for if we examine anthers which have become dry after fertilization, and on which, there- fore, while fresh no force could have been exerted, they will be found 564 General Notes. [ September, thickly filled with pollen grains. These are colorless, finely dotted, and thin-walled, and they wrinkle up when drying. ; “The pollen grains of Viola mirabilis fall out from the anthers more easily and in greater abundance, and this may be regarded as of regular occurrence. The number of pollen tubes which run from the anthers to the stigmas is far smaller than in the other species spoken of, and the anthers are not so finely fastened on the stigma. Here, too, a part of the pollen will be pulled out by its tubes when the anthers are de- tached.” Von Mohl closes this part of the memoir by stating that, owing to the changes which the pollen of the late flowers undergo in drying, or on access of water, it has been impracticable to compare the pollen of the early large blossoms with that of the late, inconspicuous ones. farther states that in these late flowers fertilization by the pollen of any other flower is of course an impossibility. It may here be said that, as Timbal-Lagrave suggests, the characters of the late flowers of violets can be of aid in distinguishing species. Koch in his Synopsis has a section headed Flores Seriores Apetali, Later Blossoms without Petals. We do not know of any attempts other than those mentioned above to separate species by means of these peculiar- ities. In Kuhn’s Memoir, in Botanische Zeitung for 1867, a list of forty- four cleistogamic flowers is given, in which Viola is mentioned. Lastly, in Mr. Darwin’s new work, Forms of Flowers, 1877, the whole subject has received most careful attention. nite SILPHIUM LACINIATUM. — Sections of fresh leaves of Silphium lacin- atum, the compass plant, show that the parenchyma is compose a “ palisade tissue,” that is, of the tissue which occurs only immediately be- neath the upper surface in most leaves. : Not only are both upper and under surfaces provided with the tissue usually regarded as peculiar to the upper portion of the leaf, but the whole of the leaf pulp from one surface to the other is also composed it. There are often as many as six closely packed layers of palisade cells. — C. E. Bessey. SARRACENIA VARIOLARIS. — The experiments referred to in the June number of the Naturatist have been repeated by me several times of late, and with uniform results. At the last meeting of the. Botanical Section of the Boston Society of Natural History the experiments were again tried in the presence of the members. The results agreed at fectly with those detailed by Dr. Mellichamp. — B. M. Watson, JR- Botanica Papers 1x Recent Pertoprcars. — Flora, No. 16. # Pfitzer, Observations in Regard to the Structure and Development k- Epiphytic Orchids (dealing with the peculiar long cells in the pre rides, and with the occurrence of silicious dises in the pauto epiphytic orchids, continued in No. 17). Gandoger, New Roses eastern France. No. 17. Dr. Carl Kraus, Causes of the Unver- 1877.] Zoölogy. 565 tical Direction of Growth of Shoots. Schulzer, Mycological Notes. No. 18. Dr. Oskar Drude, Agrostis tarda, a New Species in the Flora of the Alps. F. Arnold, Lichenological Notes. J. B. Kreuzpointner, No- tice in regard to the Flora of Munich. Botanische Zeitung, No. 26. Prof. Schenk, A Contribution to our Knowledge of the Structure of thé Fruits of Composite and Labiate. Reports of Societies. No. 27. Christoph Gobi, On a Mode of Growth of the Thallus of Pheosporee. Dr. Wilh. Jul. Behrens, The Flowers of Graminew. Celakovsky, The Theory of the Ovule. Reports of Societies. Nos. 28 and 29. J. Reinke, Remarks in Regard to the Growth at the Punctum Vegetationis of Dictyodacee and Fucacee. Reports of Societies. ZOOLOGY. Rage Snakes FROM FLORIDA. — Mrs. A. D. Lungren, of Volusia, has made collections in natural history which have added a number of facts of interest to the herpetology of Florida. She has obtained the Contia pygea, a calamarian form, of which but two specimens are known, both from Volusia. The second specimen of Dromicus flavilatus comes from her collections. It will be remembered that the first specimen of is rare species was procured by Dr. H. C. Yarrow, on the coast of North Carolina, at Fort Macon. She has also found the Helicops Allenii in the same neighborhood, and a new species of Ohorophilus (O. verru- cosus Cope). Persons desiring collections from that region, in any de- partment of natural history, cannot do better than communicate with her. . D.C. — . Rev-Beturep Nut-Haron (Sırra CANADENSIS) NESTING ON THE Grownp (?).— On the 27th of May the son of a neighbor brought me four eggs from a nest he discovered in the woods, stating that it was built in a hole in the ground, and that he found it by the old bird’s leav- Ing it and attempting to lead him away by the well-known artifices of Many ground-building birds. The nest contained six eggs, white, with a faint blush, well covered, especially at the larger end, with coarse red- dish-brown spots, mingled with a few faint lilac ones. While he was Temoving the eggs the bird was very courageous, and seemed much Inclined to attack him, but when frightened away alighted on the side of a tree, up which she ran “like a woodpecker.” He described the bird as follows: In size, quite small; color of back, blue; of breast and under parts, reddish-brown, a very little white on it, and quite a long bill. As this description was volunteered without any questioning on my part, I think it must be quite correct; and, taken with the climb- mg habits of the bird, I can think of no bird which it can indicate but the red-bellied nut-hatch, though I have never known that bird to be de- scribed as nesting elsewhere than in a tree or stump. The eggs meas- * The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT Coves, U, S; A. 566 General Notes. [ September, ured .65X.55, and were quite fresh. The next morning I visited the nest, hoping to see the bird and obtain the remaining eggs, but they had been removed, probably by the old bird, as the nest was unknown to other persons. The nest was built about a foot from the base of a pine amongst a clump of those trees, and was about two inches in diameter and four in depth, going down through the pine needles to the ground; and on a few of the needles the eggs were laid. If I am right in my conclusions as to the species, I think that this case must be quite unique both in locality and method of nesting. — Frank H. Nurrer, West Roxbury, Mass. N A TRANSITORY FŒTAL STRUCTURE IN THE EMBRYOS OF SER- PENTS AND Lizarps.!— In the prosecution of his studies in biology the student cannot fail frequently to meet with structures and organs destined to have but a transient existence. A closer insight into the nature of these casès reveals the fact that they are naturally divisible into two groups. In one group, these structures, although very transient in their duration, subserve, while they exist, important functions, and are often quite indispensable to the development of the embryo. In the other group the most rigorous investigation fails to detect any purpose connected with the life of the subject for which they were called into existence. They serve only as illustrations of a general plan of de- velopment. Such are the rudimentary teeth developed in the jaw of the whalebone whale (Balena mysticetus) prior to the appearance of baleen plates or permanent teeth, and corresponding rudimentary incisive teeth in the upper jaw of the Ruminantia, which are never followed by teeth having any functional character. To the former group belong all those obvious and essential struct- ures in the development-history of the mammalia, including also 4 few whose function seems so simple and transient, yet often important, as to be frequently overlooked. It is to one of the latter class to which we wish to draw the attention of the society. It is a fact well known even to common observation that at the end of the beak of the feetal chick there exists a sharp process or horn which is evidently employed instinctively to break the brittle shell of the egg when the chick has arrived at foetal maturity. A very similar structure is found on the beak of some of the embryo turtles ; at least in the cee Emysaurus in that group of reptiles. In both birds and reptiles it dis- appears soon after exclusion from the egg. di Somewhat recently, Dr. Weinland, of Germany, claims to have dis- covered in all the snakes of that country, and in many lizards, that a small, sharp tooth is developed in the premaxillary bone of oS a foetus, and thus furnish important aid in its liberation. : of Dr. Weinland is quoted by Owen in the last edition of his great 1 Presented to the Ann Arbor Scientific Society, July, 1876. 1877.] Anthropology. EGT work on Comparative Anatomy, and also by Agassiz in his Contribu- tions to the Natural History of the United ‘States, and by both writers with acceptance, but without personal verification. My observations, which have been made upon embryos of several genera and species of serpents and lizards of this country, have not enabled me to confirm the observations of Dr. Weinland; on the contrary, I feel quite sure that no such structures exist in the foetuses of the genera Hutenia and Storeria among our snakes, nor in the foetus of the genus Scincus among lizards. But without expressing a doubt about the correctness of the observations of Dr. Weinland, I am compelled upon the basis of my own researches to call in question the universality of the rule; and as the indorsement of Professors Owen and Agassiz is without personal verifica- tion, I cannot regard them as having any positive value in the decision of such a question. — A. Sacer. ANTHROPOLOGY. ANTHROPOLOGICAL News. — Erganzungsheft 50 of Petermann’s Mittheilungen contains E. de Pruyssenaere’s account of his journeys and discoveries in the region of the White and the Blue Nile. The seventh chapter (pp. 18-27), relates to the population of the Upper White Nile, and especially to the Dengas. Murray issues a volume entitled, The Cradle of the Blue Nile; A Visit to the Court of King John of Ethiopia, by E. A. de Cosson. In Nature, April 26th, is a lengthy review of a paper on the races and tribes of the Chad Basin, in Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde, by Dr. G. Nachtigall. e have received from the author, W. L. Distant, two pamphlets, re- prints from the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, entitled respect- ively, On the Term Religion as used in Anthropology; and, Our - Knowledge of the Nicobarians. ‘The same gentleman exhibited to the Institute, April 24th, photographs of the people of the Andaman and Ma- islands. The Journal of the Victoria Institute, vol. x., just issued, contains ‘ome valuable articles reviewing the grounds of modern speculations, es- Pecially in England. Nos. 3 and 4 of Matériaux appear together. The principal com- munication of importance to students, outside of France, is that of M. nest Chantre, describing the collections of bronze implements exhibited m the last meeting of the Congress of Prehistoric Archæology, held dur- ing the past summer at Buda Pesth. _ +he Russian Geographical Society will publish a description of the Upper part of the Oxus, of the Hindoo Koosh, and of the Western Him- alayas. The work will be accompanied by ethnographical maps and Vocabularies. In The Academy for April 21st and 28th, Mr. Percy Gardiner reviews 568 General Notes. [ September, at length the discoveries of Dr. Schliemann, at Mycenæ. He concludes that the supposed analogy of the treasures to Byzantine work is delusive, and that they are of a very early date. In Popular Science Monthly for June, Herbert Spencer writes on The Evolution of the Family, and Prof. Wm. B. Carpenter on Mesmerism- Odylism, Table Turning, and Spiritualism. In the Atlantic Monthly for May, Mr. Edward H. Knight begins a series of illustrated articles on Crude and Curious Inventions at the Centennial Exhibition, commencing with musical instruments. The Nineteenth Century for June contains an article on Infanticide, by C. A. Tyffe. ‘Dr. Dalrymple, of Baltimore, sends us an interesting pamphlet enti- tled, Excerpta ex Diversis Litteris Missionariorum, issued during the first part of the present year. In the Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, ete., vol. iii. 1875-1876, the following archeological papers appear: The An- cient Civilization of America, by W. L. J. Nicodemus; Copper Tools found in the State of Wisconsin, by J. D. Butler; Report of the Com- mittee on Exploration of Indian Mounds in the Vicinity of Madison. Dr. Gustav Bruhl has sent to the Smithsonian Institution four pam- phlets, printed in German, on Die Culturvélker Alt Amerikas, treat- ing of the Mississippi Valley, Mexico, Chiapas and Yucatan, and Central America. j An article in the Ohurch Gazette, x., No. 4, New York, treats of the Proto-Historic Settlement of America. Prof. J. Hammond Trumbull sends to the Magazine of American History, June, a note on the Indian names of places on Long Island, de- rived from esculent and medicinal roots. x Before the Anthropological Institute of London, April 24th, three papers were read on American subjects: On the Migrations of the Es- kimo, by Dr. John Rae; On Earthworks in Ohio, by Robert B. Holt; Note on Skulls from Ohio, by Prof. Geo. Busk. The Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and that of the Board of Commissioners must not be overlooked in the summary of contributions to American ethnology. The map of the location of tribes in the former is especially valuable. — Oris T. Mason. GEOLOGY AND PALZONTOLOGY. Pan-Icr Work AND GLACIAL Marks IN LABRADOR. — In an arti- cle in the Canadian Naturalist (viii. No. 4), entitled Notes on some Geo- logical Features of the Northeastern Coast of Labrador, Prof. H. Y. Hind describes the action of pan-ice in abrading and polishing the rocks both above and below the sea level. He gives an account of the mode of formation of the remarkable gneiss steps or terraces in Tooktoosner Bay, south of Hopedale, and in Lake Melville, Hamilton Inlet. His 1877.] Geology and Paleontology. 569 observations fully supplement and corroborate the writer’s? statements made ten years ago in a paper which Mr. Hind has evidently overlooked. Mr. Hind personally traced this action of shore ice to an altitude of six hundred feet above the ocean, — we had at a rough estimate put the height of these rock terraces at five hundred feet above the sea, — and concluded that the action of the shore ice reached the height of one thousand feet (p. 222), a conclusion independently formed by Mr. Hind (Can. Nat., p. 231), as he remarks that “ erratics and local rounded fragments of rock are not numerous until a height exceeding one thousand feet is attained, and even then, except perhaps in hollows, which I had no opportunity of ex- amining, bowlders and perched rocks are very’ much less numerous than at greater elevations in the far interior, where I saw them in count- less multitudes in 1861.” We differ, however, from Mr. Hind in consider- ing that this work of abrasion is performed rather in the autumn, winter, and especially in the spring when the ice is breaking up, and is due almost exclusively to ice formed on the shore rather than in part by floe ice which comes down from the north after June. In Tooktoosner Bay, Mr. Hind saw, “ in a secluded and protected hol-. low, well-marked and deeply cut grooves. They occupied a shallow and cup-shaped basin, but all surrounding surfaces were smoothly polished, pan-ice having removed every trace of groove or striæ.” Professor Hind concludes that no ice-foot is formed on the Labrador coast or in Greenland, but we should be disposed to question the validity of this conclusion, as we are inclined to ascribe the wearing and polishing of the rocks rather to ice formed on the coast than to foreign ice floating past the shore in summer. Professor Hind’s conclusion we present in the author’s own language : — “ It has been shown by Dr. Petermann and others that the difference between the coastal climate of Greenland and the Labrador is very great. The southwestern coast of Greenland is much milder than that of the Labrador in the same parallels.? A surface sheet of warm water, floating from south to north, is determined on to the coast of Western Greenland by the rotation of the earth. A cold arctic current laden with ice from Davis and Hudson straits flows from north to south and is determined on to the Labrador coast by the rotation of the earth. Hence the sea on the Labrador coast is cooled sometimes in November and early in December to 29°, and even 28°, and the lolly of the sealers, or ice spiculæ, or anchor ice, forms rapidly during the first cold snap in November, along the entire coast line; and before Christmas, all the coastal waters within the zone of islands are frozen in one solid sheet, 80 that no ice-foot is formed on the Labrador like the ice-foot on the Greenland shores, In brief, it may be said that the stupendous work of * Glacial Phenomena of Labrador and Maine. Memoir of the Boston Society of Natural History, vol. i., 1867, pp. 225, 228. By A. S. Packard, Jr. Vide a paper entitled Further Enquiries on Oceanic Circulation, by Dr. W. B. Carpenter, F, R, S., Proceedings of the Royal Geological Society, August, 1874. 570 General Notes. [ September, ice on the Labrador, apart from glacial sculpturing, appears to be almost altogether due to the periodical action of pan-ice deriving its power and - constant opportunities from the arctic current, which presses continually on the Labrador coast.” New Fossit Fisnes rrom Wyomine. — At a recent meeting of the American Philosophical Society, Professor Cope announced the discov- ery of a new locality of the Green River shales, containing fishes, insects, and plants in a good state of preservation. Owing to the rather soft nature of the matrix the characters of the fishes could be worked out with much nicety. A collection which he had recently received includes sixteen species of fishes, mostly new. Their names are as follows :— ? Ohromidide: Priscacara serrata Cope; P. cypha Cope; P. liops Beanii Cope ; M. longus Cope. Asineopide: Asineops pauciradiatus Cope. 7 ? Aphredodiridæ : Erismatopterus Endlichii Cope; Amphiplaga bra- chyptera Cope. ; Clupeide : Diplomystus dentatus Cope; D. analis Cope; D. pectoro- sus Cope; D. humilis Leidy; D. altus Leidy. ` Osteoglosside: Dapedoglossus testis Cope: D. encaustus Cope. the above genera all but two are new to science, and all of the species but three are likewise new. From the present collection some- thing like a general view of the ichthyological fauna can be obtained, since the predominant types are probably represented in it. Prisca- cara is a Pharyngognath allied to the Ohromidide and Pomacentride, most nearly to the former; and Dapedoglossus is not far removed from Arapema and Osteoglossum. The facies of the fauna is of a mixed character, both fresh-water and marine types being present. The largest species is the Osteoglossum encaustum; the second in size is the Diplo- mystus dentatus, which exceeds the,moss-bunker (Brevurtia menhaden). The species and genera are in process of publication in the Bulletin of the U. S. Geological Survey of the Territories. GEOGRAPHY AND EXPLORATION. Rise or Great Sarr Laxe. — While I was spending a few days in June last at Salt Lake, my attention was called to the evident rise in the Great Salt Lake, which had taken place since my last visit to the lake, in August, 1875. The point where I noticed the fact of a rise was at Farmington, Utah, where from overflowed salt vats that were above water in 1875, and from the wearing away of the shore, I roughly judged that the lake had risen at least twelve inches. 3r W. V. Haight, a farmer, who owns the land at the point visited, con- firmed my impressions. At Lake Point, twenty miles east of Salt Lake City, the captain of the steamer General Garfield informed me that 7 1877.] Microscopy. 571 from marks made by himself, on the piles of the wharf, the lake is fif- teen inches higher than in July, 1875. It is to be hoped that the U. S. geologists will measure the oscillations of the lake. GEOGRAPHICAL News.— The Geographical Magazine for June contains a map of the seat of war in Asia, which is intended to assist its readers in following the military operations now being carried on in Asia. The editor observes that it possesses but few claims to accuracy, for of the countries delineated only a small portion has been made known to us through the surveys of Russian officers and of other Europeans, some of them in the service of Turkey. Corea having entered into a treaty with Japan, there are prospects that this last of exclusive nations in the far East will have intercourse with other countries. A general account of Corea is given in the Geo- graphical Magazine. A new map of Japan has been compiled by R. H. Brunton, formerly engineer-in-chief of the Japanese Light-House Department. It is said to be the only map of Japan which can be con- sulted with confidence. It is published by Triibner & Co., London. The Darien Exploring Expedition, under command of M. Lucien N. B. Wyse, returned to Panama early in April. M. Wyse has expressed his conviction, based on the results of these surveys, that the inter- Oceanic canal will soon be made through Columbia. The proposed canal will have a length of 143 miles, including 46 miles of the Atrato and 43 of the Tuyra, which can be rendered navigable at small expense. At the confluence of Tuyra and Pucro the elevation above the sea is 92 feet, and it appears from a reconnaissance that the height of the water parting at the head of the Tihule does not exceed 230 feet. The late Dr. Maack, who was attached to the American Expedition as geologist, as- certained that the two oceans formerly communicated near this spot. The fossils discovered belonged to species still existing in the two oceans, The engineers would, therefore, only have to break through this barrier, which has been formed by an upheaval of the tertiary strata. At the meeting of the Berlin Geographical Society, held May 12th, Baron Richthofen read a paper on the roads followed by the silk trade, according to Ptolemy and the Chinese authorities. It was announced at this meeting that Dr. Nachtigal proposed to start for Western Africa next year. In the mean time, it is proposed to dispatch a pioneer ex- Plorer to follow in the footsteps of Pogge and Mohr. MICROSCOPY. ANOTHER MECHANICAL FINGER. — Mr. Hanks, of San Francisco, » ata recent meeting of the San Francisco Microscopical Society de- scribed a device used by him for picking up objects under the micro- Scope, which answers nearly all the purposes of the most elaborate me- ical finger, and at the same time requires no extra apparatus. For the 1 Conducted by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y. 572 General Notes. [ September, purpose of lifting the object slide, when required, off the stage, the glass parabola is mounted in the substage in such a position that it can be raised by the substage rack until its upper surface is just above the level of the stage. The stand is arranged vertically, and a hair is placed in the stage forceps. For small objects a human hair is sufficient, but for larger ones a bristle is required, and it may even need to be slightly moistened when used, the object adhering while it is wet and falling off readily as it dries. If the hair is not easily held by the forceps, one end of it may be cemented between two small pieces of thick paper which are easily held. The slide containing the rough material is laid on the stage and the desired object selected and accurately centred; it is now, by the rack or sliding movement of the substage, lifted off the stage so as to be no longer affected by the stage movements. The end ofthe hair is next arranged just above the level of the object and centred exactly over it by means of the stage movements. ' Having got the end of the hair in the centre of the field, and having placed the object, dimly seen out of focus, below it, a slight elevation of the substage, which is still support- ing the slide, will bring the object in contact with the hair and leave it there when the slide is lowered again. A fresh slide can then be substi- tuted and brought up to the object on the hair, the exact position where, it shall touch being secured by the stage movements, if the substage has no centring adjustments. Where the substage has rotating and centring movements of its own the performance is most complete and accurate. It will be noticed that the principle of this method is the same as that of Dr. G. C. Morris,’ the novelty consisting in the excellent sugges- tion of carrying the hair on the stage forceps instead of on a special arm clamped to the stage. New Puaysicran’s Microscorr. — For convenience of those who prefer a stand of the compact, Continental model, the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company, of Rochester, have designed a new form of instrument which they call the physician’s microscope. In this stand Mr. Gund- lach has reproduced the Continental model so well worked out by him while in Europe, with several of the novel features of the Rochester styles, such as his new fine adjustment, the hard-rubber stage and mount- ings, and the new students’ series of objectives. Tin CELLS. — Prof. George F. Markoe, of 61 Warren Street, Bos- ton, Mass., has had a set of dies prepared with which he is now able to produce tin cells of various sizes and excellent quality. Microscopists can obtain these serviceable cells from him, by mail or otherwise, at a reasonable cost. i ExcHanGes. — Diatoms from coörongite, from South Australia, for good mounted objects. Address Galloway C. Morris, East Tulpehocken Street, Germantown, Philadelphia. Shell sand from the Bermuda Islands, for any really valuable aai 1 See Arranging Diatoms, in the Narurarisrt for August, 1876, p. 502. 1877. ] Scientific News. 573 rial; or selected shells from the same, for mougtings of special interest. Address C. C. Merriman, Rochester, N. Y. Insects’ eggs; also American podura. Whole insects or scales. Address George W. Frees, Friendship, N. Y. Alge from California and Japan, on which are fine’circular diatoms. Address W. C. J. Hall, Jamestown, N. Y Scales of hunting spider, Salticus senicus. Address William Readio, Garnerville, Rockland County, N. Y. Oölitic sand from Salt Lake. Address F. H. Atwood, 160 Lasalle Street, Chicago, Ill. Lupulin crystals in extract of hops. Address Richard Allen, 146 North Fourth Street, Troy, N. Diatoms from Keene, N. H. Address Edwin S. Gregory, Youngs- town, Ohio. Diatoms from Lake Superior; dredgings eight teet deep near the head of Portage Lake. Address Dr. T. U. Flanner, Springfield, Mo. A variety of mounted objects for exchange. Address offers to Fred- erick A. Eddy, 89 State Street, Bangor, Me. SCIENTIFIC NEWS. — Dr. Joseph D. Hooker, keeper of the Kew Botanical Gardens, England, and Professor Asa Gray, of Cambridge, are both temporarily attached to the U. S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Terri- tories, Dr. F. V. Hayden, U. S. Geologist, in charge. In company with Dr. Hayden they have visited various portions of Colorado, making the ascent of Gray’s Peak, and exploring the interesting flora of the mount- ains and parks, as well as that of the foot-hills and adjacent plains. Previous to August lst, these eminent botanists had collected nearly four hundred species of rare plants, being thus enabled to study critically in their native habitats the species they had during past years described from dried specimens brought in by expeditions. Both of these gentle- men will prepare reports on the botany of the West for the Eleventh An- nual Report of Hayden’s Survey. A preliminary report by Dr. Hooker is already well advanced. After a sojourn of several weeks in Colorado and Utah, they left Salt Lake City, August 11th, for the Pacific Coast. — The Summer School of Biology at the Peabody Academy of Sci- ence, Salem, Mass., opened July 7th with twenty-one laboratory stu- dents, while a few others attend the daily lectures. This is a larger number than were present last year. Lectures have been given by Mr. J. H. Emerton, Rev. E. C. Bolles, Mr. John Robinson, Professor J. Ramsay Wright, of Toronto, Rev. T. C. Hervey, Mr. C. S. Minot, and Dr. Packard. Material for dissection from Woods Holl, Mass., has been contributed by Professor Baird, U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. 574 ; Seientifie News. [September, — It should be stated hat the review of Ganin’s Metamorphoses of Insects in the July NATURALIST was contributed by Baron C. R. Osten- Sacken. As the original was in the Russian language, no one else in this country was probably competent to perform the task. — Captain Howgate, U. S. N., has obtained from the friends of his Polar colonization plan the means of chartering the schooner Florence, which sailed July 25th from New London for the arctic regions, for the purpose of making a preliminary exploration of Northumberland Inlet, with the view of establishing a post there next year. — The Académie Royal Danoise des Sciences et des Lettres proposes among its prize questions for the year 1877, the following: The gold medal of the Academy is offered in competition for memoirs, based on original research, respecting the external and internal structure met with in (a) individuals which turn to the left, as compared with that of those which turn to the right, belonging to the same species, as, for example, among Vertebrates, the flounder and other flat fishes, and, among Gas- teropods, the genus Verruca; (b) the same in species turning to the left, as compared with others turning to the right, which belong to the same genus, as, for example, the genera Fusus, Vertigo, Turritella, Chama, ete. ; (c) the same in genera turning to the left,.as compared with genera turning to the right, belonging to the same family, as, for example, the turbots and the true Pleuronectide, and the genera Clausil- ia and Pupa, Lanistes and Ampullaria, Physa „nd Planorbis, ete. The Thott prize of four hundred crowns is offered for memoirs on the anat- omy, life-history, and development of the species of Ligula, with special reference to their relationship to the Platyhelminths. Memoirs offered in competition for these prizes should be accompanied by figures and preparations which may serve as a guaranty for the correctness of the anatomical results obtained. — There will be room for one or two special students in zoology at the Peabody Academy in October. Address A. S. Packard, Jr., Di- rector Peabody Academy of Science, Salem. — The following is taken from the Philadelphia Ledger Supplement, May 5, 1877: — Mr. Epiror, — If you will, let me in a plain, simple way revive the memory of your oldest readers, feeling that some of them may visit the grave of Professor S. C. Rafinesque, Ronaldson’s Ground, Ninth and Bainbridge streets. Rafinesque was born in France, of parents in high position. He was an orphan, yet his means gave him a classical pw cation. He visited the four quarters of the globe. In his first trip al America he was shipwrecked on Nova Scotia, losing a part of his fort- une. Having spent one or two years in the United States he return to Europe. A few years later he returned to Philadelphia. E was a devoted naturalist. To conchology he gave much of his time labor, collecting a great variety of shells, publishing & volume illus- 1877.) Scientific News. 575 trated with engravings. He also published a work on grape-vines, giv- ing the mode of making wine. After suffering many vicissitudes and losses in money, and having accumulated scientific treasures, he gave his entire attention to the science of botany. He traversed this continent from Nova Scotia to Mexico, from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky Mountains. In every State and Territory he pursued his way on foot and alone in his devotion, over valleys and mountains, often depending upon the kindness of Indian tribes. After several years of constant labor he returned to Philadelphia. He was a bachelor, consequently peculiar in his habits. He selected a garret for his labors, and abode in Race Street between Third and Fourth. In this secluded place, sur- rounded with his herbarium, his sketches, and pencil drawings, with hard cot and pillow, often with a bare loaf of bread, he performed his last work, The Family Flora and Medical Botany of the United States. This work on the science of botany was more extended and correct than anything before it. It was printed and published in 1828, by the late uel C. Atkinson, who established the Saturday Evening Post, Car- ter’s Alley. Without kindred, and with but one reliable friend, the late Dr. Mease, of Philadelphia, Rafinesque died in the year 1840. After his remains had been cared for by Dr. Mease, the body was stealthily removed (probably by creditors), and locked in an adjoining room of the house where he died. In presence of Dr. Mease and Mr. Bringhurst, under- taker, Eleventh Street, near Arch, the door was forced open, and the body was let down by ropes into the back yard and conveyed to its last place of rest. me sixteen years ago I called on Mr. Bringhurst, who assured me of these facts relating to the burial. I visited the burial ground. The Sexton referred to his records and took me to the grave of Rafinesque. A small painted head-board had the initials S. C. R. Rafinesque published several volumes and essays in the French and English languages. Two years since I forwarded his last work to the National Library of France, and received acknowledgment through the French consul, Philadelphia. — H. H. — The Central Pacific Railroad Company are doing a good work in tree planting, having already purchased forty thousand Eucalyptus trees to plant along the line of their road. This enterprising company intend anting certain species of the Eucalypti on each side of their right of Way through some five hundred miles of the valleys of California ; it is estimated that eight hundred thousand trees will be required for this Purpose. — R. E. C. S. Ton. Seal catching for oil is being pursued on the Point Reyes side of omales Bay, California, the average yield being about five gallons to the seal, worth fifty cents per gallon. 576 Scientific Serials. [ September. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.’ Toe GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE. — July. The Arctic Expedition, xvi. Work of the Auxiliary Sledge Parties (with a Chart of Archer Fiord, and Plan of Petermann Fiord). The Himalayan System, by F. W. Saunders (with Map of the Himalaya and Tibet, — a View of the Mountain System bounded by the Plains of India, Gobi, China, and the Caspian). The India-Rubber Trees in Brazil, by R. Cross. JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY or NATURAL Scrences. — Vol. viii., Part 2. 1876. On the Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica, by E. D. Cope. On the Batrachia and Reptilia collected by Dr. J. M. Brandsford during the Nicaraguan Canal Survey of 1874, by E. D. Cope. Report on the Reptiles brought by Prof. J. Orton from the Middle and Upper Amazon, and Western Peru, by E. D. Cope. Note on the Ichthyology of Lake Titicaca, by E. D. Cope. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Scali- dæ of the West India Islands, by O. A. L. Mérch. Canapian Natoratist, viii. 5. — Notes on some Geological Feat- ures of the Northeastern Coast of Labrador, by H. Y. Hind. New Facts relating to Eozoén Canadense, by J. W. Dawson. ANNALES DES SCIENCES NATURELLES, ZOOLOGIE. — June 15. Etudes monographique sur les Assiminées européennes, par M. Paladilhe. Etudes sur les Bryozoaires entoproctes, par M. Salensky. Mémoire sur P Appareil musical de la Cigale, par G. Carlet. Montuty Mrcroscoricat Journat. — July. Thermo-Dynamic Origin of the Brownian Motions, by J. Delsaulx. An Explanation of the “ Brownian” Movement, by W. N. Hartley. An Essay on the Clas- sification of the Diatomaceæ, by P. Petit. The Histology of the Island of Reil, by H. C. Major. The Microscopes at the American Exhibition, by J. G. Hunt. Opaque Objects with High Powers, by G. W. Moore- house. A Simple Form of Mechanical Finger for the Microscope, by G. Hawks. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND Arts. — August. Notes on the Internal and External Structure of Paleozoic Crinoids, by C. Wachs- muth. Relations of the Geology of Vermont to that of Berkshire, by J. D. Dana. BULLETIN or tHe NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. — July. The Birds of Guadalupe Island discussed with reference to the present Genesis of Species, by Robert Ridgway. Tue POPULAR Science Review, London.— July. Studies amongst Amæbæ, by P. M. Duncan. Notes on the Geographical Distribution of Animals, by W. F. Kirby. Erratom. — Page 350, in the division under “ North America. — East Coast,” for — read Metaukock, and for Suckankock read Suckanhock ; these errors occ thrice, l The articles enumerated under this head will be for the most part selected. THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. VoL. x1.— OCTOBER, 1877. — No. 10. NOTES ON THE SURFACE GEOLOGY OF EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS. BY W. O. CROSBY. a prevalent line of strike in Massachusetts, as is well known, is north and south, and in the western half of the State there are no exceptions of importance to be noted. East of the Nashua Valley, however, a northeast and southwest strike prevails, especially in Essex and Middlesex counties; a comparatively limited area in the southeastern part of Worces- ter County exhibits a strike at right angles to this, or north- west and southeast; while among the Primordial and Carbon- iferous strata, a nearly east and west strike is most common. “ Geology is revealed in topography,” and these fundamental structure lines find distinct expression in the leading topo- graphic features of the State. In the Connecticut Valley and Berkshire County, where the geologic structure is simplest, this correspondence between geology and geography is most marked, and is observable not only in the grander features, —such as the Taconic and Hoosac ranges of mountains, and the Housa- tonic and Connecticut rivers, — but may also be readily traced In the courses of most of the minor streams and subordinate sur- face reliefs, East of the Wachusett range of highlands, we find, with greater complexity of geologic structure, two general topo- gtaphic trends. The more prominent of these shows a close con- formity with the prevalent strike, — northeast and southwest, varying toward east and west; while the other coincides with > transverse strike and the known direction of glacial move- nent. Water and ice are the principal agents by which the topog- raphy of this region has been fashioned. Now there is little toom to doubt that the sculpturing done by water exhibits, on Copyright, 1877, by A. S. PACKARD, JR. 578 Surface Geology of Eastern Massachusetts. (October, | the whole, a closer correspondence with geology than the reliefs shaped by the action of ice. This results from the essential un- likeness in modes of action of the agents in question. The topo- graphic work done by rivers is effected mainly through degrada- tion. “Time but the impression deeper makes, As streams their channels deeper wear.” The rivers of this section seldom deposit much material along their courses, and the detritus delivered at their mouths is usually transported to a greater or less distance, and finally laid down by the sea; so that this process, although the opposite of degrading, is, more marine than fluvial. The action of the sea in modifying the contour of the land, on the contrary, is, generally speaking, twofold: degradation, which, when the waves work upon rocky shores, is determined more or less in direction and amount by the geologic structure of the de- graded land; and building up, which operates by the transpor- tation of loose materials and their accumulation at particular points, and depends mainly upon the direction and force of ocean currents, tidal waves, and prevailing winds, and upon the general shape of the land and ocean bed, though quite inde- pendent of their geological constitution, except mediately in 80 far as this has determined their form. In this region, suc features as the outer end of Cape Cod, portions of Nantucket, the southeastern part of Martha’s Vineyard, part of the coast of Essex County north of Cape Ann, and Lynn, Nantasket, and Duxbury beaches appear to be due to the constructive action of the sea; and of course they can be expected to conform in trend only imperfectly, if at all, with the features produced by deg- radation. The close correspondence between their forms and structure usually observable in those topographic details fash- ‘ioned by the degrading action of the sea or rivers is, NO doubt, largely due to the mobility of the water. It is by virtue of this wonderful property that the ocean possesses a power of discrimi- nation, — a sort of tactual sense, as it were, — which enables it to act differently upon rocks having unlike constitutions, thus, in effect, to dissect a rocky coast in a manner ana” i to the unlocking of the molecular structure of a mass of ps : -a transmitted beam of light. In striking contrast with sla the action of a large land glacier, such as exists at ye oe Greenland and Antarctic Land, and probably spread over ; a England at the time when the phenomena— drift and stria and 1877.] Surface Geology of Eastern Massachusetts. 