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1912. Volume XXVI. 1913»

THE

OTTAWA NATURALIST

Being Volume XXVIII of the

TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

OTTAWA FIELD-NATURALISTS’ CLUB.
0 7
‘2
a"
He
ale

Organized March, 1879. Incorporated March, 1884.

,

The Ottawa field-Waturalists’ Club.

Patron:
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT.
GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF CANADA.

Council 1912=1913

President 2
Mr. L. H. Newman, B.S.A.
Vice=Presidents:
Mr. Arthur Gibson. Mr. J. W. Gibson, M.A.
Secretary: Treasurer:
Dr. E. H. Blackader. Mr. W. T. Macoun.
(360 Laurier Ave. W.) ‘ (Experimental Farm)
Editor: a / Librarian:
Mr. Arthur Gibson. ? Mr. A. E. Attwood, M.A.
(Experimental Fafm) (Osgoode St. School)
Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt. Mr. Harlan I. Smith.
Mr. E. D. Eddy, B.S.A. Mr. E. A. Howes, B.S.A.
Mr. J. W. Eastham, B.Sc. Miss A. L. Matthews.
Mr. 7). - Carter: Mrs. W. D. Oakely.
Past President:

Mr. Alex. McNeill.

Standing Committees of Council:
Publications: Dr. C.G. Hewitt, A. Gibson, A. E. Attwood, H. I. Smith,
W. T. Macoun, J. W. Eastham.

Excurstons: J. W. Eastham, J. W. Gibson, E. A. Howes, Miss A. L.
Matthews, Mrs. \V. D. Oakely.

Lectures: J. W. Gibson, E. D, Eddy, J. J. Carter, Miss A. L. Matthews.
Mrs. W. D. Oakely.

Leaders at Excursions:
Archeology: T. W. E. Sowter, J. Ballantyne, H. I. Smith.

Botany: W.T.Macoun, J. M. Macoun, T. E. Clarke, H. T. Gussow, Dr. M.
O. Malte, E. A. Howes, J. W. Eastham.

Entomology. A. Gibson, W. H. Harrington, Dr. C. G. Hewitt, Jj. M.
Swaine.
Geology: W. J. Wilson, H. M. Ami, T. W. E. Sowter, W. A. Johnston.

Ornithology: A. G. Kingston, P. A. Taverner, F. C. Hennessey, Miss M.
F. Fortier, Miss M. B. Williams, B.A.

Zoology: A. Halkett, E. E. Prince, E. E, Lemieux, E. LeSueur, ‘S. E.
O’Brien, C. H. Young.
Auditors:
J. Ballantyne. E. C. Wight.
Membership Fee to O.F.N.C., with “Ottawa Naturalist”
$1.00 per annum.

CAJ

LIST OF MEMBERS OF
THE OTTAWA FIELD-NATURALISTS’ CLUB

1912 -
Adams, Prof. F. D., M.Se. Ph.D.
(Montreal).
Am Hl OM. M.A... DSc.) F.G:S.,
PRS.
Ami, S:"T.

Anderson, Miss Constance.

Anderson, James R. (Victoria, B.C.)

Anderson, Lteut.-Col. W. P., M. Inst.
CHE PRG. S:

Arnold, E. (Montreal).

Attwood, A. E., M.A.

Baldwin, J. W.

Ballantyne, James.

Bangs, J. S.

Bate, Miss Marjorie St. H.
Beaupre, Edwin, (Kingston, Ont.)

Beers, H. W.., (Bridgeport, Conn.)

Bell, W. A., (Camp Creek, Lake
Nepigon, Ont. )

Bennett, H. C.

Bennett, Miss K. E.

Bentley, Miss W. K.

Billings, C. M.

Binnie, T. H., B.S.A.,

Blackader, Dr. E. H.

Blackadar, Lloyd.

Blair, Prof. S., Ti Wbbasdana College,
Que.)

Bond, W.

Borden, Hon. Sir F. W., M.D.

Brainerd, Dwight, (Montreal).

Breadner, S.

Brewster, W., (Cambridge, Mass.)

Brittain, Prof. John, (Macdonald
College. Que.)

Brittain, W., B.S.A.

Brock, R. W., M.A.

Brown, Mrs. R. D.

Brown, W. J., (Westmount, Que.)

Brown, T. A.

Bryce, P. H., 47D.

(Toronto).

Buck, Tf: E!. B'S.A.

Bunting, T oa&,, B.S.A-

Burgess, oa oe wee iD: FORISG.,
(Montreal).

Burt, Miss F. M.

Calder, Alex., (Winnipeg).
Calvert, E. W. UeDakevitte, Ont.)
Cameron, iB “i M.A.

1913

Cameron, Roy.

Carr, F. S., (Edmonton, Alta.)

Carter, r bE

Campbell, A. D., B.S.A., (Morris-
burg, Ont.)

Campbell, 5A ABA:

Campbell, A. M.

Campbell, R. H.

Carman, Mrs. F. W.

Clark, Gon. B.S A.

Clarke: TE. BA. B. Paed.

Cobbold, Paul A., (Haileybury,
Ont.)

Cole, John E., (Westboro’, Ont.)

Collins, J. Franklin, (Providence,
Reals)

Collins, W. H.

Connor, M. F., B.Sc.

Cotes J.C:

Cox aMass JC:

Crabtree, C. A.

Craig, re John, (Ithaca, N.Y.)

Cram, A.

Criddle, N.

Currie, P. W.

Currier, E. S., (Manchester, N.H.)

Curry, Miss E. E.

(Treesbank, Man.)

Deam, C. C., (Indianapolis, Ind.)

Dempsey, J. H. C., (Hamilton).

Dewar, Miss Ethel.

Dixon, F. A.

Dod, F. H. Wolley-, (Millarville,
Alta.) -

Doherty, T. K.

Dowling, D. B., B.A.Sc.

Duff, H. C., B.S.A., (Norwood, Ont.)

Dwight, Jonathan, Jr., M.D., (New
York).

Eastham, A., B.S
Eastham, J. W.
Eddy; Bo D?, B. s. Oe
Eifrig, Rev. Prof. G.,
Evans, John D., CE
Ont.)

Evans, T. C., D.V.Sc., (Tor.)
Ewart, D.

g (Calgary, Alta.)
(Addison, I.)

(Trenton,

Farley, Miss J. E.
Farley, F. L., (Camrose, Alta.)

4 THe Ortawa NATURALIST.
Farr, Miss E. M., (Philadelphia).

Fenn, Miss -

Ferrier, W. F., (Toronto).

ining be B A.

Fisher, Hon. Sydney A., B.A.

FitzHenry, W., (Myrtle, Man.)

Fitzpatrick, Hon. Chas.

Fleck, A. W.

Fleming, J. H.,

Fleming, R. F.

Fleming,
CE. PROG RAC:

Foster, E. L.C., M.A.

Fortier, Miss F. M.

Fraser, Geo., (Ucluelet, B.C.)

Fyles, Miss F., B.A.

(Toronto).

Gallup, A. H.,
Gibson, Arthur.
Gibson, J. W., M.A.
Gilbertson, Miss B.
Godson, F. P., B.A.
Gorman, M. ie EBB
Graham ,W.
Grant ,S¢@r J: A. K-CALG:
F.R.C.S. Edtn.,
Grant, Mrs. E. G.
Grant, W. W., (New York).
Grisdale, J. H., B.Agr.
Grist, Miss Mary L.
Groh, H., B:S.A., (Preston, Ont.)
Grout, Dr. A. J., (New York).
Gussow, H. TT. F.RIMES.

(Saskatoon, Sask.)

Haldane, Miss Maude.

Halkett, Andrew.

Hamilton, Mrs. F. L. H.

Harcourt, Geo., (Edmonton, Alta.)

Hargrave, Miss I., (Sherbrooke,
Que.)

Harmer, Miss G., (Entwistle, Alta.)

Harrington, W. Hague.

Harrison, Lteut.-Col. Edward.

Hart, H.-G. soeseae

Harterre, i SD.

Harvey, R. V., (Victoria, B.C.)

Hay, G. U., D.Se., M.A.,APRE.,
F°R.S.C., (St. John, N28)

Hayes, J. A., (Sheffington, Que.)
Hennessey, F.

Henry, J. K., (Vancouver, BCs)
Herriot, W., (Galt, Ont.)
Hewit, H. O

Hewitt, C. Gordon, DISsé
Higgins, Dr Cael
Hobson, W. D.,

PLES:

Sir Sandford, K.C.M.G..,

M.D.,
POR SCE .S.

(Woodstock, Ont.)

[April

Hodge, C. F., Ph.D., (Worcester,
Mass.)

Holmes, Miss A. S.

Hope, James.

Houghton, J. 2 (Bennington, Vt.)

Hudson, Prof. G. H., (Plattsburg,
N. BY

Irwin, Liteut.-Col. D. T.

Irvin, Ward M.

Jackson, Miss Carrie, (Ventnor, Ont.)

Jacobs, Miss C. M., (Hamilton,
Ohio).

Jacombe, F. W. H., M.A., M.F.

Jamieson, Thos., B.A,

James, C. M.A.

James, L. E., ae Thomas, Ont.)

Jenkins, S. ‘ee

Jennings, O. = pe Pa.)

Johnston, W. A., BSG:

Johnstone, Miss A.

Johnson, Miss A. E.

Johnson, G. S., B.A., (Meaford, Ont.)

Jones, Harold, (Maitland, Ont.)

Joanes, Arthur.

Kearns, J. C.
Keefer, Thos. C., C.M.G., C.E.,
F.R.S.C.

Keele, J., B.Sc.
Kingston, A. G.
Kitto, V

Klotz, Otto, LL.D, Fem Ace.
Klotz, Julius, M.D. (Lanark, Oak)
Klugh, A. B. " (Kingston).

Knechtel, A.

Labarthe, J., (Trail, Bie

Lajeunesse, Rev. A i2

Lambart, Hon. O. ag

Lambe, ie M.,, £64G:. SG
YR) SMS sy

Landsborough, J., (Pemberton
Meadows, B.C. )

Latchford, Hon. F. R., B.A.

Lawler, James.
(Macdonald College,

Leclaire, J. M.,
Que.)

Lee, Miss K. G., (Clinton, N.Y.)

Lees, Miss V.

Lemieux, Es &

Le Sueur, E. A.

Lewis, J. B., C.E.

Leyden, Miss M.

Lochhead, W., B.A., M.Sc.,
donald College, Que. )

Lyman, H. , M.A., (Montreal).

(Mac-

1912]

McCready, Prof. S. B., (Guelph).

McCurry, H.

McDougall, Miss J. C.

McElhinney, Dr. M. G.

McGill, A., B.A., B.Sc.

McGillivray, H.

McInnes, Wm., B.A.

McLeod, Miss M. F.

McMillan, H. R., B.S.A.

McMiilan, G. O., M.A.

McMillan, Thos., (Seaforth).

McNeill, Alex.

McQuat, Miss E.

MacCraken, John I., B.A.

Maekay eA; H., LL D:.
Poe. (idalitax).

Macnamara, C., (Arnprior).

Macoun, Prof. John, M.A..,
IPR SOS

Macoun, J. M.

Macoun, W. T.

Malcolm, John, (Fergus, Ont.)

Mallock, G. S., B.A.

Malté, M. OF Ph.D.

Martin, 1. A’ , (Lawson, Sask.)

Mason, A. E., (Vancouver, B.C.)

Matthews, Miss Annie L.

Megill, W. H. T., B.A.

Metcalfe, W.

Michaud, Geo.

Miller, Prof. W. G., (Toronto).

Milne, Wm

1B Seu

| ipa! Dress ae

Moore, W. H., (Scotch Lake, N.B.)

Morns,- Bs J: A A., (Port Hope,
Ont.)

Moras sel UL

Munro, J. A., (Okanagan Landing,
Be.)

Murphy, John.
Murray, James, B.S,
Alta.)

Nash, C. W., (Toronto).
Nelles, D. H., D.L.S

4., (Suffield,

Newcombe, C. F., M.D., (Victoria,
BxC.)

Newman, L. H., B.S

Nicholls, A., ( Sault Ste Marie, Ont.)

O’Brien, S. E.

Oakely, Mrs. W. D.

Odell, W. S.

Orde, J. F.

Patterson, A. M.
Payment, L..E. O., (Sturgeon Falls,
Ont.)

THE Ottawa NATURALIST.

un

Perney, F. E., B.A.

Pitts. seh ele

Phillips, Rev. E.

Plaskett, J. .o., 6A, FRSC.
Poole, T. C.

Prince, 125 OV in \ Dp dl Depploin’a eel hed CASE
Putnam, J. He ‘B.A. LIE Paed.

Raine, Waiter, (Toronto).
Raymond, Dr. Percy E.
Richard, Rev. A. E.

Ritchie, Miss ae
Robertson, C. N., (Montreal).
Robinson, ae M.

Robinson, Hiram.

Rush, M. L., B.A.

Sanders, Geo., B.S.A.

Saunders, W. E., (London, Ont.)

Scott, Harry S.

Scott, Miss Mary McKay.

scott, W., 5A’, (Loronto).

Scott, Rev. C. T., (Brantford, Ont.)

Seton, E. Thompson, (Coscob, Conn.)

Shannon, Frank, (Saskatoon, Sask.)

Shearman, F. J. W.

Shortt, Miss Muriel.

Shits beeel A eh. Gus F.GAS..
F.R.SC.

Simpson, Willibert.

Sinclaino. toe5 BoA. PRD:
donald College, Que.)

sirett, H., B.S.A\.

Sitwell, Capt. L. H., F.R.G.S.

Skales, Howard, (Mt. Forest, Ont.)

Small, H. Beaumont, M.D.

Smith, Harlan I.

Soper, John.

Sowter, T. W. E.

Speechly, Dr. H. M.,
Man.)

Spreckley, R. O.

Summerby, Wm. J.,
Ont.)

Sutton, Mrs. L. L.

Swaine, J. M., M.Se.

Sweaton, W., B.A.

Symes, P. B.

(Mac-

(Pilot Mound,

M.A., (Russell,

Taylor, F. B:, (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
Taverner, P. A.
Terrill, L. M., (Montreal).
Thompson, R.
Thompson, Rev. B. W., B.A.
Topley, Mrs. W. J.
Treherne, R. C., B.S.A.,
ver, B.C.)

(Vancou-

6 THE OTTAWA NATURALIST.

Tyrrell, Jf: B:,-B.A., BSc. ge .G.os,
F.G.S.A., (Toronto).

Waddell, Miss K. T.

Walker, Sir Edmund, F.G.S.,
(Toronto).

Walker, E. M.,-<B.A.,
(Toronto).

Walker, Bryant, (Detroit).

Wallace, J. S., (Toronto).

Wallis, J. B., (Winnipeg, Man.)

Warwick, F. W., B.Sc., (Bucking-
ham, Que.)

Watson, J. F.

White, Mrs. Annie G. H., (Toronto).

White, E. G.

White, George R.

White, James, (Snelgrove, Ont.)

M.B.;

[April

White, J. F., M.A. ELD:
Whyte, Miss Ida V.

Whyte, Miss Isabella.

Whyte, R. B.

Wickware, A. B., V.S.
Wight, E. C.

Williams, Miss M. B., B.A.
Williams, J. B., (Toronto).
Willing, T. N., (Saskatoon, Sask.)
Wilson, Morley E.

Wilson, W. J., Ph.B.

Wilson, E., (Armstrong, B.C.)
Winchester, H. S.

Young, C. H.

Ziemann, Arthur.

CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.

BeTHuNE, Rev. C. J. S., M.A., D.C.L., F.R.S.C., Guelph, Ont:
GREENE, Dr. E. L., United States National Museum, Washington, D.C.
Hirt, ALBERT J., M.A., C.E., New Westminster, B.C.

Howim, Tueopvor, PA.D., Brookland, Washington, D.C.

Merriam, Dr. C. Hart, Washington, D.C.

Taytor, Rev. G. W., M.A., F.R.S.C., F.Z.S., Departure Bay, B.C.
Wickuam, Pror. H. F., Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 7

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE OTTAWA FIELD-
NATURALISTS’ CLUB FOR THE YEAR ENDING
MARCH 19rn, 1912.

During the past year eight meetings of the Council have
been held, at which the attendance has been good. For the
most part these meetings were for routine work of passing ac-
counts, receiving reports, electing new members, arranging for
excursions in the spring months, and lectures in the winter,
and so forth. The items of special interest were the meetings
of the Royal Society of Canada, which were held in the Carnegie
Library, on the 16th, 17th and 18th of May. The President of
the Club was elected as delegate, and presented a report of our
work to be printed in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.
Several other members were present and took part in the pro-
ceedings.

How to obtain more funds for the publication of THE OTTAWA
NATURALIST was a question that came up several times. The
arrangement proposed by the Publications Committee will be
presented.

Shortly after the arrival of H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught,
a letter was sent to him requesting that he continue the custom
of other Governors-General and act as Patron of the Club. To
this he graciously consented.

The Committee appointed early in 1909 to deal with a
suitable memorial to the late Dr. James Fletcher, have com-
pleted their labors. In addition to the memorial fountain
placed on the Experimental Farm, and unveiled on July 19th,
1910, they purchased with the surplus a painting by Mr. Franklyn
Brownell, R.C.A., pronounced an exceedingly good likeness of
Dr. Fletcher; this painting was unveiled at a meeting of the
Club, held on Jan. 9th, 1912, and it is now hung in a prominent
place in the Carnegie Library. Ourthanks are due to the Com-
mittee for the very satisfactory manner in which they have dis-
charged their duties.

MEMBERSHIP.

During the past year 16 new members have been elected,
15 members have sent in their resignation, and 3 have died.
This leaves our present membership 309, composed of 302
active members and 7 corresponding members.

We regret to record the death on the 12th of March of
of our oldest corresponding members, Prof. John B. Smith, DS
of Rutger’s College, New Brunswick, N.J.

8 THe Ottawa NarourRAList. [April

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE.

During the past year several meetings. of the Committee
have been held. One of the most important matters discussed
was the expense of publishing THE OrrawA NATURALIST, and how
more funds could be. obtained, so as to relieve as much as pos-
sible our somewhat straitened financial circumstances. The
Committee recommends that in the next volume the numbers
for June and July, as well as those for August and September
be combined. This will reduce the numbers published by two,
and, of course, help to lessen expenses.

We desire to express our appreciation of the good work done
by our Editor, Mr. Arthur Gibson, during the past year. In
the face of many embarassing difficulties he has continued to
issue creditable numbers. We trust that these difficulties will
soon be overcome, and that the Club may be able to publish a
larger and even more creditable edition in future.

We also wish to congratulate the Club on its choice of
Librarian, Mr. A. E. Attwood. Through his excellent work,
assisted by Mr. A. E. Currie, at the Osgoode Street Public School,
the publications of the Club have been arranged in suitable
quarters and in convenient position.

The Report of the Librarian is as follows:—

The library of the Club, consisting chiefly of about 325 bound
volumes, is placed on the north-west stack of the second floor
of the Carnegie Library building. On the shelves of the same
stack are a considerable number af unbound volumes and also |
magazines received in exchange for THE Ottawa NATURALIST.
Among the latter are:—

The Auk,

The Ohio Naturalist,

The Wilson Bulletin,

The Nature Study Review,

The Joural of Geography,

Le Naturaliste Canadien,

The Canadian Entomologist,

Torreya,

The Joural of the New York Entomological Society.

A little over a year ago the surplus copies of THE OTTAWA
NATURALIST were transferred from the Geological Survey Mu-
seum to a room in the attic of the Osgoode Street School. All
the copies of the Naturalist issued since April, 1895, that is,
from Vol. IX onwards, have been arranged in a very orderly
manner by Mr. A. E. Currie, who did this work voluntarily some ~
months ago,

:912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST 9

It has been frequentiy mentioned that there were about ten
complete sets of the Naturalist still available. From Mr. Currie’s
work, however, it would seem as if this is not the case. There
are five parcels each bearing the legend, “‘ Nos. required to com-
plete this set, Sept., 1891; Apr., 1892; Jan., 1895; Feb., 1895,
and Mar., 1896.’’ If these five missing numbers were supplied
to each parcel, the Club would then possess five complete sets.

It is quite possible that there are several members of the
Club who would be glad to present the Council with copies of
the numbers required to make these sets complete.

EXCURSIONS COMMITTEE.

In accordance with suggestions made at the last Annual
Meeting, the number of outings arranged for the spring months
was reduced to one a fortnight, and this was further reduced
when the June ones were omitted on account of wet weather or
other causes. It is a regrettable fact that far too few of the
members availed themselves of the opportunities thus afforded
for study; for many of us these are the best and almost the
only occasions when field study is possible.

The outings held were:—

April 29th—Mechanicsville.
May 13th—-Beaver Meadow.
May 27th—Gilmour’s Grove, Chelsea.

A full report of each of these has Be eas in THE OTTAWA
NATURALIST.

LECTURES COMMITTEE. |

Shortly after the last Annual Meeting there was a most
interesting lecture on the Song Birds of England, by Mr. W. E.
Saunders, of London, Ont. This lecture was the result of
personal observations on the journey across the ocean, and
during the course of a short visit to England. So many English
birds are named from their song that, as the lecturer remarked,
one has just to listen and the birds will tell their names. He
gave good imitations of these, but the finest thing was the
reproduction by the gramophone of the song of the nightingale.

During the winter season of 1911-12 there were eight lec-
tures given under the auspices of the Club, including two that
were given under joint auspices, the first with the Ottawa Hort1-
cultural Society, and our eighth with the officials of the Normal
School. Six of these lectures were held in the Assembly Hall of
the Normal School, and were illustrated with lantern views.
They were well attended and of unusually great interest. The
lectures under our own auspices were all given by leading
scientists of Ottawa, whose services we were fortunate in secur-

10 THE Ottawa NATURALIST [April

ing. Two of these lectures were given in the Carnegie Library
Hall, and were admirably illustrated with specimens. The last
lecture of the series was given by Mr. C. W. Nash, Biologist of
the Provincial Museum, Toronto.

The programme as carried out was as follows:—

November 14th, 1911—‘‘Landscape Gardening.’’ Prof. F. A:
Waugh, Amherst, Mass.

November 28th, 1911—‘‘The Big Game of the Ottawa Valley.”
Prof. E. E. Prince, Dominion Commissioner of Fisheries,
Ottawa.

December 12th, 1911—‘‘Some Insect Friends and Foes.” The
President, Mr. Alex. McNeill, Chief of Fruit Division, Ottawa.

January 9th, 1912—‘‘Water and Health.” Prof. F. T. Shutt,
M.A., Chemist, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa.

January 23rd, 1912—“* Habits of Some Turtles and Batrachians.”’
E. A. LeSueur, Esq., Ottawa.

February 13th, 1912—‘‘ Variation in Plant Life, its biological
significance and practical value.’”’ M. Oscar Malté, Ph.D.,
Ottawa. ;

February 27th, 1912—‘‘The Evolution of the World.” J. S.
Plaksett, B.A., F.R.S.C., Dominion Observatory, Ottawa.

March 12th, 1912—“‘Our Native Birds.” Mr. Charles W. Nash,
Biologist, Provincial Museum, Toronto.

March 19th, 1912—AnNuaL Mesztine. Election of Officers,
Annual Reports, Etc.

REPORTS OF BRANCHES.

THE BoTanicaL BRANCH.

During the past session nine meetings have been held at
the homes of different members. Three were held last spring,
and the remainder during the past winter. These have on the
whole been rather better attended. The subjects discussed
have been interesting and practical.

The following is the list :—

1.—‘‘A recent visit to Florida and Georgia,’’ by Mr. R. B.

Whyte. March 25th, 1911.
2.—‘‘Hybrids. How to recognize them and their systematic

value,’ by Dr. M. O. Malté. April 8th, 1911.
3.—‘Variations in the Wild and Cultivated Species of the

Rosacex,’’ by Mr. W. T. Macoun. April 22nd, 1911.
4.—‘‘Our Summer’s Work,” by Mr. R. B. Whyte: Dee: ist,

1911.
5.—‘‘Seed types in Fodder Plants: their practical and biological

significance,’”’ by Dr. M. O. Malté, Dec. 16th, 1911.

1912] THe OtTrawaA NATURALIST. 11

6.—‘‘ Forest growth in Pontiac Co., and other notes,’”’ by Dr.
H.M. Ami. Jan. 13th, 1912. This was followed by a discus-
sion on the formation of a botanical] garden at Ottawa.

7.—‘‘The Wild Oat, and its relations to the cultivated oats,”’
by Mr. G. Michaud. Jan. 27th, 1912.

8.—‘‘Some specimens and results from plant selection,” by
Prof. L. S. Klink, of Macdonald College. Feb. 10th, 1912.
9.—‘‘ How to make the most of a small garden,”’ by Messrs. R. B.

Whyte and J. E. Buck. March 9th, 1912.

The field work, about Ottawa, in botany, in 1911, was con-
_ fined mainly to the work done by Prof. John Macoun, who spent
the summer in this district in order to complete a list of the
Ottawa flora, on which he has been engaged for some time. All
that remains now to be done is to get the records of one or two
collectors whose specimens he has not yet been able to see.
During the summer 40 species of flowering plants have been
added to the list.

Preparations have been made and work has begun in the
laying out of a botanic garden at the Central Experimental
Farm, in which it is intended to grow the native Canadian plants.
Mr. H. T. Gussow, Dominion Botanist, who has this work in
charge, desires the co-operation of the members of the Club,
and hopes to obtain many specimens from them. Permanent
and conspicuous labels are now being prepared under his direc-
tion. These will have, in plain letters, the common and scien-
tific names of the plant, the country or district to which it is
native, and the date of planting.

In a visit to Sable Island in September, 1911, Mr. Gussow
collected about 100 native species of plants, and added to the
list of flowering plants the heather, Calluna vulgaris. He also
obtained specimens of four species of the more conspicuous
fungi, and a number of microscopic ones.

THE ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH.

The Entomological Branch reports that fair progress has
been made in the compilation of the list of the Insects of Canada
and Newfoundland, which is being prepared by a special com-
mittee of the Entomological Society of Ontario. In the prepara-
tions of this list Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt is chairman of the sub-
committee on Diptera; Mr. Arthur Gibson, of the sub-committee
on Lepidoptera, and Mr. J. M. Sw@ine, of the sub-committee on
Coleoptera. Mr. Swaine is now engaged at the Central Experi-
mental Farm as Assistant Entomologist for Forest Insects and
is a welcome addition to the branch.

Progress has also been made in the list of the insects of
the Ottawa District, and several additions have been added

12 Tae Ottawa NATURALIST. [April

during the year. In the October-November number of THE
OrtawaA NATuRALIsT a first list of local Geometroidea was pub-
lished, in which 168 species were included

THE GEOLOGICAL BRANCH.

The past year has been marked by a number of interesting
and important paleontological finds by amateurs, and a con-
siderable activity in this district by the Geological Survey.

The most notable find of the season was made by Mr. J. E.
Narraway, who was so fortunate as to discover a very perfect
little starfish at City View. Not only are good star fishes very
rare in themselves, but this specimen has covering plates over
the ambulacral grooves, a feature previously entirely unknown
among the free echinoderms, and showing a connection of the
star fishes with the more primitive stalked echinoderms, the
cystids and crinoids.

Next in importance was the discovery by Miss A. E. Wilson
of a number of specimens of a plicated Triplecia, in the lower
beds of the Utica at Dow’s lake. This proved to be a new species,
and is of very considerable interest in its bearing upon the correla-
tion of the beds in which it was found with beds containing a
similar Tyzplecia in Mirtnesota.

Both Messrs. W. J. Wilson and E. D. Ingall were fortunate
finders of entire specimens of Asaphas canadensis Chapman,
near the locality in which Miss Wilson found the Triplecias.
Entire specimens of A. canadensis had been found at Colling-
wood and Oshawa, but, with the exception of a single small
specimen in the Stewart collection (from New Edinburgh),
they have not previously been found at Ottawa. Mr. Wilson
found several very good specimens, and Mr. Ingall’s single
specimen was of great importance, for, being in limestone, it
retained the natural convexity, and showed the course of the
facial suture, a feature of prime importance. It is now possible
to show that the species really belongs to the genus Ogygites, and
it is, so far as known, the only American representative of that
French and Russian genus.

Another interesting addition to the fauna at Ottawa was
made by Mr. W. A. Johnston, who, while attending the field
outing of the Club last spring at Mechanicsville, found a number
of specimens of Nanno aulema Clarke, in the Black River lime-
stone. Dr. Percy E. Raymond added three new species of
Bathyurus to the local fauna, two of them from the Pamelia
near Westboro, and one from the lower part of the Trenton in
Eastview.

For the Geological Survey, Mr E. D. Ingall and Dr. Raymond,
did a considerable amount of work throughout the season, and

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 13

their results will be incorporated in reports to be issued by the
Survey.

The Treasurer’s report shows a balance on hand of $13.85.

The thanks of the Club are due to Principal White for the
use of the Normal School Hall, to the Library Board of the City
Council and to the Librarian of the Carnegie Library, for the
use of the lecture and committee rooms of that building, to the
gentlemen who have so kindly assisted us in our winter lecture
course, and to the Press of the city for its co-operation in further-
ing the work of the Club.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

E. H. BLacKaDER, Secretary.

OBeTU AY.

WILLIAM WHITE.

Lieut.-Col. William White, C.M.G., first President of the
Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club, died at his residence, 185
Wurtemburg Street, Ottawa, on Tuesday, April 2nd, 1911,
after an illness extending over a month.

The late Lieut.-Col. White was born in London, England,
Jan. 5, 1830. He received his education in a private school and
entered the Imperial civil service in 1846. In 1854, he came to
- Ottawa and entered the money order branch of the Post Office
Department and in January, 1861, was made secretary of the
department. In July, 1888, he succeeded W. H. Griffin, C.M.G.,
as deputy Postmaster-General of Canada. This position he
held until June, 1897, when he retired.

Lieut.-Col. White was probably more widely known as a
military man. In 1859 he entered the Canadian Militia and
since that year served in the 3rd Battalion of the Toronto Militia,
the Civil Service Regiment, the Governor-General’s Foot Guards,
and the 43rd Duke of Cornwall’s Own Rifles.

Above all things the late Colonel was a lover of nature and
spent much time in his garden, experimenting with flowers,
fruits and vegetables. He was deeply interested in the work
of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club, being one of its founders
in 1879, and as mentioned above was our first President. His
was a familiar figure for many years at the Club’s summer ex-
cursions, at which his kindly and genial personality made him
one of our most popular and esteemed members.

He was also the first president of the Ottawa Horticultural
Societv. In addition he has been president of the Ottawa
Athenaeum and Mechanical Institute and of St. George’s Society.
He was made a C.M.G. on completion of the 60th year of Her
Majesty’s reign, 1897. F.T.S.

14 THe Ortrawa NATURALIST. [April

TREASURER’S STATEMENT FOR YEAR ENDING
Mam MARCH Taz.

RECEIPTS.
Balanee from”year 1910204 wei toc nee ee $ 21.88
Subscriptions :—
(Apreatss 5 tir. SOR eee he $ 75.00
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a $306.35
Advertisements in Ottawa Naturalist................ 101.70
Ottawa. Naturalists:sold....o0t2h. .a See 2205
Author’s-Extras sold. is .2399 hse Ce oe ee 42.95
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Grant from Ottawa Horticultural Society for lecture
CXPeENSES)... 0525 | alee oper eee 25.00
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$701.03
EXPENDITURE.
Printing Ottawa Naturalist, Vol. XXV, 11
numbers, including cover... 4) a7e aes $402 .39
Ilustratzons:.2../. 2 ae 29/25
Author's Extras. 22 20 S37... 50) 2: 59.26
Miscellaneous printing, circulars, mailing, en-
velopes; €6¢@)).....27 v5 ee eer 16.66
507.56
Postage on Ottawa Naturalist 170.22). .20.. 28.82
Editor, 2.709 7). ot JV OA ee 50.00
586.38
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Sundry expense, postages, circulars, etc...... 28.29
Balance.) 20. G0 REA, 13.85
$701.03
W. T. Macoun,
Treasurer.

Examined and found correct,

J. BALLANTYNE,
E. C. Wicurt, . _
Auditors.

1912] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 15

THE MOON AND THE WEATHER.*

Orro Mier, bP.D., F:R.A:S.

We have learned of the physical constitution of the moon, of
her volume and mass, of her phases and rotation, of her borrowed
light, of her gravitational or tidal effect on the earth—and now
what about her connection with our weather, what about
change of the moon, change of weather?

Let us calmly do a little bit of reasoning about this; let us
use just a little bit of common sense, and see what conclusion
we inevitably arrive at.

The change of the moon, what does it mean? Changing
from more light to less, or less to more; that is all, and that
goes on constantly, uniformly, from day to day. Practically,
there is as much change on any one day as on any other day,
so that change of moon as designating something apart from
every day occurrence is in reality a misconception. Even if
we were to admit certain changes as something quite apart from
other lunar characteristics, we will ask, what is it that distin-
guishes them from other times? The only answer is, that the
amount of light we receive is different from that at other times.
We all know that the sun is the cause and source of the circulation
of our atmosphere, upon which depends our weather. Now,
the light received by the full moon is about the 1-600,000 part
that of the sun, and, of course, for the other phases still less,
vanishing completely at new moon, being on the average only
the one millionth that of the sun, which is equivalent to saying
that the sun gives usas much light and heat in 30seconds as the
moon does in a year.

Is it then reasonable to expect that the changes in quantity
of this minute amount of light—of which furthermore only a
fraction is available as heat, for to have any effect on weather
we have to deal with heat rays—this diluted light, this homeo-
pathic emanation, would have any effect on our weather? Cer-
tainly not. And, remember that when it is new moon or change
in Halifax, it is new moon.in Ottawa, in Winnipeg, in Calgary,
in Vancouver; indeed it is new moon in Japan, in Siberia, in
Russia, in England, in Australia, in New Zealand, in Africa, in
fact, everywhere. With one accord, however, our weather-wise
moon prophets shout, “change in the weather.’’ Don’t you think
this is a pretty big contract to turn the crank at this particular
moment of “change,” to change the weather over the whole

*(Note: On Feby. 29 last Dr. Klotz gave a popular illustrated address at the
Observatory on “‘The Moon’’. We give the following extract, in which he refers to the

A tepe cil the Weather, as it will undoubtedly be of particular interest to our readers.
itor).—

16 THe Ortawa NATURALIST. [April

globe? Think of the very marked change we had a week ago
to-day, that storm; it was on the 22nd, new moon or “‘change”’
was on the 18th. Furthermore ‘‘Old Probabilities” knew that
change of weather and storm were coming, for the day before
it was about 700 miles to the southwest of us, and our weather
generally comes from the west. A beautiful example that of
simultaneity of ‘‘change of moon, change of weather.”

But this is not all. Popularly, there are four changes of
the moon in a month, although the new moon change holds, I
think the principal place as weather changer. We tlus have a
“change of moon”’ every week through the four quarters, so
that we have four yanks of the weather crank per month, simul-
taneous over the whole world. It is so rational, is it not? The
whole scientific world or at least the whole world of meteorolo-
gists is trying to learn to predict changes of weather by studying
the dynamics of the atmosphere, the dynamics of the sun, the
rotational effect of the earth, the modifications by land and sea,
and yet has failed to discover so simple a rule as “‘change of the
moon, change of weather.’’ As I have already said, in reality
there is a change of the moon every day, every instant, which
shows the absurdity of selecting any one or four changes as being
more potent than others, which are continually taking place.

This superstition of the moon and weather is deep-rooted, I
admit. It exists over the whole earth, amongst civilized and
uncivilized peoples. If any of these moon-weather wise would
take the trouble to note the state of the weather day by day,
and compare such with the phases of the moon—or change of
the moon—they would soon discover the unreliability of any _
prediction they might make, in short, would find what scientists
have found by close study and observation in every civilized
country over the globe that there is absolutely no connection
between the moon and weather.

Now, this belief in the influence of the moon on the weather,
] venture to say, has not for many generations been evolved by
any person from his own recorded observations, but it has been
handed down from generation to generation, from father to son,
from mother to daughter, and it is so much easier to believe a
thing than to try and find it out for yourself. If by chance,
change of moon is immediately followed by change of weather,
the fact is riveted in the mind to perpetuate the tradition, and
if it doesn’t fit—well, it’s forgotten. Hence, we have the spec-
tacle, the sad, the deplorable spectacle, in this year of grace 1912,
in this age of enlightenment, of men and women clinging to this
false weather-god. And who are these people that entertain
this belief, are they only our ignorant, our common plebians?
No, you will find included, men who are intelligent, who are

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 17

learned, even professional men and men ornamenting the bench,
infected with this bacillus lunae.

To this weather superstition is associated superstition of
the influence of the moon on man and beast, animate and inani-
mate matter, for example: sleeping in moonlight causes deform-
ation and distortion of the face as well as sickness (a common
belief among sailors); fish are poisoned when exposed to moon-
light; the full moon drives away clouds, the French cover this
by the proverb—la lune mange les nuages—(why not the sun‘) ;
farmers kill their hogs at certain phases of the moon, so that the
fat swells and not Shrivels in converting it to lard; similarly
shingles are laid that they will not turn up; fence-posts are set
so that they may draw down and not up; sweet-peas, other peas
and seeds are planted to conform with the phases of the moon—
and a lot of other nonsense.

My friends, all this is humbug, humbug, humbug. The
moon has no more to do with the weather and those other
things than I have to do with the digging of the canals of Mars.
Hence, I ask you, implore you, beseech you, entreat you, exhort
you, beg of you, to spread the gospel of truth, combat this
superstition, destroy this false weather-god, crush this belief,
build a funeral pyre and burn this heirloom of ignorance and
superstition, although such heirlooms die hard.

If you do such, your visit here to-night has not been in
vain.

A SWAMP.

by PattH Fyies-C.E.F., Orrawa.

The swamp to which I should like to introduce the reader,
if he does not already know it, is one belonging to Mr. S. Chilcott,
on the shore of Lake Johnson about 44 miles from North Wake-
field station. This swamp is quite accessible. Mr. Chilcott
owns both a telephone and a ’bus as well as the swamp, and he
is very willing to meet you at the station, to drive you to the
swamp, to provide a dinner and a guide, and in short, to arrange
everything very nicely for you. In front of the swamp there is
a little stream looked upon by some as the Rubicon, on the other
side of which lies the land of the enemy in the form of black
flies and mosquitoes; but those who love wild flowers see beyond,
only one more delightful hunting ground. There is a rough road
through the swamp which was made by cutting down the trees
and allowing them to remain where they happened to fall.
This is a little difficult at first, but you soon reach a smoother

18 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [April

path which, in June when the marsh-marigolds are out, winds
like a brook of gold among the dark fir-trees and larches festooned
fantastically with grey-green Spanish moss. Through their
interlaced branches and fine network of needles the sunlight
threads itself iridescently and incrusts the dew-wet grasses
with jewels. Here are found the delicate white flowers of the
Gold-thread, Coptts trijolia (L) Salisb., the Star Flower, Trientalis
americana (Pers.) Pursh., the Smilacinas, S. trifolia and S. stellata
(L) Desf., the wild Lily-of-the-Valley, Maianthemum canadense
Desf., the sweet white Violet, Vzola blanda Willd., the Wood
Anemone, A. quinquefolia L. and the finely formed little blossoms
of Mitella nuda. The flowers of the true Mitrewort, Mitella
diphylla were nearly over when we were there, only an occasional
one was left at the top of the stalk, but the lower mitres were
bursting with seeds, looking like bits of jet in chalices of jade.
The False Mitrewort, Tzarella cordifolia L. was still in bloom, in
groups under the trees being much more representative of its
other name ‘‘Foam Flower.’ Beside these, lay the greenish
flowers of the Clintonias and the Cornus canadensis, relieved by
the shell-pink bells of the Linnaea borealis. Just at this point
‘in the path, on a former visit ten days earlier (24th May), I was
fortunate enough to find one of the chef d’oeuvres of nature—
that incomparable little orchid Calypso bulbosa (L.) Oakes.
Like the goddess of silence whose name it bears, it makes its
home in quiet secluded spots—most unexpected places. I found
it quite by accident. As we were then approaching the swamp
proper and sinking to the tops of our rubber boots, to gain a
firmer footing I pulled aside a cedar bough and so brought to_
view the little Calypso in a bed of moss, among a tangled mass
of boughs and broken branches. Its tapering amethystine -
sepals and petals outspread, its waxen pouch and transparent
overleaf marked with madder and hung from a slender scape,
its solitary green leaf springing from a second small corm, its
very delicacy in its rough surroundings make it eaeny recog-
nisable and quite unforgettable.

We proceeded for some distance between this narrow avenue
of towering firs silhouetted against the blue sky like cathedral
spires, till we came to open spaces in the swamp itself. Nothing
could be more beautiful than these natural parterres of brilliant
coloured flowers encircled by the sombre conebearers. Thou-
sands of crimsoned Sarracenias in the centre and all around
massed against the sheltering trees were the soft white clusters
of Labrador Tea, Ledum groenlandicum Oeder. and Buckbean,
Menyanthes trifoliata L. whose white velvety flowers against the
bright satin of their leaves deserve a worthier name; this plant
is no less interesting in the autumn when we find its many round

1912] THE Ottawa NarTurRALIst. 19

capsules filled with smooth shining amber seeds. Lying deep
in the cool sphagnum we discovered the pale yellow flowers of
the little Coral-root; Corallorrhiza trifida Chatelain and the
nodding rose-coloured blossoms of Vaccinium Oxycoccos L., with
its delicate foliage wandering about everywhere between the
pitcher-plants, most capriciously and fancifully. The silky
tassels of the Cotton Grass,Eriophorum viridi-carinatum(Engelm.)
Fernald., waved above the blue flags and tall spikes of the green
orchid, Habenaria hyperborea (L.) R. Br. and stirred the lightly
poised petals of the Lady’s Slippers. I found five different
species of these last named exquisite orchids in this one swamp:
the large yellow Lady’s Slipper, C. parviflorum Salisb. var. pubes-
cens (Willd.) Knight; the smaller one, sweet scented with rich
madder-brown sepals behind the yellow lip; the pink stemless,
C. acaule Ait., looking pale in its unaccustomed damp surround-
ings; the Ram’s Head Lady’s Slipper, C. artentinum R. Br., and
the Showy Lady’s Slipper, C. hirsutum Mill. These last lovely
orchids were growing in great quantity, even more abundantly
than the pitcher plants, but we were too early for them, there
were not more than half-a-dozen in bloom. The 22nd of June,
or a little later, is the best time to see them. ;

At the side of the path leading into one of the most enticing
of these open spaces, there is a stump of a tree, covered with
charming mosses and lichens, which our guide proudly designated
as the “Lady Grey Stump.” Lady Grey paid a visit to the
swamp when the Showy Lady’s Slippers were in full bloom,
and she sat here to rest in the midst of thousands of these beau-
tiful pink and white orchids.

BOOK NOTICE.

WATER-POWERS OF CaNnaDA.—The first inventory ever
taken of the water-powers of Canada has been completed by
the Commission of Conservation and the results embodied in a
large and profusely illustrated report just issued. The investi-
gation made by the Commission, which has extended over a
period of two years, shows that there are 1,016,521 horse-power
developed from water-power in Canada. Every phase of the
subject from the laws governing the disposition of water-powers
in the various provinces, to the actual physical data regarding
each individual water-power concerning which information was
obtainable, is treated in the report. In addition, there is a
very full bibliography of 30 pages, and appendices giving,
among other things, the text of the laws concerning the export
of power and also of the treaty recently concluded with the

20 THe Ottawa NATURALIST. [April

United States regarding the establishment of an International
Joint Commission.

The volume opens with two chapters of an introductory
nature that are concerned mainly with the general economic
bearing of water-powers on national development. The relation
of water to agriculture, mining, navigation, domestic supply
and so forth, is dealt with, and the principles to be used in the
interpretation of water-powers data are stated and discussed
critically. The broad and optimistic statements very often
made on the platform and in the press regarding our vast water-
power resources are deprecated. To quote from the Report,
‘General statements implying that the aggregate amount of
water-power must be great because the total water area, or
watershed area is so great, or because there are so many lakes
and rivers, are generalities to be considered of very little definite
VaRUCl eee One of the chief dangers of such generalities is to
create in the popular mind a feeling of unwarranted assurance
that, even though desirable water-rights are being granted by a
government, yet there is so much left, that no apprehension
may be entertained regarding the amount of power rights being
parted with.”’

A chapter is devoted to the water-powers of each province
in which the general features of the province as regards water-
power development are discussed and an outline given of the
law whereby powers are granted or leased to private individuals
or corporations. The larger developments are also described.
The statistical data given in tabular form includes the height
of the fall, the horse-power that may be developed, the present
development and the main uses to which the power is applied
such as lighting, pulp and paper making, etc. Reference is also
made to the possibility of increasing the amount of power
developed by storage reservoirs and dams where such are feasible.

The power situation in Ontario is treated very fully, special
attention being given to the power possibilities at Niagara and
the conditions affecting development there. Each of the power
companies operating there, whether on the Canadian or Ameri-
can side, is described in detail. A significant reference is made
to the granting of franchises to develop power at Niagara Falls.
The Report states that the low-water flow of the Niagara river
would yield at the Falls, about 2,250,000 H.P., of which Canada’s
share (one-half), would be 1,125,000 H.P. ‘Franchises have
already been granted,” it goes on to say, ‘‘and plants partially
completed, for the development on the Canadian side of the
river, of about 450,000 H.P. In other words, instead of ‘millions’
of horse-power being available, as has been sometimes stated, it
appears that about half, and by all odds the better half, of
Canada’s usable share of Niagara Falls power has already been
placed under private control.”’

