The American naturalist.

AMERICAN NATURALIST,

A

POPULAR ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE

NATURAL HISTORY.

EDITED BY
A. S. PACKARD, JR., E. S. MORSE, A. HYATT, AND F. W. PUTNAM.

VOLUME |. |

\

SALEM, MASS.
PUBLISHED BY THE BSSEA I 'TITTUTES.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

THE LAND Swnalts OF New ENGLAND. By E. S. Morse. With
a Plate and Illustrations, pp. 5, 95, 150, 186, 313, 411, BM, 606, 666
86 y

THE VOLCANO OF AUEA, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, IN
T. Brigham. With a Plate, 6
THE Fosst. REPTILES OF NEW anai.: R Fr of. E. D. Co 23

THE AMERICAN SILK Worm. By L. Trouvelot. With ae a-
tions and two Plates, 30, 85, 145
WINTER NOTES OF AN UestoLoainnt By J. 4 Alle 38
Tue MOSS-ANIMALS, OR FRESH WATER POLYZOA. er Alpheus
Hyatt. With three Plates, 57, 131, 180
THE FERTILIZATION OF owneus Prien By J. i ae 64
INSECTS AND THEIR ALLIES. rr A. S. Packard, jr., M.D. dlius-
ted,

trated, . f ei T
SOME ERRORS REGARDING THE Haa OF OUR Liane, By Dr.
T. M. Brewer, .. 113
Tue Foop or THE Saathi. By J. wW. Dena LL. D. I-
lustrated, f 124
TuE ROYAL Sine OF SRO: "By c. M. trae oh ae es ‘ 125, 470
TARANTULA KILLERS oF Texas. By G. m M. D.
Jilustrated, . x s o o
THE BIRDS OF Seine, By a À. Alen, 8 > JH
Tue RECENT BIRD TRACKS OF THE Daae OF Moua By C.
Fred. Hartt, A-M, . ; ; : i - 169, 234
Tue HABITS OF THE GORILLA. By W. Winwood Reade, . po ATT
Parasitic Prants. By G- D. Phippen. Illustrated, . ‘ - 188
OYSTER C By F. W. Fell 196

THE Scorpion or Texas. By a cian M. D. Tlustratėd, 203
A NOTE FROM THE Far Nortu. By J. T. Rothrock, . è 205
THE SEA-HORSE AND ITs YounG. By Rev. S. Lockwood. fis-
trated, 225
Somernixe ABOUT faite time: ‘By Edward s. Morse. With
a Plate, `
AGENCY OF Inseors. IN Paine Baten, By W. i Beal, 254
ICE-MARKS AND ANCIENT GLACIERS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAIN.
wy A. S. Packard, jr., M.D «. 5 % ‘ i ‘ a 260
THE Tae sisg or Arizona. By Dr. Elliott Coues, U. ‘6. A.. 281,
1, 393, 531
Tne COCKROACH AND Irs EneMy. By G. A. Perkins, M. D.. : 293
iii

iv ; CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

Fisn CULTURE. By Charles G. Atkins, p. 296

Tne DraGon-FLy. By A. S. Packard, jr., M. D. “With a Plate, 304

THE PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. From G. H. Lewes. Zl-
lustrated,

E a OTG
THE teks ERS OF urindi By G. L. Gébdale: M. D., i = 08T
THE- ENCAMPMENT OF THE Herons. By W. E. Endicott 43

ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTIVATION IN FRANCE. By F. W. Followel, 346
THe Home or THE Bees. By A. S. Packard, jr., M. D. With

a Plate and Illustrations, 364, 596
THE CHIGNON FUNGUS. aeihweioke’ s Setelicë GoustD. I fiuótiáteð, E 9
THE AWAKENING OF THE Brrps. By T. Martin Trippe
AGENCY OF INSECTS IN FERTILIZING PLANTS. By W. J. Beal; è aii
Tue TARANTULA. By G. Lincecum, M.D 4
THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. By Burt G. Wilder, M. D.

With two Plates and Illustrations, 414, 482, 631
THE CLOTHES-MOTH. By A. S. Pa ent; NA M. D. fe yar 423
MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION: Irs METHODS AND TEN-

DENCIES. By Prof. J. S. Newberry, . 449
DESMIDS AND Dratoms. By Prof. L.W. Bailey. With ¢ a Plate, 505, 587
A Sergey EXCURSION IN MY Orrice. By Prof. H. C. Wood,

+ M.D. illustrated, soir.
AN “hoor € OF SOME kikihi OR aneio APS,
D MASSACHUSETTS. se Prof. J. Oh eee

.

pim two ni ‘ : : a
THE Bene. By Au ies Fowler
THE FOSSIL INSECTS OF AMERICA. By s. H. Juodai Witha Plate, oa

an Sorts MuscaDINe Grare. By D. H. Jacques. Tilus-

ted, :
A Po ice Trip TO ba By C. Fred. Hartt, A. M., ; - 642
Notes or a Fur Hunter. By Henry Clapp,

REVIEWS. |

e Lysianassa Magellanica. By Prof. L. W. Lilljeborg, p. 48.
Bie iain to the goose of Crustacea, found living in Species
of the Genus Ascidia. By T. Thorell, 49. On the Polypes and Echino-
derms of New Sai Pa descriptions of New Species. By Prof.
A. E. Verrill, 49. The Myriapoda of North America. By Prof. H. C.
Wood, jr., 49. Natural History of Animals. By Prof. S., and Mrs. A.
PS Tenney, 50. On the Young Stages of a few Annelids. By Alexander

Preliminary Report of the Geological Survey of Kansas.
Anih

tions upon the Cranial Forms of the American Aborigines. By J. A.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I. ¥

Meigs, M. D., 152. A Treatise on some of the Insects injurious to

Vegetation. By 7. W. Harris, M. D., 153. Prodrome of a Work on

the Ornithology of Arizona Territory. By Elliott Coues, M. D., 209.

The first discovered traces of fossil neuropterous Insects in North
On the

70. American Educational Monthly, 271 rnithology and Odlogy
of New England. By Edward A. Samuels, 318. Jretaceous form-
ation ns of Sioux City, etc. By Jules Marcou, 320
Lepidopterological Notes and Descriptions, I, II, ete. R

Grote and C. T. Robinson, 320. The Taxidermist’s Manual. By 8.
H. Sylvester, 321. The American Agriculturist. ee ap feast è
n E

o a of Chlöeon ataata dimidiatum. By Sir a PERET

428. tsi of the Fossorial NSA a of North Am By
A. S. Packard, jr., M. D., 431. Manual of the Botany of the termes
United sepa including the pistes a of the Mississippi and North
of North Carolina and Tennessee. By Prof. Asa Gray, 491,548. Enu-
meration of Hawaiian Plants. By Horace Mann, 547. The Glacial
Phenomena of Labrador and New England. By A. S. Packard, jr.,

-D., 610. The Quarterly Journal of Science, 611. The Naturalist’s
Note Book, 613. Quarterly Journal of Psycholog gical Medicine and
Medical Jurisprudence, 672.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Botany.— Theory of the Origin of the Anther of Flowers PoE
Physiological effects of the Calabar Bean, 51. Skeleton Saavik: 51.
T Flora of Brognon, France, 103. Drying Plants by Heat,
— two methods, 103. The May-flower, 154. Parthenogenesis in the
Weeping Willow, 154. The Agency of Insects in Fertilizing Plants,
155. The annual increase in the circumference of Trees, 155. Curious

F Aa

R in a brick taken from the Pyramidś of Egypt, 322. A supposed
w Columbine, and a new Ox-eye Daisy, 388. Change of Color in
Pees placed under ot of different colors, 390. Herbarium for
sale, 432. A Fern new to our Flora, 432. Thornless form of the
Honey egal nea 433. Monstrous Roses, 433. Identification of
a Chemical Test, 434. Botanical Notes and Queries, 493.

vi CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

May-apples in Clusters, 494. Invasions of Foreign Plants, 495. A
variety of the Ox-eye Daisy, 496. Botanical Notes and Queries, 673.
Salsola Kali growing mh 674. Robinia Hispida, 674
ZOOLoGy.—The Edible Crab in Sal Mass., p. 52. Mimetic
Forms among the Pamats A 52. Fertile Ca aa among the Honey
Bees, 52. A Black Migo 5 the Red Squirrel, 53. Flights of But-
terflies, 104. A new Insect Box, Illustrated, ae Parasites of the
Humble Bee, 157. poe ge Carpenter Bees, 157. Mimetic Forms
among Insects, 155. Artificial Nests of Inseetvoron Birds in Swit-
zerland, 211. The He jag Grasshopper, 271. Fish Culture, 322.
Biscuit made of Fish, 323. e Pelican in Cayuga eons s N- Y., 323.
Curious mode of aE in ahem 324. Habits of the ae 325.
The Stuffed Whale in the Swedish Museum, 390, The Eggs of the
Dragon-fiy, 391. ew Change of Color in Fish, 391. The Bittern,
434. Eggs of the Indigo Bird, 435. A Snail-like Caterpillar, 435. The
Horned Corydalus, Jilustrated, 436. Breeding Place of the Pelican, 436.
i The

way of Se SR Eagles, 139. The Breeding Habits of Sues $25,
Change of Color in Fish, 497. Common Objects of the Coun!

The Tiger-beetle, Era 552. The Dodo, 6l4. Singular Variety
of the Field Sparrow, 614. The Gigantic Birds of the Mascaren
Islands, apia 615. The Eagle a Fisher, 614.

GEOLOGY. — Disc covery of a Human Jaw in a Belgian Bone paji
p. 53. A genio Serpent from the Chalk-formation of England, 5
Discovery of Chalk in Colorado and Dacota Territories, 53. ‘The ka
appearance of Man on our Planet, 104. The Eozoön in Austria, 105.
The Absence of the Northern Drift Formation from the western coast
of Nerth America, 157. Advance of Geological Science, 212. The
two earliest known Races Men in own T The

of Miocene, Ter-
tiary Flora of North Greenland, 325.
i of

Life on our Globe,

n 55
PY.—Test Objects, p. 158. Diatoms, 158. Method of
he Microscope in Medical see pencss
213. The Polycystina, 213. The Volvox and its Parasite, 276..
phorescent Entomostraca, 325. Preparation of Snail’s To
The movements of the Diatomacee, 441. The Su te Fauna of Mid-
ocean, 555. Student’s Microscope, 616.

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.
Ornithological for March, p- 54. New England Reptiles in April,
107. Ornithological for April, 109. The Insects of Early Spring, 110.

ILLUSTRATIONS. vil

Ornithological for May; The Insects of May, Illustrated, 160. The
Insects of June, Illustrated, 220. The Insects of fare Illustrated, 277.
The Insects of August, Illustrated, 327. Insects in September, 391.

CORRESPONDENCE. — n the Winter Plumage o iris Guillemot, p. 53.
Wasps as Marriage Priests to Plants, Illustrated, 105. Good Books on
Natural History and Taxidermy, 160. The Trichina spiralis, Illustra-
te Study of Science and the Classi The False-
Scorpion, 220. Preparation of Snail’s Tongues for the Microscope,

2 on North American Lichens, 326 e Aquarium, 327.
About Snails, 441. Essay on Classification, 441. Works on Entomol-
ogy, 441. b-like formation on Birds, rn, 498. Proceed-
ings American Association, where obtained, 556. Works on Entozoa,
556. Snake Charming, 556. Gordius, 556. Exchanges, 556.

agate retina: p. 159, 213, 216.

F SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, pp. 56, 112, 164, 166,
0

167, 68 3, 2, 27, 280, 330, 334, 442, 444, 447, ie 686, 559, 674,
GLO

LIST OF PLATES.

Plat Page Page
i ‘hate omy of the Land Snails of 10. ie was the Bees, fifteen figures, 378
New England, thirteen agoro, 16 | 11. On the Hand.—Arm of Man, Fore-

2. The Crater of Kilauea, b leg of Tapir, Wing of Bat, Fore-
3. Fredericella regina, eight figures, 64 leg of Seal, Arm of Monkey,
4. Pectmatella magnifica, four do. 1 Hand of la, e of Man,
5,6. The American Silk W Hind leg of Tapir, Hind leg of
Moth, ogee Polyphemus, . 1 igator, ten figures,
7. Cristatella ophidroidea, five fig- 12. On the Han man leg, arm, 490
ures, ete < % : smids —_ Diatoms, thirty-
8. Jelly -Fishes, Aurelia flavidula,
mirabilis,Pleurobrachia, 14,15. Indian implements found in
Tina. Tormos, Lizzia \ grata, the Shell-Heaps of New a ee
Eucope diaphana, en land, nineteen E
16. Fossil insects ot America,

ETAS ioh o o a MORE a a a a

LIST OF WOOD-CUTS.

1. Larva ofthe American Silk Worm, 30 tr. Food of the Sea =n = I%
2. ofa _ ee ee ee TS Fak Fhe a < Dauber, ead cigs | |
3. Young Terebella, . Yay T4 | 19. gt ne $ ë . 139
Shrimp, . $ Z Spee = 76} 20,21. Helix Eiana . > o A

5. Wood-wasp, Ete 77 22, 23. eoe palam, oo er eee

6. May Fly, 30 »20. " monodon, . . S
7. a e: of American Silk Worm, 65 | 26,27. * ipae E . 151
8. Pupa 87 | 28. In Box, oo 3 ee
9. Tehneumon Parasite, Bes. 89 | 29. Coddling Moth, E a
10. Diagram of Snail, . « « 85180. The Squash Beetle, . : . PE
il. Helix posers wrong 97 | 31. Plum Weevi e o a ee
oes pula aaa ` e 32. byncss hortensis, x 186

ë > ix alternats; vo

1615 « “ Sentira . » 9 |35. Thé Dodder, . Pa

16. Pollen on Wasp’s Leg, . . 105 Scorpion of Texas, . . -23

Vill ILLUSTRATIONS.
No. P ps i E
d 42. Cogs p E f; Helix multidentata, .. . . 543
4 une RES T 7 UR ea T ‘
44. Plant Lic = . 2 > Bees minuscula, <i
- Te ot. adonia um, ee hi $ — bec A
4 e Sea Horse errea, $ eae
47, 48. Young of Sea Hors : zy oso . Pe
Whit. x cat Wan Geol. “seotion, F pta ta = . <
ite-face asp . stri . .
. Tiger Bee , 116. Helix xlabytinthica . .
ady one š & . fee asteriscus, . .
7 S sopa, ° $ ó an oa " ` .
‘ = ax eremnoe . . ‘ gsima. $ . .
ee i d : bee of FCieindels . . :
Hone f Diplax, ; : é . Cie indel a generosa, . > J
, 58, 50, Head c of Diplax, : ‘ 3 i vulgaris, .
Lt se . . purpurea .
_“_Diplax, . : “8 birdcollis, . .
, Z pon pmpa, 4 ee pai Sore °
35. Helix inornata. # punctulata,
, 67. a fuliginosis . rouch’s Cove, Casco Bay, Me., -3
eN uca miliaris, . $ i7 - Kjækkenmæddin B 5
), poena undulata, . x ). Se erg Andrena vicina, e
2 natra fusca, > arva 1e
ah. aii paludum, . . ENA A Aaah oF Halictus parallelus,
4 picipes, PoTN
. Phy ‘mata erosa, . ` ` = noinen Totteniana, . . . OUD
ae prin te groan - 882, ehh ee
-eye D; ‘ ý 4 : ea ovala ee a $ . GOT
. Helix cuppressa, tt eg ol Zua lubricoides, . . `. 7
e SE eg Pe res mae d 3 Zonya harpa, ES a 3
a . . . re
; 90, 91, =. otis x ) Moth, k fallax, : -+ 609
heL Ho Sariin Gains The Géant, k OETAN E 7
Ks orn naii us ight 3 S r
: - Zoösp re, er $ Daks of Åye-aye, + OEN
dogonium, pater: he Muscadine Grape s . 637
ee <a
arf m s N 0 ° . . i
. Filament of female Plant, do. 5 ; yentricosa, . . . 669
1 . Twocells, do., y 3 ie Bollesi A = . 669
1 E ia filament, do. io n T á 670
102. Perfected spore of Gdogonium, ) .. & . simplex, . - 670
Levy Helix e Lingle Pa a rer in
arpo: . Py . 4
$ ko T Clecirinay =e x . 542 :. ops seme coke 671
mo Binteyana,’ oc: > t, 161. Embryology of Dous 676
ERRATA, VOL. I.
Page 10, line 23, for interval, read instanc:
© M, * 1 * fig.1, plate 2, read fig. 5, plate 1.
om s is ere ae
2, “ 32,“ ToN
% 42, dele lines
ü ao aS R a udr “pag i
a EN se a nt rènd iste, the dates Oi ty ents
oe A Wave,
eo +
“ 1, “ 5 e a E 7 supernumerary; on lips irh aih real Us:
a 95? af leg, neal hand; dc dele Ii
554, ee Ta r road, county; ar om at leagl read Scaphiocrinus;
o Bo 20, Paleozoic localities, reni mony ec a
570, “ 15, “ Pl. 15, fig. 14, read Pi. 14, fig.3.

ATI ps ae. n

a pe

ja fe — soe =

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. 1.—MARCH, 1867.—No. 1.

—<~“>—

INTRODUCTORY.

In laying before our readers this first number of a pop-
ular scientific monthly, we commence a publication in
which we shall endeavor to meet the wants of all lovers of
nature. zo

The rapidly increasing interest in the study of the va-
rious departments of Natural History invites the establish-
ment of a journal which shall popularize the best results
of scientific study, and thus serve as a medium between
the teacher and the student, or, more properly, between
the older and the younger student of nature.

If the reader, however slight his intercourse with
nature may have been, shall find somėthing in these pa-
ges to stimulate his zeal, and direct his mind to the right
methods of investigation, and also teach him new facts
concerning the haunts and habits of his favorites of the-
wood, the lake and the seashore, the great aim of this

_ Entered a to 4 Act of Congress, in the year 1867, 2 eae ESSEX INSTITUTE, in
rk f tl

he District of Massac

Zz INTRODUCTORY.

journal will be accomplished. Should it do no more than
to bring naturalists, both young and old, into an active
“coöperation and sympathy, and promote good fellowship
and amity between the great brotherhood of enthusiasts,
as all true naturalists are, we shall gain a most important
object. The value of our Magazine will depend more on
its power to awaken the absorbing interest invariably ex-
cited by the contemplation of nature, and of illustrating
the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, than on any
adornment of style, or cunning devices of the artist.

We trust the Magazine will be equally welcome to the
Farmer, Gardener and Artisan. We shall endeavor to
point out the practical benefits resulting from the study
of nature. The value of the study of the habits of insects,
or Economic Entomology, the modes of breeding and de-
velopment of animals and plants, and their distribution
over the surface of the globe will be often discussed.

This is an utilitarian age, and all the theories now float-
ing on the sea of science, all the stray facts not yet group-
ed in their proper places, besides the well digested facts
which fill the treasury of knowledge, are all to be subor-
dinated to the practical advantage as well as to the intel-
lectual and moral elevation of man. As philosophers in
seeking the truth for the truth’s sake, let us not forget
that our science will be ennobled by publishing those facts

_ and principles which interest alike the philosopher and the
day-laborer. The farmer and grazier are as much inter-
ested as the naturalist in all facts concerning the origin of

SOR ee eRe ees rA jie hae ae ise ior eee er ee
OE E SA M a ag age ee mE Ra en SRE S PETN ALY Sn oer ser ee

INTRODUCTORY. 8

life and of specific forms, whether by direct creation, or
by secondary laws as claimed by the followers of Lamarck
or Darwin. In his work “On the Origin of Species,”
Darwin gathers many of his most important facts from the
experience gained in the farmyard and garden, and all
such facts are of practical value to the cattle breeder or
horticulturalist. The studies of the astronomer in his ob-
servatory ; the daily observation of the clouds and dew
point; and of the barometer and thermometer, and the
tracing of the course of storms interest alike the meteo-
rologist, the farmer and the mariner.

In our monthly calendar of the periodic returns of ani-
mals, farmers and gardeners will be warned of the attacks

of insects injurious to crops. All inquiries respecting the
attacks of such depredators will be answered in our col-
umns, and modes of combating them be suggested.

As a medium between collectors, we trust the NATURAL-
‘Ist will be. found of great use. Should the sportsman
shoot a rare bird, or the insect-hunter capture a rare but-

terfly or beetle it may be here placed on record; or should
the conchologist pick up a new shell which he is unable to
identify from the means at his command, it will give us
pleasure to aid in determining the name of his rarity ; or,
if unable ourselves, to place him in communication with
specialists who have the requisite knowledge.

Such, then, shall be the leading object of the journal—
to amuse the reader, perhaps decoy him within the temple
of nature ; and, if he be a willing student, instruct him in
some of its mysteries.

4 INTRODUCTORY.

The matter offered to our réader’s acceptance will be
mostly drawn from original sources. Occasionally we
shall extract from the pages of our contemporaries. The
most recent discoveries of general interest will be gleaned
from the English, German, and French reviews and jour-
nals,—for science is cosmopolitan. Thus, following My
Lord Bacon’s bidding, we shall “prick in some flowers
of that he hath learned abroad” for the better adornment
of this our Naturalists’ Companion and Solace.

The editorial responsibility seems great, and nothing
but the boundless wealth of nature spread out before us,
the untiring good will of our scientific friends in contrib-
uting to our pages, and the promise of the kindly appre-
ciation of the public, can be an excuse for our appearance,
and for any apparent presumption in our bearing.

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.
PLATE 1.

BY E. S. MORSE.

We offer to our readers the first of a series of papers on
the Land Snails of New England, with the intention of
carefully figuring every species of land snail known to
occur within the prescribed boundaries. We shall also
give a general history of the group, mentioning the hiding
places of different species, and whatever facts we may
think of interest to the general reader.

Certainly a more unassuming subject could not well be
studied, for aside from the soothing pleasure of lying
down, dorsal region uppermost, in some secluded grove,
and hunting for half a day among the decaying leaves, up-
turning the different layers of successive autumnal depos-
its of withered foliage, even as the geologist throws open
the different pages of the “Great Stone Book,” the earth’s
crust, in quest of material for study,—aside from this
quieting pursuit, we have no stirring incidents in their life
to contemplate, no frantic hops, skips, and jumps of the
insect tribe, no terrible bites to dread, or poisonous stings
to shrink from, no enemy of our husbandry (except occa-
sional injury from the garden slug) to bafle, no giant
stride or rapid speed to wonder at; for the snail is pro-
verbially slow in every respect. When disturbed, it does
not, like many other animals, struggle violently to escape,
but ceases motion, or quietly withdraws itself within its
shell. Even the heart, which in higher animals, when agi-
tated, pulsates with increasing energy, in the snail under
similar excitement, throbs with a slower motion. And yet

6 THE LAND SNAILS

we do believe that the careful study of a common snail will
reveal the wonders of God’s Providence in as forcible a
manner as the history of the higher forms of animal life.
Before presenting an account of the different species of
land snails to be met with in New England, we must
first learn something about the habits and anatomy of the
group in general. Land Snails are universally distributed
throughout the world, occurring under stones in open

pastures, beneath the dead leaves and prostrate trees of |

the forest, in the interstices of bark, clinging to shrubs and
spears of grass, lurking under damp moss, and occupying
other positions of a similar nature. As they are depend-
ant on the presence of a certain degree of moisture for
their perpetuation and increase, they are more abundant
in warm and damp regions, and are therefore found in
greater numbers on islands, while in dry and desert places
they are scarcely known to occur.

The land snails attain their greatest size and beauty in
the tropics ; the species diminishing in number and size as
we approach the poles. Certain South American species
attain the length of six inches, and the young when first
hatched from the egg (which is as large as that of a pig-
eon), is an inch long.

We turn however with relief from the gaudy colored
shells of the Equator, to our more humble representatives
of the North, both modest and unpretending in size and
color. The species native to the United States are essen-
tially inhabitants of the forest, and there, dwelling under
the damp leaves in continual darkness, do we seek the
material for our study.

Figures 9, 10, and 11, plate 1, represent the com-
mon large snail of our woods, the white lipped snail or
Helix albolabris. This snail is distributed throughout all

ep ee ree ee E

OF NEW ENGLAND. 7

the Northern and Western States, and is a fair type of the
family. The body is quite soft, and spreads below into an
oblong, flattened disk. This disk is called the “foot,” and
forms their only locomotive organ. By means of nume-
rous minute muscles distributed closely along this flatten-
ed surface, they are enabled to creep along, at times with
an almost imperceptible motion, gliding a over the
roughest substances, ascending branches, and even bur-
rowing in the ground. When we consider this sluggish,
and too often despised snail, without legs, fins, or wings,
and yet performing the important function of locomotion
with as much certainty and ease as animals more highly
endowed, we cannot but admire the versatility of the
Great Creative mind in the various complete provisions
made for the locomotion of all these humbler animals.
During progression, the disk, or surface upon which they
crawl, secretes a slimy, or viscid substance, which greatly
facilitates their exertions, and they can often be traced to
their hiding places, by following the silvery trail, which
all snails leave behind, in their peregrinations. The Eng-
lish gardener, annoyed as he is by the depredations of cer-
tain species of snails, which nip the tender buds, and
even devour the leaves of his plants, frustrates their
destructive raids by encircling the plants with an earth
work of dry sand; or better still, ashes. The snail, in
attempting to pass this barrier, becomes completely en-
tangled with the particles of sand adhering to its slimy
body. Now, any irritation of this nature causes the snail
to pour out this slime, or mucus, from all parts of the
body, as can be easily proved by irritating the snail with
the point of a stick, when shortly a ball of mucus will be
formed on the stick, and the point finally rendered smooth.

This provision to guard against such conditions, fairly ex-

8 THE LAND SNAILS

hausts the snail in its attempts to pass the barrier, for the
more abundant the secretion, the greater the entangle-
ment, and finally the snail dies from exhaustion. Protec-
tions of this kind would be of no use in rainy weather, as
the sand adheres together, and the snail can then pass
over it very easily.

Certain species of slugs (Fig. 13, Plate 1), that is,
snails having no coiled shell, but alike in other respects,
have the singular power of lowering themselves from some
projecting point by means of this mucus, which they
throw off from the posterior end of the creeping disk ; and
we have seen a common slug (a species occurring abund-
antly in our garden and fields), lower itself from the back
of a high chair to the floor. They have no power, however,
like the spider, to retrace their course. They will often
hang suspended in mid air for sometime, apparel for
no other purpose than to enjoy themselves.

The snail has no power to leave its shell as many sup-
pose. The shell is as much a part of the animal, as is the

hard crust of a beetle a component part of the insect. And.

not only this, the snail is attached to the shell by a per-
manent muscular attachment, and cannot be withdrawn
from it alive. In order to clean the shell of its contents,
it is customary to scald it in boiling water, when the mus-
cular attachment becomes separated from the shell, and
the soft parts can be easily removed. The finding of
empty shells in the woods, has oftentimes been cited as
a proof that the snail can leave its shell, and the occur-
rence of certain species of snails which have no visible
shell, has served to strengthen a belief in this error.
When the creature dies, the soft perishable parts are soon
decomposed, or else devoured by insects, leaving the more
enduring shell as a monument to its memory. On the ap-

k i es E E ARS E E RENNE E eee
i o i a a a aa ye Nn a EE

OF NEW ENGLAND. 9

proach of winter, or the continuance of a severe drought,
the snail hybernates, that is, it ceases to feed, and with-
draws itself far within its shell, leaving at the same time
several barriers within the aperture of the shell, composed
of the mucous secretions of the animal. In this condition
it remains, motionless and apparently lifeless. The-mode
of forming these partitions is quite curious, and will in-
terest the observer. As the snail withdraws within the
shell it inspires a certain quantity of air; the creeping
disk, and the parts of the animal bordering the aperture
of the shell pour out a certain quantity of: mucus, which
stretches completely across the aperture of the shell.
This soon hardens, and the snail by expiring most of the
air in its lungs, and thus reducing its bulk, retires still
farther within its shell, and again forms a barrier similar
to the one just formed, and oftentimes several partitions
are formed in this way, one behind the other, affording a
complete protection against the inroads of cold and water,
and apparently of heat as well, since they always do this
when confined in a dry or hot place. In a certain foreign, |
species, this partition partakes of a calcareous nature, and”
thus affords a more enduring barrier. In the spring time
the snail resumes its activity, the barriers are forced
through by the tail, and frequently the snail devours
them, as if famishing after its long continued fast.

All species of land snails with few exceptions, are ovi-
parous ; that is, the young are hatched from eggs laid by
the parent. The sexes are united in each individual,
though the mutual union of two individuals is necessary to
fertilize the eggs. They lay from fifty to one hundred
eggs ata time. The eggs of most species are very small,
white in color, and resemble homeopathic pills. If the
conditions are favorable, the young issue from the eggs in

AMERICAN NAT. VOL. I. 2,

10 : THE LAND SNAILS

the course of two or three weeks, furnished with a shell
composed of one whorl and a half. The shell is increased
in size by the addition of calcareous matter round the
margin of the aperture. The successive lines of growth
can be easily traced on the shells of most species. They
attain their complete growth in from one, to two years.
The number of eggs produced by an individual varies in
proportion to the greater or less protection afforded to the
animal ; thus in the common slug, Limax, and allied gen-
` era, having no exterior shell into which they may with-
draw in times of danger, the number of eggs produced is
much greater, and according to Dr. Peeks; hiv kept two
specimens of the common garden slug in confinement,
seven hundred and eighty six eggs were laid in one year.
The vitality which the snails eggs possess surpasses be-
lief. Certain French fhiduradiaty assert that they have
been so completely dried, as to be friable between the
fingers. In this dried condition they have been kept fora
long time, and yet a single hour’s exposure to humidity and
warmth, has been sufficient to restore them to their origi-
nal form and elasticity. They have been dried in a fur-
nace eight successive times, until they were reduced to an
almost invisible minuteness, yet in every interval have
they regained their original bulk in a moist situation. In
all thèse instances the young have been developed, in the
same manner as other eggs not subjected to this ex-
periment. (Binney.) This wonderful vitality extends to
the snail in all stages of its existance. We have seen cer-
tain species frozen in solid blocks of ice, and yet regain
their activity when subjected to the influences of warmth.
Their dependence on moisture naturally places them in
moist situations, yet we have seen certain species attached
to leaves, where the sun had shed its scorching rays for

si tag cl

ipa,

ie al
ii

OF NEW ENGLAND. 11

weeks, crisping the leaves, and baking the ground as dry
as potter’s ware, and yet these conditions not affecting in
the least their vitality. They have been kept for years in
pill boxes, and yet on subjecting them to moisture, have
crawled about appearing as well as ever. In “ Wood-
ward’s Manual of Shells” is the following, chronicled by
Dr. Baird, regarding the resuscitation of a desert snail.
“This individual was fixed to a tablet in the British Mu-
seum on the 25th of March, 1846, and on March 7th,

1850, it was observed that he must have come out of his -

shell in the interval (as the paper had been discolored,
apparently in his attempts to get away) but finding escape
impossible, had again retired, closing his aperture with
the usual glistening film; this led to his immersion in
tepid water and marvellous recovery.” The power pos-
sessed by the snail to reproduce certain portions of its
body removed by violence, has long attracted the atten-
tion of Zodlogists. The horns, or tentacles, and even
portions of the head have been cut away, and in due
course of time these lost parts have been restored by a
new growth. The whole head has been cut away, and
though in many cases terminating the life of the victim,
yet in some instances the parts removed have been fully
restored, This seems the more wonderful when we con-
sider the complicated character of the head and mouth.
The shell may be broken, and even portions of it removed,
and yet after a certain lapse of time the injured parts will
be repaired by a deposition of shelly matter at the frac-
tured parts. We have thus far examined briefly the gene-
ral history of the snail. Let us now proceed to examine
more minutely its anatomical characters.

Figure 10, on plate 1, represents the common large
snail of the woods, the white lipped Helix, or technically

x ag

12 THE LAND SNAILS

speaking, Helix albolabris. It is represented as crawling,
and consequently extended fully from the shell. The two
larger and two smaller “horns” projecting from the head,
are respectively called the upper or superior, and lower
or inferior tentacles. The superior tentacles are the long-
est, and stand uppermost ; at the tips of these are found
the eyes, little black specks, though large enough to be

distinctly visible. The eyes are very simple in structure, —

and probably serve no important use, as the snail in pro-
gression, appears to depend entirely on the tentacles as
. feelers to guide the way. While they crawl, the tentacles
are continually in motion, and the tips oftentimes come in
contact with various objects on the way. If the eyes
were capable of ordinary vision, this occasional contact of
the tentacles would be avoided.

That the sense of smell is enjoyed by the snail has long
been known, since they will oftentimes travel some dis-
tance in quest of food for which they have a particular
fondness ; the exact seat of this sense, however, has long
been a disputed question. An eminent French Naturalist
believes it to be seated at the extreme tip of the larger
tentacles. A magnified drawing is given (Fig. 1, Plate
1,) of the end of the larger tentacles to show the position
of the nerves supposed to be the nerves of smell, or the
olfactory nerves, (o, Fig. 1,) these are seen as minute
threads or branches terminating at the extreme end of the
bulb-like tentacle. In this figure the eye is also seen with
the optic nerve. (e. eye, op. optic nerve. ) The larger

tentacles are retractible, that is, they have the power ol

withdrawing within the head, the eyes disappearing
first, as a glove finger disappears as it is withdrawn
over the hand, turning the glove wrong side out. The
smaller, or inferior tentacles, have not this power of with-

3

OF NEW ENGLAND. 13

drawing within the head, but remain always extended.
When the snail is feeding, it is very curious to observe
the listless appearance of the larger tentacles. A dog, or
a cat, when feeding will often partially close the eyes
and appear drowsy. It would seem that similar sensa-
tions are experienced by the snail, for while feeding, the
tentacles are partially drawn within the head and hang
downward, as if the delights of feeding were altogether
too engrossing to mind the lax state of the tentacles.
When on the trail, however, the tentacles are thrust out
to their greatest length, perfectly rigid, and give an ap-
pearance of alertness to the snail that it does not possess.
Just beneath the lower tentacles the mouth is situated,
having on the upper lip a crescent shaped jaw, (Fig. 7,
Plate 1,) of a heavy texture, and quite hard. In some
Species of snails, the jaw is quite smooth, and has a slight
projection on the cutting edge. In other species, the
larger ones especially, the jaw is ribbed, and the cutting
edge is notched and jagged like so many tecth as it were.
In fact this jaw answers all the purposes of an upper set of
teeth, for it is capable of biting through the thick leaves
of a cabbage; as can be easily proved, by keeping a
snail in confinement, and feeding it on cabbage or let-
tuce, of which it is very fond. When feeding, all the
movements of the mouth are plainly visible, and not
only can the little semi-circular cuts of the jaw on the
leaf be seen, but while feeding the nipping sound of the
bite can be distinctly heard. The larger snails are also
very fond of flour paste, and while luxuriating in this
simple diet each white mouthful can be easily traced in
its course, from the mouth to the stomach, owing to the
translucency of the snail’s body. The lower lip is not
furnished with a plate, but just within the mouth there is

14 THE LAND SNAILS

spread a membrane, very appropriately called the tongue,
or lingual membrane, as the snail uses it in lapping its
food. This membrane is quite long and broad, and is
. covered with minute silicious denticles, or teeth, as they
are called.

As an object for the microscope, it will repay one the
trouble attendant on dissecting this membrane from the
mouth of a snail. A magnified figure of the entire tongue
is given on plate 1, fig. 6. Nothing can exceed the
beauty and regularity in the form and arrangement of the
denticles. These are pointed and turn backwards, thus
forming a series of little claws and hooks, and are admira-
bly adapted to perform the rasping function allotted to |
them ; fig. 1, plate 2, gives a side view of afew of these
teeth to show their hooked character. The number of den-
ticles on the tongue is very great. Some species, the
white-lipped Helix, for instance, having nearly twelve
thousand denticles. It is difficult to conceive the minute-
ness of these particles, when we consider that the mem-
brane on which they rest is not a quarter of an inch long,
and only half as wide. The denticles are arranged in reg-
ular longitudinal and transverse rows. Figure 3, plate 1,
represents two transverse rows of these denticles, and fig.
4 a central tooth, with lateral teeth more highly magnified
to show their form. It-will be noticed that the central
denticles are symmetrical in form, having the two sides
alike, while those on each side are not symmetrical.
illustrating the dentition of a species, it is only necessary
to draw one half of one transverse row, including the cen-
tral denticle, at the same time mentioning the number of
transverse rows on the membrane; thus in the white-lip-
ped Helix, a specimen of which we examined, we found
eighty-nine denticles in a transverse row, that is, one

OF NEW ENGLAND. 15

central denticle, flanked on each side by forty-four lateral
denticles. There were one hundred and twenty-three
transverse rows, making the whole number of denticles
onthe membrane ten thousand nine hundred and forty- -
seven, or, about eleven thousand. The form, and number
of denticles in each species vary, as we shall show here-
after.

In looking for the breathing hole of the snail, those
ignorant of its structure might refer to the mouth as the
opening through which it inhaled air. It is a common
idea that insects breathe through the mouth, because the
higher animals do so. Now insects breathe through little
perforations on the sides of their body, and the snail has
an aperture on the right side of its body, just within the
aperture of the shell, through which it breathes. This
aperture can be plainly seen in the mantle or skin which
fills the mouth of the shell, (Fig. 11, a, Plate 1) by turn-
ing the snail over. The lung is a simple cavity, lined
with a net work of blood vessels. The blood is a bluish
colored fluid, and is circulated through the body and lung,
by a pulsating heart composed of two chambers,.an auri-
_ cle-and a ventricle, separated by a double valve. -The
heart’s pulsations can be distinctly seen through the lower
part of the translucent shell of many species. Fig. 2, h,
plate 1, represents the heart situated in the pulmonary
sot In this figure the lung is represented as

k from the animal, exposing the heart. Fig. 12 repre-
sents the heart and lung of a common fuy. It would
lead us too deep into the anatomy of the mai, were we
to indicate the character and position of the liver, kidney,
and many other organs which combine to make up the
complicated structure of our apparently simple snail. Suf-
fice it to say, that however insignificant many of the lower

16 THE VOLCANO OF KILAUEA,

animals appear to the common observer, yet a description
of their minute anatomy alone would form many a chapter
of surpassing interest to those who delight in contempla-
ting the perfection of God’s works.

_In our next paper we shall commence the description
of the different species of land snails to be found in New
England.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE lI.

wig, 1 Seater? id of hn ie lareiras of a snail. op. optic
eye; o. olfacto
Fig. 2. Helin albolabris, ai shell pant | ad ee thrown back,
sho ung and heart. m. mouth; h. heart

Fig. 3. One row of teeth from the sam gnil

Fig. 4. A portion of one row of A from the Raye, highly magnified.
Fig. 5. Side view of teeth of the

Fig. 6. Entire tongue of a ontgegend

Fig. 7. Jaw of wee magnified.

Fi 8. Nerve centres of Helix Cina

Fi 9. Shell of Helis albolabri

ig. S
Fig. 10. Helix albolabris crawling.
Fig. 11. d back, showing oritice to lung, a.
Fig. 12: Ldu ng and eah of “Garten — Limax flavus.
Fig. 13. id ONDINE from t

THE VOLCANO OF KILAUEA, HAWAIIAN
ISLANDS, IN 1864-65,
PLATE 2.

BY W. T. BRIGHAM.

Soon after one o’clock we came upon the brink of the
great crater. From below us steam and vapor rose in a
sluggish column, but we saw no fire and heard no noise:
the conflagration had, as it were, left nothing but smoking
ruins to mark the scene of its triumph. The deep plain
before us was surrounded with steep rock-walls, from

.

a a Na E EE E EN EE NE CEN TA PERIE AINE S EE EI IAS i i a ke

American Naturalist.

áit
Maas

t4

AAN
Ani A on
a” ù WA

WAY
wathheu
wu ANNANS SSNANIN
WN NR VANS iba DE BER DERE NEE

diiit
slijedi

shdddididéd gidhdddé
torrewire es errean SPITS gatte”

MORSE ON THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, IN 1864-65. 17

three to seven hundred feet high, and nearly nine miles in
circuit. Boston could easily be accommodated within
this crater, and Vesuvius would not much more than fill
it. The whole circuit of the walls is much broken and
interrupted, and we rode along over several large cracks,
one of which opened about a year since (in 1863). Some
are concentric, and others radial, and all along the edges
of the abyss are fumaroles from which issue clouds of
steam, not as at the Geysers of California, with great
noise, but gently as a quiet respectable teakettle pours out
its vaporous offering. The steam had no smell of sulphur,
and ferns were growing luxuriantly over the openings,
while the condensing vapor formed pools of sweet water,
the only source of drinking water in this rer
region.

‘When we reached the north-western part of the crater,
we found on our left a ridge of reddish earth, from which
steam and strong sulphurous fumes poured in many pla-
ces. This was the western Sulphur Bank, and in its cracks
were forming the most beautifully delicate crystals of sul-
phur, almost mosslike ; and here and there a blue crystal
of sulphate of copper, and greenish masses of sulphate of
iron. The earth, which is formed by the decomposition
of the lava, was quite hot, and we found some natives
cooking fern stalks in the steam.

While we were examining the sulphur deposits, our
men came up with our blankets, and we at once engaged
an old- kanaka who lived near by, to guide us down into
the crater. Two other kanakas went with us to carry
water and bring back specimens. The descent was at first
quite steep, down the hard grey walls; and then the path
wound along on broken shelves, under a grand precipice
two or three hundred feet high, quite perpendicular, and >

AMERICAN NAT. VOL. I: 3

18 THE VOLCANO OF KILAUEA,

looking as if built of regular blocks of stone. Small shrubs
grew by the way, and we picked berries (vaccinium) in
abundance. At last after a rapid descent on a steep grav-
elly bank, we stepped into the fresh black lava of the
crater floor. This floor looked quite smooth and level
from above, but we found it was very rough and uneven.
The fresh lava we first met had broken up during the last
winter and overflowed all the end of Kilauea, and it was
piled in twisted masses and broken slabs and bubbles.
Its surface was covered with a thin nitrous crust, which
crumbled beneath our tread, sounding as hard-frozen snow
does on a frosty morning, and iiss a distinct path -had
been worn to Lua Pélé or To great fire-pit which is at the
south-western end of the crater proper.

Half a mile of such travelling and we came to a wall of
hard trachyte, quite unlike the lava of the floor, which
seems to have been floated up here from the walls below.
The great blocks which compose it are said to change

their position from time to time as the floor rises and

cracks. Fissures of all sizes were common, and from
many of them steam issued changing the black lava to a
reddish hue. The action of vapors and gases had pro-
duced fragments of all shades and colors, some so metallic
as to closely resemble gold, others red, violet, green, etc.
Now and then we broke through the thin crust of a bub-
ble, and although we could not repress a momentary
shudder as we thought of what might be the result of a
fall into the regions beneath, the stirring interest. of the
place drove away considerations of personal er.
After two miles we came to a fearful erack about three
or four feet wide, and so deep we could not see the bot-
tom, but still there was no sound that we did not make
ourselves, and we could not see any fire. I was certainly

aig ie ne 2 a ee els Ome a a E ar ecg, 6 ES SO a pee

Te BAS See

pS aia tiie

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, IN 1864-65. 19

disappointed in this, for I remembered the accounts of
those who had seen all this plain in a melted state. As
we came near the Lua Pélé, however, we found a black
cone some twenty-five feet high, with a bright spot at its
summit. There was fire at last, but we pushed on over
the loose slabs, and through the steam, until suddenly we
stood on the brink of the lake of lava some seven hundred
feet long, five or six hundred feet wide, and perhaps
thirty feet below us. The surface was covered with a
dark crust, broken around the edges where the thick
blood-like mass surged against its banks with a dull sullen
roar. The sulphurous vapors which rose from its surface
were blown away by the wind, so that we could approach
the very brink on the windward side, but the heat was so
great that we had to hold our hands before our faces. The
walls on which we stood and where we intended to sleep,
were thickly covered with Pelé’s hair* which we saw con-
stantly forming. The drops of lava spattered out as the
waves dash against the walls, drawing after them a thread,
or two drops spin out a thread between them like the
finest “spun glass,” and these broken threads are caught
against the rough points of the cliffs and form a thick

coating.

Occasionally a crack would open in the surface of the
lake, and the white-hot lava boil up through it in several
places for a few minutes, and then turning red, and cooling
rapidly, become black as before. A current would often
‘set in towards the banks, and cake after cake breaking
off from the crust be drawn in, causing a violent bubbling
and spattering; and then this would cease, or run in an-
other direction, but always from the centre to the edge.

As it grew dark we were very tired, having travelled

*Pélé was the Hawaiian Goddess of fire whose home was in Kilauea.

EE

20 THE VOLCANO OF KILAUEA,

since six o’clock in the morning, and hoping to wake up in
the night when the fires would be more brilliant, we rolled
ourselves up in our blankets, and, with our guides near
by, went to sleep a few rods from the crater. At nine
o’clock I waked, and as the night air was quite cold, moved
to the very edge of the crater to warm myself, and enjoy

the magnificent fireworks. The moon was up and almost

full, but her light was dull beside the fires of Pélé. Find-
ing the place quite comfortable, I picked out a soft rock
Se a pillow, and went to sleep again. At twelve I awaked
with a start. and found myself in a shower of fiery drops,
some of which were burning my blanket. I shook myself.
and jumped back, looking at my watch to note the time,
and then stood gazing at the strange scene some time be-
fore I thought of my companions, The whole surface of.

the Jake had risen several feet, and was violently boiling

and dashing - against the banks, throwing the white-hot
spray some sixty feet over the upper Hanke, causing the
providential rain that awakened me to see this grand dis-
play. There was no thundering or bellowing, only.the
splash of the waves as they fell heok, or the rattling of the
cooled drops on.the upper banks. The light was so in-
tense as to be almost painful, as the crust had wholly
melted, and brilliant fountains of fire covered the surface.

When I could think of anything else, I called the othe

ers, but only succeeded in awakening the guides, and just
then. drop of lava came plump into a greasy new ee

the ‘dismay of our guides, who, thinking that the volcano

had broken out at our feet, at once fled to a safe distance.

ht our supper in, and it blazed up suddenly, to

‘

Failing to arouse them with my voice, I threw several —

handfuls of gravel at the sleepers but-without effect, and I
had to climb down, almost; bitada; a

American Naturalist. WO. 1 2

BRIGHAM ON THE CRATER OF KILAUEA IN 1864-5,

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, IN 1864-65. 21

and shake them roughly.. When they at last reached the

edge the action had greatly diminished, and in a few

minutes more the dark crust covered the central portion,

extending rapidly to the sides, and after watching the last

crack close, we all went to sleep again. I was glad to

see such distinct flames, as their existence has been denied

in volcanoes. They were bluish-green, and shot up in
tongues or wide sheets a foot long.

In the morning we found it very misty, and the mist
soon turned to rain. We went to the cone we had seen the
night before, and climbing its spattered sides, looked into
the hole in the top. We could see that it was white-hot
within, but we were unable to excite it, although we threw
in pieces of scoria, and poked it with our sticks. On the
other side of the path was a cone, long and irregular, with
many pinnacles from which much smoke issued. We got
quite wet in climbing- up the bank, and at seven o’clock
were eating our breakfast in the grass house on the upper
ledge.:

A year. afterwards I again went to Kilauea. Many
changes had taken place. Aini Pélé was much larger, and
two new pools had opened during the winter. The place
where I slept last August had melted away, and I was
obliged to camp in another place. The superstitions of the
natives have always been greatly excited while in this cra-
ter, and I saw many reasons for it. As we walked towards
the bright lake about dusk, I thought I saw two or three
men walking to and fro on the brink, and asked my guide
what strangers had been down into the crater. “Aole
haole aka akua paha”! (It is no stranger but perhaps a
spirit) said the old man, so solemnly that I was startled.
As the steam moved in the wind, it opened and brought
te view the black cliffs beyond, and this we had taken for

22 THE VOLCANO OF KILAUEA.

moving men, not reflecting that the forms must have been
gigantic at such a distance from us. In ancient times the
bodies of the chiefs who worshipped Pélé were committed
to this pit.

As we were sitting on the brink, a shrill shriek broke
through the night air. We could see the black walls of the
erater all around us, and between us and the pathway leading
out, a line of watchfires, and I was quite as much impress-
ed as my natives with the direful stories they had been
telling me. The shriek was repeated, and it was evidently
the utterance of a human being in great agony. Lighting
the lantern we had brought for any emergency, we went
slowly towards the place, until the shriek was uttered at
our very feet. We hastily examined the cracks and call-
ed, but there was no answer, and all was still. We looked
everywhere, finding no one, and turned to go back, think-
ing some poor kanaka, venturing down in the dark,
had fallen into some crack, and at last died.

We had gone but a few rods when the shriek was repeat-
ed. The natives clung to me in mortal terror, but I in-
sisted on going back, and -placing the lantern on a rock,
we sat down to await developments ; it seemed as though
the question, “are there any spirits present?” was quite
superfluous. We sat more than five minutes in silence,
and I could feel the poor fellows tremble as they sat close
up tome. Then the shriek was repeated, but we saw the
spirit that made it,—a jet of steam—and my boys were
encou

The saline lakes were close to‘ the surface, and I could
- put my stick into the melted mass. It was strange to see
how soon the lava cooled on the surface. As soon as it
had ceased bubbling, I threw a small perfectly dry stick
of wood into it, and it was more than fifteen minutes be-
fore it smoked much.

THE FOSSIL REPTILES OF NEW JERSEY. 23

This last visit was in August, 1865, and ever since that
time the action in the crater has been increasing, until the
floor of this vast pit has risen nearly a hundred feet, and
at times has been quite inaccessible, owing to the streams
of lava flowing over the surface,

THE FOSSIL REPTILES OF NEW JERSEY.

BY PROF. E. D. COPE.

In traversing New Jersey from north west to south east,
we pass over rocks and soils which have been deposited
by an ocean whose coast has constantly moved toward the
south east, until its position has become that now forming
the boundaries of the State. Hence the material now
nearest the coast is that last laid down, and as we proceed `
towards the north west, the beds are a sediment of succes-
sively older and older date. Not, however, till we reach
the red sandstone of the line of New Brunswick, do we
meet with formations which have suffered a sufficient
amount of pressure and heating to convert them into stone
to any great extent. The gradual recession of the ocean
has been occasioned by a miai regular elevation of
the land in its rear. This elevation was however, only
gradual during portions of the time ; between such eleva-
tions existed long periods of rest. For instance the red
sandstone mentioned before was for a very long time
within the shore of the ancient ocean. During that time
beds were deposited outside of an older coast land, which
subsiding later, were covered by newer beds, which in-
clude the remains of those creatures that have died near the

24 «CC THE FOSSIL REPTILES

shore and been washed into the sea, or have died in the

ocean. With a continued sinking, including now the red
sandstone, the newer deposits reached in time the level of
its summits ; and during the subsequent and long contin-
ued risg, a succession of sea beaches gradually extended
the area of the land to the south east. Abundant vegeta-
tion clothed the shores, which supported insect life and
large herbivorous animals, which were in turn fed upon
by smaller and larger carnivorous forms. The period dur-
ing which the deeply buried strata at the side of the red
sandstone was deposited, is called by geologists that of
the Lower Cretaceous ; while that which forms the surface
resting upon the last, and extending from the red sand-
stone over nearly half the remainder of the state of New
Jersey, is the Upper Cretaceous formation. During the
deposition of the former, extensive beds were being laid
. down in various parts of the earth, especially western
Europe, which entombed similar animal and vegetable
types. With the Later Cretaceous of New Jersey also,
corresponding strata were deposited in the far west of
North America, and Europe, including in England the
well known white chalk rock. At the close of this epoch,
New Jersey, most probably, had accomplished in its south
eastern section a very extended and considerable eleva-
tion, and at the same time vast changes in other regions
of the earth caused a great change in the temperature ; so
great as to destroy all animal life then existing. It is
also certain that the south eastern extremity of the region
underwent a second gradual descent, and was again cover-

with water to a coast line running north east and
south west, dividing the present land between the south
western bend of the Deleware and the present coast line
into two nearly equal areas. Then began again the deposi-

on

Bea eRe Say EM au ea ee a

. OF NEW JERSEY. 25

tion of beds, and the introduction of entirely new forms of
animal life more like those of modern times. The period
during which this deposit, so near the present coast line,
was formed, as also many corresponding deposits in other
regions of the earth, is called in geology, the Tertiary. Its
beginning was the “morning of the sixth day” of the Mo-
- saic record of the Creation, This great period, after hav-
ing seen many changes, culminated in the creation of
man. At this point history begins, and no extended
geologic changes have taken place since. We have ad-
vanced six thousand years, or probably, considerably far-
ther into the “seventh day” or period.

The beds of green marl were laid down during the
upper Cretaceous period. Ata suitable depth of water
along the several ancient coasts, lived immense num-
bers of minute marine creatures, called Foraminifera,
which inhabited delicate, almost microscopic shells, com-
posed of numerous cells. After their death the chamber
of the cells became filled with the fine mud formed of
dissolved clay, oxide of iron and other substances, which
are enumerated by Prof. G. H. Cook, in his valuable Re-
port on the Geology of New Jersey. When the beds .
were raised, the drying, and other agencies brought to
bear, decomposed the delicate shells, and left only the
hardened mud as casts. of their chambers. Hence the
green marl now. resembles gunpowder, deriving its pecu- `
liar color from the protoxide of iron.

The valuable properties of this marl, as a manure, no
doubt depend on the products of the decomposition of the
vegetables and animals formerly dwelling in the ocean or
on the neighboring shores. The numerous fossiliferous
beds, one or more of which are usually cut across by the
diggings, have supplied in part this material. Most of

AMERICAN NAT. VOL. I. 4

26 Š ; THE FOSSIL REPTILES

the animals found in these beds were bivalves, with nu-

merous Brachiopoda and Cephalopoda, or Cuttle-fish. Of 4

the unsymmetrical univalves, or Gasteropoda, compara-
tively few specimens occur in the Cretaceous marl of New
Jersey.

Of Vertebrata, or those animals provided with a back
bone, or vertebral column, numerous species, large and
small, dwelt on the land and in the water. Their number
has been so considerable, especially in the region opened
by the diggings of the New Jersey Marl Company, as to
materially affect the richness of the marl in phosphate of
lime. Of cartilaginous vertebrates, such as the Sharks,
we have found remains of the genera Otodus, Lamna and
Carcharodon. Some of these were not only very nume-
rous but attained a great size, and were of ferocious
habits. There were also Saw-fishes closely allied to those
of the present day. Fewer remains of the bony fishes,
such as the Perch and Cod, have been procured from
these pits; while in other neighborhoods Sword-fish and
long fanged Sphyreena types have occurred.

In huge reptiles the region has been especially prolific.
Through the care of Superintendent Voorhees, the remains —

of seven of the larger species have been exposed and pre-
served during the excavations. Four of these belonged to
the group of Crocodiles ; namely :—
Thoracosaurus Neocesariensis DeKay ; carnivorous.
Thoracosaurus obscurus Leidy ;

Bottosaurus Harlani Meyer ; ti
Macrosaurus levis Owen; eae?
Hyposaurus Rodgersi Owen ; ?

- These were probably dwellers by the cha and de-

vourers of the large fishes and of any luckless reptiles
strolling on | the beach. ee ee oF the still

Ri Os SAS e ee

See a A

OF NEW JERSEY. 27

existing Lacertilia (Lizards) was probably whale-like in
habit; and though not equalling these monsters in size
was still formidable, attaining a length of thirty feet. It
was probably in part also carnivorous. This huge reptile
was called Mosasaurus Mitchellii by DeKay, and its re-
mains are more numerous than any other, except those of
the large Thoracosaurus.

Another group of animals, the Dinosauria, while ap-
proaching in some respects the mammals and birds, pre-
sented more of the features of the reptiles. Many of them
were the giants of the land of the Cretaceous time, as
well as of its waters. Those whose remains have been
found in the Company’s pits, are Lelaps aquilunguis
Cope, which was carnivorous, and Hadrosaurus Foulkit
Leidy, an herbivorous animal.

The last was the most bulky quadruped of the period
yet known ; a femur, or thigh bone, discovered near Had-
donfield, measures nearly four feet in length. The animal
is estimated by Professor Leidy to have been twenty-five
feet long. The Lelaps has been found represented in
the Company’s pits, only by remains sufficient to ensure
its identification, a few small pieces from the neighbor-
hood of Freehold, described by Professor Leidy, being
assignable to an allied, or doubtfully to the same genus.
As the former constitute the most complete indication of
any individual of a carnivorous Dinosaurian hitherto dis-
covered considerable interest attaches to them. The
great reptile, Megalosaurus, is known by more numerous
fragments, but they have been gathered from many diffi-
rent localities; Dinodon is known only from its teeth,
and Huscelosaurus, of the South African beds, by a femur

only.
The lightness and hollowness of the bones of the Lelaps

28 THE FOSSIL REPTILES

arrest the attention of one accustomed to the spongy, solid
structure in the reptiles. This is especially true of the
long bones of the hind limbs ; those of the fore limbs have
a considerably less medullary cavity. The length of the
femur and tibia render it altogether probable that it
was plantigrade, walking on the entire sole of the foot
like the bear. They must also have been very much
flexed under ordinary circumstances, since the indications
derivable from two liumeri, or arm bones, are, that the
fore limbs were not more than one-third the length of the
posterior pair. This relation, conjoined with the massive
tail, points to a semi-erect position like that of the Kan-
garoos, while the lightness and strength of the great femur
and tibia are altogether appropriate to great powers of
leaping. The feet must have been elongate, whatever
the form of the tarsi; the phalanges, or finger bones, were
slender, nearly as much so as those of an eagle, while the
great claws in which they terminated were relatively larg-
er and more compressed than in the great birds of prey.
There was no provision for the retractibility observed. in

the great carnivorous Mammalia, but they were always

equipped with sheaths and crooked points of bone. The

toes may have been partially webbed, and it is not im-

probable that the hind legs may have occasionally been
most efficient propellers of these animals along the coast
margins of the Cretaceous sea.

The hind foot could not have been straightened in line
with the tibia, owing to 2 most anomalous structure which
has only been once before observed, and then in a species
clearly referred to its type. The distal head of the fibula,
or small bone of the leg, appears to have embraced and

capped the tibia like an epiphysis, and to have given at-

tachment to ee bones of the tarsus, by a condyle « directed

Bee es Sat E E

OF NEW JERSEY, 29

anteriorly. The object of this structure remains unex-
plained, The whole hind leg could not have been less
than six feet, eight inches in length.

Fragments of the jaws indicate a face of very consider-
able length, showing shining saw-edged, knife-shaped
teeth ; but any nearer idea of. the beast’s expression can-
not now be attained. If he were warm-blooded, as Prof.
Owen supposes the Dinosauria to have been, he undoubt-
edly had more expression than his modern reptilian proto-
types possess. He no doubt had the usual activity and
vivacity which distinguishes the warm-blooded from the
cold-blooded vertebrates.

We can, then, with some basis of probability imagine
our monster carrying his eighteen feet of length on a leap,
at least thirty feet through the air, with hind feet ready to
strike his prey with fatal grasp, and his enormous weight
to press it to the earth. Crocodiles and Gavials must have
found their bony plates and ivory no safe defence, while
the Hadrosaurus himself, if not too thick skinned, as in the
Rhinoceros and its allies, furnished him with food, till
some Dinosaurian jackalls dragged the refuse off to their
swampy dens.

This carnivore, then, is an interesting link between
those of the mammalian series, and the carnivorous birds.
In the first, all four limbs are equally developed, and sim-
ilarly employed as weapons of offence; in the last, the
functions of the anterior pair are altogether different from
those of the hind a which are atone armed for the
capture of food. In the Dinosaur, the hind limbs appear
to have served the same purpose as in the Raptorial bird,
while the fore limbs are simply miniatures of the same,
and chiefly of service in carrying food to the mouth.

- It will readily occur to the paleontologist, that the ex-

30 THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

istence of creatures of the form of Lelaps, Iguanodon,
' and Hadrosaurus, would amply account for the well known
foot-tracks of the Triassic Red Sandstone of the Connec-
ticut Valley. The arguments adduced to prove that these
were made by birds are equally applicable to their indica-
ting the presence of Dinosaurians ; and as the latter have
been found very much more nearly approximated in time
—as Scelidosaurus in the Jurassic formation—the latter
hypothesis is altogether the more probable of the two in
the estimation of the writer. |

gy

THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

BY L. TROUVELOT.

: WS

The insect fauna of North America contains several gi-
gantic species of moths belonging to the Lepidopterous
family Bombycide. This family has long been known —
to spin when in the larval, or caterpillar state, a cocoon
which produces a large amount of silk, with a fibre of the
most delicate texture, of great strength and of the most

r ESEE n = So
OOIE NES FIRE ET ee Bren ee a A Pres per eT ee Pe SES ee

+
THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 31

beautiful lustre. Every one is familiar with the beautiful
and delicate fabric made from the fibres spun by that
crawling repulsive creature, the silk worm.

< Our country alone has eight or ten species of silk
worms. Two of these, Callosamia Promethea and C. an-
gulifera, feed on the lilac and wild cherry. They spin a
small elongate cocoon of so very dense texture and so
strongly gummed, that I have failed in all my attempts to
reel the silk from the cocoon. These cocoons resem-
ble very much those of Samia Cynthia, or the Ailan-
thus Silk Worm, recently introduced into Europe from
China, but the cocoon is of a looser texture. Platysamia
Euryale, P. Columbia and P. Cecropia feed upon many
different species of plants} they make a large cocoon,
within which is another cocoon, or inner layer, of an oval
form ; but as the larva in spinning the cocoon, leaves one
end open for the exit of the moth, this prevents the reeling
of a continuous thread. The silk, though quite strong, has
not much brilliancy, and the worm is too delicate to be
raised in large numbers.

The cabanas of Tropxa Luna, the magnificent green

moth with the long tail-like expansion of the hind wings,
feeds upon. the cat; sycamore and other trees, and spins
an oval cocoon, which however is so frail and thin, and
the fibre so weak, that itis impossible to reel it.
_ Practically, however, the larva of Telea Polyphemus is
the only species that deserves attention. The cocoons of
Platysamia Cecropia may be rendefed of some commercial
value, as the silk can be carded, but the chief objection as
stated above, is the difficulty of raising the larva. The Poly-
phemus worm spins a strong, dense, oval cocoon, which is
closed at each end, while the silk has a very strong and
glossy fibre.

32 THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

For over six years I have been engaged in raising the
Polyphemus worm, and here present the following imper-

i - fect sketch of the progress made from year to year in pro-

pagating and domesticating these insects from the wild
stock

In 1860, after having tested the qualities of the co-
coons of the different species of American silk worms,
I endeavored to accumulate a large number of the cocoons
of the Polyphemus moth, for the future propagation of
this species. At first the undertaking seemed very sim-
ple ; but who will ever know the difficulties, the hardships
and discouragements which I encountered. This worm
having never been cultivated, of course its habits were
entirely unknown, though all success in my undertaking
depended very much upon that knowledge. ` However I
was not discouraged by the difficulties of the task. The
first year I found only two caterpillars. The chance of
their being each a male and female was very small, and it
was another question whether the two sexes would come
out of the cocoon at about the same time for the fecunda-
tion of the eggs. So suecess was very doubtful. Spring
came, and with it one of the perfect insects ; it was a male,
one, two, three days elapsed, my poor male was half
dead, the wings half broken, the other cocoon was not
giving any signs of an early appearance; imagine my
anxiety ; it was a year lost. The male died on the sixth
day. The other moth came out more than a fortnight
after; it was a male also. During the summer of 1861,
I found a dozen worms, knowing then a little about their
habits. In the spring of 1862, I was fortunate enough to
have a pair of these insects that came out of the cocoon at
the proper time, and I obtained from their union three hun-
dred fecundated eggs. The pair which gave me these eggs

eee
cay Cero Bae E ETE E E

ri iai i

THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 33

were the originators of the large number which I have
cultivated since. Of these three hundred worms, I lost a
great many, not knowing their wants, but I succeeded in
obtaining twenty cocoons in the autumn. It was only in
1865 that I became expert in cultivating them, and in
that year not Jess than a million could be seen feeding in
the open air upon bushes covered with a net; five acres
of woodland were swarming with caterpillar life.

Natural History of Telea Polyphemus. Early in sum-
mer, the chrysalis of Polyphemus which has been for eight
or nine months imprisoned in its cocoon, begins to awaken
from its long torpor, and signs of life are manifested by
the rapid motion of its abdomen. In the latitude of Bos-
ton, the earliest date at which I have seen a perfect insect
is the twentieth of May. From this time until the middle
of July, the moths continue to come out of the cocoons.
The cocoon being perfectly closed, and a hard gummy,
resinous substance uniting its silken fibres firmly toge-
ther, it is quite hard for the insect to open it, as it has no
teeth, nor instrument of any kind to cut through it, and
the hooked feet are far too feeble to tear such a dense
structure. :

But the moth must have some means of exit from the co-
coon. In fact they are provided with two glands opening
into the mouth, which secrete during the last few days of
the pupa state, a fluid which is a dissolvent for the gum
so firmly uniting the fibres of the cocoon. This liquid is
composed in great part of bombycic acid. When the in-
sect has accomplished the work of transformation which is
going on under the pupa skin, it manifests a great activ-
ity, and soon the chrysalis-covering bursts open longitu-
dinally upon the thorax; the head and legs are soon dis-
engaged, and the acid fluid flows from its mouth, wetting

AMERICAN NAT. VOL. I. 5

34 THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

the inside of the cocoon. The process of exclusion from
the cocoon lasts for as much as half an hour. The insect
seems to be instinctively aware that some time is required
to dissolve the gum, as it does not make any attempt to
open the fibres, and seems to wait with patience this
event. When the liquid has fully penetrated the cocoon,
the pupa contracts its body, and pressing the hinder
end, which is furnished with little hooks, against the
inside of the cocoon, forcibly extends its body; at the
same time the head pushes hard upon the fibres and a lit-
tle swelling is observed on the outside. These contrac-
tions and extensions of the body are repeated many times,
and more fluid is added to soften the gum, until under
these efforts the cocoon swells, and finally the fibres sepa-
rate, and out comes the head of the moth. In an instant
the legs are thrust out, and then the whole body appears ;
not a fibre has been broken, they have only been sepa-
rated. |

To observe these phenomena, I had cut open with a
razor, a small portion of a cocoon:in which was a living

chrysalis nearly ready to transform. The opening made ~
was covered with a piece of mica, of the same shape as
the aperture, and fixed to the cocoon with mastic so as to

make it solid and air-tight ; through the transparent mica,
I could see the movements of the chrysalis perfectly well.

When the insect is out of the cocoon, it immediately —

séeks for a suitable place to attach its claws,’so that the

wings may hang down, and by their own weight aid the :

action of the fluids in developing and unfolding the very

short and small pad-like wings. Every part of the insect.

on leaving the cocoon, is perfect and with the form and
size of maturity, except the pad-like wings and swollen
and elongated abdomen, which still gives the insect @

Seg rere eee te

THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 35

worm-like appearance ; the abdomen contains the fluids
which flow to the wings.

When the still immature moth has found a suitable place;
it remains quiet for a few minutes, and then the wings aré
seen to grow very rapidly by the afflux of the fluids from
the abdomen, In about twenty minutes the wings attain —
their full size, but they are still like a piece of wet cloth,
without consistency and firmness, and as yet entirely unfit
for flight, but after one or two hours they become suffi-
ciently stiff, assuming the beautiful form characteristic of
the species. If, while the Wings are growing, they aré
prevented from spreading by some agency, they will be
deformed forever. Sometimes when the wings are devel-
oping, the afflux of liquid is so great, that some parts of
the wing swell up considerably, and if one of these swel-
lings be opened with a pin and the sac emptied a singular
phenomenon will result ; the wing which has lost so much
of its fluids will be smaller than the others, and sometimes
it will retain the normal form of the wing, only being
smaller, while the wound can be detected only on very
close observation. I have in my cabinet a perfect speci-
men of such an insect; naturalists would eye it as a
monstrosity.

The moth remains quiet ali day, andl sometimes all
night and the following day, if the night be cold; but if
it be warm and pleasant, at dusk or about eight o’clock, a
trembling of the wings is observed for a few minutes and
then it takes its flight, making three or four circles in the
air. The male flies only a few minutes, and then rests
for two or three hours in the same place, not making any
motion. It is worthy of notice that. the place of rest is
always the extremity of an oak leaf. Why he remains there
so long I could not ascertain. The female continues to fly

36 THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

about the bushes, and though a virgin, she lays eggs which
are, however, of no use for the propagation of the species ;
she continues so doing for two or three hours, and then
rests all night attached to some plant, probably waiting
for her mate, who during this time has either remained
motionless, or has been feeding on the sweet exudation of
the oak Jeaf. Soon after the female moth has laid these
useless eggs, the males become very active, and fly in
search of their partners, whom they soon discover, espe-
cially if there be a slight breeze and the air loaded with
vapors. j

The moth lays her eggs on the under side of the leaves,
sometimes on a twig; generally but a single egg is de--
posited at one place, rarely are two or three found togeth-
er, Ihave observed that eggs are sometimes laid upon
plants which the young larvæ refuse to eat, and in several
instances where there was no other plant within a long
distance, and consequently the young worms died; thus
it seems that instinct, like reason, sometimes commits
blunders, and is not so infallible a guide as has been sup-
posed.

The incubation of the eggs lasts ten or twelve days, ac-
cording to the temperature. The young worm eats its way

through the shell of the egg; sometimes the young larva
comes out of the egg tail foremost, as the hole in the shell
is large enough to allow of the exit of the tail, but is not
large enough for the head to pass through, so the worm is _

RSS
a gid

COSPI SS
aiii

condemned to die in the egg. As soon as it is fairly hatch-
ed out, the larva continues for sometime eating the egg-
shell, and then crawls upon a leaf, going to the end of it,
where it rests fortwo or three hours, after which it begins
to eat. The hatching-out takes place early in the morn-
ing, from five till ten o'clock ; rarely after this time.

THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 37

The Polyphemus worm, like all other silk worms, chang-
es its skin five times during its larval life. The moulting
takes place at regular periods, which come around about
every ten days for the first four moultings, while about
twenty days elapse between the fourth and fifth moulting.
The worm ceases to eat for a day before moulting, fiid
spins some silk on the vein of tlfe under surface of a leaf;
it then secures the hooks of its hind legs in the texture it —
has thus spun, and there remains mòtikis y soon after,
through the transparency of the skin of the neck, can be
seen a second head larger than the first, belonging to the
larva within. The moulting generally takes place after
four o’clock in the afternoon; a little before this time the
worm holds its body erect, grasping the leaf with the two
pairs of hind legs only ; the skin is wrinkled and detached
from the body by a fluid which circulates between it and
the worm; two longitudinal white bands are seen on each
side, produced by a portion of the lining of the spiracles,
which at this moment have been partly detached ; mean-
while the contractions of the worm are very energetic, and
by it the skin is pulled off and pushed towards the poste-
rior part; the skin thus becomes so extended that it soon
tears, first under the neck, and then from the head. When
this is accomplished the most difficult operation is over,
and now the process of moulting goes on very rapidly.
By repeated contractions the skin is folded towards the
tail, like a glove when taken off, and the lining of the spir-
acles comes out in long white filaments. When about one-
half of the body appears, the shell still remains like a
eap, enclosing the jaws, then the worm as if reminded of
this loose skull-eap, removes it by rubbing it on a leaf;
this done, the worm finally crawls out of its skin, which:
is attached to the fastening made for the purpose. Once

38 ~ © WINTER NOTES

out of its old skin, the worm makes a careful review of the
operation, with its head feeling the aperture of every spir-
acle, as well as the tail, probably for the purpose of re-
moving any broken fragment of skin which might have
remained in these delicate organs. Not only is the outer
skin cast off, but also the lining of the air tubes and intes-
tines, together witlrall the ‘chewing organs and other appen-
dages of the head. After the moulting, the size of the
larva is considerably increased, the head is large compared
with the body, but eight or ten days later it will look small,
as the body will have increased very much in size. This
is a certain indication that the worm is about to moult.
Every ten days the same operation is repeated ; from the
_ fourth moulting to the time of beginning the cocoon, the
period is about sixteen days.

The worms seem entirely unable to discern objects with
their simple eyes, but they can distinguish light from
darkness, as a very simple experiment will show. If a
worm be put in a box with two holes in it, one of them
turned to the light, the other to the dark, the caterpillar
will very soon come out through the hole turned to the
light.— To be continued.

WINTER NOTES OF AN ORNITHOLOGIST.

BY J. A. ALLEN.

The winter birds of the northern and eastern States are
few in number. In Massachusetts, away from the sea
shore, there are ordinarily but fifty-five to sixty species,
‘which consist mainly of permanent residents and win-
ter visitors from more northern districts, . The resident

OF AN ORNITHOLOGIST. 39

kinds are either rapacious birds, or such hardy species as
Titmice, Jays, Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Finches and
Grouse, whose means of subsistence is about equally sure
at all seasons. A few are, more properly, migrant sum-
mer species, of which only hardy adventurous individuals
linger with us in winter, the majority seeking a milder
home farther south: among such are the Meadow Lark,
Kingfisher, Cedar Bird and Robin. The winter visitors
are all from the north; many of these are irregular in
their visits, coming to us only when driven southward by
the severity of the weather, or more probably by scarcity
of food. Of this whole number the limits of our paper
will allow us to notice but a few, and even of the more
interesting to give but very brief accounts.

The rapacious or raptorial birds, the Hawks and Owls,
though comparatively numerous in species, are not so in
individuals. Shy and mistrustful, seeking the retirement
of the wilderness or the forest, and the nocturnal kinds
active only by night, they form but an inconspicuous fea-
ture in our local ornithology. Constantly persecuted by
man, they have decreased greatly in numbers since the
first settlement of our country, and every year they seem
more and more to avoid the cultivated districts, seeking a
more congenial home in the less inhabited parts of the
continent. —

Of the true or typical Falcons, esteemed the ‘ noble”
birds of prey in the old days of falconry, we have in win-
ter, as at other seasons, now and then a Duck Hawk or
Peregrine Falcon (Falco anatum Bon.), a Pigeon Hawk
(Hypotriorchis columbarius Gray), and a Sparrow Hawk
(Tinnunculus sparverius Vieill.), but so rare are they
that a careful observer will ordinarily see but one or two
of each in a winter, or perhaps oftener none at all. The

æ

40 WINTER NOTES

first of these, the dreaded Duck Hawk, is frequent along
the sea border and large open rivers where abound the
aquatic birds that farm. his chief prey. The celebrated
White Hawk or Jer-Falcon (Falco candicans Gm.) is
larger and more powerful even than the Peregrine, but it

comes to us so rarely from its remote arctic home, as to be

justly considered but an accidental wanderer.

Of the hawks, properly so called : namely, the short wing-
ed and ‘‘ignoble” birds of prey, the majority are migrato-
ry in the more northern sections of the Union, going “south
in winter. One, however, the Gos-Hawk (Astur atrica-
pillus Bon.) is a winter visitor, and subsisting upon rab-
bits, partridges, jays, and such other birds and poultry as
fall in his way, is a bird of considerable celebrity for his
strength and boldness. Formerly his European ally of
the same name, and with which the earlier ornithologists
supposed ours to be identical, was held in great esteem in
hawking, and according to Pennant, was considered of
unequalled value among the short winged hawks for the
purposes of falconry. It is, moreover, when mature, of
beautiful plumage, the white under surface being elegantly
pencilled transversely with waved ashy-brown lines, and
with broader longitudinal stripes of a dark ferruginous
hue. The young are more plainly colored, and differ for
several years so widely from their parents, as to be hardly
recognizable as belonging to the same species. I once
found a wing of this bird, which had been dropped in the
woods by some bird of prey; the flesh had been torn
from it, leaving only the bones of the upper and fore
arm, and the primary quills, showing that even such ty-
rants of the air are not exempt from enemies more pow-
erful even than they. Possibly it was the Duck Hawk
that in this case was the destroyer, since its representa-

ONS Cpe eee ets are eens Mee: tac ree meas ot
ia ce Owe

OF AN ORNITHOLOGIST, 41

tive in Europe, the Peregrine, is known to have a partic-
ular relish for the flesh of other hawks, and to hunt the
poor Kestril as its most dainty game.

The well known +‘ Red-tail,” ( Buteo borealis Gm.) from
his retreat in the forest, sometimes makes sudden forays
on the poultry. Several kinds of large and sluggish hawks
silently await in the open meadows the appearance of
their minute but favorite game, the field mice, and the
Marsh Harrier (Circus Hudsonius Vieill.) anon skims rap-
idly over the snowy fields in eager quest of food. But
the most beautiful, when in mature plumage, as well as `
the largest of our winter birds of prey, is the historical
White-headed, or Bald Eagle (Halietus leucocephalus
Savig.), most inappropriately chosen for our national:
emblem. The Golden Eagle (Aguila Canadensis Cass.),
a far nobler bird, is perhaps almost too uncertain a visitor
to warrant enumeration in our list.

The Strigide, or Owls, the «< mysterious birds of night”
are even less common than the preceding group, though in
winter the number of species is increased by migrants
from the north. The resident kinds of most frequent oc-
currence are the Mottled Owl, (Scops asio Bon.) perhaps
better known as the «Screech Owl ”, the Great Horned
or Cat Owl (Bubo Virginianus Bon.), the Barred Owl
(Syrnium nebulosum Gray), the Short-eared Owl (Bra-
chyotus Cassinii Brew.), and the Long-eared Owl (Otus
Wilsonianus Less.) Of the migratory species the most
common and best known is the Snowy Owl (Nyctea nivea-
Gray) which visiting us, at times, in considerable num-
bers, at once attracts attention from its large size and.
white plumage. Very rarely the Great Grey or Cinereous
Owl (Syrnium cinereum Aud.), one of the. largest and.
most handsome of the American Owls, pays us a visit.

AMERICAN NAT. VOL. I. 6

42 z WINTER NOTES

from his home in the Canadas and sub-arctic regions. In
northern New England the semi-diurnal Hawk Owl ( Syr-
nia ulula Bon.) is comparatively common, and lurking
near the hunter profits by the pieces of game which he
throws away, or now and then captures wounded birds.

-. Excepting the cruel, selfish and solitary raptorial
species, our winter birds mostly associate in groups, not
of individuals of a single kind merely, but of species,
drawn together chiefly perhaps from similarity of food,
and probably also from real love of each other's society.
The winter representatives of these birds are of larger
size, and of brighter colors than those seen in summer.

Inthe savage Butcher Bird or Northern Shrike ( Colly-
rio borealis Baird), which seems but a hawk in miniature,
we have, nevertheless, an exception to the gregarious ten-
dency generally observed in winter among ow’ smaller
birds. He is one of our regular, but not very numerous
visitors during the colder parts of the year, though less
common than in the fall and spring; when those that
winter farther south pass us in their migrations. It is,
however, bolder, recklessly pouncing on birds in cages
exposed near open windows. The song of a Canary will
often retain him in the vicinity for a long time, waiting,
restless and impatient from hunger, for an opportunity to
make it his victim. In the woods he is continually quar-
relling with the Jays, which both fear and hate him, and I
have seen him in hot pursuit of a Chickadee, which was
trembling with fright.

In winter all our birds seem to possess an unusual in-
terest, perhaps no less from their scarcity than from the
cheeriness their presence secms to lend. None, however,
are dearer to me than the little woodland group of Tit-
mice, the Nuthatches, the Creepers, the diminutive King-

EE Sea a

Te

OF AN ORNITHOLOGIST. 43

lets, and the spotted Woodpeckers we so frequently meet
in our forest walks.

Although the smallest of all our birds, except the Hum-
ming Bird, the Gold-crested Kinglet (Regulus satrapa
Licht. ) is one of the most Jaig « of our winter visitors,
and is the more interesting from his exceeding diminu-
tiveness. With a body hirdly larger than a hickory nut,
it is so thickly clothed with dowaiy: plumage that on a cold
morning, when every delicate feather is fully expanded he
looks Tike a ball of animated down, and thus clad, he is
able to defy old Boreas,

Our winter field birds, like the field birds of summer,
are chiefly members of the numerous Sparrow and Finch
family, or Fringillide. Among them the beautiful Snow
Bunting (Plectiopiiies nivalis Meyer) is one of the lar-
gest, and when whirling from field to field in compact
flocks, their white wings glistening in the sunlight, form
one of the most attractive sights of winter; and most
commonly appearing about the time of heavy falls of snow,
and disappearing during continued fine weather, there is
in the popular mind a degree of mystery attached to their
history, being the “Bad weather Birds” of the supersti-
cious. Cold half-arctie countries being their chosen home,
they only favor us with their presence during those short
intervals when their food in the northern fields is too
deeply buried ; and being strong of wing and exceedingly
rapid in flight, they can in a few hours leave the plain for
the mountain, or migrate hundreds of miles to the north-
ward. The most cotta and frequently seen however,
is the Yellow Bird (Chrysomitris tristis Bon.), but so
changed in appearance in his plain winter suit of drab,
that he is scarcely recognised as the beautiful Gold-
finch we so much admired in summer. Feeding on the-

44 WINTER NOTES

abundant supply of nutricious seeds furnished by the
weeds that rise above the snow, as well as on the seeds of
the hemlock, the spruce, the larch, the alder and birch of
the swamps and thickets, he never lacks for food, even in
the severest weather ; roving in flocks, social and joyful,
he seems the very ideal of contentment. One of his more
common associates is the Pine Finch, or Northern Siskin,
(C. pinus Bon.) ; though rather more partial to the for-
ests than he, they greatly resemble each other in their —
notes and general habits; but the latter, from its more
pointed wings and slender form, is swiftest in flight, and
possesses milder and more wiry notes, often heard while
its author is far beyond our sight.

Some of the members of this large family, such as the two
_ species of Crossbills, depend so much for food on the con-
iferous forests as to be seldom seen far away from their
borders. The Common or Red Crossbill (Chervirostet

Americana Wilson), though partially resident, is of de-

sultory habits, and is never commonly seen, except when
the pine woods, their usual home, are well laden with
cones. The White-winged (O. leucoptera Wilson),
its smaller but more beautiful congener, and an inhab-
itant of the northern forests of the Old World as well as-
of America, we only see at irregular intervals, common-
ly years apart. The winter of 1859-60 is memorable
with bird collectors for their great abundance in out
spruce and larch swamps, as well as for the occurrence of
a very unusual number of other northern strangers. The
Crossbills, by the great strength of their maxillary mus-
cles, and their strong oppositely curved mandibles, are
able to pry open the tightly appressed scales of the fir
cones, and to extract at pleasure the oily seeds, which
other birds eae one of have to wait for the elements

OF AN ORNITHLOGIST. 45

to release. The Pine Grosbeak, or the Bulfinch of the
North (Pinicola Canadensis Cab.), is another species
more or less dependent on the forests, the Virginia Juni-
per affording him favorite food. His home, too, is the
mountains and uninhabited northern timber lands. They
visit us but occasionally, and then in such small parties,
locally distributed, as to escape general observation.
Among our more familiar resident birds, there are but —
_ few species that seem as numerous in winter as at other
seasons ; of thesethe Blue Jay ( Cyanura cristata Swains. ),
is a prominent example. Though unusually social in his
disposition, he is yet hardly gregarious. The noisy
screams of small scattered parties reach us from thé
swamps and thickets almost daily, and in the severer
weather individuals make fr ‘equent excursions to the or-
chard and farmers’ cribs of corn, the few grains they pil-
fer being amply paid for in the destruction of thousands
of the eggs of the noxious tent-caterpillar. The poor Crow
(Corvus Americanus Aud. ), despised or persecuted by
nearly all, is a bird of unusual interest to every lover of
nature, and is a true friend to the farmer, though he finds
in the latter a most inveterate enemy. The few Crows
that remain with us during the long cold winter, seem
able to support but a miserable existence ; but no sooner
does returning spring and the bare earthafford themasup-
By of pre and other noxious insect larvee, than they fare
, and their labors thus contribute vastly to the
wee a the farmer. Capable of withstanding the de-
foresting of the country, which has exterminated so many
ef our larger birds, he needs but little encouragement to
become one of our most familiar and useful birds.
Passing by numerous species of our winter birds, inclu-
ding the rasorial kinds, or the Grouse and their

g

46 WINTER NOTES

and others of equal interest with those already mentioned,
we have but space to notice very briefly some of our win-
ter water-fowl. Those found at this season inland or re-
mote from the sea, ate so exceedingly few as scarcely to
attract attention. They are confined exclusively to the
tribes of Ducks and Grebes.. The Whistle-wing or Gold-
en-eyed Duck (Bucephala Americana Baird), the Goos-
ander or Sheldrake (Mergus Americanus Cass.) and the
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus Reich.), are
occasionally seen on the rivers about open water, being
much more common at the beginning of the season or
towards spring, than in mid-winter. Along our coast
however, are found numerous representatives, many of
which are visitors from more northern regions, and nearly
all of which are of rare or of unknown occurrence very
far inland. ‘These by their numbers serve most agreeably
to enliven our bleak coast. Such are the Gannets and
Shearwaters, Jager Gulls and Terns, with the Eider
Duck, Puffin, Auks and Guillemots.

The number of common species of winter birds is less
than one-tenth the number of the common species in other
seasons ; while the difference in the total number of indi-
viduals is even much greater, a scarcity of birds being
eminently, in our latitude, one of the characteristics of the
season of winter.

In reviewing carefully a complete list of our Winter
Birds, we are forcibly struck with the small proportion
of species that can be considered as regularly common.
Thus, out of nearly sixty species of inland birds that are
known to inhabit southern New England in winter, we
find but fourteen that we can hope to meet with at all
frequently ; the remaining seventy-six e cent. falling
into the class of ene regularly occurring, migrants

ere
cee

OF AN ORNITHOLOGIST. 47

and residents, or into the list of irregular and occasional
visitors. The proportion of rare species to common ones,
of irregular visitors to the regular, is perhaps well exhib-
ited by the subjoined tabular résumé:

Species common A è š 14
rare í : n f $ i . ` ; 45
py resident à > i z . . ‘ š s —

g

A irregular i in their visits (and occuring -A winter only). 7
of summer that ee ae pum ga in w 4
Total of Winter Birds è é 4 59

The following table further shows what families are re-
presented, and the number of species of each, as well as
the number resident and migrant, rare and common.
Common, y its eae Migrant.

Falconidæ (Hawks) . .
Strigide (Owls) s e
icidæ ( Woodpe eckers)
Alcedinidee (Kingfishers) .

urdi rushes, etc. 2)
Bombyeilidi E aiis
Laniadæ (Shri rikes)

’

rthiadæ (Creepers)
Sittide uthatehes)
mice è
in Finches, etc. y
free one Troupials)
Corvid ws and Jays) ,
amh ne! Grouse meg

; Perdicidæ ( :
1 Anatide (Ducks) k d
18. Colymbidæ (Divers) . .

feed feed feed feed
©. i E a aa

wm o o m OO OH =] G OT CO te

bi Oe A by
ERE 395

73

ES

P

PY

a

a

3

4

+

S| Heme wmO MEH HOOHOONG

MSs
St
D

E E S TE

E raada aao mea i a D o H m D
Sl oeoo Om O O m OH HE O i i CO

14

The whole number of families represented, as may be
seen from the above exhibit, is eighteen; only five (Fal-
conide, Strigide, Fringillide, Anatide, Colymbide) have
each more than three species, and excepting those of one
family (Fri ngillidee), are all to be reckoned among the
rarer kinds. The Fringillide, or Finch family, has the
greatest number, and probably in individuals outnumbers
all the others together; it has, however, but a single resi-

t

e = description of the Lysianassa Magellanica, from Spitz-

at the Nase of Good Hope, though not in the intermediate tropical re

The a
and also quotes as follows from Prof. Fries roeg the plants of ©
the: W

48 REVIEWS. a

dent species (the Yellow Bird), and only two (the Yellow
Bird and Tree Sparrow), that can be counted as regularly
common in winter. The two families of raptorial birds
have each five or six resident species, but of the total of
nine species furnished. by each, all, as already observed,
are rather rare species.

REVIEWS.

——6Oo— f:

ON THE LYSIANASSA MAGELLANICA, AND ON THE > gmp OF THE ==

SUBORDER AMPHIPODA AND SUBFAMILY LYSIANASSINA FOUND ON THE

ene OF SWEDEN A a Norway. By Prof. Wi illiam iiilators g. pp. 38,
i lates. Upsala, 1865. 4to.

Ki L nis, bi Mastrted paper, which is written in our own language,

ced to a very remarkable exception to the usual law
oe the. distribution of animals. A species, one of the

rn, by D'Orbigny, reappears, upon the authority of Prof.
Fries, near Spitzbergen, ‘on the bank by Beering Island.” The spe-
imens from the two localities were not actually compared, but a

he te

rgen, were found to agree perfectly with Milne Edwards’ type-speci-
men Solisetsa ty D'Orbigny. Sceptics may require the specimens to
be Placed side by side, before accepting the conclusions of even such i
nt authorities as those named aboye. Other species of animals
are aaa to be common to both poles. Three species of shells, ‘‘ Sax-
icava arctica, Venus pullastra, and Pecten pusio,” and a Crustacean,
are said by the author to be “found both on our northern coasts, and —

uthor enumerates several genera of interpolar shells, —

s:
oker enumerates Erigeron alpinus, Preeti ue alpinum and Trisetum
tum, but. AS is probable that on closer e ation these will be found to be
species, both
Are and Anart res mi not. pare elsewhere, is afforded by the beautiful i
ily easily distinguished species Species of moss, Usnea melarantha, which is oo ae

REVIEWS. 49

i

more thriving and fructifies richly, whe ereas the former is a more ——— plant, = has

never yet been met with in a fructificating state. It is also curious t
istinct form as the Nephroma arcticum, which is so ipidan aet with = the northern al
pine and subalpine regions, should nowhere else be represented by any analo, ogous or simi-

lar form, excepting at Magellan Straits, where the very similar and Dane related Ne-
phroma antarcticum is met sence Among the ‘Phanerogamous l neira plants, the genus
Kiigetrumn prese sents tl represented by
the £: hereas in Antartic ‘America the Empetrum r ubrum is the prevail-
ing species, unless (as I in lately seen asserted) this latter be also found in Northern

No a species of oe animal is known with certainty to be com-
mon to both po
anini TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF CRUSTACEA, FOUND LIVIN
IN SPECIES OF THE GENUS AsciIpIA. By T. Thorell. From the
Transactions of the Paika Academy of Science of Stockholm.
iii., pp. 84, 14 plates. 4
In this valuable paper we si avery full account of some curious little
crustaceans, allies of our common water-fleas found swimming in our
fresh water pool These strange forms are parasitic in the outer
thick envelope fest) of the ascidians, or ‘‘shelless clams”; much as
Pinnotheres ostreum, the little oyster crab, lives as.a guest in the shell
of the oyster. Observers should be on the look out for them in the
ascidians of this country.
ON THE POLYPES AND ECHINODERMS OF NEW ENGLAND, WITH DES-
CRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. By A. E. Verrill. From the Proce
= of the Boston Society of Natural Satory, April 18, 1866. pp. 25.

vo.
Teona Verrill here gives us a very useful list of all the sea Anem-
onies, Star-fish and Beche-le-mers, or Sea-cucumbers, as they are often
ed, which are found on our north eastern coast. To those who
may be dredging, or engaged in the less erci search for these in-
teresting forms in the tidal pools, a under the sea a weeds along the
shore, this pamphlet will be inyalua!
THE MYRIAPODA or NORTH Pin By Prof. Horatio C. Wood, jr.
From the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. Phil-
ae 1865. pp. 92, illustrated with 3 plates and over 60 cuts. Y

To en collectors and entomologists generally, the Thousand-legs
and Centipedes one e occasionally meets — in his rambles, are stumb-
ling blocks. In this monograph, containi o complete an account of
their structure and forms, the author Has ne -a great gap in Amer-
can Natural History. The plates are in the main very well drawn;
but there has been an oversight in representing all the legs pointing
towards the tail, which is not the natural position. Those on the
anterior half of the body should = been directed towards the. iT

AMERICAN NAT. VOL. I

a im
o ial

50 REVIEWS.
URAL History or Anmats. By Prof. Sanborn ite T and Mrs.
SA A. Tenney. New York, 1866. Scribner & Co.

This little work, as the title arias presents ina Saronic way the
atural History of Animals. e illustrations are mainly the same as
those contained in a previous abe by Prof. Tenney on Natural His-
tory. The figures are mostly drawn from American sources, and the
book will be found quite useful to those who wish to obtain a know-
ledge of our native animals. As the work is intended for beginners,
the style is plain and free from technicalities. Yet we regret the ab-
sence of the technical names, for we believe that on all occasions, the

` scientific name of an animal should be coupled with its common one,
so that gradually the popular mind may become accustomed to the use

th gee

and more particularly, a clear appreciation of the value of classifica-
on.

ON THE YOUNG STAGES OF A FEW ANNELIDS. By Alexander Agassiz.
From the Annals of the Lyceum of Natural moy: New York.
Vol. viii., p. 303. June, 1866, 6 plates, pp. 4
In this interesting article we find accounts of the in lives of some
of our common marine worms. Though necessarily fragmentary, from

the difficulty of obtaining these creatures in all their stages of growth,

yet such facts as we here learn about the early stages of the Nareda-
like worm, are of the highest interest to the philosophic naturalist.
worm is a long, narrow, smooth-bodied Nemertean, with two
cks on the head. The absence of the locomotive bristles and
tentacles, found in the higher worms, such as Nereis, show its near re-
lationship to oe intestinal worms. But the metamorphosis is remark-
le, Th ung is provided with two tentacles, which in the course
of pispieat ee off, thus affording us an instance of a sll
grade course of development in the class of worms, like the Ba =
among Crustacea, the young of which have feet and antenne, as in
little water fleas (Entomostraca), while in advanced life these ‘take
mostly drop off, and the animal would easily be mistaken for a shell fish.
e quote some directions for observing and collecting these young
worms, so tg as objects for the microscope :
Johannes Mi t

gauze net; ag e coat followed with eminent success by man

Se fhe surface of the sea ain search of diminut tive animals, scarcely to ye tte 8
with the f 1 estigators
at

Seseo man Baur a introduced fishing with the gauze net by e et to any br
the hand net. M 2nd Mol ee Eih

have even attempted, with mesam reniei — = y of Kiel,
bottom any animals there abounding. mna e P Pump up from the vicinity of the

+ +
D ariy Stas

aD

di Tse eli

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 51

4 k PE EEE 7 3 y TAPE } dè a Tiat y

these tiny creatures, v i table obstacles to p ghi

investigations beyo mde a narrow limits. The only way is to go to the fountain head at

ones, to vo poe aed oneself miary w iih the purrente at all hours or the tide and under all pos-
ibl f wind; to opposite currents meet, and throw into

long bands the Wealth of animal life they have swept along; to virbaciat so perfectly familiar
with what you may expect to find u od =e conditions, that no ams Shan be =
in looking for the most favorable would only if
dentally. The habitat of the adult animals should be c arefully L 1, so that 4 surface
dredging with the fine gauze hand-net in the vicinity of their abodes, and by a close atten-
tion tò the direction which the eres take from these — at the mer = breeding we
can often obtain specimens at all a nd of all sizes, till t nomadic
or have assumed the habits they ect in their adult consists:

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Meret Score
BOTANY.

THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE ANTHER OF FLOWERS.—Dr. Miiller
read a memorandum of the monstrosities which he had met with in the
flower and fruit of Me Jatropha pohliana, and deduced therefrom some
conclusions on the theory of the anther. He thinks that this is formed
neither by the hora of two ordinary leaves, nor by a leaf whose
edges are incurvated towards the median rib, so as to form the two
chambers of the pollen. He believes that the anther represents only a
single leaf, and that the pollen is developed in the incrassated tissue
of the parenchyma of this leaf.— Report of the Transactions of the Soci-
ety of Physics and Natural History of Geneva, 1868-5. Smithsonian Re-

8

IOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE CALABAR BEAN.—Dr. Dor read a
memoir on the apaa effects of the bean of Calabar, Physo-
stigma venenosa. Studied specially in its effects on the eye, this sub-

nce produces contraction of the pupil, and occasions a sort of cramp
of the accomodator muscle. In this double relation it acts as an an-
ina.— Ibid.

SKI ves.—The following method has bhen communicated
to the Ria ahead Society of Edinburgh :—“‘A solution of caustic soda is
made by dissolving 3 oz. of washing soda in 2 pints of boiling water,
and adding 14 oz. of quick lime, previously slacked; boil for ten mi-
nutes, decdnt the clear solution and bring it to the boil. During ebul-
lition add the leaves; boil briskly for some time—say an hour, occa-
sionally adding hot water to supply the place of that lost by evapora-
tion. Take out a leaf and put into a vessel of water, rub it between
the fingers under the water. If the epidermis and parenchyma sepa-

52 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

rate easily, the rest of the leaves may be removed from the solution,
and treated in the same way; but if not, then the boiling must be con-
tinued for some time longer. To bleach the skeletons, mix about a
drachm of chloride of lime with a pint of water, adding sufficient acetic
acid to liberate the chlorine. Steep the leaves in this till they are
whitened (about ten minutes), taking care not to let them stay in too
long, otherwise they are apt to become brittle. Put them into clean
water, and float them out on pieces of paper. Lastly, remove them

m the paper before they are pa dry, and place them in a book or
ponies) press.”—Dr. G. Dickson, Hardwicke’s Science Gossip, Jan. 1.

——*0

ZOOLOGY.

THE EDIBLE CRAB IN SALEM.—A large specimen of the common
dible Crab of the Southern markets, Lupa dicantha, was caught in
the Spn during the past winter. With the exception of a young
specimen found on Phillips’ Beach, it has not before been known to
occur so far north as Massachusetts Bay. The oa oe is an inlet
of Salem harbor, and the water is quite salt.—C.

Mimetic FORMS E BUTTERFLIES. — Mr. A. B. Wallace
states before the eae See alee that ‘‘the Heliconide, a group
of butterflies with a powerful odour, such as to cause birds to avoid

were enabled to escape pursuit, and deposit their eggs.”— The eta
London, Oct. 6, 1866.

FERTILE WORKERS AMONG THE Ho ONEY Bens.—Mr. Tegetmeier, at
the meeting of the pe eaei Society of London, June 4, 1864, ex-
hibited some drones hatched r Pas laid by fertile workers :

They were prod nced by pl lacing g in Mare! z com De aape eggs and larvæ in work-
ers’ cells only, i en, and which e
contained no brood whatever. There

no | orm i
es

royal t after the ‘letter: were o hatched ;
the bees produced from them laid eggs. These w we re deposited 1 in the drone —— ices de

which
ine Canes being produecd. It was noticed that pate parties Metisse ere hatched er
Taid eg befo Ajacent hives, eager that

workers w were me produced by partaking of ie of the food d

th tion
yond ssc cde ie deposited in the ce Is adjacent to nA aoak

© royal-one. This supposi-
hiye con-

ie shows that a too close interbreeding in bees is prevented eg
drones from other hives ine EA the hive—while stranger work

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 53

ers are killed, stranger drones are readily received; thus the deteri-
oration of the race is prevented, :

A BLACK VARIETY OF THE COMMON RED SQUIRREL, Sciurus Hudsoni-
cus Pallas. I have lately obtained a black specimen of the common
Red Squirrel. It was killed at Letang, New Brunswick, where neither
the Grey, nor the common Black Squirrel are known to occur.—G.
A. BOARDMAN

— 0O
GEOLOGY.
Discovery or A HUMAN JAW IN A BELGIAN Boxk CAVE.—
pont has discovered in the Bone Caves of Farfooz, near Dinant, in

Belgium, a strange human jaw. It is the opinion of Sir. W. V. Guise,
and Rey. W. S. Symonds, who have vince maid Bon locality,

“That the AEEY i pe riod of the eutombmer nt of the an jaw, with the remains of
the extinct animal hich it > may cae ed to the epoch known t
geologists as the low f Prestw a period recent in a geological sense,
but enorm cide oe Sh Diim measured Dy time, for ‘the cold oF the glacial epoch was not
altogether passed, t was the period o

the deposition of the old river drifts of Me nchecourt, near Abbeville, which contain their
human flint implements, interbedded with the bones of the Mammoth and Rhinoceros; the
period of the deposition of the ancient river beds near Salisbury, and other parts of Eng-
land, which teach the same history; and also, they believe of the English bone caverns,”—
The Reader, London, Sept. 1, 1866

LIZARD- ENT FROM THE CHALK FORMATION OF ENGLAND.
—Fossils indicating a creature of this character have been discovered
by Mr. H. E. Seeley.— The Reader, London, Oct. 6, 1866.

DISCOVERY OF GENUINE CHALK IN COLORADO AND Dacora.—“ Chalk

of chalk, probably the only remainder of a mass which deindalici
has ”—T. A. Conrad, Smithsonian Report, 1865.

Dr. F. V. Hayden has also discovered in Yankton, Dacota Terri-
tory, large deposits of a “ nearly white, soft chalk,” which “ will be
found to

to represent the White Chalk Beds of Europe, and be employed
for similar economical purposes.”—Amer. Journal Science and Arts,
Jan. 1867
i +e
CORRESPONDENCE.

On THE PLUMAGE OF THE BLACK GuILLEMOT.—How does it

that we find the Back ‘Guillemot (Uria grylle Lath.), in full black plu-
mage all winter? All our works on Natural History tell us they change
to white or grey in winter, but I often get specimens which are black
in mid-winter. May it not be that only the young are light in winter?
I can hardly think it possible some would remain black, and others
change; I can see no difference between my dark winter and summer
gpectinéns,—C. A. BOARDMAN, Milltown, Me.

54 NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

ORNITHOLOGICAL CALENDAR FoR Marcu.—In this Calendar we have
endeavored to indicate the average time of the arrival and departure
of the migratory birds in the State of Massachusetts for this month;

States, reach Washington, D. C., in their northward migration three
we i

two weeks, and Southern New York nearly one week earlier; while
the same species commonly reach the middle of Maine some ten to
twelve tee later than they do Massachusetts.
Ist to 10th.—Blue Birds, Song Sparrows, Robins, Purple Grakles,
pero tint Black Birds Rü Grakles and Cow Birds,begin to arrive.
10th to 20th.—The preceding become more common. Meadow

Larks, Bridge Pewees or Phæbes, Snow Birds and Pu inches,
begin to arrive; the Hawks that in winter are represented by but fi
individu as the Marsh, Red-tailed, Red- shouldered, etc., increase

in number by arrivals from the South. The Goshawks, Snowy Owls
and ne oe visitors of the raptorial tribes mostly retire
northw:

20th = re —AIl those previously arrived receive new accessions
to their numbers, and become generally distributed. Grass Finches,
Mourning or Carolina Turtle Doves, Passenger Pigeons (of late, uncer-
tain visitors), and the Fox-colored $ ws arrive; the Black Duck
(Anas obscura), Canada and Brant Geese, Goosanders or Sheldrakes,
Whistle-wings or Golden-eyes, Wood and Pintail Ducks, Red-breasted

e
the sea-fowl that are winter visitors, as the Eider Duck, Double-
crested Cormorant, Skuas or Jager Gulls, Black-backed and Laughing

Guillemots, return northwards; other kinds, as the Red-
Cany itera Ruddy, Surf Ducks, Bestia, King, Eiders, Kitti-

and such rare land birds as the Pine Grosbeak, White-winged Cross-
bill, the Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) and Les-
ser Redpoll, leave for the north, as do also many of the Butcher Birds.

Such early breeding species as some of the Hawks and Owls pair
during this month; some, as the White-headed- m Dik Hawk

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 55

and Great Horned Owl, which begin their courtships as early as Feb-
ruary, choose their eyries, and the former commences incubation.
Blue Birds frequently pair before the end of the month, and taking
possession of breeding boxes or holes in trees, guard them carefully
against intruders.—J. A. A.

The Robins often lay the eggs for their first brood in March, in the
vicinity of Salem.—Enps.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

N ACADEMY OF sae AND SCIENCES, Boston. Jan. 8, 1867.
The Show! ing papers were rea
Thermogenesis, or Theory si aia by Dr. J. D. Whelpey, of
ston.
The Object and Method of Mineralogy, by T. Sterry Hunt, of Mon-
treal, Canada
n the Inequalities produced in the Moon’s Motion by the Secular Va-
riation in the position of the Ecliptic, by G. W. Hill, of Cambridge.

Essex INSTITUTE, Salem.. Jan. 7, 1867.—The following paper was
presented :

A Catalogue of the Birds of No rth America contained in the Museum of
the Essex Institute, with which is incorporated a List of the Birds of New
England, with oat critical notes, by Elliott Coues, oan Da Ue

Mr. C. Cooke made some remarks on the Sea o (Lodoicea sechel-
larum); and i. E. Bicknell exhibited n samea the mi-
croscope, of the poison fangs of the Rattlesnake.

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, Chicago. Annual Meeting, Jan. 8, 1867.—Dr.
William Stimpson was appointed Director of ved » Museum, to fill the

. Kennico
The President, Geo. C. Walker, ~~ delivered h his annual address.
The Secretary then submitted his
The ee resolutions were canaens .
HEREAS, r the Illinois General Survey has been too small to al-
low of a sufficient! y rapid examin z
That this

Resolve the great ortance of this
work, and | its hope mas the appropriation will be Increased to a degree that will carry on

Resolved. he Gt 1A bly be respectfully requested to
favor the fr of the appropriation.

Boston SOCIETY or NATURAL History. January 2, 1867.—Mr. Ho-

race Mann exhibited a large panoramic photograph of the crater on

the summit of Haleakala, the mountain of East Maui, Hawaiian Is-

56 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

lands. This crater is situated on the summit of Haleakala, its rim
being = np average elevation of 10,000 feet above the sea. Its depth
is about 2,000 feet, and the comparatively level plain which forms —
eae kede. at an elevation of 8,000 feet. The whole cir- —
ee of the crater is thirty or TE miles, it being one of

the largest in the
Mr. Winwood ae of England, who was present as a visitor, read
to the Society a paper upon the habits of the Gorilla, the result of his

personal investigation in the Gaboon region.

Section of Entomology, Jan. 23.—Mr. Scudder remarked on a small

f fo

Tertiary, probably Miocene, beds of Green River, near the boundary
line of Colorado and Utah Territories. The number of species so
to about fifty, though they are so imperfectly preserved as to
cult, ae not gcse to identify.
he abun orms are Diptera, and they comprise indai

fetid. a the ri number, either in the larval or imago state;
the others are = very minute Coleoptera, and there are besides
several Homoptera, minute parasitic Hymenoptera, Pteromali, a
mica, a moth, and a ag apparently allied to that of Limacodes

The perfect Diptera are mostly small species of Mycetophitide and
Tipulide. There are besides some which are apparently Muscide.
Among the larve are those of Muscide, together with other larve be-
longing to species of which the adults are not represented on these

stones. The Homoptera belong to genera allied to Issus, Gypona,
— and some ofthe Tettigonide. The collection does not agree,

in the aggregation of species, with any of the insect beds of Europe,
or with the-insects of the amber fauna on the shores of the Baltic.

A paper was also read On Monstrosities observed in the wings of Lepi-
= DR and on the method of producing them artificially, by D.

velot

eee s ‘ mS rete r ER E E IARE AVE eee Z
Sa er ee yes a aaa ene) Sey tat PRI ice mee RE Fee
apt aie als res a ase 2 foe Ba NNU EAEE ia

a NATURAL History Sociey. Bloomington, Annual Meeting,
December 19,1866. The nih resolution was passed:

Resolved, That the e cre the general commissioner be instructed
to correspond and i confer crea the principa I ee teeing natural s science of the va-
"ea schools and ges in the state, with naturalists and friends of science.

to detini vo local auxiliary societies, tons
Pnnemnin an asl cine eg of on a
rinig were presented to the society both at pe June and the pres-
ent meeting, by Prof. Ma arcy, of the Northwestern Univers rsity,
Vasey, Prof. ~h of the State Normal rents and Dr. F. Bren-
del, of Peoria.— Prairie Farmer.

- NOTE —The Editors desire desire brief minutes, such as those given above, of every mee of
sll tie Seiontida Soniotine mn North fb ame A of the NATURALIST | be cont ae
on aie a St cypress: fng as Sten such reports are are prom) a

ae

y

nptly sent in tè

‘ 2 ae

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. 1—APRIL, 1867.—No. 2.
<a

THE MOSS-ANIMALS, OR FRESH WATER
POLYZOA.
PLATE 3.

BY ALPHEUS HYATT.

Among all the creatures found in our pools and lakes,
none are more pleasing to the eye when carefully exam-
ined, than the Moss-Animals. These delicate animal-
flowers may be found in communities, expanding their
shadowy plumes in the darker recesses of our ponds, at-
tached to the under side of submerged sticks, , logs and

stones.

Figures 1, 2, and 3, in the plate, show three of these
communities. In figures 2 and 3 the plumes are expan-
ded, but in figure 1 they are withdrawn, as they always
are when the colony is disturbed.

The moss-animals of our fresh waters are, with two ex--
ceptions, all members of one group, called Phylactolema-
ta, or animals with guarded throats; that is, having a
little flap outside of the mouth, Which guards this aper-
ture. The two exceptions mentioned have not this char-
acteristic, and, therefore, belong to the same division

‘Bet, >

to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by the ESSEX INSTITUTE, in the
Massachusetts,

ee THE MOSS-ANIMALS,

as their marine relatives, the Gymnolemata, or Polyzoa
with unguarded throats. Notwithstanding their harsh
scientific name, the Phylactolemata are light, elegant, —
mossy growths, and, when placed under a low power —
of the microscope, are even more beautiful than the
flowers they resemble.

Their plant-like aspect, however, is a mere semblance,
notwithstanding the branching mode of growth. If we q
examine any one specimen of the genus Fredericella, we
speedily learn that the trunk is not a single, straight,
solid stem, as in the plants, but made up of a series of
minute, dark brown, tubular cells, arranged in a line,
with the main branches and shorter twigs, also con-
structed of cells, arranged in a similar manner. Each
cell (fig. 4) is a single animal, and contains the organs
and muscles of one being, though so intimately attached
to others, and so merged in the general life of the com-
munity, that it cannot, strictly speaking, be called an-
individual. An individual is but one animal, freely
following the bent of its own will, and containing within
itself an isolated, independent system of organs. :

The lower portion of every cell is str ipit, being the
continuation of the axis of the trunk, or branch of which i
is a part; but the upper portion turns out of the direct
line with an elbow-like bend, elevating one end above the
stem. This end is free, and is surmounted by a trans-

_ parent tube, which is closed by around disc, perforated |
le á the mouth, and bearing a crown of translucent, slender
_ threads, called tentacles, which gracefully curve upwards:

ome of a ve t e 4, fo The wr flap :

ere NWS Oa OM ET eT TT Ne ERES

ee NEE A AE T e

TETARA

osition, as if it were hinged
ae carious (th

* OR FRESH-WATER POLYZOA. 59

although situated outside of the mouth (fig. 5,1’), it seems
to answer many of the ordinary purposes of a tongue.
It evidently discriminates between the different kinds
of food, but is oftener employed to close the mouth
over some struggling animalcule which obstinately refu-
ses to be swallowed. It is a fleshy semicircular promi-
nence formed by a fold of the disc (fig. 5, I), and is both |
the door of a trap, and an organ of taste combined.

The crown is interesting, not only on account of its
beauty, and delicate transparency, but from the dreamy
outline of each little thread, caused by the movements of
the innumerable hairs investing them. The hairs, or cilia,
themselves, are not visible, owing to their extreme ten-
uity, but the waves they make in the water can be plainly
seen. So many thousands of these cilia are simultaneously
moving upward on the outer sides of the threads, and
downward upon their inner sides, that they force the
water along in strong currents from the exterior down
toward the bottom of the open-work vase where the mouth
lies. The meeting of these currents coming from all sides
at once, creates a whirlpool, in which hundreds of care-
less animalcules are continually caught and transported to
the mouth. This being placed at the centre of the vortex
catches all the objects entrapped by the current above,
and it has, also, unfortunately for its helpless prey, a
stomach beneath, which is indeed “an abyss no riches can `
fill.” The thousands of sleepless cilia are day and night
constantly in motion, drawing into the throat an endless
stream of food. The stomach below is equally active, and
thus all the organs work harmoniously, like machinery
driven by steam, untiringly capturing and digesting the
food, which, when assimilated, supplies the waste occa-
sioned by the great activity of these parts. The threads

60 THE MOSS-ANIMALS, @

or tentacles, also prove useful in many other ways. They
can twist together with incalculable rapidity, barring out
any objectionable animal which may manifest a dispo- | |
sition to pry into the crown; or each one can by itself —
bend over and eject annoying particles; or, if the throat —
need a little cleaning, force its way down the tube and `
clear it, by pushing’; into the stomach whatever may be 4
clinging to the sides. They are most amusing, however,
in the angry pettishness they occasionally exhibit toward
intruding neighbors. First comes an admonitory push,
then a eet ig one, if the first is not successful, and lastly,
unmistakeable blows administered with vicious rapidity by
many threads in unison. Sometimes a “big fish” enters —
the crown in the shape of an animated Pals perceptible
only when magnified twenty or thirty times its own size;
then the sensitive tips of the threads curve together, an
imprison the coveted morsel. Caged thus in a living net,
and unable to break through the bars, it is soon exhausted
by the power of the miniature maelstrom, and swept, in
spite of many fruitless struggles, down into the gaping
mouth.

On the exterior of the tentacles, reaching about half-
way up their sides, is a thin veil, looped up aid hanging
gracefully between them like a delicate rufle with pointed
folds (fig. 4, G). Between this veil and the dark brown
cell is the pellucid tube, and through its walls we can ex-

-~ amine the internal organs. Directly under the tongue-

like projection of the | disc, or epistome, is the nervous
, Which takes the place of a brain in all the Polyzoa,
Sk it ~ nerves See to ax os the stom

OR FRESH WATER POLYZOA. 61

or false tongue above the mouth, being only a fold of the
disc, is hollow. The nerve-mass retreats into this cavity
at will, probably by means of minute muscular fibres ; and
in this position, also, seeks security from injurious pres-
sure, while the polyzoén is crowded within the shelter of
its cell. Thus the epistome, in addition to its other mul-
tifarious uses, serves at times as a brain box.

The organs of digestion hang from the disc above, oc-
cupying the centre of the tube, and floating freely in the
rapidly moving blood (fig. 5, K, K’, K”). The throat is
closed at the lower end by a valve (fig. 5, K”), which
opens into a gourd-shaped sack, the stomach; close
by this is another valve which opens from the stomach
into the intestine (fig. 5, K™ )- The last is a canal
leading up, side by side with the throat, for a short dis-
tance, but finally bending away from it, and opening ex-
ternally through an aperture in the pellucid tube, just
below the base of the ruffle, and not far from the mouth
(fig. 5, K),

Though the walls of these organs are variously tinted,
they are not opaque, and, therefore, while not interfering
materially with the view through the clearer substance of
the tube, add greatly to its beauty. The yellowish throat, —
the stomach striped with dark brown, and the intestine,
also dark brown, form a colored axis, giving a lifelike
warmth to the airy delicacy of the surrounding film.

We have seen by what strange methods the food is
captured, but this is not more curious than the way in
which it is digested. A throattul, for we cannot say
mouthful, is no sooner admitted to the stomach, than it js
rolled up and down from one end to the other, with great
violence. The walls of this organ take on a circular
constriction, which pursues the morsel without intermis-

62 THE MOSS-ANIMALS,

sion, forcing it first to one end, and then back again to
the other, from which it entered, until the particles are
all crushed and reduced to a pulp. These violent con-
vulsions also serve another purpose; they squeeze the —
nutritious matter, resulting from digestion, out through —
the membranes of the stomach into the cavity of the tube
and cell, where it becomes mingled with the blood, and
is carried off to give health and strength to the body.

We have spoken of the plumes being withdrawn, in
one of the colonies figured, and, though it has been
only casually mentioned, this habit is the greatest obstacle

to the observer while endeavoring to study their form. If
the table be shaken ever so lightly, every unfolded crown

vanishes, and often half an hour or more elapses before
continued quiet allures them forth.

All the finely proportioned, transparent parts are bal-
anced upon a fold of the wall of the tube (fig. 5, B),
which is retained in its place inside of the cell by many
muscles, like fine hairs, attached by one end to the fold,
and by the other to the cell wall (fig. 4, N, N', fig. 5, N).
A continuation of the fold-membrane carpets the whole
interior of the cell (fig. 4, 5, E), and to it are attached,
near the lower end, the muscular fibres which drag the
crown and the more delicate external parts into its “shol
ter, at the approach of danger (fig. 4, M). The muscles
are arranged in great broad bands rising in two trunks,
“tie one spreading out above into numerous smaller

s. These branches are attached to the stomach,
ta pat and disc near the mouth, and one of them to the
wall of the tube not far from the base of the veil (fig. 4,
M.M, M"). They are diaphanous, but their delicate as-
pect is no measure of eie Tai They jerk the
crown and outer acs within tl —— e than the eye

OR FRESH WATER POLYZOA. 63

can follow them; and it is a curious fact, that after the
movement is completed, and they are safely ensconced,
the fibres are not content to rest, but still keep up a
lively motion, writhing and twisting like bundles of mi-
nute worms.

The tentacles all the while lie gathered closely togeth-
er in the sheath, formed for them by the tube, which has
been doubled upon itself inside of the cell, like the
finger of a glove inverted within the empty palm. When
once more ready to emerge, the opening of the cell, which
has been contracted by a circular band of muscle, like the
mouth of a bag drawn up with a string, relaxes and per-
mits the ends of the tentacles to protrude. These warily
search for the cause of the previous alarm, and, if no hos-
tile movements betray the presence of an enemy, the
whole bundle slowly and cautiously follows, halts a mo-
ment, and then confidently unfolds its circlet of sentient
threads. The Polyzoén reasons from the impression
made upon these feelers, and cannot be induced to expose
itself until thoroughly satisfied, by their exquisite sense
of touch, that no danger lurks near its retreat.

a degree of complication in their relations, both social and
physical, which the simplicity of the organization, and the

to the philosophical observer, _

The wonders revealed in the structure of these lovely
dwellers in the perennial shadows of our fresh waters,
tempt one to linger, but the history of their circulatory

64 THE FERTILIZATION E:

and respiratory functions, and their curious modes of
reproduction must be deferred until the next number.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 3. Fredericella regina Leidy.

Fig. 1, 2, and 3. Colonies attached to pieces of bark.

Fig. 4. Magnified view of one Polyzoén. D, brown aii the
ectocyst; E, pellucid wall of the tube and cell, the endocyst; V,
funiculus; M, M', M", upper branches of the mus cles, the retrac
tors; N,N’, muscles of the fold, the retentor rs; F, a small infold-
ing of the endocyst, the brachial collar; G, the pointed ruffle, or
calyx; H, the threads, or tentacles

Fig. 5. Outline of the interior of part of a young specimen. Same
on as above, with the exception of B, the invaginated fold of —

tube; Y, a very Parte polyzoon, a bud; K, ras aft at or œs- i
sea WY, cilia surrounding the mouth; K”, valve opening —
into the stomach, BS gue valve; K’!, Soak KM, intestinal
valve partly open; K”, intestin Ta opening of intestine, the : A
anus; I, disc, the lophophore; a the little flap, the epistome; I’, —
the mouth; S, nerve-mass.

Fig. 6. Side view of the top of a cell, with the tube and crown arawn
heal letters same as before with the exception of A”; contracted

fice of the cell; L, position of muscular band, the RTE.
abov

te 7. View of the same from ;
Fig. 8. Front view, showing upper Ditches of the retractors, which
are attached to the wall of the tube and to the disc, M” and M’.

It is now universally accepted by botanists that there
exist distinct sexes in the vegetable kingdom, and that na-

American Naturalist. VoL I, PI. 3:

HYATT ON THE MOSS ANIMALS.

i
a
BA
3
y

1

OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 65

of the flower we usually find one or more organs, called
the pistil or pistils. The end or edge of this organ is
called the stigma, which is generally more or less viscid.
It is upon this viscid stigma that the pollen falls, or is
conveyed by insects, the wind, or other agents. Soon a
small tubule shoots out from the pollen grain; this tubule
grows down through the stigma and style, into the ovary,
where it comes in contact with the unfertilized ovule,
which is then fertilized, and becomes capable of develop-
ing in its cavity an embryo that in time, and under favor-
able conditions, will became a perfect plant. In by far
the greater number of flowering plants, we find both the’
male and female element in the same flower, or, in other
words, such plants are hermaphrodites. One would nat-
urally suppose that there could be but one object in thus
placing the sexual elements in such immediate juxtaposi-
tion, namely, that each pistil might be fertilized by its own
pollen or male element. Late researches have, however,
made it evident that often even among plants, the nup-
tials cannot be celebrated without the intervention of a
third party to act as a marriage priest, and that the office
of this third person is to unite the representatives of dif-
ferent households. To be aE seed capsules are most _
productive when their ovules are fertilized by pollen from —

another plant, or flower of the same plant. “ Breeding
in and in,” can by absolute experiment, be proven to pro-
duce a degenerate offspring in the vegetable kingdom, no
less than in the event of a PE between first cousins
in the human race.

Now the marriage priests vo officiate i in the vegetable
kingdom are insects in search of honey ; the vinda, or
anything which by accident, or design, may carry the
pollen from one flower to another. How often do we

AMERICAN NAT. VOL. I. 9 os

_not one seed will be matured. This certainly was a “ca
ital experiment.” Though the impotency of pollen whe

eee of close fertilization. For Beak: most ff

from view. When the flower first opens, we may obs

66 THE FERTILIZATION

hear our agricultural friends complain, that they cannot
succeed in keeping pure some choice varieties of vege-
tables, in consequence of the pollen from some common
stock being wafted or carried to the pure variety, and th
contaminating it? Mr. Darwin has lately proven in the
case of the genus Linum, or Flax, that though the stigma
of a flower be completely dusted over with its own pollen, —

age to its own ap a is absolute in this case, we ma

are familiar with the general | habit of our common Law
(Kalmia). We remember, also, that when in bloom,
shows us a waving sea of beautiful, rose-colored flowe

growing so closely together as to almost hide the le

stamen, so that an. anther is. included i in each p
Every stamen represents a spring just ready to fly to-
natural position of rest, when ey cose. An insect

OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 67

do not say it is prepotent; any reader of the “Natural-
ist” may experiment for himself on the Kalmia. It is
only offered here as a hint. .

The field opened up by Mr. Darwin’s experiments is
new, and alluring, and perchance for that very reason
may sometimes be so attractive as to lead us beyond the
limits of sound reasoning, and reliable experiments. Yet
there exists a group of plants in the study of which we
may almost feel safe in giving a loose rein to our theories,
for facts already ascertained, prepare us to believe noth-
ing can be too strange to be true, in relation to the fertil-
ization of this group. I allude to the so-called dimorphic
plants; where the same species presents two distinct
forms, one with long stamens and short pistils; the other
with short stamens and long pistils. Now it has been
proven in the case of the Flax, and of the Primrose, that
the most fertile union is that which results from the im-
pregnation of the long-styled forms by the pollen of the
short-styled, and the reverse. Some experiments made
by myself, at the suggestion of Prof. Asa Gray, convince
me that the same applies in a remarkable degree to our
common little Spring Beauty ( ee or, as it is
commonly called, Anhocence or Bluets.*

"This a : |

lustrate what. x. iint then by quoting at length, ‘though
at second hand, from Mr Mr. Darwin's _ i paper, Spie the aaf

.

ual Relations of the ‘thr reef

MALLE ithe

*In Oldenlandia we find oe vident structural differentiation of both
pollen and stigma. The relative length of the stamens of one form

s-
fertilization. I have frequentiy observed a species of Thrips aE
ing gee from fiower to flower, with its back completely dusted ov:
with pol

oe THE FERTILIZATION

“In Lythrum salicaria (Spiked Loosestrife) three plain- 1 í
ly distinct forms occur; each of these is an hermaphro- — 7
dite; each is distinct in its female organs from the other
two forms; and each is furnished with two sets of stamens i
or males, differing from each other as much as if they be-
longed to different species; and if smaller functional dif- ~
ferences are considered, there are five distinct sets of
males. Two of the three hermaphrodites must co-exist, —
and the pollen be carried by insects reciprocally from one
to the other, in order that either of the two should be fully
fertile ; but, unless all three forms co-exist, there will be
a waste of two sets of stamens, and the organization of the
species as a whole will be imperfect. On the other hand,
when all three hermaphrodites co-exist, and the pollen is —
carried from the one to the other, the scheme is perfect; — 4
there is no waste of pollen and no false co-adaptation. In
short, nature has ordained a most complex marriage ar-
rangement, namely, a triple union between three hermaph-
rodites, each hermaphrodite being in its female organ quit
distinct from the other two hermaphrodites, and partially
nN in its male organs, and each is furnished with two

PEISE

Tt farther appears, “that only the longest stamens full
fertilize the longest pistils, the middle stamens the middle
pistil, and the shortest stamens the shortest pistil. And

OF FLOWERING PLANTS. ; 69

vouched for, might well cause a rising doubt. He tells
us that the pollen of one species of Passion Flower will
fertilize the ovules of another species, though the ovules
of the first may not in turn be fertilized by the pollen of `
the second. Thus Tacsonia mollissima will fertilize the
ovules of Passiflora racemosa, but Passiflora will not fer-
tilize Tacsonia.

Interesting as may be the means resorted to in the ca-
ses above mentioned, to secure cross-fertilization (mostly
through the medium of insects) they yield in fascination
to the adaptations by which the same results are accom-
plished by the same agents in many Orchids.

We must refer those who wish to go into the details
of fertilization, as it is brought about in this gorgeous
family, to Mr. Darwin’s interesting volume on “Fertili-
zation of Orchids by Insects.” They will there find the
subject treated of by a master mind in such inquiries.
The temptation to meddle in work so much better done
elsewhere, is too great, and we should be surprised at
ourselves if we passed the subject entirely by. Among
the Orchids and Milkweeds (Asclepias), we find that the
pollen, in place of being loose, or at the most slightly
coherent, is here neatly done up in two small decanter- __
shaped packets, which are connected at the top of the _
necks by a small, viscid BiG aes cs a

Let us imagine that on some bright summer morning, a
humble bee, for example, happening to be out in search
of the material from which to get its store of honey,
alights on one of ‘these Orchids. Standing, perchance,
on the large lip (so prominent among these flowers), it
dips its head down to the bottom of the flower in search
of nectar. The chances are ten to one that its forehead
strikes directly upon this viscid gland connecting the two |

70 | THE FERTILIZATION

packets of pollen. By the'time the nectar is exhausted

the gland has become adherent to the bee’s head, and as —
it (the head) is withdrawn, the two pollen masses are
extracted from their pockets, and now stand off in front
like a pair of horns. The bee, most likely, flies to another
plant of the same species, or still more probably to another
fiower of the same plant. Suppose the stigmatic surface of ©
this species of plant be broad, or possibly Gepatuiod almost
into two parts; we will find the packets have slowly but
surely diverged so as to be the exact width of that surface. — :
Suppose on the other hand, the stigma be a narrow one,
_we shall find that the packets have come close together.
In either case when the bee’s head bobs down into the
next flower, it will almost certainly happen that these
same pollen masses will be left sticking on the stigma
when the bee leaves, or at least part of the pollen will be
_ These masses of pollen have long since beer
7 quently observed on the bee’s head, but, until quite
lately , no meaning had been attached to it. Some ento-
mologists, I believe, have even been guilty of deseril i
these as natural appendages to the bee’s head.

OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 71

for 1862. Robert Brown long since called attention to
insect agency, in the fertilization of the Milkweed family.
Almost any summer day we may repeat his observations
for ourselves. So adhesive are the glands of the Ascle-
pias obtusifolia (Wavey-leaved Milkweed), that we often
find honey bees unable either to withdraw the packets, or
loose their feet from the gland, and thus they become
prisoners for life.

There exists yet another class of dimorphic flowers, in
which we find the large and more conspicuous flowers less
fertile than those of the other form, which are arrested in
their development, and are fertilized in the bud. Hugo
van Mohl has of late called especial attention to them.
Such flowers have been happily termed precociously fer-
tilized. Mohl concludes, after close examination of Viola,
Oxalis, Specularia and Impatiens, that nature is here
specially solicitous to secure close breeding, or that each
flower shall be fertilized by its own pollen. “ He calls
attention also to the fact, that in the large anthers of the
smaller form of Oxalis acetosella, not more than two
dozen pollen grains are found, while in the anthers of the
larger form they are much more numerous. In the smaller
saa however, the few grains are made more potent,
and the exercise of their function is secured, by being
placed in contact with the stigma. It results, ee
gl! Sectors RIO a a
ler, under the rep f accurate piv eatisce-
tors, and that, what was supposed to To a special adapta-
tion to secure close fertilization, i is, after all, but a more
nicely conceived method of | an opposite result.
For exam 2, We were faruerly cant that the interior
petals of Co dalis clasped thé anthers and stigma of the
flower in so tight an embrace that outside fertilization

72 THE FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERING PLANTS.

was a thing not to be thought of. Dr. Hildebrand in-
forms us however, that though the stigma of Corydalis
cava be completely dusted over with pollen from the same
flower, yet no seed will set if insects be excluded from
carrying pollen from flower to flower. This fact is, as
will be observed, another illustration of Mr. Darwin’s law
of prepotency of pollen taken from one flower, and applied
to another. Professor Gray also calls attention to the
“effectual activity of so large an insect as the bumble-bee
in fertilizing our Corydalis a aurea” (Golden Corydalis).
Just now we can point to but one instance in which a
plant of high order is found to produce perfect embryos,
without the ovules having been previously fertilized ac-
cording to the known method. In the Kew Gardens,
near London, has been kept for many years a plant of the
WS family, which furnishes this one example. Dr.
ker writes to Humboldt concerning it, as follows:
“Our t Coelebogyne still flowers with my father at Kew, as
well as in the Garden of the Horticultural Society. It
ripens its seeds regularly. I have repeatedly examined
it with care, but have never been able to discover a pene-
tration of pollen utricles into the stigma, nor any traces
of their presence in the latter or in the style.” This plant
belongs to the old Linnzan class Diccia. It is unisexual,
and as there exists only (so far as known) the fema
plant in England, it is difficult to conceive how the fertil-
ization

i a for the anthers, they do not oeh to have
We may still b pese before accepting
i of ps ss

1es

s Ci

INSECTS AND THEIR ALLIES.

BY A. 8. PACKARD, JR., M: D.

That branch of the Animal Kingdom known as the.,
ARTICULATA, is so called from having the body composed
of rings or segments, like short cylinders, which are
placed successively one behind the other. Cuvier selected
this term because he saw that the plan of their entire or-
ganization, the essential features which separate them 7}
from all other animals, lay in the idea of articula-
tion, the apparent joining together of distinct seg-
ments along the line of the body. If we observe
carefully the body of the Worm, we shall see that it
consists of a long cylindrical sac, which at regular
intervals is folded in upon itself, thus giving a ring-
ed,annulated or articulated appearance to the body.

In the Crustacea (Crabs, Lobsters, ete.) and in the
Insects, from the deposition of an earthy salt, called .
chitine, the walls of the body become so hardened, jarva of
that when the animal is dead and dry, it readily mereva? nano
breaks into numerous very perfect ri

Though this branch contains a far picsa number of

` species than any other of the animal lecnigeloens: their myriad

forms can all be reduced to a simple, ideal, typical figure ;
that of a long slender cylinder divided into numerous
segments, as in Fig. 1, representing the larva of a Fly.
It is by the unequal development and the various modes
of grouping them, as well as the differences in the number
of the rings themselves, and also in the changes of form
of their appendages, i. e., the feet, jaws, antennæ and
wings, that the various forms of Articulates are produced.
In all Articulates the long, tubular, alimentary canal
occupies the centre of the body ; above it lies the “heart,”

AMERICAN NAT. VOL. I. 10

74 INSECTS AND

or dorsal vessel, and below, upon the under side, rests
the nervous system. The breathing apparatus, or “lungs,”
in Worms consists of simple filaments, placed on the front
of the head; or of gill-like processes, as in the Crustacea,
which form simple expansions of the legs; or, as in
the Insects, of delicate tubes (trachea), woe ramify
throughout the whole interior of the animal, and connect
with breathing pores (stigmata) in the sides of the body.
They do not breathe through the mouth as do the higher
animals. The traches and blood-vessels follow closely
the same course, so that the aération of the blood goes on,
apparently, over the whole interior of the body, not being
confined to a single region, as in the lungs of the verte-
brate animals.

Thus it is by observing the general form of the body-
walls, and the situation of the different anatomical systems,

both in relation to themselves and the walls of the body, |
or crust, which surrounds and protects the more delicate
organs within, that we are able to find satisfactory charac- i
ters for isolating, in our os the articulates from

all other animals.

ts ed We shall perceive more clearly the differences

THEIR ALLIES. 10

body. Soon this sac-like body grows longer, and con-
tracts at intervals ; the intervening parts become unequally
enlarged, some segments or rings, formed by the contrac-
tion of the body-walls, greatly exceeding in size those
next to them; and it thus assumes the appearance of a
being, more or less equally ringed, such as in the young
Terebella, here figured, where the ciliæ are restricted to
a single ring surrounding the body. Gradually the cilix
disappear and regular locomotive organs, consisting of mi-
nute paddles, grow out from the side; feelers (antenne),
jaws, and eyes (simple rudimentary eyes) appear on the
few front rings of the body, which are grouped by them-
selves into a sort of head, though it is difficult in a large
proportion of the lower worms, for unskilled observers to
distinguish the head from the tail. In the embryo of
the Crustacean, such as the Fresh-water Crawfish, as
shown by the German naturalist Rathke ; and also in the
earliest stages of the Insect, the body at once assumes a
worm-like form, thus beginning its embryonic life from
the goal reached by the adult worm. - :
Thus we see throughout the growth of the worm, no
attempt at subdividing the body into regions, each endow-
ed with its peculiar functions ; but only a more perfect
but all becoming respectively more complicated. For
€ e, in the fresh-water Nais, each ring is plainly

Q
S

tinguished into an upper and under side, and in addi-
tion to these a well marked side-area, to which, 2s in the
marine worm, - ereis, oar and paddle-like organs are
attached ; in most other worms eye-spots appear on the
front rings, and slender tentacles grow out, and a pair of
nerve-knots ( ganglia) are apportioned to each Tings
Thus, in the Worm the vital force is very equally distrib-

76 INSECTS AND

uted to disci zoological element, or ring of the body ; no
single part of the body is much handtak above the rest, so
as to subordinate and hold the other parts in subservience
to its peculiar and higher ends in the animal economy.

But when we rise in the scale of articulate life, we see
at once the action of a new principle. First in the Crus-
tacean appears a broad distinction between the front and
_ posterior end of the body. The rings are now grouped

e Tes > into two regions, and the

i J hinder division is subor-

dinate in its structure and

' uses to the forward por-

tion of the body. Hence
the nervous power is
transferred in some de-
paistia endai tite: A tery, SPP! towards the head.

a. cephalothorax; b. abdomen, The organs performingthe
functions that distinguish animals from plants, such as

locomotion and sensation, all reside in the front region;
while the vegetative functions, or those concerned in the
reproduction and nourishment of the animal produced,
are mostly carried on in the hinder region of the booi

(the abdomen).

The Crustacean cannot be said to kavo a true head, in
distinction from a thorax bearing the organs of locomo-
tion, but rather a group of rings, to which are appended
the organs of sensation and locomotion.

s oe jaws become Temarkably like claws; or

THEIR ALLIES. 77

tacea do not have a distinct head, but rather a “head-
thorax” (cephalo-thorax) .

When we rise a third and last step into the world of
Insect forms, we see a completion and final development
of the articulate plan which has been but obscurely hinted
at in the two lowest classes, the Worms and Crustacea.
Here we first meet with a true head, separate in its struc-
ture and functions from the thorax, which, in its turn, is -
clearly distinguishable from the third region of the body,
the abdomen, or hind-body. These three regions, as
seen in the wasp, are each provided with
<@ three distinct sets of organs, each having
distinct functions, though all are governed
by, and minister to the brain force, now in

. a great measure gathered up from the pos-
/ Fabr. ea W coe ` terior rings of the body, and in a more

concentrated form (the brain), lodged in the head.

Here, then, is a centralization of parts headwards ; they
are brought as if towards a focus, and that focus the head,
which is the meaning of the term “cephalization,” proposed
by Professor Dana.* Ring distinctions have given away to
regional distinctions. The former characterize the Worm,
the _latter, the Insect. In other words, the division of.

a transf mavens Damnoen | rs ae
srt the otit tushaiio series.

„Z, By the anterior of the locomotive organs participating to some extent in cepha-

pi ET increased abbreviation, concentration, actness, and perfi
structure, in the and organs of Of the aitarior portion of th of the body. perfection of

reviation, condensation

posterior, or or gastcic soe bee caudal portion of the’ perfection of structure in Hie
phineesndon? aaa of the nervous system. This rise reach-

78 INSECTS AND

well illustrated in the thorax of the Wasp. In reality the
thorax of this insect consists of three rings, with a super-
numary one—the first and basal ring of the abdomen—
thus forming a compact mass, consisting of four of these
rings. But. all are so intimately cated into an almost
spherical, rounded mass, which is due to the unequal size
of the parts composing the rings, some being enlarged,
and others either diminished in size, or wholly wanting,
that it needs the sagacity of a Latreille, or an Audouin,
those fathers of Entomology, to detect the actual number
of the elemental rings.

