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| THE : a a 
AMERICAN NATURALIST, 


POPULAR ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE 


NATURAL HISTORY. 


* 


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


VOLUME Ii. 





SALEM, MASS. 
PEABODY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
1869. 


is 





WO. ot, Garder 


Ta a aS, 
1 O13 
ee E 





as a 


ding 4 A + rest g a H th y ș 1868, by the 
PEABODY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, 
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 





ESSEX INSTITUTE PRESS. 





CONTENTS OF VOL. II. j 


A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. By C. Fred. Hartt. Illustrated, sie 
Tue GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. P Sidney L 
Smith š $ a 5 $ r 14, 124 
THE inven iunior TH. By A. S. Packard, Tee M. D. With 
y and Illustrations, . . —. sigh 9 23 
ON MEXICAN ANTS. of Edward Norton. With “Plate and 
r: tE k Ș é 3 T 
THE MOTTLED OWL IN CONFINEMENT. By C. J. Maynard, Š ‘ 73 


Rock Ruins. By A. Hyatt. J Tiaka, . 
THE CRUISE OF THE ‘“‘ABROLHOS.” By C. es Hartt. Tilus- 
trated, ' i ` i 3 A N 
NOBERT’S TEST PLATE AND onara ifscnopooras. By Charles 
Stodder, . : : = ý f i 
THE SONGS OF THE Geins By S. H. Scudder. FHus- 
trated è ; . . 
BEARS AND ORRERA By Clnvies Wright, 121 
THE PRONG-HORNED ANTELOPE. By W. J. Sars, With ‘Plate 
and Illustrations, . 
NAKES SWALLOW THEIR Towa? By F; w. Peina. ‘ 133 


THE LAKES oF Iowa,—PasT AND PRESENT, By C. A. White, 
i é 143 


THe Faa ie T. ‘Martin Tape. > á š 1 
Notes oN Tropicat Frouirs. By William T. E + 183, 307, 405 
Tue GOLDSMITH BEETLE, AND ITs HABITS. By Rev. Samuel Lock- 


wood. Jillustrated, i 5 » 186 
THE OSPREY, OR View mae. By Augustus Wooler Y, 192 
THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. By A. S. Poemi, Je, M. D. 
-With two Plates, i ; > k 195- zog 
Sea-WEEDS. By tas Es Russell, ‘ : 225 
A STROLL BY THE ŠSEA-SIDE. By “Edward s. Wore: With a 
Plate, $ k k ` ; 
Our SEA-ANEMONES. ‘By A. E. Ve rrill, i ` ; 251 
Tue MARINE Aquarium. From Kingsley’s ities us, 262 


A FEW SEA-WORMsS. ByA. S. Packard, Jr., M.D. With Titisiralioni, 267 
TRACES OF ANCIENT GLACIERS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS OF 
‘New HamPsHIRE. By George L. Vose. With a Map, so 281 
MusHRooms. By John L. Russell, . . u me sae se BE 
Sponces. By A. Hyatt, ieee a 
THE CYNTHIA ie enue, By. W. y. A airns. i $o - 311 


ae CONTENTS OF VOL. II. 


DEATH OF FISHES IN THE Bay OF FUNDY. sed A. Leith Adams, 
learn Gicrina: rO M. Tra ity 342 
Tue BIRDS OF DSi AND ROR aiig, By Edwarā 


Copë, + ` . ` 3 
TuE CHASMS OF THE Gonakati: By A. Hyatt. With io Plates, 359 
$ $ k 3 


Tur Rurrep Grouse. By Augustus Fowler, š 
A TROPICAL AIR-PLANT. By Charles Wright, š è ` 368 
Tuer MorTLED Own. By Dr. W. Wood, £ 370 


ON THE FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS OF THE oes Tomis nevi 
East — By Jeffries Wyman, M.D. With a Plate ewes 
Illustration 2 393, 449 
BELTED pe By Aucir Powis; i 403 
Dmeonioss FOR COLLECTING LAND AND Fikanieaini Siini 


y James AN M. D. Witk Illustrations, è 410 
A pea AL OW By Charles Wright, é $ > å 420 
THE aga ; OR WEST INDIAN FIRE Baiiia. By G. A. Perkins, 

M: With I oe ae x. $ $ a 2 
THE PA Sagar ohn i aseell, " é 463 
DEER AND Larter tad IN Texas. By hades Wright, ‘ ‘ 466 
Tue HABITS or SPIDERS. By J. H. Emerton. With a Plate, 


76 
Birp’s-Eyr Views. By Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A. Illustrated, 505; 571 
THE WAVY-STRIPED FLEA-BEETLE. By -n rel M. D. Il- 


lustrated, Eara . HE lan Se 4 
ERNS. By Sas L. Busiell, 517W 
Tue FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. By J. G. Cooper, M. D;, 528, þer 


EARTHQUAKES. By W. T. Brigham Ș 
THE SMALLER FuxGI. “By Sos Bi Dussel): Filunvened: ‘ 561, ps 
HABITS OF THE BURROWING OWL OF CALIFORNIA. By Dr. sed Ss. 


A CHAPTER ON ae: ji s. Tiiiad, Jr M. D. Illustrated, 586, 638 

ABOUT SHELLS. By cca Wright, 617 | 

A TRIP TO THE GREAT RED Porteros Quaner. By € c. A. 
White, M.D. . 2 ; $ 


REVIEWS. : 
The Popular Science Review, London (Quarterly), p. 36. The Animal 


Nature of Sponges, p.101. The nang of Zodlogy in 1866, p. 102. The 
American Beaver and his Works 156. Transactions of the Chicago 
Academy, p. 158. Popular Ps as Raion, London, p. 158. Quarterly 
ae ve Science, London, p. 159. gpd aoe p. 205. The Vol- 
cano the Hawaiian Islands, p The Geology of Iowa, p. 207. 
California ae p. 208. The te of pie. and Plants under 
Domestication, p. 208.. Cosmos, Paris, p. 209. Quarterly Journal of 
Science, London, p. 209. Good Books for the Sea-side, p. 275. 

North American Grapes, p. 320. The Corals and Star-fishes of Brazil, p- 
822. The Book of Evergreens, p. 322. The Butterflies of North Amer- 


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Sd See ee Ry Oe Pe a ee ee 


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Fee ee ee ET ee OP AE! fa mee ees Se ee eee 


Pe ee ee, 














CONTENTS OF VOL. Il. ODA 


ica, p. 323. The Popular Science Review, p. 375. A Guide to the Study 
of Insects, p. 376. The Percheron Horse, p. 433. American Deer, p. 435. 


ico, p. 435. The nnen Faiomojogith p. 435. The American Ento- 


ny, p. 
Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, p. 554. Natural History of Birds, p. 
554. Review of the Scandinavian Publications in Natural History during 
1867 and part of 1868, pp. 555, 604. Ferns, p. 601. The Past and Future 


603. The Butterflies of North America, p. 603. Comparative Anatomy 
and — Zoology, p. 654. Prospectus of ee logist’s Annual for 
1868, p. 6 Voyage through the Grand Cañon of Colorado, p- 655. 
Chemical eens p. 656. Insect Extinguisher, p: sia 


NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 
ANY.— Monstrous Flowers of Habenaria fimbriata, p. 88. The ElL- 
der (Sambucus (isthdensia) as a Native Plant, p. 38. German Ivy, p. 39. 


Long or Black Moss only an R i ae p. 212. Anomalous Flowers of 


. oe 
White Wild Gohabbika: etc., p. 213. Is the Elder a Native 


ony, p. š ety of Ka 
p. k ite AR A . 824. Cross Fertilization, p. 487. 
The Onion Plant, p. 440. pinaliit Flowering plant known, p. 440. 
Planera aquatica, the a a p. 441. Viola rotundifolia, p. ge Va- 
riation in Wild iy p. 484. Saxifraga Virginiensis, p. 484. The Col- 
chicum autumnale, p. 609. The Double Saxifrage, p. 610. sen pedata, 
p. 610. Recent Basi Discoveries, p. 610. Cuban Plants for Sale, p- 
611. Botanical Notes, p. 611. Hepatica triloba, p. 611. White Varieties 
of Flowers, p. 656. More White Varieties, p.657. Bidens frondosa, p. 
658. Abnormal Form of the Sensitive Fern, p. 658. 

 ZoöLoGY:— The Breeding Habits of Birds, p. 47. live: Parasites, p. 48. 

ation of Wild Bees, p. 49. Juvenile Natural History Society, p. 49. 
Protection of Trees from geet p. 49. Occurrence of the Barnacle 

Goose in North pice p. 49. A Double Egg, p. 50. Habits of the 
Striped Snake, p.50. Are Bees Injurious to Fruit? 108. Apiphobia; Bees 
and Fruit Blossoms, p. 109. The Mottled Owl, p. 109. An Albino Hum- 


ie CONTENTS OF VOL. II. ) 


ming Bird, p. 110. Instances of Aibinism among our Birds, p. 161. 
Return of the Birds, p. 162. How Spiders begin their Webs, p. 214. The 
Wolverine, p. 215. The ane Bird, p. 215. The Dragon Fly, p. 215. 
The False Scorpion, p. 216. e Jack Snipe, p. 216. The Locust Killer, 
p. 217. The Prairie Dog, p: ae The Robin at Fault, p. 217. A Variety 
of the Blackbird, p. 217. The Belted Kingfisher, p. 218. The Dwarf 
Thrush in Massachusetts, p. 218. Insects living in the Sea; J lustrated, 
p. 277. Directions for collecting the Lower Forms of Marine Animals, p. 
278. Shore-collecting about New York, p. 324. The Crow Blackbird a 
Robber, p. 326. Notes on the Red and Mottled Owls, p. 327. A Perching 


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9. D 
-water Insects, p. 329. Enemy of the Potato-bug, p 
Review of some of the articles published in' this Journal respecting the 
op and Nesting of our Birds, with Additional Facts, p. 877. The 
warf Thrush, p. 380. The Honey-bee gleaning after the Oriole, p. 380. 
Remark Flight of Crows, p. 381. Singular Deformity in a Silk-moth, 
p. he Honey-ant, p. 382. The Golden-winged Woodpecker, p. 382. 
Habits ä the Elephant, p. 382. RRR the Cotalpa lanigera, p. 441. 


he Seventeen-year Cicada, p. 442. Muse eeN ea, p. 442. 
The McNeil Expedition to ential pi p e Shells of Mon- 
tana, p, 48 ts on Oöl p The sa Mien sais p 





Acid for Preserving Insects, etc., p. 490. Albino Robin, p. 490. King- 
fisher’s Nest again, p. 490. The Cow-bunting, p.490. Migration of Ants, A 
p. 491. Is the Crow a Bird of Prey? p. 491. Albinism in Birds, p. 491. 

Migration of Birds, p. 492. The Unicorn of Fable, p. 492. Siredon, & 

Larval Salamander, p. 493. The Yellow-headed Blackbird, p. 493. Habits 
of the Common Red Fox, p. 494. The Lobster, p. 494. The Moose Tick, 
—— p. 559. The McNeil Expedition, p. 612. Ambergris, p. 614. , 
M 


eee 


Vitality of Snails’s Eggs, p. 665. Honey-bee killed w Silk-weed Pollen, 
p. 665. Luminous Larve, p. 665. Snails Injurious to the Strawberry, P- 
666. Ravages of the Alypia octomaculata, p.666. The Blue Bird, p. 667. 
A Medes Echinoderm, ; 
GroLocy.—Fossil Insects, Dhalia: p- 163. The Bone Caves. of 4 
Brazil p their Animal Remains, p. 218. Glacial Marks ín the Whi 
Mountains, p. 330. Antiquity of ilh, p. 443. What is a Geode? p. 496. 
= Iowa Drift, p. 615. 
—The Microscope in Geology, p. 50. The Whale’s Food 
and = o re the Arctic Seas, p. 383. Wanted, a Rotifer, Pe 










ILLUSTRATIONS. vii 


ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR, Illustrated, pp. 110, 163, 219, 331. 
CORRESPONDENCE. — The Mistletoe, p. 51. The Mastodon in Kansas, p. 
51. Are Bees gaa to Fruit? p. 52. Sugar Maple Insect, p. 52. 
vie ine, p. 52. Snow Fleas, p. 53. Frog’s Spittle, p. 53. Manual of 
erican a a 111. Baiar and other Mites, p. 112. Taxidermy, 
‘ PN American Entomology, p. 168. Fossil Club-moss, p. 168. Fresh- 
water Sponge, p. 168. Snails, p. 224. American Shells, p. 224. Duck- 
weed, p. 280. Solvent for Reeling the Silk from Cocoous, p- 280. 
Seventeen-year Locust, p. 208. Pentstemon Cobma and Solanum ros- 
tratum, p. 330. Musk Turtle, p. 330. Thyreus Nessus, p. 331. Cow- 
bird, p. 392. Taxidermy, p. 392. Measuring Eggs, p. 392. Long-billed 
Curlew, p. 392. Podura, p. 447. Tree-cricket, p. 448. Cynthia Silk- 
worm, p. 448. Caddis-fly, p. 448. Psocus, p. 448. Packing Insects, 
p. 448. Eudryas grata, p. 448. Kingfishers, p.503. Insects, p. 504. North 


e . 560. ss p- $ 
Witches, Lepisma, p. 616. Papilio Asterias, p. 616. Luna moth, p. 616. 
Are Plants Injurious in sleeping apartments? p. 669. Works on Spiders, 
-670. Does the Eon catch Owls? p. 670. Siege Fungus, Hydnum, 
p. 670. Pink Mite 

PROCEEDINGS on thats SOCIETIES, pp. 53, 165, 221, 279, 334, 384, 
444, 497, 668. 

GLOSSARY, p. 671. _ 





LIST OF PLATES. 


Plate Page| Plate , Page 
1. Hairy Mammoth . 23] 7. mar of the White Mountains, 
2. Mexican Ants, eleven ven figures, ` . 


3. Head of Prong Horn Antelope, two 8. era rea ’ Peak, Colorado Te erritory, 350 
res, . 133) 9. Chasm of the Colorado, ee ae 
4. Parasites of "Honey Bee, “nineteen 10. Indian relics from the apenas ge 


5. Parasites of Humble Bee, ete., ; sev- ll. Details of 
s. 

6. Common mon Animals ba the Seashore, 12. Flies, rotear sdla ‘three figures, ey 

251/13. 13. Flies, nin eteen figures, oe 





LIST OF its CUTS. 





r 


, PagejNi Page 
dos Abrolhos, 1/33. 53. Prong Horn Antelo . BI 

a tO O sense css Brazil, 3 34, 35 de —e of Prong Horn 
e figures, y best lope, 132 


eae 


istorie erar a r 


reefs, is “as, & ty, tn 

19, 20, 317 Se ee Be ee a is, goro ict 

$ rrip Aioema MA > 113147; 48,49, io eee ae 

26, 27, of Eeanthus niyeus e age! gl gee ies 

å } figures, . . y i . . . Å‘ 

28, 29, ‘eigen gained curvi- 54. False Mm. Sk SS 

30, SL a. Per per), two figures, id ee ane paps, SS 
s ), three figures,. > 118158. Sea- 4 





wa . ` ILLUSTRATIONS. 


5. Sea Ere pema aeii . 


& "89 90, 91, Museum pests mene 
mphitrite cirrata, M. ‘ 
1, 62, 


age 
271 
272| 92. Machilis ? (Spring ta il), 


2 
277) 95. Premed Ge foe. 
278| 96. oe of a bird’s eye (owl), è 
ae 278| 97, 98. fat * a-beetle, —_ bic sag) 
71. Puparium of Eristalis, 278 i res 
72, e 4, Hop-vine moth, Hypena hae w ILI 103, ‘108, Moose ick, . 

i 833/104, 105, poate CEcidium Perberides d (fangi) Bir 


63, 64, 65, 66, Chi jronomus, Sea-fly, 
67. Larva of Micralymna sa ee 





ov aeeeve 
Bont 
Bi 
eee 


75, 76, 6, Himble-bee moth, Iythia co- 107, 108, Ræstelia lacer: 
333) 109. Vertical pce an of a binds e eye (owl) a 
Ths einoreas (Eudalimia) sub signaria, , 333/110, 111, Head of mosquito, Culex, 587 
La Pp Re ae et et, ete aos niveus, 333/112, 113, 114, Larva and pa i of mos- 
. Col ng s 


: ge, 
81. Collecting sco op, lineola, 
82. Fire-beetle of the West Indies, 422/116. Larva of Syrphus fly, ee as 
83, 84, 85, 86, 87, Native Fire- “beetles, 
and their carly wages, » 432 


: 412/115. goo i of horse-ly, Tabanus 








TE = + 


AMERICAN NATURALIST. 


Vol. II.—MARCH, 1868.—No. 1. 
ene SCRI DOD 


A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. 


BY C. FRED. HARTT. 








SANTA BARBARA DOS ABROLHOS. 

Tue shore-line, where ocean and land meet, is rarely ever 
the edge of a continent. Both North and South America 
have a submerged border, in some places very wide, in 
others very narrow. Thus, off the coast of New England, 
the water does not deepen immediately at the shore-line, 
but the sea-bottom slopes off very gradually, sometimes, the 
water becoming ever deeper and deeper, until at a distance 
of many miles from the shore the true brink of the great 
valley occupied by the waters of the ocean is reached, and 





Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF 
SCIENCE, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
1 


ER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 


2 A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. 


thence seaward the bottom slopes rapidly down beneath the 
almost unfathomable depths of the ocean. ‘The walls of the 
continent do not arise perpendicularly from the ocean floor ; 
they slope, to give greater strength and stability to the 
structure. As a general rule we know that the water which 
borders a low coast is shallow for some distance out, the 
sea-bottom continuing under water with the same general 
slope as the land. New Jersey is a State whose coast-lands 
are low and flat, and we find that the sea-bottom bordering 
it grows very gradually deeper and deeper, in such a way 
that the true edge of the continent, or of the ocean, properly 
speaking, lies at a distance of about eighty miles from the 
land. Just such a submerged border runs along the coast of 
Brazil, in some places being many miles in width, in others 
reduced to a very narrow strip; and we find the general rule 
holds good here as elsewhere, that the deeper water along _ 
the coast lies off the highest hills, while the flat lands are 
bordered by shallow water. 

Professor Agassiz, in one of his New York lectures last 
winter,* showed how very strikingly alike North and South 
America are in their general and physical features. Not 
only is this true, but an examination of the eastern coasts of 
Brazil and the United States will show that there is a won- 
derful resemblance in the details of their geological struc- 
ture. Thus, running all along the eastern coast of the Uni- 
ted States, we find a range of mountains in which some of 
the oldest stratified rocks are upheaved, and on the eastern 
flank of these mountains, south of New York, are low lands 
occupied by more recent formations, thick beds of sandstone 
of the Triassic age and beds of marls, ete., of the Creta- 
ceous; and over these, again, deposits of Tertiary and re- 
cent times. 

I take a big Webster’s dictionary, open it a little and 








* Cooper Institute, February 5, 1867. In his lately publist B 
“fessor Agassiz has carried out this comparison between the two Americas to a much 

















A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. 3 


stand it on edge with the covers sloping like the caves of a 
house. This book I place before me in such a way that the 
line of the back will point towards the north-east. This will 
represent the Alleghany Mountains. Now I take a thinner 
book and lean its back against the south-eastern side of the 
dictionary so that it will slope off to the south-eastward, but 
very much more gently than the covers of the dictionary. 
This second book will represent much newer strata, which 
recline against those of the Alleghanies. Among those in 
New Jersey are thick beds of a coarse red sandstone, the 
material out of which brown-stone houses are so commonly 
made in New York City and elsewhere. Geologists call 
this Triassic or New-Red Sandstone. These beds have been 
tilted up since they were formed. Now let us take an- 
other book, and lay its edge just on that of the one last 
laid down, so that it will lie almost horizontally and much 
lower than the rest. This will represent newer strata, 
marls, and sands, etc., of Cretaceous age, which lie still 
undisturbed in the same position in which they were laid 
down. Take another book, and lay it so that its edge will 
overlap that last laid down, and this will represent beds 
of sands, ete., which were deposited after the Cretaceous, 
and which geologists call Tertiary strata. These are also 
undisturbed, and in the same position as that in which they 
were deposited. As we go southward, the Triassic rocks 
disappear from view, and the Tertiary beds lap over the 
Cretaceous, so as to bury them completely. All this will 
appear more plain from the following figure, which is an 
Fig. 2. 





ideal section across the strata of New Jersey, from the moun- 
tains to the sea. æ represents the upturned beds of gneiss, 
etc., of the mountains, against which lie inclined the Triassie, 
or New-Red Sandstone strata, b. Those marked c are Cre- 


4 A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. 


taceous, while d represents the latest deposited, or Tertiary 
beds. Now it is evident that the beds a are the oldest, and 
were the first disturbed. The Triassic rocks were deposited 
against them and slightly tilted up, and over these were 
laid down the beds of the Cretaceous and Tertiary. 
If I make a similar section across the coast of Sergipe, a 
little province lying on the coast of Brazil just north of 
Bahia, from the gneiss hills to the sea, we shall find almost 
precisely the same structure, as is exhibited in the following 
section :— 
Serra dos Aymores, d 


Fig. 3. 






a is the gneiss of the coast mountains, and is probably 
Azoic; b, beds of a coarse red sandstone, precisely like the 
Triassic, or New-Red Sandstone of New Jersey, and most 
probably of the same age; c, limestones and sandstones 
with fossils characteristic of the Cretaceous epoch, such as 
Ammonites, Inoceramus, etc., and flint. It is worthy of 
note, that whereas the Cretaceous strata of North America 
have suffered upheaval and folding only in the west, those 
of the eastern border of Brazil had been folded and dis- 
turbed prior to the deposition of the Tertiary strata d, which, 
occupying a higher level than on the east coast of the United 
States, everywhere lap completely over and bury the forma- 
tions which occupy the lower grounds bordering the coast. 
Southward of New Jersey, as well as in the Mississippi val- 
ley, we also find the Cretaceous overspread by the Tertiary. 

In this section e represents beds of sand containing shells, 
etc., of recent species, which have been raised above sea- 
level by the late, and probably now-continuing up-rise of the 
coast. Of this rising of the coast we have at Rio and else- 
where abundant evidence. One finds the nests excavated 
by sea-urchins in the rock, six feet or more above high tide- 
level. At Rio the upheaval amounts to about eight feet. In — 











A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. 5 


North America the last great upheaval was greater in the 
north than in the south. Facts seem to show that in South 
America it was just the reverse. 

About half-way between the cities of Bahia and Rio de 
Janeiro, and distant about forty miles from the mainland, 
there is a little group of islands, which, lying right in the 
way of navigation along the coast, and surrounded by dan- 
gerous reefs, have long been known as the Abrolhos, or 
* Open-your-eyes” Islands. 

If we make a section across the country from the coast 
mountains, which separate the provinces of Minas Geraes and 
Bahia, to the sea, and then continue it to the Abrolhos, we 
shall have one like the following : — 


SierradosAymores 06 b b d b = Abrolhos, d 





a, Gneiss; b, Tertiary strata; c, Cretaceous strata; d, Coral reefs. 

In this section the New-Red Sandstone and Cretaceous 
beds do not appear on the main-land, at least so far as I have 
seen, and usually, as on the river Mercury, we find the Ter- 
tiary clays and sandstones lying immediately over the gneiss. 
But at the Abrolhos Cretaceous rocks appear, for the islands 
are seen to be composed of beds of shale, sandstone, etc., 
similar in character to those of the Cretaceous farther north. 
These islands stand about in the middle of the submerged 
border of the continent, which is here at least seventy miles 
wide. This submarine shelf is overspread by Cretaceous 
rocks, which, at the Abrolhos, have been broken and uplifted 
so as to form a little group of islands. 

The Abrolhos consist of four principal islands, and two 
little islets. These are arranged close together in an irregu- 
lar circle. Allare quite high, the height of the principal one, 
Santa Barbara, being 33.22 metres (about 109 feet). This is 
the largest, and is three-quarters of a mile inlength. On its 


6 A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. 


summit is a very fine light-house, whose attendants, three 
men, are the only human inhabitants of the islands. The 
strata composing this island are inclined to the N. N. W., 
approximately, at an angle of 10°-15°, so that the island has 

Fig. 5. a slope to the northward, while on all 


, other sides it is precipitous. The sur- 





, trap, which is spread out over the other 


Section across island of ees 
Barbara, Abrolhos, a sales rocks, as is seen in Fig. 5. 
and ye 


=, andstones; b» Jt is a wonderful thing to see how 


rocks decompose and rot away in Brazil. Even gneiss and 


slate grow soft to a depth sometimes of even a hundred feet. 
This trap-bed at the Abrolhos is decomposing also, but this 
takes place in a very interesting way. The trap, which is 
a very hard and heavy dark-bluish rock, is cracked up on 
the surface into angular pieces of all 
sizes, as represented in Fig. 6. 

If the rock were smooth and un- 
broken on the surface, it would de- 
compose only on the upper surface, 
ik Witter sea in  fivouwli these cracks, and each fragment 
decomposes all around, so that a concentric coating of rotten 
rock is formed (Fig. 6, b), which may afterward be removed 
by rains. Thus each piece loses coating after coating like 
the layers of an onion, becoming ever more rounded in form 
as this goes on, until at last the surface of the bed is covered 
over with rounded boulder-like masses, often resembling can- 
non balls (Fig. 6, a). Nearly the whole surface of the island 
of Santa Barbara is covered by these rounded masses of trap. 

The vegetation of the island is very scanty, and, save a 
Siriba on the island of that name, to which bear company 
two dwarf cocoa palms, trees there are none. Several species 
of coarse grass abound, and give sustenance on Santa Bar- 
bara to a herd of many handteds of goats. There are some 
thickets of dwarf mimosas, and a few ferns, etc. 





a face is mainly composed of a bed of 








A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. z 


The land animals consist of lizards, of three or four spe- 
cies, which are considerably numerous. Insects are few, 
and the principal representative of the class is an immense 
hairy spider (Mygale), of a species very common-on the 
coast. This spider, which the Brazilians call Aranha caran- 
gueija, or crab-spider, has a body sometimes as big as an 
egg. It exists in countless numbers, living under stones. 
Almost every loose stone has one of these monsters under it. 
The bite from its long fangs is very painful and poisonous. 
It preys on lizards, and has been known to kill young chick- 
ens, and suck their juices. 

Sea-birds resort here by myriads, at certain seasons of the 
year, to breed. Among these there are several species of 
gulls, pilots, and the magnificent frigate-bird. To these 
birds and their habits we may, perhaps, by and by devote 
a special paper. 

It is in the waters of the vicinity, however, that the great- 
est riches of animal life are to be found. Fish, of an inered- 
ible number of species, are wonderfully abundant, and a 
regular fishery is carried on here from the town of Porto 
Seguro for a giant perch called the Garoupa, which fish is 
however cured so badly as to be scarcely eatable. 

In the month of May, a species of whale ( Megaptera) 
makes its appearance on this coast in considerable num- 
bers. It is furnished with whalebone, and has on the back 
a hump of fat which looks very much like a fin. Above, it 
is black in color; below, usually white, or light-colored, 
and marked by longitudinal furrows, which are especially 
conspicuous under the throat. Along the lower jaws there 
is a number of round lumps, or tubercular masses of fat, as 
large as one’s fist. The pectoral fins are long, narrow, and 
irregular along the edges. This whale grows to be thirty to 
forty feet in length. 

Among the first to make their appearance at the com- 
mencement of the season are large females gee 
bringing with them their little ones but just born. The 





8 A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. 


whalers say that they resort to the islands and reefs for pro- 
tection. The males are not so numerous, nor are they so 
valuable to the whaler. I once saw a female swimming with 
its calf.. The latter swam close alongside its mother, follow- 
ing all the motions of the latter, and coming up to breathe 
at the same moment. The whalers all told me that the 
female holds out her fin obliquely, and that the little one 
swims with its head between it and the body. They denied 
that this whale ever clasped the young under the fin. This 
species is very lively and difficult to catch, notwithstanding 
which a small fleet of boats stationed at Caravellas captures 
every year some thirty to seventy whales, which afford a large 
quantity of oil. These two fisheries, that of the Garoupa 
and whale, deserve attention on the part of American fisher- 
men, as they might be developed so as to become very 
profitable. The whales leave the coast in the latter part of 
September or in the early part of October. They occur 
also all along -the Brazilian coast, but Bahia is the only other 
place at which they are systematically fished. Considerable 
numbers are caught here every year, and, during the season, 
one may sit at his breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel in — 
the upper town, and watch the pursuit and capture of one 
of these monsters in the bay, almost under his very window. 
It has long been known that the waters of the Abrolhos 
and vicinity were made very dangerous to navigation by ex- 
tensive reefs, which covered large areas just outside of the 
islands, as well as between them and the main-land. In the 
descriptions of the Brazilian coast in the various «Coast 
Pilots,” both English and foreign, that I have seen, very 
conflicting statements are made with reference to these reefs, 
some saying that they are composed of coral, others of de- 
composed gneiss; and the different kinds of reefs are con- 
fusedly described, so that it is not easy to distinguish, from 
these descriptions, reefs of rock, reefs of coral, or solidified 
hes, like that of Pernambuco, which last, being separated 
from the land by the washing away of the loose sand of the — 








A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. 9 


upper part of the beach, as well as from behind, are left 
standing like walls of sandstone running parallel to the 
coast. In scientific books it is generally stated that there 
are no coral reefs on the coast of Brazil. 

While engaged in the late Thayer Expedition under Pro- 
fessor Agassiz, in company with Mr. Edward Copeland, the 
writer discovered some quite extensive reefs in the bays of 
Santa Cruz and Porto Seguro, and made out, in a general 
way, their structure. Fishermen and pilots deseribed the 
reefs of the Abrolhos as precisely like those at Porto Seguro, 
and a note in a chart of Lieutenant Mouchez, which after- 
wards fell into the writer’s hands, left no doubt of the exist- 
ence of extensive coral reefs in that region. The return of 
the Expedition left no time for their exploration, but the 
writer, during his visit to the Brazilian coast last summer, 
gave them a careful examination. : 

Many species of polyps grow along the coast of Brazil, 
even as far south as Cape Frio, and the bay of Rio offers a 
few insignificant coral building species, principally an As- 
trangia or two, which form scattered cells on dead shells or 
stones. There is at Rio quite a number of species of soft- 
bodied polyps, of the order of the Sea-anemones, and some 
of these are very beautiful. In the same bay representatives 
of the highest order of polyps, the Halcyonoids, are not 
numerous. The most interesting is a species of Renilla 
(R. Dane Verrill),* a curious family” of polyps, in which 
all the bodies of the animals are joined together, and clus- 
tered on one side of a leaf-like expansion, to which there is 
a single appendage like a stem, by which the whole moves 
about like a single individual. 

South of Rio de Janeiro there appear to be few polyps 
which have calcareous skeletons; but on the rocky shores 
. northward a few species soon begin to become quite com- 
mon. 





eee f my friend, Professor Verrill, for the determination 
of the Radiates mentioned in this paper. 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 2 








10 A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. 


In the rocky tide-pools of Os Busos, Guarapary, Victoria, 
Porto Seguro, etc., to Bahia, we find them quite abundant. 
There is a massive kind growing in rounded, flattened lumps 
or patches on the rocks belonging to the genus Siderastraa.* 
It has small, close-set cells, Said grows in masses often a 
foot or more in diameter, and occasionally several inches 
in height, encrusting the rocks. With this there occurs a 
little, irregularly globular coral, an inch or two in diam- 
eter, and with large, irregular, crowded cells, in which the 
radiating plates are very conspicuous (Favia, like ananas 
Edw. and Haime). In deeper water we find a large Acanth- 
astrea (A. Braziliensis Verrill)t growing sometimes in — 
round heads a foot or more in didmetin; together with large — 
bouquet-like masses, often a foot across, of a beautiful coral 
(Mussa Harttii Verrill),{ whose branches, thick and long, 
are cylindrical, forking, radiating from the same point, anil 
with the cells at the ends of the branches large and deep. 
There are several other species of hard limestone building 








* Siderastrea stellata Verrillsp. nov. Corallum forming rounded or hemispherical 
masses, often flattened above. Cells polygonal, seen large (about .15 inch) deep , the 
central part rapidly descending. Septa in Bin cycles, those of the first two cycles cote : 
ariga broadest, all of them evenly crenulated, rather thin, thickness less than the A 
intervening spaces, slightly projecting, ta inner edge tidy rounded. Columella in- 
aahhh represented only by one or two tubercles. Wall between the cells repre- 
sented by a simple line. Trabicular processes between the septa very pen seen 
from above. Differs from S. radians in having larger cells, which appear more open; 3 
thinner septa, “ consequently wider intervening spaces, and four complete cycles — 
























of septa. — A. 
t Acanthastrea cca mapa A large species, fi siete Rik 
a setts in diameter; mar; f base s unded by a strong epitheca; cells large, vary 


g from .3 to .7 of an Sasi in their wiicyn diameter, but mostly about 5 inch, irregu-— 
iots wand gonal, often much elongated, and then having two or more centres, mode- 
rately deep (.15 inch), centre depressed, columella but little developed. Septa thin, in 
fine cycles, the last usually incomplete, aparea subequally, the upper part divided — 

ree #0 f five long , Sharp | teeth, below which the teeth are smaller and i 
slender. W ingle, often double with vesicles between. — 





ABV: 
t Mussa Harttii Verrill. tiful fi } 
: branches, and simple, ciieuane cells. Branches wr fer dividing, es 5 to o of 
an inch in diameter, the living part extending from .2 to .5 of an inch from the sum” 











ate, and often surrounded by an imperfect epitheca, cove ea oe a trong, subequal 
Goste, y with numeroTis wiy; nearly equal, recurved spines. rete ne from .5 to 1.2 inches 
ind rather deep (.4 to 5 inch). 
marae five cycl t, where they project about .1 of an inch, 


the upper part aries pia from four to seven unequal, sharp, diverging teeth, with 





A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. 11 


corals. Millepores,* corals often. with flat, ragged-edged 
branches, like the antlers of an elk, and with very small 
pores like pin-holes, are not uncommon. 

In many localities south of the Abrolhos district, these 
corals grow quite abundantly, but I have no evidence that 
they ever form reefs or banks. Reef-building corals, ac- 
cording to the best authorities, flourish only at depths less 
than one hundred feet. They also require a warm temper- 
ature of the water. The great shelf of the Abrolhos lies 
over a very large area, at a depth of less than a hundred 
feet, and the conditions for the growth of corals are of the 
most favorable kind. In consequence of this, we find here 
not only around the islands, but in the shoal, open waters, 
very extensive reefs and banks, which, in an area of fifty 
miles square, occupy a space of nearly one hundred and fifty 
square miles. 

When the tide goes out, there is seen extending around 
about one half the island of Santa Barbara, as is shown in 
the illustration at the head of this article, a fringing reef of 
coral, out on which one may walk, as on a low wharf at high 
tide, and from its ragged edge look straight down dditough 
the limpid green water, and see the sides of the reef and 
the sea-bottom covered with huge whitish coral-heads, and 
a wealth of curious things not easily to be got at. 

The surface of the reef is quite flat, and rises but a short 
distance above low-water mark. It is rather irregular, and 
is overgrown with barnacles, shells, mussels, and serpula- 
tubes, and overspread with large slimy brownish patches, of 





smaller teeth below. Columella — developed, consisting of slender, loosely ar- 
ranged, contorted processes.—A. E 
*The most abundant species is ah eerre nitida Verrill. A very Gating —— 





Nica tens ecatidet clumps, four t diameter, 
forking, rounded, or somewhat gio tema Pparanens about Ato 8 inc ch in — 
e obtuse, rounded, or even clavate at 








the ends. The larger po ores are small, very ae round, pus scattered over the 

"e tya distances of about % to ‘lof an inch apart. The small pores are minute, 

ones, and often showing a téndency to arrange 

iha around them in circles of six or eight. The tissue is more compact and 
is—A. E.V. 





32 A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. 




























a soft-bodied, encrusting polyp (Corticifera), of a leathery 
color. 

The reef abounds in small pools, some of which are shal- 
low and sandy, others deep, rocky, and irregular. The 
former often contain scattered corals, Siderastrea and Fa- 
via, and are rich in small shells, crabs, Ophiure, ete., but 
the latter are the most interesting. 

Fancy, my reader, a pool of the purest sea-water held in 
an irregular rock-basin a few yards across, full of little grot- 
toes and niches, and three or four feet deep. Carpet this 4 
pool with white coral sand and broken shells, and tapestry _ 
heavily the sides with soft fringes and curtains of delicate, : 
brilliant-hued séa-weeds. Plant here and there on the rocks 
clumps of corals and sprigs of Gorgonie, and down deep in 
this shady corner place a big hemispherical Astreean. Here 
among the sea-weeds, and just out of reach of the sunbeams, 
let us plant two or three softly-tinted sea-anemones, just 
where the translucent, tender, petal-like tentacles of these 
sea-flowers will be best shown off. And we must not forget 3 
to stock our aquarium with a plenty of sea-urchins, pincush- 4 
iony little monsters, bristling all over with long dark purple 
spines (Echinometra Michelini Desor), and each nestled 
comfortably away in a cavity worn in some incomprehen- 
sible manner in the solid rock. Here is a little crimson 
star-fish ( Echinaster) ;* let us half hide him in under the sea- 3 
weeds, for it won’t do to make him too conspicuous ; and q 
here are some queer crabs, that go restlessly prying about — 
among the sea-weeds, frightening the sea-anemones, and, 
perhaps, falling a prey to a snaky-armed cuttle-fish, that 
lurks under some dead coral. Now we must introduce a 





er errill. Rays short, somewhat angular. Radius of disk .5 
of an inch; ofrays1.9. Spines along each edge of the ambulacral grooves in two 
fh t } ash crowded. thace an 





a single one on each plate. Spines of inner row much smaller, not half as long, one to 
each plate. Lower side of ray with a row of distant, large, conical, sharp spines, not 
extending upon the disk. On back and side of ys there fo ji her irregular 
tows of similar large, sharp spines, rising from the swollen nodes. It has shorter and 
more angular rays, coarser structure, larger and fewer spines than Z. spinosus of West 





A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL. 13 


swarm of little, gaily-painted, gilded and silvered fishes, and 
a crystal jelly-fish ; a host of little shells, half of them ten- 
anted by hermit-crabs, and swarms of little crustaceans. 
Now we will wreathe in among the sea-weeds, here and 
there, the necklace-like, pearly body of a marine worm, and 
we shall then have an aquarium, wonderfully like those 
which nature has so liberally strewn over the surface of the 
Brazilian coral-reefs. 

Under the dead corals one finds great numbers of a large 
Ophiura, with a small disk-shaped body, and long snaky 
arms (O. cinerea Lyman), and by dint of a little patient 
examination, with the aid of a pocket lens, he may collect 
hundreds of species of animals from one of these pools alone. 
At the Abrolhos Islands, I found a few specimens of a large, 
almost pentagonal starfish, which is very common in the 
West Indies ( Oreaster gigas Lütken). This also occurs at 
Bahia, together with a very well-known West Indian shell, 
quite common as a mantel-piece ornament, and which has 
the misnomer of Cassis Madagascarensis ! 

The corals, which go to make up the Santa Barbara reef, 
are principally Acanthastrea, Heliastrea, Siderastrea, Fa- 
via, Porites, Millepora. The reef-rock, like that of the 
reefs, is a compact, hard, white limestone, which appears 
to show scarcely any organic structure. The corals are so 
broken and cemented together, that their structure is quite 
obliterated. The Santa Barbara reef, then, forms a wharf- 
like structure, partially surrounding the island. It has 
grown upward as far as possible, i.e. to a level a little 
above that of low tide, when the corals having died, further 
growth is stopped. It varies much in width, but in some 
places it reaches even 400 feet. At the south-west extrem- 
ity of the island there is a little islet, composed of a pile of 
boulder-like masses of trap, and known as the “Cemetery,” 
which at low tide is united to the main-land by this reef. A 
reef of the same kind is formed around part of the neighbor- 
ing island of Redonda, and Siriba also has one. 





























THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS.* 


BY SIDNEY I. SMITH. 





Ir is one of the ever-wise provisions of nature, that every _ 
land has a vegetation and an association of animals peculiar — 
to itself, that every sea and every zone of ocean is peopled — 
with life found nowhere else. There is such a wealth of — 
conception in the forms of organic life, that there is no need — 
of their repetition in distant lands. The palms and the reef — 
corals never wander from the tropics; the humming-birds — 
are as peculiarly American, as the Mississippi or the Andes. — 
It is specially the province of modern science to explain the 
phenomena of nature on known natural laws and forces, and — 
with this view no phenomena are more interesting than those — 
of the geographical distribution of species. The subject, in 
its full extent, would involve a solution of the much-vexed — 
question of the origin of species; but whether species now — 
living were derived from their relatives of a former geologi- — 
cal age, or were independently created, we will not question © 
in the present article, only taking species when they first 
appeared as they now exist, and contenting ourselves with — 
some of the more prominent forces which bind them to pe- a 
culiar habitats, or tend to diffuse them over wider or differ- — 
ent areas. q 

These secondary causes, which act in the geographical dis- — 
tribution of species, are either inorganic or organic. Of the 4 
former the most important are the influences of topography 3 
temperature, ocean currents, winds, and humidity ; of the lat- 
ter, animals themselves, and man,—for in this respect man- 
must be separated from the mere brute animals as wielding a- 
very different influence. The inorganic forces are so inte 
woven, they so act and react upon and limit each other, that 











one of the subjects assigned inet eines fi th R bet m i g th atrai ata Qatari 
tific School of Yale College in 1867. 
as) 


inat Fiiadoiihndt =? hnti 








GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 15 


they can scarcely be treated singly, and their influences are 
therefore discussed together ; but the laws which govern the 
distribution of animals in the ocean are so different from those 
. which govern the distribution of land and fresh-water spe- 
cies, that they are best treated separately. 

The influence of topography in limiting the diffusion of 
marine species is too evident to require much explanation, 
and yet, uncombined with the influence of temperature, it 
would have little effect ; for it is hardly possible to imagine a 
limit to the migration of species along coast lines and around 
capes from ocean to ocean, were the temperature of the 
water perfectly uniform. Still the mere separation of coasts 
by long intervals of deep water seems to have a direct influ- 
ence in preventing the migration of certain groups of species ; 
as, in the Pacific Ocean, under the same lines of tempera- 
ture,* there are many species, especially of fishes and polyps, 
which are peculiar to each of the great groups of islands. 

The influence of temperature has long been recognized as 
a most powerful cause in limiting the diffusion of marine 
species. Animals, with very few exceptions, are adapted 
for life and reproduction only within fixed limits of temper- 
ature, and a rise above or a fall below these limits, quickly 
puts an end to their existence. Such limits of temperature 
act as a continual check upon the effects of ocean currents in 
transporting species from place to place. Thus the Gulf 
Stream, flowing from the warm coral reefs of Florida and the 
Bahamas, must bear myriads of life-germs to the Bermudas 
and on across the Atlantic toward the Azores; but the iso- 
erymal line of 68° F., which limits, on both sides of the 
equator, the reef-building coralst and most of the tropical 














aoe fact ‘should not be looked that th isot} landi ymal lines indi- 
d as th very little known of deep ocean tem- 
, that it is quite possible that some ‘specie s are retarded from descending to 
a wuiitetent depth to pass from place to Se by the decrease in temperature; still the 
number of species must be small that c masat even with the same temperature, at 
‘very different depths. (Isothermal is u p equa al annual temperature; iso- 
z T ai " + F; hk TA + +h fth 





"} Dana, United States Exploring Expedition, Vol. I, Zoöphytes. 


16 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 




















marine species,* passes just north of the Bermudas, and all 
the germs of tropical life that cross this line must perish. q 
The marine fauna of the West Indies extends to Bermuda, 
but, arrived at the Azores, the winter temperature has fallen. 
to less than 60° F., and we have the fauna of the Mediter- 
ranean and none of the characteristic Bermuda species. On 
the other hand, in the Pacific, where the equatorial current 
flows continuously within the isocrymals of 68° north and 68° — 
south, there are many species of mollusks, crustaceans, and | 
echinoderms found from the Sandwich Islands to the coast — 
of Africa, or through half the circumference of the globe. 

The mere intervening deep ocean, without connecting 
islands, might prevent the occurrence of some of the Ber- 
muda species at the Azores, as in the corals, the young of 
which probably cannot exist very long without becoming — 
attached; but even along continuous coast lines, very few 
species extend through marked changes of temperature. 
the western coast of America, a large part of the mollusks 
crustaceans, echinoderms, and some polyps, extend from 
Lower California to Guayaquil and a few to Paita, Peru, but 
very few species are common to Guayaquil and to Callao, — 
only a few hundred miles farther south. The isocrymals of 
62° to 68° F. all converge near Cape Blanco, and such 
change in temperature prevents the interchange of speci 
between places north and places south of this paints? 

The insular faunal character of the Americas has been re- 
marked by many naturalists, —most of the marine species of 


Ş 








the Crustacea, excluding the little known Entomostraca, Dana found, 
viel oremi na re faunal torrid zone and 924 in the temperate zone, only seventy 


mo two.—U. 8. Expl. Exp., Vol. XIII, p. 1527. As the range of 
becom por pean the pepara number of species common to the two zon 
will undoubts te ‘ increased, bu he fact is sufficient to show the great infiuence ! 








_ tMany of the Peruvian, and some Panamie species, are found at Paita, and mr 
blending does not 





a spain distance along the coast, and is what would ‘mp from the warm 
oe the colder. fedora are species which have their centre of greatest deve 
the border of a fauna it is nothing more than might 


th Sant 


intermediate between that of two faune. 





GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 17 


both coasts belonging to peculiar American types,—and yet 
the shores of America are connected by zones of equal tem- 
perature with the Central and Western Pacific, and with the 
eastern shores of the Atlantic. How is this peculiar Amer- 
ican character preserved? What prevents the interchange 
of species, if temperature is the great cause which limits their 
distribution? A glance at the ocean currents shows that 
none of them leave our shores without undergoing a marked 
change in temperature, and that none, from other shores, 
arrive upon them without undergoing a similar change. The 
Gulf Stream, after leaving the coast of the Southern States 
and the Bermudas, changes its temperature from 68° F. to 
60° before its southern outflow reaches the Azores, and to 
almost 50° before it arrives on the shores of Europe. The 
Atlantic equatorial current is formed off the coast of Africa 
by the union of the returning Gulf Stream, flowing from 
Southern Europe and the Azores, and the northern current 
flowing from Cape Good Hope. These currents flow di- 
rectly from temperate coasts into the torrid zone, which, by 
their influence, is narrowed down, on the western shores of 
Africa, to 20° of latitude, while on the American shores it 
extends through 60°. The antarctic current from Cape 
Horn flows northward into the warmer waters of the south- 
ern Atlantic. The antarctic polar current of the Pacific 
comes north from the frigid regions of the south into the 
temperate waters, is bent eastward against the shores of 
South America, and the principal branch flowing north along 
the coast is turned westward from Cape Blanco or Punta Pa- 
rina, and, under the equator, still retaining the low temper- 
ature of the southern waters, sweeps into the torrid regions 
beyond the Galapagos. The current, flowing from the north 
along the western shores of the United States, leaves the coast 
of California and flows southward into the tropics. The 
frigid regions of North America are, of course, excepted, and 
the arctic American partake strongly of the character of the 
arctic species of the old world. 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 


18 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 































How beautifully these material forces act, binding each 4 
species to a special home, from which it may not wander and q 
live. Nature places the bounds, the ocean waters may — 
sweep by, but they cannot bear along the life which throngs E 
them. These inorganic causes alone constitute the limits of — 
faune, and can it be doubted that faune really exist in na- — 
ture, when it is fully understood that all their modifications q 
and complications are results of revolutions in these causes 4 
themselves? Let us look at some of these revolutions,— — 
changes in topography, in temperature, and in ocean cur- a 
voniar-for thus far we have seen only how the diffusion of 
ocean species is limited by secondary causes. 4 

We should begin when the first species of the present 3 
faunæ began to appear, and trace the changes to the present ; 4 
but the data are very imperfect, and we can get only glimp- 
ses of these changes, yet enough to indicate some of t 
effects they have produced in the distribution of species. 


living in the Tertiary period, when Europe was scarcely 
more than an archipelago, when the lower Mississippi valley 
was a part of the Gulf of Mexico, and while Florida and 
the whole border of the southern Atlantic States were still 
swept by the waters of the ocean. But these few recent 
species were not then in their present homes; they have 
wandered, like the early races of men, southward. 

The European fossil land faune and flore indicate very 
clearly a change of climate from tropical to temperate during 
the Tertiary period, and in the marine climate there was 4 
similar change. On the western shores of France, along the 
vallies of the Loire and the Ardour, there are deposits of f 
early Tertiary mollusks and echinoderms, a large part 
them extinct or unknown species, but a small part at least 
are still living in the Atlantic Ocean. These species 
not, however, now found on the coast of France, but eig 


CE 


GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 19 


or ten degrees farther south on the coast of Africa, and all 
the species of these ancient deposits partake of what is now 
a more southern character. * 

During the Tertiary period there was a gradual but very ex- 
tensive elevation of the northern part of the continents. It 
was during this period that the Alps and the Pyrenees were 
raised to their present level. The lifting at the north of 
such masses of land into the cooler regions of the atmos- 
phere would have had a powerful influence in reducing the 
temperature of the neighboring seas. As the waters became 
slowly cooled, the species best adapted to migrate gradually 
extended their limits southward; on the north, the species 
were destroyed by the advancing cold, and all those species 
with little power of migrating, and those easily affected by 
changes of temperature or other physical causes were wholly 
exterminated. And thus, on the shores of Africa, still exist 
the remnants of the ancient Tertiary fauna of the southern 
European seas, driven from their former home by the ad- 
vancing cold, but living on through all the changes, even of 
a Glacial epoch. 

In North America, the land climate during the early and 
middle Tertiary was warmer than now, as is indicated by the 
plants of the lignite beds, and the marine climate undoubt- 
edly corresponded with that of Europe and with that of the 
land. In the northern parts of the country no fossil records 
of the later marine Tertiary are known, but the land faune 
of the period, the upheaval of the northern parts of both 
countries, and the changes in the European seas show very 
clearly that there were similar changes on the American 
shores. 

The arctic marine fauna of the earlier Tertiary, while 


much more land than now was submerged at the north, must _ 


have been circumpolar in character, and the retreating of 
species southward from this common point accounts for the 
occurrence of the same species on the northern coasts of both 





* Forbes, Natural History of the European Seas. 


20 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 


































continents. Even those few species which are common to q 
the temperate regions of both oceans or the shores of both — 
continents, and not now found in the intermediate northern — 
regions, may have been driven in the same manner south- q 
ward, until the intervening continent or ocean left the rem- 
nants of the old cireumpolar fauna widely separated in more — 
southern regions. Why call to the aid of modern theories 4 
the mythical Atlantis to bear species across the ocean, when 
known climatic changes can have led them gradually from a 
common home at the north? 1 
The marine fossils of the latest Tertiary of Europe, and 
doubtless of North America also, are very largely living — 
species ;* and at that time, the climate of the North Atlantic 3 
was nearly like that of the present. In the absence of any — 
knowledge of fossil deposits contemporaneous with the earlier ~ 
Glacial period, it is impossible to arrive at any definite con- 
clusions in regard to the geographical distribution of the 
species at that time.t Still, the number of species which 
continued to live on through the Glacial epoch, the absence 

of well marked and extensive glacial phenomena from mid 
latitudes, and the appearance, in the decline of the Glacial 
period, of species near their present habitats, are good nega- 
tive evidence that there was no very extensive southern 
migration of marine life during that period. 
iari, i in the “Origin of Species,” supposes the cold of 
the Glacial period sufficient to have driven the species from 
the arctic and from the antarctic to the equator, and thus 
accounts for the similarity of the living species of those re- 
gions. Such intense cold would have been sufficient to 
destroy all life in the North Atlantic; and it can scarcely be 
supposed that species would travel iee far north to the 
ED es 





D i a a i a tee ich Crag, 





Lyel 
. Bog 2 an slate fer cent or more Primeiples o! Geology, Amer. Edit., p. M3. 
l ter Tertiary we its compar 
isor Gi d d bat Ce aiá yee P T R nio a 


Gai. ill 














epoch. 


GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 21 


equator and back again without leaving some traces behind 
them. Nor are the faune of the arctic and of the antarctic so 
closely allied as has sometimes been supposed. There is no 
well-authenticated instance of the same animal species occur- 
ing in each of the frigid latitudes, except such as have an 
intermediate or cosmopolitan existence.* 

As Dr. Packard} has shown, the submerged beaches give 
very good evidence that the boreal and arctic regions of 
North America during the true Glacial epoch, stood at a 
much higher level above the sea than at present. This ele- 
vation was undoubtedly enough to raise the submerged bor- 
der of the continent, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Banks 
of Newfoundland, and the banks off the coast of Nova Scotia, 
Maine, and Cape Cod, above the sea-level. As the rise and 
enlargement of the lands at the north during the Tertiary pe- 
riod had changed the climate of Europe and the northern parts 
of North America from tropical to temperate, this elevation 
during the Glacial epoch must have changed the climate of 
these regions from temperate to frigid, and brought the snow 
line down to the coast of New England. Such an enlarge- 
ment of lands at the north would not, however, change 
materially the climate of the tropics, and it is altogether 
probable that the Gulf Stream flowed on and warmed the 
southern coast as it did in the Tertiary and does now, and 
that the coral reefs of Florida and the West Indies were then 
slowly building beneath its warm waters. 

















* Professor Lilljeborg, in a recent paper (noticed i in the NATURALIST, p. 48), in the 

Trans. Scientific Soc. at Upsala, on Lysianassa Magelianica Milne Edwards, and 
n some other Crustacea of the sabondar Amphipoda, on the opar of Sweden and | one 

way, — admitmg that ao species had fodca y 

o have discovered, in 

phipod living upon the sept es Norw rwegian pian the Lysianassa Sie poneniae of 








Milne Edwards. Bate nt wn, however, in the ZoUlogical Record for 1865, p. 330, 
that the arctic species i ag only specifically distinct from the Zysianassa of Milne 
Edwards, but that it cannot be yeferred oe that ena er facts show how very diffi- 

without a direct 





careful c comparison of specimens, and ee ‘ae pn can be placed in the 
asi seerd a such animals 
t Observ n the Glacial Phenomena of Labrador “an Maine. Memoirs Boston 
Soc. Nat. Meg vai I, Part II. Many of the facts, on several succeeding pages, are 
drawn almost wholly from this very interesting paper. 


® 





22 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 





















The sinking of the lands which closed the true Glacial 
epoch, carried the coast line higher than it is now, as is i 
shown by the fossil deposits of the Leda Clays (Champlain q 
epoch), found along the coast and far up the lower vallies — 
from Labrador to New York. It might at first be supposciii ] 
that such a depression would induce a climate even warmer d 
than the present; but a depression of six or seven hundred — 
feet would have made islands of New England and Nova — 
Scotia, and opened a way-for the Labrador current from the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence into the Bay of Fundy and along the — 

coast of Maine, and, at the same time, would have allowed a — 4 
branch of the current to flow up the valley of the St. Law- 
rence River into Lake Champlain, and very likely down the 
valley of the Hudson. Such a surrounding flood of arctic — 
waters would have reduced the summer temperature of e j 


The species left fossil in the Leda beds confirm this, and 
show very accurately the distribution of marine life at the 
time these beds were formed. The species of the earlier 
Labrador beds are more purely arctic than the present fauna 


over the eastern end of Long Island, and across submerg 
Cape Cod, into Massachusetts Bay. Thus, since ull, or nearly 
all ee ee ee ee 


- north to Cape Ann. The southern outliers of the Syrter 





* Packard, loc. cit., p. 234. 
tStimpson, Proceedings Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. IV, p. 9, 1851. 





American Naturalist. Vol. Il. Pl. 1. 






Sh 
N M 
Ae sa 
Y 





THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 23 


and Acadian faunæ, on the deep water-banks off the New 
England coast, are thus shown to be relics of the northward 
migration of these faunæ.— To be concluded. 





THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 


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





In 1799, Schumachoff, a Tungusian hunter, discovered at 
the mouth of the river Lena a shapeless mass frozen in the 
ice. But not until two years after, 1801, when the ice had 
so melted that the tusks and one side of the animal were 
disclosed, did he know upon what a monster he had stum- 
bled. Returning to his home on the borders of Lake On- 
coul, he told his family of the strange creature entombed in 
the ice. They were seized with consternation, for in the days 
of yore some hunter had found on this peninsula the same 
sort of animal, and his family had all died soon afterwards. 

Death, however, did not invade the household. The god 
of mammon reigned instead. On recovering from the nearly 
fatal sickness into which his superstitious fears had thrown 
him, our enterprising ivory-hunter, led on by the greed of 
gain, revisited the Mammoth Golgotha, and in March, 1804, 
favored by the warm weather, beheld the gigantic carcass, 
now become historic, reposing free from its icy tomb on the 
sands of the Lena. He sold the tusks for fifty roubles, and 
the carcass was left to the tender mercies of the people 
about, who fed their dogs on the flesh, while “wild beasts, 
such as white bears, wolves, wolverenes, and foxes also fed 
upon it, and the traces of their footsteps were seen around.” 
The skeleton remained entire, except one foreleg, which 
some unusually enterprising white bear probably lugged off. 

essor R. Owen, whose account we have been using, 
states that, — 


24 THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 


«According to the assertion of the Tungusian discoverer, the animal, — 
was so fat, that its belly hung down below the joints of the knees. This — 
mammoth was a male, with a long mane on the neck; the tail was much 
mutilated, only eight out of twenty-eight caudal vertebre remaining; 

boscis was gone, but the places of the insertion of its muscles 
were visible on the skull. The skin, of which about three-fourths were 
saved, was of a dark gray color, covered with a reddish wool, and coarse 
long black hairs. The dampness of the spot where the animal had lain so 
long had in some degree destroyed the hair. The entire skeleton, from — 
the fore part of the skull to the end of the mutilated tail, page six- 
teen feet four inches; its height was nine feet four inches. The tusks 
measured along the curve nine feet six inches, and in a straight line jas 
the base to the point three feet seven inches. 

“Mr. Adams collected the bones, and had the peeps to find the 
other scapula, which had remained, not far off. He next detached the — 
skin on the side on which the animal had lain, which was Loa preserved; 
the weight of the skin was such that ten persons found great difficulty in “— 
transporting it to the shore. After this, the ground was dug in different 


a ee eee OLE ae 


yore es 


Perey nr T 


ST a 


while devouring the flesh, and more than thirty-six pounds’ weight of 
hair was thus recovered. The tusks were purchased at Jatusk, and the 
whole expedited thence to St. = aa ue skeleton is now mounted 
in the museum of the Petropolitan Academ 

The Mammoth (Elephas barge Blum.), did not — 
dwell alone in Siberia. A hairy Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros — 
tichorhinus), which had a length of eleven and one-half — 
feet, was found frozen in Siberia near Wilui in 1777. 
ranged from England and Middle Europe to Siberia. ! 
the living species of elephants, the Mammoth not only 
browsed on the leaves of the spruce and fir, but ground 
beneath the broad surfaces of its immense grinders boughs 
of considerable thickness. It has been objected, despite 
its hairy coat, fitting it for the rigors of a Siberian winter 
that the Mammoth could not have been indigenous to 
the shores of the Arctic Ocean, since the vegetation was 50 
scanty; but Professor Owen sets aside such objections, 
observing that “forests of hardy trees and shrubs still grow 
upon the frozen soil of Siberia, and skirt the banks of the: 
Lena, as far north as latitude 60°. In Europe, arboreal veg- 



















*Owen’s British Fossil Mammals and Birds. 








THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 29 


etation extends ten degrees nearer the pole, and the dental 
organization of the Mammoth proves that it might have 
derived subsistence from the leafless branches of trees, in 
regions covered during a great part of the year with snow.” 

We may, with this learned author, assign the northern 
limit of trees, which even at some points reaches the seven- 
tieth parallel of latitude, as the bounds to the wanderings 
northward of the Siberian Mammoth. <A few years previous 
(1796), Cuvier announced that the bones of elephants found 
scattered through the Quarternary deposits, or Post-tertiary 
sands and clays, and the upper Tertiary deposits, belonged 
to a distinct, as well as extinct species. This fact suggested 
to him the idea of the existence of former worlds and succes- 
sive creations of species, and from this moment the science 
of Paleontology took its place in the sisterhood of sciences. 
The bones of the Mammoth and the mastodon, the rhino- 
ceros and hippopotamus were shown to belong to extinct 
species which formerly roamed over the surface of Southern 
and Middle Europe, and not, as his opponents contended, of 
luckless inmates of Roman menageries, or less likely, as 
others alleged, of heathen giants sixty feet high, who lived 
in the age of fable. 

Organized research, led by the great French Palzontolo- 
gist, established the fact that the Mammoth was indeed once 
an abundant animal in Europe. This huge elephant, with its» 
cousin, the mastodon (Mastodon angustidens), a still larger 
genus of elephants, differing in the structure of the teeth, was 
common in Middle and Southern Europe ; the species of both 
genera, like the elephants of the present day, enjoying a 
wide geographical range. The Mammoth ranged from the 
fortieth to the sixtieth parallel of latitude. 

Lartet, one of the founders of a new science, Anthropology, 
has brought forward additional proof of the former existence 
in Middle Europe of the Siberian Mammoth, and that from 
the most startling sources. 

In May, 1864, this pei perap with his countryman 


AMER. NATURALIST, VOL 








26 THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 


Vernueil and an English naturalist, Dr. Falconer, visited the 4 
cayes of Perigord in the department of Dordogne, France, — 
and discovered, in the soil and debris in the bottom of these — 
caves, various sketches of animals carved on pieces of deer’s 1 
horns and elephant’s ivory. 4 

We copy from an account of the discoveries made by Lar- 
tet and Christy (prepared by the great Danish naturalist and d 
archeologist, Professor J. Steenstrup, for a Danish Natural — 
History J ournal, published at Copenhagen),* drawings that 3 
rival in interest the Rosetta Stone, specimens of Egyptian 
and Assyrian sculpture, or the remains of Aztec art. Fig. 1_ 






T 
\ ay wy Vb ih 






an elk, allied to our moose ; and Fig. 3 unmistakably pieta 
the head of the wild boar. The reader may puzzle OV 


















* Tidsskrift for populaere fremstillinger af me pa Udgivet af ©. 
og C. F. Lütken. 3d ser., Vol. IV, Kjébenhayn. See al r account of these d 
ies, Vol. I, p. 274, taken from the Quarterly Journal of Balida, London 
igure of a Hairy Mammoth engraved on a piece of elephant’ i irory, $ we = 

the Madelaine Cave in the department of Doria, France. se 





Figure of a Hairy Mammoth 











y, found in the Madelaine caye. 


28 THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 






















duced, and lo, an off-hand sketch of his trophy of the chase 
by some prehistoric Cummings or Baker! d 

As specimens of earliest art they are certainly creditable 4 
and almost rank with drawing of animals represented in As- 
syrian, Egyptian, or Aztec art, at least surpassing the hiero- — 
glyphics of the North American Indians. The peculiar shape 
of the head of the Siberian Mammoth, with its characteristic — 
up-curved enormous tusks, and trunk hanging down at ease, — 
and the hairy mane, which no living species of elephant pos- — 
sesses, evince a quick eye, excellent perceptive powers, and — 
an artistic touch given by the prehistoric artist, which cer- 
tainly discovers the germs of dawning art in the Cave- dwe : 
ers of France. : 

From portions of several skulls and a single lower jaw of l q 
man found in the caves and gravel-beds of Europe, anato- | 
mists of high authority have, we cannot but think too hastily, — 
referred their possessors to the most degraded of savage 
races.” 

The bas-reliefs and inlaid sketches of our cave-dwellers 
rather ally them, from the evidence of their art-remains, as a 
very high authority, Professor Steenstrup suggests, to the 
tribes of Eastern Asia. He states that Chamisso, the Italian 








graphic copy, published in the PEDE Popular Journal of Natural History, reduced 
oe balt, lyi rom Lartet’s original wing. 





arq di 1, on the banks of the Vésère in 

Dordogne, another engraving of the Mamm sashes IA y DA slate. In speaking of 
the accuracy of the sketches he says, “ The artists of the A ugerie bave made no carica- 
tures, and Gealed ltt e to the fan cifal. If the rough sketches of art in its first steps 








seem to ; ru 
lously respected. I will cit j; h th es 
with a few strokes a combat of the reindeer. _ The victor is s repres eta 
the truthfulness of which is sı y as isan A dof 








the reindeer obtained also in one of the stations of the Augerie. In view of such facts 
it seems to be inadmissible to suppose, that, in te a purely fanciful drawing of 








head, an aboriginal should have precisely reproduced that of an y thes 
of which we have constantly foun ound the e remains in the same > conditions « of burial; and 
ters of a proboscidian of whose existence he was ignorant.” — nnal: Scien 
Naturelles, 5e ser. T. 4, p. 361. 1865, $ nm 

oe as primitive folk have been lar-science 
writers, the unkindeat blow of all has been dealt by the Rey. D. I. Heath London 


n the 
Anthropological Review, April, 1967. Readily accepting the su 
pposed ape-like form 
race, he gravely propounds the theory that the “ ne pe ane were 


THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 29 


traveller, describes in his “Voyages,” the expertness of some 
tribes of North-eastern Asia, in drawing figures of animals 
on walrus tusks and the teeth of the sperm-whale. 

In an evident zeal to make these people a connecting link 
between man and the apes, have not some writers exagger- 
ated, on rather slight data, the degraded and savage char- 
acter of these primitive folk? 

Have not geologists also exaggerated the geological age 
of the Stone period, carrying it too far back, and also not 
bringing it near enough to historic times? In the first flush 
of the interest excited by these startling developments, 
they also have demanded too great a cold for the climate 
of Middle Europe. Associated with these Mammoth bones 
and drawings were sketches of an animal like the Irish elk, 
which historical evidence tends to show existed up to the 
fourteenth century ; of the reindeer, which Cesar refers to in 
his Commentaries, which Boyd Dawkings thinks must have 
lived in Northern Scotland as late as the twelfth century, and 
which remained in Denmark up to the sixteenth century ; of 
the bison, which still survives in Lithuania, the urus, au- 
rochs, or Bos primigenius, which is said to have lingered in 





who were taught to speak by men of the ines race who shared the land with them, or, 
as the December number of Blackwood has 
Phothropoliogie say, after man had n birth, 
One we and graced with articulate ymi 
eech. 











1d k. and could build d ld pl h 
: F gn, 
fth 
And knew most of the arts 





? 
1 } middens 
AICHeN-M1acens, 


eect fit but to do their superior’s bidiines. 





So an Ary REO enlighten thers, 
On the Mutes of the “Midd ens he burst with sat, 
And attempted to teach them the sylable Pa. 








The rather infantile science of the prensa he sacar peti stn into easy verse, does 


not state whether Aryan implements and r ave been found in the Kjekenmed- 
dings. But thus far has any piere of an “intermixture ‘ei two races, one so much 
higher than the other, been fou Age? We shall wait pa- 





tiently for a few pertinen t facts ; tinea in these days of equal rights, advocating 
Kjekenmedding sree b elieving that they were born with all the cir senses and 
faculties such as they w d Lapland 
allies or representatives oe later times. 



























30 THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 


‘Switzerland up to the sixteenth century, and the wild boar, 
still abundant in Central Europe. : 

The Mammoth, then, was hunted in middle Europe by a 
hardy race of men (the Reindeer Folk), savage, it is true, 
but who wielded the spear, and shot flint-headed arrows at 
the enormous beasts they hunted; and, resting from the 
fatigues of the hunt, engraved on ivory* the animals slai 
by them with a sort of hard-pointed style; whose wives 
probably made garments of skins sewed with delicate bone 
needles, and whose families seemed to have been well housed 








*t In the working of bones, we pe reals ae ce rd a the reindeer, these Reindeer men 
oer » a Ne RS ce ws w-heads with barbs, knives, and daggers, 3 
ing the por and similar objects, awls and 
needles of considerable fineness, with oe 5 fit for the passage of a thread; handles 
found 1 a quanti ity, and some unfinished Specimena roai the troublesome mode 








“ The art products of the Reindeer Pads who inhabited France are of particular in- 
terest, The decorations on many pots and implements, CETT, a simpe sity 
angular, or c: cei lines, exhibit a SENA sense for beau 
mals, as ovri by MM. Lartet and Garrigou, are still avin surprising. ener 

by M. Gar 





upon the s of the bone, and it may be seen that the — in working it, tw 
the bone in various directions, some ar the lines showing a flat inside turned su 
. Many of these drawings are known to the public by the treatises of Lartet and Ch 
on the caves of Perigord; but I can, from m n inspection, assert that there exist 
that eee many i others, | and these highly eina stic., Thus 


S 
= 











my frien aster cas found in a heap of bones oftl 
eala period, at at Madelaine, n pear Tursac (Dordogne). Ti is a kind of kitchen-mi¢ 
at the foot of a br and two and a 
métres thick. In th iddl I i were found. Oa of these pieces 


broken-off femur of a swan, The animal d 1 upon it has a short thick tail e 
along the back, imitating somewhat rudely the aspect of the reindeer in s mmer, m 
, Whilst the belly prey 
the short dark — hair, _ Some short lines before the forefoes na pig resent 
hair of th e throat. SUEUR of Lag femu VI a tibia. p 

Te eg following each other (?), the one being known by its meee: 
lers. Further re iigrsice will, no doubt, increase our treasury of art products of 7 

—(VOGT.) 

















THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 31 


in caves and rock-shelters and rude huts, at a period long 
before the first dawnings of history. 

So far from being lower than Australians and Hottentots, 
they may have been the ancestors of the Calmucs and Fins 
and Lapps. Living near glaciers which descended into the 
plains of France down the slopes of the Alps and Pyrenees, 
which brought Alpine and ice-inhabiting animals close to 
their hunting grounds, they yet chased the boar through 
the forests, the elk through the morasses and grassy inter- 
vals, and pursued the iio the roe, the chamois, ibex, 
Pyrenæan deer, and, most abundant of all, the reindeer, over 
the snow-fields lying ọn the hills and uplands; and in the 
lower plains and valleys watched by night, made hideous by 
the cries of the cave-hyena, for the Mammoth and mastodon, 
the cave-bear, the lion, tiger, and tichorhine rhinoceros, as 
they came from their retreats to slake their thirst at the 
river bank. 

Professor Carl Vogt, in “The Primitive Period of the 
Human Species,” translated for the Anthropological Review, 
has given the most recent and more moderate views regard- 
ing the Stone Folk. With Lartet and Christy he divides 
the Stone Age into two periods: first, the “ Cave-bear epoch, 
distinguished by large, now extinct, species of beasts of 
prey and pachydermata, rude flint implements, coarsely 
worked bones, and long cranial forms of a strong race of 
men;* and second, the Reindeer period, characterized by the 








+ leav fr li ade, to form conclusions respect- 

P ervilization of this long-headed podem from sha Neander skull), powerful, 
tall, and strong primitive man, who liv ed by the sice s ee cave-bear and the mam- 
m no, we perc ei ve that S dy then he y burying them, Lage 4 

with slabs; and mid the furnished t 

meat and arms for their pieg into another world. He kn nah the use ar bate aco 
structed hearths Daag he roasted his meat: gi of pottery th e 
broke the long Tones the larger animals in a systematic manner, ka aia er to apl a 
the marrow; and also ga skull to obtain the pram. His implements or weapons con- 
sist of rude hatchets and kniv: hich k off from a flint block by another 
Stone; and of worked bones, pao: for. han andles, arrows, vlubs, or awls. Such 
pieces as as look like pike or strow- “heads never show any grapp ple-hooks, but smooth 




















ciliary Bacchi theless end dt his p with perforated pieces 








32 THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 















northern fauna of a cold climate, by hammered stone wea- 
pons, carved and artfully decorated bones, and the short 
skulls of a small and more delicately constructed, buts at sii 
events, a very intelligent art-endowed race of men.’ 

But is it not possible that the two races lived contempaii 
raneously? The Reindeer Folk may have inhabited the 
upper valleys and hills near the Alps and Pyrenees, which 
send spurs into Southern and Central France. They were, 
perhaps, mountaineers, and the animals associated with them, ) 
and most characteristic of the period, were alpine -a l; 
northern species. Like the Lapps and Fins, the men were 
dwarfed, and more delicate; and perhaps more active-minde od 
and ingenious than the Flint Folk. So far from dwelling 7 
exclusively in caves, they may have lived in skin lodges in 
summer, and in wooden or snow huts in winter. ) 

Their neighbors, the Flint Folk, or Lowlanders, a taller 
and stronger race, meantime inhabited the plains of Northern 
France and Belgium, England and Germany, and the fauna 
was made up of the Mammoth, mastodon, and rhinoceros, 
horse, cave-bear (which was much more abundant than with 
the Reindeer people), bison, aurochs, and deer, which in- 
habited the more genial and fertile plains. 

Taking this view, the supposed great length of the Stone 
Age is much reduced ; it explains how two such dissimilar 
races lived side by side, just as the Lapps and Fins lived. 
joré centuries since, not far from the Celts and Ta 

mountainous parts of Europe and the borders of Asi 
ie while the climate was colder on the highlands, on 
plains of Middle Europe it was, probably, much as descri 
by Tacitus and Cæsar. 





of coral and the teeth of wild animals. He probabi red b 
; for the awls and need m teia y dressed in skins or pee 


ve 
arn such materials, but not A at pe Fe Ww 
respecting food. that he from 


the Alps; whether in a s 
possession of 


or various ty will only be decided when we are 
a greater number of skulla,” ei Sess 7 





THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 33 


In our own Jand the Mammoth was associated with the 
Mastodon giganteus. Herds of the Siberian Mammoth found 
their way across Behring’s Straits into Alaska, as their re- 
mains occur in the greatest abundance at Eschscholtz Bay. 
The explorations of Mr. W. H. Dall show how common it 
must have been to the southward in the Yukon Valley. It 
seems to have extended southward in America as far as the 
parallel of 40°, as remains, found at several localities in Can- 
ada, have been referred to this species. 

Professor Leidy has claimed, on partial evidence (a com- 
plete skull not having yet been found), the existence of a 
truly American species of elephant (Elephas Americana), 
representing in the new world the European and arctic 
Hairy Mammoth. This species replaced, in the warmer parts 
of our country, the Siberian elephant. Its remains, like 
those of the mastodon, are found at the bottom of swamps 
and in the upper strata of river sands. It should be borne 
in mind by the reader, that these deposits of river alluvium 
are the most recent of the deposits of the post-tertiary age. 
They should not be confounded, as they often are, with 
the true glacial or drift deposits, which were thrown down 
at an immensely earlier period, so far as known facts teach 
us. In the Northern States, at least, we had the following 
succession of events antedating the appearance of the Amer- 
ican elephants,* including the mastodon, though this does 
not preclude their existence southwards, where the climate 
was hotter. The warm climate of the latest Tertiary (Plio- 
cehe), in which the temperature of New England and the 
Northern States may have been like that of the Gulf States 
at the present day, gave way to the arctic cold that brought 
with it the snows and glaciers of the true Glacial epoch, the 
period which separates the Tertiary from the Quarternary 





*UThe A ilk ia, Texas, and Mexico pes en south, to 
Canada on the north, and to Oregon and California on the w species ap- 
pears to have been most abundant to the south, in the hates i pi caeioe 
a warmer climate than Elephas primigenius.” —(DANA.) 

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 5 





ever, seem to have been very much the same. The 
-~ home of the earth-shakers was the Sivalik Hills at the foo 








34 THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 





























periods. For ages the Ice King held sway over this im- 
mense territory. The walrus, and perhaps the musk-ox, the ~ 
white bear and arctic fox occupied the land that had perhaps — 
shook beneath the tread of the Megatherium and Boothe- 
rium, the American lion and the mastodon and elephant; 
and the creeping willow and procumbent birch and lowly - 
cranberry, the snow white Arenaria greenlandica, and other 
arctic plants succeeded the gaudy flowers and luxuriant for- 
ests of the latest Tertiary soil. 
Centuries after, the continent slowly sinks, perhaps si 
hundred feet; the sea laves the foot of the White Mout 
tains; the temperature is raised and the glaciers have re-— 
treated to the Alpine valleys. This is the period of tl 
Leda clays, in which bones of the bison and walrus are 
found. But not until a later and still warmer period, that oi 
the rearrangement of these sands and clays into lake shores 
and fertile river intervals, does the Mammoth (so far as fos 
sil evidence goes) seem to have flourished abundantly. 
The remains of the mastodon, found lately in Indiana am 
stored in the museum of the Chicago Academy of Scienet 
occurred in a peat-swamp four feet beneath the surface, ove 
a bed of marl containing fresh-water shells. This wil 
swamp had been flowed by the beaver, as its dam and eY 
dences of its lakes were still remaining. Indeed, there ar 
accounts, which however need confirmation, of mastodom 
bones being found in the Western States, associated Ww! 
arrow-heads and other Indian relies, as if the creature ha 
been mired in some “lick,” and killed by Indians. Wes 
eagerly look for fresh discoveries in this direction by 
Western naturalists. The mastodon seems to have bee? 
more abundant in the Middle States than the Mammot 
The habits and geographical range of the two animals, 


m= 


the Himalayah Mountains, seven fossil species of eleph 
and three of mastodons having been found there, besides 


THE HAIRY MAMMOTH. 35 


living species of elephant. A species of mastodon inhabited 
the Pampas of Brazil, the bones having been found in the 
bone-caves near Rio, and the Mastodon Humboldtti lived in 
the Andes. The Mastodon giganteus lived on the spruce 
and fir trees. The food of the tropical existing species is 
well known to consist of the leaves and succulent branches 
of trees. 

It must seem strange to many of our readers to have had 
introduced, as a characteristic feature in our landscapes of 
prehistoric times, herds of wild elephants much exceeding 
in size the tamed imported specimens that march servilely 
through our towns and villages. How would the children 
of to-day grin and wonder with patriotic glee should a 
squad of veritable American elephants stalk through the 
gaping throng! Such fortune fell only to the lot of the pre- 
historic dohin. What glorious times were those when the 
children of the Mound-builders perhaps trooped on gala days 
of antediluvian rejoicing, to see trained lions and learned 
horses exhibit in the circus of those days (if the Preadamites 
were circus-goers) ; saw the megatherium fed, the hunger of 
the megalonyx and mylodon appeased with small forests of 
saplings, and—crowning delight of all—rode on the backs 
of docile Mammoths and more than elephantine mastodons !* 





* These animals may possibly have been in America contemporaries of the earliest 
races of men, as some of the species or allied forms are now proved to have been in 
rope. 


Professor J. Marcou states that jaah bones have been found pigs in the bone- 
beds of the Natchez quarternary deposits, or in een lying over the: Regarding the 
sareman whether man was really contemporaneous with the Ma beh and the m 

ternary mi ammals, Professor Dana — legate tiy North America there are no know 





Professor Pann i in his SE of Geology, cites, among the characteristic mammals 
of this period in North America, the great beav ver (Castoroides Ohioénsis), the Bison 
latifrons Leidy, a sponge ns ter arger than the e existing neni and a genus of ox 
(Bootherium) related to the musk-ox. A species of sta g (Cervus Americanus Leidy), 
larger than the so Trish Elk, and the American Post- tertiary eal pares sore Leidy), 
about as large as the fossil lion of Britain. Other gigantic mammals, such as the Mega- 
lonyzx and Megatherium and ey inhabited the Gaa Valley, as their bones 
are found associated in the famous N. n a brs locality with remains of the horse, 
at es 8 an nd mastodon » now w known e been a resident of North and South 


voyages. 








REVIEWS. 
ipsa 
Tue POPULAR Science Review. London (Quarterly). 
The October number contains a very valuable and beautifully illust z 
ted article on the Microscope in Geology by David Forbes, of which we 
make use on another page. — Dr. M. T 












- growth in the leaf itself, is the most important, and probably the only 

one of itself sufficient to produce the result.” This new growth is 
thus described from Von Mohl’s account. “ Shortly before the fall of 
the leaf, there begins to be formed a very delicate layer of cells, 
growth of which is from above downwards, so that, beginning 
the axillary side of the leaf, and gradually extending downwards and 
outwards, nearly at right angles to the long diameter of the cells of the 
leaf stalk, at any rate at right angles to the plane of the leaf, it ef 
a gradual separation between the stem and the leaf, as effectually 
knife would do.” These changes of tissues and consequent fall of 
leaf are not wholly due to a change of seasons “ from wet to dry, or 
hot to cold, for it not unfrequently happens that if a tree be stri 
of ‘its leaves in summer, it forms during the autumn new ones, W 
remain on the tree during the greater part of the winter, or at any 
until long after the usual period.” 

Dr. E. R. Lankester gives a very useful article, well illustrated, on 
Flat-worms or Planarians. The subjoined table* presents the la 
views as to the classification of Worms taken from Peter’s and Ca 
SE POM ol ADETA AA ETE E E 





*A TABULAR VIEW OF THE CLASSES AND ORDERS OF VERMES. 
Sub- Vermes. 


Class I. Annulata (Ringed-worms). ‘ 
; Orders: Polychaeta (Marine), 
(Land and Fresh-water). 
Discophora (Leeches). 
Class II. Gephy esha ag ii k 


én Tahi 5 + 





Orders: Sipunculus, etc. 
Class III. Rotifera (connected to Arthropods and Turbellaria). 
Orders: Cephalotricha (Wheel-animals). 


pe ews: and Nemertians). 
ematodes (Flu King’s Yellow-worms 
Cestodes (Tape-worms). e 








REVIEWS. 37 


Handbook of Zodlogy (Leipzig, 1863). We might say, however, that the 
more conservative zodlogist would substitute class for sub-kingdom, and 
order for class, considering the worms as a class of the “ type,” “ branch,” 
or “‘sub-kingdom” ARTICULATA. Such tabular lists of different classes of 
the animal kingdom we design to give from time to time in the NATURAL- 
Ist. The Rotifera, or Wheel-animalcules, placed by Dana and other au- 


has been aonr by Dugés, who, by slicing them with scissors, produced 
individuals with double heads and tails, and sioa modifications of form. 
The curious modes of reproduction are thus n 


The Turbellarians propagate either by eggs deposited and fertilized in the water, several 
eggs being often de ted in one mass of yolk (like what was observed by Dr. Carpenter in 


grow A 
in a larva gages which is ped unlike R ‘parent, and from me DONS SY which a 





last case is very nenas to that observed by Johannes Mueller in Sites star-fishes, As int 

Echinoderms, so in n the Turbellarians,. there a appears to be no rule a me method of Jeren 
opment; nearly di liti 
a larval st: ‘ni and th 


Dr. Richardson writes on ‘the Physics of the Brain, A concludes 





J E 
+} a 3 





or ganglia are determined, ‘‘that impressions are physical realities, 
stamped as it were on brain matter, each distinct and perfect when 
the matter on which it is set is in condition for motion. Everything 
we remember is, I doubt not, thus imprinted on the brain, on infinite 
points of brain-substance, each ee fre, a capable of motion 
when the whole mass is charged with fi The ' brain, in fact, is a 
world within of the world without that it par received in the course of 
its waking life.” 

When we see what the micro-photographer can thus do in putting physical Te 
on what seem infinite: tesimal points of matter, and when we know that there is no as 
limit to this art, it i e of the gray matter ree bai 
Inos cerebral lobes or which Tave spoken, mpenes ‘ot points i matter are thus 


” 











up. 
One more fact relating to the physics of the brain, as taught by experiment, and I have 
done. We have seen that when the anterior cerebral ganglia are destroyed for a time, an 
À d he bell 


rward, hat, m the cere the 
moves impulsively backwards. indicates the existence of a balance of power between 
t ; a balance which is also detectable between other centres. It 


ery centre of power in the brain is, during healthy states, 





38 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 























physically balanced, and th that what is called a well-balanced mind is really a'‘prope rly balanced 

brain. yes reading we explain many phenomena of living cae otherwise ea 
Among the reviews, a kindly word of welcome is given the NATU 

ist. —MM. Bert and Blondeau have been experimenting on me conte 

tions of the Sensitive Plant :— 





M. Biond experimented on plants with the induced gal lvanic pitch of a Ruhmko 
coil. He EA three plants to the influence of the electric current. The first was op 
rated on for five minutes; the plant when left to itself seemed prostrated, but after a while ( 

arter ), the leaves opened, to recover i The s 

for ten minutes his specimen was prostrate for an 2 , after which it slo 
recovered, The third specimen wied galvanized for eiA -fiye minutes, but i never recov 

ered, a plant ae by lightn A fou 
nt was et rized, and pos ee the urrent. Strange to say the arth a not ar 

effect, the Ar remained st ht and open; prin proving, de M. Blonde A that the mo 


of contraction of the leaves of kas sensitive plant is in some way allied to e muscular co 
traction of animals, 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





BOTANY. 

MONSTROUS FLOWERS OF HABENARIA FIMBRIATA. — Mr. W. W. Den 

low, of New York, found last summer a spike of this orchid with all tl 
flowers abnormal, spurless, and fringeless. A few of the flowers, exs 
ined by me, exhibit the sarafan peculiarities. Al of them are dimero 

even to the ovary. The most reduced has the perianth simply of 
sepals, anterior and Sn. and the anther and stigma nearly no 


occasionally somewhat petaloid, but oe one or both the cells W 
formed, although more separated on the petaloid connective; the pol 
and the gland nearly normal. In one flower the two opposed anthers 
actly similar, and nearly normal, but with the slender tip of the Cè 
more curved, so that the glands which are contiguous in pairs, are! 
turned. The stigma is central and symmetrical. In more than one flo 
there is an attempt at a second pair of anthers, within and alternate | 
the others; one of these is occasionally well formed, and the other ri 
mentary.—A. Gray. ; 
Fjo 








C. ) AS A NATIVE PLANT.—The respon 

to our inquiry are generally in favor of the lie, en: The most ! 
plicit testimony received, however, is the following, from our exe 
correspondent, Mr. M. S. Bebb. He writes: “I never saw Sam 
Canadensis out of a fence corner; but my father who was born in $ 

ern Ohio in 1802, and who remembers distinctly the first White and F 
~ Clover, Blue Grass, and Black Mustard he ever saw, —he lived in the b 
woods nine miles from any settlement, when Cincinnati and Mé 
















NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. _ 39 


were mere hamlets, — declares that the Elder was abundant on the islands 

of the Dry Fork of the White-water River, in the earliest ee of 

the country; that he remembers very distinctly making ‘ of its 

stems when tapping sugar-trees, and that it was a great pest in low bot- 

tom-lands, and had to be eradicated with much labor when clearings were 
ade.” — A. GRAY. 


GERMAN Ivy, SO-CALLED, FLOWERING UNDER PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES. 
—Mr. L. H. Brown, of Dayton, Ohio, informs us that bran ches of this 
delicate climber, cut in October, were carried into re house and hung 
around picture-frames upon the walls of a room in which, until winter set 
in, there was no fire. In about three weeks they began to put forth blos- 
soms, which have never been seen upon the plants growing in soil, and 
they have kept on blooming for several weeks, the vine growing freely. 
The old shies soon withered, but those of new shoots took their place. 
GRA 


PEDEZA sTRIATA Hook. and Arn. The notice in the November num- 


plant is attracting much attention. Bot r. Ravenel and Professor Por- 
ter call Dr. Gray’s notice to the fact, that they sent specimens to him 
twenty years ago. The Rev. Dr. Curtis writes that the new comer, if 
we may call it so, has reached Charlotte, North Carolina, where it is a 
perfect God-send, taking complete possession of the worn-out fields, and 
is cropped by cattle with such avidity that a good specimen is hardly to 


“I have read with great interest the note of Dr. Gray concerning 
the 


nce, wish to put on record the fact, that, twenty-one years ago, in 
August, 1846, I collected the specimens, now in my herbarium, in Mon- 
ticello, Jasper County, Central Georgia. It grew in piae nook by the 
side of a road, at some distance sae the village and any human habita- 
tion. I never dreamed of China and Japan, sah have foc regarded 
it as a native waiting for a name.” —T. C. Por 

RELIC OF THE GLACIAL EPOCH. —On the south bank of the River 


stone, identical with that of the valley of the Connecticut, as shown not 
only by its lithological characters, but also by the fossil footprints which 
it contains. On the faces of the cliffs are several enre water-drips, 
and at two or three points they are penetrated by na and shallow 
ravines, down which rivulets come leaping. At these ein ais ice accu- 
mulates in immense masses during the winter, and lies ae. until 
late in the spring. This was observed whilst passing along 





40 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


















on the opposite side of the river, and the inference drawn that the mean 4 ] 
annual temperature of the rock would be so reduced by the slow melting ` 

of the ice, and the large amount of evaporation in summer, as to aiford q 
favorable conditions for the growth of northern plants.” In hope of find- = 
ing something of the kind, the spot was visited on the eighteenth of May, — 
1867, in company with Professors Green and Hitchcock, of Lafayette Col- 

lege, and our search was rewarded by the discovery of Sedum Rhodiola 
D. C.,-—an inhabitant of high latitudes in Europe and America, its near- 
est known station in our country being Quoddy Head, on the eastern 


AN northward at the close of the glacial epoch, it was left behind. | 
Far up on the ledges of the rock, chiefly under the drip of the water, it — 
grow aaa tufts, whose pale, glaucous hue attracts the eye of the © 
pitt, in situations so difficult of access, and in such abundance, that ` 
it bids fair to maintain its hold as successfully for ages to come, as i 
for ages past. 

It may not be amiss to state also that in New Jersey, ten miles to the 
north of aie cliffs, Polemonium ceruleum L. has been recertly detected 
in a large, shaded, sphagnous swamp, he it is evidently indigenous; 
and that, a few miles farther on, in the s: range, occur other northe 
DSa among which are Bidens Beckii mice Lobelia Kalmii L., Betula 
pum .- and Carex fava L.—T. C. PORTER. 


“8 


PoLyPorus FRONDOsUS.—A specimen of this enormous fungus W 
recently exhibited at one of the Horticultural Society Exhibitions at — 
Bos It was found growing on the decayed stump of an oak tree in 


so that the plant resembles an umbrella, the sticks of which are replaced 
by a serried mass of vertical tubes, on the ap aphass of which gro 
the reproductive dust called spores. The P. frondosus produces its pile 
in side growths, which look HE thick, fleshy leaves, and hence the spe 
cific name. 

Many of these eccentric species grow to an enormous size. The speci- 
men referred to was four feet in circumference. A specimen of P. gigan- ! 
teus, collected in Forest Hill Cemetery some years ago, was over five feet 
in circumference, and weighed ten pounds. — C. J. SPRAGUE. 


e 


NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. Al 


Tue Torrey FESTIVAL. — The Botanical Club of New York has been 
for some time engaged on a catalogue of the plants growing within thirty 
miles of New York city. A catalogue, embracing the same territory, was 


ry 

twentieth of December. Invitations were extended to those who had 
prominently identified themselves with American botany, and the club 
wishes us to say that they used all possible diligence to invite all inter- 
ested, and if there were any omitted, it was from inadvertence. The day 
was unfortunately one of the most inclement of the year, and the impedi- 
ments to travel prevented many from coming from abroad. Among the 
guests were Professor Gray and Dr. Pickering, of Cambridge; Professors 
Eaton and Brewer, of New Haven; Professors Porter and Green, of Eas- 
ton, Pa.; Thomas P. James, of Philadelphia ; S. T. Olney, of Providence; 
C. F. Austin, Closter, N. J.; S. B. Parsons, of Flushing; and I. Bu- 
chanan, of New York. All present were furnished with a button-hole 


co . After the 
substantials had been disposed of, Professor Thurber gave the following 


ADDRESS. 

For some occult reason I have been placed in a position where I am to 
speak for the Botanical Club of New York. It is indeed a pleasure to 
meet such a number of botanists, and my first duty is to express the 
thanks of the club to those who have come from abroad at this inclement 
season to aid us in our festivities. The incentive to this genial gathering 
is so well understood, that any elaborate remarks are fortunately unnec- 
essary. On December 22d, 1817, there was presented to the Lyceum of 
Natural History, ‘‘A Catalogue of Plants growing spontaneously within 


so important to botanical science, not only in America, but in the world. 

Here I must correct an error of the printed invitations, which are made 
to say that this is the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the cata- 
logue. The title-page bears the date of 1819, and an explanatory adver- 
tisement says, “ Although the following pages were reported as early as 
Dece 


te 
tion, rather than that of its presentation. Such are assured that the 
club will consider the subject in season for the centennial anniversary. 
This little volume is now so rare, that I have brought it here, in part be- 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 6 











_ thona:of new Grasses from the Rocky Mountains : 


42 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 




























cause it may be of interest to some to see it, but mainly because its timed 3 


Iam aware that on occasions like the present it is customary for the | 
speaker to assume that the hearers are quite in doubt as to the person 3 
spoken of, and to relieve their minds only at the close of his speech, by i 
announcing the name of the one who has been eulogized. Unskilled iz a 
pap jaian of ar table orator, and quite sure of being unable to keep 4 
a state of suspense, I go directly to — point and say 
=p author of the catalogue is Doctor Jonn Torr 
e look through the pages of the ee we are astonished at its 
se or and wonder that a mere youth could a accomplished the. 
eut amount of preparatory labor necessary to the 7 
In imagination we can look back over the attak on half century, a 
see the young enthusiast PSOEn in localities that are to be found. 
only in this catalogue. The “swamp behind the Botanic Garden,” 
the ‘‘bog-meadows near Greenwich” have lon ng ago been built over, al 
Love-lane is now a paved street. The station here recorded for Draba 
Caroliniana has ceased to be available to the eet of the prema day, 
as that plant no longer grows, according to the catalogue, E 
fields about Canal street.” Not only have localities disappeared, but those — 
whose names are associated with them, and who are recorded as having 
contributed material to the catalogue, have passed away also. Mitch- 
ell, Nuttall, Rafinesque, Eddy, LeConte, Cooper, and others, while they 
live in the memory of a few of those present, are to the most of us known | 
only by their works. From this catalogue as an initial point, let us 
briefly survey fe si ied half century with reference to the botanic 
- works of its au 
In 1820, Seis edie in Silliman’s Journal, vol. 4, A Notice of Plants 
collected by Capt. N. Douglass around the Great Lakes at the Head-waters 
of the Mississi; 


In 1823, the Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History co 
tained the first instalment of the many precious contributions made | 
the author to our knowledge of the plants of the far West. Its title 
Descriptions of some new or rare Plants Jrom the Rocky Mountains, collect 
by Dr. Edwin James. 

In 1824 was published, A Filara of the Northern and Middle United Stat 
or a Systematic Arrangeme nt and Description of all the Plants heretofore 

o 


ve 
work was published, and as a portion of the edition was destroyed 
fire, it is now only rarely to be met with. It contains over five hund 
pages, and includes the first twelve classes of the Linnean syaa. :. 

In the same year, 1824, we find in the Annals of the Lyceum, Deseri 
a is and tha pata OE 
_ Dr. Torrey appears as editor and joint author with Schweinitz, of A 
ograph of the North American n Species of Carex. 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 43 


The year 1826 was marked by the publication of the Compendium of the 
Flora of the Northern and Middle States, a —. so full, concise, and com- 
pact, that it was indeed acompendium. Probably some of those present 
can remember when this volume came to their relief, and the delight with 
which they turned to its brief diagnoses, after puzzling over the vague 

ks. 


December, 1826, our author read before the Lyceum, 
Some Account of a Collection of Plants made during a Journey to and from the 
ocky Mountains, in the Summer of 1820, by Edwin P. James, M. D., Assis- 
tant Surgeon U. S. Army. This paper was not published until 1828. It 7 
a memoir of some eighty pages, and enumerates 481 plants, many o 
Which were new species. This was, up to the date of its nanan sn 
author’s most important PRD to science, and is even now fre- 
quently refered = by the student of our Sma plants. ampai 
ecial interest, as it was am first Americun work of any impor- 
tance in sentir the arrangement was according to the Natural System. 
‘The only exception to this is a list by Abbé Correa, of those genera ap- 
pended to Muhlenburgh’s Catalogue, arranged according to the Natural 
Orders of Jussieu. A Catalogue of North American Genera of Plants, ar- 
ranged according to the Orders of Lindley’s Introduction to Botany, was pub- 
lished in 1831, both in a separate form, and as an appendix to an American 
nme m Lindley’s work. 

I 6, the Annals of the Lyceum are rich with the Monograph of the 
Cyperacee, and the volume for 1837 contained a memoir on New Genera 
and Species of Plants. 

The year 1838 saw the commencement of the Flora of North America, 
by John Torrey and Asa Gray, which was published in numbers and a 
intervals until the year 1843. The rich treasures lear in by our West- 

ern explorers SS the continuance of this work, and its authors 
directed their agross to plants from hitherto tae en fields. That 
elaborate sect in o large volumes, The Flora of the State of New 
York, by John Torey, was published in 1843, a year which began a re- 
markable era in Ameri botany. In that year commenced that magnifi- 
cent series of a acca to our Western Flora by Torrey. Gray, and 
others, which followed one another in rapid succession. Nicollet’s plants, 
published in his report in 1843, was the first of this almost continuous 
series of reports, of which I will mention only those wholly or in part by 
Dr. Torrey. That daring young lieutenant of the Topographical Engi- 
neers, now General Fremont, made two expeditions to the Rocky Moun- 
tains, the botanical results of which “sete i in 1845. The report of the 
plants collected by Emory followed in 1848. 

In the Smithsonian Contributions we find three memoirs by our author 
accepted in 1850, though they were not published until a year or two 
later. These were A Memoir on Batis, another on Darlingtonia, and 
Plante Fremont 


tane, 
collected by General Fremont in his memorable expedition to California. 


44 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


_ The year 1852 gave us the plants collected by Stansbury in the Region of 7 
Salt Lake | 





some of these expeditions were elaborated by Newberry, Durand, and — 
others. Those collected by Beckwith and Gunnison, and by Pope onthe — 
Llano Estacado, appeared under the joint authorship of Torr E 


a. h 
of the botanical portion of them he contributed freely, often working up 
entire families. 

€ most voluminous, as well as in some respects the most important — 
of these Botanical Reports of the Government expeditions is that of the a 
Mexican Boundary, published in 1859, and with this I close this chrono- — 
logical account, remarking that some contributions to science have been 
omitted altogether, 

This little catalogue of 1817 began the list, and it closes with the ele- 
gant quarto of the Mexican Boundary. Indeed there is no student of — 
American Botany who has not almost daily occasion to refer to the works | 

TORREY o 


ough his correspondence. These are works that will never be pub- 
lished, but they are deeply imprinted on the hearts of botanists in all- 
parts of the country. 
Tt may be thought that this hurried review of the botanical labors of our 
_ guest is incomplete, without some reference to his character as a man. 
- It is always a delicate task to speak fittingly of another in his presence 
_ and I could hardly trust myself to give utterance to what I feel is due 
him. Happily I am saved from the embarrassment that the attempt 








NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 45 


would i by maD what is in the thoughts of all here present. 
Every ore who has been brought in frequent communication with him 
knows ao he ct ASis the philosopher in the friend, and that he has 
been made not only a better botanist, but a better man 
Many years ago, Arnott published in Taylor’s Annals of Natural His- 
-tory a description of a new genus, established on one of the beautiful 
Conifers of Florida, and gave it the name of Torreya. The Florida spe- 
cies is Torreya taxifolia. Since then there have been added to the genus 
Torreya nucifera from the island of Japan, . Torreya ce from the 
Pacific coast, and possibly another from Northern China, T. grandis. 
While we are glad that a so fine and widely spread genus ae bear the 
name of our friend, we regret that Arnott had not been more happy in his 
choice of a term to as a our native species. Although a native of 
Florida, it is hardy on this island, and even as far north as Fishkill, on 
the Hudson. It holds its aan foliage through the cold and snows of 
winter, and its presence here suggests thoughts of more genial climes 
‘ Arno 


su and sho 

which has not ba ee freshness of ids but in which love—love to man 
and to God—reigns supreme? Long after the flowers shall have bloomed 
above us all, future botanists will carry on the work he has so nobly 
helped. ose yet unborn will wander by the Southern rivers, visit the 
mountains of far-off Japan, or climb our own grand Sierra Nevada in 
search of the Torreya, and his name will be remembered as long as 
there shall be botany and botanists. But these can only talk of him whom 
it is our privilege to know, to honor, and’ to love, and whose presence 
we now greet with the already too long-delayed sentiment: Long life, 
health, happiness, and. every blessing to our honored guest, Doctor JOHN 
TORREY. 


Doctor Torrey, after feelingly — his thanks, and the surprise 
which this demonstration was to him, gave an interesting account of his 
first introduction to the study of eves ny, and the great difficulties that 
attended the student in those days. Botanical ‘dee which, or their 
equivalents, are now to be had by every one, were then only to be found 
in the library of the New York pee oo r Torrey gave an account 
of some of the earlier teachers in the science, — Hosack, Eddy, Mitchell, 
and others, and a sketch of the history » pes Elgin Re Ga: —— 

The next regular sentiment was, ‘‘ The Flora of N ica;its past 
history and future prospects.” This was ea to ee Professor ated 
who EETA remarked that he hardly knew what Flora was inten 
but iew of it, if he were to judge from the number of young 
devotees abi as saw, he should consider Flora’s prospects very flatter- 
ing. He spoke of those who were collaborators in the Flora of North 











46 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


America, and especially of Sartwell and Dewey, both a whom had 
cently died, and to whose memory he paid a feeling tribu 

Dr. Pickering, who was with the U. S. Exploring se replied 
a sentiment referring to government aid to science. Professor Eaton, to 
one on botany in our rs The Flora of California was the subject 
of remarks silo Professor Brewer, which were interesting as well as hum 
m. Leggett, of the — gave an account of the new local 

w in preparation. Mr. Jam e a member of the club, spo! 

of ed relations of botany to floriculture. Professor ses Mr. 8. 








this country. It is very minute in its account, and is written in such im 
uch It 


. Clin : . Tu 
man, W. D. Brackenridge, Paina J. tats Russell, Dr. Z. Pitcher, 
Professor J. P. Kirtland, and that of Dr. Jacob Bigelow, now the oldest 

botanist, we give entire. 


GENTLEMEN, — — Your kind and flattering invitation, requesting m "e ae 
be given in New York in honor of much haapaa teats ain 
Torrey, is received with much gratitude, gre were now May or June instead of bleak De 
ber, I should be irresistibly tempted to join in your appropriate festiv vity. But as there 


tad on 





tually to apa the forh I am anahe, phena ‘to give u the promered | wer i 

acquaintan your honored gu = 7 t that dis- 
tance of time, I h 1 jen Pi Pe AS a lit 

the plants of Boston. "Dr Torrey, who was then eating ational work on 
American plants, with more rote me natin s sly 01 

me the use of his collections, notes, and personal paehna I would undertake the 

. Fortunately for Botanical eiaa I declined the responsibility, and the work hass 

ners SAES out by himself and Asa G 














: a at times I } k ig ic d plants ont 
Rhine, the Rhone, the ss tiner, a and the, Deane a not overlooking the St. Lawrence and the Mis- 








NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 47 


Te q If ne ; 3 + + 


souri. T y g I Fort Harker, away among the 





1 q hill 





Riv 
Although n if a sci ientific section of = Unk were now to be made, it might Senses about 
ur-score annual circles, yet I am happ: ‘ar to do 
their duty, and the sap vessels to transmit hele. Sonim _And I confidently enor : that on no 








J 


I am, gentlemen, with th test 


5 + 3 





JACOB BIGELOW. 





ZOOLOGY. 

HE BreEENnING Hapits oF Brrps.—I notice in the November num- 
ber of the NATURALIST an article from Mr. Fowler, in which are given 
some interesting facts in relation to the breeding habits of several of 
our birds, but which are, as Mr. Fowler says, so uttefly at variance 
with the accounts given of these bird’s habits in my recent book, that 
I Ie tréspass on your limits for an explanation, and reiteration 

of some of my remarks. In the work referred to, I describe the King- 
fisher’s gates as being placed in holes excavated in sand-banks, to the 
depth of three, four, sometimes six or eight feet. 

The holes found by Mr. Fowler were less than three feet in length, 
and none of them contained any nest materials whatever. Here Mr 
Fowler’s experience is entirely different from my ow ong of numbers 
of these holes that I have dug out, many of them were beyond four feet 


their loose nests composed of straws, sticks, and a few feathers, and I 
should be surprised me meet with the eggs laid on the cold damp earth, 
such as would be at the bottom of such deep excavations. I find, on re- 
oe to the various korn ote that nearly all had similar experiences with 


pares says, ‘‘The hole is dug to the depth of four, five, or some- 
times six feet; at the farther end, on a few sticks and feathers, the 
eggs are deposited.” 
ilson says, ‘‘The hole is dug, sometimes to the extent of aa or five 
feet. the nest is constructed of loose grass and a few feat 
Nuttall says, ‘‘The bank is horizontally perforated, to the PER of five 
or six feet. Here, on a few twigs, grass, and feathers, the eggs are de- 
A. ” 


Dr. Thompson, in “Birds of Vermont,” says, ‘‘ The perforations some- 
times extend five or six feet into the bank. The nest consists of twigs, 
grass, and feathers.” 

In describing the breeding place of the Red or Mottled Owl, in my 
work, I use the following language: “The Mottled Owl selects for a 
nesting-place a hollow tree, often in the orchard. The nest is made at 
the bottom of = hollow, and is constructed of grass, leaves, moss, and 
sometimes a few feathers. It is not eluborately made, being nothing 
more than a heap of soft materials.” 


* 


n in depositing its eggs on the horse. I was very busy at the time, 





‘idea of sewing, such as the process of preparing the nest of the V 


Dies is, that one day I discovered an Anthrax on the wing by © 


48 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 






































Here again Mr. Fowler disagrees with me, saying that the bird makes 
no nest, or, at least, he has never found one. I can only say that I have 
found numbers of the nests of these birds, none of which were in 
«abandoned nest of the crow or hawk,” but all were made, as before 
scribed, in holes in trees. I have had over fifty eggs of this species § 
me during the past season, and all were found in such nests as Th 
described. tite this species I also find that my accounts are supported 
by other author i 

Nuttall says, “the nest is usually in the hollow of an old orchard 
it is lined carelessly with a little hay, leaves, and feathers.” 

Audubon says, ‘The nest is placed in the bottom of the hollow tru 
of a tree, often not at a greater height than six or seven feet from he 
ground, at other times so high as from thirty to forty feet. It is co i 
posed of a few grasses and feathers.” 

Dr. Thompson, in ‘‘ Birds of Vermont,” says, ‘‘ Their nest, which 
made of grass and feathers, is placed at the bottom of a hollow tree or 
stub.” 


I give this matter this extended notice, not for the purpose of throw 
discredit on Mr. Fowler’s statements, for 1 know him to be a good 
server, but to show that my descriptions will faithfully apply to, at le 
the majority of occurrences in the breeding habits of the species ret 
red to. 

As to the matter of the Marsh Hawk’s nest being “rather nes 

woven,” to which Mr. Fowler takes exceptions, I will say. that p 
haps ‘‘interlaced” would be a better word, since ‘woven’ ' ve 


and Oriole, but ‘‘interlaced” conveys the idea of careful adjustme 
which should be understood in connection with the nest of this § 
cies.— EDWARD A, SAMUELS, Boston. 


PARASITE. — Inclosed you will find some thin shavings from boa 

and slabs where the Xylocopa abounds, with small eggs attached, W 
I strongly suspect to be those of Anthrax sinuosa. They are 
quite numerously around the openings of the cells of the former it 
and also extend to some distance from them. In pressing some of 
eggs with the point of a pin, small maggots made their appearance, 
my lens was not powerful enough to enable me to make out what 
were, but they seemed to me to resemble very much the Anthrax in 
earliest stages, as I have found it on the Xylocopa. I have no doubt yo 
can determine this matter,* and should it prove to be what I have SUl 
in it is, it will open an interesting field for future observation. 
n that strongly inclines me to the belief that they are the eggs 


the openings of a Xylocopa cell, acting in the same manner as the P 





arth, + Ss 2.) 5 th pr 4 ‘i, THe. 
DO rY ey ana 








NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 49 


did not look for the eggs until some time afterwards, when I found those 
of which the inclosed are a sample. However, I think if you find them 
to sete toa TROR insect, there can be no doubt but sai are those 
of A. sinuosa. — JAMES ANGUS. 


HIBERNATION OF WILD BEES ae beg leave to say that I think you 
have made a mistake in supposing or stating that the females only, 
and not the males of Ceratina dupla, survive the winter. Both sexes, 


according to my observations, hybernate, as py ce aa Virginica. 
beg o re ou say,* wi 


wW 
tities, and not unfrequently males also. While this is the case with some 
species, I think what you say is correct with regard to others. — JAMES 
ANGU 


JUVENILE NATURAL History Socrery.—We have in this city per- 
haps quite a T curjosity, na mely, a re ear of Natural 
History, composed of boys less than twenty year age. We have 


been organized two years, and are now in a very haar hire condition, 
although it was hard ‘‘tugging” for a few of us the first year. We cave, 
for us, a large collection, and a good one, numbering some eight hun- 
dred specimens. We cannot, of course, do much at research, but we are 
coming surely along the road you older naturalists have gone; and, b 
and by, when we get on the frontier where you are, you will hear from 
us.—G. W. a arend nd ae? Michiga 

PROTECTION ROM Insects.—The quantity of fruit ge- 
stroyed wich iss -E cae their eggs in the blossoms is enormous. 


odor of which is enough to drive them away, and, in some cases, to des- 
troy them, and nothing more is required than to sprinkle the branches 
with a mixture of vinegar and water at the moment the blossoms begin 
to appear. The so at consisting of one part of strong vinegar to 
nine parts of water, can be sprinkled over the flower-buds by means of 
a garden engine or syringe, or even with a watering-pot with a fine nose. 
— Proceedings of the Entomological Society, JATHA 1866. 

OCCURRENCE OF THE BARNACLE GOOSE IN NORTH AMERICA. —AÀ speci- 
men of this goose (Bernicla pia has recently been received by the 
Smithsonian Institution from Mr. B. R. Ross, a gentleman well known for 
his collections and publications riia to arctic zodlogy. It was obtain- 
ed by that gentleman near Rupert House, on James Bay (the southern 

į 


men brought to the notice of naturalists. It has for a long time been in- 
dicated as belonging to our fauna, but only on hearsay evidence of gun- 
ners and travellers, and it is not mentioned pi Richardson at all in his 
work on American Arctic Zoölogy.—S. F. B 





" * Naturalist, Vol. I, p. 392. 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II T 


í 
























50 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. ‘ 


LE EaG.— Yesterday one of my servants, on opening a hen’s 

egg site another egg within it. The inclosed was about the size of a 
robin’s egg, with a well-formed, slightly rough shell. It lay in the white. 
The parent egg was fully formed and was eaten. I heard of it on arriv- 
ing home, and secured the small one. It has not yet been opened. — E. L. S. 
There are two similar specimens in the Museum of the Essex Institute. 
poe cases are also mentioned as occurring in England, in Hardwicke’s 
ce Gossip, in which it states that a ‘‘communication was made last — 

year ot the Académie des Sciences of France, of a similar occurrence.”— _ 
EDITORS. 


Hasrrs OF THE E PTRD SNAKE. — A case of the common striped snake 


after a chase by crushing itin its folds 
in the boa constrictor manner, has for the first time come to my know- 





an- 
ner described of the large constrictors, except perhaps the chasna 
F. W., Newark, N. J. 





sep tae 

THE MICROSCOPE IN GroLocy.—D. Forbes, in the Popular Science 
Review, writes on this pen novel subject. After a few prefatory 
remarks upon the general advantages of the use of the Microscope in 
all 


ents of such rocks are seen to be developed as more or less perfect 
crystals, at all angles to one another,” which he infers could only take 
in a rock at one time, ‘in a state of liquidity or solution ” (aqueous 
or igneous). When “ quartz, leucite, calcite, felspar,” and other colorless 
minerals present similar appearances in thin sections, they may be d 
tinguished al “their optical properties and the use of polarized light 
by similar tests different forms of the same mineral may be separate 
and the structure, whether crystalline or vitreous, determined, and t 
alterations in eruptive rocks produced by. the action of water, the atmo: 
; or other lied. In pendant refere 
is made to the discovery by Sorby of the existence ‘tof nume: min 
” and also in volcanic aten “int ! 
felspar and nephiline ejected f from the crater of Vesuvius.” These fact 
and the farther statement that “finia vapor, gas, and stone cavities, 
common both to the volcanic quartz- -trachytes and the oldest g 








NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 51 


three kinds or classes: Ist. “ Those Pager em of the immediate products 
of the breaking up of eruptive rocks.” “Rocks built up of the more 
or less rounded or angular debris of fice sins existing sedimentary or 
eruptive rocks.” 3d. “Rocks composed of mineral substance extracted 
from aqueous solution by crystallization, precipitation, or the action of 
organic life.” Strata of the first class are often identical in aspect and 
chemical composition, but their irregular sedimentary structure is dis- 
solved upon submitting them to the microscopical test. Very fine, com- 
pact rocks may be distinguished from crystalline rocks by the same 
means. ‘Roofing-slate, however, has a definite arrangement of the par- 
ticles in lines, which constitute the lines of weakness or the cleavage of 
the slate.” This arrangement, however, is explained by the effects of 
pressure, applied at right-angles to the structure itself, causing an elon- 
gation of some, together with a sliding I of others of the par- 
ticles 

Uski the third head we notice that the’ clays of Staffordshire, when 
altered by contact with basaltic dykes, present a structure identical with 
common stoneware made from the same clays, and show “no change in 
mineral or chemical composition, beyond the expulsion of the water 
always contained in such beds.” The foliated schists, quartzites, etc., 
show the contours of the original sand-grains, and, as Sorby has pointed 
out, the existence of ripple-drift and wave-structure 


eel 


ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Tue MistLETOE.—I believe it is the common opinion of naturalists 
om the common Mistletoe of this Southern country steals the elabo- 
from the stalk which supports it. I, think it can be proved 
aa A but that it draws its portion of crude sap and elabo- 
rates it, returning a portion to the tree on which it grows. I would 
be very glad to know if I am correct in reference to the common opin- 

ion of naturalists, and will oblige you to inform me.—J. M. 
It is not the common opinion that the Mistletoe of the Southern States, 


view of proving experimentally that the Mistletoe does not take elabo- 
rated sap alone (for it very probably takes some) from its host, as they 
could not fail to be interesting. — H. M. 

Ts Masropow ns Kansas. —T send yon a photograph and dee 








52 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 



















streams, where there is some danger of savants losing their scalps. One 

rib has been detached and ground up into powder by the Indians for med- 

icine.—Joun D. PARKER, Topeka, Kansas. # 

a5 referred your letter and photograph to Professor J. Wyman, W. 
tes: 


“Thé chil ograph is unluckily taken from an oblique point of view, 
which I believe Lee will never learn to be a bad one. If the view had 
been full front, or full side, or full anything, it would have been better 


render the production of sound and well-developed fruit more sure. 
botanists think if it were not for bees and other insects, many plants 
would not fruit at all. This whole subject of the great office bees and 
other insects perform in the fertilization of plants has been fully discus- 
sed in the May, July, and October numbers of the AMERICAN Na 
ride by RTT Asa Gray in the AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, beginning 
ay, 
Pi is iy ae that bees do injury in some way by extracting the honey 
owers. What is the use in nature of honey? The best observers 


If all the bees were to be destroyed, I for one, if a farmer, would prefe: 
to go into some other business. This prejudice against bees a to u: 


+ ee 


R. H., Nichols, N. = — The hymenopterous insect from the sug 
maple tree is the Tremex columba. It bores, while in the larva state, i 
the trunk of the maple and oak. The beetles are Copris anaglypticus $ 
Cicindela sexguttata, Ancylocheira 6-plagiata and A. fasciata. The fy 8 
allied to Tabanus, the House-fly, and has a powerful bite. 

E. B., Wheeling, West Virginia.—The microscopic form found in 
ruvian Guano appears to be one of the Polycystine. The only auth 
that we know of is Ehrenberg’s Microgeologie. Specific, and even 
neric names, are almost useless in this group of Rhizoi seemed —C.5S. 





PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 53 


W. W. G., Ann Arbor, Wis. ep spe insects called snow-fleas are 
probably the Podura nivicola of Dr. Fitch. They are found in winter 
at the foot of trees, under the Bic of ie they pa and also about 
manure heaps and in e 

The Heleochara communis, a homopterous insect, allied in form to the 
Cicada, or seventeen-year locust, produces the frog-spittle seen in mid- 
summer on grass. The larva sucks in the sap, which passes through the 
body and forms a frothy mass concealing the insec 





PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


anaes. sane 


Essex Institute, Salem. — First Field Meeting at Haverhill, on Tuesday, 


eather. erp cy meer: on oa north hank of the Merrimac, is a 


towns, a 
of Indian barbarity is among its SL a legends. The prin- 
cipal point of attraction to the naturalist is ‘‘ Kenoza Lake,” formerly 
known as the “ Great Pond,” a lovely sheet of water, embosomed among 
the hills, covering an area of about three hundred acres. During their 
rambles in its vicinity the party was rewarded in finding many interest- 
ing apre in the various departments. 

The afternoon session was held in the North Congregational Church, 
and was called to order at 2.30 o'clock, Vice-president Fowler in the chair. 
Dr. George B. Loring, of Salem, made a few eloquent remarks on the 
prospects of the year, and the occasion which had brought them together. 
F. W. Putnam, of Salem, gave a description of the habits of the common 
Plant-louse. Dr. James R. Nichols, of Haverhill, remarked that chemi- 


ta 

the pgg and library of the Institute, and alluded in very 

terms to cent donation of Mr. George Peabody, for the e promotion 
of science ie useful knowledge in this county. Edward S. Morse, of 
Salem, drew a comparison of the studies of the naturalist near the =: 





ren Ordway, of Bradford, and others, 








54 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 






































Second Meeting at Andover.— After a cordial reception by Professor 
Thayer, of the Theological Seminary, the company divided A hg 
ae and visited the various objects of interest; many w 

rary and museum of the blips Seminary, the new fils 
a Phillips Academy, etc. The naturalists repaired to the woods and 
meadows, and were amply repaid ye their excursions. The meeting 
was held in the South Congregational Church. Dr. George B. Loring, of 
Salem, of the Field Meeting Committee, presided, and, on taking the chair, 
alluded to several interesting episodes in the history of this town, and 
briefly stated the objects of the Institute. .A. Hyatt, of Salem, spoke of 


he had found during the previous ramble, and illustrated his subject by 
drawings on the blackboard. Professor Hitchcock exhibited a map of An- 
dover, upon which he had designated, by different colors, the localities of 
the four principal kinds of rocks—granite, stratified gneiss, mica schist, 
and ae Carer: Quincy sienite. George D. Phippen, of Salem, spoke 
of the Rev. Mr. Smith, pastor of the church; Rev. C. R. Palmer, of 
Salem; nae F. G. jia o of Andover; Hinapi D. Crosby, of Dart- 
mouth College; Professor A. Crosby, of Salem; President Larrabee, for- 
merly of R cua and others, alias the scene 

Third Meeting at Beverly Farms, on Thursday, August 1, 1867.— Dis- 
embarking at Pride’s aint Hoke on the Gloucester Branch Railroad : 
party separated into groups, under guides familiar with the adjacent ; 
country. One of these groups rambled over the wild and elevated re- 


J 
3 
=] 
— 
i=) 
fee) 
bar} 
= 
A 
m 
© 
S 
— 
= 
E 
S 
zi 
© 
t 
te 
© 
La] 
E 
ect 
® 
r 
st & 
° § 
n 
F 
5 
c+ 
Dp 
G 
i) 


elegant mansions in that beautiful locality. r ce of naturalists passed — 
the forenoon in dredging the harbor for crabs, worms, mollusks, and 
zoophytes 
atten ynoon session was held in the Second Baptist Church, at 
nin: Vice-president A. C. Goodell, jr., in the chair. After a few pre- 
inary remarks from the chair, reading records, correspondence, ani 
daia C. M. Tracy, of Lynn, described the flora peculiar to this rei 


since those cultivated in one country, grow spontaneously in others. 
Messrs. E. S. Morse and A. Hyatt spoke of the various objects found 
during the previous dredgings, —the first named discussed the mollusea, 
the other the radiates, and also described the different belts or zones 
which animals and plants are found, each having its peculiar species. 





PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 55 


Joseph E. Ober, of Beverly Farms, gave a valuable historical sketch of 
Wests Beach. He said that- the name was. derived, not from the point 
of compass, but from John West, who held a grant of the place from 
Salem in 1660. Rev. A. P. Peabody, D. D., of Harvard University; R. &. 
Rantoul, F. W. Putnam, E. N. Walton, T. Ropes, and H. Wheatland, all of 
Salem, made remarks appertaining to the objects of the meeting. 

Fourth Meeting at Kittery, Maine, on Thursday, August 21, 1867. — The 
first meeting outside the limits of the State, and the second held out of 
Essex county. The principal objects ne DERETA aside from the natu- 
ral history of the place, are the U. S. Navy-yard, and the historical asso- 
ciations; here are to be seen the mansion of Sir wis Pepperell, the 
richest merchant and most extensive land-owner in New England at the 

‘time when he won his military reputation at Louisburg, and a baronetcy 
from the English crown; a portion of this building has been changed, but 
enough remains to give an idea of its pristine grandeur; also, the Spar- 

awk mansion, built by Sir William for a married daughter, is elabo- 
rately decorated; the Cutts’ house, etc. 

The afternoon session was held in ee hea building of the 

8. & ailroad, kindly granted to our use by the President and 
Directors of iet oad, and was called to order at 2 o’clock, by Vice- 
president Goodell. etnias botanical and zodélogical specimens, culled 
by the members, were laid upon the table, and the chairman called upon 
various gentlemen to explain them. Mr. C. M. Tracy, of Lynn, discussed 
he flor: ey t 


homo, or that part of it which is hative to Arizona Territory, the peel 


and character. Rev. E. C. 

Society of Natural History, and then gave an interesting discourse on 
microscopic fungi. Rev. Joseph Banvard, of Patterson, N. J., responded 
for a new society, founded on the plan of the Institute. Rev. George D. 
Wildes, of Salem, alluded to the Historical Associations of this place. 
James N. Buffum, of ge soe others, addressed the meeting. 


town, replete with many old historical associations. On arriving, the 
party a geen to the Town Hall, where the baskets were deposited, 
from which they diverged in daiis directions, some into the woods, 
along ee banks of the river, and down to the very interesting beach 
just below its mouth. Some took the Topsfield road, in search of plants 
and snails; others to ‘the neck,” where some ancient In dian 
were inspected. 

je afternoon session was held in the vestry of the Methodist Church. 

ident Goodell, upon taking the chair, explained the objects of the 

Society, and briefly recounted its history. George D. Phippen, ot 








-p6 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 





















spoke of the flora. E. S. Morse described the Indian relics found in the 
mounds on the neck, also those which he had found at Goose Island, in 
Portland harbor. He concluded his remarks by describing the mann 
in which certain of the ee animals eat, ý Mustrating the process with 
figures on the blackboard. 

CHICAGO ACADEMY OF ScrEN Noces. Oct. 8, 1867.—Dr. J. J. Jewell, of 
the Lake Tunnel, read a report in relation the geology of the Chicago 
Lake Tunnel. 

Dr. Meyers, of Fort Wayne, Ind., then described the finding of the 
bones of the Mastodon, presented by him to the academy. He said the 


c p se 
found by the farmer, as well as the right to make farther explorations. 


u one 
skeleton of the calf and one of the adults are ine complete, and cap 
ble of being mounted. They lay at the depth of four or five feet, in a 
stratum of peat overlaying blue clay, containing naaran shells. d 
peat among the bones were found fragments of boughs and branches 
several kinds of wood, in a good state of preservation, some of which had 
been gnawed by the beaver. The spot at which the bones were found 
is a small basin-shaped depression in the middle of a corn-field, W 
was formerly a willow swamp, and has but recently been sufficiently we 
drained to allow of cultivation. It is a region where traces of ancit 
lakes and beaver-dams are particularly abundant. 

The size of the adult mastodon has not yet been estimated. 

by 


will not fall far short of this in dimensions, 
——+0—— 


_ BOOKS RECEIVED. 


NANKENO BAE London. November, December, 1 

Pe: eye London. November 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, a el T u, 21, 28, 
Ha ikes Science Gossi ember, December, 1 

Cosmos. November er Bevember ery At al 287 180, r Bog tei 38 10s, Paris. 


ge Arizona to the Pacific. 
Pe. er Fi nei Novembe 30, De D. (Πrom the Ibis , July, 1867. 
e r cember 
ly Journal of Science. T ai 25, 1868. London. 


American Bee Journal. January, February, 1 
Popular Science Review arterly). Londi à anuary, 1868. 
Chemical News. = Samar Febraaty, iss. a : 








R o i w : 
ime ene office; will the publishers ‘please 1 
Vie ater for Deo. 7 was never reseed, 





pna a ie 


AMERICAN NATURALIST. 


Vol. II.— APRIL, 1868.—No. 2. 
ece DD 


NOTES ON.MEXICAN ANTS. 


BY EDWARD NORTON. 





Te insects mentioned in the following paper were for- 
warded to the Smithsonian Institution from Mexico by Pro- 
fessor Sumichrast, with notes by him upon the habits of 
several of the species. It is a matter of some interest to 
notice, that, among over twenty species, about half of which 
are undescribed, not one is known in the United States, 
while several are found in Panama and Brazil. Yet many 
of them live in the temperate region of Mexico! ` 

I have added to the statements of Professor Sumichrast 
some recorded accounts of several of the species already 
described, to show how little is really known about these 
curious insects, and partly in the hope that some reader of 
this paper may also become an observer of the species around 
his. own home, in their varied habits and occupations and 
labors. In the whole insect world, only the honey-bee 
equals the ant in its instinct and the development of rea- 
soning powers which appear truly marvellous in such minute 
creatures. 

Perhaps the most striking peculiarity of the ants is their 
social character ; assembling in companies of almost countless 
numbers, and yet working in harmony for definite objects ; 


_ g Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF 
SCIENCE, in the Clerk's Oce of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
8 


AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. (57) 









58 NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 


for while they have no recognized head or guide, they all 
seem to devote themselves to systematic efforts for forward- 
ing the public good. All their energies are given to this, — 
and for this they are ready to sacrifice their lives. ) 
The family of ants, in addition to the males and females, _ 
which are winged and generally short-lived, presents “neue ] 
ters,” or workers, which are wingless and live throughout the a 
year, and perform the labor of the community. The males — 
and females appear in the summer only. After a certain — 
time, when they are allowed to leave the nest, the whole — 
society teems with excitement, and only settles back into its 
usual course when the superfluous members fly off in swarms — 
to seek new homes. Of those which remain, the males soon 
die, while the females tear off their wings, or have them _ 
torn off by the workers. Once established, the female soon : 
lays her eggs, which are minute, but increase in size before 
the larve burst forth. These are footless grubs, which are — 
carefully tended and fed by the workers, with a fluid pre- 
viously elaborated in their stomachs. When fully grown, 
these larvæ assume the dormant or pupa state, some genera 
forming cocoons, and some not, and soon undergo the trans- 
formation into the perfect insect. These larve and pup® 
are watched with jealous care by the workers, and are trans- 
ported by them to different parts of the nest, or more or less 
exposed to the air according to the temperature. Before 
man can foresee the coming storm, the nests are securely 
closed, and ere the skies are fairly cleared, their labors are 
resumed. The bodies of other animals, the juices of plani 
and even the sap secretions of other insects, such as Aphides: 
or Plant-lice, are taken by them for the nourishment of their 
helpless charges. ee 
The workers often present two distinct forms, now call 
the major and minor workers,. in addition to which a t 
set of workers is often found in one nest, which are evide 
of another species, but have been captured when Jarve 
the stronger species, and bred and enslaved for this purpos 


ory 

















NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 59 


On this point but little is recorded as yet in this country,* 
but we have abundant testimony from observers of European 
species. 

The major workers are usually of large size, and have the 
head greatly developed, but are comparatively few in num- 
ber. Their duties in the society are not clearly understood, 
but they are supposed to have some kind of superintendence 
over the rest. 

In the following descriptions I have thought best only to 
mention one or more of the prominent external characteris- 
tics by which the genera of the species here mentioned may 
be known. t 

; SUBFAMILY FORMICIDÆ. 

In the genus Formica, the node, or knot-like segment 
between the thorax and abdomen, forms a smooth, oval or 
globular mass, and there is no sting. 

Formica esuriens Smith. “This is very common in Ori- 
zaba and Cordova. It lives in great numbers in dead trees, 
in which it tunnels galleries, or under stones.” From its 
form this should be grouped with our large black Formica 
Pennsylvanica, which lives in dead trees. It is not by 
any means certain that the species living in dead wood per- 
forates that which is living. It seems much more likely 
that it occupies the channels already opened by the grubs of 
various borers, and helps to complete the work partly done 
for it. In this region the worker remains in a torpid state 








- *See Mr. J. A. Allen’s “ Notice of a Foray of a oy, of Formica sanguinea La- 
treille, upon a Colony of the black species of Formica, for the purpose of making 
Slaves of the latter.” Proceedings of the Essex Institute, Vol. V, p: l, 1866. 

Formicidæ. has b 


1e Ant-family, Fe having the 








icide. fi t of the abd ing a single node. (See Fig.3 a, 
showing the pape node cor Polyrhachis) Not pro nae wana sting. 
Poneride.— The segment of the abdomen with one node. Provided with a 


sting. 
Myrmicide.— ment of the ‘abdomen with two nodes. Provided 
sting. From this Sakis two more subfamilies have been eren Attidæ, the 
workers ve enormously developed | heads, and i , 


1 tha 








Caus or p Ve a3! liy or p - 


60 NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 


in decaying wood in midwinter. Dr. Fitch has described a 
smaller species (Formica Carye) which inhabits hickory 4 
trees, boring its passages, as he thinks, in the living wood. 
The wood on the sides of these passages is much discolored 
and softened, probably by an acrid fluid (formic acid) emit- 
ted for that purpose by the insects. 

Formica fulvacea. (Fig. 1, worker major.) “Taken in 
Cordova, where, in the woods, it ordinarily makes its nests 
in the middle branches of Bromeliaceous parasites.” 

Formica nitida. “Inhabits the mountains of Orizaba, 
where it lives in little companies under the bark of pines.” 

Formica nacerda. “Orizaba and Cordova. Found upon — | 
leaves of plants.” a 

Tapinoma. In this genus the node is usually received d 
into a depression at the base of the abdomen proper, so that — , 
at first sight it often seems to be entirely wanting. a | 

Tapinoma piceata. “Potrero (near Cordova) Inthe wood — | 

| 
f 
; 





of oaks.” 

Tapinoma tomentosa. (Fig. 2, worker; the antennæ im- 
perfect.) “Orizaba. In little societies under stones.” 

Polyrhachis. This genus has the node of the peduncle 
thickened and usually spinose (whence the generic name 
from the Greek, meaning many-pointed), having two, three, a 
or four.spines. The thorax is usually more or less armed 
with spines or hooks. 

Polyrhachis arboricola. (Fig. 3, worker, 3a, side view 
of thorax and abdomen.) “Mexico. Indigenous in the hot 
region, where it is very common. Its nest is ordinarily 


















sometimes dwells a little species of Paroquet, the Conurus 
Aztec Somm.) Itis quite vagabond in its habits, and one 
sees it running around on the trunks of all sorts of trees 
and leaves of shrubs, which strongly proves it to be essen- 
tially a tree inhabitant. It causes no trouble on plantations.” 


NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 61 


SUBFAMILY PONERIDZ. 

Ponera. This genus, which is allied to the “Driver Ant” 
of the west coast of Africa, is known by having the node of 
the peduncle thickened, nodiform, with the first segment of 
the abdomen more or less constricted. In the anterior wings 
there are one marginal, two complete submerged, and one 
discoidal cell. All the tibial spurs of the tibie are pectinate, 
or comb-like. 

Ponera strigata. “Temperate region of Mexico, under 
stones.” 

Ponera pedunculata Smith. One worker was received 
from Mexico. This species has previously occurred at Pan- 
ama and at Rio. 

Ectatomma. This genus is known by the thickened node 
of the peduncle, and the deep constriction between the first 
and second segments of the abdomen. The antenne are in- 
serted low down at the base of the clypeus; the eyes are 
placed above the middle of the face, while the spurs of only 
the anterior tibiæ are pectinate. 

Ectatomma ferruginea. (Fig. 4, 4a, side view of pedun- 
cle of the abdomen.) “Mexico. This species is only found 
in the encinales, or oak forests of the hot and temperate 
region, where it lives in little societies under the trunks of 
fallen trees.” The male differs very greatly in its antenne 
and the form of the thorax from the worker. Mr. Smith has 
noted and figured several such cases. But this species seems 
peculiar in the division of the metathorax. 

SUBFAMILY MYRMICIDÆ. 

In the genus Eciton, the peduncle consists of two nodes. 
The males and females are unknown. Both kinds of work- 
ers have very minute eyes, which are absent in some species. 
In several species the major workers have very long man- 
dibles curved at the end, but without teeth. 

Eciton hamata Fabr. “Rio Atoyai, near Cordova.” This 
is also found in Brazil and Cayenne. The two kinds of 





62 NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 


workers in this and the succeeding species have been pre- 
viously described. i 3 
Eciton Mexicana Roger. (Fig. 5, worker major, 50, 
front view of head showing the immense sickle-like mandi: — 
bles, and only the two basal joints of the antenne. F ig. 6, } 
worker minor; with a front view of the head, showing the ` 
mandibles of the usual size.) “Cordova, Orizaba, etc.” 
Eciton brunnea. “Occurs at Cordova, Orizaba, ete.” i 
Eciton Sumichrasti. (Fig.7.) “Cordova, Orizaba, ete. All — 
the researches that I have made up to this time to discover the _ 
JSormicarium of the Eciton, have been fruitless, and I cannot — 
obtain any information from the natives where these insects _ 
are common. At one time only (May, 1865) I found under & 
fallen trunk a prodigious number of workers of Æ. Mexicana. 
They were heaped and piled upon each other like the bees _ 
in a swarm. Attacking them with the end of a stick, I 
obliged them to disperse, but could find no entrance which | 
they concealed, no eggs, no males nor females. 
“Especially before a storm, or after a stormy rain, one 
meets travelling bands of Heiton. Their march is generally | 
conducted in excellent order, and with a file of one or two 
individuals in front. Sometimes, however, the column en- 
larges itself, scatters and attacks with fury the passer-by, 
who, by ill-luck, has disturbed the procession. The Æ. 
Mexicana especially seems naturally very irascible, and the 
entomologist who wishes to enrich his collection with speci- 
mens of this species, must take his time and protect his legs 
from an attack. - 
















E. Mexicana. It is difficult to satisfy oneself as to the 
which they fill in the community. I have watched 
attention the passage of columns of Eciton, but coul 
nothing to indicate any peculiar attributes to these in 
uals. 
“The Eciton does no harm to agriculture by depriving 


NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 63 


~~ frees of their leaves, like the GEcodoma. On the contrary, it 
ae Dales potoi a meet of noxious insects, and so recom- 

— ha, s jiself to plant while it merits the attention of 
ento mologi oaks bia ‘the singularity of its habits, and the ob- 
seurity which yet reigns about its history.” — 

In relation to the pmen of these major workers with long 
mandibles, Mr. Bates writes (British Museum Catalogue of 
Hymenoptera, Vol. VI, p.149) of a South American species : 
“I am quite convinced that these large-headed ones are a 
distinct order of individuals in a colony of Ecitons, and fulfil 
some distinct, peculiar functions.” “I once saw on a beach 
a dense column of Ecitons descending from the rocks on one 
side of the harbor, traversing the beach and climbing again on 
the opposite side; the length of the column visible was from 

_ sixty to seventy yards, and yet there was no appearance of 
the van or the rear of the army. It was probably a migra- 
tion, as all the small-headed individuals carried in their 
mandibles a cluster of white maggots, probably larve of 
their own species.” “The large-headed individuals were in 
proportion of perhaps about fve i in one hundred to the small 
individuals, but not one of them carried anything in its man- 
dibles. They were all trotting along outside fy the column, 
and distributed in regular proportion throughout the whole 
line, their globular white heads rendering them quite con- 
spicuous among the rest, bobbing up and down as they trav- 
ersed the inequalities of the road.” 

All of the Ecitons seem to prey upon living objects. It 
seems probable that animal food is converted into nourish- 
ment for their larve by comminution, as in other species is 
the case with vegetable matter. _ Mr. Bates observes “that 










ad 








cies, the . predator, n dense masses. “The entire 
phalanx, when passing over a teal of open ground, occupies 























64 NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 


a space of from six to ten square yards; where they pass,all | 
the rest of the insect world is in commotion and alarm. Th 
stream along the ground and climb to the summit of all 
lower trees, searching every leaf to its apex.” They : 
often seen with the larve and eggs and remains of other 
ants, doubtless the result of attacks upon their nests. Their ~ 
own nests have never yet been discovered. a 
Tn one case he thus chronicles the result of his examina- 3 
tion of Æ. legionis. One evening he discovered a column ~ 
of them at work. The next day he found them again not far | 
off. They were mining in a bank of light soil, and extract- 
ing therefrom a bulky species of Formica, with their larvæ 
and eggs. It was curious to see them crowding around ti 
orifices of the mines, and assisting their comrades to lift out 
the bodies of the luckless ants; the latter being too bulky” | 
to carry were torn to pieces, and the marauders forthwith 
started off laden with their booty. “For some distance there 
= were many lines of these moving along the declivity of th a 
bank, but at a short distance these converged. I then — 
traced them to a large and indurated and ancient termita- — 
rium; up the ascent of these the Ecitons were moving in: 
dense column, like a stream of liquid metal; many were 
lugging up the bodies of the Formicæ, and the whole di 
peared in one of the spacious tubular cavities, which alw 
traverse these old termitaria from the summit to the base 3 
Pachycondyla. In this genus the node of the peduncle 15 
thickened, cubical, or nearly so, elevated to the same i 
as the first segment, and usually of nearly the same wi 
The eyes are small and inserted low down upon the hea 
The spurs of only the two anterior tibiæ are pectinate. (M 
Smith says all are pectinate. ) By! 
Pachycondyla Orizabana. “It lives at Orizaba in Mti 
societies under stones and trunks of trees.” r 
Pseudomyrma. In this genus the first node is elo 
pedunculate, the second large and globose. The anten 
inserted near together and near the mouth ; eyes elong 








NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 65 


Meat occupy ing a large portion of the head. Anterior 
sea OS with-one-marginél and three submarginal cells. 
ie ee bicolor Guérin. (Fig. 8. The hind legs 
nted, the specimen being imperfect.) “Mexico. 
also found in Columbia and at Panama.” 

- Pseudomy yrma flavidula Smith. Mexico. This is also a 
South American species. I cannot feel quite sure that it is 
P. flavidula. “Among the quite numerous species of Pseu- 
domyrma that one finds in Mexico, one class appears to be 
solitary (at least, one never meets them except alone) while 
the others (as is the case in P. bicolor and P. flavidula) 
live in greater or less numbers 
within the spines which arm the | 
stems of certain species of Mimosa. 
These spines, fixed in pairs upon 
the branches, are pierced near their 
extremity by a hole (seen in the cut 
at a), which serves for the entrance 
and exit of the ants. The interior 
is hollow and includes some neuters, 
the larvæ, and, in the season, males 
and females. The Pseudomyrma saat stings very 
sharply, and attaches itself with tenacity by its mandiiles to 
the part of the body which it seizes. Although this differs 
a little in size, one of these species may be considered to 
be the P. flavidula Smith.” 

Mr. Smith has described a species from Panama (P. mo- 
desta), “which lives in the hollow thorns or spines of a spe- 
cies of Acacia. The fe are three inches long, tapering 








66 NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 





























Pseudomyrma thoracica. “Cordova. In the trunks and : 
under the neu of trees, in societies which are sometimes | 
very numerous.’ ' 

Two other species of Pseudomyrma from South America A 
have been observed by Mr. Bates, P. oculata and P. termi- 

'taria, which construct their dwellings in chambers in the 
outer walls of the tunnels of different species of Termes, or 
white ants. Still another species, with small colonies, con- i 
structs its formicarium in the pith-tube of dried twigs. 
From this variety of habits there would seem to be no defi- 
nite rule laid down for the genus, as in Formica and Myr ~ l 
mica. Each species or group of species must be studied 
separately, although the whole genus may meet on common | 
ground, as to its manner of procuring food and mode $i 
transformations. 1 

The genus Atta has. two nodes in the peduncle. The ; 
wings are larger than the body, with one marginal and three 
duhoasieinal cells, the third sometimes incomplete, the second 
bell-shaped. The large workers have greatly develop 
heads, and the corslet, or thorax, is without spines. Thit 
genus belongs to the subfamily Attidæ of Mr. Smith. 

Atta ebypeate Smith. (British Museum Catalogue of H 
menoptera, Vol. VI, p. 169.) Mr. Smith describes only the 
male and female. The worker minor from Orizaba, Mexico, 
agrees tolerably well with the description. 

Another genus of this group is’ @codoma. It differs from 
Atta externally, in having the corslet armed with ie 
and in the fore wings are two submarginal cells, the 
being incomplete. 

Gis Mexicana Smith. (Fig. 9, female; 10, wo 
major.) (British Museum Catalogue of Hymenoptera, 
VI, p. 185.) “This species is unfortunately too abunda 
in Mexico, in the temperate departments of the gulf ¢ 
such as those of Orizaba, Cordova, ete. The neuters i A 

_ known in Mexico under the name of arrieras, or hormi 
arrieras, from the similarity presented by their mare 








NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 67 


columns to a caravan of muleteers. The male and female 


~ bear the name of Zicatanas. In many places the natives 






«eat the abdomen of the females after having detached the 
thorax. 


“Itis specially in ‘the koci countries that the Ciico- 
domas build their enormous formicaries, so that one per- 
ceives them from afar by the projection which they form 
above the level of the soil, as well as by the absence of vege- 
tation in their immediate neighborhood. These nests occupy 
a surface of many square metres,* and their depth varies 
from one to two metres. Very many openings of a diameter 
of about one to three inches are contrived from the exte- 
rior, and conduct to the inner cavities which serve as store- 
houses for the eggs and larve. The central part of the nest 
forms a sort of foimel; designed for the drainage of water, 
from which, in a country where the periodical rains are often 
abundant, they could hardly escape without being entirely 
submerged, if they did not provide for it some outlet. 
“The system which reigns in the interior of these formi- 
caries is extreme. The polostín of vegetable debris brought 
in by the workers is at times sinsstdevable. But it is depos- 
ited there in such a manner as not to cause any inconven- 
ience to the inhabitants, nor impede their circulation. It is 
mostly leaves which are brought in from without, and it is 
the almost exclusive choice of this kind of vegetation which 
makes the @codoma a veritable scourge to agriculture. At 
each step and in almost every place in the elevated woods 
as in the plains, in desert places as well as in the neighbor- 
of f habitations, _ one meets numerous columns of these 
8, € wit ‘an admirable zeal in the transportation 
; en It ms even that the great law of the division 
not i | by, these little creatures, judging from 
‘aie Blowing observations which I have often had occasion 
to make. 
“The ground at the foot of the tree, where a troop of these 











+A metre is about thirty-nine (39.87) inches. 


























68 NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 


arrieras is assembled for despgiling it of its leaves, is ordi- 
narily strewn with fragments cut off with the greatest pre- 
cision. And if the tree is not too lofty, one can satisfy 
himself that a party of foragers, which have climbed the tree, 
oceupies itself wholly in the labor of cutting them off, while ; 
at the foot are the carriers which make the journeys between | 
the tree and the nest. This management, which indicates 
among these insects a rare degree of intelligence, is perhaps 
not a constant and invariable practice, but it is an incontest- 
ible fact, and one which can be constantly proved. a 

“The part of the inhabitants which may be called the work- f 
ers, is composed of wingless individuals of quite variable size. — 
The largest (workers majores of Smith) are distinguished _ 
from the others at first sight by the great enlargement of — 
the head, and the presence of a single ocellus upon the face. — 
Some travellers have attributed to these grosses-tétes, a SU 
perior share of intelligence, and represent them as exercising — 
a kind of surveillance over the other members of the com- ; 
munity. I avow that I cannot come to a like conclusion, 
for I have always seen them devote themselves to the same * 
_ labors of cutting off and transporting the leaves, etc., and 
this without indicating a higher development of instinct in” 
any way. Probably their special role, if they have one, is | 
borne in the excavation of the nest and in tunnelling the gal- 
leries, labors which demand a superior strength and better 
implements. 

“The nest of Gicodoma serves as a habitation for many 
parasitic lodgers: some serpents, and particularly certaiti 
insects, which there undergo their metamorphoses. dig- 
ging up their nests in the spring, one never fails to find 
there some large species of Scarabæides. One also very o! 
sees a great number of males of a wasp, Flis costalis Lep-s 











’ int ing questi hich I have not yet had an opport 
to solve, the females of Elis deposit their eggs in the bodies of the larve of Scarab 
At Tehuacan (Dep't of Puebla) where the Scolia Azteca Sauss. is very common, it 
Particularly abundant in the leather tanneries, which leads me to think that the fema 
also deposit their eggs under the epidermis of the larvæ which ab 


NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 69 


flying about these nests, and resting themselves upon the 
dead branches which happen to be there, thus, I feel well 
assured, awaiting the coming forth from these of the females 
of their species which have entered into the formicary. 

* At the commencement of the rainy season, after the first 
storms of the season, the Œcodoma begins the work of re- 
production. The union of the sexes probably takes place 
during the night, for in the morning one finds the neighbor- 
hood of the formicary strewn with the dead bodies of the 
males and the females, the latter already fertile, from whom 
the workers make it their duty to tear away their wings. 

“The ravages committed by the Gicodoma* in inhabited 
places, both by the surface which their nest removes from 
cultivation, and by the number of trees which they despoil 
of their leaves, are at times considerable, and demand very 
great watchfulness on the part of the cultivators. They 
have essayed a thousand ways to put an end to the havoc 
which these cause. The only mode which offers a sure 
chance of success is the removal, the extraction of the whole 
nest. For this purpose they dig a trench of sufficient depth 
around the whole, then carry away the dome or hillock and 
the walls of the nest, until, arriving at the cells of the larve, 
they destroy them and also the eggs. The perfect insects 
which escupe the ruin of their colony then disappear never 
to return. t 

“The coffee plantations, which demand a light soil, are fre- 
quently chosen by the hormigas arrieras as places in which 
tó construct their nests; and one can easily imagine the loss 
which they cause to the proprietors, if these last do not con- 














in the tan. [The Senrabeus ji beetle. Scolia is a wasp 


is a 1 z $ Bg A én ne 
allied to Elis; neither have been supposed hitherto to be parasitic insects. Their 








P y auy mem oo is 
** At least the Œc. Mexicana, for the Œc. hystrix, which also I have apenas ar 
ee ee ee Y 5 P OT GN S . so 4 ae + doing y mage. 





may be well to add that Orizaba is in the temperate, Cordova between the 

and hot, and Tehuacan in the cold regions or zones of Mexico. Mr. Bates reer 
the Œc. hystrix that he once “found a vast number in a low meadow, carrying y 
rs iieii Aat ae + Ft p + led i Is This was in Brazil. x 





“= 














70 NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS, 


tinue an active and daily surveillance over the manceuvres of 
these insects.” on 

It seems desirable to add the testimony of Mr. Bates as to 
the Gc. cephalotes, the common species of South America. 
“This insect, from its ubiquity, immense numbers, eternal 
industry, and its plundering. propensities, becomes one of 
the most important animals of Brazil. Its immense hosts — 
are unceasingly occupied in defoliating trees, and those most | 
relished by them are precisely the useful and cultivated | 
kinds. They have regular divisions of laborers, numbers — 
mounting the trees and cutting off the leaves in irregularly | 
rounded pieces the size of a shilling, another relay carrying © 
them off as they fall.” “The heavily laden fellows, as they 
came trooping in, all deposited their load in a heap close 
to the mound. About the mound itself were a vast number 
of workers of a smaller size. The very large-headed ones 













face, three burrows, each about an inch in diameter ; half @ 
foot downward, all three united in one tubular burrow about 
four inches in diameter. To the bottom of this I could not 
reach when I probed with a stick to the depth of four 
five feet. This tube was perfectly smooth and covered 
a vast number of workers of much smaller size than 


species. Besides the greatly enlarged size of the head, 
they have an ocellus in the middle of the forehead; t 
latter feature, added to their startling appearance from 
cavernous depths of the formicarium, gave them qu 
Cyclopean character.” 

Of another species, the Ge. sexdentata, Mr. Smith quo 


NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 71 


from Rev. Hamlet Clark, that at Constancia, Brazil, the 
proprietor of a plantation used every means to exterminate 
it and failed. “Sometimes in a single night it will strip an 
orange or lemon tree of its leaves; a ditch of water around 
his garden, which quite keeps out all other ants, is of no use. 
This species carries a mine under its bed without any diffi- 
culty. Indeed, I have been assured again and again by sen- 
sible men, that it has undermined, in its progress through 
the country, the great river Pariaba. At any rate, without 
anything like a natural or artificial bridge, it appears on the 
other side and continues its course.” This testimony is con- 
firmed by Mr. Lincecum (Proceedings of Academy of Natural 
Seiences, Philadelphia, 1867, p. 24) in an interesting account 
of the Œc. Texana, which he has observed for eighteen 
years. He states that they often carry their subterranean 
roads for several hundred yards in grassy districts, where 
the grass would prove an impediment to their progress. On 
one oceasion, to secure access to a gentleman’s garden, 
where they were cutting the vegetables to pieces, they tun- 
nelled beneath a creek which was at that place fifteen or 
twenty feet deep, and from bank to bank about thirty feet. 
He also observes that the smaller workers which remain 
around the nest do not seem to join in cutting or carrying 
the leaves, but are occupied with bringing out the sand, 
and generally work in a lazy way, very differently from the 
quick, active leaf-cutters. Also that the pieces of leaves are 
usually dried outside before being carried in, and that if wet 
by a sudden shower are left to decay without. He also 
thinks that their lives are dependent upon access to water, 
and that they always choose places where it is accessible by 
digging wells. In one case, a well was dug by Mr. Pearson 
for his own use, and water found at the depth of thirty feet. 
The ant-well which he followed was twelve inches in di- 
ameter. 

The genus Cryptocerus belongs to another subfamily, 
Cryptoceride, founded on the form of the head, which is 


72 NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 















more or less flattened above, with the sides expanded into 
flattened marginal plates, concealing or partly hiding the 
eyes. The peduncle consists of two nodes, the corslet is 
spinose, and the face is grooved in front for the reception l 
of the antennæ. 
Cryptocerus laminatus Smith. (Journal of Entomology, 
1860, p. 77.) Brazil. “This species lives at Cordova, m 
the same places as the next, but it is rarer and more soh 
tary.” 
Cryptocerus multispinosus. (Fig. 11.) This is the most 
common species of Cryptocerus in the environs of Cordova, 
where it lives in the trunk of certain trees, especially those of — 
the Croton sanguiferum, Cedrela odorata, Spondias chilias,* 7 
etc. These ants show little vivacity, remaining stationary 4 — 
good part of the day at the entrance of the holes which con- 
duct to their nest. In the middle of the day one sees them | 
running about fallen trunks, without apparent order or aim. 
When one attempts to seize them, they elevate the abdomen 
while running, after the manner ascribed to another kind of 
ant, the Cechintonadies Montezumia. 





Note.—The new species mentioned in this paper will soon be | 
scribed in the Proceedings of the Essex Institute. 





EXPLANATION OF PLATE II. 
Fig. 1. Formica fulvacea, worker major. 
Fig. 2. Tapinoma tomentosa, worker. 
Fig. 3. Polyrhachis arboricola, worker; a, side view of thorax and 


Fig. 4. Extatomma ferruginea, worker; a, side view of the peduncle 
abdomen. 
Fig. 5. i Mexicana, worker major; a, front view of the head. 
Fig. 6. Eciton Mexicana, worker minor, with a front view of the he 
Fig. 7. Eciton Sumichrasti, worker minor. 
ig. 


Fig. = Gicodoma Mexicana, worker major. 
Fig. 11. Cryptocerus multispinosus, worker. 














American Naturalist. Vol. Il. PL. 
Fig. 3. - 





e 


. 





THE MOTTLED OWL IN CONFINEMENT. 


BY C. J. MAYNARD. 





[The following interesting account of this bird was sent me for inser- 
tion in my “ Birds of North America,” which I have in preparation. As 
it throws considerable light on the disputed question of the color of the 
bird’s plumage in the first year, I send it to the NATURALIST, hoping that 
it may bring out, from other observers, new facts in relation to this spe- 
cies. In presenting it, I will briefly say that I have found two other 
birds in the first year’s plumage which were decidedly gray; but these 
are the only instances that I have aee although I have examined a 
great number of specimens. Whether we have two species un Scops, or 


e most correct.—E. A 


On June 15, 1867, I observed some boys around a small 
owl which was perched ona stick. On closer examination 
I found that it was a young Mottled Owl (Scops asio Bona- 
parte). It was staring about in a dazed manner and seemed 
half stupefied. I easily persuaded the boys to part with it 
for a trifle, and took it home. I should judge that it was 
about two weeks old. It was covered with a grayish down. 
I put it in a large cage, and gave it some meat which it ate, 
but not readily, for it seemed frightened at the sight of my 
hand, and at my near approach would draw back, snapping 
its beak after the manner of all owls. It soon grew tamer, 
however, and would regard me with a wise stare, as if per- 
fectly understanding that I was a friend. 

In a short time it would take food from me without fear ; 
I never saw it drink, although water was kept constantly 
near it. Its food consisted of mice, birds, and butchers’ 
meat, on which it fed readily. I kept the bird caged for 
about two weeks, during which time it became quite tame, 


but would not tolerate handling, always threatening me with 


its beak when my hands approached it. As the wires of its 
cage broke its feathers when moving about, and as it hardly 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 10 (73) 


74 THE MOTTLED OWL IN CONFINEMENT. 























seemed resigned to confinement, I opened its cage and gave — 
it the freedom of the room, leaving the windows open night — 
and day. About this time I gave it the name of “Scops,” to d 
which in a little while it would answer, when called, witha ` 
low rattle, which sounded like the distant note of the king- | ) 
fisher. l 
One morning Scops was missing ; ; diligent search was 4 
made for it, = no owl could be found, mid, reluctantly, we d 
gave it up for lost. Once or twice it was seen in the neig 
paii woods by different people, and once on the roof of a 
barn, but was wild and refused to be caught. It had been 
absent about a week, when, one morning, I was told that my — 
owl was out in the yard. I hastened out and found a halt — 
grown Newfoundland dog playing with my pet. The owl | 
was clinging to his shaggy fur with its claws, snapping its 
beak, and biting fiercely. I immediately rescued poor Scops — 
and carried it into the house. It was raining hard, and the 
bird was wet through. On arriving in its ola quarters it 
seemed pleased, chuckling to itself after its manner. It was 
almost starved, and ate two full-grown blue-birds at the first 
meal. After this time I gave it the privilege of going ¢ 
coming when it pleased, but, mindful of its former experi- 
ence, it never has but once remained away more than two 
days at a time. It now became more attached to me t 
ever, and will, at this time, permit me to pat it gently. — 
When a bird is given it for food, it takes it in its claws 
and with its beak invariably pulls out the wing and t 
feathers first, then eats the head, then devours the intestines: 
then, if not satisfied, it eats the remainder of the bird, feath- 
ers and all. i” 
That this owl sees tolerably well in the daytime I have 
proved to my satisfaction. I caught a mouse and put 


upon a bench near Scops, who was attentively watching ™ 
movements ; the moment it saw the mouse, the owl op 


THE MOTTLED OWL IN CONFINEMENT. 75 


side, then came down with an unerring aim, burying its 
talons deep in the head and back of the mouse. Looking up 
into my face, and uttering its rattling note, as if inquiring 
“Is’nt that well done?” it flew up to its perch with its strug- 
gling prey grasped firmly in its talons, where it killed the 
mouse by biting it in the head and back. During the whole 
act it displayed considerable energy and excitement. 

Again, I have seen it pounce on a dragon-fly which was 
unable to fly, but laid buzzing on the bench; the bird went 
through the same manceuvres as before, striking the dragon- 
fly with the greatest precision, and with both feet. I think 
that these instances prove that the bird can see nearly as 
well in the day as in the night. In both the above instances 
the sun was not shining on the objects struck, but they were 
very near the window, and the light was consequently 
strong. 

Scops will, in taking birds from my hand, almost always 
look up in my face and utter its subdued rattle. In sleeping, 
it usually stands on one foot, both eyes shut, but sometimes 
stretches out at full length, resting on its breast. When 
sound asleep it awakes instantly on its name being. pro- 
nounced, and will answer as quickly as when awake. I 
have heard it utter its peculiar quavering note,on one or two 
occasions, which, notwithstanding its reputed mournfulness, 
has much that sounds pleasant to my ears. When moving 
along a plane surface, Scops progresses, with a half walk, 
half hop, which is certainly not the most graceful gait pos- 
sible. 