THE OTTAWA NATURALIST

Vot-. XXVI. May, 1912 No. 2

A FOSSIL STARFISH WITH AMBULACRAL
COVERING PLATES.

By Georce H. Hupson.
(Plates I-III, fifteen figures.)

Through the courtesy of Dr. Percy E. Raymond my atten-
tion was recently called to a very remarkable sea-star found
at Ottawa, Canada. Mr. J. E. Narraway, the discoverer of the
form, kindly allowed me to keep it through Dec., 1911. and
~Jan., 1912, for photographic work and study. During this
period I made a series of forty-five different photomicrographic
negatives of the specimen showing the whole or portions thereof
under different conditions of light, angle, or mounting and at
various stages of a partial development which was given the
arms and oral cavity. Prints from fourteen of these negatives
were selected for use in making the figures for the plates accom-
panying this article. Figures 1 and 2, plate I; 2, 5 and 7,
plate II; and 1, 2, and 3, plate II], were made under a gum
dammar mounting with coverglass. For a description of this
process and some remarks concerning its value see ‘‘New York
State Museum Report 149,”’ page 218.

Figure 3 of plate I represents the specimen near the begin-
ning of my work upon it. Lines drawn down the radii reveal
two distinct centres. The elongation of the oral aperture along
the line connecting these centres, the elongation of the disc
itself in the same direction, the widening of the lower inter-
radius of the figure and the narrowing of the next interradius
at the right and at the left have been interpreted as indicating
the position of the posterior interradius and the figure has been
so oriented and marked. Figure 1 of this plate shows the
condition of the specimen at the end of such development as
I felt justified in making.

ELEMENTS OF THE SPECIMEN AND TERMINOLOGY.

The bordering plates wil! be called marginals; the large
single marginals of the interradii will be designated as inter-
radial marginals and the remaining marginals as arm marginals.

x2 ~ THe Ottawa NATURALIST [May

The single small interradial ossicle which rests against the orad
face of each interradial marginal will be considered as an oral.
The rows of ossicles which lie against the ambulacral faces of
the marginals and orals will be called adambulacrals and con-
sidered as strictly homologous with the plates in a similar
position in all species of Palaeaster. They bear true cover-
ing plates or epineurals as do the flooring plates in the Edrio-
asteroidea and this terminology will therefore also correspond
with that used by Bather in that class. The single interradial
plate placed orad of each adambulacral jaw (plate III, figs. 3
and 4, interradius 3), will for the present be considered as homo-
logous with the torus angularis of the Ophiuroidea and called
simply the torus?. Immediately exterior to these ossicles and
resting on each adambulacral or primary jaw we find a pair
of plates which will be designated as secondary jaws. Exterior to
these again we find a pair of plates resting against the orad faces
of the interradial marginals (plate III, fig. 3, interradius 3).
These plates we shall call the first epineurals. So far as now
known the specimen shows no other ossicles save the impression
of a distinct terminal on radius IV (plate I, figs. 1 and 2). The
arm marginals, adambulacrals and epineurals have been in
part numbered on some of the figures presenting them.

The marginals of this species are so characteristic that one
should be able to recognise its presence by them alone. Particu-
larly should this be true of the large interradial marginals.
A study of the form of the ridges and depressions on the oral
faces of the latter and of their outlines when viewed as in plate
III, figs. 1 and 3, or as in plate II, fig. 4, should give enough
detail for determination.

Resting in part on the first epineurals of interradius 4
(plate III, fig. 3), there is a large plate that, with one or two
others, was thrust over the specimen, after its death, from the
fourth interradius. This movement thrust the third epineural
of the lower row in this figure over against its fellow of the op-
posite row, caught it by one of its aborad edges and turned it
on its long axis through a little more than ninety degrees. It
was also the cause of slight displacement of four first epineurals
and perhaps also, through plates now lost by weathering, of
the displacement of the secondary jaw of the first interradius
and the removal of other epineurals in advance of the moving
mass. This large foreign plate possesses the same dimensions,
the same curve of the convex distal end, the two slightly concave
portions of the margin following this on either side and the
broader, thicker orad end of an interradial marginal of this
species. It was exposed to the effects of weathering before the
other plates in its vicinity and has apparently lost a portion of

1912} Tug Ottawa NATURALIST. 23

its orad end by separation of weathered cleavage planes of the
calcite. In spite of the losses it has received it still appears to
be an interradial marginal of this species but belonging to another
specimen.

A search for ambulacrals was made along the grooves left
between the adambulacrals in the older portion of the arms.
The weathering of the material filling these grooves had left a
fine residual sand which could be easily removed. The groove
of arm I was excavated to considerable depth (compare figures
1 and 3 of plate I), but no trace of any plates lying between the
adambulacrals could be discovered.

That the arms had no true stelleroid ambulacrals and also
no ossicles on their aboral surfaces is unmistakably suggested
by two cross sections of the arms shown in plate II. Figure
5 is of ray V at the aborad surfaces of the second arm marginals.
The rest of the arm had been here lost and the blackened cor-
bonized bed on which the arm rested could be easily removed.
The excavation was continued below the very definite line
between the blackened bed and the lighter colored limestone of
the matrix. After cutting down to a greater depth than that
of the marginals themselves a bit of cover glass was placed on
edge and allowed to rest against the faces of the marginals.
The transparent liquid gum was then gradually filled in back of
the glass and the photomicrograph taken from a position as
near the horizontal as the specimen could be placed before the
objective of the microscope. The blackened porous bed is
seen to be attached to the outer edge of the marginals and
to strike diagonally across the interradial spaces both to the
right and to the left (interradii 4 and 5). No trace of any
aboral plates is here revealed and ambulacrals are also wanting.

Figure 7 of plate II represents a cross section of arm III
at the aborad surfaces of the sixth pair of arm marginals. The
cut here under the lost portion of the arm was made to a still
greater depth but sloping away from the arm plates in order to
avoid accidental loss as these plates are very delicately attached
to the bed. The lower edge of the circular covering glass is
here seen and shows the depth of the excavation. The adam-
bulacrals are almost in contact with each other. Again there is
neither trace of ambulacrals or of aboral plates. The blackened
porous bed is however still present.

In plate III, fig. 5, what is apparently the broken edge of
the remains of a ‘thick leathery integument is seen to run from
arm IV across the interradius to arm III. Figure 3 of plate I
shows that the remains of this integument blackened all the
interradial spaces and followed the more distal borders of each

24 Tue Ottawa NATURALIST. [May

arm. Before figure 1 of this plate had been made much of this
blackened bed had been removed from the interradii 1 and 2
in order to photograph the arms from the side.

The specimen is so perfectly preserved and so free from
distortion that we are not warranted in supposing that any
large portion of the oral surface could be lost. The thick
blackened layer is so loosely constructed and filled with minute
flakes or grains of calcite (although these or many of them may
be due to subsequent infiltration and crystallization) that we
are obliged to interpret it as the remains of a thick leathery
integument reminding us of the muscular integument of the
Holthuroidea or more properly of the aboral integument of
most of the Streptophiurae and of the Cladophiurae.

Further development may yet reveal traces of the radials
and perhaps genitals but this should be undertaken only by
some person whose knowledge of both the Asteroidea and Ophiu-
roidea is extensive, whose authority would be ungestioned and
whose skill would be adequate for the task. Very valuable
evidence might easily be destroyed and lost forever. It is
possible that the plate here called “torus,’’ belongs to an aboral
circlet. Interradius 1 with its pieces composing the secondary
jaw displaced and showing that they were not fixed to either
the ‘‘torus?’’ or the first pair of adambulacrals but were bound
to each other, should be left as it is. Interradius 2, with the
secondary jaw in normal position, and interradius 3, with its
first epineurals but slightly displaced, should also be left as they
are. Imnterradius 5 should have the secondary jaw carefully
removed to see if the “torus?” really rested against the orad
ends of the adambulacrals and to fully reveal the oral aspect of
the latter. Search should also be made for the madreporite of
this species.

TAXONOMY.

There is enough now clearly shown by this specimen to
make it very manifest that we are dealing with an unrecognized
and very archaic morphological type which links the Edrioaster-
oidea with the Stelleroidea. Were it not for evidence I have yet
to present as to habit, I should unquesticningly place this
specimen with the Edrioasteroidea for it is almost as simple in
its elements as Cystaster, Hall. On account of its stelleroid
habit and the fact that we have described Stelleroidea which
are closely related to it I feel that it should be retained in the
latter class. In either case the type should be recognized.

EOSTELLEROIDAE, ORD. NOV.

This order is proposed for those Stelleroidea in which true
ambulacrals (in the sense in which the term is used in this class)

wn

1912] THe Otrawa NaTuRALIST. 2

havefnot yet been developed. Ambulacral pores in a single
linear series and occurring at the pointsof contact of four adam-
bulacra, or in a double row and placed between the adambul-
acrals of a series.

It is in one sense unfortunate that our efforts in taxonomy
all lie in the direction of separation. Generalized types or ‘‘ mis-
sing links’’ must never be allowed to remain on border territory
where their true relationships might be manifest to the uniniti-
ated. This newly described sea-star seems likely to give tax-
onomists as much trouble as do some of the chlorophyll bearing
flagellates. It is really an ancestral stellerid yet wearing the
garb of the Edrioasteroidea. If we consider it a true member of
the Edrioasteroidea we must recognize it as an ‘“‘insurgent,’’
for it lived the life of a stellerid and became one of the founders
of that class.

PROTOPALAEASTERIDAE, FAM. NOV.

Eostelleroidae in which the marginals are large. Adam-
bulacrals opposite, the interradial pairs meeting to form a
primary jaw. Ambulacral pores in a single linear series. Arm
epineurals long and stout and assisting in locomotion. Disc
epineurals specialized to hold and crush shelled organisms and
press food toward the oral aperture.

PROTOPALAEASTER, GEN. NOV.

Protopalzasteridae with single, very large interradial mar-
ginals. Arm marginals somewhat cubical and about twice as
long as the adambulacral ossicles of the same region. Original
peristomial covering pieces forming secondary jaws which slide
over the faces of the primary jaws. First epineurals advanced
orad to close together over the secondary jaws but not capable
of completely closing the space over the mouth. The following
new species is designated as the genoholotype.

PROTOPALAEASTER NARRAWAYI, SP. NOV.

Interradial marginals pear-shaped, the broad end set orad,
length 2.25 mm. or nearly one-third of the diameter of the
disc, greatest breadth 1.95 mm.; oral face smooth, convex
(plate II, fig. 4), bearing characteristic plate impressions and
muscle fields:—arm marginals cuboid, oral surfaces smooth,
flat and inclined aborad about 5° from the oral plane, transverse
diameter equal to about one-third that of the ray :—outer faces
(abambulacral) of marginals strongly convex and ornamented
with small, closely and alternately set mammillary tubercles
having a diameter of about 0.1 mm. each (plate II, fig. 4). The
inner (ambulacral) faces are set'in a straight line which makes
an angle of about four degrees with the axis of aray. The rate
of transverse thickening during growth determines the form of

26 THe Ottawa NarturRALIST. [May

the outer border of the arms. In the new plates, near the ends
of the arms, thickening in this direction is at first rapid. A
straight line connecting the outer border of the fifth and seventh
marginals makes an angle of sixteen degrees with the axis of
the ray. The rate of widening is not so rapid during the later
period of growth and a line connecting the outer borders of the
second and fourth arm marginals makes an angle of only eight
degrees with the axis. Function has demanded a greater growth
of the first arm marginal and particularly of the side next the
interradial marginal. The face against the latter is 1.3 mm.
long while its distal face measures but 0.8 mm. This increase
of growth near the disc has thrown the marginal line rapidly
outward and it swings across the distal end of the interradial
marginal in a broad, hyperbolic curve. The outer edges of each
arm thus present a very gentle sigmoid “‘line of beauty.’ The
extension of the arm is nearly equal to the diameter of the disc.
Disc radius about 4.4 mm., arm terminal 11.6 mm. from disc
centre. The species can be easily determined from its marginals
alone. More detailed descriptions of the other ossicles will be
given later.

The specimen was collected by Mr. J. E. Narraway from the
lower part of the Black River limestone on the top of a small
hill a few rods west of the City View Post Office and is now in
his private collection. It was lying in its bed with oral face
uppermost. I have named the specimen after Mr. Narraway
in slight appreciation of the debt due him for the discovery of
such a remarkable type.

In a following portion of this paper I shall deal specifically
with habit and adaptation as revealed by the skeletal elements
preserved.

VARIATION IN PLANT LIFE, ITS BIOLOGICAL \SIG-
NIFICANCE AND PRACTICAL VALUE-*

All evolution, be it evolution of humanity from a lower to
a higher level, or the evolution of the animal or vegetable king-
dom from primary types to more perfect ones, is based upon
two principles, the principle of heredity and the principle of
variation.

*Synopsis of lecture delivered before the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’
Club, February 13th, 1912, by Dr. M. O. Malte, Dominion Seed Branch,
Ottawa.

1912] THE Ortawa NaruraLtist. 27
Unfortunately, the term ‘“‘variation’’ has been applied to
a great number of phenomena of a very different nature, and
in the mind of most people is something that can not be clearly
defined. As a result, the biological and practical significance of
variation is not clearly appreciated.

1. The individual plants of a species sometimes present such
striking differences at different stages of development that the
observer might readily regard them as different species or even
different genera, where, as a matter of fact, only different ages
are represented. Thus, a great number of species of the genus
Acacia present a delicate fern-like foliage when young, whereas
the old plants are clothed with narrow and simple leathery
organs, which in shape and texture resemble the leaves of the
mistletoe. Conifers, such as Thuja and Juniperus, which when
fully developed have flat, scale-like leaves, are when seedlings
provided with typical needle-leaves. Such juvenile forms can
be fixed by cuttings and they then keep their peculiar needle-
leaves for many years, presenting small trees, which are no more
like the Thuja or Juniperus than a spruce is like a pine tree.
Such fixed, juvenile forms have been described as species of a
special genus, Retinospora.

2. Light sometimes causes variations of the most astonish-
ing nature. The well-known blue bell, Campanula rotundijolia,
generally has only long, narrow leaves. When the plants are
growing in grass, however, or when they are young, basal
leaves occur, which aré round or kidney-shaped. Whether or
not a plant shall have the latter kind of leaves is a matter of
light, as can be demonstrated by the following experiment:
enclose the upper part of a blue bell plant in a box of wood,
and the new shoots developed from the enclosed parts of the
plant will carry leaves round or kidney-shaped and in all respects
similar to the round or kidney-shaped root-leaves.

3. Amphibious plants often present one water-form and
one land-form, which are widely different from each other.
Numerous experiments have shown that the water-form can be
changed into the land-form and vice versa, and that the same
individual can present shoots of both types at the same time.
Such variation, induced by the amount of water available, can
be observed in such plants as water parsnip (Szwm), water
plantain (Alisma Plantago), knot-weed (Polygonum amphibiumy),
numerous species of Ranunculus, etc.

4. Other plants, when placed in certain environments,
often show striking variations. Thus, it is rather common for
plants growing in a climate where hot winds prevail, such as in

28 Tue OTTAWA NATURALIST. [May

deserts, to have a heavy coat of gray or white woolly hairs.
In some cases it has been actually proven that the production
of the woolly hairs is directly induced by the hot climate and
that plants covered with dense hairs will drop these if trans-
planted into a climate of greater humidity.

The important influence upon the general configuration
of plants exercised by the environmental conditions leads
naturally to the practical question: ‘‘Is is possible to produce,
by changing the climatic conditions, new types or new plant
species?”’ Ifa species is defined as a unit, provided with certain
constant characters, we must answer that, as far as our ex-
perience shows, it is not possible to produce new plant species
by changing the outer conditions; no facts exist to support the
opinion of Lamarck as to the hereditary quality of acquired
characters in plants.

The aforesaid variations are all produced by the influence
of different external factors upon individuals. When speaking
of “‘variations”’ in ordinary parlance, however, we usually think
of something quite different. We speak of the great variation in
roses and apples, by which we mean that there occur a great
number of types in apples and roses. The forms which generally
are termed individual variations do not refer to the changing of
a certain type or a certain individual, but simply to the existence
of types possessing different characters. When speaking of
‘““variation’’ people have been inclined to associate with the
term the idea ‘that something is changing. When speaking of
individual variation within a species they ordinarily assume
that a given individual can become permanently altered in
character in one direction or another, that, in fact, a certain
main type can produce a number of different, constant varieties.
Such a conception, however, leads to confusion and to a mis-
interpretation of the phenomena connected with the species
idea and the proper idea of variation.

When we speak of the apple species, for instance, we must
remember that the word species is only an abstract which we
use for all kinds of apples. And when we say that this species
or that species is very variable, we simply mean that it consiets
of a number of distinct types.

The practical importance of “individual variation”’ in a
plant species is now clear. It simply means that nature herself
has provided for a great number of concrete types which, from
a practical point of view, are of very different value. And,
when we say that we use the individual variation of a species
for practical purpose, we really mean that we use the life-types
or bio-types of the species in question.

1912] THe Ottawa NarTuRALIST. 29
THE EVOLUTION OF THE WORLDS.*
By J.S. PLasxert, B.A., F.R.S.C., THE OBSERVATORY, OTTAWA.

I have felt considerable difficulty in preparing a suitable
paper for presentation to the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club.
The connection between natural history and astronomy is so
slight that no subject was known to me, forming a sufficient
connecting link between the two sciences, to base a paper upon.
It was only upon learning that it was not essential for the paper
to have any direct relation with the natural sciences that I
undertook to prepare it. Although it is almost entirely astro-
nomical in character yet the title suggests some analogy to one
of the most important developments in your science, that of
evolution. I hope to be able to trace for you, if only in an
imperfect way, how the development of the celestial universe
has taken place, and | think we will find as we go along, that
there is in some respects considerable similarity in the scheme
of evolution in the two sciences.

Although we, in our feeble way, can trace the process of
development from the original primal material in its simplest
forms to the very complex manifestations that we see all around
us, both on the earth and in the heavens, and can see that this
development in both sciences has followed by the operations
of laws, which, simple in themselves, are yet so perfect and
complete and far reaching as to excite our admiration and awe,
yet we have in the very beginning to start with the Creator.
Surely there is not one of us but feels that such a plan of creation
as is here implied requires a higher, wider, and nobler concep-
tion of the Almighty Ruler of the Universe than the one which
imagines it to have been made, as it were, in a moment.

It is only within comparatively recent years that we have
been able to enunciate any definite theories in regard to the
constitution and mode of formation of the universe and its
component parts, in which is included, as a very insignificant
portion, our own solar system. Undoubtedly the one discovery
leading to this advance was that of the principles of spectrum
analysis, first definitely’ enunciated by Kirchoff in 1859. On
this epoch-making discovery is based the whole science of
astrophysics, sometimes called the new astronomy, which treats
of the constitution of the heavenly bodies, as apart from their
positions and motions in the celestial sphere, which is the pro-
vince of the older astronomy, or astrometry as it is now some-
times called.

~ *A Lecture given before the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club, 27th
February, 1912.

30 THe Ottawa NATURALIST. [May

As many of our deductions will be based on the facts ascer-
tained by the spectroscope, it may be as well to briefly explain
its principles. The spectroscope has, in its simplest form and
as its essential elements, a narrow slit on which the light from
the source to be analysed is thrown, a lens behind the slit,
called the collimator lens, which renders the light parallel and
a prism, a triangular piece of glass, which decomposes or analyses
the light into its constituent colors. The spectrum, as the rain-
bow colored band which is formed is called, can then be examined
with a telescope or photographed by a camera. I have a dia-
gram which shows the arrangement of these parts of the instru-
ment and I can form a spectrum on the screen.

The spectrum shown is that of the white hot carbon rods
of the electric arc, which give us what is called a contjnuous.
spectrum, one in which the colors shade gradually from one to
the other. Whenever you see a continuous spectrum, you know
that the light source is an incandescent solid or liquid body.
If we were to separate the carbon rods and burn a metal or any
substance between them, we would get a spectrum of the vapor
of that substance which would consist, not of a continuous band
of color, but of a number of separated bright lines, distributed
over the spectrum, and varying in number from about a dozen
in the case of lithium to many thousands in the case of iron.
Such a spectrum is called an emission or bright line. spectrum
and indicates, first of all, that it comes from incandescent gas
or vapor, and, secondly, tells us unmistakably the element which
produces it. For each element has not only a distinctive and
invariable number of bright lines in its spectrum, but the
positions and arrangements of these lines are always the same
for the same element, and differ for different elements. When
these positions are mapped for all the elements, it is evident
that by examining the spectrum of any substance, no matter
how complex, we can determine the elements of which it 1s com-
posed. There is a third kind of spectrum called an absorption
or dark line spectrum, in which the bright lines of the emission .
spectrum become dark lines in exactly the same positions, and
it is evident that the elements producing it can be identified in
exactly the same way. The absorption spectrum is produced
when an incandescent source shines through gases or vapors at
a lower temperature, and is the kind of spectrum given by the
majority of the stars, showing that their glowing centres are
surrounded by atmospheres of cooler gases.

Spectrum analysis tells us then, not only what elements
any body emitting light is composed of, but also gives us
information as to its physical condition, whether solid or gaseous,
and whether surrounded by cooler or hotter gases. This is

1912] Tae Otrawa NaturRALIsT. 31

equally true of celestial as of terrestrial bodies, and when the
light of the sun or of a star is projected on the slit of a spectro-
scope, we have at once an unfailing and accurate criterion as
to the elements present in the atmosphere of the sun or star.

When we analyse the light of the sun in this way we find
lines in its spectrum due to most of the terrestrial elements, and,
as we have good grounds for believing that earth and sun had
a common origin, we can safely assume that their composition
is identical, and that, if some terrestrial elements do not show
in the solar spectrum, it is either on account of their relative
scarcity, or because their spectrum is weak and overpowered
by others. On the other hand there is no convincing evidence of
the presence in the sun of any elements not found on the earth,
although this was not the case a few years ago. There is always
present in the spectrum of the outer atmosphere of the sun a
very bright yellow line of which there was no known terrestrial
counterpart and the hypothetical gas producing this line was
called helium. Sir Wm. Ramsay, in 1895, in examining the
spectrum of a gas, obtained by heating a rare mineral called
cleveite, found that it gave a strong line in exactly the same
position as the yellow solar line and was consequently due to
the same element, helium. Helium is a very light gas, does not
combine with any other elements, and has not sufficient mass
to enable the earth’s attraction to retain it in the atmosphere.
Consequently most of the helium, except that occluded by the
mineral cleveite and, as we now know, that obtained from the
degradation of radium had dissipated into space. This is an
interesting incident, and as will be seen later a very important
and widespread one—a new element discovered in the sun before
being found on the earth.

Although we might possibly have reasoned from other
evidence of the probable identity of composition of the sun and
earth, we certainly could not, without the spectroscope, have
known anything definite of the constitution and physical con-
dition of the stars. When, however, we examine their spectra
we find nearly forty per cent. of them practically identical with
the sun, and the remainder shading off by gradual degrees into
simpler and simpler spectra until only the lines due to hydrogen
and to hydrogen and helium remain.- The disappearance of the
lines of the heavier elements is not, however, an indication that
they are not present, but only that, owing to the higher tempera-
ture of the hydrogen and helium stars these light elements are
the chief constituents of their outer atmospheres and the elements
of higher atomic weight are nearer the centre.

» The evidence then, spectroscopic and otherwise, of the
chemical unity of all the matter in the universe is indisputable.

32 Tue Ottawa NATURALIST. [May

If the spectroscope had done nothing else than this, it would
have established a far reaching and most important generaliza-
tion, and one which enables us to develop a uniform and homo-
geneous theory of cosmical evolution, impossible without this
knowledge.

If we look up at the sky on one of these brilliantly clear
nights, we see stars scattered more or less irregularly over the
whole hemisphere visible to us. The number visible to the
unaided eye at one time is generally much overestimated, the
maximum number being about 3,000 instead of millions as I
have heard some people express. The great majority of these
objects, as well as thousands of times as many more rendered
visible by telescopic aid, are suns shining with their own intense
light and heat, many of them similar to our own sun, while
many are in earlier or later stages of development, and of larger
or smaller size. Besides the stars and the planets, of which
latter there are generally not more than two or three visible to
the eve at one time, close scrutiny, and knowing where to look,
will enable to detect a few objects which look like faint hazy
stars but which, when viewed by the telescope, present an
altogether different appearance, have a more or less extended,
misty, hazy, nebulous appearance generally without sharply
defined boundaries. These are what are called the nebulae,
and, though not so numerous as the stars, nevertheless number
many thousands throughout the sky.

When analysed by the spectroscope some of them give a
continuous spectrum, indicating a source composed of luminous
solid matter probably in the form of dust or small particles.
Others, notably the Great Nebula in Andromeda, the largest in
the sky, give an absorption spectrum similar in some respects
to that of our sun, indicating a stellar origin of the light, and
showing that these bodies are possibly Galaxies or Universes
like our own situated at almost inconceivable distances. Many
of the nebulae, the Great Nebula in Orion, the most beautiful
in the sky, being a conspicuous example, give bright line or
emission spectra indicating the elements hydrogen, helium and
a gas unknown on the earth which, for want of a better name,
we call nebulium. Considerable speculation has been indulged
in as to the nature of nebulium which is generally considered to
be a very simple form of matter. Only last month a paper
appeared in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
Society by Dr. J. W. Nicholson which assumed the atom of
nebulium to be of the nature of a positive charge of electricity
surrounded by a revolving ring of negative ions three or more in
number. Calculating mathematically the wave lengths of the
lines given by such a system they were found to agree quite

1912] Tue OTTawa NATURALIST. 33

closely in position with the unknown bright lines in the nebular
spectrum. We seem to be, with all the recent developments in
radio-activity and the ultimate constitution of matter, on the
eve of most important discoveries and generalizations not only in
astronomy but in its sister sciences, physics and chemistry.
Notwithstanding the diversity of composition indicated, it is
believed that all these bodies contain the same elements, our
terrestrial substances, and that only the spectra of the elements
appear which are most easily produced by the particular forms
of energy in action. It is not probable that the luminosity 1s
produced by heat, for the enormously extended and attenuated
matter of the nebulae must be at a very low temperature;
it is rather a sort of luminescence, perhaps due to electrical
action or to some form of radio-activity.

We have in the nebulae, according to the practically
universal belief of scientific men, the primal form of matter,
the material from which suns and worlds are made. [From this
world stuff, if I may use the term, we can trace the evolution,
following simple and well known laws, to suns and stars in all
their stages, to planets, comets and all the heavenly host. Fur-
ther than this also, though this is the province more particularly
of your science, following also other simple and well known
laws, the gradual development of life on planets such as ours
from the lower to the higher forms can equally well be traced.

In the tracing of this evolution in the heavens, it must
not be for a moment supposed that it can be followed in any
one star, any more than that the changes in living organisms
can be detected in one generation. Stellar development is so
inconceivably slow that it is very doubtful whether any change
could be detected in a million years. But we have in the sky
so rich a field for observation, such a great number of stars in
all stages of their development, that by the aid of the spectroscope
and by data obtained in numerous other ways it is possible to
arrange in orderly sequence the process of evolution. If we
suppose ourselves in an oak forest, though we could not
expect to see the growth of any one oak from the acorn and seed-
ling through small and large to a fully developed tree, and then
through the process of decay to a crumbling log, yet we would
have no difficulty, owing to the examples in all stages of growth
around us, in correctly tracing and arranging the development. _

Let us begin then with our nebula, whether gaseous or of
finely divided particles does not matter, as, by the theory of
the chemical unity of the cosmos, there are all the terrestrial
elements present or perhaps, to be more precise, at least
matter out of which all terrestrial elements may appear. Itis
practically certain that this matter is extremely attenuated or

34 THe OrrawaA NATURALIST [May

ihinly scattered over enormous spaces, hundreds, thousands, aye,
in many cases, probably millions of times the extent of our solar
system, and is certainly much less dense than the highest
vacuum we can obtain upon the earth. Notwithstanding its
tenuity, it is not exempt from the universal law of gravitation,
by which every particle of matter of every kind, in all places
and under all conditions, so far as we know, attracts and is at- -
tracted by every other particle of matter by a force which is
directly proportional to the product of the masses of the particles,
and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between
them. The law of gravitation with which you are all familiar
was first enunciated by Newton and has been proved, not only
for all matter upon the earth, but all the motions of the heavenly
bodies as well as their development are governed by this law
with the most marvellous exactitude. You can at once see
what will happen when all the particles, whether solid or gas-
eous, of our nebula are acted on by this force, each pulling the
other. Mathematical demonstration proves, what is indeed
almost evident from common sense principles, that the resultant
pull on each particle will be towards the centre of the mass,
and this pull, although almost infinitesimally small in the
originally attenuated material, will tend to condense the
nebula.
(Continued in next issue.)

POISON IVY.

By CHARLES MacNAMARA, ARNPRIOR, ONT.

Before reading Mr. Gussow’s interesting note in the Oct.-
Nov., 1911, number of THE Ortrawa Natura tist, few people,
I imagine, were aware of the existence of so many different
kinds of skin-poisoning plants. To the list of indigenous plants
of this class which Mr. Gussow mentions, I would add, though
somewhat doubtfully, the prickly ash (Zanthoxylum amert-
canum). For while no botanical work to which I have access
attributes any poisonous properties to this plant, I know of
two cases of severe skin irritation that could not easily be traced
to any other cause.

But by far the most dangerous of all our toxic flora is the
poison ivy (Rhus Toxicodendron). It is one of the commonest
and most widely distributed plants in this part of Canada, and
seems to thrive in almost any environment. A few years ago I
noticed large quantities of it growing luxuriantly on the barren
rock just below the Citadel at Quebec, and it is frequently found

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 35

in dry woods and along road-sides all over the country. But
perhaps its favorite habitats are the edges of swamps and in
damp, shady places. In such situations it grows remarkably
large, its leaflets sometimes attaining the size of a man’s hand.
It is often described in books as a ‘“‘climbing shrub”’ or spoken
of as a ‘“‘vine,’’ and sometimes it does clamber over stones or
hoist itself a few feet up a tree trunk by means of its rootlets,
but in this district at least the shrubby, erect form is much the
commonest, and the plant is seldom found climbing. This is
an important point, for those unacquainted with the plant on
finding it described as a vine ora climber, naturally fail to
identify the low growing erect form as the true poison ivy.
Some botanists distinguish the climbing form as a ‘‘variety”’
and give it the cognomen “‘radicais,’’ but both forms seem to
be merely different habits of the same species.

In a recent book, Sir Ray Lankster notes several unaccount-
able cases of severe dermatitis that occurred in England a year
or two ago, and which were finally traced to Rhus Toxicodendron

‘that had been sold by nurserymen, innocently enough no doubt,

instead of a kind of Virginia Creeper (Ampelopsis Veitchit)
which the Rhus resembles rather closely. Such ignorance of the
poison ivy is not, of course, at all surprising in Europe, where
the plant is not indigenous; but in this country, if onlv as a
matter of self-protection, everyone should be able to recognize
the ominous triple leaf, and it is remarkable to discover how
many people are not acquainted with it. I have seen it, when
colored red in the late summer, occupying an honored place in
a boquet of wild flowers gathered by an unsuspecting camper.
It is true that in the fall when the sap is drying up, it is not as
dangerous as in the summer when it is lush and green, but it is
an exceedingly risky thing to handle at any time.

The poisonous principle is a fixed oil which is found in all
parts of the plant, and persists in the dead leaves and the wood,
even after long drying. Minute dust-like particles of the plant
carry it, and very slight traces of it on the clothing may cause
an attack in those susceptible. The pollen blown by the wind
doubtless accounts for those mysterious and not infrequent

-- cases that occur where no actual contact with the plant has

- taken place. This oil has no apparent effect on animals, and it

is even said that the horse, mule and goat eat the leaves with
impunity and that birds feed upon the seeds. Like other oils,
it is insoluable in water alone, but may be readily washed off
with soap and water, and is quite soluablein alcohol. From
experiments made some years ago by Mr. V. K. Chestnut, of
the United States Department of Agriculture, it appears that
its effect on the skin is by no means instantaneous, and if washed

36 Tue Ottawa NaTuRALIST. [May

off within about an hour of its first contact, no ill results ensue,
unless, perhaps, if one is very susceptible; and, as is well known,
individuals differ vastly as regards susceptibility. Some people
contract the disease in a more or less severe form regularly every
summer; others appear to be quite unaffected. And, after all,
the large majority are practically immune. For, when one con-
siders the wide distribution and great profusion of the plant, it is
evident that only a comparatively small percentage of those
who come within its evil sphere of influence are poisoned by it.
At the same time it is very doubtful to my mind if any one is
perjectly immune. Given certain favorable, or rather unfavor-
able conditions, particularly heat and moisture, and no one is
safe from the attack. <A friend of mine, a lumberman, who has
spent all his life in the woods, and must have been continually
exposed to the infection ever since his boyhood,was a few years ago
badly poisoned for the first and only time in his life. One damp
warm day in June he had occasion to walk some distance through
a bush infested with poison ivy just when the latter was in bloom.
In slapping at the mosquitoes, which were very troublesome, he
doubtless transferred the acrid oil from the leaves or pollen to
his face. For a day or two after he suffered a very severe attack
which completely closed up his eyes. I was myself for years
under the impression that I was quite immune, and often handled
the plant with impunity, until one day I inadvertently dropped
my cap into a clump that was in blossom. The pollen evidently
shook off into the cap and thus came into contact with my skin,
for a day or two later the familiar vesicular sore broke out across
my forehead. Annual recurrences of attacks without any fresh
exposure to the infection are occasionally reported. Some of
these may safely be referred to traces of oil remaining on summer
clothing that is resumed the next year; but, there are others
that are not so easily accounted for. I have been told of an
attack first contracted by stepping on the plant with a wet and
naked foot, which recurred regularly, without new infection,
every year for seven years. That mystic number “seven”
might cast a shade of suspicion, if I had not the fullest confidence
in the accuracy of my informant, who is an expert botanist anda
scientific observer, and who had personal knowledge of the occur-
ence. If, as seemed to be shown by some of Mr. Chestnut’s
experiments mentioned above, the irritation is purely local and
external, it is exceedingly difficult to account for such attacks.
and the only explanation I can offer, and that very tentatively
is that they are the result of autosuggestion. But here we plunge
into physiological psychology, and if 1 want to keep within my
depth I had better stop.

Alleged remedies are numerous. Most of them owe their

1912] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 37

reputation to the fact that they have been used just as the
disease was abating naturally, and straightway they got credit
for a miraculous cure. A trapper of my acquaintance assured
me that a fresh poultice of jewelweed (/mpatiens fulva) was a
sovereign remedy, but a personal trial failed to prove his asser-
tion. I have heard of an infusion of Antennaria (species not
stated) having been used with success, and a ten per cent.
solution of sodium hyposulphite 1s sometimes prescribed, but
there is really no specific known for the disease, and the most
effective remedy only shortens the period of the attack. My
friend, Dr. Graham Harkness, of Vineland, Ont., who is himself
very susceptible to the poison, and consequently has had a
great deal of experience in its treatment, has kindly given me
the following notes on the therapeutics of the subject :—

“If a susceptible person finds that he has exposed himself to
poison ivy, he should, as soon as possible, wash thoroughly in
warm water and castile soap, and then apply a dilute solution of
ammonia. This will often prevent an attack.

An attack untreated will run its course in about 18 days.
Properly treated it will subside in a week or 10 days.

For small patches scrub thoroughly with a stiff brush, or if
on the face, run over them with+a safety razor, and apply
alcohol. This treatment is somewhat painful, but causes the
spots to dry up and disappear in 4 or 5 days, and besides it ab-
solutely relieves the itching.

For a more generalized attack nothing is better than the
old-fashioned lead and opium lotion: one teaspoonful each of
lead acetate and laudunum to 4 oz. of water.

The principle of all treatment is the same: apply astringents.
The more effectively this can be done the quicker the cure.

For the unhealthy condition in which the skin is often left
after an attack, nothing is so good as arsenic in the form of
Fowler’s Solution, 2-5 drops in water three times a day.”’

But here the proverbial ounce of prevention may well be
quoted a good deal above par, and the moral is, even if you are
quite sure that you are immune, have no unnecessary commerce
with poison ivy.

BOOK NOTICES.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE VERTEBRATES AND THEIR KIN, by
William Patten, Ph.D.; P. Blakiston’s Son & Co.; Philadelphia;
price $4.50.

In this volume of nearly 500 pages, Dr. Patten has given us
the result of a quarter of a century’s effort towards the solution

38 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [May

of one of the most fascinating and certainly one of the most
difficult problems in the field of zoology.

Dr. Patten’s paper, ‘“On the Origin of Vertebrates from
Arachnids”’ appeared in 1890; since then he has published many
admirable studies in morphology, many of which have dealt
with sections of the larger problem that has occupied his mind
for So Many years.

In presenting the arguments in support of his well-known
‘‘Arachnid Theory,’ the author covers a very large morphologic
field and offers an immense amount of valuable material, con-
cisely and clearly presented. The summary at the close of the
chapters is an excellent feature. There are 309 very fine illustra-
tions, many diagramatic and all of them instructive. The relega-
tion of the ‘‘Explanation of the Lettering” to the close of the
volume saves much space, but is rather inconvenient to the
reader.

At the close of the last chapter the work of the comparative
morphologist is earnestly impressed.

‘Hence, comparative morphology and phylogeny must
always constitute the fountain head whence comes our knowledge
of creative evolution. Such problems as the phylogeny of
vertebrates are, therefore, the most important ones the biologist
has to deal with, for on their solution depends our conception
of the way in which evolution actually has taken place.

The cytologist is too intent on the raw material of life;
his field of operation is both too remote and too narrow to give
either measurable detail or perspective. To discover the im-
mediate causes of any given stage in the evolution of the nervous
system or of the endocranium, by a study of chromosomes, or
of protoplasm, or by juggling with imaginary hereditary units
is as hopeless a task as it would be for the geologist to explain
the delta of the Ganges by an appeal to the composition of
cosmic matter.

The naturalist is bewildered by the amazing detail of the
finished product, and so much absorbed in the social organization
of the present moment, or in the relation of one plant, or animal
to the other, and to the environment at large, that he fails to
acquire an adequate historic perspective.

The experimental evolutionist, for a few hours, or months,
arbitrarily narrows the environment of an organism and measures
the results, if any, with instruments of precision, or with the
aid of higher mathematics; but he generally ignores or looks
with contempt on the vast experiments already performed for
him, where the laboratory is nature, and the results are expressed
in species, genera and classes.

The comparative morphologist aims, not merely to trace

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 39

the identity of changing structures under the disguise of new
forms, but to measure the rate of these changes, and to seek
out the underlying causes that have brought them about. He is
heavily handicapped by the lack of materials that can be pre-
cisely measured or controlled. But on the other hand there is a
certain advantage inherent in the very size and remoteness of
his problems, that is absent in the brief laboratory experiments
that have taken place under the eye of man. His problems must
be viewed from a great distance, but one.that gives a large
perspective, and draws a vast range of structural changes into
a single horizon where sporadic details disappear, and only those
events catch the eye that are massed around some central cause
or are ranged with monotonous regularity along some common
line of physiological upheaval.”

Whether or not the reader accepts all the author’s con-
clusions, there can be only the greatest admiration for the work
that has preceded the writing of this important book, as well
as for the marked ability with which the arachnid theory is
presented. The work is a masterpiece, and marks an important
step in the progress of zoology.

The publishers, P. Blakiston’s Son & Co., are to be com-
plimented upon the excellent get-up of the volume. The press
work is very fine—J. M. S.

A History oF THE Birps or CoLtorapo, by William Lutley
Sclater, M.A. (Oxon.), M.B.O.U., Hon. M.A.O.U., (lately
Director of the Colorado College Museum), with seventeen plates
and a map; Witherby & Co., 326 High Holborn, London: price
$5.00.

This new volume of 576 pages is founded upon the very
complete collection of Colorado birds formed, during the last
thirty-five vears, by Mr. Charles E. Aiken, of Colorado Springs.
The number of Colorado birds included is 392, and of these
225 are considered as regular breeders within the State. The
nomenclature and classification used are almost without excep-
tion that of the recently published third edition of the A. O. U.
check list.

Under each species is given references to Colorado Records,
Descriptions of the Adults, Distribution and Habits, which latter
includes nesting habits with an account of the eggs. Pages 533
to 551 are devoted to a Bibliography which includes references
to all articles on Colorado ornithology of importance, up to
December, 1910.

Students of birds generally will welcome this important
contribution to American ornithology. There is no apology
necessary for the appearance of this additional bird treatise.

40 THE Ottawa NATURALIST [May

The author points out that the published work of Cooke is now
out of print and difficult to obtain. This new book, in addition
to the description of the birds, etc., gives keys by which the .
birds observed, or obtained, may be determined.

The plates are beautiful reproductions from photographs
taken from nature, and add much to the interest and value of
the volume. The printing and arrangement of the text, etc.,
are excellent, and the author and publishers alike are to be
congratulated.—A. G.

In that valuable series of little books, the ‘‘Cambridge
Manuals of Literature and Science,’ there are some numbers
that may appeal in particular to readers of THE OtTTawa
Natura.ist. The following have been added to the Carnegie
Library, Ottawa :—

1. ‘‘Heredity in the Light of Recent Research,’ by Doncaster;

a useful little book, giving outlines of the theories of

DeVries and Mendel, and of the work of Bateson.

‘“Plant-animals,”’ by Keeble; based on researches carried on

for some years in a marine laboratory in Brittany—teally a

study of the life-history and habits of two marine worms,

the green plant-animal and the brown plant-animal.

3. “Prehistoric Man,” by Duckworth; an account with illustra-
tions of various human remains of great antiquity, with
brief mention of theories based thereon, and an attempt to
arrange the primitive types in ascending order.

4. “Links with the Past in the Plant World,” by Seward; an
enquiry into the relative antiquity of existing plants, with
reference to the evidence afforded by fossils—deals chiefly
with ferns and conifere.

5. “The Migration of Birds,” by T. A. Coward; titles of chap-
ters are: Cause and Origin of Migration, Routes, Height
and Speed of Flight, Route Finding, Distances Travelled,
Perils.

6. “Plant-life on Land,” by F. O. Bower; a series of short
essays to illustrate the migration of plants originally
aquatic, to the land, and their adaption to their atmos-
pheric surroundings—shows the point of view of the
present day botanist.

7. ‘The Natural History of Clay,’’ by Searle: some topics are:
clay and associated rocks, origins of clays, some clays of
commercial importance.

8. ‘Earthworms and Their Allies,” by Beddard.

9. ‘The Coming of Evolution,” by Judd.

10. ‘‘The Natural History of Coal,”’ by Arber.

bdo

Yi

THE OTTAWA NATURALIST

VOL. ag bal ee JULY, 1912 Nos. 3 and 4

“ON TWO NEW CRINOIDS FROM THE TRENTON
FORMATION OF ONTARIO.
(Plate IV, Figures 1-4).

By W. A. Parks anv F. J. Atcocx, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO.

In his recent memoir on Trenton Echinoderms prepared
for the Geological Survey of Canada, Mr. Frank Springer refers
to a Specimen in the museum of the University of Toronto as
a new species of Carabocrinus.* This opinion was expressed
in confirmation of a diagnosis by the writers which was based
on the character of the arms alone. A careful cleaning of the
specimen has revealed the cup in a fair state of preservation but
insufficiently perfect to warrant conclusions as to certain of
the plates. Despite this imperfection, it is highly probable
that the specimen represents a new genus of the Inadunate
Monocyclic Crinoids referable to the family Heterocrinidae.

The cup—rThe cup is about 15 mm. high and 17 mm.
wide. Five pentagonal and approximately equal basals are
presented. The plates of the radial ring differ greatly from one
another: three of them are large with a facet extending across
the middle third for the insertion of the arms. The other two
radials are transversely divided and do not appear to bear arms
of the same character as those arising from the larger plates.
Owing to the crushed condition of the specimen it is impossible
to be sure of the other points in the anatomy of the cup, but it
would appear that one of the large radials is somewhat greater
than either of the others and that its upper left corner is trunc-
ated for the insertion of a small anal. In the drawing (plate IV,
fig. 1), the right-hand dotted line represents the uncertain suture
between the supposed anal and the contiguous large radial.
The middle dotted line is almost certainly a suture and the
lefthand dotted line is, in all probability, due to a crack across
the superradial. The dissection shown in fig. 4 is drawn on the
assumption that the small triangular plate is a true anal. If
this conclusion is correct, then the large radial is the right pos-
terior and the divided plates are the left posterior and the

*Geol. Sur. Can., Memoir 15 P., Ottawa, 1911.

42 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [June-July

right anterior radials. It is to be noted that this arrangement
is not in accord with the general habit of the Heterocrinidae
in which the right posterior radial and the right and left anterior
radials are usually the ones divided. All the plates of the cup
are thick and heavy with the upper edges of the radials strongly
inflected. The tegmen likewise was of fairly heavy construc-
tion, but it is not clearly observable.

The arms.—The arms are stout and bifurcate heteronom-
ously: in life, they probably extended to a height of 50 mm-
above the cup. The three normal radials bear arms which are
inserted on a facet extending across the middle third of each plate.
The first primibrach (costal) is axillary: the second or third
secundibrach (distichal) is axillary: the third or fourth terti-
brach (palmar) is axillary. The arm-segments are somewhat
hour-glass shaped and the various branches are of unequal
strength. The arms lie in a curved position, which is probably
normal. There is some evidence of the occurrence of stout
pinnulae at intervals, but the specimen is too poorly preserved
to warrant remarks on their distribution.