579 and polished rock surfaces — commonly ascribed to glaciation were produced. The comparative immobility of a large glacier causes it to move almost as a unit, and, ‘strong in solid single- ness,” it can be swerved by none but the largest reliefs, especially in a region of gentle slopes and low altitudes like Southeastern New England. So that generally, only in so far as the fashioning of these reliefs has been determined by their structure can the progress of the ice-cap be regarded as influenced by the geolog- ical constitution of the land over which it moves. Hence we are led to conclude that surface lineaments resulting from a wide-spread glaciation will exhibit great uniformity of trend over wide regions, and a general independence of the structure of the subjacent rocks; and such is conspicuously the fact in East- ern Massachusetts. There are perhaps no surface features which are more clearly the product of glaciation than the lakes and ponds found, and as a rule found only, in glaciated regions, and which abound in New England. The great extent to which regions which have been subjected to the action of an ice-sheet are distinguished by the presence of lake basins becomes more apparent when we reflect that, as has been pointed out by Professor N. S. Shaler, these basins are probably much fewer and smaller now than when first formed at the close of the glacial epoch; for “ there are in operation in the regions characterized by glacial lakes no forces capable of producing such depressions; on the contrary, all the forces at present in action tend to obliterate the existing basins.” Professor Shaler has called attention also to the facts that these lake basins seldom, “ except the smallest, present any approximation to a circular figure ;” and that ‘ the major axis as usually a north and south trend.” The following data (derived from approximate measurements, made on good maps, of the ponds and lakes of Eastern Massachusetts) show, among other things, how general is this elongation in a north and south 3 rection, Two hundred and ten basins were measured, includ- mg all but the very smallest, in that portion of the State east of Worcester. The mean direction of all the major axes is about N. 5° W. The mean ratios of the major axes to the Minor axes is 2.5; that is, the ponds are, on an average, two and one half times as long as broad. The average trend of the longer diameters, it will be observed, coincides very closely with the mean direction of the glacial strie of this region, and the _ Soutses traversed by erratics. In only thirty of the two hundred 580 Surface Geology of Eastern Massachusetts. [October, and ten basins measured does the direction of the major diame- ter vary more than forty-five degrees from the general average, N. 5° W.; while ninety, or nearly one half the whole, deviate less than ten degrees from it, and only thirteen are found falling within ten degrees of a direction at right angles to the mean, or +N. 85° E. The mean ratio of the major to the minor diameters for these ninety ponds is 2.4; but for the thirteen it is only 2. The extreme range of the glacial striæ of Eastern Massachusetts, according to Professor Edward Hitchcock, is from N. 5° E. to N. 55° W., —sixty degrees ; and it is found, on examination, that the courses of fully two thirds of the ponds lie within these imits Terntinal moraines appear to have been formed at very infre- quent intervals in this region ; the Elizabeth Islands, however, constitute a fine example of such a moraine, rendered conspicu- ous by its isolation; and others are known to exist inland. Wherever occurring, they must, of necessity, have approximately east and west trends, and bodies of water bordered by them will share the same course. In this way I conceive we may account for some of the extreme deviations from the mean trend ob- served among the lake basins. This explanation fails in many cases and yet these offer no special difficulty, for a more detailed consideration of our data shows a slight dependence of the phe- nomena in question on the general plan of the geologic struct- ure of the region. Thus, in Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Bristol counties, and all but the southeastern part of Plymouth County, where the predominant strikes among the rocks are east and west and northeast and southwest, we find the aver- age relative dimensions of the ponds expressed by the number 2.3: while in the eastern half of Worcester County, where the prevailing strikes range from north and south to northwest and southeast, that is, are generally parallel with the line of march of the ice-sheet, the ratio of the average length to the average breadth has the comparatively high value of 3.15. Hence, w° see that, while the lacustrine depressions are, as a nearly wni- versal rule, elongated in the direction of glacial movement, the amount of this elongation is sensibly less where the progtes® the ice-cap was transverse to the general strike of the underly- ing rocks than where it coincided with the strike. Another fact brought out by a comparison of these data has the same mgr cance, namely : the deviations from the mean trend of the basins are fewer and smaller where the direction of the glacial moto® 1877.] Surface Geology of Eastern Massachusetts. 581 coincides with the strike of the rocks than where it is transverse to the strike. Thus, in Essex and Middlesex counties the trends of one half the ponds deviate more than twenty degrees from the mean, while in Worcester County the proportion is only one fourth. One of the most remarkable facts in the distribution of glacial detritus, or drift, in Massachusetts is the comparatively great depth to which it has been accumulated over the southeastern portion of the State. There is a marked paucity of rock out- crops in the southern half of Plymouth County; south of Plym- outh and east of Middleborough they are rarely met with; and Barnstable County is absolutely destitute of them. It is not improbable that the solid rocks in this region are so’ deeply buried by the unconsolidated superficial deposits that if the latter were removed, the whole of Barnstable County’and a considerable part of Plymouth County would be invaded and covered by the sea. Professor Edward Hitchcock, in discussing this subject, estimated the maximum depth of the drift in this region at not less than three hundred feet; and he evidently believed it to exceed this. Certainly here, if anywhere, we may expect lake basins and river valleys to exhibit in their forms and trends a complete independence of the underlying rocks. This expectation is justified by the facts. There is not in the region under consideration a stream of any considerable size that has not a north and south course, although the strike of the un- derlying rocks undoubtedly approximates east and west. As a result of this parallelism of the water-courses, we find no streams of any importance cutting the north and south coast-lines; the Western shore of Cape Cod Bay between Elisha’s Point and Scus- set Harbor is almost unbroken by debouching streams, and Buz- zards Bay receives not a single tributary from its eastern shore, Coast-lines transverse to the direction of glacial action, on the contrary, are fretted with river mouths and long, fiord-like bays and inlets, asthe northern shore of Buzzards Bay and the south- “rn coast of Falmouth. The evidence from the lake basins is t as unequivocal as that from the rivers, Measurements of all but the smallest basins between Orleans and a curved line extending from Kingston southerly to the mouth of Wareham il convex to the west and including Simpson’s Pond, give - and south as the average trend or direction of the major lameters, and 2.7 as the ratio of the length to the breadth, or mean elongation, + 582 Surface Geology of Eastern Massachusetts. [October, A comparison of the lacustrine depressions of this region of excessive drift with those of Worcester County, on the one hand, and of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Bristol, and Northern Plymouth counties, on the other, shows that the value of the mean elongation in the former district, 2.7, is intermediate be- tween the values of the same property in the two latter, 3.15 and 2.3, respectively. And thus we are brought to the follow- ing general conclusion: where the drift is so deep that the forms of the lake basins have no necessary relation with the subjacent rocks the mean elongation of the depressions is greater than in districts where, the detrital sheet being thinner and less univer- sal, the basins are partially rock-bordered, — when the progress of the ice-cap was transverse to the general strike or structure lines of the rocks, — and less when this movement coincided with the strike. The reliefs of this region are, for the most part, of very mod- erate altitude ; and, in consequence of the sharper contrast be- tween land and water than between hill and valley, they are seldom represented on maps with even an approximation to the accuracy characterizing the delineation of water-bordered con- tours. Hence it were futile to attempt to discuss our hills and ridges in the same manner as the lake basins and river valleys. Fortunately, however, the general facts are so plain that they do not require this for their elucidation. It is in the experience of most observers in this region, that the drift hills have usually a lenticular outline, are more or less ridge-like, and that both hills and ridges coincide in trend with the direction of glacial movement. Those remarkable drift ridges in Essex County, de- scribed by Mr. G. F. Wright, and extending with a nearly rec- tilinear course from beyond the New Hampshire boundary to Massachusetts Bay, exemplify in a striking manner the form, trend, and general independence of geology characterizing roa drift topography. Elevations composed mainly of rock ™ sit, on the contrary, express in their forms and trends the leading geologic structure lines of the region, but do not admit of re relation with the course of glacial action. The Waar range of highlands, the parallel range forming the eastern ay of the Nashua valley, the somewhat irregular belt of hills ex tending from Cape Ann to Beverly, the well-known range ke ing with a bold front from Swampscott to Waltham, et i Blue Hill range in Milton and Quincy are good examp ta the more prominent and general of our rock reliefs. 1877.] Surface Geology of Eastern Massachusetts. 583 two are fashioned from stratified rocks, and are more regular and distinct than the others, which are for the most part composed of unstratified rocks. Yet the latter, no less than the former, reveal the structure of the rocks composing them; for exotic rocks, being, in a certain sense, structureless, only conform with the general law in giving rise to a systemless topography. The notion appears to be gaining ground among geologists that the power of a continental glacier to degrade the surfaces over which it moves, or, at least, to alter the forms of those surfaces, has been greatly over-estimated. It has become unnec- - essary, in the light of recerit investigations, to ascribe to the active agent of the drift epoch, whether land-ice or icebergs, great abrading power in order to account for the formation of the truly immense and generally chaotic mass of superficial de- tritus constituting the drift ; for in the subaerial decomposition of rocks, especially crystallines, in situ, during immense periods of time, we have a process fully competent for the production, both in quantity and quality, of the detrital materials, including bowlders, found in glaciated’ regions. The real degradation, the formation of the detritus, is mainly the work of chemical and not of mechanical forces. The sheet, usually thirty to forty, Sometimes fifty, and even one hundred feet in thickness, of thoroughly decomposed materials passing insensibly into solid tock below, found over a large portion of the Southern States, and oceurring generally wherever there are crystalline rocks in low latitudes, is a substantial monument to the degrading power of these silent agents, which are doubtless still in operation. As a nearly universal rule, we find the drift in New England repos- mg upon smooth and polished surfaces of undecomposed rocks, which evinces that the glaciating agent had sufficient erosive power to sweep away all traces of the zone of partially decom- posed, semi-rock-like material that in the South intervenes be- tween the firm rocks below and their decomposed skeleton above, | and which probably existed over glacial latitudes in preglacial times. The theory of subaerial decomposition so far diminishes the erosive power required, by previous hypotheses, in the agent of glaciation as to render possible a reconciliation of the exist- ence of an ice-cap in quite recent geologic time with the well- known fact that many reliefs of comparatively small magnitude have trends and contours wholly- at variance with the courses of glacial movement, and incompatible with the supposition that the ice-sheet moved as a rigid, unyielding rasp, removing hun- 2 8 of feet of solid rock from the surface of the country. 584 Surface Geology of Eastern Massachusetts. [ October, It appears probable that but few of those surface unevenesses which are impressed upon the rocks have had a glacial origin, At any rate, a large number, including all the more important, of these rock-impressed inequalities of the surface in this region are doubtless much older than the glacial epoch which has but recently passed away, and, if due to glaciation at all, were sculpt- ured during some earlier reign of ice. Such large rivers as the Merrimac, Nashua, and Blackstone are unquestionably of pre- glacial origin. Their courses are parallel with the strikes of the rocks over which they flow; and the first two, at least, occupy well-marked geological valleys. Furthermore, it is hardly con- ceivable that glaciation can have been the cause of rock-bordered valleys transverse to its line of action, as is the Merrimac in Massachusetts ; and the valley of this stream, so far from being the product of glaciation, probably exists in spite of the tendency of the ice-cap to obliterate it. The question, also, as to what extent the so-called fiords of this region are due to the excavatory power of ice during the last glacial period can hardly be regarded as settled. Reference is made, of course, only to fiords carved from the solid rock, which is not the case with those in Barnstable County. The fact that these inlets are chiefly found on coasts transverse to the direction of glacial movement becomes, I think, less an ob- stacle to the denial of their glacial origin, when we reflect that the tendency of an ice-cap would be to fill up and obliterate ‘such coastal inequalities as were transverse to its line of progress, and at the same time to clean out such as coincided with its march. If the superficial deposits were removed from the New Hampshire coast, the northeastern part of Essex County, and Eastern Plymouth County, it is not improbable that these north and south shores would present irregularities nearly as marked as those that indent our southern coast. It is a significant fact that the northern shore of Massachu- setts Bay, though parallel with the northern shore of Buzzard’s Bay, and hence similarly related to the course of glacial action, is destitute of conspicuous indentations that can be regarded a8 the work of the ice-sheet ; for all the important rock-bordered deflections of this coast-line have their major axes tance the line of march of the glacier. Marblehead harbor 1s one © these northeast and southwest troughs; and here we have eV! dence of a unique and conclusive character, proving aes question its preglacial origin. This strait — for such it would | 1877.] Surface Geology of Eastern Massachusetts. 585 but for the bar across its southwestern end — is a well-marked de- pression, and has clearly been formed by the erosion of the ancient Huronian granite, petrosilex, and diorite, by which it is bordered. Near the middle of the southwest side of the harbor, visible only at low tide, is a hard, whitish, fine-grained sandstone or arenaceous slate. It overlies unconformably the banded petrosilex found on this shore: the petrosilex dips steeply to the southeast, while the sandstone has apparently, a gentle dip in the opposite direction. Interposed between the petrosilex and sandstone is a thin stratum of conglomerate, composed of pebbles of the former. Obviously, Marblehead harbor was ex- cavated before the deposition of this sandstone, which can hardly be newer than the Carboniferous period, and is probably coeval with the Primordial rocks in the vicinity of Boston. Other remnants of the sandstone are scattered over Marblehead neck, in such positions as to indicate that the granite and petrosilex of which the neck is mainly composed have suffered but little erosion since the formation of the sandstone. The removal of the sand-rock from the harbor, which it doubtless once filled, may have been the work of ice in recent geologic times ; but the harbor itself must have had substantially its present form before the close of the Palwozoic era. Salem, Beverly, Manchester, and Gloucester harbors have also been cut out of Huronian or still older rocks ; and, when we consider their. striking resem- blance in form and trend to Marblehead harbor, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that they have an antiquity equally great. The limitation of fiords to high latitudes and to coasts favored with an abundant precipitation of moisture (usually western Coasts), that is, to coasts most favorable for the formation and development of glaciers, certainly appears a sufficient warrant r the commonly accepted opinion that these deep, narrow, and ofttimes tortuous channels are ‘the product of glacial erosion, e More especially since fiord valleys usually exhibit, in the form of moraines and striated and polished rock surfaces, unmis- takable traces of the former presence of glaciers, and in some , regions are occupied by existing ice streams. Yet this theory fails most signally to adapt itself to some phenomena of an im- portant and general nature. Mr. James Geike, in The Great ce Age, says that some of the fiords of Great Britain are known to date back to the Devonian age, and that, though many "ay have been deepened by ice action during the last and earlier glacial epochs, they were all originated by streams and rivers in | 586 Surface Geology of Eastern Massachusetts. (October, ages long anterior to the Post-Tertiary ice time. Valleys must precede valley-eroding glaciers. 3 From our remote northwestern coast we have yet more con- clusive testimony to the preglacial origin of the phenomena in question. In no region, save perhaps the western coast of Nor- way, is there a grander development of fiords than on the Pacific eoast of North America, from the labyrinth of Vancouver Isl- and northward. These fiords are cut in the seaward slope of a bold mountain range, bearing the lofty peaks of Fairweather and St. Elias. According to Mr. W. H. Dall, almost every fiord of considerable size on this coast, especially toward the north, “ has at its head a glacier, or the remains of one. Some of these glaciers are of extraordinary size and grandeur.” The same authority states that evidence is wholly wanting that these gla- ciers ever much exceeded their present limits. The walls of the fiords, short distances below the present terminations of the glaciers, are not smoothed or striated; and no terminal moraines stretch across the fiords, or form shoals at their mouths. These are typical fiords, and yet the evidence that they are not due to the action of ice in any recent geologic time is rendered conclu- sive by the occurrence in some of the fiords having glaciers at their sources, according to Mr. Dall, of islands composed of soft and yielding Tertiary strata, which must have been completely swept away had the ice streams ever filled the gorge. The ex- istence of these Tertiary beds is a certain indication that the fiords antedate that period, and hence they are, in a certain sense, the cause rather than the consequence of the present 1ce streams. The tendency of the considerations here presented is evidently toward the view that, comparatively speaking, the 1ce-cap rested lightly upon the land, and that the topographic features having a skeleton or frame-work of rock are, as a rule, of pre glacial origin. In other words, it appears probable that if on present mantle of drift were entirely removed from the face 0 the country, leaving a surface of naked rock, we should have 12 all important respects a restoration of the anteglacial contours: And this ancient topography having been, as I conceive, fashion | mainly by agents more subtle than an ice-cap, and hence taking a deeper hold on geologic structure, would if thus undisgu she reveal a closer correspondence with the structure lines nes subjacent rocks than we are able to detect in the existing and valleys considered as a whole. 1877. ] Pseudis, The Paradoxical Frog.” 587 The uniformity of trend in glacial striz and drift transporta- tion observable over wide regions appears inconsistent, at first view, with the supposition that the ice-cap had but little erosive power: a contradiction seems implied in the possession by a glacier of a magnitude and rigidity which enabled it to move - without deviation over prominent reliefs, and a general inability to erode those reliefs. How can we harmonize the lightness of its tread with its rectilinear march over uneven surfaces? That ice in glacier masses behaves essentially as a very viscous liquid is well known; and a solution of the problem is found in a peculiar condition, pointed out by many writers, and necessarily existing in a continental glacier, which limits the freedom of motion among themselves, possessed by the different portions of the ice-sheet, to a vertical direction. Lateral deviation is ren- dered impossible by the inferior plasticity of the ice; and hence, when any portion of the ice-sheet encounters an obstacle, around which it would flow if sufficiently fluent, it is found easier to overcome the gravity of a small mass of ice than the cohesion of a relatively large mass, and the ice, moving in the direction of least resistance, passes in a vertical plane over the obstruction. j ` PSEUDIS, “THE PARADOXICAL FROG.” O BY S. W. GARMAN, psEvDIs isa peculiar South American frog, peculiar in the fact that it grows smaller as it becomes adult, and in pos- | sessing a nearer approach to a thumb than any of its relatives. It is much to be doubted whether there is anything in the actual history of an individual belonging to this genus that calls for an amount of notoriety to which the most common toad or frog May not aspire. To be sure, the tail is kept long after all the legs appear; the tadpole is larger than the adult, and the creat- ure has a hand in which the thumb is opposed to the three fin- gers, yet all these are hardly enough to demand the amount of at- tention of a certain kind which the genus has received. In fact, as often happens in the case of men, Pseudis owes much of his _ Teputation to a mistaken estimate. Ifwe might trace him from as early a period as men have seen until well advanced in life, We should probably see nothing more than takes place in the his- tory of all batrachians. We might meet the egg first coming Within the limits of our vision as a round, granule-like body be- 588 Pseudis, “ The Paradoxical Frog.” [ October, tween the cells of the corpus graffianum in the ovary. It would gradually acquire a membranous covering and a germinal vesicle (Fto. 97.) PSEUDIS. 1, 2, Batrachichthys, from Ann. Mus. Nac. Rio de Janeiro, Vol. I., Pl. VI. \8, 4, Pseudis minuta, from Nature. with the inclosed germinal dot; or, better stated according tO Agassiz’s nomenclature, it would appear as an ectoblast ee 1877.] Pseudis, “ The Paradoxical Frog.” 589 ing a Purkinjean vesicle (mesoblast), within which rests a Wag- nerian vesicle (entoblast). If we were to follow the egg closely through its different conditions we should see it dropping from the ovary at maturity, passing to the mouth of the oviduct, and through it thrown out into the waters at the same instant that it _receives the life-imparting sperm from the male. If Newport did not mistake, we might see the snake-like spermatozodn work its way through the envelopes to the surface, where, breaking into granules, its identity is lost in the substance of the yelk. Then we should notice the beginning of segmenta- tion, its progress, and the successive changes of form in the em- bryo, until it tears the shell, and with great, wondering eyes stares - out upon its watery world a tadpole. While a big-headed slen- der-tailed tadpole we should find much of interest in the Jackie, as called at home, but in the main the story might be told with — approximate accuracy from one secured in the nearest pond. After leaving the shell his manner of life would resemble in most respects that of any other passing through the same stages. He might be seen at one time busily engaged grubbing along on the bottom for whatever eatable might come in his way (and he is not at all particular as to his food), or with many companions lying quietly at rest, starting every now and then like the Turk from his dream, rushing frantically to the surface for a mouthful of air, then tearing back as if his very life depended upon haste, placing himself on the mud as before, ‘just as if nothing whatever had happened. At another time, with a whole group of his fel- lows, he would be seen to start upon an extended migration as though he had determined to leave the scenes of his youth for- ever behind him. Often he might be observed to gnaw for some moments at the sides of the leaves of the water-plants, all the while wagging his tail and appearing as jolly as if he had as much real enjoyment in eating as a pig or dog. Then again he would be seen to take a nap with his nose just against the sur- face of the water, and on being waked suddenly to bury himself deep in the ooze below. | But all the time he would have nothing in the world to do but eat and grow and keep out of the way of hungry enemies. He Would eat to some purpose and grow to a size considerably greater than that of the adult. In the mean time the hind legs, with the broad-webbed feet appear, and the arms and hands with the Peculiar thumbs. Here he rests for a time as if altogether un- certain whether further change is for the better. In fact, he 590 Pseudis, “ The Paradoxical Frog.” [ October, loses by the next change, for when it has passed he is smaller than when it began. His first mention in literature takes him up at this. period: Through some Dutch collectors in Surinam, Albert Seba secured specimens of the adult and of the large larvæ with and without limbs. Comparing the smaller with the larger he came to the conclusion that the development was retrograde: that the animal was first a frog, then acquired a tail, then lost its limbs, and finally — the remote resemblance between the coils of the intes- tine and the sucking disk of the gobies probably suggesting the idea — became a fish. His conclusions with sketches were com- municated to Mlle. Marie Sybille de Merian, who published them in her work on the Insects of Surinam, citing Seba as the source. The latter published the same a few years later in his Thesaurus (volume i., plate 78, 1734), where he gives a series of figures illustrating the transformation of the frog into the fish. This version of the story was at first accepted by Linné (Mus. Ad. Fridr., 1754) and by Edwards (Phil. Trans., volume li.). In the tenth edition of the Systema Nature (1758-59) Linné cor- rects the matter, and the name Rana piscis of Merian gives way to Rana paradoxa Linné. From that time until within a year the “ frog-fish” seems to have known his place. Wagler, in 1830, applied the name Pseudis, on account of the errors into which the early observers were led, and the genus then estab- lished under this title has been generally accepted by authors. Last year a chapter was added to the history of the “ paradox- ical frog,” which refers us back to the beginning. Page 31 of the Archivos do Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro, volume i, 1876, second and third trimesters, contains an article with this title: Nota descriptiva de um pequeno animal extremamente Cu- rioso e denominado Batrachchythis, by Dr. Pizarro. From description and the figures on plate vi., it is not difficult to rec- ognize our old friend the young Pseudis, of whose peculiarities the doctor does not seem to have been aware. There is little doubt that Batrachichthys — to whom the author calls the at- tention of Messrs. Darwin, Haeckel, and Martins — will alti- mately go through his transformations, become a veritable Pseu- dis, and be degraded from his position as connecting link between fishes and batrachians. Should he go no further, as is barely possible, he would even then be only a link between the adult and the tadpole, and no more closely allied to the fishes than either. In this case, which is only a supposition, his standing 1877.] The Ancient and Modern Pueblo Tribes. 591 would be to the frogs just what that of the axolotl is to Am- blystoma. What information the author has given us with the description and figures of the single specimen that has come to his notice will not allow the assumption that the representative? of the genus in Paraguay differ from those in Surinam in respect to the length of time passed in the larval stage. It is. well known, however, that in other batrachia the metamorphosis can be hastened, or retarded, or prevented, as may be desired; that the time varies in different seasons and localities according as they may be favorable or otherwise; and that in species of a single genus, as Rana, the metamorphosis oceupies weeks in some cases, years in others. Dr. Jeffries Wyman is said to have kept larve of the bull-frog seven years, more than twice the ordinary period of existence of the animal in the larval stage. More information concerning the species of Pseudis (P. paradoxa, P. minuta, and possibly a third for Batrachichthys) is desirable. _ A little exercise of imagination enables one to see them grasp- ing and swinging from the branches of the plants by means of the opposable thumb ; whether this isits use is a question. One can imagine the tail and feet both required in the pursuit of rapidly moving prey or in escape from lively enemies, but it is only sup- position. However, we shall wait another chapter in the history before accepting Batrachichthys as one of the ‘ missing links ;” the reputation of Pseudis as a deceiver is too well established. ON THE ANCIENT AND MODERN PUEBLO TRIBES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE OF THE UNITED STATES." BY EDWIN A. BARBER. E the far Southwest, covering far the greater part of that sec- tion of the United States now known as Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona, and stretching through the great valleys of the Rio San Juan and its tributaries, the Colorado and the up- per portion of the Rio Grande del Norte, there exist the ruins of thousands of stone structures, built by a prehistoric race whose individuality has been lost in the obscurity of past ages. The great extent of territory which the remains cover, and their great number, would indicate a former population of at least half a million souls. + Read before the American Association for the Ad t of Science, at Buf- falo, 1876, 592 The Ancient and Modern Pueblo Tribes. [October, At the present day there are two tribes of semi-civilized In- dians in New Mexico, known as the Pueblos and the Zuiiis. These people live in permanent stone houses which resemble closely in *rchitecture the deserted ruins to the north. In the northeast- ern part of Arizona, situated in longitude 110° to 111° west, and latitude 35° to 36° north, are the seven towns of the Moquis, a tribe closely allied to the Pueblos and Zuiiis, and doubtless a branch of the same ancestral stock. The object of this paper is to give some facts which will help to prove that the ancient people with whom originated the ruins of this section were the ancestors of the three house-building tribes just mentioned. The question which first presents itself to our minds is, Who were the architects of these ancient and extensive ruins? In striving to solve this problem, let us in the first place glance at a few of the traditions of the barbarous tribes which occupy this portion of North America. Although traditions and legends are by no means data from which to draw conclusions, nevertheless they may be of interest in this connection, as showing the ideas which the present Indians of the West entertain in regard to these ancient ruins and their creators. Moreover, we can detect in many of these “imaginings” a remarkable similarity through different and widely separated tribes, which fact lends to them at least a semblance of probability. The Moquis of Arizona profess to have among them an ancient tradition which runs in this wise: The entire country covered by ancient habitations was occupied long ago by a peaceful, agri- cultural, and pastoral race, from the time the earth was but a small island. Here they flourished and multiplied for many gen- erations, tilling the soil and raising flocks and herds along the fertile river valleys. After a time another tribe, uncultivated and barbarous, came down from the north to visit them.! The people received them kindly and treated them in a hospitable manner, and their visits grew more frequent. Finally they be- came annoying and showed a warlike spirit. The owners of the land then fled to the cliffs, and subsisted as best they could, un- til the barbarians from the north came down with their fami- lies and settled permanently, driving their victims from the country. Then the persecuted people gathered together once more at the Cristone (a needle-shaped spire of rock on the San 1 These latter were undoubtedly the ancestors of the Utes and other savage tribes which formerly occupied that section. the coun : hood of th ` 1877.]' The Ancient and Modern Pueblo Tribes. 593 Juan River). Here they built houses in the caves and cliffs ; erected fortresses, watch-towers, and store-houses ; and dug reser- voirs to supply themselves with water. After a prolonged battle their enemies were repulsed ; but the conquerors retired to the deserts of Arizona and settled on the high bluffs of that region, where their posterity, the Moquis, live to this day. Accounts of this people, orally transmitted from father to son, exist among the Ute Indians of Southern Colorado, to the same effect. They claim to be the descendants of the race which con- quered the builders of these pueblos. They evidently believe that the architects were ancient Moquis, and if asked who origi- nated these ruins will invariably answer, “ Moquitch.” I had some curiosity in regard to the opinions of the Ute Indians on this point, and availed myself of every opportunity to make in- quiries. I asked one old warrior who built the houses around us, and his reply was, “ Moquitch.” Of another who sat watching us intently as we made some excavations, I inquired what people were buried here, to which he answered, as usual, “ Mogquitch.” From several Indians of separate bands I received the same re- ply in regard to the pottery, arrow heads, etc., and I soon discov- ered that this was at least the prevalent belief throughout the whole tribe. The Navajos are said to possess traditions of the same nature telative to the aboriginal people; but I was unable to gain any Information from those we met in Arizona. Tam led to think from the many evidences which are presented to us that the original people retired from the north southward. supposition agrees with the traditions of the natives and is Supported by the general appearance of the remains. Those farthest north are in the greatest state of decay, while as we ad- vance southward they are much better preserved. Through ew Mexico and down into the southern part of Arizona the ruins of buildings and pottery possess a more recent appearance, and there can be no doubt that these (south of the Pueblos, Mo- qus, and Zuñis) are, to a certain extent, of comparatively late date, extending back, perhaps, only to about the first quarter of sixteenth century, when the Spaniards marched across the — try. Many of the ruins along the Gila and in the neighbor- e Pueblo tribes of New Mexico are simply the remains _ of a century or two, although in some localities they are much older. "There can be not the least doubt, however, that all north VOL. xI. — xo, 10, 38 594 The Ancient and Modern Pueblo Tribes. [October, of the Rio San Juan, and those to a certain distance south, are of exceedingly great antiquity. On visiting the seven Moqui villages after passing through the ruins of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona, the archeologist is first impressed with the remarkable similarity which exists be- tween the architecture, utensils, and implements of the ancient and modern peoples. The architecture of the Moquis, especially, resembles strongly that of the ancient Pueblos. The houses are very ancient, and were built certainly more than four centuries ago, as they were found by the Spaniards about the years 1539- 1541, in the same condition, almost, as they are now. At that time they had been occupied for years, and north of them the same buildings which are now crumbling in ruins were deserted. The Moqui towns were known to the discoverers as the “ Prov- ince of Tusayan.” The houses are made of stone, after the man- ner of the ruins, the walls being massive and squarely built. The stones are laid in adobe mortar without lime, and the walls are plastered externally and internally with mud, which has given some explorers the erroneous idea that they are adobe struct- ures. Space will not permit me to enter into a description of the architecture and an exhaustive comparison of the methods of building of the two different periods of time. The general form of the Moqui houses is identical with that of the ancients, and the materials used are the same in both cases. Both were generally approached by ladders, and the more recent Moqui buildings were built on high mesas, just as the older structures were usually set in the cliffs and caves, for protection from enemies. In general form and appearance the earthenware of the two ages corresponds. ‘The process of manufacture was the same ın both, and the resulting utensils vary but slightly in any respect. To be sure the modern ware is inferior in quality to the ancient, and lacks that finished glazing which characterizes the latter. The same geometrical designs are common to both, and are painted in colors, usually black, red, yellow, or white. Among the ruins the fragmentary pottery is very abundant, being scattered over hundreds of miles of country. For each ancient form of vessel a corresponding one may be found in the modern Moqui wate. It may be argued by some that the Moquis did not inherit the art from the ancients, but simply imitated in shape and finish the ‘numerous specimens which still remain of the old Pueblos. This, however, seems not at all probable, for the Moquis seldom lea their own towns, and few, if any of them, have ever visited those ruins which abound in this ware, along the San Juan River. 1877. ] The Ancient and Modern Pueblo Tribes. 595 The art is an ancient one and has undoubtedly been handed down from generation to generation, with few modifications or al- terations, and no improvements. It would be a very singular cir- cumstance if this particular tribe should pattern after an earlier race (having no connection with it), while the other tribes of this section, as the Utes, Navajos, Apaches, etc., though living to a great extent in the very ruins themselves, and still practicing the art of molding clay, do not imitate the ancient pottery, but pos- sess their own peculiar methods. ; > The most common stone implement to be found among the débris of the ruins is the corn-grinder or rubbing-stone, which in form is long and flat, made of sandstone, basalt, or coarse- grained pudding-stone, and measuring some ten or twelve inches in length, four in width, and an inch or so in thickness at the centre. These grinders have been rubbed down by use, flat on one side and sloping on the’'other from the centre to the edges, giving each stone a three-sided appearance. There is another form of this tool which is usually made of the’ coarser-grained materials, being oblong, probably four to six inches in length, four in width, one to two in thickness, and flat on both sides. Several of these we found in a state of completeness, while of the former we found but one perfect specimen. Accompanying such objects in many of the ruins were large, square, flat stones, a foot or fifteen feet square and a few inches deep, which had been hollowed out by long rubbing on the upper surface. These were the millstones or metates, on which the corn was ground with the aid of the rubbing-stone. Through Southern Utah and in Arizona we found several perfect millstones and scores of frag- ments, which we were unable to transport on account of their great weight. The same implements are found in use at present among the Moquis. In every house there is a series of three or four of these mills with their grinding-stones. From the presence of these among both the ancients and moderns, their modes of labor, at » are shown to have been similar. _ Great stone mortars and pestles occur among the ruins, and on the tops of the Moqui dwellings they are still numerous, though for the most part are now not used. In the centre of the open court of Tegua there is a pile of large stones, among which is a nge stone hammer or maul made of hard sandstone, measuring out a foot in length and weighing at least twenty-five pounds, This resembles closely some which were discovered among the 596 The Ancient and Modern Pueblo Tribes. [October, San Juan ruins, several of which weighed twenty pounds each. Comparatively few of the old stone implements still remain in the Moqui tribe, having been replaced by iron tools. Those which yet exist are not in use, but are kept as relics of a past age. Many of the inhabitants can recollect when metal was first introduced among them, although it had been employed among the nomadic tribes of that district for centuries. — The rock inscriptions, which are everywhere visible in the vicinity of ancient mural remains, are also found on the cliffs and - walls of the plateaus on which the seven Moqui pueblos are built. These latter are very old, and the present people know nothing of them except that they were engraved there by their forefathers very many years ago. Frequently the same designs and figures are observable which adorn the rocks in the desert country to the north. From the above brief comparisons of the productions of these modern and ancient peoples, it becomes very evident that they possessed the same customs, habits, and to a great extent modes of labor. Further than this, they were both architectural and agricultural peoples, and both paid homage to the sun, or at least looked for a Messiah daily to come to them from the east. Many of the ancient houses (as those in the cafion of the Man- cos) faced toward that direction, and here the inhabitants might continually watch the eastern heavens ; the Mogquis still mount the roofs of their houses and wait expectant while the sun rises each day to view. The modes of burial are also the same as formerly, except that cremation is not practiced now by the peaceful tribes as it was during times of war, centuries ago. We find no large mounds for the purpose of sepulture among the ruins of this section oF through the Moqui burial grounds, yet the graves in both cases are marked by upright stones set on edge in the soil, and much pottery is strewn over the surface. : After briefly reviewing these facts, we arrive at the following conclusions: In the first place we know that an ancient race, ag- ricultural, semi-civilized, and well advanced in the industrial arts, peopled this portion of the West. From the traces of once culti- vated fields, now overgrown frequently by the Helianthus, through the river valleys, and the impressions and even the ee ence of corn-cobs in the mortar, and of burnt corn-cobs 1n bt urns, we arrive at the conclusion that the people were gti j tural. That they were well along in the arts may be seen mM 1877.] The Ancient and Modern Pueblo Tribes. 