Appended to the head, as the legs to the thorax, are spe-
cial organs of sight and touch, into which the brain is im-
mediately projected; as the simple and compound eyes,
and the antenne, each with their separate pair of nerves.
These are placed in front of the mouth. Behind the
mouth, and on each side, are the jaws or mandibles, the —
| with the ir palpi (or touchers), and last of all,
and Ae to the oak the labium, or under lip, and its -
palpi. Before the larva leaves the egg, these four pair
g appendages are much alike in form, budding out as
simple tubercles, and their relative position and succession
are as given above; but during growth they change their po-
sition, crowd forward about the mouth-opening, so as to _
ee meaty all traces of their normal succession, and, in con-

THEIR ALLIES. 79

Insects, as a whole, are much smaller than the Crusta-
cea; for example, compare a Honey bee or Hawk moth
with a Lobster or Crab. This diminution of size is due to
the greater concentration of parts, and their compression
into a much less bulk. Crustacea are mostly inhabitants of
the water, while Insects are, in some form, almost exclu-
sively terrestrial. As the Whale exceeds in size the D
or Lion, or Man himself, so does the Lobster surpass in
bulk the Bee, though the latter is a much more highly
organized animal, with a more complicated outer crust, a
more complex system of nerves, bloodvessels and muscles.

There are various grades of superiority among insects.
Rank among men is determined by one’s superior intel-
ligence, and less and less likeness to the savage. Thus
writers on Ethnology place the European and Australa-
sian at two extremes. On this principle the zoologist clas-
sifies animals by their greater or less résemblance to the
lowest types. Thus among Articulates, the Worms are
the simplest in form, and in all respects the lowest. - The
Crustacea are placed next in the natural system, which
_ leaves the Insects topping the series. In classifying the
subdivisions of the class of Insects, we observe the same
principle. In locating an Insect in what seems to us its

memes within its own group, we e must follow this na

the Sone ale (Pods oped In these forms
the body is slender and wormlike, and the head is many
times smaller than the rest of the body. In the Honey —

bee however, which is the highest among all prs

the head is but little S and yet very distinct from

80 INSECTS AND

the thorax; which again, is but a little smaller than the
Fig. 5.

abdomen. In the Bee, more than in
other insects, the rings, or parts of `
rings remaining after the growth of ` 4
the animal has been completed, are
more equally developed than in the
lower insects—no single part attains
a monstrous development over the
other, as in the May-fly or Dragon-
Ephemera, M fly. The Bee, of all insects, performs

the most bam and complex intellectual acts; in its im-
mense colonies—a rude foreshadowing of human repub-
lics—are portioned out to the Queen, the Worker and the
Drone, special duties in the insect economy. How varied

_ those duties are, how readily a Worker will perform some
acts rarely or never before attempted, and how ready
these insects, and their allies, the Ants, are to adapt
themselves to new and untried circumstances, all Bee
on and entomologists are well aware.
Let us for a moment look more closely at the tough
parchment-like crust of the Insect. We shall then better
understand what has been said of its complexity. We
rig.6* find that each ring when examined by
Yy 5 itself, consists of an upper (tergite), and
wy” under (sternite), and side-pieces (pleurite,
n” $ "' consisting of the epimerum and episternum).
sections of a circle rest on each other, giving pe
and resistance to the whole ring- —

THEIR ALLIES, 81

ed, as seen in the body of the caterpillar. When, how-
ever we turn to a thoracic segment, the relative size of
the pieces is very unequal, the side-pieces being much
larger than the upper or under piece, especially in the
Dragon-fly, which is ever on the wing. In the Libellula,
the upper part of the ring is greatly reduced in size, and
the larger part of the ring consists of the side-pieces. As
a rule, however, the under piece (sternum) is very small,
the dorsal or upper-piece (fergum) is well developed,
while the side-pieces are increased in a still greater ratio,
as seen in the Wasp, which walks and also flies with ease.
The side, or limb-bearing part of the ring, is generally
largest in the running insects, as in the Beetles, of which
Carabus, the Ground-beetle, is a type. On the other
hand the dorsal (or tergal piece, the more technical name,
since the word dorsal is more appropriate in speaking of
the vertebrates, or animals with a back bone) part of the
ring is quite small in the Dragon-fly and its allies. In
these insects, which scarcely ever walk, merely using
their legs in clinging to plants when resting from their
long sustained flights, the side-pieces are disproportion-
ately enlarged over the other parts of the ring, for the
purpose of broad attachments to the muscles of

flight. 7

-To the Be ot tha wpa yes, okt es
and wings, are attached. In order that the legs may
move freely on the body, and thus give play to hundreds
of minute muscles within the legs, these side pieces are
subdivided into several smaller sections. Were this not
so, and the crust forming the exterior of the insect un-
broken, thus forming a continuous series of cylinders,
we should have the poor victims of this stern law of
morphology enclosed in jackets of the straightest sort!

AMERICAN NAT. VOL. I. 11

82 INSECTS AND

-~ Whence comes, then, all the grace and perfect freedom
of action seen in the vivacious motions of the Ichneumon
fly and Butterfly? It lies in the fact that the whole outer
crust is subdivided into portions which are finely hinged
together by a tough membrane, forming points of attach-
ment to thousands of little muscular fibres within, and
thus giving the otherwise rigid crust a surprising degree
of flexibility.

The three pair of legs are inserted at the lower edge of
the side-piece (cpisternum, Fig, 6, £s), as seen in the fig-
ure, and the wings grow out between the upper side piece,
(Fig. 6, £m ) and the tergum (Fig. 6,7). The body
of all known insects consists normally of twenty of
these cylindrical rings, each of which is theoretically sub- |
divided in the manner we have shown ; but towards each _
extremity of the body, as in the rings composing the head
and tail, but a part of the ring is developed, since the
remaining portions have, during the development of the
animal, either while still in the egg, or during its growth
afterwards, become absorbed, and jive consequently disap-
appeared. In the head of all insects there are, as a rule,
seven such rings, in the thorax three, and in the hind
body, or abdomen, at least ten, and perhaps eleven, ele-
mental segments. Counting, in addition to the
number of pieces which compose the trunk, the numerous
joints of the legs, and those of the antennæ, which ap-
in the Cockroach to nearly a hundred in number,
A idea of the exceeding complexity of t

crust. Thus w pripite entomology has to

sion

att

Arran

THEIR ALLIES. 83

‘besides those entombed in its crust, as fossils, which can
never be numbered.

Thus the idea of articulation, upon which Cuvier found-
ed this branch of the animal kingdom, which begins so
simply in the worm and grows far more complex in the
crab and its allies, is,in the insect, carried out with a
bewildering richness and profusion of detail. It is like
comparing a savage’s “dug out” to the “Great Eastern”
steamship, or the rude wigwam of an Indian to the
Cathedral of Milan.

The German Naturalist Oken, who in his writings has
. so often anticipated the results of subsequent laborious
inquiries, said in his aphoristic style when discoursing of
insects: “Every fly creeps as a worm out of the egg;
then by changing into the pupa, it becomes a crab, and,
lastly, a perfect fly.” The motions of these worms and
crabs to which he aptly compares the two stages of the
young fly, will show a farther analogy, though to many it
may seem fanciful, between these forms of jointed animals.
Worms wriggle along as they move. Now wriggling is
one of the lowest forms of locomotion. The waddling of
geese partakes of the same nature. In worms,,the many
rings of the body, so similar to each other in form and
size, move on themselves, and then move all together,
and thus the creature progresses. In pepe the abdbiheti
moves upon the forward part of the body; the insect
jerks about by the motive power residing in the abdomen.
Here is indeed a localization of the power of motion, and
something is gained in the rising scale. Now the Crus-
tacea, or crabs and their allies, all move by jerking.
Watch the microscopie Cypris or larger Cyclops, i in its
swift circumnavigation of a drop of water. It moves
both by its thoracic legs, and by the Isomat

84 INSECTS AND THEIR ALLIES.

power of its abdomen or hind-body, as it swims through —

its little “world of waters” by jerks. So also the Am-
phipod, a crab-like being, higher in the scale than the
_ water flea, darts from weed to weed in the clear cool
waters of tidal pools, by most gracefully jerking its

abdominal rings. So also the clumsy crab clambers ~

cautiously obliquely backwards over the pebbles by a
jerking sort of gait; and the lobster carelessly bends its
tail beneath its breast, and like a flash, lands softly a
fathom away, in its course leaping the Laminaria swaying
to and fro in the ebbing tide.

Compare with these stiff and clumsy motions, the flight

-of a swallow-tailed Butterfly, as it emulates all the mo-

tions of an eagle in its majestic flight over forests and
through sequestered glades. The lowest of butterflies,
the small dun colored Hesperiadx, or Skippers, jerk as

they fly. Or compare again the swift, vivacious, inquis-

itive motions of an Ichneumon fly, just as it has alighted
upon a leaf. See the intensity of life in every dovanai

of its open, restless wings ; the head turning this way and
that, with the vibrating feelers and threadlike waving
antennæ, prompted by the nervous energy within ;, its

arching abdomen directing each incessant and swift dart-

ing movement of its ovipositor, while running from leaf

to leaf in its anxious search for some unlucky caterpillar
in which to lay its eggs. In this tiny insect is a special-

D a Ee:

85
THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

BY L. TROUVELOT.
Oe

(Continued from page 38.)

It is astonishing how rapidly the larva grows, and one
who has no experience in the matter could hardly believe
what an amount of food is devoured by these little crea-
tures. One experiment which I made can give some idea
of it: when the young silk worm hatches out, it weighs
one-twentieth of a grain; when

we days old it it weighs sa grain, or D times the original weight.

: grains ‘‘
30 ae ae ae ac 81 és Ls 620 “ ae ¿t “
40 ét it ae “es 90 ae ce 1800 “ce ae i “
56 ac se ae ee 207 ae ét 4140 ae é 4

When a worm is thirty days old it will have aE
about ninety grains of food; but when fifty-six days old
it is fully grown and has consumed not less than one hun-.
dred and twenty oak
leaves weighing three-
fourths of a pound;
besides this it has
drank not Jess than
one-half an ounce of
water. So the food
taken by a single silk Cocoon of Tela Polyphemus. a E
worm in fifty-six days equals in weight eighty-six thou-
sand times the primitive weight of the worm. Of this,
about one-fourth of a pound becomes excrementitious
matter; two-hundred and seven grains are assimilated
and over five ounces have evaporated. What a destruction
of leaves this single species of insect could make if only a
one-hundredth part of the eggs laid came to maturity! A
few years would be sufficient for the propagation of a num-
ber large enough to devour all the leaves of our forests.

86 THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

When fully grown, the worm which has been devouring
the leaves so voraciously, becomes restless and crawls
about the branches in search of a suitable place to build
up its cocoon; before this it is motionless for some time,
holding on to the twig with its front legs, while the two
hind pair are detached; in this position it remains for
some time, evacuating the contents of the alimentary canal
until finally a gelatinous, transparent, very caustic fluid,
looking like albumen, or the white of an egg, is ejected ;
this is a preparation for the long catalepsy that the worm
is about to fall into. It now feels with its head in all
directions, to discover any leaves to which to attach the
fibres that are to give form to the cocoon. If it finds the
place suitable, it begins to wind a layer of silk around a
twig, then a fibre is attached to a leaf near by, and by
many times: doubling this fibre and making it shorter
every time, the leaf is made to approach the twig at the

ce necessary to build the cocoon; two or three
leaves are disposed like this one, and then fibres are
spread between them in all directions, and soon the ovoid
form of the cocoon distinctly appears. This seems to be
the most difficult feat for the worm to accomplish, as after
this the work is simply mechanical, the cocoon being
made of regular layers of silk united by a gummy sub-
stance. The silk is distributed in zig-zag lines of about
one-eighth of an inch long. When the cocoon is made, the
worm will have moved his head to and fro, in order to
ute Da a about two hundred and — aap

THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 87

spread over all the inside of the cocoon. The larva con-
tinues to work for four or five days, hardly taking a few
minutes of rest, and finally another coating is spun in the
interior, when the cocoon is all finished and completely
air tight. The fibre diminishes in thickness as the com-
pletion of the cocoon advances, so that the last internal
coating is not half so thick and so strong as the outside
ones. l

During the process of spinning, the worm contracts and
diminishes in size, as the silk reservoirs empty. Six or
eight days after the beginning of the cocoon, the worm
casts its last larva-skin, and then appears under a very dif-
ferent form—a transitory one, which is neither worm nor
moth; it is the chrysalis or :
pupa. When the chrysalis
comes out of the larva skin,
if observed closely, it will be
seen that its resemblance to a
the perfect insect is striking ; Pupa of Tin Piesk a:
the antennæ, the head, the legs and abdomen resemble
very much those of the moth. The wings only, are
very small, but in a few minutes they grow to about half
the size of the abdomen. The legs of the chrysalis, at-
least the tarsi, are enclosed in the articulated leg of the

and third segments, and the antenne are rolled up in the

lobes of the cranium. When the chrysalis comes out,
every part is detached and free, and if then put in alcohol
they will remain so; but when left to its natural course it
will soon be observed that a general envelope covers the
whole chrysalis, and that any motion of the legs, wings
and antennz is impossible, since the insect is contained in
the hard brownish envelope secreted by its tegument, and

88 THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

now resembles an Egyptian mummy. If before the shell
of the pupa has become hard, an antenna, a leg or a wing
be changed from the position that the insect has given to
it, that part of the body which would otherwise have been
covered by the part removed out of place, will remain of
a different color and of a thinner consistence, and an insect
thus treated will not generally live to arrive at the imago
state.

Before the last transformation is accomplished, the insect
takes a long rest, and this period is the longest of its life ; if
it can be called an existence to live without eating, breath-
ing, or even, probably, without having any distinct sen-

sation. The pupa spends about nine months in this tor-
por, and braves the hardships of winter, notwithstanding
all the changes of the temperature, being frozen as hard
as a stone. It is only when the warm spring days come
that life awakens, and the pupa is transformed into a

insect.

w a worm be opened longitudinally, even when half
grown, there will be found in the female a vast num-
ber of little globular white bodies attached to a fine tube
on each side of the stomach. These little bodies are the
eggs of the future female moth, as yet in a rudiment-
ary state. This is the only method of distinguishing the
female from the male, while in the larva state. I have
never Peeni able to find any other character: by which to pS

THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 89

sure twenty five inches in length; these two reservoirs
become very narrow as they approach the mouth, and
unite together, terminating in a special contractile organ,
attached beneath the mouth. When spinning, the silk is
thrown out from the two reservoirs at the same time, and
the thread is in reality composed of two distinct fibres
which can be easily separated.

The silk in the reseryoirs is sometimes used in com-
merce, being sold under the name of “gut.” The pro-
cess of obtaining the gut is very simple; it consists in
preparing worms ready to spin by putting them in strong
vinegar for eighteen hours; a transverse opening is then
carefully made on the under side and about the middle of
the body, taking care not to injure the silk reservoirs
which are very distinct. The glands, or reservoirs, are
then taken out and stretched parallel to each other on a
board, and dried in the shade for several days.

The Enemies of the Silk Worm. Birds are the most
formidable foes to the silk worm, especially the Thrushes,
. Cat-birds and Orioles. It
is probable that ninety-five
out of a hundred worms

eat the chrysalis enclosed
within the cocoon. Among
insects they have many
enemies, such as various
spiders, ants, bugs and

sargoria Linn. Ichnenmon Parasite :
“wasps; but their most n the larva of Telea Polyphemus

AMERICAN NAT. VOL. I. 12

90 THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

dangerous foe is the Ichneumon fly. A Tachina-like
fly also deposits its eggs in the body of the larva.
The Ichneumon flies can pa seen in summer flying about
bushes in search of caterpillars in which to deposit
their eggs, and I have observed them often flying for an
hour among shrubs where no worms were feeding, for
which they searched carefully, peering under almost every
leaf. When an Ichneumon detects the presence of a worm,
she flies around it for a few seconds, and then rests upon the
leaf near her victim; moving her antenne very rapidly
above the body of the worm, but not touching it, and
bending her abdomen under the breast, she seizes her
ovipositor with the front legs, and waits for a favorable
moment, when she quickly deposits a little oval white
egg upon the skin of the larva. She remains quiet for
sometime and then deposits another egg upon the lar-
va, which only helplessly jerks its hae every time an
egg is laid on it. She thus lays some eight or ten eggs”
which adhere so firmly to the skin, that it is very difficult
to take them off. After several days these eggs hatch
out, and the small white larve e be seen at work
as soon as they are out of the eggs, digging their way
under the skin of the worm, on whose fatty portions
they feed. The caterpillar, however, continues to eat
and grow, and lives long enough to make its cocoon,
but when once enclosed in it, ma parasites which prey

upon it have already eaten the fatty portions, and now at-
: the vital parts of the larva, which they speedily con- —

THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 91

of them can find food enough to enable it to arrive at
maturity; so probably the strongest one devours its
weaker brethren when food becomes scarce, or else
they die from hunger.

Description of the larva of Polyphemus. When fully
grown this larva measures over three inches in length, and
the body is very thick. The head is of a light chestnut
brown color; the body of a handsome transparent light
yellowish green, with seven oblique lines, of a pale yel-
lowish color, on each side of the body; the segments are
each adorned with six tubercles, giving rise to a few hairs,
which are tinted sometimes with orange, with a silvery
spot on the middle; there are six rows of protuberances,
two on the back and two on each side, and the oblique lines
run between the two rows of lateral tubercles uniting the
lower one to the upper one by a yellowish line. The un-
derside of the body is longitudinally striped with a faint
yellowish band ; the spiracles are of a pale orange color,
and the feet are brown. The posterior part is bordered by
* apurplish brown angular line similar to the letter V.

Description of the Pupa. The pupa is much of the form
_ and size of a robin’s egg ; the color is dark chestnut-brown,
7 Mr he Sa BE song te’ ere The :

for sete T (Imig) atthe Syriopeta
of Lepidoptera, by Dr. J. G. Morris*, only observing
that there are at least six varieties : the yellow, the fer-
ruginous, the brown, the greenish, the pale cream color,and
another variety with the black lumule on the secondaries

replaced by a ferruginous spot. The male can be — |

*Published by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

92 THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

distinguished from the female by its lighter form, and by its
smaller abdomen, which is not so highly coloured as that
of the female; but the most striking difference is in the
antenne ; those of the male are pectinated, broad, and
like two feathers adorning the head, while those of the
female are narrow and very much smaller.

Description of the Egg. The egg is about one-tenth of
an inch in diameter, almost eylindmeat; with the two ends
convex. The cylindrical surface is brown, with a narrow
white spot about one-half the width of the egg; the two
convex parts are white. One hundred of them weigh on
the day they are laid, eight grains, but an evaporation
of the fluid contents of the body takes place, and on

_ the day the young hatch out, the same number weigh only
six and two-third grains. One hundred and ten empty
shells weigh one grain; about six thousand worms are
equivalent in weight to one ounce. I will now proceed to
give some instructions as to the rearing of the worm.
They will be easily understood, if I have been clear
enough in explaining the natural history of the Polyphe-
mus Silk Worm.

Selection and preservation of Cocoons intended for Stock.
The cocoons’ intended for the propagation of the species
for the following year, should be carefully selected. AS
a general rule the female larva is larger than the male ; 50

_ the cocoon of a female is also larger than the male cocoon.
I estimate a cocoon to be a very good one, and the pupa

vithin healthy, when it is heavy for its size, and resists”
| ssure between the fingers, not being de-
About one-half of the ‘Humber aaa

THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 93

the smallest, but among the intermediate ones. When
properly selected, they should be placed beyond the reach
of rats or mice, in boxes, baskets or bags. The boxes
should be stored in a cold, dry room, or cellar, where the
temperature does not get above forty-five degrees, for if
the temperature be higher, they will be liable to hatch
before winter. While the temperature should not go
above forty-five degrees, it can descend indefinitely with-
out injury to the pupa.

Hatching out of the Moth. Towards the end of May, in
the latitude of Boston, the temperature sometimes reaches
seventy degrees. I have said above, that a heat of fifty
or fifty-five degrees continued for some time, is sufficient
to put in activity the causes which transform the pupa to
perfect insects. So about the middle of May, the cocoons
should be taken out of the cellar and put into the hatching
room, as the time approaches when the perfect insect will
appear out of its prison. Tables or shelves should be placed
in the hatching-room to lay the cocoons upon. Theyshould
be spread out, and not piled one upon the other, as the
insect in coming out would get to the surface with diffi-
culty. Over the tables or shelves where the cocoons are
placed, should be hung pieces of cloth, or net, to which
-the insect can easily attach its hooks, for the purpose

of all llowing its wings to develope. The perfect insect
rarely comes out before noon, and very few after five
o'clock in the afternoon. One should watch the process
of exclusion, in order to help the insects when they do
not readily find the net, or cloth to cling to, and also to
remove those which disturb others whose wings are al-
ready expanding. The rays of the sun abould not fall
directly upon the cocoons, as the heat would cause a rapid
evaporation, which would certainly kill the chrysalis.

94 THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

Towards the evening of the day on which the moths
leave their cocoon, an equal number of both sexes should
be placed in the same cage, and after pairing, the females
should be kept until they die, which will occur in four or
five days after their union. The eggs which are stuck to
the cage with gum, should be scraped off with a wooden,
or whalebone knife, and then spread in a large pasteboard
box to dry thoroughly. A ticket, with the date stating —
when the eggs have been laid, should be put upon the
box, so as to indicate the day the worm will probably hatch.

The length of the period of incubation depends entirely
on the temperature, but in June, the incubation generally
lasts twelve or thirteen days, while in August the period
is two days shorter. Eight or ten days after the eggs
have been laid, they should be placed in the hatching box, —

- Which should be made of tin, and about three inches long, :
two inches broad, and one andahalf inches deep. In
the middle, a narrow longitudinal band of tin should be-
soldered, and bent so as to form a hook by which the box
may be hung to some twig or branch. The box should
be painted, and before it is dry sand should be sprinkled
over it, so as to make a oe surface upon which the:
worm can crawl with ease.

The larve hatch out from five to ten o’clock in the
morning, and the attendant should be ready at that time

to piece, = box apar a branch which has its erani

r La branch of moderate size for four or five days, and

95
THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

BY EDWARD 8S. MORSE,

(Continued from page 16,)

We commence the specific description of the Land Snails
.of New England with a group of the larger forms, of
which Helix albolabris offers a fair example. It would be
more natural to present first a chapter on the classification
of the animals to be considered, but we think it better
that our readers should first become acquainted with the
forms to be classified, that they may the better understand
and appreciate the principles upon which the species are
grouped into genera and families. In fact, more or less
familiarity must be acquired on the general and special
history of any group of animals before one can clearly
comprehend its classification.

It would be proper that the slugs, or those snails without
external shells, should first engage our attention; owing
however to the want of sufficient material for accurate
figures, we prefer waiting till the spring opens, and an
opportunity is afforded to examine fresh specimens, be-
fore presenting a chapter on this group. In order that the
descriptions of the following species may be understood,

_ We present an explanation of the various terms used in ce

Spire eer twists, or , Me.
whorls of the shell, excepting the last ~~ Ss.)
or outside whorl, which is called the » sto —
body whorl, Bw. The spire is said to be
elevated, when the apex and whorls rise |
above the body whorl, and depressed i a
when the whorls do not rise above each other.

96 THE LAND SNAILS

Apex, a, is the beginning of the spire, or the part
first formed. :
Base, is that region of the shell opposite the apex.
A shell rests on its base, when the apex is uppermost.
Suture, s, is the seam, or line of division between the
whorls. :
Umbilicus, u, is a cavity left in the central axis of the
shell, around which the whorls revolve. The umbilicus is
seen from the base of the shell. The umbilicus is said to
be open when a distinct perforation appears in the base
of the shell; closed, when a portion of the lip extends
over it, (as in the adult condition of the shells of many
species), and absent, when the whorls revolve so a
as to leave no central space.
Lip, l, is the border of the aperture. When the edge
of the aperture is sharp, the lip is said to be simple. —
When produced into a flange, it is called a reflected lip-
The columella is that portion of the aperture nearest the —
centre of the shell.
Strie, st, or lines of growth, are minute lines, noni
parallel with the border of the aperture, and indicate the
successive enlargements of the shell.
Nearly all shells have an outer coating of animal mat-
ter, called the epidermis. After the death of the animal
- this coating soon loses its color, and wears away, leaving
the shell faded and bleached. :
Heux ALBOLABRIS Say. The general description of this
. n in our first number need not be repeat

OF NEW ENGLAND. 97

brown, or greyish. The granulated markings on the body
are very distinct. The shell is uniformly light yellowish
or russet brown, having from five to ,six whorls. The
aperture is bordered by a broad white lip in adult speci-
mens; the lower portion of the lip extending over the
umbilicus. Fig. 2 represents the shell be- =

fore it has attained its complete growth; the
umbilicus is open, and the lip is sharp. The
presence of a reflected lip, in those species
which have it, always indicates maturity.

The ordinary diameter of the shell is one inch, though
it sometimes attains a larger size.

This species occurs throughout the United States, with
the exception of the Pacific coast and the extreme Southern
States. They are found in well wooded districts of oak,
maple and beech, and oftentimes occur in great numbers
on islands. They can be easily kept in confinement, and
the shells of those raised in this manner are much more
symmetrical and delicate, than those found wild. In
order to raise them, it is only necessary to procure a
wooden box, or better, a deep earthen bowl, and after
filling to the depth of two inches with damp earth from —
the woods, place a few bits of bark for the snails to lurk

under. It is well to imitate as nearly as possible the con- :
~ dition of their native haunts. As the earth becomes dry,

pees Pere the snails at
the same time. They may be fed on flour or meal
mixed with water, and occasionally a tender leaf of cab-
bage or lettuce, of which they are very fond. The young
can be easily raised from the egg by observing the above
conditions. The eggs, from thirty to fifty in number,
are laid in early spring, and hatch in the space of three or —
four weeks. The snail when first hatched from the egg,

AMERICAN NAT. VOL. I. 13

98 THE LAND SNAILS

is quite unlike its parent. They attain their complete
growth, in from two to three years.

HELIX THYROIDES Say. (Fig. 3). The shell of this spe-
cies resembles very much that of Helix albolabris, but
differs in being smaller, slightly more
globose, and in having its umbilicus
only partly covered. The chief point of
difference lies in the prominent tooth-like
process on the inner lip. The shell is
yellowish horn color; whorls five, finely striated with —
lines of growth; aperture bordered by a broad white lip;
inner lip furnished with a white tooth; umbilicus only
partly closed; diameter three-fourths of an inch. Dr. :
Gould says that, though by no means common, this shell
occurs in nearly all parts of Massachusetts. It must be —
considered a rare shell in New England, though it is a
very common species in New York, the Western ioi some
of the Southern States.

Herx Savu Binney. (Figs. 4, 5). This patai was

4. 5. named by Dr. Amos Binney, in honor of

: Thomas Say. The shell is depressed and
thin ; color shining russet; whorls five,
or six; aperture rounded, bordered by &
narrow white lip, with a slight project-
ing tooth near the uinbilieds:: There is
also a prominent white tooth on the in-
ner lip; umbilicus open, allowing all the
volutions to be seen; diameter nearly
= one inch. The animal is light reddish
the aor ai Pret This species, though
ighout F tis northern portion of

OF NEW ENGLAND. 99

and several places in Maine. It seems to prefer mountain.
slopes and hill sides. We have picked up the empty shell
in numbers, on hill sides that had recently been burnt over,
and the collector will often find clearings of this nature,
that is where a light hardwood growth has been recent-
ly burnt, a good collecting ground for the larger Helices, as
the leaves under which they hide become burnt, and the
snails are thus exposed, oftentimes uninjured. We extract
the following from Binney’s Monograph of the Land
Snails of the United States, p. 181: “On the third day
of July, 1836, I discovered an individual of this species in
the act of laying its eggs, in a damp place under a log. I
* transferred them, with the animal, to a tin box filled with
wet moss. The eggs were not much more than half as’
large as those of H. albolabris Say ; they were white, ad-
hering together very slightly, flaccid, and apparently not
entirely filled with fluid. During the succeeding night the
number had increased to about fifty, and in a few hours
they became full and distended. As the Snail now began
to devour the eggs, I was obliged to remove it. On the
twenty-ninth of July, all the eggs were hatched: the
young snails had one whorl amila a half; the wnbilioas
was open; the head and tentacles were bluish-black, and
the other parts whitish and semi-transparent. They im-
mediately began to feed, and made their first repast of the
pellicles of the > SRS er e Et N
just emerged. They grew rapidly, and @
before the middle of October, when they
went into winter quarters, they had increas-
ed their bulk four or five times, beyond
their original measurement.”
HELIX DENTIFERA Binney. (Figs. 6,7).
Shell with spire flattened, convex below,

100 THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

whorls five, with delicate oblique striæ; the aperture is
flattened towards the plane of the base. The lip is
broad and white, inner lip having a prominent tooth;
diameter three-fourths of an inch. The animal is gray-
ish on the sides, with the back darker. This species
may justly be considered rare, as wherever it occurs,
it is generally found sparingly. Dr. Binney found it on
the eastern slopes of the Green Mountains. They were
at one time numerous in the town of Stratford, Ver-
mont. Four specimens only have been found in Maine,
and these were discovered either on the slopes or sum-
mits of mountains. It has never been collected in Mas-
sachusetts to our knowledge. It occurs in Ohio, New*
York and Pennsylvania.

It will be hardly necessary for me to state, that the de-
scriptions already given, and those which are to follow, —
are mainly intended for those who are forming, or wish to
form collections in this pleasing branch of Natural His- |
tory. To such we feel that no apology is needed for the
necessary dryness of specific descriptions, and we know —

the figures will be acceptable, as the works in which —
these species are illustrated are rare and expensive, and
many of them have not heretofore been given with any

101
REVIEWS.

_—oe

PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE GEOLOGICAL VEY O SAS.
G. C. Swallow, State Geologist. celiac atthe ihe. 8vo.
Besides the General Report by Professor Swallow, this preliminary
summery of the results of the Survey or Eastern and Central Kansas,
contains wk reports upon the economical Geology of ten counties,
by Maj. F. Hawn, with Reports upon the Climatology of the State,
by Dr. Tiffin Sinks, and upon the “Sanitary Relations of the State,”

by Dr.
If the survey yh tay established the eas of extensive depo-
sits of Gypsum, Salt, or Coal, it would have thrice repaid its expense

to the State. Incalculable wealth may result ie a proper use of
these discoveries, and the attractions they offer to the capital and la-
r of the east are very great. The soils of the numerous valleys, and

beds, with: their ‘“ gypsum marls,” are described as extremely rich. Even
the Coal Measures, here unusually productive, are covered by the
bluff formation which makes “the very best soils of the State.” The
purely scientific interest of the Report we have no space to mention;
it is almost wholly devoted to Economical Geology, and in this res-
pect partakes of the general want of completeness manifested in many
of our State Reports. This is in no way attributable to their scientific
authors, but to the very limited pecuniary aid given them by our

lators. This must necessarily render many of our State pepe super-
ficial, and greatly inferior in point t of information and economical
‘value to what they might be, were the work of the American Geolo-
gist an Pert ar by popular ey e E pe -
n A AR hein State ap- —

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD oF Waticce OF THE SMITHSONIAN
INSTITUTION FOR 1865. Wasklagion. 1866. 8vo.
There are but few naturalists, especially those residing away from
the scientific centres of our country, who have not been aided and en-

102 REVIEWS.

aged in their studies, either by the private correspondence or

Sabiha works of the Smithsonian Institution. How many youn

naturalists, and we speak from a nal experience, scattered over
' the country, away from libraries and the stimulus of scientific inter-
course, owe to this oP ri founded by the bequest of Jam
Smithson, of England, ‘‘for the increase and diffusion of knowledge
among men,” a great part of their success in investigating natural
Phenom: ena!

No institution known to us, in any land, has by such a wise and
economical management of its funds, done so much for the advance- :
ment of all departments of science. or has been accomplished b
the wide and generous distribution of its numerous publications, the
use of its large and unique library of anit periodicals, its dupli-
cates from the Museum of Natural History, and its loan, necessarily
Apai of meteorological instruments, together with its ready aid to

ucting original rer abt em and by its general sympathy
with tie aaa scientific cultur

The present volume, printed a distributed as a Congressional

est at to of Man.

Throughout the text are distributed numerous cuts illustrating the

implements of the age of Stone, of Bronze and of Iron. The report of

this able and cautious oi te —— out clearly the fact “that it —

‘was the same people who inhabited our soil [Switzerland] during the

ages of Stone, and of Prone, and up to the time of the invasion as
Helvetians.”

103
NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.

small tertiary basin, at Brognon, north-east of Dijon, in the depart-
ment de la Cote d’Or, the following abstract of which is from L’ Institut
of July 25:—‘ The vegetable remains are referable to 13 species of
12 genera, which are Flabellaria, Quercus (2), Migrica, Ficus, Cinna-
momum, Andromeda, se Ilex, Zizyphus, Xanthozylon, Cercis, Pecop-
teris. he an

G
namomum ally this flora to that of Japan; the jujube to that of Timor;
Androinoda to that of the Isle Maurice. The maple and the holly still

preserved at Armissan, es Monod, (Eningen, in the
d@’Aix,’ and in the Swiss ‘Molasse

The author concludes as ities; t :

lst. That during the period when the flora of Brognon flourished, there was in this lo-
uya San water lake, very rich in Saletan ms sediments ts by the agency of which the

2nd. That the age of the lake may be determined oe comparison with analogous de-
Posits; it should probably ehi berg in the Lower Mioce

3rd. That this flora cons f a mixture of tropical and temperate forms, and such
that characterize the Anon a Mexico and Central dancin: and that the temperature
of Europe, sortable gd epoch, was to these regions.—R. Tate,
Tita Oct, 1, 1866,

my by, T adopted pan ri colours. Dla bate
png pn ih ok, whch wa the Size of my sheets of
the

then placed i I fender, o or r on the hob, or in i oven if
it were not too hot, and in three the whole batch of spe-
cimens was perfectly dried. It required alittle care e to take them out
at the right moment, when they were baked just enough, and not too
much; but this care being given, the success of the plan was perfect.
Many specimens still in my herbarium bear witness to the superiority
of such sie gee drying over the old method.”—F, T. M. Loboro ugh.

r Method.—‘‘ I have adopted the plan of drying Pena by heat
for some ap o on the recommendation of a friend. Withsome plants

104 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

it acts very well, but not with others. Much depends on the mode of
doing it. It should be done gradually, and with an iron not too hot.
My friend told me that he had taken nearly two hours in thus drying a
plant, but he found himself well rewarded. , I have Orchis fusca now
that I ironed out in 1863, and it has lost very little of its colour. Oph-
rys muscifera looks well ironed; so do grasses.” — Henry Utlyett. Hard-
wicke’s Scientific Gossip, Aug. 1, 1866.
———-*«>o—
ZOOLOGY.

FLIGHTS or Butrrerriies.—In Europe, we have had notices of re-
markable flights of swarms of butterflies; but Sir Emerson Tennent, in
his work on the Natural History of Gaston, has related ie instan-
ces of “flights of these delicate = ea generally of aw

* yellow hue, apparently miles re: and of such Prodigio ex-
tension as to occupy hours and even i, uninterruptedly in their
passage” :—

migrations, in Ceylon, were mostly Cal- .
ck Marie, C. Alemeone and C. napig with straggling individuals of the genus Zup-
oras and £. Their

iiaa direction. A friend of mine travelling from Kandy to Kornegalle, drove
for nine miles through a cloud of white butterflies, which were passing across the road by

he went.” p.
: ero
GEOLOGY.
Tue First remem OF MAN ON OUR PLaNET.—‘‘Although per-
haps more interesting in arnbaii ix than in a geological point of

view, we cannot altogether exclude from our notice the phenomena ~
attending the first appearance of Man on our planet. The discoveries
of the last few years have cee shown that the opinions for-
merly entertained of a great break existing between the period when
the now extinct races of Mammalia dwelt in our land, and the first cre-
ation of man, are no longer tenable. Here also we have been obliged
to give up the sariga of great bre as hetwecii Successive fo formations.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 105

the recently discovered Foraminifera of the Laurentian gneiss.”— An-
niversary Address of the President (Sir R. I. Murchison) of the Geological
Society of London. 1866

Tue EOZOÖN IN Austria.—“ Prof. Hochstetter, after long and labo-
rious search, has succeeded in saan in the crystalline limestone of
Krummau, in South-western Bohemia, agglomerations of calcareous
spar and serpentine, which have vile declared by Dr. Carpenter, to
whom specimens had been sent for examination, to be undoubted re
mains of Hozoon. pest ered se thinks the lenticular nodules
partly composed of calcareous spar serpentin uin so abundant in the
vicinity of the graphitic prt z Biwa rzenbach and Mugerau, to be

ssibly of organe origin. f. Gümbel has batey’ found the Eozoön

in the crystall ribet aah at Bavaria.”— Quarterly Journal of the
Pies Ba il y. London. 1866

The oon is the earliest ra of animal life known; it belongs
to the iwek type of animals, the Protozoa, and has only been found
in the oldest rocks on the globe: i. e., the Laurentian System, consist-
ing mostly of gneiss, limestone t syenitic rocks. It was first dis-
covered in Grenville, Canada, by the Canadian Geological Survey, and
afterwards in Connemara, Ireland.

Singsaas
CORRESPONDENCE.

Wasps AS MARRIAGE-PRIESTS TO PLants.—‘‘Among
these Wasps (though technically not a wasp at all),
is a fine, handsome insect which has greatly piqued

what itis? It is near the a au or the Scoliide
Ooa Dae p aimes materially, I think, from |

the m is as bu outs a \

highly ae gnified, I enclose. I think from the

pearance of the spines upon the tarsus, that nearly °f ® wasp’s leg.

all of them have borne these appendages, which have been broken

off of such as are now without them. The terminal lobe of the

appendage is light green, while the enclosed granules (or cells) are
AMERICAN NAT. VOL. I. 14

106 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

SNEM., a geerood A Cleeenication of Poor, TON = fig. se p. aie
¥*a probab ly sir ni l-
pus of one of the Larride, and surmises that it was an dns result of diseas

From the general appearance of these appendages, their existe
on all of the tarsi, and on all of the insects of this species hitherto
examined by me, I do ote think they result from disease, but are cha-
racteristic of the insect.”—-T. Chambers, Covington, Ky.

he wasp is evidently allied to Tachytes, one of the Larride. We
trust our correspondent will, during the coming season, secure speci-
mens for accurate identification, and renew his observations on a point
so interesting alike to the cope a and Botanist

We sent Mr. Chamber’s drawings to Mr. Horace Mann, of Cam-
bridge, without reem that the insect had been seen on the Ascle-
pias, who thus write

“I received your sii) with the very interesting sketches in it, last
evening. The masses which have attached themselves to the wasp’s
leg, are, as you suppose, pollen, that of some species of Asc lepias, the
Milkweed or Silkweed. By referring to Gray’s Manual of Botany you
will find the structure of the flowers described on p. 351, and by refer-
ring to his Systematic and Structural Botany you will see it figured
on p. 459. I showed the drawings to Dr. Gray, who was very much
delighted with them, and begs; as I do, that you will have a wood-cut
made of the small one, to show what a quantity the wasp managed to
pick up in his perigrinations. A cut reduced to half the size of the
drawing would atte every purpose, and be very interesting and in-
structive to Botanis'

In our specimen a Tea there are four pollen masses attached to
the spines on two of the legs. They evidently adhered to the spine
by the viscid base of the pollen mass. They agree well with the draw-
ing of Mr. Chambers, of which we give a wood-cut reduced one-half.

In regard to works on the Hymenoptera, or bees, wasps, etc., of this
country, you will find many species described in H. de Saussure’s
great work on the Vespidæ (Monographie des Guepes Sociales, Paris

et Genève, 1853-58, 3 vols., 8vo). You will also find the Catalogue of
Hymenoptera in the British

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR. 107

Society of Philadelphia, the Proceedings of the Essex Institute, the
Boston Journal of Natural History, and the Annals of the Lyceum of
Natural History of New York.—Eps.

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

New ENGLAND REPTILES IN Aprit.—The month of gladsome sounds
has come! The little ‘“‘pee-weep-ing” Tree Toads, with their high-pitch-
ed whistling notes, will soon convince you of the fact, if you are so
fortunate as live without the city walls; for on ‘the first balmy
evening, when Nature seems to open her heart and voice, you will
be strongly impelled to stroll beyond the limits of your recent walks,
and be you ever so stoical, you cannot close your ear to the joyous `
sounds that will rise from every swamp, ditch, and poo

Yes! the little Tree Toads have left their winter homes, and come
forth to aay in joyful chorus that Spring is here; that th
cold and erth rds are over, and to bid us welcome the bright úi
happy ones toc

Let us accept ae tavitatiod and visit the spot where the little revel-
lers of night invite us so cordially. With what joy do they ad

anticipate our coming—what music to the sympathetic ear.
ten thousand little throats are sounding their welcome. Wace are
near them.. Hush! all is still.—One timid, cautious note, peep, strikes
our ears, and, regardless of prospective colds, we seat ourselves on
the damp bank resolved to see the little musician; assuring the little
pipers by our quiet and attentive attitude that we will listen to their
song of joy and greeting. Peep, peep, comes from a spot not far

away. Another pee-e-p, ; then pee-weep, pe-weep,
pe-weép, pe-wèep, and the chorus is at its height. The thousand invis-

' that we love their not
or all will be hushed; for these little minstrels are jealous of their

pointed head rise cautiously above the water, and then,—pee- weep.

Yes! there is one of the little fellows! and we return home

ed by their music, and contented that we have discovered the pas

acter of these happy little choristers of spring, and have found them
i instead of Turtieni sa

the first week in this month, the Little Tree Yo (jla

108 NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

Pickeringii Le Conte) will be out in abundance, and about the 10th or
sth their eggs may be found attached singly to the floating vege-
tation; never in strings or masses, as is the case with all our other
toads. and frogs. In about twelve days the young are hatched, and
are much further advanced in the tadpole state, than in our other
species of frogs and toads, which do not have distinct tails, well
marked heads, and the power of free locomotion for several days
after they are hatched, and therefore remain during that period in
the gelatinous mass surrounding the eggs; but the eggs of the Little
Tree Toad not being provided with this reiii substance, a
young are forced to swim about in search o , aS soon as
leave them, and are, therefore, more perfectly waive to their saloi
of ‘‘fish-life” from the firs
The peculiar half-grunts, hatching of the Wood Frogs (Rana sylvat-
ica Le Conte) are first heard, generally, about the middle of the month
in ponds or even temporary pools of water. In a few days their eggs
are laid in masses about three inches in diameter, attached to spears
of grass, and they leave the water for their summer abode in the
damp and shady woods. The eggs are onlin in esi six days,

and the cies rapidly developing, attain the form of adults by
mporary ;

the time the

_ The Casia Toads (Bufo iieii Le Conte) usually appear
from the 15th to the 20th of April, when their peculiar low trilling
notes are heard in every direction for a month or two afterwards.
Their eggs are laid in long double strings, from about the 20th of

April to the middle of May, and often even as late as June, owing, —

probably, to the great ‘distance many of the Toads have to travel in
order to reach the water. The tadpoles cham ty hatched peee
days after the eggs are laid.

The Spade-footed Toads (Scaphiopus Holorookit Baird) are more
tmeerthin in their appearance, being governed entirely by the dampness
ordryness of the season, and are only found in isolated localities. Often
appearing by the middle of this month, they may not, "e a following
oe come forth until a long summer’s rain has mad
i Their a

ig

wai

eaei V N A ns a Seay E E E ae Chih re Laa a he ORS hl be e a e a eee a a ees

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR. 109 |

is very rapid, not more than two or three weeks elapsing before the
young toads leave the water. The peculiar, harsh croaking of this
singular toad must be heard to be rhe and can then never be
confounded with that of any other species. The only sound we can
liken it to is that of a heavily loaded, PARTE wagon rolling over hard
and ah ae ground.
t the last of the month we have found singular bands of eg:

ciel inches in length, each band consisting of three irregular tows
of eggs, which we have taken to be those of the large Tree Toad

onte
heard throughout the summer, but we have never en able to con-
firm the supposition. The eggs collected did not solve the question,
as all the tadpoles’ which were hatched from them in the course of five

The other species of Frogs found in Massilie do not lay their
eggs | before May or June, though they all appear from the first to the

Species of Spotted Frog, Marsh Frog, or Field Frog (Rana halecina
); the Green Frog (Rana clamitans Daudin); ; and the Bull Frog
(Rana Catesbyana Shaw).

The several species of Salamanders (improperly called “ Lizards”)
are also to be found either in water, or under stones and logs, in wet,
or damp and shady localities, each according to its peculiar habits,
but they do not lay their ir eggs until later in the season. The Turtles
and Snakes also creep from their winter retreats, and are to be seen on
ae: aon Se their toe toe ei their

Hawk l i
period of the year. Th g:

Wt aT

Oth to 20th.—During this time appear the Hermit Thrush (Turdus
Jais Cab.), White-bellied Swallow, and the Golden-winged Wood-
pecker or Wakeup. Chipping, Field and Savanna Sparrows arrive;
also, the Willet; the Tell-tales; Least, Semipalmated, Solitary and

110 NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

Spotted Sandpipers, Wilson’s or English Snipe, Golden and Field
Fox-colored and Tree Sparrows, Snow Birds, Pine

Robins, Song Sparrows, ee Doves, Meadow Larks, the Crow,
and the smaller Hawks pai

20th to 25th.—The wusi Thrash ( Turdus mustelinus Gm.), the Pur-
ple Martin, Brown or Tit Lark, White-throated and reigns hs

Terns, the Green Heron and the Little Bittern arrive; some of them
scarcely halting in their passage northwar

25th to 30th.—The Chewink or Jihat Bunting, Barn Swallo
Chimney Swift, Cat Bird, Black and White Creeper, eiriaa

Woodpecker, Least Jüputeier, Warbling and Solitary Vireos and the
Whip-poor-will begin to arrive; not usually becoming common until &

week or ten days later. Blue som Robins, Grass Finches, =
and Song Sparrows, and Kingfishers are now nesting, or have
sionally even commenced incubation.—J. A. A., Springfield, Mass.

Tue Insects OF EARLY Sprinc.—In April the Gardener should
scrape and wash thoroughly all his fruit trees, so as to rub off the eggs
of the Bark Lice which hatch out early in May. Many injurious cater-
pillars and insects of all kinds winter under loose pieces of bark, or un-
der matting and straw at the base of the trees. Search should also
be made for the eggs of the Canker Worm and the American Tent
Caterpillar, which last are laid in bunches half an inch long on the ter-
minal shoots of many of our fruit trees. A little labor spent in this way
will save many dollars’ worth of fruit. The “castings” of the Apple
Tree Borer (Saperda bivittata) should be looked for at the base of the
tree, and its ravages be promptly arrested. Its presence can also be
detected, it is said, by the dark appearance of the bark, where the grub
is at work: cut in and pull out the young grub. It is the wid oe of
the year to catch and kill this pest. Cylindrical bark borers. h are
little round black weevil-like Beetles, often causing ea
pears, etc., are now flying about fruit trees to lay their eggs; and
_ many other weevils and boring-beetles, especially the Pea Weevil

2 us pisi), the bga Weevil (Elendes wis and Hylobius pales
terebrans, and the

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR. 7 111

lives, as all are on errands of love to their kind, but of mischief to
the Agriculturist.
hen the May Flower lable fl in minde”
—blooms, and the willows hang out their golden catkins, we shall hear
the hum of the wild bee, as
“ Murmurs the blossomed boughs around.
That clothe the garden’s southern bound, ad
- the insect hunter will reap a rich harvest of rarities. Seek no
n the abdomen of various wild Bees, such as Andrena, for that ete
anid of all our insects, the Tasai Childreni.* cae curious laryvæ
of the Oil Beetle, Meloe, may be found abundantly on the bodies of:
various species of Bombu us, Andrena and Halictus, ial their heads
plunged in between the segments of the bee’s body.

The beautiful moth, Adela, with its immensely long antenne, may
be seen, with other smaller moths, feeding on the blossoms of the
willow. nts wake from their winter’s sleep and throw up their
hillocks, and the ‘‘ thriving pismire” issues from his vaulted galleries
constructed in some decaying log or stump, while the angle worms
emulate their six aaa a During the mild days of March,

ere the snow has mel

“The dandy Butterfly
All exquisitely drest,”
will visit our gardens. Such are various kinds of Vanessa, Grapta and
Melitea. The beautiful Brephos infans flies before the snow disap-
Tenues
will celebrate the coming of Spring, tiene his Choral ‘dance. Such is
Trichocera hyemalis, which may be see ilight

on mild evenings. Many Flies are now on the wing, such as Tachina
eee as ao. ee aae

ma i

i l y i
found elsewhere, assemble in quantities about the stumps of these
trees, from which the sap oozes in March and April.—A. S. P.

ei a a paa EA E E
See an account of this curious insect in the Proceedings of the Essex Institute,
ae. 130 1865. a o

112
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

Boston SOCIETY or NATURAL History. Jan. 16, 1867.—Mr. W. Win-
wood Reade, referring to his own remarks at a previous meeting, stat-
ed that as the Cynocephalus must have been known to the Carthage-

an
that this was the animal seen by Hanno in his celebrated voyage, and
whose skins were hung up in the temple on the arrival home

account of the manner in which the race of Fans on the West Coast of
Africa entrap the Elephant, suggesting it as possible that the Elephant
of the Equator differed m that of Southern Africa, in certain res-

twenty, instead of large herds, while it is by no means as wary as the
more Southern form. Having discovered the proximity of Elephants
in the forest, the Fans build an enclosure in the neighborhood, by sur-
rounding a somewhat open space of a few acres with a strong, though
low fence, leaving a small opening on one side. Into this they en-
tice the Elephants, by scattering food of which they are particularly

the Nepongwes, who were fast dying off, owing to the insalubri

the climate, and who themselves, according to their traditions, for-
merly came from the ‘‘bush,” or interior. The Fans were first made
known to white men by the discovery of Mr. Wilson in 1852.
Essex INSTITUTE, Salem. Jan. 21, 1867.—Mr. F. W. Putnam called
attention to a donation of several Snakes from Hong Kong, and re-
marked on the reptilian fauna of China, as compared with that of
North America.

X

EN EE IOM

3
ROS:
a
]
l
a
oo
:

TT EA

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. I.—MAY, 1867.—No. 3
——<~“>—
SOME ERRORS REGARDING THE HABITS OF
OUR BIRDS.

BY T. M. BREWER, M. D.

THERE are few who have written upon the habits of
our birds that have not inadvertently committed errors.
There are none of us, certainly no ornithologists, who,
with all the care they may have taken to be right, and
with all possible desire to be exact, have not had occa- —
sion to retrace their steps, and seek to amend their rec-
ord. There is no name, however celebrated in the annals
of science, but has come down to us associated with more

or less of inaccurate observations ; and the more extensive
ee his researches, the more brilliant his discoveries, the more

shall we find the mistakes and errors he shall e

-the wrong conclusi i taeae iion
from too few facts, or from facts which different circum-
stances, at other times, cause to assume a very different
aspect.
At the same time, however charitable we may be, how- _

Tant

UK District of Massachusetts,
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 15

ever lenient even towards errors and incorrect statements

Ae ee Bata O a PE R E

114 SOME ERRORS REGARDING

that apparently might have been avoided, we should also,
all of us} never hesitate to expose and to correct whatever
we know to be wrong. We all know but too well, that
when a grave error has once been deliberately given as
a fact by a distinguished authority, how hard and appa-
rently impossible it is to stop its currency as truth, and
to correct the mistaken belief it has caused, and is con-
tinually causing.

Take for instance the statement made by one of the ear-
liest explorers of the natural history of our Pacific shores,
that the egg of the California Vulture (Cathartes Califor-
manus) is jet black. However conflicting with all infer-
ence by analogy this statement must have ever appeared
to every one familiar with Odlogy, it has found its way
into nearly every work on American Ornithology pa
lished during the present century.

In no department of natural history is extreme accu-
racy so absolutely indispensable as in that to the study of |
which oe writer has given his chief attention, the nest-
ing and eggs of birds, which, for convenience, is called

ment, will have to confess himself not an exception to
the rule—to which he can find none—and must retr
amend, and, if he can, efface, it will become him to
peel lenient in his allusions to the mistakes mat
: lo

THE HABITS OF OUR BIRDS. 115

his descriptions of some of the more common ones are so
full and accurate, that they leave us little to add to them.
Yet even Wilson, in several noticeable instances, in writ-
ing about birds that are far from being uncommon or
rare, has given descriptions and accounts which the ex-
perience of others, and especially those of the writer, have
not been able to verify. We will speak of only a few of
these instances.

Let us first take the common American Goldfinch ( Car-
duelis tristis), so widely distributed, so familiar to every
one, and read what Wilson writes in reference to its nest
and eggs: “They build a very neat and delicately formed
little nest, which they fasten to the twigs of an apple
tree, or to the strong, branching stalks of hemp, cover-
ing it on the outside with pieces of lichen, which they
find on the trees and fences; these they glue together
with their saliva, and afterwards line the inside with the
softest downy substances they can procure. The female
lays five eggs, of a dull white, thickly marked at the
greater end; and they generally raise two broods in a
season.” :

It appears singular to all who are familiar with the nest
and eggs of the Goldfinch, which in Massachusetts, so far
as the writer has observed, agree in no one thing with
the abo this ¢ on could have found a place

> the work of so accurate and trustworthy a writer.

The explanation is not easy, nor shall we try to suggest
‘one. We will only state, that, without exception, we have
ever found the egg unspotted, of a uniform white color,
which, when not blown, has a slightly bluish shade. The
nest is neat, but “delicate” is far from being an appropriate _
expression. It is not to be used in reference to the nest of :
this bird, as we should apply it to the nest of the um-

116 SOME ERRORS REGARDING

ming Bird, or to that of the Blue-Gray Flycatcher. It is
not a “little” nest in view of the relative size of the bird,
and we never saw one that was ever covered on the out-
side with lichen. With us this bird, so far as the writer
knows, never builds its nest until as late as the middle of
July, and never raises more than a single brood in one
season. 3

To the question: To what bird did the nest described
by Wilson as that of the Goldfinch belong? we will in
Yankee fashion reply by asking another. Could he by
any possibility have had in view the nest and eggs of
the Polioptila cærulea? This is what Wilson says in
regard to the nest and egg of this last-named bird: “It
arrives in Pennsylvania, from the South, about the middle
of April, and about the middle of May builds its nest,
which it generally fixes among the twigs of a tree, some-
times at the height of ten feet from the ground, some-
times fifty feet high, on the extremities of the top of a
high tree in ie woods. This nest is formed of very
slight and perishable materials, the husks of buds,-
stems of old leaves, withered blossoms of leaves, down :

frail EG which one would think haii E
fo. admit the id of the owner, and sustain even °

THE HABITS OF OUR BIRDS. 117

last epithet he would think of applying to any he has
seen is the word “frail.” On the contrary, if he were
asked to name a bird, the nest of which combined beauty,
completeness, safety, and (in view of the small size and
light weight of the parent) strength, he could think of no
bird he would sooner name than the one he is speaking of.
Remember that the bird, as Wilson himself tells us, “but
for its length of tail would rank next to the Humming
Bird in magnitude.” Its nest has invariably been found,
so far as we know, very large. for the size of its builder,
with soft but strongly felted walls, a great depth of cav-
ity, so that there is no danger of the eggs ever rolling or
being thrown out by the motion of the branches, or of
being broken.

same thing, and Wilson may have seen one not finished,

x e _ that as it may, the whole ger , of Polioptile, ao far aa
_ We know, P. cærulea, P. melanura and P. Lembergii, ait

have the same style of nest, and all are conspicuous for
their elegance and substantial form. |

The Indigo Bird (Spiza cyanea), Wilson tells us, is
“numerous in all the settled parts of the Middle and East-
ern States,” and yet he says“The nest of this bird is
usually built in a low bush, among rank grass, grain, or _
clover, suspended by two twigs, one passing up each side;

118 SOME ERRORS REGARDING

and is composed outwardly of flax, and lined with fine dry
grass. I have also known it to build in the hollow of
an apple tree. The eggs, generally five, are blue, with a
blotch of purple at the great end.”

To this we must add the negative evidence, that we
- have never found this bird breeding as above described,
and, so far as we know, the eggs are invariably white,
with only a very light tinge of bine, and they never have
purple markings at the greater end, nor have they any
spots or markings whatever.

One more remarkable case of incorrectness on the part
of Wilson, and we pass to consider other writers. Speak-
ing of the nest and eggs of the Black-throated Bunting
(Luspiza Americana), he says, “They seem to prefer —
level fields covered with rye grass, timothy, or clover,
where ead build their nest, fixing it on the ground, and
forming it of fine dry grass. The female lays five white
eggs, Daa with specks and lines of black.”

The position of the nest and materials is, in most cases,
as stated; but the eggs are not white, and are unspotted.
They are of one unvarying shade of green, strongly tend-
ing to blue. Occasionally the nests are built more elab-
orately than others, and on low bushes or tufts of grass
a foot or two above the ground. 2

Mr. Nuttall, of all our writers who have written so :

THE HABITS OF OUR BIRDS. 119

of Massachusetts, and especially of that part where Mr.
Nuttall resided for many years, is the I etic mini-
mus, the habits of which, its nesting and eggs, he fully
describes, but all of which he attributes to iis entirely
different .species which, so far as I am aware, is never
found in Massachusetts: I mean the Empidonax Aca-
dicus. To be sure Mr. Nuttall was not alone in this.
Even after the Bairds had discovered and described the
E. minimus as a new species, it was several years before
the natural sequence was traced out to its legitimate end.
It seems to us now remarkable, as we look back upon
the past, and consider how familiar a bird the Least Fly-
Catcher was to Mr. Nuttall, that he never once seems to
have suspected it of being a new and undescribed species.
The error made by Wilson in describing the nest and egg
of the Z. Acadicus, may have contributed to delay and
to prevent the discovery of the general error and of the
confounding of the species. It was not until by a lucky ac-
cident, a parent bird of the true F. Acadicus, shot on its
nest, was sent, with its eggs and nest, to Prof. Baird, that
the whole was made clear, and facts in regard to the two
species rightly understood. And here the writer may
as well make the confession that all the while he had
_ in his own cabinet the eggs of both species, but suppos-
age the one to be the Acadicus, by the rule of exclusion
~ he guessed the other to be, possibly, the egg of the
minimus, and both were wrong of course. The late Dr.
Henry Bryant also, one of our most acute and observing
ornithologists, * calls attention to what he supposed to be an
error of writers in speaking of the Acadicus, as being wild
and inhabiting the most solitary places, he having found
the supposed birds generally quite familiar, and breed-

* Proceedings of the Boston S iety of Natural History, vol. vi. p. 430.

120 SOME ERRORS REGARDING

ing near his house. He was unaware that the writers he
speaks of, were not wrong in what they had said of the
Acadicus, and that he and they had different species in
view, the habits of which were so different as to be no-
ticed by him, yet not such as to lead him to detect their
specific distinctions.

Of Mr. Audubon’s inaccuracies, I will not here speak
at any length, nor am I willing to be suspected of any
sympathy with those who have sought, on this account,
to detract from the transcendent merits of the great paint-
er and student of nature. While, however, we honor all
that was excellent, we may at the same time, without dis-
paragement to his great merits, correct whatever mistakes
may have crept into his works, and even be pardoned if
we enjoy a quiet laugh over some conclusions, now known
to be visionary, but which his exuberant imagination,
now and then, led him to put into printed words. We
will take only one instance.

In his account of the common Black-Poll Warbler (Den-
droica striata), we find the following eloquent picture of
the delight with which he first discovered the nest of this
bird: “One fair morning, while several of us were
scrambling through one of the thickets of trees, scarcely
waist high, my youngest son chanced to seare from her
nest a female of the Black-Poll Warbler. Reader, just
fancy how this raised my spirits. I felt as if the enor-
mous expense of our voyage had been refunded. There,
said I, we are the first white men who have seen such a
est.”

_ It seems almost too bad to apply the touchstone of
sober reality to so charming an evidence as is here given
f the whole-hearted manner with which this enthusias-
tic lover of ornithology devoted himself to his missions

THE HABITS OF OUR BIRDS. 121

His warmth and gratification have a touch of true poet-
ry. But when we know that Mr. Audubon’s whole par-
ty started in the expedition from Eastport, in Maine,
where they also spent several days before they commenc-
ed their voyage to Labrador, and that one of his party
was a near resident to Eastport; and when we further
know that all around Eastport, and especially on the
islands, the Black-Poll Warbler is one of the most com-
mon birds, we must see at once how far a vivid imagina-
tion has supplied the material for his conclusions, and
that they had but little foundation in reality.

We will not dwell here any further upon the state-
ments occurring in Mr. Audubon’s writings, not consis-
tent with the facts, as now known to us, for our limits do
not permit, and the instance given above will sufficiently
answer as an example of the mistakes into which his over-
sanguine temperament occasionally led him. His errors,
we are sure, are never intentional; his statements of facts,
when he tells us they are his own, we can rely upon: but
when he accepts the information of others, or draws infer-
ences from insufficient data, it is then that his accounts
must be received with more caution, and that he exposed
himself to the unkind and bitter attacks, in which those
who do not appreciate his real excellences, or who are
too intolerant of what are, after all, only venial faults,
spots on the face of a great luminary, have too often in-

ppa worde on our own iira, and we will
close these desultory remarks. The Oölogy of North
America, Part I., gives several illustrations which sub-
sequent investigations show to have been not so well au-
thenticated as they were supposed to be when published.
They are: The egg given as that of the Goshawk (Astur

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 16

122 SOME ERRORS REGARDING

atricapillus), on the authority of a Western naturalist;
that given for the egg of the Western Rough-Legged
Hawk (Archibuteo ferrugineus), on the authority of the
late Dr. Heermann; that of the Pigeon Hawk (Falco
columbarius), the grounds for which supposition were
given in full; and that of the Violet-green Swallow
(Hirundo thalassina), on the authority of the late Dr.
Webb.

Subsequent discoveries of well-authenticated eggs of all
these birds, quite different from those figured, seem to
show that in each instance there is an error in regard to
their identity.

The egg figured for that of the Goshawk is, possibly, &
very faint specimen of a Red-tailed Hawk’s. The Swal-
low’s egg may be that of Hirundo lunifrons, and that taken
for the sie Hawk’s, that of a Cooper’s Hawk. The egg
given by Dr. Heermann as that of the Western Rough-leg,
cannot now be determined. It evidently is not what it

was supposed to be.
_ Without seeking to conceal the fact that four of the -

eggs figured in the Oölogy, appear not to belong to the —

places in which they are found, nor to wholly absolve —
the writer from so much of the responsibility as belongs —
to him, of having been led into errors by the mistakes
of others, he may here state that in regard to the egg ©
of the Falco columbarius, it was given as such at the =.
as with he full expression of grave doubts as to its
authenticity. All the facts, all the contradictory evi-
emer pre with all possible care, and to the reader

iven all the data in the writer's power, to enable

ment. n e traveller, o

THE HABITS OF OUR BIRDS. 123

“London Ibis,” to comment, with some impertinence,
upon the want of good judgment shown in not accepting
Mr. Audubon’s testimony as positive, and as outweighing
what seemed contradictory to it. It is a sufficient answer
to all this, to here add that by not doing as this writer
now suggests, supposing the case fully made out in favor
of his views, another mistake was avoided. The egg
figured and described by Mr. Audubon is, in my judg-
ment, not that of this bird, but of the Sharp-shinned
Hawk. My English friend was, therefore, a little fast,
and his comments are not based upon quite so sure a
foundation as he supposed. Another time, perhaps, he
will confine himself to facts within his scope. In assum-
ing that Audubon was ex necessitate right, he presumed
beyond his ability to establish.

If, in the above pages, I have shown, however imper-
fectly, to all ornithological readers, how easy it is for the
most careful and best intentioned to make mistakes, to be
led into errors, to make wrong deductions, and to fail to
see and to correct previous wrong conclusions ; and if Fa

espedially, the absolute need there is always of the iot
thorough identification of the bird to which their eggs be-

-= long, I shall have done all that I} d ~ Never

keep in your collection, except as a. curiosity, a an egg Or

nest which has not been identified. Above all, rics

guess at its parentage. Never name it without the most
unquestionable evidence that you are right. While there
are a few eggs that are unmistakable, there are more that
you can never be sure of, save by positive Mikai
of their parentage.

THE FOOD OF THE COMMON SEA-URCHIN.

BY J. W. DAWSON, LL.D.

THoueu this creature* is so common on the north-eastern
coasts of North America, the nature of its food does not
seem to be generally known. In dissecting some speci-
mens collected at Tadoussac, Canada, last summer, I
found the intestine full of small round pellets, which
proved to be made up of the minute confervoid sea-weeds
that grow on submerged rocks, mixed with many diatoms
and remains of small sponges. It would thus appear that
the curious apparatus of jaws and teeth possessed by this
creature is used in a kind of browsing or grazing pro-
cess, by which it scrapes from submarine rocks the more
minute sea-weeds which cling to them, and forms these
into solid balls, which are swallowed, and in this state
passed through the intestinal canal, where they may be
found in all stages of digestion. The sea-urchin is thus a
kind of submarine rodent, in so far as its habits are con-
cerned. From these pellets the microscopist may, after di-

gesting them in nitric acid, obtain great numbers of beau-
tiful diatoms (or microscopic plants, for a long time classed
with the Infusoria), which are collected by the animal with
its food, and whose silicious crusts escape the digestive

THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS. 125

process. Though the sea-urchin is thus a vegetarian, yet
near the fishing stations it may often be seen to feed
greedily on the garbage of the fisheries, but I have not
known it to attack living animals. I fancy that its mode
of life at Tadoussac, where it is found in great abundance,
may be taken as representing its natural habits, when re-
mote from places where the offal of fisheries and similar
matters may be found.

<<

THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS.

BY C. M. TRACY.
ae

Tuose who study plants divide them into groups which
they call families. This arrangement both expresses very
closely the system of nature, and commends itself to the
student as being at once pleasant to contemplate and easy
to understand.

These families of plants are in one respect like those of
men: they have their distinctive characters, and transmit
them onward, from generation to generation, with great
steadiness ; but, as every likeness is apt to be
by a difference, these, unlike their human- prototypes,
never intermingle, but keep a lineal succession more pure
and guarded than even that of the children of Israel.
_ In countries where the “divinity that hedges kings” is-
more readily admitted and revered than among us, men-
tion is largely made of families termed “royal.” By vir-
tue of blood more pure, or strong, or ethereal, than runs
in plebeian veins, these are supposed to furnish candidates
for the diadem, whose claims are to be adjusted only by
and among themselves, no competitor from without being
recognized for a moment. Now without stopping to dis-
cuss the rights and wrongs of this question in the light of

126 THE ROYAL FAMILIES

political science, it is enough to observe, that these “royal
families” have always attained their eminence, no doubt,
through some high qualification of wisdom, courage, en-
terprise, or wealth. Some fortunate exhibition of a strong
trait has compelled an acknowledgment of prerogative
from the popular mass, and this advantage the recipients
have been extremely careful to maintain.

On looking over the families of plants, we find royal
ones there also. There are four relationships of this kind
that tower above all the host that surround them.

“ He above the rest,

In shape and gesture proudly eminent
like a tower.”

Perforce, we must call them royal. The chief of the
four is the family known as the Composites, or, as we pre-
fer to call them, the Asterids.

The eminence of this vast group was very early recog-
nized. The sagacious Ray had, by the year 1700, come
to see its greatness so clearly, that, instead of a mere fam-
ily, or order, he was willing to call it one of the primary
divisions of the great Vegetable Kingdom. No other re-
lationship unites such an enormous number of plants.
Lindley, in 1853, reckoned the distinet species at nine
thousand, and these as making one thousand and five sec-
ondary sets or genera. His estimate for the total of all
known plants of every sort, is ninety-two thousand, nine
hundred and thirty, so that, practically, we shall find just
about one of these plants in every ten we may gather,
taking the world over. There is no other case that af-
rds any comparison with this. These plants are met
w all over the globe, excluded neither from the tropics
nor the arctic valleys, and taking rank and position, it

seems, very much as suits them, irrespective of latitude.
Pa Presl er sec pt,

OF PLANTS. 127

` or more than half the whole flora of the island. In Ma-
jorca and its companion isles, Cambessedes says they are
equally plenty. Humboldt reckons every seventh plant
in France to be one, every eighth in Germany, and every
fifteenth in Lapland; while in North America he finds
one in every six, and on the same continent within the
tropics, fully one half of the whole. The immense sweep
of this family is not seen in location and numbers only.
They possess every variety of stature and form. They
are annuals, biennials, and perennials; the Daisy and
Dandelion have no true stems at all; the Chamomile and
the Cudweed are not two inches high, while the Composites
of St. Helena are chiefly trees. The Hempweed climbs
over bushes, and the Sweet Golden Rod lies flat on the
ground. They take possession of all soils; the Marsh
Fleabane demands the daily drenchings of the sea, the
Dwarf Dandelion affects the dry shelves of rocky uplands,
and the Sweet Everlasting is equally pleased with both.
those of any given division, there is yet no re-

‘striction or fetter, for if we look at our garden annuals,

we find the Golden Crepis making a mat upon the earth,

and the great Sunflower, the most immense of annuals,
- throwing up its tree-like stem full of enormous flower
heads, till, without a figure, ies fowls of the air may

_ lodge in the branches thereof.

= But how is this royal dee to be aT by the

= vulgar? How may the common, unbotanical eye, detect

the badge of such a vegetable nobility? Not without
some slight examination certainly, yet a slight amount is
enough. They are called “Composites” or compound
flowers, and this gives the strong point in the case in a
word. A Pink or a Potato-bloom is one flower. It has
only-one set of organs composing it, and its fruit, wheth-

128 ‘THE ROYAL FAMILIES

er pod or berry, is one and indivisible, though it may ;
contain many seeds. So of the Apple flower and the
flower of the Oak, and in short of every other flower
whatever, except those of these Asterids. These reverse
this rule entirely. What appears as one simple blossom
in the Sunflower is really an assemblage of several hun-
dreds. Every seed produced in the autumn had its sep-
arate and individual little flower, complete in all its parts 5..
for no one of these originates more than one seed, and
besides, there are some at the centre that never ripen
their seeds, and also a row of broad-leaved, showy yellow
ones round the margin that form no seeds at all.

Now these two features—the gathering together of
many small flowers in one head, surrounded by a few
green leaves, and the production by each flower of one
seed and one only—these are two of the three marks that
will identify this family everywhere. The third is rather
more minute. In all perfect flowers, of every kind, there
are two kinds of organs concerned in fertilization, and
known as stamens and pistils. The latter always stand in —
the centre of the flower, and however numerous they may —

be, nothing is found interior to them. The stamens, 02

the contrary, are always more or less in a circle, imme- —
diately surrounding the pistils. A stamen consists, usual- |
ly, of a knob more or less lengthened in its form, termed

an anther, and borne on a thin stem called its filament.
The reader need remember no more definitions just now-
: ' third character of the Asterids then is, that in every
their small flowers the five long anthers of as many
mens sence ag round the one ney into a straight
si pistil

while the filaments,

OF PLANTS. 129

‘members of this most royal family by these three badges :
1, flowers collected into a compound head. 2, one sin-
gle seed to each flower. 3, five anthers grown together
in a tube round the pistil.

There are but three other families whose structure
tends to confound them with these. These marks are
even more decisive than the thick lip of the Hapsburghs.
The five anthers of the Lobelids grow together just in the
way described, but their flowers are never in heads, and °
their pods have many seeds. The Dipsacids, or Teazles,
have flowers gathered in heads in exactly the manner of
Composites, but the stamens are entirely free from each
other throughout. Then there is a remarkable little fam-
ily of herbs in South America, known by no common
name at all, but we will call them Calycerids. They have
small simple flowers in heads too, and single seeds, but
the anthers are separate, or nearly so, while the filaments
grow together instead. So there is very little need to
mistake any of these several orders for the true royal line.
The only plant that commonly meets us with any such
delusive tendency is the Scabiosa, or Mourning Bride, of

ae which belongs with the Teazles. It grows and

beak: Lettuce, Daioni, and TOE are the very
best it can do in this way; of less account are Chicory
and Salsify, hardly food at all, either of them. There are
very few regal houses that boast of less utility. Medicines
are not wanting among them; Arnica, Wormwood, and

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 17

= the, end of all, just as “hale, concluding winter comes at _

130 THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS.

Thoroughwort have a good reputation, and Chamomile
flowers have scented the saddle-bags of every village doc-
tor since the days of the Pilgrims. We will not forget,
besides, that excellent’ oil is obtained from some; such a
plant is largely raised in India for this purpose, where
they call it Ramtil.. Sunflower seed produces oil, it is
said, but a species of Madia seems, according to experi-
ments in Europe, to have great superiority as an oil-
bearer. Pasquier informs us that it gives as much oil to
the acre as Poppies, twice as much as Olives, and thirty-
two parts where Linseed yields only twenty-one.

To those who love floral display, however, for its beau-
ty alone, caring little for the degree of more material use-
fulness that may be found in connection, the great family
of the Asterids is a perfect treasure-house. They swarm
in every garden, they shine in every green-house, and no ~
bouquet is complete without them. The Sunflower and
Marigold bring their “barbaric pomp and gold,” the
Dahlia, a hundred hues and all splendid, forever tempting
the gardener, and forever disappointing him; the Asters
have piquant sprightliness, and the Daisies and Fever-
fews a pure and lovely modesty. Then we have Gaillar-
dias, Pyrethrums, Humeas, Rhodanthes, Cacalias, Gaza-
nias, Centaureas and Catamanches, some of which have _
common names, and more have none, all replete with —
beauty, and sure to be favorites wherever flowers are reck-
oned with the beloved. Nor must there be forgotten, at _

PETEERE Fs SON Pee MER Re eA Tete te sake ee E

tast, and shuts the scene,” the sterling Chrysanthemums, |
ever choice with the florist, ever grateful for the garden- `
er care, ever heedless. of E S and chilly cine and

THE MOSS-ANIMALS. 131

Thus much for the greatest of the Royal Families of
Plants. Of the others we may speak hereafter. Their
importance is not less than we have ascribed to these, and
in some respects they far outvie the great division before
us. From the study of their extended ranks we can but
gain instruction; from their wonderful involutions there `
will still shine out a new light on the workings of that
Spirit at whose bidding “the earth brought forth grass,
the herb yielding seed, and the tree yielding fruit after
its kind.”

THE MOSS-ANIMALS, OR FRESH WATER
POLYZOA.

PLATE 4.
BY ALPHEUS HYATT.
——+o0—__

(Continued from p. 63.

Tue blood of the Phylactolemata is colorless, resem-
bling in this respect that of most of the lower animals. It
is composed of the liquid products of digestion, which
exude through the membranes of the stomach, diluted
with water drawn in through innumerable pores perfor-
ating the wall of the tube. The water is the medium
of conveyance for the gelatinous, nutritious liquid, prob-

There is no organ resembling a heart to keep the blood
moving, and there are no closed channels, such as arteries
and veins, to conduct it among the tissues of the body.
The absence of the first is supplied by cilia, which cover
the interior of the tubes and cells with a dense, velvety
nap, and by their unceasing vibrations sustain a healthy
circulation. The course of this may be traced by the
numerous floating parasites, beings of the simplest or-

132 THE MOSS-ANIMALS,

ganization, consisting either of a single cell, or of larger
cells containing many others, the cycle of whose lives is
passed within the polyzoén, feeding upon its juices. These
indicate the passage of a common stream up the branches, —
and a return current along the free side, which flows into
each tube.

Our Polyzoén, also, has no breathing organs, neither
lungs or gills to bring the blood in contact with the air,
of which element there is always more or less in water,
serving there as upon land, for the respiration of animals.
The tentacles are supposed to be more especially devoted
to this purpose, and the water admitted to the interior
must necessarily purify the blood by the air it brings in,
but nothing more definite is now known with rogard to
this function.

The Moss-animals have two modes of reproduction,
one by buds, the other by eggs. The former occurs in
two ways, by free buds or statoblasts, and by eprori
buds, which develop only in summer. :

The statoblasts are destined to carry their burdens of :
vitality safely through the hardships of winter, and to per- `
petuate the race by founding new colonies in the spring-
They appear at first in the shape of bead-like swellings
from the centre of an organie cord, which connects the
stomach with the cell (plate 3, fig. 4, and plate 4, fig. 1), _
‘passing g between the bases of the muscles,-which retract —

ie tube. They begin as single cells, but these goof
ite into two, then into four, and so on, indet-

OR FRESH WATER POLYZOA. 133

nulus (plate 4, figs. 2 & 4,w’),and in others, for example
in Pectinatella (plate 4), may have the edge of the ring

ornamented with delicate spines furnished with hooks.
Late in autumn the Polyzodén dies, and the statoblasts
are set free to float during the long winter, the sensitive
germ within being protected from the frost only by their
tough coatings. They retain their vitality, however,
until the warmth of returning spring awakens their sus-
pended powers of growth. The young Polyzoén then
increases in bulk, until it splits the sheath apart, and
protrudes beyond the edges. The organs are well ad-
vanced when this takes place, and the tube has already
acquired its adult habit of retracting the plumes upon the
slightest provocation. Its youth is a sunny holiday passed
inthe open water, where it swims freely by the aid of cilia,
which clothe the outer surface, but the sides of the stato-
blast are finally separated so widely, that they drop off,
and the wanderer seeks a resting-place under some old
log or stone. Here a little gelatine, which subsequently
becomes the tough, brown envelope (plate 3, D), fast-
ens it to the surface, and henceforth its fate is insepara-
bly linked to that of an inanimate mass. When securely
ea eam ones hila still free, a little bulb

: n is ernable -This was primarily a tiny, saclike
ao... y AN

ne parent cell, close to the bases of the muscles of the fold
plate l; fig. 5, Y). The throat and stomach are derived

from the transverse division of the minute sac into two
portions, but it remains to be ascertained whether the
intestine is made by an after-growth from the stomach, or
by the division lengthwise of the throat. The tentacles

134 THE MOSS-ANIMALS,

arise from the thickened rim, and draw out between them
a web, which afterwards receding externally, becomes
the veil, and the wall of the tube is merely an elongation
of the membrane connecting the rim of the sac with the
parent.

The cell-bulb does not protrude externally until these
organs are mapped out. The young one, though sti
very imperfect, begins to stretch forth its arms as soon as
the cell, or cænæcium, as it is more appropriately called,
is well extended, and long before the characteristics reach
perfection, gives other evidences of its natural precocious-
ness in the statoblasts and regular buds, which spring up
in their respective places within the ccencecium. At in-
tervals two buds will sprout in different directions, orig-
inating new branches, and thus a dendritic colony is
gradually built up, which owes its origin entirely to one
animal. Consequently the outer branches are the young-
est, and often, as in plants, these are vigorous and quick
with life, while the parent trunk is but an empty case, —
frequently with nothing left to indicate its position but —
the decaying cænæcia, or their faint tracery in the slime.

The second mode of reproduction, by egos, takes place |
only in the newly established colonies during the earlier
summer months. These eggs are little colorless vesicles,
developed internally from a bead-like swelling on the free
side of the wall, near the orifice. When ripe they are
dropped into the cavity of the cænæœcium, and there meet
- with the fertilizing filaments which have been developed

i1]

neither male or female, but of the collective gender, an
ermaph BS o n| inir g the r A a

OR FRESH WATER POLYZOA. 135

The eggs eventually attain the size of a statoblast
(about one-thirtieth of an inch long), and have an oval
outline. When full grown, their exterior is also clothed
with cilia, which render them capable of rapid motion,
and at this period they may be sometimes seen squirming
in the tube, and tossing the stomach about with great
violence. No orifice for their emission from the body
has been discovered, and we have every reason to believe
there is none, and that they force their way into the
world directly through the walls of the body. In fact,
Mr. Albany Hancock, an English naturalist, has observed
a full-grown egg, which obtained its liberty by press-
ing through the closed orifice of the cell, rending and
destroying the parent in its course.

The cceneecia, composing the trunks of the older colo-
nies, are always empty, as previously stated, in the au-
tumn, and it is not improbable that they are the remains
of the unfortunate parents whose death was caused earlier
in the season by their restless offspring, since all, even
the younger autumnal polyzoa are incapable of bringing
forth eggs, and produce only statoblasts and regular
buds.

The polyzoén is developed from an internal bud at one
end of the egg, and when sufficiently large bursts the
outer envelope, coming forth like the polyzoén of the
statoblast, armed with abundant cilia, by whose aid it
swims. Like this, also, after a time its wandering ceases ;
it seeks some dismal retreat, glues itself to the surface,
and becomes the progenitor of a new colony.

All Polyzoa, both marine and fresh water, in common
with other attached and branching forms, such as the
corals among the Radiata, have been called Phytozoa, or

«

136 THE MOSS-ANIMALS.

plant-animals, but, like all others of this kind, their
young, born from the egg, are free.

Although thus resembling corals, they are widely sep-
arated from them by their structure. Each little ani-
mal, when reduced to its typical form, is a simple sac
containing the stomach, and is allied to the clam, the
oyster, and the snail, all of which have the same plan of
structure. The coral, as may be seen by looking closely
into any one cell, has a number of thin plates all pointing
from the rim toward the vacant centre, like the spokes of a
hubless wheel, and is, therefore, related to the star-fish,
jelly-fish, and others, which have the parts arranged in a
star-like or radiatimg manner. Thus, while by a process
of budding, animals may be grouped into shrub-like colo-
nies, with an external resemblance to each other and to
the plants, with which the older naturalists classed them,
their internal structure may show that they belong not
only to animals, but to very distinct branches of the ani-
mal kingdom.—Coneluded in next number.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 4. Pectinatella magnifica Leidy.
Fig. 1. Enlarged view of one lyzoGn, situated on the end of #

hollow lobe. A”, cavity of this lobe; D, mass of gelatine below; E,
wall of this lobe and tube; J, brown stripes in the stomach, the hepa-
tic folds; M’, M", muscles for withdrawing the tube, retractors; N,
N’, muscles of the fold, which in this species is very narrow.

Figs. 2, 3, 4, the upper and lower side, and profile view of the sta-
toblast ; W’, horny sheath; W”, annulus; W”, spines with hooks.

American Naturalist. Vok- -PL 4:

HYATT ON THE MOSS ANIMALS.

THE TARANTULA KILLERS OF TEXAS.

BY DR. G. LINCECUM.

The Mud Dauber, Pompilus formosus. From SAY.

An investigation of the extensive family of Mud Daubers
would be an interesting and instructive study. It would
necessarily include that of the various types of Spiders,
from the great hairy Mygale Hentzii, down to the small-
est, almost microscopic species; for nearly every type of
Spiders has its special enemy among the Mud Daubers.

The large, red-winged “Tarantula Killer” (the Pompi.
lus formosus of Say) is, as far as I know, the largest of
the dauber group. It takes its prey by stinging, thus
instantly paralyzing every limb of its victim. The effects
of the introduction of its venom is as sudden as the snap
of the electric spark. The wasp then drags it, going back-
wards to some suitable place, excavates a hole five inches
deep in the earth, places its great spider in it, deposits
an egg under one of its legs, near the body, and then

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 18

438 THE TARANTULA KILLERS

covers the hole very securely. A young Tarantula Killer
will be produced from this egg, if no accident befalls it,
about the first of June of the ensuing year.

This large and conspicuous insect is everywhere in
Texas called the Tarantula Killer, and is over two
inches in length; the head, thorax, abdomen, and long
spiny legs are all black, while the wings are some-
times of a bright brown, with black spots at the tips.
It is armed with a formidable sting, which it invaria-
bly uses in taking its prey. This sting does not kill
the Mygale, but paralyzes it—suspends all animation—
and in this state, in a dry place, and at the proper temper-
ature, it is in a condition to resist decomposition a long
time. The entire group of Mud Daubers possess the
power of paralyzing their victims, and in that condition
they store up their spiders, caterpillars, and other in-
sects, which are to serve as food for coming generations.

The Tarantula Killer pursues several other species of
the large ground spiders, but the Mygale Hentzii, or
Tarantula, is his favorite.

I have sometimes found under shelving rocks, and
other sheltered places, dauber’s nests that were doubt-
less several years old. In some of the cells, where the
egg had proved abortive, the spiders were there, still
limber, with no signs of decomposition about them. They
did not seem to be dead, but looked as if they could
almost move their legs, and were perhaps not uncon-
scious of their deplorable condition. I should be fright-
ened at the prospect of being stung by any of the larger
_ types of this group of insects. I have, however, known
ie but a single ir stance of this kind. Several years ago
~a person was stung by common black dirt dauber on

the shoulder near- ck; he complained of numb-

OF TEXAS. 139

ness in the part for a distance of some inches around the
wound, but of no pain. Its effects lasted about twenty-
four hours. I think it quite probable that the large
Tarantula Killer would produce a more serious inconven-
ience, and perhaps paralyze the whole system. The

Mygale Hentzii, the Tarantula of Texas. From MARCY,

Pompilus, however, is a good-natured insect, showing no
signs of pugnacity, except when she has a fine fat Ta-
rantula in hand, and then she only threatens violence by
spreading out her red wings, and running a little way

140 THE TARANTULA KILLERS OF TEXAS.

towards the intruder. She is quite tame, and will come
familiarly in and about one’s yard and house, dragging
the prostrate Mygale under the floor, where she hides it
from the intrusion of other Tarantula Killers, who would,
if they could find it, take out the egg and put one of their
own in its place, as they are remarkable for such thieving
propensities.

The Mygale Hentzii, on the other hand, sometimes suc-
ceeds in capturing his great enemy, as I once noticed.
When first observed, the Mygale had the Tarantula Kil-
ler, still alive, in his mouth, holding it by the back. The
Tarantula seemed to be greatly elated at its success,
which it manifested by capering about, and performing
various other antics, such as running suddenly at any thing
or person that came near it, holding on to his victim all
the time. The Tarantula Killer appeared to be conscious
of her condition, and was, as far as I could discern, fully
resigned to her fate, remaining perfectly quiet. I regret-
ted that I could not wait to witness the finale of this af-
fair : such cases do not often occur.

The Tarantula Killers have severe fights with each
other. It occasionally happens, when one of them suc-

and makes a violent effort to get possession of the para-
lyzed spider., A fight ensues, which occasionally termi-
both parties; at other times the con-
party drives

THE BIRDS OF SPRING. 141

It is surprising to one who has been educated to be-
lieve that the faculty of reason belongs alone to man, to
contemplate the consummate ingenuity which is displayed
by these insects in their efforts to secure their eggs
from the observation of their own thieving sisters, and
to hide the food they have provided for their young dur-
ing the period of its existence under ground. -

The Tarantula Killer feeds upon the honey and pol-
len of the flowers of the Elder, and of Vitis ampelopsis,
the Virginia Creeper; but its favorite nourishment is
taken from the blossoms of Asclepias quadrifolium. This
species of Asclepias blooms through the summer, and the
Tarantula Killer seems to know the locality of every
plant. If one finds on the prairie a plant of Asclepias
quadrifolium in bloom, and watches ten or fifteen min-
utes, he will be almost certain to see a Tarantula Killer
come to it. This insect requires considerable food, as its
period of life extends from the first of June until Novem-
ber, or till the frost destroys all the flowers, when it seems
to die for want of food, as it is often seen at this time
crawling about in a very feeble state. I do not think
any of them ever survive the winter, as they never appear
earlier than June.

oe
<>

THE BIRDS OF SPRING.

BY J. A. ALLEN.

Tue arrival of our birds during the spring is by no
means uniform; a certain number coming one week and
an equal number the next, either in the accession of spe-
cies or individuals; nor is the increase regular and un-
interrupted. At first the comers are uncertain, both as
_ regards number and the time of arrival. The few that

142 THE BIRDS OF SPRING.

appear in March would scarce attract attention if ap-
pearing with the hosts of May, while now the animation
they afford our fields and roadsides is in agreeable con-
trast with the dearth of bird life in winter. April brings
larger additions, and May bursts upon us with such a
profusion of species, that on all sides we are greeted with
fluttering, restless wings and lively notes. But the in-
crease has its intermissions; the first genial period at-
tracts a few, but through the succeeding colder weather
their numbers for weeks may scarcely increase, perhaps,
indeed, if the cold prove quite severe, actually decreasing
while a following unusually mild term hastens on many
that seem to have been awaiting a favorable opportunity.
A cold norther occurring early in May, impedes for days
the thousands of Warblers and Flycatchers that are ac-
customed then to migrate. The storm perchance closing
at nightfall, a mild night ensues, and with the next day’s
sun the woods are alive with little industrious insect hunt-
ers, that the day before the most prying observer would
fail to have detected; they increase with the advance of
the day, and towards night the collector finds some spe-
cies common, that he had looked in vain for in the morn-
ing, and the hedges suddenly become vocal with their
notes.

Our limits would not allow us even to enumerate all
the insectivorous species,—the friends of the orchardist,
the gardener, the farmer, in short, of our race, —and much
more to describe their pleasing colors, their inspiriting
songs, and their hundred interesting peculiarities of habit
and mode of life; how some hunt their prey, creeping
among the foliage, others pursue it in the air, or suddenly
dart upon some unlucky insect as it passes their perch.
~ Among the woodland species the very names of the

THE BIRDS OF SPRING. 143

Green, the Chestnut-sided, the Bay-breasted, the Yellow
Red-poll, the Black-poll, the Nashville, the Cape May,
the Golden-crowned, the Orange-crowned, the Blackburn-
ian, the Golden-winged, the Spotted Canada, the Red-
start, etc., some of them scarce, but most abundant for a
brief period in May,—are suggestive of all that is beauti-
ful in birds: gay plumage, useful habits, and sweet warb-
ling notes.

Among the more common and well known later emi-
grants, we welcome the Bobolink to our meadows, which
he alone would render attractive. Brimful of animal
spirits, he gaily fiddles away all the day long, perched on
some tree or fence in his favorite bogs and meadows, or
indulges in coquettish gambols in the air, meeting us in
our walks as we approach his grounds with a eputident
outburst of tinkling drollery, so varied and fanciful we
half imagine it to represent personal allusions of either
flattery or derision. We welcome the gorgeously colored
Oriole, and the chaste-robed Vireo to the orchard, where
the loud trumpet notes of the former, and the soft, sooth-
ing warble of the latter, render them as agreeable as their
services are valuable to the fruit-grower. We also welcome
the Red Mavis, or Brown Thrush, to the hedges, the clear-
voiced Veery to the swamps and moister woodlands, the
twittering swallows to their homes under the eaves and in
the barn lofts. | Not least valued by lovers of the pictu-
resque is the Whippoorwill, which, from the roof, the well-
curb, the door-yard fence, or the remoter precincts of
the woods, is heard during morning and evening twilight,
or at intervals throughout the moonlit night.

During the spring months we have with us nearly every
species of bird that ever visits us .during the entire year,
embracing of course all the resident kinds, as well as all
the migratory, except a few transient winter visitors ;

144 THE BIRDS OF SPRING.

even the greater part of these latter may be found, if not
every year, at least occasionally during the early part of
March. The migratory species constitute two classes,
according to their range in the breeding season, viz. :
those species that spend the summer with us, and those
that altogether pass farther north. Compared with the
birds of winter, they embrace a very much greater pro-
portion of common species, while nearly all are regular, if
not abundant visitors. The proportion of rare species is
but thirty-five and one-half per cent., instead of seventy-
six per cent. as in winter. The number of rapacious
species has hardly increased, but the insectivorous, in-
stead of being extremely few, now constitute, taking only
those strictly insectivorous, fully one-half the whole, and
the diet of this remaining half (especially among the land
birds) is mainly composed of insects.

Such are some of the changing phases of bird life in our
varied climate. In the following tabular statement we
give a further summary.*

Whole number of species (in Spring),. . . . 280

ommon, ‘* een 4 . . 190

Rare, $e & i i ` x 90

Migrant, <«“ e hs ee ont D0

Resident, ‘“ h ‘ e z 30
Migrants that spend the summer in a Birds, 136

Southern New England, ‘ "i Water ‘‘ i
Migrants that pass the summer —— d Birds, 28
north, i ‘ k k ` Water “ 80

— 108

; 18

ir allies, . 15

5 TT

aa 4. 8-8 3

* ¢* © ee 8 @

American Naturalist.

FEMALE OF THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

TELEA POLYPHEMUS.

Vol. 1, PI.

American Naturalist.

VoL E PI

MALE OF THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

TELEA POLYPHEMUS. [After HARRIS.]

~

THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

BY L. TROUVELOT.

(Concluded from p. 95.)

Rearing of the larva in the open air. There are differ-
ent ways of raising the wild silk worms. I have for two
years cultivated them in the open air. I had about five
acres of woodland enclosed by a fence eight feet high; a
net was stretched over the bushes, which were of six or
eight years’ growth. This net, supported upon posts,
was intended to protect the worms from the depredations
of the birds. The eggs were put upon the bushes in the
little hatching-box, so that after this, there seemed ‘but
very little to do. But it was not so: over so largea
Space, it was impossible to keep the net in good order,
and the birds managed to get under it; the small ones
could go through the meshes, and the larger ones through
some holes in the old net, so I was obliged to chase them
all the day long, as when pursuing them on one side they
would fly to the other and quietly feed, until I again re-
appeared. Thus, besides the insect enemies enumerated
above, many of the caterpillars fell a prey to the birds.

Rearing them under a shade. This year I made a
shade open on all sides, protected by a roof to keep out the
hot rays of the sun, and boards were arranged so that they
could be raised up from the roof to give more light when
the Sun was behind the clouds, and also at morning, even-

- ng, and at night. This shade had a very fine net around
It, so that it was impossible for the birds to get through
the meshes. In this way an oak branch can be kept
fresh for four or five days; a branch is placed in every
two holes, so-as to leave a vacant one between any two
branches, When the foliage of one branch is nearly eaten
"p, a fresh one is put into the vacant hole, and small
-a ORAN aTr VOLE 19

146 THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

twigs, going from the old branch to the fresh one, are
placed so that the worms can cross upon it without de-
scending upon the table. When the worms are attached
for the purpose of moulting, they should not be disturbed
or taken away from the place where they are, as they
could not so easily change their skin. Three times a day
the excrements should be swept from the table. In warm
days some water should be sprinkled with a watering-pot
upon the leaves, as the worms are fond of drinking water.
The worms should be handled as little as possible, and
only when it is absolutely necessary. The space that re-
mains open between the branch and the table should be
filled with paper or hay, so that the larvee may not crawl
under the table, as they would be drowned in the water
contained in the bottle.

For cultivating Silk Worms upon a large scale, it
would be very well to select a place with a brook running
through it, as the water could be made to flow under the
table, in reservoirs, where the branches could always dip
in fresh water; as the water put in the bottles is soon
corrupted, and the branches absorb much of it, they need
to be filled up several times a day.

When a cocoon is well begun, the best way will be to
separate from the branch the twig and leaves between
which it is built, so that other worms will not disturb the
larvee working inside; this cocoon should be placed upon
lines stretched for that purpose in a special room, where
the sun cannot reach it. Ten or twelve days after, they
will be completed, and may be placed in baskets, and
kept as I have indicated above.

Some experiments made on our Silk Worm show how
hardy it is, being the easiest of all the silk worms to
take care of. O E im nce na

THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 147

which was placed in another box containing ice and salt ;
the temperature soon descended to four degrees below
zero. They were allowed to remain in this refrigerator
for half an hour. When taken out, the chrysalids were as
hard as a piece of ice; they were immediately put into
acold room. Several days after this, the temperature of
the room being above the freezing point, the chrysalids
gave signs of life by moving the abdomen. Some years
ago, wanting to keep a cocoon in my collection, I thrust
; a pin through it, and it passed through the body of a liv-
ing chrysalis inside of it; this was done in the month of
3 October. Nine months after, in June of the following
year, I was astonished to find a great commotion in one

of the boxes of my collection; all the specimens were
broken, and I found the cocoon which had been pinned in’
the box, detached and open at one end, and the antennæ,

head and legs of the moth projecting out of it; the insect
was still living and could not come out, as the pin passing
through it had also transfixed the cocoon. Through this
insect had been thrust, for nine months, a pin covered with
verdigris, and yet had not been killed by it! Naturalists
state that it is very important, when transporting cocoons
in a box, to pierce the box with holes so that the air may
penetrate it, as if air was needed for a chrysalis inside
the cocoon. Having observed how close and air-tight the

cocoon of the Polyphemus seems to be, I could not con-

ceive that air was needed for it to breathe. Desirous of
ascertaining whether my idea was correct, I took three

_ €ecoons, and at two different times I covered them care-

fully with a thick coating of starch, allowing the first

coating to dry before putting on the second one. After

ae = € cocoons were covered at three different times
_ With a heavy coating of shellac varnish ; thus the cocoons

ee ee ee ee ee ee Tinh ee ee

148 THE AMERICAN SILK WORM.

were made perfectly air-tight. They were kept in a cold
dry room all winter. In July the moths came out per-
fectly healthy, the fluid they discharge through the mouth
having perfectly dissolved the starch and varnish. So
these insects had been nine months with no air, except the
very small volume enclosed in the cocoon, and they had
accomplished their transformation just as well as if the
air had been allowed to come into the cocoon.

: It seems to me that when once enclosed in the cocoon,
the pupa is in a transitory state. The process of assim-
ilation, at least during the cold days, seems to have
ceased. In the stomach of chrysalids can be found an
albuminous, greenish substance; probably it is a food
which can be assimilated, or at least transformed into
some of the liquids which are discharged by the perfect
insect when coming out of, the cocoon. If there is any
elaboration of the food in the chrysalis, the process must
be very slow, and surely no air is needed to accomplish
it, nor any food, except what little food is in the stomach.
The most striking phenomena manifested by life is the
assimilation and elimination of food; but to assimilate,
the animal must take food, either in the solid or gaseous
form. We know that the chrysalis cannot eat; breathing
-is very problematical. Before changing into a chrysalis,
the worm evacuates all the contents of its stomach;
so, in my opinion, the chrysalis does not breathe, or if at
all, it is so very slight as to be insignificant.

There is not much possibility ur being able to obtain
two broods of the Silk Worm in the same year in this
latit ude. > earliest date at which I have obtained co-
coons was he first of August, twenty-two days after the
moth hatched from the cocoon. On the fifth of Septem-
ide ceo peo age

THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 149

month than in July and August, the larve did not grow

so rapidly, and the moulting did not take place so regu-

larly. The first moulting took place on the fourteenth

day, the second the twenty-third day, the third the thirty-

sixth day; on the first of November, or fifty-six days

after their birth, they had not accomplished the fourth

moulting. I could not continue the experiment, as I left

’ for Europe the second of November; but they had frozen

several times, and the leaves were very hard, in fact I do

not believe that the second brood would have come to ma-

turity. I do not see that it would be of any advantage to

obtain two broods, as the moths do not all come out of

the cocoon at the same time, but sometimes there are two

months between the first and the last; so the process of

rearing can go on permanently = summer, which is equal
to having two broods.

Cion can be retarded in hati out by being put
in a very cold room—an ice-house, for instance; in this
way they can be made to hatch another year, or nearly
twenty-one months after they have been in the cocoon.
In fact, the time of their appearance can be put back for
an indefinite period, as life is nearly suspended. Reau-
mur states, that, at the time he was writing, he had in his

-cellar pupæ which had been there for five years, which
_Were still living. I have myself kept pupe of sphingide,
or hawkmoths, for three years in my cellar. At the time
I went to Europe, they were still living, but on my re-

‘turn I found that the rats had eaten them.

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

BY EDWARD S. MORSE.

HELIX TRIDENTATA Say. (Figs. 8,9.) The shell of this
species is depressed, and of a yellowish horn color ; whorls

Figs.8,9. five or six, slightly convex. Aperture con-

— tracted by the reflected lip, which has two
teeth, and with a curved tooth on the inner
lip forms a trilobed aperture. The whorls
are obliquely striated, and the umbilicus is
open. Diameter about one-half an inch.
Guus” The animal is of a dark bluish slate color.
This species is widely distributed throughout the Unit- -
ed States, but is not common in New England. It has
never been found in Maine, or New a eS or in the
eastern part of Massachusetts, and occurs only rarely in
the western part of the last-mentioned State. Dr. Bin-
ney states that he has most commonly found it under lay-
ers of wet and decaying leaves in forests.

HELIX PaLLIATA Say. (Figs. 10,11.) Shell depressed,
dark brown or chestnut color, covered with minute sti

Figs. 10,11. hairs which give the surface a roughened ap-
pearance. Whorls five, flattened above ; ap-
) erture three lobed, much contracted by the
lip and teeth. Lip widely reflected, with
two projecting teeth on the inner margin 5
the one at the base long and slightly prom-
inent, the one above acute and prominent ;
~ inner lip having a broad white tooth pro-
jecting Taled from the shell; umbilicus covered by a
white callus, being an extension from the lip. Diameter
nearly one inch. Animal blackish slate color. It is found
Bo am stk, he

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND. 151

Western, South-western, and Atlantic States, with the ex-
ception of New England, as far south as South Carolina.

Herx monopon Rackett. (Figs. 12, 13.) Shell light
russet in color; whorls five or six, closely revolv- Fiss. 12,13.
ing; aperture flattened, contracted by a deep Æ 75
groove behind the lip. The lip is narrow, and
turned back, partially or wholly covering the um-
bilicus. On the inner lip there is a long white
tooth at the aperture, and within the aperture, projecting
from the umbilicus, a shelly partition called the fulcrum.
The shell is covered with numerous minute hairy projec-
tions, which give the surface a velvety appearance. The
diameter of the shell is usually three-eighths of an inch.
Animal yellowish-brown, darker on the head and back.
In some parts of New England this species is quite com-
mon. Found in forests sad also on hill-sides in pastures,
under bits of bark and stones, a situation in which it is
unusual for other snails to occur. Two or three individ-
uals are generally found together.

HIRSUTA Say. (igs 14,15.) Shell nearly glob-
ular, brownish in color, covered by numerous —
rigid hairs. Aperture contracted, and nearly E
closed by a long narrow tooth on the body whorl; Ya
lip narrow, turned against the outer whorl. On g
the inner margin of the outer lip, at the base of “W
the aperture, is a deep notch. Ordinary diameter one-
quarter of an inch; umbilicus closed. Animal whitish,
head and tentacles slate colored. In the New England

States this species has been found west of the Connecticut
River, though not common. It is common in the Middle
and Western States. — To be continued.

.— In explaining the arts of the shell in the frst number Fig b tie PESE
ware nena omitted : a, aperture, T, a shelly projection :

REVIEWS.
ee

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE CRANIAL FORMS OF THE AMERICAN ABORIG-

INES. By J. Aitken Meigs, M. D. Philadelphia, 1866. pp. 39. 8vo.
kgs valuable observations here recorded are based upon the large
ection of skulls belonging to the Academy of Natural Sciences at
Philadelphia largely consisting of the celebrated Morton collection.
or’s conclusions, niet derived from a study of this and
other satel lead him to state that ‘‘it becomes very probable that
her or the American variety of man neither unity nor genetic
iso dation” It is well known that Dr. Morton advocated strongly the
diversity of the origin of Man, and the uniformity of the American
type of skulls; i.e., that the Indian is a distinct species from the Es-
quimaux, Negro, or Caucasian, and was created on the soil he now in-
habits. But M. Alcide D’Orbigny, with his observant eye and rare
experience as a traveller in South America, contended that the races

1 the American races, was shared by Blumenbach, Lawrence and
hani and others, especially Dr. Desmoulins and Bory de Vincent,
two French Ethnologists.

More recently, the late Prof. Retzius, a Scandinavian ethnologist
of high E cri sanga Dr. anang views, mam that < ns is

scarcely any p ft rld where such contra und
between dtr ‘ing: kosii nits) and Sar enet had
or square-headed skulls) as in America!” Dividing the American races

into ‘neta: Same he ‘‘traces the pedigree of the Esquimaux into Asia,
a the Chinese population, the transitionary link being the Aleu-
he

ibes) mes
to be related to the Guanches of the Canary Islands, and the Atlantic
tribes in Africa, as the Moors, Berbers, Tuaricks, Copts, etc., which
are comprised under the Amazirgh and Egyptian Atlantidæ of La-
tham. The American brachycephalic tribes which belong chiefly ie
is

d’Halloy, Latham, and, more recently, Wilson, the authorof ‘‘ Prehistor-

ic Man,” have sated their belief in ce diversity of the American races.

Our author gives many facts of much interest to the special student,

and miter eset up Fae conclusions -— hag
; isd ¢ groups.

REVIEWS. 153

1l i h owever, the

ae That ny! Ta case of the Peruvian Skulls i the Academy)

d forms
gpa That in North America neither the Dolichocephalic nor Brachycephalic tribes
when first known to Europeans, were restricted in their aphical distribution to an say
ee — a the former were scattered over the continent, through all de-
£ 1 longitude; the latter eet. o naya nei n, if we may jud; rom the
Specimens in the M: i kes, at various places in the
interior, in tl the Gulf of Mexico, in the so-called Paduea area, and especially
“pera the portae es In general terms we may say that on the eastern or Atlantic
inent ee ee appear to have prevailed; and on the western or
Pacific side the Brachycepal This, ina great measure, seems to have been, and still is,
e case in South America.
5th. That ms g and short-headed t ear or races are very commonly found throughout
the two Ame y side. In the extreme north, for example, dolichocephalic an
brachycephalic fi are contrasted i in She Esquimaux and thel eir it Soveraeeeet neighbors,

the Kongi or Kadiakan Aleut g
neg he Patagonians and Puciches.

t thi z 3 +1 ; fA . ea tt
d

now ies smong extant tribes.

7th. That ld d iss
in Europe and Asia the brachycephalic is te jehda form, in N orth America the doli-
chocephalic is hag predomina:
; in That while in Africa all the people are dolichocephalio, in South America they are
nearly equal

9th. That while in Europe and Asia tl Arctic people are chiefly brachycepha-
lic, in eae they are wholly dolichocephalic.
10th. That various European, Asia tic, and African crania, such as those of Norwegians,
oat o-Sa

the Q jad Q

3 Germans, oe Finns, Lapps, Turks, Sclavonians, Kalmucks, Burats, Prognathic Negroes,

aa That thie h PT * * ‘ aig ee farm ee
= is shown in ab die ge E ay
ally
That the That; E .
Ith. Tha licl ii types;

y, the pyramidal, bo t-shaped, oval, cylindrical, oblong, and arched.
R That the Brachycephali may be divided into round or globular, and square or cu-

Phat th AT, + ak Ad ae | eats, Ds. f
J 5 PS,

tt . That di ethnical or typical groups are f founded Lipon osteological differences as

<n ai

P
ps Celtic stocks. an th 1 a a Peng nT Tra rkich A Spl. 4, on the other.

>

A TREATISE on some OF THE INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. By
T. W. Harris, M. D. Third Edition. Boston. Crosby & Nichols.
The publication of this work, aside from his strictly scientific oa

Pers, secured to the author a high cual as an e

Was one of those few naturalists who specially studied the habits 2

richly illus-

TE

pee VOL. r: 9

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

ER a BS

BOTANY.
m “May FLO WA i tiful family of plants, the
eaths, there is none ae Bal has muth strong claims upon our regard as
the apie May Flower, and none more likely to have its claims vindi-
ed; for, toa certain extent, - has already become historical, in con-
quence of its association with the Pilgrims, or more properly with the
Pilgrim ship ‘‘ May Flower.” th humble shrubb y plant grows plen-
tifully around Plymouth, and in piney cosets n many other localities

o uld hardl

play of sentiment. Even in that austere age, we doubt if it were
frowned upon, as much of a sin, if the young Puritan, on his way to
the meeting-house, chanced to tuck a sprig or two into his doublet,
in expectation that the eyes of some Mary or Martha, who perchance
sat on the opposite bench, weary perhaps with watching the slow-
moving sands ofthe hour-glass on the pulpit, —might look the more
graciously upon him.

In the books, this plant is known as the ‘‘Epigea repens,” but
otherwise as the Trailing Arbutus, May Flower, and Ground Laurel.
Under ental name, however, it is sweet and ted m has puen a a

rich, spicy fragrance, that we wonder how the fickle suns of A
could p ia draw ioia the cold ground aroma of such deoak cacy.
Pretty little branches of this early gem may now be purchased along
the thoroughfares, and at the paepe of apga Sweet har-
binger of Spring, dining souvenir of the season, go on your mission
gladness, as young men and maidens, aa men and children wel-

gard, laden with whisperings of joy to the young, hope to the afflict-

ed, rest and peace to the weary and aged; to homes where every

one, as in the words of a certain poet of New Bedford, may be

strengthened and confirmed in every good impulse of patriotism and
!

Ther te my heart, thy rock-ribbed hills,

bitte ee
"And tem] ots, ere winter y s her sway,
i Be 7 :
; tes ens GRP.

DES,

ICI bert Spencer, in

“The Princes of te” an ta the Weeping Willow m

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 155

plies for an indefinite period by ayamogendsii (or birth without a pre-
vious union of the male and fi nts). This me ey
been propagated throughout Europe, does not seed in Eur

N THE PERIOD AND RATIO OF THE ANNUAL INCREASE IN THE

CUMFERENCE OF TREES.—‘‘The Carolina Poplar (Populus monil-
wa Ait.) was selected on account ofits rapid growth, enabling me
easily note the increase of circumference each seven days. The re-
~~ peanulaled, show t = nee

G n +4 ENT.

and the middle of A = and that the ratio “of growth is much proier during the month
between tl i tJ f July, than during the month preceding, and
—T. MEEHAN, Proceedings of the cde v Natural Sciences,

eg October, 1866.
AGENCY OF INSECTS IN FERTILIZING PLANTS. —I have made
Some observations and experiments on the fertilization of Phænoga-
mous Plants, showing that in the genus Kalmia, and other genera
also, insects are necessary to carry pollen from flower to flower in or-
der to fertilize pistils.
T have found, also, that of many plants which produce perfect flow-

these two Ways they act as though they were monecious plants.— W.
J. Brat.

Curious FLowrer.—One of the most singular flowers growing in
this pretty garden (of the Panama Railway Company) was an orchid,
Called by the natives “Flor del Espiritu Santo,” or the “Flower of
the Holy Ghost.” The Moso white as Parian marble, somewhat
resembles the Tulip in form; its perfume is not unlike that of the
Magnolia, but more intense. A att its beauty nor fragrance begat
for it the high reverence in which it is held, but the image of a dove
placed s centre. Gathering the freshly-opened flower, and pulling

wed in gentle submission, brings the delicate beak, just
ith carmine, in contact with the snowy breast.—J.K.Lorp’s “* The
Naturalist in Vancouver Island.”

ZOOLOGY.
‘Mimetic Forms AMONG Insects. — Among the living objects mim-
icked by insects are the predaceonus species, from which it is the inter-
est of the mimickers to be concealed. Thus, the species o m
(a genus of Crickets) in South America resemble, in a w

156 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

erg different Land Wasps of large size, which are constantly on the
‘search for crickets to provision their nests with. Another pretty

endo ; but som
station Baa motionless on the axils of leaves and other parts
-of plants, to wait for their Aini —H. W. Bartes, Linnean Trans-
actions, 1862, p. 509.

A new IxsecT Box.— The
ecessity for a cheap, and
ficient insect box, has long

been Pegs by collec-
tors. Sheet cork is not only

j expensive, zi oftentimes dif-
ult procure; linings of

its merits for several years,

not only in cases used for the
transportation of specimens, but in those intended for permanent exhi-
bition. A box is made of the required depth, and a light frame is fitted
to its interior. Upon the upper and under surfaces of this frame, a sheet
of white paper (drawing, or log paper answers the purpose) is securely
glued. h r ha

about one-fourth of an inch from the oaae of the box, and the pin is
forced down through the two thicknesses of paper, and if the bottom
of the box be of soft pine, the point of ex pin may be slightly forced
into it. It is thus firmly held at two or three different a and
all lateral movements are Sass sin Other advantages are secured
firmness; when the box a cleaning

a ec oat of a portion of the side and bottom of the

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. soe

H F THE CARPENTER Bers. — I send specimens in alcohol of
the pupa of Xylocopa virginica, the Carpenter Bee, with the pupæ of
Anthrax sinuosa. The latter fly I take to be a parasite of the Car-
penter Bee. I found them occupying alternate cells or divisions in
the mines of the Xylocopa. Ceratina dupla, a little green bee, allied
to pe Carpenter ag is now (May 18) busily boring and laying its

in almost every variety of pithy stems, such as the Elder and Sy-

Neate aM AMES ANGUS, West Farms, N. Y.
SITES OF THE HUMBLE BEE.—I have lately obtained four
; specimens of a hoik Helia inocu from a Bombus nest kept since
. last fall in a flower-pot, covered with a glass. — 1b.
f PER E ERS
GEOLOGY.

ON THE ABSENCE OF THE NORTHERN DRIFT FORMATION FROM THE
WESTERN COAST OF NORTH AMERICA, AND FROM THE INTERIOR OF
THE CONTINENT. — Prof. manya made some remarks on the absence
of the Northern Drift formation from the western coast of North
America, and from the interior of the continent, throughout the region
ae to the south-west of the Missouri River. -

The term “Northern Drift” is understood to include the masses of
unstratified detrital materials and boulders which have been transpo
ed and distributed by some general cause, independent on a great de-
gree of the present conformation of the surface and of. the direction

ense masse
The ‘cee of the Geological Survey of California have de-
monstrated, however, that there is no true Northern Drift within the
limits of this State. Our detrital ere at which often form deposits
si Sreat extent and thickness, are invariably found to have been

il
of extensive glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, there is no rea-
: sonto, suppose that this ice was, to any extent, an effective agent inthe
Ea n of the superficial detritus now resting on the flanks of
the mountains. Th The glaciers were confined to the most elevated por-

158 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

tions of the ear ate and verte the moraines which they have
left as evidence of their former extension are often large and conspic-
uous, they are Aarni i: comparison with the detrital masses
formed by aqueous erosion. There is nothing anywhere in California

which indicates a general glacial epoch during which ice covered the
whole country and moved bodies of detritus over the surface, inde~
pendently of its aegis configuration, as is seen throughout the
North-eastern Sta

he same aan of things prevails in Nevada and through Ore-

on, as far as explored by the members of the Survey. The detritus
seems always to be accumulated at the base of the mountains — gravel,
boulders, and sand lying below and not far distant from the bed of rock
of which these materials once formed a part, and from which they ap-
pear to have been detached by weathering and aqueous erosion.

From the observations of Messrs. Ashburner and Dall, it would ap-
pear that no evidences of Northern Drift have yet been detected on
this coast, even as far north as British Columbia or Russian America,
ee of ep gentlemen have observed any indication of a transport-

o the north towards the south, or of any
ns tall of ctor similar to that which must eee existed in the
Eastern States during the diluvial epoch. oe of the Califor-
nia Academy of Natural Sciences. 1866. Vol 3, part iii

a ooo
MICROSCOPY.

TEST OBJECTS FOR THE Microscorpr.—To such wonderful perfec-
tion has this process been rents that M. Nobert, of Griefswald, in
Prussia, has engraved lines upon glass so close together, that upwards
of eighty thousand would go in the space of an English inch. Several
series of these lines were engraved upon one slip of glass. By these
the defining power of any object-glass could be ascertained. As test
objects, they are equal to, and even rival, many natural objects which

1-50,000th of an inch, while the finest lines engraved by M. Nobert are
not more than the 1-100,000th of an inch apart.
Podura : j most excellent “test object.” According to
subtillissima and Hya-

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 159

Their hard silicious shells are characterized by being marked with
fine delicate lines or rows of dots. They are found in all our waters,
whether salt, brackish, or fresh. Their hard shells are preserved un-
er bogs, where they form layers, resembling fine white silicious sand,
and also in guano. They also occur fossil at Bermuda, Oran in Alge-
ria, and Richmond, Va. i
` OBJECT TEACHING IN NATURAL Scrence.—I am strongly of opinion
that it is more necessary than ever that we should teach as much as
possible by the eye. In teaching any branch of natural science, the

; demonstration should be combined with oral teaching. T nt

4 hould at is ribed, and where it is not possible for th
teacher to exhibit illustrative specimens, good a drawings, and
explanatory diagrams should be supplied. It is e
teacher to study how to communicate knowledge most easily and most

clearly, E8 to save the student as much time as possible ; for it is not
likely that the amount of work which is required by the various ex-
Dg boards will be reduced, nor indeed is it desirable that it
should be. Iti is, therefore, incumbent upon teachers to facilitate the

Such a system adds greatly to the interest of lectures, and ena

the student to acquire a correct idea of structure, which it is ‘aie
2 sible for him to obtain by reading, or from mere description with the
e. aid of diagrams. — Bra EALE’S ‘‘How to Work with the Microscope.”

—o
SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITIONS.

Mr. C. F. Hartt, now lecturing on Natural History in New York
City, who gained much experience as an explorer in Brazil, in the late
Thayer Expedition to the Amazon, under the conduct of Prof. Agassiz,
purposes in a few weeks to visit anew the coast of Brazil, and study

_ the coral reefs perry crete discovered by him, and also the marine fauna
of these shores. Mr. Hartt goes thoroughly prepared for these im-
portant

a ey; and also as a student and assistant for several years in the
Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, at Cambridge.

k Mr. J. F. Allan, of Springfield, Mass., author of a series of ornitho-

_Papers now publishing in the NATURALIST, and also one of

160 NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

Prof. Agassiz’ party in Brazil, starts this month to explore western
Iowa, both be collect and study the animals and fossils of that little-
known region. If successful in this field, he intends to push on,
another season, to the Rocky Mountains, and collect in that region.
Sees
CORRESPONDENCE. 2

G. H. K.—The most brief and erp Manuals of Tax-
idermy, or the art of preparing cota ns of Natural History for the
cabinet, are those published by the Smithsonian “kött tution, Wash-
ington, D. C., in pamphlet form, apnay the Pirecsone for collect-
ing, preserving, and transporting specimens of Natura .

d Hi Tere —Among the best works from which to
gain a ral knowledge of Natural deme are Prof. Asa Gray’s
Biat p embracing the following

How Plants Gro

First Lessons in Bota

Manual of Botany of the ‘United States. Illustrated. 8vo. Publish-
ed by as Be Ivison & Phinney, New York.

Gould’s Principles of Zodlogy. Gould & Lincoln, Boston.

Say ss Nature. By H. J. Clark. Appleton & Co., New York, 1866.

Tenney’s Zoölogy for Schools. C. Scribner, New Yor

Harris’s Insects Injurious to Vegetation. Nichole & è Noyes, Boston.

Westwood’s Classification of Insects. Lond rols. 8vo.

Dana’s Manual of Geology. T. Bliss & Co., Piia ia. 8vo.

Hugh Miller’s te’ Geology, and other works, published by
Gould & wal Bos

Prof. A. Guyot’s peau on Physical Geography, with his Physical
Maps. C. oo New York. Earth and a Man. Gould & Lincoln,
Boston.

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

ae woe
CAL CALENDAR FOR May.—The first half of Maya wit-

thought in some seasons there are many representatives of
maining till the close of the month.

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR. 161

Ist to 7th.— The Barn Swallow, Chimney Swift, Br own Thrush, Cat
Bird, Towhee Buntin ng, or Chewink, Least Flycatcher, beers: Vireo,
Black and White Creeper, and Whippoorwill become common. The
Eaves, or Cliff, and Bank Swallows King Bird, dakie and
wW ponr:

backed and Nashville Warblers; the House Wren and Marsh Wrens
(Cistothorus palustris and C. RE and the Summer Yellow Bird,
or Yellow War bler, begin to a

7th to 14th. — All the Re i become abundant, while the Bobo-
link, Baltimore and ae Orioles, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Scar-
let Tanager, Night Hawk, Maryland Yellow-throat, Veery, or Wilson’s
Thrush; Redstart Rus Spotted ea a Black-capped, Black-burnian,
Bay-breasted, Teaio ue, Chestnut-sided, and Cape May
Warblers; the Black-billed and PANE billed Cuckoos; the Red-eyed,
White-eyed, and Yellow-throated Vireos; the Indigo Bird, Swainson’s

rush; ; the Acadian, Great-crested, Traill’s, and Olive-sided RA
ers; alo s Bunting, Red-headed Woodpecker, and Humming Bird
arrive. The Tree na White-throated Sparrows, Hermit Thrush, and
es Kinglet retire northwards, or to the mountainous dis-

‘tin to 21st.— Wood Pewee, Yellow-breasted Chat, and Black Poll
Warbler arriye. The woods and thickets, as well as the orchards and
arblers,

tchers.
21st to 31lst.— To wards us close of the peak the omg eee
of Warblers and their allies, that pass farther north to bre I
thither and to the highlands. The Black Poll Warbler and eae
h are (a few stragglers of other species still remaining) the only

birds which remain in numbers, that pass north of central New Eng-
d.

All the summer visitors and vernal passengers have now arrived.
Many of the early breeders, as the Blue Bird, Pewee, Robin, Song and
Field Sparrow. WS, etc., have, at the close of the month, nearly full-fledg-
ed ‘young; Apg nally the first brood takes wing. Others, as the

t Bird, Yellow-winged Sparrow, Red- PRETRITE
Meadow Tak, Brown Thrush, Blue Jay, Chickadee, Swallows, Whip-
poorwill, etc., have commenced incubation; the Bobolink, Baltimore,

War S, ad other Vireos, and several Flycatc Warblers,
have either begun b g, and selecting nest sites. In

_ 8nd choosing their summer homes, have entered Paaa the important
: aties attending the reproductive season. —J. A ;
TERAN AN NAT., VOL. I. 21

162 NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

Tue Insects or May.—During this month there is great activity
among the insects. As the flowers bloom and the leaves appear, mul-
titudes wake from their long winter sleep, and during this month pass
through the remainder of their transformations, and prepare for the
summer campaign. Most insects hybernate in the chrysalis, or pupa,
state, while many winter in the caterpillar or larva state, such as the
larve of several Noctuide and the ‘yellow-bear,” and other cater-
pillars of Arctia and its allies; while many insects hybernate in the adult
or imago form, either as beetles, butterflies, or certain species of bees.

It is well known that the Quoi Humble Bee winters under the
moss, or in her old nest. During the present month her rovings seem
to have a more definite object, and she seeks some deserted mouse-
nest, or hollow in a tree or stump, and there stows away her pel-
lets of pollen, containing two or three eggs apiece, which, late in the

summer, are to form the nucleus of a well-appointed colony. The Car-
penter Bees, Ceratina and Xylodspa; the latter of which is found in
abundance south of New England, is bus and tunnelling

of the naa or SAO pis uny upholsterer bee pregi a

in sii: sovorit of these esdttlapslixe cells, aw

ranging half a dozen of them side by side along the vault of this
So ee AU: Meanwhile their more lowly relatives, the An-
s bees, are engaged in tunnelling the side of some

ar a or nt running long galleries meal sometimes

for a foot or more, at the farthest end o are to ‘ound,
in summer, little earthen urn-like cells, in ak the grubs live upon
the pollen stored up for them in little balls of the size of a pea.
Later in the month, the Gall Flies (Cynips), those physiological puz-
zles, sting the leaves of aar paki, maples, and e

ing ri

+h.

> 5 Sis vU

: tifon deformities which deface the stems and leaves

- : Fei : i Moth,
ie coddi a: We spoks ix Mopraparusyn ny Coddling
aa HARRIS ‘of which —— need ” be- forewarned, and

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR. 163
When the Kalmia, Rhodora, and wild Cherries are in bloom, many
i re

of Lycæna, Thecla, an rial At this time we have found the

n
July the butterfly rises from the cold mp bogs, where we have
oftenest found it, clad in its rich dress.

Later still, a hes the Lilac pions i and farther south the broad-

eaved Kalmia, the gaily-colored H g Bird Moth (Sesia), visits
the flowers in company with the ipaa Butterfly (Papilio Tur-
nus). At twilight, Ba Hawk-moth, Sphinx, darts noiselessly throug
our gardens, as soon as the Honeysuckles and Pinks and Lilies are in
blossom.

Among the Flies (Diptera), Te now appear, kases they
have not yet perhaps strayed far from their native swamps and fens;
and their FA allies, the Daaiy oni gs pe abo rise from the
fields and mould of our gardens in great numbers.

Of the each (Coleoptera), a which eat on leayes now become
SPRAY active. The riasa Beetle ein Fig. 3.

ow attacks the Squash

which fill the air and enliven the fields and woodlands , just as summer
Comes in, that a bare enumeration of them would overcrowd our
a og tire the reader.

A word, however, sions our Water Insects. Late in the month the
May ty (Boheme era) appears, often rising, in immense numbers, from
the surfac f pools and sluggish brooks. In Europe, whole clouds
of these cies forms, with their thin white wings, have been known
i fall like snow upon the ground, when the peasants gather them up

n heaps to enrich their gardens and farms.

Case Worms, or Caddis Flies, begin now to leave their portable
houses, formed of pieces of leaves, or sticks and fine gravel, and fly
oo T. resting on the overhanging hi

usy Mosquito Hawks, or Dragon es (Libellula), herald _—
oming of the summer brood of these adipem friends of the
Agriculturist, uring their whole life below the waters, these entomo-

164 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

logical Herods have slain and sucked the blood of myriads of infant
mosquitoes and other insects; and now, in their new world above the
waters, with still more intensified powers of doing mischief, happily,
however, to flies mostly obnoxious to man, they riot in bloodshed and
carnage.

This is the season to stock the fresh-water aquarium. Go to the
nearest brook, gather a sprig or two of the Water Cress, which
spreads so rapidly, a root of the Eel Grass, and plant them in a glass
dish or deep jar. Pour in your water, let the sand a nd sediment
settle, a then put in a few Tadpoles, a Newt ier Snails,
(Limnea, Planorbis, and Valvata), Caddis Flies, and Wat eer
together with the gatherings from a thicket of Eel Grass, or oikani
merged plants, being rich in the young of various flies, Ephemeras,

“feel at home,” and the aquarium will be swarming with life, af-
fording amusement and occupation for many a dull hour, by day or at
night, in watching the marvels of insect transformations, and plant-
growth.—A. S. P.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

BOSTON ton oot or NATURAL History. January 16. Concluded.
—Mr. W.W. Bailey read a paper on Epigea repens, the May flower, by
Prof. i W. Bailey, of Fredericton, N. B., in which he mentions find-

ing specimens exhibiting the following peculiarities: Corolla, imper-
fectly salverform (the petals not thoroughly coherent into a tube,
which were not hairy), and apparently not deciduous; the stamens re-
Cea mai TRPE > = perme ne a di mon ae jess united. Some

of th ment-like base, but

no authors, ‘The atest were Gece and had reverted into petals.
Feb. 6, 1867.—The Secretary read a paper by Dr. S. Kneeland, on 4
fungoid aoa or ce rpillar Fungus, from, the Philippine Islands,
to which were appended some remarks of Mr. C. J. Sprague, on the
tanical relations of this fun:
xhibited, under the inicroscons, Ae young w the
; form

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. . 165

cutta, that a certain species of fish destroyed this worm, and only those
who gogi in tanks unstocked with this fish were troubled by them.

Mr. W. Winwood Reade said, that in Africa they were much more
common in Guinea proper, than on any other part of the coast; it w
there generally believed to be prevalent on account of the impurity =
the drinking water.

Mr. Theodore Lyman remarked on the laws of breeding Shad and
Salmon, the gradual extirpation of these fish from our rivers by the
erection of dams, and exhibited models of fish-ways which had recently
been constructed on the Merrimac, under the direction of the State
Commissioners.

Mr. F. W. Putnam, after announcing the donation of two species of
fish from Lake Witch gee one the Lota maculosa (Ling, or fresh-
water Cusk), and the other a species of Lake Trout, probably the Sal-
mo confinis of De Kay, remarked that it seemed to of
doubt whether many of our Lake Trout are anything more than forms
of the Brook Trout. Referring also to Mr. Lyman’s remarks on the
habits of the Salmon, Mr. Putnam stated that Dr. Bernard Gilpin, of
Nova Scotia, had recently been making observations upon the male
Salmon, and had discovered that it must have three sets of teeth form-
ed one after the other; that one set falls out just before ascending the
river, when the ca cartilaginous enlargement of the jaws takes place; that
a new set grows out durin g the ascent of the stream, which is de-

Stroyed during its contests iti others of its sex, and by excavating
` hollows in the gravel for the eggs; in this condition it returns to the
sea, where it again attains a new and normal set of teeth.

upon a recent gathering of Diatomaceous mud, from Pleasant Beach,
Cohasset,

B. J. Jeffries exhibited some glasses and metallic mirrors used
in examination of diseases of the eye. He made remarks upon the use
of colored glasses (b blue), the mode of coloring, and the advantage of

this particular color (cobalt blue) over green or grey in relieving the
eye from the effects of sunlight.

INSTITUTE, Salem, February 4.—Mr. F. W. Putnam exhib-
ited a singular specimen of the Horned Pot (Pimelodus atrarius
De Kay) from Lake Champlain, presented by Dr. B. Pickman, of Bos-
ton. The fish was pure white, thus showing that albinos occur among

as well as in the birds and mammals, though this was the frst
instance of albinism known to him as occurring in this class.

166 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

Tue Lyceum or NATURAL History or New Yorx.—At the an-
nual meeting of the Lyceum of Natural History, held in Sra Hall
on Monday night, Feb. 25, the following officers were elec Presi
dent, Prof. Charles A. Joy (of Columbia College); First jrma Pres-
ident, vas f. J. S. Newberry; Second Vice-President, Gen. Livingston
Satterlee; Corresponding Secretary, Robert teh die; Recording
Secretary, Robert H. Browne; Treasurer, one Prime; Curators,
S. C. H. Bailey, Geo. N. Lawrence, Dr. Rich d P. Stevens, George
Suckley, M. D.; Librarian, Oran V ag Mor

This Society was founded in 1818, by a Mitchell, Dr. Torrey, Mr.
Cooper, and a few students of science. The early records of their
meetings contain amusing accounts of the Sear ae made by the
members to remote parts of the Island of New York, and of their ad-
ventures among the swamps and brambles of Pearl ae Canal streets,

ie
iew af the fact that the Society has no hall of its own, an effort
will be made to raise $100,000 for the purpose of securing suitable ac-

commodations. ,

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SciENcEe.— The
> Sera Annual sting will be held at Burlington, Vermont. The
Session begins on Wednesday, August 21st, 1867, at 10 o’clock, A. M

*¢ The last meeting of the Association at Buffalo, N. me. sae eb
a week, and was considered a pleasant and aaora T wal of the
yearly conventions of the Association. About ninety ee members

in attendance, one hundred and twelve new members were elect-
bii and sixty-nine papers were presented and re:

“Fears lest the cholera might prevent the Meeting at Buffalo, as it
did at Cleveland for one year, caused the circular to be delayed until
after r many mem! mbers of the Association no left their homes for the
nconsistent with a journey

to Buffalo. On this keeount the ‘aes was not so well attended as
on some other occasions. The previous meeting at Nev wport, R. I.,
had also been small, As the assessments a are collected, in large part,
suffered from two

baon rant

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 167

eetings, more thinly attended than the average, following each other

# immediate succession. It will be impossible to print the usual vol-
ume of Proceedings, unless the funds are largely augmented: the ex-
pense of paper ‘and printing having greatly increased, while the collec-
tions have dimi ed. If the arrears now due to the Association are
promptly paid, ig Publications can proceed as usual, and the As
ciation stand on an oe basis.”—JosEPH LOVERING, Permanent
Secretary, Cambridge, Mas

AMEI por Ea Socrety. New York, January 26, 1867
—Mr. A. M. Edwards read a paper entitled ‘Note on the relations of
Monochrouiatic Light to Microscopical Observations,” calling atten-
tion again to the fact of his ha aving some time back brought before
this Society a theory of his, of the relation of active noiet to
vision, and the definition of objects seen through lenses; at the s
time detailing some recent investigations made by others, whic
considered to confirm his theo pool zn then proceeded to illustrate his
subject by using the colored plates in Chevereul’s book on the appli-
cations of colors to the m arts, illuminating them by the So-
dium flame, gas-light, and the light of burning magnesium succes-
sively. He remarked how careful observers should be in drawing
conclusions from what they think they see by means of the micros-
cope.

Mr. J. E. Gavit detailed two cases in which he had been called upon
touse the microscope for the purpose of deciding points in which large
Sums of money were involved. The first was to decide which of two
Writings crossing each other —one in black ink, the other in red— was
the most recent. Wit th a microscope, he was able to demonstrate, to
the perfect satisfaction of the parties peate which was written

last. The second case was to decide if a name written to the codicil
of a will was a forgery or not, and deseribed ‘he manner in which he
had used a microscope to determine that

Mr. Edwards spoke of some discoveries it Prof. H. L. Smith, who
thought he had seen the formation of an Amoeba from the contents of
a Pinnularia, and the after formation of an Actinophrys from
Ameeba.

ENtomoxogicar, SocreTy oF CANADA, Quebec Branch. Annual
Meeting, Jan. 9, 1867.—After the Address of the President, the Sec-

read the Third Annual Report of the Council.
er on a Parasite infesting the Trout, was read by Mr. William
Couper, of Quebec
Society has also a Branch Society at London and —

.

168 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

ACADEMY OF eae ScIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. Feb. 19.—The

poy papers were presented :—
A lis pi pian ed Pak mostly Southern, tas in the waste
gro cant below Philadelphia Navy Yard, and at Kaighri’s Point and

Petty’s Island, on the opposite shore of the ec in 1864, 1865,
and 1866, by Aubrey H. Smith.
n the-Habits of the Cutting Ant of Texas, by G. Lincecum, M. D.

A letter was read from C. M. Wetherill, Bethlehem, Pa., regarding
the Structure of Hacolumites.

A communication was received from the Recorder of the Concholog-
ical Section, announcing their organization and the election of officers.

March 5.— Prof. Leeds remarked on the Magnesium Light
Hayden exhibited some field sketches of the far West. Prof. Ennis
spoke on the origin of the Stars, the causes of their motions, and their
light.

ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA.— At a meeting held
March 11, 1867, the following By-Law was unanimously adopted:
x = Artal epe, — The Society shall be called the AMERICA piapa LOGI-

tomological
Science, $ etl + a hahi eT tar

The above change has been made for two reasons. Ist. That the
Society has to rely on the country at large for support, and in order
rs ieee ow this support, the erroneous idea which is in many minds,

ely, that the Society} is a local institution, must be displaced. 2d.
re is believed that this change in the name will extend the reputation
and claims of the Society, and awaken new and more extended exer-
tions for the permanent support of the only Entomological Society in
the United States.

THE YORK INSTITUTE or Saco, Maine.— This PONA recently or-

i
of E r have furnished their room with cases in which to display
their collection.

PORTLAND Soc History.—We are glad to learn
that this pocety, oe their anpere ERU = losing
for the second time ý resume

EARE n i

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. I.—JUNE, 1867.—No. 4.

THE RECENT BIRD TRACKS OF THE BASIN
OF MINAS.

BY C. FRED. HARTT, A.M.

Atmost in the very heart of Nova Scotia is the Basin of
Minas, a beautiful sheet of water communicating with the
head of the Bay of Fundy by a narrow strait. It is
triangular in shape, the longer, or northern shore being
about sixty miles in length, running nearly east and west,
skirting the Cobequid hills. The western or shortest
side runs about north and south, along the edge of
the fertile New-Red Sandstone district of Cornwallis,
known as the “Garden of Nova Scotia,” or “Corn-and-po-
tatoes-wallis.” At the southern angle of the triangle enter
two rivers, or, more properly, estuaries; the Cornwallis,
which comes from the west, and the Avon, which enters
from the south-east. Between the mouth of these two
rivers is the Grand Pré, the home of Evangeline, ren-
dered celebrated by the delightful poem of Longfellow.

The scenery of this part of Nova Scotia is very pictu-
resque and beautiful. Almost at the mouth of the Corn-
wallis is the pretty little village of Wolfville, the seat of
Acadia College. From the cupola of that Institution we
Ceres Oa aecoratin to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by the ESSEX INSTITUTE, in the

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 22

170 THE RECENT BIRD TRACKS

look over nearly the whole Basin and the surrounding
country. In front of us is the Basin; to the left, some-
what, Cornwallis, with its low, undulating lands dotted
with farms’ and farm-houses, and beyond, the North .
mountains that border the whole southern shore of the
Bay of Fundy like a wall, breaking down abruptly on
the western shore of the Basin of Minas, forming a noble
promontory, Cape Blomidon, whose bright red sandstone
cliffs and frowning trap-crags are not less grand than the
Palisades of the Hudson. We see the high ridge of the
Cobequids stretching along the northern shore eastward
_ as far as the eye can reach, while just east of the Avyon
are the Carboniferous hills of Cheverie, and on our right
and almost at our very feet is the Grand Pré.

At Halifax, and along the Atlantic shore of Nova Sco-
tia, the tide rises but a few feet; but, as every one knows,
the rise at the head of the Bay of Fundy amounts some-
times to seventy feet.

Arriving at Halifax by steamer, we take the cars to
Windsor, a little town on the Avon, a few miles above
its mouth, whence a small steamer plies to St. John, New
Brunswick. We arrive two or three hours before the
steamer is expected in. There is a crowd on the wharf,
and we go down to see what is the matter, but to our as-
tonishment we see a wide, deep valley, like a great mud
ditch, and no water, except a narrow stream, excessively
turbid, which meanders over the expanse of soft choco-
late-colored mud and sand at the bottom. At the foot of
the wharf, which is some twenty or more feet high, a bank
of soft mud, scored with trough-like depressions made by
the keels of vessels, slopes off ten feet further to the bed

of the river. Vessels lie high and dry at the wharves,

w E Fe

OF THE BASIN OF MINAS. 171

Below Windsor, one looks down the river some dis-
tance, and then the view is shut off by an eastward bend.
By and by we see something white making its appear-
ance at this point. It is advancing up the stream, and
there is a gleam of water behind it. Some one who has
also been on the lookout exclaims, “Here comes the
tide!” We see it coming steadily up the channels, with
a line of foam* along its front. It rushes swiftly by us,
passes under the long bridge that spans the Avon just
above the town, and is out of sight. Meanwhile the
Whole bottom of the depression is flooded, and the water
is pouring in like a river. It creeps visibly up the edges
of the mud banks, gains the bases of the piers, and sweeps
out higher and yet higher the sun-dried, muddy fronds of
the coarse, knotty-leaved fuci, that hang heavily from the
pier. As we watch the flood eddying and rippling along
the sides of the wharves, gaining steadily and visibly
in height every moment, we can scarcely repress the
question, Where will it stop? But a little while ago we
looked down the river and saw it as a great empty mud

tch. Now it is a broad expanse of water, that would
be beautiful, were it not that its waves are excessively
turbid, and of a coffee, or rather chocolate, color, contrast-
ing Strangely with the green meadows and cultivated hill-
Sides that border it. There is a little fleet of vessels too,
that is being borne in on the current, and presently some
one cries out, “Here she comes!” There is a long black
line oe smoke issuing from beyond the elms on the point,
and in a moment the little bay steamer makes her ap-
pearance, and is soon blowing off steam alongside of the
pier. Meanwhile the tide has risen so as nearly to fill
ano Bie thape ofthe estuary oF the Peticodiac, in New B ic hast

te g cn
fa “bore,” or hi i iolently up channel in
its narrow ra e,” or high wave, that sweeps vio: y up the
! part in adv. of the tide. f

172 ' THE RECENT BIRD TRACKS

the channel. An hour afterwards, when the boat leaves,
the marsh meadows are overflowed, and all the bordering
flat lands would be deluged, were they not protected from
the flood by a line of embankments, called “dykes.”
Away goes the steamer with the turn of the tide, a few
little vessels drop down on its current, and five hours af-
terwards little boys wade across in the mud above the
bridge to avoid paying the toll.