The right anterior superradial is badly broken but it
appears to have carried an arm which maintained its strength
to a greater height than the normal arms. This arm does not
appear to have arisen from a facet on the exterior face of the
radial as in the case of the normal arms. The left posterior
superradial shows no evidence of an arm but it is possible that
one is hidden under the left ramus of the right posterior arm
which lies across the top of the plate. It is certain, however,
that the left posterior radial did not bear an arm analogous with
the three normal ones.

The anal tube—The anal tube is a very slender structure
about 1.5 mm. thick: it shows three segments in a distance of
6mm. Thetube appears to have risen from the small triangular
anal already mentioned. Owing to the imperfect preservation,
the interpretation of this structure is attended with doubt.
The coincidence of the supposed anal plate and this tube-like
structure seems to justify the orientation decided on.

The stem.—The stem is relatively large, having a diameter
of 7 mm. at its proximal end. In the 18 mm. exposed by the
specimen, there is little evidence of tapering distally. A quin-
quepartite arrangement is clearly indicated with the subdivisions
interradial in position and therefore continuous with the basals.
If Wachsmuth and Springer are correct in stating that the seg-
ments of quinquepartite stems alternate with the cup-plates of
the proximal row, then this form is dicyclic with invisible
infra-basals. The stem shows transverse elevated ridges at

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 43

intervals of about 2 mm. with finer, somewhat sinuous lines be-
tween the heavier ones.

Remarks.—It must be admitted that both the anal tube
and the anal plate are of doubtful interpretation and consequently
the orientation of the form is questionable. Notwithstanding
this uncertainty, the existence of two, and two only, divided
radials, together withthe lack of symmetry in the arms and their
peculiarinsertion, justify the creation of a new genus and species.
The form seems to foreshadow the Platycrinidae of a later period.

GLAUCOCRINUS, GEN. NOV.

Basals five, equal. Radials relatively large. The right
anterior and the left posterior radials transversely divided. A
small anal rests on the upper left shoulder of the right posterior
radial. The three normal radials bear stout bifurcating arms.
The other radials support arms of a different character or may
lack arms on at least one of the plates.

GLAUCOCRINUS FALCONER], SP. NOV.

Specific characters as in the general description given above.

Named for President Falconer of the University of Toronto.

Type—No. 610 T., University of Toronto Museum.

Formation—Trenton.

Locality—K irkfield, Ont.

Collector— Joseph Townsend.

The second species herein described is founded on two
specimens which are evidently referable to the genus Glypto-
crinus. Each of the specimens shows a considerable portion
of the cup with the stem attached: one exhibits the plates of
the cup in an admirable manner; the other, which is less perfect
in this respect, shows, however, almost the full extent of the
arms. The accompanying figure (plate,. IV, fig. 2) has been
prepared by combining the features exhibited by the two speci-
mens. It is regrettable that neither example reveals the ar-
rangement of the plates in the posterior interray.

The cup.—In one specimen, the cup is 19 mm. high and 15
mm. wide; in the other, it is about 14 mm. high and 11 mm.
wide. As far as can be observed, the basals consist of five
similar pentagonal plates, considerably smaller than the radials.
These latter plates are of equal size and of an heptagonal outline.
The radials are succeeded by two somewhat elongated primi-
brachs (costals), the first of which is hexagonal and the second
heptagonal. The second primibrach is axillary and is succeeded
by the secundibrachs (distichals) which occur in single series.
The interray shows a lower plate which is hexagonal in outline:
this is followed by three pairs of interbrachial plates of which the
last pair is interdistichal in position. Above this point, the

44 THE Ortawa NATURALIST. [June-July

arrangement of the plates is not clearly shown, but apparently
a fourth pair of interbrachial plates continue the interray to
the margin of the cup.

The characteristic features of the species lie more particu-
larly in the ornamentation of the cup plates. From the centre
of each radial a strongly marked carina runs up the ray to the
middle of the second costal, where it bifurcates and continues
over the distichals to the point of origin of the arms. A strong
ridge-like carina with sharp, square shoulders connects the
centres of the radials, and forms a very characteristic, sharply
defined band passing around the cup in this zone. Downwards
from the centre of the radial, the carina is broken into two halves,
each of which passes to the contiguous basal. No other stellate
ornamentation appears on any of the plates, except a faint radial
striation on the first interbrachial. All the plates, however,
are marked with a distinct granulation which is more pronounced
on some plates than on others.

The stem.—The stem is composed of thin discs which are
alternately large and small. Near the cup, the larger joints
are about two mm. in diameter and occur to the number of
three in the space of one mm. Distally, the stem tapers rapidly
and the joints become more elongated. Externally the stem-
joints are round in section: the shape of the internal passage
was not observed.

The arms.—The arms are ten in number: they appear to
become free and to be provided with pinnules beyond the second
distichal. The joints are distinctly uniserial in arrangement
and occur to the number of three in the distance of one mm.
in the lower portions of the arms. Bifurcation of the arms
was observed in one instance only: the division in this case
occurs above the sixtieth joint. The present species is dis-
tinguished, more particularly, by the strong carina passing
around the cups in the radial zone. The lack of stellate orna-
mentation on the interbrachial plates distinguishes it from
G. decadactylus and G. dyert, which are, moreover, Cincinnatian
forms.

The species of Glyptocrinus hitherto described from the
Trenton of Ontario are G. ramulosus, G. ornatus and G. margin-
atus: none of these shows a prominent carina encircling the
cup. The small basal plates and slender branching arms of
G. ramulosus sufficiently differentiate that species. The striking
ornamentation of G. ornatus, which consists of five or six con-
spicuous, finely striated ridges radiating from the centres of
the plates, serves to distinguish it from the present species.
The margined plates of G. marginatus and the different arrange-

1912] THe Ortrawa NATURALIST. 45

ment of the interbrachials in that species render impossible any
_ confusion with the present form.

Glyptocrinus circumcarinatus, sp. nov.

Type specomen—No. 668 T, University of Toronto Museum.
Formation—Trenton.,

Locality—K irkfield, Ont.

Collector— Joseph Townsend.

A FOSSIL STARFISH WITH AMBULACRAL
COVERING PLATES.

By GeorceE H. Hupson.

(Continued from May number).

THE COVERING PIECES OR EPINEURALS.

This specimen still retains 23 plates covering the food
grooves in such perfectly normal positions that there can be no
doubt whatever as to their being strictly homologous with the
epineurals of Edrioasteroidea.

On the less developed portion of arm I (plate II, figs. 1, 2,
3 and 6) there are 16 of these and on the mature portion of
arm IV, next the disc (plates I, figs. 1 and 3; III, figs. 3 and 4)
there are seven more. In addition there are 10 other epineurals
which are but slightly displaced and whose proper position may
be easily recognized—one on radius III, seven on radius IV
and two on radius V. Three other displaced and weathered
epineurals are also present.

The most distal epineural on arm IV (the eighth of a series)
lies flat on the floor of the food groove and clearly reveals the
shape of the arm members of a series. They are pentagonal in
outline, twice as long as broad, the two long sides parallel;
the ends next the marginals have three angles each, the cen-
tral one of about 85° and well rounded at the apex; each free
end is truncate, having two right angles.

Now when we have an ambulacral groove with straight
bordering walls we would expect the.epineurals to be placed
alternately, their truncate ends against the wall and their pointed
ends toward the entrant angles between two neighbors of the
opposite row as in Cyathocystis. We also would expect these
inner ends to meet with their marginal faces apposed to each
other in close fitting valvate closure and the ridge formed by
the plates, when closed, to be low and comparatively smooth
(plates flush), to secure additional strength against attack.

46 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [June-July

Our specimen violates every one of these conditions. The
epineurals are opposite; their pomted ends against the straight
border of the food groove; their thick, blunted, truncate ends
apposed to those of their neighbors of the opposite row; their
great length allows these ends to touch only by the inner edges
of their end faces (closure not valvate); when closed the ridge
is high, the angle at the summit being about 65° (plate II, figs.
3 and 6); the closure at the ends is often very imperfect (see
13th epineural in upper row, plate II, figs. 1 and 2 and the 5th
epineural in lower row on arm IV, plate III, fig. 4); the plates
are too wide to secure valvate closure at their lateral margins
and the majority have these margins imbricated and with either
the orad or aborad margins under. These plates, in shape and
arrangement, are so at variance with what we would naturally
expect that they call to mind the double row of flat spines that
protect the food grooves in Pentaceros. To derive the latter
from the former would seem to require less alteration that that
which has already taken place.

Some of these changes might be considered as indicative
of a loss of the primary function, but the specialized form of
joint and free end and the marked increase in length, breath,
and thickness must be taken to indicate that these changes are
all adaptations secured by a new function or functions that were
added to the primitive one and finally came to surpass it in
importance.

Two possible new functions will be considered; the first
of these a new method of securing food supply and the second
a new aid to locomotion. Before taking up either it will be
necessary to make a brief study of the evidences of the muscular
system which our specimen possessed.

MUSCULATION.

That the epineurals are arranged alternately with the
adambulacrals below them may be seen by an examination of
the fourth and sixth epineurals of the lower row in plate III,
fig. 4. The position of the eleventh epineural of the upper row
in plate II, fig. 1, and the position which the tenth of this series
must have occupied will give additional evidence. In the last
figure the epineurals have their free ends swung aborad, in the
former figure they are swung orad. This indicates that the
epineural adductors were in pairs and their origins were in the
very prominent, central, elongated, sunken muscle fields which
are so clearly shown on the oral surfaces of all adambulacrals
except the first of aseries. The muscle pits are commensurate
with the size and importance of the epineurals themselves. The
abductors were also probably arranged in pairs and the muscle

1912] THE OtrawaA NATURALIST. 47

fields of their origins were on the oral faces of the marginals.
These fields were outside of a highly specialized area, were
therefore more diffused and their limits are not recognizable.

As all the adambulacrals were free to move in a direction
perpendicular to the oral plane, the attachment of the epineural
adductors to them necessitated a series of ambulacral depressors
with origins on the aborad ambulacral edges of the marginals.
The adambulacral floor could be thus raised or lowered while
the epineurals were closed.

Plate II, fig. 5, shows also marked muscle pits on the aborad
surfaces of the seventh pair of ad=mbulacrals of arm V, while
the photomicrographs made for fig. 7 of the same plate showed
but faint muscle pits on the aborad surfaces of the fifteenth pair
of adambulacrals. These pits represent the places of attach-
ment of one of a series of three adambulacral adductors for
each row. It is very evident that the muscles of the peristomial
ring could act as abductors of the older adambulacrals.

On younger portions of the arm the orad—aborad move-
ment of the adambulacrals (allowing the adambulacral jaw to
be advanced or retracted) was not permitted, as may be seen
by an examination of the fourth and fifth arm marginals of arm
II (plate III, fig. 1). The ossicles were here so slightly attached
to the carbonized bed of the substratum that an attempt to find
ambulacrals and aboral plates resulted in the loss of the 13th
adambulacral of the lower row. Further attempt to develop
this locality was immediately abandoned but the accidental
removal of the single ossicle left a perfectly fresh surface, showing
the semi-cylindrical groove in which movement perpendicular
to the oral plane was allowed while movement along the ray
was prevented. The median vertical ridges on the ambulacral
faces of these younger marginals may be clearly seen. The
younger and weaker ambulacral adductors were thus protected
from the pull of the peristomial ring. The change in outline
of cross section of the prismatic flooring pieces, while passing
orad, is indicative also of change in function. The very marked
increase in curvature of what were once prism angles was in
part due to a demand for larger fields for origin and insertion of
muscles other than those already mentioned.

Foop CAPTURE.

That the open epineurals of ciliated food grooves had occa-
sionally the chance to capture animals somewhat larger than the
organisms making up the mass of the food, cannot be doubted.
When our primitive stellerid abandoned the fixed habit, and
began to find a more abundant food supply in the ooze of the

48 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [June-July

sea floor such opportunities became more numerous and the
covering pieces began to develop along new lines.

Let us suppose that we have an original circlet of ten en-
larged peristomial epineurals, that these occasionally capture
and crush small organisms and that they can be drawn inward
by adductors (turning on their long axis—a power possessed by
all the epineurals of our specimen) and thus carry such particles
to, and press them into, the oral cavity. The second pairs of
epineurals could also occasionally capture organisms and thrust
them under the peristomial circlet or move orad over this circlet
when it was in the indrawn position. The first circlet might
thus come to function as secondary jaws, moving on their in-
turned edges over the sloping oral surface of the adambulacral
jaws and developing permanent sliding joints. At a later stage
the second epineurals would come to be placed permanently
over them and assume the original functions of the first circlet.

Now,in our specimen we have throughout the food groove
an epineural for every adambulacral save the first. Orad of
the first, however, and resting on it by a marginal face is a single
plate which we must consider as a modified epineural of an
earlier circlet which has wholly lost its original function.

How profoundly this earlier circlet has been modified may
be seen by noting the present form of these plates. The mar-
ginal faces in contact with the adambulacrals have been widened
and beveled to make a good sliding joint fitting the V shaped
groove formed by the contact of the latter. This may be seen
in plate III, fig. 2, a side view of a pair of these plates and taken
before they had been more fully freed from the matrix. The
faces apparently resting against the ‘‘torus?”’ are also widened.
The outer marginal faces are narrower and consist of an aborad
short portion and a longer orad portion that appears to be of
the nature of a rounded, blunt, movable spine. The remaining
marginal face of each plate shows an inner heavy blunt tooth
below the smaller rounded tip of the spine-like piece. The
broad contiguous face of each pair was flat and close fitting.

As the plates of the secondary jaws assumed more and more
an indrawn position the second pairs of epineurals moved
permanently orad and met over them. The secondary jaws
being powerful organs of defense, a complete covering of the
peristomial cavity by the second circlet was not necessary.
This new circlet (marked as first epineurals in our figures) was
thus free to increase the diameter of the central capturing ring,
which they did by shifting their attached ends farther aborad.
We find that they have encroached on the higher oral face of the
interradial marginals and secured thereon well marked excava-
tions with a clearly defined semicircular aborad border (plate

1912] THe OrTtawa NATURALIST. 49

III, fig. 1). The proximal ends of each pair of these plates were
cut to form a half circle and they could be drawn either aborad
to the ridge, or some distance orad. We here have another ring
of sliding joints aiding in food capture. The distal ends of these
epineurals seem to have retained a primitive central angle that
enabled them the better to hold their prey or to break the shells
of small mollusca. molluscoidea or crustacea. These plates
could be raised or lowered and each pair could open and close
like a pair of pliers. The shifting of the position of their prox-
imal ends allowed them to assist in the capture of eggs, young,
or adult organisms up to 4 mm. in diameter and enabled them
also to press food into the space where the secondary jaws could
act upon it.

The epineurals marked (2) were directed orad and their
attachments were along a diagonal edge which also rested in a
somewhat elevated socket on the oral edges of the interradial
marginals. The oral faces of these marginals also show the
fields of origin of the abductors of these more specialized first
and second epineurals.

The remaining epineurals could function somewhat after
the manner of a duck’s bill, for they could grub in the ooze and
press the mud out between the plates. When the epineurals
were all closed the captured and separated food contents could
be moved orad by a progressive wave movement (trough and
crest) of the ambulacral floor. The ability to shift the free ends
of the epineurals orad or aborad and to move either half of an
ambulacral floor would assist in the process. The evidence for
this manner of food getting is abundant and should be conclusive.

THE Homotocy or THE PERISTOMIAL PLATES.

We must note that to carry the alternate arrangement
between epineurals and adambulacrals to the interradial mouth
angles and complete the paired series of epineural adductors
would require the presence of either a single unpaired epineural
or adambulacral in each interradius. If the primitive circlet
of peristomial covering pieces were five in number the ‘‘torus?”’
may represent this primitive unpaired epineural. Figs. 3 and 5
of plate III (interradius 2) suggest-such a derivation. If on
the other hand the odd plate was an adambulacral our ‘‘torus?”’
might represent that plate. In the figures, however, it seems
too far removed from the adambulacrals to belong to the series.
What we have called the oral might be an odd adambulacral
and in this case we should consider the interradial marginal to
be the true oral. Ifthe oral surface (left uppermost after death)
sank into contact with the ossicles of an aboral circlet then our
“torus?’’ might be an aborad interradial and the plate uncovered

50 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [June-July

in interradius 1 (plate III, fig. 3) is strongly suggestive of such a
plate with a genital opening. -We should consider also the
possibility of developing, from our ‘“‘secondary joint’’, a true
Ophiuroid torus with its spines. These suggestions are made
here for the purpose of calling attention to the fact that we are
in need of a consistent terminology that can be applied to all
classes of Echinoderms and because of the evidence which this
specimen, as yet only partially ‘“‘developed’’, has to present
concerning this matter. It is suggested that we may inaugurate
a better terminology by using ‘epineural”’ for ‘‘ambulacral”’
in the Crinoidea, and using a new term altogether for the term
ambulacra as now used in the Asteroidea. Could I have used
‘“ambulacra’’ in place of ‘‘adambulacra”’ in this paper I should
have been glad to do so but the plates for which I would have
used this term are not the ambulacra of Asteroidea.

LOCOMOTION.

The relatively short arms, the small number of marginal
ossicles, their flat and close fitting contiguous faces, the absence
of re-entrant angles for muscle fields and the marked broadening
of the arm as it approaches the disc all speak of rigidity. The
arm could neither be used for feeding after the manner of Asterias
nor could its lateral bending alone have been its means of loco-
motion.

On the other hand if progress was by means of tube feet with
suckers, those long projecting epineurals would make a very
effective drag. We may esily recognize the difficulty of moving
this veritable harrow over seaweeds or dead shells on a hard
bottom unless the epineurals could so shift their position as to
adapt themselves to motion in any direction. If they could
thus give passive aid there is no reason why they might not
give active aid. Tube feet with suckers would be useless on
soft bottoms, such as that on which our specimen died, while
its spade like epineurals might be used to shift its position over
its feeding ground.

Astropecten affords us an important suggestion. “‘Owing
to the loss of suckers it is unable to climb over rocks and stones
like the ordinary species, but it runs over the surfaces of the
hard sand in which it lives by means of its pointed tube feet.”
The long and heavy epineurals moved by powerful muscles
ought at least to be as effctive agents of locomotion as pointed
tube feet.

That some arm movement was allowed is shown by arm I
in fig. 3 of plate I. The tip is not only turned toward one side

1 McBride, ‘‘Cambridge Natural History’’ Vol. I, Page 468.

-

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 51

but it was curved toward the aboral surface. The joints formed
by contact of the first arm marginals with the interradial mar-
ginals are all gently concave aborad and suggest sliding or
shallow ball and socket joints. The movement may have been
something like that of the Ophiuroidea, the side arms being
lifted and set forward and the epineurals holding like anchors
or helping in the forward thrust. In that case our orientation,
based in part on arm position, may be in fault. Aside from the
ability of the long epineurals to open widely and close, the angle
at the fixed end of about 85 degrees indicates an ability to swing
their free ends through an arc of some 95 degrees in a radial
direction. We have already noted that the preserved plates on
the two arms are set in opposite directions if considered
radially. With reference to the environment, however, they are
set in the same direction and are in the position we should
expect if they had been used to assist in thrusting the creature
in the direction of the third interradius.

SOME GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.

We all know that the more primitive Echinodermata pos-
sessed food grooves with covering plates such as we find in Cys-
tidea, Crinoidea and Edrioasteroidea. In 1907! I described the
covering plates in Parablastoidea (Blastoidocrinus) and in 1911?
after further work on the same species | endeavored to show
that with regard to Pentremites we must ‘‘accept Doctor Car-
penter’s contention that the mouth, food grooves and pores were
covered with small but well fitting plates.” We now have found
undoubted covering plates in the Stelleroidea.

I desire to point out that the food groove with a double
row of flooring plates covered by a double row of epineurals and
flanked by one or more marginal plates on either side is a very
primitive type of food groove and I believe that Protopalaeaster
narrawayi not only points out the fact that the Stelleroidea
arose from such a type but that the Echinoidea also had a similar
parentage.

With so simple a form before us we must ask ourselves if
the ambulacra and interambulacra of Echinoidea and the “‘ verte-
bral ossicles’ and “‘lateral arm plates’’ of Ophiuroidea are not
strictly homologous with the adambulacra and marginals of our
type and of the Edrioasteroidea.

The very evident specialization of the peristomial covering
plates of P. narrawayi for food capture and mastication would

1 “© On Some Pelmatozoa from the Chazy Limestone of New York.’’
In New York State Museum Bulletin 107, p. 112.

2 “* Studies of some Early Seluric Pelmatozoa.”’
In New York State Museum Bulletin 149, p. 208.

52 THE OtrrawaA NATURALIST. [June-July

suggest also that the Dental Apparatus of the Echinoidea had
a similar origin. The still greater specialization here lead to
an early loss of the little used epineurals of the outer portions
of the ambulacra. Covering plates or epineurals in Echinoidea
were undoubtedly once present and if not already found we may
with every reason still expect to find them in older members of
this group.

The absence of the usual members of an aborad skeleton
and the presence of the shifted interradial may lead others to
consider that we are viewing the aborad face of the oral skeleton.
This would make Stelleroid ambulacra of the plates here desig-
nated as epineurals. I may say that I have myself entertained
this idea only to reject it and I am prepared to defend my
position.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE WORLDS.

By J.S. Prasxett, B.A., F.R.S.C., THE OBSERVATORY, OTTAWA.

(Continued from page 34).

And now what happens when the particles begin to move
towards the centre of gravity. Work is done by them and, as
the form that work done eventually takes is heat, it is evident
that, as the nebula condenses under its own attraction, the
temperature rises, it grows hotter. A very striking example
of condensation accompanied by heat must have been often
noticed by those who use automobiles or bicycles. When air
is pumped into the tires, the pump becomes quite hot. Possibly
some of you have put this down to friction but you would find
it impossible to generate much heat by running the plunger
up and down in the open. You push the air particles closer
together, do work on them, which is converted into heat and the
temperature rises. On these two laws, that of gravitation, and
that of the transference of work into heat is based the whole
scheme of stellar evolution. Gravitation is the force that
impels the particles to do the work that is transferred with
heat. As condensation of the nebula proceeds it grows smaller,
approximates in form to a sphere, gets hotter and hotter and
becomes star or sun-like in its form and temperature.

It may be as well to digress for a moment and try to get a
clear conception into our minds as to the physical condition of
the stars. The great majority of the stars or suns are entirely
gaseous, composed of incandescent vapors at enormously high
temperatures, our sun about 11,000°F., while the white and

1912] THE OTTAWA NATURALIST. 53

blue stars are much hotter. The temperature cited is that of
the outer visible radiating surface, that of the interior must be
inconceivably hotter. Such enormous differences of tempera-
ture between the stars and the absolute zero—460°F. of space
must inevitably produce a turbulent seething system with up-
rushes and outbursts of the hotter vapors from the interior
producing violent eruptions examples of which, though prob-
ably on a comparatively mild and small scale are given by the
solar prominences.

Try and picture to yourselves such a body as I have des-
cribed. A turbulent seething mass of gases and vapors at a
temperature even on the outside several times as high as we
can get on the earth and of almost inconceivable size up to
50 million or more miles in diameter. Even the most vivid
imagination must fal] far short of the stupendous reality.

Having this picture in our minds let us return to the nebulae
and before going on with their development let us also have in
our minds their appearance. I have a number of photographs
of the nebulae, made by reflecting telescopes, which show us
much more than can be seen visually and indicate the varied
and complex structure of these objects.

Starting then with a nebula of comparatively simple form,
whether gaseous or meteoric in character is immaterial, as the
result will be the same, we have it condensing and growing
smaller under the action of gravity and hotter under the conver-
sion of work into heat. As the temperature rises it begins to
glow, the more volatile elements are vaporized it becomes more
nearly spherical in form and is a deep red star giving a banded
or fluted spectrum, indicating the presence of chemical com-
pounds only existent at moderate temperature. As condensa-
tion proceeds the body gets hotter and yellower, the flutings dis-
appear from the spectrum, and large numbers of metallic lines,
characteristic of the second type of spectrum, similar to our own
sun,appear. At this stage the star is still very tenuous, probably
considerably less dense than our own atmosphere, and at a
temperature of about 10,000°F.

Further condensation with its resultant increase of tem-
perature has the effect of driving to the outer atmosphere the
more volatile and lighter elements such as hydrogen and helium
and thus diminishing and suppressing the metallic lines resulting
in a much simpler spectrum containing very broad and dense
hydrogen lines and a few faint metallic lines and in some stars
the hydrogen lines only. The star is now white or bluish white
in color the temperature is from 15,000° to 18,000° F., and if
the body is of moderate size, about the same as our sun, it has
reached the height of its evolution, its maximum temperature;

54 Tue Otrawa NATURALIST. [June-July

and from now on, through condensation continues the temper-
ature begins to fall. If, however, the star is very massive, the
temperature rises still further and we have the lines of helium
appearing with occasionally silicon and at the still higher tem-
perature of 20,000° F. and over.

From this period onward the temperature begins to fall,
very slowly of course, with pauses, and yet with a downward
trend. The star is shrinking gradually, becoming denser but
owing to its density the shrinkage is not so great, the quantity
of heat produced does not quite equal that radiated, and
the temperature must inevitably fall. Henceit becomes yellower
and passes through the same or nearly the same spectral types
as in its ascending phase. It is believed that our sun is on the
descending scale of temperature, is at a stage where the change
is very gradual, where the loss of heat through radiation is
nearly neutralized by that gained through shrinkage. It has
been calculated that a contraction in its diameter of 300 ft. a
year is sufficient to compensate for the heat lost by radiation.
At that rate in some 12,000,000 or 15,000,000 years it will be
so dense as to be incapable of further contraction, will then
relatively rapidly solidify and cool down and become a dead
sun while its attendant planets will soon reach the temperature
of outside space—460° F. and all life will become extinct. This
comparatively short time that must have elapsed between the
time when our globe was in a molten condition and the present,
a time which according to the contraction theory can not be
more than about 50,000,000 years and which is much too short
for the geologists who require the earth to be hundreds or even
thousands of millions of years old, may be indefinitely extended
on the assumption of the presence of a comparatively small
quantity of radio-active material. Even supposing that the
energy given off by substances like radium played a very con-
siderable part in compensating for the enormous loss due to
radidation yet it is inevitable that finally there must be loss of
temperature and gradual cooling down of all the stars.

The plan of evolution here developed which postulates both
an ascending and descending scale of temperature differs from
that generally held which assumes that the development is from
the nebulae to the white and blue stars without intermediate
stages and then by descending stages to yellowish and red stars
and extinction. Although such a plan, requiring both ascending
and descending scales of temperature was formulated by Sir
Norman Lockyer many years ago it did not receive much support
and it is only within the last year or two that it has come into
favor chiefly by the evidence collected from many sources by
Dr. H. N. Russell of Princeton University.

1912] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 55

As we have seen, the whole tendency of stellar evolution is
towards a loss of energy, a cooling down, and eventually all the
stars we now see will become dead and invisible; and, unless
there is some means of replenishing this energy the whole universe
will get to one level of coldness, invisibility, and deadness. Do
we know any means by which such a dead system may be revivi-
fied? So far as any energy from within each body is concerned,
no. Nevertheless, each of these bodies contains an incon-
ceivably vast store of kinetic energy, energy of motion. They are
all moving in all directions with velocities varying up to about
200 miles per second on the average about ten miles a second.
Although they are relatively small as compared with the vast
distances between them, nevertheless in the hundred million
or so of stars in the visible universe, it is certain that some pairs
will come within range of each other’s attraction, will be drawn
towards each other with constantly increasing velocity and
will, under certain conditions, collide either directly or with
grazing contact. What will then happen? We know what
would happen if two projectiles from modern cannon, each
moving with a velocity less than half a mile per second and
weighing less than a ton were to collide. They would be prac-
tically destroyed and made intensely hot. We cannot conceive
the destructive effects of the collision of two bodies, billions
upon billions of times as massive as our cannon balls, and
moving, as they would be at the instant of collision, about a
thousand times as fast. They would certainly be entirely
vaporized with explosive violence and scattered over an enor-
mous space and we would have again a nebula which would
undoubtedly pass through the process of evolution already
described.

This is a very fascinating hypothesis, that the universe
contains in itself the forces which will keep it in existence, in
undiminshed glory. Although we do know that such collisions
will occur and have occurred, we do not know whether they are
of sufficient frequency to renew the loss of energy constantly
going on. That such collisions occur is attested by the appear-
ance of new stars (Novae) which come from time totime. The
most notable in recent years (1907) was in the constellation
Perseus. It was discovered by a Dr. Anderson of Edinburgh,
who only a short time previously discovered a less striking Nova;
it suddenly appeared where no star had been previously, blazed
up in the most spectacular manner so that in a few hours it was
brighter than any star in the sky, and then nearly as rapidly
faded. It now has the appearance and gives the spectrum of
a nebula. There can hardly be any doubt that these novae

~

56 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [June-July

are due to collisions and that after the vapour has cooled down
they become nebulae ready to again develop into suns.

We may be able to roughly compute the probability of such
collisions maintaining the energy of the universe. We may
assume that the time required fora body to be developed from
the nebula, pass through all its stages to extinction, is of the
order of 500,000,000 years. If we further assume that there
are 100,000,000 stars in the visible universe it is evident that if
anew star and in consequence a nebula were to appear every
five years, it would suffice to maintain the universe at its
present brillancy. As a matter of fact, there seems to be no
doubt that, from the past few years, new stars have appeared
at intervals of from 5-10 years, which, allowing for the fact that
the less brillant of such objects may easily escape detection,
seems sufficient to establish a continuous cycle of development
of the universe.

Hitherto we have considered the evolution of the stars or
suns themselves from the primal nebula, and have passed over,
what is fully as important from our standpoint, the formation
and development of planetary systems. Now that we have,
I hope, obtained some idea of the methods and laws governing
the formation of suns, we will have to consider those relating to
the attendants of the suns, the planets, and we will find that the
same principles apply. We know, of course, that our own sun
has a number of planets revolving around him, and travelling
with him in his journey through space but we have no means
of knowing except by analogy whether other stars are similarly
accompanied for even the largest of telescopes could not possibly
detect planets like ours. We do know that the double stars,
pairs of suns revolving around one another, can not have attend-
ant planets as the perturbations would soon cause them to be
drawn into one or other of the pair. The latest estimate places
the proportion of double stars as nearly one-third of the whole.
Of the remaining two-thirds, it seems probable that the condi-
tions, which gave rise to planets in our own system, should be
effective in many if not most of them, and there are likely many
millions of planetary systems throughout the universe.

The history of the development of planetary theories is a
most interesting one, but I have not time to more than briefly
touch upon it. Although some vague and curious notions were
entertained by the ancients, it was not until the middle of the
eighteenth century that Wright of Durham, England, published
a theory of the universe. This was read by the young philos-
opher, Kant, who at once turned his brillant mind to the prob-
lems of cosmogony, and in 1755 published a treatise on the
subject, marked by the beauty and generality of its treatment,

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 57

but faulty in some of its arguments from his imperfect know-
ledge of physical laws.

The theory of the evolution of the solar systems commonly
called the nebular hypothesis, which held undisputed sway for
nearly a century, and which still, in spite of many contradictions
recently discovered, occupies the premier position in the minds
of scientific men generally, was enunciated by the great French
scientist, Laplace in 1796.

Laplace called attention to the fact that all the motions of
rotation and revolution in the solar system then known were in
the same direction and almost in the same plane. He computed
that the probability of this being a mere accident was about one
part in 500,000,000, conclusively showing it to be due to some
initial state from which the system had developed.

This theory as amended by himself, and with some later
additions is, that our system was originally a nebula probably
somewhat condensed towards the centre, which extended beyond
the orbit of the farthest planet, that it rotated as one body in
the direction in which the planets now move and that it grad-
ually condensed and got hotter under the mutual gravitation of
its parts, exactly as we have already postulated. Simultaneously
with the contraction, the rate of rotation necessarily increased
from a well known dynamical law. After some time the centri-
fugal force at the equator became equal to the central attraction,
and a ring of nebulous matter was left off, the remainder con-
tinuing to contract and leave off rings at the distances of the
planets. The rate of rotation and the temperature of course
increased with the contraction.

The rings left off scarcely could have had a uniform structure

and, separating at some point, would coalesce forming the
planets, while the satellites would be formed from rings left off
from the contracting planets, Saturn’s ring being an example
still remaining. By the time these rings had formed planets and
these latter had cooled down to a solid condition, the central
part, the sun, would have gone through some of the changes
outlined previously, and would have reached its present con-
dition of approximate equilibrium, the loss of heat due to radia-
tion being compensated by the gain due to contraction.

Such is the nebular hypothesis which remained unquestioned
for more than half a century, and which has exercised an in-
calculable influence on the science and philosophy of the nine-
teenth century. Unfortunately the nebular hypothesis, beauti-
ful and complete as it is, can not, in the form it was left by Laplace
be made to account for the facts as they are now known. It
has, since about 1860, been subject to continuous attacks and
if now accepted must be in a considerably modified form. A

58 THE OTTAWA NATURALIST. [June-July

brief statement of the phenomena in agreement and disagree-
ment with the theory may be of interest. In agreement :—

1. The planets all revolve nearly in the same plane and in
the same direction.

2. Their orbits are all nearly circular.

3. The sun and the planets, so far as known, rotate in the
direction in which the planets revolve.

4. The planes of the equators of the planets and of the
orbits of their satellites are nearly coincident with the planes
of their orbits (Uranus and Neptune excepted).

5. The satellites revolve in the direction that the primaries
rotate (9th of Saturn and 8th of Jupiter exceptions).

6. According to the contraction theory of the sun’s heat, this
body was once vastly larger than at present.

Some facts inconsistent with the Nebular Theory. :—

1. The orbits of the asteroids are contradictory to the
theory. ’

2. The rapid revolution of the inner satellite of Mars and
of the particles of the inner ring of Saturn can not be satisfactor-
ily explained.

3. The presence of light elements in the earth is not to be
expected.

4. A series of rings could not have been left off.

5. A ring could not have condensed into a planet.

6. The retrograde revolutions of the 9th satellite of Saturn
and the 8th of Jupiter contradict the theory.

Various modifications of Laplace’s theory to meet these
objections have been brought forward by Roche, Faye, Ligoudes,
Ball and others, the chief of which dispenses with the trouble-
some process of ring formation and condensation and starts
the planets by condensations around accidental nuclei in the
parent nebula. The most exhaustive criticism of the nebular
theory is that by Moulton and Chamberlin, published in 1900,
who, by combining observed facts with dynamical principles
show that in its present form it fails to account for many of the
phenomena of the Solar System.

An alternative hypothesis has been developed by these
writers called the Planetesimal or Spiral Nebula Hypothesis. It
probably owes its origin to the fact that the researches of Keeler
with the Crossley Reflector at the Lick Observatory showed
that the predominant form of nebula was the spiral, and that no
known nebula has a form agreeing with Laplace’s Ring Hypo-
thesis.

The authors of this theory assume that our system was
originally a small spiral nebula and explain the formation of the
spiral nebulae by the collision theory already dealt with, or

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 59

rather by the particular case of collision in which the contact is
only grazing, or in which there is only a near approach. The
chances of these two latter conditions are of course much greater
than direct collision. In such cases the tidal strains induced,
added to the eruptive tendencies of highly heated gaseous
bodies, will cause masses of matter to burst out and recede to
great distances. They show mathematically that the tendency
will be to assume a two armed spiral form; and the secondary
nuclei with the planetesimals, as the finer matter is called,
will revolve in elliptic orbits around the central sun. The
secondary nuclei at irregular intervals in the arms of the
spiral will gradually attract the smaller finer matter in
these arms, and will, in doing so, tend to have their orbits
made more nearly circular and become the planets. Explanations
are given by this hypothesis of many of the difficulties of
Laplace’s theory, but only in a qualitative way, and, it seems to
me, it has yet to stand the test of the quantitative criticism
that was so long directed at the older hypothesis.

More recently, about two years ago, a series of abstruse
papers dealing with the effect of a resisting medium in modifying
the orbits of planets and satellites has been published by T. J. J.
See but so far as I can learn the author’s opinion of them is
much higher than that of any one else’s.

The question of the origin and development of our own
system, and of other systems as well, is still therefore in an un-
settled condition. On some things all are agreed, the chemical
unity of the cosmos, the nebular source of the whole system
and its development under the action of gravitation, the trans-
ference of work into heat and other dynamical laws form com-
mon starting grounds and are in reality of course the essence of
the whole matter. Whether the nebula was gaseous or pul-
verulent, planetary, spiral, or any other form, how it became
ordered and organized and how it collected into spheres, the
wisest are perplexed to decide. There seems to be no question
that, while the Laplacian hpyothesis contains the germ of the
truth, the process of development was by no means so simple
and direct as was therein stated, and that we do not yet know
the precise mode of development of the solar system.

And yet, behind and above and before all this development
and evolution we have been talking about, even the most
sceptical must admit the presence of a Supreme Power, a Power
which must have created in the first place, and a Wisdom and
Beneficence which so ordered and arranged the development
of Creation as to make it the result of the action of natural laws.
And yet not less wonderful is the Love, which created the human
mind and gave to it the power, though inhabiting for only a

60 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [June-July

few years this minute planet, the attendant of a comparatively
insignificant star of the system, to reach out to the inconceivable
depths of space and reduce the apparent confusion of stars to
orderly systems, to deduce the laws which govern these systems
and thus unify to a certain degree all the wonderful phenomena
of suns, planets and comets, stars, nebulae and clusters into one
whole. We are surely all convinced that it will not rest there,
but will eventually still further unravel the mystery of the
universe.

EXCURSIONS.

The first outing for the Spring of 1912 was held on Saturday
afternoon, the 27th of April, to Beechwood. The weather was
fine at first, and a large number of old and new members and
leaders gathered at the place of meeting, and then walked along
Beechwood Avenue to the woods on the left hand side of the
road. Only a few of the early spring flowers were out, but they
were welcome as old friends, and eagerly gathered. It is a
well-explored locality and no new or rare plants were discovered,
but some plants in their early stage of growth presented an
unusual appearance that would puzzle all but an expert. This
was exemplified afterwards when a leader in botany passed
around a ‘iny seedling and no one recognized it. Then he said
it was a cedar.” The name sounded like ‘‘Sedum’’, and the
needle-like leaves did not look unlike the linear leaves of some
of the stone crop family. When he passed around a slightly
more matured specimen with the ordinary foliage developing,
everyone was able to recognize it.

Unfortunately the weather turned cold and cloudy, and the
meeting closed abruptly without a complete list of specimens
being named.

E.H.B.

NOTE.

The Riding Mts. of Manitoba will probably be noted in
some future day as a gamereserve. If present plans materialize
a considerable section of the interior of the Forest Reserve will
shortly be set aside as a permanent home for big game. Elk,
moose, mule-deer, bear and beaver are plentiful. Beaver are
so numerous along the Whirlpool and other streams flow:ng from
the mountains that they are actually a menace to the farmers
owning meadows. Whole clearings of poplar, log-slides, recently
built dams and lodges are to be seen in various places.

J. M.S.

THE OTTAWA NATURALIST

VoL. XXVI. AUG.-SEPT., 1912 Nos. 5 and 6

POPULAR AND PRACTICAL ORNITHOLOGY.

II] —TuHe Upranp PLOovER.

By NORMAN CRIDDLE, TREESBANK, MAN.

When viewed from a short distance, Upland Plovers might
be described, briefly, as grayish-brown above; the colour in
reality, is made up of gray-brown and black markings. Beneath,
they are white with black arrowhead-shaped dashes on the
upper breast and along the sides. They average about twelve
inches in length.

This plover, so far as Canada is concerned, is a bird of the
Middle West and though it is found in migration, casually, from
coast to coast, its chief breeding grounds are western Manitoba
and eastern Saskatchewan, extending, however, southward to
Virginia and northwesterly to Alaska. It winters in Mexico
and South America.

This bird has previously passed under a variety of names,
many of them local. Until recently, it has been known as
Bartramians Sandpiper. The popular tongue however, was
never able to master such a cumberous title and so the A.O.U.
changed it to one more easily uttered and which was already in
common use in various parts of the bird’s range. The name, as
it 1s, is also a very appropriate one, applying as it does to a bird
that is decidedly upland in habit, preferring the dry prairies
which are broken by small bluffs, particularly if the land be
sandy. There is reason to suspect, however, that this prefer-
ence for sandy soil is, after all, due not so much to an actual
liking for the soil as for the food found upon it. Such soil, on
account of its extra heat and inability to support as dense a
vegetation as the richer land, proves much more suitable for
the breeding locusts, more particularly those species that lay
their eggsin the ground. Here they flourish and if not checked,
often become troublesome pests. Now, the chief food of Upland
Plovers is these very members of the order Orthoptera—locusts,
grasshoppers or any other of the hopper tribe. Hence, the
association is more than probable due to food considerations.

62 THe Ottawa NATURALIST. [Aug.-Sept.

In Manitoba—and it is of that Province I write more par-
ticularly—this plover reaches us from the south, on an average,
about the first or second of May. It comes up in a leisurely
manner, often pausing to utter its quaint song, by which means
and its oft-uttered call note, its arrival is easily detected and
its departure southward recorded by the same means, minus the
song.

To begin with then, sandpipers roam the prairies in pairs,
picking up most of the soft-bodied animal creation that is un-
fortunate enough to attract their attention. Grasshoppers, how-
ever, unquestionably form the chief article of diet at that time,
as there is no mistaking the rapid runs, first one way and then
another. They resemble a human being trying to catch a frog,
and such actions can only be caused by an insect that hops.
In June, these birds begin to seriously consider the rearing of
a family and seek out a suitable tuft of grass or some other
object near which to build a nest, so that there will be some sort
of shelter affording protection both from the weather and
enemies, though I do not think the latter precaution is a very
necessary one, as the birds, with their mottled coats are ad-
mirably adapted for concealment; in fact they harmonize
almost perfectly with the herbage in which they are found,
and I cannot remember ever having detected a brooding bird
before she left the nest, though often fully in view. The
nest is found in various situations from the centre of low
open bushes to unbroken prairie or the tops of sand dunes
where the vegetation is very scanty. The nest is sunk in the
ground and is lightly built of grass with occasionally a feather
or two for lining. In this the bird lays from four to five eggs of
the usual sandpiper type, large and mottled. The eggs for the
size of the bird are remarkably large and one wonders how
such a small bird lays such large eggs. On account of the size
and the long time they take to hatch, the young when they do
appear are so well developed that they can run actively and
immediately leave the nest. The actual brooding, so far as I
am aware, is done by the female alone, but the male is seldom
far away and he takes an active part in caring for the young.
At this time the female is bold and wise in defence of her off-
spring, readily resorting to such artifices as feigning death or
injury, and I have known them to fairly fly in my face as I stooped
to pick up a little one, uttering weird cries meanwhile. They
become very noisy as the young grow and their perpetual call-
ings to attract attention get rather monotonous, especially when
one is trying to listen for something else.

In the early eighties these birds were everywhere and their
cries and songs could be heard at any time of the day while

1912] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 63

their graceful movements on the wing and the pretty habit of
raising their wings above their backs when alighting was a
pleasure to behold. Then, too, they were quite fearless, allow-
ing a very close approach, asif having perfect confidence in the
human invader. Alas for such confidence; it was requited
indeed! Yes! with a gun. So that to-day even our innocent
little plovers have learnt the lesson of experience that others
had learnt too late. They are, as we might expect, no longer
the trusting innocents of the past, though still far from wild
during the breeding season. Their lesson has been a costly
one and for the thousands that previously roamed the whole
country of their adoption, we now have but a few, restricted to
certain districts where as yet mankind has been unable to des-
troy them all. Of course the rapid settling up of the land has
also greatly reduced the breeding area. Inthe south, naturalists
and sportsmen too, are beginning to become seriously alarmed
at the yearly decrease of breeding birds and in consequence a
permanent close season is advocated. In Manitoba, however,
though progressive in most of our game laws, we still have an
obnoxious law enabling the killing of Upland Plovers in July,
at a time when many of the birds are still nesting and in defence
of their young can actually be knocked over with a stick.

It was my good fortune some years ago to discover a nest
of one of these plovers in a situation that I was obliged to visit
daily. It was close to some bushes and in rather an unusual
situation, being on lowland. Here I saw the bird twice or three
times a day, and with patience soon taught her to have confi-
dence so that eventually I could touch her without her leaving
the nest. She also learnt to pick up the grasshoppers I threw
to her. Her male, however, was absent and never showed up
during the weeks we kept company,so I suspect he had fallen
a prey to one of the numerous snares that are met with in nature.
I do not know how long the female had been sitting when I first
met her, but it was close upon four weeks from that date before
the young emerged from the eggs. I found them all one after-
noon, but a few feet away from the nest, perfect little striped
balls of fluff on long stilt-like legs. I gathered them into my
hands and here they squatted, “‘peeping’’ apparently quite
contentedly as if their mother had instructed them that
here was a mortal to be trusted. No doubt she had omitted
to give the signal that would send the young into hiding. She
stood but a few feet away quite unconcerned while I had her
little ones, and when at last I let them gently down she made no
effort to lead them away but stood watching me, and thus I
left her to see her to recognize no more. I have often won-
dered since whether her confidence was extended to others and

64 Tue Ottawa NATURALIST. [Aug.-Sept.

if so whether it led, as I fear, to her losing her life as is so often
the ultimate fate of wild animals, particularly the small and
weak ones that are led to place reliance upon mankind.