597 proficiency to which they attained in the manufacture of pottery, the shaping of instruments and utensils, and the building of stone houses. The original people inhabited a great extent of territory, cov- ering many thousands of square miles, and must, at one time, have been a powerful race. The ruins bear on their faces the impress of great antiquity, how old none can tell. Yet they were built long before those pueblos in Arizona and New Mexico, which are occupied by the present industrial tribes, and which were standing as they now. are at least three and a half centuries ago, when the Spanish expeditions visited them. That the same people who built the ruins erected these more recent habitations there can be no doubt. This can be satisfactorily proved by a comparison of the archi- tecture, implements, hieroglyphics, and other productions of la- bor, besides the characteristics of the people, their habits, man- ners, customs, religious ceremonials, etc., and we must therefore admit that they extend back, at the very lowest calculation, four hundred years, and in all probability much farther. The modern Moquis of Arizona and their allies, the Pueblos and Zuiiis of New Mexico, who dwell in towns situated to the east and southeast of the villages of the former, undoubtedly pos- sess a common ancestry, as inferred from their similar habits and the glimpses we obtain of their ancient history. It is believed, if it be not an established fact, that those ancient ruins which are so common in New Mexico originated among the prehistoric Zuiiis and Pueblos, just as those same remains which are found. in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona are supposed to have been built by the ancestors of the Moquis. Therefore it may reasonably be inferred, at least, that the three tribes originally descended from the same ancestral stock. It consequently matters little what we call the ancients, whether Mogquis, Zuañis, or Pueblos, although for convenience and on account of their architectural peculiarities, we may term them the ancient Pueblos, or town builders, All through the great extent of country, once inhabited by this people, we find stone implements of every degree of profi- ĉency of manufacture, from the rude pebble which has been Picked up from the river-bank and used as a hammer to the carefully fashioned and smoothly polished Neolithic tools which are examples of a highly perfected art. But the improvement “eases here. No vestiges of bronze or iron have yet been found. In many of the remaining walls of the ancient buildings, the 598 The Ancient and Modern Pueblo Tribes. — [ October, stones have been trimmed symmetrically into cubical and rectan- gular blocks; but it can be clearly seen upon careful examina- tion that the work was not accomplished through the agency of metallic tools. In several instances where the crude cedar frame- work of the apertures was still preserved, or where the wooden beams projected between the stories, we noticed that the ends had been cut or hacked with blunt stone axes. Everything in the architecture of the buildings, indeed, indicated the employ- ment of dull implements except in the masonic labor, where simply the hands of the workmen performed all the require- ments of such work. Among the pottery we found many handles of utensils which had almost invariably been hollowed out to give them as little weight as possible; and this was done, not by the use of iron or copper wires, but by means of straws and slender sticks, which left in the wet, plastic clay their perfect impressions. These were used, doubtless, for the purpose of strengthening the handles while in a plastic state. i The people. were driven from the land by another powerful race, as is evident from the many indications which exist on every hand. The great numbers of arrowheads and warlike weapons in the vicinity of all of the larger structures, the -quantities of shattered pottery, which in some measure resulted from the at- tacks of enemies, the appearance of the houses among the almost inaccessible cliffs, and the evident desire of their builders to con- ceal them from view by such artifices as imitating in them the texture and color of the surrounding rocks, —all these facts point to one conclusion : that the people were forced to migrate southwards by an irresistible enemy. ; To some extent, however, extreme drought may have been m strumental in this depopulation, for there are thousands of indi- cations that the country was at one time well watered both by running streams and springs, and by artificial acequias. The entire country must have undergone since its occupation a great physical change, in being transformed from a fertile, well-watered tract into a dreary, barren waste, and this alteration may have ‘commenced toward the latter part of the existence of the ancient empire. Some time must have been required to effect this change, however, and the nation had long disappeared from its strongholds when the fountain-heads had almost entirely ce to flow. ee The Pueblo tribes of to-day are but scantily supplied with 1877.] The American Antelope. 599 water. In the vicinity of each town one or two small, brackish springs may exist, and these usually at the foot of the bluff, so that the labor of carrying water from the reservoirs, several hun- dred feet below, to the houses above occupies much time, while the liquid is highly prized and never wasted. I think this scar- city of water originated the custom of performing ablutions in water mixed with saliva and spirted from the mouth over arms and hands, and also that custom which prevails among the women, of using their saliva for mixing clay, both in plastering -the walls of the houses and frequently in making potter’s clay. The Moqui people are dwindling away year by year. In the last twenty years they have decreased from six thousand to fifteen hundred, while the Pueblo and Zuñi tribes are just as surely dying out. In a short time they will have entirely disappeared, and their deserted towns will form other groups among the ruins which now dot the desert of the far Southwest. ——— THE AMERICAN ANTELOPE. BY S. W. WILLISTON. [HE great plains of the West have afforded to sportsmen and tourists few more attractive features than the American or prong-horned antelope (Antilocapra Americana). While their habitat embraces a large range of country, extending from the Missouri River nearly to the Pacific slope, the region that is most peculiarly their home is the vast untimbered prairies of Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska, where they have so long been associated with the other mammals so characteristic of those arid plains, — the buffalo and prairie-dog. Since my early childhood their graceful forms and timid, star- tled movements have been to me familiar sights upon the Kansas Prairies, and for several summers they have been daily, almost hourly, objects of my admiration. Their peculiar habits necessarily prevent their remaining in settled regions. Unlike the deer family that find shelter in forests or rocky ravines, away from the observation of their enemies, the prong-horns seek the most conspicuous localities on the tops of hills and divides, or at the heads of ravines and the smaller water-courses, where their almost wonderful vigilance readily warns them of the approach of danger. The power of Sight and the extreme wariness which these animals possess fill 600 The American Antelope. [ October, . even the experienced observer with fresh surprise, and the inex- perienced sportsman with chagrin. The horseman riding over the trackless wilds of Western Kansas or Colorado is constantly observing, far away on the horizon, mere specks of moving life bounding away with more than the fleetness of the greyhound, till in a few moments they are lost to his gaze. Their watchful attention, ever on the alert, will notice the approach of an un- usual object even before they themselves are distinguishable from the surrounding prairies. Unlike the buffalo, whose power of sight is comparatively feeble, but which will scent danger from a very. great distance, the antelopes depend almost exclusively upon their acute vision for safety. I have frequently watched them, from some sheltered spot near at hand, while they have been quietly grazing: with almost every mouthful of food, cropped from the short, crisp, nutritious buffalo grass that they like so well, the suspicious animals raise their heads erect and gaze about them. This is especially true of the male, he being most frequently the first to apprise a herd of danger ; he also possesses more of that curiosity that so often proves fatal. These animals, however, readily become accustomed to even the strangest objects if sta- tionary or permanent. They will often graze quietly within a few hundred yards of a railroad station, nor even show very much fear at passing trains ; but their timidity at the approach of human beings is rarely lessened. Their instinct has taught them that man is their worst enemy. Their long association with the buffalo, of which they have not the slightest fear, renders them indifferent to the presence of domesticated cattle, with which they will mingle freely, feeding quietly side by side. It is in such cases that the hunter can approach them most easily, as they lose much of their habitual watchfulness when in large herds, whether of their own kind, ved of buffaloes, or cattle. A friend — a cattle owner on the plains — gives an account of a male which became so attached to @ herd of cattle that he seldom left them, and for nearly three months allowed himself to be driven about with his new-found companions, showing his instinctive timidity only at the ap- proach of a strange herder. He finally abandoned. the her when driven to a new pasture ground. i Although so very timid in the feral state, they may be tamed with the utmost facility, evincing an unusual degree of aitaka for their master, or more especially their mistress. The < delicacy of their flesh as food, together with the hardiness 1877.] The American Antelope. 601 animals exhibit in a wild state, renders the question an interest- , ing one, whether the antelope might not be advantageously added to the list of domesticated animals. When quite young, or for a few weeks or so after birth, the “kids” 1 show a strange lack of fear, and, if approached gently while lying down, will allow themselves to be caught without resisting, and after a few plaintive bleats and a little caressing will often follow their captor, nor permit themselves to be eluded ! The young, which are dropped between the 15th or 16th of May and the first week in June, are almost invariably twins. For a short time previous to their birth, the doe, absenting her- self from her companions, seeks a somewhat secluded spot near the head of a ravine, where her kids remain for a few days, till they attain sufficient strength of limb to keep pace with the adults. The kids are very playful, and there are few more pleas- ing sights presented by mammals than the gambols of these beau- tiful little creatures as they leap about and push each other, occa- sionally making their sedate mother an unwilling party in their sports. The doe frequently leaves them to graze a mile or two distant, and the kids when tired of playing with each other will find imaginary playfellows in clumps of grass or tall weeds. The friend previously spoken of relates an incident that is worthy of reproduction here. One day, leaving two quite young calves in a secluded spot, and returning in an hour or two, he was amused upon nearing them to find a doe complacently looking on while her young kids, haying induced the calves to become their will- ing playmates, were gayly frolicking with their new acquaint- The young very soon attain their full stature, and by the fol- lowing December are scarcely distinguishable from the adult. It 8 very rare that a non-pregnant female is shot in the spring, and there is but little doubt that the antelope breeds at the end of the first year. The period of gestation is apparently a little More than eight months. From early spring till September herds embracing more than a dozen individuals are seldom seen—the males usually keeping More or less isolated. They feed upon the uplands during the day, approaching the water-courses or standing pools only later ìn the afternoon. At night their favorite resorts are near the „eads of ravines or other secluded spots, and they frequently lie în the morning till the sun is some distance above the horizon. owe oas the terms, as applied by hunters and sportsmen, of *“ buck,” “ doe,” and 4,” although evidently incongruous. 602 The American Antelope. [ October, The bucks, and, in a less degree, the does also, possess a singu- lar amount of curiosity strangely at variance with their habitual timidity. Any slowly moving or obscure object when seen at a short distance, for the first time, will almost invariably com- mand their instant attention, rendering them undecided and bewildered. Either by moving from side to side in a quick startled manner, or by standing perfectly motionless with head highly erect, at the same time repeating their peculiar shrill snort or whistle, they exhibit a ludicrous mingling of fear and inquisi- tiveness. So long as the object keeps in sight they continue to approach, often to within a few rods; but the moment they are fully satisfied of danger, or the object disappears, they are off with the fleetness of the wind, not often stopping till one or two miles are between them and the danger. The hunter frequently takes advantage of this trait to allure his game within easy range. A fluttering cloth, the barrel of his rifle, or the hunter’s heels, as he lies upon the ground, are often sufficient to attract them. One of my first experiences in hunting these animals has ever since afforded me amusement. Starting a small herd one evening, and not knowing how useless the attempt would be to follow them, I set out in pursuit. On seeing them go over the brow of a neigh- boring hill, I crept cautiously for several hundred yards till I reached its summit. Then rising to my feet I was myself startled by a shrill snort immediately behind me, and turning about per- ceived the animals gazing at me in intense astonishment but eight _ or ten rods away. They must have followed me for nearly a quarter of a mile as I crept along in the early dusk. When wounded and brought to bay they rarely evince any pugnacity,—in singular contrast with the mule deer (Cervus macrotis) of the same regions. I have known a buck when dis- abled and caught to stand bleating piteously while its throat was cut. Occasionally, however, they will turn and fight with des- peration, using both their feet and horns. In the regions where they abound they decrease slowly by reason of their enemies. They are difficult game even to the professional hunter, and certainly not many fall victims to the wolves. Several times I have watched the attempts of wpe to prey upon them, but never with success. The wolves craw : . s> Asai b stealth, ing through the grass attempt to seize their victims DY fub for, notwithstanding Mark Twain’s very graphic desefiption O° speed of the coyotes, they are hardly a match for the weer The warning snort of a buck quickly brings the herd compac®. 1877.] On the Laws of Digital Reduction. 603 together upon some eminence, when the males gathered about watch sharply the movements of their enemy; when closely pressed they take refuge in flight. There has been much dispute as to whether the male antelope habitually sheds his horns. The weight of evidence is strongly in favor of it; but I should hesitate before positively affirming it myself. At all events the new horns must attain their strength and size very soon after the disappearance of the former ones. A female is occasionally shot having a remarkable development of rudimentary horns; in one instance, a doe with kids had horns that measured four inches, with the prongs proportionately devel- oped. Their horns are, however, soft and pliable, with the rudi- mentary horn-core but little if any developed. In conclusion, I would call the attention of naturalists to the importance of securing legal protection for this, one of the most interesting of all American mammals, that it may not share the fate that is fast overtaking the buffalo. The antelope can never exist in even a moderately inhabited country. The vast unpro- ductive region of Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado will be its home so long as this region remains comparatively unsettled, - provided suitable legislation can be effected in its favor. ON THE LAWS OF DIGITAL ‘REDUCTION. BY JOHN A. RYDER. T a recent meeting of the Philadelphia Academy I called at- ~~ tention to several facts bearing upon an explanation of dig- ital reduction. It was suggested that the fact of the number of toes being least wherever mechanical strains were greatest and Impacts most frequent and most severe might be regarded as an effect of such increased intensity of strains. To make this con- clusion appear valid it was only necessary to refer to the foot- Structure of the different orders of the class of mammals. © t may be observed that among the primates the only creature ving any one toe greatly augmented in size and strength is man; here it is the great one, or the first of anatomists. Its Whole structure, especially the articulation with the carpus, calls „to mind the condition of things found to exist in the groups Which have undergone the most modification in the structure of the feet, namely, the ungulates or hoofed animals, kangaroos, and Jumping mice. The calibre of its distal elements is greatly in- 604 On the Laws of Digital Reduction. [ October, creased, while the ento-cuneiform and navicular are greatly flat- tened or modified in the same way as the magnum and unciform of the manus and the middle and ecto-cuneiforms of the pes are in many ungulates, or as is the cuboid in the kangaroos. In ungulates the third and fourth toes become functional, the second and fifth either disappearing or else assuming the office of lateral supports. In the jumping mice ( Dipodide) the second, third, and fourth of the hind feet are the functional ones ; in one species three toes are all that remain; in another with four the fifth, a rudimentary one, does not reach the earth; and in another species with five the first and fifth toes are rudimentary. In these three animals, then, of one family and only generically sep- arable by the difference in the number of toes, we have a case in living animals resembling the “demonstrative evidence” of Professor Huxley drawn from fossil horses’ toes, which so far as the necessity for time is concerned shows that creatures of almost identically the same habits and structure may be cotemporaneous, yet differing widely in the number and length of the hind toes. It indicates, it seems to us, that toe modification goes on at greatly varying rates. In the kangaroos the fourth and fifth toes of the hind foot are most strongly developed, while the second and third are atrophied and used only to cleanse the fur. It may be noted here, also, that the toes of the fore foot of the kangaroo remain entirely unmodified, and much the same as is the case in the jumping mice, for the reason that the strains are more equally distributed. ; The Chrysochloris amongst moles offers an instance where the digital reduction has taken place in the anterior extremity, where also the mechanical strains are most frequent and severe. The same fact is observed in Cyclothurus, a little South Ameri- can arboreal ant-eater, where but two functional toes remain upon the fore foot. In the great ant-bear (Myrmecophaga), the third digit of the manus is the strongest, the others evidently oat dergoing reduction, while the former is being constantly mented by the strains to which it is subjected in obtaining age prey. ; cs The sloths of both recent and extinct groups furnish an a stance where the number of toes has been reduced from the 7 ical number five tò as few as two in one pair of extremities ak living Cholepus. The digits also in recent species are of a equal length, which cannot be said of the extinct terrestrial gi cies, where in some cases (Mylodon and Megalonyx) consi® 1877.] On the Laws of Digital Reduction. 605 ble inequality existed. The equality in existing species is no doubt due to the equality of tractile strains upon each one of the digits, owing to the peculiar method of climbing and hanging to the limbs of trees by the great hook-like claws. The frequent reduction in the number of toes in the foot be- fore it commences in the hand is seen in the carnivorous groups Felide (cats) and Canide (dogs), in odd-toed ungulates, in the swift-foot terrestrial Rodentia, and universally amongst such an- imals as perform locomotion entirely by leaping with the hind feet, as the kangaroos and jumping mice. Upon this point it may be observed that these creatures all more or less decidedly leap, or else pitéh the body through space in running, mainly by means of the hind limbs. The effect of this unequal distribution of strains has shown itself in the hypertrophy of certain digits and their consequent specialization at the expense of the atrophy of the others. The direction in which growth force is manifested is here determined, as it is determined in all kinds of work or ex- ercise, by the increased development of parts most exercised, and shows that the claims of a certain surgeon, who is said to have been able to tell the occupations of tradesmen by inspecting the development of the muscles upon the body are not without foundation. Two cases of this kind have fallen under my own observation, one in the person of a carpenter and another in that of a blacksmith. It may be well to note in this place that man, the only primate Whose feet serve exclusively for purposes of locomotion, belongs to the foregoing class. ‘The outer toes in man are weaker, shorter, and less developed than in any of the higher apes, and what may eventually be the fate of these outer toes, if, as many do, he eeps on wearing shoes that a savage would not wear for a single hour, combined with the structure now admirably conditioning a gradual reduction, only our descendants will be able to deter- mine a thousand years hence. The lines of bones through which strains have been directed are in some way determined by the uses which the feet serve in the life of the animal and its ancestral series. This is supported by the fact that where the strains to be overcome are equally dis- tributed amongst all the digits there is rarely any specializa- tion of toes. In aquatic, marine, and arboreal animals the distri- bution of strains is comparatively equal, and I now call to mind but a very few exceptions to this rule, which is but slightly af- fected by even these. -One case is the Cyclothurus, where, how- ever, the hind foot and tail are modified into grasping organs, 606 On the Laws of Digital Reduction. [ October, leaving the great pair of claws in front for the purpose of tearing up the bark and getting into crevices in searching for insects. The Dendrolagus or tree kangaroo is another instance, but here the descent from the terrestrial kangaroos is too obvious to re- quire discussion. In studying the fossil kangaroos Professor Owen noticed that the fur-claws were not as rudimentary as in the living species, showing that at one time there was a more uni- form distribution of strains than now. Among fossorial animals it is usual to find the claws and toes well developed upon the fore limbs; this is so in the moles, ar- madillos, recent and fossil, and in the Geomyide, or gophers, where the distribution of strains is very unequal in respect to the fore and hind pairs of limbs. So, too, in the group iv which man has been included, where the strains are greatest upon the hind pair, as in animals that run rapidly or are capable of making great leaps, like dogs, cats, rabbits, tapirs, cavies, or guinea pigs. It seems to us the most convincing proof of the doctrine of de- scent to find man an instance of the same kind of specialization determined by the manner of the distribution of strains as is 80 often found among the lower groups, such as the horses, sloths, jumping mice, and even-toed ungulates. We would not put him in respect to foot-structure among the true plantigrades, for un- like them the elements of the digits are not uniformly of the same strength and calibre. He might be somewhat clumsily called an inequidigitate plantigrade. “ i Now as to the osteological side of the question : in man the bones through which the line of greatest mechanical strain passes are the first digit, ento-cuneiform, navicular, calcaneum, and as tragalus. In the horse this line passes through the third digit, external cuneiform, navicular, astragalus, and calcaneum m the hind foot; through the third digit, magnum, scaphoid, and lunar in the fore foot. In the kangaroo through the fifth, but mainly through the fourth digit, the cuboid, calcaneum, and astragalus in the hind foot. It will be noticed also that in the highest mem- ber of the highest group it is the first digit that is specialized 5 in the intermediate groups that the intermediate digits pape io cialized ; that next to the very lowest group it is the fourth digit , and, further, that there are corresponding chains of specializ bones which receive and distribute the strains.’ ; ve 1 It may be as well to note that birds belong in the category of types wik undergone digital reduction. The ostrich for obvious reasons 18 the ex é the Among reptiles, turtles and dinosaurs may be included, both of which stand near birds in the system. 1877.] On the Distribution of Fresh- Water Fishes. 607 The following summary and conclusions are offered : — I. That the mechanical force used in locomotion during the struggle for existence has determined the digits which are now performing the pedal function in such groups as have undergone digital reduction. II. That where the distribution of mechanical strains has been alike upon all the digits of the manus or pes, or both, they have remained in a state of approximate uniformity of develop- ment. II. It is held that these views are Lamarkian and not Dar- Winian, that is, that they more especially take cognizance of me- chanical forces as mutating factors in evolution, in accordance with the doctrine of the correlation of forces. ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF FRESH-WATER FISHES. . BY DAVID 8. JORDAN. 2 THE writer has been engaged during the two past summers (1876-1877) in collecting fishes in the upper waters of the different river basins in the Southern States, with a view to ascertaining the fish fauna of each and to throw as much light as possible on the laws which govern the distribution of the species. In 1868 and 1869, Professor Cope made very thorough explora- tions of the upper waters of the Cumberland, Tennessee, Kanawha, James, Roanoke, Neuse, Great Pedee, and Santee. In order to supplement Professor Cope’s work, ‘the writer, with his ichthyological assistants, Prof. A. W. Brayton and Mr. C. H ‘Gilbert, began with the Santee, and proceeded westward across , the different river basins, including the Santee, Savannah, Oconee, Ocmulgee, Chattahoochee, Alabama, Tennessee, Cumberland, and Ohio. These rivers, as well as those examined by Professor Cope, have their rise in the Alleghany Mountains, from which they flow in different directions and under the most widely varied physical conditions, thus affording the most favorable oppor- tunity for the study of the effect of these conditions on the dis- tribution of fishes. _ Some forty-three species new to science were obtained by us in these Southern rivers, among them several singular and interest- -mg forms, but of these I do not purpose to speak at present. I confine myself to the statement of a number of proposi- tions — apparently truths — in regard to the distribution of 608 On the Distribution of Fresh- Water Fishes. (October, fishes, which have been drawn from my own experience as a col- lector. In these, I have had reference chiefly to the smaller or non-migratory species, the Centrarchide, Etheostomatide, and Cyprinide. The larger species are generally too little known or are too widely distributed to be especially considered here. The theoretical questions of how fishes have become dispersed, or how and why they have in past time extended their range, I do not propose to discuss. These points and others noticed below have been ably treated by Professor Cope. It may be premised that some of the propositions contained in the following pages are probably only half truths, to be more completely stated as our knowledge increases. I. In the case of rivers flowing into the ocean the character of the faune of the upper waters compared one with another bears no or very little relation with the places of discharge. An illustration of this may be taken in the general similarity of the faune of the Youghiogheny and Upper Potomac rivers, — or in the greater resemblance existing between the faunz of the Chat- tahoochee and Ocmulgee than between those of the Chatta- hoochee and Alabama. The Wisconsin River and the Red River of the north have a very similar fauna. II. River basins having a similar discharge into some larger river or lake have a similarity of fauna due to this fact, and in general, other things being equal, the nearer the points of dis- charge, if in fresh water, the greater the resemblance. The al- most identical fauna of the Catawba and Saluda will exemplify this. ; : III. The higher or the older the water-shed between two - rivers, the fewer species are common to both. (This needs further investigation. ) ; V. Certain species — not including “ species of general dis- tribution” — occur on opposite sides of even the highest water- sheds. This fact was first noticed by Professor Cope. The a currence of Luzxilus coccogenis and Hybopsis rubricroceus mM P> Tallulah and Little Tennessee rivers will illustrate. Neither species is known as yet from any river basin other than the Savannah and Tennessee. The existence of Platygobis gracilis in the upper waters of the Missouri and Colorado is an ei illustration. ‘ V. When the water-shed between two streams is a swampy upland instead of a mountain range, the same species will 1 Journal Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1868, pp. 239-247. 1877. ] On the Distribution of Fresh- Water Fishes. 609 found in the head waters of both, although the faunæ of the lower courses may be different. In case the one stream flows northward and the other southward, the common fauna will be essentially that of the northernmost stream. In Northern Indiana, the same species occur in the head waters of the St. Joseph’s, Maumee, Wabash, and Illinois rivers, although these streams discharge their waters in widely different directions. This is accounted for in the fact that the swampy waters-shed is often overflowed, affording in the spring an easy water communication. | VI. Many species inhabiting small tributaries of any river are different from those abounding in the riverchannels. This fact is well known. Among the brook species may be enumerated Eucalia incon- stans, Chrosomus erythrogaster, Pecilichthys spectabilis, Xenotis lythrochloris, Semotilus corporalis, Xenisma stellifera, Salmo fon- tinalis, the species of Rhinichthys, etc., etc. Of the channel spe- cies, such as Hyodon, Haploidonotus, Dorysoma, Pomolobus, Roc- cus, all the buffalo-fishes and the larger cat-fishes, [chthelurus punctatus, Pelodichthys olivaris, Amiurus nigricans, and the like will serve as examples. VII. Many species inhabiting the upper course of a stream are different from those of the lower. This subject has been well discussed by Professor Cope,! but further investigations, especially of the rivers of the Southern States, are much to be desired. VIII. This difference in the upper and lower faunz is due chiefly to differences in physical conditions of either water, river- bed, food, or climate. IX. Hence, if in the same river basin there are two streams flowing into the larger stream, the one near the source, the other hear its mouth, and these two streams are similar in all known physical respects, their faunz will be similar, and if dissimilar they will have different faunæ. The general identity of the fishes of Elk River in Western Tennessee and those of Powell’s River may be noticed in this connection. X. Some species of fishes are confined strictly to a single river ~ basin, while others, with apparently no better means of defense _ % of diffusion, are widely distributed, inhabiting many rivers. In illustration of this the narrow range of each of the colored species : tred to Photogenis may be compared with the range of Luvilus _ “rnutus, which extends from Maine to Arkansas and Montana.. 1 Loco citato. 39 x. — 2. 10, 610 On the Distribution of Fresh- Water Fishes. [October, In the genus Nocomis ( Ceratichthys Baird) N. biguttatus probably occurs in every river from Pennsylvania to the Great Salt Lake, while four species of the same genus, N. micropogon, N. monachus, N. zanemus, and N. labrosus, are each,so far as is known, confined to a single river basin. XI. In any river basin the most abundant species (of small fishes) are usually (a) those peculiar to it, or some of them; or (6) those of the widest distribution. In illustration of this we may notice the abundance of “ Photogenis”’ pyrrhomelas and No- totropis photogenis in the Santee; of ** Photogenis” stigmaturus and Luvilus cornutus in the Alabama; of ‘+ Photogenis” eurys- tomus and Nocomis biguttatus in the Chattahoochee; of “ Pho- togenis” xenurus and Notemigonus Americanus in the Ocmulgee. To this rule, however, there are many exceptions and modifica- tions. XII. In general, the further south any river basin lies, the more species are peculiar to it and the greater the difference be- tween its fauna and that of the neighboring streams. In illus- tration of this, the differences existing between the faune of the Alabama and Chattahoochee may be compared with those be- tween the Susquehanna and the Delaware. Twelve genera arè known as common to the Alabama and Chattahoochee, twenty- three to the Susquehanna and Delaware. In the Southern streams, the process of evolution of specific forms seems to have progre more rapidly. i XIII. Species of the widest distribution often have breaks in their range which cannot be accounted for by any facts now mM our possession, Luzilus cornutus, — the common shiner or red-fin of New England, — so abundant in all the rivers of the North and West, does not occur, so far as is known, in any of the rivers be- tween the Neuse and the Alabama, in both of which streams 1t 18 very numerous. Various other species range over several river basins and then cease abruptly. Amuirus brunneus is the most abundant food-fish in the rivers from the Santee to the Chatta- hoochee, while in the next river westward — the Alabama — it is unknown. XIV. Many species of wide distribution which are pees ide certain streams are there represented by certain other . species which may be regarded as modified descendants. Thus, 1” the South Atlantic streams, Chenobryttus gulosus is represen’ by Chenobryttus viridis, Notemigonus chrysoleucus by Notemig? nus Americanus, etc. In the Southwest, Hupomotis auren? 18 , + 1877.] On the Distribution of Fresh- Water Fishes. O Gee represented by Hupomotis pallidus. In the West, Noturus gyri- nus by Noturus sialis, Noturus insignis by Noturus exilis, Umbra pygmea by Umbra limi. XV. Other species under similar circumstances have no such “ representatives.” The case of Luvilus cornutus will again illustrate. XVI. Certain species have been known to extend their geo- graphical range since the opening of the canals. Such aré*more especially migratory species of probably marine origin, as, for example, Dorysoma heterura, Pomolobus chrysochloris, and An- guilla vulgaris, now abundant in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan, but formerly unknown there. The range of certain Percide and Centrarchide has been extended by the same means. XVII. Rivers flowing parallel into the same larger stream have more in common than rivers having their mouths nearer to- gether but flowing from opposite directions. The Wabash and Miami have more in conimon than either has with the Kentucky. XVIII. The characteristically American forms of fishes are, generally speaking, rare or absent in the waters of New England and of the Pacific slope. This fact has been apprehended by Professor Agassiz, who called New England “a zodlogical island.” About one hundred and five genera of fresh-water fishes inhabit the waters of the United States, east of the Mississippi River. Of these, the following seventy-seven do not occur in New Eng- land (exclusive of Lake Champlain and tributaries of the St. Lawrence) : — Potamocottus, Stizostethium, Typhlichthys, Gila, Cottopsis, Micropterus, Chologaster, Nocomis, - Triglopsis, Ambloplites, Astyanax, Ericymba, Ammocry pta, Acantharchus, Percopsis, Exoglossum, Pleurolepis, Chanobryttus, Thymallus, Lagochila, ercina, Apomotis, Hyodon, Placopharynx, Alvordius, Xenotis, Campostoma, Myxostoma, Ericosma, Xystroplites, Hybognathus, Cycleptus, Hadropterus, Mesogonistius, Pimephales, arpiodes, toma, cai Hyborhynchus, Ichthyobus, ypta, Copelan Hybopsis, Bubalichthys, Ulocentra (Jor. etara Lythrurus, Ichthælurus, MSS., Pomoxys, Cyprinella, Pelodichthys, Diplesium, Haploidonotus, Erogalia (Jor. Noturus, Ninostoma; Aphododerus, ::: MSS), ‘Amin, 612 * On the Distribution of Fresh- Water Fishes. — [October, Nothonotus, Eucalia, Nototropis, Lepidosteus, Peecilichthys, Labidesthes, Cliola, Litholepis, Etheostoma, Xenisma, Phenacobius, Polyodon Microperca, Zygonectes, Chrosomus, Scaphirhynchops. Elassoma, Amblyopsis, Phoxinus, Of the genera found in New England, only Salmo, Esos, Rhinichthys, and perhaps Amiurus are represented by more than one species. From thirty to thirty-five genera occur in the waters of the Pacific slope. XIX. The larger the river basin, the greater its variety of forms, — both generic and specific. Compare the number of species inhabiting any of the tributaries of the Mississippi with those of any eastern river. Seventy species have been taken in the little White River at Indianapolis, representing forty-eight genera, twice as many as occur in all the rivers of New En- gland. ' XX. Other things being equal, a river whose course lies in a region of undisturbed stratified rocks or of glacial drift contains most genera and species. XXI. Conversely, rivers whose courses lie over igneous oF metamorphic rocks contain fewest species. Such rivers often contain great numbers of individuals. XXII. Sources of streams on opposite sides of a high water- shed often have species in common which do not occur in the lower courses of the same rivers. Some mountain species, as Salmo fontinalis and Hybopsis rubricroceus, exemplify this. XXIII. Certain species have a compact geographical range, occurring in all waters within this range, without apparent re- gard to the direction of their flow. Such are Lepiopomus ob- scurus, in the Alabama, Tennessee, and Cumberland, and Hybop- sis microstomus in the James, Roanoke, Kentucky, Cumberland, and Clinch. : XXIV. Certain species have a wide east and west range, 3P- parently regardless of the course of the rivers, but are bound on the north or south by parallels of latitude. Eucalia inconstans is found from Western New York to Kan 4 sas, and northward — but never southward —of a line passing about fifty miles south of Lake Erie. Pereopsis guttatus has & like range, but its southern boundary is in the Potomac and one Lota lacustris is similarly circumscribed. The three y gee Lythrurus have each a belt of latitude, — L. eyanocephalus š longing to the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi, L. diple- 1877.] Recent Literature. 613 mius to the Ohio and Potomac, L. ardens to the Cumberland, Roanoke, and James. XXV. Certain species have a peculiar northern and eastern range, occurring in the Upper Mississippi, in the head waters of the Illinois, Wabash, and Scioto, thence through the Great Lakes and New England, thence to South Carolina on the eastern slope of the Alleghanies. Such are Perca Americana, Eupomotis au- reus, and Amiurus catus: XX VI. Certain species have a peculiar northern and western range, occurring in the Middle States and in the Great Lakes and usually southward in the east to some point in Virginia or North Carolina, ceasing in the same latitude on both sides of the Alleghanies, but extending southwestward through the Missis- sippi Valley to the Gulf. Among these may be mentioned Luvilus cornutus, Notemigonus chrysoleucus, Ambloplites rupes- tris, Apomotis cyanellus. The last-named species, however, scarcely extends east of the Alleghanies. . XXVII. Certain species have a wide range north and south, either east or west of the Alleghanies, which do not cross that chain. Of these may be mentioned Lepiopomus auritus, Ennea- canthus obesus, Aphododerus Sayanus, Esox reticulatus, etc., on the east, and Haploidonotus grunniens, Hyodon tergisus, Noturus miurus, Noturus sialis, etc., on the west. XXVIII. The distribution of fresh-water fishes is dependent on (a) fresh-water communication ; on (b) character of stream, that is, of water, as to purity, depth, rapidity, vegetable growth, etc. ; on (Çe) the character of the river bed, as to size, condition, of bottom, etc. ; on (d) climate, as determined by latitude and by elevation above the sea ; and finally on (e) various unknown tactors arising from the nature or the past history of the species mM question, or from the geological history of the rivers. RECENT LITERATURE. American Insectrvorous Mammats. — Dr. Coues has recently published a preliminary paper on the American Insectivora,’ in which are described three new subgenera and five new species of Soricide. i 3 Precursory Notes on American Insectivorous Mammals, with Descriptions of New Species, By ELLIOTT Covss. Captain and Assistant Surgeon United States Army, tary and Naturalist of the Survey. Bulletin U. S. Geology and Geographical alasi Vol. iii. No. 3, pp. 631, 653. Department of the Interior: Washington. May » 1877, 614 Recent Literature. ; [ October, The new subgenera are Soriciscus (subgenus of Blarina), Microsorex and Notiosorex (subgenus of Sorex). Four of the new species belong to the genus Sorex and the other to Blarina. This paper forms the first gen- eral notice of the genera and species of the American moles and shrews that has appeared since the publication of Professor Baird’s well-known work on the Mammals of North America, in 1857 — twenty years ago. Much material has in the meantime accumulated, which shows that the number of species then admitted “ require to be largely reduced,” while others must be added, based on material since collected; but all the ge- neric and subgeneric distinctions pointed out by Professor Baird “are confirmed.” In 1861, according to Dr. Coues, Professor Baird again reviewed the subject, “ making new and important determinations, which, however, have never been published.” Many of these are inedited from Professor Baird’s MSS. In these “ Notes,” which are “to be considered as preliminary to a monograph of the American Insectivora, now in preparation,” Dr. Coues recognizes four genera of moles ( Talpidæ), namely Scalops, Scapanus, Condylura, and Urotrichus ; the last common to Western North America and Asia, the others strictly American. These are each represented by a single species, except Scapanus, which has two, the one (S. Breweri) eastern, the other (S. Townsendi) western. The Scalops argentatus of Audubon and Bachman (and also of Baird) is considered as merely a geographical race of the common eastern S. aquaticus. Of the shrews (Soricide), no formal list of species is given, but the genera and subgenera are discussed and characterized in detail, and their distribution is quite fully indicated. The genera and subgenera recog- nized are as follows: 1. Neosorea ; 2, Sorex, embracing subgenera, (a) Sorex, (b) Microsorex (Baird, MSS.) (e) Notiosorex (Baird, MSS.); 3. Blarina, embracing the subgenera (a) Blarina, (b) Soriciscus (Coues). The genus Sorex alone occurs in the higher latitudes, where it is mainly represented by the subgenera Sorex and Microsorex, the latter having been recently ascertained to extend to the region of the Yukon River. Tn the high north the species are few, but the individuals are numerous, being comparable in point of number with the arvicolas and lemmings. Sorex proper occurs also throughout the whole of the United States, and is represented farther southward, in Mexico and Central American, by Coues’s new subgenus Notiosorer. Near the northern boundary of the United States the species of shrews greatly increase in number ; ae we first meet with the genera Neosorex and Blarina, the latter being . x most characteristic American genus of the family. Veosorex occuples { belt across the middle of the continent, from Nova Scotia and New ie land to Oregon and Washington Territory, and extends southwa oe the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico, Blarina extends far southw á but is represented in Mexico and Central America by only the anap Soriciscus, and has not yet been met with west of the Rocky Mons ; 1877.] Recent Literature. 