The northern and southern shores of the Basin of Minas
are bordered by bluffs of Lower Carboniferous sandstone
and shale, and soft, bright-red beds of clayey sandstone
belonging to the “New-Red” or Trias formation of geol-
ogists. The western shore is wholly composed oii this

One would expect that the action of tidal currents,
such as we have described, combined with the amount of
surface exposed to wave-action, between high and low
water, would cause a great wear of the coast ; and such is
the case, both in the Bay of Fundy and the Basin of Mi-
nas. Frosts heave off every year great masses from the
trap cliffs of Blomidon, or the shale and sandstone bluffs
of the coast of the Basin, and every year sees them more
or less completely removed, by the joint action of currents
and floating ice. The wear and tear of the softer rocks
furnishes a copious fine red mud, which is distributed by
the currents over the whole bay.* During the intervals
between ebb and flow, when the waters are stationary,
this sediment that is deposited forms extensive banks, ex-
posed over large tracts along the shores at low tide. Each
tide adds its Hayes to et banks and sloping shores,
samir vi but an exceedingly Di film, at others, espec-

4 M Tin a * fFu et +h + of Se aes
even, as We info d by fisher » a8 far ok a
bec River. — EDITORS. ;

OF THE BASIN OF MINAS. 173

ially after stormy weather, amounting to a quarter of an
inch or more. The layer formed by a night tide is said
to be thicker than that deposited by a day tide. The
. mud banks, as well as the flat marsh-lands bordering the
Basin, especially in Horton and Cornwallis, are composed
of this material. Where large tracts had reached such a
height as to be covered by only a few feet of water at
high tide, the inhabitants, to whom the French Acadians
set the example, have dyked them in, and as the “marsh
mud” forms a very fertile soil, these dyked lands are
very valuable. A little island lay a couple of miles from
the southern shore of the bay, between the mouth of the
Avon and Cornwallis. Mud accumulated between it and
the main land, and as the deposits increased, it at last
formed a marsh joining the island to the shore. The
French Acadians dyked this in, and the great meadow
thus formed was the Grand Pré, where Basil toiled in the
forge and paid court to Evangeline.

It is a beautiful day in June: let us pay a visit to
the Cornwallis River, near Wolfville. The dyked land
here, planted with oats and grass, potatoes, etc., is but a
narrow strip bordering the river. We cross it, observ-
ing the regularly laid-out ditches used to collect the sur-
face water, and carry it off by sluices through the dykes,
which is merely a mud wall a few feet in height, sufficient
to keep out the waves at high tide. Outside this wall we
find a flat area, in part bare and muddy, partly sedge-
covered. Deep gullies are cut in it by the water as it is
drained off, and at their bottoms we see immense num-
bers of coarse black-looking little shells (Nassa obsoleta
Say) crawling about. We find also a great many speci-
mens of a kind of mussel, with a furrowed shell ( Modiola
plicatula Lamk.), half buried in the mud. Occasionally a

174 THE RECENT BIRD TRACKS

clam shell turns up (Mya arenaria Linn.), and perhaps a
little thin round and flat shell (Macoma fusca Say),
while a little univalve shell ( Littorina rudis Mont.) is not
uncommonly found attached to the blades of sedge.
“Fudge !” says our companion, looking at his but half-
visible boots, “we might have chosen a better locality for
an excursion than this. Lets go back for a ramble among
the hills.” “Not so fast, my friend, we’ve come down here
to take a lesson from Nature, and we’ll find something in-
teresting by and by.” By dint of wading through the mud,
leaping across ditches, an exploit rendered somewhat diffi-
cult owing to the tenacity of the mud, which makes jump-
ing out of one’s boots something easy to accomplish, we
reach a sedgy tract, and this crossed, we are by the side of
the river. The tide is out, and a scene like that we wit-
nessed on the Avon, at Windsor, meets the eye. The bank
slopes rather steeply from its top to the bed of the river.
The warm sun has dried and cracked the mud on the sur-
face along the upper edge of the bank, and it is divided
into polygonal pieces by a network of cracks, like that of
a dried up mud-puddle, and the upper layers are curled
up a little so as to be partially separated from those un-
derneath. This cracked and dried part forms a zone
running along the whole bank, and extending downwards
some distance below high tide mark. In the lower part
the bank is always soft. Crack! goes a gun. We look
around and see a, sportsman not far off, the blue wreath
of smoke from his piece fast drifting over the dyke, while
an immense flock of “Marsh Peeps” (Tringa minuta), is
whirling around him, now almost invisible, now flashing
up like a cloud of snow-flakes, as they take a different
tack, exposing their white breasts. In certain seasons
of the year this little bird is very numerous on this shore,

OF THE BASIN OF MINAS. 175

together with several other species of waders, and large
flocks of them may be seen running busily about over the
mud flats, searching for worms, crustaceans, etc.

The baked mud of the upper zone is at present too hard
to retain the impressions of their footsteps, while that
near the bottom of the slope is too soft. The middle
zone, with its smooth, glossy, partially dried surface, is
eminently fitted to receive and retain the most delicate
impressions, and it is covered all over with the long zig-
zag lines of their little three-toed tracks. We distinguish
readily the tracks of other species of birds that have run
over the same surface. Here is the large three-toed im-
pression of the foot of the Great Blue Heron, which we
frightened away when we came up, and which is now
wading about leisurely along the edge of a sand-bank in the
middle of the river. Here are also tracks of crows and
dogs, and here, the deep, brokenly-cut hoof-prints of a
cow. ‘There are tracks both of booted and barefooted gun-
hers. See! these impressions were made by a person walk-
ing leisurely, but if you will follow them on a little you
will find that they begin to be suddenly farther apart, and
the toe becomes more deeply impressed. A sportsman has
stolen quietly up to a flock of “Peeps,” fired, and then run
to pick up his game. Here we find great numbers of
tracks made by the flock into which he fired ; and we see,
also, the long grooves made by the shot. There are feath-
ers lying about, and we can tell from the different direc-
tions in which he ran, that he has shot and picked up
half a dozen birds.

_ Let us now go up the slope a little further, to where
the mud is dry and cracked. On this hardened surface
we find the tracks of birds that ran over it a couple of
hours azo, when it was still soft. We scale off a few

176 THE RECENT BIRD TRACKS, ETC.

pieces of the upper layer to carry away with us as a speci-
men, and in doing so discover that there are tracks of the
same kind on the next layer underneath. On a previous
day the birds ran about over the mud as to-day, leaving
the impressions of their feet; these hardened in the sun ;
the tide came up softly and flowed over them, depositing
a new layer of mud upon them, thus preserving them.
This layer is pitted with little pear-shaped impressions.
“Why! these must be rain prints,” suggests our compan-
ion, who has begun to be interested in mud-studies, “and
the storm must have come from the west too, because the
prints are not round but pear-shaped, and from the direc-
tion in which the small end of the impression is turned,
you can see whence the wind was blowing at the time;
besides, the shower could not have lasted long else it
would have made the mud too soft, and none of the prints
would have been preserved. By the bye, we had a
slight shower this morning, just a little while after the
tide was full. TIl venture that near high tide mark we
shall find some record of it. Yes! here they are, and
these, too, are not round, for you remember that there was
a smart breeze blowing at the time, and so the drops struck
slantingly, making oblong impressions, the smaller ends
of which are directed to the point of the compass from
which the wind blew.” Shells, bones of fish and other
animals becom buried in these beds, together with the
remains of plants, leaves of trees, pine cones, or other
fruits ; but it is an exceedingly rare thing to find on these
flats a dead bird, unless it is one which has been killed by
a iil wen cecum in next number.

177
THE HABITS OF THE GORILLA.

BY W. WINWOOD READE.

New Eyeuanp has the honor of having discovered this
celebrated ape. The first specimen ‘was brought to
Boston by Dr. Savage. It was discovered by Professor
Jeffries Wyman, and named. by him after the wild men
(gorilla) which Hanno mentions.

Professor Wyman, however, advanced no hypothesis as
to their identity. It has recently been suggested, and
even asserted, that the gorilla of Hanno, and the gorillas
of the present day are the same. But that is a conjecture,
not impossible indeed, but incapable of anything like
proof,

Hanno, a Carthaginian, made an exploring voyage
down the west coast of Africa. His log, or Periplus, has
been preserved: He records the’ number of days occu-
pied by his voyage, mentions its chief incidents, and de-
scribes the features of the coast sometimes with minute-
ness. The two great authorities upon the Periplus are
Gosselin (Geographie des Anciens) and Rennell ( Geog-
raphy of Herodotus). The former, a sceptic, will not al-
low that Hanno sailed beyond the limits of the Barbary
_ Coast; an hypothesis to be rejected: while Rennell, evi-
dently desirous of taking him as: far as he can, fixes the
- end of his voyage at a little below Sierra Leone. Now
the chimpanzee is found in that region; but’ the gorilla
is found only close to the equator. In the first place,
pate: Hanno’s voyage must be stretched to the equa-

r:

Allowing that he did reach the equator, and that the
Voleanie peak of Fernando Po was the Currus Deorum,
“the flames of which seemed to touch the sky,” another

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

178 THE HABITS OF THE GORILLA.

difficulty remains to be disposed of. He says that the
gorille defended themselves with stones, and escaped
over the precipices. Now there are no precipices on the
coast of the gorilla country, and the gorilla of the nine-
teenth century is not in the habit of throwing stones.

The northern limit of its habitat I ascertained to be
Cape St. John. I have not penetrated to its southern
limit, but it is probably Loango. No good reason can be
assigned why the gorilla should not be found wherever
the chimpanzee is found; but specimens of the former
have not yet been procured from the backwoods of Sierra
Leone and Liberia, where the latter ape is met with fre-
quently enough. How far east the gorilla country ex-
tends is of course unknown. The Fans are the most in-
land tribe at present known east of the Gaboon.. They
told me that in the distant country to the north-east
whence they came, the gorilla (ngi) was more common
than in the Gaboon; so common that they could some-
times hear his cry from their towns.

The gorilla moves from place to place, but is almost
always found in the thickest part of the virgin forest.
His migrations, if they can be so called, are probably de-
termined by the food seasons. He is very partial to one
or two kinds of fruit. I was also shown a kind of grass
growing in small tufts; wherever that grass grows, the
gorilla is found.

Waterton says that the monkeys have no home. This
is certainly true of the gorilla and of the other anthropoid
_ apes, and it is this which renders it so difficult to shoot
them in a country which is one vast forest, with here and
there a meadow or a marsh. The gorilla builds a nest, it
is true, but not as a residence. The male arranges this
rude bed of boughs when the female is pregnant ; she is

THE HABITS OF THE GORILLA. 179

confined on it, and it is then deserted. Possibly a gorilla
might be detected sleeping in one now and then, as birds
often roost in old nests, but it is not made for that pur-
pose.

The gorilla is partly terrestrial in its habits. It moves
on all fours, sometimes assuming the erect position, but
with difficulty, and only for a short time. As it goes
along it breaks the branches of trees on either side ;
sometimes it ascends a tree to feed upon the fruit. The
plantations of the natives are usually at some distance
from their villages; the gorilla frequently visits them to
eat the plantain and the sugar-cane, especially at morn
and eve. At night it chooses a large tree to sleep in.
Its ordinary cry is of a plaintive character ; when enraged,
it is a kind of bark, or short, abrupt roar. It does not
attack man without provocation. When assailed or
wounded, it charges on all fours, seizes the offensive ob-
ject, bites it, and immediately retreats.

The gorilla is polygamous, and the male is frequently
solitary ; in fact, I have never seen more than one track
at atime: but there is no doubt that both gorillas and
chimpanzees are also found in bands. The males are
said to fight with one another in the rutting season. The
dung is like that of man, but notched in a peculiar man-
ner. There appears to be little difference in the habits
of the gorilla and the chimpanzee. The former ape is
confined to a smaller area, at least as far as we know. The
chimpanzee is said by the natives to be more intelligent,
and less ferocious. They also, though feeding on the
same kind of food, appear to prefer different sorts ; for
Which reason it is, probably, that they are found in dif-
ferent localities.

I have seen one young gorilla in a state of captivity ; it

180 THE MOSS-ANIMALS,

was as docile as the young chimpanzee, which I also saw.
It has been asserted, however, on good authority, that
the young gorilla is sometimes perfectly untamable. All
the authorities upon the habits of the gorilla are cited by
Professor Huxley in his “Man’s Pliks in Nature,” with
the exception of a curious passage in Monboddo’s “Origin
and Progress of Language” (vol. i. p. 281). M. Du Chail-
lu, in his “Journey to Ashango Land,” also gives some
details which are interesting, rather as tending to confirm
what was previously known, than as throwing any new
light upon the subject.

In fact, there is nothing remarkable in the habits of
the gorilla, nothing which broadly distinguishes it from
the other African apes, nor even from the ourang outang,
which also builds a nest, which also assumes the erect
posture now and then, and which also charges when
wounded or brought to bay.

i

THE MOSS-ANIMALS, OR FRESH WATER
POLYZOA.
PLATE 5.
BY ALPHEUS HYATT.
(Concluded from page 136.

AutnoucH Fredericella has been snail particularly re-
ferred to in the preceding Articles, they are, with one ex-
ception, almost equally applicable to all of the Phylacto-
lemata. This exception is the round disc, or lophophore,
which in the other four genera changes to a horse shoe
shape. (Compare Plate 3, fig. 4, with Plate 4, fig. 1.)

These four have, like the Fredericella, very eupho-
nious names, Plumatella, Pectinatella, Lophopus, and
Cristatella ; and, while preserving a general identity, vary

OR FRESH WATER POLYZOA. 181

extremely in the details of their anatomy and habits of
lif

e.

The Plumatellæ abound near the shores of our ponds,
close to the surface, and are generally found with Freder-
icella. Better fitted, however, to endure thè sun’s rays,
they sometimes seck places more exposed to their influ-
ence,

One sultry summer day, while searching for ac
under the shelter of a bridge, my attention was drawn to
the long water-grasses farther out in the stream, where, to
my surprise, I found a specimen of Plumatella Arethusa,
its tiny branches and living crystalline flowers glittering
in the light as they Suiga in the current unprotected
from Ni heat.

The colony is like that of Fredericella, and in some
Species the unpractised eye would not detect the differ-
ence until the horseshoe-like dises were discovered. In
others, however, such as Plumatella vitrea, the outer en-
velope remains gelatinous and transparent in the adult as
in the young, and the tubes, or polypides, are in groups
of two and more, counting sometimes twenty plumes.

The colony is dendritic, but the branches are always
creepers along the surface, and there are no constrictions
between the polypides, the branch being merely an elon-
gated, undivided sac. It approximates, in this respect, to
the next genus, Lophopus, and would belong to it, but
that the statoblast has the plain, oval annulus of its com-
patriots among the Plumatelle, which ranks it with them.

Lophopus has, also, lobiform branches, but they are
supported in an erect posture by the ectocyst, a lump of
clear jelly in which they are buried. The whole colony
is very minute, the polypides are all gathered at the ends
of the branches, and no longer oceupy separate cells as in

182 THE MOSS-ANIMALS,

Fredericella and most of the Plumatelle. In the United
States, Lophopus is very rare, only one specimen having
been found in the Schuylkill River, near Philadelphia.
In England, it is abundant upon the stems of floating
duck-weed (Lemna) and other fresh-water plants.

My first introduction to Pectinatella and Cristatella took
place some years since at Pennissewasse Pond, in Maine,
one of the smallest of the liquid gems adorning that State.

Induced by the representations of a scientific friend, I
visited the pond late in September, and its unexpected
treasures kept me a willing loiterer for several succeeding
weeks. The season was charming, full of haze and color,
with an occasional leaf drifting through the still air, to re-
mind one that the funeral cortege of the summer was pass-
ing down the year. Our way to the pond led us through
a tortuous, shallow channel, studded with the blackened
trunks of trees, the remains of a grove that had once
overshadowed the spot where we now floated. I learned
that earlier in the season this channel was much deeper,
wholly submerging the shattered stumps, which were
covered by luxuriant growths of Pectinatelle, hanging
over them like ivy over ruined towers. At this season,
however, they were bare, the Polyzoa having sought the
cooler depths of the pond.

Passing under a picturesque bridge, we entered the
main lake, a long expanse with undulating shores, more
like a a river than a lake. One could readily imagine it

on to the distant hills, closing the view to the
northward, and the old logs which here and there lifted
their sun-baked heads abeve the autumnal-tinted waters,
half reclining with the current, added another river-like
feature to the scene. We selected the oldest of these as
most likely to furnish us with the objects of our search.

OR FRESH WATER POLYZOA. 183

It was firmly imbedded, but when we finally succeeded in
bringing the under side in view, the rich harvest of speci-
mens amply rewarded our labors.

No marine or fresh-water animals of our northern cli-
mate excel the Pectinatelle in beauty, or equal them in
the tropical profusion with which they grow. The clus-
ters, some as large as our heads, others broad and flat,
were covered by hexagonal figures about an inch in diam-
eter, traced by the plumed tubes of thousands of Polyzoa.
Each hexagonal pattern, and there were hundreds in
Some settlements, was a separate colony, The deep,
amber-color of the gelatine beneath shone through their
central spaces, and each thread of the dense fringe sur-
rounding them was stained with a tiny scarlet dot, the
mouth of a polypide ; the outline of one of these is given
in Plate 4.

The cause of so many being assembled on one common
deposit of jelly, is not the least curious fact in the history
of the genus. A minute examination proves that a col-
ony of Pectinatella is little more than a hollow case, dis-
tended by the fluids within, which prevent the soft walls
from collapsing, and support the polypides protruding
from the upper side in radiating lines. When this hollow
Dee, or ccencecium, attains the length of an inch, or an
inch and a half, a crease shows itself as if a cord had been
drawn tightly about the soft walls. This, deepening,
finally cuts the colony into two smaller ones, and these,
h they grow, divide into four, which in turn divide into
sixteen, and so on. Where this increase is very rapid,
the interior. colonies are forced to expand upward, and,
adding to the gelatine as they rise, build up, in some in-
stances, clusters several feet in diameter, and eight or
More inches in thickness.

184 THE MOSS-ANIMALS,

Side by side with these, occurred thin patches of gela-
tine covered with what at first appeared a different spe-
cies of Pectinatella. The central spaces of the colonies,
however, were long and narrow, and much less brilliant,
being surrounded by tawny-colored fringes of Polyzoa.
This genus discards even the remnant of a branch which
we mentioned in the lobes of the Pectinatella, and is a
hollow sac flattened into a disc below, by which the whole
colony move upon the gelatine or ectocyst as one animal.

In Fredericella, the hard, parchment-like condition of
the ectocyst was owing wholly to the age of the colony ;
in the young, it was gelatinous.

We have seen, also, that Lophopus was buried in
its own ectocyst, which remained gelatinous throughout
life, and that- the Pectinatelle, though firmly attached,
simply rested on theirs. And we now see Cristatella
making the last step in this process, becoming entirely
independent of its ectocyst, which is only a transient se-
cretion thrown off from the creeping disc, like slime from
the foot of a snail, to smooth the path over which it
crawls. In large settlements the colonies lie closely to-
gether, but it is not infrequent to meet with a stray one
wandering by itself. Locomotion is accomplished by a
complete net-work of muscles within the sac. These, with
perhaps other muscles in the walls, enable them to ex-
pand the dise in any direction, and then secreting gela-
tine, and holding to what they have thus gained, draw up
their remaining portions. They move so slowly, how-
ever, that minute colonies require a day to get over an
inch on the side of a smooth glass dish, the larger colo-
nies: progressing even more sluggishly. In Plate 5, the
outline of a single polypide is given, with a portion of the
net-work of internal muscles. :

OR FRESH WATER POLYZOA. 185

Cristatella is no exception in the animal kingdom;
there are many instances in which compound animals
move and act in unity. But here there is some hope of
solving this mysterious diversity of number, with unity
of will and purpose.

The nervous system, wherever it is present, whether in
the distinct form of brain, nerve-mass, or ganglion, is es-
sentially the medium of sensation and of motive power.

Now if the nervous system among the Polyzoa is a
compound system, having a common trunk with branches
leading off into each Polyzoén, a sensation in the main
body could be conveyed to each individual, and thus the
will of every minute tube be brought into harmony with
all, causing the whole to move like one creature.

Fritz Müller, a German naturalist, has actually ascer-
tained that in one of the marine species of Seriolaria, the
nerves followed up the hollow trunk and branches of the
colony like the dark wood in the heart of a tree, supply-
ing each animal with a nerve. He noticed that if the
trunk of the colony was irritated, that all the Polyzoa
withdrew their plumes as if alarmed, and this led him to
investigations, which resulted. in such important discov-
eriés.

Whether all the polypides in a colony of Cristatella
unanimously resolve to move, or whether the majority
rule and, drag the minority at will, or whether again the
desire to move is excited in the central nerve-trunk by
external causes, has not yet been determined.

_ One thing, however, seems probable, that the unanim-
ity of action in the little republic is due to the union of

various individualized nervules into branches, and
finally into one grand trunk, otherwise parts of the mov-
able sac might be travelling in opposite directions at the

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 24

186 THE LAND SNAILS

same time, from the sides as well as from the ends, and
the colony be broad and sedentary, instead of long, nar-
row, and progressive.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 5. Cristatella ophidioidea Hyatt.
Fig. 1. Magnified view of one Polypide, isolated, showing at E (above)

is reduced in this genus to a circular constriction, and devoid of the
muscles marked N', in preceding plates. Z, clear spaces in the wall
of the arm. O, the bases of muscles which move the tentacles ; the
upper portions of these are seen in Fi

Figs. 2, 3, and 4. Upper and lower side, sä profile view of the stato-
blast. W’, horny sheath; W’’, annular sheath; W, spines, only
eight and five pairs of these are figured, there are in nature twenty-
two short and thirty-two long spines.

Fig. 5. View of intestine with upper part of stomach and lower part
of throat in the background. K, throat; K’, stomach; K”, intes-
tine; K, anus.

e

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

BY EDWARD 8. MORSE.

HELIX nonransis Maller... (Fig. 16.) Shell nearly
globular, smooth, shining, yellow. Whorls five, convex,
Fig. 16. spire somewhat elevated, suture at extrem-

ma ity of last whorl curved toward the aperture.

Lip slightly reflected, white, and having a
2 thickened margin within the shell; the re-
J flected condition of the lip disappearing at
. a the on of the shell. Aperture rounded; umbilicus ab-
. sent. The base of the shell is quite convex. Specimens
are so found with one or more brown bands re-
volving with the whorls. Animal blackish, tinged with
o — ws dise inky; ni Ty flesh-color.

American Naturalist. VoL. I, Pid

AM
WA
BY /

HYATT ON THE MOSS ANIMALS,

OF NEW ENGLAND. 187

This species has been found in the greatest abundance
on certain islands on the coast of Maine, and also on the
lower parts of Cape Cod and Cape Ann, ‘as well as in
Canada and Nova Scotia. It is unquestionably identical
with the European species, and is supposed to have found
its way to this country through commercial intercourse,
though it seems strange that, while in the old country
it is found near the habitations of men, in this country it
occurs only upon the most uninhabitable islands.

In England, this species is very abundant, and forms a
favorite food for the thrushes and blackbirds. Ralph
Tate, the author of a very readable book on the land and
fresh-water mollusks of Great Britain, says: “In a coun-
try walk one may frequently see a large stone surrounded
by fractured snail-shells; these are the slaughtering-
blocks whereon the poor snail is sacrificed for the wel-
fare of our songsters and their young progenies. The
shells are very systematically broken. The bird strikes
the shell upon the stone in such a position as to expose
the principal mass of the snail at about the commence-
ment of the last whorl.” In France, this species is used
as an article of food.

ALTERNATA Say. (Figs. 17, 18.) Shell flat-
tened, heavily striated ; light horn-color,
with dark brown bands and spots arranged
obliquely across the whorls. Aperture,
when viewed from below, nearly circular.
Lip simple and sharp. Whorls six in full-
grown shells.: In young specimens the
Shell is carinated, that is, the outer whorl
is keeled or angulated, instead of round-

The base of the shell is lighter in
color than the upper surface. Colorless shells are some-
times found. Diameter about one inch.

188 PARASITIC PLANTS.

This is one of the most common species of snail in New
England, though occurring only in certain localities; it
generally occurs in great numbers. It is found in forests,
and sometimes in open fields in damp situations. On
islands they often occur in the greatest profusion. When
in captivity, they lie buried most of the time under the
moist earth, and appear to suffer more from the want of
moisture than other species. — To be continued.

PARASITIC PLANTS.

BY G. D. PHIPPEN.

To persons familiar with the
principles of cultivation, and
with more or less knowledge of
our native plants, the fact that
there are tribes of plants in
other regions of the earth, that,
without any attachment what-
ever to the soil, grow and pro-
duce flowers of the most novel
form and brilliancy of colors,
seems wonderful in the ex-
treme. Such are the Epi-
phytes, or air-plants of the
tropics, whose seeds, lodging
on the branches of living or
decayed trees, or even upon

ga the very rocks, readily vege-
tite, and draw from the surrounding atmosphere the con-
stituents of their growth.

This is accomplished chiefly Dont their roots, as in

PARASITIC PLANTS. 189

other plants ; and as they are found to increase with much
greater luxuriance in the recesses of the forest, by the
banks of streams, in a sultry, humid atmosphere, we see
less difficulty in comprehending the possibilities of their
growth and the economy of their being; indeed, their na-
ture is now so well understood, that they are cultivated
with ease in our conservatories.

We do not, however, intend to write of air-plants, as
our country produces none; but we have, among our na-
tive plants, those whose methods of growth are perhaps
scarcely less novel and wonderful; such as our parasites,
which derive their nourishment from other living plants
to which they adhere,—depending upon the leaves and
roots of such plants for the necessary contact with the
atmosphere and the soil.

The name Parasite is of great significance, for such
plants are robbers in the fullest sense, and live solely at
the expense of their neighbors.

The most marked example in this region of such anom-
alous plants is the Dodder. Our species, the Cuscuta
Gronovii (O. umbrosa Torrey, or C. vulgivaga Engle-
mann) is as strongly marked,and more widely distributed
than either of the other American species.

The genus Cuscuta has generally been appended to
the Convolvulacee, or the Convolvulus tribe, which con-
sists chiefly of twining plants, and have regular monope-
talous pentandrous corollas, and two to four-celled cap-
sules, with large seeds. This order is well represented by
the Cypress vine and the Morning-glory.

The Cuscutas have no leaves, for these plants need
none; all the necessary functions of leaves, as has been
stated, being performed by the leaves of other plants on
which they grow. They have, however, a few minute .

190 PARASITIC PLANTS.

scales in alternate succession, which are in place of leaves,
and from their axils spring the branches. (See Fig. 1.)
Although so anomalous as these plants are supposed to
be, yet the right of being perfect plants must be conecded
them, and they are properly assigned a place with other
Convolvuli.

Eight or nine species grow freely in this country, two
of which are found in New England.

O. epilinum, or the Flax Dodder of the old world,
mentioned by Gerard and more ancient writers, is natu-
ralized here to some extent. It is said to grow only upon
flax, to which it is a great pest, spoiling large quantities.
It was noticed by Dr. Cutler as being destructive in his
time ; but as that useful plant is now seldom cultivated in
this region, the Flax Dodder is but rarely detected. A
monograph of the American species, prepared by Dr.
George Englemann, of St. Louis, can be found in Silli-
man’s Journal, vols. 43, p. 333, and 45, p. 73.
~ Under the name O. Americana, the various native spe-
cies were for a long time confounded. The botanical
text-books tell us that the seeds of this strange plant
germinate 'in the earth in the ordinary manner, throwing
downward a root into the soil, by which for a short time
the tender plantlet is sustained, until it elongates its
thread-like stem sufficiently to reach some foster-plant,
around which it immediately twines, and into whose
tender bark it thrusts aerial roots, which feed upon its
juices; after which, no longer needing attachment to
the soil, the primitive root withers away.

- After many times plucking the cord-like stems of
this plant, and noticing the decisive development of
its flowers and seed (for they are as perfect as upon
leaf-clad plants), we resolved to prove, with our own

PARASITIC PLANTS. 191

eyes, its double nature and singular method of growth.
Accordingly we procured some perfect seed of which the
wild plant produces an abundance, and of a size by no
means diminutive, and planted them in a bed with other
seeds, in small rows, each appropriately tallied, and all
designed for transplanting, in due time, to suitable places
in the border. In a very few days after planting, the Cus-
cuta-seed uncoiled its feeble embryo, and erected its sim-
ple yellow thread into the sunshine and air; but while
we waited for further developments, the spring winds and
the warm suns of noon quickly withered them away.

Thus our first attempt at cultivation utterly failed, and
solely for the want of some older plants in sufficient prox-
imity for the young seedlings to cling to, but which at
the time escaped our reflection. Months elapsed before
the experiment was again tried, which was done within
doors and in mid-winter with perfect success. The seed
_ readily germinated as before, and when the young plants
were about an inch in height, they were taken separately
from the earth, and placed here and there on the axils of
the leaves of plants near at hand, such as Fuschias, Ge-
raniums, and sundry hanging plants.

With the instincts of their nature (if it be pardonable to
use that term), they in a few days attached themselves to
these plants, particularly to the Fuschias; and as the
spring advanced, they grew with great luxuriance and
flowered freely, but, as might be supposed, to the mani-
fest detriment of the plants about which they twined.
This, however, was overlooked in the satisfaction arising
from success ; for had their yellow stems been gold, and
their clusters of flowers pearls, the satisfaction would
hardly have been greater. Those placed on the hanging
Plants, although they adhered, made but feeble growth.

192 PARASITIC PLANTS.

One seedling placed upon a plant of Déelytra spectabilis
did not twine or extend itself with much freedom, but,
taking a turn or two near the extremity of one of the
branches, it there expended its strength in perfecting
a large conglomerate cluster of one hundred or more
bells of unusual size and purity of color. In the process
of transplanting from the earth to their aerial abode, we
at first attempted to convey a ball of earth with each
seedling, but this was soon found to be worse than use-
less.

C. Gronovii, the species under consideration, is found
in low damp places, and by the side of brooks and
ponds, twining and climbing over such plants as the Wil-
low and Cephalanthus, Decodon and Lythrum, Solidago
and Impatiens, to which it attaches itself by “tuberculous
processes” or “radicating papille,” as its roots or suck-
ers, under the partial knowledge of their nature, have
hitherto been called. This plant grows often to the
length of five or six feet, with its branching, leafless :
stems, considerably resembling tangled cord, and are of
a deep yellow or orange color, being thickly studded
with cymose clusters of small white bell-shaped flowers,
somewhat like those of the Lily of the Valley, but much
more diminutive. We have seen this plant growing on
the banks of Ipswich River and its brooklets, in great lux-
uriance, stretching far over the water upon the deeply-
immersed stems of the Button-bush and Decodon.

This species of Cuscuta does not appear
p> to have any partiality to particular species of
foster-plants, but freely attaches itself to such
as grow within its reach (Fig. 2). Its flow-
ers, or little globose bells, consist of short
five-lobed tubes, with calices similarly divided, and five

PARASITIC PLANTS. 193

stamens inserted between the lobes of the corolla, upon
peculiar scaly fringes, not visible in the drawing, which
are an expansion of the filaments of the stamens.

The seed contains a filiform embryo, without cotyle-
dons, lying spirally coiled in fleshy albumen, and is dis-
tinctly discernible while the seed is in a green state; and
here we see written, in the spiral form of the dormant
embryo, a prediction of the character of the future plant.
In the process of germination this ee
embryo simply uncoils itself; one
end as a radicle strikes downward
into the soil, while the other, as a
plumule, rises from the earth, first
breaking ground in the form of a ©
loop, then when the point becomes disengaged resem-
bling a fish-hook, and finally appearing quite straight in
its efiort to reach some friendly support (Fig. 3). :

It is generally represented in plates as rising in a spi-
ral form, as also are the branches of the older plants, but
this form is not manifest while the unsupported thread is
stretching upward for succor, as if attracted by some
neighboring object; it is only when the stem is obstruct-
ed, or when it reaches the coveted prop, that the spiral
form is assumed, and then it becomes very quickly ap-
parent. This is probably true of all twining plants. We
have seen the tendril of a squash vine rolled into a per-
fect ball, when beat by the wind against a stone-wall, the
irregularity of whose surface it in vain tried to grasp;
while others upon the same plant, not meeting with ob-

uction, were nearly straight.

: The radicle, which is club-shaped, is often turned up

_ form like a boot ; it never increases in size, or ramifies

m the ground, but is sufficiently absorbant to keep the
25

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

194 PARASITIC PLANTS.

young plant alive for some time, but not enough so to
add materially to its primitive development. If at this
time a young plant be pulled from the earth, and laid
upon its surface, or placed upon some other plant, it will
live many days without attachment; and here we see a
wise provision of nature, adapted to the peculiar circum-
stances in the infancy of the plant.

Generally, on the fourth or fifth day after the feeble
seedling has been placed upon its guardian branch, it will
make one turn around the stem, and the tubercles will
immediately appear on the inner side of the twining part,
and, after a few more days have passed, the work of ab-
sorption will commence. These tubercles, as they grow
quite near together along the stem, bear a superficial re-
semblance to the feet of caterpillars. (See Fig. 1.) Under
the microscope each one, in its early stages of develop-
ment, appears to be composed of a circle of smaller promi-
nences, which finally unite in forming one root or sucker.
As the plant continues to twine, these papille rapidly
multiply wherever the stem closely touches other living
tissue, and they are found to unite readily even on other
parts of its own stem; they often incipiently form along
the inner side of the vine, when at a considerable distance
from contact. After passing many of these papille un-
der the microscope, we at last detected the manner of at-
tachment and the character of the union.

sacl me depression in the centre of the above-de-
scribed circle of swollen cells, a very
manifest horn-like process protrudes,

IE- and inserts itself into the tissues of

the fate aan and rapidly unites with it (Fig. 4)-
Where. the supporting stem is succulent, this root plunges
far beyond the cuticle, even into the very pith of the

PARASITIC PLANTS. 195

plant, and soon forms a perfect graft (Fig. 5). The cells
of the parasite can be traced deeply imbedded, until lost
at the margin, among the cells of the ;
guardian plant, which is thenceforth
compelled to support the vine to frui-
tion,—expanding its flowers, and per-
fecting its numerous progeny of seeds.
Though these aerial roots (which are the only true roots
the plant has), are thus seen to penetrate to a consider-
able depth, their union is of such a character, and the
absorption and assimilation of the two classes of cells
so gradual and complete, that no manifest swelling of
the tissues of either plant in contact is visible.

When grown within doors, the plant is somewhat
green, and does not take on that deep orange color, so
general in its native state.

Such are a few observations that this humble plant has
afforded. It merits farther investigation, and, in the
economy of its nature, is as worthy an object of study
as the venerated oak, or the tree that yields us fruit.

Among our wild plants are to be found many others
of a parasitic nature. With but a passing allusion to the
lichens, fungi, and mosses, many of which grow by at-
tachment to other plants, and are more or less Epiphytic
in character, we proceed to notice a peculiar tribe of ab-
normal plants, that however much they may resemble
fungi in certain aspects of their being, yet, as they have
flowers and fruit conformable to those of the highest
organization, will ever maintain a place among true
phenogamous plants, such as Beech Drops,—Epiphegus,
and different species of Orobanche,—whose seed are said
to germinate only in contact with the roots of beech, or
other favorite of the particular species. In the subdued

196 OYSTER CULTURE.

light of the forest, these verdureless plants elevate their
brown and yellow stems, covered with scales instead of
leaves, but having perfect flowers.

The Monotropa,—Indian pipe or Pine-sap,—more
fungus-like still, holds a rightful place among the Pyro-
lace, or Heaths, and with its clusters of white or tawny
stems, each crowned with a large distinct flower, grows
from the decayed roots and leaves of the oak and pine.

It has also been found that sundry leaf-bearing genera,
situated at no great remove from the Orobanchx are more
or less parasitic upon the roots of other plants; and it is
probably from this cause that the Castilleja, or painted
cup, the Gerardias, and Pedicularis are so difficult, or so
nearly impossible to cultivate. We have often transplant-
ed them from their native wilds to the garden, and have
as often met with disappointment. An English species of
Comandra, similar to our Thesium umbellatum, whose
fascicles of flowers remind one of diminutive bunches of
white lilacs, is also said to form parasitic attachments
upon the roots of trees.

OYSTER CULTURE.

BY F. W. FELLOWES,

Bryonp dispute or question, the French government
has taken the lead of all the world in the scientific propa-
gation and skilful culture of the oyster. For the past six
years, the great discovery by the distinguished French
savan, Professor Coste, of the mode of reproduction of
this mollusk, has been converted to practical use ; and in
suitable localities on the western coast of France, im-
_ perial farms, or parcs, as they are called, have already

OYSTER CULTURE. 197

been put into successful operation. Many hundred mil-
lion of these delicious bivalves (they are sold in France
by the hundred, or count, and not by the bushel as with
us) now flourish and fatten in shallow bays and basins,
where, a few years since, not a solitary specimen could be
taken, owing to the thoughtless and improvident, industry
of the fishermen, who captured and sold every oyster
they could find, regardless of season, size, or condition.
As a natural consequence the native growth was exter-
minated, and it seemed probable that a source of profit-
able labor was gone forever from a very considerable
number of the Radia class on the seaboard, who, in over-
populated France, could ill afford to lose one chance of
earning their few sous a day; while, on the other hand,
the tables of the rich were likely to be deprived of one of
their favorite and most esteemed luxuries.

Just at this time, in 1858-9, Professor Coste settled a
long-mooted point in natural history, namely, that the
oyster—in common with many of the lower order of aceph-
alous animals—is hermaphrodite, combining both sexes
in the same individual, and his theory of its generation
is substantially as follows :—

Possibly the second year, but certainly the third year,
the oyster reproduces its kind. During the summer,
at seasons varying with locality and temperature from
April to July, many hundred thousand ova are simul-
taneously produced in capsules provided for them ;
these ova are fecundated at an early period of their
growth, long before their increase of size and weight
causes shows to burst the ovarian capsules, and com-
mence their existence in the milky fluid which is pre-
pared for them at this time. The ova are especially en-
veloped and protected by the branchial folds of the

198 OYSTER CULTURE.

mother oyster. By an admirable provision of nature,
this milky fluid now begins to dry up and thicken, form-
ing a paste which deposits upon the ova exactly what is
necessary to form a delicate shell in a few hours, when
brought into contact with the salt water by expulsion
from the shell of the parent oyster. No sooner is one
brood thus sent out into the world of waters to shift for
itself, than this process is immediately repeated, and it is
known that an adult oyster produces between two and
three million of young during a season.

Although the oyster is so remarkably prolific, the
“spat” or “spawn” has so many enemies who feast upon
it, and there are so many chances against its safely finish-
ing the second year,—when it is tolerably safe,—that
an average of less than one-tenth is permitted to attain a
merchantable size.

The spawn does not escape of its own accord from the
mother oyster, but is expelled (Jancé) with considerable
force, forming at first a grayish cloud which soon dis-
perses and disappears by motion of the water and by in-
dividual action, as each young oyster—gifted with slight
filial affection—seems eager to remove as far as possible
from its parent and the place of its birth, and fearlessly
swims away, henceforward to take care of itself and find
its own means of existence. These independent little
ones are provided with a special locomotive apparatus,—
which is at the same time an organ of respiration, and
perhaps of hearing and of vision,—by means of which
they disperse themselves at the proper time in search of
some hard and solid body like a stone, a branch, or a
shell to which they can attach themselves and “settle
down” for life. |

“Nothing is more curious and more interesting,” says

OYSTER CULTURE. 199

M. Davaine in his “Recherches sur la génération des hut-
tres,” than to see, under the microscope, these little mo-
lusks travel round the portion of a drop of water, which
contains them in vast numbers, mutually avoiding one
another, crossing each other’s track in every direction
with a wonderful rapidity, never touching and never
meeting.”

This curious motive power consists of a great number
of hair-like filaments, called cilia, which take their rise in
a dark-colored fleshy mass that emerges from, and over-
laps the valves of the oyster on the edge opposite to, and
farthest from the hinge, and operated by powerful mus-
cles, can be at pleasure drawn entirely within the valves.

If the young wanderer meets with any hard substance,
it clings to it, and in a few hours—as it is at this time
rapidly making its shell—a calcareous deposit fixes it
there, and, in due course of time, the cilia drop off. But
even if no such suitable object presents itself, these wan-
derings must certainly soon come to an en

The base of the locomotive apparatus gradat nar-
rows, this organ becomes more and more prominent, un-
til it is only attached by a single slender membrane to
the ‘oyster,—which still continues to travel with it,—
when, at last, it entirely detaches itself from the oyster,
which at once sinks, incapable of farther motion, while
the cilia keep on swimming ; but, like a vessel without @
helm or pilot, their motion is undirected, they roll over
and over on themselves, colliding with everything in
their course, and, though they can hardly be said to die,
soon cease to move.

As soon as the cilia are removed, the oyster com-
mences life in earnest: lips to seize its food, and a stom-
ach to digest it, are developed; branchiæ, or respiratory —

200 OYSTER CULTURE.

organs appear ; the heart reveals itself and begins to beat ;
all the functions necessary for existence are set in motion
in good working order; and if fortunately placed for
obtaining infusorial and vegetable nourishment, in three
or four years this embryo “Cove” or “Millpond” or
“Shrewsbury” will become a delicate mouthful for the
consumer

Though there are many other enemies of the modest
and inoffensive oyster, there are three which are specially
feared, and cause the greatest loss to the planter in Amer-
ican waters, namely, the “Starfish” (Asterias arenicola
Stimpson), the “Drill” (Buccinum plicosum. Gould), and
the “Winkles” (Pyrula canaliculata and P. carica).

All are familiar with the appearance of the Starfish,
though few, even of old oystermen accustomed to annual-
losses from this five-fingered pest, are acquainted with the
manner in which it is so destructive. Even writers upon
the oyster, whose general information upon this subject
should have taught them better, have fallen into the same
error of supposing that the taper fingers are introduced
between the valves, and, in some mysterious manner, kill
and devour the contents.

The Starfish is provided with an extensible mouth, sit-
uated in the middle of the underside, and can only injure
an oyster of a certain size relative to its own. If the
oyster is small enough, it is swallowed shell and all; the
body is digested, and the shell ejected. But if its victim
is a little too large for this operation, Nature has provid-
ed this scourge with the power to turn its stomach inside
out, envelope the unhappy oyster, and absorb the dainty
flesh within by means of gastric juice. A. Agassiz, in

“Seaside Studies,” speaks of this peculiarity as follows:
“These animals have a singular mode of eating; they

OYSTER “CULTURE, 201

place themselves over whatever they mean to feed upon,
as a cockle-shell, for instance, the back gradually rising as
they arch themselves above it; they then turn the digest-
ive sac, or stomach, inside out, so as to enclose their prey
completely, and proceed leisurely to suck out the animal
from its shell.”

When nothing more within the shell remains to be
eaten, the stomach is turned back again, and, gifted with
a constant and insatiable appetite, the Starfish is ready
to recommence its filthy feeding upon the first oyster
within its reach. The countless suckers on the under-
side of this animal are used only for locomotion, just as
the fly walks upon the ceiling by means of a similar con-
trivance on the feet. The general belief that the Starfish
takes its nourishment in some mysterious way by means
of these suckers is consequently an erroneous one, as
they have no openings at the ends, and do not connect in
any way with the stomach.

The Drill is a troublesome and destructive intruder
upon the oyster-bed, the more so that, from its small size
and rapid multiplication, it is difficult to eradicate from
a locality when it has once colonized in force. Whole

are sometimes taken up and transplanted, to avoid
this detestable little thief. A slightly different species of
the Drill forms no small item of cheap food for the French
peasants. They call it the Bigorneau (Murex tarentinus),
and, when boiled, the meat is picked out with a large nee-
dle. Its flavor is excellent, though it is repulsive in ap-
pearance, being of a dark green color, and having a de-
cided spiral tail, which renders it anything but inviting
to a person about to eat it for the first time.

The Drill has a dark, ridgy, conical shell, about an inch
long, and by the help of a broad, flat, fleshy foot, with

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. L 26

202 OYSTER CULTURE.

which it is provided, fixes itself exactly over what is
commonly called the eye of the oyster, and by means of
a rough file-like tongue, which it moves forward and back,
over the chosen spot, soon drills a round hole through the
shell, and sucks out the life and juices of the oyster at its
Ioisure.

The Winkles are a much larger species of the same
tribe, and destroy the oyster in a similar manner, only
not being so numerous, they cause less damage, and are
not so much dreaded by the oyster planter as the little
Drill.

The oysters to be found on the carte of any good res-
taurant in Paris are,—the common oyster, price fifteen
cents per dozen; the Ostend, price thirty-five cents pcr
dozen; the Marennes, or green, price thirty-five cents per
dozen; and the Imperial, price forty cents per dozen.

Each variety has a peculiarity, and its special admirers.
The last three, during the winter months, are fat and full-
flavored, though small; the Ostend and Imperial being
English born, but cultivated and manipulated in France.
The French oyster-shell is more round and flat than our
-own, the body lying in a sudden deep depression close up
to the hinge, while a considerable space of the interior of
the shell is unoccupied by anything except the mantle. A
dozen of either of the last three varieties is a better appe-
tizer to commence a dinner with, than any kind known in
this country ; while for cooking in every form, the much
larger size of the American oyster renders it by far,

_ The French lay great stress upon having the shell of
this oyster extremely clean (bien nettoyé). A gentleman
at Marennes, who cultivates the green oyster, has recently

. a tide-mill—for which he has a patent—for the

SCORPION OF TEXAS. 203

double purpose of smoothing the roughness and perfectly
cleansing the outside, and of wearing off enough weight
of shell by ¢rituration to save a dollar freight on the rail-
way carriage to Paris, of a panier containing a thousand.

SCORPION OF TEXAS.

BY G. LINCECUM, M. D.

Tue scorpions of Middle Texas, so far as I have investi-
gated the subject, do not extend Sasi a single species.
There may be others, but I
have not observed them. The
species we have is viviparous,
carrying its young, eight in
number, on its back, until they
are three-fourths of an inch in
length. When first seen, cling-
ing on the back of the mother
scorpion, they are so small that
it requires a microscope to ex-
amine them satisfactorily. They
are white, and look as if they
were very tender. They cling
tenaciously, and when by vio-
lence they are separated from
the mother, she shows manifest signs of distress, running
about till she comes in contact with the lost ones, ohen
they immediately climb up and cling again closer than
before. At this early period, they seem already to be
well versed in scorpion tactics, wielding their nimble tail,
and its recurved weapon, with dexterity and swiftness.

Scorpions pass the winter in close quarters, and gen-

EF j te
pipas ii | ee
BEPPES E

E

—
=

Sea EG a) se Sale

204 SCORPION OF TEXAS.

erally in a torpid state. They are seen early in warm
weather coming out at nights, and sometimes during
warm damp periods in winter. They are altogether noc-
turnal in their habits, and are carnivorous, subsisting on
insects of various kinds, and even small lizards. As a
speciality, they prey largely on crickets. They dwell
under old logs, rocks, in old stumps, under the bark of
dead trees, under old fences, between the shingles on
house-tops, and particularly about the jambs and hearths
of fire-places. In temper they are hasty, and will employ
their weapons on slight occasions. The pain occasioned
by their venom, when injected into one’s flesh, is very
quickly felt, and quite severe, giving the idea of a burn-
ing-hot fluid thrown into the system. It does not last
long, nor does it swell much, and is not so painful, nor
does it produce so much inconvenience as the sting of the
honey-bee. In countries where they abound, people do
not regard them with much terror. Chickens are very
fond of them, and voraciously devour every one they can
find.

I once found a mocking-bird ( Mimus polyglottus) which
by some awkward stroke in his rapid flight, had fractured
his right wing. It was running on the ground, and had
become quite hungry and light. After dressing and se-
curing the little songster’s wing, I turned over some old

rails in search of something for him to eat. There were
plenty of crickets and scorpions concealed under the
rails, for the latter of which he showed the greatest pref-
erence. He would peck at them, and by bruising and

_ thus stunning them a little, readily swallow them whole.

After he had swallowed seven of them, I thought, as I

_ had volunteered my services as surgeon and physician for

him, it would not be prudent for me to suffer him to in-

A NOTE FROM THE FAR NORTH. 205

dulge farther at this time; so I placed him in a large
cage with some canary birds, where he remained feasting
on nine scorpions a day, until he had recovered the use
of his wing, when I set him free.

Scorpions are generally found two or three together,
sometimes in larger numbers. They shed their skins
without a rent, coming out at the mouth, like the snakes.
They moult when they are about half-grown, and again
when they come to maturity, and I do not know that they
ever again cast their skin during the remainder of their
life. They live through two winters, as I can testify, and
may exist many years. They are not possessed of much
intelligence, making no nests or preparation for winter,
Bead crawling petn rocks and other dry and sheltered
places. Their principal cerebral developments are ama-
tiveness, alimentiveness, and cautiousness.

A NOTE FROM THE FAR NORTH.

BY J. T. ROTHROCK.

Earty in the year 1865, the writer of this scrap eagerly
embraced an opportunity afforded him of visiting the less
known parts of North-western North America. The
region travelled over lay between the Coast Range and
the Rocky Mountains, and from latitude 50° north to. 61°
north.

From latitude 56°, as far north as Fort Youkon (a post
belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, exact position
undetermined) , a distance of at least 1,500 miles, the
country was, and still is, in part, a terra incognita. It is
to be hoped that erelong much of the uncertainty hang-
ing over it will have been cleared up. Geographers, it is

206 A NOTE FROM THE FAR NORTH.

true, did manage to fill up the blank in a wonderfully in-
accurate way, just as they used to—

“In Afric’s maps
With savage pictures fill the gaps,
And o’er inhabitable d
PI h

?
want of towns.”

en

Even of the upper waters of the Fraser, Nasse, or Skena
Rivers, no trustworthy chart existed. Much less could
we expect those of the Pelly or Liard to be accurate.

At Fort St. James, on Stuart’s Lake, latitute 54° 44’,
longitude (approximate) 124° 48’, the unknown country
may be said to begin. Here for the first time we notice
the outlying peaks of another set of mountains, which
completely fill the valley (a degree farther north) be-
tween the Coast Range and the Rocky Mountains.

These mountains, though known by name to geogra-
phers, have always had their altitude underestimated.
Near Stuart’s Lake they are as high as three thousand
feet above the general level of the lakes. At Lake Tatleh
they rise to five thousand feet. At Bear Lake, about lati-
tude 56° 15’ N., they are from six thousand to eight thou-
sand, and near Lake Toutah they rise often as high as ten
thousand feet. These altitudes are only given as ubove
the general, or lake levels. Add to them from three thou-
sand to five thousand feet, and it will at once be seen that
they attain no mean elevation above the sea level. Per-
haps I can give no more just idea of the general features
of the country around Lake Toutah, than to state that the
land rises into a plateau, about 3,500 feet above the sea
level. This plateau, lying between the Coast and Rocky
Mountaii , is dotted over with peaks of the above-men-
tioned heights. Sometimes neighboring peaks are joined
by their bases; often one finds them completely isolated.
Nature seems to have set at defiance all law and order,

A NOTE FROM THE FAR NORTH. 207

and to have been governed only by the wildest caprice
in their distribution. No axis can be traced, and it is
a physical impossibility to walk for a day in a straight
line over the prairie plateau at their base. One may as-
cend, as a rule, the southern slopes of these peaks readily
enough, but the northern slopes almost invariably give
you from 1,500 to 2,000 feet of sheer precipice at a sin-
gle leap. Skirting their bases are found dwarfed balsam
trees, whose limbs are festooned with the long gray lichen
eaten by the Caribou, or now and again a stray cotton-
wood may present itself. So thickly are the peaks dis-
tributed over the country, that the original plateau is seen
only as a narrow and almost treeless valley, winding
about between the peaks. Yet by following these valleys
one may reach the waters of the Liard without crossing a
single mountain.

The storms which sweep through the passes must, at
times, be fearful. I remember seeing a tree (the largest
one indeed which I noticed at this elevation) full two feet
in diameter, that had been twisted off by the wind, and
carried two hundred feet away from the stump.

Near the top the peaks are bald, and offer no other
inducement to the adventurous botanist than a few lich-
ens. Even the snow will not lie on the summits during
the winter months, but is blown away into the valleys
below, and into the gulches which streak the declivities.
Hence, during the winter, when the valleys are buried
beneath twelve or fourteen feet of snow, the Caribou seek
the mountain tops to eat the lichens. The valleys are
worn out into deep gulches by the melting snow, and
everywhere you are met by miniature cafions in crossing
them. Even in mid-summer the snow falls to a depth of
a foot or more, at times, on the mountain sides. Among

208 A NOTE FROM THE FAR NORTH.

these mountains lies Lake Toutah, a beautiful sheet of
water, full sixty miles long. At certain places the moun-
tains come jutting down to the very water's edge, and at
others recede so as to allow a beautiful open prairie to
stretch along the edge. This lake is the head of F inlay’s
Branch of Peace River, which in turn empties into McKen-
zie’s River. Yet within less than two hundred yards of
its southern end rises a tributary of the Skena River,
which empties into the Pacific Ocean in latitude 54° N.

The extremes of temperature are great. September
15th, in latitude 56° N., the thermometer stood at 6 o'clock,
A. M., at 15° Far., at 2 o'clock, P. m., at 83° Far. After
the avalanches and solar heat have carried off the snow
from the mountain sides and valleys, the vegetation again
starts up with a rapidity that would astonish even a native
of the tropics. Hardly a fortnight elapses after giving up
the snowshoes, before one finds the lower and more fertile
spots covered with verdure, and blooming as a garden.
Among these early flowers we find a Nardosmia, Calypso
borealis, several species of Violets, a Polemonium, Vale-
rian, ete. These mountains form an Indian paradise. Se-
cure here from any present or prospective annoyance from
the whites, the Siccannee, Nahanni, Koninah, and Klo-
o-dini tribes hunt the Caribou, Grizzly Bear, Moose,
Beaver, and Marten. Perhaps the beavers are nowhere
in the world so numerous as among the Peak Mountains.
The Indians are, as a rule, friendly, and no man of ordi-
nary courage need to be deterred through fear from going
where he lists. To the young, active adventurer, who
wishes to make a name for himself as an explorer, no
more promising field than the one we have noticed can
present itself.

Md i
r
P

l

209

KENST

PRODROME OF A WORK ON THE BERET OF ARIZONA TERRI-
TORY. By Elliott Coues, M. D., U. 8. A. Philadelphia, ae 8vo.
pp.

This forerunner of a larger work on the Birds of Arizona contains a

Whipple, with which are enumerated all other species ascertained t
inhabit the Territory; together with brief critical and field notes, at
descriptions of several new species. We extract several paragraphs
showing the great interest eam the ne of a new fauna, and the
relation of animals to the soil they

Ne athe fs features, ees ae — piae Sagaen arate Arizona from adjacent regions,
ap as those which distinguish “A fro she

Sr spade ‘ sg inl i
bs the ath say from tee nora, of several Mexican and subtropical species, A
E edger. so tos speak, of these ty pes is pushed a little northward of Mexico, and they are
ly the birds of Southern Ari-
zona, and of the Colorado males: for : a considerable distance, Perhaps this is more decid-
edly the case here than at other points, om our southern border. A considerable nuri-
ber misasi Ppeiy belonging to the United States Fauna, and generally distributed
througho beyond the Sonoran border; while at the same time
ai interesting to note that — species urosa one Bigh upm n Ariko — a even further

hich a +th ir hi

h, w
ERTE neither the climate nor physical geog graphy ake seda n aa diverse
e Avifaunz, un-

rg mage the apparent absence of one family can be PADE as a marked pecu-

“Some fact. the birds, From the
hemia of water throughout almost eve ry mene of the meeribory | ek pee as a nat-
aucity of Grallatorial and Natato) uch so, that

wit a afew ie exceptions, a list of the Water Birds of the pone! fee y little more
There is also to be noted,

interesting fact, the effect of the hot, arid, desert wastes of the region of the Gila,
ands Southern , Ari A light, dull,

v
Dparent ahd ey PETZ ig tet Fe m

oe a all lines and streaks are more or less obsolete in character, is met with in nume-
rous instances, forming true local races or varieties, In other cases the

ters which distinguish birds of this middle southern province from other closely allied
species, partake, in a measure, of this peculiarity.

“In this connection L may advert to an interesting point, which I consider as quite
En able, though contrary to hae bse pattie of migration; viz., that many of the birds of
Poa peta apc which r residents, instead of migrating far to the

im spring, by t turning simply t to oa here find in the region of which Fort Whip-

Ea r ©
da € Seasons are well pronounced at Fort Whipple, and do not one notably from
sneha Made Atlantic States. This enables us trenchantly to divide those of its
tory h are not permanent residents into summer and winter ane aes migra-
Mances passing through in the spring and autumn. And I have noticed in many in-

S inat the times of arrival departure of non-residents are strikingly similar to
migratory rough n, ‘the reverse

210 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

the case in southern Arizona; where the protracted heat and drought of a long summer,
which seenecies on intermediate seasons, eaxircested the regelar: arity of migration; or even
entir ely ta! ay fi y impulse.”

The habits ofa PS of EPSE are thus described :—

The ge isa xylo paana rather than an insectivorous one. I do not
mean that the Fa n never eat insects, for coleoptera and their larvæ may often be
HIE in sa stoma But their lai. sustenance is the cambrium, or soft, inner, live

10ugh to discri
cies of Picus, Melanerpes, Centurus, ae Instead o simply “ “ta pping 7 trees

yt
larv working within, ‘the Sphyrapicines denude live nrescheg of their varn — gr iei
area of several square inches at a tim
from which the bark has been re paved from large ir rregularly shaped spaces; and the
PEN as mg ht be expected, - ones eedingly different from that produced from the mips
Bes ides — Sey g sheep species,

particularly in the full, feed

The occurrence of hybrids TREE closely allied species of animals
is now well known sometimes to occur. The author thus speaks of a
— caer two “nig of TO the Snow-bir

ceps, because in a my collection are several examples which I regard as most undoubtedly

brids between the two. Their general aspect is that of caniceps; t the head, Hedley ae

throat being slate gray, not black; the lores decidedly blackish, etc.
in

sal area, colored as in oregonus, ey most marked feature of all, the sides are strongly
Hngen with pinkish fulvous. S, exactly as in nei ie instead of being plain m gray,
S in caniceps. _ Oth r speciimens ] agate means still more to-
rds oregonus, j i
“The ee, are pich ep hybrids, that they mere not in the least invalidate ot
negii tio: ag nak species. In the case o Bees ‘olaptes auratus i and me.
s, it has i a hathi
? * a

sees allied ane ane distinct species.”
The Wild Turkey was found to be “a permanent resident of co

much so that I procured no specimens. In some portions of ‘tis
Southern Rocky Mountains region, it is exceedingly numerous.”

KATUBAL HIST KORT, MISCELLANY.

TERET
Tue Lotus.—All the tribes a the White Nile have their harvest
of the Lotus seed. There are two species of water lily —the

large
white flower, and the small tcl The seed-pod of the white lotus
is like an —— ws kilichoko, containing a number of light-red grains
equal in size t must; at seed, i ak p d lik PES E A the poppy, and

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 211

similar to them in flavor, being sweet and nutty. The ripe pods are
collected a strung upon sharp-pointed reeds about four feet in
lengt n thus threaded they are formed into large bundles, and
carried ri the river to the villages, where they are dried in the sun,
and stored for use. The seed is ground into flour, and made into a
kind of porridge. — Baker’s Albert Nyanza.

pier Troe

ZOOLOGY.

RTIFICIAL NESTS OF INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS IN SWITZERLAND. —I
is evident that the agriculturist must mainly rely on the insectivorous
birds to guard against the attacks of injurious insects. The subject
has attracted much attention in Europe. For twenty-five years, M
Auguste Burnat has domesticated in artificial nests, numerous species
of birds which have effectually stopped the ravages of insects. Such
nests, made of various forms and of different materials to suit their
occupants, were placed in the ete in ln orchards, and in public
promenades and parks. The birds most easily raised were the spar-
rows, etc. (Fringilla, aah Seia the ernis (Sitta), and the
Sasdpicker TS, W. wr last are very serv
Swallows. The starli ing had ‘een n raised. in great numbers, being more
TEN multiplied an myo ord

During the years 1852 to 1857, t ts, M. Dietrich, at Grun-
beim, in Saxony, n ed that two species of Beetles, the ‘inc abietis and ater [allied
to our Pine Weevils], h e firs of his district. During this

time there were spent in dest: stroy ing these insects over four thousand francs, but in spite
bined effort the evil still existed, It was then remedied by the Starlings. The inspec-

of pines (epiceas). The neces was complete. At the end of May, in examining some

son oe scarcely ae to fly, — stomachs were found filled with Weevils, whose
” had been, previously to their being swallowed, broken off by the parent birds.

Ir th IF the Star arlings some etime feed o on plumb s an grapes, 6, the, ey can be sasiy frightened of,

ve may attribute the cause, in part, to the artificial nests established for ae Starling. It
the same in Holstein and in oe where Sari take the same care in multiplying
the Owls.” — Bulletin de la Societe d Acclimatati
We learn that two hundred E hie sparrows were last year domes-
ticated in Union Par k, in New York city, and that they on
destroyed the Canker-worms infesting the shade trees. pai
nore just been imported into New Haven. The English Spel

o
this Society, a April 18th, Dr. Charles Pickering called attention
to the recent in troduction of the House sparrow of Europe into this
country. As it threatens great evil, preventive measures should be

6

912 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY

speedily adopted. Proofs of its destructive habits were cited from
rd authors, showing that the bird had been the paiana

enemy of mankind for more than five thousand years. When writin
was invented the Rip was selected for the hinsoaly phie cuca.
ter signifying enem
“ Sonnini, in the Tee Histoire Naturelle, published in 1817,

says :—
“t Sparrows are impudent parasites, Todal ai m society with n man and dividing with
his grain, his fruit, and his home; they pens, the grain as it
approaches: maturity, and even shat whieh has been stored in granaries, Some writers

i by them compensated for their ravages
on grain; eighty-two gajos of hka were counted in the eade fa sparrow eop by the
writer, and Rougi my,
estimates that an pekti of France consume annually ten million bushels of wheat.

«Jardine says that a price is set on their heads because of their se-
vere depredations on grain and garden seed, and Valmont-Bomare
makes a similar statement in his Dictionary.

“That their destructive propensities were popularly known in Erg-
land is shown by Cowper’s sate :—

“<The sparrow: and quit the sheltering eaves
To pia toe wine prde wen they eye
* Ag red nd thic ace resolved

Sirro a mpending na > often scared
As oft return, a pert, voracious “kind?”
native insectivorous birds, including the Crow and Robin

aige and insects, than he loses by their fondness for grains and
If we destroy the balance of nature, and cause a diaproper-
or taea the number of insectivorous birds and their insect food,

we shall certainly suficr from the increase of obnoxious insects.

UTRINE EA
GEOLOGY.

ANCE OF GEOLOGICAL Scrence. — In his inaugural address, the
President (W. R. Grove) of the British Association stated that most
geologists of the present day, instead of holding that the breaks or

mation of the earth’s crust, adopt the iemsires that they arise from
dislocations occasioned since the original deposition of strata, or from
gradual shifting of the areas of a that the advance of

the ne
of admitting unlimited modification of species
would seem to have arisen comparison of the extreme ends

Se re ee einen nn or some of them, were
‘wanting.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 213

In these statements the President struck the key-note of the pro-
ceedings of the Geological section during the following were Never,
probably, did the authors of papers, or those who took part
cussions which they elicited, appeal so little to convulsion, soda,
or catastrophe. — Quarterly Journal of Science, London.

MICROSCOPY.

Tue MICROSCOPE IN MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. — In a case of poi-
soning by means of corrosive restr ate maliciously substituted for
the proper medicine, and in which there was a doubt of the utmost
importance to remove, as to the source of the poison, rendering it un-
certain whether the child had met with its death by accident, careless-
ness, or otherwise, Mr. Deane, by the aid of the microscope, deter-

house of the child’s parents, where it died, thus rendering it quite
certain that the death of the child was premeditated, and at the same
time removing cated! trace of suspicion from innocent parties, whose

an e had been called in question. — Address of the
pak pais ahs. of the Microscopical Society, London.

THE Potycystina.—In a paper on the structure and affinities of
the Polycystina [one of which, Podocyrtis Schomburgkit, is figured on
the left side, at the bottom of the title-page of the Narurauist], Dr.
Wallich has furnished us with an elaborate account of this obscure

and around which their soft part, or sarcode, is sus
———+—
EXPLORATIONS AND WORKS IN PROGRESS.
The Lyceum of Natural History of Williams College, propose to

Send out early this summer a scientific expedition to South Amer-
ica. It will be under the charge of Prof. James Orton, of the Univer-
ia of Rochester. The design of the party, to consist of twelve, is to
collect specimens of Natural History, and study the physical geolo
sad the Cordilleras, making Quito the base of their operations. $
-cial

Fa

This active society has already sent out five expeditions; two to
Nova Scotia, one to Newfoundland, one to Florida, and one to Lab-
tador and Greenland. S to aid the expedition are desired

214 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Dr. T. M. Brewer is engaged in preparing for the press the second
and last part of the North American Odlogy, the first part of icon
appeared in volume seven of the Smithsonian ‘‘ Contributions.”
eggs and nests of about one hundred and fifty birds will be desende
The illustrations will consist of about one hundred figures, in five or
six 4to plates

p

We have received some advance sheets of a work on the Ornithology
and Oölogy of New England. By Edward A. Samuels. Nichols &
Noyes, Boston. e shall give a farther notice of it hereafter. It
will contain over five hundred 8vo pages, and be illustrated by twenty-
three plates of Birds, four plates of Eggs, and a large number of
wood-cuts.

ceo ety ae
CORRESPONDENCE.
In answer to several inquiries regarding the disease resulting from
eating pork infested by the Trichina, we print the following account
wien pre KE for the Naturalist by a well-known authority on this
subje
Printia spiralis. — This entozöon is the cause of a serious and often
fatal disease of the intestinal canal and muscular system of man, called
Trichiniasis or Trichinosis, which is produced by eating the flesh of
pies similarly affected. Before giving an account, however, of the
natural history of this parasite, it may be well to state that trichinous
us is not measly pork. Measles in the hog is the encysted stage of
the common tape-worm of man (Tenia solium). Measly flesh being
eaten, the little cysts or scolices, as they are called, which consist of
e future head of the mature animal inverted, escape from their sacs
within the stomach, unless previously destroyed by cooking, and at-
tach themselves by their armed heads to the intestinal walls. From
this head are developed one after another the joints which make up
the body of the tape-worm. The first formed or oldest pe or
proglottides, when sexually mature, escape from the intestinal c€
of their host, and, being eaten by swine, the ova they contain are sS a
free. During digestion, the eggshells are dissolved, and the minute
embryos find their way into the tissues of their new host, to be again
converted into encysted scolices, or measly pork. In this stage the
tape-worm is called Cysticercus cellulose
The Trichina spiralis, on the other biah does not belong to this
order of Cestoidea or encysted worms, but to the Nematoidea or
round worms (of which the pin-worm is an example), and its develop-
‘ment is much less complicated. If trichinous pork is examined by the
microscope, the muscular fibres will be found occupied by minute

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 215

cysts varying in size, from 1-30th to 1-60th of an inch in length, and
1-100th to 1-150th of an inch in thickness ; thirty-five thousand of these
have been counted in a single cubic inch of muscle, and it has been .
estimated that an ounce of such flesh would T three million

cysts. Within them may be seen coil-

ures. (Fig. 1, the young worm; and Dee

Fig. 2, the cysts, after Dalton. ) If now Trichina spiralis. ay ay about
such hie is eaten by man, the one hundred tim

are dissolved during digestion, tes a young worms, unless pre-

the development of the embryos is from four to

eight days, after which they begin to leave the

oviduct in the form of exceedingly small, trans-

parent worms. They may continue to be dis-

charged in immense numbers, however, for six
t

velopment of the whole number of ova; from three

d to
mediately after birth the young leave the resi-
dence of the adults, the intestinal canal, and give Trichina spiralis, in cysts,
rise to the first symptoms indicative of their from muscular tissue
Presence. They bore into the intestinal walls, Ham. Magnified.
and wander along the areolar tissue, penetrating to nearly all parts
of the muscular system. - Entering the primitive bundles of this tis-

“Wandering begins immediately after birth, but it may be several weeks
before the whole brood has found its final resting-place. In this qui-

216 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

escent stage they may remain alive for many years, and after
death of their host may become mature in turn by entering the Pha
tinal canal of some other host.

The symptoms caused by their presence in man vary according to
the number eaten and the stage of development. At first nausea, loss
of appetite, and intestinal irritation. Afterwards debility, fever, œde-

e

glutition, speech, and respiration, and finally death from exhaustion.
only a small quantity of the trichinous pork be eaten, the symptoms
will be mild, and in all cases res will disappear when the worms have
become PEARES or encysted in the muscular tissu
The history of the trichina is s interesting, and pi be briefly told as

encysted, in the flesh of the hog, and since then it has often been no-
ticed in dissecting-room subjects, giving a sanded aspect to the red
muscular tissue. It was always considered harmless, however, and
in 1855 Kiichenmeister published a theory that it was only the imma-
ture form of Trichocephalus dispar, a minute thread-like intestinal
Experiments conducted by Virchow and Leuckart, however,

ra

fibres, not, as had been supposed by some observers, GD the capil-
lary tubes.

These results pointed unmistakably to the manner in which

-hospital at Dresden, after a month’s sickness, with symptoms like
those above mentioned, and on examination after death Zenker found
‘the muscular system filled with free and moving trichine. He con-
-cluded that it, was a case of fresh infection, and that the worms had
-been the cause of her death. A microscopic examination of the con-
_ tents of the intestine | rerealed the presence of numerous mature tri-

exon tha ales st s. Por-
tions of the muscular tissue of the os

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 217

- = in the subject. The former administered it toa
rabbi ich was killed by the wandering of the young brood set free
an. = intestine; the others, as well as Zenker, fed dogs with the

owing the frequent occurrence of trichinæ in these m con-
cluded that some connection would be found between the disease and
the meat. On visiting the place, he found that the farmer n whom

she had lived had killed a hog on December 31st, and that the ham
and sausages, which still remained of it, contained numerous encysted
trichinæ. He found, also, that the farmer and his wife and the butch-
er had all been ” with symptoms similar, though milder, to those the

girl had exhibite
is case, so sone ea in itself, not only established the connection
between trichina in the hog and in man, but demonstrated the exist-
ence of an unsuspected and frightful disease, and explained much that
had been mysterious in former cases of death from so-called sausage-
poison and other unknown causes. It was followed by other epidem-
d

commissions have been appointed by many governments to study the
disease, and the natural history of this little worm has become of
national and political importance, and has received the attention of
some of the best scientific observers of the day.

been laid under suspicion, and aea et a little nematoid worm

which infests the beet-root, but this, too, was found to be zoölogically

distinct. Statements have also been made that beef is not free from

trichine, but there is no just ground for such reports, and the same

may be ma of the flesh of birds like ducks, geese, and pigeons, which

Might receive infection by means of the intestinal discharges
oe NAT., VOL. I. 28

218 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

chinous animals, for it has been ases — to reproduce them
by artificial feeding within these an

A committee appointed by the BER Society of Physicians, at
Vienna, has just presented a report on trichinosis, in which it is stated
that the real source of infection in swine lies entirely in the ri In

Austria the ith Sse was not more than four pr. cent. The com-

artificial pac of the disease from the rat to the cat, t

in great qua ntity, and such persons, not sick enough to keep the
house, are the probable sources of infection in swine. It has, in fact,

swine are anok again killed until the next general slaughtering sea-

n comes, when another follows, to be succeeded by others after a
iimilar interval. It may also be possible that portions of trichinous
ged be

ne have access to them; and lastly, it is not impossible that swine
may infect each other by intestinal tHichine: alone.

Trichin osis is no new disease. It existed many years ago, and it is

as old as the beams of pork eating; we are only beginning

to recognize it. Ince nn aga of Europe where raw pork is large ely

4 in nearly all of which

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 219

some of the cases have been fatal. Within the last month six cases
of the disease have occurred in this State, one of which proved fatal.

the history of some of the epidemics illustrates. Unfortu eases the
disease is latent in them, producing no symptoms which ca
presence to be suspected, and the appearances of the flesh tiie aus
are not such as to attract attention. It can only be recognized by its
effect on those who unwarily eat it, or by microscopic examination.
Tn some parts of Germany government obliges all pork to be in-
spected by an appointed person, before it is sold, and even the butch-
ers are forming associations among themselves for the same purpose,
and are learning the use of the n th ns preson MoO of pork
uch studie he inspection

ad been sent for examination , and that other parts were abundant

infected. It has been found ‘that the muscles contain most frichinss
nearest their attachments, and that in ham they occur in greatest
numbers in these parts about the lower leg. Every hog should be ex-
amined in at least five places before it can be pronounced clean, for
the parasites are sometimes distributed in the most unequal manner.
In Brunswick, out of twenty thousand swine examined, but two were
found to be trichinous, but it will be remembered that each of the two
great epidemics in Germany were caused by eating the flesh of one
animal alone, but these two animals caused mi sickness of five hun
dred, and the death of over one hundred perso

The results of the sdahelpncines of the commie of the Chicago
Academy of Sciences show, however, that the disease prevails among
the swine in our Western States to a much greater extent than in
Germany, for of 1, .394 animals examined, twenty-eight were found tri-
chinous, or one in fifty. Were the habit of eating raw ham and sau-
Sages as prevalent in America as inGermany, it will be seen, therefore,

w frequent the disease might become amongst us. Fortunately,
thorough cooking destroys the vitality of the young worms, but it
Should be carried to complete coagulation of all the juices of the flesh,
even to its very centre, to be effectual. —J. C. W.

A-H. S., iid aang lg is quite i for one who ie
to become turalist, to know enough of Latin Language to be
able to read bea Fathi descriptions of species, sy know the meaning and

220 NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.:

derivation of Latin words. A little study will give one enough know-
ledge of the age for ordinary practical purposes. A large num-
ber of scientific terms are derived from the inal some knowledge
of which is indis sn to the naturalist.
Mr. George B. Emerson, in an article on the Study of Latin Gram-
mar, published in the Massachusetts Teacher, A 1867, says that

“DArcy W. Thompson, a man of genius, now Professor of Greek in
Queen’s College, Belfast, Ireland, author of the part Dreams of a
Schoolmaster,’ will engage to put all the Latin Grammar necessary to

make a good scholar ot! a sth ai twenty-four pages of a little work
that shall sell for sixpence

Read also the Inaugural Airi; delivered at the University of St.

Andrews, Feb. 1, 1867, sea John nee Mill (published in Littell’s
Living Age, Boston, No. 1,189). s treats in a very comprehensive
way of the study of science and ies iin It should be read by
every naturalist.

shall issue a shoe rg and full index at the close of each volume

of ika a

G. W. P., New —The insect you enclose is a False-Scorpion
felis. The iN claws are adapted for seizing their prey, as the
habits of the insect are somewhat like those of the Scorpion, though
from its different structure it is more closely allied to the Mites.

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

Insects oF June.—In our monthly calendars we propose to
notice more fully than heretofore the injurious insects. References
the times of their appearance must be necessarily vague, and ap-
ply only, in a very general way, to the Northern States. Insects ap-
pear in Texas about six weeks earlier than in Virginia, in the Middle
States six weeks earlier than in northern New England and. the
North-western States, and in New England about six weeks earlier
than in Labrador. The time of the appearance of insects corresponds
to the time of the aang or leafing out of certain trees and herbs;
for instance, the larvæ of the American Tent Caterpillar, and of the Can-
ker-worm, hatch just as es apple-tree begins to leaf out; a little later,
the Plant-lice appear, to feast on the tender leaves, and when, during ,
the first week in June, our forests and orchards are fully leaved out,
hosts of insects are marshalled to ravage and devour their foliage.
oor w 15th. — Early ie! the month the Parsnip Butterfly (Papilio
) may beds of parsnips, laying its eggs for

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR. 221

the brood of caterpillars which appear in aigi At the time of the
flowering of the raspberry. and sai a fe e young larve of Væ-
nessa Antiopha, one of our abundant nt sii may be ys
living socially on the leaves of ki 9 willow; while the mature larva
another much smaller butterfly, the little Copper Skipper = por
nus Americanus), so abundant at this time, may sometimes

e clover. It is a short, oval, greenish worm, preg pri legs
The dun-colored Skippers (Hesperia) abound towards pi middle of
the month, darting over the flowers of the blueberry and blackberry,
in sunny openings in the forests.

The family of Hawk Moths (Sphinges) now appear in greater abun-
dance, hovering at twilight over flower-beds, and, during this time, de-
posit their éggs on the leaves of various fruit-trees. The American
Tent Caterpillar makes its coc oon, and assumes the pupa state’ The
caterpillar passes several days within the cocoon, in what may be
called the semi-pupa state, during which ae ae pei CUBE skin is
forming beneath the contracted and loosened larva We onc
experimented on a larva which had just completed its cocoon, to learn

n on
spun a third but frail web, scarcely concealing its form. A minute
chneumon parasite, allied to Platyg ygaster, lays its eggs within ee
of this moth, as we once detected one under a bunch of in and af-
terwards reared a few from the same lot of eggs. A still more minute
€gg-parasite we have seen ovipositing in the early spring, in the eggs
of the Canker-worm. It has been described and figured in Harris’
“Treatise on Insects,” third edition, p. 471.
Among. that beautiful family of Moths, the. ap comprising
the Geometers, Loopers, or Span-worms, are two formidable foes to
we

can be in a great measure prevented. The English Sparrow, Doves,
and other insectivorous birds, such as are noticed elsewhere in our
pages, should be domesticated in order to reduce the number of these
pests. More care than has yet been taken should be devoted to de-
stroying the eggs laid in the autumn, and also the wingless females, 2s
they crawl up the trees in the spring and fall to lay their eggs. The
evil is usually done before the farmer is well aware that the calamity
has fallen upon him. As soon. as, and even before the trees have fairly
leaved out, they should be visited morning, noon, and night, shaken*

* Read in t ve “ Practical ” 1967, an scout by the Editor, of the
Curculio-catcher, and the ebay asp smaking or pd ing. tree oe s paper is indis-
riy the agriculturist. Published by g iety at Phila-

299 NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

and thoroughly examined and cleared of the caterpillars. By well-
concerted action among agriculturists, who should form a Board of
Destruction, numbering .every man, woman, and child on the farm,
this fearful scourge may be abated by the simplest means, as the

easur aver
taking proper sanitary precautions. The Canker-worms hatch out
during the early part of May, from eggs laid in the fall and spring, on
the branches of various fruit-trees. Just as the buds unfold, the
young caterpillars make little holes through the epe leaves, —
the pulpy portions, not touching the veins and midribs. When

weeks old they creep to the ground, or let Scere down by —
ning a silken thread, and burrow from two to six inches in the soil,
where they change to chrysalids in a day or two, and in this state live
till late in the fall, or oe the early spring, when they assume the
imago orm orm. The sexes then unite, and the eggs are deposit-
ed for the is generation.

The Canker-worm is widely distributed, though its ravages used to
be confined mostly to the immediate vicinity of Boston. We have seen
specimens of the moth from New Hampshire, and Norway, Maine, and
Michizan. Last October, late in the month, and in November, we ob-
served numbers of them at the White Mountains flying at twilight.

The Abraxas? ribearia of Fitch, the well-known Currant-worm, de-
foliates whole rows of currant-bushes. This pretty caterpillar may be
easily known by its body being of a deep golden se spotted with
black. The bushes should be visited morning, noon, and night, and
Soro shaken (killing the caterpillars) and spiked with ashes.

mong multitudes of beala (Coleoptera) injurious to the crops, are
the June Bug, is sage Jusca (Fig. 1, from Hasna), whose larva,
Fig. 1. a larg ite grub, is injurious to the roots of grass

Ss

- stages of growth on all kinds of grain, on corn and herds-grass during
the whole summer.” So widely spread is this insect at present, that
we have even detected it in August on the summit of Mount Wash-

-ington

The Diners, or two-winged flies, contain hosts of noxious insects,
such as the various oe or two-winged Gall-flies, which now

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR. 223

sting the culms of the wheat and grasses, and various grains, and leaves
of trees, producing gall-like excrescences, of varying form. Legions of
these delicate minute flies fill the air at twilight, hovering over wheat-
fields and shrubbery. A strong heraz west wind, at such times, is of
incalculable value to the farmer. Moreover, minute flies, allied to the
house-fly, such as 7 Terrin peren, etc., NOW attack the young cere-
als, doing immense injury t

Millions of Aphides, or ak is (Fig. 2), now infest our shade
and fruit-trees, crowding deel zreen leaf, into which they insert their

tiny beaks, sucking in the sap, causing the leaves to Fig. 2.
curl up and wither. They also attack the stems <
even the roots of plants, prsa these iy Stipes tet , a
differ Boa game! from the e Plant-lic

should be again washed nie rabiei to aie wt young Bark-lice, of

which the common apple Bark-louse Files pan Aan whose
oyster-shaped scales may be found in myriads on neglected trees, is a
too familiar exam mple. Another pest of apple-trees is the woolly
Blight (Eriosoma lant; gera). These insects secrete Fig. 3.
from the surface of the body a downy, cottony sub-

stance which conceals the anim mal, and when they
are, as usual, grouped together on the ig look
like patches of mould. We figure (Fig. 3) from
Harris, the Coccus adonidum found on Tke

The natural-insect enemies of the Plant-lice no
abound; such are the Lady-bugs (Corint the
larva of t the Syrphus-fly, which devours immense
quantities, and the larva of the Rochen Lace-

oO
ge 8

15th to 30th. — The last days of June are Pagid
the hey: k and jubilee of insect life. The entomo-
logical world holds high carnival, though a this
country they are, perhaps, more given to mass-
meetings and caucuses. The earth, the air, and the
‘ang teem "a insect-life. The insects of mid-summer now
Among the butterflies, the -Wood-satyrus (Ne CON eury-
thris) skips in Py low flight through the p

ne e la of Grapte
rs on th nts, while ais Currant-borer moth ( Tro-
chilium tipuliforme) darts about the leaves on hot sunny days. The
a ynthia cardui may be found on the hollyhocks; the edt
or

of July. The Hyphantria textor now lays its smooth, spherical
on broad patches on the under side of the leaves of the apple, which
the caterpillar will ravage in August; and its ally, the Halesidota

224 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

carye we have found ovipositing the last week in the month on the

leaves of the butternut. The Squash-bug, Coreus (Gonocerus) tristis, is

now very abundant, eu di about the roots of the Squash vines,

often in immense numbers, blackening the stems with their dark,

blackish-brown bodies. pe insect is easily distinguished from the
n our las

is a true bug (Hemipter, of which the bed-bug is an example), piercing
the ohen and stalks, and drawing out the sap with its long sucker-
S E:

PROCEEDINGS BESIEN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

SSSEX INSTITUTE. i pritte, Feb. 18, wea tee —Mr. N. E. Atwood, of
Provincetown, presented some observations on the different ava
of whales, and alluded to their phen The Sperm Whale feeds princi-
pally upon the Squid, or Cuttle-fish. The favorite food of the Right
Whale consists of small crustaceans, meduse, etc. The Finbacks
ced on menhaden, and other small fishes. He then spoke of the re-
lative size of the sexes. The males of the Sperm Whale have yielded
as largely as one hundred and forty barrels of oil, whereas the females
only yielded from fifteen to twenty barrels. Among the Humpbacks,
e females exceed the males in size

ade a few remarks u n the microscopic structure
of ae ce, stating that, in his opinion, in addition to se
as a stra’ he food of ae whale, the fringe of hairs, with

touch, notifying it of the presence of its food. This theory is based

u the fact of the hairs being but the termination of a series of

tubes, which are continuous from their base to their termination in
ree ends, and which are filled ebb a vascular pulp, which he had no

doubt contained a nervous substan The examination of pieces of
sh whalebone would be freman i decide the question.

ACADEMY or NaTorat Scrences. Philadelphia, March 12.—Prof.
ae ses Ene | oneal a spertinen of te skull of a la arge turtle in a

t Barnes-
boro, Camden Smor. New Jersey. It was of great interest, not p
from the rarity of fi il Chelonian crania in our colle ctions, bu

from its peculiar ee features. Prof. Ennis remarked on the
pa Tiai Condition and Habits or the Gipsies.”

s

Ea. 2

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. I.—JULY, 1867.—No. 5.

So

THE SEA-HORSE AND ITS YOUNG.

BY REV. SAMUEL LOCKWOOD.

“Sir,” said an aged fisherman, “there is nothing on the
Land that is not in the Sea!” The old waterman’s terse-
ness forestalled the ed:
philosophic dictum of
the poet,—* Whether
we live by the sea-
side, or by the lakes
and rivers, it concerns
us to attend to the
nature of fishes, since
they are not phenom-

universally dispersed.” sce gore pee is a re-
markable Order, called by systematists the Lophobranchs,

Which stand apart from the others by two well-defined,
and very curious distinctions. They differ from other
a in the peculiar structure of the gill arches, by

tofe in the year 1867, 2 by the ESSEX INSTITUTE, in the
ONLTeESS. asetti,

AMERICAN NAT., VOL 1 29

926 THE SEA-HORSE AND ITS YOUNG.

which the gills are arranged in little tufts on each side
of the head under the “cheek” bones or gill covers.
Hence the, name Lophobranch, which is derived from the
Greek, signifying tuft-gilled. But, perhaps, more curious
is that distinction drawn from their mode of repro-
duction ; a trait so strange, as to suggest the seemingly
abnormal habits of the Marsupials, —the Opossum and
the Kangaroo,—although the eccentricity of the fish
is far greater than that of the land marsupial; for, in
ri latter, it is the female whose pouch receives the
immature young, and which are therein nourished to
complete their development. The parental relation of
the female Lophobranch, however, is restricted to the
simple emission of the unimpregnated eggs. Beyond
this, maternity she has none. The male is really, and
literally, father and mother to the progeny ; and so far as
the reproductive instincts are concerned, it would seem
that the female manifestation is summed up and exhausted
in the one solitary and singular act of a formal consign-
ment of the ova to the embryonal sack of the male.
Though the species of the Lophobranchs are quite nu-
merous, they are all referable to three principal groups
or families, of which the Flying Dragon (Pegasus), the
Sea-horse (Hippocampus), and the Pipe-fish (Syngna-
thus) are types. The following observations were made
upon the Hippocampus hudsonius De Kay, or the common
Sea-horse of the Atlantic coast of the United States.
A sea-side residence favoring the design for the past
ten years, I have let no opportunity slip of studying the
habits of the Sea-horse, hoping to get at some of the
_ necessarily interesting facts which must stand connected
with its peculiar mode of reproduction. Owing to diffi-
culties too tedious for detail, nothing like gratifying suc-

THE SEA-HORSE AND ITS YOUNG. 2217

cess was attained until the autumn of 1866. Nearly a
year had passed without obtaining a single living speci-
men, when a waterman brought me two full-grown ones,
and to my great joy they proved to be “gravid” males.
Alas ! my oft-repeated experience returned ; for, owing to
the shock produced by the ordeal of acclimation, they be-
gan to involuntarily emit their young. None but a work-
ing naturalist can appreciate the anxiety I then suffered.
The next day one of my Hippos died, having from de-
bility first set free all its immature young, which were
sufficiently developed to indicate plainly their family
relation. My estimate was that they were twelve-day
embryos. I now redoubled my efforts to invigorate and
Save the remaining adult, by solicitously watching every
circumstance of temperature, eration, and light. In spite
of all, the emission of the young went on, until instinct,
prompted by increasing debility, led the parent to expel
the rest by voluntary effort. How this was done was a
great point gained. Except a few floating fronds of Ulva,
other than the fish, there was no object in the water. And
here the structure of the Sea-horse’s tail should be borne
in mind, so unlike that of any other fish, covered with
an envelope, consisting of bony scales; four-sided, and
Suggesting a small square file; in faculty, prehensile,
like that of some monkeys; and of considerable length.
Bending this appendage upwards like an inverted crook,
thus imparting to it muscular rigidity, the animal pressed
it against the bottom of the embryonal pouch, which
Occupied the lower part of the abdomen, thus pushing its
contents upward, and forcing them out of the opening on
the top of the sack ; the creature all this time sustaining
its normal, erect position in the water. The extruded
young immediately perished. Relieved of his charge,

r

228 THE SEA-HORSE AND ITS YOUNG.

my Hippo soon recovered strength, and became for sev-
eral months a very interesting pet.

September 7. To-day fortune smiled and brought me
another “gravid” male Hippocampus. This also, under
the weakening effects of acclimation, began excluding the
young, having emitted a full dozen. Circumstances favor-
ing, and profiting by a varied experience, I was enabled
to carry my new Hippo safely through the dreaded or-
deal. Most anxiously was he watched day by day. To
my astonishment no enlargement of the embryonal sack
could be detected. I supposed that as the young increased
in size, the distension of the pouch would go on equally.
Again my apprehensions were aroused,—now I feared
that the foetuses were dead !

September 21. A red-letter day! To-day near noon
I observed three young Sea-horses swimming about.
They had just made their debut. Very minute creatures
they were; but, to my great joy, nearly perfect. From
that hour the Pater-mater kept busy setting his progeny
adrift. At the bottom of the vessel was a broken Winkle-

shell, put there for the attachment of the animal’s tail,

when fatigued by swimming, as the Sea-horse is very
easily tired, and this, monkey-like, is its favorite mode
of taking rest. The Winkle afforded real help in the
labor of extruding the young, which is in no sense
a parturient process, but on the contrary is entirely me-
chanical, and in the present case was effected in the fol-
lowing manner. With its abdomen turned towards the
shell, its tail attached to the under part of it, the body

erected to its full height, the animal, by a contractile
- exertion of the proper muscles, would draw itself down-

wards, and against the shell, thus rubbing the pouch
upward, and in this simple, yet effective way, expelled

THE SEA-HORSE AND ITS YOUNG. 229

the fry at the opening on top of the sack (See Fig. 1).
It was said above that the Sea-horse is soon wearied,
with even moderate exertion; hence, probably, it was,
that these repeated acts were each followed by a few
minutes of rest. Indeed, the extrusion of its young lasted
for nearly six hours, from three to six individuals being .
set free at a time.

The scene that followed was one of singular and lively
interest. Iwas nervous with delight, and wished that
every Naturalist could see it for himself. I am sure there
is no student of nature but will excuse the enthusiasm
which prompted me to write at once to a friend, that “he
must not set the minister down as a horse-jockey, on
being informed that he was now the proud possessor of

e most numerous drove of colts ever owned by one
man the whole wide world over.” Using my best judg-
ment,—for, owing to the mazy motion of this tiny throng,
counting was out of the question,—I set the number
down as not far froma thousand. Each measured from
five to six lines in length. Very minute creatures, truly,
when one considers how large a portion is taken up by
the tail, which organ was of but little more than thread-
like dimensions. We might suppose it would require a
few days for the young Hippo to find out the remarkable
monkey-like endowment of its tail. Not so. Only look
at what my- own eyes beheld many a time, when a “stam-
pede” of these little colts was going on, although they
were but one day old. There come two little Hippos,
each swimming in a direction at right angles to that of
the other. Just at the point of passing, one, lasso-like,
whips his caudal extremity round that of his fellow, who,
` of course, in like manner, returns the caudal compliment,
which, to speak technically, acts as a “double lock.” Of

230 THE SEA-HORSE AND ITS YOUNG.

course both pull, and, by a natural law, the force is ex-
erted in exactly opposite directions, and the right angle
is resolved into a straight line. It is but poor head-way
they make, nor does it mend the matter much, that a
third little fellow comes giddily on, and, switching his
tail, takes a hitch at that precise point in space where the
other two met. Now a triple force is exerted, and the
effect is, with two straight lines to project three obtuse
angles. And so the three toil on, obtusely laboring in
statu quo. But a droller sight is that of yonder juvenile
Lophobranch, who seems to be of somewhat belligerent
proclivities,as he is leading by the nose a weaker member
of his own species, having with his caudal extremity
noosed him on the snout. These funny antics, though
oft repeated, are of short duration, as the parties soon
have to rest, from sheer fatigue.

On the fifth of October the last of my little Hippos
died.

In the matter of fcetal sustenance, I find a remark-
able marsupial analogy in the Hippocampus. The pouch
of the Kangaroo and the Opossum contains teats, with
which, by true lactation, the young are nourished until
fully formed. Nor is the embryonal sack of the Sea-
horse a mere receptacle, or nest, for the hatching of
the eggs,—the fish does, in and by the pouch, supply
nourishment to the growing young. The mass of fry on
the day of its extrusion is certainly in bulk several times
greater than se y the original egg-mass. We know that
the bear duri lives upon the fat acquired the
previous PERR y that ahstinence
from food, the well-conditioned camel will subsist on the
rani of its fattened hump. —— of the frog,

which has just E M ES, SET E PEG” . does not
E = d

UUJ

THE SEA-HORSE AND ITS YOUNG. 231

pass off by atrophy, but is really a wise provision for the `
creature’s support by absorption, during the few days
which constitute the most critical period of its life.

This fact I have demonstrated elsewhere by obser-
vations from the spawn to maturity. But in these and
similar cases, the animal is simply nourished by some
superabundance in itself. Ruling out lactation, and the
placental phenomena of gestation, is there any instance in
which, as a normal fact, the young feeds upon the parent?
This fact, seemingly so anomalous, I assert for the Hip-
pocampus, although its physiology I may not be able to
explain. The male Sea-horse not only hatches the eggs
in the embryonal pouch, but also feeds the young by al-
lowing them to absorb a portion of himself. This is done
_ during the embryo’s consumption of the placental yolk,
and also, especially and more rapidly, after that source of
food is all exhausted. Of course, upon receiving the ova
the pouch might be supposed to be considerably distend-
ed. This distension is really very trifling. And during
development the enlarging of the sack might be expected ;
but it is inappreciable. At the time of receiving the
spawn, the wall of the pouch is not less than three lines
thick, and well stored internally with fat. At the time of
expulsion of the developed fry, the same sack is not half
_ a line thick, and hangs flaccid on the animal, a mere thin
membrane. In due time it becomes again thick, firm,
and fat as before, and in such state has been mistaken by
me for a gravid condition. This interesting fact of a true
marsupial nourishment, and of so unique a character,
although suspected, was not accepted, until established
by dissection, and observation of a male that had gone
through the course described. Moreover, I believe in
part may be thus explained the impulse to that forcible

932 THE SEA-HORSE AND ITS YOUNG:

eviction of the immature young, which has been already
described. The debility caused by the consumption of the
parent, together with the weakening of acclimation, seems
to have impelled to the act.

But with the exclusion of the young, the marsupial like-
ness stops in the Sea-horse, though the young Pipe-tishes
are said to reénter the pouch on finding themselves in
danger. It is my belief that with the Sea-horse the ter-
mination of development is the end of their solicitude for
the young.

As to the moral relation of the sexes in this apparently
abnormal creature, I must regard it, on the instinctive
side, as but little superior to the relation of a pistillate to
a staminate plant. The emission of the ova by the one is
a simpler matter, all the facts considered, than the seeding
of the other. Certainly the love emotion, if any, must be
very simple, scarcely more than the poetic figment of the
loves of the flowers. Is not the fertilization of the spawn
performed by the male after its reception into the embry-
onal pouch? . Besides, that which is usually normal in the
female, is in this instance wholly wanting, namely, affec-
tion for, and even the knowledge of the young; for she
never sees them, Whereas the male,even though pressed
by hunger, will not molest his offspring,—a remark-
able fact, when we reflect that generally fishes have no
scruples against devouring any fry, even their own. This
trait of the male Sea-horse is found in the male Stickle-
back. The former is not very demonstrative, nor can he
be, owing to his organization; but the latter is highly £0,
even to vindictiveness, as I have seen him severely pun-
ish the female in his anxiety for the safety of the spawn-
ele are other undetermined, although interesting facts,
_ connected with this question of sexual relation. What is

THE SEA-HORSE AND ITS YOUNG. 233

the numerical proportion of the sexes? Does the male
incubate the ova of more than one female at a time? _

Allusion has been made to the Stickleback. It was to
the two-spined species ( Gasterosteus biaculeatus), This
species breeds in the months of March, April, and May.
Much depends upon the season. Generally the whole
matter is over by the last week in April. My experience,
from the examination of many gravid specimens, indicates
that the Sea-horse breeds in August and September.

Fig. 2, though drawn without the proper aid from the
microscope, is intended to exhibit some of the fetal
phenomena, and represents the premature Fig. 2.
young, which I have supposed to be twelve & ATE
days old from the commencement of incu- Py,
bation. Fig. 3 is one of the same magnified, and pre-
sents the following particulars worthy of note. First,
the tail is round, instead of quadrangular ;
second, the dorsal fin is set farther back
than in the adult ; third, the pectoral fins
are also farther back on the nape than in
the adult (though not to the same extent, £
yet facts two and three I have seen in ¥
foetuses much older) ; fourth, the extreme
shortness and great width of the muzzle.

The Sea-horse, when taken fresh from his native home,
though almost laughably grotesque, is a very pretty crea-
ture. Its general color is ashen gray; at first glance, an
exceedingly sober suit. But if examined more closely, it
will be found thickly studded with tiny spangles of me-
tallic silver. Add to this its rich armature of daintily
carved plates, like a coat of mail, its body always pertly
erect, and, bent forward, it looks like the steed of a
Knight-errant in quest of adventure; and those pretty,

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 30

234 THE RECENT BIRD TRACKS

golden, yet queer little eyes, chameleon-like, independent
of each other, intently gaze two ways at once. Then as
to that dorsal fin, in oddity and beauty it has no com-
peer among its ichthyic rivals, so tastily fringed with a
neat border of delicate yellow, precisely like the yellow
tipping of the tail of the Cedar-bird (Ampelis cedrorum).
In truth, this dorsal fin is cruelly libelled in every engrav-
ing we have ever seen. In nature it is an exquisite fan,
in form, size, and ornament, worthy the hand of Queen
Mab. Thus our Sea-horse, though anomalous in form
and habit, has beauty united with its strange features, and
grace with its eccentricity. In fine, as we look at his
equine appearance, and think of his monkey faculty, and
his opossum traits, and that queer blending of innocent
oddity with patriarchal dignity, we have to accept the old
fisherman’s proverb,—“ There is nothing on the Land that
is not in the Sea.”

THE RECENT BIRD TRACKS OF THE BASIN
OF MINAS.

BY C. FRED. HARTT, A.M.

(Concluded from p. 176.)

Sir CHARLES LYELL, who visited Nova Scotia in 1842;
first called attention to the recent bird tracks of the
Basin of Minas, and Dr. J. W. Dawson, the distinguished
Nova Scotian geologist has treated of them in his interest-
ing little volume, “Acadian Geology.” l

The mud flats of the Minas Basin are made up to a very
large extent, some entirely, of these thin layers of mud,
deposited by the successive tides. The deposition of the
_ layers does not of course go on equally everywhere, but

OF THE BASIN OF MINAS. 2399

only in localities sheltered from the action of too strong
currents. In these accumulations there is thrown down
a layer for each tide, those deposited by the night tides
being thicker than those formed during the day. During
a long interval of repose thin layers only are deposited,
while just after a heavy storm that stirs up the whole bay,
the deposits are much increased in thickness. Nor are
these accumulations confined to the shoals laid bare at
low tide; but they extend over the bottom of the Basin,
though they must naturally be much thicker near the
shores whence the materials were originally derived. Dr.
Dawson says that “these layers are thicker on the edge of
the flats than near the shore; and hence these flats, as
well as the marshes, are usually higher near the channels,
than at the inner edge. From the same cause, the more
rapid deposition of the coarse sediment, the lower side of
the layer is arenaceous, and sometimes dotted with films
of mica, while the upper side is fine and shining, and
when dry has a shining and polished surface. The falling
tide has little effect on their deposits, and hence the
growth of these flats, until they reach such a height that
they can be overflowed only by the highest tides.”

It is to the zone embraced between high and low-water
marks that the subaerial tracks, such as we have described,
are confined, the only markings made on the submerged
layers being entirely those of aquatic animals, tracks of
crabs and other crustaceans, trails of shell-fish and marine
worms, or scratches made by fishes; but markings of this
kind may extend over the whole part reached by the tide,
while low tide is the lowest limit at which tracks of land
animals can be found.

The Tringw and other waders visit the shores of the
Basin only in the summer, so that through the whole

236 THE RECENT BIRD TRACKS

series of layers formed during the winter, none of these
tracks occur. In the winter months the shores are en-
cumbered with masses of ice and snow, and are quite de-
serted. The floating ice scores and ploughs up the banks
in exposed localities, and the regularity of the deposits
must be very much broken during that time. The ice
forming on the shores and floated off at high tide carries
away an immense amount of shingle and loose material,
often large boulders, and drops them over the bottom of
the whole Basin, and one sees blocks of trap from Blom-
idon lying on the flats about Horton and Cornwallis. This
annual drift phenomena must leave its record in the
boulders and coarse material distributed through the finer
material laid down during the winter, while the summer
layers would be entirely free from them.

It will be readily seen that the mud deposits can
only accumulate in the quieter parts of the bay, and
that as we go from these to points where the tidal cur-
rents increase in velocity, we shall pass from mud de-
posits to those of sand and gravel, while the shores will
vary in the character of their beaches according to the
kind of rock exposed at the water’s edge. Thus under
the red sandstone cliffs of Cornwallis and Blomidon, we
have sand beaches in exposed localities, muddy shores
where the waves are shut out, while trap-shingle is strewn
along the shores of Blomidon.

The Strait of Minas is very narrow, and one can read-
ily imagine that the immense mass of water which twice
a day is poured into the Basin, and twice a day drained
off again, must cause tremendous currents setting through
the strait, and that wherever these are felt, only the
coarser deposits are to be looked for.
These mud banks, these accumulations of sand, gravel,

OF THE BASIN OF MINAS. 237

and shingle really form a great diary of the life of the
Basin, and we see that the history that is daily written
upon them is readily to be translated. Well, we have got
our boots and pants well covered with mud, we have
gathered a handful of specimens of bird tracks and a
pocket full of muddy shells, and we haye learned some-
thing of how Nature writes down in her great Stone Book
the history of the world. Before us are the last few pages
of the manuscript, and we have watched in the tracks
left by the running bird, the pen gliding over the page.
Aye, we too have added our lines to the history. Will
the coming tide respect them and seal them up forever,
or will it blot them out as unworthy of a place on the
page? Behind us and around us in the hills are volumes
written long ago by the same ever-recording pen; but
Nature makes palimpsests,as did the scribes of the middle
ages, and writes over and over on the same page. See,
yonder at the mouth of the Avon is a range of cliffs called
Horton Bluff, formed of layers of the lower coal measures.
They form a chapter in the geological history of the Prov-
ince, and are written all over with quaint old records of
ancient forests of coal-plants, and of antique mailed and
Spine-armed ganoid fish; but the scribe, wanting mate-
vial on which to record the history of the present, is de-
stroying the old manuscript, spreading out its leaves anew,
Te-prepared for the more modern characters in which the
chapter of to-day is being written. After all our scribe
is but a chronicler, like ‘ald Froissart. Geologists are
the historians that work over this material. They are
hot satisfied with leaving the detached facts recorded,

but ask the why and the wherefore of their occurrence and
their relations one to another. One who merely translates
the detached facts of the geological record is no more

238 THE RECENT BIRDS TRACKS

entitled to be called a geologist, than a translator of Frois-
sart can claim to be a historian.

If you were to examine the beds of Horton Bluff, you
would occasionally find one on whose surface are mark-
ings, such as we observe nowadays being made on the
sea-shore ; some of the layers are ripple marked evident-
ly by the waves, or by shallow agitated water. All these
beds were deposited under water in the shape of sand and
mud. The late Dr. Theodore Harding, of Windsor, dis-
covered on the surface of one of these layers, the tracks
of a kind of reptile. The animal had evidently walked
about over the rock when it was soft, and its footprints
were preserved just as the recent impressions of birds’
feet are now being preserved on the shores near the bluffs.
Tracks of worms are sometimes found on the same beds,
and at Parrsboro’ we have found what appear to be the
tracks of some large crustacean.

Tracks of animals have been formed, of course, ever since
the world has been inhabited, and these are preserved in
rocks of all ages wherever the necessary conditions ob-
tained, from the Lower Silurian “Lingula flags”* of St.
John, New Brunswick, to the deposits now forming.

Many years ago, Dr. Deane found on the surface of
slabs of sandstone, quarried in the Connecticut valley, the
tracks of a three-toed animal which he took to be a turkey 3
but Professor Hitchcock, of Amherst, having examined
them, showed that they were not made by that fowl, but
by some bird-like animal long since extinct. Attention
being called to the subject, it was found that these and
other footprints were scattered through a great thickness
of these sandstone beds, and Professor Hitchcock, before he
died, described over one hundred species of animals from

* The writer pointed out the primordial of these beds in 1865. Mr. E. Billings
believes them to be the exact equivalent of the “ Lingula flags ” of England.

OF THE BASIN OF MINAS. 239

their tracks found in the Connecticut River sandstone.
There cannot be the slightest doubt that during the Trias-
sic period the valley of the Connecticut, from New Haven
to a point about one hundred and twenty miles north of
that city, and with an average width of about twenty
miles, formed an estuary, to which the sea had imperfect
access, and that the sandstones and shales which now fill
it, were therein deposited, under circumstances exceed-
ingly like those under which the mud deposits are now
accumulating in the northern estuaries of the Avon and
Cornwallis, though there was there a slow submergence
going on which gave an opportunity for the distribution of
the tracks through hundreds of feet of beds, a thing which
would otherwise have been impossible. In this estuary
were extensive mud-flats and sand-banks covered by high
tide, and left bare when the tide was out, and these were
the resort of great numbers of animals whose footprints
are alone preserved. The majority of these animals were
reptiles, but others were probably birds. Huge fellows
were some of them, making tracks about two feet in
length. Yet, though these footprints are very abundantly
handed down to us, the rocks themselves hold scarcely a
vestige of animal remains. Besides a few fish, a shell or
two, and an insect, only a few broken bones have been
discovered thus far, and these last enable us to form only
a suspicion as to the character of the animals to which
they belonged. It would be very unlikely that the re-
mains of land animals, which only frequented the shores
between the tides, should be found in the deposits there
forming, and we have already remarked how rare it is to
find a dead bird on the Horton shores.

Some of the shale-beds of the Connecticut valley resem-
ble very closely, both in color, texture, and composition,

240 THE RECENT BIRD TRACKS

the dried mud-layers of the Basin of Minas. I have be-
fore me now a slab from one of the finer-grained beds of
the Connecticut valley. Except that it is more solid, it
could not easily be distinguished from a well-baked speci-
men of the Minas mud. Its surface is marked with beau-
tifully preserved rain-prints, as clearly impressed as one
sees them after a mid-day “sprinkle” on the Horton mud-
flats, and to make the resemblance more complete, there
is on one side an incipient crack, like the gash of a knife
where the mass in shrinking had begun to tear apart, but
had not separated sufficiently to form a complete crack.

From these studies we must see that the phenomena
going on around us must be the Rosetta stone, which
shall furnish us with the key for the deciphering of the
hieroglyphics of the Stone Book, and that we shall under-
stand the results of the forces which acted in the past, in
proportion as we correctly understand their action in the
present.

Let us now see what was going on “down east” when
the Connecticut valley was an estuary. Nova Scotia had
_ at that time very much the same appearance as at present,

but the land was more sunken, and the range of hills that
skirts the Bay of Fundy, the North Mountains, did not
then exist. The bay washed the northern slope of the
South Mountains, and the Basin of Minas formed the head
of the bay. The shores of the Minas Strait were then on
the north, very nearly as at present; but Capes d’Or and
Sharpe, as well as Partridge Island, and the Two or Five
Islands, now noted for their beautiful zeolitic minerals, had
not yet a being; neither had Isle Haute lifted its lone
head above the waters of the bay. On the south the
shore ran along the range of hills, the continuation of the
South Mountains, from Kentville by Wolfville, and the

OF THE BASIN OF MINAS. 241

Horton Mountains to Truro. There was then no strait at
all. The Basin opened broadly into the Bay of Fundy.
Cobequid Bay was much wider than at present, and pene-
_ trated eastward beyond Truro. One of the Acadian prov-
inces, Prince Edward Island, was wanting.

Within the whole bay thick beds of red sand were de-
posited, and similar strata were at the same time accumu-
lating in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, off the northern coast
of Nova Scotia, and especially over the area now occupied
by Prince Edward Island. These beds now form a
coarse friable red sandstone which is almost entirely bar-
ren of fossils, for it had afforded only a few reptilian
‘remains in Prince Edward Island. Acadia must at
that time have been peopled with animals, and covered
with vegetation ; but the conditions for the preservation
of the remains of either were very unfavorable. The bay
was then open to the full sweep of the tide, which may at
that time have acted with even much greater force in the
region of the Basin of Minas than at present, because the
tidal wave, not being obliged to pass, as at present,
through the narrow Strait of Minas, would have had an
Opportunity of exercising its full force, rising higher and
higher as it rushed up the ever-narrowing head of the
bay, but it may have been that at that time the isthmus
which unites the peninsula of Nova Scotia with the main
land was submerged, in which case the extraordinary tidal
phenomena of the Bay of Fundy could not have resulted.
The sandstone beds show, in their oblique lamination,
the action of strong and shifting currents. There was not —

e Same opportunity presented for the preservation of
such footprints as may have been left on these sands, as
existed in the quiet estuary of the Connecticut, or the

Present Basin of Minas. At intervals during the deposit

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I 31

942 THE RECENT BIRD TRACKS

of the Connecticut River beds, there were volcanic dis-
turbances, attended by the formation of dykes, and the
spreading out over the beds of thick masses of lava. The
New-Red Sandstone period was attended in Nova Scotia by
similar phenomena. Just after the formation of the sand-
stone beds in the Basin of Minas and Bay of Fundy, sub-
marine volcanic action broke out along the line of the
present North Mountains, and immense quantities of
melted matter were thrown up from beneath, and spread
over the New-Red Sandstone strata, either in liquid, mol-
ten streams, or a volcanic ash. This ancient lava is called
trap. The volcanic disturbance went on for some time,
until’ these beds had acquired a great thickness. Similar
eruptions took place at the same time at the Two, Five,
and Partridge Islands, Capes d’Or and Sharpe, and at the
Isle Haute. It is very probable that all these now iso-
lated trap masses may have been at that time continuous.

The land was then elevated so as to bring all their beds
in the Basin of Minas, and along the shores of the Bay of
Fundy above water, and as the red sandstone beds had a
slight dip to the northward along the southern coast, the
volcanic beds had a like dip towards and under the bay.
The trap beds were very thin inland, but became thicker
towards the shore. Running water began its work on the
southern edge of the trap deposit, along the present line
of the valley between the North and South Mountains,
and with the assistance of glacial action and the sea,
_ which afterward flowed through it, excavated that depres-
sion. To the north, the waves, beating along the whole
bay coast for centuries, cut away the trap-beds, so that
we have now only a narrow strip left, the North Moun-
tains from Blomidon to Briar Island. At the time of the
elevation of the New-Red Sandstone beds, the Basin of

OF THE BASIN OF MINAS. 243

Minas, as well as a large portion of the Bay of Fundy,
was occupied with them; but they have since been largely
removed, except where overlaid by trap deposits, or
otherwise protected, and only small remnants are now
left fringing the shores of Nova Scotia and New Bruns-
wick. Prince Edward Island made its appearance with
the rise of the land, and it must at first have been of much
greater extent than at present, perhaps even having been
united to Nova Scotia.

a g go
<4 om >
aa Sock colony
si Pokot oi
ae i opt
| ;
+ H :
IDS nL E. == A NN

il Dim SS

@, Silurian strata. b, Carboniferous sandstone and shales, €, C, C, ¢, ©, Triassic
red sandstone. d, Trap overlaying red sandstone.

The reptiles and birds of the New-Red Sandstone pe-
riod have passed away, and the earth is peopled by a new
creation. In that period the world had reached that
Stage in its development when it was fitted for the rule of

4 the brute force of giant reptiles. To-day mind rules.
God’s other creations signed their mark on the pages of
Po aien history.

OTE.— The above di: an ideal vertical sec selen rar the pipt from
ek Seah to pone gh the rants: position of the beds o. of
Diett

8: t i
„€, which, ress iets Frege oc Y ‘0 verlying

Ses ore tray k re worn away into low hills, or

i mise ae at Blomidon es aiae Island, are y é nta t

of the
the evel.” This ce oeli a 4 DAINA oa one by Dr. Dawson, in his “Acadian
ogy, additions by the 4

244

SOMETHING ABOUT JELLY-FISHES.
BY EDWARD 8. MORSE.
PLATE 8.

Tue loiterer by the sea-side may have noticed in his
rambles on the beach, certain gelatinous substances left
by the retreating tide. An interest excited by so strange
a sight may have prompted a closer examination, and
yet recognizing nothing tangible or definite in the struc-
ture of these shapeless bodies, a desire has been really
awakened to know something about them. We will try
to satisfy this curiosity, by giving a brief account of a few
of our more common Jelly-fishes; for these shapeless
lumps of jelly, seen stranded on our beaches, are really
animals, assuming the most graceful and symmetrical
forms in the water.

The Jelly-fishes, or Modu, have long excited the at-
tention of naturalists from their aingalar structure, and
the wonderful changes occurring diving their growth.

While in the higher expressions of animal life the anat-
omist may puzzle over the intricacies of a complicated
organization in the Jelly-fishes, he is at first more per-
plexed to find anything like organization in their parts,
though they are really highly organized compared with
animals still lower in the scale. So transparent are some,
that one can hardly detect their presence in the water,
and so largely does the sea-water enter into their com-
position, that certain kinds when dried lose ninety-nine
one hundredths of their own weight.

` Peron and Lesueur, two distinguished French patiki
ists, who, in the early part of this century made a voyage
around the globe, thus summed up the results of their
combined observations on these animals. “The substance

SOMETHING ABOUT JELLY-FISHES. 245

of a Medusa is wholly resolved, by a kind of instanta-
neous fusion, into a fluid analogous to sea-water; and yet
the most important functions of life are effected in bodies
that seem to be nothing more, as it were, than coagulated
water. The multiplication of these animals is prodigious,
and we know nothing certain respecting their mode of
generation. They may acquire dimensions of many feet
in diameter, and weigh, occasionally, from fifty to sixty
pounds; and their system of nutrition escapes us. They
execute the most rapid and continued motions ; and the
details of their muscular system are unknown.

“Their secretions seem to be extremely abundant ; but
_ We perceive nothing satisfactory as to their origin. ey
have a kind of very active respiration; its real seat is a
mystery. They seem extremely feeble, but fishes of large
size are daily their prey. One would imagine their
stomachs incapable of any kind of action on these latter
animals : in a few moments they are digested. Many of
them contain internally considerable quantities of air, but
whether they imbibe it from the atmosphere, extract it
from the ocean, or secrete it from within their bodies, we
are equally ignorant. A great number of these Meduse
are phosphorescent, and glare amidst the gloom of night
like globes of fire; yet the nature, the principle, and
the agents of this wonderful property remain to be dis-
covered. Some sting and inflame the hand that touches
them; but the cause of this power is equally unknown.”

Professor Richard Owen quotes these “lively paradoxes”
to show the progress made since then im clearing up many
points that were obscure at their time, and to show that
even the skilful naturalist, with abundant material at hand,
may plod on with uncertainty unless aided by the higher
powers of the microscope. Recent works published by

246 SOMETHING ABOUT JELLY-FISHES.

Professors Agassiz and Clark, and Mr. A. Agassiz, have
detailed very fully the anatomy and classification of our
native species.

The Jelly-fishes of our coast are represented by nume-
rous globular and disk-like animals of a gelatinous tex-
ture, more or less transparent, having certain appen-
dages consisting either of longitudinal Bands of vibrating
fringes, as in one order; or, as in another order, having
appendages surrounding the mouth, and others, thread-
like, hanging from d margin of the disk. The parts
most conspicuous within the body are the ovaries, or egg-
sacks, the stomach, and certain tubes running from the
stomach to the periphery of the body.

These animals are apparently radiated in their struc-
ture ; at all events, it is difficult in certain groups to dis-
tinguish a right and left side, and for this reason they are
called Radiated animals, and form one of the three classes
of the branch RADIATA.

The Jelly-fishes of our coast are common in our har-
bors and inlets, where the water is fresh and pure from
the ocean. A very ready and convenient way to collect
them is to moor your boat on the shady side of a wharf
where the reflected rays of the sun are avoided, and, as
the tide sweeps gently past, to dip them as they are borne
along by the current. Some little practice is necessary
to discern the smaller kinds, for many species are very
minute, and other species, though of good size, are never-
theless hard to distinguish on account of their extreme
transparency. They may be dipped from the water with
a tin dipper, though a wide-mouthed glass jar is better
for this purpose. As they are duvi they may be
poured into a wooden pail for assortment and examination
at home; or, better, a large glass jar, carried on purpose

SOMETHING ABOUT JELLY-FISHES. 247

to hold them, may be filled at once, as too frequent
changes destroy them.

Some species are very hardy, and may be kept alive
for weeks, while others live only a few hours, gradually
diminishing in size till they appear to melt away in the
water.

Among the more common forms met with on our coast
is the Pleurobrachia (Plate 8, Fig. 8). Words fail in
describing the beauty and singularity of this Jelly-fish.
Conceive a globular body the size of a walnut or larger,
but perfectly transparent, having eight bands of rapidly
Vibrating fringes surrounding the body, running from one
pole to the other like the ridges on a walnut, and two
thread-like appendages, festooned with hundreds of shorter
threads, trailing out behind the body like the tail of a
‘comet, and you have a general idea of this Jelly-fish.

The zones of vibrating fringes act like so many little
oars, and impel the body through the water. At times,
only the fringes on one side are in motion, and then the
body rotates in the water like a vital globe. Anon, the
different zones alternate in action, and the body describes
4 spiral course in the water. The most beautiful pris-
matic hues are exhibited when these fringes are in
motion, and these brilliant changing colors often lead to
their detection in the water. The long thread-like appen-
dages, already mentioned, are the most wonderful portion
of the structure of this Jelly-fish. They are lined with
hundreds of smaller threads which start at right angles.
from the main threads, and are all of the extremest te-
nuity. The distance these appendages can be projected
from the body, the instantaneous manner in which they
are, drawn within the body, and the perfect control the
animal manifests in their movements seems incredible,

248 SOMETHING ABOUT JELLY-FISHES.

until the movements have been actually witnessed. When
contracted, these appendages occupy a space of exceeding
minuteness, and when projected from the body seem to
run out as a cable runs from a ship. We have sought in
vain for any definite solution of the function of these
threads, and are compelled to offer one derived from our
own observations. Beside the locomotive power derived
from the longitudinal zones of fringes, the body will be
seen to oscillate to and fro, this motion being produced
by the alternate contraction and relaxation of these
threads, the resistance offered to the water by the sudden
contraction of the expanded threads being sufficient to
oscillate the body. The Jelly-fish in question, unlike
most members of the class, swim with the mouth upward,
and the appendages start from the pole opposite the
mouth ; and since the mouth is unprovided with any or-
gans whereby to grasp food, the mouth has the power of
sweeping back and forth in the water by the oscillations
of the body, affording greater chances of coming in con-
tact with their food. It has the power of seizing little
shrimp-like animals, and a singular sight it is to see this
Jelly-fish, with its repast perfectly visible within its
transparent body.

There are two other forms of Jelly-fishes not uncom-
mon in our waters, which have the zones of locomotive
fringes, but have no trailing appendages, as in the species
just described. One of these forms is called Bolina, and
is spew larger than Pleurobrachia, being pear-shaped,

and the larger jes divided into two lobes which surround
the mouth. These lobes have the power of expanding
and contracting, and the contour of the animal is mate-
rially altered by their movements. They may sometimes
be seen gaping wide, disclosing the mouth, and ready to

SOMETHING ABOUT JELLY-FISHES. 249

entrap its food, and again so contracted that the mouth
is quite hidden.

Another form called Jdyia is long and cylindrical like a
tube rounded and closed at one end, the other abrupt and
open; the open end constitutes the mouth. In fact, it is
hardly more than a locomotive stomach. This Jelly-fish
has more consistency than those heretofore described, and
is quite opake. At certain seasons of the year they are
pinkish in color. An individual of this species, when
confined with Pleurobrachia, soon manifests its carnivo-
rous propensities by attacking, and often swallowing the
Pleurobrachia whole. It does not appear daunted if its
victim proves larger than itself, but slowly, patiently
engulfs its victim; and a curious sight it is to see the
Idyia directly after this feat is performed, presenting the
appearance of a tight skin drawn around the innermost
Jelly-fish, though in a short time its food is digested, and
the Idyia resumes its normal shape, and not in the least
augmented in size, It probably requires a dozen or
more of such game for an ordinary lunch. This state-
ment will not be wondered at, if the experiment is tried
of drying a specimen of Pleurobrachia on a white card,
and finding nothing left but a few crystals of salt. The
Vitality of these Jelly-fishes is remarkable: they can be
cut in several pieces, and yet each piece will remain
alive for a long time in the water; and one naturalist,
after having cut an Idyia in half longitudinally, observed
one half to enfold, and digest another Jelly-fish.

The three forms thus far described are common repre-
Sentatives of an order of Jelly-fishes called Ctenophore,
or Comb-bearers, the fringes or paddles having been com-
pared by some writers to the teeth of a comb. These
fringes form a distinguishing trait of the order. The

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 32

250 SOMETHING ABOUT JELLY-FISHES.

members of this order are reproduced directly from
eggs.

We will now consider another order of Jelly-fishes
called Discophore, or disk-like Jelly-fishes, since the
form of many species present a disk-like appearance.
Members of this order are very conspicuous in the water,
owing to their large size, their opacity, and the distinct-
ness of their egg-pouches. They have no zones of loco-
motive fringes, but hanging below the disk and surround-
ing the mouth are numerous appendages, and surrounding
the border of the disk is seen a delicate fringe of threads
interrupted at regular intervals by little dots called eyes.
These Jelly-fishes swim in the water by successive ex-
pansions and contractions of the disk, making a motion
something like the motion made by the partial closing
and opening of an umbrella. This motion is very leisurely
performed, and the animal appears drifted by the currents
and eddies with but little power to direct its course.

Our most common species, the Aurelia (Plate 8,
fig. 5), occurs abundantly in our bays, sometimes in
vast multitudes. When full-grown they measure from
twelve to fifteen inches in diameter.

Another form, called Cyanea, often attains an immense
size. Mr. A. Agassiz gives an account of one that meas-
ured seven feet across the disk, and whose appendages
stretched out to the length of one hundred and twelve
feet ; their average size, however, is about one-third the
dimensions just given.

nettling sensation produced by certain Jelly-fishes,
when brought in contact with the naked body, has long
excited the attention of naturalists. The Cyanea is one
of the mori fornidable in this respect, and Prof. Edward
Forbes d ies as “the terror of ten-

SOMETHING ABOUT JELLY-FISHES. 251

der-skinned bathers. With its broad, tawny, festooned,
and scalloped disk, often a full foot or more across, it
flaps its way through the yielding waters, and drags after
it a long train of riband-like arms, and seemingly inter-
minable tails, marking its course when the body is far
away from us. Once tangled in its trailing ‘hair,’ the
unfortunate, who has recklessly ventured across the
graceful monster’s path, too soon writhes in prickly tor-
ture. Every struggle but binds the poisonous threads
more firmly ryan bis body, and then there is no escape ;
for, when the winder of the fatal net finds his course im-
peded by the terrified human wrestling in its coils, he,
seeking no combat with the mightier biped, casts loose
his envenomed arms, and swims away. The amputated
weapons, severed from their parent body, vent vengeance
on the cause of their destruction, and sting as fiercely as
if their original proprietor itself gave the word of attack.”
Peculiar oval cells, each containing a little filament capa-
ble of protrusion, have been supposed to be the seat of
this nettling sensation. These are called urticating cells,
and the whole class of Jelly-fishes are called Acalephs, or
Sea-nettles, from this peculiar property. These stinging
cells cover the surface of the body and appendages,
though, strange enough, there are many species possessing
these cells that produce no stinging sensation whatever.
The strangest feature in the history of certain Jelly-
fishes belonging to the order Discophore, as the Aurelia,
for instance, is their wonderful mode of reproduction. It
would require too long a time to detail the successive
steps made before the whole truth was known
the development of these Jelly-fishes. How hae succes-
Sive stages were described by different zodlogists as en-
tirely distinct animals, until at last it was proved that

252 SOMETHING ABOUT JELLY-FISHES.

they all represented the different stages of growth of one
animal. The Aurelia, for example, gives origin to little
locomotive eggs ; these, swimming in shoals, finally effect
lodgments on the rocks, one end becoming attached, and
the other throwing out little tentacles as in Fig. 1, on
Plate 8. In this condition they resemble miniature Polyps.
Gradually they increase in length, and little transverse
seams, or constrictions, appear on the sides of the body,
these constrictions deepening, and their edges becoming
scalloped. (See Plate 8, fig. 2. ) Finally, the seams haye
deepened to such an extent that their appearance have
been compared to a pile of saucers, and at last they be-
come separated one after the other, each turning upside
down, and swimming off free Jelly-fishes. In this stage
they are called Ephyra, and are entirely unlike their
parent in appearance. By the fall they will have attained
their adult form, and a diameter of twelve or more inches.
Figs. 3, 4, on the Plate, represents Ephyras in dif-
ferent stages of growth, a short time after separating from
the stalk. In spring time the water is alive with them.
By far the greater number of our smaller Jelly-fishes
belong to another order called’ Hydrotds, and pass through
phases of growth equally as strange as those above re-
counted. The limits of our paper will allow only a few
words on this group. On the rocks at low water, and
on floating weed, little moss-like tufts will be found in
abundance. This plant-like growth, when examined un-
der a lens, will be seen active with life. The ends of
the little twigs ‘and offshoots appear as little bell-shaped
cups, with tentacles studding the free ends like the plates
of a flower; these are the fixed individuals, and are the
purveyors of the community. In the spring time little
_ capsules will be noticed on the twigs, within which are

American Naturalist. Vol. LTPES

MORSE ON THE JELLY FISHES.

SOMETHING ABOUT JELLY-FISHES. 253

to be seen minute globular bodies, to be finally set free
by the rupture of the capsule, as free swimming Jelly-
fishes. (See Plate 8, fig. 12: a, fixed individai; b,
capsule containing young Jelly-fishes.) Others bud di-
rectly from the twig and drop off singly, as in Coryne.
(Fig. 7, buds forming from Hydroid stalk ; Fig. 6, adult
Coryne.) These are found by thousands in spring time.
Not only do these free Jelly-fishes bud from fixed com-
munities, but in one species young ones bud from the
Jelly-fish itself, as in Lizzia (Fig. 10), and certain others
where the young bud from the stomach. All these Hy-
droid Jelly-fishes produce eggs, which again give rise to
plant-like communities. At another time we hope to de-
vote a chapter to the structure of Jelly-fishes, and illus-
trate more fully the character of the Hydroids, of which
we have scarcely touched in this paper.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 8.

Fig- 1. Early condition of Aurelia, —after AGASS

Fig. 2. Older condition of same, showing sioniaab about to

separate, —after AGASSIZ.

Fig. b; Da a short time after Bird itself, — original.
Fig. 4. Advanced stage of above,
Fig. 5. Aurelia, in adult condition, Pin Kannik
Fig. 6. Coryne mirabilis Ag., —original
Fig. 7. Hydroid community of Gie TN Doriy Jelly-

— origi
Fig. 11. ompr gam te Pe ‘of Eucope diaphana Ag.,—after A.

GASSIZ.
Fig. 12. Showing one twig of Eucope with fixed individual A, and
reproductive 3 ‘A arogan a number of young
Jelly-fishes, — after
Fig. 13. Eucope, in adult jere aA, —original.

254

AGENCY OF INSECTS IN FERTILIZING PLANTS.

BY W: J. BEAL.

Mr. CHARLES Darwin and other botanists have proved
beyond a doubt, that some flowers, in which the pollen
may easily gain access to the stigma of the same flower,
are sterile unless fertilized by pollen borne from other
flowers, while many are much more productive by a cross
fertilization.

For information concerning the peculiar manner in
which fertilization is effected in the Balsam, Wood-sorrel,
Violets, Dicentra or Dielytra, Corydalis, } Mitchella or
Partridge-berry, Oldenlandia or Houstonia, Primrose,
Barberry, Lysimachia or Loosestrife, Orchids, Dutchman’s
Pipe, and others ; consult the. observations recorded by
Mr. J.T. Rothrock in the second number of the NATURAL-
ist, Mr. Darwin’s work on the “Fertilization of Orchids,”
and seven articles by Dr. A. Gray in the “American Ag-
riculturist,” beginning in May, 1866.

With the fact that insects are necessary to fertilize some
plants, and the theory that all are improved by crossing,
let us see how this is accomplished in plants which may
not seem to require the aid of the wind or insects. Plants
are very rarely found in which the pollen may not, occa-
sionally at least, get to the stigma of another flower of the
same, or an allied species. Then if the pollen is “pre-
potent” or most effective on stigmas when thus transferred,
a cross is very sure to result, even though much pollen
comes in contact with the stigma of the same flower. Dr.
Gray, acquainted with hoier facts, and familiar with the
structure of the Iris, saw that insects must be needed for
: the fertilization of this plant also, and without seeing the
Ip , shrewdly pointed out the manner in which

AGENCY OF INSECTS, ETC. 255

they must carry the pollen from one flower to another.
We verified his theory by observations made two years
ago, and found it to be true in the essential particulars.

Without giving a scientific description of the flower, it
is enough for our present purpose to say, that the parts
consist of three curved tubes, each just about large enough
to admit a common honey-bee, being a trifie larger than
a cell in her comb. ;

There is a showy crest, or attractive platform, projecting
at the outer end of each tube upon which the bee first
alights. When going into the flower for the first time
during the day, she is free from pollen. She brushes
against a lid which hangs from above, not unlike an old-
fashioned swinging door of a cat-hole, as sometimes seen
about barns or corn-cribs. When farther in beyond the
lid, she comes against the anther, which only discharges
pollen on the side next to the bee’s back.. After getting
_ What nectar she can at the lower end of the tube, she
backs out again, pushing the trap-door in the opposite
direction. The outside of this door is the only part of
the stigma upon which the pollen will produce any effect,
so upon visiting the first tube no pollen adheres to the
sensitive side of the stigma, although the bee leaves the
place with her back well powdered. Calling at another
tube, she dives in as before, this time dusting the outside
of the lid with pollen which was brought from the tube
first visited.

In the early part of June, I examined the common Blue
Flag (Āris versicolor Linn.) at different times during the
day, and always succeeded in seeing the bees at work
while their heads and backs contained an abundance of
pollen. In wilted flowers, and in some that were fresh,
I saw bees occasionally get in and out at the side of the

256 AGENCY OF INSECTS

tube, without touching the stigma at all. Sometimes
they went in the tube as first described, and then slipped
out at the side instead of backing out. Several went on
top of the flower and tried to find other ways to get at the
sweets below, but in every instance they failed, and soon
left that position.

At the Botanical Garden, Cambridge, Mass., I noticed
bees on several foreign species of Iris, in some of which,
as Iris pseudocarus of Southern Europe, the tube is more
nearly perfect, so that it is impossible for them to find a
side entrance or egress.

The corolla of Andromeda floribunda Pursh, is nearly
urn-shaped, hanging with the open end or entrance down.
The ten long anthers open at the apex by two round
holes, and each anther is supplied with two horizontal
or reflexed awns on the outside next the corolla. The
stigma is just at the narrow mouth of the corolla. . Bees
in abundance visit the flowers, thrusting their long tongue
or proboscis against the awns or horns of the anther, as
they reach in for nectar which is secreted farther on. By
hitting the awns the anthers are disturbed, and the holes
brought close against some part of the bee’s probos-
cis, which is well sprinkled over with pollen, as well as
the other mouth parts hanging below the flower. Bees
were examined, and found to have the parts mentioned
covered with the four-grained pollen which is peculiar to
a few plants.

I cannot see how pollen alights on the stigmas of this
plant, for in falling out in the natural way it must pass by
to the ground. But the insect puts the material in place
every time as effectually as a mason can stick mortar on
the ceiling of a room. The Blueberry ( Vaccinium) is

similar in structure to the Andromeda, except that the

IN FERTILIZING PLANTS. 257

awns are wanting. Probably most flowers which droop —
or hang down are fertilized by insects. For otherwise,
how can the pollen find the tip of a stigma, when the -
style is suspended ?

The mode of fertilization in the American Laurel ( Kal-
mia) has already been well described in the NATURALIST,
but I may be excused for adding my testimony concern-
ing this beautiful and interesting plant.

When the anthers are liberated from the pockets in the
corolla, the stamens suddenly straighten and throw jets
of pollen often for a foot or more, “acting,” as Professor
Gray used to say, “like a boy’s pea-shooter.”

Many times when the dew was on, I have seen the
common honey-bee and other Hymenoptera about these
flowers. When the bee alights on a flower, the style
Comes up between the legs where they join the body, or
_ Sometimes farther back against the abdomen.

Tn this position they turn around, as though they were
balanced on a pivot, generally inserting the tongue out-
side of the filament, and, while doing this, pull the sta-
mens with their legs towards the centre of the flower, re-
leasing them and frequently receiving the shots of pollen
on their own body. A single visit from an insect is suf-
ficient to release all the anthers. By noon it was a diffi- |
cult matter to find a flower which had not been visited in
this way. Insects seem to be absolutely necessary for
the perfect fertilization of Kalmia angustifolia and K.
latifolia, for I tied small nets over some flower-clusters
(corymbs) , and found that when the bees were kept away,
the flowers withered and fell off, most of the anthers still
Temaining in the pockets, and the filaments so decayed
that their elasticity was entirely gone. The very few an-

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

258 ' AGENCY OF INSECTS

thers liberated were probably brought out by the shaking
of the bushes by the wind.

Considerable pollen was found stuck on the corollas by
the nectar, which was uncommonly abundant, as no in-
sects of much size were allowed to remove it. The wind
might have carried some of this pollen to other flowers,
or it might have dripped from those above to flowers be-
low in drops of water (there were two showers during
these experiments); but I infer this was not the case in
the examples mentioned, because the flowers, especially
the stigmas, remained fresh much longer than those
which were left exposed to the visits of insects.

The flowers of several Honeysuckles, of the Mustard
Family (Crucifere), of the Bladder-nut (Staphylea tri-
Jolia L.) were noticed, and in each ĉase the conclusion
reached was, that the chances are better for cross fertil-
ization than otherwise.

The long cylindrical, bell-shaped corollas of site Purple
Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) are much visited by bees.

flowers are mostly obliquely suspended, and in all
thus situated, the stamens and style are close to the up-
per side of the corolla. The insects alight at the opening
of the corolla, on the side opposite the stamens. This is
generally the lower side as the flowers hang, then reach-
ing above, they catch hold of the style and stamens, &
crawl in with the back down, brushing the whole length
of the underside of the body, first against the stigma,
and, farther on, against the anthers.

- They seem unable to get into the flower without catch-
ing hold of the stamens, and it is often with considerable
difficulty that they enter at all, for they are obliged to

hold on to the edge with the hind legs until glad
n catch the stamens with their fore legs.

IN FERTILIZING PLANTS. 259

In the Evening Primrose (Oenothera glauca Michx.,
Oe. Missouriensis and linearis Michx.), the stigmas pro-
ject beyond the anthers, and the flowers vary from an erect
to a horizontal position.’ There are four large stigmas for
each style, spreading in the form of a Greek cross.

The pollen, slightly held together by delicate threads,
is collected in the morning by great numbers of small
wasps, about two-thirds the size of honey-bees. I have
often watched them while coming down on, or just over,
the stigmas, leaving pollen as they went in, and after col-
lecting what they could, fly out at the side without touch-
ing the stigma. On one of these plants, at two different
times, a wasp was eagerly trying to pick up the pollen
which had been left on the stigmas; the more they tried
to collect, the more they scattered pollen about on the
glutinous surface, until, as if discouraged or disgusted,
they rapidly cleaned their legs of all the tangled mass,
and flew away, leaving that cluster of flowers entirely.

In the flowers of the Pea, False Indigo, Yellow-wood
(Cladastris), Red-bud or Judas-tree, Red and White
Clover, Locust, and others of this large and important
family (Leguminose), the anthers surround the stigma,
and are closely covered by the corolla. This certainly
looks like a very clear case for self-fertilization, but I
doubt not the reverse is very often the case. Many
of the flowers, as the Pea and Locust, have one petal
much larger than the rest, called the standard or banner.
Opposite this is another part composed of two petals
Sometimes united, termed the keel. On this keel bees
uniformly alight, and crowd the head down next to the
banner-petal. To enable them to do this, they kick

keel and side petals (wings) with their hind legs,
nd push them back so that the anthers and stigmas

stigmas

260 ICE-MARKS AND ANCIENT GLACIERS

come out from their concealment and meet the underside
of the insect where pollen may be left or received. + Why
the style should be so uniformly curved upward, and all
should be brought against the abdomen of insects, I can-
not well conceive, unless it be of some use to the plant.