As soon as domestic ties are over for the season our plovers
pack up, so to speak, and make their way southward. The
first matured are ready to depart quite early in July and after
that date they may be heard nightly calling to each other as
they move rapidly away. By the middle of August nearly all
have vanished though a few belated individuats remain into
September, occasionally as late as the third week.

There is a strange circumstance in connection with the
autumn flights in comparison with their northward movements
in spring. In the spring they come up in a leisurely manner,
often pausing in their wing beats to utter their peculiar but
pleasing song. At this time too their forward movements seem
to be largely controlled by the tips of the wings, indeed this is
quite a characteristic of the spring flight. But in autumn they
have quite another type of flight; then they seem to use the
whole wing and fly much more like a snipe and like that bird
are remarkably rapid in their movements. The sailing motion
has all gone, and instead of the somewhat slow moving bird of
the breeding season we have one that for quickness can vie with
many of the fastest, and but for the cries, method of alighting,
and vesture, would not be recognized as the same species.
It is, no doubt, this strange change of habit that has given the
bird a different reputation in the south, where it is spoken of as
being very shy and difficult to approach. Yet another peculiar-
ity is the fact that in the spring they are almost without exception
day fliers, having a preference for the morning, while in autumn
they seldom migrate at any other time but night. This curiously
enough is just the opposite to the habits of night hawks which
in spring move northward in the evening or at night, and south
in autumn during the afternoon.

It seems unnecessary to go extensively into the food habits
of Upland Plovers. I have observed them time after time
picking up locusts and have also actually seen them chase a
moving stone that was thrown at them, under the impression
that it also belonged to the order Orthoptera.

Some years ago owing to a controversy on the subject of
food habits, relating more particularly to the capabilities of
plovers being able to devour large grasshoppers, I secured a few
specimens of the bird and examined them; my brother did like-
wise and we found them literally crammed with hoppers both
large and small. The number they consume in a day must be
enormous, and as they continue this diet throughout the season
of their sojourn with us and do no appreciable harm their preser-

‘

1912] THE OTTawa NATURALIST. 65

vation is surely desirable even if we only look at the question
from the standpoint of dollars and cents.

EXCURSIONS.

The second excursion was made under ideal weather con-
ditions on May 4th. The party assembled at the Wychwood
car station about 3.30 p.m., and under the guidance of the leaders
for the day proceeded to study the fauna and flora of the area
lying between the car station and the river at Blueberry Point.
For most of the members the chief object of search was the
Mayflower or Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens L.) which was
met with in considerable quantity, few of the searchers being
disappointed in obtaining specimens. From the point of view
of the genuine field naturalist some members were perhaps
too successful in collecting it. Amongst other ericaceous plants
noticed were the Bearberry (Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi (L.) Spr.)
and the common Winter Green (Gaultheria procumbens L.).
The former of these was in full bloom while the latter was
often conspicuous by its scarlet fruit. Hepaticas were in
great abundance, and it was noticed that they were all referable
to H. triloba while specimens gathered at Aylmer Park were
those of H. acutiloba. The common. or White Elm (Ulmus
americana L.) andthe Red Maple (Acer rubrum L.) were observed
in flower. Amongst the conifers noticed the Red Pine (Pinus
restnosa Ait.) and a variety (var. depressa Pursh) of the common
Juniper are worthy of mention. In addition to the flowering
plants a number of interesting cryptogams were collected.
These included Lycopodium complanatum L. var flabellijorme
Fernald to which is given the English name of ‘‘Ground Pine”’
in the new edition of Gray’s Manual, although many of us have
learned to know another species (L. obscurum) under this name;
the Spiny and the Crested Shield Ferns (Aspidium spinulosum
and A. cristatum); the so-called Reindeer ‘‘Moss’’ (Cladonia
rangijerina (L.) Web.)—in reality a lichen and one of the most
beautiful representatives of the group; and an early ascomy-
cetous fleshy fungus (Helvella sp.).

The students of animal life were not perhaps so fortunate
as the botanists, but a fair number of birds were seen, including
two new arrivals, the Myrtle Warbler and the Pine Warbler, the
latter of which is an uncommon spring migrant here.

Short addresses by Mr. Calvert on the birds, Mr. Halkett on
the other animals, and Dr. Malte and Mr. Eastham on the plants
observed closed an excursion whose only drawback was its
brevity. J.W.E.

66 THE OrtrawaA NATURALIST. [Aug.-Sept.

The third excursion was held on May 11th. A fair number
of members and friends assembled at the terminus of the Britan-
nia car line. From there one party went with Mr. Wilson to
study some of the geological features of the locality as shown in
sections exposed in a neighbouring gravel pit, another with Mr.
Halkett to search the pools in an area of swampy land for
animals, while the remainder made their way to a wood at
Britannia Highlands. Here the various spring flowers were met
with in great numbers, and although nothing of special botanical
interest was noticed it was very pleasant to see once again so
many woodland favorites not noticed previously this season.
Trilliums, both white and red, were in profusion, the former
being gathered in great quantity, while the ill perfume of the
latter, with its flesh-coloured petals, caused it to be eschewed.
Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) and Dog’s Tooth Violet (Eryth-
ronium americanum) were also very plentiful and amongst other
flowering plants noticed were the Blue Cohosh, Jack-in-the-
Pulpit, Squirrel’s Corn, Golden Corydalis (C. aurea), Twisted
Stalk (Streptopus roseus), Wild Strawberry, False Mitrewort,
Small-flowered Crowfoot (Ranunculus abortivus), and the Dwarf
or three-leaved Ginseng, also known as Ground Nut (Panay trt-
jolium). The Crinkle-Root or Pepper Root (Dentaria diphylla)
was almost in bloom and one specimen was gathered with its
leaves covered with the White Rust of Crucifers (Cystopus
candidus), not previously noticed this season. The foetid or
Skunk Currant (Kzbes prostratum) was also plentiful in moist
places and is noteworthy not only for its odour but also on
account of its erect racemes of flowers. Barren Strawberry
(Waldsteinia) and June berry (Amelanchter canadensis) were
also seen in flower, and a little further away a swamp of Spzraea,
probably the Hardtack (S. tomentosa), was observed. The
Oak Fern was just opening out its fronds, while the Marsh Shield
Fern was rather further advanced. The Sensitive, Christmas,
and Shiny Shield Fern were also noticed and four species of
Horsetail (Equisetum arvense. E. scirpoides, E. sylvaticum and
E. hyemale). On returning, a pool covered with a floating
Liverwort (Ricctocarpus natans) was also found. Two interest-
ing species of fungi were seen, the Scarlet Cup (Peziza coccinea)
and the Earth Star (Geaster). The former bears its cup-like fruit
bodies, one or two inches in diameter with the interior of a
briliant scarlet colour, on the ground, but on carefully re-
moving the soil from around them each will be found to be
furnished with a stalk by which it is attached to a decaying
branch buried below the surface of the soil.

At five o’clock the several parties reunited in the park, and
the leaders gave a brief account of what had been observed o1

1912] THe OtTTawaA NATURALIST. 67

gathered. Mr. Halkett showed zoological specimens gathered
and spoke of the convenience of a Latin name which is the
same in all countries. Mr. Calvert, for the ornithologists, told
of the birds that had been observed. Dr. Malte determined
many plants which had been collected, and Mr. A. Gibson
showed mosquitoes in their larval stage, and spoke of the life-
history of these insects.

There was no excursion on Saturday, May 18th. The
steamer on Lake Deschenes was not yet running, and the boat-tnip
had to be cancelled, and as it was tag-day for the city hospitals
it was decided to omit the excursion altogether.

There was no excursion on Saturday, May 25th, the day
after Empire day.

E.H.B.

+

THE OCCURRENCE OF OSTREA IN THE
PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS OF THE VICINITY OF
MONTREAL.

By EpwarD ARDLEY, PETER REDPATH Museum, McGILL
UNIVERSITY.

Sir William Dawson in his list of Pleistocene Fossils pub-
lished in his volume entitled *‘The Canadian Ice Age,” records
that he collected a loose specimen of Ostrea virginiana at Saco.
This he states was apparently derived from the Leda Clay, and
he also states that he had received from Mr. Paisley specimens
of the same species which had been found at the Baie des Cha-
leurs, and which were also said to have come from the Pleisto-
cene Beds in that district at a depth of 16 feet below the surface.

The late Mr. E. T..Chambers,some years ago, presented to
the Peter Redpath Museum of McGill University, a specimen of
Ostrea which he had collected at Beauport, Quebec, and which
he believed had been derived from the Pleistocene of that locality.

During the present summer the writer has collected Pleisto-
cene Fossils from the Leda Clay and Saxicava Sand, exposed in
an excavation made for a drain in the Town of De Lorimier,
near Montreal, found at a depth of 9 feet below the surface
specimens of Ostrea associated with Mya truncata, Macoma
calearea, Astarte, Laurentiana and Saxicava rugosa, this last
mentioned species being found in great numbers. This occur-
rence in the vicinity of Montreal proves definitely that this

genus occurs in the Pleistocene Molluscan Fauna in the extreme
western portion of the Province of Quebec.

68 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Aug.-Sept.

A FEW DAYS’ WORK AND PLAY IN CANADA.

By E. P. Van Duzer, BurranvorwNae

In late June and early July, 1912, I had occasion to attend
a meeting of the American Library Association at Ottawa and
improved the opportunity to do a little collecting for Hemiptera
about the city and to meet a few of my entomological friends
there. At the Central Experimental Farm I found Dr. Hewitt,
Mr. Arthur Gibson and Mr. Germain Beaulieu and later had the
pleasure of taking two very profitable collecting trips with Mr.
Wm. Metcalfe. Our first trip was to Beaver Meadow, near
Hull, and on the next day he piloted me to a still better collecting
ground at Blueberry Point, near Aylmer. At Hull, I was par-
ticularly pleased to take a fine series of both sexes of my new
Criocoris canadensis. These were swept from grass on the
dryer meadows in considerable numbers. On a damper weedy
spot I found several examples of a Lygus allied to tenellus and
fasciatus which I believe to be still undescribed. It occurs
rarely at Buffalo, but I have seen numbers taken by Mr. Metcalfe
at Ottawa, and by Mr. Moore at Montreal. Other captures
interesting to me were Microphylellus modestus Reut. in a good
series from grassy lowlands, Tropidosteptes canadensis Van D.
from an ash tree, and Athysanus chlamydatus described as a
Deltocephalus by Provancher and later as Thamnotettix infuscata
by Gillette and Baker. I was also pleased to obtain here a
typical specimen from its type locality of Gypona hullensis
Prov. which had previously been described as pectoralis by
Spangberg. Labops hesperius Uhler was common here as it is
everywhere in eastern Canada and northern New York and
New England. I secured a single specimen of Dzuchrooscytus
elegans Uhler from a cedar tree and Mr. Metcalfe pointed out to
me that the plants of a Senecio which was abundant there were
infested by a pretty fulvous Psyllid new to me.

Our work next day was done under entirely different condi-
tions. The ground was very dry in the open woods at Blueberry
Point, but I took a few very interesting species, chief of which
was a series of four specimens of Amblytylus 6-guttatus Prov., an
elegant little velvety-black Capsid with olive head and three con-
spicuous white spots at the tip of each elytron,the anterior of which
was pale yellow in one of my examples. It was the first time I
had ever seen the species, which appears to be a Macrotylus and
is probably very local in its distribution. Here. I also took
several specimens of Bank’s recently described Pindus audax,
a species I have long known from western New York.

I again visited this locality on July 3rd, working then on

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 69

the dryer fields outside the woods and was delighted at finding
four examples of an undescribed Spherobius quite new to my
collection although if my memory is not at fault I have seen
one specimen in some collection sent to me for names. Here
also I took large numbers of my Criocoris canadensis and on the
dryer knolls found Oncotylus punctipes Reut. in great numbers
and Mimoceps gracilis on the sedges.

On July 2nd I went to Chelsea for a day as the guest of Mr.
Gibson, where I found conditions quite different. My first
surprise was to find Stenotus binotatus Fabr. in great abundance
in the grassy openings in the woods. Another common species
was a Strongylocoris of which I had seen a few specimens but
which I have not yet been able to determine. Laccocera vtttt-
pennis VanD. was abundant here as it is everywhere in the more
stoney regions of Canada and New England. Philaronia
bilineata Say was taken here in company with the ubiquitous
Philenus lineatus Linn., a species which seems to be spreading
slowly westward and | fear in time may prove a real pest. It
has long been common in northern New England and New York
but has only recently reached Buffalo, where it is still rare.
Along the Gatineau River I secured a fine series of Oncopsis
variabilis Fh. and a few sobrius, jenestratus and pruni. Pecilo-
capsus dislocatus was common here and presented one or two
fairly distinct varieties which I had never before seen.

On the 4th I did a little work in a swampy wooded pasture.
by the trolley track beyond Rockcliffe Park and was lucky
enough to obtain from the willows there four examples of a
Lygus near pratensis which is entirely new to me unless it prove
to be a very dark form of rubicundus Fallen. Macropsis viridis
Fh. was very common here and was pairing as was also cana-
densis VanD. I was surprised to find that the black males of
these two species were absolutely indistinguishable and I believe
canadensis will prove to be but a dimorphic form of the female
viridis. I might add here that unfortunately we must change
the generic names in this family so Pediopsis becomes Macropsts,
the old Bythoscopus becomes Oncopsis and our Macropsis must
hereafter be Bythoscopus.

On July 5th I went onto Quebec for the purpose of studying
the Provancher collection of Hemiptera now in the Museum of
Public Instruction there. Rev. V. A. Huard very courteously
gave me free access to the collection and did everything possible
to assist mein my work. A report on my study of this collection
will probably appear in an early number of the Canadian Ento-
mologist.

Returning, I stopped off at Montreal for a day’s visit with
Mr. G. A. Moore, who showed me his excellent collection of local

70 THE OrTTrawaA NATURALIST. [Aug.-Sept.

Hemiptera and piloted me to an interesting collecting ground
on Mount Royal. 1 was delighted to take here a fine series of
Tropidosteptes palmert which Reuter now places as a variety
of amoenus but which I believe will prove to be a distinct species.
With these I also took T. pettiti, amenus and canadensis, and
one example of Lygidea rubecula Uhler from what I took to bea
wild plum tree. My little Criocorts canadensis was common
here as was also Philenus spumarius with which I took its
variety leucocephala Linn. described as albiceps by Provancher.

Altogether I found this a very pleasant and profitable trip
and one I will long remember with pleasure.

UNUSUAL NESTING SITE OF THE PIGEON HAWK IN
NEWFOUNDLAND.

By W. J. Brown, WESTMOUNT, QUE.

Various situations are chosen by the Pigeon Hawk for
nesting purposes. For instance, sets of eggs of this species
have been found in holes in trees and banks, in deserted nests
of crows, on cliffs along the sea coast, etc., and occasionally
the bird is not averse to building a well constructed nest in a
tree in deep woods. In certain portions of Newfoundland
. owls, hawks and crows are not plentiful, consequently, old nests
are seldom met with.

Some distance up the Reid-Newfoundland Railway there
is a large tableland, or topsail (the latter term being applied
by the residents), at the base of which an extensive aréa of thick
spruce woods is located. While passing along the edge of this
timber on June 6th, 1912, an anxious male Pigeon Hawk
flew in circles over my head, cackling incessantly. This was
sufficient evidence that a nest was nearby. In a few minutes
the female joined in the noisy demonstrations, having appar-
ently just left the nest, but the underbrush was so heavy it was
difficult to tell from what direction she had come. After con-
siderable time had been spent in the examination of likely spruces
for old nests or cavities, I came to the conclusion that the nest
was on the ground. The birds were much attached to a section
of dead spruces and rocky ground in the centre of the woods.
The male and female, particularly the latter, were diving and
screaming a few feet overhead and it was apparent that I was
not more than a stone’s throw from a well concealed nest. An
exhaustive search, however, failed to reveal it. I retired to a
large boulder, about two hundred yards away, to give the
female an opportunity to return to the nest. In twenty minutes

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 71

the birds were quiet and they were evidently satisfied that all
cause for disturbance had been removed and that I had left
the neighbourhood. Approaching the same locality again as
noiselessly as possible, I saw the female flush out of the ground
some thirty yards ahead. It only took a moment to find the
nest, which contained five fresh eggs. These were laid under-
neath a decayed spruce stump, a few pieces of bark and some
feathers forming the lining. The nesting site was well hidden
by a dense growth of stunted spruce, and a large snowbank,
several feet deep, was within ten vards of it.

I might here state that the Pigeon Hawk is probably the
most curious and inquisitive of the Raptores. The sectionmen
on the railway told me that they were always greeted by a pair
of Pigeon Hawks when they passed down on the hand car,
although the nest was a quarter of a mile off in the woods.
My personal experiences with the species in Newfoundland
have certainly brought these facts to light. One day in June,
1911, we pitched our camp out on the barrens. A pair of Pigeon
Hawks, which had their nest on the side of a mountain one mile
away, observed the smoke from our fire and immediately came
over our heads, uttering alarm notes. During the second week
in June, 1912, near Bay of Islands, my attention was drawn to
a male Pigeon Hawk overhead. Five hundred yards further
on the female was flushed from a hole, about twenty feet up, in
a dead pine. At this time the nest contained three fresh eggs.
It can thus be seen that if Pigeon Hawks were less concerned
and. demonstrative during the breeding season, fewer nests
would be found.

BIRD NOTES.

By L. McI. Territi, St. LAMBERT, QUE.

During December, 1911, the weather was exceptionally
mild, the considerable fall of snow melting almost as fast as it
fell, filling the swamps with water. With the commencement of
January, 1912, came a change, with an unusual continuation
of very cold weather, almost without -a break, lasting until the
end of March.

During this period, January 1st to March 31st, practically
the only birds noted were winter visitors, such as Redpolls,
Snowbirds and Pine Grosbeaks. These birds were more notice-
able during March and were all scarce, with the exception of
Redpolls during January and February. The Grosbeaks
movements in the vicinity of Montreal were apparently governed

7 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Aug.-Sept.

by the supply of Mountain Ash berries. Further north, in the
Laurentians, they were better distributed and with the Blue Jay
and other permanent residents, such as various woodpeckers,
were commonly noted. ’

During the second week of February I noticed four Snowy
Owls in the market and was informed that they had been shot
at St. Jacques le Mineur, Laprairie County, about the 3rd of
February.

The first migrants to appear were a few Crows and Prairie
Horned Larks on March 10th.

Good Friday, April 5th, was the first truly springlike day,
but still little sign of the delayed migration. The following
day, however, brought several arrivals, the Song Sparrows
being conspicuous. I had not the leisure for an extended walk
until the 7th, which proved fine in the morning, though a west
wind springing up toward noon brought colder weather with
heavy showers of rain. In the early morning I heard several
‘species singing from my window, the songs becoming more
frequent about 6 o'clock, when a Phoebe joined the chorus of
Song Sparrows, Juncos and Robins. During a six hours’ walk,
from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., covering swampy and upland fields, river
shore and edge of woods, the day revealed an unusual mixture
of early and late arrivals. Though in the locality visited, Isle
Jesus, Laval County, most of the fields were still covered with
snow, many Prairie Horned Larks had commenced nesting,
several nests being found in places where the snow had disap-
peared. These were in various stages of construction; one, a
large saucer-shaped cavity, recently excavated, contrasted
strongly with the small deep interior of a thick-walled completed
nest.

Following is a summary of migration to date, the 8th of
April :-—
March 10. Crow—ten seen.
Prairie Horned Lark—twelve seen.
March 31. Pigeon Hawk—one seen.
_Red-shouldered Hawk—one seen.
April 5. Bronzed Grackles—one flock seen.
April 6. Song Sparrow—numerous and singing.
Savannah Sparrow—six seen.
Slate Colored Junco—one flock, 4 or 5 birds.
Robin—fairly common, heard singing.
Duck, sp.?—flock of 25 in open water of Riviere
des Prairies, continually shifting position possibly
on account of floating ice.

April

~I

1912]

April

April

4

THE OTTAWA NATURALIST. 73

Kildeer Plover—well distributed in pairs throughout
their accustomed haunts.

Red-shouldered Hawk—commonly seen and heard.

Sharp-shinned Hawk—one seen in erratic flight.

Crow—flocks disbanded, commencing nesting opera-
tions.

Red-winged Blackbird—commonly noted.

Cowbird—two seen following flock of Grackles, four
others noted later.

Meadowlark—common, about 15 seen and heard.

Prairie Horned Lark—commonly in song, five nests
noted.

Phoebe Flycatcher—well distributed in pairs, about
ten noted.

Snowbird—one mixed flock of Lapland Longspurs
and Snowbirds watched for ten minutes in a con-
tinuous and almost circular flight, at length
alighting in a ploughed field, the occasional
tremulo of the Snowbird contrasting with the
single note of the Longspur.

Lapland Longspur—seen with Snowbirds.

Redpoll—many large flocks noted.

Song Sparrow—abundant, singing constantly during
sunshine and rain.

Savanna Sparrow—one in song, about 20 noted in
small flocks.

Vesper Sparrow—commonly noted, several singing
from tops of hedge-row trees.

Tree Sparrow—two heard singing, apparently the
bulk has not yet arrived.

Slate Colored Junco—common, numbers singing.

Migrant Shrike—one seen in flight.

White-bellied. Swallow—two seen in flight about a
boggy willow swamp, marked by a few dead ash
stubs, probably their selected nesting-site.

House Wren—one pair noted in woodpile near farm-
house.

Robin—fairly common, a few in song.

Bluebird—numerous.

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE.

ist was 21° Far., wind N.E.-S.E., with snow at night.
3rd i
4th
bth:
6th

ew ies ‘ _N.-N.W., snow in morning.
262 5 “ N.W.-S.W.., fair.
OT at “high $.W.-W., a little snow.
PG tiie shy WWie- Ni W..; faar.

74 THe Ottawa NATURALIST. [Aug.-Sept.

April 7th was 44° Far., wind $.W.-N.W., heavy rain in afternoon
coming with strong
westerly wind.

ti. RSEh* FERS Ge ‘“ _N.W., snow flurries.

OBITUARY.

Rev. Georce W. Taytor, F.R.S.C., Nanaimo, B.C.

In the death of the Rev. George W. Taylor, on August 22nd,
Canadian zoology loses one of its most distinguished workers.
To a great many of his friends in eastern Canada, especially in
Ottawa, the announcement must have come with a shock of
surprise, for when last in the Capital, five years ago, attending
the Royal Society meetings, as a Fellow, he was full of vigour
and activity. He received something like an ovation from his

brother scientists here, as his visits, owing to his residence on
the Pacific coast, were of rare occurrence. With his great
friend, the late Dr. James Fletcher, he spent much time on his
last visit, but he had hosts of other friends who were delighted
to see him once more in Ottawa. Born in Derby, England, in
1854, he became connected with the excellent Natural History
Museum in that busy railway centre, and acquired a reputation
as an original observer, but on coming to Canada in 1882 he
applied himself, with such vigour and success, to work in
conchology and entomology that he soon took a first place as
an authority; his collections of land and freshwater shells, and
of marine mollusca, and his collection of N. A. Geometridae
are amongst the finest in existence.

As a clergyman of the Church of England much of his time
was taken up with parish work in Ottawa, Ont., and in Victoria,
Nanaimo, and Wellington, B.C., but he never abated in ‘his
devotion to scientific studies. For some years he gave up clerical
work, and resided in a lovely but lonely spot at the north end
of Gabriola Island, in the Straits of Georgia, in order to investi-
gate the marine zoology of the nearby marvellously rich waters,
and in the hope that a biological station would be founded there
by the Dominion Government. This long cherished ambition
was at last gratified when, in 1909, laboratory buildings were
erected at Departure Bay, and the Board of Management,
composed of professors in the chief universities of the Dominion
chose him as the first curator, a position he held until his death.
He threw himself with all his energy into his new duties, and
by constant dredging expeditions and shore collecting ac-
cumulated a vast collection of marine fishes and invertebrates,

1912] THe Orrawa NATURALIST. 75

which excited the wonder of a party of British and foreign
scientists, who paid a visit to this British Columbia Station in
September, 1909, at the close of the meeting of the British
Association in Winnipeg. The party included famous men
from the British Museum, from Cambridge University, Copen-
hagen, Sheffield, Leeds, London and other universities, and like
President Starr Jordan, Professor C. H. Gilbert, and Dr. Barton
Evermann, who made short visits to the station, they declared
it to be one of the best marine laboratories on the continent.
The location is very beautiful, but the rich marine life in the
waters of Departure Bay, and above all, the enthusiasm and
profound knowledge of the curator himself, delighted all scientific
visitors.

Those privileged to go with him on dredging trips will not
soon forget his scientific devotion. The writer sailed with him,
in 1906, on the Dominion cruiser “‘ Kestrel,’’ along the British
Columbia coast from Vancouver to Alaska, including Queen
Charlotte Islands and Quatsino Sound in the cruise, and at every
point where hauls of the dredge were made myriads of strange
creatures were brought up from the depths below. From
morning to night Mr. Taylor sorted out and named the speci-
mens, usually working on deck till long after dark, aided by the
light of a ship’s lantern. He had such an unusual knowledge
of marine zoology that he could name without difficulty a vast
proportion of the hosts of molluscs, echinoderms, zoophytes,
etc., and very fine collections resulted. He was for some time
at work on a list of small shore fishes, so abundant in British
Columbia, but the list was never completed. It included many
new forms. One named Asemichthys taylort has been described
in a paper, now being printed by the King’s Printer, Ottawa,
the author being the eminent United States ichthyologist,
Professor C. H. Gilbert, Stanford University, who says, ‘‘I take
pleasure in naming this interesting species for its discoverer,
Rev. G. W. Taylor, Nanaimo, B.C.” A list of British Columbia
Copepod Parasites is also now in course of publication by the
Biological Board, the result of Mr. Taylor’s assiduous collecting,
and the author, Professor C. B. Wilson, the well-known specialist,
says that eight out of fourteen species are wholly new to science.
Mr. Taylor made a study of Pacific Crustacea, and completed
a report, to be issued shortly, by the Biological Board, with the
title ** Preliminary List of One Hundred and Twenty-nine Species
of British Columbia Decapod Crustaceans.’ In the report of
the British Columbia Fisheries Commission, of which Mr. Taylor
Was appointed a member by the Dominion Government, he
gave a list of no less than thirty species of edible molluscs
occurring on the British Columbia coast, of which three only,

76 THe Otrawa NATURALIST. [Aug.-Sept.

the oyster, the clam, and the abalone or Haliotis, are at present
used for food.

It would take many pages to tell of his numerous papers
contributed to scientific journals, from the time of his early
papers in the Nautilus, and later in the Canadian Entomologist,
and especially in THe Orrawa Naturatist, which for nearly
twenty years he has enriched with able notes and papers. One
of general interest is a sketch of Canadian Conchology (March,
1895), an admirable summary with a valuable bibliography of
the principal papers on the subject. He made many additions
to our molluscan fauna, such as the two land shells, Punctum
clappu and P. taylort, the latter being new to science, and named
by Dr. Pils-bery after him.

His splendid entomological labours which brought him
into contact with leading authorities in France, Germany and
Britain, as well as in this continent, will be adequately treated
elsewhere, but reference may be made to such papers as “‘ Notes
for Aprilin Vancouver Island,’’ published in these pages in 1898,
in which he told of forty species of Coleoptera secured in an
afternoon walk, besides Cicadas, and specimens of Lepidoptera,
Hymenoptera and Orthoptera, some of them rare. A valuable
list of Pacific Marine Mollusca, covering over eighty pages of
the Royal Society’s Transactions, 1895, must not be omitted;
but it is not possible to name, even by title, the many scientific
contributions bearing this indefatigable worker’s name.

He was chosen a member of the Biological Board of Canada,
and was a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, and of
the Entomological Society of London, while for a time he was
an associate editor (in zoology) of THE Orrawa NATURALIST.
He himself especially valued the mark of appreciation on the
part of his brother naturalists in Ottawa, when he was chosen as.
a Corresponding Member of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club.

High as was his rank amongst entomologists, he held a
hardly less eminent position amongst marine biologists and
conchologists, but he was also well versed in botany and geology,
and his mathematical abilities were such that had he gone to
Cambridge University, as in early life was intended, he would
have, without doubt, gained high academic distinction in the
mathematical tripos. His genial personal qualities and his self-
denying devotion to science, especially work in the field and at
sea, attracted all who were privileged to know him. Numerous
as are his scientific papers, his labours and influence cannot be
adequately measured by them.

E. E. PRINcE.

THE OTTAWA NATURALIST

Vor. XXVI. OCTOBER, 1912 No. 7

ON TWO NEW PALEOZOIC STARFISH (ONE OF THEM
FOUND NEAR OTTAWA); AND A NEW CRINOID.

By Percy E. RAymMonp.

PALA ASTER? WILSONI, SP. NOV. Plate V.

The remarkable starfish found by J. E. Narraway, Esq.,
at City View, near Ottawa, and described by Professor Hudson
in the May and July numbers of THE Ottawa NATURALIST as
Protopaleaster narrawayt, naturally excited interest in City View
as a collecting place. Specimens like Mr. Narraway’s, which
can be described as order, family, genus and species nov. are of
infrequent occurrence, but such a discovery shows that the
possibilities of even so old a collecting place as Ottawa are by
no means exhausted.

In searching for another specimen similar to the one found
by Mr. Narraway, Miss A. E. Wilson was fortunate enough to
find a pretty starfish of a type hitherto quite unknown in strata
so old as the Black River. The specimen is exposed from the
abactinal side, and preserves the greater part of one arm, the
disk, and the stumps of the other four arms. The diameter
of the specimen, when complete, must have been about 75 mm.
(3 inches), and the diameter of the disk is 20 mm. This is
large for a starfish from the lower Ordovician. The arms are
quite convex, with a gentle taper, reminding one somewhat of
the common recent starfish, Asterias vulgaris, and as in that
species, the arms were probably somewhat flexible. The greater
part of the abactinal side of the disk and arms is covered with
small convex, over-lapping, V-shaped plates, which are arranged
with the point of the V directed toward the margins. Along
the crest of each arm there is a single row of larger plates.
These plates are quite large and hexagonal in outline near the
disk, but become smaller, triangular, and alternate in position
further out on the arm. (See upper right-hand figure on the
plate). There are two rows of marginals, these plates being
larger and flatter than the other plates, and covered with minute
tubercles, which may be spine-bases. (See the middle figure
on the plate). Close to the disk, the supra-marginals and mar-

_718 THe Ottawa NATURALIST. [Oct.

ginals seem to be of the same size, both rectangular, and the
plates of the supra-marginal row directly over those of the
marginal series. Further out on the arms, the plates are
pentagonal, those of the two rows alternating in position, and
dove-tailing, and the supra-marginals are smaller than the
marginals. One of the marginals, about half-way out on the
arm, is 1.25 mm. high and of about the same breadth. The
smaller triangular plates which cover the greater part of the arm
average about .5 to .6 mm. in height. On one of the arms
(the one directed downward in the upper left-hand figure on
the plate), the small triangular plates seem to be arranged in
rows parallel to the axis of the arm, but the plates on the longer
arm seem to be more irregular, although a general arrangement
in rows can be seen. On this arm there are a number of very
small plates scattered about, especially on the top of the arm,
thus adding to the irregularity. The triangular shape of these
plates gives the arm a neat pattern, the plates making diagonal
rows backward and forward from the row of large plates along
the top of the arm: The madreporite, which is nearly circular
in outline, and 2 mm. in diameter, is in position, but slightly
tipped down at the inner side, in an interradius, and not far
from the centre of the abactinal side of the disk. The surface
is probably worn, for it appears perfectly smooth.

In the fragment of the arm which is directed upward in
the upper left-hand figure and in the lowest figure on the plate,
the small plates are broken away, disclosing the ambulacral
plates. These plates, which are long and rather thick, seem to
be alternate in position. Two of the plates, well shown in the
lower figure, and indicated by an arrow, seem to be pierced by
pores near their proximate ends, two pores piercing each
plate vertically. Near the outer end of the more perfect arm
there is a space where a few of the small triangular plates are
missing, and here also the ambulacral plates can be seen from
the upper side. Each plate has a narrow keel on that side.
(See the middle figure on the plate, between the two brachiopods).
Other details of the plates of the actinal side are unknown.

This species seems to be most nearly related to Paleaster
magnificus Miller,* to which species my attention has been
called by Professor Schuchert, who has most kindly loaned me
photographs of the type. Pale@aster? magnificus is a large star-
fish (6 inches in diameter), found in the Waynesville division
of the Richmond formation in Ohio. Like Paleaster? wilsoni,
it has two rows of large marginals and a row of large plates

*Jour. Cincinnati Society Nat. Hist., vol. 7, p. 16, pl. 4, figs. 3, 3a,
1884.

1912] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 79

along the top of each arm, while the greater part of the surface
is covered with small convex triangular plates. Miller found
the plates to be spine-bearing, a point which can not be definitely
decided in the present species. From the photograph it appears
that there are spaces between the small triangular plates on the
abactinal surface in Paleaster? magnificus, while in P.? wilsoni
these plates actually overlap each other.

There is a superficial resemblance between Paleaster?
wilsont and Urasterella pulchella (Billings), but the latter species
does not have the double row of marginal plates, nor the large
plates along the top of the arm. The arms are also much more
slender in Billings’ species.

Of course the reference of this species to Paleasteris purely
a convention, as it has nothing in common with the type of the
genus. The generic position of these starfishes will be discussed
in the monograph by Professor Schuchert, which it is expected,
will appear at an early date.

Locality and formation. The holotype was found by Miss
A. E. Wilson in a fence near the large quarry in the Lowville
formation at City View, a short distance south-west of Ottawa.
While the Lowville is the only formation which is exposed at
this particular spot, the starfish seems to have been derived
from the Black River, which outcrops only a short distance
away. The matrix contains, beside the starfish, Rhynchotrema
mequivalve (shown in the photograph), Orthis tricenaria, and
Rafinesquina alternata. The species is dedicated to its dis-
coverer, whose private collection contains the type.

GENUS MARIACRINUS HALL.
MARIACRINSUS? INSUETUS, SP. NOV.

Mariacrinus sp. Raymond, 1907. American Journal of
Science, Fourth Series, Vol. XXIII, p. 118.

Two fragmentary calices of crinoids from the Three Forks
Shale at Logan, Montana, are of importance, as they are the only
crinoids thus far known from the Devonian of the Rocky
Mountains. These fragments were sent to Mr. Frank Springer
for identification, and he reported that they probably belonged
to the genus Mariacrinus. A

One fragment (Figure 1) retains the base of a calyx and
fragments of four radials. All sutures are obliterated, but
the ornamentation makes possible the determination of the
probable outline of the plates. From such parts as remain,
the radials seem to have been in contact. The position of the
two notches in the margin of the area of stem attachment suggest
that there are four basals, though there may be only three, two
large and one small. The ornamentation consists of raised lines

80 THe Otrawa NATURALIST. [Oct.

which connect the centres of the plates, forming a series of tri-
angles.

Figure 1 x 2. Figure 2 x 2.

The other specimen is a part of the dorsal cup, lacking the
basal portion. Figure 2 shows this fragment, the ray lacking
the distichial being the anterior radius. The rays show a strong
longitudinal ridge crossing the first costal and bifurcating near
the centre of the second, sending a branch onto each of the dis-
tichials. This species appears to agree with Mariacrinus
warrent from the Niagara in having only two distichials, and
no palmers in the calyx. In fact, none of the rays show more
than one cycle of distichials, but there were probably two when
the specimen was complete.

The interradial areas are not depressed as 1n most species
of this genus, a section through the calyx at the second cycle
of interbrachials being almost circular in outline. ‘There is,
however, a slight depression in the interdistichial spaces. The
first interbrachial is large, the next two slightly smaller. The
three plates of the third series and the four of the fourth are not
regularly hexagonal, but laterally compressed. The posterior
interradius is very badly preserved, but there appear to be five
interbrachials in the third row. As shown in the figure the
plates are ornamented with raised lines connecting the centres
of the plates.

Locality ——The specimens were found by the writer in the
limestone of the Three Forks Shale at Logan, Montana, asso-
ciated with the fossils of the brachiopod facies of the Clymema
americana fauna. The types are in the Carnegie Museum,
Pittsburgh, Penna.

GENUS SCH@NASTER MEEK AND WORTHEN,
SCHCENASTER? MONTANUS SP. NOV.

Animal small, about an inch in diameter. Rays short,
slender, extending about one-half their length beyond the disk.
Disk large, pentagonal, the margin slightly concave between
the rays. The five proximal plates of the adambulacreal series
function as orals, while on the arms beyond the disk the adam-

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. $1

bulacreals become marginals. The adambulacreal plates are
rather small, oval, placed with the long axis diagonal to the
axis of the arm. On the most perfect arm there are 16 of these
plates on each side of the groove, not counting the proximal
and distal plates.

The ambulacreal ossicles are small, arranged alternately.
On this specimen they are mostly displaced. The plates on
the disk between the rays are few and small. The marginals
are small, rounded, and do not appear to bear spines, but this
appearance may be due to poor preservation.

Locality—This species is described from a single specimen
collected by the writer in the Madison Limestone at Spring
Canon in the Ruby Mountains, near Alder, Montana. The type
is in the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Penna.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE.

1. Upper left-hand figure. Pal@aster? wilsont Raymond.
All that is preserved of the specimen. The brachiopods are
Rhynchotrema tnequivalve. One-half larger than natural size.

.2. Upper right-hand figure An enlargement of the ray
which extends downward to Fig. 1, to show the character of the
large plates along the top of the arm. X 3.

3. Central figure. The most perfect arm, viewed from the
side. Notice the two rows of large marginals, the overlapping
triangular plates above them near the middle of the arm, and the
flatter and more nearly square plates to the right, nearer the
disk, | X 3.

4. Lower figure. An enlargement of part of the specimen,
to show the ambulacral plates in the ray pointing upward, the
madreporite, and the small, irregular plates along the top of
the arm. The arrow points to the two ambulacrals which are
pierced by vertical pores. X 3.

All the photographs were made at the Geological Survey
of Canada, and are published by permission of the Director.

82 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Oct.

CONSTITUTION OF THE OTTAWA FIELD-
NATURALISTS’ CLUB.

ARTICLES OF THE CONSTITUTION.
I. Name.
Il. Objects or Aims.
111. Membership.
IV. Annual Fees.
V. Officers.
VI. The Couneil:
VII. Auditors.
VIII. Meetings.
IX. Order of Business at the Annual Meeting.
X. Elections.
XI. Term of Office.
XII. Vacancies.
Xitio -Quorum:
XIV. Duties of Council.
XV. Duties of President.
XVI. Duties of Vice-President.
XVII. Duties of Secretary.
XVIII. Duties of Treasurer.
XIX. The Ottawa District.
XX. The Ottawa Naturalist.
XXI. Amendments.

ARTICLE I. NAME.
This club shall be known as ‘“‘THE OTTAWA FIELD-
NATURALISTS’ CLUB.”

ARTICLE IJ. OBjJEcTs.

The objects of this Club shall be: To foster an acquaintance
with and a love for nature; to study especially the natural
history of the Ottawa District; to encourage investigation and
to publish the results of original research in all departments of
natural history; to arrange for out-of-door excursions during the
summer months; to provide free lecture courses during the
winter months; and in a general way to render assistance to
students or others interested in Nature Study.

ArTICLE III. MEMBERSHIP.

(a) Active. Any one interested in Natural History may
upon application be elected by Council as an active member of
the Club. Payment of the annual fee shall be a necessary
condition of the continuance of membership.

(b) CorRESPONDING. Any eminent naturalist not resi-

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 83

dent in the Ottawa District, who is desirous of promoting the
objects of the Club, may be elected by the Council as a Corres-
ponding Member.

(c) Honorary. Any prominent person resident of the
Ottawa District, who shall to a marked degree assist towards
the successful working of the Club, may be elected by the Council
as an Honorary Member. There shall not be at any one time
more than five such Honorary Members.

The Council shall also have power to elect a Patron after
his consent has been obtained. The Patron shall be considered
one of the Honorary Members.

(d) No Membership fee shall be expected from Corres-
ponding or Honorary Members.

ARTICLE IV. ANNUAL FEE.
The annual membership fee shall be one dollar, payable
in advance immediately after the Annual Meeting. No member
in arrears shall be entitled to any of the privileges of the Club.

ARTICLE V. OFFICERS.

The officers of the Club shall be a President, a First and a
Second Vice-President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, an Editor and
a Librarian.

By decision of the Club or of the Council, two officers may,
if necessary, be filled by one person for one year.

AnrtTicis Vito (Lan. Councin.

The Council shall consist of not less than fifteen members,
namely, the officers and at least eight other active members of
the Club. Upon retirement of any President of the Club from
office, he shall, if still resident in the Ottawa District, continue a
member of the Council for the ensuing Club year.

ARTICLE VII. AuvupiToRs.
The Auditors shall be elected by open vote at the Annual
Meeting. They shall examine the Treasurer’s accounts and
certify as to its correctness.

ARTicLE Villy. MEErines.

(a) The Annual Meeting of the Club shall be held on the
third Tuesday of March, the anniversary of the inauguration
of the Club in 1879.

(b) Special Meetings of the Club may be called by the
Council or shall be called by the Secretary on the request of ten
active members. At this meeting no business other than that
for which the meeting was called shall be transacted except by
unanimous decision of those present.

84 THE OTTAwaA NATURALIST. [Oct.

(c)_ All questions submitted for discussion at the meetings
of the Club shall be in harmony with the expressed objects of
the Club. The mover ofa resolution shall be allowed ten minutes
to speak in presenting his motion. Five minutes shall be
allowed each of the subsequent speakers, and to the mover in
closing the discussion.

ARTICLE IX,
ORDER OF BUSINESS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING.

Reading the minutes of the previous Annual Meeting
and of any special meetings held during the year.
Business arising out of the minutes.
Communications.
Report of the Council.
Report of the Treasurer.
Reports of Special Committees.
Election of members of the Council.
8. Election of Auditors.
9. Notices of motion.
10. New Business.
11. Suggestions for the good of the Club.

—

~t Cy (ni }& G NO

ARTICLE X. ELECTIONS.

The President, the two Vice-Presidents, the Secretary, the
Treasurer, and the eight non-official members of Council, shall
be elected by ballot at the Annual Meeting.

The Council as so constituted (including the past-President,
if any), shall at the earliest possible date, select and appoint
the Editor and the Librarian either from among its own number
or from the members of the Club at large.

If after these appointments the members of Council shall
still be found to number fewer than fifteen, as prescribed in
Art. VI., Council shall similarly select and appoint one or more
additional members to complete such full quota.

None but active members of the Club shall be eligible for
any of the above elections or appointments.

ARTICLE XI. TERM OF OFFICE.
The officers, the other members of the Council, the auditors
and the associate editors shall hold office during the year follow-
ing the Annual Meeting, or till their successors are appointed.

ARTICLE XII. VACANCIES.
The Council shall have power to accept any resignations
and to appoint any active member of the Club to fill any vacancy
occurring during the Club year.

1912] THE OTTAwA NATURALIST. 85

ArTICLE XIII. Quorum.

Twenty members shall constitute a quorum at the Annual
Meeting or any other business meeting of the Club, and five
members shall constitute a quorum of the Council.

ARTICLE XIV. Duties oF THE COUNCIL.

The Council shall, as business may require, meet from time
to time at the call of the President or of any two other of its
members; it shall manage all matters affecting the welfare of
the Club; it shall have full control of the funds of the Club, and
it shall present at the Annual Meeting a report upon the year’s
work.

ARTICLE XV. DuTIES OF THE PRESIDENT.

The President shall preside at all lectures, excursions and
other meetings of the Club. He shall be chairman at the meet-
ings of the Council. He shall conduct all business of the Club
in accordance with its Constitution and By-laws. He shall be,
ex-officio, a member of all committees of the Council and of the
Club.

ARTICLE XVI. DuvuTIES OF VICE-PRESIDENTS.

In the absence of the President, or at his request, a Vice-
President shall, in order of rank, preside.

ARTICLE XVII. DuTIES OF THE SECRETARY.

The Secretary shall keep a true record of the proceedings
of the Club and of the Council, and shall conduct their correspond-
ence. He shall give previous notice to each member of the
Council of its various meetings. He shall be responsible for all
newspaper notices of all lectures and excursions. He shall be
the custodian of the Constitution and By-laws and the records
of the Club. He shall prepare reports of the meetings of the
Council for THe Orrawa NatTura.ist. He shall be compiler
of the Annual Report of the Council and shall read it at the
Annual Meeting of the Club.

ARTICLE XVIII. DvurTIES oF THE TREASURER.

The Treasurer shall be charged with the collection and
custody of the moneys of the Club and shall keep a systematic
account thereof which shall at any time be open to the inspec-
tion of the Council or of the Auditors. He shall submit at each
Annual Meeting a statement showing the financial standing of
the Club. He shall make disbursements only when authorized
by the By-laws or by decision of the Council. He shall be,
ex-officio, a member of the Excursions Committee.

86 THE OTTAWA NATURALIST. [Oct.

ARTICLE. XIX.) : THE: OTtawa.DisTricz,

The Ottawa District shall be the area included within a
radius of thirty miles. from the City of Ottawa. j

ARTICLE XX. THE OTTAWA NATURALIST.

THe Orrawa NaTurRAList is the organ of the Club. It shall,
if possible, be issued before the tenth day of each month, and a
copy be sent to every member of the Club. The Editor shall be
elected by the Council, nominations being made by ballot. The
Associate Editors shall also be appointed by the Council, but
each division (department) of the Club shall have the privilege
of nominating one or more persons. All contributions published
in THE OTtawa NaturRaList shall bein harmony with the objects
of the Club, the decision of the Publications Committee on such
matters being final.