615 ains. The shrews are represented by the greatest number of species in the United States ; none occur in South America, where also the moles are apparently absent. The new species described are (1.) Sorex pacificus (Baird, MSS. ined.), from Fort Umpqua, Oregon; (2) Sorex sphagnicola, from Fort Liard (or vicinity) H: B. T ; (3) Sorex (Notiosorex) Crawfordi (Baird, MSS. ined.), from near Fort Bliss, New Mexico ; (4) Sorex (Notiosorex) evotis, from Mazatlan, Mexico; (5) Blarina (Soriciseus) Mexicana (Baird, MSS. ined.), from Xalapa, Mexico. Recent ORNITHOLOGICAL PAPERS. — Among the many faunal lists of birds that have appeared so frequently during the last few years, none exceed in interest Mr. E. W. Nelson’s recently published catalogue of the Birds of Northeastern Illinois. The locality, owing to certain topographic 1 peculiarities, is of a somewhat exceptional character. Its position, midway between the wooded region of the East and the tree- less plains of the West, with the Great Lakes in close proximity, and ‘warm river-bottoms extending up from the South, renders it, as Dr. Hoy long since termed the contiguous portions of Wisconsin, a kind of “four corners,” where the bird faunas of four regions to some degree interblend. In summer some twenty species, characteristic of more southern latitudes, find here their northern limit of distribution, extend- ing considerably further north here than on the Atlantic coast or in the intervening region. A dozen other species whose proper homes have been considered to be the region west of the Mississippi River or the great plains, still further west, have also been detected as casual visit- ‘ants. Lake Michigan, with the chain of Great Lakes to the eastward, affords conditions favorable to the development of a decidedly maritime element in the fauna, through the occasional presence in or about its waters of most of the so-called sea-ducks and gulls, as the three species of scoter ( Ædemia), two species of eider (Somateria), the harlequin and the oldwife ducks, and the skua, glaucus, white-winged, black-backed, and kittiwake gulls; and, among shore-birds, such species as the sanderling, © the piping plover, and several sandpipers usually regarded as maritime. More unexpected, perhaps, than any of these is the sharp-tailed finch (Ammodromus caudacutus), known previously only as an inhabitant of the salt-marshes of the Atlantic coast. In the marshes of Northeastern Illinois, however, it takes on a slightly different phase of coloration, and has become otherwise so far modified as to be recognizable as a distinct Tace (var. Nelsoni), which has been honored with the name of its dis- Coverer, Mr. Nelson has recorded three hundred and sixteen species, with Several additional varieties, as found within the limited area of scarce More than two counties (Cook and Lake), a considerably larger num- 1 Birds of Northeastern Illinois. By E. W. Netsox. Bulletin of the Essex Insti- tute, vol, viii., pp. 90-155, April, 1877. 616 Recent Literature. , [ October, ber than has been recorded from any other locality of equal extent in the United States. While this large number shows the thoroughness with which Mr. Nelson has performed his work, this alone but imper- fectly indicates the value of his paper, which embraces not only the usual notes respecting the times of migration, nesting, and relative abun- dance of each species, but here and there important additions to the biographies of hitherto little-known species, including accounts of the songs of several species not before described, and the nests and eggs of others, and their breeding habits. Particularly noteworthy is the dis- covery of the nest and eggs, in Illinois, of several species previously sup- posed to nest only in much higher latitudes, one of these being the greater yellow-legs (Zotanus melanoleucus). Among the curious things recorded is the nesting of the qua-bird or night heron on the ground in the Calumet Marshes, the nests being placed in dense clumps of wild rice. The paper is written clearly and concisely, and nowhere contains redundant matter. Since the publication of Mr. Nelson’s above-noticed paper on the Birds of Northeastern Illinois, he has given us further information respecting the birds of Southern Illinois. This paper contains notes on one hun- dred and thirty-three species, based on observations made at several different localities, embracing the vicinity of Mount Carmel, Fox Prairie in Richland County, Anna in Union County, and the vicinity of Cairo. It contains much information relating to the distribution of the summer ' birds of the region treated, and here and there interesting biographical notes concerning imperfectly known species. ; Respecting a more southern locality we have an important paper by Lieut. C. A. H. McCauley ? on the ornithology of that portion of Texas near the source of the Red River. This paper, containing notices of about one hundred species, is particularly welcome as throwing much light upon a region hitherto ornithologically little known. Although based on the observations of a few months in summer, it comprises much valuable matter, relating especially to the distribution and habits of the species met with. Here, as generally on the treeless plains of "n g rior, few species of birds are found except in the vicinity of the timber- skirted streams, where bird-life is generally abundant. The region T ported upon embraces a portion of the so-called Staked Plain or Llano Estacado. » : 3 We have received also a Catalogue of the Birds of the Vicinity of Cin- 1 Notes upon Binds observed in Southern Illinois between July 17 and September 4, 1875. By E. W. Netson. Bulletin of the Essex Institute, vol. ix., PP- 32-65, June, 1877. 2 Notes on the Ornithology of the Region about the Source of the Red River < Species obtained were submitted to Mr. R. E. C. Stearns of the University of California, who kindly named them for me. They are enumerated in accordance with their relative abundance, the Cardium corbis being by far the most common. 680 Glacial Marks on the Pacific Coast. | [November, Cardium corbis Martyn. Now a common Pacific coast shell. Schizotherus Nuttalli Conrad, Purpura crispata Chemnitz, Mytilus modiolus Linn., Leda fossa Baird. One perfect example. The valves of an enormous barnacle (probably Balanus tin- tinnabulum) frequently occurred. It lives abundantly on the rocks about Victoria. Glacial phenomena of quite a different nature were observed in the Yosemite Valley. From a hasty examination of the val- ley and its surroundings from Glacier Point, as well as different localities in the valley itself, it seemed plain enough that the val- ley, originally due to a series of faults as described by Professor Whitney and Mr. King, had become filled with ice continuously with the upper valley, as high up at least as the summit of Mount Starr King, which is a rounded dome; the source of the sup- ply being the high peaks of the Sierra, such as Mounts Dana and Lyell, which are jagged and not molded by ice, all the peaks below having been rounded and worn by ice, while the sides of the valley in the more exposed places, and the North Dome and Half Dome, have been, as described by Mr. John Muir, molded and smoothed by the ice. The.walls of the outlet, or lower valley, seemed also to have been molded by ice. The history of the valley appeared to us somewhat in this wise : After its present shape had been marked out, and the mountains round about had assumed their present shape, the result of atmos- pheric erosion during the later tertiary period, the climate changed, the Sierra was covered with glaciers, and the Yosemite Valley was filled to overflowing with ice. It melted, and filled the bottom of the valley, which now forms a level park. The small, low, ter- minal moraine at the lower end of the valley, which formerly dammed the Merced, was finally cut through by the river and the park drained, and the present aspect of this wonderful cañon suc- ceeded. This is the history of many valleys which I have seen in New England, Labrador, and Scandinavia, and the parallelism between them seems remarkably exact. 1877.] Recent Literature. 681 RECENT LITERATURE. Bosretzky’s RESEARCHES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CEPHALOP- opa.’— This is an elaborate work on the development of the cuttle-fishes belonging to the genera Loligo and Sepia. It is based on thin sections of the eggs, and has every appearance, from the plates, of being a critical and ithatuitive treatise. Although the text is in Russian, an explana- tion of the plates is given in German. It is unfortunate for the En- glish reader that no synopsis of the points made by the author is given either in French or German. Professor Bobretzky is also the author of a work on the embryology of the Crustacea, published at Kiew in 1873, and of later works on the same subject. Russia is rapidly taking the foremost rank in zodlogy. In comparative embryology she is at this moment on the whole in advance of England, the United States, or France. Such embryologists as Rowslevaky,, Metznikoff, Bobretzsky, Ganin, Melnikow, and Ussow, nearly all, we believe, trained in German univer- sities, have carried Russian biological science to high-water mark. Ninta Annuat Report or THE U. S. GEOLOGICAL AND GEO- GRAPHICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES.? — This Report shows the work done by the Survey in Colorado during 1875. Dr. Hayden an- nounces that a map of the State is nearly ready, and when finished “Colorado will have a better map than any othér State in the Union, and the work will be of such a character that it will never need to be done again. Colorado will never support so dense a population that a more detailed survey will be required. The Report forms a bulky volume of over eight hundred pages. Part I., Geology, contains ‘the report of Dr. C. A. Peale, F. M. Endlich and W. H. Holmes, and B. F. Mudge. Part II., Geography and Topography, comprises the reports of A. D. Wilson, Henry Gannett, G. B. Chitten- en and G. R. Bechler. Part IIL, Zoölogy, contains the History of the American Bison, by J. A. Allen, and a Report on the Rocky Mount- ain Locust and other Insects now injuring or likely to injure Field and Garden Crops in the Western States and Territories, by A. S. Pack- ard . List OF THE VERTEBRATED ANIMALS IN THE fosok ZooLOGICAL _ Garpen.* — This list forms a bulky volume, handsomely illustrated with 1 Untersuchungen über die renee der Conhalopoden. Von Dr. N. BOBRET- ZKY aus Kiew. (Nachrichten der K. Gesellschaft der Freunde der oe ae niss, Tati Naas und Ethnographie bei der Universität Moskow. Bd. xxiv. 1, Moscow, 1877. 4to, pp. 73, with ten plates g Ninth TP Report of the U. S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Terri- 5 4 Washington, 1877. 8vo, pp. 827, with seventy plates and numerous maps. : List of the Vertebrated Animals now or lately living in the te of the Zoblogical s Societ ociety of London. Sixth edition. 1877. London. 8vo, pp. 5 \ 652 General Notes. [November, thirty wood-cuts of many rare birds and mammals, and forms a nearly complete catalogue of all the living vertebrates received by the society during the past ten years. The volume will prove of a good deal of in- terest to the general student of these animals. cent BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS. — Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the aa Institute. Washington. 1877. 8vo, On the Nymph Stage of the Embide. By R. i ecke ‘{Exteacted from the Journal of the Linnean Society, Zodlogy, vol. xiii.) 8vo, pp. 11, 1 plate. The Post-Tertiary Fossils procured in the Late Arctic Expedition; with Notes on some of the Recent or Living Mollusca from the Same Expedition. By J. Gwyn Jef- freys. pais the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for September, 1877.) 8vo, pp. 1 A Late of the Birds of the Vicinity of Cincinnati, with Notes. By Frank W. Langdon, Naturalist’s Agency., Salem, Mass. 1877. i, On the Tenacity of Life of Tape-Worms and their Larval forms: in Man and Ani- mals. By ni raphe Perroncito. (Annali della Reale Accademia ad Ag delle 1876.) 8vo, Members and Correspondenis of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 1877. 8vo, pp. 4 Address to the Biological Section of the British even it Plymouth, August, 1877. By J. Gwyn Jeffreys. London. 1877. 8vo, The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks in Franklin County, New York. By Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and H. D. Minot. 8vo, pp. Palzontological Bulletin. No. 25. Verbal Conan kaoh on a New Locality of the Green River Shales, containing Fishes, Insects, and Plants in a good State of Preservation. Made by =n D. Cope, before the American Philosophical Society, , July 20, 1877. 8vo, pp. 1 Notes of a New Genus i Annelids from the Lower Silurian. By George Bird Grinnell. (From the American Journal of Science and Arts. Vol. xiv. September, 1877.) 8vo, pp. 2. GENERAL NOTES. BOTANY.! Porsonous Grasses. — In the September number of Zrimen’s Jour- nal of Botany there is an interesting note by Dr. Hance on Intoxicating Grasses, which supplements a previous article on the same subject. A ss was sent by Dr. Aitchison from Kashmir which Professor Dyer determines as Stipa Sibirica Munro. Concerning this grass, Dr. Aitchi- son writes (date of August 4, 1875): “I have just been collecting some good specimens of a grass that is extremely common near Gulmuz. It grows in large tussocks, and is very poisonous to horses and cattle. The cattle are too knowing and will not eat it. Horses from the plains do eat it and die from its effects, but if quickly treated recover. They become comatose aud lose the power of their limbs. It grows in the Scinde Valley also. Whilst there I heard of it and the cure, namely, smoking them, by making a large fire and keeping the horse’s head in 1 Conducted by Pror. G. L. GOODALE. 1877.] . Botany. . 683 the smoke, The nose commences to run first, and if it does so freely the beast is safe. The natives also say that if a cow eats it they give acid, unripe apricots, or any vinegar, which aids the recovery. A large number of the horses this year at Gulmuz were poisoned by it; none died, as all smoked their horses.” In Dr. Hance’s previous article, men- tion was made of a statement by a French missionary which is mate- tially identical with the above. Professor Dyer suggests in a note to Dr. Hance that the Stipas may be only mechanically poisonous, like Hordeum pratense, but Dr. Hance adds that though it is indisputable that various grasses in Europe and Australia cause injury or death to cattle from their irritant properties, the special symptoms in the case of the Stipa and in Melica seem opposed to such a supposition. “ In a re- cently published translation of Ptzevalsky’s travels the Alashan poison- ous grass is said to be a species of Lolium, and it is added that the native herds carefully avoid eating it.” In the September number of the Botanical Gazette Dr. J. T. Roth- rock has a short note upon the Leguminose poisonous to stock. , These plants are Oxytropis Lamberti in Colorado, Hosackia Purshiana in Arkansas, and two or three species of Astragalus in California. A REMARKABLY Larce Ostrya Virerica.— Mr. Robeson, of Lenox, has sent me the dimensions of a remarkable plant of Ostrya Virginica, which I found last summer growing near the roadside in West Stockbridge, Mass. I place it on record because it is more than twice as large as the specimens of this species mentioned in any of the works on American trees. Larger specimens, if they anywhere exist, should be reported, that more accurate information may be obtained on the development, under favorable conditions, of this tree. Mr. Robeson’s measurements are, girt of stem at the ground 9 feet 11 inches, at 4 feet from the ground 7 feet 2 inches ; height to first branches 6 feet 4 inches ; spread of branches from east to west 47 feet, from north to south 45 feet; height of tree 48 feet 7 inches. — C. S. SARGENT. _ Atpine Prants.— Mr. C. G. Pringle, of Charlotte, Vermont, offers for exchange or sale a few sets of the Alpine plants of New England, the fruit of his extensive herborizing during the past summer in the White and Green mountains. Mr. Pringle’s collections contain Gentiana Ama- rella var. acuta (AMERICAN NaTURALIST, volume ii., page 620), Anemone multifida, Astragalus Robbinsii, Gnaphalium supinum, Orchis rotundi- -~ Jolia, Danthonia bongivisdi, and all or nearly all the other rare plants of his region. _ How PLANTS GUARD AGAINST ANIMALS AND Bap WEATHER is an .. English title for a German work which has been lately issued as a sup- plement to Botanische Zeitung. Otto Kunze, the author, has brought _ together within small compass a vast number of most interesting fists _Tespecting the means by which plants protect themselves against animals and unfavorable weather. He has also presented the results of some 684 General Notes. [ November, studies in regard to the relations of plants to salt water, noting particu- larly the difference in habit between maritime plants and those of the ‘interior. After this follow some unfinished geological speculations. BOTANICAL Drrecrory. — We call attention to the following notice by Mr. Leggett: “In view of the great utility to botanists of a full and correct directory, your aid is invited to render the new edition as complete as possible. It should include all botanical workers in Amer- .ica in every department; also libraries and herbaria valuable as refer- ences for their extent or special riches; also botanical societies and gardens. Specialties and a desire to exchange should be noted. It is hoped to issue the work about December 1st. The price will be for a single copy 40 cents; three copies for $1.00; a dozen for $3.00. Ad- dress Wm. H. Leggett, 54 East 81st Street, New York.” SCIENTIFIC German. — Under this title a work has been prepared by Mr. H. B. Hodges, instructor in chemistry and German in Harvard University. It is designed to aid students in acquiring a practical knowl- ge of the words, phrases, and general style of German writers upon scientific subjects. The portions of the work devoted to botany are very valuable. First are given lessons on histology, morphology, and physiology; after which follow selections from recent works by well- known authors. Of those most interesting to our botanical readers we will mention: Grisebach, On the Influence of Forests upon Climate; Liebig, On the Origin of Arable Soil, and Humus; Sachs, On Movements of Plants. The volume exhibits great painstaking, and excellent judg- ment throughout. The vocabulary is copious and accurate, and will prove of great use to readers of the recent German works on botany. CATALOGUE or Wisconsin PLants. — Th. A. Bruhin, of Centreville, Wis., communicates (date of April, 1876) to the Zodlogical and Botanic Society of Vienna a list of the plants of his State. The catalogue is pre- faced by three shorter lists: first, the names of plants supposed to be common originally to the flora of Europe and Wisconsin. Of the 239 species, 122 are dicotyledons, 85 are monocotyledons, the remaining 32 are vascular cryptogams. The second list comprises the plants carried from America to Europe and now growing wild there, and some of those more frequently cultivated, together 35 species. In the third list are the 176 European plants introduced into Wisconsin. From these lists we learn that 450 species are common to Wisconsin and Europe. í Tue Size or THE Leaves or Austrias Woopy Prants.— In this memoir, Dr. Pokorny presents what he calls a phyllometric method, and which he believes is applicable to many leaves of shrubs and trees. He describes three transverse axes which cross the median line at right angles. The first of these is distant from the base of the leaf blade one fourth the length of the leaf; the second divides the leaf into halves the . third is midway between this line and the apex of the leaf. The ratios existing between these axes should give exactness to the terms applied — 1877.] Botany. 685 to the forms of leaves. That our readers may make the attempt to utilize these ratios, we here transcribe the set given in the diagrams. The longitudinal axis is assumed to be in all cases 100. say millime- tres, or any units of measurement. The first transverse axis, that which cuts the longitudinal midway be- tween the base of the leaf and its middle point, is called B,; the second, at the middle,is B,; the third, midway between this and the apex, is B;. B, 8.6 B; 5. B; 5. B, 10. B, 10. B, 10. B, 8.6 Ha B, 8.6 Elliptical, Rhombic, Ovate. B; 8.6 B; 3.8 B, 2.5 B, 10. B, 6.7 B, 5: Bi D: B, 10. B, 7.5 Obovate, Deltoid, Triangular. The different woody plants of Austria have been studied by Dr Pokorny with respect to the ratios of these axes in the leaves, and the _ Tesults are given in detail in the twenty-seventh volume of the Transac- tions of the Zodlogical and Botanical Society at Vienna.1 BOTANICAL PAPERS IN Recent PERIODICALS. — Botanical Gazette. September. Dr. J. T. Rothrock, On Poisonous Properties of Legumi- ‘hos. (Elsewhere noticed.) Professor Lockwood, Shipping Live Plants. : (The plants were Nymphea lutea and odorata, Helonias bullata, Erythro- | nium Americanum, Claytonia Virginica, Thalictrum anemonoides, Pyx- tdanthera barbulata, and an amaryllis. The roots of these plants were 3 surrounded by moist plastic clay, and then securely packed in a cask with sand. They were shipped on May 9th, and were received at Syd- hey, Australia, late in June. The Pyxidanthera was dead, but the ~ Species of Nymphæa were in good condition, and all the rest alive.) G, -E Davenport, Vitality i in Ferns. (A plant of Polypodium vulgare was a kept in a warm room in a perfectly dry state from November, 1876, until _ April, 1877. “It had become so dry and shriveled that it did not seem : Possible’ for any life to exist; yet under the influence of frequent rains it soon began to start, and is now (August 3) growing moderately. a - Several notes respecting collections in Southwestern Virginia and in ssouri are given by Messrs. Shriver, James, and Barnes. ~ Trimews Journal of Botany. September. H.Trimen, On Lavatera sylvestris, i in Britain. J. G. Baker, On Brazilian Species of Alstromeria- G. S. Jenman, Ferns new to Grisebach’s Flora of the West Indies. H. F. Hance, On Intoxicating Grasses. (Elsewhere noticed.) H. F. Hance, Thorelia, a New Genus of Lythraceæ. Baron von Mueller, List ganna der Kaiserlich-Kénigli ae. dlogisch Se Gesellschaft S Wien, 686 . General Notes. [ November, of Mr. Gile’s Australian Plants. Three excellent abstracts of German memoirs are given. Botanische Zeitung, No. 32. Dr. Harz, On the Origin and Properties of Spergulin (a new fluorescent from the seed-coats of Spergula vul- garis). Continued from the last number. Reports of Societies. No. 33. B. Ascheron, Phytographic Notes. Christoph Gobi, On Some Phæos- poreæ of the Baltic. No. 34. H. G. Holle, On the Point of Growth in the Roots of Dicotyledons. No. 85. A. Morgen, On the Process of As- similation in germinating Cress (Lepidium sativum.) Continued in Nos. 36 and 37. In No. 37 there is a paper by Dr. O. Drude, On the Structure and Systematic Position of the Genus Carludovica. The genus is assigned a place between Pandanacee and Palmee. No. 88. Dr. O. Drude, Selected Examples to explain the Formation of the Fruit in Palms. Rostafinske, of Cracow, A Reply to Certain Criticisms by Reinke. ZOOLOGY.! Destruction or Birps py TeLteararn Wires. — Referring to Dr. Coues’s article on this subject, in the NATURALIST and elsewhere, I wish to add my testimony to the destruction of much larger birds than any mentioned by this writer. Many prairie chickens ( Cupiaonia cupido) are annually destroyed in this way. In December, 1868, near Cambridge, Story County, Iowa, I saw many of these birds lying dead on the snow, beneath the line of the telegraph, and was informed by the stage driver that they killed themselves by striking the wire in their rapid flight. Some of the birds had their heads cleanly cut off, and most of them were torn and lacerated to a greater or less extent. One or two of the wounded were still alive and fluttering. The spot seemed to be a favorite one for the flight of the chickens. A high belt of tim- ber skirted the river, and beyond this lay the mile-wide expanse of “Skunk Bottom,” bounded by high bluffs on the east. For certain reasons — possibly owing to some peculiarity of the winds at this point, or to the protection afforded by the belt of timber — the birds were accus- tomed to speed like arrows down across this bottom, and slight contact with the single wire that stretched across would either maim or kill them outright. Since that time I have heard of several instances in which these birds have been killed in the same manner. The destruction of these birds is so general along some of the railroad lines in the West that section men make a regular business of gathering them up as an addi- tion to their own stock of provisions. The telegraph wires may there- fore be set down as one of the means — and not an insignificant one — whereby the extermination of the prairie hens is proceeding with a de- gree of rapidity which would be astonishing had we any means of mak- + The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT Cougs, yp, S. A, 1877.] Zoölogy. 687 ing even an approximate calculation. — CHARLES ALDRICH, Webster City, Iowa. Foop or THE SKUNK. — In his recently published most admirable monograph on the North American Mustelidæ, Dr. Elliott Coues, writing of the “common skunk” (Mephitis mephiticus), says, “ They “ feed largely upon insects, birds, eggs, such small reptiles as frogs, small quadrupeds, such as the various kinds of mice,” and adds; that “ they are also said to capture rabbits in the burrows in which the timorous beasts sometimes take refuge, though they are manifestly incapable of securing these swift-footed animals in the chase.” He likewise refers to the well-known fact of their depredations on poultry-yards. Some years ago I shot one of these animals near the celebrated “ Walled Lake,” in Wright County, Iowa, at the entrance of a burrow where it would seem that they had lived and multiplied and half-hibernated during many generations, for their excrements formed quite a mound argund the en- trance of their habitation. This refuse was composed almost wholly of the hinder portions of the craw-fish, which swarmed in the sloughs and ponds of the surrounding prairie. The animal matter had of course disappeared in the process of digestion, and the accumulations had bleached out so as to look like a heap of lime, — as it really was, — in every part of which were fragments of the limbs and external parts of these craw-fish of the prairie. The heap was so large that it at once sug- gested the idea that it must have been deposited by larger animals ; but some portions were quite recent, while the hole was too small to ad- mit any of our larger prairie mammals, such as the wolf, fox, or badger Hence I concluded that the craw-fish formed a staple portion of the food of this “enfant du diable,” as the old French naturalist termed it before science had given it so many names. — CHARLES ALDRICH. Tenacity or Lire sHown BY Some Marine Movuvsks. — In 1875 I collected on several of the Florida keys Littorina muricata L. in quantities. This wasin February. I brought home quite a number alive and put them in my barn, intending to let the animals die and the Shells lose their odoriferous qualities before transferring them to my collection. What was my surprise to find the animals still alive in April, two months after they were collected. They had not been ex- _ posed to moisture during the time. ‘The last of them died in May. Again, only last winter, I collected at St. Augustine, Florida, Littorina _ trrorata Say, putting them in tin cans and boxes which in due course of time arrived home. On the first of May last I emptied the shells in : : a sunny place, and the animals within quickly crawled out. This was _ four months after I secured them. I have in my collection many Helices ‘hat have remained alive shut up in boxes for over three years, — a thing that did not surprise me, as numerous similar instances are on record ; but I never before knew marine or semi-marine species to show so Much tenacity of life when removed from their natural situations. — W. W. CALKINS. 688 General Notes. — [ November, NOTE on THE Mexican SPERMOPHILUS. — Fresh specimens of this ` animal (S. Mexicanus), still rare in collections, have reached me through Mr. George B. Sennett, of Erie, Pennsylvania, who has lately returned with a fine collection of mammals and birds from the vicinity of Fort Brown, Texas, — a highly interesting locality, which, through the exer- tions of Dr. J. C. Newell, of the army, and of Mr. Sennett, has furnished various species new to our fauna. In 1857 Professor Baird had some dozen or more specimens to work upon, but no additional ones have hitherto been forthcoming, as Mr. Allen’s monograph just published cat- alogues none. Mr. Sennett’s specimens are in fine order, and correspond precisely with Baird’s and with Allen’s elaborate descriptions. — ELLIOTT Covers, Washington, D. C. Papitio Crespnontes IN New Enerianp. — On the 6th of last September, Mr. N. Coleman captured in the vicinity of Berlin, Con- necticut, the only specimen of this Southern insect ever recorded from New England. As the larva is not known to feed on any other plant than the orange, the butterfly probably hatched from a larva accidentally _ transported with trees from Florida, or emerged from a chrysalis sent orth as a curiosity. ANTHROPOLOGY. EXAMINATIONS OF INDIAN Mounps on Rock RIVER, AT STERLING, ILLINOIS. — I recently made an examination of a few of the many In- dian mounds found on Rock River, about two miles above Sterling, Ili- nois. The first one opened was an oval mound about twenty feet long, twelve feet wide, and seven feet high. In the interior of this I found a dolmen or quadrilateral wall about ten feet long, four feet high, and four and a half feet wide. It had been built of lime-rock from a quarry near by, and was covered with large, flat stones. No mortar or cement had been used. The whole structure rested on the surface of the natural soil, the interior of which had been scooped out to enlarge the chamber, Inside of ths dolmen I found the partly decayed remains of eight human skeletons, two very large teeth of an unknown animal, two fossils, one of which is not found in this place, and a plummet. One of the long bones had been splintered; the fragments had united, but there re- — mained large morbid growths of bone (exostosis) in several places. One of the skulls presented a circular opening about the size of a silver dime. This perforation had been made during life, for the edges had com- _ menced to cicatrize. I later examined three circular mounds, but in them I found no dol- — mens. The first mound contained three adult human skeletons, & few fragments of the skeleton of a child, the lower maxillary of which indi- cated it to be about six years old. I also found claws of some carnivorous animal. The surface of the soil had been scooped out, and the bodies 1877.] Anthropology. 689 laid in the excavation and covered with about one foot of earth; fires had then been made upon the grave, and the mound afterwards com- pleted. The bones had not been charred. No charcoal was found among the bones, but occurred in abundance in a stratum about one foot above them. Two other mounds examined at the same time contained no remains. Of two other mounds opened later, the first was circular, about four feet high, and fifteen feet in diameter at the base, and was situated on an elevated point of land close to the bank of the river. From the top of this mound one might view the country for many miles in almost any direction. On its summit was an oval altar, six feet long and four and one half wide. It was composed of flat pieces of limestone, which had been burned red, some portions having been almost converted into lime. On and about this altar I found abundance of charcoal. At the sides of the altar were fragments of human bones, some of which had been charred. It was covered by a natural growth of vegetable mold and sod, the thickness of which was about ten inches. Large trees had once grown in this vegetable mold, but their stumps were so decayed I could not tell with certainty to what species they belonged. Another large mound was opened which contained nothing. — W. C. HOLBROOK. CHRISTENING CEREMONY OF THE SEMINOLE Inp1ans.— The Semi- nole Indians, now inhabiting the Indian Territory, were formerly in the habit of performing the following. ceremony at the christening of their male children: At about the age of fourteen the boy was setatchad or incised, with a sharp flint, six times on each arm and leg, the length of the incisions being about a foot. If the subject flinched or cried out, e was given an insignificant name, and was not considered worthy to be a warrior; but if he bore the operation manfully he was given a high-sounding title, and was destined to become a great man in the tribe. — E. A. BARBER. = MAN 1N THR PLIOCENE IN America. — The evidence, as it stands to-day, although not conclusive, seems to place the first appearance of Man in this country in the Pliocene, and the best proof of this has been _ found on the Pacific coast. During several visits to that region, many _ facts were brought to my knowledge which render this more than prob- able. Man at this time was a savage, and was doubtless forced by the = reat volcanic outbreaks to continue his migration. This was at first to ~ the south, since mountain chains were barriers on the east. As the na- tive Ee of America were now all extinct, and as the early man did not bring the Old World animal with him, his migrations were slow. I believe, n moreover, that his slow progress towards civilization was in no Small degree due to this same cause, the absence of the horse. _ Tt is far from my intention to add to the many theories extant in re- gard to the early civilizations in this country, and their connection with the . — or later Indians ; but two or three facts have Ib. X1.— 690 General Notes. [ November, recently come to my knowledge which I think worth mentioning in this connection. On the Columbia River, I have found evidence of the for- mer existence of inhabitants much superior to the Indians at present there, and of which no tradition remains. Among many stone carvings which I saw there, were a number of heads which so strongly resemble those of apes that the likeness at once suggests itself. Whence came these sculptures, and by whom were they made? Another fact that has interested me very much is the strong resemblance between the skulls of the typical mound-builders of the Mississippi Valley and those of the Pueblo Indians. I had long been familiar with the former, and when I recently saw the latter, it required the positive assurance of a friend who had himself collected them in New Mexico to convince me that they were not from the mounds. A third fact, and I leave man to the archeologists, on whose province I am even now trenching. In a large collection of mound-builders’ pottery, — over a thousand specimens, — which I have recently examined with some care, I found many pieces 0 elaborate workmanship so nearly like the ancient water-jars from Peru that no one could fairly doubt that some intercourse had taken place be- tween the widely separated people that made them. The oldest known remains of man on this continent differ in no im- portant characters from the bones of the typical Indian, although in some minor details they indicate a much more primitive race. ‘These early remains, some of which are true fossils, resemble much more closely the corresponding parts of the highest Old World apes than do the lat- ter our Tertiary primates, or even the recent American monkeys. Va- rious living and fossil forms of Old World primates fill up essentially the latter gap. The lesser gap between the primitive man of America and the anthropoid apes is partially closed by still lower forms of men, and doubtless also by higher apes, now extinct. Analogy, and many facts as well, indicates that this gap was smaller in the past. It certainly is be- coming wider now with every generation, for the lowest races of men will soon become extinct, like the Tasmanians, and the highest apes can- not long survive. Hence the intermediate forms of the past, if any there were, become of still greater importance. For such missing links, we must look to the caves and later Tertiary of Africa, which I regard as how the most promising field for exploration in the Old World. — Professor Marsh’s Address at Nashville as Vice President of the Amer- — . ican Association. i ANTHROPOLOGICAL News. — The Rev. S. D. Peet, of Ashtabula, a Ohio, has assumed the editorship of the American Antiquarian, a quar- terly journal of correspondence on American archæology, ethnology, and anthropology ; price $2.00 per annum. We have announced by the same gentleman A Manual of Archeology; being a Complete Analysis and Compendium of the Science, designed especially for Be- ginners. y 1877.] Anthropology. 691 The Journal of the Anthropological Institute announces for the August number the ollowing pape frs of general interest : Primitive Agriculture, A. W. Buckland; Non-Sepulchral Rude Stone Monuments, M. T. Wal- house; The Himalayan Origin of the Magyars, Hyde Clarke; The Brain Weight of some Chinese and Pelew Islanders, Dr. Crochley Clap- ham ; Right-Handedness, James Shaw; The Mental Progress of Ani- mals during the Human Period, James Shaw. During the meeting of the British Association in Plymouth, excur- sions were made to Totnes, Torquay, and Brixham caves. The opening address before the geological section, by Mr. Pengelly, was an elabo- rate report of the exploration of caves in the vicinity of Plymouth, in- cluding the Orestin caverns, Kent's Hole, Yealm Bridge caverns, the Ash Hole, Brixham Cavern, Windmill Hell, and Ansty’s Cave. The following papers were among those read before the anthropological de- partment: Francis Galton, On a More Accurate and Extensive Method of Observations on those Groups of Men who are sufficiently Similar in their Mental Characters or in their Physiognomy, or in Both, to admit of Classification ; Dr. Beddoe, On the Bulgarians; Dr. Phéné, On the District of Mycenx, and its Early Inhabitants; Park Harrison, On Characters found in the Sides of the Tunnels driven into the Chalk of Sussex ; Mr. Sorby, On the Coloring Matter of the Human Hair; Miss A. W. Buckland, Ethnological Hints afforded by the Stimulants of Ancient and Modern Savages; Mr. A. “Simpson, Who are the Zaparoz, a Tribe of Ecuador; Mr. Hunter, On the Natives of Socotra; B. Harts- horne, Ancient People and Irrigation Works in India; Professor Rol- leston, On the Rationale of Brachycephaly and Dolicocephaly ; Artifi- cial Deformation of the Head; The Fauna and Flora of Prehistoric Times. There were about thirty papers read before this department. The American Association had such a poor showing of anthropologists on the first day that the subsection was merged into the section of _ biology. The members came in a little later, and Monday, August 31st, was assigned to them. The opening address of the president, Dr. Daniel Wilson, of Toronto, was partly a résumé of anthropological Science, and partly an invitation to cultivate the speaker’s peculiar field, namely, the ethnological problems that are being worked out on the American continent by the mingling of many races under various cli- matic and social conditions. Among the papers read are the following: _ The American Indians of North America, Henry C. Carrington; All _ Life conditionally Immortal, William Bross; Additional Facts con- _ erning Artificial Perforations of the Cranium in Ancient Mounds in Michigan, Henry Gilman; Introduction to the Study of Indian Lan- guages, J. W. Powell; Report on the Exploration of the Graves of the Mound Builders in Scott and Mississippi Counties, Missouri ; Some Ob- servations on the Skull of the Comanches, T. O. Summers. Colonel Garrick Mallery read a very elaborate paper on the probability that 692 General Notes. [ November, there has been no diminution in the number of the Indians of the North American continent since the first settlement. The author took the ground that the works which are supposed to have taken great num- bers to accomplish them were rather the results of long-continued labor. This statement in opposition to the almost unanimous opinion of writers on our Indians was the subject of considerable attention. Professor Marsh in his address before the section of biology took occasion to say that while the primates originated on the American continent, the ab- sence of higher fossil forms argues their subsequent migration, and con- sequently the impossibility of man’s having originated in our hemisphere. The Davenport (Iowa) Academy of Natural Science has issued volume ii. part i. of its Proceedings. Among the valuable contributions to ar- cheology, the one which will attract the most attention is the descrip- tion, by the Rey. J. Gass, of his discovering in a mound tablets of soft shale, having elaborate inscriptions scratched on them. One represents a hunting party, another a cremation scené, and a third is a supposed calendar. à In addition to the antiquities already mentioned from Porto Rico and described in the Smithsonian Report for 1876, Professor Baird has just received from Mr. Lewis Jones R. Brace, of Nassau, N. P., drawings of celts, images, and stools, differing from those already described only in etail. Among the specimens are two wooden stools, one of which is the long-tailed variety sent by Messrs. Gabb and Frith. The other is a short-tailed variety, and resembles very much a shallow dish. I have seen similarly shaped, so-called mortars or metates from Central America, made to resemble a quadruped, the head projecting in front and the tail twisted around for a handle. The Smithsonian Annual Report for 1876, just published, is in some respects the most interesting number ever issued. Dr. Paul Broca, the distinguished anthropologist, presided over the French Association this year. In his opening address he gave a résumé of the fossil races of Western Europe, dividing them as follows : — 1. Canstadt Race, the oldest (dolicocephalic). 2. Cromagnon Race ( ce > 3. Furfooz Race (brachycephalic). Authors of anthropological treatises and papers, desiring to have them noticed in Baird’s Annual Record, will please send copies to Professor S. F. Baird or to O. T. Mason, Washington, D. iim Oe È Mason. GEOLOGY AND PALZONTOLOGY. Discovery or Jointep Limes IN Tritosites.— In a paper en- titled Notes on Some Sections of Trilobites from the Trenton Limestone, published in advance of the report of the New York State Museum of Natural History, Mr. C. D. Walcott describes and figures jointed limbsin ( 1877. ] Geology and Paleontology. 