When out at night among the trees Scops acts in much 
the same manner as when in the house, hopping from limb 
to limb, looking about with a quick, graceful motion of the 
head, sometimes turning the head around so that the face 
comes directly behind. 

When it returns to the house in the morning, daylight is 
often long passed, and even sunrise. The alarm note is a kind 
of low moan; this was often uttered at the sight of a tamed 





76 THE MOTTLED OWL IN CONFINEMENT. 
gray squirrel (but with which it has now become better iac- | 
quainted), and always at the sight of its old enemy, the dog. ; 
While flying, Scops moves thanieh the air with a quick, — 
steady motion, alighting on any object without missing a : 
foothold. I never heard it utter a note when thus moving. — 

= When perching, it does not grasp with its claws, but holds 
them at some distance from the wood, clasping with the 
soles of the toes. When it has eaten enough of a bird, it 
hides the remaining portions in any convenient place near : 
by; if its hiding-place is then approached, the owl from its — 
perch watches the intruder jealously, and when its hidden 4 
spoils are touched, it lays back its ear-like tufts, snaps its 
beak once or twice, and drops down on the unlucky hand : 
iy 
















like an arrow, striking it with its sharp claws until the hand . 
is withdrawn; then, ascertaining that its treasure is safe, 
Scops resumes its perch, idohing at its late disturber with ~ 
most unfriendly eyes. : 

metimes in the daytime it will take a sudden start, flit- : 
ting about the room like a spectre, alighting on different 
objects to peer about, which it does by moving sideways J 
turning the head in various directions, and going through — 
many curious movements ; but it always returns to its perch : 
and settles down quietly. : 

I once placed a stuffed owl of its own species near it, when J 
it ruffled its feathers, gave a series of hisses, moans, 
snappings of the beak, and stretched out one wing at ful 
length in front of its head as a shield to repulse what it p 
to be a stranger invading its own domains. As the st 
bird was pushed nearer, Scops budged not an inch, bu 
looked fiercer than ever; its ruffled back-feathers were 
erected high, its eyes sparkled, and its whole attitude 1 
one of war. 

Some time since the building in ah my pet was Kep 
was torn down, and the bird was absent for two weeks; DU! 
a new building has been erected near the site of the old o 
and to-day I found Scops in the new cellar, sitting on a Jro- 


ROCK RUINS. TT 


jecting stone of the wall, as much at home as in the old 
place. From this it can be seen that its affection for locality 
is very strong. Notwithstanding Scops’ long absence it is 
as tame as ever, taking its food from my hand, and behaving 
in the old manner. Its plumage at this time (Oct. 31, 1867) 
is perfect, most of the feathers having recently changed. It 
is mostly gray; there are but few marks of red, and but a 
faint wash of cream-color on the back, not red. 

In your book on the “Birds of New England” are given 
two instances of this bird’s first plumage being in the red; 
but my bird’s is decidedly in the gray. If it is red at all, 
it must be at some time hereafter. You also mention one 
occurrence of the young bird in the gray plumage, and,to 
give an additional example, I would, for the benefit of stu- 
dents, add one from my own experience. 





ROCK RUINS. 


BY A. HYATT. 





I was accosted once by a gray-headed patriarch, moe 
at the door of his farm-house, with these words: “I hav 
heard of you, and wished to see you; my neighbors tell me 
that you are a rock-hunter.” After many questions he con- 
tinued: “I have read nothing but this,’—holding up the 
well-thumbed family Bible, —“and seen nothing but that,” 
—pointing to the extensive landscape the house afforded, — 

“and yet,” said he, “a long life spent with them both before 
me, has given me more to think about than I can master. 
The rains pour down their floods upon these hills till every 
little hollow holds a muddy rivulet which ,empties into that 
silver thread you see yonder, until it too is a broad, yellow 
current. It has struck me, stranger, that those rains, in the 
hands of the Almighty, are the instruments which have cut 








































78 ROCK RUINS. 


and shaped these hills about us, and that great valley you: 
der. Do you men who study rocks think so too?” w 

The old man, without other help than his own eyes and 
appreciative love of nature, fostered by the daily contemp 
tion of a fine landscape, had unconsciously retraced the pri- 
mary steps of geological history, and rediscovered the f 
that water is one of the great agents of change upon the 
earth’s surface. 

He had seen it working, and comprehended how it 
slowly, but with irresistible power, melting down hills, fur- 
rowing out valleys, and casting the muddy flow through 
thousand channels into the sea. The patient contemplata 
of a view such as one often meets with,—a quiet valley 
sleeping between parallel ranges of hills, with wrinkled si 
and bald summits, had taught him this. 

When we should wish, however, to describe the effect 
water upon the face of our continent, it is not best to begil 
with such complicated examples, but good sense dictates th 
introduction of a few special cases wherein water is eviden 
the sole agent of change. Thus a ladder is presented to h 
mind by which it may climb to the comprehension of th 
panorama, instead of being presented at once with ger 
laws, and then carried down backward upon the rounds 0 
fact and explanation. ra 

Perhaps but very few of the thousands who annually 
that Mecca of the travelling public, Niagara, are aware 
it furnishes one of these examples, and is so often a 
for geological writers and lecturers. Visitors pay the e 
tionate prices of admission to its various points of view, # 
made giddy by the mad whirl of the rapids, stunned by t 
roar of the water, and awe-struck by the vibrations of t 
earth, and yet do not intelligently comprehend the mea 
of all this turmoil and uproar. They read in the gt 
books the meagre notice of the fact, that the cataract 
once at Lewiston and has eaten its way back through 
solid rock to its present position. Some accept the § 


ROCK RUINS. 79 


ment. as children a fairy tale, some doubt without the ability 
to give a valid reason, and some, fearing the sudden de- 
struction of their dream-land, refuse to analyze the glories 
of the river. They shrink from familiarity with nature, lest 
water should prove itself nothing but water, and stone noth- 
ing but stone, entirely ignorant of the fact, that the close 
observer, whether poet, artist, or naturalist, is the only one 
who seeks the spirit of the beautiful with success. He alone 
grasps the internal creative thought, the soul embodied in 
the landscape, without which the rocks, rivers, and moun- 
tains, with their green garlands, are comparatively expres- 
sionless forms, like faces without eyes. 

Along the sides of the gorge at Niagara a few of the great 
layers which make up the body of the continent are seen 
rising one after another, overlapping at the surface like tiles 
on a nearly horizontal roof;* the inclination of the layers, 
in fact, being only about twenty-five feet to the mile, in a 
southerly direction. 

Out of the cloud and foam of the cataract appear two lay- 
ers, each about eighty feet thick, the upper one (8) of lime- 
stone, the under (7) of shale. Still farther northward,.above 
the debris that has accumulated at the foot of the cliffs, runs 
a thinner layer of limestone (6), and, continuing in the same 
direction, we find a layer of green shale (5) succeeded soon 
by one of light-colored sandstone (4), and lastly a mass of 
red sandstone (3). 

Thus, when we reach Suspension Bridge it is compara- 
tively easy even for an unpractised eye to analyze the cliff. 

Attracted by the emerald curtain of the great fall, few 
= vouchsafe more than a passing glance down the chasm, and 
yet in autumn this view is one of rare beauty. The alter- 
nate bands of color in the rocks blend with the fringe of 
golden and scarlet trees upon the żalus at their feet, and 
from every crevice graceful vines hang their lace-work of 
flaming foliage. The painted walls and their gorgeous ta- 


*Vide 8, 8’, 9, 4 tA in th W ad-ent 











80 ROCK RUINS. 






























pestries rise nearly three hundred feet on either side, and 
at that dizzy depth, the river glides on, a flood of green and ; 
silver, till the harder rocks in the shallower chao beyond ] 
obstruct the current and hurl its waves fifteen feet in l 
air. 
Below the whirlpool these harder rocks appear as a light 
colored, gritty sandstone (2), underlaid by a soft red s 
stone (1).. Even to the most couse observer it 


and filled the gorge, pai as it is now apparent that the 
higher limestone and shale are continuous under the k : 
(d, f). sad 

The recession of the present falls is an established fi 
Father Hennepin, one of the early French explorers, 
scribed and figured Niagara as early as 1678. Then it 
three distinct parts beatead of two, as at present. On the 
Canada side a tabular rock of great size extended out intet- 
rupting and turning a portion of the overflow in an easter) 
direction, making a third fall at right angles, but continuous 
with the horse-shoe. About seventy years afterwards 
Danish naturalist, Kalm, records the disappearance of 
rock, and describes the fall as having about the same gen 
outline as at present. His sketch, however, does not 
materially from Father Hennepin’s, except in the ab 
of the third fall. Parts of Table Rock fell successively } 
1818, 1828, and 1829, and Kalm speaks of the descent ol 
portions of this rock, which extended under the water p 
vious to his visit in 1750. : 

All these changes were on the Canada side, and, a 
been already noticed by Professor Jules Marcou, that part 
the cataract recedes the most rapidly. The volume of ¥ 
is much greater, some twenty-five feet in depth in the cê 
of the horse-shoe curve, and the mass of debris, 
is so picturesque along the base of the American $ 
entirely wanting, the layers ‘of rock being carved out pe 
dicularly, probali to a considerable depth below the § 


ROCK RUINS. 81 


of the river. Professor Jules Marcou, who visited Niagara in 
1848-49 and 1850, remarked not only the changes which 
occurred in the Table Rock,* part of which fell in 1850, 
but observed also the increasing angularity of the curve at 
the centre of the horse-shoe, and the gradual deepening of 
the water. It seems certain that either the size of the river 
has greatly decreased since Father Hennepin’s visit, or else 
this part of the horse-shoe fall is much deeper and the 
sides shallower than formerly. In 1850, according to Pro- 
fessor Marcou, the curve was passably regular; in 1863, it 
was very much deeper, and notched near the centre. He 
also noticed that a large block, some six or seven feet in 
diameter, which had stood near the Terrapin Tower, had 
been engulfed, and together with it a long line of boulders 
figured by Professor Hall in his map of 1842. In 1852, por- 
tions of the cliff at this point fell, making a sensible differ- 
ence in its outline, and probably caused the disappearance 
of the boulders. 

The manner in which the tables of rock are undermined 
is as well known as the recession of the cataract itself. 
Every visitor is informed that the water, dashing against 
the lower layer of soft shale (7), cuts out cavernous hollows 
like the “Cave of the Winds,” and presently the projecting 
tables of limestone above (8), becoming too weak to support 
themselves, and the great weight of the river, are precipi- 
tated in immense masses to the bottom. 

These huge fragments, with every point and fractured 
edge rounded and smoothed by the ceaseless bombardment 
of the water, lie in huge piles under the American fall. 
There is no continuous flow, but a succession of blows, and 
one standing near them, feeling this distinct pulsation, as 
wave after wave rushes over the precipice and descends with 
a deafening roar upon the polished surfaces, no longer won- 
ders that the rocks are worn slippery, but rather that they 

*This is a tabular extension of the upper limestone on the Canadian side close to 
tho cataract. It once extended out some distance, and was probably te bos mennant 


Lid fall G 








+ 












































82. ROCK RUINS. 


are not shattered like brittle glass under a trip-hammer, and 
swept away. =- 
We must, however, even before this exhibition of power, 
remember that water is not the only instrument which is 
carving out the softer shales. Wherever these are uncov- | 
ered, as in the “Cave of the Winds,” they are cased in ice 
during the winter. Experience has taught us all how the 
frost loosens the bricks of the side-walks, throws down mas- 
sive stone-walls, and bursts our water-pipes. All these 
effects are not due to any miraculous power possessed by 
frost, but to the fact that water when freezing expands and 
forces room for its increasing volume. In the crevices of 
the shale it acts quietly but with resistless force between the | 
layers, like millions of minute wedges lifting and loosening 
the edges of the rock-beds, which are thus rendered an easy 
prey to the waves, if they do not fall of themselves in the 
early spring. Goat Island recedes almost as fast as the cata- 
ract itself, and yet frost alone is the workman that under- 
mines its rocky face. 
The future of the cataract may be read in the stru 
ure of the rocks, as well as its past. Professor Hall, who 
has studied it more carefully than any other geologist, pre 
dicts that Niagara is slowly but surely destroying i 3 
Thousands of years hence and the cataract will have eaten 
its way back until the solid limestone layers, which are 2 
on its verge, will be at its base (i, k). Here it will prot 
bly remain for a long time almost stationary. The low 
portion being as hard as the upper, will not be eaten 4 
into caves and hollows as at present, but, being less expos! 
will give way even more slowly than the upper limest | 
These last, however, notwithstanding their hardness, ` 
be gradually worn down, as the hard layers (2) are a 
whirlpool (c), or the limestones on the bed of the $ 
above the present fall (8’) to the ascending level © 
river bed, as at d in the wood-cut. The softer laye 
greenish marl, marked 9, will have been already lev 


Sy slic 


s 


ROCK RUINS. 


Section of the strata along the Niagara River, from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. 








Lake Ontario. 





EXPLANATIONS. 


1, Red shaly sandstone and marl, which may be seen in 
thé bank of the river at Lewiston (j). 

2, Gray quartzose sandstone. 

3, Red shaly sandstone like No. 1 (with thin courses of 
sandstone near the top). 

4, Gray and mottled sandstone, constituting, with those 


6, Compact gray limestone, which with No. 5 consti- 
tutes the Clinton Group at this place. 

7, Soft argillo-calcareous shale. 

8, Limestone. 

8', The upper thin-bedded limestone, which, together 
with 7 and 8, constitutes the Niagara group. 

9, Onondaga salt group of shales and marls, including 
the hydraulic limestone, or beds of passage to the 
next rock. 

10, Onondaga and Corniferous limestones. 

All these layers, from 1-10 inclusive, belong to the 
upper Silurian system. 








h, g, f, d, ¢, j, This line represents the present surface 
of the river from Lake Erie to Lewiston, a distance 
of about twenty-one miles. 

h, g, The present surface of the river, between Lake 
Erie and the Falls. 

d, f, The perpendicular fall, over the Niagara limestone 
and shale. 

f, g, The rapids, where within a mile there is a descent 
of fifty-two feet over the upper thin-bedded portion 
of the Niagara limestone. 

c, The whirlpool. 

d, c, j, Present level of the river where it has cut its 
way down through all the layers from 1 to 8! inclu- 
sive. 

i, k, The position of the falls and rapids after a reces- 
sion of two miles. 

a, i, d, Future level of the river bed, as the falls gradu- 


~~ 


fessor Hall’s Report on the Geology of New York. 


. 





84 ROCK RUINS. 

































and Niagara, with perhaps a slight descent over the time 
stones (10) at the outlet of Lake Erie, will be uninterrupted 
in its course to Lake Ontario. 
According to the estimate of Sir Charles Lyell, shoal 
thirty-five thousand years ago the falls were at Lewiston. | 
Now they are seven miles away, and have yet two miles 
to traverse, each step harder and more difficult as the 
becomes thinner, before they reach the point (č), where, — 
should they preserve their present structure, they will no 
be over one hundred feet high. Following out Sir Charles | 
Lyell’s estimate, this would ako ten thousand years, even if 


the disappearance of the shale. Although these calculi | 
are based upon the observed rate of retrogression of the fi i 
they can only be very rough approximations, until sufficient | 
time has elapsed for other observations to be made and com- 
pared with the monuments erected by Professor Hall in 1842. 
They are, however, sufiiciently close and reliable to $ 
that Niagara was not carved out in a day, nor yet in a th 
sand years ; but that for tens of thousands of years the stea 
rush of the river has ground the rocks to powder, and swe 
away, piece by piece, the solid layers, until the gorge it 
cut is now seven miles long, from two to three hundred 
fifty feet deep, and eight to twenty-four hundred feet ¥ 
at the top. 

Of late, the public have been alarmed by the sta 
that about half a mile back of the horse-shoe, the motio g 
the stream indicate a breach in the upper limestone, % ; 
speculations are indulged in that through this hole a $ 
terranean stream is eating away the underlying shale 
great rapidity. The sagacious inhabitants, who have gI% 
birth to this story, predict the probable destruction of t i 
great cataract by the caving in of the tables of limestone 
with such rapidity that the whole will form only & 

It is difficult to understand, first, how such a breach ¢ 
have been made; second, how if made it could swa 


THE CRUISE OF THE ABROLHOS. 85 


enough of the river to eat away any considerable portion of 
the shale underneath; and third, if it did both of these im- 
practicabilities, how the subterranean stream could break 
down the face of the fall faster than the water could carry 
off the fragments and maintain the face of the precipice per- 
pendicular. We do not desire, however, to deprive either 
the guides or the oldest inhabitants of their time-honored 
privilege of astonishing the public, but they should remem- 
ber and take warning from the fate of the “reliable contra- 
band ;” they may, even as he did, — their hold upon the 
credulity of the public. 





THE CRUISE OF THE ‘ABROLHOS.” 


BY C. FRED. HARTT. 





RECIFE DO LIXO, ABROLHOS, AT LOW TIDE. 


AFTER one has travelled up and down the Brazilian coast 
and become familiar with the long sea-beaches, bordered 
with ridges or domes of sand, that almost uninterruptedly 
stretch front the Amazonas to Cape Frio, and with the ever- 
thundering Atlantic surf that draws its foamy line around 
those Ts shores, it seems strange to see at Caravellas a 






































86 THE CRUISE OF THE ABROLHOS. 


coast scarcely elevated above the water, and a beach waibiill 
by a sea as quiet as an inland lake. The water here ioiii 
shore is very shallow, owing to the very gentle slope of the 
bottom, and not only for that reason is it quiet, but because 
very extensive reefs, lying between the main-land and the 
islands of the Abrolhos, break the force of the waves, md 
protect the coast. iE 
I hired at Caravellas, for the exploration of the Abrolhos — 
region, a little launch, the Abrolhos, and three men, the | 
captain being a Dane, who for many years had followed the 
life of a fisherman among the Abrolhos reefs, and, as it wil 
hereafter be seen, konmsi them perfectly. $ 
It was a glorious morning early in last September, the | 
month that closes the Biadiiian winter, that we embarked. 
Up went the long, narrow, triangular sails to the § 
masts, Jaco blew from his big horn a few cornet-like notes, 
that went breaking with strange echoes through the cocoi- 
palm groves on the river bank below the town, and we 
dropped down stream. Next day, for we had been delayed — 
at the mouth of the river, we were beating by dawnlight ott 
of the entrance. After sticking fast on a sand-bank or two: 
we soon stood off towards the islands. Near the shore ™ 
water was very turbid and reddish; but leaving the land 5 
soon became clearer, and the yellowish tint gave way ' 
green. The sounding-line showed a depth of about six 
metres, with a white sandy bottom, which gave to the 
a whitish appearance. There was not a cloud in the sky; 
and the low sun looked warmly down on the waves ripp 
under the last breath of the dying land-breeze. 2 
About seven miles from the land I observed that 
water ahead was spotted by dark brownish patches of ¢ 
irregular in outline, and resembling the shadows cast ? 
little clouds. Occasionally one might mark the break? 
of a wave over one of these patches. “These are thel 
peirões,” * said Jacó. This is the name given in B 





* Pronounced Shipayrdéngs. The singular is “ Chapeirão,” pronounced ghăpat 








THE CRUISE OF THE ABROLHOS. 87 


isolated coral structures, which are very common on the 
Brazilian reef-grounds. Corals grow over the bottom in 
small patches, and without spreading much, rise often to a 
height of forty to fifty or more feet, like towers, and some- 
times attain the level of low tide. At the top they are 
usually very irregular, and sometimes spread out like mush- 
rooms, or, as the fishermen say, umbrellas. Some of these 
Chapeirées are only a few feet in diameter. Two Chapeirédes 
are seen in the foreground of the engraving of the Recife do 
Lixo. Professor Verrill tells me that similar structures occur 
also in the West Indies. We soon came up to one and passed 
almost over it. They were of all heights, and on the larger 
the waves were breaking. The sea was full of them, a perfect 
labyrinth, through which our skilful captain readily tacked 
is way. In some places a good-sized ship might sail among 
them, but it would not be i to venture among them in 
dark or stormy weather. As we threaded our way through, 
Jacó and the sailors told me stories of the whale and other 
fisheries carried on here, of their adventures while eng 
in their hardy pursuits in these waters, and how vessels 
sometimes ran on the Chapeirées, sticking fast by the middle 
of the keel, to the amazement of the captain, who found 
deep water all round, the vessel being perched, as it were, 
- like a weather-cock on the top of a tower. Occasionally, I 
am told, the shock is sufficient to break off and upset some 
of the slender ones, for they are not very compact. 

After a while we came out once more into open water. 
The reef-ground we had crossed is known as the Parédes, or 
walls. Fiii north to south itis fifteen to twenty miles in 
length, while its width varies from three to nine miles. 
Where we crossed it, nearly in the middle, there are only 
Chapeirses; but farther north, as well as farther south, there 
are extensive reefs laid bare at low tide over an area of 
many square miles; but these I did not visit until -p return 
voyage. 

On finishing my examination of the islands, of which I 

















88 THE CRUISE OF THE ABROLHOS. 


have already given a description in my last article, I set out 
on the evening of the 12th of September to visit the north 
ernmost reef of the Parédes, called the Recife do Lixo. My — 
plan was to cross the reef that night at high tide, and anchor i 
in a sac or little bay on the western-side, so as to profit i 
the low tide of the full moon of the morrow. Eastward 
the islands a few miles, with a length of about nine to 
miles, and a breadth in some places of four miles, is an 
over which Chapeirões grow very abundantly, forming 0 
structions on which many a vessel has been wrecked. Th 
unite nowhere to form a large reef, and are rarely anywhere 
uncovered at low tide. 

Ordinarily, vessels and steamships go outside of th 
reefs to the eastward, in sight of the islands. It is not i 
however, to calculate one’s distance from a point at sea, and 
especially from a light by night, and many vessels, notwith- 
standing the light-house, have been wrecked upon the 
West of the islands there is deep water, there are no Che 
rões, and between the islands and the Parédes there is & 
channel about eight miles in width, with plenty of water anl 
no obstructions. The safest way is to pass to the westw 
of the islands, when one may run close in shore, so long 
the course is north or south. There is then no danger W 
ever, and there is a smoother sea. On the return voy 
from Rio, the American steamship “South America” was, 
the suggestion of the writer, taken through this channel. 

Varying winds drove the launch “Abrolhos” into the 
gion of the Chapeirées to the north-easfward of the islands. 
Jaco and I took turns in heaving the lead. Among 
Chapeirées we found a depth of sixteen to twenty me 
_ and once, while becalmed, we found twenty metres along 
one Chapeirio, and three metres on top. Waiting for 
wind, the hooks were used, and we soon had, flound 
about below among my boxes of corals, some fine Gua 
pas. By and by the wind freshened and we set out to ¢ 
the channel, sounding all the way, finding a depth of se 


Pre 


t 


THE CRUISE OF THE ABROLHOS. 89 


teen to twenty-nine metres, a bottom composed of sand and 
shells, and no impediment to navigation. The almost tull 
moon made the night wellnigh as light as day. 

Late at night I turned in below, and, with the sound of 
waves outside and the wash of the bilge-water and the occa- 
sional floundering of the not yet dead fish inside, dreamed 
of home, while Jaco and the men ever and anon heaved the 
lead, calling out the number of metres. At last the voice of 
a sailor was heard at the hatch, “O Seu Carlos! O recife?!” 
The reef! I went hastily on deck in the moonlight. Splash 
went the lead. “Dous metros,”—only two metres of water. 
We are on the reef. I rolled myself in my great coat and 
stretched myself out on the deck listening to the splash of 
the lead, and gazing at the big cumulus clouds, lit up by the 
. Moon, and memory carried me back to long rides along the 
sea-beaches farther south, to many a bivouac under the clear 
dewy sky, when the slow march of the tardily gliding hours 
was marked by the sinking of the moon among the waving, 
glistening, giant fronds of the cocoa-palm, or w the South- 
ern Cross, that, like a great hour-hand, swung round the 
southern pole, and with the monstrous modinha of the 
steersman I fell asleep. 

“ Dez metros!” cries Jacó, “O Carlos ! we are in the chan- 
nel.” The great reef of the Parédes is deeply indented, 
according to fishermen, by two very irregular channels, 
which, entering it from the north, almost separate it into 
three parts, very much as the island of Cape Breton is cut 
up by the Bras dOr. We had crossed the outer reef and 
reached the eastern channel, which is very narrow. In this 
way, with the sounding-line in hand, we crossed the reef, 
and anchored just on the inner side to wait for the morning. 

e sun rose and Jacé wound his horn. Here we were 
just off the reef and alongside the sac for which we had 
steered. As the tide went down, the reef began to uncover 
itself, and became dry over a very large area, as far north 
and south as we could see from ihe daek of our little vessel. 

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. I. 


90 THE CRUISE OF THE ABROLHOS. 


























As soon as the falling tide had sufficiently defined our litt 
harbor, we sailed in, and anchored close to the reef. Itoo 
a basket with cans and bottles, and leaped on the reef, © 
taking with me two men with a ¢araffa, a kind of round — 
casting net, to take fish in the pools. ie 

The’ reef, exposed at low tide, was level on top, and th 
corals, as at the Abrolhos, were generally dead and cove 
by barnacles, ete. It was exceedingly irregular and ngge 
in outline, and deeply indented by little bays. : 
face were many large pools (see sketch), in which I foun 
beautiful specimens of Millepora alcicornis, Siderastr 
Favia, ete., together with two or three species of gorgo nia 
belonging to the genera Hymenogorgia, Plexaurella and B 
nicia. 

Turning over the loose corals in the pond, I found a 
of interesting things, sea-urchins (Lchinometra Michel 
crimson starfishes (Echinaster crassispina Verrill), toget 
with many odd crabs. There is a curious little crustacea p0 
which there appears to be more than one species on the ¢oas 
of Brazil, called the Tamar. I used to be much pu 


= 


the claws. These Tamaris are very abundant, living in ti 
holes in the reefs, and I have more than once, when sa 
over a reef, heard their musical click in the water un 
neath me. There is a whole group of shrimp-like € 
ceans, whose hind-body is unprotected by a shell, and 1 
are called hermit-crabs, from their taking up their abode | 
dead shells. I found one large hermit-crab on this 
which was occupying a rather large shell on which 
seated a sea-anemone. It is a strange companionship W 
has been observed to exist between other species else 
The reef is not very rich in shells. E 
One of the men threw the round net successfully 
some charming little fishes in the ponds, and we soon 


THE CRUISE OF THE ABROLHOS. 91 


large collection of things, which we carried to the edge of 
the reef. The tide by this time had gone down farther, and 
the water was low enough on the border of the reef to allow 
one to wade all over and examine it. The very edge of the 
reef where the waves washed at low tide is higher than else- 
where, partially owing to a better opportunity being offered 
for the growth of corals, but also to a luxuriant growth of 
serpule, barnacles, etc. From this line the reef slopes gently 
down to the edge,* where it drops down perpendicularly 
into deep water, as at the islands. This border, where the 
water was of little depth, and where the bottom was never 
exposed at low tide, may be at times very narrow, or even 
a hundred feet or more in width. It is a perfect garden of 
corals. Do you wonder, my reader, that the writer felt a 
little bit excited as he waded about, up to his waist in 
water, over these coral beds? 

The whole reef is alive. Here is a big head of Acanthas- 
trea Braziliensis Verrill. We must have that, so down 
we bend to tear it away from the reef. A wave goes over 
our head, but what of that? the prize is secured. We tug 
away to tear up the fronds of the gorgonias, and toss them 
over the edge of the reef into a pool of water. Now we fill 
‘our arms, never so carefully, with pretty pink rosettes of 
Millepora nitida Verrill, which we are careful about hand- 
ling, because of their stinging properties. These are safely 
lodged on the reef, and we wade out once more to the 
very edge of the reef (never mind the sharks!). Here are 
beautiful clusters of the pretty Mussa, with which Professor 
Verrill has done the writer the honor of associating his name, 
that look like great bouquets of whitish pinks. What a pity 
that we cannot pluck them whole, for they break up and 
go all to pieces, while the polyps out of water lose all their 
beauty ! 

But I shall make this paper too long, if I stop to enume- 
rate all the beautiful things of this garden of the sea; the 

eri eR A 


+» iv: zt tn tha eckatch. 
































92 THE CRUISE OF THE ABROLHOS. 


tide is coming in, and we must be in haste. We have yet 
time, however, for a short walk over the reef. 
The tide creeps over the reef. Our specimens are tram 
ferred to the deck of the launch, and we put out of our little = 
harbor, with a sigh that our exploration in the Abrolh 
waters are ended. 
The depth alongside the reef at low water varies ‘mod 
being in some places but three or four, in others ten feet or t 
more. Just alongside the reef, at least.on the inside wher Į 
ever I have examined it, the bottom consists of a soft, bluish, 
calcareous mud. The bottom usually slopes rapidly from 
the reef, and one may at a short distance away in sol 
places find a depth of seventy to eighty feet. Generally t 
reef is bordered by Chapeirões. 
Similar reefs are found a few miles farther south at Co 
Vermelha and the vicinity, but I know of none still farther 
southward. To the north they occur at intervals witht 
same characters at Itacolumis, Porto Seguro, Santa Cruz, 
Bahia, Maceió, and along the coast in the vicinity of Pi 
nambuco and northward. The Rocas, a very dangerous re 
lying in the latitude of Fernando de Noronha is a cool 
and is remarkable for its annular shape, inclosing a space 
the centre free from corals. 
From the descriptions of the sailors, Corda Vermelha is 


the mouth of the bay of Santa Cruz. I saw a few mang" 
trees growing upon it. A schooner had struck on the 
near by, and being carried over by the wayes, had 
close inside the reef. From the height to which the wa 
reached on the mast, I estimated the height of the reef 
thirty feet. 

Fortunately we had a pleasant trip home, and late in 
afternoon the launch was anchored off the melting-hous¢ 
the Barra. A few cornet notes brought out some 
inhabitants to welcome the incomprehensible Natu 
who, landing, spont the rest of daylight in orani 


NOBERT’S TEST PLATE, ETC. 93 


carcasses of some huge whales brought in to land since his 
departure. 

The moon rose full and round, but waned rapidly as she 
neared the zenith. A fine’eclipse took place which was 
almost total. Crowds gathered on the shore to watch the 
moon’s* fading light. The Americano ought to be able to 
explain it. He is applied to. Whereupon, by the light of an 
antique oil-lamp in a store near by, with a big earthen water- 
jar to personate thé earth, and a smaller one the moon, a 
lecture on the theory of eclipses was delivered to an appre- 
ciative audience, with heaven’s blue dome for a chart. 

Next day a few hundred weight of whales’ bones were 
added to our freight, and we moved up stream. The tiled 
roofs and white walls and cocoa palms of Caravellas came in 
view, Jaco blew his horn, and, in a few moments, with the 
rattle of the chain from the bow, the Cruise of the “Abrol- 
hos” had ended. 





NOBERT’S TEST PLATE AND MODERN MICROSCOPES. 
BY CHARLES STODDER. 

Every possessor of a first-class microscope wishes to 
know what his instrument is capable of doing. To the prac- 
tical worker it is a matter of much importance, for when the 
utmost power of his instrument is exhausted, he will know — 
that it is a waste of time to endeavor to see more. One 0 
the desirable and important properties of a microscope is the 
power to show or “resolve” very fine lines grouped together, 
e. g. the striation of the frustules* of the diatomacee. For 
the purpose of testing the resolving power of the micro- 
scope, the lines ruled on glass by F. A. Nobert, of Barth, 





*A frustule (Z. frustrum, a fragment) is one of the fragments into which diatoms 
Separate. 





94 NOBERT’S TEST PLATE 




















Pomerania, have long been admitted by experts as the best 
known test, not only in consequence of their exceeding 
ness, but also because they are ruled to a known scale, 
because they are so close that* physicists have asserted 
it is impossible that they ever can be seen, Nobert hims 
being in this category ; and all trials of these plates, exe 
those to be herein mentioned, have resulted in failures t 
resolve the finer lines of these plates. - 

The Nobert test is a series of groups of parallel lines ruled 
on glass thus |i ill, each succeeding group being finer han 
the ee one. Different plates have a different num- 
ber of groups, ruled to different scales. The one used by 
Messrs. Sullivant and Wormly (American Journal of So 
ence, 1861) has thirty bands or groups, the coarsest having 
its lines yovv of a Paris line apart, and the finest being x yo 
each group or band being about zoo of an English ine 
width, and the whole thirty occupying a space perha 
little more than y of an inch. Now it is a difficult 
or the mind to appreciate such minute divisions of 
yet it is essential, in order to estimate a little the diffi 
of seeing such lines, to form some idea of their minut 
The average diameter of a human hair is about royo 
inch, yet in a space only one half as great in the co 
band of the Nobert plate there are seven lines, while 
30th band there are forty-five. 

The plate which I have used in the trials to be detal 
was made in 1863. It has nineteen bands, the first bé 
ruled to toys of a Paris line, and each band increasing 
five hundred, so that the 19th is +s4oo- 

The following table gives in the second column the 
tional part of a Paris line* between the lines of each 
the third column, the decimal part of a line as marked on 
~ plate by Nobert; the fourth, the number of lines to an 
lish inch; the fifth, the number of the band in a thir 
late corresponding in fineness. 





* One Paris line = .088815 of the English inch. 


AND MODERN MICROSCOPES. 95 


Corresponding No, 


Paris tne penae Minne goats aad 
hi 1-1000 ‘ -1001 11,240 lst 
2, 1-1500 .000633 
8. 1-2000 .00053 22,480 
4. 1-2500 .0004 
5. 1-3000 .000333 
6. 1-3500 
Tano: F4000 .00025 44,960 
8. 1-4500 
9. 1-5000 .0002 56,200 15th 
lO. 1-5500 
ll. -1-6000 .000167 67,622 20th 
12... 6500 
3. -7000 000143 783737 25th 
4. 1+7500 84,4 
15. 8000 .000125 90,074 30th 
16. {8500 .000117 96,234 
17. .000111 101.484 
18. -1-0300 000105 107,167 
19. 1=10000 .000100 112,668 





Has human art ever made an instrument capable of ren- 
dering lines, 112,000 to an inch, visible? If not, is it possi- 
ble to do so? Is there anything in the laws of light, which 
renders it impossible to see lines so close, and therefore 
render useless the labors of the optician to improve his in- 
struments beyond a certain point? and, as a corollary, is it 
decided that it will be useless for the naturalist to try to 
investigate the structure of tissues beyond what the best 
existing instruments have shown? It must be borne in mind 
that the power of seeing a single object is not the question, 
but the power of distinguishing two or more objects nearly 
in contact. The problem is exactly the parallel of that of 
the power of the telescope of separating double stars. A 
brief sketch of what has been done, and what opinions on the 
problem have been expressed by eminent microscopists and 
opticians is essential to a full understanding of the question. 

Professor Quecket, in 1855, asserted that “no achromatic 
has yet been made capable of separating lines closer together 
than the -s§5s of an inch.” ‘Mr. Ross found it impossible 
to ascertain the position of a line nearer than sovo of an 
inch.” “Mr. De la Rue was unable to resolve any lines on 
Nobert’s test plate closer than gy$0s of an inch.” 


_ edition, 1862, he again alters the figures to sidvo, but adds 










96 NOBERT’S TEST PLATE 


Dr. William B. Carpenter, in his work on the Micro ` 
scope, published in 1856, says, “Even the + objective will, 
probably not enable any band to be distinctly resolved, © 
whose lines are closer than yy4so of an inch. At present, 
therefore, the existence of lines finer than this is a matter of 
faith rather than of sight; but there can be no reasonable 
doubt that the lines do exist, and’ the resolution of them 
would evince the extraordinary superiority of any objective _ 
or of any system of illumination which should enable them © 
to be distinguished.” In his second edition issued in 185%, | 
Dr. Carpenter repeated the same remarks, but substituted 
ssboo for zs4ua, and then added, “There is good reason to 
believe that the limit of perfection (in the objective) bas now 
been nearly reached, since everything which seems theoreti- 
cally possible has been actually accomplished.” In the third 


nothing more. m 

On the other side the late Professor J. W. Bailey claimed 
to have seen lines as close together as toovo0 to the inch, 
and Messrs. Harrison and Solitt, of Hull, England, claimed 
to have measured lines on the diatom Amphipleura pellucida, 
as fine as 120,000 to 130,000 to the inch, and expressed the 
opinion that lines as fine as 175,000 might be seen with 
proper means. p 

To determine if possible the truth between these conflict- 
ing opinions, Messrs. Sullivant and Wormley (American 
Journal of Science, January, 1861) made an exhaustive trial 
of one of these “marvels of art.” They state that the opti- 
cal apparatus at their command was ample; it included 4 
“Tolles zy objective of 160° angular aperture, —an objective 
of rare excellence in all respects, —besides 7; and yy obJe® 








PEE = inet ote Re aie a ma eS hr Re O E ecient ne ee ee a 












thirty bands, as previously mentioned. 


“Up to the 26th band (7stov) there was no serious difficulty e 
solving and ascertaining the position of the lines; but on this and #6 


AND MODERN MICROSCOPES. 97 


subsequent ones, spectral lines, that is, lines composed of two or more 
real lines, more or less prevailed, showing that the resolving power of 
the objective was approaching its limit. By a suitable penta ad 
however, of the illumination, these spurious lines were separated into the 
ultimate ones on the whole of the 26th, and very nearly on the whole of 
the 27th band (şīżr7); but on the 28th, and still more on the 29th, they 


lines of the 30th band we were unable to see, at least with any degree of 
certainty.” 

‘ These experiments induce us to believe that the limit of the resolva- 
bility of lines, in the present state of the objective, is wellnigh estab- 
lished,” and they draw the conclusion, “that lines on the Nobert’s test 
plate, closer together than about yg¢oy of an inch, cannot be separated 
by the modern objective.’ 

Although the paper of Messrs. Sullivant and Wormley 
was republished in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical 
Science, in London, and might be considered as being a 
challenge to the opticians and microscopists of Europe to 
show what they could do in resolving the test plate, yet no 
report can be found of any attempts to resolve the lines 
until 1865, when Max Schultz (Quarterly Journal of Micro- 
scopical Society, January, 1866) described the Nobert plate 
of nineteen bands, and gave the results of his trials for resolv- 
ing them. “The highest set he has been able to define with 
central illumination is the 9th, which is resolved with Hart- 
nack’s immersion No. 10, and Merz’s immersion system zy. 
With oblique illumination he has not been able with any 
combination to get beyond the 15th.” It will be seen by 
reference to the table that Schultz saw finer lines than Sulli- 
vant and Wormley. ‘This is the only report we can find in 
print from Europe. 

In this country we find no published results; but Mr. R. 
C. Greenleaf, of Boston, and the writer were well sati 
that they saw the lines 90,000 to the inch with a Tolles’ 3 
in 1863, and the next year Mr. Greenleaf saw the same 
lines, unmistakably, with a Tolle? 3+. Dr. J. J. Wood- 
ward, of Washington, in a communication to the Quarterly 
Journal of Microscopical Science, London, October, 1867, p. 

13 


AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 














98 NOBERT’S TEST PLATE 


253, states that with monochromatic light, and Powella 
Lealand’s 35, =, and 5 objectives, a Hartnack immersion, | 
No. 11, and a Wales 3, with amplifier, he satisfactorily 
resolved the 29th and 30th bands of Nobert’s test plate. 

a letter to the writer written since, Dr. Woodward infor 
me that the plate used was the same one used by Sulliv 
and Wormley, as the 30th band was the finest on that; 
result did not show that finer lines could not be seen. Dr 
Woodward informs me, that, since writing that paper, he! 3 
received a Nobert plate with the nineteen bands, and that 
covering glass was too thick for the J; objective, but 


Dr. Woodward has sent to me a photograph of the 16 
17th, 18th, and 19th bands, taken by Dr. Curtis with 
Powell and Leland 3. In the photograph, the lines of 
16th and 17th bands may be counted with some difficl 
but if the whole band is copied, or if the bands are of 
width of zvo of an inch, there are not lines enough. 

lines of the 18th and 19th bands cannot be counted in 
photograph. From this it will be noticed that Dr. Wo 
ward has resolved finer lines than any other observer 
yet seen, so far as report gives us any information. 

_ My esteemed correspondent, M. Th. Eulenstien, of § 
gard, Wirtemberg, writes to me, under date of Dee. 1 
1867, “I have myself resolved the 14th band with a tz P 
ell and Lealand, and also, but less unmistakably, with 4 
11 Hartnack’s immersion, with oblique light.” “Nol 
himself has never seen with his highest powers higher 

the 14th.” “This will show you the continental state 
affairs.” Mr. R. C. Greenleaf and myself have lately * 
several objectives, and the result is appended below:* — 
Barta’ inmerion No bath ag op nee wee ee 


brian ky ks OS Lae yy ak ee ann aes ee rep E E E, 


AND MODERN MICROSCOPES. 99 


With Tolles 4 immersion, angular aperture 170°, B eye- 
piece, power 550, Mr. Greenleaf and myself both saw the 
19th band satisfactorily. Thus being probably the first ever 
to see lines of 112,000 to the inch, and establishing the fact 
of the visibility of such lines, contrary to the theory of the 
physicists. (It should, however, have been mentioned in * 
the proper place that Mr. Eulenstien says that Nachet claims 
to have seen them by sunlight recently, which claim needs 
some confirmation, as his No. 10 failed so completely in my 
hands. 

In the present month (January, 1868), Dr. F. A. P. Barnard 
writes to Mr. Greenleaf, that he had tried several objectives, 
naming a Spencer 34 and zy, a Tolles’ 4 and 4, a Wales }, 
and a Nachet immersion No. 8, equal toa 74. “The Spencer 
z, and the Natchet 4 broke down at about the 11th or 12th 
band. With the Wales 4 I got as far as ten, or perhaps 
eleven bands. With the Tolles’ 4 I made out distinctly ten.” 

In another communication he says, “the highest band I 
can count is the 16th.” In a more recent letter to the 
writer, Dr. Barnard gives the count of the lines on a portion 
of his plate, —corresponding as nearly as could be expected 
to figures given in the table up to the 14th; but the 16th 
band he could not count satisfactorily, different attempts 
giving varying results. It has been said that the resolution 
of the lines to the eye implies the ability to count them, 
but this I think is a fallacy ; a few lines of a group may be 
counted correctly, and then it becomes difficult to identify 
the line last counted and the one to be counted next. Let 
any one try to count the pickets in a fence, when the pickets 
are distinctly visible, say at a distance of 100, or 150 yards, 











Nachet’s immersion No. 10 = 1-21, B eye-piece, sunlight obliqu i 12th band. 
Tolles’ immersion 1-10, ang. ap. about 160°, B eye-piece, aara abou t 800, 
wunlinht ooteal o i a Oe ee i BOE RE Eee 

Tolles’ immersion 1-10, ang. ap. about 160°, B eye-piece, power about 800, 
sunlight o oblique, gee es VOR ss ot et pee ee ee 

Tolles’ į 


SOS a os ee a ee o ee ee With “ 
Tolles. immariisn 1-10, on another occasion I saw the. - .- +--+: * 15th 


100 NOBERT’S TEST PLATE. 


he will find this difficulty almost insurmountable. In the 
microscope the micrometer is an aid in counting, but in 
counting lines of such exquisite fineness, either the microm- 
eter or the stage must be moved, and it is next to impossible 
to construct apparatus that can be moved at once qovooo of | 
an inch and no more. It would require the genius and skill — 
of Nobert himself to do it. sa 
These trials show conclusively, that it is not the great 
power of the objective that is important (for in many of the 
trials here reported the lower powers have given the best 
results, and the Tolles 4 immersion the best on record), but 
it is the skill of the optician in making the instrument. 1 
have since tried the Wales’ objective dey and resolved the 
13th band well,—thus doing what Mr. G. did with itin 
water; the inference must be that Mr. G. did not obtain its 
best work. 





he 
hain — Since the foregoing was written, Dr. Barnard has made more 
and I am well satisfied that he has seen the 19th band with 4 

ptt zz and Tolles’ 4, both dry objectives. si performance fairly 

maa any thing yet peia either in this country or Europe. Dr 
arnard writes (Jan. 29), that he found that the anvi of the lines was _ 
eae with the very difficulties referred to above, in addition to which 
there is another trouble, the whole width of a band is not in perfect focus — | 
at once; this necessitates a slight change of focal adjustment, and any 2 

change rehire it extremely difficult to fix,even with the cobweb microm- — 

eter, the exact line last counted. He made five counts of the 19th —_ 

with the zy, namely :— 


t nn to the English inch. 4. 106.226 to the English inch. 
b 108, “ “oe : 5. 115,474 
3. iy t “ mean, 110,820  “ z 


he number, according to Nobert, is 112,668. He counts for the 15 
discrep“ 





, 4 variation of two lines each way covers the extremes of 


ine 
Pod Greenleaf has just tried (February 7th) an immersion aren | 
es’ 7's. He resolved the 10th, 11th, and 12th bands perfectly ; the 1 





REVIEWS. 101 


was doubtful. Another trial of the Hartnack No. 10 resolved the 13th 
band perfectly, —the 14th doubtfully. 
nglish and American opticians name their objectives (i. e., the lens or 

lenses placed next the object, that next the eye being the eye-piece), from 
their magnifying power,—thus a finch objective has the same power 
a simple lens of 4 inch focus. Continental European makers generally 
distinguish their instruments by numbers; the higher numbers indicating 
higher powers; but as each maker has his own system, the actual power 
of an instrument must be ascertained by trial. Instruments also often 
differ from their names, and they cannot generally be depended on. The 
theoretical power of a ARREA is measured from an arbitrary standard 
of ten inches,—thus, a one inch is said to magnify ten diameters; a 4 
inch, forty diameters. If aia a is taken at five inches, as it is by 
some, then the ‘‘ power” is but one half as much. The ‘‘ power” of the 
microscope is that of the bees multiplied by that of the eye-piece; if 
the objective "so ten diameters, and the eye-piece ten, the result is 
one a diameters. 

Angular ict is the angle in the surface of the front lens, at which 
light se enter the objective,—the greater ca angular aperture, the 
o 


An amplifier is an achromatic combination isori in the compound 
body of the instrument to increase the ‘‘power” of the objective and 
eye-piece 

iarston lenses have lately attracted great attention, though they 
were made by Amici many years since. e objective is immersed in 
water, —that is, there is a film of water between the front of the object- 
ive and the object, or the thin glass covering it. The effect is a great in- 
crease of light, and better definition. 





REVIEWS. 


ANIMAL NATURE OF SPONGES.*—Many opinions have been ex- 
‘aaa with regard to the animal nature of the sponge, which h has been 
considered as a plant by most authors, but nothing of a reliable or ge 
nite nature had appeared before a paper by Mr. Carter in the PERE 
Magazine of Natural History, for April, 1857. In this paper it w 
shown that the organized layer of the sponge was made up of pie 


eel 








*On the Spongiæ Ciliate as Infusoria Flagellata; or, Observations on the Structure, Ani- 
mality, and Relationship of Leucosolenia go granes Bowerbank. With two plates, and more 
than seventy-eight figures. By Professor H. James Clark, A. B., B.S. Memoirs of Boston 
Society of Natural History, Sad 20, 1866. 


102 REVIEWS. 


ciliated cells, which were supposed to be allied to Amoeba, an anim 













Leucosolenia botryoides Bowerb. is an aggregation of new furms of Mor 
closely allied to Monas termo Ehren. The existence of a mouth at 
base of the flagellum, a lash-like organ present in many infusoria, is 
monstrated in all these forms, and all except Monas are described as 
sessing a hyaline calyx, or cup, surrounding the region of the mouth, 
an inverted funnel. The single monads which compose the ciliated 1 
lining the internal channels of Leucosolenia, a common marine spo 
have a similar calyx, are monoflagellate (that is, provided with a si 
lash-like appendage), and probably have a mouth at the base of the 
lum, since they took in their food in the same manner as the Monas te 
The connection between Monas and its allied forms, with the higher} 
tozoa, or infusoria, such as Euglena, Dysteria, and Pleuronema, is 
by Anthophysa Mulleri which has two flagella, like the higher forms 
tioned, but like Monas has no calyx, and grows in umbellate colonies 


one sees in the great advance in the study of the Protozoa made by 
s en that, after all, Ehrenberg’s belief that these minute f 

very highly complicated organization, is, like most opiniom 
vedios a kernel of truth.— A. H. 

THE PROGRESS or ZOOLOGY IN 1866.*— Another volume of this in 
ble year-book, which is simply indispensable to the working natu 
or just bee published. We hope it will meet with much encourage 

rican zodlogists. In the an of oe chief a 


The scientific part of the zoölogical literature of 1864, to which 
forms a guide, amounts to more than 25 ,000 pages; that for 1865 am 
to not less than 35,000 pages; and that for 1866 to about 30, 
In the literature for 1865, it is estimated that about 7,000 animals are 
scribed as new to science K 

In running through the 649 pages of the last volume we glean the 
lowing items of interest. — Professor Lilljeborg states in a 
on the Rodents that about 2,300 species of Mammalia are known, ! 
about 700 Rodents, 500 © Bats), 250 Fere (including I 


E 







* The Record Zoological Literature, Edited A.C. L.G. Gunther, M. D., 18840 
eer depi seported od bp D G vol. 3, pp. 649. The Mamm alia, Bep 
es are reported on by Dr. Birds by 





zoa), by E. Percival Wright; and the Mollusca by E. von Martens. ‘The P" 
volume ula ts abode Oda ix Gok Ws BAADE NAAA oti Chaucer car N 


REVIEWS. 103 


ivora), 200 Quadrumana (Monkies), and about as many Artiodactyla.* — 
A. Müller proves that the male fox lives in polygamy, and does not assist 
in rearing his offspring. — A young Hippopotamus has been successfully 
reared in the Zodlogical Gardens in Amsterdam. — Mr. G. O. Sars refers 
to the contradictory statements of naturalists with regard to the ejection 
of water from the blow-holes of whales. He ana reo if the head with 
the blow-hole is geej above the surface of the water, nothing but air is 
expelled; but if, at the moment of expiration, the mane is still below the 


thology, the most important fact elicited during the year is the discovery 
of the bones of the Dodo by Mr. Clark, chronicled on p. 614, vol. 1, of the 
NATURALIST. — In a work on the fossil birds of France, A. Milne-Edwards 
reports that all the fossil birds of the tertiary epoch can be included in 


S 
of which, a ss large Grus, is extinct, though as regards France, two 
species, Lago albus, the White Ptarmigan, and Nyctea nivea, the Snowy 
owl, both APTE H of the arctic jag no longer exist there, being 
relics of the Glacial aa e t Auk is supposed to have oc- 
curred of late years on the rwegi coast, and it is supposed to 
have bred on Lundy Island i of piedi in 1838 or 1839. — 
commission of Dutch naturalists have reported on the Ship-worm, 
c ing i acks. i 


o olid 
wood by the mechanical rasping action of the minute denticulations 
covering a part of the surface of its valves, se movements having “a 
seen by M. Kater on a living animal. It has an enemy in a worm, Lyco 
fucata Haan, which feeds upon it. As La, means of protection aS 
commission report : — 

t is of no use to coat the surface of the wood with any substance sup- 
posed to be sind to the Teredo, as this coating TR be damaged 
sooner or. lat 

- The wallet on of the wood with soluble inorganic salts, does not 
prevent ‘ha animal from invading the woo: 
3. The hardness of the wood itself does not offer any protection, the 
wood of the “ gaiac” and the ‘‘ mamberklak” being invaded 
4. The only means offering a high probability % protection against the 
ani the impregnation of the w with creosote. — M. Alphonse 
Milne-Edwards says of Lysianassa (Eurytenes) Te that he has 
ompared a specimen from Spitzbergen with one in the Paris Museum, 
“taken from a fish’s stomach near the Straits of Magellan. These two 
individuals seem to resemble each other very closely (beaucoup), and I 








Pe fod pee Tt 





* Profess: 5. eee aa + P + Dowd, 7. 
E or a ee {rtiodactyla (including most of the ruminants), which con- 
Sist of those with an even number of toes. 





104 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 






















have only seen a difference between them of size.” —The occurrence ofa 
venomous black spider is noticed at Berdiansk, amongst the wheat at ha 
vest time. — Guyon writes on the parasitic Flea, or kapap i Pulex @ Rhyn 
cuoprion) penetrans, which lives under the skin of man and pigs. 

tural enemies is the Cockroach (Blatta parior l 
oran (Chelifer cancroides) is destructive to the common Flea.—D 
gives an account of some experiments conducted for the purpose 
termining the possibility of spontaneous generation (heterogeny)- 


opinion, that, in the actual state of science, heterogeny is a chimera. 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





BOTANY. 

Can Li IFIED BY CHEMICAL TrEsTs?— Some 
experiments illustrating the differences in the chemical conti 
Lichens have lately been published (Regensburg Flora, 1 


large genus Cladonia, by Mr. Leighton (Annals and Magazine of Natt 
ES pi 1866), and by a general consideration of the described phen! 
as recognizable in Spitzbergen = ae by Dr. Theodore Fries 
of Kanta in Acta Holmiæ, 1867 
, from these expavinidute that Hypochlorite (Chle 
me tarnishes “a sort of immediate ahatyein* of the colorable ™ 
a 


r so N 
pies from those which do. The same holds good in Dirin 
canora tartarea (Cudbear of dyers) as compared with closely all 
cies, and in Umbilicaria and Parmelia, it being necessary in the latt 


the red fruit of species of Cladonia and of Biatora, in Hete 
Domingense, etc., the contact of the salt immediately ines 8 


Haws 





species otherwise refetable to the groups nam ed which do not 
change (as Theloschistes candelarius) are thus elegantly, aud 


NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 105 


most conveniently, separable. So again, in many other Lichens (sup- 
posed now to contain usneic acid) as Parmelia and Lecanora, Cladonia, 
etc., the reaction, if it occur, is yellow, or greenish-yellow, and serves to 


least, on no other than the kind of evidence above given, to be ‘‘species,” 
that botanists are concerned 

I have gone through a large part of my North American and exotic 
Lichens in the light afforded by these experiments, and found the facts, 


through Cladonia, wherein forms, agreeing in almost every other respect, 
are seen to differ, and in the same way, in their apas with potash ; 
and his list of such forms might yet be extended. C. delicata, of the first 
series below, is complemented, it appears (Leighton’s Shaaban p- 6) by 
a C. subdelicata ; and C. athelia bears, a little doubt, a similar relation 
to O. Santensis. Nor does there appear to be reason for estimating the 
value of the terms of these parallel ER as, for example, 


Not tinged Tinged yellow by Potash. 
Cladonia gracilis, . . . . “Oladonia ecmocyna,” 
Cladonia degeneranis, . . . “Cladonia lepidota,” 
“Oladonia subdelicata,” . . Oladonia delicata, 
“Cladonia bacillaris,” . . . Cladonia macilenta, 


and so on, any higher or otherwise than in C. furcata; wherein we are 
told (Leighton’s Cladoniæ, p. 9) Dr. Nylander does not consider the chem- 
ic: i h 


spores) should not az as properly determinable by these reagents 
nothing else, as spec 

The observations es ae are, however, plainly incomplete; and derive 
from this perhaps not a little of their interest. Parmelia perlata is thus 
said to differ specifically from its var. olivetorum Ach., by failing to show 
any red tinge with Chloride of Lime; the difference already recognized 
being regarded as sufficiently corroborated by the new one. But all speci- 
mens of P. olivetorum are not so distinguishable, as compare the excellent 
ones in Welwitsch’s Portuguese collection, No.75, and Massalongo’s Ital- 
ian, No.325; and the assumed organic diversity thus failing. there is left 
only the (in itself uncertain) merely chemical one. It is much the same with 

. levigata and its variety revoluta Nyl. (Synopsis, p- ng the last being 
now taken, and on the same evidence, to be distinct in species from the 
first. We have here a better ma mee difference in botanical character, 

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 



























106 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


one which commended itself as sufficient to Floerke, and, at one time, 
to Borrer; and there seems to be no doubt that this origin P. revoluta — 


e 

shows no reaction; while, on aa ue » an a ‘Muro pean condi 
(Herbarium Krempelh.) is not wanting, soc far less with revo 
than with levigata, the evident reaction in which favors the inference 
that the latter varies possibly in its TRAS relations as much as the 
former; and that the new criterion is after of no service. In al 


tinged red by the same salt, as stated by Nylander; but only two or three | 
of the much more abundant North A American ones 3 Sho w any trace of the 


stanced s the var. chen ta Nyl. (Lindig’s Herbarium of New Granada), 
of which No. 110 of the second collection exhibits the coloration, while 


yet the contrary the c ; 
American specimens, as well “hes Arctic America as es ‘Ton in 


—but some (it is worthy of note) eufictenty x normal. P. Borreri W 
longs, it is further said, to the number of species which exhibit the 
reaction; but none is observable in several fnan North Am 
specimens in my herbarium, and the same is true of the New G 
P. Borreri Nyl. (Lindig’s Herbarium, No. 735). The group represe! 
by P. physodes is, on the other hand, set down as not affected by the! 
in the way named. P. Japonica, of the erent hir belongs none 


less to the group, and exhibits a free colora So Dirina is reckon" 
genera aying “a very distinct ratier reaction;” yet 
Californian species (D. Californica) fails to d 


other cases; but in what appears rather a corticoline form of P. cons 
from Louisiana (var. leucochlora Nyl.), the change is to bright Y® 
not without orange, contrasting with the entire want of coloration ! 
erpe every and perhaps therefore not unworthy of note in the P! 
iscuss 
These results, given with due respect to the experienced authors 
observations have been considered, sufficiently indicate that the 


* 


NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 107 


inclines to emphasize the doubts with which Dr. Fries has received the 
supposed new criteria of distinction. It remains none the less likely, 
i l the 


sometimes afford clews to affinity where there is little to direct; and thus 
deserve a place beside the better-known solution of iodine, on our work- 
ing tables. —E. TucKERMAN, Amherst. 


THE SUN-DEW A FLY-TRAP.— I wish to call the attention of botanists 
to avery humble little plant, the Drosera arora pnt or common sun- 
dew, which not only catches flies, but eats them. I was looking early in 
the spring in a swamp for chrysalids, when I noticed the tiny leaves of 
the sun-dew, which has beautiful blood-red glandular hairs, each tipped 


two plants and kept them for several weeks by laying the bit of moss on 
which they grew in a plate supplied every day with water. During this 
time I fed them with midges, ants, and beefsteak. The tiny drop of dew 
is glutinous, and any small insect touching them is lost. Every effort to 
escape but hurries its doom, and in a moment wings and legs are held fast 
to the tiny bristles 

ow begins ey carious part of the affair. All the hairs begin to 


a leaf. In twelve hours nearly every hair touched it. They gathered 
Over it in knots and remained so for a day and a half, when they slowly 
returned to their natural position, leaving the beef a white sodden ato 
resting on the points of the hairs. I tried it with a bit of paper, but it 
refused to move for that; then a tiny fly was touched to one of the treach- 
erous dew-drops, smothered, and in a few hours all the ferocious little 
Scarlet hairs had their beaded points upon his body. When the blossom 
bud appeared, the glands no longer secreted the dew, and the leaves lost 
their brilliant color. — L. A. MILLINGTON. 


Two Crops or Roses. — Another correspondent has mentioned a mon- 
Strosity in roses. I have a Provence rose which for three years in suc- 
cession has borne numbers of flowers after its usual time of blooming. 
The late roses ead grow directly out of the old one until the third is 
produced. Some of them are perfect with the exception of the calyx, 
which is sdhaveiciea while others are a confused cluster of pink leaves, 
at the end of a stout stem. — L. A. M. 

A Waite WILD COLUMBINE. — One of your correspondents has spoken 
of finding Columbines that were nearly white. I believe they are not 
uncommon, as I have frequently found not only Columbines but Lobelia 
cardinalis of a delicate white or cream color. — L. A 





108 7 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





















ZOOLOGY. 

ARE BEES INJURIOUS TO FRUIT? — Dr. H. A. Hagen, late of König 
Prussia, who is an eminent entomologist, and who has paid special 
tion to the literature of Bees and aina; thus writes us reg 
this question :— 

“I have never known, and find nothing in the literature 
hand to prove that Bees are obnoxious to fruits and to fields. Bees 
never use the fields of red clover; the corolla is too long for their p 
cis. t they are very frequently seen in the fields of white clover, 4 
have heard that these fields are obnoxious to bees, if shortly before ı 


APIPHOBIA.—The people of Wenham have voted, by a two-thirds: 
jority, that no bees shall be kept in the town—the vote being direc 
against an extensive bee-keeper whose stock has been troubles¢ 
Some say a Pare of the town is of ‘doubtful constitutional 
Boston Jow 

tity aaa of Wenham have judged that bertoning an 
atij are incompatible, and that bees are a nuisance!! We also no 
that the bee-keeper ‘whose stock has been Sodi advertise 
the Salem Gazette, his farm for sale, consisting of ‘“ three-quarters 0! ý 


choice standard fruit.” (Memorandum. —The bee-keeper himself 
m the above quotations, to have found both fruit-raising and bee- 
ing a source of profit! ! 


des, about which there is always a sort of tragic interest, 
be adjudged only as “common nuisances,” to be abated and & 
guished by the ballots of f Wenham’s “free and mee bie 
This disease, Apiphobia, as we may call it, has afflicted m 


m 
among the unfortunate inhabitants of Wenham, Massachusetts, 
It would be immodest in us to s suggést as a preventive against this 


" *We learn that the Selectmen of Wenham have ordered the bee-keeper to abate t 
Maia” and take his bees out of town. Can it be possible! and this in enlightened M: 


* 


NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 109 


midable disease, the daily reading of the NATURALIST, but we can heartily 
recommend the perusal of the American Bee Journal, which is devoted to 
the habits and natural history of the Honey Bee 

A little knowledge of Natural History is resily: the only antidote yet 
discovered against this fell disease. We quote from the American Bee 
Journal for March, the Editor’s remarks on the subject of 

kieres AND FRUIT BLossoms. =A silly prejudice against bees is entertained by some fruit- 
d, both in quality 
A more nailed notion, or one 
deriving le less support TE observation and science, can scarcely be pon mocived. Yet it regu- 
larly ti 











p 





the wiseac: 
Repea sed ee of the resuscitation of this vikate are ait in the history of bee- 








—* in Germany, espec tally in t 2e per riod betw tween 1530 and 1800, On some of these occa- 

as sọ ap F d trati S, as to constrain the almost 
total PREE z Alot ty + Tr +) ta fé#hit 
cam 


of b y 
e the substitution of cider and beer for the ancient mead or metheglin, as the popular 
erage; and amid ach opposition and disco ouragement, bee-culture rapidly sunk to be of 


as 





In 1774, Count Anthony of Torrings-Seefield, in Bavaria, ature of the agrees 4 of Bci- 
ence at è Munich, striving to re-introduce be e-culta re on his patrimoni und in this 





o ove ae 
HoGa] to show that pees, far from being injurious, were directly beneficiai in the fru on 
of blossoms — causing the fruit to set, by conveying the fertilizing pollen ig tree to tree and 
roved moreov: offici: ily r 


ury ear 
when bees were kept by every tenant on the estate, fruit was staid Siia then, when 
pied seven kept bees, and none of these had more than three colonies, fruit w arcer than 
ever among his t 





ten. 

e Apiarian General Convention, held at Stuttgard, in Wirtemburg, in September, 1858, 
the subj being under discussion, the celebrated pomologist, Profes- 
re Lucas, goo of the directors of the Hohenbeim Institute, alluding to she pr EPPES went on 

however, ere 





was A TE of ' the horticulturist and the vee-keeper combine hoard run parallel. AR adicious 

pruning of d yield honey more plen- 

tifully, ee urge i attention to this on those particularly who at are nee fruit-growers 

bee-keepers, testo me that his trees yield 

decidedly aiem crops since he has established an apiary in his arenai; end the annual product 

is now more certain and regular than before, though his trees had always received due atten- 
” 





or our fruit-tr 








Some years ago a w lished h t iderable cost, 
and stocked it with a a great aa of choice native and exotic fruit-trees— expecting in due 
time to have remunerating „n Time passed, and annually there was a superabundance of 
blossoms, with only very littl e fruit. Vari plans devised and adoptet i to bring the 








tion, and that by means of bees the needed work “eould be effected. A hive of busy honey- 
gatherers was introduced next season; the remedy was effectual—there was no longer any 
difficulty in producing crops there. The bees distributed the pollen, and the setting of the 
fruit followed naturally. 

THE MOTTLED Owx.—I think Mr. Samuels has misunderstood my re- 
marks on the nests of owls. What I intended to state was that the Mot- 
tled Owl never built a nest to my personal knowledge, and I did not state 
that the Mottled Owl occupied the ‘abandoned nest of a crow or hawk,” 
but I did state that other species of owls (of course meaning our local 
Species), when they did occupy a nest at all, inhabited the abandoned 

a crow or hawk, which they had partially repaired. — AUGUSTUS 
FOWLER. 






















110 ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR. 


AN ALBINo Hummrne-Brrp. — During the last summer a white Hum 
ming-bird visited many times a stand of plants on my piazza. I had 
eral eee of observing it closely. It seemed a trifle larger than 
the Ruby-throa The n neck and head were of a glossy gold-color. l 
large, black, no brilliant. After dipping its bill into all the tuschiag AE 
did what I have never seen other Humming-birds do, alighted on a dwar | 
apple-tree within a wh feet of me, and ate the apnhides, or plant-lice, 
just as the sparrows and golden-wrens do. After a hearty meal of — 
it ua its feathers, spread its wings one by one, and thrust out ata 
long tongue. — L. A. MILLINGTON. 





ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR. 

—eo —— g7 

In April the injurious insects in the Northern States have scarcely 
gun their work of destruction, as the buds do not unfold before the f 
Fig.1. of May. We give an account, however, of some of the bel 
ficial insects which are now to be found in grass-lands 

mab The $ aner To know his true insect friends 

me mes insec troduce to our readers a large f 

of 0 ro ea from Carabus, the name 


with the principal forms. They are dark-colored, brown 
black, with metallic hues, and are seen in spring, and t through 
out the summer, running in grass, or lurking under stones and sticks 





damp places, whence they sally forth to hunt by night, when many 
table-eating i s are most active 
a larve are found in much in same situations as the mature t 

ey are elongate, oblong, and rather broad, the terminal ring of | 


CORRESPONDENCE. 111 


body being armed with two horny hooks, and having a single fleshy leg 
beneath, and are usually black in color. The larva of Calosoma (C. cali- 
dum, Fig. 1; Fig. 2, the beetle of C. calidum Fab Fig. 6. 

and Fig. 3, C. scrutator Fabr.) ascends ue | io 
feed on caterpillars, such as 


Fig. 8. 


saw it fiercely attack a June- 





a sides of its clumsy and 
helpless victim with tiger-like 
ferocity. Carabus (Fig. 4, C. serratus Say; Fig. 5, pupa of Carabus au- 
ronitens of pode after Westwood) is a closely allied form, with very 
Similar hab 

A much tik form is the curious Bombardier beetle, Brachinus (Fig. 
Fig.10. 6, B. fumans Linn.), with its narrow head and heart-shaped 
ZAN rothorax. It is remarkable for discharging with quite an 
¥% explosion from the end of its body a pungent fluid, prob- 

ably as a protection against its enemies. Fig. 9. 
An allied genus is Casnonia (Fig. T, C. Penn- 
sylvanica Dejean) which has a long neck and 





Say, represent two common forms. he 
former is black, while the latter is a pretty 
insect, apes pone purplish red wing- 
covers, and bla 

Fig. 10, vane’ fias three lines, represents a singular 
| larva found by Mr. J. H. Emerton under a stone early in 

sprin ei Dr. Leconte, to whom we sent a figure, supposes 

that it may possib y be a larva of Harpalus, or iaae CT It 
is evidently a saith fee bid. The under side is re 

In our monthly calendar for 1868, we shall not rile: nore facts stated 
in the calendar given in Vol. I. of the NaTURALIST. 





+ 

CORRESPONDENCE. 
E. L. pa New York.—There is no manual of American En Entomology * 
giving a general account of insects and the classification of ‘the North 
ulate ad: col aga a eee ee 








*The writer has ready for the press, A amcar erence e 
sects, which will be published during the year. It is designed to be a general introduction to 





112 BOOKS RECEIVED. 


















American species. The following will be found maparo in add 
tion to those enumerated in Vol. I, p. 106 and 160 of t URALIST 


works are lists of all works relating to American insects, to which 
would refer the reader. 

r. H. Loew, in various European journals, has described many of 
Diptera. The British Museum Catalogue of Insects, over fifty volumes U 


L. A. M., Glenn Falls, N. Y.— The Sugar Mite (Acarus sachar 
found in brown sugar. It is much like the Domestic Mite (Acarus do 
ticus De Geer), which is found in collections of insects and stuffed bi 
where it is quite destructive. Acarus farine is found in flour and food, 


und 
They are best destroyed by sprinkling sulphur over yr leaves they in ng 


—eoo—_ 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
FA nba! Abstract of Medica 1 December, 1867. Phil iladelphia. 


l Sciences. Ju 
By Me On , Mildew, and Mould. An poten Fa to the Study of Microsc, 
By £ Eras Bee at London, 1865. R. Hardwicke. With n 
trations. of Botanic Terms. By M. C. Cooke. London. R. Hardwicke. With 
‘or Everybod By M. 0. 
ani, ney a — oap., S a a OAS all the British Ferns. By 7 
pa Plain nd Easy Account of Britis Fungi, with Descriptions of the Esculent ay 
isime piaia l atenem AEA the the Principles AA Pccings Eee cae =e ‘and é d 
imo. Hondon, 1862, EE Pagan eae: 
eptiles: A Plain and Easy PEREN of the Lizards, Snakes, Newts, Toads, 
Ponder aes indigenous to Great Britain. By M. C.Cooke. With illustrations. H 
n, . ; 
rdwicke’s gn dd 1867. London, 1868. Royal 8vo. R. Hardwicke 


January 
he Field. February art E 5 ©, February 1. London. 
ork. 


ournal. March. Washington. 











study of Entomol arranged for the use of Schools. rists. It 
Colleges, and Agricultu 
consist of sigue of four hundred pages, long primer ty : undred cuts. 
will contain sho Ptions and figures of nearly all our most destrnetive and bene 
‘te with the no: oxious 





is designed to be a popular book, written In plain language, and fr ne wa possibte fom t j 
ities, and furnished wi pit pS We shall to the beginner BY 
er wid oa a ee e ae S ee 


De Oe 











L ELS 


AMERICAN NATURALIST. 


Vol. II.—MAY, 1868.— No, 3. 
ecce TORITO 


THE SONGS OF THE GRASSHOPPERS. 


BY S8. H. SCUDDER. 





ALTHOUGH every one is familiar with the 
notes of birds, few can distinguish the differ- 
ent chirpings of insects, or are eyen aware 
that every kind of Grasshopper has its distinc- 
tive note. The songs of insects are neither 
so varied nor complicated as those of birds, 
but their study presents peculiar difficulties. 
Sounds become inaudible to many persons 
when they are derived from vibrations more 
rapid than 25,000 per second, and when the 

number reaches 38,000, the limit of human 
2 perceptibility is attained: thus, the shrill- 
>. ness of a note may prove a hinderance to 

its study. This is illustrated by Tyndall in 
his recent book on Sound. He writes: “Crossing the Wen- 
gern Alp with a friend, the grass on each side of the path 
swarmed with insects, which, to me, rent the air with their 
shrill chirruping. My friend heard nothing of this, the in- 
sect world lying beyond his limit of audition.” 

Another and universal obstacle lies in the delicacy or 
feebleness of the notes of some species ; to distinguish them 
aeaea a AEA EN 











Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, rnd 5 print nt OF 
SCIENCE, in the Clerk's Office of the District agit of the District of 
15 


ATURALIST, VOL. IL. 18) 





















114 THE SONGS OF THE GRASSHOPPERS. 


clearly, one must bring his ear to within a few feet, or even 
inches of the insect during its stridulation, —a process which — 
requires great caution lest the shyness of the little violinist — 
should overcome his egotistic love of song. The observer — 
must walk quietly toward the sound until it ceases, and wait l 
motionless for its renewal ; the direction of the chirping can ; 
then easily be determined, although its distance is deceptive. — 
After drawing an imaginary line towards the spot from 
whence the sound proceeds, cautious steps must be taken — 
around the are of a wide circle until another line is fixed at 
right angles to the first, and the location of the songster ap- 3 
proximately determined. Then walking quickly but quietly 
to within five or six feet of the insect, the observer will fall _ 
upon his hands and knees, and produce a quill edge and file, 
which, on being rubbed together, imitate, with great exact- 
ness, the desired note. He will commence his mock strid- 
ulation after a short delay; at first the sounds must be l 
subdued and separated by considerable intervals, then loud, — 
and repeated in quick succession ; usually a response i 
heard before a minute has elapsed, and sometimes it comes _ 
at once. When the insect has forgotten his fears and begins 
to stridulate violently, the observer may cease operations — 
and carefully approach him. In this way one can place | 
himself within a few inches of any species living in the | 
grass. : 


surface of the wing-covers. The insects which employ t 
fourth method stridulate during flight, —the others while at 
rest. To the first group belong the Crickets ; to the second 


THE SONGS OF THE GRASSHOPPERS. . 115 


the Green or Long-horned Grasshoppers; to the third and 
fourth, certain kinds of Short-horned or Jumping Grasshop- 
pers. The sounds produced by the different groups vary in 
pitch, those of the crickets being shrillest and the others 
following in the order just given. With but few exceptions 
the males alone sing. 

‘The notes of the Cricket—called by the French “cri cri” 
on account of its song—may be heard near Boston* from the 
middle of June until November; further north they do not 
appear until much later in the season. Their note is errr, 
and the rapidity with which it is uttered varies even in the 
same strain; sometimes it is as slow as two notes a second, 
at others it is twice as rapid. The note is sharp and shrill, 
and appears to be pitched at E natural, two octaves above 
middle C. Sometimes two choirs of these insects may be 
heard at once, the individuals of each choir chirping simul- 
taneously, but one choir more rapidly than the other ; most 
of the time this produces a sort of discord, but, as they 
occasionally harmonize, one hears cycles of accordance and 
discordance, often of remarkable uniformity and duration. 

The Spotted-cricket (Nemobius vittatus) appears simulta- 
neously with the Black-cricket ( Gryllus niger). The chirping 
of the two insects is very similar, but that of the former may 
be better expressed by r-r-r-u, pronounced as though it were 
a French word. The note is trilled forcibly, and lasts a vari- 
able length of time. One of these insects was once observed 
while singing to its mate. At first the song was mild and 
frequently broken ; afterwards it grew impetuous, forcible, 
and more prolonged ; then it decreased in volume and extent 
until it became quite soft and feeble. At this point the male 
began to approach the female, uttering a series of twittering 
chirps; the female ran away, and the male, after a short 
chase, returned to his old haunt, singing with the same 
vigor but with frequent pauses; at last, finding all persua- 
sion unavailing he brought his serenade to a close. 





* All my illustrations are drawn from New England insects. 





116 _ THE SONGS OF THE GRASSHOPPERS. 


In September and October, the White Climbing- cricket ) 

( Ecanthus niveus, Fig. 1, left wing-cover of male, Fig la; 
= Figi. gla. the same of female* ) is found on the 
leaves of low trees and bushes. It makes _ 
a uniform note, exceedingly shrill bat 
, attenuated. : 

The peculiar development of the wing 
in stridulating Orthoptera is nowhere seen 
to better advantage than in this insect 
In the female, the veins of the central field run nearly paral 
lel to the border ; in the male, they cross the wing in various | 
directions, and either converge toward the point of stridu- 
lation on the inner border at the wing, where the inner and 
central fields meet, or act as supports to the converging 
veins. 

All these insects belong to the first class. There are many 
species in the second group (the green or long-horned grass- 
hoppers), but a few examples will suffice. “These insects, 
like the crickets, sing both by day and night, but, unlike the 
latter, their day-song differs from that of the night. On 
a summers day, it is curious to observe these little cret 
tures suddenly changing from the day to the night-song gat 
the mere passing of a cloud, and returning to the ol 
when the sky is clear. By imitating the two songs in @ 
daytime, the grasshoppers can be ahde to respond to cite 
at will; at night, they have but one note. 

The previous illustrations showed that the stridulatl 
organ of crickets occupied the middle field of the wing} | 
the green grasshoppers, on the contrary, it will be found 
the inner field ; here, too, the relative size of the inner 
is nearly the same in both sexes, but the stout, curved 
of the male is altogether wanting in the voiceless female. 
One of them, the Phaneroptera curvicauda (Fig. 2,™ 









































*1In all thei] $ tha dattad li Pen dgw aor Ws 





the wing; a represents the “ file;” b sae 
points at the li line of npada 
(or outer) and central felds; c, at that point between the central and pe mor Hel 


THE SONGS OF THE GRASSHOPPERS. 117 


Fig. 2 a, female), prefers to sing in the night. His day- 
song is bzrwi, and lasts one-third of a second; the night- 
song consists of a repetition—ordinarily eight times—of a 
note which sounds like tehw. This is repeated at the rate 
of five in three-quarters of a Fig.2a. 

second, making each note one- 
half as long as that of the day. 

The song of the common 
Meadow-grasshopper ( Orcheli- 
mum vulgare) is more compli- 
cated. Commencing with és, it 
changes almost instantly into a | 
trill of zr: at first there is a | 
crescendo movement which | 
reaches its volume in half a sec- 
ond; the trill is then sustained 
for a period varying from one 
to twenty seconds, and closes 
suddenly with p. This strain 
is followed by a series of stac- 
cato notes, sounding like jip; 
they are one-eighth of a second in length, and are produced 
at one-half second intervals. The staccato notes and the 
trill alternate ad libitum. The night-song differs from that 
of the day simply in its slower movement ; the pitch of both 
is at B flat, two octaves above middle C. 

A conical-headed grasshopper ( Conocephalus robustus) , 
found near the seashore in the southern part of New England, 
makes the salt marshes resound with its incessant, shrill din. 
The resemblance of its song to that of the harvest-fly is quite 
striking; at a distance, the note seems to be perfectly uni- 
form; close at hand, one can hear it rising and falling rhyth- 
mically, two and a half times a second, accompanied by a 
loud droning noise. 3 ; 

There are numerous kinds of jumping grasshoppers which 
stridulate in the daytime only. ‘They do this by the aid of 











b b 





















118 THE SONGS OF THE GRASSHOPPERS. 


the hind legs, rubbing their thighs against their wing-covers; l 
every movement of the fiddle-bow produces a short note, and — 
the uniformity with which each species plays its own song — 
is quite remarkable. One kind (Stenobothrus curtipennis) — 
produces about six notes per second, and continues them — 
from one and a half to two and a half seconds; another a 
(S. melanoplewus) makes from nine to- twelve notes in — 
about three seconds. In both cases the notes follow each — 
other uniformly, and are slower in the shade than in the 4 


un. : 

The stridulating apparatus of the jumping grasshoppers is _ 
of a very different character from that of the green grasshop; — 
Fig.3a. pers. In Arcyptera lineata (Fig. 3, pig's, i 
left wing of male; Fig. 3a, left wing 
of female), for example, it is situated 
in the central field of the wing, 
which is of about the same size in | 
both sexes; some of the veins in the 
centre of the wing (a, enlarged in f 
_ Fig. 36) have a rasp-like surface | 
| upon which the hind thighs are | 
scraped up and down, producing mo- 
notonous, nearly uniform notes. 

The grasshoppers which stridulate 
during, flight, by the contact of the wings and wing- 
covers, belong mostly to the genus @dipoda; in many 
of them the wings are variegated with brilliant colors. 1 
sound which they make seems to be under the control of 









EAN 


Aa 


Toa 





j 


asa 





<=. TORN = 
SSNS Ss 


—— 





norisa 
a ar BP a 





i 
f 








—_——— 





of the latter is more sustained, they are capable of chang ing 
their course, and at each turn emit a crackling sound 
short duration. 


THE SONGS OF THE GRASSHOPPERS. 119 












































a aid Aad ALAA 















































Note of Orchelimum vulgare. 


120 THE SONGS OF THE GRASSHOPPERS. 
errri errri errri 
Note of Gryllus neglectus. 


ru ru ru ru ru ru ru ru ru ruru me 
m 


Ta ru ru ru ru ru ru TRPE TR Te ru 


eee ae . 


Note of Nemobius vittatus. 

















bzrwi 
ee 


Fer 


Note of Phaneroptera curvicauda by day. 








tchw tchw tchw tchw tchw tehw tebw ui. 
Panum D co P S et tt 


nea a ia a a 


Note of Phaneroptera curvicauda by night. 


Y v 











FE 


TACT 


Note of eet ee) in the sun. 


erarerat ye IRA ara 


rises grerepgpereeae it 
Note of Stenobothrus curtipennis. 
EE 


Note of Arcyptera lineata, 











BEARS AND BEAR-HUNTING. 


BY CHARLES WRIGHT. 





“Nores of a Hunter,” by Henry Clapp, call to mind some 
personal experience about bears and bear-hunting in Texas. 
I was much in the company of Mr. Benjamin Burke, a very 
observing, intelligent, and truthful man. He imparted to 
me many items of information respecting the habits of the 
bear. Some of these habits I had the opportunity of observ- 
ing myself, and I have full confidence in the truth of his 
statements relative to the others. 

I had read in my youth, in some great encyclopedia, that 
the bear goes to his winter’s sleep very fat, and awakes from 
it, in the spring, very lean. I was surprised then to learn, 
that, so far as can be judged by appearances, he loses none 
of his fat during hibernation. Of course, in his wild state 
we cannot weigh him before going to sleep and after he 
wakes. The hunter says he goes to his winter-quarters 
“full fat,” and comes out “full fat.” Z know that he is fat 
when he begins to travel in the spring; but he becomes lean 
rapidly, notwithstanding he may find plenty to eat. At this 
period, he is din to hogs; indeed, all the summer, 
till the return of mast (acorns, grapes, and other autumn 
fruits) offers him better food. Mr. Burke had a very large, 
gentle boar (he was raised as a pet) which was caught by a 
bear; but he broke away, and came to the house with a 
gaping wound just over the middle of his back. A gang of 
hogs will rally, in self-defence, against a wolf, a panther, or 
any other animal of this country that I know of, except a 

ar. If you want to scatter a gang, throw among them a 
bit of fresh bear-skin. Apropos of this a story is ‘told, for 
the truth of which I do not vouch, though I think it not im- 
probable, that a man’s hogs being in the habit of breaking 
into his neighbor’s field, i latter caught one, sewed it up 
in the skin of a bear newly killed, and bicned it loose among 

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 16 121 
















122 BEARS AND BEAR-HUNTING. 


its fellows. These ran for dear life, and the bear-hog 
lowed from social instinct till both fell, if not dead, at lea 
quite exhausted. 
I was not aware that a bear can climb a tree so smalls 
that mentioned by Mr. Clapp. The hunter knows wh 
the animal is in the hollow of the tree above by then 
of the claws. In ascending, he leaves only the puncture 
the claws. In descending, he makes long scratches. 
climb in order to “lap,” as the hunter says, described byd 
Clapp as drawing in branches to get the fruit. I feel inc 
to doubt whether they break off the branches Sor the pu 
of throwing them down and then descending to eat the fru 
looks too much like human reasoning. If the branch b 
he may not be able to hold it; and when he goes down, 
may eat the fruit. This would be all natural enough. 
the South, acorns form the principal mast. They are 
of persimmons too, and grapes. When mast is not pi 
they lap black-gum_ berries (Nyssa multiflora?), and 
impart to the flesh, not a bitter taste, as would natural 
Supposed, but the peculiar savor of fish ; so that, for & 
son of delicate taste, only severe hunger will force him 
eat the meat of a bear that has lapped black-gum. n] 
The female commonly climbs a tree to find a hollow “i 
her winter-quarters, where she has her cubs. I was pres® 
at the taking of one from such a hollow. It was neces 
to climb a neighboring tree ; then a piece of dry rotten W% 
set on fire, loosely attached to a pole and thrust into ® 
nest, soon forced her to turn out, Old, large bears do 
like to climb, and generally hibernate in a thick bunt 
cane or bushes, or among some fallen tree-tops, OF 
hollow log, making a bed of leaves, grass, brush, oF ° 
stuff. During winter, i 5 


as nothing, or only a little mucus in the stomach and M 
tines; and the plug in the vent, as mentioned by Mr. © 


BEARS AND BEAR-HUNTING. 123 


This results, probably, from the hardening of the last fecal 
matter, mostly mucus. which comes from the intestines. But 
the idea that it is composed of gum,—an idea that I never 
heard of in Texas,—entertained by some, reminds me of 
another custom of bears, probably connected with the sexual 
heat. In some localities, particularly on a high bluff near a 
‘stream, a pine tree is occasionally seen, from which the bark, 
at a certain height, is plainly torn off by the teeth of some 
animal, It is said to be done by the bear in this manner: 
he rises on his hind feet. with his back to the tree, and, 
turning his head to one side and to the other, rips off the 
bark with his tusks. The size of the animal is known, ap- 
proximately, by the height of the marks he leaves. The 
same tree is visited year after year by bears of various sizes, 
—nhone very small, however. I would say, trusting to 
memory, that the average height may be about four feet. I 
have seen several such trees. I think Mr. Burke had never 
witnessed this performance, but received his information 
from Indians. I never saw any other than a pine thus 
marked. 

Bears are fond of honey, and will rob bee-hives, if within 
reach. They also dig up “yellow-jackets,” wasp’s-nests, for 
the larve. The account of this is amusing. The animal 
digs rapidly, and when the insects sting him too fiercely he 
quits for a moment, rolls over and over on the ground, 
snarling the while, and returns again to the attack, perhaps 
to go through the same movements several times before he 
bears off the prize. 

Itis exciting sport hunting bears with dogs. These come 
to be almost as fond of it as- the hunter himself. Most of 
them, in the beginning, fear to attack, and some never get 
the better of the dread he inspires. A fierce one is apt to 
Spring at the ear, to his sorrow. But the dog that has eour- 
age and prudence combined bites him behind, which be will 
by no manner of means tolerate, but will wheel to fight. I 
doubt if he ever properly strikes with his paws. He makes 





124 THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS, 


his own instinctive effort to seize the attacking party, and to 
put him in the place of the lowermost dog in the fight. Then 
he bites, and if he gets the dog by the back, and if this be 
a lean thin dog, woe be to the dog. A fat one has a better 
chance. The bear cannot so well get his broader back into 
his mouth, and, the skin slipping, he generally escapes with 
only a flesh-wound. Dogs, at first, often refuse bear-meat, 


but come to prefer it before all others, as does the hunter. 


When hard pressed, the bear will back into a dense patch 


of cane or into a bunch of bushes, and, standing erect on his 


hinder parts, make the best fight he is capable of. This is | 
the time for the hunter, when his attention is absorbed by the f 
dogs. Occasionally one is started, which runs steadily on 


and escapes. Females and young commonly climb, o 
“tree” in hunters’ dialect. Generally, they are then easily 


shot; but sometimes, on the hunter’s approach, they will 
i 


drop from the tree and run on again. 
I once met a female and two cubs. I shot the mother fait 


in the breast, aiming at the white spot. The cubs treed, and 


I killed them; I then went in search of the old one, fully 
expecting to find her, close by, dead. As she ran away sie 
bled profusely, but the blood grew less, and finally stoppel 
entirely, and I never found the bear. How she could g0 
quite off with such a loss of blood, was a mystery. 











THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS | 


BY SIDNEY I. SMITH. 





(Concluded from page 23.) . 

AMONG UEU: and fluvial species, topography is ma 
more powerful in limiting, geographical distribution, than 
is among marine species. ‘The separation of lands by )¥ 
ocean waters, without change of temperature, is sufficient 





| 





THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 125 


prevent the mingling of their land faun to any extent, while 
they may have most of their marine species in common. Such 
cases are numerous; at the Galapagos, for instance, none 
of the truly land species are known to occur in any other 
region, while a large portion of the marine species are found 
also on the American coast. Temperature is undoubtedly 
the most effective cause in limiting the diffusion of land and 
fresh water, as well as marine animals; but its influences 
are much obscured by those of humidity, and by the varying 
character of soils, waters, and the resulting vegetation. 

Temperature, as a result of or combined with topography, 
forms a very effective force in limiting the distribution of 
land animals. High and continuous mountain ranges pre- 
sent an almost impassable barrier to the migration of most 
species. Thus the physical features which separate faunæ 
from regions east and west may be so strongly marked, that 
they more than counterbalance the climatic effects of lati- 
tude. In North America, the faunæ on the east of the 
Rocky Mountains are very different from those on the west, 
and the inclosed central table-lands are occupied by still 
different faunæ. The birds of Arizona resemble those of the 
table-land of Mexico rather than those of California or of 

exas. These physical features even effect a change in the 
migrations of the birds of this region; many of the birds of 
the Colorado valley, instead of migrating far to the north 
in summer, turn to the east and breed in the region north 
of Fort Whipple.* 

Climatic influences, almost alone, limit the distribution of 
mountain vegetation ; and, through the vegetation, more than 
directly that of mountain animals. The narrow limits within 
which mountain species are restricted show very plainly the 
effect of climatic influences. Among the butterflies of the 
White Mountains of New Hampshire, the abundant Chiono- 
bas semidea Edw., is restricted to the loftiest summit, never 


Stes y E. Coues, Prodrome of a work on the Ornithology of Arizona Territory, moped 
NATURALIST, Vol. I, p. 209. 





126 THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 


breeding without these narrow limits, although frequently 

blown into the lower vallies. In a zone below these lofty. 
summits, but not extending to the base of the mounta 
Argynnis Montinus Seudd. is found, yet never at the sum 
mit with the Chionobas, nor about the base with the specie 
of the Canadian or Virginian faune.* Many other spe 
of insects, and many plants, are restricted in the samem 
ner. It cannot be that. these species are thus restricted 
their distribution merely by some primary, innate princi 
which prevents their diffusion ; for, like their marine re 
tives, they have not always been thus restricted. A 


















zal 
7 
ba 

= 


land as it is in the ocean, for land species are not so 
left fossil in their ancient homes ; and, as there are no 
thentic records of land animals existing through the Gh 
epoch, we can go back no farther than its decline. Yetit 
worthy of remark, that the arctic land fauna of the Tertiary f 
period, like the marine, was probably cireumpolar ; and 
the gradually advancing coldof the glaciers would have drit 
many arctic plants and animals southward, and, living just 
beyond the border of the ice belt, they would have fol 
it back with the glacial decline. 

_ At the close of the Glacial epoch, the fauna and the 
of New England must have been very much like that of 


As the migra 
as a€rial is] 


evidence in the northern Species scattered along its P 


M * S. H. Scudder, Remarks on some Characteristics of the Insect Fauna of the W 
ountains, Journal of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. VIL 
t Packard, Glacial Phenomena of Labrador, p. 256, 


THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 127 


upon the mountains, or wherever the climatic or topograph- 
ical influences have not annihilated them. 

The flora of the higher mountains of New England and the 
Middle States is quite identical with that of higher North 
American latitudes. All the plants of the White Mountains 
are now growing upon the coast of Labrador. As might be 
expected, the fauna of these mountains agrees with the flora. 
The larger animals would not, of course, be expected to occur 
in so restricted an area; still, one or two northern birds are 
found in summer, and many species of insects—Coleoptera, 
Diptera, Lepidoptera, and Orthoptera—are common to the 
mountains and places farther north. There are, however, 
some forms which appear to be peculiar to the mountain 
fauna, but more careful and extended investigation in the 
northern regions may prove many or even all of them to 
belong to species still existing at the north. 

The plants and the birds of the coast of Maine, where the 
cooling effect of the arctic current is still felt, are subarctic 
in character, and very different from. those inland. Potentilla 
tridentata and Alsine Gtrenlandica,* species characteristic 
of the flora of Labrador and the New England mountain 
summits, with Pupilla badia, still linger as far south as 
Portland. Thus upon the land, as in the ocean, there are 
southern outliers of northern faune which are relics of the 
northern march of life during the close of the Glacial period. 

The influence of winds in animal distribution is very slight, 
and seems wholly a disturbing power; yet it should not 
be passed over in silence, for it helps explain the wonder- 
fully wide diffusion of a few species. The winds may trans- 
port animals great distances, even over oceans, and drop 
them alive among the species of other faune. Several of 
our American binds have been carried thus to Europe so 
ee 





At Paris, teste et forty miles north of Portland, and just on the coast li cia ra 
the Leda Clay ep 
a railway cut, as kir r% mark their home of a former age. The occurrence o of Sedum 
Rhodiola in Bucks + nis Sa mentioned by lt ype core Forter in in e vol- 
ume of the N. 
























128 THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 


often, that they are now catalogued as British species, 

although they are never known to breed there; and Euro £ 
pean species have frequently been taken upon the America 
coast. It is not very probable that land birds have cros: 
the Atlantic in this way and become established in the oppe f 
site country, but in the case of northern aquatic birds, itii 
by no means impossible that whole flocks may have crossel 
the ocean, and become inhabitants of both shores of he 


there is a still greater chance of being carried from country. 
to country by winds. That they have never been known ti 


new country, the chances of their becoming perman 
established are very much greater than for birds, for a sing# 
female with eggs might be sufficient to introduce the species | 
Some of the facts mentioned below in regard to the intro 
duction of insects through man’s agency, show how 
they may become established. 

Of the organic causes in animal distribution, the infi 
of animals themselves is very slight compared with that 
man. Still, many species, carried by the winds or by 
influence from their original homes into other regions, 
destroyed by native carnivorous species, their perm 


introduction prevented, and the mingling of far-sepa™ 


parasites from place to place. A species is seldom 
duced without some of its parasites, and it might 
Introduce them without becoming introduced itself, for 
sited cocoons and eggs of insects, or living insects and 
animals infested by parasites, might be carried great © 


THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 129 


tances, and the parasites thus introduced attack other spe- 
cies. 

Man, with boundless aspirations and governed in all 
things by an influence within himself, is given a power in 
nature second only to his Creator; with control over physi- 
cal causes, he is governed by no laws of geographical dis- 
tribution, and, traversing the whole earth at his will, he has 
carried, in spite of climatic influences, species from continent 
to continent, and almost from pole to pole. His influence— 
far above all other secondary causes, and uncontrolled by the 
laws imposed upon mere animals—seems only a disturbing 
force among the naturally harmonizing laws of the diffusion 
of life. Many of the changes which man has wrought in the 
distribution of animals are so evident and so universally 
understood, that it is useless to refer to them here, and we 
will allude only to some of those which bear more directly 
upon our understanding of the geographical distribution of 
species. 

_ By changes in the minor physical features of regions, man 

has often adapted them to species of other regions. The 
Cliff-swallow was formerly known only from far west of the 
Mississippi, where there were extensive limestone cliffs for 
it to nest upon; but now that the buildings of man have 
made places for its habitation, it has spread from the Missis- 
sippi all over the Atlantic States.” 

The New Potato-beetle (Doryphora 10-lineata), which 
is so destructive in the West, was long ago known at the base 
of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, feeding upon a wild 
Species of Solanum peculiar to that region. Civilization, 
pushing westward, at last extended its fields of cultivated 
plants far west of the Mississippi into this region. The po- 
tato (a species of Solanum) was well adapted to feed the 
beetle, and was of course attacked by it. The broad fields 
of cultivated plants were much better fitted for its increase 
than the scattered wild ones, and it rapidly diffused itself 


* A. E. Verrill, Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. IX, p. 276. 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 17 











130 THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 


eastward. In 1864 it had crossed the Mississippi, and now 
it has covered half of the State of Illinois.* 

Three common species of butterflies in Eastern North 
America, — Vanessa Antiopa, Cynthia cardui, and Cynthia 
Atalanta,—long known to be identical with European spe 
cies, have been asserted to be natives of this country, and 
the possibility of their introduction from Europe has recently 
been questioned.t But, within a very few years, there has 
been a well-authenticated instance of the naturalization of an- 
European butterfly in Canada. Pieris Rape, the Cabbage 
butterfly of Europe, was introduced at Quebec about 1859, 
and, in 1863, it had become very abundant within a circle of 
forty miles radius about that city.t If butterflies are intr 
duced and spread so rapidly now, there is no reason why 
the other butterflies mentioned, all of which feed upon it- | 
troduced plants, should not have been introduced and dit 
fused over all the eastern part of the country long before 
entomologists began to study the distribution of species. 

n’s influence is perhaps more noticeable in restricting 
the range of, or wholly destroying many species of animals. 
Within a few centuries several of the largest birds have 
become extinct through his agency, the larger wild anim! l 
have been mostly driven from civilized countries, the rele 
tive abundance of the different classes of animals has been 
materially changed, and the natural harmony which must 
| have prevailed in the distribution of life has been destroyed 
for man cannot change the relative abundance of & ing® 
species without affecting indirectly myriads of animals. 

f man has wrought such vast changes within the si! 
period of our written history, what must be the sum of a 
his influence in past ages? Is it too much to say " 
influence aided in the extermination of those monsters of% 




















| 





*B. D. Walsh, Practical Entom 
: rE ologist, October, 1865, and November, 1866. 
gaa ta certain Entomological Speculations of the New England school 
TGJ. Bowles a of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia, Vol. II, 
„J. 8, e Occurrence ; Janadian 
WALT Ko. 4, August, ions of Pieris rape in Canada. C 


ay 





THE PRONG-HORN ANTELOPE. 131 


last geological epoch, the Mastodon, the Irish Elk, the Cave- 
bear, and all those wonderful animal forms that passed away 
with the appearance of man? 





THE PRONG-HORN ANTELOPE. 


BY W. J. HAYS. 





In a recent number of the 
NATURALIST is a letter from 
Dr. Coues on the animals of 
our Western plains. Among 
other quadrupeds he describes 
the Antilocapra Americana, 
or Prong-horn Antelope, and 
says that they do not shed 
their horns. It is somewhat 
strange, that, although this 
animal has been known so 
long, so little is known of 

mn Provosons aaa T habits 

_ _ From Tenney’s Zoology. A few years since Professor 
Baird received a letter from Dr. Canfield, who had spent 
Some years among these animals, announcing the fact the 
antelope did actually shed its horns. 

As this animal has always been supposed to belong to 
that class of ruminants called hollow-horned, the same as 
the cow, sheep, and goat, Professor Baird looked upon 
the statement as a delusion of the writer’s, and paid no 
farther attention to the matter, until, in 1865, a young 
male antelope was taken to the Zoélogical Gardens of Lon- 
don; this was the first animal of the kind ever taken to 
Europe 

One morning the keeper discovered that one of the horns 








132 THE PRONG-HORN ANTELOPE. 





was loose, and, supposing that some injury had been done to 
the animal, he immediately called for Mr. Bartlett, the s f 
perintendent of the garden, when, upon further examination, 
they found that both of the horns were about to fall off. This 
was the first account published of this interesting fact. The 
account will be found in the Proceedings of the Zodlogieil f 
Society of London for 1865. 

For the last four years I have had an antelope under my 
own observation, and have watched carefully the process of : 
development of the horns. 

The antelope fawns are born in the spring, and when ait 
months old the horns first begin to develop. They contin 
to grow until the next Oetaber or November (that is, until 














A e aa, teres ee tasers Ea , 
haere Jan at 
the animal is eighteen months old), when the first ae 
horns are shed; by this is meant the outside shell. 4” . 
the cow and sheep there is a horn-core formed by a ; 
longation of the frontal bone, and oceupying about tw off, 
of the interior of the horn. When the horn drops 
horn-core is found covered with a thick skin, and 
with hair, the same as the face of the animal, with # 
portion of the tip having already begun to harden; this 
ing as a wedge, forces the horn off. | 





DO SNAKES SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG? 133 


The new horn continues to grow from the tip downwards, 
and generally to curve inwards; at the same time the thic 
skin below continues to harden, at first assuming the appear- 
ance of black leather. It is flexible, so that the tip may be 
bent in any direction; a prong sprouts from the base, and, 
by the middle of summer, the horns are fully developed, to 
be dropped and again renewed in the autumn. 

The horn, when shed, seems to be a mass of agglutinated 
hairs enclosed by a substance resembling whalebone in 
appearance ; some of the hairs, however, never amalgamat- 
ing with the horn, but retaining their natural condition, and, 
passing entirely through the horn, will be found protruding 
on the inside and outside of the horn. 

The animal, from which I have made the drawings, is now 
developing his fourth pair of horns. The second pair of 
horns were about three inches longer than the first, and the 
same difference existed between the second and third pair. 





EXPLANATION OF PLATE 3. 
Fig. 1. The animal in October, immediately after shedding the horns. 
Fig. 2. Appearance in August, the horns being perfect. 





DO SNAKES SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG? 


BY F. W. PUTNAM. 





“Ep t WELLSVILLE, N. Y., Sept. 4, 1867. 
‘DITORS AMERICAN NATURALIST 
Sirs,— A short time since I was in Codir, Pa., in whortle- 
berry time, and a man who had been out berrying stated that i suddenly 
came across a Rattlesnake with her young, some twenty-six, * about her. 





* In regard to the number of snakes in a brood, very little is known. a 
be deat a m number for a a Rattles nake, taking ke own 0 





as a guide, for of two fem. ah os one gee 
a and the other eight ni formed eggs in oe ar though thee were a number 
Small ones (not quite as large as peas) which had pro henly. been impregnated and 





might have become developed before the ott d, but which appeared to 











134 DO SNAKES SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG? 

























She immediately. opened her mouth, and instantly the whole family of 
little ones went down her throat. Do you believe it? Is that the nature 
of the Rattlesnake? — H. M. S.” 

THe above question has been often asked, and we have 
several times received statements similar to that expressed im — 
the foregoing letter, which, while difficult to believe, it is 4 
hard to doubt without questioning the veracity of a large l 
number of persons, and it seems to the writer that the 
principal point to prove now is, Do young snakes, after enter- 
ing the throat of their parent, come out again alive? 

In answer to this last form of the question we can Say, 
that frogs can live some time in the esophagus. of a snake; 
and if so, why cannot young snakes do the same? for appa 
rently snakes have as great a power as frogs to live under — 
circumstances that ould deprive more highly organized anh 
mals of life.—To my proof about the frog : A 

Last summer Mr. Hyatt met with a common Striped-snake 
which had recently enjoyed a meal, indicated by a large 
bunch near the centre of the body. Mr. Hyatt was led, by — 
the very common desire which most naturalists have of 





ue as bid they belonged w a second brood. In # er” oH a hapa -m geme 

j ts, each egom 
igan embryo about se — 7 in length, i in — = sty were gaa 
he comm sirtalis) thirty-five inches in 

ipik, collected on the ne of ay, I found forty-two early babu young in the 
ores each ah mate ah ye fro ms half inches in length, making a co ned length 
ae length of the parent. Ee 13th I caught a 5 ta a 

ea 


preni Ga : 
had nine isu each poe en was three-fourths of an inch in contained am 
embryo two and a half inches long. On July 31st I captured anor of pe ai 
which had evidently just piepe dope of her brood, as there were but four po 
i rst by the young. These pl tnt each one o 
and a quarter in length, and contained dren makore aye and a half inches. ga 
August 30th, I found the eggs of the comm vernalis), seven 
number, just under the old bark and moss am a decayed stump in a meadow. 
gs, which p Jread partly out of the 
egg, and t before I hedi rea inch ng 3 
inch in Paik a and the young snakes were five and th rteen one hundredths 
lon ng. Several years ago a family of twenty-two young Watari ( 
m), each about eight inches = length, were vepe together and presen 
Cambridge, by Dr. Chaplin. These few notes 
that I have sary to T time of amd of our cabin and the number of to 
brood, and I c any of the readers of the NATURALIST who feel disposed 
collect female paie ‘aie hep Suty, August, and September, that they W 
very acceptable to our collectio: 














BE 
aA 
a 
g 
= 
28 
oe 
AA 
g 














Lies cae ET 
ita 


DO SNAKES SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG? 135 


experimenting on animals that come in their way, to try the 
temper of the snake, which he did by teazing it with a stick. 
This amusement, in a short time, apparently made the snake 
sick, and the “bunch” was observed to move towards the 
head. Ina few moments more a live frog* was seen trying 
to get out of the snakes mouth, which, after a hard trial and 
a good many jerks and kicks, it succeeded in doing, and 
jumped off highly delighted at making its escape from such 
close and uncomfortable quarters. This little incident proves 
that a frog can live a considerable time in the csophagus 
of a snake; and any one desirous of witnessing the power 
which snakes have of maintaining life under equally trying 
circumstances, need only attempt to drown one, or kill it by 
placing it in a tight jar. If, instead of making the cruel 
experiment, the reader will take our word for it we can as- 
sure him that snakes have been known to live for some time 
immersed in water, and “bottled up” in alcohol. 

Thus, with the above facts before us, what reason have 
we to doubt that young snakes can live in the dilatable throat 
of their mother long enough for her to carry them to a place 
of safety? and why should not young snakes have this 
means of protection given to them? It is really a provision 
no more wonderful than that with which young kangaroos, 
opossums, and other marsupial mammals are provided in 
the pouch of their mothers; or the young pipe-fishes and 
Sea-horses in the singular pouch or abdominal fold of their 

thers, into which the young go for protection or for 
rest. + 

One might easily believe, that, if the old snake should 
take the young into her throat in a moment of danger, she 
might afterwards, on being pressed by hunger, be strongly 
tempted to work them down a little farther and provide her- 


Self with a good dinner already at hand, especially as large 





* Rana palustris. i 
a. Ihave seen the young of our common Pipe-fish (Syngnathus Peckianus), p sog 
aquarium, go in and out of the “pouch” of the male fish. 








136 DO SNAKES SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG? 





















snakes are known to feed on smaller ones ;* and that it would | 
be almost too much to expect that an animal, which to our 3 
higher natures seems so cold in its disposition, would stop to 4 
i aider the fact that it was her own children she had in her 
throat before forcing them into her empty stomach. But — 
here again are we met with facts that should set this doubt 
at rest; for certainly we must allow that her Snakeship is as 
highly endowed with motherly feeling as several species of — 
fishes which live in the waters of Soulhi America, and which — 
are known to carry their eggs in their mouths until they are 
hatched, and the young isa attained considerable size; and 
yet, though the mouths of these fishes are so full of eggs ~ 
young that they cannot take food without either unloading — 
their mouths or swallowing their eggs, yet they are not 
known to swallow eggs which they have taken in charge 
With this well knows. case of forbearance on the part of 
fishes, are we not justified in believing that snakes would j 
have an equally motherly regard for their offspring? a 
It has been given as a reason against the probability of : 
snakes taking their young into debs: throats, that the gastric d 
juice would Aity the life of the young ones in a & 
time ; but this is not the case, as we know from the instance 
of the frog that life is not immediately destroyed. Te 
gastric juice, too, would not affect any animal. until it w 
received within the stomach, and probably not even gr 
until life was destroyed by suffocation. at 
The belief that the young of several species of snakes 
enter the mouth of the parent for protection, has pre 
for a long time, and, in many countries. A simi lar belief 
very preria among sailors and sea-faring men, T¢ 
many species of hath which are thought to take thei 
young into the mouth to protect them from danger.t 





* On opening a large Black-snake (Coluber seers enh a full-sized a 
(Coluber vernalis), and a full-sized Brown-snake ( Tropidonotus occipitomaculati®i 
found in its stomach and adjoining part of the ld son with those porti 
stomach in a slightly decomposed condition ae a 

me sailors believe that the young sharks, which are often seen to 





DO SNAKES SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG? 137 


In a conversation with Professor Wyman some time since, 
that eminent physiologist stated that he did not know any 
reason why young snakes could not live for a time in the 
throat of the parent, and also called my attention to the 
prevalence of the belief in former times by a quotation from 
Spenser’s “Faerie Queene,” in the first canto : 


XIV. 

“ But, full of fire and greedy hardime 
The yonthfull Knight could not mi ki be staide; 
B 


By which he saw the ugly monster plaine, 
Halfe like a serpent horribly displaide, 
But th’ other halfe did womans shape retai 
Most lothsom, filthie, foule and full of vile isak 
XV. 


“And as she lay upon the durtie ground, 
Her huge long taile her den all overspred 


n as that uncouth light upon them shone, 
er pi mouth they crept, and suddain all were gone. 


* * * * * * * * 


hey saw so bidei falling to the ground, 
Groning full deadly all with troublous feare 
Gathred themselves about her body round, 
Weening their wonted entrance to have found 
At her wide mo uth; but being there withstood, 
They flocked all about her bleeding wound, 
And sucked up their dying mothers bloud ; 
aking her death their life, and eke her hurt their good.” 


We have quite recently received from Mr. Cooke, the 
editor of “Science-Gossip,” London, several of his instruc- 





gg while ee eta about he parent fish, are taken into the mouth of the parent, 
others ink that they enter at the genital open 
AMER. “Seba sg 18 








138 DO SNAKES SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG? 




















tive and interesting little works on popular Natural History, — 
and among them “Our Reptiles”* which contains such con- 
firmations of some of the statements given in this shom 
sketch, and so many well-authenticated accounts of snakes 
taking their young into their mouths for protection, that *) 
quote the following passages. i 

On page 50, in writing on the food of the common Eng 
lish Snake, which is the European representative. of the 
common Striped-snake of America, and closely allied to it in 
its habits, he gives the following quotation from Mr. Bell: 
“I once saw a very small one [frog], which had been swal- 
lowed by a large snake in my possession, leap again out of 
the mouth of the latter, which happened to gape, as they 
frequently do immediately after taking food.” And again oi 
the same page he writes: “During the present summer, 
gentleman of our acquaintance saw a lad kill a snake in the 
wood. It was a very large one, and the boy cut it opet 
along the under surface with his pocket-knife. By 
means a full-sized frog was liberated from the stomach oft yr 
snake. It was very sone and soon hopped away. 
may not young vipers remain as long with equal ease 
stomach of their parent?” 

On page 68, in treating of the venom of Vipers, he mer p 
tions the following case of a Horned-viper presented | toe F 
Guyon in Mista : “This reptile had been put into 4) att 
which had since remained hermetically closed. It had 

in there for six weeks, without food and without air, 
looked quite dead, since it could not stir in the bottle, 1 
it filled entirely. And yet, on opening the bottle, 


aimee 


— ee 





* OUR REPTILES. A plain and easy papae: ‘of the Lizards, Snakes, New an 
M. C. Cooke, author 


ry sage and numerous wood-euts. Published by Robe 
- 200 pages, 11 plates, and numerous cuts. 
We ca can heartily recommend the works of oe Cooke to our readers, 9 i 
books tha ill nature, an nd should be Pp 
any of le for our subscribers. — Eps. 





DO SNAKES SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG? 139 


doctor found the reptile perfectly sound, and saw it kill a 
large fowl instantaneously with its sting” [fangs]. 

On page 76, Mr. Cooke comes boldly to the question in 
point, and under the heading of Does the Viper swallow its 
young? gives several pages which we quote in full. 


The belief has a firm hold in the minds of many, that, on the approach 
of danger, the young of the viper glide to their parent for protection, and 
that she opens her mouth, and, one by one, they pass down her throat, 
where they rest in security till the danger is past. To prove a negative 
is always a difficult task, but the effort to remove a prejudice must be 
even greater to be successful. a ok naturalists, men of science 
and repute, in common with those who make no profession of learning, . 
have combined in this belief, and to ‘iin’ we are indebted for many such 
accounts as the following: ‘‘ Walking in an orchard near Tyneham House, 
in Dorsetshire, I came upon an old adder basking in the sun, with her 
io. around her; she was lying on some grass that had been long cut, 

and had become smooth and bleached by exposure to the weather. 
Alarmed by my approach, I distinctly saw the young ones run down their 
mother’s throat. At that time I had never heard of the controversy 
respecting the fact, otherwise I should have been more anxious to have 
Killed the adder r, to farther prove the case.”* Nothing can well be more 
Positive, clear, definite, and many would think decisive, than the Pe ac 
yet, so sceptical are some men on this subject, that they still dare 
doubt whether there may not be some error in the observation. Let us 
advert to other witnesses, and evidence still more complete, and we do so 
With as earnest a desire for paer as ony witnesses themselves, and to 
know that the debate is closed for 

- H. Gurney, Esq., of Catton tian, near Norwich, well known as 
en, and especially for the splendid collection of Raptorial Birds 

n the Norwich Museum, which has been obtained chiefly through his 
instrumentality, in the year 1863 communicated to the Zoölogist the fol- 
lowing ema told to him by a person in whose accuracy he had the 
fullest re lance. “John Galley saw a viper at Swannington, in Norfolk, 

tioeaed by several young ones; the parent reptile perceiving itself 
observed, opened its mouth, and one of the young ones immedia’ ely crept 
down its throat; a second followed, but after entering for about half its 
eue » Wiggled out again, as though unable to accomplish an entrance. 

Pon this Galley killed and opened the viper, and found in the gullet, 


* Rev. H. Bond, South Petherton, Somerset, in Zodlogist, p- 7278. 


140 DO SNAKES SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG? 
























7OURB oe which endeavoured unsuccessfully to follow in the wake ot 
the first.” * Bi 
To ‘hi s we may add another instance corroborative, and yet more co 


e V 
‘* Now, ‘seeing is pee and I well remember having seen in 
yhood—some thirty years ago—an instance of the fact, the truth 
which is doubted Sisuies resting merely on the testimony of hgs 
entific country people. Now, I have no pretensions to science, WW 
I vouch for the truth ahaa referred to—of having, in my boyhoo 
— when out on a birds’ -nesting Eee tion in a southern county, wi 
some three or four companions—come suddenly upon a viper sunig 
her young brood on an open grassy sp oe in a broad hedge-row: hedge 
rows were common in those days. Immediately she saw us, she began to 
hiss, and away went the young, previously some feet from her, ‘helter 
skelter’ towards their mother; rushed into her mouth — expanded toa 
immense width for so small. a creature— and down her throat, one 
over the other, while you could say ‘Jack Robinson.’ The space where 
she was recreating was some twenty feet square, so that before she coal 
beat to cover, we, boylike, being armed with sticks, had beaten her t0 
death. This done, one of the party with his knife opened the body, 
out came again the little ones, all of which we ki led. Ido not remembe 
the exact number, but my impression is that it was not more than six ot 
eight.” t Another or anes recently communicated to Science-@ 
the following occurren 
t Some years since In was shooting in a wood, and came suddenly % 
viper lying on a sunny bank. As soon as the viper caught sight of 16 
began to hiss, and I distinctly saw several young ones, about Masi 
four inches long, run up to the parent and vanish down its throat; 
from the way in which the parent kept its mouth open, and the young 
glided into it, I should say they were accustomed to that sort of thing: 
We must not forget that some time since the following % 
were narrated in the Zoölogist, by the editor himself, and ieee 


own offspring. At night the vasculum was laid on a table, i 
was a ei at rest; in the ere the young ones had re-AP) 
the mother was as lean as at first 





i w 
* The Zoölogist, p. 8856. t Science- Gossip, p. 108. t Ibid P 





DO SNAKES SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG? 141 


“Mr. Henry Doubleday, of Epping, supplies the following information : 
‘A person whose name is English, a good observer, and one, as it were 


trod on her.’ In both these instances,” Mr. Newman adds, “the narra- 
tors are of that class who do know what to observe, and how to observe 
it; and the facts, whatever explanation they may admit, are ne to be 
dismissed as the result of imagination or mistaken observation 

We must confess that our own incredulity has been so kipini of late 
by these and similar instances, that we are by no means disposed to deny, 
because we cannot fully comprehend, the mystery of the process. It is - 


itted by some physiologists, if not by all, that there ee no sound 
phy Bay oe reason against such an occurrence; and, until we are con- 
vinced by better arguments than have hitherto been ri we dre 


und to ec that in “our inmost hearts” there lurks a belief that the 
maternal viper has a knack of swallowing its young. Whether our scien- 
tific friends consider us renegade from the true faith or not, we will at 
least be true to ourselves. 

With this feeling of Mr. Cooke’s we fully sympathize, and 
we believe the whole matter can be put at rest by any per- 
son, who, on observing a snake in the act of swallowing its 
young, will think to capture and place her in a box by her- 
self and see if the young again issue from the mouth. 
Should any of our readers ever obtain this much desired 
proof, we trust they will at once communicate it to the 
Narurauisr, and, if possible, send the whole family to the 
Academy, that the mother may be induced, if possible, to 
gratify us with an exhibition of her care for her offspring. 

here is one other matter of interest to be decided, and 
that is, taking it for granted that snakes do swallow their 
young, is it a “habit common to all snakes, or only to certain 
Species? In this country this habit has been, we believe, 
only attributed to the several species of Rattlesnakes ( Cro- 
talus), and to the Water-adder ( Tropidonotus sipedon), 
while in m Europe it is generally attributed to the Vipers 
(Pelias). The interest in this question is farther increased 
O ONRET PE 





* The Zodlogist, p 






















142 DO SNAKES SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG? 


by the fact, that the Rattlesnake and the Vipers are oy 
viviparous ; that is, their young are hatched from the eggs 
while still in the body of the parent, and come into the 
world perfectly formed. The Water-adder and the common 
Striped-snake are probably also ovo-viviparous, but of this 
we are not sure. The common snake of England, the rep 
resentative of our Striped-snake, is supposed to be wholly | 
an oviparous species. And our Striped-snake may be the 
_ same under natural circumstances, though one kept in a box | 
gave birth to a number of living young, about the last of | 
August; but this snake had been in confinement for a long” 
time, and may have retained her eggs in the oviducts much | 
longer than the natural period, owing to the want oft 
proper place in which to deposit them. All possible meas | 
were tried to induce this snake to take the young into her | 
mouth but without success, though this may be accounted ; 
for by the supposition that the snake was so tame that she 
could not be easily frightened, or, if really an oviparous spè i 
cies, that it was not her habit. eo 
We have never known that our Black-snake, Green-snakê, 
Little Brown-snake, and other oviparous species, have ¢ 
been supposed to swallow their young. Neither have | 
seen any account of such an occurrence in the common snake 
of Europe. 
There is little doubt but that many of the suppose 
instances of young snakes having been swallowed by : 
parent are owing solely to the fact that some species 
forth fully developed young; for the statement is 0% 
made by persons that they “know snakes sw 
young, for they have killed an old snake and found | 
young ones in her ;” but, on being asked if they were 
the young snakes had ever been born, it was found that g 
had taken that for granted, supposing that all snakes # 
eggs, and that hence the young found inside the mother m 
have been swallowed. This is mentioned to call attention, 
the care with which the examination of snakes foun 





THE LAKES OF IOWA,—PAST AND PRESENT. 143 


young ones should be made in order to be sure that the 
young were really in the alimentary canal and not in the 
oviduets. It is also of importance to ascertain if young 
snakes, after having been swallowed by the parent, ever 
enter the stomach or are confined to the space in the cesoph- 
agus above it. This can be discovered by cutting open the 
throat and following down to the stomach, which in most 
species is situated from about one third to one half the dis- 
tance between the mouth and the termination of the alimen- 
tary canal, and can readily be determined by its thicker 
walls and more numerous folds on its inside, which are very 
marked when the stomach is not distended with food. 





THE LAKES OF IO0WA,—PAST AND PRESENT. 


BY C. A. WHITE, M. D. 





Laxes of Iowa! reiterates some New England reader, and, 
seeing no large bodies of water represented on the map of 
that Commonwealth, he really thinks ponds must be meant. 
Well, be it so, but the writer hereof is a western man, and 
in the West all collections of fresh water, whether large or 
small, are called lakes or lakelets. Perhaps, however, he has 

eard the stories of the “walled lakes” of Iowa, in which the 
wondrous handiwork of a departed race of men is described, 
consisting of walls of huge stones encircling the lakes like 

t of an artificial fish-pond, so raised as to prevent an 
overflow of water upon the adjacent low ground; sloping 
down to the water’s edge with a pavement like a Mississippi 
levee ; rounded and graded with earth upon the top, forming 
à good road upon which the Jehus of that departed race 
doubtless drove their elk or buffalo chariots in pursuit of 
Pleasure or of their daily avocations; and the whole finished 
with a garniture of sage reflections upon the mutability of 





















144 THE LAKES OF IOWA,—PAST AND PRESENT. — 


human affairs. Such fantastic stories have been frequent in 
our newspapers for several years, rendering those modest 
little lakelets so famous that many pilgrimages have been 
made to their borders with the hope of finding something to 
aid in penetrating the mystery that shrouds the early human 
history of our continent. a 
It is such lakelets as these and their origin that will now 
in part engage our attention; and while showing the ground- 
lessness of the stories referred to, we hope to present still 
more interesting and wonderful facts, because in the realm 
of Nature truth żs stranger than fiction. : a 
First, let us go back to their origin, for they originated 
from causes so definite that we are often able to comprehend 
them as clearly as if we saw them in operation ; and the time 
of their formation in relation to other geological changes is 
as accurately determined as that of any other. Not only 
have the lakes had a definite origin, but, as we shall presently 


vs 
H 


IA 
ey 
či 


by any rivers or streams. Shallow depressions only = 
were filled with water from tho rains and the melting 
marked the surface. These were the primitive lakelet® 


=. z 


_ THE LAKES OF IOWA,—PAST AND PRESENT. 145 


existed before any definite streams were formed. Where 
the depressions were longitudinal, or connected in chains, 
they gave initial direction to the courses of the streams into 
which the surface-waters were gathered and carried away to 
the sea. These are the streams of to-day, and their cease- 
less flow, aided by the rains and frosts of the unnumbered 
years that have passed since then, have worn their own chan- 
nels down, not only through the incoherent drift, but often 
also through solid stratified rocks, the edges of which we see 
protruding from their valley slopes. Thus all the valleys of 
this region are valleys of erosion, and it is meteorological 
erosion alone that has given it its most prominent physical 
features. 

As one stands upon the broad level prairies of Southern 
Iowa, and sweeps the well-defined ocean-like horizon with 
his level, he finds the bubble everywhere resting upon the 
cross-wire except where the distant dark line of forest foli- 
age reveals the presence of a stream. Approaching this, the 
surface becomes undulating like the smooth rolling of a sea; 
but looking closely he will see that every depression leads 
into a still deeper one until the upper branches of the streams 
are reached, the surfaces of which are often more than one 
hundred and fifty feet below the prairie level from which he 
started ; and the surfaces of the larger streams are some- 
times a hundred feet deeper still. The higher prairie-surface 
of to-day is the same surface which was left by the retiring 
Waters at the close of the Glacial epoch, and the time which 

passed since then—that during which the valleys were 
formed—is called by geologists the Terrace epoch, because 
the oscillations of the streams from side to side of their val- 
leys in the process of their erosion have left frequent terraces 
of material which successively constituted “flats” or “bot- 
toms” bordering the streams, but which are now far above 
the reach of their highest floods. The Terrace epoch verges 
upon the present time, because the same streams still flow, 
and earthy matter is still carried by them to the sea, as rap- 

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. I. 





146 THE LAKES OF IOWA,—PAST AND PRESENT. 





















idly perhaps as it ever was, although only occasionally sub | 
ficient in amount to muddy the water. Thus it will be seen 
how slowly the mightiest operations of Nature are performed; 
for this most recent of the geological changes has doubtless 
required a length of time so great that the human mindis 
incapable of comprehending it. r 

In Northern Iowa the prairie horizons are not so clearly 
defined as they are farther to the southward, and it was 
doubtless so at the beginning. The drift also contains mo 
gravel and bowlders there, from the fact that nearly all of 4 
those materials originating still farther to the northward, 
their abundance diminished with the diminishing force of the 
glaciers to the southward. Numerous irregular rounded ele- 
vations or knobs mark the surface, between which are pit 
responding depressions; not produced however by erosion 
since the drift was deposited, as the river valleys were, bit 
are, like the knobs, inequalities left by the glaciers. wes 

Some of these depressions have become drained ; some of 
them are still occupied by the lakelets, and some by pe 
marshes. Streams are numerous in Southern Iowa, and ti : 
valleys deep. Consequently the country is so well drained 


and many of those lakelets still exist there, because noe 
cumulation of water beyond has sent a current across them 
to cut a channel for their outlet. Lake basins are sometime 
hollowed very deeply into the earth, showing bold exp? 
of stratified or unstratified rocks upon their shores. But : 
lakelets of which we are speaking, had their origin in shalo 
depressions left in the surface of the drift alone at tae 
of the Glacial epoch. By the action of subsequent 
they, in certain regions, became “walled lakes ;” for # 
ity of them are as worthy of that designation a8 those af" 
which the fanciful stories have been told. Nor aè? 
of that character confined to Iowa alone, but are know? 
in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and even in Con? 


THE LAKES OF IOWA,—PAST AND PRESENT. 147 


cut; yet all except two, one in Wright county, and the 
other in Sac county, Iowa, seem never to have’ been favored 
with the visits of an imaginative writer to tell fanciful stories 
of their associated remains of human handiwork. 

It seemed necessary to make the foregoing statement of 
facts, and’ the geological principles which they involve, be- 
fore attempting a description of the lakelets themselves, that 
such a description might thus be rendered more intelligible, 
and which is here given’ as the result of long-continued 
observation of sixteen such lakelets in Northern Iowa, in- 
cluding the two which have become noted as walled lakes. 

They usually occupy an open prairie region. Sometimes 
small groves are near them, but trees are often entirely 
wanting, especially since’ the settlers mercilessly destroy 
them for fuel. They are from one to five miles across, but 
always very shallow, because the undulations within which 
they rest are very gentle. None of them are more than 
fifteen feet deep, and the majority are so shallow that they 
permit a luxuriant growth of wild rice and other aquatic 
Plants from their bottoms over the whole, or a large part of 

eir areas, among which water-fow! find shelter and abun- 
dant food, but which renders them rather uninteresting fea- 
tures of the landscape. 

A true description of the so-called walls, but which we 
shall term embankments, will be best understood if given in 
connection with a description of their origin. When a pile 
of sand, obtained from the river shore, has been left by the 
Workmen for a long time exposed to the washings of the 
rains, the gravel which it contains, and which at first is 
hardly visible, becomes in some cases even more conspicuous 
than the sand itself, because a part of the latter has been 
Wasted, while the gravel remains. Thus it has been upon 
an extended scale with the drift, which, as before stated, is 
Composed of bowlders, gravel, sand, clay, and soil, although 
little except the latter is usually seen upon the prairie sur- 
faces. Sometimes the drift is more than a hundred feet 




























148 THE LAKES OF IOWA, — PAST AND PRESENT. 


thick, and all the bowlders contained in the whole mass 
which has been swept out to form the valleys have gradually : 
rolled down upon their slopes, and many of them into tle 
streams. For this reason we usually find them more mume- 


up the for e ial beneath its w anpali, to be carried away 
in the form of muddy water at the times of its overflow, 
leaving the bowlders and gravel strewn upon its bed; w 
they may not be seen at all upon the prairie surfaces al 
them. ) 
- This latter fact being misunderstood has led to the a l 
position, that, being abanns upon those surfaces, they M 
been gathered up by human hands and carried to the ‘shor’ | 
to build the “walls” of; while the truth is, the embank 
ments, as well as the presence of the materials of sti 
they are composed, are due to natural causes alone, we | 
their origin is wholly referrible to the periodic action of 1, f 
aided in some degree by the force of the waves. 
The water in the lakelets is usually very low in late 
tumn, and when winter comes it is sometimes frozen nal | 
to the bottom in their deepest parts, so that occasionally | 
all the fish are killed by this means. The ice, of 
freezes fast to the bowlders as well as to whatever els! 
be within its reach, and the expansive power of from one 
five miles of freezing water is exerted upon them in @ 
tion from the centre towards the shores,—a powe! 
more than sufficient to move the largest bowlders upon 
gentle slopes, | 
- The embankments are from two to six feet high, a 
two to twenty feet across the top, and always separato 
piece of ground from the lake; because where the 0 
shore is a little abrupt, and higher than the high-water 
no embankment is formed, but the bowlders are ! 
thrust against the shore with such force as to j . 
and often thickly studded with them. 


i 





| 
) 
| 


THE LAKES OF IOWA,—PAST AND PRESENT. 149 


Meeting no such obstruction on a marshy side, the material 
thrust out accumulates just where the expansive force of the 
ice is spent. This process repeated year after year, from 
age to age, has cleared the bottom of the lakelets of their 
bowlders and other materials, and piled them up in circular 
ridges upon their shores; and these are the “walls” which 
have excited so much wonder. It has been observed that 
the embankments are heaviest on the sides opposite the pre- 
vailing winds. This may be accounted for, at least in part, 
by the fact that the ice being burdened with the material to 
which it has frozen fast, would thus be floated against those 
shores when the spring floods had raised the water of the 
lakes; and in part also by the farther fact that the dashing 
of the waves would be most constant against those shores. 

Thus it will be seen that whatever was originally upon the 
bottom, whether bowlders, gravel, sand, or mud, has been 
carried to the shore, and we find the embankments composed 
of all these materials arranged in perfectly natural disorder. 
If bowlders were numerous, the embankment is largely com- 
posed of them. If sand prevailed, a broadly rounded em- 
bankment is formed, just such as we should expect from 
such material; and where a peat marsh extends out into the 
land, an embankment of turf is thrown up at the water’s 
edge, which, being supported by living rootlets, is frequently 
high and very narrow. The latter are somewhat numerous, 
and are often called beaver-dams ; but this is also a miscon- 
ception, because beavers never attempt to dam still waters. 

ey dam running streams to obtain pouds of still water. 
Thus we see that the same natural force placed the bowlders 
im the embankments that brought them down from their 
northern homes, namely, the expansive power of ice. 


If its crust should remain perfectly stable long enough, the 
earth would become nearly a perfect sphere by the disinte- 
gration of its exposed substance, and the levelling force of 
Stavitation. It is true that its inequalities of, surface are 































150 THE LAKES OF IOWA,—PAST AND PRESENT. 


now very insignificant compared with the vastness of its 
bulk ; but, in such a case, there would be no mountains, 10 
islands, no continents. All would be an endless and shore- 
less sea, The erosion. of the river valleys, and the conse | 
quent drainage of a majority of the primitive lakelets, my | 
be regarded as the first steps in this levelling process, after 
the glaciers had ceased from the Great Valley ; for its post- 
glacial geology seems to warrant no subdivision into epochs | 
such as are made for other regions. Therefore the wholes 
here referred to the Terrace epoch. Long before this levee 
ling process can approach completion, beg elevations aul 
ao hidio will be formed upon the changing surface. . Set, 
then, how small a part of such a ailé hag been accom: 
plished eyen by the erosion of the valleys of the great Mis 
sissippi and its branches. A part of the primitive lakeles $ 
and a part of the original surface of the drift still remain | 
almost unchanged since their formation. The prairies hae 
still their ocean-like surfaces, and the greatest change th 
lakelets have undergone in that immense Japee of time ste 
formation of their insignificant embankments, if aught 
nature may be called insignificant. Let us look a little 
what has been accomplished by erosion in the Great Me 
during the Terrace epoch as before defined. 

‘Along the courses. of what are now the Mississippi 
Missouri Rivers, large depressions formerly existed 
formed lake-like expansions of those rivers. Thus after 
Mississippi had made for itself a definite valley, hut a 
it had cut its channel down to its present level t tie f 
rocky obstruction at the Keokuk rapids, that portion of 
which borders a large part of the eastern side of Towa” 
little else than a lake : which averaged about five miles 
and filled the space between what are now the bl 
horder each side of its broad flat valley. 





R PRR O a ; 
“It will be oe that,the word valtey is used with two separate sig 
one applied to the hydrographic basin drained by a certain prin nip stream streath, 
tributari mits an the other to the depression occupied by any particular 
Which its waters have cut out of the general surface. 


THE LAKES OF IOWA,—PAST AND PRESENT. 151 


This is proven by the existence there of terraces composed 
of very fine sedimentary material such as could have been 
deposited only in comparatively still waters, and also by the 
existence in that sediment of shells which inhabit still waters 
only,—the same species which now inhabit fresh-water 
lakes. River shells, such as now exist in the river, are 
found on the sides of the bluffs near the rapids at a height 
of seventy feet above the present high-water mark; and 
since such beds of shells exist only at low-water mark when 
alive, upward of eighty feet must be estimated as the height 
of the river above its present level at the time they lived. 
It will be observed that river, and not lacustrine shells are 
found near the rapids. This is accounted for by the fact 
that the obstruction which caused them, being a flinty forma- 
tion, and not so easily disintegrated as the other rocks are 
over which the river runs, has existed as such from its ear- 
liest history. Consequently the water there always had a 
considerable current, while farther to the northward there 
was too little current to produce a congenial habitat for 
those shells. The estimated eighty feet is doubtless only 
a part of the actual height from which the erosion of 
the Mississippi Valley has reached, because it now aver- 
ages about two hundred feet deep from the general prairie 
Surface. Thus we see that when that lake-like expansion 
existed in the Mississippi River, its valley had already been 
eroded to a considerable depth, and the Terrace epoch was 
Well advanced. But on the other side of the State we have - 
Proof of the existence, in the early part of that epoch, of a 
lake which was larger and deeper than Lake Erie. This 
Proof consists principally in the presence there of a peculiar 
“Acustrine deposit extending at least from the Big Sioux to 
the mouth of the Kansas River, and from twenty to thirty 
Miles on each side of the Missouri River, through which the 

tter has cut its present valley, in some places to a depth of 
More than two hundred feet before it reached the drift which 
Was deposited there during the Glacial epoch. That mate- 




























152 THE LAKES OF IOWA,— PAST AND PRESENT. 


rial is known to have been deposited in fresh water, because | 
only fresh-water shells are found in it, and they are found in | 
it from top to bottom. It is known to have been deposited | 
in still water, because the same kinds of shells are now living 
in still water only, and because the whole deposit is a fine | 
homogeneous material without sand, gravel, bowlders, or any 
thing else, except what would have been deposited in a lake | 
of muddy water. é | 
It has been claimed by a few geologists that at the clot | 
of the Glacial epoch a shallow fresh-water lake occupie : 
the whole hydrographic basin of the Mississippi, and that the 
fine soil and subsoil of the prairies and other lands of the f 
whole region, as well as the peculiar deposit just referred to, {f 
are identical in their formation, and had their origin in one | . 
and the same broad lake. Upon this hypothesis some have l 
accounted for the origin of the prairies and for the absen gi 
of trees upon them; but the fact is, prairies exist upon e l 
these deposits, and it would require direct effort to kep | 
all kinds of indigenous trees from encroaching upon i 
prairies if there were no annual fires. . 
It is not improbable that such a wide-spread ee 


physical characters from the deposit under discussion, © 
evidently had a different, as well as a subsequent Or 
These circumstances seem to leave no room to doubt t 
well-defined lake existed there after the continent 
great part become dry land, but before the great rivers, 
cut their valleys down to any considerable depth. 
lake, although so large and deep, was doubtless filled ' 
sediment to the general prairie level within a comp 
short time after the glaciers ceased, just as the sedi r 
the same river which then flowed into and from iti 
speedily fills the reservoirs of the St. Louis Water 
so that they must often be reéxcavated. Just as ther 


THE LAKES OF IOWA,— PAST AND PRESENT. 153 


river would now fill with the same kind of sediment any de- 
pression, however large, if such existed in its course. 

The great northern lakes are not thus tilled, because their 
tributary streams are pure; and their streams are pure be- 
cause they flow over geological formations that are not easily 
disintegrated ; while the main tributary of that ancient lake, 
the Missouri River, is even now one of the muddiest stream 
on the globe. In the earlier portion of the Terrace epoch it 
was, if possible, more so; for then as now, it gathered up its 
sediment from that broad region occupied by the friable 
rocks of the Tertiary and Mesozoic ages, stretching far away 
toward the Rocky Mountains, at that time strewn with the 
grindings fresh from those “mills of the gods”—the glaciers. 

he formation of the basin in which the lake rested is 
known to have taken place during the Glacial epoch, because 
the drift, with its striated bowlders, now covers its bottom 
beneath the lacustrine deposit, and because the cutting out 
of the river valley has exposed, in a number of places, the 
stratified rocks which the drift rests upon, whose surfaces 
were scored and striated by the moving glaciers of that 
epoch. It is known that the filling of the lake with sediment 
occurred in the early part of the Terrace epoch, because it 
was filled up even with the prairie surfaces, which would not 
have been done if the Missouri River had first eroded its 
valley to any considerable depth below the lake. We know 
that the lake was so far filled with sediment before it was 
drained, that it was little else than a marsh, because the top 
of that deposit of sediment is now nearly even with the 
higher prairie surfaces, and because the river bluffs which 
it forms are as high as those formed of the usual materials, 
—the drift and stratified rocks. 

The physical characters of this lacustrine deposit are so 
Peculiar, that they attract the attention of every person who 
becomes acquainted with it, although a stranger might pass 
Over the formation without observing more than its peculiar 
Cutline of bluffs. It is perfectly uniform in character and 

AMER, NATURALIST, VOL. IL. 20 


































154 THE LAKES OF IOWA,— PAST AND PRESENT. 


color from top to bottom, and a hundred miles of distance 
show no more difference than a hundred feet. It is ofa 
slightly yellowish ash-color, except where rendered darker 
by decaying vegetation, very fine, not sandy, and yet | 
adhesive. At the surface it makes excellent soil, and is just 
as fertile if obtained at a depth of two hundred feet. Itis _ 
easily excavated by the spade alone, and yet it remains st 
unchangeable by the atmosphere and frost, that wells dug in 
it require to be walled only to a point just above the water- 
line, while the remainder stands so securely without suppot 
that the spade-marks remain upon it for many years. - d 
embankments upon the sides of excavations stand likes 
wall, showing the names of ambitious carvers long after at 
ordinary bank of earth would have disappeared. As thii 
part of the valley of the Missouri River below the lake 
deepened during the Terrace epoch by the natural process 
of erosion, the peculiar material which its own waters hal | | 
previously deposited offered little obstruction to that po 
cess, but was readily swept out again as muddy water, af 
sent on its way to the sea. Thus no more of it was 

than served to form the valley, which is from four to t 
miles wide, while the larger part remained, forming * 
bluffs, and extending far inland from the river. The #0" 
tary streams which at first emptied into the lake, now tr 
its ancient bed of sediment to the river, and have eut 
their own valleys to meet it. The sides of these 7 
_ where they traverse that sedimentary deposit are steep 
the river-bluffs, and the streams being smaller, their 
arè narrow and very deep. This is particularly | 
all those Iowa streams that empty into the Missouri 
above Council Bluffs, and they thus present great OF a 
the construction of lines of railway directly east and 
through that State. For this reason, and for the pur 
connecting with the great Pacific Railway at ye 
more northern of those lines are diverging to the SOM g 
down the valleys of the streams, instead of crossing them» 








| 
k 
l 





THE LAKES OF IOWA,—PAST AND PRESENT. 155 


that passengers will pass dry-shod through the bed of that 
ancient lake, although many fathoms beneath the level at 
which its waters used to rest. 

The peculiar outline of the bluffs along the Missouri River 
valley is one of the most interesting features of this remark- 
able deposit. As one views them in the distance, and in 
their nakedness, for they are often entirely destitute of trees, 
towering up from the level bottom-land, sometimes more 
than two hundred feet in height, so steep in some places that 
a man cannot climb them, he can hardly rid himself of the 
idea that they are supported by a frame-work of rocks as 
other bluffs are. Yet not a rock* or pebble of any kind or 
size exists above their base of drift, except a few calcareous 
concretions which were formed from the limy water that now 
percolates through the whole mass. The form and arrange- 
ment of their numerous rounded prominences sometimes 
present views of impressive beauty as they stretch away in 
the distance, or form bold curves in the line of hills. 

A few miles below the city of Council Bluffs, they present 
a full crescentic front to the westward, with the broad Mis- . 
souri bottom stretching miles away from their base to the 
river. Their only vegetation here is a covering of wild 
grasses, and as the mound-like peaks and rounded ridges jut 
above each other, or diverge in various directions while they 
recede backwards and upwards to the higher lands, the set- 
ting sun throws strange and weird shadows across them, 
Producing a scene quite in keeping with that wonderful his- 
tory of the past of which they form a part. 











REVIEWS. 


—o 












- 


THE AMERICAN BEAVER AND HIS Works.*—Mr. Morgan has, in 
elaborate work, given us a thoroughly accurate and most entertaining at 
count of an animal whose instincts and habits and economical value h 
attracted universal attention. The work is illustrated by lithograj 

d their surroundi 


a { 
part of North America,” offering a rare opportunity for a careful study 
this creature. 

An anatomical chapter by Dr. W. W. Ely, and a geological accol 
precedes the history of beaver-dams, lodges, burrows, canals, mea 
trails, and their means of subsistence, which are followed by chapters 
the mode of trapping the beaver, and its psychology. 

Besides the common brown beaver, there occasionally occur a ™ 
form and albinos. “In form the beaver is short between the fore 
hind legs, head heavy and clumsy, and his motions are slow and awk’ 
He walks with a waddling gait, with his back slightly arched, wit 
body barely clearing the ground, and his tail dragging upon it;” 

s 


` i 
animal. It uses its tail to assist variously in swimming and diving 
give an alarm by striking the surface of the water, giving a reper x 
can be heard half a mile; and also as a trowel to “pack and je 
mud and earth while constructing a lodge or dam, which he m 
heavy and repeated down strokes.” ‘They pair, and, with their ofSP $ 
live in the family relation until the latter attain maturity, when ee 
forced to leave the parent lodge.” But they do not live in 

though two or more such families inhabit the same pond, and ti 


years; carries its young from three to four months, bringing them” 
usually in May, “and from two to five and sometimes six at 4 








* The American Beaver and his Works. By Lewis H. Morgan. P = 
xi, 330. With plates and illustrations, ‘ 
- (156) 





j 
f 
: 
i 
7 


REVIEWS. 157 
` The author states that even the largest dams are the work of a single 


constant repairs. Grass Lake dam, the largest one, perhaps, in North 
i ixty fe 


teen feet on the lower face. It has been supposed to kre an Tii be 
high intelligence that the beaver built its dam so as to ¢ eup s 

where the pressure of the water is the greatest, but the ehje ryen 
questions whether these curves are the result of accident or design. 


large streams. The dam generally curves down in those streams that 
discharge the largest volume of water, when also the dams are shorter 
and lower than those on the smaller brooks.” 

The great dam on Grass Lake, so fully described, “contains upwards 
of seven thousand cubic feet of solid materials.” This dam is also sup- 
plemented by an upper and a lower dam to break the force of the stream 
in freshets; the lower one setting the water back to the depth of twelve 
or fifteen Ionian in the great curve. Such structures are remarkable in- 
Stances of prevision and engineering skill, reminding us of the intelli- 
gence shown by the Agricultural Ant of Texas, which, according to 
Dr. Lincec cum, erects mounds on the “pavement” of its formicary in dry 
Weather, in anticipation of the rainy season! 

n excavating this artificial canal for transporting their wood by wat 
to their lodges, Bag evince the most intelligence and “a Riba i 
and extended process of reasoning,” though the work is simpler than 
ea a dam, ad like the latter, requires many years of continuous 


Like all close and patient observers of the habits of aaa the author 
believes that animals have a reason different only in degre m that of 
man. “When a beaver stands for a moment and looks a his work, 
evidently to see whether it is right, and whether anything else is needed, 
e shows himself capable of holding his thoughts before his beaver Pout 
in other wo rds, he is conscious of his own mental processes.” 
canal is not absolutely necessary to beavers any more than such a work ‘ 
mankind; but it comes to both alike, as the result of progress in 
miowiedge. A beaver canal could only be conceived by a lengthy and 
nM 


— ee abteddly , when the canal first came into use; and a time, conse- 
ntly, when it was entirely unknown.” The author hence argues a pro- 
T y knowledge, and hence improvement “from a lower toa higher 





158 REVIEWS. 
















artificial state of life;” and the possession of a ‘‘free intelligence,” i 


mals, the dog, fox, cats, etc. He ascribes memory, ean 
BPE and passions and an intellect to dumb animals, and 
of Dr. Kane’s lunatic dog as an evidence that these animals h 

ion to -mt 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE CHICAGO ACADEMY.*—We congratulate | 
Chicago Academy that this splendid volume, after vexatious de 
caused by two fires, has at length appeared. It contains an 
Western Paleontology, by Professor J. H. McChesney, and Descriptio 
of Sub-carboniferous and raid hi de Fossils, collected in the 
Geological Survey, by Dr. White and Mr. O. H. St. John. Dr. $ 


Great Lakes. Mr. F. B. Meek has an article on the Geology of the Vall 
of the McKenzie a the notes and ane collected by the Inte Robert 
d 


American Birds in ‘ee sce of the a dielati, iHustrated with b 


s an 

‘“ Proceedings,” and recently dedicated its new and spacious M 
Science is carefully eias in the ahas ; the railroad companies 
the officers of the Academy with free passes and free freightage 
their roads, and liberally extend whe facilities and courtesies t to 
ralists nye in scientific explorations. 
PoPuL ce REVIEW, jrunaeid (London). — M. Trée ul bas 
ered the ilsténks of minute vegetable organisms Campton 
the hea tye of Helianthus tuberosus, the Jerusalem artichoke. 
m been regarded as a decided proof of the spontaneous 
ne of ieee The Review objects that vegetable forms 0 
may enter the tissues of animals. There is no more wonder 


reade 

in the history of Paviindpedpesia: or d dadeibgie ent from asexu 
— M. Donné, who has so long and ably inna the heterodox t 
spontaneous generation, has cried peccavi. He admitted that 
researches, so far from supporting april ciety him of 
racy of the views of his old opponent, M. Paste 








0. 
* Transactions of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. Vol. 1, Part I. reat Po 
1867, With a map and eighteen pepdnnee plates and numerous wood-cuts: 
part. (This merely covers the cost of publ 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 159 


UARTERLY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, January (London).— Signor Cocchi 
announces the discovery of a human skull in the lower beds of the Lower 
Post-pliocene strata in ‘Italy. This lower portion consists of lacustrine 

- clays of great thickness, with layers of peat towards its superior margin ; 
it contains bones of the Mammoth (Elephas primigenius), Cervus euryceros, 
ison priscus, and a species (probably new) of the Horse, Equus; it has 
also yielded stone implements and a human cranium, the latter from the 
plain of the Aretino. Whether this deposit be termed Lower Post-plio- 
cene, or anything else, there seems little room for doubt that the skull 


and that Man lived in Italy contemporaneously with those animals.— The 
term Gregarine applied to the Chignon Fungus (see NATURALIST, vol. 1, p. 
379), is most inappropriate, as is admitted both by Drs. Fox and Beigel. 
It is the Pleurococcus Beigelii. The Gregarine are indubitably animals, 
and are internal parasites. i; i 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





BOTANY. 
Viratiry of Serps.—Dr. Gray, in his “How Plants Grow,” says, 
ine, which have been preserved for two or 


3 
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a 
J 
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=. 
5 
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$ 
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1856, the Arabs were 
dragging forth from the mummy-pits great numbers of mummies. He 
ry often in the 


hands were found grains of wheat, dura, flax, and the nut of 
From the hand of one was thrown out the seed-cup of a 





160 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


















rose, which he picked up and brought away with him. This hesu 
sequently gave, while residing at Quincy, Ill., to Mrs. Gov. Wood. | 
opening the seed-cup, she found several seeds, which she planted in: 
flower-pot, in her cease idee e. In the course of three weeks, two 9 
these germinated, and, the next year, blossomed, producing a pink 
rose, unlike any American variety with which they were acqual 
The estimated age of the mummy, from which the seed-cup was t 
was twenty-five hundred years 
Dr. Marks has in his possession some seeds of the dura (which 
supposes to be the corn spoken of in the Book of Genesis), obtained t 
him from Egyptian T mummies; but he has never tested their vitality. 
He testifies. avers’ to the fact of some dura seeds having been foul 
in the hand of a mummy unrolled at Springfield, Ill., a few years sin, 
which were planted by the Rev. Albert Hale, pastor of the First P 
terian Church in that city, and which produced the same year sè 
talks, as large as Indian corn, and covered over with clusters 

fruit rae matured. 

s throwing some light on the causes of this wonderful presé 
of vitality, Dr. Marks states that the mummy-pits are perfectly dry, ' 
situated from three to five hundred feet above the level of the Nile 
cut out of the rock of the mountain, which is a soft pune limestou 
The pits are never either cold or damp.—Gro. L. CAR 

[If these seeds had been only thirty or forty years s old their prom 
germination, although -77 Mae those who are in the abit of 
old seeds know how difficult it is to make any old pe br 


deception by the Arabs, than that seeds 2, Ga old actually grew-— 
Bres vs. Fruir.—It is high time, we may add, that the Pet 
emy of Science were in full operation in Essex County, when pa 
towns votes to “abate the nuisance” of bees, on the 
are injurious to fruit! Hh 
As to the nectar of the red clover being out of the reach oF aea 
bee, it may be asked whether this be the case with the eee 


to? 

ing of the second crop of red clover is thought to be owing * 

greater abundance of bumble-bees in oe latter part of 
. GRAY. 


these curious facts. That the Drosera catches flies in this way 
ever, known to botanists and recorded in botanical works 
century ago. But the statement attracted little attention, and fi aie 
died out of the books. It was re-discovered by Mr. Darwin, IM 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 161 


perhaps a dozen years ago, but I know not whether his esos are 
published, except by a brief allusion in the Gardeners’ Chron He 
found, as did Mr. M illington, that while the bristles will close ca a bit 
of raw meat, they are not sensitive to an inorganic body; yet that they are 
So to a bit of carbonate of ammonia. Mr. Darwin followed up this subject 
by Some very interesting observations and experiments upon the Venus 
Fly-trap, Dionea, which, with some recent ones made in this country, 
may soon be published. — A. Gra 

FLOWERING OF HEPATICA TRILOBA. ‘— March 12th, I found three Hepa- 
ticas in blossom, and on March 29th, I gathered quite a handful.—J. H. 
Sears, Danvers, Muss. 





ZOOLOGY. 
INSTANCES OF EERTE AMONG OUR BIRDS. — In a recent number of 
e NATURALIST, a cor ent mentions a ‘Singular Variety” of the 


tial albinism which is, perhaps, not so rare among birds as it is generally 
Supposed to be. When we remember what an extremely small percent- 
r 


Tather is, that so many albinos are found. In the course of a few seasons 
iega I have met with the following instances of albinism, partial or 
mpl te. 


oriad ow-bird (Junco Oregonus). A specimen shot at Fort Whip- 
9 Arizona, Dec. 12, 1864, has a large, somewhat circular, pure white 
Spot on the io distinctly Gedned against the surrounding dark colors. 
The plumage is therwise perfe ctly AE. 

oe (Sint sialis). A curious specimen, with a ured white 
rt on the back of the neck; otherwise seh sy normal in plumage. 
I have seen this species oe snow-white, with (probably) pink eyes, 
4nd flesh-colored bill and fe 
th in (Turdus siigratorine). With a large white spot on each side of 

e head, formed y the enlargement and coalescence of the white spots 
konia Jend dued about the eyes. The robin also occurs in snow- 

plu 

Bank ai (Cotyle riparia). With the upper parts delicate pale sil- 

The erty the under parts pure white, as usual. This is the only instance 


inm Yellow-backed Warbler (Pariite Americana). This is, in some 
» the most curious example of partial albinism I have ever seen. 
beetrring in a a family of birds little liable to this abnormity. The entire 
Wakes age is ana and patched aira Pelee! the natural colors appearing 
Paces between the white a 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. 1. 
































162 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroeca coronata). All the slate and 
ish colors are replaced by dull silvery gray 

The common Quail ( Ortyx Virginiana) is vocina found with 
tints so light, dull, and faded as to fairly be considered albinotic. 
s a specimen in this condition in the Smithsonian Institution. 


sion, “a white blackbird” is hardly so paradoxical as it might seem; 
indicates as hry established a fact as that ‘‘ blackberries are red 
ey are g k 
The Biy Guillemot -> gry e and the Sea-dove (Mergulus 
are both very obnoxi albini and, in fact, each has 
described in this sep as a mtii species. But the albinotic 
dition of the Black Guillemot must not be confounded with its m 
winter o which is nearly white. The albino has no black 
ever about it; the eyes are pink, and the bill and feet flesh-colored. 
he pede of albinism among the large Gulls of the genus 4 
reine unusual interest. The study of this condition among 
birds is more than a matter of simple curiosity; having im ? 


of plumage. The bird referred to is abont the size of, or ke 

than the Burgomaster (L. glaucus). If it is really a valid § 

would constitute the only known exception to the rule, that all the 

Lari have the ba a nd wings nme than the under parts. 
The Phila 


an I 
Red-throated Diver (Colymbus septentrionalis), It is nearly 
with av eyes and flesh-colored bill and feet. 
e opposite of albinism — Melanism—is an extremely rare 
At om moment I can recall but a single instance of its occurrence: 


white upon or under the wings. In this state it has been dest 
distinct species ( Uria “unicolor”).—Dr. ELLIOTT COUES; 
RETURN or THE Breps.—The following birds, which left ® 
southern quarters about November pe see to the vicinity 
vers, Mass., in numbers, at the dates giv 
ild Geese passed to the northward yee 26; Black 
bins, Red-shouldered Hawks, Blue-jays arrived March 2; 
Gold-finches, Lesser Red-poll Linnets, March 4; Star-DI ™ 
Woodcocks, March 8; Golden- winged Woodpeckers, ha 
Bluebirds, March 12; Red-winged Blackbirds, Swamp » 
low-winged Sparrows, March 15; Common Pewees, Marsh H ; 
25; Wood-ducks, Crow Blackbirds, March 26; White-bellied 
(four specimens), March 27.—J. H. Sears, Danvers. 


iS ier rata des 


ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR. 163 


GEOLOGY. 
FossıL INsects.—In Mr. Scudder’s paper in the February number, 
allusion was made to a fossil lace- winged insect which appeared to have 
ae oe at the base of the wing, like that of crickets and 
ome grasshoppers. We give here a figure (Fig. 1) of this 
— seth called by Mr. Scudder Xenoneura antiquorum. We 
ave also copied the figure (Fig. ~ of the a caterpil- 

lar (Palwocampa anthrax), which Messrs. Mee 
and Worthen have described in the Report 
the Geology of Illinois. Mr. Scudder believes 
a 





Geological Survey of Illinois, vol. 2, Palson- 
tology, 1866, state ne Hose specimen is not in a condition to show the 
head or feet; yet we strongly inclined to believe from its form, and 
peculiar regularly iiss bundles of hairs, that it is a Caterpillar. If 
we are right in this suggestion, = discovery is certainly an interesting 
one, as it would present an evidence of the existence of Lepidopterous ch 
Sects, at a much earlier period in our world’s history than has hithert 
been Suspected.” It was found near the base of the Coal-measures, sha 
ris, Illinois 





ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR. 


=a a 


cerasi. 
laid, and the ies 
in July, 








164 ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR. 















g or thirty eggs in a crease in the leaf of the young plant. In 
r days, in warm weather, they hatch, and the pale-red larvæ “era 


of the plant. Here they imbibe the sap by suction alone, and, by the 
simple pressure of their bodies, become imbedded in the side of the ste 
T hree larvæ thus imbedded serve to weaken the plant, and ca 
it to wither and die. The second brood of larve remains t 
winter in the flax-seed, or puparium. By turning the stubble with | 
plough in the autumn and early spring, its puparium may be de 
and thus its ravages may be checked. (Fig. 1 represents the femi 
which is about one-fourth as large as a mosquito: a, the larva; byt 
pupa; and c mini o the joint near the ground where the maggi 
live.) The same may be said of the Wheat-midge (Cecidomyia ii 
which eee 8 wheat in the ear, and which transforms an inch 
beneath the surface 

Among the iiastachiea which appear this month are the Turnip 
fly (Pontia eee which lays its eggs the last of the month. 
hatch in a week or ten days, and in about two weeks the larva ¢ 


rood appears in August and September. Vanessa J-album and V-t 
rogationis appear in May, and again in August ig ae 
caterpillars of the latter species live on the elm e, and 
Grapta comma also feeds on the hop. Alypia AE flies | 
time, and in August its larva feeds on the grape. Sphinx gordius 
olina, and other Sphinges and Sesia (the Clear-winged Moth); £ 

t of May. Arctia Arge, A. virgo, A. phalerata, and other § 
from the last of May through the summer. Hyphantria t 
Wearer, is found in May and June. The moth of the Salt- 
Fig.2a. pillar appears at this time, and various 

‘Cut-worms (Agrotis) abound, hiding in 
es a 


and atten blossoms of flowers and a 
fruit t 

The Wite-pin Weevil (Pissodes — 
strobi, Fig. re: larva; Fig. 2b, pupa; and Fig. 2, beetle) flies 
warm days. We have found its burrows winding irregularly 
inner surface of the bark and leading into the sap-wooe- Bach 
which it hybernates, in the middle of March, contains the yellow” 











PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 165 


footless grub. Early in abr it changes to a pupa, and a month after the 

beetle =a and in a few days deposits its egg under the bark of old 

pine tre It also ov aaa in the terminal shoots of we yor 
. race and permanently deform- 

ing the tree. Associated with this 

we Sent found the sma waar round- 





Cylindrical bark-borers, pein are little round weevil-like beetles, are 

now flying about fruit-trees, to lay their eggs in the bark. Associated 

with the Pissodes, we found in vaste the galleries of Tomicus pini, branch- 

mg out from a common centre. They are filled up with fine capt and, 
Fig.5 according to Dr. Fitch, are notched in Fig 
R a f the si 


lery.” Fidd little beetles have not the \ 
os snout of the Ptg hence they 
annot bore through the outer bark, but 
enter a iis burrows made the pre eine year, 
and eyed the eggs along the side (Fitch). 
Another Tomicus, more dangerous than the preced- 
ing, arel exclusively in the sap-wood, running sag galleries for a 
distance of two inches towards the centre of the tree. We figure Tom- 
icus Ejtögräpkis Say (Fig. 5). It is the most formidable enemy to the 
white pine in the North, and the yellow pine in the South that we have. 
It also flies in May. Ptinus fur (Fig. 6) is now found in out-houses, and 
is destructive to cloth, furs, etc., resembling the Larder-beetle (Dermes- 
tes) in its habits. It is fourteen-hundredths of an inch in length. 








PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


peeun. 
ha ADEMY ATURAL Sciences. Philadelphia, Oct. 1, 1867 
y ays echitased | a Ph specimen of Malachite; he also exhibited several 
pensan of hair from Albino negroes. Dr. Leidy spoke of the white 
bino, and mentioned that the term “‘ wool” was a misnomer as app: 











166 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


to the hair of the negro; the EPN between the races being those 
pertaining to the form of the s i 

Oct. a E. Coues, U. a vet presented a paper entitled, “Ni 
on a Collection Ff Mammals from Arizona.” Professor Fe 


animals, accompanied be bones of man, with pott — stone arrow-heals, 
and hatchets from the ala strata. He called attention 


v 
t. 22d. — Professor Wood presented some remarks on a fresh- 
alga from the Drena i gi in Mono county, os which 
yee x 
apoda, with the description of a new yrim from maa by Hor 
C. Wood, jr. 


Oct. 29th.— Mr. Lyman exhibited a map of the Pennsylvania -a è 
rmation 0 






e also . mentions beds in the vicini 
thickness, from eleven to sixteen feet, free from cane 


OSTON SOCIETY or NATURAL History. Oct. 16, 1867.— Prot 
diate upon the antiquity of man. He said that fifty’7® 
bo a 


ents of science, until now we are forced to cast a 
biien and construct our chronology from a new and indepe 





PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 167 


Twelve years ago, Ferdinand Keller, of Zurich, by his examination of the 
lake _ of agent or to light proofs of the existence of 
races of men with new acters of civilization. These oe 
astonished a world, and ponte since given rise to a new science, new so- 
i new museums. Humanity is now connected ar paea 
pheno 

seni the presence of such large mammals as the Elephas primi- 
genius, ai tichorinus, Bos primigenius and Ursus spelaeus, was 
considered the dividing line between geclogical and human history,— 
now the extensive researches of such able naturalists as Lartet, Von Baer, 
Riitimeyer, and Brandt, have proved that these quadrupeds were once 
contemporaneous with man. The question before us is whether we can 
establish a successive chronology of events since the appearance of these 
animals upon the earth. Brandt has attempted to show that they were 
living within the historical period, and has argued therefrom that the 


partly unknown, because written in the Sclavonic tongue; these re cat 
the existence of Bos primigenius in the forests of Lithuania and Poland 
up to the 11th and 13th centuries. The presence of Cervus megaceros in 
the marshes of Europe up to the 14th century is also made proba 

There is no doubt Sia the fauna of the diluvial deposits and of the 
European caves consisted of animals, some of which, at least, had a 
circumpolar nae eR ra neei and that the southern limits of 
animals now living in the polar regions was once much greater than 


the Pyrenees and . 
had intimate relations with the ice period, and it becomes necessary 
for us to investigate the extent of the ice-fields at the time when the 
glacial period was at its height. Professor Agassiz believed that the 
— in extent which our ice-fields have undergone during successive 
Periods, would furnish us with data for our chronology. In America, 
the ice- ni. at the time of their greatest extension with indefinite 
limits, reached the 32d degree of north latitude. In Europe they extended 
r as the plains of Lombardy. Subsequent to this came a limited 


= lis to veg estion whether we had any means of connecting 
renology with dees rity it might be stated pa none of the cave 


proved to exist prior to the time of the greatest a of 


ed, 
the ice-fields, 
as it can no longer be doubted that man lived contemporaneously 


168 CORRESPONDENCE. 





with these Pane he believed that, with the waning of the ice-period, 
began the era of primeval man. In the successive epochs of the ice, in- 
dicated by nk eai arieehs ice, we have a relative chronology ; when we ask 
for more specific pistomionts of age, we find ourselves at once at a loss 
for an answer. Som oa a might be seen in the abrasions of rocks 
of unequal hardness, ae instances were cited in illustration of this. he 
- In the course of the cho which followed these remarks, sot 
restr said he hoped for great results from the investigations now um 
dertaking in our own country, and believed that marks of the reinder 

would yet be found in the Carolinas 


















a ANA 
CORRESPONDENCE. D 
J. H.F., New York. —There is SERAS - jse ork í 
- American Cryptogamic Botany. For w on ens, Sood 
the NATURALIST, Vol. I, p. 326. You ws ce the puree works of a 
Cooke, noticed in this Shan very useful. 
F. W. W., Concord, Mass.—There is no complete American weet 


Taxidermy. See, however, NATURALIST, Vol. I, p. 160, 

O. F., Needham Plain, Mass.—For works on American 
see Nirit Vol. I, p. 160, 441, day the last number ubscri 
to ‘The Guide to the Study of Insects,” which will be “abs in 
autumn, may be sent to us. 

L. A. R., Bucks, Ohio. — The specimen you inclose is a fossil £ 
Club-moss, Lepidodendron, which occurs abundantly in the shale i nelo 
ing coal-beds. Specimens from your region would be very ai 
The Kangaroo Mouse you speak of is the Jaculus Hudsonicus, an 
well known as inhabiting nearly all the United States. The SP 
Dipodomys, to which Dr. Coues refers in his papers in the NATUR: TURALIST 
“Kangaroo Rats and Mice,” are not known to occur east of the 
sippi. 

N. T. T., Bethel, Me.—The substance to which you refer is the 
water Sponge (Spongilla fluviatilis). It occurs commonly in ” 
and sluggish brooks and rivers of Maine, and southward. 





Tee 


ee 


BOOKS RECEIVED. 
and his Works. By Lewis H. vie ih 


Pian pee the a ti a Tann Jan. 30, 1868; r whi 
path — ‘Pran Progress of the og Survey, etc., e 
ney. San Francisco, 1868. 8yo. 14, 15, 14. 1868. 
Papers from * T American B Ria p y W. W. Ely. eres 
bigpinceri & Co. wap 46—77, goti ; l 
e Field. pep 4,21. London, 
Cosmos. February is, March 7. Pari 


American Bee Journ April. Washington. 


ee Hear 7 mi ‘ammals from Arizona. By Elliott Coues, M. D» 
Pp 





ll Pg a = 


AMERICAN NATURALIST. 


Vol. II.— JUNE, 1868.—No. 4. 





THE WARBLERS. 


BY T. MARTIN TRIPPE. 





OF all the various tribes of the feathered race that pour 
into the Northern and Middle States every spring, there 
is not one that will compare in beauty of plumage, and 
exquisiteness of form, with the family of the Warblers 
(Sylvicolide) . Combining all that we admire in birds, and 
Visiting us only in the most delightful season of the year, it 
1S ho wonder that they have been so much praised and ad- 
mired. And yet they are very imperfectly known; even 
the Specific rank of some of them seems scarcely to be 
established ; while the breeding habits of many are as little 
known now, as they were in the days of Audubon and Wil- 
son. Of late years, however, much has been accomplished 
In this direction ; and, before long, we may hope to become 
as well acquainted with all of them, even the rarest, as we 
how are with the common yellow warbler. 

Although some of the warblers are undoubtedly very rare, 
their general scarcity has been much exaggerated. That this 
should have been so, fifty years ago, is not surprising, when 
we consider the extremely short period during which most 
e them are found with us, sometimes not exceeding two or 
three days. In some instances, I have known a particular 





Entered accordi i s 
ng to Act of Congress, in the year 1 or tiet Massach s 
SCIENCE, in the Clerk's Office of tne Lictriet oust of the District of Mas marr 
> 
-d 


AMER. NATURALIST, VOL, II. 2% 8 





















170 THE WARBLERS. 


species to be extremely abundant during a single forenoon, 
while scarcely a single individual was to be seen during th 
rest of the spring, so quickly do they come and go. But that 
this should still be the case; that errors, which were made 
perhaps unavoidably, by Audubon and Wilson, should stl 
be perpetuated, is a matter of surprise and regret. Som 
species are much more abundant now than they were in the | 
days of the older ornithologists, and some probably scare” 
Thus, both Audubon and Wilson mention the chestnut-sided : 
warbler as one of the rarest of all, whereas it is now vey 
abundant. Another general error was, in stating that they all 
withdrew to the far north to breed. ‘There are, probably, 
very few of the species that enter the New England Stati 
that will not be found to raise their young in some patt f 
its territory, large portions of which have not as yet - 


scientifically explored. Little attention, likewise, seems t0 
eved, 


notes, particularly the latter. In the following brief ye 
it is my intention to give a short account of eac oft 4 
members of this interesting family, and to notice, e i 
especially, such_ particulars as are not generally know’ : 
regard to their songs, as have fallen under my observa the 
The Pine-creeping Warbler (Dendroica pinus) © — 
first of the family to visit us in the spring, and arrives 
my locality in the latitude of New York, about the po 
April. I have never known it to be very abundant, t 
it is seldom scarce. It affects, principally, the o 
woods, but is often met with in other places. Its songs 
rather note, for it can scarcely be said to have a song” 
rapid chatter, quite different from that of any other W" | 
though it bears some resemblance to that of the Myiod 
pusillus. 


-_ 





THE WARBLERS. 171 


Soon after the pine-warbler has arrived, generally not 
more than four or five days, the Yellow Red-polled Warbler 
(D. palmarum) makes his appearance. Not very familiar, 
and yet not shy, they betake themselves to the decidu- 
ous woods, where, in numerous companies or small parties, 
they spend a couple of weeks, and then pursue their journey 
north. Ihave never heard them utter any other notes than 
a sharp “chuck,” and a low chirp, which seems to be com- 
mon to all the family, and can scarcely be distinguished in 
the different species. Unlike the other members of the par- 
ticular subdivision of the family to which they belong, the 
Wood-warblers (Sylvicolee), they often descend to the 
ground, where they run about with as much agility as the 
Maryland yellow-throat. Another peculiarity which char- 
acterizes-them is the habit they have of jerking their tails, in 
the same way as the pewee, though they do not do it nearly 
so often as that bird does. In October, they return in large 
numbers, dwelling now in the open fields and woods indiffer- 
ently. They are the last of their tribe to leave us in the fall. 

The Yellow-crowned Warbler (D. coronata) arrives about 
the time that the preceding species is leaving us, from the 
fifteenth to the twentieth of April. This is one of the most 
abundant and familiar of the class. It has a very sweet 
song, or warble, which it utters at short intervals in the 
early morning ; its habits are too well known to require any 
farther notice. 

Another bird of this family, differing in name as well as 
in general appearance from its associates, is the Black and 
White Creeper (Mniotilta varia), which, although a creeper 
y name, is a true warbler. It arrives about the twentieth 
of April, and although most of them pass farther north to 

, many spend the summer with us. Its breeding habits 
are well known; and, from various causes, it is one of the 
most favorite of the cow-blackbird’s adopted nurses. I once 
found a nest of this bird with eight eggs in it, five of which 
Were those of the cow-bird, and the other three her own. 

























172 THE WARBLERS, 


There was much dispute among ornithologists some time 
as to whether the cow-bird ever laid more than one egg 
the same nest. It was finally admitted that there were some 
times two placed in the same nest, but that one of th 


were all sound, and had, apparently, been hatching for 
days. Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, 
formed me, that, in company with Dr. Brewer, he fot t 
three eggs in a nest of the creeper, and that they considerel 


which it possesses quite a variety. Its most frequent 
in spring, is a very fine, almost shrill song ; but besides | 
it sometimes, though rarely, gives utterance to a soft, li 
warble, quite like that of the redstart. oe 

It is, perhaps, superfluous to speak of the Yellow Warbler 
(D. estiva). This, as is well known, is the commonest tl 
most familiar of all its family ; and, spending the spring wi 
summer with us, all its habits have long been known. 
cannot but think, however, that sufficient justice has 
been done to its song. Some authors even seem to be 
rant of the fact that it has a song at all, only giving it 
for its rather harsh, but characteristic spring note. It 
however, a true sylvicoline warble, which is suficie! 
pleasant in itself, but derives additional interest from 
being heard late in summer, long after all other birds, 
the vireos, have ceased to sing. During the latter pa 
July, and all through August, the yellow warbler may 
heard singing in the early morning, or in the twiligh 
his sweet, liquid notes, pleasing as they always wi 
which were scarcely noticed at all in May and Ju F 
concert of finer and louder voices, now sound doubly 
amid the silence that reigns among the feathered chion 

The Black-throated Blue Warbler (D. Canadensis) * 
about the first week in May, and takes up his quarters 
low and swampy woodlands, where he finds his 


THE WARBLERS. 173 
































abundant. The females arrive some time after their mates, 
and stay later; indeed, this seems to be the case with all the 
warblers. They stay during the whole month, remaining 
longer than almost any other species. On their first appear- 
ance they have no note but a simple chirp, but just before 
they leave us, the males have a singular drawling song of 
four or five notes. They pass here again in the fall on their 
southern migration about the first of October, and are both 
at this time and in the spring quite abundant. 

The Black-throated Green Warbler (D. virens). This 
species, rarer than the former, though still not at all scarce, 
arrives about the same time. It far excels the former 
species in its song, which is varied, sweet, and not inferior 
to that of any of the Sylvicolew. In autumn, they come 
down to us from the north along with the black-throated 
blue warblers, or else a little earlier, and, after remaining a 
short time,.move off to the south. 

The Chestnut-sided Warbler (D. Pennsylvanica) is one 
of the most beautiful members of its class. It was, if we 
may trust the accounts given to us by Audubon and Wilson, a 
rare species fifty years ago; now, however, it is one of our 
commonest warblers. In some seasons it is excessively 
abundant, at others not as much so; but it is never very 
Scarce. Its stay with us in the spring is usually very short, 
the main body not remaining more than two or three days. 
While on its spring visit it has, occasionally, a very pleasant 
Song, which it utters at short intervals, in the early morn- 


Somewhat resembling the chestnut-sided warbler in its 
coloring, but very different in its habits, is the Bay-breasted 
Warbler (D. castanea). It is one of the last to arrive, and, 
owing to the fact that by that time the foliage is pretty 
dense, and that it makes but a short stay, it is not very often 
Seen. It is not quite so active as the other warblers, and 
Keeps more on the lower boughs, seldom ascending to the 
tops of the trees. Early in the fall, about the middle of 


174 THE WARBLERS. 



















warblers in large companies, haunts the groves and woos, 
being now more familiar than in the spring, and far more 
abundant. The young are totally different in their color 
from the adults, and so closely resemble the young of the 
black-polled warbler, that it is often very difficult to disti 
guish them apart. I have never heard their spring love 
notes ; in fall, they have a faint chirp. 3 

The Connecticut Warbler ( Oporornis agilis) is one of 
scarcest of the family. There are some peculiarities abott 
the habits of this bird that deserve attention. Although et- 
cessively rare in spring, perhaps more so than any La 
species, it is, in autumn, quite often seen, at least in w 
locality. It has never been my fortune to meet with g 
spring, though I have seen many in the fall; judging #0 
analogy, it must pass through the Middle States along a 
the mourning warbler toward the latter part of May, © 
beginning of June. It returns late in September, and Te 
mains but a short time. Of its habits and notes Í knot | 
nothing, except that in autumn it frequents low, 
swamps, such as the Maryland yellow-throat chooses for 
home, and utters, at times, a feeble chirp. Why it $ , 
be so exceedingly rare in spring, while in the fall 
comparatively common, I can scarcely even conjectit® l 
perhaps it may choose a different route for its nort 
migration from what it pursues on its southern. The 
circumstance may be noticed in the migrations of many 
species, though in a much less marked degree. 

The Blue-winged Yellow Warbler ( Helminthoph 
nus) is one of that subdivision of the warbler family 
the “W orm-eaters,” or, in scientific language, Verm 
The members of this division are distinguished fron 
typical warblers by sharper and more pointed l 
plainer colors, and, as a rule, by comparatively harsh | 
unmusical voices. Their habits partake more of | Vs 
character than the others; in fact, they bear nearly the’ 


September, it returns, and, associated with the black-polled 


ia 





a ee ae ee 





THE WARBLERS. 175 


relation to the Vireonide, that the Myiodiocte, of which the 
green black-capped warbler is a member, do to the Musci- 
capide, or Flycatchers. The blue-winged yellow warbler is 
one of those that spend the summer with us; but though it 
is quite abundant during that season, I have never been for- 
tunate enough to discover its nest, although I have repeat- 
edly seen the young just fledged. It arrives about the tenth 
of May, and takes up its abode in the closest thickets and 
underbrush. Its note is very forcible and characteristic ; 


‘once heard, it will always be remembered. It is a rapid 


chirrup, nearly undescribable in words, though the follow- 
ing syllables bear some resemblance to it, chaachich-k'-a-re- 
r'r'r'r!, uttered very quickly. It leaves in August. 

The Mourning Warbler (Geothlypis Philadelphia) is a 
very rare species, scarcely less so than the Connecticut war- 
bler. It arrives late in spring, about the twenty-fifth of 
May, or first of J une; of its notes and habits I know noth- 
ing, having only seen one or two individuals. This and the 
Connecticut warbler have been considered by some orni- 
thologists to be identical, but they are undoubtedly perfectly 

istinct. 

One of the rarest of all is the Cape May Warbler (D. 
tigrina). Like the preceding, it is a late comer, arriving 
generally toward the end of May, and staying a very brief 
period. In the autumn it passes here, on its southward 
course, about the twentieth of September. Of its notes I 
know nothing, except that it has a faint chirp like all sthe 
other warblers; and of its habits, nothing worthy of par- 
ticular notice, except that it shows a preference to cedar, and 
other evergreen trees. 

The Green Black-capped Warbler (Mzyiodioctes pusillus) 
's one of those belonging to the section or genus intermediate 
between the warblers and flycatchers. It is very much 
nearer the former, however, than the latter; and itis a matter 
of some little surprise, how it could have been ranked odie 
flycatcher. Audubon says that it passes through the Middle 


176 THE WARBLERS. 



















States very quickly on its way northward; but I have seen 
it from the nineteenth to the thirtieth of May, though never 
in abundance. It keeps low down in the trees, and is fond | 
of haunting thickets and open brush-fields. Its ordinary | 
note is a sharp chirp, but occasionally it may be heard to 
utter a loud, rapid, chattering song, which it repeats at short 
intervals. It is dintinmiichad by its activity, even ane 
class of birds preéminent for that quality. 

The Canada Warbler (Myiodtoctes Canadensis) belas 


classed as a flycatcher. It arrives about the middle of May 
along with the greater mass of warblers, and remains till the 
first of June. It is very unsuspicious, and more familiar in 
its habits than most of the warblers. With me, during some 
seasons, it is exceedingly abundant; at others it is scare 
though never rare. It affects the lower branches principally, 
and is always very active. Its song is one of the mos 
agreeable which we hear, though anio tunately it is s 
heard in this part of the country. E 

The Blue Warbler (D. cærulea), is a very rare species; 
that is to say, in the New England and Northern 
States, its natural home being the south and the south- 
where it is extremely abundant: It very rarely reac 
New England States, though in the southern parts of 
sylvania and New Jersey it sometimes occurs in consid 
numbers. Ina “Catalogue of birds observed in New 
Long and Staten Islands, and the adjacent parts. je 
Jersey,” by Geo. N. Lawrence, no mention of it is 1 
although the list is very full and complete, embracing " 
CREPE not before known to occur in those lool 


viii 


indeed, I at first slate it. It had no note of any Ki 
The Maryland Yellow-throat ( Geothlypis ne 
to the Geothlypee, or Ground Warblers, so named 





THE WARBLERS. 177 


they show a marked preference for the ground, seldom 
ascending to the tops of the trees as the others do, but 
being always found in the low thickets and bushes, or even 
on the ground. The present species is, perhaps, the best 
known, and most familiar of all its tribe; indeed it could 
not have otherwise obtained its familiar name of “Yellow- 
throat.” It is scarcely necessary to add anything concerning 
it; suffice it to say, that it holds a most important position in 
the woodland choir; there is scarcely another bird that we 
should miss more. Without-it, the thickets and coppices 
would seem almost uninhabited ; and its song, simple though 
it is, would be sadly missed in August, when the hot sum- 
mer sun has silenced the wood-thrush and the veery. 

The Nashville Warbler (Helminthophaga ruficapilla) is, in 
this vicinity, quite an abundant species. It arrives about 
the twentieth of May, and, after staying a very short period, 
proceeds northward. During its stay it is shy and retiring, 
frequenting the tops of forest trees; occasionally it may be 
seen in orchards, and in the trees lining the brooks and 
swamps. It returns about the last week in September, 
remains a few days, and then moves off to the south. It 
has quite a fine song, which resembles that of the yellow 
Warbler more nearly than any other. Many of the warblers 
have songs, so closely resembling each other, that it is 
impossible to describe them accurately in words, though they 
can at once be distinguished in the woods by the practised 
ornithologist. 

The Blue Yellow-backed Warbler (Parula Americana) is 
one of the smallest, as well as one of the most beautiful of 
all. Usually very abundant, it is sometimes rather scarce, 
- 4nd its migrations seem to be somewhat irregular. It arrives 
in the second week in May, and remains a considerable time 
With us. About the time the apple and pear trees are in 
bloom, it is most abundant; and any one visiting orchards 
then, is sure to see it flitting among the blossoms like a 
winged gem, the dark blue and gold of the bird contrasting 


AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 23 






















178 THE WARBLERS. 


beautifully with the pure white, or delicate pink, of the f 
flowers. In autumn, it is one of the first, if not the first, t 
leave its northern abode and pass through the Midi | 
States, appearing in my locality about the second or thini | 
week of September. After haunting, for a few weeks, the. 
white-birch swamps, it moves southward, just as the black 
throated blue warbler is arriving. The song of the blue ye 
low-back is a little sharp and lisping, yet quite varied, anl 
very pleasant to be heard. E- 
The Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitherus vermivorus) i 
one of the very few warblers that are plainly attired, yet evel 
it can make some pretensions to personal beauty ; for it 
four bands of jet-black on its head, and a dainty suit of light 
buff on its back. It is not at all common, arrives in D 
middle of May, and has at that time a rapid, chattering nk 
It always keeps near the ground, is fond of rustling amott 
the dead leaves of a broken bough, and, besides its chattet 
ing song, has, in June, a series of odd notes much like tut 
of the white-breasted nuthatch, but more varied and music 
though hardly entitled to be called a song. It remains j 
us during the summer, and although I have seen it a 
the breeding season evidently collecting food for its your 
have never been able to find its nest. . : p 
The Hooded Warbler (Myiodioctes mitratus), is selit 
seen as far north as the neighborhood of New York; 
England it is very rare. I have only observed two oF om 
individuals ; these were in low bushes, and seemed we 
larly active and restless. They are said to have a lively : 
of warble, though I have never heard their notes. a 
the Prairie Warbler (D. discolor) I know but 
It is said to be abundant in many parts of New Jone 
Long Island, and to breed in those sections. It ariv® 
the neighborhood of New York in the first week in May 
remains till the autumn, frequenting, in spring, the Y 
and gardens, and, in summer, the open, deserted fields 
pastures. It has quite a variety of notes, some of which’ 
very pleasing. 


THE WARBLERS. 179 


The Black-polled Warbler (D. striata), is the last of the 
tribe to arrive in spring, seldom appearing before the twen- 
tieth of May. It is a familiar species, being found, while 
with us, in gardens, orchards, and in the vicinity of houses, 
as well as in the woods. It is extremely active, and, when 
seen, is always darting in and out among the branches, so 
rapidly as almost to pain the eye in endeavoring to follow it. 
In the full it returns very early, along with the blue yellow- 
backed warbler, in the middle of September, from which 
time until the end of the first week in October, it is very 
abundant. The young are then so much more numerous 
than the adults, that one sees twenty in the immature plu- 
mage, to one in the mature. As before stated, the young of 
this bird very closely resemble those of the bay-breasted war- 
bler; so closely, in fact, that naturalists are puzzled to 
decide which of the two is the autumnal warbler of Wilson 
and Nuttall, the descriptions applying nearly as well to the 
one as to the other. It is probable, however, that Wilson 
did not distinguish between them, or else considered them 
merely: as varieties of the same species. His detailed de- 
scription of Sylvia autumnalis will certainly apply more 
nearly to the bay-breast ; but when he comes to speak of its 
habits, his remarks apply to the D. striata, rather than to 
the D. castanea. All the ornithologists who wrote of the 
autumnal warbler, mention it as exceedingly abundant in the 
fall. The black-poll is then very common, as well as in 
the spring, while the bay-breast is never so. Audubon, and 
some other authors, find the S. autumnalis in the young of 
the Hemlock Warbler (Sylvicola parus) ; but their view must 
be incorrect, if the 9. parus is, as Professor Baird asserts, 
merely the young of the Blackburnian warbler. During 
spring, the black-poll has a faint lisping song, of four or five 
syllables ; in the fall, only a faint chirp. 

The Blackburnian Warbler (D. Blackburnie) is one of 
the most beautiful of all the warblers, for none can show 
More pleasing colors than the orange of its throat and breast. 





180 THE WARBLERS. 


It is a scarce species, arriving in the second or 
week in May, and remaining till the first of June. In 
habits it is shy and retiring, hiding itself in the thickest 
age. It sometimes utters an agreeable song. Accordi 
Giraud, it has been found breeding near Williams 
Mass. 
Another warbler, vying in beauty with the last, is 
Black and Yellow Warbler (D. maculosa) ; and, to add 
its attractiveness, its song is no less pleasing to the ear 
its colors to the eye. About the middle of May it arriv 
sometimes in great abundance, and again in very small 
bers, in some seasons being scarcely seen at all; in fall it 
not as common as in spring. Its notes are very soft and mie 
sical; like the vireos, it sings while engaged in 3 
searching for food. It often darts after its prey, in the mi 
ner of the redstart, spreading its tail at the same time, ; 
to exhibit its beauty. In its motions, it is very q™ 
scarcely less so than the black-poll ; in its choice of abode, 
seems to have no particular preference, haunting alike t 
woods, orchards, roadsides, and gardens. as 
The Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) is the only repre 
tive we have of the Setophagew, a subdivision of the 
bler family, noted for the extreme brilliancy of their plum 
There are several species in Mexico and the adjacent po 
of the United States, but only one ever enters the No 
or Middle States. The redstart is so named, it is supp 
from the color of its tail (German roth, red ; and stert, 
and no more appropriate name could have been found t 
tinguish it, at least in the case of our bird; for ofi 
characteristics, that which at once strikes the gr: 
first seeing it, is its broad red tail. In the woods? 
easily be recognized, however far off, or however mome 
the glimpse one catches of it, by the peculiar motion ® 
tail, which it flirts about from side to side, opening # 
ting it occasionally like a fan. Although Wilson stat 
the redstart remains all the summer in Pennsylval 





















THE WARBLERS. 181 


that it breeds there in abundance, it is seldom seen in this 
locality.after the end of June, although from the beginning of 
May until that time it is exceedingly common. About the 
first of September it reappears, and in a short time becomes 
abundant, remaining so for a few weeks, when it disappears 
again. It has a number of notes, some of which are very 
agreeable, especially its spring warble, which has been well 
described by Nuttall. Its peculiar habits are too well known 
to require any farther comment. 

_ These species are about all that are to be found in the New 
England States. There are a few, however, not enumerated 
above, that occasionally visit them, stragglers from their 
more proper places of abode. Of these, those that are most 
likely to occur are the Kentucky Warbler ( Oporornis for- 
mosus), which has been discovered on Long Island several 
times; the Golden-winged Warbler (Helminthophaga chry- 
soptera), which undoubtedly migrates as far north as Massa- 
chusetts ; and the Tennessee Warbler (Helminthophaga per- 
egrina) , which has been shot in the neighborhood of New York 
City. The Orange-crowned Warbler (Helminthophaga celata), 
is also said to have been found in New York State; and, of 
course, may occur in the adjacent parts of New England. 
Its occurrence is very doubtful, however, and is still a subject 
of dispute. ; 

It would scarcely be proper, in an account of the warbler 
family, to overlook the Water-thrushes (Seiurus), which are 
how generally classed among the Sylvicolee, or typical war- 
blers, although their proper place in our systems has long 

n a matter of discussion. Audubon placed them among 
his Motacilline, or wagtails; while Wilson regarded them 
as true thrushes. Wilson, however, is not to be relied upon 
In matters relating to classification ; he excelled as a descrip- 
tive naturalist, but not as a systematist. The specific rank of 
the Water-thrushes, or wagtails, now seems to be universally 
acknowledged ; and there can be little doubt, but that the 
Position assigned to them by Professor Baird, is the correct 





















182 THE WARBLERS. 


one. The reason why they were misunderstood so long, 
seems to have been their large size and plain colors, e 


ever, in their habits and notes, true warblers ; more truly s, 
in fact, than the Vermivoree, or the Geothlypee. A 
Our commonest species is the Golden-crowned Thusi 
(Seiurus aurocapillus). It appears in the New E 
States in the first week of May, and, taking up its a 
the thickest woods, soon becomes abundant there. It1 
along the ground with a graceful, wavering gait, wa 
tail all the while as if to preserve its balance, which 
every moment about to be overthrown. It often mounts 
the boughs, from which it sends forth a loud, rattling caat 
which can be heard at a considerable distance. At times? 
the dusk of the evening or the early morning, it utters t 
finer song, clear and rapid as the canary’s, ending al" 
always, however, in the usual chatter. While sing 
keeps high up among the trees, usually balancing i 
its wings like a skylark, descending just as it finishes 
song. The only author in whom I find mention of thi 
is Nuttall, who has the credit of being one of our 
observing naturalists. Late in summer, it has a 
clucking note, something like that of the water-thrush. 
curious nest has long been known; from it, it derw 
name of “Oven-bird.” 
The Water-thrush (Seiurus Noveboracensis) arrives 
or three weeks after the golden-crown ; and, like most 
warblers, remains but a short time with us in the SPU 
passing on to the north to breed after a brief stay 
or ten days. A singular circumstance in this 9 
tory is the fact of its never singing while here m * 
but during its visit on its return, it may often be 2 
With all other birds, it is exactly the reverse. It? 
the same localities as the golden-crown, but SH0™ 
preference to the margins of small streams and : 


motio! 


along which it is seen running with the peculiar m0 


Se a en ee ee a ee ee IGE ee G ee 


ee ee ee a eR ene ee a ee 








NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 183 


a sand-piper, for which, at a distance, it may easily be 
mistaken. Its ordinary note is a loud, sharp “cluck ;” but 
in August, when it returns, it has a beautiful song, loud, 
clear, and sweet, rivalling that of the wood-thrush for beauty. 
It is quite abundant. 

There is a closely allied form of the water-thrush, which 
is probably entitled to specific rank ; the Large-billed Water- 
thrush (Seiurus Ludovicianus). Audubon first discovered it, 
and at the time considered it as distinct from the ordinary 
bird, but afterwards held it merely as a variety. The two 
birds certainly present greater difference than other nearly 
allied species of warblers that are acknowledged to be dis- 
tinct, as the Connecticut and mourning warblers ; and there is 
little doubt but that they are really different species. I have 
Seldom seen the large-billed water-thrush, and am inclined 
to think that it is much rarer than the common wagtail, in 
this part of the country at least. In its habits and general 
appearance it seems to be the same as the awrocapillus, 
Which may partly account for the fact that it is rarely 
noticed. I have never heard its notes; they are said to be 
senenhy beautiful, almost equalling those of the nightin- 
gale. i 





NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 


BY WILLIAM T. BRIGHAM. 





Ir may be that one day we shall know the different varie- 
ties of oranges, of coffee, of sugar-cane, as we know the pears 
and apples of our own orchards; but at present we know 
only that some kinds are better than others. Travellers often 
describe in glowing terms the tropical fruits, but most of us 
know the banana (the apple of the tropics) by one typical 
form. The pleasant season for travelling in the tropics is 
hot the season of fruits, so that many are not noticed by the 


184 NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 



































tourist; and again, most tropical fruits do not con 
themselves to the taste on first acquaintance. If by 
ing a few random notes of a traveller who considers 
and vegetables the staple of life, especially in the trop 
ccbiaibadienn from other sources may be provoked, s 
pleasing sketches of the many delicious products of 
warmer regions of the globe may result. 

Gotonia antiquorum, var. esculenta,—Kalo or 1 
The kalo of the Pacific Islanders is one of the few trop 
productions that require great labor and constant cate 
bring it to perfection. In its wild state, like most of 
Araceæ, the kalo has a small corm, or bulb, surmounted b 
few arrow-shaped leaves with fleshy stems. It looks m 
like the Calla of our conservatories. The corm is acrid, a 
blisters incautious lips. What can have first suggested 1t 
use as food? To cultivate it, ponds are prepared b; 
fully digging the soil and working it with the feet to 
depth of some eighteen inches. The ponds are sult 
by a low wall or dyke, and usually cover from a few 
yards to half an acre. Water is supplied by an aqueduct 

The upper part of the corm, with the half-dev 
leaves, is cut off and planted in the mud, usually i 
about a foot apart, and water turned on enough to cov 
soil about an inch. Weeds and kalo then commence 2! a 
and it requires the constant care of the owner to kee 
former down until the kalo leaves cover the groui 
the kalo leaves unfold, and the bulb grows, more 
let into the pond, and it is sometimes a foot deep. ~ 
end of thirteen months the bulb has attained full sizes’ 
the yellow fragrant blossom appears. Tt is not nec 
gather it at once, and the usual way is to pull it as 2 
replanting the stems, so that a constant succession i 
up. One acre will furnish food for six men. 

When fully grown, the bulb is six inches or even 
in diameter, and the bright leaves have closely coy 
surface of the pond. The bulb is still as sorid 


NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 185 


the wild state, except a rare variety which may be eaten 
raw, and must be baked to render it eatable. This process is 
usually performed in earth-ovens, and the roasted vegetable 
is pounded with great labor into a paste with water. It is 
at first tough and elastic, but at last the persistent attacks of 
the stone-pounder reduce it to a paste not unlike mashed 
potato. This constitutes the pae-ai of the Hawaiians, and 
may be kept for a long time packed in leaves of the cordy- 
line. When mixed with water in different proportions, it 
forms “one-fingered poi,” or “two-fingered poi,” or even 
“three-fingered poi,” accordingly as a mouthful may be taken 
up on one, two, or three fingers. It is preferred slightly 
sour, and to a stranger much resembles in smell and appear- 
‘nce sour bookbinder’s paste. A fastidious man objects to 
the way in which a group. of natives, seated around a cala- 
bash of poi, which an old woman has just stirred up with her 
hand, dip their fingers in the paste and empty them in their 
mouths ; but if he wishes a good meal he had better get over 
such prejudices. Babies a few weeks old are passionately 
ond of poi, and foreigners, who have long lived in poi coun- 
tries, often send for it half round the world. 

The bulb may also be cooked and eaten as a potato, when 
ìt is very palatable, or as a farther process the boiled kalo 
may be cut in slices and fried, or mashed into paste like poi 
and made into cakes while yet fresh, a food as dear to those 
used to it as johnny-cake to a Scotchman. Even the stems 
are boiled as greens, and the tender leaves form a fine dish 
called luau. 

Although kalo is usually grown in ponds or brooks, a very 
good variety grows well on upland rich soil, and many pre- 
fer it to the more common kind. The Hawaiians distinguish 
more than fifty varieties of this plant, and the paste made 
tom them varies in color, from a bluish-gray to a rich pink- 
Color. Poi requires a little salt-fish as a relish. Kalo grows 
in New Zealand, Australia, China, where it is carefully culti- 
vated, India, and elsewhere ; but the Polynesians, especially 

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 24 





















186 THE GOLDSMITH BEETLE, AND ITS HABITS. 


the Hawaiians, alone make poi, other people using the 
like yams or potatoes. It is said that the corm of the com 
mon Jack-in-the-pulpit of New England woods may 
treated as kalo, even to the eating. 

Pandanus verus, Vaquois, Screw-pine, Lauhala. 1 
pandanus, with its aerial roots and terminal tufts of lo 
graceful leaves, is known by many pictures, but few M 
eaten the fruit. This much resembles a pine in shape @ 
size, and is hard and useless until fully ripe, when the 
surrounding the nuts is mashed into a paste and 
Many of the atolls in the Pacific produce no other 
except the omnipresent cocoa-nut. The taste is 
insipid, and the odor disagreeable. The flower is fleshy 
fragrant, and the native doctors in India use it as a 
love-potion. It is certainly an emetic to some consti 
The aerial roots have their ends protected by a loose. 
thimble of cellular integument, which is at once % 
where the root touches the ground. From the peculiar 
position of the leaves they shed water only from the tips! 
down the stem, forming a complete shelter from th 
and supplying water where most needed. — To be c 





THE GOLDSMITH BEETLE, AND ITS gi 
BY REV. SAMUEL LOCKWOOD. 

Amone the Beetles of North America, very fe 
away the palm for beauty from the Cotalpa lanig ; 
popularly known, the Goldsmith Beetle. This 1m5 
no ignoble place in the Coleoptera, being a mem 
family Rutilidæ, or the golden-gleaming ones. 
Madam Cotalpa has long been an acknowte 
among the Rutilians, themselves a distinguished * 
Beetledom. No artist can vie with the gorgeous 





THE GOLDSMITH BEETLE, AND ITS HABITS. 187 


duced by the metallic tints of the Cotalpa’s dress. Who has 
not seen the maiden sporting in a silken attire of but one 
color, which with every motion in the light became suddenly 
lustrous with beautiful hues. Almost a monochrome, yet 
the garb of the Goldsmith beetle presents a rich diversity of 
tints, chiefly of the yellow sorts. The wing-cases are a 
gleaming lemon, thus making the whole back appear as if 
encased by two large plates of paly gold, while the thorax 
and head are each covered with brilliant red gold, which in 
the light gives off an almost flaming hue. “The legs are 
brownish yellow, or brassy, shaded with green.” The under 
part of the insect is a sheet of highly polished copper, from 
which stands forth a thick coat of “whitish wool,” justifying 
its specific name lanigera, wool-bearer. It is pleasant to see 
how from such a seeming paucity of color, Nature has begot- 
ten in this insect such a richness of results. Although with 
a softer toning down, we see a not dissimilar success in that 
fine large Bombyx, the pale-green, satin-robed Moon-moth 
(Attacus luna), “preéminent above all our moths in queenly 
beauty.” 

In the month of May for many years, in the ordinary cul- 
ture of my garden at Keyport, N. J., the spade has turned 
up the Cotalpa lanigera (Fig. 1, larva; Fig. 2, imago), 

Fig. 2. 





and generally in company with the May-beetle, or Dor-bug 
: nosterna fusca, Fig. 3, pupa). The beetle is figured 
= the NATURALIST, Vol. I, p. 222. Each season has fur- 
mshed me many more Dors than Goldsmiths. And so far 























188 THE GOLDSMITH BEETLE, AND ITS HABITS. 


as my observations tend, the former are individually 
mischievous. a 

To me the question of origin was interesting. Where ¢ 
the Goldsmiths come from? It is a tree-beetle, and t 
spade turns them up in the ground. Do they originate 
the trees or in the ground? Or is the latter the place 
their winter sleep, and for the purpose of undergoing the 
transformations? On this point, I found the authorities 
simply quoting Harris, who says, “the larve of this i 
are not known; probably they live in the ground upon 
roots of plants.” My mind was made up to watch 
Newton could say in effect that to the astronomer pa 
is genius, the burden of the naturalist’s “Life Psalm 
“Learn to labor, and to wait.” 

For five years was kept up that vernal watching, € 
May yielding specimens, but no secrets. In the sp 
1865, to my surprise I turned up a fine, fresh, pale 
out of a small heap of dirt that I had put there the p 


positive ; nor could it have entered there during the 
Hence it was beyond doubt that I had unwittingly 7 
the larva there myself; or, as I think more probable, t 
advanced pupa. That month a very strict watch was 
for all specimens that might be turned up by § 
plough, with the hope thdt a pupa, or a newly, 9 
quite developed imago, would-be obtained. All was 1 
The next step was to examine very thoroughly € 
of a coleopterous kind found in proximity with the 1 
This led to the discovery that certain large whitish $ 
about one inch and three quarters long, and ove. 
inch thick, had a yellowish brown scale on the part. 
sponding to the thorax, and it was thought it mig 
into the red golden hue of the thorax of the perfected 
This decided my course. Like Scholasticus, who 
heard that the crow lived a hundred years, at once’ 





THE GOLDSMITH BEETLE, AND ITS HABITS. 189 


market, bought a young one, and resolved that he would 
see; I filled a deep glass jar with earth, and placed six 
large grubs on the top. It was interesting to observe how 
quickly these soft creatures burrowed out of sight. They 
seemed in distress and haste to get out of the light and heat. 

Five months after, —it was late in October, —I removed 
à portion of the earth in the jar. Judge of my delight and 
astonishment to find a beautiful and perfect Goldsmith 
beetle in the earthen chamber, which had contained it in 
its pupa state. I now searched the jar carefully, and found 
two more seemingly perfect ones, and another  ill-formed 
one. So my conjectures were right. Those white grubs 
were, indeed, the larvæ of the Cotalpa lanigera. Without 
farther disturbance, except to replace the earth, the jar was 
set away in the cellar for the winter. 

Next May it was again examined. During the month two 
very pretty ones came to the surface of their own accord. I 
was delighted to find it was a pair, male and female. Farther 
examination showed that of the six larvee, five became ima- 
$s, and one died in the pupa state. They were all Gold- 
smiths, Being particularly anxious about the pair, from 
which I had hoped to learn something respecting the time 
and mode of oviposition, extra attention was paid them, and 
young leaves of the different deciduous trees were supplied ; 
but in vain. They lived but a few days, and died without 
furnishing one fact. 
` Now comes a curious question. These insects had lived 
in the perfect form from October until May, a little more 
than seven months, that is, the larger fraction of a year. Is 
this their habit? Do they thus spend, after the last meta- 
Morphosis, so much time in a subterranean life? Probably 
there are two reasons why I have never found the Goldsmith 
m the fall; the little need of working the ground then, 
and ' the probability that the spade or plough does not go 
“ep enough; as in May, the insect is slowly travelling to 


the surface, and is met by the implement. 

























190 THE GOLDSMITH BEETLE, AND ITS HABITS. 


When collecting the larve in May, I often observed 
same places grubs of the Cotalpa of at least four dis 
ages, each representing a year in the life of the in 
judging from Renny’s figures of the larve of the Em 
Cockchafer, or Dor-beetle ( Melolontha vulgaris). But 
English chafer becomes an imago in January or Feb 
and comes forth into active life in May, just four years | 
the deposit of the egg. Supposing our Cotalpa to take 
the imago form in autumn, and to spend its life from 
time to the next May in the ground, it would be five) 
old when it makes its debut as an arboreal insect. 

The books tell us that the larvee of the Coleoptera alms 
lie on their side. Why? Watching the movements 
Goldsmith in its chamber, I noticed that the cell, 0 
was made large enough to admit of considerable free 


respects allotted space; also by the curved motio 
made, the enlarging and keeping up the walls of its 
chamber. The dog, in setting itself for repose, $M 
old instinct, —first the whole body is put in a curvy 
circular motion is made, then it sinks upon its bed. 
the wolf making its bed. And this posture of reps i 
effectually defends the abdominal, the weaker parts 
body. It is so with the grub. Resting on its sié 
fact rests upon the ends of the hard dorsal segments, 
extension and ċontraction of which the cycloidal j3 
attained, without any friction to the tender abdome, 
the friction of the back keeps the walls of the eart 
compact and smooth. w 
I laid a large larva on my study-table. It instantly 
on its round, smooth back, nicely balanced itas , 
feet upward, moved quite rapidly. One 
movement serpentine. In fact, the motion was be 
the separating and bringing together agam a 
segments, very much as the ventral bands oF 

























THE GOLDSMITH BEETLE, AND ITS HABITS. 191 


snake are moved by the ribs; the tenderness of the abdo- 
men and feet accounting for this singular upside-down way 
of getting along. It certainly was an effectual getting over 
the difficulties of a new situation. But this experiment, tried 
with a younger larva, turned out otherwise. It travelled on 
its abdomen, and would not, even when so placed, go at all 
upon its back. It seemed to me that the dorsal segments 
were too soft to afford it the advantages thus had by the 
older individual. 

I think the Goldsmith prefers land under present tillage, 
and’ that the dor-bug loves grassy land better than garden 
soils; hence the latter is to be regarded as the more inju- 
rious of the two. The Goldsmith beetle is very short-lived. 
It is likely that the female lays her eggs in the ground 
in June, which month usually sees her for the last time. 
Their life I hardly think is given to much mischief. Says 
Harris, “pear trees are particularly subject to their attacks.” 
A more recent observer, Mr. Uhler, indicates that its injury 
is not serious to this tree, and that it is more frequently 
found on other trees. It appears to me to be far from par- 
ticular in its taste; for besides the trees mentioned by Dr. 
: rris, “the pear, hickory, poplar, and oak,” I have found 
it on the Abele, or white poplar of Europe, the Bilsted, or 
Sweet gum, and seen it eating the Lawton blackberry. For 
the double purpose of concealment from enemies and com- 
fort of shade, it will draw together a couple of leaves, hold- 
ing them by the sharp tiny hooks or grapnels on its feet. 
Of sluggish habits and but low instincts, it quietly nestles 
Mm its improvised arbor all the long summer day. At morn 
and evening twilight it ventures abroad, seeking its food, 
flying and buzzing about, enjoying its arboreal life, short at 
best, and to many very short indeed, as they fall an easy 
prey to the ever-watchful birds. Sometimes their little 
round of existence is abruptly broken in a very unsentimen- 
tal way. The little Cotalpa, brimful of life, unintentionally 
enters the open window, and, dashing bewilderingly in a sort 


192 THE OSPREY, OR FISH-HAWK. 






























of involuntary blind-man’s buff, strikes its tiny golden 
against the blinding lamp. Ah, thy doom is sealed! 
feminine scream. Then the nervous mistress, ná 
hand, courageously attacks, and with the scissors t 
antly captures, and most satisfactorily. destroys “the 
thing !” 


Notr.—Fig. 3 represents the pupa of Lachnosterna fesca, the 
bug, which was turned up by the spade in a garden in Maine, al 
middle of May.. The pupa of Cotalpa must closely resemble that of 
June bug. It will be seen in our review of the Cosmos, that 
fer lives three years instead of five as stated by early authors. — BY 





THE OSPREY, OR FISH-HAWK. 


BY AUGUSTUS FOWLER. 





Tus well-known migratory hawk (Pandion Ca 
arrives on our coast about the last of April, and d 2 
the south in the month of October. It subsists 
upon fish, which it procures by its own industry 
from morning till evening twilight. Upon examın 
bird it will be seen by its peculiar organization how 
adapted for its vocation. The body is compact al 
wings long, pointed, and extremely powerful ; the 
tibia muscular ; the soles of the feet supplied with 
protuberances, which, with its long, sharp, roun 
vent its prey from slipping from its grasp when ¢ 
struck. In the Osprey the wings denote great po 
are acute and long, and, as the wing is the lever of 
the more distant its extremity is from the centre of 1 
more power it has in resisting the air. The stiff, 
feathers arising from the wing of the osprey» 
primaries, are sixteen inches in length including 
the quills are three and a half inches long, and $ 





i 
wey 
My 


THE OSPREY, OR FISH-HAWK. 193 


of an inch in circumference ; the feathers, arising from the 
spurious wing that lie close on the quills of the primaries are 
also very stiff and give them great support, each primary 
feather measuring seven-eighths of an inch in width from the 
greater wing coverts to near its extremity, with the lamina 
strongly connected by the fibrils of each; those on the upper 
edge of the shaft are stiff and curve downward, a wise pro- 
vision in its construction without which the resistance of the 
air against the wing would be lost by a counteracting resist- 
ance in its ascent. In its downward beat on the air the flat 
surface of the feather only presents itself, in its upward 
stroke its edges are presented, and the air passes through them. 
us the curvature, length, and power of the wings of the 
Fish-hawk are designed to be of great service under peculiar 
circumstances. Rising high in the air and wheeling in his 
flight, he discovers his finny prey far below him in the 
water. He poises himself for a moment, then swiftly de- 
scends upon his victim. The fish feeling the piercing claws 
of the hawk, leaps forward through the water, and, having 
his head lifted up by the power of the hawk, swims to the 
surface and is easily borne into the air; these are the more 
favorable circumstances for the hawk. 
_ There are instances when in striking the fish the hawk 
fastens to him less favorably, and does not so easily succeed 
m procuring his prize. When the hawk has seized his prey 
80 far behind as to give the fish an opportunity of descending 
deeper in the water, he is sometimes drawn under its surface, 
especially if the fish is large. When this oċcurs the struggle 
is desperate, for the contest is, which will now remain in his 
element. It is to the advantage of the hawk, being placed in 


Such hazardous circumstances, that his wings are differently 


constructed from those of other hawks. Those long, stiff, 
elastic quill-feathers arising from the hands of the wings of 
the hawk which curve to such a degree as to be used over his 

ody while partly submerged in the water, give him the vic- 
tory. After the osprey has secured his prey he rises from 


~ 


AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IL. 25 








194 THE OSPREY, OR FISH-HAWK. 
































the water and shakes himself, then immediately starts for 
woods or some stand to feed upon his spoils. Ha 
reached the tree upon which he intends to light, he 
around two or three times before he rests upon it; soe 
is he lest the Bald-eagle (Haliaetus leucocephalus), W 
often robs him of his food, may approach him 
remains looking about him for some minutes 
mencing to eat ;.no danger being apprehended, he the 
off a piece of the fish and swallows it. After every m 
ful he takes a survey. | 
A number of years ago a pair of  fish-hawks built 
nest in Ipswich, Mass. They were so often shot at, ant 
nest. robbed of their eggs, that they abandoned the 
Their nest is composed chiefly of sticks and seaweed; 
large for the size of the bird, measuring three feet in 
ter and two feet in height; the cavity for the receptio 
eggs is shallow, as is usually in nests of all birds of p 
The attachment between the male and female is strong: 
former not: only assists in incubation, but also. su Ji 
female with food while performing the arduous t 
having brought her a fish he will rise above the 
spiral flight to a great height, then descending on 
wings with great force until near the nest, he sweeps 
uttering a piercing scream. The female acknowl 
honor thus paid her by rising in the nest and partly 
ing her wings. The fish-hawk usually lays 
sometimes four; their ground color is white tinged 
the larger end is sometimes almost entirely cov 
blotches of dark umber brown, and spots of the same” 
thickly scattered on the smaller end ; they vary in size, 
they are two and a half inches in length by one ‘ 
eighths inches in diameter. At the earliest dawn 
labors of this fish-hunter commences. He seems 
danger in the oftentimes perilous undertaking of 
a too powerful fish. He crosses our bays, enters the 
-ereeks, still pursuing the chase in wet or dry we? 





THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 195 


ently for the pleasure and excitement it gives, rather than to 
procure for himself food. This insurmountable passion he 
gratifies without the least fear of plunging from the great 
height to which he soars, whizzing through the air swifter 
than the torrent into which he rushes, making the water foam 
around him. Night often overtakes him in the heat of the 
pursuit, and not until the last ray of light has disappeared in 
the west does he forsake the chase. His day’s hunt over, he 
perches upon some tree bordering upon the shore of the river 
or coast of the sea, and remains through the night. He is 
awakened by the freshness of the morning air and the roar 
of the long rolling waves when their irresistible columns 
meet the shore and are broken. He rises and shakes the 
dews of night from his feathers, gives them a few touches 
with his bill, and again goes forth, rejoicing in his strength, 
over waters filled with a superabundance of food. 





THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. | 


: “By ‘A. S. PACKARD, JR; 


Very few bee-keepers are probably aware how many 
Insect parasites infest the Honey-bee. In our own. literature 
we hear almost nothing of this subject, but in’ Europe much 
has been written on bee parasites. From Dr. Edward 
Assmuss’ little work on “the Parasites of the Honey-bee,” 
we glean many of the facts now presented, and which can- 
hot fail to interest the general reader as well as the owner of 
bees. 
, The study of the habits of animal’ parasites has of late 
gained much attention among’ naturalists, and both the 
honey and wild bees afford good examples of the singular 
relation between the host and the parasites which live upon it. 
Mong insects generally, there are certain species -which 
























196 THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 


devour the contents of the egg of the victim. Others, 
this is the most common mode of parasitism, attack 
insect in its larva state; others in the pupa state, and 
others in the perfect, or imago state. Dr. Leidy 
shown that of the wood-devouring species, a beetle, Pas 
lus cornutus, and some Myriapods, or “thousand legs,” 
in some cases, tenanted by myriads of microscopic pla 
and worms which luxuriate in the alimentary canal, while 
the “caterpillar-fungus” attacks sickly caterpillars, fill 
out their bodies, and sending out shoots into the air, so t 
the insect looks as if transformed into a vegetable. | : 

The Ichneumon flies, of which there are undoubtedly seven! 
thousand species in this country, are the most common ins 
parasites. Their habits are noticed in the Narurauist, Vol 
p. 81. Next to these are the different species of Tachinas 
its allied genera. These, like Ichneumons, live in thè hodi : 
of their hosts, consuming the fatty parts, and finishing | 
transformations just as the exhausted host is ready to : 
issue from their bodies as flies, closely resembling the €o 
mon house-fly. a 

An insect, allied to the Tachina, has been found in Eur 
to be the most formidable foe of the hive-bee, someull 
producing the well-known disease called “foul-brood,” bas 
is analogous to the typhus fever of man. ` 

This fly, belonging to the genus Phora (Plate4, fig. 1 
incrassata ; Fig. 2, larva; Fig.3, puparium), is a smal] ms 
about one line and a half long, and found in Europe © 
the summer and autumn flying slowly about flowers and 
dows, and in the vicinity of bee-hives. Its white, tri 
rent larva is cylindrical, a little pointed before, but Pr 
behind. The head is small and rounded, with short f 
Jointed antenne, and at the posterior end of the gia 
several slender spines. The puparium, or pupa-case 
ing the delicate chrysalis, is oval, consisting of ê 
ments, flattened above and with two large spines 


neat 
head, and four on the extremity of the body. - 
































THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 197 


When impelled by instinct to provide for the continuance 
of its species, the Phora enters the bee-hive and gains admis- 
sion to a cell, when it bores with its ovipositor through the 
skin of the bee-larva, laying its long oval egg in a horizon- 
tal position just under the skin. The embryo of the Phora 
is already well developed, so that in three hours after the 
egg is inserted in the body of its unsuspecting and helpless 
host, the embryo is nearly ready to hatch. In about two 
hours more it actually breaks off the larger end of the egg- 
shell and at once begins to eat the fatty tissues of its victim, 
its posterior half still remaining in the shell. In an hour 
more, it leaves the egg entirely and buries itself completely 
in the fatty portion of the young bee. 
The maggot moults three times. In twelve hours after 
the last moult it turns around with its head towards the pos- 
terior end of the body of its host, and in another twelve 
hours, having become full-fed, it bores through the skin of 
the young, eats its way through the brood-covering of the 
cell and falls to the bottom of the hive, when it changes to a 
pupa in the dust and dirt, or else it creeps out of the door 
and transforms in the earth. Twelve days after, the fly 
appears, 
The young bee, emaciated and enfeebled by the attacks of 
its ravenous parasite, dies, and its decaying body fills the 
bottom of the cell with a slimy foul-smelling mass, called 
“foul-brood.” This gives rise to a miasma which poisons 
the neighboring brood, until the contagion (for the disease 
is analogous to typhus, jail, or ship-fever) spreads through the 
Whole hive, unless promptly checked by removing the cause 
and thoroughly cleansing the hive. 

oul-brood sometimes attacks our American hives, and, 
though the cause may not be known, yet from the hints given 
above we hope to have the history of our species of Phora 
cleared up, should our disease be found to be sometimes due 
to the attacks of such a parasite fly. 
We figure the Bee-louse of Europe (Plate 4, fig. 4, Braula 


198 THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 


















ceca Nitsch), which is a singular wingless spider-like 
allied to the wingless Sheep-tick (Melophagus), the wi 
Bat-tick (Nycteribia), and the winged Horse-fly (JZippobose 
The body is divided into two regions, like the spider. 
head is very large, without eyes or ocelli (simple eyes), i 
the ovate hind-body consists of five segments, and is coven 
with stiff hairs. It is one-half to two-thirds of a line lon 
This spider-fly is “pupiparous,” that is, the young, of Whi 
only a very few are produced, is not born until it has, 
just about to, assume the pupa state. The larva (Plate 
Fig. 5) is oval, eleven-jointed, and white in color. The ve 
day it is hatched it’ sheds its skin and changes to a 
puparium of a dark-brown color. “aM 
Its habits resemble that of the flea. Indeed, should) 
compress its body strongly, it would bear a striking 1 
blance to that insect. It is evidently a connecting 
between the flea, and the two-winged flies. Like the fo 
it lives and brings forth its young on the body of its 
and draws its food from its host by plunging its stout 
into the skin of the bee. 
It has not been noticed in this country, but is jab 
be imported on the bodies of Italian bees. Generally, 
or two of the Braulas may, on close examination, be ¢ 
on the body of the bee; sometimes the poor bees are 
down by as many as a hundred of these hungry bloo¢ 
Assmuss recommends rubbing them off with 2. feat 
the bee goes: in and out of the door of its hive. 
Among the beetles. are a few forms occasionally © 
bees’ nests and also-parasitic on the body of the bee 
chodes apiarius Linn. (Plate 4, fig. 6, fig. 6 4, larva; 
pupa, front view) has long been known in Europe to, 
the young bees. In its perfect, or beetle, state it 
on flowers; like our Třichodes Nuttallii, which is 
found on the Spiræa in August, and which may yet po 
enter our bee-hives. The larva devours the brood, = 
the modern hive its ravages may be readily detected. 


oe 





THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 199 









































The Oil-beetle, Meloé angusticollis Say (Plate 4, fig. 7, 
male, differing from the female by having the antenne as if 
twisted into a knot; Fig. 8, the active larva found on the 
body of the bee), is a large dark-blue insect found crawling 
in the grass in the vicinity of the. nests of Andrena and 
Halictus and other wild bees in May, and again in August 
and September. The eggs are laid in a mass covered with 
earth at the root of some plant. During April and early in 
May, when the willows are in blossom, we have found the 
young recently hatched larve in considerable abundance 
creeping briskly over the bees, or with their heads plunged 
between the segments of the body, greedily sucking in the 
juices of their host. Those that we saw occurred on the 
humble-bee, Halictus and Andrena, and various flies (Syr- 
phus and Muscidæ), and there is no reason why they should 
not infest the honey-bee which frequent similar flowers, as 
they actually are known to do in Europe. These larve are 
probably hatched out near where the bees hybernate so as to 
creep into their bodies before they fly in the spring, as it 
would be impossible for them to crawl up a willow tree ten 
feet high or more, their feet being solely adapted for climb- 
ing over the hairy. body of the bee, which they do not leave 
until about to undergo their strange and unusual transforma- 
ns. 

In Europe, Assmuss states that on’ being brought into the 
nest by the bee, they leave the bee and devour the eggs in 
the bee-cells, and then attack the bee-bread. When full-fed 
and ready to pass through their transformations to attain 
the bee state, instead of at once assuming the pupa and 
imago state, as in the Trichodes represented above, they pass 
through a hyper-metamorphosis, as Fabre, a French naturalist, 
calls it. In other words, the changes in form which are pre- 
Paratory to assuming the pupa and imago states are here 
More marked and almost coequal with the larva and pupa 
states, so that the Meloé, instead of passing through three 
States (the egg, larva, and pupa), in reality passes through 





- 







































200 THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 


these and two others in addition, which are intermedi 
The whole subject of the metamorphosis of this beetle : 
revision, but Fabre states that the larva, soon after ent 
the nest of its host, changes its skin and assumes a 
larva form (Plate 4, fig. 9), which somewhat resem jle 
larva of the Goldsmith beetle (P. 187, fig. 2). 
who with Siebold has carefully described the mets 
ses of Meloë, does not mention this stage in its 
ment, which he calls “pseudo-chrysalis.” It is motio 
the head is mask-like, without movable appendages, 
feet are represented by six tubercles. This is more 
speaking the semi-pupa, and the mature pupa grows 
its mask-like form, which is finally moulted. This 
however, according to Fabre, changes its skin anc purn 
a third larva-form (Plate 4, fig. 10, from Newport). 
some time it assumes its true pupa form (Plate 4, fig. 11. 
Newport), and finally moults this skin to appear as & 
(Plate 4, fig. 7). 

Fabre has also, in a lively and well-written account, 
a history of Sitaris, an European beetle, somewhat T 


ii 


drops from the body of the bee upon which it has been 
and feasts upon the contents of the freshly laid egg 
eating this delicate morsel it devours the honey 
of the bee and changes into a white cylindrical, 1 
less grub, and after it is full-fed, and has assumed 
“pupa” state, the skin, without bursting, incloses à 
hard “pupa” skin, which is very similar in outi 
former larva, within whose skin is found a WAM 
which directly changes into the true pupa. In 
state this pupa in the ordinary way changes to 4 
belongs to the same group of Coleoptera as Meloe. 
not but think, from observations made on the 38° 
the wasp, two species of moths, and several other 


THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 201 


that this “hyper-metamorphosis” is the normal mode of 
insect. metamorphosis, and that the changes of these insects, 
made beneath the skin of the mature larva before assuming 
the pupa state, are almost as remarkable, though less easily 
observed, as those of Meloé and Sitaris. Several other 
beetles allied to Meloé are known to be parasitic on wild 
bees, though the accounts of them are fragmentary. 

The history of Stylops, a beetle allied to Meloé, is no less 
strange than that of Meloé, and is in some respects still more 
interesting. On June 18th I captured an Andrena vicina 
(figured on p. 397 of the first volume of the NaruraList) 
which had been “stylopized”. On looking at my capture I 
saw a pale reddish-brown triangular mark on the bee’s abdo- 
men; this was the flattened head and thorax of a female Sty- 
lops (Plate 4, fig. 12, position of the female of Stylops, seen 
in profile in the abdomen of the bee; Fig. 13, the female 
Seen from above. The head and thorax is soldered into a 
single flattened mass, the baggy hind-body being greatly 
enlarged like that of the gravid female of the white ant, 
Termes, and consisting of nine segments). 

On carefully drawing out the whole body which is very 
extensible, soft, and baggy, and examining it under a high 
Power of the microscope, we saw multitudes, at least several 
hundred, of very minute larve (Plate 5, fig. 6, as seen from 
above, and showing the alimentary canal ending in a blind 
Sac; Fig, 6 a, side view), like particles of dust to the naked 
eye, issuing in every direction from the body of the parent 
how torn open in places, though most of them made their exit 
through an opening on the under side of the head-thorax. 
The Stylops, being hatched out while still in the body of 
the parent, is therefore viviparous. She probably never lays 
eggs, 


‘On the last of April, when the Mezereon was in blossom, 
I caught the singular-looking male, Stzlops Childrent Gray 
(Plate 4, fig. 14; a, side view; it is about one-fourth of an 
uch long), which was as unlike its partner as possible. I 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 26 

































202 THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 


laid it under a tumbler, when the delicate insect 
tumbled about till it died of exhaustion in a few hours. 
It appears, then, that the larvee are hatched during the 
dle or last of June from eggs fertilized in April. 
then crawl out on to the body of the bee, on which 
transported to the nest, when they enter, according to 
observations, the body of the larva, on whose fatty 
they feed. Previous to changing to a pupa, the la 
with its head turned towards that of its host, but 
assuming the perfect state (which they do in the 
mer or autumn) they must reverse their positi 
female protrudes the front part of its body between 
ments of the abdomen of her host, as represented | l 
figure. This change, Newport thinks, takes place a 
sahioah has undergone its metamorphoses, though | a 
does not leave her earthen cells until the following £ 
While the male Stylops deserts its host, his wingless 
is imprisoned during her whole life within her host, 
immediately after giving birth to her myriad (f 
thinks she roča over 2000 young) offspring- 
Xenos Peckii, an allied insect, was discovered 
to be parasitic in the body of wasps, and the 
known to be several species of this small but curious 
Stylopidæ, which are known to live parasiti 
bodies of our wild bees and wasps. The pres 
parasites which live on the fatty parts finally 
host, so that the sterile female bee dies prematu 
As in the higher animals bees are afflicted ¥ 
worms which induce disease and sometimes death. 
known hair-worm, Gordius, is an insect-pa 
form is about the size of a thick honsedialaill 
moist soil and in pools. It lays, according to Dr. 
lions of eggs connected together in long cords. 
scopic tadpole-shaped young penetrate into the 
sects frequenting damp localities. Fairly escon® 
body of their unsuspecting host, they huxuriate on} 





THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 203 


sues, and pass through their metamorphoses into the adult 
form, when they desert their living house and take to the 
water to lay their eggs. In Europe, Siebold has described 
Gordius subbifurcus which infests the drones of the honey-bee, 
and also other insects. Professor Siebold has also described 
Mermis albicans, which is a similar kind of hair-worm, from 
two to five inches long, and whitish in color. This worm is 
also found, strangely enough, only in the drones, though it is 
the workers which frequent watery places to appease their 
thirst. 

Thousands of insects are carried off yearly by parasitic 
fungi. The ravages of the Muscardine, caused by a minute 
fungus (Botrytris Bassiana Balsamo), has threatened the 
extinction of silk culture in Europe. Dr. Leidy mentions a 
fungus which must annually carry off myriads of the Seven- 
teen Year Locust. A somewhat similar fungus, Mucor mel- 
litophorus (Plate 4, fig,15), infests bees, filling the stomach 
with microscopic colorless spores, so as to greatly weaken 
the insect. 

As there is a probability that many insects, parasitic on 
the wild bees, may sooner or later afflict the honey-bee, and 
also to farther illustrate the complex nature of insect para- 
sitism, we will for a moment look at some other. bee- 
parasites, 

‘Among the numerous insects preying in some way upon the 
Humble-bee are to be found other species of bees and moths, 
flies and beetles. Insect parasites often imitate their host : 
Apathus (Plate 5, fig. 1, A. Ashton’) can scarcely be dis- 
tinguished from its host, and yet it lives cuckoo-like in the 
cells of the humble-bee, though we know not yet how inju- 
rious it really is. Then there is the Conops and Volucella, 
the former of which lives like Tachina and Phora within the 
bee’s body, while the latter devours the brood. The young 
(Plate 5, figs. 5, 5a) of another fly allied to Anthomyia, of 
Which the Onion-fly is an example, is also not infrequently 
met with. A small beetle (Plate 5, fig. 4, Antherophagus 





204 THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



























ochraceus) is a common inmate of humble-bees’ nests 
probably feeds upon the wax and pollen. We have 
found several larvee (Plate 4, fig. 16) of a beetle of which: 
do not know the adult form. Of similar habits is probably 
small moth (Nephopteryx Edmandsii, Plate 5, figs. 2 
larva; fig. 26, chrysalis, or pupa) which undoubtedly feeds 
upon the waxen walls of the bee-cells, and thus, like t 
attacks of the common bee-moth ( Galleria cereana), who 
habits are so well known as not to detain us, must 
very prejudicial to the well-being of the colony. tma 
moth is in turn infested by an Ichneumon-fly (Microgas n. 
nephoptericis, Plate 5, figs. 3, 3a) which must destroy mally 
of them. 1a 
The figures of the early stages of a minute ichneumon 
resented on the same plate (Fig. 7, larva, and Ta, pu 
Anthophorabia megachilis) which is parasitic on Megat 
the Leaf-cutter bee, illustrates the transformations of 
Ichneumon-flies, the smallest species of which yet knowl 
(and we believe the smallest insect known at all) is © 
Pteratomus Putnami, or “winged-atom,” which is only £ 
ninetieth of an inch in length, and is parasitic on Ant 
phorabia, itself a parasite. A species of mite (Plate 55 
9, 9a, the same seen from beneath) is always to be found 
humble-bees’ nests, but it is not thought to be specially 
noxious to the bees themselves, though several spout 
mites ( Gamasus, etc.) are known to be parasitic on ™ 
For a proper study of our bees and wasps, Wè shoe 
lect their nests from the last of May until late in the au 
We should watch for the different broods and coll 
larva, pupa, and adult of both sexes, as well as the wor 
The cells containing the young, with whatever parasites i 
be found on them, may be placed in alcohol, W p 
ture bees may be pinned. The simplest method of F 
ing the nests of humble-bees is to visit them before 
or after sunset, when the bees are in the nest, and we 
secure the whole colony. The bees can be picked UP 


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FAASA RADAN 


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Vol. I. Pl. 5. 


American Naturalist. 








PACKARD ON THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 








REVIEWS. 205 
























forceps as they emerge from the nest, or caught with the net 
and then pinned. Refractory colonies may be easily quelled 
by pouring in ether or chloroform, or burning sulphur at 
the aperture, as is the best method of procedure with wasp’s 
nests. 

The solitary species, besides boring in the earth like An- 
drena and Halictus, whose habits have been described in the 
first volume of the NATURALIST, also bore in the stems of 
different plants, such as the elder, syringa, raspberry, and 
blackberry. Nearly fifty species of insects, mostly hymen- 
optera, are known in France to burrow in the stems of the 
blackberry alone! Now is the time to look for their burrows 
in the dead branches. Their presence is usually detected 
by an old hole at the end of a broken branch. The writer 
would be greatly obliged for material to aid him in the study 
of our bees and wasps, and would take pleasure in corre- 
sponding with those interested in the study of their habits, 
and would be very grateful for specimens of the young in 
alcohol, their parasites and nests. 





REVIEWS. 
pe 
Votcantc Rocks.*—The author of this interesting memoir classifies 
Volcanic rocks in five orders. The first order consists of Rhyolite with 


three families, Nevadite or granitic- sees Liparite or porphyritic-rhy- 
Rhyolite proper or Lithodic and Hyaline-rhyolite. The „o 


i mag confines himself in this classification to volcanic rocks of 
tions” d Post-tertiary age, which he subdivides into ‘ massive erup- 

sdk “volcanic eruptions.” The origin of massive eruptions is 
* Princip] iples 


Phil, 
Memoirs presentcr Natural System of Volcanic Rocks. By F. Baron Richtofen, Dr. 


nted to the C of Science, a Å ns May 6, 1867. pp.4 





206 REVIEWS. 















of matter were left in a state of fusion, which find their outlets int 
existing volcanoes. 


sA 
S 


h in ma and volcanic Se e the se fem rocks are 
first or aa “gees. then in cessive, though not invariable, 
sequence, the Andesitic, Trachytic, Terpen and Basaltic lavas. 
volcanoes are divided into two classes, those which still continue to 

i ive 


tions,” from which the author EASES they take their rise, and t 


the ejected rocks. 
Lassen’s Peak in Northern California belongs to the latter class. 


on 
reams succeed in arti tig sloping tables; rhyolite composes © 
resent summit to the dept fifteen hundred feet; and, lastly, 
separated, are inferior rents to Pr north which have thrown out 
apparently very recent origin. RE 
Thus the periodical nad rigs place in such larger active j 
canoes, AAAA in the order of their succession with those 
by the o th more massive eru 


pti 
Active volcanoe erefore, yi dhait as belonging to the p 
pylitic, eros shes ha rhyolitic, or basaltic epoc hs, or as e 
ges of 0 


one of these and passing through several successive sta 
ment. ee 
Thus Lassen’s Peak has reproduced, during its successive Ch hanges: 
structural features of existing Andesitic, trachytic, rhyolitic, and 
volcanoes, and also the order of succession which is observ 

sive eruptions of former periods. The author, however, oa 
that, in some instances, the order of succession is part vite 
in the island of St. Paul in the Indian Ocean, where the rhyo be 
are overlaid by basalt, and this again by rhyolitic and basaltic 
succession n. a en 


Following upon this is an highly interesting discussion E age 
composition, correlations of age and texture, correlations 


composition, the geographical distribution, and t the origin of 
k ; 
The extrusion of the lava is accounted for by the expansie nd 
consequent upon the changes of the denser rocks around the w 
of the cracks or orifices, from a solid or highly viscous — 
aqueous fusion. 
Granite and Syenite are regarded as the product of very ? 
sive eruptions, and as of wholly volcanic origin. 


REVIEWS. 207 






















Though these views are so entirely novel, and even startling, and 
opposed in respect to the origin of granite to the results obtained by the 

Survey among the vast masses of granite in Canada West, it is 
nevertheless a philosophical essay which commands our respect from its 
solidity, and the evident familiarity and experience of the author with his 
subject. Whe ther the principles laid down are true or not in the general 
application for them cla imed, this essay has RSE on opened a new 
to geological investigation 


THE VOLCANOES OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. *— This work is filled with 
numerous observations, many of great value, made by the author during 
his travels among these islands. The whole group is treated one by one 
in detail. 

rom Mr. Coan, and others resident among the Sandwich Islands, the 
author gathered many interesting facts with regard to the various erup- 
tions of the volcanoes of Hawaii, and the physical geography of other 
members of the group. 


The maps of the Kauai and main 1 groups are E A and the crater of 
Kila 
by 


p 
One fact of pebcrad intent is, that while the ieaiai lines of vol- 
canoes run east and west, the major axis of their oval craters are invari- 
and south, and, by comparison with the craters of eighteen 
other lines of v olcanoes, it is found that they are generally at right angles 
ce the axes of elevation of the different mountain chains to which they 
long. 


Mr. Brigham pines to the mechanical theory of the origin of vol- 
canoes,— ‘the earth’s crust contracts unequally owing to its various 
ition, Structure, and form, causing certain portions to fall below 
ral 


level era rents at the boundaries, and forcing up molten 
matter to the su 


EOLOG 
sistant, Mr. O. H. St. John, has extended over the counties to 
West of the Des Moines River, ae resulted in the discovery of 


two series of the Carboniferous rocks. The upper series of beds lie to 


the south- ing 
and Seventy Ava feet. y coal-bed, twenty inches in thickness, was 
along the aey of the Nodaways through the counties of Adam 

» d Page. The upper series, comprising nearly all the workable 

s in the rigs found to the north-east of the Des Moines ae | 


t miners in the south-western counties may expect to find pro- 








on the Voleanoes of the Ha f their various E T per 
righam, A.M. Memoirs of the ites Society of pss: History. Vo: 
With five plates 


and Second Amina Report Ba Sah ss. By the State Geologist and the —"" an 
on the Geologi cal Survey of the State of Iowa. Svo, 284 pp. Des Moines, 








208 REVIEWS. 


new 
were originally written for the newspapers by order of the legislature o 
Iowa while the survey was in progress, a plan which other States N 






















county what the survey is really accomplishing for their benefit. G; 
was found in such quantities near Fort Dodge that it has been used 
building stone. In Mills county oe systems of glacial scratches 
found diverging at an angle of thirty-one degrees, and about tw be. m 


the drainage of the western watershed.” The ‘Waled Lakes” of Io 
a paper also published in the May number of this Magazine, is esp 
interesting as showing how nature, in some of her processes, may ’ 
up a structure so regular that it may be mistaken for an artificial co pst 
ion. Some space is also given to descriptions of Indian mounds, 
circular in form, but thus far found to be barren of implem ments or 0 
remains, and occupying the most elevated and picturesque elevations. 
conjecture is made in respect to their pigh or the purposes for 1 
they were intended by their ancient builder 

CALIFORNIA Mosses.*— Professor Lesquereux remarks that 
of California, in all its aie maag is liable to great local val 
according to the peculiar atmospheric and chemical conditions "a 
is subjected. The more the phænogamic flora of that region is 
the more the ńumber of species is diminished.” 

THE VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS UNDER DoMESTICATIO® 
We have bui space at present to quote from Dr. Gray’s preface | 
American Edition regarding this storehouse of facts, 
; sical, as well as agriculturist, should be acquainted. 

“It is a perfect treasury of facts relative to domestieat animals 

some of the more important cultivated plants; of the prin 
govern the production, improvement, and preservation of breeds 
races; of the laws of inheritance, upon which all orga anization 
proved varieties depends; of the ill effects of breeding in-and-i; 
sary though this be to the fall Sere: and perpetuation ofat 
race or breed; and of the y effec gel an occasional cross, by” 
_ rightly man Aged; a breed may be invigorated or improv ved. 
various kindred subjects are Aiseasned scientifically with a 
acuteness, and impartiality, by one who has devoted most vere 


“The California Academy of Science gii California ne of Natun 
h tame to eros Vol. I, Part 1, contains a “Catalogue 


«The fon 








Mosses,” by Professor Leo Les pp. 3, Darwin. 

Aii Variation ot premi at ‘Plants under Domestication. By Chani iusto 
ized edition, with a Preface b ay See r Asa Gray, 2vols. 12mo, with - 
York, naa Judd & Co., 1368, $6 

















REVIEWS. 209 


this class of inquiries, and who discusses them in a way and style equally 

interesting and instructive to the professional naturalist or physiologist, 

and to the general reader. To the intelligent agriculturist and. breeder, 

these volumes will be especially valuable, and it is in the interest of such 

practical men and amateurs that they are here reprinted.” 

Cosmos. (Weekly) Paris.—This journal, besides giving weekly re- 
fu 


ing rural economy ans the application i chemistry to the arts. 


the Editor in chief. The leading article of the present number (dat 
March 21, 1868) is on the general method of the immediate analysis ae 
meteoric stones, Al M. a Meunier, which is succeeded by an ac- 
count of M. M. E my and Terreil’s general method of the immediate 
analysis of erasi pindi 
- Reiset writes on the ravages of the Cockchafer, or ‘‘ Hanneton” 

ree vulgaris), and its larva, the beetle of which in the spring of 
1865 defoliated the oaks and other trees, while immense numbers of their 

æ in cs e succeeding year, 1866, devoured to a fearful extent the roots 
of garden vegetables s, etc., at a loss to the department of the Lower Seine 


Which appeared in such numbers in 1865, passed a second winter, that of 
1867, at a mean depth in the soil of 4% of a metre, or nearly a foot an nd a 
half. The thermometer placed in the ground (which was covered with 
Snow) at se — = never rose to as zero point” as an 
Thus the 1 after ing perfectly f 
ranean iva are thus frozen, pen thaw out in the spring at ‘the nea 
of warm weather). In June, 1867, the grubs having become full-fed, made 
their way upwards to a mean distance of about thirteen inches below the 








et RTERLY JOURNAL or Science. (London.) In the April number 
oa Mayer writes on er claims i Nitro-glycerine as an industrial 
It has 


* By the Centigrade thermometer. 
AMER. 3 NATURALIST, VOL. Ir. 27 


210 | REVIEWS. 





siders it as in reality ‘“‘less dangerous sino By tess gunpowder, al 
more completely under control than they are.” “Weight for weight tl 


pr Į 
silicate an ordinary pug-mill, a e mixture, which 
much r es in substance fresh putty rolled in sand, a 


m 
where there are “in deep-seated deposits an inexhausti 
valuable fossil. ” Amber is we „gnm or sn resin of a pile! 


a formed between the nek and the wood, or between 
rings of growth of the stem, and were washed from the low bogey’ i 


into the sea, in which the crabs, sea-urchins, and oysters, assot 
: ing been forme 
Š hor Tit 


s $ 
Willows, Birches, Beeches, and numerous ha ; and amongst 


n the s 
= waiting to scotia it with'nets ;” or ‘‘th 





REVIEWS. 211 


found] with hooks fastened on long poles, endeavor to discover the 
mber.in the interspaces, and to draw it up with small nets.” This is 
called “striking for amber.” Like the gum copal of Africa, amber is of 
interest to the entomologist from the insect remains it contains, some of 
which are figured in the second plate (from specimens selected by Mr. F. 
Smith, from the British Museum) accompanying the article, the first plate 
being a geological map with sections of the localities of Amber.—The 
gigantic Dragon-tree of Teneriffe is no more. Its age was estinated to 
years old.—M. Balsamo has obtained mE pe pe 
American and the Italian Cotton plants. He hopes to obtai plant o 
the long staple form of our species pate ere Barbadense) pehi fe 
ripen earlier in Italy than it now does. He has also investigated the 
action of light on the germination shee nhs (He: found by using a glass 
jar full of vegetable mould, that seeds exposed to the action of sunlight 


a 


ria. 
contains Vibriones, but during life they are quiescent, showing no signs 
of life until putrescence commences. Professor Hallier, the best author- 
ity on fungi, but who does not accept Frau Liiders’ results as to the 
connection of “moulds” and ‘“vibriones,” announces ‘that he 
Able to isolate and identify from the blood of typhus fever patients a dis- 
ota form of fungus; also in vaccine matter and in other cases. 


diseases? mrien and rr i ai: a to mean ek the 

“ame thing. Frau Liiders has also successfully n that “ oak ” may 

be grown from many “moulds,” as first San by Hallier. — Dr. O. 

Fraas believes that there were formerly glaciers on Mount Sinai. — Dr. 

i has discovered on the shore of the China Sea an enormous 

© Sea-anemone, two feet in di iameter, in which little fishes take shel- 
l : 


-cucumbe 
culture of the Ailanthus Silk-worm in Great Britain to be a delusion. The 
sho 








212 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





















various Molluscs are found to contain acids, enabling them to bore in 
rocks. Pholas is known to bore into gneiss (stratified granite). 
boring worms, seiner and Sabella, which bore cavities in lim 
rocks, also contain acid. —Mr. Flower thinks there is but one species 

perm ale. y 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





BOTANY.: 

Tar Lone Moss or THE Soutu (Tillandsia usneoides).—In a re 
number of the NaruraLsrt Dr. Asa Gray inquires whether this is re 
an pay, and gives some reasons for a suspicion it may probably 5 
a honcho Several times I have had fresh shapes and fastened tl 

n blocks, —dead blocks of course,—just as we do with Epiphytz, OF 
bata: and had them grow as healthily as in asa natural state. One! 
left in the Orchidæa house, at Springbrook, near Philadelphia; some J 
ago, had then been eighteen months on the block, and I belier , 
amongst the lot sold at public sale two years afterwards. Man 
sias, and allied m grow vairi as well on blocks in Orchidwa Aot 

: HOMAS MEEHAN 

In the hope of throwing some light on the question raised by F 
Gray, in the February number of the Natura.ist, I offer the foll 
facts, which fall under my daily observation, attempting, howevet, 
sar pers ion 

. The Long Moss, or Spanish Moss (Tillandsia mae 
Dady and luxuriantly on the dead branches of O pe 
oni trees, but when these dead branches fall to the one s 
KA 

ee atree near my house, which has been entirely dead a 
da a e there is a thrifty growth of this moss 

3. n find it simply hanging by a loop to a twig, or & piai 
E ot ak: and still growing vigorously. 

. On fallen trees, even on those recently cut d 
t not always, withered and dead.—D. H. Jacques, Gle 
Jacksonville, Fla. 

Loxe or Brack Moss (Tillandsia usneoides) ONLY 
Concurrent testimony from several quarters makes it ch 
does not perish on cutting down the tree that supports it, 
thrives as well on dead as on living trees. Our original a 
therefore have been mistaken.— A. GRAY. 

ANOMALOUS FLOWERS OF THE WiLLow.— There is 4 ee 
(Salix) growing near here which has for two seasons born? = 


own, I find ite 
n k 4 


AN 
ear me 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY, 213 


anomalous flowers, either a double ovary or two single ones appear- 
ing above each scale. Gray, in his Manual (p. 416), mentions a ‘“‘trans- 
mon i 


o 
a verna, and a few other scarce plants, which I should like to ex- 
change for scarce plants which I have not. I should like also to corre- 
spond with two or three young botanists for the purpose of more general 
exchange, — W. P. BOLLES, Box 356, New London, Conn. 


on Soh FLORAL CALENDAR, Cass County, MISSOUR: 


Peucedanum in bloom, e 23, — 
Sib ren oer “ Apr. 21, 1864. Abt: 19, 1867. Mar. 24, 
Viola p e “Apr. 21, Apr. 19, = Mar. 28, “ 
Erythronium jiii t Mair: OO; A Apr Do Mar. 2, ** 


Agam caryocarpus tc Apr. 27, ck A Zo," Mar. 28, “ 

Pea “cc 

abate ca plantagini- 
folia 3 


Strawberry “< May 2, “ Apr. 20, a Re. Sf 
Viola cuculata ces abe ee Ce ie Ape 1; “* 
Phiox divaricata “| Apr go, May 7, * Apr. 2, “ 
Claytonia Virginica “  Aprei4, Sioape, “Apr. 2, * 

G. C. BRODHEAD. 


HITE WILD COLUMBINES, ETC. — In the April number of the NATURAL- 
IST, Mr. Millington mentions a white Columbine. I would state that I, 
also, have d 

Summer I saw a very pretty white Lobelia syphilitica. I have also seen 
White Aired plants of the common ironweed ( Vernonia Noveboracensis). 
~G. C. BROADHEAD. 


THE ELDER A Native PLaxt?—In answer to inquiries as to the 
tivity of the Elder (Sambucus Canadensis) I would say most posi- 
that it is as much a native of the United States as the oak or elm. 
My father being one of the first settlers of Illinois, the elder was mood for 
spiles for tapping maple trees, and in the years 1857 and 1858, 4 
plored a considerable part of Northern Kansas, which was then Im its 
and primitive state, and the elder was always present in the yalleys 
in connection with the wild plum, choke-cherries, ete. The elder is more 
: Plentifal in Kansas than in Illinois, and was before the white man — 

Possessor of the soil.— Wa. J. MCLAUGHLIN. 








214 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 




















FLOWERING OF THE “GERMAN Ivy.”—In the March m 
NATURALIST is a communication on ‘German Ivy,” and its “f 
under peculiar circumstances.” The description given by Profe 
is certainly very interesting and remarkable. Allow me to stad} 
this plant is taken in the spring oe placed in the ground without a 
then transplanted to a pot in the fall and cut down close to the 
— after the appearance of new m flower buds, and flow: 
fo I send with this specimens of this plant which has been tr 
in Pa way, and so successful has it been, that efforts to prevent t 
from blooming have been unavailing, so vigorously 2 it flower. Is 
an explanation possible why this plant and others of different | 
should blossom so profusely after such severe pruning? Jaa of 
TLE, JR. 

A VARIETY OF THE COMMON AGRIMONY.—A variety of the ¢ 
agrimony SPAART Eupatoria) is PEET found in this 

aving nine leaflets instead of seven, which is the usual number. 
other respects it appears to be ideti with ba ordinary form, 
that it is, ERR a little taller, and apru in rather more § 
localities. — T. MARTIN TRIPPE, Orange Co., Ne Y. : 





ZOÖLOGY. 

How SPIDERS BEGIN THEIR Wess.— Early in the spring of I 

arrangements were making for photographing a live male of the 1 

plumipes (the so-called ‘Silk Spider of South Carolina”), the spi 

having several times traversed the circle of wire on W ich it ¥ 
denly stopped, took a firm position at the top of the frame and 


a blunt, rounded extremity, which advanced through t 

quickly for a few inches, but afterward more slowly and stea 

with an upward tendency, but always in the direction 0 

When it had reached the length of five or six feet, I allowed it pe 
th 


attached the end of the line, turned about and began to put 
now broke it off near the wire, and, believing that there wasa 
air toward the skylight, I blew gently upon the spider fom 
directions, and found that it always pointed her abdomen in the | 
in which I blew, and that the sna was emi a in the e 
So that while it seemed to have the power of projecting 
short distance, yet it always peren itself of ae revere pe do 
This single instance by no means proves that a all spiders 
employ this method of bridging over spaces, and it may - 








NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 215 


nary occasions they do, as every one has seen them, descend to the ground, 
emitting the thread as they advance, and pulling in the slack before 
attaching it to the desired point. But the former method enables them 

to cross water and to pass from ea to tree; while the well-known buoy- 
ancy of the silk permits them (or at least the smaller species) to sail 

— og water, hanging at the lower end of a line whose upper end is 
invisi 

- In vo to this subject, see Kirby and Spence’s Entomology, Mo- 
tions of Insects, and Manner in which they take their Food.” —B. G. 
WILDER. 

THe WoLvERENE. — The Wolverene follows the Beaver and preys upon 
them; in northern latitudes, the wolverene is almost always present 
Where the beaver is abundant. The beaver has a beaten path on the 
bank of the stream near his lodge. There the wolverene lies in wait 
for king often cuts short his career. Ah alf-breed Frenchman here 


force 


THE adie NG Fes —I observe that while all the other song-birds 
are silent in our Southern forests and groves, the Mocking-bird is quite 


` aS musical as during g the spring and summer. Several of them are sing- 


ing on the topmost twigs of the oaks — y house most of the day. 


T ANo the pdinsediiig of the pena , the parent birds, as if tei 
by experience, rw built on trees, peath-Aidel siento preferred. aaa 
oldly to e house, and even into the rooms where we were sitting, 
to feed the tha we had taken from them.—D. H. Sahas 
Tue Drag GON FLY. — Three years ago, in the middle of the summer, I 
pan sitting in my tent, in camp, on the old battle-ground below New 


€, and o observed tl that in that ve short time the creature had bitten 


be Part he had bitten through. The head, thorax, and legs retained 
Struggling and kicking vigorously during several hours I had the 








216 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 











opportunity to observe them. I will remark that the stagnant la 

Louisiana, and perhaps the abundant food, develop dragon-flies i 

large size. In view of the pest of musquitoes, it is a pity the -en 
eater is not still more abundant. — D. S. S. 

te FALSE Scorrion.— These little scorpion-like animals are in 

iate in structure between the mites and the spide e figure ( 

ee cancroides L. sir ss ap by Dr. Hagen, of the Cam 


veg save states that it seizes the legs of 


‘ The fact that an animal changes its lo 


laziness, or from incapacity to a 
purpose in any other way. In 
whose movements are slow, this means of K 
motion is pansies adopted to find 
food more easily. Necessarily aa a 





to devour the Atropos, or little white book-louse. I 
lurking under the elytra, or core of beetles, but it does 
to mp parasitic in its ha 

TH CK-SNIPE.— While gunning one da ay on Jordan an Orel 
county, Slag vias I saw four little birds running along #™ 
hey w they T3 


m; he was about two or two and a half inches in h atti 
binish- -gray color above, and lighter on the breast; color 


with her load, as it seemed to me rather a great one fo 
soon returned, and took up a second, flying off with it; ba 
and fourth. I then went tọ see META she had taken 











NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 217 


found them in a nest of thin sticks and soft grasses on the oen about 
two or three feet above the water as it made its exit from the s- The 
nest was also near the mill, close to the water-wheel, near to prg the 
water shot over the wheel. I shot the female, and I afterwards saw that 
the male bird was attending them as the female had done 

female and young of Tringa maculata.— WALTER J. HOFFMAN, Reading, 
Pa. 


VV Tus Locust KILLER. —I never saw but one of these wasps, and that 
was about two years ago, and then only for a few moments. It appeared 
to be marked almost, if not precisely, like a “hornet,” and to be about 
two or two and a half inches in length, and large in proportion; truly a 
most formidable looking insect. The “killer” had seized one of our 
August locusts, and was endeavoring to rise from the ground with it, the 
locust clinging to the grass, and fluttering and screaming all the while. 

fore I could seize them, they rose from the ground and made off in a 
bee-line, at a height of about twelve or fifteen feet, the locust resisting 
with might and main. I am told they make nests in the ground, boring a 
hole to the depth of two or three feet. They must be rare, or I should 
have seen them before. — C. W. TAYLOR, iain ille, Pa. 

V/ The wasp is, probably, the Stizus speciosus, which seizes the Cicada to- 
Store its nest with, which is, probably, ioi more than a foot in depth. 
We hope our correspondent will observe its habits more closely, and send 
us specimens so that it can be identitied with certainty. — Eps 

E DoG.— Among my observations on the prairie, I have 


outskirts of the dog-town, and pounces upon any unlucky dog that starts 
out to forage, and carries him off before he can whisk his funny little 
tai aOR 


HE Rosin at Faurt.—A_ remarkable instance of the lack of the 
“bump of locality” in birds came under m my observation some years ago. 
Thad nailed a board of moderate width under the eaves rhe a barn to form 
: Ariana -place for the nests of the Cliff, or Jug-swallow. It was inclined 

bi 


a house, about thirty feet. — A. P. R., Geneva, 


A Vare THE BLACKBIRD. —I suppose that almost every one is 
well acquainted + with the general appearance of the Red-winged Starling, 
oF Blackbird (Agelaius Pheniceus Vieillot). Last May I shot, near 


AMER. aa VOL. 0. 28 








218 ' NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 













and form to the half of an old-fashioned copper cent, and the 
were colored nearly to the roots. In other respects the bird was 
cisely similar to the ordinary male of this species. — WILLIAM Br 
Cambridge, Mass. 
" Tue BELTED KINGFISHER.—I observe a note concerning the n 
the Belted Kingfisher in your November number, in which Mr. 
differs from Mr. Samuels. I now propose to be a connecting link b 
the two, and to say that I have always found the holes of C. dle “ss 
or eight feet long,” as Mr. S. aise and always ‘in the form of ane 
as Mr. F. describes them; and that I have sometimes found a bed 
sticks, grass, etc., and eee nn I wish, too, to ask if any one bat 
ever known them to turn to the left, as I have never seen them | 
otherwise than to the right.— W. E. ENDICOTT. 
THE DWARF THRUSH IN Massacnusetts.—A single a 
Dwarf Thrush (Turdus nanus Aud.) was obtained in Waltham, 
Oct. 9, 1867. It was taken by Mr. L. L. Thaxter, and its identi 
first discovered by Mr. C. J. Maynard, of Newtonville, Mass. 
was found in high, dry woodland, not in a swampy locality, such 
nearly-allied species frequent.* —E. A. SAMUELS. 





GEOLOGY. 4 

Tue Bone Caves or BRAZIL AND THEIR ANIMAL Remains. BY 

J. Reinhardt.—The distinguished author, well known to zodlogists 

his numerous and valuable co ontributions to the history of M 
i e 





; 
*mMTha fallow} 4 EPT PE ey N 4 with 











b: tars 
breadth, 10.56; anig 3.40; tail, 2.80 inch. The stomach was 
beetles. Co 
ł Journal of Popular Science, Edited by C. Fogh and Dr. C. F. gear of 
tDr. P. wW. Lund’s collections from the ai caves in the Mi . 
intrusted of Professor Reinhard 








ENTOMOLOGIGAL CALENDAR. 219 


its readers the pleasure of becoming acquainted with his memoir in 
extenso, through a translation, we shall here restrain ourselves to giving, 
in the author’s own words, the general conclusions with which he sums 
up the most important results of his careful studies on the subject. 

1. During the Postpliocene epoch Brazil was inhabited by a very rich 
mammalian fauna, of which the recent one might almost be said to be a 
mere fraction or a crippled remnant, as many of its genera, even families 
and suborders, have vanished, and very few been added in more recent 
times. 


2. During the whole postpliocene epoch the Brazilian mammalian fauna 
had the same peculiar character which now distinguishes the South 


acteristic of South America. Only two of its genera, the one extinct 
(mastodon), the other still living (the horse), beens to families that in 
our epoch are limited to the Eastern hemisphe 

= sg ag cen gaan pugi were not g te same degree richer in 


former es The ta (Sloths, etc.), Pecora 
ee re ete. ag Prooseiden ( Cephants)y and lastly the Ferm have 
relatively suffered the greatest losses. Some orders, for instance the 


Chiroptera (Ba ts) ss Siria (Monkies), aruis contain even more 
genera now than form rly. 
4. The io hosana mammalian fauna of South America differed much 


bain wi t of the Eastern ie sphere, was much less distinct, 
or rather oiai as in the prehistorical atte The Postpliocene 
Mastodons and Tox odonts of Brazil, its many gigantic Armadillos and 
Sloths, ena well rival the Elephant, Rhinoceros, and Hippopotamus, 
» during the same period, roamed over the soil of Europe. —C. F. 
» Copenhagen, Feb. 14, 1868. 





ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR. 


PESES 


the the ea through ter, and may be found early in spring f on 
dea, Of the Aster, the Viburnum dentatum, and Hazel. It is black 

deep orange-red, with long thick-set black spines. 
"Ti Currant- borer, Trochilium tipuliforme, a beautiful, slender, agile, 

























220 ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR. 


deep-blue moth, with transparent wings, flies the last of the month 
currant bushes, and its chrysalids may be found in May in the si 
The ravages of the Currant-moth, Abraxas? ribearia, be- 
gin soon after the leaves are out. Among moths, that , 
of the American Tent-caterpillar flies during the las 
Fig. 1. June and July, and its 
white cocoons can be 
detected under bark, 
and in sheltered parts 
of fences and out- 
ouse 
mong others of the interesting medi of the Silk- 
worms, Bombycide, are Lithosia, Crocota, and its allies, 
which fly in the daytime, and the different species of 
Sica and the white arctians, Spilosoma, and Leucarctia, the parent 
the Salt-marsh Caterpillar. 
ny Leaf-rollers, Tor trices are rolling up leaves in various Ways 
their habitations, and to conceal them from too prying birds; and 
of young Tineans are now mining leaves, and excavating the ir 
seeds and various fruits. Grape-growers should guard against the 
of a species of Tortrix which rolls the leaves of the grape, and of a1 
probably a species of Gelechia, which, according to Mr. M. . Reed, of 
son, Ohio, ‘‘in midsummer deposits its eggs in the grape; 4 single eat 





R 
pol 


of the yet green grape, and on opening it, the winding channel 
the larva in the pulp is seen, and the minute worm, wene 







ripe n and clip out the infested berries before sendit 
table. rapid asi in its numbers would interfere | 
the sinama of the grape in this locality.” great 

e Rose-beetle, ‘i yla subspinosa, appears - them § : 
The various species of Buprestis are abundant; #0 ong 


PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 921 





each-borer, Dicerca divaricata, found flying now about peach and cherry 
trees; Chrysobothris fulvoguttata, and C. Harrisii, about white pines. The 
large weevil, Arrhenodes ries i which lives under the bark of the 
white oak, appears in June and July. The Chinch-bug begins its terrible 
ravages in the wheat-fields. The various species of Chrysopa, or Lace- 
inged flies, appear during this month 





PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
se PN 
DEMY OF NATURAL Sciences. Philadelphia, Feb. 6, 1868. (OConcho- 
Pai Section.) —A paper was read by Dr. James Lewis on the distribution 
of shells in some parts of New York. Mr. W. M. Gabb remarked on shell 
k in Lower California. Dr. Beadle spoke on the great abundance 
of Helix desertorum in the deserts of Sinai. 

March 5.— Dr. E. I. Nolan spoke of the irridescence of Latirus pr rismati- 
cus. This shell, when immersed in water, exhibits a beautiful irridescent 
display of colors, aree predominating, on the entire surface. On micro- 
scopic examination he had found that the surface was everywhere cov- 
ered with an iF tey fine ai of lines, and suggested that the 
expansion of these lines in water might so decrease the spaces between 

m as to cause the rays of light fine g opon the surfaces to be refract- 
a thus producing the irridescence observ 

BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. p stone 1867.— Dr. B. G. 
Wilder made some remarks upon the want of perfect symmetry in the 
leaves of elms and hop-hornbeams. Professor Agassiz brought forward 


European aurochs. By means of specimens exhibited, he pointed out the 
distinctions he had sean in the two skulls, and stated that these differ- 
ences were such as to characterize them clearly as distinct species. Pro- 
Agassiz an. ak ma skull of a species of dolphin new to 
America, discovered upon the coast of Nantucket. The animal was six- 
teen = in len 
27.— Mr. S. H. Scudder exhibited a curious specimen of “ walking- 
stick” found in this vicinity. One of the fore-legs had been lost in early 
life and replaced by a new one less than one quarter the length of the 
other fore-leg. Mr. Trouvelot states that this replacement of the leg can 
only take place previous to the third moult; the leg was almost perfectly 
rmed, although one of the tarsal joints was wanting, and the foot was 


ET Rap eae Naeger ee Ee 


ae 


han Se 


Oe ee 


. Sanborn exhibited 





222 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 

















through the head and out at the back of the insect. As the head always — 
points towards the base of the leaf, Mr. Sanborn believes that when the — 
insects wish to rid themselves of their exuviæ, they perch themselves 
upon a blade of grass or needle of pine, sar thrusting their heads against 
a contiguous leaf, force the skin backward. He exhibited skins of the i 
plant lice, which, although very ee had been emptied of their com 
tents by internal parasites fter the transfornaiia of the parasite it 
had gnawed a nearly iinit circle through the dry skin, thus partially 
detache a nearly rounded lid or cover through which it could make its 
scape. a 
Two of the most curious specimens exhibited were acorn cups which 
had been used by spiders; in one, the opening had been flatly roofed ovet 
with a web, leaving only a small aperture for ingress and egress; in the : 
other, the cup was closed by a finer web with no opening whatever; when 
examined, neither spider, young, nor eggs were discovered within; this 
was probably an instance of a curious instinct which leads pegs eer a 
o expend much time and labor in preparing for an me í 
Dec. 4.— The Secretary read a a paper by Mr. A. S. Bickmore, we, gii A 


of the treatment of the dead among this people, as similar practices pi 
vailed among the North American Indians; this, he thought, pointed to / 
common descent. To strengthen his argument, he endea avored to show 
that the Ginseng, or panacea of the Chinese, was obta ined from & 
which only grew in the valley of the Ohio; in this case, close ¢ per 
tion by the way of the Aleutian Isles must have taken place between 

two nations. 


r. Perry aia a paper upon the red sandstone of — i 
and its relation to other rocks. Mr. imed that the red 
sto he equivalent a the Potsdam sandstone of the New A 
geologists, and that the adjacent formations to is antes Abe cot | 
highly metamorphosed rocks of a more recent p as h ie : 

and Jay wacom 


yee beneath it. she Silt 
or Agassiz stated that he had recently been vier ee 
roid pach for the sake of illustrating the definitions he had long © 
presented for the different categories of structure among 
Siluroids had always been considered a natural group; placed, : 
a single genus which was subsequently divided into two, they pao ] 
considered a family including several genera, and finally an osii jn the 
ing several groups termed families. Was there then no m “that th : 
erms genus, family, order? Professor Agassiz urged $ strongly esi 
application of these terms should be uniform, since a genus ee 
a genus no matter how numerous its subdivisions. H 
orders were founded upon degrees of complication of structure, 
lies upon the forms of animals. 





PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. , 223 


Professor Agassiz claimed that the group was an order of Ganoid fishes 


=] 
= 
g 
A 
F 
ome 
= 
nm 


J 

e power of sliding the palatine-bone forward. 
The brain greatly i Dei that of a sturgeon. Four families were 
mentioned belonging to the 

Jan. 3.—Mr. George L. Yone read a communication on the flattened 
and distorted pebbles in the conglonierate near Rangely, Maine. 
reviewed the different theories accounting for their form, and exhibited 
drawings and tracings taken from the stones themselves. He endeavored 
to show that the changes had occurred when the pebbles were hard, and not 
necessarily, as urged by Dr. Hitchcock and son, when in a plastic condi- 


point of resistance, with an abrupt depression of the central portion of 
the aigoa pebble. 

— The Secretary read a paper by Mr. A. M. Edwards, of New 
iy in chien the author attempted to show that the division of the 
Diatomacee into fixed and free genera, was unnatural. He believed that 
all of these microscopic sD were free during one portion of their 
lives, and adheren nt during anothe 

Feb. 5.— Dr. T. M. Brewer saa a paper on the house-sparrow of Eu- 
Tope „defending itfrom fhe charge of destructiveness alluded to in a recent 
communication by Dr. Pickering. He showed that all the best English 

rnit ologists were either silent on this point or satisfied that the bird 
did far more good than harm. He read an extract from the report of a 
commission to the Senate of France, A or wg strong evidence in 


àS to become a calamity, destroying crops. In Hungary, Bavaria, and dif- 
oe districts of France, the sparrow had been introduced and stringent 


a New York; commodious, thatched houses have been 
nstructed for them, and, in some of the parks, they are regularly fed. 
Teat expectations are formed in regard to the services they will ren- 
ma in this country, not only in keeping down the measure-worms, but in 
troying canker. r-worms, caterpillars, and possibly curculios 
OTE.—~ We regret that we cannot report more fully the meetings of Setentit jarake 
very piper read, or abstracts of ali the remarks made, but only 


W 
t “cannot give the titles of e 


of the most general interes 





224 CORRESPONDENCE. 
















Dana NATURAL History Socrery.— We had hoped before this to ha 
found space to notice the good work being done by Mr. A. J. Ebell, whois 
now lecturing eok: various educational institutions, and also cattle 
ing numerous chapte e Dana Na ners istory Society 

eer eae a + Matawan N. J., held its first regular mee 
Glenwood Ins e, , 1867, when on Samuel Lockwood, a ce 
ane to the igen RN ‘scien a lecture on the study of Natural 
tory. 


The Dana Natural =r Society of the North-west College, Ev 
Illinois, have re he mber of additions to their Museum w 
selections from Sias s cabinet. A lecture was delivered on March 


in the college nahin by Mr. Ebell, the proceeds of which are se 
the Museum and Library. 


2 


CORRESPONDENCE. 
W. C., Cheyenne, Dakota.—The snails sent were Helix Cooperi, 
species peculiar to California agd adjacent territo: 

C. S. M., Jamaica Plains, Mass. — The name of the shell of which yo 
send a pencil sketch is Natica heros. You will find a description ofi 
Gould’s Invertebrata of Massachusetts, p. 231. The work B 
in any public library. 

E. H. J., Pawtucket, R. I.— Papers and peace © of American j 
are scattered through the proceedings of the various Scientific n 
Binney’s Terrestrial Mollusca will cost oi or ed 35 oul ; 


work on New England Shells. A new edition, with all the spe 
trated, will be out in the course of a year. As for fresh-water 
the experience you will gain by a few patient attempts ats 
will be worth more than all the books. Be careful not to have toon 
animals in one tank. x 
Anon.,* Pen Yan, N. Y.—‘‘The English Cyelopeeia by Char 
Nature) History, in five volumes, 4to, Lon aird’s “ cre 
Natural Sciences.” ‘An Expository Fae p Beit 50, F 
Modern Scientific Terms,” by R. G. Mayne. London (Chure 
8vo. “Dictio onary of Terms used in Geology, with their $ 


OO 


papol spine 


Land ped Water, irch 7-28. London. 





munications. 


* W, +} ~ 





+t 
Notice any anony iuy 





DT EL 


AMERICAN NATURALIST. 


Vol. II.—JULY, 1868.— No. 5. 
a OCR AO 
SEA-WEEDS. 


BY JOHN L. RUSSELL. 





Once, the plants which grow in the sea were considered of 
no value, and therefore were called weeds; a term applied 
to all kinds of vegetation which interferes with the regular 
crops of the agriculturist. Later and better inquiry had 
from time to time exhibited the immense value of these 
sea-plants ; but the term, in its odious signification, remains 
attached to them, as does likewise the classical name which 
botanically expresses this family, the Aue of Jussieu, and 
the Alga vilis of the great and familiarly read Latin poet. 

Tt would be impossible to state definitely the number of 
kinds of sea-weeds to be found in the waters of the globe, 
and every year adds some quite new to science, either in dif- 
ference of form or else in specific points. 

The Algw belong to a vast order of plants known as flower- 
less; but only so, because the organs which are large 
Prominent in most other plants, are in these rudimentary 
Eer minute, requiring the most patient research with the 
microscope to detect them. 

Yet notwithstanding the difficulty of finding the floral 
parts of these so-called flowerless plants, there are portions 
of the sea-weeds which bear, at certain seasons of the year, 
a a aamenearees amp thetic OR ea 
semen according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by the PEABODY oe gin OF 


in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massach ity 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 29 (225) 





226 SEA-WEEDS. 




















little bodies containing definitely formed granules whid 
answer for seeds; and on these characters, varying in each 
genus, the study and arrangement of the several species to 
a great degree depends. It is obvious, then, that colored 
plates, or even dried specimens, would be of little value in 
determining our native species, unless something more than 
a mere comparison of their external aspect was made. 
The sea-weeds have no roots, many float upon the surfi 
of the ocean, and others, firmly affixed to the bottom or to 
stones and shells, are only anchored for security ; their nout- 
ishment being derived from the atmosphere, and from the 
water in which they are periodically or continually immersed. 
The narrow and threadlike, or it may be the broad ail 
thickened plant, equally consists of a frond, a word derived 
from frons (Latin), meaning leaf: this frond may be simple 
or undivided, or cut into many coarser or finer po 
sometimes with great beauty. The color of the frond 
usually either green, olive or black and red, varymg 
intensity, the most beautiful being the different shades 
red; those with the paler tints, or with yellow and 
being partially bleached and in an incipient stage of decay. 
What we notice in terrestrial vegetation as we #8% 
from the level of the sea to the summit of mountains, M 
belts or zones of plants, certain species growing only. 
tain conditions of temperature, we can find reversed w 
sea-weeds, the finer and more beautiful kinds growing 
in deep water, and where the temperature is uniformly 
and cold. Collectors of sea-weeds, accordingly, avail 
selves of the dredge, or of low tides, or of fieree storms, 
which latter agency the deep-water species, torn from 
bottom, are cast upon the shore. es: : i 
If we should visit the rocky coasts of Massachus 
Nahant, Swampscot, Marblehead, Cohasset, ete., 
should find the shallow pools made by the re 
filled with the following kinds of Algæ, which, as 
little noticed, may be worth looking at. 





SEA-WEEDS. 227 


Coating the surface of the wet rocks, like a short pile 
of green velvet, grows the Calothrix scopulorum; tread 
warily upon it lest you catch an unpleasant fall from its 
sliminess ; it will reward you if looked at through the mi- 
eroscope. The surface of the rocks where it shows beneath 
the water is rich with crimson, owing to the Hildenbrandtia 
sanguinea, a species which I detected in company with a 
submarine lichen, a dark olive-green crustaceous species, 
the Verrucaria maura, the former being unknown to Pro- 
fessor Harvey as a North American plant when he published 
his Nereis Boreali-Americana, which describes our sea- 
weeds. In similar tide-pools I found, at Marblehead near 
the fort, the singular Peysonella orbicularis; and on smooth 
pebbles under the water, circular patches of a pale-pink 
crust, which are the Melobesia. These, cut with a sharp 
knife into very thin slices across the warts which rise from 
the surface of the patches, will show, when magnified, the 
seeds lodged in minute cavities and the cellular structure of 
the frond. Lining the sides of these basins are the pretty 
coral sea-weeds, which fade so soon after drying, once 
thought to be, and described by Lamaroux, as animals, but 
now known as lime-bearing sea-weeds ( Corallina officinalis) , 
the actual frond being covered with a calcareous crust, which 
the plant has extracted and secreted from the sea. Throw a 
tuft of it into some diluted muriatic acid, the plant within 
will be revealed ! The seed-vessels are elegantly formed, 
urn-shaped, but closed caskets, on the very tips of the 
branches : 

Here also grow the glossy green Cladomorpha, and the 
fistulous, swollen Enteromorpha, both of many kinds; and 
where the water is brackish, like the broad overflowed 
ditches on the salt-marsh in rear of the beach, may be 
Seen in vast floating masses, smooth and slimy, or bullate 
= bladdery, of a pale -yellow-green tint in the sun, and 

mte and like paper when lying dry and dead on the grass, 
the Conferva Jlavescens, which, taken up by the winds and 





228 SEA-WEEDS. 






















royal museum as meteoric paper ! 
and sharp-pointed and jointed dark-green filaments, may be 
seen, in the deeper and colder tide-pools, the Cheetomorpha 
melangonium, looking rich and inviting to the eye; and 
lining the bottom, may be detected the dwarfer forms of the 
Carrageen, or Chondrus crispus, and its relative and ne 
bor the Gigartina mammillosa, with its channelled, forked, 
lobed frond, the segments often covered with tubercules, 
color a rich dark purple, becoming, like the carrageen 
the same horny stiffness when dry. Sometimes among 
rocks, but oftener lying upon the soft mud, are the beat 
shining smooth green Ulva, or Laver, of which there are t 
or three kinds; the seeds are to be looked for in the - 
substance of the fronds, arranged in fours; one, the 0: 
latissima, or oyster-green, grows upon the shells of oys 
and may be frequently seen on piles of living oysters 1m% — 
market. Served with lemon-juice, it is employed as a sald, 
and esteemed by the Chinese as salubrious. Hang! 
piles and piers in a flaccid, drooping way when the | 
out, but bravely flaunting its gay, rich purple banners 
rushing and incoming return of the sea, is the Porphyr? 
purple Alga, which I have seen finely luxuriant at B5 
Boston ferry dock, and elsewhere. 

A most interesting order of the sea-weeds is the > 
ACEE: green, or else coated with lime, the fronds very 
ble in form, but made up of hollow, inarticulate plami 
belonging to our warmer seas, but represented in the 
feathery Bryopsis plumosa, found near Quincy, and gi 
by my friend, Miss Brewer, of Boston, —something 
looking after on the narrow leaves of the sea-wrack, 
te 


IPH 


ra. 
The ribbon leaves of this plant, familiarly know? 
grass, is often prettily speckled with small pa : 
thin scale, of an irregular outline. Any one of OE 





SEA-WEEDS. 229 


fully detached. from the leaf, and magnified five hundred 
diameters, will show a specimen of rare elegance, a sort of 
shell-like body with three or more lobes, and regularly made 
up of a great many, somewhat square cells. It is the Mapa- 
lidium phyllactidium of Kutzing, detected by me a few years 
ago, and till then new to our flora, but discovered first by 
~ Professor Allman in Dublin bay, Ireland. 

On the perpendicular faces of the larger rocks, and com- 
pletely covering the rounded and erratic ones near the 
beaches, and also on the stone-walls and piles of the wharves, 
grow the several Fuci, whose seeds are to be searched for 
late in the autumn and on the beginning of winter, lodged in 
rounded imbedded cells, and of much beauty. The Fuci have - 
a wide geographical distribution, growing very far towards 
the north pole, and known quite far southwards. According 
to Professor Harvey the deficiency of species is a very 
marked feature in our coasts, two only, the vesiculosus and 
nodosus, or the bladder and the knotted fuci occurring, and 
these quite limited in range. It were somewhat rash to 
differ from such high authority, yet it seems to me more 
than probable that some of the other European representa- 
tives, such as serratus, for instance, may be found ; and small 
forms which grow on the hard and compact gravel at high- 
Water mark, which always remind me of caniculatus: in con- 
firmation of which a few specimens of fuci, collected and 
hamed by Desor in 1850, near Boston, and presented me by 
Ry friend, Miss H. B. Stevenson, are now lying before me, 
indicating an agreement in the same direction. Rising and 
falling in the surf as it dashes against the rocks, these species 
‘eem instinct with sensitive life, and appear to shake them- 
selves in the cool water as if refreshed after partial desicca- 
tion and lassitude, while shoals of the smaller fishes and 
crustaceans dart in and out in security among their exube- 
rant tresses, 

To this order belongs the interesting Gulf-weed (Sargas- 
sum), one species of which floats in vast beds around the 








230 SEA-WEEDS. 



































island of Nantucket, and on the yielding surface of whi 
may be seen the blue-eyed Pecten, the common scallop 
our coasts, skipping along by opening and closing its valve 
I have never met with any kind of gulf-weed in our waters, 
but some are found on the shores of Rhode Island, of ¥ 
a beautiful and delicate species was discovered by the late 
distinguished Professor Bailey, and dedicated to the § 
French botanist, Montagne. : 
Somewhat resembling it is the Cystoseira, a genus 
longing to the European seas, and “scarcely represented 
the New World,” the expansa being detected in Califo 
more delicate in its character, the frond much divided, the | 
branches so converted into air-vessels, or vesicles, as to 
like strings of beads. Here also belongs the Sea-tho 
manthalia lorea), a marvellous plant, which at first 
like a cup, and which expansion is in reality its fro 
when ready to bear seed, throws out from its centre $° 
branching linear straps, which extend from ten to Ww 
feet in length, although only less than an inch wide. It 
be sought for at the very lowest tides, or by the be r 
and although attributed to the coast of North Ame 
Agardh, has hitherto escaped the observation of our 
ists. ; . 
In such situations, and even at greater depths, occurs 
Desmarestia aculeata, in long tufted bundles of a dark 0 
green color, usually gathered and preserved in its aut 
and winter form, when it loses the delicate and fresh 
it had in warm weather; so different, that it is often 
sidered two distinct species. It may be known by 
like branchlets, although soft and yielding when 
From these profounder deeps are. dragged by the 
the huge kelps, Tangle or Devil’s-apron, the 
looking like some oar with its stem and blade, | i 
attached to a large pebble of many pounds weight ; 
with its grasping fingers, or bearing in its om 
mussel, on which it had grown. This really nO” 





SEA-WEEDS. a 


rising upwards from the bottom of the sea to the altitude 
of twenty feet or more, typifies those gigantic sea-weeds 
of the North-western coast, which, in the instance of the 
Nereocystis, has a stem three hundred feet long; or the still 
larger Macrocystis of the Southern Pacific, whose fronds, 
according to Bory St. Vincent, stretch to a length of fifteen 
hundred feet! Grander these than any forest tree on moun- 
tain or plain, in tropical and luxuriant terrestrial vegetation ! 
Turning from these, and often lying close by among the 
heaped waifs from the stormy ocean, the inquirer may see 
the curious Sea-colander (Agarum Turneri), with its ten- 
derer and thinner frond, pierced with numerous roundish 
holes, and growing, when undisturbed, at the depth of ten 
fathoms of water; in this single species exhibiting on our 
coast one of the many kinds peculiar to the Northern Atlantic 
and Pacific shores. To find its seeds one must select the 
old and battered specimens cast up in early winter, in the 
thickened portions -of which they form dark-colored patches. 
Quite distinct, but of the same order, the slender Whiplash 
or F; ishing-line fucus, the Chorda filum, lays entangled 
among the rejectamenta, a simple cylindricał tubular frond, 
transversely divided into separate cavities, the seeds em- 
bedded in the whole exterior surface ; and the Honeyware, 
Murlins or Badderlocks of the shores of Scotland and Ire- 
land, is the Alaria esculenta, the midrib of which is eaten by 
the poorer classes of those countries, but here unnoticed or 
disregarded, though not uncommon on our coasts. 
me rarer sea-weeds, comprised in the order DICTYOTA- 

“EX, may be looked for in the tide-pools, though usually of 
‘More southern habitat, such as the Dot-bearer ( Stilophora), 
the seeds being imbedded in little punctiform dots, which 
internally are made up of bead-like, clavate, branching fila- 
ments; the frond cylindrical, imperfectly tubular, branched; 
while Dictyosiphon has a bristly frond, very much branched, 
branches capillary, the seeds solitary, a pretty olive- 
Colored “weed ;” and, in allusion to these seed-dots, we are 





232 SEA-WEEDS. 




























reminded of the Punctaria tenuissima, to be sought on the 
‘stems of various other fuci and sea-plants, in dense tufts, 
fronds very thin and attenuated towards the tips and base. 
Still, among the olive-colored Algæ, the order CHORDARIACEE 
embraces many distinct sea-weeds with gelatinous or cartile 
ginous fronds, whose seeds are concealed within the su 
stance. of the frond, of which the Chordaria and Mesogloi 
with conspicuous cylindrical fronds, and Elachista, or the 
Least Alga, consisting of little tufts of minute brown fron 
parasitical on the common rock-weeds, or fuci, and 
Myriad-thread, or Myrionema, which hastens the death 
the Red Algæ, are worth the looking for microscopical stud 
In the tide-pools grow also the sea-weeds which com 
the order Ecrocarrace® ; and on our shores are Zetocarpts 
brachiatus, and perhaps littoralis, pretty confervoid, b 
ing flaccid alge with numerous pod-like bodies, readily s 
with a lens; the Sphacelaria cirrhosa, a small species 1 4 
tle globose tufts, the thread-like branches slightly branch 
again in a pinnate manner, the seeds in round ci 
borne .on the sides of these smaller and shorter bran 
be examined with the magnifying glass; and, lastly, t 
dostephus verticillatus, with fronds six or eight inches 
and furnished with whorls of smaller branches closely 
ting the main stems, and giving them the appesa 
cylindrical wands of velvet surface, while the seeds 
borne on the sides of the smaller branches like those 
last mentioned. 
Enough has been said, then, of the green and 
blackish sea-weeds, a few words of the red or purple 
First are the RHODOMELACE®, red or brown-red 
ple sea-weeds, with leafy, or else with threadlike am 
fronds, the seeds of two kinds, the proper om we 
capsules on the ends of the branchlets; the ot 
tetraspores, in tubercules on the sides or other parts 
fronds. ‘These sea-weeds are fond of a more 
and latitude, but in this vicinity Chondria tent 


È, 





SEA-WEEDS. 233 


most delicate of the genus, may be sought; and several Pho- 
domele, very beautiful, blackish-red, feathery, and tufted 
sea-weeds beside, not forgetting the Polysiphonie of many 
forms and sizes, the most common, perhaps, and to me the 
most interesting, being the blackish one, which grows in 
tufts on fuci, the P. fastigiata; others, far more delicate and 
of more pleasing colors, likewise occur with us; and with 
them the Bostrychia rivulsari also southern in its habits as a 
genus, and the beautiful Dasya, more at home farther south, 
is often met with in collections of Algæ gathered hereabouts, 
D. Elegans being one of the comparatively sparse Alge on 
the sandy shores of Nantucket. 

Tn the order Lawrencrace& the fronds are terete or com- 
pressed, rarely flattened, the seeds contained in external 
globose conceptacles, the tetraspores immersed in various 
parts of the frond. There is much diversity in the color of 
the several species; usually, however, a lurid purple is the 
typical one, fading on exposure to the light, and parting 
with it readily on being immersed in fresh water. The 
Laurencias, on which the order is founded, are southern, but 
Champia occurs at Providence, R. I., at Nantucket, and 
New York, and may be sought as a parasitical plant farther 
north. 
: The Srmærococcomreæ embrace a vast number of very 
interesting sea-weeds, mostly resident in tropical and foreign 
Seas. I know of none whose structure has interested me 
more, and if any species occur to the reader on our shores, in 

© few which may be sought here, they will afford rare 
gratification with the microscope, their internal structure 
varying as much as the outward forms. Some of the finest 
and most brilliant weeds are to be found, a few only are of a 
duller'tint, The seeds are lodged in elegantly formed con- 
: “eptacles, which are filled with beaded filaments, on. the 
2 Te of which the seeds are situated; the tetraspores are In 
te groups, or else dispersed over the whole fronds. ' 
“he DELESSERTÆ have rosy-red, leaf-like, branched, jag- 
AER; NATURALIST, VOL. II. 30 





a 


234 SEA-WEEDS. 



















midrib running through the middle of each. They growin 
deep water, and several species are found in Massachus 


lately dedicated to Henry Grinnell, Esq., conspicuous in 
efforts to find Sir John Franklin; and its generic name, 
rived from his own, was given by Professor Harvey in 
Nereis Boreali Americana, some distinctive structure in th 
seed-vessel being detected by that botanist. The Grin 
being so abundant in New York harbor, may be s 
among our Delesserias. po 
The GELIDIACE®, like the last order, is also tropical 
mostly foreign. One or two species occur with us, such 
Gelidium corneum, a most variable plant, with a fork 
branched and pinnately divided frond, of a purplish-red, 
changing color, especially if immersed in fresh water 
finally parting with it altogether, but retaining 4 gl 
waxy lustre when completely bleached. t 
A rather singular Alga, found in our waters for the f 
time perhaps, by George B. Emerson, Esq., is the 4 
rotundus, a single genus of a single species, and consi™® 
the order Sponerocarre®, the seeds of which are fi 
irregularly shaped warts extending along the branchi 
pale flesh-color, wholly composed of slender, branched 
ments, like those of the bark, or cortex, of the frond 
tetraspores are formed in the upper branches deeply 
mersed. ; ha 
Passing over several other Algæ too rare on 0UFS” 
notice, or else already adverted to, we come to e 
RHODYMENIACE®, purplish or blood-red sea-We™ 
inarticulate, flat, compressed, or filiform membr 
fronds, the seeds lodged in external conceptacles. 
these to be sought is Rhodymenia palmata, with a e 
to eight inches long, and four to six inches broad, 
shaped at base, cut downwards into several slender j 
but sometimes quite simple; the Huthora cristata, 





SEA-WEEDS. 235 


fan-shaped frond, excessively branched, the color a beautiful 
lake ; the Plocamium coccineum, very beautiful and frequently 
overlooked, but occurring among the cast-up weeds of the 
sen, —a deep-water specics. ; 

Other elegant rosy or red sea-weeds, belonging to still 
other orders, are more or less common in our bay, of which 
the Phyllophora membranifolia, the Ahnfeltia plicata, Cysto- 
clonium purpurascens, of which there is a curious variety, 
the ends of the smaller branches being converted in spirally 
twisted tendrils, which coil round other sea-weeds; the 
Gigartina mammillosa, already alluded to, with the Chon- 
drus crispus, of which many singular forms may be seen in 
the same pools ; the Chylocladia, reminding us of Bailey, in a 
new species; the Gloiosiphonia capillaris, a single species, 
limited to the northern seas of Europe and America, of a 
brilliant carmine color and very much branched, found at 
Nahant, Hampton Beach, Chelsea, etc., and why not here- 
abouts? the Spyridia filamentosa, a genus better known in 
warmer seas ; the Ceramiacew, with numerous delicate rosy 
and reddish species in Ceramium rubrum and its varied 
forms, in O. diaphanum, fastigiatum and arachnoideum per- 
haps; in Pilota plumva, beautiful and common, and in its 
kindred Californian species P. densa, ete. ; in the rarer P. 
serrata occurring with us; in Grifithsia, a beautiful and 
slender Alga, of a soft gelatinous substance, closely adhering 
to paper; in the numerous Callithaminons, minute, elegant, 
and curious, some of them parasitical, and all puzzling to 
decide, many of which the seeker can find on our sea-shores. 

So much for the sea-weeds, and for the smaller portion of 
the interest attached to them, reminding us in their fine 
names of the glories of the ocean, of its cooling breezes, its 

ul aspect, its crested foam and blue surface in rest and 
repose, sought for eagerly by many a weary and tired citi- 
zen, and affording perpetual instruction and pleasure to the 
naturalist, and in its floral as zoölogical treasures a constant 
Source of study to all. 





A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 


BY EDWARD S. MORSE. 






















Tue sea-side naturalist has certain advantages not 
sessed by his inland confrére, in the greater variety of Ale, 
and in the profusion of material which is daily exposel 
to him by the tides, and in the debris strewn in windrows 
along the shores by the heavy storms that sweep along the 
coast. While he may turn inland and in an hours wi 
reach the representatives of animals which are found thro 
out the continent, the inland naturalist must visit the 
side to see the living representatives of certain classes 
are almost, or quite exclusively, marine. 

Even a whole branch of animals, the Radiates, com 
such animals as the sea-anemones, jelly-fishes, stars 
and sea-urchins, has only one feeble microscopic rep i 
tive in fresh water. The class of bivalve. mollusca, with 
unique sea forms of razor-clam, mussel, scallop, and r 
dreds of others, is represented in our fresh-water ponds 
streams, by the mussels and a few minute forms, 
may be said with truth that the mussels of the Wes 
waters ape in their variety of forms, many of the | 
species. The entire class of Cephalopods, comprist 
squid, cuttle-fish, and nautilus, is exclusively marme. | 
extensive class of Crustacea, with the lobster, erab, 
shrimp as common examples, are represented in tresi 
by the crawfish and a few smaller species. As a slight 
pensation, however, the inland student has oftentimes * 
up in the rocks beneath his feet imperishable mementos 
ancient sea-life, and he may there find gigantic am 
huge masses of coral, and thousands of other forms ™ 
similar to existing species in the ocean. se 

The godsend to an inland collector of a drained €? 
the exposed bottom of a pond after a drought, 15% 
peated on the sea-side by the recedence of the tide, 

(236) 


G 








A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 237 


hundreds of miniature aquaria in the crevices of the rocks, 
freshly stocked and daily replenished by nature, while the 
surrounding conditions, in the form of clean rocks dried by 
the sun, the absence of foliage to obstruct the light, offer the 
collector every opportunity to study the marvels of sea-life 
in their native haunts. Thus, while the sea-side offers un- 
rivalled attractions to the tourist, it opens to the naturalist a 
field for study as vast as the sea itself. 

Let us take advantage of a day at the sea-side, by a stroll 
along the shore between high and low-water mark, and jot 


_ down afew observations on the more common forms that 


ire sure to meet the eye at every turn. And first of all we 
notice the rocks whitened as if by a painter’s brush. All the 
exposed ledges, as far as the eye can reach, reflect the rays 
of the sun like snow-drifts. Can it be possible that this 
limy covering is made up of little sentient animals, whose 
soft bodies moisten the rocks, as we crush them by hundreds 
at every step? 

We examine them, and yet no signs of life are seen; 
closely they remain locked up in their shelly casements. 
Yet ina neighboring pool of water we see these tiny ani- 
mals with their doors thrown wide open, and a little crown 
of feelers flung out in constant action. And this motion 
7 incessantly repeated, making a movement like the grasp 
of a human hand in space. These animals are known as 
Barnacles (Plate 6, figs. 1, 2). They not only clothe the 
rocks in summer, but form an almost impenetrable coat of 
mail around the piles of our piers, and by their rapid growth 
foul the ship’s bottom at sea. 

A closer inspection of this animal with a lens reveals the 


_ fact, that the appendages thrown out so actively are lined 


with little hairs; that the mouth is situated within the shell 
at the base of these appendages, and that the clutching mo- 


7 tion is made to secure the minute particles of food that float 


an water, which are swept toward the mouth and secured 
yt. One hardly wearies of watching the rhythmical and 
































238 A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 


graceful movements of these never-tiring appendages, 
the curious movements of the mouth-parts, as some inyis 
tit-bit is secured by its perpetual industry. 
For a long time these animals were included in the s 
branch with the clams and snails, until it was discovered, 
observing the young stages of the barnacles, that they 
more closely allied to the crabs ‘and shrimps, that is, ar 
lated animals, and that they had no relationship with 
shell-fish so called. It was found that the young ba 
(Plate 6, fig. 3) was furnished with jointed appenda 
having also organs of sight, and that in this cond 
swam freely in every direction ; that finally securing a 
upon some body, it became cemented head downward, 
forever the power of locomotion and the organ of sight 
creted a hard shell around it, and then for the rest of its lle 
became dependent on the sustenance brought to it 
inflowing tide. We can thus account for the stunted | 
of those individuals which have unwittingly effected 
ment near high-water mark, for in thus securing € 
house-lots, they are left helpless, and imprisoned most 
the day, with the scorching rays- of the sun to ari 
tender bodies, in place of the cool wash of the waves. 
3a represents the young barnacles directly after attaci 
fig. 2, another species of barnacle in a state of rest.” 
In the same pool we notice another strange for 
tially concealed by the floating tresses of sea-weed BS” 
so luxuriant a growth of plant-life along the coast. This: 


mal, for it really is an animal, though apparently k: 


p 


appear within the body, leaving only à warty © 
in place of the beautiful expanded flower (Plate * 





ee A eed ie Oe ee 


Ey Pal pet a rw hg oS eile nS a, DP oe E S oT, 


DSBS eB ANB EP 0 eR ir ES, Fe hp 





An se ee eae Se ee. a ee oe ee er 
s 


A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 239 


Waiting patiently a few moments, the tentacles slowly re- 
appear. Noticing the expanded part more attentively, a 
small slit is seen in the centre of the exposed disk, and 
surrounded by the tentacles; this is the mouth, and for a 
proof of it we have only to drop a bit of meat, so that it 
may fall within the radius of the expanded tentacles, and 
as it comes in contact with them, is immediately seized, 
not only by the tentacles against which the meat strikes, 
but by others that promptly swing in that direction. The 
tentacles are covered with minute cells, from which threads 
dart and adhere to their prey. These cells produce a dis- 
tinct nettling sensation upon the hands of some that are 
brought in contact with them, and appear to paralyze the 
living objects upon which they feed. The tentacles appear 
glued to the meat, and by tlfis power of adhesion rather 
than that of grasping, the food is passed from one set to 
the other until it is brought to the mouth, which yawns 
gradually, and into which it finally sinks. Another bit 
shares the same fate, even if it is dropped upon the ex- 
treme verge of the tentacular crown, and very amusing it is 
to Watch their quaint manceuvres when fed in this way. A 
small pebble, or other substance not appropriate for food, is 
mstantly rejected. Thus, in this interesting experiment, 
animality and the power to discover by touch proper sub- 
stances for food are manifested. The organization of the 
animal is extremely simple; a cylindrical body having only 
me proper opening which answers the purposes of mouth 
aud vent ; this orifice leading to a sac-like stomach hanging 
Within the body. Also within the body numerous verti- 
cal radiating partitions, corresponding to the tentacles that 
Project from the crown, comprises the prominent parts of 
Ms structure. An English writer states that “foreigners boil 
many kinds of Actinie for the table, and find them a very 
reasant dish. The texture is something like calf’s-foot 
Jelly; taste and smell resembling that of crab or lobster. 
n with sauce, they are savory.” 

































240 A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 


To those who can never conceive a reason for the 
of an animal unless it is either good to eat, offers a ri media 
agent, or can quickly be converted into money, we add i 
following receipt for cooking them, from * Devonshire | 
bles,” by Phillip H. Gosse: “As it was an experiment, I 
not choose to commit my pet-morsels to the servants, 
took the saucepan in my own hand. As I had no infor 
as to how long they required boiling, I had to find it 
for myself. Some I put into cold water (sea-water 
allowed to boil gradually. As soon as the water boiled 
tried one; it was tough and evidently undone. The 
I took out after three minutes’ boiling ; this was better; a 
one at five minutes was better still, but not so good as 
one which had boiled ten. I then put the remaini 
into boiling water, and let tRem boil ten minutes, aid 
were the best of all, and more tender as well as more m 
ing in appearance. I must confess that the first bit Les : 
caused a sort of lumpy feeling in my throat, as if a senti 
guarded the way, and said, ‘It shan’t come here. 
sensation, however, I felt unworthy of a philoso 
there was nothing really repugnant in the taste. 4 
as I had got one that seemed well cooked, I invited 
G. to share the feast; she courageously attacked the 
but I am compelled to confess it could not pass i 
bule ; the sentinel was one too many for her. My 4 gi 
however, voted that ‘tinny was good, and that ‘he 
tinny; and loudly demanded more, like another 
Twist. As for me, I proved the truth of the ad 
west que le premier pas qui coite;’ for after the 
my sentinel was cowed. I left little in the dish.” 
he fried them in egg and butter-crumbs, and “all pre 
yielded to their inviting odour and appearance, 2 
table joined the repast with evident gusto.” 

Space will not allow us to mention at this time 
interesting features regarding its peculiar modes 0 
ment, though we may add that the coral insect, 80‘ 


a 
n 
Aha 


A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 241 


nothing like an insect whatsoever, but is included in the same 
class of animals with the sea-anemone, from which it does 
not depart in any material point of its structure, except that 
the coral animal deposits lime in its growth, while the sea- 
anemone does not. 


On the moist rocks and wet sea-weed we notice numerous 
little snails, some of them round, about the size of a pea, 
dark brown or dingy yellow in color. Dropping some of 
them into our dish of sea-water, we observe their movements 
plainly. A little soft-bodied animal, slug-like, with two 
feelers or tentacles thrust out ahead, having at their base a 
pair of little black eyes, and between the feelers a roundish 
trunk like an elephant’s proboscis, only very short. This 
they apply closely to the surface upon which they rest. The 
mouth opens at the end of this snout. A little tongue within 
the mouth, furnished with numerous minute hooks, keeps up 
a continual lapping movement, rasping off the minute vegeta- 
tion upon which they feed. Looking through the glass jar 
in which they may be kept, we not only notice the motions 
of the tengue, but the manner in which they crawl, moving 
first one side and then the other of the disk-like foot, which 
seems to be divided by a longitudinal furrow. Notice how 
gracefully they twirl the shell in their movements. Taking 
4 few in our hand, they quickly withdraw within their shells, 
and, as they disappear, a lid, called the operculum, which is 
attached to the tail, closes the aperture effectually. Nearly 
all of the marine snails, and many of the land and fresh- 
Water snails likewise, are furnished with this operculum. 

The eye-stone, so-called, is nothing more than the oper- 
culum of some tropical snail; for the opercula of our northern 
snails are mostly of a horny nature, very few species having 

“dreous opercula. 

The Species we have just described is called Littorina pal- 

Their habits are such that they require a submer- 

Sence in the sea-water of only a few hours each day. For 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 31 n 





242 A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 


natural opening. The eggs are laid in little oblong Y° 

























this reason one will find them oftentimes in abundance neat 
high-water mark. When kept in an aquarium, they are con 
tinually crawling up the sides of the vessel, and out of it 
completely. Plate 6, figs. 6, 7, represent the shell and ani- 
mal. aoe 

The common Cockle (Purpura lapillus), Plate 6, figs. 8 
9, is another very common species on our coast, and a Vey 
interesting collection can be made by selecting the different 
varieties of the shell. Some of the shells are quite solid, 
and either white in color, or variously banded with brown 
or yellow; now and then a specimen is found of a rich ye 
low; others are quite thin and delicate, with the 0 
covered with little scales, or imbrications. The animal 
white, and the operculum is a rich brown or reddish. 

This species is carnivorous in its propensities, and 
its sharp rasp-like tongue, will drill the neatest round holes 
in the shells of other species, and through the hole this 
made devour the contents. The empty shells of the coe 
kle’s victims, or of other carnivorous species, may alway 
be recognized by the little countersunk hole in the shell 
The mussel seems to be a favorite food of the cockle. 
has been ascertained that it requires two days for the 0 
to drill through the shell of the mussel, and, after the am 
dies from -this rude treatment, the shell gapes ope?» ® ie 
cockle then feeds upon the soft parts within, throug* ; 
colored capsules, which they deposit in clusters on t% 
(Plate 6, fig. 9a). Each little capsule contains from wi: 
to thirty young, which eat their way out thro gh He 
when fully developed. The cockle was supposed to A 
species from which the celebrated Tyrian purple ya 
tained. At all events, there is a coloring matter e*" 
from the living animals, which is at first yellowish, but 
exposure to the sun’s rays, will gradually changes 
through various shades of green and violet, then T 
and finally to a crimson. It is often used for bait 2 














A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 243 


for cunners, or perch, and the fingers become stained a deep 
purple after handling the crushed animals. 
In the crevices. of the rocks, and in certain pools left by 
the tide, we shall find the common salt-water mussel (Plate 
6, fig. 10) closely compacted in great numbers. On attempt- 
ing to detach a specimen from the rocks, it is found that they 
are held in place by a strand of little silken threads, issuing 
between the valves of the shell, and adhering strongly to the 
rock. This bunch of threads is called the byssus, and a 
tropical genus, called Pinna, produces a byssus of consider- 
able size. Gloves have been woven from the fibres compos- 
ing it. The individuals covered by water display at the free 
end of the shell and between the valves (each shell of a bi- 
valve is termed a valve, hence the name bivalve, two valves), 
Which are partly open, two openings formed by the mantle. 
se openings are scarcely divided; one opening reaching 
hearly to the byssus is beautifully fringed with little arbores- 
cent fringes, the other opening is plain. If we watch the 
particles floating near these openings, it will be seen that a 
current of water is passing in at the fringed opening, while 
from the simple opening a current of water is as constantly 
‘sting. These currents of water are produced by the vibra- 
Gon of little moving hairs, or cilia, which line the mem- 
branes within. The gills, of which the animal has four, two 
on each side, are particularly covered by the cilia, so that if 
the Shell is broken open, and a piece of the gill is separated 
om the animal, it will swim round in the water like an 
independent animal for some time. We become acquainted 
With an excellent provision in this arrangement, for in the 
: Place the currents of water kept up in this way bring @ 
continual supply of fresh sea-water to the gills, and in the 
rond Place ‘the food of the mussel, which is mostly of an 
ufusorial character, is brought to the mouth by the same 
means. The two short openings we have seen in the mussel, 
: — genera like the clam are prolonged into two long 
a nn by one sheath, or form two distinct tubes as 
in other genera. 






























244 A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 


In contemplating the many complete provisions made for 
these lower animals in procuring their food, one is ledt 
admire the adaptability of ciliary motion which appears to 
take so prominent a part in the functions of the lower aui- 
mals. Among the lowest forms of life, locomotion is effectel 
entirely by ciliary motion; among others, food is broug 
within the compass of their mouth, and the gills are contit- 
ually bathed with fresh water. Generative products ai — 
brought together for the impregnation of the eggs. Tt 
new-born animal is borne safely to some place of attachment, — 
or to a proper position for future growth. 
A large and ponderous mussel, called the Horse-mus 
may be torn out from the crevices of the rock just at 0 
water mark, and the roots of the large sea-weed, commonly 
called the “devils apron,” are often found entwined oF 
specimens of this species. While speaking of this gig% 
tic sea-weed, we may say that after storms, and in fact it 
nearly all times, this Laminaria, as it is technically termed, 
may be found on the shores, and the collector must nerit 
fail to examine carefully every portion of it for novelties 
On the broad crenulated brown frond he will find č 
species of snails browsing. On the stem, patches of ; 
rious growth, looking like the most delicate lace, may 
seen; strange as it may appear, each little cell, comp 
this lace-work, is occupied by a tiny animal, whose Wi 
lations are with the clams and oysters. In the tangled: 
the collector often reaps a rich harvest of marme 
brittle starfishes, minute crustaceans, and many othera 
The reason why this sea-plant affords such an M 
field for the collector is, that it comes from bey 
water mark. In the sea, as on the land, there are 
zones of animal and plant-life. Thus on the land we 
low places certain species of plants and trees ; a lit 
we have the hard-wood growths; on the mountain S" 
pines and spruces flourish, while near the tops pe 
mountains lichens only can exist, and at the highe 
tions the bare rocks alone meet the eye. 





woe fa ae i ac a ine ETS YS eal oe hehe D i ee Se lil eal 


SIMENS R 


TA 


gine 





legs, 


A 
A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 245 


So in the sea, between high and low-water mark is an 
assemblage of animals and plants peculiar to that area, and 
this is called the littoral zone; from low-water mark to 
about fifteen fathoms another group of plants and animals 
are found, and as the Laminaria grows to profusion in this 
zone, it is called the laminarian zone. Below this we have 
the coralline zone, and deep sea-coral zone. Many animals 
range through all these zones, but there is a sufficient num- 
ber of species restricted to each, which give each zone a 
determinate character. Thus the Laminaria is an envoy from 
another zone, coming ‘laden with the animals and plants pe- 
culiar to its zone. As we are confining ourselves to those 
forms that are abundant between high and low-water mark, 
We must reluctantly leave for another time the treasures that 
this sea-weed possesses. 


The common starfish, or five-finger jack (Plate 6, fig. 11), 
!s one of the abundant forms under rocks at low-water mark. 
By throwing back the masses of sea-weed that conceal the 
rocks near the water’s edge, they may be found of all sizes, 
and of every shade of brick-red, crimson, and purple. How 
fast they cling as we attempt to pluck them from the rocks, 
g by examining the underside of the fingers, or arms, we 
notice rows of suckers, that look like so many worms twist- 
mg and writhing in every direction! Dropping one into a 

of sea-water, we soon see the admirable use that is 
made of these suckers, for now they act like so many little ` 
8s. These. suckers are enabled to project some little dis- 
tance from the animal, and by these the animal is carried 
from one place to another. How gently they glide over the 
uneven surface of the rock, each sucker in turn reaching in 
advance and securing a hold, and, after contracting and thus 
pa lling the body along, relaxing for a new start! Perhaps 
by diligent search you may capture a starfish at his dinner, 
TR e way he has of eating it. Mussels, beach- 


ae 
cockles, and shell-fish, form the favorite food of the starfish. 





246 A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 




























Having selected one for his meal, our starfish arches his he 
over the shell, grasping it at the same time with its am 
and then, marvellous to relate, puts its stomach out ofi 
mouth and enfolds the shell with its lobes. Whether th 
stomach secretes a poisonous fluid is not known, at any mie 
the victim dies under the effects of this warm embrace, i 
‘shell flies open, and the starfish devours its contents. 

In the young starfish the eyes can be plainly seen, five! 
number, one at the ‘end of each ray or arm, shining” 
little garnets. In the older ones it is quite difficult to 
tinguish them. ee p s 

The starfish often loses one or more of its rays” 
having them bitten off by hungry fishes, or perhaps- 
off by crabs when young. Nature, however, restores thet 
again, for new rays bud in the place of those lost, and it ® 
not uncommon to find specimens that have lost all 
one ray, with the four new rays just commencing to 
Others may be found with three large ones, and twos 
ones, and a variety of forms, resulting from this renovi 
power after mutilation, may be gathered among the 1 

Another curious starfish, called the brittle starfish ( 
fig. 12), is found in the pools at extreme low-water mark. 
takes its name from the fact that it is extremely brittle, ‘ 
arms fulling to pieces when roughly handled. In 
cies the arms appear quite independent of the disk, 
merging into it as the species previously described. ; 
arms, moreover, have greater freedom of motion. | 
they have no true suckers, the arms are covered Wi 
and, having great mobility, they twist and turn ja; 
direction, and are quite active when compared to the 
mon “five finger.” 

We have referred to their brittle nature, but anot 
cies, belonging to the same family, occurring OR the 
coast, has for its Specific name “fragilissima,” on 
its extreme fragility. Edward Forbes has giver t 
account of his endeavors to capture this species, and v 


A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 247 































sent it here: “The first time I ever caught one of these 
creatures, I succeeded in getting it into the boat entire. 
Never having seen one before, and quite unconscious of its 
suicidal powers, I spread it out on a rowing-bench, the better 
to admire its form and colors. On attempting to remove it 
for preservation, to my horror and disappointment I found 
only an assemblage of rejected members. My conservative 
endeavors were all neutralized by its destructive exertions, 
and it is now badly represented in my cabinet by an armless 
disk and diskless arm, Next time I went to dredge on the 
same spot, and, determined not to be cheated out of a speci- 
men in such a way a second time, I brought with me a 
bucket of cold fresh-water, to which article starfishes have a 
great antipathy. As I expected, a Luidia came up in the 
edge, a most gorgeous specimen. As it does not generally 
break up before it is raised above the surface of the sea, 
cautiously and anxiously I sank my bucket to a level with 
he dredge’s mouth, and proceeded in the most gentle man- 
her to introduce Luidia to the purer element. Whether the 
cold air was too much for him, or the sight of the bucket too 
terrific, I know not, but, in a moment, he proceeded to dis- 
solve his corporation, and at every mesh of the dredge his 
fragments were seen escaping. In despair I grasped at the 
largest, and brought up the extremity of an arm with its 
terminating eye, the spinous eyelid of which opened and 
closed with something exceedingly like a wink of derision.” 


While parting carefully the floating masses of sea-weed in 
Search for other novelties, our attention is attracted by the 
unusual movements of a large shell, commonly called the 
whelk. As the customary movements of nearly all mollusks 
are slow and sluggish, we are the more surprised at these 
movements. We at once secure the shell, and are rather 
MeMivunded to find .it a. bleached and sea-worn specimen, 

th no traces of its original inhabitant within. We drop it 
Upon the rocks, and directly out comes a singular-looking 








248 A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 
































crab, not quite out, for he retains a hold upon the shell and 
drags it alertly after him. We have found the Hermit-crab 
(Plate 6, fig. 13), called by some the Soldier-crab on ae 
count of its extreme pugnacity, and receiving the first name, 
because, like a hermit, it lives alone in its shelly house. 

The species belonging to this genus are remarkable for the 
singular softness of the hinder portion of the body; this 
rather long, and is coiled on itself. To protect this soft pat: 
that would otherwise be nipped off by some hungry fish, the 
crab resorts to some empty shell, and, inserting his tail i 
the aperture, makes it his home, and carries it about 
him in all his perigrinatiens. a 

The hermit-crab, like other members of the class © 
tacea, increase in size through a process called “moulting. 
The hardened crust outside does not grow. Tt is omy 
hardened skin, as it were. Now as the body within increas 
in size, the outside shell must be thrown off, to alo the 
enlargement of the animal. This throwing off of the outst 
crust is called moulting, and takes place at certain times 
With the crabs, lobsters, and others, the animal appears" 
fast for some time, retires to a secluded nook in the i 
and there awaits the cracking open of its well-worn 
This crack takes place along the back, and throu 
opening the animal draws itself. After it comes a 
skin is soft and tender, and some time is required be i 
is sufficiently hardened to enable it again to successfully 
tle with its enemies. 

Our hermit-crab has still another stage to : 
moulting, for when this process has taken places it 
coiled shell too small for it, and must go on tha 
search, called house-hunting. Back and forth it traws 
beach, surveying with critical acumen the tenantless 
on the beach. Here it meets one altogether t00 © 
an amusing sight it is to see it drag its soft and DSF" 
from the shell, to try another one on to see if it fits. 
times it meets with a shell that is apparently just ey 


go thro! 





A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 249 


but unluckily it is already occupied by a brother hermit. A 
freebooter is our hermit, and so without any apologies it 
proceeds by force to eject the tenant. A fight ensues, and 
oftentimes ends in the ejectment and mutilation of one or the 
other. Perhaps the name Soldier-crab is more appropriate, 
from its belligerent character. Gosse has described one of 
these fights, from which we subjoin the following: “The 
Soldiers (as indeed becomes their profession) are well known 
to be pugnacious and impudent, yet watchful and cautious. 
Indeed, their manners and disposition, no less than their ap- 
pearance, bear the strongest resemblance to those of spiders. 
Two of them can scarcely approach each other without mani- 
festations of hostility ; each warily stretches out his long feet 
and feels the other, just as spiders do, and strives to find an 
opportunity of seizing his opponent in some tender part 
with his own strong claws. Generally they are satisfied 
With the proofs afforded of mutual prowess, and each, finding 
the other armed at all points, retires; but not unseldom a 
regular passage of arms ensues; the claws are rapidly thrown 
about, widely gaping and threatening, and the combatants 
roll over and over in the tussle. Sometimes, however, the 
aggressive spirit is more decided and ferocious. One in the 
aquarium of the Zoological Gardens was seen to approach 
another, who tenanted a shell somewhat larger than his own, 
and, suddenly seizing his victim’s front with his powerful 
claw, drag him like lightning from his house, into which 
; e aggressor as swiftly inserts his own body, leaving the 
miserable sufferer struggling in the agonies of death.” 

The reader must bear in mind that we have only touched 
"pon the more common forms to be met with on the coast, 
and that without the least difficulty he may find a legion of 
others, equally as ipteresting, and readily preserved alive in 

“water for a considerable time. He will do well to carry 
“way with him a pailful of these animals, with a generous 
“Supply of sea-water in which to immerse them. The nume- 
rous sea-worms, of which we have not spoken, will repay 

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 32 








250 A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 


him a careful hunt. A common worm on the coast he will 
find in the guise of a coiled white shell, firmly cemented toa 
bit of sea-weed or other substance. Sometimes a frond of 
sea-weed will be whitened with them. They are quite small, — 
and to examine them properly will require the assistanee of 7 
a lens. The head is surrounded by numerous little appe — 
dages, which answer the purpose of gills. One of the ap- ; 
pendages is thickened and rounded at the end, and serve — 
as a plug to the aperture of the shell, when the animal re- — 
tires. cn 
Fig. 14, plate 6, represents an enlarged figure of this i 
worm, with the animal protruding, and the adjoining figure 
shows a bit of sea-weed, with several of the worms drawn to 
the natural size. ya 
The adjoining cut represents the appearance of an aii- — 
mal quite abundant at low tide, commonly called the Sa- 4 
urchin. It is covered with a great = 
many long sharp spines, and in st : 
dition to these spines, there 
five zones of suckers passing from | 
the mouth, which is below, to the 
opposite pole of the body. ' 

suckers perform locomotive functions, as do the suckers of 
the starfish described above, and the collector will be 1% 
paid in watching the movements of the animal alive. - 
sea-urchin, when dead and bleached upon the beach, 10 
a very curious object. A flattened spherical shell, ge 
posed of a large number of small plates, all neatly fits 
together ; five zones of these plates perforated for the / 
sage of the suckers, and all the plates ornamented . 
minute rounded protuberances upon which the spines 
attached, make up the empty shell of the sea-urchin. 
may briefly add, that the collector will find in the pie 
dried sea-weed rolled up by the waves, many cario 
jects all prepared and dried by the sea and the su- 
the long beaches, he will find many interesting shells, 
















z 


American Naturalist. Vol, Il. Pt 


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ny 


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ANAN CANS 
WANNY 


Ryoko 


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Pe aap PLL, es 
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PAP oh, tg wh nS 
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OUR SEA-ANEMONES. 251 


crabs, empty shells of sea-urchins, and oftentimes many 
objects that are really worth preserving for cabinet speci- 
mens. 


EXPLANATION OF PLATE 6. 
Fig. 1. Common Barnacles, Balanus eburneus of Gould. 
oe 2 es e is ovularis ee 
Fig. 3. Free swimming young of Barnacle. 
Fig. 3a. Young Barnacle directly after attachment. 
Fig. 4. Sea-anemone expanded, Metridium marginatum. 
Fig. 5. “ contracted, 
' Figs. 6, 7. Periwinkle, Littorina palliata. 
Figs. 8, 9. Cockle, Purpura lapillus. 
| Fig. 9a. Egg-cases of the same 
Fig. 10. Mussel, Mytilus edulis. 
Fig. 11. Starfish, Asterias vulgaris. 
Fig. 12. Brittle Starfish, Ophiopholis bellis. 
Fig. 13. Hermit-crab, Bernhardus longicarpus. 
Fig. 14. Spirorbis nautiloides. 








OUR SEA-ANEMONES. 


BY A. E. VERRILL. \ 


To all frequenters of the sea-shore during the summer 
months who take pleasure in seeking and studying the many 
Wonderful and beautiful inhabitants of the ocean, the modest 
and retiring Sea-anemones cannot fail to offer many attrac- 
tions; and there are few marine creatures that can so easily 
be reconciled to the narrow limits of an aquarium, and so 
readily become permanently established in their new home. 
Thus they afford us every opportunity to study their habits 
and structure, and to watch their ever-varying forms and 

utiful colors. But to see them in their perfection one 
must visit them in their native haunts in some cool, rocky 
Pool, overhung with projecting ledges and drooping sea- 
T Tes or in some deep grotto among the shattered cliffs, 
= half-itlumined by the sunbeams which struggle for entrance 


W E 





































252 OUR SEA-ANEMONES, 


through the cool sea-weeds that hang from the rocky roof — 
dripping with salt dew. In such favorite retreats the Fringed — 
Sea-anemones * (Plate 6, figs. 4, 5) make their home and i 
rear their numerous families, year after year, until every — 
nook and crevice is fully occupied, and even the entire floor — 
is completely carpeted by their soft, delicate tufts of ten- 
tacles. In such localities it is common to see specimens of 
every variety of hue, from pure white, pink, salmon, chest- 
nut, orange, yellow, and light-brown, to dark-umber; while : 
others will be mottled or variously striped with two or morè . 
colors. These colors, however, are those of the outer wall 4 
of the body. But the upper part of the body and the innu- A 
merable tentacles have lighter and more delicate tints, and 4 
this, combined with their translucent texture, gives to the 
summit of the body and its broad crown of fine tentacles a i 
peculiarly graceful appearance, which is much increased by 4 
the numerous deep frills into which the tentacle-crowned d 
margin of the disk is always thrown in the large specimens. 
The tentacles are also frequently banded with white. ae : 
always difficult to decide which specimen in one of et 
numerous colonies is most beautiful when all are so attrac 4 
tive. But the pure white ones most frequently suffer = : 
their beauty, and are borne away in triumph to new homes a 
which, perchance, prove in the end less happy and pleasant a 
to them than the home of their youth. on ail . 
The Fringed Sea-anemone is not found exclusively im! ao 
places as described, but may be found on almost any pe ; 
or ledgy shore along the coast of New England, and eee 
from New York to Labrador, snugly ensconced in mee 
ices between boulders, or on their under surfaces, wine 
there is sufficient space to expand their tentacles, p i 
plete shade from the sun’s heat. For although these ” 












iption, see “A 
Metridium marginatum Edw. and H. For a more complete deserit vert i 
Revision of the Polyps of the Eastern Coast of the United States,” by fr „and 
Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. I. For other ; j 
ures, see “ Sea-side Studies in Natural History,” by E. C. and A. Ag 
ney’s Zoölogy. 