ARTICLE XXI. AMENDMENTS.

An amendment to this Constitution may be passed at an
Annual Meeting of the Club by a two-thirds vote of the members
present, notice having been given at a previous Annual Meeting
or to the Council at least two months previous to such Annual
Meeting. Notification of a proposed amendment shall be
published in THe Ottawa NaTuRALIsT in the month of February.

BY-LAWS.

Standing Committees.

Publications Committee.

Duties of Publications Committee.
Duties of the Librarian.

Duties of the Editor.

Duties of the Associate Editors.
Duties of the Excursions Committee.
Leaders at Excursions.

Duties of Lectures Committee.

10. Departments.

11. Order of Business at Meetings of Council.
12. Amendments.

Oonan LS WN

No. 1. STANDING COMMITTEES.

Three Standing Committees of at least five members each
shall be appointed by the Council from among its members, viz.:
a Publications Committee, an Excursions Committee, and a
Lectures Committee. The names of the members of each com-
mittee shall be printed in order of their rank, on the cover of
THE OTTAWA NATURALIST.

1912] THE OTTAWA NATURALIST. 87

No. 2. PuBLIcATIONS COMMITTEE.

The Publications Committee shall be composed of the
Editor, the Librarian, and three other persons selected by the
Council from among its members.

No. 3. Duties oF THE PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE.

The Publications Committee shall have direct supervision
over all publications issued or received by the Club and shall
see that they are dealt with by the Librarian in accordance with
By-law No. 4.

This Committee shall have power to decide what shall and
what shall not be published in THE Ottawa NaTurRaList and
shall see that the Editor performs his work in accordance with
By-law No. 5.

The Chairman of this Committee shall submit to the Council
a report which shall be embodied in the Annual Report of the
Council. This report shall give an outline of the work accom-
plished by the Committee during the year, and shall also include
the report of the Librarian provided for in By-law No. 4.

No. 4. DuvutTIES oF THE LIBRARIAN.

The Librarian, under the direction of the Publications
Committee, shall have charge of all exchanges and volumes
belonging to the Club. He shall keep a record of these and shall
make such disposition of them as will render them easily ac-
cessible to the members of the Club. Towards the close of each
Club year, and in time for embodiment in the annual report of
the Publications Committee, he shall submit to said Committee
a detailed statement of the publications received, the titles of
the volumes bound during the year, the names of the volumes
added to the Library of the Club, the number of copies of
THE Ottawa NaTuRAList kept in reserve, and such other
relevent information as he ngay consider of value and interest.

No. 5.° Dutizs oF THE EDITOR.

The Editor shall be responsible for the preparation of
THE Ottawa Naturatist, which he shall endeavor to issue be-
fore the tenth day of each month. He shall be an ex-officio
member of the Publications Committee, whose executive officer
he shall be and to whom he shall be responsible. He shall also
be Chairman of the Editorial Committee, composed of the Editor
and the Associate Editors.

No. 6. Duties oF THE ASSOCIATE EDITORS.

The Associate Editors shall co-operate with the Editor in
his work of preparing THE Ottawa NaturaList. They shall

88 THE OTTaAwaA NATURALIST. [Oct.

render advice and assistance to him when he finds it necessary
to consult them. The Associate Editor of each division
(department) shall be responsible to the Editor for a report of
each meeting held by the Branch of which he 1s the representa-
tive.

No. 7. Duties oF THE EXCURSIONS COMMITTEE.

The Excursions Committee shall from time to time make
arrangements for field work, subject to the approval of the
Council. It shall submit a signed report to the Council outlining
the work done at the excursions during the past season. The
chairman of this Committee shall be responsible for a report of
each excursion for publication in THE Ottawa NATURALIST.

No. 8. LEADERS aT EXCURSIONS.

The Leaders at Excursions are persons appointed by the
Council to lead parties interested in the various phases of
natural history in connection with the regular excursions of
the Club. The person whose name appears first as Leader in
any department shall assume the responsibility of providing a
Leader in his department at each excursion.

No. 9. DutTIES oF THE LECTURES COMMITTEE.

The Lectures Committee shall prepare a lecture programme
before November of each year and submit it for approval to the
Council. Its members shall constitute a Reception Committee
at the various lectures.

The Chairman of this Committee shall be the custodian of
the programmes; he shall be responsible to the Editor for a
report of each lecture; and he shall at the close of each year
submit a signed report to the Council outlining the work accom-
plished under the supervision of this Committee. This report
shall be embodied in the Annual Report of the Council.

No. 10. DEPARTMENTS.

The Club recognizes the following departments of natural
history: Archaeology, Botany, Entomology, Geology, Orni-
thology, Zoology.

Members may form groups for intensive study in the depart-
ments in which they are respectively interested.

Each department shall have the privilege of nominating
one or more of its members as Associate Editors, such nomina-
tions being submitted to the Council of the Club.

No. 11. OrpER or Business aT MEETINGS OF COUNCIL.

1. Reading minutes of previous meeting.
2. Business arising out of minutes.

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 89

Communications.

New Members.
Reports of Committee.
New Business.

Dune Ww

No. 12. AMENDMENTS.

An amendment or an addition to these By-laws may be
passed at any meeting of the Council, by a two-thirds vote of
the whole Council, due notice embodying a copy of the proposed
motion having been given at a previous meeting of the Council.
Any such amendment or addition shall be published in the next
issue of THE Ortawa NATURALIST.

DONATIONS TO THE NATIONAL MUSEUM.

The Victoria Memorial Museum has received a gift from the
Canadian Northern Pacific Railway of the skeleton of a youth
found in September,1911, tightly wedged in a crevice about 50 feet
from the centre line of the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway’s
construction at Kamloops Lake. This skeleton was secured by
Mr. W. H. Melanson, the Resident Engineer of the Railway at
Savona, and in compliance with orders issued by Mr. T. G.
Holt, Attorney for the road at Vancouver, at the instance of
Hon. William MacKenzie, was forwarded to Vancouver, from
where it was sent as a gift of the Canadian Northern to the people
of Canada. This single shipment, of course, is of minor import-
ance compared with the precedent which it established for the
deposition in the national museum of all information and specimens
obtained in railroad construction throughout Canada. The Domin-
ion Archeologist made request to several of the leading railroads
of the country to instruct their engineers to carefully preserve
all specimens found, and of stall more importance to send in inform-
ation regarding all antiquities and objects of handiwork as well
as human remains as a gift to the nation. It seems only right
that these objects of scientific value should be preserved for the
benefit of all the people rather than allowed to become scattered
and destroyed as is so often the case when they are uncovered
by the activities connected with development and industries
throughout the country. Accession 12.

An ancient human skull has also recently been received at
the Victoria Memorial Museum as a gift from MacKenzie, Mann
&Co., Limited. This was sent in by Mr. G. T. Holt, the Attorney
for the road at Vancouver in compliance with orders issued by
Hon. William MacKenzie to the authorities of the road to present

90 THe Ottawa NATURALIST. [Oct.

to the nation all scientific information and specimens discovered
by the employees of the company. The particular skull was °
found by Mr. A. W. Phillips, Resident Engineer, at Tranquille.
Unfortunately the bones found with it. were buried in the dump
by the ignorant labourers, but effort 1s being made by the authori-
ties of the railroad to have them uncovered for the national
museum. The skeleton was turned out near Tranquille by the
grading machine plough about 8 feet below the surtace of the
ground and was sent to Mr. H. L. Johnston, Division Engineer
at Savona. The Dominion Archeologist of the Canadian Geo-
logical Survey has urged upon the authorities and engineers of
this road as well as upon those of the other great railroads of
Canada, the Indian agents, and the North West Mounted Police,
the great necessity of saving whatever 1s found for the use of all
the people of Canada. Accession 13.

BOOK NOTICES.

ELEMENTARY EntTomMoLocy.—By E. Dwight Sanderson and
C. F. Jackson, pp. VIII, + 372, 496 figs. Boston: Ginn & Co.;
$1.50.

The need for a good introductory book on Entomology
has been felt by teachers and those who are called upon from
time to time to recommend such a book to one who may be
desirous of taking up the science. Packard and Comstock have
each given us excellent text-books for the student, but a book
was desired of a more elementary character to put into the hands
of the beginner, and one which would serve as an introduction
to these and such other standard works as Sharp, Kellogg and
Howard have written. Only those who have had experience
in teaching entomology will realize the difficulties to be encoun-
tered in writing such a book. The authors of the present work
have succeeded where others with less experience of teaching
and often of the subject have failed. In so doing they have
placed under a debt of gratitude not only teachers of entomology
but the increasing number of those who are desirous of beginning
a study of this subject. As the authors admit, the economic
side has been made the dominant note in the book. For
numerous reasons we think that this was a wise course to take;
nor has the value of the book to the general student been dimin-
ished by unduly emphasizing the economic aspect.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part treats
of the structure and growth of insects. In the second part the
different orders are considered seratim in a most readable and
interesting manner. The third part is extremely valuable as

1912] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 91

it describes in very clear language the methods by which the
elementary student may familiarize himself with and study the
structure, life-history and classification of insects. An excellent
key to the different orders is given; in the preparation of this
key the authors have been fortunate in securing the helpful
criticism of the leading authorities in the various orders, thereby
rendering it increasingly valuable and accurate.

In a book of this nature there are naturally a number of
points which, if space did not forbid, we might discuss. It is
unfortunate that “‘cesophagus”’ should be mis-spelt throughout
the book, and surely ‘‘axe”’ does not, even on the ground of
symplified spelling, deserve to have the ‘‘e”’ chopped off (p. 337).
The so-called ‘“‘rasp-like”’ character and ‘“‘rasping’”’ function of
the labial lobes of the house-fly and blow-fly (p. 18) are mistakes
which have crept into entomological literature due to an incorrect
interpretation of the nature of the pseudotrachee resulting
from lack of actual observation and careful examination. The
statement that “no true gills, that is, gills carrying blood vessels,
like those of fishes, are found in insects,’ whilst strictly true,
might be misleading in view of the possession by larval Chirono-
mids of respiratory filaments containing blood spaces and similar
in function to the gill filaments of fishes. Among the minor
mistakes we notice ‘‘Corisidae”’ (p. 108), ‘“‘Torie’’ (p. 305) and
the laying of Fig. 434 on its side. We are of the opinion that
some mention of such important facts as parthenogenesis and
the alternation of generations, etc., would have enhanced the
biological side of the book.

The book is well illustrated with nearly five hundred figures
which have been selected with considerable care from good
sources, and we note with no regrets the absence of many old
acquaintances which have been rightly allowed to enjoy their
well-earned rest. To all, whether they be teachers or students
or those merely desiring to learn something about insects, we
recommend this book most heartily.

C. Gorpvon Hewirt.
THE FLicut oF Birps.—By F. W. Headley, M.B.O.U. With
sixteen plates and many text-figures. Witherby & Co.

326 High Holborn, London; 163 pp. Price, 5s. net.

“The Flight of Birds”’ is the first book which has come to
our notice dealing exclusively with the science of flight from an
ornithological viewpoint. It is only within recent years that
the subject has had much attention from naturalists, and this
chiefly by European ornithologists. The subject seems not to
have been studied to any extent in a systematic way on our own
continent. ;

92 Tue Ottawa NATURALIST. [Oct.

Britsh naturalists, however, seem to have paid more
attention to the study., W. P. Pycraft devotes a chapter to the .
subject in ‘The Story of Bird Life,’’ and most of the prominent
natural histories deal briefly with the machinery of flight. Mr.
Headley seems to have given the subject careful study, and
a large part of an earlier volume by him entitled “Structure
and Life of Birds’”’ was devoted to birds’ flight. In the present
volume the author has his subject well in hand and gives each
phase a careful consideration. His theories in regard to the
explanation of many phenomena in flight and of flightprinciples
are logical and much observation has been supplied in their
support.

A list of chapter headings will indicate the scope of the
material dealt with. They are as follows: Chap. I, Gliding;
II, Stability; 111, Motive Power; IV, Starting; V, Steering;
VI, Stopping and Alighting; VII, The Machinery of Flight;
VIII, Varieties of Wing and of Flight; IX, Pace and Last;
X, Wing and Flight, and XI, Some Accessories. Under each
of these headings are many sub-headings and each phenomenon
is discussed at some length and a plausible theory advanced in
explanation.

There are sixteen plates, fourteen of which are from photo-
graphs, and twenty-seven other illustrations.

This book, because of the principles of flight set forth within
its pages, should prove interesting to aviators as well as to
ornithologists and we trust that it will receive the welcome at
the hands of the public which it deserves.

E. W. CaLveErt. -

CAMROSE, ALBERTA, BIRD NOTES.

On the 13th of September, 1911, a Red-breasted Nuthatch
spent over an hour in and around our yardinCamrose. This bird
seems to be very rare in the prairie country, as this is only the
second one I have seen in twenty years.

The Blue Jay seems to be more plentiful now than formerly.
Previous to the last year or two, the only ones I noticed were on
the river bottoms in the thick spruce. Twice in September last
year I saw two different pairs in the willows on the level prairie
many miles from any evergreens.

October 14th, 1911, saw a pair of Magpies about ten miles
north of Lacombe. This is the furthest north I have observed
this bird. They are not common by any means. I remember
seeing one a number of years ago in mid-winter, east of Red Deer.

F. _L.. PARLEY,

THE OTTAWA NATURALIST —

VOL. XXVI_ NOVEMBER, 1912 No. 8

ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF NEWFOUND-
LAND.

By W. J. Brown, WESTMOUNT, QUE.

In June, 1911, we experienced a stormy passage over night
from North Sydney to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, a
heavy gale and sea tossing the Reid-Newfoundland Steamer
“Invermore”’ around in such a manner as to make sleep im-
possible. In May, 1912, we had a most delightful trip, covering
the distance of 102 miles in about six or seven hours. The Reid-
Newfoundland Company have now a daily service between
North Sydney and Port aux Basques. The new “Bruce” and
“Invermore,” although practically ocean liners in miniature,
are trim, snug and comfortable, and afford excellent accom-
modation in every respect. At seven o’clock in the morning
we were “‘locked up” in mist and fog, but the rasping foghorn,
a mile away, gave indications of close proximity to the barren
tanges of Newfoundland. Even a keen and _ enthusiastic
ornithologist cannot look at Port aux Basques for the first time
and smile, especially if it is raining and a heavy fog prevails.
The “Port” presents one of the dreariest and most forlorn of
pictures as a gate of entry into probably the finest paradise for
birds and game in America. First impressions, however, are
soon forgotten, as the scene ashore is one of great activity and
the express train is waiting nearby to carry man and baggage
into a magnificent camping ground among the mountains and
waterways in the interior. The traveller soon finds himself
passing along the banks of beautiful streams and is tempted to
jump off to visit a pool, wherein, no doubt, lurk many large
trout. But, this is no fishing excursion and the many songs and
notes of the northern breeding Sparrows and warblers. soon
divert attention. The train makes considerable noise en route,
especially when going around curves, but above all this a con-
tinuous bird chorus can be heard outside the car windows.

There are some charming towns and villages along the
Bay of Islands and here we noted many different species of birds
nesting en masse in stunted spruce woods. A small area of

94 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Nov.

evergreen fenced in is called a ‘‘ garden” by the Newfoundlander,
and in such localities Fox and White-throated Sparrows, Ruby-
crowned Kinglets, Robins, Black-poll and Magnolia Warblers,
Purple Finches, Thrushes and Alder Flycatchers were nesting
commonly. A few hundred yards beyond, Pine Grosebeaks,
Water Thrushes, Winter Wrens, Redpolls, Black-throated-green
Warblers and Chickadees were breeding and several pairs of
Wilson’s Snipe had their nests in bogs not more than 200 yards
away from dwellings. Generally speaking, birds raise their
young where food is most abundant, and this, no doubt, accounts,
to a great extent, for the confluence of different species within
the zone of civilization during the breeding season. Further
inland, the country is less settled and bird life 1s not so congested.
Up on the ‘‘barrens’’ one is forcibly struck by the comparative
absence of birds, Gulls, Yellowlegs, and Least Sandpipers being
in the majority.
The following is a list of the birds observed :—

Loon. On May 28th, a female specimen was shot by a section-
man. The oviduct contained two eggs. The bird is com-
mon.

Biack GUILLEMOT. Saw several flying a hundred yards off
shore at St. George’s Bay.

Giaucous Guii. A few miles inland from St. George’s Bay
six or seven pairs of these birds were breeding on small
islands ina lake. On June 3rd, the nests, which were placed
on large boulders near the water, contained two or three
badly incubated eggs.

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. One pair had their nest in the
same locality as the small colony of Glaucous Gulls referred
to above. On June 3rd, the three eggs were ready to hatch.

HERRING Gut_. Common. Their breeding grounds were not
visited, but large numbers were observed feeding in St.
George’s Bay.

Common TrerRN. Hundreds noted in St. George’s Bay the first
week in June.

Biack Duck. On June 3rd, a nest containing ten incubated
eggs was found on a small island in a lake a few miles inland
from the sea.

BittERN. Eight specimens were noted. Probably fairly
common.

Witson’s Snipe. Abundant. A pair, or more, were found nest-
ing in all the bogs we visited. Many nests with eggs were
found the early part of June. The nests were merely
depressions in moss lined with a few feathers and tops of

~* grasses. While searching for nests of this species I came

1912] THe Orrawa NATURALIST. 95

upon an incubating female, the brown colour of the bird
being easily distinguishable from the green moss upon
which she was sitting. The bird allowed me to stroke her
back without being the least disturbed and had to be lifted
off the nest in order that a snapshot could be taken of the
eggs. She at once turned a couple of somersaults and
feigned a broken wing and remained in the immediate
vicinity.

Least SANDPIPER. On June 18th, two nests were located near
water, the eggs in each set numbering four. These were
simply laid on grassy mounds in a large bog.

YELLOWLEGS. Common on the “barrens” and nesting in fair
numbers.

SPOTTED SANDPIPER. Many nests located on the beach near
Bay of Islands. A common summer resident.

Piczkon Hawk. Breeding in suitable localities and apparently
the common hawk of the Island. The writer located a nest
of this species on the ground in spruce woods on June 6th.
The set of five eggs was laid underneath a stump, strips of
bark and a few feathers forming the lining. A week later
another nest was discovered some twenty feet up in a pine
tree.

OsprEY. Two miles from St. George’s Bay two. nests were
found. These were placed on the top of evergreen trees
on the side of a mountain and within a few yards of a lake.
On June 3rd, one nest contained three eggs far advanced in
incubation and the other had two fresh eggs. June 10th,
another nest was located in a big pine tree, it contained
three newly hatched young.

BELTED KINGFISHER. Common.

NorTHERN FiicKer. One of the commonest Woodpeckers on
the Island.

ALDER FiycaTcHER. Abundant. On June 28th, a nest with
three fresh eggs was found in a low shrub.

LaBRADOR Jay. Many birds seen in all localities we visited.

Crow. Only a few seen along the Humber River.

Rusty BLackBirD. Saw a great many in spruce swamps
during the first week in June, but no nests were found.
PinE GROSBEAK. This species is apparently a common breeder.

It was noted at several points, especially along the Humber.
By June 10th, the young had left one nest and two others
were ready for eggs. On June 14th, one of the latter con-
tained three fresh eggs. The nests were all placed at various
heights in spruce trees and were built externally of twigs
and lined with some: kinds of bleached grasses, the whole

being very shallow and frail.

96 THe Ortawa NATURALIST. [Nov.

PurPLE Fincn. Heard singing from the tops of evergreens in
different places.

REDPOLL. Saw several flocks roaming about the country near
Bay of Islands.

SAVANNA SPARROW. A common summer resident. On June
19th, a nest with eggs was found in the ground.

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. One of the characteristic birds of
the region and nesting commonly.

CHIPPING SPARROW. Common.

LINCOLN’s SPARROW. A common summer resident. The bird
seems to prefer swampy localities where low growth is
abundant. On June 8th, a nest containing four badly
incubated eggs was found in the ground in a large tamarack
bog. The nest, which was composed of dead grasses, was
well concealed amongst withered weeds and rank growth.
The bird is elusive and shy and also difficult to approach.
It was only after an hour’s watching that we were able to
get a glimpse of her on the nest.

Sonc Sparrow. Rare. A nest with four eggs was found on
June 3rd in the ground. One individual was heard singing
lustily from the top of an alder bush on the same date.

SWAMP SPARROW. Common summer resident. Six or seven
birds were heard singing in chorus in a large swamp on
Jane 3rd. A nest was found on June sth, which contained
three fresh eggs.

Fox Sparrow. Abundant. This is one of the earliest breeders
in Newfoundland. On May 14th, when the snow was lying
deep in the spruce woods, two nests were located, each con-
taining three fresh eggs. On May 16th, 19th, 22nd and 24th,
nests were found with full sets. All of these were placed
from, four to eight feet up in, spruce, trees yy. ae pamas
frequently build much higher up. On June 10th, I located
a nest, which had three large young, about twenty feet up in
an evergreen. Various nesting sites are chosen. On June 8th,
a nest of five young was found three feet up from the ground
and placed between the trunk and loose bark of a large
pine tree. Others were situated in the roots of upturned
stumps. This year no nests were found on the ground.
The nests were all built of twigs, moss, rootlets, etc., with
a lining of plant stems, grasses and hair. Many young
birds were observed skulking in the underbrush during the
first week in June. The Fox Sparrow is a wonderful
scratcher and quite frequently the birds were seen working
industriously in scrubby potato patches.

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 97

WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOW. A large wave appeared at Stephen-
ville on June 3rd. The next day they disappeared al-
together.

BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER. A few specimens seen in damp
evergreen woods.

YELLOW WarBLER. Fairly common. A few nests were located
the latter half of June.

MyrtTLeE WaRBLER. Only two birds noted.

MAGNOLIA WARBLER. On June 8th, a nest was located two feet
up in a small spruce. The bird had not started to lay.
Fairly common.

BLACK-POLL WARBLER. This bird’s weak song was heard all
along the Humber River in June.

BLACK-THROATED-GREEN WARBLER. One nest found on June
13th contained four fresh eggs. It was placed eight feet up
in a pine tree.

OvEN-BIRD. Heard singing in many localities in mixed woods.

WatTeErR THRUSH. Abundant. A nest was found under a bank
along the Humber River. On June 12th it contained four

_ fresh eggs.

MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT. Common.

CANADIAN WARBLER. A moderate summer resident.

AMERICAN REDSTART. Saw several males near Bay of Islands.

AMERICAN Pipit. On June 19th, a nest with three fresh eggs
was found on the side of a moss-covered rock. The nest
was built of dead grasses only.

WINTER WREN. Heard everywhere in spruce woods.

RED-BREASTED NuUTHATCH. Common.

RUBY-CROWNED KinGLET. Abundant. During the second week
in June several nests were found in small spruce trees, eight
or nine eggs being the complement in each case.

VeerRY. A few individuals noted.

OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH. Very common. Many nests found
middle of June on stumps and in spruce trees, three and four
eggs forming the set.

Hermit TurusH. Heard everywhere during the daytime and
night.

Rosin. Common.

DEPLETION OF BIRD LIFE IN NEWFOUNDLAND.

While the water-fowl are being needlessly slaughtered and
exterminated on the sea coast, the birds in the interior are
meeting with the same fate. Near two section-houses up on
the “‘barrens’’ Ptarmigan feathers and skins were scattered
about along the railway for some 200 yards. A few casual
remarks elicited the fact that one party had shot over 100

98 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Nov.

‘‘Partridges”’ during April and May. A glance up the road-bed .
certainly did not contradict this assertion. The flesh of the
loon, as a rule, is not palatable, and why this species should also
be glaringly shot when opportunity offers is questionable. A
great number of Gulls have deserted their breeding grounds on
the coast and are now endeavouring to raise their young in
secluded localities inland. Year by year, however, the indis-
criminate destruction of birds still goes on, and if drastic steps
are not soon taken in the direction of protecting them, certain
species will be wiped out altogether. Every lake has its quota
of rafts, which are used in the springtime for robbing the Gulls.

LIST OF TRILOBITES. FOUND AT OTTAWA AND
IMMEDIATE VICINITY.

ReviseD TO DaTE BY J. E. NARRAWAY.

Eohar pes dentoni Billings, Trenton, very rare, E.
- ottawaensis Billings, Trenton, very rare, E.
Triarthus spinosus Billings, Utica, abundant, A.
= beckt Green, Utica, common, A.
glaber Billings, Utica, rare, E.
Bathyurus acutus Raymond, Pamelia, rather common, F.
e superbus Raymond, Pamelia, rather common, B.
= extans (Hall), Lowville, common, C.
1 spiniger (Hall), Lowville and Black River, common,
rarely in Black River, D.
ingalli Raymond, Trenton, rare, D.
Cyphas pis trentonensis Weller, Black River, very rare, D.
Bastlicus barrandi (Hall), Black River, rare, E.
Ogygites canadensis (Chapman), Utica, abundant, B.
Onchometopus simplex Raymond and Narraway, Pamelia, rather
common, C.
Isotelus arenicola Raymond, Chazy, rare, C.
gigas Dekay, Lowville to Trenton, rather common, B.
latus Raymond, Trenton, common, B.
maximus Locke, Lorraine, rather common, C.
towensis Owen, Lowville and Black River, rare, C.
Tsoteloides homalnotoides (Walcott), Black River, rare, D.
Ilaenus angusticollis Billings, Black River, rather common, C.
conradi Billings, Black River, common, B.
‘“ latiaxiatus Raymond and Narraway, Black River,
rather rare, E.
." americanus Billings, Trenton, rare, B.

1912] THe OrrawaA NATURALIST. 99
Bumastus milleri (Billings), Lowville and Black River, rather
common, A.
indeterminatus (Walcott), Black River, rather rare, E.
billingsi Raymond and Narraway, Trenton, rather
rare, C.
Thaleops ovata Conrad, Black River, common, C.

Calymene senaria Conrad, Trenton, abundant, A.
Cybele ella Narraway and Raymond, Black River, very rare, C.
Ceraurus pleurexanthemus Green, Black River to Utica, common,
” dentatus Barton and Raymond, Trenton, rare, D.
bispinosus Barton and Raymond, Black River, very
rare, E.
Dalmanites achates Billings, Trenton, rather common, C.
bebryx Billings, Trenton, rather rare, C.
Pterygometopus callicephalus (Hall), Black River and Trenton,
common, C.
Amphilichas trentonensis (Conrad), Trenton, very rare, F.
cucullus (Meek and Worthen), Trenton, very rare, E.
Arges wesenbergensis paulianus Clarke, Trenton, rather rare, E.
Encrinurus vigilans Hall, Trenton, very rare, C.
Bronteus lunatus Billings, Trenton, rather rare, B.
Odontopleura trentonensts (Hall), Trenton, rather rare, C.
Proetus parviusculus Hall, Trenton, rather rare, D.

oe

ae

3@ Entire specimens common.

B. sometimes, but usually fragmentary.
c ‘ Ze very rarely, but usually fragmentary.
Py. Mey; . always fragmentary.
Peet oy ha Ye generally cephala or cranidia.
| Sa = 3 pygidia.
SUMMARY.
In all 43 specimens of 22 genera distributed as follows:
In Chazy formation .. .. . 1 Species 1genus
SS aMenatOrdnttiOn 5). a 2 genera
= Lowvilletotmation. .\. ... 5 is 4 a
‘“* Black River formation . . .°16 *s 10
treneon tortmacion \.!.... . 19 i 15
Septet OrMatOn,.§ ... <<, *. 9 + 3
Se meriatie tormeawion .. <>). 1." 1 genus

Entire shields have been found of 26 species; 17 species are
still known only from fragments.

The compiler has endeavoured to eliminate all doubtfully
or incorrectly identified species, and to bring the nomenclature
up to date, thus establishing a list which may be relied on as a

100 THE OTTAwa NATURALIST. [Nov.

basis, but which it is hoped will be added to by future collectors.
It is morally certain that several other species occur in the
district, as fragments have been found which undoubtedly belong
to species not here enumerated, but which do not afford sufficient
data for positive identification. For example, fragments have
been collected of the genera Remopleurides, Cybele, Dalmanites,
Pterygometopus and Illaenus which cannot at present be
definitely referred to any of our previously known species.

HARRIS’ SPARROW IN ONTARIO.

By W. E. SAUNDERS, LONDON, ONT.

This sparrow is absolutely unknown to almost all Ontarians,
unless they have met it in the west. Because it belongs to the
genus Zonotrichia one is inclined to feel that it should have
white around the head, but it reverses this common character
of the white-throat and the white-crown, and has, in full plumage,
a large black patch on the throat, and some black on the top of
the head. The remainder of the colouring is of the same general
type as that of the eastern birds, but it is larger, measuring
seven inches in length.

The only published record of this bird for Ontario occurs
on page 7 of the ‘“Mammals of Ontario,” by Dr. Gerritt Muller,
where he casually mentions the presence of Zonotrichia querula
at Nepigon in September, 18906.

Another record south of Ontario is the mention of a specimen
taken, and four or five others seen, near Columbus, Ohio, on
April 28th, 1889, which occurs in the 5th edition of Davies’
“Nests and Eggs,” page 377.

In the west, we find it occurring more frequently, and
Prof. Barrows writes me that the first Michigan specimen was
taken at Palmer, Marquette Co., on Sept. 30th, 1894; the
second at Battle Creek, Oct. 12th, 1894; the third at Sault Ste.
Marie, Mich., on Feb. 22nd, 1900.

At London, I have met this bird but once, and the occur-
rence stands as the only positive occurrence in eastern Ontario.
On March 18th, 1907, while walking in from the country about
8 a.m., I heard what seemed to be a single long-drawn note of
the white-throated sparrow, high pitched as usual, and as the
date was very early for this bird, I stopped to investigate.
Among a company of juncos and song sparrows, in a garden,
was one large dull-coloured sparrow which I suspected of being
the author of the note, and which I took at once to be a Harris.
A request to the lady of the house brought forth a point blank

———

1912] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 101

refusal to allow me to shoot anything, as there was “ nothing but
robins here.’’ Promising not to shoot, I went out to look,
and by ‘‘looking”’ at sufficiently close range, and from the right
direction, I scared the bird across the road; and having profited
by experience, I proceeded to shoot if first, and ask permission
afterwards. It proved to be a male in immature plumage,
spotted irregularly on the upper breast, the spots giving a hint
of the black colouration which was to come. The specimen 1s
now number 1797 in my collection.

This short fragment of a song brought back to my memory
a peculiar song, consisting of a single whistled note pitched at
the usual range of the white-throat, which I heard as my train
stopped at a station near Wabigoon, north-west of Lake Superior,
on June 30th, 1906. I had ascribed this song to the white-
throat, but, from its resemblance to the call of the captured
Harris, I feel sure that there is a chance of its author es of
the latter species.

One would infer from Dr. Miller’s reference that the Harris
was not uncommon at Nepigon, and if it turns out that it
breeds regularly north of Lake Superior, a southward migration
through lower Ontario should be noted with moderate frequency.

Two of the dates quoted above are rather interesting,
Feb. 22nd, 1900, at the Sault, and March 18th, 1907, at London.
Both of them are much in advance of the white-throats’ migra-
tion, and yet it appears that the date of the migration of Harris’
Sparrow in the west is rather late, apparently between that of
the white-throat and the white-crown.

It should also be mentioned that Mr. I. Hughes Samuel
saw a bird which he took to be a male of this species near
Toronto during the spring migration, about the year 1898,
but as no record had ever been published of the capture of this
bird in Lower Ontario, the occurrence was never published.

Apparently this bird should be looked for in early flocks
of sparrows in February and March, and at that time all attempts
at a song resembling that of a white-throat should be carefully
investigated.

THE CANADIAN RUFFED GROUSE.

The Canadian Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus togata),
popularly known as the “‘partridge,”’ is one of our most widely-
istributed game birds, being found wherever there are woods,
from New Brunswick to British Columbia, and as far north as
Hudson’s Bay. It is a handsome grayish bird of markedly

102 THE Ortrawa NATURALIST. [Nov.

gallinaceous appearance, some seventeen inches long and of
stout build. The extraordinary ‘“‘drumming’’ noise made by ~
the male bird to call the female is familiar to everyone who
frequents the woods in the spring. To produce this remarkable
sound the bird stands on some slight elevation, such as a log or
a stone, and strikes the air strongly with his outstretched
wings. The first four or five strokes, occurring at intervals of
about half a second, sound like blows on a rather dull bass
drum, but they rapidly get faster and faster until the sound
becomes continuous like the roll of a snare drum. The whole
performance lasts, perhaps, ten seconds, and is repeated every
few minutes for some time.

In the northern part of its range this bird has another
peculiar habit, that of tunnelling into a snowdnft for protection
against the intense cold. In order to begin its tunnel it some-
times walks around, deliberately burrowing here and there
into the snow with its head until it finds: a suitable
place, but its general procedure is to dive) aroar an
elevated branch or directly off the wing into the drift,
the momentum of its plunge being sufficient to drive it
some little way into the soft snow, and thus enable it to start
its tunnels conveniently. Then, at a depth of three or four
inches under the surface, it scratches out a horizontal or slightly
descending passage about two feet long, the end of which it
enlarges into a roughly spherical chamber eight or ten inches in
diameter, the removed snow completely blocking up the entrance
tunnel. Here the bird, apparently preferring hunger to cold,
may spend several days if the weather is severe. Except for
one mark where the tunnel begins, the surface of the snow is
quite undisturbed, and no one would ever suspect that a live
warm bird was concealed in the drift. To leave its burrow,
the bird simply bursts out through the overlying layer of snow,
springing into immediate flight.

One day last January, when the thermometer stood 10°
below zero F., I stopped a moment while snowshoeing through
the woods to examine a curious isolated mark on the snow.
At that instant a ‘“‘partridge’”’ burst out just at the toes of my
snowshoes, and with a great whirr of wings disappeared among
the spruces. The mark I had noticed was the entrance to the
tunnel, and from its appearance the bird had evidently been three
or four days in its burrow, and would doubteless have remained
there longer if my approach had not frightened it out. Dry,
soft snow is, of course, an excellent non-conductor of heat,
and even in the very coldest weather, the ruffed grouse is no
doubt quite comfortable in its immaculate chamber.—CHARLES
MAcNAMARA, in Knowledge, Aug., 1912.

1912] THe Otrrawa NATURALIST. 103

OBITUARY.

Joun Craic, M. S. Agr., Late Professor of Horticulture,
Agricultural College, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

The recent death of Prof. John Craig is deeply deplored by
his many friends. Those who knew him when he lived in Ottawa
will remember his tall, manly figure; his rugged strength and
the iron-like grip of his hand, and they can scarcely believe
that with his great physique serious illness could lay hold upon
him. But, he has been cut down in the prime of life. He
died at Siasconset, Massachusetts, on August 10th, 1912, at
the age of 48 years, after an illness of several months.

When Mr. Craig came to Ottawa in 1890 he soon joined the
Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club, becoming a member that year,
and until he left the city in the autumn of 1897 he took an active
part in the Club’s work. He was particularly interested in
botany and was a leader in that branch. He contributed many
interesting articles on botanical and horticultural subjects to
THE Ottawa Naturatist, both while he was in Ottawa and
after leaving here. He was Treasurer of the Club in 1897.

Mr. Craig was born at Lakefield, Argenteuil Co., P.Q., in
1864. His father, the late William Craig, was manager of the
estate of the late Chas. Gibb, a noted horticulturist of Abbots-
ford, Quebec, a lover of fruits and flowers, from whom Mr.
Craig received the inspiration which decided him to make
horticulture his life’s work. From the High School in Montreal
he went to the Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa, in 1885,
where he specialized in horticulture and economic botany,
becoming, in 1887, Assistant to Prof. J. L. Budd, Professor of
Horticulture, and, in 1888, Assistant to the Director, having
charge, while he held the latter office, of the Department of
Horticulture of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station.
In January, 1890, he entered the service of the Dominion
Government, -becoming Horticulturist of the Central Experi-
mental Farm, Ottawa, which position he held until the autumn
of 1897. The work in horticulture developed greatly under him.
The use of Bordeaux Mixture in preventing the development
of certain diseases of fruit was practically unknown in Canada
when he began experiments and as early as 1890 we find him
pitta’ different formule to* determine the best to use. To his

energy in rapidly spreading the good news of the possible control
ot apple scab, is largely due the wide and early use of Bordeaux
Mixturein Canada. Whenthe San José Scale was first discovered

104 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Nov.

in Ontario in 1896 the prompt action which was taken to control
it was largely due to him. In 1893, he assisted the Provincial
Government in organizing the Ontario Fruit Experiment Stations.

He was one of the most enthusiastic and energetic workers
in the Ottawa Horticultural Society, while in Ottawa, and was
one of the few who organized the Society in 1893. He was
president of that Society for 1895, 1896 and 1897, during which
time it developed rapidly.

Mr. Craig resigned his position as Horticulturist of the
Central Experimental Farm in 1897 and went to the United
States, where he took a special course at the Agricultural College
at Cornell University, obtaining the degree of Master of the
Science of Agriculture there in 1899. . He was appointed Pro-
fessor of Horticulture and Forestry of the lowa State Agricultural
College in 1899, which he held until 1900 when he accepted the
position of Professor of Extension Teaching at Cornell. He
filled this office until 1903, when he became Professor of Horti-
culture of the Cornell Agricultural College, which post he held
until his death. :

Prof. Craig filled many offices in the United States and
served on many important committees. He became Secretary
of the American Pomological Society in 1903 and was still
Secretary when he died. Notwithstanding his many other
duties he edited The National Nurseryman, a trade paper
of importance, and ihe organ of the American Association of
Nurserymen. Prof. Craig’s outstanding qualities were his
strength of will, by which he overcame many obstacles, and
his capacity for work, which, with his determination to succeed,
led him from one important position to another.

His courtesy to those who worked with or under him was
very noticeable and much appreciated. He had a keen sense
of humour which in time, of difficulty, and even of sickness,
did not leave him. He loved horticulture in all its branches
and being intimately connected with it from his early youth he
had a broad insight into, and a great knowledge of, the whole
field. ;

He was loyal to his friends who, though scattered far:
throughout Canada and the United States, felt during his life
that he was always true to them.

W. T. Macoun.

«THE OTTAWA NATURALIST -

aE. VI. DECEMBER, 1912 | No. 9

ON THE NATURE OF THE SO-CALLED “COVERING
PLATES” IN PROTOPALASASTER NARRAWAYI.

By Percy E. RAyMonp.

In the autumn of 1910, Mr. J. E. Narraway, of Ottawa,
found a small starfish in the Black River limestone at City View,
ashort distance west of the Central Experimental Farm at Ottawa.
On examining the specimen on his return from the field he
found that the central groove in two of the rays was roofed over,
for a short distance, by flat, alternating plates which met on
the median line and formed a tight, tent-like covering over the.
groove. Furthermore, these plates were borne by two rows of
small plates just inside the marginal series, and each plate was
provided with a cup-like pit into which the proximal end of a
covering plate fitted. The specimen had every appearance of
being exposed from the actinal side, and assuming that such
was. the case, the plates were interpreted as being homologous
with the covering pieces over the ambulacral grooves of cystids
and crinoids. Mr. Narraway at once drew the writer’s attention
to the specimen, and I fully agreed with him as to its nature
and importance. It was next shown to Professor Hudson,
whose work on Ordovician echinoderms is well known. He
concurred in our views of the specimen, which he studied with .
great care, and he finally described and figured the species in
THE Ottawa Naturatist for May and July, 1912. Before the
publication of his paper, photographs and descriptions had
been seen by three or four paleontologists and students of recent
echinoderms, and, it must be confessed, all dissented from our
view as to the nature of the ‘“‘covering pieces.”

Recently, in seaéehing the collection of starfish in the
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass., the writer
came upon what seemed to be a second specimen showing the
“covering plates.”’ (See plate VI, fig. 1). This specimen has three
imperfect arms, all of which show the groove covered by alter-
nating plates which are obtusely pointed at their distal ends,
where they fit together closely. Some of the plates have been
removed from portions of the arms, and it is then seen that the

106 Tue Ottawa NATURALIST. [Dec.

“covering plates’? are supported by small plates with a pit on
top, just as in Protopaleaster narrawayr. Outside the row of —
plates bearing the “‘covering pieces”’ is a row of small spine-
bearing marginals, so that, though the plates are of very different
size, there is a complete analogy in arm structure between this
specimen and the one found by Mr. Narraway. If the specimen
had shown no more than this, it would have been a valuable
support to our interpretation of Mr. Narraway’s specimen, but
on examining it more closely, small patches of top-shaped plates
were discovered. These patches are so arranged as to suggest
that they once formed part of a covering over the structures
now exposed on the arm. On comparing these plates with those
on the abactinal side of Urasterella pulchella, (Billings), it was
found that they were identical with them. Furthermore, the
arms of the specimen are of the same shape as those of the
Urasterella, and that species has small, spine-bearing marginals.
The specimen figured is from the Walcott-Rust quarry at
Trenton Falls, N.Y., and is associated with specimens c‘
Urasterella pulchella.

This specimen shows that, in this case at least, the covering
pieces are really ambulacral ossicles, exposed by the removal
of most of the abactinal skeleton. Dr. H. L. Clark, to whom I
am indebted for many helpful suggestions in regard to this
matter, remarks that such a condition of preservation might be
expected to be very common, as the actinal side of a starfish,
being buried in the mud, might easily be preserved, even though
the abactinal side, not so protected, disintegrated.

The chief reason that Narraway, Hudson and myself had
for thinking that Protopaleaster narrawayt was exposed from
the actinal side was that the covering pieces did not look like
ambulacral plates, and that they made an apparently tight and
imperforate roof over the groove. These plates, instead of being
narrow and grooved at the sides for the protrusion of the tube-
feet, were wide, thin, and fitted closely together at the sides
and ends. But the same condition obtains in the specimen here
illustrated, and our argument must fall. A fact in regard to
Mr. Narraway’s specimen to which we did not attach enough
importance is the way in which the marginal plates are truncated
on the side now exposed to view. The outer faces are rounded
and granulated, and one would expect the lower (actinal) faces
to be rounded also. The faces actually presented, however, are
flat and smooth, as would be expected if they served as a founda-
tion for the plates of the abactinal side.

The specimen of Protopaleaster also shows two plates
resting on the disk for which a place can not be found in the
structure of the specimen. (See figure 2 of the plate). Professor

-

1912] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 107

Hudson interpreted the larger of these plates as an interradial
marginal from another specimen of this species, but the writer
is unable to accept this interpretation for two reasons. The
first is, that although the shape is much the same as that of one
of the interradial marginals, still there is an important difference.
This plate is pointed at the wider end, and evidently had a plate
resting against each of the two plane faces at that end. The
interradial marginals, on the other hand, are not pointed, but
have a plate resting directly against the end on a line with the
long axis. Secondly, the large plate has another fairly large
plate still in position, resting against one of the faces on the
larger end, and this plate is larger and of different shape from
any of the plates which abut against the inner faces of the inter-
radial marginals. Moreover, if these were plates foreign to this
specimen, they would not maintain their natural position in
relation to each other, but would be separated. It seems
probable that they are plates of the abactinal system of this
same specimen, and that they are not far from their original
position. A specimen of Palewaster matutina, Hall, in the Museum
of Comparative Zoology, shows interradial marginal plates of
this same form on the abactinal side. ;

It thus seems probable, both from analogy with the specimen
of Urasterella pulchella here figured, and from the structure of
the specimen itself, that the ‘covering plates” of Protopaleaster
narrawayt, are really ambulacral ossicles exposed from the upper
side.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE VI.

1. Urasterella pulchella, (Billings). A specimen exposed
from the abactinal side, with nearly all the plates of the abactinal
skeleton weathered away, exposing the ambulacral plates.
Near the ends of two of the arms some of the ambulacrals are
lost, revealing the pits in the adambulacrals. On the arm running
to the left, a small patch of plates of the abactinal covering are
still to be seen in position, covering the ambulacrals. The
Spinose marginals show but faintly in this photograph. The
figure is three times natural size, and the specimen, which
is from the upper part of the Trenton at Trenton Falls, New
York, is in the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

2. Protopaleaster narrawayi, Hudson. A photograph of
the holotype, showing the ‘‘covering plates,’ and the large
displaced plate which is now believed to be an interradial
marginal belonging to the abactinal size of this specimen. Note
the pointed inner end of this large plate and the smaller plate
Still in position against one of its faces. This figure is 2.66
times natural size, and was made by Professor G. H. Hudson.

108 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Dec.

* 3. Thesame species. Side view of one of the arms, showing
the tuberculate outer surface and the smooth and truncated
upper surface of the marginal plates. This is 9.5 times natural
size. Photograph by Porfessor Hudson.

4. The same species. View of the same arm, looking down
from above, showing the pits in the adambulacrals, and the
closely fitting ‘“‘covering plates.’’ This is 9.5 times natural size.
Photograph by Professor Hudson.

NOTE ON A RIPPLE-MARKED LIMESTONE.*

By EB. Mi Kawere:

The occurrence of ripple-marks on sandstone is a common
phenomenon to every geologist, and nearly every one has
observed these beautiful flutings in process of formation on
the sands of lake or sea shore. The literature on ripple-marks
relates almost entirely to these familiar sand or sandstone ripples.
The occurrence of ripple-marks on limestone seems to be a
phenomenon of such relative infrequency that it appears desir-
able to record an example which has come under the writer’s
notice.