693 Calymene and Ceraurus. It will be remembered that the nature of the limbs of trilobites has been long a matter of controversy, some believing ` they had soft, membranous limbs, and others that they had jointed limbs, like those of the king crab (Limulus) and the fossil Eurypterus, etc., and still others that they may have had anterior ambulatory jointed limbs, and posterior broad membranous swimming abdominal append- ages. Mr. Walcott, after making many sections of trilobites, has discov- ered jointed appendages in them, numerous sections of Calymene senaria showing axial appendages with three joints; “the third joint in all ap- pendages of this species seen (seventy-seven in number) terminates in a round, blunt end.” In Ceraurus pleurexanthemus the limb is five jointed. The legs end in a single blunt end, and Mr. Walcott is inclined to think the legs will be found to have “ five or six joints with a terminal claw.” ’ “ Attached to the basal (?) joint of the leg there is a slender-jointed arm of two, and probably three joints. Portions of pinnule are at- tached to the terminal joint. Whether they are branchial tubes cannot be satisfactorily determined from the section. In other sections rows of pinnule are shown which are undoubtedly branchial tubes. From the character of the remaining portion of the respiratory apparatus ao must have been attached to the arm. It is also quite probable tha branchia was attached to the basal joint of the arm. It may be rot + occurrence in this position in the section, is owing to a displacement of one of the branchiew attached to the side of the thoracic cavity. These branchiz are attached above the basal joint of the leg. The branchia in Calymene senaria projects out a short distance and then bifurcates, sending two spirals nearly to the edge of the dorsal shell. In some sec- tions the base appears to be a portion of the ribbon or band forming the spiral straightened out, while in others it is a closely coiled spiral. At _ the bifurcation the outer spiral springs from the base which continues on _ to form the inner spiral.” __ A transverse section of the head of Calymene cut so as to cross the hypostoma just within the posterior end, exhibited a space filled with cale-spar, which “ is the continuation of the visceral cavity of the thorax.” _ From the lower lateral margin of each side a jointed appendage extends _ Outward and downward. “ Between the upper pair of appendages and — = the glabella three pairs of appendages project. Their basal joint is slen- _ der, and, in two sections, closely resembles the maxillary joint of the leg _ Of the Eurypterus, modified in form, but undoubtedly subservient to the _ Same use as a part of the mouth.” Sections of Asaphus platycephalus : -furnish evidence that it had axial appendages of essentially the same _ Structure as those of Calymene and Ceraurus. Mr. Walcott concludes that the homology between the parts about the mouth of the trilobite and the same organs in the Hurypterida and Xiphosura is very direct and relates the families closely, and he consid- rs that the Xiphosura, Eurypterida; and Trilobita form the legion Me- Daa phe OY ras eS ee co, Bek Leone eee. Sy oer pe ese Ke sas 694 General Notes. [ November, rostomata and subclass Gnathopoda. Having ourselves, from a study of ’ the king crab and the tegument of the trilobites, and from the sugges- tions of Billings regarding the nature of the appendages of the trilobites, arrived at the conclusion that the trilobites most probably had jointed ambulatory limbs as well as membranous swimming appendages, it is gratifying to find what was before a matter of probability, actually dem- onstrated by the patient toil and well sustained energy of Mr. Walcott. The discovery of the nature of the limbs of trilobites “adds a fresh laurel,” to use a fossilized expression, to American paleontology. | Tue GREENLAND GLACIERS. — Amund Helland, of Christiania, Nor- way, made in 1875 a journey to North Greenland, and gives in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London (No. 129), the results of his comparisons of the glacial phenomena of that country with those of Norway. He has overlooked the writings of Americans who have visited Greenland, and he probably never saw the magnificent work in folio of our marine artist, William Bradford of New York, which con- tains many photographs of the Greenland glaciers, and possesses a g00 deal of scientific value. Helland believes that “the thickness of the in- land ice near its border cannot exceed 250 metres, and is probably not more or is even less than 200 metres; but since its surface rises as we proceed inland, its thickness may possibly increase in that direction.” “The amount of precipitation in North Greenland seems to indicate indirectly the great extent of the inland ice; for where the glaciers are largest it is not considerable; at the colony of Jakobshavn the rainfall from July, 1873, to July, 1874, was 219.7 mm., from July, 1874, to July, 1875, 183.7 mm. In the district of Umanak, where there are a number of great ice-fjords, the rainfall seems to be no greater ; yet here the gla- ciers are very large, one may say the largest known ; so that we can only account for them by supposing that they are supplied from a very extensive upland district on which there is a considerable snow fall, and thus that there can be little land in the interior free from ice. Be this as it may, there is no doubt that the ice-sheet extends into Greenland beyond the range of vision.” The fact, he says, that though the climate of Greenland is rather dry large glaciers are numerous, is not without geological importance, a showing that a great snow fall is not absolutely necessary for the glacia- tion of an extensive country. “It is also remarkable that the glaciers are supplied from an ice-field which, to a large extent at least, lies below the limit of perpetual snow.’’ He contends that Greenland is not à col- lection of islands, but a fjord land like Norway or the coast of erica. He found that the Jakobshovn glacier flows with a velocity greater than any that has hitherto been observed, the greatest daily motion observed being 22.46 metres, from July 8th, seven P. M., to July 9th, ten A- 5 while the slope of the land is only half a degree. The maximum daily North e 1877.] Geography and Exploration. 695 motion as observed by Professor Tyndall on the Mer de Glace (Cha- mouni) was 333 inches (0.85 metre) in June. “The rate of flow, already mentioned, has an important bearing on the theory of glacier-motion. As the slope of the Jakobshavn glacier, which has the extraordinarily rapid motion of twenty metres per diem, is only half a degree, the fall of the bed of the valley cannot be the most impor- tant factor in the motion of glaciers. This considerable velocity must be due to the quantity of ice which has to be carried out to the fjord ; or, in other words, the rate of motion is dependent on the pressure of the mass of the inland ice. Glaciers, therefore, fed from large districts of atmos- pheric precipitation, move with considerable velocity.” Helland thinks it doubtful if the ice-sheet and the glaciers would form again could the land be denuded of them and left to the influences of the present climate. The author also discusses in an interesting way the formation of cirques and lake basins in Norway and Greenland, but the views of Ram- say and others which he supports are becoming antiquated. GEOGRAPHY AND EXPLORATION. STANLEY’S Journey across AFRICA. — Following the journey of Cameron across the continent of Africa from coast to coast, we have the adventurous march of Stanley, who arrived at Loanda, on the west coast, August 21st. From a résumé in the Nation we learn that he began his journey in November, 1874, at Bagamoyo, on the east coast. He was a year and a half reaching Ujiji, but meanwhile had surveyed the Victoria Nyanza, had crossed the intervening divide to the Albert Nyanza, and had explored the Alexandra Nile. He next, after visiting Lake Tan- ganyika, followed up the Lukuga, which Cameron had considered a genuine outlet to the lake, but which Stanley claimed was only such in exceptionally high water. In November, 1876, he set out through Uregga, crossed the left bank of the Lualaba, and passed around a series of cataracts, situated just north and south of the equator. “ At 2° N. lati- tude the northerly course of the river bends to the northwest, then to the west, and finally to southwest, where its width is from two to ten miles, and the stream is choked with islands.” This river was called Congo by the natives. On the 8th of August, 1877, Stanley arrived at Boma, at ` the head of the Congo delta ; on the 14th, at Cabinda, on the coast; and on the 21st at S. Paulo de Loanda. “ His party (114 in number) was greatly reduced by dysentery, scurvy, and ulcers, and his last white com- rade, Francis Pocock, had perished by being carried over one of the cataracts. His faithful body-servant, Kalulu, was also among the missing. _The.importance of Stanley’s discoveries, in a geographical point of view, cannot be overestimated. They take rank among the foremost of the century, and are destined to give a new impulse and direction to explora- tion in Central Africa. Hitherto geographers had not conjectured that 696 General Notes. [ November, the course of the Congo approached the equator, but it is now evident that the river can be reached by a short cut from the Albert Nyanza, or from Schweinfurth’s river Welle. This stream, if it should not prove a tributary of the Congo, may not impossibly be the upper portion of the Ogove, the last great river on the West African coast whose origin is a mystery. GEOGRAPHICAL News.— A new interest in Arctic Exploration has been excited in this country by the departure of Captain Howgate’s ves- sel, Florence,- for Cumberland Island, the first stopping-place on the way to Smith’s Sound. The Geographical Magazine is urging the con- tinuance and completion of polar discovery on the part of the English government, and says that four routes now remain for future expeditions. (1.) The Jones Sound route, the work of which will be to connect North Lincoln with Aldrich’s farthest, and to ascertain the limits of the Palæ- ocrystic sea in that direction. (2.) The East Greenland route, to connect Cape Bismarck with Beaumont’s farthest, and so complete the discovery of Greenland. (3.) The route of Franz Josef Land, to explore the northern side of the country discovered by Payer ; and (4) the Northeast Passage, by which a knowledge of the sea north of Siberia will be com- pleted, and Wrangell Land will be explored. On the whole the editor suggests that the East Greenland route is the best that can be selected for anew expedition. Lieutenant Weyprecht, who commanded the Austrian Polar Expedition that discovered Franz Josef, Land in 1874, and Count Wilczek, one of the promoters of that expedition, have announced to the Royal Society of Meteorology of Utrecht that they intend to undertake an expedition to the Arctic regions, which will be away for about twelve months, and that they intend to establish their station of observation in one of the northern havens of Novaya Zemlya. A translation of, Dr. Rink’s Danish Greenland, its People and its Products, the standard work on Greenland, has been published by H. S. King & Co., London, and is a very timely work. ; Several books on Turkey have appeared in London : Turkey in Eu- rope. By James Baker. Third edition (Cassell, Petter, & Galpin, Lon- don, Paris, and New York), 1877. Travels in the Slavonic Provinces of Turkey in Europe. By G. Muir Mackenzie and A. P. Irby, with a preface by the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M. P. In two volumes, second edition (London: Daldy, Isbister, & Co.), 1877. Montenegro, its People and their History. By the Rev. W. Denton, M. A. (Lon- don: Daldy, Isbister, & Co.), 1877. Handbook of the Seat of War. Edited by Alexander Mackay (London : Simkin, Marshall, & Co-), 1877. The preservation of forests in New Zealand is attracting attention, as the colonists, by indiscriminate waste of trees, are threatening future-dis- aster to the water supply, agriculture, and the health of the people. It ap- pears that Frnce has suffered cruelly from the effects of a long course of denudation, and is now trying energetically to retrieve the errors of the 1877.] Microscopy. 697 - past. The same may be said of the United States, though increased at- tention has lately been paid to the planting of new and the preservation of old forests. MICROSCOPY.! Tae New MECHANICAL FINGERS. — Several new devices for pick- ing up and arranging diatoms, Polycystina, and other small objects have recently been described, the chief peculiarity of which consist in sup- porting the object from the substage, while the instrument is supported from and moved by the stage which usually bears the object-slide. By unaccountable oversight it was not stated that this expedient was the chief peculiarity of Mr. Zentmayer’s mechanical finger, which was con- trived in 1869, published in different journals early in the following . year, and advertised and sold as a regular article of manufacture ever since. In the May number, 1870, of the Journal of the Franklin Insti- tute, a cut is given of Zentmayer’s invention, in which the finger is fastened to a pillar clamped to the upper plate of the mechanical stage of the microscope, while the substage is prolonged through the opening of the stage for the purpose of supporting the object. In the accom- panying description Mr. Zentmayer explains that it was his object to utilize such movements of a first-class stand as were not essential for other operations connected with the use of the finger ; that by attaching his apparatus to the mechanical stage he obtained sliding horizontal movements with a firmness and range not otherwise attainable ; and that for the low powers employed a plain stage supported from the substage, and projecting slightly above the stage, was all that was required for holding the object and would give the necessary vertical movement to it. Mr. Zentmayer makes a special accessory to the substage for carry- ing the object, and a vertical adjustment to the finger itëelf; while sub- sequent experimenters have supported the object on the paraboloid or some other piece of common apparatus, and have simplified the finger by dispensing with a vertical adjustment, in both cases saving complica- tion and expense at some loss of efficiency. A Mopirication or Wenuam’s REFLEX ILLUMINATOR. — The very ingenious and interesting reflex illuminator of Mr. Wenham was designed to avoid direct illumination by passing light into the slide at such an angle that it would be totally refiected instead of passing into air above the slide. With dry objectives, of any angle, this illumination would necessarily be exclusively reflex, since no light could pass directly to the objective; and with immersion objectives of angular aperture not greater than that corresponding to one hundred and eighty degrees dry, the result would be practically the same, as the light, after passing through a balsam-mounted object, would reach the lens at an obliquity greater than that of its extreme capacity for image-forming rays. But 1 Conducted by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y. 698 General Notes. [ November, for lenses of greater angle than this, the illumination would be direct, the image being formed exclusively by that portion of the available aperture of the lens which was in excess of the equivalent of one hun- dred and eighty degrees dry angle. The existence, and even the possi- bility, of such lenses was not at that time undisputed, some eminent microscopists still maintaining the contrary opinion. But the new re- flex illuminator had scarcely arrived in this country before Mr. Samuel Wells, of Boston, succeeded in making it act as a direct illuminator, with several lenses of at least two makers, an efficient and excellent image being formed by these extralimital rays. It immediately occurred to Mr. Tolles that a similarly good illumination might be obtained in the case of dry lenses, and immersion lenses of moderate angle, by changing the angle of the reflecting face so that the illuminating pencil should fall just without instead of just within the angle of total reflec- tion. He at once made several such prisms, of various angles, but, hoping to improve still further upon the plan, refused to offer them for sale. One of these was presented by Dr. R. H. Ward at the Nashville meeting of the American Association this summer. Its reflecting face was inclined twenty-one degrees to the axis, giving an obliquity of forty- two degrees to the central reflected ray. This utilizes the extreme angle of an objective close up to one hundred and eighty degrees dry, or its equivalent in balsam,.and in addition gives a slight illumination, though by itself insufficient for useful work, of extralimital rays avail- able exclusively to immersion lenses of excessive aperture. With suit- able lenses it gives prompt resolution of numbers eighteen, nineteen, and twenty of Moller’s test plate in balsam, by lamp-light. The modified prisms are inferior to the original for use with lenses capable of taking up half the pencil transmitted into balsam by the original “ reflex.” The prism of twenty-one degrees gives the maximum efficiency with dry mounts, as the extreme capacity of the lens is utilized by the half pencil from the illuminator, which can be transmitted to it, —a condition very favorable for difficult resolution. Prisms of still smaller angles were made, and are now used for lenses of lower angle. The length of prism, and the condensing arrangement, are modified to suit the changed angle. As in the original reflex, the chromatic aberration is excessive ; and it is a question how far the very decided results in resolution attained are due to the nearly perfect monochromatic illumination thus secured. The new illuminators do not seem to have given results not otherwise attain- able, and they are subject to the inconvenience that each one is limited to a fixed and comparatively narrow range of angles; but they furnish a ready and easy means of oblique illumination, suitable for extremely difficult resolution, and entirely independent of thinness of stage and concentric rotation of object-carrier. Microscorist’s ANNUAL. — The Industrial Publication Company, of 176 Broadway, New York, having undertaken to publish a list of the 1877.] Scientific News. 699 ~ prominent makers, importers, and sellers of microscopes, has extended the scope of the work to other items of interest to microscopists, and will include in the publication, to be issued annually, various tables and data, and a list of microscopical societies, their officers, etc., after the model of that originally published in the Naruratist. The price of this con- venient little work is 25 cents. Persons interested are requested to send subscriptions and data tø the above address. XCHANGES.— Rare chemicals for the polariscope, starches, etc., offered for well-mounted slides; anatomical preparations preferred. Exchange lists printed for microscopists by papyrograph. Address G. E. Bailey, Lincoln, Nebraska. Plumule scales of small cabbage butterfly (Pieris rape), mounted, for good slides. Address Edward Pennock, 805 Franklin Street, Philadel- Shell sand from Bermuda, containing very fine foraminifera, spicules, etc., either mounted or unmounted. Address C. C. Merriman, Roches- oor, N. Y. a SCIENTIFIC NEWS. — A special meeting of the California Academy of Sciences was held August 31st, for the purpose of extending a formal welcome to a trio of distinguished scientists then visiting the State, namely, Sir J. D. Hooker, . Prof. Asa Gray, and Prof. F. V. Hayden. After eloquent ad- pen of welcome by the president of the Academy, Professor David- son, and by Messrs. Henry Edwards and R. E. C. Stearns, Sir J. D. Hooker returned thanks for the cordial welcome given, and said he came here to learn, and not to teach, and his visit was immediately due to the experience of his old friend, Professor Gray —a friend of forty years’ standing — and to the invitation of his old correspondent, Professor Hay- den, whose guests they had been during the time they spent in Colorado and Utah. His acquaintance with the vegetation of America had here- tofore been.an extremely slight one. In association with his father’s pursuits, who was for many years occupied in publishing investigations — of the plants of the British possessions of North America, he was led to the investigation of the Arctic flora. In the investigation he was struck with the uhiformity of vegetation extending round the whole globe in the - North. There was very little difference between the vegetation of America and the Old World within the Arctic circle; but upon close ex- amination he found that even the American flora was divisible into two sections by very slight but still definite characters ; that in crossing over from Greenland to the American islands, so called, there was a distinct change in the vegetation, though very slight. The opportunity he had now had of crossing the continent of North America from east to west, had shown him that that distinction is carried out to a very much greater ~ 700 Scientific News. [ November, extent than he had any notion of. The publications of Gray and others, had made him aware that there is a broad line of distinction between the vegetation east of the Mississippi and west of it, but he did not expect to find the variety so great as it is, and he was strongly inclined to say, though he said it under correction, that there is probably a greater dif- ference between the east and west coasts of the American continent than there is between any two similarly related regions in any part of the globe; that you may travel from England to Spain, from Siam to China, without finding so diverse vegetations as by crossing the Mississippi and comparing the banks one hundred miles east on one side with one hun- dred miles west on the other. As far as the country east of the Missis- sippi is concerned, he was, by practical observation, almost entirely © ignorant. He knew nothing of it except from the copious notes of Pro- fessor Gray conned while traveling. Since then he had the opportunity of spending some weeks in the Rocky Mountains and then of coming here, and he found a more curious difference than he had anticipated in the vegetation between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. He had every reason to suppose that this great difference of vegetation exists south of the parallel along which he had traveled. Time had not allowed them to digest the notes collected on the way, and more than he had announced he was not prepared to say. The president had asked him tosay afew words with respect to the Academy. In England they knew well enough what it is to wait for results; but he might be believed when he said that the destinies of science on this coast are great, and a time will come that will show great results, and that will come with im- mense force, and for these two reasons: There is here a most intelligent and most active and progressive population, and, in the second place, there is here one of the most remarkable assemblages of natural objects and physical phenomena that any part of the world possesses. In speak- ing thus, he included the whole coast north and south of California. There is no section of the earth in which so many singular phenomena can be observed as in this. Without seeking to give advice, he might point out what has been the element of success in the greatest Academy of England, the Royal Society. It began with very few men, and for the best part of two centuries it was supported by what he might, with- out disrespect to his ancestors in science, call elderly people. It was by the elderly men who loved science, holding together congenially year after year, and almost century after century, that the young men of the society were drawn to it, and it is but lately that young men in any numbers have come into the society. For success there are three principal ele- ments, — the holding together of the elderly members, of those who have had experience of this life in other matters than science, and who bring that experience together, with methodized common sense, of which science consists, to bear upon the objects of the society itself. In the second place, there is the important work of the secretary, together with . 1877.] Scientific News. | 701 that of the publication committee, which should carefully pass judg- ment upon the communications to be given to the world. e supervis- ion of the papers of a society by several members is perhaps the most important scientific work that any society can perform. Thirdly, there is the necessity of looking well after the funds, and managing them with economy and prudence. Dr. Gray said it was almost forty years since Sir Joseph and himself spent some few hours together in the neighborhood of London, at the table of a then very venerable man, long since gone to his rest, Archibald Men- zies, who was surgeon and naturalist of Vancouver’s voyage. The in- terest in the venerable gentleman arose from the fact that he had been round the globe, and particularly had visited this part of it, and he was the first English naturalist, and almost the first. naturalist, who set foot on this part of the continent. Partly through Professor Davidson’s in- vestigations he had been enabled to trace the footsteps of Menzies, whose name is merged in so many of our plants, the Madrona for instance. He had found that he had been in San Francisco, at the Presidio, and that he found his way as far as Santa Clara or San Jose, and it is very well known that he visited the point which was then the oldest settlement ; that he landed and botanized at Monterey. It was with peculiar pleas- ure that they had followed in his footsteps at Monterey, and had been able to gather some plants and to see the withered remains of others that he first made known to the civilized world. Monterey is also the spot that some earlier naturalists visited, where the Spanish naturalists Mo- cino and Lesse collected plants, and also the Russian naturalists, Cha- misso and Eschscholtz, whose names are familiar in all our gardens — household names in plants. The season of their visit to the coast had proved unpropitious on account of the great drouth, and what is still worse, from the ravages of the great flocks of sheep which have devas- tated the herbaceous vegetation of the Sierra, Fortunately the forests remain, the most important vegetation in respect to climate, geographical distribution, and utility. They had been very busy, and their work had not been in vain. They would be enabled to make some interesting com- parisons, after visiting the Rocky Mountain region, and to settle, from observation in the field, some of the questions they had sought to settle in the laboratory and the conservatory. In conclusion, he referred to his visit five years ago, and the great pleasure it had given him to have as a companion his old friend Joseph Hooker. Professor Hayden, in responding to the welcome, indicated the feat- ures of the geological survey in progress under his direction, and said he had long desired to make some comparison between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. It had always been his belief, although the belief had been corrected by his studies of the eastern slope, that there is a general geographical as well as geological unity in all the different ranges of mountains that compose our country. Some geolo- gists have endeavored to give to the Sierra the name of the Cordilleras, 702 Scientific News. [ November, as a generic term, extending it to the Andes and to the eastern range, the Rocky Mountains. Other geologists have sought to make the Rocky Mountains the generic name, including in that range all the rest, and making the Sierra Nevada a branch.: He was now inclined to think there is difference enough in the two ranges to regard them as separate, and perhaps almost independent ranges. One object of his visit was to examine the Yosemite Valley, and study the phenomena of its formation, and this he had been enabled to do. At some time he hoped to be in a position to study the geology of the coast carefully. Professor Davidson added some remarks on the climatology of the coast with reference to ocean currents, and thereafter the Academy ad- journed. — The Princeton College student-expedition to the Rocky Mountains appeared to meet with good success. It started June 21st, and returned early in August, having accomplished a good deal in exploring the bot- any, zodlogy, paleontology, mineralogy, and topography of Colorado and the region about Fort Bridger in Wyoming. Nearly a thousand species of plants were collected. Of zoélogical specimens there were secured the heads of mountain sheep, elk, deer, antelope, bear, beaver, mountain lion, lynx, wild-cat, badger, etc., with complete skeletons of many ani- mals of lesser size. A goodly collection of fossils was obtained in Col- orado and in the Uintah Mountains. — We have received Monographs of North American Rodentia, by Elliott’ Coues and Joel Araph Allen. Published as one of the quarto series of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories, F. V. Hayden in charge. Washington, 1877. It contains eleven monographs, five by Dr. Coues and six by Mr. Allen, with appendix; A Synoptical List of the Fossil Rodentia of North America, by J. A. Allen, and Ap- pendix B.; Material for a Bibliography of North American Mammals, by Theodore Gill and Elliott Coues. The volume is carefully indexed, comprises 1091 pages, and contains fine plates illustrative of the skulls of the Muride. It may be truly said to be a monumental work upon a single order of mammals. — One of the most valuable and, useful works on zodlogy ever pub- lished and which is still passing through the press, is Bronn’s Klassen und Ordnungen des Thier-reichs. Of the fifth volume, Arthropoda, Lieferung 24 has been the last published. ‘The volume so far as it goes is accompanied by thirty-nine plates, and the text has been prepared by Professor Gerstaecker, the well known entomologist. — A second edition of the Index Geological Map of Newfoundland, on the scale of twenty-five miles to an inch, has been published by Mr. Murray, whose report for 1876 has been issued. i — The Norwegian Expedition to the North Sea has met with fair success, especially in mapping the sea bottom off the coast of Norway, and ascertaining the limits of the extended barrier which keeps back the cold water coming from the depths of the Polar Sea. 1877.] Scientific Serials. 703 —Sets of recent collections made by Dr. E. Palmer in Northern Arizona and Southeastern California in 1876, and Southern Utah and Nevada in 1877, may be obtained by application to Dr. C. C. Parry, Davenport, Iowa, or Professor Sereno Watson, Cambridge, Massachu- setts. The sets number from three hundred to five hundred species, to be sold at $8.00 per hundred species. — Professor Frederick Wahlgren, of the University of Lund, died in July, aged fifty-seven. Professor T. A. Conrad, the conchologist and palzontologist, died August 9th, aged seventy-four. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. Boston Society or Naturat History.— October 3. Mr. M. E. Wadsworth remarked on the so called tremolite of Newbury, Mass. Dr. T. M. Brewer read some notes on the stilt sandpiper, and Mr. S. H. Scudder exhibited a large collection of fossil insects from Colorado, made during the past summer, under the auspices of Hayden’s U. S. Geolog- ical Survey of the Territories. New York Acapemy oF Sciences. — October 1. Mr. G. N. Law- rence presented descriptions of new West Indian birds, and Professor H. L. Fairchild made a communication on the structure of Lepidoden- dron and Sigillaria. - APPALACHIAN Mountain CLUB. — October 10. Mr. S. H. Scudder described an ascent of the Sierra Blanca in Colorado. —— SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.? AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS. — On the Reltiot of the Geology of Vermont to that of Berkshire, by J. D. A Preliminary Catalogue of the Reptiles, Fishes, and poan of the rmudas, with Seen of Four Species of Fishes believed to be New, by G. B CANADIAN Eroilor ooi. — July. Remarks upon the Cynipidæ, by H. F. Bassett. August. — On the Preparatory Stages of Satyrus nephele, by W. H. Edwa ANNALS AND MaGazine or Naturat History.—The Post-Tertiary _ Fossils procured in the late Arctic Expedition ; with Notes on some of the Recent or Living Mollusca from the same Expedition, by J. G. Jeffreys. Tue GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. — September. Across Europe and Asia. Part III. The Middle Urals, t Ja Milne. Geology of the Isle of Man, by H. H. Howarth. ' The articles enumerated under this head will be for the most part selected. 704 Seientifie Serials. [ November. ARCHIV FUR NATURGESCHICHTE, Jahrgang 43, Heft 2. — Unter- suchungen über den Kaumagen der Orthopteren, von K. F. Wilde. Grundzüge zur Systematik der Milben, von. P. Kramer. THE GroGgrapHicaL MAGAZINE. — October. The Seat of War (with a map of the seat of war in European Turkey, by Keith John- ston). M. Dupuis’ Explorations in Tongkin and Yunnan. Delta of the Yangtsze River in China, by S. Mossman. A Description of the Island of Formosa, with some Remarks on its Past History, its Present Con- dition, and its Future Prospects, by J. Morrison. The Crozet Islands (South Indian Ocean), by L. Brine. Tae Monraty MicroscoricaL JouRNAL.— October. New Dia- toms from Honduras. Described by A. Grunow. With Notes by F. Kitton. Some Additional Remarks on the Measurement of the Angle of Aperture of Object Glasses, by F. H. Wenham. QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF MicROscOPICAL ScIENCE. — October. The Doctrine of Contagium Vivum and its Application to Medicine, by W. Roberts. Résumé of Recent Contributions to our Knowledge of Fresh-Water Rhizopoda, Part IV. Rhizopoda Monothalamia Monosto- mata, compiled by W. Archer. Loxosoma, by Carl Vogt. On the Minute Structural Relations of the Red Blood Corpuscles, by A. Boett- cher. Contribution to the Minute Anatomy of the Epidermis in Small- pox of Sheep, by E. Klein. Notes on the Embryology and Classifica- tion of the Animal Kingdom, comprising a Revision of Speculations Relative to the Origin and Significance of the Germ Layers, by E. R. Lankester. ¢ Tue GEOLOGICAL Macazine.— October. Is Man Tertiary? The Antiquity of Man in the Roman Country, etc., by R. D. P. Mantovani. The Antiquity of Man, by J. R. Dakyns. Reversed Faults in 'Bedded Slates, by E. J. Hebert. The Geology of Sumatra, by M. R. D. M. ` Verbeek. The Migration of Species, by C. Callaway. ANNALS AND Ma'Gazıne or NaruraL History. — October. Stud- ies on Fossil Sponges, I. Hexactinellida, by K. A. Zittel. On some New and Little Known Spiders from the Arctic Regions, by O. P. Cambridge. On the Changes produced in the Silicious Skeletons of Certain Sponges by the Action of Caustic Potash, by W. J. Sollas. Capture of a Right Whale in the Mediterranean, by A. Doran. Notes on the Pearly Nautilus, by G. Bennett. On a New Insect Pest at Madeira, by T. V. Wollaston. Remarks on Professor E. Haeckel’s Observations on Wyville-thompsonia Wallichii and Squamulina scopula, by H. J. Carter. PoruLar Science Revirw. — October. The Volcanoes of the Haute Loire and the Ardéche; by W. S. Symonds. Flint Implements, by C. C. King. The Song of the Cicada, by J. C. Galton. Caves and their Occupants, illustrated by the Bone Caves of Creswell Crags, by J. M. Mello. Meteorites and the Origin of Life, by W. Flight. THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. VoL. x1.— DECEMBER, 1877. — No. 12. THE CHINESE LOESS PUZZLE. BY PROFESSOR J. D. WHITNEY. i eee appearance of the first volume of Baron F. von Richt- hofen’s magnificent work on China! furnishes us with a suitable opportunity to put before the readers of the NATURALIST a brief account of one of the most curiously puzzling geological phenomena which has ever been brought to the notice of the scientific world, — the distribution and mode of occurrence of the so-called loess deposits of Northern China. The term loess is one in popular use in the valley of the Rhine for a peculiar loamy material ? which occurs over a considerable grea between Constance and the Belgian lowlands, having in places a thick- ness of as much as one or two hundred feet, and which is gen- erally admitted to have been a lacustrine deposit, formed when the Rhine was swollen by the melting of the great Alpine gla- ciers, which then extended much below their present level and covered a far greater area than they now do. Important as this formation is in that region, it sinks into insignificance when com- pared with what is presented by the Chinese deposits of similar character. The Chinese loess, like that of the Bias is an earthy sub- -stance of a brownish-yellow color, so tender and little coherent _ that it can be easily rubbed to a powder between the fingers. It is chiefly made up of argillaceous materials, with a small propor- _ tion of carbonate of lime; and it has also mixed with it more or less fine sand, the grains of which are quite angular. This sand, however, is small in quantity as compared with the argillaceous 1 China, Ergebnisse mcg Reisen und darauf gegriindeter Studien, Erster eae we Binleitender Theil. Berlin, 1877. x 2 Loess is very nearly the pia alent of the English word loam. Perhaps the best = Way to define it would be to say that loam when developed enough to become a for- . ~ mation of geological importance, and not a mere surface deposit, is loess. aS Ai Copyright, 1877, by A. S. PACKARD, JR. 706 The Chinese Loess Puzzle. [ December, portion. The most striking facts with regard to this material in China are its wide-spread distribution and its enormous thick- ness, — facts which, taken in connection with its composition and structure, render its origin one of the most perplexing of geo- logical problems. First, as toits distribution. According to Richthofen, this for- mation is spread over a large part of the region drained by the Hwang-Ho or Yellow River, — a name derived from the color of the material which this great stream is continually carrying in suspension towards the Yellow Sea, in which name we again rec- ognize the coloration given by the particles of the loess, which itself is called by the Chinese hwang-tu or yellow earth. For nearly a thousand miles from the borders of the great alluvial plain of Pechele, through the provinces of Shansi, Shensi, and Kansu, everywhere to the north of the Wei, which runs along the northern base of the range of the Tsing-ling-shan, the loess may be followed up to the very divide which separates the basin of the Hwang-Ho from the region destitute of drainage into the sea. Towards the north, it reaches almost to the edge of the Mongolian plateau. Furthermore, it may be observed in the province of Honan, along the south side of the most easterly outliers of the Kwenlun, filling a large portion of the middle part of the basin of the Han, covering large areas in Shantung, and reaching southwards in isolated patches as far as the Yangtse. The area over which the loess spreads itself almost continuously is as large as the whole of Germany ; while it is found in more or less detached portions over an additional area nearly half as large as that empire. From the known topographical character of the loess-covered region, it will be recognized at once that the formation in ques- tion oceurs at very varying altitudes, or that it is distributed without regard to the elevation of the surface on which it rests. From near the level of the sea up to six thousand feet and more above it, this characteristic material lies, covering valley and mountain slope, absent only on the crests of some of the higher : dividing ridges, This extraordinary range of vertical position has not been given to the loess by changes of level of the land since it was deposited, for Richthofen declares that it clearly re- sults from his researches that the relative position of the higher he and lower portions of the region in question has not been changed since the deposition of the loess; although he believes that, a8 a whole, its eastern border has been depressed in altitude, the — : 1877. ] The Chinese Loess Puzzle. TOT coast-line formerly extending farther out into the sea than it now does. So much for the horizontal and vertical distribution of the loess, and now some of its structural conditions may be noticed. Two peculiarities strike the eye of the observer at once on ex- amining the material in question : in the first place, the entire absence of any indications of stratification ; and, second, the tend- ency which it everywhere exhibits to cleave or crack in vertical planes. These peculiarities, however, would not make such a strong impression on the mind of the geologist if it were not for the enormous thickness of the deposit, which is usually several hundred and in places reaches fifteen hundred or even two thou- sand feet. To see such a mass of material, not of igneous origin, destitute of any indication of stratification, is something entirely out of the ordinary experience of the geological observer. It would seem impossible that such a deposit could have been laid ` down except from water , and, if so, where are the lines of depo- sition, which never fail to make themselves visible in aqueous sediments? The problem, as will be seen, begins to present it- self as a puzzle. But it may be asked, Is not this a deposit from water, in which, owing to some peculiar conditions, the lines of stratification have become obliterated? The answer to this is readily given in the negative, when on investigation it is found that this deposit, hundreds of feet in thickness, contains imbedded within its mass no fossil remains of marine or fresh-water origin, but only land shells — mostly those of snails —and occasional bones of land animals. It is evident, then, that this so-called loess is not similar in origin to that of the Rhine Valley, as indeed might easily have been inferred from its position at all elevations over plain and mountain side ; but that it is a subaerial deposit. Apart from theoretical considerations of origin, which make this loess formation so interesting, there are other circumstances re- sulting from its mode of occurrence, which bear on the daily life of the people inhabiting these loess-covered districts, and so con- nect themselves with their agriculture, their roads, and their means of military defense as to be abundantly striking, even to ~ the observer who cares nothing for geological problems, and to whom the absence of lines of stratification would not appear as a noticeable fact. The peculiar type of scenery which these great _ areas, covered by such a thickness of soft, easily eroded material, _ present could not fail to impress itself on the mind of the most careless observer. And we find that the main features of the landscape in the loess districts are closely connected in their ori- 708 The Chinese Loess Puzzle. [December, gin with the tendency which this material possesses — as already noticed — to divide into masses separated by vertical planes; a peculiarity which is not properly cleavage, neither is it exactly what geologists call jointing, but something near akin to it.. As a result of this tendency, we find that the rivers which run through the loess-covered districts are bordered by absolutely vertical walls of this material, sometimes hundreds of feet in height. Given the elements of great thickness of the deposits, extreme facility of erosion due to the softness of the mass, and the tendency to vertical cleavage, and it can easily be imagined that the resulting forms left from the action of erosive agencies must be extremely complex and peculiar. Indeed, as described by Richthofen, the loess-covered region is certainly one of the most curious portions of the earth’s surface. It somewhat resem- bles the Colorado plateau, in being deeply and intricately fur- rowed by drainage channels of great depth, and proportionately very narrow. In the Colorado region, however, the walls of the cafions, as these gorges are there called, are never vertical, though usually quite steep, and the material on which the water exer- cises its erosive power has a greater variety of texture and color than that offered by the loess, which is remarkably homogeneous from top to bottom. The difficulty of traversing such a region, or even of engineering roads through it, can readily be imagined. It is not so much of a task to keep on one main divide between two systems of gorges; but to go across the country in any fixed direction is almost an impossibility. Tunnels and spiral stair- ways in the mass of the loess must often be resorted to. dn short, the configuration of the surface is, as Richthofen remarks, most fantastic and curious. “ Wide chasms are surrounded by castles, towers, peaks, and needles, all made up of yellow earth, between which gorges and chasms radiate labyrinthically upwards into the walls of solid ground around. High up on a rock of earth, steeper than any rock of stone, stands the temple of the village, or a small fortress which affords the villagers a safe re- treat in times of danger. The only access to such a place is by a spiral stairway dug out within the mass of the bluff itself. In this yellow defile there are innumerable nooks and recesses, often enlivened by thousands of people, who dwell in caves dug out m the loess!” : ; Millions of human beings live in habitations excavated in this 1 Richthofen, Letter on the Provinces of Chili, Shansi, Shensi, and S2’-chwan. Shanghai, 1872. : : 1877. ] The Chinese Loess Puzzle. 