Ld ~ 
OUR SEA-ANEMONES. 253 


organized creatures have no eyes, nor even nerves, they are 
very sensitive to strong light, and love the shade. They 
may also, at times, be found clinging to the piles of wharves, 
and on small stones and shells, wholly unprotected. Near 
Mount Desert Island, I once saw, during a very low tide, 
4 large surface of rocky bottom so completely covered by 
them, that the foot could not be put down without crushing 
many noble specimens. A single stone, the size of a man’s 
head, taken from this place, was found to be the residence 
of sixty individuals, of all sizes. They sometimes occur at a 
greater depth than twenty-five fathoms, but are frequently 
found between high and low-water mark, both in pools and 
in places where they are left dry for an hour or more, where 
they hang relaxed and flabby until the tide returns, when 
they quickly revive. To remove large specimens of this 
species from their favorite rock, without serious injury, is 
no easy matter; for although they are not permanently at- 
tached, but are capable of moving freely about by gliding 
along upon their large, highly muscular, adhesive base, yet 
when disturbed they cling so closely and firmly to the rock, 
that they are very liable to be torn open upon the base, 
tather than loosen their hold. But if the rock be tolerably 
smooth, by gradually and carefully starting them up by 
Pushing with the thumb-nail or some dull instrument against 
and under the base, they may finally be safely removed. If 
roken open they will never recover or heal, though they 
will usually expand and appear very well for several days. 
In the confinement of an aquarium, or even in a jar or 
bowl of sea-water, one of these Actinias will soon make 
nig at home, and, fixing itself upon one side of the vessel 
by its base, will expand its feathery plume of tentacles day 
after day in search of tiny prey, and woe to the unlucky 
“reature, be it animalcule, shell-fish, shrimp, or fish, that 
omes in contact with its crown of gorgon-tentacles, armed 
“ith myriads of poison-darts, deadly to all creatures des- 
tined to Be its prey! When fully expanded, this species has 








: + 
254 OUR SEA-ANEMONES. 


a very graceful form, which cannot fail to please any one 

who has a taste for the symmetry and beauty of natural 

objects. From the slightly expanded base the body arises 

in the form of a tall, smooth column, sometimes cylindrical, 

sometimes tapering slightly to the middle, and then enlarg- 

ing to the summit. Towards the top the column is sum 

rounded by a circular, thickened fold, above which the 

‘character of the surface suddenly changes, the skin becoming 
thinner and translucent, so that the internal radiating par 

titions are visible through it. This part expands upward 

toward the margin, which is folded into several deep undu- 

lations or frills, and these edges are covered everywhere by 

an immense number of fine, slender, crowded tentacles, 

which also occupy about half the width of the oral disk, but 

increase in size and diminish in number toward the mouth, 

which occupies the centre of the disk. The mouth is oval, 

and its lips have numerous folds. It opens directly into the 

stomach, which is a simple sac suspended in the centre of 

the body, having a small opening in its lower end, through 

which the products of digestion are poured into the mat- 

cavity of the body, while the hard or undigested parts of 

the food, such as shells, bones, etc., are cast out from the 

mouth. The whole interior of the body, between the stom | 
ach and exterior, is divided up into an immense number 0 
narrow chambers, by thin muscular partitions, which rad 
from the centre toward the exterior, and are of var 
widths, some reaching from the wall to the stomach 
serving to support it, while others extend only a little 
inward from the outer wall; each tentacle is hollow and! 
direct continuation of the radiating chamber below it, 
Ct 


















= 
there are as many chambers as tentacles, and, of : 
twice as many radiating partitions as chambers. ° eo 
gested food, mingled with sea-water, serves for blood 
fills all the chambers and the main cavity of the body 
the stomach; and, as there is no heart, this fluid? 
in motion and circulated through every part by mar 


OUR SEA-ANEMONES. 255 
























myriads of minute vibrating lashes, or cilia, that cover all 
parts of the interior surface, and this same surface of soft 
membrane has the power of absorbing such nutritious sub- 
stances as each organ may require, from the fluid that bathes 
it, and also the oxygen contained in the sea-water. Indeed 
it is probable that every part of the surface, both external 
and internal, has the power of absorbing oxygen; but it is , 
reasonable to conclude, that this takes place most rapidly in 
the tentacles and internal membranes where the structure is 
most delicate. 
We usually notice, when trying to remove one of these 
Actinias from its rock, a large number of white, thread-like 
organs, emerging both from the mouth and from minute 
openings through the sides of the body. These organs 
= {ppear to be for the defence of the creature, since they are 
-found to -be composed almost entirely of minute poison- 
darts, or lasso-cells, arranged side by side, and having a 
deadly stinging power when used against small animals. In 
t there are very few of the predacious marine animals, 
even not excepting the voracious fishes, that have the temer- 
ty to attack one of the harmless-looking Sea-anemones ; for 
though their darts may not have sufficient power to killa 
large fish, they will, at least, penetrate the thin membranes 
of the mouth and produce a severe stinging, like that of net- 
Note And since these stinging threads may be thrown out 
copiously, and are several inches long, they are very effect- 
wal organs of defence. The inner ends of the threads are 
attached to the free edges of the radiating partitions, and 
the free ends are thrown out simply by the contractions of 
- animal, and consequent expulsion of the fluid contained 
m ts body, which, as it rushes out of the mouth and through 
the loop-holes of the sides, carries with it the threads. When 
ag Actinia is again left in repose, it gradually draws in 
Stinging threads. The little poison-darts, usually called 
hsso-cells, which cover both these threads and the tentacles, 
ve a wonderful structure for organs so minute. They 


256 OUR SEA-ANEMONES. 




















the fluid forces out the tubular dart by turning it inside out, 
as one would turn the finger of a glove. The slender tube, 
when thrust out, is very long, slender, and pointed, 2 
usually curiously and wonderfully barbed. The nature 
the poison, so deadly to small animals, which these 
emit when they penetrate the flesh, is still unknown; 
whatever its nature, it must be very powerful, for the quat- 
tity is necessarily excessively small. The tentacles not on 
capture and kill the prey by means of these organs, but 
means of the darts, that thus penetrate in large numbe 
they hold it firmly until conveyed from the “tentacles 
the mouth. Among our native Sea-anemones there are 
species that have darts powerful enough to sting the iw 
though some species, like the Star-anemone, will often a 
so firmly, if its tentacles be touched by the finger, tha 
may be lifted from the water before it will loosen its” 
This adherence is doubtless due to the many lasso-cells t 
partially penetrate the epidermis, or outer layer of | 
but have not power to enter fur enough to reach the se 
portion. But the common, large, vinta Jelly-fish ( 
arctica) has similar poison-darts covering its long, # 
thread-like tentacles, which are powerful enough to 
the human skin, and sting far more painfully than 1 
And among the coral ii of Florida and the West- 
there are corals ( Millepora) which, unlike most corals, Ì 
animals belonging to the same class with the Je 
and their tentacles have poison-darts, which, a 
the observations of Professor Hartt, sting, the = 
hands where the skin is most delicate very severely 
same is true of some other //ydroids, which do n 
coral, but grow in moss-like tufts. It is also sa said 
of the foreign Sea-anemones have the same pont 


E, 





OUR SEA-ANEMONES. 257 


the hands, and especially those of persons having a delicate 
skin. But certainly no such charge has ever been brought 
against any of our native species. 

The Fringed-anemone makes a very pleasing pet in con- 
finement, and, if allowed plenty of room and fresh sea-water, 
will expand almost constantly. It feeds readily upon the 
flesh of all sorts of shell-fish, etc., and will not refuse bits 
of raw beef. And if necessity compels, it will live for 
months, or even a year, without food; but, curiously enough, 
it will continually grow smaller and smaller, so that a 
specimen, at first five or six inches high and two in diame- 
ter, may thus be reduced to the height of an inch, and the 
diameter of less than half an inch, the number of tentacles 
and chambers being proportionately reduced. In fact, under 
such circumstances, the animal seems to undergo a retrograde 
process, exactly the reverse of that by which it originally 
developed from youth to maturity. 

The ovaries of Actinias, and all similar animals, including 
the coral-polyps, are attached to the inner edges of the radia- 
ting partitions below the stomach, and are filled with im- 
mense numbers of eggs, which are discharged, when mature, 
directly into the fluid filling the body, and then are either 

harged very soon from the mouth, or are retained for a 
longer or shorter time, until they are hatched into miniature 
Actinias, which are discharged in different stages of develop- 
ment and of various sizes; but however small they may be, 

: they are perfectly competent to take care of themselves froni 
: the first. he Fringed-anemone, and some other kinds, 
: When they remove from places where they have long been 
: stationary, are liable to tear off and leave behind them little 
: fragments from the edge of the base, but every one of these 
nts will in a few days develop a little mouth and a 
7 “ie of tentacles around it, and will soon become a perfect 
O= Actinia, differing only in’ size from its parent. The 
“me effect may be obtained at will by cutting off little por- 
tions from the edge of the base with a sharp knife. This 

33 


AMER, NATURALIST, VOL. II. 















258 OUR SEA-ANEMONES., 


process is evidently analogous to the wonderful powers of | 
restoration and development of mutilated and lost parts, 9 _ 
well known by experiments upon the fresh-water Hydra aud 
other low animals, some of which may be cut up in every 
direction into many pieces, and each part will still restore all _ 
- the parts that are lacking. It has, also, some analogy to the 
process of budding, so common Among the coral-polyps. _ 

The Star Sea-anemone* is another beautiful and interesting 
species, which may readily be domesticated in an aquarium, 
and proves very hardy in confinement. This species, il- 
stead of having a smooth body like the preceding, is covered 
with little wart-like pustules, arranged in vertical rows, which 
have the power of adhering firmly to foreign substances, 
such as bits of shell and sea-weed, with which it often: 
completely covers its body as to effectually conceal itself 
when contracted into a low cone among the rocks and gravet 
where it often dwells. But when it lives, as it frequently 
does near Eastport and about the rocky shores of the 
boring islands in the Bay of Fundy, in fissures and cav 
of ledges, overhung and protected by sea-weed, it usualy 
discards its foreign covering, which now becommg 
longer useful, is evidently regarded as a burden, © 
placed in an aquarium, even if covered with foreign ™ 
it very soon discards them and appears perfectly clean. q 
uppermost pustule of each row is larger than the © ETS, 
forms an inflated vesicle just below each tentacle. 
tacles, instead of being very small and numerous, 
Fringed-anemone, are comparatively few, rarely moi 3 
seventy-two in the largest specimens, but they are g% 
often more than an inch long. The mouth usually has 
form of a cross, with several prominent folds upon ' 
Its body is usually pale, translucent, olive-green, $9 
approaching flesh-color, and the disk and tentei 
lighter tint of the same colors, while the tentacles 

* Bunodes stella Verrill. Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural bea 
P- 16, Plate I, figs. 1 to 8. Also a fig pied in Tenney’s Zoŭlogy: 


= 
$ 
y 
























as 











OUR SEA-ANEMONES. 259 


spicuously banded with opaque-white, and upon the disk 
there are usually six or twelve white lines, radiating from 
the mouth to the bases of the tentacles. Most of the tentacles 
usually have a white, heart-shaped spot upon the inner side 
of their bases. This pretty Actinia is very common at 
Eastport and vicinity, and has been found at Cape Elizabeth, 
Maine. In the latter locality the specimens were half-buried 
in sand at the bottom of a rocky pool near low-water mark. 
Doubtless it will be found upon all parts of the rocky coast 
of Maine. In confinement it expands most freely in the 
evening. It feeds, like the other species, upon all sorts of 
mollusca and crustacea that come within its reach. It brings 
forth living young, often of considerable size, which emerge 
at irregular intervals from the mouth, sometimes singly, 
sometimes in large numbers. It does not grow so large as 
the preceding, the body seldom becoming more than two 
inches high and one in diameter, but having more than twice 
that diameter across the expanded tentacles. 
The Red Sea-anemone* is unquestionably the most beau- 
tifully colored and showy of all our northern Actinias ; but, 
although very changeable in shape, it lacks the elegant 
forms assumed by other species. The body usually forms, 
in expansion, a low cylinder, broader than high, with a 
broad disk, surrounded by a moderate number of large, 
tather short, tapering or blunt tentacles. The exterior of 
e body is sometimes nearly smooth, but at other times 
Shows a few, rather inconspicuous, warts or suckers scat- 
: ig over the surface. The colors are extremely varia- 
le. The shore specimens are mostly irregularly mottled 
With deep brownish red, and dull greenish, while the ten- 
tacles are pinkish, banded with opaque-white. The disk is 
= “Men light-greenish or pink, with radiating lines of purple or 


Ls 1 Fa ee ee eee ee eo re 











Davisii Agassiz. For full descripti 1 : ies belong: 
to the aa ted, and for a figure, ““Sea-side Studies,” p. 13, fig. 10. This species bélongs 
called Sub-genus” Urticina of Ehrenberg, 3 ac that is rlier name, it should be 
ma, Urticina Davisii, until it be settled whether it be really distinct from U. crassi- 
urope, 



































260 OUR SEA-ANEMONES. 


deep red, which embrace the bases of the tentacles. Oce 
sionally shore specimens are found having the body uni 
formly bright red, crimson, or pink, with a lighter-colorel 
disk and tentacles. The tentacles are usually banded with 
white in all varieties, but are sometimes uniform pink and 
translucent. Other specimens often have the body pink, 
mottled with orange-red, or blotched with crimson. The 
specimens from deep water have generally brighter 
_ clearer colors than those of the shore, but are quite as com- 
monly found mottled with two or more shades of red, 
uniform red or pink colors. The habits of this fine A 
are much like those of the last, and the young are prodi e 
in the same manner. It attains a much greater size 
specimens are not uncommon which are two inches high 
four or five in diameter when expanded. The large spe 
mens, however, are apt to be troublesome inmates of 
aquarium, on account of their remarkable. voracity, ™ 
nothing seems to come amiss to them. They will cap 
and swallow fishes of considerable size, as well as cit 
mollusks, etc., and even have been known to swali 
spiny sea-urchins of considerable size. Other Actinias, 
are not safe in their neighborhood. Such large apee 
also have a singular habit of frequently protruding 
stomach, and even turning it wrong side out, as if i 
with nausea, which certainly adds nothing to their- 
But specimens of small or medium sizes make very # 
ing pets, and are often more beautifully colored ti 
large ones. wee 
In Massachusetts Bay this species is seldom found 
by dredging, when it usually comes up adhering » 
and dead shells. It inhabits all depths down to 10% 
oms at least. At Eastport, Grand Menan, and other 
at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, where the en® 
leave exposed, at low-water, a wide zone, Unt 
are afforded for obtaining all sorts of rare and ae 
rine productions, which, on other parts of the coast 





OUR SEA-ANEMONES. 261 


























obtained only by dredging in deep water. On these shores 
the two large Solasters, or Starfishes, with ten or twelve 
rays and beautiful colors, together with several other rare 
Starfishes, the Daisy Serpent Star,* the many-armed Basket 
Fish,¢ several large and curious Holothurians, the elegant 
Aleyonium, the much-sought Terebratula, many curious and 
beautiful Ascidians, among which the Cynthia,{ or “Sea 
Peach,” is one of the finest, and a great variety of rare 
shells, may all be obtained at low-water, during the extreme 
tides, together with a great abundance of the three Actinias 
above described. The Red, like the Star Sea-anemone, 
loves best the fissures and crevices of the rocks and ledges, 
that are thickly overgrown with fuci and other sea-weeds, 
which furnish a complete protection to the animals nestling 
among the rocks. Even among the lofty wharves of East- 
port there are ledges in the crevices of which hundreds of 
these Anemones may be found. ` 

The White-armed Sea-anemone,§ unlike the three pre- 


* 5 
+ Zhiopholis bellis Lyman. Plate 6, fig. 12. 
Lam n Agassizii Stimpson. 
fagana Vormis Rathke. ' ao 
ppa on Verrill. Proceedings of Boston Society of Natural 1Y, 


Vol. 


+ 





262 3 THE MARINE AQUARIUM. 





tached to the under side of boulders that have a cavity 
beneath them, and is well adapted to the aquarium, where it — 
very soon becomes perfectly at home, and expands almost 
constantly. Inhabiting the same region with this there is 
another more rare species of Sagartia,* which is duller in 
color and less graceful in form, which lives buried up to its 
tentacles in eavek: 

Besides the species already described, there are several 
others that are less conspicuous, which inhabit the New Eng- 
land coast, several of which live buried in sand or mud, like 
many worms, and only protrude their tentacles at the sut- 
face. These kinds are usually long and slender, and taper 
at the base instead of having a flat adhe. disk. Farther 
southward on the Garoa.. coast there are several other 
peculiar species, some of them beautifully colored, and also 
several species of true corals, the animals of which closely 
resemble the Sea-anemones in structure and habits. 
pretty species of coralț is even found on the southern coast 
of New England. This is found just below low-water 
encrusting stones and shells, and forming little irregu 
masses of coral, covered with star-like cells or igi a 
are about an eighth of an inch across. The polyps, W 
life rise abars these stellate cups, are colorless and 
transparent, resembling, in nearly all respects, 
Actinias. This coral lives well in confinement, and 
readily upon bits of oyster, in the same manner as 
anemones. 












Tey es. Oe Le Tee ae 


5 





THE MARINE AQUARIUM. 





Buy at any glass-shop a cylindrical glass jat, 
inches in diameter and ten high, which will 
three three to four shillings; wash it clean, and fill it 


* Sagartia modesta von Described with the preceding species: 
ł Astrangia Dane Agass 








THE MARINE AQUARIUM. 263 


salt-water, dipped out of any pool among the rocks, only 
looking first to see that there is no dead fish or other evil 
matter in the said pool, and that no stream from the land 
runs into it. If you choose to take the trouble to dip up the 
water over a boat’s side, so much the better. 

So much for your vase ; now to stock it. Go down at low 
spring-tide to the nearest ledge of rocks, and with a hammer 
and chisel chip off a few pieces of stone covered with grow- 
ing sea-weed. Avoid the common and coarser kinds (fuci) 
which cover the surface of rocks; for they give out under 
water a slime which will foul your tank; but choose the 
more delicate species which fringe the edges of every pool 
at low-water mark ; the pink coralline, the dark purple rag- 
ged dulse (Rhodymenia), the Carrageen moss (Chondrus), 
and, above all, the commonest of all, the delicate green 
_ Ulva, which you will see growing everywhere in wrinkled 
fan-shaped sheets, as. thin as the finest silver paper. The 
smallest bits of stone are sufficient, provided the sea-weeds 
have hold of them; for they have no real roots, but adhere 
by a small disk, deriving no nourishment from the rock, but 
only from the water. Take care, meanwhile, that there be 
as little as possible on the stone beside the weed itself. 
Especially scrape off any small sponges, and see that no 
worms have made their twining tubes of sand among the 
weed-stems; if they have, drag them out, for they will 
_ Surely die, and as surely spoil all by sulphuretted hydrogen, 
blackness, and evil smells. 

your weeds into your tank, and settle them at the 
bottom, which last some say should be covered with a layer 
of pebbles ; but let the beginner leave it as bare as possible, 
for the pebbles only tempt cross-grained annelids to crawl 
under them, die, and spoil all by decaying; whereas if the 
-otom of the vase is bare, you can see a sickly or dead 
inhabitant at once, and take him out (which you must do) 
instantly. Let your weeds stand quietly in the vase a day or 
two before you put in any live animals ; and even then, do 























264 THE MARINE AQUARIUM. 


not put any in if the water does not appear perfectly clear; but 
lift out the weeds, and renew the water ere you replace them. 

Now for the live-stock. In the crannies of every rock 
you will find sea-anemones (Actinie) ; and a dozen of these 


brilliant of living flower-gardens. There they hang upon 
the underside of the ledges, apparently mere rounded lumps 
of jelly ; one is of a dark purple, dotted with green; another 
of a rich chocolate; another of a delicate olive; another 
sienna-yellow; another all but white. Take them from 
their rock; you can do it easily by slipping under them 
your finger-nail, or the edge of a pewter spoon. T 
care to tear the sucking base as little as possible (though 
a small rent they will darn for themselves in a few 
easily enough), and drop them into a basket of wet 
weed; when you get home, turn them out into a dish 
of water and leave them for the night, and go to look 
them to-morrow. What a change! The dull lumps of jelly 
have taken root and flowered during the night, and your i 
is filled from side to side with a bouquet of chrysanthemum. 
Let your Actiniæ stand for a day or two in the dish, 
then picking out the liveliest and handsomest, detach ti 
once more from their hold, drop them into your vast; “> 
them with a bit of stick, so that the sucking base 18 & 
wards, and leave them to themselves thenceforth. 


the more beautiful; the very maiden-queens of all the 
tiful tribe. If you find one, clear the shell on ¥ 
grows of everything else (you may leave the opt A 
if you will), and watch it expand under water into & 
lowed flower, furred with innumerable delicate tei 

and, in the centre, a mouth of the most brilliant © 
Josel- 


inata very © 
* On our shores it is rarely met with. It resembles 4. margt a 
t See Gosse’s Aquarium, Plate 5, p. 192. À 





THE MARINE AQUARIUM. 265 























altogether one of the loveliest gems, in the opinion of him 
who writes, with which it has pleased God to bedeck his 
lower world. 

But you will want more than these anemones, both for 
your own amusement and the health of your tank. Micros- 
copie animais will breed, and will also die; and you need for 
them such scavengers as our friend Sguinado. Turn, then, a 
few stones which lie piled on each other at extreme low-water 
mark, and five minutes’ search will give you the very animal 
you want,—a little crab, of a dingy russet above, and on 
the underside like smooth porcelain. His back is quite flat, 
and so are his large angular-fringed claws, which, when he 
folds them up, lie in the same plane with his shell, and fit 
heatly into its edges. Compact little rogue that he is, made 
especially for sideling in and out of cracks and crannies, he 
carries with him such an apparatus of combs and brushes as 
sidor or Floris never dreamed of, with which he sweeps out 
of the sea-water at every moment shoals of minute animal- 
cules, and sucks them into his tiny mouth. Mr. Gosse will 
tell you more of this marvel, in his Aquarium, p. 48: 

Next, your sea-weeds, if they thrive as they ought to do, 
Will sow their minute spores in millions around them; and 
these, as they vegetate, will form a green film on the inside 
“of the glass, spoiling your prospect; you may rub it off for 
yourself, if you will, with a rag fastened to a stick, but if 
Jou wish at once to save yourself trouble, and to see how 
all emergencies in Nature are provided for, you will set 

or four live shells to do it for you, and to keep your 
Subaqueous lawn close mown. 
‘That last word is no figure of speech. Look among the 
à of sea-weed for a few of the bright-yellow or green sea- 
-o ls. For the present, they will only nibble the green 
ulve, but when the film of young weed begins to form, gos 
am it mown off every morning as fast as it grows, m 
at yw micircular sweeps, just as if a fairy’s scythe had been 
= Work during the night 


NATURALIST, VOL. II. 34 


























266 THE MARINE AQUARIUM. 


And a scythe has been at work; none other than the 
tongue of the little shell-fish ; a description of its extraordi- 
nary mechanism (too long to quote here, but which is well — 
worth reading) may be found in Gosse’s Aquarium, p. 34. 

A prawn or two, and a few minute starfish, will make your 4 
aquarium complete ; though you may add to it endlessly, & _ 
one glance at the salt-water tanks of the Zodlogical i 
and the strange and beautiful forms which they contain, will A 
prove to you sufficiently. Le k 

You have two more enemies to guard against, dust and 
heat. If the surface of the water becomes clogged with dust, 
the communication between it and the life-giving oxygen of 
the air is cut off; and then your animals are liable to die, 
for the very same reason that fish die in a pond which is 
long frozen over, unless a hole be broken in the ice to admit 
the air. You must guard against this by occasional stirrug 
of the surface (it should be done once a day if possible), 
by keeping on a cover. A piece of muslin tied over ʻi 
but a better defence is a plate of glass, raised on wit sour 
half-inch above the edge, so as to admit the air. Jam 


next evil, which is heat. Against that you musts 
putting a curtain of muslin or oiled pape y 
and the sun, if it be very fierce, or simply (for simp 
pedients are best) by laying a handkerchief over it 
heat is past. But if you leave your vase in a suon with 
long enough to let the water get tepid, all 1s gen , 
your pets. Half an hour’s boiling may frustrate the 

weeks. And yet, on the other hand, light y ote 7 rtainly 
and you can hardly have too much. Some anım pe ; 
prefer shade, and hide in the darkest crannies; ‘ies 
them, if your aquarium is large enough, you™ e 
shade, by arranging the bits of stone into piles and 
But without light, your sea-weeds will neither 
keep the water sweet. With plenty of light you 


re 


is 


will < 























A FEW SEA-WORMS. 267 


to quote Mr. Gosse once more (p. 259), “thousands of tiny 
globules forming on every plant, and even all over the 
stones, where the infant vegetation is beginning to grow; 
and these globules presently rise in rapid succession to the 
surface all over the vessel, and this process goes on uninter- 
tuptedly as long as the rays of the sun are uninterrupted. 
“Now these globules consist of pure oxygen, given out by 
the plants under the stimulus of light; and to this oxygen 
the animals in the tank owe their life. The difference be- 
tween the profusion of oxygen-bubbles. produced on a sunny 
day, and the paucity of those seen on a dark, cloudy day, or » 
ina northern aspect, is very marked.” Choose, therefore, a 
south or east window, but draw down the blind, or throw a 
handkerchief over all if the heat become fierce. The water 
should always feel cold to your hand, let the temperature 
be what it may. 

Next, you must make up for evaporation by fresh water. 
A very little will suffice, as often as in summer you find the 
Water in your vase sink below its original level, and prevent 
the water from getting too salt. For the salts, remember, 
do not evaporate with the water, and if you left the vase in 
the sun for a few weeks, it would become a mere brine-pan. 
—From Kingsley’s Glaucus, or the Wonders of the Shore. 





A FEW SEA-WORMS. 


BY A. S. PACKARD, JR. 


i sea-side readers may simply shrug their shoulders in 
aat: the prospect of becoming acquainted with crea- 






























268 A FEW SEA-WORMS. 


look at a few specimens of this much-abused race, hear the 
story of their life, their strange manner of increasing the a 
nulate census, and judge, ye sea-side loiterers of the Worms 
place in society. We are not levellers. A worms’ a wort, 
a lobsters’ a lobster, and a bees’ a bee; and they are mt 
convertible terms. The earth is made more beautiful 
bees and the myriads of insects, for without their aid, 
pollen gatherers, in fertilizing flowers and “setting” fruit, 
the world would be a poor sojourning place for that unsitis 
fied and uneasy animal who gives all other animals names. 
' What would a fish-market be without lobsters and 


there is a void which worms can only fill. 
Neptune thrive without the Nereids, the Naides, 
Amphitrites to adorn his halls, deftly sweep the floors of 
palaces, and in a thousand ways beautify and enrich 
domain by their silent, unobtrusive ministry? 
An hour's search among the tidal-pools and rocks at 
water mark, will give us ample material for a few 
discourse. We turn over a stone half-buried in the 
and in the wealth of life there sheltered, behold str 
crawling, leech-like worms, of livid flesh-color, 0r 4 
green or blood-red, and usually long and narrow, © P 
the power of indefinitely extending their bodies Lesa: 
search of food or actually taking it. There are Y. 
species of Flat-worms and Nemerteans which glide | 
over the surface. They are smooth, round or fa p 
pointed at each extremity, and it is with difficulty that 
head can be distinguished from the tail, as the mm 
minute slit on the under-side of the head, and the @ 
(almost the simplest kind of eye known) are often 
The body is not divided into joints, or rings pee 
capable of great extension. Charles Kingsley, 1 
cus, or the Wonders of the Shore,” has graphica sie 
this property in a Nemertean. 


A FEW SEA-WORMS. 269 










































“There lies an animal as foul and-monstrous to the eye as 
‘hydra, gorgon, or chimera dire,’ and yet so wondrously 
fitted to its work, that we must needs endure for our own 
instruction to handle and to look at it. Its name I know 
not (though it lurks here under every stone), and should be 
glad to know. It seems some very ‘low’ Ascarid or Plana- 
rian worm. You see it? That black, shiny, knotted lump 
among the gravel, small enough to be taken up in a dessert- 
spoon. Look now, as it is raised and its coils drawn out. 
Three feet—six—nine, at least; with a capability of seem- 
ingly endless-expansion: a slimy tape of living caoutchouc, 
some eighth of an inch in diameter, a dark chocolate-black, 
with paler longitudinal lines. Is it alive? It hangs helpless 
and motionless, a mere velvet string across the hand. Ask 
the neighboring Annelids and the fry of the rock-fishes, or 
put it into a vase at home, and see. It lies motionless, 
trailing itself among the gravel; you cannot tell where it 
begins or ends; it may be a dead strip of sea-weed, Himan- 
thalia lorea perhaps, or Chorda filum; or even a tarre 
String. So thinks the little fish who plays over and over 
= till he touches at last what is too surely a head. In an 
instant a bell-shaped sucker mouth has fastened to his side. 
In another instant, from one lip, a concave double proboscis, 
Just like a tapir’s (another instance of the repetition of 
forms), has clasped him like a finger; and now begins the 
Struggle: but in vain. He is being ‘played’ with such a 
fishing-line as the skill of a Wilson or a Stoddart never could 
- Tnvent; a living line, with elasticity beyond that of the most 
delicate fly-rod, which follows every lunge, shortening and 
lengthening, slipping and twining round every piece of 
gravel and stem of sea-weed, with a tiring drag such as no 
 Aighland wrist or step could ever bring to bear on salmon 
ella trout. The victim is tired now; and slowly, and yet 
dexterously , his blind assailant is feeling and shifting along 
his side, till he reaches one end of him; and then the black 
Ps expand, and slowly and surely the curved finger begins 


270 A FEW SEA-WORMS. 


packing him end-foremost down into the gullet, where he 
sinks, inch by inch, till the swelling which marks his place 
is lost among the coils, and he is. probably macerated tos 
pulp long before he has reached the opposite extremity of 
his cave of doom. Once safe down, the black murderer 
slowly contracts again into a knotted heap, and lies, like 4 
boa with a stag inside him, motionless and blest.” 
But we will leave these lesser lights among creeping 
things and introduce to the reader a singular and beautiful 
Fig 1. creature (Fig. 1), which we first di- 
covered just below low-water mark o 
the coast of Maine, but which has beet 
found by some members of the Essi 
Institute on the piles of Beverly 
bridge, a rich hunting-ground for me 
rine zodlogists. It is about an inch 
and a half long, rather stout in its pi 
portions, and of a delicate pale-grei | 
mottled with a livid tint, and with — 
regularly scattered blackish dots and l 
> patches. When at rest, one might be 
readily excused if on a casual glance he should mistake the | 
tail for the head, but when it glides slowly forwards, it Pd 
trudes a soft, somewhat irregularly conical head, pe 
capable of great extension, as at one moment it looks z 
nothing at all, and in less than another like a veritable ee 
Its eyes are little dark specs arranged in two A shaped ue 
A little behind the eyes are given off a great profusion 
long hair-like feelers, which curl around, and, when pi ie 
almost completely envelope its whole body. When it a l 
the long pale feelers, centred with a line of delicate red, it 
along after it, and perhaps aid the worm in its very 
gliding motion. a 
Another worm, quite interesting in its habits, 1$ er l 
torrhæa, or Blood-drop. We found it in company ¥ 
preceding worm just below low-water mark, 











Tee ep R Le eee eee ae eres 


CS ee al el OO EON a a hod oR re 





A FEW SEA-WORMS. 271 


While looking over the results of an hour’s search among 
the Laminaria or Devil’s Aprons, we noticed among the 
roots what was apparently a drop of blood. Placing it in a 
saucer, it soon moved and slowly stretched out a few feelers 
of unequal length, fastened the bulging ends in front of it, 
and thus anchored by the sucker-like swollen ends of the 
tentacles, drew itself along, slowly travelling Fig. 2. 
around its prison. Our figure (2) represents 
it twice its natural size. The head and tenta- 
cles are of a paler red than the rest of the 
hody, along each side of which is a row of 
short bristles, which aid it in moving in and 
out of its little rudely constructed tube of 
particles of sand, for we soon found, that, like the Terebella, 
it buried itself in the sand, leaving only the feelers exposed. 

Many worms dwell in tubes,.where their soft bodies are 
Protected from prowling crabs and flesh-eating snails. Such 
are the Serpulas, which secrete a limestone shell fitting to 
the body, and usually curved like a ram’s horn, while the 
tube of the Sabella, a beautiful worm, is leathery, or some- 
times horny. An example of the latter is the case of a 
Spiochetopterus (if the reader will excuse the length of the 
name, no fault of the worm however), fragments of which 
we have dredged at a great depth, over fifty fathoms, in a 

P fiord on the coast of Labrador, and which has been 
found on the coast of Norway by Professor M. Sars, over a 
foot in length and not a tenth of an inch in diameter. The 

phitrite cirrata (Fig. 3) is a curious tube-dweller. We 

ye dredged it abundantly in the harbor of Eastport, Maine, 
that spot favored by fogs, cold storms, and icy sea-currents, 
Where the temperature of the land and sea so nearly agree 
am low spring-tides reveal a wealth of life which in less- 
“vored spots are hid far below low-water mark, and can be 
ached only by that uncertain means, the dredge. 
figure, copied from Malmgren’s (a Swedish naturalist) 
“eeent work on the worms of the Polar sea, relieves us from 





272 A FEW SEA-WORMS. 


giving a long description of this interesting worm. On being 
removed from its long flexible tube of mud, its thick body is 
seen to consist of seventy-five to eighty-five rings, with i 
profusion of 
long tentacles 
and a mass of 
short branchie, 
or gills, behind 
the head; be 
hind which i 
a short row of 
flattened tuber 
cles, from ead 
of which sprig 
a fine bristle 
that aids the 
animal in mer 
ing in and oi 
of its ‘case 





n contracted a 


to keep firmly within its tube, and whe 
to move partially out of it. 

We observed several tentacles which h 
tally torn off, wriggling about the saucer as 
Lewes (Sea-side Studies, p. 59) found that 
But should 
ite, 

tl 


ad beet accidet 
if actually jiring 


they ™ 
the power of motion for six days. 
feelers be cut off our Terebella, or Amphitr 

r this, DUT 
be able to reproduce them, and not only this, 














ture, 


A FEW SEA-WORMS. 273 


power, according to Lewes, of throwing off another indi- 
vidual like itself, by a process analogous to the budding of 
leaves on a plant. But let us hear Mr. Lewes himself speak : 
“No one, I believe, has yet recorded the fact of the Tere- 
bella multiplying itself by the process of gemmation, which 
is known to occur in the case of some other Annelids,—such 
as the Vais, the Syllis, and the Myriana.* When the ani- 
mal reproduces by this budding process, it begins to form a 
second head near the extremity of its body. After this head 
other segments are in turn developed, the tail, or final seg- 
ment, being the identical tail of the mother, but pushed 
forward by the young segments, and now belonging to the 
child, and only vicariously to the mother. In this state we 
have two worms and one tail. Jt is as if a head were sud- 
denly to be developed out of your lumbar vertebre, yet still 
remain attached to the column, and thus produce a double- 
headed monster, more fantastic than fable. Or suppose you 
Were to cut a caterpillar in half, fashion a head for the tail 
half, and then fasten this head to the cut end of the other 
half,—this would give you an image of the Syllis budding. 
But in some worms the process does not stop here. What 
the mother did, the child does, and you may see at last 
‘IX worms forming one continuous line, with only one tail 
for the six. The tail indeed is the family inheritance ; but 
reversing the laws of primogeniture, it always descends to 
the youngest. Such, in a few words, is the budding of 
annelids. I omit differences, and many curious details, only 
desiring to fix the reader’s attention on the cardinal fact. . 
Separation finally takes place, and then we perceive the 
children and grandchildren are not quite the same as their 
ancestor. The fact has not been observed at all hitherto 
in the group of annelids named Tubicola; yet two of my 
“erebelloe gave me a sight of it. The first died before the 


*paration took place. The second, after a day or two’s 
à E a ey 





+ 
pni an account of this mode of reproduction in worms, see 
a by D. Appleton & Co., New York. 
ER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 35 


Clark’s “ Mind in Na- 


274 A FEW SEA-WORMS: 


captivity, separated itself from its appendix of a baby, and 
seemed all the livelier for the loss of a juvenile which had 
been literally in that condition of ‘hanging to its mother’s 
tail,’ which I have heard applied in metaphorical sarcasm to 
small boys anxious to be with their mothers. The young 
one only lived four days.” 
Another tube-dweller is the Pectinaria (Fig. 4, Pectinaria 
hyperborea of Malmgren, and its slightly curved conical 
Fig. 4. tube), which is found 
on our coast: in deep 
water, and its empty 
tube sometimes at low 
water. So far as we 
are aware it does not 
protrude far out of ‘its 
tube, but only exhibits 
a few short tentacles 
and a pair of the most 
brilliant comb-like set 
of golden bristles, from 
twelve to fourteen in 
ich set. It is from 
one to two inches long, 
and its slightly curved 
tube is made up of lit 
tle particles of sand 8 
arranged as to pr 
in and without. 
antly in deep: 
rown from 





resent 


a smooth, almost shining, surface both withi 
We have dredged this species most abund: 
quiet, muddy bays, where it feeds.on fish-offal th 


i southwals 
the fishing vessels. It grows of a smaller size pi arcti¢ 
the 
and is scarcely as common on our shores as in 
seas. re the 


e 
i "ms a 
But the most brilliant and gorgeous sea-w0l en tide 
we 
Nereids. Dig down a few inches into the mud ie? Jata of 
£ nticu 
mark and you will spe edily turn up the Nereis de 





ees ae a eS eee ee ee ee ee ed 


Re ee a ee ee tl ee 














REVIEWS. 275 


Stimpson, a common worm on our shores. In this worm 
the head is larger and more distinctly separated from the 
rest of the body than in the others we have mentioned, and 
it is provided with two pairs of eyes and six or eight pairs of 
tentacles, while along each side of the body is a row of oar- 
like feet, expanding above into broad, oar-like, swimming 
organs, and furnished beneath with several bristles and fleshy 
filaments like feelers. The whole worm is radiant with all 
the colors of the rainbow reflected from its pearly body. 

Some of these Nereids are of enormous size. We have 
found in the Bay of Fundy portions of the Nereis grandis of 
Stimpson, which is seventeen inches in length, and an allied 
form (Eunice gigantea Cuvier) grows in the Indian Ocean 
toa length of over four feet. These are the princes among . 
worms, ranking above the smaller forms by their superior 
size and organization, and their rich imperial dress. 





REVIEWS. 


-— oe 


900D BOOKS FOR THE SEA-sIDE. — We cannot better close our sea-side 


of fi 
It 
1s to be 1 hoped that the Legislature will see fit to order a large edition 
printed, as we learn the work is not to be stereotyped, an d is not to 


the hr ill be numbered by thousands, wares they can now be counted by 
 undred, obs gee of Harris’s Injurious paa which was 
r d is now rapidly sane several editions ha peg been 
tional off, was of incalculable advantage to the oi none educa- ' 
Pintor erg and the stereotyping of the new edition 2 Gould's 
brates is a public necessity. If each eratik is to have a copy 


276 REVIEWS. 








e gratis, pray why may not naturalists have the right to pay $5, or 
wa er the price may be, fora 
only truly popular book is ‘‘ an First Lesson in Natural History, a 


“o 


are pleasant talks about Sea-anemonies and Corals, Coral Reefs, Hydroids 
and Jelly-fishes, Starfishes and Sea-urchins:. A more solid book and full 
of scientific novelties is Mrs. E. R. and Mr. A. Agassiz’ Sea-side Studies, 


eau 
an indispensable hand-book to those beautiful forms. These two 
form a fitting oan ia pe four volumes of Professor Agassiz’ great 
work on th ral History of the United States, the thi and fo 


agen $ 7 ntai ; a 
. author. Professor Tenney’s ‘‘ Zoélogy for ek ý he many pe 
rable wood-cuts of our common fishes and marine animals, and this ” 


n (an island lying at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy), W 
EESE by the Smithsonian Institution, whose Contributions to 
also contain Harvey’s great work on the Sea-weeds of North 


edings and M of ware 
Charleston, ok cine New York, New Haven, Boston, Salem,’ of. 
land. The Illustrated Catalogues and Bulletins of the Museu 
parative Zodlogy at Cambridge, are also invaluable to those whe 


fill an important vacancy in our sea-side literature. nho 
most, certainly,” writes Charles Kingsley, come Mr. Gosse $ sl 
paw is a playful and genial spirit in them, a brilliant power sheer’ valuable as the! i 


I 
with deep and earnes t religious feeling, which makes them oer goap no writers 
teetally interesting. Since White’s ‘History of Selborne, few 
Histo e Mr. , 


ica? and his 
- White did for Selborne, with all the Pages appliance 
deepened tenfold since White's tim is Fre 
“Miss Anne Pratt’s ‘Things of the Sea-coast’ is excellent; and still better 


NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. SA 


Sea-side Book,’ of which it is impossible to speak too highly; and most pleasant it isto 
nius and learning thus gathering the bloom of his varied knowledge, to put it 
into a form equally suited to a child and to a savant. Seldom, perhaps, has there been a little 
so vast a quantity of facts has been compressed int Il a sp and yet 
80 fully, simply, without a taint of pedantry or cumbrousness,—an excellence which 
the sure and only mark of a perfect mastery of the subject. 

“Two little ‘Popular’ Histories, one of British Zoophytes, the other of British Sea-weeds, by 
. Landsborough, are very excellent; and are furnished, too, with well-drawn and colored 
plates, for the comfort of those to whom a scientific nomenclature (as liable as any other 
human thing to be faulty and obscure) conveys but a vague conception of the objects. These 
May serve well for the beginner, as introductions to Professor Harvey’s large work on the 
British Alow A te et iiè > i al iy ja Dettich 7, Shan W 

















To these we may add ‘“Quatrefages’ Souveniers of a Naturalist,” a fas- 
cinating work by a first-class observer, on the animals of the coast of 
France and of the shores of the Mediterranean, republished in London. 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





ZOOLOGY. 
LIVING IN THE SEa.—Insects are essentially earth-inhabiting. 
A small proportion of all the insects live in fresh water, and less than & 
undred are known to inhabit the sea. Only three species are known to 


Er 










(o> 
S i | 
GA 





N 77 = 
~ mi z 


b 
x i> E : 
















f: 


it. The twentieth 
ber the 


T> 


* of Sep- 
rme 


rans 





vith simple 
d antenne, and 
nd the full-grown 


: Peared the fly (Fig. 2, male, and beneath, head of the female wi 
ee the male of which has beautifully pectinate 
longs to the genus Chironomus. We have since fou 





278 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 










larva living in abundance at low-water mark among the green sea-weels 

te in April. The ey must have hatched from eggs laid in the autumn. — 

Another insect (Fig. 3) we have found late in April at low-water mark, 

in Casco Bay, ee and, like the Chironomus, living in the re 
Fig. 4. 





lymna, a beetle u 
known in Europe G) 
to inhabit the sea. Aa f 
In this connec- 
tion we figure the brine-inhabit- 





T: iin from whom we nave received specimens, lives in the very strong 
of the “Graduation House,” at the Equality mentions 
Coity: Illinois. Dr. T. d’Oremieulx has sent us a pupariu ardly weed 
a from the Mlinois one, which he tee pore the er 
the shores of Narragansett rie bales so that 
pe here another sea-inhabiting in = 
We figure (5) the pupa of ping or aca ‘re 
fly, which is found with the Ephydra, at the eT ae = sane: A 
ity Salt-works. Mr. Horace Mann has found i lake, 
mense numbers of a similar insect in the sae waters of Mono * 
California, and it is not improbable that some of these curious flies © 
be found to inhabit our shores between tide-marks. —A. S. P. 


DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING THE LOWER FORMS OF 
— The collector must be acquainted with the fact tha 


Having selected a proper pool for examination, let bim i 
po pe e por ore distu 


` PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 279 















loose fragments of rocks that possibly cover the bottom, and examine 
their lower surfaces. Here he will find many curious ye onor 


l, only Éag no shell. r forms will be found in such 


novelties. Never leave a stone unturned in such places, si m ani- 

$ are proverbially shy, and prefer seclusion. He must also take 

advantage of the heavy storms that beat upon the coast, = along the 
ac 


a he may find certain species washed up in the greatest yg on, that he 
will rarely meet with at other times. The long mud-flats will repay him 

amuddy tramp at low water, for, crawling over the sa, or buried just 
conse its beans he will find certain mollusks and worms peculiar to 


p 
One of e richest. fields for collecting near cities will be found on the 
piles of any exposed pier, or bridge. We mean by exposure, & structure 


e 

; drag up at low tide from the sides of the piles by a slow raking mo 

a 4 perfect harvest of sea-anemones, sea-urchins, starfishes, shells, crabs, 
: ai and a legion of other forms that will keep him busy for some 


pocket lens, unless he carries it in his head, a ies to detach 


Belay rom the r ln 
amiss. For collecting animals beyond the limits described, | the On 
must possess a dredge, the simplest form of which is a triangle made 0 


: ag 
be quite : unlike those that he has met with in the zones mentioned above- 








PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


Tomoa ’ 

Heliz OF NaruraL History, Portland, Me., May T. — The rare ore 

as a etita, before known only by a few specimens, Was T 
tring abundantly in a wood on Cape Elizabeth. The most in 


280 BOOKS RECEIVED. 






esting event of the meeting was the presentation of a Pteropod (Cline ; 
borealis), a marine animal of the arctic ga which has been discovered 


y Fuller in large quantities in our harbor. This animal be- 
longs to a division of the Mollusca wir Pteropoda, or “ Wing-foot,” 
from the swimming appendages which mble the organs of flightof 


ro . + E 
birds. Only six species are known to occur on the coast from the arctic 
seas to Georgia. They are most abundant in the extreme northern or 
southern oceans. Some possess a delicate glassy or horny shell, while- 


lutions in a jar of sea-water. The Clione moves with a deliberate anù — 
graceful motion of its wings — almost recalling the action of a dexterous i 
human swimmer. The Limacina, another fapio observed by Mi. 
Fuller, and o with the Clione, uses its much more ner — 
vously, and gambols about the jar like a miniature dpe half-fledged robin. — 

It is not pam: that the Clione has ever been seen so far to the south * 
ward before. Packard reports it as abundant on the coast of Labrador. 
This is probably the extreme southern limit of the species, and we are m 
doubt indebted to the persistency of our “cold term” for these fairy-like 
visitors in our harbor. Is our climate so changing its soe quality 
that arctic animals find in our waters a congenial hom 













AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF ‘some 
next meeting will be held at Chicago the last of August. It p 
be an ese! interesting meeting, and we hope it will be all 
tended. Various excursions by the members are ‘one of which, 
however, we wav not received precise information in time o ‘insert it 





CORRESPONDENCE. 
sy ps Ri mi Etna, Ind.— The plant you send appears to be the Lemna, or Due i 
ew York.— The solvent for reeling the cocoons of the Cynt hia Silk 
give en Wwe re Menneville, i jet some carbonate of potash in boiling water, 
ition of white soap; no pro’ porti Pa! | thes 
E. O., Yellow Springs, O.— You write that “ we are enjoying a visitation of 
on yon ee see Brae perfect insect appeared on May 18th. The grow 
ou rea i 8 hogy 
laying the eggs, and for alcoholic. specimens o larv rent sizes 
wg and adult. We can name a few of the beetles you send now 


of the others in a few weeks. 1. Nebria llipes; 3.. 
Dicrelus purpuratus; 5. Ochthedromus Lentini BP Clivina 
chalcites; 18. Harpalus near ene D ; 20. Oiceoptoma marginata; 


qualis; 24. Staphylinus villosus 
Oo 


— RECEIVED <i 
éron, Par B'r 
ae Tes. „SYO, Pp. 2 pp. rad et les Mowimesti du Pi p 
i of North A with Colored Dr s and Descriptions. 
H, Edwards.  Ehllaaetnhi. r "Part „April, d, 1808. Ato, with five plates, $2.00. 
Hasa y. 
and Water April 4, 11, 18, " London. z 
The Field. Apri ril 25 25, May 2, 9, 6. London. e ; 
“hg pes age Monthly Meine, June to December, 1866, 1867, January ©* 














De oe 


AMERICAN NATURALIST. 


= Vol. II.— AUGUST, 1868.—No. 6. 
COADORMVOD I~ 


TRACES OF ANCIENT GLACIERS IN THE WHITE 
MOUNTAINS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 


BY GEORGE L. VOSE. 





: _ Prosasty few of the tourists who ride up the valley of the 


_ “*tmner period a solid river of ice filled that valley, for hun- 
dreds of feet in depth, and many miles in length, moving 
_ With a slow but irresistible march downwards, and that this 
7 huge glacier was continually supplied with fresh material at 
a its upper end, from the vast snow-fields beneath which the 
Mb ite Mountains were perpetually buried. Yet there is 
_-*vidence upon the ground that such was the case. All along 
3 the route the rocks are carved with hieroglyphics, more 
"cient by far than those of Egypt and the Nile, which, by | 
Ee of the key obtained in the Alps, we are enabled to 


In the mountains of Switzerland and of Italy, immense 
bodies of snow accumulate in the more elevated regions, 
Where it is so cold that melting to any considerable extent is 
“Possible, eyen in the summer. This snow is by a very 
“dual process converted into ice, immense bodies of which 
i te higher Alpine valleys, and, urged by the pressure of 
ee eee 


shit ing to Act ngre ar 1868, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF 
ade the Clerk’s Office ‘tte District prt of the District of eats 


h NATURALIST, VOL. IL 


282 GLACIERS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 


the unconsolidated snow at the upper part of the mass, move 
down at the rate of from three hundred to five hundred feet 
in a year. The moving of a mass of ice, it may be a dozen 


miles in length, a mile wide, and a thousand feet deep, is 
attended by a tremendous grinding upon the rocks over — 


which the glacier passes. By extended examinations geolo- 
gists have become convinced that in old times these great 
bodies of ice covered immense tracts where now no ice is 
seen, and nothing but the polishing and scratching upon the 
ledges remains. This furrowing and polishing resembles s0 
exactly the results now being produced beneath the present 
glaciers of the Alps, as to be regarded as positive evidence 
of the movement in a former age of vast bodies of ice ovel 
the rocks so scored. ; 

There is at first sight a marked difference between the 
glacial furrows and polishing in the Old World and in the 
New. In Europe these marks upon the rocks are found wd 
certain mountain regions, and always referring Us by nr 
direction to the higher parts of the mountain groups; thus 
showing that the glaciers moved down from the higher . 
the lower lands. This is plainly seen in the Alps, in Sar 
dinavia, and Great Britain. In America, the traces upon 
the rocks, as a general thing, appear to have been produ 
by a far more wide-spread operation, inasmuch as the y 
rows have a prevailing southerly direction, regardless 
topographical features to a remarkable extent, as they pas 
directly over and across some of the largest ranges of gee 
tains. Throughout New England, the most common ppt 
of the furrows is about s.s.ẹ. The wide extent wire 
traces would seem to point to some very general ope sdb 
as a cause. What this operation was, Or rather i A 


> 
how it worked, is by no means yet understood by g°° 


t isto 


nor does it concern us here, as the object at prer atò 
call attention to a different class of glacial gpa S 
appear to show, contrary to the opinion for & long ee 


held, that besides this general operation, which ma, 











GLACIERS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS, 283 


traced over so wide an area, there have been what may 
be termed local glaciers,—masses of ice which belonged 
especially to certain mountain groups, and moved down the 
large valleys, leaving marks upon the rocks over which they 
passed, according in direction with the course of the valleys, 
and varying widely from that of the prevailing north and 
south traces. 

The White Mountains of New Hampshire, both from their 
height and their northern latitude, give us reason to suppose 
that if local glaciers ever existed in New England, their 
traces would be found in the valleys of this group. The 
late Dr. Edward Hitchcock ‘predicted that such would be the 
ease. Dr. A. S. Packard, of Salem, after an examination 
of the eastern slope of the White Mountains, concluded. that 
glaciers had, during some former period, radiated from the 
higher summits. The reader is particularly referred to his 
article in the first volume of this Magazine, as the glacial 
traces there referred to are laid down upon the map accom- 
panying this paper, and as a section of the mountains but 
little known is there described. 

It is to a part of the Androscoggin Valley, and to the 
Upper part of its tributary, the Peabody River, that attention 
Ws here called, as facts plainly seen upon the ground seem to 
show that a glacier moved from Mount Washington down to 
the point where Gorham now stands, and that it joined at 
that place another large glacier, moving down the Andros- 
Coggin almost twenty miles, to Bethel. 

he general course of the Androscoggin River, from its 
source to its mouth, is south-east; but this general course 
'S made up of local courses which differ widely in direction. 
rom its junction with the Megalloway, west of Umbagog 
Lake, to Gorham, thirty miles, it flows from north to south ; 
‘om Gorham to Bethel, twenty miles, it flows from west to 
“ast; at Bethel it turns abruptly round and flows for six 
miles north, and from the point thus reached east for thirty 

“8, but with great local variations ; thence thirty miles 


984 GLACIERS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 


south to Lewiston, and from that place twenty-five miles 
south-east, through Lisbon and Brunswick, to its junction 
with the Kennebec above Bath. 

Now, while the glacial traces in the north and south reaches 
of this river might have been made either by the general ` 
operation which has polished off the whole country, or by a 
local glacier confined to the valley, such could hardly be 
the case with any furrows which may be found coinciding 
with the general direction of the east and west reaches. Let 
us look at the Androscoggin Valley, from Bethel in Maine, 
to Gorham in New Hampshire. This part of the river flows, 
for twenty miles, from west to east, and is bounded on both 
sides by abrupt hills from 1,000 to 2,000 feet high. At 
Bethel the valley opens, the hills receding and decreasing M 
elevation. Where glacial furrows are found upon the tops 
of the Bethel hills, they run nearly north and south. ‘Pro 
ceeding up the valley towards Gorham, upon the south 
(right) bank, at a point about two and a half miles above 
Bethel, before we really enter the close valley, and perhaps 
a hundred feet above the level of the river, a small exposure 
of rock is seen directly in the common road, being about SX | 
feet square, with a long gently sloping polished surface t0- 
wards the north, and a steep and rough face tow 
south. The furrows upon the smooth northern surface ee 
north and south, and the hills upon the summits of ve : 
the furrows run north and south, lie exactly north of Te 
rock, upon the opposite side of the river. Thi age 
had evidently no connection with the Androseogg™ mM 
grooves point almost directly across it. Continuing ee 
valley, just above Pleasant River, five miles above : 
about one-fourth of a mile south of the road, and perbal : 
two hundred feet above the river, the rocks are well po a 
ished; and from faint lines upon masses of quartz, w 
direction of the ice is seen to have been 8. 50° E- er r 
above Bethel, where the river, railway, and pee. m 7 


closely together, and sweep round the base of P 








GLACIERS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 285 


in Gilead, in the railroad cutting just between the two cross- 
ings of the common road, there is a steep ledge about twenty 
feet high, close to the track, which is polished and furrowed 
both upon the nearly vertical face towards the river, and 
also upon a narrow horizontal shelf part way up on the 
ledge. The lines upon the horizontal shelf run s. 20° E., 
the vertical face standing s.-25° to 30° £. Itis necessary, 
however, to be guarded in drawing conclusions from glacial 
traces left upon vertical or steeply inclined surfaces; as the 
movement of ice, jamming through a narrow passage, may be 
locally disturbed, so as to give a direction to the furrows 
quite different from that of the general movement of the 
glacier. This was most likely the case at the point above 
referred to; as the furrows on the opposite side of the hill, 
i.e. the south side, run s. 80° x.; thus according much 
more nearly with the traces both above and below this point 
than the furrows upon the steep face towards the river do. 
The ice would seem to have passed around both sides of this 
hill; and we can readily conceive that this might be, since 
the depression in the rear, south of the elevation, is quite 
low. Indeed, in the fine view from “Sunset Rock,” in 
Bethel, looking up the Androscoggin, Peaked Hill seems to 
tise in a very isolated manner from the middle of the valley, 
which makes it a very prominent feature in that magnificent 
picture. 

Continuing up towards Gilead, about a mile above Peaked 
Hill, and eight miles from Bethel, at a point where the 
mountains crowd in close upon the river, there occurs a 
little south of the road, and it may be three hundred feet 
above the river, a large, steeply inclined, and magnificently 
Polished surface, which is very plainly seen from the road a 
mile and a half below, as it sweeps around the western base 
of Peaked Hill. This surface shows a very few faint lines ; 
but just below it may be seen well-defined furrows upon 
quartz, running s. 55° to 60° E. Ata little more than nine 
miles from Bethel, upon the side of the common road, where 


286 GLACIERS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 


it bends again around a mountain spur, furrows are seen 
upon a small exposure running s. 80° E. At Gilead, ten 
miles from Bethel, just north of the railroad woodshed, and 
near the Androscoggin River, furrows are seen upon a highly 
polished surface of quartz, running s. 40° £., and a few rods 
east of this ledge, are some very good examples of erratic 
blocks ; though from their lithological character they have 
apparently not come from any great distance. Between the 
railroad station and the old Wild River. bridge, may be 


gentle slope to the north-west, and a rough, short, broken 
face to the south-east ; but lacking indications of the precise 
direction of the movement of the polishing agent. About 
mile above Gilead station, at the base of Mount Ephraim, 
where the road and the railroad draw close together 
bend around the mountain, just south of and close to the 
road, at a small quarry, are well-marked lines in quartz, 
running s. 70° E. 

The several traces above referred to, may be seen by 
reference to the map, in the positions which they occupy 
respect to the course of the river. They follow the generi 
direction of the Androscoggin Valley at this- place, and are 
nearly. at right angles with the course laid down hy 
Packard upon the summit of Speckled Mountain (5)- 
remaining part of the valley, from Gilead through Shelburne 
to Gorham, as: well as the whole reach from Gorham : 
Bethel upon the northern bank, invites examination ; addi- 
tional traces will. doubtless be found, supporting t 
sion that a large glacier once moved down this port 
Androscoggin. Especially interesting seem to be the 150% 
Peaked Hill (3), and the abrupt and inviting 
Mount Ephraim, just above Wild River (4) 3 2” 
glacial traces reward the time spent in examining ™ 
points, the explorer would be amply repaid for his yin 
- superb panorama which he will see spread out 






he conclu 
jon of the — 


summits of | 
d should no 











GLACIERS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 287 


Mount Hayes, which rises about 1,200 feet above the vil- 
lage of Gorham, and thus 2,000 above the sea, shows upon 
its summit furrows running s. 40° ©. This elevation affords 
an excellent view of portions of the Androscoggin and Pea- 
body Valleys, and gives a more correct idea of the general 
relief of the surface in that region than can be obtained else- 
where. The towering pyramids of Madison and Adams are 
also seen from this point to great advantage, and, altogether, 
Mount Hayes offers every inducement to those fond of an 
active tramp and fine scenery. 

The Peabody River rises upon the eastern slopes of Madi- 
son, Adams, Jefferson, Clay, and Washington, and upon the 
western slopes of the opposite range of the Carter Moun- 
tains, the Imp, and Mount Moriah; and flows about N.N. E. 
to Gorham, where it joins the Androscoggin. The surface 
geology of this valley is exceedingly interesting; it has been 
carefully studied’ by Dr. Packard, and, from the arrange- 
ment of its terraces and the other forms of the unconsoli- 
dated material, he concluded that a large glacier once 
occupied this valley, extending as far down as to Gorham. 
His conclusion is somewhat confirmed by the following facts : 
About one hundred and fifty yards north of the Glen House, 
just south of a large boulder upon the west side of the road, 
the surface has been cut open, und has exposed a portion of 
a ledge, perhaps a dozen feet in length and a yard wide, on 
Which, at right angles to the contorted lamination of the 
rock, faint lines, or rather furrows, are seen running N. 35° 
E., or 8..35° w, This ledge was covered several feet deep 
by the material of the terrace in front of the Glen House. 
Just across the valley from the hotel, where the carriage 
toad commences to ascend, the upper part of the large T 
Posure on the right hand is well polished and furrowed, in a 
south-west direction: Half a mile farther up the road, fur- 
rows upon the right side, close to the road, are seen running 
S: 40° w., or N. 40° E., and again a short distance above 
the path leading to Tuckerman’s Ravine, upon 4 surface 


288 GLACIERS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 


somewhat inclined towards the road, may be seen lines run- 
ning s. 30° w., or N. 30° £. Many more traces would doubt- 
less be found in this neighborhood if sought for with care; 
as the few recorded were noted without stepping out of the 
common road. 

Thus it appears that while the glacial furrows in the An- 
droscoggin Valley have courses ranging from s. 20° E. to 
s. 80° x., those of the upper part of the Peabody Valley 
range from s. 30° w. to s. 40° w.; making a general differ- 
ence between the courses in the two valleys of over 80°; a 
difference equal to that between the two valleys themselves. 
We may, it would seem, thus conclude that a large glacier 
moved from the neighborhood of Mount Washington down 
towards Gorham; and that another moved from Gorham 
down the Androscoggin Valley, at least as far as to West 
Bethel. 

In the depression between the higher summits of the 
White Mountains, especially between Clay and Jefferson; 
Munroe and Washington, and at the foot of Mount Frank- 
lin, the rocks are rounded and polished from the north 
north-west. A little above the Lake of the Clouds, directly 
in the Crawford bridle-path, faintly defined furrows may 
seen running nearly north and south; this point would be 

about 5,300 feet above the sea, according to the measut™ 
ments of Professor Guyot. These elevated traces belongs 
not to any local glaciers, but to the general ice moveme 
which swept over the whole of New England. 

The White Mountains have been so scarred and tom by 
slides, the valleys so filled with rubbish, and the beds nite 
streams so excessively water-worn, that many of the gl s 
traces have most likely disappeared. Still, this Tes! ini 
been very little explored, and has yielded as much fruit pet 
haps, for the cultivation bestowed upon it, as any - 
That part of the Saco Valley between Old Crawford's 
Bartlett, and the parallel valley of Swift River, which a 
a large area between Chocorua and the Mote Mountains, 


Le 





American Naturalist. 





; 


VAR“ IN W 


PS iieens AA 
oe 





= si 
Dy Gy 


44 
pit E 
Oe 
9 


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q 


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KEZAR 





VOSE ON GLACIERS OF THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 














GLACIERS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 289 


enters the Saco at Conway Corner, both running nearly from 
west to east, deserve to be carefully studied. The valley of 
Wild River, too, promises to afford traces of local glaciers 
whenever it shall be carefully explored. 

We have called attention to the few facts which we have 
noticed in the eastern section of the White Mountains. We 
do not propose to theorize upon the relation between the 
general and the local traces at present. We prefer to await 
the farther accumulation of evidence which shall enable us 
to restore correctly the various phases of that cold period 
when vast snowfields filled the White Mountain basins, and 
huge glaciers ploughed along the White Mountain valleys, 

ving those marks upon the rocks by which we judge of 
their former presence, those convincing illustrations upon 
the last page of the geological history of the globe. 





DESCRIPTION OF THE MAP. 


north; and from Bethel, in Maine, upon the east, to the Mountain 
Notch on the west. It thus includes what may be termed the eastern 
Slope of the central mass of the White Mountain group. This general 


: ene of passing from Jackson into the Peabody Valley which few per- 
have tried.: This is the route up the Wildcat Branch to its western 
North, 
short distance below the Glen House. . 
cond passage of the water-shed is made by following up the er 





Wild River Valley: otherwise the second day’s journey W 
a NATURALIST, VOL. II. 








290 GLACIERS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 





too long, as much of it must be made in the bed of the stream, at least as 
far as to the s aS uou after which there is a good foot-road down the 
right bank to Gilea 

The third passage is the one described by Dr. Packard, in the first 
volume of this Magazine, p. 265-267, from Chatham up the Cold River to 
Gilead. Chatham may be reached by crossing over the mountains from 
Jackson (v), or by going north from Lovell (vir) or North Fryeburg (v1). 

The fourth passage is from Lovell up either side of Kezar Pond, through 
a Notch (1x), and thence by Pleasant River to West Bethel on the 

i py 

e Roman numerals upon the map indicate the following points: I. 
gina, u. Gilead; m1. Gorham; tv. The Glen House; V. Jackson; Vi 
Chatham; vit. North Fryeburg; vim. Lovell; 1x. Miles’ Notch; X. Evans 
Notch; x1. Wild River Notch; xu. Carter Notch. The additional figures 
serve to define the following separate mountains: 1. Sparrow Hawk, in 
West Bethel; 2. Peaked Hill,in Gilead; 3. Calabo, in Mason; 4 
Ephraim, in Gilead; 5. Speckled Mountain, in Stoneham; 6. M ount Royce, 
7. Baldface, both in Chatham; 8. Kearsarge, in Chatham and Bartlett; % 
Thorn Monne in Bartlett and arkeon; 10. Double-head, in Jackson; 1l, 
Name unknown; 12. Wildcat; 13. South peak of Carter; 14. orth 
of Carter, o as. 15. Moriah: ate five last-named mountains 
the tract between Jackson and Shelburne, called Bean’s Purchase 
Mount Hayes; 17. Camel’s Hamp, in Gorham; 18. Madison; 19.. ; ms; 
unr ran 


route, now abandoned, from old Crawford’s to the summit of Mount 
ea: joining the present Crawford bridle-path east of 
Mun 


of some of the 


og lowing figures show the elevation above the sea 
trical mele 


principal points upon the ee according to the barome 
ments of Professor Guyot 
Androscoggin River, a Bethel, Me., . : $ ; 
para: N at Gorham, N. H., ` y 
Glen H 
arar E MAREE Y Glen iow 
Summit of road, Pinkham Notch, kone Glen Ellis’ Falls, 
on, 


Road at Junction of teas and Ellis Rivers, 
Old Crawford’s (Davis’), 
Willey House, White Ioantaie Note k . . 
Crawford House, White ates Notch, + as 
Mount Clinton (26 on m We es 
Gap between Clinton as Pnt, 
Mount Pleasant (25 on map), . > > ° < 


. 











GLACIERS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 291 


Gap between Pleasant and Franklin, : y 3 í 4,400 ft. 
Mount Franklin (24 on map), : : . 4,904 
Mount Munroe (23 on $ ë š 5,384 
Gap between Munroe and Washington, ‘ r E | 
Lake of the Clouds, foòt of Munro ae è i 5,009 
Mount Washington (22 o ; 5 6,288 
Gap between Washington and Clay, 4 i A 5,417 
Mount Clay (21 on map), : ; ee a 5,553 
Gap between Clay and Jefferson, srg 4,979 
Mount Jefferson (20 on map), . . «.  . - 5,714 
een Jefferson and Adams, . . . si jini ht Bop 
Mount Adams (19 on map), . F $ x : ET 
Gap between Adams and akon T gen 
Mount Madison (18 on m 5,365 


ap), 

Limit of trees on tebe side of Washington, ‘ando on Madison, pier 
Limit of trees on Clint igs 
Mount Hayes Bote) ‘a6 on apy, : . - 2,000 
Mount Moriah (15 on map), . 

_ Carter Mountain, north peak, or inp (a4 on map); - 4,702 
pane Mountain, south peak (13 on map), . Sor Se 
Rig Mountain (12 on map), . : $ } E joes 

uble-head, north peak 
Double-head, south suk K } ao on map), n r ` ; 3,000 

ap), . s w z 3 T š 

rn Mountain (9 on map), ° . j G08 do eo REM 

Gian’ Stairs (28 on map), 


Mount Webster (south of Sc. Ws oe 





‘ N iy : 

üd ia ‘There are few persons among those who visit the natina who could not 

study ein os ng evidence of former glaciers, if they were so T sed. A very little 
enable one to recognize the marks upon the rocks wh apie occur. A 


ane tre of the compass, are the only things needed. Notes thus obtained, and 

uay and conscientiously upon the spot, are always valuable. 

c meridian d; and the correction for declination, 

field leads to Year and the location, applied afterwards: the use of two meridians in the 
to confusion. The date, too, should always be affixed. It is well, also, to 

feature vile naar needle, for local d prota i y taki ing the benini to some known 








Of Which ane the landscape when ries exists; and ct positions 
be eta i » Can be seen, by taking the bearing of both of them, the place ee 
Foi: is easi 

upon the — determined; so that the point of his observation may be * 


Gl the stone | ipat © sheng it 
somewhat, men bepal acial traces may bor Kopua off from Such 


mitessions va so very satisfac etory; sia taken from eee re’s own engraving. 
Se be put upon the paper before it is moved from the stone 








‘“MUSHROOMS.* 


` BY JOHN L. RUSSELL. 





A PLEASANT little treatise on some of the more prominent 
species, and one well adapted to afford just such information 
as those who are not strictly botanists might need. 

Some faint idea of the immense number of these obscure 
but interesting plants may be obtained from the title-page of 
the Rev. M. J. Berkeley’s “Outlines of British Fungology, 
containing the characters of above a thousand species, anda 
complete list of all that have been described as natives of the 
British Isles.” (London, 1860.) Of these 1,000 are large 
and conspicuous, and 1,406 are smaller and even minute, of 
which the species. of Spheria alone which speck the leaves, 
and fruit of various plants in Great Britain, are 203 m 
number. In Fries’ great work on the species of a single 
family, the Hymenomycetes, we find an enumeration and 
description of 2,545, embracing, for the most part, the larger 

inds known to him in various regions of the globe. (Ep 
crisis. Upsalie, 1836-38.) In the year 1831, Lewis D. & 
Schweinitz communicated to the American Philosophical 
Society, Philadelphia, a list of 3,043 species of fungi whieh — 
` came under his observation around Bethlehem, Pennsylvan™ 
The list has been greatly enlarged since by the labors of 


The singularly varying forms, under which man 
Fungi appear, have given rise to species which abe 
search has reduced to some previously described. 
the researches of the Tulasnes are elucidating this ‘ 
the subject, and exhibiting most interesting details, * 

it the Ameri- 


.new as well as novel fields of investigation awal 





, Cooke. Wilt 
* A Plain and Easy Account of the British Fungi, etc., etc. By M C. Cao ; 
twenty-four colored plates. 12mo, pp. 148. London, 1862. 
(292) 












































MUSHROOMS. 293 


can botanist who will reduce to practical results a series of 
observations requiring a lifetime to acquire. 
In view of the extent of our subject, the treatise before us 
can be regarded as no more than a brief and meagre account 
of some of the few and more prominent species which might 
occur to a beginner in such districts of England as are fer- 
tile in species. But it is to be regretted that the American 
press is not as generous in contributions to knowledge in 
the various departments of natural history as is that of the 
mother country. Just such a cheap and prettily illustrated 
treatise, which should be strictly American, would do a 
great service, and would be what many young persons need. 
There seems no good reason why the fantastic and gorgeous 
creations of the fungi, which deck our woods and spring up 
around our dwellings, or are found in our pastures, should 
not be studied and as well known to the young, as are the 
blue flowers of the Hepatica, or the rosy corols of the May- 
flower, or the first Violets and the Saxifrage and Columbines, 
which annually awaken a vernal zeal for botany, but whic 
faints and fades away on the coming heats of June, or the 
sultry days of August. Who has not admired the Agarics 
and Boleti and Clavarias in the pine woods in September, 
and who has not longed to know something more of them, to 
learn their names, their good or bad qualities, their uses or 
a ds? The brilliant scarlet disk of a Peziza, starting into 
life from beneath the dead leaves of a Pennsylvania wood, 
takes me back now to the vicinity of Pittsburgh, where years 
âgo I searched for the Erigenia, the first blossom of the spring 
there; and there is no autumn which does not thrill me with 
à new life as I see the shady paths and the wet spots of Aah 
op so bravely adorned with these fugitive and fugacious 
orms of vegetation. 
oi excitement which spurs on many a student in natural 
7 k ry, that he may be the possible finder of a new species, 
comcident with the study of the fungi. Spots most 
liar to the eye, often are found producing kinds either _ 





294 MUSHROOMS. 


quite novel, or at least of occasional occurrence. Dependent — 
as it would seem on some atmospherical conditions, species 


of fungi are meteoric, and visit places which seem quite 
singular and remarkable. Some extraordinary specimens of 
the exquisite Morel (Morchella esculenta) were found in the 
coal cinders in the rear of the Eastern Railroad depot, 
by the late Mr. Knights, a worthy employee there. Occi- 
sionally I have seen it in old orchards, but should scarcely 
. have supposed it the product of cinders. The beautiful 
Cyclomyces was first discovered many years ago in Tewk* 
bury, in this State, by Dr. B. D. Greene, and found to be 
entirely unknown before, though subsequently occurring 
elsewhere. I look for the possibility of the appearance of 
the truffe in some sections of the limestone strata of the 
United States; and other wonderful and beautiful sorts are 
only waiting to be found. 

The value of the larger fungi as articles of food is scarcely 
known and hardly appreciated in this country. The table 
recognizes them chiefly in the presence of ketchup, made of 
species indiscriminately gathered by those who prefer this 
article or sauce. It is probable that a few only are really 
deleterious and poisonous, and even these are rendered com- 
paratively innocuous by heat and spices. Otherwise than 
this they are rather objects of prejudice, and most persons 
look upon them with disgust. Even for their mere exterior 
beauty they are seldom sought, and still less are they em- 
ployed for ornament, like their equally fugacious and s0olr 
fading sisters, the many sorts of wild flowers which decorate 


wo 
the parlor. I have, however, seen them gathered ar a 


ranged for this purpose, and with singular effect; 2” a 
interest such groups, exhibited at the Horticultural jee 
Rooms in Boston, elicited was worthy of remark. The mi 


; i ines” 18 
ber of the Agarics described by Berkley in his Outlines > 


564, as found in England, yet scarcely more than @* © 
Species, the A. campestris, is made an article of food. 
_ Species is represented in this country, and when ¢0? 


pedi 









MUSHROOMS. 295 























certainly a pleasant morsel. The Rev. Dr. M. A. Curtis, in 
his Catalogue of the Plants of the State of North Carolina 
(Geological Report), 1867, gives 438 species of Agaries, 
of which he considers fifty-six as esculent. In Poland and 
Russia even such abstemiousness is unknown, and most kinds 
of the larger fungi that occur are employed for food by the 
common people, either in a dried state, or after pickling in 
salt or vinegar. That there are highly. poisonous qualities 
resident in several is indisputable, and is well known, as has 
been shown by Christison and others; one being an acrid 
matter so very fugacious that it disappears when the plant 
is dried or boiled or macerated in weak acids, alkalies, or 
aleohol; the other principle is more fixed, resisting the 
action of these tests, and resembling in its effects the opera- 
tion of opium. 

Many years ago, Greville, in a Memoir before the Wer- 
nerian Society of Edinburgh, directed the public attention to 
the use of the esculent fungi as a staple article of diet; and 
Schwaegrichen, the illustrious editor of Schweinitz’s first con- 





296 MUSHROOMS. 


plants on the same level with other and higher forms, which 
embrace among our garden vegetables wild states of severl i 
equally poisonous and of many plants beside, often mis 
for harmless ones, ending, if used, in fatal results. i 
About eight years ago appeared the Rey. Dr. Badhams — 
valuable work on the “Esculent Funguses of England,” with ] 
drawings of the species colored after nature, and defining — 
their localities, uses, and importance ; indicating attention in 
the right direction to this subject, and followed shortly after 
by the little treatise whose title stands at the head of this 
article. To understand the arrangement and classification of | 
the fungi requires a careful study of the systematic treatises — 
` of such botanists as have made them a specialty, and to give 
even an idea of such systems would be out of place here. 
Yet some peculiarities noticed by our author may not eae 
wholly devoid of interest. “To say that fungi may be found 
everywhere, would not perhaps be literally true; but to si 
where they are not found under any circumstances would be 
puzzling, —every rotten stump or twig, every decaying leat 
or fruit, has its peculiar species, —some large enough ue : 
tract immediate attention, others so small as to be invisill® — 
to the unaided eye.” (p. 3. : 4 
Of these latter may be mentioned, as confirmatory of tha ] 
statement, the parasitic fungus, which destroys by 4 -r d 
consumptive disease the life of the common House-fly ( a 
rendonema musca) ; and the Botrytis bassiana, which inlet 
the silk-worm ; the mother of beer and vinegar is the my ‘ 
ium * of other species; and similar mycoderms* riot in? l 
Ìnkstand, and even in pharmaceutical preparations ; the de 
caying hoofs and horns of animals, and the feathers of 4 
produce their particular kinds; the lungs of water-fowl a 
attacked by others; the skin of fishes, and the eggs of 8" 
and frogs are destroyed by parasitic fungi. Nosu 4 
escapes their visits, and eyen iron hardly cooled has ea 1 
found invested in a few hours with fungoid threads. a 


* Conditi rA os 





pe A hinh 


ak 





MUSHROOMS. 297 
































minute organisms, which serve for seeds and known as 
spores, float in the air and lodge in the water, waiting op- 
portunity to germinate and grow. Even the cavities of nuts, 
and the tough kernels of apples develop certain species; 
and roots and solid timber alike are rent asunder by the 
presence of particular kinds. The mildews which cover our 
gooseberries and hops, and the foliage of the vine, or the 
husk of the ripening grain, are forms of the smaller fungi, 
and all powerful in their littleness. 
“Nor are these plants less worthy of notice on account of 
the rapidity of their growth. The great puff-ball springs up 
in a marvellous manner to the size of a pumpkin during 
the night, and Dr. Lindley has computed that the cells of 
which its structure is composed have multiplied at the ex- 
traordinary rate of sixty millions in a minute. Dr. Greville 
mentions an instance of one of the largest of British fungi 
(Polyporus squamosus) attaining a circumference of seven 
feet five inches, and weighing thirty-four pounds after 
having been cut four days. It was only four weeks attain- 
lng to these dimensions, thus acquiring an increase of growth 
‘qual to nineteen ounces per day.” ‘This rapidity of growth 
- only equalled by the amazing power which vegetables, so 
fragile and tender in their tissues, possess ; instances being 
cited Where pavements have been lifted by the growing of 
ne beneath ; but somewhat of the same phenomena may be 
- Yearly seen in the woods, where clusters of brittle fungi, by 
Perpendicular pressure, lift masses of earth and leaves up- 
ards as they issue into the air and light; and in the early 


ag the same phenomena may be seen where the flowers 


NATURALIST, VOL. 11. 38 


298 MUSHROOMS. 


in like places, where no other form of plant could exist; — 
while some are entirely subterranean. The forms, too, which — 
these singular plants assume are extremely diversified; in ‘ 
some the form is that of a cup, in others of a goblet, asi — 
cer, an ear, a bird’s nest, a horn, a bunch of coral, a button, — 
a rosette, a lump of jelly, or a piece of velvet. In colot — 
they are almost as variable as in shape, the rarest color 
being green. We have all shades of red, from light purple 
to deepest crimson; all tints of yellow from sulphurous to — 
orange; all kinds of browns from palest ochre to deepest d 
umber, and every graduation between pale gray and sooty 
black ; blue and violet tints do not abound, but these, as well 
as a beautiful amethyst, occasionally occur. White and creamy 
traits are very common. Odors are manifestly agreeable ot 
disagreeable to a considerable extent, according to the taste 
of the inhaler, but it must be confessed that some of the 
fungi exhale an odor so intolerably fetid, that no set of l 
olfactory nerves could be found to endure it longer than ws | 
absolutely necessary ; the truly elegant but rare 4 
being an instance to the point. Fortunately this unpleasant 4 
feature is not common in the fungi, some smelling like new 
made hay, like violets, like anise, or walnuts, or new 
or tarragon,—and a variety of flavors which the fungi posse ] 
is calculated to please.” 
It has been asserted by some botanists that climate greatly, 
modifies the properties of these plants, and renders 
harmless, where found out of their native habitats. A m 
nificent species, known as the Amanita muscarius, sn 
Agaric, a native of Europe, and found in our woods, ge 
of twelve species occurring in England, of which many 
side this one, are decidedly poisonous and used in the prep 
aration of fly-paper. Roques, in his work on the e a 
fungi, distinctly says, “That this plant has not its po bis 
qualities modified by any climate, the Czar Alexis lost š 
life by eating of it, and yet it has been affirmed as i 
Kamtschatka it is used as a frequent article of food 








: 



















MUSHROOMS. 999 


cooked and eaten in Russia. In Siberia, it supplies the 
inhabitants with the means of intoxication similar to that 
produced by the haschisch and majoon in the East.” 

Under the vague and general name of mushrooms, several 
species of fungi are consumed as articles of food. It may be 
true that in some localities, only one or two species are dig- 
nified with the appellation of mushroom, while all the rest 
which resemble it in form are condemned as toadstools: yet 
we believe there is in prospect an age when more of those 
which are really worthy will be admitted to the tables of 
rich and poor without that accompaniment of suspicion and 
dread which attaches to a dish of mushrooms. We accord 
perfect justice to Agaricus compestris, the mushroom of cul- 
tivation, whilst more delicious kinds, and equally harmless, 
are allowed to flourish and decay year by year without mo- 
lestation. 

Dr. Badham, whose work we have already mentioned, 
gives us instances of “beefsteaks growing on oaks in the 
shape of Fistulina hepatica; Agaricus fusipes to pickle in 
clusters under them ; puff-balls, which some of our friends 
have not inaptly compared to sweetbread for the rich deli- 
cacy of their unassisted flavor. Hydna, as good as oysters, 
Which they somewhat resemble in taste ; Agaricus deliciosus, 
reminding us of tender lamb kidney ; the beautiful Yellow 
Chanterille, the Halon kai agathon of diet, growing by the 
bushel ; the sweet nutty Boletus in vain calling itself edulis 
(edible), where there was none to believe; the dainty Or- 
cilla (Agaricus heterophyllus), which tastes like the craw- 
fish when grilled ; the red and green species of Agaricus, to 
“ok in any way, and equally good in all.” 

OF this list of dainties let us see what we have among Us 


ati to replenish our larder. The beefsteak (Fistu- 
or a Pough not given in my friend Sprague’s second list 


“a New England fungi, in the Proceedings of the Boston 
p aty of Natural History, vol. vi, p- 315, is credited 3 
‘Murray ima previous list of the fifth volume, p. 325; an 


300 MUSHROOMS. 


according to Schwinitz, is common throughout all Pennsyl- — 
vania, and often of the greatest size. We must forego the 
pickled Agaricus fusipes, unless brought to light by Cutis — 
or Ravenel; the creamy puff-balls, which in the Lycoperdon 
giganteum, is, according to our author, excellent eating, 
especially esteemed in Italy, and on the authority of Mr. — 
Hussey (author of a costly work on British Mycology) 
are, when sliced and “dipped in the yolk of egg, and sprit- 
kled with chopped meat, herbs, and spices, much lighter | 
and more digestible than egg omeletts :” these rare bits are j 
represented in the L. Bovista, which attains an enormous — 
size, and would furnish “omelets” for an army. Then fot — 
vegetable oysters we have several species of Hydna: te — 
lamb’s kidney in pine woods is the Lactarius (or Agaricus) 
deliciosus and the volemum is in Mr. Sprague’s lish è — 
more common species; as to the “beautiful yellow Chan- l 
terelle,” which smells like ripe apricots, a bright sum} — 
afternoon in September revealed such a group to my S — 
as has gladdened them ever since when my memory has n 
called the scene ; the edible Boletus, if not among our wn i 
Species, is curiously represented by some counterfeit, ants 4 
according to C. C. Frost, occurs in the woods of B 
boro’, Vermont; the dainty Orcella, I am sorry © say 
found in bad company with species of Russula, and no mit i 
ter if wanting with us, a genus containing “some of the 7 
and some of the worst of fungi viewed in an ae 4 
aspect, and some of the most brilliantly colored species: 
Our author gives us quite a list of species not une e 
in England, some sold by the quantity in the markets y 
their true scientific names, without which they could not a 
_ recognized with any degree of certainty. In a few — ; 
we have been able to identify them with American kat 
comparing reliable catalogues of our own my cologists; by 
- even this method is not without certain objections, puis | 


T 


the united labors of Berkeley and Curtis, the Schwein ë 
collection has been found not so authentic as it ¢” 





MUSHROOMS. 301 








































wished. The student, curious in these matters, may be re- 
ferred to these papers in the Journal of the Academy of 
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, for July, 1856 (new 
series), and to those in the Memoirs of several Scientific 
Societies, and to Dr. Curtis’ list of plants alluded to above. 
But in an enterprise like the one before us, the efforts 
of gastronomy must be enlisted, and a series of experiments 
institutéd upon our New England species. Plants thus low 
in the order of vegetation would be most likely to be repre- 
sented by co-species and transatlantic forms, equally good 
for food or dangerous as viands, possessing the chemical 
principles which are to be sought and found in them. 

The fairy-rings, described in English books, are due to 
the presence of a modest little Agaric, figured and colored 
to life, under the name of Marasmius oreades, an appellation 
which we find in Mr. Sprague’s list, but with which we have 
ho personal acquaintance. “The little fairy-ring Champig- 
non,” says M. C. Cooke, “is one of the privileged few that 
enjoy a good reputation, but even in this instance the repu- 
tation is local. In the dried state they are available for 
culinary purposes, while thousands of them annually rot in 
the pastures, where they grow without a hand to gather 
them. There is scarcely a more delicious fungus. It is so 
common in districts that bushels may be gathered in a day. 
They may also be readily dried by stringing them together 
on a thread, and suspending them in a dry kitchen, and 
when thoroughly dried may be kept in close tins.” | 
Allusion has already been made to the Boleti as articles 
of food, of which both England and this country possess 
my Species. In selecting them for trial in cookery, we 
‘re informed that “it will be advisable to caution all who are 
experienced in collecting Boleti, that several are unwhole- 
“ome, some decidedly poisonous. If upon cutting or bruis- 
mg any specimen it should be found to change color, it 
should be rejected. Some species become blue almost im- 
mediately upon wounding; those with reddish stems, OT 





302 MUSHROOMS. 


with the under surfaces red or crimson, should also bere _ 
jected.” l 
Any one familiar with our woods in the autumn must { 
recall the numerous sorts of the coral fungi, so delicate ant — 
branched in variety of shapes, as to remind him of the corals 7 
of the ocean. They bear the generic name of Clavarit, 
from Clavus, a club, the single branches being blunt or — 
club-shaped at the apices. If such on being gathered and — 
carried home are laid upon a piece of slate or black paper, 
a multitude of small white particles, or perhaps of a bluish — 
gray color, will fall from them, and become visible aftera 
few hours. These are the spores. “All the white-spored 
Clavarias are wholesome; but some are so tough and 
leathery, and others are so small, that the number at all 
available for culinary purposes is limited. They should, 
after being collected, be washed in lukewarm water and per 
fectly dried, then tied together in little bundles like aspari- 
gus, and cooked with butter, parsley, onion, pepper, and 
salt; when cooked, they may be improved by the addition 
of a little cream and the yolk of an egg.” 4 
~The English and European species cited are 0: 0.a i 
amesthystina, rugosa, vermiculata, Sastigiata, coralloidet, a 
cristata, of which we have several, and representatives 
the others. The Helvellas, like the Morels, to which alle 
sion has been made, are also classed among the edible pe 
and represented in our country in two more species at leas 
“The best substitute for the expensive Morels may be fi pe 
in two indigenous species of Jelvella, which, like the Mores, 
may be gathered during the season, and dried, and thus r 
served for use: all the year round. They impart an ex0, 
lant flavor to gravies and soups.” Related to these, bu 
different. shape, size, color, and consistence, are the me 
tous Pezize, of which the list of North American exce 
least two hundred species; and in Great Britain one hun ‘ 
-and thirty or more. They are interesting to the my mee 
presenting in their exterior both delicate and gorgeous © - 





SPONGES. 303 































varying much in size, and found almost everywhere in moist 
situations. “In the manufacture of the handsome Tunbridge 
ware, a variety of wood is employed under the name of 
green oak. Although of a mineral green color, this is the 
ordinary British oak; but the alteration which it has under- 
gone is due to the presence of a fungus. A handsome little 
species resembling a Pezizia traverses with its mycelium the 
whole fabric of such wood, and these minute threads give the 
green tint to the timber.” Similar tinted but decayed sticks 
and pieces of timber may be found in our own woods, owing 
doubtless to a similar cause. | 
In conclusion, it is to be hoped that the coming season 
may be seized upon for collecting, delineating, and coloring 
from living specimens some of the many fine and curious 
species of this vicinity ; and that our naturalists may insti- 
tute experiments, aidéd by the chemist and the gastronomer, 
ven line of wholesome, novel, and dainty tidbits of the 
e. 





‘SPONGES. 


BY A. HYATT. 


Avone the dark-brown leaves and green filaments which 
ate borne upon the edge of the incoming tide, one frequently 
observes a substance hardly distinguishable from the sur- 
rounding plants, except for its light-brown color and porosity. 
This is sometimes dendritic,* with lank branches springing 
from broad, thick-spreading bases ; but generally it is broken 
into fragments, and only the palm-like parts, with their finger- 

aped ends, are left grasping among the froth-covered 
“weeds. A slight pressure will expel the water, and the 
— of the half-dried specimen will at once arrest atten- 





It is in fact a Sponge, differing only in the details of its ` 
O ORG MERETE 0 SO 


* Branching like a tree. 



















304 SPONGES. 


structure and its general form from the sponges of commerce. — 
The latter, whose irregular swelling outlines are so fami 
iar to us, are of foreign origin, the better kinds coming 
from the more eastern shores of the Mediterranean, the 
coarser and larger kinds from the Bahamas. The commer 
cial value of these is based upon the horny nature aul — 
closely interwoven texture of their internal skeleton. 4 

A sponge is, typically, a gelatinous mass, in which is im- 
bedded numerous little spikes and plates, of a horny, calci- 
reous, or siliceous substance ; or hair-like threads of various — 
. forms, which are so thickly disposed and closely knit te — 
gether by animal matter, that they form a sort of open-work — 
frame supporting the looser tissues. q 

n the common sponge this frame-work is wholly composed 
of horny hairs, which are so densely packed and elastic that ; 
they immediately resume their original shape after being d 
compressed. The gelatinous matter is in all cases cleaned — 
out after the sponge is torn up from its rocky bed, and thon j 
which we utilize are only the horny skeletons of the living 
animals. So loosely constructed and fragile, however, %® — 
the large branching species of our own coast, that a 
specimen may be crushed to powder in the hand. 

The exterior of our beach specimens have a furry look, 
to the projecting points of the spiculæ, which a 
through the outer skin. Scattered holes of consider d 
size reveal portions of the interior, and between them arè 
innumerable smaller pores. These larger apertures Con ; 
with distinct channels which ramify through the mass. ™ 7 
directions, and, when surrounded by their native ele ae 
expel continuous jets of water. In fact the whole 1s pei 
apparatus for absorbing and ejecting sea-water, well dest a 
ing its old name of sea-lungs. 

The surrounding liquid is taken in through the pe 
pores of the outer side, and, passing through the ene? 
interstices of the structure, is finally collected in 
channels and thrown out again, together with quan 


due 


ities of 














SPONGES. 305 


feculent matter through the larger openings. The meshes 
of the sieve and the channels are thickly lined with myriads 
of microscopical animalcule, to which the perpetual current 
bears their minute food, sifted of all the coarse, unsuitable 
particles, and maintains an invigorating supply of fresh sea- 
water throughout the whole colony. The animals themselves 
create this current by the motion of ciliæ, or little hairs, 
which grow out from the region of the mouth. The form of 
their bodies has been ascertained in only one species, called 
Leucosolenia botryoides. In this, which is quite small, 
though common on the shore, Professor H. J. Clark found 
that they were minute sac-shaped beings, with a collar pro- 
jecting from the free end, in the middle of which was the 
mouth, situated at the base of a long filament which was 
hardly ever at rest. It seemed to be employed principally 
m casting morsels of food down into the mouth, and this 
action, in itself so slight, is yet, when carried on by the thou- 
sands of neighboring filaments, sufficient to keep the fluids 
n rapid motion through the meshes. 

Until of late years the animal nature of the sponge was 
disputed. Then it was referred to the Ameba forms, crea- 
tures which are mere sprawling drops of jelly, without 
mouths or stomachs, but which, however, manage to move 
Wout, and even in some species build up most elaborate 
internal structures resembling minute shells. Now, through 
the investigations of Professor H. J. Clark, we know that 
they are colonies of such comparatively highly organized 
beings as those I have described, and we are ulso able to 
State, upon the same authority, that their young are. free, 
roving globules, resembling an isolated individual of the 
parent stock, 

The mode of growth has not been studied in the sponge 
itself, but in a closely allied animal where a number of lit- 
tle bells grow upon a stem (Codosiga pulcherrima). The 
Youngs of this is free at first, but finally attaches itself, and 

nes elevated on a pedicle. Then the vase grows _— 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IL 39 












306 SPONGES. 


oval, the opposite sides at the narrowest diameter approach 
each other, coalesce and split, dividing all the internal or- 
gans, and the mouth and calyx, or collar, into two parts. 
Two other filaments grow up from these halves, and a fissure 
begins in the disk, which gradually spreads both upward and 
downward, until two transparent vases, complete in structure, 
swing upon the trunk which bore only one an hour before. 
This process in some species is continued until quite a cloud 
of descendants cluster around. the parent. branch, but in 
others, again, only separate and distinct individuals are pro- 
duced, the division totally separating the stem as well as the 


The sponge, probably, grows in the same way; but. the 
vases, having no stems, remain attached side by side, and 
secrete the gelatine and spicule, or horny hairs, from the 
lower surfaces of their bodies. These support the s 
and enable it to maintain a definite outline, and continue its 
growth without the danger of collapsing. 

There are several species on our coast, but the most 00: 
ticable is the great Halichondria, whose favorite resort 18 
old wharf-pile. This may not seem an attractive object, but 
Nature has clothed the whole coast with her living tapestries, 
and even here, her taste is as faultless, and her hand 38 
lavish in decoration, as in more favored and sunnier spots. 

Get into your boat, and when the tide is lowest float down 
under the wharves through which the current has 4 clean 
sweep. The waves lift the dank bladder-weeds and long 
green sea-hair which cover their stained sides, while below 
these, brown clusters of mussel-shells open their fring? 
mouths, and huge anemones, as thick as your arm, a 
their laced crowns of white, brown, crimson, or Val 
colors on the water-worn logs; and in the midst our gres 
sea-lungs hangs out its mass of branches, and sp 
weird fingers up towards the observer. Even the spons? 


is i 
beautiful in such places and with such associations. r 








- 


EA N A y 


NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 


BY W. T. BRIGHAM. 





; [Continued from page 186.] 

Cocos nucifera, Cocoanut. To attempt to give a bare 
enumeration of the qualities of this most useful of the noble 
family of Palms would be a difficult task, and there is a 
saying among Eastern nations that its attributes would fill 
& book. Although its strict territory is bounded by the 
tropics, and although a denizen of the sea-shore, it will grow 
as far north as Lucknow, in India (26° 50'N.), and is planted 
far in the interior of that peninsula; but in the one case it 
does not bear fruit, in the other is dwarfed and languishes. 
From its littoral position, its buoyant and well-protected 
nuts have been driven by winds and currents all over the 
tropical seas, and almost as soon as the atoll changes from a 
mere reef to an island, the cocoanut lands on the shores. 

The tall unbranching stem, often attaining the height of 
nnety-feet, with a diameter at the base of three feet, and at 

e crown a foot, is a most attractive object. The scars of 
the fallen leaf-stalks, more and more distinct as they ap- 
Proach the top, show clearly the way in which the stem has 
grown, starting almost at the commencement of life with its 
full diameter, and throwing off crop after crop of leaves as 
it grows in height. The leaves are usually twelve or fifteen 
m number, often fourteen feet long, and cluster around thë 
ap: As a new leaf comes out, it is covered with a brown 
fibrous sheath, which is soon split through by the sharp end 
of the leaf. At first the leaflets are folded closely upon the 
central rib, so closely that they seem a part of the smooth, 
like seinar blade. The midrib is now quite short, oye 
oa e midrib of our common palm-leaf fans, and if we 

ald ‘rumple one of these dried leaves up, We should have 
much the plan of the young cocoanut leaf. If the blades 

(307) 








308 NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 


should now expand the leaf would be palmate ; but it goeson 
lengthening the axis and becomes pinnate, showing a higher — 
order of development. -Five or six leaves are unfolded q 
every year, and as many wither and fall off. When you — 
the leaves are quite tender, but when fully expanded, become — 
very stiff and hard. ; 
The axillary spathe opens always on the under side anl — 
soon falls off, leaving a spicate spadix bearing the female — 
flowers near the base; as in most palms the blossom is beai- — 
tiful from the great number of the flowers, rather than from 
any individual grace. In favorable places each stem will | 
bear from five to fifteen nuts, and a mature tree may have q 
eight or ten, or even twelve of these stems, one blossoming — 
every four or five weeks; so that a tree will produce from 
eighty to a hundred nuts annually. They ripen in succes : 
sion, so that blossoms and fruit are seen at once. 
As the fruit comes to us its glory is gone. It is in ib | 
best condition just before ripeness, or when the shell is soft 1 
enough to be cut with a knife; then the interior is 
with a rich clear milk, always cool when just gathered, 
the shell is coated with a gelatinous cream almost tramp 
rent, and so soft as to be eaten with a spoon. When fully 
ripe, the inner crust has hardened, and absorbed the poe 
part of the milk, leaving an insipid water. The ose 
quite nutritious, and many medicinal effects have bee 
tributed to it. I have drank nothing else for several days: 
without perceiving any unfavorable result. It is porai” | 
with more reason regarded as a cure for sea-sickness. Care- 

: 3 ymy 
fully picked with a portion of the stem attached, they? — 
be carried for three weeks at sea uninjured, perhaps lap 
so that we might be supplied with fresh nuts from the 
Indies. 





































NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 309 


planting, and it grows slowly for the first two years of its 
life. In favorable situations the tree begins to bear when 
six years old, and continues until seventy years, or even 
nger, 

It is said that the palm loves the company of man, and 
grows best near his habitation, and well may man return the 
love, for it furnishes him with all the necessaries, and many 
of the luxuries of life, requiring no cultivation or care. The 
wood is hard in old trees, and very ornamental, and is used 
for timber. The rootlets are eaten, or rather chewed as 
tobacco: the young leaves are boiled and eaten as cabbage ; 
when they are older they furnish a good surface to write on 
with a sharp point (cow-dung is usually rubbed in to make 
the characters more visible), and also to thatch houses, 
fence gardens, make baskets, mat-beds, fish-nets, fans, sieves, 
and hats; when old and dry, the stout midrib is used for 
clubs, paddles, rafters, fence posts; the ribs of the leaf- 
lets for brushes, torches, or the whole is burned to furnish 
potash. The husk of the nut is stripped off by means of a 
small stake fixed in the ground, and a man can strip a thou- 
sind nuts per diem, and the husks are then soaked for seve- 
tal months in water to separate the fibre, and finally twisted 
into rope, or woven into mats under the name of coir. This 
Tope is very strong and light, does not rot when wet, and 
floats on the water. Forty nuts usually yield six pounds of 
coir.. The undressed fibre of the husk is a capital polishing 
TT and sailors use nuts split in halves to rub down 


' Before the spathe opens it is often tapped, and a clear 
juice runs out which is fermented to form toddy, or boiled 
down to make jaggery, or palm sugar. This tapping is sup- 
posed to injure the tree if long continued. 
The ripe nut is cooked and eaten in various ways. When 
stated it is an ingredient of the best curries ; mixed with 
rh potato, or kalo, and baked, it forms & fine pudding. 

e Pacific islanders chew up the meat and rub it into their 


310 NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 





hair as a pomatum, and whether owing to this application or — 
not, their hair is exceedingly abundant and black. i 
The oil is, perhaps, one of the most valuable products. 
The Micronesians break up the nuts, and expose the meat to — 
the heat of the sun in covered troughs, wetting the mass coi- 
stantly. Fermentation takes place and the oil drops out 
into containers. The East Indian process is almost as ride, 
the nuts being ground in a wooden or stone mill of primitive 
construction. «The oil produced, of course, varies in quality 
as well as in quantity, ten nuts producing one quart, or in 
other cases thirty nuts only three pints. In other places 
the ground nuts are pressed, and sometimes boiled. The best 
oil is used either for cooking purposes, or to anoint the body 
either before or after bathing, —a most grateful process im 
hot dry climate ; and the poorer qualities supply the. lamps: 
Torches are often made of elephant’s dung bound into eyit 
ders by the ribs of the leaflets, and saturated with the oil. 


Borassus Sechellensis, the Double Cocoanut. This w 
long regarded as a most valuable medicinal charm, —ĉ^ “ 
remedy for sterility either of man or beast ; but its reputation 
has much diminished. It differs from the ordinary cocoanut 
in having two distinct lobes, connected at the uppe” end 50 
as to form a continuous cavity. The milk and meat are 
so good as the common nut, and more resemble the contents 
of the Palmyra nut, so common in India and elsewhere- 


Phenix dactylifera, Date. The leaves are shaped like 
those of the cocoanut, but are stiffer and of a lighter 7 
The lower portion of the stalk remains attached to the ee: 
long after the leaf has withered, making it rough and adm 


rably adapted for harboring small snakes, centipedes, or the | 
more agreeable parasites of the vegetable world. ee ving 


blossoms are exceedingly numerous, eleven thousand i 
been counted on a single spadix, and yet to obtain 
crop of fruit artificial impregnation is necessary. 








J 


THE CYNTHIA SILK-WORM. 311 


woody spathe is not deciduous, and adds to the untrim ap- 
pearance of the tree. In Egypt the fruit clusters are often 
of a hundred pounds weight, and hang down from stems as 
large as a man’s wrist. The yellow dates are the smallest, 
and the black ones the largest in some places, but there is a 
variety of yellow dates three inches long. The cluster does 
not all ripen at once, but each date that matures is at once 
removed to make room for the rest. Dried, they form the 
chief food for the Arabs, and are much liked by all who are 
able to get them. The crushed and dirty dates that come to 
our markets are very inferior. 

The date tree is not so long lived as the cocoanut, and its 
uses are by no means so extensive. The wood is soft, the 
blades of the leaves hard and narrow, and of course the coir 
and oil are wanting, and yet the fruit is perhaps the most 
delicious produced by any palm. 


THE CYNTHIA SILK-WORM. 


BY W. V. ANDREWS. 





Ir is not at all a creditable circumstance to us, as an 
enterprising people, that so little has hitherto been done 
towards making silk-culture a source of national wealth. 
Thirty years ago, according to Mr. d’Homergues’ account, 
Some spasmodic efforts were made in this direction; but, for 
home cause, chiefly I imagine from the absence of skilled 
labor, the thing came to naught. In Connecticut, princi- 
Pally in the counties of Windham and Tolland, sewing-silk 
hy Manufactured to some extent; but even there the 

mds” persisted in reeling the silk after the fashion of 
= standmothers, and were far too knowing, and shrewd, 

allow themselves to be taught anything by outsiders, who, 
Probably under the cloak of a desire to communicate know- 









$12 THE CYNTHIA SILK-WORM. 


ledge, harbored some base design on the pocket. What is : 
being done in that locality now I do not know, and the only 
sewing-silk manufactory that I know of, is that of the 
“Singer Sewing Machine Company,” in New Jersey. Of — 
course all the silk they use is imported. | 
The silk-producing moth of the period above adverted to 
was, of course, the Bombyx mori, and the same species has 
continued up to a very recent period, to furnish most of the 
silk manufactured in Europe. With the conservative feeling 
which forms so admirable a trait in their character, the Eng — 
lish have stuck to their old friend through good and evil re- 
port, till at last the disease which threatens to exterminate 
this once valuable insect, has compelled them, as well as theit 
neighbors the French, to cast about for some more healthy 
silk-producer. Two species seem to recommend themselves, 
and they are the Yama-mai, and the Cynthia; the last 
named being the favorite; and this is the moth whose cul- 
ture here, as a silk-producer, it is the object of this paper t0 
recommend. It has been asked, Why not select some native | 
American species, and thus get rid of difficulties which r 
doubtless, occur in the attempts to acclimatize this foreigne!: 
In the first volume of this Magazine, Mr. Trouvelot e 
shown, more or less satisfactorily, that our principal silk- 
worms, Cecropia, Luna, and Promethea, do not produce * i 
cocoon suitable for the silk manufacturer. I must confess ‘ 
that I have my doubts of this. It seems to me, as the wa 
is made of silk, that, under favorable circumstances, it may 
be made serviceable; but I concede that, at present, ie 
should turn our attention to other species. The - phe 
mus, Mr. Trouvelot thinks, is the only American ss 
worthy of present attention, and I agree with him. ae 
silk produced by it is coarse and strong; and Iam eg 
may be turned to profitable account. It possesses, a a 
think, an advantage, in that the cocoon can be unwoun® = 
comparative ease.* 3 
see AMERICAN snt 4 








*For descriptions and figures of the Telea Polyphemus, 
IST, Vol. I, pages 35, 85, 145, and plates 5 and 6, 














THE CYNTHIA SILK-WORM. 313 


But the principal objection to the American silk-moths is, 
tha: they produce only one brood a year, with the exception, 
I believe, of Luna. Now the Cynthia can be made to pro- 
duce two broods easily; and, so far as I can see, the cocoon 
of the second brood is just as good as that of the first. Again, 
the food of some of the species is of very slow growth; such 
as the oak, the elm, and the hickory. 

Now the food of the Cynthia, at least in this country, is ` 
the ailanthus, a tree of luxuriant foliage and rapid growth; 
and, at present, more ornamental than useful. If we accli- 
matize the Oynthia, we can reverse the order of things. It 
is somewhat doubtful, for reasons I shall presently give, 
whether the ailanthus is the natural food of this insect; but 
I will waive that consideration for the present. 

In view of the confusion which evidently exists as to the 
identity of Cynthia, I think it best here to state, that the 
insect I am writing about is the one figured, tolerably well, 
m Dunean’s Exotic Moths, Plate 14, fig. 1. The coloring 
there is not quite correct, but that is, doubtless, the moth. ` 

Drury (Westwood’s edition) has also given a tolerably 
Accurate figure in his “ Illustrations,” and taking (as every 
body else seers to have taken) his description from that of 
Dr, Roxburgh’s Memoirs on the Silk-producing Moths of 
the East (Transactions of the Linnean Society, Vol. 7), 
calls it the “Arrindy Silk-worm ;” says that it feeds on the 
“'stor-oil plant, and that its soft cocoons are so delicate and 
Jossy, that it is impossible to wind them off, and that there- 
fore they are spun like cotton. Now this description, which 
' substantially quoted by Mr. A. R. Grote in the “Practical 

htomologist,” by no means applies to the cocoon of the 
ynthia. It is not a soft, flossy cocoon, like that of Cecro- 
but hard like that of Promethea, which indeed it gene- 

Y resembles. There is, to me, certainly a difficulty in 
Sit; and this, at present, is the main objection to it. 
ha ifficulty arises from our ignorance of the proper 
ents for the gum of the cocoon, and the proper temper- 
CMER. NATURALIST, VOL. 11. : 


a 


English publication, is accompanied by a colored drawing 


314 THE CYNTHIA SILK-WORM. 


ature at which to apply it. Pearlash is the best solvent] — 
have yet found, but it is not, as I apply it, satisfactory. In — 
fact a practical silk-reeler is required to decide this point. — 
Mr. Grote, in quoting Kirby, who quotes Drury, expresses — 
a doubt as to whether the Cynthia is really meant by the 
latter; and from all that I can learn the castor-oil feeder is : 


certainly a different species. 


Mr. Grote, in a subsequent paper in the * Practical Ento- | 
mologist,” says that the Oynthia is the Yama-mai of Japan, l 
and that in that country it is an oak feeder; but surely this 
is a mistake of the Dutch author, from whom Mr. Grote 
transcribes. I have not reared Yama-mai, but I have some 
of its eggs, sent me by Dr. Wallace, of England, and they 
are nothing like the eggs of Cynthia. They are much large? 
and altogether of a different color. ae 

To make confusion worse confounded, the very capital 
description of Cynthia, given by M. Tegetmeir in a iar 
the insect, as much unlike that moth as the artist could pas 
scientiously make it. So when we have the deseriptot 
right, the illustration is wrong; and vice versa, when the 
illustration is good, the description is bad. However, p 
have fixed on our moth. Tt is, as I said before, the Saturna 
Cynthia of Duncan, Farther description I need not pe 
except to assure ladies who have so far got over their horror 
of “bugs” as to rear butterflies and moths, that ye its 
find the extreme beauty, both of the Cynthia and 0 i 
caterpillar, a full recompense for any little trouble they ™ d 
take in raising them. -rui 

I will now condense from a little entomological J? 
kept by me (I make no pretensions to being a ento ee 
gist), some remarks, haying practical application to the ie 
ject before us; and which, I hope, may be of woe 
those who wish to assist in acclimatizing this beautiful l 
with a view to its ultimate culture as a silk-produce of 

The eggs, which I obtained from Mr. Jobu Akbursh 





THE CYNTHIA SILK-WORM. 315 



























Brooklyn, were laid on or about the 18th of May, last year. 


and without any central depression. I found them white, 
streaked with black, and the depression very obvious. The 
eggs commenced hatching out on the first of June, making 
about twelve days in the egg. The caterpillar is yellow, 
with transverse rows of black dots; head, black. On the 
6th of June occurred the first moult, the yellow color bright- 
ening somewhat. On the 11th of June, the second moult, 
the color lighter, almost white. After the third moult the 
color is white, with black spots; the head and legs yellow. In 
fact, the body is covered with a very fine white powder. It 
has been objected to the Bombyx mori that it must be raised 
within shelter, secing that exposure to heavy rains is inju- 
tious to it. Now Cynthia stands exposure to the wet 
admirably, as I had perfect satisfactory proof last year, the 


m good stead in a storm. Moreover, a certain amount of 

Moisture is necessary for it. The caterpillar drinks greed- 

ily, and, in the event of indoor culture, I advise that the 

ches, when served fresh, should either be dipped in 

or sprinkled abundantly, particularly after the third 
oult. 


T need hardly impress upon the mind of any one likely to 
“id this paper, the absolute necessity of keeping the cater- 
pillar well fed ; but it may be as well to forewarn everybody 
at these creatures have excellent appetites, which “grow 
with what they feed upon.” This is peculiarly observable 
towards the close of the caterpillar life, say after the last 
afg when the craving seems to be insatiable. For those 
ses have the opportunity of doing so, after the third moult, 
nia à good plan to place the caterpillars on low ailanthus 
y > m the open air. Of course they are liable to destruc- 
a on by birds, as well as by parasitic flies = but seyan 
them ve a large quantity, and it is' inconvenient to fi x 
under shelter, this plan may be adopted. Last year 


From description, I had expected to find the eggs white, 


above-named white powder, as it is conjectured, standing it 


=< 


r 


that at this period it is essential that there shal 


316 THE CYNTHIA SILK-WORM. 


raised a great many in this way (this year I intend to in- ‘ 
crease the number), and as the caterpillar does not wander, 
I found no difficulty in collecting the cocoons. I allowed — 
some to remain on the trees for the second brood, and hal — 
the satisfaction, in the fall, of seeing lots of cocoons swing- 
ing in their leafy cradles. And now is the time to speak of 
the ailanthus as not being the natural food of Oynthia. to 
feeds, we are told, on the castor-oil plant, laburnum, teazle, í 
plum, honey-suckle, and spindle-tree. This sounds very 

much like saying that it will eat anything ; but so far as my | 
experience goes it thrives better on the ailanthus than on l 
anything else ; but the reason that I think that tree is nt — 
it natural food, is this: the caterpillar forms its cocoon very 
much in the manner of Promethea ; that is, by folding a leaf 
around it, having first gummed the leaf-stalk to its b l 
so as to prevent, one would suppose, its falling to the ground 
in winter. But the leaf of the ailanthus is what bota 

call a compound leaf; so the unfortunate caterpillar, i 
being sufficiently versed in botany to know this, merely ge ! 
the leaflets to the petiole; the leaf of course falls in , 
autumn, and the pupa, instead of lying high and dry wit : 
intended, lies under the snow all the winter; with what cor — 
sequences to itself I am not able at the moment to s@y- 3 
would appear, therefore, reasoning from analogy, that iad d 


. tree forming the natural food of Cynthia has a simple ; 


not a compound leaf. It may be of consequence to =e" any q 
for the quantity and quality of the silk produced hen 4 
worm very much depend on the food it eats, and the | 
food must be the best. Qn 
I will now proceed with my extracts from the journal. 
the 28th of June, just twenty-eight days from th 4 
the caterpillars commenced forming their cocoons; a lk 
let me say to those who propose to raise them 1m be i good 
¢ Te- 
supply of well-leaved branches. Every caterpillar will the 
quire a leaf to itself, and if these be not fortheo 


i 










BS ee ae Ea eee CEE Pee ear OS ee eed Sea ee Gs EE es are E 





THE CYNTHIA SILK-WORM. 317 


' cocoons will be doubled, and even trebled, to the great 


injury of the silk, it being impossible to wind the silk off a 
double cocoon. On the 21st of July the moth appeared ; 
three weeks in the cocoon; and by the 6th of August the 
second brood of caterpillars began to hatch out; these going 
into the pupa state about the middle of September, and re- 
maining there up to June 10th, I having kept them back a 
little on account of the backwardness of the spring. “Oh 
that date the first Cynthia from my collection of cocoons 
made its appearance, and there is every prospect that a few 
days more will witness an increase in that portion of my in- 
sect family.” 

I have now said enough to show that the rearing of this 
moth is a very easy, simple process, one which may be at- 
tended to by any boy or girl of ordinary intelligence, super- 
intended of course, if the number raised be very large, by 
some older person. In a word, it furnishes profitable em- 
ployment for those members of the family unable to perform 
harder labor. And this reminds me that. if the feeding be 
done within doors, the food branches, or, at the outset, 
simply the leaves, should have their stems immersed in a 
vessel of water; some precaution being taken to prevent the 
young caterpillars from wading into, or falling into it. 
When nearly full-grown the clusters of fine caterpillars, set 
off by the rich green of the ailanthus leaf, form a very beau- 
tiful sight; and although I cannot conscientiously recom- 
mend such an ornament for the drawing-room table, it 
certainly may be placed almost anywhere without being 
offensive to the most fastidious eye. Plenty of air and light 
should be given them, but they should not be exposed to the 
direct rays of the sun. Reared, even from motives of curi- 
oity, and without a view to immediate pecuniary results, 
the task cannot be performed without teaching a lesson, 
Which Will be of infinite value to the mind anxious to inform 
itself of the wonderful workings of that law of nature, agi 
transforms a small crawling animal, of an eighth of an inch in 


w 


318 THE CYNTHIA SILK-WORM. 


length when hatched from the egg, into a beautiful flying ` l 
creature large enough to be mistaken for a bird, and with — 
no more resemblance to the aforesaid animal than an eagle : 
has to a frog. a 
But now a final word as to the steps to be taken to induce — 
our people to take up this business of silk-culture. - Can it : 
be made to pay? is, I suppose, the main question. I need 4 
go into no statistics to show that enormous sums of money 
are sent to Europe every year to pay for silk imported; the d 
fact is notorious. Perhaps no nation in the world is 0 7 
addicted to the use of silken goods as the American. The — 
general government collects large sums of money in the 9 
shape of duties on silk, and we can hardly, at the moment, 
expect that it will do much to encourage its culture here. 
But I am confident that it can be made to pay without go 
ernment assistance. For, recollect, that we have the 
of the caterpillar growing already in the greatest abundance q 
among us, flourishing with a luxuriance which we sometimes 4 
find inconvenient; and of such easy culture that m two 
years we could have millions of bushes (and they should be 
kept as bushes) growing; and on soil, too, that would pro™ — 
ably produce. nothing else. This is an advantage that the 
early silk-growers did not possess, the raising of the pe 
berry being no such easy matter. Then the larva of = : 
Cynthia can, as I have said, be raised in open air, and the 
labor of the young, or of the feeble, is sufficient to me 
all the work required ; and thus the objection of the si 
price of labor,” so fatal to many an American pp | 
fails in this case. Even children may be induced to wee : 
few bushels of cocoons for the sake of pocket-money- * 
there is no use in raising cocoons if there are no ee for 
turers to purchase them. It seems difficult to account o 
the inertness of our capitalists in affairs of this kind. en : 
would suppose that with men possessed of wealth, the rep“ : 
tation of having been instrumental in introducing * 
Source of national industry, would be sufficient tO 





THE CYNTHIA SILK-WORM. 319 





some few at least to bestir themselves in so important a 
matter. But failing this, what objection is there to the 
State Government affording a little assistance in starting an 
enterprise promising to be of such great benefit to the peo- 
ple? I look upon an enterprise of this kind as of the nature 
of building a railroad, or constructing a telegraph line, the 
benefits to be derived from which, being of a public nature, 
come very properly under the immediate supervision of the 
government. . It would be out of place in this journal to go 
minutely into such things as the duties of governments in 
fostering national industry, but I may be permitted to say, 
that, although disapproving of the principle of protective 
tariffs, I see nothing conflicting with my convictions on this 
point in saying, that, if the timidity of individual capitalists 
can be overcome in no other way, the State Governments 
would be justified in making advances, or in offering boun- 
ties, sufficient in amount to guarantee parties embarking in 
the enterprise of silk manufacture against any actual tempo- 
loss. 


In England, as I am told, private enterprise is doing all 
this. Wealthy individuals are largely cultivating the ailanthus 
for the Cynthia, and are encouraging parties in rearing the 

ama-mai, and other silk-producers ; and why should not as 
much enterprise and patriotism be found here? To be sure, 
entomologists are not there laughed at for being *bug-hunt- 
rs 3” and there are numbers of ready hands willing and anx- 
lous to assist in the undertaking ; but I am not without hope 
that sufficient intelligence will be found amongst ourselves to 
enable people to understand that a devotion to the study of 

ature’s laws, even in the insect world, is not incompatible 
with the possession of, at least, average common sense. 

i Let it not be forgotten that the rearing of the Cynthia, o 
. silk-producer, is not a new, untried experiment. The Chi- 
nese, for a longer period than I should like to mention, have 
manufactured silk from its cocoons; the garments made from 
Possessing a durability quite annoying to ladies of the 






320. REVIEWS. 
















Flora M’Flimsy type. Dresses made up for ladies in the — 
early dawn of womanhood do very well for their grand- — 
children arrived at a suitable age; and, if this be not a rec- q 
ommendation, let us hope that the fact that some English — 
manufacturers have given the opinion that the silk from the — 
Cynthia may be made into shawls equal to the best India, q 
may somewhat reconcile our fair countrywomen to the use 
of an old article possessing the preposterous quality of being 
as good as new, if washed in a little cold water. 





REVIEWS. 
——_200-———— 
HE NORTH AMERICAN GrapEs. By Dr..George Engelmann — Perhaps i 
the first plant noticed on the continent of North America, even n before 


Columbus and before the Pilgrims, —a plant identified with the discovery 
of America itself, — was the Grape-vine; it gave to the country the name 
Vineland, and later, to a part of it, that of Martha’s Vineyard. A 
the grape-vines, many forms of which grow from Canada t 
Grande, and from Virginia to California, are among the least ee 4 
known plants of North America. Linneus knew two spec and i 
sagacious observer, the founder of the pl of North Pees Micha 
add 


ississippi. But even in their native haunts they vary to suc 


that srg scientific and non-scientific observers harg never felt mi i 
t th took to de describe 


conscienc 
confusion. Le Conte, long after him, did little to unravel the ie 
ment; and since their efforts to distinguish imaginary species. evet 
dency has rather been to combine what were formerly considered, ; 
by Le authors, as distinct specie home 
I have long devoted much attention i gt grape-vines n m 
(St. pr but have become satisfied that no satisfactory solu ughout 
be obtained without the coöperation of the friends of botany an | 
the whole country; so I ask from their love and zeal for mahi " 
and from the general interest saai this particular invete 
commands, their friendly coépera to stud! 
‘In order to arrive at ip using conclusions, it is nece sea wit 
all the forms which present themselves, in all their bearings: ? 


REVIEWS. 321 

























the different conditions in which they are found. Specimens ought to 

collected in flower, exhibiting also the young shoots and developing leaves, 
and, from the same stock, in fruit, if fruit they bear; and ripe seed should 
be obtained; the soil, the locality, the accompanying plants, and the size 
of the vine ought to be noted, the difference in shape and size of the leaves 
of young shoots and of bearing branches is often important; the exact 
time of flowering, and the period of maturity are interesting data; the size, 
color, and taste of the fruit, the presence or absence of the bloom on the 
ripe berry; the usual number of seeds in each, the conditions and color 
of the pulp,—all are points not to be neglected. It is not expected 
that species can be founded on the variations in all these characters, but 


as possible in all their bearings. Thus far I have only seen vines with 
t with staminate flowers; purely pistillate ones may perhaps 

be discovered by acute observe 

The species now known ae ear ists in the territory of the United 

States, but several of them not sufficiently defined, are the following : 


1. Grape-vines with large Berries. 
ITIS VULPINA Linn., the Southern Fox-grape, Or Muscadine, with 
Several cultivated ia wp as the Scuppernong, ete. 
2. Vitis Laprusca Linn. ., the North-eastern Fox-grape, with numerous ~ 
cola varieties, such as the Catawba, Isabella, Concord, Hartford 


3. Vitis canpicans Engelm., the Mustang grape of Texas. 


2. Grape-vines with smaller Berries. 
Itis Cartneza DC., of Southern Florida and the West Indies. 


a. 
6. Viris astivatis Michx , the Summer grape of the Mi ddle and the 
z 'h 


No. 5, and var. cane 
Nirone V Valley approaches No. 7; several cultivated varieties, ag as 
ome Nigam Seedling, and the Cynthiana grape, are among 0 r best 
ne-grape 


"i Vitis common a Michx., the sour Winter or Chicken-grape of the 
raster States > and 8 variety fetida of the Mississippi Valley, often 4-6 
es in diameter, iy the highest trees, and bearing fetidly aro- 

ee Nov y I beheve in cultivation. 
iea RIPARIA Mic ew , the River-bank grape, throùghout the United 
to the Mississippi: the only grape in East Canada, where it ex- 


tends Sixty miles north of Quebec heb a wm grape in R 
Ane: j ly 


t. Louis. 
aie ARIZONICA, n. sp., and as yet doubtful be at pq with 
aves, and Se ti = þerrits. 
41 


p ot 
MER, NATURALIST, VOL. I 





hiv REVIEWS. 




















eye; seit extend s from Missour 
It is worth noting that all those ie nea ned enumerated above, mià i 


already in the seedling plant a few months old. During my absenceint 
Europe for the next twelve months, Professor A.Gray, of Cambridge, has 
kindly offered his assistance in communicating with those who wish ® 

assist me, and letters directed to me, at St. Louis, Missouri, will be for 
warded to me.—I. G. E 

THE CORALS AND STARFISHES OF BRazIL.*— But little is known otie 
shores of Brazil, and ge their discovery by Professor Hartt, so 
cally related by him in the NaruraList, was it ever known that there 
were reefs of coral on mothe coast. Professor Verrill here gives us 

i 


those of ee a et noi cea remarks that 
ute ap a the — with few exceptions, 4 
ar as kno 


m 
be re toca; all the y anata groups of islands having pyar paer forms. 
ninpderag remain in 





nger time dur ing 
Viti Hallinan int eee 4a 





THE ‘Reon OF EVERGREENS. “By Josiah ooma author T ; 
nished, under the above modest title, a book than which none 
e o 


ence up 


fer, rather than an excuse for “intruding his views and experi 
the public.” 

Mr. Hoopes has long been favorably known as a successful ar 
turist, and as especially successful in growing the Coniferæ. 
moreover, been a pupil of the late, lamented Dr. et 
memory the volume is dedicated. With these homer” ol 


we might reasonably expect vonistilang good. 
expectations to be well founded. 
Up to this time no ular work on the subject, ems 


plying a popular want. It is more; for on its pages 
valuable to the man of science, along with some petit 
are open to his criticism. The views of classification eir 


may not accord with those of Parlatore and Engelmann. 





* Notice of the Corals and Echinoderms collected by Professor C. F. Hee of 
Reefs, Province of Bahia, Brazil, a 8vo, T 3 Notice of a Colleen A. 
fr Paz, Lower California, with Descriptions of a New Genus. By sail 
me April, 1868. With Pyrola (From the pediam of 











Sy A ee Me ing) | Soe a eee ee) ee ee 
oem, $ E Skai 








NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY: 323 


elusion: o be based on careful study. In these days of specific 
doubts ae eosin it is all important, we think, that the broader 


The goodly number of varieties NiCr shows he has not fallen into 
the bad habit of giving a new speci ame to every sport produced under 


cultivation. The advice concerning li growth and propagation of Coni- 


fers may be considered as authoritative for the Middle United States. 
= could wish that more space had been given to the “Insects inju- 
to Conifere.” The analytical key is clear, and really smoothes the 


to make it truer. Such is the spirit in which he claims the acceptance of 
Sequoia gigantea as the proper name for our California giant. The taste 
Which would fill our grounds with mag ne to the utter exclusion 
of our native beauties, sn we think, justly ce 

udd & Co., of New k, have published vi piesi in their best style. 
It should be in the iad of every arboriculturist (whether amateur or 
professional) in the land. —J. T. R. 

Tue Burr s or NorTH America.*—Such a beautifully printed 
and finely janie work on our Butterflies, as this promises to be, wi 
be opportune to all bu utterfly hunters as well as entomologists wig il 
Mr. Edwards brings to this work a thorough knowledge of our But 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





BOTANY. 
Crore NEw VARIETY or KALMIA LATIFOLIA. — Flowers have just been 


ee i Power, vist, Sonth Framingham, Mas 





eg of North America; with colored Drawings and Descriptions. By 
ards, Philadelphia. Published by. the American Entomological Bore: 
Cress to. April, 1 1868. Price of each pet 2.00. Subscribers may address %- 
On, 518 South 13th street, Philadelphia, P 













324 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


of much the most marked and showy variety of the above species which! a 
ever saw, and which, being in cultivation, requires a name. may as 
well be named Var. coronata, the Crowned Mountain Laurel. The corolla 
is white, except a broad crown of dark crimson, continuous, but some 4 
what blotchy, which occupies the whole inside of the the 
pouches up to near the margin, which again is clear white. A single — 
shrub of this was accidentally discovered two years ago, in bloom ins 4 
wood near Framingham, by Mr. James Parker, but was destroyed by fire, 
the ground having been accidentally burned over. But a branch, given tù — 
Mr. Power, was preserved by grafting upon the ordinary form of the spe 
cies. From this graft, which has now blossomed, it is hoped that this — 
beautiful variety may be abundantly propagated. — A. GRAY. 

A WHITE CHOKE-CHERRY.— There is a variety of Choke-cherry (Pram 
Virginiana) bearing white fruit occasionally found about here. Is it 
ound in other places?—D. W. C. CHALLIS. 





ZOOLOGY. : 

SHORE-COLLECTING ABOUT New York.—Thinking that some of m q 
New England readers, who are of course lovers of Natural History, WOW! 
be likely to pay a visit to New York, and would be glad to know vine 


factories, ete.; and this explains why it is so difficult to art a 

N 

of course who have neither time nor inclination to walk a great 

in search of them, nor much money to purchase them. alge. 
Suppose a stranger in New York who would like to collect shells, 


high-water. He will immediately notice that the geologi hores 
i i England jee ae 
S somewhat different to what it is on many of the New ns nouldet> 
being all of the drift formation, — no rocks in place, —all loose aturil 





aquaria full of actinias, algæ, and- mollusks in a state of prU a M 
may find many shallow pools where many very interesting 










NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 325 


month and the beginning of March, I have collected some of my hand- 
somest sea-weeds; and we generally find in the coldest months the long 
fronds of Laminaria saccharina, nearly twenty feet long, which are never 
seen here in the warmer season. It is interesting and worth noticing 
that the largest marine plants, unlike the terrestrial vegetation, are gene- 
found in the colder parts òf the world. We read that our North- 
west Territory, Alaska, is famous for producing immense specimens of 
lye, as for instance the Nereocystis Lutkeana which forms dense forests 


leaves, each thirty or forty feet in length. Cape Horn and the Cape of 
Good Hope also produce immense species of submarine vegetation, in 


nce. 

But let the naturalist pay a visit to our shores in July or August, and 
he will find the waters red with beautiful specimens of Grinnellia, Cera- 
mium, and Callithamnion, and a little later in the season the most beauti- 
ful plant we have, Dasya elegans, in great variety. 
found in the Mediterranean. Many of our plants are found in Great 
Britain and Ireland, while some are peculiar to this country. 

But let us stroll along the beach, leaving the Algæ, and see what shells 
can be found. Nassa obsoleta is the most common; th 
tata, Fusus cinerius, Natica duplicata, Crepidula fornicata, 
of Litorina comprise nearly all the univalves. occasi 

ells of Ranella caudata, Pyrula canaliculata, P. carica, 
smaller genera, such as Odostomia and a small Cerithium. 

The bivalves mostly consist of Mytilus edulis, Mya arenaria, Venus mer- 
cenaria, Sanguinolaria fusca, and occasionally, though rarely, Ponar 
sor, Pandora trilineata, and Osteodesma hyalina. There are a few others 
found here, but so rarely, that a person might visit the beach a dozen 
times without seeing them. In the salt meadows, about half a mile 


from the fort, may be found quantities of Me/ampus bidentatus, and rarely 
i observed at low 


nally find dead 
and a few of the 


5 
ot rare indeed that a single specimen can be found of either ee 
to nus, or Holothuria; I mean in New York, that is from Coney I 
pa to the east of the city, 


aiee city. When we get into Long Island Sound, ie 

k metimes find a few, though they are not plentifu i 
may not be generally known, but I have been assured by ornitholo- 

sists, that Long Island has produced more species of birds than any other 


326 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 






place in the United States of its size. Entomologists and botanists make — 
the same statement in regard to their respective specialities. The shores — 
from here to the extreme eastern end of the island are mostly protected — 
from the ocean by sand-bars and islands, leaving large bays and salt- 
meadows, which are a favorite haunts of thousands of aquatic al — 
rapacious birds. Many s have been shot here this winter that are 
generally considered as = rare, such as the Labrador duck, the Hane 
quin duck, the Goss-hawk, and a few others not often seen. On the — 
‘shores of Coney Island we sametimės find, about fe months of February 
and March, immense quantities of Mactra solidissima and Natiea heros. 
ba March the beach was sia for miles with these shells, €s : 
the former, which was heaped up in beds two or three feet thick.—A.R 
Y., Brooklyn. j 
THE Crow BLACKBIRD A ROBBER. — Three years ago this spring there 
came into our village a flock of a dozen or more of the common Crow 
Blackbird (which are plenty in esè ountry above here) fo the purpost 
of b neg their ne ests in the tall rot ae poplars in our streets, aul 


an fly. Until this season they have ma iiile their nests only in the ; 
bilich places near the trunk, where the clusters of nearly upright limbs ' 
secure them from ordi rity observation. This spring they have appeared 
in greater numbers; two pairs have built their nests inside the spire of 
church, passing through yia openings of an ornamen nted window bighup 
above the tops of our tallest trees. A bell is in the tower of the st i 
below, and is rung at customary times, and a colony of doves is'in oe 
tion near the bell. The writer has just discovered iat the Blackbl 
taken possession of a martin-house in his garden. They are pasa ; 
carrying in materials for nests. and the martins are flying 2° AN 
about. Also, in the top of the pyramidal trellis covered with par 
ing the lower half of the support of the martin-house, a pair at? 
I 


instead of driving them off, a new martin-house is to be put up at ‘a 
near by, which the martins, in their necessity, will no dou spin! and : 
Blackbirds are tame about our streets and gardens, pee Gee he gromi 
at the same time with the robins, with much the same habits re mos 
spect, ee evidently going beyond the limits of ‘the village © 
of their food. 

We have robins in large numbers, —small birds being bere 


re was 
law,—and on the arrival of the blackbirds the first seas pe heard 
could 


unoccupied. robin’s nest they could find. But, singularly eno ih 

blackbirds soon succumbed, and the robins drove them away in r dat 

of gma but they seem to live in harmony, and, as I have ‘Ne NE 
company on the ground seeking for food. —F. Wao M ' 














NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. osr 


NOTES ON THE RED AND MOTTLED OwLs.—In a note to the very in- 
teresting paper of Mr. C. J. Maynard, on The Mottled Owl in Confinement, 


g of S. asio are sometimes gray in color and sometimes red, as 
remaining still undecided. As there is hardly a more interesting or more 
singular problem in the history of our birds, a brief history of the ques- 
tion, and a short recapitulation of the knowledge we possess on the sub- 
ject may not be uninteresting. 

The Red Owl was described by Linnæus, in the Systema Naturæ, vol. 1, 
p. 182, in 1766, under the name Strix asio. Gmelin, twenty-two years later, 
described (Systema Nature, vol. 1, p. 289) the Mottled Owl as Strix nevia. 
In 1812, Alexander Wilson, in the fifth volume of his admirable, and in 
many respects yet 1 American Ornithology, redescribes the two, 

i t till 1828 does it 





Under the same names, also as distinct species; an 


tht the color of both old and young is variable and uncertain, or that 
they are Specifically distinct.” The latter opinion he adopts, ignoring the 
e known case of different colors in the young and parent in Dr. 
ry positively concluding there are two species, and that 
right. 
in a R. Hoy, in his valuable Notes of the Birds of Wisconsin, pores 
“Senay the Proceedings (vol. 6) of the Philadelphia Academy of — 
that the gives them as two species, remarking he is * yet sa 
* ottled and Red Owls are specifically the same.” He says, under 
Were “sto, “In the month of June I caught four young ones just as a 
ere about leaving the nest. They were of a deep reddish-brown, in 
Sets Similar to the female which I shot at the same time, and have 


* Journal tho T. me 





int 1 History, Vol. II, p. 126. 


© y OL Natura 


328 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 
















preserved.” Mr. John Cassin, in his various papers on the owls, adopts the 
conclusions of Bonaparte, considering them as one species, and the gray _ 
f ea a owever, oa grt w the fant of the two stages of q 
plumage having been considere species, that “they 
do present a Pcs scarcely to be considered as fully solved.” But the — 
opinion that the Mottled and Red Owls are really but one species, is the — 
one now generally adopted by ornithologists. i 
From the information now at our command on ‘this subject, can we not — 
fully solve the problem? The facts recorded teach us that nestlings ad 
young flcdglings occur in both red and gray plumage, in some cases 4 
of one brood presenting both conditions; that old birds are sometimes — 
gray and sometimes red, both colors being common to both sexes, and A 
that occasionally red males pair vuki gray females, and the reverse; that 





rst, that 
these different conditions of plumage do not characterize age; second, iy 
that they dre not sexual siinttibiitae) third, that they are, unusual and 
irregular variations of plumage of one species. Though such variations 4 
are extremely rare, our bird is in this respect not without its parallels it q 
other countries. The best known instance seems to be en of the Brown 
Owl of Europe (Syrnium aluco), which, according to rs, i 
similar variations. And they apparently occur in other pal of S 
Considering, then, the sed and Mottled Owls as unquestionably onesie 4 
cha and on oni ed widely over the PETEA occurring from oii H 


really a e species of Scops in the United States? In 1854, dst 


a 
sin, in his [l/ustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, etc., d a 
species of Scops from California, Texas ‘in fo pe ! 
ral characters much resembling Beep asio, but smaller,” but whi 


considers new, giving it the name of Scops Maccallii (Western ioned l 
Owl). Its validity as a species distinct from S. asio has been pees : 
by very high authorities, and apparently with very good reasons, p 
and almost only distinction from S. asio of the north being its som’ 
smaller size. r. P. L. Sclater, one of the highest authoritie 
ican birds, in remarks (Proceedings of the Zodlogical 
1857) on a collection of birds from about Oxaca, in Southe 
mentions an owl under this name, which, though he says it, soeia 
the appearance of Scops asio, and is smaller,” but does not, hethi wre 
fit” this species (9. Maccallit). Dr. J. G. Cooper, who has coll 


sin are of but little account, while the character of smaller $ 
of no, or of negative, value. It is well known now to al 

have been at all attentive to the subject, that a disias in s on de 
birds in species resident over a large area is a constant atendan" di 
crease of latitudes, so that birds residing at points & 








NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 329 


t in latitude are likely to differ paani in size, while presenting no 

appreciable differences in other character: e few cases where thi 
does not apparently occur, are only the ened to a general law 
Hence we should expect to find the specimens of Scops asio collected i 
Florida, Texas, Mexico, and other southern points, smaller than those of 
the Northern States and Canada. Before this law was fully recognized — 
and 


was the character of smaller size, and in this category seems to me to 
be the true place of Scops Maccallii Cass.; leaving then but one Scops— 
our well-known Screech Owl—to America north of the tropics.—J. A. 
ALLEN. 


PERCHING SNIPE.— Mr. W. A. Pope has observed the Scolopax Wil- 
sonitin Prince Edwards Island, “setting on the top of a tree at least 
thirty feet from the ground.” — Land and Water 

Have our ornithologists observed this peculiarity in the snipe? 


Tae DISTRIBUTION oF OUR BIRDS IN THE BREEDING SEASON. 

Agassiz has issued a circular, in which he asks for the coöperation 
of ornithologists in secur ing specimens of birds and complete local lists, 
With full notes in reference to the times of their migrations, time of nest- 
ing, and relative abundance. A series of specimens of birds of any local- 
ity in the Southern and Western parts of the continent, with or without 


appended, are much desired. ee may be sent to the Museum 
of Comparative Zodlogy, Cambridge, Mas 


SaLt-water Insects. — Dr. J. L. Leconte writes us regarding the sup- 


ist: “Your Staphylinide larva is probably that of Micralymna Stimpsonti 
Leconte te (New Species of Cole eoptera, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Col- 
lections, p. 57). It is much larger than the Greenland species, which is 
also in my collection. It ought to be common where it occurs.” We hav 

received from Professor A. E. Verrill specimens of the “puparium,” Or 


Pupa-case, of the fi so abundant in Mono Lake, Cal., where it was col- 
a by Professor B ‘Aided It is a species of Ephydra, are > 
that figured (Fig. 4b) in the July NATURALIST, and is n ied 


ot — thus writes regarding another salt-water insect: sag 
sea-insects, you do not refer to our singular Californian 
Eyini s, s two norms found below — mark 
TURALIST, VOL. 1 





330 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





on the wet-sand. From the variegation of pale yellow and black they are 
singularly Crustacean-like, both in the larval form and in the perfect 
tate.” 


OF THE POTATOE-BUG.—I have seen, for the last few days, 
many of the western potatoe-bugs, with their larve, devouring the tops 
of the potatoes. I vent also SEMEA an enemy in a bug often found on 
ripe berries, which has a v easant smell, koki belongs to thè 
Cimicide, mid is iaia iin, st sucks the blood of the potatoe-bug.’ | 
— Wo. J. MCLAUGHLIN. 





GEOLOGY. 

GLACIAL MARKS IN THE Warre Mountatns.—Since Mr. Vose’s article 
was in print, he writes us that he has seen on Mount Kearsarge, one- 
third of the way up in the path, furrows running s. 20° £., and onè- 
the way up furrows running s. 30°. Also in Ellis’ Valley, about two 
miles above Jackson, on the east side of the river, close to the road, lines 
pointing just to the top of Mount Washington. He also found furrows 00 
Mount Chocorua. 


eG emai 


anette 








writ that it “is an emigrant st the west. In the ye ab 10t 
e first along the roadside and yards about Fort Riley, Kansas, 
days ago I found several plants growing on and near the 


covered with spines; an annual; a noxious weed, from o.e? 
high; much branched.” tanieal z 
[We cannot attempt to name plants unless there is a proper bot eo 

f the pej 


specimen sent; that is, the flowers adhering to a bit o 
leaves adhering to another bit (or still better, when the gp of ith 
will admit of it, a flowering branch, or, in stemless plants, th paperi t 
the root-leaves adhering to its base), and a statement as to how al Eo 
grows; whether woody or herbaceous; and whether wild or cultiv 

W. C. F., Eastham, Mass. — The Turtle which you sent and ee 
say is the first specimen of the species you have seen on Cape e:Col, 
“ Musk piira Aromochelys odoratum Gray. It is given in A 





ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR. Rnd 


specific name of odorata has held through the several changes that have 

n made regarding its generic position, though varieties of it have 
been described as distinct species by several authors. It is a pretty gen- 
erally distributed species, ranging from Canada south to the Gulf of 
Mexico, and west to the Mississippi. In habits it is quite voracious and 
shy, preferring muddy ponds and rivers, and overflowed meadows, where 
it can easily hide itself. It is often found covered with a green confer- 
void growth, which also renders it less likely to be noticed. It has the 
habit of climbing trees overhanging the water, and basking in the sun, 
and will drop into the water on the slightest hint that it is observed. 

The two insects inclosed were two species of wingless Ichneumon flies ; 
one of them probably helongs to the genus Pezomachus. ye have several 
Wingless genera, and the genus Pezomachus comprises an immense num- 
ber of species. Mr. E. Burgess informs us that in the pupa state the 


-H.G., Elmira, N. Y.—The moth you send is one of the Sphinges, 
Thyreus Nessus. It was first described and figured by Cramer, a Dutch 
naturalist. It is found from Canada and New Hampshire southward. The 

‘ve of this genus differ from most others of this family, in having a 
Simple tubercle on the tail instead of the usual curved horn, as seen in 
the Potatoe-worm, Sphinx Carolina. 





ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR. 


——8Oo 
te this month the Seventeen-year Locust (Cicada septendecim of 
i. has disappeared, and only’a few Harvest-flies, as the two other 
pa Swe have are called, raise their shrill cry during the dog-days. But 
be year has been marked by the appearance of vast swarms in the 
tory : States, give a brief summary of its his- 
i k. 
se Seventeen-year Locust ranges from South-eastern and Western 
‘setts to Louisiana. Of its distribution west of the Mississippi 


this ‘ate another, until she has laid four or five hundred eggs. After 
She Soon dies. Th 








332 ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR. 









servers state that they do not hatch for from forty to over fifty days after 
being laid. The active grubs are provided with three pairs of legs. After 
leaving the egg they fall to the ground, burrow into it, seek the roots of 
p 


live nearly seventeen years in the larva state, and then in the spring 
change to the pupa, which chiefly differs from the larva by having rudi- 
mentary wings. The damage the larve and ze do, then, consists in 


rdin 
Richmond, Indiana: “Just now we are having a tremendous quantity of 
locusts in our forests and adjoining tields, and people are greatly alarmedby 
them; some say they are Egyptian locusts, etc. This morning they m 

a Baise. in the woods about half a mile east of us, very much like the con- 
tinuous sound of frogs in the early < ate or just before a storm at evel 
ing. It lasted from early in the rning until evening.” Mr. v. 
Chambers writes us that it is paaa F i in the vicinity of Covington 


dierent parts of the country at intervals of seventeen years, are ar? 
ent varieties.” A ca reful compar rison of lar rge numbers cole E 


give the facts to Pa this interesting poin ing of 
Regarding the question as, by eee whether the sn 
this insect is poisonous, and which a is inclined to believe to be a 


species of Cicada, have not revealed any poison apparatus at t we 
the sting. Another proof that it does not pour poison into pe 
made by the ovipositor is, that the twig thus pierced and eens 
not swell, as in the case of plants wounded by Gall-flies which pees 
irritating poison, giving rise to tumors of various shapes. Many 
sting APR poisoning the wound; the bite of the musquito, 
flea, th e bed-bug, and other hemipterous insects, are simple Pak 
wounds, and to a perfectly ev constitution they are not a 
i gh they may grievously afflict many persons, causing the sain 
s to swell, and in some oos ; constitutions induce severe $ 
ese this point, Mr. Cham 
“T havi — 
twenty ites hart oh he ape st vit a v san me Ea had an mea 
te: ruth of the story, but the following you may rely on. r ap 


V. Win inston, Prec at Burlin ngto n, Boone e Ky. nS 
1 while 


g 














ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR. 333 


bitten in the foot by a Cicada. The foot immediately swelled to huge poro but by 
various applications the inflammation allayed, r. Winston, 
who relates this, stands as high for titetltinel an agian as any one in Ba h inity. I 
— on kapa hearing the story, that pro obabis the stin as by some other insect, but Mr. 
Win that he saw the Cicada. But perhaps this proves that the ese is not fatal; that 
a on tpa subject. Some persons velar yin from the bite of a musquito, while others 
scarcely me ; sepa The cu stai of a eii UE s is DERIT pant este and perhaps the 
part. 

We figure the Saoxine Moth and the larva (Fig. 1) and pupa, which 
sso on a the last 

















the 
hae aa (Fig. 2; 
a, pupa), known in Eng- 


land to ve a parasite of 
the Humble-bee. We have 
frequently mét with it 
here, though not in Humble-bees’ nests. The larve feed ep upon the 
young bees, according to Curtis (Farm Insects). The indle-worm 
Moth, Gortyna zee, whose caterpillar rong in the stalks e Ti corn, 
and also in dahlias, flies this month. The withering of the leaves — 
Fig. 2. t 





Scolytus) appear again this month. 
During = month the Tree-crick- 
et, Æcanthus niveus (Fig. 3), lays 
= eggs in ght branches of peach 





trees. It will also eat tobacco lea 
babe figure (Fig. 4) the moth of Budatinia subsignaria, the larva of which 
Is so injurious to shade trees in New York City. It is a widely diffused 
wy species, occurring oie ing tr the Northern 


"from Mr. i 

Andrews the su 
posed larve of this 
oth. They are 
‘‘loopers,” namely, 
ith a looping gait, as if meas- 





Walk w 





w : 

silja unusually large rust-red head 
a also red. They are little over an inch long. 
” larva, referred to in the Calendar for June, 


is the Gartered 


334 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 





Plume-moth, Pterophorus periscelidactylus of Fitch. We were able to raise l 
the moth from larvæ forwarded by Mr. Read. It appeared in one rean — 
ing-box June 26. Its habits are very fully described in the first report of 2 
Dr. Fitch on the Injurious Insects of New Yor Í 
A word more about the Seventeen-year Ci riik Professor R. Orton 
“writes us from Yellow Springs, Ohio, that this insect has done great 
damage to the apple, aon and quince trees, and are shortening the 
fruit crop very materially. By boring into twi 
branches break and the fruit goes with them. ‘Many orchards have lost 
full two years’ growth. Though the plum and cherry trees seemed exempt, 
they attacked the grape, blackberry, raspberry, elm (white and slippery), 
alpa 


ington and Philadelphia have also had a visitation.” —A. 8 





PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


———_102—— 


cema ISLAND HISTORICAL Socrery, Natural men ern Brook- 


Y.—At a May meeting, a paper was read by Mr. E. Lewis, ee 
of ibis of Coast-depression along the any of ‘elie Island.” It's 
found, by a series of observations made by Mr. Lewis and others, that 
l areas Eois to have been formerly cherie swamp and W isis, 


them ‘aa standing. Lower down, or nearer the bay, stumps O only r° ae 
hese abound in the meadows, and'arc in a good state of reel 
These meadows extend beneath the bay ; and one-fourth of a mile peer 
shore-line, stumps of the ce edar, from two feet to three feet in diam a 
have been found. | It i probably continuous with similar meadows on 
Opposite side of the river. 
-A general ar of the beach along the coast has occurred 
historic time; it having been thrown inland, submerging the m 
this large masses of old meadows are often torn UP 


within 


by wares 


tog 





TR N TEA E eee ae en eee gS 


„ton 


-Upon it 








PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 335 


outside the beach. There is evidence that the great pie extending from 
near I slip to Bellport, was formerly a fresh-water swamp, from which 


Streams of gpnsiderable size emptied into the ocean. It ve now a shallow 


bay, in which, about a century since, were great numbers of stumps; the 
fresh-water and upland vegetation having been destroyed by the invasion 
of the dung A line of fence-posts near ris goo i along the shore of 
the ocean, were exposed a few years since by an extremely low tide 
veh followed a violent storm. These had been ahead with sand and 
vered with water not less than a century, and the line was found to 
laine with early surveys of the town. Submerged meadows are 
found in many places on the north shore of Long Island. A few miles 
east of Fort Jefferson, it extends half a mile from the shore, is solid, com- 
pact, and lies in places sixteen feet below the surface of the water at low 
tide. A general wearing away and undermining of the headlands around 
the island has long attracted attention. In constructing the Erie Basin, 
near Red Hook, New York Bay, Mr. G. B. vice eerie found the 
following series of deposits. The measurements were taken at various 
points where the water was ten feet deep at low tide 
1. Two feet of mud paar! sediment of the bay. 
2. One foot of yellow 
3. Six inches of aalsa deposit, quite hard. 
4. Ten feet of compact decayed peaty meadow. 
- Layer of extremely hard micacious clay and sand, beneath which 
i found mud, rather soft, but the depth and character of which was not 
rmined. 


During the summer of 1867, John Nadir, U. S. Engineer at Fort Hamil- 
» Carefully examined the underlying formation around Fort Lafayette, 
the purpose of un he whether it would admit of the erection 
of heavier walls. a series of eae rings, the earth was pene- 

he e depth of Pas es feet, at points between 800 and 1,000 
hore, where there was ten feet depth of water at low tide. 


for 


s Twenty feet of coarse sand and gravel, with a few broken shells. 
of Three feet of decayed marsh or meadow, with diatomacez and spicule . 
“Ponges and shells. 
3. Seventeen fe 


et of gravel and sand, with many broken shells 
- Thirte een fe 
With 


l an excellent state of preservation. Among them are Saten ie 
mia Za ium, M: Crepidula fornicata, Solen > 
and Mytilus eq. ppium, Mya arenaria, Crep pi 


336 BOOKS RECEIVED. 


posits, at corresponding depths, have ae found on the opposite side of 
the river in the vicinity of Fort Wadsw 
he investigations made on the Pie re shores, soniri the con- 
bam arrived at by Professor G. H. Cook, in his report on.the Geology 
of Cape May county, N. J., that the oscillation of land on this coast dur- 
ing the last epoch has been one of subsidence. If the formation found 
near Fort Lafayette be, as it evidently is, an ancient marsh, the depres- 
sion has been at least fifty-three feet. 


AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIE Seven- 
teenth Annual Meeting, at ee Peskin 1868. — The pret of the 
American Association for the Adva nt of Science are, by peri 

and migratory meetings, to prom oa ue between those who art 
caliente science in different parts of North America; to giv 
and more general impulse, and a more systematic direction to scientific 
research in our country, and to procure for the labors of scientific me 
sp eg coh and a wider usefuln 

enteenth meeting of the purr will be held at Chicago, 
during pi week commencing on Wednesday, August 5, 1868, at 10 0° 
clock, A. M. 

It will be the aim of the Local Committee to make the sojourn of the 

members of the ey asa in Chicago pleasant, as well as profitable ins 
scientific point of view. The usual local courtesies will be extended to 
them, both by private citizens and poy ic bodies. Resolutions of invitt 
tion, and offers of the use of room , libraries, collections, rst 
already been passed by the Academy se "Sciences, the Historical Societf 
the Young Men’s oo” the University of Chicago, the Board 
Trade, and other bodie 

ith the view of i Saky as large a meeting as possible, ae 
tion has been given to the facilities for coming to and returni 
city over all routes of travel. seer $ have been made w 


granted by the proprietors of some of the sioanbom lines 
—_eo0——— 


BOOKS RECEIVED. 
son Crania. By Jeffries Wyman Boston, 1868. ag a} 
Monograph of the Alcide. By Eliott en M. D. ` philadelphia, ecg by De 
List of Birds collected in Southern Ari By Dr. E. Palmer; W 
vo, a a gociety af 
talogue of Maine Plants. Published by the Portland 
vo, pp. 12. an 
Journal of Natural Hist. tory. Third series, vol. 4, no. 4 (and 
vol. 5, no. 1, 2, 8vo. Copenhagen, 1 
The Gospel in the Trees. By Alexander Clark. Philadelphia, 1968. 
April 25, May 16, 23, 30, June a 
The Field. May fe 30, June 6, 13, 20. 
The American B rnal. June. Washtiesoh, D.C. 
News. “Fa New York. 


i 
atten- 









= AMERICAN NATURALIST. 


i Vol. II. SEPTEMBER, 1868.—No. 7. 

: 

? CORGORVOD 

i 

, 

DEATH OF FISHES IN THE BAY OF FUNDY. 


BY A. LEITH ADAMS, M.D. 





Awone all the fluctuations of opinion respecting the nature 
of the causes to which the phenomena of the physical sci- 
ences are referrible, none in so short a period of time have 
undergone greater changes than we see represented in the 
history and progress of Geology. The first observers, more 
| “engaged in the discovery of appearances than in seeking to 
divine their causes, were led, by the wonderful but imperfect 
Scenes constantly opening out before them, to infer, that the 
mysterious and extraordinary assemblages of strata and 
n organic remains therein imbedded were owing to causes in 
: sg way distinct, both in kind and degree, from the laws 
Which now govern the material universe. But the gigantic 
strides made in this science during the last half century have 
induced philosophers to conclude that throughout the ‘vast 
periods of time of which geology takes cognizance, there 
has ria been any intervention to the working of fixed and 
variable laws of change. The elevation of land, distortion 
: ey dislocation of rocks, together with their assemblages of 
ganic remains, were considered by the early obse 
e been brought about by sudden and violent osc 
A level; earthquakes and diluvial agencies far ex 


ACADEMY OF 

Scener „ccording to Act of C in the year 1868, by the PEABODY 
a CE, in the Clerk’s Office of the District cust of the District of TTT) 

3 TER, NATURALIST, v 33 





















rvers to 
illations 
ceeding 


Fe 


338 DEATH OF FISHES IN THE BAY OF FUNDY. 


both in extent and intensity any similar phenomena of — 
which history has preserved records. But the modern prog- d 
ress of enlightenment has greatly modified such opinions, 
and now geologists, not content with the speculations o — 
their predecessors, are earnestly endeavoring to interpret the 
Great Stone Book by comparing the former mutations in ; 
the earth’s surface with those of our own times, and thus the 7 
Science is being gradually devested of the supernatural — 
appearances and fanciful conjectures, which, for many yeus, _ 
not only encompassed but also retarded its advancement. — 
Even the simple enumeration of the discoveries which of late : 
years have brought about this grand revolution m the 
thoughts and opinions of the modern school of geologists 3 
would far exceed our limits; we will therefore elucidate the 
subject by an example which came under our own notice, | 
attempt to show the reader that many similar appearance q 
among the rock formations may possibly have been occasioned 1 
by similar causes. q 
An the Bay of Fundy, opposite the Island of Grand Mani — 
there is a large gap in the coast-line named Passamaq! x q 
Bay, into which several fair-sized rivers drain. One, pe . 
the Magagudavic River, is reached by means of a long a 4 
of several miles in length. At a short distance reer a 
there is a small creek named Anderson’s Cove, formed <a 
trappean rocks of which the coast-line is composed. w ! 
beds are considered by geologists as belonging to the pe 7 
nian or Old-Red Sandstone formations of Southern W7 a 
Brunswick. Anderson’s Cove is, in fact, the sea-ending 0 ‘ 
ravine down which runs a small stream into a very ™ Jat q 
lagoon of upwards of 1,300 feet in circumference. ye a 
ter is oval in shape, and communicates directly at di 
tide with Anderson’s Cove by means of a narrow and 
channel, filled with masses of amygdaloid trap, fragmen ihe : 
which are mixed with the mud forming at the bottom © = 
lagoon. There is a beach of sand in front of the l aod 
besides a seawall formed of sand and masses of rocks * 








| 


DEATH OF FISHES IN THE BAY OF FUNDY. 339 


stranded logs of wood piled in disorder along the shore; so 
that, excepting during furious gales, the only direct commu- 
nication with the lagoon is by the passage just mentioned. 
During high tide the waves rush up this channel with force 
stirring up the mud of the lagoon, when the water in the 
basin frequently assumes almost the consistency of pea-soup. 
Thus the lagoon is a shallow morass of brackish water at low 
tide, receiving a’constant supply of fresh water from the 
stream which js depositing its debris on the slimy bottom; 
moreover, land-shells and other organic remains are being 
tonveyed by the stream or washed by the rain into the basin, 
Whilst on the other hand the powerful tidal wave of the Bay 
of F undy brings up quantities of marine Mollusca, Radiata, 
ete., remains of which strew its bottom and sides. Such, in 
all probability, has been the usual state of matters in this 
quiet corner of the bay for unreckoned ages, broken only at 
long intervals by occurrences such as we shall now describe. 
On the 24th of September, 1867, a very heavy gale from 
the west blew directly into Anderson’s Cove, and more 
‘specially on the entrance of the lagoon at the eastern end. 
result was, that the mud became disturbed to an un- 
‘sual extent, and the amount of the water in the area was 
doubled in quantity. During the gale enormous numbers of 
fishes were seen floating on the surface of the turbid 


_ Waters of the morass, and on the following morning when the 


hurricane had subsided, a spectacle presented itself, bafiling 
anything of the kind observed by the residents on previous 
Sceasions. The entire lagoon, from its entrance to the limits 
of the tide, was covered with dead fishes. The species, with 

exception of a few mackerel and New York flounder, 


| Was found to be the young of the American herring (Clupea 


is ata) averaging about six inches in length. This fish 
‘tid to spawn in the neighborhood, and usually large 
Shoals had been observed for some weeks previously in and 


‘bout Ander son’s Cove. The author chanced to be in the 


Vicinity about a fortnight after the occurrence just mentioned, 


340 DEATH OF FISHES IN THE BAY OF FUNDY. 





and, when on his way to the scene of the disaster, was made 
uncomfortably aware of the proximity even at the distance 
of two miles, by an intolerable stench from decomposing 
fish, contaminating the atmosphere in every direction for five 
miles around Anderson’s Cove. The smell was found to — 
emanate not only from the latter, but also from the fields 
around, where many cart-loads had been deposited by the 
farmers; nevertheless, the quantities of rotting fish around 
the margin of the lagoon seemed very little diminished by 
the amount taken away for manure, not to mention what 
been consumed by the flocks of gulls and crows which were 
feeding sumptuously on their remains. 
After skirting the shore of Anderson’s Cove we reached — 
the entrance of the narrow, tortuous passage leading to the 
lagoon ; here the first traces of the disaster were manifested 
by enormous quantities of fishes, impacted between and 
among the fallen masses of rock, which were literally be- 
smeared all over with the crushed flesh and bones of herring 
whilst the sides and bottom of the lagoon were covered with 
their entire and mangled remains, forming heaps several feet 
in depth, more especially in places where there had evidently 
been eddies, whilst the limits of the tide were distinctly 
marked by a pile of their bodies which fringed the basın : 
the lagoon. On the muddy bottom they lay as thick as her 
rings in a barrel, interspersed with remains of crabs, lobsters» 
sea-mussels, and other shells, together with enormous nul: 
bers of the dead bodies of star-fish, etc. od that 
A friend, who resides in the neighborhood, suggeste ee 
the shoal had been chased into the inclosure by ape 
other predaceous fishes, and were subsequently suffocate 


ains 
the muddy waters of the lagoon. But the mangke e 
in the passage and shallow water in Anderson S$ me 


gether with the fury of the gale, rather seemed si 
that the vast assemblage, getting into shallow W3 w 
under the influence of the breakers, was driven pin 

passage and against its rocky sides into the Jagoon, , 


cate 





| 
| 





3 = 







DEATH OF FISHES IN THE BAY OF FUNDY. 341 


the survivors perished from the combined: fury of the waves 
and the muddy waters. During our examination of the 
bottom of the lagoon it was apparent, even in the short space 
of time that had elapsed since the gale, that many of the 
fishes had been completely covered over by mud conveyed or 
re-disturbed by every tide, and deposited also from the 
water-shed around the morass. No doubt at that rate the 
whole of the organic remains, before long, became buried in 
the soft mire, and perhaps some geologist, in the far distant 
future, will be speculating on the cause or causes which 
brought about such a vast congregation of marine and land 
animals in so limited an area, just as he now theorizes on the 
probable causes of those vast assemblages of fossil animals 
he is accustomed to observe in many rock formations. For 
we have only to suppose one or more geological epochs to 
have passed away, and a slight elevation of the land, when, if 
asection were made of the spot where this lagoon now stands, 
there would be found an alluvial deposit on the surface, suc- 
ceeded by a sedimentary stratum containing fragments of the 
Devonian trap-rock of the neighborhood, accompanied by the 
vast assemblage of organic remains just described, and fol- 
lowed, perhaps, by similar objects at greater depths, suc- 
ceeded, no doubt, by traces of the Glacial epoch, which are so 
vividly portrayed on the surface of the surrounding country 
at the present day ; and lastly, the old Devonian conglom- 
erate in which the lagoon now stands. And whilst each will 
“upply memorials of its. own peculiar but relatively distant 
epochs, none will furnish more lasting and wonderful phe- 
"omena than the deposit which contains the fishes destroyed 
urng the gale of the 24th of September, 1867. 