The ripple-marks which will be described characterize
certain Devonian limestone strata in northern Manitoba. The
basin of Lake Winnipegosis is excavated chiefly in limestone of
Devonian age, and the principal outcrops of these beds in
Manitoba occur around the shores and on the islands of this lake.
The best exposures of the Devonian strata about the southern
end of the lake, appear on Snake Island.

This island, as noted by Mr. J. B. Tyrrell’, is classic
ground in western geology, having furnished the collection of
fossils made by Prof. H. Y. Hinde in 1858, which first deter-
mined the presence of Devonian rocks in Manitoba, but the
ripple-marked limestone appears not to have been noted by
previous observers.

I visited this locality during the past summer, and in
company with Mr. A. MacLean examined the interesting ripple-
marks which are best exposed on the surface of a large block
of limestone which has broken down from the cliff near the
northwest corner of the island. This cliff is shown in plate VII,

* Published with the permission of the Director of the Canadian Geological
Survey.
1 Tyrrell, J. B.—Report on Northwestern Manitoba with portion of
adjacent districts of Assiniboia and Saskatchewan: Geol. Surv. of
Can., Pt. E, Vol. V, 1889-90-91, (1892) p. 163 E.

1912] THE Otrrawa NATURALIST. 109

figure 1. One of the large limestone blocks which has
fallen from the face of the cliff, exhibits the large clearly moulded
ripple-marks shown in figure 2. The crests of these are two
feet apart, and rise about one and one-half inches above their
troughs. The ripples curve slightly in crossing the surface of
the limestone. The rock on which they are impressed, is a
comparatively pure non-magnesian limestone. The surface of
the ripple-marks show great numbers of finely comminuted
shell fragments. These small fragments of various kinds of
molluscan shells, comprise a large share of the material com-
posing the limestone in the middle third of the cliff section in
which the ripple-marks occur. These broken shell fragments
thus strongly supplement the evidence of the large ripple-
marks in indicating vigorous disturbance by wave action of
the sea bottom in which they originated. Beyond this fact,
it is perhaps not safe to make any deductions regarding the
physical conditions under which these ripple-marks were pro-
duced. It is clear that the water was of sufficiently moderate
depth to permit wave action to agitate the bottom, but it does
not follow on the other hand, that the sea was extremely shallow:
Nor is any valid ground afforded for the assumption of beach
conditions which the discussion of ripple-marks presented in
some texts’ might lead one to make. It has been shown by
Mr. A. R. Hunt* and others that ‘‘ripple-marks occur at
much greater depths than is commonly supposed.’’ Dana‘ has
has stated that ‘“‘ripple-marks may be made by the vibration of
-3- waves even at depths of 300 to 500 feet.’”’ The unusually
large size of these ripple-marks suggest water of greater
depth than that which develops the ripple-marks seen along
many beaches. Hunt’s observations have shown that thousands
of specimens of marine shells are sometimes killed in six fathoms
of water by wave action. The same observer has found evidence
of much damage to shells living in fifteen fathoms from the same
cause’. The broken shell material in these limestones might
therefore have been produced in water a few fathoms in depth.
The limestones which immediately follow the ripple-marked
beds in the cliff section of Snake Island show but little frag-
mental material, the fossils contained in them being in a good
state of preservation. Ripple-marks appear to be absent from
these upper beds.

2 LeCont states (Elements of Geology 1888, p. 3a), ‘‘By means of
these characteristics (ripple marks) of shore deposit, many coast
lines of previous geological epochs have been determined.”’

8 On the formation of ripple marks: Proc. Roy. Soct. Lond., Vol.
Sex x1V, p. 8, 1883.

4 J. D. Dana, Manual of Geology 2d ed. p. 665.

|p. cit, pp: 8, 12.

110 THe Ottawa NATURALIST. [Dec.

The ripple-marked beds of the Snake Island section lie
not far above the Stringocephalus dolomite. Since the dolomite
bearing Stringocephalus burtont does not appear in the Snake
Island section, the precise distance of the ripple-marks above
this formation cannot be stated. They belong near the base of
a formation called the Manitoban. The following fossils, deter-
mined by Prof. J. F. Whiteaves, are recorded from the lime-
stones of this formation on Snake Island by Tyrrell:—

Cyathophyllum vermiculare var. precursor,
Alveolites vallorum,

Atrypa reticularis,

A. aspera,

Cyrtina hamualtonensis,
Rhipidomella striatula,
Paracyclas elliptica,
Raphistoma tyrrellt,
Belerophon pelops,
Euomphalus subtrigonalis,
Omphalocirrus manitobensts,
Cyrtoceras occidentale,
Gyroceras submamullatum,
Duinichthys canadensis.

To this list may be added Astraeospongia hamultonensts.
The small six-ray ed spicules of this sponge occur in large
numbers in a band of limestone 8 inches below the top of the
cliff shown in figure 2. On the evidence of this fauna these beds
were assigned to an Upper Devonian horizon by Whiteaves.’.

POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY.

THE ENGRAVER BEETLES (FAmiLy IpPIDz).
(Continued from Vol. XXV, page 145.)

By J. M. Swaine, Assistant Entomologist for Forest Insects,
Division of Entomology, Ottawa.

The Ambrosia-beetles, or Timber-beetles, breed entirely
within the wood, the eggs of some species being laid well within
the heart-wood. They bore small, round tunnels directly
through the bark and into the wood. There may be several
secondary egg-tunnels cut by two or more females, branching
from a primary entrance-tunnel. On the other hand the tunnels

® Geol. Surv. of Can., Pt. E, Vol. V, 1889-90-91 (uBR p. 163 E.
? ‘Contrib; Can. Pal; Vol. I, Pt. IVs pe 25 8a e2

1912] ' Tue Orrawa NaTurRALIst. 111

of some species of Anisandrus consist merely of a short entrance-
tunnel and one or two short lateral brood tunnels cut immediately
beneath and parallel to the wood surface. Rarely, the tunnels
of closely allied species may branch from a common entrance-
tunnel.

The number of males in some genera of this group is small;
in some species of Anisandrus there are seldom more than one
or two males in a brood of from twelve to twenty. With some
species the males are apterous, and the females are fertilized
before leaving the brood trees. ;

In two genera, Anisandrus and Xyleborus, the eggs are de-
posited free in the tunnels and with most species the larvae feed
solely upon the fungus without cutting any tunnels of their own
whatever. The larve of Platy pus live free in the tunnels until
nearly ready to pupate, when short pupal cells (cradles) are cut
from the sides of the tunnels deep within the wood.

THE SHOT-HOLE BORER, Anisandrus dispar. Adults, an antenna, and
tunnels inanapple branch. (After Hubbard).

In Corthylus, Trypodendron, Pterocyclon and Gnathotnchus
_the eggs are laid in shallow niches cut by: the female along the
sides of the tunnel, and usually well within the wood; the
larvee extend these niches away from the tunnel, forming larval
cradles, in which they remain until mature. The length of the
completed cradles is slightly greater than that of the adult beetle.

112 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Dec.

The adults of the Ambrosia-beetles bestow a certain amount
of care upon the young larve, furnishing them with the initial
supply of food-fungus, referred to below, and removing the
excrement from the tunnels outside the cradles.

The chief food of these beetles is a fungus known as
Ambrosia, which they propagate within their tunnels. From
this habit comes the name ‘‘Ambrosia-beetles.’”’ The tunnels
are kept entirely free from chips and refuse, and the walls are
covered by the fungus growth. So far as known, except in the
cases of a few closely-allied forms, each species of beetle uses a
characteristic species of fungus. The mycelium of the fungus
pervades the tissue about the tunnels for one or two millimetres,
colouring the wood dark brown or black, so that the tunnels
have the appearance ‘“‘of having been bored with a red-hot wire.”
By this means the tunnels of Ambrosia-beetles are easily
distinguished from those of other wood borers. When new
tunnels are cut, the fungus is carried there’ by the beetles, and
started upon the tunnel walls, in some cases in specially-prepared
tunnels upon beds of chips and excrement.

When working in large trees some species enlarge the same
set of tunnels through several generations; but usually each
generation excavates a new abode in dying parts of the same
or other trees.

Very few of our timber-beetles enter healthy wood; almost
invariably they select trees in which the sap is unhealthy, at
least in the portion attacked. Their tunnels admit fungi to the
deeper layers of wood, and ruin the timber for the most valuable
uses.

TuE TwiG-BEETLES.—The Twig-beetles include a few species
belonging mainly to the genera Hypothenemus, Pityophthorus
and Micracis. They bore into the bark and wood of terminal
twigs of trees and shrubs both for food and for breeding purposes.
They feed upon the bark and wood, and in some cases apparently
upon buds and young shoots. Some engrave the wood surface
as do the Bark-beetles; some have in addition deep chambers
within the wood; and with others the primary tunnel is cut
through the pith itself. With some species the eggs are laid free
in the primary tunnels, and the larve either feed upon the tunnel
walls or cut longer or shorter mines through the wood. Several
species of this group have a very close relation to a fungus always
found in their tunnels.

A summary of the borrowing habits of these first three
groups brings out some interesting relations. Among the Bark-
beetles the eggs are usually laid in niches along the sides of the
primary tunnels, and the larval mines are usually well-developed.
A few species cut their tunnels and mines entirely in the bark;

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 113

many cut them between the bark and the wood, the pupal-
chambers being merely an enlargement of the ends of the larval-
mines; others form the pupal-chamber by driving the ends of
the larval-mines a half inch or less vertically into the wood,
some even cutting the distal half of the larval-mines just below
the wood surface; and lastly, a very few small species cut almost
the entire system of tunnels and mines slightly below and parallel
tothe surface ofthe wood. The Twig-beetles cut both tunnels and
mines, when the latter are present, through the wood and pith
of twigs. Among the Ambrosia-beetles the tunnels are in all
species entirely within the wood, but the depth to which they
enter varies considerably with the species. In the genera
Corthylus, Pterocyclon, Trypodendron and Gnathotricus the
eggs are laid in niches along the sides of the tunnels, and the
larve cut very short mines, known as cradles. The species of
Platypus lay the eggs free in the tunnels, but the larve when
nearly ready to pupate cut short cradles in which they pupate
and remain until mature. In the genus Xyleborus the eggs are
laid free within the tunnels, but the larve cut no cradles,
pupating in the primary tunnels. There is thus a fairly well-
marked gradation in habit, both as to the depth of the tunnels
and mines below the surface and as to the degree of develop-
ment of the larval mines.

The fourth group contains those species not included
among the Bark-beetles, Ambrosia-beetles and Twig=beetles.
The American species are few in number. Coccotrypes dactyliperda,
an imported form, burrows in date seeds; Cryphalus jalappe is
found in jalap root; Hypothenemus eruditus burrows in nuts,
book-bindings, and other dry substances, as well as in dead
twigs of grape and orange; Pityophthorus coniperda occurs in
pine cones; Hylastinus obscurus bores in the roots of clover;
and Cactopinus hubbardi in the pith of the giant cactus.

Enemies of the Scolytide —The Scolytids have many natural
enemies. They are preyed upon by many predaceous and
parasitic insects, by birds, and are frequently attacked by
fungous diseases.

Adults and larve belonging to the families Cleride, Staphy-
linidz, Colydiide, Histeride and others enter the burrows and
feed upon the eggs, larve, pupe and adults of the Scolytids.
The predaceous larve often burrow through the larval-mines
after the Scolytid larve, which they finally overtake and devour.
Various dipterous larve feed upon the eggs and younger stages.
Many small hymenopterous parasites prey upon the larve and

upz, and have even been bred from the adults. Larve of large
wood-boring beetles, such as Monohammus, destroy the Scolytid
tunnels by their borings and prove serious enemies to the beetles.

114 THE Ortrawa ‘NATURALIST. [Dec.

Woodpeckers destroy large numbers of the Bark-beetles, and
at times help considerably to check their ravages.

The tunnels, especially of the Timber-beetles, are frequently
overrun with various species of mites. The eggs of these mites
hatch before the young beetles are ready for their flight, and in
this way young and adult mites are carried by the beetles
attached to their bodies to the new tunnels. At certain times
the declivity of the elytra of various species of Ips (Tomicus)
will be found covered with minute mites, and Pterocyclon malt
and P. fasciatum are frequently almost completely covered with
them upon emerging from their tunnels in the spring. Many
of these mites appear not to injure their hosts; but certain
species are very destructive, and breed in the larval galleries
or pupal cells upon the young of their hosts.

Fungous diseases are Sometimes very destructive to them.
All stages of the insects are frequently found, more particularly
in wet weather, filled and covered with the white mycelium of
the fungus. In a felled pine log I noticed that hundreds of adult
Ips pint had died from this cause in less than two weeks.

Friends of the Scolytide.—As these beetles feed mainly upon
dying and dead branches and trunks of trees, any cause which
tends to weaken or destroy the trees aids the Scolytids in supply-
ing the proper food-plant. Heavy storms, forest fires, other
insects, and the destructive work of man, are perhaps the chief
of these.

Economic Importance.—Owing to the destructive habits of
many of its members, the family Scolytide is of comsiderable
economic importance. The injury done by these beetles may
take two forms: living trees may be weakened and killed, and
standing and felled timber and sawn lumber may be rendered
useless for many purposes by the tunnels of the beetles.

But few Scolytids attack living, healthy trees, although
there are a few species which apparently choose only trees in
this condition. The majority of species attack only dying or
dead trees, and a few breed in dead wood only. Stumps, diseased
or dead branches, brush piles and recently-felled logs are their
favouri‘e breeding places. Most species will not, as a rule,
molest living trees at all if rapidly-dying and recently-felled food-
plants are available, but if trees in this condition are not to be
had in sufficient quantity, many of these species will attack
perfectly healthy trees and prove very destructive.

The injury done by the species which attack healthy and
diseased trees is, in certain regions and at recurring intervals,
very considerable. The work of Dendroctonus frontalis in the
spruce and pine of West Virginia and the adjoining States, of
D. piceaperda in the spruce of the Northeast, and of D. ponderosa

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 145

in the spruce and pine of the Black Hills of South Dakota, may
be cited in illustration. D. frontalis and D. ponderosa attack
the living, healthy spruce and pine, and in spite of the resin
are able successfully to rear their young within the back. The
tunnels and mines thus formed interfere seriously with the flow
of sap, and either kill the tree outright or induce an unhealthy
condition favourable to the assistance of other borers. and
fungous diseases. It seems very probable that many destructive
forest fires have been fed by trees dying or dead from the attacks
of Scolytids. At present D. murrayanae is destroying Jack Pine
in Manitoba; and several species of Dendroctonus are destructive
to pine and spruce in British Columbia. D. valens is causing
more or less injury at present in pine and spruce in Ontario and
Quebec forests.

The Timber-beetles, by driving their tunnels through the
wood in many directions, often render timber unfit for use.

Hylastinus obscurus breeds in the roots of clover in many
parts of the Northeastern States and in Canada, and in some
localities proves a serious pest.

Corthylus punctatissimus occasionally does considerable °
damage in young sugar-maple plantations.

Scolytus rugulosus, the fruit bark-beetle, attacks unhealthy
fruit trees, and occasionally bores in those apparently sound.

Phleotribus liminaris frequently attacks peach and cherry.

Xyleborus dispar sometimes occurs in diseased or weakened
apple trees.

BIRD NOTES, 1912.

During February and early March three species of ducks
were seen in London, Ont., at the forks of the Thames, just
opposite Dundas Street bridge. Over this bridge the street
cars, waggons and foot passengers were constantly passing.
The ducks were apparently attracted to the spot by a stretch
of open water, the severe frosts of last winter having rendered
such feeding grounds unusually scarce.

Feb. 4th—A. Merganser about 20, Golden Eye about 10.
Feb. 15th—A. Merganser 43, Golden Eye 15, Old Squaw 2
(1 m.1f.). They were seen at intervals till well into March.

A new record for Middlesex was the Red-breasted Merganser,
1 male, Thames River, near Springbank Park, April 27th.

Observed in Victoria County at or near Sturgeon Lake:
Aug. 9th, one Black-bellied Plover; Aug. 16th to 30th, at
frequent intervals, Caspian Tern, possibly six at once: they
were usually with the A. Herring Gull or Ring-billed Gull. Two
eye cunens were taken, one young and one adult.

J. F. Catvert, London, Ont.

116 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Dec.

FIRST RECORD OF AMARANTHUS SPINOSUS lL. IN
CANADA.

Amaranthus. spinosus L., the Thorny Amaranth, was sent
from Swansea, Ontario, August 23rd, 1912, to the Central
Experimental Farm, Ottawa, for identification. As far as we
are able to judge from the literature at hand and enquiries
made, we are of the opinion that this is the first record of this
weed in Canada. It is hardly a desirable immigrant, as it has
caused considerable annoyance to agriculturists beyond our
southern border. :

Like the other species of Amaranth, or Pigweed, it is a coarse
annual plant producing a large number of seeds. It differs
from them in having a pair of stout spines in the axil of each
leaf. These spines are from } to 4 inch in length, and no doubt
would be extremely irritating to horses working in a field
infested with this weed. A typical plant measured three feet
in height with a root ten inches long and one inch in diameter,
red in colour, graduating to white at the tip. The plant is
very bushy in general appearance; the particular specimen in
question had six branches from the base of the stem varying
in diameter from $ to # inch thick. The flowers are monoecious,
the staminate being arranged in long and slender spikes and
the pistillate in clusters in the axils of the leaves.—F. FYLEs.

BEE WITH POLLINIA ATTACHED TO ITS FEET.

In the collection of insects in the Division of Entomology
at the Central Experimental Farm, is a specimen of Epeolus
mercator, a solitary bee, with the pollinia of a species of Asclepia,
probably A. syriaca, attached to its feet. Each appendage
consists of a small hard implement with two arms which grips
the claws of the bee like a clip, and attached to this clip by
ligature strands are the two pollinia which are in the form of
translucent, yellow, horny, shining leaflets about one millimetre -
in length.

The flower of the Asclepia produces an abundance of easily
accessible honey, and is consequently visited by many insects,
but it is smooth and slippery and offers no convenient place
for the insect to alight upon, so that the only way it can support
its weight is by inserting its claws in the slits between the
anthers where the clip-like bodies are situated. Endeavouring
to obtain a firm hold the insect inserts its claws in the slit in
the clip, and then when it withdraws its foot the clip comes
with it and also the two pollinia of the adjacent stamens which

1912] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. Ey,

are dragged out of their niches. The pollen masses are conveyed
on the feet to the stigmas of other flowers, the approaches to
which lie through chambers concealed in the slits. When the
foot is withdrawn the ligatures attaching the pollinia to the
little clip are broken and the pollinia are left in the cavity while
the clip maintains its grip of the claw.

Further particulars of the process of fertilization in the
Asclepiadaceae may be found in Dr. Oliver’s translation of
Prof. Kerners’ ‘‘ Natural History of Plants,’ from which much
of the information here given has been extracted—F. W. L.
SLADEN.

A NOTE ON THE NORTHWESTERN DISTRIBUTION OF
THE SUGAR MAPLE.
By O. E. Jennincs, B.Sc. (Acr.), Pu.D., CARNEGIE MusEvuM,
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

As the current manuals are not definite as to the north- .
western distribution of the Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.)
it is probably worth while to note its occurrence near Fort
William on the northwestern shore of Lake Superior.

It became the writer’s good fortune to spend three months
botanizing along the northern shore of Lake Superior during
the past summer. The region explored extended from Fort
William on the west to Heron Bay on the east, and a delightful
region this is for a botanist or nature lover in any form. Upon
becoming acquainted with Chief Penassie of the Fort William
Indian Reservation, the writer soon found him well versed in
the distribution of many of the native plants of the region.
Mr. Penassie was kind enough to point out a rather obscure
trail leading up through a narrow defile in the mountains about
four miles south, and a little west, of Fort William, where is
located a colony of perhaps fifty sugar maples. The maples
are well protected by precipitous walls on either side of the
defile, which is here about one-third of a mile wide, and they
are on a shelf at an altitude of probably 1,500 feet above the
sea, in well-drained soil.

The trees are mostly rather gnarled and, from the fact that
a number of saplings were found on the outskirts of the colony,
it would appear that the colony is now spreading and that the
Sugar maple may have been a rather recent immigrant into
this particular location. At the bases of the trees there are
deformations, due to the rather crude method by which the
Indians have been obtaining the sap. A birch-bark teepee is

118 THE OTTAWA NATURALIST. [Dec.

located in the grove and there the sap is gathered and boiled.
The sap is obtained by cutting a chip out of the base of the tree, .
inserting a thin chip in a nick cut in the bark just below the
larger incision, and placing below the point of the chip a ‘crude
bucket formed by folding upwards the ends of a piece of birch
bark. The ends of the birch bark are kept in the folded position
by means of thongs of spruce root. This crude but serviceable
bucket catches the sap as it flows out of the hacked wound
and drips off of the end of the slanting chip, and the sap thus
caught is easily carried to the teepee.

‘BOOK NOTICES.

COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES.—By J. S. Kings-
ley; 401 pages, 346 illustrations. Price $2.50 net. P. Blakis-
ton’s Son & Co., Philadelphia.

We have here a really good elementary text on Comparative
Anatomy of Vertebrates. The subject matter of the intro-
duction is well chosen, and includes just the proper ground-
work for the later study. The first 120 pages are devoted
to the Integument and the Skeleton. The discussion is clear
and comprehensive, and particularly well illustrated. There
is a short but excellent discussion of the Coelom, pages
121 to 124. I was somewhat disappointed in the section on
the Muscular System, pages 125 to 136. As a short discussion,
this section is excellent, but a more complete account would
seem to me justified in a text of this kind. The Nervous System
and the Organs of Special Sense, are dealt with on pages 137 to
205, and receive excellent treatment. Several of the new
diagrams here presented will prove very acceptable to both
teacher and student. I should have preferred a discussion
of the human brain at the close of the section on that organ.
The Digestive, Respiratory, Circulatory, and Urogenital Systems
occupy the remaining half of the book, and receive capital
discussion. The many new diagrams, some of which are particu-
larly useful, add appreciably to the value of the text. There
is a well chosen Bibliography at the close, and a valuable series
of Definitions of Systematic Names. The book is altogether
an excellent one. The author has compressed an immense
amount of information into its 400 pages, and has presented it
in a very clear manner and with logical sequence. It will fill a
decided need in the teaching of comparative anatomy. The
publishers are also to be complimented on the excellent appear-
ance of the work. It is of the ideal size, shape and strength for
a student text. J. M.S.

1912] Tue Orrawa NATURALIST. 119

PLANT BREEDING IN SCANDINAVIA.—By L. H. Newman,
B.S.A., Canadian Seed Growers’ Association, Ottawa, 1912;
193 pp., with 63 illustrations (photographs, diagrams and tables)
in the test. Price $1 (cloth $1.50).

In this book the author, for many reasons, has confined
his investigations largely to the work which is being prosecuted
at the plant breeding station at Svalof, in southern Sweden.
This work became known to English speaking nationalities
chiefly through Hugo de Vries’ well known book “ Plant Breed-
ing,’ published in Chicago, 1907; but unfortunately the in-
formation given in the said book, and the conclusions drawn
from statements made, were not in full accordance with the
actual work and results at Svalof. The same can be said,
more or less, of practically all accounts of the above work
published outside of Scandinavia.

Any charges of the kind indicated cannot be laid against
the book presented by Mr. Newman. On the contrary, the
statements made and the conclusions drawn are in most perfect
accord with the actual facts and can therefore be accepted with
absolute confidence. The accuracy and completeness with
which the different problems have been treated, do the author
the greatest credit. They are due to his efforts ‘‘to know
what is true in order to do what is right,” a most difficult task
in this particular case, as practically all original publications
on the breeding work at Svalof are published in Swedish. a
language which it requires hard and untiring efforts to become
familiar with.

The book deals not only with the plant breeding methods,
as they have been developed in Scandinavia, but it also gives
in concise form a general survey of the different theories on
which breeding methods are based. For this reason it becomes
of interest to all students in any way connected with the study
of breeding in general. - ;

M. O. Matte.

Ontario NatuRAL ScieNcE BULLETIN, 1912; Journal of
the Wellington Field Naturalists’ Club, Guelph, Ont.

We were glad to receive, recently, Bulletin No. 7, of the
above club. This annual publication contains contributions
of much interest to naturalists in Canada. In the present issue
of 77 pages, the following articles appear: The Myxos of Middle-
sex, by John Dearness; The Plant Formations of the Bruce
Peninsula, by A. B. Klugh; Ginseng and its Diseases, by H. H.
Whetzel ; The Rosacee and Leguminose of Galt Ont. and Vicinity.
by W. Herriot; Jungle Life on the Hills of South India. by
G. J. Spencer; Liliacee of County Peel, by J. White: The

120 Tue Ottawa NATURALIST. [Dec.

Bartramian Sandpiper Breeds near Guelph, by Herbert Groh;
The Flora of the Sand Dunes of Prince Edward County, by
A. B. Klugh; Food Habits of the Bullfrog, by E. W. Calvert;
The Edible Toadstools—The Smooth Lepiota, by W. A. McCub-
bin; Weed Migration, by F. Mitchell; An Addition to the List
of Toronto Butterflies, by Arthur Gibson, and Notes on the
Mammals of the Bruce Peninsula, by A. B. Klugh. 3 NG.

HousE-FLIES AND How THEY SPREAD DisEAseE.—By C.
Gordon Hewitt, D.Sc., Dominion Entomologist. Cambridge; at
The University Press, 1912. Price 1s. net. New York Agents:
G. P. Putnam & Sons, 2-6 West 45 St., New York.

This volume of 122 pages, one of the series of the Cambridge
Manuals of Science and Literature, has recently appeared. It
is replete with concise, accurate facts concerning the subject
of house-flies and disease, a subject which every day is becoming
of more vital interest to every wide-awake citizen who values
the health of the community in which he resides. There is
no more deadly and rightly much abused insect than the house fly,
and such reliable information as is contained in this volume will
do much towards making wider and better known the habits of
this ‘“‘ potential disease-carrier and constant frequenter of filth.”

The volume is divided into two parts. Part I—The Natural
History of the House-fly, contains six chapters: I—Introduction;
I]—The Structure of the Fly; I1I—The Life-history and Breed-
ing Habits of the House-fly; 1V—The Habits of the House-fly,
V—Other species of flies found in houses: The Lesser House-fly ;
The Latrine-fly, The Stable-fly, The Blow-fly or Blue-bottle,
The Cluster-fly, and Muscina stabulans (which has not yet
received a popular name); VI—The Parasites and Natural
Enemies of the House-fly: Empusa musce, Chelifers, mites borne
by the House-fly, Thread-worm parasites, Protozoal parasites,
and Insect Enemies. Part II.—The Relation of House-flies to
Disease, embraces chapters VII to XI. Chapter VII deals with
The Carriage and Distribution’ of Micro-organisms of Flies;
VIII—The Dissemination of Typhoid Fever by Flies and their
Relation to Summer Diarrhoea; IX*—The Relation of Flies to
certain other Infectious Diseases: Tuberculosis, Ophthalmia,
Cholera, Plague, etc.; X—-House-flies in relation to (1) Myasis
of the Intestinal and Urinal tracts, and (2) The Spread of Para-
sitic Worms; XI—Preventives and Control Measures.

In the text there are 19 illustrations, the author being
responsible for all with the exception of two. The general
appearance, the printing and the paper used in this manual are
all excellent, and what will please the lay mind, there is a total
absence of all- technical terms. ee Az,

en

.
j
A I

THE ‘OTTAWA NATURALIST:

Vor. XXVI. JANUARY, 1913 No. 10

A NEW CANADIAN CIRRIPEDE, PARASITIC ON A
SHRIMP.

(Resumé of Mr. F. A. Potts’ research at B. C. Biological Station).

By Proressor E. E. Prince, Commissioner of Fisheries,
Ottawa.

The naturalist who spends hours on the sea-shore, now and
then finds specimens of shore crabs, on the under-side of which
is attached a yellowish brown mass, resembling a small potato.
This soft rounded lump is really the mature stage of a parasitic
crustacean. Just as a pug and a greyhound show dissimilarities, |
though a child knows that both are dogs, so this sac-like parasite
is a crustacean, a member of the Order Cirripedia or Barnacles,
which Order, Dr. Starr Jordan says, furnishes an example of
“degeneration through quiescence . . . the barnacles being
most nearly related to the crabs and shrimps.’’ Charles Darwin
gained early fame by his studies of the Cirripedes, and his mono-
graph on the Order is a classic of zoological science. In early
life each passes through one or more active stages, and later
becomes fixed and wondrously transformed. The transforma-
tion is one of degeneration, but while the barnacle (Fam.
Balanide) is strange enough in its changes, the sub-order
Rhizocephala furnish us with the most extraordinary examples.
The sac-like parasite referred to above is rightly called Sacculina.
It comes from the egg as a minute water-flea called a Nauplius,
and changes into the more complex Metanauplius, and after
swimming about freely it attaches itself to a crab, penetrates
the crab’s shell with one of its hollow antenne. Now
follows one of the most marvellous circumstances in the entire
range of biology. The whole of the soft contents of the Ci rripede’s
body is squeezed through the hollow tube or antenna into the
body of the crab, rather recalling a cat squeezing its way through
a small drain pipe. Soon it works its way to the intestine ‘of
the host, but later pushes to the exterior, hanging on as a sac,
below the crab by a short peduncle. The top of this neck
shows branching roots, which penetrate the organs of the crab,

122 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Jan.

extend into its jointed limbs, and thus form a most elaborate
network for absorbing the fluid nutriment from its host. The’
bunch of roots may form a compact matted mass in Peltogaster.
The crab, though apparently incommoded by this fleshy bag
attached to its body beneath, seems not to suffer greatly, but
it does not grow much, as moulting of the hard shell is arrested.
“ Fortunately,’ says Dr. Arthur Shipley, ‘‘ Sacculina appears to
live only three years, and when it dies the crab resumes its
growth,’’ but some recent researches by Mr. C. G. Robson point
to the death of the crab in some cases, owing to starvation;
the fatty materials left being insufficient for its necessities.
Professor Giard found in the helmet crab (Stenorhynchus) that
the penetration of the cirripede-parasite caused the destruction
of the ovaries and the spermaries. In the latter event, the male
crab assumes some of the features of the female and exhibits a
broader tail and smaller pincer claws; but in the female crab,
the abdominal feet become smaller in size as in the normal male.
The studies of Dr. Geoffrey Smith show, on the other hand, that
more yolk-forming material (as in a female crab about to spawn)
results in a crab with Sacculina attached; and Mr. Robson found
an excessive production of fat in the liver and blood in affected
crabs of both sexes, resembling the condition of the male when
about to cast his shell; or, in the female, resembling her condition
when maturing her eggs before depositing them.

It has been reserved for Mr. Potts, a Fellow of Trinity Hall,
Cambridge, who came over from England, early in 1911, to
pursue marine researches at the Dominion Biological Laboratory,
Departure Bay, near Nanaimo, B.C., to discover a new Cirripede,
which surpasses all previously described species in its strange
structure and life history.* Mr. Potts’ main purpose was the
study of the Annelids of the Pacific, and his investigation of
this new parasitic Cirripede was a subsidiary piece of work,
and abundantly shows what interesting original discoveries
await biological students who will spend a season or two at any
of the Biological Stations of Canada.

Called by Mr. Potts Mycetomor pha vancouverensis, this new
species, for which indeed a new genus Mycetomorpha had to be
established, appears as a fungus-like sac on the under-side of
a Pacific shrimp (Crangon communis, Rathb.), close to the basal
joints of the abdominal limbs. (Figs. 1 and 5). In form it is
an elongated sac, 3 in. long and # in. wide, and beset along
the margin by crowded club-shaped lobes, over fifty in number.
(Fig. 11.) The sac is very thin-walled, a delicate muscle-layer
being indicated by faint striations, through which the round

* See Mr. Potts’ paper in Spengel’s Zoologisch, Jahrb. 1912, pp. 575-594,
PR eA

1913] Tue Orrawa NATURALIST. 123

X 3 (about).

1. Mycetomorpha viewed from the ventral, lower side.

Fig. 2. Myce.omorpha upper or dorsal side, showing chitinous ring around

the peduncle, and anterior spike.

Fig. 3. Diagram showing position of some or

where mantle duct opens (ea).

Fig. 4. Diagram of visceral mass, peduncle and roots in section.

Fig. 5. Diagram of side view of Mycetomorpha attached to the shrimp.
ea. external aperture of duct p. peduncle of attachment
gl. modified colleterial gland rs. root-system
1. lobes of Mycetomorpha sp. chitinous spike
m. mantle vm. visceral mass.
mc. mantle cavity

gans, and bay on one side

124 Tue OtTtawa NATURALIST. [Jan.

visceral mass is visible, on the left side. The creature has no
mouth or digestive canal, or other organs, excepting the egg-
producing gland which consists of ovarian follicles between thin
muscular septa, each follicle containing a syncytium or mass of
united protoplasmic bodies, showing small deep-staining nuclei
(the oogonia) and larger nuclei, which are centres of oocytes.
Small vacuoles or spaces are present in each oocyte, but there is
no trace of yolk in any of these primitive developing eggs. Egg-
shaped bodies, much larger than the young eggs, occur in the
ovary and in the ventral part of the sac or mantle cavity. These
bodies exhibit a central mass of small cells, with nuclei, and a
thin cuticle (like the embryonic cells of the Cypris-larve de-
scribed later) around which is a yellow layer of globules, really
yolk, outside of all being an external cuticle. There also occur,
in the developing eggs, two or three vacuolated cells, each having
a darkly staining nucleus. Mr. Potts could find no trace of
spermaries, and he concluded that the species is parthenogenetic,
the eggs in the ovary, in his opinion, hatching out embryos
resembling the Ostracod, Cypris, and these migrating between
the muscular layer and the inner ectoderm of the mantle, break
through the latter, and then assume the form and structure of
the Cypris stage. Among the Cypris-larve in the mantle cavity
are large cells which may be degenerated ova, probably from the
mantle wall, these having dropped into the mantle cavity. Mr.
G. W. Smith found that in Sacculina, as Mr. Potts tells us, a few
unfertilized eggs remained in the ovary after most of them
had reached the mantle cavity; but, in Mycetomorpha, these
developing eggs are in an advanced segmented condition, and so
uniform in structure as to preclude any suggestion that they
have degenerated.

On the left side of the thin-walled mantle sac is an indenta-
tion or bay, where a small. round orifice occurs, (Fig. 3 ea) the
exit of a duct, which curves round the visceral mass, and exhibits
an internal opening or outlet from the mantle cavity. Through
this duct some larve may be expelled, but it is unlikely, the walls
being so thin and delicate, and lacking the strong musculature
seen in Sacculina and Peltogaster, in which species the larve
are forcibly ejected from the parent. Mr. Potts thinks that the
larve escape in Mycetomorpha through apertures formed by
the thinning away of the mantle at certain points. In the two
Rhizocephalans, referred to, special colleterial glands secrete
tenacious matter to bind the eggs in a mass and attach them to
the mantle, and in this new form two disc-like patches occur
on the upper (Fig. 3 gl.) and lower surface of the visceral mass,
which from their position, etc., appear to correspond to such
glands modified, and now secreting yolk-matter and nourishing

ee en

1913] THE Otrawa NATURALIST. 125

the growing ovary. This view is supported by the fact that they
were in functional activity though the eggs had just been
extruded, and the new series of eggs were in a very early stage.

As already stated, the eggs give origin to embryos which
develop into active little crustaceans exactly like free-swimming
Ostracods or water fleas (Cypridz), possessing a transparent
bivalve shell and numerous paired limbs, and crowding the
capacious mantle cavity, until they finally find their way
into the external water.

Sylon, a Rhizocephalan, parasitic on shrimps, is known to
reproduce parthenogenetically, and the same doubtless applies
to M ycetomor pha, as Mr. Potts found no trace of any male organs.

Mycetomorpha lives upon the juices of its host which are
sucked in by the short branches of the root-system (Fig. 4 rs)
and carried by a hollow space or lacuna into the short oblique
peduncle (Fig. 4 p.) or neck of attachment to the shrimp, this
neck being as usual strengthened by a ring of hard chitin, from
which a median spike projects forward. (Fig, 2 sp.) The upper
branching part or root-system of the peduncle (Fig. 47s) appears
like a matted strip of short branches given off laterally along the .
under side of the great. ventral nerve cord of the shrimp, these
terminating in the ventral muscles. The root-system does not
penetrate the host extensively, like Sacculina, but extends only
about a segment and a half of the body in front of the peduncle
and less than a segment behind the peduncle.

M ycetomor pha is a most interesting addition to the marine
fauna of Canada. Like other Rhizocephalans it is, when adult,
a most degenerate animal, with its rounded shapeless body
destitute of limbs, sense organs, mouth and digestive canal,
gills, heart or blood-vessels. Clinging tightly to its host by its
peduncle with branching extensions, it sucks the nutrient juices,
and devotes its sluggish energies to producing eggs, but in the
absence of a male, these are parthenogenetic, and they give
birth to embryos, which skip some of the larval stages of other
Cirripedes, and appear in the mantle or brood cavity as active
swimming Cypris-larve, and seem to then burst through the
skin of the parent to wander about in the open waters of the sea.

Carl Claus said of the Crustacea, as a whole, that their
development from the egg is “‘a!lmost never direct, for it is rarely

- that the young, after hatching out, possess the form which they

will have when adult. Almost always there is a complicated
metamorphosis, and when they are destined later to live the life
of parasites, the metamorphosis is regressive.’”’ Mycetomorpha,
in its young stages, could hardly be more unlike its adult form,
and in its development and mode of life it is a remarkable
illustration of degenerative evolution or regressive development.

'

126 THe Ottawa NATURALIST. [Jan.

NEW OR RARE BIRD RECORDS FROM MANITOBA,
1912.

By NorMAN CRIDDLE.

The following notes refer chiefly to birds that have not
hitherto, so far as I am aware, been recorded from the Province
of Manitoba, and all are new to the fauna of Aweme.

Say’s Pompe, Sayornis saya (Bonap.) Baird.

An example of this bird was secured by my brother Stuart,
on April 23rd, close to some deserted farm buildings, and another
one observed three days later. A bird almost surely of the same
species was heard uttering loud cries in an old barn the previous
year, but made its escape before it could be observed closely.
Others have also been seen from time to time in past years,
but the above constitutes the first authentic record east of
Saskatchewan.

It has, however, been found breeding in North Dakota as
well as from Saskatchewan westward to the coast, so there is
good reason for expecting that it will eventually be found nest-
ing in Manitoba also.

OBERHOLSER’S HORNED LARK.

This bird, known scientifically as Otocoris alpestris enthymaa,
was found breeding in company with a colony of Chestnut-
colored Longspurs; a specimen was also collected by my brother,
Stuart, on a ploughed field in April. He submitted two to Mr.
Oberholser, who determined them as above.

This race, to judge from the latest Check List, has not yet
been recognized as valid by the A. O. U., so may very possibly
intergrade with other forms found further west. In Manitoba
its nearest ally seems to be praticola, from which it is very
difficult to separate during the migratory seasons. When
breeding, however, it selects the open prairies, while the Prairie
Horned Lark confines itself more to the broken wood-lands,
where there are small plains or bare hills surrounded inter-
mittently with trees, though it seldom, if ever, seeks shelter
in or among the trees. When better known, enthymia will pro-
bably be found to be quite a common breeding bird in the
province.

Another horned lark, the Pallid, has also been identified
from Aweme by Mr. Oberholser, which adds yet another to the
local list, though previously collected and recorded for Manitoba.
Thus to date we have records of four races, praticola, arcticola,
enthymia and hoyti, while Mr. Seton enrolls a fifth, alpesirts.
Probably at least one other, leucolema, occurs here also.

es

1913] Tue Ortawa NaTuRALIsT 127

From time to time birds of usually more southern latitudes
extend their range northward and for a time at least become
domicile, oceasionally permanently so, as the Square-tail, or
Prairie Chicken of the south, which is now even more numerous
than the native Sharp-tailed Grouse in the open country. The
Bluebird, on the other hand, for a few years became fairly
numerous and then gradually decreased again, though it is yet
found breeding in small numbers. The Purple Martin is another
fluctuating species. Yet another that has recently moved north
and eastward is the Arkansas Kingbird. Dr. Speechly records
two pairs as nesting at Pilot Mound both this year and last,
while we at Aweme have seen two, and a pair are breeding only
a few miles away in the village of Treesbank in some trees
surrounding a house. The bird is not uncommon in the southern
portions of the provinces to the west of us.

MEETING OF THE eee BRANCH.

The first meeting for ARE winter of the Botanical Branch
was held at the residence of Mr. R. B. Whyte, 370 Wilbrod St.,
on Saturday evening, November the 30th. There were present
the following members: Dr. Malte, Messrs. J. M. Macoun, W. T.
Macoun, L. H. Newman, E. D. Eddy, James Lawler, A. Eastham,
J. W. Gibson, A. E. Attwood, J. J. Carter, J. W. Eastham,
W. Dreher, H. A. Honeyman, F. T. Shutt, T. E. Clarke and Dr.
E. H. Blackader.

The subject was ‘‘A Summer in Britain’, by the Chairman
for the evening, Mr. Whyte. He illustrated his observations by
lantern views taken during the course of his trip; and he had
about seventy-five very interesting photographic plates that
were thrown on the screen by Mr. J. W. Gibson.

He travelled in company with Prof. Hutt of the Ontario
Agricultural College, Guelph, and they went direct to London,
where they made their headquarters during the five weeks they
spent in England. From there they made daily trips in and
outside of London, wherever they had an opportunity of study-
ing the methods of horticulture and of decorative gardening as
practised there.

Their first visit was to Covent oo. Market, where they
were amazed at the extent and variety of the fruits and flowers
for sale. One section was entirely devoted to wild plants and
flowers, natives of Great Britain. Other sections were devoted
to small fruits such as strawberries, gooseberries, currants,

efaspberries and loganberries, and he remarked on the fineness
of their quality, especially of the strawberries. One producer

128. THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Jan.

told him that he sent in fifty tons of strawberries daily during
the season, besides other products. Some of the persons he met .
either invited them to visit their estates and study the methods
of cultivation, or gave them letters of introduction to the owners
of large estates where there was something to be learned; and
Mr. Whyte remarked on the unfailing courtesy and hospitality
with which they were received and entertained merely on the
strength of such letters. He then gave his impressions of the
methods of cultivation.

A great deal of time and labour is given to the training
and pruning of the small fruit bushes. The lower shoots are
all cut off, and the upper branches are not left to topple over
and drag their fruit in the ground, but so that plenty of sun-
light and air gets in to ripen the fruit. He also illustrated
on the screen the care that is taken of the larger fruit trees,
and how carefully they are pruned and protected. And yet
these trees do not look as healthy as ours. They are planted
too close, and with shrubs or perennials between, and the trees
are covered with moss; and Paris green as a destroyer of insect
pests is practically unknown.

At some of the large estates they took photographs of the
“special ‘‘show gardens,’ where the owners displayed their
artistic fancies for pleasure and beauty, and not for productive-
ness. For instance, there was shown the Japanese garden, the
Elizabethan, the water, the rock, and many other peculiar and
beautiful gardens.

Another group of views illustrated English country life:
the well-kept but narrow road, with no, sidewalks, with hedges
instead of fences, and often bordered with flowers. The private

residences of any pretention were rarely visible from the road;

they would be carefully screened by trees, and only the gate
with the name of the estate on the gate-post was seen. But
these names were well-known and served the purposé of street
numbers.

One of their most interesting trips outside of London was
when they were invited as the guests of the Horticultural Club
on their annual outing, which this year was to Stoke Poges,
Burnham Beeches, and Cleveden, the home of Mr. W. H. Astor,
and winding up at East Burnham, the residence of Sir Harry
Veitch, the President of the Club. The beech trees at Burnham
Beeches are pollards, that is, with very short trunks, which in
the course of several centuries have grown to great girth, and
assumed weird and fantastic shapes.

Another trip was to Bagshot, the private residence of
H.R. H. the Duke of Connaught. This place is famous for the
great variety and beauty of ornamental trees. And there were

1913] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 129

many other trips of which Mr. Whyte spoke enthusiastically,
such as a trip up the Thames, to Kew Gardens, a walk up Box
Hill, to Linten Hoo, to Gunnesbury House and Aldenham
House, all of which one must visit one’s self to thoroughly
appreciate. ie i, B.

A FORM OF LINARIA VULGARIS.

In the summer of 1910, in the neighbourhood of Toronto, I

discovered a form of Linarza vulgaris that seems to be very
unusual, at least I have met with no one who has seen it and so
far I have not heard of any one who has found this form. The
corolla is perfectly white and completely spurless. So far as I
have yet discovered, the plant does not set seed.
e calyx seems to have undergone no change, but the
corolla is regular. Its two-lipped appearance is wanting and
the lobes of the gamopetalous corolla are nearly equal in size.
The four stamens and the pistil seem to be; perfect, vet so far
I have failed to find a perfect capsule with seeds. The plant must
spread by its underground runners.

My attention was first drawn to the plant by its whiteness.
At first I supposed I had found a plant unknown to me, but on
closer examination I came to the conclusion that it was a form
of Linaria vulgaris. I was soon confirmed in this belief by
finding another patch of it in which some of the plants had the
white spurless corollas and the ordinary form of the corolla on
the same stalk, the white regular form being always below the
spurred form. It seems to be well established, for in 1911, and
this summer, the variety is as abundant as ever. There are
a number of patches of this peculiar form extending through
fields and along the road for a quarter of amile. The patch first
discovered had only the variety growing in it and was at least
20 feet long by 4 feet wide and it had hundreds of plants growing
in 1.