709 material. These dwellings vary in character from mere holes in the ground to commodious mansions. The largest houses for the entertainment of travelers are sometimes excavated to a distance of two hundred feet into the ground, with corresponding breadth and height, so that numerous guests, with their vehicles and an- imals, can be housed with comfort, small side apartments being cut out adjacent to the large one for sleeping quarters. The walls of these extraordinary dwellings are lined with cement made from the calcareous nodules which the loess often contains ; this arrangement tends to cleanliness and durability, and dwell- ` ings thus protected sometimes last for hundreds of years, being warm in winter and cool in summer. It must be a most curious experience to travel over the surface of a highly cultivated loess district, and to see no signs of any inhabitants, until one comes to some point where the vertical wall of yellow earth is exposed to view, in and out of the holes in which the people are seen swarming like bees around a bee-hive. To the traveler looking down from an adjacent elevation on to one of the loess basins, the surface seems uniform in character with a gently descending slope, easily accessible and green with vegetation ; from the bot- tom of one of the gorges, on the other hand, only the bare, verti- cal loess walls are visible, while the whole mass is found to be intersected with a labyrinth of deep and, from the general level, -inaccessible gorges. uch are some of the more striking peculiarities of the loess formation. But, besides its tendency to vertical cleavage, it ex- hibits a more or less complete arrangement in thick layers, and this has been taken by some observers for a real stratification, which, however, as Richthofen considers that he has clearly es- tablished, it is not. This pseudo-stratification depends for its ex- istence on horizontal lines of caleareous concretions, like what we call clay-stones, the Loessmdnnchen of the dwellers on the Rhine, and which the Chinese call by a name which means “ stone gin- _ ger,” from the resemblance of these concretionary forms to the roots of the ginger plant. That these loessminnchen have = been formed in the loess by infiltration along the lines of cleay- age and resultant chemical action on calcareous matter occurring in large quantity along certain planes, and that they are not the product of anything like deposition from water, is clearly shown by their vertical position in the material in which they are found ; had they been swept into their places by a current of water, they must have been laid upon their flat surfaces. These imperfectly 710 The Chinese Loess Puzzle. [ December, formed concretionary layers exercise an important influence in determining a terrace-like form of the sides of the gorges worn down in the loess, which often rise in a succession of steps, hav- ing this peculiarity : that there is little or no talus or sloping pile of débris along the line where the vertical and horizontal surfaces meet. The natural tendency to this condition of things is as- sisted in its development by the labors of those who cultivate the soil, and for whose advantage it is to gain as much flat surface as possible. The first person to notice and describe these remarkable de- posits was Professor Pumpelly, who, in 1864, journeyed over a portion of the loess-covered districts lying along the southern border of Mongolia. His observation, however, did not, by any means, extend over so wide an area as those of Richthofen, and his theory of the origin of the loess appears to be insufficiently supported by the facts which a much larger and more exhaustive investigation of the country brought to light; still, it must be ad- mitted that there are difficulties which no theory seems able fully to overcome. Professor Pumpelly considered the loess, which he describes under the name of “ terrace deposit,” as a lacustrine formation, each of the basins in which this material occurs hav- ing been once the bed of a lake, a series of large bodies of fresh water being assumed as formerly extending along the course of the Hwang-Ho, which did not then occupy its present position, but ran in a pretty direct line, connecting the different basins, from Ning-hia-fu to Peking. This theory, therefore, demands. that there should have been a considerable diminution in the quantity of water formerly covering the region in question. It seems the most plausible one at first sight, however, and other observers —as for instance Kingsmill —have not hesitated to adopt and defend it. The difficulties which this theory presents seem, as developed by Richthofen, almost, if not quite, insurmountable. The mam arguments urged against Pumpelly’s theory will be readily m- — ferred from what has been stated in the preceding paragraphs. The absence of indications of stratification, and the constant pres- ence in the material of land instead of fresh-water shells, and of bones of land animals, are facts which it seems impossible to set aside, since they result from prolonged observations made by a most skillful geologist. Besides, the loess indicates by its structure the growth on its surface during deposition of an abun- - dant vegetation. The plants themselves — grasses, chiefly — are 1877. ] The Chinese Loess Puzzle. 711 no longer there ; but the constant occurrence of innumerable del- icate, elongated cavities, occupying a nearly vertical position, ramifying and inosculating at very acute angles, just as do the rootlets of plants, shows their former presence. It is to this peculiarity that the tendency to vertical cleavage, which is so conspicuously manifested in the loess, is largely due. There is a greater difficulty still, if possible, in the way of the adoption of the lacustrine origin of these deposits. As Richt- hofen declares with the utmost confidence, based on a thorough examination of the region, the loess everywhere exhibits itself as a deposit which was not laid down until after the surface of the country where it occurs had assumed its present configuration. The orographic conditions are not such as, by any possibility, could allow of the formation of a connected series of lake-like expansions of the Hwang-Ho, as is demanded by Professor Pum- pelly’s theory. Richthofen, therefore, unhesitatingly declares himself in favor of a subaerial origin of the loess ; and he endeavors to account for the accumulation of this enormous mass of material in the follow- ing manner. In the first place, and as a necessity of the pro- posed theory, the district of the loess was once destitute of out- ward drainage, consisting, in fact, of a number of closed basins, such as are still found occurring in the adjacent region to the west in Central Asia. These closed basins were prairies, and _ the loess is “ the collective residue of uncountable generations of herbaceous plants.” It is the inorganic residuum which has ac- cumulated during an immense lapse of time as the result of the decay of a vigorous prairie growth, ever renewing itself on the surface of the slowly accumulating deposit. But how is the in- - crease of the deposit provided for by the theory ? Unless there be some source supplying material from without, there can evi- dently be no gain in thickness, however many generations of | plants succeed each other. The necessary addition of mineral matter Richthofen considers to have been brought into these ba- sins by two agencies, the rain and the wind, and the latter es- — pecially plays an important part in this theory. Each basin be- ing surrounded by a rim of rocks, constantly undergoing decom- = position, the particles thus set free were either swept down the - Mountain sides towards the central area by rain, or blown thither by air currents, and once entangled among the vegetation could not be carried farther. : The facts being assumed to be as Richthofen states them, it 712 The Chinese Loess Puzzle. [ December, would appear that no other theory than this can be adopted for their explanation. A marine origin is rendered impossible by the absence of marine fossils, the constant presence of land shells and bones of land animals, as also by the absence of stratification and the very great differences of level at which the formation rests. The same arguments apply to the theory of a lacustrine origin, except that the one last mentioned would not present in- superable difficulties, or at least not any greater ones than those which the adoption of Richthofen’s views implies. Either theory seems to need for its support changes of climate and a certain amount of alteration in the configuration of the surface. If the loess were deposited in closed basins, these are now opened to the sea and drained by the Hwang-Ho. The areas once separated from each other are at present connected; the deposits they in- closed are now being swept away to the sea. It is impossible to account for this changed condition of things without admitting a considerable increase in the amount of precipitation over the region in question, and it is not easy to see how a complete ` drainage system could have been established without the forma- tion of a certain number of lakes, nor why these should all have disappeared so completely. Acéording to the lacustrine theory, on the other hand, the precipitation is now less than it formerly was ; the mighty lakes have shrunk and disappeared, the Hwang- Ho is but the remnant of what was once a much larger stream. What change of level in the area thus drained would be required to fit this theory it seems difficult to make out. The appearance, in a future volume of Richthofen’s great work, of the details of the cartography and geology of the region in question will, no doubt, be of much assistance in enabling one to form a clearer opinion of these matters. The interesting chapter in the volume already published, entitled Formation and Remodeling (Bildung und Umbildung) of the Salt Steppes of Central Asia, in which subjects closely connected with the question of the mode of for- mation of the loess are discussed at very considerable length, cannot at present be entered upon, for want of space. Its con- sideration may be taken up at a future time, when it will be found that it has important bearings on certain points closely m lated to our own surface geology, and which have not yet received anything like the attention which they deserve at the hands of | our geological observers. It is sufficient, for the present, to have given the readers of the NATURALIST an idea of one among the many interesting topics treated in Richthofen’s work. It should © : a : Tn] The Colors of Animals and Plants. 713 be added, however, that the contents of the only volume as yet published refer chiefly to the historical development of geograph- ical discovery in China and Central Asia, forming by far the most copious and thoroughly digested summary of facts ever as yet presented relating to this interesting but difficult subject. THE COLORS OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS.? BY ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE. I. THE COLORS OF ANIMALS. Theory of Sexual Colors.—In Mr. Darwin’s celebrated work, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, he has treated of sexual color in combination with other sexual charac- ters, and has arrived at the conclusion that all, or almost all, the colors of the higher animals (including among these insects and all vertebrates) are due to voluntary sexual selection ; and that diversity of color in the sexes is due, primarily, to the transmis- sion of color-variations either to one sex only, or to both sexes, the difference depending on some ünknowi law, and not being due to natural selection. I have long held this portion of Mr. Darwin’s theory to be er- roneous, and have argued that the primary cause of sexual diver- sity of color was the need of protection, repressing in the female those. os colors which are nominally produced in both sexes by general laws; and I have attempted to explain many of the more difficult cases on this principle (A Theory of Birds’ Nests, in Contributions, etc., page 231). As I have since given much thought to this sibfeot: and have arrived at some views which appear to me to be of considerable importance, it will be well to sketch briefly the theory I now hold, and afterward show its ap- plication to some of the detailed cases adduced in Mr Darwin’s work. The very frequent superiority of the male bird or insect in brightness or intensity of color, even when the general tints and coloration are the same, now seems to me to be due to the greater vigor and activity and the higher vitality of the male. The col- ors of an animal usually fade during disease or weakness, while robust health and vigor add to their intensity. This intensity of coloration is most manifest in the male during the breeding-sea- son, when the vitality is at a maximum. It is also very manifest 1 From Macmillan’s Magazine, Concluded from page 662. 714 The Colors of Animals and Plants. [ December, in those cases in which the male is smaller than the female, as in the hawks and in’ most butterflies and moths. The same phe- nomena occur, though in a less marked degree, among mamma- lia. Whenever there isa difference of color between the sexes the male is the darker or more strongly marked, and difference of intensity is most visible during the breeding season (Descent of Man, page 533). Numerous cases among domestic animals also prove that there is an inherent tendency in the male to spe- cial developments of dermal appendages and ‘color, quite inde- pendently of sexual or any other form of selection. Thus, “ the hump on the male zebu cattle of India, the tail of fat-tailed rams, the arched outline of the forehead in the males of several breeds of sheep, and the mane, the long hairs on the hind-legs, and the dewlap of the male of the Berbura goat,” are all adduced by Mr. Darwin as instances of characters peculiar to the male, yet not derived from any parent ancestral form. Among domestic pig- eons the character of the different breeds is often most strongly manifested in the male birds; the wattle of the carriers and the eye-wattles of the barbs are largest in the males, and male pout- ers distend their crops to a much greater extent than do the fe- males, and the cock fantails often have a greater number of tail- feathers than the females. There are also some varieties of pig- — eons of which the males are striped or spotted with black, while - the females are never so spotted (Animals and Plants under Do- mestication, i., 161); yet in the parent stock of these pigeons there are no differences between the sexes either of plumage or _ color, and artificial selection has not been applied to produce — them. The greater intensity of coloration in the male — which may be termed the normal sexual difference — would be further de- veloped by the combats of the males for the possession of the fe- males. The most vigorous and energetic usually being able to rear most offspring, intensity of color, if dependent on or cor- related with vigor, would tend to increase. But as differences of color depend upon minute chemical or structural differences 1m the organism, increasing vigor acting unequally on different por- tions of the integument, and often producing at the same time abnormal developments of hair, horns, scales, feathers, etc., would almost necessarily lead also to variable distribution of oes color, and thus to the production of new tints and markings. hese acquired colors would, as Mr. Darwin has shown, be trans- mitted to both sexes or to one only, according as they first ap- — - Spans one 1877.] -The Colors of Animals and Plants. 715 peared at an early age, or in adults of one sex, and thus we may account for some of the most marked differences in this respect. With the exception of butterflies, the sexes are almost alike in the great majority of insects. The same is the case in mammals and reptiles, while the chief departure from the rule occurs in birds, though even here in very many cases the law of sexual likeness prevails. But in all cases where the.increasing develop- ment of color became disadvantageous to the female, it would be checked by natural selection, and thus produce those numerous instances of protective coloring in the female only which occur in these two groups of animals. There is also, I believe, a very important purpose and use of the varied colors of the higher animals, in the facility it affords for recognition by the sexes or by the young of the same species; _ and it is this use which probably fixes and determines the color- ation in many cases. When differences of size and form are very slight, color affords the only means of recognition at a distance or while in motion, and such a distinctive character must there- fore be of especial value to flying inse¢ts which are continually in motion, and encounter each other, as it were, by accident. This view offers us an explanation of the curious fact that among but- terflies the females of closely-allied species in the same locality sometimes differ considerably, while the males are much alike ; for as the males are the swiftest and the highest fliers and seek the females, it would evidently be advantageous for them to be able to recognize their true partners at some distance off. This peculiarity occurs with many species of Papilio, Diadema, Ado- lias, and Colias. In birds such marked differences of color are not required, owing to their higher organization and more perfect senses, which render recognition easy by means of a combination of very slight differential characters. This principle may, per- haps, however, account for some anomalies of coloration among the higher animals. Thus, Mr. Darwin, while admitting that the hare and the rabbit are colored protectively, remarks that the latter, while running to its burrow, is made conspicuous to the sportsman, and no doubt to all beasts of prey, by its upturned, white tail. But this very conspicuousness while running away may be useful as a signal and guide to the young, who are thus enabled to escape danger by following the older rabbits, directly and without asaiod: to the safety of the burrow ; and this may e the more important from the semi-nocturnal habits of the ani- mal. If this explanation is correct, and it certainly seems peon 716 The Colors of Animals and Plants, [December, able, it may serve as a warning of how impossible it is, without exact knowledge of the habits of an animal and a full considera- tion of all the circumstances, to decide that any particular color- ation cannot be protective or in any way useful. Mr. Darwin himself is not free from such assumptions. Thus, he says: “The zebra is conspicuously striped, and stripes cannot afford any protection on the open plains of South Africa.” But the zebra is a very swift animal, and, when in herds, by no means void of means of defense. The stripes, therefore, may be of use by enabling stragglers to distinguish their fellows at a distance, and they may be even protective when the animal is at rest among herbage—the only time when it would need protective coloring. Until the habits of the zebra have been observed with special reference to this point, it is surely somewhat hasty to de- clare that the stripes “ cannot afford any protection.” The wonderful display and endless variety of color in which butterflies and birds so far exceed all other animals seem prima- rily due to the excessive development and endless variations of the integumentary structures. No insects have such widely-ex- panded wings in proportion to their bodies as butterflies and moths ; in none do the wings vary so much in size and form, and in none are they clothed with such a beautiful and highly-organ- ized coating of scales, According to the general principles of the production of color already explained, these long-continued ex- pansions of membranes and developments of surface-structures must have led to numerous color-changes, which have been some- times checked, sometimes fixed and utilized, sometimes intensi- ` fied, by natural selection, according to the needs of the animal. . In birds, too, we have the wonderful clothing of plumage — the most highly-organized, the most varied, and the most expanded of all dermal appendages. The endless processes of growth and change during the development of feathers, and the enormous ex- tent of this delicately-organized surface, must have been highly favorable to the production of varied color-effects, which, when not injurious, have been merely fixed for purposes of specific identification, but have often been modified or suppressed when- ever different tints were needed for purposes of protection. To voluntary sexual selection, that is, the actual choice by the females of the more brilliantly-colored males, I believe very little if any effect is directly due. It is undoubtedly proved that m birds the females do sometimes éxert a choice; but the evidence of this fact collected by Mr. Darwin (Descent of Man, chapter 1877.] The Colors of Animals and Plants. TIT xiv.) does not prove that color determines that choice, while much of the strongest evidence is directly opposed to this view. All the facts appear to be consistent with the choice depending on a variety of male characteristics, with some of which color is often correlated. Thus it is the opinion of some of the best ob- servers that vigor and liveliness are most attractive, and these are, no doubt, usually associated with intensity of color. Again, the display of the various ornamental appendages of the male during courtship may be attractive; but these appendages, with their bright colors or shaded patterns, are due probably to gen- eral laws of growth and to that superabundant vitality which we have seen to be a cause of color. But there are many considera- tions which seem to show that the possession of these ornamental appendages and bright colors in the male is not an important character functionally, and that it has not been produced by the action of voluntary sexual selection. Amid the copious mass of facts and opinions collected by Mr. Darwin as to the display of color and ornaments by the male birds, there is a total absence of any evidence that the females admire or even notice this display. The hen, the turkey, and the pea-fowl, go on feeding while the male is displaying his finery, and there is reason to believe that it is his persistency and energy rather than his beauty which wins the day. Again, evidence collected by Mr. Darwin himself proves that each bird finds a mate under any circumstances. He gives a number of cases of one of a pair of birds being shot, and - the survivor being always found paired again almost imme- diately. This is sufficiently explained on the assumption that the destruction of birds by various causes is continually leaving widows and widowers in nearly equal proportions, and thus each one finds a fresh mate; and it leads to the conclusion that permanently-unpaired birds are very scarce; so that, speaking = broadly, ‘every bird finds a mate and breeds. But this would almost or quite neutralize any effect of sexual selection of color or ornament, since the less highly-colored birds would be at no dis- advantage as regards leaving healthy offspring. If, however, heightened color is correlated with health and vigor, and these healthy and vigorous birds provide best for their young, and leave offspring which, being equally healthy and vigorous, can best provide for themselves, then natural selection becomes a preserver and intensifier of color. Another most important con- sideration is, that male butterflies rival or even excel the most gorgeous male birds in bright colors and elegant patterns ; and 718 -The Colors of Animals and Plants. — [ December, among these there is literally not one particle of evidence that the female is influenced by color, or even that she has any power of choice, while there is much direct evidence to the contrary (Descent of Man, page 318). The weakness of the evidence for sexual selection among these insects is so palpable that Mr. Darwin is obliged to supplement it by the singularly inconclu- sive argument that ‘unless the females prefer one male to an- other, the pairing must be left to mere chance, and this does not appear probable” (loc. cit., page 317). But he has just said, “ The males sometimes fight together in rivalry, and many may be seen pursuing or crowding round the same female ;” while in the case of the silk-moths, “ the females appear not to evince the least choice in regard to their partners.” Surely, the plain in- ference from all this is, that males fight and struggle for the almost passive female, and that the most vigorous and energetic, the strongest-winged or the most persevering, wins her. How can there be chance in this? Natural selection would here act, as in birds, in perpetuating the strongest and most vigorous males, and as these would usually be the more highly-colored of their race, the same results would be produced as regards the intensifi- cation and variation of color in the one case as in the other. Let us now see how these principles will apply to some of the eases adduced by Mr. Darwin in support of his theory of volun- tary sexual selection. ~ In Descent of Man, second edition, pp. 307-816, we find an elaborate account of the various modes of coloring of butterflies and moths, proving that the colored parts are always more or less displayed, and that they have some evident relation to an observer. Mr. Darwin then says: “ From the several foregoing facts it is impossible to admit that the brilliant colors of butter- flies, and of some few moths, have commonly been acquired for the sake of protection. We have seen that their colors and elegant patterns are arranged and exhibited as if for display. Hence, I am led to believe that the females prefer or are most excited by the more brilliant males ; for on any other supposition the males would, as far as we can see, be ornamented to no pur pose ” (loe. cit., p. 316). Iam not aware that any one has ever maintained that the brilliant colors of butterflies have “ com- monly been acquired for the sake of protection,” yet Mr. Darwin has himself referred to cases in which the brilliant color 18 50 placed.as to serve for protection; as, for example, the eye on the hind-wings of moths, which are pierced by birds, and a -spots | ~ 1877.] The Colors of Animals and Plants. 719 so save the vital parts of the insect, while the bright patch on the orange-tip butterflies, which Mr. Darwin denies are pro- tective, may serve the same purpose. It is, in fact, somewhat remarkable how very generally the black spots, ocelli, or bright patches of color, are on the tips, margins, or disks of the wings; and, as the insects are necessarily visible while flying, and this is the time when they are most subject to attacks by insectivorous birds, the position of the more conspicuous parts at some distance from the body may be a real protection to them. Again, Mr. Darwin admits that the white color of the male ghost-moth may render it more easily seen by the female while flying about in the dusk, and if to this we add that it will be also more readily distinguished from allied species, we have a reason for diverse ornamentation in these insects quite sufficient to account for most of the facts, without believing in the selection of brilliant males by the females, for which there is not a particle of evi- dence. The facts given to show that butterflies and other insects can distinguish colors, and are attracted by colors similar to their own, are quite consistent with the view that color, which con- tinually tends to appear, is utilized for purposes of identification and distinction, when not required to be modified or suppressed for purposes of protection. The cases of the females of some species of Thecla, Callidryas, Colias, and Hipparchia, which have more conspicuous markings than the male, may be due to several causes: to obtain greater | distinction from other species, for protection from birds} as in the case of the yellow-under-wing moths, while sometimes—as in Hipparchia—the lower intensity of coloring in the female may lead to more contrasted markings. Mr. Darwin thinks that here the males have selected the more beautiful females, although one chief fact in support of his theory ` of voluntary sexual selection is, that throughout the whole animal kingdom the males are usually so ardent that they will accept any female, while the females are coy, and choose the handsom- est males, whence it is believed the general brilliancy of males as compared with females has arisen. Perhaps the most curious cases of sexual difference of color are those in which the female is very much more gayly colored than the male. This occurs most strikingly in some species of Pieris in South America, and of Diadema in the Malay islands, and in both cases the females resemble the uneatable Danaidæ and Heliconidæ, and thus gain a protection. In the case of Pieris a Pyrrha, P. malenka, and P. lorena, the males are plain white 720 The Colors of Animals and Plants. [ December, and black, while the females are orange, yellow, and black, and so banded and spotted as exactly to, resemble species of Heli- conidæ. Mr. Darwin admits that these females have acquired these colors as a protection ; but as there is no apparent cause for the strict limitation of the color to the female, he believes that it has been kept down in the male by its being unattractive to her. This appears to me to be a supposition opposed to the whole theory of sexual selection itself. For this theory is, that minute variations of color in the male are attractive to the fe- male, have always been selected, and that thus the brilliant male colors have been produced. But in this case he thinks that the female butterfly had a constant aversion to every trace of color, even when we must suppose it was constantly recurring during the successive variations which resulted in such a marvel- ous change in herself. But if we consider the fact that the fe- males frequent the forests where the Heliconidz abound, while the males fly much in the open, and assemble in great numbers with other white and yellow butterflies on the banks of rivers, may it not be possible that the appearance of orange stripes or patches would be as injurious to the male as it is useful to the female, by making him a more easy mark for insectivorous birds among his white companions ? This seems a more probable sup- position than the altogether hypothetical choice of the female, sometimes exercised in favor of and sometimes against every new variety of color in her partner. _ The full and interesting account given by Mr. Darwin of the colors and habits of male and female birds (Descent of Man, chapters xiii. and xiv.) proves that in most, if not in all, cases the male birds fully display their ornamental plumage before the ` females, and in rivalry with each other; but on the essential point of whether the female’s choice is determined by minute . differences in these ornaments or in their colors, there appears to be an entire absence of evidence. In the section on Preference for Particular Males by the Females, the facts quoted show m- difference to color, except that some color similar to their own seems to be preferred. But in the case of the hen-canary, who chose a greenfinch in preference to either chaffinch or goldfinch, gay colors had evidently no preponderating attraction. There do, choose their mates, but none whatever that the choice is de- termined by difference of color; and no less than three eminent e breeders informed Mr. Darwin that they “did not believe that Z : ~ is some evidence adduced that female birds may, and probably — » 1877.) The Colors of Animals and Plants. T21 the females prefer certain males on account of the beauty of their plumage.” Again, Mr. Darwin himself says, “ As a gen- eral rule, color appears to have little influente on the pairing of pigeons.” The oft-quoted case of Sir R. Heron’s peahens, which preferred an “old pied cock” to those normally colored, is a very unfortunate one, because pied birds are just those that are not favored in a state of nature, or the breeds of wild birds would | become as varied and mottled as our domestic varieties. If such irregular fancies were not rare exceptions, the production of defi- nite colors and patterns by the choice of the female birds, or in any other way, would be impossible. We now come to such wonderful developments of plumage and color as are exhibited by the peacock and the Argus pheasant ; and I may here mention that it was the latter bird, as fully dis- cussed by Mr. Darwin, which first shook my belief in ‘ sexual,” or more properly ‘* female,” selection. The long series of grada- tions by which the beautifully-shaded ocelli on the secondary wing feathers of this bird have been produced are clearly traced out, the result being a set of markings so exquisitely shaded as to represent “ balls lying loose within sockets,” — purely artificial -= objects of which these birds could have no possible knowledge. That this result should have been attained through thousands and tens of thousands of female birds, all preferring those males whose markings varied slightly in this one direction, this uniformity of choice continuing through thousands and tens of thousands of generations, is to me absolutely incredible. And when, further, we remember that those which did not so vary would also, accord- ing to all'the evidence, find mates and leave offspring, the actual result seems quite impossible of attainment by such means. Without pretending to solve completely so difficult a problem, I would point out a circumstance which seems to afford a clew. It is that the most highly colored and most richly varied mark- ings occur on those parts of the plumage which have undergone the greatest modification, or have acquired the most abnormal _ development. In the peacock the tail coverts are enormously 4 developed, and the “ eyes ” are situated on the greatly dilated ends. In the birds-of-paradise, breast, or neck, or head, or tail _ feathers are greatly developed and highly colored. The hackles _ of the cock and the scaly breasts of humming-birds are similar _ developments ; while in the Argus pheasant the secondary quills are so enormously lengthened and broadened as to have become almost useless for flight. Now, it is easily conceivable that, dur- VOL. XI. — No. 12. 46 . 722 - The Colors of Animals and Plants. [ December, ing this process of development, inequalities in the distribution of color may have arisen in different parts of the same feather, and that spots and bands may thus have become broadened out into shaded spots or ocelli, in the way indicated by Mr., Darwin, much as the spots and rings on a soap-bubble increase with in- creasing tenuity. This is the more probable, as in domestic fowls varieties tend to become symmetrical, quite independently of sexual selection. ( Descent of Man, page 424. f, now, we accept the evidence of Mr. Darwin’s most trust- worthy correspondents that the choice ef the female, so far as she exerts any, falls upon the ‘“ most vigorous, defiant, and met- tlesome male,” and if we further believe, what is certainly the case, that these are, as a rule, the most brightly colored and adorned with the finest developments of plumage, we have a real and not a hypothetical cause at work. For these most healthy, vigorous, and beautiful males will have the choice of the finest and most healthy females, will have the most numerous and healthy families, and will be able best to protect and rear those families. Natural selection, and what may be termed male selection, will tend to give them the advantage in the struggle for existence, and thus the fullest plumage and the firiest colors will be trans- mitted, and tend to advance in each succeeding generation. There remains, however, what Mr. Darwin evidently considers his strongest argument, the display by the male of each species of its peculiar beauties of plumage and color. Wethave here, no doubt, a very remarkable and very interesting fact; but this, too, may be explained by general principles, quite independent of any choice or volition of the female bird. During pairing-time the male bird is in a state of great excitement, and full of exu- berant energy. Even unornamented birds flutter their wings or spread them out, erect their tails or crests, and thus give vent to the nervous excitability with which they are overcharged. ‘Tt is not improbable that crests and other erectile feathers may be primarily of use in frightening away enemies, since they are gen- erally erected when angry or during combat. Those individuals who were most pugnacious and defiant, and who brought these erectile plumes most frequently and most powerfully into action, would tend to increase them by use, and to leave them further developed in some of their descendants. If, in the course of this development, color appeared, we have every reason to believe it ee would be most vivid in these most pugnacious and energetic indi- viduals ; and as these would always have the advantage m the a ` 1877.] The Colors of Animals and Plants. - 723 rivalry for mates (to which advantage the excess of color and plumage might sometimes conduce), there seems nothing to pre- vent a progressive development of these ornaments in all domi- nant races, that is, wherever there was such a surplus of vitality and such complete adaptation to conditions that the incon- venience or danger produced by them was so comparatively small as not to affect the superiority of the race over its nearest allies, If, then, those portions of the plumage which were originally erected and displayed became developed and colored, the actual display, under the influence of jealousy or sexual excitement, becomes intelligible. The males, in their rivalry with each other, would see what plumes were most effective, and each would en- deavor to excel his enemy as far as voluntary exertion could effect it, just as they endeavor to rival each other in song, even some- times to the point of causing their own destruction, There is also a general argument against Mr. Darwin’s views on this question, founded on the nature and potency of ‘ natural ” as opposed to “sexual” selection, which appears to me to be itself almost. conclusive of the whole matter at issue. Natural selection, or the survival of the fittest, acts perpetually and on an enormous scale. Taking the offspring of each pair of birds as, on the average, only six annually, one third of these at most will be preserved, while the two thirds which are least fitted will die. At intervals of a few years, whenever unfavorable conditions occur, five sixths, nine tenths, or even a greater proportion of the whole yearly production are weeded out, leaving only the most perfect and best adapted to survive. Now, unless these survivors are on the whole the most ornamental, this rigid selective power must neutralize and destroy any influence that may be exerted by female selection. For the utmost that can be claimed for this is that a small fraction of the least ornamented do not obtain - mates, while a few of the most ornamented may leave more than the average number of offspring. Unless, therefore, there is the strictest correlation between ornament and general perfection, _ the former can have no permanent advantage; and if there is = (as I maintain) such a correlation, then the sexual selection of or- nament, for which there is little or no evidence, becomes need- less, because natural selection, which is an admitted vera causa, will itself produce all the results. In the case of butterflies the _ argument becomes even stronger, because the fertility is so much greater, and the weeding out of the unfit takes place, to a great extent, in the egg and larva state. Unless the eggs and larve 724 The Colors of Animals and Plants. [ December, which escaped to produce the next generation were those which would produce the more highly colored butterflies, it is difficult to perceive how the slight preponderance of color sometimes selected by the females should not be wholly neutralized by the extremely rigid selection for other qualities to which the off- spring in every stage are exposed. The only way in which we can account for the observed facts is by the supposition that color and ornament are strictly correlated with health, vigor, and general fitness to survive. We have shown that there is reason to believe that this is the case, and, if so, voluntary sexual selec- tion becomes as unnecessary as it would certainly be ineffective. There is one other very curious case of sexual coloring among birds: that, namely, in which the female is decidedly brighter or more strongly marked than the male, as in the fighting quails (Turniz), painted’ snipe (Rhynchea), two species of phalarope (Phalaropus),and the common cassowary ( Casuarius galeatus). In all these cases, it is known that the males take charge of and in- eubate the eggs, while the females are almost always larger and more pugnacious. In my Theory of Birds’ Nests? I imputed this difference of color to the greater need for protection by the male bird while incubating, to which Mr. Darwin has objected that the difference is not sufficient, and is not always so distributed as to be most effective for this purpose; and he believes that it is due to reversed sexual selection, that is, to the female taking the usual réle of the male, and being chosen for her brighter tints. We have already seen reason for rejecting this latter theory in every case, and I also admit that my theory of protection is, in this case, : only partially, if at all, applicable. But the general theory of in- tensity of color being due to general vital energy is quite appli- 3 cable ; and the fact that the superiority of the female in this re- spect is quite exceptional, and is therefore probably not of very ancient date in any one case, will account for the difference of color thus produced being always comparatively slight. ae Theory of Typical Colors.