Lupine, another species in this family, has a remarkably
long keel which makes a close sheath for the inside parts.
Ont the style, just below the extremity, is a circle of long
stiff bristles. As the keel is pushed down, only the stig-
ma, with the bristles below, appears outside, and this
pushes out a mass of pollen which generally hits some
part of the insect. When left, the flower resumes its
former position again.

For about six times pollen can be pushed out in this
way, when the supply becomes exhausted. Insects begin
on the lowest flowers, and so go up the spike to others
which are higher and younger. No experiments have
been made on Lupine to show whether it will produce
more seeds when visited by insects than when protected.

a ee
—— S

ICE-MARKS AND ANCIENT GLACIERS IN THE
WHITE MOUNTAINS.

BY A. S. PACKARD, JR., M.D.

Durme a visit last autumn to the White Mountains,

we found ice-marks in the valleys of the Saco, Ellis, and

_ Androscoggin Rivers. These grooves, and other signs of
ice action, give the clearest evidence, that, during the

- Glacial Period, the White Mountains were covered by à

central mer-de-glace, which discharged local glaciers into

_ the principal valleys radiating op Pier: the central peaks.

- Like the glaciers of the Alps, of the mo mountains of”

IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 261

Norway, of the Himalaya Mountains, and the mountains
of New Zealand, the Andes, and the polar regions at
the present day, these rivers of ice flowed down the val-
leys, like a plastic mass of frozen and refrozen snow and
ice. We learn from the writings of geologists that in
former times the Alpine glaciers, which now cling to
the mountain peaks far up the valleys, descended during
a period of great cold, when the Polar Bear, Reindeer,
and other arctic animals were spread over Southern Eu-
rope, and extended far out upon the broad plains of Italy
and Germany. Such must have been the scene in New
England during the time of intense cold, known as the
Glacial Period. But before theorizing, let us . present
the facts which seem to us new, and to confirm the opin-
ions. that have been before expressed by some of our
geologists, that the principal valleys of the White Moun-
tains have been filled with these rivers of ice. Our ob-
servations only relate to the eastern part of the mountains.
Let us first explain what is meant by ice-marks or
glacial scratches, striw, grooves, and moraines. The
rocks and ledges in all the Alpine valleys are grooved
and fluted by nearly parallel marks made by gravel and
Pebbles frozen into the bottom and sides of the slowly-
moving mass of ice. The glacier thus grinds down,
polishes, and scratches the rocks over which it moves.
So steady and uniform is the motion of these immense
bodies of ice, that the marks preserve a remarkably
uniform course over the uneven surface of the valley.
Sometimes a huge ledge projects into the valley. Around
this the glacier sweeps, and the marks are curved at this
point. Where the glacier debouches on to a broad plain,
the ice-marks tend to radiate outwards, fan-like, from the
mouth of the valley. L a

262 ICE-MARKS AND ANCIENT GLACIERS

Moraines are formed of the debris or loose refuse mat-
ter accumulated either upon the surface, or crowded be-
neath the ice. The material derived from the latter
source forms masses of clay, sand, and rounded stones,
the latter of which are often found to be striated on one
or more of the sides, like the surface of the solid rock
beneath. On the top of the glacier rest long rows or
trains of more angular blocks which have fallen from the
cliffs above. These windrows of stones are called “lateral
moraines,” because they are found on each side of the
glacier. When such a glacier melts away, a great semi-
circular heap or hillock of ee and dirt forms what is
called a “terminal moraine.” We would naturally ex-
pect to find the finer, clayey portions with rounded
stones, grooved and scratched pebbles, and boulders
at the bottom of the rude mass, while the more angular
stones would remain upon the top. From the melting of
the ice arise rivers whose turbid and swollen waters rus
out from beneath the end of the glacier, and further aid
in rounding the stones. Such torrential streams are the
sources of the Aar, a branch of the Rhine, of the Rhone,
and of other rivers which spring out from under the gla-
ciers of the Alps and of Norway.

Our route to the mountains lay up the valley of the
Ossipee River, in which Ossipee Lake, Six Mile Pond,
and numerous other ponds lie. Looking from the village
of Ossipee up the broad valley at the head of which
rises the majestic Chicorua, and beholding on all sides
lateral moraines thrown up in hillocks of partially strat-
ified gravel and pebbles, and the beautiful glacial lakes
-embosomed in the gently swelling hills of this delightful
valley, it was not difficult to imagine that old Chicorua, in
former times, shook off from its icy dome streams of ice

IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 263

which crowded far up, and even overflowed the sides of this
valley, and when all had melted away, left as witnesses
of the floods these placid lakes. These sheets of water,
however, are not scattered at random over the face of
New England. In this valley and the neighboring parts
of Maine, they are arranged in a general north-west and
south-east course, following that of the rivers. This
direction is probably due to the fact that the valleys
cut across the general north-east and south-west course
of our mountain ranges, which compose the Appalachian
chain.

We had no time to search for glacial scratches in the
Ossipee valley, but cannot doubt that on examination they
will be found pointing towards Mount Chicorua, where,
according to Dr. C. T. Jackson,* they follow the gene-
ral north-west course of this valley.

Riding up the Conway valley, with Kearsarge on our
right, and the Mote Mountains on our left, up through
Bartlett to Jackson, we observe moraines innumerable
rising high up the sides of the valley, and covered
with boulders, revealed more distinctly in all the cleared
lands. Above these moraines rise rounded and embossed

rocks, while the evenly terraced valley, over which the
' road passes, shows that at a former period (though long
after the close of the glacial epoch) the river, then a se-
ries of broad lakes, rearranged and resorted the confused
materials composing the mounds left by the melting
glacier, into finely, evenly stratified fresh-water deposits,
which now form the arable land of the plains, over which
are scattered the picturesque villages and hamlets so fa-
miliar to the White Mountain tourist.

Ice-marks were first noticed at Jackson, on Thorn

_ * Report on the Geology of New Hampshire.

264 ICE-MARKS AND ANCIENT GLACIERS

Mountain, a peak lying just south of Tin Mountain, and
estimated by Prof. Guyot to be 2,500 feet high. Here
the grooves are well marked, and point directly towards
Mount Washington, their course being north 25° west.
Even portions of a quartz vein which appears upon the
surface is smoothly polished and finely striated. On re-
moving the soil from the surface of the rock a part of the
way up the mountain, and also directly upon the summit,
these ice-marks could be easily discerned, all running in the
same north-west and south-east direction. On Mount
Kearsarge, three miles distant, which bears south 25° east
from Thorn Mountain, Dr. Jackson states, in the Geology
of New Hampshire, that part way up the mountain the
drift-marks run north 35° west,—thus pursuing the gene-
ral north-west and south-east course the valley here as-
sumes. In hastily ascending this mountain on the north
side from Jackson, we were not fortunate enough to dis-
cover any grooves in the rocks. Half way up the side,
however, we found a boulder of a peculiar mica slate,
containing large crystals of staurotide, or cross-stone,
which must have been borne down on the back of the
glacier from Mount Washington, as thick beds of this
rock occur near the limit of trees, a little over four thou-
sand feet up that mountain. Similar boulders occurred
on some of the hills below.

On an adjoining hill near Goodrich’s Falls, are very
distinct ice-marks. Here we found a huge angular
boulder of many tons weight, which had been ap-
parently detached from the parent rock beneath, and
moved a few rods to the south-east; for to the north-

west are polished surfaces and grooves which had evi-
- dently been made by this large, slowly-moving mass of.

= when frozen, info the bottom of a glacier. The

o

IN: THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 265

surface of the reddish sienite had here been polished
smooth as porcelain, as seen in little patches which had
survived the centuries of weathering by frosts and snows,
which has effaced most of the slighter traces of glacial
action in our mountain regions. Here the marks point-
ed north 30° east. There were also strange marks in
the rocks, called lunoid furrows, which are crescent-shaped
depressions in the rock, with the concavity looking to-
wards the north. The origin of these lunoid furrows
have been thus explained. It is known that the glacier
is in constant motion, advancing a few inches in sum-
mer, and then contracting in winter. Now imagine a
stone frozen into the ice, and thus acting as a gouge.
Pushed onward and then withdrawn by the powerful
hand of the ice-king, it soon wears this peculiar
shaped hole, then turns over out of the rut, and catches
again in some inequality of the rock, and makes another
lunoid furrow, or perhaps a series of four or five, often
very regular in form, though the distance between them
may vary. :

Crossing over the range of mountains north of Mount
Kearsarge into Stowe, Maine, we descend into the
charming valley of the Cold River. This is a branch of
the Saco, and, though now comparatively unknown, it
must in future attract many travellers. We pause at
the entrance of Evang Notch, a mountain pass of great
interest, and far surpassing Pinkham Notch in grandeur,
reminding us rather of the White Mountain Notch. The .
gate of the pass is guarded on the west by Mount Royce,
on the east by Speckled Mountain, whose nine spurs ra-

into the towns of Stowe, Albany, and Stoneham.
On the broad, flattened, glaciated summit of Speckled
tain ice-marks abound, pursuing a course north 15°

AN NAT., VOL. I. 34 ’

266 ICE-MARKS AND ANCIENT GLACIERS

east, following the course of the valley at this point,
and pointing PeT a | higher peak situated a little to
the northward.

In one place a beautiful beryl, in fine crystals of which
the coarse granite abounds, has been sliced off by the
abrading agent, and polished even with the surface of the
feldspar matrix. There are broad surfaces of rock planed
down by ice, both on the north-western and north-eastern
slopes, showing that the ice must have slid down in both
directions from the reservoir of snow which rested on the
water-shed between the two valleys. Here, also, occur
numerous lunoid furrows, pointing in the same general
direction as the straight fine grooves. In the fields, at
_ the bottom of the mountain, are several parallel trains of
boulders, formerly lateral moraines, which lie ten or fif-
teen rods apart. We were informed that these windrows
of boulders stop the plough, and it is only possible to
turn the sod in the intervals between them, which are
entirely free from boulders.

On Mount Baldface, which lies about three miles
west of Speckled Mountain, and is composed of a pale
fine sienite, with an unusually perfect rift, enabling it
to be split into long thin slabs for building purposes,
the glacial marks assume quite a different direction, run-
ning north 10° to 15° west. On the north-east face, per-
haps five hundred feet below the summit, may be seen
strie and lunoid furrows in abundance, running over 4

smoothly glaciated spur, on which the striæ run north 10°
west. Here the lunoids were quite abundant. Some
were ve large, oe from one to three feet in

aia dell of the mountain saab covert angular
boulders of a peculiar porphyritic sienite, containing

IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 267

curious oblong crystals of albitic feldspar. Our guide
to their source—the trusty ice-grooves—point to Peaked
Mountain, a peak lying perhaps half an hours walk
‘in a direction north 10° west. Under their guidance,
and by occasionally following the paths made by bears
through the stunted growth of spruce, we find the parent
rock from which they had been torn, on the summit of
Peaked Mountain, which is composed of this peculiar
porphyry.

Passing through Evans’ Notch into the valley of the
Androscoggin, in the town of Gilead, we find marks on
a ledge near the river, which follow a general north-west
and south-east direction. This is the general course of
the Androscoggin River at this place. Following this
river to its mouth, where it empties near the sea-shore into
the Kennebec River, the traces of glaciers observed at
Bethel, Lewiston, and Brunswick show that a stream of
ice once filled the valley throughout its whole length,

om the mountains to the sea.

There was also a Peabody River glacier, which joined
the Androscoggin glacier, as we may call it, at the junc-
tion of those two rivers near the Alpine House, at Gor-
ham, N. H. A geological friend has detected on the
north-east side of Mount Washington, on the carriage
road, glacial grooves which point down the Peabody
valley. .

Thus we see the traces of five distinct ancient glaciers, —
ing as many river valleys, descending from the higher
peaks of the White Mountains. In rounding off the tops
of the mountains, scooping out the valleys, and levelling
with their moraines the deep depressions in the surface
of the earth, they were important agents in preparing the
way for the advent of man, who should till the soil they

268 ICE-MARKS AND ANCIENT GLACIERS.

have borne down from the mountains and spread out in
fertile plains.

Such are the lessons to be learned of drifted boulders,
ice-marks, and moraines. Now looking back through thé
past, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of years, when
an ice-dome capped these mountains, then probably rising
much higher above the sea, and sending a glacier down
each broad valley into the ocean, where their huge icy
cliffs were layed by the waters of a frozen sea, we have
to imagine ourself as if on the present coast of Greenland
or Spitzbergen, and, looking inland from some mountain
peak upon the coast, behold a vast sea of ice with jagged
peaks rising up through the broad expanse, cleaving and
throwing aside the slowly, imperceptibly moving currents
of this inland sea of ice. Near the sea, partly warmed
perhaps by the remote influence of the Gulf Stream,
whose powers upon the coast of New England were
greatly lessened during this period of intense arctic cold,
were sunny valleys, carpeted with moss and sprinkled
sparingly with lovely arctic flowers,—whose descendants
still linger upon the summit of Mount Washington, —half-
hidden beneath the snows, or clinging to the cliffs as if
shrinking from the icy embrace of the glacier. Here the
Reindeer and the Bison* met in herds, the arctic Foxes
barked, and the arctic Hare nibbled the short summer's
growth ; while upon the drifting ice-cakes the Polar Bear
sat watching for some stray seal, and the Mammoth,
found fossil over the northern part of both hemispheres,

__ *The teeth of the Walrus and the Bison were discovered by Sir Charles Lyell in
the clay-beds at Gardiner, Maine. These are still preserved in a privato collage

_ REVIEWS, 269

stalked over the plains. The Gare Fowl, or Penguin of
the north (Alca impennis), probably reared its young
fattening them on the Caplin, which has been found fosei]
in our clay-beds; and the smaller Auks, the Gannet,
the Puffin, and Eider Duck filled air and water with their
hosts. Through the waves, schools of Narwhales may have
disported snd: waged war with that Bull-dog of the north-
ern seas, the Kiler; ; while the Walrus and Greenland Seal
thrust their half-dog,'half-human face above the waves,
and with angry hark, crowded and jostled each other off
the smooth-backed skiers skirting the coast.

Did man gaze upon this scene? Did the forefathers
of the Mound Builders or of the ancient Copper Miners
of the Great Lakes ply these waters in their kayaks,
aud build their winter huts of snow amid these arctic
Scenes ?

REVIEWS.

An INQUIRY INTO THE ZOGLOGICAL RELATIONS OF THE FIRST DIS-
o

THE WINGS OF LIVING NEUROPTERA. By S. H. Scudder, From the
Memoirs of the Boston Hot of Natural History. Vol. I. pp. 20,
gto. 1867. With a pla
_ The study of the fossil remains of insects is attended with ae
difficulty. Indeed le’s is known, perhaps, of the Insect Fauna of
former geological periods, than of most other classes of animals, with
the exception of the worms and cave (acalephs). From the
t R

present day, just as Cuvier restored the quadrupeds of the Paris Ba-
~ delineating their often rude, embryonic forms, from hints afforded
y pieces of bone and in some

270 REVIEWS.
cases, however, quite complete, discovered by the quarrymen of Mont-
martre.

The descriptions here given are of the remains of two insects found
in the Coal Formation of Morris, Illinois, in company with various

coal-plants and amphipod crustaceans, which latter are related to our
hetke beach fleas. These insects were described and figured by Prof.
J. in the ‘American Journal of Science and Arts,” in 1864.

Each a the two insects is supposed by the author to form the type of
a new family of the kebti both of which are described and com-
pared with the other families. For such comparisons the author finds
the neuration of the wings indispensable as a guide in tracing their
affinities, and in limiting the different groups of the Neuroptera gene-
rally, of which the Dragon Fly, gansta and Ephemera are ex-
amples. These two extinct families afford instances of a ‘‘synthetic

is the eee which retains the more essential characters of the
fishes, while mimicking the scaly reptiles.

The plates contati partial restorations, one of the right upper

of Hemeristia occidentalis, an insect allied remotely to the Golden-

eyed, — fly, so common in our on in summer, and the

other (Miam the gigantic Corydalus,

found not e flying ep and nates at twilight in summer.

ON THE PARALLELISM BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF LIFE IN

Luscous. ORDER TETRABRANCHIATA. By Alpheus Hyatt. From the
Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History. Vol. I. Part 2.
1867. pp. 16, 4to.

In this paper, the author makes a comparison between the old age,
or period of decline, and the adult forms of allied species of animals,
represented at Pa bg the Nautilus and Argonaut. During ¢x-

o speak, falls into its ‘‘second ch hildhood,”
as stated, though in a more scientific way, by the French naturalist
ee. This idea is, in the present article, still farther extended to
collective life of this order of the class of Cephalopoda

«lala a a Stes, U E tae Y Y
Sasi ania

the Nautilus, etc, as well as of the earlie st generic
stages of the life of the individ-
f

tira iife gi

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 271

AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL MONTHLY. — Devoted to Popular nee
and Literature. June, 1867. J. W. Schermerhorn & Co., York

his lively and independent monthly does good service in the cause

of education. Every number contains an article on Natural History,
_ besides a special department 2a gleanings in Science and the
The present number contains valuable hints on the importance

of the study of Natural History in pitta: Ss.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.
piece Cte
BOTANY.
ROTTENNESS OF Frvuirs.—The experiments of M. Devaine, record-
ed in the ‘“‘ Comptes Rendus,” Aug. 20, 1866, prove that the rottenness
ef fruits is the result of the attacks of fungi, the different varie-

rot, Produces a black putridity; a Selenosporium? Corda, which
Devaine observed upon the cucumber, and which he propagated on this
fruit, gives a beautiful red color to the flesh of the cucumber, whilst
the rottenness of the same fruit, resulting from the invasion of a Mucor
or a Penicillium, has no particular coloration. — Quarterly Journal of
Science.
ae
ZOOLOGY.
#D-LEGGED GRA SSHOPPER. — This terrible pest has been for
far

Now the farmers are in a quandary, and some are In despair, not sow-
ing or planting, believing that it would be labor spent in vain, while
others run the risk.” It used to swarm at certai rtain times in the East-
ern States. Harris enumerates its visitations in New England in the
last century, when it devoured. every green thing, so that ‘days of

272 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

fasting and prayer were appointed” on account of the threatened
calamity.

How shall the ravages of this well-known grasshopper be stayed?
We doubt not that when the West is more thickly settled, and the
eggs and young of the Re ANGE exposed to the attacks of domestic
animals, it will be less abunda

he habits of this species are he well known, except that they ap-
pear in mid-summer in the winged state. The wingless larvæ appear
in June, and, as Harris recommends, hay crops should be mown early,
before they flyinswarms. The last of summerthey couple, and probably
lay their eggs in holes in the earth, which are hatched in the spring; at
least such are the habits of the common Carolina Locust. As Harris

and late in the sa at of collecting locusts and their eggs, the latter

being turned out of the ground in little masses, cemented and cov-

ered with a sort of gum, ahd which they are enveloped by the insects.”

Various forms of drag-nets can be invented for collecting them in
l

hot water, and fed to swine. An entomological friend has found by
his own experience, that roasted grasshoppers are excellent eating, —
‘ better than frogs.” Only let some enterprising genius of the kitchen
once set the example of offering to his customers roasted grasshop-
pers, rare done, and fricasseed canker-worms,— for we have it on the
word of an AEEA that caterpillars are pleasing to the palate of

n= droves of entomological beeves will supplant their
vertebrate rivals at the shambles, and instead of etfs, we shall
have Grasshopper Festivals, and County Caterpillar Show

GEOLOGY.
| Tur Two Earuist Known Races or Men rv Evrops.—Recent
discoveries in archxology, now generally accepted among scientific

men, tend to show that man has before History gives
a hint, either by tradition or written record, of his ‘existence. The:
are races of fossil men, which have peo! certain hen

passed away, their places to be filled by new and strange peoples-
Thus the study of prehistoric man belongs with the study of fossil
e a a The life of man upon the earth
can onl ee O

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 273

years. Thus Paleontology fades into Archeology, or the study of
ancient or prehistoric man; and Archeology graduates into History,

Though the subject is still in a crude state, the conclusions here
resented result from the careful observation of facts, now generally

prehistoric man have been most carefully studied, they have been
considered to characterize three periods, or ages, namely: first, the
Stone age, when stone viet not metals, was used in the construction
of implements ; second, the Bronze aes characterized by a higher
style of art, and the use 2 implements made for the sis part of
bronze; and third, the Iron age, sY such implements of the chase,
of war, and domestic life, were constructed largely of iron. Each
period is a step towards a higher civilization. From being a simple
Savage, living singly or in small tribes, without organization, and
scarcely able to hold his own against the gigantic wild beasts of those

his relations our ideal man, caedere the human species as a whole,
shows a constant progress up

Races of gigantic tenfa dg uef as the Megatherium. oth,
and Mastodon, two species of Rhinoceros, the Cave Bear, Lion, Irish
Elk, a large species of Beaver, and the Aurochs, a passed away be-
fore his attacks. The rudiments of the art of sc taingan and printing
appear at a distinct period, the domestic animals are d, the
cereals and implements for converting them into ee appear, some-
thing like national unity binds together haries of savage men, when
History lifts the veil. Doai this long period of more than Cimme-
rian darkness, the surface of the earth had so great changes.

climate of northern Europe and America was much like that of
Greenland at the present day, though the extremes of the climate
could not have been so great, it seems to us, as generally stated by.
European writers. All our rivers ran in much deeper channels, while
paa estuaries. and chains of lakes covered what are now fertile
Plains and intervals, dotted with towns and villages. It is safe to
say, that man lived as long ago as the Terrace or Lake Period of ge-
ologists, on which the Glacial Epoch overlapped.
In an interesting article in the London “Quarterly Journal of Sci-
ence,” by W. B. Hawkins, “On the Habits and Condition of the Two
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

274 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Earliest Races of Men,” the author gives an account of the two races,
which succeeded one another during the first, or Stone Period. He
states that —

“The FIRA of Franoe and England, and the bone caverns of crate jes countries

and of Belgiu The orig-
mal ‘discoveries bes tne de shoes at — and Abbeville, Leon gigi up by the
h, p th ssil mam-
oth and wi oally + Sarasa ae e e Somme, at a time when it flowed at a
higher level than at present, and Sala a regan of hill and valley were alto-
gether different in that district. The labors of the latter, and of Mr. Evans, F. R.S., have
resulted in the pr n lived ne Britain, from Suffolk on the east,
as far south as the coast of Hamps' AES My own discoveries in Wookey Hole, Hyæna-
den, extend their e into p R those of Mr. MacEnery, in Brixham, into Devon-
shire; and, lastly, those of Dr. ae in Pembrokeshire, into South Wales. Through-
out the wog of this area, the e types of flint implements and weapons prev: A
splinte: of flint afforded 1 the only cutting edge ts bener = ares of ns rudely
ahi Ś spear-
thei ipal weapon. The s o-called ‘s ling-stones,’ eres intended ies use as ae mite
or imbedded in in gum, or bound round with withes, as axes, and some pointed masses of

flint which may have been used for digging, comprise the list of their remains mo the

gravel-beds.... own.

and that the cave was inhabited. The evidence s afforded by this scant list of the imple-
and weapons proves that the race of m ho used them were savages of the very
lowest order, unacquainted with the art of orina or of making pottery, and living on
the fruits of the chase without the aid of the ise . +. Thus scant is our knowledge r me

wh men, Flint Folk par excell that i
Woolly Rhinoceros with whom they lived, To M. Lartet, an
late M. Christy, f a second race of men in the oat ot
France, in t he Department of Dordogne, in the ahad through which flow the Vezere, the
Dordogne, and their t tributaries. They g , and ac-
I animals they eat, and vast quantities
of the implements and weapons they used. In all “the caves aig rock: shelters gees one,
ituted the dan
these savages of the Dordogne, who may therefore be conveniently termed grd
Folk, in contradistinction to the Flint Folk, desorbed apo The presence of the PREK

the "refuse h cape; proves — the

f the M d Reindeer. fi l d regions of the north, indi-
cates Bap nature ‘of the climate at that time in France. The implements are of &
higher ili f the Flint Folk...-
The most ost remarkable remaina, however, by far are > figures of animals engraved upon

stone. antler, ne, or ivory,

hiet f h at.

f a deer; the lines, however, are too con-
fused for specific i dentification. The rock-shelter augerie-basse has furnished an out-

ere
dant, and as ne had. no room to draw the hind legs in thelr their natural tion, he doubled
il agape cypress and thus completed the whole

with eves.

ery eran ta ost aise formed the handle of an Picanto

è s upon | - d figure oe ene species of Fipan wash E

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 275

belonged.* The artist has given to it, not only the tusks with eccentric curvature which

are so common in the drini-gravels, ss also psy mar ken ta n a most unmistakable way; the
long hairy 1 tl
north of Tusai: raer that extinct animal. Th specimen, therefore, is most
seaport mens, no’ niot only foes an example of the er early das , but also bee it stamps the

Mr. Dawkins states that the Reindeer Folk seem to have differed
from the Flint Folk, ‘because, although both lived very much under
tae same physical conditions, in no case are their implements or

h ‘

dicate a, more civilized as well as more modern people, and the small
handles of their sag oy the similarity, of the bone needles, of the
i nimals on

deer Folk, have caused this fossil race to be compared to the present
Esquimaux. Itis indeed, as Mr. Dawkins states, not improbable that
the oleae or allied races, formerly ranged as far south as the
Alps or Pyren

he differences Dies these two races are also borne out by other
palæon iy RS evidence. With those of the Flint Folk occur remains
of the‘ Sabre-toothed Lion (or Tiger), the Elephas Antiquus, the Hip-

the Pliocene.” In the refuse heaps of the Reindeer Folk, however,
only two extinct species of mammalia are found, the Irish Elk, and the
Mammoth, “both of which sprang into being in the Pleistocene [or
Quaternary] period.”

“The three pana that especially characterize the Reindeer de-
posits of Dordogne, as compared with those of the Flint Folk age, are
the Antelope Saita. the Ibex, and the Chamois; of e the former
ranges now through the great central STE of Asia, the second lives
in the Pyrenees, and the last in the Alps

After these two races had passed w their soil was occupied

western Europe by a people whom Sir John Lubbock terms Neolithic
(neos, young; liier, stone). This race invented the use of pottery,
and the art of sp ning.
cles, which dwelt in wá the bottoms of which are now known under the name of =
‘oon ener ‘ith hill ia tein neva for the piapa
buried without t burning.”

Their implements were elaborated with more skill; they had do
ticated the dog, and in the Pile-works of Switzerland are found eit

* Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 5e. ser. t. iV., 6 cahier,

276 * NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

earliest known assemblage of domestic animals, the horse, pig, goat,
sheep, and ox,” and the cakes and seeds found in their dwellings prove
that they were acquainted with agriculture. Nearly contemporaneous,
or perhaps earlier, lived a similar race in Scandinavia, in whose refuse
heaps occur the bones of the Great Auk (Alca impennis), which, during
ie century, has become extinct in Europe and North aT Aba and

he Oyster, which they largely fed on, has also disappeared from the
Paiti Sea. “The habits of this race were PT similar 6 the
sayages of Tierra del Fuego at the present day.

The *“ Bronze-using Folk arrived in Europe before the dawn of aaa
tory, and lived there up to the time when history begins They
were acquainted with the use of the potter’s wheel, aid were in the
habit of burning their dead.” They used the horse, and had flocks
and herds.

The Iron Age came in before the Romans invaded Northern Europe,
as they met the Gauls riding in chariots, armed with iron weapons, on
the battle-field.

How far these distinctions apply to other countries than Europe,
even in the old world, and how far they agree with the very incom-
plete history of ouf Aboriginal refuse-heaps, eae and relics of
American prehistoric races, remains yet to be s

MICROSCOPY.

Tae VOLVOX AND Irs Parasire.—-In examining with the micro-
scope some specimens of reer globator,” one was found contain-
ing one of the Rotifera, a female of Notommata Parasitica (mentioned
by Pritchard as sometimes found in such a situation). When first
seen it was feeding, picking out the green masses composing the Vol-
vox, and swallowing them, occasionally shifting its position and se
lecting a fresh spot. Two eggs had been deposited, and another
could be seen in the ovary; they were of a reddish tint, and filled
With granules. There was no sign yet of organized structure. .

‘hove hours after, the Rotifer was dead, but = young could

Jae broke through t the jäin him, and, after à few
energeti NS ee and i i ig ne na abon! nterior
of his pri but did make it

ezg-shell or membrane left } akad i was very ry delicate and transparent,

- without dots or mark the aperture broken off by the animal being
plainly visible. The other egg would have soon hatched, as the anii
notion within it, but unfortunately th l =

VW LCE I

X

y

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR. 277

of the live-box containing it, put an end to the observation. The Volvox
did not seem disturbed by its strange occupant, but continued its
stately revolutions as though they were not present.—B. WEBB

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

ara ins or Juty.—During mid-summer the bees and wasps
y busy building their nests and rearing their young. The
ener, late in June and the first of this month, send out their
first broods of workers, and about the middle of the month the sec-
ond lot of pri are laid, which produce the smaller-sized females and
males, while those eggs laid late in the month and early in August,
produce the centage queens, whi soon hatch. These hybernate:
The habits of their peculiar parasite, TAS an insect which closely
resembles the Humble-bee, are still unknown.
The Leaf-cutter Bee (Meyachile) iiy ie seen flying about with
pieces of rose-leaf, with which she builds, for a one of twenty days;

. Putnam’s estimate,* at least one thousand pieces! The

bees referred to “worked so mares, that they ruined five or six

Tose-bushes, not leaving a single unblighted leaf uncut, and were then

š forced to take the leaves of a locust tree as a substitute.”

aper-making Wasps, of which Vespa maculata (Fig. 1), the
ges Fig. 1

Serted nest of the American eas Caterpillar. Numerous species

of Wood Wasps (Crabronide) are panel in tunnelling the stems
of the blackberry, the elder, and syringa, and enlarging and refitting
aa es, and g in rotten ak storing their cells
with flies, caterpillars, anhiden, and spiders, according to the habit
oaa S a Cn TT

#*&, 3. tha F: Tnctitute. vol. iv. p. 105.

Z

/

278 NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

of each species. EFumenes fraterna, which attaches its single, large,
thin-walled cell of mud to the stems of plants, is, according to
Dr. T. W. Harris, known to store it with canker-worm: ee
the mud+dauber, is now building its earthen mare Spens as them ọ
a ae and sto lls.

e Saw-ilies (retina etc., abound in our gardens this month.
ee Selandria vitis attacks the vine, while Selandria rose, the Rose-
slug, injures the rose. The disgusting Pear Slug-worm (5S. cerasi),
often live twenty to thirty on a leaf, eating the parenchyma, or softer
tissues, leaving the blighted leaf. The leaves should be sprinkled

it mixture of whale-oil soap and water, in the proportion of two
pounds of soap to fifteen gallons of water.
Sg ee g the anaien ene aoii in the south, and M. Har-
jin pon rth, is sometime A second brood of Colias
pea ce, oc Sonne tia butterfly appears, a Pieris
oleracea visits turnip-patches. It lays its eggs in June on the leaves,
and the full-grown, dark green, hairy larva may be found in August.

second brood of the larva of Chrysophanus Americanus may be found
on the sorrel.

The larvæ of Pyrrarctia isabella hatch out the first week in July, and
the snuff-colored moth enters our windows at night, in company with
a host of night-flying moths. These large moths, many of which are
injurious to crops, are commonly thought to feed on clothes and car-

Fig. 2. p true Fig. 3

ets. The carpet and clothes
oths minute species, W.

flutter noiselessly about rt-

men narrow, feathery wings

and almost the slightest touch kills .
them.

Among Beetles, the various borers
such as the Says or apple-tree deen, are now
pairing, and fly in the hot sun about trees. Nearly
each tree has its ae enemy, which drives its
galleries into the trunk and branch- Fig. 4.
es of the tree. Among the Tiger
Beetles abiau sandy places,

ndela generosa (Fig. orl
2) a and the elena hirticollis are a bial common. The eloni
lary. p d-panka :
‘Then 1 Lady B Ili tata (Fig. 3, with pupa)

Sone of a largo group of beetles, most beneficial from their habit of

i

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 279

feeding on the plant-lice. We figure* another enemy of the Aphides,
hrysopa, and its eggs (Fig. 4), mounted each on a long silken stalk,
thus placed above ae reach of harm
Fig

immense family of Libe ellulide, or Dragon fies, of which Diplax Bere-
nice Drury (Fig. 5), is a fine representative. The Forceps-tail, or Pa-
norpa, P. rufescens (Fig. 6), is found in bushy fields and shrubbery.
They prey on smaller insects, and the males are armed at the extrem-
ity of the body with an enormous forceps-like apparatus. — A. :

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. March 19,1867.
Prof. E. D. Cope presented to the Academy a young specimen of the
Whale, known as the Bahia po procured near Bahia, Brazil; the

atifrons.

f. Ennis inquired whe gra remains of the Hippopotamus had
been found in this country. Dr. Leidy replied that no evidence ex- —
isted of the animal, though i 7 A. Conrad had at one aed
which he considered to have belonged to the Hippopotam

` April 2.—Mr. Thomas Meehan presented a paper “ as Dicecious
oem et ean L.” Prof. Ennis remarked upon ‘the differ-

* The cuts used in this were kindly allowed to be taken from a Report on the
freee piei he rerio by Mr, . @. Sanborn, in the Massachusetts Agricul-

280 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

ent ranges of temperature in the Provinces adjacent to the United
States.” He also spoke upon “The rise and fall of the floor of the
Pacific Ocean, and the resulting geological phenomena.”

ston SOCIETY or NATURAL History. March 6,1867.—Dr. J. C.
White exhibited a specimen of Guaranà, moulded into the form of the
Jararaca, the most poisonous of Brazilian serpents; it was brought
from Brazil by Mrs. Agassiz, and was presented to the Socicty by Dr.
Cotting. The Guarana is made from the seeds of the Paullinia sor-
bilis, which are roasted, ground, mixed with water, moulded,
dried hard in an oven. It contains a larger quantity of cafline than
either tea or coffee, and resembles in appearance common chocolate;
dissolved in water it is used as a refreshing drink, and as a remedy
for fevers and other ailments. The Manés Indians, who manufacture
it, believe it to be more efficacious when made into the form of a ser-
pent, as in the specimen exhibited.

Dr. T. M. Br rewer ATM upon the Wood-warblers of North
America, a group of birds which unite in a remarkable degree the hab-
its of the tree-creepers with those of the fly-catchers. In some species
these habits are alternated as occasion seems to prompt. Some are
almost entirely creepers, others almost exclusively fly-catchers. The
yellow red-poll warbler is the only one of this group which is known
to breed upon the ground, or to be at all terrestrial in habit, by
choice; when occasion offers it can be an expert fly-catcher, but when
seeking its food on the ground its motion is graceful and easy, show-
ing that the habit is native to the bird, and not assumed by the
prompting of necessity.

ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY oF CANADA. Toronto, March 1, 1867-—
The Secretary announced that Mr. Saunders, the Curator of the Lon-
don Branch, was having published for the Society alist of Canadian
Coleoptera, which would aeons Trees t eight hundred species. The

meeting then proceeded to the mination andi discussion of Cana-
dian Sphingide, the subject enone wr for the evening. The f capture,
in 1866, of gona satellitia Linn., for the first time in Canada,

erored at Grimsby, C. W. Prof. Hincks made some remarks upon
the the classification of the Sphingide, and insects in general, on a “ qui-
nary system.

TE was resolved, that anedeom Ey ee Field Meetings be held

ao.

EIEE ee

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. I.—AUGUST, 1867.—No. 6.

—<»~“>——

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES, U. S. A.

Tue wild and primitive region which constitutes the
Territory of Arizona exhibits a remarkable diversity of
surface in its mountain ranges, grassy plains, and desert
wastes; and its Fauna and Flora are varied in a corre-
sponding degree. The traveller meets, at each successive
day’s journey, new and strange objects, which must inter-
est him, if only through the wonder and astonishment
they excite. In every department of Natural History
there is ample field for observation and study ; and even
at this late day, opportunities for discoveries in Zoölogy
and Botany. First in importance, as they are also in
general interest to the observant traveller, are undoubt-
edly to be ranked the quadrupeds of the country; and
So savage and unreclaimed is its condition, that they are
there to be seen in what is truly a state of nature. Their
habits, and even their numbers have been as yet scarcely
Subjected to modifying influences by contact with civili-
zation; and he must be stolid indeed, who, under such
rarely favorable circumstances, does not look about him

Court of the District of Massachusetts,

Cenutered a oprding to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by the ESSEX INSTITUTE, in the
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 36 (281)

282 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

with interested attention, and learn something of the
strange animals by which he is surrounded.

The number of species resident in Arizona is not very
great; but nearly all our North American families are
represented, and some very fully, which gives to the
country its full share of variety in its mammalian forms.
At the same time, the individuals of many species occur
in multitudes, and constitute marked features of the
region in an economic, as well as scientific point of view,
from the destructive agency,of some, or the value of
others as furnishing food and clothing. About seventy
species are accredited to the Territory ; though this esti-
mate must be regarded as merely approximate, since our
most accomplished naturalists are comparatively unfa-
miliar with the full richness of the Fauna. Of this num-
ber, perhaps not more than half are abundant, or from
their size, habits, and general importance often brought
to the notice of other than professed naturalists. A still
larger proportion, though common enough, are very incon-
spicuous on account of their diminutive size and retiring
disposition, and, therefore, are but slightly known. But
they should not, on these accounts, be considered less
interesting and attractive. The shrew, the mole, the rat,
rightly estimated, afford as wide a field for investigation
and reflection as the bear, the deer, or the buffalo; and
their careful study will as amply repay the naturalist. No
single thing in nature is insignificant ; nor is there any 0b-
ject incapable of affording both pleasure and instruction
to him who will examine with that hearty enthusiasm, and
in that true spirit of enlightened inquiry, which should
be possessed by one who would call himself a naturalist.
The following pages are prepared mainly from field-
notes taken by the writer during his residence in the

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 283

Territory. The predominant features of the mammalian
Fauna are noticed, and all the species which have fallen
under his own observation, or are otherwise known to
him as inhabitants of Arizona, are at least alluded to.
But the limits of an article like the present necessarily
preclude a detailed account of the habits and manners of
other than the more characteristic and interesting ani-
mals.

Order Cheiroptera, the Bats. Of this remarkable and
interesting order two groups are represented: one by a
single species, the other by numerous forms. The Zsti-
ophora, or Leaf-nosed Bats, are so called from having a
curious membranous expansion of the snout, of a fanoied
foliaceous appearance, in which the nostrils open. is
group is represented by the Macrotus Californicus, the
Long-eared Bat of California; described and figured by
- Professor Baird in the Zodlogy of the Mexican Boundary
Survey. The type specimen was obtained at Fort Yuma,
at the extreme south-west corner of the Territory, and
was the first indisputable instance of the occurrence of
the group in the United States. I have not met with it
personally, and am not aware that any account of its
habits has been placed on record.

The other known species of Arizonian Bats belong to
the extensive family Vesper tilionide, which is so gene-
rally distributed throughout the United States. Perhaps
the most interesting species, and one of the commonest,
is the Pale Bat inbus pallidus Allen), first described
by Major Le Conte from California, but now known to
Tange over New Mexico and Arizona. Besides some
dental and cranial peculiarities, which separate it generi-
cally from Vespertilio, its index finger has two phalanges,
exhibiting a tendency towards the characters of an en-

284 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

tirely different family. This Bat is, as its name indicates,
much lighter and paler in color than most of our other
species; and it has also a peculiar physiognomy, more
repulsive and forbidding than is usual even in this family,
none of whose members have remarkably prepossessing
features. Its naked muzzle has a peculiar livid hue in
ife. The species is very abundant at Fort Yuma, where,
during the hot months, it becomes a decided nuisance.
Numbers take up their abode in the chinks and crannies
of the officers’ quarters; and the proximity of these re-
treats actually becomes offensive from the multitudes
crowded together. During the daytime a continual
scratching and squeaking, as of so many mice, is heard
in their retreats, and at night they are even more annoy-
ing, by fluttering in scores about the rooms. They are
accused of harboring about their bodies quantities of those
nocturnal pests, the bed-bugs; but whether justly or not
I cannot say. When caught or disabled, they have a
harsh squeak ; and if incautiously handled, bite with vigor
and considerable effect.

The well-known little Brown Bat ( V. subulatus Say)
is generally and abundantly distributed throughout the
Territory.

In the Colorado Desert, near Fort Mojave, I procured `
-a small Bat, much like the preceding species ; but which
my friend Dr. Allen, who kindly examined it, considers
as probably a new species, and has named Vespertilio
macropus.* It chiefly differs from Vespertilio subulatus in
the degree of the attachment of the wing membrane to the
foot. When shot, it was industriously capturing insects
-over a small pool, in broad daylight.

a it, 1800. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, for

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 285

Other Arizoniah Bats, which I have not personally met
with, but give on Dr. Allen’s authority, are Lasiurus
cinereus, Vespertilio lucifugus, V. evotis, and V. nitidus.

Order Insectivora, the Insect-eaters. Arizona, so far
as is known, is remarkably deficient in small insectivo-
rous mammals, such as the Shrews and Moles. I have
never met with a single species, nor am I aware that any
have been brought to the notice of naturalists from within
the actual limits.of the Territory. These animals, how-
ever, are very inconspicuous, from their diminutive size,
and peculiarly retiring habits ; and, therefore, easily escape
detection. It is extremely unlikely that none exist; and
most probably future investigations will bring to light
several species already known from other localities, and
some new to science.

Order Carnivora, the Flesh-eaters. As might be ex-
pected from the unreclaimed condition of the Territory,
the native carnivorous animals are still to be found in
scarcely diminished numbers. Representatives of all our
North American families are furnished, and some of them
exist in great abundance.

Of the family Felida, the Cats, first in size and general
consequence, if not in point of numbers, is the Congar
(Felis concolor Linn.). > With hardly the exception of
the Jaguar (F. onza Linn.), this is the most powerful of
all our digitigrade carnivores. It was formerly distrib-
uted quite across the continent, and to high latitudes ;
but, like most large Fere, it has been gradually driven
westward by the progress of civilization, till its occur-

rence in the East is rare, and only known in the most _

mountainous and unfrequented regions. Few animals
have a greater variety of local names than this one. Its
common appellation, “panther,” generally becomes “ pain-

286 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

ter” in the phraseology of backwoodsmen. Its proper
English name is probably a modification of “Cuguar,” a
word which, as suggested by Dr. Schott, may have, been
formed after- the same model as “Jaguar,” and bestowed
from some fancied resemblance in sound to a common cry
of the animal. Another English name is “Puma.” The
Californians call it “lion,” and the Mexicans “ leon,” and
the Apachés “yutin.” Though generally distributed, and
particularly in the wooded and mountainous portions of
the Territory, it is not a very abundant species. During
a somewhat protracted residence in the Territory, I never
met with one, or heard its peculiarly mournful, though
terrifying cry, which has been so fancifully interpreted
by different writers. Mr. Audubon doubtless comes
nearest the truth, when he ascribes to it a variety of
sounds, dependent upon age, sex, season, and other vary-
ing circumstances; though nothing to be dignified as a
roar has ever been attributed to it. Authors agree better
in considering it as a cowardly beast, despite its size and
strength ; and though there are undoubted instances of
unprovoked attacks upon man, these were doubtless made
under peculiar exigencies, as when its retreat has been cut
off, or the animal was tormented with hunger. _ That the
Indians pursue it successfully with only their bows and
arrows I know to be a fact, as I have found skins in their
possession cut in various places with the sharp stone
points of their arrow-heads.

Two other species of true long-tailed cats may possibly
exist, particularly in the south-eastern portions. These
are the Ocelot (F. pardalis Linn.), and the Jaguar (F.
onza Linn.). Within the limits of the United _ States,
however, they have as yet only been found in the valley
of the Rio Grande of Texas.

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 287

A species of Lynx (L. rufus var. maculatus) is quite
abundant. The most obvious external difference between
these animals and the true cats is the shortness of the
tail; this member being only a few inches in length.
They also stand higher for their length, are more heavily
built, and have perhaps less of that lithe and supple
movement for which the cats proper are so noted; though
they are quite as vigorous and muscular. Their ears are
often tufted, and one species, at least, has “side-whisk=

rs,” formed by the true fur, in addition to the labial

bristles which ordinarily receive this name. In dentition
they differ in the absence of «c one upper molar tooth on
each side.

Lynxes are very common in the mountainous portions
of Arizona. Near Fort Whipple, a small stream is known
as “Lynx Creek” from this circumstance ; and the animals
may often be seen in daylight in that vicinity. A good
many are killed by the Indians, who use their beautiful
Spotted skins for arrow-quivers. A horizontal cut is
carried across the buttocks, just under the tail, out of
which aperture the animal is withdrawn. The legs are
Skinned part way down, and the head quite to the eyes
and lips. These latter are then sewn up, the legs cut off,
or suffered to dangle, the whole hide is ET softly,
and subjected to a lengthwise stretching. After being

rned right-side out, it makes an elegant arrow-case,
which is slung by a thong, as we would carry a carbine.
The Apaché arrows are over three feet in length, and it
requires a Lynx’s skin, well stretched, to hold them.
Besides these quivers, the Indians also make bags and
pouches, for a variety of purposes, skinning the animals
in the usual way. .

In point of numbers, the family Canide, the Dogs,

288 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

stands foremost among the carnivora, though the family is
represented by only two species of Wolves, and perhaps
as many of Foxes. The word “wolf” is seldom heard in
Arizona, even among the whites, who have completely
anglicized the Mexican appellations, which are “lobo” for
the larger species, and “coyoté” for the smaller. The
Spanish for Fox, “zorro,” is less frequently used.

Of the many varieties into which the Gray Wolf of
America (Lupus occidentalis Rich.) runs, I met with but
one, the griseo-albus, which is perhaps the commonest race
throughout the greater portion of the West. The re-
markable variations of color, which, though chiefly local,
seem to mark races, as they are transmissible from parent
to offspring, have caused great confusion among writers,
and great uncertainty as to how many species really exist.
Wolves may be found from nearly white to pure black,
through every gradation of gray, rufous, and dusky ; and
these diverse colors exist in such varying proportion, and
present such an unbroken chain from one extreme to the
other, that it seems impossible to consider them as indi-
eating more than remarkable variations to which a single
- Species may be subject, arising from differences in food,

climate, and other circumstances.

All the large wolves I saw in Arizona were of the
grizzled grayish-white variety. In winter they are very
light colored, appearing from a distance almost white;
but along the middle of the back, and down the shoulders
and flanks, the light color is mixed with slaty or grayish-
black. I met with no winter skins showing any brownish
or tawny. At this season their pelages were thick and
heavy, and a good many of the animals were killed with
poison for the sake of the fur, which made very beautiful
robes. They were common enough about Fort Whipple,

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 289

though shy and wary, and seldom making their appear-
ance by day ; and notwithstanding their size and imposing
appearance, the part they played was insignificant com-
pared with that of their smaller relatives, the Coyotés.

This latter animal, the Prairie or Barking Wolf (Canis
latrans Say), is by far the most abundant carnivorous
animal in Arizona, as it is also in almost every part of
the West. Practically, the Coyoté is a nuisance; theo-
retically, he compels a certain degree of admiration,
Viewing his irrepressible positivity of character, and ‘his
versatile nature. If his genius has nothing essentially
noble or lofty about it, it is undeniable that few animals
possess so many, and so various attributes, or act them
out with such dogged perseverance. Ever on the alert,
and keenly alive to a sense of danger, he yet exhibits the
coolest effrontery when his path crosses ours. The main
object of his life seems to be the satisfying of a hunger
which is always craving ; and to this aim all his cunning,
impudence, and audacity are mainly directed.

Much has been written concerning the famous polyglot
Serenades of the Coyoté, by those who have been unwil-
ling listeners; but it is difficult to convey an adequate.
idea in words, of the noisy confusion. One must have
Spent an hour or two vainly trying to sleep, before he is
in a condition to appreciate the full force of the annoy-
ance. It is a singular fact that the howling of two or
` three wolves gives an impression that a score are engaged,
so many, so long drawn are the notes, and so uninterrupt-
edly are they continued by one individual after another.
A short, sharp bark is sounded, followed by several more
in quick succession, the time growing faster, and the
pitch higher, till they run together into a long-drawn
lugubrious howl, in the highest possible key. The same

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 37

290 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

strain is taken up again and again by different members
of the pack, while, from a greater distance, the deep
melancholy baying of the more wary lobo breaks in, to
add to the discord, till the very leaves of the trees seem
quivering to the inharmonious sounds. It is not true, as
asserted by some, that the Coyotés howl only just after
dark, and at daylight. Though they may be noisiest at
these times, when the pack is gathering together for a
night’s foraging, or dispersing again to their diurnal re-
treats, I know that they give tongue at any time during
the night. They are rarely, if ever, heard in the day-
time, though frequently to be seen, at least in secluded
regions. Ordinarily, however, they spend the day in
quiet, out of the way places, among rocks, in thick
copses, etċ., and seek their prey mainly by night, col-
lecting for this purpose into packs, as already noticed.
The Coyoté, although a carnivore, is a very indiscrim-
inate feeder, and nothing seems to come amiss, which is
capable of being chewed and swallowed. From the nature
of the region it inhabits, it is often hard pressed for food,
particularly in the winter season. Besides such live game
as it can surprise and kill, or overpower by persevering
pursuit and force of numbers, it feeds greedily upon all
sorts of dead animal matter. To procure this, it resorts
in great numbers to the vicinity of settlements, where
offal is sure to be found, and surrounds the hunter’s camp
at night. It is well known to follow for days in the trail -
of a travelling party, and each morning, just after camp
is broken, it rushes in to claim whatever eatable refuse
may have been left behind. But it cannot always find a
sufficiency of animal food, and is thus made frugivorous
and herbivorous. Particularly in the fall, it feeds exten-
sively upon “tunas,” which are the juicy, soft, scarlet

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 291

fruit of various species of Prickly Pear (Opuntia) ; and
in the winter upon berries of various sorts, particularly —
those of the Juniper (Juniperus pachyderma, and others).

Coyotés are so annoying, that a variety of means are
employed to destroy them. They may be shot, of course,
but to hunt them in the daytime is uncertain, and hardly
worth the trouble, while night-shooting is still more
laborious and unsatisfactory. Their cunning, inquiring
disposition is ordinarily more than a match for man’s
ingenuity in the way of traps. The most certain, as well
as the easiest method of obtaining them, is by poisoning
the carcass of a dead animal, or butcher’s offal, with
strychnine. There is no doubt, also, that the odor of
assafcetida is attractive to them, and a little of this drug
rubbed into the poisoned meat greatly heightens the
chances of their eating it. Since, after taking the poison,
they suffer greatly from thirst, it is well to place a tub of
water conveniently at hand, which generally keeps them

m making off for water, and so being lost. There is
considerable difference in the fur, both as to quality and
color, according to the season. In the winter it is fuller,

icker, and softer than in summer, and has much less —
tawny or rufous about it, being almost entirely black and
grizzled grayish-white.

Except under certain circumstances, there is a chronic
feud between our domestic dogs and these dog-wolves.
A good-sized dog will easily whip a Coyoté, though he
may not come off unscathed from the sharp teeth and
quick snaps of the latter. I have known a smallish
terrier even to kill a Coyoté, of which he caught a throat- -
hold, enabling him by vigorous shakes to beat in the
wolf’s skull against some boulders between which the
conflict took place. Notwithstanding, there is abundant

292 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

evidence that the Coyoté will cross and bear fertile off-
spring with the domestic dog; and I believe the female
of either will take the male of the other. During the
season of heat, which is in spring, I have known dogs to
_ disappear for several days, and return in such a dilapi-
dated condition as to leave no doubt they had been
decoyed away by some female Coyoté, and received hard
treatment from her or her relatives. The hybrid is said
to possess the bad qualities of both parents, and the good
ones of neither, as usual with bastards; and to always
remain snappish and intractable, spite of severity or
kindness. The gestation of the species, as is well known,
does not differ materially from that of its allies. It brings
forth in May or June, in secluded places, usually under
or among rocks. Five or six puppies are ordinarily pro-
duced at a birth. A variety of absurd stories regarding
its reproduction pass current, among even the best in-
formed backwoodsmen ; many affirming that the pups are
born shapeless, inchoate masses, to be afterwards licked
into proper shape by the mother.

Among the quite numerous Foxes of North America,
but one, the Gray Fox ( Vulpes Virginianus), is known as
an inhabitant of the Territory. Two others, however,
the Prairie Fox (V. macrourus), and the little Kit or
Swift Fox (V. velox), may possibly occur. The Gray
Fox itself, though generally distributed, does not seem to
be abundant. I procured a number of fine skins from the
Indians, who use them as articles of dress, for pouches,
and a variety of other purposes. I believe they are
always skinned in ordinary hunter fashion, by cutting ©
from chin to tail, which latter is left attached, though the
greater part of the legs are removed. — To be continued.

THE COCKROACH AND ITS ENEMY.
BY G. A. PERKINS, M. D.

Tur instinctive habits of insects furnish no small pro- `
portion of the interest which attaches to the study of that
class of the animal kingdom. The wasps furnish their
full share, and the student of nature never tires of inves-
tigating the different methods by which they arrive at the
same end,—each species following out the law impressed
upon it by the Creator with its very being.

The various species of Vespa deposit their eggs in a
_ paper cell, and feed their young, in a larval stage, with
insects, which they chew, and partially digest for this
purpose. Another genus (Pompilus) excavates a hole
in the sand in which she deposits numbers of flies,
Spiders, etc., and with them an egg, and, burying them,
leaves the larva to select its own food from these ma-
terials. - Others, such as -Pelopeus, the Mud-dauber,
places the same materials in curiously constructed cells
of clay, and closes them up with the same masonry.
Others still, not content with such small game, select the
body of one of the larger insects, and deposit in it the
germ of their future offspring. :

Of this latter class is a beautiful trig little species
(Ampulex Sibirica Fabr.), very common in Western
Africa, and whose polished metallic body, shining like
burnished steel, is familiar to all dwellers on that coast.
The Ampulex selects the body of the gigantic Cockroach
as the receptacle of its egg, and it is not-a little amusing
to see in what a business-like and determined manner she
sets herself to the task of capturing her victim, and serv-

(293)

294 THE COCKROACH AND ITS ENEMY.

ing her writ of habeas corpus upon the Sapmee roach,
full a dozen times her size.

The wasp enters the apartment, and instantly a great
commotion takes place among the cockroaches (and their
name is legion in the tropics); frantic with fear, they
seek a place of greater security, and, in their haste, often
rush into the very danger they seek to avoid; for, should
the keen eye of the wasp light upon them, the case is a
hopeless one. (It is a matter of wonder in what manner
the roach should know of the presence of the wasp, and
we can only conjecture that its keen perception may dis-
tinguish a peculiar sound in the vibrations of the wings
of its enemy, as the larger animals are said to in the roar-
ing of the lion.) The wasp flies like a fury at the roach,
anid a severe struggle takes place; both using legs and
_ wings in the fight, the contest is usually a short one, for
the wasp, seizing its victim by the head, or front of the tho-
rax, bends its body short round and plunges its sting into
the nearest part, and the roach, who a moment before was
fighting for dear life, becomes as quiet as a sleeping in-
fant,—not a leg moves. The victorious wasp draws off
a few inches, seeming to survey her vanquished foe with
pride, then proceeds to brush off the dust from its bril-
liant coat and wings, and, after pluming its antenne, pre-
pares to place its prize in a secluded spot. Taking the
roach by the head, she leads him away a few feet, and,
leaving him, examines the vicinity for this purpose. In
‘ one instance, the cockroach was dragged with consider-
able trouble between the leaden lining of a tea-chest
and the outer box; in another, an open-backed book
answered her purpose; but the most singular spot was
the inside of a door-lock. The cockroach walked slowly
up the door to the key-hole, led by the wasp, and, after

THE COCKROACH AND ITS ENEMY. 295

much pulling on the part of the wasp, was forced into
the interior. After being out of sight a few minutes, the
wasp returned, took storil nails frau a paper which lay
on the floor near by, and carried them, one by one, into
the key-hole. I could not but admire the perseverance
manifested in this effort. The wasp was obliged to walk
backwards up the door to the key-hole; the nail could
not be turned by the wasp into a proper position to enter
endwise, and, consequently, fell to the floor several times
before being successfully drawn in, and each time the
wasp descended immediately to renew the attempt. The
lock was taken off carefully, and six four-penny nails
found covering the body of the roach.

Not the least singular feature in the case is, that the
sting of the wasp does not kill the cockroach, but only
stupeties him, so that the roach, when he walks to his -
final resting-place, may certainly be said to go to his own
Suneral as chief mourner !

The bodies of this species of cockroach are often found
with the empty cocoon of the wasp occupying the cavity
of the abdomen; the young wasp, having been hatched
there, and, after completing its larval stage, spinning this
cocoon, still ‘remains there to complete its development,
when it comes forth a perfect insect, in all respects like
its parent.

To show with what tenacity the wasp sticks to her prey
when once within her grasp, we once put a cockroach, —
Which had been paralyzed, with the wasp, in a glazed-
earthen pitcher, and watched the result. The wasp at-
tempted to lead the roach out of the pitcher, to which
move the cockroach made no objections, and walked up
the inclined side of the pitcher as far as his feet would .
permit him, but not being furnished with the little pads

296 FISH CULTURE.

or suckers with which our common fly and many other
insects are provided, he found it out of his power to com-
ply with the requirements of his master, and on attempt-
ing to continue his walk, fell to the bottom. The wasp
again led him up, and again he fell. This was repeated
for the space of three hours, the wasp, in some of her
attempts, nearly sustaining the whole weight of the roach.
After being convinced of the impossibility of her accom-
plishing the feat, I liberated the pair, the wasp soon
storing her prize away under a bookcase.

ig
_—

FISH CULTURE.

BY CHARLES G. ATKINS.

Nearzy all of our common fishes are oviparous, which
term, as distinguished from viviparous, we may apply to
those species of animals which are reproduced by eggs
laid in an undeveloped state. In most cases not only
are the eggs extruded from the female fish before their
development, but also that contact of the male element
which impregnates them, and without which no develop-
ment is possible, is effected after their extrusion.

The operation of spawning, or depositing and impreg-
nating the eggs, as performed by the parent fishes, is
essentially as follows. At the spawning season, mature
fishes of both sexes repair to a suitable locality ; and,
having selected a place, the female extrudes her eggs,
which sink to the bottom among the pebbles, or, if gluti-
nous, adhere to sticks, weeds, and stones. At the same
time, or immediately afterward, the male emits the milt,
the fecundating element, which, diffused through the

FISH CULTURE. 297

water, comes in contact with the eggs and impregnates
them. In due time, nourished by the water in which
they are deposited, and quickened by its heat, they de-
velop and hatch into living fish.

Now a little examination into circumstances will make
it evident that a great waste must here occur. A multi-
tude of greedy creatures hover around, ready to devour
the eggs as soon as they are left by the parent, or are
Swept within reach by the current; a portion fails to
come in contact with the milt; others are destroyed by
noxious sediment or parasitic fungi, or buried deep be-
neath the shifting sands which the floods may bring down
upon them. Should a portion of the eggs escape these
dangers, the newly-hatched and defenceless young are
eagerly hunted out by all the carnivorous tribes of the
water. In the end, comparatively few of the eggs laid
result in mature fish; it is perhaps impossible to ascertain

e proportion with precision, but one per cent. would be
far more than sufficient to maintain and increase the
numbers of any species, so enormously fecund are they.
Indeed, a rough calculation shows that were one per cent.
of the eggs of a salmon to result in full-grown fish, and
were they and their progeny to continue to increase in
the same ratio, they would in about sixty years amount,
in bulk, to many times the size of the earth. Nor is the
salmon among the most prolific species. I have counted
in a perch (Perca flavescens), weighing three and a half
ounces, 9,943 eggs; and in a smelt ( Osmerus viridescens),
ten inches in length, 25,141. Some of the larger fishes
produce millions at each spawning.

Now if in some way the eggs can be protected from
these various dangers that threaten them when abandoned
by the parent fish to the-ordinary course of nature, it will

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. IL 38

298 FISH CULTURE.

at once be seen that a great gain will be made in the
number hatched from the spawn of each mother; and if,
farther, the young fish can be protected from their ene-
mies until they have acquired size, strength, and agility
sufficient to care for themselves, another gain will be thus
effected. These two problems are among the most im-
portant with which Pisciculture has to deal, but have, we
think, been satisfactorily solved.

An interesting experiment was made in Sweden in
1761, by Pharies Frederick Lund. He obtained some
breams, perch, and mullets, with mature spawn, and
placed them in large submerged or floating wooden boxes,
in which he had placed quantities of pine boughs. In
these boxes the fish were kept several days, until they had
completed the process of spawning; they were then re-
moved. The eggs had ‘adhered to the boughs. ‘These
species hatch quickly, and in a short time multitudes of
young fish emerged from the boughs. In this way he
obtained from fifty female breams, 3,100,000 young;
from one hundred female perch, 3,215,000 young; and
from one hundred female mullets, 4,000,000 young.
These are certainly wonderful results. They were placed
in the Lake of Rexen, and dismissed to care for them-

selves. In a similar way those species, like the trout,
whose eggs fall free from each other to the bottom of the -

stream, may be made to spawn in places where it will be
convenient to protect them by enclosures from maraud-
ers; and, with a suitable arrangement of small ponds
and streams, the young fry of all species may be sepa-
rated from the old ones that would devour them.

- But the crowning discovery in Pisciculture was that of
artificial fecundation. This discovery was made during
the last century, but was turned -to no practical account,

FISH CULTURE. 299

and was hardly practised except in laboratories, when it
was re-discovered in France a few years ago, under cir-
cumstances that brought its economic bearing -promi-
nently before the attention of learned men.

Since the operation of extruding the eggs and milt is
essentially mechanical, it can be as well performed by
man as by the fish, and, once extruded, the milt performs
its own office upon the eggs, and fertilizes them, with no
other interference than suffices to bring them into con-
tact. Nay, man can do better than the fish: he can
express the eggs into a vessel where none of them will be
Swept out of reach of the milt, or into the maws of the
expectant throng of bystanding fishes; he can then press
the milt into the same vessel, and, by stirring them to-
gether, insure that the milt shall reach every egg. This
is artificial fecundation. But let us examine the method
employed.

The operations of Pisciculturists, who have practised
artificial impregnation, have been mostly confined to a
few species of the family of Salmonide. The processes
pursued will therefore apply only to a limited extent to
the members of other families.

Perhaps salmon and trout have received the most atten-
tion. Both these species always seek clear, running,
shallow water, and spawn in the autumn or early winter.
A female and male, both ripe and ready to spawn, seek a
proper place, and on a gravelly bed, swept clean of sand
for a small space, the female deposits her eggs, and the
male his milt. The operation is described with great
minuteness by European writers, but I think that our
brook trout (Salmo fontinalis) has not been observed suf-
ficiently to ascertain whether its habits are precisely those
of the European trout. ~

800 FISH CULTURE.

All fishes, when spawning, are so intently engaged upon
it, that they take very little notice of anything else.
Trout can be captured with the greatest ease at this time,
. —not unfrequently they can be taken with the hand.
The following is the artificial process as described by a
practical breeder of the brook trout.

The trout, male and female, must be taken with a net,
or in some manner that will not injure them, just at the
time they are preparing to spawn, and placed in baskets
standing in the water in some convenient place. A pan
or pail with three or four inches of water in it is brought
near the baskets containing the trout. AJl things being
ready, a female trout is taken out of the basket with one
hand, and with the other the abdomen is gently rubbed
from the gills downward, whereupon the spawn flows in a
continuous stream into the vessel. The rubbing is con-
tinued until the spawn is wholly extruded, and the trout
` is then quickly replaced in the water. This operation
must not continue more than one minute if possible. On
one side of the egg is a small white speck ; this is where
the impregnation takes place. This side of the egg being
lightest, it always falls uppermost. A male trout is now
taken, and in like manner the milt is expressed; it falls
through the water, and settles upon the eggs. All the
trout in the baskets are served in the same manner. The
spawn and milt are then placed in shallow vessels, and
deposited in water, where they are allowed to remain an
hour or more. (Other operators find a few minutes suf-
ficient to insure impregnation, and at the end of that time
rinse the eggs thoroughly.

_ The manner of proceeding with salmon. and other
Species is essentially the same.
The eggs, being thus artificially impregnated, may be

FISH CULTURE. 301

deposited in a natural stream, under circumstances as
closely as possible resembling those chosen by the fish,
and left to themselves; or, as is far better, they may
be subjected to artificial hatching. By this they may be
guarded from various mishaps, the supply of water can
be so regulated that it will be uniform, and the eggs can
be examined from time to time, and dead and diseased
ones be removed before they can injure their neighbors.

It is essential that the incubation be conducted under
circumstances like those under which it naturally takes
place. The temperature, quality, and state of the water
are the main conditions. Some species spawn in fresh
water, and some in salt; some in rapid streams, and some
in lakes and ponds ; some in winter, and some in summer.
The temperature required by trout is about forty-one
degrees Fahrenheit, ranging, however, from several de-
grees below this, to gious fifty degrees ; ; while some
Species of summer-spawning fish require a temperature
higher than sixty degrees. - The time required for de-
velopment. varies with different species, and is much
affected by temperature. Some species hatch in five
days, while the trout is rarely less than fifty days, and
at thirty-seven degrees of heat requires one hundred and
thirty-six days.

The apparatus employed in artificial incubation is of
various kinds. A metal box, with many holes to admit a
free circulation of water, was one of the first employed ;
this is immersed in the water. Troughs of stone, vessels
of earthenware, willow baskets, and wooden boxes have
all been used with success in the incubation of salmon
and trout. — :

A favorite form of hatching-box for trout is a long
wooden trough, its bottom inclined sufficiently to cause a

302 FISH CULTURE.

»

gentle flow of water through it, and covered with a layer
of gravel; the whole covered in by a lid. The eggs are
deposited in the gravel or sand, and a stream of water, an
inch or two deep, led through the trough.

At the French Piscicultural establishment at Hunin-
gue, and at the Stormontfield salmon-breeding ponds,
the hatching apparatus consists of a series of horizontal
troughs, arranged side by side like the steps of a stair-
way, through which a stream of water falls in succession
from the uppermost.

After the eggs are deposited in the hatching-boxes, a
proper supply. of pure water must be kept up until they
hatch. They must be frequently examined to remove
diseased eggs, and guard against the collection of sedi-
ment. It is better that they be kept in darkness, for
light encourages the growth of a parasitic fungus.

When trout hatch they have still a large portion of the
egg attached to the abdomen; this is endially absorbed,
and while it remains they-require no food. It is the

“yolk-sack.” Upon its complete absorption the young
trout begins to feed, and must be placed where he can
find his own food, or must be regularly supplied with
such as is adapted to his infantile condition, and wi
attract his attention, and tempt his appetite.

The whole process of producing fish, by artificial im-
pregnation and incubation, is in practice remarkably suc-
cessful. More than.ninety per cent. of the eggs become
living fish. Mr. Ainsworth, the authority quoted above,
has this year obtained twenty thousand trout from twenty-
one thousand eggs, being more than ninety-five per cent.

In another point of view this process is of vast impor-
‘tance. It facilitates the transportation of species from one
* water to another. Salmon eggs, fecundated, were carried

FISH CULTURE. 303

from Scotland to Australia, in 1865; were successfully
hatched in the River Plenty ; and, having returned from
their first migration to the sea, may now be considered as
established there. In a similar manner the Merrimac
River has been sown with salmon-eggs brought from New
Brunswick, and a harvest may be expected therefrom.

The rearing of fish in artificial ponds and reservoirs,
and then bringing them into marketable and eatable
condition by regular and systematic feeding, has been
successfully carried out, and it is found to be quite prac-
ticable as an industrial occupation, bringing better re-
turns, when trout are reared, than the growing of any
other kind of animal food. Yet to determine with cer-
tainty what are the conditions of success in this branch of
Pisciculture requires further experiment.

Pisciculture is not a new art. Jt was practised among
the ancient Romans ; yet not as an industrial pursuit, but
as a source of amusement to men of wealth and. leisure,
or to supply with delicacies the tables of a gluttonous no-

ility. In Catholic countries, since the establishment of
‘Monasteries, fish preserves have been commonly attached
to those institutions, to supply the devotees with food
during their frequent religious fasts. There is no reason,
however, to suppose that they had any knowledge of
artificial impregnation. In China, it has long been an
important branch of industry, and although we know very
little of. the process that they employ, it is certain that
they succeed in making fish an abundant and cheap article

of food.

Since the pee æ of the public mind to this subject
in Europe, government establishments have been put in
Operation in France and Germany, and private opera-
tions of great importance have been carried on in the

304 THE DRAGON-FLY.

British Isles. It is thought that primitive abundance
may be restored to their now exhausted rivers, and not
many years hence an acre of water shall be made to
produce as much food for man as an acre of land. In
America many persons have engaged in pisciculture as an
experiment, and some attempts have been made to carry
it farther ; but as nothing has been done on a large scale,
no great results have yet been attained.

THE DRAGON-FLY.
PLATE 9,
BY A. S. PACKARD, JR., M. D.

_ Were we to select from among the insects a type of all
that is savage, relentless, and bloodthirsty, the Dragon-
fly would be our choice. From the moment of its birth
until its death, usually a twelve-month, it riots in blood-
shed and carnage. Living beneath the waters perhaps
eleven months of its life, in the larva and pupa states, it
is literally a walking pitfall for luckless aquatic insects ;
but when transformed into a fly, ever on the wing in pur-
suit of its prey, it throws off all concealment, and reveals
the more unblushingly its rapacious character.

Not only does its horrid visage and ferocious bearing
frighten children, who call it the “Devil’s Darning-
needle,” but it even distresses older persons, so that its
name has become a byword. Could we understand the
language of: insects, what tales of horror would be re-
vealed! What traditions, sagas, fables, and myths must
adorn the annals of animal life regarding this Dragon
—s insects !

American Naturalist. Vol. I, PI. 9

ag
ie Pree)

Ld
A

PACKARD ON THE DRAGON FLY.

THE DRAGON-FLY. 305

To man, however, aside from its bad name and its
repulsive aspect, which its gay trappings do not conceal,
its whole life is beneficent. It is a scavenger, being like
that class ugly and repulsive, and holding literally, among
insects, the lowest rank in society. In the water, it preys
upon young musquitoes and the larve of other noxious
insects. It thus aids in maintaining the balance of life,
and cleanses the swamps of miasmata, thus purifying the
air we breathe. During its existence of three or four
weeks above the waters, its whole life is a continued
good to man. It hawks over pools and fields and through
gardens, decimating swarms of musquitoes, flies, gnats, :
and other baneful insects. It is a true Malthus’ delight,
and, following that sanguinary philosopher, we may believe
that our Dragon-fly is an entomological Tamerlane or Na- .
` poleon sent into the world by a kind Providence to pre-
vent too close a jostling among the myriads of insect life.

We will, then, conquer our repugnance to its ugly
looks and savage mien, and contemplate the hideous
monstrosity, —as it is useless to deny that it combines
the graces of the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Dickens’
Quilp, with certain features of its own,—for the good it
does in Nature.

Even among insects, a class replete with forms the very
incarnation of ugliness and the perfection of all that is hid-
eous in nature, our Dragon-fly is most conspicuous. Look’
at its enormous head, with its beetling brows, retreating
face, and heavy under jaws,—all eyes and teeth,—and
hung so loosely on its short, weak neck, sunk beneath its
enormous hunchback,—for it is wofully round-shouldered,
—while its long thin legs, shrunken as if from disease, are

up beneath its breast, since our fiend of the air is a
poor pedestrian.
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 89

306 THE DRAGON-FLY.

Its gleaming wings are, however, beautiful objects. They
form a broad: expanse of delicate parchment-like mem-
brane drawn over an intricate network of veins. Though
the body is bulky, it is yet light, and easily sustained by
the wings. The long tail madenbtediy acts as a rudder
to steady its flight.

These insects are almost universally dressed in the
gayest colors. The body is variously banded with rich
shades of blue, green, and yellow, and the wings give off
the most beantifal iridescent and metallic pilockiont:

During this month, the various species of Libellula and
-its alico most abound. The eggs are attached loosely in
bunches to the stems of ues and other water-plants.
In laying them, the Dragon-fly, according to Mr. P. R
Uhler’s observations, “alights upon water-plants, ap
pushing the end of her body below the surface of
water, glues a bunch of eggs to the submerged stem or
leaf. Libellula auripennis, I have often seen laying eggs,
and I think I was not deceived in my observation that
she dropped a bunch of eggs into the open ditch while
balancing herself just a little. way above the surface of the
water. I have, also, seen her settled upon the reeds in
brackish water with her abdomen submerged in part, and
there attaching a cluster of eggs. I faak: pretty sure that
L. auripennis does not always deposit the whole of her
eggs at one time, ag I have seen her attach a cluster of not
more than a dozen small yellow eggs. There must be
more than one hundred eggs in one of the large bunches.
The eggs of some of dig. Agrions are bright apple-green,
but I cannot be sure that 3 have ever seen them in the
very act of oviposition. They have curious habits of
settling upon leaves and grass growing in the water, and
often allow their abdomens to fall below the surface of the

THE DRAGON-FLY. l 307

water; sometimes they fly against the surface, but I never
saw what I could assert to be the projecting of the eggs
from the body upon plants or into the water. The English
entomologists assert that the female Agrion goes below
the surface to a depth of several inches to deposit eggs
upon the submerged stems of plants.” The Agrions,
however, according to Lucaze Duthiers, a French anato-
mist, make, with the ovipositor, a little notch in the plant
upon which they lay their eggs.

These eggs soon hatch, probably during the heat of
summer. The larva is very active in its habits, being
provided with six legs, attached Fig. 1.
to the thorax, on the back of
which are the little wing-pads,
or rudimentary wings. The large s--------
head is provided with enormous
eyes, while a pair of simple, mi-
nute eyelets (ocelli) are placed
near the origin of the small bris- 2-------------
tle-like feelers, or antenne. Seen
from beneath, instead of the for- p --..--
midable array of jaws and acces-
sory organs commonly observed
in most carnivorous larve, we
see nothing but a broad, smooth ,,,|
mask covering the lower part of ._.
the face ; as if from sheer mod-
esty our young Dragon-fly was Under side of head of Diplaz, with
endeavoring to conceal a gape. ed. z, zh 2” sub-
But wait a moment. Some un-` maxillæ, or second pair of jaws.
wary insect comes within striking distance. The battery
of jaws is unmasked, and opens upon the victim. This
mask (Fig. 1) is peculiar to the young, or larva and pupa

308 : THE DRAGON-FLY.

of the Dragon-fly. It is the labium, or under lip greatly
enlarged, and armed at the broad spoon-shaped extremity
(Fig. 1, x) with two sharp hooks, adapted for seizing
and retaining its prey. At rest, the terminal half is so
bent up as to conceal the face, and thus the creature
crawls about, to all appearance, the most innocent and
lamb-like of insects.

Not only does the immature Dragon-fly walk over the
bottom of the pool or stream it inhabits, but it can also
leap for a considerable distance, and
by a most curious contrivance.

j a syringe-like apparatus lodged in

the end of the body, it discharges a
stream of water for a distance of two
or three inches behind it, thus pro-
pelling the insect forwards. This
apparatus combines the functions of

locomotion and respiration. There
J are, as usual, two breathing pores
(stigmata) on each side of the tho-
rax. But the process of breathing
seems to be mostly carried on in

the tail. The tracheæ are here collected in a large
mass, sending their branches into folds of membrane
lining the end of the alimentary canal, and which act like ©
a piston to force out the water. The entrance to the
canal is protected by three to five triangular horny valves
(Fig. 2, 9,10, 2 a, side view, 2), which open and shut
at will. When open, the water flows in, bathing the
internal gill-like organs, which extract the air from the
water. This is then suddenly expelled by a strong mus-
cular effort.

In the smaller genera, Agrion (A. saucium, Plate 9, fig-

Fig. 2 b.

THE DRAGON-FLY. 309

T. Fig.26, side view of false-gill, showing but one leaf),
Lestes and Calopteryx, the respiratory leaves, called the
tracheary, or false-gills, are not enclosed within the body,
but form three broad leaves, permeated by tracheæ, or
air-vessels. They are not true gills, however, as the
blood is not aerated in them. They only absorb air to
supply the tracheæ, which aerate the blood only within
the general cavity of the body. These false-gills also act
as a rudder to aid the insect in swimming.

It is easy to watch the Dragon-flies through their trans-
formations, as they can easily be kept in aquaria. Little,
almost nothing, is known regarding their habits, and any
one who can spend the necessary time and patience in
rearing them, so as to trace up the different stages from
the larva to the adult fly, and describe and figure them
accurately, will do good service to science.

Mr. Uhler states that at present we know but little of
the young stages of our species, but Fig. 3.

“the larva and pupa of the Libellulide $

may be always known from the Æsch-
nidæ by the shorter, deeper, and more `
robust form, and generally by their
thick clothing of hair.”

The pupa scarcely differs from the
larva, except in having larger wing-
pads (Fig. 3). It is still active, and
as much of a gourmand as ever. When
the insect is about to assume the pupa
state, it moults its skin. The body

ving outgrown the larva skin, by a
strong muscular effort a rent opens Pupa of Æschna. —
along the back of the thorax, and the insect, having
fastened its claws into some object at the bottom of the

310 THE DRAGON-FLY.

pool, the pupa gradually works its way out of the larva-
skin. It is now considerably larger than before. Imme-
diately after this tedious operation, its body is soft, but
the crust soon hardens. This change, with most se
probably occurs early in summer.

When about to change into the adult fly, the pupa
climbs up some plant near the surface of the water.
Again its back yawns wide open, and from the rent our
Drigouly: slowly emerges. For an hour or more, it
remains torpid and listless, with its flabby, soft wings re-
maining motionless. The fluids leave the surface, the
crust hardens and dries, rich and varied tints appear, and
our Dragon-fly rises into its new world of light and sun-
shine a gorgeous, but repulsive being. Tennyson thus
describes these changes in “The Two Vioioue "NS

To-day I saw the Dr

Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.

H wings; o gauze they grew;
Through rohé and pastures with with dew
A living flash of light h he fl

Of our more common, typical ‘ies of Dragon-flies, we
figure a few, commonly observed during the summer.
Libellula trimaculata of Count De Geer, a Swedish ento-
mologist, of which Fig. 1, Plate 9, represents the male,
is so-called from the three dark clouds on the wings of
the female. But the opposite sex differs in having a , dark
patch at the front edge of the wings, and a single broad
cloud just beyond the middle of the wing.

Libellula quadrimaculata (Fig. 2, Plate 9), the four-
spotted Dragon-fly, i is seen on the wing in June, flying
through dry pine woods.

The largest of our Dragon-flies are the “Devil’s Darning- -

THE DRAGON-FLY. 311

needles,” Zschna heros and grandis, seen hawking about
our gardens till dusk. They frequently enter houses,
carrying dismay and terror among the children. The
hind-body is long and cylindrical, and gaily colored with
bright green and bluish bands and spots.

Mr. Uhler informs us that the pupa of Æschna, figured
above, from a drawing by Mr. F. G. Sanborn, is per-
haps that of Æschna constricta, or Æ. clepsydra.

One of our most common Dragon-flies is Diplax rubi-
cundula, the ruby Dragon-fly, which is yellowish red. It
is seen everywhere flying over pools, and also frequents
dry sunny woods and glades. Another common form is
Diplax Berenice of Drury (Plate 9, Fig. 3 male, Fig. 4
female. The accompanying cut represents the pupa, prob-
ably of this species, according to Mr. Uhler.) It is black,
_ the head blue in front, spotted with yellow, while Fig. 4.
the thorax and abdomen is striped with yellow.
There are fewer stripes on the body of the male,
which has only four large yellow spots on each
side of the abdomen. Still another pretty species
is Diplax Elisa of Dr. Hagen (Plate 9, Fig. 5).
It is black, with the head yellowish and with
greenish yellow spots on the sides of the thorax aiid base
of the abdomen. There are three dusky spots on the
front edge of each wing, and a large cloud at the base
of the hind pair toward the hind angles of the wing.

Rather a rare form, and of much smaller stature is the
Nannophya bella of Ubler (Fig. 6, female). It was first
detected in Baltimore, and we afterwards found it not
unfrequently by a pond in Maine. Its abdomen is un-
usually short, and the reticulations of the wings are large
and simple. The female is black, while the male is
frosted over with a whitish powder. Many more species

riod of

312 THE DRAGON-FLY.

of this family are found in this country, and for descrip-
tions of them we would refer the reader to Dr. Hagen’s
Synopsis of the Neuroptera of North America, published
by the Smithsonian Institution.

The Libellulide, or family of Dragon-flies, and the
Ephemerid, or May-flies, one of which is figured in our
second number, are the most characteristic of the Neu-
roptera, or veiny-winged insects.. This group is a most
interesting one to the systematist, as it is composed of
so many heterogeneous forms which it is almost impos-
sible to classify in our rigid and at present necessarily
artificial systems. We divide them into families and
sub-families, genera and sub-genera, species and varie-
ties, but there is an endless shifting of characters in these
groups. The different groups would seem well limited
after studying certain forms, when to the systematist’s
sorrow here comes a creature, perhaps mimicking an ant,
or aphis, or other sort of bug, or even a butterfly, and for
wliich they would be readily mistaken by the uninitiated.
Bibliographers have gone mad over books that could not
be classified. Imagine the despair of an insect-hunter
and entomophile, as he sits down to his box of dried neu-
roptera. He seeks for a true neuropter in the white ant
before him, but its very form and habits summons up 2
swarm of true ants; and then the little wingless book-
louse (Atropos) scampering irreverently over the musty
pages of his Systema Nature, reminds him of that closest
friend of man— Pediculus vestimenti. Again, his studies
lead him to that gorgeous inhabitant of the Mediterranean
shores, the butterfly-like Ascalaphus, with its gorgeous
wings, and slender, knobbed antenne so much like those
of butterflies, and visions of these beautiful insects fill his
mind’s eye; or sundry dun-colored caddis flies, modest,

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND. 313

delicate neuroptera, with finely fringed wings and slender
feelers, create doubts as to whether they are not really
allies of the clothes moth, so close is the resemblance.

Thus the student is constantly led astray by the wanton
freaks Nature plays, and becomes sceptical as regards the
truth of a natural system, though there is one to be dis-
covered ; and at last disgusted with the stiff and arbitrary
systems of our books,—a disgust we confess most whole-
some, if it only lead him into a closer communion with
nature. The sooner one leaves those maternal apron-
strings,—books,—and learns to identify himself with
nature, and thus goes out of himself to affiliate with
the spirit of the scene or object before him,—or, in
other words, cultivates habits of the closest observation
and most patient reflection,—be he painter or poet,
philosopher or an insect-hunter of low degree, he will
gain an intellectual strength and power of interpreting
nature, that is the gift of true genius.

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

BY EDWARD 8. MORSE.

(Continued from page 188.

THE snails thus far described een a natural group
having, generally, a stout, heavy shell, and usually a re-
flected lip to the aperture. The jaw is heavily ribbed,
and the teeth are short, and, on the extreme border of the
membrane, serrated. The jaw and teeth of Helix albo-
labris, figured in the first number of the NATURALIST,
represents well like characters of the group. The species
now to be considered have smooth or polished shells, the

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

314 THE LAND SNAILS

_lip simple or sharp, and the teeth are claw-shaped ; the
jaw being devoid of ribs, having, however, a central pro-
jection, as shown in Fig. 19,—( jaw of Helix inornata.)

VITRINA LIMPIDA Gould. (Fig. 20.) Shell globular,
very thin and fragile, transparent and shining. Whorls

Fig. 19, two to three, the last, or body whorl, very

large and expanded; no umbilicus; diam-

Fig 2). eter nearly one-fourth of an inch. Animal

greyish, or nearly black, and large com-

QB pared to the size of the shell. The mantle

extends from the aperture of the shell covering the back

of the animal to the base of the tentacles, a portion ex-

tending backward covering the spire. The animal is
always very moist, and appears còvered with water.

This species is probably carnivorous in its habits, as in
confinement it has been noticed to feed on dead and even
live earth-worms, while vegetable food has been rejected.
It has been found in northern Vermont, in northern
Maine, and near Portland, Me., quite abundant. Outside
of the limits of New England this species occurs in the
North-western Territory, and the northern parts of the
United States bordering on Canada. It is generally found
in open ground or low underbrush in damp places.

HELIX ivornata Say. (Figs.21, 22.) Shell depressed,
Figs-21,22. yellowish horn-color, smooth and shining-
Waa Whorls five; lip simple and sharp, the lower
~Z part reaching to the umbilicus, which is small.
Within the lip there is a thick, white shelly
deposit which tends to strengthen the fragile
aperture. Diameter of shell less than three-
fourths of an inch. Animal bluish black, disk whitish.
_ At the termination of the tail there is a gland from which
the mucus pours freely when the animal is in motion.

OF NEW ENGLAND. 315

This shell is recorded. as being found in Vermont by
Professor Adams, though it cannot properly be regarded
asa New England species. It is common at the West.

Hewix ruiiernosis Binney. (Figs. 23, 24.) Shell thin,
flattened above, nearly chestnut-color, sometimes a green-
ish horn-color. Whorls four and a half; Figs. 23, 24.
last whorl very large, suture slightly in- so
dicated. Aperture large, nearly circular,
within pearly. Lip simple, brittle,
slightly thickened within by a testaceous
deposit. Umbilicus not large. Diame-
ter an inch or more. Animal blackish,
or bluish black. On the tail there is a
slit from which the mucus pours freely.
This shell resembles somewhat that of
Helix inornata, but differs in being much larger, and
always having one whorl less. The umbilicus is larger,
and the aperture is more circular.

This species occurs in nearly all the States east of the
Rocky Mountains. It is extremely rare in New England,
having been found only in the extreme western limits.

Of the species thus far described in these papers, only
three of them can be considered as really common in New
England, namely, Helix albolabris, monodon, and alternata.
The others are rarely to be met with. It is difficult for
the collector to obtain more than ten or twelve specimens
of the larger species in a day’s ramble, though at the West
they may be found by hundreds. The cause of this dis-
parity in numbers is attributed to the abundance of lime-
rock at the West; this rock favoring the multiplication
of shell-bearing mollusks, while in New England, granitic
formations prevail, and the soil from such rocks retards
the increase of these animals. — To be continued.

THE PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA.

Tue Noctiluce are little crystal balls of about the size
of a pin’s head, which, under the microscope, present the
appearance here figured. The transparence of its struc-

g ture permits an easy investigation.
Not a fibre is to be seen, unless, with
De Blainville, we consider the trans-
verse markings of the tail in the light
of muscular fibres, a supposition
which is very questionable. In the
neighborhood of this tail there is
usually a mass of food, or the indigestible remains of
food. Not that we are to look for a stomach in this
animal,—nothing of the kind exists; but in lieu thereof
we find, as in Infusoria, a number of vacuole, or assim-
ilating cavities, which appear and disappear, according
to need, formed out of the contractile substance which
is seen radiating in filaments all through the substance
of the animal, and which M. Quatrefages likens to the
sarcode described by Dujardin. In this curious animal,
not a trace has been discovered of vessels, nerves,
senses, or indeed of any “organs” whatever. It is a
mass of animated jelly, with a mobile tail. Its mode
of reproduction has been variously expounded, but the
observations of Quatrefages and Krohn seem placed be-
yond a doubt by those recorded in Mr. Brightwell’s `
paper, proving that they multiply by spontaneous sub-
division. No one has yet observed anything like repro-
duction by means of ova.

To these Noctiluce the sea owes much of that brilliant
phosphorescence which at all times has been the marvel of

(316)

THE. PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. 317

travellers. Place your vase in a darkened room, and
strike the glass, or agitate the water, and you will be
delighted with the spectacle presented. From every part
brilliant sparks appear and disappear, until at length no
agitation of the water will produce more; their power is
exhausted, as that of the electric eel is exhausted, after a
few shocks. You want to know the cause of this phos-
phorescence? Unhappily the point is still sub judice. It
is only since the beginning of this century that the atten-
tion of naturalists has been fixed upon the Voctiluce as
sources of the phosphorescence, in all times observed, and
in former times attributed to the presence of decaying
organic substance, to electricity, to “an absorption of
Solar light disengaged in the dark.” The investigations
of M. Quatrefages led him to the following conclusions :
There are two different kinds of phosphorescence
observed in the sea. The first is of very brilliant but
isolated sparks, and is due principally to Starfishes,
Crustaceans, and Annelids. The second is of a general
luminous tint, over which are strewed isolated sparks,
and is due to the Noctiluce. These Noctiluce have no
special organ which produces the phosphorescence, as the
other animals have; but the light emanates from the
whole substance of their bodies. Every irritant, no mat-
ter of what nature, produces this phosphorescence in them.
The phenomenon is not, as in insects, one of combustion ;
but is intimately connected with the contraction, spon-
taneous or provoked, of their substance. It is indepen- -
dent of all secretion, and it is probable that the sparks
are due to the rupture and sudden contraction of their
Sarcodic filaments; while the steady light they emit in
dying, results from the permanent contraction of this
Sarcodic substance. — From Lewes’ Sea-side Studies.

REVIEWS.
. PGE Ua he shan
RNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY oF New ENGLAND. By Edward A. Sam-
uels. Boston. Nichols & Noyes. 1867. 8vo. “Illustrated.
me this work as one long needed, and trust that it will

pages, if within their RE May we not hope that the enterprising
Publishers of the work, who deserve great praise for their present un-
rtaking, will issue a ppt edition, that it may become accessible
to all?
The volume is gotten up in fine sigma oa no eee has been spared
on the typography and paper. The the illustra-
tions of the eggs* are perfect gems (a art of wood-cutting i in this

executed for the work with the same care, for the only serve to
mar the beauty of si ‘snes and are, with few exceptions, of very
little value to the read

The character of he volti is such as to instruct and interest; the
scientific details and matters of classification are well arranged, an
-Copied from the best authors, for which full credit is given. In fact,
the author has, so far as we can judge, been honest with all his quo-
tations and clippings from others, and in writing such a work original-

it-grower, and serve to remove many prejudices that have
arisen regarding the comparative benefit and injury derived from the
feathered inhabitants of our gardens and woods. Thus, while the
$$

go Sni platas coi representations of of the following birds: etg ed
catcher, Bine Yello je we etn fd e orate Hawk, Great-cr ested

Yellow-! Skea Warbler, W Thrush, Blackcthro ated Green Warbler,

= lied Nu Red-bellied Nuthateh, White-fhroa “nity boas sl Snow-bird, Tree

eth Canada G

B Plover, ae Pusty Bisckt p rpland

Virgin Raib Eee ioe kai selina tae al Wi
G 18)

.

REVIEWS. | 319

author’s account of the habits of the ‘Poor Crow” may be the cause
of many being destroyed at certain seasons of the year, his account
of the food of the Robin will undoubtedly be the saving of the lives of
thousands of these, by some, most loved, and by others, most perse-
cuted of birds. We extract the following from the account of the hab-
its of the Robin :—

Perhaps none of our birds are more unpopular with horticulturists than this; and I
will here give the observations of different scientific men, and my own, to show that the
rej e bir

enetrate se
bly ten robins, for one of all others, thus pyta him; and, ign res ` these birds which
he has opened a hi

were unripe; on the contrary, it was all through the se ason. His pees is surrounded with

scrub-oaks huckle Perren These latter were loaded witb fruit, which was easier
access to the birds than the worms; T no: ne was fo i d in them. ae say 3 suey puna

from all quarters to — his silkworms. th

birds together. He said that, in = ojiin, if the birds TOS all killed o TE

would be entirely loua "To tes

re; hem, he placed on a iws eriat near his door two thousand of gip ox

pill the ay

og

the be

was easily acce go but they preferr ee! we worms, Why use the
young of these, as w as those of most other bi alge i be fed on animal food. Earth-

worms assist m ne ay at te often birds like the Robin, Cate Thrush,
etc., get these? th hey go to
the subsoil, out of the Arar of birds; and it is not necessary here e to say what pamaos
of the time the ground is very dry through the eraren Caterpillars, grubs of various
kinds, and insects, possi constitute the chief food of these birds; and of t r-
pillars , and most aa nil of course, the
larger proportion,

In fact, the Thrush rid the surface of the soil of noxious
often pursued by most other — The warblers capture the insects that prey

eg: eas h the

Pah on amii
r y th f the earth ge pns nearly all kinds of grubs,
Caterpillars, and worms that live upon the greensward and cultivated soil, and large
quautities of crickets and grasshoppers before they have become perfect insects. The
grubs of locu: tee r the

fruit and crawl about ta ge of new iselters ana ‘those su subt
cutwo: at come out o: yal g +
erly devoured by the ue and other Thrushes. emerge Sow ie soil
during the night to seek for food; and the Robin, whieh is one of the mesa birds to =
oad in the morning, is very diligent at the dawn hese verm
fore they have - back into aptae retreat, The sabes ‘of these ake oo
immense...“ ipe l cornfields,” sa s Dr. Harris, * ‘are sometimes laid waste by

by the plough
hoe, and their en em m the soil; apple-worms, when they leave the
t pape w yae e ter: rranean caterpillars, the

n E a i par

320 REVIEWS.

destro bas sig them. Potato-vines, beans, beets, and various other culinary plants, suffer

in the e way.” The services of the robins, in destroying these alone, gave: ore than
pay m the fruit they devour. Indeed, during the bre age ing season, a robin is seldom
seen without having in on mouth one of these caterpilla: b, which he
designs for his young; das the Mobi — Aisa ene broods of young during the
season, hi f noxious insects than almost all other
mini er In my gardening i I have had my full share of cutworms;
itl sh Cat-bird busy early in the morn-

, Br wn
n Borida before oe —_ are out of their feather-bedsy fgur ra ca raamo T

AEC! hing t LIESE

THE neice FORMATION OF THE — or Sioux Kan OF
THE MISSION OF OMAHAS AND OF TEKAMA, ON THE BORDERS OF
Missourr. B aia Marcou. sands the Binid: of the Geological

Sei of France. 1866. 8vo, pp. 15. With a plate

In tbis and a previous paper,* the author shows that there is a re-
e

bed rocks containing them. The facts are thus stated in the present

Cle :—

Between Omaha City, Nebraska, my Sioux City, is a fresh-water bene inetagecoinell ee
a flora ent ich, in Euro pe, h the epot: h of

te Miocene (middle) Tertiary Period, but Which in America, however, is found in the

The steps that led to this discovery are detailed quite fully by Prof.
F. V. Hayden, in the American Journal of Science for March, 1867.
LEPIDOPTEROLOGICAL No OTES AND DESCRIPTIONS, I, II y Aug. R.

sie and Coleman T. Robinson. 8vo, pp. 30. 1865-6. With five

lates.

Notes ON THE SPHINGIDÆ or Cupa. By Aug. R. Grote. 8yo. 1865.
With two plates.

NOTES ON THE ZYGENIDE oF Cusa. By Aug. R. Grote. 8vo, pp- 16.

NOTES ON THE LEPIDOPTERA or America. By A. R. Grote and Cole-

man T. Robinson. New York, 1867. 8vo, pp. 35. With two plates.

of papers, of which we select the titles of but a few, pub- -

lished b pas authors in the Proceedings of the reaa iS pa

New York, are descriptions of new and interesting forms ep our
native moths, sia | by a admirably pip lithographic plates,
g y of the rarer er new or previously

i The authors have delineated many of the forms of that beautiful and

wA Geitis ; i ; Society
| ae ee Recomnolanan ia Nebraska, From the Bulletin of the Geological

REVIEWS. 321

interesting group of moths, the Bombycide, which contain the silk-
worms of the old and the new world.

If, while reading the account of the American Silk-worm ponie in
this journal, the reader wishes to become acquainted with its nume-
rous allies, he cannot do better than consult the well-executed a
accompanying the papers under review. In several articles, such as
those on the Sphinges and Zygenide, or Day-flying Ta of the
Island of Cuba, prepared by the first-named author, and also accom-

. panied by lithographic plates, many facts are adduced to ain how

pe dry reading and of little immediate profit to sci

TAXIDERMIST’s MANUAL. Third Edition. A S. H. Sylvester.
aiations Mass. 16mo, pp. 29. Price $1.00

A very brief, but so far as it goes, accurate account of the mode of

siting b birds and mammals, with a few hii on the methods of pre-

paring skeletons, preserving eggs, and mounting insects. The infor-
mation given is too sca nty, and sie should have been added
illustrating the methods described. The price of this little book is
altogether to o high.

THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. Orange Judd & Co.,New York.

We cannot speak in too high praise of the Natural History a
tions in the above-named journal. Every number issued contains
merous illustrations of animals and plants, drawn with fidelity, =
engraved with the utmost skill. The generous manner in which this
branch of science is treated, renders the journal alike valuable to the
lover of nature, and to the agriculturist.

AMERICAN PoMoLOGY. ArrLES. By Dr. John A. Warder. 29 Illus-
trations. New York, Orange Judd & Co., 41 Park Row. 12mo, 1867.
A carefully prepared and well-printed volume, which must prove of

great value to all fruit-growers. While the book is intended for read-

ers in all parts of the country, it is especially adapted to the wants of

AnD in the Western States.

and rather new — on i pA compact HANN s e
large number of pages (fifty-fi the insects i injur

ons, notes epuedling their tik and ie —, their attacks,
which

NAT., VOL. I.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.
BOTANY.

ENACITY OF LIFE AMONGST THE HIGHER PLANTS.— Specimens of
Lewisia ea a Portulacaceous plant, large-flowered and fleshy,

growing in British Columbia, Oreg an lifornia, will grow,
although they have been dried erbarium for r three
years; and indeed the samples are often troublesome from sprouting

fi
?
hilst between the papers. One species, collected by Dr. Lyall, of
the British Navy, was “immersed in boilin ing water” to stop this
growing propensity, before submitting to the drying process, and yet
more than a year and a half afterwards it showed symptoms of vital-
ity, and in ape 1863, it produced its mii flowers in the Royal
Gardens ew. — Quarterly Journal of Scienc

re OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS IN A BRICK TAKEN FROM THE

or EGYPT. — Professor Unger has communicated to the
Tupe ree of arga at Vienna, a paper on the vegetable
dr m i i

nd animal remains an of manufacturing art, contained in &
brick taken from one of the fey pela pyramids mined a brick
from the pyramids of Dashour, which dates back from between 3,400
and 3,300, B. C., and found imbedded in the Nile mud or slime of
which it is composed, animal and v mains so perfectly pre-
served that he had no difficulty whatever in identifying them. Besid
two sorts of gran ba: found the ng amiliar p _— oo ar-

n
e bricks also contained abundant remains of fresh-water
insects, fishes, etc. Quarterly Journal of Science, London.

ZOOLOGY.
ten Currure.—In the International Exposition of the Produce

and Implements of Fisheries, at Bergen, were collections of young
(822)

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 323

os illustrating the development of the Cod, presented by M. O. Sars;
f the Herring, by M. A. Boeck; and of the Trout, by C. Vogt
Series of designs were also exhibited representing the history of their
development, from the vesicular state (l état vésiculaire) in the egg,
up to the moment of ppr and the different aspects of the fish
from the time of birth to adult age. Next the drawings were placed
Jars containing specimens ARE the different stages of growth.
Several bottles,containing specimens ak eee the process of the ar-
b

tificial fecundation of the Co d, discover y M. O. Sars, comprised:
= R, sal the Cod TEERAA tecondated, three. or fone, houro after the operation, fen
sh f th ; 2. Eggs artificial

ieuiaas eleven or twelve hours after the “operation, and sh owing the division of Pal
germinative disk; 3. Eggs artificially fecundated, after two or three days, showing a
greater reaps of the disk; 4. Eggs after four ie of in reden n, showing the perfect
anti e disk; 5 Eggs night days att AEN DURES nao omma the embryo

a fo sine g the yo
0 h (alevin) pertety developed, and after the rupture of its envelopes; 7. Young Cod
teent. — Bulletin de as aa Te @ Acclimata-

T MADE OF FisH.— Professor Rosing, of Aas, France, has in-

Secs a biscuit of flour made of fish (farine de poisson), prepared
like the sea biscuit. It forms a very nutritious and compact article of
food, being four times as rich in albuminoid substances as beef, four
imes as much as fresh codfish, and sixteen times as much

as milk. Besides, it has the advantage of being very rich in
iia — Bulletin de la Société impériale Zoologique @ Acclimata-

AN IN CAYUGA COUNTY, X. Y.— Some time during the
were

other was one o site hunters had ever seen anything of the

i out here before. It proved to be imen of the white or

gh-billed Pelican (Pelicanus erythrorhynchus Gmelin), in good con-
dition, a: its s u ight feet from ti tip.

. S. F. Baird, of the — Institute, Washington, D. C.,
in speaking of this bird
The male has on the upper ie (upper part of the man a thin, elevated, bony

Process. ahont ee or four inches. i

female difa It lives through-
out the United $ meine rade ox on the coast of the Middle and Northern States; found as far
north as the 6lst parallel. This species breeds in the fur countries, generally selecting
inaccessible places in the neighborhood of waterfalls. ‘They also inhabit throughout the
Rocky Mountains and in California. In winter they are very abundant on our Southern
Coast, from Texas to Florida. They remain inactive on sand-bars most of the day, pro-
Caring their food about sunrise, and again just before sunset. They swim Por; —

Aa ce + an sneh ao ?

324 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

secure their food by thrusting the head under water, but not keeping it below the surface
for any length of time. The peculiar bony process on the ridge of the tat mandible
appears to be used for the purpose of defen nce, when combating with their ont in some
old individuals it is much abraded and wo orn, apparently caused by many and severe con-
tests

Eudibon thus speaks of its habits :—

anged along the margins of the s sand-bar, in broken array, stand a hundred heavy-.
bodied Pelicans, pluming themselves. ag e gorged Pelicans patiently wait the return of
unger. Should one chance to gape, all, as if by sympathy, in succession open long and
broad mandibles, yawning lazily and itai.
I one afternoon observed a number of White Pelicans swimming against the wind and
Current, with their wings partially extended, their neck stretched out, the upper man-
dible alone linge rep ove the surface, while the lower must have been used as a scoop-

r m

bill immediately Pas to a perpendicular position, the water was allowed to run out, and ne
bill being again r raised u u pwards, the fish was swallow ed, er thus swimming for about a
h

and narall h +h er, pi 7 $ +h in o
wheel. about, and arg a t sbe: place where the ir fishing commenced, w hey would
mee of si er hano destroyed b by : ‘inte bint is quite

extraordinary On pcm we found in it of fishes, of the
size of what are usually pag minnows. Tis cn is rank, fishy. nause "Tne fe-

eis rather smaller a the male, and, in as far as I a vidios by the poner a
of several individu. tating, is destitute of the horny crest of the upper ma

Judging from è bony process on the bill, which was sai one
inch high and two and a half inches s long, I concluded, from the de-
scription given above, y this bird was a male; but upon dissection,
I was much surprised to find the specimen a female.

The œsophagus contained two flat-fish (Bream or map
Pomotis vulgaris) in quite a perfect condition, one of which w
and the other eight inches in length. There were also the remains of
two alpine which must have been eight or ten inches in length. I
found no small fish. Mr. Cave, Legal es the bird, saw her fishing, aS
paral by Audubon. — W. J. B

CURIOUS MODE OF GESTATION IN Fısn.—Dr. W. Turner, of Edin-
burgh, described the very curious method of gestation in a new fish,
belonging to the genus Arius, which he had received from Ceylon.

und, where they were caught in ae numbers by the
natives. i peened of itis British Museum, said it was very re-
rica there was a fish almost exactly like
_ that which Dr. Turner had poer and Agassiz had lately described
several others from the Amazon, possessing this curious method of
gestation; none, however, had been observed in Africa. — Quarterly
Journal of Science, London.

isd a

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 325

HABITS OF THE BirrERN.—I notice some statements respecting the
breeding cits of the Bittern oe lentiginosus) in the lately
published work of Mr. Samuels, on the Ornithology and Odlogy of

says that these birds build in bushes or low trees or tufts of grass;
that the nest is of twigs, grass, and a few leaves; and that they breed
in communities, a dozen or more nests being often found in the space
of a few rods.

The few eggs that I havé found have all been on the ground—
bare ground — — among thick tufts of lambkill, on the ‘‘ Fowl ‘ia
wW

bird’s udit buagh to go unnoticed; and because I am cony iaceat iik
he, who should expect to find a community of stick-built bittern’s
nests on bushes or trees in this vicinity, would be disappointe
South Canton, Mass. W.E. Koor
silyl
GEOLOGY.

Tue MIOCENE TERTIARY FLORA or NORTH GREENLAND.—Differ-
ik voyagers have, from time to time, brought from Greenland, and

st
a steep hill, Ri Atanekerdluk, opposite the Isle of Disco, in lat. 7

A total of six -six species have been recognized, and from them and ,

the Miocene epoch the climate of North Greenland was warmer than

it is at pta by fully 16° C., or 28’ 8° F.; and he thinks that “we ©

= ot by any rearrangement of land and water produce for the
emisphere a climate which would explain the phenomena in
a Satisfactory manner.” ‘We must admit,” t we are face

d, and we doubt not —— by the astronomer.” — Quarter! y
Journal of Science, London
PEE
MICROSCOPY.
Puospnorescent ENToMosTRACA.—Minute Crustaceans, belonging
to this order and allied to the genus Cypridina, were discovered in

-

326 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

the Pacific Ocean by Prof. J. D. Dana, while in the United States Ex-
ploring Expedition. Others have been described and figured by Major
a? in the TREE Journal for 1866 :—

+h

with them. When swallowed by, or entangled
‘with other creatures; they in their turn appear to be also luminous. They also give

them. When they are at rest, they gradually
cease to five out light; but as soon as they are disturbed or in com ¿or the vessel con-
taining them is shaken, they again become bright, even after many hours’ confinement.
beard pre seen the ship’s deck running with liquid fire when the net containing this
species had been rien on board.

+

CORRESPONDENCE.
L. Q., Pennsylvania, asks for information regarding the prepara-

tion of snail’s tongues for microscopical objects. They are generally »

mounted in Canada balsam, using a thin piece of glass as a cover to
the preparation.

To dissect the membrane from the mouth, one must use needles for
the very small snails, and fine knives for the la arger species. One can
cut with certainty on such snails as Helix albolabris, iss slitting the
cesophagus open from above, care being taken not to cut the jaw,

teeth is quite tough, and can be picked away with needles. For the
minute snails the readiest way is to pick the head in small pieces on 4
glass slide. With the microscope, the portion containing the tongue

ith considerable care and patience the tongue may be removed
entire. During this work the preparation must be well moistened; &
drop of water is sufficient. —

E. L., Illinois. — The following works have been published on North

, American Lichens : SR ‘aa of the Lichens of New England, the

other North American States, and British America.” By Edward Tuck-

erman, A. M., Cambridge, 1848. 1 vol. 8vo, 93 pp. ‘‘An Enumeration

of North American Lichens, with a a Preliminary View of the Struc-
ony and General History of these Plants, and of the Friesian System,”
' By Edward Tuckerman, A.M. Cambridge, 1845. 8vo, pp- 59-

Ww. H. S., Minnesota. — You will find Shirley Hibbard’s Book of the

Aquarium, published in London, 1856, the cheapest and best manual

b
NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR. 327

we know of. For fresh-water aquaria, use glass jars and dishes.
Large aquaria can be made of glass set in a soapstone frame, made
water-tight by cement. Any glazier can make one. Shirley Hibbard
thus describes a large tank :—
ent of a dwe Mh, ora rE an oblong tank, EE
e min

0 back
of eg z y — ee ‘oom _— jarra Siepen form ı for such a body is that of the
do k d depth, so that if it were
cut “site two equal parts, two cubes would be formed. The s must be set in n grooves in
the slate, and ane outaiie with zine or taraia piers: of ae wood. The best Samai is
white-lead putty, or iti hich it
my power to inform the reader, If a coating of shell-lac, dissolved in naphth d made
a a paste with whiting, were laid: over the Wht te kesa cement, ae water roula be kept

Theus Paat E Ra page hi re fix pock-w:

rkr
OTK,

the cement t } o glass. ` But if rock-work is
not tho , the sl ate ends may be dispensed wii on and the vessel may be co:
posed winy o of glass, except the bottom, which may be of slate or wood. I have seen
some handsome tank posed wholly of w and glass; it is only necessary to choose
well-sea q oe and unite the joints very perfectly.

L. Q., Pennsylvania. — We can scarcely tell from your drawing what
the object can be. It is probably a Polyzo6n, ep possibly a species
of Lophopus, mentioned in the June number of the NaTuRALIsT, and if
50, is very rare, and specimens would be very mie. .

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

inition
Insects or AvGust.— During this month great multitudes of
bugs (Hemiptera) are found in our fields and gardens; and to this
group of insects the present chapter shall be devoted. They are nearly
all injurious to crops, as they live on the sap of plants, stinging them
with their ma suckers. Their continued attacks cause the leaves
to aceon
Tho ee at certain years, desolates our wheat-fields. We
have a the heads black with these terrible pests. They pierce the
grain, extract the sap, causing it to shrink and lose the greater part
ofits bulk. It is a most insidious and difficult foe to overcome.
The various leaf- hoppers, Tettigonia and Ceresa abound on the
leaves of plants, sadly blighting them; and the Tettigonias frequent

328 NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

amp, wet, Swampy places. A very abundant species on grass pro-
be what is called ‘‘frog’s spittle.” It can easily be traced through
l its changes by frequently examining the mass of froth
which surrounds it. Tettigonia vitis blights the leaf of the
grape-vine. It isa tenth of an inch long, and is straw-yellow,
striped with red. Tettigonia rose, a still ae species, in-
fests the rose, often to an a arming exten
he Notonecta, or water boatman, is nine like a Tettigonia,
but its wings are transparent on the outer half, and its legs
are fringed with long hairs, being formed for swimming.
They row over the surface in pursuit of insects. Notonecta
undulata of Say (Fig. 1, from Sanborn) is a common form in New
ngland.

an
Another gorg is the singular Ranatra fusca (Fig. 2, from
anb

surface of the water when it

wishes to breathe. wa species

connects the Water - boatman

withthe Water-skaters Fig. 4.

or Gerris, a fami

sect, of which patio’

paludum (Fig. 3) is
ommon

monly seen run-

nin er the surface
of streams and pools.

ius and its al-

lies belong to a large family of very useful insects, as they prey
largely on caterpillars and noxious insects. Such is dioheaygee
(Fig. 4), a common species. It is an ally of Reduvius personatus,

é

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR. 329

valued friend to man, as in Europe it destroys the bed-bug. Its
Specific name is derived from wie eped while immature, of conceal-
ing itself in a case of dust, the better to approach its prey.

Another friend of the ef te is the Phymata erosa , (Fig. 5).
Mr. F. G. Sanborn states that ‘these insects have been taken in great
numbers upon the linden trees in the city of Bos ston, and Fig. 5.
were seen in the act of devouring the Aphides, which hay
infested the shade-trees of that city for several years ae

hey are described by a gentleman who watched their op-
erations with great interest, as ‘stealing up ta a louse,
coolly seizing and tucking it under the arm, then inserting
the beak and sucking it dry.’ They are Sa to feed also on
other vegetable eating insects as well as the plant lou

found upon different regions of the b Different varieties are found
living upon the bodies of different races of men
An allied group, gr pepeg nn: live on the hair of mam-

Malia and feathers of birds. In this group there are distinct jaws.
shag every bird wie mammal has its parasite, so that the number of
‘tes is actually very large.
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. 1. 42

330 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. -

During this month the ravages of grasshoppers are, in the West,

ery wide-spread have just received from Major Hawn, of
Leavenworth, ,a most interesting account of the Red-legged
Locust ( Caloptenus a um) The mmence depositing their
eggs the latter part of August, which are fusiform, slightly gibbous,

a buff-color. They are placed about three-fourths of an inch

war d
whole presenting a cylindrical structure, not unlike a small cartridge.
T ommence hatching in March, but it requires a range of temper-
ature above 60° F. to bring them to maturity, and under such con-
Pe as they become fledged in thirty-three days, and in from three to
ve days after, they enter upon their migratory flight.

‘“ Their instincts are very strong. When food becomes scarce at one
point, a portion of them migrate to new localities, and this movement

takes place ene te over large areas. In their progress they
stop at no obstac hey can surmount. In these excursions they
often meet with omé trains from an opposite direction, when both
join in one.

“The insects are voracious, but discriminating in their choice of
food, yet I know of no plant they reject if pressed by hunger; not even
the foliage of shrubs and trees, including pine and cedar.” —A. S. P.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

1

Lyceum or Naturat History. New York, April 22, 1867.—Prof.
h A

the present time. Of this sketch the most important facts cited were
as follows :—
First, — Vegetables only have the power to assimilate inorganic sub-

plants first, of animals only from them. Remains of eae occur in
the oldest rocks, but only of the lowest types, seawee
_ Second; —The first land plants appear in the Upper Saved rocks,

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 331

conifers, ferns, eS etc., the advance guard of the carboniferous
flora, and having the same general character. From the variety and
Eey high aeee ess of these plants we must infer either
the somewhat sudden creation of an elaborate flora, or a great hiatus
in t history, in which its origin and development are lost.
hird, — The carboniferous flora of America is ara: the same
as that of the coal-measures of the old world. Of six hundred species
- Tecognized here, at least one-third are considered ei with Eu-

north of the St. Lawrence was then—as it has constantly been since
the beginning of the palæozoic ages —o out of water, as was most o
New York, and part of New England. The coal-plants grew in marshes

world at this period was of the character indicated by these elec
and that more highly-organized plants had not hat been called in
existe

Fifth, —The Permian flora was not represented in any collection
made on this continent, but from the plants obtained from the Permian
rocks abroad, it was evident that the flora of that period was, like the

moll an

of “eos a walking, flying, carnivorous and her-

bivorous, in size ranging from the mouse to the whale, they filled the

Places now occupied by reptiles, birds, and mammals. The vegetation
the triassic and jurassic periods was as peculiar as the fauna, and

constituted a distinct chapter in the botanical history of the world.

he most conspicuous plants of this flora were the cyca ads, —now
represented, by the Lagopalene, etc., — which had no existence before,

-332 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

and has since formed an insignificant portion of the vegetation of the
earth’s surface. Drawings were exhibited of cycads, conifers, and
ferns from the mesozoic rocks of Europe, China, North Carolina, New
Mexico, and Sonora, showing the similarity of the flora of different
cunntiibs in the triassic and jurassic periods.

Seventh, — With the commencement of the cretaceous period the
flora of the world was again revolutionized, and the highest order of
plants — the angiosperms — make their first a EE in Europe,

chalk period to the present time, showing great permanence in the
physical condition of the count
Eighth, — Of our Eocene Ara we have obtained few specimens.
The flora of Europe, during that period, was decidedly tropical in
arac

Ninth, — The Miocene flora of America has been very fully illustrated
by the collections made in Mississippi, on the Upper Missouri, near
the mouth of Frazer River, on the McKenzie, and on Disco Island, off
the west coast of Greenland. Over one hundred species have been
obtained from these localities, some of which were common to them
all. Several of these species are now living in our c pet and quite
a number have been found in the Miocene tertiary of Europ

t important part of Dr. Newberry’s paper was t sine which’
included a comparison of the Miocene flora of America with that of

First, ote Phe living flora of North America is ae eee progeny
of the cretaceous and tertiary floras of the same continent; most of
the genera of the earlier floras being co: aira. into the ests one,
and many species of the Miocene being apparently identical with so
now living.

Second, —In the Miocene epoch, the European and American conti-
nents were connected at the north, pred over this bridge the American
flora passed to Europe, leaving its rds on Disco Island, aga
the Island of Mull, ete. This flora ka OR of a temperate clima e, and,
following a depression of temperature, it replaced the Eocene nd

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 333

flora of Europe, and for a time covered the surface of that country
with American plants, magnolia, liquid — sassafras, liriodendron,
etc., etc.

Third,— That at a subsequent period, the connection between the
two continents was severed by a depression of North-west Europe, and
the American flora was nearly exterminated by the present flora of
Europe, which is mostly of Asiatic origin.

Fourth, — The present flora of China and Japan, as Professor Gray

living only there; and several American Miocene and living species
(Onoclea sensibilis, etc.) now form part of the flora of Japan. These
plants are — bly the descendants of American Miocene emigrants.
Dr. Newberry also exhibited = of a number of fossil fishes
and reptiles from the coal-measures of Ohio. genes fishes represented
the genera Diplodus, Pleuracanthus, oe . Paleoniscus, Cœ-
hi

he
5
aS
=|
ctr
ij
2
e
m.
N
Je
=
B
ls
=]
Ge
>
Ens
5,
2
oO
et
CP
©
=
N
Oo
O
=
oO
n
=
oO
S
——

under the name of TPE? or A a very A
name, as these reptiles had an elongated snake-like form, with insig-
nificant = something similar to our living Cecilia, but being
doubtless an amphibian. The associated reptiles were also probably
ev leg aquatic in habit, and to be compared with Menopoma and

enobranchus.

The president, Professor C. s Joy, read a report upon recent chem-
ical discoveries and applicatio

- Bailey exhibited a sat te frog from the brown coal of the Rhine.

It resembles closely some of the living species, and the iste was
discussed whether live toads were ever actually found imbedded in the

rock. T
live toad having been found in the solid rock. All such stories were
myths, and no scientific man gave any credence to them.

ka

334 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. San Francisco, May
6, 1867. — The Committee on Field Excursions reported in reference to
the recent excursion to the Twelve Mile Farm, on the San José Road.

the above place,—a blue sandstone, which is undergoing decompo-
Sition, containing many species of shells o = — forms, many

e as living species, accordin Mr. Stearns. Prof.
Waor remarked upon the aingulariy i is olated sation of this out-

traces of it many miles beyond, but did not suc e fact was
one of many evidences going to show the extensive denudation that
had occurred in this part of the State ehr presented a chrysalis

dergo a metamorphosis or change from the grub state, while the mate
is the same as other moths
Mr. Stearns submitted, on behalf of Mr. J. Rowell, a description
of a new species of Pisidium, a genus of fresh-water bivalves, found
ich

moon were infallible signs of r His ervations proved that in
some seasons these signs biei failed in — and at the
T no rule, he thought, could be established on the subject.

r. Goodyear read a paper by Prof. Silliman, Sa new localities
ie roe monds. One from French Corral weighed 5.114 grains, equal
to 1} carats, symmetrical in form, and slightly yellow in color from
being subjected to a fire test. It was found in the gravel washings-
The second specimen is from Diets Hill, El Dorado [Placer ?] county;
weight 5.673 grains, equal to nearly 14 carats; color good, but less

- the ape: Since 1855 five. diamonds are known to have been
h over a carat. All were found,

. in a gray, cemented gravel iS a stratum of lava or comp
olcanic

v ashes. The fourth specimen is from Cherokee Flat, Butt

pep ange which has a some reputation as a diamond locality. It

cut and set in a ring.
_ Prof. Whitney remarked that there are fifteen localities in Califor-
nds

bid a which dinni | have been found in the course of washings for

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 335

sei In reply to a question if there was not some familiar test by
hich miners might prove them, he answered that the easiest way

and toughness. H emarked further that it would not pay in Califor-
nia to wash the gravel beds solely for diamonds. Diamond washings
do not pay in any country except with slave or convict labor

Prof. “Whitney read a paper on the geological position of coni. The

@
bar

object of this paper was to show how com ly the result of in n
geological explorations and discoveries had done away with the old
idea that valuable beds of coal are confined e member of the

Series of geological formations. The recent peee of geol-
ogists in India, China; Australia, New Zealand, South America, and
on the Pacific Coast of North America were noticed and commented

w .
eae and Eas rm United tates are of Paleozoic age, those o

opposite sides of the globe; one of them is of Paleozoic and the other
of Mesozoic age.. He referred Aner to the coal of the Pacific
Coast of North America, and gave a brief account of its geographical
distribution and geological age, noticing particularly the fact that
most of the valuable fields of that region belong to the Cretaceous

Series, a geological formation which, in other pa f world, has
been found to be one of the most barren in combustible materials. In
conclusion, the importance coal discoveries in ween

mi
at the head of which is Mr. King, late of the California Survey— might
be the means of giving to the world reliable information in regard to
the coal resources of that region, of which we now know so little.

Dr. cr stated that Mr. Bischoff, the zoblogist appointed to ac-

the Government exploration of — America, now

on his wiy hither, iť he had not already arrived. When on that coast

before, he had found birds nearly identical with living species in Asia,
a fact of Much interest, since none of the same — are found on

336 ‘BOOKS RECEIVED.

the eastern coast of America. There is here another mie mie of the
former intimate relations between western America and Asi

Prof. Whitney submitted for publication a very valuable See origi-
nal paper by Baron Richthofer, on the subject of geology, particularly
with reference to the natural system of volcanic rocks. Its publication
as the first volume of the Academy’s Memoirs was proposed. It con-
sists of one hundred and fifty manuscript pages.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Observations upon the Cranial Forms of the bape ye ee S
By J. Aitken Meigs, M. D. Philadelphia, 1866. A

American BB bt Apples. By Dr. a A. "Warde. 290 illustra-
tions. e k, Orange Judd & Co. 12m

Hardwicke’s # Seine Gossip. London, fey 1867. London, R. Hard-
wicke. Ro

The Feau Noles tik No. 5. May, 1867. London, small 4to.

Notes on the Vespertilionidæ of Paloa PUTA By H. Allen, M.D.
From the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences. August,
1866. 8vo. pp. 9

Goor Cna of the Mollusca found west of the Rocky Moun-
tains, between latitudes 33° and 49° N. By J.G. Cooper, M. D. San
Francisco, 1867. » pp. 4

Practical Entmologi Patricks Entomological Society. April,
May, June, 18

The pan Bee Journal ” e Vol. 2, Nos. 11, 12. May,
June, 1867. Washington, D.C.

The Taxidermists eS tusk Edition. By S. H. Sylvester.
Middleboro’, Mass. 16mo., pp.

Abstract from a Verbal Discourse upon the Mounds ad - Mound
Builders o L g By Colonel Charles Whittlesey. 8vo, p

Report e Progress of the Geological Survey of North O olind,
1866. By. brakes C. Kerr. Raleigh, 1867.

An Elementary Treatise on American Grape Culture and Wine Making.
By Peter B. Mead. Illustrated with nearly 200 engravings drawn from
nature. New York, Harper & Brothers. 1867,8vo. From A. Williams

` Big des Picea qui se rencontrent dans les Limits duCanada. Par
L’Abbé Ovide Brunet. Quebec, 1866. 8vo, pp. 16. With three plates.
_ Catalogue des Végétaux a lu Canada. Par L’Abbé Ovide Bru-
net. Quebec, 1867. 8vo, pp. 64

oe es

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. I.—SEPTEMBER, 1867.—No. 7.

—< io

THE GEYSERS OF CALIFORNIA.

BY G. L. GOODALE, M. D.

Tue Geysers of California are situated in lateral ra-
Vines of Pluton River, a tributary of Russian River.

‘The picturesque journey from San Francisco to the
Geysers has been truthfully described by many tourists ;
hence most of our readers are doubtless familiar with the
sail over the bay and through the Tulé marsh, the ride up
the White-wine valley, the slow ascent of an outlying
crest of the Coast Range, and the perilous drive down into
the cañon. It is proposed to embody in this paper some
observations based upon studies at the Geysers during
the last week in May, 1866. G

It is, therefore, necessary to pass over, without re-
mark, the interesting journey thither, and occupy our-
selves with a description of the Avernus rather than the
Jacilis descensus. The Avernus of the Æneid seems to
have been a watering-place of some repute, which was in
such immediate proximity to the lower regions, and pre-
sented such great attractions on account of being upon
the most ti route thither, that the name came, at

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by the ESSEX INSTITUTE, in the
Clerk’s Office of the District ee of she District of Massachusetts. (ser)
43

AMERICAN NAT., VOL.

338 THE GEYSERS OF CALIFORNIA.

last, to be applied as much to the sulphurous depths be-
low as to the oak-shaded lake above. Various points of
interest in this occidental Avernus have received appel-
lations suggested by the surroundings; and while some
other localities on the Pacific coast have been named for
public officials, it has not been considered complimentary
to attach modern proper names to anything in the vicinity
of the Geysers. For this reason the classics have been
laid under contribution. The stream into which the main
canon opens is called Pluton River, the gorge is known
as the Devil’s Cañon, and a sulphurous grotto has been
long named for Proserpine.

In gaining a clear idea of the California Geysers, it
will be necessary to forget the geysers of Iceland, with
their columns of water and capitals of cloud. Upon ap-
proaching those upon Pluton River, your first impression
is that there has been a great conflagration, and that the
fire engines are blowing off steam preparatory to going
home. The gorge is lined with masses of smouldering
ashes, from which hot steam is being drifted by the wind,
and, in some places, you can imagine that the embers are
ready to relight. In the bottom of the cañon, turbid and
blackened water, from which vapor slowly lifts, is run-
ning among the discolored rocks. Here and there, es-
caping steam hisses, and, in some places, roars like the
“exhaust” of an engine.

In other smaller cañons and depressions on an irreg-
ular table land, there are like appearances of chemical
activity. The rocks in the vicinity are mainly sandstones
_ and silicious slates, which are highly metamorphic. The

_ intermediate varieties are innumerable, all belonging to
the Cretaceous Series,* which is largely represented in

* Geology of California, vol. 1, p. 94 et seq.

ty gee

THE GEYSERS OF CALIFORNIA. 839

the northern Coast Range of the State. Two belts of
eruptive rock have been observed in this part of the
State, one lying thirty miles south, and the other found
between the Geysers and Borax Lake, twenty or more
miles away. Both are on the line of former voleanic
activity, and near both we find many thermal springs.

Besides hot springs, incrustations of sublimed sul-
phur, pumice, and the light lavas are regarded as traces
of volcanic action. These are found in many places in
California, and in Nevada. The writer has observed
these indications near the summit of the extinct volcano,
Shasta.. In all cases they point to former igneous activ-
ity. Therefore, the steam-springs and the Solfataras may
be considered, for all practical purposes, as the poor re-
lations of volcanoes in reduced circumstances. Such are
the Geysers.

Upon the 28th of May there had been a slight fall of
rain. The morning of the 30th was quite cloudy, the
thermometer ranging at eight o’clock from 60° to 62°
Fahr. The temperature of the water in Pluton River,
immediately above the confluence of the stream from the
Devil’s Cañon varied from 65° to 70°. At the mouth of
the cañon the temperature of the water was 90°, and
upon walking up the bank of the stream the different
temperatures of 95°, 97°, and 100°, were noticed. A
light vapor was rising from the surface of the water.

The first spring where ebullition was observed had a
temperature of 135°. There was a free escape of sul-
phydric acid from the cloudy water, and here the hot,
stifling moisture began to make the walk one of discom-

fort, ‘Upon the right hand several small springs of 190°,

all giving off sulphydric acid, were boiling violently, and
at the edge of a queer miniature cave on the same side,

340 THE GEYSERS OF CALIFORNIA.

there was a furious little cauldron seething at 200°. Sev-
eral of the springs had low forms of cryptogamic vegeta-
tion growing upon the walls of the basins, and, in some
instances, confervæ were observed thriving in water of a
temperature of 145° Fahr. Seventy or eighty rods from
the mouth of the cañon, there is a jet of escaping steam,
and a little farther on there is an escape-pipe, nearly ten
inches in diameter, through which steam is forced out
several feet. Part of the steam condenses at five feet
from the orifice, the rest ascends as light vapor, and is
borne away by the wind. The greatest degree of tempera-
ture observed was 206° Fahr., where there was, of course,
as in the other cases mentioned, apparent ebullition from
escape of gases. In no instance was the temperature of
500° noticed, which Mr. Bowles* speaks of in his en-
tertaining “Across the Continent.” Obviously, this is a
slip of a flying quill.

Upon the east and west sides of the cañon, at this
point, the ground is made up of decomposing rocks of
clayey consistence, and of various colors dependent upon
metallic oxides; each little locality seeming to be a labo-
ratory for the decomposition of silicates. Wherever the
light soil was dry, there was no vegetation whatever;
wherever there was a good degree of humidity, confer-
void growths were scattered. Near springs, a few r
farther east, a species of grass, Panicum, was seen grow-
ing; and, in one instance, at the water’s edge where the
panicle was bathed in slowly-rising vapor. This species
is abundant near fumaroles, which are little natural blast
chimneys, lined with crystalline needles of sublimed sul-
phur.

Se a ik
*“ Across the Continent,” p.282. They are of all degrees of temperature,
tron AST the Continent,” p.289. «Th

e
y

THE GEYSERS OF CALIFORNIA. 341

This leads next to the subject of incrustations, which
for our purpose we may divide into three groups, namely :
silicic acid, sulphates, and sulphur. The first comprises
the crystals of quartz, which are found upon slates embed-
ded in the soil. They are minute, but very perfect.

The sulphates, such as crystals of ferric and magnesic
sulphate, and the alums were not seen in their best es-
tate. The rain of May 28th had dissolved the largest
ones, and while we regretted this loss, we consoled our-
selves with the thought that the rain, which had robbed
us of our jewels, had added intensity to the chemical ac-
tion going on around and below. It is stated upon good
authority that the action is more intense during, or at
the close of the rainy season, which is the winter of Cali-

ornia.

The sublimed sulphur presents the two prevailing
forms; namely, that which has crystallized with free
access of air, and resembles the obtuse oblique rhombic
prisms of sulphur familiar to chemists; and that which is
produced under pressure, and has a slight inclination of
the vertical axis.

In some limited localities there are effloresced salts,
and pale, faded carbonates. At one spot, a light green
cupric carbonate was partially covered with a darker
green confervoid growth, and each shaded into the other
like colors on a palette.

But the salts just referred to are those which have been
left by the heavily charged water. Imagine, therefore, the
Variety of dissolved salts which must have been formed,
by the over-heated steam and sulphur acids, from. the
rocks which are being so rapidly leached under pressure.
The solutions are, almost in every case, acidulated by a
high sulphur acid; free sulphur floats in the water, and

342 THE’ GEYSERS OF CALIFORNIA.

sulphydric acid escapes with violent ebullition. It must
be supposed that in these acidulated solutions, the iron
exists as a ferrous salt, since sulphydric acid has this re-
ducing power.

In one spring, which is very nearly neutral, the iron
has been incompletely precipitated and is suspended, in
the agitated water, with other insoluble sulphides.

Another spring is strongly acidulated, and contains
only the merest trace of the sulphydric acid, which every-
where fills the atmosphere. The rationale of the reac-
tions observed at the Geysers is not obscure, but so far
as the writer is aware, no careful analyses of the waters
and sinter have been made upon the spot. The scrupu-
lous care with which the geological survey of California
is being conducted, warrants the conclusion that trust-
worthy examinations will be published in due time.

The writer is unwilling to conclude this imperfect
sketch of one of the wonders of California, without bear-
ing his personal testimony to the value of the labors of
Professors Whitney and Brewer, and the hard-working
corps.

The first volume upon geology has been read and ques-
tioned in the presence of the Coast Range and Sierra,
from Point Concepcion to the Oregon line, and it has, at
all times, proved a reliable guide.

„Norte. — See, also, a very interesting article by Professor F. Shep-
herd, in “‘Silliman’s Journal” for September, 1851, when the springs
were far less easily accessible than now.

THE ENCAMPMENT OF THE HERONS.

BY W. E. ENDICOTT.

AN account of an encampment of the Herons may not
be uninteresting to such as have never seen one. The
herony in question was in Norfolk county, Mass., until
the present year; the birds have now, however, taken up
their abode elsewhere, because of the almost ceaseless per-
Secution they have suffered. The species was the Night-
heron or Quawk (WNyctiardea Gardeni). The bird is by
no means as graceful as the other herons in figure, being
thicker, with a larger and clumsier neck ; as to color, how-
ever, it is quite handsome, being white, slate, and lilac.
It has the long nape feathers characteristic of the herons,
rolled, as usual, into the likeness of a tube. The place
in which they have hitherto bred is a swamp, wet, and
difficult of access, with no turf to set foot on, owing to
the shade of the swamp-cedars with which the quagmire
is covered, whose slippery, mossy roots furnish a doubt-
ful footing in some cases, and a formidable obstacle in
others. The certainty of “slumping” through the moss,
thereby going into the thick slime above the knees, the
Probability of missing one’s footing, and going down, full
length, on breast or back, and the prospect of hard and
disagreeable work in climbing to the nests, are among the
allurements to ‘the herons’ paradise. The birds undoubt-
edly built there in 1861, though they were not found
until June, 1862, when a gunner, breaking in upon their
fancied security, shot over twenty for sport, threw them
into a pile, and left them. |

All, of course, who cared for natural history, who were

few; the idlers, who were more; and many who had
(343)

344 THE ENCAMPMENT OF THE HERONS.

never killed anything larger than a robin, and now were
all agog to cover themselves with glory by shooting a
quawk, frequented the spot nearly every day during that
summer. The first thing which called the attention of
the explorer was the whiteness of the ground, owing to
the excrements of the birds; the air, hot and close, was
loaded with its keen, penetrating odor ; the fine particles
of it, floating in the air and coming in contact with the
perspiring body, made one smart all over. There was
also a smell of the decaying fish which lay around, some
dropped by accident by the old birds (who, I believe, never
stoop to pick them up again), and much more disgorged
by the young when their tree was assailed. These fish
were mostly such as could not be obtained in the ponds
and rivers. I once saw a piece of a pout, and once @
fragment of a pickerel, but most of the remains were
those of herrings. On the branches of some of the trees
I have seen eels hanging with their heads digested of.
The rough nests were always built against the trunks of
the trees, six or eight feet from the top; and sometimes
two, three, or even four might be seen in one cedar. The
light-green eggs were usually four in number, but I have
seen five and six repeatedly, and, once, seven in a nest.
e young are downy, soft, helpless things at first, but
soon gain strength enough to climb to the upper branches
where they hang on with bill and claws, and are fed by
their parents till nearly full-grown. Two broods are
often reared in a single year, and it is no uncommon
thing to see four or five of the first brood sitting on the
tree-top, while the nest below contains as many more of
their younger brothers and sisters; both lots, of courses
to be fed by their parents. They climb clumsily, and
seem, at every step, to be in immediate danger of falling,

THE ENCAMPMENT OF THE HERONS. 345

yet it is very difficult to dislodge them. When they
strike the ground they set off at full speed, and might
easily escape did they not croak unceasingly as they run.
The first year many of the young were carried away as
pets. I kept one several weeks. No confinement was
needed, for he had no more idea of running away than
my hens had. Early in the morning, and for an hour or
two after sunset, he. would walk away into the lowlands,
‘but would come back to his perch regularly. He was
unable to forage to his complete satisfaction, however,
and would sometimes try to catch my young chickens. I
then took to fishing for him, and then, to my sorrow,
I found out what a heron’s appetite is; and thought, with
pity, of the poor parent-birds in the swamp with six or
eight such maws to fill. Five bream, as large as my
hand, were not too much of a meal for him. He would
catch them, all alive, out of the tub of water by the mid-
dle of the back, toss them up until he got them into the
right position, head first down his throat; then he would
Swallow them by dint of great exertion, his neck present-
ing a curious appearance, as the fish, four inches broad,
_ passed slowly down, making occasional convulsive at-
tempts to struggle; a proceeding which seemed to en-
hance the pleasure of the bird. I once gave him a dry
dead fish which he got half-way down, where it stuck ;
he tried and tried in vain to swallow it;then he made:
equally futile efforts to disgorge ; then he turned his eye
on me reproachfully and imploringly, so I was fain to
take him between my knees, and tip up his bill and pour
water down over the fish with a spoon, until the dried-up
Slime became again moistened, when, with a long pull
and a strong pull, the bird engulphed him, gave me an
ungrateful peck, and stalked off with a “q-u-a-w-k.”
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 44

s

ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTIVATION IN
FRANCE.

BY F. W. FELLOWES.

IN a previous article having briefly described the gen-
eration of the oyster, the writer will, in the present one,
give an account of the cultivation of this favorite mollusk
as practised in France, and notably at the imperial, or:
model parcs in the bassin d Arcachon.

This bay was apparently intended by Nature for an
oyster farm, and its rich, firm, muddy bottom has always
yielded them in vast quantities until about 1840, when,
to the regret and astonishment of the fishermen (who had
mercilessly dredged them up at all seasons, and had
killed the goose that laid the golden eggs), their mine was
found to be exhausted ; fine, full-flavored oysters that had
been heretofore bought for three or four sous the hun-
dred, now readily sold for three francs and upwards, and
even with these prices the oystermen were starving.

In 1859, Professor Coste, by order of the emperor,
passed the summer at Arcachon, and studied the then
unknown subject of oyster cultivation, located the now
flourishing and successful parcs, and addressed a report
to the emperor urging the immediate replanting of these
exhausted beds. The following year his suggestions and
plans were carried out under the immediate supervision
of this naturalist, with surprising and satisfactory results.
Here are nearly two thousand acres of excellent bottom
for growing oysters, wncovered by the tide for an average
of two hours at each low-water, and with the mild winter
climate of the southerly coast of France, this circum-
stance is of priceless value, as it enables the laborers to
: (eis) :

ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTIVATION IN FRANCE. 347

work among, and even handle the oysters at will, and
renders the term “oyster farm” specially applicable to
this locality. > .

A pare is regularly laid out like a market garden, into
Squares of say two hundred feet, a path goes all around
and through them, a post is fixed on the corner with the
number of the lot painted on it, and a record is kept by
the superintendent of what size, quantity, and quality of
oysters are planted on each, and his books and stock are
inspected at stated intervals. Common curved tiles of
baked clay, costing less than a sou a piece, have—after
experiments with various contrivances—proved to be
the most practical method of catching the drifting “spat.”
These tiles, or tuiles as they are called, were used at first
just as they came from the kiln; but it was found that so
large a proportion of the “spat” followed with its young
shell the inequalities of the surface, grew so firmly to it,
and were destroyed in separating them from the tile,
that another ingenious plan was adopted. The tiles are
dipped into a kind of cement containing sand and hydrau-
lic lime, which, drying in a few minutes, coats them with
an evenly rough surface in every way attractive to the
“spat.” When it is desirable to remove the oysters, a
chisel, fashioned to follow the curve of the tile, is easily
introduced between it and the oyster, which drops off un-
injured.