Ccurrences similar to that just described are apparently 
hot common, at least along the coast of the Bay of Fundy, 
“i enormous shoals of herrings and other fishes are met 
With at Stated seasons, so that the accident of the 24th of 
“ptember might occur again anywhere under the same 
favorable conditions. Moreover, it may be pretty confidently 


342 THE ORCHIDS. 


surmised, that the fish stranded in the lagoon were buta 
very small portion of the original shoal which entered Ander- | 
son’s Cove, and thus, supposing the locality had been many 
times larger, there would have been no diminution in rela- 
tive density of the dead fishes on its area. 

Another example is recorded in the Journal of the Geolog- 
ical Society of London.* Thousands of dead fishes, thrown 
on the coast of Madras, were afterwards enveloped in sand 
and mud along with other marine animals and plants, £0 #8 
to form a densely packed stratum of fishes, etc., of unknown 
breadth, but extending for a vast distance along the coast- 
line. The fishes were supposed to have been destroyed by 
the enormous fall of rain from the south-west monsoon, re- 
dering the sea-water less saline. Be that the cause oF not, 
it is by such facts as these, compared with similar phenomena 
of by-gone epochs, that the geologist is enabled to arrive at 
just conclusions, and it is in this way that the science of 
geology is progressing. 





THE ORCHIDS. 


BY C. M. TRACY. 





Ir was the greatest step forward ever made at once 1M g 
study of plants, when Jussieu found out that there ye 
grand line of division running through the whole vegeta j 
kingdom, with seeds on one side that might be split into a 
parts like the pea and the acorn, and those on the other . 
could not, like the kernel of corn and the grain of ber 
rds) it wi 
directly seen that the same line would clearly distn 


between those plants that had a bark and made 
: and thus grew e 


between that and the older wood within, 


* June, 1862. 





THE ORCHIDS. 343 


the outside—between these and such as had no bark, but 
made the new wood in the midst of the pith, and so grew 
on the inside. Again, the outside-growers, like the oak and 
the pea, always have leaves with little veins forming an 
irregular net-work all through them; but the inside-growers, 
as the corn and the lilies, have the veins’ of their leaves 
running straight from one end to the other, and not netted 
at all, so ‘that we can split such a leaf into strips very 
easily, and this makes a palm-leaf hat a possibility, which 
otherwise could not be. By this discovery Jussieu divided 
the vegetable kingdom quite as clearly and effectually as 
Alexander of Parma did the Dutch Republic, and without 
Violating the rule of nature at all, wherein he had a great 
advantage over the other. 

We speak of this natural difference in plants, because in 
talking over these royal families we have come to the point 
When we must step over this remarkable line. Most flower- 
ing plants are outside-growers (botanists say “Exogens,” and 
the reader may too, if he chooses; it means just the same 
thing), and they all have their leaves netted with veins and 
seeds separable into two halves. But the Orchids, of which 
We now speak, are inside-growers (or “Endogens”), have 
leaves that may be stripped into ribbons, and grow from 
woda as indivisible as a buck-shot. Hence, there is no need 
to mistake this family for either of the preceding,* not even 
ma single case; but as we have set out to indicate a few 
Plain marks for the ready recognition of each order, it 
remains to state ‘them for that under present notice. 
ra examine an apple-blossom we find there are 
and S or petals in it, and all of them are just alike in form 

Size. This makes what is called a regular flower. The 
gg matters nothing; the lily has six petals, the spider- 
bas three, the willow-herb four, and the enchanter’s night- 
ia d E and yet all are perfectly regular, for their pore 

e are the same all the way round the flower- Any 


five 


Diei : 
ds and Pisids, of which we haye spoken in Vol. I. of the NATURALIST. 


344 THE ORCHIDS. 


variation from this principle makes the flower irregular. 

e Pea-flower is irregular both in form and size, that of the 
Candytuft is so in size only, and that of the Larkspur chiefly 
in form. The Iris has a flower alike on all sides, and there- 
fore regular, though the petals are in two sets of different 
shape; but the allied Gladiolus, with petals all of nearly the 
same size, is quite irregular, for their diverse form is such as 
turns the flower quite over to one side. : 

Now a certain mark of an Orchid is to have irregular 
flowers. In other families there is often a mixture of the two 
styles, but nothing of it here. And the most common obser- 
ver will bear me out in calling these flowers irregular; for, 
setting aside all technicality, many cannot be reduced to aly 
form, plan, or design, without a liberal stretch of confidence 
and ingenuity. So wide is their range of figure, and so pel 
fectly bizarre are many of the shapes in which they app" 
that one is tempted sometimes to believe they are animated 
creatures. under some strange disguise of enchantment 
Lindley tells us there is scarcely a common reptile or insect 
to which some of them have not been likened. Bees, eran 
flies, long-legged spiders, toads, et id omne genus, all find 
the queerest of representatives in these protean blossoms. 
But more of this presently. | z 

The organs called stamens and pistils are of great B 
tance in vegetable nature. Invested with all that pertains 
reproductive purposes, they have, since Linveus at l we 
been held to represent the sexes of animals, and perhaps 
can say nothing better about it. A striking cir! 
with regard to them is, that while we may trace muc 


t, 
between both these organs and other. parts of the plah 


. nae n the 
respectively, we can rarely find any relationship betwet 


stamens and the pistils directly. We may, by ¢ 
make stamens change into petals, which are obvious! : 
leaves refined ; but we rarely or never succeed in M 
pistils do any such thing. If they ever change 
9 sometimes, without asking our leave), it always 


cultivation 


ge (as Hel 
seems t 


eee 





ee es ee OE | Saenger Nee ee te IFS Se oN 


THE ORCHIDS. 345 


be into green leaves directly ; and, for a general expression, 
we may say that a stamen never turns into a pistil, nor vice 
versa. 


But the Orchids are above the observance of any rule so 
exacting. Ignoring the usual distinctive position of these 
important organs, they constantly place them one upon the 
other, forming a column-like structure, in which the impor- 
tant part of a stamen, the anther, and the necessary part of 
a pistil, the stigma, are both to be distinguished, but nothing 
more. For the rest, you may call it a stamen bearing 
4 pistil or the reverse ; it is either, or neither, as you choose. 
The common, typical structure of the flower in respect of 
these organs, is entirely set aside ; and another and different 
one appears, the presence of which, always constant, is the 
second mark of this strangely beautiful order. 

The third badge is to be found in a circumstance of. great 
significance in connection with those already named, though 
in itself not of much value as a mark. The orchids are all 
Perennials. No annual plant, shooting up under the influence 
of the vernal sun, to perish and pass away when the next 
equinox shall bring the changing season to a less genial tem- 
Per, appears as a member of this privileged and gorgeous 
tace, Let it be for the Asterids, who enjoy being everywhere 
and everything, to revel like May-flies in the’ fléeting hilari- 
lies: of annual life; let the Pisids, who have plenty of trees 
mighty as towers, to spend a fraction of their riches in like 


‘Manner ; but the Orchids will take a middle station, neither 


TE up millions in vast trunks, nor squandering them in 
perishing herbage, planting seed liberally and largely, but 
giving the nursling always that royal blood that shall insure 
* life beyond the brief period of a single spring, and one 

eeding summer. mad 

Or if we esteem this as too common and uncertain for a 
Sure mark of a family like this, we may take -one that od 
— minute, but rather more characteristic. Every Orchid 
“48 a pod for its fruit, with innumerable small seeds within. 

ee NATURALIST, VOL. II. 





346 THE ORCHIDS. 


Now pods, if they are round, that is, alike on all sides, 
bear their seeds in two different ways. Either they havea — 
column of some sort running up through the centre of the — 
pod, and the seeds attached to this, or they have no such — 
column, and the seeds hang upon the inside of the outer | 
wall. There is a great difference in these two modes, 
greater in fact than it is best to trouble the reader with at — 
present. It will be quite enough if he finds out what we 
mean by the modes themselves. Now if we cut across the 
pod of any Orchid, just as we would slice a cucumber, the 
seeds will be found growing on the sides of the interior, and 
not at the centre. 

If, then, we find plants with these marks, to wit: 

- I. Irregular flowers, 

II. Stamens and pistils consolidated, 

HI. Perennial habits ; or seeds round the sides of the pot, 
—then we are safe in looking up to it asa well-accredited 
member of this regal order. Among the sweltering forests 
and jungles of India may be found a small family nis 
sembles these considerably, having flowers not quite regu 
and stamens and pistils partly coherent ; but we know me 
to be mere pretenders, when we find their seeds always 
the centre of the pod instead of on the walls. 

Having thus outlined the characters of this family a sisi 
length, it remains to say a word upon their properties a 
distribution. Two circumstances only can bar these p z 
from any climate, namely, frost and excessive drouths. p 
frost itself, if the degree be not that of the arctic, 1 w 
enough, for there are seventeen genera and fifty-one igi 
reckoned by Gray in the Northern States east a mae 
sissippi, and one of them, Calypso, is nowhere seen but 
cold bogs of the Canadian region. Never rising into ye 
and only rarely to be called shrubs, they stand as ag gi 
most remarkable herbs in all cooler latitudes, y 
moist heats of the tropics they luxuriate as cine os 
on that very peculiar style of growth sometimes, bul 





: 
: 
i 
i 
; 
i 
a 
a 
: 
P 
3 
; 











THE ORCHIDS. 347 


ly, called parasitic. All through the dense forests of Brazil, 
in the thickets of the Orinoco, and along the thousand shaded 
crags and valleys of the Andes, these plants are found in 
myriads, clinging to the rocks, to old and decaying trees, or 
to the stronger arms of those not yet dead, strapping their 
naked, onion-like bulbs to any chance support by roots that 
seem quite as much like rope-yarns, and with green leaves 
starting freshly in such curious situations, pushing out long 
swinging stems of flowers, that dangle hither and thither 
like strings beset with white or red or bronzy butterflies. 
Varied with an excess that is perfectly reckless and prodigal, 
à new form meets the observer at every turn. One botanist 
dismisses the subject in despair; “a whole life,” he says, 
“would be too short for the figuring of the Orchids of the 
Peruvian Andes alone.” What, then, is to be said of the 
multitudes that grow elsewhere, from the Rio de la Plata 
even as far hitherward as the Carolinas? These independent 
air-plants, as they are often called, have cut loose from the 
soil, with princely blood too aspiring for a seat so lowly, 
and mounting to heights and places inaccessible to their, 
Perhaps, envious neighbors ; while in turn they scorn to owe 
them for any but the merest holding-ground, they grow and 
bloom and triumph like a bird upon the main-truck, only 
Sitisfied with the wildest of perches, nor greatly caring even 
for that. Often the flowers are redolent of the most atid 
ful and enchanting fragrance, often they are gorgeous with 
lines that shame the pencil; always they come in such end- 
mse diversity of form—form so lovely and so provokingly 
Sttange—that we are left at a stand,—there is nothing we 
“th say about them save that God has made and given them 
beauty in such manner and degree as he has to nothing else 
‘mong all his wonderful works. ; 

These plants are not less abundant in other regions’ than 
those named. Europe has a great many of the terrestrial or 
tooted sorts, and the Cape of Good Hope is plentifully sup- 


lied with the same. The Southern United States also fur- 


348 THE ORCHIDS. 


nish these species freely. But for the other class, the air 
plants, we go to the East and West Indies, to Cental — 
America and Mexico, to Madagascar and the Indian Islands, — 
and to Nipal and Southern China, and find them in the damp, — 
hot, shaded forests, here, there, everywhere, in thousands | 
upon thousands. Three hundred and ninety-four genera, aml — 
at least three thousand distinct species have been described; , 
and no one supposes that more than a beginning has been 
made. To what an extent the enumeration, if carefully — 
made, might reach, we cannot conjecture; the work is not 
only almost endless, but is very difficult besides. Tt is here 
that we meet with a fact to make the botanist stop and dout 
his own.eyes. When we have, in some cases, carefully | 
examined and described certain species, so that we know l 
their flowers and growth perfectly, we think, and can dis 
tinguish them at sight, all at once,—lo! before us is a plant 
consisting, as it were, of all these species fused together, 
_ with half a dozen kinds of flowers that we have know 
familiarly, and never saw in connection before, and never 
suspected of the least alliance, all growing comfo 
together on the same spike. - Thus was Schomburgk startled, | 
in Demerara, when he found a single plant bearing at aa | 
the flowers of a Monachanthus, a Myanthus, and a ne 
as if, forsooth, botanists had not long before settled _ 
be, not only different species, but separate genera. pares 
the British students surprised, when the same thing ‘ilk | 
ward appeared in the gardens at Chatsworth ; and, ee" gr 
when a plant bore two species of Cyenoches very unlike, a 
with other flowers whose intermediate forms completely 
nected the two. to the 
Shall we say with Lindley, that “such cases shake pee 
foundation all our ideas of the stability of genera m opiy 
cies.” Not at all. If we find such combinations, un : 
disproves former suppositions, and shows what we varie 
permanent and natural divisions to be those of si P 
ties, usually observed, it is true, but capable of being A 











THE ORCHIDS. 349 


aside, and pointing not to any fixed law of nature. We can 
well afford to take facts as they are given to us, without 
seeking to force our preconceived notions on things around 
us, or going into despair because we discover the falsity of a 
long-established error. 

Attracted by the glorious loveliness of these plants, the 
florist, if he be rich enough, often adorns his establishment 
with them. The terrestrial kinds he does pretty well with ; 
he can grow Cypripediums, Ophryses, Herminiums, Acan- 
thophippiums, and the like, with no special trouble. But 
when he comes to the other form, his cares begin. He must 
hang them up in baskets of dry lumps of peat, upon his 
greenhouse rafters ; or tie them on blocks and sticks and put 
them in high and airy places, or perhaps build a pile of such 
loose peat-lumps and put the bulbs on the top. Nay, some 
are too particular for him to meddle much with them; he 
must import the rock or stick or dead limb with them 
already on it, and then he may not succeed after all. Mrs. 
Loudon complains, that with all the plans of glazing houses 
with colored glass; using double sashes, training vines over 
i roof, etc., it has still been impossible to flower some 
kinds to satisfaction. And all this without saying anything 
of the hot, steamy atmosphere that must be kept up, half 
boiling the gardener alive like a Turkish bath, or anything 
of the more ordinary trouble of importing them from far 
Countries, and having them arrive in doubtful condition, 
requiring every art for their restoration, and constantly 
threatening the loss of all expense incurred. Yet, after all, 
“ome succeed finely, and are rewarded with the wondrous 
loveliness of Stanhopeas, Oncidiums, Catasetums, Cattleyas, 
-*ndrobiums, and Vandas, filling their hands with labor, it 
is true, but their senses with beauty and celestial odors, and 
their hearts with yet more exquisite perfumes. Witness the 
iipressions these plants may create, in the case of the chirm- 
ng Peristeria, the “Flower of the Holy Ghost,” before which 

e Catholic cannot restrain his devotion. In its pure 


350 THE ORCHIDS. 


centre, as in the dearest of nests, sits the imitative orga, | 
in the semblance of an immaculate dove, so spotless anl 
serene in its seeming repose, that we cannot wonder that | 
those whose faith makes hallowed emblems of all thing | 
thus suggestive, should have paused, awe-stricken at the | 
first view, and murmured in a half-whisper, “Zece Spiritus — 
Sanctus !” . 

In speaking of the previous orders, we have considered 
their degree of usefulness to man. But here there is very 
little to be said of the kind. Hardly a family among all | 
plants has so little known utility, and here, of course, the 
real royalty is all the plainer to be seen. The nutritive drig 
called Salep, and the peerless aromatic, Vanilla, are the 
most important products of this immense concourse of 
strangely beautiful things. A few are valuable as medicines, 
as the Coral-root, the Ladies’ Slipper, and one or two rite 
This is about the end of this part of the story, for, as hinted 
at the outset, the Orchids are no princes of wealth and 
treasure, but are royal in their incomparable and exhaustless 
world of beauty, the fairies and spirit-kings of the vegeta- 
ble sphere. 

We found in the last family that most cogent proof of 
superior rank and royal origin, the power of spontaneous 
motion, and a life approaching that of animals. The same 
thing is revealed here. Not only do several generà hav? 
flowers that spring and close in a twinkling to catch the 1 
sects that unluckily settle on them, or to resent the to 
that profanes their floral serenity, but one, at least, does al 
than this, and keeps one petal always moving; like 4 fing? 
pointing this way and that, up and down, as if for enterin 
ment, or perhaps counting the legions of some invisible 20% 
whose numbers 

“ Walk the earth 
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.” wet 

We have prattled enough over this family, and y e ° 4 4 

hard to restrain the thoughts and the pen, when com” , 











BIRDS OF PALESTINE AND PANAMA COMPARED. 351 


a subject so full of charms. It is not mere practical useful- 
ness that entitles this or that production to our notice; the 
graceful and the beautiful have place in nature, prominent 
and unquestioned, and if we but listen a moment, we shall 
hear the pulsations of the inner heart that respond to them, 
beat for beat. And we shall do well to heed it, and not be 
angry with ourselves if, stealing a brief space now and then 
from sterner employments, we give ourselves to the contem- 
plation and enjoyment of that generous and spiritual delight 
wherewith a bountiful Creator plainly designs to refresh the 
Weary and jaded spirit. We cannot overlook mere beauty 
here, for the flowers tell us 


“ Uselessness divinest, 

Of a use the finest, 
Painteth us, the teachers of the end of use; 

Travellers, weary eyed, 

Bless us, far and wide; 
Unto sick and prisoned thoughts we give sudden truce, 

a poor town-window 

Loves its sickliest planting, 

But its wall speaks loftier truth than Babylonian vaunting.” 





THE BIRDS OF PALESTINE AND PANAMA 
COMPARED. 


BY EDWARD D. COPE. 


Tr 


: is only lately that means of viewing any class of ani- 
ma 


» Which the Creator planted in the Holy Land, have been 
put at our disposal. As it is in the region which appears to 
have been selected as the first residence of man, an idea of 
superiority naturally attaches to its products; though we 

W, indeed, that all rich lands,—such as “flow with milk 
ad honey »”—are prolific of the many outbirths of his mani- 
fold laws, 


Bo little has this anciently known region been the field of 
“entific study, that, excepting among plants, our knowl- - 


* 


352 BIRDS OF PALESTINE AND PANAMA COMPARED. 


edge has not approached completeness, until the publication — 
of the late researches of Rev. H. B. Tristram. m 
Palestine, with its exceeding diversity of surface, its Cam | 
mel and Tabor, its Lebanon and Bashan, its plains, its deep 
quiet valleys, its rugged canõns and lake shores, presents 
scenes fitted for the habitation of all the forms where adapti- — 
tion to nature must play a part; yet how different the inhabi- 
tants from those of similar situations in our own land, equally 
given to man for his habitation and place of development! 
Tristram noticed 322 species of birds within the rang? 
of the ancient territory. Of these, 230 were land, and 9? 
water birds, ¿.e. Natatores and the wading Cursores. Of — 
the 230, seventy-nine are common to the British Islands, 
and thirty-six of them are found in China, but a small pro- 
portion extending their range to both these extremes. Of 
the water birds, which are always more widely distributed, 
fifty-five of the ninety-two are British, and fifty-seven Chi- : 
nese. Twenty-seven appear to be confined to Palestine a | 
to the immediately adjacent country ; the largest of these * : 
a crow. | 
Taking the 230 land birds at a glance, we find the utter 
absence of so many of the well-known forms that enliven of 
grounds and forests. ‘The absence of Tanagride (w 
warblers” ) and Icteridæ (“black- and hanging-bird” type) d 
changes the aspect of the bird-fauna at once. What have W® 
here, then, of nine-quilled Oscines to enliven the meado¥® : 
like our swarms of blackbirds, or fill the tree-tops and ie | 
ets with flutter like our wood-warblers? © Nothing: SEM 
twenty-four species of finches, Fringillide, will but ps 
our own, though the genera are all different but four, * 
they: the most weakly represented by species. ie the 
look to the higher series, the ten-quilled song-birds, aT 
missing rank and file. While a much larger vein 
Eastern United States possesses fifty species of these 
the little Palestine has already furnished a list © | ag 
dred and twenty-eight. First, of the crows whic k 








; 








BIRDS OF PALESTINE AND PANAMA COMPARED. 353 


nearest Icteride by the starlings, we have thirteen species 
against five in our district of the United States, and not less 
thin seven of the type-genus Corvus, to one common and 
two rare. Two of the larger species, the ravens, gather 
with the vultures in the valleys of Hinnom and Jordan, and 
make the rocks of Zion resound with their coarse cries. If 
we turn to the cheerful larks, we find the proportion again 
the same; fifteen species for Palestine, and one for the whole 
United States. One congener of our species occurs there ; 
the other genera call to mind the African deserts and Russian 


steppes. The Motacillide, again, are ten to one against our 


fauna, enlivening every run and puddle with their wagging 
tails and prying ways. - We have two Tanagride to imitate 
them, besides the one true relative. In swallows we are about 
equal, and in the forest-hunting Paridee—titmice and wrens 
—we exceed a little; but the comparison of Sylviide and 
Turdide is most striking. - These highest of the bird series, 
especially made to gladden man’s haunts, and cheer wild 
nature as well, with song, exceed in number all the other 
ten-quilled Oscines together inhabiting Palestine, amount- 
ing to seventy-five species. In our corresponding region of 
the United States, there are nineteen species. It is true 
no mocking-bird or wood-robin is known away from our 
shores, but Palestine has the nightingale, the black-cap, and 
the true warblers, or Sylvias, which, while they glean from 

b and tree their smallest insect enemies, as do our 
equally numerous small Tanagride, have much louder and 
eer Voices. But the balance of distribution of organized 
types has more developmental and geological, than any other 


Kind of significance. 
a Our solitary bluebird represents the long-winged Turdide ; 


by the Holy Land there are twenty species corresponding, 
ugh none are of our genus. There are, indeed, but three 


Senera of these two families common to both countries. One 


0 


Species > Lanius, the butcher-bird, occurs here in one rare 
es, m Palestine in six. | 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. I. 45 


354 BIRDS OF PALESTINE AND PANAMA COMPARED. 


Turning now to a lower series, we look in vain for Clama- — 
torial perchers; that series which gives us the fierce king- í 
bird and querulous pewee, and which peoples South America — 
with thrush and warbler and shrike and tree-creeper. We — 
are induced to ask, then, has the old world a period the stat 
of the new? or were the respective countries to be forever 
stamped with the marks of rank and breeding. We cannot — 
answer’ these questions now, but will see what other regions — 
have to show. . 

In taking a hasty glance over the lower groups, in whieh 7 
the carotid arteries begin to be double, as the Syndaetyli, 
we find Palestine too far from the tropics to present us with l 
muclf array; but in the related Zygodactyles out forest- 
crowned continent must claim great preéminence. The oaks . 
of Bashan and Cedars of Lebanon had but a solitary Picts 
to probe their wounds, while we have eight in the immediate 
neighborhood of latitude 40° in our Eastern States. 7 

I will close with the birds of prey. Four swamp hawks 
eleven species of falcons, four kites, and eight native eagles, 
form a list unequalled in the annals of nobility by Y ln { 
There are together thirty-one species of Falconide, ae" 
vultures, four. The eagles appear to be all i | 
among them the most magnificent birds of prey» the imp* 
rial and golden species. How the flight of these ta : 
soaring alike over the crags of Carmel or stagnant Dead 4 
or the towers of Jerusalem, calls to mind the 
have so often in this land pierced beyond the clouds 0 to 
ness of heart and bonds of human grovelling; and "a l 
contemplation of that glorious and all-powerful On : 
created alike the mountain and the eagle. iN oth : 
_ To the ornithologist, acquainted with the fauna meee | 
America, it will thus be readily perceived, that, I0“ rois 
son, the bird-fauna just examined possesses MOr? A "n : 
representatives of the higher groups of the birds, ge ot 1 
lower groups, possess chiefly those of superior > a wih q 
lacks them altogether. Let us, however, compare PE i 





Pe eee 


eS S 


j 
: 
















BIRDS OF PALESTINE AND PANAMA COMPARED. 355 


that of another region, where varied surface and temperature 
offer even greater opportunity for variety within quite as 
restricted an area. 

One of our early lessons that has to be unlearned is to the 
effect, that North and South America are separated by the 
Isthmus of Darien. This is in consequence of our natural 
later inquiry, Does this close approach of the two mighty 
oceans restrict the distribution of organized beings from re- 
gion to region, or is it but a passage-way for the multitudes 
of the one side, into the far domains of the other? We can 
ask farther: Can such a narrow area support a variety of 
active existences? And again, in the cosmical view, Where 
in the scale of time’s revelations do these beings stand? are 
they developments of the latest and newest creation? or have 

yany kin among those that are passing away? 

The opening of the Aspinwall and Panama Railway has 
given us many a view into this forest-covered mountainous 
region. The vigor of the vegetable world presents a bar- 
tier to extended examination, little seen in more northern 
climes ; hence less will meet the eye of the passing traveller 
than in a trip over an equal stretch of highway in the United 
States or Europe. 

To those persons who with knife in hand have hewn their 
way through the Agaves that transfix the flesh, and the creep- 
ers that trip the feet, a world of life has been found ; and 
this restricted region has been ascertained to abound with 
the forms which one would only expect to gather ina favored 
Spot of some great continent. That nature can long hide 
from the eye of man will be evident, in view of the fact, that 
a beast related to the 


0 
he of America’s largest mammals, 
months. 


Common tapir, has only come to light within a few 
i allude to the Tapirus Bairdii. i 
The bird-fauna has been found by Messrs. Sclater an 


Salvin to embrace about 385 species, which is sixty-three 


stine, which is 


re than were mentioned to occur in Pale 
Of these but 


pen on three sides to the great continent. 


356 BIRDS OF PALESTINE AND PANAMA COMPARED. 


thirty-seven are water birds, Natatores and aquatic Cursores, 


showing that it is not the ocean that yields the abundance — 
here. Of the 348 land birds, forty-four are characteristic 


of, or occur in North America, exclusive of Mexico, and 290 


are of South American kin. We need not then hesitate to — 
refer this region to the latter fauna, especially as we know 
many of the same species to be to some extent dwellers it 
Mexico. On this and other grounds we may safely add the 
thirty-six species which range from Mexico to the Isthmus 
as their ultima thule southward, to the evidence that this 


region is far within the frontiers of the Regio Neotropica. 


Eighty of the 348 are familiar rangers of Central Ameri, 
which have not spread farther towards the fields of the Mor 
tezumas; and those which find their kin limited to the Ist 


mus and adjoining regions of New Grenada, and Equador 
amount to about seventy-five more. Twenty-seven ie me 
number not known to extend beyond the boundaries of 


Palestine; as to the Middle. States of our Union, not 0 — 
species has been shown to be restricted within such narrow 


limits. 

A single species occurs in Europe; this is 
an animal which combines the cosmopolite ha 
bird with the powerful flight of the bird of prey: The® 
also the only species common to the Panama and Palestin? 
catalogues. 


The birds of prey are numerous— twenty-nine species 


Among these there is no true eagle or falcon, and “7 
nineteen genera, but four belong to the fauna of the Bow 
Land. There is but one species to represent the gres 
family, but instead, three families of their 
can imitators, the Pullastræ, instead of the one, ©" 
_ pigeons, slimly represented in Palestine, and m 
America as well. These Pullastræ are a generalize 
combining features of the perchers with those of the 





5 i : th Amerie 
ae of the six great zoölogical regions of the earth, including Pn i 
West Indies, and Mexico. 


the fish-hawk, 
bit of the nef l 


d grou 








: 
| 
a 
a 





BIRDS OF PALESTINE AND PANAMA COMPARED. 357 


The Curassows are their largest modern type, while the Dodo 
represents our knowledge of the extinct forms. 

The group of Struthions is also well represented by the 
vatious Tinamus. One of this group—the true ostrich— 
wanders over the borders of Palestine, but is scarcely an 
“Antachthon.” He stands lower than the Tinamu. 

Coming to the closer test of superiority, the Passeres, — 
those delicate creatures apparently so dependent on those 
laws which govern increase and provision, and so affected by ` 
the changes that man works in the face of nature; what do 
we find? Of the Clamatores, who least tune their voice to 
nature’s harmonies, but rather imitate the fierce tones of the 
cruel, or the wild cries of the dwellers in the shades, we 
count 106 distinct species. There are none in Palestine. Of 
Songsters, the Oscines, ninety-six species, await man’s con- 
quest of the wilderness to increase in numbers and to display 
their gifts, while Palestine rejoices in a whole army of them. 
But the contrast is remarkable if we analyze these forms. Of 
the Isthmus Oscines, seventeén only hold the first rank by ` 
virtue of their additional (the tenth primary) quill, while this 
feature marks 128 species of Palestine. As we rapidly fol- 
low the line to the point where its extreme is manifested, in 
the family of the thrushes, or Turdide, Panama is left but 

© solitary pioneers of these songsters of the north, while 
seventy-five species represent the family in Palestine. 

We naturally inquire, Is there anything in the food, the 
vegetation, or the temperature, to account for this apparent 
diversity ? Are there not seed-eaters, insectivores, and tree- 
climbers, where seeds and insects and forests grow the 
World over? We answer, undoubtedly there are, and these 

aptations to food and climate are indeed as nothing in the 
seneral plan of creation, for every type of every age has per- 
Prmed these functions successively. Those which fill these 
places in the Isthmian and general neotropical bird-fauna, 
re the Clamatores already alluded to. Let us compare these 
mith the Oscines, and see how complete is the parallel. 





358 BIRDS OF PALESTINE AND PANAMA COMPARED. 


CLAMATORES. OSCINES, 
I. Tree-climbers with long hind-toe and tail feathers 
stiffened. i 








le Certhiide. — 


Il. Tree-perchers with hooked bill, graduating from 
powerful to medium and slender. 

Formicariide. Turdide. 
Thamnophilus, bill strongest, Lanius,* 
Formicarius, “* moderate, Turdus,t 
Formici weak, yleia,t 
Rhamphocenus, “ slender (wren’s), Troglodytes.§ 


their prey and take it on the wing cape 
annide. Muscicapide. 


IV. Flat-billed berry and fruit eaters. 


Ill. Fly-catchers with flat bill and weak legs; wait for 


Bombycillide. 


So the subject might be pursued as it has been by others, 
and many parallels in greater details be drawn. Sutlice it 


to say, that the same can be done for the frogs, the tortoises, 3 
the saurians, and to a great extent for the fishes of this same — 


great fauna. 
Now whether we call these types lower or higher, we find 


them to have spread in former ages over a far greater ara 
of the earth’s surface than at present. The writer has ase’ 


tained that many of the turtles of the Eastern Cretaceous 
period of our country are of this peculiar neotropical group 
and that the species of the Eocene period of England (P late 
mys Bowerbankii and Emys levis) really belong to tee 
Podocremidide, now only known in the Amazon eae 
other (Platemys Bullockii ||) really belongs to another Ki 
of the same series, the Sternothæridæ, now only know? 
Africa. 

This brings us to another point. The whole ae 
Hemisphere shares in the peculiarities of the South Amen“ 
or Neotropical fauna. Australia possesses a strang® wane 
of the old and the new; the clouds of the past floating 2°" 
sunlight of the future. South America, with newe om 
has older reptiles, while to Africa comparatively ka 
ancient landmarks remain. 





*Butcher-birds. tThrushes. ł Warblers. Bakert 
\|Type of the genus Digerrhum Cope. 











THE CHASMS OF THE COLORADO. 359 


































That these characteristics of the fauna mentioned are, in 
comparison with others, really successional, in the same 
manner as are different geologic epochs in relation to each 
other, can be proven by the study of the anatomy and devel- 
opment of the species of each. Their relative greater or less 
extension during the periods of geologic time also furnishes 
an indication of a chronic relation now existing between 
these faunæ. Thus we have before us some of the terms 
of that grand proposition, whose demonstration must ever be 
of high interest to mankind. 





THE CHASMS OF THE COLORADO. 


BY A. HYATT. 





In Niagara we readily realize the power of demolition 
attributed to its waters. The Fall is still receding, the 
ground is shaken under us by its blows, the chasm it has cut 
yawns before our eyes. But it is another and far different 
matter to recognize the same force in other localities, where, 
perhaps, a puny stream, depleted by the summer heats, trails 
along the centre of some deep gorge. 

Here the observer must remember that time has no boun- 
daries in geology; that existing causes, provided they are 
“pable of carrying away ever so small a portion of solid 
it and rock now, would, in ages past, have had oppor- 

ity enough to have destroyed the whole of the rocky core 
Which once filled the ravine. 
si him descend and look at the tottering pinnacles threat- 
ra him from above, and then examine those that have 
L in. The layers of the shattered masses are open 
Power ice-wedges in winter, the grinding and transporting 
cold of the spring freshets, the alternate heat of noon an 

of night. Acted upon also by the oxygen of the air, 





360 THE CHASMS OF THE COLORADO. 















the acids in the water now dry, now wet, is it a wonder that 
they are covered by a coat softer than the interior of the 
rock, which is readily ground off or dissolved by the stream? 
The rusty coating of iron arises from the same causes, anl. 
yields in the same way. when exposed to similar infos 
until the hard metal has entirely disappeared. 
The lofty ledges themselves are constantly oranti 
finer dust swept away by the winds, and the heavier 
plunging to the bottom. Every rain carries away, in sol 
tion, the dust which the winds have spared, and a portion 
the softened outer-coxtings of the stones. l : 
Watch the bottom of any fast-running rivulet, you 
see a moving cloud of the finest particles, and under 
larger pieces rolling confusedly onwards. The large 
are slowly but surely wearing themselves away, and 
moving cloud is the result of this grinding. Thus it is thi 
nearly all the stones found in eee are pebbles. 
first broken away from the parent rock they must have #4 
sharp edges like any other fragment. Have you ge 
found a piece of a bottle in the bed of a stream, with th 
edges nicely smoothed, and the sides scratched and 
like ground glass? They are quite common, and show how : 
pebbles are made with perfect accuracy. ik 
Quietly and almost imperceptibly the tireless waters Wi e 
except when heavy rains or spring freshets, 
colored with their burden of dust “and dissolved rock, aie : 
even large boulders and destroy well-known land del 
The ability of water to handle rocks of any size, pro” pe 
it is deep enough and swift enough, is unquestioned. “i 
Au Sable River, where the inclination of the shelving e 
which formed the bed was not over two or three eae ; 
the depth more than eighteen inches, I have mys® if, pr : 
aid of a lever, rolled into the current great pieces of heard . 
stone, three or four feet long and a foot thick, ed | 
their heavy rumbling over the ledge as they were 
niay, Among the shales, limestones, and panier — 











VOLI ELD 


American Naturalist. 


TE 


SSE 


=== 





CHIMNEY PEAK. 





THE CHASMS OF THE COLORADO, 861 


vines of this description are common; and in these sedimen- 
tary rocks where layer answers to layer on either side of 
the gorge, there can be but little doubt that water has carved 
them out. In the more disturbed localities, however, where 
the stratification is obscured, it becomes difficult to deter- 
mine whether the chasms were not originally great cracks in 
the earth, subsequently enlarged by the grinding and trans- 
porting power of the stream. The Colorado of the West af- 
fords the best illustrations of these two kinds which have yet 
been seen by man. In its lower part the rocky sides of the 
tahons are cut out of strata highly inclined and disturbed, 
where they have been bent upward to form the mountains, 
while in its upper portion they are perfectly horizontal. 

Two rivers, the Green and the Grand, rise at the western 
bases of the Rocky Mountains, ten or twelve thousand feet 
above the sea, one in South-western Nebraska, the other in 
South-eastern Oregon, and are said to unite their streams near 
the southern boundary of Utah, to form the Colorado of the 
West. This then flows south-westerly, and empties into the 
Gulf of California: The descent is accomplished at first by 
* grand cañon cut through a succession of elevated plateaux, 
called Mesas, which spread out westward from the base of 

Rocky Mountains, like a gigantic stairway, each step a 
thousand feet or so in height and many miles in breadth, and 
m Its lower part by a series of cañons through ranges of 
mountains, 

P late 7* shows the north-western prolongation of the Pur- 
ple Hills, which form the first three cañons in the river. The 
two pinnacles of “Chimney Peak,” looming up in the back- 
Stound, are composed of trap. This being much harder than 
ara of the neighboring rocks has yielded less to the 
bps the elements, and shows how vast has been the de- 
On which has destroyed them. Professor Newberry 

S that in some cases tlfe wearing away of the moun- 








*From the Editors of the Ameriean J a af Art 2 Gaian 
* NATURALIST, VOL. 11. 46 








362 THE CHASMS OF THE COLORADO. 


tain masses has been upon such a grand scale, that now they 
are only half their original size. 
The Mojave cañon, the fourth or fifth through which one 
passes in ascending the river, is described by Lieutenant 
Ives as follows: “A low, purple gateway, and a splendid 
corridor with massive red walls, formed the entrance to the 
cañon. At the head of this avenue, frowning mountains; 
piled one above the other, seemed to block the way. A 
sharp turn at the base of the apparent barrier revealed a 
cavern-like approach to the profound chasm beyond. A scene 
of such imposing grandeur, as that which now presented 
itself, I have never before witnessed. On either side majestic 
cliffs, hundreds of feet in height, rise perpendicularly from 
the water. As the river wound through the narrow W- 
closure, every turn developed some sublime effect or start 
ling novelty in the view. Brilliant tints of purple, greet, 
brown, red, and white, illuminated the stupendous surfaces 
and relieved their sombre monotony. Far above, clear aul 
distinct upon the narrow strip of sky, turrets, spires, Jeem 
- statue-like peaks and grotesque pinnacles overlooked thë 
deep abyss.” ee 
To this succeeds the Painted Cañon, whose exquisitely | 
tinted walls, though less grand, seem to have excited u y 
tistic taste of the explorers not less than the Mojave pe 
Then occurs the Black Cañon, where, for twenty-five es : 
the narrow river plunges through the sunless depths 
Black Mountains, the precipices on either side a 
pendicularly a thousand feet or more from the water. 
little band, in their frail boat, were buried in this ‘ig 
gorge for two days, and one follows them through the ©" 
culties and dangers of the pass with breathless interest. p 
a ‘ Vewbelrys 
The walls of these cañons, according to Dr. Ne of 
geologist of the expedition, are formed of great . 
granite, porphyry, trap, and other volcanic rocks; ye 
layers of highly crystalline limestone and conglom 


which are of equal heights, and correspond exactly on en" 





: 
4 
i 
l 
; 






























THE CHASMS OF THE COLORADO. 363 


side of the river. The unavoidable inference from these facts 
is that the mountain ranges, of which there are several be- 
sides those I have mentioned, once crossed the bed of the river 


and dammed back its flow, filling the valleys between with 


extensive lakes. These were probably connected by a series 
of eascades and rapids, which must have been of unparalleled 
beauty and grandeur; but as Niagara is destroying itself, so 
have they destroyed themselves. The stupendous precipices, 
so graphically described by Lieutenant Ives, are the trophies 
of their unconquerable power, the remnants of those moun- 
tain barriers through which the cataracts ate their way and 
drained the great lakes of the interior. 

These chasms, however, with their thousand feet or so of 
granite and solid porphyries, are but the outer gates pre-- 
paring the mind for the awful sublimity of the Great Canon. 
The local disturbances or oscillations which gave rise to the 
wild scenery of the lowlands, tossing their originally hori- 
zontal layers into lofty mountainous waves, have made no 
impression upon its walls. The level courses of sandstone, 
limestone, and shale, lie upon a bed of granite, of itself a 
thousand feet thick, without a bend or fault to mar their 
perfect parallelism. The entire thickness of the first great 
Mesa or plateau, west of the Rocky Mountains, is exposed 
in the cliffs, and the edges of the severed plain hang in the 
preven a mile above the river. ; 
“The scenery,” says Lieutenant Ives, speaking of a side 
“tion down which they passed some seventeen miles to the 
"iver, “much resembled that in the Black Cañon, excepting 
an the rapid descent, the increasing magnitude of the colos- 

piles that blocked the end of the vista, and the corre- 

iog depth and gloom of the gaping chasms into which 
aan plunging, imparted an unearthly character to a way 

i ch might have resembled the portals of the infernal re- 
sions.” No attempt is made to describe the Great Canon 


. = -= explorers seem to have succumbed to the awe 
E “ited in their own minds, and yielded the greatest homage 





































364 THE CHASMS OF THE COLORADO. 


they could have paid to the unearthly nature of the seene— 
silence. For three hundred miles the precipitous walls 
from three thousand to six thousand feet in height, am |i 
every side the plain is furrowed by the tributaries, s0 | 
“fissures, so profound the eye cannot.penetrate their gloom 
depths, are separated by walls whose thickness one 
almost span, and slender spires that seem tottering upon 
bases, shoot up thousands of feet from the vaults below. 
The country is impassable to man and beast, and none 
birds can explore the cavernous abysses. The solitu 
unbroken, and the inhospitable rocks deserted, save by @ 
Indians who drag out a wretched and monotonous ©) 
among the subterranean passages. No vegetation ¢ in 
the sides of the cañon or covers the broken surface of 
Mesa; all is alike naked and savage.* ik: 
The chasm at Niagara excites much wonder, but 
shall be said of this? The horizontal strata, answering 
to layer upon either side, are witnesses that cannot ` 





but contorted or bent upward. Had one part settled 
from the other, leaving a gap between, the strata 
be at equal heights. The river is the only agent he 
haye done the mighty work. At some period of p 
incalculably distant, the Colorado and its tributaries ® 
over a mile above on the Mesa, and descended by 3 
into a great lake which filled the valley between the 
and the Black Cafions. A succession of such lak 
nected by cataracts or rapids as before described, | 
the mountain chains, until step by step it reached ihe 
through which it now flows to the Gulf of Califone a 
Newberry found, in the deposits of the lower part asia 
river, the tooth of a mastodon and the silicifed 


Le 
«the Editors of the A™ vid 








3. 


* Plate 8, for which weal indebted to the ki SF a ia 
Journal of Arts and Sciences, gives a view of the general aspect 
other Mesas rising in the distance. i 


an Naturalist. 


American 








"CHASM. 


= THD 





THE RUFFED GROUSE. 365 


fossil drift-wood buried in the ancient banks now some two 
hundred feet above the present level. These remains indicate 
afar more abundant vegetation than at present, and that when 
the lakes spread their broad sheets over the now barren val- 
„leys, and the rivers were near the surface of the Mesa, all 
the land was covered by great forests of pine, among which 
huge elephants roamed and cropped the succulent leaves. 
Time has sapped this green, luxuriant youthfulness, and in 
its seared and wrinkled old age, though grander and more 
majestic, the country is bald and unfruitful. 





THE RUFFED GROUSE. 


k BY AUGUSTUS FOWLER. 


Tus beautiful bird, the Bonasa umbella, is a resident in 
Massachusetts. It commences breeding very early in the 
= Season, so early indeed, that the nest and birds are frequently 
= Covered with the late snows. 

: It is at this time of the year, more than at any other, that 
the male practices the peculiar habit of drumming, to cal 
= his mate., He usually selects for the purpose the trunk of 
some fallen tree, and, mounting it, struts back and forth, 
with tail expanded and head thrown back and wings lowered 
till they drag upon the log. These are the preliminary 
movements. Suddenly he stops, throws his head forward, 
lowers his tail, compresses his feathers, and then commences 
to strike his sides with his wings, increasing the rapidity of ` 
the strokes, until the sound produced resembles low distant 

dunder, 

They build their nest on the ground, in some secluded 
place, under a brush-heap, or by a log or fallen fence. It is 
composed of whatever suitable materials lie about the spot, 
Such as dried grass, twigs, and dried leaves. After the 

















366 THE RUFFED GROUSE. 






















female commences laying she lays every day, until towards 
the last end of the litter, when she lays every other day, 
until she has laid ten, twelve, and sometimes fifteen eggs 
These she places around the nest in circles, that each may 
receive an equal degree of warmth while she is sitting upo 
them. When she Tikva them, she sometimes covas 
with grass or leaves, but not always. 
The inside of the nest measures tive and a half snheailt 
depth two and a half inches. The color of the eggs is yee 
lowish-white, marked with reddish-brown spots. 
the last ones of the litter are without spots, and of a lighter 
color, a few larger round spots appear to be laid on the sut 
face of the shell and raised above it. Sometimes a nest of 
the Ruffed Grouse is found to contain a litter of pure while 
eggs. This difference in the color of the eggs may arise in 
consequence of the first nest of the bird being “destroyed. b 
connection with this I will mention an instance of a blue-bird 
that was robbed of her eggs in succession, until she p 
pure white ones. Her e st litter was taken in April, where 
upon she immediately laid another litter of a lighter eoit 
than the first. These being taken, she laid another lites 
four eggs, of a still lighter color than the second. 
litter was also alias from her, when she laid one more 
of three eggs, entirely white. The Marsh-hawk lays from 
six to eight eggs for the first litter, which are all dix 
tinctly marked, iit the exception of one or two that 
laid last. If this first litter is destroyed and she ma 
soon, the eggs will hardly have a perceptible spot upon them 
For this reason no birds’ eggs should be described, ot P 
served as typical specimens, casement those laid first a 
season. x 
When the female Grouse begins to sit, the ma 
her and rambles about alone, or in company W! 
males, until autumn. Then he: returns, and the 
together till the following spring, when they 
pairs to breed. 


m os 
ith other 
s keep 





aE A See races 


Oey ESSN) A SA EA eae =k Rn J a a uae en el Ppor L T 


: 
i 
f 












THE RUFFED GROUSE. 367 


' Under different circumstances the female uses different 
artifices to preserve her young. If she sees a person ap- 
proaching, and cannot lead her young brood away before 
she suffers the intruder to come too near, she utters a low 
clucking note, and in an instant every chick is hid, and will 
remain so until called by her; while she, in the mean time, 
walks slowly away, keeping her eye fixed on the intruder, 
and occasionally stopping and standing on one leg. If you 
still advance, she walks as before, appearing as though there 
was nothing very interesting about the place, until she gets 
behind a tree or bush, when the whirring of her wings tells 
that she has flown away. Many a person has been led away 
by this manceuvre, while she returns by a circuitous route to 
the rear, and alighting near her young, calls them to her. 
When suddenly alarmed, the brood as before hide under the 
leaves and rubbish, while she feigns lameness, and if not fol- 
lowed, usually returns bristling her feathers and fluttering 

And if your foot is presented to her, she will strike 
at it in the same manner as a domestic hen when defending 
her chickens. The young follow their mother from the day 
they are hatched until they are fully grown, and even until 
the following spring. 

So ardently is this beautiful game-bird sought for, that 
many are destroyed every year, not only with the gun, 

by every contrivance of snare and trap; and by the last 
two methods whole broods are taken before they have 
reached maturity. If such indiscriminate slaughter should 


Continue for a few years to come as in times past, we shall 


ve cause to regret that effective measures were not taken 


for the preservation of this noble bird. wa 


The Ruffed Grouse is born to be free, and if reduced to 


: » Will die rather than submit to such degradation. He 
ns to be a domestic bird, and chooses the wild forests; 
Where, with a proud step and erect head, he walks with that - 


haughty bearing which indicates his free spirit. 


A TROPICAL AIR-PLANT. 


BY CHARLES WRIGHT. 



















A WONDERFUL tree—if tree it can be called—grows - 
throughout the West India Islands, in South America às : 
far ioith as Brazil, and perhaps in Florida. It is not re l 
markable for its beauty, nor for its great size, but forit 
irresistible power of destroying other trees. 

It is an epiphyte (Clusia rosea Linn.), perhaps 4 tr 
parasite. Whether it ever germinates in the ground I know 
not; nor do I know why it dan not, if it can spat in 
a woodpecker’s hole in a palm. Certain it is, that of hune 
dreds which I have seen, I never saw a young plant steel 
to the soil. It grows on many kinds of trees, and at almost 
any height he the earth. In. some situations it grows: 
feebly. On a palm, it never or rarely attains to any 60i 
siderable size; whether there is an incompatibility betwe 
the two growths, or whether, as is commonly the case 
these trees, it germinates at too great a height. On the 
spreading aijai of a tree it thrives better, but seems there 
to be not in its proper place. In any case, its main 
ment -is downward. When on a branch remote fromt 
trunk, the descending axis— root or trunk, whichever ! : 
be—is like a cord, increasing to the size of à ropes 
hawser, or growing even larger; rarely branching, 
sometimes, near ibe. ground adi off stays. The : 
ing axis makes little more than a gunn while the root 
ex thirty or forty feet long. In one respect, this is 
true root,—it branches irregularly, —while, on the se, 
ing trunk the leaves and branches are in pairs. 

in order to attain its full development, it seems 6 
that it should germinate at a point from which the ad 
ing axis shall pass in proximity to the trunk ih ; 
and, it has seemed, that if this point be very high, . 
‘circumstance unfavorable to its rapid g gon 


Ai 


A TROPICAL AIR-PLANT. 369 


Supposing, then, our plant to start under favorable aus- 
pices, not very high above the ground, and from a hole or a 
fissure in an erect trunk, the ascending stem presents nothing 
of special interest, but the root, passing down near the foster- 
tree, is most singularly affected by it. It would seem as if 
possessed of a most grateful affection for that which gives it 
support; so much so, ds to multiply arms with which to 
embrace it. It sends off, from time to time, at irregular 
distances, from one side or the other, slender, almost thread- 
like branches, which pass horizontally around the tree, till 
they meet on the opposite side and unite ; or, it may be, if 
two should not meet, they would pass entirely round it and 
unite again with the main root. On this point, I either 
made no careful observations, or my memory is at fault. 
Gradually the foster-tree is embraced by a succession of 
these cords. But, by the same regular growth, these cords 
spread upward and downward, till they become hoops. And 
these hoops often’ send off branches from one to another; 
and these in their turn widen, till the tree is inclosed in a 
living cylinder or a cylindrical network of bands, having 
immense strength ; and as these seem to increase only late- 
rally » the growth of the tree is checked, and its destruction 
ìs inevitable, sooner or later, according to its less or greater 
Power of endurance, 

A tree, on which the Copey has woven a pretty complete 
: het, cannot long retain its vitality. Its circulation is stopped 
2 and it dies. But this seems not to. check the growth of the 
: destroyer, so. long as the trunk remains erect. But when 

they both fall, the parasite cannot long survive. It would 
i Seem that it required either elevation or an erect position 

for its existence, 
„L can recall to mind but one instance of a Copey growing 
ee the ground, and it is probable that in this case the 
Place Whence it started was low, and it had time to reach 
* Soil and fasten its roots there before the death and decay , 
of its foster-parent, | 
SER. NATURALIST, VoL. 1. 4T 









370 THE MOTTLED OWL. 


Copey is, probably, the aboriginal or Carib name of the 
plant, which, like many others, has been retained. Scotch 
lawyer, or Scotch attorney, by which name it is known in 
Jamaica, is not altogether flattering to legal gentlemen of 
Caledonian extraction. i 





THE MOTTLED OWL. 
BY DR. W. WOOD. 

OF the genus Scops, there are some twenty-five or thirty 
species in all parts of the globe, only one of which, accord- 
ing to Cassin, is found in New England. From the time of 
Pennant till they were separated by the Prince of Canino 
(Charles Lucien Bonaparte), the mottled (Strix Asio) and 
the red owl (Strix Novia) were considered two distinct spe 
cies: since that time, the writers on ornithology —so far a5! 
have been able to learn— consider them the same bird. Some, 
and probably the most, believe that the mottled is the adult 3 
and the red the young, while others are equally bev?” 
that the reverse is true. Brewer, in his synopsis A m : 
birds of North America, says that the red-plumaged bird . : 
the adult. In his opinion he is sustained by Doctor pr : 
of Boston, and many other distinguished naturalists. A r | 
bon says, “The red owl of Wilson and other naturalist "i 
merely the young of the bird called by the same authors i : 
mottled owl.” Cassin, in the Pacific Railroad ir | 
ix, p. 52), agrees with Audubon, yet says “the ae peet 
of plumage described above (adult and young) WY 
regarded as characterizing distinct species, and they geal | 
sent a problem scarcely to be considered as fully yout, 
‘And furthermore he says, “this bird pairs and reais « 
while in the red plumage, and it is not 
. mottled male and red female associated or the ay È 
While Audubon says, “By the middle of Augus m 













THE MOTTLED OWL. 371 











fully feathered, and are then generally of the color exhibited 
in the plate (ved). The feathers change their color as the 
pairing season advances, and in the first spring the bird is in 
perfect dress (gray).” How, then, can a gray and red pair, 
as the young never pair until the following spring? From 
the above quotations you perceive that there is a great differ- 
ence among scientific ornithologists as to which is the adult 
and which is the young ;—and, if it will not seem egotisti- 
cal, allow me to say that I believe all are right and all are 
Wrong; for, according to my investigations, there is an adult 
red and an adult gray, and also a young red and a young 
gray. As “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth” is or should be the only desideratum known among 
naturalists, I propose to give my experience and observa- 
tions, hoping to elucidate the subject somewhat, intending 
still to prosecute my researches until the identity or non- 
identity is settled beyond dispute. A writer in the trans- 
actions of the Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. 8, 
P. 53, expresses my views on the subject. He says that 
the color of both young and old is variable and uncertain, 
or else they are specifically distinct, having observed both 
the old and young of the Mottled-gray Owl, neither of 
Which had the slightest shade of red about them ;” -and I ean 
add, that I have not only observed the same, but also the 
adult Red on her nest with red young. In my collection is 
à Mottled Owl that was taken from her nest in a hollow tree 
7 that she had occupied several years with one of her young, 
_ ‘Relther of which had.a red feather on them. I have also a 
acC Owl that was taken from her nest by a farmer who in- 
i me that she had nested close by his house in the 
_ Same hollow tree four or five years, and that he had been: in 

the habit of taking her out and showing her to his friends, 
but having a brood of chickens disappear suddenly, he sup- 
Posed this owl was the thief. In answer to my interroga- 
tions, he said she had always the same red color. In the ; 
Pring of 1860, I found a Red Owl on her nest with four 








hh T Aai 
adsl 


RTE THE MOTTLED OWL. 


young under her: the latter were quite young, yet had the 
reddish tinge wherever the down was superseded by feathers. 
I stuffed one of them and kept the other three four months, 
when it was difficult to distinguish them from the adult bird. 
From the above it is evident that there are two adults, at 
least from three to five years oid, the one red without a 
gray feather; the other gray without the slightest shade of 
red; also, the young of each before they could fly, one pure 
gray and white without a red feather, the other with a red 
dish tinge to all the feathers. These facts I am unable to 
reconcile unless it is admitted that the color of the plumage 
is either “variable and uncertain,” or else, that there are two 
distinct species as described by Wilson in his American Ow 
nithology. 

In the fall of 1860 I wrote to my friend, Dr. S. W. wk 
son, St. Simon’s Island, Geo., who is an experienced omnis 
thologist, and who has an extensive aviary, relating af i 
investigations, and soliciting his observations as to 
identity or non-identity of the Mottled and Red Ovis, ai i 
received the following reply: “Iwill as far as Į am 
dispose of the Owl question. I feel that I can speak 
authoritatively in the matter from the number of = : 
‘tions I have made of each species. Fortunately, boii 
species to which you refer are abundant here, and I have 
hesitation ìn saying that Wilson described them acet 
and subsequent naturalists have erred in consideri 
under one species. I have observed the old owls an 
species feeding their young, noticed the change of pl 
in the latter, and have on many occasions taken 
hollow to secure their eggs, and have invar iably fo 
species red, the other gray.” 

-As the habits, manner of nesting, and nppearane me 
eggs are the same in both stages of plumage, or in po : 
species, the same general description will suffice yore : 

th. The Little aio edik as it is commonly ol 
found more or less numerous in a of thee 




















THE MOTTLED OWL. 373 


States, and extends its migration as far north as Greenland. 
Tn the States on the Atlantic coast, it is more numerous than 
any of the family Strigide. Although this species is not 
considered by many ornithologists migratory, yet from my 
own observations I believe that most of them leave us in the 
winter ; for while they are frequently taken here during the 
spring, summer, and fall months, they are seldom found in 
the winter. -Wilson considered the Mottled Owl a native of 
the northern regions, extending its migrations as far south as 
Pennsylvania in winter, yet the Red Owl he believes is not 
migratory. 
It is said that its power of vision is so imperfect that it 
will suffer itself sometimes to be taken in the hand when 
found away from its retreat in a clear day. That it can be 
taken in that way I know by experience, yet it does not ne- 
cessarily follow that it is owing to defective vision. Like 
the preceding owl, it can see tolerably well at noonday. One 
that I let loose in my office flew against the window with 
such force as to break the glass, through which he escaped, 
and alighted on the limb of a tree some twenty rods distant, 
a readily as any bird could. Seeing me coming with a gun, 
he flew into a dove-hole in the barn. This occurred in the 
_ Middle of the day, when the sun was shining clearly. An- 
other that I kept in a cage would greedily seize his meat in 

broad daylight, and eye me closely when approaching with 
_ 48 morsel, snapping its bill after the manner of owls. Three 
: that I tamed would come at call any time of the day from 
; their perch in the barn. The probability is, that the owl, 
_ Peviously to being taken by hand, has gorged itself gies 
food until unable to fly to its hiding-place, and thus remains 
Stupid during the day. The hawk will sometimes 






%& though asleep during the day, is now active and mes 





374 THE MOTTLED OWL. 


catching its game, which consists of small birds, mice, 
crickets, beetles, and other insects. These are swallowed — 
mostly whole, and afterwards the bones, feathers, hairs, etc., 
are ejected in the form of pellets. As a caterer this harm- 
less little owl is not excelled by any of its genus. . 

It is difficult to describe the cry of this bird; sometimes it 
sounds like a child crying, then again like the syllable hö-hö- 
hd-h6-hé-hd-h5-h6 in quick succession with the quivering — 
sound, or as Wilson admirably describes it: “It reminds one — 
of the shivering moanings of a half frozen puppy. These | 
notes you hear in the spring during pairing season, and also 
when the young have recently left the nest. They are gener — 
ally answered by the mate or by the young. Last spe 
meeting one of my neighbors in the morning he inquired if l 
my child was sick? I replied in the negative, and asked him : 
why he thought so? He said ‘I heard a child ery almost all : 
night, and it appeared to come from your house!’ Soon ak 
other accosted me like the first, and he was positive that the 
crying came from the same source. The mystery was 800) 
explained when I informed them that a young Seree a 
was the sole occupant of a box eight inches square pee ! 
waggon-seat. By the superstitious, this wailing ¢ty e 
the house is considered the forerunner of death. a 
one of my patients I found the mother in tears, wringing = 
hands and moaning piteously, when she informed m 
her child must die, for an owl had been near the WIN? 
cried almost all night. I endeavored to pacify the good i 
by assuring her that her child would recover, oi 
purpose, for she believed the owl was a sure messene 
death, and no earthly power could avert it. 
covered, and although seven years have elapsed, no ™ 
has yet obeyed the summons of the owl, yet the 
dame is hourly expecting that some one must go 

One of the Latin poets, in alluding to the cry 
says,— , 











soon” 
of the 


“ Est illis strigibus nomen; sed nominis hujus 
Causa pii y nereuse stridere nocte solent.” 


REVIEWS. 375 


But I can say, in the language of Cowper,— 





“ The jay, the pie, and e’en the boding owl, 
That hails the rising moon, h h fi 


ot as + 





Yet heard in scenes where peace forever reigns, 
And only these, please highly for their sake.” 


The Screech-owl breeds in hollow trees, more commonly 
the apple tree, often but a few feet from the ground. Their 
nest is composed of grass, leaves, and feathers, and contains 
from four to six white eggs, nearly round. ‘There is no ap- 
parent difference in the eggs of the Red and Mottled Owl. 
Wishing to obtain the eggs of the Red Owl, I requested a 
friend to secure me some from a nest that had been occu- 
pied by the same pair for years. Thrusting his hand into. 
the hole, he withdrew it again in a hurry. In looking into 
the aperture, the eyes and ears of an owl were quite appa- 
tent, but the feathers were fur. The occupant proved to be 
Mrs. Puss, with her family of four kittens. This is the sec- 
ond instance of the kind that has come to my knowledge, 
tnd no doubt the modus operandi by which this transforma- 
tion occurs can be easily explained by the superstitious, as 
did the ancients the metamorphosing of Jupiter into a bull. 
[This article was received May 16th, and put in type before Mr. Allen’s 
“Notes,” given in the August number, were received. — EDITORS. 





REVIEWS. 


— o 


Huxley “On the Animals which are most nearly interme- 


iy r Dinosaurians, in the Pterodactyle, and especially in sie appoi 
an. reptile-like bird, Archwopteryx, of the Oölite formation; : A T 
odit, Some bird-like, others reptile-like, which lived during the 
saa Connecticut Valley. i bas ea 
z aa w hai 3 
Moan gt no Ak jot. carn anal fa ania any now living, ee 
doctrine of chances, it would be the height of improbability 

























e716 . REVIEWS. 
of skeletons, each unique of its kind, whieh bave heen prenefved in those comparatively : 
beds of Solenhofen slate, should be > He i 
ics, the one of the most reptilian of birds, and the other of the most ornithie of reptiles n 
acq a 





g 
when they were the s of a quiet sea or lake ve le 

tructive suggestion. Many of these tracks are wholly indistinguishable 
those o e rd: ‘orm and size; others are gigan hree-t 


t 
of the Weald of our own country; others are more like the marks left by existing repeat 
Amphibia. ‘The ie Spores mnta which these tracks reveal is, that, ke he baseless 











I isted nd walked in the 
t i t fashion, These bipeds were either b à ptiles, or more properly 
he $ ould yi ld 50 





moti  Pepiliári than anchmopler ys, and reptiles s0 much more ornithie pee et ogna 





pat if, = tracing the forms ‘of animal life back in nme we meet, asa 
pt —9 


magine a c creature completely intermediate iae Dromæus and C 





Y, the Parrots, a g-birds, 
However, as many ininig alfferentisted b birds in all probability existed even 
assic om a and as we € posse ss hardly a any know ledge or the terrestrial reptiles of heip 
tl f the animals which late 





it 

wear Birds together historically and genetically; and that the Dinosauria, with Com 
cheopteryx, and the Struthious Birds, only help us to form a reasonable conception 

these eredete. ores may hav e been. 





In conclusion. th ct: 
far as Birds and Reptiles are concerned, are not opposed to = doctrine of. “pvolutiom 
the contrary, are quite such as that riren: kpa lead u ppe 
form a conception of the manner in which Bird y have be evolved 
tertty 7m tify us in maintaining the superiority pe "the hypotiess t chi Birds 





M. Siidon thinks there are in the East two species of horse, 
have hitherto been confounded under the single name of Arab.—$ 
granules have been found by M. C. Dareste in eggs. Tale 
Dareste, adds to the analogy which is thought to exis ist betw rhe 
of animals and the seed of plants. — The old stock illustration of ee 


production of sex in the bee, by the supply of a particular form 
ishment, has received a death-blow in the researches of M. 
paper quite recently published, n narrates numerous expe 
prove beyond question that the food has nothing special to 
production of sex, which, in ki of fact, as worked out by 
tian, depends on the supply of zodsperms. on 


GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 


> ount 
of building its cells. It consists of 68 pages, 





. those of the family Picidæ rodiad I have a set off four o 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 377 


trations in the text. It is hoped that it will prove a valuable number 
to those beginning to study insects. Part III, to be issued in Septem- 
ber, will contain chapters on the Wild Bees, Wasps, Ants, ra other Hy- 
menoptera, with three full-page illustrations and numerous c 

s there has been some misunder standing regarding pres price of the 


o 
? 

ably ten, of sixty-four pages each, and it would be a great convenience 
to the publishers if subscribers would send $4.00, iń ee for the first 
eight numbers. Address the author at Salem, Mas 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





ZOOLOGY. 
EVIEW OF SOME OF THE ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THIS JOURNAL 
RESPECTING THE HABITS AND NESTING OF OUR BIRDS, WITH ADDITIONAL 
ACTS, mites oölo a department of ornithology affords ample scope dua 


ooy In the first volume, page 435 jer this Journal, Mr. Saucy 


They are flesh-colored d, blotched with red, resembling in markings the 
Sg Of the Pipilo srjehbopihéteus (Chewink). The changing of colored 
Cr Spotted eggs to white is easily accounted for. The coloring matter is 
deposited on the shell in the oviduct, so that as a consequence of gga 
of the glands w 


we get at all the facts, correct errors, 


age Unless anio collector carefully observes, and truthfully gives his 
“wn ex 


n the various fields of pursuit.. 
MER, Sosima VOL. m. 48 





378 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


In Vol. I, No. 7, p. 848, is a aaa er article on the Encamp — 
ment of the Herons. As the writer differs in some particulars from my 
observations, I will give my experience. ee has been an encampment 
of herons some sixteen miles from my office for many years, probably 
= and perhaps one hundred. It has been there as long as any onere 

e a ve been in the habit of visiting it fornearly 
jens years. The tract on which they nest consists of very tall, slim 
trees, from sixty to il feet high, running up from thirty to fifty feet 
without a limb, and covering over a belt of ground one and a half miles i 
length by one-half mile in breadth. Before visiting the ground I seat 
there for two years in ogre offerin ip a liberal reward to any on 








om í 
were in very wet ground, and in asi aan to climb, and arya 

ered with the excrements of the birds. I was telling a sailor of my ins- 
bility to get any one to climb the trees, when he roguishly inquired “if 





the ape were made of wood,” remarking that ‘he could climb any tree 
made o a. The i day found us in the swamp, and such asightl 
never b saw. The woods were filled with the Quawks (Nyctiardt AE 

Gardenii) ; pom were thousands, and their noise was almost deafening | 
on being disturbed, or, as Wilson graphically describes it, «it would : 

t p oe e hun d Indians ps were 










we made a rough estimate of the distance climbed. ae 
ting down the boxes of eggs were all measured, we pries tell pees . 
curately the height of the nests. They varie owe rom fifty to eighty! = 

making an average of about sixty-five feet. of my collectors, Wi 
creepers, climbed over twenty trees, which, in seniii and 
would make over half a mile, und that, too, in a rain storm, as asl 


of night-herons. There must have been between two and th 
illed. This is the second heronry that I pees peek in the habit 
ing to replenish my odlogical collection from, and yet [ha 


nest differently, and lay a greater or less number of € ay 
circumstances. I have sometimes thought that the birds we 
lific near the seashore where food is procured n-such abu 






NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 379 


In Vol. I, No. 9, p. 496, Mr. Samuels and Mr. Fowler disagree regard- 
ing the nesting of the Belted Kingfisher and Mottled Owl. My observa- 
tions agree with both in some particulars, and disagree with both in 


the first of June), and when I find a fresh hole, running horizontally, of 
Suitable size and place for a Kingfisher, I carefully introduce the pole, 
ascertain the length of the hole, and by withdrawing the pole, and placing 
iton the top of the ground in the same line and distance introduced, the 


is from ‘eighteen inches to two feet under the 
+ and generally from four to six feet into the bank. I never have 
but one within three feet, and that was in a clay-bank. I have 





7 the end of the excavation without any trouble. In stony ground, possibly, 
3 the bird may find it necessary to deviate from a straight line, but as we 
; 
i 












workmen at nest-building, especially the owl.” If Mr. F: 
his remarks to the family of Strygidæ, all naturalists would 
Wree with him, so far at least as pertains to the owls of New England. 
Lean Speak from observation of the Great-horned, Barred, Long-eared, 
» and Mottled Owl. Of hawks I have collected nine varieties 


good nest-builders. The Cooper’s Hawk excels in the neatness 
ent of her nest. It would puzzle a Yankee to do it any bet- 

aterials. ‘The Marsh-hawk makes a nest of small 
e grass, mostly the latter. I have found quite a number 


he Without any particular order or plan, any farther than ae em 
~ CBES the damp ground. I believe that they rebuta- 





380 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


























nests sometimes, for I have one in my office which has the appearance 
- of being occupied three seasons, with small additions each year. I know 
= will use the same nest more than once the same year if their eggs 
e taken. Some few years since one of my collectors came upon anet 
os the Marsh- 7 and took the eggs. Some two weeks after he took 
five eggs more from the nest, and in a few days from that time he went re 
to the nest and took two more eggs -e shot the old bird, as she was 
altogether too ree with his chicken 
In Vol. I, No. 11, p. 584, is a very pike and life-like description 
the Chicadee, shi habits, nesting, etc. The writer speaks of the habits 
= the oe of killing it, nang says, ‘‘if "he does not devour it upot 
e spot, it is hung on the crotch of a limb to serve as a meal at somè 
a pte I would like to sis Mr. Fowler if he knows that to bea 
fact from his own observations? Can any one give positive information 
upon the subject? I know this is received as a fact by most 
and it may seem egotistical for me to doubt it, yet I have for years 
watched the Oollyrio borealis from the time it arrives here in fal 
until it goes north in the spring; have seen birds and asshoppers st- 
pended from a crotch or impaled on a thorn or sharp stick by them; but ‘ 
never knew it return to devour them, although I have <a 
for weeks. I think the bird does it for mere sport. ld hardly be 
expected that so active a hunter would be satisfied ee se food whet 
better is so easily obtained. — Wm. Woop, M. D., East Windsor Hill, Cows 
Tae Dwarr Turusu.—In the Naturaist for June there is a notice 
of a Dwarf Thrush (Turdus nanus) killed in Waltham, Mass. On the 1 
April, 1866, I had the good fortune to obtain a bird of the sa 
near Orange, N. J. Like the one mentioned by Mr. S Samuels, it was 
in a high, dry woodland. I do not, however, Siaa this fact as- of ay 
value in determining its speci cifte n i om T. Palla: asii, 


a 


hemian Waxwings were observed in this neighborhood on 
1867. It is very rarely that this bird ever comes so far south, 
is meee in the depth of winter. — T. MARTIN TRIPPE, Oranges 

E HONEY-BEE GLEANING AFTER THE ORIOLE. —TwO little 
Ta scarcely six years of age, were picking the flowers 


s 
honey-bees around the bud hes. They observed that many 
had one or two little holes at the base of the ca lyx tube, a 












differs conan a 
Di Mr. Samuels, I judge it best to insert it here, hoping ea * ne 
still do question as g the specific c differer nee o of ay pe oe 
heir edges, so as to present 8 the" 
ance; ear-coverts quite distinctly streaked with wno: ; sides of the gts throat, > 
th a bluish tinge, the under wing-coverts being of a similar coe, expecially. 
under aiii pure white; tail feathers with a bluish purple ting% -< ii 
webs, Length, 7 inches; alar extent, 11.10; tail, 


wing, 3.75; 3, Otherwise 








NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 381 





flowers were not as sweet as the others. They 8 the bees had torn 
them open with their — and sucked out the hon 
‘For two seasons I have examined large mie of these flowers in 
diferent parts of the village, and found many of them had been torn open. 
Several times I have seen the Baltimore Oriole rapidly going over the 
bushes, giving each fresh flower a prick with the tip of his beak. No 
other birds have been seen doing this; nor have I ever been able to see 
shoney-bee attempt to make a hole at the side of a flower. The calyx- 
tube is too long for the honey-bee, so she contents herself with ee 
after the irae: selecting the injured flowers, and leaving the fresh o 
for birds and humble-bees.— W. J. Brat, Union Springs, N. Y. 
‘ REMARKABLE FLIGHT OF Crows.—An account of a remarkable flight 
of crows I once witnessed op perhaps, be of interest to so 
_ Weaders. The organization of which I was a member, was stationed in 
‘March and April, 1863, at Spee Md., on the Upper Potomac, mid- 
way, or nearly so, between Washington and Harper’s Ferry. One after- 
: April I was posted as sentinel ‘between the guns,” with 
instructions there to walk until six; it was then four. 
Soon after being posted, I saw two or three crows fly over, and soon 
five or six more, followed by nine or ten more; seeing them so increase I. 
: thought to count them, and for half an hour or so was able to do so with 
Some degree of certa inty; after that they formed one continuous stream, 
fying east by south in perfect silence. After that I could only estimate 
their number by calculating how many passed a given point in a minute. 
There was no a apparent diminution in their numbers as the time passed 
On; but the line shifted towards the no orth, as though they were advance- 
“in S reg ” and when it finally _ dusky, they still presented the 
a low black cloud to the northward, their motion visible 


: 

: 

i 

‘ a Some weeks after I s spoke with Dr. Thayer, Surgeon of the 14th N. H. 

: subject, and found his estimate to be—if I remember 

Me *ehtly—ninety-tve thousand. The species was the common C. Ameri- 

“notated E. ENDICOTT. 

ie DEFORMITY IN A SILK Morn.—All entomologists, who have 

= mach to do with Gaede insects, know very well it is not an uncommon 

nce to meet with deformed insects; the déformity is generally in 

ihe wings, This deformity is particularly noticeable in that favorite of 

mmber ts, the Liana moth. Several years ago I gathered quite & 
of cocoons of the Cecropia, in order to get some fine specimens 
One came out, the wings spread nicely, but the left 














deformity occurred this summer. A 
the ‘nie. IT at first thought it had phere them off in escaping from 
a cocoons, 





but it was not so; the moth was perfect in other respects. 
Rochester, N. Y. 











> 





382. NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 











i: ANT. — According to Wesmael, a » Belgian naturalist, 


discharge into receptacles. This is the Myrmecocystus Mexicanus, Or ko 
migas EY or mochileras, i. e. honey-ants, or ponchot i 
Mexica 


fon n ; 
iaisisiko rax): “This singular apparatus is furnished i xa 
ular orifice at the aie lateral angles, fr i 
fluid doubtless exudes. V ay, therefore, reasonably conclude 


insect elaborates a suitable and necessary aliment for the nourish 
of the young brood.” A species of ‘‘Honey-ant” is also found in a 


THE GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPEC 

illustrating well one of the piedi Poania of the oar 
Woodpecker (Colaptes ere has just occurred under my 20 
pair of these birds commenced yog about the first week in igi 

1. a [ removed 
the pea refully twice a weck, leaving ewe sm: the nest each 
have thus arbera thirty-three eggs, thirty-one of which & 
tg the other two (the last) having been hatched during my 
Their ordinary number, as every one knows, is only six. Th 
most extensive case of the kind I have ever known. Can any of 
ers of the Naturatisr surpass it?— W. K. Kenzie, Lansing, , Mich. 


HABITS or THE Evepuant.—In Ceylon, the Elephant seeks! 
of thick forests at the rising of the sun, in which he rests 


sks to assist him 
oadd; pie thirty tiie high, and ne richer portion of the 
fined to the crown; thus the elephant, not Pepi able Bede's re 


traordinary ; and I have seen trees uprooted of so large 
convinced no single elephant could have overturned t 
ured four feet six inches in circumference, aN 

elephants. —Baxer’s Albert Nyanza. 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY, 383 


MICROSCOPY. 


Tae WHALr’s FOOD AND THE DISCOLORATION OF THE ARCTIC SEAS 


ade on his 
rent scientific voyages to the Spitzbergen and Jan Mayen Sea, and 
G 


even the immense mass of diatomaces would sink down a few feet, and 
again, without apparent cause, rise to the surface. At a depth of two 
hundred fathoms the water was free from diatoms, though at the time the 
of the towing net was dyed with them as it skimmed along the 
Surface, 


-> That these diatoms also accumulate under the floes of ice, as it was 
found that the brown slimy masses adhering to the under surface of the 


ice Was almost wholly composed of this diatom. It was also found that 


rar men, as I will hereafter show it does, by furnishing substance to 
Ti rry which leads him hither. ; 
of the € food of the Balena mysticetus Linn. was found to consist wholly 
_ minute animals swarming in these discolored portions; the other 
Pan living on fishes and other highly developed tissues. 
mals consisted of Entomostraca, of which the principal were 
cticus, and C. septrionalis, Pteropoda, of which the chief is the 
fi "own Clio borealis (which it ought, however, to be remarked 
tenet an item in the food of the whale, as is usually supposed), 


oa igation 
“pecies in question, and afterwards the same was remarked of the 
Smaller mollusca. 4 % 

















384 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


. It thus appeared that in the strange a of being the whale is 
pendent on the diatom for its existence. ‘In conclusion, you will allow 
me to remark,” said Mr. Brown, ‘that I eee nothing stranger in all the 

unfolded. Protozoon 


mated at £100,000,t is dependent for its existence on a being 80 
that it takes hundreds to be massed together before they can be visite 
a 


afforded by his discoveries, and we may look for further details 
publication of the paper in a few weeks. — Land and Water. 
WANTED, A ROTIFER.— I have hunted = c pools, 
lakes, ditches, and en ers, and viewed many a “field” alive with’ 
orms of beauty, both animal and vegetable, yet never a a Boili 
found or seen. I have searched with high powers and low powi 
all in vain. Itis true my hunting ground (or water) has been co 





PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. — 


SSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF 








' the fu 
` * Nelson, in his “ Skandanavieske Faune,” vol. i., gives the pea cm. 
eine . i ar bears! 


. 





tn 1867, the twelve serew steamers of Dundee obtained pie ajes mo als 0 
t was estimated that the loss to each steamer was £5,000, ne 
at the figure given, 
















PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 385 


of Chicago, and the unusual interest and vigor of the meeting, which was 
ia attended through the entire session, rendered it a brilliant suc- 
The American Association is young and vigorous; it is a practical 


meets, are evidences of the popular interest in the cultivation of the Nat- 
ural and Physical Sciences. 
Officers of the Meeting: Dr. B. A. ine ani t; Col. CHARLES 


WHITTLESEY, Vice President; Prof. JOSEPH LOVERING, Fonisinind Secre- 
tary; Prof. A. P. ROCKWELL, General Bareli: r. A. L. ELWYN, Treas- 
urer. Of Saeed B (Natural History), Prof. J. D. WIITNEY, Chairman ; 
Prof. E. D. Corr, Secretar ; Messrs. WorTHEN, Marsu, and GILL, Com- 
mittee. 


— ee eemi IN. THE NATURAL HISTORY SECTION. 


oe ical By E. B. Andre 
On the Lottie: of hooks and origin of the - Structure of the so-called Grave Stone 
Slates of California. a.— On th e paradni Dess piven oe the Wes sw Portions of akiki 
erica. — Vestiges of Pranita c Races in California. — On some of the Causes whic 
affect the Rapidity of Erosion of Rocks and "of River "Valleys. By W. P. Blake. ge 
Briar of sein aj yheric Changes on the Eruptions of the great Geyser of Icelan y 


sof Exti t Sea-Saurians (Zlasmosaurus). By Edward D. Cope. 


e To vation ¢ > a sisting of Shells se ramie and Phosphates of Iron at 
Mulica i A Gi es County, N. J. By h By fush Ott 
he Boulder Field in Cedar County, Miey ush Emery. 

Origin of the Prairies. — Exhibition of the Cranis 6 f Bodtherium and eee 
Bin emarks on their Geological Position and their Living A Analogues. — i 
Amity of Man in North America. —On the Goourrense of Fluor Spar in Southern, Hlinois. 
We Fone, efrigeration of Continents. — On the Occurrence of Tin in Missour 


Meteorit Lacon from Mexico and Pol : 

and. By Lewis Feuchtwanger. a 
Cen gnathus and its Relations to, s Tapiridæ generally.—On the Classifica 

“avi pm tape s of Seals. By Theodor aes 
the Artistic Evidence of the Rambe. Colonization © of the North-western " Pigra 
ri Heontinent by Maritime Peope of Distinct Nationalities before the Modern Era. y 
wo Valley Archeology an ae Ethnology.— Archxology and Ethnology of the Missis- 
Y. By W. 
teda, peology of the Missiesippi Delta, and the Salt Deposit of Petite Anse. By 
` ilgard. í 
: Impartance o leutian Chain as a Geostatic and Geographica 
rc Thane He Her maphrodism of Fungi ascertai ned.— The Sh Ania te eo hag ste 

ine; then Phas 

—The V Paluc dal Endogen el mee intermediate between manatee aha Ex 
e Vertebral Type of the Craitnens a Quinary one.— Skele 
tn ian typically five. s Anatomical Distinction aR Vegetable Structure, ete. By T. C. Hil 


me Q Qu rie Group in Northern New Hampshire.—The Supposed Triassic Foot- 


Notes x sy i = og 
Ete Notice of Experiments on Snow and Ice at a Temperature below 32°F. By 
a ave iens P n the Geology of 
extensi logic Agencies.— Poin 
ine hare io tha ots Meer auc? a 
a mont. Habita ang Api ag o of Plants in 
Te ments in Stratified Rocks since the Glacial Epoch. By 


Scotia. — 
in the Laurentian Rocks of Canada. — On the Gold Region of Nova : 
per Silurian : and Devonian Rocks of Ohio.—On Some Points in the Geolozy 
i to 
ne Malaise Power.—Relations of the Metamorphoses a 2. Phosphates 
ficient see r. S Fluorine, a Constitnent mnt of the the Fog ed = Vasile. c 
k ogy oft hor . Von 
op: pograp! a Pos paid ogy, gon Fen oes ve the Caucasus. By F. 
ns as to 
e Periodic Law in 1 the Failure of Haryests and Inundations, with Suggestio. 
rance, Ey Sale ad eorge A. Le akin. 
Leaves ‘oniferous Plants. By Thomas Meehan. 
TURALIST, 49 


y» 





















386 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


pibiiossehy of Entomology in the United States and Canada, since 1862. By Join@, 
is 

The Darwinian Theory of Development. By Charles Mo 
_Deseription of aNew Species ot Protichnites from the Potsdam ‘Sandstone of ms i 





f Some New Vertebrate Remains from the Ter m of New "a = 
Brsservation: of Color in Fossils fr ~ kalmaro Formatio By 0 
Migr anono of the Indian mily. s. H. Mor rgan 
o New Fossil Tre fo und by Rev. H. Merzer, in 
nian Kooks of Ohio.— On he: Phy a gan Kas e Continent of paie 
during the different Geological Periods. — On Bio etaik =r on ai a to: goat 
ing the Carboniferous Conglomerates. —On the Surface Spe logy 
Great Lakes and the Upper Mississippi V home By J. S. Newbe a 
On the Archoologioal alue of Certain Ancient 7 
The Habitable Features of the Nor ey American Continental Plateau near the 
35° Parallel North Latitude; containing a Ger eed bet ot of Conclusions 
from a Review of its Aboriginal Population DAN tures. By C. C. he 


On the Structure and Aqueous Origin of Gold- EEn pear Veins. 
rence of the Mastodon in the Deeply ing Gold Placers of California. 


Law of the Earth. — New nad aml Study. By P. E. Trasto 
Phases of Glacial Action in Maine at the Close of the ry Period Py ha Tree’ 
ant ety oi of a n n Conglomerate at Rangley L. w 


eds of the S.a railce 
On the Str pemk orae Relations Sof | na fagail Horse in the United States. | 
oL hits Geological Evidences of Man’s Antiquity in the United States. i 
On rogress and Present Condition of the Geological Survey 0 af Califone 
Fossil Human Skull of Calaveras County, California. Some Points n the Byd 
apar e We nite Valley. 


stern Side of the American Continent, + The Yosen oi 
hart. ~ 


G Part I, § 
enaA Age and Equivalents of the Marshall Group. La 


' siderations; Part II, Palwontological Qonmideratona -e the 


Identical Petro enetic Conditions. — Exhibition of w Geologien ts it ae 
bition of a New a Holdet. fo! for T aa Spani fgat 
y A 


cal Nomenclature 
Geodes. — 


odern o Buis in Palestine. B i 
_ Announcement of the Discovery of Cretacen us ny I in hese ie County, Jo Tomac 
marks upon the Red-quartzite Boulders and their ones Ledges in sm cai: 
western lowa, Eastern Dakota, and South-western ab 
uel Resources of jy aeije Fossil Kiben, a ts, 
ures of Gr vg! County, Illinois. B; 

n Certain Physi 


tap eye etc.) “a 9 


Aluminum.—Upon the Ammonoosac Gold F: Field in caw Hampshire 
Red Sand Stones of the Atlantic Kopas, and their enclosed Igneo 


upon the Palæotrochis. By Henry Wurtz pe 
Col. WHITTLESEY gave the following data regarding the a | 
Man in the United States. 1. Refuse shell-heaps of the Atlan 7 


from Nova Scotia to Florida. Age not determined, but n odon. 
Flint arrow-heads beneath Mr. Koch’s skeleton of the mast 


at a depth of fourteen feet, in gravel and cla; A 4. im : 

tons of Indians, in a shelter cave at Elgin, en d i 
sand years. 5. A log worn by the feet of m n, probably Indian’ 

muck bed at High Rock Spring, Saratoga bori 

nine feet beneath the cone, estimated by Dr. Grier to 

spear-heads and other implements with human i 

parently of the mound builders, at a depth of fourteen wa fe 
Canada; found by Dr. J. Reynolds. 7. Several huma! — 
7 eyn i ements 


Scowden. 8. Pottery found by Dr. Holmes, associat: : 
me odon megatherium, at rRe S. C. , ; 
teeth, and other bones, in quarternary conglo at Flor 


ee ee ES, 











PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC: SOCIETIES: 387 


by Agassiz at 10,000 years. 10. Fire-hearths, found by C. Whittlesey, in 
the ancient alluvium of the Ohio, at Portsmouth, Ohio, at a depth of 
twenty feet, and beneath the works of the mound builders. 11. Skeletons 
of Indians, reported by Dr. Dowler, of New Orleans, at a depth of sixteen 
feet in the alluvium, estimated by him at 50,000 years; by others as low 
4815,000. 12. Portion of a pelvic bone of man, at Natchez, Miss., associa- 
ted with the mastodon, megalonynx, and horse, supposed to be in the 
loess, but of doubtful authority. 13. Human skull and other relics, Cala- 
yeras county, California, at a depth of 150 feet in superficial materials, 
iy aie gold; reported by Professor J. D. Whitney. 

n the discussion on the Antiquity of Man, Mr. J. W. FOSTER assigned 
the ancient Peruvians to the Bronze age, attributing to them a commer- 
cial intercourse with foreign lands; copper instruments having been dis- 
covered which may have come from the Copper Mines of Lake Superior, 
and ica, which may have been brought from New England. He also 
mentioned that the mound builders wove cloth spun with an uniform 


oof. 

Professor W. P. BLake stated that the evidences of an ancient race were 
frequent in California. The miners in sluicing the beds of the ancient 
Streams find frequently spear and arrow-heads of stone, which testify to 
the skill of siea umanity, as well as that pesii are not the work of a race now 
known. A ong the first of these evidences discovered, were some human 


forced upon him, by an examination, that it was really a portion of a 

skull, as it was said, and that it had for ages, perhaps, rolled in the drift. 

tone implements are found in various ioe of the State, bat more fre- 
wil 


i 


With ashes, Aj n covered wi 
valley aca. and at last all had na sat od ind semmi- 












388 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


two jiga are formed, one on either side. This mountain extends 
its flat summit for miles, its surface edge being a boia bluff of black ap 
pearing rock, with little or no vegetation upon its 


Among 
shovels used in cooking, by placing them upon or into the burning fi 
a mortar or dish, some instruments resembling nnn ; 


s. 

Professor E. D. Cope read a paper on a new and giganti 
segale platyurus) from the Cretaceous formation of Cental 
as. Pr nary to it he stated that one hundred species of North 
ican k reptiles and batrachians were kno "a to him, of wh 
wenty were yet unpublished. He gave a synopsis of the characters of 
the Dinosauria, showing their nearer affinity to we: birds than that pre- 

- sented by the Pterodactyles, in the structure of the pelvis, the tibia, fibula, 
tarsus, etc. He alluded to the great number of extinct t torte j 


-Mak and ase same which encloses the layer of red 
rab Minnesota. 
Bi App stated in regard to the Effect of pore 
icc on the Eruptions of the Great Geyser of Iceland, j 
o ralh who visited Iceland in 1809, mentions that maasti 
most frequently romret in fair weather, and me 


Fees 














PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 389 


now given by those who live near the geyser. Eruptions do not occur until 
the water in the bottom of the geyser-pipe is 266° F., as shown by Bun- 
Sen’s observations. The time taken to raise the water in the pipe to 
266° F. will evidently depend upon the quantity of water poured in a 
given time through the fissures that feed the pipe. As the water is sup- 
plied by the hills near the geysers, a pes of rain readily affects the quan- 
tity of water flowing through the pipe. The greater the quantity, the 
greater will be the time between the eruptions. If the quantity of cold 
water poured into the pipe were so great that the bottom of the pipe 


It is from the enlarging of the water channels by earthquakes, so as to 
pour in more water, that some geysers that were formerly active have 
how become quiet. 

In discussing the remarks of Mr. Rusu EMERY “ ne the Boulder-field in 
Cedar County, Iowa,” Dr. C. A. Wurre and Professor Wrxcnett stated 
that there were some evidences of a northward distribution of boulders in 
Iowa and Michigan. 

Col. J. W. FOSTER alluded to the large size of the Castoroides, or fossil 
beaver, adopting the v iew of Professor E. D. Core, that it must have been 


nearly as large as the grizzly bea 
l ITTLESEY ior een the localities and eat age of the 
deposits i in which remains of. the horse had been found. Professor E. D 


Corr i insisted that though no difference had been discovered e the 
eeth of the living and fossil species of horse, yet they may be, and prob- 
ably were, of entirely cert species; the living species having been in- 
troduced by European 
MEEHAN ein: summed up the results of his studies on the Leaves 


S. nation 

in the individuals of the same species, or branches of the same individ- 
als. Many so Sy A so species of Conifer are the same; but in 
Various States of adnation. 


The next meeting of the Association will be held in SALEM, Mass., com- 


ol. J. W. FOSTE 
A New York, Vice ae Prof. Josepa LOVERING, Permanent 
Meer; Prof. O. C. Mar rabon Haven, General Secretary ; Prof. A. 
ELwyy, Philadelphia, Trasar 
Atabey OF NATURAL Scrences, Conchological Section. — Phila ladel- 
Pi, July 3, 1868.— Mr. Wm. M. Gabb called attention to the variation 
we that takes place in genera auring successive geolog ical periods. 
y MKO 3 eric: elopment 
M Species in any one age, those species beloni to other periods, es- 
ly most removed from the chronological centre of develop- 
nme tb Speak, are usually more or less aberrant from the average 
















390 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


typical form of the genus. This is so marked, that the experienced 
æ 


o their geographical distribution, as every working naturalist x 
poh admits constantly in his studies. 

Mr. Roberts exhibited fine specimens of Anodonta fluviatilis Diw, aid 
A. implicata pe collected in the vicinity of Philadelphia, noted for oru a 
enormous size as well as for their numerous deformities, caused 
edly by some siesena of their locality. Out of a large number ol 
mens of the genus obtained, but one specimen of Anodonta Tryonii 
was found, showing its great rarity in the vicinity of the original 


Boston Society or Naturat History. Feb. 


not larger than house Mites. The first winged specimens were 8 
in ‘the air at about three o'clock in the afterngon; as a light n 
breeze sprang up, millions came whirling down to the earth, co oe: 
ground in an hour, and destroying every green thing with av ! 

nced t , 


three o’clock in the afternoon of the same day another swarm 4 

times as numerous as the first; these again took flight the follo j 
and thus they continued, coming and going, day after day, dev 
foliage and depositing their eggs. At first they selected bare P 
this purpose, but finally the whole surface of the earth was 50 broken 
by their borings, that every inch of ground cate several 
eggs. This visitation was spread over many hundre ds of miles. 

Mr. S. H. Scudder exhibited two fossil insects from the coal 


One v 
ris, Illinois; the other an imperfect leg of a cricket, and a 


of Behring s straits with those of Esquimaux and of In 

` Puget’s Sound, and California. The crania of the Tsuktshi 
for the Smithsonian Institution by Mr. William H. Dall, 
ralist attached to the e exploring expedition under 
Western Union Telegraph Company. It appears that the 
Tsuktshi and Esquimaux, which closely resemble eg 
— y marked Mongolian features, oy 

 erania of the other races and from those nts the 








‘ 
: 
4 


PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 891 


| live in such close proximity to them. ‘These comparisons sustain the 
view that the Esquimaux and Tsuktshi had a common origin, and the 


a 
=: 
= 
e+ 
za 
B 
© 
ard 
Les) 


obable ; a recent map, published by the Coast Sur- 
vey, shows that the breadth of the straits at one point is less than fifty 
miles, while the Diomede islands furnish a convenient resting-place mid- 
way between them 
kri called the attention of the pons 3 some of the 
modern methods for the preservation of v Mr.. W. T. Brigham 
stated that foreign vessels entering the ports a <4 were tha ssc toa 
frightful degree by the teredo, while Chinese boats, although often made 
of the same wood, escaped. After vai inly endeavoring to ascertain what 
preventive was used by the Chinese, he discovered the natives sprinkling 
tar on a fire beneath a vessel, and perceived a strong smell of creosote. 


Tar Dana NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. — Secing a small notice of 


; you a brief account of the history of this organization. Th ject 
i of this Society is to awaken and extend among the people generally, and 
especially among the women of our country, a greater love for dy 


1. Ripley Chapter. Mics 3 A. Plympton, Corresponding Secretary, Poultney, Vt. 
2. Evanston Chapter. Evanston, Illinois. 
ckford Chapter. Miss Ellen R. Shepherd, Corresponding Secretary, Rockford Semi- 





ary, sae d, 

X ET Chapter. Miss Myra Griswold, Corresponding Secretary, Willard Seminary, Troy, 

npa Greenwood Cha ee Miss Mary E. Cobb, Corresponding Secretary, “Greenwood Semi- 

wal Tilden Chae. aN Augusta Robinson, Corresponding Secretary, Tilden Seminary, 
banon, N. 


H. 
si Maplewood Chapter. Miss Annie M. Bottom, Corresponding Secretary, Maplewood In- 
te, Pittsfield, Mass 


om Chapter. | Miss: L. B. White, Corresponding Secretary, Matawan, Monmouth 


pter, Miss Alice Walbridee, Corresponding Secretary, Dearborn Seminary, 





cline Park Chapter. Miss H. L. Daniels, Corresponding Secretary, Hyde Park, Cook 
Daaf te Qami- 
_ 2, Rockford d Chapter Miss Hattie Telfon, Corresponding Secretary, Miss 
an 1350 Pine 
| street str Place Chapter. Miss Emma Judson, Corresponding Secretary, 
i l phia, $ 
ye Chapter. Miss J.C Thompson, C line Secretary. Il street, Phi 








i. ‘College 
inact" Chapter, Miss J. Pindell, Corresponding Secretary, Pittsburgh Female %0 























392 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


16. Iron City Chapter. Miss Helen M. Wellman, Corresponding Secretary. 
17. Wheeling Chapter. Miss Lizzie Harbour, Correspond 
Co 


e Raritan Chapter gave an evening entertainment that was! 
a edad by the audience, Re realized them quite a handsome 
for their cabinet and library. We hope, and doubt not, that their efforts 
will result in a permanent Rati to the county and the cause of sek 
— ADRIAN J. EBELL. 

pal a 


ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
A. T., Brookfield, Mo.— We will send rend a narta me of Eastern m 
serene in return for Western insects, an and bees’ nests, 
J. L. B., West Nottingham, Md.—The aaah ie $ the Cb rysogonum 4 
A. 8.N., Mer phony oe o. — The insect you send is the larva of a bug, one of the 7 
toma group of the Hemiptera. 
Hii J. R., Cazenovia, N, Y Y¥.—The insects were Membracis binotata Say, & $} 
treeshopper. Eastward itis found on Celastrus scandens. a 
PS Subscriber,” and several other anonymous friends, as “8. HL,” ex YZ i 
.-— We cannot answer anonymous lette i y 
C G.W. R Hartford, Conn <T Ca ar on sent are the larve® 
Saw-fly, which also epee wees i i a this vicinity. 2 neces n mature 
an appeared, we S ai five a. a: name, but will do so if 
et gro ei yinin is not 


C.A beetles (Clytus) which you found NoT ha 
tne tocar had event jut eh apse from the upa, and the white t in July, Wie 


iny their d 
New York.— You can procure the publications of the Senithoomiet 
of È. ‘Westermann & Čo. 440 Broadway. 


Mrs. K.N D., Chicago. —Many thanks for your kindness 
R. C., St. Louis.— Mr. James 518 South 13th street, 
pins Srana. 
W. tted ogg in the finche Pe never i 


), which never 
plothrus Pees of small birds. 


zs 
Ha 
H 
23! 
te 
i Bi 


5E 
de 
i 


or eard for 
measure the distance on a rale 


EPRE 
=E 
E 











American Naturalist. 
























THE SHELL-HEAPS OF FLORIDA. 








DT EL 


AMERICAN NATURALIST. 


Vol. II.—OCTOBER, 1868.—No. 8. 
aC O 


ON THE FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS OF THE ST. 
: JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA.. 


BY JEFFRIES WYMAN, M. D. 





Tue St. Johns River, on the banks of which are to be 
seen the mounds described in the following pages, has, in 
several respects, a peculiar interest. It rises near the mid- 
dle of the eastern half of the peninsula of Florida, in two 
series of lakes and swamps of great extent, one of which 
finds its outlet through the upper portion of the main stream, 
and the other through the Oklawaha, the largest of its tribu- 

ties. These waters are separated by land scarcely rising 
above their level, from another chain of lakes and swamps 
Which have an outlet southwards through the Kissimmee, 
and thence into the great lake of Okee-Chobee, which has an 
‘tea of about eight hundred square miles. Other waters, 
Starting from the same region as the preceding, but separated 

om them by a low range of sand-hills, are discharged west- 
wards into the Gulf of Mexico, chiefly through the Withlo- 
“Ootchee. Though extremely crooked, the general course 
of the St. Johns is somewhat to the west of north, and in its 
Various windings is supposed to traverse a distance of three 
dred miles. Its frequent enlargements, as at Lake Har- 
a Ney, Lake Monroe, Lake George, and its great breadth 
Se ead eee pea tide ee eo 





Entered acco; PEABODY ACADEMY OF 
Sctence. rding to Act of © ss, in the year 1868, by the 
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Couri of the Distriet of E EN 
AMER, Na 50 (89 ) 


URALIST, VOL. II 








394 : FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS 






` from Palatka to its mouth, almost justify the designation í 
it as a chain of lakes rather than a river. Flowing through | 
a region which is nearly of a dead level, its stream is neces- 
sarily sluggish. i 
There is much dry and arable land, but so little is this 
raised above the level of the river, that, were it depressed 
five or six feet, the ocean would reassert its sway over a 
large part of the eastern portion of the peninsula, leaving 
only narrow ridges along the sea-coast, and inland, here 
and there low islands. As it is, immense tracts are under 
water throughout the year, and the whole area drained | by 
the St. Joa is a combination of dry land, swamps, lagoons, | 
and creeks. Open prairies, pine barrens, palmetto ham- 
mocks, mixed forest growths, chaparals of saw-palmetto, 
thick jungles, and large tracts overgrown with tall ~~ . 
rank grass vary the surface. From Abe absence of a change 
of evel in the land, the distant views on the river are eS 
tremely monotonous, while the near ones are often of great 
beauty, because of the windings of the river, and the su 
tropical vegetation. The eel and lagoons, with their! 
vegetation, and also the wilder shores of the river, § 
vast numbers of water and shore birds, and also coum 
alligators, water moccasins, frogs, and other reptiles. 
Of animals suitable for the food of man there is an 
dance, as will be seen farther on, so that along the banks 
the river and its tributaries, hunter-life could be as val 
tai hg oat 































witness of the fact. Of all the American races none 
to have occupied a region more nearly equally divide 
tween land and water, or one which had been more : 
lifted above the level of the ocean, than natives of the 
of the St. Johns.* 

the 


*For a a description of the physical Sane A the St. Johns River, 
ferred t article entitled Cursory Remarks on E Florida. BY 





OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 395 

The shell-heaps we are now to describe were visited dur- 
ing the months of February and March, 1867, in company 
with Mr. G. A. Peabody, of Salem, Mass., and Mr. George 
H. Dunscombe, of Canada West, to both of whom the writer 
is largely indebted for aid in making explorations and for 
valuable contributions to his collections. The heaps are dis- 
tributed over a distance of more than one hundred and fifty 
miles, between Palatka and Salt Lake, and are nearly all 
situated on knolls, seen here and there on the borders of the 
river, though a few are built in swamps’or on dry land, at 
some distance from it. They are composed almost exclu- 
sively of one or more of the following species of shells, 
namely, Ampullaria depressa of Say, Paludina multilineata 
y, and Unio Buckleyi Lea. Besides these, a species of 
Melania and a few Helices are found, but they, as well as a 
few marine shells, must be considered as accidentally pres- 
nt. The mounds vary much in size, from circular heaps 
fifteen to twenty feet in diameter, and a few inches high, to 
long ridges several hundred feet in length, and having a 
height from a few inches to four or five, and in some cases 
to fifteen feet. They are generally overgrown with oaks, 
maples, palmettos, bays, magnolias occasionally, and other 
forest trees, and not unfrequently with groves of the wild 
orange. The last, bearing a fruit both bitter and sour, has 
been supposed to be indigenous; but it would appear from 
researches of Mr. G. R. Fairbanks, a gentleman thor- 
oughly versed in the history of the peninsula, that they 
_ Were introduced by the Spaniards.* We personally visited 
_ More than twenty-five of these heaps, but only a few of them 
ee a eee 


Whiting, U.S. A 1 
: an introduction to, and a digest of, the literature pertaining to the whole State, the e 
Sen work, Notes on the Floridian Peninsula, by Daniel G. Brinton, A. B., Ehia 
x i s work also contains an account of the author’s own 
2 een ations of the shell-heaps of the sea-coast. : PGR os OE 
ae -Fairbanks has observed that tl fi e I sae eat ode oe 
js found them 





rivi i f rf Pe | 
. it does not appear that they are di 
there. a? Which it is presumed they would have been, had the Spaniards tay tevile 
5 Orange rus they so particularly mention other fruits. They are probably 

: Tun wild. 




























396 : FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS- 


will be described, as they are nearly all essentially a 
an enumeration of the whole series will, however, be ¢ 
at the end of the article. — 

The mounds of oyster-shells on the sea-coast of Fl 
have long since attracted attention ; some of them have 


The fresh-water shell-heaps have received but comparative 
little notice, and have generally been supposed to be ei 
fluviatile or lacustrine deposits, for which any one mighi 
tainly be excused for mistaking them at first glance. £ 
they are the works of man the following observations 
tended to show. Count Pourtales, however, visited the shell- 
heaps at Old Enterprise, Lake Monroe, in 1858, when 
obtained from among the shells fragments of pottery, a 
the bones of animals. He has not published an account 
observations, but informs me that he came to the conel 
that this mound was artificial. a 
The existence of shell-heaps in other regions consis 
of the remains of fresh-water species, though from timè 
time noticed, have not been generally recognized. The 
observation that we have seen with regard to them 8 
. Atwater, who described mounds of mussel-shells on © 
banks of the Muskingum River, containing various 4 
of human workmanship.+ Dr. Brinton, while connected E 
the Army of the Cumberland in the war of the rebellion, 


food to the Indians ;¢ and during the last year pes w 
company with Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mr. Elliot 
and others, examined a similar deposit on the banks 
Concord River, in Massachusetts, consisting of Umo 
natus, and containing charcoal, pieces of worked e 
flint.§ I am also informed by Professor J. D. ¥ | 

* Notes on the Floridian Peninsula, p. 166. 

t Archwologia Americana, Vol. I, p. 226 


t Smithsonian Reports, 1866, p. 356. as 
§ Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. Xi P- %5" 
















_OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 397 


chief of the Geological Survey of California, and Dr. William 
H. Brewer, botanist to the same survey, that vast numbers 
of fresh-water shell-heaps exist there. Indeed there is an 
abundance of evidence for the belief that they are widely 
scattered throughout the United States. 


I. SHELL-HEAPS. 

King Philip’s Town. This place was in a wild state until 
quite recently, and derives its name from a Seminole chief, 
who, it is said, once occupied it. The shell-heap, now con- 
verted into an orange grove, is on the left bank of the river, 
about a mile below the outlet of Lake Harney. Its situation 
is favorable both for hunting and fishing; the river is here 
sixty or seventy yards wide; opposite is the mouth of Deep 
Creek,* rising far to the eastward, and pouring into the St. 
Johns an excellent quality of water; to the rear and west- 
ward are open prairies and pine lands, and in the distance, 
to the north, is a large lake. The river contains an abun- 
dance of fish, but generally of a poor quality, except in the 
month of February, when vast numbers of shad pass on their 
way to Lake Harney, two hundred miles from the mouth, 
tospawn. While we were encamped here, the splashing of 


the water by shoals of these fish could be heard at all hours, 


from evening twilight to early dawn. 
The shell-mound is about four hundred and fifty feet in 


; length, and from a hundred to a hundred and twenty in 


breadth. It stretches at right angles to the river, borders a 
lagoon on the south, and on the north merges into cultivated 
fields, over which its materials have become somewhat scat- 
tered. Its greatest height is about eight feet. Fragments 
of pots may be picked up anywhere on the surface, and, with 
these, bones of various edible animals. As all such remains 


_ May have been deposited on the mound after its completion, 
*Xcavations were made at many points 


from a few inches to 


* z . 
There is another creek of the same 


tw: I nte ‘ohns on 2 ri t 
bet name which e rs the St. J p the righi 
een Pilatka and Picolata. 


























398 _ FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS 


several feet in depth, to ascertain if similar objects 
buried in its interior. The most unequivocal evidence 
this mound, while in the process of formation, was occu 
_by the aborigines, was obtained from a pit between four at 
five feet in diameter, and from five to six feet deep, whi 
was dug near the centre. Not only were fragments of 
and bones found at all depths, but at a depth of three 
the remains of an old fireplace were uncovered, consisting 
of a horizontal layer of charcoal, beneath which were 
fectly calcined shells, and near these others more or le 
blackened with heat. Still farther off were fragments of th 
bones of deer, of birds, turtle and fish, all just as they v 
naturally have been left around a fire, where cooking M 
been for some time carried on. In addition to the above 
statement it may be mentioned as a matter of negative evi- 
dence, that not a single article was discovered which 
have been attributed to the white man. Several excavatio 
made in other portions of the mound yielded similar results 

Black Hammock. One of the largest shell-heaps on 
St. Johns is to be seen here. It is situated on the bo 
of a large lagoon, on the left bank of the river just 
the outlet of Lake Jessup,* and seven miles above . 
Monroe. Besides the principal deposit of shells, there ® 
two smaller ones. At the westerly end is the first, 47° 
inches thick, extending one hundred and fifty feet along’ 


the point just mentioned is a small burial-moune 


*This lake was discovered by Lieutenant Peyton, of the U. yaw 
Florida war, and at first bore his name, which ought not to have if not, no one 
Were better to preserve the Indian names if they can be learned, a discover". 
a right t p i ia. been given by others in honor of the i 






































OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 399 


little more than a hundred feet from this begins the largest 
of the heaps, which measures about nine hundred feet in 
length on the river side, and has a breadth varying from | 
one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet. It has been 
largely undermined, and sections, in some places from three 
to four feet in thickness, exposed. It is not improbable 
that originally this and the smaller deposits were continuous, 
the intervening portion having been washed away by the 
river. If this were so, the mound could not have been less 
than twelve hundred feet in length. It is intersected by a 
small stream near the centre, and is bordered by another 
at its easterly end, both outlets of small morasses in the rear 
of the mound. 

That the Indians confined their encampments, or, at all 
events their cooking, almost entirely to these mounds, is 
proved by the fact, that fragments of pots were picked up 
in large numbers along the shore wherever the shells are 
seen in the bank, and, though careful search was made for 
them, not elsewhere. To make the evidence of the human 
origin of the whole deposit complete, pits were sunk at dif- 
ferent points. One of these, about four feet in diameter, 
was dug entirely through the shells into the sand beneath, 
which was reached at the depth of four feet and three inches. 
Seventy-five fragments of pots and six pieces of the bones of 
the deer, thirteen of turtles, and two of the alligator were 
thrown out. These were scattered through the whole thick- 
ness of the shell deposit, but not a single specimen was 
found after the sand was reached. Ina second pit of simi- 
ar size, ninety-seven pieces of pots, six fragments of the 
bones of the deer, eleven of the turtle, and nine of the alli- 
gator were found. The shells found here are chiefly Palu- 
dinas, though Unios and Ampullarias are met with. ! 
Old Enterprise is situated on the north-eastern shore A 
Ke Monroe, and forms a distinct bluff consisting entirely 
of shells. It has a front of about one hundred and sixty 
feet on the water side, and at the western end rises some- 











400 FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS 


what abruptly to the height of fifteen feet above the lake; on 


the top is a plateau, on which formerly stood a hotel 

_ several out-buildings, and to the eastward the surface falls off 
by a gradual slope. On this side there is an extensive 
swamp, separated from the lake by a beach-wall of shells, 
consisting of the same species as those found in the blufi, 
and extending several hundred yards along the shore. As 
there are mingled with these shells the fragments of pots 
and bones of animals, they were all no doubt derived from 
the mound, and have been scattered by the action of the 


water. On the westerly side is a spring discharging highly — 


sulphuretted water, and flowing into the lake through a small 
morass. The mound extends back from the shore about five 
hundred feet, but is of a very irregular shape, being much 
narrowed in its middle, and spreading out again in the reat 
portion into two unequal and irregular transverse ridges. 
While on the front the mound is composed of the three kinds 
of shells, the rest consists almost exclusively of Paludinas. 
That a large portion of this mound has been destroyed, and 


that the shore of the lake is receding, is obvious from its | 


abrupt front, the distribution of its material along the shore; 


and the fact that twelve palmetto trees to the eastward of it 


are now surrounded by water, and their roots denud to 
the depth of from two to three feet. sip 
In consequence of the undermining of the front, and 


looseness of the materials, which generally are neither com 3 
pact or stratified, excavations were easily made. They we 


continued through several days, many cartloads of ma 


were moved, and collections made from all depths i i 


the surface, of whatever objects were mingled with 
shells. These objects consisted of the articles already eE 
tioned in connection with the other localities, an 
various fragments of worked shells which will be d 
farther on. Although several arrow-heads and many 
or “chips” of flint were picked up along the shores 
were actually found in the mound. 


escribed 





pe R E oe ee a a en eee Meet co) ON Tee Ota ee ren 


Sogn ns Rae ta Pes) Ln ener Ia ROE eae eet LE E, | Cire el ae ees Tie! tk cores EN 


din addition 














OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 401 


Excavations made in the ridges at the rear of this shell- 
heap did not yield precisely the same, nor so decisive results. 
The shells, consisting almost entirely of Paludinas, were 
much more compact, and the objects found in them much 
fewer. In certain directions there were appearances of some- 
what extensive removals of material having been made, but 
whether by the Indian or the white man, we could not learn. 

To the westward of Old Enterprise, which name applies 

_ to the bluff just described, is an orange grove, and beyond 
this an “old-field,” which rests upon a thin deposit of shells, 
distributed somewhat uniformly over the surface. Excaya- 

_ tions made here in many places gave the same results as 
Were obtained at the bluff. 

Horse Landing is a shell-mound on the right bank of the 
tiver a few miles above Pilatka, and eight miles below Lake 

: George ; it is three hundred feet in length, one hundred in 

breadth in the widest part, and rises abruptly in every direc- 
tion. On the front it shows a vertical wall about eight feet 
high, giving a good section of its whole structure, the result 
of the action of the river which here makes a sudden bend. 

_ Underneath the shells is a layer of sand rising about four 

tet above the water, which at the time we visited the local- 

UY, was not much below its highest mark. In its general 

_ “Ppearance the mound has the aspect of a geological deposit, 

_ ™ consequence of the compactness of the materials, the 

| Beater decomposition of these than is seen elsewhere, and 

a above all, from its distinct stratification. The upper portion 

f the sand on which it rests is more or less mixed with 

: fragments of shells, and still higher are alternate layers of 

se, and of shells mixed with sand; it is this condition 

; Which gives the whole its stratified appearance. At one place 

SX such alternations were counted, but in others they were 


ic Senet ee ee Pe a 
ane i Bh) i 








Sa appearance are suggested: first, successive. over- 
the river; second, interrupted occupation of the 
51 


NATURALIST, VOL.. II. 


“SS numerous. None of the strata extended continuously 
‘ sh the whole length of the mound. Two explanations — 


. 


402 FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS, ETC. 


mound. The first seems quite improbable. The water is 
not now known to rise above the lowest limit of the shells, 
nor in fact could it rise much beyond this, since the configu- 
ration of East Florida is such, that any unusual flow of water 
becomes at once spread out over the immense traets rising 
only a few inches above the level of the river. Nothing 
short of subsidence of the land could bring the water to the 
level of the highest of these strata. The second is the more 
probable, but in the absence of proof can only stand as a 
reasonable conjecture. 

In view of these facts the search for the evidence of man’s 
work was important, and especially as the mound had the 
appearance of great age. The whole front, in which all the 
objects were undisturbed, was therefore most carefully exam- 
ined, and with the following results : First, excepting within 
a few inches of the surface and in the vegetable mould, not & 
fragment of pottery was discovered ; second, a few bones of 
the deer, more or less broken, were found, and one of them 
burned; those of the soft-shelled turtle, alligator, and gar- 
pike, as also numerous fragments of charcoal, were ob 
at various depths between the top of the mound and the 
on which it rested. If to these we add an ornament 


made 


of bone, to be described farther on, we have the seanty evr 


dence derived from the materials, for the conclusion that the 


mound was built by man. Mr. Peabody, however, made an 
ion. He 


important discovery which confirms this conclus : 
just beneath 


served a piece of flint projecting from the sand 
and quite near to the lowest deposit of shells. 
remembered that in this part of Florida flint 
rally occur, in fact that there is nothing but san 
even pebbles are seldom seen. Before the flint was 
we both carefully examined all the surroundings; 


d in wi 
removed, 


jimbe 


satisfied that the flint and the sand in which it was we 


had not been disturbed since the mound was pee 
front of the mound was vertical, the section was Tee’ 
the small talus which forms below it is constant 


tained 
eand 


It is tobe 
does not nati- — 


and were — 


ly removed: ; 


















THE BELTED KINGFISHER. 403 


Anything once detached is carried away by the current 
which is here somewhat brisk. When removed, the flint 
had all the evidence of having been “chipped,” and was evi- 
dently the result of a rude attempt at an arrow-head. We 
cannot, therefore, in view of all the facts resist the conclu- 
sion that the mound was of human origin. 

The only shell-heaps visited by us in which we failed to 
find satisfactory traces of man, was on the left bank of the 
river, a few miles below Hawkinsville (formerly Oceola). 
This deposit is one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet in 
length and eight feet high, has a swamp in the rear from 
which it rises very abruptly; on the front it has been so 
much undermined by the river that it presents a nearly ver- 
tical face, showing a good section through its whole length. 
A series of excavations had been made along the summit 
during the rebellion, for military purposes, so that there 
Were unusually good opportunities for examination. Not- 
withstanding all this, we failed to find any pottery or other 
Works of man at any point, except within a few inches of the 
surface. The contrast with Black Hammock and Old Enter- 
prise was very striking. The mound was composed almost 
entirely of Paludinas, and, in some points, of these mixed 
with sand, forming a solid conglomeration. In this last we 
saad fragments of the tibia of a deer, which had been broken 
in the same manner as the bones from the other shell-heaps. 
The abruptness with which the mound rose from the level 
Surface on the rear gave it the appearance, and this was the 
wad pe astance which did, of artificial origin. — To be con- 





THE BELTED KINGFISHER. 


BY AUGUSTUS FOWLER. 





Tus bird, Ceryle Alcyon, perforates the sand or gravel- 
K for a breeding-place, preferring a situation near some 


404 THE BELTED KINGFISHER. 


stream of water; sometimes, however, they select a place 
a mile or more distant from their fishing haunts. They will 
associate with the Sand-martins, and rear their brood in — 
the same bank. Although there is a great difference in the 
disposition of these two species of birds in the management 
of their home affairs, as regards neatness and system of liv- 
ing, yet they live amicably together. The Martin, quiet and 
gentle in her manner, carries on the affairs of her household, 
which would do credit to many a housewife living in a higher 
sphere, and of whom domestic economists would do well to 
take a few lessons in the art of house-keeping. The tene- 
ment of the Kingfisher presents quite a different aspect. In 
it there is no nest of soft dried grass and downy feathers 
prepared for the nestlings, nor care of any kind for the re- 
ception of the eggs, except a cavity hollowed in the form of 
an oven at the extreme end of the hole, which measures in 
height from four to five inches, and in depth, below the pas- 
sage leading to it, about three-fourths of an inch. The pas- 
sages are usually from thirty to thirty-five inches in length; 
the first one is straight and about sixteen inches long: the 
second, which leads to the nest, diverges to the right or left, 
and is about the same length of the first one. On the n 
earth, in the space above described, the female deposits from 
six to eight pure white eggs, which measure in length one 
and one-fourth inches, and in breadth one inch. Unlike te 
mild birds of the bank with whom it has the peaceful p 
lege of breeding with, it comes with a furious flight, with a 
fish still quivering in its powerful bill, with crest erect, and 
with a loud rattling voice, that wakes the echoes, and a T 
the hole, dividing amongst the brood the food it bringt | 
them. It requires but a short time to render the apartment 
a filthy one; the offal of their food, the excrements of 
young birds, and the exhalations of their bodies, produc? 
such a stench as to make it a wonder how they live 
thrive in such an offensive place. a ' 
The Kingfisher is more cautious when it approaches its 





and ay 


a ype ence Sara ere 








NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 405 


before the eggs are hatched than afterwards. During the time 
the female is laying her eggs, she does not fly directly to her 
nest, but alights near by on the branch of some tree or prom- 
inent object, and raises her head and tail together, and at the 
same time her crest; she reconnoitres the place for some 
minutes, and, scanning every object closely, then, if not 
alarmed, she enters her hole. The entrance to her nest is 
not round, but in the form of an ellipsis. It is larger, but 
otherwise similar in shape to that of the Sand-martin. It is 
astonishing that so great an observer of natural objects as 
Mr. Audubon should represent the entrance to the nest of 
the Martin as being round ; such a mistake, not being in con- 
formity with the facts in relation to the posture’ and appear- 
ance of the birds he so beautifully delineates, destroys the ` 
harmony of his whole picture. The Kingfishers arrive early 
and prepare their nesting-place; they then lay their eggs, 
and incubation commences about the tenth of April. 





NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 


BY W. T. BRIGHAM. 


aA 
: [Continued from page 311.] 3 
Ananassa (various species),—Pineapple, Ananas.. The 
flavor of tropical fruits raised under glass is almost always 
mferior, but the pineapple is a marked exception. Perhaps 


ho fruit differs more in quality in its own native land, some 


4 fie 


lds producing a rich juicy fruit, while the plantations 
near by yield only a dry insipid produce. Under glass, the 


ag n and ruby cones are almost always good. The best 
Oh of pines come, it is said, from Guayaquil; but the 


a > rich and melting, such as is seldom found in the East 


island of N iihau, in the Hawaiian group, produces a 


S Here they may be eaten as oranges. 


406 NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 


The manner of growth is sufficiently familiar. A cluster 
of stiff, pointed, serrated leaves, two or three feet long, from 
whose midst rises a stem of about equal height, bearing on 
its club-shaped extremity a tuft of small leaves, beneath 
which, on the expanded part of the stem, are the violet, 
mint-shaped flowers. As the flowers fall off, each one is 
succeeded by a slight protuberance, and these all swell to- 
gether, grow juicy, and at last the cone of the perfected 
fruit remains. The fruit varies in shape from an almost 
globular to a very acute conical form ; a species of the latter 
form is much cultivated in Peru, and has white flesh, al- 
though many prefer a small fruit of dark red color exter- 
nally, and yellow within. As the pine bears no seeds, it is 
propagated by cuttings ; the crown of leaves, when planted, 
requires nearly three years to come to maturity, while the — 
offshoots from the base bear in a twelvemonth. 

The fruit is eaten raw or cooked, and the juice makes an 
excellent wine, or may be fermented as beer. A ripe fruit 
is best eaten by breaking apart the little radiating cones of 
which it is composed, and sucking each one from the centre 
outwards. The fibre of the leaves is most beautiful and silky ; 
and is used largely in making the piña cloth. A field of wild 
pines, such as cover many of the islands in the Straits of 
Malacca, is almost as rough and inaccessible as & field of 
cacti, and the sharp stiff leaves are formidable weapons to the 
bare legs of invaders; but the bright fruit, peeping out pem 
and there all through the wilderness of spines, is quite suir 
cient to attract gatherers. At night, as the land-breeze 
sweep down over these islands, they take with them the 
exquisite fragrance to comfort the poor sailors who mey hay 
spent the day in scratching their bodies and tearing their 
clothes in getting pines. 

As an ornamental plant, the pine presides with queenly 
state in the beautiful Botanical Gardens at Singapot®» os 
its huge golden yellow fruit, often fifteen inches long * 
seven to ten in diameter, might well look down in 00 


ntempt n 











NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 407 


on the wretched specimens of its race thrown upon our 
~ wharves. 


Tacca pinnatifida, — Arrowroot, pia. Of the many plants 
which produce the starch known as arrowroot, the tacca is 
~ the most important in the Pacific Ocean. On the Hawaiian 
Islands it grows wild, and its tuberous roots are much sought 
after. The plant is low, conspicuous only from its deeply 
cleft horizontal leaves, above which rises in the proper sea- 
Sona cluster of greenish flowers. The tubers are shaped 
like potatoes, and so far as known are never eaten raw, 
being quite acrid, although by no means so poisonous as the 
nihot. 


= Musa (various species),—Banana, Plantain. The best 
and most important of all tropical fruits, found in the tropics 
_ of every continent, and universally cherished by the people 
_ Whose meat it is. Every one would know a banana at sight, 
_ nd yet the pictures of the plant, even in our best text-books, 
"e very faulty. One of the common geographies represent 
tas bearing two bunches of fruit; another, as having a dis- 
= tinet stem. 

: When the cutting or shoot is planted (and it requires a 
-deep rich earth and much moisture to grow in perfection), it 
_ on sends up two leaves, tightly rolled together, until the 
_ Fen roll has grown some two or three feet, when the blades 
troll and become most tempting food for cattle of all sorts. 
‘hese leaves are followed by others until the stems of the 
leaves have formed a smooth trunk some eight or ten inches 
: thick, and sheathed by the drying or dried remains of the 
: earlier leaves, At the end of nine months a deep purple 
= *Ppears in the centre of the leaves, and its constantly 
lengthening stem pushes it out beyond the leafy envelopes, 
: and it hangs down heavily like a huge heart. Now along 
© stem are seen: little protuberances in rows, extending 
; Perhaps two-thirds of the way around the stem, and as the 
Seat Purple envelopes of the bud fall off, these are seen to be 





408 `- NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 


little fruits, each with a waxen blossom and huge projecting 
stigma at the end. These are the female flowers farthest 
from the end of the stem, while as successive purple leaves 
fall off (you may see the scars they leave on any bunch 

bananas), the male flowers are seen in closer rows and of the 
same waxen yellow color. The flowers are full of a good 
honey. Three or four months are required to ripen the 
fruit, and in the mean time the bunch of male flowers has 
withered and dropped away, and the ovaries of the female 
blossoms have swollen into bananas, it may be a foot long, 
and the huge bunch hangs down scarcely supported by the 


now withering stem. The fruit is ripe, and the banana has : 


done its work, and, if left alone, soon dries up and dies. 


From its base spring up shoots which may be transplanted. = 
If the stem is cut down to the ground as soon as the fruit 18 
gathered, the round bulbous rootstock sends up new leaves, 


-anda second plant matures much sooner than do the 

shoots. _ 
Although most banana bunches hang down in maturity, A 

kind is found on the Society Islands, whence it has been M- 


troduced to the Hawaiian, whose very large bunches of deep a 


orange-colored fruit stand up erect, forming ornamental 
rather than useful objects ; for their taste, even when cooked, 


is exceedingly disagreeable and acrid. The Brazilian bani- — 


na, so-called (and no attempt is made to give here the col 
rect names, as the nomenclature is hopelessly confused m 
different countries, and the bold writer who should attempt 
to write a monograph of this genus, would need all his cout 
age), is tall, rising to a height of fifteen, or even 
feet, and the fruit is yellow and excellent, rather vinous m 
flavor; these are the long yellow bananas common a” 
markets. The Chinese banana seldom exceeds five fort s 
height, the leaves are of a silvery hue, and the fruit quite 
aromatic. The Fei, or Tahitian banana, is similar w 

Brazilian but not so tall, and the fruit is angular, 
turning black when fully ripe, and the flesh is salmon 


twenty — 


=) poe See ees a 


Sesto 


ii 











NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 409 


ored or buff, and slightly acid. Then there are varieties 
_ with red fruit quite common here, blunt fruit, and some with 


avery diminutive fruit of fine flavor. The names Banana 


and Plantain are used almost indiscriminately, but the latter 
_ usually applies to those varieties which are coarser and usu- 


ally eaten cooked. 

Usually no seeds are found within the pulp, but at Akyab, 
and along the coast of Arracan, a kind is found full of seeds. 
These seeds are black, rough, about the size of cotton-seeds, 


_ and enveloped in a sort of fibre so that they cannot be read- 


ily cleaned. The taste of this variety is very inferior. 

The Spaniards have a curious superstition about the fruit. 
The cross section presents a rude cross, and from this they 
Suppose the banana was the forbidden fruit, and Adam saw, 
in eating it, the mystery of redemption by the cross. The 
cross is not very distinct, and the excellent Padre Labat 
remarks, after mentioning this belief: “There is nothing 


2 impossible in this; Adam may have had better eyesight than 
_ We, or the cross was better shaped in the bananas which 





the yom 
AMER, 


_ Stew in his garden.” 


toes for the hogs ! 
g shoots are cooked as greens, but the stem and 
NATURALIST, VOL. II. 


° 


410 ' - DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING 


old leaves are full of a watery acrid juice, which stains white 
cloth an indelible black or dark brown. ‘The fibres of the 
leaves make a textile fabric of great beauty, known as a fine 
kind of grass cloth. 

In cultivation the plants are set closely, the Chinese banana 
requiring only three or four feet between the rows, and the 
clusters are gathered before they are quite ripe, and hung up 
in some cool place, or better still, buried in the earth. Some 
bananas are certainly improved by this premature gathering, 
but others are much better when ripened in the natural way. 
The prices on the Isthmus of Panama, and at most tropical 
ports, varies from a real (124 cts.) to a dollar, according to 
the size of a bunch and the season of the year. The prices 
asked in the Boston market are simply outrageous, and our 
fruit-dealers let the fruit rot in their windows rather than 
lower the price. 

A plantation will yield all the year round. by timing the 
planting, but the crop is much more abundant at one season. 
The care the plants require is little enough if they are 
planted by a brook or in moist ground, and the bunches of 


_ fruit may weigh eighty, or even more than a hundred pounds 


when ripe. 

The geographical limits of the banana are much m 
tensive than those of the cocoanut, and extend even 
the tropics. ‘ 


ore ex- 
beyond 





——— 


DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING LAND AND 


FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 


BY JAMES LEWIS, M. D. 


Ir the collector is provided with suitable apparatus fF 
gathering certain classes of shells, his work is Mor? 5 
half done when he has found them. This is capone 
of land shells. The apparatus needed for these is simp 3 


































LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 411 


atin canister, of sufficient size to hold all that may be se- 
cured at one time of species as large as Helix monodon, or 
larger. A large wide-mouthed bottle may answer the same 
purpose. The canister should have an easy fitting cover 
perforated for ventilation. The cork to the bottle may be 
perforated. For species less than HH. monodon (one-third 
inch diameter), a bottle of alcohol that may be carried in the 
vest pocket will be desirable. The larger species are picked 
up by hand without any aids. The small species are often 
80 fragile and so minute that a pair of delicate pliers, some 
_ like the light pliers used by watchmakers, but having wider 
"blades, will be ‘found so useful as to be indispensable. With | 
the pliers the small shells can be rapidly picked up and con- 
= Yeyed to the alcohol. The use of the alcohol is to contract 
_ the soft parts to the smallest dimensions, by extracting the 
water they contain. It leaves the shells in a cleaner condi- 
-tion than when they are allowed to crawl over and cover 
each other with mucus and dirt. If it be desired to preserve 
Specimens of those mollusks that are destitute of shells for 
= anatomical purposes, they should have a separate bottle of 
| alcohol to keep their mucus from enveloping the shells of 
Small species. 

To collect fresh-water shells the collector needs sometimes 
4 only his hands, especially in narrow rivulets where every- 
7 thing can be seen and reached from either side of the water. 
À He needs a bucket of water for larger species, —a bottle of 
alcohol for minute species that would be likely to become 
lost or broken by association with the larger. Usually only 
°? bucket of water is needed. For all those classes that crawl 
“n or burrow in mud, some sort of dredge bat 

| needed, The simplest device that can 4 
Suggested is a tin dipper (Fig. 1), the 
adle of which may be made of any con- mean 
Yenient length by adding thereto a light wooden rod. With 
* finely perforated instrument thus arranged, a film of mud 


With shells intermingled may be scraped up, the mud sifted 





S 


412 DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING 


out, the shells remaining. The -shells may be emptied into 
the bucket of water, and the dredging continued as Jong as 
desirable. For more rapid progress in collecting, a net made 
of iron wire-gauze, of about twelve to sixteen wires to the 
linear inch, is very useful (Fig. 2). The gauze may be 
stretched over a stiff metal- 
4 lic frame, so arranged as to 
form a bag, the mouth of 
which is about eight inches 
by four, with a depth of 
about eight inches. The net 
should be fixed at an angle 
of 45° with the handle. 
The outer margin (at the mouth of the bag) should have & 
sharp metallic edge like a hoe. A long handle is necessary ; 
one that may be separated into parts, each about three bie 
four feet long is most convenient, on account of the facility 
of adapting the length of the handle to the depth of the 
water, or to the position from which the collector has to 
work. 
With a properly arranged apparatus of this kind, nearly 
all the small univalve and bivalve aquatic species may be 
secured with more readiness and in greater abundance than 
by other means. The shells that cannot be so readily ob- 
tained in this way are the fresh-water limpets ( Ancylus 
and Gundlachia), which have to be taken by the slow pr°- 
cess of removing them simply from the stems of plants = 
surfaces of stones to which they adhere, by sliding à knife- 
blade under them. , 
Many small species of fresh-water mussels ( Unio 
such as are sometimes found abundantly in seme 
Southern and Western rivers, are often readily attam 
means of the net. By proper manipulation the ee 
made to scrape up a thin or thick slice of mud with the 2 
that. mingle with it. Then reversing the net in the wa = 
mouth upward, the sand and fine mud are sifted out, @ 





nide), 
of the 
able by 





LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 413 





- being taken not to fracture fragile shells, or break the brittle 
margins of univalves by too violent shaking. Shells that 
__ adhere to flat smooth rocks may be taken expeditiously with 
the net. 
d To take Uniones, the collector will succeed best in shallow 
= water by wading. Long rubber boots are desirable for this 
= work; also, a pair of metallic 
_ tongs (Fig. 3), the handle of 
_ one blade lengthened by a 
_ wooden rod, to be held by one 
hand to direct the instrument 
in its work, while the other ™ 

hand pulls a cord that causes the other blade to close on the 
_ Specimens to be taken. A basket carried on the arm serves 
_ to hold the specimens, which should be handled carefully. 
= An iron garden rake may sometimes be used with much 
i advantage to uncover species where the current will wash 
Way the turbid water. When the water is cleared, the 
shells may be seen and can be picked up by means of the 
ss, net, or dipper, or even with the rake, if not too 
Small. In lakes and ponds, where the bottom is muddy and 
@®Uniones can be seen from a boat, the dipper, used so as 
_ hot to make the water turbid, will answer the purpose. If 
the bottom is gravel the tongs may be used. In deep dark 
Water in rivers, Uniones are sometimes drawn ashore in 
seines used for fishing. They have also been secured by 
Means of rakes. 

It often happens that there are small mollusks that feed on 
Aquatic plants, and can seldom be found elsewhere. This is 
the “ise in lakes and in rivers that have only a moderate 
current, Such species will seldom be obtained with either 
het or dipper, and the collector will be obliged to content 


himself with slower processes. By carefully lifting the 
«Weeds out of the water the little mollusks may be found on 
oe es and leaves. They very usually detach themselves 


n disturbed, but if they are once fairly above the water, 





ae Oe 


ERES 
Se tes 


es ee EA 
Ria Pete 


i 
















414 - DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING 


very few are lost, for the reason that they continue to adhere — 
to the wet weeds by capilarity. The pliers will be needed 
to pick them off and transfer them to the bottle of alcohol. 

Preparation and Preservation of Specimens. — Land-shells 
and the larger aquatic univalves are generally cleaned, 
after boiling them a few minutes to detach the soft parts, 
by means of a little hook with which to remove the soft — 
parts, a tooth-brush to wash the shell externally, and a 
syringe with which to rinse the interior of the shell. Some- 
times the interior has also to be wiped out with a bit of 
cotton wound on a splinter of wood. The more perfectly a 
specimen is cleaned the more agreeable is its appearance. If 
portions of the soft parts remain in the shell the offensive 
odor of decomposition remains a long time. In the prepa- 
ration of Paludina it is desirable to secure the opercle of 
each specimen in the shell to which it belongs, by means 0 
thick mucilage. Some species of Melanidæ that have pe- 
culiarly formed opercles should receive similar attention. 
The larger species of Spherium may have the soft parts 2 
removed, and the valves tied shut to dry. The smaller a 
bivalves will dry if spread on paper in a moderately co! — 
place with a free circulation of air, only a few of the 
shells gaping. If exposed to the sun they are very apt to 
open. Small shells like Amnicola, Bythinella, Valvata, 
etc., may be quickly dried in the sun after having been 12 
alcohol twenty-four hours. The same remarks apply io 
some land-shells, such as the smaller Helices, Pupa, Vertigo, 
Carychium, ete. Vitrina, it carefully managed, may Jare 
the soft parts removed after boiling, or after having bern E 
alcohol twenty-four hours. Cleaned and rinsed, the § p 
are exceedingly beautiful. But dried in the manner "r 
often witnessed, they are not a very attractive addition to į 
collection of well-selected specimens. In the treatment a a 
Succinea, either boiling, or twenty-four hours in alcohol, W! co 
answer, preparatory to the removal of soft parts. 

Some mollusks, the shells of which are thin and transp? 








4 LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 415 


tent, when prepared for the cabinet simply by drying the soft 
_ parts, can never be made to have that brilliancy that is seen 
ina carefully cleaned specimen. By the side of well-cleaned 
Specimens they are so inferior in their appearance, that 
when the collector has once had an opportunity to compare 
them, he will never be content with indifferently cleaned 
specimens. Physa hypnorum is a species to which these 
remarks will apply. It is, however, a very difficult species 
toclean perfectly on account of the persistence with which 
the soft parts adhere within the apical whorls. But by an 
adroit expedient this difficulty may be overcome. After the 
shells have been boiled a few moments, take each specimen 
up singly, and hold the apex a few seconds against the blaze 
ofa lamp or candle. Soon a small quantity of steam forms 
With a slight explosion that loosens the soft parts perfectly. 
A jet of water from a syringe will then remove the soft 
Parts and rinse the shell at one operation. Physa hypnorum 
may be kept in alcohol several months until partial decom- 
position has begun. Then with a powerful jet of water from 
a avery small syringe, the soft parts may be instantly and 
_ Wholly removed. The same modes of treatment may also 
: be applied to other species. Shells kept long in alcohol, 
E Me¥ever, ure liable to become stained. Lymnea gracilis 
Permits the soft parts to be removed with the utmost ease 
. and certainty by boiling or by the alcoholic treatment. An- 
_— tylus is very easily prepared after having been in alcohol. 
most of the specimens treated with alcohol will be 
; found with the soft parts detached after a few days. 
: Uniones (fresh-water mussels) require to be cut open with 
T T knife to divide the muscles, after which the soft parts 
should be carefully removed, leaving no traces of them to 
Stain the shell. An easier and more expeditious mode is to 
boil them, when the muscular attachments are destroyed, 
tnd the soft parts are ready to drop out. After the soft 
Parts are removed the shells need to be rinsed clean, and 
“ore the hinge-ligament gets dry the valves should be tied 









416 DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING 


shut, taking care to preserve perfect every part of the shell, 4 
not forgetting even the epidermal fringe. Specimens that 4 
have had the soft parts removed by cutting, are usually more _ 
brilliant than if boiled, or if the soft parts are simply mace- 
rated or dried. 

Rare specimens of Unionide are sometimes found where — 
the musk-rat has accumulated shells. It is sometimes an 
object with the collector to preserve shells found only under 
such circumstances. Such specimens when carefully washed q 
will often be found to have a dull chalky appearance that is — 
not indicative of the true character of the species. The brik 
liancy of the shell may be measurably restored by dipping it 
a few seconds in a bath of dilute muriatic or nitric acid, then — 
rinsing with clear water and wiping dry. | ? 

Since naturalists have come to regard a collection accord- , 
ing to the perfection of the specimens it includes, the habits q 
that collectors were accustomed to indulge, in their attempt 4 
to beautify specimens, have pretty much gone out of use. It 
is no longer considered necessary to remove the epidermis 
of shells in order to develop unrevealed beauties, except d 
perhaps in specimens intended to adorn a mere collection of 
curiosities. Even varnish, wbich once was so liberally ap- 
plied to shells to impart a fictitious gloss, is now no longer 4 
used by those who aim to serve the purposes of science. Ye d 
there are some circumstances under which a somewhat dole 4 
tive specimen may have its natural appearance partly us 4 
stored, even when apparently of little value. After cleaning 
the shell carefully with a brush, moisten the W 
with a dilute solution of gum arabic, wiping off the sul sag a 
The gum when dry takes the place of the albuminoid tissues 
that have been dissolved out of the surfaces of the S j a 
measurably restoring its natural appearance. e a 

Young collectors are often annoyed, after they have al 
much pains to prepare fine specimens of Anodonta and i 4 
thin-shelled Uniones, to find that their specimens crack W ee 4 
dry, sometimes falling in pieces. This difficulty MY 7 


hole surface 





LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 417 





avoided hy dipping fresh specimens into a solution of chlo- 
_ wile of calcium,—a hygrometric salt that always retains 
enough moisture to remain in solution under ordinary con- 
‘ditions of atmosphere and temperature. This salt may be 
prepared by neutralizing hydrochloric (or muriatic) acid with 
chalk. 





~ The use of varnishes, oils, glycerine, etc., on shells is not 
recommended. A very thin solution of gum arabic has this 
advantage, —that if found objectionable it may be readily 
_ Washed off without detriment to the most fragile specimen. 
_ From the general tenor of the preceding remarks on collect- 
- ing, it will be understood that perfect specimens are above 
all others the most desirable. Such, usually, can be obtained 
3 only by securing them alive. When a species is abundant 
‘ and the collector has obtained a large series of specimens, he 
_ Will be able to select those which best represent its charac- 
T SET It ‘is, perhaps, policy to return the younger and im- 
perfect specimens to the station from which they were taken, 
= 8 by so doing the Species may continue with only slight 
diminution of numbers. 

The collector is urged to avail himself of opportunity on 
all occasions to secure species, however abundant or unde- 
_ ‘Stable they may seem to be at the moment. Many mollusks 
e noted for appearing in abundance for a brief period, then 
appearing for a number of years. Sometimes artificial 


Influences destroy a locality that produces abundant speci- 











Be ot 







‘ , saw-mills, dye-houses, in fact 
kinds of manufacturing establishments on streams inter- 
. th with the mollusks and other forms of life inhabiting 
m. - 

| Incidentally , the collector of shells will unavoidably have 
attention drawn to many other forms of life while seek- 
© Mollusks, Scarcely any of these will be so insignificant 
ee NATURALIST, VOL. 11. 


de = 


418 DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING 


that they may not deserve passing notice. While collecting 3 
land-shells, opportunities are often presented for securing 
specimens of valuable species of insects, crustaceans, and — 
worms, especially rare and curious species of beetles and cen- 
tipedes, whose habits necessarily lead them to seek shelter — 
and concealment with the larger snails. The chrysalides of — 
various species of Lepidoptera are also found in similar situ- _ 
ations, and may be secured and preserved as a means of ob- | 
taining more perfect specimens of the mature insects than — 
can be obtained by hunting the insects themselves. Various — 
species of Salamanders (or “lizards,” as they are often 
termed for want of a more appropriate name) may also be — 
found in the damp grounds where snails seek shelter under — 
logs, ete. 
In searching for aquatic mollusks, many rare species of : 
fish of small size, such as are just suited for the aquarium, — 
will often be found and captured with the mollusks. Stage 
nant waters are rich in various forms of insect life, and some 
of the species are remarkably interesting for their singular . 
forms and curious habits. In such situations will be fo 
both the larvæ and perfect insect of several species of Dyis- 
cus and allied genera, some of the species quite large, ones 3 
quite small. Such stagnant waters also produce va : 
other kinds of insects (see Vol. I, p. 328, fig. 23 P- 436, ; 
fig. 2), including those that swim and skate (Vol. I, p: 328, : 
fig. 3) about over the surface of the water as well also pe 
those that propel themselves boat-like ¿n the water (Vol. b 
p- 328, fig. 1). A limited class of crustaceans and annelids 
are found in similar stations, —all of them objects of curious — 
interest, not less on account of the singularity of their forms 
than on account of the wonderful habits that disclose thel 
adaptation to the conditions in which they are found. 
o the microscopist, also, the stagnant water offers i 
world for investigation (Vol. I, plate 13, illustrates some - 
the forms). A little tuft of the green slimy veg? me 


. jt z j . m Ng 
that in such situations is found adhering to sticks, twigs" 












LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 419 


fact every surface covered by the water, is full of life in 
some of its most singular and wonderful forms, some vege- 
table, some animal (Vol. I, pp. 505 to 530 inclusive; also 
T 587 to 595). 

The stagnant pool is also the winter residence of numerous 
Species of frogs and other Batrachians, for whose songs we 
listen in.the warm showery evenings of the opening spring. 
_ Hither come also the wanderers in the fields and forests to 
deposit their eggs, which appear first endowed with life as 
minute pollywogs or tadpoles, ultimating in toads and frogs. 
_ +he eft, or water-newt, a small brown salamander, marked 
_ With curious spots, is also found in the stagnant waters; and 
_ pools, on the borders of marshes, are the homes of various 
Species of turtles. The larve of mosquitoes, of which our 
_ country has a great variety of species, abound in stagnant 
_ Waters, and they will be readily found in every little puddle 
that has been a few days exposed to the sun’s warming influ- 





iy 
k: 
om 
A 
al 
te 


Sa PALE LET Nee ae: ee aes 
Se Pee EE a CS TR ee ee 


idi 


1 ence 





w, 811) in somewhat greater abundance than in the 
_ ĉrowded stagnant waters, —also the larve of various species 
of Caddis-flies (Phryganea), who form for their protection 
litt tubes composed of fragments of wood, straws, etc., con- 
sy ted together by the silken secretion of the young insect. 
E "ers: and lakes on the stems of aquatic plants, in June 
"m July, will be found beneath the surface of the water 
merous Pupæ of a beautiful beetle, the mature insects glis- 
tening with burnished steel and bronze, flitting about and 
e themselves on the aquatic vegetation. 
e abounds around us everywhere. To call attention to 
* few forms that do not daily challenge familiar attention 

























420 A COMICAL OWL. 


has been the object of this paper. The subject is one full 
of interest, —one that has received the attention of the most — 
vigorous intellects, and yet remains as full of undiscovered 
truths as in the beginning,—being, as are all the works of — 
nature, a field of infinite variety, inexhaustible. : 





A COMICAL OWL. 


BY CHARLES WRIGHT. 





Tue owl is called a solemn bird. It may be so; yet! 
have seen one in Cuba whose actions would upset the grav- 4 
ity of a very sober meeting. i 

The bird in question (Glaucidium Siju Orbigny) was 7 
taken young from the nest, and grew quite tame and famil- 3 
iar. His ordinary food consisted of lizards, though he would i 
eat moths and other large insects. His power of swallowing 
was surprising. From the first, almost, he could dispose of 4 
the smaller lizards; but soon gained strength and_throst 4 
capacity to take in specimens as long, if not quite s0 large, q 
as himself; even two, three, or more at a meal. He usually A 
commenced by tearing away, awhile, at the head, ma 4 
however, he did not seem to diminish much in size; a 
which came the effort, sometimes a protracted one, ai swale 4 
low it entire—head foremost. With time, however, it took a 
its regular supper (it had but one meal a day) with oe 
apparent effort, unless an uncommonly large bit was p= 
him. And so much did`his appetite increase, that een 
times a scarcity prevailed; whether it occurred from city 
neglect of the negrito to cater faithfully, or from ae p 
of the game. By day, he remained, solemnly, 1m tha 
dor, dosing away the lonely hours on a pigeon-¢0ag® i 
the beam supporting the eaves. Before learning w a 
at night, after candle-lighting, he was taken down ana pe q 


+ 







A COMICAL OWL. 491 


onthe table to take his supper. Afterwards came the fun; 
and this consisted of actions, if not so dangerous, queerer 
_ than that ascribed to the one which continued to look at the 
man going round the tree till it twisted its neck off. He 
= was curious to examine everything he saw in motion. If a 


Were attracted to the light, and, of course, fell, unable 
to fly, but with power to struggle. And his vision was so 


rer, at first cautiously, as if taking roundings. Mean- 
_ While he would stretch his neck upwards to its utmost extent 
and look directly down; then -first to one side, now to the 
other, and twist his head round so that the eyes would be 
alinost downwards and the beak upwards; all the time, side- 
e way, then the other, till, at last, reassured, he would 
ke thy little leap, and pounce down upon—nothing. 

Sijuito” had other odd ways. His tail was not so large 
nor so brilliant as the peacock’s. Perhaps he thought it was, 
which was just as well for him. At all events, he did his 
to display what he had, as well as the more splendid 
e spread it out to its utmost extent, cocked it up as 
it would go, and twisted it to the left and to the 











- topped at all his stopping-places, he would have found that 
E 4 greater number of attitudes, and all natural ones, 
a vould be practicable with hardly any other, unless it 

à parrot ; inverted positions being reckoned among the 


422 THE WEST INDIAN FIRE BEETLE. 






















Our little owl became, at last, venturesome, wishing 
see the great outside world; and, flying out of his safe dom- — 
icil one night, he passed too near her cat, when the worth 
less beast killed the funny bird. : 





THE CUCUYO; OR, WEST INDIAN FIRE BEETLE. 


_ BY G. A. PERKINS, M. D. 





Bur few of the many thousands of organized beings that 
cover the earth are endowed with the power of becomi 

À f- luminous, and it is because their number 
so limited, and consequently that they 
so seldom under our observation, that 
wonder is so great upon beholding the 
About bm of all the animals (if we an 


of this poviet of shining. 
> these belong to the insects ; and a large pak 
| tion of hits insects belong to one gents: 
the laters, or snapping-beetles, some of 
which we find about our gardens in summer, 
though our species are not luminous. 
' The only light-bearing insects found in our own loea 
are of other genera, Photii, etc. ; this is the little firey 
which we find in damp fields or pastures on hot sumi 
nights. It is the male of this insect only that flies; © 
(etale | is wingless and but seldom seen; when found, Me 
ever, her light proves to be very much brighter than 





of her more active companions ; this wingless female a 
glowworm. The larva which closely resembles nl y. 
e sil 


is also luminous, and even the eggs are said to b 
so. We all remember these little sparkling mer on 
al 


the queer thoughts that often pass through our br 





THE WEST INDIAN FIRE BEETLE. 423 


P first beholding them. How many times have we chased 
them, hat in hand, just at dusk in a warm summer's evening, 
and thought we were quite sure of our prize, when the next 
moment he was sparkling high in the air above our heads; 
and when, after many unsuccessful trials, we were so for- 
_ tunate as to secure one of them, how have we feared to take 
_ the little harmless creatures in our fingers, lest we should 
_ be burnt; or how, when their light was temporarily extin- 
guished, did we puff and blow, as if we had a live coal, to 
_ brighten them up again, so natural is the connection, even in 
the mind of childhood, of light with heat. 

_ This feeling of wonder, and a desire to know somewhat 
4 more of so strange a phenomena, is not confined to children 
flone. Older and. wiser heads have shared it too. The chem- 
_ ist, anatomist, and physiologist have each, by their peculiar 
; method of investigation, endeavored to obtain an answer to 
the question, How do animals shine? Nor is it strangé that 
; after all their efforts, they should fail to obtain a clear solu- 
_ tion of the difficulty. The chemist looks for phosphorus, a 
: Well-known constituent of the bodies of. all, or nearly all, 











2 like unsatisfactory result. The physiologist looks for some 
“rt of galvanic action, like that of the gymnotus or torpedo. — 
The anatomist, with perhaps no preconceived notions on the 
ie ct, makes his careful dissections in hope that some ar- 
Mangement of parts, undiscovered before, may reward his 
“earch and solve the problem ; but still we fail to be satisfied. 
Ne must, therefore, believe that while the Great Lawgiver, 
M this as well as in other natural laws, employs means for 
© accomplishment of the end designed,—the production 
ot tet ar ae bear no apnoe i = 
ca ect the same result, though under very 

“nt circumstances, The luminosity in animals is a power pe- 
falar in itself, as truly and distinctly so as seeing, hearing, 
“Muscular contraction, or the exercise of any other power or 





a 








424 THE WEST INDIAN FIRE BEETLE. 


faculty with which animals are endowed by the Creator; and 
this phenomenon is produced by an act of volition of the 
animal, through the nervous power acting on a peculiar fatty 
matter, found only in certain portions of the body: or it may 
- be that some of the brain masses, or ganglia, are specially 
appropriated to this particular end, and that there need be 
nothing peculiar in the fatty mass upon which its power is 
expended. 2 j 

At the head of the list of light-giving creatures, and far ex- 
ceeding them all in the amount and intensity of its phospho- 
rescence, stands the West Indian Fire Beetle, called by the | 
people of the islands, Cucuyo; by naturalists they are known 
as the Hlater (Pyrophorus) noctilucus, or Night-lighting Ela- 
ter. Though found in all the West Indian islands, the sugat 
plantations of Cuba are their paradise, and during the wam — 
evenings of the rainy season they exhibit themselves to pe 
fection. An amusing account of the method of capturing 
these beetles in olden times is found in the Naturalist’s Li- 
brary, which I copy for the amusement of the reader. : | 

“Whoso wanteth Cucuij,” says Pietro Martire, in his De- 
cades of the New World, “goeth out of the house in the first ; 
twilight of the night, carrying a burning fire-brande ba his : 
hande, and ascendeth the next hillock, that the cucul) may 
see it, and hee-swingeth the fire-brande about, calling ouc 
ius aloud and beateth the ayre with often calling and me ; 
out cucute, cucuie. Many simple people supposè that p - 
cucuij, delighted with the noise, come flying and a : 
together to the bellowing sound of him that calleth os : 
they come with a speedy and headlong course; but ha 
thinke that the cucuij make haste to the brightness ee 
fire-brande, because swarms of gnattes fly into every md : 
which the cucuij eat in the very ayre, as the martie 
swallowes doe. Some cucuius sometimes followeth P 
brande, and lighteth on the grounde ; then he is we pe 
as travellers may take a beetle if they have need an 
walking with his wings shut. In sport and merriment, a 





ae 


THE WEST INDIAN FIRE BEETLE. 425 


the intent to terrify such as are affrayed of every shadow, 
_ they say that many wanton wild fellowes sometimes rubbed 
their faces by night with the flesh of a cucuius, being killed, 
= with purpose to meet their neighbors with a flaming coun- 
tenance, as with us wanton young men, putting a gaping 
_ Vizard over their face, endeavor to terrify children or women 
_ who are easily frighted.” 

By the kindness of a friend* I am now in possession of a 
thriving family of these strangely beautiful beetles, number- 
_ ing over forty, of all sizes; and while I write, they are shin- 
ing in all their brilliancy just by my side. Considerable 
-Care and attention is necessary to keep them in health. They 
_ fe soon to have their supper, which consists of sugar-cane, 
_ “ut into thin strips and moistened with weak syrup, which 
_ they suck, or rather lick, up with an evident relish. They 
_ Present a singular appearance, ranged in rows upon the bot- 
_ tom of a plate, each with his mouth applied to the strip of 
_ ine. As soon as they have finished their meal, they are to 
take a bath for their health: and comfort; for, like children 
: who indulge in sweets, they get pretty thoroughly daubed, 
and need a good washing. This bath of tepid water seems 
to ‘rouse all their light-giving energy, for-while feeding the 
D ght is extinguished (very economical, surely!). The basin 
5 m which they float is all aglow; it is indeed a magnificent 
= Pectacle which I wish all your readers could share with me. 
: The water Seems to possess the same luminous property as 
: Se sects, and resembles, when seen at night, a basin of 
- liquid gota. 