W. Scott, Toronto.

The above form is of much interest owing to the fact that
it represents a spurless type of that monstrosity generally known
as Peloria. This variation, which is merely an aberrant form
of no systematic value whatever, is characterized, as is well
known, by the presence of five spurs in the corolla. These
Peloria types are merely accidental. They are to be found
especially in autumn on specimens which had been mowed or
pastured during the summer and, as a rule, they occur in the
same head as typical irregular flowers.

M. O. M.

130 THe Ortawa NATURALIST. [Jan.

THE HOODED MERGANSER NESTING IN SOUTH-
WESTERN ONTARIO.

While examining the Keiestion of living ducks and geese
in the possession of Mr. Roswell Goldie, at Guelph, in December,
1912, he told me that a nearby farmer reported to him in 1908
or 1909 that he had found a wood duck’s nest and promised to
bring the eggs in for hatching.

‘Mr. Goldie is much interested in* raising these birds and
has a scheme for the liberation of some of them in spring so as
to help to increase the native stock. He was therefore anxious
to get these eggs to raise along with others laid by his own
female wood ducks. The farmer brought them in,in due time, but
Mr. Goldie suspected that they were not the eggs of wood ducks,
and when they were hatched they turned out to be Hooded
Mergansers. He worked overtime in trying to supply them
with fish and worms in sufficient quantities, but failed to be
able to keep them alive, although they ate greedily.

I do not know that there is any authentic record of this
bird having bred in lower Ontario in recent years, which makes
this occurrence very interesting. It is of course certain that this,
as well as the larger Mergansers bred all over Ontario in former
years, and that they still nest annually in the more remote parts
of the country, but authentic instances are always important,
and for lower Ontario, are very few in number.

mie E. SAUNDERS, LONDON, ONT.

THE PRAIRIE DEER MOUSE AT LONDON.

The Prairie Deer Mouse; Peromyscus michiganensis, has
been known for several years to be very common along the shore
of Lake Erie near Point Pelee. Its range has been extended
by means of specimens taken near Chatham and at the south-
east corner of Lake Huron, but it has not previously been
reported from the central part of the Western Peninsula.

On December 12th, I found one of these mice in a trap in
my back yard in London. It had apparently been living for a
short time at least under a shed where my wood ducks shelter,
and had doubtless been feeding upon the grain for the ducks.

If we accept the probability that this mouse is a recent
introduction to Ontario it will naturally follow that its further
spread is to be expected. There is little doubt that a slight
search would show its presence along the lake shore much farther
east than Point Pelee, and it might even be traced as far as the
Niagara Peninsula, as the circumstances all along the lake shore
are favorable for its spread.

W. E. Saunpers, LoNnbDoN, ONT.

en

1913] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 131

BOOK NOTICES.

Work OF THE CANADIAN BIOLocicaL Stations. Contribu-
tions to Canadian Biology, being Studies from the Marine
Biological Stations of Canada, 1906-1910. Ottawa. C. H.
Parmalee, Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, 1912.

A handsome well-bound volume of over 300 pages, which
bears the title given above, has just been issued by the Dominion
Government. The two preceding volumes of Biological papers,
Supplements to the Annual (Fisheries) Report of the Depart-
ment of Marine and Fisheries, appeared in 1901 and 1907; but
the present volume is a great advance upon the slim blue books
just referred to. The increased generosity shown by the present
Government, and the great personal interest shown by the
present Minister of Marine and Fisheries have, no doubt, much
to do with the great advance shown in the present Biological
Volume. .

To all naturalists, and especially to persons interested in
fishery researches, andin investigations into the life in the sea,
this report will be welcome. It includes 19 papers, with 38
plates, two of them maps; and the excellent paper, the strong
binding, and above all, the really beautiful plates, most of them
works of art, add to its importance as a Canadian biological
publication.

Professor Prince, Dominion Commissioner of Fisheries, as
Chairman of the Biological Board, furnishes an interesting
preface, and claims that the Canadian Stations occupy a premier
place in showing substantial results, after so short a time of
operation, and with so vast a field to cover as the waters of the
Dominion.

It is difficult to review a scientific volume of such varied
contents as this, but it may suffice to summarize them as
Narrative (like the articles by Professor Prince and the late
Professor Penhallow) Practical, Faunistic, Botanical, Physio-
logical, Physical and Geological.

Among the practical fishery papers Professor Knight’s
(Queen’s University, Kingston) takes first place. Bait is the
most vital need of our fishermen, especially sea-fishermen, and
Professor Knight reports fully his experiments on bait. From
these it appears that fresh clam-bait is best, frozen clams less
so, while herring bait comes next, fresh herring being rather
better than frozen. Squid-bait ranks next, while the flesh of
the detested sea dog-fish (Squalus acanthias) proved to be very
attractive. Professor Knight’s style is very fascinating, and his

' references to fishermen’s theories very amusing. He embodies a

large amount of valuable matter in the ten pages of his report.

132 THe Orrawa NATURALIST. [Jan.

Like his previous papers on “The Effects of Explosives on
Fish-life’’ and his reports on ‘‘Sawdust and other Water
Pollutions,’ Dr. Knight’s present paper shows thoroughness
and originality, and his exposition is most lucid. Professor
McBride, late of McGill University, contributes a practical
report on Oyster Culture, and refers also to the hardly less
important Clam Fishery, the value of the latter in 1911-12 reach-
ing $332,803, whereas the oyster fishery only brought $212,296.
Dr. Joseph Stafford reports on an interesting piece of work,
which the Biological Board gave him to do, viz., the study of
the young stages of the oyster and other molluscs. Embry-
ologists are of course familiar with the larval stages of the chief
edible shell-fish in our waters, but some points remained which
it was desired by the Biological Board should be cleared up,
and the paper on the ‘‘Recognition of Bivalve Molluscan
Larve’”’ fillsthelacuna. Dr. Stafford had previously investigated
the Soft-Shell Clam and: his report in the ‘‘Contributions”’
published in 1901, was valuable and illustrated by four beautiful
plates, but the present three plates, with 44 figures, though
heliograph reproductions, are much inferior, and somewhat
coarse, Showing little of the clearness of detail, such as one sees
in the drawings of British, Dutch and German specialists, for
example Dr. John Wilson, Dr. Hoek, Lovén, and others. Dr.
Stafford followed precisely the method of the early investigators
into larval fish-life in European seas, for they artifically fertilized
and hatched sea-fishes’ eggs, and reared them through early
stages, and the latter stages were connected with these by
securing the older stages in plankton nets in the open sea.
Dr. Stafford’s detailed descriptions of the young soft-shell clam
(M ya), the hard-shell clam (Venus), the scallop (Pecten) and the
oyster (Ostrea) are valuable, and he usefully adds the Silver-
shell (Anomia), the young of which has often been mistaken
for the young of the oyster. Dr. Stafford provisionally determines
certain larve as those of Tottenia and Clidiophora, and gives
six figures of them.

Professor L. W. Bailey (Fredericton, N.B.), reports on
Diatoms, which form part of the food of the oyster and other
shellfish, though less extensively than was at one time claimed.
His interesting notes, chart of distribution, and plates, with
53 figures, admirably supplement -the preceding molluscan
papers. Dr. Stafford continues his Atlantic Fauna papers and
adds to the lists of previous workers, giving three lists of the
various classes from Protozoa up to Polyzoa, Molluscs, Tunicates
and Vertebrates. A less discursive and thoroughly accurate list
of our Atlantic marine fauna is a desideratum, and Dr. Stafford’s
three further papers now published will help towards that end.

1913] THE OTTAwaA NATURALIST. 133

Dr. A. T. Huntsman’s memoir on Pacific Ascidians is in
some respects the most important paper in the volume. This
accomplished Toronto lecturer on Zoology has done admirable
work at St. Andrews and at Departure Bay, B.C.; and this
thorough, though somewhat technical, account of Holosomatous
Ascidians from the coast of Western Canada will add to his
reputation. It has been stated that German specialists are
already anxiously inquiring for copies of this important paper.
Finer scientific plates have rarely been published in Canada,
than the 21 heliograph plates, with 100 figures, which illustrate
and embellish Dr. Huntsman’s notable report. The Tunicates
are largely devoured by the cod tribe, and other fishes, but this
paper, in this respect of practical value, has also a value purely
scientific, and its importance may be judged from the fact that,
of 35 species described, no less than 18 are apparently new to

science.

; Hardly less important is Professor C. B. Smith’s paper on
‘Parasitic Copepods from Nanaimo,” illustrated by seven plates.
These were collected by the late Rev. George W. Taylor, and of
14 species described, over half are new toscience. The figures
are outline reproductions, but so remarkably clear and accurate,
that it is a pleasure to consult them. This paper, like Dr.
Huntsman’s, is of exceptional value, and it marks a notable
advance in the study of Canadian Crustacea. Dr. Smith refers
to the late Mr. Taylor’s assiduous work, and rightly says that
the present account of Copepods, parasitic on fishes, has great
economic interest as well as scientific value. The Rev. Mr.
Taylor, shortly before his lamented death, had made and studied
a large collection of Crabs and other British Columbia Decapods,
and compiled a list of 129 species, which is published in this
volume. It isa valuable and most remarkable piece of scientific
work. Following Mr. Taylor’s list, there appears a short paper
by Professor Charles H. Gilbert, of Leland-Stanford University,
California, describing an interesting little fish, new to science,
and named Asemichthys taylort. It was caught at the British
Columbia Biological Station, and no other specimen is known,
except the one secured by the late Mr. Taylor. Mr. Cornish
(Toronto University), publishes some notes on Prince Edward
Island fishes, and Mr. D. L. McDonald (McGill University),
gives a short list of 35 species of Crustaceans obtained at St.
Andrews.

Passing from the faunistic papers we notice an important
physiological paper on the innervation of the lobster’s intestine.
It is very technical, and many readers will wonder what practical

“value it can have; but the more we know about the vital func-
tions of this crustacian and highly esteemed article of food, the

134 THe Ottawa NATURALIST. [Jan.

better for the lobster industry. It is claimed that the Nova Scotia
fishermen, who ship live lobsters to the New England markets,
lose no less than $150,000 per annum, owing to dead and sickly
specimens in the lobster-crates. Also, the Canadian and United
States Governments found considerable losses in attempts to
transplant live lobsters to Pacific waters, where no lobsters have
ever occurred. If we knew more about the nervous functions and
blood circulation of the lobster, complete success might be
accomplished, for some authorities are of opinion that the
delicate sense-organs of the lobster are affected by the train’s
vibration, resulting in sickness and death en route. Professor
Miller’s paper is a first instalment, and with its six fine helio-
graph plates it is an important contribution to science. Mr.
Klugh (Queen’s University), reports on two months’ botanical
work, and his account of the flora of St. Andrews, especially
the ecological notes, are of great interest. The paper extends
from the lowly diatoms through the non-flowering plants up to
the flowering plants and conifers, and the interesting views,
and the plates of sections of leaves and stems, show how
thoroughly the author has carried out his plan of study on the
distribution of species; and the atmospheric, geological, and
other causes, which are potent in that distribution.

The physical researches carried on by Dr. Copeland, of
Toronto University, are summarized in a report on temperatures
and densities, which bear on the suggested culture of oysters
near St. Andrews, while Professor E. M. Burwash’s paper on
the geology of the locality where the British Columbia Station
has been built is most interesting and is accompanied by a large
geological map.

No one can peruse this beautiful volume, which can be ob-
tained gratis from the Commissioner of Fisheries, Ottawa,
Chairman of the Biological Board of Canada, without a feeling
of pride. It is indeed surprising that our ablest zoologists and
professors in our various universities will year after year, without
practically fee or reward, engage in labourious researches at
the three Biological Stations connected with the Marine and
Fisheries Department, and prepare for publication such splendid
reports as the volume of Biological Contributions now under
TEVIeEwW.

One melancholy reflection is unavoidable. Two contribu-
tors, Professor Penhallow and Rev. George W- Taylor, did not
live to see their reports in this volume published. Professor
Ramsay Wright, to whom the Biological Stations owe so much,
has recently gone to live permanently in Europe. It is difficult
to fill such vacancies, but if Toronto, McGill, Queen’s, Laval,
Manitoba, and our other Universities, will stimulate their

1913] THe OTtawA NATURALIST 135

graduates to engage in original research at the Biological Stations,
future volumes of memoirs, not inferior to this, may be looked
for in future years.

Science Fellowships from our Royal Society, or Government
Science Scholarships, would induce our best and most brilliant
students to resort to the Biological Stations, which are un-
equalled in the world in providing splendid facilities for valuable
research.

C.

SEA-FISHERIES OF EASTERN CANADA.—The Commission of
Conservation has just issued a report on the ‘‘Sea-Fisheries of
Eastern Canada” that is of more than passing interest to all
who are interested in the fisheries of Canada. The volume,
which is bound in cloth and illustrated in colours, consists of a
report of the proceedings of the Committee of the Commission
on Fisheries, Game and Fur-bearing animals, which was held in
Ottawa on June 4th and 5th last. At this meeting a number
of experts delivered addresses on different subjects relating to
fisheries, and these were thoroughly discussed by the members
of the Committee.

The following is a list of the addresses which the report
contains :—

Chairman’s Address, by Dr. C. C. Jones; Whitefish of the
Great Lakes, by M. J. Patton, M.A.; Conservation of the Oyster,
by Joseph Stafford, M.A., Ph.D.; The Lobster Fishery of Canada, »
by W. A. Found; Oyster Fishery of Prince Edward Island, by
Hon. J. A. Matheson, K.C.; Needs of the Fisheries of Nova
Scotia, by Dr. Howard Murray; Sea-Fisheries of Eastern Canada.
by J. J. Cowie; The Shad Fishery of Canada, by E. E.
Prince, LL.D.; Fish Culture in Canada, by W. A. Found.

The appendices contain a number of useful statistical tables
respecting fisheries, especially whitefish and shad.

KILLING FROSTS.

Every plant has its own particular freezing temperature
by which it is killed. In all cases it must be at least 2°C.
(3°.6 F.) below the freezing point of water (32° F.)

The experiments of Rein show that the critical killing
temperature for Musa ensete is 2°.10 C. (28°.2 F.); for Begonia,
meee. (27°.9 F.); for Tulip, 3°C. (26°.6 F.); leaf-stem of
aurel, 3°.5 C. (25°.7F.); of the Olive-tree, 4°.1 C. (24°.6 F.);
of the Oleander, 5°C. (23°.0 F.); of Celandine, 6°.99C.
[eer .); of the Daisy, 7°.9C. (17°.8 F.); of the Violet,

136 THe Ottawa NATURALIST. [Jan.

9°.3-C. (15°.3 F.); of the, Saxifrage, 14°.2 C., (G°SAge eee
of the black Hellebore, 15°.8C. (3°.6 F.); that is, when the
temperature in the inner part of the above plants has fallento
the respective temperatures. Only a few of the examined seed-
plants show a lower temperature; e.g. the pontine Rhododendron,
23°C. (9°.4F.); Ivy, 23°.3°C, (99.9 F.); Holly site
jolaum), 24°C. (11°.2 F.); and the Yew,.24° (9 (i),
The mosses are killed between 14° and 19° C. (6°.80 to 2°.2 F.);
the lower vasculiferous plants, which live in water, are not killed
above 15°.5 C, (4°.1 F.); those living on land even not above
31°C. (23°.8 F.); and the one bacterium experimented upon by
Rein required 47° C. (52°.6 F.) for killing it.

The above temperatures are somewhat affected by the
temperature to which the plants have been subjected for some
time beforehand. For instance, potatoes that have been at a
temperature for some time between 0° to 1° C. (32° to 30°.2 F.)
are frost-killed at 3°.08C. (26°.4 F.), whereas potatoes that
had been kept for four to seven weeks at 22°.5C. (72°.5 F.)
were killed at 2°.14C. (28°.1 F.), that is at .94C. (1°. 7 FF.)
higher temperature. And this is the case too with other vege-
table products.

CORRESPONDENCE.

The Editor, Orrawa NATURALIST:

Mr. Macnamara’s interesting article on “Poison Ivy”’ in
the May Number has only just come under my notice. Poison
Ivy (Rhus Toxicodendron) is common in our local bush.
To educate people in its characteristics I sometimes pick it
and have it in the house for a few days. Cases of dermatitis
ascribed to Poison Ivy are fairly common every summer.
Surely an important point is missed in all discussions on this
subject by neglecting the main underlying cause of this, as of
so many other skin inflammations. This cause is the blood
condition induced by auto-intoxication, a term now well under-
stood by the medical profession. This is not the place to go
further into details, but I may say that in my eleven years of
western experience I find the best treatment is the preventive
measure which cleanses the intestinal canal thoroughly and
which instructs the susceptible individual in a right dietary.
My belief is that very few people are susceptible to Poison Ivy
if they protect themselves in this way.

H. M. Speecuty, Pitot Mounp, Man.

OE tte ah,

THE OTTAWA NATURALIST

Vou. XXVI. FEBRUARY, 1913 No. 11

SOME CHANGES IN THE NAMES OF GENERA OF
TRILOBITES.

By Percy E. RAYMOND.

The writer had viewed with some complaisance the recent

_signs of revolt against the rules regarding priority and pre-

occupation as laid down by the International Zoological Congress,
believing that among paleontologists, the English speaking ones
at least, there was a general agreement to follow the rules. At
the recent meeting of the Paleontological Society, however, I
was surprised to find that many of the American paleontologists
were following the rules in a half-hearted manner; that is, that
they were willing that the names of unknown or relatively in-
conspicuous genera should be corrected if necessary, but if the
name were at all well known, they preferred to adhere to the
long established although incorrect name. Now the arguments
in favour of accepting the first name given to a genus, provided
that the name is accompanied by a satisfactory diagnosis enabling
one to recognize the organism indicated, are too well known to
require repeating, and I can add nothing to what has already
been said. In discussing one of the cases cited below, that of
Cryptolithus versus Trinucleus, a paleontologist who protested
strongly against giving up Trinucleus admitted that if he himself
had proposed Cryptolithus, and if, seven years later a more
distinguished man had proposed Trinucleus to take its place, he
would have objected to the adoption of the later name. In
these days, we are very careful not to say ‘‘I want credit for
my work,’ but it is a popular saying, ‘‘Give credit where credit is
due,” and as we say it, we are more apt to slap our own chest
than our neighbour’s back. Why not be true sportsmen, and
do to our predecessors what we would like done to us? Inci-
dently, it simplifies matters for the systematist.

In regard to preoccupation, it does seem as though the
tule requiring that there should be no duplication of generic
names within the confines of the whole animal kingdom were a

‘little unjust. In former days, when there were naturalists, it

probably was a little trying to read a paper on Amphion, and not

-

138 THe OtTtTawa NATURALIST. [Feb.

find till halfway through that the writer was dealing with a
moth, while the reader was searching for information about a-
trilobite. As specialization goes on, we paleontologists will
probably forget that moths exist, so why not let each group
have its own set of names? But such a thought immediately
suggests the confusion that would inevitably result, and one is
driven back to the present rules. That the following of the
rules works a certain hardship, I am fully aware, but that
it produces confusion, I deny. We all dislike a change, and
we hate to see well known things travelling under unfamiliar
names. But it is remarkable how quickly we assimilate new
names, and, after we once get them, how pleased we are with
our new possessions. The very fact that they are new and
arouse antagonism in us, fixes them in our memory, and they
are further emphasized, because we make it a point to tell
everyone what a mess Blank is making of our old familiar genera.

As an illustration of how quickly new names are adopted,

.ene may cite the cases of Orthis, Strophomena, and Leptena.

From 1847 to 1892, those names were constantly on the tongue
of every American paleontologist. Between 1892 and the end
of the century we had learned a new meaning for each of these
names, and had also learned some two dozen new generic names
for some of the species formerly known by the names cited.
It is quite certain that if we of this generation would straighten
out our system of names, the next generation would never realize
that it had meant any struggle.

In preparing a review of some of the genera of trilobites
for a publication soon to be issued, I have tried to eliminate some
of the names, which, according to the rules, do not have a lawful
standing. As the changes have affected some very well known
names, I have been asked to prepare a statement showing the
grounds on which the alterations were made.

Some of the cases are very simple and they may be presented
first. Jaekel' has recently proposed ten new genera among the
Agnostide, but six of the names have to be rejected, because
he. did not recognize prior workers in the field. He proposed
Paragnostus, with Agnostus rex as the type, but this same
species is the type of Condylopyge, Corda,’ which must of course
remain the proper name for this group. He further proposed
Dichagnostus with A. granulatus as the type, thus duplicating
Corda’s Pleuroctenium, which must stand. Jaekel proposed
Mesagnostus, with A. mteger, Beyrich, as the type, but Corda
had already used this species as the type of Peronopsis. Miag-

1 Zeit. d. Deutch. Geol. Ges., vol. 61, pp. 380-401, 1909.
* Prodrom einer Monographie der bohemischen Trilobiten, 1847.

ee rs

1913] Tue Otrawa NATURALIST. 139

nostus, Jaekel, has the same type-species, A. levigatus, Dalman,
as Lejopyge, Corda. In none of these cases can there be any
reason for accepting the new names proposed by Jaekel. Two
of the other new genera founded by Jaekel were based on new
species, but they seem, nevertheless, to be synonyms of two of
Corda’s genera. Jaekel proposed to found the new Letagnostus
on his species, L. erraticus, associating with it Agnostus nudus,
and others. Corda’s genus Phalacroma, with A. bibullatus,
Barrande, as the type, includes A. nudus, and Jaekel’s L. erraticus
has the same generic characters, so that there is no reason to
displace Corda’s old name. Metagnostus, Jaekel, was founded
on another new species, named by him WM. erraticus. This
species differs in very minor characters from A. glabratus,
Angelin. Metagnostus erraticus and A. glabratus have the same
short glabella with faint basal lobes, and the same type of pygid-
ium, as Agnostus tardus, Barrande, which is the type of Arthrorh-
achis, Corda, and Metagnosius therefore seems superfluous.
Unfortunately, Paragnostus, Metagnostus, and Leiagnosius are
the genera which Jaekel considered typical of three of his new
families, and their rejection forces the rejection of the family
names derived from them. Corda’s family name Phalacromide
would apply to the /evigati, and, using the same types as Jaekel
the Paragnostide would become the Condylopygide, and the
Metagnostide would be transformed into the Arthrorhachide.

Barrande,*’ Walcott, and Lake® have pointed out that
Microdiscus, Emmons, was founded on an immature specimen
of Cryptolithus (Trinucleus), and is not, therefore, at all the
Mucrodiscus of Salter, Walcott, and authors generally. Walcott
has suggested that Pemphigaspis, Hall,{ may be the same as
what is generally meant by Mzcrodiscus, and so take its place,
but he has not followed this course himself. The writer has
recently examined the type of Pemphigaspis bullata in the Ameri-
can Museum in New York, and is unable to connect it with what
we usually call Microdiscus. It therefore seems best to rehabili-
tate Eodiscus, as defined by Matthew,’ to include a part, at
least, of the species now known as Mucrodiscus. Eodiscus
schucherti, Matthew, from the Lower Cambrian of Troy, N.Y.,
thus becomes the type. The name Eodtscus was first used in
manuscript by Professor Hart, and mentioned by Walcott,’

5 Bull. Geol. Soc. France, ser. 2, vol. 18, p. 280, 1861.

* Bull. U.S. Geol. Survey, No. 30, p. 152, 1886.

* Paleontographical Society, vol. 61, p. 30, 1907.

6 16th Ann. Rept. N.Y. State Cab. Nat. Hist., p. 221, 1863.
* American Geologist, vol. 18, 1896.

* U.S. Geol. Servey, Bull. No. 10, p. 24, 1882.

140 Tue Ottawa NATURALIST. [Feb.

but was not used in any definite sense until Matthew’s publica-
tion. ;
The case of Cr yptolith us versus Trinucleus has been reviewed
recently by Foerste,? who comes to the only possible conclusion,
which is, that the use of Trinucleus is unjustified. The present
habit of dating Trinucleus back to Lihwydd (1698) can not be
upheld, as he was a pre-Linnaean writer, and his use of Trinu-
cleuwm was not at all in a modern generic sense. Murchison was
the first describer of Trinucleus, which thus dates from 1839
(Silurian System). In 1832, two names were given to the
trilobite which we usually call Trinucleus, Cryptolithus by Green
in the monthly ‘‘ American Journal of Geology and Natural
Science,” and Nuttainia by Eaton in the second edition of his
text book. Both names appeared in the latter half of the same
year, and it is not ‘absolutely clear which appeared first. Dr.
Foerste has stated the circumstances in detail, and shows that
the evidence rather favours Green’s name. Green certainly
claimed priority, and we have no evidence that Eaton insisted
that his name was published first. It is worthy of note that
Cryptolithus was adopted by Bronn, Goldfuss, Emmrich, and
Angelin, while Eaton’s name was never again used by anyone for
this genus.

In cases of priority, where the same species was not used
as the type by both authors, it is of course necessary to proceed
with caution, for further investigation may show that the two
type-species really belong to different genera, as has proven
the case with Cheirurus and Ceraurus, genera which have long
been considered identical. In the present case the two types
seem to be congeneric. Green’s Cryptolithus tessellatus was
founded on a specimen found in the shale at Waterford, New
York. Murchison’s first species was Trinucleus caractact,
which must be taken as the type of Trinucleus. Green’s species
differs from Murchison’s in lacking the genal spines, and in
having three instead of six rows of punctures on the border.
The presence or absence of the genal spines is a condition of
preservation, as the genal spines are on the free cheeks, and the
number of rows of punctures varies within the limits of a single
species, so it seems unlikely that these two species will ever
require separate generic names.

The Ogygia, Ogygites, Ogygiocarts tangle is complicated but
yields a satisfactory solution, as I have briefly shown recently.“
Ogygia was proposed by Brongniart," who cited two species,

* Bull. Denison Univ., p. 78, 1910.
10 Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, ser. 3, vol. 5, sect. 4, p. 116, 1912.
11 Histoire Naturelle des Crustaces Fossiles, p. 7, 1822.

os

1913] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 141

Ogygia de Guettard and O. de Desmarest, which appear to be
congeneric. The type of O. guettardt, which is still in the collec-
tions at the Sorbonne, in Paris, has recently been redescribed
and figured by (Ehlert in the first fasiculus of the Paleontologia
Universalis. It is evident that this trilobite is not at all related
to the familiar Ogygias of Wales and Scandinavia. Barrande
was the first to point this out, and Tromelin and Lebesconte
stated it long ago. These latter authors also noted that Ogygia
was a preoccupied name, having been used by Hubner in 1816
for a genus of Lepidoptera, and they proposed Ogygites to replace
it.” Goldfuss, in 1843, without giving any special reason,
transferred Brongniart’s Asaphus de Buch to the genus Ogygia,
and this species has, in time, thanks to Salter’s description,
come to be considered the type of the genus Ogygia. Now that
we know what the original type of that genus is, this later position
can not be defended except on the general plea ‘“‘ That everyone
knows what an Ogygia is, and it will make trouble to change
now.’ Ogygia bucht was not one of the original species of
Ogygia, is not generically the same as the species originally
assigned to that genus, and yet is, by the law of tradition, made
the type of Ogygia, thus ousting the original species! Truly
scientists must venerate tradition! To be logical we must now
propose a new generic name for the original species of Ogygza!
But Sweden has produced a man who was not afraid to look
things squarely in the face and defy tradition, and in his Pale-
ontologia Scandinavica, Angelin proposed Ogygiocarts to replace
Ogygia in the sense used by authors generally, but not by
Brongniart, selecting the Scandinavian O. dilatata as the type.
Therefore, Ogygia disappears, being preoccupied, Ogygites takes
its place for primitive Asaphine with annulated pygidia and
forked hypostomata, and Ogygtocarts stands for trilobites of the
type of Ogygiocaris dilatata and O. buchi.

Another familiar name which must go, merely because it
is preoccupied, is Bronteus. Goldfuss“ described this as Brontes
in 1839. De Koninck” saw that this name had already been
used by Fabricius for an insect, and therefore proposed to change
the name to Goldius, a contraction of Goldjussius. This didnot
appeal to Goldfuss, evidently, for he slightly modified his original
term in 1843, making it Bronteus. If we can use a name only
once in the animal kingdom, we must adopt Goldius. Here

12 Asse. Fr. Avanc. Sci. Cong. Nantes, p. 631, 1876.

18 See Schmidt, Revis, Ostbalt. Sil. Trilobiten, Abt. 5, lief. 3, p. 37.
14 Nov. Act. Acad. Czs. Leop, Carol., vol. 19, pt. 1, 1839.

15 Nouv. Mem. de 1’Acad. de Brux., vol. 14, p. 6, 1841.

142 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Feb.

again, the change in a generic name involves a change in the
family name, and we have to use Goldid@ in place of Bronteide. :

Reed" has shown that the Acaste of Goldfuss" was used by
Leach in 1811 for a genus of Cirripedes, and he has proposed
Phacopidella to take its place, with Ph. glocker1, Barrande as
the type.

Arges, Goldfuss,"* was used by de Haan™ in 1835 for a sub-
genus of Brachyura, and it has therefore been replaced by
Gurich” with Ceratarges.

Arethusa was used by Barrande™ in 1846, but it had already
been used in 1808 by Montfort (Conch. Syst.) for a mollusk.
Corda therefore proposed A ulacopleura to replace the preoccupied
name,” and this name must be used in place of Barrande’s later
modification Arethusina.

To the names Amphion, Harpina, and Platymetopus, the
writer called attention not long ago, and for them substituted
Pliomera,” Angelin, and the new names Eoharpes and Amphili-
chas. Pliomera was at once accepted by Reed and by Schmidt,
(Holm had previously called attention to the fact that this was
the proper course, and Wiman had used Pliomera), Amphilichas
has been used by Reed, and Eoharpes by Ruedemann, showing
that the changes are readily adopted in certain quarters, at least.

LINCOLN’S SPARROW NESTING IN BRUCE COUNTY,
ONTARIO.

During the nesting season of 1912, my friend, Mr. W. D.
Hobson, Woodstock, was driving in the Bruce Peninsula, and
when near Pike Bay, about twenty miles north-west of Wiarton,
heard a very peculiar song. On looking up atthe bird, he found
it to be so much like a song sparrow that he accepted it as such,
but on comparing notes with him as to the character of the
song we both feel positive that the bird was a Lincoln’s Sparrow,
but as he was not acquainted with this species he did not recog-
nize it.

The occurrence is worthy of record on account of the very
scanty details of this bird nesting in Ontario, and thisisthe first

16 Geol. Mag. n. s, dec. 5, vol. 2, p. 173, 1905.
17 Opus cit. 1839.

18° Opus cit. p. S556 1839-

19 Fauna Japan, vol. 5; p. 21, 1835.

*° Neues Jahr. Beilage-Band 14, p. 531, 1901.
21 Not. prelim. Tril. Bohem., p. 48, 1846.

22 Prodrom einer Mon. etc., p. 84, 1847.

28 American Jour. Sci., vol. 19, p. 377, 1905.

er ees 0m

1913] Tue Ortrawa NaTuRALIST. | 143

one reported south of the Georgian Bay, although in the east
it is stated,in Macoun’s “ Birds of Canada,” that several nests
were found by the Rev. C. J. Young, in Leeds County, and one
was shot by Mr. Spreadborough at Cache Lake, Algonquin Park,
in July, 1910. These are the only records I can locate at present
with regard to the nesting of this bird in the longitude of Ontario,
which goes to show that our knowledge of the northern distribu-
tion of a few of our migrants is, as yet, very incomplete.
W. E. SAUNDERS.

ADDITIONS TO THE FLORA OF VANCOUVER ISLAND.*

By J. M. Macoun, Assistant Naturalist,
Geological Survey of Canada.

For nearly twenty years after the publication of Part V
of the Catalogue of Canadian Plants, in 1890, very little system-
atic botanical work was done on Vancouver Island, except in
1893 when Prof. John Macoun spent the collecting season there.
Notes on the new species and additions to the flora of Vancouver
Island made in that year were published 1 in ‘“‘Contributions from
the Herbarium of the Geological Survey,”’ printed in the Canadian
Record of Science and The Ottawa Naturalist.

The need of a thorough study of the flora of Vancouver
Island was so pressing that in 1908 Prof. John Macoun was
instructed to undertake it, and that year he worked in the
vicinity of Victoria and north to Nanaimo, and the following
season, 1909, on the west coast, chiefly about Ucluelet. He was
assisted both years by Mr. William Spreadborough, who had
also collected at Nootka in 1906. Prof. Macoun, being otherwise
employed in 1910 and 1911, Mr. Spreadborough continued the
work of collecting in these years, spending part of the season
of 1910 on Queen Charlotte Islands and part of 1911 in the
interior of Vancouver Island. In 1912 both the writer and
Prof. Macoun collected on Vancouver Island, the former on
the islands in the Gulf of Georgia and in Strathcona Park, the
latter chiefly in the vicinity of Sidney. The manuscript for a
flora of Vancouver Islandis now almost ready for the press, but so
many additions to the known flora have been made in the years
referred to and so many are:now interested in the Vancouver
Island flora that it seems advisable to publish for their informa-
tion a preliminary list of the additions that have been made to

, the flora in recent years. Where not otherwise stated, all the

*Published by permission of the Director of the Geological Survey.

144 THE Ortrawa NATURALIST. [Feb.

citations refer to collections made by members of the Geological
Survey staff, and the specimens are in our herbarium,

The list that follows is by no means complete and will be
supplemented by the descriptions of new species.

1. Asplenium viride, Huds.
Ucluelet; Strathcona Park.

2. Asplenium cyclosorum, Ruprt.
Common; not separated from A. Fulix-foemina in
earlier publications.
Polystichum munitum var. imbricatum (D. C. Eaton)
Maxon.
Mount Finlayson; Skirt Mountain.
4. Polystichum Andersoni, Hopkins. N. sp. in ed.
Strathcona Park. (W.B: Anderson).
5. Polystichum oreopteris, Swartz.
Shawnigan Lake. (J. R. Anderson).
6. Woodwardia spinulosa, Mart. and Gal.
Texada Island. (J. R. Anderson).
7. Woodsia oregana, D. C. Eaton.
Cowichan River, alt. 4,000 ft.
8. Equisetum litorale, Kuhlewein.
Shawnigan Lake.
9. Lycopodium inundatum, L.
Ucluelet.
10. Selaginella Wallacei, Hieron.
Common, recorded as S. rupestris.
11. Selaginella densa, Rydb.
Jansen’s Island, Ucluelet.
12. Selaginella selaginoides, (L.) Link.
Ucluelet.
13. Sparganium minimum, Fries.
San Juan Lake. (Rosendahl).
15. Potamogeton zosterifolius, Schumacher.
Langford Lake.
16. Scheuchzeria palustris L.
Cowichan Lake.
17. Panicum pacificum, Hitche. and Chase.
Renfrew district. (Rosendahl). Bear Lake; Strath-
cona Park.
18. Hierochloe odorata, (L.) Wahl.
Courtenay River near Comox.
19. Alopecurus californicus, Vasey.
Head of Ucluelet Inlet.
20. Agrostis oregonensis, Vasey.
Renfrew district. (Rosendahl). Rare at Ucluelet.

on

1913] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 145

21. Agrostis longiligula, Hitchc.
Departure Bay; Bear Lake.

22. Agrostis inflata, Scribner.
Esquimault.

23. Agrostis aequivalvis, Trin.

; District of Renfrew. (Rosendahl).
Colquitz River; Ucluelet.

24. Calamagrostis canadensis var. acuminata, Vasey.
Comox; Departure Bay.

25. Koeleria cristata, (L.) Pers.
Burnside Road, Victoria; Bear Lake.

26. Trisetum Nutkensis, (Presl.) Scribn. and Merrill.
Renfrew district. (Rosendahl).

27. Deschampsia cespitosa, Beauv.
Comox; Strathcona Park.

28. Deschampsia atropurpurea (Wahl.) Scheele.
Mount Benson; Strathcona Park.

29. Avena fatua var. glabrata, Peter.
Sooke; Victoria; Departure Bay.

30. Beckmannia eruceformis, (L.) Host.
Colquitz River.

31. Daistichlis spicata, Beauv.
Ucluelet. Introduced from east with cranberry
plants.

32. Cynosurus echinatus, L.
Oak Bay, Victoria; Nanaimo.

33. Poa trivalis L. var. filiculmis, Scribn.
Comox.

34. Poa eminens, Presl.
West shore, Vancouver Island. (J. R. Anderson).
Long Beach below Clayoquot.

35. Festuca subulata, Bong.
Bear Lake; Nanaimo.

36. Festuca elatior, L.
Comox.

37. Bromus commutatus, Schrad.
. Victoria; Cowichan Lake.
38. Bromus pacificus, Shear.
Renfrew district. (Rosendahl).
39. Bromus sterilis, L.
Near Victoria.
40. Bromus rubens, L.
Nanaimo.
41. Hordeum boreale, Scribn.
Renfrew district. (Rosendahl).

146 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Feb.

42. Elymus glaucus var. hirsutus, M. O. Malte in ed.
Bear Lake, Cowichan Lake.
43. Elymus glaucus var. robustus, Davy.
Victoria; Ucluelet; Beacon Hill.
44. Elymus borealis, Scribn.
Renfrew district. (Rosendahl).
Ucluelet.
Norre.—The names of many grasses have been changed
since the publication of the Catalogue of Canadian Plants.
The above are all additions.

45. Scirpus riparius, (R. Br.) Spreng.
Victoria; Comox; Departure Bay; Ucluelet.
46. Scirpus validus, Vahl.
Wellington; Sidney; Beaver Lake near Victoria.
47. Carex scoparia, Schk.
Ucluelet. Introduced with cranberry plants from
| the east.
48. Carex pratensis, Dre}.
Victoria; Mount Benson; Departure Bay; Comox.
49. Carex enea, Fernald.
Departure Bay.
50. Carex stellulata var. cephalantha, Bail.
Wellington; Ucluelet.
51. Carex Deweyana, Schwein.
Renfrew district; Victoria.
52. Carex pseudo-Deweyana, Kukenthal.
Comox.
53. Carex globosa, Boott.
Bear Lake, Cowichan.
54. Carex limosa, Linn.
Near Comox.
55. Carex flexilis, Rudge.
Ucluelet. Introduced from the east with cranberry
plants.

56. Carex aurea, Nutt.
Cadboro Bay; Comox.
57. Carex veSicaria var. major, Boott.
Near Victoria; Wellington.
58. Carex physocarpa, Presl.
Kennedy Lake near Ucluelet.
59. Carex Bonplandii, Kunth.
Comax; Cedar Hill.
60. Spirodela polyrhiza (L.) Schleid.
Victoria.

1913] THe OrrawA NATURALIST. 147

61.
62.

63.
64.
65.
66.
67.

68.
69.

70.
ih!

Ti

73.
74,
15.
76.
17.

78.

79.

Juncus balticus, Willd.
Renfrew district. (Rosendahl). Ucluelet; Departure
Bay.
Juncus effusus var. compactus L. and C.
Ucluelet. Introduced with cranberry plants from
the east.
Juncus alpinus var. fuscescens, Fernald.
Strathcona Park.
Juncus orthophyllus, Coville.
Koksalah River.
Juncus effusus, L. var. bruneus, Engelm.
Ucluelet; Departure Bay.
Juncus effusus, L. var. pacificus, F. and W.
Victoria; Nanaimo; Ucluelet.
Juncus effusus var. gracilis, Hooker.
Sidney.
Juncus falcatus var. alascensis, Coville.
Renfrew district. (Rosendahl). Kennedy Lake near
Ucluelet ; Strathcona Park.
Juncus brevicaudatus, (Englem.) Fernald.
Ucluelet. Introduced with cranberry plants from
the east.
Juncus Mertensianus, Bong.
Ucluelet ; Strathcona Park.
Luzula comosa, E. Meyer.
Victoria. Only record for typical L. comosa.
Erythronium Howellu, Wats.?
Barklay Sound. (Hillier). Cowichan Lake. First
collected by Anderson.
Erythronium montanum, Wats.?
Grand Central Lake. (Fraser).
Lloydia serotina, (L.) Swert.
Strathcona Park.
Disporum Smithi, (Hook.) Piper.
Gordon River. (Rosendahl). Cowichan Lake.
Streptopus curvipes, Vail.
Cowichan River; Strathcona Park.
Clintonia uniflora, Menzies.
Cowichan Lake; Strathcona Park.
Iris versicolor, L.
Ucluelet. Introduced with cranberry plants from
the east.
Sisyrinchium idahoense, Bicknell.
Renfrew district. (Rosendahl). Victoria; Nanaimo;
Shawnigan Lake; Ucluelet.

148 THe Ottawa NATURALIST. [Feb.

80. Sisyrinchium littorale, Greene.
Victoria; Ucluelet; Nootka.
81. Sisyrinchium birameum, Piper.
Ucluelet.
82. Sisyrinchium Macounn, Bicknell.
Comox; Nanaimo; Beaver Hill; Ucluelet.
83. Listera caurina, Piper.
Cameron Lake; Mount Benson; Ucluelet.
84. Salix macrostachya, Nutt.
Koksilah River.
85. Salix sp.
A common species around Victoria. Not yet de-
scribed but heretofore referred to S. cordata.
86. Comandra Richardsoniana, Fernald.
Langford Plains near Goldstream.
87. Rumex occidentalis, S. Wats.
Esquimault; Sidney; Nanaimo; Ucluelet.
88. Rumex conglomeratus, Murr.
Departure Bay.
89. Rumex salicifolius, Weinm.
Nanaimo; Ucluelet; Cowichan Lake.
90. Polygonum aviculare var. vegetum, Ledeb.
Near Comox; Nanaimo.
91. Polygonum Douglasi, Greene.
Near Duncan’s.
92. Polygonum spergularieforme, Meisn.
Beacon Hill; Nanaimo; Cowichan River; Campbell
River.
93. Polygonum tomentosum, Schrank.
Near Victoria.
94. Polygonum amphibum var. Hartwrightii, (Gray) Bissell.
Colquitz River.
95. Polygonum hydropiperoides, Michx.
Elk Lake near Victoria.
96. Amaranthus grecizans, L.
Departure Bay.
97. Amaranthus blitoides, Wats.
Departure Bay.
98. Abronia umbellata, Lam.
Pachene Bay. (Geo. Fraser).

1913] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 149

MEETINGS OF THE BOTANICAL BRANCH.

Dec. 21st, 1912, at the home of Mr. Geo. H. Clark. The
following gentlemen ware present: Geo. H. Clark, R. B. Whyte,
E. D. Eddy, J. W. Eastham, A. Eastham, H. A. Honeyman,
C.J. Talley, W. Dreher, A. E. Attwood, Dr. M. O. Malte, L.
H. Newman, J. J. Carter and H. Groh.

The subject of the evening, which was presented by Dr. M.
O. Malte, was as follows: ‘‘The nature study of plants in relation
to their identification.” The speaker showed by means of
specimens, that certain plants vary in form to a remarkable
extent under different conditions of life. Attention must there-
fore be paid when identifying plants to the conditions under
which the plants are grown, otherwise certain modified specimens
of a given species may be regarded as belonging to quite another
species. The confusion which the young botanist meets with
on account of variations in the post-floral -development of
certain species was also pointed out and illustrated by specimens
of the Ground Cherry (Physalis grandtflora), Madwort (A sperugo
procumbens), Bitter Dock (Rumex obtusifolius) and certain
species of Rosaceae.

The difficulties associated with the identification of species
of the genus Salix, (willows) due to variations which appear at
different periods of their development were pointed out and
illustrated. It was shown to be imperative that species of this
genus be studied at different stages throughout the season.
Without such a study the student could have little idea of the
variations within the species.

From the discussion there emanated the conclusion that a
collection of plants should not be restricted to single individuals
within the species, but rather should include typical variations
which arise at different stages of development or under different
conditions of life. To get a clear idea of a given species, moreover,
the plants must be studied in the field. The facilities for doing
this, as provided by the excursions of the club during the spring
and early summer, were referred to. The speaker believed,
however, that plants should not be pulled, taken to the platform
of a railway station—as is often the case—and then studied,
but rather should the study be made of the undisturbed specimens
in their natural habitat.

The new “Flora” which is being prepared of plants of the
Ottawa Valley is likely to materially facilitate the proper study
of plant life.

A general discussion followed the presentation of the above
paper in which such interesting phenomena as the development

150 THe Ottawa NATURALIST. [Feb.

of awns in oats when grown under different conditions was
discussed. Lb Bias

January 4th, 1913, at the home of Mr. A. E. Attwood,
Present, in addition to the host, Messrs. Buck, Brown,
Malte, Whyte, J. M. Macoun, W. T. Macoun, Newman,
Dreher, Blackader, Dymond, Tully and Honeyman. The subject
for the evening was the Ecology of the Ottawa Flora, the dis-
cussion being opened by Mr. J. M. Macoun, who gave some in-
teresting information. At the outset Mr. Macoun made the
announcement that ‘‘The Flora of the Ottawa District,’’ originally
begun by the late Dr. James Fletcher and completed by Prof.
John Macoun, so far as the names and localities were concerned,
would soon be ready for publication. In addition to the list of
plants there will be a key by which the species can be readily
identified. This key, which has been prepared by Dr. Malte,
assisted by Mr. Macoun, will apply only to the local flora, and
in this respect will be different from all other keys which have
been published, and on account of the relatively few plants on
the list it should prove a very simple matter to identify a species.

Mr. Macoun said that while the definition of Ecology was
sometimes given as ‘‘ Plants in their Relation to Environment”’
the proper definition was ‘Adaptation of Plants to Their
Environment.”