About the middle of May these tiles are arranged in
Piles, ten feet long, five feet high, and five feet wide,
which structures are called ruches or les ruches tuilées.

hese tiles are piled in various ways; usually they are
placed with the concave roof uppermost, each layer run-
ning transversely across the layers beneath it. The sides
of the tiles do not touch, but are separated by about

348 ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTIVATION IN FRANCE.

three inches of space, and often, though not always, adult
oysters are laid along in these spaces. When the ruche
is otherwise completed, heavy stones are placed upon the
top to make the mass more solid and safe to resist the
action of the stormy waves. Oysters are strewn all
around these ruches, which are regularly separated from
each other by a space of fifteen feet. Between the ruches
bundles of faggots, or fascines, bound together in the
middle with galvanized wire, are suspended about one
foot from the bottom, by a cross piece made fast on two
low posts. When the drifting “spat” is ready to adhere
to a suitable object, a very large proportion of it is
caught by, or seeks refuge in one or the other of these
friendly asylums, and safely grows to the usual merchant-
able size. :

One of Professor Coste’s early experiments was with a
box a yard square, perforated with holes, containing two
shelves with bottoms of coarse wire-cloth. Sixty adult
oysters were placed on these shelves and on the mud on
the bottom. The sides and top of this box—made in
pieces to take apart—were roughed up with an adze to
attract and secure the “spat,” but this plan was abandoned
for two reasons; first, the unavoidable expense, and,
secondly, it was found that the “spat,” when first evolved,
is not ready to adhere to anything, however suitable, but
must swim about for a few days; and so the enormous
quantity of little ones, given out by the mother oysters in
the box, escaped through the holes and located themselves
elsewhere. The tiles oe the faggots are now in uni-
versal use. By the middle of August the oysters have
finished their reproductive labors, and begin to fatten
again, having become very poor during the summer, but
the tiles and faggots are not taken up until a month later.

ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTIVATION IN FRANCE. 349

By that time, all the “spat” has located itself, and the
ruches are carefully taken apart, each tile being laid down
in the same position as in the ruche, side by side in long
furrows or ditches prepared for them.

There they are allowed to remain until the following
summer, when the oysters on the upper side of the tiles
are removed and planted in beds, hollowed out about
three inches deep, running the length of the parc; while
the tile is then turned over with the roof-side down-
wards, and the oysters on the other side are left to grow
as they at first’ fixed themselves, unless, being too much
crowded, they grow upon each other, and in irregular
Shapes; in this case they are thinned out. The writer
Saw many thousands of tiles in rows, with oysters three
years old, and of handsome size, still growing where they
first were “set ;” but usually they are all removed to the
beds the second year, and the tiles, after being redipped
in the cement, are again piled as before.

The faggots are taken to some enclosures, which are
called claires, which are made of solid mason-work,
water-tight, where the water can be admitted and ex-
cluded at pleasure, and where the waves can have no
power, and are there unbound and left to themselves to
stow until large enough to be separated from the branch-
€s, which is usually six to eight months, when they are
treated like those grown upon tiles.

At the end of the third year, the oysters have attained
the most desirable size, and are ready for the market.
Those grown in the imperial parcs are not sold, but are
consumed by the emperor, presented by him to crowned
heads and friends, either for use or to stock their private
pares, or abandoned to the poor fishermen, who on a cer-
tain day are allowed to gather them.

850 ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTIVATION IN FRANCE.

The princess Batichiochi, a near relation of the empe-
ror, has a large farm in the bay of Quiberon, and sells
oysters to supply the Paris restaurants and others, in large
quantities; and, though her farm was only in its third
year, it was, as the superintendent remarked with pride
and pleasure, more than paying expenses ; but next year!
“mais année prochaine nous ferons des belles affaires,
allez!”

The sale of the yearling seed is made a special business
by some oystermen, and they bring from four to six
francs the thousand. They are put up in round baskets
with a small hole in the top, and are kept, at the season
of sale, suspended from scaffoldings erected over the
water for the purpose, so that the baskets are never above
the suriace.

The French oyster-growers are very particular that the
oysters taken up for market shall lie for five or six days
in the claires, before forwarding them to the consumers 5
this is done in order that all mud and impurities shall be
washed out in the pure sea-water, and the oyster is cer-
tainly whiter-and handsomer for this clean bath.

e Marennes, or green oyster, is colored by being
placed in 'clatres when the tidal water is let out at certain
intervals ; a confervoid growth is induced which gives the
highly prized color and flavor, and doubles the value of
the oyster.

The Ostende oysters are placed in wooden vats, and are
frequently tossed and tumbled about by women with
rakes, thus breaking off the thin edge of the new growth
of shell, and forcing it to grow more round and deep-
_ Labor, in this country, is much too high to make a re-
munerative cultivation of the oyster in this manner prac-
ticable.

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 851

Oyster-growers recognize their own éuiles by a sort of
trade-mark, which, by French law, it is forgery to imi-
tate. After the tuile is moulded, and while still soft, a
hole is punched in the top, either round, square, trian-
gular, or of any desired shape; this private mark is re-
corded in due form, and wherever a tile bearing it, is
found, it is the unquestioned property of the one who
has, so to speak, put his sign manual upon it. Our own
laws protecting the oyster-grower need considerable al-
teration and improvement, especially in the State of Con-
necticut, where the oyster interest is a very large one;
but our legislators, when the subject is properly put be-
fore them, will no doubt see the justice of giving the
Same protection to the marine, as to the cereal farmer,
when each invest their money, and conduct their business
equally in accordance with the law. |

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES, U. S. A. *

(Continued from p. 292.)

Famy Viverride, the Civets, ete. The very curious
animal which forms the sole North American represen-
tative of this family, containing numerous species in the
old world, has been found in so many localities contig-
uous to Arizona, that beyond a doubt it should be in-
cluded here, though I am not aware that it has actually
been taken in the Territory. The Ring-tailed Civet Cat
(Bassaris astuta) is a queer animal, combining in itself
the features of several distinct groups. Thus it has the
tinged tail of a raccoon, the pointed snout and cunning

352 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

look of a fox, and the habits, at least in semi-domestica-
tion, of a house cat: It is well known to the hunters and
miners of California, and by them highly prized as a pet.
It is indifferently called “Mountain Cat,” “Cat Squirrel,”
and “Raccoon Fox” ; is easily tamed, and makes an inter-
esting pet, as well as a useful one, from its dexterity in
catching rats and mice. In a state of nature, it is said to
be chiefly nocturnal, and to show spirited fight when at-
tacked. It is about as large as a house cat; above, is
yellowish or brownish-gray ; below, white ; and its tail is
annulated alternately with black and white.

Family Mustelide, the Martens, etc. I am not aware
that either of our two North American species of the
genus Mustela occur so far south as Arizona. Of the
Weasels, composing the allied genus Putorius, the species
most likely to occur are the Bridled (P. frenatus), or its
Californian representative, P. xanthogenys. The common
American Mink (P. vison), of so very general distribu-
tion, may also occur. Hunters have several times de-
scribed to me an animal they called the “Carcajou,”—
which is the Wolverine ( Gulo luscus) ,—and their accounts
seemed quite pertinent, though I do not venture, upon
such doubtful authority, to assert that it is an inhabitant
of Arizona. Its existence has not been demonstrated
farther south than Salt Lake City. The whole sub-family
Martine, composed of the three preceding genera, is by
no means so well represented as the Melinæ, comprising
the Badgers (Taxidea), and the Skunks (Mephitis).

The family is chiefly developed in Arizona in these
last-named animals, which have attained so unenviable @
notoriety from their peculiarly disagreeable odor, be-
lieved to be the most powerful and noisome animal stench
known. With this drawback, they are certainly beautiful

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 353

animals, both in form and colors. The latter are always
pure black and white, at least so far as North American
species are concerned; and there is a great similarity
between them all in this respect. Dr. C. B. R. Kennerly
obtained a Skunk at Pueblo Creek, which he says was
intermediate in size between Mephitis mephitica, and M.
bicolor. It probably belonged to the former species.
Others, well known to occur in Texas, New Mexico, etc.,
and therefore likely to occur in Arizona, are M. bicolor,
the little Striped Skunk; M. varians, the Texas Skunk ;
and M. mesoleuca, the White-backed Skunk. The first
named of these extends across the Territory into Califor-
nia, and quite to the Pacific coast, where I have myself
known of its occurrence. It is the smallest of all our
species, and the only one which is spotted or streaked.
The last is a most beautiful species, well figured by Au-
dubon and Bachman, though under the erroneous name
of M. macroura.. It belongs to a different sub-genus ~
(Thiosmus) from the rest, being distinguished by hav-
ing one less upper molar, and a peculiarity in the position
of the nostrils.
Concerning the occurrence of the third sub-family,
trine, I am unable to speak positively. It is most
probable, however, that Otters do exist in the Territory,
and they may be referable to that species described by
Dr. Gray as Lutra Californica, which Professor Baird
has considered to differ in some appreciable points from
the common L. Canadensis of the Eastern States.
Family Urside, the Bears. The two North American
genera of plantigrade carnivora are represented by the
ms and the Bears. The former, Procyon, dif-
fers from Ursus, which comprehends the true Bears in
dentition, and in many external characters, among which
NAT., VOL. I. 45

354 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

the most notable are its small size, and elongated tail.
I met with no Raceoons in Arizona, and it is doubtful if
any exist; though Procyon Hernandezii, or that variety
of it which Professor Baird has called P. Mexicana, from
Sonora, may possibly occur. 7

Bears of at least two species are found, and are not un-
common, at least in all the wooded, and particularly the
mountainous portions of the Territory. The vicinity of

e San Francisco and Bill Williams Mountains was for-
merly noted for the numbers of these animals found there,
though they appear to have somewhat decreased of late.
The southern Rocky Mountains, and the ranges of- Cal-
ifornia, seem to be particularly the home of the huge
Grizzly (U. horribilis), which becomes less numerous
farther north. A variety, characterized as U. horriæus,
extends into Mexico. The common Black Bear (U.
Americanus) also includes Arizona in its very extensive

ge.

Order Marsupiata, the Marsupials. A single family
and genus (Didelphys) represents this remarkable order
in North America. The Opossum of the Pacific slope
is the D. Californica, which differs from D. Virginiana
in several respects. It is smaller, and darker colored,
especially about the head and feet, which parts are almost
dusky ; besides which the ears are black, blotched with
yellow; and the tail also is particolored.

Order Rodentia, the Gnawers. This extensive order
embraces animals which, by their individual numbers, and
their great diversity in form and habit, always constitute
a marked feature in the fauna of any country which they
inhabit. It is remarkably well developed in Arizona,
_ Which has more Species of Rodents than of all other or-
ders taken together. If the part these animals play be

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 355

less prominent and conspicuous than that of the large
carnivores or ruminants, it is not on that account the less
interesting. And even in an economic point of view, it
is scarcely less important; for the commercial value of
the fur of some species, and the destructive agency of
others, in field or in warehouse, gives them a consequence
to a degree surpassed by no oiher animals. Aside from
these practical considerations, the naturalist finds in this
extensive group large room for study and investigation ;
and the diversity in form and structure and variety in
habit exhibited, cannot fail both to please and instruct.

e transition from the graceful, vivacious, arboreal
squirrels to the clumsy, inactive, terrestrial marmots is
great; but no intermediate links in the chain are wanting,
and each one is curiously wrought and chased, with a
story of its own to tell. Space will allow me to notice in
detail only some of the more prominent rodents; and of
the others I must perforce “make mere mention.”

Family Sciuride, the Squirrels, ete. The most char-
acteristic, as well as most abundant species of Squirrel, is
the Tuft-eared ( Sciurus Abertii), discovered by Dr. Wood-
house in the San Francisco Mountains. It is one of the
largest, and certainly the very handsomest of all our
North American species. Besides very beautiful and
harmonious colors, it rejoices in the possession of long
pointed ear-tufts, extending an inch or more from the
edge of the conch of the ear, which give it a peculiarly
Sprightly and truly elegant appearance. But it is not |
the case, as generally believed, that these ornaments are

constantly present. Ido not know what regulates their
_ growth or fall; but certain it is, that under some circum-
stances, or at certain seasons, they are wanting, either
wholly or in part. I have eyen shot specimens on the

356 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

same day, in some of which they were fully developed,
and in others wanting. They may possibly be a sexual
distinction. Their absence is the main diagnostic point
of a S. castanonotus, described by Professor Baird,—a
supposed species most probably identical with S. Abertiz,
as that eminent naturalist himself now believes.

The pine-clad mountains of northern and central Ari-
zona are the chosen home of this Squirrel; and it rarely,
if ever, quits these woods for other situations. It is there
a resident species, breeding in abundance, and braving
the rigors of winter. Its food is chiefly pine and other
seeds, particularly pinoñes, the fruit of Pinus edulis, to-
gether with acorns’ of the several species of oaks which
grow plentifully in the openings among the pine forests.
Considering how seldom it is molested in those wild re-
gions, it is a shy and wary species, and when it discovers
an intruder, leaps with great celerity to the top of the
pines, whose size and dense foliage in a great measure
screen and protect it. It is also a very vigorous and
muscular animal, requiring to be “hard hit” before it can
be dislodged from its stronghold. Even when mortally
wounded, it clings with surprising pertinacity, and for a
long time, to its perch. Its cries are’ much like those of
a Fox Squirrel. If wounded and captured, it shows de-
termined, fight, and can inflict a severe wound if incau-
tiously handled.

Near the eastern limit of the Territory I one day ob-
served a small squirrel, about the size of our chickaree,
running among some rocks and bushes. Unluckily I
failed to secure the specimen; but have little doubt that
it was the rare and slightly known S. Fremontii Aud.
and Bach. If this idéntification be correct, the locality 18
the southernmost as yet on record for the species.

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 357

It is just possible that a western Fox Squirrel (8. Lu-
dovicianus Custis, or 8. limitis Baird) should extend into
eastern Arizona; or that S. fossor Peale, of California,
should reach the Colorado River. These, however, are
rather speculative than demonstrated assertions, and
await proof.

In addition to the preceding, a true Gray Squirrel in-
habits Arizona, which I am inclined to think is a species
new to science. It must be quite rare, as I never saw
or obtained but a single one,—a female, shot December
20, 1865, at Fort Whipple. In general appearance it is
similar to the common Eastern species, with which it
agrees closely in the colors of the body;, but it is
smaller, and at the same time the tail is both relatively
and absolutely longer, as well as much broader. It is
possible that this may be the species alluded to by Pro-
fessor Baird, page 263 of his “Mammals of North Amer-
ica,” as “Sciurus Carolinensis??”, from Santa Catarina,
N. M. But his description applies only approximately
to my specimen, which I shall describe as new.*

SCIURUS ARIZONENSIS Coues, sp. nov.— S. forma et coloribus co: ro
Sciuro Carolinensi similis; sed we Bel cauda Fete Sis latiore, subtus distinc

E Detoription.— — Rather smaller than the Eastern Gra Squirrel; of the same
form and body-colors; the tail lo ang — and m cig, Mia, oo Ears moderate,
untufted, both sides en Palms rculated, pran n naked, but a little hairy
on the concavities of the fingers; ith ge lon st, 3d nearly equal, 2d equal to
Sth. Soles 6 tubercal ulated, naked to the heel, but furred E gay tap then

sides; est, 2d and ad pearl equal "saa but Jitte shorter. Tail to

of vertebræ équallin g length body from nose to root of tail, the hairs —
. ing 31-2 inches beyo bona vertebra. Above, from nose to root of tau,

efined
e
the upper parts and sides. Both eyelid s and a about me EPS i
woolly space at base of ears ochraceous te. e tail fro ena =
Same color as outside of thighs, the tawny of the back Stopping at orap
for ~ the rest of its extent it is black; p iak portion Viewed froin ng the
air
tallies oe 3 Raaya prance y orehia r kens in p with black, which is in turn fringed
with white
j ieee r canthus of eye, 1.1 (inches and tenths); to roo
of tail 9.5, tail Py pop piper eds 9.5; to end of hairs 13.0; its width at broa aout
tof ear .8. Longest whisker 3.3. Palm to end og apima
with claw 162 = ————" tto 3.6. rE corer tage oe on
3 Sreatest width of so!

358 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

Of the Striped Ground Squirrels, or “Chipmunks,”
composing the genus Tamias, only one species is common,
which is the Gila Chipmunk (T. dorsalis Baird). It is
a beautiful little animal, rather larger than the common
Eastern one, and conspicuously different in the character
of the dorsal stripes. It was first described from the
deserts of Southern Arizona, but I found it abundant at
Fort Whipple, and it may extend considerably farther
north. Unlike most others, it is a rock-loving species,
and rarely quits its favorite resorts. Among masses of
lava and gneiss it may be seen tripping lightly and grace-
fully, its pretty tail held arched downward, or flirted
from side to side. It is a shy and suspicious animal,
though so rarely molested, and scarcely exhibits the fa-
miliarity of disposition shown by its Eastern congener.
When alarmed, it hurries precipitately to the mouth of
its retreat, where, as if conscious of security, it sits and
chatters an angry defiance at the intruder. It isa per-
manent resident around Fort Whipple, but hardly seen
during the winter, which it passes in its burrows, in
which an abundant supply of food, in the shape of nuts,
acorns, and seeds, is laid up during the fall *for winter
use,

I think that one other species of Tamias— possibly T.

ownsendii—occurs rarely, but E cannot speak posi-
tively on this point. I have no knowledge of the exist-
ence of any Flying Squirrels (Pteromys) in Arizona.

The genus Spermophilus, comprising the true Ground
Squirrels, or Squirrel Marmots, is well represented by
quite numerous species, though none of them occur in
such multitudes as to form the colonies for which some
are so noted in other countries.

One of the smallest and the most beautiful of our

+

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 359

Spermophiles is the elegant little 9. Harrisii of Audubon
and Bachman. It is only about ag large as a Chipmunk ;

has stripes which make it look very mask like one, and
many habits in common with it. The Arizonian species

particularly resembles the Tamias dorsalis in general- ap-

pearance, as viewed in life, and frequents precisely the
same sort of localities. Though still very rare in collec-
tions, it is common enough in Western Arizona, and in
fact in the greater part of the desert region about Fort
Mojave, on both sides of the Colorado River. I saw a
great many at different times in the autumn near Beals
Springs, where I found them in the most rocky and pre-
cipitous places. It was difficult to procure specimens,
not only from the nature of the region, but on account of
their extreme agility, and their unwillingness to venture
at any time far from their secure rocky retreats.

The common and notorious California Ground Squirrel
(S. Beecheyi) ranges eastward across the Colorado val-
ley, though in Arizona it is by no means sò abundant as
in California, where it forms colonies approaching those
of the prairie dog in extent, and is a great pest to the
farmer. In the vicinity of Los Angeles, I had an excel-
lent opportunity of studying its habits. On the flat or
slightly rolling dry plains which stretch between that
town and the sea-beach, it is exceedingly numerous. The
burrows occur usually in clusters, and upon little mounds
or hillocks of dirt formed by the soil heaped up during
their excavation; but single ones are scattered in every
direction. Upon these “earth-works” the animals may
be seen at all times, sitting upright, and motionless as
statues, their fore-paws drooped, and their eyes intently
fixed upon the passer-by; or, when no suspicious object
appears, lying and basking in the sun, or playing merrily

e

360 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

with each other upon the ramparts of their citadels. I
have no doubt that the subterranean passages intercom-
municate, and that each animal does not have its own
entrance, though he may possess private apartments be-
low. In the vicinity of large encampments, the grass,
herbage, and in fact everything green is so closely crop-
ped, that the ground is almost bare; and it becomes a
matter for wonder that so many animals can contrive to
fill their stomachs. As is the case with those of the
prairie dog, the villages are inhabited by a species of
burrowing owl, which takes possession of deserted holes.
Over the dry plain the graceful mountain plover courses
swiftly along; while overhead, or resting upon the
ground, is the great squirrel hawk, on the look-out for
its prey.

The general manners of these animals call forcibly to
mind the prairie dogs. Like them, they hardly venture
far from their burrows, to which they hasten precipitately
on the first sign of an alarm. Reaching the entrance,
they stop a moment in a squat attitude, or rise on their
hind-quarters, the better to reconnoitre, venting their
displeasure and suspicion by a sharp, chattering bark.
They are tough, muscular animals, and must be hard hit
to be killed; and even when mortally wounded, will
make use of their convulsive death-struggles to reach
their burrows, into which they at last drop exhausted,
and may be thus lost to the collector.

The Line-tailed Spermophile (S. grammurus Say), iS

another common species, especially of the southern por- '

tions, whence it extends into Mexico. It has a peculiar
appearance, produced mainly by its tail, calling to mind a
true Sciurus; so much so, that it has been placed in that
genus by some writers, although a true Spermophilus.

ere te eke ee a fn as eee mite nei e

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 361

Observers agree in according to it decidedly arboreal
habits. It is both a rock and woods-loving species, and
Mr. J. H. Clark, who found it abundant at the copper
mines, says it seems to choose its abode mainly with refer-
ence to a supply of food, making its burrow indifferently
in loose soil, under rocks, or in hollow trees.

The Round-tailed Spermophile (S. tereticauda Baird)
is a little known species, first described from specimens
taken at Fort Yuma, whose precise extent of range re-
mains to be determined. I have not met with it, and
believe that no information concerning its habits has been
put on record. The chief peculiarity lies in its tail, which
is disproportionately long for this genus, cylindrical in
Shape, and very long-haired. It is among the smaller
Species, being only about six inches in length of body;
is above of a light yellowish-brown, finely grizzled, and
` below of a soiled yellowish-white.

In addition to the preceding, several Mexican species
may very likely extend into the Territory from Sonora.
Such are S. Mexicana, 9. spilosoma, and possibly S. Cou-
chii. The common little S. tridecemlineatus, of the Mis-
Souri region, has been found so far south-west as Fort
Thorn, N. M., and possibly should also be included. 8.
lateralis, a species closely allied to S. Harrisii has been
found in the Des Chutes Basin, and may extend as far
south as Arizona.

A step further from the true squirrels brings us to the
Prairie “Dogs,” as they are called; formerly classed with
the Spermophiles, to which they are closely allied, but
now more properly placed in a distinct genus ( Cynomys).
They mainly differ from the true Spermophiles in the ex-
treme brevity of the tail, the very rudimentary cheek-
pouches, and some dental and cranial peculiarities. The

` AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 46

362 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

species are strictly terrestrial, and eminently gregarious,
being noted for the large colonies which they form. Long
as they have been known, and much as has been learned
about them, there are many points of their social and in-
dividual economy which remain very obscure. Such are
those relating to their migrations, their supplies of food
and water, their gestation, and their relations with the
owls and rattlesnakes found among them. The common-
est of our two species, C. Ludovicianus, is mainly confined
to the great central plains. A second species occurs in
Arizona; the short-tailed Prairie Dog (C. Gunnisonit
Baird), named in 1855 from specimens brought from
Coachetope Pass by Capt. Beckwith. It is distinguished
from the other by its smaller size, somewhat different
colors, and still shorter tail, which is not tipped with
black. I was so fortunate as to secure a specimen of this
rare animal, near the San Francisco Mountains, in July
of 1864. A colony had settled in one of the little open .
grassy glades which are scattered like oases through that
wild and broken region. No owls or rattlesnakes were
to be seen, though a species of horned toad (Phrynosoma
Douglassii) was extremely abundant. Their cries, move-
ments, and general manners were much like those of the
common species. i
Passing over the marmots proper (Arctomys), of which
I have no knowledge as Arizonian animals, there only
remains to be noticed one more member of the Sciurid@,
—the Beaver (Castor Canadensis Kuhl). This animal
differs in so many essential features, both external and
anatomical, as well as in habits, from the family types»
that naturalists doubt the propriety of retaining it in its
‘present position. It is found abundantly on all the
streams of the Territory. Judging from the accounts of

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 363

old trappers, its numbers seem even to have increased
of late; owing, doubtless, both to the diminished value
of its fur, of which so many articles now take the place,
and to the Indian difficulties, which prevent the penetra-
tion of the hunter to its abodes. Particularly upon the
Rios Salado and San Francisco is it very abundant; and
its dams occur, in some places, every few hundred yards.
The almost unbroken seclusion of these retreats gives the
animals such a sense of security, that they are less strictly
nocturnal in working or playing than in most localities.
I have frequently seen them swimming about in broad
daylight.

An Indian name of this animal, which I do not recall,
signifies “little brother,” and is given in recognition of
that sagacity, or instinct, or reason, as it may be called,
` which is displayed in its social and domestic economy.
But as one writer has well remarked, all that ‘has been
said concerning the wonderful intelligence, or even appa-
rent “forethought” of the Beaver, only argues an instinc-
tive knowledge to a degree possessed by a multitude of
other animals; and far outrivalled by that required for
the construction of many a bird’s or insect’s nest. Even
the humble and despised muskrat builds habitations re-
quiring almost as much constructive dexterity; and, in
Many of its habits, evinces a “forethought” quite equal
to that of the Beaver. The keen pursuit of the Beaver
for its money value, and the conspicuousness of some of
its works, are the main causes of its unusual notoriety,
and of the admiration with which it is always mentioned
-in trappers’ narratives, and naturalists’ embellishments of

them. — To be continued.

THE HOME OF THE BEES.

BY A. S. PACKARD, JR., M. D.

Tue history of the Honey-bee, of its wonderful in-
stincts, its elaborate cells and complex economy, have
engrossed the attention of the best observers, even from
the time of Virgil, who sang of the Ligurian bee. The
literature of the art of bee-keeping is already very ex-
tensive. Numerous bee journals and manuals of bee-
keeping testify to the importance of this branch of agri-
culture, while able mathematicians have studied the mode
of formation of the hexagonal cells,* and physiologists
have investigated the intricate, and, as yet, unsolved
problems of the generation and development of the bee
itself.

In discussing these difficult questions, we must rise
from the study of the simple to the complex, remember-
ing that—

“AN nature widens upward. Evermore,
The simpler essence lower lies:

owning more
woins

Discourse, more widely wise,”
and not forget to study the humbler allies of the Honey-
bee. We shall, in observing the habits and homes of the
wild bees, gain a clearer insight into the mysteries of
the hive.

The great family of bees is divided into social and sol-
itary species. The social kinds live in nests composed
of numerous cells in which the young brood are reared.
These cells vary in form from those which are quite reg-
ularly hexagonal, like those of the Hive-bee, to those
which are less regularly six-sided, as in 1 the Stingless-bee

+ Š ation f the
Lee ee

(364)

a;
.

THE HOME OF THE BEES. 365

of the tropics (Melipona), until in the Humble-bee the
cells are isolated and cylindrical in form.

Before speaking of the wild bees, let us briefly review
the life of the Honey-bee. The queen bee having win-
tered over with many workers, lays her eggs in the
spring, first in the worker, and, at a later period, in the
drone-cells. Early in the summer the workers construct
the large, flask-shaped queen-cells, which are placed on
the edge of the comb, and in these the queen larvæ are
fed with rich and choice food. The new queens form
new swarms. The new-born queen takes her marriage
flight high in the air with a drone, and on her return
undertakes the management of the hive, and the duty of
laying eges. When the supply of queens is exhausted,
the workers destroy the drones. The first brood of
workers live about six weeks in summer, and then give
way to a new brood. The queens, according to Von

Berlepsch, are known to live five years, and, during their
` Whole life, lay more than a million eggs.

In the tropics, the Honey-bee is replaced by the Meli-

ponas and Trigonas. They are minute stingless bees,

_ Which store up honey and live in colonies often of im-

mense extent. The cells of Melipona are hexagonal,
nearly approaching in regularity those of the Hive-bee,
while the honey cells are irregular, being much larger cav-
ities which hold about one-half as much honey as a cell
of the Humble-bee. “Gardner, in his travels, states that
many species of Melipona build in the hollow trunks of
trees, others in banks ; some suspend their nests from the
branches of trees, whilst one species constructs its nest
of clay, it being of large size.” (F. Smith.) ;
In a nest of Trigona carbonaria, from eastern Australia,
Mr. F. Smith, of the British Museum, found from four

366 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

hundred to five hundred dead workers, but no females.
The combs were arranged precisely similar to those of
the common wasp. The number of honey-pots which
were placed at the foot of the nest was two hundred and
fifty. Mr. Smith inclines to the opinion that the hive
of Trigona contains several prolific females, as the great
number of workers can only be thus explained, and M.
Guerin found six females in a nest of Melipona fulvipes.

At home, our nearest ally of the true Honey-bee, is
the Humble-bee (Bombus), of which over forty species
are known to inhabit North America.

The economy of the Humble-bee is thus: the queen
awakens in early spring from her winter’s sleep beneath
the leaves or moss, or in deserted nests, and selects a nest-
ing place generally in an abandoned nest of a field-mouse,
or beneath a stump or sod, and “immediately,” according
to Mr. F. W.Putnam,* “collects a small amount of pollen
mixed with honey, and in this deposits from seven to
fourteen eggs, gradually adding to the pollen mass until »
the first brood is hatched. She does not wait, however,
for one brood to be hatched’ before laying the eggs of
another, but, as soon as food enough has been collected,
she lays the eggs for a second. The eggs (Plate 10, Fig.
2), are laid, in contact with each other, in one cavity of
the mass of pollen, with a part of which they are slightly
covered. They are very soon developed ; in fact the lines
are nowhere distinctly drawn between the egg and the

a aed BE

5 : ` ‘ titute,
*Notes on the Habits of the Humble-bee, Proceedings of the Essex Ins
vol. iv, 1864, p. 101. Mr. Angus thus writes us concerning the habits of B. eee
fo near our garden fe: it by the
be made by amouse. They seem to be quite numerous. I was attracted to many
noise they were m: ing a ening. I coun 0 several
as seven thus enie, and the sound could be heard several yards off. i ai
Males were at rest, but mostly on the wing, when they would make a pagel pe 0
the fanners, und all would scatter and sport around. The workers seem "opning
a uniform size, and full as e as the males. I think the object of the
was to introduce air into the as is done by the Honey-bees.”

THE HOME OF THE BEES. 367

larva, the larva and pupa, and again between the latter and
the imago; a perfect series, showing this gradual trans-
formation of the young to the imago can be found in
almost every nest.

“As soon as the larve are capable of motion and com-
mence feeding, they eat the pollen by which they are
surrounded, and, gradually separating, push their way in
Various directions. Eating as they move, and increasing
in size quite rapidly, they soon make large cavities in the
pollen mass. When they have aiaia their full size,
they spin a silken wall about them, which is strengthened
by the old bees covering it with a thin layer of wax,
which soon becomes hard and tough, thus forming a cell.
(Plate 10, Figs. 1, 2.) The leave now cuadually attain
the pupa stage, and remain inactive until their full devel-
opment. They then cut their way out, and are ready to
assume their duties as workers, small females, males or
queens.

“It is apparent that the irregular disposition of the
cells is due to their being constructed so peculiarly by
the larvæ. After the first brood, composed of workers,
has come forth, the queen bee devotes her time principally
to her duties at home, the workers supplying the colony
with honey and pollen. As the queen continues prolific,
more workers are added, and the nest is rapidly en-
larged.

“About the middle of summer, eggs are deposited,
Which produce both small females and males.” . . . “All
eggs laid after the last of July produce the large females,
or queens, and, the males being still in the nest, it is pre-
Sumed that the queens are impregnated at this time, as,
on the approach of cold weather, all except the queens,
of which there are several in each nest, die.”

368 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

While the Humble-bee in some respects shows much
less instinct than the solitary bees mentioned below, it
stands higher in the series, however, from having work-
ers, as well as males and females, who provide food for
the young: The labors of the Mason-bees, and their
allies, terminate after the cell is once constructed and
filled with pollen. The eggs are then left to hatch, and
the young care for themselves, though the adult bee
shows greater skill in architecture than the Humble-bee.
It is thus throughout nature. Many forms comparatively
low in the scale of life astonish us with certain charac-
ters or traits, reminding us of beings much superior, phy-
sically and intellectually. The lower forms constantly
reach up and in some way ally themselves with creatures
far more highly organized. Thus the fish-like seal re-
minds us strikingly of the dog, both in the form of the
head, in its docility and great intelligence when tamed,
and even in its bark and the movements of the head.

The parasites of the Humble-bee are numerous. Such
are the species of Apathus, which so closely resemble
the Humble-bee itself, that it takes long study to distin-
guish them readily. Its habits are not known, other than
that it is found in the nests of its host. It differs from
the Humble-bee in having no pollen-basket, showing that
its larvæ must feed on the food stored up by their host,as
it does not itself collect it. The mandibles also are not,
like those of Bombus, trowel-shaped for architectural
purposes, but acutely triangular, and are probably not
_ The larve of various moths consume the honey and
waxen cells; the two-winged flies, Volucella and Conops,
and the larve of what is either an Anthomyia or Tachina-
like fly, and several species of another genus of flies,

THE HOME OF THE BEES." 369

Anthrax, together with several beetles, such as the Meloe,
Stylops, and Antherophagus prey upon them.

The power of boring the most symmetrical tunnels in
Solid wood reaches its perfection in the large Virginian
Carpenter-bee ( Xylocopa Virginica). This bee is as large,
and some allied exotic species are often considerably
larger than the Humble-bee, but not clothed with such
dense hairs. We have received from Mr. James Angus,
of West Farms, N. Y., a piece of trellis from a grape-
vine, made of pine wood, containing the cells and young
in various stages of growth, together with the larve and
chrysalids of Anthrax sinuosa, a species of fly parasitic
on the larva, which buries its head in its soft body, and
feeds on its juices. (Plate 10, Fig. 5, tunnel containing
pollen and young; 6, the larva; 7, the pupa, of Anthrax
sinuosa. :

Mr. Angus thus writes us regarding its habits under
date of July 19: “I asked an intelligent and observing
carpenter yesterday, if he knew how long it took the
Xylocopa to bore her tunnel. He said he thought she
bored about one-quarter of an inch a day. I don’t think
myself she bores more than one-half inch, if she does that.
If I mistake not, it takes her about two days to make her
own length at the first’ start; but this being across the
grain of the wood may not be so easily done as the re-
mainder, which runs parallel with it. She always follows
the grain of the wood, with the exception of the entrance,
which is about her own length. The tunnels run from
one to one and a half feet in length. They generally run
in opposite directions from the opening, and sometimes
other galleries are run one above the other, using the same
Opening. I think they only make new tunnels when old
Ones are not to be found, and that the same tunnels are

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. L 47 .

370 *THE HOME OF THE BEES.

used for many years. Some of the old tunnels are very
wide. I have found parts of them about an inch in diam-
eter. I think this is caused by rasping off the sides
to procure the necessary material for constructing their.
cells. The partitions are composed of wood-raspings, and
some sticky fluid, probably saliva, to make it adhere.

“The tunnels are sometimes taken possession of by other
bees and wasps. I think when this is the case, the Xylo-
copa prefers making a new cell to cleaning out the mud
and rubbish of the other species. I frequently find these
bees remaining for a long time on the wing close to the
opening, and Jobbing their heads against the side, as if
fanning air into the opening. I hase seen them thus em-
ployed for twenty minutes. Whether one bee or more
makes the tunnel, that is, whether they take turns in
boring, I cannot say at present. In opening the cells,
more than one are generally found, even at this season.
About two weeks ago, I found as many as seven, I I think,
in one.” *

The hole is divided by partitions into cells about
seven-tenths of an inch long. These partitions are Con-
structed of the coarse dust or a made by the bee

“Since writing the above I have opened one of the new holes of Xylocopa

‘ener was rommenced Led ag three and four weeks ago, in a pine slat used in
the staging of the greenh The iA were as follows:
3-8 wide; depth 7-16; whole. e length at ee 65-16 inches. The tunnel brancb
ways from the ho yr 5-8, pey Bene "i a
two with larva and poll en, the thi Sid ae ety. her side o: opening, 0
rest of the with th e exception of bye old bee (only one) at work, 5
I think this was the work or one bee, and, as n an judge, about twenty-
days’ San Width of tunnel anije at widest 9-16 in ns d
‘or. some days thi has been dischar: antity of saw- -dust an

ve is bee a great t she
pomy which I had collected by placing a vessel under Pe Tt bet giles seem thai at
cig constructed also in the opposite side of a ne hole, and that she re! pee
rf ae tuff thrown out, I cots partition ofa Aer t

e oe I will enclose you the stuff greand lected, d, and also some of the
I have just found a Xylocopa bobbing at one of the holes, and in bed wagons
tain the depth of the tunnel, and to see whether there were any others in hemi
sounded with a pliable rod, and found others in on one side, at & a pth lof ivo an was

cool, so that the object in bobbing could not be to introduce teal adroit of air,
but must have had some relation to those inside. Their legs on such occasions are
as I have noticed, loaded with pollen.” a

THE HOME OF THE BEES. 371

in eating out her cells, for our active little carpenter is
provided with strong cutting jaws, moved by powerful
muscles, and on her legs are stiff brushes of hair for
cleaning out the tunnel as she descends into the heart
of the solid wood. She must throw out the chips she
bites off from the sides of the burrow with her hind legs,
passing the load of chips backwards out of the cell with
her fore-limbs, which she uses as hands.

The partitions are built most elaborately of a single
flattened band of chips, which is rolled up into a coil four
layers deep. One side, forming the bottom of the cell,
is concave, being beaten down and smoothed off by the
bee. The other side of the partition, forming the top
of the cell, is flat and rough.

At the time of opening the burrow, July 8th, the cells
contained nearly full-grown larvæ, with some half devel-
oped. They were feeding on the masses of pollen, which
were large as a thick kidney-bean, and occupied nearly
half the cell. The larve (Plate 10, Fig. 4) resemble
those of the Humble-bee, but are slenderer, tapering
more rapidly towards each end of the body.

The habits and structure of the little green Ceratina
ally it closely with Xylocopa. This pretty bee, named
by Say Ceratina dupla, tannels out the stems of the
elder or blackberry, syringa, or any other pithy shrub,
excavating them often to a depth of six or seven inches,
and even, according to Mr. Haldeman (Harris MS.),
bores in acorns. She makes the walls just wide enough
to admit her body, and of a depth capable of holding three
or four, often five or six cells (Plate 10, Fig. 11). The
finely built cells, with their delicate silken walls, are
cylindrical and nearly square at each end, though the free
end of the last cell is rounded off. They are four and a

372 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

half tenths of an inch long, and a little over one-third as
broad. The bee places them at nearly equal distances
apart, the slight interval between them being: filled in
with dirt.

Dr. T. W. Harris* states that, May 15, 1832, one
female laid its eggs in the hollow of an aster-stalk. Three
perfect insects were disclosed from it July 28th. The
observations of Mr. Angus, who saw some bees making
their cells, May 18th, also confirms this account# The
history of our little upholsterer is thus cleared up. Late
in the spring she builds her cells, fills them with pollen,
and lays one or more eggs upon each one. Thus in about
two months the insect completes its transformations ;
within this period passing through the egg, the larval and
chrysalid states, and then, as a bee, living a few days
more, if a male; or if a female, living throüph the winter.
Her life thus spans one year. .

The larva (Plate 10, Fig. 10) is longer than that of
Megachile, and compared with that of Xylocopa, the dif-
ferent segments are much more convex, giving a serrate
outline to the back of the worm. The pupa, or chrysalis,
we have found in the cells the last of July. It is white,
and three-tenths of an inch long. It differs from that of
the Leaf-cutter bee in having four spines on the end of the
body.

In none of the wild bees are the cells constructed with
more nicety than those of our little Ceratina. She bores
out with her jaws a long deep well just the size of her
body, and then stretches a thin delicate cloth of silk drawn
tight as a drum-head across each end of her chambers,
which she then fills with a mixture of pollen and honey: _

pas efon to anote in MSS. deposited 1 the Library of the Boston Society of

THE HOME OF THE BEES, 373

Her young are not, in this supposed retreat, entirely
free from danger. The most invidious foes enter in and
attack her young, Three species of Ichneumon-flies, two
of which belong to the Chalcid family, lay their eggs within
the body of the larva, and emerge from the dried larva
and pupa skins of the bee, often in great numbers. The
smallest parasite, belonging to the genus Anthophorabia,
so called from being first known as a parasite on another
bee, Anthophora, is a minute species found also abun-
dantly in the tight cells of the Leaf-cutter bee.

The interesting habits of the Leaf-cutting, or Tailor-
bee (Megachile), have always attracted attention. This
bee is a stout, thick-bodied insect, with a large square
head, stout, sharp, scissors-like jaws, and with a thick
mass of stout dense hairs on the under-side of the tail for
carrying pollen, as she is not provided with the pollen-
basket of the Honey and Humble-bee.

The Megachile lays its eggs in burrows in the stems of
the elder (Plate 10, Fig. 9), which we have received
from Mr. James Angus; we have also found them in the
hollows of the locust tree. Mr. F. W. Putnam thus
Speaks of the economy of M. cent ris, our most com-
mon species. “My attention was first called, on the 26th
of June, to a female busily engaged in bringing pieces of
leaf to her cells, which she was building under a board, on
the roof of the piazza, directly under my window. Nearly
the whole morning was occupied by the bee in bringing
pieces of leaf from a rose-bush growing about ten yards
from her cells, returning at intervals of a half minute to a
minute with the pieces which she carried in such a manner
as not to impede her walking when she alighted near her
hole.” We givea figure of the Leaf-cutter bee in the act of
cutting out a circular piece of a rose-leaf (Plate 10, Fig.8).

3874 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

She alights upon the leaf, and in a few seconds swiftly runs
her scissors-like jaws around through the leaf, bearing off
the piece in her hind legs. “About noon she had proba-
bly completed the cell, upon which she had been engaged,
as, during the afternoon, she was occupied in bringing
pollen, preparatory to laying her single egg in the cell.
For about twenty days the bee continued at work, building
new cells and supplying them with pollen. . . . On the
28th of July, upon removing the board, it was found that
the bee had made thirty cells, arranged in nine rows of
unequal length, some being slightly curved to adapt them
to the space under the board. The longest row contained
six cells, and was two and three-quarters inches in length
the whole leaf structure being equal to a length of fifteen
inches. Upon making an estimate of the pieces of leaf in
this structure, it was ascertained that there must have
been at least a thousand pieces used. In addition to the
labor of making the cells, this bee, unassisted in all her
duties, had to collect the requisite amount of pollen (and
honey?) for each cell, and lay her eggs therein, when.
completed. Upon carefully cutting out a portion of one
of the cells, a full-grown larva was seen engaged in spin- |
ning a slight silken cocoon about the walls of its prison,
which were quite hard and smooth on the inside, proba-
bly owing to the movements of the larva, and the eon-
sequent pressing of the sticky particles to the walls. In
a short time the opening made was closed over by a very
thin silken web. The cells, measured on the inside of the
hard walls, were .35 of an inch in length, and .15 in
diameter. The natural attitude of the larva is somewhat
curved in its cell, but if straightened, it just equals the
inside length of the cell. On the 31st of July, two fe-
male bees came out, having cut their way through the

THE HOME OF THE BEES. 375

sides of their cells.” In three other cells “several hun-
dred minute Ichneumons (Anthophorabia megachilis) —
were seen, which came forth as soon as the cells were
opened.”

The habits of the little blue or green Mason-bees
(Osmia), are quite varied. They construct their cells in
the stems of plants and in rotten posts and trees, or, like
Andrena, they burrow in sunny banks. An European
species selects snail shells for its nest, wherein it builds its
earthen cells, while other species nidificate under stones.
Curtis found two hundred and thirty cocoons of a British
species ( Osmia paretina), placed on the under side of a flat
stone, of which one-third were empty. Of the remainder,
the most appeared between March and June, males ap-
pearing first; thirty-five more bees were developed the
following spring. Thus there were three successive
broods, for three succeeding years, so that these bees
lived three years before arriving at maturity. This may
account for*the insect years, which are like the “apple
years,” seasons when bees and wasps, as well as other in-
sects, abound in unusual numbers.

Mr. G. R. Waterhouse, in the Transactions of the En-
tomological Society of London, for 1864 (3d series, vol.
2, p. 121), states that the cells of Osmia leucomelana
“are formed of mud, and each cell is built separately.
The female bee, having deposited a small pellet of mud in
a sheltered spot between some tufts of grass, immediately
commences to excavate a small cavity in its upper sur-
face, Scraping the mud away from the centre towards the
margin by means of her jaws. A small shallow mud-cup
is thus produced. It is rough and uneven on the outer
Surface, but beautifully smooth on the inner. On wit-
essing thus much of the work performed, I was struck

376 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

with three points. 1st, the rapidity with which the in-
sect worked; secondly, the tenacity with which she kept
her original position whilst excavating ; and thirdly, her
constantly going over work which had apparently been
completed. . . . The lid is excavated and rendered con-
cave on its outer or upper surface, and is convex and
rough on its inner surface; and, in fact, is a simple repe-
tition of the first-formed portion of the cell, a part of a
hollow sphere.”

The largest species of Osmia known to us is a very
dark-blue Species.* We are indebted to a lady for speci-
mens of the bees with their cells, which had been exca- ;
vated in the interior of a maple tree several inches from
the bark. The bee had industriously tunnelled out this
elaborate burrow (Plate 10, Fig. 12), and, in this respect,
resembled the habits of the Carpenter-bee (Xylocopa),
more closely than any other species of its genus.

he tunnel was over three inches long, and about
three-tenths of an inch wide. It contracted a little in
width between the cell, showing that the bee worked in-
telligently, and wasted no more of her energies than was
absolutely necessary. The burrow contained five cells,
each half an inch long, being rather short and broad, with ~
the hinder end rounded, while the opposite end, next to
the one adjoining, is cut off squarely. The cell is some-
what jug-shaped, owing to a slight constriction just be-
hind the mouth. The material of which the cell is com-
posed is stout, silken, parchment-like, and very smooth
Within. The interstices between the cells are filled in
_ With rather coarse chippings made by the bee.

Se ee ee Te

Ais seems to be an undescribed species. We will call it the wood-bo
Osmia (Osmia lignivora). It is larger than the Osmia lignaria of Say, poing at
T oo te bend in Ha vr and pst sanare 85
on the thorax yellow ore sa a

e all

æ is clothed with dark hairs,
greenish with yellowish hairs. The body is deep

THE HOME OF THE BEES. BIZ

The bee cut its way out of the cells in March, and lived
for a month afterwards on a diet of honey and water. It
eagerly lapped up the drops of water supplied by its
keeper, to whom it soon grew accustomed, and seemed to
recognize.

Our smallest and most abundant species is the little
green Osmia simillima of Smith. It builds its little
oval, somewhat urn-shaped cells against the roof of the
large deserted galls of the oak-gall fiy (Diplolepis conflu-
entus), placing them, in this instance eleven in number,
in two irregular rows, from which the mature bees issue
through a hole in the gall (Plate 10, Fig.14. From speci-
mens communicated by Mr. F. G. Sanborn). The earthen
cells, containing the tough dense cocoons, were arranged
irregularly so as to fit the concave vault of the larger
gall, which was about two inches in diameter. On
emerging from the cell the Osmia cuts out with its pow-
erful jaws an ovate lid, nearly as large as one side of the
cell.

In the Harris collection are the cells and specimens of
Osmia pacifica Say, the peaceful Osmia, which, according
to the manuscript notes of Dr. Harris, is found in the
perfect state in earthen cells beneath stones. The cell is
oval cylindrical, a little contracted as usual with those of
all the species of the genus, thus forming an urn-shaped
cell. It is half an inch long, and nearly three-tenths of
an inch wide, while the cocoon, which is rather thin, is
three-tenths of an inch long. We are not acquainted
with the habits of the larva and pupa in this country, but
Mr. F. Smith states that the larva of the English species
hatches in eight days after the eggs are laid, feeds ten to
twelve days, when it becomes full-grown, then spins a
thin silken covering, and remains in an inactive state

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. IL. 48

378 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

until the following spring, when it completes its transfor-
mations.

In the economy of our wild bees we see the manifes-
tation of a wonderful instinct, as well as the exhibition
of a limited reason. We can scarcely deny to animals a
kind of reason which differs only in degree from that of
man. Each species works in a sphere limited by physi-
cal laws, but within that sphere it is a free agent.
They have enough of instinct and reason to direct their
lives, and to enable them to act their part in carrying out
the plan of creation. — To be continued.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 10.
Fig. 1. å o of the Humble-bee; natural size, with the pollen
ass built upon the top

Fig. Siha view.of the same el oes the three eggs laid in
three divisions of the

Fig. 3. Xylocopa Virginica, the Sritis Bee

Fig. 4. The larva of Xylocopa Feit, the Carpenter Bee; nat-
ural size.

Fig. 5. The nest containing the cells of the same, with the parti-
tions and pollen masses, on which the young larva
seen in the act of feeding; natural one

Fig. 6. Young larva of Anthrax sinuosa; side

. Fig. 7. Pupa of Anthrax sinuosa ; side-view; natur: ad size.

Fig. 8. The Leaf-cutter Bee (Megachite), ona rose-leaf, in the =
of cutting out a circular piece.

Fig. 9. Cells of Megachile, in the elder; natural size.

Fig. 10. Larva of Ceratina dupla, the little green upholsterer Bee;

enlarged.

Fig. 11. Cells of the same in the stem of the elder; natural size-
Fig. 12. Cells of Osmia lignivora, new species, the mood de
Mason-bee, excavated in the uaa natural siz
Fig. 13. Cells sata Osmia simillima, the common green Mason-bee,

built in the deserted gall of the Oak-gall Fly.
— e TA A A single earthen cell of the same; natural size.
= a 15. Pollen mass, or bee-bread of Osmia lignaria ; natural size»
Te is made up of distinct pellets of pollen, which se
‘probably stuck together with saliva.

American Naturalist.

Yeah

SZ

PACKARD’S HOME OF THE BEES.

THE CHIGNON FUNGUS.

BY TILBURY FOX, M. D.

_ Norse could more clearly have shown the amount of
ignorance of the natural history of minute life abroad
amongst the public, and the little trouble people will take
to make the most trivial use of their common sense, when
a novelty, embellished by plausible description, is pre-
sented to them, than the rampant nonsense which has
been penned and believed in regard to the so-called gre-
garine infesting certain varieties of false hair. The
“chignon controversy” has been one of the most wide-
Spread, but at the same time transient sensations of the
age: started abroad, it soon reached England, where it
bewildered the fashion worshippers of the day. The im-
mediate cause of this hubbub was the appearance in the
Hamburg paper Der Freischiitz, of the 7th of February,
1867, of an artigle based upon the account given in the
“Archiy der Gerichtlich Medicin und Hygiene,” and in
which we are informed that “Mr. Lindemann professes to
have discovered and observed a new microscopical para-
site, to which he has given the name of Gregarine. He
reports, according to his observations, that the gregarine
—a protozoic animaleule—is of the lowest order of de-
velopment of the animal organism, and is found parasit-
ically within the animal and human body, where it floats
about with the blood, by which it is nourished. The
Most striking instance of the parasitism of the gregarine
18 said to be its existence on the human hair. The gre-
garinous hair, however, differs in no way from the sound
hair. Only if one looks very closely, little dark brown
knots, which are generally at the free end of the hair,
(379)

380 THE CHIGNON FUNGUS.

may be distinguished even with the naked eye. These
are gregarines. Out of thirty samples of hair procured
from a hairdresser in Nishni Novgorod, gregarines were
found in seventy-five per cent. And it is well known
that the hair used for the chignons of the better half of
Russia is bought of the poor peasant women, who are
proverbially of dirty habits. Pursuing his inquiry, Mr.
Lindemann has discovered that almost every louse has in
its interior an enormous number of gregarines, and he
convinced himself by further experiments that the grega-
rines on the human hair are deposited there by lice. He
observes that the most favorable conditions for the growth
of gregarine are light, increased temperature, and a moist
atmosphere ; and he declares that in the ballroom these
are not without their influence on the parasites when they —
exist on false hair, for they at once revive, grow, and
multiply, get disseminated in millions, and in consequence
of the increased respiration produced by the exertion of
dancing, are inhaled freely into the lungs, reach their
specific gregarine nature, and after a while induce disease
in the body.”

In these quotations prevalent fashions were depicted as
sources of danger, inducing discomfort and disease. A
writer in one of the daily papers (“Investigator”) assert-
ed that he had witnessed from direct observation the
development of gregarine into lice, an assumption that
implies a liberty with Darwinism that its most zealous
and radical devotees would at the present time hesitate to
suggest. It is only just to say that the Lancet, which
first noticed the matter, and confined itself to a mere
mention of the facts, urged its readers to accept the state-
ments put forth, with the gravest caution. Lindemann’s
assertions are very startling to scientific men, because

THE CHIGNON FUNGUS. 381

they are wholly in antagonism with observed facts.
Whilst scientific research has as yet afforded little insight
of the habits of the lower forms of animal and vegetable
life, the revelations of the microscope within the last few
years are pregnant with significance as regards their
ubiquity, and teach us that we are not to be astonished if
we find living forms in unexpected sites, undergoing the
most manifold variations in aspect when brought under
the play of different influences. At the same time we
have the amplest experience to caution us against the
acceptance of new species without the keenest criticism.
What, then, is the truth in this matter? In my devotion
to the subject of diseases of the skin, it has lain in my
way during the last ten years to investigate the whole
subject of diseases of the hair connected with the devel-
opment of vegetable parasites, and I think no one has
made a larger number of microscopic observations. I
have never seen a true gregarina in connection with the
hair; but I have recently found a vegetable growth on
false German hair answering in naked eye appearances to
that described by Lindemann as little dark specks sur-
rounding the hair towards its end. Gregarine, according
to Lindemann, are made up of cells, which he states to be
Vegetable, and it is possible that that which I have found
may be identical with his gregarine. I cannot help
thinking that many bodies totally dissimilar in nature
have been classed with gregarine, which my friend Ray
Lankester, than whom no higher authority on the point
exists, declares to be truly animal. The growth I have
found I now proceed to describe. |
If you take a hair on which the parasite exists, and hold
it between yourself and the light, towards the outer half
you will see one or more, perhaps half a dozen, little dark

382 THE CHIGNON FUNGUS.

knots the size of pin-points, surrounding the shaft of the
hair; they are readily felt on drawing the hair through
the fingers ; they are somewhat difficult to detach. If a
hair be placed under the microscope with a quarter-inch
objective, the mass will be seen to be made up of cellular
bodies surrounding the hair, such as are seen in Fig. 1,
Fig: L kindly drawn for
me by Dr. Braxton
Hicks; F. R. 5.

It will be seen
that the mass has
the appearance of
a fungus growth,
of which two dis-
tinct forms are here
present, viz., mycelial or filamentous, seen in the central
part of Fig. 1; and sporular or cellular, seen in Fig. 2,
which is the outer part of Fig. 1.

The hair is apparently healthy, and if the slide be
pressed the mass will break away from 2
the hair on either side, bringing away
with it more or less of the satiate: and
leaving behind a healthy shaft. The
cells are seen to be of various shapes and sizes. Fig. 3
gives a good representation of them; they are from aos tO
xw inch; many are like the torula Fig. 3.
cells developed from Penicillium.
Others are larger, undergoing divis-
ion very actively ; they may be sub-
divided into two, three, or four parts,
or much more freely. This indicates
the assumption by the parasite of an algal condition. In
watching the mass on the hair carefully, it is evident that

THE CHIGNON FUNGUS. 383

a number of cells become detached from the outer or
sporular form, and at once move actively about. These
small cells indicate an active growth by subdivision, and
a fruitful source of propagation; they subsequently be-
come the cells seen in Fig. 3. Certainly this variety of
fungus so far described is the most active growth I have
come across in my researches, and I have been enabled to
germinate it most successfully, so as to set all questions
as to its nature completely at rest. Placed under favor-
able circumstances in water, the spores (Fig. 3) enlarge
considerably, and the mycelial filaments increase also ; but
there is at this time to be observed a very remarkable
occurrence, though not in all cases. Some of the large
cells in Fig. 1, have become filled with smaller cells; and
in others, in addition to these, processes have been put
_ forth from the circumference of the walls in a radiating
manner; in other cases the enlarged cells have two long
cilia attached to them, by which they move about rap-
idly, whilst a part of the hair, previous to this free from
the fungus, has become dotted all over by minute cells
similar to those seen in the in- Fig. 4

terior of the larger ones. All
this is seen in Fig. 4.

But more than this, I have
observed most distinctly large
cells filled with smaller cells,
furnished with exceedingly deli-
cate radiating processes and put-
ting forth pseudopodia. One of these cells of large size
is represented in Fig. 5.

It will here be seen to have assumed the features of an
ameboid body. Nothing could have been more distinct
to myself, and those who were observing with me, than

384 THE CHIGNON FUNGUS.

this peculiar form ; and it seems to me that we have here
a pretty complete history of the life of this fungus,—
namely, the sporular subdividing and assuming an algal

Fig. 5. form, which in turn
becomes amecebi-
form, and furnishes
ciliated cells that
supply the earliest
condition of the
fungus, as seen in
Fig. 4, scattered
over the hair.

But not satisfied
with these results,
I set to work to grow the fungus in sugar and water,
under constant observation. A rapid enlargement of the
sporular cells took place, as in the former case, and in
some of the larger cells the most distinct circulation of
the granules around the inner circumference of the parent
cell was witnessed by myself and my friends, and a beau-
tiful object it was. Finally, I obtained a result similar to
the former one.

Fig. 6 represents the appearance of the fungus at the
end of fourteen days, seen with an 4 inch object-glass-

Fig. 7 is a portion of the mycelium, taken from the
part over the hair, more highly magnified with a 1-12th
object-glass.

The ends of the filaments seen in Fig. 8 are analogous,
in fact identical with those forms which I have figured in
my work on parasitic diseases of the skin as resulting
from the growth of oidium. The globose head contains
spores, and is an early stage. The double cell figured in
the centre was of a green color like many others.

THE CHIGNON FUNGUS. 385

Accompanying these appearances were, as in the former
case, cells—filled with smaller cells and granules in ac-

Fig. 7.

Fig. 6.

tive motion—furnished with cilia, and bodies undergoing
the “amceboid” transformation, as seen in Figs. 9 and 10,
with 1-12 inch Powell and Lealand.

Here, again, we have the growth taking on an algal
Fig. 9.

Fig. 10.

phase in one direction, and fructifying into a perfect fun-

gus on the other hand. The drawings I have given were

made on the spot from the microscopic objects, and I
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 49

386 THE CHIGNON FUNGUS.

must do the artist credit to say he has most faithfully and
cleverly portrayed the actual appearances presented by
the parasite. The observations now recorded are in com-
plete harmony with those of Dr. Braxton Hicks on the
Volvox, and De Bary in his work published in 1864, at
Leipsic, “Die Mycetozoen, Ein Beitrag zur Kentniss Der
Neidersten Organismen,” and are completely confirmatory
of the opinion before advanced by myself, that the fungi
found upon or within man belong to one genus, and un--
dergo an infinity of variations under different circum-
stances. In the present case the fungus approaches to
the character of Torula rather than any other. There
are many most interesting questions that cannot be dis-
cussed here. The only one I need refer to is the influ-
ence which this species of parasite has in the production
of disease. In the immediate condition in which we find
it on the hair it need cause but little anxiety; but the
minute form as seen in Fig. 4, transplanted to a suitable
soil—and the scalp of delicate children best furnishes it
—would produce disease of the scalp: of that I have no
doubt. Luckily, the tissues of adults, namely, those who
_ wear chignons, are not prone to the more severe forms of
diseases produced by vegetable parasites; and as the
mass of false hair used in England is free from the fungus
described above, the total danger, on the whole, is slight-
—Hardwicke’s Science-Gossip.

Nore.— Torula, Penicillium, and Oidium are microscopic genera
of fungi. The word algal is derived from alga, a sea-weed, of which
there are many minute species. Pseudopodia is derived from the
Greek, meaning “false-feet ;” they are the organs of locomotion, being
Mere extensions of the side, or walls of the body of Infusoria. 1
Fig. 5 they radiate like hairs from the body of the plant. Ameba is
& low Infusorium, or Rhizopod.

REVIEWS.

Š a

AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON AMERICAN GRAPE CULTURE AND WINE

NG. By Peter B. Mead. Illustrated with nearly two hundred

engravings, drawn from nature. New York, 1867. Harper & Broth-
ers. 8vo

This is a carefully prepared work, and we are informed by those
ra

n. . Me
well prepared for the task ot him. Besides the several chapters
Cli

ca

duced by a different vegetable parasite or fangus, which, if allowed to
goon Hd mature growth, will spoil the wine, but which is prevented by
heating. This heating does not injure the wine, bu ut enna according
to M. Pasteur, has the effect of hastening its ri and
forth in a few hours those fine qualities that have heretofore only
been secured by long and careful keeping in goo
AnnuaL REPORT oF THE Sigur OF THE MUSEUM OF COMPARA-

ZOOLOGY, CAMBRIDGE, TOGETHER WITH THE REPORT OF THE

DIRECTOR, 1866. Boston, vog 8vo, pp. 37.

fishes and at «Of fishes alone, no less than 50,000 specimens
Were actually counted, representing over 2,200 species, the majority
of which, say 2,000, are probably new to science and to our collections.
This estimate does not include the smaller specimens, less than two
inches in length, which also number many th thousands.” The reports of
essrs. A. Agassiz, P. R. Uhler, J. G. Anthony, and N.

made ir d

-the assistants, Messrs
8. — show that good progress had been in their

prye senind number of the Illustrated Catalogue, The North American
(387)

388 - NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Acalephæ, by Mr. Alexander Agassiz, has been printed and distributed.
The third number will contain Professor Agassiz’s Report on the Co

ls hay n
ists, abroad and at home, for study and identification, many of which
were sent from the Brazilian Expedition, though u unfortunately lost.
The practice of scattering among naturalists the material for study,
system now pursued by nearly all museums, public and private,

f
e study of science. The benefits are not local, but are shared by all,
and not in one country alone, but throughout the scientific world.
Thus, a large museum carried on in the interests of the highest edu-
cation, must do much towards uniting all men in interpreting the
marvels ists creation. 3
y in this country the value of maintaining large museums 1S
“ace a, We cannot afford to stint any of our educational insti-
tutions. We cannot have too many ita schools, or too many
museums, and money applied to their endowment will surely tend to
enrich the nation, as well as advance good Siig and the broadest
culture

THE AMERI EE JOURNAL AND QAZETTE. aia and published
monthly, by Samuel Wagner, Washington, D. C. 8vo, $2 a year.
With the July number this i important journal begins a new volume,

and in an improved dress. It has been steadily gaining in interest

and that the growing interest in so remunerative a branch of agricul-
ture as bee-keeping il enable it to be a success.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.
iSi
BOTANY.
New COLUMBINE, AND A New Ox-sye Darsy.— 02
the 15th of May, 1866, I found on the heights west of the Hudson, and
opposite the city of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., a cluster of wild Columbine

s variety, “but never before one in which

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY, 389

red or purple was wholly absent.” On the 17th of May this year, 1867,
I found the same variety again, near the same place where I found
it last year. Is it probable that it is a well-marked variety, or per-
haps a new species? I shall try to raise it from the seed, and the
readers of the Naruraist shall in due time be notified of the result.

a).
n the 8th of June, 1867, several

of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., two of which XN
were kindly sent to At first I
thought that the plant could be noth-

freak of nature; and when, on the 10th T
inst., I went in search of more speci-
mens, I half expected to find the new
form and the common one growin

upon it. Nor do the two forms in any observed case—and I have
observed many—come from the same root, although the roots of
this and the common form grow promiscuously together, and often
50 near as to touch each other. '

The two prominent characters which distinguish this daisy from Z.
vulgare, are the following, namely: its ray flowers are all tubular, un-
equally 4~—5-lobed, in some cases only 3-lobed, and the receptacle—so

na

mum.
Yesterday, June 13th, I revisited the locality of this flower, and
brought home specimens enough for all of my class in botany, —over
a hundred in number. I would only add, that I have received a letter
from Professor Gray, to whom I sent specimens of the daisy, in which
he informs me that while he does not regard it as a new species, he
Will introduce it into his Manual of Botany as a variety, adopting the
name I have given it.— SANBORN TENNEY.

390 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

CHANGE OF COLOR IN FLOWERS PLACED UNDER GLASSES OF DIF-
FERENT CoLoRS.—M. De Candolle suggested the construction of
experimental green-houses and hot-houses, and gave his views as to
the plan to be adopted in their erection, so as best to serve the pur-
pose of the physiologist. “A building, such as I propose, would allow
of light being passed through colored glasses or colored solutions,
and so prove the effect of the different visible and invisible rays which
enter into the composition of sunlight. M. Von Martin placed some
plants of Amaranthus tricolor for two months under glasses of various
colors. Under the yellow glass the varied tint of the leaves was pre-
served. The red glass impeded the development of the leaves, and
produced, at the base of the limb, yellow instead of green; in the mid-
dle of the upper surface, yellow instead of reddish brown; and below,
a red spot instead of purplish red. With the blue ae which al-
lowed some green and yellow to pass, that which was red or yellow
in the leaf had spread so that there remained only a sae border or
edge. Under the nearly pure violet glasses, the foliage became almost
uniformly green. Now that plants with colored foliage are becoming
fashionable, it may interest horticulturists to know that by means
of colored glasses, provided they are not yellow, they may hope to

our present vegetation would take an excess of carbon from the air,

eral existence were inconvenienced by it. Then might
' be ascertained what tribes of plants could bear this condition, and
what other families could not have existed, supposing the air had
formerly had a very large proportion of carbonic acid gas.”— Quar-
terly Journal of Science, London.

r —1+
ZOOLOGY.

Tae STUFFED W. SwepisH Museum. — Professor Lill-
jeborg describes, in a letter to Dr. J. E. Gray, how this species of
be (Baleoptera) was stuffed, which we translate as follows. The

of the same was divided into several portions, and then stretch-
res over a model made of wood of the exact form and size of the ani-

wrinkles, which, however, are not to be seen.— Annals and Magazine
of Natural History.

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR. 391

THE EGGS oF THE DRAGON-FLY.—Since ~~ the article on the
Dragon. in our last number we have had an oppo rtunity of seeing
the eggs collected by a friend at Haverhill, July 3d, at the first field-
meeting of the Essex Institute. The eggs are laid in immense num-
bers in long ropy, gelatinous masses, nearly one-half an inch thick,
attached to an aquatic grass. When folded together, the entire mass
was nearly the size ofa hen’s egg.

The new-born larve looked like small spiders swimming in the
water, as the abdomen is very short, and the legs remarkably long,
the hindermost pair being one-half longer than the body. The body
is very transparent, and through the thin wall can be seen the blood
coursing rapidly through the dorsal vessel or heart, and returning
along the side of the body, as also the smaller currents thrown into
and returning from the legs. The little creatures are very active,
— by hundreds through the water, or crawling over the mass
ofe

shall Speak at another time of the changes the embryo un
goes sena hatching. The eggs are only two and one-half oo
of an inch long. It is probable that they are the young of Diplax, as
they bear a close resemblance to the pupa (fig. 4) figured in our last
number

Rar CHANGE or COLOR IN Fısn.—I caught the other day in
fishing for shells, a small ‘*horned-pout,” about two inches long, in-
tensely black in color. I put him in a white bowl to examine him. In
half an hour he had turned white, so clear and pretty in color, por
you could wen the circulation under the skin of the body. Only
“feelers” and eyes remained black, and he is now, three days ‘fale
capture, eras: healthy, and well bleached. Do these fish usually

change their color in this way?—E. C. BoLLEsS, Portland, Me.

NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

—~1o0——
INSECTS IN SEPTEMBER. —Few new insects make their first appear-
ance for the season during this month. Most of the species which
in the early part of the month are the August forms, which
live until they are killed by the frosts late in the month. From this
Cause there is towards the end of the month a very sensible diminu-
tion of the number of insects.
The early frosts warn these delicate creatures of approaching cold.
Hence the whole insect population is busied late in the month in look-
= Out snug winter quarters, or providing for the continuance of the

e

392 NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR.

species. Warned by the cool and frosty nights, multitudes of cater-
pillars prepare to spin their dense silken cocoons, which guard them
against frost and cold. Such are the “Spinners,” as the Germans call
them, the Silk-moths, of which the American Silk-worm is a fair ex-
ample. The last of September it spins its dense cocoon, in which it
hybernates in the chrysalis state.

The larve of those moths, such as the Sphinges, or Hawk-moths,
which spin no cocoon, descend deep into the earth, where they lay in
rude earthen cocoons.

The wild bees may now be found frequenting flowers in consider-
able numbers. Both sexes of the Humble-bee, the Leaf-cutter Bee,
and other smaller genera abound during the warm days.

ention during an unusu ally warm and pleasant day in this

nearly all ants, and, perhaps, to belong to a single species. Looking
about on the ground, an unusual activity will be jasia in the ant-

This is the swarming of the ants. The autumnal heod of
females has appeared, and this is their marriage day.

The history of a formicarium, or ant’s nest, is as follows: The
workers, only, hybernate, and are found early in spring, taking care of
the eggs and larve produced by the autumnal brood of females. In
the course of the summer these eggs and larve arrive at maturity, ani
swarm on a hot sultry day, usually early in September. The females,
after their marriage flight, for the small diminutive males seek their
company at this time, descend and enter the ground to lay their eggs.
for new colonies, or, as Westwood states, they are often seized by the
workers and retained in the old colonies. Having no more inclination,
to fly, they pluck off their wings and may be seen running about wing-
less.

autumnal brood of Plant-lice now occur in great numbers on
rious plants. The last brood, however, does not consist exclu-
individuals

ound that many were in reality of the ordinary gemmipa-

rous form, such as those composing the early summer broods.
The White Pine Plant-lice, Lachnus strobi, may be seen laying their
long string of black oval eggs on the aes of the pine. They are

Mich drops upon the leaves leaves beneath. — A. S. P.

if BE = pet

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. I.—OCTOBER, 1867.—No. 8.
—<»~“o—

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES, U. 8. A.

(Continued from p. 363.)

Famy Saccomyide, the Pouched Rats. This is a
curious and interesting family of Rodents, represented in
Arizona by quite numerous species. Its several genera
differ to a remarkable degree in external characters, but
agree in the possession of very large cheek pouches, open-
ing outside the small mouth, and capable of enormous
extension; and in numerous anatomical features. Two
subfamilies exist in North America,—the Geomyine,
and the Saccomyine. The former includes the “Gophers”
or “Salamanders” or “Pouched Rats,” as they are vari-
ously styled in different sections. They are clumsy,
thick-set animals, with large heavy heads, short thick
necks, small inexpressive features, short tails, and very
strong muscular legs, armed with large claws, eminently
fitted for digging. They are also wholly nocturnal, and
live in subterranean galleries which they excavate. The
Saccomyine, on the other hand, are elegant in shape, of
pleasing colors, and graceful motions; and though par-

Entered di Act of C in the year 1867, by the ESSEX INSTITUTE, in the
Massachusetts.

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 50 (393)

394 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

tially subterranean and nocturnal, often come abroad in
the daytime. They are known in the vernacular as
“Kangaroo” or “Jumping” Rats and Mice, and are en-
tirely confined to Transmississippian regions. The larg-
est species is about as big as a third-grown rat, while the
smallest is among the most diminutive of all our animals,
unless some of the shrews are still less in size. These
animals have well-formed bodies, very large and muscu-
lar thighs, small hands, large rounded ears, full protu-
berant eyes, and very long tails, often tufted at the end.
Their fur is peculiarly soft and lustrous.

The two genera of the Geomyine, though very similar
to each other, are distinguished, among other features,
by the absence in Thomomys of the deep central longitu-
dinal grooves in the upper incisors which exist in Geo-
mys. The latter is hardly known west of the Rocky
Mountains, nor the former to the eastward of them.
Though two other species may occur in Arizona ( Thom-
omys bulbivorus from California, and T. umbrinus from
Sonora), only one, the Red Sand-rat (T. fulvus) is at all
common. It was discovered by Dr. Woodhouse in the
vicinity of the San Francisco Mountains, where it is ex-
ceedingly abundant. It lives mainly in light sandy or
loamy soil, such as may be readily excavated. “The soft
soil of grassy hill-sides, or sloping meadows, especially in
the vicinity of oaks, or clumps of nut-bearing trees, are
favorite resorts, as it finds there an abundance of acorns,
seeds, and grasses, upon which it feeds. The succulent
stems and roots of many herbs also furnish it with food.
Wherever it takes up its abode, little piles of fresh moist
earth may be seen in every direction, sometimes scores
within a radius of as many yards. These are especially

noticeable in the morning, for the animal is strictly

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;

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.
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a

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 395

nocturnal, never working, and rarely venturing from its
burrow in the daytime. During the night it is very
industrious, both in collecting food and in enlarging its
galleries; and the amount “of fresh earth visible one
day, where none had been the day before, is sometimes
astonishing. Should Arizona ever become a cultivated
region, this gopher would be wellnigh as great a pest to
the farmer as the 7’. bulbivorus and Spermophilus Beecheyi
are in California. We were much annoyed by their dig-
ging around, and partially undermining our tents, causing
the canvas flooring to slump in when trodden upon.
Pouring water in their holes, or plugging them up with
sticks, seemed to take effect mainly as a provocation
to them to dig others. Though thus daily “bored”—
literally and Sprivalivelycciby these beasts, I never saw
one in a state of nature, and only procured two specimens
in as many years. It is notorious that a person may live
Surrounded by them for years, and never see one, so
timid and retiring are they, and so strictly nocturnal.

The Pouched F Rat (Dipodomys Ordii) is the
main representative of its subfamily in Arizona, and ex-
tends also over New Mexico, Texas, and part of Mexico.
A closely allied species (D. Philippii) replaces it in Cali-
fornia. It is one of the most abundant of the Rodents
about Fort Whipple, where it more nearly takes the
Place of the house rat and mouse than any other native
Species, except an Hesperomys, to be presently noticed. It
is beautiful in form and colors, and its motions are agile
and graceful. Above, it is of a clear fawn color, deepen-
ing along the middle of the back into brownish gray; the
Whole under parts are pure silvery white, which color
also forms an artistic contrast to the fawn, by striping
the head and thighs. The long tail, tufted near the end,

396 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

is mouse-gray above and below, and pure white on its
sides. The fur is peculiarly soft, smooth, and lustrous.
It chiefly inhabits loose sandy soil, like a gopher, though
its “sign” differs greatly from that of the last named;
but it is not entirely subterranean in habit, as it may be
found living in piles of brush, fallen logs, ete. Though it
labors at its domicile, and collects food mainly by night,
it should not be called a nocturnal animal, any more than
a House Rat, though the latter is liveliest and most
plaguey after dark.

Since the erection of buildings in the interior of Ari-
zona, the Kangaroo Rat has in a measure taken up its
residence about them, showing the same adaptability to
semi-domestication that the House Mouse exhibits. Many
used to live in our storehouses and granaries at Fort
Whipple, and even brought forth their young there, in
just such nooks as the common mouse would select. Par-
turition occurs in May or June, though more than one
litter may be produced in one season. The young are
for some time much darker and grayer than their parents.
Although sullen, and apparently much cowed when fi t
caught, these rats soon become familiar, and make agree-
able pets. I have frequently seen them enter my tent
at night, when all was still, and search about for food.
They ordinarily move on all-fours, with a motion not
unlike that of a rabbit when leisurely moving about. The
body is alternately strongly arched and extended ; the
long hind feet rest on the ground to the heel, and the
heavy tail trails straightly after. If frightened, this easy
motion is changed to a succession of astonishingly vigor-
ous leaps. Perhaps the most beautiful features of these
animals are their eyes, which are round and full, glossy
black, and softly brilliant.

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 397

Another genus of Pouched Mice (Perognathus) occurs
in Arizona. Its species much resemble those of Dipo-
domys in general appearance. Prominent amongst them
is the P. penicillatus, also discovered by Dr. Woodhouse
on the San Francisco Mountains. It is the largest species
of its genus in the United States. Two others known to
occur are P. flavus and P. parvus, both of which are
among the most diminutive of all our animals. Little is
known of these comparatively rare animals, though it is
presumed that their habits are in general similar to those
of Dipodomys.

Family Muride, the Rats and Mice. A species of this
extensive family—the Jaculus Hudsonius—is also called
the “Kangaroo” or “Jumping” Mouse, but must not be
confounded with the preceding. It belongs to the same
subfamily (Dipodine) as the Jerboa (Dipus sagitta). It
has no cheek pouches, and is otherwise conspicuously dif-
ferent from any member of the Saccomyine. It is of very
extensive diffusion throughout North America, though I
believe its actual occurrence in Arizona requires confir-
mation.

Exclusive of the Dipodine, the Muride are represented
in North America by two subfamilies: the Murine, or
true rats and mice, and the Arvicoline.. The latter is
composed of the Meadow-mice (Arvicola), the Musk-rats
(fiber), and the Lemmings (Myodes). The first sub-
family is usually divided into the Mures, or “Old World
Rats,” as they are called, and really were originally,
though they are now cosmopolite ; and the Sigmodontes, or
“New World Rats,” embracing such forms as the Cotton
_ Rats (Sigmodon), the Bush Rats (Neotoma), and the
Field-mice (Hesperomys). I am not aware that any
“Mures” have as yet made their way into the central and

398 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

unfrequented portions of the Territory, though the usual
number of them exist at our various footholds on the
Colorado River. In the interior, the indigenous species
hold full sway, or at least did so two or three years —
ago,—the time of which I write,—though since then
the Brown Rat (Mus.decumanus), and the House Mouse
(Mus musculus) may have migrated all over the Terri-
tory, or been transported wherever the white man has
settled.

The genus Hesperomys is, perhaps, the best represented
of the Sigmodontes. At least one species (H. eremicus
Baird) is very abundant, both along the Colorado valley
and the interior of the Territory. I found it very nume-
rous at Fort Whipple, where it in a great measure seemed
to abandon its primitive habits, and take up its residence _
as a veritable house mouse in buildings, particularly our
granaries and store-rooms. It was sufficiently numerous
to become quite an annoyance, sharing the plunder and
comfortable home with the Kangaroo Rats. It ordinarily
lives in bushes, brush-heaps, scrubby trees, etc., where
it builds a somewhat bulky nest, of a globular shape, of
grasses compactly matted together, and warmly lined.
Another species (H. Sonoriensis) which I have never per-
sonally met with, occurs in the southern portions of the
Territory. Mr. Clarke says that it seems to live, as cit-
cumstances may determine, either in the ground or in
hollow trees. The species (or perhaps only variety of
H, leucopus) called H. Texensis by Dr. Woodhouse, may
also occur in South-eastern Arizona.

The genus Reithrodon (of which the little Harvest-
mouse of the Southern States (Reithrodon humilis) is a —
_ typical species) is very similar to Hesperomys, but the

upper incisors are longitudinally grooved instead of being

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 399

perfectly smooth. Those species most likely to occur are
Reithrodon montanus Baird, of which the type is from the
Rocky Mountains in latitude 39°; and R. megalotis in
the regions contiguous to Sonora. They must either be
quite rare, or of very inconspicuous habits.

The Bush Rat (Neotoma Mexicana) is abundant
throughout the Territory, and forms no small item in the
economy of the Indians. Not only the numerous tribes of
the Colorado, but also the various branches of the Apaché
family, make great use of them as an article of food.
After the destruction of Apaché “rancherias,” we always
found, among other implements and utensils, numerous
sticks, about as big as walking-canes, one end of which
was bent in the shape of a hook, hardened in the fire, and
a little sharpened. These, I was’informed and have every
reason to believe, were used to probe holes and poke
about brush-heaps for rats, and to drag them out when
discovered.

This statement may be doubted by those who know
of the Bush Rat only as an arboreal species, building
a compact globular nest of grasses and sticks in mez-
quite and other low thick trees. While this is cer-
tainly the case, there is no doubt that, under different
circumstances, it may live underground, among rocks,
or-in brush-heaps. I have seen many heaps of rushes,
sticks, and grasses, which could have been the work of no
other animal, and formed either the nest itself, or the
“vestibule” of a subterranean abode. I have also been
informed to the same effect by several hunters and good
observers. Dr. Kennerly has found it living under stones.
It shows no tendency to modify its primitive habits by
taking up its residence with man.

The food of these rats is entirely vegetable, and ob-

400 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

servers agree in noting their particular fondness for mez-
quite beans ; both the long straight pods of the Algarobia
glandulosa, and the curious spirally-twisted fruit of the
“screw-mezquite” (Strombocarpa pubescens). As might
be expected from the nature of their food, their flesh is
excellent eating.

The idea of eating rats is doubtless disgusting to most
persons—not Chinese nor Indian; but all such must re-
member that they take their notions from the House
Rat, which is a dirty beast, feeding upon sewerage,
garbage, and any decaying animal or excrementitious
matter which may come in its way. The Bush Rat’s food
is as cleanly as that of a hare or squirrel, and there is no
reason why its flesh should not be as good, as in truth I
can assert it to be, having eaten it myself.

Arizona seems remarkably deficient in Meadow-mice
(Arvicola). I am not aware that any species has been
recorded from within its limits. At least one exists,
however, as I know, having taken some fragments, too
much mutilated for identification, from the stomach of a
large hawk.

The Musk-rat, or Ondatra (Fiber zibethicus), so ex-

tensively diffused over North America, finds a place in
Arizona, and is common on many of its streams. It is
said that this animal and the beaver cannot live harmo-
niously together, the one harassing and finally dislodg-
ing the other; but I cannot vouch for the truth of the
assertion.
The Indians make considerable use of Musk-rat skins
for quivers, a number of them being sewn together,
though a single skin of some larger animal, as a lynx, 18
usually preferred.— To be concluded.

cae
ee

THE AWAKENING OF THE BIRDS.

BY T. MARTIN TRIPPE.

To those who are in the custom of studying the habits
of our native birds, their awakening, and early songs are
very interesting. It is in the early morning that birds
are in the highest spirits ; then it is that they appear to the
best advantage ; and then it is that their songs are sweet-
est. When summer comes on, and the days grow hot
and long, and the singing of the birds ceases nearly alto-
gether, early in the morning, ere yet the sun has warmed
the cool air, the birds sing with all their former vivacity,
and seem the same merry-hearted beaux that they were in
spring. The early morning has always been a favorite
time of mine for studying Natural History, and especially
Ornithology ; and I always learn more in one hour then,
than in three or four in the middle of the day.

Some birds rise much earlier than others. As a rule,
those that live in the fields are much earlier risers than
those dwelling in the woods; and, per contra, the field
birds go to bed earlier than the wood birds.

The Robin is our earliest songster. While the stars
still twinkle, and the first gray streaks of dawn have but
just appeared, the Robin wakes from his sleep, and pours
forth his matin hymn. From all sides the songs proceed,
—from the orchard and garden, from the edge of the
neighboring woods, and from the trees that fringe the
brooks and ponds, you hear the joyous, ringing strains of
this delightful songster. After singing for ten minutes
or so, Robin descends from his perch, and seeks his
breakfast with an appetite sharpened by the morning air; _
yet you hear him throughout the morning, but not so

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 51 (401)

402 THE AWAKENING OF THE BIRDS.

often as in the early dusk. Then he puts forth his finest
effort; and if you would fully appreciate his song, you
must listen to his matinee which he gives in the earliest
light.

“While the Robin is yet singing, the two Pewees awake,
and mingle their mournful itos with the Robin-concert.
These notes, though so sad and plaintive, have, never-
theless, a pleasing effect; and the common Pewee espec-
ially is welcome. Long after you have ceased to hear
him in the broad glare of day, or even in the quiet even-
ing, you may listen to him in the early morning, the
fresh air of which seems to have an electric effect, not
only upon him, but upon all the other birds besides.

Shortly after the Robin has finished his song, or rather
while he is still singing, the Bluebird is heard “saluting
the morn with his soft notes.” You seldom hear him
during g the hot summer days of June and July; but here,
in the early morning, he is the same gallant and musical
fellow that he was in March and April. Simultaneously
with the Bluebird the Chipping Sparrow awakes, and is
soon heard chanting his simple cricket-like song from the
garden and lawn.

But now, as the light increases, and the clouds in the
east give evidence by. their crimson hues that the sun is
nearing the horizon, birds of all sorts begin to awake.
The sharp “sphack” of the Least Flycatcher comes from
the orchards; the King-birds make the fields noisy with
their notes, and the songs come so thick and fast, that it
is next to impossible to tell which was the earliest. The
Song Sparrows and the Indigo-birds sing sweetly from
their accustomed haunts, white the Vesper Sparrow de-
livers his delightful strains from the broad open pasture-
lands. This latter bird seems to take a fancy to singing

AGENCY OF INSECTS IN FERTILIZING PLANTS. 403

in the dusk, for, although one may hear him at all hours,
still he prefers the dim morn or the quiet twilight. The
Bobolink is an early riser too, and his jolly, jingling notes
add much to the chorus of bird-voices that now chant so
sweet a concert on every side.

The forest birds are now awake, and from the dark,
distant woods come the faint bell-like notes of the Wood
Thrush, our prince of songsters. The Veery, and the
Rose-breasted Grosbeak join in with him, and the woods
soon ring with the notes of these three birds, who are
unquestionably our finest songsters. The Vireos, who

ve been awake some time, lend their sweet voices to
swell the choir; and as the sun rises in the sky, the con-
cert each moment grows louder and louder. The Golden-
crowned Thrush begins his hurried, ecstatic song; the
Wrens, Catbirds, Orioles; Warblers, and Sparrows, all
add their notes to the sylvan concert; and by the time
the sun has lifted himself well above the horizon, all the
birds are awake and in full song.

AGENCY OF INSECTS IN FERTILIZING
PLANTS. ;

BY W. J. BEAL.

ncluded from page 260.)

THERE are two hes peculiarities among certain plants
by which a cross-fertilization is made most probable, and
even very sure in some cases, Ete the flowers
are all perfect and of one form.

In some of these the stigmas come out and are fertil-
ized before the anthers of the flower burst open; while in

404 AGENCY OF INSECTS IN FERTILIZING PLANTS.

others the anthers are in advance, and discharge their
pollen before the stigmas appear. In either case the
flowers act as though they were moneecious.

These peculiarities have been termed dichogamy by
Sprengel, who made the discovery many years ago. O
the first kind, in which the stigmas are in advance of the
anthers, I examined the young flowers of several species
of Spiræa, just before any of the anthers had opened, and
in all I found the stigmas quite plentifully covered with
the yellow powder. Many stigmas were dry and with-
ered, while some of the anthers were still full of fresh
pollen. Similar observations were made upon False
Solomon’s Seal, several species of Potentilla, Plum,
Cherry, and others. One of the best examples of this
kind was pointed out by Dr. Gray, in the case of the
Plantain or Ribgrass (Plantago lanceolata Linn.), a
troublesome piii: which is*too rapidly finding its way
into meadows and waste places.

These flowers, in arrangement, somewhat resemble a
short tapering spike of Timothy or Herd’s-grass. The
long hairy stigmas come out first at the base of the spike,
and are quite withered and dead before the stamens of the
same flowers appear in sight. By the time the long
thread-shaped stamens of the | lowest flowers hang out their
anthers, the stigmas of other flowers higher up the spike
are exposed and ready to receive the fertilizing element.
So new pistils continue to come forth, keeping in advance
of the stamens. The long filament raises the anther 50
high that it is brought near the stigmas of younger flow-
ers farther up the spike. This plant, like most of the
large Grass-family, is not visited by insects, as it secretes

_ Ro nectar, but each anther is hung on a mere point (ver-
-~ Satile) and every slight motion of the air keeps it flutter-

AGENCY OF INSECTS IN FERTILIZING PLANTS. 405

ing. By applying a low magnifying power, the pollen
was seen with its long tube thrust into the stigma before
anthers had shown themselves above the calyx. While
within the calyx the filaments are folded upon themselves,
which accounts for their great length as soon as as come
forth.

The Broad-leaved Plantain (Plantago major Linn.), so
common about door-yards, resembles the one above men-
tioned as regards its mode of fertilization.

On the Iong spikes of flowers of the False Indigo and
Lead-plant (Amorpha fruticosa Linn., and A. canescens
Nuttall), the bees and wasps were seen beginning at the
base on the older flowers, and so passing up, visiting
those above in which the anthers were still young and
enclosed by the corolla. Here, as in the Plantain, the
pistils are a day or two in advance of the stamens,
and the insects are a means of affecting a cross-fertiliza-
tion.

The common Dandelion ( Taraxicum dens-leonis Desfon-
taines) is a good example of the other kind of dichogamy,
in which the anthers discharge the pollen before the stig-
mas are ready to receive it. This belongs to a very large
family called Compositæ, which contains from one-eighth
to one-tenth of all the flowering plants in this part of the
world. Each yellow head in the Dandelion is a cluster
of small flowers packed closely together, and not one
large compound flower as the name implies, which was
given by the early botanists. Each pistil bears two long
slender stigmas surrounded by the anthers which are
united by their edges, forming a tube (syngenesious).
The stigmas are covered on the outside with small hairs,
having their tips pointing upwards, like the beards on a
head of barley.

406 AGENCY OF INSECTS IN FERTILIZING PLANTS.

Imagine a head of barley much lengthened and split
in two down the middle, and you have a good represen-
tation of the stigmas of a Dandelion. When the tips of
these are just above the apex of the anthers, the pollen is
discharged and carried up on the hairs by the style which
grows very rapidly at this time.

e stigmas are closely pressed together until clear
above the anthers, when they begin to spread and roll-
back, exposing the inside surface which alone is sensi-
tive to the action of the pollen. Several kinds of bees,
flies, and smaller insects visit these flowers and brush the
pollen off the outside of the style, and leave some on the
inside surface where it can take effect. Were it intended
for close, self-fertilization, as a superficial examination
would seem to indicate, the style should be shorter, and
the stigmas a little separated, so that pollen would meet
the proper surface before the stigmas leave the surround-
ing anthers. Or else the surface, which is sensitive
to pollen, should be on the outside instead of on the in-
side.

I have examined Coreopsis, Fall Dandelion (Leonto-
don), and Succory, and Taany more of this vast family,
which showed these same peculiarities mentioned above.

In Sweet Coltsfoot (ardosmia), a rare plant of this
order growing north of this latitude, some of the little
flowers are sterile, i. e., the imperfect pistil bears no
seed, but the top of the style has a tuft of little hairs
which push up the pollen from the anther-tube that it
may reach the stigmas of other flowers, and so not be en-
tirely lost.

At the suggestion of Dr. Gray I examined some half a
dozen or more species of Bellflower, or Campanula. The
one most carefully noticed was Campanula rapunculoides.

AGENCY OF INSECTS IN FERTILIZING PLANTS. 407

It has five anthers which stand up close together, although
not joined by their edges into a tube as in the dandelion.
In three other respects it resembles this plant; namely,
in having the style covered with hairs or short bristles on
the outside, and in having the sensitive part of the stigma
on the inside. In the same way also the style nearly
doubles in length after the pollen is discharged.

The pollen begins to discharge very soon, so that by
the time the corolla is fairly open, the anthers wither,
and are coiled up at the base of the flower. After the
hairs on the style have nearly all disappeared, and the
pollen which they held has been removed, or has turned
brown in decay, the stigmas separate at the top, and ex-
pose the sensitive surface. For each flower to be self-
fertilizing, this plan is a perfect failure.

Bees are willing agents here, as in other instances,
alighting first on the stigmas of the oldest flowers, which
are farthest down the stem, and then passing up to others
which are younger. Besides collecting nectar at the bot-
tom of the flower, they collect the pollen by scraping
the style upon each side with their legs, and, when call-
ing at the next flower, first strike the exposed stigmas,
leaving a few little morsels as tribute for their bountiful
supply.

The flowers of the Mallow Family have numerous sta-
mens, joined into a column or tube (monadelphous),
through which the stigmas are protruded. My observa-
tions on this family have been rather limited, but in the
High Mallow (Malva sylvestris Linn.), the anthers all
burst, and very littľe pollen remains about the flower,
when the stigmas first come to the light, as brides too late
for the marriage, for the bridegrooms have been carried
away by the priests, and perhaps wedded to others.

408 AGENCY OF INSECTS IN FERTILIZING PLANTS.

The fact once well established, that insects are neces-
sary to fertilize plants, brings up some other interesting
inquiries in reference to the origin of animals and plants.
Some would probably say that plants, which now require
the agency of insects, have arrived at their present form
by a long series of gradual changes, and that before the -
proper insects were created they were capable of self-
fertilization. Others may say that the plants of this
structure were created later than those capable of self-
propagation, and upon which the insects could subsist for
atime. Another plan can, however, be devised, as they
are alike useful to each other. “As the bow unto the cord
is,” they may have been called into existence at the same
time, the flowers to secrete nectar for the insects, and the
insects to fertilize the flowers.

Were Dr. Watts again alive, and should some one tell
him these facts of science, he might well exclaim, as the
Queen of Sheba did ‘to King Salaah, ‘Behold the half
was not told me.” He gave us but half the story, and
that the one which teaches the least instructive lesson.
It is now over two years since some one, I "a I knew
his name, rung the change, —

“ How doth the little busy bee,

Impro ve each shining hour,

By carrying ae day ed day,

To fertilize eac
The bees go buzzing through the air visiting flower after
flower, not only to get their daily bread, but render an
essential aid in perpetuating the existence of the very
same plants which furnish them food.

This furnishes another pertinent illustration of the
mutual dependence of the animal and vegetable king-
doms

THE TARANTULA.

BY G. LINCECUM, M. D.

Tus very large hunter-spider makes its appearance in
Texas some years as early as the twenty-fifth of May,
generally, however, not earlier than the first days of June.
They dwell in the ground in a hole, which they excavate
themselves, about one inch in diameter, and six or eight
inches deep, widening a little at the bottom. They make
their nocturnal hunting excursions for some distance from
the hole, returning to it early in the morning, and are
occasionally seen walking out of evenings, and also in
cloudy days. They would probably hunt their prey alto-
gether by daylight, were it not for their dread of the
great Pompilus formosus, or Tarantula Killer, their natu-
ral enemy. Towards sunset, about the first of June,
the Mygale Hentzii, or Tarantula, is often seen creeping
along the narrow paths in the grassy woods, or in the
prairies, searching for some kind of small game,— worms,
grasshoppers, small lizards, anything they can kill, upon
which they leap with great violence and wonderful agil-
ity. I discovered one of their holes several years ago in
my garden, and, looking into it, could see the eyes of
the Tarantula glittering like coals of fire. I procured a
large fat grub, and holding it near the mouth of the hole,
the Tarantula instantly rushed out, and seized the grub
With such violence as to startle me. I fed it daily for
two weeks, and it consumed two large grubs each day.
It became quite tame and much more decent in taking its
meals from my hands.

On going into the garden one evening, I met our large
ted-winged Pompilus—it was also one of our pets, parad-
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 52 (409)

410 THE TARANTULA.

ing about the house and yard—dragging my murdered
Tarantula, which was as limber as a rag, out through the
gate. She dragged the paralyzed victim to the dwelling-
house, distant about fifty yards, and entombed it in her
great cemetery under the floor, where she had already
deposited many of its kindred. i

I have been observing this spider as closely, consider-
ing its nocturnal habits, as I could during the last twenty
years. I have seen no nests, no webs, no eggs, nothing
but a roughly-made hole seven or eight inches deep, car-
ried down not quite perpendicularly, and widened a little
at the bottom. I have examined many of these holes,
and, except an occasional dead grasshopper, saw nothing
in them that suggested the idea of a nest. These holes
seem to be fortifications only, to protect them while they
sleep from the incursions of their diurnal enemies.

I have seen their young many times, always sticking
among their stiff hairs, and clinging to their legs and
body ; but where these young ones come from I am not
prepared to explain, nor can I with my present experi-
ence say, whether the Mygale Hentzii is viviparous Or
oviparous. Its habit is to carry its young on its back
until they are large enough to capture small insects for
themselves, when it turns them off in some good hunt-
ing-ground in such numbers that they would soon, if they
could all come to maturity, monopolize the entire privi-
leges of spiders on this little green globe. :

Some of the ground spiders carry their eggs in a sack
attached to the tip of their abdomen. One species makes
nests with a trap-door to them. They are rare in this
_ country. Ihave never seen any such contrivances about
the hole of the Tarantula, nor have I ever seen it carryig

an egg-sack. It may be possible that they keep such 4

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND. 411

sack at the bottom of their hole, and, when the young
hatch out, take them on their back and carry them
about, as I have often seen them. I have, however, never
discovered any such egg-sack, though I dug out many
of their holes. It may be that I did not dig them up at
the proper time to find their eggs. They are too filthy
when confined, or I would send you a live one.

Two or three species of Mygale carry a sack well filled
with eggs, attached to the tip of their abdomen; and
when the young ones hatch out, they take them on their
backs and carry them like the Mygale Hentzii. There
is one species of the family that constructs an exceedingly
curious gossamer nest in a hole in the ground. It first
digs the hole about six inches deep, and then lines it
thickly to the bottom with a very fine white web, finishing
it with a cunningly wrought and very neatly fitting trap-
door, having hinges and a string to fasten it on the in-
side. This type of spiders is very rare in Middle Texas.

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

BY EDWARD S. MORSE.

(Continued from page 315.)

WE continue our descriptions of New England Land
Snails, with a species very common in certain portions of —
the West and South, though of very rare occurrence in
New England.

Hewrx suppressa Say. (Fig. 25.) Shell thin and
pellucid; yellowish horn-color, polished ; Fig 25.
Spire flat. Whorls six, closely revolving; O Tea
suture distinct; lip simple, thickened with-
in. Base of shell rather convex; near the aperture

412 THE LAND SNAILS

opaque, and yellowish white. Umbilicus absent, or
hardly apparent in adult specimens. Within the aper-
ture on the outer lip are one or two long thin teeth.
Diameter of shell about one-fourth of an inch. Animal
bluish black, upper tentacles long and delicate. A mi-
nute slit on the extremity of the body exudes mucus
freely when the snail is crawling.

This species can at once be distinguished from all the
others to be described, by the peculiar teeth in the aper-
ture. Common in the Middle States and Ohio. It has
been found in the extreme western part of Connecticut.
Mr. W. G. Binney states that he has generally found them

in open fields at the roots of grass, and not under decaying »

stumps and rotten bark.

Heux concava Say. (Figs. 26,27.) Shell de-
pressed, whitish horn-color. Whorls five, flattened
Figs. 26,27. above, rounded below; suture very dis-
eo tinct. Umbilicus wide and deep, reveal-
) ing all the volutions to the apex. Aper-
ture rounded, slightly flattened above.
‘ss Usual diameter one-half an inch. im

L} grayish, disk dusty white, with reddish dis-
7 O colorations. Found in nearly every State
Ww inthe Union; quite rare in New England.
This species is peculiar in its habits. It lives in wage
dark woods, and is a regular cannibal in its propensities.
Its body is long, slender, and worm-like. Its jaw has 4
sharp projecting point to cut and tear its prey, and the
teeth on the tongue are unusually long and pointed, a>
well adapted to subserve its rapacity. It lives on the
flesh of other snails. With its long and slender body; it
insinuates its head into the aperture of the shell, the
inmate of which it is about to devour. The victim with-

i

OF NEW ENGLAND. 413

draws far within the shell, but in vain. Its enemy slowly
approaches, and the hapless victim having no barrier to
interpose, nor any line of retreat open, is actually de-
voured bit by bit. We remember collecting a lot of rare
snails in the backwoods of Maine. W hiig to study
them, they were unsuspectingly placed in a box of moist
earth containing a few specimens of our cannibal snail.
Imagine our sétonishtodnt and indignation on examining
the box a few days after, and finding our special rarities
completely destroyed, only a few empty shells remain-
ing as tokens of the cannibal feast. We could almost see
the murderers smacking their slimy chops and begging
for more.

Other species are known which possess this desire for
animal food, and the collector in France oftentimes se-
cures a goodly number of specimens by placing a piece
of fresh meat in the woods, the odor of the meat attract-
ing certain species; for snails apparently possess, in a
considerable degree, the faculty of smell, and will, with
nice discrimination; select from a parcel of leaves those
most succulent and agreeable. .

INDENTATA Say. (Fig. 28.) Shell flattened,
thin, pellucid, highly polished, whitish, sometimes pink-
ish. Whorls four, rapidly enlarging, Fig. 28.

With regular impressed lines radiating

from the suture, reaching nearly to the aC,

base of the shell. Lip sapie, extending to the centre
of the shell at its base. Umbilicus absent, though its
region is indented. Diameter of shell nearly one-fi
of an inch. Animal bluish black. Inhabits deep woods
in the Northern, Middle, and Western States. This beau-
tiful species is not common. It can readily be distin-
guished from allied species by its closed umbilicus.

414 THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

We refer our readers to the early papers on this sub-
ject in this Magazine, where an explanation of the terms
used in these descriptions may be found.

The brevity of these papers is owing to their being
intended principally for, those who are making, or wish
to make collections in this entertaining branch of natural
history, and are offered as guides to them. Hopes are
entertained that others may be led to form collections,
from the brief hints thrown out respecting the hiding-
places of these almost obscure animals. Many who spend
their leisure time in solving illustrated riddles, and de-
rive, as the result of their labor, simply an answer, would
find that the expenditure of half the brain-work, if ap-
plied to the identification of the fruits of a day’s ramble
in the woods, would furnish not only a healthier intellec-
tual enjoyment, but, with proper training, lead to an
endless pleasure in the contemplation of the boundless
wealth of creation.

St. Augustine has truthfully written that “every species
of animal has beauties peculiar to itself. The more man
considers them, the more they engage him to adore the
Author of Nature, who has made everything in wisdom,
who has subjected everything to His power, and whose
goodness governs the whole.”

~~

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.
BY BURT G. WILDER, M. D.
Narvrat History is not now the simple thing it was
acentury ago. Leaving out of view the two great depart-
ments of Botany and Mineralogy, it then consisted of &

=

American Naturalist. Vol. I. PL 11.

Fig. 2.

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 415

limited and superficial acquaintance with the habits and
external appearance of the few known animals; how few
these were, as compared with those we now know, may
be seen from this, that, in 1748, Linnzeus enumerated two
hundred and eighty different kinds of fish; at the present
time, the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Cambridge,
Mass., contains over nine thousand species of that class,
about twenty-two hundred of which were collected in the
late Thayer Expedition to Brazil.

So impossible is it for any one person to gain a thor-
ough knowledge of all animals, that we find men Sevging ;
years, their lives almost, to the study of a single species ;*
while it is daily becoming more and more apparent, that
in order to advance or even to keep up in modern sci-
ence, each must devote himself principally to a few
branches of Natural History

To show how far this division of labor has already ex-
tended, take the single department of Comparative Anat-
omy, which embraces the following lines of study: 1.
The anatomy of a single species apúdasů by itself;
as Anthropotomy, or kinai anatomy; Hippotomy, the
anatomy of the horse, ete. When this kind of study is
extended to the microscopic investigation of the struc-
ture of tissues, it is called Histology. 2. One or more
Species may be traced in their development and growth
from their beginning as an egg to the adult condition,
—this is Embryology. 3. We may enlarge our concep-
tion of the plan of creation, by comparing with the ani-
mals which now live the fossil remains of those which

*For ee 2 dren pou descriptive mes of te text anda laze folio atlas atlas

pre ete 845, compris quarto Hy ment sear
3 t tr t igamen
“ Traité ae) et Sea of only th he bones, de cong *darva of the yore or Cossus
tigniperda), by Pierr A Fibs a quarto of 615 pages and eighteen

416 THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

existed in past ages, this constituting the science of Palæ-
ontology. 4. Then comes Physiological Anatomy, which
treats of organs in reference to their functions; and,
lastly, there is what is called Homology, in which parts
and organs are considered, not according to their size,
or shape, or the specific functions which they perform,
since these vary greatly in different species, but accord-
ing to their essential structure and their connections with
other parts; these last are called morphological charac-
_ ters, and they alone are sufficiently constant to serve as
the basis of zodlogical classification. This branch of
anatomy is generally followed with a view of determining
and comparing corresponding or homologous organs in
different animals, but the same methods may be employed
in another way, which has been in existence for hardly a
century, and for which no name has yet been fully ac-
cepted ; it consists in the determination and comparison of
corresponding parts in different regions of the same indi-
vidual.

To illustrate the distinction between these two kinds of
Homology, by reference to familiar objects, the former
would compare the foremast of one ship with that of an
other, and note their difference in the size and proportion
of the various pieces; while the latter would compare the
foremast with the mainmast of the same ship, pointing
out their resemblance, and the differences in the length
of the various pieces.

It is to this latter kind of anatomy that I propose
to call attention, and have chosen for a subject an orga?
which, though small, is most comprehensive, gathering
within its grasp far more than can be illustrated in this
short article, —the Hand.

It is a time-honored theme, and he stands in great dan-

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 417

ger of repetition who takes for his subject a part of our
corporeal frame, concerning which there has been written
by men of science, preached by divines, and even sung by
poets, more than of any other organ, excepting, perhaps,
the eye. He would indeed be most presuming who should,
without the reputation and consciousness of most pro-
found knowledge, undertake to more than express his
concurrence in what has been already said concerning the
beauty of form, the complexity of structure, the marvel-
lous skill, and the wonderful diversity of function which
characterize the human hand.

There is, however, a view of the subject to which little
attention has been paid by those who have treated it, but
a correct idea of which is really essential to the fullest
appreciation of the wonders so eloquently set forth by Sir
Charles Bell,* and by anatomists generally,—a view in
which the human band, while furnishing to the student of
final causes, to the teleologist, his most perfect illustration
of the adaptation of means to desired ends, becomes to the
morphologist, to the student of unity of type under diver-
sity of form and function, a fruitful source of anxiety,
and even, as will be seen, of serious error.

So widely spread and so deeply rooted is this error, and
so almost wholly is it due to the peculiar structure and
endowments of the hand, that we are justified in drawing
a comparison between it and that other organ whereof the
Apostle wrote, —“Even so the tongue is a little member.
. .. . It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

Now it is evident that by tongue in this connection is
by no means indicated the mere anatomical organ which
all vertebrates carry in the floor of the mouth, composed
of certain muscles, supported by certain bones, and sup-

a the Hand
sPreauise

hi

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 53

418 THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

plied with nerves of motion and of sensation. We are
indeed right in applying the name tongue to the fleshy
pad in the mouth of the fish, to the prehensile fly-catcher
of the chameleon, to the barbed harpoon of the wood-
pecker, and the glutinous snare of the ant-eater, thus re-
cognizing in a cold, scientific way, their anatomical or
morphological identity with the corresponding organ in the
human body. But this last alone is used as a synonym
for language ; it alone is the facile medium of ideas, as
well as of sensations; it alone has entered the service of
an immortal soul, and is characteristic of man.

So with the hand. We recognize the same bones
which form our upper limb (Fig. 1) in the foreleg of
the quadruped (Fig. 2), in the wing of the bird and of
the bat (Fig. 3), in the flipper of the seal (Fig. 4), and
still more strikingly in the so-called arm of the ape (Fig.
5); and though the forefoot of the bear is merely a paw
when supporting his ungainly bulk upon the earth, yet
when it is flourished in the air as he sits erect upon his
haunches, we are glad to escape the blow of what is then
admitted to be a tolerable imitation of a hand.* And yet
it is not really such ; for if the presence of a thumb, capable
of being opposed to the tips of any or all the fingers, is the
distinguishing feature of a hand, we shall look for it in
vain throughout the whole animal kingdom below man;
for even in the gorilla the first digit, though strong, is
short, and reaches only to the knuckle of the forefinger
(Fig. 6), while in many of the lower monkies it is alto-
gether wanting, and when present in quadrupeds is so in-
timately connected with the other digits as to have no
independent motion.

We may assume, then, that the tongue and the hand,

* As in Pliny, 8. 36. 54.

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 419

not in the anatomical or morphological, but in the func-
tional or teleological sense, are the really characteristic
organs of man, corresponding with his peculiar endow-
ments of rationality in thought, and freedom in action ;
and so it is not a little significant that to these same or-
gans alone, which, being the most capable of good, are,
by perversion, the most potent for evil, can the term un-
ruly properly be applied. For they are, either singly or
together, the chief ground of discussion as to “man’s
place in nature,” showing him to be a most unruly mem-
_ber of the animal kingdom; they are the agents of the
individual in becoming an unruly member of society, and
they are, or represent, those regions of the body whose
relations to other parts have ever caused the greatest
trouble among the students of Philosophical Anatomy.*
Leaving to the zodlogist, the moralist, and the histo-
rian, the consideration of their respective claims to the
“bad preéminence,” and confining our attention to one of
them, it may also be said that not only is the hand, as
a whole, the main element in the discussion to which I
have referred, but that the very heat and fierceness of
the strife has always centred upon the most character-
istic part of this characteristic organ of humanity,—the

umb.

But it is asked, What is this terrible discussion all
about, and what is the matter with our hands, and espec-
ially with our thumbs?

In brief, a careful study of the anterior limbs of verte-
brate animals having shown that all are built upon one
general plan, but varied in form and proportion to suit

*See the various and diverse theories of the skull, especially th stig
ones of Meig " etype and gap ee me the pareden Ske ton;
Report of the tia ka Aebcenatiee foe “ Elements of Comparative

my.”

420 THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

the special needs of man, of the beast, the bird, and the
reptile, and a like survey of the posterior limbs having
shown the same to be the case with them (Figs. 7, 8, 9),
so that they all present different degrees of homology or
morphological relationship, our anatomical pioneers have
conceived that a similar correspondence prevails between
the anterior and posterior limbs themselves; so that not
only is the shoulder, at one end of the body, merely a
repetition of the pelvis at the other, but the arm as far
as the elbow is seen in the thigh with the knee, the fore-
arm in the leg, the wrist in the ankle-joint, and the
hand, alas, in the foot, —* Pes altera manus.” *

ut here, in extremitatum extremis, humanity rebels.
Science has gone far enough in proving that, for purposes
of rational comparison and anatomical inquiry, man must
assume a horizontal position on all-fours like a beast, 80 _
. that his arms and legs become mere “anterior and poste-
rior extremities ;” after which degradation he can indeed
arise and resume the attitude proper to the lord of crea-
tion. But to his upper and nobler parts this last come
parison is most odious. They entreat us with clasped
hands, they threaten us with clenched fist; they would
flee from the threatened contamination ; they would sit in
sullen scorn at the degrading fellowship: but neither
active or passive resistance is possible without the aid of
the despised member, and so by slow degrees it is grant-
ed that the ‘ium (Fig. 7 1) does look very like a scapula
(Fig. 1 s); that the femur, or thigh-bone (£), bears 4
wonderful resemblance to the humerus, or bone of the arm
(m) ; that the knee-pan (P) is quite as exposed a part as
the elbow; and that, perhaps, the taper forearm is only 3

*These are the closing words of the first treatis this subject, —a paper by
Felix Vieq d’Aryr. . Œuvres akaa M de 305, Vi L IV. p. 37. Mems. dela
Academie Royale des Sciences, T94. | 0 0mh eee

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 421

better view of the “calf” of the leg; but as for admit-
ting between the hand, —
ee hia

In whose comparison all white
iiie ing mor wy bg sinters to ‘whose sof seizure

Hard as the palm of ploughman Wey

any equality whatever with the foot, which is so ugly that
here, as well as at the antipodes, the bootmaker’s skill
and our own endurance are taxed to their utmost to force
it into proper shape; this is too much, and not to be
allowed.

And here it may be added that the foot presents, in
this respect, a contrast with the hand, not only physical,
but, as it were, metaphysical; for it is plain, honest, and
inoffensive, and, though much abused, shows no dispo-
sition to become an unruly member. In ancient times,
indeed, warriors did cut off the great toes as well as the —
thumbs of their captives, but the toes are the only part of
the body thrown into disuse by modern civilization, while
the fingers are cherished and exalted to the highest de-
gree. The foot is the hand’s poor relation, and, though
not ambitious to share its high offices which nevertheless
it has often shown itself pabi of discharging to an as-
tonishing degree, yet claims, and justly too, its right in
the family name.

But no; the haughty hand heeds not the humble foot,
and at length, with the single warning, that, in case any
remote cousinship is proved between them, the thumb has
sworn to admit into his society only the great toe, which,
like himself, has but two joints, and in the ape (Fig. 10)
does bear him some slight resemblance, distressed hu-
manity resigns the whole affair to the comparative anato-
mist. And now, after a hundred years of controversy,

422 THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

‘comparative anatomy presents her report, admitting with
shame, that, in spite of their meagre number, scarce two
of her votaries can agree upon any one point, and that
only two or three have ventured to disregard the above-
mentioned threat on the part of the thumb. It will
be seen, however, that while thus heeding the wish of
that powerful constituent of the more aristocratic mem-
ber, there has been a general though tacit recognition of
the good conduct and sobriety displayed by its humbler
representative, so that, with one notable exception,* the
lower limb has been left unmolested, while the more pre-
tentious arm has suffered all the pangs of dislocation,
misplacement, twisting, and compound fracture, as the
consequence of the thumb’s stubborn pride.

A brief sketch of such portions of the controversy as
best illustrate the unruly character of the hand, it is my
purpose to lay before the reader in succeeding articles.

EXPLANATION OF FIGURES ON PLATE 11.
In all the figures, S denotes the Scapula, or shoulder-blade; I. the
shin or chief bone of the pelvis; H, the Humerus, or bone of the upper
F, the Femur, or thigh bone, the corresponding bone of the leg;
O, the Olecranon process, which forms the tip of the elbow; P, the
Patella, or knee-pan; U, the Uina, or inner bone of the forearm; T, the
Tibia, or inner bone of the leg; R,the Radius, or outer bone of the fore-
arm, which supports the thumh when there is one; and Fi, the Fibula,
or outer bone of the leg. The hand and foot are easily distinguished
in all the limbs; but Po, indicates the Pollex, or thumb, and Ha, the
Hallex, or great toe.
ig. 1. Arm of Man, as it is when we get down upon “all-fours.”
Fig. 2. Foreleg of Tapir; it has no thumb, and is, of course, mavh
thicker and stronger, but otherwise corresponds quite closely with

__Fig. 3. Wing of the Bat. The scapula is very small, but the other
Co ee PeBe. T small, but the TTY

in
twain Which both thumb and great toe are considered too large, and are split
lesser fingers: ooTesPOnd, the one to the two lesser toes, pey A other to the two

THE CLOTHES-MOTH. 423
especially the fingers, are very long and slender, to support the
meh

g ig. 4. Foreleg or ca of Seal; the bones are in great con-
trast with the last, but the same parts are represented.

Fig. sindap which has no thumb.

Fig. 6. Hand of the Gorilla; the thumb smaller than in man.

Fig. 7. Leg of Man.

Fig. Hind leg of Tapir.

Fig. 9. Hind leg of Alligator

In these three nam it is mit to trace the corresponding bones,
as in Figs. 1, 2, 3,

Fig. 10. Foot of Gorilas the great toe very large, and standing off
from the others like

By comparing ote ‘ 2, and 4, with Figs. 7, 8, and 9, one can

SAS gs

=]

so that the three figures on one side are, to those on the o
ight arms to peri left arms; they are symmetrical.

<>

THE CLOTHES-MOTH.

BY A. S. PACKARD, JÈ., M. D.

For over a fortnight we once enjoyed the company of
the caterpillar of a common Clothes-moth. It is a little
pale, delicate worm (Fig. Fig-3. Fis.2. Fig. 1.

1), about the size of a «

darning needle, not half an
inch long, with a pale horn-
colored head, the ring next
the head being of the same
color, and has sixteen feet,
the first six of them well developed and constantly in use
to draw the slender body in and out of its case. Its head
is armed with a formidable pair of jaws, with which, like
a scythe, it mows its way through thick and thin.

424 THE CLOTHES-MOTH.

But the case is the most remarkable feature in the his-
tory of this caterpillar. Hardly has the helpless, tiny
worm broken the egg, previously laid in some old gar-
ment of fur, or wool, or perhaps in the hair-cloth of a
sofa, when it proceeds to make a shelter by cutting the
woolly fibres or soft hairs up into bits, which it places
at each end in successive layers, and, joining them to-
gether by silken threads, constructs -a cylindrical tube
(Fig. 2) of thick, warm felt, lined within with the finest
silk the tiny worm can spin. The case is hardly round,
but flattened slightly in the middle, and contracted a
little just before each end, both of which are always
kept open. The case before us is of a stone-gray color,
with a black stripe along the middle, and with rings of
the same color round each opening. Had the caterpillar
fed on blue or yellow cloth, the case would, of course,
have been of those colors. Other cases, made by larve
which had been eating “cotton wool,” were quite irregular
in form, and covered loosely with bits of cotton thread,
which the little tailor had not trimmed off.

Days go by. A vigorous course of dieting on its feast
of wool has given stature to our hero. His case has
grown uncomfortably small. Shall he leave it and make
another?—-No housewife is more prudent and saving.
Out come those scissor-jaws, and, lo! a fearful rent along
each side of one end of the case. Two wedge-shaped
‘ patches mend the breach ,—caterpillar retires for a mo-
ment; reappears at the other end; scissors once more
pulled out; two rents to be filled up by two more patches
or gores, and our caterpillar once more breathes freer,
laughs and grows fat upon horse hair and lamb’s wool.
Tn ae way he enlarges his case till he stops growing.

Our caterpillar seeming to be full-grown, and hence out

THE CLOTHES-MOTH. 425

of employment, we cut the end of his case half off. Two
or three days after, he had mended it from the inside,
drawing the two edges together by silken threads, and,
though he had not touched the outside, yet so neatly were
the two parts joined together that we had to search for
some time, with a lens, to find the scar.

To keep our friend busy during the cold, cheerless
weather, for it was in mid-winter, we next cut a third of
the case off entirely. Nothing daunted, the little fellow
bustled about, drew in a mass of the woolly fibres, filling
up the whole mouth of his den, and began to build on
afresh, and from the inside, so that the new-made portion
was smaller than the rest of the case. The creature
worked very slowly, and the addition was left in a
rough, unfinished state.

We could easily spare these voracious little worms hairs
enough to serve as food, and to afford material for the con-
struction of their paltry cases ; but that restless spirit that
ever urges on all beings endowed with life and the power
of motion, never forsakes the young Clothes-moth for a
moment. He will not be forced to drag his heavy case
over rough hairs and furzy wool, hence he cuts his way
through with those keen jaws. Thus, the more he travels,
the more mischief he does.

er taking his fill of this sort of life he changes to a
pupa (Fig. 3), and soon appears as one of those delicate,
tiny, but richly variegated moths that fly in such num-
bers from early in the spring until the fall.

Very many do not recognize these moths in their per-
feet stage, so small are Aiea and vent their wrath on
those great millers that fly around lamps in warm sum-
' mer evenings. It need scarcely be said that these large
millers are utterly Jopu of any attempts upon our

AMERICAN NAT., VOL.

426 THE CLOTHES-MOTH.

wardrobes, they expend their attacks in a more open
form on our gardens and orchards.

We will give a more careful description of the Clothes-
moth which was found in its different stages June 12th
in a mass of cotton-wool. The larva is white, with a
tolerably plump body, which tapers slightly towards the
tail, while the head is much of the color of gum-copal.
The rings of the body are thickened above, especially on
the thoracic ones, by two transverse thickened folds. It
is one-fifth of an inch long.

The body of the chrysalis, or pupa, is considerably
curved, with the head smooth and rounded. The long
antennæ, together with the hind legs, which are folded
along the breast, reach to the tip of the hind body, on the
upper surface of each ring of which is a short transverse
row of minute spines, which aid the chrysalis in moving
towards the mouth of its case, just before the moth ap-
pears. At first the chrysalis is whitish, but just before
the exclusion of the moth becomes of the color of varnish.

When about to cast its pupa-skin, the skin splits open
on the back, and the perfect insect glides out. The act
is so quickly over with, that the observer has to look
sharp to observe the different steps in the operation.

Our common Clothes-moth, Tinea flavifrontella (Fig:
4), is of an uniform light-buff color, with a silky irides-

Fig-4. cent lustre, the hind wings and abdomen being

a little paler. The head is thickly tufted with

hairs and is a little tawny, and the upper side

of the densely hirsute feelers (palpi) is dusky-
The wings are long and narrow, with the most beautiful
_ and delicate long silken fringe, which increases in length-
towards the base of the wing.

They begin to fly in May, and last all through the sea-

THE CLOTHES-MOTH. 427

son, fluttering with a noiseless, stealthy flight in our apart-
ments, and laying their eggs in our woollens.

There are several allied species which have much the
same habits, except that they do not all construct cases,
but eat carpets, clothing, articles of food, grain, etc., and
objects of natural history.

Successive broods of the Clothes-moth appear through
the summer. In the autumn they cease eating, retire
within their cases, and early in spring assume the chrys-
alis state.

Careful housewives are not much afflicted with these —
pests. The slovenly and thriftless are overrun with them.
Early in June woollens and furs should be carefully dusted,
shaken, and beaten. Dr.T. W. Harris states that “pow-
dered black pepper, strewed under the edge of carpets, is
said to repel moths. Sheets of paper sprinkled with
Spirits of turpentine, camphor in coarse powder, leaves
of tobacco, or shavings of Russia leather, should be
placed. among the clothes when they are laid aside for
the summer ; and furs and other small articles can be kept
by being sewed in bags with bits of camphor wood, ~
red cedar, or of Spanish cedar; while the cloth lining of
carriages can be secured forever from the attacks of
moths by being washed or sponged on both sides with a
solution of the corrosive sublimate of mercury in alcohol,
made just strong enough not to leave a white stain on a
black feather.” The moths can be most readily killed by
pouring benzine among them, though its use must
much restricted from the disagreeable odor which remains.
The recent experiments made with Carbolic acid, how-
ever, convinces us that this will soon take the place of
all other substances as a preventive and destroyer of nox-
ious insects.

REVIEWS.

toe

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHLOEON (Ephemera) DIMIDIATUM. By Sir
John Lubbock. Parts I. II.. From the Transactions of the Linnean
Society, London. Vol. XXV. 4to, 1866.

One of the most interesting discoveries in ‘entomology is the fact
that the May-fly, or periei during its development from the time of
leaving the egg up to maturity, moults its skin nineteen times before
leaving the water, and once afterwards on arriving at the winged
state.

All the books teach that there are three distinct states of the in-

not fixed and absolute. In the beetle or butterfly, the grub or cater-
pillar certainly seems very distinct from the chrysalis. But we have
in the collection of the Essex Institute a series illustrating the trans-
formations of the caterpillar into the pupa or chrysalis, which show

to the student. There is also a gradual change of form from the pupa

to the imago or perfect state, which most observers have not noticed.
The writer has shown* that the Humble-bee, before reaching the

winged state, Saar at least ten times, and probably a emery num-

ber. The bee-state is reached by a very gradual change of form. The

newly hatched sake differs but slightly in appearance from ie pekom

embryo just before hatching. The worm-like larva merges gradually
to th i

s almost ible to say absolutely keg is pupa and which imago,
from the inspection of specimens before u _— metamorphosis İS
Tint a pih and evolution of had to speak, at certain

intervals to adapt it to certain modes or stron of life. In those
ee ee

- __ *Observations ‘on the Development and Position of the H era, with notes on =
of
_ Mepptoloay oie Insects. s. bya. B. Paci „Packard, jr. From the of the Boston 5>-
(428)

REVIEWS. 429

insects which are active nf the preparatory et ok and have the same

abits in maturity as in the larva and pupa stage, such as the grass-
hopper and its allies, = pdas are slow, and the metamorpho-
sis slightly marked.. In the butterfly and bee, however, whose life
is so distinct in the perfect state, from the caterpillar or grub, the
changes are rapid, though gradual, and strongly marked. They are
not Perhaps due so much to immediate physical agencies, as to the plan

We must look deeper than si agency of sind causes in the pro-
duction of the various forms of life. In endeavoring to solve the
problem of life and its manifestations man may advance in knowledge
without actually grasping the tru

The th n vogue, oe patai by Lamarck or Darwin, o

tter.. We must still wait patiently, and meanwhile observe, experi
ment, and reflect, and thus continue to question nature until she yields
La cone. rep

foll i ks on the metamorphoses
of insects, with the author’s general conclusions : —
larve of insects are generally regarded as being nothing more than immature
io tinea in the development of the egg into the imago; and th this niin more es-
pecially
blance in form ting of course so far as relat es to the wings) to the
Perfect insects, ee Nevertheless, we see e that this would be a very incomplete view of the
case. The larva and pupa undarg o changes Which have no relation to the form which
they will ultimately assume, Wit
of wings, to this goal, there are combined other changes bearing reference only to their
existing wants and monan.,

Nor is th External circumstances

act on the “ecg in its susim states as well as in its perfect condition. Those who
believe t f great, though gradual, he influ-
ence of

cag conditions, whe ether acting, pas Mr. ‘Darwin has suggested, through natu-
ral neenon or in any other manner,
to the mature animal. And it is evident that creatures which, like the majority
of insects, live during different periods of y
may undergo tion, in consequence of forces
acting on on their larval condition, no not, in E dina: sek a a
geak to any corresponding extent, their ultimate form.

that is to say,

+h +t 4

terpillar its diffe from the butterfiy to the early stage at which it
leaves the se g; but its ac fl w
IL p: 112,

430 REVIEWS.

den and abrupt nature of the changes spes ch insects undergo. Isay“ Semra oe
cause the changes in the internal organs, though rapid, are in reality gradual; and e

- a — serernal form, tho: ou, pre = metamorphosis ad take fi a few sere be
re, of the curtain; and the

n , perhaps, weeks before.
Swammerdam, indeed, supposed (and his view was ado opte ed by Kirby and Spence) that
the tear contained within itself “t of the future butterfly, enclosed in what will
be t ase of which is itself cae in the three or more skins, one over the
other, that will herpes cover the a.” This is entirely a mistake; e
osai if yod exam mine a shortly belie k becomes a pupa, you bee find biae the skin

ithi y be traced. In the e mann you ex-

min t to disclose the butterfly, you will pies chee: piian soft

oe and “imperfect, reg still easily re ae coment eh g more or less loosely within the
kin.

‘Oat fundam maa -e between an insect haar a vertebrate —- is, — i
scles

ny

man He ence the necessity for the hard and horny dermal investment of

skeleton, in oea, no se skeleton exists. They have no bones, and their muscles are
ed Enr
S n skin.

Moreover the result is, that without a change of skin a dn of form is impossible.
The citi, or horny substance, forming the outside of an insect, is formed by a layer of
cells "e benea th it, and, once formed, cannot be altered. From this it follows, that

May AUCO p anied a change of skin.
In some « as for instance in Chloeon, silts change of skin is a tinned
1l change of form, and thus the perfect insect is more or less gradually evolved. tn
others, as for instance in Cate llars, several changes skin take place aben any
alteration of form, and the change, instead of being roa over many, is confined to the
two moults,
ory litt} im The mouth of

the Caterpillar is provided with a pair of strong jaws, fitted to eat leaves; and the digest-
ive organs are adapted for this kind of food.
On the contrary, the mouth of the butterfly is suctorial; it has a long proboscis, beau-

indeed, only an embarrassment to the larva. Th ive o ted for
assimilation, not aia but of honey. Now it is evident that if the mouth-parts of

the larva were gradually metamorphosed into those of the perfect insect, through a num-

ber of small changes, EPER in the mean time be unable to feed, and liable to

poran of starvation in the midst o of plen

whic
the changes are gradual, the mouth of te so-called larva resembles that of the poe

insect, and th

=

Simil: id sb ri PER + 1. etate—
o E voni pupa state
iod of d like qui which mis one of the most striking ch
teristics of insect-metamorphosis. The comparative q of the pupa is mainly
nwin e. +h mts

_ In n the'chrysalis of a butterfly, for instance, not only, bond has been already mentioned,

ee ation: and even

chao
if they were in a condition fay ourable to patios py gassing gen or the
oneal eee are regulated, is also in astate of such rapid change that it

- The conclusi th which T think A h dine and other con-
si ore id J afoul P ee
siderations, are: — g
Ist. That the o 1ce of me > MEP Se e a i > ska oondition
That the i a a riginal vermi-

originar v

frm pes depenas in grent measure on the conditions in which it teak The

REVIEWS. 431

forces acting upon it are different from those which affect the mature form; and thus
changes are Aisy in the young which have reference to its immediate wants, rather
than to its fina

3rd. That iian may therefore be divided Paes two kinds, developmental and
adaptational.

4th. The apparent abruptness of the changes which insects undergo arises in great
— from the hardness of elr skin, which permits no gratual alveration: of form, and

ee aor ‘oft the miia or chrysalis depends on the rapidity of the changes

oris

6th. Alth ng jority tsg gh th vell
the egg, still a 1 b i ity tl gh hat indefinite number of
slight ch

ith. When xternal organs arrive at this final form before the organs of osd
tion are S these changes are known as me ae cake het ge the secs
the organs of reproduction are functionally perfect before th
the creature has the power of budding, Da the oak is known as i e
generation:

Insects present every gradation, fi impl th to alternation of g ti

8th. Thus, bl
from the si certain animals leave the egg at a very ane oge “or

dotia and that the inae forces acting on the young are different from those
which — * the e mat nre re form
9th.

phism of the mature form which we find, for instance, in ants and bees; it would therefore
oe to distinguish it by a different name; and I have ventured to suggest the
rms Dicidiom and Polyel dism

I ‘kabl of generations
the ee is agamic in the one fi This is because impregnation — the
-erinan — of external and inter: nal organs; and if the phenomenon gribes, al "on
been ex

Eya Actes qere cannot take place, 4 — reproduction will only roonlt pa those pe

VISION OF THE FossiL H or NORTH America. I. Cra-
_bronide and Nyssoni iain By A. 8. Packard, Jr., M. D. From the
oceedings of the Entomological Society. Philadelphia, 1866-67.

This work treats of the classification of a large group of the fosso-
or digging wasps. It contains descriptions of nearly all the genera
and species known to inhabit North America. The species, as well as
the genera of the digging wasps, are difficult to identify ; but with the
detailed descriptions of the genera here given, and the synoptical
table of the species, the work of identification has been rendered com-
paratively easy. The names of species not seen by the author | are
added

of which. one new genus and fifty-eight new species are
The family characters are discussed at length, and there are a few

cto
their zodlogical characters, and geograp phical distribution.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

BOTANY.
RBARIUM FOR SALE.— The collection of the Swiss botanist, the
late n fi r sale at the Jardin des Plantes, i
Paris. This collection is of inestimable value, and embraces the
E ea The author has worked upon it with rare pa-

from whom this information is derived, believes the Herbarium to be
awe at the low price of 30,000 francs. Propositions from those

wishing purchase would be gladly entertained. Parties may
address (post-paid) Dr. HENRI DE Saussure, Genthod, près Genève,
Suisse.

RN NEW TO OUR Fiora.—I enclose a specimen of a fern
yas in July, in shaded wh i Berlin Falls, N. H., which I judge to
be Aspidium fragrans Sw. (Gray’s Manual, p. 598). As this fern is
mentioned as occurring only in Wisconsin or high northward, the

remarkable that bare plant has not been before detected in so frequent-
eS a locality.

found Aspidium aculeatum in a place called “the Gulch,” about
oe miles from Gorham village; but this I believe has previously been
“soni in the mountains. This gulch is an interesting place, where ice
remains during the summer, and I regret that I had not time to ex-
= i horoughiy

engaged chiefly in looking for lichens, aia I found, at ad
ees an interesting plant, Biatora lucida, which is p

new to the White Mountain region. This pretty lichen is quite com-
mon

giving it a very lively pencapnace, This lichen, I be-

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 433

lieve, does not usualy occur so far from the coast.” —H. WILLEY, New
_.

Mr. H. o whom we ve rotted the specimen, says, ‘‘ The fern
(Aspidium ales Sw.) which Mr. H. Willey sends, is from quite a

before on this side of the sara River (where it is quite common),
e hundred miles farther north

AT THORNLESS Form or THE Honey Locust Tree.—I have been
for the last three months watching a cluster of four Honey Locust

and that new wood that might grow this spring ies have thorns

them. Is it something unusual, or are they sometimes thornless ?—J.
Hugues Hunt, Harrison mls: Ohio.

A very obscure form without thorns, which by some is supposed to
be a new species, has been known to exist in the Western States. —
Eps. f

Monstrous Roszs.—There is a small rose-bush in oe ape
Which bears flowers called “very double.” Every summer, some of
the blossoms send up a column or continuation of Ca lees from
the middle of the flower. This column, after running up straight for

an inch, branches off and bears buds, which develop into small

tance, I cou
single ewes. Another plant, in the same yard, this year produced a
Monstrosity a little different bate the one above ABORT 6 8 The cup
Was very shallow and of thin texture. The points of the calyx were
More leaf-like than common, one of the rie pete. five leaflets,
another four, another ens another two, and the other only one. In-
Side this calyx or whorl of leaves were plenty of petals, a few sta-
Mens, but the pistils were united into a column about half an inch
long, tah as large as the stem below the flower. This column had
Small prickles on two Pecan and towards the top were some petals,
colored on one edge, and green on the other, with fringes imitating
leaflets on the green edge. At the top of the column appear five
leaves, with stipules and leaflets in perfect condition. These are ex-
amples going to prove that “the blossom is a sort of branch, and its
AN NAT., VOL. I. 55

434 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

‘parts men and ‘‘that the receptacle of a flower is of the nature of
the stem.” See reed s Botanical Text-Book, p. 230.—W. J. BEAL,
Union Shing eN.

IDENTIFICATION OF LICHENS BY A CHEMICAL Test.—The Rev. W.
A. Leighton continues his series of papers on this subject in the
“Annals.” He has lately given a notice of the A Comans essay

which is found so useful, is that of hydrate of potash, which in certa

cases produces a yellow color, whilst in others there is no reaction, or
only a slight fuscescence. In no case, says Mr. Leighton, is the reac-
tion of greater utility than in the difficult tribe of Cladonie, that crux

the ampere ea and forms which may resemble each other
xternal character. — Quarterly Journal of Science, parka
——oe————
ZOOLOGY.

THE Birrern.—I notice in your August issue a letter from Mr.
Endicott, in which he rather questions the accuracy of my account of
the habits of the American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), page 405,
Ornithology of New England.

I am perfectly familiar with the meadows which Mr. Endicott refers

serena there in the area of a hundred acres, and doubt if any other
ver did. They seem to be most numerous in that locality in
Daban about the time of Snipe-shooting, and doubtless are then
on the passage from the north. So I do not think it strange that Mr.
Endicott has never met with many of the nests. But we cannot
SREY the habits of a species from individual cases, we Mnai gene-

wea i Bittern, as a general thing, in New England, judging from the
observation of the majority of my a and correspondents, and my
Own, oftener nests in bushes than on the ground, and in some locali-
ties it gathers in communities, es and detached if you will, but
still c es, not of course extensive heronries, such as we see
among the Night Herons and others, but still heronries.
_ Almost every nest that I ever saw or heard of was built in low

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 435

bushes or scrubby alders, usually overhanging the water. Sometimes
anest is found placed on the ground, or rather in a tussock of grass,
but in such instances the meadow or swamp is comparatively dry, and
not subject to inundations.

We cannot be too deliberate in forming conclusions on the habits
of any animal, and our decisions must be made from numerous obser-
vations. What would Mr. Endicott say if I should affirm that the
Dusky Duck tage obscura) — which is oel a ground nester —
builds in ae trees? yet Mr. George A. Boardman found one with
her nest full f eggs in such a position; or that a Chipping Sparrow .
(Spizella saa nests in bushes? I have known it to; or that the

uffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) lays in deserted crow’s nests? I
have heard of three instances; or that the Towhe Bunting (Pipilo
meet nests inlow trees? it has been found to do so at

uld say, and so would any one, that I should not judge
ae one or two occurrences. — E. A. SAMUELS, Boston.

EGGS or Inpigo Brrp.— Dr. T. W. Brewer, in the NATURAL-
Ist for May, doubted that any a eggs of the Indigo Bird
(Cyanospiza cyanea) have yet been found. I have several specimens

Compare the eggs with your description, when I found that I had be-
mace sent you some specimens marked in a similar manner. I think
present set is rather more sprinkled than any I ever found.” — E.

å. SAMUELS. UELS, Boston

A SNAKE-LIKE CATERPILLAR. most extraordinary instance of
imitation I ever met with [on the Amazon] was that of a very goal
caterpillar, bra stretched itself from amidst the foliage of a tre
wale e day examining, and startled me by its Piian
to a small a e. The first three segments behind the head rs
dilatable at the will of the insect, and had on each side a large b
Pupilated spot, which resembled the eye of the reptile; it was a or
Sonous or viperine species mimicked, and not an innocuous or colum-
bine snake; this was proved by the imitation of keeled scales on the
crawn, which was p recumbent feet, as the caterpillar

436 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

threw itself backward. The Rev. Joseph Greene, to whom I gave
a description, a the insect to have belonged to the family

ze odontide, many which have the habit of thus bending them-
elves. I Sartied a the oo and alarmed every one in the
sagi where I was then living, t hom I showed it. It unfortu-

nately died before an pn the elin form. — H. W. BATES, Linnean
Transactions, 1862, p. 5

HORNED Corypatus.—One of the largest and most formida-
ble looking, though perfectly harmless, insects we have, is the Cory-
` dalus cornutus. Its large size, its broad net-veined wings and slow-

and fens of Carboniferous times. It is probable that the Sialide, the
` family to which this insect belongs, were much more numerous in
those early ages of the world’s history than now, as there are wide
gaps between the genera, prani were the geological record com-
plete, we could undoubtedly fill
We do not yet know how oe io are laid by the parent, or their
form er see Those of Sialis, an allied genus, are cylindrical, ter-
minating at the top in a sudden point, and are at-
tached, side by side, to sat with the greatest
pene according to Wes
The larva (Fig. 2) is broad ee fatte ned, with @
= on long, thick respiratory filaments attached
side of each ring of the abdomen; and
ws,

insects, which it seizes in its powerful jaws-
When of full size, it leaves wy stream or pool in
which it has been living, and makes an earthen
cell in the bank, in which e inactive pupa un-
dergoes the rest of its transformations. Our figure

insect
resents the female. In the male, the jaws are nearly as long as the
antennæ, and much like them in form, being very slender.
BREEDING F THE PeLican.—In your August number ap-
pears a statement of Mr. Beal in regard to the White Pelican cap’
in Cayuga county, in which he copies the following extract from Pro-
fessor Baird’: t of the bird, in reference to its b

z
:

437

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

X

THE HORNED CORYDALUS.