> As to Size, form, and general appearance, the cut at the 
a dof this article gives a good idea. It has been drawn by 
“Merton with his characteristic faithfulness from a full- 
eee insect.: In: color they are of a dark brown, almost 
ack; the larger ones have a rusty appearance, from the 
. ag of short brown hairs on parts of the back. They 
= thing peculiarly attractive but their power of giving 
——__"8 Peculiarly attractive but their power of givn, 
x a Sassen! iag weir of this city. : 



























426 THE WEST INDIAN FIRE BEETLE. 























light. The spots, from which issue the luminosity, are not 
situated upon the head, as most persons suppose on seeing 
them, but upon the sides of the thorax, or middle portion of — 
the body, and also from a spot on the abdomen just below 
the insertion of the last pair of legs, where the abdomen and — 
thorax join. This abdominal spot is not so frequently seen — 
to be illuminated as the spots on the thorax, but when the — 
insect is about to fly, or when, by accident, it gets upon is 
back, this part gives out light of tenfold intensity. The side 4 
lights are oval and convex, standing out laterally, and are — 
hard and horny externally; but this is only a very thin and — 
transparent protection to the luminous matter that fills them. 4 
When not shining, they are of a dirty white or light-brown — 
color. E 
They are really lanterns, and, as such, serve to light the 
insect on his nocturnal rambles. It is worthy of notice that 
these lanterns are so placed that the light from them new | 
enters the eye of the beetle directly, but only when reflected — 
from surrounding objects ; in fact, they are placed just as Wè 
place lanterns upon our carriages, and for the same reas «3 
that the light may not shine into the eyes of the driver a 
dazzle and confound him, but only upon objects before aM — 
around him, from contact with which he might be in danger. 
This light also serves to attract their friends, as I have 
occasion to notice while a number of them were upon die 
wing together in a dark room. While flying, their light 
seemed to arouse their companions, who soon joined m 
and we enjoyed the rare sight, at least in this region of 
globe, of seeing several of these flying about my room Er 
time; they seemed to play as flies do during the hot a 
summer. When preparing for flight, they appear quite 


uf 


29 
Ps 
ie 
Sait 


their side lights glowing with great brilliancy, but 
by the spot beneath; the elytra, or hard horny © aapt 
cover their gauze-like wings, now swing upon ax 


THE WEST INDIAN FIRE BEETLE. 427 









power of description can convey a true idea of this singular 
sight, the tiny spark of our little five-fly appearing like noth- 
ing in comparison ; and this light is continued while they are 
in motion, and not intermitting like our own fire-fly. Their 
flight did not last many minutes (ages of torture to nervous 
_ dies who might happen to be in the room!!), being often 
brought to an end by the insect flying against the mirror 
_ or window curtain, and falling to the floor; sometimes they 
_ Would fly around one of the beetles which I held in my hand, 
and alight quite near it. 
Beginning their gambols just as the daylight fades away, 
they keep in an active state for about two or three hours, 
when they become quiet, moving but little, and ceasing in a 
great measure to give forth light. I have often noticed this 
tessation of light just after a period of excitement, and also 
just before they were to make an attempt to fly,—the power 
l of the nervous system seeming to exhaust itself by its vigor- 
Ous exercise, requiring rest afterward, or else they rest to 
Concentrate their energies for greater exertions. 
Being “birds of night” they remain dormant during the 
» hidden in the damp leaves or herbage, looking as if 
dead, but being full of life and activity as night draws on. 
have endeavored to cheat them by taking them into a dark- 
ened room during the day, but the attempt was not SUCCESS- 
they still remained quiet until the usual hour; and when 
disturbed by rough treatment and placed near a window, 
y invariably crawled towards the darker parts of the 
toom. One of my colony, by some mishap, got one of its 
side lanterns out of repair so that it emitted no light for two 
days, but after that time perfectly regained it. Most of the 
little pets seem to have met with the loss of one or more 
» and some have lost all; but this mutilation does not 
to interfere with their luminous powers at all. These 
Poor cripples have to be assisted more than their compan- 
When taking their food. 


























428 THE WEST INDIAN FIRE BEETLE. 






















The light given off by this insect is of a very peculiar 
nature. When seen during the day it is of yellow color, 
strongly tinged with green ; at night the green is not percep- 
tible, and the amount of light given off, though considerable, 4 
is of an intangible character. .I use the word intangible, for — 
want of a better one, to describe the opalescent appearance — 
of their lights when we look directly at them. Its effect 
upon the retina of the eye is, at times, painful when looked : 
upon steadily for some minutes; and after being shut up ina — 
dark room with them for an hour or even less, I have found, — 
upon looking at the gas-light in the street, it had a brilliant . 
red appearance, as intense as the crimson stars of rockets 7 
made by the burning of strontian. This effect lasted several 4 
minutes. 4 

By placing the luminous parts of one insect quite near the — 
paper, very fine print can be easily read by its aid, though I 
cannot imagine the light, even of a large number, to be suf 
ficient for any practical illuminating purposes as has eset 
affirmed by some writers. The Cuban ladies make a singular 
use of these living gems, sewing them in lace bags, whieh 
are disposed as ornaments upon their dresses, or arranged $ 
a fillet for their hair. Eo 

The perfect control which the insect has over these lumi- of 
nous spots is very marked. While they remain dormant 
during the day, their light is wholly extinguished, not evel 


soon as they begin to crawl, that moment they light pi s= 
path with the lanterns on the thorax, not often usmg ” 
patch upon the abdomen, except while flying oF me 
for flight, and it is only while on the wing that their r 
illuminating apparatus is displayed in all its intensity 4 
eauty. : ative 
Their period of perfect insect life, even in their ow? neti 
island, is quite brief, lasting only about three or four m ee 
not one being seen before the commencement of the pe 
season, which begins about April, and disappearing ™° 






THE WEST INDIAN FIRE BEETLE. 429 


4 or August. As this period draws to a close, they lose much 
oof their vigor, their power of illumination grows less, even 
their bath fails to arouse them, and it wholly ceases just 
_ before death takes place. 
a The treatment which I have found to be most successful in 
a Keeping them in health, is that which imitates as nearly as 
2 possible their condition in their own climate. There they 
, feed upon the sweet juices of the cane which they find acci- 
g dentally bruised (for they have no organs for wounding the 
_ Plant), being frequently drenched by the warm tropical show- 
ers, flying about briskly for a few hours only during the early 
evening, and hiding under the dark damp foliage during the — 
day. And to give them, as nearly as possible, the same con- 
ditions, I bathe them with tepid water, feed them on weak 
‘rup upon slices of cane, giving them their food in the 
ening, and, during the day keep them in an open-work 
basket, covered with ‘fresh damp clover-leaves. 
In my collection were insects of various sizes, but I was 






















though they ate well. Being perfect insects, it is doubtful if 
“ley require much nourishment, but only a sufficient amount 
"e moisture to make good the loss by respiration and tran- 
Spiration ; the sugar, perhaps, giving it a relish, or, it may 


Dout them. As the period of their life during which they 
feed most freely is confined to the larva stage, like other 
sects, it is only during this time that they increase in size. 
l no mention in any work of the nature of the food of 
the larvee of this particular species of Elater; but some of 
“it cousins are said to be very destructive to the roots of 
Plants, particularly of the grasses. : 
~" €xamination of the peculiar matter upon which their 
Power of luminosity depends, or in which it manifests itself, 
WS it to be composed, in a very large portion, of fut, a 
ch are found some air-tubes and a very large supply of 


: à . : eans t0 
_ Wholly or in part, to give out its light, using it as me 




















430 THE WEST INDIAN FIRE BEETLE. 


nerves. This fatty matter is of a chalky whiteness, : 
when spread upon a slip of glass and examined by the mier 
scope, gives the characteristic appearance of fat globules. 
When rubbed upon paper and warmed, it leaves a g 
stain; and when the whole mass is digested in sulphi 
ether, the fat is dissolved out, leaving branch-like masses 0 
nerves in great abundance, and also the tubes of the ai 
vessels. The mass of luminous matter upon the abdome 
is, as has been stated, many times greater than that upon th 
thorax, and is covered externally by a very delicate and flex- 
ible membrane, which forms the joint, and reaches con- 
pletely across the animal. Inside it has not so distinct 
boundary, the vessels of other portions of the body be 
continuous with it, the luminous matter still being quite | 
tinct. In the thorax, this same substance is: found | 
behind the two oval, convex, transparent membranes, of 
horny nature, being separated from it by a very thin trans- 
parent membrane, which acts as a special envelope, f 
also supplied with nerves and air-tubes, as in the abdominal 
portion. i 
It becomes very evident to any one who attentively exam- 
ines these insects while in a living and healthy state, | 
their luminous power depends, not upon chemical action, . 
does the air in our lungs during respiration, which action 
must go on entirely independent of any voluntary oe 
the part of the possessor, but that it is completely under ™ 
control of the animal, and is used by it for purposes ae 
render its exercise at times wholly needless. It is also @ 
dent that whatever arouses the nervous energy of the ani 
to full activity, causes a corresponding manifestation of ne 
nosity ; and, on the contrary, whenever the insect ai d 
in media which depress its vital powers, and act ae 
rectly or indirectly upon its nervous masses, then it ¢™ ? 


3 


$ i i $ rer. 
accomplish a desired end, as truly as its muscular ae 

earl 1 

In concluding this paper, already unnecessarily long: 








THE WEST INDIAN FIRE BEETLE. 431 


cannot omit to give the reader an extract from a letter 
from Cuba which I have just met with, by a most pleasing 
writer,* which gives a vivid description of this insect as seen 
in its native island. The writer, after a most amusing ac- 
count of several insects with which she (?) came in contact, 
says : 

“But a really beautiful and interesting insect is the Co- 
cuyo, or famous fire-fly of the West Indies, two of which I 
now have on my table in an impromptu cage, where they 
have been domesticated for a week. Very docile are they 
in my hands, to whose touch they seem to have become 
pleasantly accustomed, taking kindly to a diet of moist sugar 
in lieu of sugar-cane, which is their appropriate aliment, and 
accepting a semi-daily bath in my wash-basin with great 
apparent enjoyment, floating about in the water for several 


that they are ready to come out. They are a sufficiently 
unattractive bug in their unilluminated state, being of a 
dingy earth-brown color, and about the shape and size of a 
: large cockroach ; but they become so glorified by the irradi- 
_ ition of those wondrous orbs of phosphorescent light which 
: they carry about on their shoulders, that the children scream 
With delight at the sight of them, and ladies make pets of 
em as I do, and even use them as ornaments, on some 
Occasions. I saw a lady at the ‘Retreta’ once, with a coro- 
: het and stomacher of them; and all the crown jewels of 
Spain could not have made her so resplendent. The light is 
‘hot a flash, seen for a moment and then gone, like our fire- 
i ily, but it is emitted in a brilliant, steady ray, at will, and is 
: of extreme beauty of tint, being of a slightly greenish yel- 
dow Viewed in some positions, and of pale red viewed in 
edt ism touching fact, that the poorer classes, when 
_ Severe sickness Visits their dwellings, confine.a half-dozen of 
a “e Cucuyos in a cage, and are thus furnished with a most 


 autiful and inexpensive light for night-watchings.” 
; | SE NEES ikea O han SPEER ae Rs ea 


*W.M. L Jay, in “ The Ch h » of June 13, 1868. 








432 THE WEST INDIAN FIRE BEETLE. 






It is to be hoped that, with the modern facilities for short 
passages from Cuba, we shall every year be able to see, even 
in our frigid climate, a large number of these distinguished 
strangers. 


Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5. 

















—We figure several examples of our native fire-flies, with 41 
wie, 3) of an adult female glowworm from Zanzibar, which closely resem- — 





bles the English glowworm (Lampyris). Fig. 1 is, very Lehi thean = 
of a genus allied to Photuris, of which P. Pensylvanica (Fig. 2 is the 
a side of the 


in an under a stone in damp ground, ving 
ed as iP the act of walking, the feet on one side of the body mo | 
connect with those on the other. This is the way insects red. 
walk. It was not luminous on the evening of the day it w as discove 
But a truly luminous larva (Fig. 4) has been p E to us by * ‘a 
Sanborn; it was found at Roxbury, Mass. We have been as yet oa 
refer it to its ‘Proper genus a and species. Fig. 5 pictures a gin sin 


It was find by Rev. E. C. Bolles, at Westbrook, Maine, un 
and it, probably, like other larvæ of fire-flies, feeds on ia si 
The body of this remarkable insect is very flat, so that it looks aS eee 
could be no room for the viscera. On opening the box, it ere e dead 
tionary for so long a N that we thought we h d before US it was 
and dried remains of an insect, which puzzled us xceeding To talk 

but more, when it slowly moved before our astonished vision. Aa pave 
an insect winking its eye is a heresy, but we imagine th 
been an involuntary twinkle in its mind’s eye at our innoe 
its movements. Here, indeed, was one of those forms so often 


REVIEWS. 433 










by naturalists, which mimic other objects for purposes of self-protection. 
Our comical larva has, doubtless, had many a laugh over the balked re- 
search of its Sereia EPS for it 80 ees TE a dead and 


ably mA soft, fleshy tubercle, and there are two rows of black spots 
along the back. The figure is drawn over twice the natural size. 
th 





worm, and, when full-grown, a an oval cavity in the earth, where i 
sforms into a pupa, and in ten days assumes the beetle state. eg 





REVIEWS. 


ETEA neers’ 
Tae PERCHERON Horse.*— We cannot notice this work better than by 
e the following Eo preface of the TT i 


ttle vol 





pei f the work of : a k disti tinguished phic snes who, holding a high position of 
sparia made this as a report to the Government. His in some respects may, be rega: ried 


bot 





2 Ə PE 
ht 


Benar 1) +) 1 it bject which should gi h 
The Percheron h 





+ i 


` has orse, no doubt, st: t the draft-breeds of the Sorid., Une value 
been thoroughly tested in this country, 
breeding, and pa “et se an occasional penae by the importation of fresh bood, ti mie 




















9 

Percheron maintains his 1 

only one-quarte Pp f fast trott: tbeir 
encouragement by Agric cultural i : oe agg enorm: Bit oon which have been paid for 
animals valuable simply for , has, no doubt, had a tendency to direct the 
Mna of horso-breeders in a wrong direction. The esult is, from whatever cause it comes, that 
aa true horse-of-all-work has been neglected. The Percheron, combining as he does a certain 
Mh eao of style, very free action, considerable speed united to power, with gerne 
PF his ati and the greatest kindness and docility, seems to Ameri 


offer to 
Proving an exceedingly useful animal, either to be maintained distinct, dr used for ee 
our stock of both light and heavy draft-horses by crossings. The value of this work, 
E France, pa fons patea: consist m its s recommendation of this breed, or  oaieennte treet of its value in 
ld d to the improvement of 
tenets and equally applicable to that of other draft breeds, will, doubtless, commend 
‘ the careful consideration of breeders. 





been “te ghee in the Percherons has incr: eased greatly of late. Several notable importations have 
Mester, ana os “aap ae representatives of this noble breed are to be found ne the e Eastern, 
l iddle States, ani- 
Paiaaei hs bya Mr. W. T. Walters of Baltimore, Md., through whose interest in this subject the 
The induced to issue this translation of M. Huys’ work.” 

folowing remarks by M. Du Huys, on the Arab as the Primitive 





TaVINES 








Orange Shoat ag Horse. Translated from the French of Du Huys. Ilustrated. 12mo, 1868, 
& Co., New York, 
T, VOL. 1. 55 


434 REVIEWS. 













Horse, and his relation to the Percheron, will not be uninteresting to our 
ers: 


“I commence with the Arab crossing. Two motives haye induced me to follow this classifi- 4 





cation: 
Ist. Tl UN ia PEREA a ya 4 
nd. ie Percheron shows e a very great analogy, by his coat, conformation, ¢ 
race, ee ae osition an rance, to the Arab, a whic h hes seems s;to be t the: sae n hoii 





standing ain aiexences, a result of time, clim 
in which ate gst 





P hibit h the Arab numerous marks of 
a common parentage and relationship: sity marks are very obvious. A Pere 
Percheron, for some still exist (as the famous Toulouse of w Se ame, of Ecouche; and the 
renowned Jean-le-Blane of M. Miard, of Vem near Sap he department of the Orne, ett 
ete.), placed alo ngside of an n Arab, cate resents, notwithstanding his nee vier and grosser 
analogies wi i triki re easily m undoubted 
e Percheron of the primitive ich has a gray inka vee the Arab; an 

dant and silky mane, a fine skin, and a large, prominent, a expressive eye; a broad 
dilated nostrils, and a full ami deep chest, although, net girt with him, as 

Pv ays lacking in n fulness; more bony and leaner limbs, and less jaa with hair 


He x6 nape mesa der, nor that swan-like neck 
which distinguishes the Arab; but it must not be pfeg that for ages he has been employed 
purty ’ ony frame an ical structure, 

hin ji to perform. He has not, 1 agait 


acknowledge, such a “ane ekin as the Arab, wor his prettily rounded, oval, 








= 














S, 
ture gives him for a covering a thicker skin and a warmer coat, and that he has been forage 
stepping upon a moist, clayey soil, 

In all that remains in aR we aps ae a heavy Arab, modified and remodelled climate 
and peculiar circumstances. He has remained mild and laborious, like his sire; 
up like him, in the midst ak the Fons and, like him, he possesses in 
— " easy a acclimation; He acquire S this in the mids t of the numerous mig 





the 
desert, E final comparison, which has not, as yet, been oe noticed, i s Ç that, re i 








paese S 
wo pe a word, the S notwithstanding the ages which separate them, 








pka vei er Arab. if 
p hisstenn oe 3 s the thought of new — 
rder to form a more e easy estimate of their melon it will not be without int ; 


But i 
elassity the hee rses with _Feferenge to their r or igin. This cian sification produces t 


tinct groups: pound horse. > pe 
er 


The Primitive Horse, oriental in its origin, is the pure Arabian horse; no oth 





During the time of the crusaders, as we erata coor pen ei our ees part, in i all parts 


of wars an bY 
of the globe, Although at first the he ibe pate their isietint 
being bred in-and-in, these exiles w re placed under different Tatitudesy in degene™ 
led to the “ 
Wt q upon which 


He å ay wartion as ns soil 








acy of th race. 
oe sche were foaled was colder, poorer, and more inhospitable set the horse îs 
j s sire and dam. ne the. 
‘This n We sec it every day before our eyes in in studying . 
changes ae our French br reeds t the danaa undergo when transpo 
other. It might, however, be thought that these new hitita des, these ne 
aifter Dut Heie Proin tbose in Which they lived. 

















om the di erence o! 
whieh he has been renomee being an beg nature itself, we call th the p 
Horse. Her e it is proper nature always is. If it Hove to bis wants - 
horse for the worse, it modies him, however, under conditions better mr to live and tono 
and enables gud 
trials 
ish himself upon the food that the locality is able ‘to furnish. Bubp itted to the 











REVIEWS. 435 





uicker in 
e English, exceptional care, and so much the 
y nature. 
ed to himself, deprived of barni incase grooming, and oats, vet eross-bred de- 
early, and in war perishes miserably, while the natural and the primitive horse 
X ties in in ooh Gang upon the scantiest herbage. On this score, our two eine of the Cri- 





BS Mates AN DEER.*—In thi is ear Mr. Caton pes us much interesting 
r and valuable information on the h habits, anatomy, a BAREA of v 
i As t 

















PHÆNOGAMOUS PLANTS OF THE UNITED STATES, 
“este THE MISSISSIPPI, AND OF THE VASCULAR CRYPTOGAMOUS PLANTS 
7 ORTH AMERICA, NORTH OF Mexico. Compiled, borki, and pub- 
lished y Mr. H. Mann, of Cambridge. The species are all numbered, 
ad We find that dice ú are 3,646 Flowering Plants known in our territory, 
: Stel, while but 178 of the higher Cryptogams occur in 
merica, a smaller proportion we are inclined to think than will 
und on any other continent, 
_N€ believe the cata alogue was published with special reference to the 
Convenience Mi botanists who might wish to make exchanges, and for this 
it will be an invaluable aid, but every one interested in our flora 
have a a Copy of it at rand, as at once the aie eritm and most 
The hensive thing of the kind ever issued in the 
blisher wil] ges it to any address in the untat E States, by ee: the 
-Reeipt of the price e (25 cts). 
Sse ENTomoocist. — We have received the first number 3 
tents a W enterprise, issued at T oronto, August 1, 1868, in 8yo size, at 
Volume. It is to contain original papers on Canadian Entomol 







‘By Hon. John D. Caton. — 8vo, 1868, From the Transactions 
my miad of on comme Sciences 


436 REVIEWS. 


ogy; the transactions of the Entomological Society of Canada; accounts — 
of the capture of new or rare species in Canada, lists of specimens for 
exchange, and desiderata, by members; and correspondence, etc. 

The present number, consisting of eight pages, contains an account of 


Americanus, our common coppery butterfly; of Arctia Parthenos, and 
Drasteria erecthea. The Canadian Entomologist deserves a wide circ 
tion and generous support from entomologists. 


THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST.*—We gladly hail the appearance of 
this new monthly, which merits a wide circulation among farmers, gai- 
deners, and horticulturists, as well as insane to whom it promises 
each month to bring new facts regarding the habits of our insects. he 
have no doubt of its entire success. The ears of insects is a p 
subject of the highest importance to a people whose main dependence is 
on the soil. 

The Editors, in thelr salutatory, insist on the importance for agricul 
turist, of a good practical knowledge of insects. They state, pe we 

a 


covering the cost of the paper which he used and the time spent m 
ing the proofs, but the State never created the office of State 
gist, though more money has been, perhaps, appropriated ; for entomolog- 
ical purposes by this State (the third edition of Harris wor 


ports, like that of Dr. Harris, have been a credit to the author, 
to the State, and a valuable TERA to American science. i 
a has had for several years a State Entomologist, Dr- J.P. 
se work on the Insects Fas A pas to the Apple-tree was ae te of 
fee published at the State expense. Within two years the sg 
R. P. Studley & Con 1 : 














*T rican Entomologist, Vol. I, No.1. Pub yap monthly by Walsh and 
Olive street, St. Louis, Mo. One dollar per annum in Editors: B. D. excellent 006 
v. Rile ey. 8vo, double columns, pp. 20, with original iustrations « sa n ee gis 

tural Societ 

tMr. Walsh si states, that “ata recent public meeting of the New rk Agel f Dr pr- Puan 
Senator A. B. Dickinson gave it as his oe opinton, that the ews a dollars 

. Saved annually to the single it of New Yor a inst tls this most r 
far as appears from record, not a single oan voice was raised =e ie 


markable assertion,” 








NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 437 






Ilinois a ppointed Mr. Walsh Acting State Entomologist, and that gen- 

_ tleman has published his first report on the Injurious Insects of Illi- 

nois, cane facte of great value to the farmers and gardeners of 

the West. Mr. y has been appointed State A ris of Mis- 
o 


S. p 

ginning to realize that the results of the labors of scientific men, freely 
given for the good of pas country, deserve, and should receive, some 
remuneration. A pittance given from the public treasury to aid in the 
researches of the sinus the chemist, or the physicist, we venture to 
Say, will prove, sooner or later, a safe investment. 

Our readers will find the present number of Si leyers Entomolo- 
gist” a very readable one, and we advise them to send for r. Walsh 
believes that the Seventeen-year Locust never stings, in ra opinion 
We concur, but he farther suggests that the severe sting said to be made 

_ by this, to > man, harmless insect, is made by the great Stizus, a burrowing 





t 
Eri 
Na 


ERUN E 


louse on the Osag a 
Worm of the ‘cag ae Fire-flies, etc., etc., and Answers to 
_ Correspondents closes this promising number. 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





BOTANY. 
Sect FERTILIZATION. — A plant has just blossomed in the Cambridge 
Otanical Garden, which shows so plainly a design to age cross-fertili- 
_ Aton, that a brief account of it cannot fail to be interestin 


shag a Posoqueria—one of the immense natural order of “Rubiaceæ; a 
probably of Central or South America: the particular EnA 





438 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 






long, apog by a five-parted border less than two inches across, The a 
tube is slender, and around its mouth is a finely-cut fringe of the same — 


upper part, or limb, or border, was about egg-shaped and bent somewhat 
downwards. After expansion, the anthers are seen cohering in a mass, 
nearly opposite the mouth of the tube. The five filaments which a 


thus leaving it open. ‘The filaments are very elastic, or, better perhaps, 
have a strongly contractile tissue on their inner surface, or an expansive Í 
one on the outer. The flower is very sweet-scented, and has honey at i 
the bottom. enee it pa so far away that no insect but such as has ee 


a 
The explosion is caused by the elasticity of the filaments above described, r 
and the object is plainly to deposit the pollen on the breast of the insect, a 
that it may be conveyed to other flowers. In the pR ne o 
; h 


> 


ra 


CEA 


which greets him, can now no longer continue his feast, but goes "a 
with his breast epee to another flower, on whose stigma some W 
the prm is deposit tsa 
now we are i y a difficulty. We do not know if there or 
nie whose stigma projects outside of it. We do know that re as a: 
the tube. re some of the pollen is on his sucker and may thus be . 
rne to the stigma. 
are 
It is well known that this family of plants has many species e q 
dimorphous, as we call them; some flowers having long stamen eh 
8 e 


— 
© 
x 
gS 
DR 
Ss 
S, 
z 
g 
= 
i 
zu 
_ 
F 
S 
® 
So 
=} 
D 
O 
= 
— 
S 
ri 
B 
© 
et 
= 
O 
$ 
6 
- ` 3S . = a 
l 





of our plant there may be others with long styles. If, however, 
is always so short, we may still believe that a portion of the ey tos 
it seems to need but little) is conveyed by the sucker of the mo 














nr 
no insect could eh its proboscis down the tube. So, after a time, the 
d bends mates HOR to its original position, leaviiig 
free access to i ever after 
= We have an account of a saline aia flower looks, in every particular, 
like ours, and whose action is the same, except that the separation of the 
_ anthers was not produced by pressure on their tips, but by the irritation 
of the filaments near them. 
In the twenty-fourth volume of the Botanische Zeitung, for the year 
1866, on pages 129 and fo ollowing, is a narration, by Fritz Müller, 8f numer- 
ous and varied experiments made by him on a plant, which he calls Mar- 
_ tha fragrans, found on the island Santa Catarina, near the Brazilian coast, 


Er 









= 
a 
4 
= 
=a 
Q 
i=] 
= 
om 
Fi 
° 
= 
td 
is) 
+ 
= 
er: 
®© 
= 
Q 
Er 
ad 
®© 
A 
c 
= 
© 
= 
© 
ool 
i=] 
z 
© 
H 
O 
= 
e 
4 
D 
is 
Ss 
4 
& 
© 
= 


drawn to r. Miiller’s cialis and, even then, by a liiechdsrsending 
in Teading Bue in which I am not proficient, I mistook the precise 
Spot where, acco rding to him, the sensitiveness resides. I tickled faith- 
fully, however, the filaments towards their base, without any satisfactory 
‘Tesult, 


3 Mr. Miiller gives his views briefly thus: A moth, on thrusting its pro- 
to the tube of the flower, will very surely touch one of the fila- 


5 
convey some of the pollen to its stigma e, as it seems, 
did not know whether or not there are flowers with a projecting stigma. 
account and explanation are not quite satisfactory. It dif- 


small insects h omid never convey the pollen to the stigma, 


= 
Eg 
E 
B 
Bs 
oO 
ct 
z 
Ti 
—_ 
mn 
p 
= 
n 
° 
5 
B 
© 
et 
ma 
oO 
ba} 
o 
2. 
© 
Q 
et 
p: 
© 
5 
e+ 
3 
y 
3 
mn 
A 
— 
Oo 
®© 


made $ swayed very much to one side. According to the experiments 
ce here, the moth—a swift-flying heavy insect—comes to the flower 





440 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 
















with momentum more than sufficient to cause the discharge of ‘he pollen 

upon himself. In the other view, the influence, whatever it may be, must 

be conveyed along the filament to the anther; and, how it produces its- 

effect there is equally mysterious. Mr. Müller did not ascertain by what 
the anther 


case of Mr. Miiller’s plants, and that it was by the merest accident that he 
did not discover it. 
These remarks, it is hoped, will serve to direct attention to the plant in 
future. It is quite likely it may exist in other gardens in this country, 
and, if not, there can hardly fail to be,specimens of it in European con- 
servatories.— CHARLES WRIGHT. i 
NT, so called, is a singular bulb cultivated for the 

disoei habit of its long sheathing leaves tapering to a narrow point. It 
is the Ornithogalum alliaceum of t e gardens, and employed to rate 
pedestals in artistical collections of plants; the bulb is of a lively gre% 
color and grows upon the surface of the earth, sustained in an 

onl A 


is the S 
years careful cultivation, suddenly threw up a tall green stem supp? 
humerous small white flowers, the petals of which are completely Te 
ere or bent iaka ia; the flowers in little clusters. It was Dr 
to Salem from some part of eto and has been cultivated by F: Pah 
in ia conservatory on Crombie street. 

Some large fine looking bulbs i PNA Illyricum? have aer 
ally distributed by sale, at an extraordinarily low price per bulb. na 
a native of the South of France and Spain; the flowers are white, 
some, and very fragrant.—J. L. R., Salem. ing 

THE SMALLEST FLOWERING-PLANT KNOWN.— Two weeks ago, Te ps 
from the Catskill Mountain House, I saw by the eye! a mile hastilf 
_ of Catskill Village, a pool completely covered with WoL red the 

seized a newspaper (the only means of conveyance at ha cove 
sides with the minute grains, and keeping the paper wet, angele bloom, 
it in my aquarium. This day (August ot os find it os in 
the little white points dotting my aquari This i flower 
being the first found in flower in this earen oat this, pes smallest 
ing-plant known. L ana minot, 

. S.— At the same se are in rep in my aquarium, ge 
L. perpusilla, and L. minor var. purpurea, whose flowers differ 8° 
from L. minor, that Mr. Leggett, who wise me these, will propose it 9 
distinct species, oT. F. ALLEN, M. D., New York. 


Hill 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 441 













PLANERA AQUATICA, THE PLANER-TREE.— Botanists of the South and 
South-west would confer a favor and benefit, abai would send to Pro- 


u 

maces, for e D sanean Prodromus, Ks tir needs specimens at an 
early date.— A. Gra 

Viola RoTUNDIYOLIA. — This plant was found in bloom April 28, in the 
vicinity of New Bedford, growing in mossy hummocks, in a rather dry, 
open place. The plant must be rare near the coast in this latitude, as it 
is not given in any of the local catalogues (Bigelow, Irving, Olney, Hitch- 
‘eck, ete.) as occurring so near it.—H. W. 





ZOOLOGY. 
G THE COTALPA LANIGERA.— Up to the time of itik the ar- 
tse on page 186 of the NATURALIST, we had not succeeded in getting the 


drug-store, Keyport, whither they were attracted by the 
Profusion of light, four Cotalpas, representing both sexes. These were 


re as 
with a glass of wide field but low power. Fourteen eggs 
Were found; not laid (as we expected) in one spot, or group, but singly, 
and at on ke s. I was staan oer at their great size. 


: dim 
Ses length, and about = of an inch in thickness. It was a dull white, 
m bee, precisely that dull yellow seen in the adult grub, the legs in 
“olor, and the extremity of t he abdomen, le: ad-color, the skin being 
am 


3 we sod was Temoved, and it was found that the grubs had eaten into it, 
ss making little ov al chambers, which were enlarged as the eating went 
a M. They were carefully picked out, and a fresh sod of clover and grass 

They had now grown $ of an inch in length, preserving the 


It is quite possible m a ai of the al escaped me in the search. I 
“MER. NATURALIST, 


. 





442 ` NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 









am of opinion, however, that from fifteen to twenty is the average 

ber laid by one beetle; a number so small, that reckoning the ord 

casualties to which this not very active insect is exposed, it is not likely 
v I 


© 
mí 
e 
© 
> 
& 
ir) 
© 
B 
oO 
< 
© 
r3 
te 
Dg: 
bax] 
5 
= 
a 
D 
ay 
> 
© 
et 
zA 
fa) 
==} 
gg 
Lec} 
= 
te] 
E 
et 
f=] 
= 
Da 
et 
nm 


It must be remembered that a cb portion of this time was rem: i 
ae and wet. It is almost certain that, with emiir thermal ey 
tions, this might be lessened fully seven days. 
These brief notes, added to the article on page 186, may be regarded 
giving a degree of completeness to the history of the piao Beetle, 
as it is thus pursued from the egg to the imago. — S. LOCKW 
THE SEVENTEEN-YEAR CIC —Seeing in the July ie of ae 


from eleven different varieties of trees in ae s females have depos-+ 
the kind of tape made u use of as a nan of D eggs. These rt 

r Pa. snake 
trees and bushes might be much increased. The female, in dopi gs 
eggs, seems to prefer well-matured wood, rejecting: the growing 


of this year, and using last year’s wood, and ea that of 
eae as some of thie ma enclosed will show. rcha 


@ 
= 
wa 
=a 
g 
< 
oO 
=a 
E 
= 
= 
© 
en 
= 
© 


establishing the  Tegularity of their periodical appearance. 
KıTE, West Town, Chester Co unty, Pa. 
Museum mare — Every naturalist dreads the presence of we 
logical rogues whose portraits are here exhibited. The ugly, 
sidious larva, which so aiy hides in the body of the dri test pre- 
stuffed specimen it consumes, can be kept out only prae ph i 
auti The most injurious Haw is the Larder-bee 


© 
5 









y NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 443 


turbed, seeks a shelter or mimics death. Its larva is covered with hairs, 
ending in a pencil of them. The Attagenus pellio is a smaller 


iiinis musæorum (Fig. 1; a, larva; 6, pupa; neh enlarged) is a 


is short and thick, with iong Lie 
ise pease are largest and thickest at 
e end 





TURALIST, Of which 









he 

so 

logical specimens recently prepared should be place ed in quara 
museum pests will be introduced into the 








Surface beneath. Specimens thoroughly impreg 
arsenic, or corrosive aren: will not be attacked by them. 





GEOLOGY. 
Man.—In regard to the alleged discovery of human 
in the coral formation of Florida (see NATURALIST, Vol. Il, p: 886), 
Which was first published by Professor Agassiz in Nott & Gliddon’s 
“Types of M ema” (eighth edition, p. a8 and has appeared in other 


Water sandstone on the shore of Lake Monroe, associate i 
i -water Shells of species still living in the lake (Paludina, Amp 4 

tte.). No date can be assigned to the formation of that deposit, a 
from present observation.” 
















PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF Scrence.—¥. Tt 
RAL History SECTION. Chicago, IU., August 5-12, 1868. In his paper 
th 


it was, at least, thirty-eight feet thick, and extends over a surface Bi 
one hundred and forty-four acres, and is found in some places above) 
present sea-level. The salt was remarkably pure and free from 
though the latter occurred fifteen miles distant. 

In describing the geology of the delta, the author thought its prog 
seaward was not so much due to a deposit of sediment as to the up 
of the bottom of the Gulf. 

Professor W. P. BLAKE, of California, read an abstract of a paper “Upon 
the Gradual Desiccation of the Surface of the Western North 
America.” He called attention to some of the principal facts, leaving 


r 
tains, the Truckee, Humboldt, and Carson Lakes, give unequivocal 
s 


are horizontal, and show that there has not been any local elevation 
disturbance. Nor is it probable that any continental elevat 


of the glacial period in this region has not received 






* 
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 445 
















re was an intimate relation between the features described by General 
and the phenomena now to be noticed. Bowlders are found 500 
from their native rocks. The valleys of the rivers were excavated 


100 to 150 feet below the present level of the streams. At Louis- 
ville there was an apparent exception, as there were rock bottoms in the 
fiver, but the city occupies the site of the ancient river-bed. Sometimes 
‘there are two bluff formations of different ages. All this clearly indicates 
tat formerly the country was more perfectly drained, that is, that the 
continent was more elevated. When these valleys were excavated, the 
inage was free to the ocean, similar to the condition in California; and 
the rivers, by a great erosion, wore away the hard rocks. The origin 
' the Hudson Rivers was evidently glacial. The ancient 

| of the ag on the Pacific Coast were far below their present level, 
showing great land elevation. It is not certain that the continental ele- 
Nation was sufficient to afford a temperature essential to the formation of 
e glaciers, — were afterwards melted and left the material of the 


n. 
his paper “On the Geological Age and Equivalents of the Marshall 
Professor A. Winchell stated that this term was employed as a 


beds,” in Indiana, ‘‘ Kinderhook — in Ilinois, “Yellow 

” in Iowa, and “Chontean Limestone” series, in Missouri. It 
a was the object - of the paper to prove, first, that these local groups are 
togically equivalent; second, that they are the western representa- 

Sof the Catskill group, of New York. As accessory considerations 


see 
i the Eastern Catskill group, and thus establish their contemporaneous 
- The subject was discussed in two papers: I i Maipapan Con- 
; IL. Paleontological Considerations 
r WHITNEY, State pec of California, exhibited the human 
Said to have Been obtained at the depth of 130 feet below the sur- 
in Calaveras county, Ouida a read a long paper on the subject 
fresh- water tertiary, and the later detrital and volcanic formation 
wis State. He gave a minutely detailed account of the circu 


that he had visited the locality several times, and had 
‘RO reason to doubt the good faith of the aaa testifying 




















446 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 




















genuineness of the discovery. The bottom of the shaft, however, he 
been unable to examine, owing to the presence of pipa which could 
be oai without considerable ‘expense. This will be done ata 


aak to arrive in time to be hR at this meeting, but which 
been delayed by some accident. The evidence in regard to the au 

ticity of the skull was ‘aia before the Association, in order that every 
might judge for himself as to its fulness and reliability. An anatomical 
description of the skull, and the bones found associated with it, by Pro- 
fessor J. Wyman, was incorporated in this paper, from which it appeared 
that it was very cena related in its character t that of the craniaof — 


his hands by gentlemen known to himself as men of veracity, an and that his — 


parison of the condition of the skull, as it appeared when it came into his 
hand, with the statements of Messrs. Matteson & Scribner as to the local- 
ity in which it was found. anything 
Professor Whitney insisted most strongly that, apart from jemon: 
connected with this skull, the labors of the Survey had clearly l 
strated the fact, that man, and the mastodon, and elephant, had been: 


The portion of Professor Whitney’s paper relating to the $ skull, 
followed by an abstract of the discoveries of the Geological 
California, relating to the animals and plants found in the fresh-water 
tertiary of that State, and the probable geological age of thè —< 
members of this formation, with especial reference to that of the 





*Mr S H Senda hig se Piha Daat of the 
attention wis tion, ae to the Museum oe 











conne 

kod accompanied sch a label of which we made the following copy: 
Skull. From a shaft i ‘in Table Mountain, California, found 180 we? below. oe 
gold drift, jeer rlying strata 
compactness. and a Found, July, 1857. From pi F. wea D. 
ber 10, 185 57.” En 
a Hon. Paul K. Hubbs, State Supt. of Public Instruction, Benicia, Califo 

inslow, August, 1857. ” proad, 

and pe — as. 











5 littl an inch _ , 


and evidently i f f the tal 


+ be LUULI V 





























CORRESPONDENCE. 447 


which the skull is supposed to have been discovered. Of this portion of 
his paper, Professor Whitney promises an abstract in time for the next 
‘number of the NATURALIST. 


THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE began its August meeting at 
ampton, Mass., on the 25th, and aet in session four days; 
twenty-five Wishibers being present. We extract from the daily press a 


and of Experiment upon the viajes of As raion A and papers * On 
03d Meridi 
man Skull is pais! County, California,” 
oun 


Pourtales read a paper on ‘Deep-sea Dredging in the Gulf 
»’ and Mr. W. M. Gabb one on the “Cretaceous and Tertiary For- 
‘mations in California.” 

_ Professor W. H. Brewer made a communication “On the Distribution 
of Fresh i... west of ae Rocky Mountains ;” and Professor O. C. 


Professor G. N. Brush read a paper on “A New Borate from Mine Hill, 
Sussex County, N. J.;” and Professor J. S. Newberry papers on ‘The 
‘Transportation. of the "Material of the Carboniferous aaka, and 

The Circle of Deposition in SD Rocks;” and Professor J. P. 
Lesley read a paper on ‘‘ Lake Formatio 


Oe 


ANSWERS TO COnRESEDNDENTS. 


—The small insects you send belong to an unknown species of 
are minate, wingless eed deye with spines at 
of 


i Puoh immense quantities k they 
“spring” almost entirely 









3. H., pid tly ac- 
phia.— Your article was received and prom 

, but the rome’ was returned, not having been called for. We 
the article and illustrate i Many thanks. 












hton, Ma. will answer pin about the House- 
oming aie on the m io hei Nustrated. Flies do not 
ninad h to the pupa state i aA of a little hich ter 


ng to edif ere 
> e Sey rl a ot known to ag i 
insert its beak sock Me held between 
gs,” or homipterous insects (such as the bed-b ug) are known 






S., Homestead, z t risk naming the fish from your ur deserip- 
Can you not roo es dare not ordered the book for you from London. 








448 BOOKS RECEIVED. 

















J. W. S., Cromwell, Conn.— The insect you send is the Ploiaria brevipennis of 
remarkable hemipterous insect, common in the Middle States, but not frequent in ew 
Engla 


0. K. ey Pomonkey, Md.— Wen heard of a Dragon-fly depositing its eggs on its 
breast. The Libellulide æ are very full Hci ti in aes rec es de of the Neu- 


in Ge postscript wit itho uta specimen n before us. 
; London, Canada. — The insect which tates Say, deposits its eggs in the m 
aay diens, $ the canthus niveus, or ee -cri 
C. C. C., Lookout Mountain, Tenn. — one moig in the Southern States will do- 
us a great favor by sending specimens of fired » and insects of all sorts. We want 
very much inpoete cele to the aga Bic especially the caterpillar, ¢ 
and moth of the army-w Will wr NOOA length. 
W.C. F., Sandwich, Mass. — Trel insects came safel . The large beetle'is probably the 3 
Pasimachus obsole tus of Le Cont 





: > C., Fall sig — The ikat i is D polymorpha L. 

Fond du Lac, Wis. — The m you sent was the larva of a fly, Se sat 
we ‘chai have ees ih 0 Say ‘about iti ER a a ee number of the NATURALIST. 
small ‘ white cng il ign pour os thick in the flower-pots are, probably, “ Spring- 
tails.” We know jumping- 


A. P., Hudson, So io.— You ales iS. able to peg oe of the Cynthia Silk-worm 
from Mr. W. AS aon 264 Third Avenue, New York city. 
L. W. B.— a solution of two parts of car “oa acid to one hundred of wa 
Polpa ptet tAd with it. You must proceed carefully so as not to injure the : 
ouse plant "a 
S. B., Garrettsville, Ohio.— The shell-like objects you sent are the cases mape e a 
grains of sand by the larva of a gop vig We will give a eae account 
ee after. Try to obtain the la rake not known. 
J.B., Hi Poat Mass. — The i sen nt belong to a special a Psocus, which lives 
on the bark of trees, often eating Daat they often occur in great numbers. y 
- N. O., New York.— The glass sides of the case, containing the insect you enoii 
broke, and the specimen was paora lost. The best way to send EE aste 
largest insects is to cut or punch a hole through a strip of cork, and then tie on at eet ei 
board coyer saws = holes. In this way the insect will travel safely, and w 





Antecus, à 
nant R. I.—The insects are the male and female of Strategus. 
arge ates mn beetle. 





M. C. R., Hudson, 0.—Th fely. Please try to raise the worms yont: 
self also. : 
W. H. L., Clyde, N. ag osha is the Bartrak the wild 
eM, lle ii —The sample of ibe sponi puai Ress found ne rerpillat 
Azalia, was mislaid fea some ways and we do not remember seeing it. “Tule oon 
found on the Jommon Creeper, Ampelopsis quinquefolia, s ‘the larva wees woth th the sur 
The fact that just before turning to a pupa, i urie contended — 
face of Be ground, is new and exceedingly anre ng TH S, y we hayo e iong Sia the trop ! 


lated to Castnia, which bores in the stem of plants 
ics, and is not allied to Notodonta, one of the Silk-worm family. 





BOOKS RECEIVED. 


ag a reap oat AA o , 7 ? i} 


erly Jou SOG e. July. London. 
Cosmos. June 13, 20,2 27, August 1, 8. ce 
The Field. Sune 37; July 4,18: į Angust 1, 8 don. 
American Bee Journal. “hu uly, August, mie r. ORV ashington. ' 
3 y iA 


American Cervus. Hion Sonn D. a, I1., 1868. 8v0, pp. #8: Ih ei 
e Percheron Horie, translated from igri a oF Charles du Huys. New ? 
. 100, illustrated. A ; 
The Past and Future of our Plta: By Wiliam Denton. Boston, 1868. E I, Nos. 
: ge enais of TON and Natural History. Edited by Andrew Murray. 
uani * 
Transactions of the American Entomological Society. Vol. IL, No. p sorb i968. 
wa the Red Sandstone of Vermont. By Rev. J. B. Perry. 








© AMERICAN NATURALIST. 


COAT ORI ODD I~ 





ON THE FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS OF THE ST. 
JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 


BY JEFFRIES WYMAN, M. D. 








[Concluded from page 403.] 
Il. ARTICLES TAKEN FROM THE SHELL-HEAPS, SHOWING 
HUMAN AGENCY. © 
Pottery. In the old world no traces of pottery have been 
found associated with the earliest flint-implements, and it is 
therefore concluded that the men who wrought these were 
ignorant of it. When the European first came to America, 
some of the tribes were found to be destitute of this art. The 
Patagonians had no earthen vessels either for cooking or 
olding water. Instead of such the Esquimaux used wooden 
bowls, and the natives of the North-west Coast, Oregon and 
lifornia, water-tight baskets, substituting heated stones for 
the direct action of fire. But with few exceptions pottery, 
4S an art, was practised by a large majority of the tribes. 
If, as daily experience tends to show, man, when first in- 
duced upon the surface of the earth, was at best a pure 
‘Savage without experience, it follows as a natural conse- 
Mence that there must have been a longer or shorter time 
“Aen instruments were unknown to him. We have no ade- 
Tre grounds for any other belief, than that his knowledge 
ee O OO 
























La 





‘ Entereq i H OF i 
Sereno’ according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF, 
CE, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
57 


AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II 


450 FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS 


and his inventions have been progressively developed, and _ 
analogy, as we think, legitimately suggests that the most — 
simple inventions are signs of actual progress, and point — 
back to an earlier state out of which he has emerged. The 
discovery of the oldest of man’s works, either iu the form 
of worked flints, earthen vessels, and of fire-hearths, do not 
carry us back to his beginning; if we would attain toa — 
knowledge of this, it must be sought for in the remains of 
his own body, older than all his works. 

We have as yet no data for determining the time or the 7 
order of his inventions. But of all his works thus far dis i 
covered, flint-implements are the most ancient, and earthen 

_ vessels the next. The invention of fire and cookery appears 
to have preceded that of pottery, the proof of the existence 
of the former being the oldest. The determination of how, 
and the period when, fire was first made available as an 
agent, would be one of the most important contributions 
the history of the early progress of the human mind. oe 

The shell-heaps on the St. Johns River, like those from 

the other parts of the United States, show that those who 
inhabited them were not, strictly speaking, primitive men. — 
They had already made some progress in the useful arts, and 
however rude their instruments, these were nevertheless m- 
ventions, and such, too, as could only have been the result of 
experience extending through considerable periods of time. 
They not only used worked stone, bone and shell, but their 
pottery had passed out of the first and rudest stage into that 
of comely forms with outward ornament, and, as the table 
on the opposite page shows, exhibits some little variety ™ 
the composition of the materials. : 
- For the purposes of comparison we have included in the 
enumeration, articles obtained from St. Johns Bluff, bee 
the shell-heap is made up of salt-water species. The table 
shows that more than three-fourths, eighty per cent., of : 
the pieces were made of clay without the admixture of anys 

" other substance, and that when another substance was adde® 








OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 451 






it was most commonly palmetto fibre. The use of sand was 
almost exclusively confined to St. Johns Bluff, where, too, is 
found the most highly ornamented work, characterized by 
the most complex figures. The only pieces marked with the 
impression of a cord were also,found at the same place. This 
kind of ornament was extensively used over the United 
States, as we have specimens from Illinois and Massachu- 
setts, and has also been observed on the pots from tumuli 
belonging to the Pre-Roman period of Great Britain.* We 
have seen no evidence that, as has been frequently asserted, 
these markings indicate that the pots had been formed in nets. 
Although the meshes are often regular, there are no signs of 
knots at the point of crossing of the threads, which there 
certainly would have been if pets had been used. Traced 
_ pottery was confined almost wholly to Old Enterprise, the 
4 figures being made with a point, and consisting of combina- 
= tions of straight lines. These were sometimes combined 
with indentations. We saw no specimens of pottery made 
in baskets, though frequently told that such are found. The 
absence of pounded shells, as one of the ingredients of their 
pottery, is worthy of notice, especially as shells were in 
daily use among the natives of the St. Johns. 
O OO ; 





oa 


eS 


AS 
Lit: 
PS 































































MATERIALS. SURFACE. 

Z| Be | rae ae ae 
> pepe 34 jaj 4 | | =| 5 i#s5 
> be Pap & S 38 | E5 EPa 

> | es| ee) a | 2 (23) 3 ls 
5 to TIe eS ee Se 

Ha . i wel or ol 87 21 or ore 
Burial Mound do., $615.99 BE Sep N 
Watson’s Landing, ëi ol 161 671 0- 10| OF On 
Black Hammock, . aol 0 | ofui 0} 65| 0f 0 
Oig Enterprise; 93} 2| 92| 64/50) 3|- 0| 0 
Eae 196] 0| 18 60] 1] 78} 0f 2 
St. Johns Bluff, í atl 98 | Ok 14| 1] 16} 18'| 12 
Total number of pieces, |592| 30 | 122|387| 55 |272| 18 | 12 
































The plain-stamped pottery was universally distributed, but 
Was most abundant at Lake Harney and Black Hammock, 
ee 


*Sir John Lubbock. Prehistoric Times. London, 1865, p. 113. 


452 FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS 


and is characterized by square, oblong, or lozenge-shaped ` 
impressions, regularly arranged, the stamp being of sufi- 
cient size to make a largé number of them at once, but very 
often the figures are confused in consequence of the instru- 
ment having been applied twice to the same region. In one 
case the apex of the spine of a Paludina had been used as a 
stamp. The complex figures on the pieces from St. Johns 
Bluff, consist of combinations of square, with more or less 
rounded or curved impressions, giving the whole surface an 
intricate series of markings, but which we were unable in 
any specimen found, to reduce to a definite plan. They, 
however, resemble in their general style the pottery de- 
scribed by Schoolcraft* as coming from the sea-coast, and 
remind one of Mexican forms, 

The size of the vessels, as indicated by the curvature of 
the fragments, varied from between two and three to twelve 
inches. The more common kinds appear to have been either 
shallow like a common pudding-dish, or deep enough to be 
used as seething-pots, and both are figured in the illustra- 
tions to the Brevis Narratio of Le Moyne.t 

Fig. 1, Pl. 10 (natural size), represents a rude attempt at 
ornament, consisting of two irregular parallel spiral lines 
starting from the same poiht. From Old Enterprise. 

Fig. 2, Pl. 10 (natural size), also from Old Enterpn®. 
In this, as was not unfrequently the case at the locality 
mentioned, straight lines are combined with indentations 
made with a round point. : 

Fig. 3, Pl. 10 (natural size), represents one of the nif 
stances of complex figures from St. Johns Bluff. This wa 
made either by one large complicated stamp, OT by as 
of different stamps, since none of the details are exactly Te 
peated. ; 

Articles of Shell and Bone. The natives of the upper a iy 


. 


tions of the river were in constant communication wi 





*North American Indians, Vol. III, Pl. XLV. 


5. 
tDe Bry, Hist. Amer. Francforte ad Mæœnam. Pars. 2da, pP- 4 and 


eres 








OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 458 


` coast, and, as might be expected, carried marine shells into 
the interior, some of which were converted into useful arti- 
eles, especially Strombus gigas, Pyrula carica, and P. per- 
: versa, the last acquiring a length of from twelve to fourteen 


inches. 





s 
Fig. 4, Pl. 10 (half natural size), one of the most common 
_ instruments, is made of a triangular piece cut from P. carica, 
80 as to comprise a portion of the rostrum, serving as a handle, 
and a portion of the swollen part of the body, which is the 
useful part of the tool. The sides and apex are smoothed and 
rounded, while the base is regularly curved and ground to an 
edge like that of a gouge, but with the bevel on the inside. 
| A specimen presented to me by Dr. H. P. Bowditch, and 
which he obtained at Old Enterprise, shows quite clearly that 
: it was detached from the shell by first cutting a groove, and 
. then breaking off the fragment. Length from 80 to 90 m. m., 
-breadth from 60 to 70 m. m. 

Fig. 5, Pl. 10 (half natural size), represents a species of 
Pyrula, with thick and heavy walls; the lip and nearly the 
whole of the rostrum are ground off, and a somewhat irregu- 
lar oval hole with rounded edges is made between the first 
_ ind second row of tubercles, and quite near to the mouth. 
Though such an instrument would give resonance to the voice, 
the position of the hole is not such as to adapt it most favora- 
bly to be used as ahorn. It may, nevertheless, be the instru- 
ment which Bartram states was still in use when he visited 
the St. Johns, and with which, he says, “on one and the same 
day, early in the morning, the whole town is summoned by 
Sound of a conch-shell, from the mouth of the overseer, 
to meet in the public square,” for the purpose of entering 
"pon the work of cultivating the soil.* : 
Fig. 6, Pl. 10 (natural size), is a portion of the rostrum of 
; yrtla, 60 m. m. in length, the two ends of which have been 
obliquely ground. re < 


*Travels in Florida. Philadelphia, 1791, p- 512- 









454 .. FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS 


into which a hole has been drilled at each end. This was 
found at Horse Landing, midway between the top and base — 
of the shell-heap, and was the only object found actually — 
within the shell-heap, which was clearly the work pig.. 
of the human hand. Nearly similar forms are 
figured in the plates of the Brevis Narratio, as 
forming a part of the necklace worn by the na- 
tives.* 

Fig. 8, front view; fig. 9, side view (natural 
size), represents an instrument made of shell, | 
which, from the exterior markings seen in some, | 
and the thick ridge on the inside in nearly all, \ 

logs appears to have been — 
TA cut from the borders 
| of the mouth of Strom- 
I bus gigas. Several of 
(| these were found, but all more 
eg or less broken. When whole 
the length was about 150 m. m., — 
breadth from 50 to 60, and the — 
thickness 25 to 30 m. m. The 
broad end is ground to a blunt 
edge like that seen in most of : 
j the stone chisels from the other : 
States, and the other as ground to a blunt point. The 1e 
strument closely resembles the shell-adze used by the Kings- 
mill islanders; specimens of which, with their handles at- 
tached, can be seen in the Smithsonian collections. One of 
the specimens has been twice perforated by a Lithodomus, 
and thus so far weakened as to lead to fracture. These pe- 
forations were undoubtedly made before the instrument Was 
wrought. Its outer surface is largely bored by worms: i 

A large specimen of Pyrula perversa, from which te 
— interior whorls had Deen broken out, was found at T 
Spring. Such as this were used as drinking horns, 2 — 

















* Plates XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX. 





E 


ee 





Horse Landing. 


OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 455 


are mentioned by Le Moyne, though his figures, drawn from 
memory, as might be expected, do not agree with this or 
any other species. 

Besides the implements of bone already mentioned, a por- 


: tion of the radius of a bear, which had been divided by cut- 


ting a groove around the outside and breaking the rest, was 


= found at Old Town; and Mr. Bowditch gave me the antler 
of a deer which had been similarly treated, and which he 


found at Enterprise. : 

Articles of Stone. The collection of stone implements was 
quite small, only twenty-five or thirty pieces, nearly all of 
which were picked up on the shores near Old Enterprise, 
only a few being actually dug from the mounds. A single 


* chisel of the ordinary form, and with a remarkably sharp 


edge, was found at Old Town, but all the other articles were 
either arrow or spear-points, and none of them had unusual 
pes. No pipes or fragments of them were found at any 


Fig. 10, Pl. 10 (half natural size), represents the rude at- 
tempt at an arrow-head, mentioned on p. 403, and found by 
Mr. Peabody under the lowest portion of the shell-heap at 


We will add to the above two pieces of worked shell, both 


of which were, however, taken from the burial-mound at 


Black Hammock, near the shell-heap, but were undoubtedly 


M common use among the natives. 


Fig. 11, Pl. 10 (natural size), is an ornament cut from that 


| Portion of a Pyrula, namely, the suture, where one whorl 


Joms the preceding, and is bent to nearly a right angle; the 


length of the upright portion is 45 m. m., and the disk at the 


ttom Measures 31 by 24 m. m. i 
Fig. 12, Pl. 10 (natural size), a disk of shell, 18 m. m. in 


ameter, and 5 m, m, thick, with a hole drilled through the 


“entre. A similar one is figured by Schoolcraft. * 
_Hemains of Animals. The subjoined table gives a com- 





*Notes on the Iroquois. Albany, 1847, p. 243. 


456 FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS 


plete list of the different kinds of animals, indicated by the 
bones found in the different mounds. The species most com- 
monly met with are the Deer (Cervus Virginianus), the Ter- 
rapin (Emys Floridana) , Soft-shelled Turtle ( Trionyx ferox) 
and the Alligator (Alligator Mississippiensis). The condi- 
. tion of the bones in many instances, particularly those from 
Old Enterprise and Horse Landing, indicated that they had 
been long buried, inasmuch as they had lost nearly all their 
organic matter, and when exposed to heat scarcely changed 
their color. In many instances they were incrustéd with a 
deposit of lime, and had the shells in which they were em- 
bedded cemented to them. The bones of birds are quite rare, 
even those of the wild turkey and of the various species of 
ducks, which in the winter frequent the rivers and lakes in 
immense numbers. Of fishes, the species most commonly 
represented are the gar-pikes (Lepidosteus), and a cat-fish 
(Pimelodus). 

In the illustrations to the Brevis Narratio of LeMoyne, 
Pl. XXIV represents a fire over which is built a frame, and 
on this, exposed to heat and smoke, are several animals, 
among which can be recognized the deer, a small mammal, 
the mouth of which resembles that of the opossum, an alli- 
gator, an eel or a snake, and several species of fish. Several 
Indians are standing near, one fanning the fire, and another 
holds an alligator under his arm. On Pl. XXIII, natives 
are represented carrying food in baskets, one of which con- 
tains a deer, a fish, and an alligator. This is quite too large 
a load for one basket, and too much importance must not 
attached to these plates, since they were drawn from mem- 
ory, but they may be taken as an indication of what the 
kinds of food were. In the text, the writer states that they 
“ate freely of the flesh of the alligator, which is white 42 
clean, and which we should have eaten often had it not been 
too redolent of musk.”* This objection we have found from 


personal experience to be a valid ne. i 


* Ibid., p. 5. 

































OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 457 





* * * | Oldtown. 





M’d above 


Osceola, 


‘SPECIES OF ANIMALS FOUND IN THE SHELL- 
OUNDS 


Lake 
Harney, 
Watson's 
Landing. 
Black 
Hammock, 
Blue 
Spring. 
Horse 
Landing. 








* | Enterprise 


* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 


alee 
Deer, Cervus Virginianus, 
Bear, Usus, 7 x 

| Raccoon, Procyon lotor, . 


a 


* 


* 


sum, Didelphys, . l ‘ . 
rkey, Meleagris gallopavo, . . . z 
rds, not kno 


kd 


Sg 


errapin, Emys Floridana, . $ 
Soft-shelled Turtle, Trionyx feroz, 
ies e not known,. è 
Alligator, Alligator Mississippiensis, ie 
_ | Cattish, Pimelodus, . A : : 
| Gar-pike, Lepidosteus, . 
[Eish not known, . 
oti hahha r 


* 

* 

* 
+. & 4 


* * kd 


* 





























ee ae ee RRT 











— That the animals of the shells which form the materials of 
e the mounds were used as food, there seems to be no reason- 
able doubt. Unios are known to be edible, and, almost ex- 
clusively, form the shell-heaps on the borders of other rivers 
_ & the Ohio,* the Tennessee,t the Concord, etc.{ We are 
hot aware of any evidence that Ampullarias and Paludinas 
d have been so used elsewhere than in Florida, but their asso- 
: ‘ome with pottery, and charcoal, and the bones of edible 
Animals, seems to be decisive. If the inference we have 
om tie be correct, then it follows that the animal food of the 
meent inhabitants of Eastern Florida was very largely de- 
Tyed from these species, and especially the Paludinas, since 
‘a remains of fish, turtles, alligators, and deer, form so 
msignificant a portion of the whole heap. 
M view of the vast number and size of the shell-heaps 
Tow known to be scattered along the Atlantic coast,§ and 
i Vast quantities of shells which compose them, it is quite 
Sear that the aborigines must have depended largely upon 
shell-fish for food. In fact such was obviously the case with 


= early inhabitants of the old world as’ well as new. Of the 
Daa are ae trea taco meses sen a sama T 


* Aty 
$Brinton, gnc osia Americana, Vol. I, p. 226. 
ad Wrinan ithsonian Publications, 1866, p. 356. via 
e Sosa , Proceedings of Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. a ae 
Scribed the , ph Leidy, Proceedings of Academy of Natural Sciences, : eket 
nication in. Shell-heaps at Cape Henlopen, and should have been cited in ou s 
AMER m NATURALIST for December, 1867, but at that time we had not seen 
* NATURALIST, VOL. 1. 58 


458 FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS 


extent to which vegetable substances were made use of, the — 
shell-heaps offer no evidence ; but it seems certain, that until — 
_ the bow and arrow, the trap or the net were invented, the : 
animal food must have of necessity been derived from such — 
species as could most easily be obtained, and among these 
the shell-fish and the more sluggish reptiles would first at- 
tract attention. . 


Ill. AGE. 

No satisfactory data were found for determining the age 
of the shell-heaps. The appearance of great age which some 
of them have, as at Horse Landing and Old Enterprise, is 
important; the same may be said of the fact that the bones — 
embedded in them had lost nearly all their organic matter, 
and at both of these places were incrusted with calcareous — 
deposits, in some instances forming a conglomerate. The 
time required for these last results is not necessarily vey — 
great, but the organic matter of bone is destroyed vety 
slowly, and is largely present in those of some of the extinct 
animals. We have obtained a larger quantity of animal a 
matter from the bones of the Mastodon than from those 0 
the deer at Old Enterprise. 

The most trustworthy records are found in the forest trees 
growing upon the mounds. These give us a minimum age 3 
with some approach to accuracy. The live-oaks (er 
virens) are not only long-lived, attaining an age of many i 
centuries, but their wood is the most durable of all the forest . 
trees of the United States. One of these, which had : ar 
from the effects of age, lies upon the top of a mound in = 
woods near Blue Spring, and measures five feet and s 
inches in diameter. As it was on the summit of the mo" i 
it could not have begun to grow until the mound was pee 
or quite finished ; it may have begun many years me 
had been dead for a long time ; its bark, all of the s™® 
most of the large branches had disappeared. 
. after they are dead still remain erect for many yea! 








OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA, 459 






















of them girdled more than thirty years since, can still be 
- seen standing. firmly in the Indian-old-fields. It certainly 
would not be extravagant to say that the tree in question 
_ had been dead more than half a century. Fragments of pot- 
tery were found in the earth and shells contained in the 
_ upturned roots of this tree, and on sinking a pit in the place 
_ formerly covered by the upright trunk, others were found at 
 adepth of from two to three feet. We had neither the tools 
_ tor the aid for making a section of this trunk to count the 
Number of annual rings. Through the kindness of Commo- 
À dore John Rogers, of the United States Navy, we have re- 
4 ceived a section from a tree nearly a century and a quarter 
old, and find that at the beginning of the second century 
_ there are about fifteen rings to the inch. In later periods of 
the life of the tree they would of course be more numerous. 
_ Assuming fifteen to the inch as the average, a half diameter 
_ of thirty-three inches would give 495 rings, or nearly five 
hundred years; if to this we add fifty years for the time 
since the tree died, there can be no doubt that the mound 
o Was substantially as complete as now more than a century 
before the discovery of the country. 
We know of no data based on the ġuantity of materials 
x which the mounds were formed, on which to estimate the 
‘me required to build them; to this end, it would be neces- 
_ Sty to know the number of persons occupying the place, 
and ‘the daily or annual consumption of food. If, as is the 
_ “Se of mounds built up in the swamps, they were resorted 
to only by those who could find camping conveniences upon 
them, the number must necessarily have been very small. 
The later aborigines had no traditions with regard to these 
; shell-heaps, or the burial-mounds which’ are sometimes near 
: z “m. They ascribed them to a former race. F lorida, ue 
E tas been more than. once overrun by exterior tribes, 
= the absence of traditions might in this way be accounted 
x > Since these would be likely to be lost with the change of 
: thabitants, Under the most favorable circumstances tradi- 








460 FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS 


tions form an uncertain basis for history. If, therefore, on 
the one hand there is no proof of great antiquity, it may still 
be claimed that there is nothing inconsistent with it, and 
that the appearances of the mounds, and facts connected 
with them, largely favor it. 


IV. ST. JOHNS BLUFF. 

It was the special object of this paper to describe only 
fresh-water shell-heaps, but as we have visited two deposits 
consisting of marine species, chiefly oysters, we will add a 
few words with regard to them, especially the above-men- 
tioned locality. The one at Fernandina, on the northerly 
end of Amelia Island, has already been described by Dr. 
Brinton,* who has given the most satisfactory proof of its 
human origin, and of other similar deposits on the Atlantic 
and Gulf coasts of Florida. The result of our own observa- 
tions at Fernandina are confirmatory of what Dr. Brinton 
has recorded, and afford some additional evidence from the 
earthworks thrown up during the rebellion, and the mounds 
over the soldiers’ graves in the rear of Old Fernandina, 
in making both of which, portions of the shell-heaps were 
uncovered, and the contents, similar to those previously 
noticed, exposed. | 

St. Johns Bluff has a twofold interest, for it was not only 
a favorite resort for the Indians, but was the scene of two g 
the most tragic events in the early history of the continent. t 
It is situated on the right bank of the river, and about five 
‘miles from the mouth. Like all the adjoining shores, it R 
composed of a fine yellowish silicious-sand. It is about fory : 
feet high on the front, and at the eastern end rises quite 





* Floridian Peninsula, p. 177. ine with & 

t It was here that the French, under Jean Ribault, in 1564, puilt Fort Caroline r ahs 
view to establish a Huguenot colony, which in less than eighteen ee i gat 
with the purpose of impeding the progress of Protestantism captured, put utherans” 
to the sword, and set up the inscription, “not as to Frenchmen 

niqt 


killing the captives, leaving behind attached to a tree another inse 
Spaniards or mariners, but as to traitors, robbers, and murderers 
Pioneers of France in the New World. Boston, 1865, p. 157. 


















OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 461 


abruptly out of a marsh, and to the westward, 7. e. up the 
tiver, descends at first by a rapid, then a gentle slope, which 
merges into a nearly level plain, backed by the thickly- 
_ wooded hills; beyond this is a marsh, which, still farther to 
_ the westward, is bordered by a creek.* The base of the 
bluff is washed by a swift current at every tide, so that it is 
_ constantly undermined, and is rapidly disappearing. Earth- 
works thrown up on top during the rebellion have already 
begun to fall. I was told by a man living near by that an 
oleander tree, which I saw lying at the water’s edge to the 
_ Westward of the bluff, a few years since was thirty feet from 
the shore in the middle of a garden. 
_ At present the bluff itself must greatly differ from what it 
_ Was when the French came, and it is highly probable that 
More of it has been destroyed than remains. The site of 
; Fort Caroline has not been identified, and has probably disap- 
_ peared. The bluff presents a front of clear sand, is overgrown 
= With trees except where military works were thrown up, 
= d beneath the vegetable mould, a few inches thick, is a 
a yer of oyster shells, with a very slight admixture of sand, 
“tending from two to three hundred feet along the more 
_“asterly portion, and varying in thickness from a few inches 
1 three feet. A second and much thinner layer is seen to 
the Westward, where the land rises only eight or ten feet 
bove the water. It is not improbable that the two deposits 
were originally connected, the intervening portion having 
l washed away. Fragments of pottery which have fallen 
the banks are scattered along the whole shore in front 
these deposits, and on examining fresh sections made by 
falling of the bluff, and also in making excavations m 
'sturbed portions, similar fragments were found in place, 
= So there can be no doubt that the shells and pottery 
oo simultaneously deposited. After careful search no 
__' 8 other implements were found during my visit, either 


ae 










from 









*Mr. p Coes oe 
it an’s description of St. Johns Bluff, in the work already cited, is admira: 
Portrayal of the general landscape as well as the individual details. 


462 FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS, ETC. 


in the bluff itself or along the shore, neither were the bones _ 
of edible animals found mingled with the shells. Flint im- 
plements have, however, been obtained in considerable num- 
bers, and an arrow-head was given me by a negro, who had 
picked it up near by. The various excavations for military 
purposes, revealed the existence of shells several hundred 
feet to the rear of the present front of the bluff, and beyond 
the creek to the westward of the marsh is a farm, where pot 
tery and shells may be seen loosely scattered over a tract of — 
many acres in extent, wherever the plough has turned up the 
soil. l 

The shell-mounds of the sea-coast, as well as of the inte- l 
rior, seem to have passed almost unnoticed by the early 
writers on Florida. Dr. Brinton quotes a single passag® 
the only one met with by him relating to the subject, from 
Cabeza de Vaca, in which it is stated that the houses of the | 
Indians were “built of mats on heaps of oyster shells.” * 


NUMERATION OF THE SHELL-HEAPS VISI 

Besides toe mentioned in the following list, ee are many other 
not visited by the writer, some of which are said to be of even longer di- 
mensions than any seen by him. 

The localities are mentioned in the et in which they sta 
river, beginning with those nearest the sou 

1. Rattlesnake Hammock, on Salt Creek, phi bank, and near 
of the creek and the St. Joh 

2. Solee’s Landing, right ae of Lake Harne 

3. King Phillip’s- ip left bank of the St. Br a mile below the out- 
let of Lake Harney. There is a large burial-mound near this ppe ty. 


nd on the 


the union 


6. A mound one mile- above preceding, on the same side of merki 
7. Black Hammock, left bank, ar above the outlet of 
There is a small burial-mound her 
Two mounds on the pas bank and below the 
separated from the river by a large la k. 
0. Spear’s Landing, sent oy miles a above le Munroe, let 
There is a burial-mound at this s pla 
11. Buzzard’s Roost, left bank, near i entteels to Lake ge 


12. Doctor’s Island, right shore of se rea : 


*Floridian Peninsula, p. 179. 


preceding; bul 











THE POTATO-MOULD. 463 














13. Old venga right shore of Lake Munroe. 
sia Outlet of Lake ee right bank. 
i an 
16. Blue Spring, once bank. 
17 &18. Two mounds in the woods below Blue Spring, with a wide 
Swamp between Sa and the river. A third but small mound was found 


19. Mound above Hawkinsville, left bank rains: and still ought to 
be called Osceola, or, as Dr. Brinton writes the name , Ass-se-he-ho-la, 
SEN Sun, after the celebrated chief who was ERVEN in the Florida 


“2, Mound below preceding, left bank, having the usual appearance of 
the other Shell-heaps, but in which we failed to find signs of its artificial 


F 
E: 
= 
~ 
=] 

= 
D 
es 

k3 

D 

52 


p 2, Rope s Island, ones bank, entrance of Lake Geor 


orge. 
Pow eons Island, now Rembrandt's Island, at the outlet of Lake 
» left ban 
: 29. Horse e Tanding, right bank, eight miles above Palat 

a 8B, ùlatka, left bank, one hundred miles from the Sail ‘of the river. 
L. St. John’s si right bank, five miles from the mouth of the river. 
82. Old and New Fernandina, at the northern end of Amelia Island. 





THE POTATO-MOULD. 


BY JOHN L. RUSSELL. 





7 Mour. ULD and mouldiness are two words with which every 
one j s familiar, but few are aware how numerous and diver- 

_ ‘te the forms under which the little plants these words 
ana occur, and to what extent is the mischief they 


casion, op know much of the utility in the plan of nature 
they Sustain, 








ted > Science of botany as such does not date back very 
in its place and prior to its existence, all vegetable 
Was regarded with a superstitious, and in most cases 
























464 THE POTATO-MOULD. 


with an useless reverence, containing as was supposed some — 
rare power in healing, or some efficacy in incantations and í 
magic. : 
With regard to the moulds, it was Micheli, who in 1729 

published his Nova Plantarum Genera, that established the 
scientific character of the genus Botrytis, on which sine, — 
from certain structural differences in the mode of producing 
the seed, other genera or distinct kinds of mould have been — 
constructed. Of these, Corda instituted the genus Perono- — 
spora; the minute moulds which belong to it, and they are 
numerous, infesting only living plants. The discovery that- 
their presence caused injurious effects and even great loss is 
of modern date, and to the investigations of Professor Cas- 
pary of Bonn, the botanist and the agriculturist alike are — 
indebted for the valuable knowledge. 

The words “mould and mouldiness,” familiar as they atè, _ 
are now significant of topics interesting to the farmer, and 
by them he is atinually subjected to the loss of his cabbage’ — 
clover, lettuce, onions, parsnips, peas, potatoes, ete l 

To the common eye, and unaided by science, mildews, i 
mouldiness, and similar microscopic plants, would be readily i 
confounded. But the mildew is a much more highly deve ‘ 
oped fungus, and though apparently as dangerous, is not 80 
to the same extent. The egg-like mould ( Oidium) which 
covers and suffocates the young gooseberry Or the graph — 
readily yields to agents which will destroy it, and set 7 
from its threads the swelling fruit; but the potato-mould for 
instance, is the inception of the potato-rot, which is © 
dreaded. 

The “moulds,” then, are fearful parasitic plants, 
on the tender tissues of other plants, and eventu 
their death. It, is estimated that in Europe no less t 
different kinds of fungi are known as infesting the x 
and probably the number in this country is 20 less. fe 
on this account that those who have attempted to me 
the potato disease among us, have differed so widely 7 





ally cause 
han tel 






















THE POTATO-MOULD. 465 


each other; and while each has thought the other wrong, all 
have attained some approximation to the truth. 
The potato-mould is the Peronospora infestans Caspary, 
and were it not for its effects, would be regarded by every 
one of taste as a beautiful object. Were we flies or insects, 
_ which are so liberally endowed with sight and eyes, and 
i quite unconcerned about the crops, the leaves of the potatoes 
Would be quite a pretty set of objects to investigate, pre- 
_ senting handsome, white, many-branched and beaded-twigged 
- plants, with oval or egg-shaped seed-bodies on the tips of 
ich smaller branch. These vegetable growths issue from 
_ the breathing pores of the leaves, and besides feeding them- 
_ Selves on the nutriment intended for the leaves, choke up 
_ the internal and external passages and prevent the healthy ac- 
: tion from being maintained. Soon the leaves become at first 
- Paler, or yellow, then discolored spots appear, then the stems 
_ are spotted with dark patches. Even the cellular tissue (or 
pulpy part of the stems or stalks, “potato-stalks” as we call 
< them) is discolored and filled with dark clotted substances : 
Subsequently, sooner or later, the stalks putrify, the skin 
Separates from the harder or woody portions; next the 
tubers suffer, spots and decay appear in a more or less regu- 
: lar manner of concentric lines, the skin withers, a white 
_ Mouldiness often occurs, especially if the potatoes lie in a 
| Moist place; the “rot” increases with fearful rapidity, the 
has a disgusting odor, certain smaller insects help the 
_ Process at this stage, and putrescence closes the scene. 
A plant thus simple in its general structure, and capable 
$ "ng on its rapidly growing branches three thousand 
bro hundred and seventy (3,270) seed-like pods, each con- 
taining at least six seed-like bodies (zoöspores) on one square 
a of the under surface of the leaves, and from each 
ok in turn a perfect seed-bearing “mould” is produced 
eighteen hours, may be readily conceived to be capable, 
‘a as it is, of incalculable mischief. The reader may, 
“vet, calculate by reduction to fractions of an inch, the 
AMER, NATURALIST, VoL. Il. 





466 DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS. 


size of one of the seed-vessels (acrospore) containing these — 
six or more seeds, when Professor Caspary computes its 
breadth at +45 of a millimetre, and its length at ys; of a mil- 
limetre ( Monatsberichte der Kénigl. Akademie, ete., fur Mai, 
1855). Seeds, so minute, can be readily absorbed by the 
roots or even by the leaves, and in such abundance that the 
very atmosphere may be surcharged with them. A few of | 
them placed in a drop of water d applied to the leaves, 
stems and tubers, by Dr. DeBary, produced in a short time 
brown spots, and eventually the disease. a 

The remedy or the prevention, what? Perhaps none ® — 
yet discovered which will be effectual, but the entire de — 
struction by fire of all infected stalks and potatoes looks toa 
suggestive prevention. 












DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS. 

BY CHARLES WRIGHT. 

In the States east of the Mississippi river, the number of : 
persons who have seen deer in the wild state is compare = 
tively small, and they are exceedingly few who, by per? : 
experience, have learned much of their ways. And, as thes? : 
animals are fast disappearing, so also are they who pe 
had the opportunity of studying their habits in their nativ 
haunts. Hence, it seems not inappropriate to put on i 
such information as I have gained, partly from persone a 
perience, and partly from others who have had far mom 
better opportunities of knowing them well. jis pe a 


from the hand or lick the Sijgers ga not suffer > ta 
upon the back without shfinking: Of the very Ad the 
degrees of domesticity to which aifimals attain, 
doce is among the lowest. According to the frequen’y * 





PREI 


DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS, 467 

























_ the manner in which he is hunted, so is his cautiousness in- 
= creased. If he is chased, the voice of the dog, though at a 
distance, rouses him from repose to seek safety in flight. 
- When hunted by men on foot, as in the Indian country, he 
_ becomes wary of footmen, but will allow a rider to approach 
him quite closely. Just the reverse takes place when the 
ordinary mode of hunting is on horseback. It is also a prev- 
alent belief that, where Indians are the principal hunters, 
he learns the difference, and becomes comparatively fearless 
of a white man. This is akin to the notion that the crow 
ein distinguish a man with a gun from one who has only a 
_ Stick, though it may resemble a gun. 
The old bucks consort together most of the year; the does 
and young bucks go in herds by themselves. When the 
_ does have their fawns in the spring, they separate from the 
_ young males, and from each other, and remain for some 
= months with no companion but the fawn, until it is pretty 
_ Well grown. If a fawn, quite young, be met by a man on 
_ dorseback, it will follow the horse as if it were its mother. 
o One caught within the first few days after its birth becomes 
Mite tame in an hour or two, and makes no effort, after- 
E Wards, to escape. Yet, it never becomes domesticated like 
the dog or cat ; and, though it will stay in and around the 
se, and among the cattle, dogs and people, it runs away 
to the woods within two or three years. 
Deer are very silent animals. Only two sounds that can 
Perhaps be called vocal have been heard by me. One is a 
wy: of terror or of pain. The fawn, when caught, bleats 
like a lamb or kid in like circumstances, and the grown 
ts when the backbone is hit by the bullet, falls in its 
Ks and often emits a similar cry of pain, or it may be o 
terror, for it is sometimes repeated when he is seized by the 
3 iter, or even when the latter is seen approaching. 
. “nother sound is a kind of snort, —a forcible emission of 
ut ftom the nostrils. The hunter says he “blows ;” it may 
bea note of anger or defiance. At the season when the doe 





468 DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS. 


is rearing her young, if she is surprised near the fawn, and 
yet if the danger be not very imminent, she will stand and 
“blow,” occasionally raising a forefoot and stamping with it 
on the ground. The bucks also blow, but less frequently. 

If my memory does not deceive me I think I have heard 
the hunters speak of other sounds made by deer,—a faint 
call of the mother to the fawn, and the reciprocal ery of the 
young. There may be also a sexual call. I think I have 
heard such an one spoken of, as uttered at the time when the 
males seek the females. 

The hair is shed twice in the year. The summer-coat is 
red; not exactly the color of a red cow nor that of a bay 
horse, yet not very unlike either. The fawn is similar in 
color, with two rows of white spots, and scattering ones on — 
each side, which it retains often long after the winter-coat 18 
assumed. This is called the blue. It is rather an ashy-g"3}» _ 
or near a slate-color. The hairs are longer, much closer, 
whitish, except the tips which are dark, or ringed with 
white and dark spaces. 

It is a current belief that deer feed principally on gasè — 
This is far from being correct. They love what is tender and : 
juicy. They resort always to a recent burn, when grass and : 
weeds are just shooting again and are soft; then abandon it 
for a newer one, so soon as the plants have become hard or 
tough. If the track of deer be followed, the grass will never - 
be found cropped by the mouthful, as it is eaten ye 
cows, and sheep. Deer select here only a blade oF ete 
there a tender twig or leaf; but they are fond of fruits 0 : 
almost every kind. In early spring they visit the se 4 
which the May-haw grows, the fruit of which is juicy WO 
the flavor of the apple, though too, sour. Later they resort 
huckleberry bushes, grape-vines, and persimmon pees 
finally to the oaks. All kinds of acorns, but especially : w 
of the annual trees or sweet acorns, are greedily eaten DY — 
them; also chinquapins: and where chestnuts 


found together, doubtless the former yield food to the latter 








DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS. 469 








hey sometimes trespass on cornfields, where they crop the 
bean-vines if there are any, but Iam not aware that they 
injure the corn. 

_ The bucks shed their horns late in the winter. I have 
heard it affirmed that they pull them off with their feet, 
_ When the time arrives that they should be shed. It is quite 
_ probable, too, that they may be pulled off when running 
r through thickets. They are sometimes observed at this 
ason with but one antler. It is reasonable to suppose, 
_ aso, that they may be thrown off by a violent shake of the — 
head when nearly ready to fall, particularly where there are 
to bushes, as in the great prairies. They soon begin to 
_ Sow anew, increasing rapidly, and at first they are flexible 
_ md covered with soft hair. In this stage they are said to 
be “in the velvet.” In August they have become fully 
formed; and at, or before this time, they rub their horns 
q against bushes to rid them of the velvet. I have often seen 
a bushes stripped of their bark at a later season, and I con- 
- lecture that the practice is connected with the sexual passion. 
a Another custom I am quite confident is due to this cause. 
they stand under the spreading branch of a tree, which 
May be about at the height of the animal’s head, and paw 
ay with the feet all the leaves and weeds, or herbs if there 
., ‘ly, making a bare spot of ground two or three feet in 
“ameter, This is done only at the period when the buck 
: sag the doe. It is said that bucks will rua a castrated in- 
dividual of their own sex as they do the doe. The place is 
ta either by different animals from time to time, or 
= one deer returns repeatedly to the same spot to scrape 
=- Whether it is done by one or both sexes I do not 
ot kti, probably, analogous to the habit of the bear 
p barks a pine tree. The second year the antler of 
belie ck is a simple spike; and, according to the general 
a! z branch is added each year for five or six years, 
“Doi Which there is rarely any increase in the number of 
© CS. I killed a buck with one antler normally formed, 











iq 












































470 - DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS. 


the other smaller, in an atrophied state, and so soft as to be A 
~ easily broken. : 
What becomes of deer’s horns? A few years ago'I saw an 
attempt to answer the question by some person in one of the — 
Southern Atlantic States, and he arrived at the conclusion — 
that the animal covers them or they would be oftener found. a 
But, in the first place, deer are not so plentiful there that 
they must be expected to scatter their horns very thickly ; 
over the open parts of the forest where they would be read- ; 
ily seen. And, again, each large buck has but two homs 
thus to dispose of each year; and the large bucks are not 
very numerous, while the antlers of the small ones are incon- 
spicuous. But the writer had, or thought he had, evidence 7 
that the buck covers his antlers with leaves. Doubtless they : 
are so covered by leaves which fall upon them, according — 
to natural laws; but in the forests, and particularly in the £ 
prairies of the west, I have seen hundreds which ce 
had never been covered by the animals that dropped them. 
They decay in the ordinary course of nature, and are alo 
eaten by some small rodent, whose tooth-marks I have often | 
seen upon them. a 
It may not be known to many that bucks often “Jock : 
horns,” and it sometimes becomes a “dead-lock,” literally. : 
have met, during my hunts, more than one pair of heads — | 
thus coupled together, and I killed one pair of bucks e 
firmly united, that they would have died of hunger if I h 5 
not put them to death in a manner less lingering and painf a 
These animals had evidently come together with great T 
lence; the antlers had yielded to the shock, and had closet 
again in such a manner that no ordinary exertion of streng 
was sufficient to separate them. It is not very easy por 
plain their position; but the beam of the left antler of ie 
was behind, and in close contact with the bases of er 
antlers of the other, while the tips of the right antler 0” 
former were locked in the tips of those of the latter. f the 
later, the skin on the back of the head at the base ° : 
























DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS. 471 


a antlers dried and shrunk, room was made for a little move- 
ment, and they could then be unlocked. 
_ At the close of summer the does have become lean, —the 
— effect of rearing the fawn, — while the bucks are in prime 
= condition, Then begins the running season, when the bucks 
_ grow careless, or fearless, or both, and fall an easy prey to 
a the hunter. The does, too, seem less wary, or are more in- 
a tent on feeding. They improve rapidly in condition, espe- 
dally if mast is plentiful, becoming before midwinter fully 
a fat. The bucks, in their turn, become lean and big-necked, 
and the flesh acquires a rank taste, so as to be quite unfit for 
a -food except under the influence of extreme hunger. 
The deer’s three senses, — sight, hearing and smell, —are 
1 neither of them, by itself, quite adequate to advise him of 
i. ger. A noise excites his attention and calls in vision to 
discover the cause, yet both together may not insure his 
_ ‘Safety, if danger be near. The noise may be made by the 
2 leaping of a Squirrel or the scratching of a bird among the 
? leaves; or, it may be any other of the thousand notes that 
3 listener can hear in the silent woods. If alarmed by any 
- of these, he recovers confidence when apprized of the cause. 
The sense of vision seems to be imperfect in this particu- 
ar; it takes no cognizance of form and little of color, unless 
4 the form and color be those which come most naturally 
7 Within the sphere of its recognition, — those of its own spe- 
“es. ‘It is motion that draws its attention. When sitting 
qute still a deer has approached within a few feet of me, 
“walked quietly away again, unaware, although I was in 
plain view all the time, that it, was so close to one who might 
“Wve been its enemy. But when a deer smells danger, it 
needs not to look nor to listen. Hence, the attempt to ap- 
Proach him is useless when the wind is blowing from the 
hunter towards him. But this sense is the least valuable 
he is to windward. Acting, then, on his knowledge 





472 DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS. 


least, not with it, has nothing to fear from this sense, and 


‘has only to deceive the other two. He learns to walk in . 


almost perfect silence, and if he can avoid being seen, his 
point is gained. Upon a single deer the approach is com- 


paratively easy. He is generally walking slowly, and now 


and then putting down his head to crop something. In this 
latter case he cannot see an approaching object; but the 
moment he raises his head to look about (which he does as 
often as every half minute or thereabouts), the hunter stops 
and remains quite’ still. The deer, at every movement it 
makes, putting down or raising its head, shakes its tail. 
Knowing this, the hunter knows just when to advance and 
when to stop. Thus observant of every motion of the ani- 
mal, he makes an approach, of which it is quite unaware; 
and, should it at length perceive the final movement, —the 
preparation to fire, —it does not immediately run away, but 
waits a little to see what is the matter. When two deer ae 
together, it is more difficult to come near them, as they may 
not both feed at the same moments, unless by accident; and 
the difficulty is increased just in proportion as the number 0 
the herd is greater; and when there are several together, 
it is nearly useless to attempt to come within gunshot, 
better to go away and look for a smaller herd. This 15 the 
mode of hunting where, as in prairies, there is no means of 
concealment. In woods the hunter advances under cov 
of trees or bushes. 

The best hour for hunting is the first clear daylight of 6 
morning. Just before night again, deer are generally 


: f 
ing. In the summer time they will get up at any hoar m 


if : squitoes 
the day if a shower comes on. When flies or mosdi! | 


are very numerous they keep within the thickets by days 
and feed almost entirely by night. At such times, 


: . ral 
hunting may take the place of still-hunting. It 1s e 
known that when dogs, cattle, horses, and many other 


mals look at a bright light by night, the rays are ie p 
and, to any one in the line passing from their eye ; 


but 


flected; a 


































DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS. 473 


the light, they look like balls of fire. Deer will, oftentimes, 
suffer the hunter, with a light, to come very near them. An 
old frying-pan, having its flat bottom replaced by some 
curved iron hoop, serves to hold the pieces of resinous pine. 
The handle is fastened to a strip of plank which is borne on 
the shoulder. The deer gazes at the light and sees nothing 
of the hunter who is between it and the fire. Generally, deer 
can be approached more closely by night than by day. The 
aim is at the eyes, or straight below them so as to break the 
neck; or the body is often seen, so that the hunter can shoo 
where he pleases. A deer rarely falls, when shot, where it 
_ Was standing, but generally dashes away fifty to a hundred 
_ paces or more, even if shot through the heart. If he raises 
his tail, —shows the white feather,—it may be suspected 
he was not hit. If struck by the bullet, he runs off at his 
utmost speed with the tail pressed close down. In the day- 
time, the hunter goes where the deer was standing, which 
may be known by the deep tracks made at the first spring, 
and looks for hair cut off by the bullet. If he finds it, he is 
sure of having hit his game; and following on the track, 
he soon comes upon the blood, when he can track it more 
easily. This is where there are bushes or tall grass. In 
more open places, the deer may be seen to run its race and 
fall dead. If any part of the spinal column be touched, the 
animal falls where it is standing, but if the bone be only 
slightly hurt it may get up again. I have had a case or two 
of this kind, when, just as I was about to bag my game, he 
as jumped up and taken leg-bail. 

This account of the deer will hardly be complete without 
_ Some remarks on the chase, and of this I know nothing by 
Personal experience; but there is no lack of narratives and 
incidents relating to this gentlemanly and royal sport. So I 
will only touch upon one peculiarity of the chase in Texas, 
38 I heard it from those who had followed it in the states 
from Which they came. It was said, that in the Atlantic and 
Guf States, where the chase is, or was, a favorite pastime, 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 60 


474 DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS. 
























` the hunter can judge, with considerable probability, where 
the deer will pass when running before the hounds. Thus in 
a given area,—a township we will suppose,—the deer will 
cross a creek in one or two of half a dozen regular crossings; 
or he will pass one of a limited number of known glades or 
openings in the general forest. But in Texas this did not 
hold good. Either the deer had no regular passing places, 
or they. had so indefinite a number that the hunters were not 
able to discover them. Perhaps this difference comes from 
the fact, that running deer with hounds had never been prac- 
tised there, and they had not become used to it. The hun- 
ters were quite at a loss where to station themselves in order 
to get a shot at the chase. 

It may not be irrelevant to describe the process of dress- 
ing deer-skins, which furnish the material used in the 
manufacture of buckskin gloves. There are three principal 
operations: graining, Dining: and smoking. The 
is mechanical; the other two “effect some showed change 
which I am unable to explain satisfactorily. The skin is 
dried and afterwards soaked till it is soft; then the hair 
and grain, or cuticle, are rubbed off with any instrum i 
serving the same purpose as a currier’s knife, the skin being 
spread out on anything answering to the ¢ 
The skin is partially “broken” in this process, 
be stretched and broken still more, while drying, that it may 
“take brains” more readily. The brains of the deer, OF 
similar quantity of another animal will dress the skin.” 
These are thoroughly dissolved in a half 
water. The skin, immersed in it, soon abso 
and becomes thick and spongy. It should 
all directions, carefully, that no spot may be left 
otherwise that spot will remain hard. It is kn ihe 
the SR is brained in this manner. Gather up à fold 

* The same effect is produced by saturating the skin in oil, and then Fanning 1 0t n 
with strong soap and water. The bruised or crushed root of Yucca t famiy, ae 


used; and ae seeds of Sapindus saponaria (soap berry) would, Pr? 
same purpos 









































DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS. 475 


skin into the form of a sack or bladder, and blow into it or 
inflate it; then, closing the orifice and pressing upon the 
sack, the included air will pass out through innumerable 
pores, making a spray from the particles of contained water. 
Wring out all the water possible, and stretch and rub it as 
before, while drying, when it will become white and soft. ' 
If stretched in a suitable frame, nearly to its natural shape, 
and rubbed with a wedge-shaped stick, the labor is less and 
the skin is smooth and even; otherwise it will remain more 
or less wrinkled, —some parts unduly, others not sufficiently 
stretched. But if the skin be now wetted and suffered to dry 
without manipulation, it becomes hard again like rawhide. 
Smoking is a means of obviating this. The object is to make 
the smoke pass through the pores of the skin. The effect 
of the braining seems to be to comminute the gluten, but it 
does not affect its solubility. The smoke seems to form a 
chemical combination with it, rendering it insoluble. Any 
dry rotten wood,—hickory, ash, oak, or even cobs,—serves 
to make the smoke. A hole is dug in the ground about two 
feet deep and six inches in diameter. Some coals are thrown 
in and a little of the wood upon them. The skins (better 
two together) are loosely sewed along the edges, except one, 
which is stretched around the hole, and the skins are then 
‘suspended above it, much like an empty sack with the mouth 
downward. The smoke in its ascent fills the sack and passes 
through or penetrates its substance. The process is kept up 
hag the operator deems the skin sufficiently smoked. Now, 
if they are wetted, they dry soft without manipulation. 
There is still an operation which improves them, though not 
necessary, It is a species of tanning. Willow-bark, or that 
of sassafras is good, as it does not stain clothing, which is 
Spotted by the ooze of oak when the skin is wet and comes 
m contact with it. We boil a small quantity of bark, and 
dip the skins into the ooze for a few minutes ; wring them 
às dry as possible and the operation is finished. Treated in 
this way, the skin becomes one of the strongest textures we 


476 THE HABITS OF SPIDERS. 


know of. But in its original state, a skin of ordinary size 
is easily torn into strips. When dressed, the fibres being 
loose, come gradually into parallelism, and the tension is 
resisted by many at once. Previously, held to its place by 
the gluten, each fibre, acting singly, was readily broken. 
Here is a problem for hunters. With a single bullet, to 
shoot a deer through the heart and break both fore legs, one 
of them just above the foot. It has been solved. But how? 





THE HABITS OF SPIDERS. 


BY J. H. EMERTON. 





Every reader of the Narurazist has noticed the round, 
regularly formed spider-webs which often adorn the corners 
of fences, and the windows of neglected buildings; but few, 
perhaps, have had time or patience to watch the skilful man- 


ner in which they are constructed, or to examine the appa- 


ratus by which the spider spins the thread out of her one 
body. The builders of these webs belong to a large family 
of spiders, the Epéiride. They are found in all parts of the 


world where winged insects, which form their food, abound. 


To illustrate the habits and structure of these spiders, W° 
will select one common species as a representative of the 
whole group, and confine our observations to it. This spe 
cies, the Hpéira vulgaris of Hentz, seems to be common all 
over the United States, and is represented by closely re 
species in other countries. It is seldom found in the W i 
and fields, but lives in great numbers on garden fences a0 
trellises; in barns, and on the framework of bridges; the 
structure of which affords numerous crevices for shelter aM 
concealment. When fully grown it is half an inch in leng 
and its feet, when extended, will cover a circle an mM 


a half in diameter. It is clothed with hair of a oT a 


Jated d 
oods 


ch and — 










Se ar arene et he RO Meo hee T 


ea eran Set keke ie igi Ahk 


Lee 


EE ES ae 











THE HABITS OF SPIDERS. 477 


color, the back is ornamented with various whitish mark- 
ings, and the legs with rings of black and yellow. The 
under side of the body is black, with yellow markings. In 
sheltered places they spend most of the time in their webs 
waiting for prey, while in situations exposed to the sun and 
wind they watch only in the night. During the day, and in 
stormy weather, they remain concealed in some crack or 
corner, near which, for convenience, the web is always 
placed. In such retreats they also pass the winter without 
food, and only covered by a thin web of their own spinning. 
Like other spiders they are furnished with poisonous jaws, 
which they attempt to use when disturbed, but as they can 
only bite what comes directly between their jaws, they may 
be handled without fear. There are but few cases on record 
of a spider biting the human skin. Their timid nature leads 
them to avoid danger rather than resist it, and the common 
Suspicion with which they are regarded has no foundation, 
except a want of acquaintance with their habits. 

If we take a spider of the kind just described and turn it 
under side up, as in Pl. 11, fig. 2, we shall at once notice 
that the body consists of two nearly equal parts, connected 
bya slender waist. The front part gives origin to the organs 
of sense and motion, while the hinder part contains the prin- 
cipal internal organs. The most conspicuous appendages of 
the body are the four pairs of legs (Fig. 2, 4, 4, 4; a). Im- 
mediately in front of these is another smaller pair (Fig. 2, b, 
and fig, 7), the first joints of which are flattened, so that 
they may be used as jaws, or lips (Fig. 2, ¢), for squeezing 
the food. The ends of these last limbs are supposed to be 
organs of touch, and are called palpi. Next in front is a 
oad of stout jaws (Fig. 3, c, c), each of which is furnished 
with a sharp claw at the end (Fig. 3,@)- This claw is hollow, 
and is pierced with a minute hole near the point (Fig. 3, b). 
When the spider bites, a drop of poison is discharged through 
this orifice from a gland in the head. This quickly kills 
sects, and causes inflammation of the bitten part in larger 





478 THE HABITS OF SPIDERS. 


animals. On the front of the head are the eight eyes, four 
near together in the centre, and a pair on each side (Fig. 3). 

The feet of spiders are wonderfully adapted for walking on 
the web. Each foot is furnished with three claws (Fig 6, a, 
b, b), the middle one of which (a) is bent over at the end, 
forming a long finger for clinging to the web, or for guiding 
the thread in spinning. The outer claws (e, e) are curved 
and toothed like a comb. Opposite the claws are several 
stiff hairs (Fig. 6,¢) which are toothed like the claws, and 
serve as a thumb for the latter to shut against. 

The spinning organs are three pairs of fleshy appendages 
situated at the posterior end of the body (Fig. 2, e). When 
not in use they are folded in towards each other, the third 
pair covering the second. When expanded, they appear as 
in Fig. 4. The end of each of these spinners (s, $) is covered 
with minute jointed tubes, like Fig. 5, which represents one 
tube much enlarged. Inside the spider, and connected with 
the spinners are several bunches of glands, which secrete ® 
liquid like the white of an egg. To form the thread this 
liquid is‘drawn through the tubes, which divide it into such 
- small fibres that it dries almost immediately on coming M 
contact with the air. The spider has the power of uniting 
these fibres into one or several threads, according to the pur- 
pose for which they are to be used. The thread commonly 
used for the web is composed of hundreds of simple fibres, 
each spun through a separate tube. As the thread runs from 


the body, it is guided by the hind feet, which hold it off from 
contact with surrounding objects, until the desired point 18 — 


reached, when a touch of the spinners fastens it securely. 
When a spider wishes to build a web she usua 
a corner, so that the structure may be attached o0 


sides. She then runs a few threads along the objects t0 


which the web is to be fastened, to facilitate her passag? 
from point to point. The web is commenced by mr 
two across the point where the centre is to be, which 1s 


usually the geometric centre, but nearer the top than : 


lly selects | 
n several : 


not 


i 


in 


: 








THE HABITS OF SPIDERS. 479 © 


bottom. Radiating lines (Pl. 11, fig. 1, b, b,b) are then 
spun from the centre in all directions. In doing this the 
spider often crosses from one side of the web to the oppo- 
site, so that the finished portion is always tightly drawn, and 
the tension of the completed web is the same in every part. 
Having finished the framework, the spider begins near the 
centre and spins a thread (Fig 1, ¢, ¢,¢), spirally, around 
the web to the circumference, fastening it to each radius as 
it crosses. The distance between the spirals varies with the 
size of the spiders, being about as far as they can reach. This 
spiral thread serves to keep the parts of the web in place 
during the rest of the process, and is removed as fast as the 
Web is finished. It also furnishes a ready means of crossing 
from one radius to another where they are farthest apart. All 
the thread spun up to this stage of the process is smooth when 
dry, and will not adhere if touched with a smooth object. 
The spider having thus formed the web, begins to put 
in the final circles at the outside, walking around on the 
scaffolding previously prepared, which she gradually de- 
Stroys as she proceeds, until in the finished web only a few 
turns in the centre are left. The thread of the circles last 
spun is covered with viscid globules, strung upon it like 
beads at short distances. If an insect comes in contact with 
the thread, it immediately adheres, and its struggles only 
bring a larger part of its body into contact with the web. 
Dust and seeds also stick to the web, so that in a single day 
It is often so clogged as to be of no farther use. The web 
also becomes torn by the struggles of the prey, and by wind 
and rain, so that it requires repair or renewal every night. In 
mending a web the spider usually removes all except the out- 
side threads, biting them off and rolling them into a hard ball 
tween her jaws, so that when released it will drop quickly 
to the ground. This probably gave rise to the opinion, 
Sometimes advanced, that the old web is eaten by the spider. 
When the web is finished she stations herself in the cen- 
tre, where a small circle is left free of the adhesive threads. 





ae Or 























480 THE HABITS OF SPIDERS. 


Her usual position is head downward, with each foot on one 
of the radii of the web, and the spinners ready to fasten 
themselves by a thread at the least alarm. She often m- — 
mains in her hole with one foot out, and resting on a tight — 
thread connected with the centre of the web, so that any 
vibration is quickly detected. If the web be gently touched | 
the spider will rush into the centre, and face towards the dis- 
turbed part. She will then jerk smartly several of the radii- 
leading in that direction, to see if the intruder is a living 
animal. If this test is followed by the expected struggle sbe 
runs out towards the victim, stepping as little as possible 
on the adhesive threads, seizes it in her jaws, and as 5008 
as it begins to feel the effects of the bite, envelops it ia 
a silken covering, and hangs it up to suck at her leisure. — 
In spinning this envelope the insect is held and turned 
around mainly by the short third pair of feet, while a fst 
band of threads is drawn from the spinners by the hind pet 
working alternately like the hands in pulling a rope, and 4 
wound over it in every direction, so that in a few : 
it is so covered as to be unable to move a limb. Whens 
web is shaken by the wind, the spider will sometimes draw 
in all her feet toward her body, thereby tightening the web 
in every direction so that the vibration is prevented. 
The construction of nets for catching food is not the only 
use of the thread made by these spiders. They seldom movè 
from place to place without spinning a line after them **- 
they go. They are able by its use to drop safely from any . 
height, and when suspended by it are carried by the 
across wide spaces without any exertion on their part, ex- - 
cept to let out the thread. The crevices in which they pe“ 
the winter, and the leisure hours of summer, are k 
and enclosed by a coating of silk resembling that <— a 
confining captured insects. The eggs are e 
cocoon of the same material, and there the youvg Í 
until they are strong enough to shift for themselves, growing 
to nearly double their size without apparent nourishment- 





a 








Uy 
MERX 


uw 
oa 


SS 


EMERTON ON THE SPIDER. 





American Naturalist. 





THE HABITS OF SPIDERS. 481 





















veral hundred young are produced by a single female, 
probably it is seldom that one-tenth of this number ever 
à adult size. Nearly all the spiders which we see in webs 
i females, or young. They spend most of their time in the 
vicinit ty of their webs, and many doubtless pass their lives 
within a few yards of the place of their birth. The adult males 
seldom seen building or occupying webs : they remain con- 
d during the day, and at night wander about from web 
to web, When young, there is no obvious difference between 

Sexes, but as the time for the last moult approaches, 
the ends of the palpi of the male swell to several times their. 
former size. When the time for the final moult arrives, both 
_ xes retire to their holes and cast off the skins of their entire 
bodies, even to the claws. This process obliges them to 
remain concealed until the new skin has seiad sufficient 
th and firmness, when they again return to their webs. 
' The females still resemble the young, except in size, but the 
Sare distinguished from them by the greater length of 
their limbs, the diminished size of the posterior half “of the 
body, and the large and complicated joints at the ends of the 
iL 11; fig. 8). The females of some species of spiders 
said to livont the males whenever opportunity offers, 
we have never noticed that habit in this species, though* 

ave often seen a female charge upon an intruding male, 

_ ind chase him from her web. 


EXPLANATION OF PLATE XI. 

l. - Crear web; one-fourth the natural size 
ord vulgaris Hentz, natural size, one side; a, legs; b, pal- 
Ey ¢, jaws; e, spinners. 

; rót view of head, showing eyes and jaws; a tooth on the end 
Fig. ope of jaw; b, orifice for the discharge of pois 

~* Spinnerets spread apart for use, showing the lakes of tubes on 
e end of each, enlarged parse diameters. 
mic Spinning tube, still more enlarg 
a — @, the middle claw; b, b, the { on outer claws; ¢, toothed 

airs 


REVIEWS. 





Dr. Hooxer’s ADDRESS AT THE NORWICH MEETING OF THE B 
Assocration* should be read by every reader of the Naturatist. The 
Study of Man, pN and Ethnology, Fossil Botany, Darwinism, 
and the more practical subject of the proper arrangement of museums 
are discussed. We quote at length, first, as regards the discovery of a 
race of existing cromlech-builde 


Ae yy wil, no doubt, ppr ae d En be be told — there exists within three hundred 
semi-savage: h bitually erect dolmens, men- 
e 





hirs, cysts and cromlechs, almost as gigantic in their pro 
ance ae onstruction to the e S0- -called Dr uidical remains of Western abi ; and, what is 
ury ago by Colonel Yan 





curious, a 4 uar ter of 
a ce t Oriental ae except p eed J. Lubbock, ap are porian alluded to 
modern literature of prehistoric mon! 
Read the sensible rak a pi Hooker on Museums, their arrange- 


ment and objects: : 
Se ape RO Ha for in the present state 
afford t only n means of efficiently teachin A schools the elements 
ogy. Isa aria n thé présent state of eaucation, | be Ganee e Ibe set e it will si 
either provincial or private schools will be supplied with much Peay ate S 7 
‘essential for the teacher’s purposes. Confining myself to the considera ation rovineial and 
loca al menina and mar r requirements tor educational sana se vip should contain a series 
Į lesser divisions of the animal and 
able kingdoms, so disposed in well-lighted cases as cunt n inqu uiri ing observ 
therefrom the principles upon which animals and plants are classified, ~ mehin of their 
of those o ~ gi other mat- 


cfr believe that an pri p baga far 

tome 

of Dae ee pret 

man ibd” fore wi 
t ore y 





this coun 

















ters —~ to prea — uses and place in the economy of # tur S 
i hough Peat attained if enn at on 
wich; 13 D cg, fois some space, N Po illustrations, m agnified as ws of the ee a 
and cop bels; an t should not con 





pa ns'a eir 
kinge specimen mora than is wanted, ‘The other quia sofa ie ais 

ons ovinee, which shou 
else 


cial museum are-~ 
1d be kept entirely 





complete 
hs Bag wt we oe i onstrations (not —— 
the may possess) upon an epes sê 
E schools and others, for which a fee should ve wander and go e su 
tion. t similar condit eos of prio i he a 
and other demonstrations. Did such a museum exist in ‘Norwich, I am S rate 

coe b collet- 
strator’s o fips bor 8 harunt who would grudge the trifling fee. You b of a super 
scion or biroa sed ieee bios sisal = afose hops val ue o of this be | enhanced we were it a 

t well sa cheated 








“The Saxe 




















by an exhibition of the skeleton a jae ected organs of one hawk and one ow a ers bones, 
ticketed that a school-boy should see the structure of their beaks, feet, ¥ ki s pg birds for 
j 3 ot fie as see omnes for rately pgm pe a tena i 
of life,—should see, in short, the affinities and stent attributes of birds of prey? t maining te 
refers to the teaching of natural seater, | » an — — altogether apart oa od in 
as i ly admitted, is 





by Professor Henslow’s method of iie w 





*Every Saturday, Sept. 28. Boston, Ticknor & Fields. Price 10 cent 


482) 








ccom panied DY 


Ei so alā ont anà 
























REVIEWS. 483 








w published, which are invaluable to 
Pey a student and demonstrator; put from whieh the school-boy recoils, who would not 
y's ht n which to hang ideas, facts, and hard 
Tames, To school-boys, skeletons have often a ange Na eea he and upon the structure of 
% these and the Saaacation of te vertebrata much depends. What boy that had ever been 
; „Or eile ve a hedgehog could milk cows, as 
L Ven tol 1 hany boys at cious and Suffolk, as elsewher re, do believe implicitly? A series of 
o 
o 








cimen cupying some 5,800 fèet or wall-space, vor giv e at a glance a oon 
` nected and Da., ptt view of tł 
_ kingdom; it would stand in ne e eame Felation to a complete museum and Systema Naturæ » a 


CREPE 








undistinguishable details, 
om Hooker then Saes upon his favorite study, botany, closing with 
ee of Darwini ism: 










ir been made during the pek = 
_ tartare been in the departments of Fossil bat va and “Vegetable Phy: slology. Be the 








for 


Neat ae + $ 





i of the veg 
~ table kingdom, Why plants should ha ve been so odh n more vo lavialils preserved poem ng these 
if “sua panne some of the intervening or earlier sperms we do not rightly koowi but the 





i 

tion of the geological record. Our knowledge of coal plants, which since the days of Stern- 
‘berg, Brongniart, and Lindley and Hutton, has been chiefly advanced by GUppart and Unger 
; 

; 





1 Om the Eea and by sca in Canada, has received very im inpovtaat accessions of late 
i through t unt te energy f Mr. Binuey, of Man chester, who has dévoted near arly thirty 


i 





and 

N “ Passing to t the Tri Tory the labors m “onti ne E T go a and Strozzi 
“eater f Massolonghi inI all, of Heer in Switze eg 

; b pR nts; and if the 
— of the afiinities of the rnini are trustworthy, wA ae the persistence 

the rarity of others 








































these. Her ere, bor h val ti Tayao the 
on ateri. ti or deter armining the affinities of the vast majority of these tertiary 
‘Dlants are oe sted leaves, sam unlike the bones of sgar animals and sie shells of 





e, the leaves of plants of different natural families and of different prea 
er to such a degree that, in the case of recent flowers, every botanist ani 
as a most treacherous tera to aftinity. e structural characters which are 


mt 
Fa to ber found in the fosilia; pa yet t it is from them exclusively that the position of 


sinod 1 





he miocene ani pliocene Floras. especially, are of the highest value and 





g vey Tracy coal-be 
ther. a form worthy of their value and of their author’s merit we are indebted to the 
‘Rations; ality of Miss Burdett Coutts) are founded onas sufficient number of ab see wes determi- 





and his more recent Flora Foss iary 
E n latter work Professor eee shows, in appar ese unassailable bids that 
Austrian, American, and Asiatic trees panera durin; miocene Sues celand, 
sft q: i rees could 





oe 
verie. 


Annual Report of the Regents of the University of New York. 8vo, pp- 
1867. With twenty-five plates. 


é 
484 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





dages of the genus Atrypa, by R. P. Whitfield. Professor Hall’s contri- 
butions to Paleontology include a compendious extract from his work on 
the eee Do ii, of the Canadian Geological Survey), extracts 
from Vol. 4 e Palæontology of New York, and observations on the 
Niagara ASERS of Wisconsin and Illinois. The extracts are principally 


tions trace the relation of the Niagara group, of New York, to the Guelph 
limestone of Canada, and the limestones of Racine and Le Claire in Wis- 
consin, which are said to be identical with a thin bed of limestone in 
Wayne county, New York, formerly referred to the Onondaga Salt Group. 
The lithographer has not, apparently, done full justice to Mr. Wh hitfield’s 
masterly drawings, but all the plates are good, and some deserve high 
praise. 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 





eet 


n 
bulbosa, and R. ficaria all have double forms) could scarcely result from 
cultivation, as they are too common to be ever a cultivated plant. Yet 
we rarely see any tendency in this direction in wild plants. The oniy ° 
I ever found double was a neste Virginiensis, in a shady wood on the 
sanickon, some fifteen years ago. It was EET to my garden, 
sa Goto the same season s a oie laborer. Has any 0 nae 
double flower been found ?—T. MEEHAN. 
Saxifraga Virginiensis was found full-double at Danvers, Mass., 

years ago, and it continues so from-year to year. It is well worthy ri 
florist’s attention. Incipient doubling is not uncommon ina considera 
number of wild flowers; but the process of doubling is srs acceler- 
ated under the conditions which attend cultivation. — A. GRA 





ZOOLOGY. 
T re 
` ol- 
A. McNiel, an cnthuslasti ardent naturalist and indefatigabi t 


cordially received, and aided by the officers of the Panama 

















NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 485 





Pacific Steamship Company, who gave him much desirable information, 
and helped him in his work in every way in their power. To William 
_ Nelson, Esq., Commercial Agent at Panama, he is much indebted for as- 
= sistance E aired; and from Captain Der, sande is well known as an ardent 
lover of Natural History, and who has sent many rarities to various mu- 
= seums) he received marked attention and kindly aid; and Captain Doug- 
lass of the steamer Guatemala, and his officers, were most courteous to 
_ him during his trip from Panama to ee ek of Co a Lomb ee rata 
Nicaragua, at which place he a his first collec H 
the good fortune to meet with Captain Emmons, of on g. S. an abe war 
Ossipee, who, with his officers, pny assisted him in his marine collect- 
ing. After a stay of a few weeks at this place, Mr. McNiel went into the 
interior and collected for about a month on and near the Rio Gigillillo, 
where he was most hospitably entertained by Don Ycidro Ycaza. He here 








Species of land and fresh-water gasteropods, with many other species of 

various classes. He then returned to the coast to forward his specimens 
F to the Academy, kia they have arrived in safety. At the date of his 
; last letter he was on the eve of departure for the interior again 





o 
; fo an can run after a butterfly, or bespatter soap with mud, 
ae: in his attempts to obtain some desired inhabitant of the ditch, shies 
3 that AY is looked upon by his fellow-men as a PEENE tead 
of a naturalis 
‘ -Tt is the w of Mr. McNiel to spend about two years collecting in 
ae ‘ntral and the northern part of South America, and from the way in 
ae Which he has commenced, we feel sure that science will be largely indebt- 
a ei z him for much that is new and important from that most interesting 
; n. 












Test will be offered for sale, and special investigators can secure the 
ns relating to their departments, by addressing ha Director of 
a My. Donations in aid of the expedition are also a cited. Any 
aiding the expedition will receive an equivalent in eee s if 


4 


Ld 


. 





` Gould. fiid river above the falls. Also found in Spokan ee 


486 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY.’ 


desired, as well as the thanks of the Academy. We shall from time to 


time call attention in the Narurarisr to the progress and results of 
iti EESW. P 


this expedition. —F. W. PUTNAM, Director, Peabody Academy of Science. 


THE SHELLS OF MONTANA. Helix Townsendiana Lea. — Numerous small 
specimens were found in the dry prairie at the junction of Hell Gate and 


Bitterroot rivers, and as I found larger ones of various sizes in more | 


damp situations of the woods, from an elevation of 4,800 feet down to 
2,200, at the west base of the Bitterroot range, I presume this is a dwarfed 
variety, such as is found also west of the Coast Mountains, in Washing- 
ton Territory. Itis the most wide-spread species I have seen there. 
` Triođopsis Mullani Bland & Cpr. —A single dead specimen, of a beat- 
tiful aeaeaie yellow, resembling H. tridentata in size and form, I 
found here er a stone, and afterwards found ip sma FI numbers at the 
west side J? tie Bi meien crossing, forty miles d 
aaNet H polyg gis Bld. & Cpr.— This bokati little one-toothed 
fou 


species d common on the Cœur g Aleñe Mountains, especially their . 


east anrd maniing moss and decaying wood in the dampest part of the 
spruce for 
aipetaien ‘Cooperi W. J. B.— This fine species I found only on the east 
i M 


season (Aug. 10) I presume I could find none moving about, and but one 
alive. Most of them were about the roots of Geranium incisum, & species 
abundant on both slopes, but I bee for Helices in vain in the other. 

Anguispira solitaria Say (or A. Cooperi var?).—The large globose lip- 
less Helix inhabited both slopes of the Cœur d’Alefie Mountains, above 
2,500 feet patiren preferring the openings in the forest covered 
bushes and fe 

geen pre Gould.—I was always on the lookout for Helices, 

up to August 31st found none along the Bitterroot river except rarely 

m Townsendiana. That day, however, at a hill called “Half-way,” thirty 
miles below the junction, I found two additions to the list. The large? 
flattened, banded and somewhat carinated form, I Sears — under 
logs of pine on a steep shaly slope containing lime in v 

Hyalina arborea Say; Patula striatella Anth. pean in a damp bottom 
land along Hell Gate river, about 4,800 feet above the sea, living 0 ef 


here. 
Lymnea palustris Linn.; L. bulimoides Lea.; L. desidiosa Say; Physa 
heterostropha Say. — Missouri river above the falls, about 3,000 feet above 
the sea. August, 1860 

Lymnea palustris Linn. ; L. humilis Say ; Bulinus hypnorum Linn.; Physt 


heterostropha Linn. dofir Gate river, west slope of the Rocky Mountains, 
4, feet above the sea. Augus , 18 
eee trivolvis Say; P. parvus Say. — Bitterroot river. > 
herium striatinum Linn. ; Bide luteolus Lamk.; Margarit 


ene ee 








E EE EE ite ETTE ME 


TO ee ETP. Taa 




























NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 487 


Lake Coeur d’Alefie, and at the ferry over that river. They can be seen 
in the clear water several feet beneath, completely covering the bottom 
like mussels (Myti/i) on shoals along the seashore, standing edgewise 
among the large stones. 

Spherium occidentale Prime. — Spokan river, September 1860. 

Unio Oregonensis Lea? —I saw a few valves in Spokau river, below the 
upper falls. 

Ancylus Kootaniensis Baird.—Spokan river, below lower falls, on stones, 
September, 1860; common. —J. G. Cooper, M. D 


Hits ox Oörocy.—In „every branch of natural history, collections 
must be formed and suitably classified to enable the student to compare 
one specimen with another, and thus secure to science the benefit arising 
ons. mere collecting of specimens, it is true, has 
me one of the least of the objects desired by scientific men, yet in no 
pursuit is there more need of care and accuracy, than 
nthe collection and identification of specimens of natural history. An 
Y is this true in an odlogical collection, where the identificatio 
Specimen ought to be the main object of the collector. 
easiest and most Satisfactory method of identifying a nest of eggs,- 
“Shooting or catching one or both the parent birds to which the nest 
belongs, but at times this is impossible and other means must be sought. 
i mine carefully the situation of the nest, of what materials it is com- 
Posed; notice the locality, what species frequent it, and make a record of 
these . In this manner the true 


a 


ase and kindred observations in a note-book 


3 


on 
re liable to swell and burst the shell if handled. Fig. 1. 


e speci l 

~ are small drills and a syringe, though, when convenient, the use 

L Pipes and elongated scapels will be very useful. It is considered 
i ™ to hold the egg over a basin of water when blowing it, that it 

A injured if it slips from the fingers. Some oölogists preserve 





488. NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. ; 


arise. Different collectors prefer different methods of doing this. Per- 
haps the best is to mark the egg, on the samé side as the holes, witha 


and the number, referring to the collector’s note-book, which should con- 
tain full data in respect to the identification, time and place where se- 
cured, etc. Both the English and scientific name should be given, Many 


may be preserved in a neat and secure ie They should be kept be- 
neath a glass-case, free from the rays of the sun, which cause the natural 
tint or “bloom” to fade and loose its aleea The student of nature 
cannot find a more interesting branch of scientific investigation, than that 
which pertains to those objects which are presented to his vision from 
day to day. The habits of the birds of North America, and their manner 
of building their nests and rearing their young, affords an opportunity of 
careful and minute study. The song-birds of New England are nott 

Icast of its many attractions, and the student who will make himself more 
conversant with their oddities, will find a world of beauty opening before 

` his astonished gaz - METCALF. 

“ DWARF THRUSH” AGAIN. —In Tas NATURALIST, for June of this 
year, as E. A. Samuels gives a notice of the “Dwarf Thrush (Zwrdus 
nanus) in Massachusetts,” the specimen referred to being taken in Wal- 
tham, by Mr. L: L. Thaxter. In the S number Mr. T. Martin 


i 
this species only in its rather unusually small size, and in ¢ 
se characters of immaturity. After Mr. Samuels’s uae of it ap- 
. Thaxter for the 
Scie and through his kindness was enabled to give it a re eéxa amina e 
tion. The result was the entire nra Se of my previous conclusion: | 
Mr. Samuels, it will be observed, only compares it with Palla oe 4 


am sure he would not have done had he also compared it wl with 7. Sy 
sonii. The specimen mentioned by Mr. Trippe, according to meh 
n of it, does not appear to differ much from grr specime Mr. 
Patlasii, though a as he observes, from t e description 
Samuels gives of his. As to T. nanus, if it be a is species, 
specimen diverts by Mr. one might perhaps be referred to it, the 
T. nanus has been supposed to be a western species, representing on ‘‘ S 
Pacific slope the T. Pallasii of the Atlantic. Ina paper (now 1B in press) 








NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 489 


w pce Birds, 1864, p. 12), we attempt to show that it is not 


i to it are of occasional occurrence in the Eastern States. T. Audubonii is 
hicie 















-the reader is ec to the paper above cited (Mem. Bost. Soc. 

- Hist., Vol. I, p. seq.)- 

Respecting: ee es purple tinge” presented by the tail me of 
i. i eead and: ais Samuels’s specimens, it is a character of no 

uneomm ccurrence in all the Thrushes, as well as. in the one pete 
à Sparrow aeina a the Song and other Sparrows and birds pos- 
= sessing a rufous on especially in young birds and in those that have 
recently moulted, not being a specific channdiet at all, but generally a 
mark of fresh nue —J. A. ALLEN, Cambridg 

Tue Barn Ow, IN PENNSYLVANIA.—During the last year we have 
captured the “Barn Owl” (Strix pratincola Baird) in a high church stee- 
ple in this city (Lancaster), which is almost as rare & bird in this latitude 
as the Golden-eagle, although I am informed that it is more common i 
i I visited ee nesting seu apt obtained some 












mounted, the pin-feathers were just appearing in the wings and tail; 
Otherwise, it looks like a mass of white cotton wool, or down, with for- 
midable feet, beak, and eyes “stuck in,” after the manner of making 
sb Although I visited this “owlery” on several occasions, 

the adults “at home,” and the eggs were always exposed and quite 
vere excluded about. the 27th of pamane The pel- 
ed o; 


n reply to a note contained in the Natural History 


mg on the top of a tree, at least thirty feet from the ground, 
if other ornithologists have observed this PR 
m S 


amr, NATURALIST, VOL. II. 62 


NIPE. — In : 
g that W. A. Pope “has observed the Scolipax Wilsonit 
k- 


* 


490 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 

















CARBOLIC ÅCID FOR PRESERVING INSECTS, ETC.— During the present 
summer I have used as a preservative fluid, an alcoholic solution of car- 
bolic acid,—about four grains to the ounce. After meeps the insect 
with chloroform, which I prefer, I thoroughly paint it with this preserva- 
tive fluid and then dry it in the sun. During the past two ae I have 
had a number of insects thus prepared, mostly Lepidoptera, pinned to the 
wood-work in my office, thus freely exposed during a season which has 
been very favorable for their destruction, and they now look as fresh and 


ie 
satisfied that it is a sure protection p EE vation. In stuffing ani- 


think it necessary to skin them as EA, but npa remove the con- 
tents of the thorax and abdomen. Specimens prepared thus, a month ago, 
are now in good condition. —S. B. P P. Knox, M. D., Bers Pa. 
ALBINO Roxsry.—On the 19th of September, 1868, I shot at Marshall, 
‘Michigan, and preserved a specimen of sera mi oa atorius, which is 
nearly white. The wing quills and tail are a creamy 0 ite. The 
upper parts darker, inclining to ash, and the breast fee he parts lemon 
color, with the tips of the feathers white. Bill and feet bright ber 
eyes black. The general sateen z the bird when flying was W. 
Throat pure white. — D. Darwin HUGHE 
KINGFISHER’S NEsT AGAIN. —I examined two in Ohio; the entranoe t 


surface, the tube did not curve, but was so ovata that I could plainly 
see the nest, which was about twenty-eight inches from the mouth of the 
tube. The second was fully four feet deep, but straight as the other. I 
did not then notice the substance of the nest. The nests were somewhat 
higher than the mouths. Both cotati’ young, the first seven and 
second four.—P. G. Marcu, New York. 

E Cow-BUNTING.—It would, perhaps, be interesting to know how 
many of our birds the Cow-bunting chooses as foster parents to her 
young. During the present season I have known the eggs of this bird to 
be found in nests of the Sayornis fuscus (Common Pewe e), - morra i 
Acadicus (Green-crested Earn and Icteria viridis qa 
Chat), three species which I never knew to be imposed upou tokot 
is rather unusual for the enpeeifn to choose ah of the true Flycatcher 
in which to deposit its eggs, these birds frequently deserting ©” very 
slight provocation. oo 

I once found a nest of the Pyranga rubra epee Te with ae 
ic sitting upon two eggs of the Co w-bird. Onr ing to th I 


ag 








pe a the owner, - 
a realty surprised to find two young Cow-buntings in 4 flo z new 
condition, nag no sign of a Tanager’s egg. This was to me o 
the domestic affairs of birds, — one species building pi 

ite Goa peer the eggs. —T. H. Jackson, West Chester; 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 491 




















a or Ants. — On the 17th of June, 1866, I eco that the 
yw 


running about at random as if hunting for food, but scart in a path a 
inches wide, which extended from the door into a neighboring yard. 

of the ants appeared to have unusually large heads, but on closer ex- 
tion it appeared that each carried another ant in her jaws. Ifa pair 


ithose of every ant they met. When they had recognized each other by 
$ means of peunication, they clasped their jaws together, and raised 


e to it, so as to hang entirely free from the earth. In this posi- 
tion they were carried with very little dificnlty, being entirely out of the 
of the limbs of their carriers. Tracing the line of march I found it 
tended to the door-step of a neighbor, some twenty yards off, passing 
mder a gate and over a step four inches high, and through several yards 


ing in the opposite direction, were al 
i handed. This aay nsportation continued for ten days, excepting 
o garain. The larvæ and pupæ were eee last. After the pisii 


[Mr. E. enon informs us that this is the hones fusca Linn. —Eps.] 
: Is me Crow 4 Brrp or Prey?—In the summer of 1866, while out on a 
trip with my friends, Messrs. Gill and Smith, about a mile from 
e sawa crow (Corvus Americanus of Audubon) pounce down 
an after the manner of a hawk, on a brood of young chick- 
= Carry one of them off. The act seemed strange to us at the time, 
although we knew that a great part of this bird’s food, at this season, 
"d of the eggs and young of _ birds, yet we had never heard 
capturing its prey in this man C of our ornithologists 
me whether this s is a common els with this bird or not?— 
Pa. 


I), a IN Birps.—You can add to the list of Albino birds (page 
8 Reed-bira, his near Philadelphia; the entire plumage is white, 
r Shen feet ‘Date rawek Also, a Robin; this is an instance of 


Dr. E. Cou ues; that is, “the entire plumage is checkered or 
over with white, the normal colors showing in the spaces be- 


492 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


tween the white.” These specimens are in the possession of Joseph W. 
Drexel, Esq., of Philadelphia, who also has an example a Ground 
Squirrel, or Fence-mouse, as it is commonly called, which is, pe the ex- 
ception of the stripes on the back, entirely white; the stripes are pale 
brownish or yellowish. 

I trapped a snow-white specimen of the common rat, and also tained 
another one from my friend, fe jaa RSS ate of co but 
these, I suppose, are not uncommon. — HERMAN STRECKER. 

MIGRATIONS OF Brrps.— Do our migrating birds aa follow the 
same route in their annual migrations? I think they do, uniformly, un- 
less thrown out of their course by great stress of weather. 1n the fall of 
1863, one morning I noticed a large flock of robins (Turdus pase 


excavating the earth and lining it with, hydraulic cement. This tank H 
filled with water and swamp muck at the bottom, in which are growing 
the white Pond-lily (Nymphea odorata), the leaves of which make @ 
charming place for the birds SAA and drink. Among the robins I 
noticed a fine Albino. He, h his pagnons du voyage, remained in 
my yard about half an ioni sababaan dianti, and eating the berries of 


April came, ne morning my wife exclaimed, “Oh! what a large 
flock of robins!” I replied, “Look for my Albino,” when my ears were 
greeted with ‘‘Yes, here he is, the same bird.” He had some markings 


and myself as before, made the same request to m 
him, and if he came again, and I was gone, to report to TT 
land. Fall came, and with it my dear little Albino. Thus fo 

sive seasons this Albino came and went. Does not this es 
settle the question? Whether he ever came again I do not kno 
ARLICK, oo 0. 
e dis- 
ion of the fossil 


b 
a palpable error. The older naturalists were exceedingly fon 
ject of the unicorn, and the modern have made great efforts to ide 


or wild bull of Palestine, now extinct. — Land and Water. 


eas pas i 





? 


: 











NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 493 








SiREDON, A LARVAL SALAMANDER. — At the last meeting of thé Boston 
Society of Natural Sepai bo T Professor O. C. Marsh, of Yale 

College, gave an accoun some servations which he had recently 
nade on the metam fa cain of one on into Ambiystoma, two genera of 

tailed Batrachians, usually placed in distinct families. During an excur- 
Rock ntains in —_— last, Professor Marsh obtained in 

Lake Como, a small brackish sheet of water in Wyoming Territory, sev- 

> Specimens of Siredon ohonetie Baird, known in that region as t 

th 


“The SA vad A in the transformation, was the appearance of 
dark spots on the sides of the tail,-and soon after the membrane along the 
k, and especially that below the tail, began to disappear. Next the 

branchiæ, or gills, began to be absorbed, and the animal came 
More frequently to the surface of the water for air. As the an went 


oe their tice abches: bec abated: and the openings on the neck 
a ' e body also auaibtied in size, the head changed in form, 
becoming more rounded above and more oval in outline, and the eyes be- 
d prominent. The opening of the mouth and the 


nsformation in about thre ; er the species ever 
in Lake C , Which is about 7,000 feet sieve the sea, is uncer- 
that it breeds in the Siredon TE like the Axolotls from the 

of Mexico, there can be li dou is interesting meta- 


e fy 
val Tenders it extremely probable, iat all Siredons are merely 
be Sane and it also suggests a doubt whether some, at least, 
: other so-called get oe eee may not be the undeveloped 
8 Of Well-known s spec 
“sg ED BLACKBIRD Coomera secret Baird). 
a this the ay knowing of no name mo itable. They 
about the first of May, and disappear aoe the paa of June. I 
think they breed in this country. They made themselves valuable 
rs las i p 








494 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 
















_the entire lot as we T et the rear ones flying to the front as the 
insects were deyou he farmers of Kansas are under great obliga- 
tions to the little imk ae or, as some call them dagsa for 
their penras last summer. — W. J. MCLAUGHLIN, Cen a, Kansas 

[According to Professor Baird, this bird is es i a priiis bird, 
and is ‘im — Qistributed throughout Western America, from Texas, 
ote ois, eines and North Red River, to California, south into Mex- 
ico, and it has can Assen found in Greenland. — Eps. 

ITS OF THE Common RED Fox.— While among the White Moun- 

ns in Stowe, Maine, a hunter told us that the fox comes out of its 

Mikeni at sunset to catch g aP At this time, and also at 
e with the gun. I 


been observed leaping oe a a% crust of the snow. The far- 
mers say they do so to scare the field-mice out of their retreats beneath, 
in order to seize them. itida 
LOBSTER. — It is now almost universally admitted, that, in order 2 
k the yearly T demand, not alone for oysters, but also 1 
lobsters, craba, etc., some other means of rugcoauete must be me 


exertion has been made to resuscitate the fisheries by increasing the per 
duce by “artificial breeding.” Many oyster-beds that, a few years since, 
owing to the “greed” both of the oyster-dredger and the consumer, were 
Sa denuded of oysters, are now in a flourishing condition; and 
the artificial cultivation, not alone of nny put of lobsters, crabs, 
nace food-fishes (thanks to the genus of M. Coste, Hyacinth the Bauf, | 
le Docteur Sauvé, and other pe at paaka has ol out a 
complete commercial success. The French Government also, alive to the 
welfare of the fisheries of the coast, has panniers in e every ss 
manner the maritime industry of the seaboard, and has given concessions 
of portions of the foreshore to men belonging to the naval reservé 
er to have them mr iiia for the production of oysters, 
abate, and other fish. se grants have been ava ailed of to a large a 
extent by the sailors in attievent parts of France, and have been & souret 


ai me is 

other tanks, sea-fish, fit for food, are kept, so that the pise age 

enabled to study the habits of these various fishes, as well as the a 
hii to introd 


the wi 
confess they were completely ignorant of the habits, places 
etc., of nearly all the varieties of fish frequenting our shores. 








. something of its “act We ther efore purpose giving a 
count of the natural history of the lobster, trusting to find the ee 
“a the French Government at Concarneau, and follo wed o 


ntry. 
~ The lobster (Astacus marinus Fabr.*) belongs to the tribe of Decapods, 
‘ind, according to La Blanchére, is easily recognized by its shell, which is 
ofa brown, green, and blue shade, intermingled with red lines. The body 
‘terminates at at the head with a tridented beak; with a double row of teeth 


to and are covered with red rings. The eyes are small and round, 


t the plastrum, or shell immediately over the stomach, in such a 
g 9 ich is to be found the openings of 


o 
be 
fe) 
Et) 
a 
we 
co 
es 
p- 
=] 
4 
= 


am 
And attaches’ them all to the small feet under the tail, where they 
be on shelter from all harm, until they are sufficiently ripe for 


“In oer to forward and force the regular incubation of the ova, the 
e the power to give them more or less light, as they consider 

site, by closing or opening the folds of the tail. Sometimes the eggs 
kept quite covere d, and at other times they give them a kind of wash- 
Y moving the flanges of the tail in a peculiar manner. The incuba- 


~- 


* Our species is the Homarus Americanus. 


. 


496 — NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


ryos, now ready to burst the shells of the eggs, extend thelr tails, make 
light oscillations with the fan and its appendages, so as to grad- 
ng lobsters, which it succeeds in doing in a aed days. 

Phe maei recia as soon as born, swims away from its parent, rises 
to the surface of the water, and leaves the shores for the deep waters of 
the sea, where it passes the earliest days of its existence, in a vagabond 
state for a period of from thirty to forty days. During this time it under- 
goes four different changes of shell, but on the fourth, it loses its natatory 
organs, and is therefore no longer able to swim on the surface of the 
water, but falls to the bottom, where it has to remain for the future; ac- 
cording, however, to its increase of size, it gains E w approach the 
shore, which it had left at its birth. The number of e es which assail 
the young embryos in the deep sea is enormous, thousands of all kinds 


sary condition to their rapid growth. In fact, every young lobster loses 
and remakes his crusty shell from eight to ten times the first year, five to 
seven the second, three to four the third, and from two to three 

fourth year. However, after the fifth year, the change is on nly annual, for 


ar 
hen it begins As aneo and from this period the gro 
more gradual.” —R. K. Woop, in Land and Water, London. 





A GEOLOGY. 
WHAT IS A GEODE?—The term geode is applied by geological writers 
to two distinct conditions Da character of rocks, in so promiscuous a 
manner that the reader, without specimens, has no o means by maa 
determine, with any degree of certainty, pe it is of which the writer 
treating. Let me illusitáte by numbered exa 


they occur, and in no way EO a it, “the cavity being * 


mere opening in the general mass of the foundatio nclosed 

No. 2. Rounded masses of penta, often Chakassen, riir oii 
in limestone, etc., but as foreign in character, from t the eral ene peen 
them, as raisins are to the mass of a pudding by ok ae have 


e rock containing these takes piace, these balls f 
where they remain wholly unattacked by the elements 
These silicious nodules vary in size from that of an ap 


E E 


ple to that of 














PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 497 


ed Mihe crystals of one, and often of several minerals, ae 
Bic, great beauty of appearance. gee former of these (No. 1) is 
abundant in the Niagara limestone of the New York State Survey; while 
latter (No. 2) occurs in profusion in the limestones of Indiana, Mis- 


my distinction called geodes b AN writers. 
That the two objects, so Eee ee eae os known by 
distinctive names see elf-evide present usage of 







do, is productive of extreme confusion, while the practice is not justi- 
by any apparent necessity whatever.—R. W. Haskins, Buffalo, N. Y. 





PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. — NATU- 
History SECTION. Chicago, I ll., August 5-12, 1868. Gen. G. K. WAR- 


One hundred and ten miles below Big Stone lake, is partially gran- 
» Big Stone lake occupies wpa miles of this great excavation, and 
ent 


et 
= 
au 
o 
wa 
= 
"i 
fs) 
n 
o 
33 
ps 
iy 
© 
mu 
F 
b 
a 
n 
ct 
= 
izi 
° 
ty 
— 
Q 
4 


> excavate the valley of the Mississippi, he must admit their insuf- 
sa n fact these feeble streams, so far from having made this 
AMER. x4 “ang are doing kati best to fill it up. 

: TURALIST, VOL 63 











498 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


Northward from Lac Travers commences a vast lake basin extending 
continuously to the north end of Lake Winnipeg, including this lake, Lake 
Winnipigoos and Lake Manitoba. The greater part of this ancient lake- 
bed is now dry, leaving a well-defined beach to mark its former extent. 
Although the Red river of the north flows north along the lowest line of 
this bed, he concluded that the waters of this basin once flowed south- 
ward, through the Minnesota river, into the Mississippi 

The present level of Lake Winnipeg aegis to Mi Hines, is six 

To 


good description of this outlet, as it is never used for a line of a 
cation; it abounds in rapids and falls, which seem to show its rece 
igi If we suppose the ice of the glacial period to have ee this, it 

rel have given the lake the whole extent of the basin, and caused its 
ee southward; but this-will not account for all the phenomena 
observed. 

pai more mapon mpeni of a change of outlet froma southern 
to a northern one, is to attribute it to a northern depression of the basin; 
for it is found ia Fakti dio kari formerly. had a southern outlet through 
the Illinois river, and Lake Winnebago also had a much greater extent 
and a southern outlet. The shores of all the lakes show the water to be 
receding from their southern ends and encroaching upon the n northern. 
This northern depression is known to be going on along the Atlantic 
coast from New Jers rsey to Greenla na 


n. 
waters of Winnipeg basin, even if they had continued to flow southward 
could not have excavated the passage-way now occupied by the Minnesota 
and Mississippi rivers, and that we must go farther back in time to reac cha 
sufficient cause. In doing this we must first consider the character of the 
rivers which PETEN in pEr region previous to the glacial epoch. urin, 
the Cretaceous period we know that an ocean extended from the present 
Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, covering a large portion of the space 
between the Missouri and Rocky Mountains. At that time eg pa 
country through which the Mississippi now flows was dry la Jan a 

slopes must have sent its waters westward to the Cretaceous pe 

the continent rose this Cretaceous ocean manages pene and the poe 
period began with great fresh-water lakes along the base ye the Rocky 
Mountains; into these lakes the waters of the Upper Miss 


continued apparently to the time preceding the glacial “hoa 
vation at the south-west seems to have been in progress 











PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 499 







eal epoch; every contemporaneous formation being found in the 

AR regions of the south-west higher than to the north-east. 

g the glacial period, then, all the water-courses of the Upper 

issippi region were westward, and not southward as now. Not only 

Slope of the land, but the great folds of the Silurian strata compelled i 


ean conceive how it must have been cut up by ravines and valleys en- 
croaching on each other in endless confusion n, as we ow see in the bad 
t 


e whole Upper Mississippi region was the scene of the drift 
_ Action, and the valleys of preéxisting rivers were filled up and mostly 
buried out of sight. The existence of a distinct glacial moraine at War- 
ou on the Mississippi, shows that the glaciers were at least that far 


He had dsterininea the south-western limit of the glacial or drift action 


© be the pom river, from about the 48th down to the 43d parallel of 
et mo d s i 


for fifty miles east of their bases. The existence of this space 
the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains shows that the form 
the Continent and seas in the glacial time were such as to produce in 
‘the climate relations similar to what now exist: namely, that the mountain 


acial mass must have been along the line of least 
°, and towards this limiting line, and the glacial scratches in the 
Mississippi region show that the motion was south-west. There, 
n that limit a river must have formed, to carry away the melting 


500 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 




















water from the glacier, and this limit was the Missouri river, and that 
was the river formed thereby. It cut along this glacial limit because all 
the streams west of it came from the mountains toward it, and there their 
old course was terminated. We see what lakes must periodically have 


n the glaciers began to retire to the north-east, as long as the general 
slope of the continent was towards the glacial mass, successive rivers 
were marked out by it along its western face, and all have a parallel- 
ism, and are close to each other, and have short tributaries or parallel 
branches if any. They are, besides minor streams, the James river, the 
ig Sioux river, the Des Moines river, the Iowa and Cedar rivers, and 


run directly from it, and such we see is the direction of all the tributaries 
of the Mississippi on the east side. This direction corresponds with that 
of the preglacial rivers, and it is probable that some of them, es. as the 
St. Croix river, Chippeway river, Wisconsin river, etc., byes 
regained their old beds, for so their appearance cue indic 

The bend of the great valley along the Minnesota river, tal Man- 
kato and St. Paul, being at right angles to the main course of all these paral- 
lel glacial rivers, would seem to disprove the view that the formation of 
this river took place along the glacial margin. But it probably is the bed 
of one of these preglacial rivers, as it lies in the proper fold of the Silurian 
rocks and seems to have been formed in an ancient valle Ema % : 
southward, however, the present course of the Mississippi is cu 
across this fold in the rocks, and the glacial action is the only ae 
of it. 
The manner in which the glacial action produced these valleys was not 
by abrading the strata with the grinding power of rocks embedded in the 
ice, but after the manner in which a block of marble is sawed. e gla 
cier supplied an immense power in the der water, and into this water 
it was constantly dropping Apa rocks and s 

The waters issuing from a lake have Se abrading power, for they 
have comparatively little ie material to operate with. Thus it wi 
that the waters issuing at the old southern outlet of Lake Mba cou 


have drained it, nor would the banks then have been as high as bove the 
as agape at the Bijou hills, which are eight hundred feet a ete : 
of the river. The slope of the Missouri is more than dou 





PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 501 






he Mississippi, and hence the water of the Missouri river is several 
ed feet higher than that of the Mississippi, at points in the same 


widens out to from forty to sixty miles. Sometimes the river, 

at the “Grand Tower” and at ‘‘Le-montagne-qui-trempe 4-l’eau,” and 

several other places, is found flowing between bluffs not even a mile 

‘part; but the bluffs on one side or the other are always found to be a 

detached mass, and the main valley exists there too. 

Two remarkable exceptions to this occur at the rapids, —one at Keokuk, 
‘other at Rock Island. Without lengthening this paper to such an 


ve - the sediment brought by its tributaries, was gone. very- 
~ Mong its course these tributaries continued to deposit at their 





502 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 





















the lake below it, as a delta advances into any body of water into which 
astream flows. These lakes in most cases were thus gradually filled up, 
leaving countless delta islands in their place, but Lake Pepin still exists 
made by the sands deposited by the Chippeway. Lac qui Parle and Big 
tone lake, on the Minnesota river, are of the same kind. The depth of 
e lakes is still fifty to seventy feet or more, so that having 

hei 


of t epth of sand above and below them. There is no need, when 
we know how this river jae was made, to sound in order to get the 
depth of the sand. We know the seep everything must have that 


crosses the valley of the Satie The exceptional cases at the rapids 
I have explained. 
So far what is said is mainly in the way of a demonstration to account 
for “Certain Physical Features of the Upper Mississippi river.” The gran- 
deur of the subject he had tried to keep from influencing his observation 
and deductions therefrom. But part of the facts by which the Meese 
are reached are here given, nor are all of the inferences drawn which 
facts EN will warrant. 
ly knew how sean of what he had said is derived from others. 
He nee eee some of the most distinguished geologists on the gen- 
eral subject. He was particularly indebted to Mr. James E. Mills of New 
ork, whose investigations of the gradual northern depression going on 
along the Atlantic coast, suggested t o him to account for the change of 


that 
probably embraces the whole continent. This must affect all the etc: 
and all the lakes, bays and oceans around us, an yi so far as his 0 
vation and reading extend, they all give the same proo ofs of it. It 
however, a field for many observers, and he ventured this incomplete 
showing, so that others who have the opportunity, and deem it w 
of their efforts, may help along the investigation. 


Kent SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTE. Grand Rapids, Mich., Sept. 1 


ing counties.” The list contains all the species heretofore descr 
several new m science, of which descriptions exist only in the manuscri 
of Mr. Curri ade 

Mr. beige w. Smith gave an account of a series of aT T 





CORRESPONDENCE. 503 










ns who have inhabited the locality for many See Trees 
and four feet in diameter lie in a state of extreme decay on many of 
mounds, while hardwood trees, quite as large, grow luxuriantly on 
ly all of them. Several of the mounds have been explored quite 
ughly. ae vases of pottery, copper and stone implements, bone- 
es, and a piece of wicker work, very unique, and probably intended 
a basket, were found. The latter was too far gone to be saved. 
> sad Mnt were also seen stre wed in one mound. The vases ng pot- 


both 
Giss on a level with the ground. Layers of ashes and Berted earth 
yira ae in the excavations. The builders, probably, belonged 
hose monuments are so numerous farther south. 


ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


G. M, New York. —(1) We cannot give the number of known ppi = se 
fishers in in the world. Mr. Cassin, in his catalogue of the specimens of t the 
tained in the large enithologi al collection of the museum of the pian hak 
of Natural Sciences, published m 1852, gives ninety-one species from various parts 
OSG wld. (2) We donot know what is meant by Kinghunters. (3) It is well,in order 
to avoid being led into error, to question much that is given in works of a popular 
er, unless the statements are taken hs a well-known authority on the sub- 
even then you must rem the most noted gainer have some- 
i eae ements which far ther rese arch nas oe not to be true. In general, 
c. C. ks ace Ind. — We have printed labels of the ep and Generic names 
“s Hymenoptera and Lepi optera, and are gradually printing those of the other 
of Insects. We also have printed labels es the diffe iy States of the Union, 
ities in Mexico, Central America, etc., in small type, and abbreviated for pin- 
insects, Also blank aee me a red border, for filling out with a pen. 
e shall eeo ho these as soon a ome others printed, but in the meanwhile 
road, ta fair set 
aisa e end the names of the beetles qma T 
Ps bi 





D 
1, 9, Stenolophus 
id Merch (1 ‘eels tucublandus Say; ; 12, Platius sinuatus Dej.; 13, 
E aide N Say; 15, Bradycellus eaan 
os a Hr pete ostichus Peels) occidentalis Dej.; 17, Helluomorp i 
egg x ngh mus Dej.; 19, Dacne heros; 21, EERE ann asi - 
S 24, C! villosus Grav 





: 3. S. E AREPA s Grav.; eophilus 

Milwaukee, seta 1, Geopinus incrassatus sich y Chlenius sericeus e 
species?; 4, Calosoma calidum Fabr.; 6, Arhopalus fulminans Fabr.; 7, 
mucronate 8, Clytus campestris Oliv-; 9, s marginicollis La- 

9, Physocnemum brevilineum Say; 11, Hylobius pales Herbst; 12, as nophorus 
ae inercus Say ?. 14, Balaninus rectus Say A h ree 
» Dichelonycha sp.?; 17, Eumolpus auratus; 18, Otineaa: 19 m 

ivi; Hansen 21, Disonycha pluriligata atin’ 3 


Linn.; w, 
Would like monea 


ir. ra ee of those numbered 5, 6, 7, 10, 15, 16, 22, by E. O., and 














504 BOOKS RECEIVED. 

















J. pal lbany, Oregon. —The insects were duly received. Any specimens from Ore- 
gon a pote desirable. Preserve all beetles, _ bugs, pai Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, 
ants, RN in alcohol or whiskey moths in folded p arr The 
rock specimen was volcanic tüm. We will answer your enquiries, regarding the plants, 
in our next number. 

L. M., Norwich, Conn. aney oe of North American Sphinges is in Silli- 
man’s peaini Journal , Vol. 36, p. 282. 18389. 

















A. P. Hudson , Ohio.—Mr. W. V. Andrews h q West Hoboken, 
N. J. He: expect to have some eggs of the Yama-mai moth next wae 
T.L. M. The fly-parasite of Orgyia wa of Tachina, which, 
like karipura is s parasiti on caterpillars. ithe ee ar a ia the allied genera 
are internal para 
J. M., Belle ie one —We shall print your notes in our next number. Brief 
botanical notes would be welcome to the NATURALIST. We would print A most 
ful. 


ton. — The third number of the GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF INSECTS was de- 
Ca agi on Da 10th, owing to the failure of the party doing the electrotyping. 
Number four will be issued as early in November as practicable. 


—eo 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 


A Treatise on the Artificial Propagation of certain kinds of Fish. By T. Garlick, M. 
D: Cleveland, gek 
xtra Digits. By Bu rt G. Wilder. Boston, 1868. 8vo, pp. 20. 
A Conspectus > Bourn ical desis which are used in the Description of F lowering 
Plants. Bowdoin College, 1868. 0, pp. 12. 
Journal of Travel and henna Histon y. No 1; No. 4, 1 
The Tim B cet Papers. New York, Orange Sad ROE 1868. 12mo. With illus 


assia. Vols. 1;2, parts 13 - 1866-8 t discover 

A System hf Mineralogy. r TOE Se neralogy, comprising the most recen and 

ies. By J. D. Dana, aided by G. J. Bru se Fifth ae a and enlarged, 

tated ba upwards of 600 wood- New 

Cons and By-Laws of gk Entomalogient l Society var Canada. 8vo, pp. +£ 

The Canaan Entomologist. Vol. 1, No. 2. r, 1868. 

The Ameri a October, 1868. it ie ae of the 

How secede reatise on the Chemical Composition, pre re, and ‘7 
Tope s for al e Studen nt of Agriculture. With numerous illustrations and tables 0 

W. Johnson. New York, Orange Judd & Co. 1868. 12mo- Copenhagen. 

Sa Jor the Popular Diffusion of Natural Science. Vol. 5,No.3, 1868. By G. D 
Orographic Geology: or, the Origi aep arpi re of Mountains. A Review. ©: 

866. 


os. September % = 26. eri 

The Field. August 21, 29; September 5, 12,19, 26. London. 
American Bee cei October. Washington, 
Chemical News. August, cd tage porai October. New “York. ` 
nene Septembe 1866. Carson 
Annual Rite wh tha Stale Mineralogist of the State of Nevada, for 
City, 187. 8vo. Grace Anns 

‘Natural History of Bi Lectures on Ornithology, in ten parts. BY n 
Lewis. Part I, 1868. Polat J. A. Bancroft & Co. 12mo, pp. 32 : 





pet BO hn = 8 


AMERICAN NATURALIST. 


Vol. II.— DECEMBER, 1868.—No. 10. 


ogee Ss 


BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 


BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES, U.S.A. 





. Bens alone, of all animate beings, may be truly said to 

“fall asleep” in death. When the silver cord of a bird’s life 
8 loosened, the “windows of the soul” are gently closed by 

Unseen hands, that the mysterious rites attending the divorce 

of the spirit from the body may not be profaned by prying 
| looks. With us, the first office rendered by sorrowing 
: friends to one departed, is to close the eyes, to hide from 
_ New the mockery of life that looks out from between mo- 
tiouless lids. And when any mammal expires, the eyes 
“main wide open. With all, the stony stare of the glazed 
bal i the sign of dissolution. Only birds close their eyes 
it dying, 












ola one of the differences between birds and mammals. 
RP and wonderful as birds are in this respect, which 
ay to the reflective mind fraught with significance, we 
k find them scarcely less beautiful and wonderful even 
a the material, physical structure of their eyes. Let 
i into a bird’s eye. Though the flash and glow of life 
‘aging and only dead tissues left, we shall still find more 
vill icy tie fully comprehend, and everything that we see 
“Xcite interest and admiration. 


Soyer ore MY OF 
NCE, in the Grey Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by the PEABODY ACADE 
AMER. N Clerk’s Ottice of ihe District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
%4 64 (505) 


506 BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 


To commence by saying that all birds have eyes, might 
appear at first sight to be superfluous. Yet this statement 
expresses one of the characters of the class Aves; for it is 
not applicable, without some qualification, to any other class 
of Vertebrates. Some representatives of each of the other 
classes either have no eyes at all or else very rudimentary 
ones. ‘There are blind fishes and blind reptiles; and there 
are mammals at least “as blind as a mole.” Among birds, 
the “wingless” species of New Zealand (Apteryx) are said 
to have the smallest eyes of all, and also to want one of the 
most characteristic structures of the avian eye-type,—the 
marsupium, a peculiar organ inside the eye, of which we 
- shall learn something before we have finished our “Views.” 

We will examine first the accessory structures of a bird 
eye,—those that surround and defend it, produce its move 
ments, and keep it in working order; and then we will look 
at the more exquisite mechanism within. ' 

If we hold a dying bird in our hands, we observe that just 
as the last convulsive shiver agitates its frame, the eyes close 
by the uprising of the lower lid. In the primitive theatres 
of classic days, the curtain was lowered from the top to dis 
close the stage, and drawn up when the act was over; ne 
these movements are reversed. Birds follow the classt¢ 
usage, when the curtain rises upon the last scene of their 
life. Here at the outset is one difference between the ey¢ 
of a bird and that of a mammal; and differences will mul 
tiply as we proceed. : 

he movements of the upper lid, in almost all birds, are 
much more restricted than those of the lower. There = 
few exceptions to this rule, and these chiefly furnished i 
the nocturnal raptores (Owls, Strigidæ), and org r 
rostres (Caprimulgide, e. g., Whippoorwill, Nigh 
Both lids are composed of common skin externally, #™ ý 
brane internally (the palpebral part of the conjunctiva, t0 e 
noticed presently), with a layer of fibrous tissue inte iid l 
for greater strength. Besides these tissues, the lowes Si a 


, 


8 





BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS, 507 


has also a smooth oval plate of cartilage to stiffen it. The 
upper one is raised by a very small muscle, called levator 
palpebræ superioris; arising from the rim of the bony orbit, 
md running to the edge of the lid. There is no special 
lowering muscle ; it is depressed by the action of part of 
mother muscle, the orbicularis oculi, that nearly surrounds 
the eye, the chief office of which is to pull up the lower lid. 
the latter has a small distinct muscle for its depression. 