— The remaining kinds of animal colors — those which can neither be classed as protective, warn- ing, nor sexual — are for the most part readily explained on the general principles of the development of color which we have «> now laid down. It is a most suggestive fact that, in cases where color is required only as a warning, as among the uneatable cat- erpillars, we find, not one or two glaring tints only, but every kind of color disposed in elegant patterns, and exhibiting almost 1 Natural Selection, page 251. a, 1877. ] The Colors of Animals and Plants. 725 as much variety and beauty as among insects and birds. Yet here, not only is sexual selection out of the question, but the need for recognition and identification by others of the same species seems equally unnecessary. We can then only impute this variety to the normal production of color in organic forms, when fully exposed to light and air and undergoing great and rapid devel- opmental modification. Among more perfect animals, where the need for recognition has been added, we find intensity and vari- ety of color at its highest pitch among the South American but- terflies of the families Heliconide and Danaidæ, as well as among the Nymphalidz and Erycinide, many of which obtain the necessary protection in other ways. Among birds, also, wherever the habits are such that no special protection is needed for the females, and where the species frequent the depths of tropical forests, and are thus naturally protected from the swoop of birds of prey, we find almost equally intense coloration, as in the trogons, barbets, and gapers. Of the mode of action of the general principles of color devel- opment among animals, we have an excellent example in the humming-birds. Of all birds these are at once the smallest, the most active, and the fullest of vital energy. When poised in the air, their wings are invisible, owing to the rapidity of their motion, and when startled they dart away with the rapid- ity of a flash of light. Such active creatures would not be an easy prey to any rapacious bird; and if one at length was cap- tured, the morsel obtained would hardly repay the labor. We may be sure, therefore, that they are practically unmolested. The immense variety they exhibit in structure, plumage, and color indicates a high antiquity for the race, while their general abundance in individuals shows that they are a dominant group, well adapted to all the conditions of their existence. Here we find everything necessary for the development of color and accessory plumes. The surplus vital energy shown in their combats and excessive activity has expended itself in ever-increasing develop- ments of plumage and greater and greater intensity of color, = regulated only by the need for specific identification, which would ___ be especially required in such small and mobile creatures. Thus = May be explained those remarkable differences of color between closely-allied species, one having a crest like the topaz, while in another it resembles the sapphire. The more vivid colors and = more developed plumage of the males, I am now inclined to _ think, may be wholly due to their greater vital energy and to 726 The Colors of Animals and Plants. [ December, those general laws which lead to such superior developments even in domestic breeds; but in some cases the need of protec- tion by the female while incubating, to which I formerly imputed the whole phenomenon, may have suppressed a portion of the ornament which she would otherwise have attained. Another real though as yet inexplicable cause of diversity of color is to be found in the influence of locality. It is observed that species of totally distinct groups are colored alike in one district, while in another district the allied species all undergo the same change of color. Cases of this kind have been adduced by Mr. Bates, by Mr. Darwin, and by myself, and I have col- lected all the more curious and important examples in my Ad- dress to the Biological Section of the British Association ‘at Glasgow in 1876. The most probable cause for these simultane- ous variations would seem to be the presence of peculiar elements or chemical compounds in the soil, the water, or the atmosphere, or of special organic substances in the vegetation; and a wide field is thus offered for chemical investigation in connection with this interesting subject. Yet, however we may explain it, the fact remains of the same vivid colors in definite patterns being produced in quite unrelated groups, which only agree, so far as we yet know, in inhabiting the same locality. Let us now sum up the conclusion at which we have arrived as to the various modes in which color is produced or modified in the animal kingdom. 3 The various causes of color in the animal world are molecular and chemical change of the substance of their integuments, Or . the action on it of heat, light, or moisture. It is also produced by interference of light in superposed transparent lamelle, or by excessively fine surface striae. These elementary conditions for the production of color are found everywhere in the surface structures of animals, so that its presence must be looked upon as normal, its absence as exceptional. oe Colors are fixed or modified in animals by natural selection for ; various purposes: obscure or imitative colors for concealment; = gaudy colors as a warning; and special markings: either for SS easy recognition by strayed individuals, females, or young, OY ee direct attack from a vital part, as in the large, brilliantly-marked — wings of some butterflies and moths. Se Colors are produced or intensified by processes of develop- : ment, — either where the integument or its appendages undergo — great extension or modification, or where there is a surplus of 1877. ] The Colors of Animals and Plants. 127 vital energy, as in male animals icici and more especially at the breeding-season. Colors are also more or less influenced by a variety of causes, such as the nature of the food, the photographic action of light, and also by some unknown local action probably dependent on chemical peculiarities in the soil or vegetation. These various causes have acted and reacted in a variety of ways, and have been modified by conditions dependent on age or on sex, on competition with new forms or on geographical or climatic changes. In so complex a subject, for which experiment and systematic inquiry have done so little, we cannot expect to explain every individual case, or solve every difficulty ; but it is believed that all the great features of animal coloration and many of the details become explicable on the principles we have endeavored to lay down. It will perhaps be considered A cus to put forth this sketch of the subject of color in animals as a substitute for one of Mr. Darwin’s most highly elaborated theories, — that of volun- tary or perceptive sexual selection, — yet I venture to think that it is more in accordance with the whole of the facts, and with the theory of natural selection itself; and I would ask such of my readers as may be sufficiently interested in the subject to read again chapters xi. to xvi. of the Descent of Man, and consider the whole theory from the point of view here laid down. The explanation of almost all the ornaments and colors of birds and insects as having been produced by the perceptions and choice of the females has, I believe, staggered many evolutionists, but has been provisionally accepted, because it was the only theory that even attempted to explain the facts. It may per- . haps be a relief to some of them, as it has been to myself, to find that the phenomena can be shown to depend on the general laws of development and on the action of “ natural selection,” which theory will, I venture to think, be relieved from an abnormal excrescence, and gain additional vitality by the adoption of my view of the subject. Although we have arrived at the conclusion that tropical light and heat can in no sense be considered the cause of color, there — remains to be explained the undoubted fact that all the more in- tense and gorgeous tints are manifested by the animal life of the _ tropics, while in some groups, such as butterflies and birds, there is a marked preponderance of highly colored species. This is probably due to a variety of causes, some of which we can indi- 728 The Seven Towns of Moqui. [ December, cate, while others remain to be discovered. The luxuriant vege- tation of the tropics throughout the entire year affords so much concealment that color may there be safely developed to a much greater extent than in climates where the trees are bare in win- ter, during which season the struggle for existence is most severe, and even the slightest disadvantage may prove fatal. Equally important, probably, has been the permanence of favorable con- ditions in the tropics, allowing certain groups to continue dom- inant for long periods, and thus to carry out in one unbroken line whatever development of plumage or color may once have acquired an ascendency. Changes of climatal conditions, and preéminently the Glacial epoch, probably led to the extinction of a host of highly developed and finely colored insects and birds in temperate zones, just as we know that it led to the extinction , of the larger and more powerful mammalia which formerly char- _ acterized the temperate zone in both hemispheres. This view is supported by the fact that it is among those groups only which are now exclusively tropical that all the more extraordinary developments of ornament and color are found. The local causes of color will also have acted best in regions where the climatal conditions remained constant, and where migration was unnec- essary ; while whatever direct effect may be produced by light or heat will necessarily have acted more powerfully within the tropics. And, lastly, all these causes have been in action over an actually greater area in tropical than in temperate zones, while estimated potentially, in proportion to its life-sustaining power, the lands which enjoy a practically tropical climate (extending as they do considerably beyond the geographical tropics) are very much larger then the temperate regions of the earth. Com- bining the effects of all these various causes we are quite able to understand the superiority of the tropical parts of the globe, not only in the abundance and variety of their forms of life, but also as regards the ornamental appendages and vivid coloration which these forms present. THE SEVEN TOWNS OF MOQUL BY E. A. BARBER. AF early as the year 1540, Don Pedro de Tobar, one of the first Spanish adventurers, was dispatched by Coronado o the “ province of Tusayan” (the modern Moqui, situated ~ _ “Arizona, in longitude 110° to 111° west, and latitude 35° to 36° 1877.] The Seven Towns of Moqui. 129 north). The inhabitants were filled with great fear when they heard that a race of fierce men who rode horses (never having seen such animals before) had captured Cibola (ancient Zuni). * They, however, made some show of resistance to the invaders in their approach to their towns, but the Spaniards charging upon them with vigor, many were killed, when the remainder fled to the houses and sued for peace, offering as an inducement presents of cotton stuffs, tanned hides, flour, pine nuts, maize, native fowls, and some turquoises,”’ 1 Resulting from this visit of the conquerors, the Moquis or Mo- quinos were afterwards converted by the zeal of the Franciscans, but in the year 1680 they apostatized, and after massacring their instructors revolted, together with other Indians of the territory then included in New Mexico. At that time they drove out the Spaniards from their towns, and no attempt, since that event, has been made to reduce them again to submissi In the latter part of the last century, about fas Sl 1799, Don Jose Cortez wrote of them: “ The Moquinos are the most indus- trious of the many Indian nations that inhabit and have been discovered in that portion of America. They till the earth with great care, and apply to all their fields the manures proper for each crop. . . . They are attentive to their kitchen gardens, and have all the varieties of fruit-bearing trees it has been in their . power to procure. The peach-tree yields abundantly. The coarse clothing worn by them they make in their looms. . . . The town is governed by a cacique, and for the defense of it the inhabit- ants make common cause. The people are of a lighter complex- ion than other Indians. . . . The women dress in a woven tunic without sleeves, and in a black, white, or colored shawl, formed like a mantilla. The tunic is confined by a sash, that is usually of many tints. . . . The aged women wear the hair divided into _ two braids, and the young in a knot over each ear.” Although the foregoing descriptions were written more than three quarters of a century ago, they apply to the tribe, in every detail, at the present time. During our visit to these strange and isolated people in the summer of 1875, I was struck with thè accuracy of some of the early Spanish writers in their quaint accounts which I had previously read. The names of the seven towns are subject to shades of variation in pronunciation at dif- _ ferent times, because the tribe possesses no written language by which they might be permanently recorded; yet it is a curious 1 See Essay by Col. J. H. Simpson, Smithsonian Report, 1869.2 a — 730 The Seven Towns of Moqui. [ December, fact that we can recognize the majority of these almost unpro- nounceable names in the most ancient Spanish chronicles. For the purpose of comparison I append the following lists as given by different authors at various periods: — ~ As given in the third volume of Pacific cer of the Spanish Royal Engineers, in R. R. Reports by Lieut. A. W. Whipple, his report sent to the king of Spain in of the Corps of United States Topograph- the year 1799 : — ‘Tti ical Engineers, in the year 1854 : O-rai!-be O-rai/-be. ou-go-pal-vi. Shu-muth/-pa Gui-paul!-a-vi, Ab-le!-lah Mos-zas!-na-vi. Mu-shai/-i-na Gual!-pi Gual/-pi Shi-win/-na Tau/-cos or Tan/-os. e/-qua According to Maj. J. W. Powell, in his As collected by the photographie di- exploration of the “ancient province of vision of the United States Geological usayan,” in the year 1869 : 2 — Survey, which visited Moqui in the year a Ese 1875:38 — O-rai!-bi. O-rai!-bi. Shong-a-pa/-vi. Shung-a-pal-vi. Shi-pau/-i-lu-vi. Shi-pau/-la-vi Mi-shong!-i-ni-vi. Mu a ni V-pi. qui oF i Si-choam’-a-vi. Jat cate me e/-wa. “ Te ~ Tel-qua jen Tay’-wah). Mr. Wm. H. Jackson, the photographer of the United States Geological Survey, returned to the Moqui pueblos during the spring of the present year (1877), and while there, an actual cen- _ sus was taken with the following results : — Men. Women. Children. Total. DE ea 145 195 500 She-mo-pa/-ve $ a 61 56 72 189 Ebene ie-ro 33 29 «46 108 Moo-song!-na-ve į 69 67 103 239 Gual’-pi or O-pe'-ki 90 BO. 164 1 eati : 5s 36 102 Te’-wa Total, “492 440 672 1604 On an examination of these figures we shall perceive that the percentage of males is larger than that of females, and this fact may be accounted for by the unadventurous and pacific character of the men. They are therefore less liable to accident than the males of other tribes, and consequently the two sexes of this tribe retain to a greater extent their normal ratio. Polygamy, there- fore, is rare among them, and polyandry is unknown. -o 1 Mr. Leroux, about the year 1853, estimated the Moquis at 6720 population. z About the year 1870 Mr. Beadle gave the population of the seven towns at 3000. i 8 The tribe in 1875 numbered between 1500 and 2000 souls. 1877.] Hunting Amblychila. Bie If we allow, out of the nine hundred and thirty-two adults, the large proportion two hundred and sixty to be unmarried, we will have an average result of only two children in every family. The mortality of the race being much greater than the increase in population (being about equally divided between the two sexes) the Moquis are rapidly passing away. In the last quarter of a century there has been a decrease of five thousand in their entire number. After the lapse of the next score or so of years the race will most probably have become extinct. HUNTING AMBLYCHILA.? BY PROFESSOR F. H. SNOW. i considering the unintelligibility of the title of this paper to one who is not a professional entomologist, I am reminded of a brief dialogue which occurred between Mr. Foster, a member of my last summer’s collecting party, and a cow-boy of the plains, who passed by one evening while Mr. Foster was looking for specimens. After watching him for some moments with great curiosity, the cow-boy asked: ** What you doing?” Mr. Foster replied: “ Hunting Amblychila.” The cow-boy, bewil- dered, inquired again: “ Ambly Cheila, — who’s she?”’ “ Who she is” it will be the object of this paper in some measure to explain. In 1823 the famous entomologist Thomas Say discovered a single dead specitaes of this insect “ near the base of the Rocky Mountains.” ‘Twenty-nine years later a second specimen, also dead, was found by one of the United States surveying expedi- tions. The remarkable structure and extreme rarity of this bee- tle made it “facile princeps” among American insects, and its possession was eagerly desired and earnestly sought by our fore- most entomologists. But many difficulties lay in the pathway of those who would gain the coveted prize. The regions in which the two specimens had been captured were practically in- accessible to the entomologist. No railroad had then entered the vast country west of the Missouri River, and hostile bands of Indians were at all times in readiness to massacre the reckless adventurers who should dare to traverse their hunting-grounds without a powerful military escort. A national expedition for 1 Read at the annual meeting of the Kansas Academy of Science, October 12, 1877, by Professor F. H. Snow, of the Kansas University. 732 i Hunting Amblychila. [December, the survey of our immense unoccupied domains might obtain the needed protection by government authority. But what profes- sional ** bug-hunter ” could hope for membership of such an èx- pedition, — much less aspire to the requisite military escort for - an expedition of his own for the sole purpose of hunting an in- sect, however rare and however valuable in the estimation of entomologists ? But notwithstanding the inaccessibility of the plains tọ col- lectors of insects, several attempts were made to overcome this difficulty. A distinguished American entomologist, not many years after the discovery of the second specimen of Amblychila in 1852, issued a circular containing a description and life-size figure of the beetle, and distributed it among the army surgeons at the various military posts in the Western Territories. Sev- eral additional specimens were in this way obtained, and several others were brought in by some of the more recent government expeditions. But Amblychila cylindriformis continued to be the rarest and the costliest of American Coleoptera. It could hardly be pur- chased for museums at any price, and not more than two years ago no less than fifteen and twenty dollars were eagerly paid for a single specimen. Indeed, a price-list of North American Cole- optera, issued at Cambridge only eight months ago, quotes the subject of this paper at twelve dollars per specimen. Two causes, however, have recently conspired to bring out the fact that this insect is by no means the same rarity in nature as in entomological collections. In the first place the removal of the Indian tribes from Kansas soil to distant reservations has made it possible for the collector of insects to visit the plains without incurring the imminent danger of losing his scalp ; and in the second place the discovery of the crepuscular and noctur- nal habits of Amblychila has led to the capture of great numbers of specimens during the past season. This discovery, which had been predicted by Dr. Le Conte, was actually made in the sum- mer of 1876 by Messrs. H. A. Brous and S. W. Williston of the Yale College Geological Expedition to Western Kansas, in charge of Professor B. F, Mudge. The members of this party obtained about one hundred specimens. During the present season sev- eral hundred specimens have been taken by Messrs. Williston a and Cooper of the Yale Expedition, and by the Kansas Univer- sity Expedition in charge of the writer. It is more than prob- able that the present year has been unusually favorable to the. | i a EEA 1877.] Hunting Amblychila. 7383 occurrence of this insect, and that subsequent seasons may prove, like the season of 1876, less productive of specimens. It is a well-known fact that a species may occur in abundance for a single year and then become comparatively rare or altogether unknown for several years in succession. This law will doubt- less be found to apply to Amblychila as well as to other insects. I was disappointed to find this insect apparently devoid of that intensely ferocious nature which had been ascribed to it by sensational writers for the Eastern press, and which would be sug- gested by its position at the head of a ravenous family of beetles, the Cicindelidæ or tiger-beetles. I have watched these insects night after night coming forth from their hiding-places soon after sundown and beginning their night-long search for food. I am satisfied that their sense of sight must be exceedingly deficient, as they never discover their prey from a distance, however slight, and never capture it unless stumbling upon it as if by accident. When, however, they do thus stumble upon an unfortunate cat- erpillar, grasshopper, or other suitable article of food, a very acute sense of touch, chiefly concentrated in their long and constantly vibrating antennæ, enables them to seize upon and firmly hold it with their powerful, strongly-toothed mandibles, while with their maxille or secondary jaws they withdraw the life-juices and soft tissues of their struggling victim. They also manifest the im- perfection of their vision by making no attempt to escape from their human captors, allowing themselves to be picked up as if entirely blind. They are slow in their movements, walking about with great deliberation over their favorite hunting-grounds, the sloping clay banks. The only approach to rapidity of motion observed dur- ing the summer was in the case of a single individual suddenly surprised by the morning sun while at a distance from a suitable hiding-place, which he was making frantic exertions to discover. In a brief article contributed to this Academy at our last an- nual meeting it was stated by Mr. Brous that these insects “ live in holes generally made by themselves.” My own observations do not corroborate this statement. On the other hand I found them invariably coming forth at night from holes made by other animals, — most especially from the intricately winding burrows of the kangaroo rat (Dipodomys Philippii), by which the clay banks are often completely honeycombed. In these burrows they take refuge from the direct rays of the sun in the day-time, in company with other nocturnal genera, — Eleodes, Pasimachus, 734 Hunting Amblychila. [December, ete. These latter insects undoubtedly furnish many a diurnal meal for Amblychilæ, which are not to be supposed to pass the day in sleep. On one occasion I had an opportunity of watch- ing two of them in a large, abandoned badger's burrow. They were wide awake, and walking about with vibrating antennæ as - if in search of food. I have also kept several living specimens in confinement for several weeks, but never discovered any dis- position to make excavations for themselves, though they would gladly take possession of holes made for them in the earth at. the bottom of their cage. In regard to food, no living insect.seems to come amiss to them. They seem to be especially fond of all sorts of lepidop- terous and orthopterous larve. I have seen them seizing and devouring the huge wingless locusts (Brachypeplus) and the sword-bearers (Hnsicaudes). I observed one individual in the act of conquering and devouring the large Prionus of the plains (P. fissicornis), and in two instances have seen them eating one another, apparently with the greatest relish. In confine- ment they will thrive upon full-grown maple worms (Dryocampa alba), the caterpillars of the handmaid moth (Datana ministra), and upon almost every other insect pest of the orchard and garden. But while thus visiting the death penalty upon every member of his class with which he comes in contact, our voracious hero is himself a choice article of diet to at least one carnivorous quad- ruped of the plains. Mr. J. M. Walker, one of the members of my party, while patroling his accustomed beat one morning be- fore sunrise, discovefed the fresh fragments of several half-eaten Amblychilz scattered along his route, as if some predatory animal had but just preceded him and made his breakfast upon the rarities which otherwise would have found their way into the collecting-bottle. On the evening of the same day, Mr. Walker, while collecting in the same locality, was violently attacked by a rabid skunk twice in immediate succession. The next mornmg Mr. Foster, the other student of the party, was similarly attacked on a neighboring clay bank, and had the good fortune to kill his assailant. An examination of the contents of the animal's stom- ach disclosed the remains of freshly eaten Amblychila. It would | thus appear that this ill-odored quadruped has an original claim — to the title of Amblychila hunter, and is ready at thes proper time to vindicate the claim against human contestants. This fact will merit the serious attention of entomologists who may a . 1877. ] Concerning Two Divisions of Indians. 735 hereafter visit the plains, since the bite of the rabid skunk has proved fatal to man in more than nine cases out of ten, and there are more than fifty fatal cases on record. In this connec- tion may be mentioned another danger which must be incurred by the collector of insects upon the plains. I refer to the bite of the rattlesnake, which venomous reptile abounds in Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado, and was encountered nearly every day by some member of our expedition. poen REMARKS CONCERNING TWO DIVISIONS OF INDIANS INHABITING ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO, UTAH, AND CALIFORNIA. BY DR. EDWARD PALMER. | ae traveled extensively in that part of the United States acquired from Mexico, and having examined the so- called ancient graves and mounds, as well as studied the Indians now living in the same region, I have come to the conclusion that this region was formerly inhabited by two divisions or classes of Indians, distinguishable by their modes of burial— one burning, the other inhuming, the corpses —and by their dwell- ings and domestic arts. In the same region are to be found graves which do not belong to the Indians now living there, and containing either the bodies or ashes of human beings whose epoch we have no means of determining. The Indians found in the city of Mexico, and said by the Spanish historians to offer up human sacrifices to their gods, were only observing their usual custom of burning their dead. The Spaniards killed them in great numbers, and the Indians in burning the dead afforded their enemies, the Spaniards, the grounds for notions out of which to make religious capital. So the priests and officers magnified this simple custom, and by de- claring the Indians to be idolaters and sacrificers of human be- ings they did them a grave injustice. The Spaniards in their conquests always kept in view the maxim that the means justify the end. To ascribe the burning of the dead to offering up human sacrifices to gods was sufficient to gain the desired object, as the church would be aroused at once to send out missionaries to convert the heathen - estab- lish religious orders among them. - Concluding that the Indians found living in the city of Mex- ico at the time of the Spanish conquest were Aztecs or crema- 4 magnificent buildings of great height, built of large blocks of 736 Concerning Two Divisions of Indians. —[ December, tionists, if we go to that part of the United States formerly composing the frontier provinces of Mexico we find at this day pure Aztecs or cremationists ; for those of the same race in the thickly settled and richer portions of Mexico have by one means or another been compelled to change from burning to burying _ their dead. While in Arizona we have the Apache, Mojave, Yuma, and Cocopah tribes, and in Nevada the Digger, which - burn their dead, in California the Indians have so changed by church influence that nearly all bury their dead according to the rules of the Catholic church instead of burning the dead. Part of the Daigano tribe, after the expulsion of the Jesuits from Mexican territory, moved to the border of Lower California, and have gone back to all their old customs, burning their dead, and are now Indians in every sense; that is, they are free and un- trammeled by any encroachments of the white man or his fashions. The other division of Mexican Indians were those who buried their dead. They had only to drop their own mode of disposal of the dead and adopt that of the Catholic church. In order to observe the Indians of this division with customs unchanged, we must visit the Puma of Arizona, the Moqui and the Yuma Indians of New Mexico, for the other bands of this division adopt the Catholic mode of burial. The cities and dwellings of the two classes of people in the -country at the time of the Spanish conquest must have greatly differed. Yet the Spaniards called them all Aztecs. In this ‘there seems to have been a design. The dwellings and cities were so exaggerated as to size and importance that in reading the reports sent to the Spanish court and the Pope one is led to conclude that they were of a grandeur and magnificence be- yond all conception. But for Indians at that day or this to live in such a high degree of civilization is out of the question. Neither the ruins of former cities nor the style of the present buildings of their descendants supports those extravagant asser- tions. The statements of the Spanish priests were sufficient to make the Spanish government proud of its acquisitions, and in return its officers and the representatives of the church received : great honors and rewards. The Spanish historians of the con- quest of the city of Mexico tell us that the city was built on a . marsh or wet land ; for they say that ditches were cut to drain the city, and boats run up and down them. But how could $ 1877.] Concerning Two Divisions of Indians. TƏT stone, be supported on a swamp, and how could they transport such large masses from the distance they had to be brought, without draught animals, — for they had no horses until the Europeans entered the country. Engineers have decided, after careful examinations of the foundation of the ancient city of Mex- ico, that buildings of the size spoken of by the Spaniards could never have been supported upon a marsh, as the foundations of the ancient city prove to have been; besides, if they did exist, some fragments would be found, as they could not be so entirely obliter- ated that not even a vestige would be left unless the pieces of sculpture and the calendar stone, which have been dug up in the city, may be considered to have belonged to the ancient city of Mexico. They may have been the ornaments of a Toltec building, brought by the Spaniards from some of the large Toltec towns with a view of sending them to Spain to give color to their reports, but owing to the difficulty of their transportation to the sea-coast at that day were left to be cast away, and resurrected years after as Aztec remains. Now, taking this view of the subject, we are led to the conclusion that the ancient city of Mexico was a collec- tion of small one or two story houses made of adobe or sun-dried bricks, or in some cases possibly built of upright poles with sticks braced between and mud plastered over them. This kind of a house is frequently met with at this day, for round poles, sticks, and straw are used with a covering of clay for a roof. The peo- ple were not to be despised for living in these kinds of dwellings ; their neighborhood afforded no other building materials, and their descendants of to-day live in houses made of like materials. Indeed, what else could the Apache, Mojave, Yuma, and Coco- pah Indians use so easily and quickly as earth and poles, sticks _ and straw? Houses built of these materials answered all their wants. The second division of Indians, those that buried their dead, were the Toltecs, neighbors to the Aztecs or cremationists. The dwellings of the former were superior to the latter, being con- _ founded with and called Aztec. The Spanish conquerors re- _ ported these habitations as magnificent, in order to magnify their conquests. As superior as were the buildings of the Toltecs over those of the Aztecs, yet they were not of the grandeur reported ~ by Spanish historians. Considering the Pimo Indians of Arizona, _ Moqui, Zuni, and the Rio Grande Indians of New Mexico, to be of the Toltec division, with the exception of the Pimos they live VOL. XI.— NO. 12. 47 | : 738 Concerning Two Divisions of Indians. [December, in three-story buildings, — several families in a building, — and form a marked contrast to the Aztec buildings of to-day. The ruins in the same country convey the idea that a similar kind of buildings inhabited by this class of people existed many years ago. The Pimos formerly lived in large buildings of sev- eral stories, and a good many persons in a building, but the Span- iards entered the country, and waged war with their Aztec neigh- bors, the Apaches; at the same time the Pimos acquired horses and arms from the Spanish, which also assisted them in coping with their enemies. The Apaches being thus placed in a condition to leave their communal dwellings, their lands became worn out. They now settled on a new tract of land close to their old homes, building small houses suited to each family. The reason that Indians live in communities is for better protection from their -enemies. There seem to have been in the past as in the pres- ent periods constant war between the two divisions of Indians. The Aztec sbeing the most numerous and warlike and without fixed habitations, were an enemy to be feared, very difficult to conquer, and so tenacious of their freedom that the priests had to resort to force as well as to persuasion before any could be gath- ered into the church fold. The Toltecs, being settled in communities in order to protect themselves from the Aztecs, were more easily influenced by the priests, and now most of them have adopted more or less of the Catholic religion. Heretofore the pottery found not only in the ruins and mounds of the country under consideration, but that scattered on the surface in fragments, has been considered by writers as the workmanship of the Aztecs; but the fact is that formerly, as at the present time, this pottery is made by the Tol- tees, or burying Indians, and it is identical with that made by the same division of Indians to this day ; while the Aztecs make a very rude class of pottery, which gives the impression that they may have borrowed the art of pottery-making from their Toltec neighbors. It is rough and of inferior ornamentation. The Az- i tec is superior to his Toltec neighbor in ‘the art of warfare, and is a more successful hunter; on the other’ hand, the Pueblo or Toltee surpasses him in the architectural magnificence of his dwellings and in his superior mode of tilling the soil, and also in his systematic form of government. The advent of Europe- ans, the acquisition of horses, the establishment of Catholic me . : sions, and the introduction of fire-arms among the Indians were — a no doubt the cause of most, if not all, of the modern changes — x 1877.] Concerning Two Divisions of Indians. 739 wrought among them. ‘Those gaining horses and arms were en- abled to wage war against their enemies. The church, being in harmony with the military force of the country during the Spanish and Mexican occupancy of the same, would send out a force of soldiers or conquered Indians, with horses and arms, to war upon the different Indians who were considered enemies, killing the men and bringing in the women and children, who were baptized, and thenceforth lost their tribal relations. Great numbers were thus gathered around missions, which so weakened various tribes that they would unite so as to be able to cope with their common enemies, the church or an Indian tribe. Both divisions suffered by like causes; and when a band of each of the divisions united, the customs of one would give way to the adop- tion of those of the other, or each would carry out the customs of both according to inclination. For instance, the bands of Pai- utes will sometimes burn, at others bury, their dead, indicating that they are composed of both divisions of Indians. Or a band of each of these divisions of Indians may live side by side for mutual protection, and gradually adopt each other’s customs, as is the case with the Maricopah Indians of Arizona, who soon after the Mexican war removed alongside of the Pimo Indians, for pro- tection. Now they have nearly given up their custom of burning the dead, and adopted the custom of the Pimos, burying the dead. They have also improved in the art of making baskets and pot- tery, so that they can make an article equal to the Pimos. It must be evident that the nature of the country which is oc- cupied by a nation influences the manners, habits, and intelli- gence of the people. The ever-craving appetites of life, espe- cially that of hunger, operating upon each individual cannot fail to give direction to his inventive habits, determine his pursuits, and impress upon him a character for all time. If the soil will yield grain or roots, or the rivers a plenty of fish, or if the mount- ains, valleys, and prairies are stocked with game, the course of an Indian’s life day after day is thereby established perma- nently, for the wants of nature compel him to one fixed system of procuring food. The food question being all-powerful and not to be pretermitted, he is forced to become a hunter, a fisher- man, or root-digger, in accordance with the nature of the coun- try he occupies. Varied are the conditions of the soil and cli- mate, as, for instance, that about the Moqui towns, which is so sandy and dry that they sow their seed so that it germinates in time to have the advantages of summer rains. All must stay 740 Concerning Two Divisions of Indians. [December, close to their crops to keep off rats or rabbits ; for if their crops are destroyed, so dry and barren is the surrounding country that it affords few other natural products. On the other hand, the Apache lives in a country of mountains that yield game of all sorts, also seeds, roots, and fruit, with small but rich valleys in which he plants a little corn, wheat, etc. He need not stay close at hand to look after his crop, as nothing destroys it. He can roam and find plenty to eat until his crop is ready to harvest. Thus the Aztec is a wanderer, while the Toltec is a dweller in communities. In comparing the asserted high civilization of the Indians at the period of the Spanish conquest with their present condition, we see a great difference, which can only be understood after taking into consideration the nature and productions of the soil, their want of domestic animals, cutting-tools, their means of cultivation of soil and their manufactures. One can come to no other conclusion than that the Aztec division in past years was the same as at the present day, with the exception of slight modifi- | cation caused by wars and mixtures of the two divisions. The men of the Aztec division are lazier than those of the Toltec divis- ion, making their females do nearly all the work, while the Toltee takes a greater share of the work upon himself. The Aztec seems to have little power of thinking, makes no progress nor effort to amend his life, is fearless of death, bravely submits to his inevitable fate, and with stolid indifference awaits the swiftly coming doom of his people. The Spaniards made a mistake in confounding the two divisions. The Toltecs being the most in- dustrious had more wealth and better dwellings, and were entitled to much consideration ; but the Spaniards say less of them than of the inferior Aztecs. The missionaries of the Catholic church, more than all other causes combined, changed the mental and physical condition of the Indians by humbling them to that state of servitude required by them to be members of that church: they broke their native pride, and those who succumbed to that degraded condition of set- tlers around a mission lost all self-reliance, so that at the expul- sion of the Jesuits and the abandoning of the missions they were left helpless, their spirits broken ; those who robbed them of their means of self-reliance had gone ; after their homes and lands had oo. been taken from them those who were left became an easy prey t0 | the avaricious, who easily got them in debt, and then by a law of their own creating ever after held these people and their descend- 1877.] Concerning Two Divisions of Indians. 741 ants as peons or slaves, because they were never able-to acquire money sufficient to liberate themselves. At the conquest Indians were slaves to the few, but afterwards to the many. In admitting them to the church they were sprinkled, given a new name, and their hair was cut short. This seems the chief difference between the so-called Christian Indian and the so- called heathen Indian of that part of the country previously in- dicated. In several parts of the country under consideration, ruins of dwellings and graves of both divisions of Indians are to be found side by side ; especially is this the case in the valley of the Rio Verde, in Arizona. On the one hand are cave-dwellings, on the other stone buildings, in ruins. Who built up and occupied the caves, and who built and inhabited the stone structures? The Toltec division, which is proven by the articles found therein ; the - Aztecs waging war upon the Toltecs drove them from the val- ley and took possession. The Aztecs or Apaches claim them to- day, but do not now live in them, because their military enemies all around compel them to keep in the mountains. Recently they were by force compelled to move to reservations. The Toltec dwellings in former times as now were built of sun- dried bricks or adobes if they were more easily made, but if stone was at hand then that was used, and when not broken into suitable sizes by natural causes stone hammers were used to re- duce them. They were laid up regardless of joints ; with either kind of materials they made very good houses. In this valley the Toltecs selected the best natural positions on elevated points, commanding a view of their fields below and of the surrounding country, so that they could not be attacked without a chance of , seeing their assailants. The houses were generally of more than one story, and some appear to have been built with three. In their graves with the dead is to be found pottery, etc., and about the dwellings is to be found much broken pottery of a qual- ity that points to Pimo and Moqui origin. The caves were used as dwellings during the summer, when they looked after their crops; but when the autumn set in fever and ague prevailed in the valley, the Indians removed to their houses, built of stone on the bluffs above the caves, safe from ague. The caves are natural excavations in the rocks, and well ‘adapted for Indians’ dwellings. The Aztecs drove the Toltecs out of this valley, and built themselves houses of sticks covered with straw and mud, a contrast to the large, airy dwellings in 742 Concerning Two Divisions of Indians. —[December, the caves and the stone buildings on the bluffs. Many caves are to be found in the country, and they appear to have been occupied by the same people, the Toltecs. The Aztecs left many grave-yards, which are distinguishable by piles of stones, gener- ally of a circular form, but with no regularity as to distance apart. In one, particularly, I noticed a number of graves ar- , ranged into some degree of order, being in nearly straight rows and several in a row, with stones piled on top lengthwise as if to indicate the height of the deceased when living ; but in both these kinds of graves there was nothing beyond ashes and pieces of human bones placed nearly in the centre. The ruined cities built of adobes in the provinces of Durango and Chihuahua, Mexico, are like the seven cities of Civola, or towns of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, mentioned by the Spanish, who speak of the great wealth of the people living in them ; if they were formerly wealthy they are not now, and the quality of the soil must have changed and more water must have flowed over the surface. These people in early days had no domestic animals, so they must have depended upon the soil of _ their immediate neighborhood for whatever they possessed. Now it is a dry, sandy waste, and these people can scarcely obtain the plainest living, much less gain the wealth spoken of by the Spaniards, The people of these seven towns, as all those inhabiting that section of country under consideration were called by the Span- iards Aztecs, despite the wide differences between them. They | I seemed to have no other idea than to make these people appear great, powerful, and wealthy, in order to gain the favorable con- sideration of their king, on the one hand; and to make them to appear great idolaters, offering up human sacrifices to their gods, on the other hand, to please the church. But I have not been able to find any indications of idols among them other than what they have derived from the missionaries. They have many dolls — made of clay by the females for the children to play with, and for — no other purpose, many of which have been taken away and called gods. I have seen them in museums marked as coming © from these people. The chureh has tried to impress upon the Indian mind a rev- erence for a Montezuma whom they were taught would comè some day, if they were good, to rule them, and historians say he lived and ruled the city of Mexico. If he had been a great ruler, and the impression had ever been conveyed to Indians by natural ° 1877.] Concerning Two Divisions of Indians. 