438 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

“ This species breeds in the fur countries, rape selecting inacces-
sible places in the neighborhood of waterfalls.” From the above it
it would seem that this bird only breeds in mths countries far to the

New Found Harbor, in Indian River, Florida. They lay their eggs
about the middle of May on the bare sand, making no nest whatso-
ever. — CHARLES H. Nauman, Lancaster, Pa.

GENERIC AND Speciric Names.—The scientific name of an animal
or plant consists of mn names, the generic and specific, which are
m

name of the Lion, is Felis leo Linn. Felis is the name of the genus,
and leo is the name of the species. Linn. stands for Linneus, being
either the founder of the entire name, or the first one to describe the
species scientifically. So also with the name Helix albolabris Say. Mr.
Say was the first author to describe our common ee Snail
belonging to the genus Helix, and species albolabri.

ANALOGY AND Homotoey. — Anal is a resemblance in function

ofabird. In this sense must be understood the comparison made by
Oken, between the pupa, or chrysalis, of an insect, and a crustacean,
such as the Shrimp. The resemblance is vague, but yet sufficiently
apparent to many to enable the two things to be thus compared.

ent. Thus the arm of man and a bird’s wing are said to be homolo-
gous, since their anatomical To is fundamentally the same,
though their uses are so differe

THE AQUARIUM. —In the matter of cementing aquaria, I have had
considerable experience. I have always found white lead of any kind
bad. Isent to England and paid a good price for a “secret” cement
of one of the leading dealers, but found it useless, as it contained
white lead or litharge. The best cement is applied hot. Marine glue,
when it can be got, would answer capitally ; but I have found a mix-

: pre

bottom.

be scrubbed with sand internally, as is sometimes desirable. By far
the best aquaria I ever saw were made by the well-known come
C. E. Hammett, of Newport, R. I.— A. M. Epwakrps, New York

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY: 439

TEACHING OF NATURAL SCIENCE IN cata ScHooLs.—In a paper
read before the British Associa tion, Rev. W. Farrar “expressed his
conviction of the necessity and desirability 2 extensive education in
physical science.” Dr. Hooker Hooniidersd chemistry as too rigid a

properly opened to them. The habit of verification by experiment,
and the consciousness of a power of prediction, were most important
characters to implant in the mind; but this could only be done by a
true and philosophic study.”

3 “att OF OBTAINING A NEW QUEEN BEE FROM WORKER-GRUBS.
— Mr. Tegetmeier has described a practical application of Shirach’s dis-
sien: respecting the power of bees to raise a new queen from a
neuter or worker grub, by means of which the contents of old hives
can be taken gaa LAS S the bees or sacrificing any brood :—
“ The pla , and about half the bees in the spring, and
establishing them as a new swarm, when the bees remaining in the old hive fave to raise
a new slaw en from a worker grub. From the time required to accomplish this, it po
no egg can be laid cee about three Weeks; by mis ume the workers, proceedi ng fro:

, when

the whole of the bees are to be driven out, and the honey, which will be found perfecti
from brood, retained for use.” — P
NoveL way or Smoorme Eaces. —Hunters find it a very easy
matter to shoot the Bald Eagles, which are occasionally found in win-
ter along the shores of Cayuga Lake. They approach the birds on
horseback, to within fifteen or twenty yards, and then slide from the
orse and shoot them at their leisure.—W. J. BEAL.

ee ae
GEOLOGY.
ORIGIN or Lire on our GLOBE. — With regard to the origin of life
on our globe, M. Figuier does not dogmatize:—Did plants precede
als, we cannot tell, but such would appear to have been the order
of creation.” Our globe, he thinks, during the Cambrian and Silurian

Trilobites not
maint on the globe during the Cambro-Silurian period. ‘Those who

440 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

think the Darwinian theory approximates to the truth, and especially
those who hold the “complete” theory, will of course believe, that

of the last chapters in the book of ‘Ancient Life.” — Quarterly Journal
of Science, London.
2
MICROSCOPY.
EPARATION OF SNAILS’ TONGUES. —I present a plan devised many
lin-

dle. Iuse a rather strong solution of caustic potassa, the strength of
which I cannot exactly specity, as it must vary with the species under

tube or other convenient vessel, plunge the wh an age
of the creatures, sh dall. Th cimen may be fresh,
or preserved in alcohol, but on the former e potassa wilł act m
vigorously. I have found that one good way is to let the animal
d in the shell until it dies and begins to eee when it can
readily be removed, pieces. The bbon, as a gen-
e S, is not easily decomposed. Now either set the
solution, with the animal in it, aside for some days, or boil it at once.
You will then find that almost eve lves and becomes

“soap,” except the shell and operculum, a few shreds of muscular
fibre, and the prized lingual ribbon. Frequent washing with fresh

‘perfect order. It can then be mounted in an: any preservativ: e fluid which
is miscible with water, and is best removed to alcohol to be kept until
it is is mounted. To mount it, remove it from the spirit, and without

plunge it in pure spirits of turpentine, in which it — sit
boiled for a short time to drive off some of the alcohol.

©

*

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 441

be mounted in Canada balsam, when it shows all its beauties in a re-
markable manner, and, at the same time, shows its effects on polarized
light. I would say, that the potassa cleans the shell and operculum
beautifully. — A. M. EDWARDS, New York

THE MOVEMENTS OF THE DIATOMACEÆ.—The movements of the -
Diatomacee still continue to puzzle microscopists, and various expla-
nations of this phenomenon have been advanced. Professor Schultze

as carefully studied a number of species, Pleurosigma angulatum,
Pleurosigma fasciola, Nitschia sigmoides, Surirella bifrons, and others,

maki eriments and observations upon them e ed
from these researches to conclude that a glutinous organic substance,
which is concerned rapi vement, is spread over the external

Bacillarie become adherent to one another. Professor Schultze does
not consider that this view affects the question of the animal or plant

other unicellular beings, as of ‘‘uncertain kingdom,” until we know
more of what constitutes the boundary, if there be any, between plants
and animals. — Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.
a
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

J. T. M., Grand Isle, Vt.—The land snails sent for identification
are follows: The “largest, No. 1,” is Helix concava Say.
“horn-colored, No. 2,” is Helix chersina Say. The “small reflected
lipped, No. 3,” is Helix minuta Say. The ‘light-colored conical-shaped,

very favorable time for collecting, as the leaves, having fallen, no
longer obstruct the light, and the snails can be easily detected by turn-
ing up the damp layers in hard-wood growths. r

D.S. C., Rockport, Ill. — “Essay on Classification,” by Professor
Agassiz, was published separately in London; Longmans & Co., 1859.
You can undoubtedly obtain it by ordering of any prominent bookseller
in New York. The cheapest form of cabinet for geological specimens
is an upright case of shelves, like a bookcase. The shelves to be in-
clined, or to have separate steps on each shelf. For a conchological
case, make a set of shallow drawers, 18x24 inches, and from two to
five inches deep. For exhibition, nothing is better than a horizontal- È
Show-case, though this takes up a great deal of room.
E. L. M., New York.—Besides the works on Entomology already
mentioned in the NaTuRaList, you need the works on American

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 56

442 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

Entomology, published by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington,

is end for its list of works for January, 1866, with the prices
att . We intend hereafter to publish in the NATURALIST an ex-
r list of the most important works on Insects.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

PSRS
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. — The
Sixteenth Annual Meeting was held at Burlington, Vermont, comment-
ing on aoigh August 21, and continuing until Monday night,

August 26
In ps Sir 1847, the ‘‘ Association of American Geologists and

tur
Advancement of Science. * ‘The new organization held its first meet-
are the holding of annual and iiien meetings, to promote inter-

the country, and to give impulse, system, facility, and wider usefulness
to the labors of scientific men.

About seventy-five members from various parts of the country were
in attendance during the five days’ session at Burlington, and many
interesting papers were read and freely discussed during the meeting.

ral meeting for business, and then the members adjourned to SECTION
A, — Mathematics and Physics ; or to Section B, — Natural History and
oe as their tastes inclined.

riday evening, the President, Professcr J. S. NEWBERRY, of
Columbia ce New York, gave an address on Modern Scientific In-
vestigation—its Methods and Tendencies. His address applied to the
whole range ae the sciences. It was comprehensive, profound, and ably
written, and gave great sanletation to the members present. - This ad-
dress will be p

URALIST-
On Saturday, after a se session in the morning, the Association
and their friends accepted the invitation of the Champlain Trans sg
tation Company, and made an excursion to the Au Sable Chasm, in
Sete ee New York, a singular and very beautiful chasm in
rocks, through which the Au Rahe River makes its way
to the Lake.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 443

In our next we shall endeavor to give abstracts of the various papers
read before the NATURAL HISTORY SECTION, only having space in this
number for their titles.

FIRST Day.
The Distribution of Precious Metals in the United States, By Col. CHAS. WHITTLESEY,

SEC
The Geological Relations of the oar fos soak Elephant of North America, By
Prof. JAMES HALL
raren drawn Srom the Study of the Orthoptera of North America, By SAMUEL
H. Scu

arias 7 Ancient Glaciers in the Wais pee By G. L. Vos:
The Origin of th somites. By Prof. O. © MARSH.
Geographica Distribution p the Sediments and the Fossils of the Hamilton, Portage,
bd “gece pedi mpd New York, By Prof. AMES .
on gnate g By L. E. CHITTENDEN.
THIRD DAY.
Tellurium a Metal. By Prof. L. Bradley.
Fossil Fi d by Rev. H. Herzer from the Devonian Rocks
a ii Ohio. By Prof. J. $. NEWB:
The Fossil Insects of North America.

Coal Measures of Illinois. By Prof. A. H. WORTHEN.
on Points in the Geology of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. -By Prof. J. W. DAW-
80)

FOURTH DAY.
On some New Fossil e from the Lower Silurian. By Prof. O. C. MARSH.

Pai the raganu of Fossil Sponges in the successive groups of the Palæozoic Series, By
f. JAME
The American Beaver. By LEWIS H. MORGAN.
The Distortion and Metguarphests of Pebbles in , Conglomerates. By C. H. HITCHCOCK.
_ FIFTH DAY.

On som i Reptiles and Fish the Carbonife Strata of Ohio, Kentucky, and
Minois, ign f. J. S. NEWBE

See Law wi the Earth's pcm eee . By R. W. RAYM

n Mountain Masses of Iron Ore in the United States, on CHARLES WHITTLESEY.
e the Lower Silurian Brown Hematite Beds of By B. 5. LYMAN,
ions of t. ical of Maine. Prof. 0. COC.

of K.
or the poreo Distribution of Radiates on the West Coast of America. By Prof. A.
eah

pnsidóraii ations relating to the Climate of the Glacial Epoch in North America. By Prof.
EDWARD HUNG: GERFO

Depression th ial Period. By Col. CHAS. WHITTLESEY,

Ripton Sea Baches, By Prof. EDWARD HUNGERFORD.

On the Cretaceous and Tertiary Flora of North America, By Prof. J. S. NEWBERRY.

On certain Effects produced upon Fossils by Weathering. By O. C. MARSH.

Geology of Vermont. By Prof. C. H. HITCHCOCK.

The Insect Noat Satis s ts aai head Washington as compared with that of Labrador.
‘By Dr. y Dr. A. S. Pac CARD, Jr. napa

he Ichth: cs: a ho (th By F. iy A

Embryology of Libellula (Dipl) with notes on the Morphology of Insects, and the
easieatin of the Neuroptera. By Dr. ri S. PACKARD, jr.
the Phisertag of Plants. By JAMES HYATT.

444 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.
The following Resolution was proposed by Prof. O. C. MARSH, of
Yale aaa —

ed, That the pce’ appoint a commission of nine members to examine the
rules of Zoo logical Nontenslatars by e A ht of en suggestions and ex-

Geren s of recent fi so ang ar ies 5 ape aws and recommendations in
conformity with the best mo sage, to be su ubmitted t o the Association at the
next annual gostei the perire to care authority to fill vacancies and in-

crease their number to twelve, if deemed advisable.

This Resolution was unanimously adopted, and ‘he chair appointed
the following committee :—Prof. J. D. Dana, of Yale College; Prof.
JEFFRIES Wyman, of Harvard University; Prof. S. F. BAIRD, of the
Smithsonian Institution; Prof. JOSEPH seak of the Philadelphia
Academy of Natural Science; Prof. J. S. NEWBERRY, of Columbia a Col-
lege; Prof. J. W. Dawson, of McGill College, ee Dr. WIL
LIAM STIMPSON, of the Chicago Academy of Sci ; S. H. SCUDDER,
of the Boston osia of Natural History; a i. W. Putnam, of
the Essex Ins

r. HENRY ND, Secretary of the Essex Institute, offered a
resolution, which was unanimously adopted, tendering the thanks of
the Association to GEORGE PEABODY, Esq., for his munificent dona-
tions, amounting to over four million of dollars, for the increase of
science and education in the United States

The President was requested by the Association to forward a copy
of the resolution to Mr. Peabody.

e adjournment of the meeting on Monday night, the mem-
bers met at the house of Dr. Wm. C. Hickox, and passed the few last
hours of their stay in Burlington most pleasantly.

On the following day a number of the members accepted the invita-
tion of W. H. H. Bryeuam, Esq., to visit Mt. Mansfield, where they
were most cordially entertained.

The next meeting will be held at Chicago, commencing on the first
Wednesday of August, 1868.

The following are the officers for the next meeting :—

President, Dr. B. A. GOULD, Cambridge. Vice President, Col. CHAS:
Yrer. “hander Ohio. Permanent Secretary, Prof. JOSEPH
LovERING, dge. General Secretary, Prof. A. P. ROCKWELL,
New Haven. a Dr. A. L. ELWYN, Philadelphia.

The were invited to hold the meeting of 1869 in this
city (Salem), and pa they accept, as we earnestly hope’ they will,
we know they will be most cordially welcomed by our citizens.

_ Boston Socrery or Naturat History. March 20, 1867 —Mr. A.
S L. Fleury, of New York, read an essay entitled : “Rocks in Nature =
_ in the Arts,” treating of the physical and chemical properties

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 445

nda and the theories proposed to account for its origin. Observ-
ing th at in nature quartz-rock is often dissolved in water by the for-

path thus indicated, and produce, artificially, a liquid hydrate of
Silica.

The Secretary read a paper by Col. Whittlesey, of Cleveland, on the
weapons and military character of the Race of the Mounds. The au-
thor brought to notice the curious fact, that while extensive fortifica-
tions built by the Mound race remain scattered over the plains of
Ohio, no weapons formed exclusively for warfare have yet been dis-

0 , hor there any indications that the defences have ever

writers distinguish the progress of mechanical arts among men as the
ages of Stone, of Bronze, and of Iron, in the Western siny the an-

retrograded. He believed that the European age of Bronze corre-
sponded to the age of Copper in this country, to which the age of
Stone has succeeded, and that to this age the Indians of the present
day belonged

April 4, 1867.— Mr. James G. Swan presented a paper on the Meteo-
rology of si Flattery, Washington Territory, the result of personal
observation of the thermometer and rain gauge for three consecutive

ears.

. Andrew Garratt exhibited a bony mass taken from the interior

of an external shell of fibrous tissue, dense and glistening like parch-
ment, and an interior spongy mass of a brownis hat fatty
substance; isn opaa to be a coagulum of fibrine, or possibly a patho-
logical growth from the valves of the heart

At ies vey atest of the Section of Entom ology —records of which
were read at this time—Mr. S. H. Scudder exhibited drawings and

446 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

r. Scudder exhibited a photograph of another fossil wing, found
in an Carboniferous rocks of Cape Breton. It was _— in struc-
ture, of — yea ~ probably belonged to the May fli

es of a visit to the Pinjrapal, or animal hospital a Bombay,
were read es Mr. W. P ee gham. A space of six or seven acres in
the heart of the city was enclosed, and divided into wards, for the re-
ception of sick and helpless animals ; cattle, deer, dogs, goats, mon-
keys, and even tortoises, had all their separate abodes; fish, too, res-
cued from impending death by the pious Hindoos, whe religion for-
bids ag Gernot of animal life, swam unmolested in their proper
tan urgical aid seemed to be given, but the aren were well
fed ss cared for by a large staff of attendants or nurses. There are
several of these establishments in India, supported Éy the donations
of wealthy Hindoos.

April 18, 1867.— Dr. Jeffries Wyman gave an account of an excur-
sion he had recently made to the St. John’s river, Florida, for the
e

ered in the sand under a shell mound eight feet high. The nor
were principally univalves of the mee Ampullaria and Pal
some fresh-water mussels, Unionid:

The age of these mounds was not pt es but the occasional
occurrence of live oaks five feet in diameter proved that the mounds
_ had not been materially eps since the advent of the white man,
more than three centuries ag

There was a marked aeeoe in the fragments of pottery belonging
to different localities. Specimens from the upper portion of the river
wore slightly ornamented by square and regular indentations; those

from the rhood of Lake Munroe were marked b; y complicated
figures, traced on the clay with a pointed instrument, ae near the

~

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 447

mouth of the river these patterns became still more elaborate, and in
reeg ka instance the clay, forming the earthen ware, was mixed
with sand. This was rarely the case in specimens obtained from the
upper erii

ACADEMY OF SCIEN NCES. Ghdoagos. June 11, 1867. mibe Secretary
presented a paper entitle
Dr. Herman Haig, accompanied bya letter from the author, in which
he stated that he had submitted the same to Humboldt shortly before

would meet with public recognition through their means. On motion,
the paper was referred to a committee of three, consisting of Dr.

S.

A paper was presented from Charles A. White, M. D., and O. H.
St. John, entitled, ‘Descriptions of New Subcarboniferous and Coal
Measure Fossils, collected upon the Geological Survey of Iowa, to-
gether with a a notioe of new generic characters observed in the species
of pea

Ju aiea Secretary read abstracts of a couple of papers by
Potsior T. H. Safford, one on the motion of the solar system in
space, and the other relative to observations on nebulæ with the large
reflectors of the Dearborn Observatory. The papers were referred to
a special committee, composed of Dr. Blaney and the Secretary.

Dr. Blaney then made some remarks on the spectral pede the
manner he using it, and the purposes for which it was em yed :

The presiding era fence in reference to the continued dane
ies of iret in Colora

Dr. Blaney: cipe nii he had assayed some chips taken from the
bottom of a well in Canada, dug down three feet deep in the rock,
and got out $9 in pecte The well had been dug under spiritual guid-
ance,

Remarks were made by the presiding officer and Dr. Blaney, rela-
tive to salt deposits in the Western Territories, after which the meet-
ing adjourn

F NATURAL S F PHILADELPHIA. March 19, 1867.

Prof. E. D. Cope presented to p petra a young specimen of the

rnale, Bahia Finner, procured near Bahia, Brazil; the

length was twenty-one feet. It was shown to belong to the genus
Megaptera Gray, the Hump-back Whale of sailogs.

Dr. nand exhibited a number of plates of a forthcoming work on
the extinct mammals of Nebraska and Dacota, among which was

448 BOOKS RECEIVED.

one representing an almost complete skull of an animal, which he
characterized under the name of Agriocherus latifrons.
rof. Ennis inquired whether remains of the Hippopotamus had

been found in this country. Dr. Leidy replied that no evidence ex-
isted of the animal, though Mr. J. A. Conrad had at one time a tooth
which E considered to have belonged to the Hippopotamu

April 9, 1867. — Professor H. C. Wood, jr., presented a peee en-
titled, aen of New Species of Texan Myriapoda.”

A as read from Isaac Lea, LL. D., on two new. ——
(Lesleyite and SRR oe Chester county, Pennsylva

Professo f the ‘Geological Changes ba from
the rise ba = at the Ocean level;” also upon the *‘ Natural History
of Man

Pratat Cope exhibited several vertebræ of a new species n
Gavial ( Thoracosaurus Biibaa Cope), from the cretaceous marl o
Burlington nn y, New Jer

April 23, 1867.— Mr. J. caiit read a paper entitled, “A third Study
of the D c nea Icterinæ

BOOKS RECEIVED
Petroleum in h America. By amaa ds = Hitchcock. (Extracted from
the Geological Fido Boe eae 1867.) 8vo,
account of Barettia, a kai pae Shell from the Hippu
Limestone pi Jamaica. By S. Pp Woodward. Reprinted from the Geologist, 1502.
ben 1, 2. Svo, PP- 8.
bastante n the Structure of the Xiphosura, having reference to their tte
snip with the Burypteriden By Henry Woodward. (From the Quarterly: Journ
of the psa Society for COn, 1867.) Plate 1, 2. 8vo, pp.
Some Observations on the Zoantharia Rugosa. By Gustave phates Ph.D. bs?
plate. (Extracted from the Geological Magazine, Aug. and Sept., 1866.) 8v0, pp. 14.
Quarterly Journal of Science. ake 1867. London
Results of Meteorol ker Clear made at Brunswick, Maine, between Ly
and 1809. By Parker ieaveland, L LLD. Reduced and discussed by Charles
Schott. From the mian Contributions.
Fie dnerican japo parga Gazette. Vol. h No. 13, July, August, 1
The Chemical News and Journal of Physical Science. Vol. I. No.1, 2. July, Av-
Prize Essay on Medical and Vital Statistics. By F. B. Hough, M.D. Albany,
1867. 8yo, pp. 37.
a on Wilson's Readers. Bac kicker Haldeman. 1866. 8vo, pp. 24-
Survey of Preliminary Notice of New Genera and Species
ses O. A. White, M. D D., State Geologist, ats. H. St. John, Assistant.

i a ‘By John Cassin. 1867. 8vo, pp. 74-

of Plants observed near Philadelphia. By Aubrey H. Smith. 1867.
_ Revista de Educacion, bibliografia i Agricultura, bajo ‘los Aus-
a. Volumen I. Nueva York, 1867. 8vo.
Farm and the Sea, and other familiar Chemical Essays. By J- B-

a

E a ib =H

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. I.—NOVEMBER, 1867.—No. 9.
<“

MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION: ITS
METHODS AND TENDENCIES.*

BY PROF. J. S. NEWBERRY.

Gentlemen of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science: Every day of our lives we hear that :
this is an age of progress; and that it is so we find evi-
dence at every turn. The rapidity with which effects
follow causes in human events, the celerity with which
the plan is carried into execution, gives to a year in the
experience of one of the present generation the practical
value of a lifetime in ages past. Much labor has been
expended on the exposition of the causes of the mental
activity of the present age, and of the grand achievements

which have attended it; and yet, the key to the whole

or defend this proposition, and I must therefore trust to
its acceptance without argument, while we pass to con-

*Annual Address of the President, delivered at the Meeting of the American
2 Sociation for the Advancement of Science, held at Burlington, Vt., August, 1867.

Entered accor to Act of Co in the ; S in thi

: mgress, year 1867, by the ESSEX INSTITUTE, in the
Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 57 (449)

450 MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION :

sider that branch of the subject which more immediately
demands our attention. i

Although the progress of the age to which I have re-
ferred has been a matter of wonder and delight to all-
students of humanity and civilization, many of our best
men have been somewhat alarmed and dizzed by it; and
while accepting the achievements of modern industry and
thought as full of present good and future promise, they
are not a little concerned lest our railroad speed of pro-
gress should lead to its legitimate consequences, a final
crash—not of things material, but of those of infinitely
more value—of opinions and of faith. As often as it is
boasted that this is preëminently an age of progress, that
boast is met by the inevitable “but” (which qualifies our
praise of all things earthly) “it is equally an age of scep-
ticism.” For the truth of this assertion the proof is
nearly as palpable as of the other; and in view of the
ruthlessness with which the man of the present removes
ancient landmarks and profanes shrines hallowed by the
faith of centuries, it is not surprising that many of the
good and wise among us should deplore a liberty of
thought leading, in their view, inevitably to license; and
mourn over this wide-spread scepticism as an evil and in-
scrutable disease that has fallen upon the minds and hearts
of men.

Now for every consequence there must be an adequate
cause ; and while confessing the fact of this modern lack
of faith, I have thought that a few moments given to an
analysis of it, and an attempt to trace it to its source
might not be wholly misspent,—might possibly, indeed,
result in giving a grain of encouragement to those who
_ look with distrust and dread upon the: investigations and
=~ discussions which now occupy so large a portion of the
oe : time and thought of our men of science. `

ITS METHODS AND TENDENCIES. 451

If the wheels of time could, for our benefit, be rolled
back, and we could see in all its details the civilization
of Europe three or four hundred years ago, we should
find that our so much respected ancestors, who fill so
large a space on the page of history, were little better
than barbarians. Among the English, the French, the
Germans, Spanish and Italians we should find a phase of
civilization which, excepting that it included the elements
—as yet but imperfectly developed—of a true religious
faith, is scarcely to be preferred to that of the Chinese.
Aside from the vast difference perceptible between the
civilization of that epoch and ours, as exhibited in the
political condition of the people, in their social economy
and morals, the general intellectual darkness of the period
referred to could not fail to impress us both profoundly
and painfully. Out of that darkness and chaos have
come, as if by magic, all our modern democracy with its
individual liberty and dignity, all our civil and religious
freedom, all our philanthropy and benevolence, all our
diffused comfort and luxury, most of our good manners
and good morals, and all the splendid achievements of
our modern scientific investigation.

It is unnecessary for me here to describe in detail the
origin and growth of modern science. That has been so
well done by Dr. Whewell that all men of education are
familiar with the steps by which the grand, beautiful, and
symmetrical fabric formed by the grouping of the natural
Sciences has acquired its present lofty proportions.

Previous to the period when the Baconian philosophy
_Was accepted as a guide in scientific investigation, but one
department of science had attained a development which
has any considerable claim to our respect. Mathematics,
both pure and applied, had been assiduously cultivated

452 MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION :

from the remotest antiquity, and with a degree of success
which has left to modern investigators little more than
the elaboration of the thoughts of their predecessors. In
Metaphysics—which had claimed even a larger share of
the attention of the scholars of antiquity—little progress
had been made. Perhaps I am justified in saying little
progress was possible, inasmuch as in the light of all
the great material discoveries of modern times the meta-
physicians of the present day are debating, with as little
harmony of opinion, the same questions that divided the
rival schools of the Greeks. Each successive generation
has had its two parties of idealists and realists, who have
discussed the intangible problems which absorbed the
great minds of Plato and Aristotle with a degree of enthu-
siasm and energy—and it may be of acrimony —which
seems hardly compensated by any expansion of the human
intellect or amelioration of the condition of mankind.

Of the physical sciences we may say that, except As-
tronomy, no one had an existence prior to the time of
Bacon. There were men of vast learning, and much that
was called science in the mass of apatio observation
that had been accumulating from century to century,
until it had become “rudis inchigemanice moles,” in which—
though it constituted the pride of universities, the intel-
lectual capital with which the savant thought himself rich,
and that on which the professional man depended for suc-
cess—there was far more error than truth, and of which
_ the study was sure to mislead and likely to injure- ie

these circumstances the task before the scientific reformer
Was one far more difficult than that of clearing the Augean

stables; no less, in fact, than to seat himself before this
great heap of rubbish, this mass of truth and error,—of

the sublimest philosophy with the wildest fiction, —to P®

ITS METHODS AND TENDENCIES. 453

tiently winnow out the grains of truth, and from infinites-
imal facts build up a fabric that should have a sure foun-
dation below, and beauty and symmetry above. What
more natural, then, than that the process adopted in win-
nowing this chaff-heap should be that which had given
Success to the only true science of the period ?—that the
mathematical touchstone should be the test by which
every grain was tried? And such precisely was the
course pursued ; perhaps we may even say the only one
practicable. Provided with this test, the reformer was
compelled to rejudge upon its merits every proposition

submitted to him, and accepted only as true such as coul
be demonstrated. The materials which composed the sci-

ence to be reformed naturally fell into several categories.

First,—That which had been demonstrated to be true.
Second,—That which was demonstrable. Third, —That
Which was probable. Fourth,—That which was possible,
and Fifth,—That which was impossible. Of these he sys-
tematically rejected all but the first and second classes.
nd this, in few words, has been the method adopted,
not only in the purification of old science, but in the crea-

tion of new.

Í- It will be seen at a glance, that in this process all that
was contrary to the order of nature (supernatural or
~ spiritual) was necessarily excluded; and it was taken for
: granted that the mathematical or logical faculty of the
human mind was capable of solving all the problems of
the material universe. Sir William Hamilton and others
have demonstrated the inadequacy of mathematical pro-
S as a guide to human reason, and a moment’

cesse s
thought will show us that our boasted intellect is incapa-
le of grasping even all the material truths which are
_ Plainly presented to it. To illustrate: as we scan the

454 MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION :

heavens of a clear evening, we recognize the fact that we
staid as it were on a point in space, where our field of

vision is limitless; the heavenly bodies stretching away
into the realms of obscurity, and becoming invisible only

through the imperfection of our orgaus of vision. Bring-

ing to our aid the most powerful telescopes, we are appa-
rently as far as ever from reaching the limits of the

universe; and when we endeavor to conceive of such a

limit, the reasoning faculty finds itself incapable of grasp-

ing either of the two alternatives offered to it, one or the

other of which must be true. The universe must be

either limited or limitless. But no man can conceive of

a universe without a limit; and if it be regarded as ter-

minated by definite boundaries, the imagination strives in

vain to fill the void which reaches beyond. In fact we

stand here face to face with infinity, and recognize the,
fact that the infinite exists without the power to compre-

hend it.

The same is true of time. We cannot conceive of its
beginning or its end. All things which come within the
scope of our senses are limited in duration and circum-
scribed in space, and though we prate flippantly of the
infinite, the pretence that we can grasp it is simply idle

Ik.

Conducted on such a plan, it was inevitable that scien-
tific investigations should be narrow and materialistic in
their ieintioncy, No matter how strong the pitar in
favor of the truth of a certàin proposition, —though the
whole fabrie of society were based upon its acceptance,
and it formed the foundation of civil and moral laws, €00-
trolling the actions of the philosopher himself, —if not

| on consistent with nature’s physical and material laws
it must be rejected as unworthy to enter into the cor-

ITS METHODS AND TENDENCIES. 455

struction of the edifice he was erecting. In his great task
of undoing the work of blind, unreasoning faith, and wild,
illogical speculation, all the fruit of such faith or specu-
lation must be looked upon as matter valueless to his
and. We may even go further and say that were it true
that the Supreme Intelligence had created the material
universe, and by special providence modified or thwarted
the general laws through which that universe was gov-
erned,—such Divine supervision, and such miraculous
interposition must necessarily have been ignored.

Let it not be inferred, however, that each and all of the
great men who have been engaged in this work of scien-
tific reformation were necessarily driven to be impious
iconoclasts, or that in their efforts to emancipate them-
selves from time-honored errors, they necessarily pros-
tituted the liberty they gained to selfish or sensual pur-
poses. On the contrary, the most important advances
which the human intellect has made within these later
centuries have been due to the efforts of men of the
purest and most conscientious character ; men whose lives
were devoted with the utmost singleness of purpose to
determine what is truth; men who, knowing that all
truth must be consistent with all other truth, were willing
to go whithersoever it should lead. If it shall prove that
they have been occupied with “mint, anise, and cumin,”
omitting the “weightier matters of the law,” it is also true
that in no other way could the material laws of the uni-
verse be thoroughly investigated than by making them
the subjects of an absorbed and undivided attention. And
it is not true, in any sense, that these devotees of science
have lived in vain; for to them we mainly owe the fact,
that man is not only wiser now than formerly, but that
he is better and happier. It would be as just to impugn

456 MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION :

the motives and decry the merits of the maker of our
almanacs because his mathematical calculations were not
interlarded with moral maxims, as to reproach the student
of natural phenomena because he did his work so well,
and left to others the codrdination of the results of his
efforts with the accepted dogmas of religious faith.

In justice to the man of science we must go still farther
than this, and claim for him the position of co-laborer
with, and indispensable ally to the philanthropists and
moralists: for from no source have they drawn richer
lessons, stronger arguments, or more eloquent illustra-
tions than from his discoveries.

And yet while conceding conscientiousness and purity
of motive to the vast majority of our men of science, and
acknowledging the contributions they have made, and are
making to human happiness; compelled by my sense of
justice to defend their spirit, approve their methods, ad-
mire their devotion, and assert their usefulness, I cannot
deny that the tendency of modern investigation is decid-
edly materialistic. All natural phenomena being ascribed
to material and tangible causes, the search for and analy-
sis of these causes have begotten a restless activity and
an indomitable energy which will leave no stone unturne

for the attainment of their object. But while this 1s
apparent, and, indeed, inevitable, as has been seen from
the sketch of the growth of modern science, I am far
from sharing the alarm which it excites in the minds of
many good men. Nor would I encourage or excuse that
spirit of conservatism—to call it by no harsher term—
which for the safety of a popular creed, would by any

and all means repress, and, if possible, arrest investiga-
_ tions that may possibly become revolutionary and dan-

s

®

ITS METHODS AND TENDENCIES. 457

Such opposition, in the first place, must be fruitless.
All history has proved that persecution by physical co-
ercion or obloquy is powerless to arrest the progress of
ideas, or quench the enthusiasm of the devotees of a cause
approved by their moral sense. The problems before our
men of science must be solved in the manner proposed, if
human wisdom will suflice for the task. In every de-
partment of science are men actuated simply by a thirst
for truth, whom neither heat nor cold, privation nor op-
position will hold back from their self-appointed tasks.
We may, therefore, accept it as a finality, that this prob-
lem will be carried to its logical conclusion.

In the second place, if pose, the arrest of scientific
investigation would be not only undesirable, but an infi-
nite calamity to our race, As has been so often said,
truth is consistent with itself. If, therefore, our faith in
this or that is based on truth, we have no cause for fear
that this truth will be proved untrue by other truths.
And more than this: it seems to me, that, in the reach
and thoroughness of this material investigation, we may
hope for such demonstration of the reality of things imma-
terial as shall produce a deeper and more deml Jaith
than has ever yet prevailed.

Through this very spirit of scepticism which pervades
the modern sciences we are compelled to exhaust all ma-
terial means before we can have recourse to the super-
natural. When, however, that is done, and men have
tried patiently and laboriously, but in vain, to refer all
natural phenomena to material causes, then, having proved
a negative, they will be compelled to accept the existence
of truth not reached by their touchstone, and faith be re-
cognized as the highest and best knowledge.

That such will be the result is the confident expecta-

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

458 MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION :

tion of many of the wisest of the scientific men whose
influence is looked upon with such alarm by those
who, in their anxiety for their faith, demonstrate its
weakness. ;

Already, as it seems to me, scientists have reached the
wall of adamant—the inserutable—that surrounds them on
every side, and, erelong, we may expect to‘see them re-
turn to that heap of chaff from which the germs of modern
science were winnowed, with the conviction that there
were there left buried other germs of other and higher
truths than those they gleaned; truths without which
human knowledge must be a dwarfed and deformed

ng.
A few illustrations from the many that might be cited
will suffice to show the materialistic tendency of modern
science. In “Pure Philosophy,”—as the students of
Psychology are fond of styling their science, —the names
alone of Compte, Buckle, Herbert Spencer, Mill, and
Draper will suggest the more prominent characters of the
school they may be said to represent. The most con-
spicuous feature in the “Positive Philosophy” of Compte
is the effort it exhibits to coordinate the laws of mind
with those of matter. Spencer is a thorough-going men-
tal Darwinist, who considers the highest attributes of the
human mind, the loftiest aspirations of the soul, as only |
developed instincts, as these were but developed sensa-
tions. Mill, more guarded, more fully inspired with the
spirit of the age, —which believes nothing, and is a foe to
speculation, —leaves the history of our faculties to be
written, if at all, by others; takes them as they are, but
reasons of conscience and free-will with an independence
_ of popular belief that savors more of the material than the
‘Spiritual school. Buckle wore himself out in a vain chase

ITS METHODS AND TENDENCIES. 459

after an ignis fatuus, an inherent, inflexible law of human
progress, and hence of human history. Draper is a de-
velopmentist, but not a Darwinian. With him civiliza-
tion is a definite stage in the growth of mind; a degree
of development to which it is impelled by a vis a tergo,
not unlike, in kind, to that which evolves from the germ,
the bud, the leaf, the flower, and the fruit in plant-life,—
a development which, when unchecked and free, will be
regular and inevitable, but which is so modified by the
accidents of race, climate, soil, geographical position,
etc., as to render it difficult to say whether the rule or
the exception has, in his judgment, greatest potency. If
he were a consistent Darwinist, the accidents of develop-
ment would be its law.

Among the students of “Social Science,” —a new and
important member of the sisterhood of sciences, —as in
most of the other departments of modern investigation,
two groups of devotees are found; one patiently and con-
scientiously studying the problems of social organization,
inspired with the true spirit of the Baconian Philosophy,
ready to follow whithersoever the facts shall lead, and
having for their object that noblest of all objects, the in-
crease of human happiness. The other class of investi-
gators, in whom the bump of destructiveness is largely
developed, would be delighted to tear down the whole
fabric of society, and abrogate all laws, both human and
divine. Looking upon man as literally the creature of
circumstances, as an inert atom driven about by material
forces, conscience and responsibility are by them repu-
diated, and laws and penalties regarded simply as relics
of barbaric despotism. The dreary soul-killing creed of
these fatalists is fortunately so repugnant to the reason
and feelings of the majority of men, that there is little

460 MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION :

danger that their efforts will reach their legitimate con-
clusion in throwing society into a state of anarchy and
chaos.

In Theology or Biblical Science the tendency of modern
investigation is so distinctly felt, that I need only refer to
it. The spirit of independent criticism, so noticeable else-
where, is still more conspicuous here; assuming some-
times the form of derisive scepticism, but oftener of cold,
passionless judgment on the reported facts of sacred his-
tory, or the psychological phenomena of religious faith,
studied simply as scientific problems.

The names of Strauss, Renan, and Colenso, will suggest
the results to which men, possibly honest, are led by this
so-styled “enlightened and emancipated spirit of enquiry” ;
while “Ecce Homo” and cognate productions may be
considered as the fruit of this spirit, tempered by a very
liberal but apparently sincere faith.

Aside from these more marked examples of the decided
“set” in the tide of modern religious opinions, we every-
where see evidences that no part of the religious world
is unmoved by it. In every sect and section an impulse
is felt to substitute for abstract faith, the “faith without
works,” rather a characteristic of the religion of our
fathers, and not unknown at present—that other faith
which is evidenced by works. In other words; in our
day more and more value is being attached to this life, a8
a sphere for religious effort and experience. With what
propriety, I leave to the individual judgment of my audi-
tors; the faith of every sect and man is coming to be
respected and valued precisely in the ratio of the purity,
unselfishness, and active sympathy in the life produced
by it.

While, therefore, we have less now than formerly of

ITS METHODS AND TENDENCIES. 461

the self-centred and fruitless piety of the old deacon
whom I chanced to know, who excused his avarice by
proclaiming that “business was one thing and religion
another, and he never allowed them to interfere”; in
place of that we have many an Abou Ben Adhem, and all
the splendid exhibitions of modern philanthropy.

Though the golden mean displayed in the life and
words of Christ is far better than either extreme, I cannot
but think the present religious condition of the world is
better than any which has preceded it.

So far as regards the facts of sacred history, it is well
known that modern antiquarian researches, especially
those of Leyard, Rawlinson, and Hinks, among the Assy-
rian inscriptions ; of Champollian and Lepsius, in Egypt,
have confirmed in a remarkable manner the accuracy of
the historical books of the Bible.

In Ethnology—the pre-historic history of the human
race—the researches of the large number of investigators
who are devoted to its study have made interesting and
. important additions to our knowledge ; but it cannot be
denied that the result of such investigation has been to
create general distrust of our previously accepted chro-
nology, and give an antiquity to man such as the scholars
of a previous generation would have looked upon as not
only unwarranted but impious. It should be said, how-
ever, that our preconceived opinions of the antiquity of
the human race—like those of the age of the earth itself
— were based upon no solid foundation in nature, history,
or revelation; and that our system of chronology was a
matter of convention, about which there has been a wide
latitude of opinion among the scholars of all ages.

In regard to the origin of man—whether by special
Creation or by development—we may confidently assert,

462 MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION :

that modern investigation has given us no new light.
Among those who have accepted the theory of a special
creation, and have differed only in regard to the number
of species and their places of origin or centres of creation,
there has been such a diversity of opinion that all confi-
dence in their reality and value of the bases of their rea-
soning has been lost. Among the advocates of a multi-
plicity of species and diversity of origin we have from
Blumenbach to Agassiz almost every number between
fifteen and three as that of distinct species of the human
race, scarcely any two writers advocating the same num-

er. We may, therefore, very fairly infer that the facts
upon which their conclusions are founded, are not of a
very clear and unmistakable character.

The subject of the origin of the human race brings us
into the domain of zodlogy, and opens the wide question
of the origin of species, which, of late years, has been
shaking the moral and intellectual world as by an earth-
guake.: While the various writers upon the origin of
the human race were gathering with so much industry,
and reporting with so much eloquence the proots of a
diversity of origin, the Darwinian hypothesis comes in
and refers, not only all the human family, but all classes
of animals and plants, to an initial point in a nucleated
cell.

It would be impossible for any one to discuss, in a fair
and intelligent manner, the great question of the origin
of species, in anything less than a bulky volume. The
merest mention is, therefore, all we can give to it at the
present time. Although the appearance of. Darwin’s
_ book on the Origin of Species communicated a distinct
_ shock to the prevalent creeds, both religious and scien-

—s ibe hypothesis which it suggests, though now for

ITS METHODS AND TENDENCIES. 463

the first time distinctly formularized, was by no means
new; as it enters largely into the less clearly stated de-
velopment theories of Oken, Lamarck, De Maillet, and
the author of the “Vestiges of Creation.” There was this
difference, however, that in the developmental theories of
the older writers the element of evolution had a place; the
process of development had its main spring in an inherent
growth, or tendency, such as produces the evolution of the
successive parts in plant-life, while, according to Darwin,
the beautiful symmetry and adaptation which we see in
nature is simply the form assumed by plastic matter in
the mold of external circumstances.

Although this Darwinian hypothesis is looked upon by
many as striking at the root of all vital faith, and is the
béte noire of all those good men who deplore and condemn
the materialistic tendency of modern science, still the
purity of life of the author of the “Origin of Species,” his
enthusiastic devotion to the study of truth, the industry
and acumen which have marked his researches, the candor
and caution with which his suggestions have been made,
all combine to render the obloquy and scorn with which
they have been received in many quarters peculiarly
unjust and in bad taste. It should also be said of Mr.
Darwin, that his views on the origin of species are not
inconsistent with his own acceptance of the doctrine of
Revelation ; and that many of our best men of science
look upon his theory as not incompatible with the relig-
ious faith which is the guide of their lives, and their
hope for the future. To these men it seems presumption
that any mere man should restrict the Deity in his man-
ner of vitalizing and beautifying the earth. To them it is
a proof of higher wisdom and greater power in the Crea-
tor that he shold endow the ‘vital principle with such

464 MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION:

potency that, pervaded by it, all the economy of nature,
in both the animal and vegetable worlds, should be so
nicely self-adjusting that, like a perfect machine from the
hands of a master maker, it requires no constant tinker-
ing to preserve the constancy and regularity of its move-
ments.

This much I have said in view of the possible accep-
tance of the Darwinian theory by the scientific world. I
should have said, in limine, however, that the Darwinian
hypothesis is not accepted and can never be fully accepted
by the student of science who is inspired with the spirit
of the age. From the nature of things it can be proved
only to a certain point, and while we accept that which is
proven,—and for it sincerely thank Mr. Darwin, —that
which is hypothesis, or based only upon probabilities we
reject, as belonging in the category of mere theories, to
disprove or purify which the modern scientific reform was
inaugurated. Much, too, may be said against the suffi-
ciency of “natural selection in the steagpls of life,” from
observations made upon the TEP of the economy
of nature. Necessarily, the action of the Darwinian prin-
ciple must be limited to the individual, literally and
purely selfish; and if it can be proved that a broader in-
fluence pervades the created world, that something akin
to benevolence enters into the organization of the indi-
vidual, something which benefits others and not himself,
one single fact establishing this truth would hurl the en-
tire Darwinian fabric to the ground, or rather restrict it
to its proper bearing upon the limits o variation, and the
mooted question of “what is a species.” One of the most

potent Mijpacoki in the perpetuation of species is fecun-
dity in the individual, whereas we see in social insects
the tarojomy of the community is best served by a total

ITS METHODS AND TENDENCIES. 465

loss of this power in the great majority of the individuals
which compose it. This objection will perhaps be met by
the Darwinians with the assertion that the community, in
fact, constitutes an individual; but I must confess that I
find it difficult to comprehend how the sterility of the
workers in ants and bees was ever introduced through the
medium of modified descent, the Darwinian method, or
how it is kept up from generation to generation among
those individuals who have no posterity to inherit their
peculiarities of structure.

The Honey Ants of Mexico offer additional difficulties.
Among them a portion of the community secrete honey in
the abdominal cavity until they resemble small grapes,
and these individuals, during the winter, are dispatched
in succession to furnish food for the other members of the
colony. How, by modified descent, is this honey-making
faculty transmitted, when those who possess it are sys-
tematically destroyed ?

A still harder nut for the Darwinians to crack is fur-
nished in a fact stated by Dr. Stimpson, that among the
crustacea, which do not live in communities, a very large
proportion of the individuals of a numerically powerful spe-
cies pass their lives as neuters, or undeveloped females.

Another element in nature’s economy, which at first
sight suggests an objection to the Darwinian theory, is
that of beauty, which affects others far more than the pos-
sessor. This is considered by the Darwinians simply as
an attraction to the opposite sex, but as a fact we find
that in the larval condition of some insects—a condition
in which no propagation is effected—varieties of form
and combinations of color exist which appeal to our sense
of beauty scarcely less forcibly than in the perfect insects.

Again, the origin of life is left completely untouched

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 59

466 MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION :

by the Darwinian hypothesis, and so long as the vital
principle resists, as it has done, all efforts of theorists and
experimenters to bring it within the category of material
forces, so long we must regard the world of life as includ-
ing elements not amenable to the laws which control sim-
ple inert matter.

Upon this question of the origin of life so much is
being done and said that you will expect a word of refer-
ence to it at my hands, yet little more can be reported as
the result of all modern research than that the origin of
life is as great a mystery as ever. You will all remember
how, a few years since, we were startled by the announce-
ment of the discovery of the generation of the Acarus
Crossii; and, while our original distrust of the accuracy
of the observations of Mr. Cross was strengthened by the
failure of all subsequent experimenters to reproduce his
results, our unbelief is further confirmed by the unanimity
of all the more modern and intelligent devotees of spon-
taneous generation in the assertion that life can only origi-
nate in its simplest form, that of a unicellular organism.
There is no Darwinist who will concede the possibility of
an animal as highly organized as an Acarus, with body,
head, limbs, digestion, and senses, all more or less com-
plete, being the product of spontaneous generation and
not the result of slow and gradual development.

Still farther ; it is known that the animal kingdom rests
upon the vegetable as a base. Animals being incapable.
of assimilating inorganic matter could not exist without
plants. Plants must therefore have preceded animals,
and the fruit of spontaneous generation must be a proto-
phyte and not a protozoan.

As I have said, the materialists have so far utterly
failed to coördinate the vital force with those which we

ITS METHODS AND’ TENDENCIES. 467

designate as material. The beautiful and important dis-
coveries which have followed researches into the correla-
tion and conservation of forces by pointing to a unity of
all the forces in the material world have naturally prompt-
ed efforts to centralize, with electricity, magnetism, and
chemical affinity, that which we know as vital force. But
a moment’s reflection will show us how far removed is this
vital force from all others with which it has been com-
- pared.

The nicest manipulations of chemical science will prob-
ably fail to detect a difference in composition between the
microscopic germs of two cryptogamous plants. Each
consists of the same elements, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen,
and oxygen, in nearly or quite the same proportions.
Both may be planted in a soil which laborious mixture
has rendered homogeneous, and subsequently supplied
with the same pabulum, and yet, in virtue of some inseru-
table, inherent principle, one develops a humble moss,
and the other rises into the beauty, symmetry, and even
grandeur of a tree fern. The same may be said of the
Spermatozoa of the mouse and the elephant. Indeed all
the phenomena which attend the reproduction of species
are totally at variance and incompatible with those which
mark the action of material laws. Why, in physical cir-
cumstances differing toto cælo, does the germ produce a
plant or animal so closely copying the parent? and whence
this tenacity of purpose in the germ which reproduces,
through a long line of posterity, the trivial characteristics
of a remote ancestor. Even within our limited observa-
tion we have been struck by the reappearance in the
grandchild of the voice, the gesture, the stature, the fea-
tures, or some other marked peculiarity of his grandsire.
Whence comes the force of the axiom that “blood will

+

468 MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION :

tell” ?—and how incomprehensible that, by the action of
only material laws, mental force, or, it may be, moral in-
firmity is transmitted from generation to generation, in
spite of the system of infinitesimal dilution through which
it passes !

Strange as it may seem, there are to-day men, respecta-
ble by their numbers and attainments, who are believers
in spontaneous generation; but with this proviso which
leaves the mystery as great as ever, that only from or-
ganic matter can organisms be produced. So that to the
original and primary appearance of life upon the earth,
modern science has given us not the slightest clue.

And now, even with this hurried and sadly imperfect
exposition of the tendency of modern science, the time
at our command has been consumed. Before leaving the
subject, however, I crave your indulgence for a word to
those who, wholly absorbed in the study of the laws
which regulate the material universe, are so deeply im-
pressed with their universality and potency, that they
forget that law is but another name for an order of se-
quence, and has in itself no force. These are they who,
in their pride in the achievements of the human intellect,
fail to realize that the universe furnishes conclusive proof
that all our philosophy, all our logic, all our observation
are utterly inadequate to solve the problems that are pre-
sented to us; inadequate not simply from the limited na-
ture of our powers of observation, but because the human
mind, though forced to confess the existence of the inti-
nite,is utterly unable to grasp it; and that while the logi?

reason and the logic of numbers suffice for a qualifi
understanding of the manner in which material forces
work, of the origin and nature of these forces we are

-~ must ever remain ignorant, unless gifted with bigher

ITS METHODS AND TENDENCIES. 469

powers than we now possess. As has been stated, seen
from the stand-point of our modern materialists, and
judged by the criteria which they have adopted, spiritual
existence and supernatural phenomena, even if as all-per-
vading as the most devout religionist believes, must, from
a priori considerations, be utterly ignored. Of those
whose regard for the dignity of material laws leads them
_to reject the idea of a creative and overruling Deity, I
would ask, Is not man himself a disturbing element in
your universe? Whatever may be said in regard to
man’s free-agency, and however confidently it may be
asserted that his will is but the resultant of the various
motives that operate as distinct forces upon it, conscious-
ness lies at the bases of all reasoning ; and the conduct of
every man proves that he accepts this axiom. As he
issues from his door he is conscious, beyond all argu-
ment, that it is in his power to turn to the right or to the
left; and while he holds himself responsible for his voli-
tion, he cannot blame us if we ascribe to him free-agency.
Man is therefore an independent power in the universe.
He wills and creates. The locomotive is as truly his cre-
ation, as himself fashioned from the dust of the earth and
vitalized by the breath of the Almighty, is the work of his
hands. If, therefore, all the realm of nature is controlled
through material laws, by forces that, like attraction, elec-
tricity , chemical affinity, etc., act in an invariable and
inflexible way, in this universe man is a stupendous
anomaly; and unless he can be degraded from his po-
Sition of preéminence in this material world, the boldest
and most irreverant of modern philosophers will strive
in vain to dethrone the great Creator from the rule of
the universe, or from his place in the hearts and minds
men.

‘THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS.
No. II.
BY C. M. TRACY.

Tue second of the royal lines in the vegetable world
affords a view greatly different from the first. That, it
will be remembered, consisted of the composite flowers,
or the Family of the Asterids. Now we will contemplate
for a while the family of the second degree of botanical
importance. It is familiarly known to us in the Pea and
Bean. It has long been called by students the Legumi-
nose; that is, the Leguminous Plants, or those bearing
a legume, or simple pod, for a fruit. Lindley thought
proper, in arranging the “Vegetable Kingdom,” to cal
this family the Faba, from faba,.a bean; but if the
reader please, we will employ a title for them here shorter
and more convenient, and derived from the group that
best typifies the family, which the bean does not. We
will term them the Pisids, from pisum, or the Pea.

The royalty of these Pisids is quite different from that
of the Asterids. Those challenge admiration by their
vast numbers and universal presence ; but these more by
their peculiar nobility of style, whether as to beauty or
_ grandeur. Not that these are much inferior, numerically ;
for, in the best enumerations of the day, six thousand five
hundred species are reckoned, arranged in four hundred
and sixty-seven separate groups or genera. We have no
calculations made so recently as to warrant our stating

eee : very exactly the geographical distribution of these spe

= in various regions. They are not, however, greatly
posed to stray ‘about and play the emigrant over the
ords broad acres ; but are rather remarkable for sitting
aie ~ at n and enjoying their separate dig-
(470)

THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS. 471

nities in their original possessions, as self-satisfied as the
old grandees of Spain. Thus there are species in Aus-
tralia that no other country can furnish; for they have
never travelled from the island yet, whatever they may
be tempted to do hereafter. So with those found at the
Cape of Good Hope; and even of the European genera
there are some that never have’ penetrated into either
Asia or Africa more than a very little way. Yet, in one
form or another, they are met with almost everywhere ;
in fact, we hear only of two spots entirely without them,
namely, the islands of St. Helena and Tristan d’Acunha ;
and perhaps it detracts nothing from the royal wisdom of
these plants that they have kept themselves clear of two
such Heaven-forsaken places.

Before, however, proceeding too warmly into the ad-
miration of this grand order, we should give the reader
some simple means of recognizing it when he meets it.
In these familiar views of natural families, we like to
bring luminously before the eye of the untechnical lover
of plants the few constant marks that we hold to exist in
every such family somewhere, as the true key to all their

‘Mutual relationships, and the fit signs by which they may
be readily and definitely known. Now, as we had three
marks whereby certainly to know an Astertd, so we
have three that as certainly indicate a Pisid; but whereas
in the other case all three are always present, here one
may be absent, but never two, and one never disappears
at all.

Get the first pea, bean, or locust flower yousee. A
large flower is easier to study than a small one, and these
are the largest we have. The Sweet Pea is, perhaps,
best of all, but the bean-flower has some obscurities to
the common eye. Turn the flower face to face with you.

472 THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS.

All flowers, or at least the great majority, are made up of
five leaves or petals; and so is this, if you will believe it.
But you can hardly see any such structure; it merely
looks like a miniature lady’s head in a high-front bonnet
of the year 1838. Or perhaps it suggests the idea to you
that it has to scores of others, who for years have likened
such flowers to butterflies. Hence these plants are often
called Papilionaceous, from papilio, a butterfly. Such
notions are all fanciful ; but the structure of these flowers
is quite decisive. As you now hold it, the large, showy
top leaf or petal is one only, and, we might say, about as
large as it should be. Below it, right and left, are two
more, mated like your gloves; these have been called the
wings. They are considerably reduced, usually paler,
and sometimes of a very different color from the large
one above, which we may call the banner. This makes
three petals. Next, between the wings, wrapped up in
them closely in some cases, is what does not look much
like a petal or leaf of any sort; but is really the fourth
and fifth, very little developed, and grown together by
the edges. They make what has always been called the
keel. This is the structure of the Pea-flower the world
over. It never appears outside of the Royal Family of
Pisids, and it is present there in a vast majority of cases.
It is one of the three badges of their regal character.
Next, take a pea or bean-pod, just fit to shell. It is
one-sided in its form; that is, the point farthest from the
: stem is on one side more than the other, so that of the
two seams at the edges of the pod one is nearly straight,
and one very much rounded. Now split this pod cau-
tiously along the straight side. The seeds lie within, and
if you have done the thing nicely, you have laid the pod
open flat, with each half claiming the alternate seeds, 50

THE. ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS. 473

that in a well-filled pod of peas, about four are found
growing on one side, and as many on the other. This is
the structure of the legume, or simple pod. Possibly it
appears, in some instances, outside the royal family ; but
very rarely, indeed, if ever. It is not like the pods of the
Mustard and Gilliflower, for they have a partition running
through them flatwise, and the seeds hang upon both
Seams instead of one. The pods of the Milkweeds are
very different, again, being mere bags in which the seeds
are enclosed without the least attachment to any part, but
grow upon the end of the stem where it passes into the
interior. The simple pod, or legume, then, is the second
mark of the Pisids, and any one can tell it at a glance.
The third mark is simple, curious, and infallible, to the
highest degree. The family most likely to be confounded
With these is that to which the Rose and the Apple be-
long; in fact, though we might not expect it, the two run
So closely together, that only this third mark is decisive
as between them. And yet, all-important as it is, it
seems the merest trifle. Look at the bottom of the Pea-
flower, outside. There are five small, green, pointed
leaves surrounding it, that together are called the calyx,
and severally are termed sepals. Now find a flower that
grows pretty low down on the stem,—from the angle of
a leaf perhaps, —and carefully lift it up against the stem
without giving it any twist one way or the other. Thus
you bring the real top of the flower to the stem. Notice,
now, that if you have worked fairly the stem comes, not
against one of the green sepals, but into the notch or
Space between the upper two of them. The odd sepal, so
to speak, is on the outer or lower side. If we had taken
aà rose or an apple-blossom or the flower of a Spiræa, and
80 examined it, we should have met just the reverse ; the
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

474 ` THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS.

odd sepal will always be found at top, or next the stem.
The invariability of these facts is really wonderful. It is
one of those great little things whose discovery sheds
such lustre on the genius of Robert Brown, the man
whose eye pierced more keenly through the vegetable
millstone, than any other man’s before or since his time.

Recapitulate then. The marks of the Pisids are,—

1. Butterfly, or better, pea-flowers.
2. Legumes, or simple pods, for fruit.
3. The odd sepal turned away from the stem.

True, these are not all the marks that are useful in dis-
tinguishing this family. But they are the most simple
and certain at once. Almost all have compound leaves,
such as are found on the Locust, Clover, and Acacia.
But we cannot be entirely safe in depending on this; for,
not to speak of exotics, the Woodwaxen contradicts the
point at our very door. But the Woodwaxen has the
three great marks all very plainly, and therefore is a true
Pisid, belonging or to the royal line, hate it as we

will.

In this great family there are three sets, or, as We
might say, cousinships. They are each marked by some
distinctive properties, and each varies in certain degrees
and manners from the typical structure which belongs to

First. We have a set with perfect pea-flowers and
mostly true pods; but in some, as the Tonka-bean,
and the Ground-plum of the West, the pod grows thick
and fleshy, and closely resembles a drupe, or stone-fruit
of some sort. In this tribe we meet with nearly all the
‘Species that afford valuable food to man or beast. We
| — need to cite examples.

Second. We finda set with flowers quite indefinite in

$

THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS. | 475

form; some nearly perfect by the type, and others almost
as regularly five-petalled and circular as an apple-bloom.
But here the pod keeps as close to the normal style as
the flower departs, so that we never lose our guide. In
this set are the chief medicines and drugs that the family
produces. We see examples of this tribe in the Wild
Senna and Honey Locust.

Third. A set remains in which the pea-shape is wholly
obsolete, the flowers being as completely regular as any to
be found. The pods, however, so far as we are informed,
preserve the simple form, and our marks are fully vindi-
cated. We have no indigenous plant that belongs here ;
the greenhouse Acacias are those most familiar. The
peculiar properties appear in the abundant production of
gum and tannin.

Like princes true, these plants take up nearly every
variety of stature, habit, and soil. In regard to size,
their range is perfectly enormous. In the gardens are
species of Lotus that the gardener loves, and species of
Medicago that he hates for the wretched weeds that they
are, and neither of them is an inch high, but they creep
on the earth like a carpet. There are perfect plants of
the Pussy Clover that will go into an ounce vial with
little crowding. Then, per contra, take the great Locusts
of Brazil, described by Von Martius. Fifteen Indians,
with outstretched arms, could just encircle the base of one
of them. Some were measured and gave eighty-four feet
in girth at the ground, and sixty feet where they first

became cylindrical inform. This reliable observer made
careful calculations on the age of these trees, and carried
it back, in some cases, to the time of Homer, and, by all
probability, beyond the Christian Era. The style and
habit of these plants vary quite as much. The Honey

476 THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS.

Locust, especially where at all stunted or neglected, is a
tree that a cat can hardly climb, bristling and horrid, a
perfect chevaux-defrise of thorns; and the Hog Peanut
glides over and round the bushes, where it climbs with a
stem hardly strong enough to bear its own foliage, a half
invisible thread of green. The Bauhinias bind themselves
round the great South American trees like ropes of wire;
the Wistarias climb and revel in the Chinese thickets like
grape-vines; while the Sensitive Briar creeps timidly
among the herbage of the Carolinas, and the graceful
little Tare intrudes in northern fields, presuming on its
good looks for a chance of renewed impertinence. They
are hardly as partial to maritime situations, yet the Beach
Pea loves no place so well as its “home by the deep, deep
sea,” and the Wild Bean equally delights to hang its
wanton herbage over bluffs where it can hear the scream
of gulls, and see the fisherman casting his lines, hardly
more twisted than its own.
_ As hinted already, the nobility is very different from
that of the Asterids. That family surprises us by its
inutility ; this overwhelms us by its wonderful wealth.
There is hardly a thing of any use to man that is not,
somewhere or other, produced by this family. The other
was the royalty of blood and self-complacency ; this is
that of profusion, extravagance, abundance without limit
or stint. We are not writing a volume, and so will not
try any enumeration of the duonenne products here to be
found; but do we desire fine timber? We may take our
choice of Rosewood, West India Locust, Itaka-wood,
Purple-heart, Acacia-wood, Mora-wood, and a score of
others, not forgetting our own Locust, whose fibre defies
almost every destroying agent but the borer.

Or would we prefer dyes? Logwood and Indigo, Gum

THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS. 477

Lac and Dragon’s Blood come at call, with Brazil-wood,
Brasiletto, Camwood, Sappan-wood, and Red-sanders.
Besides, in India, there are fine yellow dyes from several
Buteas, and in Japan from a large tree (nameless to us),
while we may have almost as good from the Woodwaxen.
If we seek perfumes we shall not go far astray. Tonka-
beans, Lign-aloes, Calambac, Balsam of Peru, Balsam
Tolu, and Acacia-flowers, are ready representatives in
this department. The tanner needs little help from any
other tribe if he only have this. The Acacias, Bauhinias,
and Cassias give their bark, and Prosopis its pods for
his purpose, and they fairly dispute precedence with the
Oak and Sumach. In gums they rule the world. Gum
Arabic, Tragacanth, Senegal, Animi, Brazilian Copal,
and Kino attest this. And yet in drugs their precedence
_ is greater still. Liquorice comes here, with Manna, Sen-
na, Cowhage, Fenugreek, Copaiva, and Catechu, and
perhaps a hundred more might be added. If we like to
study poisons, we might get a large selection of speci-
mens here ; in fact, there is a suspicious character, a kind
of royal treachery, underlying the whole group. The
beautiful scarlet seeds sold in the shops for beads, and
called by the children “ Black-eyed Susans,” are reported
as highly poisonous; certain wild plants of this family
once killed whole flocks of sheep in the Swan River Col-
ony; and others are common fish-poisons in Jamaica.
Indigo is by some pronounced to be deadly, but others
dispute the point seriously. There are not, perhaps,
many of these hurtful products that appear as known
drugs, but they are none the less present. The seeds of
various Sweet Peas bave been used in Europe during
famine, with such evil effect that they had to be inter-
dicted by government. The Coronillas, common in gar-

a

478 THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS.

dens, are likewise condemned; and the seeds of the
Laburnum have done serious mischief.

But despite some poisonous and hurtful tendencies,
there is a noble excellence in the royal race. They fur-
nish food unmeasured to thousands of hungry dependents.
We may begin with the Peanut, indispensable every-
where, from the Yankee town-meeting hall and circus, to
the negro-huts of Senegambia. The quantity of these
consumed for food the world over is probably far greater
than generally supposed. As to Peas and Beans, not
only Aaaa the soldier of the Rebellion fully know their
value, and every New Englander who loves his Sunday
breakfast bear witness, but the world admits it all since
the time when Daniel and his three friends grew fatter
upon pulse than on the King’s meat, The sacred writer
does not say they changed their diet from the “King’s
meat” to the very flesh of royalty, but so it really was-
The Tamarind is the cheerful friend of the convalescent;
and Shenstone says of a drink skilfully made from it, —

“ Whoso drank the pas draught
Would neyer wish for wine.”

There are several sorts, produced by related plants,,and
known as Brown Tamarinds, Velvet Tamarinds, and Tam-
arind Plums, all highly prized. The Carob-tree has a
pod in which the seeds are buried in a dry, mealy- pulp,
very nutritious, and eaten freely by horses in Spain an
the Levant. It is supposed to be the tree which furnished
the “locusts,” or locust-pods, that fed John the Baptist
in the wilderness. The West India Locust affords some-
thing very similar, and as readily eaten. The Parkia, an
African tree, furnishes seeds of which the natives make @
sauce for "a b cakes like chocolate, eating also the
the pods. The famous drink of Cone?

THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS. 479

America, the Chica, deserves mention, as prepared from
the sweet pods of a Prosopis; but the manner of making
it is such as would forever sicken any one not well hard
ened in savage life.

Of course these are not all the points of wealth in this
noble family. Their treasury never is bankrupt. The
Bauhinias have tough bark that makes good ropes. We
have in New England a plant called Rattle-pod ; and ano-
ther of this same genus in India produces the Bengal
Hemp, very useful fois cheap bagging. Some are effectual
to destroy vermin, and others Field a juice much em-
ployed in the manufacture of Indigo in certain parts of
the process.

The beasts fare no worse than their human guardians.
At the head of the list stands Clover, so acceptable in its
green state to the horse, that it is said that he will eat it
till he bursts. Closely related to this are the various
Species of Lucern and Medick, and sundry Trefoils, all
Sweet and nourishing to every flock and herd. Saintfoin
and Serradilla stand in the same line of usefulness. In
the arid deserts of the East grows a stunted bush, the
tender character of whose herbage has, in those wastes,
earned it the name of the Camel’s Thorn. Among the
Afghans this plant is depended on above all others for
the support of cattle, and if the supply is cut off by war
at any time, the herds suffer or perish. So the Wood-
waxen is eaten well by sheep, it is said; and many farms,
we learn, are pastured in the British Islands at good
o though they produce little save the prickly “W hin.”

_ Nor would the kingly rank be well sustained by the
Pisids if they could not boast of beauty ; but in this there
is no more lack than in other respects. The most splen-
didly beautiful tree in the world, when in flower, is said

480 THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS.

to be the Amherstia nobilis, a grand ornament of the
Turkish gardens. There also the Cercis, or Judas-tree,
lifts its head in purple magnificence; while its plainer,
but still charming co-species, the Red-bud of the Canadas
and Northern States, is glowing through the woods in the
pride of its early bloom. All New Holland is golden
with a wealth of Acacia-flowers; and other species, with
red instead of yellow, put the most charming blush on
the forest-cheek of Mexico. Europe is rich in fine La-
burnums ; and South America is all aglow with splendid
Ingas and Mimosas. The Californian has brought from
New Zealand the Glory-pea, and given it a home by his
own door, that suits as well as its own. Our own country
is full of beautiful plants of this kind; Lupines and
Locusts, Hoary Peas, Wistarias and Prairie Clovers, Tick-
trefoils and Yellow-wood, Partridge-peas and Ground-
piums, all showy and lovely. And whosoever will pene-
trate the conservatory, and study the floral wealth there
displayed by these pea-flowered princes, will find these
thoughts well sustained and illustrated.

And yet we have only just come to the most interesting
trait in the character of these most royal plants. In them
does vegetable life reach its acme, and attain a grade that
lacks but the merest step to equal the vitality of animals.
The Joint-vetch, of the Virginian river-banks, is some-
times sensitive, and shrinks from the touch, closing its
leaflets. Another step, and we have the Sensitive Briar,
common through the South, and showing this sensibility
in a much higher degree. Then going to Central and
South America, we have Mimosas endowed with every
degree of this power, till some will hardly bear the hu-
man _ breath upon them, even though they may bear the
beating of wind and weather. Great numbers of

THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS. 481

keep careful watch of storm and sunshine, however, as
well as of day and night, and close their leaves promptly
' when unfavorable conditions arise. This is but a small
matter; other plants do the same; but no other tribe
shows such tenderness of feeling in the foliage. Nor do
they stop here. In the East Indies grows the strange
plant, Desmodium gyrans. It may be compared, perhaps,
in appearance, to our Wild Indigo, but its leaves are
more like those of the Rose. The leaflet at the end only
folds up at night and opens by day ; but the side-leaflets
are always moving, the two sides alternately up and
down with a jerking motion, as one says, like the second-
hand of a watch. The touch arrests it, or so does cold
or narcotics. But left to itself it soon begins again.
Now this, seeing there are here no bones, joints, mus-
cles, or other machinery to execute such movements, is a
‘Most astonishing thing. Nearest of anything the world
affords does it come to showing the Abstract Life work-
_ ing independently, without mediate agency, and challeng-
ing all our skill to grasp it, or account, in any satisfactory
way, for the presence that we so unequivocally recognize.
Electrical and chemical action are called to explain it, but
they fail. We leave it, as one of Nature’s mysteries.
This hasty glance gives but a superficial notion of the
real grandeur of this most kingly of these Royal Orders.
From these considerations, however, we may probably
gain sufficient evidence to prove the great importance of
these plants in the economy of nature, as related both
to man, to the animal kingdom in general, to the great
Principles of vitality and development, higher and broader
than all. A further illustration of these ideas may be
had from the study of the other of these families, which
will engage our future attention.

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 6l

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

BY BURT G. WILDER, M. D.

[Continued from page 423.]

In the first part of this article, taking for granted that
all readers of the NarurauisT are aware that the mam-
mals have two pairs of limbs, of which the hinder are gen-
erally called legs, while the anterior are either legs or
wings or flippers or arms, according to the use their
owners make of them, I made the following statements:
1. That, in spite of great differences in appearance and
in the movements which they perform, there is a close
anatomical resemblance between the human arm and the
foreleg of beasts, the wings of birds, the flippers of seals,
etc. 2. That there is a similar resemblance between the
leg of man and the hinder limbs of animals. All this is
now generally admitted, and, however distasteful may be
the actual comparison between the limbs of the bear or of
the monkey and our own, we cannot help seeing, that
when we get upon all-fours like the one, or stand semi-
erect like the other, our limbs really occupy partly the
same position in regard to our back-bone as do those 0
the creatures first mentioned: and I might add, that there
is a time in the early stages of growth of all vertebrates,
when the limbs are just beginning to form, and are mere
little fleshy buds or pads projecting from the sides of the
body. (Fig. 6, Plate 12.)

This kind of comparison between the fore or hind limbs
of different species is called the study of Homologies,
and formerly constituted the whole of Comparative Anat-
omy. But I also stated that within the past century there
has arisen a new kind of Comparative Anatomy, which
has for its object the comparison, not of corresponding

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 483

parts in diferent animals, but of corresponding parts in
one and the same animal; in short, the human arm is
compared, not with the foreleg of a quadruped, but with
the human leg: and in like manner the fore and hind legs
of a beast are compared with each other.

And, lastly, I stated that it is now pretty well agreed
that in this comparison the shoulder and pelvis repre-
sent each other; that the humerus and femur are sim-
ilar parts in the two limbs; that the elbow and the knee,
the forearm and the leg do in some way correspond with
each other ; and that, finally, the foot is, as a whole, the
humble representative of the hand. Yet there is a very
Wide difference of opinion as to whether or not the great
toe is the counterpart of the thumb; and this because
the rotation which takes place in the forearm allows the
thumb to come into two different positions.

If you will take the trouble to place your hand upon
the table, the palm downward, and the fingers pointing
forward, you will see that the thumb comes upon the
inner side of the hand, that is, toward the middle line of
the body, as does the great toe in the foot; but if you
Suptnate the hand and place it on the edge of the table so
that the fingers point backwards, the palm facing down-
Ward and forward, you will see that the thumb now comes
on the outer side of the hand, and is opposite the little toe.

You will say at once and truly, that the former is the
easier and more natural position, and coincides more

nearly with your previous ideas respecting the thumb and

the great toe, and it might perhaps do very well if the

hand and the foot were the only parts concerned ; but un-

fortunately the arm and the leg must also be taken into

_ Consideration, and whatever principle we adopt for the
former, ought to apply equally well to the latter.

484 THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

Now what idea is suggested when we compare the hand
and the foot in the manner first described? The whole
foot points forward, and the sole faces downward and
backward; the hand and fingers also point forward, and
the palm faces downward and backward : at once we say
the corresponding parts point in the same direction, they
are parallel with each other ; and if the hand and foot are
parallel, why, of course, the other corresponding parts in
the two limbs are or ought to be so too.

But here comes the difficulty. The other segments of
the limbs are nof parallel, but the contrary; the thigh
points forward, and the upper arm backward; the con-
vexity of the knee looks forward, while the elbow pro-

jects backward ; the forearm and the leg likewise point, »

not in the same, but in exactly opposite directions.

The upper parts of the limbs, then, suggest antagonism
or oppositeness; the hand and the foot suggest parallelism.

Which shall yield to the other? Shall the upper ses-
ments of the limbs be so turned or twisted or viewed as
to conform to the idea of parallelism, or shall the hand be
supinated and the fingers made to point backward so âS
to be in antagonism with the foot? This, as was said,
brings the thumb on the outer side, and so into relation
with the little toe. To this, the thumb objects, and the
whole controversy rests between those who favor it ex-
clusively, and those who are willing to pay some regard
to the other portions of the limbs.

The former lay great stress upon the functional supe
riority of the thumb, upon its size and strength, and upon
its constant usefulness at every age, from infancy to the
time when the man has leisure to reflect upon its wonder-

ful powers and the prominent part it takes in all the ope- —

rations of the hand; and in view of all this, they ut3°

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 485

that the thumb should be allowed to associate in this com-
parison with the largest and strongest of the foot’s fingers,
at any sacrifice on the part of the upper and less conspic-
uously useful segments of the arm. But the latter believe
that the above considerations do not apply in this kind of
comparison, and offer facts and arguments (which will be
given in another place) to show why the thumb should
not be the only part thought of in this connection, and
even that it ought to content itself with whatever position
as regards the toes may be most convenient for the upper
portions of the limb which supports it.

The former uphold one organ against many, and might

for that reason be styled the aristocratic party, but for

- the somewhat incongruous fact, that at the present stage
of the controversy, they far outnumber the more demo-
cratic members of the other party, who believe in more
equal rights for all the parts of the limbs.

So more appropriate titles may be derived from the two
| ideas which we have found to be suggested, as the thumb
: is or is not the first part considered in comparing the hand
= With the foot. If it is, then Parallelism is the idea, and
, its advocates are the Parallelists. If not, then Antago-
i. nism is the idea, and its advocates are the Oppositists.
= Among the Parallelists the more prominent in this dis-

cussion are Vicq d’Azyr, Bourgery, Cuvier, Flourens,
Cruveilhier, Turenne; Owen, Maclise, Martins, Huxley,
Mivart,* and Cleland ;+ to which list might be added the
lames of as many more anatomists, who have declared
themselves more or less decidedly in favor of one or ano-
ther of the views advanced by those whose names are given.
Those who have more or less completely adopted the
X * Anatomy of Echidna Hystrix. Transactions of Linnæan Society, Vol. XXV.

P. 400.
TQuain’s Anatomy. Seventh Edition, 1866. pp. 115-117.

486 THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

idea of Antagonism are Oken,* Gerdy, Agassiz,+ Hum-
phrey, Wyman,} Foltz,§ and Dana,* with which small
number the writer has the honor to be associated.

THE PARALLELISTS. The ancient anatomists contented
themselves with pointing out certain obvious correspond-
ences as to general appearance, as those between the
bone of the upper arm and that of the thigh, between the
knee and the elbow. Their prudent example is still fol-
lowed by those who do not care to involve themselves in
a controversy, and who find it easier to adopt, unques-
tioned, the opinions of a predecessor; and, in spite of
errors and inconsistencies, this method had generally the
merit of non-interference with Nature, and may, in medi-
cal language, be styled the expectant plan of treatment.
But a large and distinguished majority of investigators
seem to have made up their minds beforehand that some-
thing was out of the way, and, in their endeavors to
rectify the supposed disordered state of the limbs, have
pursued a more heroic course of treatment which, from
the various methods employed, may be divided into dislo-
cation and reversion, fracture and torsion; or, as their
advocates might say, since in their opinion the Creator
_ had already inflicted the above-named injuries upon their
unhappy patients, reduction, setting, and untwisting.

Dislocation with reversion and substitution. The fi
“resolutely undertake and seriously discuss the problem
of the comparison between the extremities in man

The positions of Oken and of — this ape are peculiar,

and will
be Pied aee farther on. i

SO stp ary June 6, June 5, 136
Saia tes embres pelviens et Rorasi ues de Attell Jou rnal de la
; inia ol Tome VI. pp. 49-81, and 379-421. 7 April, 1863. The sin of ; Mar: ms
Te Siloa Dy Miv Art ns i i tes wank ei , and DY
E a, neren i des Membres elviens et thoracique, ete. Mems.
de Montpelier. . p- 473.

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 487

animals,” was Felix Vicq d’Azyr, who published a me-
moir upon the subject in 1774, four years prior to his
election as the successor of Buffon, in the French Acad-
emy.

He began his comparison by detaching the right arm
(Fig. 2) from the shoulder, and placing it by the side of
the leg (Fig. 1). He does not specify the position of the
hand in this first comparison, but we must conclude that
it was pronated so as to face the palm backward like the
sole, and to bring the thumb (Po) upon the inner side op-
posite the great toe, both because this was the universal
method of viewing them, and because otherwise the idea
of parallelism would hardly have suggested itself at all.

Perceiving the resemblance of the elbow (O) to the knee
(Pa) ,and thinking that, being similar parts, they must face
in the same cadia he saa the arm around so that
the elbow pointed forward, the hand being left as it was
(Fig. 3); the two bones of the forearm (U and R), be-
fore crossed, became parallel with each other, the thumb,
of course, remaining opposite the great toe.

But although the lower portions of the two limbs were
thus in harmonious agreement, the anatomist, on exam-
ining their upper ends, perceived that, while the smooth
articular surface (Fig. 1, Hd) of the thigh-bone was look-
ing inward and toward the middle line of the body, the
corresponding surface (Fig. 3, Hd) of the humerus, by
which it is attached to the shoulder-blade, was looking in

exactly the opposite direction.
= What was to be done? If he left things as they were,
then the heads of the two upper bones set their faces
against his idea of parallelism in the most uncompro-
mising manner ; while if he restored them to their original
condition, the elbow and the knee came into direct oppo-

488 THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

sition with the idea and with each other at the same time.
To avoid both horns of this dilemma seemed at first im-
possible ; but suddenly it occurred to him to drop the
unconformable arm, and to try its fellow of the opposite
side; and now, upon placing the left arm (Fig. 4) by the
side of the right leg, and turning it as before so that the
elbow pointed forward like the knee, the two bones of the
forearm remaining parallel with each other, he was re-
warded for his ingenuity by seeing the articular surfaces of
the humerus and femur both looking inward. With this
very artificial arrangement he seems to have been satisfied,
and dismisses the subject with the remark, that “the corre-
spondences of the fingers with the toes are so evident that
it is unnecessary to enumerate them”; either not perceiv-
ing or caring that though the fingers pointed forward
like the toes, yet the thumb was now upon the outer bor-
der of the limb, and was thus made to correspond with
the Jittle toe.

We shall, I hope, ba convinced that, in spite of the fact
that the thumb and great toe have only ¿wo joints, the
above is really the true relation so far as concerns them
alone; but Vicq d’Azyr had no reason for thinking 80,
since the opinion upon this matter which, then as now,
was nearly universal, is well expressed in these words
of a later writer, “il est évident pour tout le monde que
le pouce est l'analogue* du gros orteil.” Vicq d’AzyT
seems rather to have been loth to enter into particulars,
and really ignores the hand altogether; for it was doubt-
less the apparent parallelism betwedn the foot and the
hand in its ordinary state of pronation that induced him
to force the whole limb into a similar relation by turning

; ai evident to every one that the thumb is the analogue of the great toe 2; in

ER ares used by Martins in the sense of “homologue >
tly limited | se ofthe word, | the thumb is the analogue of the great toe

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 489

the elbow forward; but when he is obliged to take the
arm of the opposite side, he seems to have lost all faith in
the hand, and leaves it in a position which, though cor-
rect in so far as the thumb is made to correspond with
the little toe, is inconsistent with his own theory, and
inadmissible on account of the displacement of the whole
limb. And here was his error, in supposing that a ra-
tional comparison of the limb involved not merely a dis-
location and reversion of the arm, but a transposition to
the opposite side of the body, the right arm being thus
made to correspond with the left leg g, and the left arm
with the right lee. And while we Hator the great anato-

- mist, who, in attempting a comparison between different
regions of the same individual, really originated a new
kind of Comparative Anatomy, which is destined to fill
a large place in future investigations, we must deplore
the method he employed, a method repugnant alike to
common sense and the respect we ought to entertain for
the relations God has established between the different
parts of the animal frame. And it is doubtless to this
pernicious example of Vicq d’Azyr that we must ascribe
the extraordinary liberties which some of his successors
have taken with the limbs, forcing upon them their pre-
Conceived ideas, as if each had said, “if the facts do not
Pored with sa theory, why, so much the worse for the
facts

Tt i is hard for us to believe that the great Cuvier, whose
masterly demonstrations of corresponding parts in differ-
ent animals constituted an era in anatomical science, and
at the same time furnished the basis for a true classifica-
tion, could have been so blinded by his exclusive devotion
to Final Causes, and by his dislike for the transcendental
theories of St. Hilaire as, during at least the cag! part
AMERICAN, NAT., VOL. I.

490 THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

of his life, to have attached little value to the comparison
with each other of parts of the same body; but we could
wish that he had ignored the subject entirely, rather than
that in 1835 he should have lent the weight of his author-
ity to the views of Vicq d’Azyr, as is shown by the fol-
lowing passage: “C’st la droite d’une paire qu'il faut
comparer a la gauche de Pautre.” *

` Blandin, like Vicq d’Azyr and Cuvier, let the hand and
fingers alone, the thumb still remaining opposite the little
toe; but, in 1846, this inconsistency was pointed out by
Turenne, who, desirous of making all things as harmo-
nious as possible, in imagination, cuts off the two hands a
little above the wrist, and transposes them, which of course
brings the thumb on the inner borders, and opposite the
great toe (Fig. 1 and 5); nor is it, perhaps, surprising
that he should have regarded this as an improvement upon
the proceedings of Vicq d’Azyr, and we ought rather to be
gratified that, after putting the left arm in place of the
right, and again changing the hands, he did not see fit to
invert the entire limb, fasten the fingers upon the shoulder-
blade, and declare the end of the arm-bone to be homolo-
gous with the great toe. Indeed, the whole proceeding is
so extraordinary, that, but for the gravity with which it is
proposed, one would incline to regard it as a burlesque,
intended to bring the original view into ridicule. Yet
only ten years ago, the doctrine of Vicq d’Azyr was
again, though we hope for the last time, revived.
~. The errors in this view consist in the assumptions:

1. That the thumb corresponds with the great toe.
2. That the two limbs are parallel. 3. That it is either
necessary or proper to compare the arm of one side with
the leg of the ata side.

Sate a + z p

Lah Pe sey eee f the other.”

Vol. FP p.

Fig.5. Fig.6. Fig.7.

WILDER ON THE HAND.

REVIEWS. 491

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 12.

The bones of the limbs are marked as in Plate 11. F, Femur, or
thigh bone; T, Tibia; Fi, Fibula ; Pa, Patella, or SEES one Ha, Hal-
lex, or great toe; H, Henin: or iris bone; O, Olecranon process of
elbow; U, Ulna; R, Radius; Po, Pollex, or thumb; Ha, Head of Hu-
merus, or Femur

Fig. 1. Bones of human leg, right side; the knee looks forward.

2. Bones of human leg, right side; in th ition in whic
Vicq d’Azyr began his comparison; the elbow looks backward, and
the forearm is in pronation, the radius being crossed upon the ulna so

as to leave the thumb on the inner side. (This and the three follow-
ing figures are to be supposed behind Fig. 1, in order to be compared
With it.)

Fig. ght arm turned half way round so as to face the elbow
forward like the knee; the hand remains as before, so that the fore-
arm is untwisted, or supinated. The head of the Humerus now faces

Fig. 4. Bones of left arm; all the parts shar with the leg except the
thumb, which now comes on the outer side: this is as Vicq d’Azyr
left it.

Fig. 5. This illustrates the comparison of Turenne. The upper
parts of the limb of the left arm as in Fig. 4; but the hand has
been cut off and rhin by the right hand as in Fig. 3

Fig. 6. Diagram of human fætus, showing the radiis of limbs.

REVIEWS.

MANUAL OF THE BOTANY OF THE NORTHERN UNITED STATES, IN-

tory in Harvard University. Fifth Edition. With twenty-five

plates, illustrating the — Grasses, Ferns, &c. New York:

Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman, & Co. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co.

1867. pp. 701. ee reais el Mosses and Liverworts, nor the

“Garden Botany.”]

This new ie vie sa « Manual of Botany” is the result of the
author’s continuous re to improve and make more perfect an -r
one > (published in etre eit prepared to supply a pressing wan

492 REVIEWS.

In the second edition, which appeared in 1856, 2,426 species of Flower-
ing Plants, and the higher Cryptogams, or flowerless plants, were de-
scribed. Inthe third and fourth editions species new to science, or
ewly Hien within our limits, were given in addenda, with such
E erations in the stereotype plates as were possible. The present
edition bege entirely rewritten) is printed from new stereotype
plates, and in it are described 2,634 plants of the say en ggg and the
higher Cryptogamous series; an increase in number of 208. In account-
ing for so great an increase, we find that 308 out of Taa whole number
are introduced species, being forty-e eight more than in the former edi-
tion; thirty or forty have hitherto been considered as varieties (or as
included in other species), or are new species, and the remainder have
been newly discovered within the geographical limits of the work,
and, as might be supposed, occur mostly on the borders of the area
treated of. i

most important changes which we notice are the combination
of Nelumbiacee, Cabombacee, and Nympheacee proper as suborders 0

m Rubiaceæ to its place een Gentianacew and Apocynacee. Cal-
lu lyaris is regarded as a native plant. Our species of C
are described for the “Manual,” by D ngelmann, of S

ble rule of priority, for the familiar one of Benzoin; the genera Calli-
triche and Euphorbia have been carefully reélaborated, as to our spe-
cies, by Dr. Engelmann, for this Spree the Cupulifere and Betulacee
have been thoroughly overhauled; the genus Lemna has been care-
fully revised with the aid of notes Prot ieee by Mr.C. F. Austin, and
the genus be (represented by W. Columbiana)t is now for the fi
time indicated in a ook of Botany, as found in America, though
discovered dels years ago by Dr. Robbins, who has now monographe
anew our species of Potamogeton. Habenaria is now introduced as
including all our species of Platanthera and Gymnadenia; Spiranthes

S a Sa RO E

_*The es which are à deseribed as new are Cab po ignei. Poly:
- Cartisii, arsonii, j elia Canbyi
3 Sae an amnis, raspy soma Austin, Lemna P i Torreyi, P hr T eerie fants, È»
: ban ti is Lincastriensis Scirpus Smithi ainis os Sinithi, Aad Smithii,

oie rasan as aseovered grey PEENE (European) species, W.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 493

has undergone changes for the better, and §. Romanzoviana, hitherto
identified only on the western slopes of North America, where it was
long ago found by Chamisso, and at the single station of Bantry Bay,
Ireland, is found to be present in the northern part of our region.
Liliacee now includes Melanth d Trilliacee, and the genus Nar-
ste and the Junci have undergone a careful and critical revision
e hands of Dr. Engelmann. Much laborious study has been given
` the Cyperaceæœ, and we see the number of Carices raised from one
hundred and thirty-two to one hundred and fifty-one; the Ferns have
been contributed by Professor D. C. Eaton, of Yale College, who has
introduced a few changes which we are glad to see, as with Pellæa
and eagan aeeie and Phegopteris, and the species of Botry-
chium. The unt of our species of Isoëtes has been contributed by
Dr. sekeng an has given them much careful study, and who
characterizes within our area seven species, while there are two more
in the Southern, and three more in the Pacific States.
í re glad to see the promise of a ‘‘simpler and more elementary
work,” which will include the ‘‘Garden Botany” of the last sion
and more, and ‘designed especially for school instruction, and fi
those inte _ in on coe Field, Forest, and Ga fonts
t Shall als with e

volume, to aaa the ton ses and Liverworts, newly elaborated
suppose, and the “ Lichens, if not all the other orders of Lower Cryp-
togamia.” Above all we congratulate Botanists that there is a pros-
pect of the issue, before many years, of a somewhat similar Flora of
the whole national domain.

The addition of six beautiful new plates (in the admirable workman-
Ship of Mr. Isaac Sprague), of the genera of Cyperacee, is an impor-
tant item to the beginner, and even to those more thoroughly versed
in Botany. Every one will be pleased with the slight changes in the
typographical execution and arrangement of the work.—H.M.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

; BOTANY.

_ Botanical Notes and Queries. A recent number of the Revue Hor-
ticole (Aug. 16, 1867) calls in ques stion the native country of Sambu-
cus Canadensis Linn. ., our common Elder, not only regarding it as

a mere variety of the European S. nigra,— which it well may be, —but

pyan if it be really indigenous to this country. The same mesas

been raised in my own mind. Can any of the numerous

494 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

e sets no fruit either in the old world or the new; also that, on
ry, no one seems to know it away from cultivation. This year,
ape Some pods are forming in France. Has any one seen pods

nd seeds in this country? Th quiry is in this case particularly
addressed to Southern correspondents. Th re in cultivation
forms singularly intermediate between hispida and the seuda-

cacia, or common Locust, but these are more likely hybrids. The
Rose Acacia is said to be indigenous to Georgia, apparently with good
ason. But definite indications of it, and fruiting specimens are de-
sirable
As the above-mentioned number of the Revue Horticole gives a
figure and description of that charming hot-house climber, Cleroden-
dron Thompsone, I may take this occasion to refer to the curious, and
perhaps as yet unnoticed, arrangement of its stamens and pistils, so
as to favor, if not to secure, PSSA R The long and slender
— and style in the flower-bud rolled up in an incurved coil,
r the manner of the genus. Schenk i crimson corolla opens, set-
a these organs free, the filaments straighten at once into nearly &
horizontal position, and their anthers opening are covered with fresh
pollen; while the slender style is strongly recurved, carrying the
forked stigma downwards and backward far under the flowers. After

under the tube of the corolla, while the style has risen to the hori-
zontal or slightly ascending position, so placing the stigma where
the anthers were the day before. Evidently there is only a short
period during which a moth, or such insect, visiting the flowers can
brush any pollen from the anthers to their own stigma; but the sae
of freshly opened flowers will, in the progress of the insect from
m to blossom, sey d the stigma of oes e's ex-
: panded the day before. — A. Gra
May-apples in Clusters. — In "i new edition of the “Manual of the
Botany of the Northern States,” it is too briefly mentioned that Podo-
Phyllum has been found in Ohio, by W.C. Hampton, with two carpels!
i o emntenes on a visit to the Agricultural College of Penn-

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 495

Sylvania last summer, my friend, Professor H. J. Clark (whose acute

original observations I have frequently had to record), showed me

Several clusters of well-grown fruits of Podophyllum, of three or four
I thi

pect now and then a similar monstrosity in Jeffersonia ; and the mat-
ter has a certain a bataile interest beyond the mere curiosity of the
thing. — A. Gra

Invasions of Foreign Plants.—The prepotency of foreign plants over
Shan vitsin, especially in the New World, in sie ealand,
Australia, st has of late ATR attention and remark. That

en

bles them to conquer new worlds wherever they get a foothold.
Somehow or other these plants do seem, in this respect of prepotency,
to take oe the particular human race whose footsteps westward
they fol
=a rats are suggested by a recent instance of the sort, on
the part of a Chinese or Japanese leguminous plant, Lespedera striata
Hook. and Arn., which has got an introduction, nobody can tell how,
into the interior of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, and is now
multiplying at a wonderful rate. I first received it a year ago, but
fessor Darby informs me that he detected it about ten years ago,

at the railroad station in Altoona, Georgia, and he has lately met with
it in all the adjacent States. ‘Now,’ he adds, “it covers thousands

[native] Helenium tenuifolium took possession. Now, thi à der
conque h.” The newspapers have lately mentioned
that “a new , of the nature of a clover,” has widely ap in

forage plant, as it well may be, this intruder, which takes such a
liking to the poor soil of the South, will prove a real blessing to the
RA

y.— À.

496 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

A VARIETY OF THE Ox-EYE Daisy.—I am not a little interested
in the note in the NATURALIST for September, by Professor Tenney, in
relation to the form of the Ox-eye Daisy, which he suspects to be

been detected. Within a period of fifteen years past, I have found it
some three or four times, I think; and I never suspected it to be any-
thing but a chance variety of Leucanthemum vulgare. In the summer
of 1865, it was brought to me from a spot close by my house, agreeing
in all respects with the description by Professor T.; and wishing to

could become known. I cannot believe it to be specifically distinct
from the common Leucanthemum, or anything more or less than a va-
riation, through accidental neta from the normal state of the spe-
cies. To my mind it stands in the same line with the petaloid form
of Penthorum, or the yna condition of Linaria vulgaris; an
many other genera might be cited as furnishing instances of like de-
partures now and then from the ordinary and natural style. —C. M.
RACY.
E nnass
ZOOLOGY.
Tue BreepinG Hairs or Birps. — In reading the lately published

work of Mr. Samuels, on the Ornithology and Odlogy of New Eng-
land, I noticed some statements regarding the breeding habits of some

of grasses, leaves, and feathers, is built, —or laid, which would, per-
haps, be the better term. This hole is sometimes as oo as six or
eight feet, usually from four to six, in length.” Page 1
My experience in regard to the breeding habits of a Kingfisher
is entirely at variance with the above. Of two burrows
Spring, one measured thirty-four, aa the other thirty-five inches
in length; they were excavated in the form of an elbow. The pas-
‘Sage leading from the entrance in one of them was PETR inches
in length; and then turning to the right, lead to a cavity of about

~ ten inches in diameter, the bottom of which was three-fourths of an

inch below the bottom of = way leading to it, and four and a half
inches oo the form of an oven; including the cavity,

: e

”

.

e
NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. ee

the length of this part of the burrow was eighteen inches. The eggs
were placed in the hollow on the bare earth. I have seen many of
their burrows, and have yet to find one in which anest is made of any
material

Again he says: “The Mottled Owl selects for a nesting-place a hol-
low tree, often in the orchard, and commences laying at about the first

being nothing more than a heap of soft ry ea

This is another instance in which the bird makes no peada or at least
I have never found one. All rapacious birds are awkward workmen at
nest-building, especially the Owls. Those Owls which occupy a nest

Tepair it with dried sticks, sometimes green ones with the leaves ad-
ering, which they break from the neighboring trees ; and with bark
collected from dead limbs, etc.; very seldom do they construct a new
nest. i
The difficulty with which Owls and Hawks obtain the material for
building their nests, compels them to use the same nest year after
year; the upper mandible so overhangs the lower one, that it is difi-
cult for them to pick up a stick from the ground, and they often
use their claws to carry the material.
Had n ot Mr. Samuels been an eye-witness of the weaving capacity

in the meadow, and lay their eggs on the bare turf; and when they
pretend to build a nest it will not compare in architecture with that of
= common hen

make these Tetadeiaainta: because i pelieve facts concerning the
ses should be given as well as the minutix of classification, as in

this way information will be the better imparted to those seeking

knowledge; and we shall then have the natural history as well as
nomenclature of birds. —AUGUSTUS FOWLER, Danvers, Mass.
GE oF CoLor IN Fisu.—A medium-sized ‘‘horned-pout,” in a

dining « saloon in this city, ces color in a few days from black to a
h has remained in running water some
is

_ fact may help to confirm Mr. Bolles’ observation mentioned in the
N

ATURALIST, p. 391.—W. B. CHAMBERLAIN, Worcester.
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 63

?
498 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Can you inform me what is the use of the comb-like formation on
the inside of the middle claw of the Night-heron, the Night-hawk, and
Whippoorwill? Is it peculiar to night birds? I find it-on those men-
tioned, and have not noticed it on any bird of the day that I have
shot, or is in my collection. — BALDWIN COOLIDGE, Lawrence.

We referred these questions to Dr. T. M. Brewer, who thus writes:
I have shown your letter to Mr. G. A. Boardman, and have secured &
very satisfactory explanation from him of the purpose and use of the
“formation” in question. It.is used by the birds to clean their heads,
and such portions of their neck, back, etc., as they cannot reach with
their bills. He often finds them containing feathers, down, dead
skin, etc.

H. W., Massachusetts.—The Fern, from Genesee, N. Y., en-
Z is mg nothing but a poor ites: of Aspleniuva aon

teroides Mic

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIF IC SOCIETIES.

a er

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE

accumulation of snow and ice as the glacial hypothesis supposes to
have once existed.

The author called attention to the extremely broken gondie of
the northern border of the continent, and to the probable effect of &

snow line by a depression of the summer temperature. A large ex-
tension of the area of perennial snow would result from this. But
every one hundred feet of snowy accumulation would be more than
equivalent in climatic effect to a hundred feet of continental eel

introduced. We should thus have a great snow and ice plateau, cov-
_ ering the northern portions of the maent without resorting to &
: very extended upward mo movement of the s

$ +
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 499

The paper then entered upon a discussion of the direct frigorific
effects of such an immense plateau, composed of such material, con-
trasting it with a similar plateau of bare earth, and applying to it
various meteorological considerations, all tending to show that in the
interior of such a plateau an intensely cold climate would continue
through the year.

Application was made of basic considerations to the question of a

d ove
the retreat of the china. By the cae motion the ‘dewtenn is trans-
Ported over limited distances. For the remote transportation of
drift, the agency of icebergs and ice-rafts is necessary. This latter
Point is discussed in the paper on the Ripton Sea-beaches.
“The Ripton Sea-beaches,” by Professor E. Hungerford. This pa-
per gives a somewhat detailed description of a series of terraces,

present position and form. The configuration of the country being
rded as unfavorable to the accumulation of a large body of fresh
water at this point, these deposits are cited as a strong confirmation

2,000 feet beneath the sea since the glacial epoch proper.
The author of the paper took occasion to concisely present his

ena. The geological events enumerated succeeded each other in the
ae order :—

. The formation of a continental glacier to whose partial m
sine; always limited to a comparatively narrow belt upon the ati
ern or seaward margin, are due the erosive phenomena, and the trans-
_ portation of the drift over limited areas.

500 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

2. A depression of the continent, bringing the ocean into contact
with the long Lp border, which, on its retreat, sends off icebergs

d icerafts into the ocean. To these are attributed the further trans-
portation of rered and boulder:
. Emergence of the leapan — the higher beaches marking the

earlier, and ae Champlain terraces the later stages of this process.
“On the Geological pees of the Mastodon and Fossil Elephant
of North America,” by P Ofensor — Hall, of Albany. Professor

autum He
‘tial deastevse position by the melting of a glacier. He considered
the facts as evidence that the mastodon extended back to the close of
the glacial epoch. The paper stimulated so lively a discussion that
the time of the session was extended three-fourths of an hour, when &
farther discussion was postponed till the next day. During the discus-

Bad with foreign observations. He noticed that remains of cig
a identical with the one found in Siberia, were numerous 1
Russian America, and he suggested that the day might come when
fossil ivory would become an important article of export from that
territory.

“ Considerations drawn from the Study of the Orthoptera of North
America,” by S. H. Scudder, of Boston. This p gave a general
account of the Orthopteran (grasshoppers, crickets, and the like),
fauna of North America compared with that of Europe; showing =
greater comparative richness of the American fauna under similar-
climatic influences. It was followed by a more detailed notice of the
groups which are characteristic of one continent in contrast WI with
_ those forming the essential features in the fauna of the other.

_ “On recent Geological Discoveries in the Acadian Provinces of Brit-
ish America.” By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.R. S., Principal of a

= ‘University. The object of the paper was to notice some rece

coveries, which, though of interest, might have escaped the notice of
: = ore sp aaa

PROCEEDINGS Oe SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 501
In New Brunswick, the older rocks in the vicinity of the city of St.

ro
principally through the labors of Mr. thew, Mr. Hartt, and Profes-
sor Bailey. The first step toward the yd of their precise date
_ Was the a of a rich land flora in some of the u per beds, next

below the Lower Carboniferous rocks which overlie them unéonforma-
bly. These Pai plants I was enabled to recognize as of the Devonian
Period, and the zealous researches, more especially of Mr. Hartt, have
brought to light no less than forty to fifty species, or half of the whole
number known in the Devonian of Eastern America, as well as six

der.* These insects are the first ever found in rocks older than the
Carboniferous.
_ Th hese rocks, consisting chiefly of hard shales and sandstones, hav-

thickness of underlying rocks of uncertain age. In the upper member
of these rocks, the same active obseryers already mentioned have ob-

served a rich primordial fauna, embracing species of Conocephalites,
Paradozides, vraag and Agnostus, as well as an Orthis, and a new
type of Cystid These foarte are regarded by Mr. Hartt and Mr.
Billings as seg the age of Barrande’s. “‘ Etage C,” and as marking &
new and older period of the “ Piaras Primordial” than any other as
yet recognized in America, W with the exception of the slates holding

rado: in
Slate emenn of Jukes, in Neniom and. Descriptions of these
i

of these beds, consisting principally of conglomerate and trappean
beds, is regarded by Messrs. Matthew and Bailey as of the age of the
l ere

Huronian. Th ainder, containing much gneiss and a b
talline limestone, mee m rd as Laurenti If this view is correct,
and it certai ms to be probable, these rocks thus rising through

and auc of tha Atlantic coast; the latter as has been pola out by
* Canadian Naturalist and Geologist. me

502 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

Professor Hall and Sir W. E. Logan, so remarkably distinguished by
the predominance of mechanical sediments, and by a development of
the lower rather than the upper members of tho Lower Silurian.

To ascend from these rocks to the Carboniferous, — recent pio
of Mr. Davidson, Mr. Hartt, and the author, had led to the division of
the Lower Carbo seta into successive subordinate —_— and to
the determination of m f the marine fossils, and also to the expla-
nation of the curious wis cs ently anomalous fact shat some forms
allied to Permian species ue exist in the Lower Carboniferous,

proper, can fairly be made in Nova Scotia, ine the gran
development of the er dene in thicknes

After noticing the large advances made in a fossil botany of Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick, the paper referred to the discovery by
Mr. Barnes of two new species of insects, and to the discovery by the
writer of a new pulmonate mollusk, described by Dr. P. P. Carpen-
ter, as Conulus priscus. There are thus in the coal formation of Nova
Scotia a Pupa and a Conulus or Zonites, generically allied to living
pulmonates, and representing Babies in that early period two of the
eee types of these creatu

S mens of these ean were aes and also specimens and a
= seen of the Laurentian fossil Zozojn Canadense sent by Sir
W. E. Logan. Special attention was drawn to the specimen recently
found by the Canadian Survey at Tudor, which shows oie organism in
a state of preservation comparable with that of ordinary Silurian fos-
sils.

‘On the Distribution of Radiata on the West Coast of America.” By
Professor A. E. Verrill. In this paper the author has endeavored to
present all the facts hitherto published in regard to the geographienl
distribution of the Radiates along the entire Pacific coast o
as well as many new observations upon those found in the orad re

on.
The present state of our knowledge indicates that the entire Ome
may be divided into at least eleven regions, or zodlogical provinces,

the bounds eN adjacent provinces, on one or both ends, in dimin-

ished ı Temperature was shown to be the principal physi-
cal agency ii Halting the distribution of species, but the nature
of the bottom and the character of the shores have their influ-
ence. "oe depth of water gerend bas a e mmaala

Shallo
of many Mollusca, Crustacea, and Fishes, but not the

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 503

Species, but its principal influence is indirect, by influencing tempera-

animals to extend in deep water farther toward the equator than upon

the shore. The number of species of each class of Radiates found in the

Several provinces was stated, together with those that were peculiar
sou Th

coasts of America and Europe, and, in some cases, upon the
Pacific coast of Asia; several of the common New England Star-fishes,
Sea-urchins, and Actiniæ are examples of species having this wide

O the latter being common e Tropical or Panamian province,
extending from the head of the ide of California and Cape St. Lucas
to Cape Blanco, Peru, was compared with the Caribbean province,

extending on the Atlantic pri from Florida to Brazil, ahd including
the West Indian Islands. Very few species of Radiates are recorded
as identical between the Atlantic and Paciñc, and these are all Holo-
thurians, and therefore doubtful. The Polyps and Corals are remark-

vin

n to those ofthe Atlantic. All the evidence is against the suppo-

hmus, since the

more evidence of existing

ific species passing into the Atlantic, than the contrary.

In conclusion, it was thought that a depression of about three

red feet, causing a connection across the Isthmus by means of a

w estuary of brackish’ water, sufficiently pure to sustain the life
floating germs

of of Corals and other Radiates, would: waticieaty account for the distri-

ut to account for the distinct

In-

“open species belonging often to genera not found in the East

504 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

dies and Central Pacific, it will be necessary to suppose that they were
created gan rately, as we find them, each adapted to its province; or
else that they have descended from common ancestors, becoming
si ep ici by natural selection or otherwise, and pointing to
an earlier, very ancient, and extensive connection between the two
eans.

Prof. O.C. Marsh exhibited some remarkable fossil Sponges from the
Lower Silurian of Kentucky, for which he had recently proposed the
new genus Brachiospongia. The type of the genus was B. Remerand,
and several other species have recently been discovered. These forms

v nlike any known ‘sponges, recent or fossil, and are of great
Scientific interest. A full description of them will soon be published.

“On certain Effects produced upon Fossils by Weathering. > ay

Professor OU C. Marsh. Certain ena tay in some fossil shells,

different genera on the same specimen. This is very often the case
with Ceratites nodosus, from the Trias of Germany.

— This number is devoted largely to the a Hg of the
Pensa apie cgi for the Advancement of Science. In order to
make room for the valuable and interesting address of the President,
and the abstracts o; y ers read in the Natural History Section, we
have crowded out articles and illustrations originally intended for

mber.
We trust all our readers will feel an interest in the growth and
uccess of the American Association, whose meetings are doing
so much for the diffusion and advancement of Science in this country,
and prove such pleasant reunions for all interested in the cause
The abstracts of the papers will be continued in future numbers.

BOOKS RECEIVED.
ife Beneath the Waters; or the Aquarium in America. By Arthur M. E
New York, 1858. Izmo. Tiustrated. se `- Islands, Hion)
Parasite, or Cat illar Fungus, from the Philippine Ps
Dr. Samuel d Spesland, and. (Erom the 1 Proceedings "Boston Society Natural History

gso: of the Geo!
and its vicinity ; prepared by L. Von
$ for Schools and Academies. By L. C-
Co. 1867,

Motes on: ai anada, and o
merae te EEEE OTAS yaa Dawson Li Da wi with Notes
by W. pic ing oe the Proceedin logical
Boctety. , May 8 IN

OBITUARY NOTICE.

Ir is our painful duty to announce the death of the President of the
Essex Institute, which took place at his residence in Salem, on
Thursday evening, October 31, 1867.

Francis PEABODY, born at Salem, December 7, 1801, was a son of
Joseph Peabody, an eminent merchant of Salem during the close of
the last and the beginning of the present century. Soon after leaving
school he made an excursion to Russia and Northern Europe, and on
his return settled in Salem, where he continued to reside until his de-
cease, except during occasional visits to Europe. He was early in-
terested in the study of chemistry and the kindred sciences, and their
application to the useful arts. He was the first President of the Board
of Trustees of the Peabody Fund for the promotion of science and
useful knowledge in the County of Essex; a member of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and other institutions.

In November, 1827, the Essex Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons,
in Salem, of which body he was an honored member, voted to have a
course of Literary and Scientific Lectures; about the same time the
Salem Charitable Mechanic Association appointed a committee to
Provide for the delivery of lectures before the members and their
families. Before both of the above-named institutions Mr. Peabody
delivered several lectures on the Steam Engine, Electricity, Galvan-
ism, Heat, and similar subjects. At the organization of the Salem
Lyceum in January, 1880, Mr. Peabody took a leading part, and was
on the first board of management, and delivered several lectures on
Scientific subjects. These several institutions may be considered as
having made thé first movement in the general introduction of pop-
ular and instructive lectures, which have been so universally adopt-
ed in this country.

About 1826 Mr. Peabody engaged in the manufacture of white lead,
which business he pursued until 1843. During that period he was also
interested in the manufacture of paper and linseed oil, and owned es-
tablishments for the refining of sperm and whale oils. From that

2

time, until his decease, he engaged extensively in commercial enter-
prises, in connection with one of his sons, and had recently erected a
mill for the manufacture of .gunny cloth on new principles.

Mr. Peabody had a very active and inventive mind, and was always
interested in the conducting of experiments in the Physical Sciences,
or in the invention of machinery useful in the arts. He had always
been an efficient and zealous member of the Institute, and in May,
1865, was elected its President; during his official connection with
that body he contributed very largely for the promotion of its objects.

The decease of the President will not only be a great loss to the
Institute but to the community in which he had spent an active and
useful life. His memory will long be cherished for his many virtues
and his great interest in all worthy undertakings.

At a meeting of the Essex Institute, held on Saturday, Nov. 2, 1867,
Vice-President A. C. Goodell, jr., in the chair, the following Resolu-
tions, offered by Henry Wheatland, were unanimously adopted : —

Resolved, — That the Essex Institute receives see tidings of the bee of its
President, FRANCIS iape Esquire, with p found BortoW; that in h in Con
of it

it
officer, but of a friend ai atron of science anà the useful arts, w who, while vais

menman of cose and the inp vane of now sources of api a man w ose

mou

tha iata 3

osperity of any binilir, wi. ya its more inti-
mate and private ae wan asa ane and blameless.

Resolved, — That, as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, the Rooms
of the Institute be aie to the geet erage Nov. 4, and that me members
assemble at this p f their late
President.

— That the Hon. C. W. Upham be invited to prepare a Eulogy upon
life and shernater of of the deceased, to be read before the members of the nie
at such time as shall be hereafter determined upon; and pore the Trustees of the

Resolved, — That a copy of these Reso coupons to the family of the de-
ceased, to whom the Institute hereby tender its sincerest sympathy and condo-
enoe; SHA Mat a copy Do also » forwarded to George Peabody, sa of RRS

his large done
tion for the promotion of science and useful knowledge in the County of rR
and the deceased the warmest feelings of kindred and friends

Cet E

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. I.— DECEMBER, 1867.—No. 10.
<>

DESMIDS AND DIATOMS.

BY PROF. L. W. BAILEY.

It is the purpose of the present article to present in a
familiar way the more important features in the structure
and history of some organisms in general but little known,
the Desmiprace® and DraTomacE®, and to suggest a
few reflections upon their habits and economical value,
but more especially their importance, both in past ages
and at the present time, in modifying the physical fea-.
tures of the globe.

Without entering into the facts of the discovery and
history of these microscopic Algx, it may be sufficient to.
say that they were originally included, together with two:
other very interesting groups, the Polygastrica or Many-
Stomached animals, ane the Rotatoria or Wheel-animal-
cules, by the Prussian naturalist, Ehrenberg, under the
common name of Infusoria. It is much to be regretted
that a systematic classification, embracing numerous sub-
families, genera and species, should thus have been in-
troduced into scientific nomenclature, at a period when so
little was really known of the true position of these organ-

Entered li Act of Congress. in the year 1867, by the ESSEX INSTITUTE, in the
Massachusetts.
(505).

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 64

506 DESMIDS AND DIATOMS.

isms, and that names devised to represent their supposed
characters, but calculated to lead into constant error,
should thus have been perpetuated. The name of Infu-
soria, applied to the whole assemblage of animated forms
first revealed by the microscope, was derived from the in-
variable presence of these bodies in all infusions of decay-
ing animal and vegetable matters. It is to their rapid ap-
pearance and development under circumstances calculated
to remove or destroy all germs of organic life, that the
doctrine of spontaneous generation, still maintained by
many able observers, owes its origin. Into the character
and habits of the Infusoria proper, or Protozoa, as they are
now called, as well as those of the Rotatoria or Wheel-
animalcules, I do not now propose to enter. Suffice it to
say, that the two remaining families, the Diatoms and Des-
mids, after repeated tossing from the one kingdom to the
other, are now universally admitted into the department
of the botanist, and can really have nothing in common
with that of the zodlogist.

The Desmids and Diatoms were grouped together by
Ehrenberg, under the single name of the Bacillariæ, from
bacillum, a rod or wand, a name singularly inappropriate
as applied to the whole family, including as it does a
large proportion of forms having no such resemblance.
By naturalists of later years the two are included as co-
ordinate suborders of the minuter Cryptogamia, termed
Alge by botanists.

The Desmids, or Desmidiacez, so called from the par-
tial division of the single cell of which they consist into
two by a deep constriction in the middle, which is highly
characteristic of the whole family, are pseudo-unicellular
alge of a beautiful green color and great variety in size
and outline. Unlike the Diatomacee, they are confined

DESMIDS AND DIATOMS. 507

solely to fresh water, where their delicate green cells,
forming mucous tufts or films on the surface of boggy
pools, or coating the stems or fronds of aquatic plants,
often multiply in sufficient numbers to impart a pale
green tint to the water. Only the most quiet and the
purest water seem favorable to their growth. Running
streams, brackish inlets, the turbid waters so productive
of the minuter forms of animal life, seem wholly unfitted
for these delicate organisms. Asa general rule they are
much less numerous than the Diatoms, the latter far
exceeding them in families, genera, and species, as well
as in the number of individuals. Their outline is very
varied, but generally characterized by a great number of
incisions of greater or less depth, which seem constantly
tending to divide the original cell into a number of
smaller ones. Many of them have in general a circu-
lar outline, but still marked with deep constrictions
(as Micrasterias, Pl. 13, fig. 4), others are lengthened
and sigmoid (Closterium, fig. 5), recalling some genera
among the Diatomacese; others, again, are compound
or concatenate ; and yet others, like the Diatoms, form
long and waving graceful filaments. A tendency also
towards outward development, as shown in the nume-
rous projecting arms which are so prominent on many
Species (figs. 1, 2, 6), is also a noticeable feature in their
structure, and aids greatly in the determination of their
Specific characters and their relations to other families.
The Desmids consist, as I have said, essentially of a
single cell. This cell has the usual number of external
Coatings, a membrane of firm though flexible consistency,
often containing particles of silica, and showing the affini-
ties between this family and the Diatomacez ; a second
Coating or “primordial membrane” included within the

we o DESMIDS AND DIATOMS.

former, and containing within its cavity the “endochrome,”
or green coloring matter, which seems to be analogous to
the chlorophyl or leat-green of the higher plants; and,
lastly, a thin hyaline membrane enclosing the two former,
and analogous to a similar membrane among the Diato-
mace. The surface of the cell thus enclosed is often
ornamented by the existence of numerous markings,
strie, lines or dots, but still oftener by the presence of
projecting points or spines, which give to many of the
genera a singularly beautiful appearance. In the interior
of this cell may sometimes be seen a curious movement
of the cell contents, which has given rise to much discus-
sion among the students of these forms. Some assign
the circulation thus witnessed to ciliary action, others to
the spontaneous movement of enclosed zoéspores ; but as
this is still a debated point, I shall not at present dwell
upon it. The same is true of the motion quite commonly
observed of the whole Desmid through the medium in
which it lives, with a slow majestic movement, very sug-
gestive of animality, and which caused these organisms
to be assigned by the earlier writers to that kingdom.
The existence of external “cilia,” either in these or in
the Diatomacex is exceedingly improbable. Like other
plants, they have a marked tendency to travel towards
the light, and have sufficient power of locomotion to
penetrate to the surface of mud in which they have been
imbedded during the drying up of pools.

The multiplication of the Desmids is accomplished by
two methods: by self-fission, or the dividing of the cell-
contents into two portions, as is commonly the case with
all Alge ; or, secondly, by a true generative process, “N
the formation of “Sporangia.” As, however, these pro-
cesses are very similar to those which characterize the

DESMIDS AND DIATOMS. 509

reproduction of the Diatomacee, and as it is chiefly of the
latter that this article is designed to treat, it is unneces-
sary to enter into a more minute description.

Before dismissing the subject of the Desmidiacee, I may
say that they are exceedingly common, especially in open
tracts, abounding in exposed localities. They are ex-
ceedingly beautiful, and, with the Diatoms, which are
always associated with them, form objects well worthy of
search on the part of those provided with the proper
instruments to discern their beauties. They are very
tenacious of life, I having frequently found them still
green and healthy in bottles of water from which all
other varieties of vegetable life had long since disap-
peared. As agents in the mechanism of Nature, the Des-
mids play an important part, not only by directly serving
as the food of many aquatic animals, but also by their
furnishing, in company with other plants, the oxygen
which is so necessary for the purity of the water in which
these animals are to dwell.

Lastly, the Desmids have a peculiar interest from the
fact, that, notwithstanding their being destitute of the
hard parts which constitute the fossil remains of other
plants and animals, they are yet found in considerable
numbers in the fresh-water marls of North America, and
bodies bearing a striking resemblance to their Sporangia
occur tbhindantly i in the silicious nodules of the chalk,
and even in the flinty hornstone of the Silurian and
Devonian eras.* To this fact allusion will again be made
in the diseussion of the geological relations of the Diato-
macez,

*It is generally stated that these organisms, sign l be eegnen are the spora

gia of Desmids; ut if so, how is it that they occur in rine deposits, suc ter for the
chalk and horn while the recent Desmids are exclusi ely fresh-water forms :
In alusi ions to ae e fossils this fact seems to have been generally overlooke

51Q DESMIDS AND DIATOMS.

The close analogy existing between the structure and
mode of growth of the Desmidiacez and that of other un-
doubted unicellular Algæ became evident with the rapid
improvements in the instruments of observation. Not so,
however, with the Diatomacez, for although the opinion
is now almost universal among those most competent to
decide the question, that they are truly vegetables, this
conclusion was long opposed by able writers, and even
now is by some authorities strenuously disputed. With
the majority of observers I will assume their vegetable
nature, and endeavor to describe the most important fea-
tures in their structure and mode of growth.

The Diatoms (from dia and temno, to cut in, two) are,
like the Desmids, unicellular Alge, consisting essentially
of two plates, concavo-conyex, Dai, hemisphere or
depressed, connected together by a band or hoop called
the “connecting membrane,” applied to and coinciding
with the circumference of the valves, and enclosing within
a coloring matter, which, unlike that of the Desmids and
most true plants, is of a yellowish or orange-brown color.
The form, structure, and marking of these valves are
often very complex as well as beautiful, and are of vast
importance in the classification of these organisms. As
to form, the Diatoms present an infinite variety of size
and outline. Mathematical curves of the most exquisite
perfection, combinations which the designer would grasp
with eagerness in the planning of his “modeli, surfaces
adorned with the most unlimited profusion of style and
ornamentation, are everywhere presented. They may
conveniently be arranged under two great heads; first,
of the forms more or less linear or eiii in outline, in-
cluding most fresh-water species; and, secondly, those
- Which are eet almost solely marine. This division is

DESMIDS AND DIATOMS. 511

not an accurate one, many linear forms being marine, and
a few discoids fresh water, but the distinction is a con-
venient one, and sufficiently characteristic to apply to the
majority of cases. .

Among the forms whose general outline is linear, we
have those which are straight and free (such as Witschia,
Pl. 13, fig. 8), those whose “frustules,” as the separate
individuals are termed, are adherent by the base, and
which produce fan-like clusters, or even star-shaped ag-
gregations (as in Synedra, fig. 33; Asterionella, fig. 17;
and Licemophora, fig. 20); those with the individuals
adherent by the sides, and producing lengthened fila-
ments (fig. 18), which if one end of the cell be smaller
than the other, will give rise to spirals (as in Meridion,
fig. 12), or again lying free with others of its kind in a
sort of gelatinous envelope or cushion (as in Mastogloia,
fig. 19, Encyonema, etc.), or adhering by alternate cor-
hers and producing zigzag chains (as in Diatoma, fig. 16;
Grammatophora, fig. 30; Tabellaria, fig. 13) ; or, lastly, not
included in either of the above divisions, but still having
a certain general resemblance to the typical straight line
(as Cocconema, Gomphonema, etc.). These are by no
means natural or scientific divisions, but aid in fixing in
the memory their characteristic shapes. Between each
other and the second great class of circular or discoid
forms, there is every variety of gradation, the one insen-
sibly passing into the other. The latter, or discoid forms,
which, as I have said, are mostly but not exclusively
marine, are .also characterized by even greater variety of
form and outline, often exceeding in beauty of conception
and in delicacy of execution the most elaborate works of
human ingenuity. As a general rule the surface of their
valves is more or less broken into numerous dots, depres-

Sr DESMIDS AND DIATOMS.

sions, or elevations, and frequent areolations, circular or
hexagonal. This is a very general character of all the
Diatomace, and is due to the deposition of layers of
silex variously disposed within or between the different
membranes which enclose the cell, and which, remaining
persistent and retaining all their delicate sculpturing after
the removal of the organic contents, are the portions
which become fossil and which, even in recent gatherings,
are the chief features used for the discrimination of the
species. Frequently several different modes of ornamen-
tation are visible upon the same shell, and are possibly
situated in its different layers. The exact position, and
the number of such membranes, and the nature of the
markings, are still subjects of discussion among the stu-
dents of these forms. The presence of this silex, how-
ever, is the fact of most interest in their structure,
whether they be regarded in a strictly scientific, or in an
economical point of view. ;
Among the discoid forms may be enumerated those
with a circular outline, and circular or hexagonal areo-
lations (such as Coscinodiscus, Pl. 13, fig. 34; Craspedo-
discus, etc.), those with a circular valve divided into
partitions by radiating lines (as Axachnodiscus, fig. 29),
_ those with a simple disk, but united into continuous fila-
_ ments (as Podosira, fig. 25; Melosira, etc.), those with a
more or less circular outline, but with the surface pro-
jecting into spines or processes which seem to connect
adherent frustules (as in Biddulphia, fig. 31; Eupodis-
cus, etc.) ; or, lastly, of forms not truly circular in out-
line, but really modifications of the circle, and approach-
ing that shape by insensible gradations (as Triceratium,
fig. 27; Amphitetras, fig. 36; Campylodiscus, Surirella,
ete.). Asa rule, the circular forms may be compared to

=

DESMIDS AND DIATOMS. 513

tolerably flat thin pill boxes, or, still better, to a common
watch. One genus, indeed, the LTyalodiscus, when mag-
nified over 2,500 diameters, bears a striking resemblance
to the covers of an engine-turned watch, two sets of deli-
cate dots radiating in eccentric curved lines from the cen-
tre towards the periphery, and giving to the shell, under
bright illumination, a truly exquisite appearance. Some
have the disks so convex as to make a nearly spherical
figure, others have the surface depressed at the centre,
while others again are beset around the margin with a
glittering row of spear-like points. The imagination can
scarcely picture a form of beauty which does not find a
counterpart among these most wonderful of Nature’s me-
dallions.

The multiplication of the Diatoms, like that of the
Desmids and other unicellular Alge, takes place accord-
ing to one or the other of two modes, either by simple
cell-multiplication, the original frustule dividing into two
which again subdivide, or else by a true generative pro-
cess, and the formation of Sporangia. The first method
is exceedingly common, so much so, indeed, that we can
Scarcely find a specimen in which the process is not just
ended, or in some stage of advancement. This multi-
Plication takes place by the gradual enlargement or
Widening of the “connecting membrane” before alluded
to. (See Pl. 13, figs. 31 a, and 23 a.) Nearly at the
beginning of this process the contents of the cell are di-
vided into two portions, while the lining or inner mem-
brane of the parent cell becomes doubled inwards in an
annular ring about the whole circumference along the line
of division. This infolding membrane continues to ad-
vance, until a nearly complete division has taken place
of the old cell into two new ones, the two new contiguous

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 65

514 DESMIDS AND DIATOMS.

valves becoming impregnated with silex before they have
become free of the connecting membrane. (Pl. 13, fig.
31a.) In this way a complete septum is formed, the
two new frustules often remaining enclosed within the
connecting membrane, like the inner tubes in a telescope.
These new cells, which in every way are the exact coun-
terpart in size and structure of their parents, may remain
thus enclosed, but more frequently are left free by the
falling off of the connecting membrane. The new frus-
tules thus formed, by the greater or less adhesion among
themselves, which differs in different species, give rise to
all the different forms of aggregation already alluded to.
If adherent side by side, the effect is to produce a length-
ened filament, either straight (Pl. 13, fig. 18), or spiral
(fig. 12); if adherent only at corresponding corners, &
star-shaped figure is produced (fig. 17); if at alternate
corners, a zigzag chain (fig. 16). Frequently processes
of greater or less size are developed at the corners, which
serve as means of adhesion between the two (fig. 23).
Lastly, the division may be complete, and the resulting
cells remain aggregated in a spongy mass (fig. 19) 5 oF
else, entirely free, swim slowly through the medium in
which they live (figs. 9, 10, 28, 32, ete.). :

Of the contents of the cells or “frustules,” their chem-
ical composition, changes, and internal movements, it is
unnecessary now to speak. Suffice it to say, that the ex-
istence of the so-called stomachs, organs of locomotion,
ete., which Ehrenberg asserted that he had detected in
their interior, have been entirely disproved by the re-
searches of later authors. The “endochrome,” as I have
already said, is of a different color from that of most
plants, and is even supposed by many to be of a different
- chemical composition; but in most. other respects their

DESMIDS AND DIATOMS. 515

resemblance to true plants is very marked, and as they
bear the closest analogy to the Desmids, which all ob-
servers now admit to be vegetables, it can scarcely be
doubted that they, too, are of the same nature.

One of the greatest obstacles to a belief in the vegeta-
ble nature of the Diatoms has always been the wonder-
fully curious motions which nearly all of them exhibit in
their living state. This is not a merely mechanical mo-
tion, due to light or other external agents, although they
share this property with other known plants, but they
seem to have a certain internal principle of locomotion
peculiar to themselves. They may constantly be seen
swimming through the water, with a motion slow, to be
sure, when we consider how much that motion is mag-
nified, yet certainly as rapid as that of many undoubted
animals among which they dwell. As a general rule
these motions are simply backwards and forwards, any
interposing obstacle being pushed aside, but not avoided ;
at other times, the motion is a slow rolling from side to
side. In one species, however (the Bacillaria paradoxa,
(PL I3, fig. 18), so singular are the movements exhib-
ited, and so unlike anything that occurs either in the
animal or vegetable kingdom, that they never fail to ex-
cite astonishment in those who, for the first time, behold
the curious phenomenon.

Like a lengthened ribbon, crossed by numerous close
and parallel bands or bars, the Bacillaria frequently
attains a length of an inch or more. Hanging from some
green confervoid plant, or floating freely in the water,
this fragile form, transparent and lustrous as the finest
spun glass, is at first quite motionless. Slowly detaching
itself, however, at one end, a strange activity will soon
become apparent throughout its entire length. Each

516 DESMIDS AND DIATOMS.

glassy bar takes upon itself an individuality, and though
still connected with the rest, moves as with an impulse of
its own. The middle bar alone is motionless. Those on
either side slide gently on the last, the one to the right,
the other to the left, with clock-like regularity. The
movement of the first is the signal for all the rest. Each
in turn slips quickly along his neighbor’s side, until from
a long and ribbon-like band, we now have a séries of
glassy steps, each crystal bar resting slightly upon that
below it. But the change is transient. When the whole
series has thus unfolded, as it were, it begins to slowly
recoil again. Each plant or bar resumes its former place,
and the ribbon-like band again hangs motionless from
leaf to leaf.

The cause of these motions has been severally assigned
to the action of minute vibratory cilia, to an undulatory
motion of the outer membrane, and to the mechanical
effects resulting from thé absorption or discharge of
water. The subject, however, is one which yet remains
in great obscurity. — To be concluded.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 13.
igs. 1-5. Dersmrps,—1 and 3, Euastrum; 2 and 6, rs eT
— fossils found in flint; 4, Micrasterias; 5, Closterium.
-21. DIATOMS, — Fresh-water. 7, Navicula; Al Nitschia;
9, baoa: 10, Pinnularia; 11, Eunotia triodon; 12, Meridion ver-
; 18, Ta bellaria peo a, —a, front view, b, side view; 14, CY-
clotella Zap aaa side view; 15, Acnanthes; 16, Diatoma floc-
culosum ; 17, peonpi 18, Bacillaria paradoxa; 19, Mastogloia;
20, Licmopho ra; 21, Odontidium
Figs. 22-36. DIATOMS n,- Marine Forms. 22, Amphiprora; 23, Am
ee , forming a zigzag chain, —a, a frustule about to divide into
two, b, two Da newly formed but not yet separated, the “com”
_ necting membrane” having fallen off; 24, Asteromphalus, a peautiful
deep-sea form, taken from below 2,000 fathoms in the sea of Kams-
chatka; 25, Podosira ; 26, Navicula didyma; 27, Triceratium; 28, Nits-

American Naturalist. Wo. J, PL 19.

BAILEY ON DESMIDS AND DIATOMS

A BOTANICAL -EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE. sly

chia; 29, Arachnoidiscus; 30, Grammatophora; 381, Biddulphia,—a,
two frustules, still enclosed by the ‘‘ connecting membranes,” b, ‘‘ con-
necting membrane,” widening previous to self-division; 32, Pleuro-
sigma; 83, Synedra; 34, Coscinodiscus; 35, Triceratium; 36, Amphi-
tetras.

The forms are not accurately drawn to scale, but are for the most
part magnified about four hundred diameters.

eee eens

A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE.

BY PROF. HORATIO C. WOOD, JR., M. D.

PROBABLY most of the readers of the NATURALIST have,
at some time or other in the last five years, owned, or at
least been interested in aquaria. If what happens in
Philadelphia may be’ taken as an index, many such ob-
servers of water-life have been pestered by a minute
growth, which seems to flourish alike on plant or stick,
on the living and dead. Last winter and spring the
writer of this article had a small aquarium, which, as
far as plants were concerned, was stocked chiefly with the
Ceratophyllum, or hornwort, which, as is well known,
possesses a vast abundance of finely dissected, twig-like
leaves. Glancing one day at his water-garden, he
noticed on these little cylindrical divisions a fine hazy
fringe, scarcely to be perceived except by allowing the
light to shine through the vessel containing the plant.
Now this fringe, this nebulous garment clothing the horn-
wort, was the minute growth alluded to, which, though
not strictly parasitic, not feeding on the plant to which it
is attached, is, in most cases at least, associated with a
sickly state of the larger plants, and certainly detracts

om their beauty when viewed with the unaided eye, as
in aquaria. But let us take our forceps, break off -one

518 A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE.

of these little twigs, place it on a glass slide, put over it
the cover, and carry it to our microscope. For this ex-
amination, a power of about one hundred diameters is
the most satisfactory, say an 38; or 3 objective. Let me
place the object on the stand, adjust the light and focus,
and now peer through the eye-glass, and lo ! T our scarcely
perceptible prize starts into view as a huge subaquean
forest, or rather cane-brake, with great lafos stems ;

here and there more sparse and open, here and there
more close and impenetrable.

A wonderful land is this we have entered upon, —a *
land more strange than ever was dreamed of by Eastern
romance. It has not only a vastly diversified flora, but
also myriad animal forms.

If time and space would allow, we might watch the
little groups of Vorticellas, making, by “theft rapidly-
moving cilia, numerous whirlpools, which, to many of the
inhabitants of the drop of water, are as fearful as ever
maelstrom was to ocean wanderer ; for down in the centre
of each miniature whirlpool lurks their destruction, to-
wards which the current resistlessly forces them when
once within its grasp. Perhaps a huge many-armed
hydra might be found lurking in the thickets, or the jelly-
like, formless mass of an Amæba writhe itself into ever-
varying shapes before us. But we must pass by rotifers,
infaiorin: entomostracans, arachnids, —all the marvellous
animal inhabitants to be seen,—as well as the various
diatoms, desmids, and other plants, save the species which
is the predominant feature of the scene we have been
looking at
The packet of the intense interest excited by these
microscopic objects in any naturalist who has once fairly
entered upon the study of them is the fact, that here we

A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE. 519

are brought, as it were, face to face with the greatest of
all mysteries—Jife; here we see it in its simplest expres-
sion, and are able to watch all its processes, to perceive
every movement, and, in fact, come as close to the force
or forces which constitute life, as the chemist in his labo-
ratory, or electrician in his study, to the forces whose
action they investigate. The study of infusoria or of
microscopic alge is not merely, as in most natural his-
tory studies, one of form and relation, but rather is it
the study of life.

The scope of this paper is not such as to allow any-
thing more than an entrance into this subject just far
enough to glance at the beautiful prospect beyond. The
plant itself is one of those simple forms which prefigure
some variety of vegetable tissue, as seen in higher plants.
It is composed of a number of cells
placed end to end (Fig. 1), so as
together to form a filament.

Let us pause a moment here to
learn what a vegetable cell is, if we
do not already know. The micro-
scopist has given the name of cell ‘
to little vesicles, closed spheres, Seog ene re
cylinders, or some other hollow iwas formed: b,zoöspore,
forms, which his investigations have on. iens prima”
taught him, compose the animal and vegetable creation.
Mayhap the reader of this article has, at some time
in his summer saunterings, sat beneath a giant oak, and,
peering into the water rippling at his feet, watched
the little green mosses waving in the stream; or, stoop-
ing to pick up a pebble, has “noticed the dark lubricous
stratum on its surface. How different do these seem
from the tree that shades him! Yet in their essence

520 A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE.

they are the same. That scarcely perceptible speck on
the quartz is a vast assemblage of little plants, composed
each of but a single vesicle or cell; whilst the oak that
towers above is nothing but a vast assemblage of such
cells united into a single plant.

All plants, from the lowest to the highest, then, consist
of cells, which are essentially the same throughout the
_ whole vegetable kingdom. Let us take a cell of the plant
before us, and examine it as a specimen of the vegeta-
ble cell.

Tn the first place, on its exterior we find a dense, but
transparent coating, resistant to external force, and appa-
rently structureless. Examine it with our highest pow-
ers, and still it is structureless, a homogeneous, perfect
membrane, without pores or any interruptions whatever.
Yet it is easy to prove that water and various fluids can
pass through it. Place the cell in a dense syrup, and the
water will be drawn out of it so rapidly, that the contents
will shrivel up. Again; the contents of the cell are, as
we shall know directly, composed largely of a substance
which shrinks and hardens under the action of various
substances. Put a plant in diluted acid, or strong alco-
hol, and see how the contents gather themselves together ;
or surround it with a solution of iodine, and see how soon
the change of color in the most central part betrays the
presence of that element. Such experiments as these
prove that although the cell wall is absolutely homoge-
neous, destitute of all pores, yet fluids can pass through
it. You see how, in the very onset, we are led into one
of life’s processes, osmosis, as it is technically called ; but
we must pass it by.

Let us try a little microscopic chemistry. Put a fila-
ment on a clean slide, and allow a watery solution of

A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE. 521

iodine (dissolved by means of iodide of potassium) to
flow round it. Then adda drop of sulphuric acid, and
see! the transparent, colorless outer wall has become of a
decided bluish or purplish tint. This is the test for Cel-
lulose, a substance identical with starch in its constitution,
of which the outer wall of all vegetable cells is composed.
When a plant wishes to store up its material for future
use, it throws it into the form of little insoluble granules
(starch), which are deposited in the cells in various store-
houses,—sometimes underground stems, sometimes roots,
Sometimes leaves, sometimes other parts are selected.
When the plant wants to move its material from place to
place, it converts it into deztrine, which is soluble, and
therefore capable of being transported. But when the
material is to be finally disposed of, stored away, then it
is made to take the form of cellulose.

Within the cell, lying immediately against the outer
wall, is a thin, gelatinous, scarcely perceptible layer,
which is colored brown by iodine, and coagulated and
rendered more apparent by alcohol, sulphuric acid, and
Various reagents; this is the so-called primordial utricle,
an albuminoid, homogeneous mass, in which much of the
life-activity of the cell resides. Inside of this is a semi-

uid mass which is very complex in its constitution, and
different at different times. The essential parts of it are
protoplasm and chlorophyl. The former of these is prob-
ably identical with the primordial utricle, and shows its
wonderful formative power. Chlorophyl is the green color-
ing matter of plants. It is chlorophyl containing proto-
plasm, which alone stands between all animate creation
and death by starvation. For it is this alone which pos-
Sesses the marvellous, almost creative power of seizing
the inorganic siamini and opon of the earth and

CAN NAT., VOL.

522 A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE.

air, and changing them into organic principles capable of
life. But to do this, light is necessary ; it is only by the
aid of that force that the chlorophyl can awaken into life
the clod and breeze. Without light, —

“The world were void,
The populous and the powerful were a lump
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless,
A lump of death, —a chaos of hard clay.”

Somewhere in the protoplasm is generally to be found
a spot of great refractive power, the nucleus; in the cell
before us mayhap we can find it close to the wall, may-
be it is absent. The nucleus is nothing more or less
than a little solid protoplasmic ball. Much importance
is assigned to it by most authorities, and in fact it, when
present, plays a very important role in the life-history of
the cell. But in these alge it is often absent, and the
truth seems to be, that the primordial utricle, nucleus,
and general protoplasm are identical in constitution and
formative powers. In other words, that they are differ-
ent manifestations of the same substance.