A bird’s eye, when wide open, appears ‘almost perfectly 
tireular; there are no well marked corners or angles (canthi) 
in front or behind, as in man and most mammals. Birds 
have no true eyelashes, but some kinds have two series of 
short modified feathers Fig. 1.* 
along the edges of the 
eyelids, that may be 
‘onsidered to corres- 
pond to the hairs found 
m this situation in 
mammalia, 

Now let us separate 
the lids ana look at 
the eye. Not yet! “In 
the twinkling of an 





titans yond is the nictitating membrane aren 
a Gi. a very curious structure, both ip its movements 
‘ons. It is a very thin, delicate, elastic membrane, 
hi, or nearly so, of a delicate pearly-white color. 
le other two lids move verti ally, and have a hori- 





bd 

8.1 yj is 
ead eyeball, seen from behind, showing the: muscles. æ, rectus superior; 
Xter 


Ns inferi nus; c, rectu inferior; d, rectus in us; e, obliquus superior; f, obli- 








508 BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 
























zontal commissure, this one sweeps horizontally, or a little — 
obliquely across the front of the ball, from the side next the — 
beak to the outer one. When not in action, it lies curled © 
up in the lower anterior corner of the orbit: when wanted — 
for use it is pulled over the eye by the action of two mus- — 
cles that grow on the back of the ball. The mechanism of — 
its movements—the most perfect and ingenious that could — 
be imagined—may be clearly understood with the help of — 
the figure on the preceding page, which represents the back — 
of the right eyeball, with all its muscles. Two of these at — 
upon the nictitating membrane alone; g is the quadratus — 
muscle, so called from its somewhat squarish shape, arising — 
at the upper margin of the ball, and extending down on the - q 
ball to the optic nerve, 7, where it ends in a broad flat trans- 
verse tendon, not attached to anything, but perforated so a 
to form a sheath or loop; h is the pyramidalis musele, also 
so-called from its shape, tapering into a very long thread- 
like tendon, %, that first runs through the pulley-like sheath 
in the tendon of the quadratus, and then curves downwari — 
and backwards over the ball, to the margin of the latter. E a 
winds around, gets in front of the ball, and goes to be I- 
serted into the lower corner of the nictitating membrane. : 
If this slender tendon went straight along to the margin of 4 
the ball, and across the front, it would be right in the lise — 
of vision when the nictitating membrane, retiring to! o 
ner, pulled it after. If it went directly under the ball to get 
to the front, it would not have the right direction to gs 
the membrane straight across the eye. So it must T 4 
around the optic nerve. But now it would press Upe?» if 
interfere with the all-important functions of, the ee 
there were no provision for keeping it away from the pa a 
when the pyramidalis exerts its force of traction. Here 
quadrate muscle comes into beautiful action ; it always eh | 
tracts simultaneously with the pyramidal, and weg : 
tendon of the latter up out of the way of the nerve. 
is the ingenious, concerted action, of these tw? " 





























BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 509 


which, though contracting in opposite directions, and mutu- 
ally antagonistic as far as the nerve is concerned, eventually 

‘txert their force in the same direction, and work harmo- 
 Miously for a common purpose. When the tendon of the 
Pyramidalis is loosened by relaxation of the two muscles, the 
tictitating membrane is set free, and returns to its hiding- 
place by virtue of its own elasticity, just as the curtain of a 
wach window, after being forcibly drawn down, rolls itself 
P again when the lever that sets a spring in action is 
Moved, 


We understand the mechanism of the nictitating membrane 
than we do its use. Birds can wink with this one 
alone, as might be expected from its name, wherein 
they beat mammals, that cannot wink without moving both 
s. Ifwe menace a bird’s eye with the finger, we see that 
* hictitating is the first of the lids to rush to its defence. 
membrane is believed to be chiefly subservient to 
regulating the amount of light to be admitted to the eye. 
om eagle is, probably, able to soar aloft directly in the sun’s 
Nys, by drawing this covering over its eyes. Owls habit- 
vad sit, in the daytime, with drawn curtains to shut out 
: glare of light. It is also quite possible that many, or 
birds that are rapid flyers, make great use of this mem- 
M guarding against various dangers to which the eye 
Muld be exposed in their dashing career. A screen is 
fore the eye, which, while not preventing sight, as 
>of the outer lids would, opposes the entrance of any 
“icles of matter, 
Three lids of the casket that holds the gem have been 
“ad yet there is still another covering of the jewel 
_ A very delicate filmy membrane, not very apparent 
no. JY inspection, is laid over the front of the ball, 
ound which it is reflected over on to the inside of the 
wet lids. This is the conjunctiva, so-called because it 


‘ 








510 BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 


When these vessels become engorged with blood, as occurs 
in congestion or inflammation of the conjunctiva, they are 
very distinctly seen, and we have the state of things that is 
called “blood-shot.” i 

Before examining the eyeball, which at length we have 
reached, let us glance at some accessory structures that are 
found lying with it in the socket. Properly speaking, birds 
cannot be said to cry; their features are immobile, and 
cannot wear an expression of grief; but they can shed 
tears. The tears are elaborated by two small glands that 
lie inside the eyelids, one in each corner. These are both 
“lachrymal” glands; but the one that lies in the corner next 
the beak is called the “Harderian gland.” It is smaller than 
the other, nodulated in shape, and deeply seated inside the 


nictitating membrane, upon which it pours out a viscid of 


glairy secretion through a small opening, the mouth of a 
short duct that receives branches from all parts of the gland. 
The nictitating membrane requires constant oiling to work 
easily ; the Harderian gland is an oil-can that can both make 
the oil and apply it when needed. The other, more truly 3 
lachrymal, or “tear” gland, pours its secretion into the pos- 
terior or outer corner of the eye, near the juncture of the 
two outer lids, which are thus kept soft and moist on the 
inside. Tears, in the concrete, viewed anatomically or phys 
iologically, are very different things from tears Ts 
abstractly as to their esthetic relations; at any rate, 
subserve a much more useful and sensible purpose 
“lachrymal duct,” which is neither more 
drainage-tube for the eye, to carry off superabundant i, 
or tears that have fulfilled their function and are wor? 


they 


commences by two little openings in the ant 
ner of the eye, and runs into the nose, whic 


abou 


a cesspool to receive the refuse waters of the eye + the - 


is, beside the two above-mentioned, a third gland 
eye, very large and conspicuous in some birds, as 
albatrosses, and other swimmers, in which it 1 


or less than ® — 









erior lower ca : 


i 


the | : se 
s lodged in * 


= 
Ns CTS! SE ee eee en eee 











BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 511 


deep semilunar groove in the roof ofthe bony orbit. But it 
_ does not belong to the eye at all, and seems to be stowed 
; there for want of room elsewhere. Its long duct runs along 
_ the top of the orbit into the nose, pouring out a secretion 
_ that lubricates the mucous membrane (pituitary membrane) 
-of the nasal passages. 
: The lachrymal glands keep the eye’s face clean, and relate 
_ chiefly, if not wholly, to the movements of the eyelid. The 
_ eyeball itself rolls about by the indirect aid of a different 
= tissue—the areolar, or cellular, as it is indifferently called,— 
_ the interstices of which are filled with fat. Ordinarily, the 
- Socket of an eye is much too large for the ball, and of a 
nical, instead of globular shape, so that the ball can no 
_ More fit or fill it, than can a marble dropped into a candle 
q extinguisher. A bird’s eyeball is more nearly fitted to its 
Socket than that of most mammals; still, it rests wholly or 
_ Ingreat part upon a bed of fat. This soft, yielding, elastic 
a substance gently presses the eye forwards, and holds it there 
7 = place, accurately adapted to the lids, while at the same 
time it allows the ball to rotate any way upon its own axis, 
tid also keeps it greased. We have'a great deal of fat in 
"r own eye-sockets in health. The reason that people’s eyes 
_ e sunken or “hollow” after a long illness, is because part 
of it is wasted away. While there is so much fat all around 
eyeball, there is not a particle in the eye itself; this 
hay ratively clumsy and stupid material would be like a 
tins in a china-shop in such a nervous quick-witted struc- 
Ducks are said to roll their eyes up in a thunder-storm, 
Very likely they do, since all birds move their eyes about 
€or less when they are not asleep. But the amount and 
Sree of ‘motion that a bird’s eye is capable of is small int 
~ iparison with that enjoyed by most mammals’ eyes. This 
“S partly from the shape of the orbit, and partly from 
Shape of the ball itself, which last is very singular, as 
"e shall see in the sequel. Nevertheless, there are as many 

















F 





512 BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 


muscles in a bird’s eye as in a mammal’s._ They are six in 
number; whereof four are called “straight” muscles (recti) 
and two “oblique” (obligui); though for the matter of that, 
they are all of them straight enough. The terms refer to 
their line of traction. The four recti all arise near each other, 
at the back of the bony orbit, around the hole (foramen 
opticum) that lets the optic nerve in from the brain; and go 
to be inserted into the eyeball at four nearly equidistant 
points around its margin. One (musculus rectus superior, 4, 
in Fig. 1) goes to the top; another (m. r. inferior, c) to 
the bottom, antagonizing the first; the other two (mm. r. 
internus, d, and externus, b) respectively to the front and 
rear (or to what would be the inner and outer sides, if a bird’s 
eye were directed forwards like ours), and also antagonize 
each other. The two oblique muscles arise farther forward 
in the bony orbit, near each other, and then diverge, one 
(m. obliquus superior, e) going obliquely upward, the other 
(m. o. inferior, f), obliquely downward: they are inserted 
near the margin of the globe, close by the insertions, on 
pectively, of the upper and under recti muscles. Their action 
appears to be very limited: the most notable thing about 
them is that the superior one goes straight from its origin ” 
its insertion, whereas in mammals this muscle changes its 
direction almost at a right angle, by passing through a fibrous 
loop, forming a pulley, suspended from the inner upper or 
ner of the orbit, very much as the tendon of the pyramidalis 
changes its course by running through the sheath in the quad- 
ratus. The six muscles serve as so many ropes to pull the ey : 
in different directions, and change the axis of vision ; and a 

taken together, as stays to steady it. In the figure they are 
cut away from their origins at the bony orbit, and reflec : 

away from the eyeball, to give a fair view of the pyramies” 


and quadratus. The reader must mentally collect the si 


dangling ends, and fasten them in the places above desig- 
nated. 
i There are some other structures in the socket of the ey® 











BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 513 






besides those already described, and the ball itself. There 
are nerves, arteries and veins. Of the first named, the 
optic, or sight-nerve, is by far the largest, and is in fact the 
only one that can be discerned without more trouble than 
most persons would be willing to take to see it, and more 
skilful dissection than most can make. It is described further 
on, as it can be more conveniently studied in connection with 
the ball itself. Other nerves go to the muscles of the eye. 
The oculo-motor divides into numerous branches, which are 
distributed to the inferior oblique, and all the recti except 
the external. The latter claims a nerve of its own (the 
abducens), and so, also, does the superior oblique, to which 
the patheticus is exclusively distributed. These nerves all 
come directly from the brain. We do not know why they 
are so unequally distributed. There are some more nerves 
in the socket which, however, do not particularly concern 
the eye, and therefore need not concern us. There is little 
to be said of the blood-vessels: they ramify everywhere, sup- 
plying all the structures of the eye with food. The arteries 

ing the nutritious fluid, and the veins carry it away when 
the nourishment has been extracted for the repair of the 
destruction that constantly goes on in all living tissue, and 
When it has become loaded with carbon, and other effete or 
deleterious matter. 


a 
2A 
y 
A 
am 
ie 
fi 
if 
he 


Sa er eee 


2 











_ Presented to him. — To be concluded. 
NATURALIST, VOL. I. 65 





THE WAVY-STRIPED FLEA-BEETLE. 
BY HENRY SHIMER, M. D. 

Tus beautiful little beetle, also called “Striped Turnip- 
fly” (Haltica striolata Fabricius) at the West, is well known 
and abundant. Every gardener is conversant with the fact 
that like fleas, grasshoppers, ete., it springs away to a great 
distance when he attempts to put his finger upon it. It 
appears in early spring, and is a constant annoyance to the 
gardencr during the whole summer. 

The Striped Turnip-beetle (Fig. 1) is less than one-tenth 
of an inch in length. Its general appearance is black, with 

Fig.l. Fig.2. 2a, a broad wavy yellowish, or bufi-colored 
stripe, on each wing-cover. The larva 
(Fig. 2; 2a, pupa) is white, with a 
faint darkened or dusky median line 
on the anterior half of the body, being 
probably the contents of the alimentary canal seen through 
the semitranslucent skin. The head is horny and light 

rown. On the posterior extremity is a brown spot equal 
to the head in size; and there are six true legs and one 
proleg. In its form and general appearance it somewhat 
resembles the larva of the Cucumber-beetle, but. it is much 
smaller. Its motion is slow, arching up the abdomen 
slightly, on paper or any smooth surface, in such a post 
_ tion that its motions are necessarily awkward and unnatural, 
because in a state of nature it never crawls over the surface, 
but digs and burrows among the roots in the ground. i 
length is .35 of an inch, and breadth .06 of an inch. It fi 
upon roots beneath the ground. 

The pupa is naked, white, and transforms in a little earthen 
cocoon, pressed and prepared by the larva, in the groun: 
near its feeding place. This period is short. 

From my notes I see that on June 14, 1865, I put 4 

(514) ; 














THE WAVY-STRIPED FLEA-BEETLE. 515 


number of the larvee into a breeding-box with a supply of 
their natural food. June 17th, some of the larve had disap- 
peared beneath the ground. July 4th, I found in the box 
the beetle. This gives us seventeen days from the time the 
larva entered the ground, having ceased eating, until I ob- 
tained the perfect insect. I did not open the breeding-box 
every day, but as the insect was yet quite pale and soft, 
conclude that it was not more than a day or so out of the 
ground. The actual time, however, in the pupa state, was 
less than seventeen days, for, like the larva of the Cucumber- 
beetle and other beetles, these worms pass a kind of inter- 
mediate state, in a quiet, motionless condition, in their lit- 
tle dirt-tombs beneath the ground. During this time they 
decrease in length very much, becoming a shorter, thicker 
“grub.” This period is a peculiar part of the larval state, 
and may be called the quiescent, or “shortening period,” in 
contrast with the feeding period. At the end of this prepar- 
atory, shortening period, the little larva casts its skin and 
becomes a pupa. 

During the past summer I bred a good number of these 
beetles from the larva and pupa, taken from their breeding 
Places beneath the ground; but as I took no precise notes of 
the date, I can say no more regarding the time of the pupa 
State, except that it is short, only a few days. 

Every gardener knows that these insects are very injurious 
to young cabbages and turnips as soon as they appear above 
ground, by eating off the seed-leaves ; he also almost uni- 
Yersally imagines that when the second, or true plant-leaves 
“Ppear, then the young plant is safe from their depreda- 
tions, then the stem is so hard that the insect will not bite 
it, and the leaves grow out so rapidly as not usually to be 
mjured by them ; but if we would gain much true knowledge 
s what is going on around us, even among these most sim- 
Ple and common things, we must learn to observe more 
closely than most men do. 
_ “He gardener sees his young cabbage plants growing well 





516 THE WAVY-STRIPED FLEA-BEETLE. 


for a time, but at length they become pale or sickly, wither 
and die in some dry period that usually occurs about that 
time, and attributes their death to the dry weather ; but if he 
will take the pains to examine the roots of the plants, he 
will fiud them eaten away by some insect, and by searching 
closely about the roots will find the larva, grub, worm, or 
whatever else he may choose to call it; from this he can 
breed the Striped Turnip-beetle, as I have often done. 

I have observed the depredations of these larve for ten 
years, and most of that time had a convincing knowledge of 
their origin, but only proved it in 1865; since that time I 
have made yearly verifications of this fact. 

_ Every year the young cabbage plants and turnips in this 
region receive great damage from these larve,and often when 
we have dry weather, in the latter part of May and early 
in June, the cabbage plants are ruined. A large proportion 
of the plants are killed outright in June, and the balance 
rendered scarcely fit for planting, but when the ground 1s 
wet to the surface all the time by frequent rains, the young 
plant is able to defend itself much more effectually, by 
throwing out roots at the surface of the ground, when the 
main or centre root is devoured by the larva; but in dry 
- Weather these surface roots find no nourishment and the 
plant must perish. 

This year I saw these beetles most numerous in early 
spring, but have often seen them in August and September, 
so abundant on cabbages, that the leaves were eaten full of 
holes, and all speckled from their presence, hundreds often 
being on a leaf, and at this time the entire turnip crop 38 
sometimes destroyed by them, and seldom a year passes 
without their doing great injury. 

_ These observations are not entirely in accordance with e 
teachings of the masters in entomology. From Westwood's 
Introduction we learn that the Chrysomelians feed on the 
leaves of plants; that some of them attach themselves to w 
leaves to transform, and that others descend into the gro 








A ESE S EEE Se N ELN AEE ny ee eee ene L GES NE NETE» 


re T ae A D a ae E | es TNES 





FERNS. 517 


















for this purpose, but has no notes of species feeding beneath 
the ground. Harris was of the opinion that the Striped 
Cucumber-beetles, in the larval state, fed on the roots of 
plants, but was never able to find them. I have demon- 
strated, many years ago, that they feed on the roots of 
melon, cucumber, squash, and pumpkin vines, and ever since 
I attempted to raise any kind of vine, my greatest trouble 
has been not to find them. 

The Chrysomelians, probably, as a rule, feed on the leaves 
of plants in the larval state, but in my limited researches I 
have found the majority of them beneath the ground. Ac- 
cording to undisputed authority, they often.congregate to- 
gether in great numbers, and do great injury to the leaves 
of plants, even so as to compare with the ravages of cater- 
pilars. I myself have observed some of this work. 

As the Cucumber-beetle exclusively raises its young on 
the roots of the Cucurbitaceous (gourd) family, so from 
these observations I am led to believe from analogy, that the 
Striped Turnip-beetle raises its young always on the roots 
of the Cruciferous (mustard) family. 


> 


FERNS.* 
BY JOHN L. RUSSELL. 


5 THe revelations of the science of geology have made it 
: ‘vident that in the early periods of the earth’s history, es- 
3 e ially in the formation of the coal beds, the ferns and their 
_ Mmediate allies formed no inconspicuous feature in the veg- 
tation, and that the diminished and dwarfed forms of the 
resent day represent the arborescent ones of that time. But 
Wint the present flora may have lost in majesty of size, it 
AS gained in greater variety, and of the elegant and graceful 
Oa E E 








tA Fem s, with the foreign 
Species 


Book for E ini the British Fern 
verybody, containing all tek “London, 1607. 


Suitable for a Fernery. By M. 0. Cooke. Small 8v0, pP- 





518 FERNS. 


proportions of many of the modern species, there are few or 
no traces in the past. 

The interest which thus attaches to a fossil impression of 
an ancient fern, so exquisitely preserved that the venation 
of the frond (leaf) can be studied as a distinctive character, 
as well as in a fresh living specimen, cannot fail to render 
the whole family objects of attention, and help to induce a 
great many people, both old and young, to know something 
of its natural history. A taste for ferns has gradually sprang 
up and extended itself of late, and not. a few have become 
enthusiastic botanists in this single speciality. Others have 
sought their cultivation as objects of special beauty; and 
floriculture has not deemed it beneath its domain to intro- 
duce them into artistic gardening. The delicate and tender 
foliage of some species, the fading tints of pale and tender 
golden yellow on their ripening in autumn, the evergreen 
lustre of others through snow, frosts and cold of winter, the 
curious capsules of others, or the grotesque variations of 
shape in stem and pinnated fronds of still others, have elici- 
ted admiration and interest. Wonderfully adapted to the 
artificial rock-work of picturesque gardening, and enduring, 
with a becoming hardihood, the changing character of so fit 
ful a climate as ours, many of them, some even of foreign 
origin, claim the regard of the amateur cultivator. Others 
more tender and delicate, small and graceful, and of petite 
proportions, thrive under the ample bell-glass, or in t 
Wardian case, and help to enliven the parlor window in the 
wintry season of the year. Rich and costly collections of 
the fern plants occupy glass structures built expressly for 
them, and are more attractive in such luxuriance than far 
more specious and gaudy flowering plants. For it is, doubt- 
less, familiar to the reader that the ferns stand at the hea 
of a very large number of vegetable forms, which can boast 
of no flowering apparatus, to. which neither involucre, BT 
sepal, neither petal nor stamen, neither pistil nor germen 
belong! They are the princes of the flowerless realm of 





FERNS. 519 






nature, provided with a singularly contrived apparatus, 
_ which but faintly and obscurely foreshadows the floral or- 
gans of other plants. 
It were to be supposed that these plants, so common and 
widely distributed, would be known to everybody, growing 
as they do out of the crevices of rocks, springing up in 
the uncultivated fields, forming immense beds of growing 
and picturesque vegetation in the pastures, hiding the ground 
in the swamps, delighting the eye by their tender beauty in 
early spring, sprouting out in little graceful tufts from the 
stone walls, nodding and beckoning to their shadows as they 
are reflected in the water of the shady and cool well, or dip- 
ping into the pool or brook, but I have met with those who 
did not know what a fern was, even under its most familiar 
aspect. For such involuntary or willing ignoramuses, as well 
as for those who do know something and would know more 
of the ferns, the little work by Mr. Cooke, is specially and 
carefully prepared, and is what it purports, a “Fern Book 
for Everybody ;” and well were it if everybody would learn 
from its humble and unpretentious pages what they can 
_ teach: something and enough at least to find the ferns are 
worth knowing. “It only professes to be a plain and easy 
guide to the study or cultivation of plants well known, and 
often described before, hence it contains nothing sensational 
or new, unless it be an increased effort to be plain and popu- 
_ œm so that persons who know nothing of the science of 
botany, or its technicalities, may learn something about 
Whilst all the British species are described and 





















~ er considered in the succeeding remarks of the pres- 
tice. 








520 FERNS. 


The ferns are furnished with roots, horizontal or else up- 


right stems, leaves technically called fronds, because they 
are not veritable leaves, and which usually rise from the 
ground curled up compactly, and gradually uncurling or 
unfolding and expanding laterally and longitudinally, while 
on the backs of them little pustules, or else uncovered spots 
filled or packed with a finé dust, are seen. Almost every- 
body supposes these dust-like heaps are the seeds, but the 
magnifying lens show that each particle of dust is a curious 
little casket, or box, or pocket, held together by a jointed 
and elastic ring. There are many modifications of this ar- 
rangement, but in a vast number of instances such is the 
normal rule. When sufficiently mature and ripe, the ring 
_ bursts, and the finer dust is thrown out of the little pocket. 
Each of these grains of finer dust is, in effect, a small living 
bud or bulb, and if sown on moist earth, or even on a piece 
of moistened sandstone, wetted window glass or sandy soil, 
will soon vegetate and grow, and produce a little dark green 
thin scale, deeply divided on one side, and when magnified 
it will be found to be a mesh-work of delicate cells. This 
scale is called the prothallus, and is totally unlike any organ 
in the higher plants. The prothallus on having obtained its 
full growth, will have attached itself to the soil or substance 
on which it has grown, by tufts of minute roots, and in one 
or more of its tiny cells, a sort of bud has been formed, 
which presently protrudes itself from its mother cell to meet 
little bristly-threaded filaments, which are endowed with 
motion, and which have issued from other nourishing cells 
on the same prothalline scale. After uniting, the first-named 
bud or buds grow into tiny stems, having roots of their 
own, when the scale or prothallus perishes, the young fern 
pushing forth its leaves, at first very small and unlike the 
subsequent and normal ones. In a year or more (perhaps 
even many years) the fronds assume sufficient strane 
vigor and size, to make the pustules and heaps of pe a 
their backs, and the cycle of existence is complete. 


BGs Sr Ee 1, TA E pa L E ERT 








FERNS. 521 





- “process, which I have often witnessed, is the only blossom- 

ing of the fern. It may grow for centuries and become an 
arborescent kind, such as formerly grew in the Coal periods, 
and such as now grow in the Sandwich Islands and at the 
Isthmus of Darien, but no other blossom or flower appears! 

The dust of rare and valuable ferns collected in foreign 
countries, and kept closely sealed in phials from the dryness 
or moisture of the outward atmosphere, and from freezing, 
has been transported to other parts of the globe, and sown 
successfully raising living plants for conservatories and 

: collections; those from the tropics being sedulously and 

_ carefully cultivated in hot-houses, kept at an uniform tem- 
perature the year round. Any one who may have become 
interested in this matter, may put it to the test by pursuing 
the plan here described, collecting the ripe dust from such ' 
species of ferns as may be within reach. 

“That ferns are very beautiful, highly ornamental, and 
Consequently attractive, will be admitted, but the utilitarian 
will be anxious to learn what are their uses? Such a querist 

i will hardly receive a satisfactory answer if he confines the 
meaning of his word use to market value or to economic 
Application. It is true that the materia medica derives 
_ Small additions from ferns; a kind of food, in extreme cases, 
has been found in the stems of a very few species, but for 
" clothing or shelter, resin, gum, oil, balsam, starch, dye- 
, oul, or any other product of the vegetable world which has 
ts use and its market, none of these can be traced to ferns.” 
(pp. 2, 3.) 

_A singular looking and rather pretty little fern, is the 
j der’s Tongue (Ophioglossum vulgatum), which has an 
“ect stem six to twelve inches high, terminated by a club- 
Maped head, which is a modified leaf, or frond, and which 
‘Stade up of the dust-cases or spores, such as usually grow 
On the back of the frond. Beside this, there is an expanded 
frond that is barren and devoid of spore-cases, and which 
looks not unlike the leaf of the dog’s-tooth violet when half 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 6 



















522 FERNS. 


grown. The old herbalists abroad attributed to the Adder's 
Tongue Fern rare virtues of healing, and even the poison of 
reptiles was supposed to be removed by its use. The Adder’s 
Tongue is a native of this country, and I have met with it 
plentifully at Plymouth, and also at Hingham, where it was 
many years ago found by Mr. James S. Lewis of that town, 
and sparingly, there, in another section of the same town, 
by myself. The Moonwort (Botrychium lunaria) is another 
genus of the smaller British ferns, its spore-cases being so 
arranged on a stalk by themselves as to resemble a bunch of 
grapes. It is known there in this one species, but in the 
United States we have as many as five, four species besides 
the British, and several varieties. In England it has proved 
a difficult plant to cultivate, but I am assured by an eminent 
amateur in Ferns, that it grows readily when transplanted 
upon similar grassy land as that from which it was taken. 
Our B. Virginicum is a truly beautiful Moonwort and com- 
mon in rich woods; and our B. lunarioides is subject to 
many curious variations. The Moonwort was especially a 
favorite with the witches, and Chaucer speaks of it as 4 
choice herb with alchemists. The Osmund Ferns are showy 
and conspicuous, abroad represented in the Royal Fern (Os- 
munda regalis), and represented here in a slightly different 
form, growing, however, in similar situations, and deserving 
for beauty, grace, and bearing its regal name; beside this, 
we have two others, the Cinnamon Fern, and the Interrupted 
leaved Fern, well known to young botanists in the spring: 
The Polypods are ferns with elongated fronds, of which the 
common Polypody (Polypodium vulgare) is equally a British 
and a New England species. It is the pretty, evergreen, one 

fern which grows in matted tufts and beds, in the crevices 


and chinks of shaded rocks, and is readily cultivated 0n 
known, o 
I have 
given, 


rock-work. Abroad, at least twenty varieties are 
which the Saw-leaved (P. serratum) is the only one 
noticed growing wild here. Five other species are 
of which the Oak-polypody (P. dryopteris) and the 


ON eae toh Sune an aoa! BS y= - S eea n 











had Spc 9 hr a ell ine a A a e ee a a aae ie a eh ON ese Aa SE 



























FERNS. . 523 


Fern (P. phegopteris) are identical with ours. The Parsley 
_ Fern (Allosorus crispus) is a beautiful and “rather a local 
Species, being found chiefly in mountainous localities in the 
north of England and Wales. Even there, a stranger may 
_ wander day after day and not meet with a plant for several 
= days. The Parsley Fern is a very desirable plant for a War- 
= dian case, or pot culture. It requires a little care in the cul- 
tivation, or it is apt to damp off from too much moisture 
at the roots. The fronds appear in May, and disappear 
_ With the early frosts of autumn.” (pp. 52, 53.) We do not 
have this pretty fern, but it is represented in our Allosorus 
_ crostichoides, or Rock-brake of Lake Superior, and of the 
northern and western parts of North America., The Jersey 
: Fern (Gymnogramma leptophylla), found only in the island 
_ of Jersey as British, “is a little unpretending plant, of not 
More than two or three inches in height, and is not well 
_ Suited to the Wardian case, growing most freely in the stove- 
(or hot) house. A native of Southern and’ Middle Europe, 
_ the isles of the Mediterranean and Northern Africa, it has 
: also been found in Mexico.” We are too far north for the 
2 Gymnogrammas, known as the Golden and Silver Ferns, and 
Much cultivated for the beauty which a white or yellow 
. mealiness on the back of the fronds gives them. “The 
n Ferns, or as they are sometimes called, Buckler Ferns, 
Mmelude some of the commonest and best known of British 
Species. Their generally accepted botanical name is Las- 
Most of the species are large and easily cultivated in 
Pots or in the open air.” Three of these have once divided 
S, four others have twice divided fronds, and one be- 
Sides has thrice divided fronds. Of these the spiny Boss 
h is represented in our Shield Fern (Aspidium spinu- 
lsum) and its varieties, and the genus in other species is 
ute distinct. The British Shield Ferns, in the Holly Fern 
R Prickly Fern, have representatives with us, and there is 
na besides which we do not possess, and also another, finer 
Nall, the Aspidium acrostichoides, common and beautiful, 








524 FERNS. 


evergreen all the year, easily cultivated, and worthy a search 
for it in shaded ravines and on bushy moist hill-sides. The 
soft Shield Fern is European, and of “this very sportive fern 
there are no fewer than sixty varieties, the handsomest of all 
is undoubtedly the A. plumosum, in which the fronds will 
reach nine inches in width, and nearly three feet in length; it 
has a spreading, plume-like habit, but is unfortunately a gem 
which is ‘rare’ as well as ‘rich.’” A very common’fern, but 
one of much delicacy, found with us in moist rich woods, and 
which in the autumn turns to a rich yellow and fades into 
nearly white ; sought for winter boquets of dried leaves, is,for 
some unknown reason called abroad, the Lady Fern, and bo- 
tanically, for a known reason, termed Athyrium, on account 
of a marked difference in the shape of the little scale, or in- 
dusium, which covers the spore dust on the back of its pretty 
fronds. It is the Asplenium felix-femina of our manuals, 
and one which is subject to great variation, having been con- 
sidered, in one condition, a distinct species. It is easily cul- 
tivated and much esteemed in England, where it runs into 
many more varieties than with us, or so because these vari- 
ations have not been so minutely noticed or carefully re- 
corded. There are “sixty or seventy recognized varieties of 
this fern which are in cultivation; a few are attractive. The 
tasselled is one of the greatest favorites ; the most singular 1$ 
known by the name of Frizellia, in which the fronds are not 
an inch in width, with kidney-shaped leaflets divided into 
two parts, which overlap each other and are toothed at the 
edges; these are attached to each side of the leaf-stalk- 

Some pretty lines on this fern run to this measure : 


“If you would see the Lady Fern, 
In all her graceful power, 
Go look for her where woodlarks learn, 
ove songs in a summer bower 
But not by burn, in wood or dale, 
Grows anything so fair, 
As the plumy crests of emerald pale, 
That waves in the wind, or sighs in the gale 
Of the Lady Fern, when the sunbeams turn, 
To gold her delicate hair.” 




















FERNS. 525 


The Spleenworts are all delicate and some are pretty little 
ferns, so-called on account of some supposed efficacy in the 
diseases of the spleen. They are technically called Asplen- 
ium, and although seven of the British species are unknown 
to our flora, yet we have two that are identical, and seven 
besides which are not British. The Wall-rue (A. ruta-mu- 
_ taria) may be found in our limestone cliffs, at Burlington, 
= Vermont, and Trenton Falls, N. Y., and quite as pretty as 
= in North Wales. The common Wall Spleenwort (A. tricho- 
a manes) is common about Salem under the shaded rocks of 
_ the Great Pasture, and known by its shining black leaf- 
= stalks and simply pinnate oval leaflets. In England where it 
__ 1s plentiful, it is sometimes called the Maidenhair Spleen- 
Wort, a “not uncommon species being widely -distributed 
over the British isles, but amongst rocks, old stone-walls 
ind ruins it is most abundant. The walls of loose stones 
piled on each other, which skirt the roads in North Wales, 
are often green for miles with tufts of this fern.” There are 
Dine or ten varieties in cultivation, the most delicate being 
z the A. incisum, the leaflets deeply cut, “each of which is 


g, long, narrow lobes.” In Scotland 
























olds. For the British Sea Spleenwort, Rock Spleenwort, 
btistly Spleenwort, Black Spleenwort, we must content our- 
selves With the New England and Western Pinnatifid, Ebony- 
stemmed in two species, the Mountain, the Narrow-leaved 
and the Thelypteris-like Spleenworts, which will reward the 
teoker, if haply he may find them all, and of some he can- 
tot fail. But of the Hart’s-tongue Fern, “found everywhere, 
on hedge banks, old walls, on the sides of wells, and in a va- 
„y of situations, accommodating itself to the various con- 
ditions in which itis placed ; easily grown and indispensable 
to the out-door fernery and the greenhouse, small plants 
gto Wing with effect in a closed case ;” the Hart’s-tongue, I 
PION to acknowledge is a very rare American fern, and 
oftener to be seen in greenhouses than in its native haunts. 





pan R FERNS. 


It was discovered by Pursh' among loose rocks near Onon- 
daga in Western New York, more than fifty years ago; and 
long unknown until lately found under the limestone cliffs of 
Chitteningo Falls, in Pursh’s locality, and elsewhere as in 
Canada West. It is a very interesting fern, the frond being 
like the blade of a knife, auricled or heart-shaped at base, 
the spore-dots in parallel lines-on each side the midrib, 
reminding you of the Scolopendra, or Centipede, and is easily 
cultivated and grows readily from spores, as I can testify by 
actual experiment. 

Thus esteemed and common in Great Britain, under cul- 
tivation, it has originated a good many varieties, such as the 
Crisp-fronded, the Crested, the Forked, the Proliferous, the 
Endive-leaved, the Rugged, the Broad-branched, the Kid- 
ney-shaped, and others with minute differences. Those, 
however, who prefer “nature unadorned” had better turn to 
Silliman’s Journal, for May and September, 1866, and see 
there a full account of the American Hart’s-tongue, identical, 
though it be, with the British, Scolopendrium vulgare, found 
elsewhere, and also flourishing in the Azores with other in- 
teresting species of those islands. 

The Scale Fern (Ceterach officinarum) “sometimes called 
Rusty-back, because the whole under surface of the fronds 
are of a rusty-brown color, from the numerous brown scales 
which cover them,” is a very nice affair, and though “widely 
distributed,” fails us with its presence here. We must be con- 
tent with many speeies which fail our British friends, who, 
so far as the Ceterach, with its ambiguous oriental name - 
concerned, is better off than we; but in their Hard Fern 
(Blechnum) we have a Southern species which will answ 
our purpose as well as their own; and then the B. T 
of Europe and England, has twenty or more varieties, whic 
must be interesting to the amateur pteridologist Or pe 
lover. The Bracken (Pteris aquilina) is a noble fern, y 
too common with us, who have no wild game and deer to a 
a covert among it. The stem cut across exhibits the outi 








eo 


Sel ee 


Ss el a ae ple me UNOS ah A prea ee EC) A onta 








FERNS. 527 


_ of a double-headed eagle, as some imagine, whence its name, 
: from aquila, or Eagle Fern, an Austrian conceit, perhaps. Its 
_ ashes are used by soap boilers and glass manufacturers. A 
_ fine native variety of this is the caudata of the Southern United 
= States, with the segments, and especially the terminal ones, 
- elongated; and two others beside are Southern. Thus there 
F are three North American “brackens,” and a variety in all 
_ three, to set against the British one. And as to our beautiful 
Maidenhair (Adiantum pedatum), which grows in the rocky 
ravines of Danvers, Salem, and its vicinity, we are. told that 
it is “more hardy than the British, succeeding either in the 
Open air or in a greenhouse,” but I can aver that the A. 
Capillus- Veneris of England is a lovely fern, and a choice 
_ companion for its American sister. 

’ The Bladder Ferns ( Cystopteris) appear in three species 
m the British flora, and in two in ours; elegant ferns and 
easy of cultivation; one, the fragile Bladder Fern, creeping 
out of limestone and granite crevices alike, and from the in- 
terstices of old walls ; and a bulb-bearing one furnished with 
‘Me most cunning little green balls on the pinne. I have 
3 them both in cultivation, the former British too, but the 
Royal and the Mountain Bladder Ferns are not represented 
here; the latter is exceedingly pretty. The Woodsias are 
two, one identical with our own, the W. Zvensis, a hairy 
: little fern, which grows in woolly tufts, so patient of summer 
_“toughts on our sunburnt rocks. And against the Alpine 
l Woodsia we must set three that are North American. The 
British Filmy Fern ( Hymenophyllum); was there ever any- 
mug more delicate “on rocks which are continually moist 
“Subject to the spray of water-falls, and not uncommon 
M rocky mountainous» districts?” but it is principally rep- 
sented in tropical regions in many species; in England 
n two, while another British Fern closely related to Zricho- 
me radicans, “on dripping rocks beneath the spray of 
EN ills, and confined to Ireland,” is found in Alabama 
a Tennessee, with another and tiny species, its minute and 




















528 THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 


tender fronds sprinkled with spray, which was discovered by 
Peters, in Alabama, and dedicated to him as T. Petersii; oc- 
curring also in mosses sent from Pensacola, Florida. 

Having thus cursorily glanced at the British types of the 
fern genera, and compared the species with our own, we 
leave to the amateur cultivator, to find in our botanical text 
books and manuals, many North American ferns beside, 
worthy attention and exclusively native here. That they 
have, however, received attention abroad, will be manifest 
by examining the list of “Exotic Ferns” appended to the 
main work we have had under consideration. In our Climb- 
ing Fern, Aneimia, Nephrolepis, Onoclea, Walking-leaf or 
Camptosorus, Cheilanthes, Pellea, Vittaria, and several 
Polypodiums, with the golden rhizomed Acrostichum, and 
the majestic Ostrich Fern, beauty, elegance, grace and nov- 
elty will be found. 





THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 


BY J. G: COOPER, M.D. 





Tue following notes refer to animals collected or seen mM 


the Rocky Mountains, between Fort Benton, Fort Colville, 


and Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory, July 1st to No- 
vember Ist, 1860. 
I. MAMMALS. : 
Bat ( Vespertilio, species? No. 68 in alcohol). I found this 
Bat under the bark of a dead tree in Hell Gate valley, we 
4,500 feet above the sea. It had beereflying about a little a 
the bright sunlight an hour before it set, but returned to this 


shelter as if dazzled, though it could see plainly enough 


where to find a dark place. I saw no other during the jour 


ney that I can now recollect. 
Surews (Sorex, Blarina, etc.). I mention these heres 


















































THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 529 


merely to remark that at the western base of the Coeur 
‘Alefie Mountains, I saw two shrews in one day running 
swiftly over some of the gigantic prostrate logs of arborvite. 
The day was dark and damp, as is said to be the common 
climate of that region, and this being the only occasion when 
I saw any of these animals, during the journey, they had 
probably been enticed out by the weather. The locality is 
remarkable for these animals, being about 4500 feet above 
the sea. 
Gray Woxr (Canis occidentalis). The Gray Wolf was 
rarely heard or seen. 
_ Corore (Canis latrans Say). The Coyote was more com- 
n, but none were killed. 
Orrer (Lutra Canadensis). Signs were observed; en- 
tirely a cross of this or Z. Californica, or both, as they are 
probably identical. 
‘Baperr ( Taxidea Americana). Burrows seen everywhere. 
_ Grizzty Bear ( Ursus horribilis). None were seen by the 
party west of Fort Benton, though some below, and the 
Falls of the Missouri is mentioned, by Lewis and Clarke, as 
a great resort of this animal. But few tracks were seen, 
nsequently we may suppose it to be rare in the northern 
mountains, which are almost everywhere densely timbered ; 
ind it seems equally scarce in the Great Plain of the Colum- 
bia, north of latitude 46°, which is hemmed in on three sides 
by wooded mountains. Some, however, are doubtless found 
on the eastern range of the Rocky Mountains. 
_ PLACK Bear ( Ursus Americanus). Some bear-meat, ob- 
tained at “Hell Gate,” was of this species, which is said by 
the residents there to be very common, and I frequently 
ñaw its tracks in the thick woods, which seem to be avoided 
the Grizzly Bear. 
[A N’S SQUIRREL (Sciurus Richardsonit). I saw 
no true Squirrel in the eastern Rocky Mountains, though 
Pines were abundant enough to supply them food, but from 
the vicinity of Hell Gate, westward, even to the summit of 
7 


TER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 6 





530 THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 


the Cœur d’Alefie Pass, 5,100 feet above the sea, this squir- 
rel abounded. It seemed to feed on the seeds of every 
coniferous tree without preference for any one, and obtained 
the seeds by dropping down the cones, from near the tree 
tops, to the ground, where it could open them at leisure, 
usually sitting on a log or low branch to do this, after 
having bitten off a number of cones. I obtained the best 
specimens of cones of Abies amabilis by the aid of the squir- 


rels, who frequently came down when they saw me looking 


about the tree, and scolded with the same fearlessness shown 
by the Chickaree (8. Hudsonius) and the more western K. 
Douglassii. Indeed this animal exactly resembles the latter 
in habits, cries, and general appearance, both differing very 
little from the Chickaree in these respects. In the cool cli- 
mate of these northern forests, they seem rarely to build 
summer nests like the Atlantic species, though. such nests 
are sometimes seen in the branches. ` 
In the Rocky Mountains I found no nuts except those of 
the pine, even hazel-nuts being absent south of Fort Col- 
ville, and acorns east of the Columbia. : 
Missourt Caremo (Tamias quadrivittatus). This little 
Chipmunk I saw in the bare rocky hills of the Mauvaise Ter- 
ritory, fifty miles west of Fort Union, Nebraska, and thouga 
I saw none near Fort Benton, I doubt not but they inhabit 
every rocky locality from Fort Union, west, as Ifo 
them again as soon as we reached the foot of the Rocky 
Mountains, and thenceforward not a day passed without my 
seeing many of them, until I got fairly out of sight of tree 
on the Great Plain of the Columbia. I can confirm the T°- 
mark made by me in 1853, as to the Chipmunks see? " 
the Yakima valley being of this species, from their color, 
habits, and want of the shrill alarm-cry of the T. Tow p 
s 


on the plains and in the forest differ so much in CO 
habits, that. had I not seen many intermediate § 
should certainly consider them distinct species; 40 a 











THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 531 




















have never seen them quite beyond the range of coniferous 
trees, I suppose that the smaller, gray or faded, variety in- 
habiting the extreme edge of the woods, owes its distinction 
_ to the influence of more sunlight and heat, combined with 
inferior food. It is like the half-starved population of an 
 over-crowded region, barely subsisting on what can be picked 
- up on the border of the desert; for, though other rodents 
_ thrive on the grass, seeds, etc., of the plains, the Chipmunks 
- evidently require nuts. I have seen them ascend pines one 
_ hundred and fifty feet, where they extract the seeds from the 
"cones and carry them off in their cheeks, instead of cutting 
off the cones like the true squirrels. 

_ Variations in color, connected with exposure to the sun 
and heat, are noticed also in T. Townsendii and T. striatus, 
as well as in other animals, so that much allowance must be 
made for such influences in the determination of species. 
The variety found by ‘me in 1863, at the Clickatat Pass, 
| Cascade Mountains, 4,500 feet above the sea, and at first 
_ hamed T. Cooperii by Professor Baird, is so nearly inter- 
mediate between the form found on the west ( T. Townsendii) 
2 and that east of those mountains (T. quadrivittatus), as to 
= Sliggest a doubt of their distinctness, and at least a suspicion 
_ Ëa hybrid race. (P. R.R. Mammals, VII, 302.) 

_ Richarpson’s SPERMOPHILE (Spermophilus Richardsoni)? 
< On the bare plains between Fort Benton.and Sun river, I 
Saw a few specimens of what I supposed to be this animal, 
and its burrows were numerous in a few spots where the soil 
_ Was rich, soft, and rather moist. Like other species in 
-Indian countries, it was so very shy that I did not succeed 
in killing one, but one seen quite near, when I had no gun, 
agreed in size, color, ears, etc., with the description of the 
above species, originally found north of Fort Benton. 

As every species of this numerous genus I have met with 
(eight in all) has different habits, even in its mode of burrow- 
ing, I may remark that this species prefers soft ground, car- 
Nes out little earth to the surface, and has several entrances 


Sa Sas 


hs as ems 


ae aera 


Sats 








532 THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 


near together, with galleries communicating at a slight depth. 
I saw no signs of its burrows in the harder soil which pre- 
vails on most of the plains. 

_ Burrowme SQUIRREL (Spermophilus grammurus?). The 


“Burrowing Squirrel” of Lewis and Clarke, which has so 


much puzzled both field and closet naturalists ever since 
their time, was undoubtedly, I think, founded on at least 
two distinct animals. Their description of the fresh speci- 
men agrees precisely with that given by Dr. Suckley, of 
Arctomys flaviventer (from a recent specimen also), except- 
ing the length of tail, which in the former may have been 
mutilated, or the length misprinted; otherwise, the words 
may be paraphrased almost word for word. But their de- 
scription of the habits of the squirrel indicates quite another 
animal, whose burrows now exist as abundantly as in their 
time, throughout the prairies and more open pine woods, 
from near the summit of Mullan’s Pass to Fort Colville, 
avoiding only the dense forests, and doubtless passing round 
the Cour d’Aleie Ridge, by way of Clarke’s Fork and its 
tributary valleys. Sas! 
As so well described by them, the burrows occur in vil- 
lages like the Prairie-dogs, but with several smaller en- 
trances around a central mound of excavated earth, the holes 
large enough to admit any of the largest Spermophiles. 
Though abundant, the squirrels are so very shy that I san 
only four or five, and if I killed any they got too far down m 
their burrows to be got out, as all I shot at were sitting at 
the mouth, and like all these burrowers, their last kick 1s a2 
effort to get downward. In this shyness they differ wholly 
from the Prairie-dog, and indeed have far more the habits 
of a Spermophile. As well as I could see, they had the 812° 
proportions, and color of the species mentioned (grammures)s 
which, according to a specimen label, was found by Town 
send on the Columbia river (Baird’s Gen. Rep. Mammals, 
p- 310). Those I saw were silent and watchful, seeming 
rarely to go far from home, and thus differing much from 0° 


2 
: 
BE 
a 
K ” 





EASE EE LER AN TEA ere SN T R 
a EAR EEE A A A A ge NANNE are ONG ETETE 





THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 533 



















habits, and often wander considerably. As before remarked 
mder 8. Richardsonii?), all these animals are wildest in 


they abound. Our guide, Mr. Sohon, tried to get specimens 
for me through the Indians, but they said it was a very hard 
timal to catch, and my experience of trials with traps, 
Strychnine, ete., confirms their opinion. 

The last burrows I saw of this animal were within fifty 
miles south of the Spokan river. Lewis and Clarke, in 
speaking of their villages occurring on all the prairies, may 
‘ve confounded the burrows of other animals with this (as 
- Douglassii near the Dalles), and certainly it is not found 
est of the Cascade Mountains, where they probably got the 
Specimen of Arctomys ( ?) they describe, as they collected most 
during their winter residence at the mouth of the Columbia. 
-DOG (Cynomys Ludovicianus.). The last Prairie- 
dog village occurred on the plain between Sun and Dearborn 


Ty much doubt their occurrence in Washington Territory, 
re the “Burrowing Squirrels” take their place. 
Yertow-roorep Marmor (Arctomys flaviventer) Pro Very 
the dividing ridge of the Rocky Mountains, on the 
“st side, I saw an animal, undoubtedly a “Woodchuck,” 
| got into its burrow before I could shoot. Its low 
broad back, and short flat tail, were very plainly visible, and 
‘Color.seemed to be dark brown. The burrows often taken 
_ Mose of the Badger may be sometimes this animal's, as 
Mize and mode of digging are similar. A specimen of 
Species, preserved by Colonel Vaughan, at Fort Benton, 
‘Caught in the Rocky Mountains, thus indicating that the 
T saw was probably the same. > 
“AVER (Castor Canadensis). Beavers were seen almost 
y day, from the steamboat, while ascending the Missouri 
and Were remarkably fearless for an animal usually so 











534 THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 


shy, sometimes sitting on the bank until the boat got within a 
hundred yards of them. Their burrows, made in the bank near 
the mean water level, were, when inhabited, concealed by a 
large pile of branches, which would have seemed an acciden- 
tal drift to a casual observer, but if closely examined, showed 
design in their arrangement, the cut ends all lying above 
„water in one direction, and the others seeming fixed below 
by sand or clay piled on them. 

Near the source of the Little Blackfoot river were many 
ponds formed by beaver-dams, and I have everywhere no- 
ticed that these are constructed in shallow water, probably 
to deepen it, none being required in larger streams with 
banks suitable for burrowing in. Beavers seem rarely to 
build houses in Washington Territory, as they do in colder 
climates. 

Praw Mouse (Hesperomys Sonoriensis). This widely 
spread Mouse is common at Fort Benton, and was also taken 
at St. Mary’s valley, Washington Territory, in 1853, by Dr. 
Suckley. Like H. Gambelii, and some others, it lives m 
holes burrowed in the open prairie, far from tree oF bush, 
while H. leucopus and Nuttallii never seem to leave the 
woods. Has not this difference in locality caused variations 
in color, etc., which have led to incorrect specific distinction? 
(See Tamias). 

Rocky Mountain Woop-Rat (Neotoma cinerea). 
the banks of the Missouri, above Fort Union, were frequently 
seen large nests built in the low forks of willows and pop- 
lars, some of them large enough to form a good load for 2 
handcart ; probably measuring four feet through, and in form 
more or less spherical. They were composed of twigs, about 
half an inch thick and a foot long, dry, and densëly inter- 
woven. The soldiers and others called them “ Eagle’s neste, 
but finding them without any cavity, and much like the m 
of Neotoma fuscipes of California in structure (except i a 
that species usually build on the ground), I decided that ete | 
were built by the species here mentioned. Dr. Hay den fo 





THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 535 






















it inhabiting the hollow trees on the Yellowstone, and it may 
build these summer-houses in the branches to avoid the flood 
Which occurs at the breaking up of the ice in spring, the 
ater being dammed up in this part of the river so as to 
mise it several feet above its banks, and much higher than in 
the summer rise. From the east base of the Rocky Moun- 
ins, entirely across, I found signs of this animal, usually a 
of cactus or other thorny stems, protecting its holes 
ng the rocks, and further west, large piles of twigs for 
the same purpose. I saw no signs of it, however, in the Cœur 
eñe Range or òn the Columbia Plains, so that it seems 
ly separated, locally as well as physically, and in habits, 
its nearest relative the WV. occidentalis, or bushy-tailed 
Bat, west of the Cascade Range. `I did not succeed in trap- 
Pog, shooting, or poisoning a specimen. 
: Mouse ( Arvicola pauperrima, nov.sp.*? No.126). 
teat Plain of Columbia, near Snake river, Oct. 9, 1860. 


the many other species described by Baird and others. i 
m it common on the Great Columbian Plain, after getting 
Wite out of sight of trees, and where the ground is covered 
omly with a coat of short scattered grass. Its burrows 
mt the only ones observed there, and by looking a few 
Yards ahead, while my horse walked quietly along, I could 
Ae May of the little inhabitants sunning themselves during 


as even more abundant on the grassy rolling hills be- 
Snake and Walla Walla rivers, and all I saw seemed 
of about the same size as this specimen. Scarcely any 
mmal was to be seen where this lived, and water me 
to be found for distances of twenty miles, so that " 


092, nead, Linch; body, 3.87; tail, vert., 0.75; hairs, 1.00: fore-arm, 0.87; 
38. 


ìi ear, 0.25 x0 


536 THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 





summer its powers of enduring thirst must be great, unless 
it gets enough dew on the grass to supply its wants. 
Prairie Hare (Lepus Townsendii). This hare is common 
east of the Rocky Mountains, and was seen on Deer Lodge ) 
and other high places west of their summit, but asin 18531 
found none on the Columbian Plain, though the climate and 
vegetation seems well adapted for them. Their numbers 
seem never to have increased much north of the Columbia 
and Snake rivers since the epidemic (small-pox?) destroyed 
them several years since, but south of those rivers they be- 
come common. It is a question whether an epidemic really 
made them scarce northward, or whether the prevalence of 
uncommon deep snow did not enable the Indians to kill more 
of them, as with deer and antelopes. : 
Sace Hare (Lepus. artemisia). This small species 38 
more rare near Fort Benton, and I did not see it west of the 
mountains, except among the Artemisia bushes at Old Fort 
Walla Walla, Townsend’s original locality. Near Fort Lar- 
amie it frequents, chiefly, the rocky places where it can hide 
in holes, not trusting to its speed on the open plains, like L. 
Townsendii, and is therefore very rare, if found at all, on the 
bare plains. The eastern Z. sylvaticus, so similar to it as to 
be scarcely distinguishable, seems to extend its range along 
the Missouri and Platte rivers. The difference in color, which 
is the chief distinction, is analogous to that seen in the be 
varieties of Tamias, ete., inhabiting the woods and the pe 
! CARIBOU, or WOODLAND REINDEER (Rangifer Caribou): 
About twenty-five miles above the Bitterroot ferry, in cross- 
ing a high hill near the river, I noticed by the roadside a pe 
of decayed and broken horns, which looked like those of the r 
Woodland Reindeer, before reported to inhabit the Northern 
Rocky Mountains, and from which a district of British Co- 
lumbia has been named Caribou. These horns were ™ 
slender and elongated than that represented by Baird (Mame 
mals, p. 634), but he remarks that scarcely any tW° par a 
are alike. . 


Ses AEN EE EEI OET IEL N AE PA E EEE ER Reuse aa 2 7 aie Ck 

































THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 5387 


_ Awertcan ANTELOPE (Antilocapra Americana). Ve 
 tbundant along the upper Missouri, and to the Rocky Moun- 
tains. Some were also seen west of the summit in Deer Lodge 
Prairie, and probably frequent all the larger plains as far as 
Bitterroot Mountains. West of these, however, it seems 
be yery rare. In Washington Territory, though, I was 
informed by Capt. Fraser, U. S. A., that an old hunter, liv- 
at Spokan river (Antoine Plante?), once got lost in the 
Great Plain, towards the most westerly bend of the Colum- 
„a region uninhabited, and almost. unknown to the Indians ; 
that he there saw large herds of Antelopes. Also, that they 
‘Were formerly abundant on this plain, but that during a 
very deep snow, some years since, the Indians slaughtered 
bundreds of them (as before reported of the deer), since 
Which time they have been scarce. This is quite likely since 
‘low is sometimes quite deep on portions of these plains, 
~ since the introduction of fire-arms the Indians have killed 
More game. There seems to be some foundation for the be- 
lief that the horns of these Antelopes are deciduous, from the 
that some which I have seen had the terminal and outer 
s of horn peeling off like a sheath, but this may not be 
constant occurrence, 
CKY Mountain Goar (Aploceras montanus). The 
y Mountain Goat is almost unknown to the traders at 
enton, but Mr. Dawson told me’that skins were now 
then brought in there, coming from the Bitterroot Moun- 
‘Rear the sources of the Kookooskee, one of the loftiest 
“ons of the central chains, and from which rivers flow in 
directions, The summits there are above the line of per- 
ow, and just below this is a zone of grassy country 
d by these animals, while still lower the densest for- 
Vail, totally unsuited for them, and extending more 
100 feet above the sea, the height of the Coeur d’Alene 
This animal is quite unknown to hunters who have 
leir lives in the mountains south of latitude 42°, 
NS almost inaccessible resorts are so little visited, 
" NATURALIST, VoL. 11 


$ 











538 THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 


even by them, that it may exist there. Maj. Haller, U.S.A., 
told me that the Indians near Wenatchy river, in the Cas- 
cade Mountains, catch them in the deep snow by rushing 
down upon them from above, on snow-shoes. As they always 
look for danger from below, this mode of surprising them is 
not improbable, and besides, these mountain animals run up 
hill much more easily than down. 

Mountaww Seep (Ovis montana). The Bighorn is com- ` 
mon in the rugged bare hills along the Missouri, from Fort 
Union west, and throughout the Rocky Mountåins to the 
Cœur ďd’Aleñe Range, but since the time of Lewis and Clarke 
seems to have disappeared from the cliffs bordering Snake a 
Columbia rivers, probably on account of the use of fire-arms 
by the Indians. 

Tue Burrato (Bos Americanus). Last summer (1860) 
the Buffalo herd of the upper Missouri was spread from 
Rocky Mountains, near latitude 49° south-east, and we found 
them along the Missouri from its upper Great Bend west to 
about fifty miles above Milk river, but nowhere in great 
numbers. Remains of their skeletons, left about five years 
since, were abundant west of Fort Benton, and I saw one oF 
more old skulls daily in the valley of the Little Blackfoot and 
Hell Gate rivers, quite down to the junction of the Bit yi 
root. Large herds have sometimes visited the west side 
the summit, especially Deer Lodge and St. Mary's valleys 
but not for many years past. If they ever reached the 
lumbia Plains, it was probably by way of Snake rivets ® 
they would scarcely try to cross the Coeur d’Alene Range, : 
where grass is very scanty and the timber very dense. i saw 4 
no difference in the skulls, indicating a different specin? wd a 
“ Mountain Buffalo” of the hunters. (The Bighorn 1s some- 
times called so.) The horns showed that most oe se 1 
mals were very old bulls, being enormously thickened, i 
their lower part scaling off. This accounts for the large = 


> . 
and solitary habits of these “ Mountain” specimens. 








-EARTHQUAKES. 


BY W. T. BRIGHAM. 








y _ Eartuquakes and volcanoes are at last claiming, by their 
_ very intrusive activity, the attention of observers, who are 
_ able to look through the smoke of an eruption, and the dust 
3 of an earthquake, at the real geological importance of the 
_ terrible demonstration. Within the past two years the earth 
_ has been strangely unquiet.. First Vesuvius sputtered forth 
4 feebly in its old age; then Santorini smoked and steamed, 
and extended its little territory ; then Central Europe shook 
x alittle, and the tremor extended through Asia, and into the 
4 st where a new island came to the surface near the 


















Mauna Loa poured forth their lava streams, and finally the 
Sea rushed upon the shore destroying animals and men. To 
this day the island shakes, but the movement is so slight 
little notice is taken of it. Not so remarkable as this 
Hawaiian earthquake, nor so admirably adapted for scientific 
= search, but far more destructive to life and property, was 
terrible earthquake of the South American coast this 
summer. The commotion was so violent, that the impulse 
given to the sea extended through the whole Pacific, reaching 

m to the coast of Kamtschatka. 
: _ the scratches of the pebbles, frozen into a block 
Ice, claim and gain the attention of geologists, strangely 
=d the far mightier forces which build up those moun- 
ranges, and which have modified much of the earth’s 
» are comparatively neglected. It is true that M. Alexis 
rey, in France, has collected since 1842, all evidence 
Mtainable relating to earthquakes, which he has or 
(53 





540 EARTHQUAKES. 


in annual catalogues; and Robert Mallet, in England has 
collected similar evidence in his “Catalogue of Recorded 
Earthquakes, from 1606 B.C., to A. D. 1842,” -and has 
done a very important work in his investigation of the great 
Calabrian Earthquake of 1857. With these exceptions, very 
little of importance has been done to investigate the causes 
and seasons and effects of earthquakes ;-and geologists do 
not as yet know whether the shock is caused by the falling 
of huge masses of rock into subterranean caverns, by the 
explosion of gasses pent up in the bowels of the earth, by 
the evolution of steam, when water reaches the heated inte- 
rior of the globe, by the surges and tides of an inner molten 
sea, acted upon by the moon’s attraction or terrestrial revo- 
lution, by the gradual contraction of the -earth’s cooling 
crust, by the waxing and waning of the internal heat locally, 
by some unknown law, or by any of the other causes *° 
ingeniously suggested, most of which are as probable as the 
subterranean convulsions of an imprisoned Titan. 
Catalogue makers have to trust to evidence which has be- 
come more or less distorted in passing through many hands; 
they do not see for themselves. When an earthquake wari 
place, everybody is caught unprepared, and if not killed, 
yet so terribly frightened, as to be wholly unfit to describe 
events exactly as they took place. The evidence of one 
good observer, who examines the ground after it has all 
passed, is of more value than a.score of newspaper reports 


at the time. But our geologists all live far away from p 
quake countries, and only a return to the shakes, which too 
them up t° 


place in New England a century ago, will wake 
the importance of seismic* studies. Let us not feel to 
cure among our granite hills. 

New England has been visited by a number ot eat? 638, 
since the Pilgrims landed in 1620. The first was ipt m 
and twenty years later occurred what is called a 2 


earthquake,” but no descriptions have been preserved. 


* Seismic means relating to earthquakes; from seismòs, aN earthquake: 


0 Sê- 





f earthquakes oe 


great 


Rey ee T ee A 


aye er We 











EARTHQUAKES. . Sat 







1663 (February 5), a severe shock was felt in Canada, New 
England, and New York, severe enough to open and shut 
doors, ring bells, split walls, and let floors fall through ; and 
while the first shock continued nearly half an hour, a most 
uncommon thing, the secondary shocks continued at inter- 
vals until July. In 1727, an earthquake occurred in the ter- 
titory between the Delaware and Kennebec rivers, centreing, 
_ apparently, near the Merrimack river. Springs changed their 
_ Place, and some dried up; the water in wells was rendered 
_ turbid and unfit to drink, so that people pumped the wells 
dry thinking some carrion had fallen in. November 18th, 
1755, a shock threw down about a hundred chimneys, and 
about fifteen hundred were shattered more or less in Boston. 

e ends of twelve or fifteen brick buildings were thrown 
down from the top to the eaves of the house. The duration 
of the shock was nearly four and a half minutes. On the 
3 mine day the sea withdrew from the harbor of St. Martin’s, 
mthe West Indies, leaving vessels high and dry, and on its 
 Teturn the waves rose more than six feet above high-water 
mark. This was nine hours after the shock was felt in 
Boston, Since then no severe shocks have been felt in 
New England, although a band of extinct volcanoes extends 
through its midst, curving from Montreal to New Jersey. 

These gentle breathings of Mother Earth become terrible 
‘S@Sps and spasms in other regions, and as examples of her 
terrible power, the earthquake of Lisbon, and the repeated 
shocks of the Andean region, may be here recalled. 

_ November 1st, 1755, about half past nine in the morning, 
à sudden subterranean noise was heard, and in a few seconds 
os Principal buildings of Lisbon were in ruins. It wasa 
Sete day , and the churches were crowded; the high steeples 
: ad the solid walls fell together, and thousands of people 
Were crushed beneath the ruins. People in the upper stories 
he houses were generally more fortunate than those be- 
a Or in the streets, but it was believed that sixty thousand 
Perished on this terrible day in Lisbon. To add to the hor- 


K 
i 


ease a TPE, 
yep eb E 


pile was Saha ee sapere tre 
enc ih = Berne eee 


























542 ; EARTHQUAKES. 


rors of the scene fire broke out among the ruins, a violent 
wind arose, and in about three hours the city was reduced to 
ashes. Immediately after the shock, a huge wave entered 
the Tagus, forty feet higher than the water had ever been 
known to rise before, but the bay received most of its vio- 
lence, and it at once subsided. The quay was thronged with 
people, and it suddenly sank, and no body ever floated to 
the surface. Where the solid wall had stood the water was 
many fathoms deep. At Cadiz the sea wave was nearly 
sixty feet high, and did great damage. According to Hum- 


boldt’s computation, a portion of the earth’s surface, four 


times greater than all Europe, was simultaneously shaken; 
even our great lakes felt the commotion, and tides of con- 
siderable height were observed on their shores. 

During the years 1811-12, earthquakes were felt in South 
Carolina, and more violently in the valley of the Mississippi, 
where, at New Madrid a whole grave-yard was pitched into 
the river; and the violence finally culminated in the des- 
truction of Carracas, burying ten thousand of its inhabitants 
beneath its ruins. In 1835, an earthquake was felt between 
Copiapo and Chiloe on the north and south, and the island 
of Juan Fernandez, and the city of Mendoza, on the west and 
east. Conception, Talcahuano, Chillan, and other towns 
were thrown down, and immediately after the shock the sea 
retired in the Bay of Conception, and the vessels grounded 
where had been seven fathoms of water. A wave soon rush 
in and retreated, and was succeeded by two others probably 
not more than sixteen or twenty feet in vertical height. 4n 


November 1837, Valdivia, in Chili, was destroyed, and in | 


January of the same year a shock devastated Syria, wee 
ing more than six thousand people, and making itself fe 
over a territory five hundred miles long by ninety wide. 
e earthquakes, then, of the present year are no nover 
ties, however dreadful they may seem, but they offer ee 
interesting features, and although no scientific man mes 
published any account of the earthquake of St. Thomas, 1 














EARTHQUAKES. 543 


_ of the Hawaiian Islands, or of Peru, it may be well to briefly 
recount the facts. 

_ At St. Thomas no less than five hundred shocks of earth- 
_ quake were felt, from the middle of November to the second 
-= of December, 1867. The inhabitants had abandoned their 
_ houses, and dwelt in tents on the hill-sides. November 18th 
= was a clear, beautiful day, the ocean was almost calm, and 
the sun was bright and warm. Not a sign foretold the ap- 
_ proaching catastrophe, when at a quarter before three in the 
_ afternoon, the usual underground rumbling was heard as of 
. distant thunder, and immediately the earth rose and fell in 
small waves for about a minute, while the subterranean noise 
a was dreadful. No one could stand. The sun seemed to 
= have lost his power. After the first shock, the ground kept 
= quivering for about ten minutes, when another strong shock 
T was felt. Before the first shock, the ocean had receded 
‘Several hundred feet from land, and it now returned as a 


RE oe Ln 













_ masonry, and eighteen to twenty-five feet high. It moved 
with considerable velocity, upsetting all small craft, and 
Taising large vessels to its top. The lower part of the shore 


larger wave succeeded this, at an interval of about ten 
Minutes, and as this passed away, the ocean remained calm 
as before the first shock. 

: At St. Croix, the U. S. steamer Monongahela was thrown 
high and dry upon the shore. The waves receded rapidly, 
~ at once rose in a wall nearly thirty feet high, white 
sai Show, and hissing with spray. This huge wave carried 
everything before it, and it was repeated several times with 
Nearly equal violence, when, as at St. Thomas, the sea be- 
“me quite still. 

Between 4 and 5 o'clock, P. M., on Thursday, April 2d, 
>S, an earthquake occurred on Hawaii, centreing on the 
uthern slope of Mauna Loa, far severer than before re- 


& 





544 EARTHQUAKES. 


corded on the group. Houses were destroyed, cliffs hurled 
down, fissures opened in the ground, the whole earth seemed 
in violent motion, and an earthquake wave drove the sea 
over the southern coast in places to a height of twenty feet, 
sweeping away all the shore villages. Five days later lava 
broke out on the higher slopes of Mauna Loa, and flowed 
into the sea. Kilauea, at the moment of the great earth- 
quake of April 2d, began to empty itself by some subter- 
ranean channel, and is now five hundred feet deeper than in 
1865. This whole eruption and earthquake, more remarka- 


ble than any of the others of the past year, deserves a fuller . 


description than can be given here. The newspaper reports 
are filled with errors and misstatements. 

Finally, in this series of disturbances, we have the terrible 
earthquake which, on the 13th of August last, caused so great 
destruction of life and property on the coasts of Chili, Peru, 
and Ecuador. At Arica, lat. 18° 30’ S., long. 70° 25! W., 
the rumbling sound as of distant thunder, so usual a forerun- 
ner, preceded this earthquake, and almost immediately the 
rocking motion of the earth commenced. Houses trembled 
with increasing force, until they fell in crashing ruin. The 
earth opened in several places in almost regular clefts from 
one to three inches wide, and as these closed they sent ® cloud 
of dust to mingle with that from the falling buildings. Gas 
of a most suffocating nature, came from these fissures, and had 
it remained long, all animal life must have perished, but after 
three undulations, each severer than the preceding ones po 
cloud of dust and gas which overhung all, dispersed; and the 
light again appeared. The gas remained in all about 3 
minute and a half. Quakes at short intervals succeeded, 
and subterranean explosions, and now all the survivors fl 
to the hills, taking their most precious property, for the se? 
was fast receding, and they well knew the terrible cone 
quences of that unnatural tide. Soon the current change ee 
the ocean came back in a huge wall of water, dragging with it 
all the vessels, among them the large U. S. steamer wie’ 














EARTHQUAKES. 545 






which was landed almost uninjured about four hundred and 
_ fifty yards inland. The other vessels did not fare so well: 
dashed ashore, keel upmost, they remain a sad spectacle, the 
prey of the wreckers. Om shore less than a hundred people 
lost their life, while on shipboard nearly three hundred per- 
ished. At Iquique the shock lasted over four minutes, and 
was followed by the wave which destroyed at least three- 

quarters of the town and many lives. At Arequipa the 

earthquake commenced a few minutes past five in the after- 

noon, and in a few moments nearly every house in the town 
= Wasin ruins. The cities of Yca and Pisco suffered severely, 
and at the Chincha Islands both the earthquake and the tidal 
wave did great damage. At Callao the wave went over the 
houses on the shore at 10 o'clock, P. m. These were much 
damaged, but no lives were lost. At Talcahuano, and 
_ Torne, near Conception, three shocks occurred, a day later 
according to the reports, and the second caused, or was fol- 
lowed by a tidal wave, which nearly destroyed the towns. 
From Cape San Francisco, in Ecuador, to the Straits of 
‘ Magellan, nearly every seaport town has suffered, and at the 

Northern end of this coast line, among the mighty volcanoes 
of the equator, the records report several towns in ruins, 
‘mong them Ibarra, San Pablo, and Atuntaque, and where 
vatacachi stood is now a lake of water. No less than thirty 


peed inhabitants of these towns perished with their 
omes, 


ga 
i 
3 
a 
1 
a 


aa 




















l Let us close this sad catalogue of disasters, where man 
a mis so utterly powerless to cope with the vast forces with 
hich God’s plan of creation is carried on, with a brief re- 
a of some of the former earthquakes, which have rendered 
this region so noted. | 
According to Ulloa, in 1570, along the coast of Chili, an 


hundred leagues along the coast. In 1575 Valdivia was 
l January 22d, 1582, at noon, Arequipaswas de- 
sand four years later, at Callao, a tidal wave four- 
. NATURALIST, VOL. II 





546 EARTHQUAKES. 


teen fathoms high followed a severe quake, and extended 
two leagues inland. In 1600, Arequipa was covered with 
ashes from a neighboring voleano. In 1605, November 26th, 
Arequipa was destroyed, and the sea overwhelmed Arica, 
leaving a few streets only. In 1678, at Santa, some 5° N. 
of Callao, the sea retired a long distance, returning with 
great force, and destroyed the town. Four years later 
Pisco was destroyed by a tidal wave. Six years rest, and 
Pisco was again inundated, and in 1690, after a very violent 
shock, the sea retired six miles, and after three hours re- 
turned with such rapidity that the fleetest horses could not 
save their riders; the earth sank, and where the town stood 
is the present harbor. In 1705, Arica was destroyed by a 
tidal wave, and ten years later was nearly overturned with 
Arequipa and other towns by earthquakes. The next year, 
1716, the town of Pisco, which had been rebuilt farther in- 
land, was again destroyed, and now not by a tidal wave, 
for although the sea was so agitated that masts and yards 
of vessels were shattered, it did not pass its bounds. July 
8th, 1730, Conception was destroyed by an earthquake and 
tidal wave. At Callao in 1746, a severe earthquake was 
felt, and the tidal waves were of great size ; of twenty -three 
vessels then in port, seventeen were sunk, and four carried 
inland above the town, which was levelled by the waves. 
Of four or five thousand inhabitants, only two hundred sur- 
vived, and on the second advance of this vast wave, only @ 
portion of the wall of the fort, which preserved twenty-two? 
persons, remained. In 1773, at Copiapo and along the 


coast, the earthquake claimed 45,000 victims. May thy 


1784, Arequipa was overturned, and several districts hith- 


exhaling a great quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen- 
dead fish floated; on weighing anchor portions of the 
twenty-five fathoms from the ship, lying on a bottom 


EG E E EE SS RE are 


eae rs sare: SA sew Nis 27 ay 














REVIEWS. 547 





























mud, were found partly melted. Arica this time wholly 
escaped, although the shocks were felt all over Peru. In 
1831, after nearly a century’s rest from any fatal shocks, 
_ Arica was destroyed for the fifth or sixth time since the 
landing of the Spaniards, some three hundred years since. 

_ These are only the most severe shocks which have disturbed 
this region. Others, that anywhere else would attract at- 
tention, here pass almost unnoticed. Indeed it has been 
Said that the Andes are continually quaking in some part, 
although severe shocks have seldom visited the eastern 
Slope. 

The volcanoes nearest the cities of Arica and Arequipa are 
i of great height ; Sahama, near the former, being 23,914 feet, 
while Miste, near the latter, is 18,877 feet high, and fre- 
quently in gentle eruption. 

= With such an array of terrible Pa it would be hard 
Z here to insist, with any chance of being believed, that earth- 
quakes are, by no means, nuisances, and, that on the con- 
_ wary, they are portions of God’s operations in Nature most 
_ beneficial and useful. The tides of the ocean are useful, 

that every one knows, although they leave bare and pestilent 
Marshes and flats; and these “irregalar tides of the land have 
none the less their uses in breaking up and altering the sur- 
of the earth, changing watercourses, altering the shore- 
ie, and in other ways, ade description can hardly be 
condensed into the limits of this article. 








REVIEWS. 


a 

Tur VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS UNDER DOMESTICATION. *— 
oy See are the first of the suite promised by the author in his work 

yi Origin of Species,” and are filled with facts of his own observa- 





Ame sheesh mals and shea s under nerve anes bed Charles Darwin. a a 
Published ver Eatin, with a Preface by Professor Asa con vols, 12mo, pp- d 
udd & Co., 245 Scien, New Yor. 





-548 ‘REVIEWS. 






tion, and extensive quotations from all the authorities upon the various 
races of domesticated animals he author’s general argument may be 
inadequately given as follows: That since ‘‘all organic beings increase at 


the land or the whole ocean, would hold the progeny of a single pair after 
a certain number of generations,” “the inevitable result is an ever-recur- ` 
rent struggle for existence.” In other words, a contest for growing and 
feeding room in which “the strongest ultimately prevail, ba weakest fail.” 
“Tf, then, organic beings in a state of nature, vary eve a slight de- 
gree,” “the severe and often-recurrent struggle for egee ie will deter- 
mine that those variations, however slight, which are favorable, shall 


rv 
stroyed.”. Thus if by any chance a male is born stronger than his fel- 
lows, he will prevail in the battles of the breeding season, and raise off- 
spring having a certain advantage, also, over their fellows in point of 
strength, and thus this variation will gradually accumulate until the pe- 
culiarity which distinguished only one indiv ge becomes common over 
large areas, and p erhaps universal to the spec l 

Again if an individual vary in any way iah may give it a better i 
chance of surviving in the general struggle, this poe is likely to 





become permanent, since a greater number of this favored race would 
survive and transmit their peculiarities to their oad . Thus a con- 
t u 


ro 

the breeder does amo ng one aid, animals, by the destruction or €x- 

clusion of the inferior individuals, and the pairing together only of the 
strongest and best 

arwin’s opponents say on the other hand, that a species is an invaria- 

ble type, and that the variation of individuals does not accumulate, but 

fluctuates between certain limits. The inevitable conclusion being that 

ere is no progress by the evolution of one form out of another, but that 

each species is a creation directly from the hands of God. 


ants and animals, especially when allowed to run wild, to jan 
their characteristic markings, to the original wild types. i 





‘The anti-Darwinist takes the last view, and attributes the vė 
of domestic animals, with their great anatomical differences, to the pi 
werless 


€ k 
increases the tendency to variation; thus artificially sustaining ae 


ducing races which could not have occurred under the action of 


REVIEWS. 549 ` 








laws, since among wild animals the two tendencies would mutually coun- 
= teract each other, keeping the species within its own proper boundaries 
of form and variation. 
The only really notable instance about which the author seems to enter- 
tain no doubt, is the Porto Santo rabbit. This animal, though differently 
d in some respects, and not more than half the weight of the Eng- 
7 lish rabbit, yet recovered the peculiar markings of the English species in 
_ father less than four years after its transportation to England. us 
ina feral state, under a different climate, it lost the characteristic colors 
a and weight of its species, and returned to the colors only when brought 
= toits native climate. They were found while in the Zoological Gardens 
_ tobe extremely wild and active, more like large rats in this respect than 
_ tabbits, and untamable; and the two males, though bachelors, utterly re- 
a fused to pair with the native breeds; ‘‘yet this rabbit, which there can be 
a little doubt would thus have been’ ranked as a distinct species, has cer- 
_ tainly originated since the year 1420.” 
think that an instance of this kind would unquestionably 
ings 












habit in the time W ich 


and in- 


eings.” The novelty of the fact, however, consists in this, that 


races, the Pouter, Fantail, Carrier, ete., differing from each 
i have seen them can appreciate, 


none of Darwin’s experiments and researches will exci 
“0n of the systematic zoölogist more than this. 





550 REVIEWS. 


can reverse or denaturalize the action of these laws among domesticated 


organization of the progenitor, but all these forms will be related to each 
other, and must be classified in the same way as a natural series of f feral 
animal 

In oe second volume, after secant that inheritance of structure and 


habits must be considered the rule, e t when ‘‘overborne by hostile 
conditions of life, by incessantly PRANE A and by reversion,” 
e author states this very important law. ‘‘At whatever period of life a 


new character first appears, it BeA remains latent in the offspring 
until a corresponding age is attained, and then it is developed. . When 
this rule fails, the child generally exhibits the character at an earlier 
period than the parent. On this principle of inheritance at corresponding 
periods, we can understand how it is that most animals display from the 


more simply organized species. This law has hitherto only been ascer- 
tained in the larger ie s in a general way, or if applied 
groups has been used only to settle disputed points of classific 
an article recently published, Mr. Hyatt has applied. this emb 
law to the class sha of the fossil Ammonoids, even to spec cies of 
pesg act ge 

His rations however, differ, having been made upo 
stend ee ‘indivi s, in n this impo ortant particular : namely, 


ation. In 
ryolo; ogical 


n species in- 
that which is 
new 


‘eens is the law and not the exception between the species, and 


some quite sakes allied rh such as Androgynoceras 
ži L. B certain characteristics 


and finally omitted altogether. This and similar instances s led h A 
conclusion that “the young of higher species are constantly scr 
nic 


ods of preceding or lower species.” We shou 
upon this earlier occurrence of characteristics, among indi 
an accident, but as probably a law. Without it we cannot see oie of 
room, on the basis of Darwin’s theories, can be obtained in the pa a 
any individual or species, for bringing to maturity those characteris 


* To 
ter, features, diseases, and injuries at corre ponding ages in the 
an 


d reversions, we have the doctrine of Fangenesis oe 








f the B y History. Vol. ap On the Parallelism 
tha TrnAici-z + 3 + fair gst, tay s By A A, Hya 























REVIEWS. 551 













or organic units, at every stage of its development. These gemmules 
are conveyed from the parents to the embryo through the medium of 


e spe e. 
at corresponding ages, is rea 
capable only of producing cells like those from which they were de- 


of these would not be developed but lie dormant in the organization, 
though still transmitted from parent to child, until in some remote indi- 
_ Vidual they would find the proper opportunity for development, and pro- 

While t heory appears to satisfy nearly all the 


tain varieties of plants can be propagated by buds, but revert in the 

_ Seedling, this occurring especially with hybrids, and “certain plants with 

ariegated leaves, phloxes with striped flowers, barberries with seedless 

it, can all be securely propagated by the buds or cuttings; but the 
d from 


character, and revert to their former condition.” 
t is the misfortune of a science in the transition stage of its history 


came into being. : 
“S yet, all attempts to produce living beings, of even the lowest org 
ation, from inorganic compounds have failed, and in all cases where spon- 
eT apes i Monads, etc., 


ani- 


Mbjecteq to any heat short of absolute combustion, is capable of convey- 





_ “Word on the Origin of Life, By Protessor J. D. Dana, Silliman’s Journal, May 1866. 








55? REVIEWS. 


ing more or less of its former store of vitalized matter into the digestive 
organs? These experiments, however, do not justify the unbiassed mind 
in coming to any conclusion. They have been made with great care and 
thoroughness, but until a series of similar attempts, with all the modern 
appliances and safeguards, has been tried upon matter which is not de- 
rived in any way from previously vitalized compounds, it is not safe to 
say either that life can or cannot be produced by spontaneous generation. 
The key-note to the theory of the origin of species, the doctrine of evo- 
lution, would appear to be the origin of life, the beginning of evolution, 
and this theory, however true it may be in its minor applications, is very 
far from completion when it rests upon a basis of four primary types, Ot 
even one eh origin is doubtful. 

other hand, the theory of mirac “— creation, by which it is 


traced to a specifically distinct progenitor, and that the same species do 
not usually cross any of the great gaps in geological time, thus giving to 
each set of beings, which successively inhabited the surface of the earth, 
the appearance of a new, independent creation 

hese two, grand, hegatty e arguments, are the buttresses of the theory, 
but it is hardly necessary to say that they are not conclusive. The basis 
they afford is liable to be shifted by any new investigation, since it is not 


© 
i=] 
ae 
A 
e+ 
|= 2 
© 
in 
=] 
© 
pe 
T. 
© 
oO 
B 
e 
4 
= 
Q 
®© 
= 
o 
=] 
a 
co 
Ss 
© 
— 
5 
n 
et 
— 
n 
mn 
ct 
4 
— 
9 
= 
z 
© 
= 
et 
is) 
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S 
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= 


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ae oO 
a 3 

a Se x 


species, though it makes a vast difference in the result. If we regard 
slight differences as sufficient to characterize the species, we are ed sates 
wards the view that each is separately created; if, el r latitude 
is given, the varying forms thus supposed to have a ¢ 0 

are oe supporters of Darwin, and bis laws of ier se 





nineteenth _— to look for secondary causes, wind modes " 
may be 100 mined by experiment, rather than 






oy 
tu- 

e present volumes are, besides their value to the i mtt - 

ralist, a condensed statement of facts with regard to domes = 


We cannot but hope wlll prove beneficial to both. Whatever m 
errors of theory, the facts are judiciously classified, faithfull 





REVIEWS. 553 


didly given, both for and against the author’s opinions, and cannot but 
prove of great value to every unprejudiced reader 

In conclusion we may remark that no fear of. scientific BSE ORIN: 
need deter any one from procuring these volumes. They vey av 
amount of instruction in a thoroughly comprehensible sate Re 


FIELD, Forest, AND GARDEN BoraNy.*—We are glad to be able to 
announce the approaching issue (if not already in tna market) of a work 
n b 


whether botanists or gardeners, as well as of those who make either 
botany or gardening a nessa pe ‘indeed of every one who likes to 
know the name of a common plan our region, either wild or culti- 


pen to have in hand, and one in which all reasonable facilities, in the way 
of copious Analytical Keys, Index, and typographical arrangement are 
troduced for this very purpose. tas gh 2, te species, under 947 gen- 


asonable to suppose that every plant from foreign parts, which we 
a may cultivate, is described in a book ra less than 400 pages. As already 
7 intimated, however, all our common wild plants which are worthy of 
notice, and all the more generally aliaa garden and hot-house plants, 
ate here described in terms, from which, so s as it is possible, all tech- 
nicalities are eliminated, and all synonymy is 1l 

A special advantage that the book offers is, a it will enable students 
and teachers of botany to use in their study and teaching, exotic plants 
Which will often present forms of structure that are not represented at all 
in our fields and woods, or even introduce the knowledge of whole nat- 












a dy to be carried on in winter with much greater facility than ever 
ore, 


Another feature of the work will be very acceptable to many persons, 


art concerning the ferns, contributed by Professor Eaton 
of Yale College. All our common native ferns, as well as those usually 


With the meanings of the few technical terms necessarily used, 

and who reads with care the characters of the Natural Order. 

AS the author says in his Preface, ‘the great difficulties of the under- , 

S have been to keep ‘the book within the proper compass, by a 

exclusion of all extraneous and unnecessary matter, and to deter- 
ee a RA 


Tanz orest, and Gard fany; a simple introduction to the common pla ants of = 
€s, east of the Mississippi, both wild and porketo By Asa Gray, Fisher rege 
tago: S, in Harvard Tee New York: T Phinney, Blakeman ¢ Co. 
ames ES & Co, 1868. (Ri d from advance sheets.) 
ER. NATURALIST, vo} 1. 70 


554 REVIEWS. 


mine what plants, both native and exotic, are common enough to de- 

mand a place in it, or so uncommon that they may be omitted.” Should 

it be found that ade of more cultivated plants are wanted by 

o use the book, we are half promised that ‘if the book answers 

its purpose reasonably well, its shortcomings, as regards them, may be 
made up hereafter.” Ms 


ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE MUSEUM OF COMPARA- 
TIVE ZOOLOGY.*—By the present report it appears that this Museum, 
with its great store of specimens, requires to be enlarged in order to 


$10,000 should be about doubled in order to carry on the work of pub- 

lishing, and the internal a ment of the collections. We hope 

the grant of the Piilsi; Sandi their last session, will more than sup- 

ply this want. The director presses upon the trustees the claims of sci- 
the col 


on peng Fossil Plants. Dr. Hagen, iíthovgi at are in the Museum, seems 

to have contributed nothing to the present Report. We quote from Mr. 

Lesquereux’s report the following remarks on American Fossil Botany : 
“The few vegetable | remains, for example, epee from the Tertiary of Tennessee ona © 

Mississippi, f Nebraska fes California, have de! monstrated 

facts, which i echoes was scarcely prepared to admit: 
*Pir 





NT S hich separated 





them roms each other in the different continents. This is even evident fey the vegetation of 








Gos at me enenreh. Therefor re, the suppos siti ion of a continental — of Europe with Am erica bY 
cond. That € ae nt aii ae ea ftt ous and pmo! son 
have passed into our present ve egeta tion, or are pre eserved to our re 


nearly 


our 

Soar for example, has already the Magnolias, whieh w e-find | es a anani in 
"a the 

in 





ey sti 
mentioned only to show the importance of collections of fossil plants from every fo 
our American continent, the only part of the world where questions of general tory 00t- 
ang palxontological distribution can be studied with some chances of satisfac 
clusion: 


NATURAL History or Brrps.t—There is at present great n wee 
elementary work on Ornithology, treating of the general per oth 


ived. 
of ‘Lectures on Ornithology,” Part I. of which we have already rece 


Report of the 
* Annual Danja of the Trustees of the Museum of Comparative Zoology: 
p. 22. 


Director, 1867. 





Anna Lewis. 
lrei History of f Birds, Lectures on Laan In ten parts. By Grace ne 
J o, pp. 82, 1868. 


adelphia: J, A. Bancroft & Co. 


























REVIEWS. 555 
a This treats of general principles, and is to be understood as being in- 


troductory, while the remaining parts will be devoted to the structure 


phical gaea to which is to be added ‘a briefly descrip- 
tive catalogue of the birds of the Middle "o r «of many of the 















practical value to scie 
In this first part ae writer very appropriately devotes several pages to 
an account of the structure of the egg, and the mode of dev elopment of 


ations in the color and texture of the shell. The greater part, however, 
i is devoted to a discussion of the classification of birds; a new or consid- 
erably modified system of which is proposed. It shows that the writer 
has given the subject piled emis thought, and is in many points highly 
emendable, in fact approaching in general more nearly to the natural 


puted) highest authorities. We scarcely see the propriety, however, of 
making a third sub-class of the S and the Dodo, and their respective 
allies, nor of dispers ing the Proecoces so widely among the Altrices, as is 
done, not only in the present case but generally. The subdivision, by Oken 
(according to Agassiz, by Bonaparte as generally received), of birds into 
o grand divisions, be they sub-classes or orders, seems to have been & 


the occurrence of representative groups in each, seems eee ee, 
rate their naturalness. 
Bs te wis’s modes tly written book, however, seems likely to supply & 
gap in our ornithological literature, and as it ee os 
_ Of originality, and promises a clearly expressed aona CEE 
State of the science, we heartily comme end it as a work fully entitled to 
aneron aay ae «Ake 
ee THE Sc N PUBLICATIONS IN NATURAL HISTORY 
punso ir. AND PART OF 1868.t (In a letter from Dr. Lütken of Copen- 
| ta le ee 





“he Naturalist’ 
s Book Agency will supply this work at 35 cents a part. 
posta a A in the pene Zoological Mu- 


}Dr. C, F, Liitken, an accomplished naturalist ahd assistant 
eae at Copenhagen, has kindly IE to prep or A , a yearly review 
h to va o; atural History in ndinavia, of whieh the aches pi pies end pote 
Conch concluded in the next number, relates to the literature of De mark and Norway. Ci 
tuston, embra a and Piniand, will Siow soon. AA ihom Nore am e 
yr essible, containing papers by the most thorough and reliable observers 


inacces 
Northern 
eee ee we think the readers of the NATURALIST are especially "o Sien yig sen 





556 y REVIEWS. 


hagen, dated October 1, 1868.)— According to your request, I have the 
honor of laying before your Teade rs a short summary of the latest scien- 


giving little more than the titles of the papers. Nevertheless, I entertain 
the hope that it wil be sufficient to show that the part taken by Scandi- 


land and America; and I may be permitted to add, that nowhere ought 
the Scandinavian literature be better known. The Scandinavian tongues, 
and especially the Danish, enter so largely into the composition of the 
English language, that it must be a comparatively easy task for an Amer- 
ican to make himself so far familiar with our pE that their rich 
Bietety. treasures may not be unintelligible mysteries to 

me to begin with the scientific productions of my own country, 
with which I am of course best acquainted. Of papers falling within the 
limits of this review, the Ove T ep det Kongelige danske videnskabener 
Selskabs eaan; for 1866 and 1867 (Proceedings of the Royal Dan- 
ish Academy of Science), contain es following: First, a critical essay 


more important results of the diggings made in the French bone-caves 
during late years,” containing many i mportant suggestions, but perhaps 
most worthy of serious attention by its ‘opposing strongly some com- 
monly diffused notions about the supposed contemporaneity of man and 
certain extinct animals, as an established fact. The author will a ‘yield 
to positive material evidence of man’s existence at a given epoch, de- 


su 

erja evidences” are rejected as utterly useless in this 
fessor Reinhardt has DP] and figured (on two gets three new 
species of Characinoids from Lagoa Santa, Brazil (Piabina, new | tai 
argentea Reinh., Characidium, new genus, fasciatum Reinh., and Parodon 
Hilarii Reinh.). In the French “resumé,” attached to this paper (as in 
fact t 


aking them more S PRAEAN to foreigners), the author adds some - 
esting remarks on the geographical distribution of the Brazilian fres 
water fishes. a Reinhardt has brought home from the Rio 
cisco, but especially from its tributary, the Rio das Velhar (Min 
twenty-five species of Siluroids, twenty-six of Characinoids, fou bi 
notoids, and two of Scienoids. . Fourteen other fishes have been 


species of this family. Professor Hannover has given an 


$ 


Pe rae e E E ee V A AE 








sa: 


= no igs Se 7 PEREN 
e E E A ee te E O E a) ESE E N = 


ti 


Ses a a A O ce TA a Rem E 















REVIEWS. 557 


n the te French resumés having been 
o the Memoir (at least to the copies separately printed), and 
to the paper in the ‘‘ Proceedings,” I shall confine my to mentioning 


d 
Is: the “conical” (dorsal spines of Raja batis), 
$ the “knoll-like” (scales of Carcharias and se ince OE the “‘net-shaped” 
and the “‘bundle-shaped” cell (Pristis). A> 











at the ipéeitic identity, of 
w like manner demonstrated some years ago throu, 





eae months since, Professor Baird placed in our hands a gp ect gee eecopie ection 
this specimen from Professor J Jenks, the locality of which was un nknown re bine av 


ia uoknown uknown placoia fish; nah pa are 
F ours to be the same, — EDS. 





ER Xe enecimen. We 





558 REVIEWS. 
During the last two years two volumes have been issued of the Trans- 


actions of the Royal Danish Academy of Science (Vols. VI. and VII). 
They contain the following memoirs: Professor Hannover’s Observations 


Helminthological Researches in Denmark and Iceland, eapo on the 
h’ 


Echinococcus disease in the latter country; Dr. Bergh’s Anatomical Con- 
tributions to the History of the Æolidiaceæ Ariss: nine — ; Professor 
(Ersted’s on a peculiar, hitherto unknown, of Evo n ce 


Parasitic oo s especialiy on the apa foars parae the 
Podisoma of the Savin and the Ræstelia of the pear tree, and finally Dr. 
Gottscher’s 1] achat of the Hepatic Mosses of Mexico, described from 


representing locus of Plaglo ila. More than two hundred species of 
Hepatice were collected by ps Liebmann, and three-fourths of this 
munbe er were new to science. In the Scientific assays from the 


nursing forms of Tenia, and their presumed corresponding mature Spè- 
cies, namely, the so-termed Gyporhynchus pusillus, from the mucus of the 
intestine, and from the gall bladder of Tinca, in which the author has 
recognized the ‘‘nurses” respectively of Tenia macroplos (from m Ardea 
nyctivorax), and T. piama (from Ardea nivea). T. (cysticercus) 
arionis (limacis) is probably the immature condition of T. multiformis 0 
the Stork; and the miniature ee worm observed by Stein in the Tene- 
brio molitor is identical with the Twnia murina of rats and mice as first 
suggested by Kiichenmeis 

In a second paper Dr. Krabbe has described and figured the tape- -worms 


of the bustard, T. villosa Bl., and Idiogenes otidis. The latter new oe 
$ o 
on- 


tinued his res oi on tomy a a systematic pirate 
Gymnobr ranchiate and allied “Mollusca by the papere and 
a D’Orb., an 





ee ete Naina n= a N 














NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 559 


_ §planchnostrophus. Some notes on the latter genus, and on an Acarus, 
parasitic on Galvina rupium are added. Mr. Mörch has given a detailed 
account of the Mollusca of the Faroe Islands (Cephalopods, three spe- 
_ cies; Brachiopods, one species; Gasteropods, sixty-five ; and Bivalves, 
3 forty-two species), illustrated by an instructive tabular synopsis of the 
geographical distribution of the Mollusks of Iceland and Faroe. 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


ZOOLOGY. 
4 Moose Tick.—On the 13th of April a pair of young moose were 
l brought through New York on their way to Europe. They were raised in 
E Nova Scotia, and being very tame, were allowed to run at large. The 
cow moose would ramble off in the woods, and while there, had become 
infested with ticks; the bull had escaped contact with these insects. 
When the cow arrived in New York, her sides and back were almost 
covered with adult ticks. The insects were removed very much to the 


to do so until the 25th of June, when 
they died. The eggs are forced out 
inlarge masses. On the 3d of July, 
_ the day after I sent the drawings to 
_ you, the entire mass of eggs seemed 
to hatch out at once, the shell open- 
- ing like a clam, and releasing a six- 
legged insect.—W. J. Hays 
‘ [The specimens sent us by Mr. Hays 
Me very interesting, as showing that 
the young tick has only three pair 
Of legs instead of four, which a 
4 adult Spiders and mites (Arachnida) 
_ Possess. This is a strong argument 
for the Supposition that the Arach- e 
nids form an order in the class of insects, and not an independent class. 
“ac represents the adult tick, drawn by Mr. Hays. The six-footed 
h 





Noo d with hooks; b, the maxille, probably, also armed with Sah ge 
omy and c, the mandibles.. Thus armed, the young tick buries itse 
‘Me flesh of its victim. — Eps. ] 





560 EXCHANGES, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 


EXCHANGES. 


I wish to exchange Land and Fluviatile Shells of the United States, with 
persons re iiia in other aar Ar nooi Marine Shells for Land and Fresh-water 
hells.— H. FREEDLEY, Norri 


LEPIDOPTERA. —The rarer species rer Catal Brood ag oh E a, he desired in 
exchange for American Lepidoptera by JAMES , West Farms, N 


The rarer species of American Moths veces Bios etride), are pire by the 
ps rea lg OF THE PEABODY ACADEMY. Native and exotic insects will be sent in ex- 
SE 


ia acne ibed | I species of North y ost Ati butterflies for dere Ph in “The Butter- 
oes of igs ae or poms will not be injured by the artists, and will be re- 
ned to th _order Ay received. Parcels sen | to Ba o of J. H. 

ian lb v 


OH 


cea! TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


Wyoming, Luzerne Co., Pa.— Your specimens came perfectly. They are re fungi 
of ie’ = er of the Puff-balls, foot belong to the — wr Mich. The species 
we ot determine at this moment, and it might require some study. The Geasters 

her rare, — Cooke reckoning but nine species found in k eat Britain. They rb 
closely „ampa to the common Puff-ball, but more curious and eletu in form. Nou ae 
em, nor are they supposed to be at all poisonous. It will be wo 
while 40 a ok for more.— a M. T. 


W. H. E., Coalburgh, Va. — The PE rye enclosed is the young of 
Photuris Pensylvantes (ce see “hg. 2, p. 482). It is o mmon luminous larva, 
we have identified it since the note on p. 432 was a writted. 


ch 
H. S., Mt. LOA The moth is a species of Depre aie We should be mu 
obliged to any of our readers for specimens of th e SURE “as orse ticks. ba y are to 
be undi in the early part o eee especially in the Scuth-western State 

J. M. H., Kalam 00, Wis.—During cloudy weather moths and ee 
themselves during the ~~ in grass and among leaves and similar hiding races. They cloudy 
pi all very susceptible to the sunlight, non do not fly, as a general rule, in 

ays. 


Dr. 
WO astham, Mass.— Your fish is the rare little “ One-spotted Dory,” of 
Stor wi Report P- 78. pl. 14, fig. 2), if tae ey sgn = eierne” Dr. nm 
says that the only s pecimen he has seen was taken je Size a8 
Bat oe rs epeciihen was taken at Saco, Me Your ‘eon E r haryo "the u 
ee r two known specimens. Has your fish any eggs, or does it 


W., East Windsor, Conn.—The larva is Phobetrum pithecium, one of the e 


ww 

worm family, si a very singular form. the 
H. H. K., Spencer, Mass.—For a brief eo gi ieg froth-insect, which ma 

“ toad-spittle” , ae Vol. I: of the NATURALIST, 


W. H. K. L., Kansas City, Mo.— We sein Á ano, which is the Belostoma Halde 
manum of Leidy. 





———o 


BOOKS pa 
The e Butterflies o of North A America; with colored drawi and descriptions. ia 
H. Edwards. Philadelphia: Seana by vs American eee Society. 
868. Ato, with five plates, 
Ch 


Hawaiian Club P Papers. Boston, 1868. 8vo. 
ndee mos Journal. November. Washington 
Canadia omologist. VoL. I, No.3. Toronto. "evo. 


Cosmos. "october 17. Paris. 
American omologist. Vol. I, No.3. St. Louis. 








RERS fC mee 


vs 


























De 


AMERICAN NATURALIST. 


. Vol. II.—JANUARY, 1869.—No. 11. 
COAGORVODIY 


THE SMALLER FUNGI.* 


BY JOHN L. RUSSELL. 


_ ALMost everybody supposes that there can be no doubt as 
to what a toadstool, a mildew or a mould is, and some may 
even correctly call them fungi, if they are acquainted with the 
Latin word, which denotes them. Rust on grain, and smut 
_ maize or Indian corn, are also familiar to farmers, but a 
_ Multitude of other of the smaller fungi, are only known to 
a the botanist. An accurate knowledge of them is to be found 
: only with the mycologist, who as a botanist, devotes unceas- 
_ ‘|g and strict attention to. this particular department of 
; hatural history. Abroad it is to the researches of many 
éminent men and women on the continent and Great Britain, 
and in this country to several others both dead and living, 
that the structure, mode of growth, relation to the various 
ents of industry, injurious effects and general utility 
Of these smaller fungi in nature, are collected and known. 
_ As plants, though of a very low order of organization, the 
‘maller fungi treated of in the work before us, are of great 
’ interest as mere objects of beauty. To attain a full compre- 
hension of this fact, recourse must be had to the microscope, 
es OC ee ae 


7 
t sanie Fungi 





fase *Rast, Smut, Mil a al $ $ om 2 
O y dew and Mould. An Introducti: yo oe 
Entered acco ACADEMY OF 
Sctexce. rding to gress, i by the PEABODY 
AMER in the Clerk's Ole a aa n ie Court Of ie District of ee 
: NATURALIST, VOL. I. (561) 





562 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


because the several portions of these structures are beyond 
the reach of the unaided vision. No one, who does not 
know, could possibly conceive that the little specks of brown 
or black seen on the brilliant and ripening foliage of the 
maples in September and October, (or to be seen on the skin 
of apples and pears, and many kinds besides on dry stalks of 
plants, on straw, on old decaying matter, ) on the fence rails, 
on the panes of the window, on the bodies of diseased house- 
flies, on putrefying and decaying matter, are receptacles of 
exquisitely sculptured and carved seed-vessels, called spores; 
beaded thread-like strings of pearls; or of myriads of the 
most fantastic shapes that the genius of man in imitative or 
creative art has developed. A subject so broad, and one 
which can be investigated at any season of the year, inviting 
the botanist forth from earliest spring to latest autumn, to 
search for forms of beauty on every living or ripening leaf 
and fruit, and in winter rendering the evening lamp still 
more attractive in studying by its aid the collected treasures 
of the summer’s gleanings, cannot but interest every thought- 
ful person in some way or other, if it should be presented in 
_ an agreeable manner, or with reference to the industrial pur- 
suits of society. i 
Nor only to the general botànist, or even to the botanist 


whose speciality is the study of fungi, is this subject one of 
nce with 


remunerative. Who has not noticed so early in u 
some bright, sunny day in June, along the d i 
where the blackberry vines creep among the weeds e 
grass, their leaves powdered beneath with rich golden d n 
shaken from little orange colored cups? And many 18 w 
quiry from many a child, or even older person, that 1 W 

tell them what such a phenomenon were. The 
barberry bushes too, with their extraneous adornments, 
the fruit is tempting men and women, lads and malic 











THE SMALLER FUNGI, 563 


alike, to the old stone-walls and rocky pastures; the leaves of 
the quince bushes in the garden; of the thorn bushes in the 
fields, how strangely distorted by curious forms. The wearied 
looking and dusty lilac bushes, so dusty at the end of summer 
that no rain can wash them clean, nor even will, so long as 
the egg-mould riots on the upper surfaces of their leaves ; the 
crystalline drops of permanent dew glittering in the morn- 
ing sun and which surmount many a tuft of equally crystal 
threads in countless numbers, issuing from some rejectamenta 
_ or waste matter ; these and many, and more beside, often at- 
tract attention as we stroll or walk for exercise or pleasure, 
but are soon forgotten, because nothing is known of them; 
and who is there to tell? Cunningly, wisely, and full of a 
secret, hidden meaning, a thousand forms of the lower vege- 
table life, look up into the faces of pedestrians who, with re- 
Pressed curiosity, and not quite willingly, tread them under 
foot. They are leaves of the great folio, marginal notes on 
the pages of the book of Nature, often and to many, and for 
à long period to every one, hieroglyphs whose deciphering 
_ Would repay all the requisite toil. “How thankful I am to 
_ You,” said a friend, “that you have told me so much about 
; these beautiful, though dry and fragile lichens, which carpet 
the old pastures ; they no longer can taunt me with their pre- 
suming pride, that they are something beyond my acquaint- 
_ mee.” “The best lectures on botany,” said the well-known 
educator, Geo. B. Emerson, once in conversation, “is after a 
Plan persued by a friend, who in the fields discourses on the 
_ ‘Structural differences of whatever plant he meets.” “Differ- 
ent kinds of plants, enough to occupy your life time, are now 
: under my hand,” said Linnaeus, a hundred years ago, as the 
2 tecdote is told. What would the Swedish savant say now, 
=, n on the leaf of the elm alone, more than a dozen spe- 
: Ges of minute fungi are to be found? In a basket of wet 
_ “Sses, lay through the night and part of the next day, a 
= S@ agaric, with a few patches of a white mould attached, 
‘ Which, in that space of time, completely matted by its 


564 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


rapid growth. of. intricate: fibres, every surrounding object, 
revealing in the smallest bit. of itself the forked branches and 
spores of a species of Peronospora with its two-formed fruit, 
any single one of which falling on the. living tissue of moss 
germinated and bore fruit in turn! A few hours dampness 
and. heat. will develope the Botrytis and load its slender 
stalks with grape-like bunches of seed-bearing cells. 

With an. intention to introduce these little parasitical 
growths to the attention of the reading and thinking : public, 
to such as would readily attend lectures illustrating such 
topics, and to make plain and easy, what at first seems $0 
obscure and mysterious, the author commences. by bringing 
forward some of the species most common in England, and 
explaining by words and by figures their form, structure and 
occurrence... We have only to change the words a little 
and designate the fields close to, any large town or city of 
the United. States, or at least of New England, to find the 
same or similar living plants, whose foliage or other parts of 
them are infested with the same species or with kinds closely 
allied. j ; ; 
. “Amongst the six families into which fungi are divided, T 
one, in: which. the spores are the principal feature. This 
family is named Coniomycetes, from two Greek words mean- 
ing. ‘dust fungi,’ . This family. includes. several melt 
groups, termed :orders, which are analogous to the natura 
orders of flowering plants, Without staying to enumerate 
the characteristics of these orders, we select one in which m 
spores are enclosed ina distinct peridium,* as in our typ! 


This. order is the Aicidiacei, so-called after caer 
largest and most important of the genera included W! 


this order. . The Aicidiacei are always developed on pen 
plants, sometimes on the flowers, fruit, leaf-stalks, the app 
e ‘ 


but most. commonly on the leaves, occasionally on 


surface,.but generally on the inferior. The different SP 


* Peridium, the covering of the seeds of fungi. 











THE SMALLER FUNGI. 565 


are distributed over a wide area; many are found in Europe 
and North America; some occur in Asia, Africa, and Aus- 
tralia.” (pp. 5, 6.) à 
_ The Rev. Dr. M. A. Curtis, in his Catalogue of Plants o 
North Carolina, published at Raleigh, in 1867, furnishes us 
with as many as thirty species, to be found on’ the leaves 
of as many different living plants. Other ‘lists in different 
_ parts of the United States give us still other species infest- 
_ ing other kinds of plants. Thus Schweinitz, in his “Synop- 
_ Sis of North American Fungi,” mentions or else describes 
forty-one distinct species, which grow upon the leaves and 
other parts of native plants. From these let us select his 
- Aecidium ranunculacearum, which attacks the foliage of 
_ Various kinds of the buttercups, or Ranunculus. This fungus 
is likewise found in England, and listen to what our author 
= Writes about it: 
= “It is found on several species of Ranunculus, as R. acris, 
, and repens. The leaf is thickened at the spot oc- 
_ cupied by the parasite, and generally, without indication, on 
a the opposite surface. Sometimes one spot, at others several, 
cur on the same leaf. The peridia are densely crowded 
_ together, often arranged in a eircinate manner, 7. e., like a 
_ Watch-spring. The seeds (spores) are orange, but slightly 
_ Yarying in tint on different species of Ranunculus.” 
| several species of Ranunculus here cited, though in- 
: ‘troduced plants, have become common in this country, and 
_ Serve to enamel with golden blossoms our own meadows and 
elds. The swelling or excrescence upon the leaves, thus 
l technically called peridium, as we have before noticed, splits 
ol the top into many points or teeth, and renders it a pretty 
fringed cup filled with the yellow spores. On this account 
bs Æcidiums are termed cluster-cups, the more $0, espe 
MMi} when they are arranged in clusters upon the leaf.’ Of 
“Species which in England infests the leaves of the“ Goat's- 
: thi , i Tragopogon); we are informed that “the spores s 
MS Species are orange, sub-globose, sometimes angular, an 





566 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


indeed very variable both in size and form, though the ma- - 
jority are comparatively large. Each of these bodies is, 
doubtless, capable of reproducing its species, and if we com- 
pute 2,000 cluster-cups as occurring on each leaf, and we 
have found half as many more on an ordinary sized leaf, and 
suppose each cup to contain 250,000 spores, which again is 
below the actual number, then we have not less than five 
hundred millions of reproductive bodies on one leaf of the 
Goat’s-beard to furnish a crop of parasites for the plants of 
the succeeding year. We must reckon by millions, and our 
figures and faculties fail in appreciating the. myriads of 
spores which compose the orange dust produced upon one 
infected cluster of plants of Tragopogon. Nor is this all, 
for our number represents only the actual proto-spores which 
are contained within the cups; each of these, on germina- 
tion, may produce not only one but many vegetative apon 
(sprouting buds), which are exceedingly minute, and indi- 
vidually may be regarded as embryos of a fresh crop of 
cluster-cups.” (pp. 7,8 

- The stems and leaves of the sweet violets, and of the sev- 
eral scentless ones beside, are distorted and ruined by other 
cluster-cups ; the stinging nettle does not escape; the hardy 
dock, the useful currant, the wild’ geranium alike, feed with 
their juices other kinds, and a wide field of observation § 
offered to the lover of the microscope, to detect and discover 
other and yet unknown native sorts. However, “let ai 
warn the young student against falling into the error of sup- 
posing, because the specific name of the fungus is derived 
from the plant it infests, that therefore the species ae 
with that of the plant, and that as a rule he may anticipate 
meeting with a distinct species of fungus on every distinct 
species of plant, or that the parasite which he encounters o 
the living leaves of any one plant is necessarily specie’ 
distinct from those found on all other plants. The my er 
gist* will look to the specific differences in the parasite wit 


* Mycologist, one who exclusively studies fungi. 





THE SMALLER FUNGI. 567 


out regard to the identity or distinctness of the plant upon 
which it is a parasite.” (p. 6.) 

It is an old and erroneous opinion which some of our farm- 

ers yet entertain, and which they have received by tradi- 
tion from their ancestry, who brought it with them from the 
“old country,” that the cluster-cups on the leaves of the bar- 
berry were capable of producing the blight and mildew upon 
grain, and that as an exemption from, or security against, 
such a fate, every barberry-bush should be effectually exter- 
minated from the grain-fields, if, by careless husbandry or 
purposely for its fruit, it should be found bordering them. 
“This opinion,” says our author, Fig. 1. 
“even received the support of , 
Sir Joseph Banks, but’ no fungi 
can be much more distinct than 
those found on grain crops, and 
this species on the leaves of the 
barberry.* In this instance the 
cups are elongated and cylindri- 
cal, and the spots on the upper 
surface of the leaf are reddish, 
bright, and distinct; the teeth - 
on the edge of the cup are 
White and brittle, and the orange 
Spores copious.” (Fig. 1; a, leaf 
a barberry, with cluster-cups, Æcidium berberidis; b, a por- 
tion magnified ; c, the same seen sidewise). 

Very singular and curious clusters of excresences occur 
on the leaves of the apple tree, pear tree, and mountain-ash 
bush, and are very prominent on the leaves of the quince tree, 
and especially of the wild apple tree of the West, consisting 
of large peridia, pointed at the tops, and so swollen below 
as to bear a rude resemblance to urns, the edges split into 
Mt as he Cie ee 





+ . . 
Mla his fungus and Puccinia graminis have been recently determined s Aam 
ree to be one and the same plant. See Dr. Liitken’s Review 12 the preceding 
of the NATURALIST. 


568 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


long and contorted threads. They are species of Reestelia, the 
R. lacerata (Fig. 2; a, natural size, living on the leaves 
and fruit of the hawthorn; b, a portion magnified); cancel- 

Fig. 2 lata, mali, cornuta, and of the 
f Centridium cydonia, the spores 
of which are of ‘a light orange 
color. The leaves of the pine : and 
fir are sometimes attacked’ by the 
Peridermium, which in two spe 
cies alters the foliage and spoils 
the effect of the bri sha “In 
this genus the peridium bursts 
irregularly, and does not form 
cups or horns or fringed vessels.” 
The P. pini has been frequently 
noticed in’ this country. The 
common houseleek is, in England, attacked by a parasitical 
fungus of this family, which burrows in the pulpy tissue of 
its thick and succulent leaves, and hence called Endophy/- 
lum; but I can find no notice of its occurrence with us. 
“We have derived much pleasure,” says Mr. Cooke, “ 
viewing the astonishment and delight exhibited by miaii 
to whom we have pêrsonally communicated specimens of the 
little fungi we have enumerated for examination under the 
microscope ; and we recommend with confidence this group 
of parasitic plants, unfortunately ‘so little known, as well 
worthy the attention of all who are interested in the minute 
aspects of nature, and who can recognize the hand 





‘That sets a sun amidst the firmamen 

Or moulds a dewdrop, and lights up pA gem.” (p= 21.) 
To which we can but add our hearty assent, and only wish 
that investigations and studies so prolific of gratification were 
more universal, especially among the young. 

The spores of these smaller fungi have been spoken of “as 

a sort of seeds by which the plants to which they belong 37° 
propagated. This, as we shall now see, is not strictly WU 





THE SMALLER FUNGI. 569 


and several novel. and interesting points for consideration 
and even for enquiry arise. If we should place some of the 
yellow dust, which fills the cup-shaped peridia in a drop of 
water, and prevent its evaporation by covering it with a bell- 
glass, a tumbler or wine-glass would do as well, wè should 
find,in a few hours, that each particle of the dust had swollen, 
and bursting at some point, had given out a blunt thread, at 
the apex of which, it is crowned with delicate curved append- 
ages, which soon become connected by lateral threads, thus 
forming a kind of latticed net-work, and from the sides’ of 
these filaments little oblong cells sprout, which in turn ger- 
~ Minate and reproduce the plant. For this highly interesting 
_. discovery we are indebted to the Rev. M. J. Berkeley of 
= England, and a particular and extended account of which 
_ may be found in the London Journal of Horticulture, vol. 
= 2, p.107. . Those of our readers, who are familiar with the 
early stages of the ferns can trace a striking analogy in the 
process, 

In many of the smaller fungi, the first condition of the 
germinating spore, viz.: the cluster of curved and delicate 
appendages surmounting a thread, is present in another 
form, and constitutes what is termed the Spermogone,* often 
in the shape of a minute dot near the peridium and some- 
times on the opposite surface of the leaf, and in fact a 
Conceptacle or blister filled with threads, and throwing off 
from the apices the curved bodies, called spermatia, which 
escaped through an orifice provided for the purpose. Before 
the nature and office of these singular objects were known, 
‘permogones were mistaken for distinct kinds of fungi, and 
many diverse species were described. They are, however, 
hot wholly confined to the fungi, but even the lichens are fur- 
with similar ones. The size of the largest spermatia, 
E Sie of the Peridermium pini, “have a length equal to s250 

Fu inch, but their width seldom exceed rooyos Of an inch, 

Pema 7 -a ing Spermatia or ger- 
inating laments, 5 i 


AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 72 











570 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


whilst on others their length does not exceed the width of. 
those just named.” (p. 25.) 

The evident effort of nature, then, in this process, is to pro- 
duce an ultimate condition of fungal life, which shall be sure 
to continue indefinitely the presence of the parasites upon the 
leaves and other parts of the higher plants. And this is 
done by the mycelium,* a system of the most subtle threads 
which can enter the tissues by attacking the seed when sown, 
and whose persistence of vitality enables it to endure the 
most trying circumstances unharmed. So vitalized indeed 
is the mycelium, that any fragment of it will vegetate and 
grow after long periods of desiccation. And its luxuriance 
of growth is in nowise dependent on any higher develop- 
ment, such as, were it the stems and leaves of a flower- 
ing plant, would sooner or later push forth blossoms and 
fruit. 

This vitality is taken advantage of in the cultivation of the 
edible fungi, such as the mushroom for example, where 
lumps of dried earth, permeated by the mycelium oF 
“spawn,” as it is technically called, are planted in prepared 
soil, and a profitable crop realized. It is also familiar to 
cultivators, that fruit trees and ornamental trees often lan- 
guish and die, owing to their roots reaching spots deep m 
the ground where decayed wood, filled with the “spawn” of 
some destructive fungus exists. Fortunately the awakening 
to active life, and to injurious growth, seems to depend on 
causes which do not always exist, such as atmospherical and 
similar conditions, else there were no chance of security 
from these annual scourges of agricultural industry- Fungi 
of every kind are therefore regarded as meteorological phe- 
nomena ; like a few of the higher plants, which appear n 
wide intervals, and then, sparsely. — To be concluded. 





* Mycelium, the fibrous portion of fungi, which grows underground min me 
of the plants upon which they ing, and i SEOSE 
dead plants. 





». 





BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 


BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES, U. 8. A. 





(Concluded from page 513.) 

In our last “View” we saw all the appendages of a bird’s 
eye; and now we come to look at the eye itself. “Eye- 
ball” and “globe of the eye” are very convenient terms, 
constantly in our mouths; but they are not strictly accurate 
ones. Probably there are no perfectly spherical eyes. In 
our own species, the eye is made up of a segment of a large 
_ sphere, representing about five-sixths of its superficies ; the 

other sixth is a smaller segment of a small sphere, joined in 
front to the former. Most mammal’s eyes are not very dif- 
ferent in this respect from our own. . Bird’s eyes are much 
further removed from perfect sphericity. The greater part 
of the ball is saucer-shaped, —almost discoidal ; and there is 
a very convex prominence, more Or less hemispherical in 
shape, in front. The whole eye may be likened to an acorn 
of one of those oaks that bear a fruit with a heavy broad 
shallow cup, and short blunt kernel, or to a thick old-fash- 
ioned watch with a very convex crystal. 
This shape is one of thé distinguishing characters of a 
bird’s eye: the figure (Fig. 2) will give a better idea of it - 
than any description. It represents a vertical section through 
the middle of an eye in profile, and shows nearly all the struct- 
ures and organs that can be demonstrated in the ball. Before 
making use of it, however, the reader must be reminded 
of the two following points: First, the distinctness of the 
several membranes forming the ball is greatly exaggerated ; 
for otherwise the different membranes could not be repre- 
sented as such. Secondly, the ciliary processes, optic nerve, 
and Marsupium, do not fall wholly within the line of p vor- 
tical section ; they lie curving obliquely against the inside 
of the walls of the hollow spheroid. But no idea ara | 





572 BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS, 


es be gained of them, were they merely represented at 
=p omar ete 

at artificially. The sac- 
rifice of Baiar a Daes | is more than compensated for 
by increased perspicuity. 

Recollecting that the “eyeball” e shall continue to 
vall it for convenience sake—is filled with fluid. that presses 
equally in every direction, we cannot at first make out how its 
peculiar shape 

is, maintained. 
But the reason 
why the ball 
does. not as- 
sume a spheri- 
eal shape really 
is plain enough 
when- we. come 
to. dissect. its 
-coats. They 
are partly dony- 
They are splin- 
ted, as it were, 
GARY Mink. me with the bones 
h, h) that are packed alongside each other all around. the 
circumference of one part of the ball. 

e large discoidal segment of a bird’s eye is mostly 
made up of a membrane called the sclerotic, from its bard, 
dense structure. It is'a thick, strong; tough membrane, of 
a glistening livid, or grayish blue color.’ Three” scleroti¢ 
coats or layers, differing from each other a little in texturs 
may be demonstrated by careful dissection, though on super 














Fig. 2. Ve 

b, sclerotie, outer e sao section through middle of eyeball. "e ao 
r. coat; c, sclerotic, middle and inner coats; d, choroid;  B) yaloi 
oration 


supium; 
narn choroid, Ha ornea; k, h, bony sie between layers of sclerotic; i, i, € 
pene , forming ti the ciliary pon sses; k, k, canal of Pet tit; 7, l, iris; ™ 
pecnliar ‘ee psule of lens; o, lens; pi L sie hg chamber. Neither the retina rite 
hing of the optic nerve, wn. The nerve, the marsupium, cor the 
ti f the 


ciliary 
eye i int don not w. weer aS w hb a vertical sec tion throug h the mic iddle © 
figure except artificially. 








ee Mee VS ee oe 


CS Se ee See | yhnat a el eles 


et aca Ci 


BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 573 


ficial examination the sclerotic presents itself as a single 
homogeneous tissue. In the figure (6) is the outer coat, and 
(c)the middle and inner ones combined. : The osseous plates 
just. mentioned lie between the outer and middle sclerotic 
coats, anterior to the greatest circumference of the eyeball, 
and: nearly or quite extend from the rim of the disk to the 


` edge of the central anterior transparent part of, the ball—the 


cornea. . They are fifteen or twenty in number, of an oblong, 
quadrate shape, broader behind, tapering toward the cornea, 
and so disposed as to form a complete bony circlet around 


the latter. Collectively, they enjoy some little motion, their 


anterior margins advancing and receding with the varying 
convexity of the cornea; but, they cannot individually wab- 
ble, being firmly. bound to.each other by the continuation of 
the sclerotic coats between them. 

The cornea (g) is the thin transparent membrane in front 
that the bird looks through. It forms the anterior part of 
the wall of the eye, and is, in one sense, a continuation of 
the sclerotic ; but its texture is very different from that of the 

er. It is the prominent convex part of the eye,—the 
hemisphere of the small globe that has been already men- 
tioned. Its structure offers nothing peculiar, being essen- 
tially the same as in mammals; but its shape is remarkable. 
Always very convex, it is sometimes still more protuberant, 
being elongated into a sort of cylinder, with a hemispherical 
top.. This tubulation is very great, for example, in the noc- 
turnal birds of prey (Owls, Strigide). The alteration of 
shape that the cornea is capable of is next most singular, as 
will be explained when we come to speak of the powers of 
the eye as a whole. _ It is sufficient here to bear in mind the 
unusual shape of the cornea, and its power of increasing and 
diminishing its convexity. 
_ The sclerotic coat is lined inside with a membrane of very 
different tissue—the choroid (d). While the former 1s 
tough and fibrous, with comparatively few blood-vessels, the 
tter is more loosely woven of cellular tissue, replete with 


mai ET 


574 BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 


interlacing blood-vessels, and painted pitch-black all over. 
The deposit of pigmentary or black coloring matter is very 
heavy, and serves to absorb those rays of light not needed 
in vision. The choroid membrane lines all the inside of the 
eye as far forward as the edges of the bony plates, where it 
splits into two layers. The inner of these turns away from _ 
~ the wall of the ball, towards the axis or middle line of the 
eye, and in so doing becomes gathered in plice, or folds, 
much as the top of a bag is wrinkled by pulling the string. 
These radiating folds come from all around, to collect to- 
gether upon the rim of the crystalline lens (0), or rather of 
the delicate capsule (n)-that encloses the lens, and adhere 
there. Their terminations form what are called the ciliary 
processes (i, i). The outer layer also curls away from the 
sclerotic, and starts to go transversely across the eyeball, 
but ends at once in the iris. 

The iris (1,1) is the most exquisitely beautiful structure 
in a bird’s eye. It is the many-colored curtain that hangs 
vertically between the two apartments of the eye. It is the 
highly ornamented framework of the window of the ey® 
uniting the offices of sash and blind. The crystalline lens 18 
suspended in the round hole punched in the centre of the 
iris. Viewed in front, from the outside, the iris appears 3$ 
a colored circular band around the pupil. It seems to lie 
directly on the surface. But this is not so, for the cornea and 
its humors are between us and it. It is like the dial-plate 
of a watch, that we look straight at without noticing the 
crystal that is interposed. The central aperture through 
which come the shafts that the hands are fastened to, may ue 
likened to the pupil. Everybody knows what the “pupil 
is, in a vague way. It is the round black spot inside the 
colored rim of the iris; but few understand what the spot th 
The difficulty is, that the pupil is regarded as a materi! 
thing—a tissue, structure, or organ—when it is not. es 
the absence of matter. The round black spot called the 
pupil is not a “thing ;” it is a hole in a thing, —the hole 0 





BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 575 


the iris through which we look (the transparent crystalline 
lens offering no obstruction to our view) directly into and 
across the posterior chamber of the eye, and see the black 
pigment on the choroid behind. Albino animals have pink 
eyes, because the coloring matter of the choroid is wanting, 
and the hue of the blood in its numerous fine vessels ap- 
pears. And even if we look into a normal eye with the 
ophthalmoscope, we have a reddish instead of a black field 
of vision. The pupil takes its name from a very pretty 
conceit. -On looking straight at it, our image is reflected to 
us, only so diminished that we are transformed into pigmies. _ 
We find an expression of the same thing in other languages 
beside our own. In Spanish, the liliputian photograph is 
called “niñacita del ojo ;” which means “little eye-baby.” 

But to return from this digression to the iris, which has 
been all the time nervously quivering at our neglect. It is 
essentially similar in structure to the choroid, being a deli- 
cate tissue of fibres and vessels interlacing in every direc- 
tion; but it, has, in addition, a structure that is regarded as 
muscular. The iridian muscles are mainly disposed in two 
Ways; there is a circular set running around, and a radiating 
set that pass across from the inner to the outer border. By 
Means of these, which are mutually antagonistic, the iris is 
Contracted and expanded, and its aperture—the pupil— 
correspondingly varied in size. In mammals, the movement 
of the iris appears to be automatic, and to depend upon the 
‘Stimulus of light; and they are not so great, as a general 
Tule, as in birds. In the latter, they are extraordinary, not 
only in degree, but in the rapidity with which they may be 
executed, Although birds’ irides respond primarily, and 
‘ Perhaps chiefly, to the action of light, their movements seem 
__ tobe partly, at least, subject to the will, and therefore volun- 
7 + These conditions of mobility in the iris relate directly 
to such exigencies as, for examples, the owl meets with in 
the daytime, or the eagle encounters in his flight towards 
sun, ; i 















576 BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 


The iris of birds is copiously supplied with coloring mat- 
ter; the tints vary with different species, and are often ex- 
tremely: brilliant. Some shade of brown is, perhaps, the 
commonest color. Yellow is very common; red is often seen; 
blue and green are more rarely met with. The eyes of Cor- 
morants are of the latter color. Sometimes the iris is black- 
ish, or black, like the choroid; and it is frequently pure 
white, as in the instance of one of our common birds, the 
White-eyed Greenlet ( Vireo Noveboracensis). i 

The crystalline lens (0) is a transparent bi-convex disk, 
just like a common magnifying glass. It apparently hangs 
on the iris like a looking-glass in its frame, but is really set 
a little further back. In. birds, it is rather flatter, especially 
behind, and. also softer. in consistency, than in some other 
classes. It is enclosed in a very delicate transparent mem- 
brane, its capsule (n), which is in turn set in between two 
layers of a membrane, called “hyaline,” to be presently de- 
scribed. Where the two hyaloid layers separate around the 
rim of the capsule, to form its case, a small space is left, 
that makes a circular tube all around, called the canal of 
Petit (k,k).. The lens is stationary as far as the axis of 
vision is. concerned; but is capable of being moved a little 
forwards and backwards, by the pressure of the humors of 
the eye, which is produced by the codperative action of cer- 
tain. muscular and vascular structures, as we shall see before 
we get through; This movement adjusts the focus for 
vision, exactly as it is adjusted in a telescope, for instance, 
by lengthening or shortening the tube. : 

We can understand, now, that the eyeball is divided into 
two compartments, or “chambers,” as they are called, by the 
inward reflection of the two choroid coats, the hyaloid, fe 
iris, and the lens, which together form a vertical wall. Bo 
of these chambers are filled with fluid, of different density 
and consistence in each. That in the anterior division Z 
thin and watery, and therefore called: the “aqueous h pye 
that in the posterior one is more dense and glassy, and 16 fF 





~ 





BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. « (Ot 


this reason known as the “vitreous humor.” There is much 
less aqueous than vitreous, because the anterior chamber is 
much the smaller of the two; but birds have more of the 
former, compared with the quantity of the latter, than 
mammals, because the size and convexity of the cornea is 
relatively greater. The aqueous humor is enclosed in a 
very delicate simple membrane, that cannot be demonstra- 
ted without difficulty. The vitreous is contained in a more 
palpable, as well as complex membrane—the hyaloid (e) 
—which, besides lining the interior of all the back part of 
the eye, and enclosing the lens as already described, sends 
thin lamin, or layers, all through the vitreous humor, form- 
ing partitions that serve to steady the glassy waters. 

e may next turn our attention to the optic nerve (@) 
that presents itself in the all-important character of the “soul 
of the eye.” It has many peculiarities in birds ; among them 
one that constitutes the most characteristic feature of the eye 
of these creatures. In mammals, as a general rule, the nerve 
is a smooth cylinder that comes straight to the sclerotic, near 
the middle behind, penetrates straight through the coats of the 
eyeball, and then spreads out on all sides to form a disk on 
the inside of the back of the eye. This circular saucer-like 
expansion is the retina—the sensitive nervous plate, or mir- 
ror, upon. which images of things viewed are photographed, 
to be transmitted along the nerve to the brain, and there 
“perceived.” Suppose the optic nerve to be an umbrella- 
handle, the retina would then be the umbrella, blown inside 
out by the wind. In birds the nerve acts very differently. 
In the first place, though it is cylindrical, it is not smooth; 
It has lengthwise folds and ridges. It is like a fluted column. 
It comes obliquely towards the eye, which it strikes at a 
Point eccentric from the axis of the ball; and then, instead 
of at once piercing all the sclerotic coats, and expanding 

‘0 a concavo-convex disk, it tapers gradually to a fine 


Point. This elongated extremity runs still obliquely, down- 


wards and forwards, in a deep groove in the sclerotic, that 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. I. 73 





Dis . BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 


would be a perfect sheath were it not split lengthwise. 
Through this slit, and through a corresponding one in the 
choroid membrane, a fold or fluting of the nerve rises up, 
finally attaining the inside of the eye. The retina spreads 
out from all along the sides and extremities of this fold. 
Only one other structure remains to be described—the 
crowning anatomical peculiarity of a bird’s eye. This is 
the marsupium, or pecten (f). Though attached at one end 
to the optic nerve, it is not a part of the nerve at all, nor 
composed of nervous tissue. It is a very vascular mem- 
brane, most like the choroid in texture, and likewise painted 
black. When fully extended, it is seen to be of an oblong 
or rectangular shape; when lying naturally in situ, it is 
much drawn up, and its sides are transversely wrinkled or 
plicated. It is suspended in the vitreous humor, running 
obliquely forwards a great part, or the whole of the way, 
from the end of the optic nerve to the crystalline lens. In 
the former case it appears attached anteriorly to some of the 
lamine of the hyaline ; in the latter to the capsule of the lens. 
Behind, it is always fastened to the optic nerve. It is called 
the “marsupium,” because it does not in the least resemble 
a purse or pouch; and the “pecten” because it does not 
look anything like a comb. Anatomists have not agreed 
upon what to consider as the function of this organ, nor up 
the quo modo of its operation. Some have thought that it. 
absorbs the superfluous rays of light that must often enter 
the eye, because it is blackened with pigment. One who 
adhered to this belief went further, considering that, from 
its eccentric position, it absorbs mainly oblique rays, whieh 
being taken away, objects placed in direct rays may be more 
plainly perceived. Some, again, have regarded it, aoei 
sequence of its vascular structure, as the organ that secretes, 
or aids the choroid in secreting the vitreous humor; aN addi- 
tional apparatus being needed for the elaboration of this 
fluid, because it is used up so fast in the rapid and incessant 
movements of the eye. But the theory now generally a0 








i 
i 

















BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 579 


cepted differs from all of these hypotheses, and makes out 
the marsupium to be an “erectile” organ. Although no 
muscular fibres have been shown to exist in it, yet it is 
probably capable of expansion and contraction much as if it 
were muscular. It is a highly vascular structure, as we 
have seen; and the increased or diminished turgidity of its 
numerous blood-vessels* would, of course, alter its dimen- 
sions. If it occupies a variable space in the vitreous humor, 
it must affect the position of the lens, and by this means 
change the focus of the eye. This seems to be the most 
satisfactory explanation, both of the design of the marsu- 
pium, and of the mode in which its design is carried out. 
In this view, the organ is marshalled with several others 
that we know contribute to the greatest physiological phe- 
nomenon of a bird’s eye, —the nbid adjustment of focus. 

As anatomists, we have examined the structure, and posi- 
tion, and appearance of the organs that make up a hird’s eye. 
But our study would be to little purpose if it ended here with 
an inspection of dead tissues. We have seen some curious 
things that, perhaps, have afforded us gratification, which is 
well enough as far as it goes; but curiosity is only laudable 
when, disdaining amusement as an ulterior object, it is con- 
tented only with, a higher aim,—instruction. We must 
look, as physiologists, at the operations of the eye, and the 
mode in which its functions are conducted and accomplished. 
All that has gone before is merely to prepare us to question 
intelligently the structures we have examined, and find out 

w they work. 

Eyes are made to see with, of course; but how we see 
with our eyes nobody knows. No one can tell us how an 
adh etl alee 


*It is not a arent, at ht, whence a marsupium gets its numerous vessels, 
Since it is n 1s fete gs tdi eg hy mbrane of the eye, ~ the choroid. Pro- 
fessor 


remarks on this subject: “ piers hes of the ophthalmic Imic artery, —_— 
ea Any vessels of the sorok, per snes with the retine, € g 
i. — the retina, along the whole extent of the oblique 8 
te sclerotic and ai and immediately penetrate the folds ds of the mar 
a riie, upon which they form delicate ramifications.” (Anatomy of ates, 
+ P. 139.) 


580 BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 


image formed on the retina is conveyed to the brain, and 
transformed into a mental perception, capable of being 
thought about. This is inscrutable; it is here the part of 
wisdom to confess ignorance, and acknowledge bounds that 
. human reason cannot overstep. Nor have we. need here to 
go into the general optical laws applicable to vision; they 
are well known, and moreover relate no more to a bird’s eye 
than to that of any other animal. What we want is to find 
out the meaning of the structural peculiarities by which a 
bird’s eye differs from other eyes. What is the reason and 
the purpose of the three eyelids? of the shape of the ball? 
of the very abundant aqueous humor? of the movable lens? 
of the marsupium? the tapering nerve? What special rela- 
tion do these and other features bear to the sense of sight in 
birds? In other words, why must a bird have just this sort 
of an eye to be able to see perfectly? Some of these ques- 
tions can be satisfactorily answered ; others not. Some we 
have already replied to as they arose in our mind invol- 
untarily during our dissection. Thus the third lid gives a 
subdued light, without excluding light altogether ; and also 
protects the eye, which could not be otherwise protected 
without closure of its outer opaque lids, and loss of sight 
altogether. The very convex and highly refractive cornea 
doubtless has some relation to a bird’s ability to see straight 
ahead, though its eyes look directly sidewise. 

Perhaps no reason has been assigned for the singular 
course and termination of the optic nerve. - These have po 
sibly no special optical relations; the cause may lie simply 
in the relative situations of the brain and eye, which are 
such, that the nerve would have to change its course 
ruptly to pierce directly through the sclerotic. We cannot 


round a corner. Nerves are the railroads of thoug 
train of thought might run off the track if the curves &Y 
grades were not easy. I believe that we find comparatively 
few instances of abrupt angles in the course of nerves. 






i 
5 
$ 








BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 581 


we consider the marsupium as an erectile organ, we are not 
content to understand how it erects ‘itself, and what it ac- 
complishes by erection; we want to know why it is neces- 
sary or desirable that it should do what it does. 

Putting together all that we do know of the operation of a 
bird’s eye; and from this inferring some things that we do 
not know, we are irresistably led to the conclusion, that all 
the essential peculiarities of a bird’s eye conspire to produce 
what we just now called its greatest physiological phenom- 
enon —instantaneous unerring adjustment of focus. 

Study of the habits of birds makes the necessity of some 
such faculty as this as evident as the fact of its existence. 
This admirable provision relates in the most direct manner 
possible to the rapid movements of birds in the air. As 
they dash onward in their airy course, the eye accommodates 
itself, if not with the speed of thought, at least with the 
speed of flight, to eyer-varying distances, and surrounding 
objects, be they far or near, all alike rush into focus. With 
our own eyes, we see at once a book before us, and a large 
object in the distance. Push the book away by degrees; 
the letters run into words, words into lines, lines into para- 
graphs, paragraphs into a solid. page of dark, surrounded 
by a white border; then the edges of the cover gain a 
film, the outlines soften, the thing becomes a spot, and 
finally disappears. If a bird were in our place, it would 
still see letters long after. they had disappeared from our 
view. Its eye would change in shape, and the structures 
Within alter in position, as the book moved off, slowly, grad- 
ually, constantly, till the limit of its power was reached; 
ad this limit it need not be said, far exceeds ours. Walk 
towards the large object. now indistinct in the distance. 
How long we are in approaching it: how very slowly it takes 
form as we advance, until it stands forth clearly in view! 


Tet a wild duck fly at the rate of ninety miles an hour, 


towards the same object. How rapid must be the adjustment 
of its eyes compared with ours! But these are among t 


582 BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS. 


moderate exhibitions of .a bird’s visual powers. Watch a 
Humming-bird : it darts away so swiftly that our eyes cannot 
follow it, and settles, light as a feather, upon a twig. We 
do not know how far off it discovered the twig; but, at 
whatever distance it was first brought into focus, the Hum- 
ming-bird’s eye adjusted itself during the fraction of a 
second that the bird was flying; and the twig was in focus 
at the instant the bird alighted upon it. Were we to move 
with the same velocity, our eyes would fail us; they could 
not accommodate themselves quick enough. See a Sparrow- 
hawk dash through a thick clump of bushes in headlong 
pursuit of its prey. Think you it rushes blindly, taking the 
chances of escaping the close-set obstacles in its way? It 
sees each stake and branch as it comes on, and avoids them 
all. Had wea Sparrow-hawk’s power of flight we could not 
follow him for want of his powers of vision. 

Observe an eagle circling in the air. He is soaring aloft 
higher and higher, till he becomes, to us, but a speck against 
the blue expanse. As he turns towards the sun, a signal is 
made, and quick as thought obedient servants obey the sum- 
mons. The nictitating membrane, asleep in its corner, starts 
up and spreads over the cornea in an instant: the quivering 
iris, ever on the alert, enfolds the crystalline lens in a close 
embrace ; and the tranquility of the retina is undisturbed. 
As he turns away, the enemy no longer harasses, and the 
guards retire. Now the great bird prepares to scan the 
ground below. His eye lies loosely in its socket; the mus- 
cles relax; the marsupium lies torpid; the lens falls back 5 
the cornea sinks ; the waters retire ; all are quiet. The retina 
alone glows and thrills with excitement. He is now far- 
sighted ; he descries an object on the earth smaller than him- 
self, even from this vast height ; and makes ready for the 
fearful plunge. He poises a moment; the word is given; 3 
trusty sailors to their posts to save the good ship in a storm, 
so rush the sentinels of the eye into action. Down he 
swoops; the muscles tauten, and the waters rush forward; 





HABITS OF THE BURROWING OWL. 583 


the cornea feels the pressure within, and starts out; the 
marsupium stands erect, swelling and bristling all over, and 
the lens leaps forward, while the iris flaunts the flag of 
battle. Guided by such an instrument as this, the bird 
comes down with unerring aim upon his quarry; he seizes it 
in his talons; and now, become near sighted, well can he 
see to perform the bloody work before him. 

There is, perhaps, as much to be seen in a view of a bird’s 
eye, as ever lies within the bounds of a “bird’s-eye view.” 





HABITS OF THE BURROWING OWL OF CALIFORNIA. 


BY DR. C. S. CANFIELD.* 





I wish to state a few facts about the Burrowing Owl 
(Athene cunicularia Molina) that lives in California. I had 
almost constantly for four years opportunities of observing 
the habits of this little owl, which is really one of the most 
notable features in the natural history of California. A col- 
ony of these owls lived within one hundred yards of my 
cabin while I passed a frontier life; and they were very com- 
mon everywhere in that vicinity. I have seen them every — 
day for years, hundreds and perhaps thousands of them in 

Where I have seen them, they always live in the de- 
serted or unoccupied burrows of the Ground Squirrel (Sper- 
mophilus Beecheyi). I came to the conclusion that they 
were able to drive out the Spermophiles from their habita- 
tions, but I am not certain of the fact. It is true that there 
were, in that region, always a large number of unoccupied 
burrows wherever there was a colony of Spermophiles ; so 
that there was no lack of unoccupied habitations for the owls 
to take possession of. But I have noticed that wherever 
there was a large number of the owls, very few or no Sper- 
B a eo et ee 


*Communicated in a letter to the Smithsonian Institution, and forwarded by the 
Secretary for publication. 


584 HABITS OF THE BURROWING OWL. 


mophiles lived. One or two owls would occasionally be 
seen among a colony of Spermophiles, but they «never ap- 
peared to live in the same hole or burrow with the squirrel ; 
and I have never seen a squirrel enter a burrow that was 
occupied by owls, however much tempted by fear he might 
be to enter the first hole he should come to. True, the Sper- 
mophile never likes to enter any burrow but his own, and 
will run past any number of inviting entrances in order that 
he may at last hide himself in his own domicile. But aside 
from this, I believe that the squirrels are afraid of the owls, 
and do not dare to intrude upon them. The notion that the 
Athene digs its own burrow appears to me apocryphal and 
unreasonable. I have never seen any evidence of it. Nega- 
tive evidence proves nothing; but yet the absence of facts is 
strong presumption against their existence, and it would be 
strange that I should never have seen any evidences of their 
digging powers if they have any. After a shower of rain, 
one sees fresh earth thrown out around the mouths of the 
burrows of the Spermophiles, but never anything of the kind 
around the burrows of the owls. . They are not constituted 
for digging, and there is no necessity for it; they can always 
find any number of holes ready-made for them. That. they 
live in peace and amity with the rattlesnake, I believe to 
be another error and stretch of the imagination. Rattle- 
snakes are very abundant where I lived, and I killed one 
or two almost every time that I rode a mile or more from 
the house, yet I never saw a rattlesnake near a squirrel’s 
hole but once, and that hole was a deserted one. I seg 
found a large rattlesnake swallowing a squirrel (Spermophi- 
lus Beechey?) that it had caught, in the centre of a colony pi 
squirrels, but several yards distant from any “squirrel-hole. 
I once took pains to dig out a nest of the Athene cunicu- 
laria. I found that the burrow was about four feet long, 
and the nest was only about two feet from the surface of the 
ground. The nest was made in a cavity in the ground, of 
about a foot in diameter, well filled in with dry soft horse- 





HABITS OF THE BURROWING OWL. 585 


dung, bits of an old blanket, and fur of a Coyoté (Canis 
latrans) that I had killed a few days before. One of the 
parent birds (male or female?) was in the nest, and I cap- 
tured it. It had no intention of leaving the nest, even when 
entirely uncovered by the shovel, and exposed to: the open 
air. It fought bravely with beak and claws. — I found seven 
young ones, perhaps eight or ten days old, well covered with 
down, but without any feathers. ‘The whole nest, as well as 
the birds (old and young), swarmed with fleas. It was. the 
filthiest nest that I ever saw. In the passage leading to the 
nest there were small scraps of dead animals; such as pieces 
of the skin of the antelope, half dried and half putrified, the 
skin of the coyoté, ete. ; and near the nest were the remains 
of a snake that I had killed two days before, a large Coluber? 
two feet long. The birds had begun at the snake’s head, and 
had picked off the flesh clean from the vertebre and ribs for 
about one-half of its length; the other half of the snake was 
entire. The material on which the young birds nested was 
at least three inches in depth. I do not remember the time 
of the year. 

The Burrowing Owls do not migrate. Where I lived they 
Were as numerous in winter as in summer. Perhaps in 
low, flat plains, that are deluged or inundated by water in 
the winter, the little owl is obliged to have a far drier loca- 
tion, but I have never seen any such migration. They always 
Temain in or near their burrows through the day, never leav- 
ug them to go any distance except when disturbed, when 
they make a short crooked flight to some other hole near 
by, and when driven from this last one return to the first 
‘gain. When the sun sets they sally forth to hunt for food, 
etc., and are all night on the wing. I had seen them and — 
„eard them at all times of the night and early in the morn- 
ng. They are not strictly nocturnal, for they do not derea 
in their nests or burrows all day, but their habits, in this 


| —-*Spect, are about the same as those of the other owls, as 


pratincola, Nyctea nivea, etc., or of the domestic cat. 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. Il. T4 








586 A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 


There are very few birds that carry more rubbish into the 
nest than the Athene; and even the Vultures are not much 
more filthy. I am satisfied that the Athene canicularia lays 
~- a larger number of eggs than is attributed to it in Dr. 
Brewer’s work. I have frequently seen, late in the season, 
six, seven or eight, young birds standing around the mouth 
of a burrow, isolated from others in such a manner that I 
could not suppose that they belonged to two or more fami- 
es. 





A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 


BY A. 8. PACKARD, JR. 





TuE subject of flies becomes of vast moment to a Pharaoh, 
whose ears are dinned with the buzz of myriad winged 
plagues, mingled with angry cries from malcontent and 
fly-pestered subjects ; or to the summer traveller in northern 
lands, where they oppose a stronger barrier to his explora- 
tions than the loftiest mountains or the broadest streams; 
to the African pioneer, whose cattle, his main dependence, 
are stung to death by the Tsetze fly; or the farmer whose 
eyes on the evening of a warm spring day, after a placid 
contemplation of his growing acres of wheat-blades, suddenly 
detects in dismay clouds of the Wheat-midge and Hessian- 
fly hovering over their swaying tops. The subject, indeed, 
has in such cases, a national importance, and a few wo 
regarding the main points in the habits of flies—how ve 
grow, how they do not grow (after assuming the wing 
state), and how they bite; for who has not endured the 
smart and sting of these dipterous Shylocks, that gash 
torment us out of our existence while taking their drop ° 
our heart’s blood— may be welcome to the readers of the 
NATURALIST. | é 

The Mosquito will be our first choice. As she leaps ° 





A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 587 


from her light bark, the cast chrysalis skin of her early life 
beneath the waters, and sails away in the sunlight, her vel- 
vety wings fringed with silken hairs, and her neatly bodiced 
trim figure (though her nose is rather salient, considering 
that it is half as long as her entire body), present a beauty 
and grace of form and movement quite unsurpassed by her 
dipterous allies. She draws near and softly alights upon 
the hand of the charmed beholder, subdues her trumpeting 
notes, folds her wings noiselessly upon her back, daintily 
sets down one foot after the other, and with an eagerness 
chastened by the most refined delicacy for the feelings of 
her victim, and with the air of Velpeau redivivus drives 
through crushed and bleeding capillaries, shrinking nerves 
and injured tissues, a many-bladed lancet of marvellous fine- 
ness, of wonderful complexity and fitness. While engorging 
herself with our blood, we will 
examine under the microscope 
the mosquito’s mouth. The 
head (Fig. 1) is rounded, with = 
the two eyes occupying a large 
part of the surface, and nearly 
meeting on the top of the head. 
Out of the forehead, so to 
speak, grow the long, delicate, 
hairy antenne (a), and just be- 
low arises the long beak which 
consists of the bristle-like max- 4 
ille (mæ, with their palpi, mp) Ig 
and mandibles (m),and the single hair-like labrum, all which 
five bristle-like organs are laid in the hollowed labium (/). 
us massed into a single awl-like beak, the mosquito, with- 
out any apparent effort, thrusts them into the flesh, and by 
aid of the sucker-like expansion of the end of the labium, 
draws in the blood through the channel formed by the five 
bristles and their sheath. Her hind-body may be seen filling 
with the red blood, until it cries quits, and the insect with- 





588 A CHAPTER ON FLIES: 


draws its sting and flies sluggishly away. In a moment the 
wounded parts itch slightly, though a very robust person 
may not notice the irritation, or a more delicate individual 
if asleep; though if weakened by disease, or if stung in a 
highly vascular and sensitive part, such as the eyelid, the 
bites become really a serious matter. Multiply the mosqui- 

Fig. 2. toes a thousand fold, and one 
flees their attacks and avoids 
their haunts as he would a 


spring the larva (Fig. 2,4) of 
the mosquito may be found 
in pools and ditches. It re- 
mains at the bottom feeding 
upon decaying matter, thus acting as a scavenger, and in 
this state doing great benefit in clearing swamps of miasms, 
until it rises to the surface for air, which it inhales through å 
single respiratory tube (c) situated near the tail. When about 
to transform into the pupa state, it contracts and enlarges 
anteriorly near the middle, the larval skin is thrown off, and 
the insect appears in quite a different form (Fig. 2, B; for 
_which we are indebted to Mr. E. Burgess). The head and 
thorax are massed together, the rudiments of the mouth- 
parts and of the wings and legs being folded upon the breast, 
and there are two breathing tubes (d) situated upon the back 
instead of the tail, which ends in two broad paddles (4) ; 5° 
that it comes to the surface head foremost instead of tail 
first, a position according better with its increased age and 
experience in pond life. In a few days the pupa er” 
cast, the insect, availing itself of its old habiliments as @ 

upon which to float while its body is drying, grows lighters 
and its wings expand for its marriage flight. The agi 
are beautiful, bòth physically and morally, as they do pe 
bite; their manners are more retiring than those of wat 
stronger minded partners, as they rarely enter our i 
ings, and live unnoticed in the woods. They may be easly 





nest of hornets. Early in - 





ee es pe Sts ee 
Ces SAN an Ea ae) ite eal ee ee eR NE ep Mie ee See re to an it ae FE, 


Res ete se ee 















A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 589 


distinguished from the females by their long maxillary palpi, 

and their thick, bushy, feathered antenne. The female lays 

her elongated oval eggs in a boat-shaped mass, which floats 

on the water. A mosquito lives three or four weeks in the 

water before changing to the adult or winged stage. Just 

how many days they live in the latter state we do not know. 

; ur readers will understand then, that all flies, like our 
mosquito for example, grow while in the larva and pupa 

state, and after they acquire wings do not grow, So that the 

small midges are not young mosquitoes, but the adult winged 
forms of an entirely different species and genus of fly, and 
the myriads of small flies, commonly supposed to be the 
young of larger flies, are adult forms belonging to different 
species of different genera, and perhaps of different families 
of the suborder of Diptera. The typical species of the genus 
Culex, to which the mosquito belongs, is Culex pipiens, de- 
scribed by Linneus, and there are already over thirty North 
American species of this genus described in various works. 
The habits of a fly allied to the mosquito are given, with 
t illustrations, in the July number of the Narurauist, which 
_ farther elucidates the habits of these insects. The Hessian- 
fly and Wheat-midge are briefly referred to and figured on 
page 163, so that we pass over these to consider another pest 
of our forests and prairies. 

: : The Black fly is even a more formidable pest than the mos- 
: quito; In the northern, subarctic regions, it opposes 4 barrier 
against travel. The Labrador fisherman spends his summer 
on the seashore, scarcely daring to penetrate the interior on 
account of the swarms of these flies. During a summer resi- 
dence on this coast, we sailed up the Esquimaux river for six 
or eight miles, spending a few hours at a house situated on 
the bank. The day was warm and but little wind blowing, 
7 and the swarms of black flies were absolutely terrific. In 
vain we frantically waved our net among them, allured by 
nani rare moth; after making a few desperate charges ™ 
— the face of the thronging pests, we had to retire to the 


590 ‘A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 


house, where the windows actually swarmed with them; but 
_here they would fly in our face, crawl under one’s clothes, 
where they even remain and bite in the night. The children 
in the house were sickly and worn by their unceasing tor- 
ments; and the shaggy Newfoundland dogs, whose thick 
coats would seem to be proof against their bites, ran from 
their shelter beneath the bench and dashed into the river, 
their only retreat. In cloudy weather, unlike the mosquito, 
the black fly disappears, only flying when the sun shines. 
The bite of the black fly is often severe, the creature leaving 
a large clot of blood to mark the scene of its surgical tri- 
umphs. Mr. E. T. Cox, of New Harmony, Indiana, has 
sent us specimens of a much larger fly, which Baron Osten 
Sacken refers to this genus, which is called on the prairies, 
the Buffalo Gnat, where it is said to bite horses to death. 
Westwood states that an allied fly (Rhagis Columbaschensis 
Fabr.) is one of the greatest scourges of man and beast in 
Hungary, where it has been known to kill cattle. 

The Simulium molestum (Pl. 12, fig. 1, enlarged), as the 
black fly is called, lives during the larva state in the water. 
The larva of a Labrador species (Pl. 12, fig. 2, enlarged) 
which we found, is about a quarter of an inch long, and of 
the appearance here indicated. The pupa is also aquatic, 
having long respiratory filaments attached to each side of 
the front of the thorax, According to Westwood, “the pos 
terior part of its body is enclosed in a semioval membranous 
cocoon, which is at first formed by the larva, the anterior 
part of which is eaten away before changing to a pupa, ies 
as to be open in front. The imago is produced beneath the 
surface of the water, its fine silky covering serving to repel 
the action of the water.” 

Multitudes of a long slender white worm may often 0° 
found living in the dirt, and sour sap running from pris 
in the elm tree. Two summers ago we discovered some 0f 
these larve, and on rearing them found that they were à “a 
cies of Mycetobia (Pl. 12, fig. 3; a, larva; b, pupa). 


n be 





A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 591 


larva is remarkable for having the abdominal segments di- 
vided into two portions, the hinder much smaller than the: 
anterior division, and its whole length is .86 of an inch. 
The pupæ were found sticking out in considerable numbers 
from the tree, being anchored by the little spines at the tail. 
The head is square, ending in two horns, and the body is 
straight and covered with spines, especially towards the end 
of the tail. They were .20 of an inch in length. The last 
of June the flies appeared, somewhat resembling gnats, and 
about .10 of an inch long. The worms continued to infest 
the tree for six weeks, the flies remaining either upon or 
near the tree. 

We now come to that terror of our equine friends, the 
Horse-fly, Gad, or Breeze-fly. In its larval state, some 
‘species live in water, and in damp places under stones and 
pieces of wood, and others in the earth away from water, 
where they feed on animal, and, probably, on decaying mat- 
ter. Mr. B. D. Walsh found an aquatic larva of this genus, 
which, within a short time, devoured eleven water snails. 
_Thus at this stage of existence, this fly, often so destruc- 
= tive, even at times killing our horses, is beneficial. We have 
found a larva (PI. 12, fig. 4), which is, probably, a young 
Horse-fly, living in abundance on the under side of the stones 
ina running brook, at Burkesville Junction, Va. The body 
was smooth, over two inches in length, and with a few fleshy 
filaments at the tip. Each segment is enlarged posteriorly, 
aiding the creature in moving about. During the hotter 
parts of summer, and when the sun is shining brightly, 
thousands of these Horse-flies appear on our marshes and 
inland prairies. There are many different kinds, over one 
hundred species of the genus Tabanus alone, living in North 
America. Our most common species is the * Green-head,” or 
Tabanus lineola Fabr. (P1.12, fig. 5 ; from Tenney’s Zoology )- 
When about to bite, it settles quietly down upon the hand, 
face or foot, it matters not which, and thrusts its formidable 
lancet jaws deep into the flesh. Its bite is very painful, as 


592 A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 


we can testify from personal experience. We were told dur- 

-ing the last summer that a horse, which stood fastened toa 
tree in a field near the marshes at Rowley, Mass., was bitten 

to death by these Green-heads; and it is known that horses 

and cattle are occasionally killed by their repeated harassing 

bites. In cloudy weather they do not fly, and they perish on 

the cool frosty nights of September. The Timb, or Tsetze- 

fly, is a species of this group of flies, and while it does 

not attack man, plagues to death, and is said to poison by 

its bite, the cattle in certain districts of the interior of Af- 

rica, thus almost barring out explorers. On comparing the 

mouth-parts of the Horse-fly (Fig. 3, mouth of T. lineola), 

we have all the parts seen in the mosquito, but greatly 

Fig. 3. modified. Like the mosquito, the females 

alone bite, the male Horse-fly being harm- 


their sweets. The labrum (7b), mandibles 
(m), and maxille (mæ), are short, stiff, and 
lancet-like, and the maxillary palpi (P, 
the five terminal points of the antenne) arè 
large, stout, and two-jointed. While the 
jaws (both maxille and mandibles) are thrust into the flesh, 
the tongue (7) spreads around the tube thus formed by the 
lancets, and-pumps up the blood flowing from the wound, by 
aid of the sucking stomach, or crop, being a sac appended to 
the throat. Other Gad-flies, but much smaller, though as an- 
noying to us in woods and fields, are the species of Golden- 
eyed flies, Chrysops, which fly and buzz interminably & 
our ears, often taking a sudden nip. They plague cattle, er 
tling upon them and drawing their blood at their leisure. 
We turn to a comparatively unknown insect, which has 
occasionally excited some distrust in the minds of ed 
keepers. It is the Carpet-fly, Scenopinus pallipes Say (*" 
12, fig. 6), which, in the larva state, is found under ann 
on which it is said to feed. The worm (Pl. 12, fig. 1) m 
long, white, cylindrical body, divided into twelve segments 








less, and frequenting flowers, living upon- 



























A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 593 


exclusive of the head, while the first eight abdominal seg- 
ments are divided by a transverse suture, so that there 
appears to be seventeen abdominal segments, the sutures 
appearing too distinct in the cut. Mr. F. G. Sanborn has 
reared the fly, here figured, from the worm. The larva also 
lives in rotten wood; it is too scarce to ever prove very 
destructive in houses. . 

One of the most puzzling objects to the collector of shells 
or insects, is the almost spherical larva of Microdon globo- 
sus Fabr. (Pl. 12, fig. 8; fig. 8 c, larva just before pupation ; 
&, puparium; s, spiracular tubercles; v, vent; b, anterior 
view of pupa case), which has been traced to its fly-state by 
Mr. F. G. Sanborn. 

The Syrphus fly, or Aphis-eater, deserves more than the 
passing notice which we bestow upon it. The maggot 
(Fig. 4, in the act of devouring an Aphis) isto Fig. 4, 

be sought for established in a group of plant- 2 
lice (Aphis), which it seizes by means of the 7} 
long extensible front part of the body. The 





low, resembling closely the wasps, and frequents flowers. — 

We have figured in the Naruratisr (p. 278) the singular 
Tat-tailed pupa-case of Eristalis, and now present the figure 
of an allied fly, Merodon Bardus Say (Pl. 12, fig. 10; a, 
Puparium, natural size). We will not describe at length 
the fly, as the admirable drawings of Mr. Emerton cannot 
fail to render it easily recognizable. The larva is much like 
the Puparium or pupa-case, here figured, which closely re- 
= Sembles that of Eristalis, in possessing a long respiratory 

filament, showing that the maggot undoubtedly lives in the 
Water, and when desirous of breathing, protrudes the tube 

Out of the water, thus drawing in air enough to fill its inter- 
nal respiratory tubes (trachee). The Merodon Nareissa, 
_ “80 reared by Mr. Sanborn, probably lives in the soil, or in 
Totten wood, as the pupa-case has no respiratory tube, hav- 
Mg instead a very short sessile truncated tube, scarcely as 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IL 


594 A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 


long as it is thick. The case itself is cylindrical, and 
rounded alike at each end. 

We now come to the Bot-flies (Wstridw), which are 
among the most extraordinary, in their habits, of all insects. 
The history of the bot-flies is in brief thus: The adult two- 
winged fly lays its eggs on the exterior of the animal to be 
infested. They are conveyed into the interior of the host, 
where they hatch, and the worm or maggot lives by sucking 
in the purulent matter, caused by the irritation set up by its 
presence, in its host; or else the worm itself, after hatching, 
bores under the skin. When fully grown, it quits the body 
and finishes its transformations to the fly-state under ground. 
Many quadrupeds, from mice, squirrels and rabbits, up to 
the ox, horse, and even the rhinoceros, suffer from their 
attacks, while man himself is not exempt. The body of the 
adult fly is stout and hairy, and it is easily recognized by 
having the opening of the mouth very small; the mouth- 
parts being very rudimentary. The larve are, in general, 
thick, fleshy, footless grubs, consisting of eleven segments, 
exclusive of the head, which are covered with rows of 
spines and tubercles, by which they move about. within 
the body, thus irritating the animals in which they take up 
their abode. The breathing pores (stigmata) open in 4 
scaly plate at the posterior end of the body. The mouth- 
parts (mandibles, etc.) of the subcutaneous larvæ consist 
of fleshy tubercles, while in those species which live in the 
stomachs and frontal sinuses of their host, they are armed 
with horny hooks. The larve attain their full size after 
moulting twice. Just before assuming the pupa state, the 
larva leaves its peculiar dwelling-place, descends into the 
ground and there becomes a pupa, though retaining its larval 
skin, which serves as a protection to it, whence it is called & 
“puparium.” = > | 

Several well-authenticated instances are on record of p 
species of bot-fly inhabiting the body of man, in Central - 
and South America, producing painful tumors under the 








A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 595 


skin of the arm, legs and abdomen. It is still under dis- 
_ pute whether this human bot-fly is a true or accidental para- 
_ site, the more probable opinion being that its proper host 

is the monkey, or dog. In Cayenne, this revolting grub is 
called the Ver macaque (Pl. 12, fig. 11); in Para, Ura; in 
Costa Rica, Torcel; and in New Grenada, Gusano peludo, or 
= Nuche. The Dermatobia notialis, supposed to be the Ver 
moyocuil of the inhabitants of Mexico and New Grenada, 
lives beneath the skin of the dog. 