Plants have been classified from an ecological standpoint
according to their environment; such as, those growing entirely
under water, those having only their leaves above water and
through various other gradations until all the plant except the
roots was out of water.

Another group are those plants which grow in very dry
soils. In this group is included all those that grow on dry rock
as distinguished from those growing in crevices or on loose soil
over rock. '

Another are those on very saline soil, of which we have none
in this district.

The last group includes all plants which are moisture-loving
(hygrophytes) during some favourable part of the year, and dry
(xerophytes) during the rest of the year; as, deciduous trees
and shrubs, deciduous herbaceous plants with underground
perennating organs, and annuals. This group was first called
mesophytes, but afterwards changed to tropophytes.

Mr. Macoun drew attention to the fact that in these group-
ings the great bulk of our Ottawa Flora is thrown into the last
group. One member objected strongly to a classification which
included deciduous trees and bulbous plants in the same group.

je Uae CB

1913] THe Ortawa NATUuRALIST. 151

THE MILKWEED AND INSECTS.

In connection with Mr. Sladen’s note in the December
number of THE Naruratist telling of the bee with the pollinia
of Asclepia attached to its feet, and describing the remarkable
method of cross fertilization adopted by this plant, it may be
of interest to remark that Asclepia’s device to ensure the effective
dissemination of its pollen causes—in the case of our native
A. syriaca at least—the death of large numbers of insects. The
pollinia are so difficult, comparatively, to withdraw, that they
can be removed from their cells only by strong insects like the
larger species of bees. Less sturdy seekers after nectar which
get their feet caught in the clips, as recounted by Mr. Sladen,
are not able to pull out the pollen masses. Their struggles seem
only to wedge their legs more firmly in the narrow fissures of
the corolla, and unable to free themselves, these hapless guests
at the Caesar Borgia feast spread by the plant, die a lingering
death.

Many different kinds of insects, such as flies, beetles, gnats,
wasps, bees, and small butterflies and moths, come thus to an
untimely end, but in my experience, by far the most frequent
victims are ants. An examination of the blossoms of A. syriaca
growing in the vicinity of ant colonies never fails to discover
some of these exemplars of Solomon caught fast in the manner
described, some still vainly struggling for freedom, others
hanging dead like gibbetted malefactors.

This destruction of insect life is apparently merely accidental,
and seems to be of no particular use to the plant. For, of course,
Asclepia is entirely devoid of any such digestive apparatus as is
found in the sundews and pitcher plants, and cannot utilize the
dead insects in any way as food. Doubtless, cross fertilization is
much better accomplished by the stronger flying insects, which
are capable of carrying the pollinia farther and safer than the
weaker flyers or the crawlers, but death seems a rather severe
discipline of the latter for their undesired visit.

CHARLES MAcNAMARA, Arnprior, Ont.

Stk SN

BOOK NOTICES.

Harpy Roses: THEIR CuLtTturE IN Canapa, by W. T.
Macoun, Dominion Horticulturist; Pamphlet, No. 9, Dominion
Experimental Farms.

Lovers of flowers will welcome the appearance of this
pamphlet of 12 pages, which may be obtained free of charge

P32 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [Feb.

from the author, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa. The
titles of the paragraphs will give an idea of the scope of the ©
publication, viz.: ‘Site and Soil”; “Plants and Planting”;
“Cultivation and Watering’; ‘“‘Manuring”; “Pruning”;
*“Winter Protection”’; ‘Insects and Fungous Enemies and How
to Treat Them,” and pages 7 to 12 are occupied in listing the
‘‘Best Varieties of Roses.’’ Ottawa growers will find the in-
formation on pages 11 and 12 of much value as we have here
reliable data on the successful growing of many choice varieties
at Ottawa. During the past 21 years very many varieties have
been tested on the Central Experimental Farm.
A sae

CORRESPONDENCE.

The Editor, OTTAWA NATURALIST:

Many of your readers know of the bird nesting boxes made
in Germany after the pattern of Baron von Berlepsch, and some
would doubtless like to get them, if available at a reasonable
figure, but importation from Europe is of course expensive.
To meet this need I have just brought out a few dozen assorted
sizes and will turn these over to any nature lover at actual cost
as long as they last. The sizes are:

A1. For Wrens.

A. Tree Swallows and Wrens, etc.

B. Blue Bird, Crested Fly Catcher.

C. Flicker.

D. Screech Owl, Sparrow Hawk, Flicker.

The first two sizes cost 40c., B. 50c., .
and C., and: Didi dee

The packing in London will cost 15c. for one and 5c. for
each additional one. Remittances should, of course, be made
with the order. It is quite probable that several Ottawa people
would want to buy these, and it might be advisable to have the
orders collected by your secretary and. shipped in one lot, which
would economize in packing and freight. The boxes are not here
at this writing, but are expected by February 15th, and it would
be well to have them in advance so that they may be put in place
by the time the birds arrive.

In 1912 the first Flicker I saw was the one in the nesting
box within twenty feet of my bedside, where they nested last
year, which goes to show that they do not waste any time in
looking over the ground.

W. E. SAUNDERS.
London, Ont., January 31st, 1913.

_THE OTTAWA NATURALIST

VOL; 2A V1. MARCH, 1913 No. 12

SOME CONDITIONS OF PROGRESS IN THE PLANT
WORLD.*

By W. T. MacCiemeEnt, D.Sc., Professor of
Botany, Queen’s University.

There is no unanimity as to the meaning of the term
progress, but I shall use it in the ordinary sense of change, from
simplicity of structure to complexity, that is from uniformity of
parts to specialization of parts, from every part doing all kinds
of work to complete division of labor.

I shall ask you to imagine first a lifeless world in which the
only changes were physical and chemical. Condensation, solu-
tion, diffusion, combinations, and decompositions all went on
vigorously in warm moist surroundings. This may have gone
on for ages, but finally, in all probability, as the climax of a long
series of combinations and rearrangements, some of these
chemical changes resulted in the formation of an unstable,
gelatinous substance which we call Protoplasm. In spite of much
serious study and long continued experimentation man has not
yet quite mastered the chemical processes involved in the build-
ing up of protoplasm. We know that it is made of carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur—*‘the dust
of the earth’’—and that it is probably a water solution of
proteids. Well, this translucent semifluid substance protoplasm
was siezed upon by a new force which gave the protoplasm
qualities in which it differed in a marked way from any other
chemical compound. One of these qualities is the ability of
protoplasm to change many other substances into its own sub-
stance, thus increasing the quantity of protoplasm. This ability
is not possessed by anv other kind of matter known to man. We
call this new force Life, and one of the notable powers of Life is
this,—of giving to protoplasm the power to assimilate food, to
grow thereby and also to divide itself into two or even many
parts, each of which retains all the distinguishing qualities of the
parent mass.

*Lecture given before the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club, Feb. 25th, 1913.

154 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. {March

Unless we are advanced students of psychical research
we will agree that the force called life manifests itself only -
through the medium of matiey. Protoplasm has the distinction
of being the only kind of matter, in which life makes ttselj evident.
We cannot avoid desiring to know what is the real nature of
this vital force, and what is its origin. These questions are yet
to be answered to the satisfaction of all. Those who desire to
reduce all phenomena to known chemical and physical changes,
reason as follows:—Life is made evident by the production of
energy. Energy is obtained from matter by chemical changes in
the matter—for example, we thus get heat, electricity, explosions,
etc. The greatest and most continuous manifestations of energy
come from the substances which are the least stable. Such sub-
stances as protoplasm are notably unstable, and chemical changes
accompanied by energy changes are constantly going on in
protoplasm. Life is the summation or resultant oj all these changes.
But can this be true? We may easily so act upon protoplasm
that the life in it is destroyed, and yet it is protoplasm, and
chemical changes go on rapidly in it. But these changes do not
constitute life. They soon result in the destruction of the
protoplasm. It therefore seems that the relation of life to
chemical changes in protoplasm is rather a directive one—life
being a power capable of controlling and deciding the kinds of
chemical change which may occur in protoplasm. Huxley
clearly set forth the difference between living and non-living
matter in his famous definition—“ Living matter is distinguished
by its continual disintegration by oxidafion, and its concomitant
reintegration by the intussusception of new matter.”. Just so!
Non-living protoplasm is also continually ‘disintegrated by
oxidation,” but there is no ‘‘concomitant intussusception of new
matter.”’ And so the dead protoplasm is gradually consumed.
An alternative explanation of the origin of life is that it was
“breathed into”’ protoplasm from some Source of Life outside
the protoplasm. This statement, although apparently not
scientific, has the advantage of being more difficult to disprove
chemically, than any of the chemical explanations at present
offered. ‘

Whatever may have been the origin of protoplasm or of the
life force within it giving it sensation, mobility, power of growth
and of reproduction,—there can be no doubt of the present
existence of minute masses of protoplasm having these properties.
The conditions in which this first protoplasm lived were probably
warmth, moisture and possibly light. Only in the presence of
some moisture, and a moderate temperature will life continue
active in protoplasm. The source of heat in the primitive world
was probably the cooling crust of the earth, but eventually light

1913] ~' Tue Orrawa NATURALIST. 155

penetrated the atmosphere and reached the living protoplasm.
The simplest masses of protoplasm we are able to study are
minute spherical or elongated structures, with a firm boundary
or wall, or with a gelatinous envelope. These have two methods
of reproducing themselves, the simplest of which is by each
merely splitting into two—fission. The other method consists in
the material which forms one mass breaking into many small
parts within the wall. These parts escape through a rupturing
of the wall of the parent cell. Each of these new individuals
seems to be exactly like all the others, and is independent of all
the others, doing for itself whatever is necessary for its life.

In examining the various one celled plants we are struck by
the fact that one great group of them has kept the habit of living
each by itself, a distinct individual hfe, while those of the other
group adhere to each other in irregular masses, or even form
carefully arranged colonies. We note that most of those that
retain their independence live in dark, moist, warm situations,
often within larger living creatures, and they accentuate their
individual liberty by moving from place to place, through short
distances. We callthem Bacteria. They never reach any consider-
able size nor permanence of structure, but being bathed constantly
in liquids which yield them nourishment, they increase rapidly
in numbers by the process of cleavage, each splitting into two,
and these again in a very short time. By this geometric pro-
gression they multiply at a prodigious rate, and we are aware
that their activity or the poisonous substances they excrete are a
menace to the lives of many of the higher creatures which they
inhabit. Fortunately for us they have not learned how to pro-
tect themselves against light, which when intense exerts a
destructive influence on colorless protoplasm. Another weakness
of bacteria, and the same is true of nearly all other kinds of
fungi, is that each individual is literally *‘a chip of the old block.”
The parent really becomes rejuvenated in the form of two off-
_ spring made from its material. Let me ask you to note that this
is a form of immortality. Here there is no such thing as m aturity,
old age, and death. Each bacterium literally ‘‘renews its
youth”’ by making of itself two new bacteria. Each of these
must therefore retain unchanged the qualities of the only parent
it has. There is little chance of its receiving any influence which
will cause variation, and each is exactly of the character of the
line of parents preceding it. Its qualities are rigidly fixed in the
type of its ancestors. In this fixity of type and lack of adapt-
ability of the race of fungi we have an important character
which aids us when we desire to prevent their growth. If we can
~ modify in any marked degree the conditions surrounding them,
we render their existence difficult, if not impossible. An illustra-

156 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [March

tion of this is the fact that of all the edible, fleshy fungi known
and desired by man, we have learned the conditions of growth
of only one, the common Meadow Mushroom, and in spite of
many long continued efforts at cultivation by botanists and
epicures, not another kind has as yet been tamed.

The fungi “‘seek darkness rather than light’ and usually the
only parts which come into the light are those reproductive
structures which quickly break down into minute fragments to
be scattered by the wind and water. These colorless plants are
able to live only by absorbing other protoplasmic substances,
either dead or alive. They are therefore not honest in getting
their livelihood, but take it from others, although it is true that |
in some instances they give valuable service in exchange.

Note that in the forms of life thus far mentioned there is no
such phenomenon as sex. But when we turn to those which have
learned to tolerate ight and protect themselves from its harmful
power, we at once come into contact with another method of
reproduction, and this method has proved so advantageous that
all but the lowhest forms of life have adopted it. Sexual re-
production differs from that described as belonging to most fungi,
in that each offspring has two parents instead of one. In place
of fragments—(spores) falling from one individual, and each
spore growing into an individual like the parent—two fragments
are necessary, usually one from each of two different individuals,
these spores fuse together into one, and this resulting egg has
the power of growing into an individual like the parents.

Such an arrangement is evidently much less simple than
the other, the sexual way, but, as said before, it has become the
method among all higher organisms. There must be very im-
portant advantages connected with it. We are not able to give
clear and complete reasons for the general adoption of the sexual
method, but one advantage has been indicated by contrast.
In sexual reproduction—say in Spirogyra, one of these simple
plants—fragments of two individuals take part in the formation of
each new Spirogyraindividual. The parent filaments of Spirogyra
being free floating plants, did not grow under exactly similar
conditions and are not likely to be offspring of the same two
parents. Hence they will have qualities which are somewhat
unlike. This variety of qualities will be inherited by their off-
spring, and the offspring will thereby have more power of
adapting itself than though derived from a single parent having
but one set of qualities. As the young Spirogyras float about
they will certainly have a better power of adapting themselves
to the variety of conditions they will meet, than has the young
fungus, which has no varied assortment of qualities, derived
from a varied assortment of ancestors. It is certain this is an

1913] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 157

important advantage, but probably there are many others yet
to be learned. But mark, that by acquiring adaptability,
Protoplasm has secured the power to live under all sorts of
conditions, and this is no small advantage.

Let us now turn to the ability of many plants to live in the
light. They must in some way prevent the actinic rays from
penetrating them through and through. We find that protoplasm
has responded to the danger of destruction by light, by the
extremely wise method of changing a deadly enemy into a friend
and even into a valuable servant. The change, however, is not
in the light, but in the protoplasm. Ina part of its own substance
it develops a green coloring matter—chlorophyll—which it places
near the surface, and this absorbs the energy of the light, prevent-
ing its destroying the inner protoplasm, and also enabling it,
through the energy thus captured, to accomplish some most
astounding chemical changes. There are certain substances so
stable that when man in his chemical operations forms these
substances, he lets them go as waste products. Among these are
prominently carbon dioxide and water.’ The energy required to
decompose these substances is so great that under no ordinary
conditions of manufacture can we undertake it. But protoplasm,
“with the energy absorbed from sunlight, quietly takes apart
_ these refractory materials, and builds up their separated elements
into such complex substances as starch, fats, and proteids, and
as if in derision of man’s efforts, gives these to man to be his
foods. Man, if properly informed, reverently accepts them,
confessing his ignorance and inability to make them for himself. ,
It is suggested—in view of this power of green protoplasm, that
greenness is an important stage or condition of progress. Plants
lacking greenness have to live as man and the other animals do,
on the products of the energy and ability of the green plants.
It is because of this power of green plants to manufacture an
abundance of food for themselves that large and enduring plant
structures and all kinds of animal life tecome possible. The
protoplasm of which we are made, develops in our surface layers
when exposed to light, a protective pigment, usually not green,
but brown or black. The presence of this permits of human life
in intensely lighted regions. Those who do not develop it readily,
retreat from the tropics or die. F

Having marked the victory of protoplasm over one enemy
we may proceed to see how it meets another. We have seen that
the presence of warmth and moisture are the prime conditions
essential to the life of protopiasm. It should now be noted that
these are incompatible conditions, inasmuch as warmth implies
the evaporation of moisture, and on the other hand the high
specific heat of water keeps at a comparatively low temperature

158 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. {March

any large body of water. In other words, much heat drives
away watef, and much water prevents warmth. To have plenty
of moisture a plant must be surrounded by water. To have
plenty of light and heat it must be out of water. How can these
contradictory needs be properly met?

Simple green plants of only one or a few cells might float on
the surface of a body of water, enjoying plenty of light and water,
but the temperature would be lower than that which is most
stimulating to their life-processes. If they drift ashore the heat
of the sun will soon remove the water necessary to their life, in
spite of the wall of cellulose they construct about themselves.
Some new arrangement is necessary. Protoplasm responds to
this challenge by keeping the offspring close together, until a
mass is formed. ‘The inner ones are kept from the drying air
by the outer ones, which are soon destroyed, becoming empty
cells, but forming a more or less waterproof and non-conducting
coating. This method is another permanent victory over
threatening conditions because we find that every kind of creature
living in air has adopted this plan of an epidermis.

But in this mass of cells, each one demands an equality in
exposure to light, warmth and moisture if all have the same
work to do, so we find that they have gradually adopted some
definite arrangement, regular and symmetrical. It is quite
evident that if every cell is to be independent of every other cell,
it must be equally exposed to beneficial conditions. This perfect
socialistic condition is consummated in Volox—a symmetrical
sphere which rotates slowly in the water. It is evident that a
small sphere is the climax in this direction, as in a larger one the
inner cells would be beyond the reach of light, and possibly of
moisture, and even such a sphere must remain in water in order
to rotate.

There seems no further progress possible in the face of these
opposing conditions. How can anything better be produced?
Here Protoplasm had to strike out a new line of progress. We
describe it briefly as Division of Labor. The first evidence we
have of this is in such small plants as Kiccia, floating on still
water or living on damp soil. Their mass of cells may be com-
pared to the spherical Volvox, but instead of rotating and
exposing every surface to light, one side of Riccia is permanently
set aside to absorb light and air, while the other is devoted to
the absorption of water. This division of labor may seem a
small advance, but it contains a prophecy of everything we find
in the structure of the tallest tree.

The dorsiventral arrangement proved itself a success, and
larger land plants of similar arrangement and structure were
produced, with an elaborate epidermis and ventilating system.

1913] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 159

These were merely flat masses of cells, spread on moist soil.
Now came another ministry of progress. Neighboring plants
occupying the surrounding territory grow over a flat mass and
cut off its supply of light. Protoplasm responds to this danger
by breaking the flat expanse into irregular parts attached to a
central axis, and this axis soon rises slightly from the soil. This
is the condition we find in the mosses. But another danger is at
once encountered. Such elevated parts are removed from the
necessary water supply, although favorably placed for light and
air.

So if elevation of parts is necessary there must be devised a
conducting system, and a strengthening system also, to enable
the erect plant to resist wind currents. Protoplasm recognizes
and meets this difficulty. Among the mosses we find a suggestion
of a stem—the green surface is divided into somewhat regular
little leaflike parts, and these are placed radially on a short,
central axis, which is strong enough to hold them erect a fraction
of aninch. But no true conducting structures are met in plants
lower than the ferns. There we find that ordinary short roundish
cells become immensely elongated, and their side walls strength-
ened. The presence of these tubes, which permit a ready passage
of liquid from the soil to the uppermost parts, makes possible
what we have in our most complex groups of plants—roots for
absorption deep in the soil, stems and leaves reaching many
yards above the soil. These tubes must be held erect against
gravity and the destructive rush of the wind. So wood is develop-
ed—a mass of cells part of which are modified into tubes and
another part into fibres—slender, strong and elastic.

Let us now glance back for a moment and notice that some-
where in the advance from simplicity, there enters the phenome
non of Death, as we think of it. We saw that the simplest organ-
isms cannot be said to die, inasmuch as the living parent is
merged in the offspring of which it forms so considerable a part.

But apparently as an associated condition with the evolution
of sex came the need of a certain maturity of parent, and the
germ cells became at length not the whole of the parent but only
a small proportion of its mass. Then we find that the mature
plant produces germ cells only once, or a limited number of times,
and after such definite effort ‘at reproduction, the parent dies,
except as represented by its offspring, to which it has contributed
a minute portion. This small contribution from the parent
carries with it a wonderful power of heredity, but not sufficient
to prevent variation, or to enable us to say that the individuality
of the offspring is lost.

The fact of variation is undeniable, we may find examples in
every family, and in the leaves of every tree. The possibility of

160 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [March

variation must be acknowledged. -But notice that an outside
force such as heat or light can do no more than act as a stimulus.
~The Protoplasm, so far as we can see, might have lived along the
line of least resistance, flourished where conditions were entirely
favorable, and died out wherever light, heat, etc., became too
great. But life has spread from quiet waters to cover the face
of the earth, adapting itself by increasing complexity to every

variety of condition, found on a globe which is far from monoton-
ous in surface.. I believe that ‘it does so because Progress is a
law of Life. By that I mean that the Creator of Life has stamped
His design on living matter, so that it does not yield to difficulties,
but matches itself against threatening conditions and makes
them servants—-steppingstones. This belief makes a chemical
origin of life unthinkable, as no known series of chemical changes
holds within it the necessity of progress. We recognize that in
mental and moral life we cannot stand still, we either advance or
retrograde. But just so surely as progress is an inseparable
condition to success in living, so a perpetual struggle with the
environment of life seems an inseparable condition for progress.
This in the world of matter is doubtless what the poet implies -
as ruling in the world of spirit—‘‘ Wher’ere the prizes go, grant
me the struggle that my soul may grow.”

ADDITIONS TO THE FLORA OF VANCOUVER ISLAND.

By J. M. Macoun, Assistant Naturalist,
Geological Survey of Canada.

(Continued from page 149).

99. Claytonia Chamissoi, Ledeb.
Comox.
100. Portulaca oleracea, L.
Cowichan Station.
101. Dianthus Armeria, L.
Vicinity of Victoria.
102. Silene Armenia, L.
Raymond’s Crossing.
103. Lychnis coronaria, (L.) Desv.
Nanaimo.
104. Agrostemma Githago, L.
Cowichan River (Clendenning); Victoria.
105. Cerastium campestre, Greene.
Most of the references to C. arvense in previous
publications are this species.

1913] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 161

106. Cerastium graminifolium, Rydb.
Cadboro Bay and Xmas Hill, Victona; Cowichan
Lake.

107. Stellaria longifolia, Muhl.
Newcastle Island, Departure Bay.

108. Stellaria humifusa, Rottb.
Newcastle Island; Ucluelet.

109. - Stellaria strictiflora, (Rydb.)
Beaver Lake.

110. Sagina stricta var. maritima, Fries.
Langford Lake.

111. Spergula sativa, Boenn.
Common. Listed as S. arvensts.

112. Spergularia salina var. leiosperma, Kindb.
Sidney.

113. Clematis ligusticifolia, Nutt.

a Running wild at Departure Bay.

114. Anemone Hudsoniana, (DC.) Richard.
Koksilah. First collected there by Mr. J. R. Anderson.

115. Thalictrum occidentale, Gray.
Cowichan Lake. (Glendenning; Anderson; Macoun)
Koksilah River.

116. Batrachium Lobbii, A. Gray.
Lost Lake.

117. Ranunculus flammula var. reptans (L.) Schlecht.
Nanaimo. (Fletcher and Anderson) Shawnigan Lake;
Cowichan River; Ucluelet; Strathcona Park.

118. Ranunculus Eschscholtzii, Schlecht.
Mount Arrowsmith. (J. R. Anderson). North of
Cowichan Lake; Strathcona Park.

119. Ranunculus pennsylvanicus, L.
Ucluelet.

°120. Ranunculus acris, L.
Sparingly naturalized.

121. Ranunculus platyphyllus, (Gray) Piper.
Comox; Cadboro Bay; Cowichan Lake.

122. Caltha asarifolia, DC.
Comox.

123. Trollius laxus, Salisb.
North of Cowichan Lake; Strathcona Park.

124. Coptis asplenifolia, Salisb.
Renfrew district. - (Rosendahl). Cumberland (W. B.
Anderson); Comox; Ucluelet.

125. Eschscholtzia californica, Greene.

Beacon Hill.

THE Orrawa NATURALIST, {March

Eschscholtzia recta, Greene. |
Cameron Lake.

Draba verna, L.

Cadboro Bay.

Lobularia maritima, Desv.
Victoria.

Dentaria geminata, Wats.

Koksilah River. (R.H. Jameson).

Dentaria macrocarpa, Nutt.

Burnside Road near Victoria.

Cardamine occidentalis, S. Wats.
Kennedy Lake near Ucluelet.

Cardamine intermedia, Holm.

Victoria; Wellington; Nanaimo; Ucluelet.

Cardamine kamschatika, (Regel) Schultz.
Victoria.

Arabis glabra (L.) Benth.
Cowichan River (Glendenning); Esquimault; Na-
naimo; Ucluelet; Strathcona Park.

Arabis lyrata var. occidentalis, S. Wats.
Cowichan Lake.

Arabis Drummondi, Hook.

North of Cowichan Lake, alt. 4,000 ft.

Arabis Hookeri, Lange.

Cowichan Lake.

Radicula indica (L.)
Nanaimo.

Radicula Nuttallit, Rydb.
Beaver Lake; Lost Lake.

Barbarea americana, Rydb.

Cowichan River. Other V. I. specimens are B.
vulgaris.

Erysimum elatum, Nutt.

Mount Arrowsmith; Cameron Lake. (J. R. Ander-
son). Strathcona Park.

Brassica occidentalis, Rydb.

Victoria.

Sisymbrium altissimum, L.
Victoria; Nanaimo.

Hutchinsia procumbens (L.) DC.
Beacon Hill.

Lepidium densiflorum, Schw.
Nanaimo. :

Lepidium strictum, Ruttan.
Cadboro Bay.

1913] THE Ottawa NATURALIST. 163

147. Lepidium Draba, L.
Victoria. (J. R. Anderson).

148. Senebiera didyma, Pers.
Victoria; Nanaimo.

149. Cakile edentula, (Bigel.) Hook.
Long Beach above Ucluelet.

150. Sedum divergens, S. Wats.
Mount Benson.

151. Rhodiola alascana, Rose.
Chatla Village, west coast.

152. Boykinia vancouverense, Rydb.
Goldstream; Ucluelet.

153. Boykinia cicinnatum, Rosendahl and Rydb.
Cowichan River. B. elata is not rare.

154. Leptarrhena amplexifolia (Stenb.) Ser.

' North of Cowichan Lake; Strathcona Park.

155. Saxifraga Tolmiei, T. & G.

Lady Mountain. (J. R. Anderson). Strathcona
: Park.

156. Saxifraga rufidula, Small.
Type collected on Mount Finlayson. Parson’s
Mountain; Mount Malahat; Cowichan Lake; Mount
Arrowsmith.

157. Saxifraga bidens, Small.
Cowichan Lake. (Glendenning). Type collected,
Cedar Hill. Not rare around Victoria.

158. Saxifraga odontophylla, Piper.
Mount Arrowsmith.

159.. Tiarella unifoliata, Hook.
Departure Bay; Ucluelet.

160. Mitella Breweri, Wats.
Mts. north of Cowichan Lake.

161. Leptaxis Menziesii (Pursh.) Raf.
Renfrew district (Rosendahl). Common in the
Cowichan valley.

162. Ribes laxifolium, Pursh. _
Barkley Sound; Ucluelet.

163. Spirea salicifolia, L. ‘
Ucluelet. Introduced with cranberry plants from
the east.

164. Rubus nivalis, Doug].

Comox. (W. B. Anderson). Beaufort Range.
(J. R. Anderson). Strathcona Park.
~ 165. Rosa-nutkana var. hispida, Fernald.

Colquitz River.

164 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. {March

166. Potentilla monspeliensis, L..
Wellington; Ucluelet.
167. Potentilla gracilis, Doug].
Not uncommon around Victoria.
168. Potentilla nivea, L.
Mount Arrowsmith. (Anderson and Fletcher).
Norr.—Many species of Potentilla and Fragaria have been
separated from those recorded in previous lists, too many for
citation.
169. Sibbaldia procumbens, L.
Mts. north of Cowichan Lake; Strathcona Park.
170. Geum oregonense, Scheutze.
Not rare; confounded with G. macrophyllum.
171-2. Amelanchier florida Lindl. and A. Cusickii are both com-
mon. Referred usually to A. alnafolia.
173. Pyrus occidentalis, Greene.
Mts. north of Cowichan Lake; Strathcona Park.-
174. Pyrus sitchensis, (Roem.) Piper.
Mount Prevost. (J. R. Anderson). Strathcona
Park.
175. Lupinus littoralis, Dougl.
Comox; Nanaimo.

Note.—-Several species of Trijolium have been separated
from those recorded.

176. Vicia lathyroides, L.
Langford Plains.
177. Lathyrus littoralis, (Nutt.) Endl.
Ahousett. (J. R. Anderson). Ucluelet.
178. Lathyrus pauciflorus, Fernald.
Esquimault; Sidney; Departure Bay.
179. Geranium Bicknellii, Britton.
Wellington.
180. Callitriche Bolanderi, Hegelm.
Victoria; Elk Lake; Cowichan Lake; Ucluelet.
181. Empetrum nigrum, L. ;
Mount Whymper; Ucluelet; Strathcona Park.
182. Rhus diversiloba, Torr. & Gr.
Saanich Arm. (J. R. Anderson).
183. Pachystima macrophyllum, Farr.
Apparently the commoner species on Vancouver
Island. :
184. Malva neglecta, Wallr.
Beacon Hill.
185. Hypericum perforatum, L.
Koksilah.

/

1913] Tue Ottawa NATURALIST. 165

186. Elodea campanulata, Pursh.
Ucluelet. Introduced from the east with cranberry
plants.
187. Viola ophioides, Greene.
Victoria; Shawnigan Lake.
188. Viola fulcrata, Greene.
Cowichan River. (J. R. Anderson).
189. Viola compacta, Greene.
Shawnigan Lake; Brehm Lake. (J. R. Anderson).
Several species of violets are yet to be described.
190. Epilobium latifolium, L.
Renfrew district. (Rosendahl).
191, Epilobium adenocaulon var. occidentale, Trelease.
; Common.
192. Epilobium alpinum, L.
Mts. north of Cowichan Lake; Strathcona Park.
193. Epilobium luteum, Pursh.
Between Buttle’s Lake and Grand Central Lake.
(Mr. Wood, M.P.)
194. Circea pacifica, Aschers & Magnus.
Departure Bay; Cowichan Lake; Strathcona Park.
195. Hippuris montana, Ledeb.
Strathcona Park.
196. Sanicula tripartita, Suksdorf.
Victoria Arm.
197. Caucalis microcarpa, Hook. & Arn.
Departure Bay.
198. Osmorhiza Liebergi, Coult. & Rose.
More common than O. divaricata.
199. Pyrola elliptica, Nutt. ;
Cowichan Lake.
200. Arctostaphylos media, Greene.
Nanaimo River. (J. R. Anderson). A hybrid be-
tween A. tomentosa and A. Uva-urst.
201. Vaccinium Vitis-Idzxa, L.
Ucluelet.
202. Vaccinium ovalifolium x parvifolium.
A hybrid between these species was found in several
places in Strathcona Park.
203. Dodecatheon sp.
Two of the species of Dodecatheon growing on
Vancouver Island are well known, a third found at
Nootka and Ucluelet has not yet been described.
204. lLysimachia terrestris (L.) BSP.
Ucluelet. Introduced with cranberry plants from
the east.

166

205.

223.

THE Ottawa NATURALIST. (March

Gentiana Douglasiana, Bong.

Renfrew district. .(Rosendahl). Ucluelet.

Menyanthes crista-galli, Menzies.

Renfrew district. (Rosendahl).

Menyanthes trifoliata, L.

Common.

Gilia intertexta, Steud.
Near Victoria.

Nemophila parviflora, Dougl.

Near Victoria; Cowichan Lake. Earlier records of -
N. parviflora are N. pustulata or N. sepulata, both of
which are common around Victoria.

Phacelia heterophylla, Pursh.

Cottonwood Creek, Cowichan Lake.

Romanzoffia unalaschensis, Cham.

Barkley Sound; Ucluelet; Cottonwood Creek,
Cowichan Lake. R. sitchensis has been collected in
several localities.

Myosotis laxa, Lehm. |
Cowichan valley. (Glendenning). Elk Lake near
Victoria; Departure Bay.

Allocarya phlebeia, Greene.

Not rare near Victoria.

Mentha arvensis (L.) var. lanata, Piper.
Colquitz River; Elk Lake; Wellington.

Collinsia tenella, (Pursh.)

Not rare.

Chelone nemorosa, Doug].

Renfrew district. (Rosendahl).

Mimulus Langsdorfii var. platyphyllus, Greene.
Nootka; Ucluelet.

Mimulus pilosus (Benth.) S. Wats.

Swan Lake.
Gratiola virginiana, L.
Near Victoria; Comox.

Veronica alpina, L.

Mts. north of Cowichan Lake; Strathcona Park.

Castilleja angustifolia, (Nutt.) G. Don.
Cowichan Lake.

Castilleja rexifolia, Rydb.
Cottonwood Creek, Cowichan Lake.
C. minata, C. levisecta and C. angustifolia var.
Bradburit are common and at least two other species
remain to be described.

Orthocarpus sp.

Oak Bay; Fowl Bay; Sidney.

THE Otrawa NATURALIST. 167

Pedicularis sp.
An undescribed species collected in Strathcona Park,
nyi2.
Utricularia occidentalis, A. Gray.
Ucluelet. New to Canada.
Utricularia intermedia, Hayne.
Ucluelet.
Plantago macrocarpa, Cham. & Schl.
Ucluelet.
Galium kamtschaticum var. oreganum, (Britton).
Bear Lake, Cowichan Lake.
Galium trifidum var. subbiflorum, Wiegand.
Colquitz; Wellington; Ucluelet.
The var. pacificum is not rare.
Viburnum pauciflorum, Pylaie.
. Comox; Cowichan Lake; Strathcona Park.
Echinocystis oregana, Torr. & Gray.
Saanich. (J. R .Anderson).
Heterocodon rariflorum, Nutt.
Victoria.
Solidago canadensis, L.
Chemainus.
Solidago lanceolata, L.
Ucluelet. Introduced with cranberry plants from
the east.
Solidago glutinosa, Nutt.
Mount Benson. (J. R. Anderson; Macoun).
Aster occidentalis var. intermedius, Gray.
Elk Lake.
Aster Cusickiu, Gray.
Victoria.
Aster Eatoni (Gray) Howell.
Elk Lake. ;
Aster microlonchus, Greene.
Fowl Bay, Victoria.
Aster sp.
An undescribed species collected in Strathcona Park,
1912. :
Erigeron sp.
An undescribed species collected in Strathcona Park,
1912.
Anaphalis margaritacea var. subalpina, Rydb.
Elk Lake.
Anaphalis margaritacea var. occidentalis, Greene.
Not rare but not so common as typical A. margart-
tacea.

168 THe Otrawa NATURALIST. {March

244. Gnaphalium uliginosum, L.
Elk Lake.
245. Antennaria erigeroides, Greene.
; Mount Benson.
246. Antennaria eximia, Greene.
Mount Benson.
247. Antennaria chlorantha, Greene.
Mount Benson; Cowichan Lake; Strathcona Park.
248. Antennaria sp.
An undescribed species collected in Strathcona Park.
249. Franseria cuneifolia, Nutt.
Ucluelet.
250. Madia sativa, Molina.
‘oat <Waetona:
251. - Rudbeckia hirta, L.
Cowichan valley. (Glendenning).
252. Erigeron canadense, L.
Cowichan valley. (Glendenning). Sidney.
253. Achillea borealis, Bong.
Ucluelet.
254. Tanacetum huronense, Hook.
Renfrew district. (Rosendahl). Clayoquot;
Ucluelet.
255. Artemisia gnaphalodes, Nutt.
Departure Bay.
256. Senecio fastigiatus var. Macouni (Greene) Greenman.
Langford Plains; Mount Benson; Wellington.
257). 2 SENECIOlSDp-
An undescribed species collected in Strathcona Park.

As was said in the introductory sentences, the above list
of additions to the species recorded from Vancouver Island is
by no means complete. Some common species and many in-
troduced species have been omitted for want of space. Neither
does the available space permit of the inclusion of synonymy.
A few species have been included which were recorded in publica-
tions that are not accessible to the average collector. There are
in the herbarium of the Geological Survey many sheets of
specimens from Vancouver Island which have not yet been
determined or of which the determinations are doubtful. These,
when correctly named, will, with the introduced plants. add at
least a hundred species to the above list.

INDEX

TO THE
OTTAWA NATURALIST, VOL. XXVI, 1912-13.

PAGE

Acer saccharum............ 117
Amaranthus spinosus, first

record of, in Canada.,.... 116

Ardley, Edward, article by,. 67

Asaphas canadensis......... 12

Astraeospongia hamiltonensis 110

Bee with pollinia attached to

| pee 116
Bird nesting boxes......... 152
Bird INOtes sls... 74, 92,215
Birds of Newfoundland..... 93
Bird Records from Manitoba,

New or Rare, 1912........ 126
Me ee. A. es 94
Beetles, The Engraver...... 110
Beetles, The Twig.......... 112
Black Guillemot ........... 94
Blackader, E. H., Report of,

as Secretary O.F.N.C..:.. 13
Blackbird, Rusty........... 95
Bonasa umbellus togata...... 101
Book Notices.......19, 37, 90, 91,

: HPS 1S 5A.
Botanical Branch Meetings. .127,

149
Brown, W. J., articles by ..70, 93

Calvert, J. F., note by...... £15
Camrose, Alta., Bird Notes... 92
Canada, a few days’ work and

OSS See 68
Canadian Biological Stations,
Os ee +. 134

Cirripede, a new Canadian,
parasitic on a shrimp,...». 121

Constitution of O.F.N.C..... 82
Correspondence......... 136, 152
Craig, John, obituary notice
3a Pe Ae A 103
Criddle, Norman, articles by.. 61,
126
Crinoids, Two New, from the
Trenton Formation of
eld alt a a aS te 41
eee 95
co eens 94
-

Ecology of the Ottawa Flora 150

: PAGE
Entomology, Popular....... 110
Eostelleroidae, Ord. Nov.... 24
Evolution of the Worlds. ..29, 52
Excursions. |. An... ee 60, 65
Farley, F. L., notes byx’.... 92
Brtow, Purple. : o..% 44) Maks. 96
Flicker, Northern........\-. 95

Flora of Vancouver Island.
additions to.......... 143, 160
BiycatchersAtder...2.... 20: 2 95
Fossil Starfish with ambul-
achral covering plates... .21, 45
Fyles, Faith, articles by...17, 116

Glaucocrinus jfalconeri, sp.

MOM emer ae eS ee 43
Grosbeale, Pine: et 7/4. 95
Grouse, Canadian Ruffed.... 101
aly Glaneoas: «6 oS: 94

‘““ Great Black-backed.... 94

A abberrictage oi tas 94
Mawr, Fspeon. 2. ota), 70,95
Hemiptera collected in Can-

Dio Se en 68
Hudson, G. H., articles by..21, 45
Lo Te ee ee 110
jay, Labredor..5 08 3. 95
Jennings, O. E., note by. . 117
Kindle, E. M.. article by.. 108
Ralhisio'Rrasts.” (te. see S435
Kingfisher, Belted.......... 95
Kinglet, Ruby-crowned..... 97
Klotz, Otto, article by... ... 15

Lark, Oberholser’s Horned... 126

Pallid Horned........ 126
Linaria vulgaris, a form of.. 129
Peon... kak Me ere sce 94

MacClement, W. T., Lecture
before O,F.N.C., by...... 153
Macnamara, Chas.,’ articles
Dy tee) te ge 109 V9

170

PAGE
Macoun, J. M., articles by 143, 160

Macoun, W. vie Repert as
Treasurer of O.F.N.C..... 14
Malte, M. O., synopsis of
REGUURE RDN wieesinet vena erieee 26
Mariacrinus? <insuetus sp
TOW oh eee eae ak bast sais Re ae 79
Maryland Yellow-throat.. 97
Milkweed and Insects....... 151

Merganser, Hooded, nesting

in south-western Ontario... 130
Moon and the Weather.. eat)
Mycetomorpha vancouverensis 122

Nanno auléma..... 2.0.02 55- 12
Narraway, J. E., article by.. 98
National Museum, donations
tO? Eee Sen 2 eee ke 89
Nature Study of plants in re-
lation to their identifica-

PA@ Treas eee ter nea CR ORO OO 149
Newfoundland, depletion of
joroncllbbvoteh cena auers & chome 97
Newfoundland, Birds of..... 93
Nuthatch, Red-breasted..... 97
Obituary: William White.... 13
“ George W. Taylor. 74
rr Jeb Craigs: Sor 103
Ornithology, Popular and
Practical sn Ueki eisieae 61
OSpEe Yerkes tte ae eee 95
Geizea: Occurrence of, in the
Pleistocene epae of the
vicinity of Montreal.. 2, OH,
Otocoris alpestris enthy mia. 126
OFPINEG! Constitution of.. 82

“i Council 1912- 1913. 2;
Mg List of Members of 3
‘i Report of Council
Gike witch ole eae cee ,
Treasurer’s State-
ment, 1912-1913 14

ce

Oven=bitdaan ie). at oceans ce 97
Paleaster? ra vale e nov. 77
Parks, W. and\e lt. Al-
cock, Mi by.. SR. 41
Peromyscus michiganensis . aie salto)
Phoebe, DAIS Head, col ato near 126

Pipil, American..........-+ 97
Plant World, Some Condi-
tions of Progress ins the<\.) Wis
Plaskett, J. S., articles by..29, 52
Poison Ivy ee ym ate Boss < feat 34, 136
Prairie Deer Mouse at London 130

THe Ottawa NATURALIST.

Prince, BD, E., article by..:
Protopalzasteride, Fam.
Nov: 42. 7 4 Saas 25

Protopaleaster narrawayt, On
the nature of the so-called
covering plates/imu). 35. b0.

Raymond, P. E., articles by. 77,

105, 137
Red polli.n34 sn cee eee 96
Redstart, American... 5.4... 97
Rhus Toxicodendron...... 34, 136
Ripple-marked Limestone,
NOTE: Oi Asa Musee etna 08
RObin).:2):c:5e ee eee x 97
Sandpiper, eastitine tect nee 95
Spotted.. may 5199
Sayornis SAVG... . MT bina 126
Saunders, W. E., articles ta 100
130, 143 —

Schenaster? montanus sp.

Scotti; Wap move. Diya ere 129

Sladen, F. W. L., note Myers thy

Snipe, Wilson’s.. (see en 94

Sparrow, Chipping seme 96

Posi: Sree 96

s Harris, in Ontario.. 100

fe LincolngSeseaneene 96, 142

“ Savana. eae sie 96

( SOMP-' sw bie ere ae 96

ie SWAMP. <4 ae. menu + 96

7 White-bellied.. 97

S White-throated.. 96

Speechly, H. M., note by... 136
Starfish, Two new paleozoic,
and a new crinoid........
Sugar Maple, Northwestern

distribution, O6;7 4 secre. 7

Swaine, J. M., article by.... 110

Swamp flowers:., 'cauneueie 17
Taylor, Geo. W., obituary
notice: Of;): (italia eens

Tern, Common... ees 94

Terrill, L. McI., article by... 71

Thrushs Waterers serine er 97

% Olive-backed....... 97

7 Hirani s5 G0 4)! ted 91

1913] THe Ottawa NATURALIST. 171

F PAGE PAGE

Trilobites, List of, found at Warbler, Black and White... 97

Ottawa.. - 98 Black-poll.. ee 9g

" Some changes in oe Black- Hgbavead—

the names of CUP Ete te? i> s+ ss - 97

genera of...... 137 a Canadian 97

4 . Masnouatecact x's 97

ie MiyiGtle: sm creme e ftec 97

Rplamd Plover. 2... 60). e's com 61 “ Vollow Rea ita 97

Urasterella pulchella..... 106, 107 Waters Powers of Canada... 19

White, William, obituary

Van Duzee, E. P., article by. 68 PICMG OE eth is areteeve hy 3

. Variation in plant fe. a Wren, “Winter. :)..chodeeets ae os 97

biological significance and RGU WICRS .... is dinaie oble > « 95
@racticalvalue..........% 26

OT eo 97 Zanthoxylum americanum.,. 34

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Protopaleaster narrawayi, Hudson.

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THE OTTAWA NATURALIST.

VOL. XXVI. PLATE

Different arm_ views of Protopalwaster narrawayi, Hudson, enlarged

nearly nine and a half diameters. Millimeter scale at the right.
figures 2, 5 and 7 were made under gum and coverglass.

Photomicrographs for

THE OTTAWA NATURALIST. VOL. XXVI. PLATE III,

Different views of portions of the disc of Protopalwaster narrawayl,
Hudson, enlarged nearly nine and a half diameters. Millimeter scale at the right.
Photomicrographs for figures 1, 2 and 3 were made under gum and coverglass.

THE OTTAWA NATURALIST. VOL. XXVI. PLATE Iv.

Glaucocrinus falconeri, sp. nov.

Fig. 1—Viewed from the posterior interray, nat. size.
Fig. 4—Dissection of cup, nat. size.

Glyptocrinus circumcarinatus, sp. nov.

Fig. 2—Composite figure from two specimens, nat. size.
Fig. 3—Dissection of cup, nat. size.

Ce
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2

THE OTTAWA NATURALIST. VOL. XXVI. PLATE V.

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PALZASTER? WILSONI, RAYMOND

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THE OTTAWA NATURALIST VOL. XXVI. PLATE Vi.

Fig. 1, URASTERELLA, PULCHELLA (BILLINGS): Figs. 2, 3.
PROTOPALZASTER NARRAWAYI, HUDSON.

THE OTTAWA NATURALIST VOL. XXVI. PLATE Vil

Figure I. Devonian limestone cliffs on Snake Island, Lake Winnipegosis.

Figure Il. Ripple-marks ona block of limestone from the face of the cliff
shown 1n Figure I.

1 ogtaa

QH The Canadian field-naturalist
1

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