Now let us place one of our filaments under a high
power and examine it closely. Under a + objective,
we will plainly perceive a very curious phenomenon
going on inside of some of the cells. Notice among the
general semifluid contents a number of minute dark
specks or dots; these are minute granules of protoplasm.
See! they are in active motion,—some are busy travel-
ling from one end of the cell to the other, and all along it
they are passing one another. But the mass of them are
collected in two groups at the ends of their cells; all of
them busy bustling about in all directions amongst them-
selves, reminding one of a hive of bees about to settle.

We have thus in our little plant had a sight of a Pro
cess, which, variously modified, is probably present in all

A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE. 523

vegetable cells during some period of their active life.
To these protoplasmic movements the name of Cyclosis
has been given. Among the higher plants, the hairs
of the stamens of the Tradescantia Virginica, or Spider-
wort, are favorite subjects for the study of Cyclosis.

It is well known, that, in our ordinary flowering plants,
there are two distinct methods of continuing the species.
In the one case, there is a peculiar system of organs pro-
vided, which are in a measure antagonistic to the growth
of the individual, and which produce seed, little bodies
capable of renewing the life of the species; in the other
case, certain portions of the ordinary nutritive organs of
plants are set apart to reproduce the species. Thus in
our common potato, by means of the flower, with its
stamens and pistils, seed is produced; but, at the same
time, portions of the underground stem become store-
houses of vital force and starch, to serve as material out
of which that force may obtain its building stores. Other
familiar instances of this changing of the destinies of a
part, are seen in the so-called bulbous roots, in the little
aerial bulblets of the Tiger-lily,—all of them nothing but
ordinary leaf-buds gorged with nutritive materials, and
made the depository of vital force, in order to survive the
death of the individual, and perpetuate the species.

As it is in the highest plants, so do we find it in the
lowest. Unity in diversity seems to be the motto of cre-
ation ; the broader we extend our studies, the oftener will
We find the same ideas outcropping in different forms.

In the little confervoid growth under consideration,
then, there are two distinct plans by which the species is
perpetuated. The first is by a setting apart of certain
ordinary nutritive parts of the plant, the other the spe-
Cialization of a peculiar set of organs.

224 A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE.

Let us study the former of these. Imagine our plant
under the microscope, just as some one or more of its
cells are to be sacrificed for the production of a new life.
Watch that cell. See the endochrome, or green contents,
gathering itself by an imperceptible motion into a con-
densed mass at the distal end of the cell. Now a separa-
tion is evidently taking place between this cell and the
next at its distal end. Slowly they part from one another,
remaining attached at one corner, so as to open like a
hinge until the sundered parts, instead of being in one
continuous line, lie side by side more or less parallel to
one another, and a free opening is left at the end of the
cell. Slowly the mass of endochrome continues to move,
so slowly, that, even with a very high power, the motion
is imperceptible. Perchance the outlet seems too narrow
for it, and, in twisting itself out of it, the plastic mass
assumes various shapes constricted in the middle where
the orifice is. It continues, however, to advance, until at
last it is out of the cell in the free
ocean around it. (Fig.1.) It "Eg"

2S now recovers very quickly its =e
ortly after Shape, and is a bright green,

zobspore “ i À
Gdogonium growing in globular or oval mass, with “fied to

oh deed ToT end. As I have seen the species
under consideration, this little ball is at first coated with a
transparent gelatinous material, which rapidly dissolves off
in the water. Let us keep our eye still fixed on the ball.
See! the coating is nearly gone, and, is it true? the little
bali begins to rock without apparent cause. Now it rocks
faster and faster, and now it is gone out of the field like
an arrow. Here it comes back, moving hither and yo?
‘now very rapidly, now with a slow laterally rolling

A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE. 929

motion. The plant has given birth to an offspring pos-
sessing apparently the peculiarly animal power of spon-
taneous motion. Let us now place a little solution of
iodine or laudanum so that it will come in contact with
our little moving body, and in a moment motion ceases,
—we have killed it!

Let us now carefully arrange our light, illuminating the
stage a little obliquely, put on our 4 objective, adjust it
‘for the glass cover, and see if we cannot discover the
cause of the motion. Do you not see a circle or crown
of long, lax, streak-like particles attached around the
bright transparent space before spoken off. These are
cilia, fine threads of condensed protoplasm. If during
life one of these motive bodies is placed in a liquid con-
taining very fine particles, as a dilute solution of India-
ink or gamboge, and watched, constant currents will be
seen to be produced by these cilia, which are in such
rapid motion that they cannot be otherwise detected.
It is, then, by virtue of the constant lashing of the cilia,
that the little body moves, just as a boat moves by means
of the scull. The movement of the cilia themselves is
not a voluntary one; it is a form of the protoplasmic
movements, of which cyclosis is one type.

Let us take our motive body, killed by means of. the
iodine, and add sulphuric acid to it; if cellulose be pres-
ent, a bluish or purplish color will be produced. But
there is none. In other words, our little body is composed
simply of protoplasm and chlorophyl ; it is a cell without
a wall. To these moving bodies the name of zoöspore is
given. If you watch a living zoospore, in a little while
its motion ceases, its cilia drop off, and it surrounds
itself with a cellulose wall. i

In most plants allied to the species under consideration,

526 A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE.

from the position of the cilia (Fig. 2) there grow, during
this process of germination, little root-like processes
which attach themselves to some anchorage, but I have
not been able to detect them in the aquarial inhabitant.
The cell, having acquired a wall, and thus perfected
itself, now begins to elongate; by and by it undergoes
cell division, and thus divides itself in its length into two
cells, which grow and divide, and by repetitions of this
process, the filament is formed, that which we noticed at
first. This plant belongs to the genus G/dogonium, the
species of which are arrangeable into three sets; first,
those in which the single filament produces both male and
female organs; secondly, those in which male and female
organs are produced in distinct filaments; thirdly, those
in which the female filaments produce, besides the regu-
lar zoéspores, others which, in germinating, grow into
peculiar dwarf plants, in which are formed “the male
germs. These three sets are known respectively as mo-
neecious, dicecious, and gynandrosporous plants ; the term
androspore being given to the zodspore, whose function is
to grow into the little dwarf male plant. The Œdogo-
nium of the aquarium belongs to the gynandrosporous
division.

Besides these zodspores the CEdogonia produce, by means
_ of a specialized reproductive system just alluded to, a spore
or seed which is known as a resting spore. In our plant
this is produced as follows: a cell in the main filament
begins to enlarge, and, at the same time, a communica-
tion is opened between it and the next proximal cell,
whose endochrome is emptied into it. The two consoli-
dated endochromes now contract themselves into a round-
ish ball in the swollen cell, the sporangia or spore-case-
About this time hrast of the poves (Fig. 3) attach

A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE. 527

themselves ‘generally on the emptied cell (Fig. 3),
Sometimes on the sporangium, and soon grow into a
Fig. 3. peculiar two-celled little plant. The
base of the first of these cells is
enlarged into a roundish, disk-like
part, which is attached to the anchor-
age, and is known as the foot. It
is the distal of the two cells in which
are formed the male germs, the so-
called spermatozoids. These are little
i bodies very similar to the zoéspores,
ein. female plant but much smaller, and almost desti-
oriy anda dwarf ‘male tute of color. They are similarly cil-
plant on i ge emp cell. 5
opi Fo male ‘pla an mts by iated, and have sim- Fzt
innod spore; c, opening ilar powers of loco-
r: A cell motion.
been used fh making the r
ee e
ize). at they are per.
fected. tone is formed a lateral open-
ing in the proximal or lower part of
the sporangium of the resting spore.
Through this orifice one or more of
these spermatozoids enters and im-
pregnates the endochrome, which con-
tracts itself still more, and matures
into the fully formed resting spore. $
During its maturation its green color AE P seite ‘ptint
changes into a reddish-brown, and it magnified about Jin ain
acquires two coats, the outer of which wim granular protoplasm
is very thick and provided with a cu- direction eira
rious spiral band or marking. (Fig. 5.) Se ea peel
The exact way in which germina- tle abov
tion of the resting spores takes place in the genus

528 A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE.

CEdogonium, has never been determined. In the allied
genus Bulbocheeta, the resting spore finally breaks up
into zoédspores, which grow into the plant
in the same way as aber ZOOSpores.

If we examine our filament closely, we
will find it terminated by a long, exceed-
ing delicate, bristle-like hyaline point,
composed of cells whose walls are so deli-
cate, as to be scarcely perceptible with
very high powers, and at the end appa-
rently consisting simply of primordial
utricle, though I confess never to have ac-
curately determined this by micro-chem-
ical tests. Again, if we look at some
{| of the large cells of the filament closely,
Portionoffemateata. We Will find near their distal end one,
oe Shana « two, three, or more streaks surrounding
og mae ghowing> them like so many collars. Let us look
still more closely. Why! such cells evidently have their
wall beyond the first streak or line thickened, in fact bear
on their upper ends little caps, as it were, the lines being
in the caps. The causes of these two phenomena, the
hyaline point and the little caps, are to be found in
the peculiar methods of growth of the Œdogonia. The
larger cells increase by a variety of cell multiplication by
division. Cell multiplication by division is almost the
_ only way in which all vegetable growth takes place.
The process, as it ordinarily occurs, may be outlined in
afew words. If a cell, about to undergo it, contains a
nucleus, the first change takes place in that nucleus;
a constriction can be. seen encircling and increasing in
depth, until the nucleus is divided into two. When this
: has taken place, a doubled reflection from the primordial

La

_ A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE. 529

utricle grows inwards, and, dividing the protoplasm and
contents more and more completely, finally meets in the
centre, and the single cell has been divided into two,
each half of the original size. ‘These small cells now in-
crease in size by an interstitial growth of their cell-wall
until they reach their full size, when, perchance, the pro-
cess recommences. Sometimes a globular cell will divide
into three, four, or more parts, but the process is essen-
tially the same. In Sree cell formation, the protoplasm of
a cell condenses into a varying number of little masses,
which, whilst lying free in the interior of the mother cell,
Secrete, each around itself, a cellulose wall. In this way
is formed a number of perfect cells, en- Fig. 6.
closed in, but independent of, the original
cell, by whose dissolution they are finally ahi
Set free.

But let us return to our little plant and
observe together a cell about to divide.
The first noticeable change is the appear- .
ance of a dark streak around the cell near i
the distal end. At the position of this Two cells taken from

. a species of (£do-
streak outgrowths take place from the gonium growing in
primordial utricle as just described, and cpm coed the
divide the old cell into two parts, the up- in which division is
per being much the smaller. (Fig. 6.) p AE gh enin vean
Watching the dark streak just spoken of, Ue senile oF oid
in a little while it begins to widen into a Giochrome;’ a its
trench, and still continues to widen; the lose wall: d, old cel
upper smaller division is growing by an separated
elongation of the primordial utricle at the line of separa-
tion of the two parts. As the primordial utricle grows,
it bears the old cellulose wall, like a cap upon its end;
and, when it secretes its own proper cellulose wall, the

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 67

530 A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN MY OFFICE.

latter is of course inside of this. When the newly formed
cell has attained its full size, it recommences the process
Fig.7. again. The dark line now appears just below
the edge of the old cap, and gives origin to the
edge of the second cap, that of the former re-
maining apparent as a dark line. Again the
process is gone through, and a third cap is
formed, the margins of the first and second
persisting. And so repetition after repetition,
until a cell is formed bearing on its end a cap
which is ringed with half a dozen dark lines,
and composed of as many layers of cellulose.
. The dark rings of course mark the edges of the
successively cut off ends of cells. If there be
six such lines, cell division has Riges,
taken place six times since the
original was formed. (Fig. 6.)
Whilst the cells near the base
are thus lengthening the fila-
ment by their increase, the end
cell seems to grow by a sort of
af) out-pushing of the primordial
Ra o de Pa ok utricle from the central part of perfected spore of
hyaline point-the fore end. This makes a ¢,,°pft't5staxen-
little cylinder, which is soon cut off from its evens cell
by a partition, secretes a cellulose coat, and then pushes
out a new shoot from its free end, just as itself was
formed. By a repetition of this, a series of cells is made,
each of which is smaller than the proximal one; and,
finally, the filament is drawn out into a fine hyaline point.
: ae 1.)

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES, U. S. A.

(Coneluded from p. 400.)

Fairy Hystricidæ, the Poreupines. The yellow-
haired Porcupine (Hrethizon epixanthus) is a large and
handsome species, which replaces the common one in the
Western regions. Besides being somewhat larger than
the last, there are differences in the color of the hair
and quills, and some peculiarities of the cranial bones. I
believe nothing has been observed regarding its habits
whereby it differs from the Eastern species (E. dorsa-
tum). It is particularly abundant along the Colorado
Chiquito River, and nearly all our alires have obtained
one or more specimens in that vicinity.

Family Leporidæ, the Hares. Two species of the fam-
ily are very abundant, and generally distributed over the
Territory. These are the Great “Jackass” Hare (Lepus
callotis), and the Sage Rabbit (L. artemisia). Certain
other species, as Z. Oalifornicus, in the Colorado Valley,
or L. campestris, in Northern Arizona, may possibly
occur; but the two first named are the only common
and characteristic ones.

The Jackass Hare includes in its extensive range nearly
all the great Western prairies extending into Texas and
New Mixies; and is, in places suited to its wants, a very
abundant animal. In some desert regions it and the Coyoté
are almost the only animals of any size to be found, and
it is difficult to i imagine how they derive nourishment from
such forbidding Igcalities. It must feed largely upon
sage-brush, grease-wood, kreosote-plant, young mimosas,
and the ike. for these constitute the main features of

(531)

532 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

the flora over large tracts, where grasses and succulent
herbs are mostly wanting. Its flesh is said to derive a
bitter taste from this sort of food; though I have eaten —
these hares from various regions without noticing any
difference in their quality. At Fort Whipple, the species
is very common the year round, and almost every sort
of locality is frequented by them, though they chiefly
affect grassy meadows and open glades, interspersed with
copses, or clumps of oak trees, or patches of briery un-
dergrowth. The gulches or “washes” as they are called,
leading out of mountain ravines, and thickly set with
grease-wood (Obione canescens), are favorite resorts.
They feed much upon this plant; and by their incessant
coursings through patches of it, they wear little intersect-
ing avenues, along which they ramble at their leisure.
When feeding at their ease, and unsuspicious of danger,
they move with a sort of lazy abandon, performing a suc-
cession of careless leaps; now nibbling the shrubs over-
head, now the grass at their feet. They are not at all
gregarious, though peculiar attractions may bring many
together in the same spot. They do not burrow, but
construct a “form”. in which they squat. I do not think
these are permanent; but rather that they are extem-
porized, as wanted, in some convenient bush ; though the
case may be different during the season of reproduction.
It has been stated by some authors, that only two or three
are produced at a birth, which I know to be at least not
always the case, having found as many as six embryos in
the multipartite womb of a pregnant female. In the lat-
e of Fort Whipple the young are brought forth in

Although so timid, like all hares, is species will ad-
mit of a very close approach when it fancies itself hidden

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 583

in its form; though it hardly squats so pertinaciously,
nor is it so easily concealed as the little Sage Rabbit, on
account of its size. Trembling at heart, yet with motion-
less body and eyes intently regarding the intruder, it sits
all doubled up, as it were, the head drawn in, and the
long ears laid flat upon its back, until one may almost
touch it, when, with a great bound, it straightens out,
clears the first intervening bush, and is off like the wind.
It has a long swinging gallop, and performs prodigious
leaps, some of them over bushes four feet high; now in
the air, its feet all drawn together and down stretched ;
now on the ground, which it touches and rebounds from
with marvellous elasticity. It will course thus for a
hundred yards or so, and then stop as suddenly as it
started ; and, sitting erect, its long wide open ears, vibra-
ting with excitement, are turned in every direction to
catch the sound of following danger. The eye and hand
of the sportsman who would cut short the first rush of the
Hare must be quick, or he will be more likely to behold
only a “rear elevation” of his game than to see it lying
upon its side in the agonies of death, playing the prelude
to its last appearance, in the culminating scene of its brief
life’s drama.

The skin of this species is very thin, tender, and easily
torn, and nearly worthless for any practical purpose.
After parted with by its owner, it is only fit for a natural-
ist to puzzle over, in the attempt to determine its species.
In the regions where I studied the animals, there is no
appreciable difference in color, between summer and win
ter pelages. They are always yellowish fulvous above,
grizzled. with gray, dusky, and black; and dull white
below, tinged with fulvous on the throat. There is a
longitudinal arios of pure black on the rump, and ex-

-

584 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

tending on the upper surface of the tail ; the under surface
of which, as well as the surrounding parts, are white.
The long ears are mostly grayish, or slightly fulvous,
their posterior margins pure white, and their broad ends
pure black for an inch or more. This parti-coloration
heightens the conspicuousness which their size alone
would give them.

The Sage Rabbit (L. artemisia) is as abundant in Ari-
zona as the Jackass-rabbit ; and, like the latter, has an ex-
ceedingly extensive range throughout the West, from the
Missouri region into Mexico, wherever the sage-bush, and
other desert shrubs are found. It seems rather to avoid
rich, grassy, and well-watered regions, and to take up its
abode in the most sterile and desolate localities. Besides
ordinary desert tracts, it shows a fondness for rocky,
broken, and precipitous places, such as are usually
shunned by the larger species, though the two are often
found side by side. It burrows in the ground, and also
lives under rocks, or in the crevices between them. It is
a squat, bunchy little species, and its gait differs greatly
from that of the hare. . It runs close to the earth, and
instead of bounding over obstacles, scuttles around them
with great agility. It is quite as difficult to shoot as the
Jackass; for although slower of foot, yet it runs in a
more tortuous and zigzag course. It squats so pertina-
ciously in its hiding-places, that a small bush may be
kicked several times before it will come out. It may not

be generally known that this species, at least in some

localities, changes its colors considerably in winter. At
Fort Whipple I procured one in January, whose fur was
very long, thick, and soft, and without a trace of the
rownish or fulyous so conspicuous in summer. It was
pretty much all over of a clear mouse or steel gray,

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 535

which, on various parts, particularly the belly and limbs,
passed into white, more or less pure.

Order Ruminantia, the Ruminants. Both naturalists
and hunters distinguish two species of Deer in Arizona,
called the Black-tailed and the White-tailed. Of these
the former is by far the most abundant and characteristic ;
although, judging from accounts formerly given of it, it
has considerably decreased in numbers owing to the per-
secution to which it is subjected so constantly from both
the native tribes and the white settlers. It is the Cervus
macrotis of Mr. Say; and is also called the “Mule Deer,”
from the length of its ears. A novice, on seeing it for
the first time, running directly from him, would hardly
think to call it “black-tailed,” but rather the reverse. The
black exists only on the upper surface of the tail, and
near the end; and, as this member is ordinarily elevated
and vibrated from side to side as the animal bounds off,
only the white of the under surface and neighboring parts
is exposed to view. This deer forms no small share of
the food and clothing both of the Indians and white set-
tlers. The former have as yet not generally obtained
fire-arms, and in the chase resort to a peculiar stratagem,

to be more particularly noticed in speaking of the Ante- `

lope. That their artifice is ordinarily successful is abun-
dantly proved by the numbers of buckskins to be found
in their rancherias. They possess the art of dressing
them very perfectly, which is the more remarkable con-
sidering the primitive means they employ. Unlike the
skins of lynxes, foxes, etc., those of the deer have the
hair removed, and are dressed as cloth, to be used for a
great variety of purposes besides clothing.

The horns of this species differ somewhat in configura-
tion, though not materially in size, from those of the Vir-

536 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

ginian, or of the Columbian Deer. At their roots they
are corrugated and nodulated for a short distance, when a
small curved basal snag is given off. Near the middle
they fork into two about equal branches, being widened
and flattened just at the point of divarication. Each of
these branches is again dichotomous not far from its
. middle, one of the terminal forks being ordinarily larger
than the other. The whole amount of curvature of the
main stem of the antler is rather less than in some other
species. The horns are shed in the spring, and the new
ones are in the velvet during the great part of the sum-
mer. By October, both sexes have finished changing
their light coarse summer vesture for the softer and
thicker winter coat, which, for some time after the change
is completed, is extremely sleek and glossy. Its color is
darker than it is in summer, being chiefly mouse-gray,
finely waved or annulated with lighter and darker shades.
In summer, there is much of a brownish or even fulvous
tinge on many parts. The fawns are brought forth in
June or July, either one or two at a time. They are
at first of a light reddish-brown,—whence our familiar
term “fawn-color,”—beautifully spotted with pure white,
` which is mostly disposed in straight rows.

Except at certain seasons, this deer is more apt to be
found singly than in herds of any size. But frequently in
the autumn two or three are seen together; and on one
occasion in October, I enjoyed the rare sight of twenty or
thirty feeding together in a little open glade among thick
pine woods. It is not an inhabitant of open prairie land,
and is but rarely to be seen in such situations. Thinly
wooded tracts of country, interspersed with oaks or juni-
pers; hills and mountain sides covered with pines, as
well as those places known as “chaparrals,” are its favor-

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 537

ite resorts. In warm weather, and particularly during

ie the heat of the day, after its morning graze and drink, it

r is fond of repairing to the thickest brush, where it lies

down, and doubtless sleeps, as at such times it may be
more easily and nearly approached than at others.

I cannot positively determine the White-tailed Deer
of Arızona, as I never procured a specimen. It may be
a race of C. Virginianus, or that species called C. Mexi-
canus in Professor Baird’s work, or not impossibly the C.

leucurus Douglass. The white-tailed deer of our conti-
‘nent are all so closely allied, that it requires a practised
eye and patient labor to distinguish them with any degree
of certainty; and I believe it is a question with some,
: whether they all are not merely local races of one com-
mon stock.
Though the dry plains of Arizona are not frequented by
deer, still they are not wanting in inliabitants among the
beasts “that cleave the hoof.” Over them the Prong-
horned Antelope (Antilocapra Americana), the swiftest
animal of America, runs races with the winds, making
the long miles shrink into mere spans at the touch of his
‘ almost magic hoofs, whose impress upon the green sward
writes down, in wild yet graceful stanzas, the “poetry of
motion” which every attitude and movement of his supple
form embodies. As on the land-sea of the Great Plains,
_ 50 on every land-lake of Arizona he is at home; for home
to him means the grassy surface of the earth, where his
_ food is under and around him, and water may be reached
by a bagatelle canter of a score or so of miles.

Every one has heard of that strange trait of the Ante-
lope’s character, which leads it irresistibly to approach
any unusual object which it cannot make out, for a nearer

View of the thing which so Saoi: excites its astonish-
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

S NG Te aa E ae) oe) pe

EA, OE EG ag ee ed PTT gee at = Sy ye
y

538 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

ment as to overcome its natural timidity. This remark-
able curiosity is taken advantage of by hunters, to lure
the animal within range, by displaying some brightly-
colored piece of cloth, while they lie concealed close by,
rifle in hand. The shallower the artifice, the more it
seems likely to succeed; a handkerchief fluttering from
the end of a ramrod, or even the hunter himself standing
on his head and gesticulating with his heels, have com-
passed the death of many an antelope. But the Indians
seem rather to surpass the white man in ingenuity, or
rather in a sort of instinctive sagacity, perhaps born of
necessity ; and take advantage, not only of the common
weaknesses of the species, but of that emotion or rather
passion which at times absorbs all others, as it should,
since on it depends the maintenance of the species, while
the rest affect the life of an individual alone. They
skin the head and neck of a buck antelope, and stretch
the skin, after proper stuffing and drying, upon a light
framework, the bottom of which is a hoop which fits their
own heads. The horns are scraped or shaven, until they
are thin and light, though still preserving their shape.
This primitive taxidermy produces an imitation of an
antelope’s head, which at a little distance is very perfect,
and the artifice is very successful during the rutting sea-
son. Concealing their bodies, the hunters expose the
false mask, and imitate the motions and noises of the now
pugnacious and easily excited buck. The latter, flushed
with sexual vigor, hears the challenge, and sees the men-
acing attitudes of his supposed rival, upon whom he
ates to offer battle in the cause of the object of his
passion, who may be feeding quietly near by, affecting
‘Rot to notice the fiery zeal of her lord. The bowstring
: oe and tise —— shaft does its bloody work for

ST ge eee re ye pee Eevee is Sot A eae ance eR petal Mee Sie rae OT Se Ee TR ee Vays

THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 539

him; while she bounds off, with terror and regret, and
soon solaces her ad interim woe with another conquest.

This animal takes its common name from the peculiar
shape of its horns, which have a single somewhat trian-
gular prong jutting from near the base or middle of the
shaft, and sometimes flattened or somewhat bent like a
scroll. But the position of this prong, as well as its
shape and size, varies greatly; while the length and
apical curvature of the main shaft is equally variable.
Searcely any two pair of horns are precisely similar in
these points, and a second species has even been charac-
terized upon these differences alone. The curious reader
will find a great variety figured in Plate XXV. of Profes-
sor Baird’s work. A pair which I obtained in Arizona
Were of very unusual shape. They were most like Fig.
890a of the plate referred to, having a very large, flat,
triangular prong springing from their very bases; but
their tips bent over till they pointed directly downwards,
in a direction quite parallel to the axis of the shaft, which
is a degree of curvature rarely seen. It is scarcely
necessary to add, that the Antelope’s horns are not decid-
uous, like the antlers of the deer, but permanent, like the
horns of rams and bulls.

Arizona has woods and plains which are roamed over
by the deer and antelope; but a great portion of her
territory is unfitted for either of these, being upheaved
into lofty mountain ranges and precipitous cliffs, or rent
asunder in yawning chasms, and rocky canons, by the
rude shocks it has undergone through the convulsive vio-

nce of volcanic action. Masses of plutonic rocks are
piled up in wild confusion, and black lava vomit is poured
over miles of surface. In the most rugged and broken
regions, rarely visited by man, or ‘netiondnaibile to him, and

540 THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA.

amid scenes that are terribly grand in their frowning
desolation, is the favorite home of the Rocky Mountain
Sheep ( Ovis montana). Fearless and intrepid, fully trust-
ing his powers, he stands in bold relief upon the edge of
some abyss, —his massive horns, and towering form, and
sinewy limbs clearly delineated,—the centre-piece of a
great picture whose background may be a mountain or
the sky itself. He stands a fitting headstone for the
graves of the Titans, now quietly slumbering beneath
the mighty monuments they erected to their own memory
with their last convulsive throes.

The Mountain Ram has a very extensive range, which
includes nearly all the elevated mountains and broken re-
gions from our northernmost Territories into Mexico. In
Arizona it has been formerly much more abundant than
now, for though it still exists in the more inaccessible
portions, it is rarely to be seen. But its great horns may
be found scattered about the bases of nearly every cliff
and precipice.

There is abundant evidence that the Buffalo (Bos
Americanus) formerly ranged over Arizona, though none
exist there now. The habitat of this “monarch of the-
plains” is contracting year by year, and its numbers are
gradually diminishing. Like the Indian, the buffalo
seems doomed to disappear before the overwhelming tide
of advancing civilization, and must before long, though
not in our day, be known only in history. The nature
and needs of both are diametrically opposed to the spirit
of the white man’s progress; and in the inevitable con-
flict, —with them for bare existence, with us for suprem-
acy,—they cannot hold their own. Sad spectacle, this
passing away of a race of men, and of a species of anl-
mal; yet in strict obedience to an inexorable, mysterious

š

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND. 541

law of Nature, which determines the origin, duration, and
ending of every form of animal life, by the operation of
forces of which we can see dimly some disjointed frag-
ments, but cannot hope to ever wholly comprehend.

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

BY EDWARD S. MORSE.

vu setae k Fon pade dli)
Tue following species belong to a group of small snails,
whose thin polished shells furnish a distinguishing char-
acter. Jelix indentata, described in the October number,
belongs to this group. We promise that those who may
have become interested in these papers will find the task
of identification growing more and more difficult as we
proceed, as with few exceptions the shells have very few
distinguishing marks, and the differences are only promi-
nent to those who make it a study.

Hewix cerzanm Miller. (Fig. 29.) The shell of
= this species is flattened; spire depressed, shining ; whorls
five, thickened within at the base; color pale _ Fig. 29.

horn, opaque white below. Diameter less than
half an inch. Animal light indigo-blue, darker
on head and tentacles. This species is not a native of
this country. It has been imported from Europe to our
Shores through the medium of commerce. As these snails
are generally confined to cellars and gardens, their eggs
have probably been brought to this country on wine-casks
r on the roots of hot-house plants. In a previous number
AS have dwelt on the extreme vitality possessed by the
eggs of this family. A lady in Portland, in whose cellar

542 THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

the writer collected a great many, stated that the snails
annoyed her by crawling into her pans of milk. We can
well imagine an enthusiastic collector delighted in being
able to dredge specimens from the bottom of his coffee-
cup at the breakfast table !
Another species, a true native however, though much
resembling an English species, is HELIX ARBOREA Say.*
Fig. 30. (Fig. 30.) This is extremely common in
\ ax, New England, and there is hardly an old
Gao log by the roadside but that shelters them.
j The shell is thin, pellucid, polished, and of
© S a brownish horn-color ; whorls four to five,
slightly increasing in size. Umbilicus not large; diam-
eter about one-sixth of an inch, though occasionally
larger.
HELIX ELECTRINA Gould (Fig. 31) resembles the last
species somewhat, being of the same size, though its color

sen is darker, and the whorls rapidly en-
©) large. In this latter character it re-

sembles Helix indentata, though differ-

ing from that species by its dark smoky horn-color, and

its open umbilicus. It occurs in damper situations, often-
times under leaves near stågnant pools of water.

Biıxseraxa Morse (Fig. 32) resembles M. al

dentata very much, and has always been confounded with

Fig. 32. that species ; it differs in always having

an open umbilicus, and the color a

ss different, being a greenish white, while

/ H. indentata is white, with a pinkish

tinge. The differences are very marked in certain Mir

_ eroscopical characters of the animal.

we ne malor figuros accompanying the cuts represent the natural size of the

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND, 543

HELIX MULTIDENTATA Binney. (Fig. 33.) This is one
of our most beautiful species. The shell is less than an

eighth of an inch in diameter, the whorls Fig. 33.

are six, very closely revolving, and at the @ QD
base of the shell within are seen two or a
more rows of teeth radiating from the umbilicus. The
shell is of a very light horn-color, and the animal is often
rosy white. It is extremely rare, having been found *
but Sparingly in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, New
York, and Ohio.

Another charming shell, when viewed under a micro-
Scope, is HELIX EXIGUA Stimpson. (Fig. 34.) The shell
has four whorls, banded by numerous brs
sharp ribs, and the spaces between marked
with waved lines running parallel to the
whorls, The umbilicus is very wide, and the color of the
shell a decided greenish white. Diametér about one-
tenth of an inch. This species occurs in nearly all the
Northern States; in some places quite commonly.

Heutx minuscuta Binney. (Fig. 35.) About the
Size of the last-named species, having four whorls ; suture
_ quite deep ; umbilicus large ; color white. Fig. 35.

It is common in the West, but extremely

rare in the Eastern States. It is said to

be very common in grass in the gardens of Cincinnati,
Ohio. Rey. E. Q. Bolles has recently found a number
of specimens in the State of Maine.

ELIX MILIUM Morse (Fig. 36) is a very minute spe-
_ Cies; the whorls rapidly enlarge; umbilicus quite large.
The i upper surface of the shell is reticu- - 36.
lated by slightly raised ribs, and wavy ẹ
revolving lines. The under surface is
Shiny ; aat greenish-white. Diameter one-twentieth

544 THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

of an inch. This little species, first described by the
writer from specimens found in Maine, has since been
discovered in Massachusetts, and two specimens have re-
cently been received from California, one from San Fran-
cisco, and the other from the Sierra Nevadas, showing an
unusually wide distribution.

Hewtx Ferrea Morse (Fig. 37) is slightly larger than

seh H. milium, and has a steel-gray tinge,
© os and an outline more like H. electrina. It
LA has been found in Maine, Massachusetts,

and New York.

Herrx cnersINa Say. (Fig. 38.) A very character-
istie species. The shell is conical, thin,
polished, amber-colored ; extremely fragile.
Whorls five to six, rounded. Base convex;
aperture narrow ; umbilicus absent. Diame-
ter one-tenth of an inch. This species occurs
in nearly all parts of the United States, and is quickly
recognized by its turreted and fragile shell.

The shells of the following group are not smooth and
polished as in the majority of those just described, but
many of them are coarsely striated, and a few have re-
flected lips. They are all quite small, and variable in
form, certain species having an elevated spire, while
others are quite flattened. The denticles on the tongue
are not claw-shaped as in those previously-deseribed, but
are notched like a saw.* All the species are very charac-
teristic, and easily recognized.

HELIX MINUTA Sar y (Fig. 39) BON a little white,

wiley translucent shell, with four rounded
ee WT the last one flaring at the aper-

-3 ture. Aperture nearly surrounded by a
-> ci lip. Umbilicus large. Diameter one-tenth
a ein E Was cc a OE E AEE E

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND. 545

of an inch; animal whitish. This species is closely allied
to Helix pulchella, of Europe, and by many authors is con-
sidered the same, though we believe them to be distinct.
The two species have an extreme range through the
northern hemisphere. It is found plentifully about old
stone-walls in gardens, and in grass on banks of rivers.
HELIX STRIATELLA Anthon, y. (Fig. 40.) Shell de-
pressed, convex, thin; light horn-color. Whorls about

four, with delicate oblique strie. Su- Fig
? l E

“ih LAA

SS

ture distinct; umbilicus very large ;
lip thin. Diameter less than one-
fourth of an inch. Animal lightish-blue above, with
brownish dots. Creeping disk yellowish white. Occurs
throughout the Northern States; very common in New
England i in hard-wood growths, and under chips and logs `
by the country roadside. The shell is quickly recognized
by its satin lustre, and the distinct striations upon its
surface.

Hex wasyrintuica Say. (Figs. 41, 42.) Shell
minute, conic, apex obtuse ; brownish horn-color. Suture
distinct; whorls six, with well-marked ribs Figs. 41, 42.
following the lines of growth. Lip thick- :
ened, oiai: base flat; umbilicus small.
Within the aperture are six revolving ribs,
terminating some ways within the aperture.
Three of these are on the body whorl, one
on the umbilicus region, and two at the
base of the aperture. Under the micro-
Scope, the three ribs on the body whorl are seen to be
armed at intervals with numerous sharp-pointed proces-
ses, pointing towards the aperture. Diameter of shell
one-tenth of an inch. Animal bluish black. Found in
nearly every State in the —

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. L

546 THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

This is a very characteristic species, in outline similar
_to Helix chersina described above, though differing in
the coarse ribs, the reflected lip, and the peculiar teeth
within the shell. The young shell (Fig. A is quite
flat, with the outer whorl sharp.

Herrx asterscus Morse. (Fig. 43.) Shell minute,
having four rounded whorls banded by twenty-five to

Fig. 43. thirty thin transparent prominent ribs.
FR Spire flat; suture deeply impressed ; lip
\\ sharp. Umbilicus quite large; color
light-brown. Diameter one-sixteenth of
an inch; animal bluish-white. This little species, first
discovered in Maine by the writer, has since been found
on the Hudson River, N. Y.; on the northern shores of
Lake Superior; Gaspé, C. E.; and in the vicinity of
Salem, Mass. Rev. E. C. Bolles has found it plentifully
near Portland. It is a rare shell, and seems confined to
wet and boggy ground, where spruce and pine is inter-
mixed with alder.

HELIX LINEATA Say. (Fig. 44.) Shell very small,
discoidal, light greenish in color. Whorls four, equally
visible on both sides of the shell, having
a series of raised lines revolving with
the whorls. Umbilicus wide; aperture
narrow, on the outer wall of which are two pairs of
minute white teeth, one pair more remote. Diameter
one-eighth of an inch; animal white, thread-like. Inhab-
its all the Northern States, though not common in the
West. In New England, a very common species along
country roadsides.

Heux muiyutissrua Lea. (Fig. 45.) This is the
smallest land shell in the country, measuring only six-
hundredths of an inch. The shell is subglobose, spire

REVIEWS. 547

slightly elevated ; below convex; umbilicus large ; suture
impressed ; whorls four; lip sharp; color light brown.
‘irst discovered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Fig. 45.

since found in various places throughout | C
New Engkind. This species is not uncom- K)
mon, though owing to its extreme minuteness is not often
found. The writer has separated this into a distinct
genus, from the fact that the jaw is composed of sixteen
distinct pieces, and not one solid plate, as in other snails.
For reasons already given, the species are described un-
der their old generic names. — To be continued.

REVIEWS.
tig
ENUMERATION OF et Prants. By Horace Mann. (From the
ro SP of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol.
VII., 1866.) Gambit, July, 1867. 8vo. pp. 92.

The collection which forms the basis of this enumeration was made
during a visit of over a year to the Hawaiian Islands. The enumera-
tion, consisting of a list of the entire know of land-plants, with
descriptions of new genera and species, is i piekabi by a sketch of
previous botanical RN in these islands, with a description of
Er physical geography of the five islands visited by the author, and

marks on the a of the plants, which latter depends on the

ie tition of heat and moisture, and vation of the soil. The
wet region of Hawaii, for example, extending on the eastern side of the
island, from a height of 1,500 or 2,000 feet, to about 5,000 feet,* is the
most heavily wooded of the group. The parts between 1,500 feet and

*" The bs yng of st Mani. Oahu, and Kauai, lying between the heights of 4,000 and
6.500 feet, re just in tie, foid level. and, being a also > peaks yiee Eae T r long been
active, le soil has become scovewh at ii im alge s to camiea te: which th erate p
~ svg surface, The region has a pee aspec which Ba : one e$ recognized 1 iy aee seen mug
m a à rosideros Im
ountains. The onis forest ae ihe vt ets bs yide bpaticæ, w which piapa

emains on

saaa Hi trunks are ĉovered with a : i arn AS tak &
moi SO as render everything dripping wet; and 1 os

of flower ride, plants and ferns oeeur in tine whole: Above this, on He m eenaa of West

Mam and Kaun thet is an open tract, where the lebia, one of the lar; dosed fo Pea onan

ag pen
at an elevai p) * » : me two satiny in spre
evation of 2,000 feet, has emma a arfed, a foo! aS tuned ths le iar te

but still flo bi t f su ci clum
these — a nd inthe neighboring tuss piit eks nf sedge (a an n Oreobolus) are founa “the few
other Plas a. high nicer kere sak aawnere cae, to the number OF Cane E r nine; also

Droser a longifolia ge peal ES of miles from its next nearest known

548 REVIEWS.

the sea-level comprise comparatively few species, and but little of the
peculiar vegetation. The high and dry mountain tracts, above 4,000
or 4,500 feet, are very distinct in their character and vegetation from
either of the regions below. The highest lava summits are nearly
destitute of vegetation.

There appear to be about seven hundred nae of Flowering Plants,
Ferns, and Club-mosses (including the fifty Grasses, which are not
yet worked up, being still in the hands of Beadle Munro), indigenous
or well-established in the islands,—a large portion of which (nearly
two-thirds) are quite peculiar to them. The Lichens are catalogued

y Professor E. Tuckerman, who states that ‘ta large proportion of
our knowledge, especially in the crustaceous groups [comprising those
forms which grow closeiy, adhering to rocks or the bark of trees, and
cannot be removed without crumbling up] is due entirely to his [Mr.
Mann’s] researches, directed, as they were, by previous study of North
American Lichens.”

MANUAL or THE BOTANY or THE NORTHERN ecr STATES; IN-
CLUDING THE DISTRICT EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI AND NORTH OF
NorTH CAROLINA AND TENNESSEE. Arranged endi to the
Natural zen By Asa Gray, Fisher Professor of Natural His-
tory in Harvard University. Fifth Edition. With twenty-five
plates, illustrating the Sedges, Grasses, A &c. New York:
Ivison, Phinney, gee man, & Co. Chicago: S.C: eee te
1867. pp. 701. Fi including the Mosses and ei nor the
“Garden Botany
It must be yrtti to all ih of Botany that the science is so

widely studied as to warrant a new edition of Dr. Gray’s Manual; and

it is no less gratifying to konat, that it makes its fifth appearance.
in public in such an elegant form. It is brought up to the latest and

iglrest knowledge of the day, and its comprehensiveness, accuracy,
clearness, and simplicity, its abundant synopses and analyses. its ad-
mirable plates, and its clear and well-contrasted type, make it alto-
get i2r a most important acquisition to our botanical literature.

With this volume in hand, one can travel from Maine to Virginia on
the coast, and westward to the Mississippi, and find therein lucid and
ample descriptions of all the flowering plants he may meet in that ex-
tensive area. Everything in the way of botanical discovery in this

T country has focussed upon Dr. Gray’ s table; and the result is, that his
new A a is not a mere reprint, but a rewriting of the whole work,
with important and ane aie changes. The nomenclature of our
Flora has suffered much syne and now this last publication pa

us alterations. Dr. Gray has, with a ¢

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 549

prehensiveness which distinguishes him, swept away several of the
trifling divisions which have been erected between close kindred.
Some ten orders have been merged in others, and more than a score
of genera have been similarly dropped out. We can now call the lit-
tle Houstonia by its old familiar name again, and forget the flavor of
Oldenlandia in our mouths. 10se who have measured the angles of
“ty eo ee to see what degree or proximity might entitle

e bearer to this or that name, will find that Gymnadenia and Platan-
vobs are no more; gue that they resurrect in Habenaria. Whether
an anther may turn its face or back to you will not now win for it an
ordinal title of Melanthacew, for it belongs to ‘the me number of
Liliacee. And no one will be longer vexed with the protean forms of
Oak-leaves, which have swayed him between black and scarlet, for
Quercus tinctoria is now only a variety of Q. coccinea. Alsine, Mehr-
ingia and Honkenya are now Arenaria; Oxalidacee, ‘athoatianah
and Limnanthacee are now all Geraniacee ; Grossulacee and Par
Siacee are now Sazifragracee. As an offset to this absorption of
names, Dr. Robbins has increased the twelve species of Potamog Aa
of the last edition to twenty-three in this, with varieties enough t
delight a Darwini

Dr. Gray has te the Mosses, Lichens, Fungi, and Algae, and
very properly, for they are specialties in botanical science. We hope
that some day the long hoped for supplementary volume may appear,
in which all these orders shall be treated with equal thoroughness and
accuracy, as the Mosses have been by Sullivant. Tuckerman and
Curtis have all the material for their respective orders

he plates of the Sedges are new to this volume, oa have all the

finish and nicety of Sprague’s drawings. The young botanists of this
country are favored in having for the writer of their manual one of
the great masters of their science. When our hand-books are written
_ With the same learning and breadth of treatment which are given to
the most abstruse and recondite works of science, there is certainly
‘Unusual incentive and unwonted means for effort and advancement at
our disposal. —

NATURAL HISTORY. MISCELLANY.

ZOOLOGY.
Common OBJECTS oF THE Country.—From our extensive piazza,
the number and variety of birds that we daily behold are to me so

550 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

marvellous, that, at the very least, I cannot forbear giving you a bit of
“gossip” about them. As I have before stated, we live in the coun-
ito and are therefore supposed, by the pitying denizens of brick and

tone, to be rather destitute of resources, and having no immediate
neighbors, to be very dull and lonely, — but such is not possible where
so many birds, insects, and creeping things abound, that the very air
seems instinct with life and motion.

Sitting upon the piazza at this moment, I am not without compan-
ions, for the Mud-wasps are building upon the window ledges, the
little brown Wren is in the box beneath the eaves (having first ejected
the Blue-bird and its eggs), and the Carpenter-bee has accumulated

h

quite a heap of a from the railing, which is bored in more
pen than one by her long s gallerie es and passages. I can also see
n the gravelled a the ridges thrown up by the Mole, of which

wot common and star-nosed a have been captured here, and
can detect in the grass the perforations of ana animal of the rat or

mouse kind, a sight of which has thus fer n denied us, as our old
dog seems to think them too appetiz ng exhibit before they are
devoured. We only know they are romi ul, and their depredations

annoying. The dogs were less particular with a muskrat which came
to an untimely end through their means last season; when also a
plump young woodchuck, captured by the mowers, and which they
were ANE to place in confinement, fell a prey to their murder-
ous propensities.

What ein can be devoid of excitement where turtles are discov-
ered feasting in the strawberry bed, and where, in the sleeve of a cast-
off garment hanging in the bathing-house, we once found the nest of
a field-mouse, and with breathless delight watched the frightened
mother, with her large deer-like eyes and graceful motions, as she
crept timidly to the spot, and one by one removed her young toa

What revery can be lonely which is liable to be broken off by the
plaintive cry of the fish-hawks, wheeling and circling about their see
which is reared upon the summit of a blasted pine, not eee rod

from the house, and who may be descried passing overhead a eu
: a, the day, with some inmate of the deep depending from saute

t s?

We are also visited by another huge bird, a pair of which sit mo-
a through the summer afternoons, upon the edge of the salt-
: - and are known among the country people by the ad
tite of — ‘The only ornithological description at all a eing

wik the Qua-bi ight-heron; and yet we gertstoly

n the same vicinity

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. Jol

we occasionally see a blue crane, and another larger bird of the heron
species, describing that peculiar motion attributed by negro min-
Strelsy to Nelly Bly, —
“ When she walks she lifts np foot,
And ts she puts- it dow

and get they treat their long red iia as something to be careful
of, to be deposited gingerly upon the mud, rue lifted again with due
deliberation. In strong contrast is, the mo of the sandpiper, two

three varieties of which are always to vi ‘<a gliding so quickly
over the rocks, that whether they run or fly is almost a problem. In
one of our drives we once captured an infant piper, and I have seen
few things more comical than that minute kariai ball, adorned with
bill and legs, seemingly out of all proportio ot having always lived
on the sea-shore, the foregoing birds are Ea ely new to me, but
I do not mean to neglect the more familiar ones who haunt the trees
and bushes directly about the house, — the chipping sparrow who
seeks his daily meal of crumbs upon the piazza, sometimes joined by
the cat-bird, gn oh robin, niese and the cuckoo, — the pewee, martin,
and swallow, who all have nests within our precincts, — the noisy
bobolink, and in the season a cherries, which are abundant here, a
countless crowd of chatterers which it would be needless to enume-

e

saw this spring one bird which I had never before seen, — the
American Redstart, — which remained poised for a moment upon the
piazza rail, so that we had a fair view of it. The ferruginous thrush,
Which seems quite as tame here as the robin, is almost new to me.

A ason advances, the gollen-winged woodpecker and quail site
themselves airs among the flower-beds on the lawn, so confide
they of not being molested ; but at present we are interes fam-

There are six in the family: the two whom we suppose to be the pa-
rents, rather object to si looked at, so that I have only had a good
view of one, of which the following is a papasi back and wings
of a sandy-red, with a white marking on the front t of the wing similar
to that on the wax-wing or PEPA ears prominent, breast
ish speckled. and face ditto, with two dark lines extending aias the
base ears to the bill and enclosing the eyes. The four young
ones, who generally sit side by side, and stare at us as long as we
choose to stare at them, are all over of a silvery-grey, with less prom-
inent ears. None of the company appear to be over seven inches
high, and seem to haunt certain trees, where we can generally find
them at any hour of the day, and they begin to be lively before sun-

grey:

552 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

set, often alighting upon the fence or the ground. We first discover-
ed them by their peculiar hissing, like the BEN of a cat; the only
other sound we have heard them emit is a faint ‘‘hoo-hoo,” though
hile these six were in sight, we have heard the cry of the ordinary
screech-owl in a grove at some dista
Thus much for the owls, but oy pee of Ornithology, we can re-
sort to the insects, some of whom return the compliment by resorting
to us; for we frequently tind, in damp weather, a spider’s web extend-
ing across the door (one in constant use), or from the inkstand to the
ceiling
The first week in May I found lying upon the ground a large chrys-
alis, which was at once placed with some earth in a vacant flower-pot,
and on the first of July its inhabitant appeared, and proved a stranger
tous; a large yellow moth with brown markings, yon looking as if
peppered with minute brown dots. After a close study of Harris's
Insects, we made it out to be the imperial moth, Dryocampa imperialis.
The specimen is a female, and has been ae for the future to
contemplate surrounding objects from the head of a large pin, in com-
pany; with various others of its tribe.

n we weary of insects, there are the reptiles, toads, snakes,
and E ON the latter all sizes and kinds,—huge snappin
inhabit a small pond, the shores of which furnish a home to the crest-
ed king-fisher, as well as the fish-hawk; IS yellow land-turtles, and
brook-turtles, in small compact boxes. I have witnessed on our

swallowing a toad, though in this instance he was not allowed to
finish his meal in safety; but I FAN failed, in spite of all my efforts,
thus far, to hear the song of the

aaa when reptiles fail, al is the beach with its shells and
other waifs of interest, to say nothing of crabs, pony nd porpoises;
but SON is a greater marvel to me than all the rest is, that such &
wealth of animal life should exist unmolested ats twenty miles of
New York city, and in such a Larap resort, that one may turn from
the contemplation of Nat to that of Fashion or Art in all their
splendor and RODE I aa one moment, and flounces the
next, —water-fowl and water-falls in conjunction, —but—lest you
sliouid think I mean to rival the spider who spun from the inkstand to
the ceiling, I will break my thread at once. —C. P1ERREPONT, | ry
Nose, N.Y. | :
. ‘Tun TIGER-BEETLE. —The Cicindela represents among insects the
ao character of the Tiger. Its large, powerful head, with its enormous ,

issor-] like Jaws, its light body, e elegant form a s colors, to-
with its s ferocious habits, prove its right to the name. The

k
:
;

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY: 553

number of species is very great, and they have been carefully studied,
as they have ever been the favorites of entomologists.

hey are usually of some shade of green, with metallic and purplish
reflections, and marked with light-colored dots and short curved
lines. The Tiger-beetle abounds in sunny paths, and breeds on the
sandy shores of rivers, ponds, and the ocean, over which they nag
fly, and run in chase of their prey. The larva (Fig. 1) is Fig.l
hideous in aspect. It has an enormous ad i Ww vith immense
jaws armed with teeth on the inside, while a large swelling
on the ninth segment of the curved body, which ends in a
horny, movable hook, gives it a grotesque and ugly appear-
ance. This hook aids it in climbing up its deep hole, near ~
the entrance of which it lies in wait for weaker insects. These holes
are sunk perpendicularly in the sand, and have no waste dirt abou
the mouth, like ant or worm holes. Their occupants may be either

i Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

~ dug out, or on thrusting in a straw, will fiercely seize the intruding
Object with their hooked jaws, and, in the blindness of their rage, suf-
er themselves to be drawn out from their retreat.
hile all our native species are ground beetles, a! are pipi in
the tropics which live, in the beetle state,

largest of our New England species. The
most common form is the Cicindela vulgaris

found flying about sunny walks; while the
hairy-necked eaaa tO. — Say, Fig. 5), is
smaller species than the foregoing. t beautiful form is the
a Tiger-beetle (C. pas Fi aides Fig. 6), which is of
a bright green color, ornamented with six spots on the wing-covers
(elytra). It is often found in ser places not frequented by other
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

CEA Dl SOE SES ORO et T E ee a E
SES eee ee fee i

EP A

554 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

species. A much smaller species is the atten punctulata Olivier
(Fig. 7), which is dark bronze, and spotted on the elytra with white
dots, in place of the more usual white dots ae curved lines or lu-
nules

GEOLOGY.

Tur CrinomaL BANKS OF CRAWFORDSVILLE, INDIANA.—Montgomery
County, of which Crawfordsville is the county seat, belongs to the Sub-
carboniferous formation, being just north of the northern out-crop of
the Indiana and Illinois coal-fields. A large part of the country is COV-
ered with heavy drift. Rocks in as pe er, crop out abundantly
along Rock (Sugar Creek on some maps) River and its tributaries.
These rocks are rich in fossils nice Memmi ot the Sub-carboniferous

strata: varieties of Productus, Spirifer, Terebratula, Conularia, etc.

But the fossils which have excited the most interest, and which
have rendered aie locality specially noted, are the beautiful Crinoi-
dea. Along the banks of this river are strata of limestone, made up
almost entirely of the broken stems and arms of Crinoids, cemented
by carbonate of lime, and occasionally ait heads finely pre-

rved.

But the geological horizon in which the heads of Crinoids are mostly
found, is a calcareous shale or sandstone, of quite limited vertical ex-
tent, not much exceeding two feet in thickness, and often but six or
eight inches. In this the Crinoids are siriehant: and in great perfec-
tion, the arms and basal plates being well preserved, with stems at-
tached, and not unfrequently even the finest tentacula. They are
mostly of the following types: Actinocrinus, Cyathocrinus, Agarico- _
crinus, Platycrinus, Forbesiocrinus, Scapiocrinus, Zeacrinus, and Pen-
tremites. These Crinoid beds have been rougit by some of the citi-

Corey. He
furnished beautiful specimens to the Smithsonian Institution,
Harvard University, Yale College, Michigan University, Wabash Col--
lege, and also to many private cabinets. These beds have been ex-
plored also by the students and professors of Wabash College, who
have enriched her cabinet with choice specimens e College sê-
, by purchase of Mr. Corey, several hund ‘eile of perfect gt

. finely wrought out, fit for the cabinet. The bank nearest to
fordsville is the most productive, but the same strata are found chy?
ping out at Island Ford, on Offil’s Creek, on bigot sa on Blac
Creek, as as well as at several other points on Rock Riv

The most ive excavations have been ‘iin b Mr. Charles

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 999

Dyer, of Cincinnati, an enthusiastic collector of Western fossils, some
years since, and quite recently by Mr. Frank H. Bradley, of New
Haven, a successful collector of specimens of Natural History. This
bank is situated half a mile north of the city, in a bluff seventy-five
feet above the bed of the river. The out-cropping has been so far
explored, wee es and heavy excavations are — to reach the
Crinoidal horizon.

Crinoids or pe rinites are radiates belonging to the class of Echi-
noderms, found chiefly fossil and extinct, there being but two sae
species, the Comatula and Pentacrinus Caput Meduse. They are so
named Bom their resemblance in form to the lily. They are Daa
the most beautiful and wonderful fossils we have.

The Encrinite consists of a calcareous root, a hollow jointed stem,
a vasiform, or cup-shaped base upon its top, from which proceed arms
with subdivisions; ey some of the arms are found very fine tentac-
ula. Besides the ej Crinoids, there are others which were free,
and some imbedded in mud.

rinoids exist ates abundant in the oldest fossiliferous rocks,
belonging to the Paleozoic and Mesozoic periods; so abundant are
they in some localities in wé Paiti iid Jocalities, as to give character
to the rocks, as Crinoidal or Encrinital limestone. They are found
among the earliest of fossil animals. For a long ee their animal
origin was Se till established by Rosinus, in 17
of the genera described sae to the Silurian

A large propo
formation. The iadol species amount to about five hundred,
HOVEY,

and those in the rocks above to nearly one hundred. — E. 0.
Wabash College.
—_1O———
MICROSCOPY.

Tur Surrace Fauna or Mm-Ocean.—In the sixth volume of the
R. J. Owen describes sev-

“London Microscopical Journal,” Major S.
eral forms of towing nets for collecting microscopic forms at sea.
Such nets the Polycystina, with their interesting allies the Acantho-
Metra, and the eee can be found:

. lvinulina and —— e = ga eats nae

am persuaded t the genera Put
e ste on the surface ofti
rey 1e Foremiatlore, wit be ound I ot mi "Atlantio. “From

ae to nt sight ý

Rhizopods, These two gene’ a veiis with the Orbulina of Dr. Carpenter, but which I

have sub-genus of Globigerina, have been founa nd to be s Se ae ne
bid the ocean that I have sailed . Different ed ae f creatures w e

fou urface ii sunset till day-
light the Polycystina, Foraminifera, Acanthometra, riper Pte suai ae
Shelled Mollusca must be looked for; during the day the Crust oer? Thalass'

Seis, ete., will repay our endeavors.”

556 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

B. W. S., Ky. — Fifteen volumes of the Proceedings of the Ameri-
can Association for the Advancement of Science have been published:
sci may be obtained of the Perpetual Secretary, Prof. J. Lovering,

mbridge, Mass
, Maine. —Among the most important works on Entozoa,
or Intestinal Worms, are argc s Entozoa, 4to, London, 1867.
Essay in Aitken’s Practice of Medicine. An Essay on Human Cestoids,
by F. R. Sturgis, 8vo, ee) 1867. Human Cestoids, by Dr.

F. Weinland, 8vo, 75 cents; a few copies of this last work may be had
at this ol i he best descriptive work is Diesing’s Systema Helmin-
thum, 2 vols. 8vo, published in Germany. See also Owen's article

ma
Entozoa, pas "Todd's atin of Anatomy and Physiology.

F., New York.— Many instances of snakes charming birds and
other animals have been recorded, but their power to do so is still
doubted by many of the best authorities.

. G. S., Penn.— Your so-called ‘‘horse hair” is a low parasitic
hair-like worm, Gordius, pee lives in the young or larval state in the
bodies of grasshoppers, etc.; but when it hecomes mature, crawls out
of the body of its host, and lives in the mud at the bottoms of pon
and in moist earth.

ene al nel
EXCHANGES.

Andrew J. Bennett, Circleville, Ohio. — Would like to exchange
Western be and fresh-water shells, for New England land and fresh-
water s

E. P. ne Nautical Almanac Office, Washington, D. C. —Would
like to exchange U. S. Coleoptera.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

i cocaine

ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF

shire, with a few Remarks upon the Geological Structure of some
Portions of that Group,” by George L. Vose, of Paris, Me. This was
a detailed account of the observations of Mr. Vose in the Andros-
coggin, Peabody, ane other valleys of the region, confirming the view

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 55T

that these valleys have been occupied by local glaciers as well as by a
general one. Mr. Vose gave an account of his observations on the
geological arrangement of the rocks forming the principal range, upon

hich he founded hypotheses as to the early condition of that re-
gion

n the Origin of the so-called Lignilites or Epsomites,” by Pro-

fessor O.C. Marsh, of Yale College. In limestone rocks, of all geolog-
ical ages, there are frequently found columnar markings, and detached
columns of the rock occurring along the seam between two beds of
the same. Professor Marsh gave a notice of the different publications
on the subject, showmg what a puzzle they have long been to geolo-
gists. He exhibited a series of fine specimens, showing that they
were due to pressure. Professor Marsh has been the first to show
that the form of many perfect columns is due to the presence of a fos-
sil shell or some foreign substance

“On the Geographical Distribution of the Sediments and the Fos- `
Sils in the Hamilton, Portage, and Chemung Groups of New York,” by
Professor James Hall. The object of the paper was to show that
identity of fossil species must not be expected in rocks of the same
geological age over wide geographical areas.

“Upon some remarkable Fossil Fishes obtained by Rev. a8 Herzer
from the Devonian Rocks at Delaware, Ohio,” by Profes ry S

of these fish remains, which Mr. Herzer obtained from concretions
in the rock. The remains belonged to a genus of ganoid fishes, now
made known for the first time. The fish must have been one of the
monsters of the waters of those times,’and very formidable. The
head could not have been less than three feet long by two feet

road. On-account of the great size, he had na amed it Dini cthys.

“The Fossil Insects of North America,” by S. H. Scudder. ;

was a review of the entire subject, noticing eighty species

of fossil insects, known in the strata of this con ntinent.- ol
preserved remains of insects now known are from the Devonian
rocks of New Brunswick, and furnish evidence ae insects were in-
troduced about the time that land-plants first appe

“ Depression of the kt during the Glacial net “4 By Col. Charles
Whittlesey. The existence of an ice epoch h, during which the north-
ern hemisphere oad about latitude 40° was enveloped in ice nevè
and snow, being now generally admitted, I propose to notice the
effects which would necessarily follow in depressing the surface of
the ocean.

It is universally admitted that there have been in North America

558 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES:

changes of level, either of the land or the sea, or both, during the ice
period, particularly towards its close.

wish to consider principally the changes of sea-level resulting
from the accumulation of continental ice. Such accumulations can only
occur by depositions of moisture from the clouds, derived from the
ocean by evaporation: The water-line, or surface of the sea, is con-
stant, only because there is an equilibrium between evaporation and
the water returned through the rivers. If depositions, in the form of
rain, dew, and snow, remain perpetually congealed, they are not re-
turned to the common reservoir, and to that extent its surface must
settle away. If the limits of perpetual snow and ice should now be
enlarged, these effects should follow. A decrease of temperature of

eet per annum, and increase the area of snow nevé and ice, while
evaporation would measurably cease; but over which deposition
would continue.

The area supposed to have been covered by the ice mantle in North
America, Northern Asia, and Europe, is equal to about one-fifth of the
northern hemisphere. The ice-field must also have encroached upon
the bays, fiords, sounds, lakes, and minor sea spaces adjacent, which
with the enlargement of the South Pole Continent, I assume to be as
much more, or equal to one-fifth of the surface of the globe.

icted, as

surface of the land and the sea enlarged, and the ocean mass became
diminished.
‘In reference to dry land, the present ocean is determined to be as
three to one; the earth presenting a surface three-fourths water and
one-fourth land. Geographers estimate the water surface at 111,000,-
000 of square miles, the land at 37,000,000. If both the extent and the
thickness of the ice covering could be determined, its mass would be
easily fixed, and also the increase or diminution it would cause in the
waters of the sea.
Dr. Hayes: penetrated seventy miles from the sea at Port Foulke,
- Greenland, over the continental ice, which attained an elevation of
5,000 feet. The ice-grooving in New England reaches a height vary-

ntral part of British America. Its bulk is about one-tenth greater

than water, and, dissolved on the same space, would fill a height of
nine-tenths, or ninety feet in a hundred.

Af it attained erage thickness of 2,000 feet in a solid state, it

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 559

would, in a liquid form, rise to 1,800 feet on the same area. If one-fifth
of the earth was enveloped in congealed water, and four-fifths of its
surface was free, the transfer of the liquid portion from the sea to the
land, where it should remain, would depress the sea one-fifth of the
vertical distance above assumed, for the water produced by the melt-
ing ice. i
Dynamical results may have followed the accumulation of conti-
nental ice. The continent of Greenland is considered to be settling at
- a perceptible rate, —of necessity a sinking of one part of the earth’s
surface involves a rise in another, and generally an adjacent part,
— accordingly the island of N Annlan. is reported to be rising. -
Professor Hall and other geologists claim that accumulations of
detritus may reach a point where, by weight alone, depression must
follow. If this theory is tenable, a load of ice would produce like re-
sults

I present this idea for the consideration of geologists, when they `
study the phenomena of the fresh-water drift and terraces of the

Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence. In the ge over vast
t

spaces extending to the Rocky Mountains, ae west of the
lakes, there are no known elevations exceeding pact above tide.

A sinking seems to have taken place over this enon while the sea-
coast as far as the east end of Lake Ontario was rising, the axis or
line of rest being near the middle of this lake, and its beating nearly
across it.

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL Sciences. San Francisco, July
1, 1867.—The eggs, caterpillar, female and cocoon, of the California
silk-worm (Saturnia Californica, or Euryalus of Boisduval), were
presented by Dr. ocemeaebcndy. who remarked that the gorge of eggs
of this silk-worm is from two hundred to two hundred and fifty. The
female Jays, on an tae from seventy to eighty per aad. Three
thousand eggs weigh an ounce. The caterpillar, direct from the egg,
is more lively than that of the Chinese silk-worm, and hardly keeps in
its place. The silk produced by this worm is stronger than that of
the Chinese, and is indigenous to California. Living on the Ceano-
_ thus, it is well worth the attention of our silk-growers, as perhaps in
eeding it on the mulberry a finer quality of silk would be ee
The eggs were obtained from a female caught in the garden
a Brewery, Second street, in this city, on the 10th of jae

e eggs were hatched on the 30th of the same month. The cater-

pillar requires generally from two to two and a half months before
making its cocoon.

560 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

Mr. Stearns exhibited specimens of Haliotis from Monterey, which
he had received from Dr. Canfield, of that place. The peculiarity m
the specimens consisted in their being hybrids —a cross an en t
two species known to conchologists as H. Cracherodii a ae x
cens. In this connection Mr. S. made some general e upon the
Haliotide. Dr. Cooper followed Mr. Stearns, and remarked upon the
geographical distribution of this genus of mollusca.

A paper was read by Dr. W. P. Gibbons, of ee in which he
resumed the subject of the extinct forest of re patenta the Coast
nio.

that three or four trees, grow ould ultimately im-
pinge on each other, and if A Z a near they
would grow togethe orm one imme i

by carefully counting the number of concentric growths from a cen-
tre. The oldest of these redwoods is about 1,500 years of age. The
gigantea of Calaveras is about the same age. These redwoods are
evidently the second generation of the race; hence we may infer that
3,000 years, at least, have passed by since the present growth first
commenced on the Coast Range. But long before this must vegeta-
tion have covered portions of these hills, as the Sequoia reposes in &
bed of alluvium twenty or thirty feet in depth. He also referred to
the bulbous expansion of these pone near the base. These are com-
posed of large expanding roots, growing together, o forming a com-
plete network. The height of this Me db the degree of denudation
which the soil has undergone during the lifetime of the tree. This 1s
about five feet in 1,500 years. Some of these trunks have from 10,-

000 to 14,000 buds, partially developed, around their base, each bud
having the power, aras favorable conditions, of being developed and
containing a perfect tree. The mass of wood contained in a tree
twen enty-five feet in rois is equal to 10,000 cubic feet, seers
over 2, pounds.

BOOKS RECEIVED.
a sf Manuat of the Botany of the Northern United States. By Prof. Asa Gray. 8V0»

koa of Elocution. By B. W. Atwell. Providence, 1867.
American Bee Journal, Vol.I. Vol. III, No. 5, November, Te

T EL

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. I.—JANUARY, 1868.—No. 11.
—<—~$

AN ACCOUNT OF SOME KJG@EKKENMCEDDINGS, OR
SHELL-HEAPS, IN MAINE AND MASSACHUSETTS.

BY JEFFRIES WYMAN, M.D.

Crouch’s Cove, Casco Bay, Maine.

Any one who would take the trouble on going to a
Strange city, to examine the rubbish in its suburbs and
Streets, and carefully collect and compare the fragments

pottery, pieces of cloth, of paper, cordage, the: bones
of different animals used as food, worked pieces of stone,
wood, bone, or metal, might gain some insight into the

Entered aceording to Act of C in the 1867, ee eset eee, ea
Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 71 (561)

562 WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS

modes of life of the inhabitants, and form a fair concep-
tion of the progress they had made in the arts of civiliza-
tion. Even after a city has become a ruin, and centuries
have passed by, such examinations have been attended
with fruitful results. A savage tribe, dwelling for a long
period on one and the same place, would inevitably leave
vestiges of the manner in which they lived, though these
would, of course, be fewer in kinds just in proportion as
the people were nearer to a primeval condition.

The former dwelling-places of the Aborigines of the
United States are nowhere more plainly indicated than
along the seaboard, where some of the tribes passed a
portion, at least, of each year, in hunting and fishing;
some no doubt living there permanently, while others, it
appears, made visits only at stated periods.* The clam,
the quahog, the scallop, and the oyster, entered largely
into their food, and the castaway shells of these, piled up
in many years, have not only become monuments of their
sea-shore life, but have largely aided in the preservation
of the bones of the animals on which they fed, and also
of some of the more perishable implements used in their
ru i
The shell-heaps on the Atlantic coast long since at-
tracted notice. Dr. C. T. Jackson, and afterwards Pro-
fessor Chadbourne, visited the remarkable one at Dama-
riscotta, in Maine; Sir Charles Lyell has particularly
described another on St. Simon’s Island, in Georgia,t
and quite recently Mr. Charles Rau, of New York, bas
given a full and instructive account of the examination of
another at Keyport, New Jersey.t We have ourselves

“Quan: a les sauvages vont a Ja mer r sser quelques mois a la € ope
aa saatde, des ontards, et pee a Loni TE aan tite,”
: 3 utres oiseaux qui s’y trouve en quantite,
Paris, 1855, du P. Sebastian Rasles a Narantsook ce 25 Oct, 1722. Lettres at apes;

id Visit to the United States. New York, 1849. Vol. I. p. 252.
1 Report, 1864, p. 370. "

OF NEW ENGLAND. 563

examined two on the sea-coast of East Florida, and still
others in considerable numbers on the banks of the upper
St. John’s, in the same State. These last-mentioned
heaps consist wholly of the shells of fresh-water species.
We may have something to say of them hereafter, but at
present shall only speak of such as were visited on the
coast of Maine and Massachusetts during the summer
and autumn of the year just past. Of the localities
where these are situated, and of the structure of the
heaps, we shall speak as briefly as possible; but shall
enter somewhat fully into details, in connection with the
implements and the remains of animals found in them.
It is to be understood, however, that the heaps here de-
scribed are only a very small portion of those to be seen
along the coast of these two States, and which offer an
ample reward to any who will take the trouble to examine
them.

Frenchman’s Bay. Mount Desert is the largest of the
islands on the indented coast of Maine, and forms the
western shore of Frenchman’s Bay. Many shell-heaps
are scattered over this and the adjoining islands and the
main land. Williamson,* without particularly designating
them, mentions the existence of several from one to two
acres in extent, and states that “a heavy growth of trees
was found upon them by the first settlers.” We have
examined two. The first of these is in Gouldsboro’, on
the main land, and near the water’s edge on the eastern
shore of the bay. It is said to cover an acre of land, but
being under cultivation was examined only near its bor-
der, where a pit was sunk showing a deposit of clam-
shells about two feet in thickness. Among these were
found the bones of several animals, including those of the

= * History of the State of Maine. Hallowell, 1832. Vol. I. p.30.

564 WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS

deer, elk, and beaver, but no implements of any kind.
Stone implements have, however, been found by those
who have cultivated the soil of this neighborhood.

A more complete examination was made of a second
deposit on one of two small islands, neither of which are
named, about a mile west of the place just mentioned.*
This heap is seen on a bank, at a height of about six feet
above the high-water mark, varies in thickness from a few
inches to about three feet, and extends along the shore
about two hundred and fifty feet, and from thirty to forty
feet inland. A section through the heap at its thickest
part showed that it belonged to two different periods, in-
dicated by two distinct layers of shells. The lowest, a
foot in thickness, consisted of the shells of the clam,
whelk, and mussel, all much decomposed, and mixed with
earth. Above this was a layer of dark vegetable mould,
mixed with earth and gravel, and from six to eight inches
in thickness. Above this was a second layer of shells, of
the same species as those just mentioned, but in a much
better state of preservation, and with less intermixture of
earth; this deposit was in turn covered by another layer
of earth and mould, and these now sustain a growth of
forest trees, but none of them of large size. From the
state of things just described, it would seem that the
place had been reoccupied, after having been once aban-
doned long enough for a vegetable mould to be formed,
and a layer of earth from some neighboring source to be
deposited over it. Charcoal was found in. considerable
quantity, scattered among the shells, and the remains of
an old fireplace were uncovered. The bones of animals,
and the various kinds of implements (Pl. 14, figs. 3. 4

oe ee

EEO En OE ee

‘The two heaps were examined in company with Dr. Calvin Ellis, Messrs. John

L- Hayes, William A. Hayes, and R. E. Fitz, to whom the writer is indebted for
aluable specimens found by them. = `

OF NEW ENGLAND. 565

5; Pl. 15, figs. 10, 11) obtained during the excavations,
will be described in another page.

Crouch’s Cove. This is situated on Goose Island, in
Casco Bay, about fifteen miles north-east of Portland.
The whole island is at present covered with a growth of
spruce trees (Abies nigra), excepting a narrow strip on
the seaward side, and on this, at the southerly end of the
island, are several shell-heaps of different sizes. The
longest of these is about one hundred and fifty feet in
length, forty in width, and varying in thickness from a
few inches to nearly three feet. Considerable portions
have been washed away, and the contents scattered along
the shore. The shells are mostly deposited evenly, but
here and there are raised into small knolls, and all are
covered with turf. This deposit has been carefully ex-
amined by Mr. C. B. Fuller, of Portland, by whom large
collections have been made, and a portion of which were
unfortunately destroyed by the great fire of 1866. Mr.
Edward S. Morse has more recently made a partial exam-
ination, and obtained many valuable specimens, which
will be mentioned farther on.

Our examinations* were begun on the bank and carried
inland, until about 375 square feet of surface, and more
than 700 cubic feet of material had been moved. Mr.
Morse has given the following account of the shells found
in this, and some of the smaller deposits near by. He
enumerates the following species: “Common Clam (Mya
arenaria), Quahog (Venus mercenaria), Large S vallop
(Pecten tenuicostatus), Large Mussel (Mytilus modiolus),
Cockle (Purpura lapillus), Beach Snail (Natica heros),
Whelk (Buccinum undatum), Periwinkle (Littorina lito-

a F.W.
*The excavations were made by Rev. J. A. Swan, and Messrs. E. S. Morse, F. W.
Putnam, Horace Mann, Edwin Bicknell, and the writer, The sketch of the locality
Was made by Mr. Joseph P. Thompson.

566 WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS

ralis); and also the following, for which there are no “
common names: Nassa obsoleta, Natica triseriata, and
_ Macoma fusca. The following land snails were also met
with: Helix albolabris, Sayii, alternata, lineata, striatella,
indentata, multidentata, Zua lubricoides, and Succinea
Totteniana.”

“The heaps were almost entirely composed of the shells
of the common clam, which appeared longer and rougher
in texture than that now dug near by. In some of the
heaps the shells of the quahog were abundant, and
marked for their size and solidity. This species, though
no longer found in the same cove with the heaps, may
be had in the neighborhood of Goose Island, but locali-
ties in which it lives are quite rare north of Cape Cod.
The common mussel, whelk, cockle, and scallop, were
probably used as food, while the other species were
doubtless carried there by accident. The presence of so
many species of land snails would seem to indicate that
the island was once covered with hard-wood trees, among
which these animals alone flourish. The occurrence of
the little snail, Zua lubricoides, is inconsistent with the
view that it is an introduced species.”

The shells were deposited in two different layers, very
much as on the island in Frenchman’s Bay already de-
scribed. The older was separated from the more recent

- deposit by a thin stratum of earth, extending through the
largest portion of the heaps. Pieces of charcoal were
medetneod everywhere among the shells, but in some places

the larger quantity and the blackened earth showed where

fires lud been made. The number of the fragments of the
bones of edible animals was quite large, belonging to no less

- than fifteen species. Besides ieoi many bones of other
~ Species, bone implements (Pl. 14, figs. 1, 2; Pl. 15, figs.

OF NEW ENGLAND. 567

6,7, 8,9, 12, 13), and pieces of bone from which portions
had been sawed off were found; no implements of stone
were exhumed, though Mr. Swan found a small pestle, and
Mr. Morse a chisel lying on the surface near the shore. `

A third deposit was examined at Hagle Hill, in Ips-
wich, Massachusetts, situated on the borders of a creek,
by which easy access is had to the sea-shore. The whole
neighboring region consists of a series of low hills of
gravel, some of them covered with boulders, but entirely
destitute of forest trees. A few basswood trees (Tilia
Americana) have been known to exist there within a few
years, but otherwise those hills do not appear to have
been wooded within the memory or traditions of the pres-
ent inhabitants. Several shell-heaps are reported to ex-
ist in the neighborhood, but the only one examined was
on the easterly side of the hill mentioned above. This
consists of several disconnected deposits of shells, which
are in part spread out into a uniform layer, but in a few
instances form small knolls from eight to ten feet in
diameter. Near the water’s edge the shells are exposed
by the washing away of the bank, but elsewhere are
covered with mould and turf, and, in some places, even on
the knolls, with a layer of gravel. In the more even
portions, this last may have been washed down from the
slopes above, but such could not have been the case with
the knolls, for the tendency would have been to denuda-
tion rather than to covering up. The shells, forming these
deposits, are almost exclusively those of the common
clam, which are still found here in great quantities, and
yield a considerable revenue to those engaged in digging
them. Large piles of recently dug shells may be seen
along the ueiobbeine shore, and noticeably contrast with
Roce from the Indian shell-heaps, in being thinner and

568 ` WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS

less rough in their texture. Shells of the oyster and the
Mactra were found, but few in number. Somewhat ex-
tensive excavations* yielded bones of the deer, beaver,
dog, birds, among these the bones of the turkey, and of
fish; but only a single implement of stone, which was
spherical in shape, with a groove around the middle of it.
This was found by Mr. Putnam just beneath the surface.
Some of the bones showed distinct marks of cutting in-
struments, and a few pieces of wrought bone were found,
three of which are represented in Pl. 15, figs. 15, 16, 17.
Two distinct fireplaces, indicated by hard-wood charcoal,
ashes, and blackened earth were found, resting on the
earth and beneath the shells.

In the town of Salisbury, Massachusetts, a series of heaps
thirteen in all, quite near together, consisted exclusively
of the shell of the clam. They are about a mile from the
left bank of the Merrimack River, near its mouth, and sur-
rounded by a series of sand-downs, some wooded, others
naked; these last constantly changing from the action of
the wind. They vary in size from about twenty to more
than one hundred feet in diameter, but the shells form a
layer of only a few inches, and are largely mixed with
sand. After a careful search, in company with Mr. Alfred
Osgood, of Newburyport, we failed to find in most of
them any of the works of man, except only a few flakes
or “chips” of flint; but on two, both near together, large
quantities of chips were scattered over the surface, and
more than five pounds were picked up. Besides these,
several arrow-heads and fragments of pots, made of
burned clay mixed with coarse sand, were found. No
bones of animals, which might have served for food, were

noticed, though carefully looked for. In previous years,
a = *Made by Messrs. E. 8. Morse, P. W. Putnam, C. Cooke, and the writer.

OF NEW ENGLAND. 569

Jarge numbers of stone implements of various kinds have
been carried away ; but as the place is in the neighbor-
hood of a large town, and is frequently visited by those
in search of such relics, they are now nearly exhausted.

Cotuit Port is in the town of Barnstable, on the south
side of Cape Cod, and on the northern shore of a narrow
bay. It is quite near to the sea, but protected from it by
a narrow spit of land, which forms a natural breakwater
across the bay at its mouth. Within the distance of a
few miles, a large number of shell-heaps are met with,
and have been estimated to cover hundreds of acres,
Sometimes having a thickness of between one and two
feet, and at others of only a few inches. Oysters were
formerly found in the bay in much larger quantities than
at present, and doubtless formed one of the chief attrac-
tions which drew the Indians to this place. Our exami-
nations were confined chiefly to one of the larger deposits,
about a mile to the eastward of the village, situated on a
sloping surface with a pleasant southerly exposure. Ex-
cavations by four persons during a whole day were made
near the shore, and at various points inland, and brought
to light the shells of the oyster, clam, scallop, and qua-
hog, in large numbers, but quite unequally distributed ;
the clam being plentiful in some places, the quahog in
others, and the scallop in others, while the oyster
abounded everywhere.

Two species of Pyrula, viz. : P. carica and P. canalicu-
lata were found, the first in considerable numbers.
Neither of these species was found in any of the other
heaps. Dr. Gould states that they are not known to exist
north of Cape Cod. The largest specimen of the P.
carica was about seven inches in length, a portion of the
spire having been broken off, and this, according to Dr.

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 72

570 WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS

Gould, is their maximum size on the Coast of Massachu-
setts. It is, however, in remarkable contrast with a shell
of the same species from one of the shell-heaps in Florida,
which measured nearly fourteen inches in length.

Of the remains of vertebrates, the bones of the deer
were the most abundant; but those of the seal, the fox,
the mink, of birds, including those of a duck and the wild
turkey, of turtle and of fish were found. During a
former examination of this locality by Mr. George G.
Lowell and Dr. Algernon Coolidge, a canine of a bear
and a part of the skull of a cat was obtained. ‘No stone
implements, but a few worked pieces of bone were dug up,
and also some fragments from which portions had been
sawed off. The tine of a deer’s antler, from which the tip
had been sawed off, is represented on Pl. 15, fig. 14.
About two-thirds of the metatarsal bone of the great toe
from a human foot was found, in company with the bones
of the animals already mentioned, and is the only portion
of the skeleton of man which we have discovered while
examining the heaps here described. The writer would
express his obligations to Mr. George G. Lowell for the
opportunity of examining the locality at Cotuit Port,
and for the gift of valeabi specimens.

Age. Shell-heaps have become intimately associated
with the question of the age of the human race, a ques-
tion which has passed out of the domain of the written,
into that of geological history. It can only be satisfacto-
rily answered by following the method of the geologist,
when he attempts to duirn the period when a given ani-
mal existed in former geological times, viz. , by: a careful
comparison of the remains of such animal with those of ex-
isting species, and by an accurate study of the geological

oe : os ee physical conditions under which they are found.

OF NEW ENGLAND. SFI

Iù Denmark, such methods applied to the Kjækkenmæd-
dings, or refuse-heaps, have yielded results of great im-
portance to archæology, and have shown that some of
these heaps at least, as in Seeland along the Isefjord, date
back to a period when their geological surroundings were
Somewhat different from what they now are, when the
shores were less raised above the sea, and the oysters, of
the shells of which the heaps are made up, had not yet .
retreated to where the fresher waters of the Baltic, at the
present time, mingle with the ocean in the Kategatt.

The shell-heaps we have here described yield nothing
which indicates as high an antiquity as those of the old
world. The materials of them present some variety in
the degree of decomposition which has resulted from time
and exposure, the lower layers being much more disin-
tegrated and friable, the shells in fact falling to pieces,
while those of the upper ones generally preserve their
original firmness. That there was a difference in time in
which these layers were deposited, is further indicated by
the fact, that, in two of the heaps, a stratum of earth is in-
terposed between the earlier and later deposits, as if the
locality had been abandoned as a camping place, and then
after a prolonged absence of the natives had been reoccu-
pied. Each heap, too, is covered with a deposit of earth
and vegetable mould, of variable thickness, and in some
cases, as at Frenchman’s Bay, supporting a growth of
forest trees, though these were nowhere of such size as to
indicate that they had lived a century. Mr. Morse has
called attention to the abundance of Helices, or land
Snails, which were exhumed at Crouch’s Cove, and to the
fact that these require a hard-wood growth for subsist-

“ence, while at present the island, on which this cove is
situated, is covered with spruces. It is also noticeable

572 WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS

that there has been in all the localities, except at Salis-
bury, a disintegration of the shores, the sea undermining
and destroying the deposits. There can be no doubt that
these were once much more extensive than now, and that
the water has worked its way into their places. Lastly,
these deposits contain the remains of animals, as of the
elk, not known at present to exist to the eastward of the
Alleghany Mountains; of the wild turkey, now virtually
extinct in New England; and of the great auk, which,
unless it still live on some of the small islands to the
north of Newfoundland, has receded almost, if not quite,
to the arctic regions.

All these circumstances are certainly signs of the lapse
of time. Nevertheless, in the absence of any positive
data as to how long a period is necessary for the accumu-
lation of vegetable mould, or for the washing of earth
from the slopes above on to the heaps below, or for the
rate of decomposition of shells in a given time, or of the
rate of the denudations of the shores ; and in view, too, of
the fact that the animals represented in the heaps, but
now no longer met with in the regions of them, have all
disappeared within the historic period of this continent, it
will be readily admitted that proof of great age or “high
antiquity” is not found in any or all the circumstances
which have been mentioned above.

On the other hand, it may-be safely said that there is
nothing in the condition of these heaps which is inconsist-
ent with the hypothesis that they were begun many cen-
turies ago. The examinations at Crouch’s Cove, Eagle
Hill, and Cotuit Port were sufficiently extended to enable
us to obtain a fair representation of the objects they con-
tain; but in no case was there found, nor have we been
able to —_ D there had been previously found &

To:

OF NEW ENGLAND. 5t3

Single article which could be regarded as having been
made by, or derived from the white man, nor did we
obtain any evidence that these particular heaps had been
materially added to since the European has occupied these
shores. Had intercourse with Europeans been once fairly
established, it were a reasonable presumption that we
should have found at least a glass bead, a fragment of
earthenware, or an instrument of some sort indicative
of the fact, especially when we bear in mind that it would
be in just such places, where the savages collected around
their fires and seething-pots to cook and eat, that such
objects might be expected to be broken or lost. Finally,
if the statements of Williamson on the authority of John-
son be correct, viz., that “a heavy growth of trees was
found on them” (the deposits of clam-shells near Mount
Desert) “by the first settlers,” we have something like
satisfactory evidence that their age could not have been
less than between three or four centuries.

Remains of Animals. Human remains have not been
found in the shell-heaps of Denmark, except in the case
of casual burials, as of a shipwrecked sailor, or of burials
from some other unusual occurrence, and these are of a
modern date. The same absence of human remains marks
the shell-heaps we are describing, with a single exception.
At Cotuit Port an unequivocal metatarsal bone from the
great toe of the human foot was discovered. No other
bones were found with it, except those of animals. It
was so deeply buried, and its appearance was such, that
no doubt exists that it was of the same age as the heap it-
self; we have therefore assigned it a place in the following
table, which gives a list of the species of animals uncovered
and identified by their bones, or shells, in the different
heaps, and shows their relative distribution through them.

574 WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS

#¢issle.les
Kinds of Animals found in the Shell-heaps. ae | 58 ES Sz
BAIS ed
FEM E aa toner ar *
2 | Elk (Cervus Canadensis), . . .
3 | Moose (Alce Amer vicanus); R rasis *
4 | Caribou (Rangifer Caribou), . . s =.» . *
5 | Deer (Cervus TOi, Chee T a EESTE
6 Bear { Uesus Americanus), 3. ei He Lo He *
/ | Wolf oe R Gs eee + ee Na |
3 | Dog (Canis eN AES z * | *
9 | Fox ‘i rae "fulvus), ` PER ` *
10 | Cat pty te y
11 | Otter (aiia Ca anadensis), at aonni *
12 | Mink Spies s viso n), at EA * bd
13 | Sable (M ella Ame ricana), E T *
14 nr (Mephitis mephitica k: AE a *
15 al (Pho: E E A oe eE ee +
16 Be eaver (aloe peeta is), Pisses s E er we
17 | Woodchuck (Arctomys monday, j *
18 | Great Auk (Alta impennis), Ee i diss ag
19 | Razor-bill (Alca tortad A E yd A s
20 | Duc ree s NRS * | æ
21 Wild Turkey ( Meleag gris galiopavo), a ane edie fed
22 | Heron (Ardea nips ee O ORE *
|23 | Tortoise (two species), . . . ease x
24 ark, eon ag ae *
25 | Cod (Morr rrhua Americ cand), « Seale isie
26 oust: fish (Lophius A mericamis), : gee *
27 | Whelk Tae reeni pie amati m), ‘ eds age
28 | Pyrula carica, i ey E mpr +
29 | Pyrula canaliculata E tah l wt ah a *
S9 OSEE (CMP CREE e a ee ee) BO
31 (Mya arenaria), . e AEE S TE aea ee
32 og ( Ve mercena ae gas Fe ease 95
| 83 | Mussel ( Mytilus eduli tLe:
|34 | Seallop (Pecten tenwicostatus and P. Istandicus), * .
35 | He n-clam (Mactra), *

Besides the species of shells mentioned above, and
which may be regarded as having been used for food,
there were also hand species from the following g genera, —
probably accidentally introduced, viz.: Tritontum, Litto-
rina, Nassa Zua and Purpura; seven species of Helix;
os species of Natica.

ode: inca at the above table shows what a great variety
ofa brought to these places by ihi Indians-

OF NEW ENGLAND. 575

Some were hunted as articles of food, others for their skin,
and still others for both. Precisely where the line is to
be drawn between those which are and are not edible, or
what animal an Indian would absolutely refuse to eat, it
is impossible to say. Although the kinds of meat used
were in the main palatable, the natives certainly did not
hesitate to make use of some which do not commend
themselves to the taste of civilized people. Josselyn,
who, of all the earlier writers, has given the most com-
plete account of the animals found on the coast of New
England, states that “the Indians, when weary with trav-
elling, will take them (the rattlesnakes) up with their
bare hands, laying hold with one hand behind their head,
with the other taking hold of their tail, and with their
teeth tear off the skin of their backs, and feed upon them
alive, which, they say, refresheth them.”*

The bones of the deer and birds outnumber those of
all the other kinds. The condition in which they are
found bears a striking resemblance to that of the bones
from the shell-heaps of Scotland, the Orkneys, and Den-
mark. Nearly all the fragments from the deer were those
of the long bones, which in the living animal are either
covered by the largest amount of flesh, or contain the
most marrow. Not one of them was whole, all having
been broken up for the double purpose of extracting the
marrow, a custom almost world wide among savages, and
often practised by hunters, and of accommodating them to
the size of the vessel in which they were cooked. Even
the phalanges of the toes were treated in the same way.

The bones of the bear, though much less numerous,
were similarly broken up, and in two instances had been
carbonized by contact with the fire. Among the speci-

*New England’s Rarities Discovered. London, 1672. p. 39.

576 WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS

mens collected by Mr. Morse in his first visit to Crouch’s
Cove, was the last molar from the lower jaw. The crown
was somewhat worn, but the ridges were not all effaced;
it was of small size, measuring 0.55 inch in length, and
0.46 in breadth. The average size of eight specimens of
the same molar in the black bear was, length 0.60 inch,
breadth 0.47, while that of two specimens from the polar
bear was, length 0.54 inch, breadth 0.45. The tooth
from the shell-heaps, therefore, as regards size, more
closely resembles the last-mentioned species, as it does
also in the shape of the crown,—but it would be unsafe,
from a single specimen of the molar in- question, to at-
tempt to identify them. The former existence of the
polar bear, on the coast of Maine, is rendered quite prob-
able by the fact that the tusk of a walrus has actually
been found at Gardiner.* Sir Charles Lyell obtained a
portion of the cranium of another at Gay Head, Martha's
Vineyard.¢ It was found by a fisherman who supposed
that it had fallen from a cretaceous bed in the cliff above.
Perhaps it may have been of a more recent date, and 4 a
ape gatoad of the Great Auk.

e presence of the bones of the dog might be account-
ed for on the score of its being a domesticated animal, but
the fact that they were not only found mingled with those
of the edible kinds, but like them were broken up, sug-
gests the probability of their having been used as food.
We have not seen it mentioned, however, by any of the
earlier writers, that such was the case along the coast,
though it appears to have been otherwise with regard to
some of the interior tribes as the Hurons. With them,
game scarce, “venison was a luxury found only at

ial of Labrador me? Maine. By A. S-
oe Soe. at. girerim Vol. y 246.
fit ‘America. New York, 1515. Vol. E p, W:

OF NEW ENGLAND. 577

feasts, and dog flesh was in high esteem.”* We have not
found any marks of cutting instruments, as was the case
with the bones found by Steenstrup in the shell-heaps of
Denmark, and from which cireumstance he inferred that
dogs were eaten. In fact, they have served as food in so
many parts of the world, that the use of their flesh any-
where ought not to be considered an improbability.

A whole left half of the lower jaw of a wolf was found
at Mount Desert, measuring 7.5 inches in length, making
a strong contrast in size, with a similar half from a dog
found at Crouch’s Cove. This was more curved, and had
a length of a little less than five inches.

The bones of dirds, like those of the deer, were almost
without exception broken, but in quite a different man-
ner. In the latter it was the shaft that was shattered, the
ends often remaining uninjured; while in the birds the
shaft was whole, and the ends not only broken off, but
nowhere to be found. It is not to be supposed that they
were so broken off for the extraction of the marrow, since
those containing only air were treated in the same way.
Steenstrup having observed the same fact in the remains
from the Danish shell-heaps, suspected that they were
mutilated by dogs, and accordingly by way of experi-
ment, having kept some of these animals on short diet,
gave them various bird bones to eat. He found, as he
had anticipated, that they ate the ends, rejecting the
Shaft. He explains their choice by the greater spongi-
hess, and easier digestibility of the formar as compared
with the dense middle portion of the latter. No doubt
an additional inducement was found in the remains of
flesh, tendon, and ligament, which would usually remain
adherent to the ends, after the portions ordinarily eaten

=F an.. Jesuits in America. Boston, 1867. p. 30.
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 73

578 WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS

had been removed. On looking over the specimens of
our collections, marks of teeth of animals were frequently
noticed, some of them of such size as might be made by
dogs, but others by a much smaller animal, as a cat. or
mink.

Of the remains of birds, by far the most interesting are
those of the Great Auk (Alca impennis), which formerly
had a much wider geographical distribution than now, for
having followed the glaciers in their retreat, at present it
is confined to the arctic and subarctic regions. In Europe
it formerly existed, as appears from the evidence of the
shell-heaps, on the shores of Scotland, the Orkneys, and
it has recently died out in Iceland. In the United States
we have the authority of Steenstrup and Prof. Baird for
its former existence as far south as Cape Cod. There can
be but little doubt that the last survivors lingered till
after the arrival of the Europeans. The description of the
“Wobble,” by Josslyn, as far as it goes, applies to the
Great Auk, “an ill-shaped bird, having no long feathers in
their pinions which is the reason they cannot fly ; not much
unlike a penguin.” *

There are various traditions along the sea-coast of its
having been seen at a much later date: Audubon, how-
ever, in his voyage to Labrador saw none in the Straits
of Belle Isle, but was told that they still bred on an island
north of Newfoundland.

The remains of the Great Auk in the shell-heaps of
Maine, were in sufficient numbers to show that it must
have been common, since seven specimens of the humerus
alone were found, besides fragments of the cranium, jaws,
and sternum. The specimens of humerus differed re-

: ee saat in „ondition from the same bone of other birds

+N, TA, pp D. Ni p. li

OF NEW ENGLAND. 579

found with them, in not being mutilated ; for of the seven
specimens, four were whole, and the fifth had lost but one
end, while of the humeri of the other kinds, scarce one
was whole enough to enable one to identify the species.
They seem not to have been attractive to the dogs. They
are characterized by their much flattened shape, thick
walls, narrow cavity, and the absence of an opening for
the entrance of air. Well-preserved specimens of the
coracoid bone were also found entire.

The catalogue we have given of the animals found in
the shell-heaps shows that the elements of variety in food
certainly existed, especially if we add to these the maize,
beans, squashes, and various kinds of roots Indians are
known to have used. From the testimony of eye-
Witnesses, soon after the settlement of the country, it
appears that while sometimes the Indian contented him-
self with maize roasted, or with this and beans made into
a pottage, he often, when the necessary materials were
at hand, made what might well be called a hodge-podge.
Gookin gives a full account of the manner in which this
was concocted. In a word, it consisted of a mixture of
fish and flesh of all sorts. “Shad, eels, alewives,” “venison,
beaver, bear’s flesh, moose, otters, raccoons, or any kind
that they take in hunting,” are cut into pieces, bones and
all, and stewed together. “Also they mix with said
pottage séveral sorts of roots, as Jerusalem artichokes,
and ground nuts, and other roots, and pompions, and
squashes, and also several sorts of nuts or masts, as oak-
acorns, chesnuts, walnuts. These, husked and dried and
powdered, they thicken their pottage therewith.” *

Father Raslest expresses his disgust at their style of

* Historical Collection of the Indians of New England, in Collections of Massa-

chusetts History Society. Fini ;
t Lettres Edifiantes et ‘cuneuse Tel p 6m:

580 WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS

cooking and eating, and Wood evidently had a poor
stomach for “their unoat-mealed broth, made thick with
fishes, fowles, and. beasts, boyled all together, some re-
maining raw, the rest converted by overmuch seething to
a loathed mash, not half so good as Irish boniclapper.”*
When visiting the English, if offered food, Wood informs
us they ate “bat little, “but at home they will eat till
their bellies stand forth ready to split with fullness.” *
Works of Art. Pottery is poorly represented, only small
fragments having been found. Like those from other
parts of the United States, the pots were made of clay,
with or without the admixture of pounded shells, and were
imperfectly burned so that the walls are both friable and
porous. The ornamentation, when it exists, is of the
rudest kind (Pl. 14, fig. 18), consisting of indentations
or tracings with a ihalo: point, or, as in some cases, with
a series of points on one and the same instrument. Bot
at Crouch’s Cove and Cotuit Port, specimens were found
in which the lines in the surface had been formed by
impressing an evenly twisted cord into the soft clay (Pl.
14, fig. 19), the cord being laid on in various positions-
This kind of ornamentation has a special interest, since
there is evidence of its having been made use of in widely
distant places. We have found similar specimens on the
banks of the St. John’s in Florida; there are others
from Illinois, presented to the Peabody Museum by J.
P. Pearson, Esq., of Newburyport, and others have been
noticed in the ancient barrows of England.t This kind of
ornament has given rise to the belief that the pots were
moulded in nets, which were removed after the vessel was
finished. - All the specimens we have seen are wanting in
ee E

_ #New England’s Discovered Rarities. London, 1635. p. 59.
a ee ener, p13.

OF NEW ENGLAND. 581

any indication of a regular mesh, or of the existence of
knots where the cords crossed, which, if they existed, as
they must have in a net, could not have failed to be rep-
resented. |
Implements. It is somewhat remarkable that with the
exception of the shell-heaps at Salisbury, all of those here
described yielded so few articles made of stone. At Mount
Desert only two arrow-heads were found, at Crouch’s Cove
Mr. Swann found a pestle, and Mr. Morse a rude chisel,
both picked up on the shore, but probably washed out
from among the shells. At Eagle Hill, Mr. Putnam
found a spherical stone with a groove around it, but at
Cotuit Port not a single piece of worked stone was dis-
covered. In regions adjoining the different shell depos-
its, especially at Cotuit Port, an abundance of stone im-
plements have been found, and those who have preceded
us have occasionally obtained some from the heaps. In
the Danish heaps, they seem to have been quite common,
and Mr. Rau found them so at Keyport.
Implements of bone, on the other hand, are quite abun-
nt, as were also fragments of bone showing the marks
of the instruments by which pieces had been detached,
and of such there was a considerable variety. Some of
the bones were cut across by making a groove around the
‘circumference, as one would cut a notch in a stick, and
breaking the rest ; and others, as the metatarsal bones of
the elk and deer, were split lengthwise, by making a groove
on each side nearly to the marrow cavity, and completing
the division by fracture. The roughly striated surface of
the groove, and its undulating course indicate a piece of
stone, and not a saw, as the instrument with which the
work was done. We have found by experiment that this
mode of working bone does not prove so great a labor

582 WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS

as it might at first sight seem to be, and with care have
succeeded in splitting - in two, lengthwise, in the course
of an hour, a piece of human ulna seven inches long, by
means of a flint “chip” held in the hand. This, of course,
involves a large expenditure of time, but it must be re-
membered that an Indian’s time was not valued. The
work is rendered very much easier by keeping both the
instrument and bone wet. It has been objected to the
opinion, that certain implements from the European
heaps were used as saws, that having wedge-shaped edges
they would soon become “choked” or “jammed.” Prac-
tically this does not happen, for we have uniformly found
that the roughness of the sides of the flint is sufficient to
widen the groove as fast as the edge deepens it.

Implements of bone made by the Indians dwelling in
New England have rarely been mentioned, and are sel-

dom seen in collections, but if one may judge from the

number of specimens we have obtained, must have been
in quite common use. The inhabitants of the North-west
Coast, and the Esquimaux, are largely dependent upon
this material, and Messrs. Squier and Davis found a few
bone instruments in the mounds of Ohio. The accom-
panying figures, drawn by Mr. Morse, represent the forms
of the more important ones discovered in the different
heaps, which form the subject of this paper. Except the
first, which is reduced one-half, linear measurement, all
are represented of the natural size. We are unable to
assign any uses for the larger part of them, and of the
others can only offer a conjecture.

EXPLANATIONS OF PLATES 14 aND 15.
Fig. 1. This instrument is ten inches long, two inches and a half
broad at the top, and one at the point. It is made of one of the
branches of the antler of the moose or elk. The breadth of the upper

k
4
ie
K
a
fe
:
3

American Naturalist. Vol. I: PL Ii

Fig. 1. Fig. 3.

‘ 0 |
pean s
ni p wi

wa
int
Xia

ri

WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS OF NEW ENGLAND.

WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS OF NEW ENGLAND.

Vol. I. Pl. 15.
Fig. 14.

Fig. 16.

Fig.17. 17a.

OF NEW ENGLAND. 583

portion is not seen in the figure, as the piece is represented as seen

some dull tool. Attached to a handle it might be used to dig with, or
might serve for the purpose of a head-breaker, or ‘casse-téte,”
described pe Father Rasles.* From Frenchman’s Bay.

Fig. 2. A flat-pointed instrument, = — long, and 14 wide.
This is made of the dense exterior portion of an antler, and at the
lower end has a thin sharp ie as in Tig. $ a. From Crouch’s Cove.

Fig. 3. A piece of one of the branches of the antler of a deer, from
which the tip has a“ cut off. The sides near the pointed end have
been worked down s to present p faces, two of the angles
uniting them being ipri acute. The detached piece having a deep

adapted to serve as the point of an arrow. Such points were used by
the aborigines, and we are informed by Winslow, that when the Pil-
grims were making their first explorations on the shore at Cape Cod,
previously to landing at Plymouth, some of the arrows shot at them
had the kind of point just described.t From Cotuit Port
F i ;

Fig. 5. An artificially pointed jie esa of bone, suitable pie the
ea of an awl. From Crouch’s Cov
A fragment of a bone of a bird, obliquely truncated and

S sharpened. From Crouch’s Cov

Fig. 7. One of the lower incisors of a Sna ground to a thin,
sharp edge, which last is formed by the enamel on the inner, or flat
Side of the tooth. From Crouch’s Cove

Fig. 8. A well wrought and polished spindle-shaped instrument,
the ‘wee end of which is flattened, and has a sharp edge; the upper
portion is rounded aes the end broken off, gr ea to have been
worked to a sharp po From Frenchman’s

Fig. 9. A slender prts of bone, BEE eens and pointed.
From Frenchman’s Ba

Figs. 10 and 12, from Finda Bay, and 11 and 13, from Crouch’s
Cove, are all made of flattened pieces, each being cut from the walls
of one of the long bones, and showing the cancellated structure on
one of the sides

Fig. i. From Eagle Hill; the serrated edge is quite sharp, but
from this the bone rapidly increases to one-third of an inch in thick-
hess, so as to render it wholly unsuitable to be used as a saw.

Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuse. Paris, 1838. Vol. I. gg
+ peamiste m gaigre Ei Boston, 1841. p. 158.

584 : THE CHICKADEE,

Figs. 16 and 17 are flat, scraped very thin, as seen in 17 a; one of

pias is made from the bone of a bird. From Eag
specimens represented by the figures just patr together

with other wrought pieces more or less mutilated, and collections of
the bones and shells from each of the heaps, e preserved in the
Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology it Cambridge, and in
the Ethnological Department of the Essex Institute in Salem. Of
these S those represented in Figs. 6, 7, 11, 13 and 14, were
from the Rev. J. A. Swan; Figs. 1, 9, 12 from Mr. William A. Hayes;
Figs. 2 and 4 from Mr. Horace Mann; Figs. 10 and 17 from Mr. F.
W. Putnam; Fig. 15 from Mr. E. S. Toia, and Figs. 3, 5, 8, 10, from
the writer.

ÖKJOEKKENMOEDDING G

THE CHICKADEE.

BY AUGUSTUS FOWLER.

Tue Chickadee (Parus atricapillus) is a common resi-
dent, familiar alike in the woods and the dwellings of
man. He fears not the storms of winter nor the heats of
summer. Cautious yet bold, cunning though seemingly
simple, he averts all suspicion of the whereabouts of his
nesting-place, and, when diseovered, scolds the intruder.
Ever on the alert, the hawk cannot make him his prey;
nor the smooth gliding snake surprise him in his nest. In
times of incubation when danger approaches, the male,

THE CHICKADEE. 585

before unseen, sallies forth and instantly appears before
the intruder, hopping from branch to branch, keeping but
a short distance from him, and remaining silent until he
fears their retreat may be discovered, then he sounds the
alarm. At the noise the female peeps out of her abode,
and quickly dodges back to wait the issue. If their
nesting-place is not seen, or the male has artfully drawn
the person away, the pleasing notes, Phe-be, Phe-be
are heard; but if the nest is disturbed, and the female
routed, they are clamorous in reiterating the notes, Pe-
dee-dee-dee. If their nest is destroyed, they linger about
a day or two, then go in quest of another suitable place
to build again, such as a rotten stump or decayed up-
right limb of a tree or post, which is easily perforated,
and dig a hole in it to the depth of six to nine inches,
with a diameter usually of two and a quarter inches.
They are often many days in preparing their tenement.
Their labors are commenced in the morning of each day,
both male and female working, and they work until about
the middle of the forenoon, when they stop, and are
seldom seen about the premises until the next morning.
It seems as though the task before them would depress
their spirits and discourage them in their undertaking,
but energy and perseverance will accomplish much: bit
by bit of rotten wood is taken out of the hole and carried
by each bird ten or fifteen feet from the tree and dropped
on the ground. There is no delay in their work except
what arises from the difficulty of detaching the particles
of wood from the sides or bottom of the cavity; for each
bird, after dropping its light load, flies back to near
the entrance and waits for the other to appear, when it
enters the branch instantly. When the hollow is finished
the bottom is concave, as usual in birds’ nests.
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 74

586 THE CHICKADEE:

There is usually in the vicinity of the nest a hollow
tree, or cavity made on purpose for the male to roost in
during the time of breeding; such retreats are also occu-
pied by them in severe stormy weather in winter, in
which they sometimes remain three or four days in suc-
cession. They make their nests of different materials;
sometimes it is entirely of cow’s hair, at others entirely
of wool; usually it is composed of various materials, such
as those named, together with fine grass, the fine dried
roots of the willow, etc., and lined with some soft mate-
rial. Its inside diameter is one and three-fourths inches ;
its depth one and one-fourth inches. The eggs, which
are commonly eight in number, measure in length nine-
sixteenths of an inch, and in breadth eight-sixteenths of
an inch. They are marked with reddish-brown ‘specks
over the entire egg, more thickly at the larger end;
sometimes, however, the spots are thicker on the smaller
end of some of the eggs of the same brood. They raise
two broods in a season. The Chickadee, when compelled
from necessity to take up his abode in a cavity not made
by himself, selects one with an entrance not much larger
than his body, so that he is not so-liable to become the
prey of the Mottled-owl, as are the Golden-winged Wood-
peckers, and Blue-birds. There are no species of birds
that suffer so much from the depredations of the owl as
the Golden-winged Woodpeckers. The deadliest foe to
the Chickadee is the Great American Shrike, or Butcher-
bird. Seated upon some prominent object the Shrike
watches the movement of the little troop as they are

busily engaged seeking their food in a variety of posi-
tions, unconscious of the sure death that awaits one of
_ their number. While listening to the squeaking notes
~ Ofthe Brown Creeper which usually attends them, or

DESMIDS AND DIATOMS. 587

the shrill clarion voice of the Downy Woodpecker, you
hear a noise like a falling stone through the branches of
the tree; it is the shrike: he has struck his victim, and
if he does not devour it upon the spot, it is hung on the
crotch of a limb to serve as a meal at some future time.

DESMIDS AND DIATOMS.

No. I.
THEIR GROWTH AND GEOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE.

BY PROF. L. W. BAILEY.

[Concluded from page 517.]

In descending from the study of the higher to that of
the lower forms of life, nothing is more remarkable than
the manifold and often varied means by which that life
_ is multiplied and perpetuated. In all four departments
of the Animal Kingdom this is found to be the case, the
higher groups in each producing for the most part a lim-
ited number of offspring, which, however, they nurse with
proportionate care, while, as we pass to those occupying
a lower grade, Nature seems to guard against the extinc-
tion of a species by vastly augmenting the reproductive
power of the individual. So strikingly is this the case,
that fishes, worms, the moss-like mollusca and the polyps,
the lower groups under their several types, have been
well styled the Embryonic or Reproductive Classes. Nor
is this observation true only within the limits of a single
department. It is equally the case when one of these
classes is compared with another, the difference, however,
now appearing not so much in an inequality in the number
of actual offspring, as in the introduction of new modes of

588 DESMIDS AND DIATOMS.

multiplication, other than the development from eggs. It
is true that the numbers of possible young contained in the
roe of certain fishes far exceeds anything to be found in the
case of either of the classes just alluded to, but of these
comparatively few reach maturity ; while, slightly among
the worms, still more among the flower-like mollusca, and
in a most remarkable degree among the coral-polyps, a
new mode of reproduction is introduced, by which not
mere immature undeveloped individuals only are brought
forth, but individuals fully formed, perfect in all their
organs, ready to assist at once in the labors of the com-
munity of which they form a part.

Hence it is, perhaps, that the lower forms of life have
been and are of incomparably more importance than the
higher, in modifying the earth’s physical features, and in
contributing material for its growth. The coral-polyp isa
pigmy indeed beside the Mastodon, but while a fragmen-
tary skeleton of the latter is here and there unearthed, the
solid framework of the latter has, to a considerable extent,
become also the framework of the globe, a portion of the
masonry by which, tier upon tier, our continent has risen
through successive ages.

In passing from the Animal to the Vegetable Kingdom,
the fact to which we have made allusion is equally appa-
rent. Reproduction by seed, though the normal, is by no
means the only nor indeed the usual method of propa-
gation. Were this the case, and were every form of veg-
tation but a single individual, how infinitely reduced
ae be that individual’s chances of successfully resisting
the thousand accidents to which it is subjected, how
“infinitely less varied and less beautiful would be the de-
S — of vegetable life. But every botanist knows, —

- ' gardener practically proves, that a shrub or tree

DESMIDS AND DIATOMS. 589

is not a single indivisible being, but a community of indi-
viduals, each of them a potential plant, living, it is true,
in intimate connection with others of its kind, but equally
capable of living alone, when, with proper care, its con-
nection with these latter is severed. Every plant, as it
buds in spring, is but reproducing hundreds or perhaps
thousands of new individuals, similar in every respect to
that which originally sprung directly from the seed. Un-
like what is seen in the Animal Kingdom, the higher as
well as the lower orders share equally in this peculiar
mode of growth; with this difference, however, that while
among the higher groups the newly formed parts retain
their connections, and become a portion of a compound
structure, in the humbler groups they often separate as
soon as formed, and acquire a distinct and independent -
existence.

Let us now observe some of the results of this process,
as illustrated in the minute forms of vegetation to which
this paper is more especially devoted.

In the last number of the Natura ist it was shown,
that, among the Desmids and Diatoms, though “ conjuga-
tion” and the formation of seed-like bodies or spores 1s a
normal mode of reproduction, yet here, as among higher
plants, multiplication by this method is comparatively
unimportant, by far the greater number of individuals
arising from the self-division or fission of a single cell.
So true is this, indeed, that the former mode, although
probably true of all, has as yet been observed in but very
few, and those the least remarkable species, while the
process of budding or self-division is universal. ` Indeed,
it is scarcely possible to examine a recent gathering of
Diatoms, in which individuals will not be found illustrat-
ing all the different stages of development, from those in

590 . DESMIDS AND DIATOMS.

which the “connecting membrane” has merely become
slightly enlarged, to those in which it may be seen to
contain two new individuals; these latter ready, by the
disruption of the membrane, to acquire a separate exist-
ence, or, as is more commonly the case, to still maintain
some slight connection with the parent cell, thus forming
new members in a compound community.

The rapidity of this budding process is something
astounding, and goes far to explain the geological impor-
tance of these organisms. Ehrenberg, the great micros-
copic observer, in alluding to this subject, observes that
“the silicious infusoria (Diatoms) form, in stagnant waters
during hot weather, a porous layer of the thickness of the
hand. Although more than 100,000,000 weigh hardly a
- grain, one may, in the course of half an hour, collect a
pound’s weight of them ; hence it will no longer seem im-
possible that they may build up rocks ;” and Professor
Smith, the author of a standard work on these organisms,
has calculated, as the progeny of a single diatomaceous
cell, the amazing number of one thousand millions in a
single month. These facts are certainly calculated to
awaken our astonishment, yet wonderful as they are as
illustrations of the reproductive power, they are but a
repetition of what actually occurs throughout the whole
vegetable kingdom. Take for example the century plant
of our conservatories. An excellent authority tells us
_ that, shooting forth its flower-stalk at the rate of a foot
in twenty-four hours, it actually produces no less than
twenty thousand millions of cells in a single day; and
many other plants, in a greater or less degree, illustrate
the same fact. In both cases the new cells are micro-
scopic, but while in the higher forms they remain aggre-
_ gated to produce a close and compact structure, of a more

DESMIDS AND DIATOMS. 591

or less limited duration, among the Diatoms the new cells
become new individuals ; and though, as living forms, their
duration is brief, yet incorporating as they do into their
tissues the almost indestructible element, silica, to a
greater extent than in any other group of organisms, they
become as it were petrified, even while still alive, and at
death leave behind relics, minute indeed, but imperish-
able, the most perfect of fossils, in which every groove
and marking of their former selves is accurately and
beautifully preserved.

We have, then, only to reflect for a moment upon the
almost universal distribution of the Diatomacez, to un-
derstand how, by rapid growth and the formation of
indestructible remains, they may readily become of great
importance in a physical and geological point of view.
They are found alike in fresh, salt, and brackish water ; in
moist earth and in tidal muds; in hot springs and in river
ice, from the poles to the equator, coloring vast tracts of
the surface of the sea, as well as composing the great
bulk of the ocean’s bed. Even in the lava and cinders
of volcanoes their presence has been recognized, and
they form a large portion of the dust-showers and “blood-
rains” formerly so dreaded, and which cover at times with
powder the sails of ships at sea. Mr. Roper, an English
microscopist, tells us, that, excluding coarse sand, one-
fourth of the finer part of the residuum of the mud of the
Thames is composed of the silicious remains of the Diato-
macex, and expresses his belief that their silicious shells
“have a perceptible influence in the formation of shoals
and mud-banks.” Dr. Hooker, again, in speaking of the
results obtained by the Antarctic Expedition, observes that
sare abound in the newly-formed ice of the Polar Seas,

ucing by their death a submarine deposit of vast

592 DESMIDS AND DIATOMS,

dimensions, occupying probably an area of 400 miles long
by 120 wide, resting in part upon a glacier 400 miles in
length, and in part upon the submarine flanks of Mount
Feebua, an active voleano 12,000 feet in height! Finally,
Ehrenberg considers that at Pillau, in PE Ai , “there
are annually deposited from the water from 7,200 to 14,-
000 cubic metres of fine microscopic organisms, which, in
the course of a century, would give a deposit of from
720,000 to 1,400,000 cubic metres of Infusory-rock or
Tripoli-stone.”

So much for the rapidity of growth and the physical
importance of the Diatoms in our own era; let us now
glance for a moment at earlier periods, and see whether
these minute organisms were then too at work, producing
results at all comparable to those which we witness at the
present day.

To begin with the more recent geological pent i
Every tyro in microscopic inquiry has, among his other
curiosities, obtained at least one slide with the label
“Fossil Infusoria.” These are Diatomacez, and the de-
posits from which they are derived may be found in all
parts of our country, cropping out on the borders of
ponds, or underlying layers of peat. It is, however,
often a matter of doubt, especially in the former case,
where the forms of the deposit and those still living in
the water are apparently identical, how far these may

“Sealy be entitled to the designation of “fossils.” That

ey are so in many cases, and almost always when un-
derlying beds of peat, is shown by the entire absence in
these latter of certain species (especially Witschia and -
dra), while these species are growing in the waters
meron eS a profusion. The period

DESMIDS AND DIATOMS. 593

one epoch in the geological history of the Diatoms, and
more attentive study will yet reveal the occurrence of
similar special epochs in the case of other species, even
though we may not be able to directly synchronize these
epochs with those determined from other data.* But
leaving the region of uncertainty, there are numerous
deposits, the great antiquity of which is placed beyond a
doubt. Among these we may first enumerate a deposit
in which were found imbedded, in 1843, the bones of a
Mastodon, in Orange county, N. Y., and which, from its
peculiar connection with these bones, was undoubtedly of
contemporaneous origin. Being unaffected by severity
of climate, it is probable that the Diatoms continued to
exist through the whole Post-tertiary Period, affording,
by the entire absence of marine species, another confirm-
ation of the much-disputed Glacier theory of Professor
Agassiz. Again receding, the next deposits of which the
age may be considered as definitely fixed, are those of
Virginia and Maryland, the most celebrated of all diato-
maceous earths, from the extreme variety and beauty of
their forms and the extent of the beds containing them.
These beds, where they underlie the city of Richmond,
are not less than twenty feet in thickness, and consist
entirely of marine remains; while deposits, similar in
character, and probably contemporaneous in origin, are
found at many localities as far as Piscataway, in the State
of Maryland. They are referred by their discoverer,
Professor W. B. Rogers, to the Miocene Tertiary. One
cubic inch of the earth has been calculated to contain not
less than several millions of individual shells. Many
similar similar deposits have been observed both in America and
uo a terstn Petal fos Lewis, in Er e Proceedings of the
Philadelphia Academy of Natural
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

594 DESMIDS AND DIATOMS.

Europe, but little has as yet been done in determining
their precise age, or in accounting for the conditions
necessary for the local accumulation of such vast quanti-
ties of material. Among the most remarkable in this
respect are those of our western coast. I have now before
me a block of pure diatomaceous earth, a foot and a half
long by half a foot in depth, of chalk-like whiteness, sent
by Mr. W. P. Blake, from Monterey (the entire weight
of which is only about six pounds), and other similar
beds are found at many points in Mexico, California, and
Oregon. One of these, discovered by Colonel Fremont
on the Columbia River, surpasses all other known depos-
its, being not less than 500 feet in thickness, and covered
by at least 100 feet of compact basalt and other volcanic
products !

It is probable that the Mexican and California beds,
like those of Richmond, are of Tertiary age, though some
of them may prove to be Cretaceous. That those of
Monterey and San Francisco are far more ancient than
the present physical features of California is proved by
their being purely marine deposits, and by their differing
wholly in character and species from other deposits, also
of considerable thickness, from the eastern side of the
Sierras, which I have lately had an opportunity of exam-
ining. These latter are fluviatile or lacustrine, and con-
tain many- species identical with those of the ordinary
subpeat deposits of the Eastern States.

In passing from the Tertiary to earlier formations, the
evidence of the existence of the microscopic Alge be- —
comes less evident, and for a long time none were
believed to exist of more ancient date than those above
alluded to. Certain peculiar organisms termed Xanthidia
were, however, observed as of frequent occurrence in

DESMIDS AND. DIATOMS. 595

the flint-nodules of the chalk formation, and within a still
more recent period similar forms have been observed in
the analogous hornstones of the Devonian and Silurian
ages, associated in this latter case with unequivocal Dia-
tomaceous shells. As regards these Xanthidia, whieh
have usually been regarded as remains of Desmids, it is
certainly singular that, while all recent Desmids are
purely fresh water, these should occur in marine deposits :
and secondly, that, destitute as they are for the most part
of the silicious shell of the Diatoms, they should occur in
a fossil state at all. Yet the resemblance is certainly a
striking one, and their occurrence with the kindred Dia-
tomaces throws some degree of plausibility upon this be-
lief. However this may be, the existence of one group
at least of these organisms being established for these
early periods, we can scarcely doubt that their numbers
were as great then as in the seas of our own day, and
that they have been present through all the great geolog-
ical ages, even though metamorphism and other agencies
have for the most part obliterated all traces of their beau-
tiful but fragile shells. It is highly probable that accom-
panying the lower forms of animal life, these humble
types of vegetation were among the first introduced upon
the globe, performing then, as their representatives now
do in the arctic seas and at great depths, where the
higher forms of vegetation are wanting, the part of puri-
fying the waters, as well as of contributing food for the
sustenance of the different forms of animal life with which
they were associated.

Thus we see that the lower no less than the higher
forms of life have their appointed place, each fulfilling its
own part, and each worthy of the admiration and the
study of the observing mind.

THE HOME OF THE BEES.

BY A. S. PACKARD, JR., M. D.

(Concluded from page 378.)

„Wue the Andrena and Halictus bees, whose habits
we now describe, are closely allied in form to the Hive-
. bee, socially they are the “mud-sills” of bee society,
ranking among the lowest forms of the family of bees,
or Apide. ‘Their burrowing habits ally them with the
ants, from whose nests their own burrows can scarcely be
distinguished. Their economy does not seem to demand
the exercise of so much of a true reasoning power and
pliable instinct as characterizes those bees, such as the
Honey and Humble-bee, which possess a high architectu-
ral skill. Moreover they are not social; ‘they have no
part in rearing and caring for their young, a fact that
lends so much interest to the history of the Hive and
Humble-bee. In this respect they are far below the
wasps, or Vespide, a family belonging next below in the
system of Nature.

A glance at Mr. Emerton’s admirable drawing (Fig. 1)
of a j eee of Andrena vicina Smith, reveals the econ-
omy of one of our most common forms. Quite early in
spring, when the sun and vernal breezes have dried up
the soil, and the fields exchange their rusty hues for the
rich green verdure of May, our Andrena, tired of its idle
life among the blossoms of the willow, the wild cherry,
and garden flowers, suddenly becomes remarkably indus-
trious, and wields its spade-like jaws and busy feet with
a strange and unwonted energy. Choosing some sunny,
warm, grassy bank (these nests were observed in the

“great pasture” of Salem), not always with a southern ex-
posure ee the female sinks her oer well through

(596)

ATOA ae
ee S

THE HOME OF THE BEES. 597

the sod from six inches to a foot into the sandy soil beneath.
She goes to work literally tooth and nail. Reasoning from
Fig. 1.

observations made on several
species of wasps, and also from
studying the structure of her NN i
jaws and legs, it is evident that X} |
she digs in and loosens the soil
with her powerful jaws, and
then throws out the dirt with
her legs. She uses her forelegs
like hands, to pass the load
of dirt to her hind legs, and i
then runs backward out of her oh
hole to dump it down behind ve “
her. Mr. Emerton tells me
that he never saw a bee in the
act of digging but once, and ,
then she left off after a few
strokes. He also says, “they
are harmless and inoffensive.
On several occasions I have
laid on the grass near their
holes for hours, but not one
attempted to sting me; and
when taken between the fin-
gers, they make but feeble re-
sistance.” z
To enter somewhat into de- “*w#a/## ee n
tail, we gather from the obser- Nest (natural size) f arrow, and , the
vations of Mr. Emerton (who Containing the pupa (© is situated
has carefully watched the hab- taning the larva?) ie bernie she
its of these bees through sev- pollen mass and egg resting upon it,
eral seasons ) the following daws, and contains à bg xg pend
account of the economy of An- ning ofa cell; g, level of the ground.

598 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

drena vicina. On the 4th of May the bees were seen dig-
ging their holes, most of which were already two inches
deep, and one six inches. The mounds of earth were so
small as to be hardly noticed. At this time an Oil-beetle
(Meloé) was seen prowling about the holes. The presence
of this dire foe of Andrena at this time, it will be seen in a
succeeding paper on the enemies of the bees, is quite sig-
nificant. By the fifteenth of May hundreds of Andrena
holes were found in various parts of the pasture, and at
one place, in a previous season, there were about two hun-
dred found placed within a small area. One cell was dug
up, but it contained no pollen. Four days later, several
Andrenas were noticed resting from their toil at the open-
ing of their burrows. On the twenty-eighth of May, in un-
earthing six holes, eight cells were found to contain pollen,
and in two of them a small larva. The pellets of pollen
are about the size of a pea. They are hard and round
at first, before the young has hatched, but as the larva
grows the mass becomes softer and more pasty, so that
the larva buries its head in the mass, and greedily sucks
it in. When is the pollen gathered by the bee and
kneeded into the pellet-like mass? On June 4th, a cell
was opened in which was a bee busily engaged prepar-
ing the pollen, which was loosely and irregularly piled
up, while there was a larva in an adjoining cell nearly
half an inch long. It would seem, then, that the bee
comes in from the fields laden with her stores of pollen,
which she elaborates into bee-bread within her cell.
When the bee returns to her cell she does not directly
fly towards the entrance, since, as was noticed in 4
particular instance, she flew about for a long time in
all directions without any apparent aim, until she finally
settled near the hole, and walked into her subterranean

THE HOME OF THE BEES. 599

retreat. On a rainy day, May 24th, our friend visited
the colony, but found no bees flying about the holes.
The little hillocks had been beaten down by the pitiless
rain-drops, and all traces of their industry effaced. On
digging down, several bees were found, indicating that on
rainy days they seek the shelter of their holes, and do not
take refuge under leaves of the plants they frequent.

On the 29th of June six full-grown larve were exhumed,
and one about half grown. On the 20th of July the colony
seemed well organized, as, on laying open a burrow at
the depth of six inches, he began to find cells. The upper
ones, to the number of a dozen, were deserted and filled
with earth and grass roots, and had evidently been built
and used during the previous year. Below these were
eight cells placed around the main vertical gallery, reach-
ing down to the depth of thirteen inches, and all contain-
` ing nearly full-grown larve of the bees, or else those of
some parasitic bee (Nomada) which had devoured the
food prepared for the young Andrena.

About the first of August the larva transforms to a
pupa or chrysalis; as at this time two pupe were found
in cells a foot beneath the surface. As shown in the
cut, those cells situated lowest down seem to be the last —
to have been made, while the eggs laid in the highest
are the first to hatch, and the larve disclosed from them
the first to change to pupe. Four days later the pups
of Nomada, or Cuckoo-bees, were found in the cells.
No Andrenas were seen flying about at this time.

On the 24th of August, to be still very circumstantial
in our narrative, though at the risk of being tedious,
three burrows were unearthed, and in them three fully
formed bees were found, nearly ready to leave their
cells, and in addition several pups. In some other cells

600 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

there were three of the parasitic Nomada also nearly
ready to come out, which seemed to be identical with
some bees noticed playing very innocently about the
holes early in the summer.

On the last day of August, very few of the holes were
open. A number of Oil-beetles (Meloé) were strolling
suspiciously about in the neighborhood, and some little

ack Ichneumon flies were seen running about among the
holes.

During midsummer the holes were found closed night
and day by clods of earth.

The burrow is sunken perpendicularly, with short pas-
sages leading to the cells, which are slightly inclined
downwards and outwards from the main gallery. The
walls of the gallery are rough, but the cells are lined
with a mucous-like secretion, which, on hardening, looks
like the glazing of earthen-ware. This glazing is quite
hard, and breaks up into angular pieces. It is evidently
the work of the bee herself, and is not secreted and laid
on by the larva. The diameter of the interior of the cell
is about one-quarter of an inch, contracting a little at the
mouth. When the cell is taken out, the dirt adheres for
a line in thickness, so that it is of the size and form of an
` acorn.

The larva of Andrena (Fig. 2) is soft and fleshy, like
that of the Honey-bee. Its body is flattened, bulging out
prominently at the sides, and tapering more rapidly than
usual towards each end of the body. Seen sideways, the
thoracic rings are quite prominent, giving a serrated out-
line to the body. The skin is very thin, so that along the
back the heart or dorsal vessel may be distinctly seen,
pulsating about sixty times a minute.

Our cut (Fig.1) also represents the pupa, or chrys-

THE HOME OF THE BEES. 601

alis, as seen lying in its cell. The limbs are folded
close to the body in the most compact way possible.
On the head of the semi-pupa, 7. e. a
transition state between the larva and
pupa, there are two prominent tubercles
situated behind the simple eyes, or ocelli ;
these are deciduous organs, apparently reo |
aiding the insect in moving about its
cell. They disappear in the mature
pupa.

To those accustomed to rearing butter-
flies, and seeing the chrysalis at once
assuming its perfected shape, after the cat- pig.. | €
erpillar skin is thrown off, it may seem
_ strange to hear one speak of a “half-pupa,”
and of stages intermediate between the
larva and pupa. But as we have before
stated on page 429, the external changes
of form, though rapidly passed through,
consisting apparently of a mere sloughing
off of the outer skin, are yet preceded
_ by slow and very gradual alterations of "ina ents tate.
tissues, resulting from the growth oftis i Fupi of Say
cells.* An inner layer of the larva-skin ais oo
separates from the outer, and, by changes reratetus.
in the ‘form of the muscles, is drawn into different posi-
tions, such as is assumed by the pupa, which thus lies
concealed beneath the larva-skin. But a slight alteration
is made in the general form of the larva, consisting most
of an enlargement of the thoracic segments, which is often
overlooked, even by the special student, though of great

Fig. 4.

i ld
*On 429, line 5, we say, “the changes though rapid are gradual.” Tt shou
toad; the Changte tE e DANI widdlting®) aE though the steps that lead to

them are gradual.
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 76

602 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

interest to the philosophic naturalist. Special attention
has been drawn to this “semi-pupa” state by Ratzburg, in
his “Development of Footless Hymenopterous Larve,”
and by Professor Agassiz, in his “Classification of Insects
from Embryological Data” (Smithsonian Contributions),
wherein he refers to the changes of the caterpillar of a
butterfly (Hudamus Tityrus), just before assuming the
chrysalis or pupa state.

rom Mr. Emerton’s observations we should judge,
that the pupa state lasted from three to four weeks, as
the larvee began to transform the first of August, and
appeared during the last week of the same month as per-
fect bees.

Andrena vicina is seen as late as the first week in Sep-
tember, and again early in April, about the flowers of the
willow. It is one of the largest of its genus and a com-
mon species.

Having, in a very fragmentary way, sketched the life-
history of our Andrena, and had some glimpses of its
subterranean life, let us now compare with it another
genus of solitary bees (Halictus) quite closely allied in
all respects, though a little lower in the scale.

The Halictus parallelus Say, excavates cells almost ex-
actly like those of Andrena; but since the bee is smaller,
the holes are smaller, though as deep. Mr. Emerton
found one nest in a path a foot in depth. Another nest,
discovered September 9th, was about six inches deep.
The cells are in form like those of Andrena, and like them
are glazed within. The egg is rather slenderer and much
curved ; in form it is long, cylindrical, obtuse at one end,
and much smaller at the other. The larva (Fig. 4) is
longer and slenderer, being quite different from the rather
broad and flattened larva of Andrena. The body is

THE HOME OF THE BEES. 603

rather thick behind, but in front tapers slowly towards
the head, which is of moderate size. Its body is some-
what tuberculated, the tubercle aiding the grub in mov-
ing about its cell. Its length is nearly one-half (.40) of
an inch. On the pupa are four quite distinct conical
tubercles forming a transverse line just in front of the
ocelli; and there are also two larger, longer tubercles
on the outer side of each of which an ocellus is situated.
Figure 3 represents the pupa seen from beneath.

Search was made on July 16th, when the ground was
hard as stone for six inches in depth, below which the soil
was soft and fine, and over twenty cells were dug out.
‘ The upper cells contained nearly mature pupe, and the
lower ones larvee of various sizes, the smallest being
hardly distinguishable by the naked eye. Each of these
small larvee was in a cell by itself, and situated upon a
lump of pollen, which was the size and shape of a pea,
and was found to lessen in size as the larva grew larger.
These young were probably the offspring of several
females, as four mature bees were found in the hole.”
The larva of an English species hatches in ten days after
the eggs are laid. ;

Another brood of bees appeared the middle of Septem-
ber, as on the ninth of that month (1864) Mr. Emerton
found several holes of the same species of bee made in a
hard gravel road near the turnpike. When opened, they
were found to contain several bees with their young.
September 2d, of this year, the same kind of bee was
found in holes, and just ready to leave the cell. It is
probable that these bees winter over.

We have incidentally noticed the presence in the nests
of Andrena and Halictus of a stranger bee, clad in gay,
fantastic hues, which lives a parasitic life on its hosts.

604 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

This parasitism does not go far enough to cause the death
of the host, since we find the young of the parasitic
Nomada, or Cuckoo-bee, in cells containing its young.

Mr. F. Smith, in his “Catalogue of British Bees,” says
of this genus: “No one appears to know anything beyond
the mere fact of their entering the burrows of Andrenide
and Apide, except that they are found in the cells of the
working bees in their perfect condition: it is most proba-
ble that they deposit. their eggs on the provision laid up
by the working bee, that they close up the cell, and that
the working bee, finding an egg deposited, commences a
fresh cell for her own progeny.”

He has, however, found two specimens of Nomada sex-
fasciata in the cells of Hucera longicornis, the Long-horned
bee. He also states, that while some species are constant
in their attacks on certain Halicti and Andrene, others
attack different species of these genera indiscriminately.

| like manner another Cuckoo-bee ( Celionys) is para-
sitic on Megachile and Saropoda; Stelis is a parasite on
Osmia, the Mason-bee ; and Melecta infests the cells of
Anthophora.

The observations of Mr. Emerton enable us still far-
ther to clear up the history of this obscure visitor. He
found both the larva and pupa, as well as the perfect bee,
in the cells of both genera; so that either both kinds of
bee, when hatched from eggs laid in the same cell, feed on
the same pollen mass, which therefore barely suffices for
the nourishment of both ; or the hostess, discavering the
strange egg laid, cuckoo-like, in her own nest, has the
forethought to deposit another ball of pollen to secure the
safety of her young. |

As such an act the operation of a blind instinct? Does
it not rather ally our little bee with those higher animals

THE HOME OF THE BEES. 605

which undoubtedly possess a reasoning power? Its in-
stinct teaches it to build cells, and prepare its pollen mass,
and lay an egg thereon. Its reason enables it, in such an
instance as this, when the life of the brood is threatened,
_ to guard against any such danger by means to which it

does not habitually resort. This instance is paralleled by
the case of our common Summer Yellow-bird, which, on
finding an egg of the Cow-bunting in its nest, often builds
a new nest above it, to the certain destruction of the un-
welcome egg in the nest beneath.

In the structure of the bee, and in all its stages of
growth, our parasite seems lower in the zoological scale
than its host. It is structurally a degraded form of
Working-bee, and its position socially is unenviable. It

is lazy, not having the provident habits of the Working-

bees; it aids not in the least, so far as we know,
the cross-fertilization of plants, —one great office in the
economy of nature which most bees perform,—since it is
not a pollen-gatherer, but on the contrary is seemingly a
drag and hinderance to the course of nature. But yet
nature kindly, and as if by a special interposition, for
which the Developmentists will find it difficult to account,
provides for its maintenance, and the humble naturalist
can only exclaim, “God is great, and His ways myste-
rious,” and go on his way studying and collecting facts,
leaving to his successors the more difficult task, but
greater joy of discovering the cause and reason of things
that are but a puzzle to the philosophers of this day.

The larva of Nomada may be known from those of its
host, by its slenderer body and smaller head, while the
body is smoother’ and more cylindrical. Both sexes of
Nomada imbricata and N. pulchella of Smith were found
by Mr. Emerton, the former in both the Andrena and

606 THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

Halictus nests, and both species were found in a single
Andrena nest.

The interesting history of the Oil-beetle (Meloé) and
its wonderful transformations, and of the Stylops and
other bee-parasites, cannot now detain us. We hope to
lay an account of them before our readers at some future
time.

a

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

BY EDWARD S. MORSE.

(Continued from page 547.)

THe genus Succinea, of which we have three marked
species in New England, is furnished with a thin, trans-
lucent, and elastic shell. The soft parts resemble those
of Helix, but the creeping disk is quite short and broad,
and the tentacles are short and swollen at their bases.
The shell is entirely unlike Helix, being ovate-conic, and
not rolled in a plane.

Succrnea Torrentana. (Fig. 46.) Shell ovate, amber-
colored, thin, translucent, shining. Whorls about three,

Fig. 46, the last very large; spire not prominent, su-
ture distinct. The aperture is three-fourths
( ~a\ the length of the shell, and so open that the
f PA animal when contracted within the shell is plainly
j] visible. Length of shell from § to ł of an inch.
The animal is at a salmon-color, and the shell is
sufficiently translucent to reveal the color of the viscera

n. This species appears to be confined to New Eng-
land and the Provinces. It is represented in the Western
States by S. obliqua, a heavier and larger shell. It
occurs in woods and fields. Sometimes found in great
numbers in the roadways after a heavy dew.

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND. 607

SUCCINEA AVARA Say. (Fig. 47.) The shell of this
species is smaller than the preceding, being only a quar-
ter of an inch in length. The spire is quite long, pig 47,
and the aperture is only half the length of the shell.

The whorls are three in number, very convex, sep-
arated by a deep suture. The color is greenish
or grayish straw. The surface of the shell is usually
covered with a coating of dirt, accumulated by the fine
hairs that stud its surface. This character alone is suffi-
cient to distinguish the species. Common in damp woods.

Succrnga ovas Gould. (Fig. 48.) Shell very thin,

pellucid, pale horn-color, polished, elongate. Spire
short; aperture expanding in front. Length less pjg 4s,
than half an inch. The shell is quite elastic, and
so translucent that all the organs are plainly visible, A
and the pulsations of the heart are distinctly seen.
The animal is amber-colored, mottled with black dots.
Inhabiting the Northern and North-eastern States. This
species appears to be confined to the margin of pools in
wet grass, and is often found clinging to the leaves of
aquatic plants in ponds.

The following species belong to a genus of which there
are but two species, one belonging to this country, a
the other to the old world. The two resemble Fig.
each other very much, and are regarded as the Pe
same species by many.

ZUA LUBRICOIDES Stimpson. (Fig. 49.) Shell
cylindrical, oblong, smooth, and brilliantly pol-
ished; transparent, smoky horn-color. Whorls
five or six, rounded. Length 4, of an inch; aperture
oval; lip thickened; animal bluish-black. The shell
a E Its usual haunt

608 THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

is beneath decaying leaves in forests, though it is found
in grass, and under stones by the roadside. In some
places the species occur in great numbers.

It is distributed throughout the Northern, Middle, and
Western States.

The next species forms another genus under the name
of Zoégenetes. It was first described as a Helix by Say.

ZO6GENETES HARPA Say. (Figs. 50, 51.)* Shell ovate
conic, light horn-color, very thin and elastic. Whorls four,
Figs. 50, 51. convex, the last two marked by thin prom-
LEANY inent ribs ; suture distinct ; aperture nearly
circular; lip sharp. Length 4 of an inch,
animal slate color, mottled with light dots. -

This species forms one of the few ex-
ceptions among land snails, in which the
young are brought forth alive. They are
hatched from eggs, but the eggs are re-

= tained within the parent when this pro-

cess takes place. The adult never contains more than
four or five at a time, and it is a curious sight to break
open this tiny shell under the microscope, and find
within several young ones, those more advanced with
little shells already formed. It is found in various parts
of Maine, and is quite common in the vicinity of Portland
in hard-wood groves. L. L. Thaxter has found it at
Ascutney, Vt. It was first discovered in the North-west
Territory, and between these two regions has rarely been
met with.