The Bot-fly of the horse, G‘astrophilus equi (Pl. 12, fig. 
12; from Tenney’s Zodlogy; a, larva), is pale yellowish, 
spotted with red, with short, grayish, yellow hairs, and the 
wings are banded with reddish. She lays her eggs upon the 
knees of the horse. They are conveyed into the stomach, 
where the larva lives from May until October, and when 
full grown are found hanging by their mouth-hooks on the 
edges of the rectum of the horse, whence they are carried 
out in the excrement. The pupa state lasts for thirty or 
forty days, and the perfect fly appears the next season, from 
June until October. 

The Bot-fly of the ox, Hypoderma bovis (Pl. 12, fig. 13; 
fig. 14, larva), is black and densely hairy, and the thorax is 
banded with yellow and white..»The larva. is found during 
the month of May, and also in summer, living in tumors on 
: the back of cattle. When fully. grown, which is generally in 
_ duly, they make their way out and fall to the ground, and 
live in the puparium from twenty-six to thirty days, the fly 

appearing from May until September. It is found all over 
the world, The Gstrus ovis, the sheep Bot-fly, is of a dirty 
8h color. The’ abdomen is marbled with y ellowish and 
White flecks, and is hairy at the end. The larva lives, durmg 
April, May and June, in the frontal sinus of the sheep, and 
also in the: nasal cavity, whence they fall to the ground when 
full grown. In twenty-four hours they change to pup®, and 
‘the fly appears during the summers: = © © 
We also figure the Cuterebra buccata (PI. 12, fig. 155 a, 








596 THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 


side view; from the collection of Mr. F. G. Sanborn), which 
resembles the ox Bot-fly in the larval state. Its habits are 
not known, though the young of other species infest the 
opossum, ali hare, etc., living in subcutaneous tumors. 
— To be concluded. 





THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 


BY J. G. COOPER, M.D. 





(Continued from page 538.) 
Il. BIRDS. 

Turkey Buzzard (Oathartes aura). Occasionally seen 
through the Rocky Mountains, but not very common. 

Picron Hawk (Falco columbarius). I saw no Pigeon 
Hawks until I reached Coeur d’Aleñe Mission, where I ob- 
tained the very fine specimen preserved. 

Sparrow Haws (Falco sparverius). Common in all open 
regions. 

Mexican Hawk (Accipiter Mexicanus). No. 92 (6 P): 
Bitterroot river, September 2. Length, 16.50; extent, 
27.50; wing, 9. Iris and feet greenish yellow. This speci- 
men and the next would be supposed to be of the same spe 
cies, but their dimensions differ too much, and do not agre® 
well with those of either of the three Accipitres, in which 

“size is a specific character.” (Cassin). 

Smarp-sHinnup Hawk (A. fuscus). No. 82 (9?) ~ 
terroot river, August 30,1860. Length, 14; extent, 26.15; 
- wing, 5.50. The sex of these last two specimens being of 
certain on account of their youth, I can only guess oO 
from their dimensions, and the wing in this one © very 
short, even for a male bird. ky 

Hawks were rather scarce during my stay in n the leyst 
Mountains, the older birds having probably left the -E 








Vol. II. Pl. 12. 


American Naturalist. 







Fig. 8, a. 
S v 
ba 7 


M ed 


SS — 


ae 


i PACKARD ON FLIES. 








iy 
pe 
| 








Ser es AAD 4’ a See game = SRR ting eae ee 
iret 


THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. - 597 


raise their young in the higher forests, and the young just 
began to appear in the end of August. 

Marsu Hawk (Circus Hudsonius). The Marsh Hawk is 
probably the most universally diffused hawk on the conti- 
nent, and is seen almost daily at all seasons, where there are 
open prairies or meadows and not much population. 

Gotpen Eaeie (Aguila Canadensis). Though I did not 
see the Golden Eagle in the Rocky Mountains, so near as to 
be sure of the species, it evidently inhabits them, as I saw 
several young ones at Fort Benton, which had been trapped 
by the Indians soon after they could fly, and were doubtless 
raised in the mountains. They probably find prey more easily 
caught on the Great Plains, and have not yet been observed 
west of the mountains where the White-headed Eagle is so 
abundant, while the latter is quite scarce on the plains, 
though sometimes seen. 

- Fisu Hawk (Pandion Carolinensis). Not seen near the 
muddy waters of the Missouri below Fort Benton, but com- 
mon, and its nests numerous on the rivers, and their branches 
from there westward, where it finds an abundance of deli- 


cious trout and other fish in the clear streams. 


Witson’s Ow (Otus Wilsonianus). A specimen was 


_ knocked down by a soldier with a stick near Bitterroot ferry, 


Sept. 4th, and I rode close by one sitting in a bush near 
Ceur d’Alefie Mission, on the 15th, so that it seems to be 
generally distributed across the continent, being common also 
in the bushes along streams on the plains. It seems indeed 
to shun dense forests, not having been observed by me west 
of the Cascade Mountains. 

YELLOW-BILLED CucKoo (Cocygus Americanus). 
this Cuckoo near Fort Benton, but not in the Rocky Moun- 
tains, although it may have left for the south when I reached 
there (Aug. 15), as it departs early. I should expect to 

d it a month earlier, as Nuttall “met with it in Oregon.” 
(Mammal, I, 652.) 

Harris’s WooprecKeR (Picus Harristi), and GAIRDNER’S 


I saw 


598 THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 


Wooprecker (P. Gairdneri) were seen abundantly from the 
eastern base of the mountains westward. 

WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER (Picus albolarvatus). First 
met with by me, as in 1853, at the: Spokan. river, September 
24; and at Fort Colville, a week later, I saw several. They 
were very shy,and made a shrill note of alarm, much like that 
of some squirrels, for which I at first looked out on hearing 
it. At Fort Dalles, I found a family of them associating near 
the quarters, and quite tame, so that I obtained three fine 
specimens. They prefer open pine woods, and seek for food 
chiefly in. the bark of the Yellow-pine (Pinus ponderosa), the 
prevailing tree in the above localities. In. notes ‘and habits 
they most resemble the small Sap-suckers, and associate 
with them. 

Arctic WoopPEcKER (Picoides arcticus). -I first met with 
the large Three-toed Woodpecker, at the crossing of the 
Bitterroot, September 6th, where the open woods, before 
traversed, were exchanged for a very dense growth, with 
several kinds of common spruce, which had not been before 
seen. In these dark forests I found this and the striped 
species (P. dorsalis) the commonest woodpeckers, but also 
saw many of this kind afterwards in the more open pime 
forests between. Spokan river and Fort Colville, where I 
also saw them in October, 1853. 


brown; bill, slaty black; feet, gray in both. I saw this spe- 
cies but once besides, at the west base of the same moun- 
tains. At each time I found it very silent ( 
by its. tapping on the trees), quite fearless, 
ing only the low, generally fallen trunks, in the most aar 
part of the forest. I had, of course, little opportunity m 
notice its habits farther than this, All seen were: at an 















ey OE ee Oe ae. 


ee ral me hry cot 


ts eg ee ees tise ae el Reem eee | Cai i? aye 








THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 599 


elevation of over 3500 feet above the sea, but not in an 
Alpine region, at least in September, though there was slight 
frost at night, and snow falls from three to six feet deep in 
winter. 

RED-NECKED WOODPECKER (Sphyrapicus: nuchalis). I 
first met with this beautiful species along the Hell Gate 
river, August 25th (No. 73), and afterwards found it rather 
common, but very shy, as far as the Bitterroot crossing. It 
was not seen in the dense forests west of this, but reappeared 
quite abundantly, though moulting and bad in plumage, at 
the Cœur d’Alefie Mission. I suppose, therefore, that it 
extends around the north end of these mountains through 


the valley of Clark’s Fork. I commonly found it frequenting 


dense thickets of willows, ete., tapping their bark, and once 
saw one on a high spruce tree. (1 had. some doubts whether 
the larger specimen, No. 118, was not the young of S. ruber, 
but think not.) 

Rep-HEAapED Wooprecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). 
I saw a Red-head Woodpecker high on the eastern slope of 
the Rocky Mountains, but none on the west side. i 

Lewis’ Wooprrcker (M. torquatus). This bird is quite 
common at. the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, thus 
Visiting the regions inhabited by its cousin, the Red-head, 
which does not seem, however, to return the civility. The 
habits of the two species are very similar, but this species 1s, 
perhaps, more of a berry eater and less of a hard worker. 
I found it much less common on the western slopes of the 
Rocky Mountains than it is between the Cascade and Coast 
ranges, mas 
- ReD-snarrED FLIoKeR ( Colaptes Mexicanus). This Flicker 
is common throughout the Rocky Mountains, but I noticed 
none of the hybrid variety common along the Missouri and 
its branches, which were obtained. by Dr. Suckley as far west 
as Milk river in 1853, and by myself at Fort Laramie. 

Cumney SwaLLow (Chetura pelasgia? or Vaux ?). I 
did not notice Chimney Swallows along the lower Missouri, 


600 THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 


but near the Great Bend, and at other points above there, 
as far as the mouth of Milk river, I found large numbers 
inhabiting old hollow cotton-woods. They seemed smaller 
and with a whiter throat than C. pelasgia, but I did not 
succeed in shooting any. None occurred west: of this 
point. 

Nieut-Hawk (Chordeiles Henryi?). Night-hawks were 
. common all the way across the mountains, until September 
18th, when a heavy frost occurred at the Coeur d’Alefie Mis- 
sion and drove them south with the Cliff Swallows, which 
were flying about camp with them on the previous afternoon. 
Myriads of them flew about, high over the small prairies 
along Hell Gate river, in the calm warm afternoons, nest 
the end of August, just as the common eastern species dees 
later in the season, and with the same loud cry. 

The specimen preserved was shot at Sun river, east of 
the mountains, August 10th, and I found eggs on the bare , 
ground both at Judith river, June 29th, and near Prickly- 
pear Creek, August 18th, the latter broken, and with nearly 
hatched young; probably a second brood. 

Specimens of Night-hawks, from both sides of the conti- 
nent, being “undistinguishable” (Baird’s Birds, p. 152), the 
slight differences in plumage, of the intermediate Rocky 
Mountain form, seem scarcely enough to separate it, while 
its habits seem precisely similar. (See Baird’s Rep., P. acific 
R. R. Survey, Vol. IX, App., p. 922.) 

BELTED KINGFISHER (Ceryle Alcyon). Not seen along 
the muddy portion of the Missouri, but common from Fort 
Benton westward. 

Kıxcsrird (Tyrannus Carolinensis). Found at intervals 
throughout the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, and found 
also at Fort Vancouver, on the Lower Columbia, in 1853, 
though it has never been observed in California, and would 
seem, therefore, to pass to the west coast by this roundabout 
way.— To be continued. f 
























sak inion. It must be pari wo Sees, 


ike, and va 
, John Gilbert Baker, P. L. S., Assistant pkio 
tt, 11. 


REVIEWS. 


—r*oo— 


Ferns.*— This valuable addition to the library of the student of Ferns, 
long waited for, and delayed in its first stages of publication by the death 


ready prep 
ceived after that had been written, and to put the whole in condition for 
publication. 

The title of the book, “ Synopsis Filicum,” conveys the idea of a Bec 
and condensed description and notice o f the “ known Ferns,” and such it 
is, while it also plays the part of a supplement to the “Species pila +s 

the same author, upon which he was engaged for many years. ió 
the preface tells us, “the Author, having recently completed his ‘ Spe- 
cies Filicum, now offers to the public a ‘Synopsis of all known Ferns, 
which contains, besides brief diagnoses of the species desc ribed more in 
detail in that work, together with their geographical distribution as far 
his 


wledge 
One thing to whi ch special reference is made in the preface is, that all 
descriptions of ferns, which have been so badly or carelessly drawn up 
a it is impossible to identify which of a number of species a descrip- 
on refers to, and which Pteridologists have, with much labor, 


, aah inad, mek additions and corrections as have come to 
ge 


saga to true progress in their science, drag r them, 
ve been omitted and ignored. This at once reduces very much the 
itis a great 


wae ber of specific names, and as they are nothing but names, 
ef, 


The forms considered worthy to rank as species have been somewhat 
reduced in number by the authors, since they have regarded as varieties 
In much of this we cer- 
ould wish to record a difference of 
that the authors have had 
existence, the formation 
d numer- 


tainly concur, but in some cases 


of net of the largest Fern Herbarium in ex 

ich began as far back as 1811, and any one who has han 
ous specimens of ferns cannot but have observed how som 
a intermediate stages, into what appear at first to be 


orms pass 
sis different 


a he, Mirat s Filicum; or a Synopsis of all known Ferns, including the Osmun 
2 Panied by tiacem, and Ophiogl ossaceæ (chiefly derived from the Herbarium): Accom- 
: Ss representing the essential character of each 


H., D.C. L., F. R. S., A. S., and L §., Director © 
e a ae wes London: 


Robert 
Hardwicke, 192 Piccadilly. 1868, 8v0, PP- eir 


tThis is the 
th Seu, Seed wees work of Sir W. J. Hooker. ss i 
i o (601) 


AMER, NATURALIST, VOL. I. 76 








602 REVIEWS. 


A convenience in the arrangement of the book is the list of the (75) 
genera, placed under their ates suborders and phe, which is 
given at the beginning. The generic characters are given in as few 
words as is consistent with intelllethiity, and the species are described 
in much the same manner, all the words of frequent use being abbrevi- 
ated. The greater part of ee PR synonomy, which is often of a 
complicated character, is left o The species of Hymenophyllum and 
Trichomanes, which have been so pee multiplied by certain authors, are 
here reduced in the ratio of something like two hundred to five hundred. 


um e 
lamented Mettenius adopted, that they are exindusioid eee with 
which they agree in aspect and other characteristics, and where so many 
of them have been absorbed by the discovery of an indusium 

The inclusion of the suborders specially mentioned in the title is a 
great boon, for here we have them, for the first time, comprehensively 
described. — H. Mann. 


THE T AND FUTURE OF OUR PLANET.{—The author says, in his 
ngon ta he has freely used the writings of Lyell, Owen, Hail, 
hey had done the writings of others.” Now these are the 


nucleus of their own original investigations, whereas Mr. Denton has 
no such nucleus, the whole being a compilation. .As such, however, it 


a popular manner, the acaba which have been made in the geology 


three first appear simultaneously: ae he Protozoa are wholly ignored and 
although it is rather too soon to speculate about them, we think the 


whereas every sntudalien supposes that they must have had soft rudi- 


found in the Potsdam sandstone aa elsewher ad 
The explanation of the different ages of aad is very apt to misle 
ve reader into the belief, that the more modern granites have only been 
rmed in the centre, and spouted up in veins through the later rs 
asian it occurs-in masses just as the older granites occur, and not 
fering except in 
Th 


age. 
e illustrations are extremely pogr, but the lectures are popular, 








liain Past and Future of our Planet: By shasta Denton. Svo, pp. 34t.: Boston, 1868. 











j 





NT SS ae 


PD Ge Te re OR Lene Pp a, 

















Sy 


Pete Pores 


_ 9f 2,000 mi near Spitzbergen. 


_ tifully illustrated work has appeared, ond we desire again to co 


REVIEWS. 603 


likely to interest. and please agen Se minds, and with the st ei 
noted, we think, are reliable. e chapter on the future of our pla 

is an imaginative TeS of the manner in which mankind may ina 
utilize the forces 





TuE FAUNA OF THE GULF STREAM AT GREAT DEPTHS.*—The inves- 
tigations ordered by the new Superintendent of the Coast Survey, Profes- 
sor Pierce of Harvard College, into the marine fauna of the Gulf stream, 
in connection with the regular duties of the survey, have begun to produce 
its natural result, in such valuable contributions to science, as we have 
now before us. The line of the present survey was “in a section between 
Key West.and Havana, incidentally with the purpose of sounding out the 
line for the telegraph cable.” ‘Although the work was interrupted, and 
the casts made with the dredge few, “the interesting fact was disclosed, 
that animal life exists at great depths, in as great a diversity and as great 
an eee as in shallow water.”, By two casts in two hundred and 
venty fathoms off Havana, Crustacea and Worms, numerous dead shells - 
a Gasteropods oer Pteropods, vin Terebratule, and seven species of 
ozoa, besides Echini, Starfishes, and an abundance of Corals, Hydroids, 
and Foraminitere were taken. Only one species of sea-weed, however, 
was mixed with this luxuriant animal life, which corresponds with especie 





ndred and vini fathoms, by at pyi two species known to be- 
ine ie oth West. Indian fauna, in moderate depths. The results of this 
attempt are certainly very interesting and important to — zoology, 
although no casts were made in the deepest parts of the chan 
With our present rape it is ee assume a pst 


is stated, inthe Novem- 
istory, that Messrs. 


and Smitt have pees up a variety of animals from a “ee 


THE BUTTERFLIES or NORTH AMERICA. — The second part of this as 


Fauna of 
aoe of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. cy p the 
the Gulf stre: stream at great depths. By L. F. Pourtales, on U. S. Coast Surv 





604 REVIEWS. 
the fine style in which the ies is issued. ‘The colored lithographic 


surpassed, a 
We trust the publishers will al encouraged to continue the work, so 
that every species of butterfly, eee with its caterpillar and chrysalis, 
in our territory, may set for its portrait. When completed and bound, it 
l make a beautiful ornament ee the centre table. The present num- 
ber figures various species of Argynnis, Colias, and Apatura. Published 
by the American Entomological Society, Philadelphia. $2.00 a Part. 


REVIEW OF THE SCANDINAVIAN PUBLICATIONS IN NaTuRaL History 
DURING 1867 AND PART OF 1868. By Dr. Lütken of Copenhagen. — Prof. 
Reinhardt has described two new species and one new genus of fresh- 
water pninkes, Tachyplotus (new genus) Hedi emanni from Billiton and Heli- 
cops assimilis R., from Lagos Santa, both illustrated by woodcuts. 

rther gives us the first good figure ever published of the true Delphinus 
delphis, and in a postscript to the eee a sens by Mr. Hallar, the 
- surgeon of a whaling cruiser, near Iceland in 7, he demonstrated the 
identity of the “ Strypireydr,” .of the Ainan iin the little known 
Balenoptera Sibbaldii. The cranium, atlas and os hyoideum of this parne 
of whale are described in detail erg sin A.B as contrib- 
uted an interesting paper on tw cies of truly symmetrical (biat 
erally formed) jelly-fishes, ai ‘i ritli: but forming a new genus, 
Dipleurusoma; the typical species was observed by the author in the 


emertes, from his own picike and those of his father (Pronn 
Chr. Boeck i in Christiania a). He points out the various errors committed 


central mass (or brain), which consists of an outer, reddish, granular 
: ii 


Myodes, and probably one of the American species, thus pa se 
American stamp on the primitive fauna of this island; this mamma bein 


that country, nor by others. Mr. Warming, a young botanist lately 
turned from a three years sojourn in Brazil, in the house of Dr. Lam 

Lagos Santa, has opened a series of “Symbolæ ad Floram Brazilie cen- 
tralis cognoscendam.” The introduction, illustrated by two physiotyp- 


at 


: 
i 
] 
2 
Ei 





























REVIEWS. 605 


ical plates, is written in Latin, and treats of the Cordiacee, Asperifolie, 
Voshyriaceew, and Mayacew. Of greater popular interest your reader 
would no doubt find the same author’s ‘Observations on the Evolution 
of Heat in a Species of Aroid,” made during his stay in Brazil. The de- 
scription of the new Aroid (Phyllodendron Lundii) is illustrated by a 
plate. Professor Lange has worked up the Monotropes and Pyrolee, col- 
lected by Professors Liebmann and CErsted in Mexico and Central Amer- 
ica. The paper is written in Latin, and illustrated with two plates. Pro- 
fessor (Ersted has given an additional note to his former description of 
the Brazilian Tea-plant (Neea theifera), and described the dimorphous 
flower of Halesia tetraptera, whose minute male flowers have hitherto 
een unknown; both species are illustrated by woodcuts. I should be 
inclined to attach considerable importance to the same naturalist’s elabo- 


Pucania and Cystobalanus are removed from the true oaks, and referred 
to the chestnuts. A more detailed abstract of the new facts and views 
brought forward by Professor Œrsted (whose paper is illustrated by nu- 


-Liebmann, achevé et augmente d’un aperon sur la classification des Ché- 
nes en general par A. S. (Ersted”; large folio with many excellent plates; 
a work that without any recommendation of mine, W excite the high 
interest of American botanists. Besides the said paper of Mr. (Ersted 
la vie de Liebmann 


engraved plates, representing species of oaks from tropical America. 

Ta the second volume of the Journal of Botany, published by Dr. Hel: 
berg for the Botanical Society of Copenhagen, you will find several con- 
tributions to the Phanerogamic and Cryptogam 

Denmark. Rev. Mr. Lange has contributed a paper on the Mosses of 


rasitical Plants of Denmark. 
fascicle has appeared. e 
editor, Professor Lange, has also published his annual Index Semipum 0 





606 REVIEWS. 


the University Botanical Garden. Colonel Jenscen-Tusch has commenced 
the publication (supported by the Royal Academy of Science) of a work 
on the popular names of plants in different European languages: the first 
volume is devoted to the Scandinavian names. As the Journal of Natural 


published Part I. and II. of Vol. V, contains two papers, by Dr. Meinert, 
on Danish Myriapoda (forming, with a former paper py Drs. Meinert 
and Bergsée, a complete account of this part of our fauna), and a paper 

Duple Spermatic Ducts in Insects (a continuation of his previous con- 


tional Exhibition of Fisheries, at Bergen in 1865, on Oyster Culture, is 

reprinted. Finally, I beg leave to observe that in the Journal for Popular 

Papers rs on Natural Science, edited by Mr. Fogh and myself see ree 
enir, 


the Brazilian campos, and déeurtbed a fine phenomenon, a agape per 


meeting of Scandinavian naturalists, in 1868, on the Baltic Sea, are re- 
prin ofessor Reinhardt’s most valuable account of the sisal 
Botte -caves; and their animal remains, I have reported in your journal on 
a former occasion. Of the Proceedings of the Academy of Christians, 


and figured a new species of the arctic genus of fishes, Lycodes (L. sr 
cilis), dredged at great depth in Christianafjord, and continued his — 
nations of the clay-balls from the glacial epoch. In those’ d ribed se 
s occasion he found remains of Osmerus arcticus, Gadus polaris, % 
ancer pagurus ; in those hitherto found and examined in Norway; pee 
discovered in all one Pennatulid, one Ophiurid, five Worms (chiefly nite 
topods), five Bivalves, five Crustacea, and two Fishes. Professor 
suggests collecting fuller series of these concretions, which would, 2° 











eat 





REVIEWS. 607 


doubt, give valuable results, and making a special study of them. They 


a hitherto unknown species of buffalo; from Southern Africa, under the 
name of Bos longicornis, and has since that time procured farther evidence 
about this animal from the Rev. Mr. Schreuder, Bishop of the Norwegian 
mission in the Zulu territory, who had himself formerly sent the horns to 
the Museum of Christiania. They were those of a wild buffalo-cow, shot 
at Eutumeni, and belonging to a troop which suddenly made its appear- 
ance in the country, and excited some stir because of their uncommon 


the skin er a stay of some time in the neighbor of 
Eutumeni, the troop disappeared from the country and was no mo 
of. Proba it was a str from a more distant part of 


totally unknown to the explorers, travellers, and residents of the country ; 
only known in fact from a couple of horns, picked up and sent far away 
to the most distant Univers rsity of the other half of the globe! Professor 
Rasch, the indefatigable fish cultivator, has published the results fi some 





Place, thus confirming the views of Dr. Widegren, that the sea-trout and 
fresh-water trout are only varieties of the same species, an opinion also 
entertained by Professor Rasch since 1850, when he observed that the 

d of the sea-trout, living together with that of the fresh-water trout, 
Was nine at sm aga from the latter, a in habits or in ae 


and they perished by degrees. Spawn of trout 


arrested, y 
the milt of the Salvelin only gave ten per cent. of brood, whereof some 


Misshaped. Spawn of true salmon, fecundated by the trout, pro- 
RES ee carne aa or maT ed 





-on a, Aardinar and Saco. Me. enclosed 





Tina page cin or Capelin, È È 





608 REVIEWS. 


duced forty per cent. of mostly well-shaped brood, but a part became 
sities een, fecundated by the Salvelin, it developed no embryo 
at all! e spawn of a (presumed) hybrid of the trout and Salvelin, 
Rar with the milt of a vigorous male trout, also e quite a nega- 
tive result. You will agree with me, that experiments of this sort, con- 
ducted with the author’s skill and profound practical eae of the 
matter, are of a high sis Pt Professor Kjerulf has gathered all 
the available evidence concerning the earthquake felt over almost all 
Norway, an m Shetland = Pastime at the Botnio, on the night of 
May 9th, 1866. The memoir of the celebrated Norwegian geologist 
. abounds with details, allowing of no abstract; I therefore must restrain 
myself to mentioning that the shock was felt from Bodo (north) to Lange- 
sia (south), one hundred and thirty geographical miles, and radiated 
from a point situated at the south-west of Christiansund, with a veloc- 
ity of six and two-thirds to seven and three-fifths geographical miles to the 
minute, but lasted at each spot only two minutes at the utmost. In the 
later volumes of the Proceedings of the Christiania Academy (known to 
me only from separate copies of the paper mentioned below, kindly sent 
to the writer), Mr. Collet has given a full topographical list of the Birds 
of Norway, summing up their distribution in the country, when and where 
they were Pores, etc. Two hundred and forty-eight species are enume- 
rated. Professor M. Sars has published short notices about some e Celen- 
terata (coral aa jelly fishes, etc.) and Echinodermata (starfishes, etc. )» 
from the Lofoten Isles, i. e., Thyonidium scabrum (new species), Holothu- 
ria natans (new species), D ooko Gt Corymorpha (Amathea) Sarsit 
and Isidella (new genus) Lofotensis. H. natans is distinguished by posses 
sing the faculty of swimming, with a eee motions, in a vertical direc- 
tion. Jsidella, igo a ral, was found at the — depth o foe 


three millimetres thick showed that it wisi much larger. Dr. a 
has described two species of a new Bryozdon genus, Kinetoskias, fou 
at Nordland and Finmarken, remarkable for aged faculty of moving eset 
tarily the branches (connected by a membrane) of its. polypary, apra 
ing them in the shape of an umbrella, or closing them together into @ a 
(according to Dr. Smitt, whose work on the Bryozoa will be re referred to 
afterwards). Kinetoskias arborescens D., is a species of Bugula (B. u™- 
brella Smitt N 
. Professor Sats has published a little volume of Contributions to ps 
Fauna of the Bay of Christiania, with descriptions and plates of gi 
little known Crustacea (Crangon, Pasiphaë, etc.). His 80 n, Mr. 
dso u 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 609 





neglectus, Pallasea cancelloides, Gammaracanthus loricatus, Pontoporeia 
, Asellus aquaticus); illustrated with ten highly finished plates; the 


Crinoids (Rhizocrinus), discovered by his son in the depths of the ocean 

at Lofoten; and from Mr. A. Boeck, a detailed description of the Nor- 

wegian and Arctic Amphipoda, with many plates. The magnificent Geolog- 
a 


E 
© 
E 
° 
ar | 
a5 
fee 
m 
© 
=| 
ct 
= 
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bea 
= 
cer) 
B 
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B 
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$ 
=] 
D 
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Q 
= 
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quarto, in the text, and profiles, etc., G k pina of many years’ explo 
ons by the Geological Survey orway, conducted by Professor 
erulf, ees cya works, it no doubt occupies ’ it 


a high place 

eat gap in the knowledge of the geological constitution of 
Europe, eke Bei date to the history of the earliest TORE 
metam be, and must be reckoned among the highest 
scientific monuments hitherto erected in Scandinavia. astiak is 
now,” as said Professor Steenstrupt in his speech at the meeting of the 
_ Scandinavian naturalists, this summer in Christiania, ‘the classical soil, 
hot only of Zodlogy, but also of Geology.” 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


BOTANY. 
e 


We pause a moment before passing to our Botanical Miscellany, to 
record the sudden death, by consumption, on November 11, 1868, at the 


anagem s magazin 
The country has lost a thoroughly disciplined and Gay mind, and 
meor its raping and most promising botanists, and the readers of the 
list a contributor, whose reviews of esse works, ea study 
= Mbsiitication of their specimens, and unwritten essays P mised for 
fa Pages, would have both quickened their zeal for the study pr cnet 
And secured for the botanical portion of the magazine a most eleva 
‘Character, 


eRe RR RRR AR AS RS 
Tue CoLcnicum avrumNaE found growing wild in the wet ve 
the 3 ore regions of Italy and Switzerland has been seen in co 
NATURALIST, VOL. I. 





610 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


erable abundance in a meadow not far from the lake of Dublin, N. Hi, 


who kin 
of October last, says that there were fifty or more in blossom then, and 
although having been noticed there for three or four years ne do not 
seem to have attracted any attention previously.— J. L. R., Sale 


THR DOUBLE SAXIFRAGE found in Danvers, Mass., three years ago, and 
mentioned in the November number of the AMERICAN NATURAI IST, Was a 
fortunate ‘‘find” of John H. Sears, of that town, an ardent and enthusias- 


Jlora, and for many Sahar aa 


M i S 
all full-double and very ATN were brought me while eslit at ` 


teemed friend, the late Thomas G. Lee, as early as 1834; and on submit- 
ting the plant to a generous “ena in five years’ time it produced full- 
. double blossoms.” —J. L. R., Salem 


EDATA occurs here in two varieties not esata | in Gray’s 


variety is rare. I have only found it once or twice. I have also seen 

Pogonia ophioglossoides purely white. Plantago prisilla occurs here, à 

little east of its range (Gray’s Manual, page 269). Arisema phage oc- 

casionally has its leaves 5-7, and more, parted.— W. P. BOLLES, New 
ndon. 

T BOTANICAL DISCOVERIES. — Mr. Berkeley opened the proceed- 
ings of Te Botanical Section of SRE British Association, with a remark- 
ably interesting address. He. directed his remarks, first, to recent 
researches and specu alèio ons in Cryptogamic Botany, on which he is 80 
well qualified to speak judicially, and then to the theory of ranae 
He alluded to the observations of DeBary and Cienkowski on organisms 
which appear to be intermediate between plants and animals, SU ae 


Ss 
- 


as to the fungoid origin of certain diseases. At first Hallier had mere 
observed fungi in Asiatic cholera, but recently he had stated e! ja 
typhus, typhoid, and measles (in the blood), in variola and in vacciD 5 
th 


re 
did not consider that Hallier had proved 1 his case; his experiments we 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY“ 611 


from conclusive, and he drew conclusions hastily. It was quite pos- 
sible that certain fungi might occur constantly in substances of a certain 
chemical and molecular constitution; but this might be a case of effect 
instead of cause, 
~The recent researches of Mr. Herbert Spencer had shown by the intro- 



















not only ascends by the vascular tissue of plants, but that the same tissue 
turns and distributes the sap after it has been modified in the leaves. — 
rly Journal of sce London. i 


= species or well marked varieties. The others diminish pretty regularly 
to the last, which has but six hundred and thirty seven (637) species. My 
oney 


was gold and silver, but I am willing to take the same amount now in 
The larger sets give a very fair idea of the Cuban flora, and 
àre fuller than any other collection of Cuban plants except three, — that 
of the Herbarium at Cambridge, Mass., that of the Kew Gardens, sat 
land, and one belonging to Mr. Sauvalle, of Havana. —CHARLES W 
Cambridge, Mass. 


plants in the NATU- 


s.—I observe frequent notices of 
ns of a 


: BOTANICAL NOTES 
RALIST which produce white flowers. I have collected specime 


ad occidentalis s.t Has Myozurus minimus ever bee 
sylvania, in the United States? I collect it here at Belleville.§ —JOUN 
Macoun, Belleville, Canada. 

ef botanical notes would be welcome to the NATURALIST, and we 
print the most useful. — Eps. ] 


HeraTica TRILOBA.—Some authors speak of a variety with fre 
ves. Now I think the five-lobed leaves are not the true leaves, pa 
ower buds have some of the r cultivation, 


pl 

h as I send you) with five 
the five-lobed leaves iste 
true leaves afte 


the flowers of the other bunches, and the 
out simultaneous with the leaves of the flowering plants. 
of the Cardinal flower. [ think I never 


rd sel the Miciatas A. G. 
ee he - advena, See 
Se this and the ordinary N. luteu = of Rept Se reen 
of Botany, revised edition, page 57.—A. @ rows ‘vermont. See 
this R. “pig lis, with white or amber cotared berries? G ; = ; 
Mannal, page 15 Europe. — A. G. 
The farthest east wasi if wild. It may have come direct from 





612 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


While travelling in the Grand Traverse region of Northern Michigan 


iu r 
phosed plants. The petioles much elongated (2'-4'); leaves very large 
and distorted; sepals leaf-like, raised on petioles an inch or more long. 
h als likewise leaf-like, colored green, with a few white lines. Even 
the stamens and pistils were colored green, and all vestige of the flowers 
had disappeared. I was so situated as to be unable to preserve any of 
the specimens I found. I also found Uvularia perfoliata Linn., bearing 
two, three, and even four flowers upon a single plant, which I believe to 
be as uncommon. —R. ISHER, Mt. Hina, Ind. 





ZOOLOGY. 


Tue McNret Expepirion.—In the November Naruratist a short 
notice was given of Mr. McNiel’s expedition to Central America. After 
about five months work in the field, and the expenditure of about all his 
funds, Mr. McNiel availed himself of the great liberality of the Panama 
Railroad Company, and Pacific Mail Steamship Company, to return home 


with his collections, free of cost, in orde t and consult in regard 
to more extended operations, which the knowledge he had derived daring 
his trip seem ost desirable. The plan is now for him to 


i h 

return to Nicaragua, accompanied with an assistant and competent collec- 
tor and taxidermist, in the person of Mr. Walker, a student of the Pea- 
body Academy of Science, provided about $3000 can be secured for the 
purpose, 

The many acts of kindness received by Mr. McNiel from the officers 
of the Panama Railroad and Pacific Mail Steamship Companies, and 
their generosity, expressed in the substantial form of free passes aul 


ance received and proffered from Don J. J. and Capt. F. B. De Shon, 
Mr. Nelson, Mr. Sternburgh, Col. Haratzthy, Capt. Doppia i and others 
and the interest in his labors and aid extended by t e author- 
ities, secures a decided success to the continuation z the ition; 
and with the assistance of Mr. Walker, who will more especially devote 
himself to the eis of birds and mammals, large and valuable Te 
sults are looked for with a certainty of fulfilment. It is proposed wd 
return Mr. McNiel vidi to his field of work in a few weeks, so as to take 
full advantage of the dry season, which is far more conducive tO He 
lecting than the rainy one in which most of his collections thus far 
been made. On his return, special attention will be given to archeol 
cal and ethnological matters, as well as zodlogical, and interesting remy 
are looked for 7 ies researches. of 
Among the specimens brought home by Mr. McNiel, consisting : 
corals, shells Sonic fresh water, and land), insects (including 4 oe 
number of butterflies, beetles, and tarantulas), fishes, reptiles (including 








NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 613 


a large living R and a few mammals, were two large stone 
pans and a ‘‘masher,” discovered on the island of Corinto, on the Pacific 
coast of Ni icaragun, having been washed out of the sand by a late heavy 

rain. s ans” are very interesting, in showing that the same kind 
of utensils and implements of stone were in use by a forgotten race, as 
those now in common use by the natives of the interior of Nicaragua; for 


MeNiel in use by the natives, for the purpose of preparing a coarse food 
by mashing hulled corn on the pan by means of a nearly cylindrical stone, 
held in both hands and used asa “masher.” This fact is doubly interest- 


te 
used for an identical or very similar purpose by the aborigines of our 
own land. 

To Col. A. Haratzthy, of Corinto, the Ethnological collection of the 
Academy is indebted for a most unique and ancient pair of enormous stir- 


Capt. A. T. Douglass also sent an addition to our live stock, by Mr. 
MeNiel, in the form of a most mischievous and interesting little animal, 
about the size of a cat, combining the mischievousness of a monkey 
-With habits between a bear and raccoon, who, since his instalment at the 
Academy, has evinced a decided affection for the cat and a most mani- 
fest desire i ascertain the nature of the contents of every box and bottle 

n the roo si proved to us that he is a good observer of objects 

of ae very discrimin nating naturalist. The Nicaraguan name 

of this asaina little fellow is ‘‘Pisota.” In South America, two or 

three oe ee species of the genus are generally known under the 
eo 

As iiaiai i in ea November NATURALIST, the continuance of the expedi- 
tion ‘depends on the disposal of duplicate specimens to various parties, 
an 


large number of specimens are now nearly ready to be dis- 
tributed to arrak and there are plenty of most of the species to 
fu good suites to all who apply soon scriptions will be received 


ber of specimens, unless only some special class of specimens is required 
by the subscriber. 
For further information regarding the expedition, address F. W. PUT- 
4M, Director P. A. 8. 


614 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


AMBERGRIS. — I find in the American Cyclopedia the following account: 
“Tt is a morbid secretion of the liver of the Spermaéeti Whale, found 
floatin h a, sometimes on shore; it is found in the intestines of 


whale that was exceedingly Jean; on cutting into the whale, the lower 
portion of the intestine was cut off, and some st balls floated out, but 
only a very small portion of it was saved. In the schooner Estella, 
of this port, killed a lean sperm whale, from w chee they took sixty-six 
pounds of ambergris, BU on the arrival of the vessel, sold for $64 per 
pound. On another voyage, in the following year, the same schooner 
captured a whale, from piee they took twenty-three pounds nine ounces, 


found where whalers have been fortunate ois to pus ambergris in 
whales. There is no doubt that they sometimes let carcases go that con- 
tain more value in the intestines than the whole blubber is worth. This 
substance, accumulating in the intestines, causes a stoppage so that noth- 


would contain a large amount of that valuable substance, and it would 
pay well for the trouble of taking in all whales met with on the water, if 
the cause of their death is unknown. 

The food-of the sperm whale is mostly the-large squid; it is the opinion 


they accumulate and finally cause a stoppage. ‘This they infer from 
a that they find these bills (as they call them) with the ambergris. — 
N. E. Atwoop, Provincetown, Mass. 


OULTING OF THE SHRIMP (Mysis).—I enclose a few Shrimp “moults,” 
whereof the most enormous quantity drifted ashore on Thursday, August 
13, 1868. They were left by the tide in windrows, at the mouth of the 


or miles i 
the enclosed as of possible interest. They seemed all nearly of a size, 
and probably, therefore, of a uniform age. I was not aware before re 
the reticulated cornea of the eye was shed with de skeleton, si possi sibly 
others share my ignorance.—W. C. Jounson, Newburyport, 
Nest or THE BELTED KINGFISHER. —I notice from articles in the Sep- 
tember and June numbers relating to the Belted Kingfisher, that M 


agre 
saying that I have always found the holes from four to six feet in ¢ z 
and never to the depth of eight feet, as. Mr. Endicott says, and with the = 
ception of two cases, both of which PRA in clay banks, straight 














NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 615 


the direction in which they start. Mr. Endicott asks if any one have ever 
known them to turn to the left? In answer to his enquiry, I would like 
to have it distinctly understood, that in both the cases mentioned above, 
the holes turned to the left. I have sometimes found a nest of grass and 
sticks, but not usually. Mr. Wood says the eggs are about seven in 
number. have found as many as eleven eggs in a nest, but never more 
than that.—C. E. WILLIAMS, Utica, N. F. 





GEOLOGY. 
Io DRIFT. — Since my announcement, at the late meeting of the 
American Association for poe Advancement of Science, at Chicago, of 


adjacent parts of Dakota and Minnesota, the red quartzite boulders of the 
drift of Western Iowa, I have had the additional pleasure of following up, 
to its original home, much of the granite also, which és profusely scat- 
tered in the Iowa drift. 

These observations of granite in situ, were confined to the immediate 
Vicinity of the Minnesota river, and indeed to the bottom of its valley 


Fo d 
ese rocks, prone evidently ‘belonging to one continuous mass, are 
quite variable in texture and proportions of composition, even within a 
Short distance. pie prevailing. color is reddish, from the great prepon- 
derance of feldspar of that color. Hornbl lende is always present, and 


~- 


rocks. 
Slightly tortuous ditch 
hundred feet deep. Thus, as one travels over the prairi 
region, he sees nothing of these rocks in situ, but in the bottom -of the 
valley. he finds add large exposures 0 f granitic rocks as characteris- 
tic as those of New England. As might be inferred from the great pre- 
Ponderance of aaia ppr hornblende, these rocks readily disintegrate, 
limestone, and at the mouth of the 
red feet in 


ordinary soil, like 
e Organ moun untains. 


616 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 


near Rio Janeiro. It is evidently from this source that much of the soil 
and fine material of the drift of Iowa and Minnesota are derived. New 
England did not derive such a soil from her granites, although they con- 
tain all the elements of good soil, because their texture did not allow of 
their ready disintegration, ie the glaciers were passing over them, as 
those of Minnesota did. us the great superiority of the soil of the 
North-west over that of a England, is due to the fact that the rocks 
of the whole region—granites, sandstones and limestones—were more 
easily disintegrated and ground. — C. A. WHITE. 


ee en 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

W. C. F., Eastham, Mass witches,” which ad say is the common 
name for them with you, i s probably the Lepisma saccharina Linn. It is found in 
damp houses, in closets, among books, and is injurious to silks tapestry, 
we are informed wy a amig pein in Salem. You write “that they seem to choose th 
darkness, and oom to another by nig k moke basher, that had 


rprised o find the Lopisma acenso of fice weak bo bes pee an 
ody, 


———, Portsmouth, F query whether the Greenland 
Sa: a is a var ety of S. Pens ylvanic ag seit amd A we pa guess at 
iaaa or any Sehor A neid (or say oth pee past at all for that matter); there 
are too many - che em to Sg aii A 3 A pronon 
L. A.M., Falls, pilars a an the young of Papilio Asterias, th 
Parsnip Battari. The v- shaped” Kanai maiade out from behind the head, are sap 
posed to be organs of protection 


Richmond, Ind., writes that “ on Monday, = 27th of April, 1868, the ein 


pri on fresh, 

and when I killed it, it appeared as ae ive as of lone it hed: a pinn ay of go ravorite = 

Is it natural for them to destroy themselves if kept in confinem pE maT 
is its n a aoa p 


The Loa and other moths of the Silk-w ‘amily (Bo mbyoliz) do not 


jus ‘which are obsolete. though oli deveto Ak in the caterpillar. Did hes your oe ana 
eak off her tail, and did not the fragment op ay es ng 
chron which in o y winged ; pri is not adapted for swallowing, as she on only lives 10 
o through a brief courtship and lay her eggs for her 
m — ang : ng the few days of her pn. Mare tah The res aterpillar feeds on the map 


in a 


BOOKS RECEIVED. 


Observations on the Metamorphosis of Siredon into Amblystoma. By Prof. 0. © 
Marsh. With a plate. New Haven, 1868. 8v0, pp. 12. ff M. os 

Outlines of Compara ra hg and Medical Zoéiogy. By Harrison Allen, 

The n E 


sd atirat ey I, No, 4. November, 1968. 
The Pula. October storm November gg stoped 1968. 
Synopsis of the Birds of South y; arting T “Elliott Coues, M. D. Boston, 


8vo, pp. 23. 
American Bee Journal. December, 1868. S 
Report on the Trials of Plows, held at Utica. ' 1808. 8vo. 
Land and Water. sn ro 8 tag October 31, 608.) From 
Some of California. By J J.G. , M. D: i 
the e Proccedings of the Cs California Academy of Science, January, 1868.) 8vo, PP- 
Cosmos. October 3 to November 1 14, 1 1868. Paris. 




















eae 


AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
Vol. II. FEBRUARY, 1869.—No. 12. 
KrEGORIOIOS 


ABOUT SHELLS. 


BY CHARLES WRIGHT. 





_ In the course of my herborizations in Cuba, I have had 
frequent occasion to climb trees for flowers which I could 
hot otherwise obtain, and much more frequent occasion to 
clamber about the limestone cliffs which furnish a great 
variety of plants, many of which are common in such locali- 
ties, and are found nowhere else. In these circumstances, 
it was hardly possible that my attention should not be drawn 
to the shells, some inhabiting trees, and many more the 
rocks, I came, in truth, to be very fond of them, spending 
Many hours entirely devoted to shell hunting, which, I begin 


_ to think, I could have spent more profitably in my legitimate 


Calling. I propose to relate some of my observations, and 


to give my views as to the causes of some of the phenomena | 
observed, hoping that they who make this branch of the 
animal kingdom a special study, may be prompted to inves- 
tigate these phenomena more minutely than I had time or — 
ability to do. 

Shells have a season of hibernation in hot climates as 
well as in cold; but, in the former, the cause of their inac- 


tivity is dryness; in the latter, low temperature. If the 











drought be protracted, the greater patt seek a retreat where 
(icicle a 





go Entered according to in the year 1868, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF 
Scrence, in the Clerk's Oee of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts, 


NATURALIST, VOL. İt. 78 (617) 


. 


618 ABOUT SHELLS. 


some degree of moisture prevails; for example, in the 
ground or among the dead leaves covering it; in a hollow 
tree or in the crevices of the bark; under stones or among 
the leaves of epiphitic Tillandsias. But occasionally an 
individual is found abroad at this season, and repeated ex- 
amination led me to discover a reason for it; whether it is 
the reason, may remain for wiser ones to determine. These 
shells are commonly stuck fast where they are found, or 
glued as it were, and not merely adhering’ as in a time of 
rest in the wet season. And they have all been injured,— 
the shell more or less broken. Are they going to die? Are 
they undergoing repairs? This last seemed to me more prob- 
able. They are always, in part at least, grown together, not 
quite symmetrically often, but generally quite firmly. Do 
they eat by night as in the rainy season? This I cannot 
assert. The firmness of. their attachment would indicate 
that they do not. So uniform has been my experience in 
this case, that now, if I see an Achatina, or a large Helicina, 
on a tree in the dry season, however inviting they may ap- 
pear at a distance, I pass them by as worthless. ; 
Oleacina and its allies are carnivorous snails. They have 
a smooth polished delicate shell, yet possess the power to 
capture and devour others many times larger than them- 
selves, besides being protected by a firm shell, and with a 
closely fitting hard operculum. Not unfrequently we find 
large shells like Helicina regina, or H.sagreana, quietly sub- 
mitting to be devoured by an Oleacina, which it has the 
strength to walk off with, as easily as a tortoise could carry 
away a mouse. Wherein lies their great strength? [cam 
offer a suggestion. I have often been in such situations = 
the face of a vertical cliff, that I needed both hands for sup- 
port. At such times, if a shell attracted my attention, I 
used to put it between my lips till I reached a place where 
both hands were free. Thus I learned, that the watery T 
‘slimy secretion which all these animals emit, in the case A 
this group, is bitter; and in the larger species, very deck 





- 


- 





ABOUT SHELLS. 619 


dedly so. I can hardly doubt that the secret of the power 
which these snails possess is to be sought here. May not 
this bitterness produce a benumbing effect on their prey? I 
have discovered a like bitterness in no other shell, and 
I have collected many species in this way, using my mouth 
as a temporary box. 

Proserpina has a shell of like delicate structure as that of 
Oleacina. Once I found one in close contact with a Mela- 
niella. This, together with its structure, led me to suspect 
that it, too, is carnivorous. Who knows? Will an exami- 
nation of the tongue tell? Will some one try it? I once 
amused myself capsizing these little fellows, and if they did 
not manifest real anger, there was a very good imitation of 
it. Turned on its back, it lashed its tail about violently for 
asnail; or I might say it behaved mulishly and kicked, — 
the organ thus forcibly used being called the foot, I believe. 
The inverted position seemed a painful or disagreeable one. 

I hesitate to record an observation repeatedly made on 


In other species, the said variations are slight. In one or 
more species of Cyclostoma of this latter kind, I have often 
found young individuals considerably larger than any fully. 
grown. There could be no shadow of a doubt that these 
were all of the same species, and not two distinct ones living 
together. Among a dozen or two fully formed shells and 
others nearly grown, all agreeing well in size, one, perhaps 
two or more, incomplete individuals would occur, so much 
larger than all the rest, as to suggest the question, — Why do 
we not find finished shells of this larger size? 

_ Two solutions of this question have presented themselves 
as possible, though neither of them is quite satisfactory- One 
is, that. the animal has power to absorb its shell and recon- 
struct it of a smaller size. The other, which seems more 


probable, is, that these overgrown individuals are abnor- 


620 ABOUT SHELLS. 


mal, deformed, and never come to perfection. Thus, being 
thin and fragile, they soon crumble and disappear. I have 
thought that I found proof or evidence that mollusks have 
power to absorb and reform the shell. From Melania and 
Paludina, which are viviparous, I used to preserve the young 
found in the process of cleaning the shells. Observing that 
they were quite blunt at the apex, and that somehow in their 
growth toward maturity they became sharp-pointed, I could 


in no other way account for this than by supposing that they _ 


absorbed the shell, and reconstructed it after a smaller pat- 
tern. I will admit, for what it is worth, the possibility of 
inaccuracy in my observations when comparing small things 
with great. Thus, a very short cone might appear blunt, 
while, if increased ‘tenfold, the bluntness would be, rela- 
tively, quite little. Yet this view does not satisfy me, and I 
still think my first impressions were correct. Will not some 
one by accurate measurements settle this question? 

On the beach to the eastward of Matanzas the habits of a 
Cyclostoma struck me as noteworthy. A hundred yards or 
more from the shore, the ridge formed of. sand and broken 
shells is overgrown with various trees and bushes, which this 
shell ascends probably to feed on some lichen. But if the 
tree leaned at any considerable angle, say twenty-five Or 
thirty degrees, no shell could be found on it. And of the 
bushes, too, it had its choice as to size, also. None seemed 
to venture up a bush, or there was no attraction for them, 
if ft were not larger than the finger or thumb. Jt may very 
well be, that on the small bushes they found nothing to eat: 
but the same reason cannot be given for their refusal to 
ascend larger leaning ones. k 

It has been said above, that in winter shells. mostly lie 
dormant, not on account of the cold, but of the dryness: 
But if, at this season, a heavy shower occurs, which is not 
very unusual, they come out of their hiding places and ap- 
pear to be feeding; not, indeed, in such numbers as dur- 
ing the summer, for already many are dead. Now, let 2 











ee aa ees 











ABOUT SHELLS. 621 


norther, which is a drying wind, spring up, and they haste 
away to their retreats with all possible speed. Such a 
shower occurred on a winter night when I was in the neigh- 
borhood of Guane, where there are excellent rocks for shells, 
and many and various shells among the rocks. Early in the 
morning I found some specimens of Melaniella Pichardi. 
They were not abundant, though I saved a considerable 


number, and was desirous of collecting more of them, as 


it is, by no means, common. While I was at breakfast, a 
light norther began blowing. I made but little stay, and 
returned to the rocks, in hopes, though not confident, of 
finding more. Not one was to be seen, however. Similar 
effects are produced by a norther on other shells. Just at 
night I have observed Cyclostoma salebrosum, in numbers, 
on rocks, where, in the morning, if a norther prevailed 
during the night, not one could be found but by searching 
among the leaves at the base of the rocks. This shell, with 
some others, as Cycl. rotundatum-and Cycl. undatum, have 
a way of letting go and rolling to the bottom of the rock if 
it be inclined (and they seem to prefer such), when they see 
the hand approaching; and this, apparently, when they have 
not even one eye open. It would seem as if they felt the 
approach of danger. ee 

_ A group of Cyclostomas, O. claudicans Poey, C. assimile 
Gundl., C. tenebrosum Mor., and perhaps others, spin a 
thread by which they hang from the lower side of projecting 


rocks. When the weather clears after a rain, numbers may 


be found thus at rest, particularly in the early summer, when 
the young abound. Whether they can haul in their line I 
am unable to say, but guess they cannot; for many are 


found with the border broken, which could hardly be so 


common, unless caused by a fall from some height. If in 


this position they fall, it must sometimes be a distance of 
fifty, or, it may be hundreds of feet. These are all thin, 


delicate shells; and the power of suspension seems as if de- 


‘Signed for their injury or destruction. 


622 ABOUT SHELLS. 


Helix stigmatica, and its allies, live under stones or among 
dead leaves. They are dull in color, and the most of them 
small in size. H. stigmatica is never found fairly in the 
daylight. Once only, if I rightly remember, I found an in- 
dividual which had just turned the corner of the rock under 
which it lived. Why do they not come out to the light, and 
what do they live upon in their dark retreats? Another 
group, of similar habits, comprises Helix Titanica, H. pulcher- 
rima and others. These have longitudinal lines of bristles, 
or rather stiff hairs, which are quite conspicuous in the young 
shell, but diminish, wear away, or quite disappear with age. 

Shells often cease growing for a time, so far at least as 
relates to their caleareous covering. Their growth is inter- 
rupted during the dry season, and it may also be by an 
` unusually dry time in summer. In banded shells, when the 
growth is resumed, the pattern of their markings is often, 
- perhaps always, changed. The bands may be moved to the 
right or left, or be divided into two, or two may be united, 
or a color may be suppressed, or a new one introduced, or 
any one color may be widened or narrowed. In Helix picta 
Born., the variety of markings is almost innumerable. While 
the animal remained quiescent as a whole, why did not the 
several parts retain their relative positions? The color- 
secreting glands must have changed in position. 

The wide diffusion of some species, and the extremely 
limited area in which others are found, excite in the inquit- 
ing mind a desire to know the causes of this unequal distri- 
bution. Helix regina in several forms is found in the whole 
of the mountain range of the western part of the island. 
Helicina adspersa is another extensively diffused species» 
besides being very variable in size and markings. VU? 
other hand, Cyclostoma foveatum has been found only in on 

locality, at the base of a high projecting cliff, in considerable 
numbers, but all dead; nor is it known where it lives. 
have looked upwards from below, and have climbed to 


top and looked downwards in vain. Not more than two p: 





THE SMALLER FUNGI. 623 


three have been obtained in a moribund state,—a single one 
only with sufficient life to enable Gundlach to describe and 
figure the animal. A few square yards contain all we know 
of this species. Achatina fasciata is found from one end 
of the island to the other, and at all elevations above the 
sea, under several forms which have -been described as dis- 
tinct species. Helix picta Born. is another widely diffused 
shell, and extremely variable in color and size. I have ob- 
Served many young in the top branches of a high tree just 
felled, on the very. top of the mountains, in Yateras. It seems 
to be a high climber, which may account for its comparative 
Tarity, fully grown and alive. I have met with very few. 

Cylindrella. is largely represented in Cuba, more than 
eighty species being enumerated in the latest catalogue. 
Most of the species are extremely local ; several, so far as 
is now known, being restricted to localities of a few yards 
Square, or to a few rods. Doubless other localities will be 
discovered for many of them. A few, as C. Poeyana, G. 
elegans and C. irrorata, are much more widely spread, but 
probably not one extends through the whole island as does 
Achatina fasciata. But what is most noteworthy is the re- 
markable tenacity of life possessed by many species. Some 
have lived for months, and even years; and, unless. closely 
confined, they will crawl forth on the return of warm, damp 
Spells of weather, getting into the wrong boxes and creating 
Sad confusion. 

a a 


THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


BY JOHN L. RUSSELL. 


[Concluded from page 570.] 

ANOTHER point of interest worthy the attention of the 
observer, and furnishing subject matter for the microscope, 
is a sort of dimorphism,* and even something like alternate 
generations such as is observed in the lower animals. We 


* Dimorphism, two shapes Or forms. 


624 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


have seen that the spermogones which accompany the cluster- 
cups in the _eidium, for instance, seem to have some inti- 
mate relation to them. There is another kind of the smaller 
fungi which, attacking grain, is known as Rust, and in sci- 
ence is called Uredo. But besides the U. rubigo, or Rust, 
on the grasses and grain, Dr. Curtis enumerates twenty-eight 
other species which attack other plants, and which have 
come under his observation. In other sections of the United 
States other species are found, and on the cultivated roses 
of the gardens, an European species, the Uredo rose, has 
fallen under my notice. Of this particular kind of Rust, our 
author says, “in the Uredines as well as other of the Conio- 
mycetes (in which the spores are the principal features), 
the same fungus appears under two or more distinct forms, 
not necessarily mere differences of age, but so distinct that 
they have been regarded (and some are so still) as different 
species belonging to different genera, often far removed 
from each other, and bearing different names. One plant 
(fungus), for instance, sprinkled over the under surface of 
a rose-leaf, like tumeric powder, has its mycelium, or root- 
like threads, penetrating the tissue, whilst bearing above its 
spherical golden colored spores. Its vegetative system a 
complete, and apparently its reproductive also: hence it 
seems to claim recognition as a perfect plant, and under the 
name of Uredo rose was so recognized, until microscopical 
investigation determined otherwise. Thus, it has been dis- 
covered that certain dark brown spots which appear later In ` 
the season, are produced upon the same mycelium; and are 
indeed, aggregations of more perfect and complex fruits of 
the same plant. Before this point was satisfactorily decided, 
the brown spores, which are borne on long stalks and are 
themselves septate, or divided by transverse partitions into $ 
complex fruit, received the name of Puccinia rosæ. At this 
period Uredo rose and Puccinia rosæ, or the yellow fungus 
and the dark brown fungus, were believed to be distinct 

different plants; now, on the contrary, they are believed to 





THE SMALLER FUNGI. 625 


be different forms of fruit produced by the same plant, 7. e., 
an instance of dimorphism.” 

A similar instance of this two-formed condition of the 

smaller fungi can be traced in the delicate mouldiness which 
covers the leaves of many plants, as the lilac, the grape, and 
the fruit of the gooseberry, and looks like strings of beads 
made of colorless cells, in this condition known or described 
as Oidium (Fig. 1; a, tuft of conidia of Fig. 1. 
O. monilioides X 120; b, portion of 
grass-leaf with the same species of blight. 
From Cooke), the spores being the self- 
same beads, and egg-shaped or oviform, 
whence the generic name ; but careful ob- 
servation will persuade us that this is 
hot the perfect condition ; and when later 
in autumn these threads become more 
compact, and are surmounted on their 
horizontal surfaces by shining black capsules, or perithecia, 
each of which is filled with elegant elliptical and elongated 
cells, and each in turn containing several spores, shall we 
find in Erisyphe that we have arrived at the conclusion of 
the dimorphism of this fungus, a parasite and injurious in its 
effects. The famous grape mildew, so destructive to the 
foliage of the wine and table grapes of Europe, and knows 
as Oidium Tuckert, is thus only an imperfect form of some 
common Hrisyphe, or mildew ; and in this portion of Massa- 
_ chusetts, so far as I have observed, it is the Uncinula spiralis 
(B. and C.) which attacked the foliage of the sweet wa 
grapes, as on vines of Mr. E. S. Rogers of Salem, m 1850, 
and the same ‘parasitic fungus which covered the leaves of 
the wild grape, Isabella, and other hardy varieties, and which 
can be detected every season to a greater or less extent. 

And besides this dimorphism thus apparent in the smaller 
fungi, stranger facts connected with their natural history 
Meet us here. Observation has detected in the Æcidium, or 
cluster-cups, not a perfect fungus as it would seem, but in 

79 


AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. I. ; 





a 


626 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


them only a condition of some other fungus! Thus the 


-genus Uromyces contains several distinct kinds of minute 


fungi, of which, for example, we will select the bean-leaf 
rust (U. appendiculata), which consists of brown dusty 
spots, resulting from clusters of spores not enclosed in any 
pustule, excrescence or peridium. Each of these spores 
will be found to be furnished with a tiny footstalk, and by 
means of which they are attached to the living leaf of the 
bean. The spore itself is unilocular, oboval in shape, ter- 
minated by a rounded point, having two distinct cover- 
ings, the outer of a deep brown color and smooth, the inner 
colorless; these enclose a granular matter surrounding 4 
vacant and rounded spot, and having at the top a minute 
opening. These spores are ripe towards the end of summer, 
and in harvesting the crop, the brown and snuff-like powder 
will readily part from the dead foliage, and from the pods, 
and smut the fingers. Like the seeds of the higher plants 
they await the return of spring, when, if having fallen upon 
humid soil, “the spore emits a curved and obtuse tube, 
which, soon ceasing to elongate itself, gives origin to three 
or four sporidia, of a kidney shape.” If the sporidia should 
fall upon a living bean-plant, the tube “on being emitted 
penetrates the wall of any approximate cellule, swells and 
increases into a cylindrical tube equal in thickness to the 
original sporidia, and therefore four or five times the diam- 
eter of the germ-tube before it entered the cellule. The 
contents of the sporidia and external portion of the tube 
pass into the portion within the cellule, and then these exter- 
nal portions perish, and all evidence of the entry is obliter- 
ated, except a very minute point at which the tube remains 
attached to the inner surface of the wall of the cellule. The 
enclosed tube soon elongates, divides, and becomes branched. 
These branches pass into the spaces of the pulp of the leaf 
and become mycelium, a change which takes place in a few 
hours. . Where the sporidia had fallen on the surface of the 
bean-leaf, little white spots soon appear, and presently little 





THE SMALLER FUNGI. 627 


orange protuberances, many of them surmounted by a little 


drop of mucilaginous fluid.» These are spermogones, daily. 


increasing in number, and soon after numerous large glob- 
ular protuberances intermingle with them. These soon rup- 
ture the skin of the leaf, and take the orange color and the 
form of cluster-cups, Æcidium. At length the summit of 
the peridia opens to allow the escape of the stylospores.* 

_ It is easy to assure oneself that the spermogones and the 
cluster-cups proceed from the same mycelium, and for some 
time to come the peridia of the Æcidium continue to in- 
crease, till at length brownish or blackish points make their 
appearance, intermingled with the cluster-cups, increasing 
rapidly in number and magnitude. Examined by the micro- 
scope they present the ordinary fructification of Uromyces 
mingled with stylospores. Thus the mycelium of the clus- 
ter-cups engenders, at the end of its vegetation, fruits equal 
in all points to those from whence, in the first instance, they 
are derived. These stylospores found in the cluster-cups 
possess the irregular globular form and structure of their 
congeners. If they should be sown on the moistened epider- 
mis (skin or cuticle) of a favorable plant, the sprouting or 
germ-tube at first creeps along the surface, but as soon as its 
extremities find a stomate,t it enters it, and elongates itself 
in the air-cavity{ below the orifice, receives the contents of 
the original stylospore and exposed portion of its tube, then 
Separates itself from those parts which become dispersed. 
The active part increases and ramifies, and produces à 
mycelium which spreads through ‘the. intercellular passages 
of the parenchyma (pulp). Whitish spots subsequently 
appear on the surface of the fostering plant, and indicate 
that the fructification of the parasite is about to commence. 
The epidermis is elevated and broken, and little brown pus- 
tules appear through the openings. These are the stylo- 


*Stylospores, a second kind of spores borne on long threads, enclosed in a peri 


Or appropriate pustule 


‘18tomate, breathing-pore of the leat, tAir-onviy, a space in thé pulp of the leet 


~ 


628 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


spores of Uredo, which are produced in immense quantities, 


- and soon cover the pustules with a deep brown dust. Later, 


4 


the formation of the stylospores is arrested, and the true 
germinating spores appear in the same pustules. 

The stylospores of Uredo are borne singly at the top of 
short filaments. On arriving at maturity they detach them- 
selves. They are of a globular form, with a reddish brown 
epispore (covering), provided with little pointed promi- 
nences, and three pores at equal distances. After maturity 
they germinate in precisely the same manner as the stylo- 
spores of the cluster-cups. They enter only through the 
stomata of the epidermis (skin of the leaf). The pulvinules 
(clusters of powdery spores) are identical with those which 
the stylospores of Æcidium originate, and they also produce 
true spores at the end of their vegetation. No other fruit 
arises from them. These organs, therefore, always repro- 
duce the same form to which they owe their origin. 

- The result of these investigations shows that the Bean 
Rust (Uromyces appendiculata), besides spermogones, pos- 
sess four sorts of reproductive organs, which all ‘serve to 
propagate the species, but that one alone of them produces 
it in'a form always identical, while the others present well 


marked alternations of generations. Hence it is concluded ° 


that there are, first, Spores, which produce the germinating 


promycelium;* second, Sporidia,—these give place toa 


mycelium, which bears afterwards ; third, Æcidium (a con- 
dition which exhibits),—particular organs which engender 


stylospores, and which produce, fourth, the Uredo, or 4 


second form of the stylospores and later spores (No. 1), 


which are always associated with Uredo in the same pustule. - 


The spores and stylospores of Uredo come also upon the oe 


. mycelium, which had previously produced Æcidium. 


Uredo stylospores always produce Uredo and true spores.” 
I have thus, with slight alterations, followed the author at 





some length in the details of this singularly interesting seM> 


*Promycelium, the initiatory growth of the mycelium. 


a 





THE SMALLER FUNGI. 629 


of facts, respecting what have been considered as three or 
more genera of the smaller and parasitical fungi. The ac- 
count is in effect the epitome of De Bary’s experiments, as 
given in the “Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Series 4, Vol. 
20.” Starting from Uromyces, we successively arrive at 
Acidium or cluster-cups, and Uredo or Rust which, though 
found in some one of these stages on particular living plants, 
in reality belong to the development of one and the same 
parasite. Should any doubt arise as to the validity of these 
conclusions, the microscope and the too common occurrence 
of the several kinds or conditions afford facility for question 
and investigation. A study of similar stages of development 
by my friend Henry F. King, long ago interested me in the 
subject, and I here would bear grateful and willing testimony 
to his patience and skill in microscopical Fig. 2. 
studies pertaining to the structure of the 
vegetable kingdom, and of its lower orders 
in particular. 

The couch grass, or twitch grass ( Triticum 
repens), is a well known weed, and though 
recommended for its nutritive qualities, is 
seldom cultivated unless in very light and 
dry soils. But with a pertinacity worthy a 
better fate, it springs up spontaneously in 
neglected spots, and can be found almost 
anywhere. Whoever is familiar with it, must 
-have noticed that its broad leaves and stout 
stalks are frequently variegated and dis- 
colored by linear marks of a dusky hue, 
Which on nearer inspection prove to be veritable cracks of the 
skin, from which protrude clusters of minute dusty particles. 
This diseased state is owing to a parasitic fungus, the Puc- 
cinia graminis, or the Rust, which sometimes does incalcu- 
lable injury to grain crops. Many other plants are infested 
with the Puccinia Rust (Fig. 2; 4, wheat-straw attacked by 
mildew, Puccinia graminis; b, cluster of spores of corn 





630 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


mildew, magnified ; ¢, single spore of corn mildew, Puccinia 
graminis, magnified 300 diameters. From Cooke), but as 
this is so common, let it serve as an example of the whole. 
If bent on investigating this rust, you will seek it in its first 
stage, in the form of yellowish elongated pustules, when it 
constitutes the Trichobasis rubigovera of the French botanist 
Léveillé, and distinguished by one-celled yellow spores, with 
thickened outer coverings, and supported on short peduncles, 
which shortly fall away. Later in the season, brown pustules 
may be observed on the leayes and stems of the same grass 
plant, and in these, when ripened, the ‘spores are black, club- 
shaped, slightly constructed, and transversely divided by a 
septum, the peduncle or footstalk being distinct and perma- 
nent. Common as this pretty fungus is, it will repay atten- 
' tion in its microscopical study. In England by a strange con- 
fusion, such indeed as exists elsewhere among the unlearned, 
the first condition of this smaller fungus is termed the Rust, 
while the second is called Mildew. Allowing this latter 
name as applied to the Puccinia, “there is no doubt that the 
mildew is very injurious to the corn (grain) crop. Differ- 
ent opinions may exist as to how the plants become inocu- , 
lated, or how the infection may be prevented or cured. — 
_ Weare not aware that this question has been satisfactorily 
determined. It is worthy of remembrance by all persons 
interested in the growth of corn (grain), that the mildew 18 
most common upon plants growing on the site of an old 
dunghill, or on very rich soil. As the same Puccinia is also 
to be found on numerous grasses, no prudent farmer will 
permit these to luxuriate around the borders of his fields, 
lest they should serve to introduce or increase the pest he s0 
much dreads.” (pp. 54, 55.) 
I once had brought to me some stems of barley, 8° much 
infested with this little parasite, that the entire crop of 
straw anticipated was most materially injured. In some sèa- 
sons scarcely any of the firmer and coarser leaved grasses 
escape its visits. Search for other species of this singularly 


EN Wk ce oa ae ee Ne eel cons Wee 





Sie crete ne ALCP Nes ep A Pee ee dy. os Seu tor epee ae Ra RE rer oye lad AE ee 








THE SMALLER FUNGI. 631 


interesting small parasitic fungus would direct attention to 
the beauty and variety of the spores; and the leaves of 
some plants favorable to the growth of certain kinds be- 
come so seriously diseased that they appear scorched and 
burned ; to such the old Anglo Saxon word, meaning to burn, 
long ago applied, still adheres in the corn “brands,” mint 


T. brand, dandelion brand, ete., indicating a still minuter shade 


of difference where some are “elongated and tapering at each 
end, some crowned with ‘spicular processes at the top, some 
echinulate* over the entire surface, and globose, elliptic, 
nearly parted in two, or others so variable in the same spe- 
cies “that no two are alike,”—any compound microscope of 
ordinarily good power, with a quarter inch objective, reveal- 
ing these wonders and delighting the eye. Other beautiful 
species belonging to other genera of these smaller fungi await 
indeed the mycological student, and who could not be in- 
duced to botanize in such a field of wonders where “complex 
brands” likewise invite his finding; as in Triphragmiwm with 
its dark brown, echinulate, three-celled spores; in Aregma 
on the rose leaves with many-celled and cylindrical spores, 
also echinulate ; in Xenodochnus with its many-parted, bead- 
shaped and distinctly articulated black spores; in Ravenelia 
with its acorn-shaped spores—some known to American bot- 
anists, others awaiting the fortunate discoverer. And pre- 
cious as are the carefully dried and hoarded leaves which 
autumn has painted with matchless colors, how much more 
valued are they and others, if the receptacles of such micro- 
Scopical treasures in the Rusts and Brands. 
“One of the fungal diseases, long and widely known, has 

obtained among agriculturists different appellations in differ- 
ent localities. In some it is the smut, in others it is, respec- 
tively, dust-brand, bunt-ear, black-ball, and chimney-swecpers 
all referring, more or less, to the blackish, sootlike dust 
With which the infected and abortive ears are covered. This 
agus does not generally excite so much concern amongst 


+ Echinulate, covered with small spines. 


632 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


farmers as the other affections to which their corn crops are 
liable. Perhaps it is not really so extensively injurious, 
although it entirely destroys every ear of corn upon which 
it establishes itself.” 

In England and in Europe the “smut” here alluded to, is 
the Ustilago segetum, attacking the heads of wheat and other 
grain. It is also known in this country, but the one most 
familiar to us and readily observed on account of the size 
of the part of the plant it attacks, is the smut of Indian 

Fig. 3. corn or maize, U. Zee (Fig. 3, spores of Ustil- 
ago maydis, the maize smut, magnified 400 
diameters. From Cooke). ‘The spores in this 
fungus are exceedingly numerous, “simple, 
aik springing from delicate threads 
or in closely packed cells, ultimately breaking 
up into a powdery mass.” Like the aforementioned para- 
sites of Coniomycetes, the smut or Ustilago has mimerous 
destructive forms which attack various portions of different 
living plants. Another European species also: occurring’ in 
the United States according to Dr.: Curtis, is the U- hypo- 
dites, of which we learn fróni a lecture delivered in the 
city of Norwich, E ngland, in 1849, and to be found - in the 
Report of the Commissioner of Patents, Executive Doeu- 
ment, No. 15, Thirty-first Congress, 1849, that “its spores 
are black, round, and very small; that there ‘was a great 
deal of it in 1848, in a field near King’s: ‘Cliffe, almost’ every 
flower stem of the Bromus sı ylvatica being infected by it, and 
in addition to the ruin of the grass it was most pernicious 
According to Léviellé the immense quantity’ of black dust 
resulting eas it in the hay-fields in France, produces disas 
trous consequences on the haymakers, such as violent pains 
and swellings in the head and face, with great irritation over 
the entire system.” 

ike the “brands,” the “smuts,” too, have kinds with 
complex spores, of which one called Pol ycystis, or many- 
cysted smut, attacks the stems of violets, the leaves of but- 





THE SMALLER. FUNGI. 633 


tercups, and similar plants. Although noticed abroad, as 
“a eg trom our author, the name does not occur in Dr. 
urtis list, nor the Tubercinia, whose bullate and blistered 
peridia attacks the European Trientalis, or star-flower, and 
may therefore reasonably be sought for by us in our north- 
ern New England co-species. The only approach to these 
complex smuts is in the Thecaphora, which differs from the 
maize smut, in its spores being made up of three or many 
regularly hexagonal parts, each echinate and beautiful 
microscopic objects, which I think I once received from my 
friend Charles J. Sprague, Esq., who is so e¢lebrated for his 
mycological knowledge of the fungi of Massachusetts. 

The usual idea we have of rust and rustiness is something 
similar to the rust of iron, and a rusty color is one of a yel- 
lowish brown hue. But the word is used in a wider sense 
Fig. 4. when employed to denote a par- 

ea ee asitic fungal, and we accordingly 
rare informed of “White Rust” 
in another of the smaller fungi, 
which, from its too intimate con- 
nection with agricultural crops, 
is worth some attention. Thus 
the white rust of the cabbage, 
turnip, ‘and similar plants, is 
owing to the presence of the 

Cystopus candidus (Fig. 43 4, 
fruit of shepherd’s-purse with 
white rust, C. candidus; b, por- 
tion of cabbage leaf with the 
same species; ¢, conidia of the 
same species. From Cooke), which appears in circular 
patches of white spots, and causes the leaves to become 
deformed, swollen and blistered, even before we can trace 
the cause of the mischief on the outside. These blistered 
pustules have a minute system of pranching threads, which 
traverse the pulpy parts of the leaves, and which threads, 

80 


AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 





634 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


insinuating themselves between the cells that constitute the 
pulp, derive their nutriment at the expense of the growing 
foliage. It is after the pustules assume the white color, and 
are visible on the skin or cuticle, that the reproductive parts 
termed conidia, can be detected. Indeed the whole inte- 
rior of the white pustules is made up of bundles of club- 
shaped tubes, which have been extended from the system of 
` threads, and which tubes give off bead-like strings of cells, 
each bead by turns parting from the chain or necklace, and 
escaping into the air through the distended and ruptured 
pustule. From the multitude of these beads or spores, 
forming a white powdery dust, the term “conidia” is ap- 
plied, which means dust-like. Other plants beside are 
similarly affected, and the water-cress, pepper-grass, mus- 
tard, radish, shepherd’s-purse, and even the purslane, fall 
victims to its ravages. That so hardy a weed as the shep- 
herd’s-purse ( Capsella bursa pastoris) should become pallid 
and sick, indicates the nature of the drain which is made on 
its juices by-this parasite, and it is not improbable that the 
“clubbing” of the cabbage, where the stalk becomes gouty 
and swollen, and. refuses to make a healthy growth, may be 
owing to similar exciting causes in the presence of the my- 
celium of some fungus in its tissues. From the researches 
of M. Provost, in 1807, we learn that the germination of 
the conidia, or spores, is one of the most curious phenomena 
of plant life, and indicates in this low order of vegetation, 4 
relation to higher structural forms, not only in plants but 
even in animals, Thus, if a few particles of the white dust 
is thoroughly immersed in a drop of water, and examined 
under the microscope, “they will rapidly absorb the water 
and swell; soon afterwards a large and obtuse papilla, re- 
sembling the neck of a bottle, is produced at one end of the 
extremities. At first vacuoles* are formed in the contents 
of each conidium (spore). As these disappear, the whole 
granular substance filling the conidium becomes separ?” 
*Vacuole, a little vacunm, or seeming empty space. 











THE SMALLER FUNGI. 635 


by very fine lines of demarcation, into five to eight poly- 
hedric portions, each with a faintly colored vacuole in the 
centre. These portions are so many zodspores, These are 
soon expelled one by one, afterwards begin to move, the 
zoéspores themselves provided with vibratile ciliæ swim 
away, each a seeming animalcule, but in reality only a sort 
of bud endowed with motion, and such as exist in some 
other plants. The particular office of the zodspore, whether 
issuing from a conidium, or from some other process in the 
growth of the parasitical fungus, is to serve as a medium to 
the impregnation of the plant, be it weed or valuable farm 
vegetable; and curious to say it has been proved that the 
entrance into the pulp tissue of the same vegetable, is nei- 
ther through the roots nor by absorption of the leaves, but 
invariably through the seed-leaves, first leaves or cotyledons, 
as they are scientifically termed. The prodigal provision 
of Nature’ is here, as everywhere, especially in its lower 
organizations signally manifested, when we are told that 
“the immense number of zodspores capable of being pro- 
duced from a single infested plant is almost beyond calcula- 
tion. It is easy for a million of conidia to be developed 
from such a plant, each producing from five to eight z00- 
spores, besides a large number of other organs each contain- 
ing a hundred zodspores. It can scarcely be considered 
marvellous that the white rust should be so common on 
plants favorable to its development, the marvel being rather 
than that any plant should escape.” (D- 136.) 

Quite a distinct family of the smaller fungi, and far mor 
injurious in ‘many instances, is termed Hyphomycetes, 2. €., 
t delicate threads. 


and with one of these groups called the Mucedines, we have 
Something to do. The little fungi here specified are the se 
Moulds, and very naughty effects they produce, as bPa 
learn on a better acquaintance than the usually supericia 
one, which is confined to mouldy bread and cheese and other 


- 


636 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 


viands, and which are so bright and vivid in color that they 
at once attract the attention, the most alarming and insidious 
requiring the higher powers of the microscope, and under 
their almost invisibility working signal destruction. Like 
the coniomycetes, or dust-fungi, which we have noticed, the 
hyphomycetes or thread-fungi, and the mucedines or true 
moulds, which are included, are provided with a vegetative 
system of branching threads, called the mycelium, but un- 
like the former, these have fertile or spore-bearing threads 
which are perfectly distinct. These latter kinds are “some- 
times simple and sometimes branched; they may be articu- 
lated or without articulations; short or long, erect or creep- 
ing; transparent or whitish, mostly free from color, and are 
not coated with a distinct membrane. The spores are gener- 
ally simple, sometimes solitary, at others in pairs or strung 
together like beads for a necklace. Amongst all this variety 
of arrangement there is order, for these are but features, or 
partly the features of the different genera of which the Mu- 
cedines are composed. One of the genera is termed Perono- 
spora, known by its having for the most part inarticulate or 
jointless threads and two kinds of spores, one kind on the 
tips of the branches, the other, larger and globose, on the 
creeping mycelium or spawn. The diseases of many of the 
most valuable farm crops, are in Europe and England attrib- 
uted to the several species of the Peronospora, and are called 
the dock, lettuce, onion, parsnip, potato, rose, spinach, and 


tare or vetch moulds; each so specifically distinct as to ibe 
recognized on whatever plant may foster it, and destructive 


and dangerous. Whether the same kinds, or indeed whether 
the peronospora injuriously affects the same vegetables in 
this country, observation and research at present only can 
decide. Its effects in the potato disease are considered in a 


_ paper in a previous issue of the Narurauist. I only know 


that I have met with a similar mould on decaying Agarics, 
strongly resembling Caspary’s figures, and to which allusion 
has before been made. In like manner the “white mildews 


THE SMALLER FUNGI. 637 


or blights” are due to sundry other hyphomycetes or thread- 
like smaller fungi, which, equally abroad and in this country 
seriously affect the leaves and fruits, and seed-vessels of 
various living plants. Of these mention has been made 
of the Hrysiphe when noticing the dimorphism of certain 
fungi, and the list of plants to which the several species of 
this injurious little fungal growth and of its allies attaches 
itself, would be perhaps about the same at home or abroad. 
Any one who has had to do with the greenhouse kept at a 
low temperature, with the plant propagating house, or with 
the culture of the parlor plants, must be familiar with the 
rose-leaf mildew, especially when it so suddenly attacks the 
finer and tender sorts of the tea roses; and will recognize 
in the following description this insidious pest: “The first 
Species in our enumeration is found on cultivated roses. 
What a deplorable picture does a favorite rose-bush present 
When attacked by this mildew! The leaves blistered, puck- 
cred and contorted; their petioles and the peduncles and 
calyces of the flowers swollen, distorted, and gray wit 
mould, and the whole plant looking meh 

80 diseased and leprous that it needs 
no mycologist to tell that the rose 
is mildewed. This species is the 
Spheerotheca pannosa of Léveillé.” 
(pp. 165, 166.) The hop mildew 
abroad is an allied species, the ha- 
zel, oak and beech mildew attacks 
the alder leaves here in Phyllactinia 
Juttata; the English willow blight is here found “common 
on living leaves” (Curtis) ; the foreign barberry mildew, 
Microspheria, is here under several species ; the common 
White mildew, Erisyphe communis (Fig. 5; % sia 
of buttercup blight x 80, Æ. communis; 6, — ae 
the same, highly magnified. From Cooke), is so ome 
that it well deserves the name; the singular bristle mould, 
Cheetomium chartarum, attacks wet paper here as well as 





638 A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 


abroad. Another bristle mould is found on rotting grass; 
the Hurotium herbariorum, pesters our botanists by its pres- 
ence in their collections of dried plants, and so wide is the 
geographical range of many kinds of smaller fungi, that no 
country and scarcely any latitude escapes their visitations. 

The exquisite elegance of the spores of the fungi should 
suggest the dry and wet mounting of them in glass slides for 
the microscope. Entire plants and portions of others could 
be readily prepared, and the patience, enthusiasm, and skill 
of a Bicknell are all that are requisite for a beginning in this 
direction. i 

It is with extreme reluctance that we lay down this fasci- 
nating little treatise ; its pages indeed may be read and re- 
read with constant profit. To this and to similar works, 
the botanist, the general enquirer, and the agriculturist are 
equally indebted, and well will it be for this country when 
the American press shall issue many and such as this. 





A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 


BY A. S. PACKARD, JR. 





[Concluded from page 596.] i 
THE common House-fly, Musca domestica Linn., scarcely 

needs an introduction to any one of our readers, and its 
countenance is so well known to all that we need not present 
a portrait here. But a study of the proboscis of the fly 
reveals a wonderful adaptability of the mouth-parts of this 
insect to their uses. We have already noticed the most per- 
fect condition of these parts as seen in the horse-fly. In the 
proboscis of the house-fly the hard parts are obsolete, and 
instead we have a fleshy tongue-like organ (Fig. 1), bent uP 
underneath the head when at rest. The maxille are minute, 
and their palpi (mp) are single-jointed, and the mandibles 








- muscular leaves (7), which thus present 


A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 639 


(m) are comparatively useless, being very short and small, 
compared with the lancet-like jaws of the mosquito or 
horse-fly. But the structure of the tongue itself (labium, 7) 
is most curious. When the fly settles upon a lump of sugar 
or other sweet object, it unbends its Fig. 1. 
tongue, extends it, and the broad knob- i 
like end divides into two broad, flat, 


a sucker-like surface, with which the 
fly laps up liquid sweets. These two 
leaves are supported upon a framework 
of tracheal tubes, which act as a set of 
springs to open and shut the muscular 
leaves. This framework of tracheæ 
does not seem to have been noticed 
in the books at hand while writing, Mr. Edward Bicknell 
having first called my attention to it. He has mounted 
specimens, previously treated with potash, for the micros- 
cope, in his unequalled style, which illustrate admirably the 
structure of the end of the proboscis. In the cut given 
above, Mr. Emerton has faithfully represented these modi- 
fied tracheæ, which end in hairs projecting externally. Thus 
the inside of this broad fleshy expansion is rough like a 
rasp, and as Newport states, “is éasily employed by the 
insect in scraping or tearing delicate surfaces. It is by 
means of this curious structure that the busy house-fly occa- 
sions much mischief to the covers of our books, by scraping 
off the albuminous polish, and leaving tracings of its depreda- 
tions in the soiled and spotted appearance which it occasions 
on them. It is by means of these also that it teases us in 
the heat of summer, when it alights on the hand or face to 
sip the perspiration as it didos from, and is condensed 
Upon, the skin.” 

Every one notices that house-flies are bask abundant 
around- barns in August and September, and it is in the 
ordure of stables that the early stages of this insect are 





640 A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 


passed. No one has traced the transformations of this fly 
in this country, but we copy from Bouché’s work on the 
transformations of insects, the rather rude figures of the 
larva (Fig. 2), and puparium (a) of the Musca domestica 
of Europe, which is supposed to be our species. Bouche 
states that the larva is cylindrical, rounded posteriorly, 
Fig. 2. smooth and shining, fleshy, and yellowish white, 
and is four lines long. The puparium is dar! 
reddish brown, and three lines in length. It re- 
mains in the pupa state from eight to fourteen 
days. In Europe it is preyed upon by minute 
ichneumon flies (Chalcids). The flesh-fly, Musca 
Cesar, or the Bluebottle-fly, feeds upon decay- 
ing animal matter. Its larva (Pl. 13, fig. 6) is 
long cylindrical, the head being pointed, and the 
body conical, the posterior end being squarely 
docked. The larva of an allied form which feeds on offal, 
ete., transforms into a flattened puparium (Pl. 13, fig. 5), 
provided with long scattered hairs. The Hovse-fly disap- 
pears in autumn, ‘at the approach of cold weather, though a 
few individuals pass through the winter, hibernating in 
houses, and when the rooms are heated may often þe seen 
flying on the windows. Other species fly early in March, 
on warm days, having hibernated under leaves, and the bark 
of trees, moss, ete. An allied species, the M. vomitoria, 
is the Meat-fly. Closely allied are the parasitic species of 
Tachina, which live within the bodies of caterpillars and 
other insects, and are among the most beneficial of insects, 
as they prey on thousands of injurious caterpillars. Another 
fly of this Muscid group, the Idia Bigoti, according tO 
Coquerel and Mondiere, produces in the natives of Senegal, : 
hard, red, fluctuating tumors, in which the larva resides. 
Many of the smaller Muscids mine leaves, running galler- 
ies within the leaf, or burrow in seeds or under the bark of 
plants. We have often noticed blister-like swellings 0? the 
bark of the willow, which are occasioned by a cylindrical 


a 
a 
eee 









A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 641 


short fleshy larva (PI. 13, fig. 3a, much enlarged), about 
-12 of an inch in length, which changes to a pupa within the 
old larval skin, assuming the form here represented (PI. 13, 
fig. 3b), and about the last of June changes to a small black 
fly (Pl. 13, fig. 3), which Baron Osten Sacken refers doubt- 
fully to the genus Lonchea. 

The Apple-midge frequently does great mischief to apples 
after they are gathered. Mr. F. G. Sanborn states that nine 
tenths of the apple erop in Wrentham, Mass., was destroyed 
by a'fly supposed to be the Molobrus mali, or Apple-midge, 
described by Dr. Fitch. “The eggs were supposed to have 
been laid in fresh apples, in the holes made by the Coddling- 
moth ( Carpocapsa pomonella), whence the larve penetrated 
into all parts of the apple, working small cylindrical burrows | 
about one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter.” Mr. W.C. Fish 
has also sent me, from Sandwich, Mass., specimens of an- 
other kind of apple worm, which he writes me has been very 
common this year in Barnstable county. “It attacks mostly 
the earlier varicties, seeming to have a particular fondness for 
the old fashioned Summer, or High-top Sweet. The larve 
(Pl. 13, fig. 2a) enter the apple usually where it has been | 
bored by the Apple-worm (Carpocapsa), not uncommonly 
through the crescent-like puncture of the curculio, and some- 
times through the calyx, when it has not been troubled by 
other insects. Many of them arrive at maturity in August, 
and the fly soon appears, and successive generations of 
the maggots follow until cold weather. I have frequently 
found the pupæ in the bottom of barrels in a cellar in the 
winter, and the flies appear in the spring. In the early 
apples, the larvæ work about in every direction. If there 
are several in an apple, they make it unfit for use. Apples 
that appear perfectly sound when taken from the tree, will 
Sometimes, if kept, be all alive with them in a few weeks.” 
Baron Osten Sacken informs me that it is a Drosophila, 
“the species of which live in putrescent vegetable matter, 
especially fruits.” 

. AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. I. 81 





642 A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 


An allied fly is the parent of the cheese maggot. The fly 
itself, Piophila casei (Pl. 13, fig. 1), is black, with metallic 
green reflections, and the legs are dark and paler at the knee- 
joints, the middle and hind pair of tarsi being dark honey - 
yellow. The Wine-fly is also a Piophila, and lives the life 
of a perpetual toper in old wine casks, and partially emptied 
beer, cider, and wine bottles, where, with its puparium 
(Pl. 13, fig. 4), it may be found floating dead in its favorite 
beverage. 

We now come to the more degraded forms of Diptera 
which live parasitically on various éntinala: We figure, from 
a specimen in the Museum of the Peabody Avadeiny; the 
Bird-tick, Ornithomyia (Pl. 13, fig. 7), which lives upon the 
Great Horned Owl. Its body is much flattened, adapted for 
its life under the feathers, where it gorges itself with the 
blood of its host. 

In the wingless Sheep-tick, Melophagus ovinus (PI. 13, fig. 
10, with the puparium on the left), the body is wingless and 
very hairy, and the proboscis is very long. The young- are 
developed within the body of the parent, until they attain the 
pupa state, when she deposits the puparium, which is nearly 
half as large as her abdomen. Other genera are parasitic on 
bats, among them are the singular spider-like Bat-tick, Nyc- 
teribia (Pl. 13, fig. 11), which have small bodies and enor- 
mous legs, and are either blind, or provided with four simple 
eyes. They are of small size, being only a line or two in 
length. Such degraded forms of Diptera are the connecting 
Nikė between the true six-footed insects and the order of 
Arachnids (spiders, mites, ticks, etc. ). The reader should 
compare the Nycteribia with the young six-footed moose-tick 
figured on page 559 of the Narvnatisr. Another spider-like . 
fly is the Chionea valga (Pl. 13, fig. 12), which is a degraded 
Tipula, the latter genus standing near the head of the sub- 
order Diptera. The Chionea, storii to Harris, lives in 
its early stages in the ground like many other gnats, and is _ 
found early in the spring, sometimes crawling over the snow. — 


SA VEE ee She FE ee | eee pea ay | 
s EE jee eee s 3 F 








A CHAPTER ON FLIES. 643 


We have also figured and mentioned previously (page 197) 
the Bee-louse, Braula, another wingless spider-like fly. 

The Flea is also a wingless fly, and is probably, as has 
been suggested by an eminent entomologist, as Baron 
Osten Sacken informs us, a degraded genus of the family 
to which Mycetobia belongs. Its transformations are very 
unlike those of the fly-ticks, and agree closely with the 
early stages of Mycetophila, one of the Tipulid family. In 
its adult condition the flea combines the characters of the 
Diptera, with certain features of the grasshoppers and cock- 
roaches (Orthoptera), and the bugs (Hemiptera). The body 
of the human flea (Pl. 13, fig. 13, greatly magnified ; a, an- 
tenne; b, maxille, and their palpi, c; d, mandibles; the 
latter, with the labium, which is not shown in the figure, 
forming the acute beak) is much compressed, and there are 
minute wing-pads, instead of wings, present in some species. 

Dr. G. A. Perkins, of Salem, has succeeded in rearing 
in considerable numbers from the eggs, the larvæ of a flea 
which lives upon the cat. The larve (PI. 13, fig. 9, much 
enlarged; a, antenna ; b, the terminal segments of the ab- 
domen), when hatched, are .05 of an inch long. The body 
is long, cylindrical, and pure white, with thirteen segments 
exclusive of the head, and provided with rather long hairs. 
It is very active in its movements, and lives on decaying 
animal and vegetable matter, remaining on unswept floors 
of out-houses, or in the straw or bed of the animals they in- 
fest. In a few days after leaving the egg the larve mature, 
spin a rude cocoon, and change to pupæ, and the perfect in- 


sects appear in about ten days. 


A practical point is how to rid dogs of fleas. As a pre- 
ventive measure, we would suggest the frequent sweeping 
and cleansing of the floors of their kennels, and renewing the 
straw or chips composing their beds,—chips being the best 
material for them to sleep upon. Flea-afflicted dogs should 
be washed every few days in -strong soapsuds, or weak 


| ~ tobacco or petroleum water. A writer in “Science-Gossip” 


* 


r 


644 A TRIP TO PIPESTONE QUARRY. 


recommends the “use of the Persian Insect Destroyer, one 
package of which suffices for a good sized dog. The powder 
should be well rubbed in all over the skin, or the dog, if 
small, can be put into a bag previously dusted with the pow- 
der; in either case the dog should be washed soon after.” 
One of the most serious insect torments of the tropics of 
America is the Sarcopsylla penetrans, called by the natives 
the Jigger, Chigoe, Bicho, Chique, or Pique (PI. 13, fig. 8, en- 
larged ; a, gravid female, natural size). The female, during 
the dry season, bores into the feet of the natives, the opera- 
tion requiring but a quarter of an hour, usually penetrating 
under the nails, and lives there until her body becomes dis- 


_ tended with eggs, the hind-body swelling out to the size of — 


a pea; her presence often causes distressing sores. The 
Chigoe lays about sixty eggs, depositing them in a sort of sac 
on each side of the external opening of the oviduct. The 
young develop and feed upon the swollen body of the parent 
flea until they mature, when they leave the body of their 
host and escape to the ground. The best preventative is 
cleanliness and the constant wearing of shoes or slippers 
when in the house, and of boots when out of doors. 


Nore. — All the figures on Plate 13, except 8 a, are enlarged. 





A TRIP TO THE GREAT RED PIPESTONE QUARRY. 


BY C. A. WHITE, M. D. 





Tue Great Red Pipestone Quarry, from whence the In- 
dians occupying a large portion of the North American con- 
tinent have from time immemorial obtained the material for 
their pipes, has become almost as famous among those who 
speak the English language as among the aborigines them- 
selves, who, to some extent at least, regard it as a sacred 
place. This is largely due to the interest which has been 


prs 





Vol. Il. Pl. 13. 


3. merican Naturalist. 





Fig. 11. 





PACKARD ON FLIES. 



































A TRIP TO PIPESTONE QUARRY. 645 


excited by the observations of Catlin and Schooleraft upon 
the habits, customs and legends of the Indians, but more 
especially to the unique poetic form in which our much- 
loved Longfellow has rendered some of them in his “Song 
of Hiawatha.” Before the reader goes farther let him take 
down this strange song and read the “Peace-pipe,” after 
which he will better understand the references which follow. 
In addition to this I will give the substance of the legends 
which occur in various forms among the Indians of the 
North-west concerning this famous locality. 
“Many ages ago the Great Spirit, whose tracks in the 
form of those of a large bird are yet to be seen upon the 
rocks descending from the heavens, stood upon the cliff at 
the Red Pipestone. A stream issued from beneath his feet, 
which, falling down the cliff, passed away in the plain below, 
while near him, on an elevation, was the Thunder’s nest in 
which a-small bird still sits upon her eggs, the hatching of 
every one of which causes a clap of thunder. He broke a 
piece from the ledge, and formed it into a huge pipe and 
smoked it, the smoke rising in a vast cloud so high that it 
could be seen throughout the earth, and became the signal 
to all the tribes of men to assemble at the spot from whence 
it issued, and listen to the words of the Great Spirit. They 
came in vast numbers and filled the plain below him. He — 
blew the smoke over them all, and told them that the stone 
was human flesh, the flesh of their ancestors, who were crea- 
ted upon this spot; that the pipe he had made from it was 
the symbol of peace; that although they should be at war, 
they must ever after meet upon this ground in peace and as 
friends, for it belonged to them all; they must make their 
- ealumets from the soft stone, and smoke them in their coun- 

cils, and whenever they wished to appease him or obtain his 

favor. Having said this, he disappeared in the cloud which 

the last whiff of his pipe had caused, when a great fire rushed 

over the surface and melted the rocks, and at the same time 

two squaws passed through the fire to their places beneath 





646 A TRIP TO PIPESTONE QUARRY. 


the two medicine rocks, where they remain to this day as 
guardian spirits of the place, and must be propitiated by any 
one wishing to obtain the Pipestone before it can be taken 
away.” : 

While tracing up to their original ledges in North-western 
Iowa and the adjacent parts of Dakota and Minnesota, the 
boulders of red quartzite profusely scattered in the drift of 
Western Iowa and Eastern N ebraska, I was led to visit this 
famous locality, and now propose to give a brief description 
of its real character and surroundings. But while correcting 
the fallacies of the Indian legends, no wish is entertained of 
diminishing popular interest in them, nor in the beautiful 
rendering of them by the poet; yet every naturalist, how- 
ever attractive legendary lore or poetic forms of expression 
may be to him, really desires to know the exact truth, even 
if it diminishes the pleasure he feels in the enchanting nar- 
rations of story or song. 

eaving Sioux City and going northward along the east 
side of the Big Sioux River, we soon pass the northern 
limit of the bluff formation, with the strange beauty of its 
smoothly rounded hills, described in a former number of the 
Natura.ist, and enter upon the broad prairie which con- 
tinues without interruption far to the eastward, still farther 
to the northward into. Minnesota, and farther still to the 
westward towards the Rocky Mountains. Rocks of Cre- 
taceous age are occasionally exposed in the bluffs of the 
river for a dozen miles above its mouth, but being friable, 
they are soon lost from sight beneath their own, debris and 
the heavy drift-mantle that everywhere covers the earth: 
and the only rocks we see in many miles of travel are occa- 
sional boulders of granite and red quartzite embedded in the 
deep, rich soil. Streams of considerable size traverse some 
portions of this wide region, but they are hardly able to 
arrest the fierce fires of the prairie which annually prevail, 
for they rush up to their very margins, and sometimes even 
leap the watery space aud carry on their work of destruction 





CE fee eee ee 





A TRIP TO PIPESTONE QUARRY. 647 


beyond. A few clumps of willows upon their margins, and 
a few groves upon the islands or in the bends of the streams, 
only escape destruction, and are the only objects remaining 
to give diversity to the landscape, except the bald bluffs bor- 
dering the larger streams. 

_A journey of eighty miles over such a country as this 
brings us to the north-western corner of the State of Iowa, 
where we first find ledges of the red quartzite in place, 
which we have traced as scattered boulders, step by step 
from the Missouri state line, more than two hundred miles 
away to the southward. 

Following up the Big Sioux from this point, we find the 
quartzite exposed at frequent intervals along the valley, and 
reaching Sioux Falls, twenty miles by way of the crooked 
river, but only ten miles in a direct line north-westward from 
the State corner, we find a magnificent exposure of the same 
rock extending across the river, and- causing a series of falls 
of sixty feet in aggregate height, within the distance of half 
a mile, which for romantic beauty are seldom surpassed. 

This quartzite is of a nearly uniform brick-red color, in- 
tensely hard, quite regularly bedded, the bedding surfaces 
sometimes showing ripple markings as distinct as any to be 
seen upon the sea-shore of the present day, and which were 
made in the same manner untold ages ago, when this hard 
rock was a mass of incoherent sand, the grains of which are 
even now distinctly visible. In a few localities it presents 
the characters of conglomerate, the pebbles being as clearly 
silicious as the grains of sand. At Sioux Falls, Fort Dakota 
is located. Those who have never enjoyed the hospitality 
of onr distant military posts, cannot appreciate the full 


. meaning of that. word as we did, in the welcome extended 
to our tired party, by Col. Wm. A. Olmstead, the Comman- 


dant, and Dr. J. Frazer Boughter, the Surgeon. 

After divers and sundry ablutions, rendered all the more 
necessary by many days of toil and travel upon the open 
prairie beneath a July sun, we prepare ourselves for a -day’s 





648 * A TRIP TO PIPESTONE QUARRY. 


rest under the protection of our newly found friends and our 
country’s flag. At Sioux Falls, near the top of the exposure, 
a layer of Pipestone occurs intercalated with the quartzite, 
which leads us to believe that the rock at the famous Quarry 
is the same, and we decide to visit it. After discussing the 
probabilities of there being roving parties of hostile Sioux in 
the vicinity, and the necessity for the presence of the good 
doctor in his hospital for a couple of days, it is finally agreed 
that he shall accompany us under the escort of an Indian 
guide given us by the Commandant. Our guide, we are 
assured, is “a pretty good Indian,” notwithstanding the fact 
that he was one of Little Crow’s band who were engaged 
in the massacres of New Ulm and Jackson, Minnesota—the 
recital of which, by the survivors, has made our hearts sick 
as we have listened to them, upon the scenes of the butcher- 
ies where the marks of their violence still remain—for is it 
not six years since all that happened? and did not the mis- 
sionaries labor faithfully with him during the two years of 
his imprisonment at Davenport for his crimes ? 

The morning rose clear and beautiful after a refreshing 
rain of the previous night, and off we go, “six precious 
souls,” including the reformed baby-killer, who rides before 
us on his pony with that posture and carriage peculiar to the 
Indian, his legs dangling upon each side as if every bone in 
them had been broken and had united by cartilaginous 
union, while we, the other five, seated in our camp wagon, 
follow upon the dim road or the’ tepe trail over the broad 
prairie, striving to keep in sight of our guide, who is some- 
times several miles ahead of us. Our course is about north 
north-east from the fort, and when we lose sight of the nar- 
row, interrupted belt of trees which skirts the Big Sioux, 
not another tree greets our vision in the whole journey of 
forty miles, save a single elm by the side of a small creek, 
where we halt to take our mid-day meal. Here our guide 
tells us we must gather a bundle of faggots from the willows 
of the brook, which last year’s fires had killed but not con- 





A TRIP TO PIPESTONE QUARRY. g 649 


sumed, or we shall have no camp-fire at the Pipestone, where 
` we must pass the night. 

On we go, after a hasty meal, for twenty miles of our 
journey is yet to be made, and we lose sight of the only tree 
we shall see until we return to the fort. There is nothing 
around us or beneath us but the gently undulating prairie 
with its dense growth of grass and, flowers, and nothing 
above us but the open sky. Twice or thrice we detect small 
exposures of the red quartzite in the depressions occupied 
by the small prairie streams, with their surfaces scored by 
the boulder-laden glaciers which moved over them long ago. 
Now and then a solitary boulder, fellows of those that scored 
the surfaces of the rocks in place, peers up out of the rich 
loamy soil. Now and then the whitening skull of a buffalo, 
or tbe huge cast-off antlers of an elk, partially hidden by 
the rank grass, arrests our attention, but these are familiar 
things, and we pass the time in conversation upon various 
topics until late in the afternoon, when our guide halts upon 
an ‘eminence before us. Upon coming up, he merely says 
“Pipestone” as he points forward, and there, three miles 
away in the distance, is the famous spot. 

We had not expected to see conspicuous features of the 
landscape anywhere in such a region as this, and yet we 
were somewhat disappointed to find that the narrow ledge 
of rocks in the broad shallow valley of a little prairie creek, 
lying entirely below the general prairie level, constitutes all 
there is of the Great Pipestone Quarry. As far as the eye 
can reach in every direction, no “mountain of the prairie,” 
no grove, no tree, no habitation, no living thing except a 
few birds, is in sight. From our maps and Government 
surveys, we know the spot is within the State of Minnesota, 
about thirty miles in a direct line from its south-western 
corner, and three or four miles from its western boundary. 
_ Approaching it, the exposure of rocks appears much greater 
than it did in the distance, when it looked like a mere line 

AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. I. 82 


650 A TRIP TO PIPESTONE QUARRY. 


of broken rocks in the open prairie, for our view then took 
in the whole region for many miles around it. 

The annexed diagram, although drawn merely from mem- 
ory and without linear measurements, will serve in some 
degree to give an idea of the relative positions of the princi- 
pal features of the locality. D E is intended to represent 
the principal exposure of rocks, which is about a mile in 
length from north to south, in both of which directions it 





Great Pipestone Quarry. 
becomes gradually lost from view beneath the surface of the 
prairie. It faces the west, and reaches its greatest perpen- 
dicular height, about twenty feet, at A, where “Gitche Man- 
ito, the mighty,” is supposed to have stood when he took his 
wonderful smoke, and where the brook falls over it into the 
plain below. All the rock we see is the red quartzite and a 
few granite boulders whose original home is still farther 
north, and we look some time in vain for the Pipestone, for 
our guide volunteers no information, and we have forgotten 
in our eagerness to ask him. But our cook calls to sup- 
per, and all of us satisfy our hunger, a different thing by 
the way for Mazachistina, alias John Baker, whose appetite 
seems as insatiate as that of a grist-mill. Having finished 
this delightful task, he becomes more communicative and 








A TRIP TO PIPESTONE QUARRY. 651 


goes to show us the Pipestone, which deposit of aboriginal 
treasure we find in the plain an eighth of a mile west of the 
principal exposure of the rock, occupying a shallow ditch 
(B) a quarter of a mile long, and running parallel with it. 
The Pipestone is in somewhat thin and usually shaly layers, 
and only from eight to twelve inches in aggregate thickness, 
and is the lowest layer found here. The red quartzite rests 
immediately upon it, and is four or five feet thick at the 
ditch, and must be removed to get the Pipestone. This has 
been accomplished with great labor by the Indians, for they 
do not even now use suitable implements to remove it. ` The 
ditch occupies about the middle of the space referred to as- 
the plain, and from it the ground rises gently both eastward 
and westward. To the westward the rise to the general 
prairie level is uninterrupted, and no more rock is seen in 
that direction. To: the eastward the gentle rise is inter- 
` rupted by the abrupt face of the quartzite ledges, between 
which and the ditch frequent exposures of the same rock are 
seen upon the nearly level surface. The actual height from 
the Pipestone in the bottom of the ditch, which is about the 
lowest point in the vicinity, to the top of the ledges at A, 
which point is just below the general level of the prairie, is 
only forty feet, but the dip of all the rocks to the eastward 
is such as to show an actual thickness of strata amounting to 
one hundred and fifty feet. This dip causes the top ledges 
to disappear rapidly to the eastward beneath the marshy 
surface, and they are seen no more in that direction. The 
“Medicine Rocks,” (C) towards the southern end of the 
_ plain, rest directly upon the glacier-smoothed surface of the 
quartzite. We see the distinct strie beneath and around 
them, and feel almost as if we had caught them in the very 
act of making their tracks, for they are granite strangers 
from the northward, and we have visited the place where 
they were born, and know them and their generation. The 
two. largest of these boulders are some twelve or fifteen feet 
in diameter, and are the ones believed by the Indians to 


652 A TRIP TO PIPESTONE QUARRY. 


cover the two squaws mentioned in the legend. Along the 
low and less abrupt portions of the ridge of rock, the sur- 
face has a glazed and sometimes even a polished appearance, 
which the legend refers to the effects of the fire through 
which the squaws passed beneath the Medicine Rocks, but 
being a geologist and not an Indian, I would suggest that it 
was produced by grains of sand carried by the almost con- 
stant winds, and taken up from the soil, which, although 
fertile, contains a perceptible quantity. 

Many square yards of the glacier-smoothed surface at 
the Medicine Rocks are covered thickly with Indian hiero- 
glyphics, made by pecking the hard surface with sharp- 
pointed stones. These are of various grotesque forms, 
intended to represent persons, animals of the region, tur- 
tles, and very many also in the form of the tracks of a large 
bird. It is getting dark, and we defer collecting specimens 
of Pipestone until morning, and repair to camp and to bed. 
But memories and passing incidents crowd so thickly upon. 
us that we cannot sleep. A summer storm is sweeping 
along to the northward of us. We see its dim flashes and 
hear its mutterings in the direction of the “Thunder’s nest.” . 
That thunder was surely not hatched there, but before dark- 
ness overtook us at the “nest”—which by the way is a 
scarcely perceptible rise of surface— we had found upon the 
bare rock two or three pairs of the eggs of that “small bird” 
mentioned in the legend. Itis the Night-hawk ( Chordeiles 
Henryi?). We smiled at the strange conceit that the hatch- 
ing of the eggs causes thunder, but we were, nevertheless, 
startled at the unearthly rumbling cry of the parent bird, as 
it swooped down over our heads while we were carrying its 
treasures away. 
morning comes and we ramble along the creek to re- 
plenish our wasting bundle of faggots. A few stunted Com- 
mon Willows (Salix longifolia?) grow along the banks, but 
no “Red Willow” (Cornus stolenifera), the bark of which, 
under the name of Kinnikinnick, is smoked by the Indians 











A TRIP TO PIPESTONE QUARRY. 653 


in the place of tobacco, grows here. The Reed-grass 
(Phragmites communis) grows in all wet places here, as 
well as throughout the north-west, but it is seldom if ever 
used by the Indians for their pipestems. They commonly use 
a strong piece of young ash wood, from which they punch 
the pith to make the bore. 

The form and size of the pipes made by the Indians re- 
quires so large a piece of stone, that we have no difficulty 
in obtaining all the specimens we desire from the rejected 
pieces strewn upon the ground. Our specimens packed in 
the wagon, and our camp broken up, we start on our return 
to the fort by the tepe trail shown in the diagram. Maza- 
chistina mounts at the same time, but starts off towards the 
Medicine Rocks, around which he makes a rapid turn and 
overtakes us upon the road. He is utterly silent when we 
ask him why he went there, but we should doubtless be 
thankful that we got away with our Pipestone in safety 
from the wrath of the guardian spirits of the Medicine 
rocks. 

But some one asks, “ What is this Pipestone, and what is 
its composition?” It is chemically a clay (silicate of alumina) 
colored brick-red with per-oxide of iron. It is too heavy 
for pipes for white men, and is valued by them almost en- 
tirely for its legendary interest. It is heavier, harder, and 
in every respect inferior to meerschaum,—silicate of mag- 
nesia,—yet the purer specimens may be worked without 
much difficulty with a common saw, file, or knife, and readily 
takes and retains a considerable polish. Geologically it is 
metamorphic clay, as the quartzite is metamorphic sand- 
stone. It was originally a layer of clay intercalated between 
layers of sandstone, and the same metamorphic action that 
changed the latter to a quartzite, also converted the clay into 
Pipestone. 


REVIEWS. 


COMPARATIVE ANATOMY AND MEDICAL Zo6LoGy.*— As its title pur- 
ports, so do we find its contents. The ‘‘Outlines” are carefully drawn 
and well filled oN, and the student of comparative anatomy will find it 
a hand-book t will be convenient at all times. It is gratifying to 
find so Seaan view of classification as the author here presents. 
He seems to je: i fully the various subdivisions among animals, 
though we disagree with him in his adopting Leuckart’s class Cælenterata. 
It seems to us that Agassiz has never made a clearer point than in his 
A h e of the class value of Polyps and Acalephs, and he (Agas- 
siz) excuses the readiness with which German naturalists acquiesce in 

uckart ingi N 


Teeth, Digestive System, etc., he passes in each case from the lowest to 
the highest animals, mentioning briefly the characters under rani 
possessed by both. us, for example, under Kidneys, we have: ‘* Myri- 
apoda, —Kidney composed of long convoluted tubes,” etc. « Arachnida, 
several coeca empty into intestinal canal,” etc. 

In a work of this character requiring the collation of. so many facts, it 
would not be surprising to find a few mistakes or oversights, and we 


tected. A nervous ganglion has Pte recognized by Fritz Miiller among 
ri i 


has quite conclusively shown, we think, that in the minute nerve termini, 
at the extremity of the upper tentacles of land inoperculate pulmonates 
is seated the sense of smell. It is stated also (evidently a slip of the pen) 
` that fresh-water snails carry their eyes at the tip of the tentacles, whereas 
it is just the reverse, and that marine species carry their eyes at the outer 
base of the tentacles; this is true with several important exceptions. The 


is dimeult to distinguish them apart, but that the presence of the vibrat- 
ing otolites will afford a distinction. Would not another reason be found 
in the external position of one, and the internal position of the other? 





*Outlines of Comparative Anatomy and Medical Zoöl Tein A 
M.D. J. B Lippincott & Co. 19. pp. 190, Svo. a 
) 


REVIEWS. 655 


At the end of the book there is a table of clagaiication, including three 
hundred and eight genera mentioned in the pages. is number does not 
include several names inadvertently tabulated with them, which apply 
only to the larval condition of animals. We say sig at Since the 
matter is correctly givey in the preceding page Ve again cordially 
commend this book as one possessing a vast sae of matter, concisely 
Stated, and clearly arranged, and when one considers the unusually large 
Space allotted to the invertebrate animals, remarkably free from errors. 

ENTOMOLOGIST’Ss ANNUAL FOR 1868.—It is proposed, sea sufficient 


encouragement be given, to publish a Year Book of Progress in American 
Entomology, to be edited by Dr. A. S. Packard, jr. Dr. J. i Le Conte will 
contribute a chapter on the Coleoptera; Mr. S cudder chapters on 


the Butterflies and Orthoptera; Baron R. Osten Sacken a chapter.on the 
Diptera; Mr, P. R. Uhler a chapter on the Hemipteraand Neuroptera; and 
the Editor expects to receive aid from other entomologists. It is hoped 
it will prove a useful hand-book to every one interested in the study of in- 


su nu a 
publishing such a useful book be afforded at the outset? Subscriptions, 
seventy-five cents a copy, aa by W. S. West, Peabody Academy of 
Science, Salem, Mass. 

Wil our scientific and secular exchanges please copy this prospectus, 
and urge their readers tu encourage the undertaking? 


VOYAGE THROUGH THE GRAND CANON OF COLORADO. — Àn extract 


J. D. Parry, President of the Eastern Division of the Union Pacific Rail- 
road, giving a detailed account of the EAN voyage of James 
White of Callville, through the Grand Cañon. It seems that a party of 
as one, was attacked by mare on the banks of 
Grand River. Two of them escaped, built a raft and embarked upon it, 


miles beyond they passed the mouth of Green River, and were in 
Colorado proper. Henceforth their way lay through oa sullen and 
hitherto untraversed depths of the Grand Cañon, whose precipices gradu- 


d 
These swept off Henry Strole, and all the PrO TINADI SP White 
pursue the voyage alone. One A aan and eighty miles farther on z 
passed the mouth of the Colorado Chiqu 
a series of “fearful” rapids, from which re escape upon a raft 
ing every moment to come to pieces, was hardly less than miraculous. 


656 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


From this place to Callville, Mr. Parry estimates the distance at three 
iles. Th 


The Segoe discoveries consist in the approximate estimates of 
length of the river, made upon the supposed rate of the flow of the cur- - 
rent. ieg as have been given, make the oo parts of the Colo- 
rado proper, about tive hundred miles long, following the winding of the 
bed, which is “ very crooked.” The location of the dod of the San Juan, 
Čolořtdo Chiquito, and his general description of the character of the 
sides of the Cañon are also valuable. These are described as “flaring” 


ry 
low that supposed by Ives and Newberry to be the average depth of 
the chasm. If this is so, the bed of the stream must rise rapidly above 
the point at which it was approached by the Ives expedition, a at that 
place they made it out with the aid of their instruments to be 5,000 feet. 
It is not generally known that Dr. Newberry has been upon a iene ex- 
` pedition to this remarkable region, and that the results, though written 
out before the war, still lay unpublished at Washington. When the re- 
port of this expedition is published we may hope for more accurate infor- 

mation. i 


CHEMICAL News.—The American publishers of the Chemical News 
propose to add to the English edition a Supplement, containing Notices 
of the current Progress of Chemistry and the Physical Sciences in Amer- 
S N otices sas New Books, Review of the Markets, Movements in Trade, 

eature was inaugurated in the ig eon issue, and is 
= the ar a charge of Professor Charles A. Seel 

INSECT EXTINGUISHER. —Mingled with sane eae irrelevant matter, 
this little pamphlet contains some useful hints on the means of extermi- 
nating insects, which will be well worth its price (12 ets.) to — 
rists. Address J. Treat, Vineland, N. J. 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


BOTANY. 

Ware Va LOWERS.—In the Naruratist for June Mr. 
Broadhead mentions hating seen Lobelia syphilitica and Vernonia Novebo- 
racensis with white flowers. Of the same species of Lobelia I saw sev- 
eral white flowered specimens last September, near Rock Lake, in Jeffer- 
son County, Wisconsin. I have also observed the white flowered variety 
of Vernonia Noveboracensis in Pratt County, Illinois, during the past sea- 
son. I can ad to the list of floral albinos, already brought to notice in 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 657 


the NATURALIST, the following, which I believe have not been mentioned 
by any writer, viz.: Viola cucullata, Viola sagittata, Phlox pilosa, and 
Gerardia aspera. All these have fallen under my observation in Southern 
Wisconsin during the past eight years. I observe also that in all of these 
plants the foliage is paler in the white flowered specimens. For example: 
Gerardia aspera has, in Wisconsin, almost always a purple stem and pur- 
plish foliage, but in the albino specimens, of which I have seen at least 
half a dozen, the stem and leaves were a very light green. 

n the November number Mr. Meehan mentions a Saxifraga as growing 
wild aa double flowers, and enquires, “Has any other double flower 
been found?” I reply that some six years since a rue anemone (Anemone 
Piatra grew in a wood pasture near Albion, Wisconsin, with 

ctly double. After being transplanted to my mother’s flower 
seis ies never flowered again, and finally disappeared. I also took a 
specimen of Helianthus giganteus, in October of the last year, from its 
native prairie soil, in Pratt County, Illinois, with all the flowers ligulate 
in the manner of the so-called double flowers of the florists of this natural 
order. — EDWARD L. GREENE, Decatur, IU 


More Wuire Varreties.—The past season appears to have been unusu- 


_ally prolific in white flowers. In north-eastern Minnesota (shore of Lake 


less, and the corolla was pure white with a few fai othe ow orgies It 
grew in abundance on damp rocks, in close mity to the common 
form. I had observed previously the Eri h grr rm L., with 
white rays, which are usually of purple or flesh color. A friend informs 
me he has found this year, with white flowers, Spirea tomentosa L., Cir- 

sium arvense Scop., Trifolium pratense L., Statice limonium L., and Gen- 


: many saponaria var. linearis Gr. We have had reported also Cypripedium 


they may kindly inform us. T furnish conclusive testimony that 
certain seasons are remarkable in this way, and that that of 1868 was one 
of "Beg 


the Lobelia cardinalis L., and L. syphilitica L., having been not 
unfrequentiy found with white flowers, and a white variety of the Z. Kal- 
ii L. being now added to the group, it would appear that the genus is 
inclined to produce white varieties. Some plants have undoubtedly a 
peculiar inclination to this. I would add that, several years ago, I saw 


. 


value, — HENRY GILLMAN, , Michigan. 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. I. 83 


s all t 
such deep interest, ie anything which casts 5 light on it is of spe 
G 





658 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


BID: FRONDOSA. —The common Beggar-ticks are classifled by the 
tuaren botanical ETEEN as rayless, but Asa Gray (Manual, 2d. Ed., page 
222) says, Dr. Sartwell has found it in western New York with one or two 


small rays ave observed rays on this plant for several years. For the 
last two summe ave observed it more closely, and never found one 
lant without rays. The full number of rays are not always seen, but 


wi 
frequently the full number a ae rays are present. The ray is small 
and very caducous. To be seen, the head must be watched every apn as it 
is opening, for the beautiful ittie ray only remains a day or two after its 
appearance. This plant is very abundant here. I have observed rays on 


convinced that it does not exist in this region without rays. It grows 
very luxuriantly here, often seven or eight feet high; but whether one or 
eight feet high, it makes no difference. The rays can always be found by 
oe eas ox 

the continual presence of the ray in this region, I am inclined to 
ees that ther something different in its development here, com- 
pared with the B. ake L. at the East, for if the rays were present so 
frequently at the East, the several masters of this science there could not 
have failed to observe it. And therefore as the ray is not found at the East, 


botanist wishes to cultivate it, and thus try the effect of climate on it, h 
can have seed by applying to me soon. — Henry y Sumer, Mt. Carroll, I i. 


ENS FRONDOSA — The earliest heads of flowers of Bidens frondosa 


of the Scolopendrium officinarum, etc., I can furnish them, as I have about 
one hundred and twenty-five specimens on hand I would like to exchange 
for other plants, POSA southern ones. This fern grows in great 
abundance aroun: n Lake and vicinity, in this county. — SAMUEL N 
C isco, A tA County, N. Y. 


RMAL FORM OF THE SENSITIVE FERN.—I found growing near 





would seem to be intermediate between the true form of Onoclea sensi- 
bilis, and the var. obtusilobata. It ce rtainly is analogous to the latter, 
though presenting a perhen union of both. Professor Gray, in the 

Manual” states that some such form of Struthiopteris has been found, 
but whether such a state in this fern is often found, I am uncertain. 


NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 659 


Plants agreeing well with the var. obtusilobata were found growing near 
this one, and from the same rootstock of the common species. — CLAUD 
CRITTENDEN, Rochester, N. Y. 





ZOOLOGY. 

HER BIRD AND MorTTLED OwL.—In Volume II, No. 7, page 
380, ne MRON is asked by Dr. Wood, if the Collyrio borealis has been 
known to return to animals which it has killed and empaled, or hung 
upon trees. Only one instance has come under my notice, and that was 
some years since, in the latter part of November. A Butcher bird re- 
turned to a pear tree upon which grasshoppers had been empaled and 
devoured them, though they had remained there some weeks and had be- 
come dry. I should like to ask any person who is acquainted with the 
habits of the Shrike if they kill and empale animals at all seasons of the 

year, or only two or three months preceding winter. 
There is something singular with regard to the vision re the Mottled 
Owl, which the Doctor notices in an article on the Mottled Owl, in 


n 
seemed to be a part of a bird protruding from a limb of the tree, and in 
climbing up to the spot, I found a male pa Owl, with his head and 
shoulders thrust into a small cavity in the limb. I took him out and 
perched him upon my finger, where he stood wE some titis: I put my 
hand upon his back and smoothed down his feathers, when he would turn 
his head and look me full in the face and snap his bill. I stretched out 
his wings and handled him other ways. At last he flew in a direct line for 
an apple tree, standing about eight rods distant, a entered a hole in a 
rotten branch of the tree as readily as if it had b in the night-time. 
This occurred when the sun was shining Faaali at about noon. — 
AUGUSTUS FOWLER, Danvers, 3 

SHEDDING OF THE HORNS OF THE AMERICAN ANTELOPE (Antilocapra 


year old, and shed about three quarters of an inch, and as I kept him well, 
and castrated him in August (to keep him from leaving), he shed about 


ASEN nš 1 by th Instituti , Washington, D.C. — 











660 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


two inches or more. They shed their horns about the first of January. 
They are very easily tamed so as to stand touching by one, but dislike to 

rubbed on the back, their hair being so very brittle. They are fond of 
milk, bread, corn, etc., at any age. Unless they do without milk for a 
while when about a year old, they will not drink it. They also like a little 
salt at a time, sugar, candy, etc. I never found but one antelope horn shed 
on the plains, or heard of any being found (I have made many enquiries 
about it), and the one I found was partly eaten up Ged the wolves.—W. M. 
inet Fort Laramie. 


E WOODPECKER AND SHELDRAKE.—The Downy Woodpecker fre- 
ae spreads it wings against the bark to maintain its hold; the stiff 
quills performing the same office as the tail. It goes up the tree, along 
the horizontal branches, around the limb sidewise, then a short distance 
down the trunk, tail first, and lodges itself in the crotches to hammer. 
It strikes many deft little side blows, ceases work and clings some res 
as if to rest, with loose plumage, picking its breast and looking abou 
Last spring when the Dusky Ducks were migrating, I noticed one mo 
ing a large flock separating, in the course of their flight, into Re 
pairs. Soon uniting again, it is probable they were seeking their partners 
ie ST, ma r 
or even before the river has begun to open in spring, 
a Ea hat their appearance, early in the morning, but seldom 
ore sunrise; they fly from the sea, where they probably roost, up the 
stream. So metimes they file along one after the other; more often they 
proceed in no irae order. When they we bound a long distance up 


ween dusk and the daylight. On their.return down stream, often in 


pairs or singly, or small parties, they fly close to the surface of the ice or 
water, and very swiftly. 


ht, scale low over the w , thro their webbed feet and stop 
with a splash. They look handsomely, their necks deeply curved, the 
male with such strong contrasts of blac d white. They croak and 


to look closely; sili a circuit and sade close to the ice, they rose 
again, an old male = Soaking, saying plainly to my ears, “we can’t get in 


NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. - 661 


here.” They swim about strongly, almost as if drawn by some powerful 
electrical attraction, and on com ing to the surface after a dive, the head 
and neck are o 


are taken. I have seen the Sheldrake standing on a ledge; its figure was 
awkward, but it did not stand as erect as some other birds whose legs 
are placed far behind. A little flock is sometimes seen in spring resting 
in a cove or inlet of the sea; some quite at their ease, other: s swimming 
about in that strong way we have alluded to, with necks outstretched. 

The Sheldrakes seen on the breaking up of the rivers are as nothing 
compared to the quantity that follow along the shore a little later, when 
they come in flocks, from twelve to twenty, and even seventy-tive; some- 
times flying steadily, two or three deep, above the reach of shot, passing 

n 


such turn before lost to vision, and come back again, as ‘if conscious they 
were wrong. They frequently fly close to the water, as if to vary their 
journey, their wings evidently being strong enough to allow considerable 
freedom of will; but they rise from the surface of the water to a gunshot 
distance when they go over the headlands. If they see a person in the 
course of their flight, they swerve widely, but often a lone one will, with- 
out perturbation, go straight over the fowler. I noticed that most of the 


ate sp s 
Pei ducks” and “spring sheldrake” are common terms at the shore, 
—everybody knows them. The white on the wings of these birds is no- 
itia when they are not high, and the dark line on the neck of the male 
can easily be seen àt a gunshot distance, when he is below the eye. They 
metimes scale to the water from a height, holding the wings stif and a 
ite inclined down. They are never as tranquil on the water as the coot, 
and I could never discover much in their gizzards early in the season, even 
of those which had been actively engaged. They sometimes swim in close 
to the shore, immerse their heads and eels and persistently punch and 
glean among the pebbles and weeds. The Sheldrake’s tail seems to be more 
a part of the body than do the tails of other eiaa birds, the feathers of the 
back appearing to descend to the very tip t; perhaps it can be used 
somewhat as a rudder when under water. The amka is known as a hand- 
some bird, his pure white neck remaining in our memory after being seen 
once. Its ruddy breast is flecked with artistic niceness; and its sides and 


662 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 
back are finely marked. There is awe much character i in his crest. The 


ë d; 
white throat, soft’: leaden back and white under parts. The bill of the 
female is shorter than that of the male. 

The Sheldrake, swimming by the edge of the ice, with the cold snowy 
bank for a background, is as hardy a picture as New En ngland can furnish. 
It is a stirring sight in spring, on a bright breezy day, to see the male, a 

crimson-eyed beauty, feeling fresh in spirits and in costume, going over 
the ipren ae only of the fête in the north. — Wm. E. Barry, Kenne- 
bunk, Me 


THE DWARF THRUSH aGAIN.—I wish to rectify a mistake made 
reference to a notice of the Turdus nanus being found in me ve 
by Mr. Samuels, in the June number of the NATURALIST. By some acci- 
dent, the description given by him at that time was not correct, aa did 
not gi o the bird in question. I have, since that time, had two similar 
birds in my possession, both females; the first was shot May 25th, 1868, 


h 
not consider anything more than a mark of immaturity, as it is to be 
found on the wings of all young SAR Taking this and other marks 
of immaturity into consideration, as they are exhibited by the specimens 
in question, I have decided them all to be young of T. Swainsonit. 


would say that, having made a long series of careful measurements upon 


about the head and across Ta breast. By this it will be seen that large 
birds are sometimes bright in color, and small birds pale. I have also 
‘Specimens that. compare exactly, both in size and color, with the de- 








; fn is Ain: it just to say, ', however, that both Mr. Samuels and myself, at that time, thought ves 





> being D 


senian “Mr. S: ls has since i F hits donde PSR 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 663 


scription of T. Alicie and Swainsonii. There is also very nearly as wide 
varieties in specimens of T. Pallasii which I have collected. 
Without more evidence than is exhibited in the variations in size and 
intensity of color, in birds so variable in these particulars as I know the 
hrush to be, it seems to me that extreme caution should be used in de- 
ciding upon species. —C. J. MAYNARD. 


HABITS or Snives.— In a recent number of the Naturatist, you ask if 
any of your readers have seen the snipe (Scolopax Wiilsonii) alight in trees. 
I have noticed this in connection with another peculiarity, that of drum- 
ming,” as generally called late in the spring when shooting these beau- 
tiful little waders. Sometimes, at the report of a gun, a score or more 
would rise in a wisp, and after drumming awhile alight again. It has been 
at these times that I have seen them sitting on trees and old stumps, but 
more frequently on the common worm-fence; they perch, however, but a 
few moments before they are drumming again. On the northern shore 
of Lake Superior they have been seen, in fact are seen almost every 


upon reaching land, alight on the trees in flocks, and rest for a consider- 
able length of time; and although it has no connection with the subject, I 
would like to have it explained to me how it is that quite often in spring 
shooting, you find upon drawing your birds that in a day or two at most 
they would have laid an egg, and they are at least 1,500 miles from their 
breeding places, and have their nests to make after getting there, which 
would take altogether two or three days. I do not think it can be ex- 
plained by saying they may breed south of the British American breeding- 
places; for in some seasons, like last spring, you will find three out of 
five in that condition. 

Have any of your readers ever seen the Woodcock, Scolopax minor, 
perch on a tree or shrub? I saw one once that was unhurt, and another 
that was badly wounded. The first got entangled in the leaves and stems 
of a small bush, and perched on a small limb, and sat there four or five 
minutes. As I was not more than ten feet from him, I had a good oppor- 
tunity to study him. The other was wounded late one evening and lost, 
and the next morning found perched in a bush, where he had remained all 
night, as proven by the signs underneath the twig on which he sat. He 
was unable to fly, which may account for it; but the other bird was an 
old bird, and had not been injured in — way.— Wm. W. CASTLE, Cleve- 
land, Ohio. 

TUE SEVENTEEN-YEAR Locust.—As it is stated in the NATURALIST 
that the eggs of the Seventeen-year Locust hatch out, and the larve leave 
the twigs to go into the ground i in a few weeks from the time of deposit, 
I may mention that, since ‘the twenty-eighth of July, I have kept in my 
study a number of twigs stung by the locust, for observation. No larve 
have yet appeared. Breaking one of the twigs a few minutes ago at the 

w of deposit, I found in it a number of the eggs, one-thirteenth of 
an inch long, and quite translucent under a pocket lens. The twigs have 


664 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


been kept under a bell-glass, open at the top. The sun has had but limi- 
ted access to my study in which they are. Can this explain their non- 
gf Teg EO arcana seipetapiie College, Phila., Oct. 17 

ere by no means sure that the eggs of the Cicada hatch in about 
wo at but from the r of observers, it seemed to us more 
probable at the time of writing the notes in the August number of the 


or fifty days after, as stated by one author. In avery interesting article in 
the ‘‘American Entomologist” for December, page 66, Mr. Riley states that 
the at hatch in about six weeks after being deposited. — Eps. ] 

REASON OR INsTINcT.—Some years since when a great freshet had 
cde the country at the summit of the Illinois and Michigan canal, a 
boatman observed an Opossum sitting on the top of a fence, partof which 
projected a foot above the surrounding waters. He took her off, and 
found in the sack fourteen young ones half-grown. She was so nearly 


f: 

ously whatever was put before her, and soon became quite domesticated. 
he could easily have saved herself by swimming ashore, but evidently 

appreciated that it would be at the loss of her family. — J. S. CAT 

ag THE Crow A BIRD or Prey?—A communication, in the NATURAL- 

T for November, from Mr. Nauman, relates the pouncing down upon & 
oe (a la hawk) and the carrying it off by a crow; and the enquiry is 
made whether this is a common practice with this bird. I suppose it is 
not very common, but in the month of May or June of this year, I saw a 
crow dash down upon a brood of young chickens, about sixty yards from 

my house, and carry one of them off, and in a second attempt a few days 
afterward, the quasi bird of prey failed to secure its prize. A member of 
my family witnessed a third instance, on which occasion the prey was 
carried off. 

The fowls in the early part of the season appeared to look for no harm 
from those birds, but later they came to understand the danger, and uni- 
formly fled to the shelter of the buildings, with cries of alarm upon the 
approach of crows, in the same way as it is their habit to do from hawks. 
—Joun H. BARTHOLF, M. D., Camp Grant, near Richmond, Va 

ALBINO DEER AND CHIPMUNK. — Dr. Morgan, at Grand Rapids, Mich., 
has in his possession the skin and feet of the Common Deer (Cervus Vir- 
— which was of an uniform pure white, with white eyes and black 

00 


sent among the hunters left unmolested, with the intention to await a 
heavy snow, and then run it down and capture it alive. But the dogs did 
not coincide in this arrangement, and one day were found chasing it, and 
as it n an exhausted condition near a traveller, he caught it and 
cut its throat, and skinned it, so that the above trophies were all that ` 

could be obtained. 
At Centerville, Mich., there is in the possession of a gentleman a com- 





NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 665 


mon Chipmunk (Tamias striatus), which is of an immaculate white, with a 


_ pinkish skin and bright red eyes. There is not a spot or shade of any 


color except the white, and no trace of any markings whatever. This 
ima 


serious injury was inflicted, and it is now kept in a cage, and is a very 
lively as well as remarkable and interesting pet.—D. DARWIN HUGHES, 
Marshall, Mich. 

3 ARGONAUT AND VITALITY OF SNAILS Ea@Gas.—Mr. John Ford en- 
deavored to show the discrepancies in regard to the mode of generation 


weris uli 
hemastoma, with the eggs and young shell, mg remarked that ‘‘the speci- 
mens belong to Dr. Samuel Lewis,a member of the section.” The shell 
and eggs were received about three years mo from Barbadoes. <A few 
months ago, on examining his cabinet, the doctor foiri that two of 
the shells had hatched. It is quite curious to speculate upon the circum- 
stances which have occurred to develop these young shells. The tenacity 


of the eggs of Limar Columbianus, wags had hatched after being con- 
fined in his cabinet at least three years. — ad ha s the Conchological 
Section of the Academy K Natural Sciences, Philadelp 

Y SILK -WEED POLLEN. pae I hand you a 


with their articulate stems, that can be seen by the naked eye. I presume 

its death was caused by starvation alone, its entanglement causing all its 

efforts to be directed to freeing itself, but without avail. I presume I 

pulled off one-half of the disks that were upon it at first, before I thought 

of saving it for microscopic examination. Mr. Langstroth speaks of 

bees becoming eae in the silk-weed blossoms. This may be a case, 
Bic 


bees tretguoniding the flowers. They are figured and fully described in the 
Naruraist, Vol. I, p. 105, and the “Guide to the Study of Insects,” 
p. 165. We have never before heard of an insect actually loosing its life 
from this cause, and the case is a very interesting one.— Eps. ] 

Luminous Larv=.—On p. 432 of the at fig. 4, is figured a 


luminous larva, atio is not referred to any genus and species. I suppose 


it is the larva of one of the species of poise | Cillateride), of which I 
d bed two or three, and figured one, in the Proceedings of the Ento- 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. I. 84. 





666 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


mological Society of Philadelphia, 1862. Compare especially what I say 
about the smaller larva which I had at that time, and which was found by 
Mr. Haldeman. Compare also the supplement to my article, confirming the 


‘ange short supplement is to be found in the report of the sta 
f the Society, held April 10, 1865. I thought that this Hert might 
be u to you, and draw your attention to those remarkable, 
FRA, ooet larvæ, which, until very recently, have ay escaped 
attention. — R. OSTEN SACKEN, New York. 
ILS INJURIOUS TO THE STRAWBERRY. — Herewith I send you some 
paes of the Pupilla varias of Say. There is nothing remarkable 
about the shells themselves, but I wish them to bear testimony to an 


this I do not know that the little mollusks now arraigned have ever 
been suspected as garden depredators. Mr. and Mrs. Chappellsmith of 
our town, both students of nature, and intelligent observers, found thei 


piiaorperey plants ‘dying rapidly, and on searching for the cause discov- 

ered these mollusks at work upon the stems and crowns of the pee 

rasping off the outer coating, and sucking their ied in such a manner 
M 


as em POU: many as forty upon on 
plant, and thinks they have killea several thousands ie the different 
ds. more abundant on the st: , he has found them ona 


variety of plants. Since attention has been called to the depredations of 
these minute mollusks, they have been found at work upon the straw- 
berry plants in all the gardens examined. For a number of years I have 
noticed me alternata Say, in our gardens, and they are becoming more 
an undant; but we have never detected them in doing any mis- 
chief. —E. T: Cox, New Harmony 


RAVAGES OF THE ALYPIA OCTOMACULATA.— That a man should sopa 
to raise his own Isabellas is nasabia and praiseworthy; and I see 
Feason vis such desire should exist exclusively in the breasts of our 


> 
m Sixteenth street, northward. A friend of mine residin Thirty- 
fo street, showed me, in March last, a very fine vine, which he calcu- 
lated would produce him sundry pounds of ve the 


in 
pride of his heart he invited me to “call along” occasionally, ana. feast 
my eyes on the „a Spree of the incipient bunc Thinkin, 

that August would be a good month for m my visit, I iain along,” PEN 
dering in my mind wheter my rea would, when the time of ripe grapes 
came, desire me to _— myself out of his abundance; or whether he in- 


. 


NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 667 


tended to surprise me with a little basket full of nice bunches, garnished 

with crisp green leaves. The first glance at the grape-vine banished all 

doubts on this point. There were an abundance of bunches on the vine, in 

a rather immature condition of course, but of foliage there was not a trace. 

Of “course I expressed my surprise, though, for certain reasons, I felt 
s 


ornament, and use, which produced no foliage. He rebuked my igno- 
rance pretty sharply, and told me that a few weeks before the tree was 
covered with leaves; but, for some inexplicable reason, they had all dis- 
appeared — eaten, he guessed, by something. e guessed right. There 
were at least a hundred of the larva of A. octomaculata, the rear guard of a 
mighty host, wandering about the branches, apparently for the purpose of 
making sure that no little particle of a leaf was left undevoured. Pretty 
little things they were, with harmoniously blended colors of black, yellow 
and blue, snes so apai ae ane. I had the curiosity to walk through 

all the stre to the of Third avenue, as low as Twenty-Third 

street, waa ev nk vine was in the same predicament. If grape-leaves, 
instead of fig-leaves, had been in request for making aprons, and our 
Alypia had been in existence at the time, I doubt if in the whole of the 
Garden of Eden enough material would have been found to make a gar- 
ment of decent size. The destruction of the crop for 1868 was complete 


disaster, and when I explained that it was the caterpillar of a beautiful 
little black moth, with eight whitish yellow spots on its wings, which had 
eaten up the foliage, my assertion was received with such a smile of 
incredulity, as convinced me that*there is no use in trying to humbug 
- such very sharp fellows as are the New York grape growers. 

It is a little remarkable, however, that the destruction was confined to 
the eastern part of the city. I saw several luxuriant vines on the western 
side; and across the river at Hoboken, and at Hudson City, not a trace 
of A. octomaculata was discernible. 

The insect, then, is very local in its habjts, and it is a day-flier; and, 

m these facts, I infer that its ravages may be very materially checked 
A sale poisoned molasses, exposed in the neighborhood of the vine, 
Te operate on the perinet insect; while * good syringing, with soft 


oie some one to try these remedies, and if their rener for my good 


objection to receiving a few bunches of their first — grapes, if such a 
step T afford them any relief. — W. V. ANDREW 
Tur BLUE-BIRD.—I see that Dr. T. W. Brewer, in his article in the 
Atlantic Almanac for 1868, on the ‘ Song-birds of North sce speaks 
of the Blue-bird as having made its appearance in Massachusetts once as 
early as the 15th of February. I have met them once on pe Cape earlier 





668 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


than that. On the 2d of February, 1867, one of the males was twittering 
about the orchard where we then lived, at East Falmouth, on the shore 
of Vineyard Sound. A few days after I received a letter from a friend at 
Sandwich, stating that he saw several of them during the last week of 
January. As he did not give me ee day of the month, I cannot give it, 
but of my date, the 2d of February, I am positive, as I took a note of it 
at the time. As Sandwich is ad miles to the north of East Falmouth, 
the fact of their being seen there the soonest is quite interesting. In 
1866, they appeared March 4th at East Falmouth, and in 1868, not until 
March llith. In 1867 we had very severe weather after their early ap- 
pearance, but they remained.— W. C. Fisu. 


A VIVIPAROUS ECHINODERM.— Dr. Edward Grube describes an Echi- 


n 
added a viviparous form ` Echinoderm, such as was previously are 
in some Nemertian worms. We have yet to discover among the Echino- 
derms the various mo mes ations of asexual reproduction, by pseudova, 
fission, or true parthenogenesis; the first two of which methods (espec- 
ially fission) are so well known among worms.— Quarterly Journal of 
Science, London. 





PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 


oe 


NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, LETTERS AND ART. On the evening 
of Dec. 29, 1868, a large number of the members of the National Insti- 
tute, as well as those interested in the work, met in New York City to 
organize two of the Academies, 7. e., that of the Natural Sciences, and 
that of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences, into which the Institute 
is divided. We should mention that after several preliminary meetings, & 
Vnesi was drafted, and on May 29th a copy of it, with the follow- 
rcular, was sent to the leading scholars of the country : 
lack of any means of easy intercourse and free Communication, and conie 





etters, artists, and ‘scientific men in the United States. They constantly find them- 
of this lack by their weakness as a class, because although a class 


CORRESPONDENCE, 669 
bas ey are pe a ese ith a recognized organi Scattered over a wide expanse of 
ountry, th fi this disp a his want, no less ET than physically 
reii nem is no authority other than the temporary and shifting, although in 
some = aici one, of public ae by which ne) ibis may be passed 
wv tribun their peers or of those of se own elass to whose experience 
in poirot nt ‘he saber willingly pean representative council, the stamp of 
whose approval wou be acknowledged by the os as we. he ud themselves. From 
the lack of a a centre of ae om of communication, and o bined action, ee 
and with them the cause of truth and knowledge, and ae zie Re veithine, suffer. In 
oa therefore, of compas ms pins objects, we propose to establish a National oe 
s, Art and Sci » Ripon à p pa outlined in a Constitution accompany- 
ing sayarip pot We ask aes sothaamatiens 
After several meetings a Constitution was finally adopted founded on 
that of the French Institute, but adapted to the genius of our country. 








cers of the Academy of Natural Sciences were elected: For President, 
Josera Lery, M. D.; for Vice President, Joun S. Newperry, M. D.; 
for Secretary, Čika A. Joy, Ph. D.; for Treasurer, J. Ca sok 
Brevoort, M. A. For members of the Goalie: JEFFRIES WYMAN, M. D., 
and Sensi F. BAIRD 

If, as it promises to fo the National Institute will bind together and 
thus pacientes ‘guide and control the army of workers in letters, science 
and art, a new era has dawned for the development of knowledge and its 
practical results in America. The National slat certainly embraces 
the best talent and learning in the land; it only n in addition, as has 
been remarked, an endowment of at least a bios ye dollars with which 
to begin its operations. At the outset it should place its officers on sala- 
es that their time may be devoted entirely to its service; should aid 

quirers in making Semone reniy have the means of publishing its 
transactions and proceedings o scale worthy of its liberal organiza- 
tion; and as its local Suet is in the city of New York, to the monied 
men of that great and wealthy city must it look for the moral and pe- 
cuniary support necessary for its life and final success. Such a Na- 


place to place in the summer holidays, and we know of no other organi- 
zation which would so fully meet the wants of the people. 


—1 


ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


J. F. A., Salem.—Th panoe of plants in sleepi ng rooms, is a thing to be a 
for several reasons. First, oia aves of chon plants, during the hours of daylight 
constantly absorb a large ae unt of carbonic acid from the air; and this, by the action 
of the light, is decomposed; and the carbon cake to feed the plant, while the oxygen is 
ed en light is this ss sore and carbonic acid rem. 
i mposed within th e leaf-tissues is liable to escape n; thus to some extent 
vitiating the atmosphere. Thi s Ís not a great miter crore and ind nts in I 
ot chargeable with much of this ki hief. But plants in flower exhale 
carbonic acid freely at all times; for in all the proc nected with fertilization 
d cone , the starch ye sugar found before in the tissues bei d 
, part going to ish the new products deposited in the seed, and part 





670 BOOKS RECEIVED. 


bie fon ae very iene 
or these reasons it is understood at present that though plants n Teg eaf only may be 
tolerated i a aloa eeping rooms, Bhs they had better ae be kept there, ania no Bese should 
y time.—C. M. TRA 


FW. Say is oe ids, Mich. —The only work on American Spiders, is a series of 

illustrated papers, by - Hentz, in i sca bowel 1-6) and Proceedings (Vol. 11) 

of the Boston Society of Natural H The best general works are Blackwall’s 

aoaaa of Great ape: publi ished ae the Ray Bocas, London nana — re Nat- 
s Ara peuées, eres E. Simon. 8vo, with 207 figures. Paris, R 1854. 


J. W. J., Middleboro, Mass.— Your specimen is the Botryllus ete a com ound 
aaloatot mollusk. It will ve described and figured in the new edition of Gould’s Inver- 
tebrates of Massachuse 


W. H. D., Troy, N. Y.—Your specimen is the Hair-worm (Gordius). See NATURAL- 
IST, Voi. I, p. 556. 


E. L. G., Decatur, Ill. — See Darby’s Botany of the Southern States. 


G. W. L., Long Point, Texas. —“I saw a hawk catch an owl the other day. Is ita 
common thing for hawks to = soh awe! ?” We have not heard of such an instance be- 
fore. Haye any of o 


L. B. C., Ri cadens air = nclose you a strange piece of fungus found here. The 
piece is oval, and about four n aE e face. hd ail at taken, of a snow Mirsa 
ness, except at the point of each stalk, where there is a s pene ck. These pink 
specks have increased more — four “in face are! original s ice since first taken (eight 
da ays). They have also Erow arker red all the time. It was found g poin 
downwards, in the u apos Eou Py a cavity i in a od rsh still Eroa ti it foie feet 
from the prt tisa sa ung nats of the Hydnum erinaceumsa—J. L. R. 


W. C. J., Newburyport specimen found in the stomach of the cod was a 
Sea- Erdian ( Pentacta Frond), which is abundant in ten fathoms, hard bottom, 
along our whole New Eng! 


C. W., Weathersfield, Conn.— The e minute insect infesting the _ in your house, 
and which spins a thread d like a eee isa ws omy a The 
considerable dam ——— to ro. webs, and eating holes in the leaves. The best 
premna f is to Spo A at owdered 8 “Sulphur With a pair of bellows, for which contrivance 
several patents 


J. A. H. B., Falkirk, N. e works of Professor Baird comprise all you want. 
Apply to Pa kinttheotien Taitenie for “A List of the Birds of North America.” 


W. C. F., Eastham, Mass.— The bird is the Pine Creeping Warbler, Dendroica pina. 


W. P. R., Richmond, Va.-—The sphinx, which was broken in,pieces, is the Philam- 
pelus vitis of Harris. We would like specimens for our museum. 


—+o+-—_. 


BOOKS RECEIVED. 


List of the Shell-bearing Mollusca of Michi n, especially of Kent and adjoining Coun- 
rat By ra by Poe Published ‘by tha Rant Scient Institute, Grand Rapids, 
ich. VO, pp. 12 
merican Bee Journal. January, 1869. pr ahinatan, D. Cc. 
spas "November 21; December gry ae ck 4 Jont 
ions o ee “er ing cies of Prina rom 
members of the Feldspar F amily sb oe oiner sh short eee ected from the 
oe of the Academy of Natural Scie ces, Philadelphia]. Philadelphia, 1868. 
o 
: Future o of Vineland. By Joseph Treat. 12mo 21. Price 15 cents. 
Insect Extinguisher. By Joseph Treat. Vi PAR N. J. 12mo, pp. 15. Price 12 cts. 
Field. November 28, December 5. London. 
Land and mae: November 7, 14, 21, og Oe on. 


hemical News. Decem 
The I Uustrated. penis Register of ural al Afeirs a, 1869, with one hundred and thirty 
avings. A I. Loe Price 30 cents. 
ihera E Hae tie bs fiber. 18. E (on a aeons 
s Month ugazine. May-November 
Sone logit nck Floras iay- Nov America, wiih Deseri cn taga of some New 
Soe < Ta cd Z lants from the Cretaceous aceous and Tertiary J. S. Newberry. 
Yor. 0, pp. 76. 


* 


GLOSSARY.* 





Acanthastrea (Gr. akanthos, the acanthus,| Echinaster (Gr. echinos, sea-urchin; aster, 
bear’s foot; aster, a star). A genus of Bhosle A genus of star-fis 
corals. ; eres metra (GY. echinos ; metra, a matrix) 
Ambulacral, Relating to furrow. ‘A genus of echini. 
echinoderms (sea-urchins, pie are sf Echinorhynchus (Gy. echinos; rhugchos, a 
containing pores through which the s propo poe 2. A genus of entoson or inos 
called “feet” are protruded when tie inal w 


- animal moves É chmogutinar: A genus of ta) To 
Ammonites. A genus of fossil cephalopoda| Exindusioid. Not haying an in usium (Lat. 

allied to the eee shirt). The wn ee “a covering of the 
cinoma Als a called Andesine, differing} thecx (spore-cases) of ferns, 

sasi oe ony in in the smaller pro- 

portion of Favia (Lat. favus). A genus of cora 
Anodonta, ppe of fresh-water mussels. | Fission. Generation by por division, as 
Atrypa. A ipere of hg shells. seen in many infusorial animals and 
Augitic. beeen sedof a pyroxene;} plants. 


obliqu OPPAS R e with ang e 
para tel to e faces. Colors from light| Gorgonia (pl. », Lat. mythological name). A 
green to blac. enus of corals. 
Graptolites. A group of fossil animals, 
porte ima Excessively low monad-like EEEE a to be mollusks of the 
ryoz 





Ser plants comprise 
appie and Tillandsia, or “ prs Mose” Habenaria. The Rein-orchis. 
the South. Haicyonoid. Like haleyonium; a genus of 






po olyps. 
opping off; ready to fall. Heliastraa (Gr. kelios, sun; aster, star). A 
sis hath a mre han The an Ai Dai genus of corals. 

Cecidomyia (Gr. ki kekis, vapor; m o suck) grt a The doctrine of spontaneous 

A genus of dipterous gall-fi ie ratio 
OA eae odorata. The “We: a Indian Ce- 
dar;” not however a true cedar. Inoceramus (Gr. is, fiber; keramos, shell). 
Clypeus. A part assi to a the front = Ja Ban ‘shells somewhat like an 


nate geita 
Cæcu m. pl. ceea dthe lower ani-| Zabellum. The odd petal in the orchis fam- 
mals blind sacs 0 ie into th theintestine.| ily. 
columba, a 


re ella. Al Leedi. The Bush-clover; a genus of 
n the Pulse fam : 


nits of of ily. 
Cora tie stb ga i. e.| Leucitophyr. A voleanic rock of the ba- 
the whole colony € se 5 the polyp- saltic series, consisting of augite and leu- 
Cort ex, bark; ye bear-| cite. 
i p% gen aus 9 anid 


ing). etme 
Coke (Lat. ri dato) In Shells the ridges| Liparit €. Vead br T Boi chtofen to designate 
encircling the whorls. Etat ioe Peel By net sith rhyolite. 
ning parallel with the s hovius. A genus of centi 
miharsa (atc The Sedge fam- non pete. Metning fine to lik lithology ; the 
erus e 
oe cup y stully of the mineralogical and chemical 
a composition of rocks. 
Dimerous. Made of two parts, or 
x prenns in twos E Megaptera (Gr. Be ee , great; pieron, wing). 
- Dinosaurian. Relating to an order of ex- F4 ge of wia 
tinct ape eng lizards, 














Dolerite. An igneous rock of the augitic Millepora Lat. mille, thousand; porus, pore, 
eri : composed of labrada and au-| hole). ppe of corals. _ 
gite, often wit ic iron.” nads. À us of excessively 
The Whitlow-grass, a genus of the| protozoa, or cules, of ‘elly like 
Mustard family. ten 
N ined t hich be fé he Gl of Vol. I, Re coe 





: : ; 671 


672 ‘ GLOSSARY. 

Monotropa. The Indian Pipe, Pine-sap; a a) Pterodactyle. A genus of winged reptiles 
nus oe the Heath —- resembling i 

pi soak A genus of co: Pulm ils 


Nevadite. Granitic rhyolite. 

Ocellus. The simple eye, supplem to. 
the lange apound eyes of Tuata. 

Oligocla me and soda feldspar, very 
like e Albite i Sa ‘eres nce. 

Ophiura (Gr. ophis, a snake ; owra, tail). The 
Snake-star, 8. and-star; a genus of echino- 


Oreaster. A genus of star-fish. 
Orobanchacee. The Broom-rape family. 





retir Rolled backwards. 
hyolite. First order of volcanic rocks in 
Riya tofen’s system, defined by him as 
trachyte, with the addition of silica. 


Sacral. Relating to the sacrum (the sub- 
terminal bones qi the vertebral A 
formin ing part of the hinder wall of the 


pelvi 
Ses. aia: Not stalked, pedicelled or pedun- 
culated. 


iderastrea (Lat. sidereus, relating to a 

Part rgia Reproduction without t e| star; aster). A genus of cor als. 

in of t e male, as in the sum- ae meinen A genus of sharks 

mer Asset "of file bodies iphis). angia. Spore-cas 

ediceliarie. Litt = e birds’ bills, Strontian: A ina first found at Stron- 

on star-fish and sea-ure tian, Scotland. 
Perianth. The leaves of the ‘flower gener- Struthious Relating to the ostrich, Stru- 

ally, especially -when w: e cannot readily 

distinguish them into calyx and pe 

etrog - Means, literally, born of a|Talus. The collection of pieces of rock 


Pinnate. With leaves divided like a fea the er. 
fora at, ee). A genus of corals. 


Tapi 
order of volcanic rocks, Tatts ( Gr. thal, 


veka i Ric aye 


tesne 8, 
horse e shoe a 


. Students of ferns. 


aed to the Ta 
= which a a litt 


and dirt 


r which accumulates at the foot of 
a oo 


The fa 


Pb The vegeta- 

f lichens, aa root, 

stem, | and paet na 
Tibie. 


e shank- bene n agpi the 


Sn fourth j joint of the leg, Pisici next to the 
ects 


tarsus, or toe-joints. 
oo icular (L. trabs, trabis, : eure 
om bey © the © struere ofa cell. 
chyte. voleanic roc ope osed of 
glass yeep i ph vegans and perhaps 
ually porous. 


Rela- 


Zygodactyles. The Daia 





ABBREVIATIONS. — Lep., Lepeletier de St. 
Sommer. 


Somm., 
CORRECTIONS TO GLOSSARY FOR VOL 
‘chid fam i "Cycom are 
no way re se bs them. Th 
fers. m. Add, ‘ er animal” or 


m E for or 224 read WA end on 
ERRATA TO VOL. Tr. 


. I.— Aft 
They with Merea BF, the aspect of palms s or tree-ferns, Dara in 
pes gto ore ame E Nephroma 


Fargeau. ZL., Linnæus. Sauss., Saussure. 


er Calypso, add: A genus of the o 
bigs he jh aai einir other coni- 
of lichens 


m p- 688 at bott kala = 224 read 
— Page 97, 14th Bee 


from top, for 78,000, rea a o, Page 60, 
line! for middle branches, read thick br peepi P: Pai line 6, for submerge read sub- 
inal. Page 71, line ines Pariaba, read aia E age 166 , line 24, for a Ar reag 
ead Cetacean. Page 111, line 33, for lines nes, A times. Pass , line 8, for rivulsari, 
read - + age 233, line 11, for Elegans, read elegans. Page: 235, line 22, for plumva, 
Tread plumosa. Page line 26, for lithaminons} read Ci agp Bajise. Page 331, 
Gao m for their, read age ine 2, for one, read our for are, read 
Page 165, th red by mistake ‘instead "2 Hylobius pales. 
Page 220, line 22, for Gelechia, so , for — of the 
hearths, , etc. „in explanation of Fig. 8 Stor Ps Print read h 


Tine. Peas a ee 
e Pa , line 7, 
Page ail, linea pai top, read on 


x 


for Mr., 
on the top. P. 





read ee a ya 28, after oy tong dele ee 


1 ine 20° for longer, read larger