743 causes that he was to come in the future to rule over them, they would be likely to have a remembrance in some legend, but none of the Indians living in the section under consideration seem to know anything themselves regarding Montezuma. We are also told by historians that the Indians mount their house tops in the mornings and turn towards the east and look for Montezuma ; this I have never seen, though I have visited several of their towns. In questioning the oldest, who are the most reliable, re- garding Montezuma, in every instance I have been told that Montezuma was a Spanish not an Indian god; they knew noth- ing of him except what the Spaniards taught them. Among the Daigano Indians of Hot Springs, California, are two that remem- bered the first missionaries that came among them. They were then about half grown, and remembered well the events of that period, though they are now very old. Among the many ques- tions I asked them was the following: What was your mode of burial before the Spaniards came among you? They answered, ** We burnt our dead.” Several others of the same. place said the same thing. To the question, Do you know anything of Mon- tezuma ? the oldest two, as also several others, answered, * Not of ourselves, but the Spaniards told us abouthim. He is a Span- ish god.” On visiting a band of the same Indians living on the border of Lower California, and having with me a Spaniard as in- terpreter, on entering a house the first thing that he say was a doll made of clay (Indian mothers make them for their children and burn them as they do earthern ware). He cried out, “ There is Montezuma, the Indian’s god.” At this a venerable man rose up, and with anger in his face said, “ No Indian god; Montezuma is Spanish god.” On my questioning several of both sexes upon the same subject, all asserted that Montezuma was a Spanish and not an Indian god. Among the mission churches, rendered as attractive as possible to please the Indians, many strange cus- toms and ceremonies crept into the form of worship. A special saint was created for the Indian’s benefit, to watch over him. If he has benefited by all the church has done for him, then retro- gression must have a new meaning. The influence of the church and the extensive system of intermarriage by the Spaniards have so changed both divisions of the race held under their dominion, that we have an amalgamated variety different from both and very inferior to either, especially to the Toltecs. | As to where the Indians came from that have in former diyo and do now live in the country acquired from Mexico I will not 744 Concerning Two Divisions of Indians. [December, say, but will only remark that the cremationists or Aztecs look like Japanese, while the Toltecs or burying Indians look more like Chinese, not only in similarity of features but in manners and customs. The reserved and uncommunicative disposition of both certainly indicate a common origin. If a close study were instituted among all the present tribes of Indians in the United States and Mexico, proof would no doubt be adduced which would determine to which of the divisions they belong, the Toltee or Aztec, — if of pure blood or a mixture of the two ; and if inquiry were made as to the causes which led to the unity, it might also lead to the conclusion that all the tribes are offshoots of the two divisions. Certainly the Mandans and the so-called mound-builders belonged to the Toltec, while many of the Texas Indians appear to be Aztec in their origin. May not all American Indians be Chinese and Japanese under another - name ? The early Spaniards may be somewhat excused, perhaps, for _ many of their exaggerations. They themselves were not so ad- vanced then in agriculture, architecture, and the domestic arts as they now are; and when they beheld a strange land with a new people so advanced, they, comparing them with themselves, con- cluded that the Mexicans were a great people, as they were con- sidering their surroundings and tools and materials to work with. They were great, both divisions of them. The fault was in exag- gerating their wealth so as to be the gainers thereby, and making them out to be what they appear not to have been, idolaters, so that they might excite the zeal of a religious denomination to locate among them and to force upon them a new set of customs which would be the cause of their degeneration. It could scarcely be expected of the early historians that they would study the Indian character with the view of ascertaining the particular dif- ferences between them, as they were looking at them with a view to their own reward, and without any consideration of the Indi- an’s material welfare or history. Whether Aztec or Toltec, by far the larger number soon became hewers of wood and drawers of : water for the mission establishments or for a few Spaniards. The latter made wealth at the expense of the lives of thousands of In- — n dians of both sexes, who were worked to death in mines, on farms, and in various occupations. The great aim of the rich was to be idle and to compel the poor to labor to make them rich. The efforts of the missions were to have the rich subservient to them, so that nothing could be done by them without the sanc- 1877.] Concerning Two Divisions of Indians. 745 tion of the church. So the church owned the rich, and the rich owned the poor. Thus it was until Mexico became a repub- lic and the church lost its power. Since the United States ac- quired that part of the country under consideration the Aztecs and Toltecs have been left to choose their own manners and cus- toms, except those that have already become peons, who were under the authority of their owners, and so remained until after the late war, when the Congress of the United States passed a law abolishing peonage or servitude for debt. The published accounts by the early Spanish historians have been copied by most modern historians as if they could be any- thing but inaccurate ; few imply even doubt as to the truthful- ness of the accounts. But if they had visited the country and seen the nature of the soil, the climate, and natural productions at the present time, and then looked back at the Indian without modern tools, machinery, domestic animals, modern fire-arms, clothing, and introduced grains, etc., and left out of sight the Europeans and their customs, the historians would have copied much less from old authorities. The actual condition of the In- dian and his surroundings before he was at all tampered with by Europeans, when impartially viewed, will compel any one to adopt different conclusions from the old chroniclers. Let us consider the descriptions of what they are uaa to - call Montezuma’s palaces and his entertainments of Cortez and his followers. There is scarce a European monarch that could produce more pomp and: extravagance. Only contemplate the feasts of the reported magnitude gotten up by the Aztecs! They could not have had houses large enough, nor is it possible for a rude people with their native resources to have obtained the va- riety and quantity of articles said to have been used by the re- puted Montezuma to feed the Spaniards; it would take but a short time to eat out an Indian community, with only their native _ mode of farming; it would require more executive ability than is generally possessed by even the smartest of the Toltecs, much less the Aztec Indians, to carry on an establishment of the char- acter of that attributed to the so-called Montezuma. Consider ‘what it must take to feed the army of servants he is said to have had; then the wealth he gave to the Spaniards and that they took by force. One can come to no other conelusion than that the Indians have sadly degenerated since that time, for they could not bring forth food or wealth at this day as they are _ said to have done at the conquest. There is something unnat- 746 Concerning two Divisions of Indians. — [ December, ural in an Indian, however great he may be, having so great a number of followers about him. Indian, men especially are so adverse to servitude that it is doubtful if so large a number could be held for that purpose ; they would revolt, and who could pre- vent it? These volunteer servants would belong to almost as many different families, and it is nearly a universal fact that if one of a family is offended with any one the whole family take sides with him. An Indian’s family comprises all his relations ; so all the relations and servants of the supposed Montezuma would form a powerful army to withstand. ; To give a more truthful version would be simply to state that a large number of Aztec Indians lived in the city of Mexico at the time Cortez made his appearance. They were governed by a chief who had a few hangers-on, as all chiefs have ; generally his relations lived around him. Chiefs of both these divisions under consideration are required to procure their own provision, that is, his wives and children do. A chief is estimated by his wealth. I have never observed anything like tribute or taxes being collected by a chief. Presents are not only given but re- ceived by the chiefs. One thing is certain: both the divisions of Indians when one dies let him be either burnt or buried; everything that the dead possessed or his friends had, even to his clothing, is thrown upon him to be either consumed with him or be put with him in the grave. ‘This is a great barrier to the accumulation of property, for not even money or ornaments, however valuable, are with- held from the dead. The living relatives march from the last resting-place of the dead or from their ashes with nothing. The dead have it all, and the living will not go near the spot again or mention the name of the dead; it is so with both divisions. This would warrant the conclusion that they care not to convey events to history. A great deal is said about historical repre- sentations on rocks. I have seen the present Indians make rep- resentations on rocks like the so-called hieroglyphics, and I have : invariably been told by them that they were made only for fun, _ and had no meaning. oe It is very difficult to reconcile the accounts given of the people living in the city of Mexico at the time of Cortez’s appearance with any of the present Indians. One of two conclusions may — be adopted : if the people of the city of Mexico belonged to either of the two divisions of Indians, then there has been wonderful degeneration among them ; or possibly those found were a special 1877. ] The Golden- Winged Woodpecker. TAT creation attended with all the wealth and display for the pur- pose of honoring the captors of Mexico, and destined to disappear as soon as the crafty conquerors had accomplished their object. NOTES ON THE BREEDING HABITS OF THE GOLDEN- WINGED WOODPECKER. BY DAVID A. LYLE, U.S. A. N the afternoon of May 6, 1877, as I was strolling among the trees in the lower part of the Armory grounds, at Spring- field, Massachusetts, I heard the faint hammering of a woodpecker (Colaptes auratus). Listening intently for some moments to as- certain, if possible, the direction from whence the sounds came, I proceeded onward with the stealthy tread of the Indian, — learned long since in the wilds of the far West. After advanc- ing in this noiseless manner for some rods, I again halted and turned my ear successively in different directions the better to catch the faint sounds made by the industrious feathered artisan. Again I heard the rapping, and satisfied that I was traveling in the proper course I advanced some distance farther in the same quiet manner, and upon listening attentively for about a minute I was rewarded by hearing the sounds much more plainly. I now redoubled my caution, following the sound more and more slowly for fear of alarming the shy worker. At last, I directed my attention tô three trees, in one of which I was con- vinced that the woodpecker was working. The muffled sounds indicated that the bird had already penetrated the trunk of the limb or tree in which the nest was to be made. Carefully I approached the first tree, and placing my ear in contact with the trunk I awaited a repetition of the hammering. Again I heard it, but no more audibly than before reaching the tree. I tried the second tree with better success, for by pressing my ear against the trunk I could hear the thumpings very distinctly in- _ deed. Now I was sure that I had found my bird, which conclu- sion was strengthened by finding among the grass near the foot = of the tree quantities of small, fresh chips which the bird had _ ejected from his newly located domicile. These chips were scattered over quite an area in the vicinity of the tree. On stealthily retreating from the roots of the tree in. the direction indicated by the chips, I saw the hole bored by the object of my search. It had been screened from my view 748 The Golden- Winged Woodpecker. [ December, by some branches which were just leaving out. The hole was situated near the top of a tall stump of sugar maple, the upper part of which had been carried away by some wind-storm. I laid down upon my back on the ground, in order to com- _mand a better view of the hole, and for fifteen minutes I neither saw nor heard anything. I suppose the bird had heard some sound. Patiently waiting during this time, I at last discerned the side of his bill near the lower edge of the hole. Then he raised his head a little, so that his side and bill were visible, and watched with this eye for nine minutes by my watch, remain- ing motionless during the whole time. At the end of this in- terval he dropped to the bottom of his hole and a minute later his head appeared; glancing warily around, he thrust it out and I saw he had a bill-full of chips; these were protruding on both sides from between his mandibles. With a flirting motion of his head, he scattered the chiplets in the air, and gazing around for a moment he disappeared in his hole. This operation he repeated several times, always reconnol- tring the vicinity before and after disposing of the chips brought up. A couple of boys passing just as he had thrown out a load of chips, he dropped to the bottom of his nest in haste, and not a sound was emitted for another fifteen minutes, when a part of his bill was again visible as he came up to see whether or not the enemy had withdrawn. Five minutes later he put his head out of the hole, glancing quickly in every direction. This series of ob- servations lasted for five minutes, when he disappeared, and in an instant reappearing he emerged from the hole and perched upon a limb about a foot from it. Here he stood for five minutes more, though it appeared to be much longer, and then flew to a high tree about fifty yards distant, where he rested for a mo- ment, and then vanished among the trees. The female was not seen upon this occasion. On May 27th the female was found incubating, and the male was seen upon a tree some distance © away, apparently cheering her by an affectionate call. On referring to my note-book, I find the following under date of May 27th: — Da “ A little over two weeks ago, my attention was attracted by the appearance of a second pair of these beautiful woodpeckers — : upon the trees in the Armory grounds. They were very shy, _ : but were evidently pairing. The female would fly from tree to tree, where the male would follow her, uttering a peculiarly low, i a cooing, assuring cry. This note, or rather succession of notes, 15 1877. | The Golden- Winged Woodpecker. 749 © heard only during the mating season. Very early a morning or two later, I found them upon a tree, quite near together. The male was very demonstrative in his love-making. At short in- tervals, he would droop his wings slightly, spread his tail, nod or bow his head towards the female, first to one side and then to — the other, all the while uttering his low love carol. She recip- rocated his bows, bowing every time he did, but uttering no note that I could detect. “ The affectionate anxiety of this feathered Adonis to appear well in the eyes of his mistress seemed most ludicrous to the be- holder, while at the same time there was such an air of loving tenderness and devotion in both his voice and actions that the sympathy of the spectator was at once enlisted for the success and happiness of so gallant though so awkward a wooer. ‘This courtship continued for about one week, during which — time the happy pair had fixed upon the site for their future home. This they located upon the dead limb of an elm, sixty feet from the ground. The tree stood at the side of a much- traveled road and near some shops. Here their troubles began. * Again, the truth of the old adage ‘that the course of true love never runs smooth’ was vindicated. For in a tree near that chosen for their future nest resided a colony of English sparrows, whose pugnacity is well known. The paucity of leaves on the trees exposed the handsomely colored woodpeckers to the dan- ger of discovery by their fiery little enemies, the moment they alighted upon their chosen limb. No sooner did our woodpeckers begin the operation of outlining the hole for the entrance to their domicile than they were furiously assailed on all sides by the en- raged sparrows. The woodpeckers would awkwardly dodge their blows and get on the opposite side of the limb, but the sparrows returned again and again to the attack, until the woodpeckers would seek safety in flight. Still the devoted pair did not despair. Time after time would they return and work a little while until discovered by their sharp-eyed enemies, when they would again take refuge in flight. At the end of a fortnight the leaves had come out sufficiently to screen them from the view of the spar- rows, but as people and teams were constantly passing the tree, their shyness kept them retreating almost every few minutes. This morning I find one of them busy chiseling away at the hole.” 1 So it seems that the flicker is to be added to the long list of birds which these wretched interlopers attack and harass. Dr. Thomas M. Brewer has so long per- sisted in his denial of the facts, in the face of testimony no less explicit, that it is a question with me whether he will not pooh-pooh this away too.— ELLIOTT Cougs. 750 Recent Literature. [December, A week later their arboreal home had so far progressed that they could enter and be screened from the view of their vexatious little enemies. Here they worked and delved —if I may be allowed the term — for another week to secure the proper depth. The ground for several yards around the tree was strewn with the tiny, white chips brought up at intervals and cast to the winds with that peculiar flirt of the head and bill which is char- acteristic of this avian family. About the middle of July, I found both parents busily occupied in searching the trunks and limbs of trees for larvee and worms to feed their young. Dur- ing and after the period of incubation, the familiar notes of this bird were rarely heard except very early in the morning. The first week in August both families of woodpeckers disappeared and have not been seen since. RECENT LITERATURE. Copr’s VERTEBRATE PaLeontoLocy or New Mexico.!— The present volume of nearly four hundred pages of text and upward of sixty plates comprises Professor Cope’s final report upon the vertebrate pal- ontology of New Mexico to the Wheeler survey. The species here described and figured have in greater part been previously characterized in various preliminary papers published by Professor Cope during the last three years; they are here treated more in detail, with the addition of nearly one thousand excellent figures. The volume hence takes rank as one of the most important contributions to North American verte- brate palzontology that has yet appeared. Among the results attained | are, as announced by the author, “the elucidation of the structure of the western slope of the Rocky Mountains and the plateau to the westward : of them, in Northwestern New Mexico;” “the determination of the fresh-water character of the ‘Triassic’ beds in that region ;” “the dis- covery of extensive deposits of the Lower Eocene, equivalent to the : Suessonian of Western Europe;” “the determination of the faune of four periods, in basins: which had not previously been explored, namely, in the Trias, the Eocene, the Loup Fork Epoch, and the Postpliocene of the Sandia Mountains.” The number of species of extinct vertebrata — “ obtained during the season of 1874,” and described in the present report, are “? Triassic, 4; Cretaceous, 13; Eocene, 87; Upper Miocene (Loup Fork), 30; Postpliocene, 2 ;” making a total of 136 species. The 1 Report upon United States Ge eographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian. In charge of First Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler, Corps of Engineers U. Bo Army. Vol. IV. Palæontology, Part II. Report upon the Extinct Vertebrata obtained in New Mexico by Parties of the Expedition £ a, By Prof. E. D. CoPE. Ato, is pp- xii., 370; pls, xxii—Ixxxiii. Washington. 1877. a 1877. ] - Recent Literature. T51 greater part of the remains on which this report is based were collected by the author himself, who thus had the opportunity of becoming familiar with their stratigraphical relations. In discussing the character of the great Eocene plateau of New Mex- ico, first explored by Professor Cope in 1874, it is claimed that the Ter- tiary mammalian fauna originated through a migration from the south- ward, replacing the Mesozoic type of Saurians which had until then occupied the field. “ New Mexico,” he concludes, “ was then no doubt the source from which the fauna of Wyoming was derived, and the exten- sion of the Wahsatch [or Green River] fauna probably proved fatal to the latest representatives on the American continent of the dinosaurian and other reptilian forms of Mesozoic time.” The work before us is divided into three chapters: the first is đe- voted to the Fossils of the Mesozoic Periods and the Geology of the Mesozoic and Tertiary Beds ; the second to the Fossils of the Eocene Period ; and the third to the Fossils of the Loup Fork Epoch. The Mesozoic vertebrata described embrace a single species of fish allied to the Mugillide, a large crocodilian, and a large, “ probably terrestrial ” animal, “ with powerful fore and hind limbs subequally developed,” ca Dystrophæus viemale, of doubtful class affinities. The Eocene types in- clude several forms known also from the Cretaceous and Tertiary, and the Lepidostoid genus Clastes, known thus far only from the Eocene of the Rocky Mountains. The reptiles are more numerously represented, and embrace turtles, crocodilians, and ophidians. Of the six genera of turtles three (7rionyx, Dermatemys, and Emys) still exist. The several species of crocodiles are referred (some of them doubtfully) to the exist- ing genus Crocodilus. The only bird described (Diatryma gigantea) was of large size, the single tarso-metatarsal bone, by which it is thus far known, having a breadth at its proximal end “nearly twice the diameter of that of the ostrich. Its discovery introduces this group of birds to the known faune of North America, recent and extinct, and demon- strates that this continent has not been destitute of the gigantic forms of birds now confined to the southern hemisphere faunz.” It is considered allied to Gastornis Hébert of the Eocene of France. The mammalia of this period are numerous, amounting to fifty-four species. Of these, ten are referred to the order Perissodactyla, eight to the order “ Ambly- poda,’ thirty to his new order “ Bunotheria,” and three to the order Rodentia. Space will not permit of more than a brief notice of these = groups, the affinities and characteristics of which, and their various sub- divisions, are discussed in detail. The Bunotheria were abundantly repre- sented during the North American Eocene, during which period they , “fulfilled the functions of the existing Carnivora.” While they agree - quite nearly in structure among themselves, they differ in important par- ticulars from the true Carnivora. They are described as varying from the size of a weasel to that of a jaguar. Some of the puzzling forms 752 Recent Literature. [ December, here brought together were at first referred to the Carnivora, others to the lemurine Quadrumana, others to the Insectivora ; others still have been supposed to have ungulate affinities, and others constitute Pro- fessor Marsh’s order Tillodontia. Professor Cope considers that his order Bunotheria cannot be defined so as to separate from it the existing Insectivora. Under this ordinal name he hence includes the existing Insectivora as a suborder, and considers that further investigations will be necessary to determine the relations of the Prosimie to this order. The Bunotheria are divided into five suborders: Creodonta, Mesodonta, Insectivora, Tillodonta, and Teniodonta, which subdivisions are re- as not more heterogeneous than those of the Marsupalia. The affinities of the Bunotheria are very divergent. . While the Insectivora maintain their typical characters, the Tillodonts show a certain kind of affinity with the Rodents, and the Tzniodonts present “a point of con- nection with the Edentates,” — the first hint of relationship between this anomalous order and the other mammals. The Mesodonts are appar- ently related to the Prosimie and Quadrumanes, as are the Creodonts to the Carnivores. If these interpretations prove to be correct, we have in the Bunotherians an extensive early generalized group foreshadowing the later more specialized mammalian orders of the present day. To this group are referred many of the mammalian genera of the ‘early Eocene of Europe, as well as the Wahsatch and Bridger faune of the early Eocene of North America. The order Amblypoda is regarded as the most generalized order of hoofed mammals, “ being intermediate in the structure of their limbs and feet between the Proboscidia, the Perissodactyla, and the Artiodactyla,” which fact, “together with the small size of the brain, places them in antecedent relation to the latter, in a systematic sense, connecting them with the lower mammals with small and smooth brains, still in existence ; and in a phylogenetic sense, since they precede the other orders in time, they stand in the relation of ancestors. It is doubtless true that the Amblypoda were the ancestors of all living ungulates, although no genus of the latter can yet be traced to any known genus of the former, such genera remaining for future discovery.” The proportional size of the brain, as shown by Professor Marsh, in respect to the Dinocerata (re- ferred by Cope to the Amblypoda) is more like that of reptiles than of mammals, and another reptilian feature is seen in the immovable tibio- tarsal articulation, — hints merely of a very remote reptilian relationship. Two suborders of this’ group are recognized, Pantodonta and Dino- cerata. To this order is referred the genus Coryphodon Owen (Bathmo- don Cope), several species of which are here described in detail, together with an account of the milk dentition. The Perissodactyla are represented in the Wahsatch Eocene by com- paratively few species, all of small size, but some of them were numet- ously represented in individuals. They belong chiefly to the genera — 1877.) Recent Literature. NOS Orotherium Marsh, and Hyracotherium Owen (to which latter Cope refers Orohippus Marsh). Hyracotherium has several near allies, both in the Old World and the New, and is here treated not only as a Perissodac- tyl, but is considered as having ancestral relations to the Equine series. Passing over the interesting Review of the Characteristics of the Vertebrate Fauna of the Wahsatch Eocene of New Mexico (pp. 269- 2), we have space for only a very brief notice of the chapter devoted to the fossils of the “ Loup Fork Epoch.” Among these are described two species of tortoise ( Testudo), and one bird referred to the genus Vultur. Of the mammalia three are Rodents, three Carnivora (one referred to Putorius and two to Canis, one of the latter, C. ursinus, as large as the black bear), one Proboscidian (Mastodon productus), four Perissodactyls, and eleven Artiodactyls. The latter belong chiefly to the cameline group (genera Merychyus Leidy, Procamelus Leidy, and Phliauchenia Cope) and partly to the peculiar deer-antelope type here referred to Dicrocerus Lartet (Merycodus and Corsoryx Leidy),a probable progeni- tor of the deer tribe (Cervide). The Loup Fork beds have been commonly viewed as representative of the Pliocene of France, although their exact synchronism has been considered as doubtful. Professor Cope believes that the general facies of thé Loup Fork fauna indicate an earlier age than this, and that the- Pliocene of America remains yet to be defined. The Loup Fork fauna is characterized by an absence of fishes and crocodiles, from which it is inferred that the “formation is that of a marsh and not of a lake.” The fauna has been studied at three widely separated localities in the region west of the Mississippi River, between the strata of which there is a near lithological resemblance, and the fauna collectively presents a common character as distinguished from that which preceded and followed. It is hence isolated alike from the Quaternary and the White River epochs, Only three of the genera have living Repo cormtattes one of T ( Canis) also occurs in the White River beds. In conclusion may be noted the growing tendency to a recognition of the generic identity of a considerable proportion of the Lertiary genera of North America with their European representatives of approximately eee age. E Witp FLOWERS or America, Part II.!— The second part of the wiih work includes plates of Jris versicolor L., the common blue flag; Rudbeckia columnaris Pursh, the columnar,cone-flower ; Viola sagit- _ tata Aiton, the arrow-leaved violet, accompanied by a figure of Carex eo Pennsyloanica Lam. ; and Steironema lanceolatum Gray, the lance-leaved trife. The latter plant is more familiar to our botanists under the older name of Lysimachia lanceolata, The four plates are beautifully 1 The Wild Flowers of America. Part II. Illustrations by Isaac Spracur: Text by Georer L. Goonatr, M. D., Assistant Professor of Vegetable Physiology, and In- _ Structor in Botany, in Harvard University. Boston : H. O. Houghton & Co.; New - York: ais Hogia i « 754 General Notes. [ December, executed and quite equal to those in Part I., although none of the spe- cies in the present number are as picturesque as Aquilegia Canadensis L., previously figured. The plates of the loosestrife and the arrow- leaved violet seem to us to be most successful as far as the accuracy of the representation is concerned. The most beautiful plate is that of the iris, which could be surpassed only by nature itself, for, in the species of this beautiful genus, such is the delicate shading of the colors and the exquisite translucence of the standards and the stigmas that art, at the best, must fall a little short of nature. With regard to the figure of Carex Pennsylvanica which accompanies the Viola sagittata we would suggest that its botanical value would have been enhanced had a matured spike also been figured. The descriptive text is shorter than that in Part I., but in Viola sagittata and Iris Virginica Professor Goodale has found material for some very interesting remarks on cleistogamous flowers and insect fertilization. In the present fasciculus the plates are not stitched but folded in the cover. In this connection we must express . the hope that the publishers will give the public the opportunity of pur- chasing extra copies of some of the plates for framing, as we can think of no more appropriate ornaments for a school-room or lecture hall than the beautiful plates of this series. — W. G. FARLOW. GENERAL NOTES. BOTANY.: FertILIZATION or FLowers sy Brrps. — From recent mention of this subject in Mr. Darwin’s new work, and in a review of it by Dr. Gray in the American Journal of Science, and two notes in Nature, I conclude that but few instances are known in which birds visit flowers. In the United States Dr, Gray names honeysuckles and trumpet creeper, in addition to Impatiens, which Darwin gives on authority of others. The ruby-throated humming-bird is common in this State and is fre- quently seen about our flower beds and in the green-house. I have n seen it visiting lilacs, phlox Drummondii, perennial phlox, portu- . . ™. væ 5 E as, petunias, morning-glories, roses, honeysuckles, snapdragons, | fuchsias, and I think many other species of which I have made no note. Several of the above were given me also by the gardener, Mr. Cassidy. — * : He also had noticed that the birds came in through the ventilators of the greenhouse in spring to visit the fughsias, of which tliey seem very fond, but after spring flowers appear their visits afe less common. Again they frequent the flowers in the greenhouse in times of dry weather. I r ; have not made as many notes on this subject as I now wish I had, but 1 am quite sure it will turn out that they visit a large number of species of our wild and cultivated flowers. They visit them with much greater rapidity than is common with the honey-bee. — W. J. BEAL. T 1 Conducted by Pror. G. L. GOODALE. + - Pirate IIT. METAMORPHOSIS OF THE JIGGER FLEA. 756 General Notes. [ December, ZOOLOGY. Tue Jigcer FLEA. — The jigger or chigoe, a species of flea (Pulex penetrans) which burrows in the feet of men in tropical America, has within late years been studied by Karsten, Guyon, and Bonnet. Our figures have been taken from these works, and were originally used to illustrate the Danish Journal for the Popular Diffusion of Natural Science. The eggs (Plate III., Figures 1, 2) are either dropped upon the ground, or remain within the sacs of the gravid female. The larve (Figure 3) transform in a cocoon (Figure 4) into the pupa (Figure 5), as in the ordinary flea. Figure 6 represents the fecundated female; Figure 7 the same at the third day from its entrance under the skin; Figure 8 the same after several days’ residence in the skin of its host. Figure 9 represents the fully grown female, seen in front and magnified only four times; Figure 10, the head of the same still more enlarged. Figure 11 represents the female before it has entered the skin of its host, and Fig- ure 12 the mouth parts, much enlarged (w, mandibles; d, maxillary palpi; u, under lip or labium). ANTHROPOLOGY. ANTHROPOLOGICAL News. — Some account was given in our last number of anthropological papers read at the American and at the British Association. The following are some of those communicated to the French Association: Déformations craniennes occasionnées par la Syphilis héréditaire (discussed at great length), Parrot; Announce- ment of the Plans for the Anthropological Exhibition at Paris in La Palais du Trocadero ( Revue Scientifique, No. 9, 1877, p. 204) ; Mémoire sur les Accumulations de Silex, M. de Puligny ; La Nomenclature des Légendes anciennes, M. Daleau; Considérations sur Age du Bronze en Hongrie, M. Hampel; L’Age de la Pierre chez les Négres, M. Hamy; Démographie de la Seine inferieure, Mariage, Natalité, et Mor- talité, Dr. Bertillon ; L’ Homme Al’Epoque du grand Ours des Cavernes, M. Ollier de Marichard. GEOLOGY AND PALHONTOLOGY. Recent PALÆONTOLOGICAL Discoveries. — Professor Cope re- cently announced the discovery by Mr. C. M. Wheatley, in the trias of Pennsylvania, of a large saurian, which he named Paleoctonus Appala- chianus. Since that time Mr. eatley has obtained material which demonstrates that the reptilian life of that period in the East was rich in types. This includes teeth of two other individuals of the sauriaD a ; named, and teeth of six other species. Two of these, the Belodon priscus and B. Carolinensis, had been previously known, while three others of larger proportions are new to science. They have been named 1 The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT Coves, U. 8. A. f ; 1877.] Microscopy. TST Clepsysaurus veatleianus, Suchoprion cyphodon, and Paleoctonus aula- codus by Professor Cope. . William Gurley, of Danville, Illinois, has recently added some inter- esting species to those already known to occur in the bone bed discov- ered by Mr. J. C. Winslow. Such are two new species of Cricotus (Cope) and an allied new genus, Lysorophus Cope. A second new genus is said to be allied to the salamanders, and is called Diplocaulus. Mr. Gurley finds also a new Ctenodus, Orthacanthus, etc. Since his discovery of the Camarasaurus in Colorado, Mr. Lucas has obtained the bones of a number of other reptiles, some of them little inferior in proportions to the C. supremus. One of these, of herbivorous type, is described by Professor Cope, in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, as Caulodon diversidens. A huge carnivorous species receives the name of Lelaps trihedrodon Cope, and a smaller type, with hollow biconcave vertebra and neural arch united by suture is referred to the new genus Zichosteus with the name T. lucasanus Cope. A species of Emydoid tortoise without dermal scuta, and with solid plastron and marginal bones is called Compsemys plicatulus. It is the oldest of the order Testudinata yet found in North America. GEOGRAPHY AND EXPLORATION. GEOGRAPHICAL News.— Among papers of interest in the forty- sixth volume of the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of Lon- don are the following: On Mr. H. M. Stanley’s Exploration of the Vic- toria Nyanza, by Lt. Col. J. A. Grant. The North American Boundary from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains, by Capt. S. An- derson. The Valley of the Tibagy, Brazil, by T. P. Bigg-Wither. Notes of a Journey from the River St. Francisco to the River Tocantins and to the City of Maranhao, by J. W. Wells. The Water-Shed of Central Asia, East and West, by T. E. Gordon. Notes accompanying a Chart of a Portion of the Niger Delta, by R. D. Boler and R. Knight. There are several papers, by C. M. Watson, W. Ellis, R. Strachan, and C. C. Gordon, on the White Nile. The Report of Progress of the Geological Survey of Canada for 1875-1876 contains an. interesting Report on Explorations in British Columbia, by George M. Dawson, comprising observations on the phys- ical geography and surface geology of the Pacific coast north of Wash- ington Territory. s MICROSCOPY. Scuraver’s Microscorrs. — L. Schrauer, who has removed his es- —tablishment to No. 50 Chatham Street, New York, has just issued a new catalogue in which his stands are described and figured. They adhere. more or less to the Continental model, and aim at thorough excellence in working qualities, without great display. They are essentially labo- ratory instruments, and among the best of their kind. They are fur- 1 Conducted by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y. 758 Scientific News. [ December. nished with Hartnack objectives. Besides the manufaeture of stands, Mr. Schrauer gives special attention to repairing microscopes and other scientific instruments. He also makes the common accessories, includ- ing the binocular attachment. EITR’S Heriostat. — A new heliostat, designed by Professor Ta is now made by Edward Kubel, of 326 First Street, Washington, D. C. It is an excellent model, simplified without loss of efficiency, and no doubt the best instrument for the use of microscopists who require direct sunlight, for photography, blue-cell work, or any other purpose. It seems a full substitute for the expensive imported instruments. Its cost is $50.00. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. $ AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS. — November. Intro- duction and Succession of Vertebrate Life in America, by O. C. Marsh. Note on the Helderberg Formation of Bernardston, Massachusetts, and Vernon, Vermont, by J. D. Dana.’ Is the Existence of Growth-Rings in the early Exogenous Plants Proof of Alternating Seasons? by C. B. Warring. (The foreign journals were not received in time to be noticed.) Boston Society or Natura History. — October 17th. .Mr. C. S. Minot made a communication on the Unity of all Forms of Muscular Contraction. November 7th. Professor C. Semper addressed the members on a Land Mollusk from the Philippines ; Onchidium, and its Dorsal Eyes. New York Acapemy or. Scrences.— November 5th. A paper was read by Mr. A. A. Julien, entitled Observations on the Geognosy of North Carolina. AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society. — November 8th. Rev. Selab Merrill delivered a discourse upon Modern Researches in Palestine. SCIENTIFIC NEWS. Important Notice TO SUBSCRIBERS. — The American NATURAL- 1st will hereafter be published by Messrs.. McCalla & Stavely, Philadel- phia, Pa., and will be edited by A. S. Packard, Jr., and Prof. E. D. Cope, with the assistance of eminent men of science. The January number, with an unusually attractive table of contents, will be sent out to past subscribers, and it is earnestly hoped that all will not only renew — their subscriptions, but induce others to subscribe. A little effort on the part of the friends of science will now insure the prosperity of this useful and attractive journal. : _ Errata. — Page 72, for Glivieri read Olivieri. Page 122, for Peruvian read Per- Mian. Page 603, fifth line from bottom, for carpus read tarsus. é INDEX, —e—— Abalone, 346. | Blood fossil, 629. Abbott, ©.