The next group of species to be described have long
cylindrical shells, and are among the smallest of our land

* Weare in i

P a T o
d to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., for the use

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND. ' 609

The first that we shall describe is PUPILLA BADIA
Adams. (Fig. 52.) The shell is oblong, cylindrical,
Fig. 52.

having six or seven rounded whorls ; color light
brown, faintly striated, aperture nearly circular ;
the lip is thickened. Length 4 of an inch. Prof.
Adams first described this species from Lake
Champlain, and stated that the aperture con-
tained a tooth on the body whorl. Specimens from Maine
have no such character. .Mr. C. B. Fuller first discov-
ered this species in Maine. It is extremely common in
certain places in the vicinity of Portland. Mr. W.G.
Cleveland has found it on Oak Island, Chelsea, Mass.
This species is also ovoviviparous, that is, it brings forth
its young alive.

Purina FALLAX Say. (Fig. 53.)

Shell oblong, hav-

ing six convex whorls, which taper from the base to the
Fig. 53.
EA

apex, forming a pointed spire; aperture round-
ed, bordered by a broad white lip; umbilicus
minute; color light brown, distinctly striated.
Length 4 of an inch; animal black; upper ten- Ù
tacles long and slender. Occurring in the A
Northern, Middle, and Western States, also in A
South Carolina. This can hardly be considered
a New England species, as but few places have been
noted where itoccurs. Adams speaks of its being found
in Vermont, and Mr. Thaxter has found the dead speci-
mens in Woburn, Mass.

Those who have collections of minute land shells, would
do well to provide themselves with a good fying
glass, with the help of which they would be able to make
out the species from the figures given.

Nore.—The smaller figures accompanying the larger ones, indicate the natural
Size of the shells.

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. TT

7 4 REVIEWS. ve

ete aA

OBSERVATIONS ON THE GLACIAL PHENOMENA OF LABRADOR AND ©
(AINE, WITH A VIEW OF THE RECENT INVERTEBRATE FAUNA OF
ABRADOR. By A. S. Packard, Jr., M. D. With two Lithographic

Plates. (From the Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural His-

tory, Vol. I. Part 2.) pp. 94, 4to. Boston, 1867.

The author gives a sketch of the topography and geology of the
coast of Labrador, followed by a special account of the drift or glacial
phenomena in Labrador and Maine, describing four epochs in the his-
tory of the post-tertiary, or quaternary period :—

1. The true glacial epoch, during which Labrador and New England
Stood five hundred or six hundred feet higher than at present, and
huge glaciers extended down to the sea from the various water-sheds.

- The Leda Clay, or our common brickyard clays, during which
epoch the land slowly sank, and the glaciers retreated up the valleys
of the various water-sheds, leaving behind them the thick deposit of
clay, gravel, and boulders which now covers the surface of New Eng-
land. ‘During the slow and gentle submergence of the land ushering
in this epoch, the crude moraine matter (heaps of stone and gravel i
borne upon the surface of the glaciers) was sorted into beds of reg-
ularly stratified clays one hundred to three hundred feet in thickness.”

on our Alpine heights, or in cold, isolated spots on the coast of Maine
and the Northern lakes, then peopled the surface of New England and
da ”

8. “Period of raised Beaches (Saxicava Sands), during which the
land emerged to its present elevation, and the fauna and flora assumed
their existing relations. The close of this period witnessed the sur-
face of New England covered by broad lakes and ponds, with vast

ivers and extensive estuaries, and deep fiords cutting up the coast-
line. Its scenic features must have resembled those of Labrador at
_ the present day.”

4. The Terrace Epoch marks the period subsequent to the more

eneral recession of the sea during the preceding period, when the
estuaries and deep bays were contracting to their present size.

-From Pee ee å hae iia ee caer , Canada, and

+1 Sa

(610)

Ore A ee isa tp ie il esas aay Te igs

REVIEWS. 611

Hew England, it is inferred that the distribution of marine animals on
the shores of North-eastern America “ was governed by the same laws
fi

erted on the coast of New England during the Glacial Period.” The
climate of New England was not purely arctic, like that of Greenland,
but rather subarctic like that of Labrador, while now it is much

mperate.
ese urface geology have attracted and always will
attract much attention. piei interesting is the occurrence of
fossils in our clay and sai
y preserve all shells ap bones an
found in making excavations for roads or wells.
cover in these deposits the bones of the mastodon, the elephant, the
walrus, bison, and various species of whales. It not improbable
that the horse will be found to have lived in New anas du th
Terrace Period, immediately succeeding the disappearance of glaciers,
and in fact every thing is to be determined regarding the distribution
of life during these dark ages, either = ad preceding or accom-
Panying the appearance of man on
e work closes with a ca va ed marine animals dredged
along the coast of Labrador, pi pinio of over twenty new
Species. an pistor á = — lly executed, pri dere, ing rare and in-
terestin eda clays, lis, worms,
and crustaceans, with a eli map of that portion of the coast
Visited by the author. —
THE See JOURNAL OF Scrence. London. October, 1867.
run hastily through the October number. Mr. Al fred Wallace,
in a ENE by Law,” reviews the Duke of Argyll’s “ Reign of Law.”

o
hangs down twelve inches. Wallace argu
humming-birds, is directly connected with their ve
The most gaily-colored males are aie by the more oe ape fe-
males, “ which would lead to the individuals so adorned having more

Darwin has

than the average number of offspring,” adding, that “Mr.
neralization that flowers have be-

rule, that when a flower is fertilized by the wind, it never has a gaily-

612 REVIEWS. : s

colored corolla.” — Cuthbert Collingwood writes on the Luminosity of
ea.— Our Field Clubs, their Aims, Objects, and Work, notices the

e
Ead in any branch of natural science, and this is just what the
chief object of our club renders a desirable circumstance. Special
t il

county, from five hundred to two thousand persons attending Pos
and have done much to popularize po historical, and an
quarian research.

From the Chronicles of Science, we learn that « India seems likely to

owing to the reckless way in which the Indians killed the trees in the
process of stripping, planting, of course, no new ones.” —M. Nau
pooh that ‘ monstrous” plants may become new species. A Popp’

‘took on a remarkable variation in its fruit, — a crown of secondary
capsules being added to the normal central capsule. A field of such
poppies was tes and M. Géppert, with seed from this field, ob-
tained

— grow.” —“ The Earl of Selkirk throws great doubt on the
received creed as to the secular rise of land in Scandinavia.”— Dr.
a and W. Thelen show that there is an apparatus for closing
the tracheæ of patag which apparatus is often so developed, as to
Serve as a vocal o
The interest in the “ Glass Rope controversy,” regarding the nature
of this very curious and remarkably elegant sponge or polyp, Sup-
posed to to have been an artificial Japanese product, has been height-
EN a "ged discovery of a European Hyalonema, or “Glass

‘ REVIEWS. 613

Rope,” off the coast of Portugal.— Dr. Pigeaux “ believes that never,
or quite accidentally and rarely, does the hare breed with the rabbit.
The so-called Léporides are true rabbits, and not hybrids at all. The
belief in the existence of such a hybrid was prevalent among the
ancients.”

Additional evidence has been obtained from the exploration of
Kent’s Cavern, Devonshire, that man was a contemporary with the
mammoth, in the British Isles. — Messrs. Wistaw and Burk state that
-“falcons and hawks act as nature’s police, and check the spread of
sas and Sd ties amongst birds, by killing off the weakly indi-

uals of a

= Anton acim believes that all crustacea, insects, and arachnida,
can be traced to a single parent form, whic y each reproduce
at one or the other period of development. This form is n
with the larva of Cir PN (Barnacles); and he gives it the

Archizoča. But do insects pass through the form of a young Epari:
cle? Without AREE ourselves to Darwinian views, shoul
not rather loo! orm as aie the archetypal form of artic-

ulates, as they all assume this
Dohrn’s Archizoéa, or arti sia? prototype, with better Des we
would suggest, takes rm-like form. — Mr. W :

lished a most ESERE A paper “On
Differences of Color and Nidification in Birds.”—‘‘He runs over in

detail the principal species of birds, having the female as beautiful and
male. In cases where the female

p for these are generally protective colors.

lace niae that Darwin’s principle of natural selection most aptly

explained this connection of color and nests.”

E NATURALIST’S Nore Boox. London. January — October, 1867.
is journal culls from all departments of Natural History, forming

a oes ce-book of selections, and is a very entertaining m month-

ly. Our contributors will be pleased to know that a dozen or more of

va a from the AMERICAN aspen canis appear in its pages with due

he keepers will examine with gerest Mr. J. Lowe’s “ Observa-

614 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

tions on Dzierzon’s Theory of PEERS in the Honey-bee,” read
o the London Entomological Socie

ts
iew that “all
¢

tw 1 -bee are only of one and the same e type, which, when they are oT

witl ith tl ut, on
the maipli when they are fertilized by male semen, produce female b ” from whic

eor: trae, we might, in the ere ven Siebold, “expect aee that by the

d a reddish-bro talian bee, the

ixt f the t 1 ly b be expressed in ‘the hybrid females or wo » but

must remain purely Ger-

man or parny P Italian, according as the pum PRR for the production of kybri
WOE: rk to obtal n hybrids between
ili 1 Apis Ligusti ica, d t Anis fasciata. and the

result o omy experiments wae that Fa nha queen-bees fertilized by English drones,, and

Egyp ptian queen li h produce ed drones,which, as well as
the ia were hybrid in their characters, and } kab! eid indie
ence cot the male parent, From this the author arew the E that the eggs o

quecn-be tili whee her they develop ito

aq

drones or
of the progeny pa: art ray of the paternal ‘and m naternal character af races ie which it na
pitt that Dzierzon’s was not the true theory of reproduction the y-b pec

ns of the hybrids were exhibited to the we and Mr. “se smith Pete aa jot con-
peor Apis Ligustica to be specifically distinct from Apis mellifica) tion of
the specimens, corroborated Mr. Lowe’s sah te that the hybrid drones distinctly
showed characters peculiar to Apis mellifica in combination with the eharacters which
distinguish Apis Ligustica and A. Jasciaia respective ne

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.
eng
ZOOLOGY.

DO.—Mr. George Clarke, of Mauritius, has discovered a
large deposit of bones of the Dodo in the swamp known as the ‘‘ Mar-
caux Songes.” By this now celebrated discovery the whole skeleton
of the o has been made known, excepting the end of its wing;
whereas before the head and foot at Oxford, the skull at Copenhagen,
the foot in London, and the beak at Prague, were all the specimens
known of the bird. — Quarterly Journal of Science, London.

SINGULAR VARIETY OF THE FIELD Sp. — On the 1 2th of Oc to-
ber, I shot a very singular variety of pe ; walk Sparrow (Spizella
pusilla) Baird. It was precisely similar to the ordinary form of that
bird, except that its tail was pure white; with the exception, ere

f

3
usual color. So marked a variety in a bird that generally presents
very Ri variations in color is so remarkable, that.I consider it
worthy > = notice. — T. MARTIN TRIPPE.

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 615

E GI core Sa OF THE MASCARENE IsLANDS. — With the Dodo
were associated a large Parroquet, the Solitaire, the Géant (Gallinula
gigantea woes ed the Porphyrio (Notor-
nis?) cwrulescens Schl., which last is as large
as a full-sized goose, blue, with the beak and
feet red. It could not fly, but ran with great

ness

We figure from Schlegel’s account in the
French Annals of Natural Science, 1866, the

large as that of a E srt with a madik
spot under the very sm ings.
These singular birds Na the land

replaced the mammals, of which these two
groups of islands are ride and thus ex-
plains why these most characteristic birds are
so peculiar in their size and endian These
birds were destroyed as early as 1700 by the
European settlers, the cats and dogs, and the N
maroon Negroes. The Dodo and Solitaire are he Géant,” a
natural size..

figured in Dana’s Manual of Geology.

THE EAGLE a Fisner.— The American bald eagle (Horne leuco-
chat) ILGA g the group of fishing-eagles, as might be inferred
fi he genus, which is derived from hals (sea), and
es pie e); Whence Hel-i-a-et-us (and less properly in science, the

c form Haliæetus), a name applied to the osprey by = e Greeks.
The G k alate tus” and the pronunciation ‘‘ Haliâetus” are erro-
neous.

The East Indian H. ponticerianus is known to be a fisher, and the
South African H. vocifer is called ‘the fishing-eagle ” at the Cape of
Good Ho

The mode in which the bald eagle pursues and robs the fish-hawk is
well known from the description of Alexander Wilson, which has been
often quoted, as in the fourth volume (p. 92) of Harper’s School and
Family Readers, by Marcius Willson, who, however, has interpolated
the words ‘‘as he is not a fisher himself.” In my “‘ Notes on Willson’s

616 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

Readers” (1864) I state that the bald eagle, ‘‘ with wings nearly closed,
darts pays into the water for his prey, in the general manner of
e fis E

re was an eagle’s nest high up on a large buttonwood (Platanus,
ignorantly termed sycamore in some SRE on an island in the
Susquehanna, about ten miles above Col mbia, Pennsylvania, and in
sight from my father’s house, about a fate istant, where I had abun-

dropped it before the eagle was near enough to seize it in its fa
ward the water or the ground: for in the latter case, which was rare,
I have observed the eagle to turn away without attempting to seek
the fish on the earth.

n there are no fish-hawks to depend on, the eagle fishes for
iatt taking the fish (if I remember rightly) with the feet, and leav-
ing the water with apparent difficulty, and a good deal of flapping,
which accords with the habits of the East Indian species. — S. S. HAL-
DEMAN, Columbia, Pa.

suse
MICROSCOPY.
Ts’ Microscorr.— We call the attention of our readers to

the lenses are excellent. It is the best and cheapest microscope for
general use for the physician and beginner in microscopy now in the
market.

EEA
EXCHANGES.

vr. Hermann Loew, of Meseritz (Posen), ermes is very desirous

of obtaining fresh and w besten rved specimens of North American

ra. They are very nece ae the Saai of his work on

the North American Flies, now oe peeling by the Smithsonian Insti-

tution. He will send very fine specimens of European Coleoptera to

any Entomologist who will furnish specimens of Diptera in exchange.

Packages may be sent through the Smithsonian Institution, Wash-
ington, D. 6.

PETTA S
EXPLORATIONS.

Mr. W. H. Dall, of the Scientific Corps of the Western Union Tele-

graph Company, Russian Extension, writes from St. Michaels, R. Am.,

Aug. 14, 1867: “I have travelled in winter, with the ial

boss to 40° with ons sleds and snow-shoes, about 300 miles; and

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 617

the summer just past, I have paddled 650 miles up stream under
the scorching northern sun, and 1,300 down stream in open canoes. I
have made the first trip from Fort Youkon to the sea by the river
Youkon ever made, and have geological notes of the whole of this
distance, and have collected about 4,550 specimens, including some
00 or 400 birds and mammals, and have got, I hope, some fine new
Species of white fish.

satis PUN
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

R. A. S., Wisconsin. — The worm you send came dried up and im-
Possible to identify.’ It is probably an Ascaris, one of the round
intestinal worms. Among the best works on the Microscope are

cro
delphia; Queckett’s Treatise on the Aoroecone, London; L. Beale’s
How to Work with the Microscope, Philadelphia
croscope, London; P. H. Gosse’s Evenings with the p; New
ork. D. Appleton & Co.
Wo He Ba elsto ig shells appear to be robust
specimens of Physa sp et “ worm-like animals” are
the larve of the Caddis-fly, o a son whose riis
constructs a case of pas or pn of twigs and stic e othe
Specimens were young Cra, , Cambarus Bartoni, y oud
in brooks in the Middle weg pass ee We have found this o

an allied species hiding under stones o:
northern Maine. On the Aroostook oa they did great damage by

undermining a dam, at or near Presque e Isle. The Cray-fish has under-
Mined the levee at New Orleans and vicinity

spinnerets), and catch on adjoining objects, serving as foundations for
aw ;

, AE, and. —Your Myriapod, which you say “ ae nee
at this place eek, Md.) within a few years past, and has infes

many houses,” is the Cermatia forceps, Wood. It is peo GEEA
throughout the Eastern, and especially the warmer parts of the United

States. Scarcely anything is known regarding its habits.
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 78

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

—_—_— or

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE erat OF CE. —
NaTuraL History SECTION. Burlington, Vt., August 21-26, 1867.
“On the Zodlogical Affinities of the Tabulate Corals.” By Professor
A. E. Verrill. Coral-like forms were stated to be formed by various
kinds of animals, and a by some plants. Thus we have Protozoén
corals (Hozoén, Polytrema, ston ny sponges, etc.); Pa EP corals
(Bryozoa); ee een Satkaat ee: Poly! Is (G Psa

ugh there are still some doubt groups of corals, peg ure
oe ice forms is now well known. The most important do oe
groups are at present the ÜJüthöpäyied corals (Rugosa Edw.), and
the Tabulate corals. N early all authors ene both these great groups
among the true Polyps, but a few advocate the Molluscan affinities of
some of the Cyathophylloids, and hain ai of the Tabulata ( Che-
tetes, etc.), the Bo being compared with Hippurites, etc., and the
latter with Bryoz

ofessor pican has, however, referred both these groups to the
Hydroids, placing them, therefore, in the class of Acale ephs. As both
are abundant in the Silurian rocks, this generalization catrios the ap-

assa ails humerous spec cik
Professor Agassiz examined the living animals of Millepora several

other Hydroids. m these observations, upon a single genus, he has
concluded that < pros Tabulate corals, living and fossil, are also
dro:

(618)

.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 619

exsert when expanded, and have twelve equal cylindrical tentacles
surrounding the margin in a single circle, six of them being held hori-
tally, and the alternating ones erect. This peculiar posture was
the principal difference observed between these animals and those of.
Porites, when compared side by side
From the disagreement in the character of the animals of Millepora
and Pocillipora, in connection with great differences in the corals, it

It is probable that Favosites, and many
other extinct tabulated genera belong with Pocillipora, while Helio-
lites, etc., may go with Millepora. Therefore we must regard the Tab-
ulate structure as a character of secondary importance and the arti-
ficial group of Tabulata must be dismembered.
“On the Coal Measures of Illinois, with a vertical section of the
8 SB n the prosecution of
the Geological Survey of Illinois, it seemed desirable to identify our
i ch as the Illi-
nois and Kentucky coal-field was known to belong to the same basin;
and with this end in view, a general examination of our coal-measures

the main coal-seams occupied in the Ilinois section, especially those
recognized as the equivalents of Nos. 5-9 and 11, of the Kentucky
Section, were erroneous, and that if that section was correct, no paral-
coal-seams of the two States.

ately above the conglomerate. This
‘Sta

tween the two. Hence we were led
section in Kentucky, a single

620 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

sands ee outcropping at different oe had been mistaken for
two different beds, to one of which the name of Anvil Rock was given
at one eano while at the other it was SO Mahoning Sandstone,
and in this way their section was increased in thickness about three
hundred feet or more beyond what g sra should be, and the number
of workable coal-seams nearly doub

This view of the case is aca wre by the fact also of a general
correspondence ce between the upper portions of the two sections, both

tor
of vas recognized ie — r Meek as common in the upper coal-
measures of Kanzas, and as the equivalent of beds to which the term
** Permo-carboniferous” Was pepa z himself and Dr. Hayden in their
paper on the rocks of Eastern Kansa
ain, by placing these aa t ona parallel, and giving & down-

ward section for three hundred feet as given in the Kentucky section,
and we have an almost equal repetition of beds.

If we take the Kentucky section as published, and place these sand-

between it and the lower bed. This gives a general correspondence
between the. Illinois and Kentucky sections, such as might be expected
ar in different portions of the same coal-field

“On the Lower Silurian Drowa Hematite Beds of America.” By

region. At three or four

exposures the solid ore-bed is, to be, seen; pa the others only loose

lumps of ore mixed with
The other American brown keune deposits of the same age, Te-

semble these so closely as to leave the impression that where only

2i blocks of sandstone near the outcrop of a sandstone bed, Of to

the coal-dirt of a coal ee. or to gold or tin alluvial deposits,
aracteristic

making allowance of rse in the comparison for the ch

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 62 1

hardness and heaviness of the brown hematite, and for the thickness
of its beds. The ore lumps would be mixed not only with the rubbish
of neighboring rock-beds, but with the remains of plants that grew
during the accumulation of the ore-lumps, such as the Brandon and
Mont Alto lignites. Lumps of carbonate of iron, found in some such
deposits, go towards showing that the ore was originally a oo
and afterwards altered as the coal-measure carbonates so often a
The author thought these lumps were not concretions.
“ The Winooski Marble of Colchester, Vermont.” By C. H. Hitch-

cock. and polished specimens of a beautiful marble, obtained
miles from Burlington, were exhibited.

from pastas less than six
and is a silicious

It belongs to the lower part of the Potsdam group, a
dolomite. It contains eee of calcite enclosing ners silica,
which render the ston to saw than statuary marble.
The prevailing color is some eerie of red, with variations of white
brown, chocolate, and yellowish tint
“ The Distortion and sbi of Pebbles in Conglomerate.”
cheo dv

h

mical character had been altered by metamorphism, so that frag-
ments, originally an impure limestone or a schist, had become changed
into quartz. The process had probably been carried so far in some
instances specified, that the original sandstone and conglomerates had
been converted into schists, gneiss, and’ granite. The agents pro-
ducing these changes were thought to be the chemical action of infil-

loosely cemented coarse gravel, with round pebbles; but where folds

abounded, the stones had been indented, flattened, and bent, and the
See were noticed eis Middle-

j llingham, Mass., Washington County, Mount Battie, an
Sardy River ` Plantation, Me., san Wallingford, and Plymouth, Vt.,

elflue in Switzerland, and the Permian conglomerate in Eag-
land, etc. The opinions of eminent European geologists in favor of
a superinduced distortion were quoted, as well as the experiments of
Mr. Sorby, illustrating the greater efficiency of chemical action under
press

622 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

“The Geology of Vermont.” By C.H. Hitchcock. A large geolog-
ical map of this State was shown, illustrating the great advance of our
knowledge of its rocky structure since the gemas -o the author’s
map in the tele Report upon the Geology of Ver 1861.. Th
additions our knowledge were largely afforde i "es "e extension
southerly a the recent discoveries of the Canadian survey.

“ Explanation of a Pte ata Map of Maine.” By C. H. Hitchcock.
The author exhibited a large geological map of Maine, prepared from
the materials garnered during two years work in the service of the
State in 1861,

Bos SOCIETY OF NATURAL History. October 2, 1867.—The
ipie exhibited a series of Flint nee from the Island of
Regan, and from Norway and Sweden, consisting of arrow and spear
héads, square cut chisels, ete. One was a hatchet with a circular hole
for the insertion of the handle, the interior of which was smooth and
the diameter uniform. Mr. Rau, the Danish Consul at New York, had
shown how these holes might be drilled, by boring half through a
paving stone with a rotating broomstick and sand. A few implements

TY

Dr. Wyman further gave an account of a recent visit of a party of
members of the society to shell-heaps upon Goose Island, in Casco
Bay. The objects exhumed were mostly similar to those found at
Mount Desert, and described by Dr. Wyman at a previous meeting.
Among the most interesting were bones, apparently of the Great Auk,
a bird now extinct on our coast.

Mr. Edward S. Morse called attention to the evidences of great
tiquity in hart shell-heaps upon Goose Island. The deposits pikire”

of broken clam-shells, with other species in ntermixed.

Over five kdai square feet of surface had been examined, and the
ab ;

sence
ar The heaps, which thickened towards the centre, COY-
areas of from ten to fifteen feet in empi re showed an out-
ig on the bank of from two or three to fourteen or fifteen inches in
ae Since in many cases heaps of this afidi had been almost

! the surface of a rock smoothed and scratched by g poe
Gece time bad Hh gs to erase meee | all — marks fr

ee

poet on

ruse ve

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 623

the primitive soil; the turf covered the heaps to the depth of six or
seven inches, while there were no traces of soil below. The land-
shells, such as Helix Book T mudtidentate, and others, remains

of which were found in the lower portions o eaps, can only exist
in hard-wood growths. The po Nir Se of the stand where these heaps
occur is at present covered with large spruce growth. The ahog,
found spe in these heaps, is extremely rare in Maine. Thus
we have a change of vegetation, a change of certain species of ani-

e k

archeologists regarded similar heaps in Denmark as being older than
the stone age — in fact, as among the earliest evidences of the sonar cic

A short discussion ensued upon a probability that the a
rested upon the primitive soil. dder

Dr. Jackson spoke of the chemical means by which this
could be brought about.

Papers were read by Dr. H. Hagen, Mr. P. R. Uhler, and Mr. S. H.
Scudder, on the Dragon-flies of the West Indies.

LYCEUM or NATURAL History. New York, April 29, 1867. — Mr.

north as Bahia, but which Professor Agassiz has claime i}
on the Amazon. “Everywhere,” said the speaker, “the gneiss hills
are rounded evenly down so as to present all the appearance of ‘roches
moutonnées,’ and immediately over their surface, and clinging Ped
vy

never have been deposited by water, and where it is
eet of oe kjee clay, very variable in
thickness, such as would Groni from ical grinding Pe A
the gneiss. This clay shows no pean of the sorting action o
water, the felspathic This: broken quartz grains and mica ca -crystals

624 BOOKS RECEIVED.

being all present. It contains occasional angular and rounded frag-
ments of quartz, sometimes of gneiss or some other material, scat-
tered through it.”

This drift-sheet was described as extending from the Sierras down
over the tertiary deposits occupying the low grounds along the
shore. e Speaker mentioned the existence of cretaceous beds near

Bahia, some fish remains which he found having been identified as

ment of the sea, now extend along it like linear walls of rock. At
Porto Seguro he discovered quite an extensive reef of coral, ey he
was able to trace southward to the Abrolhos Islands. This reef he

party, which he hoped would = fitted out by the new Natural History
Section of the Cooper Institu

_ Oe

gor RECEIVED.
Popular Review, on. July, October, 1867.
acre A stein of Sen Speedie uly, October, 1
Naturalist’s Book. Tondon. to November, 1867.
hepical News and Journal of Physical ielaboe: New. York. September, October,

de M. Aroi à M. Marcou sur la géologie de be oe de? Amazone, avec
s de M.

I ‘bear guts Jules Marcou. (Extrait de Bulletin de la Société géologique
ponent t. xxiv.) 1867. 8vo, pp. 3.
sg agen » to ascertain the ultimate Distribution of the Nerves of Gus-

ultimate distribution not not terminal. By Rufus K, Browne, M.D. 8vo;
PP. u pea York, 1867.
: Bet ars of the Museum of poe Zoölogy. I. paier and
rae By Theodore Lyman. Il. North American Acalephe. By Alexander
A emoranda, No. 2. (From Proceedings California Academy of
Aerial Science, August 20, 1867). 8vo, pp. 7.
A amieta Encye. ice des we ade des Sciences. Vol. 6. July 6 to

ys OP <a = #

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vol. I.—FEBRUARY, 1868.—No, 12.

——<~“«>

THE INSECTS OF ANCIENT AMERICA.

BY S. H. SCUDDER.

Untiu within a very few years not more than four or
five kinds of fossil insects had been found on this conti-
nent. Indeed, little thought had been bestowed upon
their possible discovery, and while hundreds of eager
students had carefully examined the living insects, few
turned to the ancient representatives of this class upon
the globe. New and interesting discoveries have thrown
some light upon the insect-life of Ancient America, but
even now, the known species, occurring in many local-
ities and in various deposits, will not number one hundred
different kinds.

The discovery of the oldest insect remains in the “váh
is due to Mr. C. F. Hartt. While collecting fossil plants
in the Devonian slates near St. John, New Brunswick,
he first perceived faint traces of insects wings. Few per-
sons would have noticed these insignificant relics, but Mr-
Hartt having discovered a anio insect, thoroughly ex-
amined all hib rock specimens until six other fossils were

brought to light. In the more carefully gleaned fields of

Entered at to Act of Congress. in the year 1867, by the ESSEX INSTITUTE, in the

of Massachusetts.
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. L 79 (625)

626 THE INSECTS OF ANCIENT AMERICA.

Europe, a few species have been found as low down as
the Carboniferous rocks of Wetterau, Saarbrick, etc.,
but these fossils from the Upper Devonian carry the first
appearance of insect-life back to a previous epoch, and
make their advent in North America synchronous with
that of land plants.

The specimens obtained by Mr. Hartt are intrinsically
interesting; although they are all fragments, broken gen-
erally from the centre of the wing, enough distinctive
parts remain to determine the character of the fossils.
They are all Neuroptera, or Lace-winged flies, and, with
the exception of one or two Ephemerina, or May-flies,
represent families which are now extinct. One of them
is provided with a few veins forming concentric rings near
the base of the wing; these rings bear such a striking
resemblance to the stridulating organ of the green grass-
hoppers, that I am inclined to believe there were chirping
Neuroptera in those days!

_ Similar in interest are some specimens of Neuroptera
from the Carboniferous beds of Morris, Illinois; they
occurred in small flattened iron-stone concretions, like
the clay-stones in clay banks of the present day. These
Neuroptera also represent families distinct from any now
living, and, like many of the Devonian insects, are syn-
thetic in character; that is, combine in one and the same
form features which, in after ages, are distributed among
the members of different families. In this case the syn-
thesis unites families belonging to different sections,—

some to Neuroptera proper, alien to Pseudo-neuroptera.
The Neuroptera proper include those families where the
pupe are inactive, and the limbs are folded against the
body; such as the Sialina, Hemerobina, Mantispade,
“eps and Phryganina (Caddis-flies). In the Pseu-

THE INSECTS OF ANCIENT AMERICA. 627

do-neuroptera—classed by some naturalists with Orthop-
tera—the pups are active and are provided with rudi-
mentary wings; otherwise they differ but little from the
larvæ: among them are the Termitina (white ants), Pso-
cina, Perlina, Ephemerina (May-flies), and Odonata
(Dragon-flies). Had these insects of former days active
or inactive pups ?

Two other remains were found in these iron-stone con-
cretions; they appear to me to be those of worms, but
naturalists have described one form as a centipede, the
other as a caterpillar of a moth; the caterpillar was re-
ferred to the family of Arctians, to which our woolly
caterpillars belong. The last, if true, would be a most
interesting discovery ; for in Europe only one moth, and
that of the lowest family, the Tineids (of which the
` elothes-moth is a member), has been found as low down
as the Jurassic period.

Dr. Dawson, of Montreal, has been quite fortunate in
discovering various kinds of insects in the coal-beds of
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; traces of the mining
of larvæ were found on the leaf of a fossil fern, and this
was the more remarkable because ferns in our day are
peculiarly exempt from attack by mining insects. Among
the fossil remains were numerous fragments of Myria-
pods, which had secreted themselves in the trunks of
decayed trees ; coprolites of the reptiles which had sought
shelter in the hollow trunks proved that the animals fed
partially, at least, upon insects, —they were filled with
comminuted fragments of the bodies and limbs of Orthop-
tera and Neuroptera of large size, and, in one instance,
Dr. Dawson found the eye of a dragon-fly.

Professor Marsh, of New Haven, has also obtained an
insect’s wing at the Joggins in Nova Scotia; he thought

628 THE INSECTS OF ANCIENT AMERICA.

it similar to a cockroach’s wing found by Professor Les-
quereux in the Carboniferous rocks of Frog Bayou, Ar- |
kansas, but it was put away at the time of its collection,
and has never since been examined. Mr. Barnes has just
discovered a wing of a similar kind in the coal formation
of Pictou. There has been but one other instance—and
that of very recent date—where a fossil insect has been
found in the Carboniferous rocks of this country ; it was
the case of a single wing, gigantic in size, peculiarly
veined, and piehatili allied to our May-flies, which oc-
curred in the coal-beds of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

Professor Hitchcock, in his examination of the foot-
prints in the New-Red Sandstone of the Connecticut Val-
ley, described and figured some small tracks which he sup-
posed to have been made by insects ; but the footprints of
insects have been little studied, and the whole subject is so
difficult in its nature, that it would be an arduous task to
prove whether the tracks were made by insects or not. In
the shales accompanying the New-Red Sandstone, however,
quite a large number of insect remains have been found,
all of which belong to the larva of a single species. Pro-
fessor Hitchcock believed them to be neuropterous, but I
think they should be referred to the Coleoptera, or bee-
tles. The species must have lived in the water, since the
specimens are comparatively numerous; on a small slab
I have counted more than twenty individuals.

Professor William Denton has obtained the largest col-
lection of fossil insects which has yet been made in this
country. The specimens were brought from an unin-
habited region beyond the Rocky Mountains, near the
junction of the White and Green Rivers, Colorado, —a
“ne probably far richer than that of Œningen, in

erland. _ Professor Denton was able to obtain but

THE INSECTS OF ANCIENT AMERICA. 629

few specimens while passing rapidly through the country,
but he describes the shales in which they occur as a
thousand feet thick, varying in color from a light cream
to inky blackness, and crowded with the remains of in-
sects and leaves of deciduous trees. Between sixty and
seventy species of insects were brought home, represent-
ing nearly all the different orders; about two-thirds of
the species were flies, —some of them the perfect insect,
others the maggot-like larve,—but, in no instance, did
both imago and larva of the same insect occur. The
greater part of the beetles were quite small; there were
three or four kinds of Homoptera (allied to the tree-hop-
pers), ants of two different genera,and a poorly preserved
moth. Perhaps a minute Thrips, belonging to a group
which has never been found fossil in any part of the
world, is of the greatest interest. At the present day,
these tiny and almost microscopic insects live among the
petals of flowers, and one species is supposed by some
entomologists to be injurious to the wheat; others believe
that they congregate in the wheat, as well as in the
flowers, in the hope of finding food in the still smaller
and more helpless insects which congregate there. It is
astonishing that an insect so delicate and insignificant in
size can be so perfectly preserved on these stones ; in the
best specimens the body is crushed and displaced, yet the
wings remain uninjured, and every hair of their broad,
but microscopic fringe, can be counted.

The specimens came from two localities about sixty
miles apart, called by Professor Denton Chagrin Valley
and Fossil Cañon ; these two faunas are apparently quite
distinct: the ants, the moth, the thrips, nearly all the
small beetles and the greater part of the flies come from
Fossil Cañon, while the larve are restricted to Chagrin
Valley.

630 THE INSECTS OF ANCIENT AMERICA.

While no definite conclusion can be drawn concerning
the age of the rocks in which these remains occur, there
can be little doubt that they belong to the Tertiary epoch.
Professor Denton believes them to be at least as old as
the Miocene.

The species of fossil insects now known from North
America, number eighty-one: six of these belong to the
Devonian, nine to the Carboniferous, one to the Triassic,
and sixty-five to the Tertiary epochs. The Hymenoptera,
Homoptera, and Diptera occur only in the Tertiaries ; the
same is true of the Lepidoptera, if we exclude the Mor-
ris specimen, and of the Coleoptera, with one Triassic
exception. The Orthoptera and Myriapods are restricted
to the Carboniferous, while the Neuroptera occur both in
the Devonian and Carboniferous formations. No fossil
spiders have yet been found in America.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 16
Fig. 1. Miamia Bronsoni. A neuropterous insect found in iron-

Fig. 2. Archimulacris Acadica. Wing of a PERS observed by
Mr. Barnes in the coal-formation of Nova Scoti

Fig. 3. Platephemera antiqua. A gigantic Mirer obtained by Mr.
Hartt in the Devonian rocks of New Brunswick.

Fig. 4. Xylobius sigillariæ. The Myriapod (or Gally-worm) found
in the coal-formation of Nova Scotia, by Dr. J. W. Dawson. Copied
‘from a figure in Dr. Dawson’s Air-breathers of the Coal-period. Mag-
ified.

Fig. 5. Tietoni Hartii. A neuroptero sect, the specimen
first discovered by Mr. Hartt in the pevedlank ener of New Bruns-
wick. This fossil, and those accompanying it, are the oldest insect-
remains in the world.

_ Fig. 6. Three facets from the eye of an insect, considered by Dr.

ae Dawson a Dragon-fy. It was found in coprolites of reptiles in the

American Naturalist.

Fig. 5.

a beer tes boa ee NS eS er Oe Pe a
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Fig. 8.

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N FOSSIL INSECTS.

INSYA

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Az

Vol. I. Pl. 16.

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 631

rocks containing the myri oe i's timo in Fig. 4. Copied from
Dr. gen: s figure, greatly magnifie
g. T. Homothetus fossilis. R Popii insect from maa Devo-

nian ots of New Brunswick; it was discovered by Mr. Ha

Fig. 8. Huplophlebium Barnesii. A curious neuropterous ae of
large size, probably nm ed to our May-flies; taken by Mr. Barnes from
the = of Cape Bre

These figures, ie re exception of 1, 4, and 6, are of life ma and
borrowed from the new edition of Dr. Dawson’s Acadian Geology.

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

BY BURT G. WILDER, M. D.

(Concluded from page 491.)

Fracture or Crossing. This is the name given to a
view of the limbs, which, under various modifications,
has been entertained by four celebrated anatomists, Bour-
gery, Cruveilhier, Flourens, and Owen. Its essential
feature is the pronation of the forearm so as to bring the
thumb on the inner side, opposite the great toe; but this
has the effect of crossing the radius upon the ulna, so that
its upper end is to the outer, while its lower end is to the
inner side of that bone. This condition of things, though
contrary to the relation of the corresponding parts in the
leg, is accepted by Owen* and Flourens, who simply
seek to show that the front of the arm really corresponds
to the front of the leg, and vice versa, so that the concav-
ity of the elbow is made to represent the convexity of
the knee ; but the other two anatomists try to explain the
crossing of the bones, upon an idea which was distinctly
enunciated by Cruveilhier, in the following propositions :

“1. Neither bone of the leg is represented by a single
bone of the arm.

*Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates, ii. 310, 360.

632 THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

“2. In each bone of the leg we find characters which
belong, partly to the ulna, and partly to the radius.”

The practical result of this view is to cut the two bones
across the middle, and reunite the upper half of the one

Fig. 1. with the lower half of the other ; a convenient
and ingenious, but unjustifiable mode of pro-
cedure.

Torsion. This last of the three principal
theories adopted, or rather invented, in sup-
port of the idea of parallelism, was first pro-
posed by Maclise, in 1849. Like all the rest,
he assumes that the thumb corresponds with
the great toe; that the hand points forward
like the foot, and that the limbs are, or ought
to be, parallel: but he saw that his prede-
cessors had been unable to fulfil these three
conditions without pronating the hand, and
so crossing the radius upon the ulna, which
crossing he could not reconcile with the fact,
that the corresponding bones in the leg (Plate
12, fig. 1)* were parallel with each other.

oy, He then perceives that the front of the fore-

j ri Q arm really corresponds with the back of the
PUIU \ leg, and vice versa; whereas, according to the
idea of parallelism, the front of the one ought
to correspond with the front of the other, as
7 - believed by Owen and Flourens. To recon-
cile this new fact with the old theories, he reminds us
that “anatomists have long since remarked upon the sin-
gular twisted form of the humerus,” and then says, “this
Mactse ana artas. Ehe bend bts elbow a Ueousht tote feat ana the IWO
of the forearm is in the effort to br ring corresp pense.

i f the two limbs to faco in the same c direction. Campie Mi —_ ein T pies

epee raging requires simply that the for
the outer side like the little toe.

x

RE L A E E a a O E oe AN E a E NE a e eS Met

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 633

fact of torsion in the shaft of the humerus I consider as
fully explaining the above-mentioned peculiarities which
distinguish the upper from the lower member; while (in
idea) I untwist the humerus by bringing its back to the
front, I at the same time unravel the gordian knot of
that problem which has so long existed as a mystery for

the homologist.”

But, before accepting this ingenious solution of the
problem, you may be inclined to ask how it is, that, if the
humerus is really twisted, anatomists have never observed
and described the various stages of the operation, instead
of simply commenting upon the twisted appearance of the
bone. This very reasonable question is thus answered by
a French anatomist, Martins, who in 1857, and appar-
rently unacquainted with the views of Maclise, proposed
this very same theory of torsion.

Martins admits as a “metaphysical difficulty,” the fact
that the humerus never undergoes the actual operation of
twisting at all, and that in the earlier stages of growth
not the slightest traces of torsion exist; but asserts, never-
theless, that “a virtual torsion does take place during
growth, and that this produces the same effects as if it
were real.” The chief indication of this is the raised
line for the attachment of muscles, which runs obliquely
upward, from the outer side of the lower end of the hu-
merus, and is lost upon the posterior surface, giving to
the lower part of the bone the appearance of having been
twisted. But it may be seen that the posterior surface
of the thigh bone presents a similar raised line,even more
strongly marked, so that there is quite as much reason for
untwisting that bone, which would leave matters rela-
tively just as unconformable as at first; and it is well
known that both these lines are solely for the attachment

80

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

634 THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

of muscles, that they do not exist in young or feeble indi-
viduals, and that in some animals, as in the ant-eater, and
even in the horse, they form prominent ridges which can
never be accounted for by any twisting of the bones.
There is really a fourth theory of parallelism, modifi-
cations of which are entertained by three eminent English
anatomists,* and which is, in many respects, the most
plausible and the most difficult to refute. According
to this view the limbs are supposed to stand out at right
angles from the side of the body, the elbow being moved
forward and outward, and the knee backward and out-
ward into a position which nearly corresponds with the
condition of the limb in many reptiles, and also in the
early stages of growth of the higher animals; and in view
of the great weight which is now deservedly attached to
the facts of eili yolar; it will be evident that such a
view must not be rejected without very good reasons. It
will be noticed, too, that this view does little violence to
the limbs, although the limbs of mammalia would be
placed in rather uncomfortable positions, in order to eon-
form to it. I feel sure, nevertheless, in spite of the
apparently natural arguments, and in all deference to its
distinguished advocates, that it is based upon a partial
consideration of the subject, and I wish that it were pos-
sible in this connection to offer my reasons for dissenting
therefrom. But it involves so much, and would require
a discussion of so many still controverted points, that I
should be obliged to present in full the grounds upon
which my own opinion is founded, which would far ex-
ceed the limits of an article like this. +

2 Mivart, and Cleland, before
3 men einen ie igp ofthe anatomy who glora
relation o; are refe:
Fas i cited in the preceding num umber, sod tho following pe
; by the writer: ‘On Morphology and Teleology, June 3, 1866, M

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 635

And to do this was by no means my object, but sim-
ply to give an idea of the trouble which has been given
philosophical anatomists by the hand; for, as has been
shown, the hand suggests an idea of parallelism which it
is very difficult to overlook, so that the majority of those
who have treated this subject, have made more or less in-
genious attempts to apply the same principle to the upper
portions of the limbs.

These various attempts have been briefly, though I
think fairly stated. What seem to me their fallacies have
been brought more prominently into view and criticised
as severely as possible, partly on the abstract ground that
a great step in our investigation of truth is the full recog-
nition and rejection of error; and partly, in accordance
with the purpose of this paper, to show what strange and

_ widely diverse opinions have been entertained by those

who have regarded the Hand in its ordinary position, and
with the common estimation of its value.

The space allotted to me will permit only the briefest
presentation of the grounds upon which is based the other
view,.that, namely, of a symmetrical or antagonistic rela-
tion between the fore and hind limbs; the principal point
is, that instead of beginning with the hand, and forcing
the rest of the limb to conform to it, we should re-
cognize that the hand is a peripheral organ and subject
to variation ;* and that its morphological value is by no
means equal to its teleological or functional value; and
that, finally, the attitude whic it has in most animals is
Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. I. No.1; On a Cat with

-N istory, hee ay 16 6,1
Hand (Abstract of a paper read before => D S
T aot know. gnized n ratio heh rn the s
cea greeter ate Baraliclists to t to the ides of symmetry

stic relation ximal segments of paran, 1
‘have prevented most of the Oppositists from carrying ou at this id beyond

636 THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER.

in consequence of the necessity for the extremities of both
pair of limbs to strike the ground so as to propel the body
in the same direction : but if we begin with the upper parts
of the limbs, we shall perceive an idea of antagonism which
may be easily traced in the hands when they are put in
what may be termed their normal position (Fig. 2) ;* and
although this brings the thumb on the outer side, and thus
opposite the little toe, yet if we recollect that in most
animals the thumb is rather smaller than the other digits,
instead of larger as in man, and that therefore its assumed
superiority is really confined within a very narrow limit,
we may conclude, when the question comes, Shall the
thumb force the arm and the forearm into parallelism, or
shall it conform to the idea of antagonism which they sug-
gest, that the latter is the fairer and more philosophical
view of the matter.

It sums up thus. Begin your studies of the limbs at
the periphery, with the hands and the feet, and assume a
correspondence of thumb and great toe, you will then see
an apparent parallelism as to the extent of which no two
investigators can agree, and by which they have been
led to twist, to fracture, and to dislocate the limbs in a
manner most unjustifiable; and to regard the body as a
structure with but one end and no centre, a geometrical
absurdity.

But commence at the centre, at the middle of the ver-
tebral column, and regard the body as having not only
two sides but two ends, antagonistic in position and in
function ; then you will see that the limbs which are given
= from the two poles of this longitudinal axis, are like-

ind limbs in
than a natural ranged are isine that there is no one natural atti

THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 637

wise antagonistic in every part but the terminal segments,
while even these disagree only in what is the natural atti-
tude of the hand in the forward moving animal, and come
into a proper antagonistic relation in what may be con-

Tear here Of eee aye eC. ae tem) MeL Ea a y

Fig. 2.

Limbs of left side of Aye-aye (Cheiromys
Owen.* (By permission from American
rahe Ay! Foreleg in its natura maie :

' e in D Sage?
dius spose tha a ze pT in leg. B, foreleg in its normal ponon, iae hapa
being supinated so as to bring the thumb (5) on the outer side, and Opporive ig
little toe (5). The radius X is now wholly on the outer side of the = Land
the fingers int backward, as oes point forward. All arts

. T sfr a ip h p l digits of and

> R, Radius; Fi, Fibula. The homologous d í 4 :

a 1, 2, 3, 4,5, starting from the so-called little finger and great inter op i nu-
merals attached to the digits of A indicate their analogies w1 .

a ae

"M ' tive Anatomy and Physiology of
3 ph of the Aye-a Plate 7. Also, Compara
_ Vertebrates VoL Il. Fie oi” :

638 THE SOUTHERN MUSCADINE GRAPE.

sidered its normal position. To all this, the thumb is the
only objector ; but mighty as that is in all matters of com-
mon life, you must already have perceived, by a kind of
“reductio ad absurdum,” that the less it, and, indeed, the
whole hand are regarded in our morphological compari-
son, the less liable shall we be to fall into such extraordi-
nary and fantastic notions as some of those we have been
considering. Fortunately, however, man can but inter-
pret Nature; he cannot change her. His errors die with
his interpretation, while the facts belong to God, and are
safe from the interference of man.

THE SOUTHERN MUSCADINE GRAPE.

BY D. H. JACQUES.

CLIMBING the tallest trees, covering and almost smoth-
ering the smaller undergrowth, hanging over rail fences,
hiding pine stumps and brush-heaps, or, for want of other
support, trailing on the ground, one may see almost
everywhere in the South, from the seaboard of Georgia
and Florida to the mountain slopes of North Carolina,
the graceful vines of the Southern Muscadine, and, in its
season, the ripened fruit, with which many of these vines
are laden, will allure the traveller at every turn from the
dusty road. Few who have once eaten this fruit, in its
perfection, will be able to resist the temptation to dis-
mount and eat the tempting clusters.

As this grape is not found (I believe) north of the
soutl slopes of the Alleghany Mountains, and is little
known, and often erroneously described, a brief notice of
it may not be out of place.

souther

=
t

THE SOUTHERN MUSCADINE GRAPE. 639

The Southern Muscadine, otherwise called Bullace,
Bull, and Bullet-grape is the Vitis Rotundifolia of Mi-
chaux ( V. Vulpina Linn.), and is very distinct from all

other species. Its light-brown slender wood, its innu-
merable small branches, thrown out tree-like rather than
in the manner of other grape-vines, and its small, ligbt-
green shining leaves, give it a peculiar and singularly
beautiful appearance. The following is a correct descrip-
tion of it :—Stem smooth, light-brown dotted with white,
lithe, tough, and without pith; branches minutely ver-
rucose, numerous, slender; leaves small, cordate (but
somewhat rounded, whence Michaux’s name); dentate,

640 THE SOUTHERN MUSCADINE GRAPE.

sometimes obscurely three-lobed, glabrous, shining on
both surfaces ; flowers in racemes, composed of numerous
small umbels; polygamous, yellow; berries large, black,
musky sweet, with a tough skin; flowers in June; first
ripe in September.

The Southern Muscadine produces its fruit in clusters
of from three to eight berries, on small branches put out
from all parts of the vine, and,if the soil and other con-
ditions be favorable, is often very prolific. The berries
vary in size, from half-inch to an inch in diameter. They
are brown-black and shining when commencing to ripen,
but a dull-black, dotted and sometimes blotched with red
when fully ripe. They vary much on different vines,
being sometimes hard and sour, but often tender and de-
liciously sweet. In the best specimens the pulp finally
dissolves, and the skins become literally bags of wine.
The fruit generally falls from the vine soon after it be-
comes ripe, but I have seen some vines on which the
berries have clung with as much tenacity as in any other
species. I have gathered bushels of these grapes during
the present season, out of a portion of which I have made
some excellent wine.

Professor Asa Gray, in one of his Botanical Text-books
(see “Manual of Botany of the Northern United States,”
page 78), describes the Muscadine as the parent of the
Catawba and the Sewppernong. The former is a variety
of the Vitis Labrusca, or Northern Fox-grape. In regard
to the latter he is correct.

The Scuppernong is a seedling of oa Muscadine, and
Was found growing wild on the enka of the Scuppernong
River in North Carolina. The wood is a shade lighter

than that of the parent, but dotted like that, sak the
. folia and habits of growth of the plant are mainly the

HR pt eee ee pes a a> ie ee ere ee ers ene ee yee i.

THE SOUTHERN MUSCADINE GRAPE. 641

same. The fruit is a pale green when fully ripe, and
dotted with brown. It is large,— often an inch in diam-
eter,—very sweet, less musky than the common Mus-
cadine, and with a thinner and tenderer skin, and is a
delicious table grape. For wine, it is superior to all
other native varieties, being emphatically the wine-grape
of America. Unlike other cultivated grapes, it is per-
fectly free from all diseases, no rot or mildew ever infect-
ing wood, leaves, or fruit.

Flower’s Grape is a black variety of the same species,
and is thought by some to be equal, if not superior,
to the white or green variety. It is sweet, juicy, and
fragrant, and makes a fine wine of any desired shade of
red. It ripens about a month later than the Scupper-
nong, and does not fall off like that variety. Both are
enormously productive, so much so that I hardly dare to
state how many bushels of fruit a single vine may bear ;
but from 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of wine per acre is con-
sidered a moderate estimate for a vineyard in full bear-
ing, in which all the arbors are fully covered,—that is,
when the whole ground is completely canopied with vines.
The vines are planted from twenty to forty feet apart, and
trained on arbors made with posts notched on the top,
and supporting a layer of common fence-rails. This

arbor is extended with the growth of the vine, till the

ground is covered. The vines require no pruning, ex-
cept for the removal of dead branches, or to improve
their symmetry. A Scuppernong vineyard is worth a
journey from Salem to Savannah to see.

Such is the Muscadine of the South and its offspring.

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 81

A VACATION TRIP TO BRAZIL.

BY C. FRED. HARTT, A. M.

New York to Para.
On the 22d of June, 1867, I left New York in the |
steamer “Havana” to spend my vacation on the Brazilian
coast, my especial object being an exploration of the coral
reefs of the vicinity of the Abrolhos Islands, and the
study of the geology of such parts of the Province of
Bahia as might be accessible to me. Nothing of note
occurred on the voyage to the Island of St. Thomas,
where the steamer was delayed a day to take in coal, and
where I had an opportunity to make a good collection of
corals, etc. A long account of my day’s examinations
having already appeared elsewhere,* I propose in this
series of articles to take up my description of some of
the more interesting results of my voyage after leaving
the West Indies, and to offer a closing article on St.
Thomas and the Windward Islands, in which I will incor-
porate new material collected on my return home.

Steamships have robbed the sea of half its poetry, and
a voyage by steam is often very barren in incidents; 80
with this voyage, we have had no storms, no accident to
break the monotony of our life at sea, so that our journals
have not been much enriched by any very interesting ex-
periences when out of sight of land. To be sure we have
fisted up gulf-weed, fend collected the delicate little ani-
mals ind growing on it, and we have watched the flying-
fish and porpoises and whales ; but one sees about as much
of these things from a steamer, as he does of the cattle
of a country he travels through by rail.
. Te Sars 7, 1867, —“A Naturalist in the West Indies.”

ee et ee eT SW ge irs cee Urea ee Am ek AE NT ra ee I Dee Wale

3

A VACATION TRIP TO BRAZIL. 643

A word about the flying-fish. Of these there are many
different kinds, not only belonging to different genera, but
different families of fishes. The common flying-fish of
the Atlantic belongs to the genus Hxocetus, a name given
to the Mediterranean species by Aristotle, because it was
currently believed by the ancients that the fish, spending
the day in the water, flew out at night and slept ashore,
whence the name which signifies a sleeper out. The com-
mon flying-fish somewhat resembles a pickerel, with a
squarish head and body; but its pectoral or forefins are
very long, and capable of being expanded like broad
wings. The abdominal, or ventral fins, are rather large
and irregularly fan-shaped. In the water the fish swims,
as most other fish do, with the tail, the long fins being
folded against the body. But, not satisfied with swim-
ming, it seeks to imitate the birds, and ever and anon it
leaps into the air, and takes short flights, sustained on its
broad pectoral fins. Ordinarily the fish are seen to rise
from the water near the ship, and glide off diagonally,
almost in the direction she is going, and very often right
against the wind. They rise at a very low angle, and
keep close to the water. On rising, the tail is seen to
quiver, sometimes beating the water for several yards,
leaving a wake behind, and at the same time there is a

very perceptible tremulous motion of the fins; but when:

once fairly in flight, the fins, both pectoral and ventral,
are fully extended. The latter are held obliquely down-

_ wards, while the position of the former seems to vary-

very considerably. Usually the forefins are inclined a
little upward, while the body is carried with the tail a
little lower than the head. If there is a heavy sea running,

_ the fish is seen to rise and fall over every wave without
_ touching the water, and this is done apparently with as

644 A. VACATION TRIP TO BRAZIL.

much ease as if it were a bird. I have observed that the
vertical inclination of the “wings” is varied considerably,
and the vertical undulations of its flight appear to be
directed by these fins. It has evidently no power of di-
recting its lateral motions, although one might rather look
for the use of the tail for that purpose. If the fish darts
right against the wind, its flight may be in a straight line,
ending by its pitching plump into the water, but if the
course be oblique to the wind, it is soon blown aside. Of
the thousands of flying-fish I have observed, I have never
seen one tack up into the wind, unless it plunged into a
wave and took a fresh start, as is not infrequently the case,
when it darts into the water and out again, like an arrow
shot through a wave. I have spoken of the flapping of

e fins on rising; during the rest of the flight this is
ordinarily not observed, their only motion being the
gentle variation in inclination; but if the animal finds
itself settling before its flight is finished, as soon as the
tail touches the water, that fin is agitated, while there is
a fluttering seen of the pectorals: should the fish rise
again, the fluttering ceases. The fish seen rising near the
ship are evidently frightened by her approach. Looking
over her bows when the waves are not disturbed by
minor undulations, one may see shoals of them darting
irregularly about in the water. Sometimes they spring
up suddenly in clouds. The bonito, sharks, and other
fish prey on the flying-fish, and the latter, when attacked,
leap out of water to elude their enemies. One day we
saw a school of bonitos which. were ever and anon leaping
out of the water. Before them the flying-fishes were
flying away like clouds of grasshoppers in advance of one
_ Walking through a grass field. Overhead whirled some

- large, graceful, white, long-tailed tropic birds (Phaëton),

A VACATION TRIP TO BRAZIL. 645

which were engaged in catching the flying-fish as they rose,
so that the poor little animals found themselves safe no-
where.

The distance flown by one of these fishes varies greatly,
and depends much on the wind. They frequently go two .
hundred to three hundred feet without moving the fins,
but the little ones never fly far.* In these cases, the fish
glides through the air with an initial velocity, obtained by
the action of its tail-fin before leaving the water, and the
flight is no more like the flight of a bird, than is that of
the flying-squirrel, or the Galeopithecus. I have had a
few opportunities of witnessing the flight of flying-fish
during calm weather, when I have then repeatedly seen
the common Exoccetus fly more than a hundred yards, and,
in two or three instances, I have seen what appeared to
be a different species fly at least a thousand feet in a kori-
zontal line, with a perfectly well seen continuous move-
ment of the fins like a bird. The first specimen I saw I
took to be a little bird, and I should never have known it
to be a fish had I not seen it disappear in the water, and
soon afterwards seen others rise near the ship. These
observations were made near Barbadoes, and at the time
there was not a ripple to disturb the glassy surface of
the ocean waves. This SJlying species seemed to me to
be quite different from the common Exocetus, having
broader and darker-colored fins; but I did not see it
sufficiently clearly to enable me tó speak confidently of
other than its general appearance, as my attention was
occupied with its flight. Was it not a Flying Gurnard,
or Sea Robin? (Dactylopterus).

When but a short distance north of the Amazonas, on

*Some of the little animals which leap out of the water in shoals, and are often
Mistakea for eee are cuttle-fishes.

646 A VACATION TRIP TO BRAZIL.

the present voyage, I was surprised at seeing not far from
the ship that the blue color of the sea turned abruptly to a
bottle-green. We were evidently on the edge of a current,
whose boundaries were as well defined as if the blue ocean
water through which it flowed had been solid land. This
was probably the outer edge of the current flowing north-
ward along this coast. ’We struck it immediately, and
soon entered it, when to my delight I found the difference
in color was owing to an immense number of little jelly-
like animals'which swarmed there so as to destroy the
transparency of the water. Just on the edge of the cur-
rent these were collected together in the most astonishing
quantities, but in the blue water a foot from the edge I
did not see a single one, so sharply defined was the line
marked. This line ran about E.S.E., and extended to
the horizon on both directions, while the opposite side, if
there were any, was not'visible. Half the circle of the
sea was ultra-marine, half bottle-green. As soon as pos-
sible I had a bucket lowered, and after many trials some
of the animals were captured ; I found them to be Salpe,
a low kind of mollusk, with small, gelatinous bodies,
almost perfectly transparent, and growing in compound
communities, which swim by taking water into the cavity
- of the body, and propel themselves by the reaction caused
by the expulsion of this water, in the same way as the cuttle-
fishswims. There is a very interesting law which obtains
among many of the lower animals, ealica the alternation
of generations, according to which the offspring is unlike
its parents, but like its ‘grandparents. These salps are
good examples of this law, for one generation consists of
-compound communities, and the next of single individ-
uals. Some of the chains were three or four inches in
_ length, and the individuals of which they v were composed
- size of a go :

A VACATION TRIP TO BRAZIL. 647

On the surface of this current floated hundreds of beau-
tiful “Portuguese men-of-war” (Physalia), and we saw in
eddies on the edge of the current two or three fleets of
several hundreds each, looking like beds of large pink
flowers, on a smooth green lawn. They drifted thickly
by us, their brilliant floats careening on the wave. Now
and then they were overwhelmed in the great foam sheet
` that broke frem the steamer’s bow; but their upset barks
soon righted themselves, and floated away on the foaming
waves astern. As I looked down on their airy, bubble-
like forms, anchored deep in the green water by their
numerous cables, how I wished I could capture one, but
from the high deck of the steamer it was hopeless to at-
tempt it.

Fancy now a light bubble-like float, of a semi-transpa-
rent membrane, blown plumply out with air, and shaped
somewhat like an egg laid on its side, with the upper
part flattened into a sort of a crenulated, or, to use a mil-
liner’s term, “pinked” crest. Tint this float of a rosy hue,
deepening it toward the crest, and color the lower part a
warm violet, and you will have a faint idea of the beau-
tiful float of the “Portuguese man-of-war,” one of the most
interesting members of the class of jelly-fishes. But this
is not all; this is really only the float or swimming sac of
a colony of animals which hang from the lower part down
into the water, like gelatinous cords. Agassiz tells us
that in this colony the sack is one animal developed for
the special purpose of sustaining the colony in the water,
and that of the others some are constructed for one pur-
pose and some for another; some catch the food, but it
is, figuratively speaking, to please the palate of others,
while what one eats goes to nourish the whole colony.

_ Sailors will tell you that the animal is poisonous, and
burns the hand. Every one who has been on the sea-shore -

648 A VACATION TRIP TO BRAZIL.

has seen a common jelly-fish,and some may know that some
species have the power of stinging. Talk about nettles
and stinging ivy! The first specimen of the Physalia I
ever collected, I found one evening at dusk on the shore
of Porto Seguro. It was half-buried in the sand, much
wilted, and I took it to be a shell, Janthina. I picked it
up, and while examining it, the long tentacles slipped —
through my fingers, and brought very forcibly to mind
that they were very plentifully armed with minute cells,
in each of which was coiled an exceedingly fine thread,
which, thrown out on the bursting of the cell when it is
touched, penetrates the hand, and immense numbers thus
wounding the nerves produce a very intense burning sen-
sation, which, sometimes extending itself up the arm, as
it did in this instance, causes acute suffering. He who
once takes a living Physalia in his hand will not be likely
to pick up another.

On the 10th of July we arrived off the mouth of the
Para river, the southern mouth of the Amazons; but as
it was impossible to enter the river and pass the shoals in
the night, we stood across the mouth for the light at
Salinas, on the southern bank of the river. We were to
sight the light at eleven o’clock, p.m. At half-past ten
the engine was slowed, a man was in the fore-top on the
lookout, and with a friend I remained on the bow peering

anxiously into the darkness ahead, as the steamer plunged
cautiously over the big swell. A dim light, like the first
ray of a rising star, is seen. “Two points on the weather
_ bow!” cries the man on lookout. A moment after and
_ the light flashes brightly out and disappears. It is the
r realization of a saudade,* and the heart is glad! .
All night we killed time steaming up cod down, wait-

eh wont dear to the Por as word home, and nearly as untrans-
Jatable. ‘It has all Gis tcaine o riem beni but it also expresses a deep long-
ie taken: e nen nm abeent ttiend, or tome loved distant spot.

Sees.) ee eee

ee en ee
= wile fia

ž OTTER

Anes

ae

A VACATION TRIP TO BRAZIL. 649

ing for the morning. Day broke with the land in sight,
no grand blue serras lying cloudlike on the horizon, but a
long, low stretch of trees level as the line of the sea.
Here we are in the mouth of the Para, but only one side
can be seen, and from the middle neither side is visible,

for it is here thirty-three miles in width.

There are a number of extensive sand-banks in the
mouth of the river which make it difficult to enter. The
main channel lies between two of these banks, over which
the waves break sometimes fearfully. This channel is not
more than two miles in width.‘ An experienced pilot of
the Para is attached to the steamer. We passed up the
channel early in the morning against the tide, with a fine
view of the breakers on each side. Hitherto there has
been nothing to mark this channel, but lately two buoys
have been placed at the entrance. What is much needed
is a lightship, for at present the entrance is impracticable
by night. Steaming up the river we soon left the brack-
ish water, and came into the turbid waters of the Ama-
zonas, finding ourselves on what seemed to be a fresh-
water sea. The water is very muddy, and of a light
milky brown. This is the color of the main river of the
Amazonas. When one looks at the mighty flood pouring
steadily out of the mouth of the Para, and strives to cal-
culate the amount of solid material it is bearing down
from the land to the sea, he cannot but. be amazed at the
work the giant river is doing towards cutting away the
continent, and in spreading it out anew over the bottom
of the Atlantic. About one hundred miles from the
mouth of the Amazonas, a small stream flows off south-
ward, when it meets with the Anapa, Pacajos, and the
great Tocantins, which last is sixty miles wide at its
mouth, and swells into the Para, which Agassiz calls one

N NAT., VOL. I.

650 A VACATION TRIP TO BRAZIL.

of the mouths of the Amazonas, though apparently it
receives only a small part of its waters from the main
stream.

By and by the opposite bank of the river makes its
appearance, and we have on each side a long level line of
trees rising from the water. Looking both up and down
stream, a water-horizon is seen; still farther up large
wooded islands come in sight, and these like the shores
are flat, and only slightly elevated above the water level.
Looking up among the islands, it appears like looking out
to sea from a large bay. The banks are very heavily
wooded. There are no clearings of any size visible, and
there are only a few little huts seen nestled in among the
trees. On the projecting points along the southern bank
of the river are stations from which are displayed signal
flags, to give notice at Para of our arrival. At length,
ahead on the water-horizon gleams a white object, which
seems to be a ship; but the opera glass shows it to be
the tower of a church, and the pilot tells us that it is the
cathedral of Para, but it seems out at sea. Soon other
towers rise above the turbid horizon, and ere long there
„gleam in the afternoon sun the white buildings of the city
of Para, the capital of the province of Gras Para. It
seems like the work of enchantment. With the city in
view, we run along close to the southern shore, passing a
few fazendas, some tile-making establishments, a church
or two, all backed by the dense Amazonian forest, that —
sheet of vegetation, which, almost unbroken save by

~ rivers, covers the whole Amazonian valley like a sea, to
_ the very foot of the Andes. At a distance the forest

~ Yesembles our own hard-wood forests, only it is denser
— = more luxuriant. Once in a while a large round-
oa tree is scen, blushing deeply with blossoms like
: the topo of ee bathed i in the red evening sun-

A VACATION TRIP TO BRAZIL. 651

light; but the only feature that strikes the uninitiated
eye as tropical in this scenery is the occasional slender,
graceful curved stem of a palm, with its beautiful leaf and
crown. The breeze comes to us warm and fragrant, and
one breathes it in in long draughts. But now comes a
clearing, and a low projecting tiled roof is seen nestled in
among the heavy foliage. In front is a long line of cocoa
palms. One sees the large, deep green, shining leaves of
the Jaca, or bread-fruit ( Artocarpus integrifolia), two spe-
cies of banana and orange trees, and would never dream
he was anywhere else than in the tropics. There is one
palm seen here (Mauricea) which I do not remember
having seen elsewhere in Brazil. It is a large palm, with
immense ragged-edged, fan-shaped leaves. There are
numbers of them on the shore just below Para. Mean-
while that we have been sweeping the shore with an
opera glass, watching the little Chinese-looking boats,
with their leather-colored cotton sails, or a little Brazil-
ian sidewheel steamer, outward bound, we come up with
a little fort, an old-fashioned, circular structure, built on
a tiny island a few miles down the river. Over the para-
pet appears the mouth of an enormous speaking-trumpet, .
that hides the head of the officer who hails the ship :—

Donde vem?” (Whence come you?)

“New York,” answers the Captain.

* Quantos dias?” (How many days?)

“Nineteen.”

* Para onde vai?” (Where are you going ?)

“Rio de Janeiro.”

“Boa Viagem!”
- At five o'clock we are anchored off the city, having
consumed the day in ascending the river, a distance of
seventy miles, for all the morning we had to stem the
strong outflowing tide. ,

NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER.
BY HENRY CLAPP.
—-—2Oe— —

[When exploring the slate-bearing region of Maine last fall, I had
occasion to employ as guide Mr. Henry Clapp, of Brownsville, Pis-
. cataquis county, of that State. ` His home is at the foot of the Ebeeme
Mountains, which form the southern portion of a mountainous dis-
trict, extending away north to, and including Mount Katahdin, a dis-
rict well watered by the Penobscot and Upper Kennebec, and their

s

them and enlarge upon them, but they seem to me to take their prin-
cipal value from the fact, that they are a record essentially as given
of an intelligent, experienced hunter’s account of the results of his

observations. — J. E. M.]

Pantuer, or Caramounr (Felis concolor Linn.). I
never saw a Panther, or Catamount. One night I found
a deer bitten through the back. There were many tracks
(not of deer) right about him, but I could not find any
leading off from the spot. I think the beast jumped on to
the deer from a tree. I heard his shrill screech, like that
of a woman in distress. I heard the same screech and
saw the same track again not far off. I think the animal

_ Was a catamount.

___ Lywx, or Loup-cervier (Lynx Canadensis Raf.). The
Loup-cervier lives upon partridges, deer, rabbits, ete. ` It
_ an climb trees. I have seen one in a tree. Ihave had
One carry my trap with a heavy clog into a tree, and
found him dead with it in the limbs. The animal is about _

NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER. 653

two feet or more high. They are quite numerous about
here: one man caught nine within six miles of here.
They are easily killed by a blow with a stick. I once
found a fox’s tail in a rabbit-path, with Loup-cervier’s
tracks about. I judged that the fox was going one way
in the rabbit-path, and the Loup-cervier the other way,
and the Loup-cervier sprang upon the fox and ate him,
leaving his tail. They often go in families, five and six
together. I met four one bitter cold day. They came
on to the ice, not in single file, but right and left, and
from four to six rods apart; and from examining their
tracks, I judge this to be their habit. I think they travel
in this way to scare up more game.

Winp-cat (Lynx rufus Raf.). The Wild-cat is not quite
so. large as the Loup-cervier. It has black rings around
its legs ; its fur is not so long as a Loup-cervier’s ; its foot
is more like a dog’s or house-cat’s, the bottom of it being
bare, while with a Loup-cervier it is covered with fur.
Its leg is quite dark or black toward the foot. Its skin
is not worth so much as that of a Loup-cervier.

Wor (Canis occidentalis Rich.). I know little about
Wolves. Ihave seen them, but never killed one. They
often kill deer on the ice of the lakes; more on the ice, I
think, than in the woods. I found one deer, which they
had killed and skinned in such a way that I got a pretty
good skin from it. They stripped it off so that it clung
to the legs. It seemed to have been torn open along the
belly. The meat was taken off, leaving only skeleton
and skin.

Rep Fox (Vulpes fulvus, var. fulvus). The Red Fox
does not weigh as much as he appears to. His weight is
about ten pounds. I have found but one that came up to
eleven pounds, but have found a number that weighed

654 NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER.

nine pounds. He lives on mice principally, also on beech- —
nuts, fowl, and rabbits. House-cat meat is good bait for
them, so is honey, cheese, and pork scraps; and hog’s
liver is excellent. I make a bed as large as a cart-wheel,
strew on ashes and chaff, and then get the foxes familiar
with the place. I go there often myself, until they get
so familiar with my track, finding it brings them no harm,
that it does not scare them. A strange track, or mine, if
I stay away a little while, would keep them off for a night
or two. I cover my trap with ashes, which seems to
prevent them from smelling it. I attach a grapple to
my trap, so that when the fox runs off with it, it will
catch and hold him before he goes far. I don’t fasten it
to the bed, because the digging of the fox caught would
frighten away others. The fox is not so much afraid of
the iron as of the man who handles it, and, therefore, I
avoid touching the trap with my hand. If I have a dead
horse, or other carcass, I throw it into a hollow where
the snow will cover it. When the foxes have made a
path to it, I set a trap in the path, covering it with snow
from the carcass and the fox path, and making new tracks
over it with a fox’s foot if I have one. I don’t touch any-
thing about the trap with my hand, but use a wooden
shovel. Sometimes I smear the trap with a mixture of
tallow and fox dung.
Red Foxes are plenty about here. In 1865, I bought
thirty-seven skins taken in the neighborhood. One St-
-~ -VER-GRAY Fox ( Vulpes Firginiamis Rich.?), was caught
_ in Brownville or Milo, three or four years ago, and was
_ sold for $35.00. I have seen one skin of the Brack Fox
z m AS var. argentatus?). It was from Sanger-
ville is also a kind called Cross-eray ( Vulpes
S, var. i account of a cross made by

NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER. 655

dark color and gray. In 1865, Red Fox skins were worth
$4.50 to $5.00.. Last winter I paid $2.50 for them. I
think they will be lower this year.

Fisuer, or Fisner-cat (Mustela Pennantii Erxl.).
The Fisher is much like the sable, but larger, weighing
six times as much, say from eight to ten pounds, some
more than this. They live on rabbits, partridges, squir-
rels, and berries, especially berries of the mountain-
ash; they are also very fond of porcupines, the skins
often having quills stuck in them, which, however, do not
enter far into them. They also eat beechnuts. The Fisher
runs with a “lope” and a jump; I never saw one trot.
He leaves but two tracks, one a little farther forward than
the other, thus, *. °., as do also the mink and sable.
Sometimes they leave more, but the habit is to leave two.
The color is dark-brown or gray. He nests in hollow
pine stumps and ledges, I think. They are not very plenty
about here. I caught seven last fall, and one this fall.
The trap was set with bear’s meat. I also caught a fox
in the trap.

SABLE (Mustela Americana Turton). The Sable is of
about the size of the mink, a little larger, and with longer
legs. Its color is red or yellowish. It lives on mice,
squirrels, partridges, rabbits, beechnuts, and mountain-
ash berries. It don’t like porcupine meat as well as the
fisher. It will eat fresh fish, but I don’t think it catches
fish. I catch them in a “dead-fall” trap, sometimes in a
steel-trap. I catch them in the mountains north of here.
They nest in hollow trees. I never saw a sable swim; I
once thought I saw one swimming, but when I caught the
animal, I found it to be a mink, with the sable’s color.
They are never very plenty about here. Price of skins
last winter, $2.25 to $2.50; year before last, $3.50 to

. .

656 NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER.

Weaset (Putorius).* The Weasel lives principally
upon mice; is said, I don’t know how truly, to kill hens
and partridges. Once I found that some duck feathers
I had left in a camp had. been dragged into a barrel of
hard-bread by a weasel, for lining toa nest. I have had
them so tame in the camp, as to come into my lap and
eat fresh fish and partridge. They are brown in summer,
and white in winter.

Mink (Putorius vison Rich.). The Mink is a sly, thiev-
ish creature. They eat fish and frogs. I have seen
where they brought the frogs in to their young. The nest
was under the roots of a tree. The color is black or
dark brown; when shedding their coat, they are a little
more reddish. We catch them in both “dead-falls” and
steel-traps, baited with fresh fish; though they will take
also muskrat, partridge, and red squirrels. They are not
very plenty about here. Their skins are worth $5.00 to
$6.00.

OTTER (Lutra Canadensis Sab.). I estimate the weight
of a good-sized Otter at thirty pounds; their average
weight is twenty-five to thirty pounds. They live on fish
and muskrat. They dive down, and then rise into the
passage way of the muskrat house, so as to push their
jaws into the house and catch the muskrat, unless, as is
sometimes the case, the muskrat has a second passage to
escape through. The otter has no house, but lives in
holes in the banks of streams, and in hollow logs, and
under roots. His hind-foot is partially webbed 3 I dont
_ remember about his fore-foot. He dives and chases fish
-~ under water. I saw one do this, and then shot him. He

seems to like to slide instead of walking down a slope,
3 to have certain places for voiding his exere-

2 i

ene to ag aha a 5 i oY Y D

ii f. RTE ig 3

TY CaSCIi”

NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER. 657

ment. Color, dark-brown or black. Legs very short;
body and tail very long. He is a roving animal. The
skin sells for from $6.00 to $8.00.

Skunk (Mephitis mephitica Baird). The Skunk lives
on locusts and crickets principally ; will eat chickens and
suck eggs. They are plenty about here. The skin is
worth ten to fifteen cents, and has been worth fifty cents.
I bait them with meat.

Raccoon (Procyon lotor Storr). The Raccoon is very
rare about here. I have caught them in a “dead-fall,”
baited with fish. I have known them to go into the corn-
fields and eat corn. The skin is worth from half a dollar
to a dollar.

Brack Berar (Ursus Americanus Pallas). I don’t think
there are two species of bears in the country here, but the
single species varies exceedingly in color and size and
disposition. I had at one time two tamed, which I caught
with their mother when they were cubs. One was what
is called the “Ranger” Bear, that is, it was long-legged
and long-bodied, and not so black, and. with a little
coarser fur than the other variety. The other was what
is called a “Hog Bear,” and was shorter-legged and
blacker. So I am sure the Hog Bear and Ranger are
of one species. I have seldom found two alike. I have
caught a great many, as many as sixteen in one year,
from May 1st to July Ist, around Schoodic and Seboois
streams, a few miles east of here. I caught seven the
last summer. The larger of the two tamed ones I had
was of a milder disposition, and would learn more tricks
than the other. Both were females. They had a dispo-
sition to pry into everything. One of them got into the
pantry once, and upset the flour barrel and went to eating
the flour. When she got her mouth so full as to be

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

.

658 NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER.

clogged, she would clear it out with her paws. She threw
the sieve and breadboard out into the kitchen very hand-
ily. Another time she got in and took the eggs. They
like milk, and honey, and molasses. One of mine would
drink milk from a dipper, holding it in her fore-paws.
One of my tame ones, if she got loose, would find every
hen’s nest in the barn and eat the eggs. In the woods
they feed on berries and beechnuts and acorns and roots;
and they will eat meat of any kind, and will take bear’s
meat for bait; they will eat fresh fish, corn, and pump-
kins, and are fond of oats; in the spring they are fond
of the offal left where moose are dressed.

They strike their enemy and try to throw him down,
and then bite and tear him. I never saw them hug, and
don’t believe they do it. They can climb small trees as
well as large ones; I have seen where one climbed a
cherry tree not more than three inches in diameter. I
kept one of my tame ones till she was six years old, and
have time and again seen her climb a pole four inches
through. She climbed with the ends of all her claws
touching the pole; would climb deliberately, and a hun-
dred times a day for gingerbread, apples, ete. She would
walk hand over hand along a horizontal pole with her
body hanging under it. They climb the tallest of beeches, |
_ and break off limbs two inches through, and throw them
down, and then come down and eat the nuts. If the
limb wont break, they bite it with their teeth, and then .
pull it toward them and break it. They also gather 4

part of the top of the tree together, and eat the nuts
there.

Bears hibernate, going from three to four months with-
- out eating; sometimes during December, January, Feb-
=, and March, sometimes during January, February,

NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER. 659

March, and April. This year there are no beechnuts,
and they will probably disappear early. As soon as
they begin to eat in the spring, a plug comes away
from them, black, shining, and hard, resembling gum,
so much so, that some say they eat gum to form it; but it
is not so, for the same came from the tame ones in my
barn, where they could get no gum. I think it is from
the mucous in the intestines. In the barn they covered
themselves with straw all over, excepting their ears.
Their paws were brought forward around the nose, which
was dropped forward and downward. They don’t suck
their paws. When I spoke to the tame ones in my barn `
during the winter, they would look up very bright, but
would run out their tongue, gape, and drop their heads
forward and down between their paws again. I could
see the motion of their breathing, and in a cold day could
see their breath condensing. I noticed this particularly,
because I have heard it said that they did not breathe
when hibernating. In the woods they make for winter-
quarters a nest of leaves and cedar bark, and I have
sometimes seen cedar and fir boughs in their nest. I don’t
think they get enough of the material to cover themselves
as completely as the tame ones did in my barn.

Bears bite fir and spruce trees, and tear down the bark,
and when one has bitten a tree, others are apt to do the
same, and thus their ranges or lines of travel become
spotted as it were. They follow their ranges year after
year. The skin of a bear is worth from $3.00 to $12.00.

Gray SQUIRREL (Sciurus Carolinensis Gmelin). Have
Seen a few Gray Squirrels this year; never saw but one
before. .

Rep SQUIRREL (Sciurus Hudsonius Pallas). The Red

Squirrel deposits his winter store in several places. The

660 NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER.

bear often finds the half-pint of beechnuts hidden by the
Red Squirrel under the leaves and eats them.

STRIPED SQUIRREL (Tamias striatus Baird). The
striped Squirrel deposits his winter store in a single
place.

Woopcnuck (Arctomys monax Gmelin). The Wood-
chuck lives in holes in the ground; is partial to beans,
but lives principally on grass. I think it hibernates.

EAVER (Castor Canadensis Kuhl.). I have caught
seventy Beavers. Have killed seven from one house,
and left one or more. I killed five from another house,
and opened the house, which was about four feet across
on the inside, and two feet high. It was oven-shaped.
There was but one room to it, and I never saw a house
with more. The houses are sometimes round, some-
times oblong. The house is made of brush thrown into
a pile, and covered with mud and sticks. The room is
eaten out of the brush; that is, the brush is in a pile,
and the room is made by gnawing out a part of it. The
passage way is a ditch passing downward and forward
into the water, and is covered with brush and’ mud.
Right on top of the house is a part of the roof where
there is no mud on the sticks, thus leaving the wall open
enough there for ventilation.

The Beaver makes his pond to enable him to bring
and store his food, which is the bark of white birch, yel-
low birch, mountain ash, swamp maple, poplar, and wil-
low, and perhaps some others. They throw their brush
over their passage way, so that the top of it is in the
water; that is, the butt of the bush is over the passage
way, and the twigs of the top in the water. They cut
down the trees, which are for food, and stick the butts
_ under the brush, leaving the tops to float. If the tree is

NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER. 661

larger than one and a half inches, or two inches at far-
thest, the beaver cuts off the top, and drags it and the
stems to his house separately. I have seen the wood as
large as five inches, and three or four feet long. Have
seen a white birch felled by them four inches in diame-
_ ter. In the winter they come up under the ice and gnaw
their bark there. Gradually in such places air collects
under the ice, which is, I think, what they breathe out
when they are there. I have seen one stay under water
seven and one-half minutes by the watch, and have heard
from a reliable man of their staying twelve to fourteen
minutes. The Otter will kill young Beavers. I don’t
know of anything else that destroys them except man.
Their meat is excellent, and the meat from their tail is a
delicacy.

The Dam.—I will describe one dam. It was lately
built. It was six rods long; not straight across the
stream, but the middle was further down stream than
each end. The groundwork was of small alders, cherry
trees, and bushes. Nearer the top, trees from one to one
and a half inches in diameter were placed on, the butt
being hauled over so as to rest on the bottom of the stream
below, and the top woven into the dam. On the up-
stream side it was covered with moss, mud, gravel, and
rocks, and some of the rocks I judge would weigh fifteen
to twenty pounds. The water dripped over the dam
evenly the whole length. The dam flowed the pond
above, which was a mile long. It was not at a narrow
place in the brook. It had been built the summer before,
and in the fall while I was there, I caught six beavers
there, and think I caught them all. There were seven
houses in the neighborhood, but only one of them was
new. I drove them from this to one of the old ones, and

662 NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER.

then to another. This last was a mile from their dam.
They began to haul wood to it. I caught none at the
new house, but two at the first old house they fled to, and
four at the second. I frightened them from the new
house by paddling around it in my canoe. It was on an
island. They work on their house, putting mud and
sticks on it, till freezing weather.

I will describe another dam and settlement of Beavers,
on the Restigouche River, in the northern part of New
Brunswick. The pond flowed was a mile long. At the
foot of the pond was a dam five feet high. Four rods
below was a dam three feet high which flowed back to the
first dam, raising the water against it one and one-half
feet. Three rods farther down the brook was a third
dam, not more than two feet high, also flowing back to
the dam next above. A rod or two below was a fourth
dam, not more than one and a half feet high, which
flowed the water back to the third dam. There were two
beaver-houses on the pond. The new one, which was the
one inhabited, was one-quarter of a mile above the dam.
The old one was fifty to sixty rods farther up. I killed
seven beavers here that winter (1852 or 1853). I cut
the second and third dams down a little at the middle so
as to have a running, open stream, and caught four otters
there during the winter.

I never saw more than one passage way to a beaver-
3 house, but it was said that there were several to this
use. It was, by outside measurement, twenty-one feet
across at the base; and we judged it to be ten feet high,
but it had the appearance of being two houses joined to-
gether. The men who opened it said it had but one
room, and nine beavers were in it. I don’t think the

. — Bavor uses the tail much in swimming, but it makes

NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER. 663

much use of it in diving. In trapping, we take care not
to drive the beavers away from the pond before it freezes ;
after it freezes they leave very reluctantly. We bait with
swamp maple or mountain ash. We tie the trap to a dry
spruce stake, which they will not gnaw.

The beaver weighs from twenty-five to sixty pounds ;
the latter weight is very large. A good beaver-skin
weighs from one to three pounds; price now $2.50 a
pound.

I think the beaver gets the oil from the “oilstone” on
to his fur by letting it out into the water around, whence
it is caught on the fur. I use the “castors” to attract the
béavers.

Muskrat (Fiber zibethicus Cuv.). The muskrat lives
in hollows in banks of streams, and also in houses. Eats
roots, grass, and clams.

Porcurme (Erethizon dorsatus F. Cuv.). The porcu-
pine lives in winter on bark. It eats grass; will eat green
corn when it can get it; it is very fond of salt; will even
gnaw through pork barrels to get the salt. It has been
known to get into the cellar and take milk. It is destruc-
tive to boots and rigging and tools, where any salt has
been left on them.

Moose (Alce Americanus Jardine). Moose move over
but a small district in a winter’s day, four or five miles ;
sometimes in a thaw they move farther. When their
tracks are obliterated by the snow, I often track them in
this way: I notice the side of the tree from which they
have taken the bark. This was the first side of the tree
they came to; they then moved on and took the bark
from the first side they come to of another tree, and thus
left a.“blaze” behind them. Sometimes when the old
cow lies down, the calf will eat the bark all around the

664 NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER.

tree, but this is not the rule. They seem to tear the bark
up with the teeth of the lower jaw. Sometimes they may
be found in the spring not more than a mile away from
where they began in the fall.

They like best the bark of moose wood (the small
maple with dark striped bark), mountain ash, and swamp
maple. They take the bark of the mountain ash more
than of any other tree; but they browse the twigs of the
swamp maple most. They will also browse fir and willow
and moose bush, and sometimes cut the bark of poplar.
They also frequent ponds for the pond lily and the yellow
lily.

The largest herd I ever saw had nine in it, but they
more often live in herds of four or five. The female
brings forth two calves, and they stay with the old cow
the summer and winter following. The males more often
yard by themselves, but are sometimes found with the
female. The sexes come together about the last of Sep-
tember or the first of October, say from September 20th
to October 20th.

Moose are not now very plenty about here, but ten
years ago they were plenty. I killed two in one August
night in Lower Ebeeme pond. They come into the ponds
to feed on the lilies. I have seen them in the pond the
first of June, with the water half way up their sides,
reaching down and taking up the roots of the yellow lily.
They come out on very soft bog with no trouble; they ~
drop their body so as partly to swim and partly to wade
till they come to shore, then they put their nose on the
shore, if it is soft, then raise their forelegs, and then
their hind legs one at atime. When swimming undis-
turbed, I have seen a moose settle down under the water

a — De or four rode and then rise and snort

NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER. 665

and go down again. Whether he did this to get the flies
from his ears, or whether it is his habit, I don’t know. A
young man who hunted moose with me had seen the same
thing, and spoke to me of it. When undisturbed they
move, on land, slowly and quietly, but when startled,
are all alive. Their principal gait when not walking is a
trot, while the deer jumps. In the season for the coming
together of the sexes, I have seen the male standing on a
log, and heard him grunt at intervals; at other times I
have heard them low aloud. Sometimes we call them by
imitating the low of the male by sounding through a roll
of birch bark. The males answer this cry, and come to
it; and as they draw near we place the mouth of the
trumpet near the water, or, if on land, near the ground,
which makes the sound seem farther off, and leads the
moose to rushon. When he gets pretty near, it don’t do
to keep up the deception; then we dip up and pour out
water, which brings him right out; or, instead, make a
kind of “splash” with the paddle, or any noise that will
sound like the stepping of a moose in water. Care should
be taken to keep to the leeward of the moose if possible.

A common way of hunting them is to watch in summer
nights at places where they come down for lily-pads, and
shoot them there. Another way is to hunt them down in
winter when there is a crust.

The average weight of a moose’s meat after it is dressed
is four hundred to five hundred pounds. I have killed
one which I think weighed, meat and hides, one thousand
pounds. I weighed the meat of one which weighed six
hundred and thirty pounds. Moose meat is worth say
ten cents a pound, and the skin has been worth from five
to twelve dollars since the beginning of the war; I don’t
know what it is worth now.

` AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 84

666 THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

CARIBOU (Rangifer Caribou Aud. and Bach.). Caribou
are quite plenty a little north of here, about Ragged
Lake, Black Brook, ete. Caribou live principally on
moss, but eat some twigs. It is faster, I think, than either
deer or moose; of these two, the deer is the faster. The
meat of a caribou when dressed weighs, I judge, from
two hundred and fifty to three hundned. pounds.

Derr (Cervus Virginianus Boddaert.) Deer are not
very plenty about here. They browse “moose-bush,” fir,
cedar (Arbor vitæ), willow, swamp maple, and lynois
bush; in summer they like lily-pads, leaves of trees, and
grass. I think that, like the moose, the deer generally
bears two young.

[We have introduced the scientific names of the animals mentioned
by Mr. Clapp, and would refer those of our readers who wish for in-

prehensive and invaluable work of Professor BAIRD D, on the ‘‘Mam-
mals of North America,” forming the eighth volume of the Pacific Rail-
road Reports, published by order of Congress in 1857. — EDITORS. |

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

BY EDWARD S. MORSE.

(Concluded from page 609.)

Tue following species, though minute, are very char-
acteristic, and with the aid yt the engravings, but little
trouble will be encountered in identifying them. For-
~ merly included under the old genus Pupa, they are now

_ Separated under a distinct genus called Leucochila. But
slight differences are noticed between the soft parts of the
a smene to be described, and those given previously.
onc ibe CONTRACTA Say (Fig. 54) is an oval,

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND. 667

conical, whitish shell, having five convex whorls ; the
spire tapering to a somewhat pointed apex. Fig. 51.
The aperture is quite large, and is bordered by
a widely reflected lip. The aperture is nearly
closed with four tooth-like folds, and one is
inclined to wonder how it is possible for the \
animal to protrude and withdraw his body X
within the shell. The shell has a distinct um-
bilicus. Length one-tenth of an inch. Animal blackish
above ; disk light gray. Almost universally distributed
throughout the United States east of the Rocky Moun-
tains. It is not a common species in New England.
Found in beech groves under bits of rotten bark.
LEUCOCHILA ARMIFERA Say. (Fig. 55.) This is a
much larger species than the preceding one. The shell
is cylindrical oblong, of a waxen-white color, Fig. 5s.
having from six to seven smooth convex whorls. 2
Apex rather obtuse; lip reflected, nearly sur- ¢
rounding the aperture. Within the aperture , \y
are four or five projecting teeth, the largest aN
being bifid, and starting from the body whorl; in others
projecting from the walls of the aperture, and deep seated.
Shell slightly umbilicated. Length 7% inch; diameter
half the length; animal black. This species appears to
be plentiful in many of the Middle and Western States,
extending as far east as Vermont, where it has been found
on the shores of Lake Champlain. n
Levcocuma peÊxToDoN Say. (Fig. 56.) This
species is a third smaller than L. contracta, being
only 4 of an inch in length. It has about five
whorls ; is whitish or greenish-white ; translucent, ð
though often obscured by dirt that adheres to its surface.
Aperture having a thickened ridge within, on which are

668 THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

several minute teeth, the longest one projecting from the
body whorl. The number and size of these teeth vary
greatly in this species, but the shell is quite characteristic
when once determined. It is found in very wet places,
under bits of wood by watery ditches. Found in nearly
all the States this side of the Rocky Mountains ; common
in New England.

In the following species the lower tentacles are absent,
and the head has lappets on each side, and when viewed
beneath seems partially separated from the creeping disk,
more like the fresh-water air-breathing snails. As they
are best known as Vertigo, we describe them under that
head. As the species are very minute, we have given
not only magnified figures of the entire shell, but a still
more magnified fram of the aperture, as the characters
of the species lie mostly in the contour of this portion of
the shell.

VERTIGO ovara Say (Figs. 57, 58) has an ovate,
dark, amber-colored, and highly polished shell. Within

ioe ce Fig-58. the aperture are seven or
eight teeth; these vary
CA greatly in different speci-
\ mens. ;

This is the largest of
New England Vertigos,
though measuring only 7s
of an inch in length, and 2;
of an inch in breadth. It is more globose than the spoelt

a _ to follow, and has more teeth within the aperture. This

species is almost aquatic in its habits, living under bits of

_ Wood and stones, in wet and soggy widens Inhabits all

_ the Western, Middle, and Eastern States. Is common in ;
_ New England.

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND 669

Vertico Goutpi Binney. (Figs. 59, 60.) This spe-

cies is smaller than V. ovata; is not so broad compared
Fig. 59. Fig. 60

to its length, and is not polished,
but distinctly striated. The teeth
within the aperture are five in
number, that on the body whorl
very large. Length of shell şs
inch, breadth »; inch. It occurs
in woods and groves under leaves.
It appears to be common in New England, and has been
found in some of the Middle and Western States.

VERTIGO ventricosa Morse. (Figs. 61, 62.) In out-
line the shell resembles that of V. ovata, and it has
always been confounded with that Fig. 61. Fig. 62.
species. The shell is much small-
er, however; has one whorl less,
and has only five teeth within the
aperture. Length ;35 inch. It is
not a common species, though I
have received it from New York,
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine.

Vertigo BoLLesrana Morse. (Figs. 63, 64.) This
species has been heretofore confounded with V. Gouldii.
It has a small shell, lighter colored, Fig, 83- vig. ni.
polished and translucent. The teeth y
are five in number, but less promi- \
nent. Length ;§>5 inch. Found in
hard-wood growths, in company
with the smaller snails. It is not a common species.

Vertico mium Gould. (Figs. 65, 66.) Despite the
infinitessimal character of the species described above,
this species is much smaller than any of the others, being
only z$o inch in length, and weighing but roso of a

N

670 THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND.

grain! and this tiny shell encloses a pulsating heart,
a lung, stomach, liver, and all the organs we find in the
Fig.65. Figo. larger snails. The shell has six teeth
within the aperture, those on the lower
portion of the aperture being long
| ridges running far within the shell.
' This species is found under decaying
leaves in woods, and sometimes under
stones in open pastures. It has a wide distribution in the
United States, though it is rarely met with on account
of its exceeding minuteéness.
VERTIGO stupLEx Gould. (Figs. 67, 68.) The shell
ee, Fig-68- is quite long and cylindrical,
<> having five whorls: The aper-
wen ture is entirely devoid of teeth,
we and has a sharp lip. Length
i) È C] 7s of an inch. Found in all the
: New England States, New York,
and some of the Western States.
VERTIGO DECORA Gould. Mr. L. L. Thaxter has found
this species at Ascutney, Vermont. We learned this fact
too late to prepare a figure of it. We may briefly state
that it is something like V. Gouldii, though twice the.
size of that species, and darker colored. It was first dis-
covered in the region of Lake Superior, and one specimen
has been identified from Great Slave Lake.

fo a

= The following group, though air-breathing, are am-
ue phibious in their habits. The animal has only two ten-
_ tacles, with no power to draw them within the head, as in

oa those above described. The eyes, instead of being at the

: tips of these tentacles, are at the base.
_ CARYCHIUM EXIGUUM Say (Fig. 69) has an elongated

TR TN! Sie ist

THE LAND SNAILS OF NEW ENGLAND. 671

-white shell, with five convex whorls, tapering gradually
to the apex. Aperture obliquely oval, bordered pig. 69,
by a roundish, thickened margin. On the outer £
margin of the aperture, there is a tooth-like pro-
jection, and on the inner margin there is another }
more prominent. Length of shell 75 inch. Lives
in very wet and boggy places in woods. Found
in nearly all the States east of the Rocky Mountains.

ALEXIA myosotis Drapanaud. (Fig. 70.) Shell ovate,
conical, smooth, horn-color. Spire having six or seven
whorls, making a short, elevated, pointed spire. Fig.70.
Aperture long and narrow, having on the inner &
margin two or more thin white teeth. Length 3%
inch. Found in the crevices of old wharfs and sea-walls,
below high-water mark. It is never found away from the
salt water, and if it breathes air like the rest of the group,
it must take in a supply at low tide.

MELAMPUS BIDENTATUS Say. (Fig. 71.) Shell ovate,
conic, whorls five, the last one three-fourths the length of
the shell. Apex short; aperture having two folds rig.z1.

A

or teeth on its inner margin. Color brownish horn. f)

In adult specimens the shell is whitened from ero-
sion. Very young specimens are oftentimes or-
namented by dark, revolving bands. Length not quite
half an inch. Inhabits the salt-marshes of our coast,
where they may be found by thousands just below high-
water mark. It is found all along the coast to Florida,
though extremely rare north of Massachusetts Bay.

With this species we close the description of the Land
Snails of New England as continued articles. In a future
number of the Naruratist we hope to give an account
of the Slugs or Snails without external shells.

To those who have not the earlier numbers of the Nat-

672 REVIEWS.

URALIST, we would say that the terms used in describing
the different species are explained and illustrated in the
April number, and that a general account of their habits
and anatomy may be found in the March number.,

REVIEWS.

THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE AND MED-
ICAL JURISPRUDENCE. Edited by William A. Hammond, M. D. Vol.
I. Nos. 1,2. July, October, 1867. Quarterly, 8vo. A. Sampson &
Co., New York.

Our notice of this journal, which fills an important gap in medical
literature, has been long delayed. It will also interest many of our
gh S it t bears on those subjects in which all naturalists, espe-
cially p o most interested. The three leading articles
are sion H Editor. The article On Instinct, its Nature
and Seat, gives an aa summary of the views of various writers
on a subject on which much has been written without reaching satis-
factory results.

The author's views may be summarized thus: Animals perform
three sets of actions; Ist, reflex, such as eating, breathing, peti
tion. “The new-born child does not breathe because of a ‘natural
blind impulse’ to do so, but because the placental connection mi its
mother, by which its blood was oxygenated, having been severed, and
the stimulus of atmospheric air having been applied to its skin, an
impression is conveyed to the nervous centres, it is reflected to the
respiratory muscles, and breathing takes place.” This is a reflex
action of the nervous system. It is not instinctive or an act of the
reason. 2d, instinctive, which are “‘the result of impressions received
from within.” ‘Instinct is that innate faculty which organic beings

_ possess, by which they are enabled or impelled to perform acts Mii

Oout being prompted by the intellectual powers, and even in direc

opposition thereto.” Dr. Hammond, from whom we have quo ne

farther states that “instinctive acts are not the result of instruction

- " experience. This is one of the most prominent points wherein the

om those which are the result of intelli-
rational. These are, as the author states, of

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 673

“eccentric origin, ts » impressions conveyed to the mind through
the senses and nery

Instinct is sia in the lower animals, and the new-born of the
higher. The young acts first by instinct, until experience and contact
with the outer world awakens the dormant reason.

The author thinks that instinct is capable of improvement, that it
can be educated through a series of generations, so that ‘‘the intelli-
gence of former generations becomes converted into instinct in the
descendants.” Instances of the abe

have instinct; that is, a force co-existent with their growth, and im-
planted originally in the seed, which impels them to the performance
of act ioa, calculated to preserve their existence, or secure their well
b u

efer the reader to the article itself for facts in illustration of
o pae

NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.

PAA Ea

BOTANY.
BOTANICAL NOTES AND QUERIES. — Is Tillandsia usneoides, the
“ Black” or “ Long Moss” of the Southern States, strictly an epiphyte,
or in some sort a parasite? I was once informed by a very intelligent
person, that in Florida, where the Tillandsia is used by lumbermen
as fodder for cattle, the plant always withered and died when the tree
that bore it was cut
upon the dead surface of the bark.
My gama is ae ag to this point by a paper on The Relation of
he health and value of Trees, read by Dr. Lindsay
before the ae ce of the British Association. Noting that arbo-
-_riculturists generally regard Lichens as detrimental to the trees they
w on, Dr. Lindsay adduces, in confirmation of that view, the fact

gro
that Lickeus of the sort, such as Usnea, Ramalina, etc., contain silica,
hich could not have been

come from the foster-
oes not certainly =~ however, that the Lichen is para-
sitic, as Dr. Lindsay is disposed to think, for the thallus may as well
take up these earthy elements fin the dead and decaying bark, and
be without connection or contact with any living part of the tree. The
general opinion of nurserymen and tree-growers is, that

upon the tree, or at least in some way injure it.—A. GRAY.

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 5

Lichen-grow

674 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

ALSOLA KALI GROWING INLAND. — Every summer, for the last five
years, on botanical: excursions, I have found at New wburgh (sixteen
miles from this place) the Salsola peg ~~ quite abundantly on
the Erie railroad near that city. orks on Botany that I have,
designate this as a maritime ase T es no other habitat for it.
Those specimens which grow most vigorously are found covering the
side of an embankment (formed of dry, loose — facing the mea
and consequently exposed to the scorching rays of the sun'all su
The material in which the plants are rooted is not one from w ae I
Should suppose that they could derive any of those saline matters that
enter so largely into their composition. — W. R. GERARD.

OBINIA HI The responses to the query in the November
number about lido plant are unanimous, and direct to i point, that
it is Ee and truly indigenous in the pine barrens of the low coun-

n barren or rocky hill-tops of the upper country of the At-
niir botiheri States. Dr. M. A. Curtis has fruiting specimens col-
lected on the summit of Table Rock, North Carolina (a conclusive sta-
non as to a. and thinks that it fruits in the lower country as
well.— A. Gra

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.—
NATURAL History SECTION. Burl rlington, Vt., August pe -26, 1867.—
‘“ The Insect Fauna of the Summit of Mount PEAR as compared
with that of Labrador.” By A. S. Packard, jr., M. D. The following
notes are thrown together rather to give a summary, from data only
approximately correct, of our present knowledge of the distribution of
Alpine rctic Lepidoptera, than to give anything like a complete
account.

The summit of Mount Washington, or that portion lying above the
limit of trees, agrees in its climate and other physical features very
closely with those of bane mi of Northern Labrador, as observed at
latitude

Thes peletan soniai rare exactly, as the snow melts in the early
summer, and ice is formed early in the autumn at about the same dates.

_ As is well known, the Alpine flora of the White Mountains is iden-
tical With that of the arctic regions, which extends far southward
along the Atlantic shore of Labrador. Not only is the flora identical
4 T duiiperies of plant is known to be restricted exclusively to

Ss. p but the times ot Ue tomednns and fruit

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 675

ing of plants is much the same. Such was observed in the Rubus
chamemorus and Arenaria Opeéntanaton for example.

It is also the same apparently with the fauna. The Chionobas semi-
dea flies late in July and early in August, in greatest abundance, at the
same time that its representative species swarm over the bare roc.
hill-tops of the Labrador coast. Their appearance heralds the close of
summer, both on the extreme summit of Mount Washington and the
neo hills of Labrador

st is known of the Lepidoptereia fauna of Alpine and arctic re-
gions, both in America and Europe, and our data will be drawn from
this group of insects. In Europe, Faa erg, Zetterstedt, Pupok nchel,
Boisduval, Staudinger, and Wocke, have studied the circumpolar lepi-

der, Shurtleff, and Sanborn have ie ag the insect fauna of Mount
Washington, ae other Alpine summit

According to Dr. Staudinger, out s sixteen butterflies found in
Finmark, two only ae Manto and Argynnis Thore) occur in the
Alps, and also in Siberi But one butterfly, Chionobas Aello, so far
as we have been able to ane is Liar to the Alps. Of 122 species
of lepidoptera inhabiting maaten J
arctic America, while t pis T circumpolar, namely, occur on
both sides of the Arctic pia being found in Finmark, igs and
the mountains of Norway; six species inhabit the summit of Mount
Washington, and four or five of the whole number also eer the
Swiss Alps. Two of the European Alpine species are found on Mount

in ects, as among Mollusca, are almost ex-
clusively arctic. Such are econo and saab which are paralleled
by the two marine genera Astarte and Bucci

Two species (Polyommatus Fr Wanton my Ctdarks polata) abounding
in Labrador and the polar regions have not yet been found on Mount
Washington. This is paralleled by the occurrence of certain ee
e. g. Leda truncata, in the h arctic seas, which have become ex-
tinct in the seas southward, where they are now found fossil; so Pia
the distribution of the arctic insect fauna seems to ralleled p

of an Arctic marine fauna, so the Alp
abysses, rising out of a temperate into an Arctic climate, seem peopled
by outliers of an arctic land fauna. These outliers are relics of an
arctic prige that during the early part of the Quaternary period, i. e
the Glacial Epoch, peopled the surface of the temperate zone.

676 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. .

We cannot suppose a special creation of organized beings for the
Alpine summits. Chionobas semidea, thus far only known to inhabit
the summit of Mount Washington, may still be found northward; or,
if not, probably became extinct north, finally localizing itself on the
Single peak where it now occurs.

“ On the oie agm of a Dragon-fly, Diplaz.” By A. S. Packard,
jr.. M.D. 1. In all the eggs observed, the blastoderm had been
formed, and Adie the blastodermic cells had disappeared, and,
at this stage, there was a clear space about what is probably the ante-
ee pole of the egg, where the head is eventually to be developed.

. In the next stage (Fig. 1) the head is partially sketched out, with `
is re bel the limbs mouth-parts; and the sternites or ven-
ral walls of the thorax rt of the two
dy rings of the head appear. The an-
terior part of the head, ‘ne so-called
« procephalic lobe” overhangs and con-
eals the base of the antenne.

The antennz, mandibles, and maxille

form a group by theinselves, while the

e
Fig. 1, a. men, those at the extremity appearing
ast.

The development of the hinder or
post-oral rings of the head, together
with the antennal segment, i. e. the first
one in front of the mouth, at this time
accords with that of those of ree tho-

dages are identical throughout.
3. In the next stage (not figured) the
yolk is gears | walled in, though no
Ventral view of the same. traces of segments appear on the dorsal
and pleural areas. The yolk granules fill the sate cavity of the body
extending into the appendages. The head has enlarged, the perenne
abdominal urites appear, and the abdominal lobe or post-abdom

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 677

is indicated, ee curved under the body, and touching the middle
of the abdor
The faaiioa of the eyes appear as a darker rounded mass of cells
indistinctly seen through the yolk-granules, and situated at the base
of the antennæ. The three anterior appendages, when seen sideways,
i in size and length, the antenna being very contiguous to
shiek
he ash maxille are re over twice the length of the first
maxille and are grouped wi e legs, being curved backwards.
They are, however, now Sie thd shorter than the anterior legs. The

- second maxillary sternum is still visible.

e legs are now unequal in size, the two anterior pair being of the
same length, though the middle pair are slightly thicker than the first
pair; while the third, or Pe hae pair, are a third longer, and drawn
back upon the side of the body, the Fig. 2
ends nearly reaching the ie of the egg.

The tip of the abdomen (or post-ab-

obscurely divided into two obtuse lobes.

The abdominal sterna (urites) are now
well marked, and the nervous cord is
represented by eight or nine large ob-

| š :

AVIVI Yy

The formation of the eyes, the post- S prasephate bane Pde ; ;
abdomen, the sterna, and median portion I. the rudiments of the intestine.
of the nervous cord seem ee ci RSEN with the closing up of

. 3. rsal walls of the body over the

E V VI v Gus

4. The ‘wucdecliieg stage (Fig. 2,
compare Zaddach’s fig. 40) is signal-
ized by the appearance of the rudi-
ments of the intestine, while the second

u ;

= he embryo stil farther, advanced. and clypeus, together with the approx-
sabes of the second pair of maxille, which, when un
labium, the extremities of which are now situated in the middle of

_ the bod:

678 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

The antenne now extend to the middle of the labium; just passing
beyond the extremities of the mandibles and maxillæ. The suture
separating the eye-bearing piece from the ante: diii, EAE and
maxillary pleurites and supra-clypeus, is distinct, the clypeus is now
very distinct, and as large, seen laterally, as the supra-clypeus, though
differing from it essentially in form.

The abdomen is now pointed at the extremity and divided into the
rudiments of the two anal stylets, which form large acute tubercles.
The yolk mass is now almost entirely enclosed within the body walls,
forming an oval mass.

6. At this stage, the embryo is quite fully formed, and is about .
ready to leave the egg. The three regions of the body are now dis-
tinct. The articulations of the tergum are present, the yolk mass be-
ing yes enclosed by the dorsal walls, The ventral ganglia

fully formed and are seen laterally to be
Square, with the square ends opposed, though the
commissures cannot be distinguished. More care-
ful observation. will undoubtedly reveal their pres-
ence. The body is so bent upon itself that the
extremities of the second maxille just overlap the
ip of the abdomen.

The front of the head is now still farther differ-

entiated. The supra-clypeal piece seems to be
merged in with the opthalmic ring, the sutures
between them having disappeared. The insertion
of the antennz are removed higher up to just in
front of oe red or rather the eyes have dropped
down, as . The clypeus is broad and large, .
me a e labrum is separated from it by a
The mandibles and maxille are still tu-
ee, in shape, the teeth of the former not yet
ae appearing. The two limbs of the labium are now
ké e side by side, with the prominent spinous
appendage on the outer edges of the tip. These
ae spines are the rudiments of the ssi palpi.

Th

e abdomen should į are directed upwards and the two claws are sim-

ae ae of eleven, pseu con- ple, straight, and equal in size. The tip of the ab-
minute. tr Netthglat domen ends in two unequal pairs of stylets, ter-
aminating in 2 a long bristle, 6: a Sag 4.) Thegen-

ken from the

F Ol ius taken

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 679

egg sae bermightoned oak, meminda us arikingly of the ii. and
l Lepisme, and allied gen-
5.

era, are e eabryonis forms,
of Neuroptera, and should’
therefore be considered a y

family of that suborder. I
een laterally, the body

gradually tapers from the j

large head to the ted

extremity he b

flattened from above down-

wards. is ge th

embryo, but the limbs are
still laid along the body. “Jy
Fig. 6. y

T ij
after the exclusion of the Sites She

gta © nc gun of
whieh the’ eyes

F et p
de

ger, and re

g
shorter pla
the recently
hatched larva,

gl on to the
body. The antennæ, man-
dibles,andmaxillmarenow só o JI cal af tie abdomen, wich open and
free, and have taken on a shut otk orth on, are represen ted s being

ust hatched and swimming in the water.
me Stale ord or nervous ganglia; D, dorsal ves-

more definite form, being Peni Eon
like that of the young larva, and ante oa free pi the body. The
head is much smaller in proportion to the rest of the body, and bent
more upon the breast.

8. The Larva (Fig. 5). The head is now free, and the antennæ
stand out free from the front. The thorax has greatly diminished in
size, while the abdomen has become wider, and the limbs very long;
and the numerous minute tubercles seen in the preceding stage have
given origin to hairs. The dorsal vessel can now, for the first time,

the dotted ponte cross one
ork of trac

680 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

be seen. The resemblance when in motion to a spider is most
strikin ig. 6 represents the pupa of Diplax

Essex Instrrutr, March 4, 1867.— Mr.’E. S. Morse spoke of the
Cephalopods, and alluded to the many fallacious stories regarding the
Cuttle-fish, citing Victor Hugo’s description of the Devil-fish, in which
the characters of two entirely different animals were mix

Vice-president Goodell called the attention of the m ssthi to the

Hi y, and the reply of the Trustees.
F. W. Putnam, TA sym of the Museum, introduced the fol-
lowing AAR

t ifi g
pe 5 eve inhabitants of the County of Essex, of the steady pa knowledge of the Natu tural
; x tizen.

and sical Sciences, and of their application to the Useful Ar ts;” and w citizens
of this ” county, the membi of t te are ju roud that this a comes
tive of the nti they are most deeply rages of the honor confe: upon

eg Geor, shat te Loring voabiada. the Resolution with appropriate

remarks, and it was unanimously adopted.
committee of seven members of the Institute was gaa to

confer with the Trustees of. the. Peabody Fund in regard to the
operation of the Institute.

May 8. Annual Meetin -— Reports of the officers were read; seven-
ty-seven resident, and sixteen corresponding members have been

ected during the year, and notices of the death of five resident, and
four corresponding members have been received. Five field eR.

publication of the Proceedings and Historical Collec ctions, it is hoped,

will not occur again, now that the i has established a printing

office. ni is meara koe a0 peers of My: Bicknell as a pre-

rk will prov ve instrumen-

tal in h promotion of some of the objects of the — The total
nditure

expe e year was $2,491.41, receipts 1.33. Four
thousand and sight? six volumes, and parts of couse, pamphlets,
etc., were received the year, from two con-

= Thirteen thousand specimens have been added to the

‘Natural story Department, by two hundred and eighty-eight dona-

- tions; and sixty-six donations have been made to the Historical De-

_ Partment. Over four hundred zodlogical specimens have been pre-
T eoar societies, and to individuals during the year.

GLOSSARY.

Abdomen. Applied in insects and crus-
tacea b the third or last region (hind-
doalehe Pu cog oe
cale reek acalephe, stin J;
so Ani mals, So called
fs igin g and

f Rhizopods.
1 The. Mite jprm ag
mite, etc.), a low degraded form o.

—

The act ma Bev bea the
aie making v
pore of Dia canis

$, a i A genus woh am
Bischna A genus of
garici us. (From Ag e Seia
Do mg. crinos). The Masiro
like
po eange A A genus s of ra. A ge ‘
r. agrios, rura us 0:
small ll. r Dra P

Alga (pl. Algæ). on weet? ; an
order of erypeogamous spec et mostly

nthropoid. Man-like; applied to the
“higher apes.

w ar aphuo, to drink to ex-
A i
Arachnids (Gr. arachne, a a spider). The
Leo of Spiders, Scorpions, Mites, etc.
nodis SiE coat dis-
poe neve A pi s of Dia’

“ yellow be:
renaria. The ‘Sandwort; one of the
iow ap E

Argy mythological name. A
gens of butterflies.

Ascalaphus. A genus f Dragon- fly-*
ne Hemerobiidæ, a HARTO terous
a %
teach The eet te ev mk
genus of the Silk-weed amy:

idium. The skiej- fern, ood-fe:

Asterionella (Diminutive of Aster, a Piit

tle star). A po ofl paeng"

inhabiting the o and om-
Allosorus.* The Rock bike: ; a species OP aee. navel). we genus of Dates
of fern. ete ar scone urans,
Alsine. The Grove Sandworts; a genus taining Ae genus Astrophyton, the
of et Pink family. Medusa’s head sand-star.
A aranth. genus of Jelly-fish.
cates. Shapeless; haere dace any | Au a ts the Lithu-
mcrae A f Dia Aci. “ithe a is Samy aonek
mp. oH ohn us 0 e an
Amphitetras. A kamis of Aa: ma stem, or by a branch
. A genus of Sphegidæ or Sand
Ampullaria eres, bottle Bacillaria. A
genus of ena ahs shells. —, Bacillarie (L. amare a rod 0 T wand).
Andromeda. “Mythological name. Age-| Aname originally a lied to > the Des-
nus of the H mids and rigs “oo ma tach
Androspores. ioe te applied to Pe P alams o o ns collective family of
of niih is develo S:
into the dwarf male us substance exud-
Antenna (L. a sail- ). The first pair "from ye ne Styrax benzoe, or ben-
of feelers; i the second. oe a nage of Sumatra. jP!
Anthomyia (Gr. anthos, flower, and mu- potanical family
zo, to suck). A genus genus of tage es (Diptera) Perches C peor 0
state. ; Riddulphia. A genus of Diatoms.
Anthophorabia (Anthophora, a wild bee, | Biology. The ce of Life, embre
and bio, to live). A parasiteof Anthi: |.. Toe ne nt of organized bends
Anthrax (Gr. anthrax, coal). A genus | Blast: The primitive skin of the
of ee : emb
86 681

AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I.

682

odermic ceils.

Blastoa The ceils forming
the blastoderm.

Boling. From the Latin, rv yg Si lit-
tle ball. = Boo of Acaie
Bombycic ac n acid sec ater by the

sed

ry Silkworm, homo allied genera.

From Bombyx; a family
‘on ie meu
Botaurus Gr. dos, bull, taurus, bull). A
genus of Herons.
- A genus of Ferns.
- A genus of fossil Croco-
diles from the Cretaceous formation.

Boucuetin. The Wild Goat.
Brachiopoda (Gr. brachion, arm, and
pous, foot). An order, of Motinsea,
so called from the arm-like frin
ners the ton m
Brachio: arm,
ukor gia). A se af fouail pen onges.
B c on pe ae bg lbus, bulb, an ‘aie ite,
bristle). A genus of fresh-w ralgæ.
The Water-shell family
eat
ia. The Indian Plantain.
Caffeine. A bitter substance in coffee
Calca nsistingof chalk or lime.
Callit 5 e Water-star wort, a ge-

u
C . Mythological name (botany).
r. A term applied in Great
Britain to marosi lowermost strata of

‘arnt ecu ( Italian Campana, a bell
The fodiens ce 7 i A 5
Campy cus (GT. Ci 08. Xib
diskos, pene y etosan eien :
Capsule. A pod; seed-vessel which
la open when dry.
Carbonife meee to the coal

“odon come A of shark
> us of s 8.
oe ti eke sedge. A gen

ough,

us

one of
peckers

(G: r. kephale, head, pous

). The Cuitle-fishes, nee etc.

A class of Mollusc

terior region of the body es Hay iene: a
applied to the similar p

ioe
z (Gr. ceras, a horn). A fossil

| Certain One's the divisions stio

GLOSSARY.

Chalcid. Relating to the hymenopte-
rous famil Tae cididæ.
pepee ing to the Chelonians,

Chenopodium. Goose-foot, a gs i a
genus of the Goose-foot famil y.

Chionobas (Gr. chion, snow, bio, to live).
A genus of pruo butterflies.

Chloeén. A genu Mo neuropterous
family, Epheme eet
hrysatis. The pupa, or second stage
in the transformation of insects.

Chrysopa (Gr. chrusopes, golen;
—— it hana lace-winge

europterous ‘family H

P atann APRA a chrusos, golden, and
phaneo, to appear). A genus of but-
terflies

Cicindela. The pete A genus

of the Coleopterous family Cicinde-

am]

idæ.

'imex. The Bed-bug. A genus of the
Hemipterous family, Cimicide.

Circes, pl. of Cercis. The Judas-tree;
Red-bud. s kar- of sath fgg family.

34 i Clador e Rein-

or
Closterium, om genus of Desmids.

eus. e piece lying in front of
x e larei iaa gy and next the labrum.

pease ema. P genu
Cæanothus. The din Jersey tea; Red-
genus

wood. A of Buckthorn
family.

ae A genus of the Spurge
amily.

Colsoptirs (Gr. eos, th, et
wing). The tles.

Bee So called from
the upper wings being thickened, and
covering or ensheathing the under
membranous pair.

— The family of Divers and

fcc ra. The bastard Toad-flax. A
cane of ho Bandar Tod family.
Comatula na us). A genus of liv-

Conte.” The knuckle; = a
bone at its one
Gono , confervoi Rel: ting to Con-
ery xe 5 a “hi of pong or sea-weeds.
Conifers. Pines, or cone-bearing
Conocephalites (Gr. conos, cone,
head). A „gonna o of Trilobites.

Conularia (L. ulus, a little cone).
genus of Pieropod S.
Conulus (L. diminutive of CONUS, a
cone). A genus of Land-snails.
ed tke & process fp bl €;
aye ed li i crow’s bea
Cor eaves of prang E
the caly p
| rae ac en
ve. us of Aca’ a
ag ie a sieve,

diskos, disk). A genus of Diatoms.
Corydalus. (Gr. korydalos, Alauda cris-

GLOSSARY.

iata) ) A genus of the Hemerobius
muy of Neuroptera.
Cotyledon: on. st leaf. The seminal leaf
o:

Crabron aa. e Hymenopterous fam-

ily of Sand and Wo od-wasps.
bas ESN Picks rak edge,
disk). A genus of Dia-

Ge us. The name of ea chalk for-

ly or geological per

pruo cam lating to Grincidea (Gr.
08).

Piotr The class of articulata com-
=e the crab, lobster, beach-flea,

dane amia aion the Greek, meaning

hidden ification”). Flowerless
= rok a tearing real blossoms or
e seeds (i.e., with an embryo ready-

a ley ithin.
Cryptogamous. "Relating to the Crypto-
amia.
bisa A om The stem of grasses
an

Cimara aih Oak-family.
Cuscuta. The Dodder. A genus of the
Convolvulus family.
C goei nus (Gr. ouaiiian: cup, -rinos,
C; Ke h as aot O Cyathop phi ll A
rean A e Cyathophylius.
5 of TOR iall corals, shaped like a

o sage inter-

cas ‘A genus
Oyeads (oponer B E

— between the pal

‘ern.

Cyclosis. The circulation in closed cells
Of plants.

Cyclotella (Gr. were of kuklos). A

Baboon;

Sadism The Se ‘amily.

Cypridi: A ne teaun fam Entomostraca;
2 grou es — Crustacea, called
water-

uens (Gr. Lustis, sac, bleddes,idice,

e). A group of fossil Echinoderm

Deciduous. Falling off; said of leaves
which fall i in mieng y

s of the Hemipterous
family € Cercopide.
Dendritic. Tree-like in form.
of the
anpra ag the Old-Red Sandstone.
Dextrine matter into
which the interior sey d etyan of starch
bi is converted by certain acids,
Diatomacee (Gr. dia-temno, to cut in
ro The group of silicious-shelled

Dichotomous. T He

Dideiphys (Gx. din, Soutie, datphus, mte-

683

rus). TheOpossum. A genus of mar-
ime:
Dimorphism. When a part, or an animal
itself f takes aa ae ers ora minera

Dialah. "A gues er PAE E pet omer
Dizcious : or zeroi icous, PE oer be sta-
e flow-

genus of ‘prepa iat
Diplole, (Gr. diplods double, Jlepis,
PATĂ A f Hyme enopterous
Totara ts (Gr. dis, two, pteron, wing).
ged insects, like the x esti Minim
a Toi.
Discoid. Like a disc.
Dycotyledo Having a pair of co-
tyledons.

Echinoderms (Gr. Echinus. sea-hedgeh:
Acie OE RAAI

Empetrum. Mhe Black Crowberry.
mpidonax. The Fly-catcher; a genus
oles mom
s of Crin

e stalk:
Eneye ica Ge kuos Bee g ak
i eE A genus ‘of Dia-

eran (Gr. Entomon, insect, os
= hanpa speni An e a Crustacea,
Entozoðn, p aia (Gr. pn Diy ‘within
animal). A group of ini
pa ape itic worms.

p.
ous genus.
apimeee a z Page ee mAn,
resen
pio i apiri The sidespiece ofa a thoracic
d si behind the epister-

Í z a bone sepa-
kon te rege bone by a
becomes converted

ids,
‘ucope. A small Jelly-fish.
rogaa G Eumenes, benevolent).
genus of Wasps.

flow :
Bearna pe Eu, beautifal, mane star).
A genus of Desm

A

684

A

ry sents eee
Sembee: The Spurge Pla

Eurylepis (Gr. navi broad, wept scale).
A genus of Fish

Euryteri on privet broad, pteron,

) e family of which Euryteris
is the
Eusoelosaurus. A genus of fossil rep-

j aaee A close cluster.
me An assemblage of animals
ing certain country. We a So
"peak of. the Bird-fauna, or Insect-

a coun!
Favositide. The family of corals repre-
d by the genus Favosites.
ur. The thigh bone.

Ferrous. Relating to iron.

ghera Belonging to the fibres of
Pouas ipne long bone by the side of

parore oa wee r or filamen

Flabellari ators, alittle. fan.

Flora. “An assemblage c = plants nei A
ing t certain We

The yi young of any animal in the
womb.

gline enpa sda The shell-making Rhizo- |

Pa: ods.
Forbesiocrinus us (Forbes, krinos, lily). A
pes of nine named in honor of
— For
Fumar. rigor in a volcano from
pte acai issnes.
Fusiform. Spindle-shaj

Ganoid. Rela to the oid ee

Aiurea ia te oo rang ale :
Gavials. A genus of Crocodiles.

poe aig Gro rowie by buds, as in

ntianaceæ. ae Gentian family.
s dees mtr family.

GLOSSARY.

Gynandrosporous. See p. 526.
Gypona. A ponas of the Hemipterous
family Cercopidæ.

Habenaria. s of Orchi
Halesidota, Halysido ido ti (Gr. h

asbhobed,
chain).

A aaa or the Peri perenras:
omb;

el r. A genus
of someone ds wers
Heliolites ents helios, sun). A genus of
fossil ¢
Heiminthosporium (Gr. kelmins, worm,
eed). ook syed of Fungi.
Hem vatite. AY ety o

of native oxide of
Héneriutiä (Gr. hemera, ey he
‘ossil neuroptera, allied

Hemerobina (Hemerobiidz). A neurop-
terous family named from the typical
genus Hemerobius.

Hemiptera (Gr. hemi, half, pteron, wing).
The sub-order of "pugs, including the

A genus
to Cory-

Cit
Hippiirites (Gr. pos, horse, oura, tail).
a pid fossil shells. 2

Hototha (rians (Gr. ~poloth
of Echin

Homoptera laaa, similar, pteron, wing).

A subdivision of the Hemiptera.

Honkenya. The Sea-sandwort. A genus
Msi eei has apd
The thigi-bone.

ay miners ` Transp
py comer (Gr. Pea, hyaline, discos,
disk). A genus of Diatoms.
droids (Hydra-like). An order of Aca-

Hymenoptera = r peria membran l

Gerris, The Wa ter-skater; a homopte-
Ca e genus. Ianthina or — oc Poe ET
4 $. o mo:
Globigerina. A DA genus of fak gens Pe E OE O Goats.
the shells consisting numerous | Icteride. The Blackbird family.
P homed an wedge, ne- ose (ape a “a Gr. odon.
pani guana, GY. ”
oak a intend). ‘A genus of Diatoms. tooth). A genus .
Grammatophora (Gr. F sre Bhd | Ilex. The Holly.
_ phoreo, to bear). A genus Ilium. One of the bones of the pelvis.
; ( 0 distinction oF pupa
Impatiens. The Balsam, aaa
c animals and plan ipee ain
fiar apies of plants; somaoaaty called
animaicules.

Iséetes. Quillwort; an eae crypto-
gam.

GLOSSARY.

sus. A — of the hemipterous fam- |

Is
ily Cer

Jatropha. The Spurge-nettle.
Juncus, pl. Junci. The Rush.
Jurassic. A geological formation.

Kjekkenmeddings, pronounced ae:
en-merdings. From the Danis
meaning kitchen-refuse.

um. The second pair of maxille of
ates: pda ag into n piece

forming the under of insects, and
opposed to the eras or ees ip.
pmsl Relating to a lake.
amna. A genus of Sharks.

Tarai, The first stage of the young in-
sect sede * hatching.
us

= so
Laurentian. A ai formation,the
oldest anes T iua from the St.

Lawrence
r E A
pte (Gr. lepis, scale, pteron,
wing, AAN ANE PA J JA e gerig of
insects; po ee moths.
Léporides e Hare:
Leptorine. Relaring t k the h
Lesleyite. her
Lespedeza. Tha Bush-elover:
Lestes. A genu small Dragon-flies.
Tabelka T ibeta, =f little book). a the
Lennon ` A genus of Diatoms.
Liliacee. The Lily fa amily.
AE (Gr. limacodes, herb-feeding).
A “ag Bombycidz, whose larva
apii
Limneæa. i genus of fresh-water snails.
Limnanthacee. The Limnanthus a_i,
Linaria. The Wood-flax; a genus
the Fig-wort family.
indera. The Benzoi
Lingual. pe o

i rh

Lingula (
petai y r genus of htt Newb ingua,
Also the name of a sub-formation of
the Lower p formation.

Linum. The

elating to the

of Shell

riodendron
partons (L. "Titian.

Lyceena (Gr. lukaina, she-wolf). A genus
of butterflies.

ianas. A genus of “ at Bands! flea,”
pod Crustacea.

Macropus (Gr. macros, large, pous, foot).
Macrosaurus _ macros, Jyh 7
reptile). A gigantic fossil odile.

685

Mandible. The biting, chewing “jaws?
or first pair of jaws of insects, corre-
sponding to the jaw and teeth of verte-

brate animals.
p ape ag rig a opterous family,
med fi e typical genus Man-
tis, “the rama Insect.
Marsupials. The Pouched pgp ya
Ma The May- a a genus of

; the rock in which
setea- are imb

gas The amiy — applied also

e second mhe M pame ot lasete

Maticago, k. A genus of the
` Pulse fam
Medullary. Ses to the spinal mar-

a or ‘hese

Megatichtiys stor
ieh).

Menobranc. hus (Gr. menos, atren eth,
beapches gill). A genus of gilled sala-
pomi Gr. menos, poma, operculum,
d i gina ae Of geese page =
heesoatie (Gr. mesos, middle
mal). The midäle division of f gcolog-
oic being
most

Metamorphic. Relating to crys
een 4 eae from pemapiigtnes Neto etc.
etatarsus,

he toes and tarsus,
Micrasterias (Gr. micros, small, aster,
star). A genus of
ra (L. mille, onsand, porus,
pore, hole). A genus of Corals.
(Gr. meion, less, kainos, recent).
The second division of the Tı

epoci
The Horse-
ieena Fro nc A yon. “he branch
or sub-kingdom o of Shell-fish, etc.
Monochromatic. anyon oh — ona color.
Monæcious. Having stam or pistils
Monopetalous. Whoa me n the corolla is com-
posed of but on
Morphology. The study of typical forms.
Mucedinee. A group of minute fungi,
E r a genus of minute fungi, or
mould.
rtite. With many y partitions.
Museidæ., A family of Diptera, tera, so called

686

Mycelial. Uan TOT to oy piia from
which m

Myriapoda (Gr. ios, thousan nape
foot). An order ror: pey the Een
pogei Galley-worms, Thousa: nd-legs,
etc.

Myrmica (Gr. murmex, ant). A genus of
Ants.

Nareda. A genus of Nemertean worms:
one of the smooth round worms

Narthecium. The Bog-asphodel; & ge-
nus of 1s arn th as

Nardosm Coltsfoot; a genus

TLE the € Coniposite family.

Nassa. A genus of Sea-shells.

Ni debe Noting a Swimming-bird.

genus hat Sts orca

Katoa (L. dimin e of navis, a ship).
A pena of Diato) rrei

Neocæsariensis. Relating to New Jer-

e
ertean, harakai Al Relating to ne-
und pam: on

a A eset) nerve, pteron,
y The y iny-winged insects;
on-flies, Ephemera, e es

Nitschia. go 9g ag

Noctuide. A of M loths ; fous hy Tae
bal

ecta (Gr. no ack, nektos, swim-
A genus of pade Banoi,
whith aima -= their b:
Notodontidæ. A group, OF Moths be-
ging Tike e Bombycid
(Sie ste apm of Rotifera
'mmphæaceæ. The family of Water-
Nyssonide æ (Gr. nusso, to sting).
; nl Bday a , 0 called from tite pol

5 of Confery

iir a Tie tt Houstonia, , Tano-
der family. Shoshone

Onagracee. The Evening Primrose
amy

. The Sensitive Fern.

a : a
_ Opthalmic. Relating to the e

a gee omen cA ogee or Orbs, a
peer of Foraminiferous

he “
> PANTENE

GLOSSARY.

nite this (Gr. orthis, eo Sp
f fossil Brachiopod shells.
orthoptera r ki siraiehk: pteron,
ro gin “winged ‘Insects.
Th shompere
— (Gr, osme, odah. The Mason-bee.
Ht e passage of fluids through

A genus

mom
Otodus gre goitik of Fishes
pomos The Wood-sorre reeds: a genus of

a Oxalde, or Wood-sorrel fam-
ily.

Pabulum (L. for food).
Pachydermata See pachus, thick, derma,
skin). The thick- rea mammals,

tude nt of fi fossils.

inal). Eo w the oldest Fos-

ENGER

leonis ee A ge of Fossil fishes.
Palimpeest. Pateni from which one

baht ng Frome been erased to make room
Paladina, ( b palus, a swamp). A genus
of fresh-water Shells.

Panorpina (Pan orpidæ). neuropte-
rous family; so ung from the typi-
cal genus Panor
Paradoxides (Gr. foe radoxos, paradox-

es One of the oldest genera of Tri-
obi
Parenc kma The soft cellular tissue
oe like i the green pulp of eaves.
eo The Parnassia family of

Passi ora. The Passion-flower.

Patersonite. A mineral named after
Paterson, a mineralogist

P of animais: Relating to diseased parts

nia. The Guarana As an
oanien: A genus of Ferns.
= icule oe Phase Louse; a genus of bugs,
emip
Pilade. rih air, skin of a wild beast.

oe ‘The Clift-brake.

3. Are of Mud-wasps.
Pemicitlium A genus of microscopic
Pentacrin pentas, five, crinos.

(Gr.
A genus or Crinoids.
Arpek e. Having five stamens.
Diteh- stone crop. A genus
of of the S Saxitrage family.
entremites cdl: soo of Crinoids.
reumference of a cir-

Peripheral. Relating to Periphery.
eho (Perlide). A family of Neurop-

Hiks, The name of a geological for-
mation.

-like.
Helating au ag Phane-

veapeius. A gen opns “oils =
A genus

GLOSSARY.

Phymata (Gr. phump to swell), A

ge nus of Hemipte
Phytocoris (Gr.
bug), A genus

Pinus. The Pin

Pinnularia (L. Merke om s “dn na, &
ay ane g). Ta gonan of Diatom

Placental. “Relating to the placenta.

P Rei ined se-orchis; a genus

new).
tiary, or beginning of
og period. The ‘Quarternary

Devos (Gr. pleion, more, kainos, new).
The newer Paai r third subdi-

. _ vision of the RF er nan:
Pleurosigma. A genus of Dia
Plumule. Tio ‘little pa or fest aie
of a germinating plantlet above the
a ho
ora. "A genus of Corals

Podophyllum.” pate May- -apple Man-
drake. s of the Barberry fam-

y.

Podosira. ti genus of Diato; a
Polemoniu oer Greek Valeri

us of Piy-catchers. :
Polycystina (cr. pae, many, custis,
cyst, sac). Minute rhizopods, bearing a
licious shell, ornamented with ns uo

some

pn Polyps (Gr. Polypus). The Sea-
a ies,ete.; aclass of Radiate ani-

Prodrom. “Forerunn ner.
Productus. A genus of fossil Brachio-

Pronated, 1 Z DAA To turn the palm

o

Protoplas

aatoro (EE. prot ofe alts. i imal)

Protozoa (Gr. pr z06n. :
The si , gegra e life, form-

x spus of animals.

ft nitrogenous lining |

687

aippeneds ae oy

upa. urelia, or second
stage in the transformation of insects,
Tare ty e We

lvinu ia TA wen nus of Foraminifera.
Pyrrharctia (Gr. p3 ston red, arctia).
A genus of Bom al
Pyrula. A genus of oe R S shells.
The latest, or post-ter-
“tare r geological eriod, nomena into
the historic peri
ee reus. The genus of Oaks.

cluster, with o
gp sen ten D ie along the sides fe a
general “ges ony or stem.
dicle. m part cf the embryo,
the low are of which forms the root.
ape, (Gr. ranter, heian i ge-
nus of aquatic hemipter:
Raphanus. Radish.
Reduvius. A genus of Hemipterous in-
sects. Ne
e

eticulat

Rhizodus. re~
genus of fossil i halves.

Rhos ahi. Like om

Rotifera (L. Pala. wheel, Jero, to bear).
The Hiag g nen ules ; = B gan ges
ferred to the Cru: o the
Wotan.

Rubiacee. The Madder emi.

Sare r. sarx, flesh, kin).

ode (G
The jelly-like Supstance, "composing
the bodies of Protozoa, corresponding

aks odos, tooth).

ange family Tenthredinidz.
A genus oft pee fungi.
` Partially

ilurian, from Silures ;
Welsh; applied to a geologi
Skier. A small island, islet
t The meno of shell-ish,
e zoid. The male
ingidæ. "e family of Hawk-moths,
aa the genus Sphinx.

688

Sphegide. The family of Sand-wasps ;
from the pens Sphex.
p. cng group of Woodpeckers.
Sphyrena. A a a ge ee
. Spirifer (L. spira e, fero bear).
A genus of fossil e shalt

Spiracies. The hing-holes of =
sects, Scant ie air is conveyed’
into

Sporangium. Z$

Spore. “The see of] Perea: Mosses.

Sporular. Sy pee cha a ‘spore or spo-

role Aa amal ale
p: Beni noe, a cross, neis, a

Sea boat). ee geans of age
Si wild bee

Serna ie g Aliet, piece forming the
lower arch of the segment of an in-
sec

A genus oft Dintoms Ss
Comprehensive; see p. 270..

Tate Having a vertical row of
ates

Tachina. A us of parasitic flies, like
the aeir. . p
Tarsus. The toe; in insects the terminal
joint of the les, divided into from two

to five join
thr gay
Terebella. A pne of marine w orms.
Terebratula (L. terebra, a gimblet). A
nus of brachiopods.

(Gr. tetti, Fae agien A genus

ak (Gr. Seadweller), A group

us of
. A genus of fossil rep-

tiles.
Tibia. The Shank-bone.

; of Butterflies.
7 Thomomya Gr. ir. fhomon h heap, mus, |
cue

d floating |

GLOSSARY.

|

g to the Sigg or New-
Re Sandstone | formati

re ar vies, three, 1 keras,

us of Diat

Lim
Enig “A genus of Grasses.
———— — triton). A genus of ma-

Uina. The larger and inner of the two
bones "i = pies
bels. ita like bunch of

æ. The Naiades; a family of
fresh-water Mussels.

Urite. dominal sternum; (ster-
nite. »
Utricle. A small, thin-walled, one-seed-

m
ed fruit, as of Goosefoot.

Vascular. Relating to the blood-vessels.

Vesicular. Con namine vesicles or cells.

Gems Si nae Bis aper-wasp; a genus of
ey

Vespertilio pr vesper, evening). The

pein genus of the family Vesper-

ion

nee: ‘The sit beeen, Tare; a genus of the

Viola. he Vio we

Vitis. The Gra

Vitri re (L. vitrea, ja pro A genus of

Votan (L. pasa A genus of micros-

copic plants
—— (L: vortex). A genus of Pro-

ada A genus of the Duckweed fam-
y.

yrn A anggi a burr). A genus
E Aen of fossil Crus-

ines, Miia to the > the Horse-s moo Crab.
Xylophagous. Wood-dev

——. A genus of Crinoids.

Relating to the Zeolite family

of

S.

premas A genus T e Land Sn: —.
oöspore (Gr. zodn, anima aes see
The male germ, k micro-

or embryo of
scopic plants. Seep. psy